Nigeria Drowning In Sea Of Corruption – Gov Akpabio

Akwa Ibom State governor Obong Godswill Akpabio yesterday said that Nigeria“has been drowning in a sea of corruption” and urgently needed men of goodwill like the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission(ICPC) to salvage the situation.

Speaking as the special guest at the ICPC Governors’ Forum, he lamented that “what is wrong with the country is that poor leadership by past leaders led to the problem of corruption”.

Corruption, he declared, ranges from stealing to inflation of contracts, adding that corruption occurs when leadership fails in the management of resources and lacks the ability and courage to plug loopholes in the economy.

“Our country has been drowning in a sea of corruption and we urgently need men of goodwill like you to salvage our situation. It is corruption when leaders take decisions on the basis of tribal sentiments, rather than common sense. It is corruption when projects are sited near the homes of those in authority and not in proximity to raw materials. It is corruption when a NAFDAC official tests a drug and certifies it as good because he has been financially compromised.

The drug would, thereafter, become a menace to society and lead to the death of innocent citizens. It is corruption when a customs official allows dangerous weapons to be smuggled into this country and such weapons are used to kill people,” the governor stated.

He spoke on the theme, “Good Governance and Transformation”.  “If we must achieve good governance, we must collectively fight and stop corruption. Men and women in positions of influence in bodies such as anti-corruption and law-enforcement agencies should not use their positions to settle personal scores.

The man who banks government money and denies the people the fruit of democracy (like it was done in a particular state) and ends up leaving billions in the bank is guilty of denying the people the dividends of democracy. We must remember that justice delayed is justice denied. Such a man would breed discontent and cause social problems like Boko Haram. Like the Bible says, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’,” he said.

Nonetheless, the governor praised President Jonathan: “We must commend the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of our nation for his transformational governance of our country. The imprints of transformation are manifest in the agricultural, power, health, transport and indeed all sectors of the economy.

His vision for our country bears eloquent testimony of this. Though beset with many challenges, he has done a difficult job well and made every patriotic Nigerian proud.”

The topic, “Good Governance and Transformation”, he said, was very apt, considering the last six years of his administration in Akwa Ibom State. “It is my candid belief that it was in appreciation of what we have done that you invited me to talk with you. Let me start by saying that we began our administration in 2007 by putting in place the principles of responsible governance.

We plugged all loopholes in the system and employed best practices in the management our resources. With a budgeting of over 80 per cent capital expenditure and less than 20 per cent recurrent, we were embarking on a journey of transformation of infrastructures.”

Earlier, the ICPC chairman, Ekpo Nta, who said the forum was apolitical, maintained that the commission deemed it right to periodically invite governors to come and share their experiences on strong and sustainable institutions for good governance. He said other governors would soon follow and that their selection would be based on public opinion.

Naija.com

CHRISTIAN CHURCH OPENS DOORS TO MUSLIMS

via: facebook

On a bitterly cold and snowing afternoon in Aberdeen, the doors of St John's Episcopal Church are open to hundreds of Muslim worshippers, arriving for daily prayers.

The familiar sounds of Christian hymns have been replaced with Islamic prayer in the chapel this Friday lunchtime and the church priest with the imam from the neighbouring mosque.

Muslims from the Syed Shah Mustafa Jame Masjid mosque next door share this church with Christian worshippers up to five times a day.

Church leaders believe this may be the only place in the country where Christian and Muslim worshippers pray side by side.

The rector at St John's has opened his doors to Muslims because there was not enough space for them to pray in their own mosque and many were forced to worship outside on the street.

The Reverend Isaac Poobalan, who grew up in Southern India surrounded by Islam, said he would not have been true to his faith if he did not help his neighbours.

"It was a very cold day, like today, and when I walked past the mosque I saw dozens of male worshippers praying outside, on the streets, right near the church.

''Their hands and feet were bare and you could see their breath in the freezing cold.

''Jesus taught his disciples to love your neighbour as yourself and this is something I cannot just preach to my congregation, I had to put it into practice."

Reverend Poobalan adds: ''I felt very distressed when I saw my neighbours praying out in the cold and I knew I needed to do something to help.''

''I know I cannot solve the world's problems, but when there is a problem I can solve, I will.''

Reverend Poobalan asked his congregation for permission to open the church doors to Muslims.

At first, Muslims were reluctant to accept the invite, but they have now settled in well into their new home.

Worshipper Mozhid Sufiyan said: ''We are so grateful to the church for giving us a space for our prayers.

"It was very difficult, especially for the elderly, to pray outside on the floor.

''Father Poobalan has been very kind to us all by inviting us into his church.'

''He has respected all of our beliefs and made us feel comfortable."

There has been some opposition to the arrangement, with Reverend Poobalan facing abuse by online trolls on social networking sites.

Christians believe Jesus is the son of God, while Muslims regard him as a prophet.

But despite these differences, there does not seem to be any tension in St John's Church, with both faiths having learnt to respect each other.

Peter, a member of the church congregation, said: "Any opposition is from people who do not belong to the church and do not understand the arrangement we have here.

"We do not have any issues with sharing our building.

''My faith says if you see anyone out in the cold, you invite them in, so I don't have any problem with it all."

Muslims and Christian worshippers at St John's Church hope their special relationship could serve as a model for the rest of the country.

The Episcopal Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, Dr Robert Gillies, said the arrangement at St John's could serve as a lesson for the rest of the world.

''What we are doing here, is something local that has global significance,'' he said.

''We have demonstrated that Christians and Muslims do not have to agree with one another.

''But they can learn to respect each other's different beliefs and actually come to get along and even like one another."

Mark 12:29-31 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Army Warns Of Boko Haram Using Fake Military Camouflage

The Nigerian Army has alerted the public on the use of military camouflage by members of the Boko Haram sect to perpetrate violence and create an impression that the military is responsible.

The Chief of Civil Military Affairs of the Nigerian Army, Major General Mobolaji Koleoso, told a news conference in Abuja on Friday that most of the terrors unleashed on civilians which are blamed on the military are perpetrated by the insurgents.

He claimed that Boko Haram’s evolving tactics of using phony military camouflage, aided the massive casualties in Bama, Borno State where they dressed as members of the Nigerian army.

Almost 200 lives were lost in the Bama massacre during an onslaught between the military and the Islamic insurgents.

Two Soldiers Killed In Daura Attack

Major-General Koleoso also confirmed that there was a gun duel between the sect members and officers of the Nigerian Army in Daura, Katsina State on Thursday night in which two soldiers died.

He claimed that five members of Boko Haram were also killed in the attack.

The military commander explained that the attack in Daura was carried out by the sect members using military camouflage.

In another press briefing, the police commissioner in Katsina, Abdullahi Magaji, said the gunmen bombed two police stations and four banks in the town on Thursday night, adding that one of the suspects was killed in the attack while the other four were trailed and killed on Mani-Dutsi road around 9.30 am on Friday.

ChannelsTV

Where Did David Mark Get the Funds for His Private University? By Pius Adesanmi

Pius Adesanmi

(to the accompaniment of Fela’s “Just Like That”)

David Bonaventure Alechenu Mark, Nigeria’s Senate President, is one of those extremely wealthy rogue soldiers produced by Ibrahim  Babangida’s  settlement philosophy. Fate has blessed him with an illustrious looting career. He has been stealing money from the Nigerian people for a very long time. When he got tired of stealing money, he graduated to loftier preoccupations: stealing elections. Thus, in one of those only in Nigeria self-destructive travesties, the occupant of the third highest office in the land actually never won any of the elections that got him to the National Assembly. Like others, he is a beneficiary of the PDP’s phenomenal rigging machine. He is openly pretending not to eye the presidency in 2015 but, deep down, he won’t mind adding tenancy in Aso Rock to his personal legacy of rigged elections. In the meantime, David Mark has graduated from stealing elections to being lucky.
Luck, for David Mark, is not about your head auspiciously making you the number two man to bosses destined to run into trouble or die along the way. Luck, for the Senate President, comes in the shape of a succession of overwhelming national tragedies which makes the personal transgressions of Nigeria’s political rapists pass unnoticed. Such has been the harvest of corpses lately in Nigeria, from Baga to Bama to Nassarawa and counting, that it would have been politically incorrect for anybody to pay attention to the regular but less violent ways in which the political class continues to kill more Nigerians than Boko Haram or armed robbers combined.
With Boko Haram, a hundred lives, two hundred lives, go out in a bang and photos of calcified bodies go viral on social media to remind us of the tragic errors of our national rendering. With every billion looted by a politician, thousands of lives go but not in a bang. They go smiling to their graves. They go installmentally. For every billion looted translates to hospitals and roads not built. There are no calcified images to show us that these thousands of slow, installmental, shuffering and smiling deaths are directly linked to the billions looted by a particular politician.
Hundreds of lives taken weekly in the blitzkrieg of Boko Haram, armed robbery, and our other national demons are more newsworthy and have more spectacle value on social media than the somber reality of hundreds of thousands walking deads on our streets, all candidates for the grave, because a politician has looted the money meant for hospitals, roads, and clean water provision. This is why luck shined on David Mark and another recent evidence of his brazen looting of our commonwealth went grossly under-reported and totally ignored by Nigerians.
Like most Nigerians, I nearly missed the news, partly because only one newspaper (Nigerian Tribune) considered it newsworthy and partly because I was distracted and anguished by other national tragedies associated with Boko Haram. Although, somehow, the editors of Nigerian Tribune did not consider it front page material, they still displayed enough critical acuity to give it an appropriately ominous headline in the Sunday, 12 May 2013 online edition of the newspaper. “3 Policemen, 5 Others Injured Over Proposed David Mark University”, screamed Nigerian Tribune.
Now, that caught my attention. Wait a minute, I thought, David Mark, a sitting Senate President, is building his own private University? How on earth did Sahara Reporters and Premium Times miss this story and the attendant necessity of investigating how David Mark is funding his University? The opening paragraph of the Tribune story confirmed my worst fears. Says Tribune: “No fewer than eight people, including three policemen, were said to have been injured in a clash between youths in Asa community area of Otukpo town inOtukpo Local Government Area of Benue State over the location of a private university owned by the Senate President, Senator David Mark. The youth were said to have converged on the Otukpo-Oju federal highway mid-week to protest what they described as unlawful acquisition of their land by the Senate President, while the policemen drafted to the area were said to have received stiff resistance from the youth. Efforts by policemen to disperse the youth were rebuffed, which reportedly left eight people, including three policemen, injured.” Like most things Nigerian, this piece of bad news comes in tangled layers. Tragic trees always fall on tragic trees in our situation and it is always a very difficult task determining which to remove first. So, we shall pretend not to notice that David Mark is also apparently involved in a messy land grab that has now caused injury to fellow Nigerians (poor Benue! When they are not robbed blind via contract rackets by Doyin Okupe, they are robbed silly by one of their unelected representatives in the Senate) and focus on the more sinister news of a salaried Senator funding a private University.
There is a sense in which David Mark’s venture into higher education (my dear brother, Tade Aina, Program Director of Higher Education in Africa for the Carnegie Corporation, must be gnashing his teeth in agony over the new meaning that politicians in his country are giving to higher education) reminds me of ace British colonialist empire builder, Cecil Rhodes.Starring at the heavens from his compound in South Africa onebeautiful evening, Rhodes famously exclaimed: “I would annex the planets if I could.” Just as Rhodes wanted no part of the solar system left uncolonized by the British, no part of our national life is left uncolonized by the loot of the political class.
For members of Nigeria’s political class, looting the treasury is no longer just about stealing money to rival the material acquisitions of Arab oil sheikhs in choice locations all over the world; it is no longer just about aping the glamorous lifestyle of Hollywood royalty, it has now acquired a psychological dimension with a tinge of impunity. Beyond material acquisition, loot creates the desire in the rapists of Nigeria to invade and make their odoriferous presence felt in those areas of national life which still provide some form of psychological cushion for the people. Thus, when the Nigerian politician or government official has acquired enough property in Abuja, Lagos, Dubai, Johannesburg, London, Washington, and Toronto; when he has acquired a private jet; when his fleet of expensive exotic cars in Nigeria makes his compound look like a car dealership; when he boasts a permanent year-round reserved room in Sheraton or Nicon Hilton, agony and restlessness set in.What to do next? Ah, yes, let me colonize other areas of life of Nigerians. Let me take my loot into other zones, other spaces that ordinarily ought to be inviolable.
This is the point at which they begin to invade and colonize faith. Thus far, only the traditional religions are safe from their depredations. They are not building ultramodern shrines yet forBabalawos and Dibias. Nigerian Christianity and Islam, on the other hand, have been very badly hit as I indicated in my open letter to John Cardinal Onaiyekan and Pastor Tunde Bakare. The loot of politicians and government officials has invaded Nigerian faith. They build churches (and mosques but mostly churches) and donate such glamorous buildings with fanfare. The Body of Christ in Nigeria has learnt that talking while eating from the hands of corrupt politicians is bad table manners. Thus, nobody asks any questions about the source of the funds when a politician builds and donates a church to a congregation. I am still waiting for the Nigerian Anglican Communion, especially the Anglican clergy, to ask Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, where he got the money to build a flamboyant church for the Anglican community in his village.
When they get tired of colonizing faith with their loot, they move on to colonize higher education, mushrooming private universities all over the place. The University idea ought to sue Nigeria for what we are doing to it. Just like we bastardized democracy, we are bastardizing the University idea. Every looter, every crook in Nigeria wants to start a private University after building a Church or a Mosque. Obasanjo built Bells University and we asked no questions. Ibrahim Babangidastarted Heritage University. His license was withdrawn by the NUC not because of questions over his sources of funds but because he delayed admitting students. Atiku Abubakar bought a franchise of the American University system while still in office as Vice President and we asked no questions about the sources of his funds. Now, a sitting Senate President has ventured into the same terrain and no questions are asked, no eyebrows raised anywhere in Nigeria. Next, a politician will wake up, create, and privately fund Nigeria’s 37th state and there will be no questions asked.
This is precisely what worries me: our transition into a society that no longer sees anything wrong with the bastardization of ideals and the violation of national psychic spaces by the criminals in the political class. Bring your loot into faith and try to buy God and Allah, no problem, we the clergy will broker the deal for you. Bring your loot into higher education and try to buy inviolable ideals, no problem, we won’t ask any questions about how and where you got your money. We have thus created a society in which there are no institutions primed to swing into action the moment public servants display expenditure beyond their determined salaries.
A US Congressman suddenly buying a Lamborghini or appearing in Congress in choice Ferragamo loafers everyday is asking for swift and immediate trouble with the IRS; a Canadian parliamentarian who suddenly buys the latest Range Rover in a country where most of his colleagues take public transport to work is asking for immediate and swift investigation by Canada Revenue Agency. If word got out that the Speaker of the House in Canada (David Mark’s counterpart in Ottawa) was privately building and funding a University in his village, Andrew Treusch, Commissioner of Revenue and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency, would have a heart attack.

However, in Nigeria, David Mark will steal the land he is busy stealing.

And build his private University.
Just like that!

Saharareporters

Opposition Coalition Begins Quest to Register APC

Chief Tom  Ikimi

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The opposition coalition has started making moves to formally register the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose abbreviation is still being contested by another rival group, the African Peoples Congress.

THISDAY gathered Thursday night from a reliable source that a meeting of the opposition merger joint committee and the sub-committee handling the registration of All Progressives Congress with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  has been fixed for Sunday.

The source said the agenda of the meeting would be to deliberate on modalities and strategies to be adopted in ensuring the smooth registration of the proposed party.

According to the source, who is also a member of the merger committee, the meeting intends to receive various presentations on materials and procedures required by INEC.

He said the Jame Ocholi-led sub-committee on the registration will use the opportunity to intimate the merging parties on what is expected of them as the process moves into the next stage after the coalescing parties held their successive national convention.

"Our joint committee on the merger will be meeting on Sunday to prepare the groundwork for the formalisation of the opposition merger process with INEC," he said.

The source said the Sunday meeting will be preceded by consultations aimed at getting the documentary process ready for formal engagement with the electoral body.

The leaders of the merger joint committee are Chief Tom  Ikimi, (Action Congress of Nigeria), Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau (All Nigeria Peoples Party),  Chief Annie Okonkwo, (All Progressives Grand Alliance) and  Alhaji Garba Gadi (Congress for Progressive Change).

ThisDay

Recasting the Jonathan-Amaechi Rift

Polscope with Eddy Odivwri

Although the hitherto managed quarrel between President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, has become such a motor-park gossip talk, the two protagonists still pretend that all is well between them. None of them or their spokespersons, has publicly admitted that there is fisty feud. Yet, beneath the denials lies a boiling cauldron of plots and counter-plots to undo each other. And the war of nerves has simply continued, worsening by the day.
For about three months now since the war chips dropped, I have followed the developments, listened to arguments and postulations from both sides of the tug-fight.

Many of those who blame Gov Amaechi, accuse him of arrogance and a pompous attitude to the President. They say the way he talks to and about the President little shows respect to the office and person of President Jonathan. This point was orchestrated by Godsday Orubebe, the Minister of the Niger Delta, an avowed loyalist of the President, when the minister launched his famous verbal attack on Amaechi over the East West road issue, some months ago. As it has shown, that attack, has become the preface to the many others that have followed. But the question is: has Amaechi indeed been rude or disrespectful to the President? I have asked many of those who accuse him of this attitude to cite just two instances. They scratch their heads and reharsh the parroted verbiages they heard from others  without exactitudes.

What I take from the tenor of the explanations comes down to “Not what said, but how said”. We all know that there is both a pleasant “Yes” and an offensive “Yes”. It depends on how it is said. I concur that Gov Amaechi could be brash and lacking in diplomatese while expressing his mind, but I do not think that can be interpreted to mean being rude or pompous. But nobody has faulted the content of Amaechi’s comments. The quarrel is essentially with his style.
In my review of the labyrinth of the feud, I classified them into four broad issues:

The Okrika spat with the First Lady
Sometime in 2010, the first Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan had had a public argument with Governor Amaechi over some demolitions in Okrika, the hometown of the first lady. The duo disagreed on the scope of the demolitions and on who the real owner of land is in the state, whether it is the government or the communities. Although the issue has long been glossed over, it sure sowed seedlings of offence, which have since grown to figs of fury.

The NGF as Bad Tooth
About two years ago, Gov Amaechi became the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Under his chairmanship, the forum has become as cohesive and articulate in a way that has robbed Mr President of some of his comfort. Both the governors and the President have failed to be on the same page on a number of issues. Some of such issues are: the Sovereign Wealth Fund, Excess Crude Account, and the cost of the Petroleum subsidy. Those who accuse Amaechi of being confrontational cite some of these issues as examples, forgetting that he is merely articulating the position of the governors, and not his own opinion. Not on one occasion has the governors disowned what he said on their behalf. It was even learnt that when the governors went to court over the Sovereign Wealth Fund, it was on the advice of President Jonathan himself. Indeed, at the risk of repeating the kernel of the argument, the question must be asked that if Mr A and Mr B jointly own an asset, would what is done with the asset not be a product of the agreement of both parties? Was it right for the President to unilaterally decide to save the $1billion in the SWF without carrying the governors along, whereas they both own the money? Amaechi as Chairman of NGF has insisted that the governors must have a say in their commonwealth. He insists that the subsidy figures of 2011 as supplied by the NNPC must be probed as it has affected the overall money available for sharing across the states. He insists that there should be no arbitrariness in a democracy.

When the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on political matters, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, says that the NGF has become a trade union, it is in reference to these demands of the governors, not Amaechi.

So irked was the president against  the Amaechi-run NGF that he sought to seize the platform from him. On two occasions Amaechi was to be unseated but the plot failed. The next action was the setting up of the PDP Governors’ Forum, headed by Gov Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom State,  all to whittle down the powers and influence of the Chairman.

Closely related to the above is the issue of Amaechi’s “stubborn” insistence on re-contesting the chairmanship of the NGF, contrary to the wish of the presidency. Indeed, the fielding of Gov Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State in the  election coming up next Wednesday is believed to be the handiwork of the Presidency. Pressures have been mounted on Amaechi to step down from the contest but he has refused to bulge.  Again, that test of will, as it seems, rankles the nerves of those who think Amaechi is cocky, forgetting that this is a democracy. Again, question is does he have the right to seek re-election from his fellow governors or not? And pray, why should the presidency or any structure for that matter, seek to so overtly interfere with the election and running of a body to which they are not members?

Soku Oil Wells
Perhaps, what inflamed the feud between the two Niger Delta leaders is the issue of the Soku oil wells. Early in the year, the controversy over who owns the Soku oil wells broke. It was not a new controversy. It preceded both President Jonathan and Gov Amaechi. In fact, former River State governor, Dr Peter Odili had protested the ceding of the oil wells to Bayelsa State in a re-drawn federation map. Because the controversy had not been resolved, the proceeds from the said wells were transferred to an escrow account pending when the resolution will be reached. But early in the year, the Rivers State government raised the alarm that the money held up in the escrow account from the oil wells, have been released to the Bayelsa State government. Understandably, Gov Amaechi complained.

Again, his style came to question. In a retreat held for top civil servants in Calabar, Gov Amamechi had reviewed the Soku oil wells issue and promised to “:fight” the president over it, giving the impression that because President Jonathan is from Bayelsa State, he surreptitiously authorized the release of the proceeds to Bayelsa State, contrary to the understanding both parties had. As government things do happen, the video tape where Amaechi threatened to “fight” the President over the wells got to Mr President. And the latter had played it back to several stake holders plus governors, to drive home the “ïnsolence and disloyalty” of Gov Amaechi. Many of those who watched the video clips (remember the Abacha’s coup videos?) came out believing that Amaechi was indeed disloyal.

I am not aware that the National Boundary Commission has released the latest federation map. But the basic question to ask is: the Kalabari people who own the Soku oil wells in question, are they from Bayelsa or Rivers State? By his own admission in an interview about a month ago to this newspaper, Gov Seriake Dickson had admitted that some money was released to his state from the monies held in the escrow account as accruals from the Soku oil wells. So was it out of place for Gov Amaechi to complain if he felt that the commonwealth of his state was being circumscribed by a now more powerful Bayelsa State? By storming out of the “peace talks” the President must have felt slighted. And it was counted for a sin. A mortal sin.

Rumoured Presidential Ambition
Even more troubling in all the “sins” of Gov Amaechi is the rumour, yes, rumour that he has concluded plans to contest the presidency come 2015, with the governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido as the presidential aspirant and Amaechi as his running mate. Although the duo have steadily denied the rumour and innuendoes,  the story continues to resurge. Matters were not helped by the fact that in Kaduna State some “campaign vehicles” emblazoned with the  portraits of Lamido and Amaechi drove through the state , just as posters to the same effect were posted in several strategic places in the city.  Lamido and Amaechi have dissociated themselves from the political stunts, but it has actually not cleared the fog. With a seeming affinity with the opposition, the fear that Amaechi is on his way to the presidential contest continues to be reinforced in some quarters. Although he has continued to deny it, many have reasoned that an Amaechi’s presidential contest, legitimate as it might be, will be a gross demonstration of political bad fate, the duo having come from the same Niger Delta region. To that extent, many have thus seen the onslaught against Amaechi as a political strategy to crush him or leave him sufficiently disabled and bruised such that the thoughts of nursing his wounds, and not presidential aspiration whould preoccupy him.

The string of affronts against the Amaechi government are thus to be seen in the light of a plan to inflict maximal cut; that which will either paralyse or distract him. The issue of the grounding of his plane had actually been preceded by the refusal of the National Security Adviser to clear the two new helicopters procured by the Rivers State government for security surveillance in the state. The copters fitted with security apparatus were meant to aid the C4i security mechanism in the state. Following the grounding of the Bombardier plane, the Ministry of Aviation and its subsidiaries, the NCAA and FAAN have been shopping for reasons to justify the action. They claim that the documentations were faulty, even forged. They say the registration process was not right. They say the insurance was not in place. All kinds of stories. The public hearing of last Wednesday did not support the claims. The questions that pop up are : where was the NCAA since October last year when the plane started flying? Why were all these lapses not detected? Why now are they suddenly noticing all these clerical and procedural defects? Is it not an indictment on their efficiency that a plane would have flown for about seven months in this country before they suddenly realized that it ought not to be in the Nigerian airspace? And pray, how many of the private jets flying unhindered in Nigeria today, including that of the Akwa-Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, has complied with the sudden new rules of NCAA?

The Abuja court order that sacked the Godspower Ake-led PDP executive in Rivers State is considered as one of the actions that was meant to deal a deadly blow on the Amaechi government in the state. Not unexpectedly, the Felix-Obuah-led new team kicked off its rule by suspending 32 members of the State House of Assembly, believed to be loyal to Gov Amaechi, whilst also preaching desire to reconcile all aggrieved members of the party in the state..

.It is remarkable that all of these actions were preceded by the visits, sequentially, of even Godsday Orubebe and Tony Anenih to the Government House, Port Harcourt, seeking reconciliation.

The crisis that has rocked the Obi-Akpor Local Government area of the state is another pointer that the state has lost its sleep. First the governor sacked the elected chairman of the council. I do not know if he has that power. And he appointed a caretaker committee.   Three weeks ago, the police chased out the caretaker committee, sealed the council claiming to be acting on orders from above. Where is the above, if not Aso Rock? Even when the court asked the police to vacate the premises, they soon came back, a day after,  claiming the interest in protecting the council against destruction because of a said explosion that occurred at the generator house of the council. The partisan undertones of the police are so loud that they cannot be mistaken.

But the murder of an aide to  Ake, Mr Eric Ezenekwe at his home town, Erema, has shown that not even palm oil will suffice for a deity determined to draw blood.

My father says a wise elder would not be home and a goat will deliver in tethers. Where are the Niger Delta’s religious and traditional elders? When would this needless war end? Are the people not suffering? Is governance not suffering? Is this what the people voted for? Let there be peace!

ThisDay

Tofa: Corruption In Nigeria Is Frightening

Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, former Presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention and a stalwart of the All Nigeria Peoples Party speaks to Ibrahim Shuaibu in kano on issues of national interests

What is your take on amnesty for Boko Haram?
I agree with Boko Haram for rejecting amnesty, because amnesty also encourages criminality. Because people will just say ‘well let me also be a criminal so that I can be called and giving amnesty and be paid.’ There was something I saw on the internet written by a jobless graduate. He posted that Niger Delta militants earn better than graduates and therefore it pays to commit crime. Amnesty in that sense is not a good thing. Paying compensation where it is due to people and releasing those unjustly arrested are what the federal government needs to do. I think that is the thing the amnesty committee recommended and I think that is what will bring about peace in the country.

There is this accusation that the president is becoming dictatorial. What is your view on this?
Like I said before, he doesn’t have good advisers and that is really affecting his image. Take for example what happened in Baga. Pp till now, he has not gone there to see things for himself. In some countries, if such a thing happens and the president is not in the country, he will cut short his trip to visit the place. But this man is at home, sitting down and 200 hundred people were killed over 2,000 houses burnt. The whole world is talking about it yet he didn’t think that he as a President should go and check out what happened. He is giving himself a bad image and that is the extreme side of incompetence.  Again, when he went to Borno, he said he did not care about Boko Haram; that they are ghost and that he was not going to listen to them. He has forgotten that he is politician. How can he go back to the same place and campaign? How does he expect to be re-elected? And when people like Asari Dokubu comes and threatens fire and storm if Jonathan is not re- elected, are they going to force people to vote for him? These people are doing more harm to him than good. What he needs to do is to summon all elders in this country to meet him in Abuja and ask them to tell him the truth about his administration. I’m sure it will be good for him and the country.

Do you think the newly formed opposition APC can wrestle power from the PDP 2015?
Well, it depends on many factors. First of all, my advice to the APC is not to zone the presidency. Let everybody especially the Igbos be given the chance to come to the convention and try their luck. Once you zone the presidency and you say only northerners will contest then you have automatically eliminated the south east from that aspiration. And the Igbos have the aspiration to lead this country and for a new party to say ‘no we will not allow you’, I think that is suicidal. The APC should allow all those who have the aspiration to go the convention and when they nominate their presidential candidate, then they can distribute the other positions. But if they zone, I don’t think they can make it because south-south and south-east will not vote for them.

Secondly, they must be very careful about intra-party squabble and injustice by trying to impose candidates or doing things not proper. Democracy has to prevail right from the ward level to the top in the APC. If they do that, it will be a very good party capable of winning elections. There are some things they need to do and I’m sure they are thinking about them and if they do them then they will be successful. You see, if you compare the number of governors in the APC and that of the PDP then you may say APC will not win the election. But it doesn’t work that way. It is the people that will decide not governors. If this party becomes very popular irrespective of the fact that we don’t have a large number of governors; if the people of this country accept the party, they will go and vote for APC presidential candidate and that person will win the election. There is hope that Nigerians who are fed up with PDP and will do the right thing when the time comes.

Do you support the agitation to strip governors of their immunity in the proposed constitution amendment?
I will not support that because of the nature of our society. If that happens, they will not be able to govern properly. When indicted for any crime while in office, they should face trial after their tenure.

What is your take on rotational presidency?
Of course, it is desirable that the presidency in a country like Nigeria should move round all the geo-political zones of the country so that everybody will be opportune to taste power; but the downside of it is that it encourages tribalism, sectionalism or regionalism in such a way that some people will just vie for the position simply because they are from a certain part. And this has entered into the psyche of Nigerians who think that unless one of their own is the president, they will never make it in life.

But it is all a fallacy; we know that as a fact. And Nigerians can attest to the fact for the reason that a particular person from their religion or tribe becomes president doesn’t improve the lives of all those people from his area. What I think Nigerians need is a President who will be fair to all irrespective of whom they are or where they come from, so that we can always feel comfortable that we have a leader who cares for everybody and will do justice and work for this country in the best interest of everybody.

Therefore, zoning has its ups and downs. The up is that it provides opportunity for everybody but is undemocratic, because democracy means that there should be a level playing ground. But to exclude a certain section of the society from aspiring for a particular position is very undemocratic. That is why even in the ANPP, we made sure that we didn’t zone the presidency to anywhere. That is why we said let us start zoning after a presidential candidate must have emerged from wherever. Once a candidate is elected, then you can zone the other positions in the best way possible to allow people to have some participation. But to zone the presidency itself, I think is one of our problems here.

In other words, you are not in support of the return of power to the north
No, no. It is not that I’m not supporting power to return to the north. What I’m saying is that everybody should be given the chance to vie for the position. Democracy is a game of numbers and if people in the north want the presidency, they know how to go about it. What I’m saying is that if today the president is in the north, tomorrow it should be somewhere else. Do we have to be president all the time? What I’m saying is that the fact that the president is from a particular place doesn’t mean that it really benefit the people from that area. The only people it benefits are those around the President because this is a very corrupt society. Like what we have now, the president always want people from his area to have it all. And this is what northern presidents didn’t do when they were at the helm of affairs; they tried to be fair to everybody. That is why we didn’t have all those things that people have now because those who were presidents from the north were fair to everybody and that is the sort of leadership we want; people who are just to all.

Where do you stand on the debate about whether President Jonathan should run in 2015?
Well, constitutionally he is free to contest if his party nominates him at the convention. And the convention shouldn’t disallow other aspirants from contesting just like they did it before. If he emerges as the PDP presidential candidate, that is their business; they know how to campaign for him. I’m not against anybody being a candidate of any party. And if the constitution allows such person why not, but I will vote for those I know are better candidates.

Would you say he has performed well enough to give him another term?
In the beginning of his term, I used to give him the benefit of doubt and advice also that being a President is not a one man job. It is not also a very difficult job provided you can get the right people to assist you? If you can have twenty or thirty people who are really capable, patriotic and who really know what they are doing, all you need to do is to manage those people. Is not really a difficult job but the difficulty is in chosen the right people capable of assisting you. What Jonathan didn’t do is to choose those kinds of people. You will find out that his advisers and ministers are not the sort of people that will give him the right advice. We have seen in his actions that he doesn’t have good advisers. But he may be a good man but unfortunately he doesn’t have good advisers.

There is also the call to scrap state electoral bodies. Do you think this is the right thing to do?
I have recommended that myself. I said the INEC national headquarters should be saddled with the responsibility of conducting council elections. What is happening now is that every party in power in a state will win 99% of the votes in local government elections. They hardly even hold elections in the first place. But another thing I have to add is that it is totally illegal and unconstitutional to appoint anybody to an elective position just like they do in the appointment of local government caretakers. It is illegal because these positions are elective positions. But INEC, the presidency and the court have all kept quiet allowing this illegality to go on and we said that we want to have a society that cares for the rule of law and yet we allow people to illegally occupy positions.

Do you support local government autonomy?
Yes, local government should be a true third tier of government; their allocations should come directly to them from the federation account and not through the state governments. As it is now, the state governors are ruling the local governments. What is the point in electing a chairman that has no power? Instead he is under the commissioner of local government. What kind of system is that? It doesn’t make any sense.

What is your take on the fight against corruption by the Jonathan administration?
They are not fighting any corruption; there is so much corruption in the land. Everybody in the world knows that Nigeria is so corrupt, the impunity we have here is so much, and the senseless corruption here is something else. I don’t think anybody is fighting corruption in Nigeria.

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