PDP sacks Obasanjo’s loyalists

 by Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja and Segun Olatunji, Abeokuta 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

Loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo were on Friday removed from office by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Those sacked from office were the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha, and the National Vice-Chairman (South-West) Mr. Segun Oni.

In Ogun State, the national leadership also sacked the Obasanjo-backed executive led by Senator Dipo Odujinrin.

The decision to remove these officers were taken at the meeting held in Abuja on Thursday by members of the National Working Committee.

The meeting was presided over by the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Mustapha, an ally of Obasanjo, was replaced with Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju.

A statement signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the party took the decision on the affected officers following series of suits on the congress that brought them to office.

The statement said, “Following protracted dispute on the Ogun State and south West Zonal Exco of the Party, a series of suits were filed on the matter, amongst which include FHC/L/CS/1248/2011, FHC/L/CS/282/2012 and FHC/L/CS/347/2012

“That Chief Bode Mustapha is removed from office as the National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“That Alhaji Fatai Adewole Adeyanju is the validly elected National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“That the Peoples Democratic Party is to rectify its records by deleting the name of Chief Bode Mustapha as National Auditor and replacing the same with Alhaji Fatai Adewole Adeyanju.

“That the South-West Zonal Congress of the Peoples Democratic Party conducted in March 2012 is nullified.

“That the Executive Committee constituted for the PDP in Ogun State at congresses conducted by the Bashorun Dayo Soremi led harmonised Executive Committee for the wards, local governments and in the state in March 2012 are valid Exco of the Party at the various levels in Ogun State and are entitled to their 4-year  tenure.

“That the PDP is to organise a fresh South-West Zonal Congress at which access is to be given to delegates elected at congresses conducted by or under the supervision of the Soremi-led Ogun State Executive and accept the candidacy, for offices zoned to Ogun State, of only the persons nominated at the said congresses for the said offices.

“The National working Committee of the Party met on 14th February 2013 and gave careful consideration to the issues and decided that, in line with respect to the rule of law which is a cardinal principle of the present administration, the PDP as a law abiding party, will immediately comply with the said judgment.

“This is all the more so that same has not been set aside or reversed by any superior court.”

At the Ogun State PDP congress conducted by Soremi, Mr. Bayo Dayo, had emerged as the party chairman.

Dayo is being supported by  businessman, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, while Obasanjo is backing Odujinrin-led executive.

With the decision to party to embark on fresh congress in the zone, it may have sealed the dream of the sacked National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to return to office.

Oyinlola was removed from office by an Abuja Federal High Court based on the faulty congress.

But the former governor of Osun State is at the Court of Appeal contesting the decision of the lower court.

In a separate statement, Metuh said the party had constituted a 17-member committee headed by Chief Ishola Filani to run the South-West zonal chapter.

The members are Chief Pegba Otemolu, Secretary; Adedeji Doherty, Organising Secretary; Rasak Akanni, Auditor; Bolaji Jeje, Youth Leader; Orimolade Olanrewaju, Treasurer; Olawunmi Yuba, Woman Leader; Banji Obasanmi, Financial Secretary and Shola Oludipe, Legal Adviser.

Others are Lawal Olatunde, Publicity Secretary; Emmanuel Oladejo, Olalekan Abubakar, Seun Adesanya, Samiu Babatunde, Tope Ademiluyi; Tunde Olowofoyeku and Omoniyi Alo (all ex-officio).

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Ogun State Executive of the PDP, Chief Adebayo Dayo, has described the decision as “a victory for the rule of law.”

But the Obasanjo faction denied any knowledge of the action.

Dayo said on the  telephone that he would immediately start the moves to reconcile all the estranged members of Ogun PDP.

He also said he had received a letter from the PDP National Secretariat directing the police in the state to re-open its state secretariat closed at the height of the crisis in the state chapter.

Dayo said, “The situation is that for a very long time, dictatorship has been reigning in so many areas, not only in our party but all over Nigeria. But this time around our party sat down, we had a lot of deliberations and they decided that the only way out is to have a very clean party by following the rule of law. So, the rule of law has prevailed. Our party does not want any imposition. We want to have a very clean internal democracy. That is what is happening now.

The Publicity Secretary of the Odujinrin-led faction, Mr. Bidemi Osunbiyi, told our correspondent on the phone that he was not aware that his group had been sacked by the PDP National Secretariat.

Osunbiyi promised to get back to our correspondent but as at the time of filing this report he had yet to do so.

“I’m not aware, please I will call you back,” he hurriedly said.

Several calls to his phone were also not answered.

February 16, 2013 by Olusola Fabiyi, Abuja and Segun Olatunji, Abeokuta 9 Comments

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

Loyalists of former President Olusegun Obasanjo were on Friday removed from office by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Those sacked from office were the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha, and the National Vice-Chairman (South-West) Mr. Segun Oni.

In Ogun State, the national leadership also sacked the Obasanjo-backed executive led by Senator Dipo Odujinrin.

The decision to remove these officers were taken at the meeting held in Abuja on Thursday by members of the National Working Committee.

The meeting was presided over by the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Mustapha, an ally of Obasanjo, was replaced with Alhaji Fatai Adeyanju.

A statement signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the party took the decision on the affected officers following series of suits on the congress that brought them to office.

The statement said, “Following protracted dispute on the Ogun State and south West Zonal Exco of the Party, a series of suits were filed on the matter, amongst which include FHC/L/CS/1248/2011, FHC/L/CS/282/2012 and FHC/L/CS/347/2012

“That Chief Bode Mustapha is removed from office as the National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“That Alhaji Fatai Adewole Adeyanju is the validly elected National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“That the Peoples Democratic Party is to rectify its records by deleting the name of Chief Bode Mustapha as National Auditor and replacing the same with Alhaji Fatai Adewole Adeyanju.

“That the South-West Zonal Congress of the Peoples Democratic Party conducted in March 2012 is nullified.

“That the Executive Committee constituted for the PDP in Ogun State at congresses conducted by the Bashorun Dayo Soremi led harmonised Executive Committee for the wards, local governments and in the state in March 2012 are valid Exco of the Party at the various levels in Ogun State and are entitled to their 4-year  tenure.

“That the PDP is to organise a fresh South-West Zonal Congress at which access is to be given to delegates elected at congresses conducted by or under the supervision of the Soremi-led Ogun State Executive and accept the candidacy, for offices zoned to Ogun State, of only the persons nominated at the said congresses for the said offices.

“The National working Committee of the Party met on 14th February 2013 and gave careful consideration to the issues and decided that, in line with respect to the rule of law which is a cardinal principle of the present administration, the PDP as a law abiding party, will immediately comply with the said judgment.

“This is all the more so that same has not been set aside or reversed by any superior court.”

At the Ogun State PDP congress conducted by Soremi, Mr. Bayo Dayo, had emerged as the party chairman.

Dayo is being supported by  businessman, Mr. Buruji Kashamu, while Obasanjo is backing Odujinrin-led executive.

With the decision to party to embark on fresh congress in the zone, it may have sealed the dream of the sacked National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, to return to office.

Oyinlola was removed from office by an Abuja Federal High Court based on the faulty congress.

But the former governor of Osun State is at the Court of Appeal contesting the decision of the lower court.

In a separate statement, Metuh said the party had constituted a 17-member committee headed by Chief Ishola Filani to run the South-West zonal chapter.

The members are Chief Pegba Otemolu, Secretary; Adedeji Doherty, Organising Secretary; Rasak Akanni, Auditor; Bolaji Jeje, Youth Leader; Orimolade Olanrewaju, Treasurer; Olawunmi Yuba, Woman Leader; Banji Obasanmi, Financial Secretary and Shola Oludipe, Legal Adviser.

Others are Lawal Olatunde, Publicity Secretary; Emmanuel Oladejo, Olalekan Abubakar, Seun Adesanya, Samiu Babatunde, Tope Ademiluyi; Tunde Olowofoyeku and Omoniyi Alo (all ex-officio).

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Ogun State Executive of the PDP, Chief Adebayo Dayo, has described the decision as “a victory for the rule of law.”

But the Obasanjo faction denied any knowledge of the action.

Dayo said on the  telephone that he would immediately start the moves to reconcile all the estranged members of Ogun PDP.

He also said he had received a letter from the PDP National Secretariat directing the police in the state to re-open its state secretariat closed at the height of the crisis in the state chapter.

Dayo said, “The situation is that for a very long time, dictatorship has been reigning in so many areas, not only in our party but all over Nigeria. But this time around our party sat down, we had a lot of deliberations and they decided that the only way out is to have a very clean party by following the rule of law. So, the rule of law has prevailed. Our party does not want any imposition. We want to have a very clean internal democracy. That is what is happening now.

The Publicity Secretary of the Odujinrin-led faction, Mr. Bidemi Osunbiyi, told our correspondent on the phone that he was not aware that his group had been sacked by the PDP National Secretariat.

Osunbiyi promised to get back to our correspondent but as at the time of filing this report he had yet to do so.

“I’m not aware, please I will call you back,” he hurriedly said.

Several calls to his phone were also not answered.

Punch

2015: Presidency, govs move to stop Buhari

 by Niyi Odebode and John Alechenu, Abuja and Ozioma Ubabukoh, Enugu 

Maj-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari

Some Presidency officials and second term Northern governors have begun discreet overtures to top shots in the All Progressives Congress to stop Maj-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (retd.) from picking the new platform’s presidential ticket in 2015.

Buhari, who ran on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 election, has indicated intention to run again in 2015.

CPC is one of the parties in ongoing talks to form the APC. Others are the Action Congress of Nigeria, All Nigeria Peoples Party and All Progressives Grand Alliance.

It was learnt that at least one of the governors had reached out directly to APC top shots to indicate his interest. Others are said to be making indirect contacts through members of the parties in the alliance.

They fear that it might be difficult to jostle for the Peoples Democratic Party’s ticket with President Goodluck Jonathan, who is strongly believed to be angling for a second term, a source who is knowledgeable about the matter said on condition of anonymity.

Saturday PUNCH’s investigation showed that some Presidency and PDP officials were working on ways to thwart Buhari’s bid to strengthen Jonathan’s chances.

Two APGA leaders confirmed to Saturday Punch that the platform was under pressure from Presidency and PDP officials for the party to stay away from the merger. They said the objective was to reduce Buhari’s chances of making significant inroads into the South-East.

Also, it was learnt that they were targeting the retrieval of APGA’s certificate of registration from its former National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, through the legal process.

Umeh is aligned with Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, who has shown strong interest in the merger. The other APGA governor, Peter Obi of Anambra State, has not associated with APC so far.

Umeh was sacked last week by an Enugu High Court, but he told Saturday Punch on Thursday that he  would appeal the judgment.

“To be frank with you, Buhari is a source of worry to PDP and Presidency officials. Many of the people in the alliance are actually there because of him. So far, he is the only figure who can guarantee a national spread in the 2015 election and give Jonathan a good fight,” a PDP source said.

A member of the APC merger committee, who pleaded anonymity, told one of our correspondents that the governors had reached out to the new party.

He said, “The governors are really interested in joining us, as they have been advising us to look for a younger person as our presidential candidate. We know this is to achieve their selfish aim of contesting on our platform.

“We are also aware that PDP top shots and some Presidency officials are afraid that the APC would provide Buhari a nationwide platform to realise his ambition in 2015. That is why they are jittery.”

However, Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Dr. Ahmed Gulak, said Jonathan was ready to face Buhari or any candidate in 2015. Although he said the merger was good for democracy, he said its leaders must strive to build a national platform for them to be taken seriously.

He said, “My Principal, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is not jittery over anything. Buhari was there in 2003, he was there in 2007, he was there in 2011.

“Are they going to rebrand him? No matter how they rebrand him, the fact still remains that Buhari is not the type of politician that can gather people that will build bridges for him to win national elections; the facts are there.

But dismissing Gulak’s argument, the CPC spokesman, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said, “They are afraid of the alliance, but they are more afraid of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari. As we speak in today’s Nigeria, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari has attracted to himself solid people across the geo-political zones in the country because of the solidity of his own character; because of the high moral fibre that he brings to the party.

“What is the need for a big platform? The need for a big platform is that whatever is happening in the nooks and crannies of the country, there will be enough people  to really stand strong against the manipulations of the PDP.”

Also  speaking, the National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Osita Okechukwu said, “I’m not surprised that PDP is working extremely hard to ensure that our merger does not succeed by pressurising some APGA members and using them negatively. Whatever the Presidency is doing to frustrate the merger won’t succeed.”

Punch

APC Takes Root In More States

Leaders of the major opposition parties across the states of the federation yesterday said they were taking all legitimate steps to ensure the success of the newly formed All Progressive Congress (APC).
In separate interviews with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, the leaders, who included state and national chieftains of the parties that formed the APC, said they had placed national interests above regional and personal ambitions in mobilising support for the party.
In Kaduna State, the affected party chairmen said they were adequately carried along in all of the processes leading to the merger. They expressed optimism that the merger talks would work, adding that APC’s chances of wrestling power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria and in the states were very bright.
The Kaduna State chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Musa Muhammed Soba, said “the opposition parties that are making arrangement to merge into APC held their respective National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings where resolutions were passed in support of the merger. What remain is for the parties to hold their conventions where the decision for the merger would be ratified in accordance with the constitutions of the respective opposition parties. The merger is on course and every necessary sacrifice is needed to make it successful.”
Also, the chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the state, Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro Cocacola, said the party at the state level was working assiduously for the success of APC. He said they were adequately briefed of the merger arrangement. “We are in support of all that is being discussed to see to the reality of the merger,” he said.
The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) said the state party was well represented at the talks.
According to the state party chairman, Senator Lawal Aliyu, “our party at the national level is carrying the state along; the state is being represented in the committee discussing the issue; the state chapter is regularly briefed on all deliberations on the merger.”
In Rivers State, the ACN has said it was part of the formation of APC and was liaising with other parties to make impact at future polls in the state.
The publicity secretary of ACN in the state, Jerry Needam, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND in Port Harcourt that their involvement in the merger marked the end of flagrant disregard for the rule of law and acts of prodigality in the state.
Needam said: “The merger is a welcome development. It shall entrust political leadership of Rivers State in the hands of progressives, God-fearing democrats and men and women with the highest sense of frugality with respect to taxpayers’ money.”
In Kwara State, the chairman of ACN, Mr Kayode Olawepo, said “the merger of the major opposition parties will radiate to states at the end of the party’s national convention. It is at the convention that the new APC logo, name, flag will be ratified”.
Olawepo, who expressed optimism about the workability of the merger plan, said “the PDP’s view of this arrangement notwithstanding, the merger remains the best thing that has happened to Nigeria in recent times”.
The state chairman of ANPP, Alhaji Taiwo Eleja, said the party at the state level participated actively in all the arrangements that led to the merger of the opposition parties.
“We are very, very much involved in this merger arrangement. I spoke with my national chairman last night (Thursday) and he briefed me on the development so far as well as on the next line of action”.
The state APC chairman, Alhaji Buhari Suleiman, said as disciplined members of the party they have no option but to toe the line of the party’s national leaders. “All along, the national secretariat of our party has been briefing us on the development and we are all in support of the merger arrangement,” Suleiman stated.
The situation is the same in Niger State where the opposition parties said they had started working together in principle to confront the PDP in 2015.
The chairman of CPC, Shuaibu Umar, said that they were duly consulted before the merger and that it would be made easier in the state because of the longstanding working arrangement among the opposition parties.
The secretary of ACN in the state, Alhaji Salman Yusuf, disclosed that they were aware of the merger talks and were carried along.
He restated that, before the talks, the parties in the state had been working together as one body and that the merger would not pose any problem to the parties.
But, in Edo State, the Accord Party (AP) has dissociated itself from the merger. It expressed the fear that the presidential ambition of some key players in the alliance, if not well handled, could truncate their quest to unseat  the PDP.
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP WEEKEND in Benin, the national secretary of  the party, Dr. Samson Isibor, hinged the decision of the party to back out of the merger on the need to strengthen the party, adding that “Accord Party is new and untainted for the future”.
The state chapters of the CPC, Labour Party (LP) and the ruling A CN have jointly expressed sincerity, unity and selflessness devoid of vaulting ambition that truncated past attempts at merger.
The chairmen said they were waiting for further directives from the national merger committee before taking the next action.
The Katsina State caretaker committee chairman of the CPC, Faruk  Adamu  Aliyu, and his ACN counterpart, Ibrahim Maidabino, said they were still awaiting the directive of their national headquarters.
In Oyo State, the ACN said that the merger of the parties was in fulfilment of the prophecy of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, while the ANPP noted that APC had come to stay as “nobody can sabotage it”.
ACN’s publicity secretary Mr Dauda Kolawole said that the former premier of the defunct Western Region (Awolowo) had predicted that time would come in the history of the country that progressives would come together for the benefit of the country and its people.
The state ANPP chairman, Alhaji Rasak Folorunso, who said that the party was the initiator of the merger, said that there was no going back.
Former governor of Ogun State and national leader of ACN Chief Olusegun Osoba  said the coming together of the progressives was not for political reasons but to salvage the country from drifting further from the years of the PDP misrule.
Osoba said the soul of the country must be redeemed from the scavengers.
In Benue State, only the ACN is visible in the state’s politics. The acting deputy chairman of ACN, Mr Tersoo Har Orpiin, said the leadership of the party in the state was still waiting for the national leadership for further action.
Leadership

Obasanjo, Responsible For Nation’s Woes – Bafarawa

 CHUKS OHUEGBE

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s claim that a revolution is imminent in the country is still receiving flaks, as former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Dalhatu Attahiru Bafarawa, has asked the authorities to invite the former president for questioning Obasanjo, was the mastermind behind the myriads of problems the polity is witnessing.
Bafarawa said that if the President Goodluck Jonathan administration wants to be taken seriously, it should pull in the former president for questioning over his stewardship for the eight years he was at the helm of affairs in this country.
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, Alhaji Bafarawa, who governed Sokoto state on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), said, “He was the one who brought the problem that retarded the growth of democracy in Nigeria. Whatever problem we have in this country, most especially from 1999 to date, it was brought by former President Obasanjo.”
Bafarawa traced the root of most of the problems the former president bequeathed the country to his inability to actualize his third term project.
He stated: ‘Because of his personal ambition which was not fulfilled, he brought the problem of forcing leaders against the people’s wish. The bulk of the problem of leadership in this country was brought by him. He brought indiscipline in the running of the affairs of the political parties. Obasanjo turned things upside down in the political parties by bringing military attitude into the party system.
‘The party leadership had to be chosen by him and that also goes to the governors. Whoever becomes the governor has to produce his own party chairman; the president has to have his own national chairman.
Leadership

Obasanjo Had No Succession Plan — Atiku

CHUKS OHUEGBE

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar yesterday faulted the claim of former President Olusegun Obasanjo that he was not suitable to succeed him as president in 2007, saying that Obasanjo had no succession plan.

Abubakar also said that the former president wanted to be the Robert Mugabe of Nigeria, if his third term bid had succeeded.

Atiku accused Obasanjo of imposing a crisis-prone last- minute succession by bringing in a “medically challenged Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to succeed him as a means of punishing Nigerians for rejecting his life presidency ambition”.
He added that Obasanjo’s allegations were diversionary, noting that he was “unbelievably shocked by the distortion of truth by Obasanjo who is supposed to speak honestly like a statesman”.
Atiku served as the vice-president in the Obasanjo presidency that spanned 1999 to 2007.

In spite of denials from Obasanjo that he never wanted to succeed himself in office in 2007, a recent book entitled “No Higher Honour” by former United States of America secretary of state Ms. Condoleeza Rice quotes Obasanjo to have lobbied former President Bush of the US for support in his third term bid, which the book says Bush advised against

The former US secretary of state was quoted on page 638 of her memoir as saying ,“In 2006 when President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria sidled up to President Bush and suggested that he (Obasanjo) might change the constitution so that he could serve a third term, President Bush told him not to do it.” In Bush’s words “You have served your country well. Now turn over power and become a statesman.”

But Obasanjo told a national newspaper over the weekend that his former deputy (Atiku) destroyed his own chances of succeeding him in 2007. He said that Atiku was unreliable and lacked the vision, orientation and experience to step into his shoes.

Reacting to these allegations, however, the former vice-president said his problems with Obasanjo had nothing to do with these charges. Instead, Atiku recalled, his opposition to Obasanjo’s third term ambition was the beginning of his travails.

Atiku maintained that Obasanjo had no succession plan from day one, and that he wanted to be Nigeria’s Robert Mugabe.

The former vice-president also accused Obasanjo of handing over power to the late Yar’Adua reluctantly as a face-saving measure following the collapse of his third term ambition on the floor of the Senate on May 16, 2006.

The Turaki Adamawa explained that he opposed tenure elongation of Obasanjo on the grounds that the constitution should not be amended for the sake of granting one man’s life term ambition rather than public interest. On the claim by Obasanjo that he didn’t discuss third term ambition with anybody, Atiku recalled that the former President sent two senior cabinet ministers to him to deliberate on a draft constitution.

Curiously, Atiku said, the draft was silent on term limit, which made him smell a rat and that his courage to confront Obasanjo over this controversial plan was the beginning of his troubles with his former boss and the subsequent plots to frustrate his ambition to become president.

Atiku praised Nigeria’s past leaders including General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, statesmen, legislators, past chief justices and the media for coming together to pull Nigeria from the brink and ensuring an orderly succession to the presidency by the then vice-president, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck.

“Without this, Nigeria would have been plunged into yet another major crisis arising from the actions of one man,” Atiku said.

On the allegations of incompetence and unreliability made against him by Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku said Obasanjo is the last person to lecture any Nigerian on reliability.

With the recent revelations by former U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, Atiku  advised his former boss to defend himself on this latest moral challenge to his reputation before he could question the reliability of others.

Atiku also dismissed as preposterous the allegation against him by Obasanjo that he is inexperienced. He challenged Obasanjo to disclose any responsibility or task that he assigned to him while in office, which he didn’t discharge competently.

Rather than losing his head to underserved flattering newspaper attention, Atiku said Obasanjo should apologize to Nigerians for dragging our politics into disrepute because of his disregard for fair play or the basic rules of democracy.

He accused Obasanjo of being obsessed with the myth of indispensability and the false notion of being the cleanest person. According to Atiku, even President Jonathan and the late Umaru Yar’Adua are not safe from Obasanjo’s self-righteous attacks on other leaders.
 Leadership

Hold Elite Responsible For Nigeria’s Woes — Buhari

CHUKS OHUEGBE

Former head of state and presidential flag-bearer of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the April general election General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) has attributed the country’s current woes to the elite who, he said, should be held responsible for whatever goes wrong.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at a one-day conference on “Development from Global Perspectives: Agriculture Versus Oil and Gas” organised by Muregi Associates and the LEADERSHIP Newspaper Group, Buhari said that strong institutions in the country have been destroyed by strong people.

He said: “Nothing is working in Nigeria today because of irresponsible elite. We have to talk to the elite. They are responsible for the sharing of the national cake. If anything happens they are to be held responsible.

“It was the strong people that destroyed the strong institutions we inherited from the British. They left us with accountability. We need strong people to retake these institutions to make them work.”

In his remarks on the occasion, the minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said that military intrusion into the nation’s governance in 1966 destroyed the emergence of a national elite.

“In Nigeria, people believe more in the regions, instead of the centre. We need a new movement for the integration of the country,” the Information minister said.

On the belief that Nigerians are corrupt, the minister said that there is a co-relation between the so-called corrupt Nigerians and the trans-Atlantic companies that aid the act.

Corroborating the views of the minister, one-time national chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Audu Ogbeh, said that some expatriate companies operating in the country aided corruption.

Ogbeh cited the construction of the second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja that was quoted to cost N64 billion by an expatriate construction company, an amount that could build four brand new airports.

“So, when we are called corrupt, we accept guilty as charged. How about those who aid this corruption?” Ogbeh queried.

In his lead paper entitled “Corruption, Governance and Development”, Professor Francis Fukuyama identified weak state, high degree of ethnic/ religious fragmentation and petro-state liabilities as the sources of Nigeria’s institutional underperformance.

Fukuyama, who lectures at the Centre on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at the Stanford University, California, in the United States of America, also described Nigeria as a “limited access order” as politics is a route to wealth instead of entrepreneurship.

He said that there is the need to diversify from energy, noting that oil has been a curse.

A panacea, according to him, is investing in electricity and infrastructure.

Fukuyama, the renowned author of The End of History and the last man, said that the accounting system requires transparency and disciplining mechanisms and the need to implement Freedom of Information law.

He added that agencies should publish flow of funds on a monthly basis, while grassroots monitoring should be a possibility through technology.

In his paper entitled “Agriculture and oil and gas: A synergy for economic transformation in Nigeria”, Chief Audu Ogbeh said that the country failed to use the black gold to develop the green gold, namely, agriculture

“So, we turn to imports, which is where the calamity comes. We expend at least $10 billion on food imports annually. On wheat - $4.23 billion; rice - $2.32 billion; milk - $1.5 billion, not to mention cookies and biscuits, fruit juice concentrates, tomato paste, salt, palm oil, starch, ice cream powder, vegetable oils. The list is endless.

The question is: how long can we survive this onslaught of imports?” Ogbeh asked.

The occasion, also had in attendance other eminent personalities including the United Nations under-secretary, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, former vice chancellor of the University of Abuja Professor Nuhu Yaqub, former minister of FCT Dr. Modibbo Umar, and former minister of sports Barrister A. H. Gimba.
 Leadership

PDP National Vice Chair, Aide Shot

 CHUKS OHUEGBE

The national vice chairman (South-South) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Steve Oru, has been shot by unknown gunmen.  He was promptly rushed to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH),Benin City, where, up until press time, he was lying in critical condition.
Although security agencies could not easily establish who was behind the attack, unofficial sources linked it to armed robbery. Oru was shot at while travelling from Warri to Ughelli in Delta State.
One of his aides who confirmed the attack to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND said that the PDP chief was shot from the back with an AK 47, adding that the bullet hit his collar bone, pierced through his intestines and passed out.
It was also learnt that the mobile police orderly attached to him was not lucky: he was shot dead. The incident, which occurred on February 3, 2013, has been kept from the public glare.
PDP national publicity secretary Chief Olisa Metuh confirmed the incident yesterday.
Meanwhile, the face-off between President Goodluck Jonathan and former president Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday took a turn for the worse with the removal of the PDP national auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha, from the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and the nullification of the South-West zonal congress conducted in March 2012. Most of the winners of the cancelled congress were loyalists of Obasanjo.
The removal of Chief Mustapha came on the heels of the removal of the PDP national secretary, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola, by the Federal High Court, Abuja. He is another protege of the former president.
Though Oyinlola is in court challenging his removal, his photographs in the offices at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja have been removed, his office locked and his personal staff numbering about 19 asked not to come near the secretariat.
Factions loyal to President Jonathan and Obasanjo are locked in a supremacy battle over the control of the party, including its Board of Trustees (BoT) and the NWC. Party watchers believe that what is playing out is a game plan to neutralise the former president’s influence in the party ahead of the 2015 general elections.
In a statement signed by Metuh, the PDP yesterday confirmed the sack of Chief Mustapha and the dissolution of the South-West congress conducted in March 2012.
The party said that Mr Fatai Adewole Adeyanju was the “validly elected national auditor of the PDP”.
The NWC of the party, which met on Thursday and presided over by the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, according to the statement, deliberated mainly on the Ogun State exco and the South-West exco.
The party’s statement reads:
“Following protracted dispute on the Ogun State and South-West zonal exco of the party, a series of suits were filed on the matter, amongst which include FHC/L/CS/1248/2011, FHC/L/CS/282/2012 and FHC/L/CS/347/2012.
*That Chief Bode Mustapha is removed from office as the national auditor of the PDP;
*That Alhaji Fatai Adewole Adeyanju is the validly elected national auditor of the PDP;
*That the PDP is to rectify its records by deleting the name of Chief Bode Mustapha as national auditor and replacing the same with Alhaji Fatai Adewole Adeyanju;
* That the South-West zonal congress of the PDP conducted in March 2012 is nullified;
*That the executive committee constituted for the PDP in Ogun State at congresses conducted by the Bashorun Dayo Soremi-led harmonised executive committee for the wards, local governments and the state in March 2012 are valid exco of the party at the various levels in Ogun State and are entitled to their 4-year tenure;
*That the PDP is to organise a fresh South-West zonal congress at which access is to be given to delegates elected at congresses conducted by or under the supervision of the Soremi-led Ogun State executive and accept the candidacy, for offices zoned to Ogun State, of only the persons nominated at the said congresses for the said offices.
*The National Working Committee of the party met on 14th February, 2013 and gave careful consideration to the issues and decided that, in line with respect to the rule of law which is a cardinal principle of the present administration, the PDP as a law-abiding party, will immediately comply with the said judgement. This is all the more so that same has not been set aside or reversed by any superior court.”
Leadership