Nigeria political

Femi Aderupatan:PDP under pressure over congresses, convention

INDICATIONS about a deepening crisis in the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) have started emerging. This follows following moves by aspirants to the elective offices of the party to pressurise the party into setting new dates for the congresses and the national convention.

The aspirants, whose dream of constituting the next national executive committee of the PDP has been put on hold, have now constituted a pressure group to push for the convocation of the national congress of the PDP which was postponed indefinitely last week.

Members of the party are pitted against the National Working Committee (NWC) on the suspicion that some top members of the party are perfecting strategies for extending the stay of the national officers.

The party announced last Friday the indefinite postponement of its congresses and national convention, giving its reason as the holiday festivities for both Christians and Muslims in December.

An aspirant to the office of the National Secretary from Kwara State, who asked not to be named, told the Nigerian Tribune that the plan for the perpetuation of Dr. Ahmadu Ali, national chairman, and other national officers was real going by the undercurrents within the party.

He disclosed that supporters of the national chairman and the party’s national secretary had started planning to go to court to stop the national convention on the basis that the current national officers were elected for a four-year term.

He said the best means of compelling the NWC of the PDP to hold the national convention early next year was by constituting a pressure group for that purpose, disclosing that aspirants to the offices had started meeting in that regard.

Meanwhile, members of the PDP have started receiving text messages from the supporters of the national chairman, urging them to support the rule of law within the party by allowing the national chairman to remain in office till 2009.

The masterminds of the text messages said that Article 14(1) as well as Article 7 (1) C-V111 of the PDP constitution were explicit on the tenure of office for elected PDP officials which is four years.

One of the text messages sent to PDP members by supporters of a longer tenure for Ali read: “Leaders, Please join and support the campaign, towards building a stronger and rule of law compliant PDP. Support the convocation of the constitutional 2009 PDP national convention.

“It is unconstitutional to hold a convention in the mid term of the tenure of duly elected PDP National Working Commitee (NWC) that has a four-year mandate.

“On the provisions of Article 14(1) (four year tenure), Article 2 and Article 7 (1)C-V111 of the PDP constitution we stand. The legal fireworks to seek the interpretation of these clauses and a plea for an injuction against any mid term convention would be launched at the Federal High Court, Abuja, in a matter of weeks from now as we roung up the collection of 250,00 concerned PDP members signatures for these legal battle.

“We must save the PDP from falling into the hands of born against political saints rascal entrants, paid undertakers and outside interests, sponsored aspirants. The time to take Mr. President’s rule of law campaign to an entrenched level has come. PDP must be guided by he letters of its constitution.”

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Bayo Alao, had earlier dismissed insinuations that the national officers of the party were planning to perpetuate themselves in office, stressing that the party would soon fix dates for its national convention and the congresses.

Femi Aderupatan:LOOTED! Ex-gov Alams battles cousin over missing assets

The tale of woes of former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, may not have ended afterall.
Just when it seemed he could savour a new lease of life, falling back on what he acquired before becoming governor, the Ijaw politician is having another battle on his hands. This time, it is on the home front.

Though he has settled issues with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), his next headache is how to retrieve some of his valuables from a cousin he gave them for safe keeping at the peak of his problem.

The lady that is Alamieseigha's present nightmare in one Miss Preye Okosi, a Port Harcourt-based businesswoman.
The assets in question include raw cash, share certificates belonging to his children and fabric, trinkets and raw gold belonging to his wife (Margaret) said to operate top-flight boutiques in Lagos.

Already, she has returned some exotic cars to the governor including a Hummer Jeep.
Having been stripped of his known properties including balance and buildings valued at billions of naira by EFFC recently after a plea bargain, the former Bayelsa governor must have banked on these assets for life-line.

Said to have been arrested and later released at the instance of the former governor, the lady has since gone underground.
From her hiding, she has petitioned the Inspector General of Police and Chairman of the EFCC (a copy of which Sunday Sun has) through her lawyer, Barrister Festus Keyamo.
Her petition is entitled “Victimization of Miss Preye Okosi by D.S.P Alamieyeseiagha on account of properties concealed from the EFCC”.

In it, she raised an avalanche of allegations against Alamieseigha including harassment, intimidation and threat to her life. She also alleged how some of those properties were ill-gotten wealth, which she only got to realize much later.
Preye narrated how she, acting on Alamieseigha's instruction in 2005, helped to evacuate valuables such as exotic cars, clothes, documents and trinkets from the former governor’s private residence in Port Harcourt for safekeeping.

Then, the former governor had just been granted bail by a London Court over the money laundering case.
According to her, done with the evacuation, she promptly handed over the house keys to one Tombra Alamieyesiegha who continued to stay there until he finally relocated to the United States of America.
When Alamieseigha completed his case in Nigeria, Preye said, she returned his valuables in her possession.

However, matters came to a head on November 1, as she was reportedly picked up and detained at the old GRA police station in the Garden City.
She also claimed that the police had similarly detained her aged mum over the same matter.
Contacted Friday night, Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr Felix Ogbaudu confirmed the story but declined to give details. He merely said: “We are investigating the matter. It is true we arranged a meeting between Mrs Alamieseigha, Miss Preye and their mutual relation, one Mr. Patrick. I can tell you we're investigating the issue.”

But Sunday Sun investigations pointed to the fact that there is more to it than Preye’s petition.
For instance, a dependable police source said the lady was detained for alleged theft and later released, describing her as "an ingrate whom Alamieyeseigha rehabilitated.”

“I can tell you that Alamieyeseigha made that woman comfortable by employing her at the Bayelsa State Liaison office in Port Harcourt. It is heartless for her to turn round and betray someone who was really nice to her while he was governor. He even caused her to be paid as much as N400, 000 per month. And when she thought the man had insurmountable problems, she tried to play smart. Can you imagine that?
"Can you imagine, when we raided her residence where we were able to recover some items, we discovered that this lady had dashed out some of Alamieseigha's household items like cutlery to the gate-keeper. Apparently, she never imagined in her wildest dream that Alamieyeseigha would come out of his trouble alive.

“This is a lady that carried Alamieyeseigha’s property to the Bayelsa State Liaison office in Port Harcourt rather than keep them in a private place. If she didn’t have a hidden agenda, was that the best place to go keep them?”
The police source further informed Sunday Sun that in the course of investigation, the lady in question once went on her knees pleading with Mrs. Margaret Alamieyesiegha to forgive her.
Sunday Sun findings weekend was to the effect that the house - 3, William Jumbo Street, Port Harcourt —from where the lady reportedly retrieved the said property is the private home of the Alamieyesieghas pre-governorship days.

Efforts to reach the ex-governor for comments were abortive as at press time last night. Sunday Sun similarly contacted his attorney, Chief Mike Ozekhome, for reaction on behalf of the Ijaw politician.
Ozekhome said: “No, I am not aware of any petition against Alamieyesiegha, nor do I know anything about the subject matter. And, Alamieyesiegha has not intimated me about any such matter.”

Trouble
Alamieyesiegha’s problems began late 2005 when he was arrested in London on arrival from Paris where he went for surgery.
Subsequently, the British police arraigned him in court on money laundering charges but was later granted bail.
He jumped bail and returned to Nigeria controversially and promptly returned to his desk at the Government House in Yenagoa.
Not long after he took over from his then deputy, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the State House of Assembly impeached him, thus paving the way for the EFCC to take him away.
With a progressively failing health, the former governor

Femi Aderupatan:Siemens: Yar'Adua vows to sanction ex-ministers if..

ABUJA — PRESIDENT Umaru Yar’Adua vowed, yesterday, to punish anyone found to have collected bribes from the German telecommunications company, Siemens AG, and declared that there would be no sacred cow.

A Munich court had named four former Nigerian Ministers of Communications Cornelius Adebayo, the late Haruna Elewi, Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Bello Muhammad— as well as other officials and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Professor Jubril Aminu, as having received bribes of about 10 million euros from the company..

Professor Aminu, Dr. Mohammed, and General Olanrewaju have denied their involvement in the scandal.

The opposition Action Congress (AC) reacting to the development called it a national disgrace “coming so soon after full disclosures from the Wilbros bribery scandal also involving Nigeria officials have yet to be made.

The party said time was ripe for the Yar’Adua administration to “summon courage to probe the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo which has been spewing out these scandals like lava from a volcanic eruption.

President Yar’Adua in a statement by his Special Adviser on Communicators, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, said relevant security agencies had been directed to “thoroughly investigate the allegations and take appropriate actions.

In the statement issued in Saudi Arabia where the president, is attending this year’s OPEC meeting, Mr Adeniyi said:

“The attention of President Umaru Musa Yar’dua has been drawn to media reports of the alleged bribery by an international Telecoms company (Siemens) of some past Nigerian public officials and wishes to assure the nation that anybody found culpable in the scandal would face the full wrath of the law.

“The President has, therefore, directed all the relevant security agencies to thoroughly investigate the allegations and take appropriate legal actions against anybody implicated in corrupt practices.

“The President also wishes to assure all Nigerians that in the new nation that we seek to build under his watch, any public official found to have abused his or her oath of office will not go unpunished.

“The President further assures that in this Siemens scandal, as in all cases that border on good governance and transparency, there will neither be sacred cows nor a cover up for anybody found culpable of breaching the law.”

Mohammed denies alleged bribe

However,  Dr Bello Mohammed, a former Communications Minister, yesterday denied knowledge of the alleged bribe of public officers by Siemens AG.

Mr Emeka Kanu, Media Adviser to Mohammed, in a statement said his boss was innocent of the allegation.

The allegation, according to him. was not only “strange and bewildering, but malicious, libellous and wicked evil designs by his political opponents.”

He stated that the former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service and PDP chieftain, never met one Mr Reinhard Siekaczek mentioned in the court process.

“As for Mr Siedel, we can firmly say Dr Mohammed has had no personal relationship with him other than at the official level as Minister of Communications,” he said.

Kanu said Mohammed, the PDP National Vice Chairman (North-West), had never received any amount in bribe from any of the persons mentioned in the case.

Mohammed, who paid glowing tributes to his admirers and supporters, said he had contacted his lawyers for necessary counselling.

Senator Aminu and Gen. Olanrewaju had earlier also denied their involvement and challenged those behind the allegations to show proof.

It’s a national disgrace  — AC

In its reaction, the opposition Action Congress (AC) in a statement by its spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said:

“The 6-million-dollar Wilbros bribery scandal and now the 12-million-euro Siemens bribery scandal have shown that the Obasanjo administration was a cesspool of corruption, despite its anti-graft battle and Obasanjo’s holier than thou attitude.

“The latest scandal is particularly sickening, considering the staggering amount involved and the calibre of government officials named in it.

It is instructive that Nigerian officials alone took 10 million out of the overall 12 million euros allegedly paid out by the German company to officials in three countries, including Russia and Libya.

“That made Nigeria a clear gold medallist in this Siemens bribery contest, with Russia a distant second with only 2 million euros shared by 38 people,” the party said.

AC said the investigation into the Siemens bribery scandal should determine, among others, the culpability or otherwise of the listed officials; identify the ‘political office holders’ who took over 3 million euros out of the 10 million euros; reveal the identities of the “Telecom and Ministry officials” referred to in the scandal and mete out appropriate punishment to all those involved to serve as a deterrent.

“It is not enough for any of those listed to hurriedly issue a statement denying their involvement. They must be bold enough to go further, and perhaps institute a legal action to clear their name, if indeed they are not involved. That way, the truth will come out.

“And to the Yar’Adua administration, we say: If ever any government has a chance to show its anti-corruption campaign is not a fluke, it is this (Yar’Adua) government, considering the rate at which the corruption allegations are being made against public officials, in both the past and present administrations.”

Siemens accepted responsibility for the misconduct and agreed to pay a 201 million Euro fine decreed by the court.

The court focussed on bribes between 2001 and 2004 connected to Siekaczek, a former manager in the telecommunications-equipment unit who spent 38 years at Siemens. Siekaczek has been indicted on embezzlement charges in the Munich court, and his lawyer said he was cooperating with prosecutors in their investigation of bribes at Siemens. He is expected to face trial early next year.

Siekaczek has told prosecutors that he knows about bribes beyond the three countries that were made with the knowledge of senior managers, according to separate court records.

That testimony could serve as a springboard for other criminal investigations and additional fines in countries where Siemens is active, including the US.

Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering company with revenues last year of 72 billion Euros, manufactures everything from light bulbs to high-speed trains.

When they carried out a dramatic raid on Siemens headquarters a year ago, German police focussed on just 20 million Euros in the alleged fraud.

The investigation quickly mushroomed into one of the continent’s biggest bribery cases, triggering high-level arrests including Siekaczek and the resignations of the chairman and chief executive earlier this year.

Siemens is still being investigated on several continents. The company said last week it has identified 1.3 billion Euros in suspicious transactions world-wide between 2000 and 2006.

The Munich court ruling, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, lists bribes from 2,000 to 2.25 million Euros steered by Mr. Siekaczek and colleagues to dozens of government officials in the three countries.

Siemens has sold telecommunications equipment in Nigeria , but the ruling doesn’t specify what contracts Siemens was seeking when its employees paid bribes. It also doesn’t say what, if anything, the recipients of Siemens’s money did in exchange for it.

The three-judge panel said its ruling was based on information from interviews with Siemens employees and extensive files of documents. Many of those documents were seized in the Nov. 15, 2006, police raids of Siemens offices in Germany .

Anton Winkler, a spokesman for the prosecutors in Munich, said prosecutors haven’t interviewed those who were named in the court ruling as bribe takers.

The prosecutors aren’t pursuing action against these people because German courts usually don’t have jurisdiction if a non-German receives a bribe outside of Germany .

Winkler declined to discuss the precise nature of the evidence, but said: “The names and other information in the decision were carefully checked f

Femi Aderupatan:Widow of slain orderly tackles Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello

She did not look happy when she showed up at the JunctionRoad office of The Sun Newspapers in Kaduna. It was obvious that she was in a foul mood. But her anger was not at the reporter.

Rather, Mrs. Abigail Magdalene Duniya, a Woman Corporal with the Nigeria Police Force in Kaduna is angry with Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and her father Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president.

Nothing fuels her anger and at the same time elicit sympathy for Mrs. Duniya than the heart-rending story of her four children - a boy and three girls.
Recently, her four kids (Rebecca, Rachael, Levi and Leah) were shown the classroom door for non-payment of school fees. Apparently, they were the only ones sent out of school after series of demand on their mother to pay their fees yielded no positive result.

But the children longed to be with their peers in school. From the windows, they were itching to listen to the lecture but were disallowed. In frustration, they left for home, weeping.

They are today suffering for something over which they have no control. The four are children of Corporal Gideon Duniya, former orderly to Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello who reportedly died in 2003 during an armed robbery attack on her convoy.
For Mrs. Duniya, it is time to spill the bean after four years of what she described as “suffering in silence”.

She told Sunday Sun that few days after her husband’s death, then President Obasanjo made a promise to pick the educational bills of the four children from primary school to the university level.
She was in tears that evening when she narrated what she says is her ordeal in the hands of the Obasanjo family.

Intermittently, she would mop her cheeks to stop the tears from rolling into her mouth.
“My husband was killed on the 20th of April, 2003. My husband died as her (Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello's) orderly. When he died, they (Obasanjo and Iyabo) promised to take care of the children. He died in Otta. They went on a visit there and armed robbers, according to their report, killed my husband. He was killed along with two kids and a driver.

“When my husband was killed, the former president, Obasanjo, promised to take care of my kids from primary to the university level. The last child was about three months when my husband died. Because of the condolence letter she (Iyabo) wrote to me when I traveled to Lagos, I seized the opportunity to see her. Then, she was Ogun State Commissioner for Health. She gave me N50, 000.

“When I came back to Kaduna, I called her because she too promised to take care of us. After sometime, I went to her and she gave me N20, 000 with the promise that she would call me. She gave me both her office and personal numbers. So, I would call her.”
However, Mrs. Duniya said after a while there was a sudden twist as Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello stopped picking her calls.

As she spoke, her voice echoed through the window of The Sun office as she cursed and vowed not to let the matter lie:
“If they cannot keep their promise, let them settle me once and for all. For now, I will leave her with God. But I assure her that my husband’s blood will never leave her. If she wants the blood of my husband to leave her, let her stand before the public to say that she has rescinded her promise; then she would be left alone. If not, my husband’s blood and that of the kids are with her.

I will never leave her.”
Attempts by Sunday Sun to get Iyabo’s side of the story were futile as at press time. Repeated calls made to her cell phone were not answered. A text message subsequently sent to the same number intimating her on the same issue also failed to elicit a response.

More woes
Duniya’s widow is the more piqued because her mother-in-law believes she had collected the promised money from the family of ex-president Obasanjo in respect of school fees for the children.
She told Sunday Sun that all efforts to get to the former president through her daughter had failed.
At a time, she expected the Obasanjos to exert their influence in order to secure financial reprieve for her and her children by influencing the Nigeria Police high command to pay her husband’s gratuity. But the former president’s daughter, she says, rebuffed her:

“If they were fair to me and the children, they should have used their connection to get the money for me. But no way. More than four years after, I am yet to get the gratuity. I keep transporting myself up and down in pursuit of the gratuity. This is four years now, so, you can imagine how much I have spent on transportation.
“What is even paining me now is that they have driven them out of school because of fees. Each day I see them at home when their mates have gone to school, I feel like shedding tears. This would never have happened to the children if their father were alive. That is why I said I must look for your (The Sun) office.”
After much pestering, Senator Obasanjo-Bello, Mrs. Duniya recalled, sent her "another N100, 000 with an instruction that I should be calling her at the end of each month. She said she would be sending something to me. Since then, if I call her, she would not pick. Sometime ago, I sent a text message to her.”

In the text message, Mrs. Duniya told Senator Obasanjo-Bello that the promise of help by her and her father four years ago has merely done more harm than good to her (Duniya's) and the children as those who intended to assist, having heard of the former president’s promise, simply kept away.

She recalled that the promise of the president was well publicized: “So, now, I said in the text message that since 'You have told the public that you will be responsible for the children’s education, and you have not done anything, I will now also tell the public that you have not done anything'.”
Iyabo, according to the widow, replied by accusing her of wanting to blackmail her.

The more they met or spoke on phone, the more the mis-understanding grew, culminating in a total breakdown in communication following accusation of blackmail leveled against the widow.
Clearly, the additional burden of bringing up four kids coupled with the spiraling prices of virtually every item needed for the children’s education has set Mrs. Duniya on riotous spin.

“I now have to pay more than N20, 000 school fees apart from their books and other school needs. I am a Corporal in the Nigeria Police Force. How much is my salary? Since that yesterday (last Monday), they (her four kids) have been at home. Where will I get the money?” she queries, adding, “When I told her (Iyabo) about helping to get my husband’s gratuity, she said that is Police matter, which does not concern her.

“Even her father, Obasanjo has not done anything. If not that my house got burnt on November 5, last year, I would have shown you evidence of the promise Obasanjo made. My sister died and I went for her burial in the village. I was at the burial when they sent a message that I should come back; that my house was on fire. I was not at home. I would have shown you publications relating to the promise.

“Last two months, I sent a text message to her (Iyabo) telling her to put herself in my condition. They promised taking care of the kids, not me. This man (Corporal Gideon Duniya) put himself in arm's way for her. She should understand. She is a woman like me. She should know that Gideon left four kids.

If she were the person, how would she feel?
“When they dissolved the cabinet in which she was Commissioner in Ogun State, she invited me to come down. When I went, she gave me N20, 000 and was complaining that I don’t always come in time whenever she invited me. She gave me the money outside and said I should go back to Kaduna. She asked me to come back at the end of the month,” she disclosed.
For now, Mrs. Duniya is at her tether’s end as Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has simply, according to her, refused to “play ball".

 

Femi Aderupatan:SSS Aborts Al-Qaeda Attacks in Nigeria

Security reports at the weekend indicate that Nigeria may have been saved the horror of major terrorist attacks following the arrest of suspected terrorists believed to have links to the dreaded Al-Qaeda network.
THISDAY gathered last night that operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) who had been on the trail of some religious militants in Northern part of the country have aborted the intended attacks.
The group, according to the security source, was responsible for the recent attacks on police stations and some neighbourhoods in parts of the country.
The suspects were arrested in Kano, Kaduna and Yobe states with explosive-making devices, including bags of fertiliser and some quantities of firearms.
Sources at the SSS attributed the success in the operation that led to the arrest of the suspects to the recent changes in the service, especially the re-organisation and strengthening of the Anti-Terrorism Department and the prioritisation of the operational focus of the intelligence body.
As at last night, it was not clear where and how the militants wanted to attack but a source said some Western interests in the country might have been their target.
Operatives are also looking into the possibility of the group having backers from religious groups in the country.
THISDAY gathered that since the change in leadership of the country as well as the SSS, some changes have been aimed at repositioning the service for “more responsiveness and more professionalism”.
Efforts to get more information on the operation regarding the names and photographs of the arrested religious militants last night proved abortive.
Spokesman of SSS, Mr. Ado Muazu, confirmed the arrest and said suspects were in custody in Abuja.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, is said to be in the US currently discussing the issue of terrorism on the invitation of the American government.
Since the terrorism war became full blown, Nigeria has not recorded any case in spite of continuous warning from European Union and the United States of America (USA) to their citizens against possible attacks by the religious militants.
Just before this year’s commemoration of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US by the Al-Qaeda Network, the American Consulate in Lagos had raised alarm over a threat on Western and US interests in Nigeria.
In June 2005, a similar warning had led to the closure of embassies in Lagos and Abuja for some days, a move which a US military spokesperson, Major Holly Silkman, speaking from Dakar, Senegal, had confirmed thus: "There was some kind of threat made and it was through telephone call."
This year, the US mission said it had received information that American and other Western interests in the country were at risk. It did not give the name of any group behind the plot.
A press statement issued then by the Consulate said potential targets included diplomatic buildings and businesses in Abuja and Lagos.
Also, last month, SSS operatives arrested two men in Kano suspected to be members of Al-Qaeda. The men whose names were given as Abubakar Haruna and Isah A. were said to be in their twenties.
They were picked up in Kano following weeks of intense intelligence gathering linking them with visits to several countries suspected to have contacts with known terrorist networks, particularly, Algeria.

Femi Aderupatan:Knocks for Adedibu over comments on Speaker Bankole

Ibadan politician Chief Lamidi Adedibu yesterday came under attack over his criticism of the emergence of Hon. Dimeji Bankole as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Former National Republican Convention (NRC) governorship candidate Senator Lekan Balogun and Integrity and Democratic Reformers (IDR), a pressure group in Bankole’s home state of Ogun, wondered why Adedibu was dabbling in an internal affair of the House.

Balogun said contrary to Adedibu’s contention, the lawmakers did not need to come home to consult with anybody before choosing their Speaker.

Adedibu had on Saturday, while lamenting Mrs Olubunmi Etteh’s loss of the Speaker’s seat, said: "We in Oyo State are complaining and we are bitter because there appears to be no more discipline in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and that is what I will term it to be. The House was supposed to have allowed some time for us to sit down together as a party and make suggestions on how to pick Etteh’s successor. When Etteh was to be installed the Speaker, we were all consulted. So they should have consulted with the party, the zone and the state on Etteh’s successor. If they did not rush the process, we would have been allowed to say what we wanted to say. That decision was very rash. They cannot just rush to choose somebody within 24 hours. Why?".

Balogun said: "We were not consulted when Etteh was to be picked. Was Baba Adedibu consulted when the N628million house renovation scandal was to be hatched and executed? If Baba Adedibu is saying that there appears to be no more discipline in the PDP, then his own actions have shown that he has combined indiscipline with gross irresponsibility by assuming that the lawmakers should consult with him in Ibadan. Which Oyo State people are complaining? Baba is only lamenting because the source of money to him has been blocked with the removal of Etteh. The National Integrity Group will soon be talking. People of like minds who would not tolerate imposition, corruption and indiscipline".

Welcoming the emergence of Bankole as Speaker, Balogun said: "The young man is very brilliant. He is a good choice. He has a good family background and we can easily call his parents and talk to them if he makes any mistake. Bankole is going to redeem the image of the country overseas, reposition the House of Representatives and lawmaking in this country. He is a popular choice and I congratulate him on his success."

In a statement yesterday, IDR said with Bankole’s emergence as Speaker, the era of selfish politics for pecuniary gains was gone.

The statement signed by its Chairman, Chief Kayode Odumoro, said Bankole was elected in a transparent and open process.

"His electors were representatives of the people across Nigeria, Oyo State inclusive and Adedibu cannot by any stretch of imagination know better than the representatives of the people. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," the voice of the people is the voice of God and this was loud and clear in the election of Bankole as Speaker and the party he represents, has also spoken as an overwhelming majority of his electors are from PDP," the statement said.

Femi Aderupatan:World Bank lists Nigeria as ‘fragile state’

THREE years after the World Bank characterised and listed Nigeria as a fragile state, the country remains so listed in a 2007 study report alongside Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Kosovo (territory) and Lao PDR. 

Other countries on the list are Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Tajikistan Timor-Lest, Togo, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Angola, Central African Republic, Haiti, Liberia, Myanmar, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

With revenue receipts for 2008 fiscal year, anchored on $53.8 per barrel of crude oil, the Federal  Government has proposed a capital expenditure profile of N600 billion in the 2008. The budget is expected to be presented to the National Assembly this week.

In its recent report on engaging fragile states by its study group, the bank said: “As defined by the World Bank, all fragile states are characterised by weak policies, institutions, and governance.”
Fragile states, the report said, are:

“Home to almost 500 million people, roughly half of whom earn less than a dollar a day, fragile states, until recently known in the World Bank as low-income countries under stress (LICUS), have attracted increasing attention.

Concern is growing about the ability of these countries to reach development goals as well as about the adverse economic effects they have on neighboring countries and the global spillovers that may follow.

“With their multiplicity of chronic problems, these countries pose some of the toughest development challenges.

Poor governance and extended internal conflicts are common among these countries, which all face similar hurdles: weak security, fractured societal relations, corruption, breakdown in the rule of law, and lack of mechanisms for generating legitimate power and authority.

As low-income countries, LICUS also have a huge backlog of investment needs and limited government resources to meet them.

“Past international engagement with these countries has failed to yield significant improvements, and donors and others continue to struggle with how best to assist fragile states. LICUS are characterised by weak policies, institutions, and governance.

The bank identified 25 such countries in fiscal year 2005. These 25 countries have a number of similarities: their infant mortality rate is a third higher than that of other low-income countries, life expectancy is 12 years lower, and their maternal mortality rate is about 20 percent higher.

“There are also important differences among LICUS. Some grew at around 4 percent per annum during 1995-2003. Others had negative growth rates of a similar magnitude. Some have abundant natural resources, while others are resource-poor.

These differences are recognised in four business models that the bank developed to work with countries in crisis: deterioration, prolonged crisis or impasse, post-conflict or political transition, and gradual improvement”.

According to the bank, plagued by a multitude of chronic problems, fragile states pose some of the toughest development challenges; donors and researchers are grappling with how best to respond to LICUS and have chosen to focus on different aspects of the problem.

Bank lending and administrative budgets to LICUS have increased since the start of the LICUS Initiative and have amounted to about $4.1 billion and $161 million, respectively, during fiscal 2003-05; Post-conflict LICUS absorbed a large share of LICUS lending during fiscal 2003-05.

2008 budget

With revenue receipts for 2008 fiscal year anchored on $53.8 per barrel of crude oil, the Federal  Government has proposed a capital expenditure profile of N600 billion in 2008. The budget is expected to be presented to the National Assembly this week.

Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, who made the disclosure in Abuja, said the budget process for 2009 would begin in February 2008 to enable the government engage all stakeholders in the country in the budgetary process.

He said the 2008 budget process was ongoing with very wide consultation and that right from the onset, the leadership of the National Assembly, civil societies, the private sector, and ministry officials were involved in the process.

It was gathered that all stakeholders are involved in the formulation of the 2008 budget and  each of those involved was given the fiscal strategy of the government as a guide.

Babalola said 60 per cent of the capital budget for 2008 would be put into use in the productive sector in order to grow the economy.

The focus of the budget, he said, was on four key areas: power: agriculture and water, education and security of life and property including the issue of Niger Delta.

The minister said government planned to provide a clear, coherent and consistent economic policy framework for the economy.

Babalola said it was the need for consistent policy framework to drive the economic reforms that made the Federal Government to abolish the waivers and concessions granted to individuals.

He said that such concessions granted in the past did not give a level playing field to economic operators, adding that the federal Government plans to give sectoral concessions which every operator in that sector will benefit from and not concession to individuals

Femi Aderupatan:Squandermaniac!

An insight has been provided into the alleged squandering of Edo State resources by the past administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion.According to the state governor, Senator Osareime Osunbor, the Solid Mineral Plant at Igbesi, for instance, was sold off by the Igbinedion government for just N50 million.

Ironically, the Igbinedion’s administration had claimed to have sunk hundreds of millions of Naira only few years ago to set up the industry.

Osunbor, who revealed how he took charge of a state in which the entire infrastructure and basic amenities had collapsed, said the state when handed over to him was crying for attention.

Not just that, he also inherited a huge debt burden, a situation that compelled his government to embark on a verification exercise of the state’s assets and liabilities.
Speaking in Lagos recently, Osunbor said the exercise had become imperative in view of the fact that his government is at a loss knowing which assets still belong to the government with so many of them having been sold off by the immediate past administration in the state.

He also alleged that some of the assets were sold at grossly under valued rates and cited the sale of the Solid Mineral Plant at Igbesi for N50 million as a case in point.
Former governor Lucky Igbinedion had claimed to have sunk hundreds of millions of Naira of state resources to resucitate it not long before leaving office.

But according to Osunbor, “many people believe that Edo State is blessed with many industries. But that is far from the truth. It may interest you to know that Edo State government no longer owns Ehor Fruit Juice Industry. It’s been sold out by the previous administration.

The solid mineral plant at Igbesi was also sold out for N50 million. The Chemical and Fertiliser plant at Auchi had almost been sold. It has now been slated for privatisation, but the place has been massively vandalised and that has stalled effort at going ahead with privatisation.”

Continuing, he said: “The Cassavita Plant in Uromi was about 90 per cent completed since 2005, but we have recently approved the release of about N99 million to ensure the completion of that plant. The situation in Bendel Brewery and Edo Line are quite critical and government is also considering what nature of intervention will be needed to salvage them.”

Asked about what his next line of action would be, the governor said he would await the outcome of the verification exercise, assuring, however, that due process would be followed even as he pledged that all assets sold through any under-hand deals would be recovered.

Unlawful disposal of government assets
“We are probing the disposal of state assets. What happens at the end of the verification is that the state government would constitute a panel to look at the report within the government. The recommendation emanating from the work of the committee will form the basis of a submission to the state Exco and after that, a white paper may emerge. Whatever happens will be based on the recommendation in the white paper. It may be that some of the options available may include the recovery of those properties that belong to the state government. It’s also open to decide to refer some of these matters for further investigations or prosecution, as the case may be. I cannot say what particular measure will be taken. But I’m telling you what option and how those things, administratively, are done. That is not to pre-empt the outcome of the exercise. I don’t want to do that. We do not intend to undo everything the previous government has done. It’s not possible to unwind the clock. Governance is a continuous exercise. But where in the process of investigation, we discover any under-hand deals, or fraud committed, expectedly, those transactions will not stay. And what was done wrongly will be righted, what belongs to the state will be given back to the state. So, I don’t want to pre-empt the work of the panel.”

Empowerment/skill acquisition
“The issue of skill acquisition and micro-credit are very critical to government developmental efforts. At the National Economic Council, also, the matter of micro-finance has been taken up and states have been enjoined to go and establish micro-finance institutions. My party has also taken it up as a national policy that all PDP controlled states and local government councils must implement. It’s necessary that young people are assisted with access to capital in order to be able to set up and run their business. So, we’d not just stop at training, we’d make funds available to assist people. It’s not just going to be limited to hairdressing, tailoring, and shoe making because we’re looking at maximising the competitive advantage we have in agriculture. We want to encourage our young people to take to agriculture. We have an office of Special Adviser for Farm development to really tackle this issue headlong and assist our young people to be able to go into agriculture. And we’d assist them.”

Contract awards
“We advertise contracts in the media for the public to submit bids. People have expressed surprise that this is the first time they are seeing this kind of transparency and due process through the publication of contracts for the award of projects. How we arrive at the roads to be done is actually a political judgement. There’s no mathematical formula in deciding which road to tar and which road not to tar. But the ultimate responsibility of government is to tar all the roads. However, it’s not possible to do everything all at once. So, we must prioritise. The bids have come in and the deadlines have closed. The Ministry of Works and Tenders Board would make recommendation, which we would take to the State Executive Council because the contracts values are beyond what the governor alone can just act on, unilaterally. So, it will require Exco approval. That’s the process we’re taking.”

Allocation
“Edo State gets a statutory allocation of about N2.3 billion from the federation account on the average every month. This thing fluctuates. For instance, there are many variables that affect it. And sometimes, deductions are made here and there, although the issue of direct deduction from the federation account allocation is something that the governors have been addressing with the presidency. I don’t think that so far, I have received more than N2.5 billion in any particular month. From internally generated revenue (IGR), we’ve been getting between N250-N300 million.”

Mass participation
“I have encouraged a lot of transparency. In fact, when I give out figures in the state, people really marvel that we can be that transparent as to reveal to the public how much is spent on salaries and so on. The wage bill on the payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities every month is about N1.150 billion on the average. So, that leaves us with only just a little above N1 billion to work with. These are facts, which are easily verifiable these days.

There’s nothing to hide. So, the people know exactly how much is coming in, have a fairly good idea of how the money is being used and they can easily be carried along. I have always encouraged mass participation in governance. Democracy entails that people must be part and parcel of the government and must be carried along. So far, I believe that the people of Edo State are beginning to identify with our mission of taking the state to greater height of excellence.”
April 14

“There’s no doubt at all in my mind and in the mind of many observers that I won that election. I won that election under the platform of the PDP. In that election, PDP won 16 seats in the House of Assembly and AC won 8. That election took place simultaneously as that of the governor.

I know that usually, voters vote for the same party, plus or minus say a margin of 5 per cent. If you’re voting PDP for the House of Assembly, you’re almost likely to be voting PDP in the governorship election. So, we can say that broadly speaking, even without looking at the details that the governorship election returned about two-third majority of the votes for the PDP governorship candidate in my person.

In the April 21 election, of course, PDP won the presidential election in Edo State, as well as all three senatorial and nine House of Reps seats. How anybody can say that any other party could have won the governorship election in that situation beats my imagination.

“Whereas the AC candidate took his matter to the tribunal, it’s unfortunate that Adams Oshiomhole will not allow the Tribunal to consider their evidence and give its judgement before they continue to say that the Tribunal will soon declare him the winner and he’d come and right the wrong things in the state. We’re refraining from making any such statements because we respect the integrity of the Tribunal and we’d want it to operate without any interference, threat or innuendo. There’s been a lot of negative propaganda and falsehood circulating about that election.”