Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah accused of favouring Igbos in recruitment processes

A wave of appointments in the Ministry of Aviation attracts suspicious stares to Ms. Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation, who is accused of flooding agencies in the ministry with South-Easterners
Stellar. This is not a word that watchers of the aviation industry will freely use in an assessment of Ms. Stella Oduah, Minister for Aviation. It was not always that way. Oduah, a major player in President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign, started out like a house on fire. Shortly after becoming minister, she turned her attention to the country’s decrepit airports and quickly commenced a lavish remodelling of 11.
It was a move that attracted huge applause from members of the public, who had become disenchanted with the shabbiness of such facilities. The airport rehabilitation exercise has since been hobbled by a shortage of funds and the applause has thinned out.
More worryingly, what is left of Oduah’s deposit of goodwill is experiencing rapid depletion on account of what she brands as a restructuring of the agencies under her ministry. This has put her under the headlights of public scrutiny. And the result has been less than flattering, as it contains a strong whiff of an ethnic agenda.
Oduah’s recent appointments in such agencies have provoked allegations of “ethnic cleansing”. At the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Oduah sacked eight General Managers, GMs. Six of them hail from the Southwest, while two are from the North.
Those affected by the weeding process are Solanke Gideon Akintunde, GM, Facilitation; Mrs. Ayeni Folashade Olufemi, acting GM, Internal Audit; Mr. Komolafe Samuel, GM, Commercial; Mr. Oyedepo Adeyemi Biodun, GM, Mechanical; Mr. Adefarasin Adeoye Emmanuel, GM Stores; Mr. Tanko Idris, GM, Management Services; Alhaji Maltala Iliyasu, GM, Finance; and Mr. Bello Olu Kayode, acting GM, Internal Audit. The minister also redeployed six senior staff– four GMs and two Regional Managers–and appointed 75 new staff in the agency. Forty of the new appointees are from the South-East. The minister hails from Anambra State.
At the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, the minister has appointed about 107 staff since August, with 12 percent of them from the North, 20 percent from the South-West and 68 percent from the South East. This works out at 73 slots for the minister’s geo-political zone. A creditable imitation of this trend was produced at the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria, where Captain Adebayo Araba, rector of the college, was replaced by Captain Chinyere Kalu. Last year, the minister chucked Alhaji Ibrahim Usman Auyo as NAMA Managing Director. His replacement was Engineer Nnamdi Udoh. At the Nigerian Meterological Agency, NIMET, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, a South-Easterner, was re-appointed as Director-General.
Also last year, Engineer Sam Oduselu, Commissioner of the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, with Captain Muhtar Usman. Oduselu was relieved of his appointment seven months into his second term of office and no strong reason was offered. Oduselu’s sack, aviation stakeholders insist, was a violation of the Civil Aviation Act No. 6 of 2006.
AIB sources told TheNEWS that the agency, conceived to have a lean staff strength, currently has 45 people in its employ. But Oduah has already made about 50 additional appointments, most of them from the South-East.
“We understand that their appointments are already at an advanced stage. She is appointing between 45 and 50 new staff. She’s bringing these people without thinking about their salaries. She is choosing them mainly from the South-East where she comes from,” the source alleged. The appointments have irked stakeholders. Comrade Abdul Kareem Motajo, acting General Secretary, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, accused the minister of destroying the industry with her bad policies.
“If you look at what is happening, the minister is sowing the seeds of a tribal agenda. At the audit department of FAAN, the General Manager has been sacked and an Igbo lady is coming to occupy the seat. Six other officers from the South-West have also been removed from that office in other to accommodate the new people that are coming in. Comrade Olayinka Abioye, Deputy General Secretary for the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, described the pattern of appointments made by Oduah as an indication that she is unfit for the job. “My take is that she is not only promoting ethnic agenda, but a destructive restructuring where mediocrities are imported to truncate or stunt careers of our qualified members,” he said
One of those appointed as GMs, said a source, “graduated just four years ago and has jumped ahead of people who have been working for over 20 years. For the next six months, he will be going for training at the expense of the agency. These are the things we are fighting against because they portend real danger to the industry and we are not going to allow that to happen,” said the source.
Comrade Odinaka Jude Igbokwe, NUATE’s Senior Organising Secretary, is of the view that Oduah started well and sustained the momentum for a while before the wheels came off. “She did some commendable things, including submitting all the concessions at FAAN to a review. But now, she is doing many terrible things, like appointing people to positions they do not deserve. She is bringing greenhorns to occupy positions that are meant for experienced people. To me that will lead to a total disruption in the industry. Many aviation professionals have no job and when you bring people from outside the industry, that is the worst thing you can do to the industry. The way she has taken off and going ahead is not going to help the industry,” he reckoned.
Igbokwe also accused the minister of opaqueness in the award of contracts.
“Look at what she calls remodelling of airports. FAAN, which owns the airports, does not know what she is doing. For the first time in my life, I see a government contract for which the name of the contractor is not known. We do not know the architect or what the contract is all about,” he said with barely concealed disgust.
Another anomaly that has sparked anger in the sector is the reappointment of Captain Henry Omegui as FAAN’s Director of Airport Operations. Omegui was said to have been indicted for a variety of corruption-related activities.
Apart from labour leaders, the minister’s actions and policies often get criticised by other stakeholders in the sector. They generally think her policies are not good. One of her staunchest critics is Captain Dele Ore, a veteran Nigerian pilot and President, Aviation Round Table. Ore alleged on 27 July that Oduah threatened to “deal with him” in a telephone conversation.
“At 11.13 a.m. today 27 July, 2012, the Honourable minister of aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, called me from a number “08055024340” and showered unprintable insults on my person, threatening my life while promising to deal with me. This conversation lasted 3 minutes and 8 seconds, and she claimed that I have been writing rubbish, lies and fabrications about her in the media.”
Ore explained that he was not against the minister as a person but against her policies and management style, which threaten the sector. Specifically, Ore criticised the minister for the airport remodelling project she has embarked upon, saying it did not follow due process and that she was utilising funds meant for other purposes to execute it.
There was also bewilderment when Oduah cancelled the contract between FAAN and Maevis Nigeria Limited, its revenue generating concessionaire, at Lagos and Abuja airports. The cancellation was in disobedience of a presidential directive. Tunde Fagbemi, Maevis Managing Director, has insisted that his contract with FAAN was to last until 2017. Both parties are in court.
Oduah also drew the ire of Dr. Wale Babalakin when she began remodelling the General Aviation Terminal in Lagos in disobedience of a concession agreement between FAAN and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, builders and managers of the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2, MMA2. According the contract, all domestic airlines in Lagos should operate from MMA2. Oduah’s remodelling of the General Aviation Terminal is a direct hit on Babalakin, as Arik and other domestic airlines have been encouraged to give MMA 2 a wide berth.
At a press conference two weeks ago, NUATE and ATSSSAN identified ten areas in which they reckon that Oduah has failed. These, naturally, include the perceived lack of fairness in appointments.
The unions insisted that the new appointments have not followed due process and do not reflect federal character. “We have also observed that some unqualified elements are being decorated with the toga of General Managers without the prerequisite experience, expertise, skills and qualification as stipulated in the public service rules and or the subsisting conditions of service in the various agencies. To add insult to an already sore wound, the Minister of Aviation has approved that a graduate of four years, without any sense of public service duties, be made a General Manager,” the unions raged.
Another area of failure, according to the unions, could be noticed in Oduah’s creation of directorates, something she is said to have no power to do. “The minister does not have the authority and competence to create extra directorates without approval from the Office of the Head of Service. The new Directorate created in FAAN, for instance, is a breach of establishment laws and a contravention of the position of the Chief Executive of FAAN, who had once claimed that he does not require more than three hundred personnel at the FAAN headquarters even with six directorates, which are being indiscriminately increased to nine,” said the unions.
Oduah has also been accused of meddlesomeness in the day to day running of the agencies, which are allegedly run according to her own rules. “How else can one describe the ongoing remodelling of our airports without following due process; where contractors are unknown; where nobody knows the costs of such gigantic projects; whereby FAAN which is supposed to supervise and grant necessary approvals for work done is nowhere near the projects; and where NAMA, which has no business in the so called re-modelling, is involved in paying as much as over N200 million as custom duties for items for the remodeling of our airports?” the groups asked.
The groups reckon that their criticism of the minister has placed them firmly in her gunsights and she is itching to shoot. “The minister has begun the unholy process of collating and collecting names of union leaders at the branch and national levels for possible transfers, dismissals and or retrenchment,” they alleged.
Similarly slammed on Oduah is that accusation of failure to assist aviation agencies to collect their debts from airlines. “It is necessary to ask the minister what efforts she has made to effect the collection of outstanding indebtedness of her agencies such as FAAN, NAMA and others, which can barely pay staff salaries from airlines and or concessionaries, considering the precarious financial situation of agencies,” the unions said. They also wondered why FAAN and other agencies, which can barely pay staff salaries and promote staff or pay other statutory deductions, are being saddled with additional directorates created by the minister.
Before now, Oduah’s stay in office has hardly been plain sailing. After the initial flourish of the airport remodelling exercise, the aviation sector was hit by a series of problems, not exactly created by her. In May, the price of aviation fuel soared to N190 per litre, a development that strangulated domestic airlines. Of the nine airlines in business, three (Midwest, Chanchangi and Associated Airlines) gave up the ghost on account of huge debts. Those that survived–Arik Air, Aero Contractors, IRS Airlines, Overland Airways, Dana Air and Air Nigeria–kept gasping. Things grew worse. Currently, only four commercial airlines remain in the skies and most of them owe tonnes of debts to aviation agencies, foreign and local banks as well as the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON.
Last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, barred the top two airlines from receiving any additional loans over their massive outstanding debts. Arik Air, the nation’s top carrier owes AMCON more than $534 million, according to the CBN, while Aero Contractors, owes more than $203 million to the state-run company.
Ugo Okoroafor, a Central Bank spokesman, warned that any bank that goes against the CBN directive on the airlines would face serious sanctions.
Though he acknowledged the difficulties in the industry, he said the bank can no longer allow massive debts to pile up on the nation’s banks and threaten the financial market.
“Adverse consequences exist for people who take part in such unhealthy acts,” Okoroafor warned. In August, the scale of decay was further exposed in the report by an investigative panel, set up after the 3 June crash of a Dana Air plane, by the Ministry of Aviation.The panel concluded that the country’s aviation sector is in such a bad shape that only a state of emergency could prevent its total collapse.
Group Captain John Obakpolor (retd.), who headed the panel, said the sector would need at least N500billion to survive.
“At the end of its deliberations, the committee came up with 59 findings and 41 recommendations, in line with the terms of reference. The federal government should immediately declare an emergency in the aviation sector and commence implementation of the Aviation Safety Emergency Programme,” Obakpolor said.
He added that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, should ensure that airline operators are put under closer surveillance. “Maintenance actions carried out by operators, if not routine, should always be queried to establish what necessitated the maintenance action and ensure the continuous proper use of the technical logbook,” he said. The crash that provoked the probe attracted public anger to Oduah, who was accused of insensitivity when she restored the licence of the airline when the bodies its 163 victims were yet to be buried because of delay in the identification process.
There was also bewilderment when Oduah cancelled the contract between FAAN and Maevis Nigeria Limited, its revenue generating concessionaire at Lagos and Abuja airports. The cancellation was in disobedience of a presidential directive. Tunde Fagbemi, Maevis Managing Director has insisted that his contract with FAAN was to last until 2017. Both parties are in court. Oduah also drew the Dr. Wale Babalakin when she began remodeling the General Aviation Terminal in Lagos in disobedience of a concession agreement between FAAN and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, builders and managers of the Murtala Muhammed Airport2, MMA2. According the contract, all domestic airlines in Lagos should operate from MMA2.
But Joe Obi, Special Assistant (Media) to Oduah, argued that the minister should be commended rather than condemned for what she has done in the ministry and dismisses allegations that she is pursuing an ethnic agenda. “I think the minister needs to be commended. There was no lopsidedness in terms of Federal Character in the appointments. Those within the agencies who merited promotion but were unduly stagnated by previous administrations have been promoted,” he told TheNEWS.
Obi described the dissent of the unions as “the traditional resistance to change and nothing more”.
 BusinessNews

College director dies in kidnappers’ den in Port Harcourt

One of the three persons abducted by unknown gunmen within the last nine days in Rivers has died in the kidnappers’ den.
The development came just as the State Commissioner for Power, Mr. Augustine Wokocha, regained his freedom.
The deceased identified as Dr. Richard Ihua-Maduenyi, was said to have taken ill and died as a result of his inability to get immediate medical attention.
Ihua-Maduenyi, who was the Director of Academic Planning and Statistics, Federal College of Education, Technical, Omoku; the State Commissioner for Power, Mr. Augustine Wokocha; and the College Librarian, Dr. R.F. Quadri had been kidnapped at different points across the state.
Our correspondent learnt that while the commissioner and Quadri were released on Saturday morning, Ihua-Maduenyi’s body had already been buried in a shallow grave by his abductors.
THE PUNCH learnt that an undisclosed sum of money was paid as ransom before Wokocha, who was kidnapped on October 13, 2012, was set free by his abductors last Friday night.
While a version of the story has it that Wokocha was shot on the leg by his abductors before his release, another account indicated that the commissioner was hale and hearty when he was released.
Those who regained their freedom were said to have narrated how the director of planning and statistics, Federal College of Education, Technical died after taking ill in the kidnappers’ den.
A source from Omoku, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said, “We leanrt that Ihua-Maduenyi took ill while in the kidnappers’ custody and died. His abductors later buried him in a shallow grave.
“The Commissioner for Power and the college chief librarian were released on Friday. It is not true that the commissioner was shot on the leg by his abductors. He was hale and hearty when he was set free.”
However, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Ndabawa, who confirmed the release of the commissioner, said he (Wokocha) regained freedom at about 7pm on Friday.
Ndabawa, however, declined comment on the said death of Ihua-Maduenyi.
 DailyPost

Armed robbers raid Church House in Ogun State killing three policemen

A 15-man robbery gang invaded the Apostolic Church Mission House, Ijemo-Agbadu area of Abeokuta, Ogun State this morning around 1.45am killing three policemen and injuring two others in an operation which latest for about 45mins.
It was learnt that the robbers acted on an information they got from an insider that a huge sum of money was kept in the Mission House.
The robbers gained access into the Mission House, destroyed the proof and ransacked the building.
A Police officer had disclosed that while the robbery operation was going on,the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the police got a distress call and raced to the scene led by 2 inspectors of police. It was reported that on sighting the policemen,the robbers engaged the police in a gun battle, thereby killing 3 policemen and injuring 2 others, adding that the 2 injured officers were receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Center Idi-aba,Abeokuta and the corpses of the three other policemen have been deposited at the morgue of the State Hospital, Sokenu, Abeokuta.
The Resident Pastor of the church, Pastor Jacob Adeotan said the bandits held the residents of the church hostage while the operation lasted.
He said “As you can see, they broke the burglary proof, gained access into many apartments before ransacking,” the pastor said. “They operated for about 45 minutes, and engaged in sporadic shooting when police patrol team arrived.”
The activities of the robbers caused many houses in the area to be riddled with bullets. Three vehicles parked on the roadside were also damaged with bullets. Some of the occupants of the church house said the attack was the third carried out by the robbers on the mission.
Ogun State Police Command Spokesperson,Muyiwa Adejobi confirmed the incident, adding that over 300 used bullet shells were recovered from the scene and said investigations are on to arrest the culprits.
He had appealed that anybody with useful information that can lead to the arrest of the bandits should do so.
The Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has reportedly visited the two admitted policemen at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta. He was accompanied by the Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye.

DailyPost

2015: It is unfair to say Igbo won’t rule Nigeria – Orji Kalu

As preparations heat up for the 2015 presidential election, former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has said that it would be unfair if the Igbos were not given the opportunity to preside over the affairs of the nation in 2015.
Apparently angry over a recent statement by some Northern elites that the Igbos should bury their presidency ambition; the vibrant politician voiced his conviction thus:
“We are not being fair when we say the North will not compromise. On June 12, 1993,Chief Moshood Abiola , a Yoruba, defeated Alhaji Bashir Tofa in his northern backyard. In 1999 they chose Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, another Yoruba. So, all things being equal, something similar will happen in 2015 in favour of the Igbo.”
Gone down memory lane, OUK as he’s fondly called by fans and admirers said there had been a close relationship between the north and east for years now. He said: “Four Igbo sons who affected the march of history-Dr.Nnamdi Azikiwe, generals Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, Emeka Ojukwu and Maj.Nzeogwu spoke fluent Hausa. Infact, Zik and Ojukwu were born in Zungeru. Ironsi appointed Lt.Col.Yakubu Gowon as Army Chief, late Alhaji Ahmadu Bello’s relation, Hamzat Ahmadu as Private Secretary, his escorts were led by Lt. William Walbe.
These were all Northerners. Ojukwu’s driver as Battalion Commander was Yusuf Azi, Gowon’s kinsman, his orderly, Abdulkadir Kanabe was Hausa. Nzeogwu was known as Kaduna,” the ex-governor revealed.
The North also showed some regards. In his words: “Although Nzeogwu killed the Premier of the Northern region in the January 15,1966 coup, when the former died on the Biafran side during the war, Gen. Gowon made sure his remains were flown to Kaduna for full military honours at the Cemetery. Even Second Lt. Emeka Omeruah, one of the subalterns ordered by Nzeogwu to storm the Sarduana’s house and who fought for Biafra as an Army Colonel, found his way back to the Nigeria Air-Force later, where he rose to be minister under three Northern Generals, Muhammadu Buhari, Sani Abacha and Abdusalami Abubakar respectively and governor under General Ibrahim Babangida.
His younger brother, Paul Omeruah was also governor under Abacha.”
Speaking futher, the Igbere-born political stalwart said: “There is no present Northern leader who does not feel at home in Igboland. Babangida’s father-in-law Ogbueshi Leo Okogwu was a wealthy Asaba Chief who married Hajia Asabe Mohammed, King of Minna, Maryam’s mother and aunt to Gen.Garba Duba. Gen. Ike Nwachukwu’s maternal home is in the Katsina Emir’s palace, Brig.Alabi Isama’s Kwale father married the sister of the Emir of Ilorin. Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, Adm.Murtala Nyako have Igbo wives.
The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Jude Agbaso and General Buba Marwa are in-laws. Yes,we can sit down to agree on equity.”

DailyPost

Fallout of Ondo Polls: We are proud of Akeredolu – ACN

Despite the recent defeat of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, (SAN), the gubernatorial candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN), in the just concluded Ondo State’s elections, the National Chairman of the party,Mr Bisi Akande has revealed that they were still proud of its candidate, notwithstanding the result of the poll.

According to Akande in a communiqué, the leading opposition party, ACN will continue to stay strongly behind its candidate and electorates.

The statement reads in part: “Our party has always been and remains proud of our candidate, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, (SAN), and this election has reinforced our confidence in his ability to lead and stimulate interest in the Action Congress of Nigeria in Ondo State.

“Through him, our party will continue to express gratitude to the leadership and members of our party and to the electorate of Ondo State in general.

“We are glad that they performed brilliantly in spite of many challenges, glaring lapses in the system and institutional inefficiency in the conduct of Ondo State governorship election.

“As a party of democrats, we in the Action Congress of Nigeria have always known that the choice of who governs has always been that of the people in situations where the electoral process is transparent and credible.

“Therefore, all politicians worthy of their salt must always expect victory or defeat. We recognise that it is the sovereign right of the people to decide what kind of government they want.

“This is the challenge of democracy. Our party believes that there was and still is need for change in Ondo State.

“Thus, our party will study carefully the general details of the results with a view to taking a final position,” it added.

DailyPost

Kehinde Adeyemi: 10 all time funny questions National Youth Corpers ask

23:27 hrs, Sunday October 6th. It’s barely two weeks to POP (Batch C, 2011) and as i lay recuperating from a Malaria bout, i caught myself reminiscing about my Service year. I thought about this unique and habitual questions Corp members always play around with. On average, ten out of every ten Corpers find themselves either asking or being asked one of these questions.
Honestly I perceive all the questions relevant. Some are hilarious too! Let’s see them.
Did you work/ ‘runs’ your service?
Ahah! If you get to serve in a choice region such as FCT (Abuja), Ogun (Abeokuta), Rivers (Portharcourt) or Lagos, you most likely find yourself not been asked but, accused of this! Yes Corpers do influence their service region postings! Infact there exist internal ‘runsing’ which is in-state posting to favorable regions. Three phenomenons with respect to this never seize to amaze me; how Corpers pay as much as #100, 000, or some Ladies sleep with men to get this done even when they get told straight up results aren’t guaranteed?, how this rather illegal business thrives, craftfully evading the law? And the unexplainably hilarious ‘hand of God and Leg of man’ mechanism behind its working principle! Corpers influence their postings for reasons ranging from Security/ health to increased cash flow (states like Lagos and Rivers pay additional Corp-rated mouth watering allowance sums other than that paid by the FG. FCT doesn’t pay but, it is ABUJA now!)
Will you/ did you Re-deploy?
Obviously, I suppose the most annoying situation any youth corp member might get to face is dealing with deployment to a state with significant unrest! Even more annoying is the question of why authorities post this way yet permit Corpers to be subjected to the extra stress of Re-deployment. Why not just avoid deployment to such states straight up? Honestly, youth corp members do not perceive ‘service to their beloved’ nation as exposure of lives to rather avoidable risk! It is said too that desperate Corp members whose ‘runsing’ efforts fail to yield results at the initial stage often give it a second shot at Re-deployment for every possible contortable reason.
When is PC submission?
Once every week Corp members are mandated to present themselves for participation in CDS and once every month, the Performance Clearance (PC, which confirms service at PPA) must be submitted otherwise, ‘Alawi’ may be forfeited! Corp members dread this ofcourse so, a hidden rule every smart Corp member knows to obey is this; ‘other CD days thou mayest miss but, thou shalt not be absent on PC submission day’. Even the perpetual absentees from CDS are smart enough to obey this rule!
Have you gotten alert?
For 12 months, Corpers must serve, and for 12 months also, deserving Corpers must be paid! If you are yet to serve, I must let you know that ‘Alawi’ business is serious business. Ever since the FG thought to increase the Youth Corp allowance from #9,800 to the current #19, 800, Corp members have been ‘like them that dreamt’ because this seemingly small amount is usually a life saver for many of them especially ones having to deal with unsubsidized high costs of living. The non timely receipt of monthly payment, especially when delayed, usually will tend towards ‘disaster’ or what I call ‘civil unrest’. The pidgin version of this question is most common though; ‘you don see alert’? If rated, this question would easily pass for the most asked.
What’s your PPA?
PPA means Place of Primary Assignment, that is the firm or Organization a Corper gets to serve in. Yes many corp members ‘runs’/ influence this too! I do not know why they ask this question but who doesn’t want to serve in a big, well paying organization; Oil companies, top Banks, National Assembly or even the State house? Job security, connection and increased Cash inflow top the reasons why they seek choice PPAs, very few or close to none have self development opportunities or true service as motivation for this.
How much are they paying?
Very funny! I really don’t know the morale behind this very question too but I guess Corpers consiously or subconciously rate themselves pay-status wise when they ask this question. You most likely are tagged ‘big boy’ or ‘gurl’ if your monthly pay by your PPA exceeds the #30, 000 mark. Guys claim it gives them the edge with the Ladies too. Don’t bother asking me, I don’t know how true the claim is!
Are they retaining you?
If you are a youth corp member reading this, you may have noticed the rather subtle apprehension on the face of colleagues when they ask this question? Its amazing the almost predictable ‘WOW’ expression that proceeds from the Questioner when one declares a confirmed retentionship status in a ‘big’ firm. Feelings of hope are heightened when PPA retentionship is guaranteed and others will usually see the need to secure theirs too. This question is most common towards end of service year.
What Batch are you?
When you do something unique, you betray this question! ‘Unique’ would range from ‘odd’ to ‘superb’. Everyone immediately knows you are a fresh ‘Otondo’ when you go to CDS in Jungle boots with NYSC crested vest tucked into Khaki trousers and this in turn tucked into your green-white stockings. You are the ideal ‘Otondo’! Chances are if you engage a project commanding state or national attention, fellow corpers get inspired and want to know your batch too.
What’s your CD group?
CDS stands for Community Development Service. Believe me; I don’t get the fascination with this question. Corpers just always want to know. Whether it’s the all too disciplined over-active MDGs or the less strict Sanitation or EFCC, CD activities may tell colleagues of your CD day engagement schedule or even potential employers whether or not to demand presence at work after CDS.
When is POP?
Yes o! Never have I come across a corp member who desires a second service term! This question is most relevant to the latest batch due for Passing out Parade (POP) and usually poised by same. From successful Certificates collection to post NYSC employment prospects, they always look forward to it. Many believe indeed that gone are the days when the NYSC scheme was a thing of pride. Anyways, it is true that anything that has a known beginning logically should have a known end so, why not service year too?
Corpers We! I hail thee!!
DailyPost

Edo election tribunal and Nigeria’s judiciary-less judiciary (3)

UNLESS further events compel me to have a re-think and a review of proceedings, this is the last part of the subject-matter under focus. And it is my wish to hop-step-and-jump to the post-election-rigging phase which I adumbrated earlier in the first two parts. I am skipping, deliberately, the second phase of election-in-progress-rigging, which is part of the petition of the General which the tribunal is yet to hear and rule on in favour of or against either party.
But before I dwell on the last phase of election-rigging, Nigerian style, I must compel readers to go back a little time and recall the case and matter of “Toronto” Salau Buhari, a once-upon-a-time Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives during the first term of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency. When Mallam or Alhaji Buhari “Torontoed” the PDP and Nigeria and became, unlawfully, the Speaker of Parliament of the central legislators, he did the rightly and honourably wonderful thing by quitting his endearing post. Today he is in a political limbo, but I must continue to remember him and President Obasanjo for the timely display of the needful thing, the needful honour of resignation, rather than dragging the matter of the allegation to needless legal acts of gymnastics. President Obasanjo was sympathetic then to the cause and course of honour, and allowed “Toronto” Buhari to go. Clearly, the General and President from Owuland proved to Nigerians that he and the “Toronto” Speaker were not (and still are not) eiusdem farinae (“birds of a feather”).
One would expect the political advisers, friends, executive cabinet members of the Edo State Government and House of Assembly and leaders of the ACN, locally and nationally, to prevail on the Comrade- Governor to throw in the towel if truly their gubernatorial candidate did not, before the last gubernatorial election, possess the requisite and pertinent academic qualification and certificate allowed for the post of Governor. It is needless stubbornly to drag the case.
The tax payers of Edo State who are suffering from the pangs and pains of excessive and over-burdened taxation should be saved the further burden of allowing their money to be wasted on needless litigation. Or is the erstwhile Labour hero and model wasting his own money to prosecute the case? In any case, my simple advice to the inner circle and torch-bearers of ACN is to look at the proof (ecce signum) and take appropriate steps in the interest of righteous justice on behalf of the good and over-taxed workers and people of Edo State. They should not allow the petition of alleged certificate forgery against Mr. Adams Aliyu (or Aliu) Oshiomhole to go the full distance. Or they have absolute faith and confidence (fide et fiducia), for obvious reasons, on Nigeria’s judiciary-less judiciary?
Those who of late have seen the Governor ceaselessly on television have wondered if the amiable orator ever again rouse to positive action students, hawkers and Okada-riders, many of whom are genuinely academically certificated?  And I wonder how students and academics in Edo State’s tertiary institutions are feeling now. The remover and appointer of Vice-Chancellors is truly in the news!  Fiat lux (“Let there be light”) of righteous justice in Edo State, after all said and done.
Will Nigeria’s judiciary-less judiciary allow it? We all who were grown up and sensible enough in 1979 still remember vividly the electoral, or, better put, the post-electoral math of twelve-two-third that rigged Chief Obafemi Awolowo, diabolically, out of the Presidency. Some legal pundits have informed me that, that Supreme Court’s ruling or judgment is not citable in the annals of Nigeria’s jurisprudence maybe primarily on account of its indefensible jurisprudential logic. Recently, the late President Musa Yar’Adua faulted the electoral irregularities that won him the Presidency. But our judiciary-less judiciary gave consent to them. What I am trying to say, and in fact saying, is that our judiciary, the supposed bastion of our righteous justice has, over time, been turned into an instrument of post-election-rigging in Nigeria. By the way, why truly is Justice Salami suffering what he is suffering today? This question shall remain answer-less pro tempore because it is still sensitively hot in court. And I don’t wish to have any hot bath in the hot river of contempt which our judiciary-less judiciary may wish for me. Yet, we must state and re-state it that our judiciary, our expected Fidei Defensor (“Defender of the Faith”) of justice in the land has disappointed us time after time on matters of electoral justice.
At few weeks back, a SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) who, as we say, did not catch a glimpse of my brake-light in college, I mean secondary school, informed me with great and lawful glee that he is a conqueror of money. He, according to him, at the time he broached the subject, had made above N300m on prosecuting election matters. He said this amount was even small when placed side by side other lawyers and SANs (I am withholding their names) who had made more than billions of naira on election cases. Of course, some of the judges who are aware of what the lawyers make, millions- and billions–wise, and who deliver their rulings and judgments cannot be left out of this nice way of millions-or billions-making.
Many a judge obviously becomes a bosom pal (fides Achaetes) of an election petitioner or his/her opponent. He or she who cares, can research or investigate this claim or allegation as the EFCC is currently doing, I hear. But such a researcher or investigator must look to the end (finem respice) for such an irreversible research or investigation, like the current exercise I have embarked on by doing this series, is risky, very risky. He or she who cares must watch his or her back. But I say: fiat iustitia ruat caelcum (“let justice be done though the heavens fall”.).  We must say no to post-election-rigging via our judiciary-less judiciary.
O Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) of yester-years! How your party faithful and top echelon(s) sold you away! How they sold you away to your untoward end! How your victory was post-election rigged via your own men and people who connived with the gap-toothed master of dribbles and Nigeria’s judiciary-less judiciary to do you in!
In a way, Edo State’s PDP (and PDP national as well) are re-enacting the electoral pattern and joke of 1992 that unleashed today’s tragedies in our polity. If you disagree with this simple and humble averment, how do you sincerely, in your true Christian or Muslim or spiritual heart, explain the “Punic treachery” that is the lot of General Charles Airhiavbere today? Why the Punic war that his party has carried or is carrying on with him post-gubernatorial Edo State election? The General is obviously now bearing a double cross (fides Punica), but all men, all persons, including media practitioners of truth and decency must stand for light fide et amore (“by faith and love”). If you cannot, say nothing and send me no text messages or e-mails of abuse and insult of no consequence to my conviction that is ever ready to yield to a superior perspective. You simply must hold your tongue (Favete linguis). I conjure you.
The essay ends, but grant me the indulgence to ACKNOWLEDGE two remarkably pertinent text messages: (1) Sir, your articles on Edo gubernatorial election makes so much sense to the majority of Edo youths, elders and other well meaning Nigerians. Please I look forward to the concluding parts. Though I can’t afford papers daily, I have set aside money to buy Tribune on Mondays henceforth. Omoh Odihiri”; (2)” My big brother, Tony, your write-up about Edo tribunal is very right. God will bless you and your family. Amen +23480332535536.”
My thanks go to numerous others I cannot quote on this matter. I enjoyed your text messages and phone calls, even from detractors, who abused and insulted me for obvious reasons. It is not easy and funny to be a columnist. It is no joke at all - at all, at all, and at all.
Last lines: You can’t reach In and Out on phone for sometime. The penner is outside the shores of the Nigerian Tribune until further notice. But the penner’s lyre will not cease its notes. Thanks, readers dear for your understanding.
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