How Jonathan Will Lose in 2015 By Bayo Olupohunda

With no known accomplishment in public service, President Goodluck Jonathan rode to the Presidency in 2011 on a wave of undefined hope with the assistance of an unsuspecting media, and a gullible electorate. To his supporters, Jonathan was a bolt of lightning that would unite Nigeria, restore prosperity, and bring “a breath of fresh air” to the polluted politics of Abuja, and Nigeria in general. His detractors, on the other hand, saw a recluse with a murky past and little evidence to warrant the adulation heaped on him. Who was right? As his first term drags on painfully, it has become clear that Nigerians who supported and voted for him had invested their hope in a phantom. Under Jonathan’s leadership, the economy has, forget the chest-thumping rhetoric of the finance minister, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, been a mess and this country has never been more divided. It has now turned out that electing one based on little other than the sentimental rhetoric of a deprived childhood may not have been such a good idea after all. To say that Jonathan was a phenomenon in 2011 will not be an exaggeration. He ran a huge campaign and broke records in vote totals. But it will be impossible for him to match those levels of excitement in 2015.

Usually, in a presidential election, the odds of getting re-elected have always favoured the incumbent. But in a depressed economy like ours, or when the public perceives the incumbent as feckless in spending, dithering or simply not up to the task, this conventional wisdom will not matter. And that is the case with President Jonathan. Several factors, when taken together, make it almost impossible for him to win a re-election in 2015. President Jonathan cannot win. This President has several key flaws which have already blighted his Presidency. His most telling undoing, of course, has been the fact that he has not been much of a party leader with his party now crumbling under his watch. To begin with, the mist has cleared and millions of Nigerians (except for sycophants) have seen with their own eyes that “the breath of fresh air’’ was just more of the same old political rhetoric. In 2015, Jonathan’s campaign will not have the historical significance it did in 2011.


Second, which is the reason for this piece is how the demographics that saw him elected President will work against him in 2015. The President has alienated just too many Nigerians, including large numbers from his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party. In 2015, many will vote against him or simply just stay home–that’s for want of a credible and well-accepted candidate from the opposition. President Jonathan is a self-created myth. There is little substance behind the façade other than the deceptive style of politics that has long defined Nigerian politicians.

In 2011, his campaign avoided specifics; his speeches contained no substance. His greatest asset was his “unknownness.” As a blank slate, Nigerians imagined whatever they wanted in the next president. They were aided by a campaign which played up the sentiments of his deprived childhood. It was a deceptive farce cleverly scripted to mirror the lives of ordinary Nigerians who immediately connected with someone they thought was one of their own. How wrong have they been? He was thought to be an outsider who would clean up Abuja. Any PDP presidential candidate who gained the nomination in 2011 was likely ensured the presidency. Having said that, Jonathan will lose the next election because his greatest asset, his “unknownness”, no longer exists. The imagination of Nigerians can no longer be manipulated in the presence of facts. Simply put, Jonathan will not be re-elected because ordinary Nigerians can now see him for who he is. What people are getting now is nothing like what they were promised or imagined. What was a blank slate upon which to imagine a Jonathan presidency now is a full-blown portrait filled with disappointment and more of the same. Gradually, it is appearing a great mistake was made in 2011. That mistake is now apparent to most Nigerians. Even his South-South home base and party stalwarts in the PDP establishment recognise his failings, although neither is willing to publicly discuss them. It is hoped that the PDP will have the courage to look elsewhere in their next convention. Although that is unthinkable, they can only hope that this election does not destroy what remains of the party. The cracks are already visible. Based on the debacle presently rocking his party, that fear is not unfounded.

The most compelling image of Jonathan is the one showing him ducking all of the tough issues that have come his way. For him, the buck stopped with a plethora of committees and with Okonjo-Iweala. But her Bretton Wood prescriptions have worsened the economy with unemployment figures reaching a record high.

Why and how Jonathan will lose this next election is less difficult to understand than how he won the first time. Certainly, the demographics will be less favourable this time unless something dramatic happens during the polls. In 2011, the President won in almost all the zones of the federation. In 2015, he will not have such a luxury. Take the South-West zone for example. The zone was a battleground which contributed immensely to his first term victory. In 2015, it will present a test case for Jonathan. For one, the influence of his party has waned in the zone. In many of the South-West states, for example, the PDP has become too fractious and weakened. The emergence of the All Progressives Congress, with Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) and Bola Tinubu hoping to consolidate on a renewed alliance will make the South-West a no-win for the President. If the alliance between the APC (Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani) work, Jonathan’s second term is best forgotten. If the opposition presents a credible candidate, perhaps, it will be the first time an incumbent will be defeated. The South-West and the North are key battleground zones. The crisis rocking the fractious PDP fuelled by his controversial chairman, Bamanga Tukur, may yet turn out to be his Achilles’ heels.

The politics of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum also offers a glimpse into how Jonathan will not be re-elected. Governor Chibuike Amaechi won 19 out of 35 votes in the NGF chairmanship election, while Governor Jonah Jang got 16 votes with the Yobe State Governor abstaining. Many of the governors who voted for Amaechi have sympathy for the APC. Seven of the nine PDP governors that supported Amaechi are now in the “New PDP” with a chance of defecting to the APC anytime: Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Adamawa, Rivers, Kwara and Niger (also called the G7 governors). Kebbi and Gombe are still in the Jonathan camp of the “Old PDP” but their next move is almost predictable. Note that Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Niger, Kebbi and Gombe all voted for Buhari in 2011. The South-East zone, which also has a valid claim to the presidency, will intensify its quest in 2015. It may likely pitch its tent with the party that offers the best chance to actualise this dream. Will Jonathan be a one-term president? It is very likely.

Tinubu, Buhari, Other APC Leaders to Visit Obasanjo

The All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders are planning to have discussions with former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as soon he returns from his trip abroad.
According to a party source, the meeting with Obasanjo is seen as very important and strategic considering his perceived influence and link with the leadership of the PDP splinter group and the G-7 governors.
He disclosed that the APC lobby team has been on the trail of the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) before now but missed an opportunity to hold talks with him last week before his trip to Hong Kong.
Among those billed to meet Obasanjo at his Ota residence are the former head of state, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rdt), former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, party’s interim national chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and erstwhile National Chairman of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.
Meanwhile, the party has asked the three committees on Contact, Mobilisation and Fund Raising to swing into action immediately.
It specially instructed its contact committee headed by the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomohle to commence measures to attract more prominent personalities into the party’s fold, taking advantage of the spill-over effects of the raging crisis in the PDP is having in the states..
A member of the contact committee and former national chairman of PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who spoke on the mandate, said the committee has been charged to go out and canvass for new members, reaching out to the high and mighty in the process.

OsunDefender

Why it is difficult for me to re-marry – Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole celebrated his 5th anniversary as governor of Edo state last Tuesday in grand style. After the colourful occasion, Oshiomhole discussed national issues and his life as a widower with journalists and he declared that his greatest regret in life today is the death of his dear wife Clara. He spoke on other national issues. Excerpts:
By SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City
It’s your 5th anniversary as Governor of Edo State, but your opponents would feel this elaborate celebration was a waste of state resources
We are not like any other government, our selling point is the trust line between the governed and the government and every responsible and honest steward must as a matter of duty and obligation account to his master. I’m the steward of Edo State. I have the privilege to be entrusted with the management of the resources of the state and the state is not made up of few elites but of people in the rural areas and as well those in the Urban area.
In terms of election, the people are more in number than the elites and so on the occasion of my 5th anniversary and my first year in my second term as I have done over the past four years, it has been a tradition to face the people and tell them what has changed since November, 2008 to 2012 and today but more particularly between last year and now so that they follow the progress we are making.
If you call that extravagance, well that was your choice of words but I call it practical accountability and open governance. In the trade union world when you are elected, at a certain period you hold your meeting, you give report of your achievements and where you have challenges, you explain them to the people so I don’t see what was extravagant.
I didn’t see people drinking champagne or eating, rather I saw women under the sun, maybe when we finished few people came to the government house to eat. My complain when I was in the NLC was that politicians make promises at the beginning and in between, they don’t render account but for me, at the heart of democracy is the commitment to report to your employers what you have done with the tools with which you are asked to work and that is what we did today and that is what we have done in the past four years and God’s willing, we would do it over the next few years.
And I want to lay a foundation that a future government would feel obliged year to year to tell the people what they did with their mandate.
You sounded too harsh on the issue of signing death warrants, why?
I am sure you are familiar with the fact that the governor has the last input when a criminal or a suspect is apprehended. It goes through trials, the charges are laid before the court and he is invited to come and defend himself before the prosecutors to establish the guilt, the judge makes up his mind whether the case has been proven or not,where he is convinced he has that judgment and the suspect can appeal up to the Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court is convinced that the person is guilty and hands out death penalty and it is the requirement of the constitution that the governor accents to it. If the Supreme Court finds out that 20 people were guilty of murder and they sentence twenty people to death and the governor in line with the constitutional requirement signs the sentences, what is reckless in that?
When a reporter files a story, it goes through the newsroom, the sub-editor, the line editor looks at it, the editor signs the paper, is that a reckless process? I have no apologies like I said at the stadium. If you are convicted as a kidnapper because you killed the victim, I will sign the death warrant because you have no reason to take the life of another man or woman.
You did mention that you copied certain strategies from Lagos State, what was the situation in Edo when you came?
People don’t like to say they copy except when you talk about America and Europe but what I’m saying is that there are a lot of good things that are happening in the Nigerian environment and sometimes, you need to go out to find what works and adopt it.
Lagos has always been there and at a point, things were so bad that Lagos became so impossible that you used odd numbers and even numbers to manage your traffic and senior military officers were deployed to use the horse whip to enforce simple traffic rules.
That was how bad Lagos was. General Obasanjo was reported as saying that Lagos was a jungle, today Lagos is not a perfect place but everybody agrees that good things are happening in Lagos.
Ojuelegba used to be where we recruit our area boys when we want to make Lagos a bit less comfortable for the big people plying the road. The last time I passed Ojuelegba, I couldn’t find area boys. Lagos was known for de-humanizing mass transit called Molue where you enter with clean clothes and come out with tattered rags and we are beginning to see roads that where blocked and opened up with several lanes.
So for me, that shows that things are changing in Lagos but we need to understand what has led to those changes. By 1999 when Tinubu was the governor I had to represent workers before him and he was obliged to convince me why he won’t do the level of wages we wanted him to pay and I realized that from that interaction, Lagos revenue was N600m.
But today, I understand from IGR that Lagos generates some good amount and with that, they have been able to connect some bridges, things have changed in Lagos. Oshodi has been cleaned up. So it was something for me to copy and I said, I shamelessly went to Lagos to proudly copy what works and I came back to Edo to re-engineer our tax system and we raised our own locally generated revenue from about N285m and at a point, we hit N2billion because we didn’t need to depend on Abuja to be able to do everything that we needed to do.
It requires courage, clear thinking and a level of determination to be able to get the people to realize that citizens have obligation to the state to pay taxes so that in turn they can become real stake holders to do the things that we are doing in Edo State. And that if we are going to expand and carry out urban renewal like what they did in Lagos. You do need to sometimes get rid of certain things in order to restore the right of ways and expand the roads and that is what I meant.
There are couple of things we copied from Lagos: land use charge and consumption tax because I’m sure that some of you at one time or the other travel outside Nigeria and even those of you who have not travelled, by just watching debates in other countries, central to every election debate are tax policies and taxes and that defines the character of a government. Look at the intra-city transport system which would have been done many years ago.
It is now happening in Lagos. Imagine if somebody had made up his mind to do thirty years ago what Fashola is doing now, life in Lagos would have been lot more comfortable than it is now. But we recognized that the fact that we failed in the past is no reason why we should fail now. For us to be detained by the past and to become incapable of facing the challenge of making up for lost time, I will say better late than never. I am happy to see what Lagos is doing today.
ASUU strike has persisted despite all efforts to bring about peace
I have a particular difficulty on this matter and this is why I have not commented on it and I don’t think I really want to comment on it because somehow I have helped in mediating between federal government and ASUU in 2009. The very agreement that is in dispute is not really for me to cause trouble for any one.
I was involved in the making of that agreement, all I will say for now is that under the Nigeria Labour laws, agreement are enforceable even in law because both the Trade Union act and Labour acts recognize the stature of collective agreement entered into between an employer and employee and the key issue is that both sides should act in good faith because making any statement for and against either side might not promote the cause of peace.
Why have you not remarried since you lost your wife?
I wish you would have avoided the question because really when I talk about my late wife, people may not understand why? You are in a position to judge whether to agree or disagree. When a man in my own case has the privilege of being elected as a state governor or president, your wife’s status changes automatically to the first lady of the state or the country with all the glamour that goes with it.
To have the kind of wife I had, who was familiar with all the police stations in Kaduna and outside, and sometimes searching for her husband who might have gone to work and detained by Police on account of trade union work, it was her lot to stand by me and she bore all the deprivations of a husband you were never sure where he was going to be at the next minute. At a point, she called me an absentee husband.
In one interview she said ‘I have donated my husband to the Nigerian workers’, so she went through all that pain and the day we were inaugurated is usually the day where women put on their very best, befitting a stature of the first lady of a state. But on that occasion, we discussed how to appear because we didn’t have the opportunity of long planning. I was declared on the 11th as the winner of the election and was to be sworn in on the 12th.
So I said to her, I can’t change my identity now because I have been a worker and have used khaki as a factory worker and President of the NLC, and I don’t want to look different and she agreed. Rather than going to buy lace, she opted to wear the same khaki, except that my own was better sown than hers because the woman who made her own was not used to sowing khaki for women.
So I looked around and imagined that she should have been by my side today to share the joy of my 5th year anniversary. If you come from my background, any woman who agrees to marry a man who is not rich, a man who alternates between police stations and cells and lives in a one or two bedroom apartment, that is your real love. When my wife said I love you, it was from her heart.
I just imagined how she would have felt seeing all these people. The only worry she ever had was who was going to employ our children owing to my agitations with big establishments, because as an organized labour, when we leave the NLC, we fear that our lives would be lonely because it would be a payback time for all those big people I have harassed in the course of my work. So, it would have been joyous for her to see that five years down the road , I have more people around me than I have before.
Her second fear was that she never approved my involvement in politics because she was very proud to be referred to as the wife of Oshiomhole because then she gets all the favour and saw the affection because most Nigerians were happy with my stewardship at the NLC.
She was worried that once I get into politics, I would be ridiculed and all of that would go. She felt I should keep the name. But I told her even before I went into the NLC. NLC was a write off as military apologists, the human rights community distanced themselves from the NLC and I said you can always chose how you want to be remembered; that I’m going into politics to redefine and demystify governance and reconnect with the very ordinary people and politics offers that platform for anyone who believes the ordinary man deserves a better deal.
So for all that and for many other reasons, that is one thing that I regret that she should have been there to also see the other side of life. I have seen it all, in this state now, they are people who will call me the oppressor and you know who they are, the oppressors of yesterday.
If you ask ‘Mr fix it’ who I am, he will tell you I’m oppressing him because I have de-fixed him. It would have been nice for my wife to see life’s full circle; that those guys who feasted on us and cheated, that we have reduced them to political vegetables and placed them on permanent political oxygen.
Why are APC leaders begging PDP members to join them when they described the party as evil?

PDP is not a tribe, that you should do the DNA to find out if there is something in the gene. Nigeria has been more or less a one party state and they are many who are not convinced about the message or promise but they went into PDP, because that is the only game in town. The beauty of a two viable alternative political platform is that it offers the opportunity of people of like minds to come together regardless of where you were before and Edo is a an example. Before I got here, those who are with me now were either in PDP or ANPP and some in their private grumbling over what was happening.
They all used to pay political pilgrimage to Uromi for political blessing not because they were convinced but that was the only way it could be done. Once we opened a platform, those who were genuinely unhappy with what was going on there left to join the ACN, now APC and those who are happy with the godfather remained with him. There have been people in this state who took advert and said if you asked them to paint the face of God, that by the time they finished painting that face, what you will see is the face of the godfather.
And that was blasphemy and that is how far some people went and by praise singing like that, you could become a minister, senator or governor for people who believe that the end justifies the means. I think that in every political party, you would find some good and bad people. I don’t think that there is pretense that every person in APC is an angel or is there a suggestion that everybody in the PDP is a devil.

What’s your take on Anambra election taking place today?
Among all other candidates, Ngige is clearly outstanding because you cannot compare Ngige with a man who worked with a bank that has folded up.
In this country, we see truth but we can’t admit it. If you couldn’t run a private business, how can you be entrusted with a state instrument? It doesn’t make sense and you also cannot compare Ngige with a man who was distributing kerosene with all the controversy around it or was it the guy that wanted to become a medical doctor and
along the line, he got confused?
The media must help to enrich the political process by coming up with facts that you know about every candidate so that you don’t mislead the electorate. I can analyze each of them and tell you why Ngige is the best. One works with a bank and he can’t say he grew the bank to a level; bankers are not the best politicians.
The other one was a NANS President while I was the President of the NLC and he was a villa creation. The villa used him to subvert the National Association of Nigeria Students, he was supposed to be a medical student.
How did he drop out? So of all of them, I can proudly say Ngige is a proud medical doctor and a senator that has earned respect at the floor of the senate.

OsunDefender

RESCUED: How Diezani Gave N60tr, Nigeria’s Income For 4 Years To Jide Omokore In 4 Oil Blocs

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• Nigeria Is Broke! Trillions In Oil Revenue Looted

Nov. 16, 2013
The Senator Emmanuel Paulker-led Committee on Petroleum Upstream which is currently investigating the involvements of the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Dieziani Allison-Madueke and some of her stooges, Jide Omokore and Kola Aluko will definitely be answerable not just to tax payers but the Nigerian masses if the matter is swept under the carpet as the usual practice.
The Committee, this office gathered is charged to look into the allegations of fraudulent dealings and illegal transfer of four oil blocks in favour of Jide Omokore`s ATLANTIC ENERGY DRILLING CONCEPT amounting to a whopping N58.9 trillion, a staggering amount experts say make-up Nigeria`s 1-year earnings in crude oil export. This matter is probably the biggest known oil fraud in recent time, this much National Enquirer can authoritatively reveal.

• NewsRescue- $7bn NNPC, Swiss Oil Scam Is “Greatest Fraud Africa Has Ever Known” — Berne Declaration

The probe, according to inside sources was informed by a petition written by Delta Producing Communities alleging that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC and Petroleum Minister, Dieziani Allison-Madueke transferred the ownership of four Oil Mining Licences (OML), 30, 34, 26 AND 42 to Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept belonging to Omokore without tendering and bidding process.
The popular phrase that the law is no respecter of anybody is definitely not working in Nigeria, rather the order of the day is the word of the famous American Black Leader and Activist, Martin Luther King Jr. which says, “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose, they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress”, what this means in essence is that the Nigerian state has proven that there are men powerful than the LAW and that its LAW has failed to establish justice.
Maybe same is the case in few African countries but In Nigeria, it is an established fact that the weightier your offence the lighter the judgment, and vice versa especially when issue in contention is treasury looting, large scale embezzlement, public office fraud that are capable of being clogs in the wheel of national progress. Justice in Nigeria is no doubt a cash and carry business little wonder the prisons are brimming with the poor and the unknown while the rich and the powerful who commit more grievous crimes get pat in the shoulder.
The Nigerian state has made several blooper of the law in recent time and to the extent that, the global village is now wondering if the sovereign nation of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is being ruled by any LAW at all. Recently, an honorable court in Abuja, federal capital territory presided over by honourable Justice Abubakar Talba delivered an incredible ruling when it sentenced the former director of the Police Pension Board, YakubuYussuf who admitted stealing a staggering N32.8billion when in office to 2 years imprisonment with an option of N750,000 fine whereas an ex-policeman who stole a N45,000 worth of mobile handset belonging to the governor of Osun State, OgbeniRauf Aregbesola  got 45 years jail term!
The landmark oil fraud in which the Petroleum Minister, Dieziani and her privies, Jide Omokore and his friend, Kola Aluko of Septa Energy Limited are being investigated by the National Assembly is going to be a litmus test for the Nigerian Lawmakers as checks already have it that, the suspects might be looking for a way of getting the committee induced afterall.
Tracing the claim-to-fortune of these stupendously rich businessmen, Jide Omokore we gathered came to limelight during the Babangida administration, the Kogi born man was believed to be one of IBB`s “errand” boys before becoming a Steel merchant while Kola Aluko is seen as an AGIP (Any Government In Power) top notcher.
The two powerful businessmen are part of Nigeria`s top 10 silent billionaires going by the extent of the acquisition of worldly accomplishments and properties across the globe. Those who know Jide Omokore like the back of their hands attested to the fact that, he`s a super-rich dude who loves cars and marble houses in choice areas of the nation like Banana Island in Lagos, Asokoro in Abuja, UK, US and the rest, aside the fact that, he owns about 4 private jets while his second wife, Angela Ebagua-an executive director with Access Bank who he married in a controversial manner also has her own private Jet. The story of Jide`s marriage to Angela is a story for another day.

• NewsRescue-Diezani’s Hustler, Kola Aluko, his Super Yacht, Naomi Campbell And His $Billions Wealth Status

Kola Aluko’s Yacht bought for 16 Billion Naira

The two business dudes are big players when it comes to women matter, just recently, Jide was said to have “wired” one million dollars to a lady he`s crazy about in the U.S and as for Kola Aluko, the handsome international businessman whose interest traverses the oil and aviation sectors is allegedly believed to be dating the Petroleum Minister, Dieziani and the two-some are so fond of each other.
Kola Aluko is the deputy CEO and leading shareholder in SevenEnergy, an oil and gas firm. He is the MD/CEO of Exoro Energy, an indigenous oil exploration and production firm and  also on the advisory board of an international aviation company, Vista Jet, a Swiss based private Jet charter company. We learnt Omokore and Aluko are so close that they both fly private Jets across the world with spare aircraft in their entourage. We hear they`re also lobbying to make the next Forbes` list.
We shall bring you more on the adventures of these super rich men and keep you posted as events unfold on the Senator Emmanuel Paulker-led Committee on Petroleum Upstream`s probe.

NewsRescue

The Travails Of Chief Harry Akande

The Pendulum By Dele Momodu, Email: Dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, what you are about to read is the story of man’s inhumanity to man. But before we go into the meat of this extraordinary tale, kindly permit me to paint a little description of the principal actor in the middle of this melodrama. He is no less a personage than the flamboyant businessman cum politician, and showbiz impresario, Chief Harry Ayoade Akande, the famous Agbaoye of Ibadanland. In a nation where History is not very popular as a subject in the school curriculum, it is pertinent to take some of our young readers, in particular, down this memory lane.

The myth surrounding the wealth of Chief Akande was long established. I was captivated by his uncommon panache right from the time I was in school and encountered the hagiographic folktales surrounding this Ibadan Chief. Even if no one knew his real and actual net-worth, he was one of the first Nigerians I knew, after Ambassador Chief Antonio Deinde Fernandez (the diplomat plenipotentiary), to have been described in superlatives as a billionaire. That was long before the arrival of FORBES’ Rich List or Fortune 100 on our shores. His manner of dressing stood him out in any crowd. He wore his big shirts with a muffler even in our tropicalized weather and carried himself with the gait of a Royal. His personal lifestyle was a stuff of Hollywood movie.

To be certain, Chief, as most people call him, met many American celebs and acted like one. Even if he owned one of the most exotic homes in Hyde Park Gardens, London, and partnered with several British companies on major projects in Nigeria, Chief Akande was more Americanised than English. One of the things I vividly recollect was his jet-set life as a globe-trotter. He owned a private jet when it was not yet in vogue. Chief was a trendsetter who made money and knew how to put it to good use. He was loved by his people through his philanthropic gestures. He helped many of his friends to travel to America. And his home was always a beehive with families and friends dashing in and out. I once experienced this side of him in his Chicago home over a decade ago when he treated General Abdulsalami Abubakar to a grand house reception. Chief turned out to be a superb host with attention to detail. 

It is important to note that unlike most moneyed men in Nigeria, Chief Akande had demonstrated his academic prowess earlier in life before displaying his business acumen. He had bagged his BSc in Accounts & Finance at Hampton University USA, as far back as 1967. But his spectacular stardom sparkled brilliantly at America’s top notch business school, the famous J L Kellogg School of Management where he earned his MBA.

The confident and bubbly Akande soon returned home to join the onerous task of nation-building. By 1970, he was ready to put the skills acquired abroad to practical and efficacious use at home. He wasted no time in getting a good offer as Financial Consultant with KPMG as well as Standard Oil of USA.  The restless man would soon establish his own company, Akande International Corporation, in 1971. He later headed a representative company for General Electric in Nigeria and handled major gas turbine projects in Ughelli and Ijora.

AIC created an Engineering division in 1976 through joint ventures Company with UK Balfour Betty Engineering. It was named Engineering & Power Development Nigeria Limited. Akande was able to secure and execute several projects. One of the most notable contracts was that of irrigation studies which spanned about 47,000 hectares of land in Bauchi. He worked on the construction of Birnin Kebbi Army Barracks; hydro-electric power construction and installation at Oyan Dam (joint project of AIC and Wimpey Construction of UK); designed and supervised Balanga Dam and Irrigation Scheme; the Osogbo-Ede Water Scheme (one of the largest in Africa at the time) and others.

AIC arranged an African Development Bank funding of the Bauchi Township project to the tune of $70million; $120million ADB finance for Benin City & Warri Effurum 35mgd water supply project; as well as the $166million funding for the Keffi/Akwanga & Doma Water Supply Scheme, and so on. The story of Chief Akande’s exploits would make up several books. I’ve only scratched the surface to establish one simple fact. He was not one of those indolent people who wished to make it mega-rich without lifting a finger. Not just that, he was too passionate about transforming Nigeria (he even aspired to be the President and Commander-in-Chief) and I think that was the source of the ordeal I’m about to describe.

As a cosmopolitan man, Chief Akande had dreamt of turning the Murtala Mohammed International Airport into a mini-paradise very similar to the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. He had flown through the Lagos airport too many times and was not impressed with the state of things. Rather than grumble and do nothing, he came up with the idea of building a first class hotel, a shopping arcade and recreational facilities around the airport. He planned to build tunnels linking the hotel to the airport. The designs looked impeccable, at least on paper. He was so elated about handing over this worthy legacy to the next generations of Nigerians and was determined to prove that Nigerians were not monkeys.

Chief Akande worked assiduously on his documents before approaching FAAN, the regulatory body at the airport. No reasonable person would have failed to appreciate the magnitude of vision that went into such a modern development. FAAN entered into an agreement and allotted the site needed to AIC. Excitedly, Chief approached the Management of Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and invited them to work on the project with him. The whole airport was agog the day Chief Akande and his powerful entourage arrived to start the project in a very simple but classy ceremony. The media was awash with stories of this new King Midas who was poised to turn the misfortune of that jinxed airport into prosperity. Everything looked set for this miracle to happen. But it seemed Chief Akande failed to take the Nigerian principalities into consideration. He would have known that nothing was absolutely certain in a country where pettiness and incurable jealousy reigned supreme.

Chief Akande was stunned and stupefied beyond words when out of the blues came a revocation order of the earlier agreement that gave him the land. What made it more shocking to him was that this unfortunate saga happened when his fellow Yoruba man, General Olusegun Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo was the President of Nigeria. His misery was very similar to that of Chief Moshood Abiola’s Summit Oil International and the daunting challenges faced by Dr Mike Adenuga’s Globalcom to secure its telecoms license. No serious nation would ever kick its energetic investors around like football the way we do in Nigeria. Just imagine that this is happening in a country that is in dire need of employment for most of our youths who have become desperate and disillusioned.

If Chief Akande thought the matter was only a bad dream, he soon woke up from his nightmare. He was able to see clearly that the forces at play were more than ready to frustrate the daylight out of him. What would a man in such a tight spot do? Chief Akande headed to the court to seek justice in a country where justice was not only expensive but uncertain. Since the year 2000, when the land was literally confiscated, the case is yet to reach a conclusive stage. Chief Akande has been running hither-and-thither trying to secure what is rightly a wonderful project that would benefit Nigerians and foreigners alike. But he has not been lucky to get a respite.

Before our very eyes, that airport has gone from bad to worse. Subsequent Ministers of Aviation have turned the place into their personal fiefdoms, hiring and firing concessionaires with reckless abandon. Attempts have even been made to go through the backdoor to completely sideline Chief Akande’s company and allocate the place to others who wish to build hotels. Chief Akande had to go physically to prevent the place being handed to some Chinese.

The matter has since degenerated into a free-for-all fight. It remains a mystery why the powers-that-be hate the guts of such pathfinders. I’m not willing to go into who is wrong and who is right. I just believe, and wish to ensure, that a man of Chief Akande’s status would be better treated with all the respect he deserves. Nigeria has nothing to lose; in fact we have more to gain, by allowing AIC to go ahead with its original plans. Those who shot down that dream of three decades have not even provided us with better alternatives. Is it not the height of wickedness that we would rather ruin our fellow citizens in the name of whatever-prejudice? Chief Akande is not alone in this debacle. The entire airport is swimming in all manner of man-made problems and unscrupulous insider deals. This should not be the case. An airport is too important to be left to the whims and caprices of hard-core politicians. 

While tearing ourselves apart, many things have been left undone. I see no reason why the former car park that was demolished on the frontage of Murtala Mohammed International Airport should remain the way it is right now. The Aviation authorities should make up their minds on what they want to do with that ugly monster. Some parts of it are overgrown with weeds. It is also prone to security risks as hoodlums can easily seek cover and launch nefarious attacks from that jungle. I’m surprised that the horde of security agencies swarming all over the place has done nothing to demolish the place or allow the owners to build whatever they originally planned on it. This is the monumental shame that welcomes every visitor to Nigeria.

The same can be said of the abandoned hotel building at MM2. Why do we seem to take delight in littering everywhere with white elephant projects! That particular hotel would have started serving both local and international passengers by now. There should be a method to our madness.

I dream of a day our airports will look like what we see elsewhere and not ones that tell us we must appreciate whatever we get and thank our stars for getting anything. The solution, very frankly, lies in government deregulating the Aviation sector. The preponderance of government bureaucracy would never bring about the urgently-needed progress.

Even if the present administration succeeds in renovating and revamping our airports, it won’t take a long time before they return again to the dogs. We can prevent this by selling them off now and urgently. The relatively serene environment of MM2 has convinced me that this is the only way to go.
A truly patriotic leadership would place the country above self, friendship, family and party patronage. 

 

ThisDay

The Message from London and Accra

THE VERDICT By OLUSEGUN ADENIYI

Two profoundly significant episodes which speak to how other societies deal with issues bordering on abuse of public trust happened last week in the United Kingdom and Ghana. In the former, a Royal Marine was put on trial and convicted for extra-judicial killing in Afghanistan. In the latter, a minister was sacked for committing a crime of intention. Before we go further, let us take the stories one after the other.

On September 15, 2011, three British soldiers (simply referred to as “Marine A”, “Marine B” and “Marine C”) were on patrol in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan when they found an insurgent critically injured with an AK-47 gun by his side. Going by the 1929 “Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War”, such a wounded enemy combatant ought to be treated humanely. But having ascertained that none of his colleagues wanted to administer first aid “on the idiot” as he called the man, “Marine A” decided to “finish the job”. Unfortunately for him, “Marine B” was inadvertently filming the tragic episode on his helmet-mounted camera. In the footage which became what is generally regarded as “the smoking gun” (give-away-evidence) in criminal investigation, “Marine A” was captured shooting the Afghan with a 9mm pistol.

In the course of the court martial, prosecutor David Perry described what “Marine A” did as “not a killing in the heat and exercise of any armed conflict... it amounted to an execution”. In his verdict, Brig Dunham, deputy commandant general of the Royal Marines, said: “it is a matter of profound regret that, in this isolated incident, one marine failed to apply his training and discharge his responsibilities. What we have heard over the past two weeks is not consistent with the ethos, values and standards of the Royal Marines. It was a truly shocking and appalling aberration. It should not have happened and it should never happen again.”

Now, let us get some things straight. One, the Afghan insurgent would probably have killed those British soldiers if he was not so helpless. Two, there was no doubt that he was an enemy combatant who got injured in battle. Three, if the Marines had left him to his fate he probably would still have died eventually. Given all these, why then did the British authorities have to put their men to trial? The answer is simple: in holding “Marine A” to account, the message being sent is not only to deter others but also to demonstrate to the world that there are sacred values that the British people hold very dear and that what happened was against the norm. Put simply, the conviction was not because the British authorities love the fallen Afghan but rather that a British soldier was not expected to take the law into his own hands. Now, let us take the second story from Accra.

“I will not quit politics until I make one million dollars…If you have money then you can control people,” said Ghanaian former deputy communications minister, Ms Victoria Hammah, on a tape that has gone viral. Now, given that there is no record that she has actually stolen any money, one would have expected that some bureaucrats in her ministry would address the media to threaten those who breached the privacy of Ms Hammah by recording her and releasing the tape. None of such happened. Also, the Ghanaian President didn’t wait for the parliament to conduct any “public hearing” nor did he set up a committee to probe the matter. He simply did the needful by firing the minister.

I am sure many Nigerians would ask: why should a minister be sacked for “anticipatory corruption” that may never take place? And many would also wonder why a Marine would be convicted for killing an “idiot”! However, if we pay attention, what the Ghanaian and the UK authorities are teaching us is that there are certain norms expected of people who hold positions of public trust. If the Marine is allowed to get away with murder simply because of what his victim represented, then the message is that such criminality is condoned in the UK. In similar vein, if the Ghanaian minister had been left to continue in office, the implication would be that in Ghana, the essence of politics is not to serve but to make money.

Given the yet-unresolved scandal involving our Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, it is understandable that the Ghana incident would attract the interest of Nigerian commentators. But I am of the opinion that the UK trial actually offers us a better understanding of what ails us. From the alleged extra-judicial killings of nine people recently in Apo Quarters of Abuja which we have all conveniently forgotten to the case of the 20 floating corpses in a river in Anambra State (that is also lost in our memory) and several of such unresolved killings across the country, the message is simple: when we close our eyes to grievous infractions, we debase our society and incentivize a culture of gross impunity. The ultimate lesson is also obvious: when a society places little or no premium on the lives of its citizens, it is asking too much to expect that those put in charge of their affairs would feel compelled to accept responsibility for abuse of “mere” financial resources.

The greater tragedy of our country, however, is that a system that is literally overrun by sundry abuses which undermine best practices is simply incapable of isolating any single act of misconduct for serious remedial action.

My Compatriot, Jackie
Following a laborious process that took several years, Ms. Jacqueline Farris, the Director General of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, finally realised her dream last week Wednesday: the Federal Executive Council approved her application to become a Nigerian and an indigene of Abuja. Well, it turns out that nobody can become a citizen of our country without adopting a “state of origin”--an issue at the heart of a recurring problem we must one day address. I have met only few people who are as committed to our country as Jackie and she demonstrates it not in words but in action. From the Merit Scholars Programme that has given the best of education to many indigent students to charity projects and several public policy initiatives, Jackie has for years been adding value to our society. And she is currently involved in two of such endeavours critical to our national well-being. 

In response to the need to enable a two-way communication between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the general public, the Yar’Adua Centre has worked with INEC to establish the Citizens Contact Centre as a social media platform for responding to enquiries, encouraging voter registration and participation and stimulating public engagement. During elections, the centre will operate 24 hours of the day as an incident management centre and situation room.

The second project is the Oil Revenue Tracking Initiative (ORTI), an information-driven advocacy project (www.oilrevenueng.org) aimed at empowering citizens to contribute to the governance of the Nigerian oil sector by increasing awareness and understanding of the various issues. The project consults over 20 different sources of data about our oil industry to produce simplified information that highlights discrepancies or gaps so that interested Nigerians can demand greater transparency and accountability in the critical sector. I am sure that now that she is entitled to the green passport she has coveted for years, Jackie can only do more for her adopted country. My congratulations!

 

ThisDay

INEC yet to overcome previous challenges, says TMG

 by John Alechenu    

 

INEC

A preliminary report by the Transition Monitoring Group, has said the Independent National Electoral Commission is yet to overcome problems plaguing elections in the country.

The TMG is a coalition of over 400 civic organisations which has been involved in election monitoring in Nigeria since 1998.

Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, released the preliminary findings at a media briefing in Abuja, on Sunday.

He explained that based on reports from its 633 citizen observers deployed across the three senatorial districts and all 21 LGAs, the TMG found that while many elements of the Election Day process were adequate, there were serious shortcomings in the conduct of the election.

Zikirullahi listed some of the shortcomings to include but not limited to, “Late arrival of election materials at polling units-as at 7.30am, observers reported that only 39 percent of polling units across the state had their election material, and by 9am only 43 percent of polling units were able to open.

“No election took place in five wards of Idemili North LGA-Abatete, Npor I, Npok II, Obosi and Ogidi I.”

According to him, in Idemili North for example, while INEC should be acknowledged for providing an opportunity for some voters to vote on Sunday, these shortcomings undermine public confidence in the electoral process.

This, he said, was even more so when many of these issues were not new and had plagued past elections.

Zikirullahi however noted that at the 100 percent of the polling units, observers reported that they agreed that ballots were properly counted, announced and results reflected the ballots cast.

Speaking in a similar vein, Executive Director of the Civil Societies Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwual Musa-Rafsanjani, described the election as a bad advertisement for INEC’s preparations towards the 2015 general elections.

He said it was sad that more than one decade after INEC began conducting elections, it was still grappling with problems of logistics such as late arrival or non arrival of staff and voting materials.

Musa-Rafsanjani said, “This election shows clearly that 2015 is not going to be any different from previous elections. In fact, the gains recorded in the 2011 elections have been eroded because the ruling party had its way in circumventing the process in connivance with some INEC officials.”

Punch