http://www.punchng.com Breaking News, information and opinion in Nigeria Sun, 11 Nov 2012 01:08:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://www.punchng.com/politics/bayelsarivers-boundary-dispute-oil-wells-belong-to-us-king-bob-manuel/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/bayelsarivers-boundary-dispute-oil-wells-belong-to-us-king-bob-manuel/#comments Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:00:52 +0000 Fatai Ibrahim
http://www.punchng.com/?p=71798
King Disreal Gbobo Bob-Manuel is the Amanyanabo of Abonnema and Chairman, Akuku-Toru Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs. He spoke with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE on the ongoing boundary dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa State How true is the claim that the gas plant within the disputed area was erroneously called Soku Gas Plant instead of Oluasiri… [Read More…]]]>
King Disreal Gbobo Bob-Manuel is the Amanyanabo of Abonnema and Chairman, Akuku-Toru Council of Traditional Rulers and Chiefs. He spoke with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE on the ongoing boundary dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa State
How true is the claim that the gas plant within the disputed area was erroneously called Soku Gas Plant instead of Oluasiri Gas Plant?
Those who made such statement are making a fundamental error. The issue of nomenclature is usually based on proximity to the wealth. If you know the terrain, you will understand that the gas plant itself is only one and half kilometres from Elem -Sangama and it is also two and half kilometres away from Soku itself. Oluasiri is further away; Oluasiri is 3.4 kilometres away. So, there is no way those who are naming the facility would consider Oluasiri first before Soku or Elem-Sangama. The communities that are closest to the gas plant or the oil wells are Soku and Elem-Sangama and these are all Kalabari territories. They are within the Rivers State geographical map.
Is it true that Rivers does not have any community around the disputed oil wells?
It is not true. This is a complete misinformation. All the communities around the oil wells are within Rivers State and they are within the Kalabari Kingdom. All the communities there speak the Kalabari language as their native dialect. Whoever says there is no community from Rivers State within the area in question is only trying to cause confusion. All the communities there are Kalabari communities and they are all within Rivers State, including the Oluasiri people who are sitting on Odual land. Oluasiri is part of Rivers State.
To what extent has President Goodluck Jonathan been involved in this disputes?
The dispute has been there for several decades. Initially, they were disputes that arose from fishing rights and we have managed to sort these things out. We are brothers and they have shown us our demarcation, the areas to face, the settlements and all that, and we have been managing the situation. We adhered to this all through the Civil War period up to the creation of states and until when Bayelsa State was carved out of Rivers State. That culminated in the 10th edition of the map we are talking about. So the disputes have been there, but they have been handled properly and the 10th edition took care of everything. What we are saying is that there was a publication they called the 11th edition that contained certain errors as admitted by both the boundary committee and other agencies.
These errors are supposed to have been corrected in the pending 12th edition. Now, the correction has not been effected. Suddenly, we are finding that the boundaries have started to move left, right and centre. So, what we are saying is that these errors ought to be corrected and the proper edition, which is the 12th edition, be produced. Even the Oluasiri land that we are talking about is principally a fishing settlement that has grown and that settlement is owned by the Odual people. You cannot have boundaries looping and pulling people away. Normally, the way we behave in the Niger Delta, if you are a fisherman, you would need to go and settle somewhere and we do not really bother people. You can pay tenancy rates and so on. In some areas too, they would just let you stay. From our history, the Oluasiri settlement is clearly within the territory of the Odual people and they are people in Rivers State. That one is a settled matter.
How come the dispute degenerated to the level that lives were lost in 1993?
That situation was not because the Kalabari people were aggressive. What we discovered was that the Nembe people apparently moved in some of the Kalabari territories and started trying to forcefully occupy those areas. It was resisted and that culminated into the fracas that occurred. But the government set up a panel of enquiry, which tried to resolve the issue.
What about the claim that the Supreme Court ruled that Rivers State has no right to stop payment of oil revenue to Bayelsa, especially the N17bn allegedly belonging to Rivers that was paid to the former?
To the best of our knowledge, the Supreme Court did not go to that extent. What the Supreme Court said was that it could not take a decision at that point because the 11th edition had errors. It asked the National Boundary Commission to produce a 12th edition and rectify the errors so that it can use that to give its ruling. We are not aware that the Supreme Court said Bayelsa should take the N17bn or whatever amount. The court did not give such pronouncement to the best of our knowledge. But we do know that funds were left in an escrow account and the court did not say that the money should go to any of the states. So, we believe that the payment of any money to any of the parties was in error and we have said that such money should be returned to the escrow account until the final determination of the issue.
Do you think the process of boundary adjustment has been politicised?
We are traditional rulers and we try to avoid issues of politics. What we are saying is that our kith and kin must be left where they are within the Kalabari Kingdom and within Rivers State. The proceeds from their wealth should be for the benefit of these people and their state government. Whatever are the political ramifications of the decisions they want to take, we don’t want to be a part of it. All we want is that these are our people and they should be left where they are. If there is a proper boundary decision by the Federal Government, it will take into cognizance our feelings and where we want to go before anything can be done. We are not politicians and we don’t want to be politicians.
t-fami�ZGo�?�ȝ�rif”;mso-bidi-font-family:Georgia;letter-spacing:-.2pt’>Second-term blues
Second terms have been notoriously unkind to modern presidents.
After George W. Bush won a second term in 2004, the public turned against the Iraq war and derided his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina; he saw the economy sink into a crisis his successor inherited.
Bill Clinton’s second term was defined by the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to his impeachment. Ronald Reagan managed to push through a tax overhaul in his second term, but he also became enmeshed in the Iran-contra affair.
Still, the presidents regarded as the most influential in U.S. history have generally served more than one term, from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. With the possible exception of James Polk, who in a single term expanded U.S. territory to the West, it generally has taken presidents more than four years to leave a lasting mark on the nation.
Now, Obama will have an opportunity to do that.
•Culled from USA Today
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For 14 years, the Peoples Democratic Party has been in charge in the country. But, the party is drifting badly from the qualities that made it a behemoth at inception, forcing the likes of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to canvass soul-searching, reports LEKE BAIYEWU The Peoples Democratic Party, which prides itself as the biggest political… [Read More…]]]>
For 14 years, the Peoples Democratic Party has been in charge in the country. But, the party is drifting badly from the qualities that made it a behemoth at inception, forcing the likes of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to canvass soul-searching, reports LEKE BAIYEWU
The Peoples Democratic Party, which prides itself as the biggest political party in Africa, in 1999, won the presidential election and majority of public offices.
Consequently, it had a firm grip on the nation’s governance and resources, making its members to wield power, authority and influence.
Besides, records show that the PDP has won more elections than any of the opposition parties.
For instance, the PDP in 1999 won 21 states; APP won nine states, while the AD won six states in the governorship elections. Also, shortly after the 2003 elections, some governors who elected on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (formerly APP), defected to the PDP, giving the party more influence.
Ironically, the PDP has also recorded more nullified elections by electoral tribunals than any other party. This development made analysts accuse the party of using the power of incumbency to manipulate the electoral processes.
In retrospect, on February 10, 2010, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at a meeting of the PDP members in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, introduced the infamous description of election as a “do or die affair.”
Obasanjo had said, “It is left to you to ensure that we elect credible and committed leaders. This election is a do-or-die affair for me and the PDP. This coming election is a matter of life and death for PDP and Nigeria.”
Even with the threat, the PDP lost the state to the Action Congress of Nigeria in the 2011 elections. Not only that, opposition parties have taken the entire South-West from the party.
However, two years after, the former Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees attributed challenges facing the party to lack of discipline.
Obasanjo, who spoke in Ibadan on October 27, 2012 at a South-West zone caucus meeting said, “Our party is not sufficiently disciplined. People run from the South-West to Abuja to claim that they are the authentic group in the party. We should be tolerant.
“The issue of structure is a serious problem in the PDP. Some people believe once they have structure they have all it takes. This is the tool they are using to destroy the party.
“Most importantly, our party should ensure discipline. Even in our houses, somebody has to lead. We have to respect the elders. I don’t understand reconciliation after spoiling things. There must be discipline in this party. In any institution, there must be discipline. We must contribute financially to the party and not wait until we want to contest before being responsible.”
He added that the party was due for a review of its activities since 14 years.
The PDP National Vice Chairman, South-West, Mr. Segun Oni, who also spoke at the meeting, also said, “We are aware that there is unease across the zone. This is very dangerous in our desire to wrest power from incumbents. The electorate expect us, as a party, to demonstrate our resolve and commitment to take over the South-West by first closing our ranks and creating enduring inclusiveness in all our states.”
Ironically, what followed Obasanjo’s homily was another round of blame — game in his home state, Ogun, where a faction of the party led by Mr. Bayo Dayo berated Obasanjo for blaming the problems with the party on “indiscipline.”
A statement by the Publicity Secretary of the faction, Mr. Waliu Oladipupo, had read, “Obasanjo is the worst advertisement of the product he is trying to sell. He is not fit to talk on indiscipline in any political setting, especially in Ogun State.
“Many notable leaders of the party have said time and again that he is the problem of the party in the state, especially with his politics of imposition, arbitrariness, dictatorship and intolerance.”
A PDP chieftain in the state, Mr. Sule Onabiyi, at a reconciliatory meeting in Abeokuta on November 6, 2012, however, argued that the crisis in the party had been settled to enhance its chances in the 2015 general elections.
“We have so many problems and if we do not reconcile warring parties, we cannot get to where we are going. We have a long time to prepare ourselves and have all buried our hatchets.
“We that have factions have reconciled. If there are two or three people absent here, we are going to beg them to make sure that we become one. Our father, Obasanjo, has no faction. He is the head of the party in the state.”
It is worthy of note that the intra-party crises seem to have persisted in Oyo, Kano, Benue, Taraba, Imo, Anambra, Edo and Ogun states. The latter to be the worst case, as it had four factions until recently, when the factions narrowed to two.
Apparently disturbed by the dwindling fortunes of the PDP, its National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, upon assumption of office earlier this year, had constituted reconciliatory committees to settle intra-party disputes and to win hearts of aggrieved and defected members.
He had said, “Our party is losing membership. This was not how we started in 1999. We lost the election (governorship) in Edo State because of factions and misunderstanding. It is like a case of two big dogs fighting and the small ones coming to take the bone away.”
Observers have however, argued that the problems with the party were not caused by indiscipline alone; they also identified ‘godfatherism’ and corruption as obstacles to progress.
They gave the examples of Kwara, Oyo, Edo and Ogun states, where the self-acclaimed godfathers hand-picked their choice candidates, thereby denying other aspirants level-playing grounds at the primaries.
The party, just like the All Peoples Party and the Alliance for Democracy, was formed in 1998, when the Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, ordered that political parties be formed forwards a general election that would hold in 1999.
The PDP later emerged as the largest, as about 30 political associations, including the Social Political Party, Peoples Democratic Movement, All Nigeria Congress, Peoples Consultative Forum, Peoples National Forum and 25 others, merged to form the party.
Since then, the party has produced Nigerian presidents to date. They are Olusegun Obasanjo (1999 to 2007), late Umaru Yar’Adua (2007 till his death in 2010), and the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan (who was the acting president from 2010 to 2011, before his election in 2011).
In his assessment of the PDP, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, who spoke to our correspondent, said the party had no prospects but shortcomings.
He added that the existence of the party posed a threat to the nation’s progress.
He said, “It is a party; it is a congregation of people who have positioned themselves to feast on the nation and milk it dry. They are there to plunder the resources, leading to a massive uncontrollable stealing.
“I embarked on a research to study newspaper reports since the last three months and they were mostly on corruption and stealing; from Halliburton scandal to Siemens to subsidy. This massive public looting is recorded under the PDP government.
“The party is full of immorality, self-promotion and aggrandisement. As long as the party exists, this country will not make progress.”
Prof. Pat Utomi, however, said, Nigeria was yet to have a political party.
He said, “As far as I am concerned, there is no political party in Nigeria, including the PDP. What we have is people coming together to gain power and to get contracts.”
The National Coordinator, Legal Defence and Assistance Project, Mr. Chino Obiagwu, said although political parties should be drivers of democracy, those in Nigeria lacked ideologies. He, however, added that parties should not be held responsible for leadership or government failures.
He said, “The parties are just platforms for electoral rigging. This is why the Independent National Electoral Commission must encourage the opposition parties to allow alignment of ideologies. There is no control of party financing and that is why the PDP has more access to funds.
“The INEC must regulate this to create a level-playing ground for other parties. Any ruling party should not use public or government funds to run party affairs.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, however, told our correspondent that the party had added more value to the country. While he admitted that it had challenges and had made mistakes, he argued that the PDP had done more good for the nation than evil.
He said, “We have added value to this country. We have been able to keep the country as one, uniting Nigeria and protecting the interests of the people; our criticism should not just be about provision of infrastructure.”
On corruption, Metuh added, “The president and the party should be commended for initiating anti-corruption campaigns. We do not tolerate corruption. No opposition party has come out to indict its principals. The PDP is unlike the opposition parties who hide their sharp corrupt practices in their domain, away from the public.”
As the PDP shrinks in size and might, perhaps, it was what inspired the opposition parties to form a coalition against the ruling party ahead of the 2015 general elections. Already, the ACN, CPC and the ANPP are making headway in their merger plan, which might pose a threat to the PDP.
The National Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Dr. Lai Mohammed, in an interview, said, “I believe that the ACN, CPC and ANPP have come to the realisation that posterity will not forget us, if we allow the PDP to remain one day more in power after 2015. I think the leaders of the parties are taking this responsibility very seriously? We are not saying that it is going to be easy to have a merger. But, we shall have a merge, I can assure you.”
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[Read More…]]]>
President Obama has moved “quickly” to open negotiations with Congressional Republican leaders over the main unfinished business of his term — a major deficit-reduction deal to avert a looming fiscal crisis — as he began preparing for a second term that will include significant cabinet changes.
Obama, while still at home in Chicago, had called Speaker John A. Boehner on the need to reach some budget compromise in the lame-duck session of Congress starting next week.
Later at the Capitol, Boehner publicly responded before assembled reporters with his most explicit and conciliatory offer to date on Republicans’ willingness to raise tax revenues, but not top rates, together with a spending cut package.
A day after Congressional Republicans suffered election losses but kept their House majority, Boehner had said, “Mr. President, this is your moment. We’re ready to be led – not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans. We want you to lead, not as a liberal or a conservative, but as president of the United States of America.”
After his acceptance speech, Obama had tried to call both Boehner and the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, but was told they were asleep.
The efforts from both sides, after a long and exhausting campaign, suggested the urgency of acting in the few weeks before roughly $700 billion in automatic tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts take effect at year’s end – the “fiscal cliff.”
A failure to reach agreement could arrest the economic recovery.
•Culled from The New York Times
h -� v���?�ell-shocked.
Romney’s close friend and business partner, Bob White, who chaired the campaign, strongly defended Stevens and the rest of the staff in an interview a few weeks ago.
“Mitt never doubted his team, and the reports of infighting were not true,” White had said.
Meanwhile in Washington, scores of transition-team staffers who had been preparing for a Romney administration started packing their belongings.
The former Utah governor running the transition, Mike Leavitt, convened a conference call at 10 a.m. last Wednesday to inform the staff they had until Friday to organise their files, return their laptops and cell phones, and vacate their government office.
At the Wednesday breakfast, Romney had told the donors he believed Hurricane Sandy stunted his momentum in the final week of the campaign, according to multiple donors present.
Although Romney himself stopped short of placing any blame on the New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, who praised President Obama’s leadership during the storm, several Romney supporters privately pointed fingers at the outspoken governor.
“A lot of people feel like Christie hurt, that we definitely lost four or five points between the storm and Chris Christie giving Obama a chance to be bigger than life,” one of Romney’s biggest fundraisers, had said.
The time came for Romney and his campaign leadership to fully assess what went wrong. Some of his top donors immediately pointed to the campaign’s early strategic decision to frame the race as a referendum on Obama rather than a choice between two different governing philosophies and leadership styles.
Late afternoon, Romney visited his campaign headquarters for one final staff meeting. He thanked his aides and said goodbye.
His Secret Service detail gone – and with it his code name, Javelin, after a car once made by his father’s company – Romney was spotted driving off in the backseat of his son, Tagg’s car. His wife, Ann, was riding shotgun.
•Culled from The Washington Post
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Fight poverty, not only corruption, FCT senator tells Buhari
The paramount ruler of the community close to the controversial Soku Gas Plant which is threatening to tear Bayelsa and Rivers States apart, King Iyerite Awululu, the Ibenyanaowei of Oluasiri, spoke to MIKE ODIEGWU on the genesis of the crisis Where exactly is this gas plant that is causing some disquiet between Bayelsa and Rivers… [Read More…]]]>
The paramount ruler of the community close to the controversial Soku Gas Plant which is threatening to tear Bayelsa and Rivers States apart, King Iyerite Awululu, the Ibenyanaowei of Oluasiri, spoke to MIKE ODIEGWU on the genesis of the crisis
Where exactly is this gas plant that is causing some disquiet between Bayelsa and Rivers states, located?
The name Soku became famous because of the LNG Gas Plant. The plant is at the centre of Oluasiri land in Nembe and it has been in contention for 20 years. The drive from the plant to Soku is about 22 minutes. Soku is very close to Degema and Abonima. When I became king, l realised that there was an instrument from the Eastern Government creating Nembe District Council and putting Oluasiri as part of the council to Nembe District.
If the gas plant truly belongs to Nembe, why was it called Soku, a community that is now in Rivers State?
It was named with bias and out of misinformation. The people who did the exploration and exploitation came to survey the land and lay pipes to determine the volume of oil in the ground. As they came with their houseboat, they looked for a place that was lively. Soku that is very far from the place was chosen. They kept their houseboat close to Soku and used small boats to do their exploration. They came to Oluasiri and discovered this oil. But because of their friendship with Soku or for whatever reason, they called the oil well in their survey document Soku. The same thing happened to Oloibiri oil well. The land where the well is located belonged to Otu Ogidi. But because they are in the same local government area, there is no dispute.
What has been the relationship between the Nembe and the Akuku-Toru or Kalabari?
Before the creation of Bayelsa State, Brass was the original local government where Nembe was created and Nembe was a district council under Brass that had a common boundary with the Kalabari people. It was also called Koku-Toru, Degema local government. So, Brass and Nembe before the creation of Bayelsa was one local government area. There were a series of cases between Kalabari and Nembe even before that gas plant. We had boundary cases of 1913 and 1918. There were also Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court judgments. In fact, there was a clash between Akuku-Toru and Brass local government areas that informed the constitution of the Justice Peter Akere Judicial Commission of Enquiry to look into the disturbances between the Nembe, Brass and the Akuku-Toru or Kalabari people all in Rivers State then.
What was the outcome of the report?
The surveyor-general at that time was from Kalabari area. A map was prepared and was doctored in favour of Kalabari. The map was contested and the commission said the map erroneously misled the state and that it should be set aside. The commission of enquiry further stated that the boundary commission should ensure that there is proper demarcation of Brass and Akuku-Toru. But from 1992 till now, neither the National Boundary Commission which should have demarcated a boundary between the state and Rivers nor the state boundary commission which should have demarcated a boundary between Akuku Toru and Nembe did what they were supposed to do. When former President Olusegun Obasanjo came on board he ordered that all oil wells should be identified and marked according to their owners. When they came to Bayelsa State, the Kalabari people laid claim to the oil wells and the Nembe people laid claims to the oil wells too. It led to a fresh crisis that was almost like the one of 1992. In the crisis of 1992, people were killed and houses were destroyed. Obasanjo set up a committee to verify the oil wells in this area.
Members of the committee went to the field to verify the claims. The committee also co-opted the Surveyors-General of Rivers and Bayelsa, the deputy governors of the two states and some other people relevant to the committee. They recommended in their report that Soku Gas Plant was supposed to be called Oluasiri Gas Plant and all its wealth should be credited to Bayelsa State. Based on that report, the derivation from the oil well was credited to the account of Bayelsa State.
Since Obasanjo panel resolved this matter, why did it come up again?
When the present Governor Rotimi Amaechi came on board, he said he was not comfortable with the development. Just the way he made a case with Akwa Ibom people, he started making a case with Bayelsa State. The Supreme Court later decided that there was a report in the old Rivers State about this matter. The court ruled that the NBC and the state boundary commission should facilitate the demarcation of the boundary between either Bayelsa and Rivers or Koku Toru and Nembe.
The court also ruled that Rivers had no right to stop the derivation paid to Bayelsa from the oil wells. It said until the commission came up with a programme to demarcate the boundaries, there shouldn’t be any case on the matter. So, their case was struck out. I don’t know why they are now crying foul. Even Rivers does not have a community around the oil well. The Nem-Sagama they are talking about was originally a fishing settlement of the Nembe people. The original name of that community is Ogboma. They are crying for nothing.
But the people of Rivers State are claiming that President Goodluck Jonathan is behind the move to cede the gas plant to Bayelsa.
I don’t know why they want to shift this blame to Mr. President. This matter was on and the argument was on before even Mr. President was born. We are ready to sort it out with them. In the instrument creating the Nembe District Council, there is a place called Oluasiri local council and it is made up of 18 principal communities. Etuk Ekiri is at the back of the gas plant, Adokoni is there, Ijawkiri is also there and our fishing settlement called Ogboama now changed to Nem-Sagama is there and then Kengalama which is about two minutes’ drive to the gas plant is there. Soku is far from the gas plant. It is a minimum of 22 minutes’ drive with the fastest speedboat.
What is the way forward?
The right thing to do is to demarcate the boundary. What is the NBC doing? What is the problem that they cannot resolve? If the Cameroon and Nigeria’s problem can be resolved, why can’t they resolve their internal problem? Are they waiting for another bloodbath before coming on board?
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The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, began his retreat from public life after the presidential election. Last Wednesday, he was at a private breakfast gathering with a couple hundred of his most loyal and affluent campaign benefactors. The former Massachusetts governor, humbled by the thumping that ended his six-year pursuit of the presidency, reminisced about the… [Read More…]]]>
The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, began his retreat from public life after the presidential election. Last Wednesday, he was at a private breakfast gathering with a couple hundred of his most loyal and affluent campaign benefactors.
The former Massachusetts governor, humbled by the thumping that ended his six-year pursuit of the presidency, reminisced about the journey and tried not to cry.
Donors in attendance said Romney waxed about the roaring crowds in the campaign’s closing days and the feeling that he was winning.
While he commended his chief strategist, Stuart Stevens, as well as his senior aides, he also thanked his donors “one by one.”
“Mitt was vintage Mitt. He was analytical, no notes, spoke from the heart and was very appreciative,” an oil investor on Romney’s national finance committee, L.E. Simmons, said.
But Romney’s top aides, who had earlier openly speculated about who would fill which jobs in a Romney administration, woke up last Wednesday to face brutal recriminations.
Some top donors privately unloaded on Romney’s senior staff, describing it as a junior varsity operation that failed to adequately insulate and defend Romney through a summer of relentless attacks from the Obama campaign over his business career and personal wealth.
“Everybody feels like they were a bunch of well-meaning folks who were, to use a phrase that Governor Romney coined to describe his opponent, way in over their heads,” a member of the campaign’s national finance committee, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, had said.
The fundraiser added, “Romney World will fade into the obscurity of a lot of losing campaigns.”
Also, Stuart Stevens, who as Romney’s chief strategist was the recipient of some of the harshest blame, did not return requests for comment same day. Nor did many of Romney’s other top advisers, who during Romney’s concession speech were visibly shell-shocked.
Romney’s close friend and business partner, Bob White, who chaired the campaign, strongly defended Stevens and the rest of the staff in an interview a few weeks ago.
“Mitt never doubted his team, and the reports of infighting were not true,” White had said.
Meanwhile in Washington, scores of transition-team staffers who had been preparing for a Romney administration started packing their belongings.
The former Utah governor running the transition, Mike Leavitt, convened a conference call at 10 a.m. last Wednesday to inform the staff they had until Friday to organise their files, return their laptops and cell phones, and vacate their government office.
At the Wednesday breakfast, Romney had told the donors he believed Hurricane Sandy stunted his momentum in the final week of the campaign, according to multiple donors present.
Although Romney himself stopped short of placing any blame on the New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, who praised President Obama’s leadership during the storm, several Romney supporters privately pointed fingers at the outspoken governor.
“A lot of people feel like Christie hurt, that we definitely lost four or five points between the storm and Chris Christie giving Obama a chance to be bigger than life,” one of Romney’s biggest fundraisers, had said.
The time came for Romney and his campaign leadership to fully assess what went wrong. Some of his top donors immediately pointed to the campaign’s early strategic decision to frame the race as a referendum on Obama rather than a choice between two different governing philosophies and leadership styles.
Late afternoon, Romney visited his campaign headquarters for one final staff meeting. He thanked his aides and said goodbye.
His Secret Service detail gone – and with it his code name, Javelin, after a car once made by his father’s company – Romney was spotted driving off in the backseat of his son, Tagg’s car. His wife, Ann, was riding shotgun.
•Culled from The Washington Post
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http://www.punchng.com/?p=71796
In last Tuesday’s victory, Barack Obama not only won his second term. He protected his first. At a tumultuous victory celebration in Chicago a day after his re-election, the Obama called for bipartisanship in addressing four ambitious priorities over the next four years: reducing the deficit, overhauling the tax code, revising immigration laws and reducing… [Read More…]]]>
In last Tuesday’s victory, Barack Obama not only won his second term. He protected his first.
At a tumultuous victory celebration in Chicago a day after his re-election, the Obama called for bipartisanship in addressing four ambitious priorities over the next four years: reducing the deficit, overhauling the tax code, revising immigration laws and reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
Left unsaid was the reality that he also can now implement the hard-won achievements from his first four years – the health-care law called the Affordable Care Act and the Wall Street regulatory regime known as Dodd-Frank – which Republican rival Mitt Romney had promised to begin dismantling “on Day One” in the Oval Office.
Obama had ruefully noted at campaign rallies that his hair is greyer than it was in 2008. He bears the scars from partisan battles and the nation’s economic travails.
“Obviously, we’ve gone through four years that have been very tough. I’m older. Hopefully, I’m a little wiser,” he had told USA Today.
The opening test of Obama’s second term will come soon in negotiations with Congress to avoid falling over the “fiscal cliff” at the end of the year.
Without a deal, the Bush tax cuts will expire, raising taxes on everyone, and sweeping spending cuts will go into effect at the Pentagon and across domestic programs. Some economists warned that that could send the economy back into recession.
Those talks will help define the fiscal possibilities of his second term and provide an early signal of whether there is going to be a ceasefire in the partisan wars.
Where’s the mandate?
In this year’s campaign, Obama didn’t do much to establish a policy mandate for his victory. Instead, he and his allies focused in large part on undermining Romney, depicting him as a heartless corporate raider with little empathy for the lives of most Americans.
The contrast is stark with the soaring expectations for his first term, when he vowed to change the way Washington works – he no longer suggests that’s in his power — while also promising to address health care, climate change, immigration and more.
The campaign debate and the election returns could help on some of the challenges Obama cited:
“Reducing our deficit.”
On the core conflict over Obama’s demands for a “balanced” approach to deficit reduction – that is, to raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year – the president can tell Republicans he has won the argument. In the exit polls, six in 10 said taxes should be increased, and nearly half said they should go up only for the most affluent. Only about a third endorsed Romney’s argument that they shouldn’t be raised for anyone.
“Reforming our tax code.”
The last time the tax code was simplified was in 1986, the signature second-term achievement for Ronald Reagan, and the idea continues to command bipartisan support. During the campaign, Romney also endorsed the idea of a tax overhaul, calling for eliminating loopholes and some deductions and reducing rates, while keeping the changes revenue neutral.
“Fixing our immigration system.”
Obama promised during the 2008 campaign to pursue comprehensive immigration reform that would address the situation of millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally. He settled instead for using executive action to grant temporary legal status to some young people who were brought to the country illegally by their parents.
Now, the crucial and overwhelming support Obama got from Latino voters – a significant factor in his victory in swing states, including Florida, Colorado and Nevada – increase the political imperative for him to act. The political landscape may also have improved, if Republicans are looking for ways to improve the GOP’s standing with Hispanics.
“Freeing ourselves from foreign oil.”
This was another reprise from 2008, when he vowed to end U.S. reliance on oil imports from world hotspots within 10 years. As president, he has pledged to cut oil imports in half by the end of this decade. In fact, every president since Richard Nixon has promised energy independence, which remains an elusive goal.
Second-term blues
Second terms have been notoriously unkind to modern presidents.
After George W. Bush won a second term in 2004, the public turned against the Iraq war and derided his administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina; he saw the economy sink into a crisis his successor inherited.
Bill Clinton’s second term was defined by the Monica Lewinsky scandal that led to his impeachment. Ronald Reagan managed to push through a tax overhaul in his second term, but he also became enmeshed in the Iran-contra affair.
Still, the presidents regarded as the most influential in U.S. history have generally served more than one term, from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. With the possible exception of James Polk, who in a single term expanded U.S. territory to the West, it generally has taken presidents more than four years to leave a lasting mark on the nation.
Now, Obama will have an opportunity to do that.
•Culled from USA Today
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The boundary dispute between Rivers and neighbouring Bayelsa State has taken a different dimension. CHUKWUDI AKASIKE writes that the stalemate on the matter may degenerate if nothing is urgently done to save the situation The sight of over 35 men in black robes in Abuja, the Rivers State House of Assembly and two days later,… [Read More…]]]>
The boundary dispute between Rivers and neighbouring Bayelsa State has taken a different dimension. CHUKWUDI AKASIKE writes that the stalemate on the matter may degenerate if nothing is urgently done to save the situation
The sight of over 35 men in black robes in Abuja, the Rivers State House of Assembly and two days later, at the Government House sent cold shivers down the spines of onlookers. The men’s black robes and the way they marched in dignified procession almost gave them away as chief priests of a powerful god. But they are nothing near a minister of a deity: they are traditional rulers and elders of Kalabari Kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
They were on a peaceful protest march to tell the Federal and Rivers State governments how neighbouring Bayelsa State had allegedly taken over their territory, including oil wells. The monarchs had sworn to high heavens that the people of their area would not allow such injustice to happen during their own time. The boundary dispute, according to sources, began when President Goodluck Jonathan was the deputy governor of Bayelsa State.
The shift in the boundary by the National Boundary Commission in its 11th edition of the Administrative Map was said to have inadvertently favoured Bayelsa; a state that was created on Oct. 1, 1996. The 11th edition of the map, which was published in 2000, moved the boundaries between Rivers and Bayelsa from the earlier point between Kalabari and Nembe, west of the Santa Barbara River to San Bartholomew River.
The action of the NBC and the Office of the Surveyor General apparently did not go down well with the Kalabari people, who saw the whole episode as a plot by Bayelsa to dispossess them of their inheritance. Since the boundary imbroglio began, there have been a series of accusations and counter-accusations by the two neighbouring states.
Delivering the copy of a protest letter from the Kalabari to the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, the traditional ruler of Abonnema in Akuku-Toru LGA, Disreal Bob-Manuel, explained that his people were peeved by the ceding of parts of Akuku-Toru to Bayelsa. Bob-Manuel, who led over 5,000 protesters to the Government House in Port Harcourt, said the protest was aimed at telling the world about the move to balkanise Kalabari land by some persons in government, whose interest was in oil and gas deposits in the affected communities.
He said, “The plank of this petition is essentially to protest against the malicious, myopic and selfish interest of certain well-placed officials to balkanise and excise virtually all the oil and gas bearing communities in Kalabari kingdom. The communities include but is not limited to Kula, Soku, Elem-Sangama, Idama and Abissa and all their fishing settlements, which from time immemorial, have been Kalabari communities in Rivers State with which they share common linguistic, cultural and ancestral shrines, and also consanguinity.” The monarch warned that Kalabari people would not be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order should the state government fail to address the anomaly.
Responding, Amaechi shocked the Kalabari monarchs with the information that over N17bn belonging to Rivers had already been paid to Bayelsa. The money, according to sources, was expected to remain in a special account until the land/oil well dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa had been resolved. But Amaechi, who addressed the monarchs and indigenes of Kalabari, accused FG agencies, including the NBC, of trying to pervert justice in the dispute.
Explaining that the state was at a crossroads because the Federal Government agencies have refused to assist in the matter, Amaechi called on the National Assembly to come to the aid of the state. The governor maintained that Soku belonged to Rivers and wondered why the area would suddenly be ceded to Bayelsa. “The issue of Soku has been very disturbing to the Rivers State government. We woke up one day to hear that some oil wells in Soku have been ceded to Baylesa State. We all decided that if we have a dispute over the territory, put the money accruing from there into an escrow account. We woke up one day again and the whole money in the escrow account has been given to one party, Bayelsa State.
Miffed by the allegation, the former National Vice-Chairman, South-South of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Chief Asukewe Iko-Awaji, called on the FG to return the N17bn to the special account and await the end of the disagreement between the two states. He pointed out that it was necessary for both states to allow the NBC to do its work without undue influence. Iko-Awaji, in a telephone interview with Saturday PUNCH, urged Bayelsa to ensure that the money was intact. He appealed to the FG to play the role of a ‘father’ in the matter so as to ensure that justice was done and peace reigned between the two states.
The ANPP chief, however, expressed the need for stakeholders to be involved in the process of ensuring that peace reigned among the Ijaw people.
Amid the disagreement, the Kalabari National Forum warned of an imminent crisis that may plunge the Niger Delta into another spate of violence if the boundary dispute between the two states was not resolved. The forum, in a statement, drew the attention of the NASS to plans to cede 80 per cent of oil-producing communities in Akuku-Toru LGA to the neighbouring Bayelsa.
Amanyanabo of Kalabari kingdom, Prof. T.J.T. Princewill, said in the statement issued in Port Harcourt that such a plan could lead to tribal wars and needless wastage of lives and property. Princewill expressed regret that Jonathan was aware of the matter and allowed it to aggravate, vowing that the people of Kalabari would resist any attempt to deny them of their inheritance.
But President Jonathan has denied his involvement in the boundary and oil well furore through a statement by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati. The President explained that those (Kalabari monarchs) behind the protest in Abuja, where he was accused of orchestrating plans to cede five Rivers State oil communities to Bayelsa were engaging in blackmail.
Jonathan recalled that the dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa predated his administration and had been a matter for consideration by the NBC, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and other relevant agencies. However, the President has since promised to meet with the two states and other stakeholders over the matter.
Before then, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, denied the allegation that the state had planned to annex Kalabari for the purpose of claiming derivation entitlements. “The facts remain that all the relevant maps – the administrative map of Nigeria, 10th edition produced in 1992 and the 11th edition produced in 2000 were clearly produced long before Jonathan became the deputy governor and later President. It is therefore pertinent to state that no amount of blackmail or propaganda will deter the government of Bayelsa State from pursuing its legitimate rights and entitlements under the law.
“We condemn the deliberate and mischievous attempt to link the President to what is clearly an exercise of Bayelsa State Government’s right. The government of Rivers State itself has made several of such claims of wrongful payments of derivation money and has severally received refund in deserving cases,” Dickson’s statement read.
But as the argument about who owns the land and the oil wells continues, the people of Rivers and Bayelsa states are of the view that the situation should not be politicised up to the point that it degenerates into violence. As it stands, a serious antagonism between the two states looms if nothing is done to resolve the impasse.
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Three months after the re-election of Adams Oshiomhole as Edo governor, JAMES AZANIA examines the peoples’ expectations in the coming years Four months after the governorship poll in Edo State, signs have started to emerge of what is in the offing as Governor Adams Oshiomhole kick-starts his second term in office. A series of on-the-spot… [Read More…]]]>
Three months after the re-election of Adams Oshiomhole as Edo governor, JAMES AZANIA examines the peoples’ expectations in the coming years
Four months after the governorship poll in Edo State, signs have started to emerge of what is in the offing as Governor Adams Oshiomhole kick-starts his second term in office. A series of on-the-spot inspection of projects and unscheduled visits to schools, hospitals and other public amenities saw heads rolling, signposting what could probably become a no-nonsense disposition to the laxity in public service in the state.
To observers of political events in Edo, the unfolding scenario, coupled with the recent rejection of the state assembly’s dissolution of existing caretaker administrations of the 18 local councils of the state by the governor, is enough confirmation that Oshiomhole may go it alone in the next four years, beginning from Nov. 12 (Monday).
Late last month, the governor, during an unscheduled visit to the Central Hospital, Benin, expressed his government’s resolve to check the excesses of doctors in the public service.
Oshiomhole, who met what an observer described as a sorry work place attitude during the visit, frowned at what he saw, making him to warn that he would not hesitate to dismiss any doctor found wanting.
He arrived at the hospital before 9 am and met a scanty work force in a hospital without power supply. Although senior management members attempted to lessen the gravity of the situation, giving the excuse that the power cut just happened, the ruse was not allowed to last as some patients shouted the senior doctor down and went ahead to inform the governor about a hospital that had been without electricity for three days.
As if that was not enough, women in the ante-natal unit narrated how they were made to pay N7,000 each for what the state government had touted as free maternity health service for residents. At that point, the governor read the Riot Act to the workers.
He said, “Our hospitals are not supposed to be death centres, but healing centres; you are trained to save lives, but you preside over avoidable deaths by reason of your negligence. We will dismiss any doctor who is not ready to work. Are we supposed to beg doctors to come to work? It is a contract, it is either you service it and you keep it or you don’t and you go. We don’t have all the resources we need, but the little we have we don’t have value for money. If we don’t have a hospital, we should be able to tell our people so that they can go to herbalists, but when you put a signboard that there is a hospital and you go there and there is no doctor, the general impression is that it does not matter. When they don’t see a doctor in the hospital, they (people) will now go to private hospitals.”
Giving an indication of his resolve to deal with the situation, the governor said people were already suffering because of the doctors’ negligence. He said, “I am not bothered about the threat of strike. People must know that when they run down a state, they must not be allowed to thrive anywhere. What has happened to our values? Those who sabotage government hospitals, I will make sure they cannot practise anywhere. Once we accept a job, we must be ready to cope with the rigours of the office. All of us are lamenting that Nigeria is not growing. How can Nigeria grow when we have a poor attitude to our responsibilities? See all the women there, they came and discovered there is no doctor.”
An investigation, however, showed that the hospital management may not be responsible for the persistent power outages at the Benin Central Hospital.
An official said the Power Holding Company of Nigeria had some time back cut power supply to the facility due to unpaid bills, which the state government had yet to offset.
Elsewhere, Oshiomhole ordered the promotion of three teachers, but not before downgrading the principal of Annunciation Catholic College Junior Secondary School, Augustine Aikhu, over alleged incompetence.
In proclaiming the carrot and stick approach, the governor said, “You are an example (the promoted) of what is possible and I am proud of you. It gives me some comfort that even in the midst of this madness, there are some people who we can still be proud of, who take their responsibilities seriously. It gives me some relief. It is worrisome to find that a majority of teachers are involved in late coming or absenteeism. And that is not the best we can do for our state.”
Days to the second term inauguration of Oshiomhole, one of the most serious issues in the state is the continued existence of caretaker administrations at the LGs. The state assembly had dared the governor with the dissolution of the caretaker chairmen in a unanimous resolution that was adopted two weeks ago.
Days later, Oshiomhole, in a meeting with the interim council chairmen, rejected the state assembly’s dissolution of the caretaker committees, saying he had yet to receive the house resolution.
Taking his time to explain the rationale for the interim administration at the council level, the governor went into legal issues and other exigencies, which he said had in the past bogged measures aimed at putting in place elected LG authorities.
Oshiomhole said, “A few weeks to the national elections, the voter register was ready and the whole nation was preparing for the National Assembly, presidential and house of assembly elections. It was only natural that it was given a priority. After that one, the governorship election was due. Now, those two elections have come and gone and so we can say that conditions are now ripe to conduct the LG election.”
Supporters of the state administration, including the Senior Special Assistant (Media) to the Governor, John Maiyaki, have come to Oshiomhole’s aid, saying the governor is not averse to LG elections.
Maiyaki said, “The governor believes that councils or government at the grass roots must be governed by democratically elected persons because that is the position of the law.”
However, Edo PDP Publicity Secretary, Matthew Urhoghide says, “It is incontrovertible that it is Gov Oshiomohle that will solely decide when and how the LG election will hold in Edo State. It is the governor that will decide when duly and constitutionally elected representatives of the people will take over the councils to serve their constituencies and constituents in fulfilment of their campaign/election promises, thereby making that tier of government independent, viable, visible, useful and obligated to the people statutorily and constitutionally as they were meant to so discharge or function abinitio. Local government administration as a tier of government in most states of the federation is non-functional and only exists at the behest of state governors, even without recourse to the state assembly, which is constitutionally supposed to superintend their activities through legislation. A situation where the executive and legislative arms in the LGs are appointed by governors is an aberration and strange to our constitutional provisions and therefore, unacceptable in our fledging democratic practice.
Be that as it may, the residents seem to be divided on what to expect in Edo in the next four years. While some think the situation will definitely improve, others are of the opinion that the government is simply wearing the toga of arrogance. Yet, a few others are indifferent.
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http://www.punchng.com/?p=71633
OLALEKAN ADETAYO writes on some states that are currently at loggerheads with one another over oil wells and the steps being taken by President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the issues Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. This saying is apt in describing the various situations that President Goodluck Jonathan has found himself… [Read More…]]]>
OLALEKAN ADETAYO writes on some states that are currently at loggerheads with one another over oil wells and the steps being taken by President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the issues
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. This saying is apt in describing the various situations that President Goodluck Jonathan has found himself since he came to the saddle.
On assumption of office in May 2011, one major area of concern for all that the President thought he would confront frontally was the power sector. But no sooner had he taken over than the issue of insecurity orchestrated by the fundamental Islamic sect, Boko Haram, took the front burner.
As expected, how to tackle the insurgency has remained his major concern since the onslaught started. In the last few weeks, however, another major headache came the way of the President and his responses to it have so far showed that he is no less concerned.
The latest challenge for the President and indeed the nation is the rate at which states have started fighting one another on boundary-related issues, especially as they concern the location of oil wells.
Rivers State is currently at war with the President’s home state, Bayelsa, over oil wells. Enugu, Anambra and Kogi are also at loggerheads over oil wells. The trend started with Cross River and Akwa Ibom states.
The Enugu, Anambra and Kogi impasse became public knowledge shortly after Jonathan inaugurated Orient Petroleum situated in Aguleri-Otu, Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State during his one-day visit to the state last August. The President had, during the visit, proclaimed the state as the 10th oil-producing state in the country. But shortly after that pronouncement, the Kogi and Enugu governments started laying claims to the ownership of the land where the oil wells are located, thus sparking off a crisis.
That presidential proclamation was said to have aroused the consciousness of the two neighbouring states to the location of the oil wells. Governor Idris Wada was reported to have called on his people to protect the installations and assets of Orient Petroleum Resources on Ibaji land. The governor believes that Kogi and Anambra states should have equal titles as far as the Orient Refinery is concerned.
But Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State insisted that the oil wells currently being exploited by Orient Petroleum Resources belonged to the state. He recalled that the firm was formed by the administration of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju in 2001 and was allocated oil fields domiciled in Anambra State. He said his administration had invested N4.4bn in the project directly and indirectly.
Not comfortable with the way the issue had been handled, Jonathan summoned the governors of the three states and other stakeholders to a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last week. At the meeting were Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Obi, Wada and the deputy governors of Enugu and Kogi states. Others at the meeting were the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki; representatives of the National Boundary Commission, traditional ruler of Aguleri community, Senator Ayogu Eze, Senator Aidoko, commissioners of justice of the feuding states, some other stakeholders, as well as some top presidential aides.
Obi told State House correspondents after the meeting that discussions at the meeting were without hard feelings. “The outcome of the meeting is very amicable. The issues regarding areas where the oil wells are located will be settled amicably. We will work together as states of this federation,” he said.
Wada said the President decided to intervene in order to ensure that the right thing was done so that people in the affected area did not take the law into their hands. “The President’s intervention is to tell the boundary commission to do its work in an expeditious manner that our people who live in those areas do not get too agitated and take the law into their hands. The President has given the necessary directives. We are very happy with the meeting, we are going back very happy to tell our people that Mr. President is handling this matter in an expeditious manner, according to laid-down procedures and at the end of the day, the matter will be resolved amicably,” he said.
The case of Cross River and Akwa Ibom is a bit different because the Supreme Court had ruled on the matter with the 76 oil wells awarded to Akwa Ibom. Despite the court verdict, however, the Federal Government felt it should still intervene in the matter. Therefore, Sambo, on the directive of the President, presided over a meeting on the issue last week. Governors of the two states – Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River)– attended. Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, Mr. Elias Mbam, also attended. The meeting was meant to look at ways to help Cross River to recover quickly from the loss.
All the cases affect Jonathan but the Rivers and Bayelsa imbroglio concerns him more since he was accused of complicity in the matter. Kalabari elders in Rivers State had accused the President of complicity in an alleged plot to cede Soku oil wells in their community to Bayelsa in order to shore up the earnings of his home state.
Protesters under the aegis of the Kalabari National Forum and some monarchs from Rivers had accused Jonathan of interfering in the dispute between the two states. The protesters alleged that there were plans to cede five Rivers oil communities to Bayelsa with the connivance of various FG agencies.
But the Presidency denied the allegation and advised the KNF, its members and those it called “its hidden sponsors” to avoid the temptation to instigate a conflict between the Nembe and Kalabari people of Rivers and Bayelsa states. Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson had accused Rivers of blackmailing the President and asked for an unreserved apology. But Rivers said it had no reason to blackmail Jonathan whom it called “a worthy son-in-law.”
Not comfortable with the development, Jonathan invited the Kalabari elders to a peace parley in Abuja on Saturday. The President used the opportunity of the meeting to convince the elders of his neutrality in the matter.
The Kalabari delegation was led by the Amanyanabo of Abonnema, Disreal Bob-Manuel Owukoru (IX), who represented the Kalabari monarch. Governor Rotimi Amaechi; and his deputy, Tele Ikuru led government officials. Other members of the delegation were a former deputy governor, Sir Gabriel Toby; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia; Prof. Nimi Briggs, Rivers Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, and some chiefs from the area.
At the end of the meeting, Bob-Manuel told State House correspondents that the President informed them that he was neutral in the feud and they believed him. The royal father also denied insinuations that the governor was the brain behind their protests, saying, “The Kalabari nation was not well treated and it decided to come out and state its case. It has nothing to do with the governor.”
He described the meeting as cordial, saying the elders were happy that the President invited them. He said, “It was a friendly family meeting. We felt that certain delineation ought not to be done. The President has promised that the matter will be looked into and we believe him.”
But those who thought the tension generated by the discord would die down with the President’s intervention were surprised when the war continued on Monday. The visibly-embarrassed Presidency was forced to issue a statement on Monday, asking the two states to stop their media war in order to allow the peace process it had initiated on the matter to yield positive result.
In a statement by presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, on Monday, the President noted with concern what he described as “unbecoming, unnecessary and unhelpful media war” between the two states. In preaching ceasefire, Jonathan invited the two governors and other stakeholders to a meeting fixed for Friday.
While the President is intervening, what has become clear with these sudden fights over oil wells is that all is not well among these once-upon-a-time good neighbours and more importantly, the earnest desire of the states to earn more revenue from the oil wells is instructive.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/fighting-dirty-over-oil-wells/feed/ 4 http://www.punchng.com/politics/taking-peacekeeping-too-far/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/taking-peacekeeping-too-far/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2012 23:00:01 +0000 jzovoe
http://www.punchng.com/?p=71629
With Maiduguri under siege after the murder of a civil war veteran, Gen. Muhammad Shuwa, will there still be any form of dialogue with the Boko Haram Islamic sect, let alone for retired Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to accept being one of the mediators? asks DAVID ATTAH The security situation in the North has taken a… [Read More…]]]>
With Maiduguri under siege after the murder of a civil war veteran, Gen. Muhammad Shuwa, will there still be any form of dialogue with the Boko Haram Islamic sect, let alone for retired Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to accept being one of the mediators? asks DAVID ATTAH
The security situation in the North has taken a new twist with penultimate Friday’s killing of civil war veteran, Gen. Muhammad Shuwa by gunmen suspected to be members of the dreaded Islamist group, Boko Haram, that have killed over 3,000 people since 2009.
This is coming at a time the sect gave conditions for cease-fire in the attacks they started after the controversial death of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in the hands of security operatives.
Although the Joint Task Force that is saddled with the responsibility of keeping the peace in the volatile region had accused the sect of carrying out the attack on the general, the sect has consistently denied the act.
JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, had said that four gunmen, who were mistaken as visitors to the general, shot him and a guest in his residence at Gwange 1 area of Maiduguri.
The latest action of the terrorists in the North-East, according to some public analysts, amounts to pulling the tiger’s tail. And really, Borno has since been deserted by male residents for fear of reprisals from the army, as according to a retired military officer who would not want his name in print, “to kill a general, serving or retired, is an affront to the army, not only in Nigeria but in all civilised climes.” Since the killing of Shuwa, the terrorists seem to have murdered sleep.
A source who confided in Saturday PUNCH said the army would never take the death of Shuwa lightly. “Over 20 truckloads of soldiers have departed for Maiduguri, the Borno State capital for action,” he said. Shuwa’s death has been described as one too many.
The killing came at a time the sect named a former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Buhari; Dr. Shettima Monguno; a former Yobe State governor, Bukar Ibrahim; Ambassador Gaji Galtimari; Aisha Wakil and her husband, Alkali, as the trusted Nigerians it was willing to take on as mediators in Saudi Arabia.
Apart from the negotiations, the sect demanded the arrest of former governor of Borno, Alhaji Modu Sheriff, compensation for families of its members killed in the course of its terrorist activities and the rebuilding of its mosques by the Federal Government as its condition for ceasefire. Since the sect gave the conditions, torrents of criticism have followed the pronouncements.
According to the pioneer National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Solomon Lar, there should not be any negotiations between the FG and the faceless group. He reasoned that no reasonable and sensible government would have a dialogue with a terrorist organisation.
Warning the Goodluck Jonathan-led government against negotiating with the dreaded sect, the elder statesman noted that the group should first come out before any dialogue.
Lar described the late war veteran as a complete symbol of peace, adding that the killing of Shuwa was “unfortunate.” He advised Jonathan to do everything possible to fish out the killers.
“On Gen. Muhammad Shuwa, it is a very unfortunate situation that I read in the newspaper that one of those Nigerians that fought for the unity of the country was shot by gunmen. I am really disturbed. He was a hero but nobody talked about him. The government and successive governments never did anything to recognise him. I believe this is one of the unfortunate things. He was a national hero. He was one of the unsung heroes but it is unfortunate. The authority should do everything to find those who are responsible for the unfortunate incident,” Lar said.
Also, Christians have taken the dialogue proposal by the Boko Haram insurgents with a pinch of salt. To the Christian Association of Nigeria President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the sect, whose fighters have killed about 3,000 persons since 2009 – according to Army chief, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika – should not give conditions for a dialogue with the government. He believes the sect has no right to invite just anybody as mediator and should not determine the pattern.
On the choice of Buhari and others as mediators, Oritsejafor said, “The first question we will ask is whether the people that gave the conditions are really Boko Haram members or not. I don’t know. I was saying to somebody that I want to sit back and watch. I want to look at the unfolding events because what we are seeing is quite interesting. What we are hearing is even much more interesting than what we are seeing.
“The next question is whether they are sincere, if it is Boko Haram or it is just blackmail. I’m puzzled and I don’t understand how a terrorist organisation will give conditions to a legitimate sitting government of a country. It’s a bit puzzling to me.
“There are many questions that demand answers. Why Saudi Arabia? There are so many things to look at in the whole thing. Why Buhari? Why all these names? Again, I reserve my comments. I have just thrown out those questions, should I say as teasers so that you can think and contemplate. These are things that are going on in my mind.
“To me, what we have heard raises more questions than any answer at all. The last teaser is that a day or two after they gave the conditions, a retired general was killed. The questions are increasing; so, I am a little bit puzzled.”
At the opening of the third inter-division and headquarters map reading competition organised by the Nigerian Army Education Corps in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Ihejirika said at least 3,000 people had been killed by the Boko Haram sect since 2009, pointing out that the sect’s activities had affected people and businesses in the northern part of the country.
“The changing nature of threats to Nigeria’s national security environment has manifested in militancy, kidnapping, violent extremism and terrorism. It is a known fact that terrorism worldwide is characterised by extremism, violent hatred, lack of respect for human dignity and constituted authority.
“The spate of bombings in parts of the north had necessitated the Nigerian Army to review its doctrine with a view to updating our training and operational procedures in order to fulfil our constitutional mandate. Success in this pursuit, therefore, calls for renewed and concerted efforts and initiatives, he said.
Meanwhile, there is pressure on Buhari to accept the role of a mediator in the sect’s peace overture to the government. But while some are kicking against the move, saying it is another plot by the ruling party to rope in the CPC presidential candidate and finally nail him politically, others are urging Buhari to accept the offer as a patriot and in order for peace to reign in the country.
The Northern Governors’ Forum applauded the FG’s acceptance of the offer of negotiation by the Boko Haram, saying that “dialogue rather than the use of force would help to find a lasting solution to the worsening insecurity of lives and property in the country.”
House of Representatives’ Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, said the sect’s call for dialogue was a welcome development, adding that the House would support any step that could bring peace to the country.
However, the Convener, Committee of Concerned Northern Professionals, Politicians, Academics and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, insisted that Buhari could accept the offer as long as he put aside his political ambition, as according to him, “any politician can use the process to work towards actualising certain political ambitions.”
But the National Democratic Coalition warned the FG not to allow Boko Haram to dictate the pace of the peace talk.
Similarly, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, the General Secretary of NADECO, argued that the demand by the sect for peace talks in Saudi Arabia was “a curious demand” and an attempt by the “tail to wag the head.”
Now that male residents have fled Maiduguri after over 40 young men, most of whom were teenagers, were allegedly rounded up and shot by soldiers, the logical reasoning is, ‘What comes next’ in a city that is under siege.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/taking-peacekeeping-too-far/feed/ 6 http://www.punchng.com/politics/ribadu-report-one-drama-too-many/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/ribadu-report-one-drama-too-many/#comments Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:00:58 +0000 oayodele
http://www.punchng.com/?p=71394
OLALEKAN ADETAYO, in this piece, recalls the drama that unfolded during the presentation of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force’s report to the President and its effect on the authenticity of the report Immediately after the protest that trailed the removal of fuel subsidy in January this year, the Federal Government decided to carry out… [Read More…]]]>
OLALEKAN ADETAYO, in this piece, recalls the drama that unfolded during the presentation of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force’s report to the President and its effect on the authenticity of the report
Immediately after the protest that trailed the removal of fuel subsidy in January this year, the Federal Government decided to carry out some major reforms in the nation’s petroleum industry. The government therefore established four committees to chart a new course for the industry. The committees included the Special Task Force on the Review of Petroleum Industry Bill, Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force led by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Task Force on Governance and Controls led by Mr. Dotun Suleiman and the Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu-led National Refineries Special Task Force.
The Special Task Force on the Review of Petroleum Industry Bill was the first to complete its assignment. The committee submitted its draft copy of the PIB to President Goodluck Jonathan on June 29. After the approval of the Federal Executive Council, the bill was sent to the National Assembly.
While the nation was waiting for the remaining three committees to submit their reports, an international news agency, Reuters, published a story which was based on the report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force which as at that time had not been formally submitted.
With the leakage of the report, stakeholders including labour unions and civil society organisations accused the Federal Government of attempting to cover up. The allegation was quickly denied by the Presidency. In his bid to prove his sincerity, Jonathan last Monday directed Ribadu and the chairmen of the two other Task Force to submit their reports to him on Friday.
On the D-day, the reports presentation started with Suleiman who made a brief remark and presented the report of the Task Force on Governance and Controls. Because of Kalu’s absence, the lot fell on the alternate chairman, Mallam Yusuf Ali, to present the report of the National Refineries Special Task Force. They did so one after the other and presented their reports to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke. Ribadu took his turn last.
The drama started when he concluded his remarks and made to present the report to Allison-Madueke. As Ribadu was moving towards the minister, the committee’s deputy chairman, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, raised his hand signifying his intention to talk.
Immediately after Ribadu handed over a copy of the report to the minister, Oronsaye’s hand caught the attention of the President who sought to know why he was raising his hand. Having been recognised, the former HOS did not mince words in saying that the process leading to the production of the Ribadu report was flawed.
He said, “I want to say to you Mr. President that the process that has been followed is flawed and the report that has just been submitted to the honourable minister is the immediate reaction of the President’s directive that the report be submitted. The last time this committee met was in early July when the draft report was to be considered and I raised certain pertinent issues. It was agreed and suggested and accepted at that meeting that a small group be put together to review, modify and return to the report drafting committee before presenting to the whole house. That did not happen. No matter how good the efforts that have been put into this exercise, as long as the process is flawed and that report is one that cannot be implemented. Let me say too that this other report which circulated was actually not accepted by members. That was the reason why the committee was to go back to modify, review and return.”
Apparently emboldened by Oronsaye’s courage, another member of the committee, Bernard Otti, signified his intention to talk. He agreed with Oronsaye that the report presented by Ribadu does not represent the views of all members. The acting Secretary of the committee, Mr. Samaila Subairu, however came to Ribadu’s rescue saying the report was indeed a product of a joint effort of all members.
Infuriated by Oronsaye’s position, Ribadu expressed his desire to respond to the allegations. He alleged that Oronsaye, in the first three months of the committee’s sitting, did not attend any meeting. He said Oronsaye failed to participate in the committee’s work and only flew in from abroad on Friday morning to play the role he played during the presentation.
Ribadu said, “During the work of the committee, Oronsaye got himself appointed on the board of the NNPC. The other gentleman who spoke, Otti, became the Director of Finance of the NNPC and they decided to more or less bully everybody to take over. And they wanted us to write for them, but committee members refused. By the time they were appointed, the honourable thing they would have done was to resign from the committee. They refused to resign. Steve has not been in the country, he flew in this morning for him to come and do this and I think our President deserves more respect than what you have done now.”
The development, no doubt, caught many unaware. Even Alison-Madueke was short of words when the time came for her to make her remarks before presenting the reports to the President.
Jonathan who was obviously taken aback by the drama that played out before him said he was not completely surprised about the development because “oil business is always too oily.” The President said any issue that had to do with revenue would naturally attract controversy. He said rather than the confrontation, any member of the committee who has additional issues to raise on the report should do so and forward them to his office through the minister or his Chief of Staff.
The President however disagreed with Ribadu on his position that Oronsaye and Otti should have resigned their membership of the committee immediately when they got the NNPC’s appointment.
“Even though the chairman said that committee members became board members of the NNPC, that does not disqualify them from being members of the committee because when you set up committees, you bring in some people who are in the establishment to be able to guide in a way to give information. There is nothing wrong in any of them being appointed anywhere, they don’t have to resign to do the work they are supposed to do,” he declared.
Expectedly, opposition parties and civil society groups have been condemning the drama that played out. They said it was an indication that the probe was a populist move by the Federal Government. A civil right activist, Mr. Debo Adeniran, advised Jonathan not to take Oronsaye’s arguments seriously. He accused the antagonists of the report of having ulterior motives.
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Emma Eneukwu, said it was expected that those indicted by the report would kick and try to devise a cover-up.
The organised labour also urged the President to ignore Oronsaye and Otti who were opposed to the report. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress Mr. Abulwahed Omar, and Chief John Kolawole, said it was in the interest of Nigeria that the report was not swept under the carpet.
Also, the Action Congress of Nigeria said the controversy that greeted the submission of the report was a ploy by the Federal Government to discredit the report. In a statement in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the ACN said the decision to appoint Oronsaye and Otti, to positions in the NNPC while the task force was still working on its assignment was “a deliberate booby trap.”
But the Presidency faulted the ACN’s claim that Federal Government had an ulterior motive in setting up the task force and also “deliberately sabotaging” its work. Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement, said nothing could be farther from the truth than the claim by the party’s National Publicity Secretary. Abati said the ACN’s statement fell into a familiar pattern by the party and “its lying Lai to seek every opportunity to insult President Goodluck Jonathan.”
As the controversy generated by the drama rages, the concern of many Nigerians is whether the President would summon the courage to implement the recommendations of the report or he will allow them to be swept under the carpet. Nigerians are, of course, waiting.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/ribadu-report-one-drama-too-many/feed/ 11 http://www.punchng.com/politics/how-united-states-congress-apportions-electors/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/how-united-states-congress-apportions-electors/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:00:57 +0000 oayodele
NDLEA arrests 203 suspects, seizes 2,770.451kg drugs in Niger
[Read More…]]]>
The total number of electors in the Electoral College is 538. This include the total voting membership of both Houses of Congress – 435 for Representatives and 100 for Senators – and the three electors allocated to the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.).
The United States Census determines the number of Representatives of each state every 10 years. This consequently determines the number of electoral votes for each state.
Under the Twenty-third Amendment, Washington D.C. is allocated as many electors as it would have, if it were a state. However, it cannot have more electors than the least populous state, Wyoming, which also has three electors.
If Washington D.C’s population determines its electoral vote, it would have the second highest per-capital Electoral College representation, after Wyoming.
Each state is allocated as many electors as it has Representatives and Senators in the United States Congress. As a result, the most populous states, which have the most seats in the House of Representatives, will automatically have the most electors.
Six states have the highest number of electors. They are California, with 55; Texas, 38; New York, 29; Florida, 29; Illinois, 20; and Pennsylvania, 20.
By population, there are seven states with the lowest number of electors – Three. They are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.
Voters in each state and the District of Columbia cast ballots to select electors who have pledged to their choice presidential and vice presidential candidates.
In most of the states, electors are awarded on a winner-takes-all basis to the candidate who wins the most votes in a particular state.
Whereas no elector is compelled by the law to honour a pledge, in the overwhelming majority of cases, electors usually vote as pledged.
It is equally important to note that the Twelfth Amendment states that each elector will cast one vote for President and one vote for Vice President. This law also stipulates how the President and the Vice President are elected.
However, the Twenty-third Amendment specifies how many electors the District of Columbia is entitled to have.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/how-united-states-congress-apportions-electors/feed/ 1 http://www.punchng.com/politics/how-does-the-electoral-college-work/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/how-does-the-electoral-college-work/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:00:50 +0000 oayodele
http://www.punchng.com/?p=70144
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As most Americans learned in school and re-learned during the 2000 election, Americans do not directly elect their presidents and vice presidents. They actually elect “electors,” who make up the Electoral College and cast the critical electoral votes for the nation’s top two jobs.
The following is an Electoral College FAQ, courtesy of the Federal Elections Commission.
How are electors chosen?
The political parties (or independent candidates) in each state submit to the state’s chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their candidate for president and equal in number to the state’s electoral vote. Usually, the major political parties select these individuals either in their state party conventions or through appointment by their state party leaders, while third parties and independent candidates merely designate theirs.
Who cannot serve as an elector?
Members of Congress and employees of the federal government are prohibited from serving as electors in order to maintain the balance between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.
How many electors does each state get?
Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators plus the number of its U.S. representatives.
How does a presidential ticket win electoral votes?
Whichever party slate wins the most popular votes in the state becomes that state’s electors — so that, in effect, whichever presidential ticket gets the most popular votes in a state wins all the electors of that state. (The two exceptions to this are Maine and Nebraska, where two electors are chosen by state wide popular vote and the remainder by the popular vote within each congressional district.) Colorado may change its system of allocation with Amendment 36 on the state’s ballot this year.
When are electoral votes cast?
On the Monday following the second Wednesday of December (Monday, Dec. 13 this year), each state’s electors meet in their respective state capitals and cast their electoral votes — one for president and one for vice president. In order to prevent electors from voting only for “favorite sons” of their home state, at least one of their votes must be for a person from outside their state, though this is seldom a problem since the parties have consistently nominated presidential and vice presidential candidates from different states.
When are the electoral votes announced?
The electoral votes are then sealed and transmitted from each state to the president of the Senate who, on Jan. 6, opens and reads them before both houses of the Congress.
How are a president and vice president chosen?
The candidate for president with the most electoral votes, provided that it is an absolute majority (one vote over half of the total), is declared president. Similarly, the vice presidential candidate with the absolute majority of electoral votes is declared vice president.
What if no presidential candidate wins a majority of electoral votes?
In the event that no one obtains an absolute majority of electoral votes for president, the U.S. House of Representatives selects the president from among the top three contenders, with each state casting only one vote and an absolute majority of the states being required to elect. This has happened twice in American history. If it were to happen this cycle, President Bush would likely win re-election; a majority of the 50 congressional delegations are dominated by Republicans. Similarly, if no one obtains an absolute majority for vice president, then the U.S. Senate makes the selection from among the top two contenders for that office.
When are the new president and vice president sworn in?
At noon on Jan. 20, the duly elected president and vice president are sworn into office.
What are the arguments in favor of the Electoral College?
A common argument in favor of the Electoral College is that it forces the candidates to pay more attention to less-populated states that they would otherwise ignore. Those who are proponents of the two-party system claim the winner-takes-all result of the Electoral College helps avoid political instability and deadlock that would arise should the system be broken. Some argue the Electoral College system gives power to minority groups by allowing a relatively small number of voters in each state to make a difference in determining which candidate gets that state’s electoral votes. Others argue the Electoral College maintains the federal system of government, which was designed to reserve such important political powers to the states as making a choice for the presidency and vice presidency.
What are the arguments against the Electoral College?
Some argue against the (mostly) winner-takes-all system allows for a candidate who loses the popular vote (as happened in 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000) to win the presidency. Opponents claim it discourages voter turnout by making people feel their vote does not make a difference in non-competitive states. Some say it violates the “one-person, one-vote” ideal since each state has a minimum of three electors, regardless of its population. This gives residents of the smallest states, which based on their population might otherwise be entitled to just one or two electors, more influence than residents of larger states.
The current system does not require electors to vote the way they are pledged. This is an argument of lesser consequence, as the situation rarely happens, but there is, in fact, nothing preventing electors from voting for whom they choose.
•Culled from ABC News
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/how-does-the-electoral-college-work/feed/ 2 http://www.punchng.com/politics/candidates-in-last-minute-campaign/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/candidates-in-last-minute-campaign/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:00:32 +0000 oayodele
http://www.punchng.com/?p=70145
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After a brief campaign hiatus, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney resumed a blitz of swing states in the final days before Tuesday’s election — making their closing arguments to voters in stump speeches and TV ads.
The candidates’ weekend travel schedules made it clear where the election was likely to be decided. Obama was slated to return to Ohio on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
He also was set to stump in Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia, Florida, New Hampshire and Colorado.
Similarly, Romney was scheduled to campaign in Ohio, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Colorado and Pennsylvania, as both candidates tried to seal the deal at the end of a long, bitter and close campaign.
State wide polls released last Thursday differed on who was ahead in Colorado and Iowa, but they showed Obama with a single-digit lead in Nevada and Wisconsin. Eight of nine surveys over the past week in crucial Ohio gave Obama a narrow edge.
“We know what the future requires. We don’t need a big-government agenda or a small-government agenda. We need a middle-class agenda that rewards hard work and responsibility,” Obama had told an airport rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
He dismissed Romney’s claim to being a candidate of change, saying, “We know what change looks like, and what the governor’s offering sure isn’t it.”
Romney however mocked Obama for suggesting in an NBC interview having a single official oversee overlapping business programs.
A new Obama ad used a testimonial from a Republican and former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who praised the president’s record and urged Americans to “keep on the track that we are on.”
The limited numbers of battlegrounds at times made the campaigns seem to be circling one another. In Akron late Thursday, Ann Romney and former President Bill Clinton simultaneously held events just 25 miles from one another.
•Culled from USA TODAY
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/candidates-in-last-minute-campaign/feed/ 0 http://www.punchng.com/politics/impeachment-2015-attack-dog/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/impeachment-2015-attack-dog/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:00:29 +0000 oayodele
Mixed feelings have trailed the recent impeachment of three elected public officials by different state Houses of Assembly. LEKE BAIYEWU writes that the wave of impeachments may sweep more officials out as the 2015 general elections approach Besides defection, impeachment perhaps is the second most troubling phenomenon in Nigerian politics. It has become a political… [Read More…]]]>
Mixed feelings have trailed the recent impeachment of three elected public officials by different state Houses of Assembly. LEKE BAIYEWU writes that the wave of impeachments may sweep more officials out as the 2015 general elections approach
Besides defection, impeachment perhaps is the second most troubling phenomenon in Nigerian politics. It has become a political weapon used by the executive or legislature against perceived opponents, especially when relationships go sour or another round of elections is approaching.
In this current political dispensation, this monster has reared its head recently in Taraba, Kogi and Bayelsa States.
For instance, the Taraba State House of Assembly on October 4, in Jalingo impeached the Deputy Governor, Mr. Sani Abubakar, from office after adopting the recommendation of a seven-member Judicial Commission of enquiry set up by the acting Chief Judge of the state, Justice Josephine Tuktur.
The Mr. Usman Dangiri-led commission was set up to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against the deputy governor.
While submitting its findings to the House, the chairman said the deputy governor was found guilty of the three allegations against him.
Subsequently, the Majority Leader, Mr. Charles Maijankai, moved a motion for the adoption of the report, which later led to his impeachment.
Also, on October 16, the Kogi State House of Assembly impeached the Speaker, Abdullahi Bello, and 10 principal officers in the chamber.
Prior to the impeachment, there was a running battle between the speaker and some members, which made him to accuse them of plotting to remove him from office.
Despite the fact that members of the House were supposed to reconvene on October 18, 17 of the 25 members had held a plenary two days earlier to carry out the impeachment plan. The lawmakers elected Lawal Jimoh to replace Bello.
In what looked like a revelation of what might have led the lawmakers into the action, reports had it that the Minority Leader, Yori Afolabi, had previously warned against a desperate attempt to remove the leadership of the House.
He was reported to have disclosed that the Executive arm of government was enticing any lawmaker who consented to the plot with N15m.
The embattled former speaker and principal officers were said to have held a parallel parliamentary sitting in Lokoja and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the crisis.
Consequently, an ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives set up to look into the crisis had on October 22 sealed off the state Assembly complex to prevent any of the factions from sitting or performing any legislative duties.
The Chairman of the six-man panel, Mohammed Ahmed, said the committee would not recognise any of the factions, warning that if the committee members were unable to settle the scores, the House might take over the legislative duties of the Assembly, as empowered by the constitution.
Similarly on June 3, 2012, the Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Friday Benson was impeached by 16 of the 24-member Assembly three months after he came into the office. He was replaced by a former Deputy Speaker in the former Governor Timipre Sylva’s tenure, Mr. Fini Angaye.
But, the media aide to the sacked Speaker argued that only 11 members of the Assembly took the decision at a 30-minute closed door sitting, in the absence of the deposed speaker and his deputy.
It would be recalled that the Assembly had on June 24, 2010 impeached the Deputy Governor, Peremobowei Ebebi, in what many described as the aftermath of the supremacy battle between the then Governor Timipre Sylva and his deputy.
Ebebi was sacked after a seven-man panel headed by Mr. Donald Denwigwe, SAN, found him guilty of nine out of the ten charges of “gross misconduct” levelled against him.
Maybe, the former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Nsima Ekere, would have been impeached but for his swift resignation on “personal grounds” last Wednesday.
He was reported to have beaten members of the State House of Assembly to their game, who had allegedly perfected plans to impeach him, with the resignation.
Reports have it that Ekere nursed the ambition to contest the governorship election in 2015, which did not go down well with some powerful forces in the state.
It would be recalled that in what looked like an ironic drama, on August 2, 2010, the House of Assembly in Abia State had impeached the Deputy Governor, Mr. Chris Akomas, three days after he announced his resignation from office.
At a plenary, the Speaker of the House, Agwu Agwu, had announced that, “Akomas stands removed from office with effect from today.”
It was reported that there was no dissenting voice against the process.
Akomas had swiftly reacted, describing his purported impeachment as “medicine after death.” He said the lawmakers only “exhibited legislative recklessness and disregard for the rule of law.”
He told journalists that he resigned on July 30, 2010. He claimed that a seven-man panel set up by the state Chief Judge, Justice Sunday Imo, on the orders of the Assembly, to investigate him was determined to carry out its predetermined assignment to nail him.
The way elected executive and legislative officers are sacked by state Houses of Assembly have made impeachments appear like a tool for supremacy battle.
It would be recalled that prior to the 2007 general elections, five governors were impeached between 2005 and 2006. They were Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, Bayelsa; Ayo Fayose (and his deputy), Ekiti; Rasheed Ladoja, Oyo; Joshua Dariye, Plateau; and Peter Obi, Anambra.
The reasons for these impeachments and how the processes were carried out have raised concerns about the credibility and independence of the legislature, as some of them were reversed by courts.
Observers have accused political godfathers and some state governors of manipulating the activities of the legislature to gain more power and to achieve their political goals.
One of such prominent cases was in Oyo State, when a conflict of interest broke out between the then Governor Rashidi Ladoja and the late Ibadan political strongman, Lamidi Adedibu. The governor was impeached by some members of the House of Assembly on January 12, 2006, in a controversial circumstance, while his deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala, believed to be loyal to the godfather, was sworn in as the new governor.
But for the November 1, 2006 judgment of the Appeal Court, which declared the impeachment as illegal, and the subsequent confirmation of this decision by the Supreme Court on November 11, 2009, it would have been a lost battle for Ladoja.
Unlike in the United States, on which Nigeria’s democracy is modelled and where impeachment is given utmost seriousness, it is fast becoming a norm in this clime.
For instance, while Robert Longley of The New York Times, in his article entitled, ‘Impeachment: The Unthinkable Process,’ said only four times has the Congress held serious discussions of impeachment in the nation’s history, Nigeria has recorded tens of such since 1999 to date.
Analysts have however blamed the development on the interference and influence of the executive on the legislature. They also blame politicians in public offices for their disregard for the rule of law.
A lecturer in the Political Science Department, University of Lagos, Prof. Solomon Akinboye, said the constitution is clear on impeachable offences and the guidelines for the impeachment of an elected official.
“Officials are sworn in to uphold the dictates of the constitution. Where an official commits an impeachable offence, the legislature can institute an impeachment proceeding but due process must be followed.
“Ideally, it requires two-third of the House to effect an impeachment but more often than not, due process is short-circuited. The whole political set up is in disarray, as the constitution is no more followed. Government officials now do what they like and that is one of the absurdities in our political system,” he said.
Also, the National Coordinator, Legal Defence and Assistance Project, Mr. Chino Obiagwu, called for the independence of the legislature, adding that an official must have committed a punishable offence before he could be impeached.
“Executive interference in the activities of the Houses of Assembly has remained one of the key factors for the anomaly. You will recall that there were series of impeachments in 2006. Once the leadership is influenced through its overtures with the executive, its processes will become porous.”
Describing an average impeachment process in the Nigerian legislature as one borne out of political immaturity, a prominent legal practitioner, Prof. Itse Sagay, said most of the impeachments have ulterior motives.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said, “It’s just a sign of our political immaturity; we are still young and infantile in democracy. Instead of allowing the speaker of an assembly to carry out their rightful duties, what the lawmakers want to see is how many “HIs” vote will increase their salaries and allowances.
“Committees are set up to attract benefits from the executive through intimidation. Once the speaker is determined to be principled, they are impeached and replaced with those who will promote opportunism and with determination to make gains.”
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/impeachment-2015-attack-dog/feed/ 0 http://www.punchng.com/politics/declining-governance-amid-growing-politics/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/declining-governance-amid-growing-politics/#comments Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:00:14 +0000 oayodele
http://www.punchng.com/?p=70149
Though Nigeria’s democracy seems to be growing in terms of politics, the country remains bedevilled by poor governance, writes ALLWELL OKPI Despite the fact that the Nigerian political landscape has undergone various changes in the past 13 years of democracy, the recently launched 2012 Mo Ibrahim Index African Governance, has added to other evidences to… [Read More…]]]>
Though Nigeria’s democracy seems to be growing in terms of politics, the country remains bedevilled by poor governance, writes ALLWELL OKPI
Despite the fact that the Nigerian political landscape has undergone various changes in the past 13 years of democracy, the recently launched 2012 Mo Ibrahim Index African Governance, has added to other evidences to show that governance has remained poor in the country.
The index which measured governance outcomes in 52 African countries across four major categories – Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development – and 88 component indicators, ranked Nigeria 43rd.
This ranking, for the first time, placed Nigeria amongst the bottom 10 African countries, and represented a decline from the country’s position last year, when it placed 41st.
The report of the index showed that Angola, Liberia and Togo left the group of the 10 worst performers and were replaced by Nigeria, Eritrea and Guinea Bissau.
Nigeria, which is considered West Africa’s powerhouse, was rated worse than the other regional powerhouses – Egypt in North Africa, South Africa, for Southern Africa, and Kenya for East Africa.
According to the publishers of the index, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, good governance is about harnessing a country’s resources to achieve the results any citizen living in the 21st century has a right to expect. This definition, therefore, underlined the merits of the ranking.
Nigeria’s abysmal performance in governance remains a dismaying paradox when juxtaposed with the country’s oil earnings and political gains since 1999.
Over the years, Nigerians’ interests in the political process seem to have been on the increase as they have become more vocal with opinions, as was expressed during the January subsidy protest.
Opposition political parties, civil society groups and regional interest groups have gradually become more powerful.
And after fumbling in the 2003 and 2007 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission organised the 2011 general elections, which was adjudged relatively credible.
Also, going by the conduct and the outcome of the Ondo State governorship election and that of Edo State before, many observers hold the opinion that the electoral process in the country is becoming relatively fairer and less rigged.
However, these gains apparently have not translated into an improvement in service delivery to the electorate.
Despite numerous political considerations and calculations that went into his victory at the poll, Governor Adams Oshiomhole was said to have been re-elected mainly because he had performed satisfactorily, in the eyes of the people of Edo State, during his first term.
As a result of this, the people voted for him during April 14 governorship election, defying the influence of certain political godfathers who hitherto determined the outcome of such elections in the state.
Similar judgment was passed by the people of Ondo State in the re-election of Governor Olusegun Mimiko on October 20.
It could be recalled that after the Edo election where the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Maj. Gen. Charles Airhiavbere, was defeated with a wide margin, the party’s National Chairman Bamanga Tukur, warned all governors, who are members of the party to strive at delivering good governance. Tukur had stated that in the future, the party would field only credible candidates with track records.
That indicated that political parties are beginning to understand that votes are now based on performance record, a trend the Edo and Ondo election seem to have subtly introduced.
In spite of these evidences of political development, Nigeria has remained underdeveloped based on infrastructure.
Even though the country has earned humongous revenue from oil since 1999, which observers say is more than the country’s income from 1960 to 1999, many roads have remained in a deplorable state, school system have collapsed and railway, aviation sectors are in dire need of reactivation.
Despite recurring accidents the nation’s roads over the years, especially at the bad portions of the roads, successive governments have failed to fix them. Some of these important roads include Benin-Ore Expressway, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Enugu –Port Harcourt Expressway.
Successive governments have harped on the need to fix the power sector but the situation has remained the same. Several manufacturing firms have relocated from the country to Ghana due to poor power supply, while others are closing shop because of their inability to bear the cost of running the generators.
Another recent index, the World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’ assessment chart, ranked Nigeria as the 131st out of 185 countries.
Though Nigeria was on the same position last year, further analysis indicated that the country dropped from 177th to 178th, in getting electricity; 66th to 70th, in protecting investors; 97th to 98th, in enforcing contracts; and 104th to 105th, in resolving insolvency.
Apparently realising the drift of the country in terms of governance, former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on October 27, 2012 in Ibadan, said the PDP, which has been at the helm since 1999, needed to review its impact on the nation.
“Both at the national, zonal and state levels, we should look at what we have done so far in the last 14 years. Review of our party will make us know where we came from, where we are and where we are going,” Obasanjo said.
A Second Republic Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, said one of the reasons for poor governance in the country is the low quality of political leadership.
Musa said, “What happened in Edo and Ondo states was that the leaders of the PDP simply allowed the opposition to win because they were afraid of what will happen if they had rigged the elections. But if we get to a point where our elections become truly democratic, that process will, of course, contribute in lifting the quality of governance in the country.
“What really determines the quality of governance in a country is the socio-economic system that is in place. For now, the system in Nigeria is based on self-interest. The interest of the state comes second; that is, if it is considered at all. “The major reason for poor governance in the country is the low quality of political leadership in the country.”
Corroborating Musa, a former presidential candidate and political economist, Prof Pat Utomi, said the Nigerian democracy since 1999 has been characterised by the quest for power and a little attention to governance.
He said, “It’s really a paradox. The triumph of politics is the decline of gover-nance in the country. There is the quest for power at all cost but little thought about what the power is meant for.
“For instance, the National Assembly has continued with its plan to review the constitution when the people have said one of the first things to be discussed is the National Assembly. They cannot be judges in their own case, but they have insisted on having it their own way.
“In all of it, what is important to them is self-interest. Though they won’t admit it publicly, most politicians think politics is expensive; therefore they want to make money through, any means possible to recoup their expenses.”
Utomi added that governance has remained poor because Nigeria’s political culture paves the way for people who lack character and leadership skills.
He said, “Another reason we are failing in governance is that the quality and character of the people that lead a country matter. All over the world, people are looking for the best to be their leaders and this is because they understand that political leaders set the tone that determines other things. A society is often judged by the quality and character of its political leaders. However, the dominant group in politics in this country has consistently made Nigerians to believe that the country does not need intellectuals and people of character to be at the helm of affairs.
“But then, there is no way that governance will not keep declining in a political culture that accepts mediocrity and people who lack character as political leaders.”
In his view, a senior lecturer, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja, Prof. Dauda Saleh, said the gap between political development and governance in the country was largely created by corruption.
He said, “Governance is simply the ability of government to change the lives of the people positively. But since the realities on ground shows that the quality of life in Nigeria is deteriorating and is worse than what you find in other African countries that are less endowed, in terms of resources, it then means that the quality of political leadership and governance in the country is poor.
“I think the main reason for the deterioration of governance in Nigeria is the unbridled corruption. I just hope that this (the Index ranking) would serve as a wake-up call for the people in government. If the quality of life of Nigerians was better in the 1990s than it is now, then we cannot be called a developing economy. In fact, we are an under-developing economy.”
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/declining-governance-amid-growing-politics/feed/ 3 http://www.punchng.com/politics/bombing-kaduna-residents-still-fearful-of-reprisals/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/bombing-kaduna-residents-still-fearful-of-reprisals/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:00:36 +0000 Fatai Ibrahim
http://www.punchng.com/?p=69905
DAVID ATTAH reports that residents are still being held in their homes for fear of reprisals after last Sunday’s bombing of a Catholic Church in Kaduna Devout Catholic and secondary school teacher in Kaduna State, David Jelili, had left for the morning mass in company with his wife and daughter, Eleojo, on Oct. 28. But… [Read More…]]]>
DAVID ATTAH reports that residents are still being held in their homes for fear of reprisals after last Sunday’s bombing of a Catholic Church in Kaduna
Devout Catholic and secondary school teacher in Kaduna State, David Jelili, had left for the morning mass in company with his wife and daughter, Eleojo, on Oct. 28.
But unknown to the 49-year-old, who served as the secretary, Church Bazaar Committee, death would come visiting at his place of worship – the St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Ungwan Yero, Malali, Kaduna State.
Towards the end of the service, “at about 8.47 am,” he said, “I heard a deafening sound and before you know what was happening, I saw many worshippers on the ground. My wife had passed out while my daughter’s whereabouts were unknown. Thank God we later found her with a broken neck. How I escaped was just a miracle.”
However, Illiya Bawa and John Thomas were not so lucky in the attack by a suicide bomber on St. Rita’s. Bawa and Thomas are undergoing treatment at the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital in the metropolis. A doctor at the hospital said that Thomas may never see with his left eye again. The two victims were among the survivors of the Sunday bomb attack in Kaduna, which left more than 10 persons dead.
In less than a year, the state had suffered six bomb attacks. The first was at the Ori-Apkata area in Nov. 2011, while the second and most devastating was at One Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, where a suicide bomber beat the security of armed soldiers at the gate to hit the nation’s foremost military formation. Others were the Sarduana by Junction Road bombing, which claimed several lives, mostly commercial motorcyclists on an Easter Sunday, and the attack in June on three churches in Zaria and Kaduna metropolis.
The latest attack on the church, which no group has claimed responsibility for, came about two weeks after gunmen killed 20 worshippers in a mosque at the Dogondawa area of Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of the state.
Although there was a warning of possible terrorist attack on some parts of the North during and after last weekend’s Eid el-Kabir celebration, no adequate measures were put in place to forestall the latest bombing at St. Rita’s.
Spokesman for the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, had warned in a statement issued before Sallah that terrorists were plotting to attack some parts of the North through neighboring countries. Despite the warning, nothing was done until the terrorist struck in Kaduna on Sunday. The question now remains, how did the lone bomber beat the tight security points in the state to hit his target?
A source, who craved anonymity, told Saturday PUNCH that on the day of the attack, there was no security personnel attached to the church. The attack almost resulted in a reprisal as angry youths in the area wanted to take the laws into their hands to avenge the death of those that perished in the bomb attack.
An unconfirmed report had it that two okada riders were killed in the reprisal that followed the bombing of the church. But the state government said it was not true and urged residents to go about their duties as security operatives were in control of the situation.
The state government, through its Special Assistant on Media, Reuben Buhari, asked people to ignore the rumour that there were reprisals in parts of the state. He added that the various security agencies, soldiers, the police were already on ground to ensure that the fragile peace in the state was not disrupted.
Buhari said, “The Kaduna State Government condemned the attack on innocent people at the worship place today. It was inhuman, barbaric and uncalled for. We are appealing to the good people of the state to refrain from carrying out reprisals.”
Meanwhile, at the Garkuwan Hospital on Sultan Road, one person was confirmed dead, while at the Barau Specialist Hospital, four deaths were recorded, just as three dead bodies were deposited at the 44 Army Reference Hospital, all in the Kaduna metropolis.
Our correspondent, who visited the various hospitals in the state where the victims of the bomb blast were taken to, observed that at the St. Gerard Catholic Hospital, out of the 14 victims admitted on the day of the attack, two had been discharged, while at the 44 Army Reference Hospital, 35 victims were received but three died. At the Garkuwan Hospital, 14 victims were admitted, but one of them died while six had been treated and discharged.
However, at the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Baduku Tokan, said on the first day of the attack, about 97 victims were received by a team of 30 volunteer doctors from the Nigerian Medical Association.
He noted that out of the 97 victims received by the hospital after the bomb attack, 40 per cent of them were children, while four persons died in the hospital.
He said, “When I came in, there were already 30 doctors available. The response was so encouraging. We have never had it like this before. And the International Red Cross came; the deputy governor also came on behalf of His Excellency. About 97 people were presented yesterday and as I said earlier, many of them were treated.” Also, at the highbrow Multi-Clinic at Ungwan Rimi, Kaduna, only the parish priest, Rev. Mathew Bonny, who was feared dead on the day of the attack, was admitted there. He too, was said to be responding to treatment.
At the Catholic Hospital alone, the spokesman for the hospital, Mr. John Ali, said those who were brought with injuries to the hospital were 14 and as at the time of filing this report, two of the survivors had been treated and discharged.
On her bed at the St. Gerard Catholic Hospital, a 30-year-old housewife, Mrs. Veronica Johnson, narrated her ordeal. She said that they were close to the end of the service when suddenly she heard a loud sound of explosion.
Mrs. Johnson, who was on the hospital bed with her two children said, “We were in the church, and it was during the consecration when everybody was kneeling down and praying, and all of a sudden, we heard the deafening sound of the bomb blast. When I looked back, I saw a car, a jeep that forced itself through the wall of the church from behind. The bomb blast happened near where the choristers sat. So many people died, and so many people were injured. I saw some people lying down flat within the church premises. All of my four children were in the church when it happened, but my husband was not in the church. They all sustained injuries. One is just four months old; I am 30 years old from Benue State.”
The Archbishop of the Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Bishop Mathew Man’oso Ndagoso, enjoined Christian youths, especially Catholics to shun violence by carrying out any reprisal.
On his part, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, urged security agents in the country to be more vigilant and intensify efforts towards stemming the spate of bombings.
The Sultan, who is the President-General of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, urged the Muslim community to intensify prayers to Allah for peace and stability in the country.
“As for those affected, we pray for a better return of what they have lost and the families of those who lost their lives, may Allah grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.”
Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa described the attack as daring. He said the attack was targeted at over 1,000 worshippers. He, however, thanked God that the aim of those who planned the attack could not come to fruition, adding that his administration would never be deterred from carrying out its developmental programmes despite the distractions.
“There are more than 1,000 worshippers in that church on Sunday, then imagine if they succeeded? Terrorists are bent to terrorise the state and the country. The blast was heard even in the heart of the town. I was told that four people were confirmed dead in the attack,” Yakowa said.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/bombing-kaduna-residents-still-fearful-of-reprisals/feed/ 2 http://www.punchng.com/politics/niger-delta-ministry-postponing-real-development/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/niger-delta-ministry-postponing-real-development/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:00:35 +0000 Fatai Ibrahim
http://www.punchng.com/?p=69901
FIDELIS SORIWEI writes on the seeming underdevelopment of the Niger Delta four years after the creation of a ministry for the region Many saw the decision of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to establish the Ministry of Niger Delta as a long-awaited panacea to decades of agitation in the oil rich region. This was because… [Read More…]]]>
FIDELIS SORIWEI writes on the seeming underdevelopment of the Niger Delta four years after the creation of a ministry for the region
Many saw the decision of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to establish the Ministry of Niger Delta as a long-awaited panacea to decades of agitation in the oil rich region. This was because of the promise that it would oversee development in the region.
No doubt, that came with high hopes for the inhabitants of the area that produces about 90 per cent of the nation’s revenue. Their expectation reached its peak when the ministry announced projects that had been designed to open up the area for serious developments.
Some of the promises announced by the current Minister of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, are the completion of the East West Road, which is meant to link communities in the region and nine skill acquisition centres in the nine states under the Niger Delta Development Commission.
But so far, these widely-reported interventions have only raised the people’s hopes. Recent events in the area show that the wait for development in the Niger Delta would be long. However, the possibility of resorting to pre-amnesty tactics in the once restive area to call attention to the misery and squalor in the nation’s oil rich region cannot be ignored.
For instance, the East West Road has become a replica of underdevelopment. Aware of the anxiety that has been generated by the road, the Federal Government has made repeated promises to complete the project.
During his visit to the flooded portions of the road in Orhorho and Patani, Orubebe reportedly gave an indication that the initial date set for the completion of the project may not stand.
“The flood has seriously hampered the movement of vehicles, cutting off several communities and farmlands in the region. As a ministry, we have come to see the real situation on ground. It is a disaster and something we have not seen for a long time. Looking at the East-West Road, it is completely gone. You know the ministry is working to complete the road in 2014 but, as it is now, it has become a dam,” Orubebe said.
Last month, a meeting of Ijaw leaders and elders initiated by Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, devoted attention to the deterioration in the Niger Delta. The meeting had in attendance a former chairman of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission, Albert Horsfall; a former governor, old Rivers State, Alfred Diete-Spiff; a former Bayelsa governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha; a former Minister of Aviation, Alabo Graham-Douglas; a former President of Ijaw National Congress, Joshua Fumudoh; and a Niger Delta activist, Ankio Briggs.
One key resolution of the meeting was a call on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack non-performing members of his cabinet. This is because the meeting was allegedly disturbed by the failure of political appointees from Jonathan’s South-South region to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the people’s expectations.
This was the contention of top Ijaw personalities, who attended the meeting from Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom, that people in the region seemed to have a low rating of the President’s performance because some appointees from the area had not done enough to enhance the image of the President.
Orubebe, who has suffered blame for the low level of progress in the construction work on the road, had attributed the situation of the East West Road to dwindling budgetary provisions to the ministry to execute projects.
He said that budgetary allocations to the ministry from its inception in 2009 was N96bn, from which N94bn was released.
He said, “In 2010, the FG released N58.8bn out of N145.2bn for project execution. The availability of funds to take care of pressing projects in the Niger Delta was marked by further reduction, as the Finance Ministry could only release N35.6bn out of N58bn budgeted for 2011.”
An investigation by Saturday PUNCH showed that the slow pace of development in the region has been of serious concern to Jonathan. It was gathered that he had called representatives of Ministries, Department and Agencies to a meeting on the need for an effective collaboration among them. The FG attributed the lack of infrastructure and underdevelopment to lack of necessary coordination among the ministries and agencies saddled with the responsibility of developing the area.
Last month, Orubebe hosted representatives from ministries of finance, works, environment among others, to find a solution to their perceived uncoordinated approach to issues relating to development and their implications for the region. Among issues listed for deliberation was the submission of lists of ongoing projects marked for 2013 for harmonisation.
Orubebe’s opening remarks at the meeting reflected the President’s concern about the state of development in the region. He said, “I am delighted to welcome you all to this consultative meeting which is a follow-up to the earlier meeting with Mr. President on the need for collaboration and synergy in the development of Niger Delta region.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that in spite of the efforts made in the past to develop the Niger Delta, the region is still bedevilled by massive environmental degradation and huge infrastructure deficit. A major contributory factor to this state of affairs is the lack of coordination and synergy among the stakeholders that are saddled with the responsibility of developing the region.
“It is in recognition of this fact that the President thought it fit that these selected ministries, departments and agencies should come together to harmonise their programmes and projects with a view to achieving a faster and wholesome development of the region. To achieve this, it is pertinent to present the proposed terms of reference for the consideration of this august gathering. To examine the programmes of various MDAs, state governments and other stakeholders operating within the region with a view to harmonising their activities; to examine other issues that would assist the committee in the achievement of these objectives…”
However, the concern expressed by the government has not amounted in any way to satisfaction in the Niger Delta.
Even Orubebe could not deny the fact that four years after, the ministry has not satisfied the yearnings of the people.
He said, “I have a programme, I am the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, and even my expectations have not been met because of the financial constraints that we have. I have a dream for the Niger Delta and I have not been able to actualise it because of funding issues caused by competing demands by other areas from government. The people believe that the Niger Delta, which contributes so much to the national treasury; about 90 per cent of the nation’s income, should be developed.”
Orubebe, however, gave an assurance the people that the government’s was determined to complete the road. He said the ministry was working with the Debt Management Office, the Ministry of Justice and its finance counterpart to borrow funds for the execution of the projects and others.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/niger-delta-ministry-postponing-real-development/feed/ 1 http://www.punchng.com/politics/tactical-campaigns-underpin-sympathy-visits-to-flood-camps/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/tactical-campaigns-underpin-sympathy-visits-to-flood-camps/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:00:03 +0000 Fatai Ibrahim
http://www.punchng.com/?p=69898
With the Ondo governorship election over, EMMANUEL OBE reports that all attention may now shift to Anambra State for the governorship election From the days of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, elections that produce Anambra State governors have always been controversial. Mbadinuju’s tenure between 1999 and 2003 was characterised by a struggle between him and some political… [Read More…]]]>
With the Ondo governorship election over, EMMANUEL OBE reports that all attention may now shift to Anambra State for the governorship election
From the days of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, elections that produce Anambra State governors have always been controversial.
Mbadinuju’s tenure between 1999 and 2003 was characterised by a struggle between him and some political godfathers. It was indeed in Anambra that the concept of political godfatherism assumed a notorious dimension.
For four years, Mbadinuju, who was elected under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party, fought a battle of survival against several political godfathers purportedly backed by the Presidency until his fall in the 2003 election.
His successor, Dr. Chris Ngige, did not find it easier. He was abducted from his office by a team of 200 policemen hired by his estranged political godfather, with the aim of getting him out of office. Ngige survived that nightmare, but had to sweat it out with the Presidency until 2006 when he lost at the tribunal to Mr. Peter Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
Obi came on board and had his own baptism of fire. He had hardly settled into office when he was confronted with impeachment threats by the House of Assembly with an alleged external hand from the federal seat of power.
He was eventually impeached. But he fought through the courts and within three months, he was reinstated. He returned, but had problems with his deputy, Mrs. Virgy Etiaba, who was governor for the three months during his absence. They, however, managed their political marriage until March 2010 when Obi took a fresh oath for a second term. In between, Senator Andy Uba was governor for 17 days, having won the now illegal April 2007 governorship election. The Supreme Court eventually threw him out in June 2007.
The race for the next election is now gathering momentum. At the moment, virtually all the frontline political parties appear disorganised and still unable to put their houses in order. And what’s more? The embargo on campaigns has not yet been lifted, but the prospective candidates are not leaving anything to chance.
But there is an interesting twist to this. The recent flood disaster that displaced well over half a million residents across seven local government areas in the state appears to have provided an opportunity for governorship aspirants to project their intentions.
Sensing that politicians might want to make political capital out of the disaster through trumpeted visits, the Anambra State Government promptly directed that donations to the flood victims be channelled to the warehouse of the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, Awka.
The Executive Director of SEMA, Dr. Nwabufo Ijezie, who explained that there was no political motive behind the directive, told Saturday PUNCH that the directive was to ensure order and to guard against confusion and disorderliness in the camps, since SEMA was in the best position to know where relief materials were really needed.
Apparently to prevent politicians from using the plight of the victims to make promises, Governor Peter Obi promised the victims that the state government would rebuild their homes when the flood receded. He promised that the government would continue to cater for their needs even long after they had returned home.
Politicians from other parties have, however, ignored the SEMA directive, because as Samuel Okeke, an Awka-based lawyer said, “Passing the relief materials and donations through SEMA without going there directly would not send the kind of message they wanted to put across to the people. The politicians want the people to know that they were there for the victims when it was needed.”
Many of them have been visiting the relief camps to personally deliver food, relief materials and even cash. Unlike what the Holy Book admonished, the aspirants tactically publicised their assistance to the needy. They move into the relief camps with a battery of political aides, journalists and cameramen, who capture them as they donate and sympathise with the victims on tape and video.
Many of the politicians have, however, been careful enough not to make political speeches during these visits but their body language had often betrayed their real motives.
In fact, Senator Margery Okadigbo, representing Anambra North and Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, had declared that the disaster should not give room for politicians to campaign.
Every politician has been trying as much as possible to impress it on flood victims that they would use their positions in government or the society to ensure that adequate relief was brought to them.
But a female praise singer let it out when the Special Adviser to the President on Technical Matters and Secretary of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme, Nze Akachukwu Nwankpo, visited Achalla by singing his praise. Nwankpo quickly shut her up.
Nwankpo did not only give 15 cow heads, 40 bags of beans and 40 bags of rice to the flood victims to share in their camps, he promised to coordinate donations to the flood victims.
Anambra Responds, a humanitarian bureaucracy, initiated for the purpose of helping with relief and resettlement of the flood victims, is seen by observers as one organisation that will metamorphose into his campaign organisation when eventually the embargo on politicking is lifted.
Senator Andy Uba, who represents Anambra South in the Senate, urged the government to come to the aid of the victims who are mainly farmers by providing them with seedlings to restart their farms, which were totally destroyed by the floods. He called for the setting up of a special agricultural finance scheme for the resettlement of victims, especially the farmers and the industrialists.
He promised to use his position in the National Assembly to press for an increase of the allocation to agriculture to take care of the needs of the victims so that food prices could be kept stable, noting that ignoring their plight could be disastrous for the nation’s food security.
Uba had donated food items and other materials worth millions of naira and cash of about N1m to the victims at Ogbaru, Onitsha and Aguleri.
Another politician known to be eyeing the governorship of the state, Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu of the PDP donated relief items worth over N100m to the victims and announced that a bank in which he has a major interest would guarantee interest-free loan of N200m through his foundation, the Ikukuoma Foundation, to help the farmers among the victims go back to their farms.
But he emphasised that the disaster should not be politicised. “My plea is that this issue should not be used to play politics because the welfare and livelihood of people are involved,” Ukachukwu had said.
Senator Joy Emodi, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Affairs, who is said to be nursing political ambition in the state, has also visited the victims. She said it was time for rich members of the society to identify with the poor.
She said, “There are many people in Anambra State who are richer than the government and this is the time for them to give back to the society that made it possible for them to acquire their wealth.”
Other top governorship hopefuls that have visited the victims included Dr. Alex Obiogbolu of the PDP, Senator Chris Ngige of the ACN, Prof. Dora Akunyili of the APGA, Mr. Chijioke Ndubuisi, who ran for the governorship in 2010 under the umbrella of the National Democratic Party, and Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, who, as chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, has been following the President to visit flood disaster areas.
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http://www.punchng.com/politics/tactical-campaigns-underpin-sympathy-visits-to-flood-camps/feed/ 0 http://www.punchng.com/politics/when-will-these-bombings-stop/ http://www.punchng.com/politics/when-will-these-bombings-stop/#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:00:38 +0000 omosco
http://www.punchng.com/?p=69683
With Sunday’s bombing of St. Ritas Catholic Church, Ungwan Yero, Kaduna State, ADELANI ADEPEGBA writes on whether the security agencies are actually winning the war against terrorism in the country After every terror attack by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan has always been quick to offer condolences to victims and assurances that… [Read More…]]]>
With Sunday’s bombing of St. Ritas Catholic Church, Ungwan Yero, Kaduna State, ADELANI ADEPEGBA writes on whether the security agencies are actually winning the war against terrorism in the country
After every terror attack by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan has always been quick to offer condolences to victims and assurances that the group would soon be defeated. Not a few Nigerians derided him over this. Some took to Twitter and Facebook to mock him for what they described as his ‘naive optimism.’
The critics were further angered when Jonathan pledged that terror attacks would end in the country by June, 2012. The President, who spoke in South Korea on March 27, 2012 while attending a two-day summit on peaceful use of nuclear energy in Seoul, urged investors to ignore the fires raging in Nigeria and come down to invest their money. Shortly after this, the Boko Haram launched series of bloody attacks, including a suicide attack on This Day newspaper in Abuja on April 26. This development provided another fodder for critics. They clobbered Jonathan for making a ‘Freudian slip’ which encouraged the sect to stage further attacks.
The Boko Haram sect has refused to listen to all entreaties to come to the dialogue table, insisting that Jonathan should rather convert to Islam, if he wants a ceasefire. It scaled up its attacks in the North-East and went on to destroy telecoms facilities. Buoyed by a series of bloody but successful attacks, the sect continued to turn deaf ears and ignored the olive branch from the Federal Government.
In recent times, the tide seems to have turned against the sect. Security agencies which had suffered losses of their men to the group have renewed war against members of the sect. The Joint Task Force have re-strategised in order for their intelligence-led operations to pay off.
Also, security agencies claimed they had killed the group’s spokesman, Abu Qaqa, and arrested a woman believed to be his wife on September 17, 2012. About 156 others were arrested in Mubi, one week later. Operatives of the special security squad, “Operation Restore Sanity”, made the arrest during a raid on the insurgents’ hideout which led to a gun battle with the terrorists in which one of the Boko Haram key commanders, believed to be Abubakar Yola, alias Abu Jihad, was killed. Four of the 156 persons arrested were believed to be top unit commanders of the sect involved in the recent bombings of telecommunications facilities in the North-East. Security personnel also rescued five women and six children from a house suspected to have been used by the sect as its main ammunition dump.
Brigade Commander, 23rd Armoured Brigade, Brig.-Gen. John Nwoaga, said the sect’s kingpin was shot by soldiers, while resisting arrest. He said that over 300 improvised explosive devices already primed for detonation, 25 assorted brands of rifles, mostly brand new AK 47, submachine guns and over 2,000 daggers, swords, bows and poisoned arrows, were recovered from the hideout. Also recovered was a huge quantity of bomb-making devices stored in a large compound at Shagari Low Cost Housing, Mubi.
Yola’s death came one week after the JTF claimed to have killed a key member of the sect and arrested two others in Kano. JTF spokesman, Lieut. Ikedichi Iweha, said the operation was carried out by the security personnel in Hotoro in the Kano metropolis. Iweha, who did not confirm the identity of those killed or arrested, said the military task force had carried out an operation in the early hours of the day during which it killed one terrorist and arrested two others.
Sunday, October 7, 2012, one of the group’s commanders, Bakaka, who was closely aligned to Abubakar Shekau, was shot dead in Damaturu in a gun duel. Also killed were 30 other members. Ten others were arrested. The JTF, which announced the killings, also said it recovered arms and ammunition from the sect’s hideout.
A statement by JTF spokesperson said, “About 30 suspected Boko Haram terrorists were killed in the battle which lasted several hours. In the battle, the notorious, one-eyed Bakaka, the field commander of Boko Haram in Damaturu and a close associate of Abubakar Shekau was killed. Ten others, arrested during the battle, are presently assisting investigators to track other senior members of the terrorist group.” On the weapons recovered, he said six rifles, 90 rounds of ammunition, several handsets and sim packs were recovered. Other items recovered include; knives, bows and arrows, diggers, and two NAPEP tricycles. Also, three cans of IEDs recovered were detonated.
Though it is losing men and materials, members of the sect have refused to surrender. They still launch surreptitious attacks on hapless citizens from time to time. Few days ago in Yobe, gunmen believed to be members of the sect, opened fire on residents of a village and killed two people. Many others were injured. In Borno State, three Chinese construction workers were killed. Though the sect has not claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The terror group has also continued to lose its cache of weapons in all its areas of operations, according to security agencies. A combined police and military team, a few days ago, uncovered a bomb-manufacturing factory in Maitunmbi, a suburb of Minna, Niger State. Items recovered from the building include two 1.5gms gas cylinder already prepared for explosion, 30 empty cans of disposable food beverage and soft drinks also filled with explosives, 25 kilograms of fertilizer, batteries, remote control devices and other electrical gadgets.
The Federal Government had been so fearful of terror attacks that it did not hold the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Independence day celebrations at the Eagle Square, Abuja. Instead, the government held the celebrations at the Aso Presidential Villa. It claimed that the low-key celebrations were meant to save cost, a statement Nigerians laughed off. Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Kukah, described the celebration of the independence at the Presidential Villa, as an “an admission of weakness.”
The cleric noted with dismay that the President had succumbed to the terror streak of Boko Haram by choosing not to celebrate the nation’s independence publicly.
He said, “Today we are celebrating independence in the Presidential Villa, who knows next time if it is threatened, we move into the council chambers and subsequently there would be no celebration. And this is not the kind of wrong message Nigerians want to receive because anytime the president gives an inch to such insurgent groups, he surrenders his legitimacy. Jonathan should have used the independence anniversary to inspire Nigerians. He should have urged the people to laugh in the face of Boko Haram because if we show that we cannot celebrate independence because of the insurgents, then we are sharing power and territory with them.”
Kukah pointed out that the president ought to have shown Nigerians that government was capable of protecting them. He maintained that the president’s quest for foreign investments would not amount to anything, if nothing much was done to build confidence. “This is a psychological war game. The President must demonstrate to foreign investors that he is open for business. But this celebration of independence in Aso Rock is not building any confidence on the part of citizens and foreigners alike,” Kukah said. He also challenged Northern leaders to put in more efforts to restore peace in the region.
Nevertheless, the FG is insisting that the war against terror is being won. Vice-President Namadi Sambo stated that security agencies had reduced the “potency of the aggressors.”
Sambo said, “Our effort at maintaining peace is yielding the desired result as government is tackling the menace in a multifaceted manner. The various security agencies’ efforts have also yielded positive results as they have drastically reduced the potency of the aggressors.”
But government may have to pay attention to the cautionary words from an expert on Africa and Africa Programme Manager at Chatham House, London, Elizabeth Donnelly, who pointed out that the security challenge posed by the group was “not likely to be dealt with militarily.”
Donnelly, who spoke in an interview with The Economist, attributed the emergence of the group to corruption in Nigeria and the destruction of economic activities such as textiles in the North and its attendant unemployment following the discovery of oil. “Based on what happened over the years, the group will evolve and further expand its activities and geographical reach because, unfortunately, the government has not yet been able to check it.”
The almost daily gun attacks in Yobe and other states in the northern part of the country as well as Sunday’s suicide attack on St. Ritas Catholic Church, Ungwan Yero, Kaduna State, where 15 people were killed and more than 100 injured, are pointers that the war against terror is far from being won. This has made many Nigerians to ask Jonathan: When will these bombings end?
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