Renowned Journalist and administrator, Senator Chris Anyanwu, has emerged the pioneer President of Nzuko Umunna. The association is a leading think-tank of foremost Igbo Technocrats and Professionals.
Announcing the new Executive Council, Political Economist and Chairman of the Nzuko Umunna Board of Trustees, Prof. Pat Utomi said: “I am pleased today to flag off the formal path forward from four years of impactful service to the Igbo nation at home and abroad by the Nzuko Umunna foundation, especially through this platform, to a new level of greater impact, with an Executive Council selected by the trustees to administer Nzuko Umunna affairs for the next four years when formal elections by eligible members will decide their replacement.”
In a statement titled “The light finds formal torchbearers,” Prof. Utomi noted that “A candle loses nothing, it is said, when it lights another candle. I am full of trust, therefore, that the eminent members of this Executive Council will give generously of their service in knowledge and wisdom and love for God’s purpose for the Igbo person, that all may thrive wherever they are located and live in peace with fairness, justice and equity, as defining marks of their environment.”
Utomi observed that the new leadership “sets the pace and tone of where NU and the Igbo nation is going by breaking new ground in both diversity and inclusion,” adding that the team “features accomplished entrepreneurs, social enterprise and civil society champions, outstanding academics, media experts and technocrats.
“Finally, I want to salute the dedication, tenacity and goal mindedness of Ngozi Odumuko and his team of young people who birthed Nzuko Umunna in response to the desperate needs of our people for direction.”
In her acceptance speech, Senator Anyanwu thanked Prof. Utomi and the Board of Trustees “for assembling such an amazing mix of young, tough and bright Igbo with men and women of experience and capacity in the new Council,” noting that “The task to be undertaken is not going to be easy but with the team members bristling with patriotism, I am sure that passion and that ‘can do’ spirit will propel us to new frontiers and higher goal achievement.”
She noted that the times “are unusual, hard, even scary, at times,” adding that “Our highest mission is to bring out the best in our people and to build synergies across economic and social classes, interest groups, and political divides that will enable the best deployment of our very fertile pool of ideas.”
Concluding, the respected lawmaker said: “I have no doubt that the team will give of its best. But let me emphasize that it will require the maximum cooperation of Nzuko Umunna people to succeed. I hope we can count on this.”
In his remarks, Odumuko, the Founding Coordinator of the think-tank, said: “I am full of joy for seeing through a successful handover to a great Executive Council under Senator Chris Anyanwu as the President. Ndigbo have shown the light, for a great woman to be leading a very strong global Igbo organization comprising men and women. It is heartening that Nzuko Umunna in the last four years has implemented great interventions including the Handshake Across the Niger Conference, Never Again Conference, Igbodum Database project, and the South East Economic Development Integration project, to name a few.”
Other members of the Executive Council include Prof. Chika Moore, Vice President; Mr. Ngozi Odumuko, Executive Secretary, and Dr. Uju Agomoh, Deputy Executive Secretary. The Ex Officio members are Dr. Austin Nweze, Chief Patrick Chidolue, Prof. Emeka Ezeonu, Mr. Obioma Okoye, Mr. Paschal Mbanefo, and Mr. Gregory Muonyililo.
For the third time within a couple of months, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, have met.
The two politicians met Sunday in Abuja during the dedication ceremony of Okorocha’s grandson, in Abuja. His grandson is the son of his daughter, Uloma, and her husband, Uche Nwosu. Wike was their guest.
Until recently, not many people knew of the close relationship between Wike and Okorocha, now the Senator representing Imo West at the Senate. But Wike explained that the relationship between the two of them goes beyond politics. He says he has known Okorocha since he, Wike, was a Local Government Chairman.
But speculations are rife over the political relationship between the two of them. It first started when Okorocha, on Wike’s invitation, went to commission a road in Rivers State. At the Commissioning ceremony, Okorocha had hinted at a political work-relationship between him and Wike while saying there were bad people in both his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. He said the country needed to move forward, and asked the audience to imagine how progressive Nigeria would be if two of them were to be in same party.
Okorocha has fallen out with his party in his State, and there is no love lost between him and the Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma.
It is not known if Okorocha would form another party, but he is reportedly, the founder and financier of the Action Alliance, AA, the party under which his son-in-law, Nwosu, unsuccessfully contested for the Imo Governorship seat, after the APC denied him the ticket in favour of Uzodinma.
It is not known if Okorocha reinvalidated his membership of the APC or not during the recent exercise, but there is a strong speculation that he is planning to defect to Wike’s party, the PDP.
But Wike told Reporters in Abuja that he and Okorocha go a long way. He said:
“I have known him (Okorocha) since 1999 when I was a Local Government Chairman so, there is nothing political about it. I don’t abandon people because of politics. It is in my character to always keep my friendship with people. It is not based on party or politics.”
Unconfirmed reports say Governor Wike was one of those who took Okorocha on bail during his recent 48-hour stint in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The storm over the damning allegation made by the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki that the Federal Government printed the sum of N60 billion to breach the shortfall in the March Federal Allocation is far from over.
Obaseki ruffled not a few feathers when he revealed while addressing the State’s Transition Committee Stakeholders when he raised an alarm over the economy of the country, disclosing that to be able to give States the March Federal Allocation, the CBN had to print money to the tune of N60 billion to breach the difference.
He said: ” Everywhere else Governments rely on the people to produce taxes, and that is what they use to run the Local Government, States and the Federation.
“But with the way we run Nigeria, the country can go to sleep. At the end of the month, we just go to Abuja, collect money, and we come back to spend. We are in trouble, huge financial trouble”
But the Federal Government denied the allegation, insisting that no such thing happened. Commenting on that, the Minister for Finance, Budget and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmad, dismissed Obaseki’s allegation as sad, and a lie.
She said: “What we distribute at FAAC is revenue that is generated, and in fact, the distribution of the revenue is public information. We publish revenue generated by FIRS, the Customs and the NNPC, and we distribute at FAAC. So it is not true to say we printed money to distribute at FAAC. It is not true.”
Nyesom Wike, Governor of Rivers State
But Obaseki stuck to his allegation, saying Nigeria has become an ostrich, prompting the CBN Governor, Emefiele, to say there was nothing wrong in the CBN printing money since it was their business to do so.”
Not a few Nigerians, were alarmed, saying that Nigeria was gradually going the Zimbabwean way, and asked for the sack of Minister Ahmed. And so did the PDD which, also, prompted the APC to accuse PDP of bad faith, insisting there was no big deal in PDP’s allegations and alarm.
However, the PDP Governors’ Forum has backed Obaseki, decrying the attack against him, saying he only advised the FG as a patriot.
In a statement signed by the Forum’s Director General, CID Maduabum, the Forum said it was alarmed by the partisan slant Obaseki’s advice has taken.
Following the full text of the Forum’s statement titled;
Governor Obaseki Merely Offered A Patriotic Advise
“The PDP Governors Forum is alarmed at the partisan slant a patriotic advise to the Federal Government by His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki , on its monetary policies has assumed.
“2 It is unhelpful for the Progressive Governors Forum to join the fray in the manner it did by its recent statement attacking the bona fides of Governor Obaseki who merely warned the monetary authorities about the danger of uncontrolled use of Ways and Means, that is, the printing of Naira, to support government’s expenditure.
“3. Governor Obaseki has a background in economics and finance and is a very responsible Governor who talks in a measured way . His advise, which by the way has been corroborated by none other than the Governor of the CBN himself, and the international ratings agency FITCH , should be heeded rather than being crucified for sounding a note of caution.
“4. No doubt the Federal government has been supporting the States in the area of agriculture, budget, refund of Federal Government executed projects by States and a few other areas of intervention. Is CBN trying to be vindictive and vengeful by recalling its loans to the States because of an informed advise by a Governor?. It is unfortunate that governance has plummeted to this level.
“5. The Federal government should plug financial leakages in the system and curb wasteful expenditure of billions of Naira on projects that can be executed by the private sector and save a lot of money in the process, thereby relying less on Ways and Means by the CBN , which brings pressure on the Naira with its inflationary consequences. Inflation in Nigeria is currently at 18.2 % , the highest in recent years. We should all be concerned to find ways of steming the tide.
“6. We are all involved in the urgent task of rescuing the economy of Nigeria and nobody should indeed play the OSTRICH.”
On Sunday, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, joined the fray. He backed Obaseki.
Speaking to Reporters in Abuja, he said: “Obaseki was in APC, so he understands them. So, Obaseki couldn’t have come from the blues to say they printed N60 billion. He knows them.”
If you are looking for why a number of Nigerians think it is not possible for the Igbo to work together, look no further. It is not in the hilarious caricature photographs and cartoons being shared to ridicule the hastily established Ebube Agu, by the dilly-dallying, South-east Governors. No. It is in the statement issued by a Group which goes by the name Imo Elites, in response to the appointment of Professor Nnenna Oti as the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. FUTO.
If you are looking for why they say the Igbo take the cake when it comes to petition writing to run down one another, the answer is in that statement released by the Imo Eltes
I don’t know about you, but I had neither heard the name, nor read about this Group, well, until Thursday, April 15, 2021. Perhaps, I never took notice. As you know, Nigerians like forming Associations. Like acquiring Chieftaincy titles, forming one association or the other is in our DNA. It remains to form the “Association of the Dead.”
I don’t know if it truly does exist, or if the name was coined and adopted by a couple of people for the battle the group imagines is ahead over the VCship of FUTO. But it announced itself in an obscene style.
Its language was crude. Its intention, mischievous. The contents of what it was saying, bitter. As a teaser, the Association warns that its members would march on the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission, NUC. We wait with bated breath.
Here’s why the group descended on us with its foul language and threat.
On Tuesday, April 13, FUTO’s Governing Council announced the appointment of Professor Nnenna Oti as the new Vice Chancellor of the University. She is to succeed the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Professor Francis Eze, as from June, 2021.
FUTO, established in 1980, is the oldest University of Technology in Nigeria. In its 41 years of existence, it has never had a female as its Vice Chancellor. It has been the exclusive of men.
But on April 13, Professor Oti broke the jinx. And she did it in style. She beat a field, well-studded with brilliant male Professors to clinch the high profile job.
Applicants were 29. The number was reduced to seven for the final interview and selection. At the end, Prof Oti came tops.
Announcing the result at a Press conference, Chairman of FUTO’s Governing Council, Professor John Offem, said Professor Oti scored a total of 75,5 per cent marks to beat Professor Ikechukwu Dozie to the second place. Dozie scored 69.7 per cent.
For the records, I do not know Professor Oti. But her appointment as the next Vice Chancellor of FUTO excites me to the moon and back. And it is not because she is a woman.
Her whole package excites me. She merited her appointment. She deserved it. When I looked her name up on Goggle, I was like: this is it. Rich. Solid. The Professor is a combination of brain, beauty, and brawn.
Professor Nnenna Oti, FUTO VC.
Having no brain for sciences, I admire any, every science-inclined woman no end. I was not the only one excited by her appointment.
Many of those I spoke to in Owerri, especially within the FUTO community, were happy. They attested to her brilliance, her eyes for details, her diligence to duty, and her unobtrusive carriage.
I was, therefore, taken aback when, on Thursday, April 14, a statement by this Group, Imo Elites, surfaced on WhatsApp platforms.
Signed by one Ken Uwandu J, the intention was to rubbish Prof. Oti, and the process which threw her up.
The statement had quite a few things to say, and had some choice words to describe the Chairman and members of the University’s Council.
Uwandu and his group called them wicked, and the process which produced Professor Oti evil and corrupt. If Uwandu, the character who signed the infamous statement is not fake, he should, please, be man enough, and stand up for recognition.
The group, and its statement, did not stop at trying to rubbish the process, it also descended on Oti. In the process, they exposed their ignorance, and zero knowledge of who Oti is. She was called unfit, unqualified, not exposed academically, not brilliant, had not presented any academic or seminar papers, had written for no academic journal, has had no experience in administration, and more.
But here is a brief on the person Imo.elites called unfit, not brilliant, and incompetent.
Professor Oti holds a First Class Honours degree, (Agriculture), in Soil Science, from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN; a Masters in Soil Science (Soil Biology and Biochemistry option), UNN. She did her Postgraduate Diploma in Irrigation Engineering at the Katholic University Leuven, Belgium, and came out in style. She made a Distinction. She then got her PhD in Soil and Environmental Conservation from FUTO.
So, you ask: how can anybody who came out in a First Class from no less a University than UNN be described as not brilliant? How can a woman who made a Distinction in her post- Graduate course be dull and unfit? How can anybody who got her PhD from FUTO, a high rated University, be an academic push-over? None of the Universities she attended is a “kwe-kwe” University.
But the degrees and academic brilliance are not the only things that make her tick. What makes Professor Oti tick is what she has done with those degrees, what she has done with her brilliance.
A brief.
A Professor of Soil Science and Environmental Conservation, Nnenna Oti was a three- time Head of Department of Soil Science and Technology in the School of Agricultural and Agriculture Technology (SAAT). She is also the immediate past Chairman of the Gender Policy Unit. And she has relevant experiences to boot.
To her name are about 34 years in academics, research, teaching and administration in the Nigeria University system, and a large dose of exposure internationally.
Her work experience includes consulting for the Government and the Private Sector, ranging from TETFund, Anambra Imo River Basin Development Authority, National Biotechnology Development Agency and more. And, yet, this group says she has no experience.
The group, also, ignorantly said she had no academic papers to her name. How can anybody be a Professor, without writing academic papers. But here’s how much she has done in that area.
Prof Oti has written over 65 Academic papers, 40 Seminar and Workshop Papers. She has edited a handbook, delivered 50 public lectures, and had written over 10 Technical Reports for the Federal Government. Until her appointment as FUTO Vice Chancellor, she was the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics.
The question mark on her abilities by the Imo Elite reminds one of Arunma Otteh, former Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC.
On invitation to the House of Representatives by the House Committee on Capital Market, its Chairman, Hon. Herman Hembe, dared to question Otteh’s qualification for the office of the DG of SEC. Otteh felt insulted. And by the time Otteh finished with Hembe, and reeled out her qualifications, Hembe, literally, forgot his name.
Now, see where Otteh is, and see where Hembe is.
While Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinator of the Economy, Adams Oshiomhole, former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, called her incompetent. Now, see where Okonjo-Iweala is, and see where Oshiomhole is.
These accomplished women are even lucky. Nobody has called them “bottom-power” – meaning that they slept their way to the top. That is the burden many accomplished women carry in Nigeria.
In the case of Professor Nnenna Oti, they have also not alleged bottom power. But they are alleging corruption. They are alleging man-know-man. They are wrapping her appointment around their destructive politics, their politics of bitterness. They are alleging favouritism for her – on the part of the Minister for State, Education. And they are alleging hatred, by Governor Hope Uzodinma for Mbaise people, because a couple of those who contested against her are from Mbaise.
Their grouse, they wrote, is that Minister Nwajiuba and Governor Uzodinma, both Imo sons, deliberately denied Imo sons of the Vice Chancellorship of FUTO in favour of an Ebonyi indigene – Professor Oti.
For Uzodinma, they say his hatred for Mbaise people, made him work against two Mbaise candidates for the post. For Nwajiuba, they said he simply preferred Oti to Imo candidates. But I gather differently.
Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha, an activist, blunt in capital letters, while congratulating Oti, mocked Minister Nwajiuba, and said he, Iwuoha, was happy Nwajiuba’s candidate did not make it. For Uzodinma, you begin to wonder what his interest is in a Federal University. He is not the visitor. FUTO is not Imo State University. They say he hates Mbaise people. Why? That is a political statement. Hate is a strong word.
Questions then: Is there any reason Uzodinma and Nwajiuba, both Imo sons, will not want an Imo son to be FUTO’s Vice Chancellor?
Why would Uzodinma hate Mbaise people? Does he not have friends and political associates from Mbaise? Does he not have aides from Mbaise? Are there no Mbaise people in the APC? Reading politics into everything is deliberate mischief. Every Professor who got to the final round is solid, sound and capable. But it had to go to one person – the best of the egg heads.
What has, sadly, happened to us is that we have allowed politics, ethnicity and religion to rule our everyday lives, to affect our reasoning, our thinking. We have murdered competence, efficiency, effectiveness, on the alter of politics, religion, ethnicity.
In the instant case, the grouse against Oti is that she is not from Imo State; that she is from Ebonyi State. So, how can an Ebonyi indigene, they ask, be the Vice Chancellor of a University in Imo? And, this is a Federal University. Has it occurred to this Group that the FG is not bound to appoint somebody from the South-east FUTO’s VC?
But here is the irony.
The South-east say their Zone is marginalised. Sons and daughters of the Rising Sun, a good number of their people are fighting for freedom from Nigeria over marginalisation. It is a Zone which, rightly, shouts and fights discrimination. Yet, they discriminate against themselves – all the time.
It was why Senator Theodore Orji, at a point, sent Imo State indigenes in Abia State Civil Service packing when he was Governor. I cannot confirm, but I understand it is one of the reasons those against the confirmation of the Honourable Justice Ijeoma Agugua, as the substantive Chief Judge of Imo State, are adducing. Married to an Imo man, with children, now a grandmother, they insist she is from Anambra, and so, should be denied the position.
During the Presidential election in 2019, a good number of high profile Politicians of Igbo origin worked against the Abubakar Atiku/Peter Obi ticket out of prettiness. One of them, who wanted to be in Obi’s place, reportedly asked Atiku to pick a running mate from the South-west instead of Obi.
But back to Professor Nnenna Oti. She should stay focused. And, if this Uwandu guy who signed the petition, and made all kinds of allegations against her is not faceless, I encourage her to sue him for whatever he’s got. I also encourage Professoe Offem and his Council members to do the same.
Let Uwandu and his group publicly prove their allegations. What kind of “bad belle” is this? Where is the Igbo unity? Whatever happened to the much touted Biafran spirit? God forbid.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has been in the eye of the storm in the last few days.
The major allegation against him was that he canvassed in recent past seismic views in support of his Islamic sect, said to be an extremist Salafist group and shared opinions on pulpits which suggested that he had affinity with and, indeed, insurgency running in his blood. These, the allegation further claimed, were manifest in the extremist views Pantami held and the blatant hatred he had for people of other religions.
Pantami has, however, been struggling to disclaim the allegations. To buttress his declamation of the allegations, the Minister has been fighting frenetically to defend himself.
For instance, though he admitted that he had been an Islamic preacher since age 13, he claimed that, in the last two decades, he had been invited and travelled to countries like Niger Republic, Katsina, Borno, and Gombe, among other Northern States and his preaching was a singeing denouncement of Boko Haram’s ideology and Islamic fundamentalism.
Unfortunately, however, video evidence against him, especially as made available on YouTube and by the People’s Gazette, suggested contrarily.
Pantami, in the videos being shared, was seen fraternizing with the destructive views of Bin Laden and justified the killing of kafirs.
Those who have attempted to exculpate the Minister from the charge of sharing indecipherable opinions and ideology from insurgents’, as well as those who claimed that Pantami has since distanced himself from those views since he became Minister, are spewing bunkum.
First, what forensic sieve did they use to determine that he has been purged of such views? What assurance is there that someone who canvassed such demonic views isn’t a mole in Government to the insurgents, and is not funding these terrorist cells?
While anyone can share, or hold any seismic view that they subscribe to, whether religious or political and whether now or previously, so far as such view is not at variance with the laws of the land, they are in the clear. The state must however ensure that holders of such divisive views which contravene the secularity of the state must be held far off from the levers of power.
That is the crime of the Nigerian state; allowing Pantami to rise to the level he has risen in Nigerian state affairs.
To be sure, Pantami’s religious views are not different from that of Sheikh Gumi, the man who has turned himself into the religious avatar whose chosen path is that of going inside the forest to mediate and negotiate between bandits and the Nigerian state. Gumi too has sought to canonize bandits and even insurgents by saying that Nigeria misunderstood them. He is free to trade such irresponsible views too. The problem will arise the day Gumi seeks to handle one of the instruments of administration of a secular Nigerian state.
That is why Pantami should not be blamed. The blame should fall squarely by the feet of President Muhammadu Buhari, his appointor, and the Nigerian state whose feeble binoculars could not pinpoint and pin those damaging and dangerous views ascribed to the Minister.
Why I do not blame Buhari himself but the Nigerian electors who, in spite of them, voted him into office as President, is that, there seems not to be too much difference between the views held by Pantami and even Buhari himself before the latter became President.
We were not too young to read and watch on television Buhari fuming and saying that if he was rigged out of the Presidential election, the dogs and the baboons would be soaked in blood. That was an insurgent philosophy.
This same man upbraided the Goodluck Jonathan Government for attacking Boko Haram insurgents and said that every shelling of the insurgents was an attack against the North.
The truth is that, many Northern elders, unfortunately, share huge slices of opinions that are similar to Pantami and Buharis’. It is why insurgency is festering in the land like ferns in a plantation.
In a saner clime, Pantami would have resigned if he still retains any modicum of honour left in him. But, this is Nigeria; he won’t resign. Has President Buhari himself resigned?
A former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, under the President Muhammadu Buhari Government, Solomon Dalung, has made a damning allegation as to why insecurity thrives in Nigeria.
Dalung revealed that those in the corridors of power, close allies and members of President Buhari’s Cabinet are gaining from the unrest and insecurity In the country.
Dalungs allegation comes on the heels of the revelation that Buhari’s Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, was an Al Queda supporter, and had said that the killings of unbelievers made him happy. He had also, among other things, described the late Osama Bin Laden, as a better Muslim than he, Pantami.
Embattled and under pressure from calls that he be sacked by President Buhari, he renounced his earlier rhetoric, blaming it on youthful exuberance and immaturity.
Dalung who made this allegation in a chat with newsmen, stressed that people within the corridors of power are making gains out of the current security situation in the country.
The Plateau State born former Minister identified as the greatest challenge the emergence of those he called “conflict entrepreneurs” who are benefitting from the terrible situation and are unwilling to let it end.
He said some of the conflict entrepreneurs are within the corridors of power, making “heavy businesses out of the pathetic security situation”.
He also condemned the attacks by unknown gunmen earlier this month on Government facilities in Imo State.
“What happened in Imo was horrific and grave, talking along the line of national security, because it was an attack on the national security. It was carried out, successfully because impunity has taken the centre stage of our national values, meaning that people now get away with evil, with crimes and with anything. Some of them even brag about it and are also seen within the corridors of power,” he added
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to the disclosure by former Niger State Governor, Aliyu Babangida, that prior to the 2015 Presidential Election, he had an agreement with Northern Governors not to contest.
Babangida had alleged that Northern PDP Governors worked against Jonathan because he failed to keep to his promises made to Northern Governors to not contest in 2015.
Reacting to the claims, in a statement on his behalf by his former Aide, Reno Omokri, Jonathan said there was no such agreement with Northern governors not to contest the 2015 Presidential election.
Babangida had said: “Since this was against the grain of our earlier agreement in the party, and which we the governors in the north felt the North would have been short-changed if Jonathan had succeeded, we rose stoutly to insist on the agreement we all had.”
One of the Northern Governors, Jonah Jang, former governor of Plateau, also faulted Babangida’s claim. He ssid he was not privy to such agreement and he was not part of the Northern PDP governors who worked against Jonathan. Incidentally, President Buhari won Plateau State in 2015, and again in 2019.
Omokri, refuting Aliyu’s assertion on behalf of Jonathan said that his former principal had no agreement whatsoever with Northern Governors not to seek a second term in 2015.
in a statement issued on Sunday Omokri challenged the former Niger governor to name those who were privy to the purported agreement.
He said Babangida was an unpleasant character, noting that the ex Governor’s false claims were aimed at reviving his soiled reputation as he was no longer relevant in the grand scheme of things.
The former president said Babangida has a different account of what transpired when he was asked to give reasons why he worked against him in Segun Adeniyi’s book titled: “Against the Run of Play: How an Incumbent President was Defeated in Nigeria.”
“Babangida Aliyu is a pathetic fellow. He has become a broken record and, sadly, he feels that is the only way to remain relevant. Let me break his claim down for you in a way that it will be so crystal clear that he is lying.
“There was no such agreement, whether written or oral. Since he says it was written, then let Mr. Babangida Aliyu produce it. If he changes his statement and says it was not written after all, but actually verbal, then I challenge him to name witnesses.
“Mr Aliyu says the agreement the Northern Governors had with former President Jonathan was for him to finish off President Yar’Adua’s first term between May 6, 2010 and May 29, 2011, and then contest for only one term between May 29, 2011 and May 29, 2015.
“If this is true, then how come former President Jonathan lost the votes of Niger State at the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Primary of January 13, 2011?
“How come, also, that former President Jonathan lost the actual Presidential election, which held on April 16, 2011 to the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, Muhammadu Buhari, in Niger State?
“General Muhammadu polled 652,574 votes to then President Jonathan’s 321,429 in Niger State in 2011. He got more than twice the number of votes secured by former President Jonathan.
“So, even if we want to say for argument’s sake that there was such an agreement, of which there was no such agreement, wouldn’t Governor Babangida Aliyu have been expected to have kept to his side of the bargain?
“The truth is that not only was there no such agreement, but Babangida Aliyu is such a perfidious character that does not even know that his current disposition contradicts his earlier statements.
“For example, in Mr. Segun Adeniyi’s book, Against the Run of Play: How an Incumbent President Was Defeated in Nigeria, published in 2017, Mr. Aliyu gave a completely different reason for working against former President Jonathan.
“According to Mr. Aliyu, the Obama administration had invited 12 governors from Northern Nigeria to sound them out on their commitment to the plot to unseat the then President of Nigeria. In that book, the former Niger State Governor said, “The Americans had resolved not to support Jonathan. They just wanted to size us up for the level of commitment to regime change.
“Mr. Aliyu revealed in that book that he was an unpatriotic individual, who held meetings with a foreign government to undermine his own home government. He basically admitted to treason. Now, how can such a fellow be taken seriously by people who believe in the unity of Nigeria?
“Witnesses at that meeting revealed that the statements made by then Governors Aliyu and Murtala Nyako were so dangerous to Nigeria’s unity that it prompted a strong rebuttal from Gombe state governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who was also present.”
The Interim Administrator of Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) has reiterated that the era of violence and arms struggle in the Niger Delta region has finally gone.
According to him, what is being experienced in the region now are new ideas in intellectual space, driven by science and technology to advance speedy development and growth of the people.
In his charge to 200 delegates of PAP, who were graduated from training facility of Bradama International Skill Works at Agadagba-Obon, Ondo State, on Saturday, Dikio noted that the success story of PAP has affirmed that with the right orientation and skill, youths from the region have risen to the technological challenge of the 21st century as better alternative to arms struggle.
The graduating 200 trainees had completed six months intensive classroom and workshop sessions in Welding/Fabricating, Abrasive Blasting, Mechanical Fittings, Industrial Painting and Scaffolding/Rigging under the 2019/2020 PAP Delegates Training Programme.
“We’re here to celebrate what is possible in the Niger Delta region and beyond by reorientation and rededication of our core values as a people towards seeking better living conditions for everyone.
“I am going to charge you (graduands) to leave here with the spirit of excellence which the CEO of Bradama, Chief Bibopere Ajube has demonstrated as a leader of ex- agitators in the region.
“As ex-agitators, you don’t need to look any further for mentorship, Chief Ajube has competed with the best in the world and continued to stand out among his peers. He is indeed, the new face of technology advancement in emancipation struggle of Niger Delta.
“This is not an ordinary graduation ceremony, and so, we owe the 6th graduates of Bradama Intl and the first under my watch, in high esteem. We hope and pray you will be the difference makers as you go into the world.
“I charge you that as you leave this place, you will meet challenges but as the saying that when the going gets tough, the tough gets going, assuring you that the sky should not be your limit but your starting point.
In his response, the MD/CEO of Bradama international Skill Works, Chief Bibopere Ajube thanked the Federal Government under the leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari for the financial and administrative support for the Amnesty Programme.
The Arogbo-Ibe high chief however urged the graduands to put the practical training and certificate obtained to seek gainful employment to better their lives and that of their family members, as a way to justify the huge investment the federal government expended on them during the course of the training programme.
“Please, don’t waste the skill you acquired at Bradama Intl. Put it to productive use and change your lives for good.
“I thank you for your cooperation and peaceful composure during your stay here in Bradama and I wish you goodluck in your future endeavours.”
Ajube however, noted that the Niger Delta region needed peace now than before to enable it compete favourably in Project Nigeria and advance its people in developmental strides through innovations, science and technology.
The answer to a simple question on the status of the case before the Supreme Court, on Friday, April 16, was more of a shock, a regret, and of disbelief.
The Supreme Court had sat to confirm who exactly was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the Senatorial by-election of December 5, 2020, for Imo North. The seat became vacant at the death of Senator Ben Uwajimogu, APC.
But the question of who exactly was the APC candidate became a problem, as there were two claimants to it – Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and Chief Frank Ibezim.
At the end of the exercise, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared APC the winner, without announcing the individual- Ibezim or Ararume – who won it.
INEC left that beat for the Court to decide.
The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Emma Okewulonu came second.
Since that December of 2020, the question of who occupies the seat has been in court. The seat has been empty. And the Senatorial Zone has been without a candidate.
Courts of different jurisdictions had given judgements on aspects of the case. In fact, even before the election, both Ararume and Ibezim had been disqualified by Courts.
But both kept appealing, which was why INEC withheld the Certificate of Return, CoR.
In the case of Okewulonu, the PDP candidate, he is asking to be declared the winner, since it seems like, legally, the APC had no candidate.
A few weeks ago, even though the Supreme Court had earlier disqualified Ararume, a Federal High Court declared him the candidate, and ordered INEC to issue him with a CoR. But an Owerri High Court gave an order, restraining INEC from doing so.
On Friday April 16, the Supreme made a definite pronouncement on who the candidate is. The Jusices sat for two days – 15th and 16th.
The case against Ibezim, for which he was disqualified, bordered on perjury. His school certificate result, it was alleged, bore different names from what he had submitted. Weeks before the Friday judgement by the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal had upheld Ibezim’s disqualification, thus raising the hope of the PDP and its candidate.
On the 15th of April, their hopes were raised even higher when the Supreme Court, in two separate judgements, threw away, for the second time, Ararume’s case, asking INEC to issue him a CoR as ordered by a Federal High Court, as well as that of Ibezim, asking to tender a School Certificate result to strengthen his case. It was a result he, allegedly, never tendered before.
The PDP saw the two developments as a good sign, a sign of victory, a sign that the Court would declare its candidate, Okewulonu, the winner. Many people outside the PDP thought so too. But the next day, hopes were dashed.
Chief Frank Ibezim
In a unanimous judgement, the Supreme Court Justices affirmed Ibezim as the APC authentic candidate for the senatorial by-election. They said the case was time-barred.
The judgement was a shock for the PDP and its supporters.
No wonder the reaction from one of its strong members when asked of the Supreme Court’s decision. “They have given it to Ibezim”, he answered.
The interpretation in some political circles is that the case has ended. That the controversy over who would represent Imo North at the Senate is over. That INEC would now give Ibezim a CoR, and that he would be sworn-in as the Senator.
Okewulonu Fights On
But Okewulonu, the PDP candidate does not think so. He said his fight for the Senate seat was alive and kicking. What their Justices decided on, he emphasised, was an internal party affair in the APC. He said it had nothing to do with his case that the “two candidates” of the APC were legally disqualified ; that at the time of the election, the APC had no candidate. That case he said, is still in Court.
In a letter to his supporters, personally signed by him, he struggled to to lift their spirit up, and keep hope alive. It was entitled;
FOR THE SAKE OF OKIGWE; MY FRANK ASSURANCE
The full text reads:
“You are, no doubt, all aware of the Supreme Court ruling affirming Sir Frank Ibezim as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 5th December, 2020, bye-election for the Imo North senatorial district.
“The ruling is the culmination of a legal battle purely between warring factions of the APC. We were not a party in that suit.
“The impression may have thus been created that the long journey we embarked upon since the early part of 2020 has come to an unceremonious end.
Nothing can be farther from the truth, however, given that the ruling is purely on a pre-election matter, in which the APC, in its usual underhand pattern, was in actuality, still shopping for a candidate for an election that had long been consigned to the archives of history.
“It is no doubt, a continuation of the recurring pattern of inconsistent and incomprehensible judicial decisions which we have all been witness to in recent times, particularly in Imo State.
“For the avoidance of doubt, however, I want to assure you that our own suit instituted at the Election Tribunal is still alive and well, and will proceed without any let or hindrance.
“I, therefore, urge our stakeholders and supporters, and indeed, the entire Imo North electorate, a.k.a. ndi Okigwe, to keep the faith, and not be disheartened or discouraged, because we are not giving up on the battle to affirm that we were the actual winners in that bye-election.
“Unfortunately, it has become glaringly obvious that there seems to be a concerted and orchestrated attempt at every turn, to deny Imo people of their mandates freely given to the candidates of their choice. Practical instances abound.
“Nevertheless, suffice it to say that we are confident that in this case, we have the truth and the support of Okigwe people on our side. Justice will therefore, eventually be done, and victory will be ours.
“Let me once again express my sincere appreciation for the unstinting solidarity and support which you all have exhibited so far, and to assure you once again that no stone will be left unturned in our quest at the tribunal to affirm and consolidate our mandate.
By God’s grace, WE SHALL PREVAIL, and Okigwe will be better.”
The case is at the Election Tribunal.
Questions, however, are: Will INEC, having declared the APC winner of the election, and having said it would wait for the Court to decide who the party’s authentic candidate is, not now give Ibezim the Certificate of Return? Does a case at an Election Tribunal stop the issuance of the CoR to the winner of an election? Will it in this instance? Having been disqualified by two competent Courts, will INEC proceed to give Ibezim the ticket?
The answer to a simple question on the status of the case before the Supreme Court, on Friday, April 16, was more of a shock, a regret, and of disbelief.
The Supreme Court had sat to confirm who exactly was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the Senatorial by-election of December 5, 2020, for Imo North. The seat became vacant at the death of Senator Ben Uwajimogu, APC.
But the question of who exactly was the APC candidate became a problem, as there were two claimants to it – Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and Chief Frank Ibezim.
At the end of the exercise, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared APC the winner, without announcing the individual- Ibezim or Ararume – who won it.
INEC left that beat for the Court to decide.
The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Emma Okewulonu came second.
Since that December of 2020, the question of who occupies the seat has been in court. The seat has been empty. And the Senatorial Zone has been without a candidate.
Courts of different jurisdictions had given judgements on aspects of the case. In fact, even before the election, both Ararume and Ibezim had been disqualified by Courts.
But both kept appealing, which was why INEC withheld the Certificate of Return, CoR.
In the case of Okewulonu, the PDP candidate, he is asking to be declared the winner, since it seems like, legally, the APC had no candidate.
A few weeks ago, even though the Supreme Court had earlier disqualified Ararume, a Federal High Court declared him the candidate, and ordered INEC to issue him with a CoR. But an Owerri High Court gave an order, restraining INEC from doing so.
On Friday April 16, the Supreme made a definite pronouncement on who the candidate is. The Jusices sat for two days – 15th and 16th.
The case against Ibezim, for which he was disqualified, bordered on perjury. His school certificate result, it was alleged, bore different names from what he had submitted. Weeks before the Friday judgement by the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal had upheld Ibezim’s disqualification, thus raising the hope of the PDP and its candidate.
On the 15th of April, their hopes were raised even higher when the Supreme Court, in two separate judgements, threw away, for the second time, Ararume’s case, asking INEC to issue him a CoR as ordered by a Federal High Court, as well as that of Ibezim, asking to tender a School Certificate result to strengthen his case. It was a result he, allegedly, never tendered before.
The PDP saw the two developments as a good sign, a sign of victory, a sign that the Court would declare its candidate, Okewulonu, the winner. Many people outside the PDP thought so too. But the next day, hopes were dashed.
In a unanimous judgement, the Supreme Court Justices affirmed Ibezim as the APC authentic candidate for the senatorial by-election. They said the case was time-barred.
The judgement was a shock for the PDP and its supporters.
No wonder the reaction from one of its strong members when asked of the Supreme Court’s decision. “They have given it to Ibezim”, he answered.
The interpretation in some political circles is that the case has ended. That the controversy over who would represent Imo North at the Senate is over. That INEC would now give Ibezim a CoR, and that he would be sworn-in as the Senator.
Okewulonu Fights On
But Okewulonu, the PDP candidate does not think so. He said his fight for the Senate seat was alive and kicking. What their Justices decided on, he emphasised, was an internal party affair in the APC. He said it had nothing to do with his case that the “two candidates” of the APC were legally disqualified ; that at the time of the election, the APC had no candidate. That case he said, is still in Court.
Chief Emma Okewulonu, PDP Candidate.
In a letter to his supporters, personally signed by him, he struggled to to lift their spirit up, and keep hope alive. It was entitled;
FOR THE SAKE OF OKIGWE; MY FRANK ASSURANCE
The full text reads:
“You are, no doubt, all aware of the Supreme Court ruling affirming Sir Frank Ibezim as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 5th December, 2020, bye-election for the Imo North senatorial district.
“The ruling is the culmination of a legal battle purely between warring factions of the APC. We were not a party in that suit.
“The impression may have thus been created that the long journey we embarked upon since the early part of 2020 has come to an unceremonious end.
Nothing can be farther from the truth, however, given that the ruling is purely on a pre-election matter, in which the APC, in its usual underhand pattern, was in actuality, still shopping for a candidate for an election that had long been consigned to the archives of history.
“It is no doubt, a continuation of the recurring pattern of inconsistent and incomprehensible judicial decisions which we have all been witness to in recent times, particularly in Imo State.
“For the avoidance of doubt, however, I want to assure you that our own suit instituted at the Election Tribunal is still alive and well, and will proceed without any let or hindrance.
“I, therefore, urge our stakeholders and supporters, and indeed, the entire Imo North electorate, a.k.a. ndi Okigwe, to keep the faith, and not be disheartened or discouraged, because we are not giving up on the battle to affirm that we were the actual winners in that bye-election.
“Unfortunately, it has become glaringly obvious that there seems to be a concerted and orchestrated attempt at every turn, to deny Imo people of their mandates freely given to the candidates of their choice. Practical instances abound.
“Nevertheless, suffice it to say that we are confident that in this case, we have the truth and the support of Okigwe people on our side. Justice will therefore, eventually be done, and victory will be ours.
“Let me once again express my sincere appreciation for the unstinting solidarity and support which you all have exhibited so far, and to assure you once again that no stone will be left unturned in our quest at the tribunal to affirm and consolidate our mandate.
By God’s grace, WE SHALL PREVAIL, and Okigwe will be better.”
The case is at the Election Tribunal.
Questions, however, are: Will INEC, having declared the APC winner of the election, and having said it would wait for the Court to decide who the party’s authentic candidate is, not now give Ibezim the Certificate of Return? Does a case at an Election Tribunal stop the issuance of the CoR to the winner of an election? Will it in this instance? Having been disqualified by two competent Courts, will INEC proceed to give Ibezim the ticket?
