Opposition Parties to Meet Next Week over Merger Talks

 Dr Ogbonnaya Onu

Onyebuchi Ezigbo

Opposition party leaders involved in negotiations for a possible merger are scheduled to meet in Abuja on January 10 to consider lingering issues that could threaten their common goal to dethrone the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general election.

The planned meeting is coming just as the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has finally named a contact committee to represent it at the merger talks.
But the lingering crisis in the CPC may stall efforts by the leading opposition parties to present a united front against the PDP in the next general election.

Another internal crisis in the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) that might have threatened the party’s participation in the merger talks, it was gathered, has been resolved as both the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, have reconciled their differences.

A source at the merger talks told THISDAY yesterday that the contact committees of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), ANPP and CPC have agreed to meet in Abuja next week.

He said the meeting was being enlarged to include some members from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Labour Party (LP).
According to the source, one of the key issues to be discussed is the nomenclature of the proposed coalition party.

“The parties are to consider issues relating to party symbols, logo and manifesto. The committee will also try to harmonise positions on the move for a common opposition ideology which is considered as very critical to the success of the merger arrangement,” he said.

A leading member of ANPP and member of the party’s contact committee, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, had two weeks ago, said in Abuja that the opposition parties were striving to ensure that a new political party from the coalition talks emerges by March.

“Before March 2013, we are all going to reach an accord on this merger, that is the deadline for the coalition materialising. From all indications, the parties are looking forward to forming a totally new party where all the opposition parties will come together as one entity,” he said.

THISDAY gathered also that CPC, which in the recent past had became a clog in the merger process following a crisis of confidence in the party over whether to go ahead with the merger bid, has finally formed its contact committee.

The CPC committee is to be headed by a former Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Garba Gadi, who will replace the party’s national leader and former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), in the negotiations process.
In order to wriggle out of the power tussle, CPC had barred its leaders, including Buhari and all the members of the national executive committee from further participation in the merger negotiations.

The decision to keep notable leaders out of the merger talks is aimed at avoiding a clash of interests, which had jeopardised previous attempts at forming an opposition coalition.
The source explained that the choice of Gadi to head the CPC contact committee was based on his perceived neutrality in the internal politics of the party.

The merger bid had caused a crisis in the CPC owing to the emergence of influential power blocs within the party, each trying to outwit the other.

Among the power blocs that engaged in the tussle for control of the party machinery include the one led by Tony Momoh, the party’s national chairman; one loyal to the National Secretary, Alhaji Buba Galadima; and the third one comprising new entrants and foot soldiers of a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasiru el-Rufai.

Yet another force is the splinter group made up of former national officers of the party, led by Senator Rufai Hanga, who are opposed to the present leadership of the party and had taken the party to court over the issue.

THISDAY has also learnt that the Hanga faction has chosen to embark on  parallel negotiations with the ACN and ANPP.

The Hanga faction had hitherto opposed CPC’s participation in the merger talks because of its  legal action to unseat the Momoh-led National Executive Committee of the party.  

There will be a ruling on the court case  at the Abuja High Court on February 28 to decide which of the factions is de facto  leadership of the CPC.

Ahead of the court ruling, the Hanga faction said as the authentic representative of the party, it should be the only one to negotiate with others on any binding merger agreement.
Hanga told THISDAY on the phone yesterday that although they  support the merger talks, they would not allow the Momoh-led executive represent the CPC in the negotiations.

Hanga said as the pioneer chairman of CPC, he initiated the alliance talks with ACN as part of a strategy to win the 2011 presidential election, but the move was allegedly thwarted by some elements in the CPC that were opposed to the plan on selfish grounds.

He said: “In fact, the problem I had with Galadima and Sule Hamman before the last general election started when I supported the move for alliance with ACN and ANPP.
“I originated the plan for merger with other parties.

In fact, my group has been talking with ACN, ANPP and others but we are forming our own committee so that we can formally cement the negotiation.  We have been talking on the merger individually but   we now want to form a committee in order to formalise our discussions.

“We have the instrument that will facilitate the merger. We are in possession of the party registration certificate as well as the rightful mandate of the members of the party to go into alliance/merger with other parties. We are fighting because we want to get rid of the Momoh executive because they were the problems the party had.  They are illegal and cannot speak for CPC on the issue of merging with opposition parties.

“We do not want a repeat of the experience of 2011, that is why we are going for the merger, and we will not allow them to spoil things this time around. We will be represented by our own committee at the merger negotiations later in the month.”
On the group’s relationship with Buhari,  Hanga stated that the group was no longer contending with the Buhari factor.

“We are not in touch with Buhari right now because he is still going along with Buba who has been feeding him with the false state of affairs within the party. All we know is that a time will come when he will discover the deceit they are leading him  into, “ he added.
Hanga said Buhari and other party leaders have no choice but to embrace the merger plan as it appeared to be the only alternative for CPC to make an impact.

‘I think the idea of a merger is like a soft landing for most of them in the party since the dismal performance at the 2011 elections,” he said.

While the CPC is still grappling with internal crisis that could affect its negotiation in the merger bid, the ANPP has overcome the crisis that could have impaired its participation in the coalition talks.

ANPP’s involvement in the merger arrangement was said to have ignited a controversy during the last  BoT meeting when the move by Sheriff to have it stepped down was voted out by majority of the members.

However, speaking in a phone interview yesterday through his Special Assistant, Umar Duhu,  Sheriff said he was fully committed to the merger process.
The former governor of Borno State dismissed insinuations that he had been a PDP mole in ANPP, saying he remained a loyal party man, “fully committed to the ideals of the party and the popular desire to see to the successful emergence an opposition alliance.”

Sheriff also said he has been in touch with the head of the ANPP’s contact committee, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, and is monitoring the progress in the merger talks.

ThisDay

Gov Wada Returns to Office

As top government functionaries and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwarts trooped to the Government House, Lokoja to welcome back the Kogi State Governor, Captain Idris Wada, to office yesterday, he said nothing will deter him from pursuing his transformation agenda to a logical conclusion.
Wada, who expressed satisfaction over the sympathy he received during his recent auto accident, thanked God and concerned Nigerians for the show of love.
Related News: Gov Wada Discharged From Hospital
His words: “As you are no doubt aware, my convoy was involved in a ghastly accident, probably occasioned by a tyre burst, 12 kilometres to Lokoja on Friday, 28 December, 2012.
“The accident, unfortunately claimed the life of my Aide-De-Camp (ADC), Alhaji Mohammed Idris, whom we shall sorely miss.
“The death of that young, promising and dutiful officer of the Nigeria Police Force is an incredible personal grief and sorrow to me, which I find very difficult to put up with.
“I pray Allah to grant him eternal rest in perfect peace.
“May I seize this opportunity to convey my heartfelt sympathy to his immediate family and colleagues for this exceptional loss.
“My heart goes out to you all and may God console your grieving hearts.
“I assure you that government will take necessary steps to ensure that the services he rendered in which he died actively will not go unnoticed.”
Wada thanked the Federal Government, particularly President Goodluck Jonathan, Dangote Group, corporate organisations, philanthropists and all those who stood by and supported him during his moment of grief.
He assured them and others that his administration had resolved that 2013 would see the visible implementation of his transformation agenda to move Kogi State to where it ought to be.
He said: “My dearly beloved people of Kogi State, in celebrating the New Year, let us all rededicate our efforts in building a strong and united Kogi State, where patriotism supercedes selfish and ethnic interests, where dedication replaces non-chalant attitude and where commitment to the state’s development becomes our pre-occupation.
“With God’s help and determination of every one of us, we are sure to get there.
“I make bold to say that nothing shall deter us from reaching our goal, just as we remain very focused.”
Naij

Zainab Suleiman Okino: VIPs’ Health Crisis And Kogi Example

When the Kogi state governor, Captain Idris Wada, was involved in a car crash on Friday, December 28, 2012, Nigerians expected the worst in many forms. He could be dead or in a critical situation. Whatever it was, Nigerians were (almost) unanimous and certain about one thing: his situation might not be managed properly, media wise that is, going by previous occurences. And you can’t blame Nigerians for their cynicism; they have seen so much of such dishonesty to expect anything less.
In sickness, in death and in governance, everything is a subject of speculations. This is how the nation is run until… Yes, the country is run on speculations, the media speculate too. And you can’t blame us.  Nobody knows what the country earns, spends or not spend.  The affairs of the men in (of) power, even personal, are official secrets. What they do and or do not do and how their actions or inactions affect us—positively (?) or negatively are all shrouded in secrecy. Governance is synonymous to how cult activities are run. It’s like a closet affair. It’s mystery all the way and those in government are deified. There is no limit to their secrecy even when the health of public officials is affected. You should, therefore, absolve Nigerians of blame when they expected a huge cover up in the Wada accident case.
However, this time, we were pleasantly surprised when the managers of information about the accident and other officials came clean  with the governor’s progress after the near-fatal crash For the first time in the recent history of tragedies associated with big men in this country, the governor’s media men were on hand to feed the prying eyes of the public. On the first day, they told the public what caused the accident and the governor’s condition. Jacob Edi, the governor’s special adviser on media and publicity, told the media that”the crash was caused by a burst tyre, but we thank God the governor was in a stable condition”  Richard Elesho, his “chief press secretary also confirmed  to journalists that the governor is not dead”. They went beyond this initial clarification to further elucidate on the progress of the governor.
As it is done in other climes, within 24 hours of his (governor) being moved to Abuja, a joint press conference between the hospital management and Kogi state officials represented by Jacob Edi, was organised to shed more light on the issue. The chief medical director of Cedercrest Specialist Hospital, Dr Felix Ogedengbe, at the press conference gave graphic details of what was going on. He disclosed that the governor is back on his feet after undergoing surgery on his fractured thigh, though the accident was a major one. “He is doing very well and not in a condition where his life is threatened”.  Side by side with the SA, the MD explained that the
hospital has the capacity to handle the case and advised the governor accordingly, who on his part agreed to be treated back home instead of being flown abroad. “We received the governor into our care… and explained his injury and the fact that we have the capacity to treat him here as can be done anywhere  in the world. He immediately agreed to have full treatment here. He isn’t that kind of person that will say I don’t care what you can do; I want to be flown to anywhere else in the world…” Still at the press conference, Jacob Edi told of his interaction which further gave credence to the governor’s condition.  These strings of information ended all speculations until full recuperation manifested.
Their effort is unprecedented and remarkable and kudos must be given to the victim, the governor, the medical team that counselled him and the media team that went public with available information on the case. Cedercrest is a specialist hospital I know very well because I go there. Revelations from my enquiries on the matter also corroborated the information in the public domain. When I called Jacob Edi on Sunday, it was not just to commiserate with him; I commended him for his handling of the issue. As someone from the state, I felt hugely proud of him; we belong to the same pen confraternity and he was my colleague in The Sun. Elesho on the other hand has been on the governor’s media team since Governor Ibrahim Idris’s first tenure. He was a former staff of the The News magazine, and he must be discharging his
duties creditably to have been retained by Idris the second time and now Wada.  In contrast to the constitutional crises being created by the absence, incapacitation and ill-health of governors elswhere, the Kogi example is exemplary and will sure set the standard on the ideal way of doing things instead of the political chicanery of shielding a sick governor, in the interest of a few smart political actors.
This is surprising considering the consequences of the action of the men of yesteryears who also played politics with their principals’ health, the most famous being Yar’Adua’s health and death. It would take a miracle for those actors to ever bounce back to power or to be trusted with public office any more. In the absence of a bed-ridden Danbaba Suntai, in Taraba, I understand the SSG, chief of staff and the commissioner of information call the shots in contrast with the functions of the acting governor, who has been reduced to a figure head. The same thing applies in Enugu state, where the acting governor recently  showed up during the state’s budget speech, while the powerful guys remained behind to dictate to him. There is, however, a limit to the exercise of illegitimate powers. From Enugu to Taraba and, to some extent, Cross River, I can only wish these ambitious men wearing ‘borrowed’ crowns, a long reign on shaky thrones. But with the Kogi model, all hope is not lost after all.
DailyPost

Rice Dealers Raise alarm over Circulation of Poor Quality Rice in the Country

Rice Millers, Processors and Dealers Association of Nigeria have alerted Nigerians that poor quality rice has been smuggled into the Nigerian market. The Vice-Chairman, RIMDAN, Mr. Tunji Owoeye, expressed the association’s concerns over the poor quality of the commodity currently in the market, linking the development to the nation’s porous borders.
Owoeye made this known at a press briefing in Lagos, saying that the situation was impacting negatively on the health of the nation’s citizenry. He stressed the need for the government to urgently address the issue of smuggling through the land borders.
According to him, this is because smuggling activities will spell doom for the country’s rice value chain. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Owoeye as saying, “If you follow the trend in the industry in the last six months, the government has increased duties to discourage importation in order to boost local production.
His words: “We support the government’s initiative, but as we increase levies and taxes, it gives the smugglers more room to operate, especially through the corridors of the Republic of Benin.”
InformationNigeria

Police Arrest Man Who Allegedly Butchered Wife

Men of the Rivers State Police Command have arrested a man who allegedly butchered his wife at Ikata community, Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state.
Disclosing this to newsmen in Port Harcourt, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Mohammed Nndabawa said nine suspected cultists have also been arrested.
Nndabawa said the suspect, Mr. Udeh Sabastine, allegedly killed his wife, Abigail Sabastine, at 4 am, yesterday, after a disagreement, while the nine cultists were also picked up in Ahoada East Local Government Area, adding that they had unleashed terror at Ochiyba community in the area before security men swooped on them.
“It is, therefore, in this spirit of renewed vigour to stamp out criminality that the Rivers State Police Command effectively brought under control, an ugly incident that threatened the peace in a community in Ahoada.
“At 11.30pm, information was received that cult men had invaded and unleashed terror on Ochiyba community in Ahoada-East council of the state, destroying many property and in the process killing one person.
“Policemen from Ahoada Area Command, assisted by men of Joint Task Force, JTF, swiftly mobilised and cordoned off the area,” he said.
Nndabawa said investigation into the death of Abigail Sabastine has commenced fully while her husband who allegedly kill her remain in custody. Details of the police’s progress in their investigation he said will be made available in due course.
InformationNigeria

Opinion: Nigeria where every problem is too hard to fix

inShare

by Gwynne Dyer

But it is the Government that raises, trains and pays these security forces, and even in a continent where many countries have problems with the professionalism of the army and police, Nigeria’s are in a class by themselves.

It is not known if the word “dysfunctional” was invented specifically to describe the Nigerian state – several other candidates also come to mind – but the word certainly fills the bill.
The political institutions of Africa’s biggest country are incapable of dealing with even the smallest challenge. Indeed, they often make matters worse.
Consider, for example, the way that the Nigerian Government has dealt with the Islamist terrorists of Boko Haram.
Or rather, how it has failed to deal with them. Boko Haram (the phrase means “Western education is sinful”) began as a loony but not very dangerous group in the northern state of Borno who rejected everything that they perceived as “Western” science.
In a BBC interview in 2009 its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, claimed that the concept of a spherical Earth is against Islamic teaching. He also denied that rain came from water evaporated by the sun.
Borno is a very poor state, however, and his preaching gave him enough of a following among the poor and ignorant to make him a political threat to the established order. So hundreds of his followers were killed in a huge military and police attack on the movement in 2009, and Mohammed Yusuf himself was murdered while in police custody.
That was what triggered Boko Haram’s terrorist campaign.
Its attacks grew rapidly: by early last year Boko Haram had killed 700 people in dozens of attacks against military, police, government and media organisations and against the Christian minorities living in northern Nigeria. So last March Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan, promised that the security forces would end the insurgency by June. But the death toll just kept climbing.
In September, an official told the Guardian newspaper, “There is no sense that the Government has a real grip. The situation is not remotely under control.”
Last week alone, six people died in an attack on a church on Christmas Day, seven were killed in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, on December 27 and 15 Christians were abducted and murdered, mostly by slitting their throats, in a town near Maiduguri on December 28.
President Jonathan’s response was to visit a Christian church on Sunday and congratulate the security forces on preventing many more attacks during Christmas week: “Although we still recorded some incidents, the extent of attacks which [Boko Haram] planned was not allowed to be executed.”
If this is what success looks like, Nigeria is in very deep trouble.

President Jonathan’s response was to visit a Christian church on Sunday and congratulate the security forces on preventing many more attacks during Christmas week: “Although we still recorded some incidents, the extent of attacks which [Boko Haram] planned was not allowed to be executed.
If this is what success looks like, Nigeria is in very deep trouble.

Part of the reason is the “security forces”, which are corrupt, incompetent, and brutal. In the murderous rampages that are their common response to Boko Haram’s attacks, they have probably killed more innocent people than the terrorists, and have certainly stolen more property.
But it is the Government that raises, trains and pays these security forces, and even in a continent where many countries have problems with the professionalism of the army and police, Nigeria’s are in a class by themselves. That is ultimately because its politicians are also in a class by themselves. There are some honest and serious men and women among them, but as a group they are spectacularly cynical and self-serving.
One reason is Nigeria’s oil: 100 million Nigerians, two-thirds of the population, live on less than a dollar a day, but there is a lot of oil money around to steal, and politics is the best way to steal it.
Another is the country’s tribal, regional and religious divisions, which are extreme even by African standards. In the mainly Muslim north, 70 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line; in the mostly Christian south, only half do.
Now add a ruthless Islamist terrorist group to the mix, and stir. Boko Haram’s support does not just come from a tiny minority of religious fanatics and from grieving and angry people turned against the Government by the brutality of the security forces. It also comes from a huge pool of unemployed and demoralised young men who have no hope of doing anything meaningful with their lives.
Democracy has not transformed politics dramatically anywhere in Nigeria, but the deficit is worst in the north, where the traditional rulers protected their power by making alliances with politicians who appealed to the population’s Islamic sentiments.
That’s why all the northern states introduced sharia law around the turn of the century: to stave off popular demands for more far-reaching reforms.
But that solution is now failing, for the cynical politicians who became Islamist merely for tactical reasons are being outflanked by genuine fanatics who reject not only science and religious freedom but democracy itself.
Nigeria only has an Islamist terrorist problem at the moment, mostly centred in the north and with sporadic attacks in the Christian-majority parts of the country. But it may be heading down the road recently taken by Mali, in which Islamist extremists seize control of the north of the country and divide it in two. And lots of people in the south wouldn’t mind a bit. Just seal the new border and forget about the north.
YNaija.com

Fayemi Gets ACN’s Nomination For Ekiti Governorship Election

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ekiti State has nominated incumbent governor of the state, Mr Kayode Fayemi as its candidate for the 2014 governorship election in the state.
The declaration of Kayode Fayemi as the candidate was made at a general meeting of the party at the country home of former governor of Ekiti state, Niyi Adebayo at Iyin Ekiti.
The former governor said he is solidly behind Dr. Fayemi in the forthcoming election scheduled for 2014.
Mr Adebayo added that it was a unanimous decision of the party leadership as he further solicits the support of every indigene of Ekiti state for the party’s candidate.
Mr Kayode Fayemi ran for the Ekiti State governorship election in the 2007 elections on the platform of the ACN but the People’s Democratic party PDP’s candidate, Mr Olusegun Oni was declared winner.
But after a three and a half years legal tussle the Appeal Court on the 15th of October, 2010 declared Mr Kayode Fayemi, the duly elected Governor of Ekiti State.
Naijaurban