Akpabio Summons PDP Governors to Meet on Reconciliation, National Convention

Governor Godswill Akpabio

*Adamawa stakeholders fault Dickson’s chairmanship of reconciliation committee  
*Tukur flays enemies of party

By Chuks Okochaand Daji Sani 

As part of the ongoing reconciliation moves within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the chairman of the party’s governors’ forum, Godswill Akpabio, will today host a meeting of all PDP governors.

This is coming as Adamawa State PDP stakeholders have faulted the appointment of the governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson as the chairman of the party’s reconciliation committee, stating that he was too inexperienced to head such a strategic committee.

Also,  investigations from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed that Kano State was not listed among states that the delegate election to the PDP convention was not properly conducted. According to a copy of letter written by the INEC secretary, Abduallhi Kaugama, dated March 5 2012, listed the states that the delegates were not acceptable to include Sokoto, Adamawa, Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Lagos, Anambra and Katsina. Inside sources said the inclusion of Kano State delegates in the list was an error.

According to a governor that spoke to THISDAY in confidence, the agenda of the PDP governors’ meeting is three fold: the ongoing reconciliation within the party, the planned August 31 national convention and the November 16 governorship election in Anambra State.

“The Anambra State governorship election is important to PDP, as it is strategic to the 2015 presidential campaigns. We the PDP governors want to meet to ensure that there is transparency  in the emergence of the governorship candidate. It is the belief of the PDP governors that if the PDP will win the presidential election, then it must start with the Anambra State.
“The South-east must be made to return to the PDP one hundred percent,” the source said.

The Adamawa State PDP in a statement signed by Dr. Umar Ardo, in faulting the appointment of Dickson as the chairman of the PDP Reconciliation Committee, said: “I should have thought that such an important committee would be better handled by more experienced hands such as members of the Board of Trustees of the party or by the eminent 50-member Advisory Committee constituted by Bamanga himself last year when he came into office. If one may respectfully ask, of what significance is this Advisory Committee headed by no less a personality than Chief Alex Ekwueme, if it cannot handle issues of this nature?

“For the party to bypass such eminent personalities within its fold and go and pick Gov. Dickson who is hardly known outside his governorship office is to me a clear indication of how far alienated the PDP is in the national support reckoning. It is sending a wrong signal across the country on the current popularity and moral standings of the party capable of irreversibly destroying its electoral fortunes in 2015. This is counterproductive and undesirable.

Ardo stated that: “Other than the fact that as a governor, Dickson would have little time to devote to such an onerous and time-consuming task, I also think that he is eminently unqualified to handle such an assignment. In the first place Dickson lacks the national exposure and experience." that such a task requires. Secondly, Dickson himself is a subject of conflict within the party apparatus and membership. The way and manner in which he was brought in as governor, and the furor and controversy that it generated across the country, drain him of all moral standing to undertake a reconciliatory mission.

“Also, as a governor of the president’s own state, and a number one hatched boy of the president, Dickson cannot be objective and fair in his judgment.

"Given that one of the most central causes of the present disputes within the party is the inordinate ambition of the president for 2015, I cannot see how Dickson can depart from this goal should it be imperative for the committee to do so in the course of its assignment."
According to Ardo Umar, “In fact, Dickson’s appointment will only be seen as an act of nepotism aimed at satisfying the impulsive determination of the president to achieve his aspiration. This perception will automatically estrange most aggrieved members and stakeholders of the party. The committee will thus be dead on arrival”.

In the same vein, the Adamawa State Secretary of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), in the Alhaji Mijinyawa Kugama led- faction,  Mr. P. P. Elisha has criticised  the Dickson-headed  committee, describing it as useless and baseless.

Elisha argued that five other committees have been set up by the party and President  Goodluck Jonathan in the past to resolve the party crisis but none of them has been able to deliver on the peace and reconciliation mandate.
"Let Tukur, explain to us what happened to Chief Tony Anenih's committee report, Pius Anyim Pius Committee report and others” he said.

Elisha added that the present 30-man committee would make matters worse in the PDP crisis. He claimed that the PDP National Chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur know what to do to end the party wrangling rather than deceiving the PDP stalwarts with another committee.

"How many reconciliation committees we are going to have before we put our house in order?, he asked rhetorically.
According to him, the problems of the party was the National Chairman's despotic style of leadership which almost wants to impose issues on the members of the party.
Elisha said President Goodluck Jonathan, in his wisdom set up Sule Lamido Committee, to look into Adamawa State PDP crisis and submitted its report to the national chairman of the party with  facts that  touched core matters affecting the party across the country. But because the committee’s report was not in favour of Tukur”s existing faction in the state, he destroyed the committee.

In his word" Now I tend to wonder if Mr. President is heading a Committee for reconciliation in the PDP, and the National Chairman set a parallel one indicating a wrong signal that the national chairman is above Mr. President. As a party faithful, we believe that any other committee set by whoever in Nigeria cannot be above the one Mr. President is heading which we are yet to know what time it will commence work"

But as if he was responding to the tirade launched at him, the national chairman of PDP, Bamanga Tukur lambasted those he accused of fanning and funding the crisis in the party. He said, “those found to be funding reports on crises within the party, particularly on issues of mini convention, to me, are enemies of the party, our reconciliatory plans as well as our focus on 2015. And I dare say that they will always fail”.

According to Tukur, the media should have realised that the National secretariat of PDP is the only body constitutionally saddled with the task of resolving issues about dates of congresses and National Conventions by the party. He said any Committee set up for that purpose should naturally be answerable to the party.

The Chairman made this known in a statement he personally signed, as he stressed that since the PDP constitution lays emphasis on party supremacy, the National Secretariat would not shirk its responsibilities in taking appropriate decisions in the interest of all members.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan, the PDP leader, acknowledges the powers conferred on the party by the constitution and has always been encouraging the dispensation of party supremacy for shaping the good conduct of PDP while strengthening democracy, all the same.

He said, “We are one as a people and as a party. The people who say there were wranglings between us as leaders on convention matters are mere rumour peddlers. We have been meeting and taking decisions on how to move the party forward. And the good thing is that we are all experienced members to know the right thing to do.

“All of us in PDP know that the party is supreme. I am aware like other well meaning founding members that without party supremacy, the flock would only be floundering, and so there must be control. Authority must flow from one direction, which is the party.

“From day one that I was elected as chairman, I have been committed to the vision and best wishes of the founding fathers of which I am one. I did not come from any party to join PDP. So I appeal to our members to give us the space and the support to do the job for which we are elected and that includes taking the right decisions for the party’s progress.

Tukur, however, appeal to party members nationwide to continue to repose confidence in him and his ability to Sheppard the PDP towards the right direction. He stressed that the decisions he had taken so far as the Chairman had been tested by time, while he was all along vindicated.

He stressed, “What we need as a party is full concentration and the focus to do the unthinkable in a manner that would leave our enemies and opponents dumbfounded. I have an unshaken belief that the PDP remains a family with an umbrella to contain all interests.

ThisDay

Mixed reactions greet govs’ visits to ex-leaders

BY JOHN ALECHENU AND CHUKWUDI AKASIKE

| credits:

Mixed reactions have continued to trail the visits of some Northern states’ governors to three former Nigerian leaders – Generals Olusegun Obasanjo,   Abdusalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida.

Four of the governors – Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Sule Lamido(Jigawa); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); and Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano) – had  last Saturday visited Obasanjo in Abeokuta where they discussed issues that have to do with the polity, especially the 2015 general elections.

On Monday, Wamakko, Lamido, Kwakwanso and Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu  headed for Minna, where they reportedly discussed similar issues, including the political crisis in Rivers State with Abubakar and Babangida.

At the meeting which was to have also been attended by Nyako, the governors appealed to Abubakar and Babangida to ask President Goodluck Jonathan to  urgently bring the Rivers State crisis to  an end.

While the main opposition political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change –  described the visits as a welcome development, the  Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen and the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, disagreed.

In a   telephone interview  with  one of our correspondents,  the National Publicity Secretary  of the  ACN,  Alhaji Lai Mohammed,  said,   “I think the four or five governors made their case. They are worried and concerned about the growing climate of political intolerance and impunity and that these have consequences not only for democracy  but for the 2015 elections.

“They are concerned that the current attitude and frame of mind of the President regarding some governors even those considered as dissidents   is worrisome to them.

“They are saying that at the rate things are going there might be no election in 2015.

“This is aligning with our own position about four months ago that we are concerned about certain actions of  the government.  Then we  cried out about the despotic nature of the President but we were taken on by the President’s spokesperson that it was not despotism.

“This is what these governors are seeing now and what they are saying by their visit; in calling on all of these former Heads of State and elder statesmen is to appeal to the President to allow for democracy and a peaceful election in 2015.”

Mohammed’s counterpart in the CPC, Rotimi Fashakin, argued that some of the issues   raised by the governors  were capable of derailing the nation’s democracy if not urgently addressed.

He  said, “There is nothing wrong with people going round to troubleshoot  and  bring about   resolution of crises.

“You  will find out that in situations like this,  you must be able to explore all avenues.

“The   First Lady has confessed that as far back as four years ago, she bore a grudge against the Rivers State governor  and it was because of  this that we are witnessing what we are seeing now.

“Some of these issues are capable of derailing this democracy; it is understandable why they will continue to   explore avenues for peace.

“They are going round to see people they feel can have some influence on the President and his wife to speak up now so that we can have a stable polity.”

Their arguements were supported by  the  Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Otelemaba Amachree, who said the visits  were  capable of restoring peace to the PDP and ending the crisis in  the state.

 Amachree,  who spoke through his Media Assistant, Mr. Jim Okpiki, argued that Obasanjo, Abubakar and Babangida   were still relevant to the  Nigerian political  clime.

 He said, “The truth is that we cannot remove Babangida and Obasanjo in today’s politics. Apart from that, Babangida and Abubakar  are very influential people that can make things happen.”

However, the convener of the CNPAPB, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, believes that the visits  were  not to salvage the country but the PDP.

Mohammed said that if  the governors’ actions were to save the country, they should have also visited a former President, Shehu Shagari, and another ex-Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon.

He said, “As far as I can remember,  Shagari was a President of this country and he is alive and well. General Gowon,  like the others,  is a former  Head of State, who did this country proud.

“These men were not  visited  and this goes to prove that these visits have nothing to do with salvaging the country.  Indeed,  the goal is to  salvage  the PDP as a party  and  they have more to do with public relations.

 “None of these men that they visited  is in a position to salvage the nation. If the nation is to be salvaged, it will not be Babangida  or any of these people; it will be salvaged by forces beyond these individuals.   As a public relations exercise, I don’t mind the governors going to visit former Heads of State but I mind  the way it was done because Obasanjo, Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar and  Gen. (Theophilus) Danjuma, who  is  also being considered for a similar visit ,  have only one thing in common:  They are stinkingly rich.”

To the   Rivers State chapter of the PDP, the   governors  are desperadoes  looking for exit plans as their tenure  is  drawing to an end.

The party, in  a statement   by the Special Adviser on Media to its  Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, argued that the visits were not borne out of genuine interest to resolve the lingering political crisis in Rivers State, but to fuel it.

 It  wondered why the   governors who are now “patriots” of democracy could not remove the logs in their eyes before removing the speck in other people’s eyes.

 “How can any serious minded governor not be worried that the average Northerner today lives in grave fear of insecurity and poverty and yet these busybody governors are wasting tax- payers’ money, flying on chartered executive jets to stoke trouble in Rivers State,”  the party said.

Punch

Child marriage: Oritsejafor to lead protest against senators

 BY FRIDAY OLOKOR, ABUJA 

CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, on Tuesday said he would lead Nigerians to protest against the Senate resolution to amend Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution under which married underage girls are deemed to be adults.

The association also frowned on the comment credited to former Governor of Zamfara State Ahmed Yerima that the proposal for the deletion of the section contravened Islamic Law.

Oritsejafor,  in a statement, described Yerima’s argument as offensive, saying, “It presupposes that Nigeria, a secular state, is populated only by Muslims.”

The CAN President, who urged the Senate to revisit the child marriage issue, also called on Nigerians to reject the resolution which he described as provocative and dehumanising.

He said, “By the grace of God, I will, personally mobilise Nigerians and lead the street protest against this oppressive and dehumanising resolution. Why would the Senate, after voting recoil, simply because of a point of order premised on religious basis?

“We, Christians, also have Canon Law, which frowns on marriage of girls who are not of age. Christianity abhors such marriages. The protest will be soon.

“Finally, I urge the Yerimas in the Senate to toe the path of the Holy Qur’an, which states that one who kills a person unjustly in effect has killed everyone and one who saves another has saved everyone. They should save these girls and Nigerians the agony of having their children married off at ages below 18 by unfavourable legislations.”

Oritsejafor noted that Yerima’s latest comment would stir up another controversy in the country.

Yerima as a governor introduced the controversial Sharia, the Islamic Legal code, in Zamfara State.

According to Oritsejafor, people like Yerima are approaching Qur’anic teachings from extremes and disturbing the balance.

“It makes me wonder the source of the emotions and thoughts that nurture them,” he said.

The CAN President said as a Senator, whose case of marrying a 13-year-old Egyptian girl was still fresh in the memory of Nigerians, Yerima should “only be seen and not heard in matters of this nature”.

He added, “If now Yerima is commenting on a case in which he has interest, it can only mean the action of a man frenziedly trying to get himself out of the hook through some undeserved legislations. I appeal to those individuals who have been educated along this line in the Senate not to use their rights as lawmakers to harm children below the age of 18, but to choose the interest of these children above their own.

“These girls should be allowed to develop, individually because this resolution, if implemented, would hound girls below 18 years into marriages they know nothing about. This is only one dimension of this tragic resolution.

“I feel that when individuals attain a certain way of thinking and understanding and reach certain status in life, they should be able to comprehend that it is necessary to adhere to conventions in line with best practices the world over and not harm other members of society, no matter their ages within the same society.”

Punch

Tukur meets PDP convention panel, inaugurates committees Wednesday

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At last, the rift between the Bamanga Tukur-led national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Jerry Gana-led Special National Convention Planning Committee of the party has been

resolved. Both men and their teams held a joint press conference on Monday at the party's National Secretariat in Abuja where they announced that the crisis had been amicably resolved.   Gana who heads the convention panel together with Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, had before now engaged the National Working Committee (NWC) members led by Tukur in war of supremacy. The open quarrel over the control of the processes leading up to the convention resulted in the NWC declaring as illegal all the steps taken by the committee towards hosting the mini-convention. The committee was, therefore, ordered by Tukur to stop further progress in its preparations for the convention. The Gana-committee was set up following forced resignations of some members of the NWC at the instance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which had noted that the affected party officials were occupying their posts through a selection process that did not conform to electoral rules. However, the committee shunned the NWC directive and continued working until President Goodluck Jonathan intervened and restored order, asking the convention committee to harmonise its positions with that of the NWC members. Specifically, Tukur was not happy that the Gana committee inaugurated itself rather than have it inaugurated by the NWC, just as the committee also began selling nomination forms to party members without consulting the NWC. The committee also announced composition of its sub-committees without consulting the NWC, thereby excluding serving interim NWC members in carrying out its job. However, Jonathan on Sunday night called both parties to a round table where the issues were settled. As early as 9.00 a.m. on Monday, members of the Gana committee were seen arriving the PDP National Secretariat for a closed-door meeting with Tukur. The meeting lasted for hours. At the end, Tukur and Gana addressed the press and revealed that the crisis had been resolved. Tukur told journalists afterwards that the party was better for it. He pledged the support of the NWC to the committee, adding that the party will conduct a convention that is worthwhile. Gana openly admitted that there was crisis between the convention committee and the NWC, but added that the rift had been settled. The decision of the NWC to cancel the self-inauguration of the panel was accepted by the convention committee. The cancellation by NWC of the convention dates unilaterally selected by the committee was equally accepted. Gana in his acceptance of the supremacy of the NWC said: "I like to confirm that we just concluded a very fruitful, a very peaceful meeting with the NWC under the able leadership of our chairman and all the issues concerning planning and execution of all arrangements towards the special national convention have been fully and properly resolved; therefore we are delighted that the National Chairman will very graciously inaugurate formally the special convention planning committee on Wednesday and all the subcommittees of this committee also will be publicised so that all the subcommittees under the central planning committee will now set to work effectively. "We are also delighted that the party has shown that all issues can be resolved. "We are pleased that the PDP has shown to Nigerians that at every point in time we do have the means of resolving conflicts wherever they will come and to really face the future with determination, with a very clear sense of direction so that Nigerians can be assured that this is one party that can also solve the problems of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, because there will always be problems, the important difference is the capacity and the ability to resolve them amicably." He added that if anybody was thinking that the PDP was in trouble, "I think they must be thoroughly disappointed, because the PDP will always find solution and we are so delighted such solution is found today, so APC you are in trouble."

iPaidABribe

146-goal scandal: Players, officials, referees get life bans; clubs receive 10 years

By Phillip Eta 

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has banned the players and officials of the four Nigeria Nationwide League Division 3 clubs, that were involved in the 146-goal scandal.

On Monday, the NFF announced that the players, officials and referees are banned for life, while the clubs – Plateau United Feeders FC of Jos, Police Machine FC of Adamawa, Akurba FC of Lafia and Bubayaro FC of Gombe, recieved 10 years respectively.

In the match fixing scandal that shook the nation and even FIFA, Plateau United defeated Akurba FC 79-0, while Police Machine beat Bubayaro FC 67-0.

Vice-chairman of the NFF, Mik Umeh, while briefing the press on the reports of the NFF investigative committee, revealed that they recieved evidence, which proved that both Police Machine and Plateau United Feeders, were involved in fraudulent activities, with the aim of pipping each other to gain promotion to the upper division of the league.

DailyPost

Lagos Government Alerts Travellers On Existence Of Deadly Virus

LAGOS — LAGOS State Government, yesterday, alerted its indigenes traveling to other parts of the world with confirmed cases of coronavirus infections – a severe, life-threatening respiratory disease – to take adequate precautions to protect themselves from the infection.

The coronavirus known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV, is currently ravaging countries in the Middle East and the World Health Organisatiion, WHO, has just been informed of two additional laboratory-confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia.

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 90 laboratory-confirmed cases of the infection resulting in 45 deaths.
This is coming on the heels of earlier warning published in the journals, by infectious disease physicians, at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada, on the possible international spread of the virus during the forthcoming mass gatherings in Saudi Arabia.
Already, health officials in Saudi Arabia have asked pilgrims visiting its holy sites to wear masks in crowded places to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr, Jide Idris, in a statement, yesterday, emphasised the need for the observance of a high standard of personal and environmental hygiene to reduce the risk of infection.
He stressed the need for caution as there was no specific treatment for illnesses caused by Coronavirus and enjoined travellers to holy pilgrimage, particularly to Makkah, to get vaccination against meningitis, yellow fever and flu, while adhering to the precautions earlier mentioned.
Idris advised pregnant women, children, the elderly and the sick who intended to go on pilgrimage to postpone such trips, saying, “you can help protect others by staying at home while you are sick, avoiding close contact with others, covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze and keeping objects and surfaces clean and disinfected.”
He warned that Coronavirus could be transmitted easily from one person to another through coughing and sneezing, close contact such as touching or shaking hands of an infected person, and touching one’s mouth, nose or eyes after touching contaminated objects or surfaces.-Vanguard

The Fuel Subsidy Fraud Continues Unabated - "Reuters: Nigeria fuel list includes firms named in subsidy fraud probe " - by: Joe Brock and Emma Farge

via: Nasir El-Rufai fb 

• 
  * Awards 3.4 million tonnes of gasoline for Q3
  * List includes firms that failed to cooperate on probe
  * Fin min says only 6 pct of questionable claims repaid
  * Allocations raise questions about will to reform-NGO
  
  
  GENEVA/ABUJA July 23, (Reuters) - Nigeria has expanded its list of fuel suppliers to include companies previously named in a multi-billion dollar subsidy fraud investigation, sources familiar with the matter said, while large global trading houses have been left empty-handed.
  
  Africa's most populous country, which relies on fuel imports because it lacks the capacity to refine its own crude oil, tried to remove fuel subsidies last year but was forced to partially reinstate them after a wave of strikes and protests.
  
  A parliamentary investigation later found the subsidy's administration had facilitated around $6 billion of corruption over three years, with half the approved fuel imports never arriving or being sold to neighbouring countries.
  
  "Nigerian authorities have taken some measures to improve controls," said Marc Gueniat of Swiss NGO The Berne Declaration which campaigns against corruption in the developing world.
  
  "But the fact that certain companies accused of participating in the fraud are continuing to benefit from allocations raises the question of whether the political will to change is sincere," he added.
  
  Nigeria's gasoline subsidy soaked up 1 trillion naira ($6.2 billion) last year, equivalent to 20 percent of the federal budget and exceeding a budgeted 888 billion naira.
  
  The list of gasoline importers compiled by Reuters using information from five sources showed around 3.4 million tonnes was allocated for the third quarter to more than 40 companies, expanded from 30 last year.
  
  The list showed four companies that failed to cooperate with parliament's probe were named as suppliers. These were Nepal, Fresh Synergy, Ibafon and Techno, which the parliamentary report showed collectively claimed for subsidies of nearly $60 million.
  
  Nepal's website lists its CEO as Barrister Ngozi Ekeoma who has twice been arraigned by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in relation to fraudulent subsidy payments. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Phone calls to her company went unanswered.
  
  At least three other companies awarded third quarter allocations - Masters, Matrix and MRS - were also ordered to account for their shipments or refund falsely claimed subsidy money in another government report released last June.
  
  Matrix provided documents to Reuters showing it had since been exonerated by Nigerian authorities.
  
  The other firms declined or did not respond to repeated requests for comment by email and telephone. It was not clear if these companies had since repaid their debts or been cleared.
  
  The finance ministry would not comment on specific firms but provided a document which showed that in total only 14 billion naira out of 232 billion in questionable claims, or around 6 percent, had so far been refunded.
  
  The ministry has previously said importers will not be delisted so long as they paid back money owed to the state.
  
  EFFECTIVE CONTROLS?
  Absent from the list are large trading houses like Vitol, Mercuria and Trafigura which have historically played an important role in supplying fuels to Nigeria but have been replaced by local firms.
  
  However, some still provide fuels indirectly to the country or via crude-for-product swap deals.
  
  The government has arraigned some fuel marketers and industry sources say fuel regulator the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has introduced measures designed to limit abuse of the system.
  
  PPPRA did not respond to request for comment.
  
  Nigeria has already spent $1.2 billion on subsidy payments this year and economists say any sign of a spike in subsidy costs could risk Africa's second largest debt issuer spending oil savings or widening its budget deficit.
  
  Industry sources suggested the rise in the number of importers may have been partly an attempt to stave off future supply problems, as some importers struggled to get bank loans.
  
  "What they are doing now is giving smaller allocations to more and more companies because of the credit situation. The number is creeping higher and it could be a cause for concern if it continues," said Dolapo Oni, oil and gas analyst at Ecobank.
  
  The supply list showed Nigerian energy firm Oando PLC won the biggest allocation of 135,000 tonnes while Total and Folawiyo, in which global commodity merchant Glencore is a minority stakeholder, won 90,000 tonnes each.
  
  Joe Brock
  Nigeria Correspondent
  Reuters News