Monday, 25 July 2016

INVESTIGATION: Nigeria’s Central Bank in foreign PR contract scandal

Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor
Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor


By Tajudeen Suleiman

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has given itself a new mandate and it has nothing to do with money matters. It does not even have anything to do with stabilising the foreign exchange regime or strengthening the naira, desirable as that task is.
The new role of Nigeria’s apex bank is to launder Nigeria’s image abroad.
In what is the latest in a trend of frivolous and wasteful spending of tax payers’ money, the apex bank in April engaged the services of APCO Worldwide Inc., a public relations and political consultancy firm based in Washington DC, to help launder the image of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the country in the United States.
In the last three years, the icirnigeria.org has tracked many of such controversial contracts amounting to over $6 million dollars awarded by different agencies of the Nigerian government to foreign firms to launder the country’s image abroad.
From our investigations, such contracts, it appears, are mere conduits for siphoning public funds.
Previous similar questionable contracts tracked by this news website include a $3 million lobbying contract awarded by the National Security Adviser’s office in September 2013 to Patton Boggs, an American law firm that specialises in lobbying and a $1.5 million PR contract awarded by the News Agency of Nigeria to Levick Strategic Communications, a Washington-based PR firm.
There is also a $700,000 PR contract awarded by the Nigerian Embassy in the US to Mercury Public Affairs.
Read our reports on these frivolous contracts here, here and here.
The latest image laundering contract awarded by the CBN has an initial fixed payment of $95,000, more than N33 million at the parallel market exchange rate today, and is for a period of three months beginning from April 18 to July 17, 2016.   The contract agreement, however, gives wide room for APCO to negotiate further fees when necessary during the life of the contract.
According to a document obtained from the US Department of Justice by icirnigeria.org, APCO is expected to provide media relations, stakeholder engagement, and strategic communications services for Nigeria within the United States.
“Registrant (APCO) has contracted with Davebrook Digital PR Services Limited to provide services for the foreign principal (CBN) within the United States to promote positive relations between the United States and the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the document states.
The document states further: “A copy of the Registrant’s agreement with Davebrook Digital PR Services Limited is attached. The Registrant commenced services within the United States for the foreign principal starting on June 1, 2016.”
The CBN contract raises too many questions with nobody purportedly involved in it ready to provide answers. There are also many curious things about the contract.
First, the CBN did not award the contract directly to APCO but purportedly hired a Nigerian public relations firm, Davebrook Digital PR Services, to engage the US PR consultants. Davebrook, according to the document is located at No 1, Asabi Cole, Ikeja, Lagos.
“THIS MASTER ENGAGEMENT AGREEMENT (Agreement) made and entered into as of April 18,2016 (Effective Date) with offices located at 90 Long Acre, London by and between APCO Worldwide Limited WC2E 9RA, United Kingdom (“APCO”) and Davebrook Digital PR Services Limited…(“Client”)…” are the exact words of the agreement.
Another curious point in the contract is that although APCO is an American firm, the contract is enforced by laws of the United Kingdom and Wales, not US statutes. Thus, the person who signed the document for APCO, which is headquartered in Washington, is James Acheson – Gray, the managing director of the firm’s London office.
Of the questions the contract raises, perhaps the most obvious is why the Buhari administration, which has enjoyed worldwide support and goodwill since its emergence in May last year, would need to embark on any image laundering exercise.
Besides, why would the CBN be the government agency to award a PR contract when the ministry of information and the office of the media adviser to the president exist?
Also, what will the Buhari administration benefit from a three-month image laundering job in the US?
But, most importantly, was due process followed in the award of the contract? For this kind of contract, the Public Procurement Act requires that the contract be advertised in at least two international newspapers and a bidding process conducted, among other due processes. From our investigations, it is unlikely that any of these processes was followed.
What clearly proves the contract to be bogus, however, is that the Nigerian firm which the CBN purportedly hired to award the contract to APCO denied any knowledge of its existence.
When our reporter contacted the Managing Director of Davebrook, Adesida Adelekan, who is shown to have signed the document for the CBN, to speak on the PR job, he expressed shock that his company was linked to a contract awarded by CBN. He said his company had never handled or been involved in any public relations contract with or for the apex bank.
“This is news to me. Please I want more details about this contract because this is the first time I’m hearing about it. We don’t have any contract with either the CBN or the federal government,” he declared, adding that some people might be using his company’s name to feather their nests.
But the biggest scandal of all is the denial by the CBN of any knowledge of the contract. When our reporter contacted the spokesman of the regulatory bank, Isaac Okorafor, to clarify issues surrounding the contract, he said that it does not exist as there was nothing in the records of the bank regarding it.
When he was first told of the contract, Mr. Okorafor denied any knowledge and said he would not “respond to a rumour.” He asked whether the reporter had evidence of the contract to which he got an affirmative response.
Mr. Okorafor then asked the reporter to “do an email stating the details of the contract.” On Tuesday morning, the CBN spokesman called our reporter to say that he had searched everywhere and asked everyone, but there was nothing about the contract in their books.
“I have searched through our system, I’ve asked around and looked out for what you said at every corner of our office and I can’t find anything like that. If you have any evidence or document to show me, you can scan it and show it to me,” he stated.
Asked if he confirmed from Kingsley Obiora whose name is provided as the liaison person for the bank, Mr. Okorafor said the CBN governor’s aide also denied knowledge of the contract.
“I am telling you I haven’t seen anything. I’ve asked everybody. So if you have any document to show me you can scan and send to me…” he said.
He refused further discussion on the matter and added that the newspaper could go ahead and publish falsehood.
“I have answered your question. If you want to go ahead and publish falsehood, you can go ahead. You can’t expect me to comment on a document I have not seen. I am a professional.”
Also curious is the refusal of APCO to respond to issues concerning the contract. An email sent to Mr. Acheson last week Thursday was not replied until press time. Margery Kraus, founder and executive chairman of APCO, who is based in the US, also did not reply an email sent to her email.
By U S law, specifically the Foreign Agents Registration Act OF 1938, as amended, every firm providing services for a foreign principal is required to provide detailed information about any contract signed.
The document in the possession of the icirnigeria.org was filed and signed on June 9, 2016 by Terry Judd, a senior director at APCO on behalf of the PR firm. He gives the registrant’s name as APCO Worldwide Inc. and its address as 1299 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20004.
In the filing, the foreign principal is given as “Central Bank of Nigeria (through Davebrook Digital PR Services Limited)” with address at “Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way, Central Business District, Cadastral Zone, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.”
Also, in the document, the name and title of the official with whom registrant deals with is given as “Kingsley Obiora, Special Adviser to the Governor (Economic Matters) Central Bank of Nigeria.”
The detailed activity for which the PR firm will provide the CBN for three months at the cost of $95,000 is “media relations, stakeholder engagement, and strategic communications services within the United States to promote positive relations between the United States and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The contract document was signed on April 20, 2016 by Acheson- Gray and Adesida.
However, the contract document itself was not filed as an annexture with the US Department of Justice as required by law. When our reporter checked www.fara.gov, the contract document was missing and he had to physically go to the Washington office of the Department of Justice to collect it. The official who provided the full contract document could not explain why it was missing in the documents filed with the Department of Justice.
The chief executive officer of the Public and Private Development Centre, PPDC, which advocates transparency in budget and public procurement processes, Seember Nyager, questions the entire contract and condemned the trend whereby public funds are being frivolously expended by several agencies of government to launder the country’s image.
“All government contracts must be bound by the Public Procurement law as long as state resources are involved. All contract will have to be through competitive bidding unless there is a reason to use a restricted method, and even then there has to be a justifiable reason,” she said.
“In any case why is CBN the one to award a PR contract for government? Is it because they have the resources?” she queried.
“I don’t think it is a good use of our resources. The unfortunate thing is that these things keep happening,” she said.
This report was first published by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. We have their permission to republish here.
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Documents expose Nigerian lawmakers’ massive budget fraud

Inside the chambers of the House of Representatives
Inside the chambers of the House of Representatives
To pass the 2016 Appropriation Bill, Nigerian lawmakers engaged in what appeared as massive fraud, allocating obscene amounts of money to themselves to purportedly execute thousands of fictitious ‘constituency projects’, documents made available to PREMIUM TIMES have shown.
The documents were sent to this newspaper as tension intensified in the House of Representatives over the unfolding budget padding scandal.
The crisis was sparked by the removal of former appropriations committee chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin, from his post.
The Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, announced Mr. Jibrin’s departure in a statement on the floor of the lower chamber, saying he betrayed the trust reposed in him by his colleagues.
But in a blistering response, Mr. Jibrin denied the allegations, saying it was Mr. Dogara who in fact attempted to smuggle billions into the budget.
Mr. Jibrin also lashed out at Deputy Speaker, Lasun Yusuf; House Whip, Alhassan Doguwa; and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, accusing them of colluding with Mr. Dogara to fraudulently insert up to N40 billion in new expenses for themselves from the National Assembly budget.
After several weeks of extensive negotiation and intrigues between the executive and the National Assembly, the 2016 budget was finally passed in April and President Buhari signed it into law on May 6.
But the damning documents sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday showed how lawmakers sought Speaker Dogara’s benevolence to approve various ‘projects’ for themselves in their respective constituencies.
From provision for solar-powered boreholes in Kano to an urgent need to feed police cadets in Bauchi, lawmakers inundated Mr. Jibrin with requests to pad the 2016 budget with mainly projects they had no business canvassing for.
Many lawmakers jumped on the gravy train and routed their requests for ‘constituency projects’ through Speaker Dogara, the documents showed.
One of the documents showed how a whopping N2.8 billion was earmarked for just 56 of such petty projects.
The documents also showed that Speaker Dogara arbitrarily approved amounts for the fraudulent projects without any systematic costing, indicating that the requesting lawmakers were never expected to execute the projects, but to pocket the allocations.
Jonathan Gbefwi, one of the lawmakers whose names appeared on the documents, did not answer PREMIUM TIMES’ repeated calls and SMS for comments. Three other lawmakers had their lines switched off.
Mr. Dogara has vowed to remain silent in the face of the allegations, saying he would allow the House treat them at institutional level.
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Sunday, 24 July 2016

Budget padding scandal: Groups want EFCC, ICPC to investigate Nigerian lawmakers

Dogara Jibrin
Nigerian civil society groups on Sunday called on the leadership of the House of Representatives to allow anti-corruption agencies commence detailed investigation into allegations that principal officers attempted to smuggle line items into the 2016 Appropriation Bill.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, and the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, in separate exchanges with PREMIUM TIMES this morning said only a thorough inquiry into the alleged sharp practices could unravel the circumstances under which they were perpetrated.
The civic groups’ demand came in the wake of fresh allegations of unethical inflation of budget figures by the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, and other principal officers during the consideration of the 2016 budget proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Leading the charge against Mr. Dogara was Abdulmumin Jibrin, a lawmaker from Kano State, who said the speaker colluded with his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Whip Leo Ogor to earmark up to ₦40 billion to themselves in the National Assembly budget.
The lawmakers denied the allegations and said Mr. Jibrin was expressing the scorn he felt after being sacked as chairman of Committee on Appropriation amid allegations of serial betrayal of the House.
Mr. Jibrin in turn denied the allegations, saying he was being victimised for asserting himself as an independent voice and that the he willingly resigned because he had grown disillusioned with the position.
The budget was passed and signed into law by Mr. Buhari in April.
Mr. Dogara should “urgently refer to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for an effective and independent investigation the allegations that the leadership of the House attempted to pad this year’s budget to the tune of N40 billion and that the member who blew the whistle was victimized for opposing immunity for principal officers,” the executive director of SERAP, Adetokunboh Mumuni, said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday.
“There must be full accountability for any leader or member of the House found to be responsible for corruption and abuse of office.”
Mr. Mumuni said, due to the “seriousness and gravity of the allegations” against the principal officers, the House cannot conduct any sufficient investigation. Hence, the appropriate agencies charged with investigating graft and other official malfeasances must be allowed to look into the issues.
To forestall similar situation in the future, the activist suggested that the House should immediately pass a bill that would further strengthen ethical conduct of lawmakers.
Such a law would help “restore public confidence in the National Assembly; provide a check against corruption; and protect the leadership of the House and Senate from claims and criticisms of self-interest,” he said.
Ibrahim Zikirullahi, the chairman of TMG, said the development had exposed Nigerian lawmakers as unprincipled people.
The allegations and counter-allegations “showed the character of men and women that we have in the Assembly because they introduced selfish interests to delay the document that was needed to take care of the nation,” Mr. Zikirullahi said.
He said Mr. Dogara and other lawmakers named in the scandal must not be allowed to walk away from it unscathed, saying their case cannot be an outlier because the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, were also answering charges of misconduct before the court.
“They need to be thoroughly investigated and, if possible, prosecuted.”
Debo Adeniran, the chairman of CACOL, said the bickering among the lawmakers should be seen in positive light by all Nigerians.
“Definitely, it’s a good omen for Nigerians when leaders of that sort begin to expose each other,” Mr. Adeniran said. “It’s only each of the two tortoises that knows how to bite one another. So it’s good that they’re biting and exposing themselves.”
Mr. Adeniran said Nigerians would have been more worried about the situation if the lawmakers had displayed keen interest in improving the lot of people who elected them as representatives.
“We know they have not been performing the functions that we sent them to perform.”
He said the ongoing crisis in the legislature might not be unconnected with the prevailing frustration they are grappling with regards to accessing public funds, which, he said, was brought about by the implementation of the Treasury Single Account policy of Mr. Buhari’s government.
“They don’t have direct access to slush funds that there would be a high level of bitterness,” Mr. Adeniran said. “They don’t have as much illicit money as they would have wanted for themselves. So they’re pained by that.”
Mr. Adeniran called for a review of the laws that govern the funding of the National Assembly to vest more power in the accountant general and the auditor general of the federation to monitor financial flow to the lawmakers in order to make it even more difficult for the them to access money from public coffers.
“The accountant general and audition general should begin to have a supervision about how they get funded,” Mr. Adeniran said. “Even if they pad the budget, they won’t be able to escape the prying eye of the accountant general.”
“They have unfettered access to funds now and that should not be.”

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Budget padding scandal: Jibrin raises fresh allegations against Speaker Dogara, others


Dogara Jibrin

The crossfire between a former chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Adbdulmumin Jibrin, and the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, continued on Sunday, with Mr. Jibrin dropping yet another round of allegations.
Mr. Jibrin was ousted from his position as the chairman of the all-important committee on allegations of serial betrayal of trust.
Although Mr. Jibrin denied that he was removed from office or that he betrayed lawmakers, he’d nonetheless continued to release details of how the 2016 budget was to be padded by Mr. Dogara and other lawmakers.
Mr. Jibrin, a lawmaker from Kano State, said the speaker colluded with his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa, and Minority Whip Leo Ogor to earmark up to ₦40 billion to themselves in the National Assembly budget. And that he was the one who thwarted their plot.
The lawmakers denied the allegations and said Mr. Jibrin was expressing the scorn he felt after being sacked as chairman of Committee on Appropriation.
Mr. Dogara has remained quiet, saying he would allow the House deal with the attacks from Mr. Jibrin “institutionally.”
In the latest revelations, which were contained in an email he distributed Sunday evening, Mr. Jibrin said Mr. Dogara and principal officers he named in his allegations should stop victimising him and allow an atmosphere in which detailed investigation could be commenced into the scandal as he was ready to come out with proofs to substantiate his claims.
The allegations also included a step-by-step guide of how Mr. Dogara allegedly hijacked the budget consideration process in other to introduce frivolous line items as a way of forcing through his alleged selfish interest.
Mr. Jibrin said he wrote the statement to clarify the fact that his allegations were against Mr. Dogara and the others, but he ended up giving new insights into what he said w here Mr. Dogara’s pervasive corruption.
Some civil society groups have called for independent investigations of the various allegations by the anti-graft agencies.

Read the unedited full statement below:

MY ALLEGATIONS ARE AGAINST THE QUARTET OF SPEAKER YAKUBU DOGARA, DEPUTY SPEAKER YUSUF LASUN, HOUSE WHIP ALHASSAN DOGUWA AND MINORITY LEADER LEO OGOR NOT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AS AN INSTITUTION AS MR SPEAKER DESPERATELY WANTS HONOURABLE MEMBERS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO BELIEVE.
I am compelled again for the purpose of emphasis to state categorically clear that my allegations are against the quartet of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor not the Honourable House as an institution nor other members of the body of principal officers. The other members of the body of principal officers were to the best of my knowledge completely excluded from decisions on the 2016 budget and the budget inputs inserted on their names were exclusively carried out by these QUARTET.
I have to state this very clearly because these QUARTET have resorted to desperate moves to drag the entire House of Representatives into the case of gross abuse of office I have levelled against them as individual Presiding and Principal officers of the House. This is clearly a mischievous move to set me on collision with the entire house. They have also recruited four from the VERY FEW members of their cabal to use some elements of the Nigeria police to kidnap, harass, blackmail and intimidate me into silence.
Until yesterday, the police were laying siege by my house blocking the entrance and exit shouting that they want budget documents. They embarrassed my entire family with a nursing mother and a seven-month old baby that cried all night. The game plan was to arrest me and dump me in police net while a heavy media propaganda will be carried out to mislead the world that I have been sacked and police have picked me up as a culprit in 2016 budget. Whenever I am released, an irreparable damage would have been done to my person and that will stick for life.
As God Almighty will have it, I had travelled out of town before they could execute their evil plan. God is always with the innocent. The members in the thick of this plot are Hon Jagaba Adams, Hon Jika both chairmen interior and police affairs respectively, Hon Muhammed Bago, Hon Muhammed Zakari and the last one I need not to introduce him to Nigerians, you know him better and know what he is best remembered for. He is the one who threatened my life and the police are yet to take a single action on him. He is now the Leader of the Dogara cabal. He calls the shots in the House. He makes all the decisions of Mr Speaker. He talks down on members and gets away with it. He has SUDDENLY began living such an expensive life style. Lately, a former influential principal officer of the House complained bitterly that it is only Dogara that will hand such a committee to a person like Hon Herma Hembe of this world, chairman FCT. They have been running from pillar to post looking for evidence in their wild dream to nail me. I made a huge sacrifice to leave, shouldn’t they just leave me alone?
I therefore urge my Hon. colleagues and the general public to call on Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the 3 other principal officers to stop their desperate attempt to drag the entire House of Representatives into this matter. They should also stop using the House Spokesman Hon Namdas to issue statements in respect to these allegations because it is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public into believing that they have the backing of the entire House on this matter. They should come out and defend themselves and prepare for the investigation that will be instituted by the House on this matter. At least the Minority Leader and Whip have attempted some response which are at best lame! The House of Representatives as an institution must live above board and will continue to survive beyond people who abuse public trust like Mr. Speaker and his 3 cohorts.
Let me make further revelations in addition to the ones I have already made which are in public glare.
ONE: During the budget period, when they discovered that I was not the kind of a person they could use to perpetrate their illegality, Mr. Speaker and the 3 other principal officers took away the entire Appropriation Committee Secretariat to a secret location where all sort of insertions were made into the budget. The blackmail has always been – “Abdul people will laugh at you if anything goes wrong between you and Dogara because of the lead role you played and the many toes you stepped on to get him elected”. It’s been a painful experience.
Again the secretariat was taken away from me on Speaker Dogara’s instruction for the second time to a location I don’t know and all sort of insertions into the budgets were made and returned to me for signature. I said over my dead body! It was a massive crisis behind the scene until the early morning of the Friday that Mr President assented the budget. It was Sen Danjuma Goje that brokered a compromise that since the Deputy Speaker leads the harmonization committee, he should also sign such that the harmonization committee will share responsibility with us. Senator Goje pleaded with me so hard all night and later shouted heavily on me reminding me that he is not talking to me as a Senator but as a father. I cried heavily all night.
TWO: When the budget harmonization committee headed by Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun gave out 80% concession across board to the executive demands during the harmonization negotiation, it was agreed that the remaining 20% should go to the entire NASS. The Deputy Speaker excused himself that he wanted to go and consult with Mr Speaker. He came back after few hours and in an unprecedented display of greed presented to me a hand written note distributing the remaining 20% to only principal officers. 70% of the 20% was reserved for Mr Speaker and himself while the remaining 30% of the 20% goes to other principal officers. I am sure he will recognize the hand writing when he sees it. My colleagues didn’t know all of these.
THREE: Mr. Speaker also directed me to create what I advised him will be a controversial line item under service wide vote to introduce about N20 billion project using the name of NASS. He directed me to see a highly placed PDP politician which I did and collected the documents. I advised him repeatedly against it but he kept pressuring me until I bluntly told him I will not!
FOUR: When the Appropriation Committee received all the budget reports from standing committees, an analysis was conducted. We discovered that about 10 only out of the 96 Standing Committees of the House introduced about 2,000 (two thousand) projects without the knowledge of their committee members amounting to about N284, 000, 000, 000 (Two hundred and eighty-four billion naira). I was alarmed. But I was cautious because at our pre-budget meeting with the committee chairmen, I was clearly warned not to touch their budgets. I reported the matter to the speaker. He did nothing about it obviously because he was working behind the scene with the committee chairmen. That was the beginning of the whole budget problem from the side of House and the whole exercise had to go through several versions before it was passed.
So, is it Abdul that introduced 2000 projects into budget worth N284 billion? But I quietly bore the pain and abuses from all over the country and continued to defend the committee inputs as a show of loyalty to the institution I represent which I so much love and still have many great minds in there. Apart from Chairman Agriculture Hon Mongunu who owned up and explained his inputs at the only executive session I was allowed to attend, the other few chairmen who loaded the budget kept quiet and watched me bashed from every angle by angry Nigerians.
People have asked why did I wait this long to open up, so much was happening behind the scene. I fought the battle of my life to raise these issues internally and get Mr. Speaker to address them to no avail. I pushed so hard that I got frustrated and depressed. All my attempts met brick walls. That was why some members were always raising their voice against me because they do not have the facts. I later on realized that the Speaker enjoyed that so much and colluded with his cabal to dump everything on me. I am sure not too long some members that knew what I went through will come out and testify. I also have evidence to show my internal struggles.
In any case, under circumstances like this, and for young people like us that are lucky to have accelerated career growth, the system scares you from becoming a whistle blower. They will tell you that if you do such, nobody will trust you or have confidence in you again. They will scare you that it is not good for your image and it will affect your career progression. Many young people in different sectors are faced with such frustrating situation. Even at the moment, if I take the advice of some people, I will get deeply scared and just keep quiet, so that I can grow career wise? My usual response to them is that, isn’t that selfish? Your only luck will be if a trigger occurs then you open up. This is one such trigger! In any case, I would have opened up anyway. I have written so much about these issues and more on NASS. I posted over a month ago on my Facebook page that I will release the piece as part of my 40th birthday in September. Well, I never knew it will come much earlier.
Some people are also saying I kept quiet while it was good and now I am talking because things have gone sour. Many members of the House and Nigerians will be shocked to know that there has NEVER been good times between myself and Speaker Dogara. It took few weeks after his election as Speaker for me to realize I never really knew him well. I was hasty to judge him by his innocent looking personality. We practically disagree on everything. From when he started conducting himself like a lord, wanting everybody around him to just say yes sir and go, shutting and looking down at his colleagues, playing double game between the executive and legislature, drafting of a new house rule, senseless splitting of committees which raised the numbers of committees to 96, appointment of committee chairmen, Chairmanship of NILS, issues of bills and allotment of sponsors, chairmanship of budget consultative committee, budget process and house inputs, the PIB, his divide and rule approach, his frequent dealings with heads of MDA’s as if he is a committee chairman and so many other issues. In all of these issues, there is none that has not remained controversial till date.
All these forced me to stay away from him except on official assignment. I can count how (many)times I have been to his office or home. I stayed away completely. It was such a frustrating and depressing period for me. Who will I complain to? How do I face the world and say I got it wrong after playing such a lead role in his emergence? When you see a house you sacrificed everything to build is falling apart and the driver believes he is firmly in charge because he has 8 votes advantage, you are left with no choice than to tie your seat belt for obvious eventuality.
I must admit I made an error of judgement. I don’t know to whom and from where I will start apologising for not heeding to wise counsel. There is nothing I am saying now that I have not discussed or warned speaker Dogara on the few occasions that I sorted and got private audience with him. But he has been hijacked and surrounded himself with a small cabal of sycophants, corrupt, mediocre, money hungry, vindictive, envious, self-serving small minds who have already done an irreparable damage to his person and office.
Speaker Dogara has completely derailed, remains clueless, keeps on with an unmatched ego and surely leading the House to the biggest scandal it may ever experience. He has failed to live above the fog in public duty and private thinking, a direct opposite of what my favourite American Poet Josiah Gilbet Holland prayed Lord to grant us in leaders.
All I am asking for is my right to be heard by my colleagues which they denied me. I am calling on my colleagues to plead with Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Lasun, Whip Doguwa and Minority leader Ogor to stop obstructing justice and allow me my right to be heard by the House. It is the House that will institute a special investigation on this matter to allow me testify and provide evidence before any other external action.
I will make a more detailed statement in due course.
 PremiumTimes
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How Times have Changed - By Kenneth Gyado

From: GG PLATFORM. Courtesy Mohammed Adebola.


 As a student of mass communications in the late 80s, one of my elective subjects was introduction to Sociology. My lecturer then was Dr Sam Ibeabuchi, a well groomed and elitist scholar whose trademark was his immaculate appearance. His students called him " the dapper professor".  We all looked foward to his lectures and I must say that some of us feverently waited to see his perfectly manicured mustache, his well knotted tie and his matching pocket square. He sure knew how to choose his suits.
while the Professor's spotless appearance was a distraction to most students especially the female ones who usually swarmed around him, some of us never lost the import of his often repeated mantra which was " the adaptive Nigerian Personality" . Dr Ibeabuchi was very passionate in highlighting how the Nigerian was the most adaptive to situations in the world.  He taught this subject at the peak of the anti-SAP protests of 1988 when prices of commodities spiraled out of control due to the harsh economic policies of the Babangida administration.  He kept reminding us that the protests will last a few days and life will return to normal. This according to him is because the Nigerian society is growing progressively individualistic with a tendency to focus on self survival rather than the collective good.
This way of thought has affected the sense of right or wrong. In Nigeria there is no objective yardstick of measuring right and wrong. The phenomenon of RIGHT and WRONG  is defined by how the situation affects the individual.. It is purely a matter of personal perspective.
The coming on board of President Muhammadu Buhari has tested this theory of the  adaptive Nigerian Personality. For the first time, it seems that Nigerians especially the elite are finding it difficult to adapt to the changing times. Maybe the elite have been unprepared for the kind of Change that Buhari has brought upon the nation. The loudest cries we hear today are from people who were perceived yesterday to be very wealthy. These were people who lived obscene lifestyles fueled by free funds stolen from government coffers or borrowed from banks. They hosted lavish parties at the pleasure spots of the world aboard yachts and in villas.
I remember a bizzare birthday celebration in the immidiate past era. One of the nouveau Rich entrepreneurs turned 40 in 2011. He took up 40 full color pages in a popular newspaper to mark his birthday. This is only half the story. The grand finale of this festival of waste held in one of the ultra luxury hotels in Dubai. Your invitation card came with a fully paid airline ticket and your room key at this hotel where three whole floors were reserved for Guests. I won't waste time describing the decadent consumption of choice civilized wines and the presence of commercial bodies at hand.
Another "billionaire " mogul held the wedding of his son in a similar fashion in Dubai. The Nigerian elite is known for his waste culture. They want to own villas in the signature spots of the world. They want to be seen at the Côte d'Azur in France. They want to be in Marbella . They own expansive palaces On Alpine drive in Beverly Hills where they only visit once in 5 years.They want to enjoy sunny summers in Sardinia and the carribean islands when they have sunlight all year round in Nigeria. A semiliterate fool once told me he loves Italy because he enjoys breakfast in Rome, lunch in Florence and dinner in Venice.
They own own private planes but lack the destinations to fly them there. They fly women in first class cabins at the drop of a hat. They occupy the biggest suites in the best hotels around the world. They enjoy limousine pickups and "escort services " . They are a pimp's delight as their presence means brisk business. They host decadent parties where girls the age of their daughters entertain them in unprintable ways.
Fast foward to the post 2015 era and it is a different ball game. There are cries and gnashing of teeth especially among the elite reminiscent of the old Mexican soap opera, " the rich also cry". The Nigerian comprador bourgeoisie  has now been reduced to feel the pain they subjected the rest of us to for so many Years. Their garages are now filled up with cars needing various forms of mechanical attention. Some are grounded because the Nigerian state can no longer fuel them. The young girls are crying because parties don't hold as often as they used to. They are also weeping because even when they hold there is no more TFC ( thanks for coming). I am told that in the past era, the going TFC rate was 500,000 each. Half a million Naira for appearance fees at orgy laden parties!. If 20 girls arrive for instance, it's N10,000,000 and this is outside the fees paid for any one on one transaction.
The airlines fly empty luxury cabins because the free source of funds have dried up. A visit to the Presidential  villa which had its own TFC rate of $50,000 is no longer as lucrative. The Nigerian big man now seats on his sofa and  spreads his account details around via text messages as if they are casting lots or playing a lottery. it is now an era of digital begging. The common chorus now is " make I send my account?"
The current situation has exposed yesterday's big men as lazy and unproductive leeches who bled the country to its current sorry state. They add no value whatsoever . They only believe in pressing the country down while feathering their individual nests. In other countries , the elite prosper from the growth of their countries. An example is the Arab states where the ruling elite have become unbelievably wealthy as the states grew. In Nigeria, the elite prosper while the country collapses. This explains why a group of people will share billions of dollars meant to buy arms while insurgents ravage the citizenry. It explains why governors buy homes for harlots and buy million dollar wrist watches while teachers remain unpaid. This is the reason why some common sense proponents collect huge loans from banks and end up buying mansions in Los Angeles.
A band of people who were used to freebies and who suddenly have realized that things have changed will surely muster the remaining energy in them to resist. They are now having a taste of the reality they imposed on others. Prof Ibeabuchi  will need to propound a new theory because these elite are proving to be incapable of actualizing the Nigerian adaptive personality model. Our Ogas are not rich men after all. They a merely a group of thieves and debtors.
citizen reporter Kenneth Gyado
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