How Buhari Paralysed Seme Border

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October 25, 2018

By Stephen Ubanna

For two consecutive working days, Monday, October 22 and Tuesday, October 23, 2018,Economic and social activities at Seme, a border town ,between Nigeria and Republic of Benin was paralysed with the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari and President Patrice Talon to perform the official handing over ceremony of the multi-million dollar Seme-Krake Joint Border Post, JBP, which had been abandoned for months after completion by the multi-national Contracting firm.

The JBP was said to have been built by the European Union Commission, EUC, under Special arrangement with the Economic of West African States, ECOWAS, and the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa. The project which started in 2011, was supposed to have been completed in 2012 but dragged to 2018, because of Financial Constraints. About N37 million euro was said to have been committed to the projects.

Plans for the official handing over Ceremony of the JBP, was said to have started last September but was heightened early October 2018, with the Border In Transition, BRIT, Conference, organised by the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies, IPSS, University of Ibadan and Universite’ d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou.

The five days Conference which started in Nigeria on Monday, October 15, 2018, was said to have ended on Friday, October 19, 2018, in Republic of Benin. The Conference may have exposed the Customs officials to the different fiscal policies of the two countries and how to complement each other and prepare , for the challenges ahead: one shop clearing process at the Border.

The official handing over of the JBP to the two west African countries may have became necessary to forestall the frequent conflict between the Customs Administration of the countries over implementation of their respective fiscal polici.es. Take for instance in Nigeria, the importation of foreign parboiled rice, poultry products, vehicles and second hand clothing are banned from coming into the country through the land border. But the government of the Republic of Benin fiscal policy allows these items to be imported into the country which find their way into the country through unapproved routes. There was a an incident in which a former Customs Comptroller at Seme Command was said to have to have pleaded with his Beninoa counterpart to hand over a suspected ship allegedly loaded with foreign parboiled which had berthed at Cotonou port to discharge the items to the Nigerian Customs Authorities after collecting their duties. The appeal was said to have been turned down. The Beninoa Customs Authorities may have feared that handing over the Ship to the Nigeria Customs would scare other foreign Shipping Companies with cargo to discharge at the Cotonou port from sailing to the port to do so and the implication would be loss of revenue to the government.

Security Operatives Matching To The New Seme-Krake JBP

Aware of the fiscal policies of the two West African countries by their respective Customs Administration officials , the stage was set for the official handing over of the JBP at Seme-Krake to the the two governments.

As a prelude to President Muammadu Buhari and who incidentally is the current Chairman and his counterpart from the Republic of Benin, Patrick Talon, to perform the official handing over of the new ECOWAS Joint Border post on Tuesday, October 23, 2018, the Department of State Security , DSS, operatives, Soldiers, policemen and other security operatives took over the Seme Border Community and its environs. The illegal police checkpoints along the Lagos-Seme road were said to have disappeared overnight. Also, the unapproved Customs Checkpoints along the road fuse into Baji and Agbara, which are approved by the government.

Vehicular movements to the border town was equally restricted by the security operatives. The worse hit were the importers with their agents who could not take delivery of their trucks laden good as the border was temporarily closed to host the two Presidents by the Border officials. The trailer park was empty as the border market was closed to traders. The hawkers and street traders were nowhere to be found. The motor cycle, popular, Okada and tricycle riders were said to have disappeared from the road.

Bello Samuel, a resident of the Seme Border Community informed the Magazine that as early as 8 am, on Teusday, October 23, 2018, plain cloth security operatives, fierce looking soldiers and policemen armed to the teeth were everywhere at the border to maintain law and order.

Muhammed Uba Garba, the Area Comptroller Seme Command, who was said to have been with Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel and the Customs Comptroller General and his officers were said to have put the Command under lock and key to be at the JBP to welcome the President. The Beninoa Customs personnel, were also temporarily on forced holiday as they could not attend to Customs to give a rousing welcome to the two Presidents, Buhari and talon.

importers and agents who had been out of job since January 1, 2017, because of the ban on the importation of foreign parboiled rice and vehicles through the land borders had trooped out in their hundreds to the land border area to catch a glimpse of the president. They saw the President’s coming to the JBP as an opportunity to express their feelings to the government about the bad state of the Lagos -Seme road . They were, however, disappointed as security operatives barred them from getting to the JBP site at Seme- Krake. Indeed, they never had any opportunity of displaying their Banner to the public.

Many had expected Buhari to take advantage of the opportunity of coming to the Border town to performing the official handing over Ceremony of the Seme- Krake, JBP, to the governments of Nigeria and Republic of Benin to make a policy statement by re-opening the land border for vehicles and foreign rice to come into the country.

Importers and agents including security personnel who spoke to the Magazine said they were disappointed that throughout his speech, he never made any reference to the border closures, an indication that there is no hope in sight over the reopening of the land borders.

The Seme- Krake Joint Border is the busiest boundary lines ,in the West Africa, sub-region, and Africa in general,. which records daily huge movement of goods and services. That much was confirmed by Buhari. It is one of the multi-million dollar projects envisaged by the EU for the ECOWAS sub-region.

The Noepe, project, which is between Ghana and Togo, was also said to have a been completed and would be handed over to the governments of Ghana and Togo on Friday, October 26, 2018. The third Joint Border post which is expected to be constructed along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor by the EUC, is at Melanville, which is between Republic of Benin and Niger.

Buhari, who could not hide his feelings at Seme-Krake JBP site, noted that Nigeria and other countries in the West Africa sub-region, are” suffering from adequate transport infrastructure and sufficient services”, described by analysts as the ”major bottlenecks to the attainment of socio-economic development and integration in the region”.

Perhaps , to ensure a proper Coordination and management of the JBP, facility, Buhari confirmed that a joint Committee, with members drawn from Nigeria and Republic of Benin has been established. Appealing to the Committee, to note the complex task ahead of them, the he said , the ”Committee must ensure that border officials are sensitised on the mode of operation of the JBP concept which is a departure from traditional method of operation”.

There are fears in both officials and unofficial quarters that power struggle among the border officials from Nigeria and Republic of Benin may lead to the neglect and collapse of the JBP building. It would be recalled that Nigeria and Republic of Benin in the past had owned a joint office Complex at the border, baptised ECOWAS building, which Republic of Benin government claimed belonged to the country, forcing the Nigeria g border officials to protest repeatedly to the ECOWAS leadership.

Ironically, the illegal Customs and police check points, which disappeared from the Lagos Seme road because of the rumour that Ali, the Customs Comptroller General and Idris Ibrahim, Inspector General of Police, IGP, were in the President’s entourage came back fully on the road to do what they know best: extortion of traders and motorists. For the Customs officers, they will be happy to see passenger vehicles carry rice, at least a bag to collect their N1,000.00 which is not negotiable. The police checkpoints collect between N100.00 and N200.00, irrespective of what the vehicle is carrying. This is where Imohimi Edgal, Commissioner of Police, Lagos state, may have to keep a close watch , on his officers along the Lagos-Seme road to stop the mess.

Lagos Assembly Hounds Ambode Over Fears of Anti Party Activities

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Uche Mbah

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October 24, 2018

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Despite efforts of Governor Akinwumi Ambode to assuage the fears that he may work against the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, due to the fact that his second term has been truncate, the Lagos Assembly have suddenly beamed their satellite on all his activities, to the extent of forming a parallel governorship. This has raised the specter of impeachment an octave higher, fueling speculations that he will be impeached before the end of the year. The rumor has become so strong that the Speaker of the Lagos House, Mudashiru Obassa, was forced to comment on the issue during plenary.

“We are not embarking on any impeachment process against the governor now. If there would be an impeachment, it would be from the governor and if there would not be any need for impeachment, it would be from him, based on his actions,” he said. “Even at that, impeachment is constitutional, so many speakers, senate presidents, presidents and others have been impeached all over the world. So, nobody can threaten us if it happens because we are representatives of the people. We don’t need the wailers to guide us in performing our duties. It is not out of place for us to do our job.”

Interpretation: The impeachment card is still on the table.

In a build up to the situation,one of the major bones of contention, which was the restriction of the Private Sector Participation refuse disposal firm, PSP, a firm that the Lagos APC godfather, Asiwaju Tinubu, has stakes in, has been ordered by the Lagos house to resume total duties, thereby sidelining Vissionscape, the brainchild of the governor. Obasa premised the order on the fact that they were not consulted by the governor before he engaged the firm. They summoned the commissioner for environment while giving directives to the local authorities to work with PSP.

The current parallel government being run by the House is not unexpected.Since Ambode lost the battle of second term, he has been uncharacteristically silent. Apart from the act that work has resumed in earnest in connection with the numerous road construction projects, his public visibility has decreased. The Man they call the Emperor of Alausa suddenly lost his sneer. Sources ndicate that even though he has publicly declared hat his project will be continued by the new APC candidate, Sanwo olu, he appears to have kept a cold distance from him. Fears of his tacit approval of the Peoples Democratic Party Candidate, Jimi Agbaje, is sparking a frenzy, and it is believed that his overzealous restatement of his loyalty may be a ruse.”They may finally impeach him”, a source that should be in the know told the magazine,’But this time, he may fight back. It all depends on his personal relationship with the state Attorney General, on whose desk the impeachment order will land.”

Indications are also that the Ambode saga is also part of the current war raging in APC, with the demystification of Tinubu as target..Tinubu is believed in certain quarters to have undue control over the finances of Lagos, and is said to have substantial interests in PSP. He is the grand master of Lagos politics, who the Federal Cabal allegedly tried to build alternative structures for Babatunde Fashola, a former governor and currently heading Power and Works Ministries, and Kayode Fayemi.Fashola .There appears to be a tacit hangup for his demystification.

Minimum Wage: November 6 Doomsday Nears

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Oji Odu

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October 24, 2018

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By Oji Odu

It is 11 days to November 6, 2018 doomsday. The battle line drawn with no retreat, no surrender stance by organised labour to shut down the nation unless Federal Government rescinds its decision not to pay the Nigerian worker a minimum wage of above N25,000 and agree to pay the N30,000 allegedly agreed with labour. Nigerians are in for harsher times and suffering.

Indeed, November 6, 2018 will surely come and pass, but will that day be the doomsday that will mark the beginning of another round of suffering for the Nigerian people? Will the Federal Government, as usual, reach a compromise before then or not? Does organised labour have the capacity to shut down the nation, and will it go ahead with its threat? How has government taken its threat?

Following the inability of the Federal Government and organised labour to arrive at meeting point over new minimum wage, the later has announced that an indefinite nationwide strike will commence November 6, beginning with protest march on November 30.

This was contained in a statement on Sunday by President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, and that of the United Labour Congress (ULC).

The labour unions are saddened over government’s claim that no amount was agreed with them at a meeting of a tripartite committee as well as the FG’s stance that it could only increase the minimum wage from the current N18,000 to N24,000. According to the labour unions, N30,000 was agreed during negotiation and any amount below the figure would not be accepted.

“…..Thus far, the path to a new national minimum wage has been expectedly littered with betrayal, resistance, half-truths and now almost outright sabotage. That is why it has become urgent that Nigerians are informed of the insistence of the federal government to deliberately create confusion and make the negotiations for a new national minimum wage inconclusive as usual.

“It is not true that we proposed N30,000 as the new national minimum wage. It is also not true that the committee did not agree on a figure during its last sitting. We accepted N30,000 as a compromise to demonstrate the willingness of Nigerian workers to make sacrifices towards nation building.

“Anything to the contrary no matter the quantum and character of the din or how well couched it may appear cannot be true. Resorting to Goebbelsianism at this time of national emergency which requires men and women of integrity is rather unfortunate and cannot suddenly make the brazen falsehoods truths.

“We believe that it has become necessary for the Organised Private Sector (OPS) as represented in the Tripartite Committee to speak up on this matter. Keeping silent in the face of this apparent mischief does our nation no good. It can only help mischief, dishonesty and impunity to grow. At this time the OPS does not have any other choice but to rise to the occasion by telling Nigerians what transpired in the meeting.

“They should tell Nigerians whether: there was a motion that was seconded on a final figure; whether there was a document signaling this agreement that had already been signed by some parties?; whether the N30,000 figure was ours or a compromise figure based on proposed scenarios?

“As far as Nigerian workers are concerned and as represented by us, we shall no longer negotiate on a figure for the new minimum wage having reached an agreement on this during the last sitting of the tripartite committee. We cannot continue discussing a figure that has already been agreed procedurally within the committee.

“What we are waiting for is for the federal Government to immediately set in motion the necessary machinery for turning the agreement into a Bill for onward submission to the NASS where we expect the Presidency to work together with the Legislators to make it a law so that it can be implemented quickly…..,” the statement partly read.

Meanwhile the Federal Government seems unperturbed by organised labour’s threat. According to the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, the Organised Labour cannot fix a figure to be paid for Federal Government.

The Minister said this while calling on them to accept the new minimum wage proposal, considering the capacity and ability of the government and the private sector to pay. This call was when the new Director-General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, Timothy Olawale, paid him a courtesy visit in his office last Friday at Abuja.

Ngige pointed out to Olawake that it was imperative for organised labour to accept the proposed figure instead of the N30, 000 in line with social dialogue and the overall interest of the nation.

“We need to arrive at a figure, which the employers can afford to pay as an employee cannot fix a figure for the employer. Rather, it must be based on collective bargaining and mutual agreement by the tripartite partners.

“It is not a function of moving motions or voting at the National Tripartite Negotiation Committee to insist that the figure must be as the organised labour appears to make it look. There is, therefore, absolutely no need to heat up the polity,” he said.

In his reaction to the face-off between organised labour and the federal government over new minimum wage, Itah Peters, a Sociologist expressed sadness over what he described as untrustworthiness of government on sensitive national issues.

“ There are many instances that one can show how untruthful and unreliable our leaders are. What labour is fighting for is right and people should not play politics with it at the detriment of the lives of Nigerians.

At N30,000 and at an average of 30 day monthly, it means that the Nigerian worker will have a paltry one thousand naira to survive-pay house rent, electricity bill of not less than seven thousand naira every month due to the crazy billing, pay school fees, feed his family of about five, cater for his extended family, pay neighbourhood security fee of N500 monthly, transport himself to and fro work daily et cetera.

However, at governments N25,000 monthly minimum wage, the same worker has about N834 daily to try and settle these costs. I agree with Peter Adetunde, a Civil Servant, that this minimum wage is the same as maximum trouble. Whether N18,000, N25,000, N30,000 or N40,000, it is still serious living in hell for the Nigerian worker based on the strangling economic situation. The truth still remains that the Nigerian workers worst day is his pay day when he is paid any of the minimum wage.”

Tokunbo Eniola, a student, expressed much anger in a chat with the Magazine on the issue. “ Imagine how government is so insensitive that rather than proactively find a solution to this problem, it is tell us how it has lifted about N10million Nigerians out of poverty level. What was the magic?

“According to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, the government had provided 8.96million school children under the home grown School Feeding Programme; over 297,000 poor and vulnerable Nigerians supported with cash transfer of N5,000; successfully disbursed more than 308,000 loans of N50,000 under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and 200,000 young unemployed graduates empowered through the N-Power scheme , while over 308,000 had been selected for consideration for the second batch,” he said.

Eniola regretted that rather than being proactive and productive, is trying to deceive Nigerians with their sweet tonguing of enjoyment in hopelessness. “To me, the minimum wage still remains ‘Maximum Hell’ to the Nigerian worker because, he must have to deep his hands in different other things to survive, otherwise he remains a walking corpse,” he added.

As the D-day draws nearer, the Magazine’s findings reveal that many seem not to be disturbed into panic buying and stocking their homes to cushion the effects of the strike. “ Wait until the strike begins and the oil and gas sector join,” Eniola said.

Access Bank: Cost Benefits of Lagos Marathon

By

Bayo Bernard

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October 24, 2018

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By Bayo Bernard

Strong and reliable Deposit Money bank, Access Bank Plc. has made immense contributions to the nation’s economy over the years, but one major area of priority to the bank currently is Nigeria’s burgeoning tourism sector.

Therefore, when Governor Akinwumi Ambode of Lagos state announced the commencement of preparations for the fourth edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, the joy of many athletes within and outside the country knew no bounds, because for them time has come to smile to the banks again.

The annual marathon is sponsored by Access Bank and is billed to take place in February 2019.

“I want to assure the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, the staff and everybody charged with the responsibility of organizing the 2017 Access Bank/Lagos City Marathon that we will provide all the support they need.

World-class facilities will be available, there will be improved security and we shall deploy personnel of all Lagos agencies needed to ensure that the Chairman and his team succeed,” Ambode said

The managing director of Access Bank, Hebert Wigwe, on his part has assured that Access Bank would continue to give full support to the event, the 2019 edition will take the event a notch higher so as to receive an IAAF Silver Label for the marathon, he said.

At least, no fewer than 150,000 athletes are expected to take part in the yearly event, the organizers said.

Access Bank has committed huge funds to the tournament in the last four years.

Various sums will be won in different categories for the 2019 tournament, including the $190,000 for the general category and close to N10m fom Nigerian men and women who will participate, aside the grand prize of a Kia Rio car.

But the magazine learned that the economic benefits of the marathon to indirect beneficiaries could even be more. In fact the marathon dependants are already in full anticipation, it also learnt.

The Lagos state helmsman has promised that the 2019 edition will be top notch of all marathons in Africa, as plans are afoot to elevate the tournament to silver from the current bronze label.

But the level of preparations among non-runners has somehow brought the event even closer, notwithstanding the fact that the tournament is still four months away.

For instance, hotel owners who provide accommodation for foreign athletes have notched up preparations in anticipation of the event.

According to investigations by the magazine, many hotels on Lagos Island and Ikeja axis of the state have started embarking on necessary renovations ahead of the event.

Those mostly concerned are the middle line hotels which attract more patronage from athletes before, during and after the tournament.

The Five star hotels are not also left out, because of tourists who will prefer a list service, the magazine has also learned.

Investigations indicate that most athletes that arrive early for the event are first timers who may want to have a feel of the state before the event proper. Past participants mostly arrive few days to the event, the magazine was told.

The two categories of marathoners will need hotel accommodation for the duration of the competition, and may be after analysts in the hospitality business informed the magazine this week.

Some hotel managers told the magazine that the yearly event is a plus for their business, due to the patronage they enjoy from tourists.

The number of foreign athletes is still very small compared to local participants for the long distance race, but close watchers of the Access Bank Lagos Marathon told the magazine that the number is improving year on.

One manager who simply identified himself as Maxwell told the magazine that more than 10 foreign athletes had in the past lodged in his hotel. The hotel is in Ikeja. “They are mostly athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia, may be one white athlete from South Africa have used my hotel before” he said.

He said some of them stayed four to five days in the hotel after the tournament.

Some tourist guides told the magazine that they can’t wait for the marathon to commence. They said they enjoy cash flow during the period of the event. Apart from their usual charges, some of them said the fun is more when you are lucky to have an encounter with a generous ‘tourist’.

According to Taye who claimed to be a guide, he normally abandons his Okada for two to three days during the marathon” so as to make cool cash.” He said” there was a man from Brazil who once dashed me $100 after paying me for my service. He told me he enjoyed the trip and that he was adding the extra because I was very funny,” Taye told the magazine.

Apart from the hoteliers and guides, sellers of artifacts and local fabrics will also not be left out, according to checks made by the magazine.

In all, Access is the greatest beneficiary as a major promoter of the nation’s tourism business, analysts said.

Nigerian Army Takes Battle to Cyber Space

By

Oji Odu

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October 24, 2018

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By Emmanuel Solomon

The Nigerian Army has commissioned a cyber warfare centre to fight all kinds of cyber criminality on its cyber space.

According to Lt General Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, the centre became necessary in order to protect its data base and important information as well as curbing online radicalisation and other terrorist activities taking place on the internet.

The Operation centre which is located at the Army Headquarters, Abuja, would fight fake news targeted at the Army with counter narratives and cyber operations, Buratai noted. The Army boss added that the establishment of the centre was in line with his vision to have a professional and responsive Nigerian Army in discharging its constitutional duties.

He tasked operators of the centre to equip themselves with digital forensic capabilities to enable them handle cases of identity theft and generate immediate incidence response.

“I hereby urge the staff of the command to perform their task with optimum dedication to ensure that our vision for the command and the Nigerian Army at large is attained, he said’’.

The cyber space which has become the fifth domain of warfare after land, sea, air and space has caused individuals, organisations, countries and financial institutions huge loses and deep pains by easily exploiting their fortunes through malicious and manipulated intent or fake news.

Nigeria banks amidst other big organisations have been the worst victims of cyber attacks. The banks have in the last five years lost billions of dollars through cyber nefarious activities.

The world has become a small village with the invention of the internet. It has created a new public space and community which is no longer linked with place or time, and has become a place where information has no boundaries any longer.

The increasing wave of cyber crimes in Nigeria has become a thing of worry because her cyber space is not immune to several threats and attacks taking place on the internet.

Presently it is estimated that about 60 per cent of Nigerian organisations suffer cyber attacks daily. Unfortunately, there is no strata of the society that is not involved in this hydra-headed global problem, unfortunately, including some security agents as alleged. With over 300 countries connected to the internet, cyber crimes have become a global headache for individuals, organisations, financial institutions et cetera.

Earlier this year, cyber security organisations such as Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN), SECUREX West Africa and other stakeholders gathered in Lagos to brain storm on the way forward for the Nigerian cyber domain because of the increasing attacks by cyber criminals. Stakeholders at the conference established that there was need for the government to invest in information technology and pay more attention in cyber security, because this is an era where technology has become a life-line to everything. They maintained that there is need to have data protection law and upgrade the existing 2015 cyber crime laws, which has so many loopholes with no strong hold on offenders. The laws have also been outdated.

Recently the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBNs) convened a cyber security conference in Abuja to Marshal new ways to deals with cyber crime menace. The apex bank renewed its move by launching a counter attack in the Nigeria’s banking space by partnering with some international financial organisations including JP Morgan Chase, South Africa Reserve and United States Federal Reserve to curb these cyber monsters.

According to a 2016 CBN reports on internet electronic frauds, deposit money banks in Nigeria lost about N2.19 billion to fraudsters through electronic channels.

APC: The Fall of The House Of Adams?

By

Uche Mbah

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October 23, 2018

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By Uche Mbah
Embattled All Progressives Congress, APC Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has been strategising on how to stem the slide of his political party into oblivion. With crisis hanging on the party like an albatross, from Abeokuta to Portharcourt, Gusau to Kaduna, Adams Oshiomhole is struggling to hold together the crumbling House of Asher that has become a parable of Humpty Dumpty. As the leader of the king’s horses and men, to put the party together again is a task he has been mandated to do by the presidency. Inundated by a deluge of complaints from party leaders-state governors, serving senators and some aggrieved aspirants- President Mohammadu Buhari has allegedly given a marching order to the former union leader to “clear the mess” within one week. The repercussion of not doing that is left hanging in the air.
The APC crisis is actually a disaster foretold. It is the culmination of internal wrangling and revolt against impunity, nepotism and reign of fraud-a common denominator in all political parties. But the fact that the party was taken over by what an angry opposition party member described as a pint sized man with a giant ego has fueled the whole crises. John Oyegun, the former Chairman, was more of a diplomat under whose watch the party saw the highest level of cohesion, although it lost much political ground to the rival Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, mostly due to the ramrod stance of the president, who has the penchant for over protection of protégées even if they are found breaking into the vault of the Central Bank, as a PDP chieftain aveered last week. And this dovetailed into the Tinubu factor, which has woven itself into the life wire of the party.
The loss of juicy positions which would have positioned him in vantage position in power sharing negotiations had left Tinubu angry and embittered, but at the same time calculative of the next move. His open coldness towards the former chairman forced him to work assiduously for the election of Adams Oshiomhole as the party chairman in the belief that he will be more amenable to control than Oyegun. Fearing that he will lose, the choosing of Oshiomhole had to be by voice vote, a situation that did not go down well with some governors. Subsequent actions of the new Chairman was to confirm their fears, since he appears to promise more than he can do and then break all rules trying to vindicate himself. A case in hand was the promise he allegedly made to President Buhari before his last trip to the United Kingdom, that within ten days the Senate president Bukola Saraki will be impeached. The President was said to have given him a blank cheque to perfect and execute the plan, leaving all security apparatus at his disposal. In an effort to outdo himself, he got the overzealous Director of State Security, Lawan Daura, sacked in controversial circumstances. Today, Saraki is sitting comfortably in his seat while his is fighting an epic battle of survival.
Most of his travails comes from APC primaries. Allegations of candidate impositions, Parallel Primaries and outright scheming out of candidates were said to be the order of the day under his watch. This magazine was told that the APC secretariat lost relevance to his private residence as the operational headquarters of the party.Many party loyalists became aggrieved such that by far the majority of political cases in courts are APC taking APC to court.Aisha Al Hassan, a former minister under the party, had to resign her ministerial position and party membership and went ahead to strip the party secretariat of all personal belongings, including wall clocks and carpets.Shehu Sanni was dribbled up and down until, tiring of him, he was left in the lurch to resign. Governor Amosun has been fighting a battle for the soul of his own gubernatorial nominee, accusing Adams Oshiomhole of conniving with Tinubu to cook up primary results.
For Tinubu himself, it appeared that the Osun result has emboldened him. In connivance with Adams Oshiomhole, he was said to have abandoned the Lagos Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, mid sail.
The desperate fight of Adams Oshiomhole with state actors has resulted in no candidate being fielded in Zamfara state for governorship and other positions by APC. Although Adams Oshiomhole is trying to use Bragadaccio to arm-twist the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, into accepting late entries, the INEC Chairman is mindful of the legal provisions on the issue. All these has culminated in the serious demand by stakeholders, particularly governors, that he be removed. The battle line has been drawn.
Signatures are being allegedly collected to drive home their point.It reached a point where , according to sources, he threatened that if they want him to go, they should return monies allegedly used to prosecute the single candidacy of the President.
The pressure became so much that he released a press statement indicating that the pressures to remove him is because he is too stubborn to allow business as usual. Unfortunately, many think that he was impunity embodied. He admitted direct primaries in some places and not in others. In fact, in his own state, he was said to have influenced automatic tickets for his preferred candidates.
For some inexplicable reason, immediately the press release was sent out, his media team were busy chasing a recall of the release. Later, while talking to the press, he decided to downplay the issue, insisting that it is only one or two governors that are against him.
The whole saga was compounded by the unexpected emergence of Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate of the PDP. Atiku has been having a personal working relationship with Bola Tinubu, who, according to former president Obasanjo, the exact position he is holding in that party is not clear-an indication that he is a king without a direct kingdom.Tinubu was instrumental to Atiku not clinching the APC ticket in 2014.+But since then, they worked together with Atiku providing the Private jet for Buhari campaign despite his personal differences with Buhari, who was said to have been after Atiku when he was comptroller of Customs.
This magazine learnt that Tinubu, who is not known to be a blind gambler, may have silently pitched his tent with Atiku, a position he is not meant to acknowledge prematurely. Indications that there may have been a scheduled meeting in the Accra capital of Ghana between the two to fine tune areas of collaboration. This was premised on the fact that Afenifere, the Pan Yoruba group, has been routing for Atiku because of his position on restructuring. Even his altercating ego, Obasanjo, has joined the Atikulated bandwagon. If he continued to hold on to his position, he will be rowing against the mainstream Yoruba race.He did it before and found out the hard way how uncomfortable he was. Hence his desperate efforts to hold unto his influence by any means possible. He will win back his people after the hurly burly is done, and the battle is lost and won.
To soften the grounds, Bisi Akande, his close ally, was dispatched to the United States to deliver a lecture on restructuring to APC faithfuls. Sources indicate that all Akande said in that conference are Tinubu’s position.
If all these are true, then the House of Usher is in danger of falling.Already more defections to the opposition party are being witnessed. Recently, so many people decamped to the PDP in Kano, including an aspiring Senator.And the land mark judgment in Portharcourt by the Supreme Court on Rivers APC seems to have struck a raw nerve. Even at that, the party appear to be in mortal dread of what the result of Osun and Ekiti Election tribunal will bring to them. Will the number of APC states still be more depleted? Time shall tell.

More Than A Score Shipping Companies Exit Nigerian Shores

By

Uche Mbah

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October 22, 2018

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By Uche Mbah

Maersk Supply Service is a part of Danish shipping and offshore energy conglomerate Maersk Group. In recent times, this supply arm is making moves to reduce their Offshore Supply Ship Vessel (OSV) fleet by 20 within two years as well as its crew pool by 400 offshore points. This is symptomatic of the crisis that has befell the business world due to the repressive policies and unfavorable business environment that has become the hallmark of the present Administrations. Already, dockworkers are being laid off, reeling under $7 billion joint venture cash calls that went awry. At the last count, over 20 shipping firms that are affected have exited the Nigerian shores. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Maersk Supply Service, Jorn Madsen, “We are facing unprecedented market conditions, and regrettably we have to further adjust our crew pool. It is an unfortunate, but necessary step to safeguard the future of our company”.

According t Dockworkers Union of Nigeria (DUN),over 3,000 workers lost their jobs in various shipping, terminal operators and logistic companies due to the inability of the Federal Government to fulfill their own part of Joint Venture cash calls. Most Multi National Oil companies like shell have such subsisting contracts. Heres a roll call: Mitsui O.S.K Line, Nippon Yusen Kasha, Taiwan’s Evergreen Line, Messina Line, Hapag-Lloyd and Gold Star Line (GSL), and a host of others besides.

Stakeholders have knocked the import policies of the Nigerian government, and calls for review of such policies before more damages will be done to the country. Intels and other logistic companies are considering downsizing, and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) are making moves to sack a section of dockworkers, tally clerks and onboard security men.Duty regimes has reduced the importation of cars to an all time low. “In the last two years the number of vehicles in Nigeria has shrunk by almost two-thirds, while the volume of cars smuggled through Cotonou continued unabated,” said the President, Dockworkers Union of Nigeria (DUN), Anthony Emmanuel Nted.

HSF: Ali Laughs Last, As Mohammed Honors Riks’ and Two Other Patrol teams

By

Steve Ubana

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October 22, 2018

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By Stephen Ubanna

Hameed Ali, a retired Colonel and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, is a happy man. Ali’s source of happiness, according to a senior Customs officer, who spoke to the Magazine, was the impressive performance of the Headquarters Strike Force in its anti-smuggling operations in the country.

There was the initial pressure on the Comptroller from both official and unofficial quarters that there was no basis for the Strike Force, because of the existence of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, in the south west, south east, north west and north central geo-political regions of the country.

The Customs boss was said to have stood his ground over the establishment of the Strike Force, which mandate, was similar to the FOU. He was said to have been advised by those opposed to the Strike Force, to dissolve it after six months to avoid the officers seeing it as another Department in Customs that had come to stay as part of the ongoing restructuring of the Service, as mandated by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The performance of the Strike Force officers ever since May 2017, in each of the Customs Zones across the country speaks volume: making spectacular seizures of foreign parboiled rice and exotic vehicles. It is not surprising why Ali could heave a sigh of relief that he had not made a mistake in setting up the team to compliment the anti-smuggling efforts of the FOU, officers, across the country.

Investigation by the Magazine shows that smugglers who may have escaped the eagle eye of the FOU, patrol teams on anti-smuggling operations and those at the seaports, airport or land border stations , were said to have fallen into the waiting hands of the HSF officers who lay ambush at strategic locations .

Prior to the establishment of the Strike Force , Last May, the smuggling of Contrabands, particular , foreign parboiled rice, processed vegetable oil, second hand clothing including exotic vehicles through unapproved routes into the country was a common sight .

The smuggling situation was said to be worse in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo Aadamawa ,Yobe, Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara, forcing Buhari to mount pressure on Ali, the Comptroller General and his men to do something urgent about it to stop the smuggling in all its ramifications.

David Paradang, a former Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, had said that there are 84 approved Border routes and about 1,400 illegal routes used by smugglers and cross border immigrants to find their way into in the country. Paradang confirmed that 80 of the illegal routes are located in Adamawa , north east and 83 in Ogun state, south west Nigeria, alone.

At present Ali and Mohammed Babanded, the Current Comptroller General, NIS, are working closely together to manage the nation’s border routes . The Customs Comptroller General, particular, was said to have given a matching order to the FOU, Strike Force and Land border Comptrollers and their officers to tighten up security at the land border posts to forestall smuggling of dangerous weapons into the country by cross -border immigrants as the country prepares for the 2019 general elections. The just concluded International Conference, on Border Regions In transition, BRIT, in Nigeria and republic of Benin, may have exposed the Customs officials on new approaches to Border Management. They may have realised that it is not good for the country to throw its borders open to foreigners in the guise of being neighbhours from the same sub-region.

Indeed, this is exactly what the country had done in the past to immigrants from Republic of Benin, Niger, Chad and Republic of Cameroum , fueling the increased cases of smuggling of Contrabands and exotic vehicles into the country .

The smuggling situation in Adamawa and Ogun states appear to be very worrisome , forcing the FOU and the HSF officers in the Lagos and Bauchi Zonal offices to step in to combat the smugglers. Abdulraman Dambazau, minister of Interior , may have to take a look at the NIS suggestion for the establishment of an additional 30 immigration check points in the country to match the Customs efforts in policing the border routes to check mate smugglers and cross border immigrants.

Perhaps, to contain the activities of cross border smugglers in the south west, Adamu Aliyu Mohammed, Comptroller, FOU, Zone A, had strengthened the patrol Units inherited from his predecessor, Mohammed Uba Garba, now Comptroller , Seme Command. The Customs Comptroller was said to have given a matching order to the Command Strike Force team, headed by Superintendent Ahmed to blockade the region to forestall Contrabands and exotic and fairly used vehicles from being smuggled into the country. The Jack Okpabi led Rapid Response team were also said to have been stationed permanently at the Saki axis and Iseyin axis of Oyo and Osun states, which falls under the jurisdiction of Oyo/Osun Command.

With the closure of the border routes in the south west, the FOU, Zone A, Command, Enforcement Department , have been forced to establish more checkpoints in Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and states. Take for instance, the notorious , Ota -Idiroko, road, the Command, was said to have set up four checkpoints to the HSF, Lagos Zonal office one.

In spite of the blockade of the region by FOU , Zone A, Strike Force and Rapid Response teams, the Headquarters Strike Force have continued to penetrate the ranks of smugglers in the region. This is evident going by the foreign parboiled rice and exotic vehicles seizures in Ogun and Oyo states, in two weeks .

In the said two weeks of the Lagos HSF Zonal office operations, it was said to have made a seizure of 2000 bags of foreign parboiled rice in the region , described by analysts as a very impressive performance when compared to the FOU, Zone A , Command, which had officers everywhere in the south west that made a seizure of 11,000 bags of 50kg each in two weeks.

It would be recalled that last July alone, the Salisu Shuaibu an Assistant Comptroller and Commander of the Lagos Zonal office Strike Force and his officers, acting on information were said to have made a seizure of 3000 bags of 50 kg each of foreign parboiled rice. Concealed inside a truck laden Container allegedly belonging to an disclosed Corporate Organisation along the Ijebu Ode -Benin Expressway.

He revealed that when he got a tip off that an empty truck laden Container had been taken to an undisclosed land border area in the south west with a promise by the drive to come back with it into the country, they became suspicious of it. The Strike Force officers may have been forced to lay ambush for the truck at strategic locations at the Seme, Idiroko and Lagos -Ibadan Expressway. It was not surprising why the driver of the truck laden Container could not escape the eagle eye officers of the Strike Force officers on the Ijebu Ode -Benin Expressway .The Strike Force Lagos Commander confirmed that a seal was put on the Container by the smuggler to show that it was released from the country’s seaport in Lagos.

The Magazine learnt that the truck driver had attempted to bribe his way but got it wrong. He knew the game was up when the HSF officers, who intercepted the truck insisted that it must be transferred to the HSF operational base at the Customs Training Collage, Ikeja, for examination because of the suspicision that the 40ft Container laden on the truck may have been loaded with Contraband items.

The Strike Force patrol team leader was said to have assured the driver that the truck would be released to him if nothing incriminating was found inside the Container . With the assurance, he was said to have summoned up courage to drive the truck to the Customs Training College, Ikeja, under heavy security. The Seal of the Container was said to have been broken open and about 3,000 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kg each were found inside. The truck was said to have been promptly detained. This brings to 5,000 bags of foreign parboiled rice of 50kg each, seized by the Lagos Zonal office, HSF, in one month.

The Shuaibu led HSF team in the south west, are also said to be giving importers with their agents tough time at the seaports and Murtala Muhammed International airport, MMIA, in Lagos. The team, was also said to have intercepted and transferred several suspected Containers from the seaport and pallets, released from NAHCO or SAHCOL, terminals at MMIA, to its operational base at Ikeja.

A source confirmed that the activities of the Lagos Strike Force officers in the south west have become the talk of the day at the Customs Headquarters. The officer disclosed that wherever two or three officers are gathered , their discussion centered on what Shuaibu, the Commander of the HSF in the south west and his officers are doing to compliment the efforts of the FOU, Zone A, officers , in the region.

Ogah Odibu, a former Comptroller of the Oyo and Osun Command and now an Assistant Comptroller General, ACG, in-charge of the Headquarters , Zone B Office, Kaduna, patrol officers were said to have been affected in their anti-smuggling operations in their areas of jurisdiction by the FOU ,Zone A, officers alleged blockade of the region.

Odibu may have started well in the Command when he mobilised his officers to make a seizure of nine trucks load of rice at the Saki and Iseyin axis of the state within two weeks of assumption of office but that was how far he could go. . The seizure may have forced Mohammed, the then Comptroller of the Command , to deploy more officers to Saki border routes to Oyo and Osun states.

Last April, Jack, the then Officer in-charge of the Command , Lagos Roving team, now baptised Operations and Lagos Roving team, was said to have made, eight trucks load of rice from the Saki axis, the closest the Command has come to achieve the Oyo/Osun Command feat. But with the blockade of the region, Jack and his officers were said to have made two truckloads of rice for the Command.

Officers who spoke to the Magazine averred that Mohammed, the Customs Comptroller may not have helped matters by giving the Jack led Rapid Response team and the Ahmed led Strike Force a matching order to block the six states in the south west geo-political region to forestall the smuggling of foreign rice , vegetable oil, second hand clothing and vehicles into the country as the VIP smugglers who were forced to go underground are fully back into the business doing what they know best: smuggling of trucks load of foreign rice and exotic vehicles into the country through unapproved routes scattered in the region.

More worrisome was the smuggling of bullet proof vehicles into the country ahead of the 2019 general elections . Only recently, the Command Operations and Lagos Roving team, headed by Riks Lura, a Chief Superintendent of Customs, were said to have intercepted and detained two Bullet proof vehicles in Lagos.

The team had earlier last August evacuated nine smuggled bullet proof vehicles hidden at a private residence at Victoria Island, Lagos based on information, thus bringing to 11, smuggled bullet proof jeeps that had been intercepted and transferred to the Command premises by Riks led Operations and Lagos Roving team. The bullet proof vehicles , were promptly detained on the orders of Mohammed , the Area Comptroller, to force the importer to produce the End User certificate, EUC, issued from the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, Babagana Munguno, a retired Major General to take delivery of it.

Riks and his officers may have warmed themselves into the heart of the Customs Comptroller with the bullet proof vehicle seizures. The Comptroller may have shown to the officers that he appreciates hard work and dedication to duty when he honoured Riks , Ahmed and Jack and their team members on the Command parade day on Tuesday, October 16, 2018.

The star award of a Silver Cup trophy, was said to have been given to the Operations and Lagos Roving team headed by Riks, over its spectacular seizures ranging from drugs, Containerised cargoes to the interception and detention of exotic vehicles which had generated millions of naira from Demand Notice, DN, raised on those that made under-payment at the sea port and outright seizure for those allegely smuggled into the country through unapproved routes.

The second best award was said to have gone to the Command Strike Force headed Ahmed while Jack and his team, got the third position award. Jack and his team members , may have been honoured over their past spectacular seizures of trucks load of foreign rice from the Saki axis of Oyo state and evacuation of scores of exotic vehicles from private residences and car marts in Lagos and Gunn states over alleged under payment and suspicision of being smuggled into the country without payment of appropriate duties.

It would be recalled that Ali,the Customs Comptroller General had been invited by Muhammed, the then Comptroller of the Command, to the Customs Training College, Ikeja, to see for himself the detained exotic vehicles instead of relying on reports to get the true gist of what is happening in the Command.

The Magazine learnt that the FOU, Zone A, Comptroller, may not have taken into consideration the seizure of 180,000, Jerry cans of 25 litres each or 90 tankers of premium motor spirit, popularly known as petrol, loaded into locally built boats ready to be smuggled to the Republic of Benin through Ijofin Creek, Ogun state, which could have placed the Rapid Response team ahead of the Operations and Lagos Roving team as well as the Command Strike Force,to win the Comptroller’s Star award.

The Customs boss may not have seen the seizure, regarded in Customs circles as unprecedented as a joint effort. This is because of the involvement of two other Commands and other security agencies personnel to the Ijofin Creek Operations to dispossess the smugglers of the thousands of Jerry cans of petrol.

Officers of the Ogun Command, Western Marine Command, WMC, soldiers, Navy, , police and Federal Road the safety Commission, FRSC, were said to have played significant role to the Ijofin Operations. The Officers of the WMC and the Navy, were said to said to sailed to the Ijofin area with their patrol crafts to forestall the smugglers from sailing out with any of the boats loaded with the Jerry cans of petrol into Republic of Benin.

All Eyes on Osun Election Tribunal

By

The Source

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October 20, 2018

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By Dr Tonnie O. Iredia

The convention since the return of Democracy to Nigeria in1999 has been that once an election result has been declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, it can only be looked into by the relevant election tribunal. The power is expressly conferred by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. According to Section 285 of the said constitution, election tribunals are empowered to hear and determine petitions as to whether a person has been validly elected into non-appointive offices under the government of Nigeria at the Federal and State levels. The arrangement is rational because it creates a mechanism of checks and balances in an election process. Although the settlement of disputes is ordinarily the constitutional duty of the judiciary, to bring the courts, a different body from INEC, to review the conduct of an election is obviously a right step to take.

Protest against Osun state Election Tribunal.

Whether our many election tribunals have added value to our elections or not is a contentious issue as those whose cases are upheld loudly eulogize the tribunals, while several losers pick holes in the decisions of the tribunals. Interestingly, such objections are quite often transparently reasonable leaving so much doubt about our temple of justice. Generally, Nigeria has many impartial judges but if the truth must be told, clean judges have for long been too few in matters of elections. As far back as 1998, the Sani Abacha administration had to suspend all the judgments of the election tribunals because of proven allegations of bribe taking and even confessional statements by some members of the tribunals who were assembled to deal with petitions arising from the transition to civil rule elections. Painfully, the situation whereby many people use the judiciary to win elections is yet to change. The Edo governorship election tribunal of 2016 for example, reportedly insisted that over-voting can only occur if recorded votes exceed the total number of registered voters and not when the number of voters accredited is exceeded by the number of votes recorded.

Consequently, when some people imagined a few days ago that the election tribunal to deal with the recent governorship election in Osun state may have been disbanded, not many saw them as alarmists considering how some of our tribunals usually function. Their fear that the locking-up of the venue of the tribunal may be an attempt to use delay tactics to exhaust the days legally available to the tribunal cannot be described as unfounded. It has happened before. On October 21, 2012, exactly 6 years today, this column had cause to review how the judiciary handled the outcome of one state governorship election of that year. To refresh the memories of our readers, let us recall that article whose title was “Using the Judiciary to win elections in Nigeria.”

The state concerned was Adamawa whose governorship election was held on February 04, 2012. According to INEC, the contest was won by the state governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako. The main opposition party in the state at the time, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presented a petition to the election tribunal challenging the said victory but the tribunal upheld the declaration of INEC in favour of Nyako. ACN immediately filed an appeal against the ruling of the tribunal but rather than deal with the case expeditiously in view of Section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which provides that an appeal from a decision of an election tribunal must be heard and disposed off within 60 days from the date of the judgment of the tribunal, the Court of Appeal kept mute and did nothing. At the end of August 2012, when the case had become over-ripe for hearing; the ACN alerted the nation on the grave implications of the failure of the Court of Appeal to act. Again, nothing was done.

On September 18, 2012 when the deadline for handling the case was only 4days away, the Judiciary was pressurized to hurriedly assemble a panel which was only able to arrive in Yola; the state capital, some 48 hours to the deadline. 24 hours later, the panel, like a magician; sat, wrote and delivered a judgment against the petitioner. The Adamawa case was therefore unfortunate as the Court had to be compelled to begin the process of playing the role for which it was set up. This must have sadly put several negative thoughts in the minds of people.

It is a great pity that whenever our nation takes positive steps to address its problems, there are usually some societal institutions and their operatives who always thwart any such design. The purpose of stipulating a time frame for election petitions was to halt the practice whereby some of the parties conjure several technicalities to prolong a case for longer than makes sense. Now that people are finding ways to quickly exhaust the time allowed for election while the issues at stake are yet to be resolved, we cannot blame those who became apprehensive over the locking-up of the venue of the Osun Tribunal. The Supreme Court has since determined that based on the wording of the law, an election tribunal which does not deliver judgement after 180 days of the beginning of a petition is overtaken by time, no matter the cause of the delay. Whereas that decision meets the letter of the law, it cannot be said to also meet the spirit of the law. Accordingly, defendants ought not to be allowed to unnecessarily waste time to frustrate a case; it is unjust and indeed ungodly for the Court to aid any delay.

The locking-up of the Osun Tribunal last week which the authorities now say was to enable a reorganisation of the tribunal is wrong. A new tribunal should have been constituted before disbanding the old one. Even the movement of the venues of election tribunals here are there because of the likely fear that the members could be harmed is in our view unnecessary. Security Agencies that usually send thousands of operatives to secure an election ought to be able to send just one hundred operatives to secure a tribunal set up to conclude the process of the same election. It is important to ensure that our election tribunals are fair and just and are so seen; otherwise a loss of faith in the judiciary could encourage self-help with its aftermath of political violence. Too much was publicly seen to have gone wrong with the Osun election; the controversies should be resolved forthwith before we begin to mouth the attainment of free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

Again, Governor Umahi Mis-speaks

By

The Source

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October 19, 2018

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By Comfort Obi

If you have been following the news this past week, then you must be familiar with the comments of Dave Umahi, Governor of Ebonyi state. Umahi has been in the news, and considering that it is not often that he makes news, he must be celebrating. And, why is he in the news? He is at pains over the selection of Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, as the running mate to the Presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubarkar.

No matter how much he tries, Umahi is unable to disguise his pain. It is unmistakable in his choice of words. And Umahi has brought to town a new political expression: “State Character”, you know, as in Federal Character, while trying to rationalise his embarrassing comments.

Since he became governor, I have met Umahi unofficially, twice, both at the Protocol Lounge of the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. He was there before I entered. So, I went to greet him, and introduced myself as a journalist and a member of the Police Service Commission.

He responded warmly, then, he drew me aside, and said he wanted to ask me for a favour. Taken aback, I asked him to ask. And he said, “You people at the Commission want to remove my Police Commissioner. And I don’t want her removed. She is competent, and has kept bad boys in check” I looked at Umahi, and almost burst out laughing. But, I held myself.

The governor was talking about Peace Ibekwe-Abdallah. She is a native of Anambra state, but married to her Sweetheart, a Northerner. British trained, daughter of a late Commissioner of Police, Peace is a combination of brain and beauty. Competent, disciplined, and elegant, she was last week, deservedly, promoted to a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police. But I need to tell you why I almost burst out laughing when Umahi asked for the retention of Peace in his state.

When she was posted to Ebonyi as the state CP, His Excellency rejected her, and tried very much to reverse it. But the PSC put its feet down. I was particularly up in arms. And played the feminine card. “Is it because she is a woman? Or because she is an Igbo girl?”, I fired. You may not believe it, but South-east governors are in the habit of rejecting CPs of Igbo origin posted to their states. It is bewildering, but that is a story for another day.

However, the main reason the PSC put its feet down is because the officer is very competent. In Ebonyi, she was leading operations at night to fish out criminals.

So, I teased the governor: I thought you didn’t want her in your state before, Your Excellency? His answer was swift: “That was before.” Unfortunately, I told him his request has fallen flat because she was nominated for a course at the NIPSS, Kuru, Plateau state. If she was being posted to another state command, one could help. But NIPSS? That’s good for her career.

My second meeting with Umahi was before his stunningly beautiful wife. I was, again, at the Protocol Lounge when she entered. And we got talking, Not quite long, His Excellency, came in. I was impressed by the bear hug both of them exchanged. Not many Nigerian men publicly show love and affection to their wives.

But I have been following Umahi’s activities and utterances long before I met him. A couple of months as a governor, I wrote a complimentary article on him. The former governor, whose deputy he was, Martin Elechi, had commissioned a project, I forget what now. Both men particularly didn’t have a healthy relationship before Umahi became the governor. Elechi never supported his aspiration. Instead, he had endorsed the former Minister for Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, to be his successor. But, Umahi was not deterred. He went ahead and defeated the governor’s candidate.

So, Elechi commissioned this project before his exit from office. I don’t know why some governors do that. It’s immoral. Anyway, on a visit to this project on assumption of office, Umahi exposed what was clearly a fraud. The project was nowhere near completion, so why commission it? If you add how much it costs these governors to commission even a borehole, you will appreciate how much they waste.

So, I praised Umahi for his courage in exposing the fraudulent commissioning. But thinking about it later, I was like, may be he was extremely harsh. He didn’t need to rub it in so mercilessly publicly. Afterall, Elechi was his boss, and an old man.

But I have since then come to the conclusion that the governor pulls no punches; that he is tactless and undiplomatic. He says what he feels like saying, and doesn’t care about the repercussion thereafter. His public disgrace of his predecessor in office was not a one-off thing. There are more.

He had knocked together, the heads of a Commissioner he sacked and that of his estranged SSG, by publicly revealing that he sacked the Commissioner on the wrong advice given to him by the the SSG. By doing that, he deliberately sowed a seed of enemity between both of them and their families. He didn’t think about that. Some more.

Several months ago, Umahi, a PDP governor, had also stated that, he would support President Buhari in the 2019 presidential election. I never read anywhere he said he was misquoted. But I think he only wanted to flaunt his relationship with Mr President, a point he emphasised penultimate week.

Said Umahi that week:” President Buhari is my friend, and I am not ashamed to say it.”

Ashamed ke? Why would anybody be ashamed to be the President’s friend. It is a privilege. But, why flaunt it? And, is there any reason Umahi would be expected to be the President’s enemy? Politics of bitterness does not pay. Our leaders should learn from civilized countries where they very often spend their holidays.

This order day when America’s Senator John McCain died, President Donald Trump was not to the funeral. Before the senator passed-on, he had said he didn’t want Trump at his funeral. He phoned a number of people he wanted present, including Presidents George Bush Jnr. and Barack Obama, both of whom he asked to read his eulogies. Obama is of a different party, and McCain chose him. But more important, Trump’s most beloved daughter, Ivanka, was at the funeral with her husband. That his father was not invited, neither stopped her, nor her father’s aides, including the Secretary of Defence, from attending.

Here, in Nigeria? Never. Neither, the President’s daughter, her husband, nor Ministers would attend when the President himself had been snubbed. Then, many gossips will be on hand to tell the President who went, and who didn’t. We need to grow up.

So, Umahi has kept mis-speaking, Making his relationship with the President public adds no pip to his shoulders. Or, what would he have a Nasir El- Rufai or an Abdullahi Ganduje, or a Yahaya Bello, all very close friends of the President do? Shout it from the roof tops every day?

Yet, nothing prepared one for Umahi’s undisguised discomfort over Obi as Atiku’s running mate. His comments to the media, after a stakeholders meeting with his governor–colleagues, including the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, was bewildering. And it doesn’t matter whether he agrees with those who have strongly lashed out at him or not.

Leveraging on his position as the Chairman of the South-east Governors Forum, a position Obi held longer than anybody, Umahi spoke to the press after the meeting. And what did he say? That Obi’s choice as Atiku’s running mate is news to them; that they are just reading it like everybody else; that they were not consulted; and that the stakeholders were still consulting on the issue And he was speaking to the media?

Please, what impression was he creating? A divided homefront? If there was a disagreement at the meeting for whatever reason, was it okay for Umahi to make it public? Or, does he have another agenda? What impression was he giving to Nigerians? But Umahi was not finished yet. So stung is he that he talks about Obi’s choice, even when it doesn’t fit into the discussion.

So, speaking during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, on socio-economic development in his state, Umahi zeroed in on Obi’s choice again.

So, you ask, what has Obi’s choice got to do with an MoU which he was signing? But read him please, along with my side comments in brackets.

Umahi: “Nobody is against Peter Obi because he is my friend, competent (Ah that’s good to hear that from you Sir). And you must have seen our pictures together on the social media (What weight do the pictures carry Sir?).

“We must take decisions against the marginalisation of Ebonyi people because if we have to vote, we must be treated with equity. (Really? Sir, are you already thinking of not voting for your party because you were not consulted on Obi?)

“Two names of the nominees came from Anambra, two from Abia, and one from Enugu, but none came from Ebonyi and Imo. (Ah, Sir, is that what this is all about? And when were you appointed the spokesperson for Imo state?)

“What is wrong with somebody from Ebonyi and Imo, and you must know that one of the reasons an Ebonyi man is against regions in the country is the fear of further marginalisation. (Ah, His Excellency must have forgotten, so soon, that an Ebonyi man, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, was the Senate President, and later the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, under a PDP regime)

“The South-east leaders never issued any statement on the matter, and anybody from the zone who says that our stand is not good is not a human being. (But, Sir, nobody said anybody issued any statement. You have been the only person speaking, purportedly, on behalf of other stakeholders).

“Nobody chooses the Vice President for anybody. It is just like a wife issue, but if other people were on the list, people from Ebonyi should be there. (Not true Sir. President Olusegun Obasanjo & co chose Goodluck Jonathan as President Umaru Yar’Adua’s running mate without consulting the South-south stakeholders, or even Jonathan himself).

“Even if we would not make the list, as the choice is for Abubakar to make, we should know what disqualified us from being picked.”

Now, I don’t understand His Excellency anymore. He is reducing a serious business to frivolity. So, Atiku should have picked would-be VP candidates from every South-east state, and then tell Umahi why the Ebonyi aspirant, in particular, was not picked?

Why are the Igbo like this? Why do some of our leaders make a ridicule of an otherwise hardworking and intelligent race like the Igbo race? That’s what Umahi is doing with his ego trip.

To show how bitter he is, he countered his Chief Press Secretary. The guy had issued a press statement congratulating Obi on behalf of his boss. But Umahi hit the roof and issued a counter press release.

Umahi: “When my Chief Press Secretary issued a statement congratulating Obi, the zone’s leaders started calling me, saying that I have made the VP alone.

“I had to issue a counter statement telling them that I was not consulted before the statement was released, and that it was an honest mistake by my CPS.”

I don’t know Umahi’s CPS, but does he still have his job? Has he been sacked by his boss for embarrassing him? If not, he should quit the job. His boss has publicly disowned him.

My gut feeling is that the CPS made no mistake. He issued the statement in order to nanage the damage caused by Umahi’s comments. And the effect it could have on the governor’s image, the backlash. That is his job. To manage his Principal’s image. But he didn’t know the depth of his Principal’s grouse.

I don’t know the stakeholders who called the governor to ask “whether he made the VP alone” after the statement by his CPS. Does it include Abia state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, who has publicly endorsed Obi’s choice? Does it include Ohaneze Nd’Igbo, its Youth wing, and almost every important stakeholder in Igbo land, home and abroad, who have all hailed Obi’s choice? Yes, he may have spoken in Enugu in his capacity as the Chairman of the South east Governors Forum, but he didn’t have to make public their reservations, even if there was any over Obi. Umahi should have waited for Atiku and expressed such feelings, especially if they discussed anything with him before the Presidential primary. It shouldn’t have been for public consumption. And Atiku would have explained the circumstances to him.

Now, Umahi has exposed the Igbo to public ridicule and people are laughing and asking questions. Worse, innocent people are being accused of playing the music Umahi is dancing to. One of them: Ekweremadu. Not true.

The Igbo know how to destroy themselves. That is why they are not alwayd taken seriously. Other tribes think that some Igbo leaders are two for a kobo. They may not be wrong . When it was the turn of the South east to produce the Senate President, Igbo sons were being changed like underwears. Evan Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Alphonsus Wabara, Pius Anyim and Ken Nnamani. All within a space of eight years. But David Mark stayed for eight years. And if Bukola Saraki had been Igbo, his kinsmen would since have sold out – since! It is embarrassing.

When President Buhari picked VP Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate, did he consult South-west governors, Afenifere, or other South-west stakeholders?

It was between him and Tinubu, and may be, a couple of others. Nobody went to the media to denounce it. They presented a common front. Not the Igbo.

It is an irony. Some days ago, Ohaneze and co were threatening to vote against the PDP if the party does not pick an Igbo son as its Vice Presidential candidate. Now, an Igbo son is picked, and it is the South-east zone, protesting against a choice hailed by other zones. Now, it is people from other zones appealing to the South-east to support their own son.

President Jonathan has weighed in with an appeal to the South- east to support their son. And so has Chief Bode George. And a very angry Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN.

In a short write-up on the back page of ThisDay of Sunday, October 14, entitled ‘Obi or Not Obi, Simon Kolawole, summed up the negative vibes in the South-east. He wrote:

“The choice of Peter Obi as the running mate of PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar, seem not to have gone down well with some power brokers in his geo-political zone, the South-east. There were reports of bickering on Saturday, with the governor of Ebonyi state, Chief Dave Umahi raising dust.

“Compare and contrast with 2015 when President Buhari picked Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate and the support the professor of law got was instant. Meanwhile, the South- west is said to be highly interested in the event that the Igbo are unable to support one of their own as Atiku’s running mate ” It is food for thought for the Umahi group.

*Obi is the Editor-in-Chief/CEO of The Source (Magazine), https://thesourceng.com. Email: [email protected], [email protected]