Of political thugs and elections

by: Ignatius Adegoke

The great body of critical discourse on the politics of the era seems to have little good to say about those in government, the politicians and their parties. Thus, when years ago, a military ruler sought to change the face of the country’s transition chain by decreeing a five-party structure into existence, the arrangement was rubbished by a political leader of thought who called it “the five fingers of a leprous hand.”
Who would want to be part of a terminally diseased system? So, it didn’t last. Earlier, another military creation- a two-party affair that held much promise at the beginning- collapsed because of the chicanery of the evil genius behind it. Successor governments- military and civilian- have borne the scars of the woeful failures of those which came before them.
The reason they posted lack-lustre performance wasn’t difficult to locate: they did not have lofty ideas, revolutionary concepts of governance that marked them out as serious custodians of the mandate to rule. It is claimed that ideas rule the world. But they did not seem to believe this axiom and so they stormed the scene largely without a plan. In a word, they were unprepared for the high office they occupied.
He, who fails to plan, plans to fail! And how abysmally our politicians might descend again as governorship polls hold in two south west states in few months while general elections come up nation-wide in 2015, if they refuse to learn from the past; if they refuse to bring up new ideas. Apart from the preparations being put in place by the electoral umpire, INEC, where else needs better tender attention, whose neglect could make nonsense of INEC’s   “fool-proof” strategies and spell doom for the poll and the soul of the nation?
So, how are we planning in order not to fail? As I said, we must not restrict ourselves to what INEC or its state counterparts say regarding having worked out a good measure at ensuring an acceptable outing at the poll. We must put on our thinking cap to identify what can upturn the umpire’s “perfect” plans.
A governor in one of the south west states, Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo has done just that by coming up with the position that in the past, political thuggery involving the unholy alliance between governors and warring road transport union workers, was responsible for the violence that gave elections and campaign rallies a bad name.
His claim is that armed with an understanding of this ruinous enterprise, his predecessors engaged in a battle to unleash sorrow on the people of Oyo state. But this Oyo state performing governor is tell whoever cares to listen that including, he all the warring road transport union workers that his government was not interested in making use of them for election as was done in the past. He should know! He is governing the cradle of political thuggery, where one of his predecessors jettisoned the official security outfit and opted for a faction of the transport worker’s unions for protection. Members of this unofficial police killed and maimed during campaign rallies and elections as they “escorted” the governor across the state.

It was the height of impunity. These hooligans engaged open and perceived political opponents of the then sitting governor. Since the governor of that era procured the weapons and cash for them, they could not be accountable to the law. They operated above the law and trashed any outcome of the ballot. They could raid homes and offices of those not on the side of government in power. They instilled fear in the society and therefore to fear them was the beginning of wisdom.
Almost every week in the period that preceded Ajimobi’s advent, you had deadly clashes between the union on the side of the government and those on the opposite side. They were fatal encounters that led to casualties not only on the part of the thugs but alas, also on the part of innocent passers-by and motorists!
Such heavy toll on the society all because of one man’s inordinate ambition to stay put in power which he was not even wielding appropriately in the interest of those he claimed put him there! Ajimobi’s prompt and decisive rejection of these hirelings is what is responsible for the sanity and peace in Oyo in the past three years of his rule. Ibadan motor parks which used to be the hub of crime, violence and training ground of the ex-governor’s dogs of war have been tamed.
There is no governor this time around to recruit and shield them. There is no governor to pump tax payers’ money into their bottomless war chest. There is no governor to fund their insatiable taste for extravagance and lust for drugs. What you do not feed starves and dies. The present governor has refused to feed political thuggery and so the union workers who were suborned for the devil’s work have been starved to death. They have been shoved off the scene to make way for tranquillity, not only during the poll in 2015, but also for all times.
If other key political players’ nation wide follow the foot steps of Governor Ajimobi on this score, it is certain that we shall by the Grace of God enjoy a violence-free ballot in the country in the years ahead. Then the conversation will change, with critical observers reviewing their stand that there is nothing good to say about our politicians.
• Adegoke is a political scientist in Lagos.

TheNation

GusauIsBack: Army Withdrawn A Day To Yobe College Boko Attack That Killed 59

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• As dangerous Gusau returns as Minister of defense
• Army withdrawn a day to attack – Residents

by Hamisu Kabir Matazu, Damaturu & Isiaka Wakili
 

 Dozens of students were killed when suspected insurgents attacked a boarding co-educational school in Yobe State overnight Monday.
All the victims were teenage boys and 11 others were seriously injured, while of the most of the school was burned to the ground.
The Federal Government College Buni Yadi, in Gujba Local Government Area, is situated few kilometres away from the College of Agriculture Gujba where 40 students were killed on September 29 in a similar raid blamed on the Boko Haram sect.
In Buni Yadi, gunmen stormed the school in nine Hilux vans shortly before midnight Monday and blocked the entrance to the hostel.

• NewsRescue-Spy Gusau: Perhaps the Most Evil Man in Nigeria’s Oligarchical History

They then gathered male students and opened fire on them, survivors told Daily Trust.
Some of the dead were slaughtered, while most of the corpses were burnt beyond recognition in the razed buildings.
Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, who visited the school hours after the violence, said 29 students were killed, but Reuters news agency quoted a hospital worker as saying the total body count stood at 59 as more bodies were brought in.
“Fresh bodies have been brought in. More bodies were discovered in the bush after the students who had escaped with bullet wounds died from their injuries,” said Bala Ajiya, an official at the Specialist Hospital Damaturu.
The gunmen set fire and destroyed 24 buildings in the school, including hostels, administrative blocks and staff quarters.
Yobe State Police Commissioner Sanusi A. Rufa’i said: “All the 29 killed were male students; none from the female students was killed.”

• NewsRescue-General Aliyu Mohammed “Die-to-rule” Gusau Exposed As Top Boko Haram Sponsor

Survivors said the gunmen gathered the female students together before telling them to go away and get married, with a warning that those who remained in the school could be killed later.
Aliyu Ayuba, a JSS 3 student, who escaped the attack with a bullet in his back, said: “They were young men and boys dressed in military uniforms and mufti. They asked us to gather in one place and continued shooting sporadically. I cannot tell how I managed to escape but all my roommates were killed and burnt inside the hostel.”
“We shouted for help but nobody came to our rescue, not even Police and military men, to help,” he added.
Malam Samaila Idris, a teacher, told journalists that the attackers drove into the school premises in nine Hilux vans at around 11.20pm Monday and started the operation which lasted for more than 5 hours.
“In fact, we were all thinking they were military personnel because some that stayed at the gate were playing music, until the gun shots started. We in the staff quarters fled our homes before they came and burnt all the structures,” he said.
Idris said seven students who sustained various wounds were taken to hospital.
Residents in the town told our correspondent that the security checkpoint in the area was removed just a day to the attack.
“We were surprised when the checkpoint disappeared on Sunday and at this trying moment. The secondary school pupils were left to their fate,” a resident said.
“Some students were slaughtered, others shot dead. I counted many lifeless bodies,” he added.
Daily Trust gathered that some of the assailants rode to the school on bicycles and motorcycles.
Another student who escaped with a cut on his throat and a broken arm confirmed that no female student was hurt.
“But, I overheard them warning them to stay off school or risk being attacked whenever they return,” he said.
A resident, who was part of early rescue operation, said it was the most horrible experience he had ever since. “Most of the dead students were burnt beyond recognition,” he said.
When our correspondent visited the hospital, thousands of people were seen, including parents of the deceased as well as sympathisers.
Many of the parents could not identify copses of their sons because they were burnt beyond recognition.
“My child pleaded with me to allow him to stay back at home for a few more days after the school resumed but I refused. Now I can’t even identify his corpse,” a parent said as he sobbed.
Gaidam seeks more troops
Meanwhile, Governor Gaidam has urged President Jonathan to deploy more troops to contain insurgency in the state.
“It is most unfortunate that in the past one year, we have experienced these ugly and dastardly attacks by insurgents four times,” he said.
“This attack, like others before it, is barbaric, wicked, callous, and we totally condemn it. We are devastated.”
He added: “It is unfortunate that up to five hours when this massacre took place, there were no security agents around to stop or contain the situation. I have also been informed that the military here in Yobe State lack adequate number of troops on the ground…Even so, they must change their strategy of operation.
“If the military was pulling out some troops from the town and taking them somewhere for an operation, there must be some others left on the ground to deal with any unforeseen circumstance which might arise. So, I think, they should change their strategy.
“It is unfortunate that our children in schools are dying from lack of adequate protection from the Federal Government and this thing is happening only in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the northeast part of the country.
“I also want to use this opportunity to call on the President of the Federal Republic and the military high command to, as a matter of urgency, send more troops to Yobe so that they deal more effectively with the insurgency because currently there is not enough number of troops on the ground to cover all our schools in Yobe.
“The Federal Government should be much more serious than before to ensure that the inadequacies are addressed. Otherwise, they (Boko Haram) may gradually wipe out all the people in Borno and Yobe.”
In his reaction, President Jonathan described the attack as senseless and callous, and assured that the security forces were determined to end the insurgency.
“The president wholly condemns the heinous, brutal and mindless killing of the guiltless students by deranged terrorists and fanatics who have clearly lost all human morality and descended to bestiality,” Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati said in a statement.
“He assures the nation that his administration will not relent in its ongoing efforts to end the scourge of terrorism in parts of the country which has sadly claimed more innocent lives today (yesterday).
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria and other security agencies will continue to prosecute the war against terror with full vigour, diligence and determination until the dark cloud of mass murder and destruction of lives and property is permanently removed from our horizon.”

NewsRescue

My Visit to Bayelsa, Jonathan's Home State

by Okoi Obono-Obla
I was recently in Bayelsa State to supervise the Registration exercise of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the State. On the 3rd February, 2014, I boarded Med View Airline flight from Abuja to Port Harcourt. On arriving Port Harcourt I hitched a ride from the Port Harcourt International Airport to Yenagoa, the Capital of Bayelsa State, the home State of President

Jonathan.

What immediately struck me was the derelict and deplorable condition of the East-West Highway that straddles Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta State.

This is despite the fact that on the 29th May, 2007, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after the late President Umaru Musa Yar’ adua won a controversial Presidential Election admitted to be flawed by Yar’adua necessitating the constitution of a Panel to recommend electoral reforms in the country, became Vice President.

Unfortunately President Yar’ adua was dogged by ill health that culminated in his transition to eternity on the 5th May, 2010. And by the succession process prescribed by the Constitution, the baton of power fell into the hands of President Jonathan who was sworn into office on the 6th May, 2010, by the then Chief Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu after the demise of President Yaradua on the 5th May, 2010.

It therefore goes without saying that President Jonathan has been in the corridors of Federal Power since 2007.

I wondered how President Jonathan who has been in the corridors of power (at the Federal Government level) has woefully and spectacularly failed to muster the political and financial will to see to the completion of the East-West Highway that is so central to the socio-economic development of the South/South Region in particular and Nigeria in general.

I also took a ride along the roads leading to the Ogbia Local Government Area of the State. It is worthy to note that Ogbia is the Local Government Area where President Jonathan comes from. This road is in such a dilapidated and deplorable condition that one of the bridges thereat has completely collapsed to the extent that an improvised bridge constructed with timber and bamboo sticks was used to hold the collapsed bridge to enable light weight vehicles pass through the road. It is an ugly sight to behold that such a bridge will be found in Bayelsa State which has large reserves of crude oil and indeed the State of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

There is such air of discontentment and disillusionment in the State that a visitor can feel it as you walk around the streets of the sleepy capital, Yenagoa. The people of the State groan under the weight of bad governance.

They openly complain that Governor Dickson runs a close government made up of a coterie of sycophants mainly drawn from his part of Sagbama Local Government Area of the State where he comes from.

They openly say that all juicy positions in government and contracts are reserved to close relations of Governor Dickson. They complain of a financial glut and lack of money.

They say the Government of former Governor of Timi Sylvia was better.

The accusation of clannishness is not only made against Governor Dickson, Bayelsan also alleged that President Jonathan only reckons with people from his own group in Ogbia Local Government Area.

The people also allege that Governor Dickson runs his government from Abuja and that he hardly stays in Yenagoa! Bayelsa has very difficult and challenging terrain and topography.

It is a low and swampy land. So it requires plenty of money to construct roads and build houses. To reach many places in the State from Yenagoa such as Brass, Southern Ijaw etc one needs to travel over turbulent and treacherous waters on boat for several hours. But with sincere and concerted efforts these challenges can be overcome or surmounted.

There is no room for excuses. It is do-able because all the city of Amsterdam is built on top of water!

Oil theft row escalates

President Jonathan risks panic among investors after he suspends Central Bank Governor Sanusi in a personal political battle

Plain speaking, combative and ubiquitous, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi was never going to work well with the taciturn and cautious President Goodluck Jonathan. After months of cold war between the two men over reports of billions of missing oil revenue, President Jonathan suspended Sanusi from the CBN on 20 February. That will escalate the political battle and rattle investors a year before general elections. Jonathan acted against Sanusi after the outspoken Governor had warned the Senate on 13 February of the dangers of deepening corruption in the oil and gas industry and submitted a report detailing the failure of the state oil company to transfer some US$20 billion to the federation (national) accounts.
Those revelations and the failure of Oil Minister Diezani Allison-Madueke, a close ally of Jonathan’s, to give a credible response to accusations of gross mismanagement and illegality, sent investors into a spin. For example, it was confirmed in the Senate hearings that in 2009, the previous government had banned state subsidies on kerosene yet Allison-Madueke had maintained a system of state subsidy for kerosene costing over $1 bn. a year.

The reason Allison-Madueke gave for this was that it would benefit ordinary Nigerians (kerosene is widely used for cooking as well as jet fuel) and that the law was unclear. Yet Allison-Madueke had no response when Sanusi showed the senators a series of unequivocal directives ordering the end of kerosene subsidies. Then Sanusi went further to show that Nigerian consumers received no benefit from the claimed subsidy as they paid international market prices for their kerosene. Instead, the beneficiaries were a select small group of fuel traders who shared between them profits of around $100 million a month from the subsidy racket. Sanusi’s straight explanation of this was a point-blank critique of Allison-Madueke and, by extension, a challenge to the President who was backing her. Sanusi criticised several other schemes, all of which come under the responsibility of Allison-Madueke:
• Strategic Alliance Agreements between an affiliate of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy, which Sanusi said illicitly transferred NNPC revenue to private holdings;
• Unaudited crude oil swaps for imports of refined products handled by four local trading groups: Igho Sanomi’s Talveras, Tonye Cole’s Sahara Oil, Ben Peters’ Aiteo and Walter Wagbatsoma’s Ontario Oil and Gas together with Claude Dauphin’s Netherlands-based Trafigura;
• Illegal oil bunkering – running at over 250,000 barrels a day;
• Unaudited third-party financing claims of about $2 bn. a year.
Faced with this litany of infractions, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Economy Minister and former Managing Director of the World Bank, proposed a forensic audit of the NNPC, but one ringed with caveats. Okonjo-Iweala is now in an iniquitous position: she is the sole high-profile reformer with policy-making powers on the wider economy but still politically identified with Jonathan and Allison-Madueke. Seeing Okonjo-Iweala’s continuing foreign credibility (London’s daily Financial Times backed her for World Bank President), Jonathan’s team encourages the idea that she could run for vice-president in 2015, and president in 2019.
Yet that cuts little ice with market forces. Within hours of the 13 February Senate hearings, the naira had slumped to N165 to the US dollar, the sharpest depreciation in five years. The value of shares on the stock exchange fell faster than in any other capital market. Although CBN Deputy Governor Sarah Omotunde Alade, who will take over the governorship until June, is a well-regarded technocrat, bankers and investors worry about the signals sent by Sanusi’s suspension and the lack of concern about the state accounting issues that he raised.
The President and Oil Minister have shown an almost surreal insouciance towards data showing billions of dollars missing from state accounts, even when the data is produced by government officials and on one occasion, by a committee working under instruction from the Oil and Finance ministries.
Again on 20 February, within hours of his suspension, Jonathan’s aides were more intent on trying to denigrate and sideline Sanusi than steadying investors’ nerves. Jonathan launched unsubstantiated accusations of ‘financial recklessness’ against Sanusi, then named Alade as Acting Governor and within hours had sent his choice for the new governor, Zenith Bank’s Chief Executive Godwin Emefiele, to the Senate for confirmation. The market made its own judgement: that same day, the exchange rate fell by another four naira, to $1 = N169.
This will matter hugely, even if Nigeria’s ballooning growth is on automatic pilot. Government statisticians are just about to announce that the country is now Africa’s biggest economy, with a gross domestic product of around $400 bn. That puts it about $40 bn. ahead of South Africa and slightly less ahead of Iran, Columbia and Thailand. This was intended to make great propaganda for Jonathan’s campaign in the 2015 elections but it will be fairly meaningless for most Nigerians. Average income per capita will be about $2,400 a year: that’s much less than in an Egypt in turmoil and less than a third of average incomes in South Africa.
Central to Nigeria’s economic problems is the failure of the state to provide basic services such as electricity and water, let alone decent standards of education and healthcare. Much of this is due to chronic under-investment: that reality has given Sanusi’s critique of the mismanagement of state oil revenue great resonance among many Nigerians. In the hours after his suspension, it was Sanusi, not the government, who tried to steady nerves. He strongly praised Sarah Alade’s professionalism and managerial competence.

CBN: NGF set to tackle Jonathan

From TAIWO AMODU, Abuja
Following Federal Government’s suspension of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum under the leadership of Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi has fixed an emergency meeting for Monday to take position on that contentious matter.
Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Godwin Emefiele has since been announced as replacement.
A statement from the Director- General of the Forum of 36 states governors, Asishana Okauru,  made available to newsmen  yesterday, disclosed a two-pronged agenda for the emergency meeting: “Removal of the CBN Governor; Dwindling revenue to states; AOB.” The meeting will hold at Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja with Rotimi Amaechi presiding.
Recall that the federal government had premised its action to axe the governor of the apex bank  on alleged cases of impunity, incompetence, fraud, wastefulness, and non-compliance with provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
Saturday Sun checks revealed that before the startling disclosures from the  axed governor of the CBN, accusing NNPC of alleged diversion of crude oil sales earnings and  spending funds  not appropriated by the National Assembly,  the governors have consistently expressed reservations over what they noted was lack of  transparency  by the NNPC  in  the  management of crude oil earnings and further alleged that the  office of the Accountant  General of the Federation  of connivance.
At their meeting held on September 18, 2013, the governors in their communiqué  demanded the resignation of the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over non compliance with the revenue projections of the Federal Government of Nigeria 2013 Budget, which they noted was a direct breach of the provisions of the Appropriation Act, 2013.
They further reiterated their  “earlier call to the National Assembly for the separation of the office of the Accountant General of the Federation from that of the Accountant General of the Federal
Government for accountability and better management of the economy.”
Also recall that eleven APC governors (before their rank was swelled by 5 PDP governors that defected) which met on October 22, 2013  at the Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge under the aegis of the Progressives Governors Forum, restated their aversion to what they called  the unconstitutional  deduction from Federation Account by the federal government, which they claimed had led to about 40 percent loss in their revenue earned from Federation Account in the last few months.
The host governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi who spoke with newsmen on behalf of his colleagues further submitted that there was no basis for incomplete allocation to states from the Federation Account by the federal government.

TheSun

2015 elections: Emirs lobby lawmakers against Jonathan

by OBIORA IFOH AND TORDUE SALEM 

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*** Don’t politicise Sanusi’s sack, PDP tells APC
The visit by President Goodluck Jonathan to some traditional rulers in the North notwithstanding, some emirs are silently working against his second term ambition, National Mirror learnt at the weekend.
A top politician in Abuja told National Mirror that the humiliating suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on Tuesday last week and the failure to curtail the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East are some of the grouses the Emirate Councils of the North have against the President.
The source also said that the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, was specifically miffed that security agencies in the country were yet to fish out the culprits responsible for the recent attack on his convoy in Kano, despite promises to that effect by the President.
“The emirs are not happy with the situation in the country, especially the unwarranted suspension of the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido. So you can be sure that they would contact the senators and members of the House of Representatives to work against the PDP in the 2015 elections. And they are actually doing just that as we speak.
“The visit of his Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan to emirs is good, but I don’t think they are impressed with his handling of the security situation in the North, specifically the North East, where despite more than six years of emergency rule, the bombs continue to go off. The President, I must tell you has not done enough to impress the Emirs,” he said.
The House of Representatives had on Thursday lampooned the President for arbitrarily suspending the CBN Governor.
The House passed a resolution declaring the action illegal and unconstitutional after a motion sponsored by Minority Whip, Hon. Samson Osagie was passed.
The House, with Speaker Aminu Tambuwal presiding, had ruled that the decision breached section 11(7) of the CBN Act, which provides for sack of the apex bank boss with the approval of the Senate and not suspension.
But the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Ali Ahmad (Kwara-APC) when contacted said he was yet to be approached by any emir, but would consider it when approached.
Repeated efforts to reach principal officers of the House from the North, Hon. Garbi Datti (APC-Kaduna), Hon. Ishaku Bawa (PDPTaraba) and Hon. Suleiman Kawu (APC-Kano) to respond to the said move by the emirs, failed at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Party, APC, are again at each other’s jugular over the suspension of CBN Governor.
While the PDP condemned attempts by certain individuals and groups to politicise the suspension of Sanusi, the opposition party accused the Presidency of seeking to use the suspension to divert attention from the allegation of missing $20bn oil funds.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement yesterday said the issues leading to Sanusi’s suspension strictly bordered on the management of the nation’s economy and urged Nigerians to disregard those attempting to politicise or introduce sentiments into the matter.
Supporting the suspension, the party said it has “implicit confidence in President Goodluck Jonathan and his efforts to ensure the stability and growth of the economy”, adding that the decision was in the best interest of the nation.
The party also dismissed insinuations that the suspension was aimed at silencing a whistle blower and promoting corruption.
It said after thorough analysis of the issues surrounding the suspension, “it was clear that the decision was in tandem with the commitment of the Federal Government to safeguard the CBN and the entire financial sector from abuses.”
The PDP said the findings of the Financial Reporting Council revealed series of administrative recklessness in the CBN which are “very weighty and cannot be swept under the carpet of politics and sentiments.”
Debunking suggestions that the suspension will negatively affect the economy, the PDP observed that instead, it has restored confidence in the financial sector and in government’s ability to check abuses harmful to the system.
It urged Nigerians not to be swayed by those seek ing to play politics with the matter adding that Sanusi should have nothing to fear if he has no skeleton in his cupboard.
But APC, in a statement issued in Lagos by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the way the Presidency has been campaigning to malign the CBN Governor, using the report of the obscure Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, shows that it is working hard to sweep the issue of the missing funds under the carpet and punish Sanusi for daring to expose the fraud.
It said if the Federal Government had used half the energy it has been deploying to discredit Sanusi toward the investigation of the missing oil funds, the monumental corruption case would have been solved by now.
“Irrespective of the tepid and unconvincing denial by the Presidency, it is clear that the main reason the Presidency moved against Sanusi is because he blew the lid on the $20bn funds, which the NNPC allegedly failed to remit to the Federation Account.
“Fortunately, discerning Nigerians are not hoodwinked by the Presidency’s choreographed mudslinging against a whistle blower, and the sponsored campaign that amounts to shooting the messenger just because his message is not palatable.
“While the Presidency has chosen to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians over the missing oil funds, we call on the National Assembly to get to the bottom of Sanusi’s allegation and save Nigerians from a rapacious and a rampaging cabal that is hell bent on bringing Nigeria to its knees through runaway corruption,” APC said.
The party said the questions that are begging for answers include: What happened to the missing $20bn? If indeed a part of the funds has been used for kerosene subsidy, who authorised the spending of money that was not appropriated, in violation of the nation’s constitution? Who reinstated the subsidy that had been removed by a presidential directive? If $8.76bn of the missing money was used for kerosene subsidy, who and who are the beneficiaries, since it is clear that Nigerians are not enjoying any subsidy on kerosene for which they are shelling out at least N150 per litre?
It re-stated its earlier stand that Sanusi’s suspension is unlawful and that it is another dangerous turn in the Jonathan administration’s journey of impunity, lawlessness and double standards.
APC said the drop in the value of the naira and the fact that the banking sector and other stocks spiralled into negative territory, in the aftermath of the suspension, have shown the dangers inherent in politicising an office that should be insulated from political pressure.
“There are just shortterm repercussions. The long-term fallout may be the scaring off of foreign investors by the perception of instability in the financial sector and the erosion of the CBN’s autonomy.
“If and when that happens, a President who has so far failed to uplift his nation’s economy would have succeeded in sabotaging it,” the party said.
On the allegations against Sanusi, it said the Federal Government should charge him to court, if indeed it is convinced of the veracity of the allegations, instead of convicting him on the pages of newspapers and mob-lynching him through paid hatchet men. In a related development, a former Minister of State for Education, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, has urged the Federal Government to exercise caution and reconsider its action, even as she described the suspension of Sanusi as untimely.
Speaking in Ilaro, Ogun State at the weekend, the former senator noted that, if Sanusi had committed certain offences contrary to the law establishing the CBN he should have been sanctioned before now.

 

NationalMirror

We’ll uproot PDP in 2015, say APC leaders

Lai Mohammed

All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders have said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will be shocked by its “mass rejection by Nigerians” in the 2015 elections.
Speaking in Lagos at the weekend, the party leaders said the PDP’s “imminent defeat” in the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls in June and August would be a foretaste of what awaits the PDP in the 2015 elections.
The APC leaders spoke at a reception rally organised by The Mandate Movement (TMM) in honour of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who got the Daily Independent’s Man of the Year, 2013 Award, at the weekend.
TMM was founded by the APC’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and is led by the APC’s National Legal Adviser, Dr. Muiz Banire.
Aregbesola said: “With the abysmal performance of PDP governments and the result of our party’s membership registration, it is certain that we will shock and uproot the PDP from all tiers of government in 2015.”
The governor, who is a founding leader of TMM, thanked members from the 57 local councils of Lagos State, who were gathered at the Skypower Playground in Ikeja GRA, for supporting the APC through its transformational stages since 1999.
He said: “I thank you for standing by us all the way. You have seen that more Nigerians, including serving and past governors, as well as members of the National Assembly have been trooping to the APC because the PDP had failed the nation. What this tells us is to put in more effort to flush out the party that has brought so much pain to our people. Coming elections in Ekiti and Osun will surely give the PDP a bitter taste of the people’s resentment for it.”
Aregbesola thanked the organisers of the reception for remaining faithful to the ideals of TMM’s founder.
Banire and another TMM leader Cardinal James Odunmbaku, who is Lagos APC’s deputy chairman, said the turnout at the rally was a warning to the PDP.
Banire said: “This was supposed to be a small reception in honour of Ogbeni Aregbesola, but the crowd gathered here is not only intimidating and overwhelming, but encouraging. We assure you that our party is forming the next government at the federal level and we will never fail you as the PDP has done.”
Also at the reception were APC National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed; former Lagos State Commissioner for Health Dr. Leke Pitan; Osun State Deputy Governor Mrs. Grace Laoye-Tomori; Aregbesola’s wife, Serifat; National Assembly members from Lagos and Lagos House of Assembly members, among others.

TheNation