Anti-Corruption: Buhari’s first suspect won’t find it funny, says Adesina

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina was until his appointment the managing director of Sun Newspapers and concurrently, the president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE.

In this interview, by  Bashir Adefaka, the presidential spokesman responds to issues on the pace and pattern of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Excerpts:
How do you think the press and the executive arm of government can collaborate to move the country forward?
I think that cooperation is very, very important. You see, recently the relationship between the First Estate and the Fourth Estate had been downright adversarial and if it was not adversarial, it was suspicious. It is better today than it has ever been in the history of the country. We know that the country had been under long military rule during which the executive and the media were never friends.
We still have vestiges of that even now, but then things are fairly better than they have ever been. And I believe that under this administration, it will be a lot better. Don’t forget that the very day that President Buhari resumed at this Presidential Villa was also the day he visited the State House Press Corp in the gallery where they stay. It was some sort of wonderment for them because I heard a lot of them say openly that they had been covering this Villa for six, eight years and that they never received the President.
Adesina, Buhari's SA Media and Publicity
Adesina, Buhari’s SA Media and Publicity
So, for President Buhari, to on the first day of his resumption in the Villa, to have paid the press people a courtesy visit, so to say, I think it foreshadows what is to come. It is going to be a pleasant relationship in the months and the years ahead.   I read the column of one of them, I think Lekan Adetayo of The Punch, he narrated an account of the day they stayed very late at the Villa because there was a political meeting going on and when that meeting finished in the wee hours, the President (Buhari) passed by and he stopped by to greet them.   He said members of the Press Corp appreciated that a lot because in the past, presidents would just walk by and would not give them a glance.
It shows that we are in for a good relationship. It does not mean that they will see the truth and will not talk. No, they are still going to be independent, they will report truly and factually but they are going to be treated as decent professionals.   And it is going to be good for our country.  Enough of adversarial relationship between the press and the executive!
What would be the signature programmes of this government?
Right from the campaign you knew the things that were dear to the heart of the president.   I sat at an interview he also granted a television station and he reiterated those programmes. Of course you know that one of these is anti-corruption. He has always said unless Nigeria kills corruption that corruption will kill Nigeria.
So, anti-corruption is going to be very dear to his heart. I told some people privately that I pity the first person that President Buhari will catch in his anti-corruption drive (laughs). I pity the first person who is going to fall into this anti-corruption trap and that person is not going to find it funny.
And has he not caught the first person yet?
No.   When he catches the first person, you will know publicly that there has been a catch, and he will look for more. If you have evidence that somebody has taken any major fund anywhere, and it comes to the knowledge of the President, you can be sure that he will also be dealt with.  Gone are the days when people would be accused of stealing billions and trillions of Naira and it ends there and nothing comes out of it. You can be sure, not with this President, because anti-corruption is very, very dear to his heart.
Then, one thing that is also very dear to his heart is generating employment.   He is concerned about the rate of unemployment in the country.   He has said that about 60 percent of youths are unemployed.   Youths that are the life blood of the economy, about 60 percent of them are out of jobs, or they are underpaid or disgruntled.
So, he looks forward to a situation where the country will be so fixed that jobs will be available, particularly to the youths and that also is tied to the economy.   When the economy is properly fixed, it will reflect in the employment situation.   So, he plans that the economy must be fixed and Nigeria will become robust. Now when the economy is robust, there will be opportunities aplenty. That is also very dear to the heart of the President. I have so many
references about things that are dear to his heart to be achieved for the good of Nigerians. One day I was talking with the President, if you hear what he expressed about power, he said, “Ah, if this government can fix power, it will touch every aspect of the lives of Nigerians. It will touch the artisans, touch everybody, touch industries everywhere.”   And   saw the passion with which he was talking about that power and I know that he will make it.
Nigerians are saying that power has improved even when it is believed that the Buhari administration has not started working on power. What does it portend?
You can say that he has not done anything yet about power and the refineries, but then, the truth is that things are falling in place. So if things are falling in place naturally, you can then imagine, when he unfolds policies in those areas, you can imagine how better things will get. There is something called the right atmosphere. I believe that the right atmosphere is responsible for the improvements that you are talking about all over the place.
There is apprehension that the failure to appoint ministers may be contributing to economic difficulties especially the slide of the naira?
Before, the talk was that there were no service chiefs but as we sit down and talk today we have service chiefs. Few days ago, we would have said there was no National Security Adviser but as we sit down and talk today there is an NSA.
That shows you that appointment is work in progress just as people expected new service chiefs, and it happened; they expected a new NSA and it happened, the same way ministers will come. It is constitutional to have ministers and this President will never violate the Constitution. He knows that it is constitutional to have a cabinet but this Constitution does not prescribe the maximum or minimum number of ministers for him to constitute his cabinet.
The Constitution, I assume, believes that a President is a responsible person and he will do what is needful. And, for now, things are moving because what the President has done is to empower the Permanent Secretaries to run the bureaucracy. So, all
the ministries are moving.   I was with him when he instructed a permanent secretary that, “What your minister should have done, you must do now that the minister has not come.”   So, he has empowered the permanent secretaries to take decisions but that is not to say that ministers will not come at the soonest of time……
Some are rejoicing that the civil service is getting strong…..?
(Cuts in)   The civil service should be strengthened. The bureaucracy lubricates the system. If the bureaucracy is hampered in anyway, the system will be affected.   So, it is good that the bureaucracy is strengthened.   So, when ministers come, the bureaucracy can work with them, advise them properly and then things will move better. Not that the bureaucracy should be relegated to the background.
So it is good that the President has strengthened the bureaucracy and what ministers will then do is to collaborate with the bureaucracy and then move on. The second part of that question bordering on devaluation or no devaluation of Naira, you know that kind of decision is not a one-man decision.   There must be an economic team which will also come and when the economic team sits down they would articulate a thrust. That policy thrust will determine the direction to take.
What is your reaction to insinuations that the president has tilted the appointments he has made towards the north?
Well, what I would say is that the North is part of this country just like the South is. No part should be marginalized. In the South, South-South, South-West, South-East should not be marginalized. In the North, North-East, North West, North-Central should not be marginalized.   There should be fairness and equity in the country. If there is any President that believes in fairness, it is this one.   He believes in being fair to everybody. The mandate he received is a national mandate.
Muhammadu Buhari and Femi Adesina
Muhammadu Buhari and Femi Adesina
Thankfully there is that portion of our Constitution, which makes it impossible for somebody, who has not scored popular votes, who has not scored enough votes in a broad section of the country to become President.   Before President Buhari emerged, he satisfied that part of the Constitution. So he knows that he has a national mandate and he is going to exercise that mandate nationally.
Before the new service chiefs were appointed, the talk was that there had been nine appointments and only one was from The South.   Ahead we are close to 500 appointments because, Federal boards alone are populated by 601 people. So, all those boards will be constituted, there will be cabinet of which the Constitution says at least one from each state, then ambassadorial postings, there are going to be personal aides, there are going to be so many appointments.   So, when the President has just got nine, it is too early to cry woe!
One would have thought that the recent removal of the service chiefs would also affect the police boss.  Why was he retained?
IGP (Solomon Arase) is one of the best, in fact, the very best in the force now and by virtue of being IGP he is going to be one of the best.   And you know that the IGP is not just holding that office, he is an outstanding officer.
A lot of people pay tribute to him. So, for the President to have retained him, it shows that he knows his onion.   I also pay tribute to him as a man of honour. He is a fantastic officer, and for the President to have retained him, I think it was a good decision.  The President has the prerogative to change anybody  he wants to change.   For him to retain the IG, it means that the IG simply merits being retained.

Reps crisis: How Presidential prestige saved the day

By Levinus Nwabughiogu
For close to two months, they fought endlessly for positions leaving the National Assembly profusely bleeding. Various meetings were summoned at all levels yet no compromise.  But 20 minutes meeting with president Mohammdu Buhari, the imbroglio ended. Read the insider’s account of how a presidential intervention helped to resolve the leadership face off in the House of Representatives.
The meeting was slated for 5pm that Monday. And before the time, they had filled the place. It was one, long awaited, make or mar meeting, and so, no one needed to be left out.
The first to come was the Speaker in his official car and after two different coaster buses that carried the members wheeled in.
House Leader: House Members celebrating with Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila New House Leader House of Representatives in 8 Assembly. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.
House Leader: House Members celebrating with Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila New House Leader House of Representatives in 8 Assembly. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.
The hall was waiting and within minutes, it was filled to the brim. Banters and pleasantries were unprecedented. The smiles were broad but there was still deep seated animosity and aggression within.
Seated on the podium were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun and the national chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Oyegun.
Joining them after a while was President Mohammadu Buhari and then the discussion began behind closed doors.
Within 20 minutes, they were done. Next, the door opened and they started filing out.
One had expected the same broad smiles that flashed across their faces ab initio, the banters and the conviviality that heralded the meeting. But that was all gone. And then, you could obviously behold minds cosmetically covered with subdued and sinister smiles.
Seeing the televisions camera waiting outside, one or two of the lawmakers, presumably footsoldiers of the both the protagonist and the antagonist, the hero and the villain approached them. Fortunately, the story- hungry Journalists obliged them a space and they ventilated their feelings.
From their voices, one could dictate dissension, a clear indication that the meeting was deadlocked. Yes, deadlocked because expectations were high that the lawmakers would have come out embracing each other, saying that the crisis in the House of Representatives was over.
But that was not to be. They wore long faces. But then, Journalists patiently waited there apparently for the big masquerades.
Minutes later, the three musketeers, Oyegun, Dogara and Femi Gbajabiamila emerged from within.
They were in the presidential villa, Abuja at the instance of presidential Mohammdu Bahari to seek ways of resolving the logjam occasioned by the principal officers positions in the House.
Here were their respective answers to Journalists’ questions in a sequential order.
Gbajabiamila “We had a family meeting. We spoke heart to heart. The President was very forthright. It was basically on the party supremacy. I believe that by the end of the day, before the end of this night, you guys will know the outcome. We are still talking. But I think, this is the first time everybody is coming together in a cordial atmosphere as one family. I think we are almost at the point where all of these will be behind us.
Oyegun: “Everything is up. You can see I am smiling. You will be very surprised. A lot was achieved in 20 minutes. You can see the Speaker of the House standing firmly by me. In another three to four hours, we will have good news for the nation. It is never too late to strengthen the past”, he said.
Dogara: “I have always been by the party. There has never been a time that I have never stood firmly by the party. So, like my chairman has explained, sooner or later we will have good news for Nigerians”, he said.
More meetings
Sure, the meetings were not over because the crisis was still unresolved. The meetings continued that night at different locations. The next day, Tuesday, was the resumption date for the National Assembly and having adjourned two times since its inauguration consequent upon the crisis, the sure thing was that it wouldn’t adjourn again. At least, not that day. If they did, Nigerians would have reacted vehemently. And so, whatever happens, the principal officers must be named.
Tuesday, D-Day
On Tuesday, the anxiety was high. Just like the day of inauguration of the National Assembly, everywhere was occupied. The floor and the gallery. No foothold.
Then midway into the plenary, Speaker Dogara temporarily relinquished his seat for his deputy and went into a closed door meeting with Gbajabimila and Hon. Doguwa. Then the anxiety heightened, prompting a flurry of questions. What would happen when he returns? Will he name Gbajabiamila the Majority leader of the House eventually? Will he pooh-poo the party’s directive? What about the meeting with President Buhari? Just a plethora of rhetorical questions.
After about an hour, the Speaker reappeared, took his seat and began to read the names from a paper before him.
Trust Dogara, he started with the last and in this case, least office. This heightened suspense. With some intermittent pauses and calculated silence, he called the names and eventually reached the peak with Gbajabiamila named as the House Majority leader. A wide jubilation on the floor ensued.
With this, the siege was over in the House. APC had crossed the hurdles. Governance can now start.
Some Nigerians react
Following the return of peace, Saturday Vanguard sampled the views of some Nigerians on the matter and what it portends for the country.
We are more united now–Hon. Phillips Shaibu, member representing Estako Federal constituency in the House of Representatives
I feel great. I feel happy. I feel fulfilled. I feel the House of representatives is ready for its business to join Mr. President to drive the change that the people voted for. I am so excited and happy we have put this thing behind us. Yes, I actually felt disappointed. I wasn’t happy because Nigerians are in a hurry to see us to get the ball rolling especially on the mess that we have inherited from the PDP, the insurgency that we inherited from the PDP, the darkness that we inherited from PDP, the Economic crisis we inherited from PDP and the devaluation of our currency that we inherited from PDP. So, there are lots of mess that Nigeria voted against which they are expecting the House of Reps or the National Assembly to join hands with Mr. President and set the ball rolling to make sure all those things are changed. So,I’m wasn’t happy the crisis came.
But I also think the crisis came at the right time and it has put us in a position to understand each other better and I can tell you that from the discussions and dialogues that took place, we now understand each other better than we did at the beginning. So, for me, I think God wanted us to understand each other better so that people will not come in between to derail the change that Nigerians voted for. So, God allowed it to happen so that we would understand each other better and I can tell you that we can tell of the capacity that each us has in terms of issues, in terms of the dreams and focus that influence the National Assembly. So I think it was a period which enabled us to deeply understand each other knowing full well that all of us came from different political parties to form APC. I think this has reunited us and brought us to understand each other better and I can tell you that we are hitting the ball in a very strong footing.
All thanks to President Buhari, Chief John Oyegun, APC national chairman
The misunderstanding in the House of Representatives has been very very amicably resolved thanks to The intervention of Mr. President who again made it quite clear with everybody, that there is no alternative but to listen to what the party says.
I want to emphasise the fact that all of us were what we were, what we are thanks to the platform that the party provided for everybody. I think his message resonated very intensive with all the members of the House. He still did not interfere. I want to make that very very clear and his parting words to us was that the presiding leadership of the House and the party should go and resolve whatever issues there are that was militating against the resolution of the problem and that is what exactly happened. When we were leaving there I promised, the press was very anxious to hear that A, B and C have been appointed to whatever positions but that is not what happened.
I promised that within a few hours, 4 hours as I said definitely by the next morning, the nation will be glad knowing that this issue would have been resolved and put behind us. We left there into consultations and discussions with the presiding officers of the House of Representatives.  Let me take this opportunity to pay tribute to their maturity to their sense of responsibility, tribute to their loyalty of the party and above all tribute to their sense of general good meaning their patriotism displayed by the Speaker and his Deputy. It did not take long, necessary concessions that had to be made were made.
President Mohammadu Buhari’s intervention was key–Dr. Chekwas Okorie, National Chairman, United Progressives Party, UPP.
Most Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief when the lingering, scandalous and embarrassing leadership tussle in the House of Representatives was finally put to rest at the resumption of the House on Tuesday 28 July, 2015.
I have always been of the opinion that President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention in the matter will be a key factor in resolving the conflict. I have also always made it clear that his intervention is not interference as he had pledged not to do. I will therefore give the President and the defacto leader of APC kudos for providing the desired leadership in resolving the problem. I will congratulate the APC for saving its face through the outcome of the negotiations that led to the resolution of the matter.
I advise the leadership of the National Assembly as constituted to drop immediately their loyalties to primordial cleavages outside the House and dissolve into a cohesive team that will serve the best interest of the Nigerian people. Similarly, I advise the APC leaders to consider the profound injunction of President Muhammadu Buhari that they should not allow their personal ambitions and interests to render the APC prostrate and vulnerable to the demolition plot of the rampaging PDP. It is unfortunate and worrisome that the leadership crisis in both the Senate and House of Representatives have caused Nigerians so much anxiety and trepidation so early in the life of the present government.
It is democracy at play–Hon. Victor Ogene, immediate member of the House of Representatives from Anambra State.
It is democracy at play. It is consensus building and at the end of the day even battles that are fought on behalf of the nation always invariably end around on a negotiating table. So, in this instance, for me, it is a win win situation. Both former camps had issues to prove. One: the independence of the legislature in terms of choosing their leaders. That point was eloquently made on the June 9, 2015. For the people who believe that the party ought to be supreme, I think they also scored a major victory on July 28, 2015.
So, invariably, it is a win win situation. But it also tells everyone hereafter that there is a line where party supremacy stops especially when it is in conflict with the independence of an institution or an arm of government. I would simply urge all those involved to move on to deliver on the campaign promises of the party which is to bring about change in virtually all facets of Nigerian life especially in terms of tackling insurgency, fighting corruption and putting the economy on a sound footing. These can only be done when you have a national assembly that is in tune with the policy terms of the party in place. So, I think that from now onwards, we will begin to see the road signs of how the Buhari administration will pan out within the next few weeks.
Bottom line
Obviously, the APC federal lawmakers played bitter politics that held the House, nay, the country hostage for upwards two months. But thank goodness, it is over. Nigerians now expect nothing but action and action flowing the presidency, federal legislature down to the States. No excuse. This is what Nigerians await.

EFCC Boss, Jonathan’s Ministers, Aides Share 500 FG Houses, Presidency Vows To Investigate

Influential ministers and aides of for­mer President Goodluck Jonathan were among those who allegedly shared over 500 Federal Government houses located in highbrow areas of Abuja and Lagos as parting gifts from the immediate past ad­ministration.
Beside the influential ministers and top pres­idential aides, heads of some powerful feder­al agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the armed forces as well as top military officers are also beneficiaries of the last minute largesse of the Jonathan’s administration, as documents sight­ed in the office of the Secretary to the Govern­ment of the Federation (SGF) have revealed.




 Curiously, most of the beneficiaries have one common feature; the allocation of the houses to them was not done in their individual names but in the names of front-companies and/or faceless companies.
Another interesting development is that with the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the Jonathan administration with a view to recovering billions of public funds and assets illegally taken by top officials of the immediate past government, many of the ben­eficiaries of the last minute sharing of public assets have abandoned the properties, most of which are now under lock and key and over­grown with weeds while others have refused to pay for the properties to avoid losing their money in the event that the Buhari government choses to revoke the sales.
A source in the SGF office told Saturday Sun that properties whose owners are now scared to take possession of them are scattered all over Asokoro and Maitama areas of Abuja as well as Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Apapa areas of Lagos.
Investigations by Saturday Sun revealed that the abandoned properties are more in Lagos. They litter Emotan road, Apapa GRA; Liver­pool road, Apapa, Marine road, Apapa; Park lane and Child avenue, both also in Apapa. In Ikoyi, they are located at Oyinkan Abayomi (Former Queen’s Drive) and Bourdillion road where the EFCC boss, Ibrahim Lamorde has his allocation; a mansion and two bungalows on a large expanse of land.
It was also gathered that while some of the former ministers and presidential aides have their allocations in Abuja, top military officers and some heads of government agencies have theirs in Lagos. Further investigations show that the former ministers, presidential aides and Heads of Departments and Agencies were allo­cated Guest Houses and other buildings owned by their MDAs at ridiculous prices.
The source, who is a top official of the SGF office, however, told Saturday Sun that most of the houses were abandoned because “the owners are obviously looking for private sec­tor individuals that can buy them as many of them didn’t really get the allocations to live in the houses, they only want to sell them off and make profit.”
When asked why the allocations were done in the names of companies rather than the names of the actual beneficiaries, the top offi­cial said: “Most of the owners got the houses while still in government and they wouldn’t like to disclose such huge assets in their assets declaration forms with the Code of Conduct Bureau because of the questions on the source of the funds used to pay for such. We’re only the ones who knows who owns what but if you follow the table of allocations, you will only find names of companies as beneficiaries.”
The source, however, exonerated the com­mittee in charge of the houses which is directly in charge of some of the sales of any complici­ty, adding: “Decisions and approvals more of­ten than not, come from the Presidency.”
“The committee also has no control over which name will be used for the purpose of allocation and what such beneficiaries do with the properties afterwards”, the official added.
Beside the sales done by the committee, it was also learnt that some public institutions like the NNPC, PHCN, NPA and CBN handled the sales of some of their properties based on approval from the Presidency. It was said that some of the controversial sales could have been done by the ministries and agencies that have presidential approval to dispose of their own assets.
Another source in the Ministry of Lands and Housing however said that the number of houses allocated was far lower than 500. The source, who is an official of the ministry, dis­closed: “It is true that some requests for allo­cation came towards the end of the last admin­istration but the real allocation was tactically delayed by some officials to avoid running into trouble with the then in-coming Buhari admin­istration.”
Reacting on behalf of the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the commission’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren said he was not at liberty to comment.
Although he did not deny the claims, he in­sisted on sighting the document wherein Lam­orde was named as one of the beneficiaries. He maintained that his reaction would be based on what the document alleged, rather than reacting in a vacuum.
He further insisted that the claims could have emanated from anybody who might be out to smear the image of the EFCC chairman.
“I cannot just react to your claims. At least, it is only fair that I see the document you are relying on. I need to study the contents of the document and then react accordingly. You know too well that anybody can make such a weighty allegation just to smear the image of the chairman of EFCC,” Uwujaren added.
But the presidency in its reaction vowed to investigate the development. Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina said the Buhari administration “will investigate such deals.”
President Buhari has said he will not extend his corruption probe beyond the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The President had said during his recent vis­it to the US that he would arrest and prosecute past ministers and other officials who stole Ni­geria’s oil and diverted government’s money into personal accounts.
But the President’s Special Adviser on Me­dia and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the Pres­ident will limit his anti-corruption war to the immediate past administration.
He said even before he was inaugurated on May 29, the President had categorically stated that he would not extend his corruption probe beyond the Jonathan government.
“If you recall, that was already settled before he got inaugurated as President. He has said he will not waste time digging into the far past,” Adesina said.
“The far past will include Obasanjo and oth­ers. But the President has said he will not waste time to go that far.”
Before leaving office, Jonathan had said any probe by the new government would be seen as a “witch-hunt” if it fails to go beyond his ad­ministration.
The Sun


































 

Anti-graft war:Many people are now scared of Buhari – Gbagi

Former Minister of State for Education and Delta State governorship aspirant, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi is a lawyer, criminologist, industrialist and one of the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He is unhappy with the level of stealing among elected and appointed public officers, especially in recent times and wants President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that those found guilty of graft are logically prosecuted or his regime will be at the mercy of justice-thirsty Nigerians. He shared this view in an interview with Vanguard where he also spoke on why former President Goodluck Jonathan lost the last presidential election and Buhari’s performance so far among others.
By Clifford Ndujihe

Gbagi, Minister of State,Education

On why Jonathan lost the presidential polls to Buhari
I am one of the founders of the PDP, a lawyer and a criminologist, which means that I have friends and brothers across the nation. What I did was to get to the nooks and crannies of the country to find the true situation. At the end, my finding was, it was certain that Jonathan was not going to return.
This dates back to when Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s fight started. It is sad that that situation was allowed to play out the way it did.
I tried my best to ensure that the situation was nipped in the bud because Obasanjo and I had a meeting where I saw a clip of what was going to come out and it turned out to be that permutation that Jonathan would lose.
Then, I called my father, Chief EK Clark, and said this is what is going to happen. He was in Delta State that day and he was quickly going to meet President Jonathan and said there was need for us to have a quick meeting.
It is one of the things I respect Obasanjo for. I said to him at the end of our meeting that day, ‘please send for Jonathan to come to this house and talk to him.’
Obasanjo responded, ‘Kenneth, Jonathan is the president of this country. I am not going to send for him, I will go and look for him.’
That was what happened. Why didn’t they give him access? Why didn’t they allow him to do what he needed to do? In any case, certain persons in the entire Jonathan administration constituted an embarrassment because Jonathan did not speak to any of his ministers.
We were the ministers, who did the ground job that brought Jonathan to power. Soon after that election, Jonathan was held hostage. And he rather picked people of questionable character at the expense of those of us who built the house and the government was hijacked by criminals. That was the beginning of the catastrophe and downfall, that was how we dissipated. We used our own money to fight in our various localities for Jonathan to be elected as president. At the end of it, people who had nothing to do with it became the owners of the government and friends of government. It was prediction foretold. The government was not allowed to breathe. Merit was not the basis of it and so we lost direction and everything.
So, when I predicted that Jonathan was not going to win, it is because I was stating the fact. People were deceiving him. Thank God, he finally accepted that he was caged by the criminals. With the benefit of hindsight, I think if Jonathan were president today, he would think differently.
On allegations that the elections were rigged
The election of Buhari was done three, four years before the actual election. The persons that worked Buhari’s case out were mainly the journalists in Nigeria. They had moulded the peoples’ mind and thinking and made Jonathan to look like total and complete failure. So, the country and people were yearning for change because their mind had been so driven in such a direction that Jonathan was no longer the president even though he was there.
Take for instance, a very stupid publication about a northern president dying in office. That was the rudest shock I had. And that Buhari was going to die in office. That was very rude.
The press won the election for Buhari. They started digging Jonathan’s loss. It got to a stage when Jonathan was not the president but persons in his cabinet and persons around him. He was just like a prime minister in a presidential system of government. He was not a politician. How he allowed himself to be taken over by some miscreants was a very painful situation.
On the implication of Jonathan’s loss to the South-South
Jonathan has ended the slot. Given the geo-political structure of governance in Nigeria today, Jonathan has taken a shot at our slot. Regrettably, the way it all ended is very sad. A lot is yet to come out. I am a proponent of we must get it right.
It is sad that people who have no business eating breakfast in Nigeria are eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time. When such a situation occurs, the country is not encouraged, the youths are restless, the people don’t want to go to school because they rather believe that mediocrity, lies, theft, forgery, etc, is a way of life. It is very sad that in the months ahead of us we are going to see a lot of embarrassing revelations. No nation thrives in the way and manner these criminals who held Jonathan to ransom ran the country.
On Buhari’s decision to limit his probe of past governments to Jonathan’s regime
Whatever was done in 1999, there was a president before this president. It was the duty of Jonathan to have probed the government that he took over from. Buhari has no business going to a government which is not back-to-back with him. The Jonathan administration is back-to-back with him.

Wrong
assumptions

Whatever negativity there was with regards to the Jonathan’s government will have effect on the Buhari government. Buhari cannot be going to the 1999 regime. What concerns him by law and every fact of life is this one.
On Buhari’s perceived go-slow approach
People made a lot of assumptions that are wrong. When Buhari became president people expected that as soon as he gets in he will retire everybody and send them away. He didn’t do that. I think he took the right step. He did not do anything before he changed the Department of State Services (DSS) director. As soon as he changed the DSS director it means he has a grip on the security and information gathering system of the nation and has got the head and the neck of the country in his hand. It would have been senseless going to take a lot of steps when the DSS director is not with him.
After that, he has moved to change the service chiefs. He is looking at what happened. People are giving him information and briefing him as to where they are with affairs. So he has facts as to how to handle issues.
Having grabbed those issues, is he a feared man? A lot of people in the country are quite scared because they don’t know where we are going. You can’t go to Buhari and say you want to offer him money as it used to be in the past. All those impunity has gone to the dust. Auditing has started. All the world leaders have pledged that they will support and repatriate Nigeria’s money.
Nigeria is in a state of coma. I pity the president. I pity some of the governors, like the governor of my state (Delta). Government was run with reckless irresponsibility.
The only thing that will give us and the greater majority of Nigerians succour is that these persons are brought to book. Not the cosmetic arrangement of just taking people to court, they get lawyers to bail them and they start branding in our eyes the looted wealth. If such arrangement happens under the Buhari government there will be catastrophe. We must see a logical trial. We don’t want to see monkey trials by the EFCC and ICPC. They themselves will have themselves to blame. The Nigerian populace will this time haunt them and the Buhari government will be cut short if we do not come to logical conclusion with the trials. Anybody, who has held public office and has stolen money must be made to return the money.
On comments that President Buhari is being selective in his anti-graft war by going after PDP people and leaving those in his All Progressives Congress, APC
That is not correct. His party was not in government at the centre. We are a federation with federating units. Buhari is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which means his area is that of government of the federation not the states or the local councils.
However, when you from Anambra or any other state have issues with facts, you take it to the relevant agencies for prosecution and such governors or local council chairmen will be prosecuted.
So it is the governors that should go back to their predecessors in office and say you committed so, so and so offence and take it up.
On impressions that the fight against Boko Haram is waning under Buhari
Let us give Buhari and the service chiefs, DSS Director three months, in my reckoning, given the fact that a lot of people who are prosecuting this war, who are now Boko Haram, are ex-soldiers, ex-policemen, ex-navy, ex-air force. Their sponsors have become so spread all over the country that it requires tact and strategy to achieve.

Police confirm Senate forgery

 

Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu

The Nigeria Police have concluded their probe into the forgery of the Senate Standing Order and given a copy of the report to President Muhammadu Buhari, SUNDAY PUNCH can authoritatively report.

The President received a copy of the report last week, a highly reliable source in the presidency told one of our correspondents on Saturday.

The Police report confirmed that the Standing Rules used to inaugurate the 8th Assembly were forged, our source said.

In the report, the Police recommended the prosecution of those found culpable of forging the orders, which had been used in the controversial election of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on June 9, 2015.

The report was said to have indicted the management of the National Assembly, especially the Clerk, Salisu Maikasuwa and recommended the prosecution of the suspects.

Acting on a petition by Senator Sulaiman Hunkuyi (All Progressives Congress, Kaduna State), the Police had on July 6 quizzed Ekweremadu and Maikasuwa over an alleged forgery of the standing orders.

The petition alleged that some parts of the 2015 Senate Orders were different from the one ratified by the 6th Senate in 2010, which was used by the 7th Senate, as Standing Orders 2011.

The Police, on the strength of the petition, had subsequently quizzed the leadership of the 7th Senate, including former Senate President, Senator David Mark; his deputy (now Saraki’s deputy), Ike Ekweremadu; former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba; and the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang.

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The Clerk to the National Assembly, Maikasuwa, who is the custodian of the Senate Standing Order was also invited for questioning by the police.

According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, handed over copy of the investigative report to Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja last Sunday.

The source said, “I can confirm to you that the President has a copy of the Police’s investigation report on the Senate forgery and I can also authoritatively tell you that the report confirmed that the Senate rules were forged. Notable among those recommended for prosecution in the National Assembly is the Clerk because he is the one that keeps the Standing Orders.”

When asked if the Directorate of Public Prosecution had received a copy of the Police report, the source said he couldn’t confirm that.

SUNDAY PUNCH’s study of the controversial 2015 Senate Standing Orders, Rule 3, as contained on page four of the document, which has to do with the election of presiding officers, had shown that it is different from the 2011 Senate Order.

Rules 3(e) (i) and (ii) have been included in the 2015 document to accommodate electronic voting and secret ballot, whereas secret ballot and ballot papers were not specifically mentioned in the 2011 Standing Orders.

The Senate Order 3 (e) (ii) of 2011 states, “Voting shall be conducted by the Clerks-at-the Table, using the Division List of the Senate with the Tellers in attendance. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the division to the Clerk of the National Assembly.

“(iii) The Clerk shall then declare the Senator-elect who has received the greater number of votes, elected as President of the Senate.”

The same section in the 2015 Senate Order however reads, “Voting by secret ballot which shall be conducted by the Clerk-at-Table using the list of the Senators-elect of the Senate, who shall each be given a ballot paper to cast his vote with the proposers and seconder as Teller. The Clerk of the Senate shall submit the result of the voting to the Clerk of the National Assembly who shall then declare Senator-elect who has received the highest number of votes as Senate President-elect.”

Apart from the ‘alteration’ to the procedure for election, Order 95 of the 2011 rule on the chairmanship and membership of the committees is also different in the 2015 version.

In the 2011 document, provisions in Order 95 read, “The membership of all committees shall not be less than 11 and not more than 13 senators. (2) No senator shall serve in more than three committees (3) No committee chairman shall serve in more than one other committee.”

However, a new insertion in the amended version reads, “The appointment of Senators as Chairmen and members of committees shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the six geopolitical zones of the country and there shall be no predominance of senators from a few geo-political zones.”

In SUNDAY PUNCH’s exclusive report on the scandal, which was published on July 19, some senators who served in the 7th Senate had disowned the 2015 edition of the Senate Standing Orders (as amended).

Similarly, members of the current 8th Senate across parties had also denied being part of any amendment process.

The senators, who were from both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, said they were not aware of any amendments to the 2011 Senate Standing Orders.

For instance, Senator Victor Lar (PDP, Plateau-South) had declared, “As of the time we left the (7th) Senate, there were no alterations (to the Senate Standing Orders).”

Also, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business in 7th Senate, Senator Ita Enang, stated that the Standing Orders that was used and closed within the 7th Senate was the Standing Orders that should have been used for the inauguration of the 8th Senate.

Enang, who was in the PDP when he was in the Senate but later defected to the APC, had stated, “I made proposal for amendments between 2011 and 2015, I laid the report on the floor, but we did not consider the report. We did not amend the Standing Orders.

“Before we left, I had approved the reprinting of the Standing Orders and the reprinting did not include inserting anything which was not in the old one. Reprinting is, simply reproduce what we have because there are no more copies.”

Some senior legal practitioners had told SUNDAY PUNCH that forging a document like the Standing Rule of the Senate was a felony, which, according to them, is a criminal offence against the state that attracts a penalty of three years jail term, a fine or both.

However, when contacted on Saturday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, did not confirm if the President had received a copy of the report.

“The Police are still working on the report. Investigation is still going on,” he said.

Director (Information), Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Charles Nwodo, responding to an inquiry by one of our correspondents on Saturday night also said he was not aware of the if the DPP had received a copy of the report

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE ON ANSElM OJEZUA:

Edo State Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has condemned as a bad omen, recent vote of confidence purportedly passed on its State Chairman, Mr. Anselm Ojezua by his Edo Central Senatorial District.
Rising from emergency meeting in Benin City today, the Working Committee declared that to hail the leadership of Mr. Ojezua as exemplary for losing his unit, ward, Local Government Area and Senatorial District in the Presidential/National Assembly elections portends doom for the party for as long as he remains Chairman.
The Working Committee therefore urged Mr. Ojezua to resign his chairmanship forthwith having glorified himself in failure.
 They also called on the Senatorial Chairman, Chief Henry Okoror to tender unreserved public apology to the party for hosting and presiding over the meeting in which failure and betrayal were celebrated otherwise face sanctions.
It was the view of the Committee that the outcome of the meeting where the offensive vote of confidence was passed vindicated those who accused the APC leadership in that Senatorial District of selling out to their kinsmen, Chief Tony Anenih and Tom Ikimi both of PDP during the elections.
The Committee lamented that the only three seats APC lost to PDP in the State Assembly election were in the same senatorial District where it earlier lost all National Assembly seats to PDP. It therefore wondered why they embarked on the self-praising jamboree as if failure was what they set forth to achieve in the elections.
We rebuked Mr. Ojezua as a never-do-well, lazy, lousy, and shameless leader who gloats at his own failure.
The celebration of such woeful failure could only be as a result of monetary gains realized from the sell-out and as such, tantamount to jubilation over the successful betrayal of the party. APC therefore appealed to all those who worked hard to achieved the victory recorded in the Edo North and South Senatorial Districts not to be discouraged by the attitude of the traitors in the Central Senatorial District.
The Working Committee also challenged Mr. Ojezua to defend the allegation that he sold all APC poll agents identification tags for the Presidential/National Assembly elections to his masters in PDP, hence there was no tags for APC, a situation that weakened the party  representation at the polling boots.    
It also lamented how Mr. Ojezua misled the State Executive Committee to adopt Chief Tom Ikimi against Chief Oyegun ahead of the National Convention only to rush shamelessly to Chief Oyegun at the venue of the convention when Chief Ikimi was nowhere to be found without carrying along, those he had misled.
Comrade Godwin Erhahon
State Publicity Secretary

President Buhari’s Great Diplomatic Feat For A Change

No doubt the four-day official visit of President Muhammadu Buhari came
 off so successfully on every count that the country, struggling to effect
 mitigation from the wreckage the immediate past government and indeed all
 other past governments made of it, stands to soon reap from that important
 visit. President Buhari’s visit not only resonated in its spectacular
 success but re-integrated the country to the comity of serious nations
 where it had been cast as a pitiable outlaw via the humiliating conducts
 of the immediate past government.
For the six years the outgone government was blubbering so miserably from
 one policy mistake to the other, the country was taken as an unserious
 joker in the comity of nations. From all practical indices the developed
 world saw the past government as a huge parody and spared nothing to pass
 that demeaning message. Nigerians were sorely embarrassed as a fidgety and
 dense government stumbled from one mediocre pit fall to the other and
 dragged the country down a disappointing maze. Nigerians watched in awe as
 the country became a regular butt of the ribaldry of the entire world who
 missed no opportunity to tell us in cryptic and unfamiliar non-diplomatic
 terms that we had a misfit as a government.
These were very huge liabilities that vitiated the capacity of Nigeria not
 only to fulfill its roles to her citizens but also to play a notable role
 even in the African continent. While these lasted, Nigeria’s image
 plummeted to such abysmally low level that negatively robbed off on its
 citizenry. Its capacity to carry out any meaningful activity in the
 international orbit waned so considerably such that nations ran from doing
 even perfunctory businesses with Nigeria on account of the low grade
 leadership that drove it.
These were the huge garbages President Buhari inherited as he zoomed into
 power on the wings of a fervent pan-national mandate in May. As President
 Obama welcomed President Buhari with that hilarious acclamation thus; ‘“
President Buhari came into office with reputation for integrity and a very
 clear agenda, that is, to make sure that he has been bringing safety,
 security and peace to his country”, it was obvious that the heads of
 Nigerians in every part of the globe swirled with pride and nostalgia for
 the good old days when the country was reckoned with in the comity of
 nations. It was certain that this rare testimonial had been given by the
 US of very few African leaders in world history and marks the
 re-admittance of Nigeria to the hallowed orbit of serious nations where it
 had been missing for a very long time.
For his visit, the American government rolled out the red carpet and
 spared nothing to underscore the importance of that visit. This was a rare
 privilege reserved for only few leaders in the conduct of American affairs
 and this was not lost on either the Americans or the Nigerians that
 watched with keen interest. The field was Buhari’s to prance and he did
 that so majestically, so magisterially, so professionally and so
 familiarly, with assured gait to the delight of Nigerians. For each
 session he undertook, he spoke with measures of traditional seriousness
 and deep introspection that assures. These have been critical nerves that
 had been lacking in the conduct of the country’s leadership for a very
 long time. As this show of respect lasted, the departed pride of Nigerians
 and their lost faith in officialdom returned and the promises of a newer,
 fresher and well-burnished relationship between Africa’s biggest nation
 and the world’s biggest economy and most powerful nation unfurled a
 specter of positive expectations for the citizens of a nation humbled by
 inept and ethically rusty governments. For Nigerians, the pointers of a
 more stable, more assured and more secured polity became reified as we
 eagerly followed every of his measured engagements.
President Buhari was to get fully engrossed in his very busy itinerary
 that included:  a breakfast meeting with the US Vice President Joe Biden,
 a US Government lunch on power to be hosted by the Secretary of State John
 Kerrry, a bilateral meeting with Deputy Secretary of State (Defence),
 Robert O. Work, a meeting with the United States Secretary of Commerce,
 Penny Pritzker, an audience with ECOWAS Ambassadors and a meeting on
 tackling corruption in Nigeria with the US Attorney General, Lorreta
 Lynch.
Also, President Buhari had a meeting with the Secretary of Treasury, Jack
 Lew, met with potential investors in Agriculture, a meeting with the
 Chamber of Commerce, an interactive dinner by the US Chamber of Commerce
 and the Corporate Council for Africa, a meeting with the President of the
 World Bank, as well as the representative of the Bill Gates Foundation. He
 also met with the Nigerian community in the United States.
 President Buhari was hosted by the US Department of State at a function to
 be attended by the Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),
 and the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Buhari even had the
 honor of receiving the  Class of 1980 of the prestigious US War College of
 which he was a participant.
 As his tour of duty came to an end, President Buhari played Nigeria back
 to the decent club of serious nations where it had long been rusticated.
 He secured so much political, military, economic and social mileage for a
 country that has long neighed for responsible government but got a horde
 of irresponsible and rouge leadership. These include; US commitment to
 assist the country recover stolen funds cruelly plundered by past
 government officials and key into Buhari’s pet anti-corruption fight,
 commitment to the Nigerian fight against insurgency, commitment to invest
 in agriculture, wider bilateral relationship and investment in industry,
 commerce and trade and fostering deeper diplomatic relationship between
 the two countries. The President got resounding approval for his work so
 far in arresting the drift of a nation and place it firmly on the paths of
 recovery. Indeed President Obama minced no words to state that President
 Buhari has greatly impressed with his performance so far in office and has
 a clear agenda for taking the country far from the very canvass where it
 was dumped by previous regimes.
There is little doubt that Nigeria and Nigerians will savour the fruits of
 this well delivered diplomatic feat as we warm up to the realities and
 promises of the Change we hungrily neighed for, worked fervently for and
 got as the locusts ravaged this country.
Peter Claver Oparah
 Ikeja, Lagos.