Onaiyekan to Buhari: Tread softly on corruption probe

 

 By: Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

 

The Catholic Arch-Bishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, on Tuesday night advised President Muhammadu Buhari to go slowly on his anti-corruption drive so that his actions are not seen as “persecution.”
He gave the advise during an evening dinner organized for Catholics in Politics at the Church of the Assumption, Asokoro, Abuja.
Pointing out that fighting corruption goes beyond making “few arrests here and there” he urged President Buhari to carry out his anti-corruption fight in a way that will not be seen as selective.
He also said that fight against corruption can only succeed where there is transparency, just and honesty.
He said: “This challenge obviously lies squarely on those who now have the power to rule our nation. I want to beg them, and I am glad the Chairman of the ruling party is here, to resist the temptation to rub in the plaques of defeat on the losers and try to avoid policies of persecution, some even talk of execution of losers.”
“We have to tackle dishonesty and I believe we need to retrieve stolen goods, especially those that are just piling up other peoples money. While we do that, it is my strong feeling that we should try to avoid as much as possible humiliating or disgracing people who may indeed have tried their best to serve the nation.
“How to do this and keep these two elements together requires a lot of sagacity and clear mindedness. But we should pray for our leaders to be granted the grace.
“We must be clear minded on this matter and not allow ourselves to be naïve thinking that it is just enough to make few arrests here and there and the matter is settled. Let us pray that God will guide our nation.”
On insecurity, he said that Nigeria needs to go beyond arms and ammunitions in order to reconcile minds and hearts for genuine peace.
The time, he said, has come for all to link hands and seriously tackle the problems facing the country.

President Buhari receives indicting documents on ex-Ministers and others.

Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja





President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday confirmed that he had started receiving some documents which indicted some former ministers and other top government officials of massive fraud, including oil theft.
While describing the amount of money involved in the shady deals as mind-boggling, the President promised that his administration would use the indicting documents and others still being compiled to clamp down on the culprits and prosecute them.
He also said while many Nigerians nickname him ‘Baba Go Slow’ because of the delay in forming his cabinet, he would prefer to be ‘slow and steady’ in taking decisions.
The President stated these while speaking at an interactive session with Nigerians in the Diaspora at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, United States, in continuation of his four-day official visit to the country.
Buhari said the documents revealed that some top government officials moved as much as one million barrels of crude oil per day for their personal purposes.
He said such officials also opened as many as five bank accounts abroad for the purpose of laundering money.
He said by the time the process of compiling and identifying the shady deals and those behind them were completed, his administration would approach countries where the loots were kept to assist in repatriating them.
The President said, “We are now looking for evidences of shipping some of our crude, their destinations and where and which accounts they were paid and in which country.
“When we get as much as we can get as soon as possible, we will approach those countries to freeze those accounts and go to court, prosecute those people and let the accounts be taken to Nigeria.
“The amount of money is mind-boggling but we have started getting documents. We have started getting documents where some of the senior people in government, former ministers, some of them operated as much as five accounts and were moving about one million barrels per day on their own. We have started getting those documents.
“I assure you that whichever documents we are able to get and subsequently trace the sale of the crude or transfer of money from Ministries, Departments, Central Bank, we will ask for the cooperation of those countries to return those monies to Federation Accounts.
“And we will use those documents to arrest those people and prosecute them. This, I promise Nigerians.”
Buhari faulted the mode of operation of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, saying his administration would check the excesses of the corporation.
The President restated his position on the removal of subsidy, that it would bring more hardship to Nigerians.
He however said he would study the debate and take a decision based on his experience.
“Who is subsidising who? But, people are gleefully talking, ‘remove subsidy’. They want petrol to cost N500 per litre.
“If you are working and subsidy is removed, you can’t control transport, you can’t control market women: the cost of food, the cost of transport.
“If you are earning N20,000 per day and you are living in Lagos or Ibadan, the cost of transport to work and back, the cost of food. You cannot control the market women because they have to pay what transporters charge them.
“If there is need for removing subsidy, I will study it. With my experience, I will see what I can do. But I am thinking about more than half of Nigerians, who, virtually cannot afford to live.
“Where will they get the money to go to work? How can they feed their families? How can they pay rent? If Nigeria were not an oil producing country – all well and good.
“Our refineries are not working. We have a lot of work to do,” he added.
Buhari decried those he said had started calling him ‘Baba Go Slow’ because he had yet to form his cabinet, weeks after his inauguration.
He cited the example of previous government under the Peoples Democratic Party which spent more than two months to settle down during its 16 years of ruling the country.
He said he would prefer to go slowly and steady in administering the country.
The President, however, said though his administration might be accused of being slow, it would be steady in fulfilling its campaign promises to Nigerians.
Buhari said, “Within the past two weeks, I am being asked when I am going to form my cabinet. And in some quarters they are now calling me ‘Baba Go Slow’.
“I am going to go slow and steady. Nigerians should be patient to allow this administration put some sense into governance and deal with corruption.”
He also pledged to study the Diaspora Bill with a view to signing it into law as being demanded by Nigerians in the Diaspora.
The President advised those Nigerians in the Diaspora looking for government jobs back home to suspend their ambition as the nation’s economy was in a bad shape and it would take his administration about 18 months or more to resuscitate it.
He, however, promised that some of them would be engaged by the Federal Government as consultants to enable them contribute their quota to national development.

You can’t judge Buhari in two months — Fred Agbeyegbe

Call him a playwright, lawyer, author or activist and you will not be wrong. Chief Fred Agbeyegbe, who turns 80 years on Wednesday is many things to many people depending on the angle you are viewing him from. In this engaging interview, he speaks on the state of the nation, his experience in the last eight decades, how to check graft and the way forward for the country.
By Japhet Alakam & Gbenga Oke
AT 80, how do you feel?
I thank God for keeping me this long and I owe him all the gratitude.
Fred Agbeyegbe
Fred Agbeyegbe
Activities have been planned for your birthday celebration, what can you say about that?
I was given an award by the National Association of Theatre Practitioners, NANTAP. The award was called the Grand Living Legend of Nigerian theatre. They said they were tired of waiting for people to die before they celebrate them. So, they wanted to change the tide by giving me the award. Some of them have said to me that it is their prophecy that is taking place now that I am going to make 80. Let us celebrate people while they are alive so I am happy to be one of the pioneer celebrities for this new philosophy in Nigeria.
You are a playwright, lawyer, activist and so on. How exactly can we describe you?
I don’t know. So many times people ask me what I do. I, too, am confused as to what to tell them but there are people who know me in certain regards. For example, not so long ago I got into a waiting room where people were arguing about who Fred Agbeyegbe is and I sat down and joined them. They didn’t know me, a lot of people don’t know me but they know my name. In fact when some are talking to people about the Agbeyegbe family, they say they know one of them and they mention my name even in my presence because they don’t know me personally. Some described me as a journalist, some have described me as a civil defence person, some have described me as a lawyer and some as a business man. Whatever they call me, provided they don’t call me a thief there is no problem.
Do you think the judiciary is leaving up to expectations?
When I came back from England 45 years ago, things were not like this. I think that the mistake started from 1999. It is from 1999 that things became even more rotten.
Corruption in Nigeria is not by accident. Even the 1999 constitution that we are operating today is a corrupt document. To start with, it is a lie that Nigerians made a constitution for themselves. It never happened. The contents of that constitution cannot be something that a willing people would impose upon themselves.
Root cause of corruption
Therefore, all attempts at stopping corruption might even be a waste of time until you tackle the root cause of corruption. I am Itsekiri, I have never heard the word ‘corruption’ in my language. Is corruption a Nigerian word? No! Corruption is an English word.
Those things that make it impossible for Nigeria to progress are what I call corruption.
Having said all these, are you trying to say Nigeria was built on falsehood?
I have written poems and several articles on it. One of the books is called Budisco. It was a play that was commissioned by the Nigerian Bar Association when they celebrated 100 years of law practice in Nigeria. I was the one they picked to do something to celebrate that period.
Buhari, Idiagbon and Sowemimo, that is what Budisco means. It also means something vulgar in Yoruba language. Who is the President today? The same Buhari. So what explanations are you looking for? A people get a government that they deserve. Nigerians are getting what they deserve because when it is happening to you, the other person says it is not happening to me, by the time it comes to happen to you, all the people who could have stood behind you will be gone.
n 2011, my movement came out to say Nigeria was a failed state, those who thought they can patch it and repair it, by the time the Americans said 2015 is going to be a terrible year, they started calling them names. Thank God, Jonathan saved all of them. If Jonathan had stood up and said that election was rigged against him this country would have been in flames.
On NADECO
We live under this illusion that we are operating a democracy. And the way this country is organized is that when any issue comes up, Igbo man, Yoruba man, the Ijaw and Itshekiri, and other groups would have different interpretations.
This country is organized such that there will never be consensus. For example , I am an Itsekiri man and my neighbours are Urhobo and Ijaw, but these ethnic groups hardly live in harmony. NADECO fought against the trampling of the right of Nigerians.
So we did not come out in NADECO to show that we are brave, we came out to fight against the military because we felt they forced themselves on us. NADECO can function now because it was put together for a purpose.
How will you rate this administration putting in mind some of the decisions that has been taken so far?
From what I have told you, you don’t expect me to be a pro-Buhari person. But I am neither anti-Buhari. Like I said earlier, he was the people’s choice and they voted for him. Whether I voted for him or not does not stop him from being our President and he also said it that he is the President of everybody and that is how it ought to be.
But I can say that is it too early to judge him, it was the same type of judgement that Jonathan got. From day one, even before he won the last elections, he was told not to contest. Some said they will make the country ungovernable for him. And he dared to contest and he dared to win. And what happened to him, they made the place ungovernable for him and behold it is the same people who came back to judge him on performance after they had told him they will make it impossible for him to govern. That was what they did. So the guy had no opportunity.
Achieving change
I say the same thing about Buhari, give him a chance. I called him a magician and the media also called him a magician. People think he will just come and change things overnight, he is no longer a military man. We cannot achieve change in two months.
He has been criticized for the appointments he has made so far. I laughed because a lot of people do not understand the politics of this country. All the people he has appointed so far are all Northerners from his area of this country, I don’t know if the guy has a choice because psychologically, he cannot feel comfortable with anybody else.
He doesn’t know what people are going to do to him if he comes to Warri to pick me. But I will tell Nigerians to wait, if he then continues in that line of appointment then you can begin to blame him.
Do you think the proposed merging of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and Independent Corrupt Practices and other relataed Commission, ICPC, will strengthen the fight against corruption?
When I heard that President Buhari is trimming down the number of ministries from 40 to 19, I concluded that the man is truly a magician. The ministries are one of the ways we fritter away this country’s resources.
Why do you need over 40 ministries? Is it that the work load is so much such that a few people cannot do it? Is that what government business is all about? Thank God somebody has come and has seen reasons to reduce them.
Prosecution of governors
The EFCC and ICPC, were they actually meant to work? How many governors have they prosecuted? Is it that there are no more corrupt governors? What has ICPC done? What examples have any of those two entities given to us? This is a situation whereby the institutions are used to serve the whims and caprices of individuals.
What do you then think needs to be done to move this nation forward?
There are many issues that divide us in Nigeria. And it is my hope that those issues will disappear for things to get better.
Our beliefs are not the same in every aspect. Sadly, religion has become a divisive tool.
You remember at a time, I lost a cousin to assassins. He was Captain Jerry Agbeyegbe, how can you convince me that Nigeria is not a place where people are killed any how? You may convince some other people but not me. Also, the one document that is supposed to bring all of us together called the constitution is itself a lie. Any document that tells a lie against itself is forgery. The 1999 constitution is not our constitution. We had no agreement on it.
Having criticised democracy as being practised in Nigeria, what form of government will you recommend to make the country work?
To make democracy work, we need to have a redefinition of the content of that word ‘democracy.’ I recently wrote an article that the Europeans came here last time and certified our last elections saying democracy is now thriving in Nigeria.

Meaning of democracy

What did they know and what did they see? I lived and worked in England for so many years, I know the meaning of democracy as an English word and I know the meaning of democracy as a Nigerian word.
The only thing Nigeria accepts about the word democracy is that the majority must have its way. They don’t even buy the other half of that same statement which says the minority must have its say.
So those things God has given me as of rights as an Itsekiri man in Warri, democracy makes it easy for somebody to come from the desert in Sokoto to teach me how to swim in Warri river where God has put me. The time Mandela started fighting their oppressors and they eventually got to where they got now, did they change the definition of democracy?

Buhari to Privatizatise Telecommunication, Energy, Solid Minerals, Health and Infrastructural Facilities

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari in Washington on Tuesday invited American business people to come and invest in Nigeria by taking advantage of the liberal trade and investment climate in the country.
The president, who gave the challenge at a business forum organized by the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Council on Africa, said his administration would go ahead with the ongoing privatization programme with improved moral architecture.
According to him, the privatization exercise will be expanded to include aviation, telecommunication, energy, gas, solid mineral, health and infrastructural development.
Buhari also enjoined the business communities in the United States and Nigeria to take advantage of the excellent political relations between the two nations to expand trade and investment activities including joint venture projects in priority sectors of the Nigerian economy.
He said: “It is my intention to create the necessary environment for future investment in Nigeria. We are the most populous nation with the largest market in Africa with vast human and natural resources and blessed with abandoned young skilled workforce.
“We are therefore proud candidate to become the destination of choice for United States investments in Africa.
“I work assiduously to welcome new investors to ur country.
“I will like to remain you all that we are continuing in major privatization programme with sectors ranging from telecommunication energy, gas, solid minerals, aviation, health and infrastructural development but with improved moral architecture.“

Phantoms of the country! Buhari disgraces CBN gov, Godwin Emefiele, Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Wale Tinubu in America

  

· What are you guys doing here...Did I invite you people? - Buhari
By Femi Ajayi
Time was, when phantoms in scarlet persistently passed as men of honour while the righteous faded in obscurity or lay spent in trenches of blood. Hence it was no surprise that Nigerian businessmen, Jim Ovia, Tony Elumelu, Wale Tinubu and Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in desperate bid to dig their claws into President Muhammadu Buhari, bought first class tickets and flew after him to the United States of America.
But the snag was, they were uninvited; even so, they embarked on a desperate quest to establish themselves as Nigeria's top businessmen and cronies of the incumbent president. Back when Goodluck Jonathan was president, they would have gotten away with such brazen disregard for protocol; in fact, they would have constituted a crucial part of the former president's travel plans. But a new sheriff is in town and the businessmen are yet to get with his programme. 
Thus they had sheepishly gone to attend a meeting with Buhari in America and Buhari on sighting them reportedly asked, "My friends, what are you doing here? Did I invite you people? You are not needed here," Buhari allegedly told them. Shamefacedly, they gathered their folders and left the meeting. Their steps became very heavy as they trudged out of the venue.
It was indeed a big disgrace to these businessmen who once formed a ring around the former President Jonathan. They quietly left the venue with their tails and gargantuan pride tucked between their legs.
All around the world, presidential politics has always been a game of the wealthy, for the wealthy and by the wealthy. Men of means have always had a say and in several instances, determined the course of political and socioeconomic affairs in the country. This becomes imperative in their desperate bid to establish their dominance and affluence sustainably. The need to maintain their controlling grip on their country's economy, rather than ensuring that the nation's commonwealth is equitably distributed has always been the only ideological and selfish motive driving their political participation.
 Consequently, the superrich of the nation's high society are continually seen as the arrowheads of plots and movements to institute and sustain political hegemony via a puppet leader or party. Political pundits are of the opinion that the President Buhari needs to stay away from these men and women who have perfected the knack for soiling the hands of any President and sullying the his administration by their self-serving pursuits which often manifests devastatingly on the lot of the citizenry and to the detriment of the country.  

Two APC Reps sue Dogara over leadership crisis

  John Ameh, Abuja   

The leadership tussle in the House of Representatives has crossed over to the courts, as two All Progressives Congress members have sued the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.
Joined in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/625/2015, filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, are the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yusuf Lasun; and the Clerk to the House, Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori.
The members, Mr. Abubakar Lado-Abdullahi from Niger State; and Mr. Olajide Abdul-Jimoh from Lagos State, are praying the court to restrain the defendants from stopping the announcement of the names of principal officers recommended by the leadership of the APC.
In their prayers, the members argued, “it is an indisputable fact that the positions in question are party positions; that is, principal offices of the APC, albeit that they concomitantly are also principal positions within the House of Representatives.
“Consequently, the 1st and 2nd Defendants (Speaker and Deputy Speaker) shall in accordance with Article 9.2 of APC Constitution, which states, ‘members of the party shall be obligated to affirm the party’s aims and objectives’, implement the party’s aims as contained in the party’s nomination letter’.”

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Findings showed that the court process was reportedly served on Dogara and the co-defendants on July 16.
A copy of the process was made available to The PUNCH about 5.26pm on Tuesday.
Specifically, the plaintiffs urged the court to determine whether Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution, dealing with the Principle of Federal Character, was applicable to the sharing of principal offices in the National Assembly.
However, when The PUNCH sought the reactions of the Speaker’s office on Tuesday, it got a “not aware” response.
His Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Hassan Turaki, simply said “not aware” in a reply to a question whether Dogara had received the court’s summons.
He declined to respond to a second question what the speaker would do about the case.
The House, which began a forced break on June 25 after fighting broke out on the floor over the sharing of the principal offices, was scheduled to resume on Today(Tuesday).
But, on Friday last week, the resumption was suddenly put off by one week without any official explanations.
However, findings indicated that the unresolved leadership tussle was the reason for the abrupt postponement of resumption.

PRESIDENT BUHARI HAILS WORLD BANK'S DECISION TO SPEND $2.1 BILLION IN REBUILDING NORTH-EAST

The World Bank has unfolded a package which would see it spending up to $2.1 billion in rebuilding the badly devastated North-eastern part of Nigeria, ravaged for the past six years by the Boko Haram insurgency.
At a meeting in Washington today with representatives of the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization (WHO), President Buhari said apart from rebuilding the region in terms of infrastructure, priority must also be given to the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who now number over one million.
He urged the World Bank to send a team, which would work in concert with a team from the Federal Government, so that a proper assessment of needs could be done.
The World Bank will spend the 2.1 billion dollars through its IDA (International Development Agency), which gives low interest rates loans to government. The first 10 years will be interest free, while an additional 30 years will be at lower than capital market rate.
The World Bank is eager to move in quickly, give out the loans, and give succor to the people of North-east, long at the mercy of an insurgency that has claimed over 20,000 souls.
WHO is also to invest 300 million dollars on immunization against malaria in Nigeria, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will collaborate with Dangote Foundation to ensure that the country maintains its zero polio case record of the past one year. If the effort is sustained for another two years, Nigeria will be declared fully free of polio.
FEMI ADESINA
SPECIAL ADVISER, MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
JULY 21,2015