Nigeria’s Ceding Of Bakassi, Political Blunder

STANLEY NKWOCHA

Following the failure of federal government to appeal the International Court of Justice’s judgement which  ceded the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun, tongues are left wagging as to the  rationale behind allowing  the matter to slip off the hands of Nigeria, STANLEY NKWOCHA writes.
The hue and cry generated over Nigeria’s ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun may have come and gone with the expiration of the time of Appeal on October 10, 2012. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, drew the curtains when he announced that Nigeria will not apply for the review of the judgment of the International Court of Justice, ICJ.
Adoke, in a press statement explained that the argument canvassed by the proponents of the review “is virtually bound to fail” as “a failed application will be diplomatically damaging to Nigeria”.
The AGF said the committee set up by President Goodluck Jonathan had weighed the implications of a failed application for the review, having noted the stringent condition attached to such review, and had advised Nigeria against appealing the judgment.
Mr Adoke statement reads in parts, “The   committee proceeded to examine the case for revision against the requirements of Article 61 of the ICJ Statute and was constrained to observe from the oral presentations made to it by the proponents of the revision that the strict requirements of Article 61 could not be satisfied.
“This is because their presentation was unable to show that Nigeria had discovered a decisive fact that was unknown to her before the ICJ judgment, which is capable of swaying the Court to decide in its favour. This is more so as most of the issues canvassed in support of the case for a revision of the ICJ judgment had been canvassed and pronounced upon by the ICJ in its 2002 judgment.
“The Federal Government also retained a firm of international legal practitioners to advise on the merits and demerits of the case for revision.  The firm, after considering all the materials that were placed at its disposal against the requirements of Article 61 of the ICJ Statute came to the reasoned conclusion that ‘an application for a review is virtually bound to fail’ and that ‘a failed application will be diplomatically damaging to Nigeria’.
“In view of the foregoing, the Federal Government has therefore decided that it will not be in the national interest to apply for revision of the 2002 ICJ Judgment in respect of the Land and Maritime Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria.”
Adoke however expressed the concern of the FG on “the plight of Nigerians living in the Bakassi Peninsula and the allegations of human rights abuses being perpetrated against Nigerians in the Peninsula”.
He said, “The FG is determined to engage Cameroon within the framework of the existing implementation mechanisms agreed to by Nigeria and Cameroon in order to protect the rights and livelihoods of Nigerians living in the Peninsula.”
As convincing as Adoke’s remarks may be, comments, protests and condemnation which continue to trail the ceding have extended beyond the nooks and crannies of the country, transcending cultural barriers. Also, aside the economic view point on the matter, the socio-political aspects remain a matter of concern which keep heads bouncing while tongues continue to wag and wonders being express  if the pride of the once hitherto proclaimed giant of Africa has not been hurt.
Issues are being raised on whether Bakassi was ceded because of facts of the case or whether it is a case of an outright abuse neglect and disregard for minorities. For instance, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Paul Erokoro says that if Bakassi peninsula had been part of the Hausa-Fulani or Yoruba land, and not a minority, the Federal Government would not have been careless with it, not to talk of ceding it.
Erokoro maintained that the government ought to have made an attempt to review the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which ceded the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon.
“It isn’t president Jonathan’s fault alone, the federal government, at the time of the judgment was quick to agree to the terms on the case. Successive governments did not review it either. There is that perception that it is because Bakassi is a minority. We believe if it had been part of the Hausa-Fulani or Yoruba land, the federal government would not have been careless with it,” he said.
On his part, Dr Funsho Adesola, head of International Relations Department, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, describes the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon as hasty.
Adesola who made the observation in  in Ile- Ife, said, “In this part of the world, I mean the developing countries, so many things are personalised and there is no institutionalisation of policies.
“Individuals are promoted over and above institutions; decisions are taken sometimes when they are not properly considered. The idiosyncrasy of leaders most times has had very dastard implications at some points on this nation, and one of it is the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun,” he said.
On the rationale behind the agitation of the Bakassi people and the recent response of the present administration, the don said the people had the right to agitate and the government must oblige.
Also commenting on the issue, former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, said the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun was essentially a political act and solution of the present problem which it now engendered must of necessity be political. “Of course military solution is also possible but leaders prefer to exhaust political option and reserve that of military as the last resort.”
Mbadinuju who is also a lawyer, noted that subject to all the issues of law, history, national and international interests involved in this problem and dating back several years until today, the paramount interest of Nigeria is to return Bakassi to where it was before the Nigerian civil war. He recalled views on how past leaders had mortgaged Bakassi to Cameroun as a payback for assisting Nigeria defeat Biafra.
On his part, Abubakar Malami, SAN, says it was morally wrong for the Federal Government to have ignored the wishes of Bakassi indigenes when it refused to seek a review of the ICJ ruling that ceded Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon.
“In a democratic setting, authority is vested in the leaders of the country and the people trust them to represent their interest. Legally, whatever decision the federal government has taken on behalf of the people is binding but morally speaking, the government is expected to listen to the yearnings of the people and act in line with their wishes,” he said.
The Etiyen of Bakassi, Dr. Etim Okon Edet, is not only the paramount ruler of Bakassi but also the Chairman of Cross River State Council of Chiefs. A product of the University of Calabar where he studied political science, the traditional ruler says it is time for law to be jettisoned and the people of Bakassi allowed the freedom to chose for themselves their future.
In a recent interview, he says, “ the allocation given to Bakassi is not a hidden matter. It is on the internet. Bakassi still exists in law and the allocation Bakassi is getting is based on that law. That is why I said the law must be reconsidered for us to be able to address issues because we exist before Nigeria, Cameroon.
‘We have been there before the local government was attached to Bakassi. We were known as the Bakassi people and not Bakassi local government. So why have they refused to leave us alone with their laws and allow us to stand how we used to stand? Cameroon had never entered there before. They know they can never enter there ordinarily. We are riverine people and, in that time, to leave Bakassi for Calabar was a long journey that took days.
‘Nigeria is saying no going back on the issue, ‘Bakassi is gone’. Then let them leave us alone. Nigeria is still keeping Bakassi because of the oil. You say these people are not there but you are using them to collect money and to take their resources. Because Bakassi is still in the constitution, we cannot act but if Nigeria removes Bakassi from the constitution, the Republic of Bakassi cannot be in Nigeria or in Republic of Cameroon.
‘Bakassi cannot be in Cameroon because the ICJ cannot give the land of Bakassi to Cameroon, because they don’t know anything about the land. So we need freedom. We need to be left alone. Nigeria, please leave us alone. You don’t need the people but you need their resources. Let them release us. If they release us, Cross River will be willing to release us, paramount ruler quipped.
Even though that the issue of Bakassi seems to have been laid to rest, the truth remains that the ceding of the peninsula remains a major  part of Nigeria’s political history. While posterity will judge the Obasanjo leadership who gave out the land, the Jonathan presidency will also be remembered for its docility. Whichever way, one thing is clear and that is the fact that Bakassi is gone.
Leadership

Babajide Obanikoro: Is the Tribunal Victory a Referendum on Asiwaju Tinubu?

Babajide Obanikoro

Discerning analysts had known right from the time of the election last October that the chairmanship poll in Ikoyi/Obalende LGA in Lagos, as small as the council poll may seem, would be a proxy war of sort between the ACN National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his former associate and PDP leader in the state, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro. Tinubu and Obanikoro are no stranger to each other. Obanikoro was a commissioner then in Tinubu’s cabinet in Lagos around 1999. He later became a Senator on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy, the party where Tinubu and most of his associates now in ACN took off from in 1999. But as he fell out with Tinubu, Obanikoro defected from AD to PDP. Obanikoro was to run against Tinubu’s preferred candidate, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, in the 2007 election, which he lost. How and why Obanikoro became estranged with his political leader, Tinubu, is not the focus of this piece and should not detain us here.

The Ikoyi/Obalende constituency, as has been aptly captured by some national dailies including THISDAY, covers Tinubu’s Bourdillion Road residence. Obanikoro’s eldest son, Babajide, was running for the election on PDP platform and was in the race with Adewale Adeniji of the ACN. I guess Adewale is a scion of the popular Adeniji Adele family, also an ally of Tinubu. In the days leading to the election, not a few had reckoned that Obanikoro’s son was the man to beat. Somehow, the results released by the state Independent Electoral Commission showed that Babajide lost. It was the first time PDP was contesting the council election in Lagos since the creation of 37 development centres during the time of Tinubu as governor, which took the number of councils in the state to 57 as it were. Ikoyi/Obalende and perhaps Badagry councils were some of the areas where PDP could be said to be in serious contention in the election. This was why the party officials kept a night vigil when the result of the election in Ikoyi/Obalende was being unduly delayed and why there was also protest when Adeniji was declared the winner of the poll. Obanikoro Jnr challenged the result of the poll at the tribunal, which was the wise thing to do.
Last Thursday, the five-member tribunal headed by Justice Dolapo Akinsanya (rtd) in a 4 to 1 decision, after discounting some alleged illegal votes, ruled that Babajide Obanikoro was the winner of the election. The panel said Obanikoro polled 6,780 votes to Adeniji’s 6,248. The declaration led to jubilation in PDP circles in Lagos. If you know the pedigree of Justice Akinsanya as a courageous judicial officer, you would know she is one of the few judges in Lagos, serving or retired, capable of giving such a landmark ruling. She it was who delivered the judgment that sounded the death-knell on the Interim National Government (ING) contraption of former military President Ibrahim Babangida in the wake of the annulment of June 12. Justice Akinsanya ruled that the ING headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan was illegal.

The ACN had said it would appeal the verdict which gave victory to Obanikoro’s son. Meanwhile, in the interim, the million-dollar question: is the tribunal judgement a referendum on Tinubu? I think attempting to draw the ACN leader directly into the fray may seem too far-fetched, despite the fact it was his constituency. The tribunal verdict may not directly be a referendum on Asiwaju Tinubu as it was not his offspring that contested the election against Babajide, though there is no doubt that the ACN leader may have sanctioned Adeniji’s candidacy perhaps in the manner of the imposition of candidates characteristic of ACN’s politics. The court victory, however, should be a wake-up call for Tinubu and ACN that they need to embrace internal democracy and put in place a system that would ensure that justice is done to all, since, as Governor Fashola once openly advised, Asiwaju Tinubu cannot possibly love his associates equally. If that is not done, and urgently too, the day of the ultimate referendum on Tinubu may have been reduced by one week, that is counting from the day Justice Akinsanya delivered her historic judgement.
ThisDay

2015: PDP And Its Factional Challenges

ABU NMODU, ABIODUN TAIWO, OLAOLU OLADIPO, NNAMDI MBAWIKE, ALO ABIOLA, JOHN MKOM, SOLOMON AYADO, STANLEY UZOARU, MUAZU ELAZEH, ABBA ABUBAKAR KABARA, SALISU IBRAHIM, DAVID AKINADEWO, and ONYEKAOZULU OFOMA

Towards the 2015 general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been enmeshed in one crisis after the other, leaving many political critics to wonder if the biggest political party in black Africa can survive the assault of the opposition parties. From state PDP factions to the national body, different factions have emerged within the party structures leading to members decamping to other parties.
In the South-West, the Ondo State PDP chapter was punctured with the landmark judicial judgement that declared Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as the duly-elected governor of the state on February 23, 2009.
Few months after the Olusegun Agagu-led PDP government was sent packing from the Alagbaka Government House in Akure, things eventually fell apart in the party, and all efforts to hold the centre has consistently failed up till now.
Problem started in the party when some stakeholders raised objection to what they termed the undue influence of the immediate past governor, Agagu, on the party, advocating for equal treatment of members and entrenching party supremacy.
The cracks in the party were allegedly championed by the then Nigerian Ambassador to Australia, Dr. Olu Agbi; the immediate past commissioner for finance, Mr. Tayo Alasoadura; another PDP chieftain in the state, Chief Segun Adegoke, and a host of others.
The problems became more pronounced during the 2011 general elections when allegations of anti-party issues were raised.
After the PDP eventually won the presidential election, it was another thug of war as stakeholders fought tooth and nail on the issue of who to be appointed as minister from the state and those to be given federal appointment. This development was said to have provided the incumbent governor, a Labour Party (LP) member, the opportunity of fielding federal appointment slots of the state.
The latest scenario in PDP now, which political watchers believe might cost it the governorship seat in the scheduled October 20 election, is the fact that there are two distinct authorities in the state chapter of the party, and one of them has vowed not to support the candidate of the party in the election, Chief Olusola Oke.
The party’s factional Chairman, Dr. Akin Olowookere, had stated at a press conference recently that his faction would not work for the candidate of the party in the October governorship election, but rather would support the incumbent governor, while the PDP will go back to the drawing board to prepare for 2017 election in the state.
Another impediment on the fortunes of PDP is the fact that the executive of the faction claiming ownership of the structures of the party have been restrained and the congresses that produced them declared null and void by the court of law.
The court restrained the members elected through the exercises from parading themselves as executive members of the party, either at the local government or state levels till the determination of the substantive suit before it.
In Lagos, owing to the never ending schism in the state chapter of the PDP, most of the gladiators are yet to emerge. But some names are currently being mentioned as capable of obtaining the party’s flag.
A one-time High Commissioner to Ghana, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro is being speculated to be warming up his machinery to re-contest the office he once sought after in 2007. Also in contention for the party’s ticket include former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Ade Dosunmu, who was fielded by the party in 2011.
The crisis rocking Ogun State PDP started as a child’s play with the belief that the hullabaloo would soon fizzle out, but the crisis then, which was purely a battle of supremacy between the then governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD), and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, eventually leading to the final polarisation of the party into two factions.
However, the party is still engaged in series of litigations, as up till date not less than 20 court injunctions and eight rulings have been obtained by different factions. After the election, the battle that was hitherto between Daniel group shifted further to the polarisation of the Obasanjo group into four. Today, it can be confirmed that the crack has indeed been widened.
Four factions of the party in the state comprise that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prince Kashamu Buruji who leads and finances the Omo Ilu Foundation, former minister of commerce and industry Jubril Martins-Kuye, as well as the faction under the former governor Gbenga Daniel.
The Ekiti State chapter of the PDP is not left out. The party in the state has been struggling to put its house in order since October 15, 2010, when the party lost the control of the state to the Dr. Kayode Fayemi-led ACN. Wrangling within the party became obvious when the former governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose dumped the Labour Party (LP), the platform upon which he contested for the Ekiti Central Senatorial seat in the April 2011 general elections.
Fayose took a bold step to pitch tent once again with PDP, when he went to his ward in his home town in Afao Ekiti, where he was given a heroic welcome and was issued a party membership card by the ward chairman of the party. The move to formalise his return did not see the light of the day as the then Chief Bola Olu-Ojo-led State Working Committee insisted that the National Working Committee of the party had not granted him the waiver that would see him being readmitted into the party as there were issues to be resolved.
The party in Ekiti State suspended the planned visit of the National Vice Chairman, South West Zone, Chief Segun Oni to the state as the post-congress election crisis that dogged the party in the state persists. The suspension of Oni’s visit to the state, according to inside sources, could not be unconnected with the threat from Ekiti State PDP Chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe-led executive that he would not be welcomed to the state in view of his alleged role in the “factionalisation” of the party. Oni, a former governor of the state, was billed to visit Ekiti in june, having visited other states in the zone after his emergence as the zonal leader at the election held in Osogbo, Osun State.
In the south-eastern zone, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, representing Ngor Okpalla/Aboh Mbaise federal constituency in the House of Representatives and deputy speaker of the house, is reportedly hell-bent on taking over the reins of government from Governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2015. Nevertheless, indications are that he may not go far, following the resoluteness of former Minister of Interior, Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho, to call the shots from the Government House, Owerri, in 2015.
Both Ihedioha and Iheanacho hail from Owerri Senatorial District, and in the case of zoning the PDP gubernatorial ticket to the zone, not a few say that Iheanacho would beat Ihedioha in a free, fair and credible party primary. Besides, Senator Hope Uzodinma, representing Orlu Senatorial District, is also reportedly eyeing the governorship position in the state.
And in Enugu State, the general assumption is that Engr. Vita Abba is the authentic chairman of the party in the state, a faction of the party, chaired by Mr. Ceaser Ogbonna, says he is optimistic that the court would validate the congresses conducted by his faction in 2010, at ward, council and state levels. Ogbonna said the suit challenging the failure of the national headquarters of the PDP to recognise his faction of the PDP is still pending in the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He said his group was determined to use legal means to reclaim the control of the party machinery in the state, adding that all the vital documents relating to the conduct of the PDP primaries by his own faction have been tendered before the court. He added that his faction had already forwarded its grievances to the current National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.
Foundation of the current crisis rocking the PDP in Enugu State was laid late last year when PDP National Working Committee (NWC), led by its former national chairman, Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo, dissolved the Vita Abba-led state executive and ordered the conduct of fresh congresses to elect new party executives at the ward, council and state levels. Nwodo’s action followed his claim that the party congresses, which produced the various executive, were inconclusive.
The development led to the emergence of two factions in the state, with Chief Vita Abba, leading the group that produced Governor Sullivan Chime as the gubernatorial candidate of the party in the 2011 general elections, while Ogbonna’s group is believed to be sympathetic to Nwodo.
Ebonyi State could safely be said to be the stronghold of the ruling PDP in the South-East geo-political zone. Ever since 1999, the party has held sway in the state. And given the existing unity and cohesion within the state chapter of the party, it does appear that the party would dominate the 2015 general elections, except something disastrous happens between now and then.
Presently, Chief Ugorji Ama-Oti is at the helm of affairs of the party in the state. He mounted the saddle in 2011 shortly before the general elections, when the current Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Dave Umahi, who was then former party chairman, was nominated as running mate to Governor Martin Elechi. Umahi was first appointed caretaker chairman of the party in 2007 and was made substantive chairman in 2008.
PDP chapters in the North have not been speared of the crises rocking the party due to different factions and interests. Since the emergence of the present PDP leadership in Kano, a major leadership tussle has rocked the party, leading to the emergence of two factions, each challenging the legitimacy of the other. The state council on one hand is headed by Alhaji Adamu Aliyu Sumaila, while the Garkuwa group, headed by a former senator, Alhaji Aminu Inuwa, is claiming total control of the party affairs.
As a result of this development, the Garkuwa group tends to distance itself from what it describes as “self proclaimed leadership” under Sumaila, and therefore formed a state committee of concerned members to look into the affairs of the party.
Recent development in the party has sparked off row between the contending groups, leading to a power tussle within the party.
Alhaji Sumaila, chairman of the state council, had told reporters in an interview that his council was the legitimate body because it emerged after a well-organised “congress”. But spokesman of the Garkuwa group, Alhaji Sule Chamber, described the congress as a “Kangaroo gathering”, and said his group will challenge the state leadership because it lacked legitimacy. As party members buried their differences on the eve of the last gubernatorial elections in order to wrestle power from All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), differences between the two leading groups continue to manifest within the party.
The Garkuwa group has recently filed a court case against the state government over its frequent use of Kwankwasiyya inscription on public properties. Deep sense of frustration due to alleged feeling of marginalisation and perceived irrelevance in the affairs of the state government continue to dominate discuss among PDP members. Already, the situation in the party has become so tensed that the Garkuwa group is now hoping to resolve the tango through a court pronouncement.
In every function, the governor made remarks on the rationale behind the inscription, thereby making the already tense situation even worse, by insisting that he has to leave a mark on all projects his administration executed. “We are writing Kwankwasiyya inscription because we don’t want our projects to be hijacked after our time,” Governor Kwankwaso was quoted as saying.
Subtle permutations have began in Katsina State with politicians in different political camps engaging in what could mildly be described as high stake politicking. As at the last count, no fewer than 12 bigwigs have been associated with the struggle to take over from the incumbent governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema, with analysts asserting that the list may not have been exhaustive.
Perhaps, owing to political dynamics of the state, where only two political parties, PDP and CPC, loom large at the political space, most of the so-called hopefuls are associated with either PDP or CPC with very little or nothing being heard about other political parties. Within the ruling PDP, names that have continued to feature prominently among the list of those nursing guber ambition are those of the minister of mines and steel development, Arch. Musa Sada, and Senators Ibrahim Muhammad Ida and Mahmud Kanti Bello.
In the opposition CPC, names that featured prominently among those eyeing the coveted seat in the state are those of the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, among others. Unconfirmed sources said Musa Sada has got the tacit support and endorsement of Governor Shema, who it is widely speculated, was oiling the political machineries within the ruling PDP to ensure smooth emergence of Sada.
Senators Ibrahim Muhammad Ida and Mahmud Kanti Bello, who have continually been associated with the struggle to occupy the Katsina State Government House, are both influential members of the ruling PDP, having served at the last Senate. Both had their aspirations to return to the Senate thwarted by the tsunami unleashed on the state by the opposition CPC which captured 15 out of the 18 National Assembly seats in the state, including the three Senate seats.
Unconfirmed sources said Senator Ida is banking on probable support of Tukur, whom it is alleged is the Senator’s “main man”. Analysts posit that with his enormous wealth and connections within the national leadership of the ruling PDP, Ida may well spring surprises. It was gathered that the senator, who may not have been enjoying the support of the incumbent governor, is making frantic efforts to woo the support of party leadership in the state.
Only recently, Senator Ida was alleged to have participated in a meeting of a group bent on reawakening the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), supposed forerunner to the PDP. Sources said the idea behind the much-touted reawakening as being championed by Ida and the likes, was aimed at repositioning the PDP. Views are being expressed in Katsina State that Senator Ida may use the PDM to whittle down Governor Shema’s firm grip on PDP in the state.
In Benue State so far, more than 10 political bigwigs, whose political antecedents have blazed the trail in the state, are said to be nursing ambition to contest for the governorship seat of the state in 2015. Investigations reveal that most of the intending candidates are from the Zone B senatorial district of the state, which comprised of Masev, Ihyarev and Nongov, popularly called MINDA, and where reportedly the zoning arrangement is favoured.
To begin with, top on the list of the contenders are said to be Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom; the Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Barrister David Iorhemba; the Permanent Secretary of the Government House Administration, Mr. Tivlumun Nyitse; Commissioner for Lands and Survey, Mr. John Tondo, and his Agriculture and Natural Resources counterpart, Dr. Eugene Aliegba; Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Agriculture, Prince Andy Uwoukwu; Mr. Hinga Ibiem, the permanent secretary of Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as, former special assistant to George Akume, Mr. Dave Awuna, and Prince Simon Aondoana, are said to have indicated interest for the race.
A few politicians from the Zone A senatorial district, where the present governor is from, are also said to have indicated interest in the 2015 governorship poll. They are the Director General of Suswam/Lawani Campaign Organisation, Chief Terhemba Shija; governorship candidate of the ACN, Prof. Steven Ugba, and Dr. Cletus Akwaya, special adviser to the governor on media and publicity.
But some analysts have said that the governorship position may not be zoned to MINDA, the Zone B senatorial district, because the present Tor Tiv, Chief Alfred Akawe Torkula, hails from the zone and that two crucial posts would not be given to one entity, except the monarch is ready to drop his position.
Apart from the zoning arrangement, some prominent politicians from Benue North senatorial district, otherwise called Zone A, have agitated that Vaandeikya and Kwande Local Government Areas have not, since the creation of the state, enjoyed the governorship seat. The likes of Terhemba Shija have allegedly indicated interest.
Although, beyond underground arrangements and consultations, none of the contenders have publicly announced intention to run for the governorship in 2015. But they have been, reportedly, bargaining for the juicy position. While others are said to have started holding meetings, some were alleged to have been romancing with Governor Suswam and the Tor Tiv to have their political backings ahead of the race.
One of the alleged intenders, Mr. Dave Awuna, has said it was natural for anyone to aspire to occupy a governorship position in the state and that such development would only enhance rapid progress, especially to those at the grassroots.
Similarly, Mr. John Tondo, Commissioner for Lands and Survey in Benue State, denied that he was in anyway nursing any ambition to be governor in 2015.
The Niger State chapter of the PDP has not obviously shown any sign of crack. However, as the build-up to the 2015 general elections gathers momentum, political observers believe that there may be a latent crack within the party.
The present executive of the party in the state seems to be toeing the line of Governor Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, who is the leader of the party in the state. However, it is believed that since Aliyu would be completing his second term in 2015, the race of who will succeed him, if not carefully handled, could cause serious cracks within the party in the state, because of the conflicting interest it may generate.
Similarly, speculation that the governor may be nursing the ambition of going to the Senate may pitch him against some of his party men in the Niger East Senatorial District, especially the incumbent Senator Dahiru Amasiu, who had already indicated his interest to contest again, making it his third term.
Another factor that could make the party develop obvious crack may come from those who played prominent roles in the party between 1999 and 2007; those who believed they have been sidetracked between 2007 to date. This group may be a source of anti-party if they are not considered in events toward 2015. The party, for now, has remained united. But how the party will be able to sustain this to 2015 will determine how the latent cracks could develop into something serious.
Politics in Zamfara has assumed a stereotypy posture right from 1999, when Senator Sani Yerima assumed office as the first civilian governor of the state on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). From 2007 general elections to date, Yerima was the principal force behind the formation of two successive administrations, beginning with former governor Mahmud Shinkafi who succeeded him on the platform of the ANPP, and later in 2011, the incumbent Governor Abubakar Yari, on the platform of the same political party.
Against this premise, the PDP, the major opposition party in the state was through the years, kept in the oblivion until the 2009 controversial betrayal decamp to the party by the then governor Shinkafi along with all the members of his cabinet and many other party members.
The merger between Shinkafi’s new PDP group and the old stock of the party, was however cut short by a looming internal crisis, due to persistent scrambles for political positions, which later led to the sharp crack within the membership of the party, leading to the formation of two distinct factions, with membership of the old stock headed by Alhaji Namadi Ango, while the new decampees of the Shinkafi group flocked under the leadership of Alhaji Ibrahim Mallaha.
In the wake of the 2011 general elections however, apart from very negligible few aggrieved PDP old stock members who opted to join the ANPP out of protest, more than 90 per cent of the ANPP members who decamped to the PDP on the orders of the erstwhile governor Shinkafi, have also again regrouped behind the banner of the ANPP, a few days to general elections, a political scenario which appeared like a counter-betrayal decamp against the then outgoing Shinkafi administration.
In Taraba State, the crisis in the state chapter started when Sen. Aisha Alhassan, representing Taraba North constituency, accused Governor Danbaba Suntai of planting the candidature of Mr. Anthony Jerason from APGA, who is now serving as the state commissioner for agriculture, to ensure that her senatorial ambition was dented.
Also, Sen. Abubakar Tutare, representing Taraba Central, accused Suntai of using the then senator of the zone, Sen. Dahiru Bako, to stop his ambition. The governor was also accused of hand-picking party leadership in the state against the will of the party followers. Hon. Yusuf Manwe, a former member of Taraba State House of Assembly, who was appointed special adviser to Governor Suntai on information and technology, was relieved of his job when the party discovered that he was a regularly visitor to Senator Tutare in Abuja.
About a week ago, the PDP Chairman in Wukari Local Government, Yaya Auwa, was also suspended indefinitely for his refusal to sign a document to sack Hon. Habu Feri, a PDP national ex-official.
Leadership

Big fear in Enugu over Governor Chime’s health

Fear now greets the Enugu State Government House over the health of the state Governor, Sullivan Chime.
It would be recalled that the governor’s public appearance could be dated back to September 9 during the meeting of South-East Governors Forum on September and since then, he was yet to be seen by journalists in the Government House and public gatherings.
Chime’s deputy, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, has been playing the governor’s role but it was learnt that the governor gave a standing order that Onyebuchi should not approve more than N500,000 for any project, no matter the circumstance.
Close insiders disclosed that the Governor jetted out of the shores of the country about two weeks before the October 1 Independence anniversary.
The source said: “He was not in a very good condition before he left the country for London. We noticed it. Although they didn’t want to make it open, maybe because of journalists.”
Speaking further, the insider who pleaded anonymity hinted thus: “For some time now, we noticed that the governor has not been his usual bubbling self. You may not easily know this because he carries himself well and hardly talks, but some of us knew that the man was down.
“From what we heard, he is no longer in London; he was flown to India last week because his health condition wasn’t getting better. As I speak to you right now, he is in a hospital in India.”
All efforts by flood victims at Udi Local Government Area, Chime’s country home were futile as they were told that he wasn’t too strong to do so.
A visibly angry Udi indigene, Mr. Victor Ike, said it’s so unfortunate for the governor to abandoned his community which is being ravaged by floods.
He said: “Heavy rains destroyed our houses and livestock worth millions of naira at Umuifi village in Obioma, Udi Local Government Area, yet the governor could not visit us, obviously due to his health,” Ike stated.
“Our people in government told us that on the day he was supposed to make it, he relapsed and the trip was cancelled.”
Speaker of the Enugu House of Assembly, Mr. Eugene Odo when contacted if the governor dropped any official letter on his whereabouts and condition, refused to comment on the matter.
The Public Relations Officer in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Jonah Ugwuanyi, said, “It is not compulsory that the Speaker must read the letter to the entire House. He could decide to read it out during the plenary or executive session.”
“The governor wrote me and said he was going on leave and that the deputy governor would act until he returns,” he added.
DailyPost

How Tinubu became the kingpin of Yoruba politics, By Odumakin

A frontline pro-democracy activist and spokesperson of Save Nigeria Group (SNG), Yinka Odumakin, speaks with DAPO FALADE on issues affecting the development of the South-West, among other issues. Excerpts:

Yinka Odumakin

Given your association with the progressive camp, many people were surprised by your recent declaration of support for the Labour Party governorship candidate in the forthcoming election in Ondo State. What informed your decision?
Well, nothing has changed. I have remained consistent on the progressive side. It may just be that your definition of progressivism may not be totally in sync with what progressivism is. A lot of people called progressives have been going through all kinds of transformation.
First of all, I think there are three key issues involved in the election coming up in Ondo State. I don’t think it is just about electing a governor who will rule the state for the next four years. The election is going to settle many issues in Yoruba politics and Nigeria generally.
The first issue is that the time has come for the Yoruba nation to make a choice on what makes you a progressive: is it performance, label or party card that you carry?
The Yoruba nation also has to decide whether we want to operate on the template Chief Obafemi Awolowo gave to us – where governance is about the people taking decisions and leaders stepping forward to lead them in the desired direction – or a caliphate politics, where the Caliph sits down and appoints ajeles all over the place who are only answerable to him.
The last issue about this election, and which concerns Governor Olusegun Mimiko, is that I have gone round the state and seen what the man has done in the last three and a half years. I believe that if somebody has done those kinds of things and put himself forward for re-election and he is not re-elected, then there is no incentive for anybody to go to public office and perform again. Everybody can then say, ‘let me just go there and steal’ and when they steal enough, they can throw enough money at the people and the people would follow them.
Why are you so passionate about the issues you raised?
These are the cardinal issues that are involved in the Ondo governorship election. And I am passionate about the caliphate politics which Yoruba people must stop in its track. I am passionate about returning the Yoruba nation to the path of development, which is what Mimiko is doing in Ondo State. Look at the Abiye concept which, today, has become a benchmark for WHO (World Health Organisation). Not only that; UCH (University College Hospital), which was established several years back, now understudies what goes on in Abiye.
I have known Mimiko since 1999 when he represented Ondo State in the Afenifere political committee and I recalled that in 2003, when he said he wanted to be governor on the ticket of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), he gave me a pamphlet on the night of his fund-raising in Lagos.
In that document, he said that his paradigm of governance is not top-bottom, but bottom-up. Three and a half years in the saddle, he has proved that he is a governor who works for the people. The Ondo people follow him because he has worked for them. This shows that people appreciate those who work for them.
The governor of Lagos State between 1979 and 1983, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, touched the lives of the people the way no other government ever did. The effect is still felt even 29 years after he left office.  He did not name anything after himself, but there is no community in Lagos today where you would not feel his touch. That shows that people appreciate those who work for them, the way they appreciate Awolowo, who transformed Yoruba nation into a pacesetter for the whole of Africa.
After Oduduwa, the most venerated individual in Yorubaland today is Awolowo. Oduduwa is the founder of the Yoruba, but Awolowo is the progenitor of modern Yoruba nation. That is what Lagos people are doing to Jakande, 29 years after he left power and that is what Ondo people are doing to Mimiko.
And that is why today, in spite of all odds, I am sticking out my neck for Mimiko.
But you were part of the system that produced the so-called caliph in the build-up to the 1999 elections. At what point did you part ways?
I know that in 1999, when my political leaders and I decided to move beyond advocacy to engaging in governance and politics, we declared for AD at Oworonsoki. There, we were received by Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the late Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu and many leaders of Afenifere and AD. When the issue of who would be governor of Lagos State came up, I supported Senator Bola Tinubu without having met him then. The closest I knew him was in 1992 through a colleague of mine in the Daily Times who handled his media campaign when he wanted to run for the Senate.
But when he came back from exile, those of us who played prominent roles in democracy movement in the country at that time were told stories of Tinubu’s involvement in NADECO abroad and we felt that a man who stood up in such a time when most of our colleagues and leaders were running to the late General Sani Abacha should vie for public office. I can recall that the first television commercial that announced his governorship ambition was my concept.
When the governorship primaries were to be held, Afenifere had committees in each of the six South-West states to decide who was to be governor. I was part of the committee that went to Ondo. We were the ones that held the primaries that produced the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati as AD governorship candidate in the state. By the time we came back to Lagos, all that happened had happened. As we were coming back from Ondo, we felt that we should go to the house of our chairman in Lagos then, Alhaji Dawodu, as we bought some fruits for him as it was during the Ramadan period.
By the time we got to his house, we didn’t meet him. Then we decided to go to Ore Close where they normally held caucus meeting. On our way, we saw him in traffic at Masha area with his friend, the late Mr Ferera. We flashed and ran after him to give him the report from Ondo. But I noticed that Alhaji Dawodu was agitated. He just told us to move on. It was when we got to Ore Close that we learnt that there was a problem in Lagos; that Alhaji Dawodu had forwarded the name of the late Engineer Funso Williams to INEC and the leaders were waiting for him to reverse that decision, but he had made himself unavailable. It was then the leaders said that Chief Ayo Adebanjo should write to INEC to remove the name of Williams and replace it with that of Bola Tinubu.
What happened in Lagos; the guideline that was given to us said that anywhere there is fracas, the electoral panel reserves the right not to accept the result from such area. Now, there were crises in some local government areas where Funso Williams was the strongest and based on that, the electoral panel that came from Oyo State said that it was going to cancel the result of those areas. If we had accepted the result, the late Williams won the Lagos primaries; but if you cancel them, Bola Tinubu won.
That was why the leaders said, ‘well, we are the ones that gave the guideline, if the people we appointed said they have rejected these local government areas, we are upholding their verdict’ and this made Tinubu the winner. It was years after that it was suggested that some people were fast enough to create those crises in Funso Williams’ strongholds to fulfill that guideline which was a technical thing, but I think the leaders acted in good faith in accordance with the guideline and the decision of the panel.
Again, in 2003, when we were meeting in Ijebu-Igbo over the 60:40 thing; that the Tinubu group should take 60 and Dawodu group should take 40 and that was not going to work. Alhaji Dawodu indicated his intention to form another party and I remember Alhaji Lam Adesina said that it was unfortunate that we have found ourselves in a situation where a Ganiyu Dawodu who had won elections for us in the past is now somebody that is looking for a party to run for an election. What I am saying in essence is that if Dawodu had insisted that he wanted to contest governorship election, nothing would have stopped him.
So, when Tinubu became the governor of Lagos State because of his participation in the struggle, it was a natural thing to continue to support him. But within a year, by 2000, when the AD was split in two and he was on Chief Bola Ige’s side and we had only Adefarati and Chief Segun Osoba on the side of Papa Senator Abraham Adesanya. For some of us, in spite of our closeness to Tinubu, we supported the leaders and we were trying to promote efforts to ensure that the house of Afenifere was not divided. We used our friendship with some members of the Tinubu group to continue to try to build bridges.
In the course of time, we got to know that the Tinubu agenda was personal. The first thing I noticed was that, around 2005/06 when Yoruba were asked to leave Warri and I made a statement on behalf of Afenifere that no force on earth can displace the Itsekiri from their homeland, the following day, Tinubu came out to dismiss Afenifere, using some words to the effect that we are scaremongers. Then, I had to come out to say that Afenifere was disappointed in him to have made such a comment when it was in the open that our people have been given seven days to leave their homeland.
My second worry was when former President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the Confab in 2005 and I was part of the committee to declare the Yoruba agenda. We drafted an agenda which was a constellation of all the positions that Yoruba people have, built up since 1994- parliamentary system of government, fiscal federalism, regionalism etc- and we had thought that the only progressive governor that we have who can champion that agenda was Tinubu. But all of a sudden, he turned against the Yoruba agenda and not only that, he went to prepare what he called Lagos agenda and his points men started saying that Lagos is not part of Yorubaland; that it signed a different treaty with the colonialists. It was said that some of them were from the Tapa region. It was shocking and we made all kinds of entreaties but our own man rejected our agenda. Where we said we want parliamentary system, he said he wanted presidential; everything Yoruba agreed on, the Tinubu agenda rejected.
It came to a point where Gbenga Daniel (former governor of Ogun State), whom we had already casted away that he had joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was now the one that was carrying the Yoruba agenda on his head. That was when we realised that there was a gap.
On the issue of third term agenda, all kinds of things happened, which I will not talk about now, but which also showed that there was a gap between what he told the public and what he planned to do.
The final straw, for me, was in December 2006. I was part of the Action Congress (AC) when it started; I went round the South-West to mobilise for the party and based on that, I also participated in its national summit. Chief Bisi Akande, Honourable Wale Osun and I drafted most of what became the constitution, the guideline for elections, how the delegates and candidates would emerge and the rest. Then, it was time for primaries within the AD and Governor Tinubu from Lagos shredded everything we had done and imposed his own. It was at that point that I said ‘it is enough.’
So, you are now saying that there is nothing democratic in the structure and operations of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) led by Senator Tinubu…
The party, today, is one of the undemocratic parties in the country, as far as its leadership is concerned. I don’t have any problem with members of the party, but the leadership is corrosive to our politics. Don’t forget, the leadership came to Yorubaland under the PRIMROSE Group under the leadership of the late General Shehu Yar’Adua in 1992 in the Social Democratic Party (SDP). They were the ones that came and introduced money politics to Lagos where they ensured that Jakande was defeated in Lagos by Yar’Adua with illicit money. That was when politics was destroyed in Yorubaland; before then what we had was politics of service, development and ideas; members would go to meetings to contribute to building the party and the party was run democratically.
Money was introduced by the PRIMROSE Group which metamorphosed into the Dapo Sarumi Group and came back in 1999 to enter Afenifere and then took over the platform, sidelining the patriarchs of the movement. It now started to wear the Afenifere agbada, whereas underneath is the PDP or the conservative politics it represents.
Today, there is a lot of deception going on in the South-West. The people identified that party and its leadership as progressives, but they are not. They pretend to be Awoists, but they are not. Until the leadership of that party is checkmated, there cannot be true politics of service and development in Yorubaland. It is politics of pockets and nepotism. Go to the National Assembly and the state Houses of Assembly and you will see the kind of characters that are there.
Liberty Report

Nigerian rapper, MI Abaga saves accident victims

During the early hours of Saturday, October 13, 2012, Chocolate City rapper, M.I came across a gruesome accident along Ikorodu road, Lagos, involving four people, and called for help via social media.
The rapper tweeted, ‘I’m presently at the scene of a serious accident…We have been here for almost an hour.. And no rescue service!!! Any one that can help. Opposite Obanikoro estate on Ikorodu road. One passenger looks like they are still alive and can make it.. But we need towing trucks and jaws of life to save him… Pls help. At least 3 girls dead, the driver still alive’.
The rapper, who was still there when the emergency services arrived, saw them pull out one of the passengers “One girl has been removed from the car and is dead… Pretty young girl.. My God…”
When NET got to the site of the incident, the rapper and his team had left, and the victims had been taken away but a few people were gathered near the scene, watching officials of the Lagos State Transport Monitoring Agency (LASTMA) clear the debris and tow the damaged car, a white Toyota Camry with plate number, TF787KJA, away from the road.
Although no one could say for sure what the cause of the accident of the accident was, a few of the onlookers who spoke to us on the grounds of anonymity, assumed it was a case of either over speeding, drink-driving or both, as they suspect the victims could have been coming from a club.
One onlooker, a man in his late forties said ‘I’m sad and speechless, look at the damage. The way these youths ride cars these days, one just has to be prayerful. They speed so much…I pity these ones o, it’s such a loss’. As the conversations and speculation continued on the sidelines, the LASTMA officials busied themselves with removing the street light which fell on the car and hindered the flow of traffic.
Meanwhile, one of the officials confirmed to us that the accident was indeed ghastly, with only two survivors out of the four passengers. He added that they were all taken to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre. A doctor in the hospital, speaking anonymously, claimed that only one victim was admitted and has been responding to treatment.
M.I and his team were returning from Club Octopus, the venue of the Hennessy Artistry event, where he performed alongside Naeto C.
Reports from his team reveal that although the artiste found the sight shocking, he is presently at home, and in good condition.
However, he had a few words for drivers, which he shared on twitter: ‘Pls, people drive safely home, buckle up for safety and do not drink and drive. Also don’t let your drunk friends drive.’
 DailyPost

Jonathan, Sambo, Anyim to spend N1.59bn on feeding in 2013

The offices of President, Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice-President Namadi Sambo and that of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim will spend N1.59bn on vague times they tagged as welfare packages in 2013.

While Anyim’s office shares N1.07bn; the President and the vice president are expected to spend N355.9m and N160.83m respectively. The 2013 budget as presented by Jonathan last Wednesday shows that Nigeria will spend slightly less than N1bn (precisely N990.24m) in
feeding Jonathan and Sambo next year.

The estimate  shows that His Excellency will spend not less than N406, 738,969 on foodstuffs and catering materials in the year 2013.

The gas for cooking the President’s food will cost N13, 420,750, while refreshment and meals in the State House will cost the nation N327,
154,931.

Also, foodstuffs and catering materials for the Vice President, Namadi Sambo is expected to cost the oil-rich Nigeria N112, 500,000 in 2013,

while the gas for cooking the food will cost N7, 020,750. Refreshment and meals will cost N123, 402,499 for the VP’s office in 2013.

These total expenses bring the total cost of feeding the Presidential Villa to N990.24m for the 2013 fiscal year.
Jonathan while presenting the 2013 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly said the Federal Government would try to save cost as a result of deteriorating resources.
He said, “The uncertainty surrounding the global economy, which could have adverse effects on commodity prices, highlights the downside risks for our economy. The oil market is well known for its volatility. We recall the 2008 experience at the height of the global economic downturn when oil prices fell almost overnight from $147 per barrel to $38 per barrel.
“This threat of oil price volatility remains constant and underscores the need to rely on a robust and prudent methodology to estimate the benchmark price. The global economic slowdown can also have far-reaching implications for the demand for our export commodities, given that the Euro zone and the United States of America account for over 50 per cent of the nation’s crude oil exports.
“These global developments are also being transmitted to our economy through a dampening effect on foreign capital inflows and remittances by Diaspora Nigerians. These are uncertain times in the world economy, and my administration is continuing to take necessary steps to mitigate possible adverse effects of the global economic slowdown on Nigeria.
“In spite of these, our economy has done relatively well. Over the past nine months, through a number of initiatives, we have created new jobs directly and supported many young entrepreneurs running SMEs to create jobs.”
DailyPost