Battle for Osadebe House: Who’s next after Oshiomhole?

 

 

By Gabriel Enogholase, Benin
ALTHOUGH the next governorship election in Edo State is expected to hold in 2016, preparations are already in top gear across the state’s three senatorial districts, as politicians search for Comrade Governor Oshiomhole’s successor.
However, going by the principle of zoning which has been entrenched into Nigeria’s political lexicon, Edo North Senatorial district would certainly be left out of the governorship race as the incumbent governor hails from the zone.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole

So the coast is now clear for Edo South and Edo Central Senatorial districts to produce the next governor, and both districts seem to have drawn a battle line as far as the issue is concerned.
Since the advent of the current political dispensation in the state in 1999, Edo-South has presided over affairs for eight years in the person of Chief Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion (1999-2007) and  his Deputy, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe from Edo North.
Edo Central held the reins of power for one and half years under Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor (2007- Nov. 2008) with Mr. Lucky Imansuen from Edo South as his Deputy; while Edo North is currently having its eight years in office under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole with Rt. Hon (Dr.) Pius Odubu from Edo South as his Deputy.
Against this backdrop, zoning of political offices, ethnic sentiments and horse trading are expected to play a major role in determining which of the aforementioned zones would produce the next governor of the state.
Having had a bitter experience following its defeat by the ACN in the 2012 governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, would not play to the gallery this time around regarding the choice of who flies its flag in 2016. While the party would want to adhere to its zoning formula; its strength in each zone, voting population, contributions of individuals as well as party loyalty and discipline would also come into play as far as who turns out to be its flagbearer is concerned.
As for the Action Congress of Nigeria,if APC sails through the INEC registration, the question of who becomes its gubernatorial candidate after Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is already raising dust.  While some would-be governorship aspirants are already warming up for the coveted seat, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s high-flying performance, acknowledged even by the World Bank, is expected to be one of the yard sticks that will determine the party’s choice.
According to the former Chief of General Staff, SSG, to the Lucky Igbinedion administration and currently the National Vice-Chairman (South- South) of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu at a recent lecture in Benin, “The fact is that the incumbent goveror, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has taken Edo State to a higher pedestal in developmental indices that was even acknowledged by the World Bank. Definitely, Edo people cannot accept anything less in the political credentials of those aspiring to that exalted office, as retrogression in development and lethargy in governance is now antithetical to the expected quality of governance in Edo State.
“Edo needs a grassroots political leader with a compassionate heart to connect with the suffering citizens and the under-privileged; a youthful face to reach out to the teeming youngsters seeking hope for tomorrow; a deeply religious politician as righteousness exalts a people and brings down the blessings of God; experienced enough to wisely dissect the counsel of the elderly in the political class, and popular nationally in the party to attract economic investments to Edo State”
Among those speculated to be interested in the race so far are: Dr. Joseph E. Ebidamiagbon, a UK-based Medical Doctor; Prof. Sylvanus Isi Oriakhi, based in the United States; Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu, Barr. Osarodion Ogie, Senator Ehigie Uzamere and former Governor Oserhiemen Osunbor. Also rumoured to be interested in the race is Arch. Mike Onolemenmen, current Minister of Worksand so on. There are several others who may indicate their interest in the race in the future.
Meanwhile, political pundits in the state are of the view that emphasis should be placed on prudence going by the loss of political equation Edo Central has witnessed as a result of the Court of Appeal’s ruling in 2008 when deciding prospective candidates by the parties.
Political observers also reason that following the drawbacks Edo Central Senatorial zone has experienced in the politics of Edo State in recent years, a possible consensus could lead to a formidable candidate from the zone on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, even with the high-profile names that are being rumoured to have shown interest in the governorship race from the zone.
The rumour making the rounds is that Arc. Mike Onolememen is highly favoured by the political class in the PDP, given that he is currently a source of leadership inspiration in the party and has attracted so many people with his maturity as a Minister of State, Defense and Minister of Works. He is also said to be enjoying the full support of the political leadership in Edo cutting across various political divides. If that ‘permutation’ is anything to go by, then there could be hope for the PDP in the future politics of the state. This, no doubt, will be a major hurdle for would-be candidates from other political parties – especially the ACN which the PDP is waiting to take advantage of.
Onolememen is believed to command a positive influence among the general public and he has endeared to himself a mature leadership ever since he became a Minister in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is also said to have displayed a high sense of leadership in the management of affairs even as a Minister of Works, and he could do better if given the opportunity as a Governor. In the words of the coordinator of Edo16 Network at the meeting, “Arc. Mike has shown enough competence right from when he was a Minister of State for Defense. Leadership is about vision and competence.”
In a position paper presented by a new pressure group, “Do 16 Network”, coordinated by Aihie Tom and Dr. Evans Uwadia at its inaugural meeting on Political Equation in Edo State recently, it posited that the emergence of any Governorship Candidate from the three Senatorial Districts should be of a great concern to every person that believes in the unity, fairness and progress of Edo State.
This, they believe, should be a lesson drawn from the crisis generated before, during and after the 2007 Governorship Election that eventually nosedived in 2008. The group, comprising members from the three senatorial districts in Edo, described Edo Central Senatorial Zone as the Political Wealth of Edo and wondered why a district with such a reputation should not be allowed to govern for two terms as experienced by the two Senatorial districts – Edo North and Edo South.
And for the ACN, Comrade Oshiomhole is very busy providing democratic dividends for the people of the state. For now, he is not thinking of grooming a possible successor although he has a major role to play in deciding who succeeds him.
The possible gladiators in the ACN are Oshiomhole’s deputy, Rt. Hon Dr. Pius Odubu, who is very loyal to his boss and has also paid his political dues in the state. Having served as a two-time lawmaker in the House of Representatives and another eight years as Deputy Governor, he has garnered enough experience and is  well equipped for the governance of the state if given the nod by his party.
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu is not a stranger in the politics of the state. As a former Chief of Staff and SSG to the Lucky Igbinedion administration, he knows the workings of government in and out. And as one of those who promoted the Grace Group, he commands a lot of followership and has the political sagacity to perform in office if given the opportunity.
As for Barrister Osarodion  Ogie, the current Commissioner for Works, many see in him another Babatunde Fashola who as former Chief of Staff to Ahmed Bola Tinubu, under-studied his master. Ogie, an unassuming and quintessential team player, is one man many should watch out for in the race for Osadebe Avenue.
Senator Ehigie Uzamere, the two-time lawmaker representing Edo South in the Senate, is not a pushover also. He has the capacity to do battle with others  for the plum office when the right time comes.
Vanguard

Buying Pot For My 11-Year-Old

I am standing in line in one of our state's legal pot clubs, which sells marijuana to anyone with a doctor's letter of recommendation. The "patients" look similar to the customers in a middle-market liquor store. There are a preponderance of frat boys and surfer dude-types, women with tattooed shoulders and piercings and a few older folks, who might be military vets fallen on hard times. Most of us look like we are shopping for something to put the spark into Saturday night, but I am here in the hope that marijuana will help my 11-year-old daughter enjoy her food once again.
It had started after Natasha had finished craniospinal radiation, following her brain tumor recurrence. Gradually, eating had become a chore. She stopped eating meat and then fish. Pasta was "too chewy" and potatoes "too heavy." For a while, my smoothies curbed her weight loss, until she asked me to skip the peanut butter, then the ice cream, and eventually even the banana. My protein-packed high-calorie smoothie had become a low-calorie berry juice, better suited for an extreme weight-loss enthusiast. The drug Periactin, which is often used in cancer patients to restore appetite, failed to work and so did Marinol, an FDA-approved synthetic marijuana. Could the real deal be more potent? A search on the Internet indicated that it might be.
I respond to the call for the "next patient" at the pot club. What am I interested in purchasing, asks the sales assistant whose slurred speech suggests that he might be a patient himself. We settle on a strain of marijuana with THC and CBD levels that minimize the buzz and boost appetite. I purchase a tincture, hop into the car and prepare dinner, my hopes rising that I might have found the ultimate unorthodox fix-it. Minutes after taking the tincture, Natasha's posture droops, her speech slows and she bursts into sporadic gales of maniacal laughter. I take advantage of the apparent good humor and feed her spoonfuls of chicken-noodle soup. After spoonful number four, Natasha's eyes start to close.
Over the next several months we make multiple trips to the pot club, ordering chewables and tinctures with different configurations of CBD and THC. Nothing helps her appetite. Our oncologist talks about a feeding tube. My daughter is about to start sixth grade in a brand new school. A feeding tube in addition to her permanent bald patch? Not the best way for the new kid to blend in. Against our endocrinologist's recommendation, our oncologist prescribes Megace ES, a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone. After two weeks, I notice Natasha eating half a watermelon in one sitting. After a month, she is enjoying a highly eclectic diet of pho, orange juice, dried seaweed and crackers. The weight loss stalls.
But I don't give up on the pot club. A handful of small studies show that marijuana may be helpful to brain tumor patients. One study demonstrates that it inhibits the genes needed for the production of a protein that makes the blood vessels required for a brain tumor to thrive. For more than a year, Natasha takes a capsule or tincture before she goes to sleep at night.
At a retreat for parents of children with brain tumor and neuroblastoma, a group of us discuss alternative treatments. One parent mentions vitamins, another brings up curcumin. I mention our foray into the pot club.
One mother insists she would never give her child pot. An interesting perspective and one that is shared by many parents in Cancerland.
Why the resistance? My daughter underwent conformal radiation, craniospinal radiation, systemic chemo and experimental targeted chemo. The risks and side effects for these treatments are depletion of the body's immune system and subsequent infections including potentially fatal ones; brain hemorrhage, secondary cancers, including a rare and incurable form of leukemia, and benign and malignant brain tumors.
Marijuana never did save Natasha's life. But neither did the mainstream treatments. I'll take the side effects of the other stuff, please.
HuffingtonPost

General Buhari and the Mountebanks of PDP

General Muhammad Buhari is certainly a man of few words and as with such people, their words carry great substance and weight. So the reaction to his comment in Kaduna few days ago came not as a surprise. Those who hate him have been busy, with each one jumping over the other to respond.

Here is the transcript of what he said on Monday, 14th May, 2012 in Kaduna, he spoke in Hausa:

I have come out to thank you for coming after I have discussed with your Chairman, your Senator, your members of the House of Representatives, State Assembly and the leaders of your party.
They made remarks, but the Chairman’s statement was written and he has given it to journalists, and since he has given it to them, it has become public knowledge. The others that have made remarks included the man that contested the governorship election, the CPC leader of Niger State lawmakers, Senator Ibrahim and the leader of CPC elders in Niger state.
In my own remarks, I showed my gratitude because of how you the CPC members in Niger State have reached cohesion by cooperation, and our strength in the state has manifested in the hard work our representatives are doing. They have vindicated our party, because they are keeping the trust reposed on them by the people that voted for them.
I thank you very much and I apologise because I came late. You that came from Niger have even arrived at my office before me. I apologise. I received two party officials that came from Abuja, they came in the morning that is why I came late, I apologise.
I thank you very much, I wish you safe journey back home, and you should continue to be patient. I and the leaders of your party have decided that by the grace of Allah in 2015, either there will be fair election or it will be a tough contest where nobody will find it funny.
I have discussed with Kaduna people recently because of what has happened that took us even to the Supreme Court, but it still happened in Kogi, Adamawa and Sokoto bye- elections.
In Kaduna, the Igabi case has become famous where they voted senator, voted representatives and the party leaders, just as you are here now, moved and stayed there, until CPC was given her rightful vote.
Therefore, in 2015, all wards in Nigeria should become Igabi, otherwise we should leave politics and assume we are slaves, and continue living in slavery. Thank you very much, May Allah help us.

But below is the summary of what was reported he said by our incompetent, irresponsible and bias government influenced media outlets:
“In 2015, there must be a free and fair election or there will be a serious crisis…God willing by 2015, something will happen. They either conduct a free and fair election or they go a very disgraceful way …. If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.”

The Hausa proverb kare jini biri jini which mean tough resistance was mischeviouly translated by the journalists present to mean the baboon and the dog will be soaked in blood. The direct translation is “the dog will bleed and the monkey will bleed” which means a hunter dog that try to catch a monkey definitely will have a tough resistance.

The Southern and Christian dominated media community have been consistent in their attempt to misrepresent General Buhari at every opportunity they get. During the invents leading up to the last General Elections, the media and Jonathan’s campaign strategy was to portray Buhari as a regional leader because of his popularity and love among average Northerners. They also tried to portray him as a religious bigot who wants to Islamise Nigeria even when his running mate was a renowned Christian Evangelist, Pastor Tunde Bakare.

The hate campaign against Buhari is historical in nature, in 2000, Buhari was invited to a book launch in Dan Fodio University, Sokoto. At the event he was called upon to make a comment which he did. The next day they was a screaming headline that Buhari said Muslims should only vote Muslims and all hell went lose. He was castigated and insulted by columnists and writers all over the country. Christian leaders were furious and most of them without verifying rain torrent of insults on the Rtd General. Distinguished gentle man, Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah, were among the few that took their time to verify from Buhari himself, what he said. It turn out Buhari merely said vote for good men whether they are from Borno, Katsina, Sokoto or wherever. The media reported something else and till today some still use the alleged statement against him despite the fact of the present of video recordings of the event that confirmed Buhari side of the story. See the full text of Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah essay here

Buhari’s Monday comment in Kaduna once again opened him up for coordinated attacks from the media, PDP, the Presidency and others. (For more on media bias see Boko Haram, Media, and Government: Three Sides of the same Coin , Vanguard Nigeria Newspaper: A Dangerous Tool of Disunity and Religious Bigotry and The Sun’s Phenomenal Bias in Reporting the Jos Crises.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Criminal Club, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, were among the first to respond to Buhari. His response was mainly full with obscenities and blackmail calling the General “blood thirsty”. The clown interpreted the General’s statement as “a shameless call to spill blood of innocent Nigerians”. Sometimes its hard to believe that these PDP people can read anything other than Naira figures.

If, for example, I say Government should come out with policies to check carbon emissions otherwise the effect of global warming could have negative consequence on us all, only a drunk will imply I want earth to burn.

Chief Olisa built his case on a defective premise and went on a voyage of obscenities, affronts and foulness in an attempt to blackmail the personality of General Buhari. At worst, Buhari’s comment was merely a warning for those who wants to rig elections in 2015, and from the reactions, it is clear they hope to rig again and get away with it as usual. One is left to wonder how a member of a debased and infamous organisation like PDP could shamelessly accuse Buhari, of all people, of being blood thirsty.

PDP was the party in power when Soldiers massacred innocent Nigerians at Odi, Bayelsa State because they stood up against Corporate injustice and destruction of their environment, an incident that exacerbated and escalated militancy in the Niger Delta. The same murderers accused Buhari of over-throwing a grossly corrupt and undisciplined administration of Sheun Shagari in a BLOODLESS coup.

The same PDP was in charge in 2009, when Police and Military officers went on a killing spray in Maiduguri. When security officers acted like criminals with licence guns lying people with beards and jumping trousers on the ground and executing them in the street on mere allegations of being Boko Haram members ( see Critical Appraisal of the Boko Haram Insurgence and Boko Haram, Media and Government: Three Sides of the same Coin ). This incident and others marked the genesis of Boko Haram insurgency that have claimed the lives of hundreds in Nigeria today. These crop of debased murderers and incompetent heavyweight accused Buhari of post election violence which they caused themselves, encouraged and benefitted from. How can you blame Buhari for violence that killed over 1000 of his supporters in Kaduna alone? See the report of the massacre of Buhari supporters in Kaduna here. He was rigged out and his supporters were killed yet halfwits and dunderheads blame him.

On the part of the federal Government, Reuben Abati started by describing Buhari’s Statement as unfortunate. It is indeed unfortunate that for 13 years PDP have violated everything that could have be held sacred in the country with their corrupt, visionless and purposeless leadership. It took them less than 24 hours to reply Buhari, but they have shamelessly stayed quiet for several days over the National Judicial Council (NJC) recommendation for the reinstatement Justice Salami.

Just as expected, the cartoon character, Reuben Abati, went into the realm of fairy tails about how Buhari did not compaign in some states blah blah blah nonsense. It is people with failed memories that believes in such garbage. Buhari was in the South for compaign as he was in the North. You can only blame him for not having stolen resources for massive Campaign. In the North all he did was rent a venue and made paid announcement on BBC Radio and the people turn out in thousands to meet him. This was the same thing he did in states of the South, but due to the peculiarities of the Southern regions, it was not as effective as was witnessed in the North. Buhari obviously was not having the resources to do more than he did, yet he was schedule to win until the PDP had to massively rigged the Election.

During the last Voters Registration and General Elections, I was a Corp member serving in Lokoja, Kogi State and I was posted to Dekina Local Government Area of the State. I personally witnessed how PDP shamelessly rigged the elections in the very large LGA. PDP agents were on our neck to register children, and on the day of elections, to inflate votes. The much talked about Election Observers were boys on the payroll of the presidency. “Observers” were pressuring INEC staffs to allow PDP thumb print unused ballot paper in favour of Goodluck Jonathan. I was personally approached by INEC accredited election monitors to rig for PDP, I was threatened by PDP agents because unlike others I refused to give in. So if a person says to me that the last General Election were free and fair, I just think of him to be another dishonest PDP member or a stupid Nigerian.

Even in Jonathan’s Bayelsa state, PDP had to rig to be sure of winning. See this link for accounts of how some elections were rigged in Bayelsa.

In Imo State, it was Home Video, in the hotly contested Governorship election between Rochas Okorocha, Ohiakim and twelve others, the result indicated that about 50% of the registered voters came out to vote, that is about 800,000 people. By any standard this was considered high. But earlier, during the Presidential Election, INEC told us that about 83% of the registered voters came out to vote and almost all voted for Jonathan alone. So the clowns wants us to believe that around 1.4 million people in Imo State came out to vote for Jonathan during the Presidential Election, but in the Governorship Election that was hotly contested and held more significant, only around 800,000 people voted for the 14 candidates. Cock and bull stories.

I do not believe in fairy tales, to believe Jonathan genuinely won the last Presidential Election is to believe in anything from Super-Man to Hallow man.

What Reuben Abati and others don’t know is that, Buhari is more than a Politician or a Statesman to most of us, he is our hero and a living model to exemplify. He is a man with exceptional qualities and he is acknowledged for his simplicity, honesty and discipline. When he spoke that Monday, he spoke for me, a Niger Deltan, as well as Millions of others all over the Country and beyond.

Buhari floated a Political Party (Congress of Progressive Change (CPC)), without the usual funfair that is associated with it, but his unblemished record endeared it to people from all works of life, tribe and faith. The party grew from strength to strength, because of the goodwill and trust millions of Nigerians had on him.

Who are the buffoons that dare to speak ill of Buhari? Who dem bi? Buhari is most certainly the most beloved Nigerian today. Those who love him do so unconditionally and wholeheartedly, while those who hate him do so out of prejudice, bigotry, fear, ignorance and foolishness.

Buhari is a man of honour, a selfless,
consistent, patient and discipline
General, in my heart I hold him dearly. The names of those that prosecute Buhari unjustly, will one day be lost or be written on the dark side of history, but the name “Muhammad Buhari” will, God’s willing, be engraved in the heart of history as his love is engraved in the heart of millions.

IGHO HAKEEM OHWOJEHERI

naijainfoman'snotes

BUHARI’S FIRST SPEECH AFTER THE MILITARY COUP OF 31ST DECEMBER 1983

General Muhammadu Buhari

In pursuance of the primary objective of saving our great nation from total collapse, I, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari of the Nigerian army have, after due consultation amongst the services of the armed forces, been formally invested with the authority of the Head of the Federal Military Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is with humility and a deep sense of responsibility that I accept this challenge and call to national duty.

As you must have heard in the previous announcement, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979) has been suspended, except those sections of it which are exempted in the constitution. The change became necessary in order to put an end to the serious economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting our nation. Consequently, the Nigerian armed forces have constituted themselves into a Federal Military Government comprising of a Supreme Military Council, a National Council of States, a Federal Executive Council at the centre and State Executive Councils to be presided over by military governors in each of the states of the federation. Members of these councils will be announced soon. The last Federal Military Government drew up a programme with the aim of handing over political power to the civilians in 1979. This programme as you all know, was implemented to the letter. The 1979 constitution was promulgated.
However, little did the military realise that the political leadership of the second republic will circumvent most of the checks and balances in the constitution and bring the present state of general insecurity. The premium on political power became so exceedingly high that political contestants regarded victory at elections as a matter of life and death struggle and were determined to capture or retain power by all means. It is true that there is a worldwide economic recession.

However, in the case of Nigeria, its impact was aggravated by mismanagement. We believe the appropriate government agencies have good advice but the leadership disregarded their advice. The situation could have been avoided if the legislators were alive to their constitutional responsibilities; Instead, the legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales, fringe benefit and unnecessary foreign travels, et al, which took no account of the state of the economy and the welfare of the people they represented.

As a result of our inability to cultivate financial discipline and prudent management of the economy, we have come to depend largely on internal and external borrowing to execute government projects with attendant domestic pressure and soaring external debts, thus aggravating the propensity of the outgoing civilian administration to mismanaged our financial resources. Nigeria was already condemned perpetually with the twin problem of heavy budget deficits and weak balance of payments position, with the prospect of building a virile and viable economy.

The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig. There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not developed confidence in the presidential system of government on which the nation invested so much material and human resources. While corruption and indiscipline have been associated with our state of under-development, these two evils in our body politics have attained unprecedented height in the past few years. The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in the last four years has been the source of immorality and impropriety in our society.

Since what happens in any society is largely a reflection of the leadership of that society, we deplore corruption in all its facets. This government will not tolerate kick-backs, inflation of contracts and over-invoicing of imports etc. Nor will it condone forgery, fraud, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and illegal dealings in foreign exchange and smuggling. Arson has been used to cover up fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am referring to the fire incidents that gutted the P&T buildings in Lagos, the Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal Capital Development Authority Accounts at Abuja and the NET Building. Most of these fire incidents occurred at a time when Nigerians were being apprehensive of the frequency of fraud scandals and the government incapacity to deal with them. Corruption has become so pervasive and intractable that a whole ministry has been created to stem it.

Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of truth. My colleagues and I – the Supreme Military Council, must be frank enough to acknowledge the fact that at the moment, an accurate picture of the financial position is yet to be determined. We have no doubt that the situation is bad enough. In spite of all this, every effort will be made to ensure that the difficult and degrading conditions under which we are living are eliminated. Let no one however be deceived that workers who have not received their salaries in the past eight or so months will receive such salaries within today or tomorrow or that hospitals which have been without drugs for months will be provided with enough immediately. We are determined that with the help of God we shall do our best to settle genuine payments to which government is committed, including backlog of workers’ salaries after scrutiny.

We are confident and we assure you that even in the face of the global recession, and the seemingly gloomy financial future, given prudent management of Nigeria’s existing financial resources and our determination to substantially reduce and eventually nail down rises in budgetary deficits and weak balance of payments position. The Federal Military Government will reappraise policies with a view to paying greater attention to the following areas: The economy will be given a new impetus and better sense of direction. Corrupt officials and their agents will be brought to book.

In view of the drought that affected most parts of the country, the federal government will, with the available resources, import food stuffs to supplement the shortfalls suffered in the last harvest. Our foreign policy will both be dynamic and realistic. Africa will of course continue to be the centre piece of our foreign policy. The morale and combat readiness of the armed forces will be given high priority. Officers and men with high personal and professional integrity will have nothing to fear.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other holders of judiciary appointments within the federation can continue in their appointments and the judiciary shall continue to function under existing laws subject to such exceptions as may be decreed from time to time by the Federal Military Government. All holders of appointments in the civil service, the police and the National Security Organisation shall continue to exercise their functions in the normal way subject to changes that may be introduced by the Federal Military Government.

All those chairmen and members of statutory corporations, parastatals and other executive departments are hereby relieved of their appointments with immediate effect.

The Federal Military Government will maintain and strengthen existing diplomatic relations with other states and with international organisations and institutions such as the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and its organs, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth etc. The Federal Military Government will honour and respect all treaties and obligations entered into by the previous government and we hope that such nations and bodies will reciprocate this gesture by respecting our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully intervened to save this nation from imminent collapse. We therefore expect all Nigerians, including those who participated directly or indirectly in bringing the nation to this present predicament, to cooperate with us. This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.May God bless us all. Good morning.

NaijaInfoman'snotes

David-West: Jonathan A Serial Liar-TheNews

Professor Tam David West

By GBENRO ADESINA

Professor Tam David-West, a former Petroleum Minister, in this interview with GBENRO ADESINA, speaks on the state of the nation.
Do you consider yourself fulfilled?
I thank God that he gives me life and good health. Personally, I am very fulfilled. For the years I have spent so far, God has really blessed me to occupy different good positions in Nigeria. I was a Commissioner for Education, Rivers State; Minister of Petroleum, under General Muhammadu Buhari; and Minister of Mines, Power and Steel under General Ibrahim Babangida. It is only God that is perfect. I am not perfect but I say it boldly that I am not corrupt and that is why I have ‘No Corruption’ written at the back of my two cars.
I declared my assets on two occasions. Nobody can bribe me. My God created me and sent me to serve my country, not to steal in any form. Even Edwin Clark abused me that I have been a minister of this and that and I don’t have a house and I say that is a compliment. A company once sent me a plan of a house and asked me to tell them where I wanted them to build the house free of charge. I said I didn’t need it. Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has been very appreciative. Out of courtesy, he promised me a lot of things.
All the money in the world cannot bribe me. My interest is to be faithful to my God. I am from a religious family. It is God that we know. My name, Tamunoemi means there is God and that is the strength of my family. So, when I want to do something, I pray to God to guide me. I don’t talk to the press without talking to God to guide me. God should guide me to say only things that will glorify His name. As you were coming, I begged God to guide me to say things that will glorify His name to my friend coming from TheNEWS.

What were the things you declared as your assets?
It is very funny. I had one undeveloped property in Port Harcourt at that time; now it is developed. It is a house which is occupied by tenants. I didn’t have millions at that time. When men of the State Security Service, SSS, arrested me and detained me on the orders of General Ibrahim Babangida, they asked me to declare my assets. They gave me a paper. After writing, they asked me if what I wrote were all the things that I had and I said ‘yes’. They asked about a house in London and my Rolls Royce. I asked them to give me a paper where I would write a directive and sign that the government should take over those things that they said that I had. The SSS was surprised that I didn’t have more than what I declared.
As at that time, I didn’t have N500. Money is not the issue. A good name is better than silver and gold.

How much are you worth?
In term of assets, I am not wealthy; I m contented. God has blessed me so much to know the difference between contentment and ‘long throat’. I am satisfied with what God has given me. I told Amaechi I don’t need any material help from anybody, including him. Some people have come to me to give me good money, I mean double digit millions of dollars, and I turned it down and told them that I didn’t need it.

Is the Port Harcourt house the only one you have?
Yes. The one I am building now is a personal house in Port Harcourt. I have been building the house for over nine years and it is yet to be completed.

Why?
Money is not flowing.

Is it a very big house?
It is not a very big house. It is a storey building in GRA, Port Harcourt. I told the architect to give me a big library space. I called the house, Tamunoemi Sakiwari, Tamunoemi is God, Sakiwari is house. It means house built when God wants you to build it.

Is that where you want to be buried?
I want to be cremated. It is contained in my will and my children know about it. My children were not happy about it. It could be done anywhere – Lagos, Ibadan – and the ashes should be taken away and thrown into the river. The reason is that many people have all sorts of ideas about David-West. Some people think that I have mythical powers, which make me bold. If you are standing for the truth, you can’t be afraid of anything, even death.

In what ways has your family background influenced you?
Let me start with my father. By just sheer accident, I was born into Kalabari royal family. I am an Amachree. Amachree dynasty has been in existence for over 300 years. My mother was Ari. My father met my mother when she was going to school in Onitsha, St. Monica Missionary School. Then my father was in Hope Waddell Secondary School. Later, my father became a banker with the Bank of the British West Africa, now First Bank. He was in the bank until I graduated. When he died, the bank sent a delegation to the family. My mother was a teacher and very disciplined. My father was softer than my mother, he was more accommodating. My mother didn’t take nonsense and she took that from her father, who they called Scorpion. He couldn’t accommodate evil; he would sting it to death.

So, you took after your grandfather?
Yes, I took after my maternal grandfather. He didn’t fear anybody. He fought for people, poor people. He was very bold. He was very comfortable. I learnt something from him. Every month, he used to have banquet for the chiefs. He was very stylish and powerful. All his furniture and cutlery were imported. He also used to organise parties for the poor families to come and eat with us. He used to say that where you are born to is not determined by you but by God. He left that in my mind that nobility has obligations. He fought many battles and won all. I was the first grandson and he used to rub his forehead on mine. He was a good Christian. No fetish in our family. Right from infancy, we are taught to fast and pray. No juju at all.

How has the influence of your grandparents affected you?
It has made me to be well disciplined and that is why I am able to discipline my children very well. My children are very regimented because of the training I gave them.

How many of them?
We don’t count the number of children, but they are all successful and brilliant. My mother gave me eight strokes of the cane when I was in elementary school, for spelling ‘daughter’ as ‘doughter’. I can’t forget that and I brought up my children same way.
You recently paid a solidarity visit to Governor Amaechi of Rivers State. You said that his problem with President Goodluck Jonathan was personal.
Why did you take such position?
I didn’t know Amaechi before I started defending him. I don’t defend you because of what you are, but because of what you stand for. I have gone through injustice before and I know where it pinches. Was I not jailed for life because of coffee and wristwatch? When somebody is unnecessarily molested, I defend him or her. Unfortunately, Amaechi has not been able to open his mouth to really tell us the causes of the problem he is going through. It is personal.
One of his greatest enemies, Nyesom Wike, Minister of State for Education, was his chief of staff and they were very close until few months ago when he went to Abuja. This same chief of staff used to congratulate me whenever he read my article about Amaechi. What is the reason for their disagreement? Their first disagreement was that the chief of staff wants to be governor after Amaechi and Amaechi said that will not be right because they are from the same ethnic group, Ikwerre. He said the state can’t have Ikwerre governor for eight years and be succeeded by an Ikwerre person. He feels that is unfair to other ethnic groups in the state.
So, he is insisting that the governorship has to go to the riverine people. But Amaechi has been vindicated because Wike declared two weeks ago that he wants to be a governor. Amaechi’s opposition forced Wike into opting to go to the Senate. But Amaechi said that his next ambition is to be a senator. Wike is finding it difficult to deal with being stopped first from becoming governor, and then senator. The last time I visited Amaechi, I told him that if he is doing well, I will say it and if not, I will say it. I can do that because I don’t want anything from him. Amaechi is suffering injustice.

But there is a speculation that his ordeal is as a result of having an ambition to be vice-president?
It is a lie.

What is the interest of the President in a misunderstanding between Amaechi and his former chief of staff?
Patience, the President’s wife, hates Amaechi. Thanks to your magazine for its recent cover story, ‘Her Imperial Majesty’. It was a fantastic research. I am not talking about the first lady, I hate the word Your Excellency. Which Excellency? Have you ever heard Barack Obama’s wife being addressed as Her Excellency? Or David Cameron’s? We forget that the place of first lady is completely unconstitutional and irrelevant. I am happy the National Assembly stopped the N4b allocation proposed by Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory for construction of a building for African First Ladies Mission.
Why does Patience, who I don’t think is patient, hate Amaechi?
She hates Amaechi because she wants an Okrika man to be governor after Amaechi. Unfortunately for Patience, she is not restrained at all. She can say anything and do anything without inhibition. That is why I congratulate TheNEWS on that in-depth research. Mrs. Jonathan once embarrassed Amaechi at a public function in Okrika. That was uncivilised. I think without further delay, Patience should be humble enough to publicly tender an unreserved apology for that attitude because being a president’s wife doesn’t give her the licence to be rude. Who will take what Patience did? That shows how impatient she is and that shows you how much Amaechi has absorbed. She humiliates him everytime. Jonathan caused it because he can’t say no to whatever his wife says. He is a very weak husband and he is a very weak president. Whatever she says must happen. How can anybody read that well researched cover story of your magazine and feel glorified. If I were Mrs. Jonathan, after reading TheNEWS magazine, I’d leave Abuja and go on sabbatical for a long time. How can she face the public now with such  revelations of her unconstitutionality? Whenever she goes out with her husband, she stays in front and the husband stays behind her. Nigeria should not take this and the earlier we rose to say this nonsense must stop, the better.
Wives have a lot of influence on their husbands. Most of the things Jonathan is doing are very wrong. President Jonathan is so obstructive. If she is good, she should be able to talk to her husband not to do things that are not good and always remind him that they should leave good legacies behind. Abdulsalami Abubakar’s wife advised her husband well. She went to university and law school. But this is a lady that ended in high school.
But she has a degree.
As far as my record shows, I don’t attach any degree to her, but if I am wrong, please, Reuben Abati, publish it and let me be educated. As far as I know, she did some secretarial studies or something. There is no record that says that Mrs. Jonathan is a graduate. I am saying that the excesses of Mrs. Jonathan can’t be a positive platform for her husband to be a president. In fact, in any other country, if you are unable to restrain your wife’s excesses, you are impeached and you go back to your village and stay.
What is your take on the way Patience Jonathan took over everywhere in Port Harcourt recently?
I was there. I witnessed it. I arrived the same day. Fortunately, I left the airport before they closed the road, but I saw the crowd gathering. It was a very obscene show of arrogance of power. As soon as I checked into my hotel, the sirens came. Even Amaechi couldn’t come out of Government House. Where did she get the money to build that big house she just built? There was heavy security and the neighbours were complaining. When I was leaving the airport, I counted at least 20 security cars. One of the policemen said: ‘Professor, hurry up before the superhuman being comes.”
Even the policemen were not happy.

A few people have suggested that first ladies should be assigned constitutional roles…
It is sad. It is just like the agitation for assigning constitutional roles to traditional rulers. If constitutional roles are assigned to the traditional rulers, by the time the reality will dawn on us, it will take so long to reverse the disaster. It is better the way it is now. Any provision for traditional rulers is dangerous for Nigeria. The Oba I admire and adore in Yorubaland is Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III. He has given the royalty its due respect. He has not degraded and desecrated it. He is a king with magnetic brain. He is so brilliant. He is a good role model.

What do you make of Jonathan’s desire to seek re-election?
Has he got the right to contest or does he deserve to contest? According to the constitution, he has the right to contest, with some caveat. All the noise of continuing and completing Yar’Adua’s tenure are all academic, they are all just expression to justify what he wants to do. Does he deserve another term? My answer is that he doesn’t deserve it. Jonathan is not showing enough gratitude to Nigerians. If he ruled as a president after Yar’Adua and after that contested again and won, now ruling, he doesn’t have the moral right to contest again. Pragmatically, he is asking for third term.
The other moral aspect, which people are glossing over, is the agreement with the North that he is going to serve only one term? Governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger State is a responsible man, highly educated and knowledgeable. He said Jonathan promised to go for only one term and it was on that basis that the North supported him. I believe him. Those asking for documents are talking nonsense. Jonathan is used to lies. He has lied before concerning rotational presidency. When they say that it is contained in PDP constitution that presidency is rotational between the North and the South, Jonathan openly said that there is nothing like that in the PDP constitution. He was corrected by Ebenezer Babatope. Babatope is a great friend of mine, but his activities in PDP are so repulsive to me. Babatope said Jonathan is equal to Awolowo plus Zik plus Sadauna and I said he is talking nonsense. Awolowo made Babatope. Awolowo sent Babatope to study Law in London. His statement is not only disrespectful to Awolowo, but also heresy. Jonathan signed that constitution that says that presidency is rotational. A president that told such a big lie should be impeached.
Jonathan has lied several times. He is a serial liar. If Jonathan can lie about the constitution of his party, why do we have to entrust him with the constitution of Nigeria. I score Jonathan C- for his performance. He should stop thinking of another term. If an undergraduate scores C; he can’t go to postgraduate school. That is an academic metaphor. Jonathan has not done anything to qualify him for second term.

Recently, state accountants-general walked out of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee over reduction in oil revenue. What is your diagnosis?
I read about it and laughed. When I was the minister of petroleum, I represented the head of state in the revenue sharing meeting. Every month, all the commissioners of finance would assemble in Lagos. I knew the amount of money we were making and we were so transparent about it. We never had one minute of disagreement. I projected for them. After our meeting, we’d have a cocktail. Something is wrong with Jonathan’s administration because he has people that are not telling him the truth. The crisis is as a result of personal interest.

The government has been painting a rosy picture of the economy – high GDP and others. Is the picture an accurate representation of the country’s economic situation?
I am not impressed. The test of a government is not what they say, but what the people say. You can give yourself 99 per cent or whatever you like, but if the people are sad and suffering is written all over them, it shows that whatever you have scored yourself is wrong. I don’t believe Jonathan. If he says GDP has improved and I know he can’t pay N18,000 minimum wage, graduates are looking for jobs as drivers or serving as stewards or selling recharge cards, then, all that Jonathan has claimed are lies. It is like somebody saying that ‘I have N1 billion in the bank, but can’t give food to my children’.

When there is crisis in the world as a result of oil prices, Nigeria catches cold. What is the way out?
An economy that relies over 90 per cent on oil will crash. Nigeria depends so much on oil. Oil makes up over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s total foreign reserves. Though we talk of diversification, we don’t diversify. I am not interested in the bridges you want to build from Sokoto to Port Harcourt when you have not fed your people. People that are graduating, are they comfortable and getting jobs? The constitution says that the welfare of the people is fundamental. Have you provided security and welfare for the people? As long as you have failed in these aspects, you are a failure.
Relying on oil is a dangerous thing because oil fluctuates like thermometer. People are saying Nigeria’s oil will dry up, it is a lie. It will not dry.
I have toured the Gulf: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other countries. One country that manages its oil best is Kuwait. In the Gulf, the oil belongs to royal families and the people. In Nigeria, the oil belongs to the people by law. Although the oil belongs to royal families in the Gulf countries, they use the oil well for the people. Although oil belongs to the people in Nigeria, the oil goes to a few crooks and idiots who are in the positions of authority. Many people have said that Nigeria is a wealthy country with so many poor people. There is no house in Saudi Arabia that you don’t see about three cars; education is free, medical care is free. Our doctors are even running there to have better conditions of service.
Kuwait has something ingenious. Kuwait has a fund called Kuwaiti Fund For the Future. Any day Kuwait sells oil, they take some millions into a special account for the future. They are so responsible. They have properties everywhere, even in London. While oil is a curse in Nigeria, it is a blessing in other countries. How can anybody talk about stealing oil over there when he knows that if he is caught, he will be executed?
In Nigeria, stealing oil is so simple. Even the law enforcement agents will help you to steal. The problem we have in Nigeria is that law enforcement agents are part of the sleaze.

Do you support the Sovereign Wealth Fund?
The Sovereign Wealth Fund they make so much noise about is not new. I proposed it long before now. During my tenure, we were drawing 1.5m barrels per day. So, I proposed that if we projected that oil would sell at $50 per barrel and later it is sold at $100 per barrel, you’d have extra $50 per barrel. I said that we should not touch the extra $50, but invest it. It is a reserve or like an insurance that you can fall on during crisis. It is not there for immediate spending, but for the rainy day. It is fallback position.
It is fraudulent for Federal Government to touch it. If the Federal Government touches it, under equity, state government must also ask for its own share. If the Federal Government is disciplined enough not to touch it, state governments will not attempt to touch it. Our oil money is so much badly managed. There is so much fraud and nobody is punishing anybody. As regards excess crude fund, anyone talking about excess crude fund is fraudulent. It is extra crude fund, not excess. If you talk about excess, it means that you have done everything and money still remains. But when we are talking about extra, we expect N100m and because of the vagaries of oil market, we now make N150m, the N50m is not excess, it is extra.

Do you support the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB?
Yes and no. The PIB as it is, I don’t support. I have written about 30 pages on it, I have not published it. It is too big. I want to make it a pamphlet. If you look at PIB, it is attractive on the surface. There is a lot of politics and personalised recommendations in it. That is not good for the system. The PIB is a rambling bill. It is not focused. The title is 40 words. A bill that has a title of 40 words cannot be a focused bill. The intention of the bill is laudable but what we have is not laudable. They should not pass that bill. Get credible experts across the country, forget about David-West, and let them sit and look at that bill from page to page and comment on it. After that, all oil producing states must meet and take a position and send their position to the National Assembly. If that bill is passed as it is, I can project that in the next few years, there will be crisis. Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, Effurun has been there before I became a minister. I am still impressed by the organisation of that place. I learnt that it has been upgraded to a university. If they pass that bill, we are going to have a parallel one in Kaduna. The PTI was played down in the bill. Why do you have to create another parallel institute to train middle-level manpower? Why can’t they upgrade and equip the existing one to do this training? We should think about cost effectiveness.
The bill also said that oil bloc can be allocated by the minister. That is the most irresponsible thing to say. It is dangerous to allow the minister to allocate oil bloc without the input of the presidency and other checking mechanisms. There was a time Jubril Aminu was talking about oil blocs and said that he practically awarded oil blocs during Babangida era. I commented that it is either he is lying or Babangida is irresponsible. During my time, I can’t allocate lifting of oil without Buhari’s approval. Oil is the prime commodity of Nigeria. An oil bloc is like diamond mine. Allocating oil blocs is like taking Nigeria’s prime wealth and giving it to somebody.
What do you think is wrong with Nigeria which produces crude, but imports refined fuel?
It is madness. That is part of PIB. The National Assembly should not be stampeded into rushing it. It is better to be late than doing a wrong thing. We are crazy for importing oil. Our refineries were deliberately sabotaged so that they can import fuel. Even when the Senate admitted that our refineries are sabotaged, what did they do? Nothing. Sabotaging our oil refineries benefits people in power.
During my time, we were exporting petroleum products. Now, we are importing. Nigeria is not qualified to be a member of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. We should be a member of Organisation of Petroleum Importing Countries, OPIC. There is no member of OPEC that imports fuel except Nigeria. In fact, some of the Gulf countries don’t only export of petroleum products, they even have filling stations in Europe. Why can’t Nigeria do that? Anyone who supports high price of fuel and importation should be locked up in prison. Price of fuel in Nigeria should not be more than N40 per litre. Anyone that is encouraging high petroleum price in Nigeria is not only the enemy of the people, he should be arrested and sent to Bama Prison and even killed.
How do you rate the chances of opposition groups that have coalesced into the All Progressive Congress against Jonathan?
I am a member of the All Progressive Congress, APC, merger committee. I am not a politician. I am not a member of any political party, but Buhari made me represent CPC because of my pedigree. We meet regularly in Abuja, most times in Tomi Ikimi’s house. It is a fantastic group. APC is not aiming to defeat PDP. APC is only interested in giving Nigeria a better government. Nigeria will decide what they want.

Do you think the APC is capable of being better than the PDP?
Absolutely, APC will not disappoint Nigeria.
People can’t understand why you don’t support Jonathan, your brother from the Niger Delta.
I will not support him because he is an Ijaw man. I will support you because you are doing well for Nigeria. You are not president of Ijaw, you are President of Nigeria. If Jonathan was my father, I’d say: ‘Papa, you are doing very badly.’
Jonathan is not only a graduate, he is a Ph.D holder. He should show a measure of intellectual discipline and discernment. Jonathan has not impressed me. Jonathan has failed to see that the activities of Dokubo-Asari and Chief Edwin Clark are a disservice to him. He is embracing them and giving them money and encouraging them to be reckless with their mouths. Let me take Clark first. Clark is not an Ijaw. When he was studying Law in Britain, he was secretary of Urhobo Progressive Union. Throughout the time he was going to school in London, he was Urhobo, not Ijaw.
Clark identified with Urhobo more than Ijaw in London. It is convenient for him to claim Ijaw because he is getting money. I am a better Ijaw than Clark. My father and mother are Ijaw. Clark is patch patch Ijaw. When you say somebody is partial Ijaw or partial something, you give impression of half and half, 50/50 but he is patch patch because only his father is Ijaw, the mother is from Itsekiri. How can Jonathan think that a patch patch Ijaw will like him more than a full-blooded Ijaw.
Jonathan’s supporters are mostly from the North. He is a president today as a result of the support the Yoruba gave to him. Dora Akunyili, an Igbo woman, contributed her own quota to what Jonathan is today. Save Nigeria Group, led by Pastor Tunde Bakare, fought the National Assembly to do something. He became a vice-president, which paved a way for him to be president through the influence of a Yoruba man, Olusegun Obasanjo. Who moved the motion to make Jonathan acting president? A Hausa man. The input of Ijaw in making Jonathan president, compared to others, was just 24 per cent. Jonathan is more of a creation of Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa. When you know you don’t have a political base and you still allow Clark to be abusing the people that made you, it is rubbish. As long as you keep aspiring, you need the votes of these people. Apart from that, we have 19 states in the North and 17 states in the South. To be President of Nigeria, you must not only win majority votes, but have 25 per cent in two-thirds in 24 states. The Ijaw can’t give that. Even the whole of the South can’t give that. You can’t be insulting the people you need. We have sycophant professors that are only interested in praising.
Dokubo is my cousin. His mother and my mother are of the same father. He stayed with me here. I used to give him pocket money a few years ago before he became a millionaire. Dokubo is more disastrous than Clark. He is an embarrassment to me. In one of his unguided pronouncements, he said I am an Igbo man because I bear Chidiade. Chidiade is the same as Tamunoemi. It means there is God. It was translated to Tamunoemi by Bishop Iyala of Anglican Church. It was popular in our area for an unknown reason to get foreign names. For instance, Rotimi Amaechi. Rotimi is a Yoruba name and he has no Yoruba blood in him. We have Dele, Ayo and other Yoruba names in our area. He is talking nonsense. His title is fraudulent. Dokubo has an illusion of grandeur. ‘Idiabali 1’ is an Igbo title. Is he not ashamed? He is a bundle of irrelevance and ignorance. Dokubo said Ijaw people are not Nigerians, but he said he would fight for Jonathan to be President of Nigeria. Dokubo said Awolowo, a great man, great leader in Nigeria, was a criminal. That is the type of person Jonathan wants to campaign for him. He said the North are Gambari and parasites.
Without the North, Jonathan would not be there. He said if Jonathan does not return in 2015, there will be problem. Which problem? I will like to see what will happen if Jonathan doesn’t win in 2015. That is the kind of rot around Jonathan. Dokubo will not die for Jonathan. Did he vote for him? Did he campaign for him? If anything happens to Jonathan, Dokubo will be one of the first people that will run away.

Do you agree with the view that education has declined? If yes, what do you think is responsible?
Nigeria is not investing enough in education. I was surprised when the NUC Secretary claimed that the Federal Government is not underfunding education. He is my friend and colleague. I told him to shut up because he showed that he doesn’t understand what he is doing. Many years ago, I did a ten-year study of the falling standard of education in Nigeria, which I published in the defunct Daily Sketch. The budget will say 25 per cent allocation, but in the end, they don’t give universities 10 per cent. For the past 10 years, Nigeria has not spent more than 10 per cent of its budget on education. UNESCO recommends a minimum of 26 per cent. Ghana and South Africa spend about 31 per cent. Nigeria spends about nine per cent on education. It is irresponsible for any government to establish more universities. They have just approved about 10 new universities. It is irresponsible and one of them was located in Jonathan’s village, Otuoke. Government can spend less money to revamp the existing universities, provide more facilities and open more spaces for admission. We have bastardised education. One private university, a few months ago, said 50 per cent of students that graduated from the university made first class. How can a university not be afraid to say that 50 per cent of its graduates are first class materials? If first class is cheap, it can’t be first class.

Are you comfortable the way the National Assembly is going about the amendment of the Constitution?
They are wasting their time. The 1999 Constitution is like the 1979 Constitution. I was among the persons that drafted 1979 Constitution. Obafemi Awolowo was among, but he declined to attend. The committee was chaired by the late Chief F.R.A Williams. We worked for about a year without allowance. They only paid transport and accommodation allowances and we worked night and day to produce a constitution. No allowance. We were working in the interest of Nigeria. The 1999 Constitution is the best constitution. Onagoruwa said the same thing. Nothing is wrong with it. If a constitution is brought by an angel and is given to us, Nigeria will still corrupt it. Constitution is the fundamental document of the country. You can’t have your personal interest and put in the constitution. Each one of them has a personal interest. A good example is Obasanjo.
Obasanjo wanted third term and the constitution, as it stands, couldn’t give him one. Obasanjo said there are 100 flaws in the 1979 Constitution and also in the 1999 Constitution. During the time Obasanjo was head of state, he didn’t notice flaws. Finally, when the third term bid collapsed, Obasanjo didn’t push for amendment again. All they are doing is a waste of time and our money.
There are processes of constitutional amendment in our constitution. Section 9 contains mode of altering provision of the constitution and it requires two-thirds. After, it is sent to the states and two-thirds of state assemblies in the country must endorse it. That is 24 states. After, it goes back to you and before you can make it an Act of parliament, 4/5th majority must endorse it. So, all they are doing is wasting our time and money and I will not be surprised if some of them have not read the constitution. All the money the National Assembly has spent on this mission must be returned to the federation account. They should get this straight. An Act of parliament is different from a constitutional provision. Act of parliament is inferior to the constitution. The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, said state creation has nothing to do with constitutional amendment. He was talking nonsense.
When we were making this constitution, some of us wanted the names of the states to be reflected. Chief Rotimi Williams of blessed memory said: ‘Gentlemen, I caution you. Don’t mention the names of the states because if you mention the names of the states, those states can’t be removed without an amendment of the constitution.’ Unfortunately for him, majority carried the day. The states and local councils are contained in the constitution. You can’t change one local government without amending the constitution. Tinubu was clever. He called the councils he created Local Council Development Areas.

What is your assessment on the country’s civil society organisations?
The civil society is not as bold as it was during the military era. The civil society fought military and brought them down. Now, they are all docile because money talks. The civil society must stand up now and make government change.
Look at what happened in Turkey, the president of Turkey is a very proud man. He used everything against the people, but they refused to stop demonstrating. The problem in Nigeria is that the government knows that the average Nigerian hates corruption, but can’t resist the attraction of millions. Even trade unions compromise themselves. The reason that civil society was very effective during military era was that while the military threatened us with guns, they didn’t dare shoot. But the civilian government knows where to pitch. If you talk too much, they will say, ‘Go and give him N10m.’ They can always buy conscience. The conscience of the civil society now has a price tag.
What is your message to Nigerians as we march toward 2015?
My compatriots, if the elections in 2015 provoke turbulence, we will be in trouble. Nigerians should protect their votes. Don’t allow your conscience to be bought because you will suffer for it. The ballot boxes should be protected. Don’t allow your votes to be bought. Don’t vote for anyone because he has given you money. And if somebody wants to cheat you, stop them by any means available to you. Fighting a tyrant is approved by God. If you can lynch whosoever that wants to mess up your vote, lynch him because an election rigger is worse than armed robber. We must know our rights and prepare with all that we have to defend such. The civil society must wake up. I believe in civil disobedience when government is doing what is wrong. There must be civil disobedience if government doesn’t want to listen.
Your house is like an archive, a typical Nigerian library, contrary to the houses of your fellow lecturers that are usually state-of-the-art. Most of the buildings around you are painted while yours is not. One can’t even find a place to put his foot right from your sitting room, and other parts, is it comfortable?
Somebody came here and said that there is nowhere to put leg and I said shut up. If you give me N100m for a trade and you come back in 100 days and I have lost it, how will you feel? I don’t do any other thing apart from reading. Books are my best companions. I buy a lot of them.

Who will you will them to?
My children should do whatever they like with it. I have an idea to have a public library in Rivers State. A reference library, if it is the will of God. I will get all those things there. Why should a child that cannot value books inherit them? I know God will show me what to do with the books. I want a state government that will partner with me and build the library and take all the books and put them there for reference.
Saharareporters

OPEN LETTER TO PASTOR AYO ORITSEJAFOR BY SHARON FALIYA CHAM

• 
  I read from news sources that the voting blocs in the Christian Association of Nigeria have unanimously re-elected you as President of the association again, and I hereby congratulate you for this.
  
  I don't know if your re-election was the result of a contest between you and some other candidates or candidate, but I must remark that current events in the nation, which your association helped in no small way to fester have made the credibility of your association to wane considerably such that many credible Christians are now having a hard time to identify with this association.
  
  CAN, particularly under your leadership, has been reduced to a sounding board for the criminal elite misruling and ruining the nation. You seem to have compromised the values, integrity and truth of the Christian religion on the altar of ethnic, tribal and parochial interests of the scoundrels you misled the gullible church goers to vote for in the last elections. The result is the shameful misgovernance and anarchy in the land today for which Christians are now looked at as fools and bigots. I must point out to you that by dragging CAN to endorse and campaign for these social misfits who are not fit to be Headmasters of any primary school you have merely made the church to be seen as "enemy of progress."
  
  To make matters a stretch more complicated, you have never ever been seen or heard taking a stand against the monumental corruption being perpetrated by these same people you cavort with, and neither have you been seen or heard advising or cautioning them against their "war against democracy" in Rivers State and in the Governors Forum. The issues of national interest of which your association failed to take a stand on are many, but it has been observed that you always find time to attack honest and patriotic Nigerians like General Buhari and Nasir el-Rufai, which has made observers to believe that you seem to have a rabid hatred for Muslims, especially those from the north, which is contrary to biblical exhortations. And permit me to politely tell you that this General Buhari whom you seem to hate so much is 2.6 trillion times better than your Goodluck Jonathan in honesty, integrity, character, nationalism, patriotism, intellect and morality, and before Jonathan can attain his honour he will have to trek for 2.6 trillion miles on the path of discipline.
  
  I want to believe that the voters in CAN re-elected you so that you can undo the grievous damage you and others did to the image and integrity of the Christian religion in Nigeria by cavorting with morally bankrupt politicians in your party, the PDP. And on this score, kindly let me advise that you steer CAN on the path of neutrality in politics, but in case you cannot resist the urge of playing politics then kindly register CAN as a political party at INEC so that "Christians" in Nigeria can have a platform on which they can rule the country alone. It will also give a political platform for "marginalised" Christian tribes in the north and the Middle Belt to secure votes from the "Christian South" so that they can be President, Governors and Legislators. But for now quite a good number of us Christians find your romance with the PDP, an evil political organisation reprehensible and shameful.
  
  I pray that in your second tenure you will have the courage to attack corrupt politicians in power without the fear of them grounding or seizing your private jet.
  
  And may the church in Nigeria wake up and restore love and orderliness in the country.
  
  Thank you.

  via: facebook

PHOTONEWS: Wole Soyinka Says First Lady Patience Jonathan Is A Mere Domestic Appendage Of Power

Wole Soyina and Femi Falana today

Nigeria's foremost human rights activists Professor Wole Soyinka and Femi Falana, SAN, today came down heavily on President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience describing the first lady  in particular  as a " mere domestic appending of power.
Professor Soyinka and Falana came down hard on the President for engineering the chaos besetting the Rivers State House of Assembly. The professor condemned the role of Mt. Jonathan and his wife saying the wife has been using the security apparatus of state to intimidate the governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi.
The duo also called on the police hierarchy to remove and prosecute the commissioner of police in Rivers state, Joseph Mbu.
 An infuriated Soyinka also asked the media to stop paying attention to the so-called newly elected speaker of Rivers
state, Evans Bipi describing him as a clown.
Saharareporters