SYLVA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH
2010 INDEPENDENCE DAY BOMBING
We have read in utter shock reports about a statement in court by a state witness in the October 1, 2010 Independence Day bombing in Abuja, claiming that Chief Timipre Sylva had foreknowledge of the blast.
For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that the so-called testimony is completely false, mischievous, and misleading. Sylva knows nothing about the independence-day bombing. He has nothing to do with it.
It is public knowledge that the alleged mastermind of the October 1, 2010 Abuja bombing, Mr. Henry Okah, who is currently standing trial in a South African court, has deposed to an affidavit in which he did not mention Sylva as having any links to the blast.
Sylva, therefore, wonders what the State Security Services (SSS) wants to achieve with the falsehood by the so-called independent witness.
Besides, the testimony by the unnamed witness smells of obvious desperation to drag Sylva into what he knows nothing about, perhaps, in continuation of the deliberate political victimisation that has been meted out to him in recent times. It is sad that after all they have done against Sylva, the forces of reaction appear not yet satisfied. Now, they want to rope him into a treasonable offence he did not commit. That way, it would be easy to silence him forever since under our laws the punishment for treason is death.
Nigerians have in recent history been witnesses to the fates of innocent citizens who were sent to their early graves or incarcerated unjustly on phantom charges of concealment. Having emerged from that ugly past, the security agencies and the political class must be careful to avoid things that may re-enact the bad political times.
Sylva dissociates himself completely from the Independence Day bombing issue and advises the security agencies to strive to do their job professionally and not taint it with politics.
Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran does not plan to block the Strait of Hormuz, the slender oil shipping channel out of the Persian Gulf, for now, but meantime warned that it would choke off the world oil lifeline if it is denied access to the Persian Gulf.
“Probably those who have suggested this idea have in mind that if Iran is denied access to the Persian Gulf for whatever reason … then Iran will probably react appropriately,” Salehi said in reference to the recent calls by several Iranian lawmakers on government officials to close the Strait of Hormuz.
“But I don’t think such a time will ever come,” he added.
Salehi’s remarks came as Iranian lawmakers warned once again last week that the country would shut the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf if sanctions against the Islamic Republic increase.
Last week, the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament drafted a bill requiring the government to stop all oil tankers shipping oil for those countries which support the US and EU sanctions against Iran’s oil sales.
Then on Sunday, a senior Iranian legislator announced that the parliament plans to invite Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili as well as a number of foreign ministry and military officials to confer on a draft bill on closing the Strait of Hormuz to those tankers shipping crude to the countries that support sanctions against Iran.
“In order to study the bill on the blockading of the Strait of Hormuz better and more precisely, the SNSC secretary and a number of officials from the foreign ministry and the General Staff of the Armed Forces will be invited to the parliament and their views and proposals will be used,” Seyed Mehdi Moussavinejad, one of the lawmakers who has signed the draft bill, told FNA on Sunday.
“The parliament should take an all-around and insightful decision on the Strait of Hormuz and defend the rights of the Iranian nation without any reservations,” he added.
Moussavinejad also announced that the draft bill of the parliament which requires the government to close the Strait of Hormuz to those tankers shipping oil to the supporters of sanctions against Iran will be submitted to the parliament’s Presiding Board late July to be put on parliament’s agenda with double-urgency to go under further discussions by all lawmakers.
An EU embargo on Iranian oil went into effect on July 1. Tehran has repeatedly cautioned that such measures will hurt talks with world powers over its nuclear program.
Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the oil-rich Persian Gulf if its nuclear program is targeted by air strikes that Israel and the United States reserve as an option.
Situated between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz is a passageway for 40% of the world’s oil production, including much of the crude extracted in Saudi Arabia.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri on Thursday July 5, reinstated the sacked Local Government Officials whose tenure was abridged as a result of Governor Okorocha’s directives in his maiden broadcast to Imo people on Monday, May 6, 2011. In its judgment delivered on Thursday July 5, the Jury in a unanimous decision which was read out by the presiding Judge, Justice Uwani Attaji, the Judges delved into the substance of the issue while turning a blind eye to the technicalities which were hitherto raised at the lower court. The Jury in a unanimous judgment declared the reinstated the sacked PDP chairmen and councillors as duly elected and restrained the governor or his proxies from interfering in their activities. In the same vein, the court also advised Governor Okorocha to concentrate on his executive duties and avoid the temptation of executive recklessness. Dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal judgment, Governor Okorocha has since applied for a stay of execution order and has also appealed to the Supreme Court.
It is pertinent to recall that a High court in Imo State had earlier given a ruling on the matter. In the suit no: HOW/312/2011 which judgment was given on Wednesday, 3rd August 2011, Justice B. A. Njemanze who also doubles as chief Judge of Imo State held: “In the final analysis, I hold that exhibit D is not a Newspaper property so called and as such it cannot be relied upon for the proof of the fact of the contents of the broadcast of the 2nd defendant. I therefore hold that the claimants have not placed before this court any credible evidence to enable the court grant the reliefs they are seeking. Consequently, this case is hereby dismissed. The claimants are to pay cost of N10,000 to each of the defendants”. In that suit, the chairman of the affected local government areas were referred to as the Claimants while the defendants include:
1. Attorney-general of Imo State
2. Governor of Imo State
3. Imo State House of Assembly and
4. Imo State Independence Electoral Commission (ISIEC)
However, in spite of this ruling, the judge further said: “It is axiomatic that the 2nd Defendant (the Governor) does not possess the constitutional powers to dissolve the Local Government Councils before the expiration of their tenure”. As a result of this conflict in the ruling, the ruling became very controversial. To some school of thought, the governor won while yet some others said that the Local Government Chairmen had won. The judgment was a classic case of approbating and reprobating; a case of having the rare skill of blowing hot and cold with equal celebrity.
In my viewpoint entitled: “Imo Local Government Council Suit: Matters Arising” (Nigerian Horn, August 15-16, 2011:15), I said inter-alia: “My reason for insisting that the Governor won the case is based on the final statement of the Judge: “Consequently, the case is hereby dismissed. The claimants are to pay cost of N10,000 each to the Defendant”. Since the “case is hereby dismissed” and the party that was ordered to pay cost was the Local Government Group, I concluded that it was the Governor that won the suit. After all, a litigant that has won a suit is never asked to pay fine.
In the aforementioned viewpoint, I took a swipe at the Chairmen of Councils for swooping on the Council Secretariats in a bid to use self help to take power from the transitional council chairmen. I condemned the act of gangsterism and rascality on the part of the council chairmen. I wrote: “In future, maximum force should be used when people who are supposed to be knowledgeable decide to use thuggery and gangsterism to achieve any agenda. If Chief Ohakim was still governor, those who engaged in this act of gangsterism would have been moved to the Government House where they would have been severely flogged”. Please read that viewpoint in Nigerian Horn of August 15-16 or you google the headline and read it on the internet.
However, in another viewpoint entitled: “Further Thought on Imo Local Government Councils’ Suit” which appeared in Midweek Newspoint of August 31 – September 1, 2011, I said that “the pronouncement by Justice Ben Njemanze that the governor lacks the power to dissolve the councils while their tenure was running would have made the chairmen to celebrate the judgment in their secretariats”. This was a mild way of reminding Governor Okorocha that the victory given to him by the High Court was a Greek Gift, a pyrrhic victory which would be ephemeral. It would not carry him far.
If Governor Okorocha had sound advisers or if Imo State had an effective legislature, Governor Ohakim would not have gone to the Court of Appeal. It was very clear that he would lose at the Court of Appeal. In fact, what Justice Ben Njemanze did was a subtle way of giving the Governor a soft landing. A smart legislature would have taken advantage of the slim victory to advise Governor Okorocha to pull out of the suit and announce to a cheering electorate that “Although I won the case in the High Court, I have decided to withdraw from the case in order to rescue even the PDP councilors”. He would have recalled the council officials and he would have bee applauded and celebrated across the nation for such a gesture. Most of them would have defected to APGA since then. There is no Court of law that will support arbitrary sacking of an elected group who has a statutory tenure. I knew the Governor would lose in the Court of Appeal but the Supreme Court has a wider scope to expand the frontiers of jurisprudence on this issue. It may invoke the Doctrine of Equity to adjudicate on the legality of the August 7,2010 LG exercise.
I sent text messages to some top people in Governor Okorocha’s Administration and made a case for the Administration to pull out of the suit and recall the councilors. When several efforts to see the Commissioner for Information failed, I passed the idea to his public relations officer for onward transmission to the commissioner. I followed it up with a text messages to some important APGA chieftains. The PRO of the Commissioner wondered how I would expect him to pass such information to the Commissioner. I also sent the text to a prominent chieftain of the Rescue Imo Administration who is in charge of a powerful government- sponsored Foundation but she did not react to the message.
It was at this point that I wrote the viewpoint entitled “Further Thoughts on Imo Council Suit (Midweek Nigerian Newspoint of August 31-Sept. 1, 2011 page 5. I wrote thus: “Although what took place on August 7, 2010 was a kangaroo election, only a court of competent jurisdiction can annul the election. In spite of the fraudulent nature of the purported election, there was no injunction on Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) not to conduct the election. On the other hand, Justice Goddy Anunihu issued an injunction to the effect that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should not present candidates for that (s)election of August 7, 2010. The injunction is still subsisting because the opposition candidates from other parties have not gone to ask the court to actualize the injunction. It is not the duty of Governor Okorocha to seek actualization of the injunction on PDP, after all, he was not a contestant in the election. In fact, at the time the election was held, nobody knew he would run for any elective office in the 2011 election. So, it was wrong for him to use executive fiat to dissolve the councils. In spite of what we may think about the kangaroo election, only the court can make a valid pronouncement on its legality or otherwise, since in my opinion there was no injunction on ISIEC to refrain from conducting the election. The pronouncement of Justice Ben Njemanze that the Governor lacks the power to dissolve the council did not come to me as a surprise because we have seen it before in the Oshieze Vincent vs Achike Udenwa suit. It’s a classic case of De javu”. I have quoted extensively from that viewpoint in order to clarify my stand on this contentions issue.
The problem we have today on this nasty issue has arisen because of a very poor approach to “crisis management” and “management of crisis”. Crisis management involves taking appropriate measures to either prevent crisis before it occurs or control it promptly when it occurs. On the other hand, “management of crisis” literally means managing a crisis that has occurred. It involves taking sporadic, largely uncoordinated actions to quench the crisis. It is fire brigade and reactive in nature” (Nkwocha, 1999:191). For inexplicable reasons, the large crowd of over 200 appointees could not provide useful advice to the Governor. The major blame should go to the Uwajumogu-led House of Assembly. If that House was effective, they would have advised the Governor not to push his luck too far by going to the Court of Appeal. Having escaped total humiliation in the High Court, Governor Okorocha would have tactically withdrawn from the suit and recall the councilors. He would have been given a rapturous applause. I also said in that viewpoint that “Now that their dynamo (source of energy), Chief Ohakim, is no longer in Douglas House, these PDP chairmen will no longer be dangerous. So our prayer now is that God should allow the better side to win”.
Furthermore, I said in that viewpoint that: “If the candidates from other political parties had gone to court to challenge that election, the court would have since declared the purported election of August 7, 2010 illegal, null and void”. If the present Local Government suit is between the LG Chairmen and the opposition candidates from other political parties, the Court of Appeal would have sacked the counselors and reinstated the Reverend Akamdiocha-led opposition candidates in that August 7, election. I am sad that my efforts to cause the Governor to withdraw from the suit and throw his weight behind the Reverend failed. The Akamdiocha Group is a group of the candidates from the other parties in the August 7th kangaroo election. Their case has been in the court without any progress because they don’t have the financial power to move the case. I have a feeling that the PDP is using their influence to stagnate their case, hence it is abandoned by the court.
Since the case has come to a point where the government now wishes to appeal to the Supreme Court, there are two approaches: (i) government should invite the Rev. Akamdiocha Group for a chat. The group should be given a back-up from Government House so that their case can be given an expedited and accelerated hearing. They have a very good case and they are likely to win. If the Goddy Anunihu’s injunction is actualized, the PDP members in that August 7, 2010 (s)election exercise will be sacked by the court. Justice Goddy Anunihu ruled that PDP should not present candidates in that election. That injunction is still alive even now.
On another hand, the government should base its argument in the Supreme Court on jurisdiction. It is my opinion that the Ben Njemanze High Court does not seem to have the jurisdiction to hear the suit as a court of first hearing. It is an election issue and all such cases thereon should be heard by Election petition panel and not a regular court. Original jurisdiction on election cases should go to election tribunals and not to High Courts. The Supreme Court has stated this very clearly while delivering judgment in the Martin Agbaso and Ikedi Ohakim and others. In the Supreme Court judgment delivered on 16th July 2010, the Supreme Court stated that: “Election is not an event, but a process leading to an event. It is necessary that everything connected with the process leading to the election including the actual election and its aftermath come within the jurisdiction of the Election Tribunal”. Furthermore, the Supreme Court held that: “Election conducted by the appropriate authority whether inchoate or not, the proper court with jurisdiction to entertain any action arising there-from or relating thereto is the relevant Election Tribunal established by the Constitution of this Country”.
By the judgment of the Supreme Court dated 16th July, 2010, the Apex court conclusively clarified that “what took place on 14th April, 2007 in Imo State in particular was an election and as such any action relating to the process leading thereto including the actual conduct of the event or its cancellation fall within the jurisdiction of the Election Tribunal by operation of law”. The issue of jurisdiction as it affects the sacking of the Local Government officials should be canvassed in the Supreme Court as it appears to be a most important smoking gun for APGA to turn the table against PDP. The issue of jurisdiction can be raised at any stage of a trial. It is the duty of a court to ensure that it has jurisdiction to sit in judgment over a case. A court who sits in judgment over a case that it has no jurisdiction is chasing the wind as it is an effort in futility. If however the two parties: Governor Okorocha and PDP decide to settle out of court, good. I have nothing against that. But the Rev. Akamdiocha Group must pursue their case to its logical conclusion. But what is the tenure of the LG Councilors? Is it two or three years? Can somebody please throw more light on the statutory tenure of Local Government officials? It is pertinent, to state that on the day of judgment, the counsel to the opposition candidates (i.e the Rev. Akamdiocha Group) asked why judgment was being delivered without considering their application to be joined as parties to the suit. The panel of judges did not give any satisfactory explanation. They said that it was not brought to their notice. So, who is sitting on the case file of Rev Akamdiocha Group? Let the government provide the Group with logistics and they can move mountains. Since the various groups: PDP, APGA and Rev. Akamdiocha Group are all Ndimo, may the best side win.
I am sad that unlike the semblance of harmony which existed between the PDP and Governor Okorocha a while ago, present realities have shown that the relationship between both parties has broken down irretrievably. There is abundant evidence to prove that the PDP councilors are not asking to be reinstated in order to serve out their tenure but rather because they are desperate to bring down the Rescue Imo Government of Governor Okorocha. As a result of this development, Governor Okorocha should use any legal and reasonable means to ensure that the Rescue Imo Government is not shipwrecked or hijacked by the Egyptians who held Imo hostage over the years. The ongoing desperation by some groups to hijack the Local Government Secretariat in Imo State must be vehemently resisted. As the only democratically elected Governor of Imo State since Dee Sam Mbakwe (Ph.D) left office on 31st December 1983, Governor Okorocha should use all legitimate means to ensure that the people’s mandate of May 6, 2011 is not truncated by overzealous politicians who ran Imo State like a sole proprietary business over the years. The so called election of August 7, 2010 is comparable to the election of April 28, 2007 through which Chief Ikedi Ohakim became Governor. He was selected or appointed Governor by his kinsman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, to rule Imo State for the simple reason that both come from Okigwe Zone. The Governorship election of 2007 was actually won by Chief Martin Agbaso of APGA. But unfortunately, Prof. Maurice Iwu did not like his face because Martin Agbaso comes from Owerri Zone and, above all, some elders in Owerri zone swore that Chief Agbaso would be Governor only over their dead bodies. Although there was no election but selection on August 7, 2010, only the court can give legal teeth to the immutable fact that August 7, 2010 so-called election was indeed a charade, a farce. Once again, let Governor Okorocha use all the legal means available to stabilize his Government, after all, what we have in Nigeria are courts of technicalities and not courts of Justice. Let the Apex court have the finally say on this contentious and controversial issue. We are aware that it is not the duty of the courts to catalyze crises and mayhem in the civil society.
There is a need to advise Governor Okorocha to avoid getting involved in avoidable litigations. On three occasions his actions have been described by the courts as unconstitutional and a show of executive recklessness. The first was on Wednesday, 3rd August 2011 when Justice Ben Njemanze ruled that “The Governor does not have the powers to dissolve elected councilors before the expiration of their tenure”. The second was on Wednesday June 27th, 2012 when Hon Justice Nonye Okoronkwo nullified the sacking of the members of Imo State Judicial service Commission (JSC) by the Governor and now the Court of Appeal judgment declaring his action of sacking the Local Government Councilors as an act of executive recklessness. Such records are not good for a politician who has his eyes on Aso Rock. In the fullness of time, such judgments could be used against him by his political opponents. So, he should act with circumspection, caution and foresight. A Governor, who has told a global audiences that; “Boys will not rule Imo State again” should exhibit maturity in the conduct of affairs. In the same vein, a Governor who told the populace that “I am not a local champion” must conduct affairs in tandem with International Best Practices. However, in spite of perceived shortcomings, Governor Okorocha’s Administration is the best Imo has had since the 1979-1983 regime of Dee Sam Mbakwe (Ph.D.). In just one year, Governor Okorocha has achieved what could not be achieved by the cumulative efforts of the leaders of PDP in Imo State since 1999. The level of democracy dividends are simply gargantuan and with out equal. As Stakeholders in the Rescue Imo Revolution, we ask God to give Governor Okorocha the gift of humility, rapprochement and abiding faith in due process so that he can continue with the great agenda of transforming the erstwhile decadent and dilapidated Imo State to a modern and model State, a centre of scenic beauty and a classic case of un paradis sur terre (a paradise on Earth). Imo is actually in the hands of God. Yes, Rochas we know.
It was a black Thursday morning in Okogbe community of Ahoanda West Local Government Area of Rivers State following the unfortunate tanker explosion that roasted over eighty persons to death.
The incident which happened in a boundary community to Bayelsa state also left over seven vehicles burnt while about hundred persons including pregnant women and children were injured.
The ugly scene which also affected traffics along the busy East/West road as most vehicles plying Port Harcourt, Warri, Yenagoa and Lagos routes suffered long queue while others who couldn’t stand the sight made u turn.
247ureports.com that the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning between 7am along the Okogbe community as a tanker loaded with petroleum product got involved in a ghastly road accident with another vehicle forcing the tanker to skip off the road and somersaulted with the product.
The explosion occurred when the villagers seized the opportunity to scoop out petroleum product from the tanker, hence many casualties.
The raging fire which spilled to the main road also burnt vehicles plying the road and motorcycles used in scooping the product even as hundreds of jerry cans liters the scene of the disaster.
Motorbikes were used as a makeshift ambulance in conveying burnt victims to Mbiama community near Bayelsa, a distance of about thirty minutes, searching for hospitals and clinics to treat victims
Although an Oando filling station located near the explosion site was speared from the ravaging fire, good Samaritans were seen combing bushes searching for injured persons along the Agip pipeline close to the explosion area.
Following the close down of the East/West road to traffic, men of the Nigeria Army and Police force were deployed to the scene of the explosion to control traffics.
Narrating the sad incident, Mrs. Cecilia Ike who narrowly escaped death said that the tanker was involved in an accident and somersaulted with product before villagers rushed to scoop the product.
She said following the mass rush of villagers to scoop the product, somebody mischievously threw light to the scene, blaming it all on the youths of the area, even as she gave thanks to God that she was alive to narrate the story because, according to her she had fetched two jerry cans but went in search of more jerry cans before the tanker exploded.
Another eye witness, Mr. Augustine Ayibatari who also escaped death by whiskers gave a rough estimate of death toll to between eighty and hundred including school children.
He said tanker ignited fire at about 7am as villagers trooped to the somersaulted tanker to fetch fuel before the fire sparked off, attributing his escape to God.
But one of the soldiers who witnessed the incident put the death toll to 100 persons, just as he said the death victims were burnt beyond recognitions, adding that some victims were recovered from a stream close to Oando filling station were some burnt persons dived to cool their heated bodies.
Meanwhile, hours after the fire ignited and killed victims, rescue operations from government of Rivers and neighboring Bayelsa state were yet to visit the scene, even as no ambulance vehicles were moved to the site to convey injured persons to hospital for treatment, rather relatives were using motorbikes to convey injured victims to hospitals the few hospitals around the area.
Many people would hardly get treatment due to the near absence of good hospitals around the area.
Ralph Miliband was a key twentieth century political thinker. Ralph Miliband once said that the hottest place in hell will be reserved for those who sit on the fence in the face of great moral crisis. No one will want to go to the hottest place in hell, at least not me. As a citizen of Imo State, I am worried and will continue to speak out on the manner of politics and public disservice Governor Okorocha of Imo State and his Caretaker Committee Chairmen are practicing in our State.
Okorocha’s government is doing little or nothing to create wealth in Imo State but is running a huge con game in the 27 LGA’s of Imo state via his Caretaker Committee Chairmen. Judging from the communications coming out of Imo state government house daily on the Rescue Mission project, one will applaud the governor for the way his propaganda machines have been communicating his many lies to Ndi Imo, and to other Nigerians in the name of achievements. The governor’s wonder achievements are only visible to his group of megaphones.
According to Abraham Lincoln, You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. For one year now I have been highlighting the manner of looting of council funds in Imo State. Owelle has been manipulating the minds of Imo people through his fourth tier government sweet talks while rescuing his own pocket with our council funds. I highlighted what I saw as the dawn of naked impunity in Imo State. Rather than listen to voice of reasoning and hands off our council funds, the Governor and his megaphones called me all sorts of names saying that my allegations are nothing but the handiwork of power thirsty opposition.
Okorocha lives in Disney land, completely detached from reality. He has full bodyguards and is driven around in convoys of SUVs, with police ‘korofo’ to open and close doors for him so he don’t give a hoot about how the people feel. He dispense favours to cronies and praise-singers with thoughtless abandon: the entire LGA funds of Imo State are his to spend as he wish. His word is law and he believes he knows everything. He helps himself liberally from our LGA purse with his Caretaker Committee Chairmen by exploiting the weaknesses of the Joint Account systems still in use in Nigeria. He knows where every kobo of our LGA is, and therefore how to steal it.
Okorocha sacked democratically elected LGA Chairmen and Councillors one year ago and appointed Caretaker Committee Chairmen for our LGA’s. The Caretaker Committee Chairmen are his agents for diverting our LGA funds for his personal use. Today, the Councils in Imo State are dysfunctional. Nothing is happening in over 90 per cent of Imo State Councils. Our LGA funds are held hostage and we are deprived the opportunity to function democratically.
Nigeria’s Constitution recognizes LGA’s as the third tier of government after the federal and state governments. Their functions are clearly defined. They are entitled allocation of funds from the federation account for use in carrying out their functions. Each of Imo State LGA receives millions of naira in allocations. Where are the monies? Nobody knows where these monies end up. Where are the local roads, health care centres, modern schools and markets? Where are the projects to speed up development? Where are the millions of naira for Imo LGA’s? Okorocha and his Caretaker Committee Chairmen are looting these monies. They are using local government revenue and allocations to enrich themselves . Caretaker Chairmen according to my source will be asked to sign an allocation of the actual amount sent by FG but meagre money will be handed over to them.
EFCC and ICPC are not vigilant in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Fighting corruption should be a holistic approach and not showmanship or fighting against those who fell out of favour of the presidency. I challenge ICPC and EFCC to investigate what is currently going on in Imo State LGA’s. I am disappointed with the manner Imo Council funds are being looted. It appears the National Assembly has also lost courage to make laws and stop the illegal usage of Caretaker Committee in our Local Government. How can we move forward in Imo State where the Governor is holding our Local Government to ransom and taking merchandise of their allocation.
Owelle does not want elected Council men because he cannot face the prospect of losing his council cash pot that he has been sipping from since June 2011. On 5th July 2012 a Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, Imo State shamed him by ordering the reinstatement of all elected LGA Chairmen and Councillors in the 27 Councils of Imo State that he sacked. The Court held that the Governor lacked the powers to sack an elected government. But Governor ‘Onye-Agwanam’ Okorocha has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeals ruling and promised to deal with anyone who tries to cause chaos in the State over the Appeal Court ruling. And so, the looting can go on. Haba! Okorocha! Ques que na afio?.
There is no moral justification for Okorocha’s appeal in the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeals ruling. Instead of wasting the state’s money on avoidable legal suits; such money will go a long way to improve workers welfare in Imo State. No wahala! Anyone who tells him differently is ‘Ikiri’. Soonest the Court will ‘shame’ him again by asking him to recall the sacked 10,000 legally employed Civil Servants in Imo state. The 10,000 Civil Servants are still in Court. The Civil Servants were duly employed according to Imo State Civil Service Commission laws. Okorocha ordered their sack via radio broadcast. There are laid down Civil Service rules to follow in the sack of any Civil Servant. We must follow the rule of law in governance for we operate democratic system in Nigeria. Where is the rule of law in Imo State ? Save us o’ God
Mr. Olayinka Balogun, who was last night removed as the Edo State Commissioner of Police, suffered the fate for not correctly reading the body language of his bosses.
Balogun was unceremoniously removed 48 hours to the Edo State governorship election by removed by the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, who was in Benin, the Edo State capital for a one-day visit. He was not charged with any offences and his fate remains uncertain, while his position has been taken over by Mr. Femi Adenaike.
“Balogun was removed because he was deemed to be supporting Governor Adams Oshiomhole contrary to the expectation of the Police Headquarters that he would support the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), General Charles Airhiavbere (retd),” a source close to the Acting IGP told Transport & Business Express.
The source said that The Presidency is desperate to recapture Edo from the ACN in Saturday’s governorship election.
Both President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo have been to Edo State to campaign for Gen. Airhiavbere, who is less popular than Mr. Oshiomhole, a former labour leader fondly addressed as Comrade Governor by his admirers.
Oshiomhole was rigged out by PDP in the 2007 ballot but reclaimed his mandate through the courts. Edo State has become heavily militarised ahead of Saturday’s ballot, raising fears of a repeat of the 2007 scenario. The tough-talking Oshiomhole has however promised that those who attempt to rig him out this time around will be “rigged out of life.”
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers has expressed shock over a recent media report by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in which the party accused the Administrator of the Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, GPHCDA, Dame Aleruchi Cookey-Gam, of engaging in waste of public funds through alleged overseas tours. PDP said the whole story lacked any iota of truth describing same as laughable.
“The ACN would stop at nothing to undermine efforts of the Rivers State Government to realising its laudable programmes including cajoling Dame Cookey-Gam to abandon her resolve to achieve the Greater Port Harcourt City Master Plan,” the PDP said in a statement in Port Harcourt through its state publicity secretary, Mr. George Ukwuoma-Nwogba.
While berating the ACN for seeing nothing good in Rivers state, Mr. Ukwuoma-Nwogba said the report could best be described as a “tissue of lies patented in the familiar, old fashion often resorted to by the ACN to cover its diminishing relevance in Rivers state.” Ukwuoma-Nwogba further stated that it was all the product of the figment of imagination of the author.”
“ACN attracts attention only through dissemination of falsehood. But lies, no matter how packaged and severally told, can’t turn into half a truth.”
Ukwuoma-Nwogba disputed the assertion made by the ACN that Cookey-Gam’s alleged visit to Singapore was mere jamboree.
“It might be of interest to the ACN to know that the Administrator and some Board members of the Authority travelled on a one week visit to Singapore. While there, they attended a three-in-one summit namely WORLD CITIES SUMMIT, WATERWEEK CONVENTION and CLEAN ENVIRONMENT SUMMIT which took place simultaneously at the Singapore Convention Centre from 1st – 4th July, 2012. Does that sound like a jamboree?”
PDP continued: “The WCS is a bi-annual event and global platform which brings together various stakeholders including policy makers, investors, financiers, industry professionals and technology experts and enables participants discuss extensively on the tremendous challenges of climatic and demographic changes, urban-rural migration and gives enlightenment on integrated planning/urban solutions, the sharing of ideas on the best practices for creating liveable and sustainable cities.”
“The ACN, like in all other of its public statements, depended on its harem of gossips who pose as “credible sources.” To make its already bad public image worse, the party went on to claim that Dame Cookey-Gam is sighted in Washington on monthly basis. Rivers people needed no further proof from the ACN to show it can’t tell a single truth. Hyperbolical statements cannot win support for the ACN.”
Rather than dissipate energy in churning out falsehood, the PDP argued, ACN should swallow its pride for constructive inputs. Ukwuoma-Nwogba however stated no amount of rumour peddling by the ACN will derail Dame Cookey-Gam’s focus to transform the city of Port Harcourt into a truly 21st century city.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, ProfessorAttahiru Jega, has admitted the circulation of fake voters’ cards in Edo State,two days to the July 14 governorship election.
The INEC Chairman made the admission in Benin City, yesterday,at a stakeholders’ meeting organized for governorship candidates by theelectoral body. Also in attendance were the Inspector General of Police, Mr.Mohammed Abubakar, and the Commander of the Fourth Brigade of the Nigerian Army,Brigadier-General Abel Umahi.
The INEC Chairman, who expressed disappointment at thedesperation of some of the candidates in the election, observed that the laminatedcards tendered in evidence by the governorship candidate of the Action Congressof Nigeria (ACN), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, were a bold attempt to clone theoriginal, but noted the forgers did not succeed in capturing the security featuresas well.
Comrade Oshiomhole who tendered the fake cards had told theINEC Chairman that the cards were seized from some agents of the oppositionparty who are now reportedly in police custody.
On the source, Jega said the fake cards may have been clonedfrom the INEC registers presented to the parties some weeks ago.
Said he: “From what I’veseen now, looking at these cards before me, I can confirm that they are fake.And I believe these is as a result of an abuse of privilege because we had madecopies of the voters’ register available to all the parties. What thesecriminals have simply done is to clone from the voter register we madeavailable to the public. But let me assure the public that the cards I’ve seencan not in any way be used at our polling units because our polling officershave been trained to look out for the special PIN numbers and other securityfeatures in the valid voter register which will be used on the day of election.”
According to Jega, to ensure free and fair polls, the ballotboxes that will be used for the election have special security features whichwill make it impossible to be diverted from one local government to the other,saying the measure will deter ballot box snatching.
Speaking earlier, Governor Oshiomhole had also alerted thathe had credible intelligence that fake army and police uniforms were being sewnby the PDP with which their agents would be clothed on rgw election day to disruptthe polls in some areas.
Speaking in similar vein, the ANPP candidate, Chief SolomonEdebiri, urged the Inspector-General of Police to make the names of thesecurity agents who will be at various polling units public to identify genuinesecurity agents.
In his response, the I-G assured that his men were on thealert to deal with any impostors.
The stakeholders session was attended by theDirectors-General of the campaign organizations of the seven candidates as wellas the candidates themselves.
If anyone is thinking that peace will soon return to the troubled Irri community,Isoko South local government area of Delta state, such person must have arethink following the alleged dangerous and demonic dimension the issues atstake has taken.
The recent alleged poisoning of the member representing Isoko South constituency 1, in thestate House of Assembly, Mr. Benjamin Essien Okiemuta who is said to haveinitiated peace processes so as to find a lasting solution to the over tenyears crisis is an indication that peace is not in any way near the people.
Speakingin a telephone interview with our reporter, the lawmaker who is an indigene of Irri town andChairman House community on peace and security, ethics and privileges allegedthat following his initiation of peace in the community “I was poisoned mybrother and several places I went to, to seek for help and dispose of thepoison, I was told that my predicament is not unconnected to my peace processesI have initiated in the troubled community. It took the mercy of God to flushout the head of a dock put inside my stomach with which I was poisoned. You cansee how wicked people can be.”
Accordingto the lawmaker, the crisis in the community has been before he contested forthe position of the House of Assembly and during his electioneering campaignshe did promised to bring a lasting peace to the Irri community adding thatimmediately “ I commenced the peace processes aimed at fulfilling my promisesmade to the people, I started receiving all sorts of spiritual and demonic actsfrom both left and right but the most damaging and fearful one was the recentone where I was poisoned with the placing of a dock head in my stomach. If notthe grace and mercy of God I would have been dead by now because I am bringingpeace to my community.”
It was learnt that before the lawmaker has been accused oftaking side with another faction in the community shortly he was elected amember of the house but this he swiftly debunked.
Irri community has been embroiled in bloody crisis betweenthe embattled sacked President General, Mr. Joshua Uturu and the entirecommunity over leadership tussle and the manner and way he was said to berunning the affairs of the community especially as it concern the AGIP oilcompany in the community which has consumed several souls.
In a letter of threat and warning purportedlyendorsed by the Odiologbo of Irri community, HRM Oviese Ebah Ojenuwe 11, thelawmaker was advised in his own interest to withdraw from the peace process hewas initiating.
According to theletter whose copy was made available to the media “We, the Odiologbo of Irrikingdom, Edios, traditional chiefs, the President General, chairman CDC, womenfolks, the elites and the youths had just rose from a general meeting and inthe meeting we reviewed your (Hon Essien’s) earlier plea to take over the UturuVs Irri community crisis for peaceful settlement. It behoves on us to statecategorically that you have been boasting that you have settled the Irri matterwhich is not true rather you are flaming ember of fire by trying all the bestof your ability to free Uturu from facing the law for his criminal activities.The Irri community in its entirety has the following against you. You went toAbuja to make some connection to free Uturu from police custody.
The letter stated that “Instead of you sidingUturu to the peril of the entire Irri community, you better disassociateyourself from the Irri matter, it is better for Irri community to be left aloneto bear its cross for peace to reign. Is it a crime for Irri people to havevoted for you, if you don’t know, Irri people can still pass a vote of noconfidence on you. Why is it that when Uturu is arrested it is then you willshow more concern about settlement. However any day you realize yourself andcome back to front for Irri people you will be taken aback.”
In his own response letter to the threat and warning letter addressed to the Odiologbo (traditionalruler) which copied Delta state governor, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan,SSG, Delta state, AIG zone 5, Benin city, Commissioner of police, Delta state,Director of SSS, Delta state, among others, Mr. Benjamin Essien Okiemuta stated
“Severalefforts have been made by my humble self in restoring peace to our noblecommunity as part of my agenda during my electioneering campaigns. As part ofmy promises I started all negotiations after my victory in the election withboth parties in making sure peace is restored in Irri town. You should notforget so soon, that I met with various executive of the community and allagreed that I should go ahead for the settlement. You will also recall thatseveral meetings and consultations has been going on at both home and abroadwhich has cost me time, energy and financial commitment of about eight million,two hundred thousand naira (#8,200,000.00) either by cash or kind just forpeace to reign in Irri. And there was need to discuss with groups of people orindividuals, but today none of them has responded in any for.”
The letter alsoadvised that for every dispute to come to an end in settlement, self interestmust be removed and the need to embrace the general interest of the communitymust come to heart adding that mediators should not be restricted orconstrained to only one party.
“More so, it’s pertinent to note in all that Ihave mentioned above, reverse is the case, However, it has come to my noticethat some members of the community are tirelessly thwarting my effort andbringing disrepute to my name. They have chosen to stand against this agendaand dragging this effort and community down to their own interest. Despite allills, I have struggled to calm most aggrieved parties. The state has alsomandated me as part of my plea to wade into this matter to a logicalconclusion, but some of our brothers and sisters who were supposed to embracedthis peace and be carriers of this message has seriously refuted this and hasnot in any way shift their ground. They have rather choose to carry outrumours, confusion, deceit and distractions only to disrupt this lasting peaceexercise.”
Following this andmany unforeseen circumstances, the lawmaker announced his withdrawal from thepeace process but however said that “Henceforth as son of this noble communityany contribution just like every other, I will not be left out, that any otherhelp I can render within my reach and position. Above all I want to echo to alland sundry that henceforth I have seized and withdrawn from this settlementprocess and should not be seen as the sole carrier of this crusade any longer.”
It would be recalled that few months ago the Delta stategovernment through the state Commissioner for Youth, Mr. Ebifa Ijomah had visitedthe warring Irri community as a way of finding lasting peace to the crisiswhich has claimed over twenty lives but the youths of the community insistedthat unless the 27 and half corpses of their colleagues lying in the mortuarysince 2008 are buried, peace will not return to the area.
The visibly angry youths told the state commissioner forYouth, Mr. Ebifa Ijomah during a town hall meeting held at the community that,adequate compensation should also be paid to the families of the deceased whilemachineries should be put in place for the development of the community andempowerment of its indigenes by Agip Oil Company and the state government.
Also speaking, chairman of the Community, Rev. John MarkOdhigbo who blamed both government and Agip Oil for the crisis said apart fromthe neglect that must be addressed, Agip Oil should empower their sons anddaughters economically through employment and skill acquisition.
However, after listening to the youth’s submission, Ijomahassured them that the government was poised to develop the entire state andappealed to them to sheath their swords as development cannot take place in anatmosphere of rancour.
While appealing to the aggrieved youths to unite andembrace dialogue and negotiation in articulating their demands, which thecommissioner stated would create the pathway to development; he solicited theirsupport for the administration of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.
He announced that his ministry would soon embark oncollection of data for youths across the state, explaining that the data basewould be used in planning various packages of empowerment for them.
