Court orders AGF, EFCC to release detained Akingbola, Atuche’s wife
Akingbola
Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered EFCC to Akingbola, his wife Elizabeth, and of his Platinum Habib Bank (BankPHB) counterpart, Francis Atuche, being held in the commission’s custody.
Justices Charles Achibong and Fatimat Nyako gave the orders while ruling on separate ex-parte applications by Akingbola and Mrs. Atuche.
Nyako, however, refused a similar application by Mr. Atuche, but ordered him to put the EFCC on notice by serving the copies on the commission. She adjourned the matter till tomorrow for hearing.
Ruling on Mrs. Atuche’s application yesterday, specifically ordered the EFCC and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), to either release her or produce her before the court tomorrow.
Justice Achibong, whose order in respect of Akingbola was given last Friday, had directed the EFCC to release him, pending the determination of his motion for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
He directed that the order should operate as a stay of all actions, including his planned re-arraignment by the EFCC pending the determination of the said motion. He adjourned further hearing to May 18.
In his application, Atuche wants the court to among others, make an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the EFCC and other agents of the government form further arresting, inviting and interrogating him in respect of issues relating to the case for which he was already being tried before the court.
He is also seeks a similar order restraining the EFCC and other agents of government from re-arraigning, charging or prosecuting him for matters relating to allegations contained in charge number FHC/L/369C/2010 on which he is being tried before the court.
Atuche also wants the court to restraining the Federal Government through any of its agencies, particularly the EFCC, from taking any steps that will render his pending appeal in respect of charge number FHC/L/369/2009 nugatory.
It was averred in a supporting affidavit to the application, that the threat by the EFCC to re-arrest him, having earlier arrested his wife, was targeted at breaching his right to liberty and freedom of movement as earlier upheld by the court in a ruling.
Atuche, who insisted that the arrest and interrogation of his wife was in connection with the pending case against him, urged the court to grant his application.
Who is who on the panel
Dr. Sheikh Ahmed Lemu
He is a former grand Khadi, Niger State. He was appointed Chancellor of the Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State. He has written many books on Islam.
He currently heads the Islamic Trust in Minna, Niger State.
Vice Chairman
Justice Samson Odemwingie Uwaifo
He retired as a Justice of the Supreme Court in January 2005 and has since acted as a Legal Consultant, particularly in the area of litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Justice Uwaifo has, for several years acted both in the capacity of Sole Arbitrator and Chairman of various arbitration panels.
Justice Uwaifo’s over 40 years experience in the legal profession spanned 10 years at the Bar and 30 years on the higher Bench. He has served on many panels including being chairman of Osun State Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Chief Ajibola Ogunshola
He is the immediate past Chairman of Punch and outgoing President of Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN). In 2000, he was a member, Presidential Committee on the Harmonisation of Public Sector and Public Service.
Ogunshola was born on July 14, 1944. He attended the University of Ibadan and the Institute of Actuaries, the United Kingdom.
Professor Femi Odekunle
A graduate of the University of Ibadan in 1968, he bagged his Ph.D. in sociology and social psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in the United States in 1974. He taught at the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria, Kaduna State, from 1970 to early 1990.
In 1994, he was appointed the Chairman, Advisory Committee to Chief of General Staff (CGS) General Oladipo Diya on Socio-Political and Economic Matters.
Lateefat Okunnu
Born on December 3, 1939, Mrs. Okunnu graduated in 1972 from the University of California, Los Angeles.
She was Deputy Governor, Lagos State between 1990 and 1991, Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) between 1992 and 1993; Chairman, Board of Trustees, the Family Support Trust Fund, Lagos State (1995) and currently President, Federation of Muslim Women’s Organisations.
Alhaji Mohammed Danmadami (CON)
He retired from the Nigeria Police in 1983 as an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). He was Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
Born in 1936, Alhaji Danmadami attended the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria between 1955 and 1957; the Southern Police College of Nigeria (1958-59) and the International Police Academy, Washington, the United States in 1970.
Dr. Bukar Usman
Born on November 11, 1965 in Ngala, Borno State, he attended the School of Basic Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1986 and 87) and later at the University of Maiduguri between 1988 and 1994.
He was Chairman, Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association, Borno State chapter (2004-2005), Vice Chiarman, Academic Staff Union, College of Agriculture, Maiduguri; and has been the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Borno State since 2009.
Chukwu Ralph Uwechue
An indigene of Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, Uwechue was born in 1935. He attended the University College (now University of Ibadan) between 1956 and 60.
He served as an Ambassador to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Mission in Cote d’ Ivoire and later Minister of Health in 1993. He was elected President of Pan-Igbo group, Ohaneze Ndigbo in 2008.
Let corps members serve in their regions, says YCE
The Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) yesterday advised that graduates should be allowed to serve within their geo-political regions.
The call followed last month’s post-election violence in the North which led to the death of 10 corps members serving there.
In a four-point communiqué by its Action National Chairman, Chief Dejo Raimi, after its monthly National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the YCE said: “Instead of having to entertain perpetual fears by parents and forcing state governments to evacuate their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) wards out of senseless danger, spreading sentiments and dashing hopes at very costly extremes, the deployment of corps members for their patriotic services should be intra-geo-political zones henceforth.”
The YCE praised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) National Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega and other Nigerians for their role in the success of the elections.
It, however, condemned what it called “cruel persecution of the Corps members” by some people.
YCE said: “The patriotic intentions of the founding fathers of the NYSC programme, as manifested in the electoral processes, have been turned into martyrdom and cruel persecution.
“The YCE abhors this ugly situation; we also condemn in no small measures Nigerians who, by their actions and utterances, turned their states into slaughter slabs with innocent corps members, particularly from the South, as the sacrificial lambs.
“Too many expectant families from the South, who have nurtured and trained their children and wards through thick and thin for decades and have patriotically allowed their children to be of immense help to the needy, the backward and the conservatives are disappointed and thrown into abysmal grief by slaughtering these bright future leaders of Nigeria like they slaughter fowls and goats on the altar of folly, ignorance and bloody wickedness.
“YCE says enough is enough. The blood of the young being spilled
Amosun inaugurates Ogun re-building team
Amosun
Ogun State governor–elect Senator Ibikunle Amosun yesterday inaugurated six committees to draw up practical blue prints on how to re- build the state.
They committees and their heads are Education, Prof. Sherifdeen Tella; Health, Dr Lawan Odusoga; Agriculture, Rural Development and Industrialisation, Prof. Bola Okunneye; Lands, Housing and Urban Renewal Mr Dipo Onabanjo; O. Solarin Budget and Economic Planning; Security and Judiciary, Dr. Kanyisola Ajayi (SAN).
Amosun said they will help his administration develop a holistic and realistic policy document that will “drive rapid development, reposition the state and empower people.”
Addressing the committees and chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at the June 12 Cultural Centre in Abeokuta, the state capital, Amosun said: “Things have gone awry in Ogun State. We grew up with water running and good roads. It is a shame we find ourselves here today. We want to re–invent those good old days that made Ogun thick.”
Amosun, who received his Certificate of Return earlier yesterday from the National Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Alh. Abdullahi Kaigama, urged other newly elected officers to reflect on how projects can be funded, given the “precarious finances” of the state.
He assured residents that the electoral promises of the ACN, such as affordable qualitative education, efficient healthcare delivery, increased agriculture production, industrialisation, housing, urban renewal, rural development and employment, would be fulfilled.
Onabanjo urged Amosun to implement the recommendations of the committees.
Niger Delta women protest corps members’ death
Some of the women in their sober mood
-‘Killers should be brought to book’ -Nigerians urged to love one another
THE sombre visage and black attires spelt out the mood of over 70 women of the Niger Delta who revisited the killing of members of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) in the post-election violence that gripped the North. The women gathered at the Lagos office of the Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG) to protest the killing of the corps members.
What was supposed to be a press briefing took on the character of a funeral service.
The women wore long faces and carried placards.
The protesters who belong to different activism groups across the Niger-Delta, demanded that the perpetrators be brought to book. The women also wanted compensation to be paid to families of the deceased.
The gathering was facilitated by the IMG, a notable Ijaw activism group.
The women sat mournfully, their hands on their chins. By their appearance, one could see that they were not in the mood for chit-chats. There was no side-talk which is typical of such women gatherings; just silent whispers of pain and unuttered groaning for the families of the late corps members. Tears dripped from the eyes of some of them.
“Indeed we are mourning the death of our children,” said Chief (Mrs) Patience Gbogbo, Deputy President of Ijaw Women Leadership Forum (IWLF).
“We, women from the Niger Delta region, are mourning our children along with the mothers across the nation who lost their children in the crisis that broke out after the presidential election. It is painful.
“After carrying a child for nine months, to loose him at birth is painful not to talk of the one you suffered to put through school, up to the higher institution, and when you thought your suffering was over, he is taken away from you just like that. It is indeed painful. We feel their pains and are weeping with them. And this is our own way of showing it,” she said.
Like Mrs Gbogbo, the President of the Southsouth Women Organisation (SSWO) Chief (Mrs) Vickie Djerwudu was also bitter. And she showed it, even though she may not have been directly affected.
“I know those who were affected,” she said.
This scenario, Mrs Djerwudu said, is what is playing out in the homes of many who have lost their children. The corps members, according to her, may well be the last surviving hope of their families.
"And now," she said, "that that hope is dashed, what would happen to them. What would happen to the years of nurturing, the money spent, the love lost?"
The coordinator of the IMG, Comrade Joseph Evah said his group organised the briefing to protest the killings. Evah said the late corps members were heroes in their own rights, adding that they should be immortalised. He also called for the compensation to be made to the families of the deceased.
"We are saying that compensations be paid to the families of the deceased without further delay and the murderers of the corps members must be prosecuted. We know that no compensation can bring back the lives of the dead but it is a step to appreciate that they are heroes who died in active service to the nation and should be given befitting honour by immortalising them. "
The group threatened to go to court if the government refuses to pay the affected families some form of compensation. He said: "However, if the president refuses to pay compensation to these families, we are going to file a suit directly against him to force him to pay. And we would also carry out demonstration against him. Nevertheless, there is no way the president will not sympathise with the families by paying them compensation for their loss."
The women, Evah said, were also protesting the killings and calling for compensations as mothers. He said: "The women out there are mothers from the southsouth. And they are here to join their voices with the parents of the deceased. They are grieved by what is happening."
Like their leaders, the women also spoke with one angry voice, expressing their solidarity with the families of the deceased. Although they were members of various groups from the Niger Delta region, they wore one set of clothing – black – depicting their oneness with their kind who has lost their children, condemning the vicious acts.
To show their discontent, they carried placards in that read thus: ‘What are the offences of the corpers?’, ‘Aaah! After training a child to university…’, ‘Only God can console you parents of late corpers’, ‘Enough is Enough, says Lagos Ijaws’, ‘No more posting to the north’, ‘Ijaw mothers demand corpers to serve in their states’, among others.
They said: "We are not happy. In fact, we are angry. Our children are the hope of tomorrow: they are our future and if we tamper with our future now, what would become of our tomorrow? Pay the families adequate compensations."
They called for the review of the NYSC scheme, saying people should be made to serve in their states. They also urged Nigerians to see themselves as one.
The Matron, Ijaw Christian Women Association, Mrs Deseye Oloye said: "We condemn in strong terms the killing of our children of our children who died serving under the NYSC in Bauchi and other parts of the north. We call on the federal government to immediately amend the laws concerning the NYSC scheme so as to allow this young people to serve in their state of origin. We also call on Nigerians to learn to love and see themselves as brothers and sisters and stop killing one another."
Six arraigned for alleged N12b pension fraud
EFCC chair Mrs Waziri
A Federal High Court, Abuja has granted bail to six persons charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) with a N12 billion pension fraud.
They were arraigned alongside 26 companies on a 134-count charge bordering on corruption, abuse of office and advance fee fraud,
The court discharged Mohammed Katun Ahmed and a company from the charge.
This followed an application by the prosecution counsel, Mr. Godwin Obla, who told Justice Adamu Bello that Ahmed was meant to be a witness.
The six accused persons are former Director of the Pensions Department, Office of the Head of Service, Dr. S. T. Shuaibu, his former Deputy, Mrs. Phina Chidi and his personal assistant, Aliyu Bello.
Others are: Abdullahi Omeiza, Garba Abdullahi Tahir and Emmanuel Olanipekun, who allegedly served as conduit for siphoning the cash from the system.
They all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Counsel to the accused persons urged the court to grant them bail on liberal terms. They asked the court to consider that the accused persons are civil servants and have not violated the terms of their administrative bail.
But Obla told the court that even though he had filed a counter affidavit opposing the applications for bail dated May 6, he would concede to the applications on certain terms.
He urged the court to make an order that will secure the attendance of the accused persons for trial.
Besides, the accused persons must be told to appear before EFCC every Monday as investigations are still underway, the lawyer said.
Obla also urged the court to validate the power of the anti graft agency to hold on to the international passports of the accused persons and to consider that some of the offences with which they are charged attract a jail term of 10 years without an option of fine.
In granting the accused persons bail, Justice Adamu Bello said he considered the concession made by the prosecution and the adherence of the accused persons to the terms of their administrative bail.
He granted them bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety each. The sureties must own landed property worth the bail sum within the jurisdiction of the court. The title of the property is to be verified by the Court’s Deputy Chief Registrar.
The accused persons will also deposit their international passports with the Chief Registrar of the court and must not travel without the court’s permission. They will also report to the EFCC every Monday, until investigations are concluded.
The court ordered that they should be remanded in prison custody, if the bail conditions are not met. The case has been adjourned till June 30 for trial.
How ex-president’s men rigged S’West polls
Fresh documents obtained by Daily Sun have exposed the massive electoral fraud perpetrated by the Peoples Democratic Party in the previous elections, especially in 2003. A comparative analysis of the results of the presidential election in 2003 and 2011, with particular reference to Ogun state, show a rather wide margin between registered voters and actual votes.
The document shows that while the PDP scored 60,444 votes in the presidential elections in Ikenne local Government in 2003, the total registered voters in the same local council in 2011 is 42,192. The population, rather than increase, was depleted by over 18,000, a situation clearly depicting that the 2003 figures were simply allocated to the ruling party and thus had no relationship with the existing register.
Daily Sun was told that former President Olusegun Obasanjo remained the biggest beneficiary of the electoral fraud of the time. Our source said real result sheets were torn and new figures allocated. In Ijebu East local council, the PDP scored 67,370 votes in 2003 while the registered voters in the same council in 2011 was 49,219. The figures again show depletion rather than a natural rise after eight years.
The Ogun case is also an example of the acclaimed credibility of the 2011 elections. In Remo North local council the PDP scored 65,736 in the 2003 Presidential poll while the registered voters eight years after stood at 36,754.
Daily Sun learnt that the practice in the past, as shown in the foregoing figures was to begin the rigging process at the registration point via multiple registration in order to make room for inflation of result figures.
While reacting to the wide disparity, the former Governor of the state, Aremo Segun Osoba, said the figures were a vindication for him and the set of governors in the South –west in 2003 who insist that they were rigged out of office.
“But I pity Obasanjo because in his life time all the electoral fraud he perpetrated are being exposed. He has not only been tamed in Ogun state, he has been caged in the entire country. The 2011 elections have put him where he belongs. It has put him in an Iron cage where he cannot escape. He should now go and live the rest of his life in peace and learn to keep his mouth shut,’ said Osoba whose party, Action Congress of Nigeria won the gubernatorial elections in Ogun state.
Osoba said the 2011 elections were largely credible in that the people’s wishes were respected and expressed optimism that the South West zone has returned to the mainstream progressive politics which has always been their political identity.
He hoped that in the years to come the elections would be more credible, especially given that the use of force and false figures as obtained in the previous years would no longer apply.
The document shows that while the PDP scored 60,444 votes in the presidential elections in Ikenne local Government in 2003, the total registered voters in the same local council in 2011 is 42,192. The population, rather than increase, was depleted by over 18,000, a situation clearly depicting that the 2003 figures were simply allocated to the ruling party and thus had no relationship with the existing register.
Daily Sun was told that former President Olusegun Obasanjo remained the biggest beneficiary of the electoral fraud of the time. Our source said real result sheets were torn and new figures allocated. In Ijebu East local council, the PDP scored 67,370 votes in 2003 while the registered voters in the same council in 2011 was 49,219. The figures again show depletion rather than a natural rise after eight years.
The Ogun case is also an example of the acclaimed credibility of the 2011 elections. In Remo North local council the PDP scored 65,736 in the 2003 Presidential poll while the registered voters eight years after stood at 36,754.
Daily Sun learnt that the practice in the past, as shown in the foregoing figures was to begin the rigging process at the registration point via multiple registration in order to make room for inflation of result figures.
While reacting to the wide disparity, the former Governor of the state, Aremo Segun Osoba, said the figures were a vindication for him and the set of governors in the South –west in 2003 who insist that they were rigged out of office.
“But I pity Obasanjo because in his life time all the electoral fraud he perpetrated are being exposed. He has not only been tamed in Ogun state, he has been caged in the entire country. The 2011 elections have put him where he belongs. It has put him in an Iron cage where he cannot escape. He should now go and live the rest of his life in peace and learn to keep his mouth shut,’ said Osoba whose party, Action Congress of Nigeria won the gubernatorial elections in Ogun state.
Osoba said the 2011 elections were largely credible in that the people’s wishes were respected and expressed optimism that the South West zone has returned to the mainstream progressive politics which has always been their political identity.
He hoped that in the years to come the elections would be more credible, especially given that the use of force and false figures as obtained in the previous years would no longer apply.
SUMMARY OF REGISTERED VOTERS (2011)
S/N LGA NO OF NO OF TOTAL
MALE FEMALE VOTERS
1. ABEOKUTA NORTH 60,235 63,930 124,165
2. ABEOKUTA SOUTH 89,619 102,324 191,943
3. ADO-ODO/OTA 126,933 130,320 257,253
4. EGBADO NORTH 48,872 51,648 100,520
5. EGBADO SOUTH 52,707 53,858 106,565
6. EWEKORO 33,965 26,649 60,614
7. IFO 93,428 108,902 202,330
8. IJEBU EAST 26,785 22,434 49,219
9. IJEBU NORTH 49,086 51,912 100,998
10. IJEBU NORTH EAST 17,214 17,929 35,143
11. IJEBU ODE 37,457 43,227 80,684
12. IKENNE 19,871 22,321 42,192
13. IMEKO/AFON 27,724 27,132 54,856
14. IPOKIA 47,488 50,919 98,407
15. OBAFEMI/OWODE 53,049 52,336 105,385
16. ODEDA 32,274 31,068 63,342
17. ODOGBOLU 36,178 34,943 71,121
18. OGUN WATERSIDE 19,834 17,961 37,795
19. REMO NORTH 19,611 17,143 36,754
20. SAGAMU 60,874 67,098 127,972
TOTAL 953,204 994,054 1,947,258
RESULT OF 2003 PRESIDENTIAL POLL
MALE FEMALE VOTERS
1. ABEOKUTA NORTH 60,235 63,930 124,165
2. ABEOKUTA SOUTH 89,619 102,324 191,943
3. ADO-ODO/OTA 126,933 130,320 257,253
4. EGBADO NORTH 48,872 51,648 100,520
5. EGBADO SOUTH 52,707 53,858 106,565
6. EWEKORO 33,965 26,649 60,614
7. IFO 93,428 108,902 202,330
8. IJEBU EAST 26,785 22,434 49,219
9. IJEBU NORTH 49,086 51,912 100,998
10. IJEBU NORTH EAST 17,214 17,929 35,143
11. IJEBU ODE 37,457 43,227 80,684
12. IKENNE 19,871 22,321 42,192
13. IMEKO/AFON 27,724 27,132 54,856
14. IPOKIA 47,488 50,919 98,407
15. OBAFEMI/OWODE 53,049 52,336 105,385
16. ODEDA 32,274 31,068 63,342
17. ODOGBOLU 36,178 34,943 71,121
18. OGUN WATERSIDE 19,834 17,961 37,795
19. REMO NORTH 19,611 17,143 36,754
20. SAGAMU 60,874 67,098 127,972
TOTAL 953,204 994,054 1,947,258
RESULT OF 2003 PRESIDENTIAL POLL
S/N LGA NO. OF REG PDP (OBJ) VOTES VOTERS
(TENTATIVE)
1. ABK SOUTH 136,939 136,700
2. ABK 175,355 174,766
3. ADO-ODO OTA 206,510 205,445
4. EGBADO
NORTH 100,594 99,588
5. EGBADO
SOUTH 81,297 80,484
6. EWEKOPO 53,037 52,506
7. IFO 127,118 126,846
8. IJEBU EAST 67,540 67,370
9. IJEBU NORTH 168,O41 167,360
10. IJEBU NORTH
EAST 41,992 41,572
11. IJEBU ODE 78,383 77,599
12. IKENNE 61,055 60,445
13. IMEKO/AFON 52,760 52,632
14. IPOKIA 98,645 98,000
15. OBAFEMI
OWODA 96,465 96,000
16. ODEDA 72,218 71,495
17. ODOGBOLU 68,877 67,499
18. OGUN WATERSIDE 67,501 67,001
19. REMO NORTH 66,501 65,736
20. SAGAMU 127,946 127,946
TOTAL 1,949,124 1,936,990
(99.38%)
(TENTATIVE)
1. ABK SOUTH 136,939 136,700
2. ABK 175,355 174,766
3. ADO-ODO OTA 206,510 205,445
4. EGBADO
NORTH 100,594 99,588
5. EGBADO
SOUTH 81,297 80,484
6. EWEKOPO 53,037 52,506
7. IFO 127,118 126,846
8. IJEBU EAST 67,540 67,370
9. IJEBU NORTH 168,O41 167,360
10. IJEBU NORTH
EAST 41,992 41,572
11. IJEBU ODE 78,383 77,599
12. IKENNE 61,055 60,445
13. IMEKO/AFON 52,760 52,632
14. IPOKIA 98,645 98,000
15. OBAFEMI
OWODA 96,465 96,000
16. ODEDA 72,218 71,495
17. ODOGBOLU 68,877 67,499
18. OGUN WATERSIDE 67,501 67,001
19. REMO NORTH 66,501 65,736
20. SAGAMU 127,946 127,946
TOTAL 1,949,124 1,936,990
(99.38%)
How we caged OBJ –Osoba
•Says ex-president should learn to shut his mouth
•Says ex-president should learn to shut his mouth
Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Ogun state and former governor of the state Aremo Segun Osoba says the 2011 elections have exposed the previous malpractices of the Peoples Democratic Party and effectively caged former President Olusegun Obasanjo who allegedly played active roles in the misdemeanor.
Speaking to Daily Sun in his Ikoyi residence shortly before traveling out of the country Osoba said the South West has returned to what he described as ‘progressive politics’ and that Obasanjo’s ‘fraudulent political activities are being exposed’. He said his party worked so hard and ensured that the former president lost both in his polling booth and his village. He said a comparative analysis of results of the presidential election in 2003 and 2011 will expose the irregularities perpetrated by the PDP in 2003 with the alleged participation of president Obasanjo.[see the figures below]
‘Obasanjo has been put in an iron cage…he should now learn to keep his mouth shut. No more grandstanding’ Osoba told Daily Sun, insisting that his set of governors in the south west were rigged out of office by the PDP machinery. Excerpts of the interview:
Can you give a general appraisal of the 2011 elections?
I can only talk for Ogun State where it became clear to me that in a well organized, free and fair election, the progressive forces are still politically in control of the South West. The South West is one zone where I can vouch that the 2011 elections were free and fair. Some of the figures from many parts of the country do not make me feel comfortable that elections in some of those places were free and fair because the figures are so large and unimaginable. It was surprising that they could count such figures within so short a time and announce the results the same day.
What do you say about the emergence of CAN as the main opposition in the country?
I have always told the whole world that we are the main progressive party in the country. But because the retrogressive forces conducted the 2003 and 2007 elections in such a fraudulent manner people did not realize that we progressives are so strong in this country. That is what the last election has shown. It should not actually be a surprise to people. It is just that we had been denied our right through massive rigging in the past. I am confident that when the 2015 election is held and there would have been improvement in the modified open-secret ballot system which we have been advocating, we will be the leading party in this country.
How has Ogun State fared since you left office and what are the prospects for the state under the in-coming administration.
Eight years after I left office, I went round on a tour of the entire state during the last campaigns and I got the shocker of my life in that the level of rot I found in all aspects. I was very disappointed. For example, all the neighbouring areas of the state with Lagos State where there had been upsurge of population from resulting in movement from Lagos, I found in total decay in infrastructural facilities. All the way from Julius Berger to Ojodu, to Alagbole, Agbado do not have water supply. There are no roads. The road I did along Toyin 11 years ago is still the only passable road other than the ones the Lagos State Government did. Both sides of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from Berger have had an upsurge in population, including the journalists’ village in Arepo. Al those areas, Ibafo, Magboro, Mowe and the entire Ofada area is in more serious infrastructural neglect. A Chinese company built the only primary school in Magboro. That shows you the level of neglect the people of Ogun have suffered under the PDP.
What prospects does the state now have under ACN
Serious challenges. I have told our governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, that I don’t envy him because he is going to meet mountains of challenges and problems that are very daunting. Salaries have not been paid up till date, even WAEC fees have not been paid up to date. Meanwhile, out-goingovernor Gbenga Daniel is setting booby traps for Amosun. He has accepted to pay minimum wage, which he has not paid. This a deliberate act to frustrate Amosun. He has been employing workers on a large scale. He is doing all these deliberately to embarrass the in-coming government. He has been selling assets of the government to his cronies. I did not do anything of the sort. I did not even buy a single car. The only person who bought a car from the government was my deputy, Gbenga Kaka, who went to meet Daniel and Daniel sold it to him at the market rate. Now he is selling hundreds of vehicles belonging to the state government
There was a time Daniel said that most of the people in those areas you mentioned earlier work in Lagos and pay their taxes there.
I heard that story and I was scandalized that a governor would deny Nigerians, even non Nigerians living within his territory their rights in terms of facilities. It is terribly insensitive and smacks of lack of compassion for fellow human beings. I would never have said such a thing. I knew that the sudden development of Ibafo area was coming and that was why I electrified Ibafo during my time as governor. We electrified the place. All the way from the Redeemed Camp to Ibafo. Today, all that area has become a brand new mega city but it is unplanned and lacks any modicum of infrastructure in terms of roads and schools. It makes me weep for Ogun State.
There is a trend now in the South West whereby political leaders and elders like you are bringing members of their families, their wives and children into political offices, this was something Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not do?
Papa Awolowo did it. We are Awoists to the core and we are following in his footsteps in every respect. In 1979, Papa Awolowo was the presidential candidate, his son Wole, contested to represent Apapa in Lagos State House of Assembly and won. He was returned in 1983. So we are doing nothing new to our Papa’s philosophy, ideology and ways of life.
Are you satisfied now that former president Olusegun Obasanjo has been effectively tamed in Ogun State?
He has not only been tamed in Ogun State, he has been caged in the entire country. The 2011 elections have put him where he belongs. It has put him in an iron cage where he cannot escape. He should now go and live the rest of his life in peace and learn to keep his mouth shut. No more grand standing and I have my reasons for saying so.
What are your reasons?
I pity him that in his lifetime his fraudulent political activities are being exposed. I will give you an example. I have with me here the results of his fraudulent election results in 2003 and the voters’ register currently in Ogun State. When you compare the two figures you will laugh off your head at the fraud perpetrated in 2003 under Obasanjo’s watch.
In Ikenne Local Government area, for instance, total number of votes scored by Obasanjo in the presidential election in 2003 was 60,445. Obviously these are figures he wrote for himself because the total number of registered voters in 2011 in the same Ikenne, eight years after, was 42,192. It means that half of Ikenne people died. Was there a Tsunami there or what,[general laughter]?
Obasanjo claimed to have scored 99 percent of the votes in Ogun State and that came to 1.93 million. Eight years after, the total number of registered voters in the state was almost the same thing. We are not talking about those who actually came out to vote.
Let me give you another example, with the result from Remo North Local Government. In 2003, he wrote for himself 65,736 votes, but the total number of registered voters in 2011, eight years after, was 36,754. So half of the people there died. So what you are seeing today is exposure of total fraud. It is an example of how we have been shortchanged. It also proves what we had always said that we were rigged out in 2003 by Obasanjo. These are figures that cannot be controverted.
There are fears that godfathers will not allow Ibikunle Amosun to be his own man and govern the state?
If you look at my antecedents, I successfully ran three major newspapers in this country. In The Herald, I handed over to a new chief executive, I never looked back. In Sketch, I handed over to my very close friend, the late Peter Ajayi, I never looked back. Yemi Ogunbiyi is still alive, I handed over to him in Daily Times and I did not look back. It is going to be the same thing.
I led the campaign in Ogun State and I am happy to say that while I was doing grassroots campaign, ward to ward, local government to local government, we did so well that we delivered Ogun State even beyond our expectation. It was such that Obasanjo lost at his own polling booth, he also lost at his village in Ibogun. That will show you how effective our campaign was.
I am also highly impressed that we did not have any external funding of any sort. Our members tasked themselves and contributed their own little quota, including Fola Adeola who was our vice presidential candidate. Our members made sacrifices, for example, our agents at the polling centres were paid only N2000 per person. Yet, they did not fall into the temptation of those carrying big money, namely the PDP and PPN. They did not compromise, all members of the ACN sacrificed and worked hard for succcess.
If there is going to be any godfather, it will be the party policies and programmes which Governor Ibikunle Amosun must implement. There is no external godfather that pumped money into the party in Ogun State. I, as the leader of the party in the state will not interfere because all my life I have never looked back to interfere with those I handed over to in the past.
What went wrong with the alliance with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)?
It was basically distrust. (General Mohammadu) Buhari (retd), was not sure that he would get the ticket if both parties fused into one. That was the bottom line. If we had merged and he came to run on the platform of our party it would have been a different story today. What he suffered in the ANPP where he was tossed around and he eventually formed his own party may have influenced his distrust. But the party he formed which was CPC did not have any serious structure. It had mass following but tested politicians were not in the party. He became a lone ranger as leader and campaign leader for the party.
That was too much for one man to carry.
Some people said that it was the division in the PDP in Ogun State which gave birth to PPN that gave your party an opportunity to win in the state, is it true?
I have given them a challenge that they should quickly settle their quarrel, combine their votes, choose Isiaka or Olurin as their candidate. If the totality of their votes put together is more than our own, then I will immediately concede victory to them. Ebenezer Babatope who is not an indigene of Ogun State has been shooting his mouth with such comments. But he is not being scientific. We scored 377,487 votes, PDP scored 188,698 PPN scored 138,057 votes. If you add their votes, it still does not beat our votes. So what are they talking about? In fact, if they had remained in PDP we would beaten them even better because the vehemence of the people would have shown more. They are lucky that the first election of April 2 was cancelled. Their defeat would have been more devastating.
Speaking to Daily Sun in his Ikoyi residence shortly before traveling out of the country Osoba said the South West has returned to what he described as ‘progressive politics’ and that Obasanjo’s ‘fraudulent political activities are being exposed’. He said his party worked so hard and ensured that the former president lost both in his polling booth and his village. He said a comparative analysis of results of the presidential election in 2003 and 2011 will expose the irregularities perpetrated by the PDP in 2003 with the alleged participation of president Obasanjo.[see the figures below]
‘Obasanjo has been put in an iron cage…he should now learn to keep his mouth shut. No more grandstanding’ Osoba told Daily Sun, insisting that his set of governors in the south west were rigged out of office by the PDP machinery. Excerpts of the interview:
Can you give a general appraisal of the 2011 elections?
I can only talk for Ogun State where it became clear to me that in a well organized, free and fair election, the progressive forces are still politically in control of the South West. The South West is one zone where I can vouch that the 2011 elections were free and fair. Some of the figures from many parts of the country do not make me feel comfortable that elections in some of those places were free and fair because the figures are so large and unimaginable. It was surprising that they could count such figures within so short a time and announce the results the same day.
What do you say about the emergence of CAN as the main opposition in the country?
I have always told the whole world that we are the main progressive party in the country. But because the retrogressive forces conducted the 2003 and 2007 elections in such a fraudulent manner people did not realize that we progressives are so strong in this country. That is what the last election has shown. It should not actually be a surprise to people. It is just that we had been denied our right through massive rigging in the past. I am confident that when the 2015 election is held and there would have been improvement in the modified open-secret ballot system which we have been advocating, we will be the leading party in this country.
How has Ogun State fared since you left office and what are the prospects for the state under the in-coming administration.
Eight years after I left office, I went round on a tour of the entire state during the last campaigns and I got the shocker of my life in that the level of rot I found in all aspects. I was very disappointed. For example, all the neighbouring areas of the state with Lagos State where there had been upsurge of population from resulting in movement from Lagos, I found in total decay in infrastructural facilities. All the way from Julius Berger to Ojodu, to Alagbole, Agbado do not have water supply. There are no roads. The road I did along Toyin 11 years ago is still the only passable road other than the ones the Lagos State Government did. Both sides of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from Berger have had an upsurge in population, including the journalists’ village in Arepo. Al those areas, Ibafo, Magboro, Mowe and the entire Ofada area is in more serious infrastructural neglect. A Chinese company built the only primary school in Magboro. That shows you the level of neglect the people of Ogun have suffered under the PDP.
What prospects does the state now have under ACN
Serious challenges. I have told our governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, that I don’t envy him because he is going to meet mountains of challenges and problems that are very daunting. Salaries have not been paid up till date, even WAEC fees have not been paid up to date. Meanwhile, out-goingovernor Gbenga Daniel is setting booby traps for Amosun. He has accepted to pay minimum wage, which he has not paid. This a deliberate act to frustrate Amosun. He has been employing workers on a large scale. He is doing all these deliberately to embarrass the in-coming government. He has been selling assets of the government to his cronies. I did not do anything of the sort. I did not even buy a single car. The only person who bought a car from the government was my deputy, Gbenga Kaka, who went to meet Daniel and Daniel sold it to him at the market rate. Now he is selling hundreds of vehicles belonging to the state government
There was a time Daniel said that most of the people in those areas you mentioned earlier work in Lagos and pay their taxes there.
I heard that story and I was scandalized that a governor would deny Nigerians, even non Nigerians living within his territory their rights in terms of facilities. It is terribly insensitive and smacks of lack of compassion for fellow human beings. I would never have said such a thing. I knew that the sudden development of Ibafo area was coming and that was why I electrified Ibafo during my time as governor. We electrified the place. All the way from the Redeemed Camp to Ibafo. Today, all that area has become a brand new mega city but it is unplanned and lacks any modicum of infrastructure in terms of roads and schools. It makes me weep for Ogun State.
There is a trend now in the South West whereby political leaders and elders like you are bringing members of their families, their wives and children into political offices, this was something Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not do?
Papa Awolowo did it. We are Awoists to the core and we are following in his footsteps in every respect. In 1979, Papa Awolowo was the presidential candidate, his son Wole, contested to represent Apapa in Lagos State House of Assembly and won. He was returned in 1983. So we are doing nothing new to our Papa’s philosophy, ideology and ways of life.
Are you satisfied now that former president Olusegun Obasanjo has been effectively tamed in Ogun State?
He has not only been tamed in Ogun State, he has been caged in the entire country. The 2011 elections have put him where he belongs. It has put him in an iron cage where he cannot escape. He should now go and live the rest of his life in peace and learn to keep his mouth shut. No more grand standing and I have my reasons for saying so.
What are your reasons?
I pity him that in his lifetime his fraudulent political activities are being exposed. I will give you an example. I have with me here the results of his fraudulent election results in 2003 and the voters’ register currently in Ogun State. When you compare the two figures you will laugh off your head at the fraud perpetrated in 2003 under Obasanjo’s watch.
In Ikenne Local Government area, for instance, total number of votes scored by Obasanjo in the presidential election in 2003 was 60,445. Obviously these are figures he wrote for himself because the total number of registered voters in 2011 in the same Ikenne, eight years after, was 42,192. It means that half of Ikenne people died. Was there a Tsunami there or what,[general laughter]?
Obasanjo claimed to have scored 99 percent of the votes in Ogun State and that came to 1.93 million. Eight years after, the total number of registered voters in the state was almost the same thing. We are not talking about those who actually came out to vote.
Let me give you another example, with the result from Remo North Local Government. In 2003, he wrote for himself 65,736 votes, but the total number of registered voters in 2011, eight years after, was 36,754. So half of the people there died. So what you are seeing today is exposure of total fraud. It is an example of how we have been shortchanged. It also proves what we had always said that we were rigged out in 2003 by Obasanjo. These are figures that cannot be controverted.
There are fears that godfathers will not allow Ibikunle Amosun to be his own man and govern the state?
If you look at my antecedents, I successfully ran three major newspapers in this country. In The Herald, I handed over to a new chief executive, I never looked back. In Sketch, I handed over to my very close friend, the late Peter Ajayi, I never looked back. Yemi Ogunbiyi is still alive, I handed over to him in Daily Times and I did not look back. It is going to be the same thing.
I led the campaign in Ogun State and I am happy to say that while I was doing grassroots campaign, ward to ward, local government to local government, we did so well that we delivered Ogun State even beyond our expectation. It was such that Obasanjo lost at his own polling booth, he also lost at his village in Ibogun. That will show you how effective our campaign was.
I am also highly impressed that we did not have any external funding of any sort. Our members tasked themselves and contributed their own little quota, including Fola Adeola who was our vice presidential candidate. Our members made sacrifices, for example, our agents at the polling centres were paid only N2000 per person. Yet, they did not fall into the temptation of those carrying big money, namely the PDP and PPN. They did not compromise, all members of the ACN sacrificed and worked hard for succcess.
If there is going to be any godfather, it will be the party policies and programmes which Governor Ibikunle Amosun must implement. There is no external godfather that pumped money into the party in Ogun State. I, as the leader of the party in the state will not interfere because all my life I have never looked back to interfere with those I handed over to in the past.
What went wrong with the alliance with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)?
It was basically distrust. (General Mohammadu) Buhari (retd), was not sure that he would get the ticket if both parties fused into one. That was the bottom line. If we had merged and he came to run on the platform of our party it would have been a different story today. What he suffered in the ANPP where he was tossed around and he eventually formed his own party may have influenced his distrust. But the party he formed which was CPC did not have any serious structure. It had mass following but tested politicians were not in the party. He became a lone ranger as leader and campaign leader for the party.
That was too much for one man to carry.
Some people said that it was the division in the PDP in Ogun State which gave birth to PPN that gave your party an opportunity to win in the state, is it true?
I have given them a challenge that they should quickly settle their quarrel, combine their votes, choose Isiaka or Olurin as their candidate. If the totality of their votes put together is more than our own, then I will immediately concede victory to them. Ebenezer Babatope who is not an indigene of Ogun State has been shooting his mouth with such comments. But he is not being scientific. We scored 377,487 votes, PDP scored 188,698 PPN scored 138,057 votes. If you add their votes, it still does not beat our votes. So what are they talking about? In fact, if they had remained in PDP we would beaten them even better because the vehemence of the people would have shown more. They are lucky that the first election of April 2 was cancelled. Their defeat would have been more devastating.
How Senate Leader Folarin’s masterstroke unsettled Oyo PDP
Folarin |
He was elected Senator for the first time in 2003. But from 2003 to 2007, his voice was hardly heard on the floor of the Senate. However, when the sixth Senate was inaugurated in June 2007, Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin surprisingly emerged as the Senate Leader. And because his predecessor, Senator Dalhatu Tafida, was an experienced politician, many political observers, including most of the reportes coving the Senate then, doubted Folarin’s ability to lead the Upper Chamber in that capacity.
Interestingly too, in his first major interview with the Daily Sun, published on June 18, 2007, shortly after inauguration, Folarin admitted in that interview that for him, the first four years, was a “learning process” and that Nigerians, should look forward to a “new Folarin.”
He was the first to predict early in the life of the current Senate that although the Senate leadership would not be a “rubber stamp,” it would ensure that the acrimonious relationship between the executive and the legislature that characterised the previous Senate (1999 to 2007) did not repeat itself . And as the current Senate prepares to leave the stage , it is on record that since 1999, the current Senate leadership was the first to escape the proverbial banana peel that saw the previous Senate changed leadership, unceremoniously.
In response to whether or not he could fit into Tafida’s shoes then, Folarin had said: “Well, I have a lot of respect for the Senator you’re talking about. I mean Senator Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, he has done well, he has set a standard, and there is no question about that. But I am also a believer in the young shall grow. I will be deceiving myself to say I want to surpass him. My aim now is to try to maintain the standard he has left behind, that is if I cannot surpass the standard. So, if after four years we are able to exceed that (standard), then we thank God.”
By next month, Folarin’s tenure as the Senate Leader will end. And like his predecessor, he also lost the attempt to return to the Senate. Unlike his predecessor however, whose ticket was controversially snatched from him by the then governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, after he (Tafida) had won the party’s ticket in a controversial circumstances, political encumbrances had been set on Senator Folarin’s path by his sworn enemies within Oyo State, to ensure that he did not return to the Senate.
A return ticket for Folarin, Daily Sun gathered authoritatively, it was feared could put paid to the alleged ambition of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello of becoming Nigeria’s first female Senate President.
In the beginning
Before the death of Chief Lamidi Adedibu, it was an open secret within Ibadan and its environs that Senator Folarin was nursing a gubernatorial ambition. But because there were feelers that the late Adedibu, was more likely to field his son, Senator Kamorudeen Adedibu, Folarin, was said to have shelved, albeit, temporarily, his governorship ambition.
After Adedibu’s death, it was the thinking in the Folarin camp that the coast was clear. But the death of the acclaimed strong man of Ibadan politics, also emboldened the out-going Oyo Governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, to build his own structure, after the death of Adedibu, with a view to ensuring that he not only secured the party’s ticket, but win the coveted seat.
But that precipitated a lasting feud, as Senators Lekan Balogun, Folarin and Akala’s former deputy, Hazeem .Gbolarumi, drew the battle line, with Akala’s men. But the governor’s men dismissed Folarin as a “featherweight” politician, who is not capable of doing any harm, to their political ambition and calculations. Unknown to them, however, Folarin is surrounded by intellectuals, led by Dr. Deolu Akande, his friend, who on daily basis, analyzed the political situation in Oyo State, and make projections.
It was this Think- tank of the group that plotted the strategy that saw Lateef Akinsola (a.k.a Tokyo), leader of the state’s National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, winning his battle through the Industrial Court, unlike his usual recourse to violence.
Unfortunately for the Akala’s group, he was fighting on all fronts, having engaged the traditional rulers in the state, in a dirty war, particularly the Olubadan and the Alaafin of Oyo.
Real Reason Folarin was denied Senate ticket
Unknown to many, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, allegedly played a prominent role in the events that led to Folarin’s loss of the PDP ticket. Daily Sun was reliably informed that Obasanjo had visited Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land, Alhaji Azeez Arisekola Alao, to canvass support for both Akala and Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. Aare was however, said not to be favourably disposed to Obasanjo’s plan. He was said to have told Obasanjo that in Folarin’s battle with Akala, if Akala spends N500 million, and Folarin spends just N250 million, Folarin would triumph over Akala at the end of the day because of primordial sentiment that thrives in Ibadan for ‘’a son of the soil,’’ coupled with religious differences .
On the Senate Presidency tussle, Aare was said to have told some of his loyalists that “how can we see good coming to Ibadan, and we will now decide that we don’t want it, instead we will work for another person outside our State, is that really possible?”
In spite of Aare’s opposition to the plan, the plotters, Daily Sun learnt went ahead with their hatchet job, with Folarin’s unwittingly falling into a trap, designed to put him behind bars permanently till after the 2011 polls. The Presidency which had initially been hoodwinked got the instant illumination that saved Folarin when the police could not substantiate its allegation that Folarin was the mastermind of the murder of Lateef Salako (a.k.a Eleweomo), a factional leader of NUTRW.
Interestingly too, in his first major interview with the Daily Sun, published on June 18, 2007, shortly after inauguration, Folarin admitted in that interview that for him, the first four years, was a “learning process” and that Nigerians, should look forward to a “new Folarin.”
He was the first to predict early in the life of the current Senate that although the Senate leadership would not be a “rubber stamp,” it would ensure that the acrimonious relationship between the executive and the legislature that characterised the previous Senate (1999 to 2007) did not repeat itself . And as the current Senate prepares to leave the stage , it is on record that since 1999, the current Senate leadership was the first to escape the proverbial banana peel that saw the previous Senate changed leadership, unceremoniously.
In response to whether or not he could fit into Tafida’s shoes then, Folarin had said: “Well, I have a lot of respect for the Senator you’re talking about. I mean Senator Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, he has done well, he has set a standard, and there is no question about that. But I am also a believer in the young shall grow. I will be deceiving myself to say I want to surpass him. My aim now is to try to maintain the standard he has left behind, that is if I cannot surpass the standard. So, if after four years we are able to exceed that (standard), then we thank God.”
By next month, Folarin’s tenure as the Senate Leader will end. And like his predecessor, he also lost the attempt to return to the Senate. Unlike his predecessor however, whose ticket was controversially snatched from him by the then governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, after he (Tafida) had won the party’s ticket in a controversial circumstances, political encumbrances had been set on Senator Folarin’s path by his sworn enemies within Oyo State, to ensure that he did not return to the Senate.
A return ticket for Folarin, Daily Sun gathered authoritatively, it was feared could put paid to the alleged ambition of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello of becoming Nigeria’s first female Senate President.
In the beginning
Before the death of Chief Lamidi Adedibu, it was an open secret within Ibadan and its environs that Senator Folarin was nursing a gubernatorial ambition. But because there were feelers that the late Adedibu, was more likely to field his son, Senator Kamorudeen Adedibu, Folarin, was said to have shelved, albeit, temporarily, his governorship ambition.
After Adedibu’s death, it was the thinking in the Folarin camp that the coast was clear. But the death of the acclaimed strong man of Ibadan politics, also emboldened the out-going Oyo Governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, to build his own structure, after the death of Adedibu, with a view to ensuring that he not only secured the party’s ticket, but win the coveted seat.
But that precipitated a lasting feud, as Senators Lekan Balogun, Folarin and Akala’s former deputy, Hazeem .Gbolarumi, drew the battle line, with Akala’s men. But the governor’s men dismissed Folarin as a “featherweight” politician, who is not capable of doing any harm, to their political ambition and calculations. Unknown to them, however, Folarin is surrounded by intellectuals, led by Dr. Deolu Akande, his friend, who on daily basis, analyzed the political situation in Oyo State, and make projections.
It was this Think- tank of the group that plotted the strategy that saw Lateef Akinsola (a.k.a Tokyo), leader of the state’s National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, winning his battle through the Industrial Court, unlike his usual recourse to violence.
Unfortunately for the Akala’s group, he was fighting on all fronts, having engaged the traditional rulers in the state, in a dirty war, particularly the Olubadan and the Alaafin of Oyo.
Real Reason Folarin was denied Senate ticket
Unknown to many, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, allegedly played a prominent role in the events that led to Folarin’s loss of the PDP ticket. Daily Sun was reliably informed that Obasanjo had visited Aare Musulumi of Yoruba land, Alhaji Azeez Arisekola Alao, to canvass support for both Akala and Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. Aare was however, said not to be favourably disposed to Obasanjo’s plan. He was said to have told Obasanjo that in Folarin’s battle with Akala, if Akala spends N500 million, and Folarin spends just N250 million, Folarin would triumph over Akala at the end of the day because of primordial sentiment that thrives in Ibadan for ‘’a son of the soil,’’ coupled with religious differences .
On the Senate Presidency tussle, Aare was said to have told some of his loyalists that “how can we see good coming to Ibadan, and we will now decide that we don’t want it, instead we will work for another person outside our State, is that really possible?”
In spite of Aare’s opposition to the plan, the plotters, Daily Sun learnt went ahead with their hatchet job, with Folarin’s unwittingly falling into a trap, designed to put him behind bars permanently till after the 2011 polls. The Presidency which had initially been hoodwinked got the instant illumination that saved Folarin when the police could not substantiate its allegation that Folarin was the mastermind of the murder of Lateef Salako (a.k.a Eleweomo), a factional leader of NUTRW.
Speaker: Battle shifts to Aso Rock
...As Gov Obi leads lobby to Jonathan
...As Gov Obi leads lobby to Jonathan
The battle for the position of House of Representatives Speaker has shifted to Aso Rock as Chairman of South-East governor’s Forum, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, has accepted to lead a lobby team to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan this week.
Governor Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance [APGA], assured South-East Caucus in the House that he would rally other governors from the zone to lobby the president for the zoning of the position to the South-East.
The leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] was yet to name the zone that will fill the position of the Speaker currently held by the South-West.
PDP’s poor outing in the South-West in the April elections had given other zones to demand for the number four position, but it was believed that a meeting of the leaders of the party at Obudu Ranch, Cross River State which had the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in attendance agreed to retain the zoning arrangement as presently constituted.
A delegation of members from the zone, led by Mr Emeka Ihedioha met Governor Obi at the weekend in Awka, where the demands of the caucus were made known to him.
Even though he belonged to another party, the Governor was told about the brilliant performances of the PDP in the zone in the concluded general elections.
Last week, the caucus met in Abuja to review the demand for political posts and concluded that only the President of the Senate or the position of the Speaker of the House befitted the zone in view of the performances in the polls.
The members therefore implored the leadership of the PDP to reward the South-East zone in the spirit of fairness and the delivery of more than 90 % of votes cast for the President.
A dependable source at the meeting said that the governor assured that he would rally his brother governors to meet with President Jonathan immediately he returns from his official trip to Uganda.
Rep .Emeka Ihedioha was at the fore- front of returnee members from the zone, who had declared interest to compete for the Speaker seat.
Others in the race from the zone are Bethel Amadi from Imo State, Oguefi Ozomgbachi from Enugu and Ezuiche Ubani, Abia.
Governor Obi of the All Progressives Grand Alliance [APGA], assured South-East Caucus in the House that he would rally other governors from the zone to lobby the president for the zoning of the position to the South-East.
The leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] was yet to name the zone that will fill the position of the Speaker currently held by the South-West.
PDP’s poor outing in the South-West in the April elections had given other zones to demand for the number four position, but it was believed that a meeting of the leaders of the party at Obudu Ranch, Cross River State which had the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in attendance agreed to retain the zoning arrangement as presently constituted.
A delegation of members from the zone, led by Mr Emeka Ihedioha met Governor Obi at the weekend in Awka, where the demands of the caucus were made known to him.
Even though he belonged to another party, the Governor was told about the brilliant performances of the PDP in the zone in the concluded general elections.
Last week, the caucus met in Abuja to review the demand for political posts and concluded that only the President of the Senate or the position of the Speaker of the House befitted the zone in view of the performances in the polls.
The members therefore implored the leadership of the PDP to reward the South-East zone in the spirit of fairness and the delivery of more than 90 % of votes cast for the President.
A dependable source at the meeting said that the governor assured that he would rally his brother governors to meet with President Jonathan immediately he returns from his official trip to Uganda.
Rep .Emeka Ihedioha was at the fore- front of returnee members from the zone, who had declared interest to compete for the Speaker seat.
Others in the race from the zone are Bethel Amadi from Imo State, Oguefi Ozomgbachi from Enugu and Ezuiche Ubani, Abia.
Imo guber fallout: Ohakim’s kinsmen bar him from church service
Barely few days after the just-concluded Imo State gubernatorial elections, youths of the Okohia, Isiala Mbano country home of Governor Ikedi Ohakim have moved against him over alleged neglect of the community in the last four years of his administration.
Daily Sum learnt that last Sunday, youths of the area on learning that the governor and his family were billed for a special church service at the St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Okohia stormed the church, smashing windows and sacking the priests who were expected to officiate the church service.
The youths were said to have barricaded the church entrance insisting that the outgoing governor would not be allowed to attend church service in the area until he (Ohakim) rendered account of his stewardship to the community.
According to sources, the youths numbering about 50 wanted the governor to explain what he did for his Okohia community for the last four years he piloted the affairs of the state.
When the report got to the governor who was set for the service, the Chief of Staff, Emma Ohakim was said to have gone to the church to intervene in the matter but the rampaging youths were adamant challenging him to point out to any benefit the community had received from Ohakim’s administration as the church service was aborted.
Meanwhlie, the police spokesman Mr. Linus Nwaiwu (DSP) said that the command is yet to be briefed over the matter.
Daily Sum learnt that last Sunday, youths of the area on learning that the governor and his family were billed for a special church service at the St. Michael’s Anglican Church, Okohia stormed the church, smashing windows and sacking the priests who were expected to officiate the church service.
The youths were said to have barricaded the church entrance insisting that the outgoing governor would not be allowed to attend church service in the area until he (Ohakim) rendered account of his stewardship to the community.
According to sources, the youths numbering about 50 wanted the governor to explain what he did for his Okohia community for the last four years he piloted the affairs of the state.
When the report got to the governor who was set for the service, the Chief of Staff, Emma Ohakim was said to have gone to the church to intervene in the matter but the rampaging youths were adamant challenging him to point out to any benefit the community had received from Ohakim’s administration as the church service was aborted.
Meanwhlie, the police spokesman Mr. Linus Nwaiwu (DSP) said that the command is yet to be briefed over the matter.
…Hold Jonathan responsible –CPC
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on Monday blamed President Goodluck Jonathan for the post-election violence that erupted in some Northern parts of the country, saying his determination to win elections by any means was responsible for the blood letting in the North.
The party, however, extended its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and property as a result of the violence that occasioned the elections, adding that as a disciplined and responsible political party, the CPC would not subscribe to any form of violence.
National legal Adviser to the CPC, Abubakar Malami who made the position of the party public at a press briefing, likened the post-election violence to the anger of the people of the Western Region in 1965 and the people of Ondo State in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South West in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results.
In a press statement entitled “Seeking to Establish The Truth of the 2011 Presidential Election,” the CPC said it has enough evidence to expose all the elements of the flawed election at the presidential election tribunal.
According to the text “let us again on behalf of all members and sympathizers of our great party extend our heart-felt sympathy and condolences to the families of those who lost their lives or property as a result of the violence that occasioned the elections. This includes all those affected before, during and after the polls. We would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate that our party is composed of responsible and discipline members who do not in any way subscribe to the perpetration of any evil much less of encouraging any.
“Our national history has however taught us that the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means has always given birth to spontaneous reactions in the form of break down of law and order.”
We recall the anger of the people of the Western Region in 1965 and the people of Ondo state in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South west in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results. The people spontaneously rose against these barbaric actions of the government. Police stations and houses of prominent NNA and NPN supporters were burnt and many people killed. In the case of Ondo State, the judicial decision that ceded Ondo back to the UPN came within the context of citizens’ determined effort to protect their votes. We are all living witnesses that the nation’s democracy suffered irreparably as a result.
“To us in the CPC, it is our belief that the break down of law and order that ensued after the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as the President-elect on the basis of concocted results was the bye product of the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means which has always characterized such actions by historical antecedence. It is our contention that the declaration of false results assembled in places other than the Polling Unit in the instant Presidential Election is another reminder that the political class ruling and ruining Nigeria is not ready to allow electoral reform work. Let us be reminded that already, this present PDP federal Government has rejected the recommendation from the Electoral Reform Committee it set up that the new Independent National Electoral Committee should be appointed through an independent process anchored in the National Judicial Council.
The party accused the ruling PDP of jettisoning the recommendation of the Justice Uwais Committee with regards to the transformation of INEC from a partisan, pro-president-of-the-day lackey to a professional and independent body so that the President could lose the prerogative of appointing the Chairperson, National Commissioners and Resident State Electoral Commissioners of the Commission.
“The National Judicial Council was to take over that responsibility with citizens as nominations are to be made and considered by the public. But without any cogent justification at all, the government rejected it.
In fact, at the end of the day, the entire process of the electoral reform was jettisoned by the same government. What the nation ended up with is the unilateral appointment of an INEC Chairman whose integrity was eulogized more on his past views than actions. I am sure patriotic Nigerians will agree with us that the final processes and outcome of the 2011 general elections are nothing any near to what our campaigns for true Electoral Reforms expected in enthroning for Nigeria free, fair and credible elections.
The party, however, extended its condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and property as a result of the violence that occasioned the elections, adding that as a disciplined and responsible political party, the CPC would not subscribe to any form of violence.
National legal Adviser to the CPC, Abubakar Malami who made the position of the party public at a press briefing, likened the post-election violence to the anger of the people of the Western Region in 1965 and the people of Ondo State in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South West in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results.
In a press statement entitled “Seeking to Establish The Truth of the 2011 Presidential Election,” the CPC said it has enough evidence to expose all the elements of the flawed election at the presidential election tribunal.
According to the text “let us again on behalf of all members and sympathizers of our great party extend our heart-felt sympathy and condolences to the families of those who lost their lives or property as a result of the violence that occasioned the elections. This includes all those affected before, during and after the polls. We would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate that our party is composed of responsible and discipline members who do not in any way subscribe to the perpetration of any evil much less of encouraging any.
“Our national history has however taught us that the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means has always given birth to spontaneous reactions in the form of break down of law and order.”
We recall the anger of the people of the Western Region in 1965 and the people of Ondo state in 1983 against the use of federal might to dislodge opposition governments in the South west in favour of the ruling parties at the federal level with concocted results. The people spontaneously rose against these barbaric actions of the government. Police stations and houses of prominent NNA and NPN supporters were burnt and many people killed. In the case of Ondo State, the judicial decision that ceded Ondo back to the UPN came within the context of citizens’ determined effort to protect their votes. We are all living witnesses that the nation’s democracy suffered irreparably as a result.
“To us in the CPC, it is our belief that the break down of law and order that ensued after the declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan as the President-elect on the basis of concocted results was the bye product of the determination to win elections by incumbents by any means which has always characterized such actions by historical antecedence. It is our contention that the declaration of false results assembled in places other than the Polling Unit in the instant Presidential Election is another reminder that the political class ruling and ruining Nigeria is not ready to allow electoral reform work. Let us be reminded that already, this present PDP federal Government has rejected the recommendation from the Electoral Reform Committee it set up that the new Independent National Electoral Committee should be appointed through an independent process anchored in the National Judicial Council.
The party accused the ruling PDP of jettisoning the recommendation of the Justice Uwais Committee with regards to the transformation of INEC from a partisan, pro-president-of-the-day lackey to a professional and independent body so that the President could lose the prerogative of appointing the Chairperson, National Commissioners and Resident State Electoral Commissioners of the Commission.
“The National Judicial Council was to take over that responsibility with citizens as nominations are to be made and considered by the public. But without any cogent justification at all, the government rejected it.
In fact, at the end of the day, the entire process of the electoral reform was jettisoned by the same government. What the nation ended up with is the unilateral appointment of an INEC Chairman whose integrity was eulogized more on his past views than actions. I am sure patriotic Nigerians will agree with us that the final processes and outcome of the 2011 general elections are nothing any near to what our campaigns for true Electoral Reforms expected in enthroning for Nigeria free, fair and credible elections.
??We cannot therefore sit by and allow these electoral misdemeanours wreaking the very foundation of our country’s stability, prosperity and unity to continue ?unchecked forever. Since independence, the major political problem of our ?country has been that of elections. Transiting from one government to the other ?through the ballot box had always been the most difficult aspect of the nation’s ?democratic experiment. In fact, on the two occasions the military took over the ?reins of power from civilian regimes, in 1966 and 1983, election malpractices ?were sighted as justification. Yet, till date, we do not seem to have learned ?our lessons. With every election, including the last Presidential Election, the ?electorates continue to lose confidence in the ability of the ballot box to ?express their will. This is a dangerous trend that must not be allowed to ?continue, lest we find our country sleepwalking into a disaster that we may not ?come out of.”
CPC made cited what transpired in President Jonathan’s own polling unit in Osazi to illustrate the level of electoral fraud perpetrated in the election.?
“Osazi Polling Unit has a total number of 908 registered voters. On the 16th of April election, only 424 voters turned out to cast their votes, with 413 voting for ?the President while 11 ballots were invalidated. This represents a total of 47% ?voter turnout in that unit. However, for the rest of Bayelsa state, the total ?voters’
CPC made cited what transpired in President Jonathan’s own polling unit in Osazi to illustrate the level of electoral fraud perpetrated in the election.?
“Osazi Polling Unit has a total number of 908 registered voters. On the 16th of April election, only 424 voters turned out to cast their votes, with 413 voting for ?the President while 11 ballots were invalidated. This represents a total of 47% ?voter turnout in that unit. However, for the rest of Bayelsa state, the total ?voters’
Fashola, others get Certificates of Return
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, the wife of the former Lagos governor, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, a Senator-elect, Senator Ganiyu Solomon and other candidates of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Lagos State yesterday, received their Certificates of Return from Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with a commitment to fast track development of the state.
The governor said the victory recorded at the polls by the ACN had made developmental agenda easy for them to transform the state. He said all the party representatives that won the elective positions had the party’s manifesto as a guide to deliver on dividends of democracy.
He affirmed that the appropriate way to show their gratitude and our appreciation for the mandate was to continue to do what they did in the past that won the confidence of Lagosians who voted overwhelmingly for the party’s candidates in the state, saying they would continue to serve Lagosians diligently with unflinching commitment.
The governor, who empathized with the families of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were slain in the post electoral violence, urged those elected in the process in which they laid down their lives, to live above board in the discharge of their duties.
“Our sympathies are with them, we pray for the peaceful repose of their soul, we pray for the condolence and the comfort of their dependants, their parents and their guardians, we pray that they would not die in vain,” he added.
Fashola commended the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega and his national commissioners for conducting an election widely adjudged to be free and fair , saying the outcome of the polls had already elevated the country among comity of nations
The governor said the victory recorded at the polls by the ACN had made developmental agenda easy for them to transform the state. He said all the party representatives that won the elective positions had the party’s manifesto as a guide to deliver on dividends of democracy.
He affirmed that the appropriate way to show their gratitude and our appreciation for the mandate was to continue to do what they did in the past that won the confidence of Lagosians who voted overwhelmingly for the party’s candidates in the state, saying they would continue to serve Lagosians diligently with unflinching commitment.
The governor, who empathized with the families of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who were slain in the post electoral violence, urged those elected in the process in which they laid down their lives, to live above board in the discharge of their duties.
“Our sympathies are with them, we pray for the peaceful repose of their soul, we pray for the condolence and the comfort of their dependants, their parents and their guardians, we pray that they would not die in vain,” he added.
Fashola commended the chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega and his national commissioners for conducting an election widely adjudged to be free and fair , saying the outcome of the polls had already elevated the country among comity of nations
Bauchi 9:
Slain coprs members
There won’t be reprieve for culprits
–Gov. Yuguda
Slain coprs members
There won’t be reprieve for culprits
–Gov. Yuguda
Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda has been daubed in crimson, recently over unsavoury remarks credited to him regarding the death of nine National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members who were victims of post-election violence.
They were killed by youth who had unleashed violence on the state while protesting the results of the April 16 presidential poll won by the Peoples Democratic Party, [PDP] presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
But speaking with journalists at the weekend in Abuja, Yuguda denied reports that he was indifferent to the murder of the corps members.
The Bauchi Governor declared that the culprits are already in court and would face the full wrath of the court.
Excerpts:
They were killed by youth who had unleashed violence on the state while protesting the results of the April 16 presidential poll won by the Peoples Democratic Party, [PDP] presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
But speaking with journalists at the weekend in Abuja, Yuguda denied reports that he was indifferent to the murder of the corps members.
The Bauchi Governor declared that the culprits are already in court and would face the full wrath of the court.
Excerpts:
Your Excellency, what actually happened after the presidential election and why do you find it difficult to apologise, over a statement credited to you?
Well, like I said what is that comment that led to one of the newspapers to write that I spat on the grave of youth corps members ?
That was the most wicked statement I have ever heard in my life. Of course, people asked me about my reaction to the death of corps members, what did he expect me to say?
I said it was their time, did I bring them to life? God brought them to life. I said they were destined to die. Those that weren’t destined to die, live and I tried my best as a governor, because I was the only governor who assembled my corps members . I assembled them in one place , I fed them , I gave them money to buy clothes, ask them, any one of them.
Their evacuation was the only first thing that I did and I personally feel that they should have been exposed to the vagaries of the Nigeria politics, because we have so many animals around us who were used to macheting people and these youth were serving the nation. I feel very strongly that they shouldn’t have been part of that serious process that will expose their lives to danger. By the time I handed over the corpers to the INEC, they weren’t under my protection even though I was the governor.
INEC should have given them sufficient protection, but like I have said, what would I do? Did I ask God when I was coming to earth? I didn’t ask the Almighty God and when I am going, like I said I am not sure, if I would reach evening. I don’t know when I am going to die, but if somebody is destined to die, he is going to die.
What are you going to do about it?
The only thing is that the law must take its course. We have arrested over 600 people, some of them actually did the killings and we are going to prosecute them. If the law would allow me, after their being found guilty, if the law would allow me, to shoot them ,I will take the gun and shoot them myself. So, what is the correlation between what I said and the report that I spat on the grave of the dead youth corps. These boys that had toiled for 20 years with their parents paying school fees and fending for them; they had come to serve me and they were happy serving me. Anytime I go to them ,they mill around me and I had offered to give them jobs immediately after they finish.
Each and everyone of them is willing to take job in Bauchi, because by the provision of the constitution, I told them any one of you after seven years, becomes the citizen of Bauchi, because that’s what the constitution says—- you become an indigene of an environment after seven years and I will give you permanent employment, right from day one.
So, all these scandalous reports about me, coming from those who didn’t know my antecedents; they portrayed me as an animal, as somebody who is heartless. I believe the person who wrote that report about me would have been compromised to run me down as an individual.
Did you speak out, in the light of your own faith?
Exactly, as a Moslem, that’s what Islam says. For any Moslem, there is time to come to the world and there is time to go. How can I spat on their grave. I wept, even when the director of NYSC came and when I was making my speech, I had to break my speech, because I remember the day when those souls would meet me in my grave and would ask me ,’’why did you allow people to slaughter me in your own land when you were leader.’’
What’s your message to the parents of the Bauchi 9 and the entire nation?
You see, I had offered condolences to the parents. In fact, I am even supposed to be condoled. I sympathize with the parents and I sympathize with myself; I sympathize with the parents, because they lost their children whom they have spent close to 20 years to train: looking up to them to finish and help them, when they eventually reach age of infirmity and I sympathize with myself, because if those who were killed, now that I am governor; tomorrow when I enter my grave God will ask me about those 9 on national service who were killed! I stand accountable for those 9 and Allah will ask me. What am I going to tell Almighty Allah.
So, I am also awaiting punishment for their death. That’s why I wept in the night, remembering the day I would be in my grave and Allah would ask me about those 9 that were killed.
One of them was even caught performing ablution, he was going to pray! He was telling them , ‘’please, leave me alone to perform ablution’’.
These animals, they machete him!! They are animals and we have them everywhere in the country. You asked the question ,’’why did this happen to youth corps? In the first instance, who won the presidential election in Bauchi? If you came out to vote for PDP that day, they cut off your hands, you dare not vote for PDP, because they are hoodlums. In fact that day they burnt down the INEC office, they burnt down our vehicles, mosques and churches, the house of my SSG was burnt to ashes , his father’s house was burnt down with the mosque.
So, it is a sad thing in the history of our country, that youth on national service would be molested. We all know that they are vulnerable, anytime there is crisis in the country, if you aren’t from that part of the country, you become a victim, whether you are a
Nigerian on youth service, or not as long as you don’t speak the language they speak. These ignorant animals … they are animals, they are beast, they aren’t human beings. That human feeling has been removed from them; anyone who can take a machete and take human life isn’t a human being.
So, I console the parents of those who lost their lives, I console all those who lost their lives in other states of the federation, because I know that it isn’t only in Bauchi state but in several other states, but Bauchi was given a lot of prominence. But like I have said, there is time to come to the world and there is time to leave but it is painful. My own son who was equally on national service was attacked. He was coming down to town to vote , but they drove him inside the Police barracks, close to Bauchi and that was how he was rescued.
They attempted to burn my house, but because I am somebody who is popular in his environment, they were prevented . Everybody knows the paramilitary arm of the political party that has done that but nobody is talking about it. But we have made arrest, over 500 and I assure you, we will get the main culprits and the law will take its course.
By the grace of Almighty Allah, those promising young boys and girls had served the nation, the way it ended that’s the way God had destined it . But they have done their best for the nation, but I will appeal to the nation to honour them.
I will like you to take a holistic nation at political violence in the country, but it is most accentuated in the north. You are one of the governors from the North and people often ascribe this thing to the level of poverty. What should we expect from leaders like you to address political violence by taking these boys off the streets?
Let me tell you, we have so many evil human beings among the politicians. We have also merchants of death among the politicians, people who don’t care to have blood full in their hands when it is about government house. Those paramilitary arm they train them and arm them to the teeth, so that they intimidate and harass their opponents.
In fact, I had taken it for granted that after eliminating a deadly group in Bauchi which I inherited, I never expected any kind of violence in Bauchi state during elections, because in the complete absence of the former deadly group, who else? But I didn’t know that the opposition party had already recruited so many and had brought them in—- some of them are even from the neighbouring country, with arms and ammunitions, they were all over the polling booths and they were forcing women. If you say you wouldn’t vote CPC, they were ready to deal with you.
So, I think the solution is simple. People must learn to respect law and order and anybody who is caught, there mustn’t be ‘I beg you’ from any community; there is no son of a big man or son of a small man. if you are guilty, you are guilty. If you kill, you are guilty; if you maim, you are guilty. If you attempt murder, you are guilty. Nobody should come and follow you to the police station to plead for bail, once you are charged for attempted murder.
In the case of Bauchi, a law is in the offing on regulation of religious preaching, because the preachers, both Christians and Moslems aren’t helping matters. There is no point for somebody to go into a church or mosque to say, go and vote for a certain political party. An Imam is supposed to issue sermon and guide people on what God says should be; the same thing for a pastor who is supposed to mount the pulpit. He isn’t supposed to say, ‘’ I have taken a position and this is the party I am going to vote for.’’
Go to the book of faith, where God says vote for who is just and equitable. It is their in the Quran and it is also there in the bible.
So, you should vote for he who is just; that’s what the Quran says. So there is no question why somebody should be allowed to pick a microphone in a mosque and say, ‘this one is a Christian, don’t vote for him and a pastor would say,’’this one is a Moslem, don’t vote for him.’’
Nigerians should understand that God is God and He inherits this place for us. If he had wanted to make it like China with 1.6 million he would have done so—give us one language, but He never did. In Nigeria today we have about 450 languages in Nigeria and each tribe has its own language and has its own culture and we must co-habit together.
With the Quran and the bible, we swore to uphold the constitution of the federal republic that binds us together. Why don’t we respect that? So, to the extent that people aren’t prepared to respect the law , I am afraid the system isn’t going to work. So, what are you going to do with the suspects?
Anybody who is caught killing must be killed.
When are you going to arrange them?
They are already before the court.
Your Excellency, there was a relapse of security in Bauchi last Friday. As the chief security officer, what really is your major handicap?
You see the problem of that area is purely a commoners’ problem and it isn’t only in Bauchi, what happened in Kaduna, how many of you have written about Kaduna? Nobody. Everyday there is clash in some other states, why is Bauchi flashpoint? Why do you want to destroy Bauchi? We aren’t the only people who has this kind of problem, they are everywhere in the country, but nobody talk about them.
But the problem of Bauchi is the problem of chiefdom and I am prepared to curtail it, I have given my words. Peace can never come unless the communities are prepared to live in peace. Just like the Ogoni and Andoni, the Tiv and the Jukuns, the Ife –Modakeke —- they have to appreciate the fact that they must co-exist and you aren’t helping matters by planting these things in the papers. Tell them to live in peace because all lands belong to God. And there is enough for everybody; what is really causing the problem is the chiefdom.
Would you say the security agencies were pro-active to see the violence coming and moved to forestall it ?
You are a human being, no matter how deep you are in security matters, nobody envisage what happened, after all, everybody left the ballot papers for them and Buhari won the election. If their candidate won the election, then why should you fight? Why should you carry knives and slaughter people, burnt churches and mosques? No security magician would tell you that they would burn mosques and churches after winning elections, why?
I won elections in 2007 against the PDP, left PDP in January and after I won in April, what happened? Not a single fly was killed. All the PDP people ran away from Bauchi. If Jonathan had won against Buhari then we would have been targets, because there is a lot of sentiments attached to Buhari , but the CPC won, with an overwhelming majority in almost all the northern states, where violence occurred. So , how could you have envisaged violence?
Believe me, I haven’t seen the kind of efficient security men, as the one I have in Bauchi. They foresee everything as if they are magicians
Well, like I said what is that comment that led to one of the newspapers to write that I spat on the grave of youth corps members ?
That was the most wicked statement I have ever heard in my life. Of course, people asked me about my reaction to the death of corps members, what did he expect me to say?
I said it was their time, did I bring them to life? God brought them to life. I said they were destined to die. Those that weren’t destined to die, live and I tried my best as a governor, because I was the only governor who assembled my corps members . I assembled them in one place , I fed them , I gave them money to buy clothes, ask them, any one of them.
Their evacuation was the only first thing that I did and I personally feel that they should have been exposed to the vagaries of the Nigeria politics, because we have so many animals around us who were used to macheting people and these youth were serving the nation. I feel very strongly that they shouldn’t have been part of that serious process that will expose their lives to danger. By the time I handed over the corpers to the INEC, they weren’t under my protection even though I was the governor.
INEC should have given them sufficient protection, but like I have said, what would I do? Did I ask God when I was coming to earth? I didn’t ask the Almighty God and when I am going, like I said I am not sure, if I would reach evening. I don’t know when I am going to die, but if somebody is destined to die, he is going to die.
What are you going to do about it?
The only thing is that the law must take its course. We have arrested over 600 people, some of them actually did the killings and we are going to prosecute them. If the law would allow me, after their being found guilty, if the law would allow me, to shoot them ,I will take the gun and shoot them myself. So, what is the correlation between what I said and the report that I spat on the grave of the dead youth corps. These boys that had toiled for 20 years with their parents paying school fees and fending for them; they had come to serve me and they were happy serving me. Anytime I go to them ,they mill around me and I had offered to give them jobs immediately after they finish.
Each and everyone of them is willing to take job in Bauchi, because by the provision of the constitution, I told them any one of you after seven years, becomes the citizen of Bauchi, because that’s what the constitution says—- you become an indigene of an environment after seven years and I will give you permanent employment, right from day one.
So, all these scandalous reports about me, coming from those who didn’t know my antecedents; they portrayed me as an animal, as somebody who is heartless. I believe the person who wrote that report about me would have been compromised to run me down as an individual.
Did you speak out, in the light of your own faith?
Exactly, as a Moslem, that’s what Islam says. For any Moslem, there is time to come to the world and there is time to go. How can I spat on their grave. I wept, even when the director of NYSC came and when I was making my speech, I had to break my speech, because I remember the day when those souls would meet me in my grave and would ask me ,’’why did you allow people to slaughter me in your own land when you were leader.’’
What’s your message to the parents of the Bauchi 9 and the entire nation?
You see, I had offered condolences to the parents. In fact, I am even supposed to be condoled. I sympathize with the parents and I sympathize with myself; I sympathize with the parents, because they lost their children whom they have spent close to 20 years to train: looking up to them to finish and help them, when they eventually reach age of infirmity and I sympathize with myself, because if those who were killed, now that I am governor; tomorrow when I enter my grave God will ask me about those 9 on national service who were killed! I stand accountable for those 9 and Allah will ask me. What am I going to tell Almighty Allah.
So, I am also awaiting punishment for their death. That’s why I wept in the night, remembering the day I would be in my grave and Allah would ask me about those 9 that were killed.
One of them was even caught performing ablution, he was going to pray! He was telling them , ‘’please, leave me alone to perform ablution’’.
These animals, they machete him!! They are animals and we have them everywhere in the country. You asked the question ,’’why did this happen to youth corps? In the first instance, who won the presidential election in Bauchi? If you came out to vote for PDP that day, they cut off your hands, you dare not vote for PDP, because they are hoodlums. In fact that day they burnt down the INEC office, they burnt down our vehicles, mosques and churches, the house of my SSG was burnt to ashes , his father’s house was burnt down with the mosque.
So, it is a sad thing in the history of our country, that youth on national service would be molested. We all know that they are vulnerable, anytime there is crisis in the country, if you aren’t from that part of the country, you become a victim, whether you are a
Nigerian on youth service, or not as long as you don’t speak the language they speak. These ignorant animals … they are animals, they are beast, they aren’t human beings. That human feeling has been removed from them; anyone who can take a machete and take human life isn’t a human being.
So, I console the parents of those who lost their lives, I console all those who lost their lives in other states of the federation, because I know that it isn’t only in Bauchi state but in several other states, but Bauchi was given a lot of prominence. But like I have said, there is time to come to the world and there is time to leave but it is painful. My own son who was equally on national service was attacked. He was coming down to town to vote , but they drove him inside the Police barracks, close to Bauchi and that was how he was rescued.
They attempted to burn my house, but because I am somebody who is popular in his environment, they were prevented . Everybody knows the paramilitary arm of the political party that has done that but nobody is talking about it. But we have made arrest, over 500 and I assure you, we will get the main culprits and the law will take its course.
By the grace of Almighty Allah, those promising young boys and girls had served the nation, the way it ended that’s the way God had destined it . But they have done their best for the nation, but I will appeal to the nation to honour them.
I will like you to take a holistic nation at political violence in the country, but it is most accentuated in the north. You are one of the governors from the North and people often ascribe this thing to the level of poverty. What should we expect from leaders like you to address political violence by taking these boys off the streets?
Let me tell you, we have so many evil human beings among the politicians. We have also merchants of death among the politicians, people who don’t care to have blood full in their hands when it is about government house. Those paramilitary arm they train them and arm them to the teeth, so that they intimidate and harass their opponents.
In fact, I had taken it for granted that after eliminating a deadly group in Bauchi which I inherited, I never expected any kind of violence in Bauchi state during elections, because in the complete absence of the former deadly group, who else? But I didn’t know that the opposition party had already recruited so many and had brought them in—- some of them are even from the neighbouring country, with arms and ammunitions, they were all over the polling booths and they were forcing women. If you say you wouldn’t vote CPC, they were ready to deal with you.
So, I think the solution is simple. People must learn to respect law and order and anybody who is caught, there mustn’t be ‘I beg you’ from any community; there is no son of a big man or son of a small man. if you are guilty, you are guilty. If you kill, you are guilty; if you maim, you are guilty. If you attempt murder, you are guilty. Nobody should come and follow you to the police station to plead for bail, once you are charged for attempted murder.
In the case of Bauchi, a law is in the offing on regulation of religious preaching, because the preachers, both Christians and Moslems aren’t helping matters. There is no point for somebody to go into a church or mosque to say, go and vote for a certain political party. An Imam is supposed to issue sermon and guide people on what God says should be; the same thing for a pastor who is supposed to mount the pulpit. He isn’t supposed to say, ‘’ I have taken a position and this is the party I am going to vote for.’’
Go to the book of faith, where God says vote for who is just and equitable. It is their in the Quran and it is also there in the bible.
So, you should vote for he who is just; that’s what the Quran says. So there is no question why somebody should be allowed to pick a microphone in a mosque and say, ‘this one is a Christian, don’t vote for him and a pastor would say,’’this one is a Moslem, don’t vote for him.’’
Nigerians should understand that God is God and He inherits this place for us. If he had wanted to make it like China with 1.6 million he would have done so—give us one language, but He never did. In Nigeria today we have about 450 languages in Nigeria and each tribe has its own language and has its own culture and we must co-habit together.
With the Quran and the bible, we swore to uphold the constitution of the federal republic that binds us together. Why don’t we respect that? So, to the extent that people aren’t prepared to respect the law , I am afraid the system isn’t going to work. So, what are you going to do with the suspects?
Anybody who is caught killing must be killed.
When are you going to arrange them?
They are already before the court.
Your Excellency, there was a relapse of security in Bauchi last Friday. As the chief security officer, what really is your major handicap?
You see the problem of that area is purely a commoners’ problem and it isn’t only in Bauchi, what happened in Kaduna, how many of you have written about Kaduna? Nobody. Everyday there is clash in some other states, why is Bauchi flashpoint? Why do you want to destroy Bauchi? We aren’t the only people who has this kind of problem, they are everywhere in the country, but nobody talk about them.
But the problem of Bauchi is the problem of chiefdom and I am prepared to curtail it, I have given my words. Peace can never come unless the communities are prepared to live in peace. Just like the Ogoni and Andoni, the Tiv and the Jukuns, the Ife –Modakeke —- they have to appreciate the fact that they must co-exist and you aren’t helping matters by planting these things in the papers. Tell them to live in peace because all lands belong to God. And there is enough for everybody; what is really causing the problem is the chiefdom.
Would you say the security agencies were pro-active to see the violence coming and moved to forestall it ?
You are a human being, no matter how deep you are in security matters, nobody envisage what happened, after all, everybody left the ballot papers for them and Buhari won the election. If their candidate won the election, then why should you fight? Why should you carry knives and slaughter people, burnt churches and mosques? No security magician would tell you that they would burn mosques and churches after winning elections, why?
I won elections in 2007 against the PDP, left PDP in January and after I won in April, what happened? Not a single fly was killed. All the PDP people ran away from Bauchi. If Jonathan had won against Buhari then we would have been targets, because there is a lot of sentiments attached to Buhari , but the CPC won, with an overwhelming majority in almost all the northern states, where violence occurred. So , how could you have envisaged violence?
Believe me, I haven’t seen the kind of efficient security men, as the one I have in Bauchi. They foresee everything as if they are magicians
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