The Action Congress of Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter says the declaration by the Governor of Rivers State, Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi that unavailability of funds has slowed down projects in the State has vindicated the ACN for raising alarm that Rivers State Government is broke.
The ACN in a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam was reacting to a declaration by Governor Rotimi Amaechi that the unavailability of funds has slowed down projects in Rivers State at a Town Hall Meeting with Rivers indigenes in Abuja over the weekend despite the huge sums of money that have accrued to the State over time.
We are extremely worried that same Governor Amaechi who claimed to be saving about one billion naira monthly could turn around to declare the government treasury empty.
We are also worried that Governor Amaechi who boasted that his problem was not money but what to do with it could be so broke that he is raising alarm.
What then is the justification for the elaborate Supreme Court victory celebration in Port Harcourt recently and the plan to purchase two more private jets.
We challenge Governor Amaechi to explain the reason behind the poor budget implementation.
In 2011, ministries and agencies of government including the judiciary were unable to access 50 percent of budget provision, whereas, the State government in the same year went for a supplementary budget.
We further demand to know what led to the supplementary budget in 2011 and why there were expenses outside the budgetary provisions.
In this last quarter of the year 2012, only 30 percent of the budgetary provisions has been released to the ministries, agencies etc of the Rivers State government.
We noted with sadness that in spite of government breaches of the budget, the governor of the state is crying out for lack of funds.
We also have it on good authority the desire of the Rivers State Government to go for another round of supplementary budget, when the 2012 budget has not been faithfully implemented.
The ACN in light of all this calls for probe of the finances of the Government of Rivers State, under Governor Rotimi Amaechi, now that he has confirmed that the state is broke.
Barack Obama during his first trip to Africa to visit the family of his father, Barack Obama, Sr. The woman is his grandmother. Photo courtesy Barack’s half sister Maya Soetoro-Ng
I could not turn down the invitation to comment on this subject and express my personal views. US Presidential elections are important for one primary reason: they bear far-reaching implications for geo-politics, and since President Barack Obama’s emergence, even for racial relations across the globe. America remains, at the moment, the world’s superior power. Whoever, or whichever political party gains control of the White House automatically influences the levers of geo-politics, for no other reason than that the identity matrix of America’s politics is properly defined and in that definition lies the character of America’s political engagement with the rest of the world, and the other’s responses to its projections.
I hasten to add however, that the reasons why the US Presidential election due on Tuesday, are important to the average American living in or outside America may not be and are rarely, the same reasons why the same election is important to non-Americans, outside America, say for example, Nigerians. The only close exception perhaps must have been demonstrated in the wake of President Barack Obama’s emergence in 2008. Americans wanted change, and many Africans saw that change in the colour of President Obama’s skin. They raised funds, they organized street campaigns, they promoted the candidate…they did all of that although they had no say in the outcome of the election, they were motivated nonetheless by the symbolism of hope represented by the Obama candidacy, and its resonance.
The evaporation of that global euphoria today attests to the temporocentricism of human emotions; more so for the America-centric international audience, race is not such an important issue in the 2012 US Presidential election, and for the American, there are more urgent existential considerations. Still, US elections continue to matter to the rest of the world. The significance lies in the influence of America in the world, and the variegated economic and cultural implications of the outcome of the election. One quick example: the world economy is linked to the American economy almost umblically; with current unemployment rates and domestic stress generating doubts about the efficiency of the system, further contraction in the domestic US economy and an isolationist President in power, could translate into a withdrawal from global responsibilities in the shape of reduction in aid. Many African countries continue to depend on US aid, too many economies have their fortunes tied to America’s.
For the average American, and there is a lesson here for us well conveyed by the Obama-Romney debates, a Presidential election is more about difference and ideological choices about the future of the United States and its people. The American voter that we have seen in the run up to the elections was, in this context, constantly reminded of his or her significance. What was signposted was the right of the voter to choose. Thus, when all is said and done, the morning after November 6, the final scene of the drama of the last few weeks will be the voter’s choice, with the accent properly placed on the fact that the American people would have spoken. Elections in an established democracy are not won on the basis of the power of incumbency. Witness Barack Obama, a sitting American President having to fight for his shirt, county to county, city to city, state to state, sweating, lobbying, arguing…yet at this moment, the race is so close the leading contenders are losing their voices and pleading with volunteers to help out. The dictatorship of the American voter should matter a lot to the African voter who for the most part is disempowered and discounted.
The changing pattern of the public opinion polls has proven further that in this election, as in every other US election, more dramatically shown in the Dewey-Truman 1948 debacle, the outcome cannot be taken for granted until the race is over, and the battle is won and lost.
This should mean something to us in Nigeria, and in the larger African community, for it is at the centre of President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda. It is the same electoral ethic that President Jonathan has insisted upon since his assumption of office as President. Nigerians, long used to a political situation in which the privilege of incumbency confers all powers have seen under President Jonathan’s watch, a completely different arrangement. It used to be the case in this land, that all that was required of an incumbent in the position of a President or Governor was to sit back and assume that incumbency will confer automatic re-election, and if the incumbent managed to stir at all, he did so with so much arrogance. Most of the time, this worked. The incumbent bullied and forced his way through to a second term. Not since President Jonathan assumed the mantle of office, though. In the recent Gubernatorial elections, in Bayelsa, Edo and Ondo, and in other elections since 2011, we saw how the incumbents had to struggle hard to convince and mobilize the electorate. President Jonathan’s signature cry of one man, one vote, one woman, one vote, one youth one vote, reiterates the power of the voter. I have seen the same principle well advertised in the humility of the two US Presidential candidates, and the struggle over the swing states that are so crucial to the electoral college arrangement. Candidates will go to the polls on Tuesday completely humbled by the supremacy of the American voter, who has been called upon to use his vote as an instrument of either power or “revenge.” That is what democracy is all about: Ideas, competition, debate, choice. African politicians who manipulate electoral processes to suit their own purposes will be among the many observers of the US elections. They need to look beyond the drama at the morality of the experience.
The US Presidential election further matters because institutions matter. Americans are going into the election on Tuesday convinced that the system will protect the voters and their choice. So much money has been spent on the campaigns –over one million TV ads, and more than $7 billion on television advertising alone- but not money on a desperate attempt to bribe the voter. There are political parties but those political parties function as institutions not as personal fiefdoms. There are individuals occupying such positions as Chairmanship of the political parties and of the Electoral Commission, but they are not part of the debate because the system does not make them unduly obtrusive. Apart from the Presidential election, Americans will determine who controls the Senate. There are 33 Senate seats up for grabs. The Democrats currently hold a 53-47 majority; if the Republicans are able to gain 4 seats, they will gain control of the Senate and also maintain their control over the House of Representatives. These elections are just as important as the Presidential election.
The candidates are important too. This sounds like a restatement of the obvious. But of course, that is what it is. There is no candidate in this election who has not been subjected to laser jet scrutiny: who they are, what they represent, what they say, what they will do or not do, this is not really about their villages or state of origin; but their beliefs and non-beliefs. The voter can make a mistake, but he or she is given enough opportunity and latitude to make an informed choice. There is no room for anyone to smuggle himself or herself into office without passing through the crucible of scrutiny. The emphasis is on the responsibility that comes with office and the ability and character of the applicant to it. When all is over, Americans want to wake up with the feeling that they have chosen the better man for this time and that the choice is a true reflection of the majority. That is what matters.
And all of these matter because it is the country that matters most. Pro patria: Love of country. This is all about country, that is, America’s prestige and place in the world. The average American will make a choice to sustain the exceptionalism of the United States as a country that can still be remembered and protected as “God’s own country,” a country where all Americans can still feel that sense of pride, that they are “the best” in the world. And that is why the key issue has been how to make America better for Americans: healthcare, medicare, social security, housing, energy, immigration reform, taxes, jobs, national security, the economy, foreign policy- issues that connect with the ordinary people in their daily circumstances.
And one more thing: in the midst of last minute 2012 US electioneering, Hurricane Sandy occurred, wrecking such havoc on the Eastern Coast of the United States that should be familiar to Nigerians who had also just witnessed the same devastating impact of climate change in parts of the country. During that critical moment, Americans refused to play the politics of disaster. They all united as Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, even the Romney team praised Obama for his leadership. Great lesson!
So, as they say, what is our own in this matter? As Nigerians monitor the US elections along with the rest of the world, we must spare a thought for our own democracy and this administration’s efforts at its consolidation; in noting the differences and commonalities, we should reflect on the projected values of duty, responsibility, institutional integrity and love of country. That is what I think. And let me add: Good luck to the Americans.
Dr. Abati is Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to President Goodluck Jonathan
And it will come to pass in a time not too distant from the time you read this piece. An African American named Barack Hussein Obama would have been re-elected to preside over the affairs of the world’s only super power for another four years.
Obama would have broken the iron ceiling of the perceived limitations of the black race to lead the world and dented a great crack on the confidence and psyche of those who can’t still see that colors or races should never be the determinant of anything ever again.
Obama’s victory will bring joyous tears to the eyes of millions across the globe and re-establish America as the greatest democracy the world has ever seen. Obama’s victory will be owned by all the people of the world and will spur more cry and agitation for better governance in Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East.
While I am not the biggest fan of the Chameleo-republican breed that Mitt Romney represents, I expect that Mitt will give an emotional, humble and conciliatory speech that will likely set the tone for a new era of bipartisanship in the united states congress, Mitt would hope his concession speech will take some heat away from coming reviews of his historic campaign policy ‘dance about’ and sometimes shocking dishonesty during the Presidential campaigns.
The Obama economy will soar higher than expected and maintain a hold off on the drag that the EU economy continues to be on the global economy. The EU will move closer to the American answer to the global recession in a bid to save the EuroZone. The impending fiscal cliff will be averted, consumer confidence will shoot up, more manufacturing jobs will be created and the growth of the American economy will reach 3% within the next 24-36 months.
African nations led by Nigeria and South Africa will work harder with the US and China at finding a bigger voice for the continent at the global business round table . African Union will play a bigger role in dissipating the power of extreme Islam as a new frontier of the war on terror opens to full scale in MALI ,West Africa in the coming months.
While US aid to Africa may not tumble, emphasis will be more on expanding trade and drive to improve US declining fortune in global competiveness index.
United States aid to Africa resources will also be channeled at more capacity building and strengthening of democratic institutions in Africa to meet expected pressure by Africans for good governance and forward looking leadership that that can balance African interests with the United States interests for the good of its growing population.
New political leaders will emerge from Africa under a new Alliance called African Alliance For New Order been touted by a new Youth Wing of Africa Largest Political Party called the Peoples Democratic Party Youth Circuit .The African Alliance For New Order will be made of top twenty young political and business leaders from all African countries aged between 18 and 45 years .The group will be supported strongly by the US government to turn a new page for the development of Africa with a focus on research , education ,good governance and stronger African business competiveness on the global stage .
Fellow citizens of the world and believers in the coming new African order, begin to celebrate the coming victory of a real, genuine and effective partner in the person of President Barack Hussein Obama for another four years in the White house.
God bless you all, God bless All African Nations, God bless the United States of America, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Banking services at First City Monument Bank were grounded on Monday and customers of FCMB left unattended for most part of the working day as the bank’s electronic system failed woefully.
At various branches of the bank, customers’ data bank could not be accessed for daily banking services. “Our network is down, the system is down,” were the ready answers of bank staff to agitated customers who were visibly disappointed.
This trend has become more frequent in recent times as the bank’s system installed capacity has proved inadequate for handing the surge in their customer base.
FCMB and Finbank merger has led to increase in the number of clients that FCMB would handle. At the Alaba International Market branch of FCMB, large numbers of customers were kept unattended until about 3:30 pm yesterday when the system signal was restored for banking services.
The Bank’s management announced gleefully last week that it had concluded integration with Finbank and was ready to run full blast as one bank onwards.
At the two branches at Junction Bus stop and Electrical section of the market, the story was the same. A bank worker said, “We are waiting for the network to come, I also have something to do or don’t you pray that we should work?
“We are not working the network is down, you can try the other branch at Electrical”, the staff said to this customer.
A woman who had come since the morning hours and needed to collect fund sent through the WebFast fund transfer was visibly hysterical over the possibility of not accessing the fund. She was left hopeless just like many others and did not hesitate to bemoan the situation. “I have been here since morning, I need to collect this money, in fact I have disappointed my customer that is expecting this money this morning. This is very unfair”, she lamented to THE CITIZEN.
Interestingly though, deposit taking was going on uninterrupted but all forms of withdrawal were affected by the unavailability of network.
A manager in one of the branches, who spoke on the condition of anonymity told THE CITIZEN that efforts were being made to fix the problems. He acknowledged the merging of the operations of FCMB and legacy FinBank had resulted in network instability, justifying the situation as he said that it was not unexpected.
All efforts to speak with Mr. Tunde Shofowura of the Corporate Communications unit of FCMB on the issue were abortive.
As Vice President Namadi Sambo continues the visitation of flood affected states for post-assessments of the impacts this week, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has today released a provisional casualty figure on the flood situation in the country.
In a report from the Emergency Situation Room of the agency, a total of 7,705, 398 persons were affected by the flood between July 1, 2012 and October 31, 2012. Out of the affected population, 2,157, 419 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were registered across the affected states.
The figure also indicates that 363 persons died while 18, 282 people were treated for injuries they sustained during the flooding.
While Adamawa and Kogi States recorded higher figures of casualties, 256 local government councils throughout the federation were adversely affected.
The Emergency Situation Room of NEMA regularly obtains and updates data from reliable sources, especially from field rescue officers, response agencies and active volunteers in emergency management in the country. The data are further subjected to verification and authentication processes in a joint exercise involving other the relevant stakeholders.
The full detail of the report will soon be released to the public.
Abia state governor, Chief Theodore Orji says his administration is laying a solid foundation for posterity in the state.
Orji who said this while receiving the executive council of National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS) who were on a fact finding tour of projects executed by the government.
The governor said his administration was embarking on what he described as legacy projects which past administration failed to do.
Orji who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Cosmas Ndukwe stated that it was good the students came to see things for themselves rather than rely on false reports.
He described their visit as timely, particularly now that the opposition parties have resorted to using the social media to blackmail the government despite her record of landmark achievements.
The governor thanked the NANS executives for their visit and advised other groups not to pander to the antics of the enemies of the state.
He further explained that his government has invested huge resources in combating the menace of kidnapping which almost ran the state aground by empowering security agencies in the state. Orji disclosed that his administration rehabilitated the Aba- Owerri and Port Harcourt roads in Aba town to better the lots of the residents.
Earlier, the NANS President, Comrade Dauda Mohammed said their visit was to get first hand information on the achievements of the governor and confirmed that a lot of projects were going on with contractors mobilized to site.
He described the International Conference Centre, the Workers’ Secretariat, the new high court complex and other projects as laudable
From Precious W. Ahiakwo, Port Harcourt, Rivers State
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The Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has denied reports that he has intension to run for the post of Nigerian’s number two citizen in 2015.
Speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt, Governor Amaechi said he is still focus in the business of achieving set developmental goals in Rivers State rather than getting busy for 2015.
He said, “2015, i have no plans. I am exhausted and too busy for that. I heard in the North that there are vehicles campaigning with my pictures and that of Sule Lamido. Lamido has even called me to ask who these people are, because i don’t know them. Weather we should go and seize these vehicles because since we have our pictures there, it means they belongs to us. People are already panicking that i’m coming for 2015. I have not attended any meeting anywhere in the world concerning this issue, so people should stop carrying rumours about it.”
Amaechi also warned that if the Rivers State oil wells are being taken away because of political reason, it should be returned to the State.
According to him “please write to those people taking our oil wells to leave them alone that it doesn’t belong to me Amaechi, it belongs to the Rivers people and that the future of Rivers people should not be tied to 2015.”
The River State Governor described the reports of his quest for the vice President with his counterpart, Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido as a rumour and a “non-issue” as he has no interest in it.
The Obama campaign team is a notoriously disciplined bunch. So disciplined, in fact, that senior advisor David Axelrod’s use of the word “loins” while talking with reporters in a Springfield, Ohio high school classroom Friday set off a round of wide-eyed, frantic typing on blackberries among staffers who were in the room.
So it’s not surprising that Obama campaign officials would express relentless optimism about their election day chances. Even if they thought they were fighting a losing battle, one gets the sense they would plaster a smile on their faces and assure you they feel fantastic.
But as early voting figures pour in from half a dozen crucial battleground states, Obama campaign officials are exuding increasing confidence, even for them.
“The long and short of it is, I would say, we feel really good about where we are,” said one senior advisor who has been poring over early vote totals from swing states.
“Do I think we’re going to run the table and end up where we were in ’08? No. But do I think that frankly any of these states could go our way, and they’re all going to be that close that I would put my money on us winning all of them? Yes, I would put money on us being able to win all of them.”
Another top aide pegged the campaign’s chances of victory at “100 percent,” but the chances of sweeping all eight battleground states at “25 percent.”
Campaign officials say, based on internal polling and early vote totals, the three battleground states they feel most confident about winning are Nevada, Wisconsin, and Iowa. They place Ohio one rung below those three states; then comes New Hampshire.
Colorado, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina are the wild cards, though aides insist they can win all four and point out they can get to 270 electoral votes even if they lose all four. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you North Carolina’s the easiest of our battleground states, it’s certainly not,” said one senior advisor.
“But there’s some really positive stuff… we are at a 13 point lead among people who have voted already and there’s 50 percent, maybe even 60 percent of people who have early voted. So frankly, (Romney’s) got to be about 20 percent above us on Election Day.”
“A few weeks ago, people didn’t even think we would still have offices open there,” said another top aide. “Now we might actually win it.”
Asked if he feels more confident about Virginia or Florida, Axelrod demurred. “That’s like asking me to chose between my children!” he joked, before adding: “but we could win both.”
Obama campaign aides insist that they are not nervous about a last minute Romney offensive in Pennsylvania, even as they dispatch former President Bill Clinton on a four-stop swing through the Keystone State on Monday.
“The light blue states, I would call them, the Pennsylvanias and the Michigans and Minnesotas of the world, I really feel like those are head fakes” by the Romney campaign, said a senior campaign official.
“There’s nothing that we’re looking at in any of those states that makes us feel like the tide has turned.”
Even the president appears more relaxed in this home stretch. Instead of rushing through his stump speech, as he had been just last week, he leans on the podium and hunkers down for an extended (and teleprompter-assisted, of course) chat with audiences of 10 or 20 thousand who have waited for hours to hear him speak.
“I guess he’s fired up!” Mr. Obama joked in Cincinnati Sunday night, after a heckler interrupted him at the very start of his remarks. At the close of the speech, Mr. Obama remained on stage and did a little shimmy as Stevie Wonder serenaded him with “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” – a campaign theme song. Then the president bounded off the stage to shake hands and hug supporters, a broad grin on his face.
Aides say President Obama is also growing more relaxed behind the scenes, roaming the cabin on Air Force One as he flies from rally to rally, chatting with staffers about sports. “A lot of it comes from knowing that, no matter what, this is his last race,” said campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
AN OPEN LETTER TO DR.GOODLUCK EBELLE JONATHAN, GCFR, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, SENATE PRESIDENT, SPEAKER FEDERAL HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, STATE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY PARTICULARLY LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, MEMBERS OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND GOOD PEOPLE OF NIGERIA PARTICULARLY LAGOS STATE.
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29th OCTOBER, 2012
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Dear Mr. President,
INVITATION OF THE NIGERIAN ARMY BY THE GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE MR. BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA, SAN, TO THE STREETS OF LAGOS STATE TO WAGE ‘WAR’ AGAINST UNARMED LAGOSIANS
DEMAND FOR GOV. BABATUNDE FASHOLA’S IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OR HIS IMMEDIATE REMOVAL FROM OFFICE!
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May we refer to a letter to the, President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, dated 16th of January, 2012 by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, partly reproduced below for ease of reference over the so called deployment of soldiers to the streets of Lagos in January 2012 during the protest against hike in petroleum prices!
Quoting Fashola ”It is not disputable that the citizens who have gathered in several parts of Lagos like Falomo, Ikorodu and Ojota to mention a few have largely conducted themselves peacefully, singing and dancing while they expressed their displeasure at the way that we have taken decisions that affect them.
That in my view should not offend those of us in Government. The majority of these people who represent diverse interests have not broken any law. If they have, it is my opinion that in a constitutional democracy, it is the police that has the responsibility for restoring law and order if civil protests threatens the breach of the peace.
This is not justification for sending out soldiers to a gathering of unarmed citizens. Every one of us, or at least majority of us who hold public office danced and sang before these same people when we were seeking their votes.
Why should we feel irritated when they sing and dance in protest against what We have done?
For me this is not a matter for the military. The sooner we rethink and rescind this decision the better and stronger our democracy will be. If anything, this is a most welcome transformation of our democracy in the sense that it provokes a discussion of economic policies and this inevitably may result in political debate.
I therefore urge the reconsideration of the decision to deploy soldiers and implore the President and Commander-in-Chief to direct their withdrawal from our streets, I must also emphasize that the rights of free speech and protest is not absolute. They impose the duty not to break the law, breach the peace, endanger human life or destroy property whether public or private.
They also impose the duty to respect the rights of others not to support our protest and indeed to support what we oppose. At the end of the day, it is a contest of ideas in which the most persuasive will get the endorsement of the majority of the people we serve. I am convinced that our democracy is mature enough to accommodate this. We must do our best to ensure that it does. God bless you all Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, Governor of Lagos State
Monday, January 16, 2012 ” End of Quote
We are aware that Governor Raji Fashola was privy to the deployment of soldiers then, and in fact he beg for it, but only for him to latter deny knowledge.
Now, the same Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has now openly declared a ‘war’ against the poor, unarmed Lagosians and has called on the Nigerian Army to join him in this illegal and unauthorized ‘war’(unauthorized by the Senate or a declaration by the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to the National Assembly.
He took the campaign and request to the office of the GOC 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Gen. Kenneth Minimah calling on the army unlawfully to join him in the ‘war’ against armless civilians-OKADA. Prominent among those who were present with Fashola while making the request were his Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa; General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Engr Babatunde Edu; Senior Special Assistant on Security to the Governor, Major Tunde Panox; Chief of Staff in the 81 Division, Brigadier General Ebenezer Oyefolu; Commanding officers, Directors in various army formations, principal staff officers and other senior army officers Sadly the GOC assured Fashola that the army will join him in the ‘war’ against OKADA. This is Fashola in his true color! We believe the GOC made a mistake in acceding to Fashola’s request without due clearance from the appropriate authority or obtaining a written undertaking from Governor Fashola who will turn round to deny the Army when the ship is down from past experience. Our honest advice to the GOC and the Army is that they should stare clear of pure civil matter provoked by an arrogant, power drunken, tyrannical and insensitive state Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos State. Ask whether he consulted the GOC or the Army before embarking on this suicide mission! Did he consult with his ‘fellow’ Lagosians, Okada riders, civil society, political parties and other stake holders in Lagos state before introducing this senseless, atrocious and unpopular policy? Was there a public hearing and who are those invited to participate? This is Babatunde Fashola’s cross and the beginning of his end. He must be allowed to carry his cross The GOC and the army should instead go and give a helping hand in the Boko Haram ravaged north if they are idle. All state governors without exception, including Gov Fashola (who was the arrow-head) not only support but pushed the FGN to increase in price of petrol against the wishes and interest of poor Nigerians particularly his ‘fellow’ Lagosians only for Fashola to pretend and deny! Gov. Babatunde Fashola was also privy to the deployment of soldiers to the streets of Lagos then, only for him to also deny!
But now, if Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN, as the Chief Security Officer of Lagos state has declared a ‘war’ against the citizens of Lagos State and has invited and insisted in involving the Nigeria Army in his ‘war’ then it is an invitation for the declaration of state of emergency in Lagos State and invitation for a military intervention in our body polity. This is very a disappointing, condemnable and highly reprehensible call by a sitting Governor and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, so called. Do you blame Fashola? Where was he when we pro-democracy activists were in the trenches fighting against a most dreaded military dictatorship for the restoration of democracy in our country, Nigeria? He was nowhere to be found! How can he value democracy? Did he work for it? Share opportunist!! Why will Fashola not want to truncate it? But Mr. Basbatunde Fashola should not be allowed in this mad drive to truncate democracy in his drive to draft the military into our body polity.
Therefore we hereby call on the President and Commander-In Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,Dr. Ebelle Goodluck Jonathan, the Senate President, Speaker Federal House of Representatives, State Houses of Assembly across the country particularly Lagos State House of Assembly, members of civil society, Lagosians, well meaning Nigerians, all stake holders and the international community to demand for the immediate resignation(as we hereby demand) of Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state from office forthwith or necessary steps taking immediately to remove him from office. This is the only way put paid to his demand or clamor for military intervention from the exalted office of a state governor, prevent anarchy and a genocidal war against unarmed citizens of Lagos state in the hands of a war tasty Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state. To be forewarned is to be forearmed!
With Highest Esteem,
Sincerely yours,
COMRADE AYODELE AKELE
PIONEER SECRAETARY GENERAL
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS, NANS.
LAGOS STATE GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE OF NCP,20111 ELECTIONS
NATIONAL GENERAL SECRETARY
NATIONAL CONSCIENCE PARTY,NCP, FOUNDED BY LATE CHIEF GANI FAWEHINMI FOR THE ABOLITION OF POVERTY
From Alhaji Lai Mohammed
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The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has said Steve Oronsaye and
Bernard Otti were the ones who insulted President
Goodluck Jonathan by the way they turned the presentation of the
report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force
into a theatre of the absurd last Friday.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity
Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the presidency also condoned the insult by the way it handled the men’s
outburst, treating them with kid gloves when they should
have been censured for their audacity and discourteous behaviour at
the public presentation.
”Oronsaye’s incredibly audacious statement, that ‘the President has
asked us to submit the report….and so what?’ should have elicited the reaction which the presidency issued to ACN’s statement,
if indeed the presidency is concerned about insults,”
it said.
ACN said the presidency is trying to blackmail the opposition by now
accusing it of insulting the President, for merely saying the
obvious, that the only reason Oronsaye and Otti could have acted in
such a brazen manner with the President seated right there
is if they were indeed programmed to perform the role of spoilers by
discrediting the report.
”President Jonathan is a democratically-elected President, not an
oracle who cannot and must not be criticised. Therefore,
we at the ACN will continue to offer a constructive criticism of his
administration, true to our role of providing responsible
opposition.
”We stand by our statement and will not be cowed by this old, cheap
trick of labelling constructive criticism as an insult,”
ACN said, challenging the presidency to deny the facts contained in
the party’s earlier statement on the issue.
”Let’s restate the facts, for the avoidance of doubt: One, Oronsaye
and Otti were already serving on the task force before they were
given the plum NNPC jobs. Two, the Federal Government could have
waited for them to complete their assignment before giving them
suspicious appointments, if only to avoid possible conflict of interest or any perception of such. Three, the men could have resigned
their membership of the task force after they got themselves the NNPC
jobs. And four, they could have written a minority report when
they disagreed with the conclusion of the task force, instead of
choosing the presentation venue to discredit the report.
”These are the facts that the presidency, through the chameleonic
presidential spokesman Reuben Abati, should have addressed,
instead of resorting to name calling. In any case, we are not
surprised at Abati’s metamorphosis. With his snout now deeply inserted in the nectar of office, criticisms have turned to insults in his eyes.
ACN said this is the same Abati who, in his newspaper column before
fortune smiled on him, regularly tackled sitting Presidents with his
unsparing articles.
”In one of such, entitled ‘The President’s missing ears’, he wrote of
then President Umaru Yar’Adua: ‘Men Without Ears is the title of a
1984 novel by Nigerian writer, Ifeoma Okoye. With due respect,
President Umaru Yar’Adua is beginning to behave like a man without
ears.
Being without ears refers to a certain obduracy, a peculiar inability
to appreciate the truth. I see the same problem in the Yar’Adua
presidency, seven months down the line.
Abati went further: ”The President either needs the services of an
ear doctor (I am sorry sir) or he needs to listen a bit more
attentively. There are issues in this country which need to be
addressed urgently, which the government is treating with kid
gloves.”
ACN said since Abati apparently did not believe that the article under
reference contained any insult against then President Yar’Adua, it is
disingenuous of him to keep haranguing critics of his boss for insulting him.
