Ali Modu Sheriff is a wrong choice as PDP Chairman- Doyin Okupe

Former Spokesperson of the immediate past President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, has said the appointment of Ali Modu Sheriff as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman is wrong and also coming at a wrong time.
Sharing his thoughts on his Facebook wall, Okupe noted that the present crop of leadership of the PDP fared badly by involving themselves in presumptive reasoning, ‘restrictive consultative processes, absolute lack of inclusiveness, mercantilism, group conceit with a resultant total disconnect with the main stake holders and the followership.’
“The capability of our party, the pdp and its leadership to make grave errors of judgement is legendary. What is intriguing is that even out of power that tendency seems unabating.
“Alhaji Ali Sheriff is a longstanding political associate of mine and a very adroit and astute politician of perhaps a sublime class.
“But for the post of the National chairman of the PDP, He is a wrong candidate and also coming in at a wrong time.
“According to many of his proponents, his strong point is that being a man of great financial resources he will be favourably disposed to funding the activities of the party easily. But the antagonists believe that he is bringing along with his wealth a crushing weight of burden capable of fatally destroying the few strands of moral fibres on which rejuvenation will depend on.
“For a morose and severely prostrate political party, thanks to the overwhelming and effective propaganda machinery of the (opposition) party in power, this may yet be the mortal wound that may cause the eventual haemorrhage of its long perplexed followership.
“The present crop of leadership of the PDP has not fared well. Impunity, presumptive reasoning, highly stratified and restrictive consultative processes, absolute lack of inclusiveness, mercantilism, group conceit with a resultant total disconnect with the main stake holders and the followership are some of the florid signs and symptoms of the terminal disease that is killing this erstwhile great party.
“Some of us have vowed not to leave the party. We still will not leave the party. Better still in spite of the present situation of things we will continue to engage all who care to listen and deepen consultation across the country seeking help from everyone ready to help to revive this severely challenged sickened giant.
“But if it is the divine will of God that our present masters must kill PDP, then by the Grace of God we shall yet tarry at the graveside to bid it farewell,” he wrote.

The Nigerian Times

Edo 2016: Battle of the titans

The race to the Governorship of Edo State, from all appearances, promises to take the shape of the legendry “Battle of the Titans”. With no less than 20 aspirants across the party divide already in the race and still counting, there is little doubt that the ancient and traditional land of Igomigodo is about to witness a robust political contest that will stretch the political maturity of the people to the limit. But it is all for the best and shows that the incumbent Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has not only opened the political space in the State in the last eight years but has further opened the eyes of the people to the realities of governance.
What is, perhaps, most interesting is the mix of the aspirants to the governorship race. Aside the old political war horses who have made their appearances in the race once or twice, or have held political positions by reason of appointments, there is a full dose of the academia who have, over the years, made their marks and left their footprints in the sands of the nation’s Ivory Tower. Then there are the members of the Private Sector who, perhaps, have suddenly realised that in order to grow the real economy of the State they must be on the driver’s seat and in control of the engine of growth which is the Private Sector.
Heading the political old war horses is, for example, Professor Oserhemen Osunbor who contested and won the Edo State Governorship election in 2007 with the ticket of the PDP but whose election was invalidated by the State’s Election Tribunal in 2008. Interestingly, the man he now seeks to succeed in office, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, is the same person who took the seat from him by virtue of the Tribunal’s verdict. Perhaps, more interesting is the fact that the erudite Professor is attempting a come back under the umbrella of the ruling APC. Then there is Professor Julius Ihonvbere, Political Scientist and former Secretary to the Government of Edo State. He resigned in 2012 and contested the Edo North Senatorial seat but lost. He is also contesting under the umbrella of the APC.
And heading the Private Sector entrants, perhaps, is Engineer Chris Ogiemwonyi, a former Group Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and a former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who lately decamped from the PDP to the APC. He runs alongside  Professor Osayuki Oshodin, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, another PDP decampee, Chief Lucky Imasuen and Pastor Ize Iyamu of the PDP. There is also Architect Mike Onelememen, Senator Ehige Uzamere and Major General Charles Airhiavhere who battled for the seat with Comrade Oshiomhole in 2012. With all these men in the race, is there any doubt that the people are going to witness a repeat of the Battle of the Titans? This is because these are juggernauts in their own rights and judging from their records, they should not be taken lightly when they enter a political battle such as is being envisaged in the State in 2016.
One possible difficulty, though, that could arise for the people in making their choice, perhaps, will be the personalities involved: what with the different levels of influence that are bound to come to play during the campaigns and the election itself. However, the out-going administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has lessened the burden of choice by providing the dividends of good governance by which any incoming administration would, no doubt, be assessed. He has, in the last eight years, brought to bear on the State the effectiveness and efficiency of the Private Sector as engine of growth of any economy.  The people of Edo State need someone who will sustain that tempo of development in the State after Oshiomhole.
 

Looking at the profiles of the aspirants, especially those coming from the Private Sector, Engineer Christopher Ogiemwonyi stands out as the leader and most experienced administrator and manager of men and resources. With over 30 years of work experience in the oil and gas industry, this graduate of the University of Benin, a 1974 B.Sc. (Hons) holder in Applied Physics with option in Electronics and 1976 post graduate Diploma holder in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Ibadan, has proven his mettle as an administrator and high profile manager of men and resources. Aside his intimidating academic achievements, 64 year old Christopher has a daunting career profile which began way back in the late 1970s. He began his career as a Petroleum Engineer 11 in 1975 with the Conservation Department and in February, 1977 was seconded to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Warri, a secondment which was enriched by a four and half month Advance Petroleum Engineering Programme in SPDC Training Centre in the Hague, Netherlands. Between 1978 through 1982, he worked in various departments of Petroleum Resources including the then newly created gas Department.
In 1999, he was promoted General Manager, Operations and moved to National Petroleum Investments Management Services (NAPIMS) to oversee the Operations Division. He midwifed various projects especially the Local content initiative of the Federal Government. By dint of hard work, he was appointed the Group General Manager, NAPIMS in 2001. As GGM NAPIMS, he oversaw the whole industry including the Joint Ventures (JV) and the Production Sharing Companies (PSCs). While in NAPIMS, he served as Chairman, Nigeria OTC Committee for 2003 and 2004. Between 1999-2003, he midwifed key projects including EA field, Erha field, Bonga field and Agbami field amongst others. Also, under his watch, NAPIMS achieved zero cash call arrears by October, 2003. As GGM NAPIMS, the Oil Industry was encouraged on joint utilization of assets such as offshore swamp rigs. Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi is, perhaps most noted today for his achievements while in NAPIMS. With an objective to compete with international oil and gas concerns, Engnr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, in 1988, facilitated the formation of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) which he headed as Project Leader (Petroleum Engineer) in Benin City until 1999.
Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC),was incorporated in 1988 and, as stated earlier, one of its objectives was to compete as an indigenous Oil and Gas producing Company. NPDC was assigned four acreages including OML – 65 containing Abura Field, a takeover asset from the defunct TENNECO then producing at 980 bopd. He championed the takeover of this asset, kept an up-to-date reserves position of the new Company and served as the Abura Field Project Leader, He raised the production level from 980 bopd to over 4,000 bopd in 1990. In 1992, he served as Oredo Field Project Leader. This was a Greenfield project that involved KELT ENERGY,UK and IP CONSTRUCTION, Calgary. He also served as Oziengbe field Leader. This is another 10,000 bopd EPC facility at Oziengbe field.
If the career profile of Chris Ogiemwonyi is daunting, his professional progression is even more so. For example, he is currently President, Energy and Engineering Technology Construction Company, an Energy Consulting Group, a position he has held since May 2011. He was Minister of State for Works from April 2010 to May 2011, President Energy Strategy Centre (Esc) Abuja, an Energy Consulting Group,  from September 2009 to April 2010, Group Executive Director Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( Exploration & Production Directorate) from September 2007 to April 2009. As Group Executive Director (GED) Exploration and Production, Engr. Ogiemwonyi was in charge of seven NNPC Companies and Subsidiaries which included National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), LNG & Power Division, Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL), Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) Crude Oil, Marketing Division and Local Content Division.  He was Managing Director, Nigerian Gas Company Limited Warri, from March 2005 to September 2007. In March 2005, he was reassigned to National Gas Company Limited as Managing Director. His focus was to increase gas supply to major customers like; PHCN, SNG, GSLINK, WAPCO, SHAGAMU, and EWEKORO, NOTORE FERTILIZER PH,OBAJANA CEMENT COMPANY etc NGC is coordinating 130mmscf/d gas supply (WAGP – West Africa gas Supply Project) to Benin, Togo, Ghana and hopefully to Ivory Coast. Trans- Sahara Gas Project (TSGP), the 2 billion scf/d supply from Nigeria through Algeria to Europe, was another portfolio under his supervision as NGC’s helmsman.
A technocrat per excellent, Chris Ogiemwonyi served on the board of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). He was also former council member of Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Warri and Chairman, N-Gas. Also a former Director NETCODIETSMANN and one time Board member of Nigermed, Engnr. Ogiemwonyi served as member, Presidential Committee on Independent Power Project (IPP) development for Niger Delta, served as a member of the NNPC Corporate Board and Chairman of Hyson/Calson Joint Venture (JV). He was also a member of the Presidential Committee on Accelerated Expansion of Electricity Infrastructure.
A product of the Harvard Business School, Ogiemwonyi belongs to many professional bodies including the society of Petroleum Engineers. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and former President of the Nigeria Gas Association. He is a recipient of the Justice of Peace (JP) by Edo State Government and the Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award. Ogiemwonyi, who is married and blessed with children, is patron to several bodies, including the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the Association of Community Newspapers Publishers of Nigeria (ACNPN) .
•Obasuyi sent this piece from Benin

Frank Marshall Davis: Obama’s ‘Communist mentor’?

 

 

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee.  Follow @myhlee

Barack Obama, second row right, is shown in a 1978 senior yearbook photo at the Punahou School in Honolulu. (AP Photo/Punahoe Schools, File)

Megyn Kelly: A lot of liberals don’t believe in American exceptionalism, but that doesn’t mean they don’t love America.
Rudolph Giuliani: Well, that I don’t feel it. I don’t feel it. I don’t feel this love of America. I think this man (Obama) was — when I talked about his background, I’m talking about a man who grew up under the influence of Frank Marshall Davis, who was a member of the Communist Party who he refers to over and over in his book, who was a tremendous critic of the United States.

Kelly: But when you say he wasn’t raised to love America, I mean, he was raised in part by his grandparents, his – his grandfather served in World War II, his grandmother worked in a munitions plant to help the nation during World War II. I mean, to suggest he was raised by people who don’t love America, who don’t — didn’t help him learn to love America.

Giuliani: Well, his — his grandfather introduced him to Frank Marshall Davis, who was a Communist.

–Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Fox News interview with Megyn Kelly, Feb. 20, 2015
President Obama met Frank Marshall Davis four decades ago and saw Davis 10 to 15 times as a teenager. Yet the Obama-Davis relationship continues to be a concern among some politicians, as portrayed most recently by Giuliani during his Tour de President Obama Doesn’t Love America. Readers of The Fact Checker wanted to know if Giuliani’s comments were accurate.
So we reached out to Cliff Kincaid, president of America’s Survival, a group that seeks to expose Communist and Marxist influences. It is research from Kincaid and a few others that has shaped the opinion of critics who believe Obama adopted radical, socialist ideologies under Davis’s mentorship. Davis was a journalist and activist who was associated with the Communist Party in the 1930s and 1940s.
We interviewed Kincaid at the Conservative Political Action Conference. When The Fact Checker arrived, Kincaid had been waiting with four of his peers, stacks of documents and a video camera pointed at an empty seat saved for us.
“The Frank in Obama’s book, ‘Dreams from My Father,’ is Frank Marshall Davis,” Kincaid said. “You don’t dispute that.”
“It has been admitted,” he continued, “except that here we are, to be honest with you, seven years after we broke this story. … The Washington Post has not reported the facts about Obama’s relationship with Frank Marshall Davis. That’s why I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity so you can hear directly from us and see the material we have.”
He and his peers do not outwardly label Obama a Communist, but believe Communist influences have been played down by the media. Obama has shown to be an ineffective Communist, if he were one. He has failed to unravel the capitalist system over the past six years that he has held the most powerful position in the world — though, as Obama says, “interesting things happen in the fourth quarter.”
So we decided to take a definitive look at Davis’s Communist Party activities and his relationship with Obama, based on competing research by those who have spent years trying to posthumously vindicate or indict Davis.
What was Frank Marshall Davis’s Communist influence on Obama?

The Facts: The Case Against Davis

Davis was born in Kansas in 1905. His encounters with racism and poverty throughout childhood inspired his life-long quest for racial and economic equality. He lived and worked in Chicago for most of his early adulthood, then moved to Hawaii, where he died in 1987.
He was a prolific poet and political columnist. He associated with other black-rights activists and labor unions and decried Jim Crow segregation laws in his columns.
His writings caught the attention of the FBI, which began tracking him in the 1930s, according to FBI records that Kincaid obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI was concerned with his role as executive editor of the Associated Negro Press, through which agents believed he was spreading Communist propaganda to the outlet’s members.
Informants told the FBI that Davis was a member of the party and organized its marches. The FBI record of Davis contains what is purported to be his Communist Party identification number: #47544. (The number was obtained from a “highly confidential source,” the files show.) The House Committee on Un-American Activities was well aware of Davis by the late 1940s. Davis’s last identification as a Communist Party member was in 1952, and he stopped being active with the Hawaii Civil Rights Congress in 1956, the file says. When Davis took the Fifth Amendment in front of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee in 1956, agents were suspicious.
So the FBI continued to track him into the 1960s and did not officially remove him from the Security Index until 1963.
Davis had an interest in photography. In Hawaii, he took pictures of shorelines, apparently not photographing any particular objects, according to an FBI informant. That implies he might have been taking photos for espionage, to send to Soviet leaders to target Hawaii as a strategic territory, said Kincaid and Trevor Loudon, a libertarian activist who also researches this topic.
No other person can claim the title of Obama “mentor” than Davis, wrote Paul Kengor in “The Communist,” his book about Davis and Obama. “Frank is a lasting, permanent influence, an integral part of Obama’s sojourn,” he wrote.
Obama’s grandfather introduced him to Davis, whom Obama took to as a father-like figure, Kengor wrote. Kengor quotes passages from “Dreams from My Father” of their conversations on social justice, race relations and limitations of white tolerance.
Obama sat around listening to stories as his grandfather and Davis drank, and “it would be the height of gullibility to assume that (Davis), during those long evenings of talk and drink, never taught any politics to the wide-eyed Obama, or ruminated aloud with no effect whatsoever on the impressionable young man in the room — brought there (by a leftist grandfather) to be mentored in the first place,” Kengor wrote.
Obama sought advice from Davis as a college freshman — the last known meeting between the two. As Obama became a community organizer in college and later grappled with the challenges of race and poverty in Chicago, he visualized Davis and asked, “What would Frank do? What would Frank think?” Kengor wrote. Obama does refer to Davis several times in his book when listing people who influenced his understanding of his black identity.
The use of the word “change” during Obama’s first campaign for president hearkens Davis’s desire for change, Kengor wrote.
Why do Kincaid and others believe that the relationship with Davis shaped Obama more than, say, his own experiences and others he met throughout his life? Why does it matter that he met Davis as a teen? It’s that Davis was a “hard-core member” of the Communist Party and hated America and instilled those thoughts in Obama, Kincaid said. Obama also has gone on to surround himself with others with radical left views, Kincaid said.
“There are millions of black people who had just as bad an experience as him [Davis] who didn’t become anti-American Marxists. That’s the key point, isn’t it?” Loudon said.

The Facts: The Case For Davis

Davis’s memoir, “Livin’ the Blues: Memoirs of a Black Journalist and Poet,” shows the evolution of his political views on segregation and economic inequality. He worked low-wage jobs until he started his career as a news reporter, covering politics and crime in Chicago and Atlanta. He became a political columnist for the Chicago Star, which had Marxist-Lenninist leanings and pro-labor views. Writings in his column, “Frank-ly Speaking,” showed he developed class-based ideologies that linked racism with classicism and fascism.
Davis never identifies himself as a Communist Party member in “Livin’ the Blues.” But he describes working with members, as long as they helped him achieve his goals. He had memberships, endorsements or affiliations with more than a dozen leftist groups, including the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee, CIO unions and the National Committee to Combat Anti-Semitism.
“I worked with all kinds of groups,” Davis wrote, “I made no distinction between those labeled Communist, Socialist or merely liberal. My sole criterion was this: Are you with me in my determination to wipe out white supremacy? Because I had some smattering of prestige as a writer and wielded some influence as an opinion maker in the black press at large, my active participation was welcomed.”
He was aware his associations had caught the attention of the FBI and the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He was amused by the FBI’s surveillance and was proud of it: “I would accept any resultant citation [by FBI or the committee] as an honor, for it would indicate I was beginning to upset the white power structure.”
When an FBI agent eventually interviewed him in Hawaii, Davis denied party membership. He wrote: “When they could find no evidence I was plotting to overthrow the government by force and violence, the Hoover gestapo turned to other tactics. … I owe the FBI an apology for causing them a needless waste of so much energy on me.”
Davis was a closet Communist at best, said John Edgar Tidwell, a University of Kansas professor who studies Davis’s writings. He was among many black intellectuals at the time who were exploring ways to dismantle Jim Crow laws and were attracted to groups that embraced social equality, redistribution of wealth and power, and integration, Tidwell said.
“He was not out there on the front lines carrying pickets and signs,” Tidwell said. “He wasn’t trying to overthrow the government at all. What he was seeking to do was intellectually find a way by which African Americans could be included into the mainstream of American life and culture.”
It is important to remember the U.S. political climate during the late 1930s through the early 1950s. The House Un-American Activities Committee and FBI were quick to label people and organizations with dissenting views as Communist. They were especially suspicious of people with pro-labor and civil-rights views, said Chris Brick, editor of George Washington University’s Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project. Brick has studied the thousands of pages of FBI files on Eleanor Roosevelt, under suspicion for her political activism and her criticism of the House committee.
Davis and his experiences made an impression on Obama, as shown in “Dreams from My Father.” Davis “made the young man feel something deep and disorienting” about his identity, wrote David Remnick in “The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama.” Obama’s anecdotes show he was intrigued by Davis’s experiences and insight. But the relationship was “neither constant nor lasting, certainly of no great ideological importance,” Remnick wrote.
Davis’s son, Mark, said he did not know his father had been involved with the Communist Party or that he had met Obama until he read about it years after his father died. So if Frank had had a father-son type of relationship with Obama, it is curious that Mark would never have heard about it.
“When I was growing up, I knew that my father had some radical history. But I did not know that he had joined the Communist Party,” Mark Davis said in a phone interview. “He did not in any respect try to indoctrinate me into any collectivist mindset.” And, he said, he doesn’t believe there was any indoctrination by osmosis for Obama.

The Pinocchio Test

It has been seven years since this assertion surfaced, and it continues to be perpetuated. Davis was indeed associated with the Communist Party, and the FBI identified him as a member. He was affiliated with more than a dozen other groups that were open to his views on social and racial inequality. He repeatedly showed his bitterness toward Jim Crow laws and wanted African Americans to have constitutional rights. He was an activist, but there is no evidence that Davis was a hard-core Communist who spied for Soviet leaders. He was critical of American society, but not America as a country.
Davis made an impression on Obama, as shown in his memoir. Obama mentions Davis several times in “Dreams from My Father” as someone who influenced his understanding of his black identity. But there is no evidence Obama was “raised” by Davis, or that Davis remained a close Communist mentor who advised him throughout his life. We carefully considered the facts underlying this assertion, and the evidence is slim. We may never definitively know one way or another, but it is time to put it to rest. (Update: Paul Kengor, author of “The Communist,” wrote a lengthy rebuttal of this fact check for The American Thinker.)

Applying Okafor’s Law in a new Nigeria

By Simon Kolawole

Interesting stuff. When the National Assembly was about to be inaugurated in 1999, some shadowy figures took money to the lawmakers to influence the leadership elections. A “principled” senator from the south-west turned down the N150,000 offered to him through a fellow senator who acted as the middleman. Some days later, the “principled” senator turned down another N200,000, which was intended for the confirmation of ministers. His colleagues then decided to leave him out of the loop. But he soon stumbled on another
sharing session in another room at the Hilton hotel. This time, it was N350,000. Our dear senator finally decided to eat his share of the national cake.

“Take it to my room,” he said, repentantly. And having realised how much he had missed on two occasions, he quickly asked for the arrears: “And the other one… and the other one.”

Have you ever heard about Okafor’s Law? It is the law of “repeatable” action: if you have done something once, you can do it again. If you have been somewhere before, you can go there again. This is because you have crossed the Rubicon. Although it is often mischievously applied to boy-girl relationships, Okafor’s law is a principle of life. If you collect bribe once, you can collect bribe again. If you drive against one way once, you can do it again. If you beat traffic light once, you can beat it again. In other words, having crossed the boundary, you can cross it again. Once you set off on a note, you are in position to continue with it.

As the senate started screening President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees on Tuesday, Okafor’s Law came to mind. Are we going to start on a wrong note again?

I was in Abuja, expecting to hear rumours of Ghana-Must-Go (GMG) bags being moved around to facilitate the confirmation. I waited in vain. I am not saying for sure that nothing exchanged hands, or that no promises were made.

However, to the best of my knowledge, GMG was not deployed. Buhari’s body language is unmistakable. Who would dare offer confirmation bribe? Who would dare be the middleman? Who would dare collect it? It is now a risky
adventure. I left Abuja in high spirits.

Now, let’s compare and contrast. President Olusegun Obasanjo came to power on May 29, 1999 with the promise of building a new Nigeria, of changing our orientation, of creating a transparent society, of wrestling corruption to the
ground, and so on and so forth. I loved him to pieces. I believed in him. A few days later, it was time to elect the senate president. The clear choice of the PDP senators-elect was Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. But we were told Obasanjo did not
want him, so a lot happened on the eve of the inauguration of the National Assembly. Let’s just say Obasanjo had his way by hook and crook.

Unfortunately, once we took off on that cash-and-carry note, it became a culture at the National Assembly. Okafor’s Law simply set in. From that moment, ministerial confirmation, passage of bills, appropriation of budgets, public hearings, change of leadership and “oversight” functions became a matter of naira and kobo — and later on, dollars and more dollars. From the initial price of as little as N150,000 for ministerial confirmation in 1999, it rose to N50m in 2003. We started discussing billions thereafter. It had nothing to do
with geo-political zones, ethnic affiliation, party membership or gender. No. Nigerian politicians are blood brothers and sisters when it comes to “sharing”.

Every day, I see parallels between Obasanjo and Buhari. Both were soldiers. Both were military dictators. Both won democratic, national mandates to be president. Both were faced with similar challenges of a failing economy and moral decadence. Their commitment to duty is unquestionable.

Obasanjo, in particular, always worked round the clock. Yet the two men are so different — and I am not talking about their looks. Obasanjo is, clearly, intellectually ahead of Buhari. He also, evidently, has a broader worldview than
Buhari. Obasanjo’s nationalism, even at the risk of being ostracised by his Yoruba kith and kin, was remarkable.

But Buhari manifestly has greater moral character than his former boss. No matter your nationalism, intellectual ability and work rate, your moral character is most critical — and that, in my opinion, is what Nigeria needs the most to be
transformed. Buhari and Obasanjo have never been on the same pedestal in terms of character. Obasanjo easily lost the moral authority to inspire a new Nigeria when he was president. His government took off on a shaky note in 1999.

His attempts at redemption during his second term were again rubbished by the invasion of National Assembly by GMGs in the wake of the third term saga. Personal example is key to moral transformation.

Corruption is a virus that has compromised the health ofNigeria. Buhari has a golden opportunity to install the anti- virus and reboot the system. He has the mistakes of Obasanjo to learn from. He has the street appeal to keep him
in check. He has the moral authority to inspire new thinking. So far, I would say it is going well. He did not want Bukola Saraki as senate president but we never heard that GMGs were deployed to stop Saraki. He nominated some
controversial figures as ministers but he has not intervened with bags of dollars to get them confirmed by hook and crook. I am lovin’ it, to borrow MacDonald’s pay-off. Will Okafor’s Law now apply positively to the National Assembly since we have started on a GMG-free note? Let’s hope so. Budget defence used to be the height of perfidy.

Some committees would take rooms at hotels, far away from the National Assembly complex, and invite contractors — not ministries, departments or agencies — to come and “defend” the amounts allocated to their projects. They would ask for “settlement in advance” to enable them make “good”
provision for the projects. Any contractor who did not play ball was scandalised and the budget ridiculously sliced.

Impunity was the rule. I hope this will not happen without repercussions under Buhari’s watch.

The conspiracy to steal and waste our oil wealth was unimaginable. Some lawmakers were offering to jack up budgetary allocations on the precondition that a ministry or agency would bring some hefty sums in advance. The head
of an agency complained to me sometime in 2011: “The committee chairman told me they would add N25 billion to my budget if I agreed to give them N2 billion cash in advance.” That is why a president would send a budget of N1
trillion to the National Assembly and by the time the lawmakers are done with “budget defence”, it would end up as N1.4 trillion. The perfidy is heartbreaking. That is why Nigeria is like this.

Do I need to talk about those “oversight” functions? It is all about the money. Any minister or head of agency who does not play ball is given a hard time by the oversight committee.

Probes are instituted at the slightest opportunity. Committee members will ask an agency to foot the bill for a public hearing — even when this is already provided for in the National Assembly budget. So the money comes out twice.
Committee members want to travel abroad for a “conference” (probably a sex party in Dubai) and, in addition to the official allowances from the National Assembly, they will collect allowances from agencies they are supervising.
Lord have mercy.

Am I suggesting that corruption is limited to the National Assembly? Not by any chance. In fact, imagine what goes on at the state and council levels. It is humongous. Imagine what goes on at MDAs. It is murderous. But Buhari’s journey with the National Assembly so far is encouraging. The president will still have to deal with the crooks in his cabinet.

A couple of these guys are not fit to be ministers, but I am hoping they will play into Buhari’s hands and end up disgraced and prosecuted. That would be a good signal that we are in a new Nigeria. Once Buhari fires a minister for
corruption, he can fire another one. I love Okafor’s Law. And I mean its constructive, positive application.

‪#‎ThisdayNews

Ministerial list: Buhari dumps 73 nominees from states

FROM ADE ALADE, ABUJA and CHIDI NNADI, ENUGU
Governors and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) should expect the shock of their lives as Presi­dent Muhammadu Buhari prepares to unveil members of his much expected cabinet with several of the over 73 nom­inees submitted from across the states conspicuously missing from the list.
Saturday Sun gathered that governors from APC-controlled states and some na­tional leaders of the party had submitted no less than 73 names for the president to select his ministers from. This is despite the president’s initial warning before his swearing-in in May that he would not al­low state governors to nominate ministers for him.
Of the 23 states controlled by the APC, only Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was said to have submitted only one name, a former governor of the state (names withheld) while the rest sub­mitted either two or three names to the president to chose one from for appoint­ment as ministers representing their states in the Federal Executive Council.
A reliable source in the presidency told Saturday Sun: “The ministerial list will soon be out as promised by the President but it is full of surprises because many min­isterial hopefuls and those who nominated them will be shocked. This is because the President won’t be bound by the old tradi­tion.”
The old tradition, it was gathered, means the practice in the past where state gov­ernors and party leaders would nominate three names from their states, out of which the President would pick one as minister representing the state in FEC.
From May 1999 to May 2015, it has been the tradition of the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government to appoint a minimum of one minister from each of the 36 states of the federation and six others from the geopo­litical zones into the Federal Executive Council.
The APC governors had in a meeting with the then president-elect before their swearing-in on May 29 pleaded with Bu­hari to give them the privilege of nominat­ing ministers from their respective states as it’s always been done. Though the presi­dent did not approve the proposal, Saturday Sun gathered that the governors went ahead to submit names and CVs of their nominees weeks later.
Giving an insight into what his party leaders, governors and indeed Nigerians should expect from him on the composi­tion of his cabinet, Buhari had in May said: “I am an ardent listener of Hausa Service of Voice of America (VOA) and the Brit­ish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 6am to 7am every morning. I am going to quote myself because I heard in one of the interviews that I said the type of people I am supposed to appoint, like in the cabi­net and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and service chiefs, will be different. Definitely, my approach is going to be different from what we had under the PDP where governors nominated minis­ters”.
The then president-elect had said if state governors are at liberty to appoint their commissioners, he, too, should be at liberty to choose those who would serve with him in the FEC, thereby abolishing the existing tradition where state governors are the ones that submit names of their candidates for ministerial appointments.
“I have been around long enough to know people that I can approach for things like that… Deliberately, we will look for com­petent people, dedicated and experienced to head ministries and, of course, there will be schedules for ministers and we will ex­pect them to fill them. Certainly, there is a lot to do but we are hoping that we’ll get good people to be in charge of ministries who can apply themselves to their respon­sibilities so that in no time Nigerians would begin to see the difference”.
The first strong indication that Buhari would not be dictated to in the composi­tion of his cabinet emerged in July when he named Major Gen. Babagana Monguno as his National Security Adviser to the sur­prise of most APC leaders and Nigerians who had given it to Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau. Almost a month later, Buhari again shocked his party and in­deed the nation when he announced Engr Babachair David Lawal and Abba Kyari as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chief of Staff, respectively. Before then, names of top APC leaders like Dr Ogbonnaya Onu and Rotimi Amaechi had been touted as likely SGF while former Lagos governor Babatunde Raji Fashola was well favoured as the likely COS to the president.
Reacting to the development, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governors’ Forum and Imo state gover­nor, Rochas Okorocha said they won’t be­grudge the President.
Okorocha, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Sam Onwuemeodo, said the governors are more interested in federal projects in their states than ministe­rial appointments.
According to him: “Okorocha did not support Muhammadu Buhari to become president because of who would become minister from lmo State. He supported him because he has what it takes to offer Nige­rians the needed and the expected change. And he has begun to enthrone that change and anybody he feels can help him achieve that goal he has the better option of bring­ing the person on board.
“Governor Okorocha has repeatedly said that what Imo State and, indeed, the South-East need most at the moment are projects that can usher in development and growth. Some of these appointments had in the past only succeeded in producing contented millionaires without the larger society benefiting from the appointments. Imo had had minister of Aviation yet Imo Airport could not be upgraded. The state had had also Minister of Education and the only achievement was taking women whose husbands were alive and branded them widows and took them to Abuja as tools of blackmail. So, President Buhari should be given a free hand to pick his team.”

Fear of arrest: Politicians lobby CCB to rectify declaration forms

There are indications that politicians in the country have begun to lobby the Code of Conduct Bureau in a bid to amend some of the information in the asset declaration forms that they had earlier submitted.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the development is because of fear of arrest as this is coming in the light of the ongoing trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal over alleged false declaration of assets.
Investigation by Saturday PUNCH showed that state CCB offices have become busier following Saraki’s ordeal at the CCT, but sources told our correspondents that it was too late for politicians to change the information they had earlier given to the bureau.
For instance, sources in the CCB office in Delta State disclosed that some politicians, including senators and members of the House of Representatives, have been lobbying officials of the bureau to grant them permission to amend the asset declaration forms they had submitted.
According to the source, politicians in the state had until now taken the exercise for granted, believing that they could never be prosecuted over it.
The source said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption stance and the trial of Saraki at the CCT seemed to have jolted the politicians.
Confirming that politicians have begun lobbying CCB officials, the source, who did not want to be named, added that officials of the bureau have recently had to take their security more seriously as a result of the fresh attention drawn to it by Saraki’s prosecution.
The source said, “The Saraki trial has caused politicians to become jittery. They have been gripped by fear of arrest because of the recent political events and some of them have been secretly visiting our offices to lobby some of us. They include senators and members of the House of Representatives.
“Some of the politicians that have been coming are highly placed. Before now, they took everything for granted, knowing that they are in the same party with the government at the centre. With the recent developments, many of them are now rushing to amend the information given on their asset declaration forms.
“They say there might be errors in their forms and that they are willing to make the necessary adjustments.”
Our correspondents also learnt that politicians in Ondo State have been approaching officials of CCB to assist them in amending the forms they had submitted to the bureau.
One of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, informed one of our correspondents that some politicians in the state, who were believed to have lied about their assets in the disclosure forms, have been pleading with officials of the bureau to allow them to review their information.
He said, “Some of them have been coming to us to amend some information on their forms, but there is nothing we can do about their request, because the forms had already been forwarded to Abuja and there is no way we can retrieve them again, at least from our own end here. I don’t know of any other means.”
The source, however, denied that officials of the bureau have been conniving with politicians to cover up for those who declared false assets, saying, “That is criminal, everybody is now very careful. This is an era of change and nobody wants to play with his job again.”
But a source at the CCB office in Enugu admitted to one of our correspondents that politicians sometimes want to review information they submitted in their forms, attributing it to their ignorance.
He said nobody is allowed to review information already put in such asset declaration forms.
He, however, regretted the possibility of some officials of the bureau conniving with politicians to make illegal amendments in the forms.
“Anything is possible,” he said, adding that “It is also possible that some staff of the bureau would conspire with politicians” to rectify completed assets declaration forms.
In the same vein, he revealed that, most times, officials of the CCB assist politicians in filling their asset declaration forms.
He said the CCB usually works with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, disclosing that the bureau recently aided the anti-graft agency by making the asset declaration form of a former governor of the state available for corruption charges.
The official said, “The CCB is usually involved in the investigation of corruption cases, particularly those involving elected public office holders.
“I know for a fact that when the EFCC brought charges against a former governor of this state (Enugu), we made input in the investigation because the assets declared at the beginning of the tenure were taken into consideration before the case was filed.”
In Rivers State, an official of the CCB, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, however, described efforts by politicians to lobby the bureau’s officials as a waste of time.
The source also told Saturday PUNCH that once asset declaration forms were filled and submitted by politicians, it would be criminal for any official of the CCB to allow an amendment to the document.
Explaining that the filled forms were always sent to the CCB headquarters in Abuja after submission by politicians, the official insisted that such forms would not be returned even if they were still in the state.
The source said, “We have their (politicians) slips and completed forms, which have already been sent to the CCB in Abuja. Since the politicians had already sworn to oaths that whatever they filled in the forms as their assets is correct, they cannot come for amendments.
“It (amending or altering asset declaration) is not right; it is not possible and it is a criminal offence. It is not possible for any of us here to be involved in anything like that.”
The Ekiti State Director, CCB, Mr. Akinfolarin Feyisola, said there has been no lobbying of officials of the bureau by politicians in the state, adding that any official found wanting would be prosecuted.
He said, “We don’t have such cases here. The state office does not have the power to investigate and verify assets declared by anyone, except with the authorisation of the Federal Commissioner.”
A source at the CCB office in Osogbo told one of our correspondents on Friday that asset declaration forms filled by political office holders in Osun State had since been submitted to Abuja.
He said there was no way any politician could return to the state office to ‘rectify’ any falsehood in the asset declaration forms already submitted to them.
The State Director of the CCB in Akwa Ibom, Mr. Ime Obot, disclosed that when public officials in the state declare their assets, his office lacks the power to work on the contents or even view them.
According to him, as soon as a public official declares his assets in the form, which is enclosed in a sealed envelope, the agency’s duty in Uyo is to forward same to its headquarters in Abuja for further actions.
On politicians lobbying some workers of the agency to manipulate the contents of the documents in their favour, Obot said such situation does not exist in the state since his office does not have power over asset declaration.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Code of Conduct Bureau, Sam Saba, said he was not aware that politicians had started lobbying officials of the agency to rectify their asset declaration forms.
He said this in a text message in response to inquiries made by our correspondent in Osogbo on Friday.
Saba said, “As a matter of fact, verification of assets and liabilities of governors, lawmakers and others is a shared responsibility between the headquarters and state offices.
“Teams to verify are drawn up at the headquarters including staff from respective states. The teams are headed by Federal Commissioners on a zonal arrangement.
“I am not aware that politicians have been lobbying officials of the CCB to block loopholes in the forms filled that are already in its custody. Such requests have not reached our Abuja office.”

Pro-Lawan senators move to impeach Saraki

Sunday Aborisade and John Alechenu



There were indications on Friday that members of the Senate Unity Forum had started wooing senators loyal to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki.
Saturday PUNCH reliably gathered that the move was part of fresh efforts to change the leadership of the Senate.

The group comprises senators, who were opposed to the emergence of Saraki as senate president.
It was learnt that the SUF members, who contacted the pro-Saraki senators, hinged their argument on the ongoing trial of the Senate President at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
It was gathered that the group might have succeeded in securing the support of 12 pro-Saraki senators, mainly the Peoples Democratic Party members.
Investigations showed that the anti-Saraki group sought the support of the senate president’s loyalists because it had become obvious that the senate president could not be removed without the support of some senators that were sympathetic to him.
At the inauguration of the Senate on June 6, 57 out of 109 senators were reported to have voted for Saraki.
However, members of the SUF, who were supporting Senator Ahmed Lawan were at a meeting with the party leaders when the election was held.
Investigations revealed that some of the senators who supported Lawan’s bid had allegedly met with some All Progressives Congress leaders on the need to remove Saraki.
It was gathered that they started meeting with the leaders shortly after the Senate went on recess.
Specifically, a member of the group, who spoke with our correspondents on conditions of anonymity, explained that series of meetings had been held with APC leaders like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Chief Bisi Akande.
A member of the group from the South-West geopolitical zone, who also craved anonymity, confirmed to one of our correspondents that the SUF members had started reaching out to their colleagues who had joined the camp of Saraki.
He expressed optimism that the group would be able to muster enough support from other senators to get the required 73 members needed to oust the senate president.
He said, “We know that getting the required figure to carry out an impeachment at the moment would be a herculean task but honestly we hope to achieve it very soon. Already there has been a serious move to get our former party members who are with Saraki now back to our camp.
“I can also confirm to you that we have the support of about 12 Peoples Democratic Party senators who are ready to support any move against Saraki. Don’t forget that some ranking PDP senators are still aggrieved over the emergence of freshers as their principal officers.”
Further checks by one of our correspondents also revealed that some of the APC leaders who met with the SUF members had asked the anti – Saraki senators to work on some influential PDP senators who could get their colleagues to support their course.
A source said, “I am not in Abuja now, we shall resume on Monday. I don’t have specific information at the moment but what I can assure you of is that our leaders have said that it is fight to finish.
“We learnt that the like minds senators are already working on some of their supporters in the PDP camp to reject the ministerial list by refusing to screen them but we are also ready for them. I won’t disclose our strategy for now.”
One of our correspondents further learnt that the SUF were also working on a political solution to execute its agenda since it would be difficult for its members to dangle financial inducements to their colleagues because of the anti – corruption posture of the Buhari administration.
One of them confided in one of our correspondents that Saraki might want to save his face from the impending embarrassment at the end of the CCT trial by opting to step aside.
He said, “We know that he might want to give conditions like a settlement of his CCT case out of court, withdrawing of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission charges against his wife and an end to his former manager’s trial for alleged fraud at the Société Générale Bank. We could help him in this regard to have a soft landing and avoid disgrace. “
Senate spokesperson, who is also a die-hard supporter of Saraki, Senator Dino Melaye, did not pick his call when contacted for comments on Thursday
Also efforts to get reaction of the SUF’s spokesperson, Senator Kabiru Marafa, did not succeed as calls to his mobile telephone did not go through.
Also some senators contacted across the two camps, declined official comments but a PDP senator from the South-South geopolitical zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “We are watching events as they unfold. I won’t say more than that.”
The source explained off the record that since the trial of the senate president centered on corrupt enrichment as a public officer, the SUF would appeal to the conscience of Nigerians and the international community to prevail on Saraki to step aside and clear himself of the allegations preferred against him by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Part of the strategy, the source added, would include sponsoring of a motion by a member of the group to draw the attention of the red chamber to the trial of Saraki and plead with him to safe himself from unnecessary distraction by stepping aside for adequate concentration at the tribunal.
He said, “Nigerians should not see the on-going trial of the senate president as a witch-hunt, rather, they should rather try and find out whether it was true that he included a multi – million dollar property he bought in 2006 as part of his assets as of 2003.
“We should stop playing politics with everything in this country. The mantra of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is anti – corruption and it will not be proper to have a morally deficient person presiding over the affairs of the legislature being a critical arm of government.
“The prosecution counsel had promised to shock Nigerians with the revelations of witnesses who had testified against the senate president at the CCT. The implication of this is that all the charges were not fabricated or invented to spite him. He should therefore go and face his trial. “
Attempts to get the reactions of the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed as well as that of the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, were unsuccessful.
The National Chairman of the party could not be reached as calls to his mobile telephone indicated that it was switched off.
Repeated calls to the mobile telephone numbers of Mohammed and Tinubu’s Spokesperson, Mr. Sunday Dare, were neither picked nor returned.
A response to text messages sent to them was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report at 8:45pm.
A pro-Saraki senator confided in one of our correspondents that the seat of the Senate President was not threatened because the Code of Conduct Tribunal had no jurisdiction to try Senator Bukola Saraki for any criminal offence.
He said, “The idea that members of the SUF are reaching out to pro-Saraki senators in the senate does not arise because majority of the members of the upper chamber had freely elected their presiding officers and would not be in a hurry to remove them because of any politically motivated trial by a tribunal which lacks jurisdiction to do so.
“Nobody can impeach or arrest the Senate President, and the lawyers are there to argue out the competence or otherwise of the CCT to try the case preferred against him. More than 80 senators had signed a document with which they unanimously passed a vote of confidence on their president.
“No senator had approached any of us on any issue of impeachment because they know the answer already. They cannot get 73 senators to impeach the Senate President. They are playing games and we are also ready for them. “
Attempts to speak with Senators Dino Melaye, Eyinnaya Abaribe, Hope Uzodinma, James Manager, Mao Ohuabunwa, Ali Ndume, and Bala Ibn Na’Allah, to get their views on the development failed as they neither picked their calls not react to text messages sent to them.
The phone of the Special Adviser to the Senate President on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, was also switched off when one of our correspondents dialed his number on Friday evening.


Punch.