Vice-President Atiku Abubakar returned to his official residence in the Presidential Villa on Sunday night, three days after he reportedly moved to a secret location, following alleged threats to his safety.
Embattled Vice President, Atiku Abubakar
The Presidency has, however, denied placing Abubakar under any security surveillance, adding that it was not informed of any threat to Atiku‘s life.
Abubakar had moved out of his residence on Friday, following what his media minders described as intelligence reports that security agents and soldiers might search the complex.
But the vice-president‘s Media Consultant, Mallam Garba Shehu, said on Monday that Abubakar returned home late on Sunday night and immediately held a meeting with his political associates.
Shehu was, however, silent on whether the vice-president‘s wife, Titi, and other relatives, had returned to the villa.
He said they were not government officials and were free to move about as they wished.
Our correspondent learnt that Abubakar was, however, not in his office on Monday.
There were signs of activities at the residence of the vice-president on Monday evening when our correspondent visited the premises by 6:45 pm. He observed that three police patrol vehicles were stationed at the gate, while some riot policemen milled around the cars.
The vehicles and the policemen were apparently part of the vice-president‘s official convoy, indicating that Abubakar was around.
Apart from the patrol cars, other vehicles were also parked in front of the compound.
However, in an apparently related development, security details at the gate immediately before the vice-president’s residence continued a thorough inspection of vehicles entering the villa.
Our correspondent witnessed the same meticulous inspection on Sunday.
Shehu explained that the vice-president ”worked all day in his office at his residence”.
Reacting to the development, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, said Atiku was duly being accorded all the privileges due to his office as the nation‘s number-two citizen.
Oyo, who briefed State House correspondents on the matter, described the claims of a security threat by the vice-president as a ”mere rumour”.
She said, ”Normally, I don‘t react to rumours, and this is a rumour. But the fact of the matter is that there were reports that the vice-president moved out of his house over the weekend, but I know that the vice- president is well protected.
”There are more than 200 security personnel deployed to protect the vice- president and his entire household, and they are still around. Of course, I know that security is [ultimately] in the hands of God but the Presidential Villa is well secured.The Presidency is well secured.”
Oyo, while confirming the President‘s acceptance of the resignation of the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice-President, Mr. Olusola Akanmode, also confirmed the appointment of a new State House Counsel, Mr. Ado Ma‘aji.
Asked if Akanmode‘s resignation was not political, against the backdrop of the feud between Obasanjo and Abubakar, Oyo said there was nothing special in the resignation, as it was a personal decision by a staff of The Presidency.
“At different times in our life, we take decisions to move on and I think he just decided to move on. And the President has accepted the resignation and wished him goodluck,” Oyo said.
She announced that Ma‘aji would be replacing Alhaji Kabir Mohammed, who was recently moved to the Petroleum Technology Development Fund as the Executive Secretary.
Meanwhile, the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, on Monday, said the vice-president would go ahead with the plan to formally declare his intention to run for the presidency on Saturday.
A statement by the group in Abuja said the event, planned to coincide with Abubakar‘s 60th birthday, would hold at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10, Garki, Abuja.
The statement further quoted the Chairman of the organisation, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, as saying that the choice of the venue was informed by the vice-president‘s desire to reach the vast majority of Nigerians.
The statement added, ”The declaration is expected to be a colourful event with speeches, music, cultural displays and several side attractions.
“A life-size birthday card is to be displayed for well wishers to sign while a giant 60th birthday cake will be presented to the vice-president by his family, friends and supporters.
“Also, as part of the vice-president‘s 60th birthday, a Founder‘s Day celebration will be held at the Abti-American University, Yola on Saturday, November 25th at the permanent site of the institution.
“Several activities have also been lined up by friends and associates of the vice-president in Adamawa to mark his birthday on Saturday.”
Obasanjo: There’s No Threat to Atiku’s Life
• VP makes formal declaration Saturday
By Kola Ologbondiyan in Lagos and Josephine Lohor in Abuja, 11.21.2006
President Olusegun Oba-sanjo yesterday dismissed as mere rumour the alleged threats to the life of his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, saying the vice president, who will officially declare his intention to contest for the nation’s presidency in 2007, is “very well protected”.
Obasanjo who spoke through his spokesperson, Mrs Oluremi Oyo, said that just like everyone else, he also heard of the alleged threat from other people and not the Vice President himself, and as such, he decided to treat it as just a rumour.
The President added that as far as he was concerned, the purported threat to the life of Vice President Abubakar at the weekend could definitely not be true, because he had over 200 security personnel guarding him and his entire household.
Obasanjo said he took the story making the rounds with a “pinch of salt” because he knew that the Atiku family had the necessary security at all times.
The President’s spokesperson, who
emphasised that the Presidency would continue to take the alleged threat to the life of the Vice President as nothing but rumour, said unless there was more to it, every body should take it as mere rumour.
“Normally, I do not react to rumours because, as you know, rumour remains rumour. But the fact of the matter is that there were reports that the vice president moved out of his official residence over the weekend.
“I do know and I say that, with all the emphasis at my disposal, the Vice President of the Federal Republic is very well protected. He has more than 200 personnel that have been deployed to ensure his security and that of his family members and members of his household.
“I know that the vice president is secure, but our security always is in the hands of God the Almighty. As far as I know, the State House or the villa area is well secured and there is no reason why there should be such rumour as to any threat whatsoever. I am not aware of any
threat to anyone and I believe that the Presidency is very well secured unless there is something else that I do not know about”, she added.
Oyo, had while briefing State House Correspondents, however confirmed the resignation of the Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Chief Sola Akanmode.
She stated that President Obasanjo has already accepted the resignation.
The spokesperson also announced the appointment of Mr. Ado Ma’aji as the new State House counsel to replace Alhaji Mohammed Kabir Yusuf who was redeployed as the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
But Akanmode, who confirmed his resignation to THISDAY yesterday however dismissed reports that he resigned as Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s most senior political aide out of pressure to dump his boss.
He described the report as “untrue and embarrassing” adding that, he spent the last five years of his appointment in the Presidential Villa working for a
united and strong Presidency.
“It is not only untrue but very embarrassing to suggest that I resigned because I was under pressure to dump Atiku. As a matter of fact, many people within and outside the Presidency know that I’ve been preoccupied over the last five years with working for a united and strong presidency where it would not be necessary to pitch one’s tent with either the President or his Vice.
“It’s true that I did not succeed as much as I wanted all the time but I’m completely satisfied with my achievements as somebody who tried to be an honest broker in very challenging circumstances. My greatest consolation is that I enjoyed the confidence of the President and the Vice up till the very end,” Akanmode further said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Abubakar will next Saturday formally declare his intention to run for the presidency of Nigeria at the April 2007 general elections.
Atiku’s declaration will coincide with his 60th birthday and
the declaration campaign has been scheduled to hold at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10, Garki, Abuja.
The Atiku Campaign, in a statement made available last night, quoted the campaign chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, as saying that the choice of the Old Parade Ground for the declaration was informed by the Vice President’s desire to reach the vast majority of Nigerians.
“Atiku is a man of the people. He has a common touch. He is taking his quest to ordinary Nigerians as well as to the elites. He believes that Nigerians will be the ones who will determine his fate in this election. They have stood solidly behind him and they will continue to do so,” Ayu said.
Atiku had last week inaugurated an 85-member Declaration Committee to co-ordinate the event. The Committee has five sub-committees namely: Media, Programme and Logistics, Security, Venue and Special Duties.
Addressing the committee last week, the Vice President said he was pushing ahead with his
presidential aspiration because unfolding events in the country have clearly shown that Nigeria deserves a leader who is a democrat at heart and who will defend the constitution and protect the rule of law.
“It has become evident that Nigerians desire a leader who is truly convinced about the tenets of democracy and has the temperament to protect them”, he said.
“It is my conviction that I possess the experience, the democratic credentials and the vision to provide the leadership that Nigerians yearn for”, he added.
Also, as part of the Vice President’s 60th birthday, a Founder’s Day celebration will be held at the Abti-American University, Yola on Saturday, November 25, 2006 at the permanent site of the institution. Several activities have also been lined up by friends and associates of the Vice President in Adamawa State to mark his birthday.
The declaration has already created a lot of buzz in Abuja. Atiku’s supporters are already tagging it
the most important political event of the year even as all the major hotels in Abuja have reported an upsurge in sales of hotel rooms for the weekend.
My problem with Obasanjo, by Atiku
VICE President Atiku Abubakar has attributed his open feud with President Olusegun Obasanjo to "two or three" misconceptions.
He has also restated his resolve to contest for the office of President in 2007 although he remained silent on the political platform he may use.
The Vice President, whose interview with United Kingdom-based BEN TV was aired on Sunday night, also faulted his indictment on alleged financial misconduct.
The interview, with the television station went thus:
On why Obasanjo chose him as running mate
"I don't know why the President chose me as his VP. I don't know what prompted him to, he's the best person to say why he took the decision, I just found myself nominated and I accepted."
What exactly went wrong in his relationship with President Obasanjo?
"To be honest and truthful, the President has never for once called me to say this is his problem with me. But I have heard from various people who are close to him, perhaps closer to him than I am. I think there are two or three things the President has accused me of. One is that from sources close to him, that I had a hand in the attempt to impeach him. That's really absolutely false because I tried as much as possibly could to prevail on the then House of Representatives Speaker, Ghali Na'Abba, not to make the move, like lots of well-meaning Nigerians did, since our democracy was still so young.
"The second was that I was told he believed I was attempting to run against him in 2003. Again, it is far from the truth. If anything, it was triggered by his attempt to drop me as Vice President. Eventually, we settled that and went back to our ticket, won re-election and settled down. Since then, we have had political differences on tenure elongation, internal differences at the party level. He has his own vision concerning how to run the PDP and I have mine on how I want things to go. These are political differences, which are normal.
On tenure elongation
"There was no communication between the President and myself on the issue of third term or tenure elongation. There was never a time the President confided in me he wanted tenure elongation. It's a different thing if the President had called me into a room and said: 'VP, this is what I am thinking about. What do you think about it?' It's a different thing. But when that opportunity is not available to you, there is nothing you can do about it."
Public dispute with President Obasanjo
"I think its most unfortunate, but political disagreements can occur between two people but it's just most unfortunate that the disagreements came into the open. Believe me, I did everything humanly possible, every patience you can deploy in this relationship. As far as I am concerned, I have done my best."
Corruption allegation
"Unfortunately, I can't say much on all these because they are in the courts of the land presently. But one thing I can say is that I am the most investigated Vice-President in the whole world. They have been investigating me before the (William) Jefferson case. The Jefferson case was just used to have an answer to a plot. So, I think, let the law take its course."
Alleged theft of public funds
"People are getting it wrong. Go back to my reply to the Senate, which I sent. I never at any point in time accepted that I embezzled public money. I never at any time accepted that I stole public money. This is not me. Go back to all my records in the public service, it is not correct. If I had stolen public money, where is the money? They went to all my accounts, they probed me abroad, they probed me in this country, where is the money?
"At least, some people they probed, they have come up to say 'we found hundreds of millions in their accounts.' Where is the public money they have found in my account? Why can't they come out and say this is the money they have found in my account? Why are they silent on the issue of my accounts? Don't they have the details? It's absolutely false, absolutely untrue, absolutely malicious and baseless for anybody to imply that. Read the EFCC report, read it carefully. There is nothing where anything is proved."
Does he feel politically damaged by the EFCC indictment?
"Now, let me say this. Every public officer or politician in his life faces challenges. I consider what I am going through as challenges and I am very, very optimistic that I am going to come through those challenges and emerge victorious. I have always done so and I believe so strongly in the judicial process to prove that all these allegations are baseless and absurd and unfounded, I have that confidence. There's nothing really that is happening to me that has not happened to anyone or public officers before me.
"In fact, they have gone through worse .You are talking about my mentor, General (Shehu Musa) Yar'Adua, he even died in jail. It's all part of the struggle; even the present President went to prison before he came out to become president. So, for God's sake, what I am going through is a child's play. These are challenges you go through in public life to become what you aim for. Nelson Mandela went to prison for 27 years and emerged to be President. (Thabo) Mbeki was in exile. These are trends that are prevalent in a democracy and ours is not different. Even in ordinary life we go through tough times."
Declaration for President
"I have officially informed the President in writing that I am going to run for the office of President in 2007 and now the next process is a public declaration to offer myself as a candidate and that I intend to do shortly. I am definitely confirming that I am going to run."
On platform
"Again, here, I don't want you to bother about political platform, because, yes, at the end of the day, I will definitely run on a political platform and all the world will know when I decide."
Explosive scare: Heads to roll at Lagos airport
Barely 48 hours after the interception of some explosives at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, the Federal Government on Monday initiated moves to sanction those behind security lapses at the airport.
Aviation Minister, Fani Kayode
A source in the Presidency disclosed the plan. Meanwhile, tthe State Security Service has started analysing the explosives seized from a suspect, Michael Dickson, on Saturday at the airport.
It was also learnt that Dickson had been moved to Abuja.
The source, who spoke with our correspondents in confidence on the telephone, added that there would be an immediate overhaul of the security system at the airport.
He said “The government has discovered that there are security lapses at the airport and the relevant aviation authorities have been mandated to deal with the lapses.
“We have initiated a security audit of the airport and all the breaches being committed. A list of those responsible for the lapses is being compiled.
“You can quote me, heads will soon roll at the airport. It is no longer going to be business as usual.
“We can no longer tolerate the present situation whereby with a paltry sum, a security man will stoop so low as to allow security lapses.”
He added that most of those that would be affected by the cleansing might come from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
According to the source, FAAN, which manages the nation’s 21 airports, has over 3,000 workers.
He said, “FAAN used to have about 5,000 workers at the beginning of 2006 but because of security exigencies, about 2,000 were sacked. The present situation has indicated that we have to review the situation nationwide, especially, at the MMA.
The source identified seven sources of security lapses at the MMA.
These are lack of cargo screening machines; inadequate security personnel; porous entrance to the airport; ignorance of passengers on items permissible on board; lack of professionals handling cargoes at airport; high presence of touts, mostly sacked and retired airline staff; and lack of a proper cargo section at the local wing.
When contacted, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Alhaji Mohammed Yusufu, said the agency was reviewing the security system at the airport.
He said, “We are going to review the present security system in place in order to restrategise on how to improve it.
“We have to think about five steps ahead of those behind the lapses. We have realised that while we are thinking (ahead), the touts and others are also thinking. So, we have to come out with the best options.
“We are after a durable and sustainable security system for our airports. While we do this, we will continue to pray for God’s guidance. It was God that helped us to intercept those explosives and we will continue to count on God.”
On the suspect, Dickson, Yusufu said, “We are trying to follow up the investigations by the SSS.”
It was learnt that the SSS was investigating the incident with a view to determining if the explosives had any link with recent plane crashes in the country.
” A security source told our correspondents in Abuja that there was need to look into the past because the motive behind the explosives was still unknown.
He added that the explosives had been taken to a laboratory to determine their composition and potency.
The source said, ”The man was brought here last Sunday and he has been undergoing interrogation since. He seems to have some information which we believe may lead to the reasons why some of the aircraft are crashing.
”Again, we don‘t want to rush the interrogation. We want to be sure that these explosives are actually potent and are meant to blow up the aircraft. Investigations like these are not the ones we can rush and jump into conclusions.
”It is not only we who have interest in this case; international organisations, I believe, are also interested in the outcome of the investigation.”
He added that part of the mandate given to the interrogators was to find out the reason for the move to blow up the aircraft, if it was actually true that he wanted to do so.
He also said that security agents would find out if there were accomplices working with the suspect.
He said, ”You know that the reports we had were that Dickson was not going to travel on the flight. If that is true, then there must be reasons. Was he alone in the act or was he working in concert with some people?
”If that is true, then we will like to unmask them. These are the things we believe the investigation will bring out.”
When contacted, the spokesman for the Service, Mr. Ado Muazu, said it would be too early to make any comment as investigations had just commenced.
He said, ”I will not like to say whether he has made any useful or ‘unuseful‘ statements to us. At an appropriate time we will speak on the issue.”
Security has, however, been tightened at the MMA in compliance with the directive of the Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode’s directive.
Our correspondents, who visited the domestic wing of the airport, saw uniformed officials of the FAAN and plain- clothes security operatives monitoring the screening machine at the entrance to the terminal building and movements at other points at the airport.
The General Manager, Public Affairs of FAAN, Mr. Adeniyi Ajakaiye, confirmed the security beef-up.
He said, “We now conduct 100 per cent checks at the airport. It started with the minister himself today (Monday) at the Aero terminal.”
Our correspondents also observed a low turn-out of passengers at the airport. Counters of most of airlines were virtually deserted.
But it could not be ascertained if the lull was as a result of the explosive scare on Saturday.
The Public Affairs Manager of Bellview Airlines, Mr. Habib Mohammed, however, said that there was not enough evidence that the suspect actually intended to place the luggage on Bellview’s flight specifically.
”One cannot categorically say at this stage that the suspect targeted Bellview Airlines or any other airline. The security operatives are still interrogating the guy. We will base whatever judgment on the motive of the suspect on the outcome of preliminary investigation by the security officials. It is better to allow them conclude the investigation first,” he said.
Some airline officials and other workers at the General Aviation Terminal on Monday described Dickson as one of the touts at the airport.
The officials, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondents that the suspect used to work with one of the airlines.
One of the officials said, “He is one of the touts. What they do here is to collect parcels or cargoes from people and take them to any airline‘s counter as unaccompanied cargo. He could have been offered a token like N1,000 or even N500 for such a job. He might not be aware of the content of the parcel.”
Some passengers at the airport who reacted to the explosive scare described it as common in global aviation.
Mr. Chris Otaigbe, who was on his way to Abuja, said, “It happens all over the world but people still fly.”
Masari: Govs are Victims of Own Creation
From George Oji and Reuben Buhari in Kaduna, 11.21.2006
Impeachment
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, has said though the current spate of impeachment in the country constitutes serious threat to the survival of democracy, but the governors are victims of their own creations.
Massari traced the cause of the development to the activities of the governors who failed to allow the emergence of a quality parliament in their various states.
Hon. Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Bello Masari
He blamed them for influencing the election of unpopular candidates whose only credentials were loyalty to them (governors), and which led to the emergence of parliaments that had very weak foundations.
The Speaker expressed this view at the weekend in Kaduna while speaking with newsmen after a meeting of political stakeholders from Katsina State.
Masari argued that, “I don’t fully accept the spate of impeachment of governors because when the foundation is weak, there is bound to be problem. The state Houses of Assembly in almost all cases are under the foot of the governors.
“But you see, the danger of that is that it would produce a very weak parliament and at the critical time when you need that parliament to protect you, they will not be able to do that. So, you find yourself becoming a victim of what you created. Most of these governors, this is the problem they are facing.
“If they had allowed the parliament to develop in such
a way that when the governors start going against the laws of the land, they will raise the yellow flag and be moved back on track. But because the parliament is so weak, and even when they see, they will be afraid of it, by the time it reaches a point that it has become a problem, you find the state assembly is so weak.
“The governors that have been removed, particularly Bayelsa, Ekiti and Plateau have to do with money laundering. Even in Plateau, before the state of emergency, the legislature in Plateau state failed the governor because they had the opportunity to call him to order. Unfortunately, when the crisis started, when the governor was making those utterances that led to the sectarian crisis in Plateau, the parliament was there. They could have called him to order quickly. But they were so weak and so afraid. Later, there was state of emergency and when charges were brought against the governor, they tried to brush the charges aside and look at it as purely
political; saying that some people are after him and avoiding the substantive issues.
“This is also what led to the crisis in Bayelsa, because the assembly was under the foot of the governor. When it is like that, it can easily be manipulated against you. Again because when you establish something that is durable and strong, you may not like it; it will move against you, but it will not consume you.
“This is what has happened to this parliament. It is not good for democracy because the parties are not focusing on the foundation. Look at the revenue accruing to the Federal Government. The Federal Government is doing its best with the 48 percent. But the 52 percent going to the States and Local Government, nobody is asking questions, even you Journalists.
“Everybody is waiting for what the president will say, while the actual problem is the States and Local Governments because that is where the people live. So, I think that our democracy is in danger, yes,
provided the state Houses of Assemblies are not prepared to call their governors to order before being sent out of office.
“Now, no governor will want a strong parliament and a strong parliament is a panacea to democracy”, he said.
Masari noted that at the level of the National Assembly, impeachment is only the last option.
Noting that it is the constitutional right of each state House of Assembly to impeach their governor, the Speaker observed that in doing that, due process must be followed.
“We cannot say five members of a parliament, sitting at 3am in the morning, can impeach a governor in a country where you and me live and we are not doing anything about it. People who are supposed to do something about it are not doing anything about it. So, where will it take us to?
“Really, it is a very serious problem. We don’t go for impeachment because we know the consequences. There are certain things, which for the sake of the system, we let them
go because when they reach a certain level, we have to raise a yellow flag. If not for anything, at the National Assembly, we are able to raise the yellow flag.
“Can you say of any state House of Assembly that has ever raised a yellow flag to its governor and survived? The following day, you find that the entire leadership is changed. This is what we are talking about and while doing so, you should not look at my position.
“I should look at doing what is right because it is then I can secure my position. In a situation where you cannot sleep with your two eyes closed, it is not a safe position. When democracy is trying to survive, you have to be democratic enough to do what is right”.
Masari, who called for the cancellation of the PDP primaries in his native Katsina State, said he held such position because the party had negated the principles of justice and equity.
He said if this is not done and the current position is allowed to stay, there would be
chaos in the state.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday, said it was absurd to list Nigeria among the most corrupt nations in the world as global bodies have done in recent times.
Obasanjo
Obasanjo said this in an address to the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s International Conference in Abuja.
Represented by the Head of Service, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, he said, “I find it absurd, unpleasant and unthinkable seeing Nigeria listed among the most corrupt nations.”
He added, “The widening corruption scandal is a huge challenge for this administration. If official corruption is not eradicated, the rule of law can be jeopardised.”
The President said his administration must ensure a radical shift in policy to curb official corruption.
“To fully put the country on the path of prosperity, complete eradication of corruption must be in the forefront of our agenda. These are what informed our current reform packages, their adaptation and implementation, which must be fast-tracked to put the country back on track,” he said.
Obasanjo said the problems that had eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society dated back to the first republic.
“Nigeria has been lagging behind systematically on all developmental, economic, social and other areas of human endeavour. To solve these problems require only one solution – good management,” he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President and Chairman in Council of NIM, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, said it was no longer news that most of the nation’s problems were centred on poor management.
He said, “It is an over-stated fact that Nigeria’s problems are centred on mismanagement. In almost all the socio-economic sectors of the country, management failure has assumed epidemic proportions. We are in the harvest season for the many years of mismanagement (earlier) sown.”
Abubakar said the institute had also suffered from the wave of greed and corruption in the country. “We trained managers through a long process taking many years, just to lose them in a flash through negligence, cutting corners, indiscipline, greed and corruption, among others.”
The NIM boss challenged his members to always be ambassadors of the institute by imbibing good management culture and upholding the tenets of professional conduct.
“Nigeria as a nation has the greatest potential for achieving greatness not only in Africa but in the world. Nigerians are intelligent, hardworking and professionally competent to meet the challenges of making the country great in the 21st century,” he said.
THE PUNCH EDITORIAL
The questionable role of some judicial officers in fuelling the spate of political crises in the country deserves close scrutiny. Hitherto, the Judiciary had discharged creditably its constitutional role of serving as a check on the conduct of the Legislature and the Executive. Indeed, the National Judicial Council has, since 1999, sanctioned more than 10 erring judges for giving questionable rulings. For instance, justices Egbo Egbo and Stanley Nnaji were removed from office by the NJC over their dubious orders on the removal of former Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, from office.
Despite the self-cleansing exercise by the NJC, some judges still indulge in dispensing frivolous court orders, as was witnessed during the current gale of impeachment of three governors. Indeed, some judges appear to have learnt little or no lessons, and have, instead, become willing accomplices in the miscarriage of justice. Some have assaulted the nation’s Constitution, which they swore to uphold, by compromising the due process of impeachment prescribed by the Constitution. The danger in the third arm of government making itself available for hatchet jobs is ominous for the peace and stability of the nation.
In Ekiti, Plateau, Oyo and Anambra states, governors have been impeached by state legislatures in defiance of the constitutional requirement of two-thirds majority of all the members. Rather than be impartial arbiters between the Executive and the Legislature, partisan state chief judges have, in these cases, stoked political crises by taking sides in unconstitutional impeachment processes.
For the separation of powers between the three arms of government to work and serve as a safeguard against arbitrariness, the 1999 Constitution requires the chief judge of a state to appoint an investigation panel to verify impeachment allegations against a governor or his deputy, after a signed request by two-thirds members of the state House of Assembly.
But in Anambra, 15, instead of 20, lawmakers impeached the governor. In Ekiti, the chief judge allegedly selected a biased impeachment panel that would return a predetermined verdict. In return, the Ekiti House of Assembly illegally removed the state CJ; while in Plateau State, the governor was thrown out of office by six pro-impeachment lawmakers out of the 24 members of the House. The state Chief Judge, who was sacked as a result of his glaring partisanship in the feud, reportedly received the report of a dubious impeachment panel and quickly swore in a new governor.
Riled by the abuse of judicial powers by some judges, the Body of Attorneys-General of the 36 states of the Federation recently urged the NJC to check the trend. The body said that violation of the rule of law portends grave dangers to democratic rule. The Olisa Agbakoba-led Nigeria Bar Association is also challenging the growing abuse of the judiciary for political gains.
In the event of a dispute between the Legislature and the Executive, the Constitution empowers the judicial arm of government to interpret the law without fear of favour. Doing the contrary for whatever reasons by those charged with the interpretation of the law erodes public confidence in the judiciary. It is an open invitation to anarchy, which is antithetical to the survival of the nation’s fragile democracy. The Chief Justice of the Federation and the NJC should check the embarrassing trend, whereby some unscrupulous members of the bench stand justice on its head. Erring judicial officers should be penalised in order to prevent a resort to self-help by parties denied justice.
The Judiciary, which is the last hope of the common man for justice, can only earn public respect if it dispenses justice firmly and dispassionately, especially in crucial disputes between the Executive and the Legislative arms of government.
Protesters disrupt minister's speech in London
From Tunde Oyedoyin and Seun Akioye, London
THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Frank Nweke Jnr., was given a scare yesterday when about six protesters quietly walked into the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Hall, Westminster, London, venue of the launch of Nigeria - Heart of Africa project, and held up proceedings for almost 10 minutes.
Led by one white Briton, David Day, who told The Guardian that he is half Nigerian being married to a Nigerian, the protesters started waving the multi-colour flags of the Biafran Liberation and were shouting: "You're a liar, Nigeria is evil, there's genocide in Nigeria, stop the killings."
Nweke was left confused and unable to grasp what was going on or where the protesters had come from. The disruption came as soon as the minister mounted the podium, after different presentations by the Nigerian High Commissioner in the UK, Dr. Christopher Kolade, Baroness Amos, the Leader of the House of Lords, and former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku
It took almost two to four minutes for some of the minister's delegation and other attendees to get on the stage and intervene. By this time, Mr. Day had taken over the podium and was speaking into the microphone before being wrestled away by three men.
Despite that, other members of the group took control of the event, walking round the hall and accused Nigeria of committing genocide and killing members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
The protesters shouted "Free Asari-Dokubo, Free Chief Ralph Uwazurike," whom they accused the Nigerian government of torturing in detention.
As the pandemonium continued, a fierce verbal exchange was taking place between some members of the minister's delegation and the protesters. The confrontation could have turned nasty had staff of the conference centre not run to get some policemen from nearby Downing Street. The law enforcement agents it was, who restored peace and asked that the protesters conduct their demonstration outside the premises.
Speaking to The Guardian outside the hall, members of the group displayed photos of torture to back up their claims that they weren't just a bunch of troublemakers.
Day even accused the State Security Service (SSS) of killing people and burying them in mass graves around Onitsha.
And when peace returned to the hall, Kolade appealed to all Nigerians to desist from assessing the progress of the country through criteria set up by other countries.
Kolade, who opened the Heart of Africa project, lamented a statement credited to a western leader that "Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world."
"That comment did not reflect the truth of the situation. I want you to stop assessing yourself by criteria set by others, otherwise you will have a poor assessment of yourself," the Nigerian envoy said.
According to him, Nigerians have been judged as people living under $1 per day. He said there are more to Nigeria than what many want to believe.
"We are a part of a community that has something that others can't come to grasp with. Our culture and works of arts show a people that have something they want to communicate to the world. There are more criteria to judging people than $1," he asserted.
When he had the opportunity to speak, Nweke Jnr. highlighted the reasons for the project.
"We are hosting the event in London as part of the wider initiative to promote understanding overseas of Nigeria's political reform agenda and economic progression, in a bid to reassure potential investors that Nigeria has truly surmounted its past developmental challenges," he said.
The minister told Nigerians that it was time they began to tell their own stories.
"We need to go out there and tell our own story, it might not be an instant hit but CNN was not an instant hit," he said.
Nweke also challenged the question of Nigeria's image abroad.
"It is not appropriate to question Nigeria's image. The negative story they tell about Nigeria today is founded on perceptions created by global rating agencies and I have always challenged them," he said.
According to Nweke, Nigeria may have challenges; they are not peculiar to the country. He said that the current administration has taken steps to tackle them.
When asked about the pace of impeachments and allegations of corruption, he said such issues would have been swept under the carpet but for the positive drive of the government to eradicate corruption.
He said: "I want to dare other countries of the world to pick the challenge. Our problems are 60-70 per cent solved because we are truthful enough to admit and challenge them. While we are fighting corruption others are encouraging it. All through history, it is known that Switzerland is a haven for stolen money and you catch the thief but left the person who collected stolen money. How many countries have removed state governors and senate presidents? It shows that the corruption crusade is working."
The event, which featured exhibition of Nigerian cultural heritage, will run for three days at the Queen Elizabeth 11 Conference Centre in Westminster. It was launched in August 2004 as a drive to attract direct foreign investment to Nigeria. London is one of the first Western countries to host the Heart of Africa project exhibition
Is the African peer review mechanism losing its integrity?
By Zanele Twala
THE African Peer Review Mechanism is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious projects that the African continent has ever embarked on, since the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). To date, the process has commanded a lot of interest and has been embraced in a very positive way by donors, strategic partners and those African states that have signed up to it. In the words of the UNDP Regional Director, at the May 2006 African Governance Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, "Indeed APRM has developed an expectation for Africa to tackle the governance problems, which stand as an obstacle for its development" .
Despite this vote of confidence in the APR process, there is a growing concern - amongst a number of research institutions, experts, civil society groups and governing council members that have participated in the process on the African Continent - that the APR process is at risk of losing its integrity. There appears to be a lack of common adherence to the guidelines for countries to prepare for and to participate in the APRM. There is growing evidence to suggest that countries implementing the APR are applying diverse interpretations and methodological approaches to the process. While this is to be expected in a continent that has different constitutional democracies, social, political and economic contexts, adherence to common standards of implementation is critical in maintaining the integrity of the APR process.
For example, guidelines state that "participating countries should establish a national Focal Point for the APRM - at a Ministerial level, or and equivalent person who reports directly to the Head of State or Government - which will be responsible for managing the national process."
APRM authorities advised that this focal point should be more of a diplomatic liaison with continental structures and decisions about how the process should be managed should be taken by a council led by civil society and with a civil society majority. However, some countries have put government firmly in charge in ways that undermine the candor and integrity of the process.
To what extent has this diversity of approach impacted on the outcome of the national processes? In my view, this diversity can affect the achievement of quality and standards in the reporting. For example in countries where the process is led by government, and where there has been limited freedom of expression, it is likely that citizens participation may not be as effective and thus affect the quality and outcome of the report. An important aspect of the APRM process is to allow citizens to reflect on the governance issues that they feel need to be tackled for the development of their countries. This in turn directs countries to the areas in which they have to focus their Programme of Action. If this process is not implemented properly, countries run the risk of not tackling the governance problems facing the country.
The process also is supposed to ensure broad civil participation. But it is quite clear that equal civil society representation on a council does not mean equal influence or control of the process or report. Civil society representatives have day jobs and cannot keep pace with the demands of the process, particularly if it is rushed and the timelines and agenda are set by government. Unless clear rules are set and ample time and resources afforded to civil society to consult among itself, the process can be manipulated to give the appearance of consultation without the substance.
A clear pronouncement from the Country Review Team in this regard can assist in mediating the above risk.
County Support Missions are required to set a common standard of quality in terms implementing the APRM process, in terms of structures, interpretation of the questionnaires, research methodology, public participation processes, writing and editing, to assist countries in their reviews. Judging by the diverse approaches implemented by countries the Country Support Missions have not been able to achieve adherence successfully. For example, Ghana and Kenya applied a systematic methodology in collecting their data to inform their reports, including household surveys; focused group discussions, expert surveys and desk research by credible institutions. These methods were in turn were complemented by validation of the data sets. On the other hand a country like South Africa, largely depended on desk top research, public hearings and submissions made by various stakeholders in response to the questionnaires. Bearing this in mind, I would argue that the lack of a common approach in the research methodology compromises the quality of outcomes.
It is my belief that, to ensure adherence to the standards and guidelines, the APRM Country Review Teams need to be more consistent and vigilant in their approach of supporting countries. If attention is not given to addressing these challenges we may find that the APRM process will lose its integrity.
- Twala is Director of the South African NGO Coalition, and a member of the South African APRM National Governing Council
Militants kill ex-colleague, bystander in Port Harcourt
From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt
OVER 40 gunmen suspected to be members of a militant group yesterday stormed the office of a non-governmental organisation, the Academic Peace Associates Works in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and shot dead two persons.
One of the deceased persons, N. Woriboko, had recently renounced membership of the notorious militant group.
The organisation has been involved in rehabilitation of former militants in the Niger Delta. Its Executive Director, Dr. Judith Bundin Asuni, told journalists that over 40 gunmen stormed the group's premises in
more than 30 motorbikes and detonated dynamites.
Asuni, who is an American, explained that the militants who were recognised to be members of the particular militant group invaded the office while her members were concluding plans for a rally against electoral violence in the state. She said that the militants first cordoned off part of Woji Road, New GRA, Port Harcourt to prevent people from getting close to her premises.
"After shooting their way into the office, the militants went after Woriboko and shot him several times on the chest and within minutes he died. They also shot and killed, Mr. Ogbonna, who is the Eneka Youth chairman", she said.
Asuni said: "They threw dynamites into this place. They ransacked the whole office. They shot Wariboko also known as Yellowman, who is from Ogu-Bolo. He was with the militant group and he has fallen out with them. They appeared to seek him out and shot him at close range. It was a targeted killing. An innocent man, Mr. Ogbonna was killed in the cross fire."
Apart from the two victims, other youths present at the meeting before the militants struck sustained various degrees of injury. When The Guardian visited the office, debris from broken glasses and blood littered the floor.
Asuni, who was enraged by the attack, said the action of the militants was heart-rending because her organisation had been working tirelessly to rehabilitate the militants who, she said, were used by politicians during the 2003 elections and later dumped.
According to her, the planned rally, which was being fine-tuned before yesterday's attack was aimed at educating the youths in the Niger Delta not to allow themselves to be used politicians during the forthcoming general elections.
THE GUARDIAN EDITORIAL
The death sentence on Saddam Hussein
The trial and sentencing of Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi leader, by an Iraqi court have been criticised by international human rights groups; questions have been raised about trial procedures and the quality of justice, but more important perhaps are the lessons to be learnt from Saddam Hussein's humiliation.
A year and a month after it began on October 2005, the so-called "Dujail Trial" the first of a number of cases against Saddam Hussein was concluded with a death sentence imposed on him. Also sentenced to death are his half-brother and head of his intelligence agency, Barzan al-Tikriti and two other high-ranking officials, four other persons received jail terms. Saddam was found guilty of crimes against humanity committed on his orders in 1982 in the northern town of Dujail. In a reprisal attack for an alleged attempt to assassinate him, nearly 150 Iraqi citizens of the Shiite sect, including children, were killed, homes were demolished and orchards razed. Every dictator has his date with justice and history. There is growing international objection to the reign of impunity and repressive rulers. This is the first lesson from the pass that Saddam Hussein has come to.
Hussein, while his rule lasted exhibited all the characteristics of a megalomaniac; he combined brutal dictatorship with military adventurism. He came to power in 1979 on the back of the Sunni-dominated Baath Party; the first major assignment he carried out was to execute 21 members of his cabinet on treasonable charges. No one dared to challenge him or call him to order in nearly a quarter of a century of misrule. By the time he was ousted from power by the American and British forces in 2003, he had dragged the Iraqi people through three international wars that claimed the lives of millions of Iraqi, Iranian, American, British and other nationals, besides immense material destruction and environmental damage.
Ferreted out of hiding and humiliated for the world to watch, the former Iraqi maximum ruler is to die by hanging - unless his appeal succeeds. It is no surprise though how the trial has gone, contrived as it were, and like the American invasion that ousted him, to assure the end of Saddam Hussein. Indeed, the America-backed Iraqi government can hardly wait for the execution of Saddam. As Bassam Ridha, a senior aide to the Iraqi Prime Minister put it, " We strongly feel that everyday he lives is not good for the Iraqi people. We need to put an end to him..." On the other hand, Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil al Dulaimi describes his conviction as "politically-motivated and a farce." Saddam's trial has widened divisions within his country, the consequences of which will be far-reaching.
But Saddam was, in no small part, a creation of America which, in the 80s, armed him to serve as a counter force to Iran then led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and even encouraged Iraq to embark on a pointless and fruitless eight-year war with its eastern neighbor. While he was useful, he was sustained, even if to the detriment of his people. Now that he is on death row and has no further use, American president George Bush Jnr. is reported to have said that " my decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision and the world is better off for it". This is instructive and a warning to rulers everywhere who choose to place personal and foreign interests above their people's, even if it is difficult to see how the killing of Saddam Hussein would advance the cause of Iraqi democracy and constitutional government.
Certainly there are good reasons for Saddam to be punished for inflicting so much damage on Iraq and its people. But will his execution serve any useful purpose? Iraqi officials seem to believe so, but we have our doubts. Nevertheless, the response to his conviction reveals glaringly the depth of ethnic and sectarian division within the Iraqi society. In the Baghdad neighbourhood town of Sadr, Shiite Muslims jubilated and shouted: "deliver him to us. We'll execute him ourselves". But in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, Sunni Muslims shouted, "we will avenge you Saddam". Shrik al-Nadawi, head of the Baigat group of tribes, added: "Saddam lived a hero and will die a hero".
It is indeed saddening that men can, for reason of defending one faith or the other, allow themselves such personal hatred and sectarian division of so frightening proportion. How this can be bridged and the people of Iraq brought together for their common good is perhaps the most urgent task that confronts the present Iraqi government. But it is doubtful that local authorities can handle this alone. There is absolutely no indication to this effect, at least as things presently stand.
For the sake of the Iraqi people, the world must intervene through as many means as possible. In the context of how the latest Iraqi problem came about, America has the primary responsibility to facilitate this: Mr. Bush must humbly seek help from the international community, under the auspices of the United Nations, to restore peace to this troubled land. We believe that many nations are willing and ready to help
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Rwanda fury at Kagame trial call | ||||
Rwanda's justice minister dismissed the claims of Mr Kagame's involvement as "totally unfounded". Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who is investigating the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, also said nine of Mr Kagame's aides should be arrested. After Habyarimana's plane was shot down militias killed some 800,000 people. "The allegations are totally unfounded. The judge is acting on the basis of gossip and rumours," AFP news agency quoted Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama as saying.
President Kagame has always vehemently denied such claims and accuses France, a close ally of the old Hutu regime, of being complicit in the 1994 massacres of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. A hearing began in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, last month into allegations of French involvement in the killings. French legal authorities are investigating Habyarimana's death because his aircraft had a French crew.
Rampage Judge Bruguiere is expected to sign international arrest warrants for the officials in the coming days.
Under French law, a warrant cannot be issued for Mr Kagame because he has immunity as a head of state. But the judge said Mr Kagame should stand trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up to try those responsible for the genocide. BBC correspondent Fergal Keane says if the judge's claims prove true, the legal and moral implications would be devastating. Rwanda's two most senior generals - armed forces chief James Kabarebe and army chief-of-staff Charles Kayonga - are among the nine aides suspected of involvement in the downing of the plane carrying Habyarimana and his Burundi counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira on 6 April 1994. Hutu militias accused Mr Kagame's then rebel Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of killing the president and started massacring Tutsis across the country. Mr Kagame has always accused Hutu extremists of killing Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, in order to provide a pretext for the genocide. The killings ended 100 days later when the RPF took power. The ICTR has convicted 26 people and acquitted five. All of those charged in the ICTR have had links to the Hutu militias, known as the Interahamwe. The Tanzania-based court is due to be disbanded in 2008. | ||||
These are political games rather than a judicial process 
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Clashes leave Congo court on fire | ||
Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, the ex-rebel leader who says he was cheated of victory, clashed with police. Police used tear gas and UN peacekeepers fired shots in the air, as protesters also burnt two vehicles. The violence led the Supreme Court to suspend its hearing into Mr Bemba's claims he was cheated of victory. President Joseph Kabila was last week declared the winner, with 58% of the vote against 42% for Mr Bemba. The elections are supposed to draw a line under a five-year conflict in which some four million people died.
Extra troops Black-robed judges fled the court, as documents and furniture caught fire. It is not clear whether the fire is under control, or whether any electoral material was damaged in the blaze.
Interior Minister Denis Kalume said some of the protesters were carrying weapons and fired at the police. Our correspondent says the police ran away and Mr Bemba's supporters then set two vehicles on fire, along with part of the Supreme Court. UN peacekeepers fired shots in the air to disperse the protesters. "We have sent additional troops in to secure the situation," said UN spokesman Kemal Saiki. European Union peacekeeping troops also deployed near the court building, reports Reuters news agency. After the first round results were declared in August, security forces loyal to the two men clashed in Kinshasa, leaving at least 23 people dead. The world's biggest peacekeeping force - some 17,000 men - is in DR Congo to prevent further unrest. Election observers have said the irregularities were not on a large enough scale to overturn Mr Kabila's lead. The results showed a regional divide, with Mr Bemba gaining most votes in the Lingala-speaking west, including Kinshasa, while Mr Kabila won by a landslide in the Swahili-speaking east. The election was organised under the terms of a 2002 peace deal to end the conflict, which drew in the armies of nine other African countries. | ||
Internet scams go unchecked in the UK, Nigeria
Financial crime in the UK stemming from Nigeria involves ”billions of pounds” but not enough is being done to stop it, a report has concluded.
According to research group Chatham House, Internet scams, credit card fraud and money laundering are going unchecked by governments in both countries.
The crimes are not given priority but have become a ”large and pressing problem,” the author was reported as saying by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Nigeria has become especially linked with ”advance fee” or ”419 scams”.
This involves sending emails or faxes to potential victims around the world, offering a highly attractive but false financial deal.
The scale and scope of Nigeria-related financial crime highlights critical wider failures in the way the British authorities tackle fraud, corruption and money laundering
The criminal uses information they trick from the gullible victims and commonly strips their bank account.
This style of incidents alone cost the UK economy 150m a year - with the average victim losing 31,000, the report said.
Other examples of crimes in the Chatham House Report include more than 20m forged cheques and postal orders couriered from Nigeria‘s commercial capital, Lagos, being found in one day at Heathrow Airport.
In another incident, a handbag containing more than 1m worth of false cheques was found at a parcel centre in Coventry.
”Criminal activity is carried out by a small minority of Nigerians, relative to the size of the country and the number of nationals resident in Britain or visiting it,” the report said.
”But the number of people involved is still significant and their successes reflect wider political and logistical shortcomings with the way the British authorities deal with financial crime.”
Poverty in Nigeria had helped spark the growth of criminal networks, the report said.
But while the number of people involved was ”vague,” the sums of money were ”significant” and ”have almost certainly run into billions of pounds over the past 10 years”, it added.
Nigerian passport holders deported for their role in scams often return to Britain and again get involved in the crimes, the research found.
Report author, Michael Peel, said action needed to be taken by both governments.
”The scale and scope of Nigeria-related financial crime highlights critical wider failures in the way the British authorities tackle fraud, corruption and money laundering,” he said.
”Despite important, but limited reforms, criminal networks and corporate bribery still flourish.
”This raises questions about how sincere the governments in both countries are in their talk of change, particularly when significant political, commercial or energy interests are at stake.”
The report urged Britain to set up a way of co-ordinating reports of Nigeria-related fraud.
It also called on law enforcement agencies and the Financial Services Authority to build better links with counterparts in Nigeria to cooperate in fraud and corruption cases.
A strange encounter with Babangida
What was I doing here? I could not understand it. We had met before, many years ago, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos. I cannot remember the event now. But I remember that encounter largely for his calculated display of avuncular affection. I still remember this rather short, stocky man walking up to reporters after the event, shaking their hands and calling out their names, one by one, before they surged after him – tapes, microphones and all – as he made to enter his limousine.
Buhari’s blind zeal was, perhaps, his greatest undoing and Babangida, his successor and a ruthless strategist in military power play, had no qualms exploiting the weaknesses of the Buhari regime to the core. Babangida snagged populist programmes intended to soften the hard posture of the Buhari-Idiagbon regime. He started with himself, wearing a charming smile and dropping the rugged title of military head of state for the more urbane title of president. He launched populist programmes and drew on the famished universities for a loyal cult of apologists.
We’ll come back to that. As I was saying, I couldn’t make sense of what I was doing here, face to face with a man who remains an abiding symbol of Nigeria’s current woes. Not being Oriana Fallaci, the late Italian-American journalist whose singular passion was to seek out and de-construct the world’s worst dictators, I hold the view that there are some people that I must never meet privately. This man, Babangida, was one of them. So, what the heck was I doing here?
Before I could speak, he raised his hand. He said he knew my contempt for him, and not just my contempt, but also that of millions of Nigerians who felt betrayed by his bankrupt legacy. He said I should make no mistake about it that that was precisely why he took the form of the PDP to run for the office of the President on the party’s platform in 2007. He said that being a man in awe of the verdict of history, he wanted one more chance to undo his past wrongs. All he was asking for was a chance to make things up again. Was that too much to ask?
This time, I ignored his upraised hand, motioning me, I suspect, to hear him out. My ear was not so heavy that I could not understand his plea, or my heart so dark that it could not forgive. But this man had deliberately decided to obfuscate the issues; he has, true to his reputation, decided to confuse the facts of his dishonourable time in office. I would be false to my conscience to allow him get away with such revisionism. Who killed Dele Giwa, I asked him? For me, that remains one of the blackest spots of his regime. As an undergraduate then, I still remember filing past the mangled, blasted remains of Giwa as he lay-in-state in front of the Newswatch building in Oregun. What did he do to deserve a parcel bomb at his breakfast table? My blood ran cold.
Babangida smiled – that pretentious, toothy smile – and made to answer, but I continued in a rush of questions. In a book by Karl Maier, titled, This house has fallen, the author had this to say about you: “By all accounts, Babangida is a wealthy man, perhaps the wealthiest man in Nigeria and he bears a major – many Nigerians say the largest – responsibility for the crisis in Nigeria.” How did you come by this wealth? What did you forget in Aso Rock? What happened to the $12.4b oil windfall earned by the country when you were in charge? Why did you cling unto a legal straw when the Oputa Panel invited you to publicly defend the grotesque human rights record of your regime? Why would a man who spent eight years in power without mentioning the word ‘corruption,’ expect us to believe that he has now seen the light?
Why… he banged the table. He said it was obvious that this was not an interview but an inquisition. He said that I had made up my mind what to believe about him and that he was not obliged to continue the conversation. And then, he added, as he shrivelled me with a glance: “This is democracy, you know. You are free to hold any opinion you choose to hold about me; but don’t forget that in Nigeria, the press does not decide who gets elected. It’s left for the people to decide and I have made up my mind to submit myself to the ballot.”
I laughed. I laughed so hard that I rocked the table and sent my tape recorder crashing to the floor. Democracy? What does this man know about democracy? I laughed harder, holding my sides. He annulled the June 12, 1993 elections adjudged to be one of the fairest and freest the country has had so far. In numerous experiments that tested the limits of political engineering, he ended up creating a system where, whereas everyone right up to governors was elected, he alone and his coterie of generals, were the khaki heads of an agbada nation. And he’s talking about democracy, this twisted effigy of Musharraf? This fellow who debased our schools, playing off lecturers against themselves and faculty against faculty, and under whose watch cultism reached a new menacing high?
As my laughter drew tears from my eyes, I noticed that he was looking at the door, beyond my shoulders. I was backing the door. I suddenly had a strange feeling that he had pressed some remote button to invite someone else in. I couldn’t guess who it could be. The transmogrification of his countenance squelched my rude excitement. I smelt trouble. Could it be one of his goons – or could it be his wife, Maryam, whose explicit taste as the First Lady, according to Gani, cost the nation N11b? My laughter dried up.
But there was something I wanted to get out badly; one question I needed to ask. The execution of Mamman Vatsa and co. for an alleged coup plot was one of the bloodiest pages in the history of the Babangida era. Yet it has been said in very small circles that when Domkat Bali announced that the coup plotters had been “executed one hour ago,” Vatsa had not actually been executed then. The Babangida government made the announcement to stave off pressure to spare the life of Vatsa against whom there was grossly insufficient evidence of any wrongdoing. I wanted to ask the evil genius what went through his mind in those heady, bloody hours preceding the dummy announcement and the execution of Vatsa.
Suddenly, I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I turned and screamed from the pit of my stomach. Ah! Thank God, I had been dreaming.
NDIC gets court’s nod to liquidate eight banks
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, on Monday, disclosed that a Federal High Court in Lagos had granted it powers to liquidate eight failed banks.
CBN Governor, Charles Soludo
It also said that it had paid N3.29bn to insured depositors of 34 closed banks.
The affected banks are City Express Bank; Hallmark Bank; African Express Bank; Metropolitan Bank; Assurance Bank; Trade Bank; Lead Bank;and Allstates Trust Bank.
The banks were part of the 14 that failed to meet the N25bn minimum recapitalisation requirement set by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive of the NDIC, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye, said at a news conference in Abuja on Monday, that three out of the eight banks had, however, been acquired by two mega banks.
Ecobank Plc acquired Allstates Trust Bank through purchase and assumption failure resolution option, while Afribank Nigeria Plc acquired Lead Bank and Assurance Bank.
Ogunleye said the corporation had also obtained court orders to serve as provisional liquidator for Fortune International Bank, Gulf Bank and Eagle Bank.
“The owners of the remaining three closed banks – Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria; Liberty Bank; and Triumph Bank – are currently challenging the revocation of their licences in court, thereby frustrating the process of paying the affected depositors by the corporation,” he added.
On whether interest would be paid on insured deposits, he said that the corporation had no plan to do so.
He explained that all the transactions of a failed bank were usually frozen once its licence was revoked.
“We are not going to pay interest to depositors of funds trapped in failed banks. We don’t charge interest on the loans and so we are not going to pay interest to depositors,” the NDIC boss said.
He said the corporation was working with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other security agencies towards recovering bank loans from debtors.
“We are using the EFCC, the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to recover bank loans. We have handed over cases of some of the bank debtors to them but you don’t expect me to tell you who they are,” he said.
Ogunleye explained that the N3.29bn paid to depositors as at October 2006 represented 63 per cent of total insured claims of N5.2bn.
He added that the corporation declared 100 per cent dividend in favour of the depositors of 11 of the 34 closed banks.
PDP Congresses: Matters Arising
11.20.2006The conduct of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) congresses at the ward and local government levels indicate that the party is yet stuck with its old ways characterised by money politics, imposition of candidates, threat of violence and other irregularities that the on-going rebranding campaign of the ruling behemoth preaches against. Oke Epia reports
The PDP is in the airwaves and newsprints telling Nigerians how much it has done for the country and why it should be trusted with the mandate to govern in 2007. The image of a ‘new’ PDP which sets integrity tests and issues codes of conduct for its aspirants, candidates and congress exercises is sold to the public via the massive rebranding campaign. But the party appears to be flunking perhaps a test that could be used to judge just how committed it is to the much vaunted ‘new found’ ideals of integrity, accountability, and transparency in prosecuting the 2007 elections challenge.
The conduct of the congresses at the ward and government and state Assemblies levels and the sale of nomination forms for elective offices have left much to be desired given the observed variance between what is being preached and what is being practised by the party at the various levels up to the National Working Committee (NWC). Take the sale of forms for
instance. The simple exercise of buying and selling nomination documents
has become another avenue for corruption and self-enrichment by party officials particularly at the state chapters. There have been continued reports of over-charging and levy of extraneous and other unauthorised charges by officials who side-step the guidelines of the party to make aspirants cough out more money to procure nomination papers. The PDP guidelines pegs the official charges for governorship, senatorial, and house of representatives forms at N3million, N1million, and N500,000 respectively while aspirants to the state assemblies have only to pay N100,000 for the forms. But corrupt party officials have had to ignore this guideline and worse still, ignore the repeated warning of the national secretariat, without any known consequence till date.
Penultimatee week, PDP National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, issued a “final warning on unauthorised charges” which stated inter
alia, that “following complaints by aspirants that PDP chairmen and other party officials still demand extra charges before making nomination forms available to aspirants, inspite of previous warning to that effect, the National Working Committee at its meetings of 7th November, 2006 reviewed the situation and resolved that all state executives that have collected such monies have only one week to refund them, failing which, severe penalties will be imposed on erring official executives.”
But that was the last heard on the matter as there has not been any report of sanctions meted on defaulting officials. This scenario recalls the shameful helplessness of the PDP top hierarchy in the Anambra impeachment saga where its directive that the House of Assembly dominated by its members stayed action on the impeachment and removal from office of Governor Peter Obi, was roundly and contemptuously ignored. It will be recalled that PDP National Chairman, Sen. Ahmadu Ali, had
led a delegation to Awka to ask the lawmakers to back down on the action while Maduekwe had signed advertorials in newspapers stressing the same point. In fact, the national secretary, had told THISDAY that the party would not allow its directive to be defiled suggesting that appropriate action would be taken against the legislators (in line with the disciplined direction of the new PDP) should they go ahead with the impeachment. But Maduekwe has since been forced to eat his words just as Ali was made to appear inconsequential in the use of his ‘good offices.’
The collection of extraneous and illegal charges by party officials reinforces the dominance of money politics in the PDP house which the code of conduct for aspirants and candidates seek to vitiate. When aspirants are made to pay ‘bribes’ to party officials before obtaining forms, it adds to the cost of prosecuting the election. And this is just a small fraction of the many extraneous costs that will be
(or being) borne by office-seekers on the PDP platform. A major expenditure will be incurred at the stage of the congresses and primaries when delegates and officials will be expected to have their palms greased before voting.
The November 4 ward congresses across the country was fiercely contested and attracted numerous petitions from prominent members at the states because that particular exercise formed the bedrock of control or possible manipulation of the primaries by governorship, national and state assembly aspirants.
The guideline states that “for the purpose of nominating the party’s candidates for the offices of governor of a state, member of the national assembly (senate and house of representatives) and member of state house of assembly, each of the 8,812 ward chapters of the party shall produce 25 ward delegates at a special ward congress. The same delegates shall participate in the special congresses for the nomination of the candidates mentioned in
this paragraph.” The 25 delegates from the ward level are additionally important because they are to produce “the one (1) national delegate” to the national convention at the special local government congresses.
The implication of this is that whoever is able to gain the upper in the nomination of the 25 delegates have the ace in determining the governorship, national and state assembly candidates of the party at the states. And given the state of factionalization and/or
battle for supremacy between gladiators of the party many states, it is no surprise that there have been high-profile complaints and petitions on the ward congresses across the country. Little wonder then that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP at its meeting after the ward congresses empanelled an ad-hoc committee to investigate and determine the petitions which arose from the exercise. The committee led by Chief Ebenezer Babatope and made of five other members, one from each
geo-political zone of the country, was inaugurated by Ahmadu Ali last November 13 and asked to submit its report in three days. It is instructive to note that the national chairman, at the inauguration, had stressed the point that the ad-hoc committee must be guided principally only by the result sheets submitted by the state electoral panels and not any other.
According to him, the committee must “lay more emphasis on result sheets tendered by the electoral panels because people felt trapping result sheets was the essence,” adding that some people petitioned because they felt left out or “feel frightened that they may be left out.”
The committee was expectedly besieged by representations and appearances from many gladiators including governors, party chairmen, and national leaders of the PDP during its sitting at the secluded and serene Command Guest House, Asokoro, Abuja, venue of its secretariat. Briefing reporters last Friday, the committee’s chairman,
Babatope, announced the cancellation of the ward congresses in Cross River and Benue States while recommending harmonization and reconciliation in some others like Bayelsa and Imo. It however, upheld the results of the November 4 exercise in majority of the states inspite of the petitions and complaints while reserving the case of Delta State to the NEC of the party as it could not resolve the ‘muddle’ of parallel result sheets which arose from the state. As a fall-out of the large-scale differences, the local government congresses were called off in Delta and Bayelsa States while it was put off for some days in Akwa Ibom State.
The contention for the soul of the party in Delta State between a gubernatorial aspirant, Goodswill Obielum and the camp of Governor James Ibori manifested in the parade of parallel result sheets one by the state chairman, Emman Ogidi and the other by chairman of the electoral panel sent to supervise the process in the state, Sule
Amichi. According to Babatope, both men claimed to have collected the result sheets from the national organizing secretary, Alhaji Umaru Dahiru, and insisted on the authenticity of the documents in their possession.
In his appearance before the committee, its chairman explained further, Dahiru did not deny that the two different sheets emanated from his office but refuted claims by Amichi that he (Dahiru) had given him a letter invalidating the sheets issued to Ogidi. Certain questions easily arise: why was Ogidi issued result sheets when the procedure was clear that it is the panel that ought to be in possession of the documents? If it was a case of late arrival of the committee that necessitated its materials being given to the state chairman as it was in some states, why was a big deal for the issue to be resolved when the authorised officials got on ground? It can be safely said that the powerful forces at play in the Delta State muddle that was the ward congresses
had Babatope's committee's hands behind its back. But it will be interesting to watch just how the part's NEC will resolve this tango.
In Edo State, Chief Tony Anenih, Governor Lucky Igbinedion, his deputy, Mike Oghiadome, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, state chairman, Solomon Aguele, were among those who made representations before the ad-hoc committee. Each of them claimed irregularities and sharp practices in the conduct of the congresses and sought several remedies but at the end of the day, the committee upheld the result released from the state.
In Benue where the committee recommended fresh congresses, all the big wigs in the party including new entrant, Paul Unongo, Bernabas Gemade, former PDP national chairman, and Senator David Mark, among others made appearances and peddled conflicting claims to awhat the state governor, Chief George Akume and his supporters tendered.
The way and manner the ward delegates emerged in some states raised fears that the
factor of finance will play a major role in the primaries of the PDP. Because for those who could not gain control of the structure at this level, the option may have to be the deployment of monetary inducement to woo delegates in exchange for votes. Even for those who secured substantial control of the structures, it is inevitable that they would need to oil the wheels to ensure loyalty and compliance of the delegates to preconceived agenda. All these will invariably lead to the dominance of money politics in the contest for the party’s ticket, a factor the much advertised new PDP has promised to vitiate if not eliminate. When aspirants are forced to deploy huge war chests for mere party primaries then the point of about arriving at the authentic choice of the people may be lost. And if that be the case, the PDP like it did in 1999 and 2003 may have succeeded in foisting on the electorate unpopular choices, thereby stifling the growth of democracy in the country.
There is little doubt that the party may suffer some consequences as back-lash from the congresses and the way petitions were handled in some of the states. One of such consequences is the possible exit of some of the aggrieved members to other parties. In Edo State for instance, there are reports that the Action Congress may be a beneficiary of the messy congresses of the PDP. This is however, not unexpected in party politics wherein the presence of desperate politicians that seek offices on just any platform add a lot of fluidity to the process. The PDP may have prepared for this in any case if comments made by Dahiru last
Thursday are anything to go by. The national organizing secretary had said candidates that emerged at the primaries could be still disqualified if they engaged in disorderly and violent conduct. This seemingly innocuous safeguard could however, be exploited for mischievous or less than noble purposes as desperate interests can push and
shove the rules aside to achieve their aims. Be these as they may, the subsequent congresses in the next few weeks will make the picture clearer
CHRISTIAN LIFE DAILY
Daily Devotional Series
November 17, 2006
Mathew 2:16-18
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more
THE INNOCENT ONES ARE AFFECTED
When evil is hatched on the masses the innocent people are also affected. When King Herod found out that his evil intention for baby Jesus had been detected he was furious and ordered the killing of innocent two year old baby boys all over the region of Bethlehem .
We suffer some discomfort, pain or losses at times for reasons beyond our explanation. In an attempt to get the attention of the Presidents of certain countries the terrorists strike areas in their territories killing innocent men, women and children.
You may not have done anything to deserve the pain you are going through. As a believer, God is your anchor and He will hold you firmly in the midst of the storms of life. The value of your painful experience today is worth more than anything you can imagine.
Some women lost their innocent two year old baby boys just for Mary the mother of Jesus to keep hers. This same Jesus is the Savior of the whole world today and forever. You may have to endure pain as a result of the sacrifice of something or someone precious to you so that others may be blessed with life. God will help you and grant you the grace to go through process of healing. You will have every reason to thank Him as time goes by.
God bless you.
Pastor Peter,
P.O. Box 3301,
Atlanta, GA. 30302.
770-256-4117
peterayeni@...
Henry Umeana
Indeed, take time to Pray Always . . . It is the Master-key to your Breakthroughs.
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