Saturday, 14 May 2016

Sexual Molestation: FG Panel Exonerates Queen’s College Teacher




imageTHE Federal Government has exonerated the teacer, Mr. Olaseni Osifala, from allegation of sexual molestation of a junior secondary school II student of Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos.
Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah, briefed newsmen on Friday, in Abuja, on the outcome of the investigation panel into the allegation of sexual molestation and cover up by the management of the College.
He said the Investigation Committee did not establish any credible evidence against the accused teacher, considering the fact that Mrs. Chinenye Okoye remained unidentified, faceless and inaccessible despite the Committee’s best efforts and assurances to protect her identity and that of her daughter.
Consequently, the Investigation Committee finds it difficult to recommend disciplinary action against the accused teacher as the complainant failed to come forward to prove this weighty accusation.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government, on 22nd of March, 2016, set up a seven-Man Investigation Committee to look into the allegation of sexual molestation of a junior secondary school II student of Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos.
Anwukah, said this step became necessary following several reports from the conventional and social media networks, alleging that, a teacher of the College, Mr. Olaseni Osifala, had molested one Miss Okoye, a student of the College.
The allegation was supposedly made by the girl’s mother, one Mrs. Chinenye Okoye.
The Minister said when the panel was set up government deliberately kept the identity of the Committee members confidential, as a result of the sensitive nature of the assignment, as well as the need to avoid undue pressure and interference on the Committee members.
The committee which has the Director, Internal Audit, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Paul Boyo as chairman, has Mrs. Olusola-Dada O.T., (Deputy Director Human Resources), Mrs. Itodo Elizabeth, (Deputy Director, Basic & Secondary Education), Mr. Amudipe Gabriel Olu, (Assistant Director, Education, Support Services), Mrs. Gbola Awopetu Yewande, (Assistant Legal Adviser), Mr. Allred Olufunwa, (Department of State Services), and Mrs. Olayiwola Suliat, (Assistant Director Basic and Secondary Education) as Secretary.
The Committee had the following terms of reference including ascertaining the veracity of the allegation and existence of any unprofessional behaviour on the part of the teacher.
They were also to determine if there were any male staff member living within the proximity of the hostel who could pose a threat to the students and to examine the remote and immediate causes of the students’ protest action that followed.
The panel was also mandated to recommend steps towards preventing sexual molestation of students in all Federal Government Colleges as well as recommend sanctions against anyone found culpable.
The Minister disclosed that in the course of its assignment, the Committee called for memoranda from the principal, the Queens College Old Girls Association, the Parents Teachers Association, the concerned mother (Mrs. Chinenye Okoye), Mr. Osifala (the accused teacher), teachers and members of staff of the college, Students’ Representative Council, the School-Based-Management Committee and the general public.
He added that the Committee also took oral evidence from relevant stakeholders.
He said: ” When we received the report of the Committee on Monday 25th April 2016, again we set up a 5-man Committee to study the report and prepare a draft White Paper.
“Members of this committee are: Mr. Lawrence Ogundana -Chairman, (Director, Library Services); Mrs. Justina Ngozi Ibe, member; (Director, Education Support Services) Mrs. Gbemi Ajibade, member; (Director Legal Services), Prof. Godswill Obioma-member; (Special Assistant (Technical) to the Honourable Minister of State for Education)
Mr. Adebayo Odejinmi – Member/Secretary; and (Deputy Director, Office of the Permanent Secretary).
“We are pleased to address this Press Conference today (Fruday), in order to share with you, as well as students, teachers, parents, relevant stakeholders and indeed the general public, the recommendations of the Investigation Committee, and Government’s position on all issues relating to the allegation.
“Summary of Recommendations of the Investigation Committee. The Investigation Committee did not establish any credible evidence against the accused teacher, considering the fact that Mrs. Chinenye Okoye remained unidentified, faceless and inaccessible despite the Committee’s best efforts and assurances to protect her identity and that of her daughter.
“Consequently, the Investigation Committee finds it difficult to recommend disciplinary action against the accused teacher as the complainant failed to come forward to prove this weighty accusation.
“From the various interactions held with the past Principals of the College and the current Management of the College, the Committee observed that the College had zero tolerance for such vices as sexual molestations, as prompt actions were always taken in the past cases of alleged inappropriate behaviour or sexual molestation by Staff.
“Therefore, the Committee could not establish any cover up of Sexual Molestation by the Management of Queens College as alleged in Mr. Osifala’s case.
“Furthermore, anyone with information that can lead to identifying the alleged victim or her mother or with any credible and substantiated evidence that was not earlier made available to the Investigation Committee during their sittings on the allegation against the teacher can still approach the Ministry accordingly.
“Government position: the Federal Ministry of Education notes and accepts all the recommendations of the Committee and will take actions as appropriate,” he stated.

TheElites

Intense Lobbying of Possible Successors Begins



…Profiles of The Six Contenders
imageAs the tenure of the incumbent Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase comes to an end in June this year, intense lobbying and profiling of possible successors has commenced, with six top Police officers jostling for the number one cop position in the country.
They are AIG Hassan Bala Abdulahi, AIG Johnson Ogunsakin, Olufemi Adebowale Adenaike, CP Austin Iwar, AIG Umar Abubakar Manko and Ibrahim Idris.
By next month, Arase, the number one police officer in the country would have attained the mandatory age of 60.
It will be recalled that the presidency deliberately allowed the IGP to complete his tenure by ignoring the option of sending him on terminal leave due to the impressive manner he was handling the high rate of insecurity in the country.
A dependable source revealed that Arase’s retirement date draws closer, some senior police officers and prominent persons have have started lobbying for themselves and on behalf of others.
But It was gathered reliably that the presidency is more disposed to picking Arese’s successor based on professionalism, competence and integrity, which is different from the old ways of mere favouritism, ethnicity and religious considerations.
Our source who preferred not be named in print said, “Although people have been lobbying for themselves and on behalf of others- one just left my office this afternoon- what I have told each of them is that the President is not somebody you go and talk to on such matters because he is a retired military Officer himself.
“He understands what is good and what destroys the service. I think the easiest thing this president can ever do is to choose the service chiefs. So, lobbying would not help anybody, in fact it will even destroy your case.
“I believe he will look at their antecedents, their records, qualification, competence and let me say this, nobody should lobby for anything because Buhari will not accept anybody he knows would not able to do the job. I cannot even speak to him , but if, he asks me, of course I would make an input, but ultimately it is going to be based on merit, competence, records of service, professionalism and integrity”, the source.
LEADERSHIP checks revealed that about four Assistant Inspectors General and two Commissioner of Police are in the line of succession as Solomon Arase bows out in June.
The contest for who succeeds the current Inspector General of Police is keen, as the lobbyists are said to be doing everything possible to ensure their candidates emerge the number one Police officer for the country.
It was also gathered that politicians, traditional rulers, business moguls as well as some past Inspectors General of Police have been enlisted in the various lobby camps.
image
AIG Hassan Bala Abdulahi: Born on August 25, 1959 in Nasarawa local government area in Kano State, AIG Abdulahi holds a degree in Chemistry from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1981), a Masters degree in Law from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology and M.Sc, Strategic Studies from the University of Ibadan and is currently Phd candidate in Policing and Community Safety, Abdulahi. He is currently the AIG in charge of Zone 2. He has held several positions, including Commissioner of Police Edo, Rivers and Abia states. He is also one-time commissioner in charge of Mobile Police Force at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. Abdullah is expected to retire from service in December 2017.
AIG Johnson Ogunsakin: Born on August 1, 1957 from Ekiti, Ogunsakin is AIG in charge of zone 10. The former state was Commissioner of Police, Rivers State holds a degree in Political Science/History from the University of Ife (1980). He joined the force on December 8, 1982 and is also due for retirement on August 1, 2017. He has held various command positions, including Commissioner of Police, Special Fraud Unit, and head of operations, Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions (EFCC).
Olufemi Adebowale Adenaike: Born on December 3, 1958, Adenaike who hails from Ogun state joined the Police force on December 8, 1982. He is currently the AIG in charge of the Department of Training and Development at the Force Headquarters. He has held various positions, including Commissioner of police Kaduna State command and Commissioner of Police, Federal Operations at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. Has a degree in Sociology from the University of Lagos, Masters Degree in Sociology from the same university. He is due for retirement from service in December, 2017.
CP Austin Iwar: He is the current commissioner of Police, Gombe State command and hails from Benue State. Before his elevation to his present position, he was principal staff officer to former IGP Sulaiman Abba, where he was responsible for the strategic management and handling of complex situations and multiple responsibilities simultaneously; assisting in the strategic planning and supervision of the implementation of NPF plans on behalf of the IGP; management of IGP’s schedules; secretary to IGP’s management meetings; management and leadership of IGP secretariat staff made up of senior officers with responsibilities for; Performance Management of the NPF; Police Reforms; Policy and Strategy; Intelligence Management; Investigation, Human Rights and Legal Issues; Strategic Communications; Intergovernmental Affairs; International Cooperation; This role also includes supervision of IGPs administrative staff; liaison with Senior Management Team. Iwar who is also a graduate of London Metropolitan University is presently a PhD candidate. What stands as an advantage for him despite being junior to the other contenders is that his state, Benue, has never produced IGP before. Besides, while the constitution says any senior officer can be made IGP, it does not specify a particular rank to be attained before qualifying for the police top job.
AIG Umar Abubakar Manko: Born on June 14, 1958, Manko who hails from Niger State was a one-time Commissioner of Police for Lagos State, and AIG in charge of zone 2, before he was moved to the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos. Manko who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from the University of Sokoto, enlisted into the police as a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police on December 31, 1984. He has held several positions, including Commissioner of Police (administration), at the Police Academy, Kano; CP, Airport Command; CP, Kaduna and Sokoto states commands. Manko is due for retirement in June 2018.
CP Ibrahim Idris: Having obtained two academic degrees of law and agriculture at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and University of Maiduguri, respectively, Idris had also attended numerous courses and trainings in Nigeria and abroad and partook in several peace keeping missions in many countries of the world. CP Idris started his police career in 1984 when he joined the force as Cadet ASP after which he was posted as Gusau Police Divisional Crime Officer in 1986 and later Unit Commander 7PMF Sokoto between 1987 and 1989. Owing to his excelling competence, unique performance, commitment to duty and doggedness, CP Idris was elevated to the rank of Deputy Police Commissioner Operations and Second in Command at the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor Leste UNMIT between 2009 to April 2011 and again, Acting Police Commissioner UNMIT. In July of the same year he was appointed Kano State Commissioner of Police, a position he held until February 2013 when he was selected to attend Senior Police Officers Course at Nigeria Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies Kuru (NIPSS) where he bagged the prestigious mni membership.

Source: LEADERSHIP

INTERVIEW: Buhari speaks to TheCable on herdsmen, militants and ‘selective probe’


INTERVIEW: Buhari speaks to TheCable on herdsmen, militants and ‘selective probe’

During the week in London, President Muhammadu Buhari spoke on burning national issues to journalists from four media houses, including TheCable.
Below are the excerpts.

On a permanent solution to the herdsmen crisis

The problem is virtually as old as Nigeria itself. Culturally, the herdsmen don’t stay in one place. They move with the season. Normally, harvest is completed much earlier in the north. Then they have to move southwards for green pasture. In the first republic, there was what they called cattle routes and grazing areas. They were marked. Infrastructure were put in terms of windmills, earth dams, even veterinary clinics. Now after first republic, people turned these places into farms. And if you have 500 cows, if they don’t eat for 24 hours, or need water, you can’t stop them [from moving around].
What they used to do then is that if anybody went outside the cattle route, or outside the grazing area, he would be arrested, taken before an alkali’s court, fined. If he can pay, okay. The money is taken and given to the farmer. If he can’t pay, the cattle is sold and the farmer is paid. People were behaving themselves. So when people came and took away the land for the cattle route, for the grazing areas, you find out that from Kaduna to Bayelsa, Nigerians are fighting cattle rearers now. But when I was in the Petroleum Trust Fund, we made a comprehensive study of cattle routes and grazing areas throughout Nigeria. I am referring the governors’ forum and the minister of agriculture and rural development to the report. Let them see what they can do and save the situation.
Meanwhile, there seems to be some credibility that there are other than Nigerian cattle rearers involved. Now this is because of what happened in Libya. Gaddafi, during his 43-year regime, trained some people from the Sahel… militarily, he trained them. And when his regime was overthrown, those people were again dispatched to their countries. They are gone, carrying their weapons and they found themselves even in Boko Haram. It is a major regional and virtually African problem. They work with al Qaeda, with Boko Haram, and so on. It is a government project now to trace them, and disarm them and if necessary try them and lock them up.

On Niger Delta militancy flaring up again

I was elected by the whole country and the least I can do is to keep the country together. I assure you, we will develop the capacity to do it. If you could recall, I appointed a retired brigadier-general, Paul Boroh, and when I give people assignment and give them the terms of reference, I allow them to do their work. I spoke to the chief of naval staff and other service chiefs to work with him and help him to make sure that those who are blowing the installations and subverting investments in Nigeria, we will deal with them eventually. The militants are saying the agreement entered for the amnesty, including payments and training and employment were not being met. To the best of my knowledge, these are their grievances. So we put this officer who is from there to revisit the agreement, and see which part the federal government needs to fulfill.

On the sustainability of the payments

We have to secure Nigeria before we can manage it efficiently. And I assure you we are going to do that. We will try and develop confidence in our ability to do it eventually.

On if he believes in privatisation

I believe in privatisation. It is efficient. But we have to talk to those who make a lot of noise about privatisation. Their own privatisation, how successful is it? We are trying to be in a state of “beyond the token”. [For instance], if you claim to be a good farmer, how much investment did you put into it? Then we help you with tractors, with advisers, to make sure you do produce. We give you seeds and fertilizers. But we don’t just believe whatever you say.

On Chibok girls negotiation

My problem is that you just don’t produce five [and say you want to negotiate]. Over 200 girls are missing. We need at least 50, to be sure they are safe, and we join them to their families, take them back to their schools, then we can negotiate. Whatever they did in the past is not the issue. All we want is to recover the girls.

On his assessment of the anti-corruption crusade

So far, what has come out, what has been recovered, in whatever currency, from which ministry, department and individuals, I intend on the 29th [of May] to speak on this because all that Nigerians are getting to know are from the newspapers, radio and television because of the number of people arrested by EFCC, DSS. We want to make a comprehensive report by May 29.

On Publishing the names of those indicted

Eventually, it has to be done because we want to successfully prosecute them. But you know you can’t go to the court unless you have the documents to do your prosecution – where some of these people sign for these monies, send it to their personal bank accounts. Their banks gave a statement that the money is there when it came how much of it available and so on.

On ‘Selective probe’ of PDP campaign funding

The accusation will be against the law enforcement agencies. But I can assure you we don’t interfere. Try and get the list of those who are now under arrest, either with EFCC or already taken to prison, you will find out that it is across the board.

On Implementing the budget despite late passage

It depends on the technocrats. We have six months to implement the budget. But you know why there was a delay. There is something called “padding”. I’ve been in government since 1975. I was governor of the north-east state, which is now six states: Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, and Taraba. Then I was in Obasanjo’s cabinet, in the petroleum ministry, for three and a quarter years. I was head of state for 20 months. I never heard the word “padding” until this year. I never heard about it. And what does it mean? It means that the technocrats just allow the government to make its noise, go and make presentation to the national assembly, so they will remove it and put their own. So, when we uncovered this, we just have to go back to the basics again.
Ministers again had to go and appear before the minister of budget and planning and make presentation again. And this was clearly brought out by the minister of health. I saw with my own eyes, nobody told me. I was watching NTA. He appeared before a committee. And they said, ‘Oya, minister, come and defend your budget.’ He looked at what they presented to him as his own budget and he said I have nothing to defend. They said what do you mean, and he said this is not what I presented. And subsequently we discovered that it was not only the ministry of health. So they allow you to talk rubbish as government and then they do what they like.

Thursday, 12 May 2016

You’re guilty of epic hypocrisy, The Guardian of London tells UK PM


  • For saying Nigeria is fantastically corrupt
THE Guardian of Lon­don has questioned the morality of the British Prime Minister David Cameron, to host a sum­mit on corruption when the International Mon­etary Fund (IMF) and others recognise London as a tax haven.
The Guardian, in its Editorial yesterday, was reacting to Cameron’s comment on Nigeria and Afghanistan as two fan­tastically corrupt coun­tries. Cameron made the statement during a visit to Queen Elizabeth II to mark her 90th birthday.
The newspaper said though Cameron may not be corrupt, he is “certainly guilty of epic hypocrisy. So, for that matter, are Britain and the West.”
Even then, the edito­rial was quick to remind readers that the summit was “being hosted by a politician who admit­ted last month that he has personally profited from offshore finance and whose party is bank­rolled by an industry that makes extravagant use of those same tax havens.
“Not only that, he has intervened to aid tax avoiders.”
The newspaper won­dered why Cameron failed to mention to the Queen a letter sent him a fortnight ago by anti-corruption campaigners in Nigeria. According to the Guardian, the campaigners said, “We are embarked on a nation­wide anti-corruption campaign.
“But these efforts are sadly undermined if countries such as your own are welcoming our corrupt to hide their ill-gotten gains in your lux­ury homes, department stores, car dealerships, private schools and any­where else that will ac­cept their cash with no questions asked.
“The role of London’s property market as ves­sels to conceal stolen wealth has been exposed in court documents, re­ports, documentaries and more.” The news­paper drew attention to Panama Papers and names of some Nigeri­ans linked to offshore as­sets, noting that though “none of these individu­als may have done any­thing wrong, but the charge from those cam­paigners is hard to duck.”
The editorial also que­ried Cameron, saying, the prime minister “should have told the Queen that President Muhammadu Buhari is coming to Lon­don to lobby it to sort out the tax havens in its own backyard.”
It lamented that Brit­ain and the West “have spent decades ordering poor countries and failed states (including Afghan­istan) to sort out their problems with doggy money, even while tak­ing much of that doggy money and ploughing it through their banks, their ritzy stores, their estate agents, and their offshore tax havens, with barely any ques­tions asked or eyebrows raised.”
Quoting Oxfam, the editorial said, “a third of all trillions hiding off­shore are sitting in tax havens linked to the UK,” explaining that these ha­vens rely on Britain for security and protection.
“The Jersey pound note features the Queen. On the Caymans, they sing as the national anthem God Save the Queen.
Yet Whitehall per­sists in pretending they are autonomous – even though London has over­ridden them before, on the abolition of capital punishment, say, or the decriminalizing of ho­mosexual acts. It will not do so on shady finance, however.”

Wednesday, 11 May 2016

EFCC Grills Ex-Governor Imoke, Others On $115m Bank Fraud

Operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 quizzed a former governor of Cross Rivers State, Senator Liyel Imoke, for his alleged involvement in the N500million collected by the Cross Rivers State’s chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, Mr. Ntufam John Okon.
The N500m was part of the $115m allegedly lodged in Fidelity Bank Plc, in controversial circumstances, during the 2015 electioneering campaign period by the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison- Madueke.
Also, a former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Imasuen, and a former Secretary to the State Government of Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize Iyamu, have been interrogated  by operatives of the EFCC for collecting the sum of N700million( Seven Hundred Million Naira) from the $115million fraud.
Gov Cross Rivers
The money was reportedly collected from Fidelity Bank Plc, Mission Road, Benin City branch,  on March, 2015.
Iyamu, a People's Democratic Party, PDP's presidential campaign coordinator in the 2015 presidential election, admitted to have  collected the money from the bank.
He told EFCC's interrogators that he went to the bank on that fateful day with Imasuen and a former House of Representatives member representing Edo Central, Tony Azeigbemi (who is yet to be arrested by the EFCC)  and the money was handed over to them by an official of the bank.
Both Imasuen and Iyamu signed for the collection of the money.
Investigations by the EFCC showed that the two politicians conveyed the money from the bank in a bullion van to the residence of a top politician in Edo State.
The Commission is on the trail of the politician for the recovery of the money.
Both Imasuen and Iyamu are still in the EFCC custody and will be charged to court soon.
Wilson Uwujaren,
Head, Media & Publicity,
May 11, 2016

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

WHEN THE LEOPARD TAKES LEAVE OF THE SAVANNAH BUSH




OBA-OF-BENIN
n   The Great Oba of Benin Kingdom.

By Obadiah Mailafia (DPhil Oxon)

For more than a year the rumour mills had been rife with speculations about the passing of the Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty Omo N’Oba N’ Edo UKu Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa I. In March last year, Secretary to Bini Traditional Council, Frank Irabor, in characteristic understatement, revealed tersely that, “the leopard is ill in the savannah bush”. The monarch had not been seen in public for a long time. During the 2015 presidential elections, candidate Muhammadu Buhari was in Benin City to pay homage, but was received instead by the royal council of chiefs.
The speculations were put to an end on Friday 29th April, when the palace officially announced the passing of the monarch. The Prime Minister, the Iyase of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe, in company of royal chiefs and Enigie (Dukes), broke native chalk at the entrance of the palace, signalling that the leopard has taken leave of the savannah bush, re-joining his royal forebears. He declared: “Osorhue Bunrun, Oba Erediauwa of Benin Kingdom, the Prince of Peace, Ebo, Ayemwirhe, emini mini, has returned with his ancestors. May he find perfect peace with God.”
There has been an outpouring of eulogies for the departed monarch, from President Muhammadu Buhari to the leadership of the National Assembly, Governors and captains of finance and industry. Edo State and its ebullient Governor, Adams Ashiomhole, declared five days of mourning, as shops and markets are closed down as a mark of respect for the departed monarch. Given the strict constitutional rule of primogeniture that underpins Bini royal succession, the lot has fallen to Crown Prince Eheneden Erediauwa, who was formally installed as the Edaiken of Uselu, early March 2016. A Former Ambassador to Italy, Norway and Angola, the Crown Prince has made his mark in the oil and gas sector as a successful businessman. When I was a young Research Fellow at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Prince Eheneden was a much respected colleague of ours at the counterpart Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA) in Victoria Island, Lagos.
Let me set the records straight: I am not a great fan of monarchies. As a matter of temperament, I am a republican. Although I have royalty in my bloodline and hold the ceremonial title of Majindadi (the one who gladdens the king’s heart) in Sangaland of Kaduna State, I prefer democracy and rule of the people to rule by Divine Right of Kings. There are also some evils that are associated with traditional rulership in contemporary Africa that many people prefer not to talk about. The idea that a king must have many wives is the relic of a barbarous past. Some of the coronation ceremonies for ascension to kingships involve initiation into ancient cults. To protect myself, during my own turbaning in 2006, I ensured that I brought no less than 20 pastors with me. There is anecdotal evidence that ritual killing has not been completely erased as part of traditional practices. When the Ooni of Ife passed away in July 2015, not a few people fled the ancient city. Many feared that there were likely going to be mysterious disappearances of young virgin maidens and the likes. The same trepidation greeted the passing of the illustrious Oba of Benin recently. 
Another issue has to do with the economics of monarchy itself. We in Nigeria have never sat down to calculate how much maintenance of traditional institutions is costing our national treasury. Every year in England, a great deal of debate surrounds the amount being required by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to take care of the royal household.  In times of austerity, royal yachts, royal castles and the general expenditure surrounding the upkeep of the royal household, have often been subjected to drastic financial cuts. In Nigeria that debate has not even begun. We have been told that in some northern states, traditional rulers take as much as 10 percent of total local government allocations. Some of them may be taking home as much a million per month – all of it at taxpayers’ expense. We must cast a major searchlight on the cost of royal institutions on our public finances and decide whether or not we should not subject them to major structural reforms.  During the eve of Indian independence in 1949, Nehru, Gandhi and Indian nationalist leaders decided to excise any mention of traditional rulers in their country’s constitution. The thousands of ancient Maharajahs that predominated in Indian society became ipso facto privatised institutions. The same debate has taken place in democratic monarchies of Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Benelux countries. I doubt if democracy and the rule of law can long endure in the face of burdensome, irksome and financially ruinous traditional institutions.
 Having said this, I must confess that I have never failed to be awed by the pomp and sheer pageantry of African royalty. There is nothing to be compared to the durbar marking the coronation of the Emir of Kano, for example. At a time when collective psyches are pulverised by mindboggling, disorienting changes, our monarchies remain a symbol of stability, continuity and tradition. The custodians of the collective memory and the springs of tradition and immemorial custom.
If my reading of history is right, the longest reigning monarchy in Africa is that of Borno, which recently celebrated 1,000 years of continuous rule. Borno people can account for every single one of their monarchs going back a thousand years. When the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey sent emissaries to Kanem Borno in the eighteenth century, they came back with a report that simply stated that Old Kanem was the equal of the Ottomans and that the Sultan should perish the thought of ever invading that kingdom.
By contrast, the Fulani Caliphate in northern Nigeria is a comparatively young upstart kingdom of barely over 200 years. It was founded by chicanery and cant, when a group of Fulani immigrants from Futa Jalon in Upper Guinea took it upon themselves to violently overthrow their self-satisfied and naively trusting Habe kings. And they all did it ostensibly in the name of religious authenticity and puritanism.  Even at that, when one reads the philosophical treatises of Shehu Usman ibn Fodio and his son Mohammed Bello, one cannot help but be impressed. They were highly learned austere and fastidious Sufis of the sacred Order Qadiriyya. Unlike their contemporary pretenders, they were pious and self-abnegating; frowning at greed, materialism and ornamental displays.
When the Scottish explorer Richard Clapperton visited Mohammed Bello in his palace in Sokoto late in the nineteenth century, he asked his host if there was anything he needed from Europe so that he could bring it to him on his next journey. To Clapperton’s surprise, the Sheikh did not ask for expensive raiment, gold, ornaments, or trinkets; he asked, instead, for a copy of Euclid’s Geometry, because his only copy, he lamented, had been lost in a fire.  I am awed by the poetry of the Sheikh’s sister, Nana Asma’u. She was not just a fine poetess; she was a teacher who began a community of women scholars to promote education and literacy among women. Nana Asma’u ought to be on our One Thousand Naira Note, not some dour looking old male bankers.
For me personally, no royal stool in Africa is as regal and as grand -- no crown is as heavy with sheer gravitas and power as the ancient Crown of the Bini Kingdom. The stool of the Oba is over 800 years old. And if you add the Ogiso period before the emergence of the constitutional Oba, the Bini monarchy goes back 1,600 years old. What makes it stand apart, as the eminent sociologist Peter Eke opines, is the fact that it was not based on conquest or usurpation of power. It emerged from the mist of antiquity as the will of the people themselves as they wished to be governed and led. The Oba is venerated as a living god and oracle; an embodiment of the spirit of the venerable ancestors. Indeed, a whole country in our own neighbourhood of West Africa, took its name from that ancient kingdom, changing its old colonial name of Dahomey to La République du Bénin. In my humble opinion, perhaps the only other crown that rivals Benin in terms of reverence by its people is the Kabaka of Buganda.
A few years ago, a rather intemperate debate took place between the late Omon’Oba and the late Ooni of Ife, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, who passed away only July last year.  In his much acclaimed memoirs, I Remain, Sir, Your Obedient Servant (Spectrum Books 2004), he took the view that Oduduwa was a prince of Bini Kingdom who went to settle in Ile-Ife; in effect, turning on its head the long-head teachings of the Ibadan School of History. The doyen of Nigerian academic history, late Jacob Ade Ajayi was uncharacteristically insolent: “Who is the Oba of Benin to come and tell the Yoruba what they should believe about themselves….When he says from his studies, what did he study?”
The gravamen of the controversy centred on the question of seniority and precedence. The late Ooni maintained that, on the contrary, the Bini stool was founded by one of the princes of Oduduwa who immigrated farther south to the forest region of Edo. A long-held tradition solemnised by the British colonial administration had placed the Oba of Benin as third in order of precedence among the monarchs of the old Western Region; with the first being the Ooni of Ile-Ife, and the Alaafin of Oyo in second place.
More recently, perhaps as part of the euphoria that greeted the emergence of a young and handsome new Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Alake of Egbaland, Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III, reminded the world that he was Number 4 in the order of precedence, with the Awujale of Ijebu Kingom in fifth place. This predictably drew the ire of the powerful and wealthy Awujale, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, who used rather un-royal language in ‘putting the Alake in his place’.
My good friend the poet Odia Ofeimun, a native of the Ishan people who pay allegiance to the Omon’Oba, wrote an impassioned essay defending the pre-eminence of the Oba of Benin.  Drawing from historical accounts intermixed with Ifa mysticism, myth and social anthropology, he strenuously sought to make the case of the Oba of Benin being the “first born among Yoruba monarchs”. He also argued, rather cleverly in my view, that if the Yoruba reject this view, then he would have to revert to the position, held by the likes of Chief David Edebiri, the Esogban and Odionwere of Benin Kingdom, who insist that Oba of Benin is not a Yoruba and therefore cannot be ranked within a hierarchy of Yoruba monarchical pantheons. According to Ofeimun, “The reality is that whenever the Oba of Benin sat among the Yoruba Obas, he knew he was the eldest. He did not have to say it for it to be true. Those who deny him his place may stand on ethnic arrogance, which is hollow.”
For my part, I do not know. I do not who is the older or the superior king. I am glad that throughout that rather unseemly debate, nobody brought the heresy that the Edo and Yoruba are strangers to each other. As a matter of fact, they are siblings and sibling rivalry is as old as humanity itself. Ironically, in choosing his new Olori (Queen), the new Ooni of Ife went for the Edo-born Wuraola Otiti, the buxom, delectable damsel formally known as Sonia Itohan Obahan.
When European explorers visited Benin Kingdom in 1485 they were deeply impressed with what they met. They saw a well built and well planned city with a highly sophisticated system of government in place. They reported that "The king's court is very big, having within it many wide squares with galleries round them where watch is always kept”. In the sixteenth century the Oba of Benin sent an Ambassador to represent his kingdom in the courts of the King of Portugal. The Portuguese on their part sent missionaries and traders. Commerce flourished between the two kingdoms.
The royal stool of the Edo people was perhaps the most powerful in the who of the West and Southern Nigeria during the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, extending as far as Igala land, Nupe land, Owo, Akure, Lagos, Benin Republic, Togo land and as far as Ghana. It is a known fact that the ruling house of Onitsha is of Bini ancestry. The simple truth is that the Benin Kingdom was unsurpassed in its regal dignity and international pedigree until the beloved capital was razed down by a British military expedition in February 1897. Omon’Oba Ovonramwen was sent to Calabar on exile. The white barbarians pillaged the precious art works in the royal galleries like common thieves.  Famed for their grace and beauty, Benin bronze art works are to be found in the greatest museums of the Western world. And as if to show their respect for the ailing king, in March this year, the Omon’Oba’s alma mater, Cambridge University, sent back a bronze cockerel that had adorned the main hall of Jesus College, Cambridge.
If truth be told, you judge the power of a ruler by how much he is revered by his people. On that criterion and on the longevity of its line, the Oba of Benin is Number One in Nigeria.
According to the writer Naiwu Osahon, the Benin monarchy shares eerie similarities with the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt. According to him, “Bini monarchy demonstrates strong affinity with ancient Egyptian gods and Pharaohs, with which it shares identical authority, grandeur and a great deal of reverence from their subjects”.  For example, the hairstyle of Bini chiefs is in the same manner as that of the small helmet worn by the great King Ramases II, arguably the greatest of all the pharaohs. The kings of Bini were often addressed as ‘the Open Eye’, analogous to the Osirian mysteries who described the Pharaohs as possessors of omniscient eyes. Sadly also, like their ancient Egyptian forebears, the Bini used to bury slaves and domestic servants purportedly to accompany the king in his journey into the great beyond; a practice, we are told, was ended by none other than the recently departed Omon’Oba.

As a struggling graduate student in England in the early nineties, I met a rather elderly English gentleman at a luncheon reception. He was a retired consultant surgeon. When he got to know I was from Nigeria he casually asked if I knew his old mate at Kings College Cambridge, by the name of Solomon Akenzua. I told him, well, he is now the King of Benin and he could not be seen without an appointment. The man was astonished, protesting, “But he never told anyone he was a prince”!

The departed monarch was born Prince Solomon, Aiseokhuoba, Igbinoghodua Akenzua, on 23 June, 1923. He attended Edo College Benin before proceeding to Government College Ibadan, where he flew with bright colours in academics and sports. He later attended Yaba College for his higher studies before proceeding to Cambridge University, where he studied Law and Public Administration. Upon returning to Nigeria, he joined the Eastern Region Government as a District Officer in 1952, incontrovertibly the most prestigious job that any young man could hold down in those days. He later transferred to the Federal Service where he rose up to the rank of Permanent Secretary, retiring in 1973. He briefly served as the Regional Director for Gulf Oil and was later Commissioner of Finance in the defunct Bendel State. He ascended the throne of his ancestors as the 38th Oba after his father Oba Akenzua II passed away in 1979.
It was not for nothing that Oba Erediuwa was hailed as ‘the Oba of Peace’. During his long reign Edo land was an oasis of peace in a troubled region. We were told that when the South-South militants wanted to extend their activities to his domain, the palace sent out a decree with a ring of finality: “Omo n’Oba will not hear of it”. We have it on authority from none other than Eric Teniola, a former Director in the Presidency, that the late Oba played a central role in keeping this country together. He was one of the top civil servants who accompanied former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon to the Aburi peace talks in Ghana in Janaury 1967. Gowon had unwittingly conceded what amounted to a dangerously loose confederal arrangement. Upon return, Prince Akenzua did not sleep. Through the night he penned a strong memo urging the Head of State to reconsider his position. It was on the basis of that fateful memo that the Gowon administration beat a hasty retreat from an agreement that might have spelt the death knell of our great federation. Those who insisted on the battle cry, “On Aburi We Stand”, did not quite know their international law. Treaties entered into are of no legal effect until they are duly ratified. The Aburi Agreement was not ratified by the Federal Government and was thus invalid and non-binding as a legal agreement. As it turns out, it was the wisdom, foresight, courage and sagacity of the young Prince Akenzua that saved Nigeria from the jaws of dissolution.
I am a proud son of the Nok civilisation of the Middle Belt. But I am also a passionate believer in the unity of our great nation. I am a fervent and unrepentant believer in One Nigeria. Which is why I have no iota of sentiments against any ethnic group, not even against the Fulani, who have continued to slaughter my people like Sallah rams. I have had the good fortune to have met some illustrious sons of Benin Kingdom. Emmanuel Emovon, an eminent professor of chemistry and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jos, impressed me by his decorum and cosmopolitan culture. It was only recently that I got to know that his ailing wife is the sister of the late Omon’Oba. My former boss at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Professor Eghosa Osagie, has been a mentor and friend. He used to speak to me in soft tones about the Oba of Benin, who was his senior at Government College Ibadan. By their unfailing courtliness, calm dignity, decency and intellectual integrity, Emovon and Osagie embody what I believe to be the high spiritual qualities of the ancient Edo people.

The Omon’Oba was a great royal father and a true Nigerian patriot. He loved our country and fought for its good. He led his people with honour and dignity. Whenever politicians were reaching for each other’s throats, as they often did, his was always the voice of peace, reconciliation and justice. In announcing his parting, the Iyase of Bini Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe, declared that, “Oba Erediauwa is the Oba of Peace, the Oba who brought prosperity to his people, the Oba who understands his people. He makes sure that no one was offended, the Oba who could sit in judgment and give judgment against his own son for a commoner. It is rare. Oba Erediauwa is the best that has happened to Benin Kingdom in the last 1,600 years.”

In an epoch when men do not know how to exercise power with wisdom, moderation or restraint, the late Oba was a shining light in a confused and illiberal age. His legacy is imperishable. Great Leopard of the ancient savannah; Prince of Ogodomigodo; Solomon Aiseokhuoba Igbinoghodua Akenzua; Osorhue Bunrun; the Prince of Peace; Ebo Ayemwirhe; Emini mini mini; Omo N’Oba N’ Edo UKu Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa I, Oba of Benin Kingdom; Uma gha gba ni ma, uma gha gba ne Edo. Oba ghato Okpere Ise.


(Dr Obadiah Mailafia is a public finance specialist and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; a connoisseur of Bini art works, he is a newspaper columnist, philosopher and public intellectual, with interests in Egyptology and ancient African civilisations. E-Mail: obmailafia@gmail.com; Text only: 08036590990)



Monday, 9 May 2016

Leadership crisis rocks PENCOM, as insiders accuse DG of maladministration

Written by 
*Director-General of the National Pencom Commission (PenCom), Mrs Chinelo Anohu  
*Director-General of the National Pencom Commission (PenCom), Mrs Chinelo Anohu
 
Unless the federal government quickly wades into the serious crisis currently rocking the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) by effecting a leadership change, the organisation may collapse and  the noble objective of ensuring effective pension administration in Nigeria will be defeated. 
 
The crisis, which has lingered for some time, is now worsening as senior management staff of the organization are no longer comfortable with the leadership of Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who they claim has broken every rule in the book since she assumed office as Director-General of the organization. 
 
Findings at the Commission's headquarters in Abuja have revealed that besides allegations of conflict of interest and sundry abuses, Pencom insiders are particularly miffed at Director-General's continued use of contacts in high places to run rough shod over everyone and every principle of neutral and effective pension administration as a regulator. 
 
They are baffled that this could be going on under the present administration.
 
It would be recalled that Mrs Anohu assumed headship of the organization in very controversial circumstances, having used her contacts in the Presidency to pressure the National Assembly to reduce the statutory 20 years experience for headship of PENCOM to 15 years in order to accommodate her. Industry watchers and lawmakers were scandalized by the open arm-twisting but were handicapped by the powerful pressure her backers brought to bear on the situation.
 
Very senior management staff who spoke during the week on condition of anonymity said that the current state of affairs confirmed their initial fears that Anohu`s mode of entry into office was bound to impact negatively on the reputation, performance and credibility of the organization. 
 
Like most major industry stakeholders, they are outraged that she could still be carrying on in her usual style, nearly one year after the inauguration of a government that is avowedly fighting corruption and abuse of office. 
 
They fear that the longer she stays as head of the Commission, the greater the chance of the Federal Government losing everything it has worked for in aid of effective pension administration in the country. 
 
Five directorate staff were particularly concerned that they may all soon lose their jobs, and be termed accomplices in the DG`s acts of arbitrariness, disregard for laid down procedure and penchant for acting solo on sore matters of policy.
 
They cited many petitions, letters of protest and industry reports that could get all of them into trouble for what are essentially the actions and activities of one person. 
 
According to the directorate staff, one of the latest of such recent petitions, termed “unlawful Activities of the National Pension Commission” to President Buhari detailing some really shocking things under their watch, could get everyone into trouble.
 
The petition in question was said to have drawn the attention of Mr. President to the commission's routine disregard for court orders and lack of transparency in the management of a particular pension administrator which it purported to take over but has neither called any annual general meeting nor published any audited accounts, filed any annual returns with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), nor paid any dividends to its shareholders.
 
Also,  in defiance of a court order restraining Anohu from removing some directors and appointing an Interim Management, she did just that. This action was in spite of a letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation directing PENCOM to obey the court order. 
 
Indeed, PENCOM staffers, particularly senior management staff, some former board members and industry stakeholders, are afraid that details of several arbitrary and irresponsible actions of the DG, in her bid to push the funds under this particular pension fund administrator into the custody of another PFA owned and managed by her family may soon become public knowledge.
 
Investigations have shown that the mood at PENCOM today is that the Federal Government should not allow the DG`s personal interests to put everyone else, including hapless pensioners, into trouble; as PENCOM staff are not shareholder in the firm being currently managed by her brother who took over after her mother.
 
Leadership