APC to Meet over Harmonisation Challenges

 APC logo

Onyebuchi Ezigbo  

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has scheduled a meeting of its  interim national executive  for Tuesday in Abuja, to discuss how to tackle the problems arising from the harmonisation of party structures at grassroots and state levels.

The meeting, which will involve all zonal leaders of the party, is coming on the heels of a brewing crisis over the arrangements for the nationwide membership registration.
THISDAY gathered that the planned meeting has become necessary to finalise the composition of state harmonisation committees and to address outstanding issues relating to membership registration.

The agenda of the Tuesday  meeting has also been planned to discuss and approve the list of the harmonisation committees as well as the list of persons to handle the membership registration.

APC, an amalgam of key opposition parties,  had set out guidelines  for merging its constituent parts  at the local government and state levels, by saying that nine members be nominated to represent women, youths and elders by each senatorial zone, former and current members of national and state assemblies, governors, president and their deputies and members of the interim leadership.

According to the party, the idea was to save as representative as possible and to avoid unnecessary acrimony.

But it was learnt that the guidelines did not go down well with some leaders of the merging political parties, who had since refused to adapt to the prevailing scenario, insisting that it failed to correctly assess their strength and weaknesses.

For instance, the party had earlier said it would commence membership registration  by first week of October but the exercise could not go on as planned due to what a party source ascribed to as machinery and logistics challenges.

However, a source told THISDAY that the issue causing the delay in the commencement of the membership registration was  beyond logistics as there were complaints that some influential members of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) were trying to hijack the process.
The aggrieved leaders, one of whom spoke to THISDAY  yesterday in Abuja, said they were going to reject any move to impose on them any arrangement that did suit them and which would in the end not help the party.

"We will not accept a situation where people will be drafted from one part of the country to carry out party membership registration in a place where they are not familiar with.

"In the same vein, we will kick against any plan to have loyalists of a former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, control the state harmonisation committees. All we want is a balanced approach, whereby the party  allow leaders from various sections of the country, especially where there are APC governors in charge of state affairs  free hand to constitute these committees and to organise the membership registration in their areas, " he said.

THISDAY learnt that a similar disagreement over the list of harmonisation committee in Benue State had led to a crisis of confidence among the leaders with threats  of litigation and defection by aggrieved groups.

According to an APC chief from the state, the disagreement over the composition of the harmonisation committee is boiling over and is threatening the cohesion within the newly merged parties in the state.

Investigations showed that on one side of the divide are  Senator Daniel Saror,  Chief Benjamin Abohor, member of the House of the Representatives, Alhaji Abubakar Usman (Young Alhaji,  Ambassador  Mike Gasha and a former chairman of the Ushongo Local Government Area, Tarfa Ahembe.

Members of the other group, it was learnt, were being led by the Senate Minority Leader and former Benue State Governor, Senator George Akume.

THISDAY learnt that because of the disagreement,  a member of the House of Representatives, representing  Kwande/ Ushongo Federal Constituency, Chief Ben Aboho, had already planned to dump APC along with his supporters for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But an APC official has defended the party's plan for membership registration, which he said, was the best way to maintain a credible register.

 

ThisDay

Ngige Alleges Plot to Rig November Election

Senator Chris Ngige

• Unveils agenda   •Decries personality attacks

Shola Oyeyipo

The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the November 16 Anambra State election, Senator Chris Ngige, has alleged that the recent 500 buses being distributed by the state Governor, Peter Obi and the recruitment exercise embarked upon by his administration were part of the design to rig election.

Ngige, who has also unveiled his blueprint for the state, said there was a conscious move by the incumbent government to rig the forthcoming election, “hence we are using this medium to alert the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the good citizens of Anambra State in general.”

Media Consultant to Ngige, Clementina Olomu, who made this known in a statement, said the allegation was based on an intelligence report available to the Ngige campaign office.

She contended that the buses were procured for the purpose of the election and would be located at strategic positions all over the state to be used to convey already marked ballot papers in favour of the ruling party, which would be handed over to INEC as the votes collated from the different wards and the polling booths.

"Most especially in Anambra Central Senatorial district, where Ngige is currently the senator, it is to give the Anambra people the false impression that Ngige lost the election even in his on senatorial district," she added.

Olomu, however, said from all ramifications, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) administration has failed the people and had only resorted to "projects that have been regarded as Greek gift by the people of Anambra State.
"Ironically, the people of Anambra are aware that he has failed them completely and are not carried away by his Greek gift in the name of launching all sorts of projects. All these, they consider medicine after death," Olomu stated.

On his blueprint for the development of the state, Ngige, while addressing the Anambra business community in Lagos, said his return to the Government House would enable him complete the work he began in 2003.

His manifesto, he claimed, contained the remainder of the programmes he began in the state in his 33-month governorship, pointing out that his eight-year blue print to develop the state was jettisoned abruptly with most of the strategic projects left undone.

Pledging to utilise the abundant human and financial resources of the state to make it livable place for everyone, Ngige declared: “When they ask what I forgot at the Government House, I tell them I forgot my work plan for Anambra State. I will dust the blueprint when I get back there to rebuild Anambra State. Security has to be restored in Anambra State as well as unfettered freedom of movement, equity and fairness,” he said.

Meanwhile, Olomu has decried what she described as unwarranted attacks aimed at running down the APC candidate in the run up to the election. In a statement in Awka, she said such attacks like the insinuation that Ngige had been deaf and dumb in his last two years in the Senate or that the revered traditional ruler of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe Nnaemeka, placed a curse on him smacked off hatred by opponents, who saw Ngige as the most credible candidate in the election.

“They are running him down because he is the most credible candidate in the election. Take the APGA candidate, Willie Obiano, for instance, he has not excelled in the banking industry not to talk of handing a state. What has he done in a unit of Fidelity Bank, when he was there to uplift it let alone the whole banking industry,” she asked.

She said the reason they are attacking Ngige transcends the election alone. “I discovered that it was not just for the sake of the elections but because of the things he achieved in the 34 months when he served as governor, building durable roads, upgrading hospitals and schools as well as people-oriented bills he had sponsored as a senator,” she said.

 

ThisDay

The Nigeria Curse Called ‘Julius Berger’ By Adekoya Boladale

Ask anyone around to name individuals who have contributed to the putrefaction state of our country Nigeria, people who at one time or the other have been in power and used such position to siphon the collective wealth of all. You will get names like Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida the one they call ‘Maradona’, names like Sani Abacha the dreaded military junta whose looted loots we are yet to discover fully, James Ibori a onetime governor of the oil rich Delta State currently on vacation in the United Kingdom prison, Tafa Balogun the former police chief who was disgraced by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Diepreye Alamieyesigha the former governor of Bayelsa state who suddenly transformed into a woman to escape judgment in the United Kingdom only to be given a pat-at-the-back sentence in Nigeria and later a jumbo presidential pardon.

Yes, these men are part of the reasons why Nigeria is where it is today, but before them was a man greater in corruption and embezzlement, he was the signature for fraud and blueprint for bribery. He was a minister of labour, minister of finance, a leader of the defaulted NCNC party, a business mogul and a trusted allay of the west. This man once increased the import duties on imported shoes in other to monopolize the then thriving leather industry. He was one of the few who sold our national wealth to the colonial rulers in other to cut corners. This man was High Chief Festus Okotie Eboh.

But I will rather save my anger on Festus Okotie Eboh for another day and concentrate on one of the landmark achievement historians have over time claimed he made in Nigeria, this is the bringing into our country the construction company who over the years has continue to promote injustice, corruption and bribery. The advent of the curse called ‘Julius Berger’

For a very long time Nigeria have been at the mercy of Julius Berger Plc, a low level construction company in Germany who through Nigeria metamorphosised into a gigantic pillar. Looking at Julius Berger as just another company will be under estimating its strength. To say the least this company has proven over time to be bigger than Nigeria or any leader ever appointed or elected in our nation’s history.

In 1975, when the capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja the federal government contracted the construction and design of the Aso Villa to Julius Berger, the project was so financially demanding that the government couldn’t pay fully in cash but with crude oil, that is just one. The security codes and access to the most secured house in Nigeria was entrusted to this alien company, you may not believe this but ask Al Mustapha about the event of 1993 when Abacha took over as the Head of State and how Julius Berger locked him out of Aso rock by refusing to give him the security codes to access the villa. Not that this is a bad development in face of politics bearing in mind Abacha came in by force but it is in the face of national security and a huge threat to our sovereignty as a nation. The interpretation of this is that Julius Berger can wake up one day and decide President Jonathan would not leave the villa by shutting the security system down or simply take over the government as its staff is granted access to the most secured area in the Villa without questioning under the disguise of maintenance.

The Villa is just one out of the lots; Julius Berger constructed the renowned International Conference Center (ICC) and was paid also with crude oil, JB as fondly called constructed the magnificent palace of the former head of state Ibrahim Babangida in Minna at a figure kept under oath.

In all of these one would have expected the German company to respect Nigerians but this is far different from what is at play; JB continue to belittle the Labour law and subject its staff to various degree of hardship and unfriendly treatments one of which is the transportation of its staff in a jam-packed ‘Molue’ like bus. It freely operates the disbanded Apartheid policy with construction of discriminatory health facilities, one for the whites, with adequate skilled personnel and drugs and the other for the common blacks (Nigerians) with quack doctors and limited drugs, in fact NAFDAC once closed done this section of the hospital for administering fake drugs to patients (Nigerian staff).

These are few of the tales of disservice of JB to its Nigerian staff; the greater ones are the massive fraud and continuous bribery, the company flows in. Name any big financial fraud in Nigeria and the name Julius Berger comes up.

In the famous Halliburton $180million fraud Julius Berger played an important role by helping to distribute the bribe to government officials, a fact it confessed to and later got a plea bargaining for at the tune of $26million. That is not all; JB was also involved in the Siemens bribery scandal where it acted as a channel for Willbros in distribution of $6.3million bribe to various government officials.

In the aviation sector Julius Berger also carved a niche for itself in corruption. In May 2009, FAAN contracted the supply of three CAT generating set to Julius Berger at a whooping sum of N228.258 million which the company failed to supply even though it got full payment for it and an additional N45million for fuelling equipments it never bought. Prior to that contract Julius Berger was paid N8.406 million for the top overhaul of generating sets 2 and 4 of the Airport, a service it never rendered.

In recent corrupt practices, Julius Berger inflated the expansion of the Abuja Airport Road and Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX) Project by N2billion claiming the margin was a mathematical error, in a similar scenario it suddenly increased the Vice President’s House contract already awarded to it for 7billion naira to a whopping 16billion naira with a huge margin of 9billion naira. That is not all; Julius Berger was awarded the refurbishing contract for the National Stadium recently for another mouthwatering 96million naira, a job the Super Eagles coach described as “a disaster” hard and sandy pitch, unable to withstand rainfall as the pitch becomes water logged”.

In all these it is evident Julius Berger is a vehicle of corruption in Nigeria. To be fair the blame shouldn’t be on this company alone after all none of these frauds would have been possible if we have a reasonable and accountable government but the truth is that we don’t have such and we know it.

These are not tales known to myself or any other individual in the media alone. More fact revealing evidence lies with the anti-corruption agencies and top government officials up to the presidency. But it is obvious the power that dines with Julius Berger is more powerful than that which dines with the president.

The government must standup against this curse and redeem what is left of our sanity. Our country may indeed be in bad shape, it may have a bad reputation far and wide but we don’t need another alien to rekindle our furnace of corruption, the footprints of our colonial masters is still very much evident in our social, economic and political lives. We won’t have another ‘master’ pull us down for their self benefit.

Government must take necessary actions against Julius Berger for these cruel acts against Nigerians and Nigeria and not award contract to it.

The agony of Julius Berger’s fraud and inconsistency is better recounted by men and women, young and old, who ply the recently awarded every day. Ever since the jamboree kickoff and the payment of the Lagos end of the road to Julius Berger, commuters experience on the road is better felt than said, but this is a matter for another day.

This curse must be cured no matter the might of the devil pulling the hypnosis. Julius Berger must shut up or shutdown!

PointblankNews

Glut forces PPMC to suspend fuel imports –Source

by Daniel Adugbu

Diezani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum

Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) has suspended petrol imports, market sources told Reuters, after over-buying in the wake of a fuel subsidy scandal last year.

Petrol gluts have occurred in the past off Nigeria, but the scale is far worse than usual and a suspension of import deals is very rare. Traders say it is possible the suspension may extend until the end of the year - which will hit European refiners that supply the market.
PPMC, the trading arm of Nigeria’s state oil company has cancelled cargoes and told traders it will make no petrol purchases in November, as it tries to work through a 10.2 million barrel (1.2 million tonnes) surplus of the motor fuel waiting offshore.
“All previously agreed laycans (deliveries) have been cancelled,” one regional trading source said, “Nigeria has about 1.2 million tonnes offshore waiting to discharge.”
PPMC spokesman Nasir Imodagbe said by telephone he was not aware of any cancellation of orders, but that a decision to suspend imports would be that of the regulator, the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
“Whatever volume the PPPRA allocates to us, we ensure we deliver it. If there’s going to be any suspension it should come from the PPPRA,” Imodagbe said.
PPPRA spokesman denied there had been any suspension, but he added, “we are a regulatory body, we don’t import ourselves.”
But ship tracking data on Reuters showed around 45 oil products cargoes anchored off the coast of the port of Lagos, where the fuel comes in, waiting to discharge.
The import halt will likely hit oil refineries in Europe, which supply most of the fuel to Africa’s most populous nation. At least 3.8 million barrels (450,000 tonnes) of petrol is now expected to be looking for new buyers in the coming month.
Nigeria normally imports around 7.6 million barrels (900,000 tonnes) of petrol each month, with PPMC responsible for roughly half of the buying.
The PPPRA, which allocates the other 50 percent of petrol imports to private traders, has not yet announced its final requirements for the fourth quarter.
Market sources said the companies allocated imports by PPPRA are not expected to book any petrol purchases before December.
Industry sources said the glut had been created by a crude-for-petrol swap programme that was expanded by the Nigerian government last year in the wake of a fuel subsidy fraud.
“It’s a direct consequence of the crackdown on fuel subsidy fraud,” an official working for a major Nigerian fuel marketer said.
“A lot of marketers are not being paid subsidy, so the government had to order the fuel itself. To do that, they had to sub-contract to a lot of people to bring the fuel in. They ordered too much.”
Industry sources said the over supply had been exacerbated by low wholesale prices of petrol in Europe, which had encouraged refineries and traders to do crude-for-petrol deals this summer.
Traders in Europe had moved to dump a surplus of petrol into West Africa in return for barrels of crude oil. Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping 2.11 million barrels per day, Nigeria is reliant on imports of products like petrol and kerosene due to an ageing refining system.
Parliament and the finance ministry last year both probed Nigeria’s fuel subsidy programme, which provides petrol and diesel to the population at prices well below international levels.
The probes exposed a web of corruption and fraud by government officials and fuel marketers that had cost the state billions of dollars, with much subsidised fuel never being ordered or being diverted to Nigeria’s neighbours.
That led to the expansion of the crude-for-petrol swaps programme, in a bid to remove cash payments from the system.
“When NNPC proposed to switch to a system of swapping crude for gasoline, everyone thought it was a brilliant idea as you deliver gasoline, get your crude and don’t face payment problems,” an executive at a trading company said.
“But then somehow, allocations went to too many people, who kept delivering gasoline even before getting crude. So as a result the issue of oversupply arose.”

DailyTrust

Glut forces PPMC to suspend fuel imports –Source

by Daniel Adugbu

Diezani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Petroleum

Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) has suspended petrol imports, market sources told Reuters, after over-buying in the wake of a fuel subsidy scandal last year.

Petrol gluts have occurred in the past off Nigeria, but the scale is far worse than usual and a suspension of import deals is very rare. Traders say it is possible the suspension may extend until the end of the year - which will hit European refiners that supply the market.
PPMC, the trading arm of Nigeria’s state oil company has cancelled cargoes and told traders it will make no petrol purchases in November, as it tries to work through a 10.2 million barrel (1.2 million tonnes) surplus of the motor fuel waiting offshore.
“All previously agreed laycans (deliveries) have been cancelled,” one regional trading source said, “Nigeria has about 1.2 million tonnes offshore waiting to discharge.”
PPMC spokesman Nasir Imodagbe said by telephone he was not aware of any cancellation of orders, but that a decision to suspend imports would be that of the regulator, the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
“Whatever volume the PPPRA allocates to us, we ensure we deliver it. If there’s going to be any suspension it should come from the PPPRA,” Imodagbe said.
PPPRA spokesman denied there had been any suspension, but he added, “we are a regulatory body, we don’t import ourselves.”
But ship tracking data on Reuters showed around 45 oil products cargoes anchored off the coast of the port of Lagos, where the fuel comes in, waiting to discharge.
The import halt will likely hit oil refineries in Europe, which supply most of the fuel to Africa’s most populous nation. At least 3.8 million barrels (450,000 tonnes) of petrol is now expected to be looking for new buyers in the coming month.
Nigeria normally imports around 7.6 million barrels (900,000 tonnes) of petrol each month, with PPMC responsible for roughly half of the buying.
The PPPRA, which allocates the other 50 percent of petrol imports to private traders, has not yet announced its final requirements for the fourth quarter.
Market sources said the companies allocated imports by PPPRA are not expected to book any petrol purchases before December.
Industry sources said the glut had been created by a crude-for-petrol swap programme that was expanded by the Nigerian government last year in the wake of a fuel subsidy fraud.
“It’s a direct consequence of the crackdown on fuel subsidy fraud,” an official working for a major Nigerian fuel marketer said.
“A lot of marketers are not being paid subsidy, so the government had to order the fuel itself. To do that, they had to sub-contract to a lot of people to bring the fuel in. They ordered too much.”
Industry sources said the over supply had been exacerbated by low wholesale prices of petrol in Europe, which had encouraged refineries and traders to do crude-for-petrol deals this summer.
Traders in Europe had moved to dump a surplus of petrol into West Africa in return for barrels of crude oil. Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, pumping 2.11 million barrels per day, Nigeria is reliant on imports of products like petrol and kerosene due to an ageing refining system.
Parliament and the finance ministry last year both probed Nigeria’s fuel subsidy programme, which provides petrol and diesel to the population at prices well below international levels.
The probes exposed a web of corruption and fraud by government officials and fuel marketers that had cost the state billions of dollars, with much subsidised fuel never being ordered or being diverted to Nigeria’s neighbours.
That led to the expansion of the crude-for-petrol swaps programme, in a bid to remove cash payments from the system.
“When NNPC proposed to switch to a system of swapping crude for gasoline, everyone thought it was a brilliant idea as you deliver gasoline, get your crude and don’t face payment problems,” an executive at a trading company said.
“But then somehow, allocations went to too many people, who kept delivering gasoline even before getting crude. So as a result the issue of oversupply arose.”

DailyTrust

Electricity workers threaten shut down of power supply

Fears that workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, may not get severance benefits before the assets of PHCN are handed over to the new owners heightened yesterday as the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, accused the Federal Government of deploying troops to PHCN facilities ahead of the November 1 planned hand-over to new owners.
The union claimed that deployment of troops were attempts by the Federal Government to cow and intimidate workers and hand over assets to new owners without paying wokers entitlements .
They, therefore, threatened that the industry would be shut down immediately the assets were handed over to new owners without payment of workers severance benefits.

In a petition through its General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, to the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, the union argued that the content of a circular by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, to the ‘new owners of PHCN successor companies’ calling for a meeting with the National Security Adviser, NSA, today, had betrayed government intention.
The union warned that the November 1, 2013 handover date to the new investors would remain a mirage without conclusive resolution of labour issues.
According to the petition: “The circular, signed by one Ibrahim Baba Gana, acting Director, Electric Power – Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, we believe is immature and in bad faith. We wonder why Baba Gana would want to aggravate the relative peace we are having based on the understanding that payments would be concluded before handover. Could this be a way of getting back at his perceived enemies given the way he left PHCN?.”

BusinessNews

Dear brother, please withdraw your case”, Amaechi begs Omehia

EMBATTLED gov¬ernor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi may have made entreaties to his cousin and for¬mer governor, Celestine Ome¬hia, asking the latter to drop the court case instituted against him over the governorship of the state.
As the legal tussle between Sir Celestine Omehia, former governor of Rivers State and Governor Chibuike Amaechi continues to reach another di¬mension in the Supreme Court, fresh reports have emerged in-dicating that Amaechi who was highly rattled by last week‘s Su¬preme Court ruling consolidat¬ing his petition and that of Chief Cyprian Chukwu, has initiated moves to meet with his cousin, Omehia, to withdraw the case from the Supreme Court.
A close source who did not want his name mentioned, told this newspaper that the emis¬saries have been dispatched to facilitate a private meeting with Omehia. Our source also revealed that highly respected Ikwerre elders, top politicians believed to have Omehia’s ears were included in the meeting to persuade the former governor to drop the case. Amaechi was said to have told the emissar¬ies to let Omehia know that he is ready for a brotherly talk and that Omehia should remem¬ber that they remain brothers in spite of politics, and that he shouldn’t put him to shame.
The source also disclosed that Governor Amaechi said he was ready to accept conditions that Omehia may give, if only he drops the case. He said offers allegedly made by the governor as a way of showing seriousness was written. The source also said Amaechi allegedly prom¬ised to bring on board Omehia’s key supporters in an imminent cabinet reshuffle.
Nigerian Pilot however, gath¬ered that Omehia in his response to the overtures said he would first of all consult with his party members, including supporters, before taking a position. He said the request goes beyond him as a person.
It would be recalled that Gov¬ernor Amaechi had on the eve of the Nigerian Governors Forum election, May 23, 2013, visited Omehia in his Abuja residence in company of Chidi Lloyd.
It was shortly after the visit that Chief Cyprian Chukwu in¬stituted another petition at the Supreme Court to challenge the leave granted to Omehia by the appeal court to petition against the earlier high court ruling.
Furthermore, ostensibly wor¬ried over the Supreme Court case between him and his cous¬in, Celestine Omehia, which comes up November 11, 2013, Governor Chibuike Amaechi has allegedly brought some powerful pastors and mara¬bouts for the purpose of prayers for his victory.
The pastors and marabouts are said to be stationed at Gov¬ernment House, Port Harcourt, casting and binding with fer¬vent fasting.
The governor may be afraid that his opponents which are gathering momentum would rally round Celestine Omehia and use the case to throw him out.
A staff of government who re¬fused to give his name said the spiritualists had assured the governor that via their prayers and incantations all evil forces threatening his government would ‘not prosper’.
As the clock ticks towards No¬vember 11, the governor may have had his heart in his mouth over the outcome, since his ‘brother’ has not responded yet, notwithstanding the promises of the people of God.

NigerianPilot