Tribunal rules on Ambode’s objection today

By Wahab Abdulah

The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Ikeja has slated today to decide whether or not to hear the preliminary objection filed by the state Governor,  Akinwunmi Ambode against the petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Jimi Agbaje in the April 28 election.

The PDP candidate, is praying the tribunal to declare him the winner of the April poll, while challenging the declaration of Akinwunmi Ambode by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as the winner of the election.

When the matter came up yesterday, the tribunal stated it would take all preliminary objections alongside with the petitions.

The tribunal presided by  Justice Mohammed Ibrahim Sirajo however subjected the issues to argument asking parties in the matter to make their submissions

Poverty level in Nigeria intolerable — Osinbajo

By Emma Una

CALABAR—NIGERIA’S Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo says no decent nation can tolerate the level of poverty currently ravaging the country and unless there is  a functional social system where the highly vulnerable are assisted to survive, vast majority of the population would die before long.

Professor Osibanjo who stated this in Calabar yesterday while delivering a keynote address on the 10th anniversary of the Late High Court Judge, Peter Bassey Foundation lecture, said those against the Federal Government’s policy of Conditional cash Transfer where those without jobs would be given the sum of N5,000 each to assist them are only being callous and ignorant   of the pitiable plight of large numbers of the population in the country.

“Social protection system is absolutely essential to assist the highly vulnerable in our society but  I hear some critics  say that people should work to earn money but the only way out for now  is to ensure that people  who earn  nothing can eat to avoid preventable deaths”

He said while the government is working towards creating jobs and enabling the private sector to revamp and build industries to provide employment, government has a responsibility to ensure that the vast majority of Nigerians who are extremity poor are catered for through the conditional cash transfer system  to enable them  eat and take care of their health needs.

“If we have to wait until the industries are functional and the government is able to provide jobs for everyone, most people would be dead by the time we get to that stage”

The Vice President who also spoke on the poor values in the country said, development has eluded the country  this long because of the lack of values in the society.

“The justification of stealing, cheating and corruption is because we have not adopted the values for doing the right thing. The biblical injunction, ‘thou shall not steal is not only  to stop  stealing but attuned  to a just and right way of doing things  because  if you are supposed to report for work at 8:00 am but you show up at 11:00 am you are stealing your employers three hours and should therefore be paid for the time you reported and not a whole days work”.

He said development can come  only be witnessed in  the country owing if the right people are appointed  into the right position on merit not  via federal character  formula which is skewed to favour where someone comes from and not what he can offer. “We have the chaos we have in the country today because people want to get away with anything and this is because federal character is the first  rule where people are appointed into positions based on the zone or state he comes from and not on merit, until there is a reverse, development will continue to elude us”.

House of Rep’s Commotion: Stakeholders express disgust, worry

By Dapo Akinrefon, Charles Kumolu & Gbenga Oke

LAGOS— ANGRY reactions, yesterday, greeted the uproar which resulted in members of the House of Representatives engaging in a free-for-all over the election of House principal officers.

Notable Nigerians, who expressed disgust over the commotion in the Green Chamber included a Professor of Law and human rights, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN;  former deputy speaker of the House of Reps, Mr Austin Opara; a retired Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav; two former members of the House of Reps, Messrs  Halims Agoda and Bitrus Kaze; a Second Republic lawmaker, Dr Junaid Mohammed; a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ebenezer Babatope and National Secretary of the Labour Party, LP, Dr Kayode Ajulo.

APC should sanction Saraki, Dogara —Sagay

Constitutional lawyer, Professor Sagay, SAN, called on the leadership of the APC to sanction the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Reps, Mr Yakubu Dogara, for allegedly flouting party directives.

Sagay said: “Honestly, I think Dogara and Saraki should be sanctioned. If the APC does not sack them from the party, they will drag the APC down. If they continue to mix with other APC members, they are going to affect them. Likewise, the whole of APC will be affected. So, the earlier they are clearly cut out in a surgical operation, the better for the country, the better for the APC.”

External forces should remove their hands — Opara

Mr Opara expressed worry over the influence of external forces in the business of the House.

He said: “It is not healthy for external forces to have interference in the parliament matters. They are elected by the people, so they should be allowed to pick whoever leads them because what we have seen so far is the battle between external forces and internal forces.

“The sanctity of the parliament is very important and they should have allowed them to pick their leaders. It is very unfortunate that less than four weeks, serious crisis has enveloped the House, how will they pass bills? So the earlier those interfering remove their hands, the better for this nation.”

 NASS crisis may lead to implosion of APC—Tsav

Also speaking, Alhaji Tsav said the crisis in the National Assembly could lead to implosion in the APC.

Accroding to Tsav, “what is happening in the National Assembly is shameful. APC will fail if the party is not careful. I am afraid, the party may eventually implode if the crisis is not tackled. Most of the people responsible for the current crisis are defectors, who came from the PDP. They found themselves in APC because they only wanted to win election.

“They are not fighting because they sincerely want to serve this country. Their fight is as a result of what they expect to get from the various positions they aspire to occupy. The APC crisis, if not resolved, is likely to affect the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari. However, Buhari’s non interference with the matter is commendable and wise because doing that could as well stain his impeccable integrity.  It is good that he allowed them to sort themselves out after all he belongs to no body.”

 APC is confused — Mohammed

On his part, a Second Republic lawmaker, Dr Mohammed said: “I think APC is confused and I would not want to comment more than that.”

 It’s a show of shame — Babatope

For a chieftain of the PDP, Chief Babatope, the crisis that engulfed the lower chamber is a show of shame.

Crisis started too early — Kaze

Reacting to the issue, Rep Bitrus Kaze, who represented Jos East/Jos South federal constituency in the 7th Assembly, said it was unfortunate that the crisis started too early.

Kaze said: “Honestly, the Buhari administration will have a problem managing  its relationship with National Assembly with the way things are going and attempt by the ruling party and Presidency to hijack the 8th National Assembly has really compounded the problem. The crisis in the National Assembly started too early and if this continues, this assembly might not be able to do anything at all.”

 They should embrace peace — Agoda

Also, former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Agoda, said the crisis could hinder development in the country.

He said: “I think the leadership of House of Representatives should preach peace, ensure some level of compromise and ensure that the integrity of the House is sacrosanct. I can say boldly that they need themselves at every point in time and since a speaker has emerged, everybody should support him and the speaker should also ensure he sees the whole house as his own by bringing everybody together so that they can engage in the process of nation building.”

It’s a shameful act —Ajulo

On his part,LP scribe, Dr Ajulo, described the behaviour of the lawmakers as shameful.

Ajulo said: “It is shameful. When you talk of party supremacy, there should be a divide. There should be a line where that party supremacy should be drawn. Party supremacy should not be taken to the floor of the House. The APC should know that they are not the only ones in the House. The PDP has members, APGA has members. Anyway, this is the first time they got the victory and it is getting to their heads. We cannot use that one as an excuse.”

How APC is drifting and drifting

Yesterday’s nauseating rumpus in the chamber of the House of Representatives again brought to the fore questions about the unity and preparedness of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC for governance. 

By Emmanuel Aziken,  Political Editor

While Nigerians continue to wait with patience as President Muhammadu Buhari comes to grips with the process of governance, not few are amused by the incoherence of the ruling party in getting its majority in the two chambers of the National Assembly to settle down to the process of governance.

Reflective of the disarray in the ruling party, the APC has been unable to come up with its full complement of principal officers in the two chambers of the National Assembly.

It is the longest time since the advent of the Fourth Republic that the National Assembly has not been able to showcase its principal officers. Even when the Senate came up with its Leader in the person of Senator Ali Ndume from Borno and his deputy, Senator Bala Ibn Nallah from Kebbi, it was another humiliation for the national leadership of the ruling party.

The humiliation was in the sense that the party had insisted on proclaiming the leaders for the two chambers, something that has not been done before.

While the chaos was ongoing in the House yesterday, the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki announced Ndume and Nallah as the leaders presented by the Northeast and Northwest caucuses of the party. The APC caucus in the Senate had earlier zoned the office of the Senate Leader and Deputy Leader to the Northeast and Northwest and in voting among the senators from the two zones, the two names emerged.

However, the party had preferred its poster boy, Senator Ahmad Lawan who vied with Saraki for the senate presidency for the office of Senate Leader, a move that was rejected by Lawan’s own zone who voted Ndume by nine votes to the two votes scored by Lawan.

Besides, the party in a letter to Senator Saraki had also demanded that another loyal senator, Senator George Akume be returned as Deputy Senate Leader and Senator Sola Adeyeye (Southwest) as Chief Whip and Senator Abu Ibrahim (Northwest) be returned as Deputy Chief Whip. The zoning permutation as articulated by the leadership would have meant that the South-South geopolitical zone would be missing in the body of principal officers of the Senate, a fact many senators had pointed out to the national leadership, albeit to no avail.

That was essentially because Akume, who was proposed as deputy leader comes from the same North-Central geopolitical zone as the Senate President.

In the House the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led leadership had also written requesting the nomination of Femi Gbajabiamila, who lost to Senator Yakubu Dogara in the race for speaker as House Leader.

Like the choice of Akume, the proposal for the election of Gbajabiamila from the Southwest would have meant that the region would have produced two members from the party in the leadership with the North-Central and the Southeast being denied an office.

The inclination has inevitably led to suggestions of marginalisation from some sections of the party, particularly from the areas sidelined.

The North-Central caucus in the House led by Rep. Ahman Pategi from Kwara State at a press conference on Wednesday fumed that the party took the decision to name persons to the various positions without consulting them expressing shock in the action of their party which they claimed should not be seen to be preferring individuals or zones over another.

Pategi who was flanked by about 20 other members from the zone said: “We are also amazed by the directive of the party to the leadership of the House to take necessary action on the purported choice by the party, which we see as a clear usurpation of the powers of the zonal caucuses and their members as guaranteed by the constitution and the standing rules of the House of Representatives.

“We, therefore, strongly reject the purported selection by the party which we see as being in conflict with the principle of the federal character as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic.”

“It will be inconsiderate of the party to consider North-East and South-West that had produced the Speaker and Deputy Speaker for other positions. The exclusion of two zones is not acceptable,” he said.

Party members from the Southeast also upbraided the party on its inclinations.

Rep. Austine Chukwukere, representing Ideato South/Ideato North and Rep. John Chike Okeafor, Okigwe South of Imo State, who spoke at another press conference flayed the party saying “We can’t stand here and allow the party sweep us out.”

But the party is also faced with its own problems; to wit affirming its authority over the legislators who were sponsored on the platform of the party.

It is particularly difficult for the party given that the majority of those stoking the rebellion including Senator Saraki and Speaker Dogara were dissidents of the former ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who moved into the APC from the PDP after helping to crash their former party.

The two men ironically were helped to office by the PDP which paid back the APC for the insidious effort of the former Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN in frustrating the PDP’s zoning arrangement that helped to enthrone the Aminu Tambuwal leadership on the House of Representatives in 2011.

Given the background of how it catalysed the breakup of the PDP in the period leading to the 2015 election, many are surprised that the APC has allowed itself to be boxed into this avoidable cul de sac.

The party’s attempt to stamp its authority has, however, been badly managed with allegations of cronyism and dictatorship in the running of the party.

Many of the nominees preferred by the party as principal officers are known associates of a prominent national leader of the party, a decision some claim would mean locking out those not close to the leader from top positions.

Yesterday, as some members of the APC raised bedlam in what was obviously a pre-planned riot, it was remarkable that a sizeable proportion of those who rallied in support of Speaker Dogara were members of the PDP. The import was that the APC was just like the PDP with Speaker Tambuwal after 2011, pushing the speaker out of the party into the embrace of the opposition party.

Even more dangerous for the party is the fact that a sizeable proportion of those who had been heeding the party’s voice are also coming round to the side of the speaker.

One state caucus after another have come to pledge allegiance to the speaker. One of the most telling examples was the case of the Jigawa/Kano delegation who overwhelmingly voted by about 90 per cent against Dogara.

When the delegation paid a courtesy call, and as Rep. Ado Doguwa spoke on behalf of the joint delegation, it was obvious that the national leadership was increasingly losing influence over the party members in the House.

Not hiding the fact that they voted against the speaker, Doguwa said: “Members of the Kano and Jigawa caucuses did what they did because of the party’s position, but now that you have emerged as the speaker we have nothing but to concur with the will of God and to pledge our loyalty.”

He said that for the next four years that they hoped to accord Speaker Dogara an unalloyed loyalty.

Such pledges of loyalty are not surprising given the speaker’s powers and entrenchment. Many other members are also alleged to be taking turns to pledge loyalty in the light of the fact that the speaker has the final say on what committees the members may belong to.

Buhari: Justifying the high expectations

MUHAMMADU Buhari’s March 28 election accorded him immense political capital. But with it came high expectations from overburdened Nigerians. Now, so early into his tenure, the President is drawing the ire of critics. Previously subdued, the complaints became cacophonous when Buhari admitted that age would “limit my performance.” While the admission might be sensible, politically, it was an unguarded moment for the President. He should be cautious about what he says.

Buhari, reminiscing before a cross-section of Nigerians in South Africa, said, “I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.” In itself, old age is not a bad thing. Age can confer wisdom, hindsight and gainful introspection when properly appropriated. Ronald Reagan became the United States president at 70 in 1981. He was 78 by the time he completed his second term in 1989. The late Nelson Mandela assumed power in South Africa at 76, after having served 27 years in prison during the apartheid regime.

A president is not an island. His driving force is the ability to serve diligently, providing leadership by inspiring others. Although he takes all the credit when things work, his performance is a function of the depth, sincerity and expertise of his cabinet and top advisers. Buhari needs to build blocks to achieve his mission. After contesting president thrice in 2003, 2007 and 2011, it is not wishful thinking that Buhari has all along drawn a blueprint on how he will decisively subdue the monsters of graft, unemployment, fuel subsidy/scarcity and insecurity.

With a cabinet peopled by go-getters, who are ready to contribute their time, energy and resourcefulness to good governance, the President can regain public trust, bringing about the change he had promised during electioneering.

During the Olusegun Obasanjo administration (1999-2007), Nigeria witnessed the sterling contributions of some office holders. Nasir el-Rufai, who was once Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, also made an impact as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. There were Nuhu Ribadu, who became the face of the anti-corruption war as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission boss, and Oby Ezekwesili at the Due Process Office and the ministries of Education and Solid Minerals. To move the country out of its despondency, the President needs to move faster in making his key appointments.

It will be naïve of the President to think that he can soldier on without making quick, vital changes at some departments and agencies, which played major roles in the rot that pervaded the last administration. We are talking about agencies like the EFCC, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Ports Authority, the office of the National Security Adviser, and even the defence service chiefs.

Nigerians are highly expectant. Weighed down by years of misrule, public service corruption and insecurity, the Fourth Republic initially offered hope but has delivered pittance. Between 2000 and 2009, the Global Financial Integrity, an NGO, with statistics collated from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, estimated that Nigerian leaders looted $182 billion of public funds. This partly accounts for the mounting anxiety in the land. Nigerians want a clear policy direction on the economy and the anti-corruption crusade.

Buhari is seen as a President who can take firm actions to stem the financial decay in the petroleum industry. He cannot afford to disappoint. In 2014, Lamido Sanusi, then the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of not remitting $20 billion to the Federation Account over a nine-month period. In 2011, Abuja paid N2.53 trillion in fraudulent petrol subsidies. No suspect has been successfully prosecuted. The recurring fuel scarcity, the comatose refineries, and unbridled importation of refined petroleum products are symptoms of the malaise Buhari has to contend with.

The agitation of the people that the President should cut down the cost of governance is well placed. Unconscionable federal lawmakers – 469 in total – have a budget of N120 billion for 2015 in a country where the minimum wage is N18,000, and as many as 23 states now find it difficult to pay salaries. The Federal Government borrowed N473 billion, almost half of the recurrent vote for 2015, partly to pay public sector salaries in the first quarter.

The power sector is one area in which Nigerians expect Buhari to make a difference immediately. In May, national output plunged to 1,327 megawatts from a high of 4,500MW on April 3. This is causing disquiet. Although 17 of the PHCN legacy companies were privatised in 2013, we are not better off than in 1999. This requires urgent intervention.

However, amid the hue and cry, it is easy to overlook what the President is doing. He is putting serious efforts into ending the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency, which has been tormenting us since 2009. The military have moved their command centre to Borno State, the epicentre of the insurgency, in line with the President’s directive in his May 29 inaugural speech.

His diplomatic shuttles have taken him to Chad, Niger Republic and South Africa in continuation of efforts to degrade the Islamists. But crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism, kidnapping and robbery must also feature high on Buhari’s to-do list. With so much invested in him, Buhari cannot but utilise this window of opportunity before him to bring succour to Nigerians by moving decisively.

Anti-graft agencies need radical overhaul

FROM a slumberous and lethargic agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has undergone an overnight “transformation,” posturing as a formidable anti-corruption agency that now carries out its duties with renewed gusto. Having seemingly woken up from prolonged indolence, the agency has suddenly started arresting and arraigning men and women that only just recently seemed to be untouchable.

Aside from “arresting” the former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, the anti-graft agency has grilled Martin Elechi, former governor of Ebonyi State, while also renewing interest in cases involving the former helmsmen of Enugu and Bayelsa states, Chimaroke Nnamani and Timipre Sylva, respectively. The list seems to be getting longer by the day.

However, no one should be deceived by this flurry of activities. They are merely signs of an ailing agency that is only flattering to deceive. For President Muhammadu Buhari to make a success of his avowed intentions to rid the country of rabid and endemic corruption, there is an urgent need to give the anti-graft agencies a shot in the arm. Together with its poor cousin, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, the EFCC needs a radical overhaul to place it in a position where it will be able to fulfil its potentialities.

For the past eight years, since the exit of the founding chairman of the commission, Nuhu Ribadu, the EFCC has watched helplessly as the corruption that it was created to fight continues to eat deep into the body and soul of the country. During this period, the commission, especially under Ibrahim Lamorde, became so good at going after petty thieves and internet fraudsters that the real corrupt people who robbed the country blind had the freedom to flourish and commit more havoc.

Evidence that corruption climbed to heights hitherto unknown in this country could be found in the mindboggling scams that were recorded in various government agencies, especially in the oil sector, which is the mainstay of the country’s economy, for which nobody has so far been punished. It is sad that those who conspired to swindle the country out of N2.5 trillion in the name of fuel subsidy administration are still breathing the air of freedom today.

More than a year after the former Central Bank of Nigeria governor and current Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, was fired from his duty post for raising the alarm about a missing $20 billion, the issue has not been successfully sorted out. The forensic audit that was ordered to lay the matter to rest ended up raising more issues than it succeeded in addressing. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, a cesspit of monumental corruption that even defied the constitution by refusing to remit revenues to the Federation Account, is still an object of a sustained clamour for a probe. What is important is the fact that only a hands-on approach by the government in the fight against corruption can produce the desired result.

The present discredited anti-graft structure should be overhauled. Larmode and ICPC’s Ekpo Nta, together with their inept teams, must go. Undoubtedly, getting it right in the crusade begins with the appointment of the right calibre of persons to head the two anti-graft agencies. Passion for the war is critical. This is where the names of tested and trusted hands such as Oby Ezekwesili (a former minister), Ishola Williams (a retired major general) and Abubakar Umar (a retired colonel) loom large, among others, if Buhari really wants to make a clean break with the sordid past. In addition, an Attorney General of the Federation, who shares Buhari’s creed of “killing corruption before it kills Nigeria” is inevitable.

Apart from effecting the necessary changes in the leadership of both the EFCC and ICPC, efforts should be made to strengthen them financially to be able to carry out their duties. The EFCC once famously claimed that it was no longer in a position to pay salaries, as its bank account had shrunk to just over a million naira. The report, however, was later denied, but starving the agency of funds over the years has been an effective way of emasculating it.

For the anti-graft war to be effective, efforts must also be made to strengthen the judicial processes for speedier adjudication of corruption cases. This can best be achieved if the idea of special courts mooted by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Dahiru Musdapher, and a former EFCC boss, Farida Waziri, is accommodated in the Nigerian justice system. Special courts have become necessary because of the delays in the regular courts. How can it be explained that the case instituted against Nnamani in 2007 is just starting afresh now? Since the regular courts have failed so woefully, it is time to follow the examples of countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Kenya, which operate specialised courts for the trial of corruption cases.

Setting up these structures will, however, not necessarily lead to an effective anti-corruption crusade until the judges themselves perform their duties effectively. In many cases, they have been found to have compromised. In a few instances where they have been caught, the punitive measures have not exceeded dismissal. Going forward, judges found to have compromised should not only be dismissed, but should be tried and sentenced. By the time a few of them are jailed, it will serve as a deterrent to others. At the level of prosecution, the EFCC must ensure that it does its homework properly. Too many cases have been dismissed due to “want of diligent prosecution.”

Nigeria will only surmount the problem of corruption by building institutions. The level of graft in the developed countries today is low because people know that once they are involved in corruption practices, no matter their position in the society, they would be caught and punished. This is the surest way to reduce both the opportunities and incentives for corruption.

Wike restores Omehia’s rights as ex-gov

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday, formally recognised Celestine Omehia as a former governor of the state.

It will be recalled that Omehia, who was inaugurated as the governor of the state on May 29, 2007, was replaced by Mr. Rotimi Amaechi on October 25, 2007 through a verdict of the Supreme Court.

Omehia was not recognised as a former governor of the state by the immediate past administration.

Wike, in recognising Omehia as a former governor of the state, also personally returned Omehia’s official portrait to where the photographs of other past chief executives of the state were placed at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

The Rivers governor also said he had formally restored the benefits and the entitlements of Omehia as a former governor.

Speaking on the development, Wike explained that the decision was taken because Omehia worked as governor of the state between May 29, 2007 and October 25, 2007, adding that he took the decisions on behalf of the state.

Wike said, “I hereby put back his official portrait among those of former governors. He is now entitled to the benefits of all former governors.”

The governor maintained that the era of politics of bitterness in Rivers State was over and added that it was not right to personalise governance as was allegedly done by the immediate past administration.

Responding, a thrilled Omehia described the day as the most historic day of his political career.

Omehia described the restoration of his rights as a former governor of the state as an indication that his political dark days were over.

The Secretary to the State Government, Chief Kenneth Kobani, Rivers State Housing Commissioner, Mr. Emma Okah, and the state’s Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Chinwe Aguma, were among top government officials that witnessed the event.

Speaking on the restoration of Omehia’s status as an ex-governor, a former Commissioner for Information during the Omehia administration, Mr. Emma Okah, described the action of the governor as a welcome development.

Okah stated that the recognition of Omehia as a former chief executive of the state was politically expedient and a display of the spirit of politics without bitterness by Wike.

“Morally speaking, it would have been difficult to explain the vacuum in governance without a reference to Sir Celestine Omehia as the governor of Rivers State from May 29, 2007 to October 25, 2007.

“The state is in a mood of reconciliation. The truth is that before the election in 2007, the people saw Omehia, loved him and voted for him.

“We commend the state governor for taking a bold step to reinstate Omehia’s status as a former governor of the state. The implication is that Sir Omehia will be given the special privilege, including benefits accorded other former governors,” Okah added.