Al-Makura Vows to Tackle Security Challenges, Bans 'Okada'

BY MICHAEL PAUL

Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Almakura, on Saturday in a state wide broadcast vowed to tackle the security challenges bedevilling the state head on even as he regulated the operations of commercial motorcyclists called 'Okada'.

Almakura disclosed that in the course of his visitation, he came face-to-face with the unprecedented devastation, pain and agony brought upon the people of Assakio again barely a year after a similar attack on the same community by the same group.

"I have also seen the evil perpetrated against the defenceless people of Odobu village and Obi town. Indeed, I have seen the palpable sorrow on the faces of displaced persons who have lost everything and have taken temporary refuge in Namu, Lafia, Keana, Agwatashi and elsewhere," he said.

“Most disheartening, however, is the observation that the extent of mayhem unleashed on the people of the affected communities, as well as other innocent citizens visiting Nasarawa State from other parts of the country is, by far the worst demonstration of barbarism ever witnessed in our history as a state."

Similarly, Almakura stressed that his government is constrained to take certain drastic measures, not because it wants to punish the people, but it intends to prevent a re-occurrence of violence in the entire state.

"Consequently, government has decided to ban the movement of motorcycles between 7:00pm and 6:00am in Awe, Doma, Keana, Lafia, Obi, Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Areas of the State. Security operatives have been directed to deal with anyone found violating this prohibition" he said.

To the people of the state he added: "Government will not rest on its oars until the perpetrators of the dastardly act are made to face the full wrath of the law".

DailyTimesNG

CACOL Faults Jonathan’s Corruption Comment, Backs Call for Okonjo-Iweala's Resignation

BY MU'SODIQ ADEKUNLE

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has condemned the statement credited to President Goodluck Jonathan that Nigerians, through their actions encourage graft.

The President had said both the public and private sectors are involved in corruption but stated that he would not give out their names to avoid attacks.

 Jonathan said this while declaring open the 54th annual conference of the Nigerian Economic Society in Abuja.

Reacting to the statement, the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran, rued that it is highly undignifying for the number one citizen of the country to make such a statement.

He said: "It is very disheartening that a president who was elected to solve the country’s woes could be afraid to wield his authority. If the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is afraid to mention the names of corrupt people, who else will?

"What hope does an average Nigerian have if the Commander of the Armed Forces is scared of telling the truth simply because he doesn’t want to be attacked? It is either he is an accessory, or a co-conspirator, which is what encourages corruption not the hapless Nigerians who gave President Jonathan their mandate to act on their behalf."

Adeniran averred that the President has not been above board in his fight against corruption and even encourages corruption by some of his actions.

He added: "Fight against corruption must be championed by a leader who in himself is not corrupt. What moral authority does President Jonathan have when he is a principal actor? Up till present, Jonathan has not declared his assets. As if that was not enough, the President also granted amnesty to ex-convict Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. Is that not rewarding corruption?

"He should not be afraid of fighting a just war, after all, a man who doesn't know what to die for is not worthy of living. The buck starts with him as the head of state. Leadership by example will reduce corruption in this country Nigeria. However, the National Assembly should summon the President to name the names of the corrupt people he said he knows."

Meanwhile, CACOL has thrown its weight behind the call for the resignation of the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala due to the non-compliance with the Appropriation Act 2013 and the mismanagement of the country's economy.

Adeniran said that the minister has done more harm to the economy in recent time.

He said: "The Minister seems not to be in control of her duties of late. First she claimed Nigeria was not broke, after some time she said the country's budget could not accommodate ASUU's demands; after then, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku claimed that Nigeria would shut down, should government accede to ASUU's demands.

"The Minister has been contradicting herself quite lately and has run the country's economy aground; she should be relieved of her position."

DailyTimesNG

Al-Shabab Claims Nairobi Attack

A senior figure in the Somali militant group al-Shabab has told the BBC it carried out a deadly attack on a shopping centre in neighbouring Kenya.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said 39 people had been killed, including members of his family, and 150 injured.

The operation to secure the mall and catch the gunmen was ongoing, he said in a national TV address.

Al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaeda, said the attack was in response to Kenya's presence in Somalia.

There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in southern Somalia, where they have been fighting the militants since 2011.

On its Twitter feed, al-Shabab said it was behind what it called the "Westgate spectacle".

In his TV address, Kenyatta said security forces were "in the process of neutralising the attackers and securing the mall".

He went on: "We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get to them and we shall punish them for this heinous crime."

He said he had "personally lost family members in the Westgate attack".

The attackers entered the Westgate centre at about 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT), throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons.

Dozens of shoppers fled; many were trapped inside. Officers have been going from shop to shop to secure the area.

Some seven hours after the assault began, al-Shabab said on Twitter that its fighters were still battling Kenyan security forces inside the Westgate centre.

A security source told the AFP news agency police and soldiers had finally "pinned down" the gunmen in one corner of the shopping centre after several hours of fighting.

One gunman was arrested and died of his wounds, Kenyan officials told the BBC. Four other gunmen were arrested.

Al-Shabab has claimed on its Twitter account that the Kenyan government wants to negotiate an end to the Westgate attack, but officials have told the BBC they intend to hunt the gunmen down.

DailyTimesNG

The road to Armageddon

We are back at the times of Emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burnt.  Nigeria is decaying, putrefying, indeed, dying, and our leaders are unconcerned. 

While the fate of millions of Nigerians hangs in the balance, they are engaged in personal battles.  Battles of ego, of power, of personal aggrandizement.  As far as they are concerned, we the people either do not exist, or if we do, we can as well go to blazes.

How long have undergraduates in public universities been home?  Since June 30, because the lecturers are on strike over government’s infidelity to an agreement signed in 2009.  All through July, August, and now September going to an end, young people in the most productive parts of their academic life have been idling away.  Some of them have fallen into mischief that will have lifelong consequences for them.

Others have had their lives cut short through one escapade or the other.  Yet, those in government do not care.  It does not touch them, because their children probably don’t attend public universities.  What are your children doing in such places?  Shame on you that you can’t send them to private universities, or even abroad!

In the pre-French Revolution time, the people had complained about the prices of bread.  But what did Marie Antoinette, the princess, allegedly say?  “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.” Let them eat cakes!  Such was the arrogance, the impunity that reigned and ruled then.  Which was more expensive between bread and cakes?  And people in government are telling us today to go put our youths in private universities if we care  a hoot about their future.  As far as they are concerned, the power game, 2015 elections, who controls Rivers, Adamawa, and other states, are more important than university education.  When the lecturers and students are tired, they will return to the classrooms.

There is great similitude between what happened during the Great Fire of Rome and what is happening in Nigeria today.  The Great Fire started in Rome between July 18 and 19, 64 A.D.  It burned for six days non-stop, during which only four of the 14 districts escaped.  Three districts were completely destroyed, while the other seven suffered serious damage.  It was carnage and misery of monumental proportions.

Emperor Nero ruled Rome then, and what did he do while the fire raged?  Since his own area was unaffected, he took his lyre, wore costume, mounted his private stage, and began to play and sing the ‘Sack of Ilium.’  While Rome burnt, Nero fiddled.

Eventually, with the fury of the fire spent, and a large chunk of the city in ruins, Nero decided to build a new palace situated on about 300 acres of land earlier gutted by fire.  How did he fund it?  He levied the same people who had suffered so much agony, and built what was called Domius Aurea, a magnificent palace.  Yes, “uptown babies don’t cry, they don’t know what hunger is like,” according to the musician Max Romeo.

Our public universities have been shut for almost three months.  There is wanton bloodletting in different parts of the country.  Ombatse cult in Nasarawa, Boko Haram in the North-east, kidnappings in the South-east, murder and mayhem across the landscape.  The constitution makes it clear that security of lives and property is the primary duty of government.  But do those in government care?  Boko Haram may decimate a whole region, Ombatse may drink wine with the skulls of human beings, 2015 is more important.  They don’t have bread to eat?  Let them eat cakes then.

Nigeria, as my colleague, Funke Egbemode, once wrote in Sunday Sun, has been married on credit.  Our leaders married the maiden, after sweet-talking the parents-in-law that they would pay the bride price later.  Now, the once vibrant maiden parades flabby breasts, sucked dry by both the husband and the many children, her once sturdy legs and hips have become spindly, like the legs of the Anopheles mosquito, yet the bride price is not paid.  And when the parents-in-law complain, the husband asks them to come for their daughter if they want.  Goodbye basket, I’ve carried all my apples.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway used to be a pride.  Now, it is a metaphor for the state of the country.  Raggedy, collapsing, completely failed.  Yet, rehabilitation work was flagged off with fanfare weeks back.  No action since then.  A country long on rhetorics, but short on positive action.  Weren’t we told early last year that by the middle of this year, we would throw away our generators, as electricity would not blink for even a second?  It is two months after the deadline, and darkness still reigns supreme. In the beginning, God said: “Let there be light.” Today, Nigeria says no.  The harvest has passed, the summer is over, and my people are not saved.

Our hospitals are no better than abattoirs.  Over 40 million Nigerians are unemployed, most of them youths.  This is an army of Armageddon, waiting to precipitate doomsday, if you ask me.  Life expectancy hovers around 46 or 47.  Here, life is truly nasty, brutish and short.  Yet, all that concerns our leaders is power struggle.  Who rules Nigeria in 2015, not caring whether Nigeria is still alive, and in one piece by that year or not.  They keep deluding themselves that the country cannot break.  Yes, we will not break if we do the right things.  But if we keep doing the wrong things, capable of putting us asunder, then it would be mere presumption to say our unity is inviolable.  They say when you do the wrong things consistently, and you keep expecting a positive result, that it is the archetypal example of insanity.  Our leaders keep doing the wrong things, living dangerously, and they say our unity is non-negotiable.  I hear.

See what is happening in the Governors’ Forum, in Rivers State, and in the Peoples Democratic Party. If our leaders were truly busy, fully engaged with engendering better lives for the people, will the Presidency be interested in who leads the association of governors?  Will it be fully engrossed in the abracadabra of wanting to ensure that a man with 16 votes be declared victor over the one with 19?

See what happened in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, last week.  A sitting governor, in a democracy, had the road to the Government House barricaded against him by policemen.  He had with him former speakers from different parts of the country, who were visiting.  And he got such ridicule right in the presence of his guests, because some people do not like his guts.  Who says we must always like the guts of the next man at all times?  It doesn’t have to be, as long as his exercise of his guts does not infringe on our own fundamental human rights.  But not here.  If you do not kowtow to the master, you get run out of town.  The show of shame in Port Harcourt happened, the Commissioner of Police still holds his position, and mum is the word from the Inspector-General of Police.  Is this not the same M. D. Abubakar that we used to know, and who we held so highly? In a democracy, what happened in Rivers last week can only be described as nauseous, noxious, repugnant.  It is detestable, disgusting, repulsive and revolting.

Now look at the PDP, polarized right down the middle.  After weeks of recess, the two chambers of the National Assembly resumed on Tuesday.  You would think the ASUU strike would be priority.  Or the dwindling megawatts of electricity available to the country.  Or poor state of roads.  Or parlous state of healthcare.  Or the pestilential state of insecurity.  But no, Old PDP and New PDP was the issue.  And the lawmakers ended in fisticuffs.  Why are we in such sorry pass?  When will our deliverance come?

The simple truth is that our leaders treat us with flippancy, with levity and disdain.  We do not matter.  In 2003, when Olusegun Obasanjo sought second term in office, ASUU had been on strike for almost six months at time of the election.  It was not enough reason for Nigerians to revolt with their votes.  Rather ridiculously, they purportedly voted for their oppressor, causing Obasanjo to boast that he had broken ASUU’s back.  Now, 10 years later, the same union of university teachers is on strike again.  But is it not supposed to be paraplegic, and on wheelchair, if we go by Obasanjo’s boast?  Nigerian leaders are often major part of the country’s problem, really.

President Goodluck Jonathan wants to run for another term in 2015, even though he has not said so in so many words.  I think it is his right to run. His opponents in the PDP, however, do not want him to run, because they know he will subvert the system to get the party’s ticket, and equally compromise the system in the general elections.  Those in power always do.  That is the meaning of power of incumbency here.  The people do not matter, their votes do not count, as figures are simply awarded.  Is this how Nigeria will continue?  Shay na like this we go de dey?  Our destiny lies in our hands.  The country is sliding to Armageddon, yet they are fiddling.  We can either applaud and dance to their music, or give them the left leg of fellowship.  The choice is ours. 

TheSun

Now, it’s (PDP) Police democratic party

All over the world and over the ages, when a group of people agrees to live and associate as citizens of the same country, the priority is law and order. These are two essentials not only to ensure the survival of the nation but particularly to prevent the mighty and criminal from overawing the weak and law abiding.

To this end, state institutions are set up to serve the interests of the nation rather than individuals no matter how highly placed. That is the universal standard and conscious effort is made in civilised societies to draw the distinction between personal and official interests of public office holders, to avoid abuse of office, especially possible misuse of state agencies for personal or family matters.

First in the line of duty on security matters all over the world is the police. Unfortunately, in Nigeria’s case, there is the disorientation that a state institution like the police exists mainly to preserve and consolidate tyranny of individuals and political parties in government. Never in Nigeria’s political history, not even in colonial days did the police exhibit such subservience, illegality and unreasonable as we are witnessing today.

All because an incumbent President of the Federal Republic (head of government) either suspects or actually reasonably believes he will be challenged for re-election by some of his party members? Why should the police be involved in such rivalry for power, a struggle which is quite legitimate? Such keen rivalry in other parts of the world are merely rountine and enhance development of democracy.

Only last June, the then Australian prime minister, Ms. Julia Gillard, was challenged for the post by a member of the ruling Labour Party, Kevin Rudd, who defeated her. Former prime minister Julia Gillard herself similarly challenged Mr. Rudd, then prime minister, in June 2010 and defeated him. She later held elections and survived by a majority of only one seat. Mr. Rudd also held elections three weeks ago and lost.

The late former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was challenged to a leadership contest in 1990 by her deputy prime minister, Michael Hazeltine. Mrs. Thatcher failed to attract overall majority votes and instead of contesting the second round, she  resigned. In the subsequent party leadership election, John Major defeated Michael Hazeltine to emerge the new prime minister. When John Major was perceived to have lost popularity in the party, he was challenged to a contest by one of his ministers, John Redwood.

Also in 2007, former Labour prime minister Tony Blair sacrificed personal interest for party interest by resigning to avoid a challenge by his chancellor of exchequer, Gordon Brown, who succeeded him as prime minister.

The late American Senator Edward Kennedy foresaw the electoral disaster awaiting the Democrats in the 1980 presidential elections and, therefore, challenged the party’s incumbent president Jimmy Carter for the party’s nomination. Kennedy  lost the nomination narrowly but was vindicated when Republican candidate Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter.

Back in Britain in 1976, as shadow education minister, late Maggie Thatcher successfully challenged opposition leader Ted Heath for the party leadership. Even in the then ruling Labour Party, some centre leftists led by former chancellor of exchequer, Roy Jenkins, broke away and formed the Social Liberal Democratic Party.

The point of note in all these revolts is that no American president, British or Australian prime ministers challenged for their posts ever employed the police to beleaguer the challengers. Better still, no police boss in United States, Britain or Australia would condescend to do the political fighting for the head of government and if ever directed for such political purposes, a constitutional crisis was bound to erupt and it is doubtful if the head of government involved in that part of the world would survive.

Why then should Nigeria police be different? A political party the PDP, broke into two. Before then, one of the party’s state governors, Rotimi Amaechi, was suspected of not supporting Goodluck Jonathan’s bid for second term or even challenging him against the second  term. Should that be a crime for Nigeria police to prosecute? Is Nigeria police an arm of People’s Democratic Party?

On one point, Goodluck Jonathan and Rotimi Amaechi are the same. None of them has made p his mind to contest the 2015 presidential elections and none of them has declared his intention to run. Even if Amaechi has announced his intention to run, is that a crime for Nigeria Police to prosecute? Where is that law in Nigeria, authorising the police to handicap any potential challenger to President Jonathan’s second term bid?

To date, Goodluck Jonathan has the constitutional right to contest for the second term. But that is not the same as the impression that he cannot be challenged, even within his party for the nomination or that everybody must necessarily support him. And who is to be supported when the same Jonathan, as Nigerians who care are told, has not decided to run in 2015? So, the race should be held up for him by other intending candidates?

A political party split into OLD PDP and NEW PDP. The NEW PDP, instead of forcefully taking over the national headquarters, arranged its own headquarters. Nigeria police, under Inspector-General Mohammed Abubakar, moved in and sealed up the office; by whose instruction? Police said “order from above.” And the same police conceded that the instruction was unconstitutional. That being so, should the police assist in the violation of Nigerian constitution?

Nigeria police is better pre-empted or the agency would soon inform us that it sealed up the office to avoid break-down of law and order. Where was Nigeria police when Nigerian Governors’ Forum also split into two and the electorally fraudulent faction of Jonah Jang opened its office? For obvious reasons that Jonah Jang’s faction is being sustained by President Goodluck Jonathan against the legitimate and generally recognised Nigeria Governors’ Forum, led by Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi,  Nigeria police never thought of sealing off the office of the dissident governors.

More than that, Nigeria police also sealed up the Port-Harcourt headquarters of the NEW PDP, the same Nigeria police took it on itself to dictate to a state Governor Rotimi Amaechi, what entrance he must lead to his office/official residence.

Ominously, the police in Bayelsa State virtually went berserk by committing contempt of court in declaring the NEW PDP as an “illegal political organisation and advised Bayelsans to dissociate themselves from the party. With the status of the OLD and NEW PDP still to be determined by courts in Abuja and Lagos? Which court declared the party illegal?

A state governor is now at the mercy of a Commissioner of Police, issuing instructions on what the governor can/should or cannot/should not do. In the midst of this fast approaching anarchy, there is the plea that Nigeria police should not be dragged into partisan politics. Surely, that is begging the issue. On the contrary, Nigeria police is blatantly involving itself in partisan politics.

Were Nigeria police not partisan in favour of one and against the other warring political groups, why withdraw the security aides of those against Goodluck Jonathan? Nigeria police exists for all Nigerians and not a particular set.

Where are the numerous retired Inspectors-General of Police? When will they think it fit to ensure that their agency is run along professional lines, even amidst political controversy?

Atiku and Farida under fire

 When a man is privileged to serve as number one citizen, more so on two different occasions with a gap of over twenty years, he owes the nation self-restraint in return. Such restraint totally excludes the indiscretion of intermittent stirring of hornet’s nest, especially at the expense of the reputation of other public figures.Former president Olusegun Obasanjo was at his pastime when without provocation, he vilified former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and former chairman of EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri. The questions arise: What does Obasanjo want and what is the problem with Obasanjo?

For the second time within a month, Obasanjo picked on Atiku Abubakar. It is also not as if Obasanjo does not know that Farida Waziri is the wife of another man, a former diplomat and a former Senator. Apart from being respected as such, she, as a retired senior police officer, would not be expecting too much to be treated with respect by her former commander-in-chief.

There may also not be adequate consolation for Farida’s husband, retired Ambassador Waziri, who must have been shocked by the verbal assault on his wife. The degree of restraint (or lack of it) in this matter is not cultural. Specifically, Yoruba treat another man’s wife with total respect rather than denigrate her. Accordingly, any shortcoming should be sourced to leadership problem over the years in Nigerian armed and para-military forces.

Whatever the reason(s), Obasanjo was wrong, even on facts. In certainty, Atiku Abubakar and Farida Waziri, as human beings, are fallible and, therefore, with their shortcomings. The same can be said of their critics, including Obasanjo. Accordingly, apart from the usual cheap publicity, there was no need for taking on Atiku Abubakar and Farida Waziri.

Since Obasanjo emerged a saint (according to his claim) when probed by Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC, it was significant that Wikileaks revealed another assessment from the American Embassy in Nigeria on the different reputation of the late General Sani Abacha and president Obasanjo. In fact, the American Embassy (Wikileaks) report rated General Abacha more saintly. Did any of Sani Abacha, Atiku Abubakar or Farida Waziri write the Wikileaks report at the American Embassy in Nigeria?

What is more, all the probes carried out and unlawful administrative trials Obasanjo stage-managed on Atiku Abubakar were nullified by the Supreme Court, as unconstitutional. The reputation of EFCC since it was established by Obasanjo and even till today is that the agency is strictly to intimidate and discredit perceived political opponents.

In the current political crisis in the PDP, Bamanga Tukur (replaying the script Obasanjo played at Akure, Ondo State, during the 2007 election campaigns) threatened to unleash the same EFCC on state governors and party members, challenging his (Tukur’s) leadership.

As bad as Atiku Abubakar was in the past, Obasanjo still had to beg him to support his (Obasanjo’s) second term bid.

Whether Atiku Abubakar likes it or not, he must carry the blame for making himself vulnerable to Obasanjo’s regular vilification. Last time, the same Atiku Abubakar clandestinely visited Obasanjo at Abeokuta, without realising that the media had been secretly arranged to expose his visit.

Poor Farida Waziri. She deserves every pity for her integrity tarnished by cheap grandstanding undeservedly. That was her one-time Commander-in-Chief in action. Whoever might have recommended her for the job, what was strange in that? Less than two years ago, Obasanjo himself was exposed in Nigerian press for recommending more than six of his favoured candidates to President Goodluck Jonathan, as replacements for incumbent members of government parastatals.

If unknown to Farida Waziri herself, the grudge against her arose from her stubborn determination to prosecute those who collected bribes from Halliburton, including those who collected the dollars as proxies for the real corrupt elements.

Till today, that Halliburton scandal has been suppressed. She should hold her head high.

DILEMMA OF A CRIME BUSTER? She should think about the difficult days at EFCC.

TheSun

2015: Don’t underrate Jonathan

Madaki warns Atiku, Lamido, Kwankwaso, others

Joel Madaki is the Chairman of Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and in this interview, he put the blame of the political crisis in the state on the door post of Governor Murtala Nyako.  He alleged that as a perpetrator of injustice, the governor cannot today kick against injustice in any form, warning that the imposition of 2007 when a few people did the selection of candidates at the party primaries will not repeat itself. He regrets that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, whom he described as a good man, is seen today associating with a set of undisciplined people all in a bid to express his grievances with the party. He praised President Goodluck Jonathan’s maturity in handling the crisis in the party and the effort to truly reconcile all. He spoke much more on all these and other national issues with JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE in Abuja. Excerpts:What exactly is happening in Adamawa in terms of politics right now?Actually what is happening in Adamawa should not have happened at all. Politically speaking, in Adamawa State we entangle ourselves in an internal crisis that is uncalled for. Politics is a game that people have to share positions representing interests, religious interests and local interests in terms of government, especially in Adamawa State where you have more than 80 tribes.

So, when I left the party to contest for governorship in 2007,  Mijinyawa Kugama was asked to act on my behalf. When  he was acting on my behalf and election was very near, there was no time to conduct congress to elect a party chairman. Therefore, elders of the party sat down and said, let him continue, let him act. He is not elected and, therefore, as God would have it, after the elections, though there were no proper elections and primaries, Nyako and few people, about 20 of them, ran to Bauchi to pass  a resolution on behalf of over 600 Adamawa delegates and send it to Abuja and Abuja accepted it. That was the beginning of the problem in Adamawa State.  We are operating under a constitution, we are no more operating under decrees, it was under the  military we were doing that. Our constitution has spelt out all you should do if you are to govern this state, but that part of the constitution was neglected by Governor Nyako and those who brought him to power.  So, it is an irony for people like Nyako to come out and say that they are fighting injustice in the PDP. He perpetrated this injustice because it favoured him. He is right now a governor, his governorship is injustice in itself. How can he talk to Nigerians about injustice when the people of Adamawa State had been subjected to this kind of injustice under Nyako since 2007.

Coming back to Adamawa, the man who the governor has imposed on the people as state PDP chairman is not only from the same local government with the governor, but in fact, the same ward as the governor.

When he  was elected and elders of the party saw what was happening and said it was wrong for the governor and the party chairman to come from the same ward,  they told him that we are operating a constitution and in line with that, they agreed that the chairmanship should be zoned somewhere else. I want to tell you that from that time till date, there has been no election to fill that vacancy. Nyako insisted that Kugama should be his chairman and by so doing, he turned Adamawa people into onlookers. He should thank God, because he was not a member of PDP before he was nominated. He was a member of ANPP, he left ANPP the week that he was to be given that mandate. Since then, the people kept clamouring that Kugama must go so that Nyako coming from Southern senatorial district,  the chairman should  come from the other senatorial district. We have three senatorial districts. But now the two of them are from the same senatorial district, local government and ward.

Nigerians are ignorant about all these things and Governor Nyako keeps telling Nigerians and decieving other governors that Bamanga Tukur is slighting him because Bamanga Tukur is insisting  that the right thing must be done.  At least, the governors should have asked, what is really happening in Adamawa like you asked me now and then from there they should judge. Is that constitutional? The constitution of PDP is under the constitution of Nigeria and both of them are against that, they are for power sharing.

Before Bamanga Tukur became our National Chairman, he led us to meet with Vincent Ogbulafor  when he was the chairman that this thing must be corrected, Ogbulafor promised that it will be corrected but he could not effect it before he was removed. INEC later  said there was no election in about nine states and Adamawa was one of them, where election must be repeated. Nyako refused to comply with INEC decision, all the facts and evidence are there. When Bamanga came, to be honest, he tried to make the conditions very simple and good for Governor Nyako to follow. They just sat down here and said since Governor Nyako comes from the same place with the chairman and from the same ward, well, we should ask Governor Nyako to correct this one, let him organise a congress and choose a chairman from one of the two zones remaining, a chairman of his choice. Bamanga could not have been there, it is written, it is there, from the national working committee, through the zonal chairman in Bauchi, the instruction was given, but Governor Nyako insisted that the status quo must remain. For him, Kugama cannot be removed.

When Boni Haruna was the governor from northern senatorial district, I was the chairman from central senatorial district and that is what it is supposed to be. Power sharing is enshrined in our constitution and also enshrined in the party constitution. Nyako refused, he said  Kugama must be his chairman and he continues in this. Is this not what we call indiscipline?

Now, when the national working committee observed that he flouted the directive of the national working committee on the conduct of the local government primaries, they decided to dissolve all of them.  They did not just pick people, Ambassador Damangu  was nominated and along with him,  eight members were appointed sole administrators, they were given a mandate to reunite the two factions in the party. Now Damangu  was sent, with the terms of reference to go and harmonise the two factions, try and talk to aggrieved members of the party or new people coming in and after that conduct congresses, from ward to the state. They were there and everybody knew that they were all there. They worked harmoniously, intelligently, and at the end of the day, they were supported by INEC, by the national secretariat here in Abuja and there were congresses from ward to state where I emerged as the chairman in the state.

Even the lingering problems in the PDP in Nigeria today are caused by Nyako. I contested against him, he knew that he cannot win in a free and fair election. He still knows he cannot win primaries. It is the powers that be that brought him. It is, therefore, surprising that Nyako is talking about injustice today in Nigeria, and do you know why people listen to him? Because Nigerians are God- fearing people, both religions believe that power is from God. I was in his house to congratulate him, even though I knew he did not win the election. He is not working for the people but prefers to be alone. It is only in Adamawa that you have offices for four first ladies. This is the reason today, he is causing confusion even in Nigeria. He is undermining the powers that be.

So, what has the Adamawa crisis got to do with the 2015 politics at the national level? 

Jonathan never said he wanted to be the President.  It is circumstances of God that brought that man to be and Nyako is claiming that he is fighting for the North, how can he fight for the North? Northerners will fight for themselves. Northerners know what is best for them and you know when power belongs to some people, the best you can do is to support and wait for your turn. After 2015 elections, will the Presidency come from the South again? It will naturally not and it will be our time. People are saying Obasanjo has just gone, and Jonathan has come again, is it their making? It is the making of God and we must obey God. For that reason, the problem in Adamawa is man-made and its made by Nyako.

Nyako is trying to make other governors believe that he is right and we are here and we will tell the people, we will tell them the facts and figures and even Nyako, I challenge him here and now, to explain to Nigerians whether he was properly nominated as a candidate of PDP in 2007 in Adamawa State? Let him come out and tell the people how he emerged as the PDP candidate.  He was nominated in Bauchi and those people who nominated him are today regretting, because of his actions. Before I was thinking the man should be respected because he has gone through military training and you know our military officers are good people, they check us, they have taken away power from the politicians, but they have done something good, if there is something bad they have done, there is a good part of it and we must respect them.

And somebody who has reached the rank Nyako attained in Nigeria and God again gave him opportunity to govern Adamawa State, to actually bring people together, he is there fighting for his family. His government has been named government of Family and Friends, not just family and friends but his family alone and when you talk, he begins to talk of how he picked his commissioners from different parts of the state.

But are the commissioners given the  free hand to operate? Are they active? Do they actually have meetings, they are there to ratify everything. God created people and God also made leaders for the people, even right from the beginning and, therefore, he set rules and regulations of how these leaders will emerge and that is what we copy in our constitution, why should people come and change it? Why are people challenging President Goodluck Jonathan, why? If actually you have read the two books of our religion, I want to tell you that President Jonathan should not be challenged. He is acting correctly and he should be given  the chance.

During the convention, we discovered that the crisis in the state was brought to the centre stage, Nyako and other aggrieved governors left the convention ground to form a new PDP, how do you see this? 

We thank God that Goodluck Jonathan is a true democrat, if he were not a true democrat, what had happened should not have happened. There are rules and regulations governing every political party and PDP is a leading political party. If you want to create a faction, that is not the best way to go about it. I pity all of them who are involved in that one, no matter how highly placed they are. In the first place, in that convention was there position for chairmanship to be filled? Bamanga Tukur was elected in the past election, he was voted for, but people were given voice vote and this is why INEC faulted their ‘election’. As a result, only three people were said to have been properly elected and Bamanga was one of them.  This was not a full but a mini convention and that was why it was referred to as ‘special’ . It was convened because the PDP must obey the supervisory body, INEC. So PDP obeyed and called for mini convention to fill in those spaces and the position of chairman was not there. If they were wise, they should have picked their candidates for all the positions contested, then if they were denied this opportunity, their action would have been justified. But instead,  they chose to create confusion by forming a new PDP. They went ahead to pick a chairman, after staging a walk-out. This is an act of indiscipline on their part.

I have no regrets in saying that what they did amounts to an act of indiscipline, they want to show the world that all is not well with PDP, just for selfish reasons. They went and said there is a new PDP, but I want to tell you that following the constitution of PDP, there are ways to split the party instead of walking out on the President at the convention. There were no squabbles, no petitions and no complaint. In every party, there is room for disagreement and I insist they should have done the right thing.  As far as we are concerned in the PDP, they are just disgruntled elements.

To have walked out on the President is an act of indiscipline and that is why I tell you that Jonathan is a true democrat. If he were not, he would have reacted like a typical dictator in addressing the issue.

Where lies the role of former Vice President Atiku in all of this?

I am the chairman of Adamawa State PDP, I worked with Atiku, I was his chairman. I took him to all the nooks and crannies of Adamawa in 1999 and he was governor-elect. Atiku is a good man but for one thing, today he has come back to PDP, all of us left PDP before we came back. I left the party because I couldn’t tolerate somebody running away with our primaries somewhere. But later, we all came back to PDP with him and he has been working very well. He has been greeting the national chairman and we thought they have been in good terms talking with the President of this nation. I made sure he was on our list, we came to convention together, we were at the convention ground sitting together, but I just noticed when I saw Kwankwaso going round, he just left us and joined them and up till this time I have not had the opportunity of sitting with him to know why. But politics is a game that you can choose where you want. Actually as the chairman,  I was not happy at all to have seen him following them, he is greater than what he has done. He is a Nigerian, a great Nigerian too, a former Vice President of this nation, if there should be any faction or aggrieved group,  he should not have just jumped there, maybe he should have waited, read the situation before making up his mind.

But I must tell you that I as the chairman, am not happy, because I am his chairman, no consultation, nothing, we were together and we feel Jonathan will do him good and they should work together. If they worked together, he would have nothing to regret. If you don’t work with somebody, can he help you? Anybody, who wants to rule Nigeria after Jonathan, must be close to Jonathan and work closely  with him, because Nigerians are ready to vote Jonathan again. Despite all these odds, a lot of people don’t even know that they are empty, they don’t have followership. Look at how simple that man is. If I were the President, what has happened shouldn’t have happened. When I got back, I said people are underrating this man, Jonathan.

Talking about reconciliation, do you see the possibility of bringing all these people back together?

The people are not even talking of coming back and I want to tell you personally, since they have opted to go, let them go. Going by the conditions they are giving, I want to tell you that no Nigerian can accept that. They are saying that the President must go, or the National Chairman must go, but let them work it through the constitution. The man came in through the constitution and they should also oust him through the constitution. If they don’t want Jonathan to contest, let them go to court and let the court hear what their reasons are. If their reason is genuine, he will go. We are all  Nigerians and Nigeria is a very big country, if you don’t respect the other zones, you cannot expect them to respect you. If you feel that you are born to rule and some people are not born to rule, you are a liar. God is not a liar, he has made all Nigerians to sit in this place, we are together, we must respect one another, respect each other’s religion, respect our tribes so that we can live together. But some people feel that some people are not even born to rule and this is why some people are undermining him and this is why it is not acceptable.

Northern people will not just go for their selfish interest and fight the Southerners, but if we actually want to fight as northerners, we must see reasons and we must fight together and for that reason, we have got to be very careful. Our leaders in Nigeria have to be very careful. Those who were on the top before, they were good and people followed them, let them also follow others. Let them also learn to take directives from others, let them not undermine some people and feel that they are boys. Nobody is a boy, once you are over 18 years, you can rule Nigeria if you want, if God gives you the mandate.

TheSun

ASUU SUED

There seems to be no end to the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) strike. Politicians, students and lecturers all seek for a reasonable solution to this difficult situation, but to no avail. Some young people who are affected by the strike support it, some have expressed their disapproval. Nigeria’s leader Goodluck Jonathan has personally ordered to find a way out of this educational-political-economic drama. Looks like the time has come for the older generation to speak up on the matter.

His patience snapped, and he sued the ASUU, as well as eight others.

Mallam Dankano Garba Ahmed, a 71-year-old pensioner from Kano State, in a suit submitted to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria laments that the ongoing strike is negatively affecting his daughter’s education.

The elderly man accuses the union of frustrating his efforts to get his daughter, Zainab Garba Ahmed, a 400 level Civil Engineering student at the Bayero University Kano, out of school within the determined time.

He says that the strike irritates him, as he earns “less than N30,000 as pension,” and, furthermore, has other children he would wish to support financially; this, he states, depends on whether his daughter graduates successfully.

He adds that the strike is making his daughter, who is the second plaintiff, idle, disorganised and psychologically disturbed.

“Her future and that of thousand others across the country are being stagnated strategically by the ongoing strike,” he decries.

The court is asked to determine if the 21 October 2009 agreement, concluded between ASUU and the Federal Government, is valid, binding, and not illegal.

If found otherwise, the pensioner asks the court to define whether ASUU has a right to commence strike for failure or refusal of the Federal Government to implement the said agreement.

He seeks perpetual injunction restraining ASUU from continuing with the strike or taking any action whatsoever and by whatever means to enforce the said agreement or compel the Federal Government to implement it.

The case comes up today, September 18, 2013, at the Kano division of National Industrial Court.

OsunDefender