NASS members walked out on us when confronted over their jumbo pay — ex-RMAFC boss, TukurPRE

Hamman Tukur, an engineer and former Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, in this interview with PREMIUM TIMES, speaks about his tenure, the huge allowances taken by members of the National Assembly, his constant brushes with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the administration of FAAC and other sundry issues.

PT: How did the Commission handle the issue of revenue sharing formula?

Senate

Tukur: Usually the Commission carried out research into what would determine the revenue formula, particularly in line with what the Constitution says, to accommodate the interest of the Federal, all the states and the 774 Local Governments, whether elected or selected.

PT: Did you say selected?

Tukur: My opinion is that except the recent election (Buhari’s), most others were selected.

PT: Are you saying that even the two governments you served – Obasanjo and Yar’adua, were also selected?

Tukur: I am not aware of Obasanjo, but, anybody else – Yar’adua or Jonathan – were by selection.

PT: But you accepted to serve in them. If you knew they were not elected, like Yar’adua, why did you accept to serve under him?

Tukur: I think I must have told him. Yes, I know, I must have told him. He even admitted his election was rigged.

PT: You were always so critical of Obasanjo. Why were you so hard on him?

Tukur: No! Not that I was hard on him. You see, if Obasanjo determines to do something, anything, you can hardly change his mind. But, he will admit it. Take for instance when a committee was set up to fix the salary of the president. When he threatened to sack me, I said, “oya”.

PT: Then why did he not sack you?

Tukur: By law, he cannot. By the provision of the Constitution, only two thirds majority of the Senate can drive away any one member of the Commission.

PT: If he knew that why did he threaten to sack you?

Tukur: He did not know at that material time, I think. When he found out, he backed off.  But, I don’t know if he forgot. That was the problem of Chief Obasanjo, or Kabiyesi of Yorubaland, and the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic. There is a wide difference between the two.

PT: What were the issues you were always disagreeing with him?

Tukur: Well, a lot of controversies. The one I can easily remember had to do with the issue of his salary. When we told him what he was going to be paid, he did not believe it. We had suggested to him that we wanted to pay him a little less than the then Chief Justice of the Federation.  He did not believe it.

PT: And he disagreed?

Tukur: He said, “How dare you?”  Do you know who you are talking about?

PT: So, did he say how much he wanted to be paid exactly?

Tukur: Well, I don’t know. He did not say. It is not what he wanted, but what the Commission wanted to pay the President of the Federal Republic. The Commission’s job is to determine the pay of Mr. President and all political office holders. And we fixed it. But, when we finished the computation, it turned out that it was a little more than what the Chief Justice was to earn. It took a little allowance to earn more than the Chief Justice.

PT: To have survived Obasanjo, your Commission must have been a tough one!

Tukur: In those days, the Commission had very serious members who would not accept anything from anybody.  They knew their job and were ready to do it the best way they could. That is not the situation today. The way the Commission allows the National Assembly members to pay themselves is not right. In those days, the issue of ‘brown envelops’ to members did not arise. Nowadays, the members don’t even want to go away.

PT: What would they have done?

Tukur: A lot! There are no complaints about the country going down, down and down. For instance, I think it was only when Obasanjo asked for $5.3 billion to finance NIPP (National Integrated Power Programme) that the Commission said he cannot take it from the Federation Account without reference to the other tiers of government. Obasanjo was told that if he wanted any money, he should take it from the Federal Government’s share of the money, and then go to the National Assembly for approval. Just like the recent issue of bail-out by the Federal Government to states. The president (Buhari) has to be careful. We have to caution Mr. Buhari, like we did to Obasanjo when he wanted $5.3 billion. When the Commission said he cannot take the money, one day he had to send Yayale Ahmed, who was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation then to come and tell the Commission that he wanted that money. I said no, the money does not belong to me, but the Federation Account. What that means is that all the three tiers of government that own the Account must be aware and agree that the money be withdrawn for the purpose. Then the formula for sharing between the federal, states and local governments would apply. There should be no question of states staying somewhere to allocate what the local governments want. This is wrong. The money in the Federation Account belongs to the federal, states and the local governments. This is democracy. That is what applies to the National Population Commission. If the Commission says one village is 200,000 people, before anyone can undo it and change that decision, it would pass through a lot of processes.

Buhari gave out a lot of money to states recently in the name of bail-out. Who gave him that money? How did he get access to the Federation Account, or the authority to release that money? Did he go through appropriation for approval? If he released the money before it was approved, then it is illegal.

In any case, who told the states to be broke? Who stole their money? He (Buhari) should have asked the state governors where their money was. Some people argue that the money used for the bail-out was from the Nigeria LNG dividend. But, the Constitution is very clear: all revenues of government must go into the Federation Account first before anything. The only exception that is made is written in the Constitution itself, and that is Armed Forces, including the military, Police and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Anybody or agency paying tax to government for whatever description it should be channelled to the Federation Account.

That is why one of the key responsibilities of the Commission is to mobilise government revenue to the Federation Account before allocating. It is total. Exceptions are clear, so that no one can pretend.

What that means is that wherever any revenue has not been remitted to the Federation Account by any agency, the Commission must ask questions. If any money must be released, the National Assembly must be approached for supplementary appropriation.

PT: The National Assembly continues to receive allowances different from what the Commission approved for them. Why was the Commission not able to stop that during your time?

Tukur: It was not a question of not being able to stop it, but because of the pressure from Labour. We told them (Labour) in a circular some time ago that every single naira any member of the National Assembly receives outside what the Commission approved was illegal, null and void.

PT: Who approved that money?

Tukur: I would not tell you the Commission did not know, because it was our job to know. But, we knew as much as we knew, and what we knew was what we approved. One time, they invited us to the National Assembly, and we said let us start by asking: who approves your budget? They started walking out from the meeting. And that is how the meeting ended. How can you as a National Assembly, the legislative arm of government not be answerable to anybody? All information about budget is always on the executive, which defends its budget before the National Assembly. But, we are in a democracy. People must know.

PT: Let’s talk about excess crude revenue and budget benchmark.

Tukur: What is benchmarking? Benchmarking is killing us. The role of the Commission has to do with mobilizing the revenue and allocating it. The fiscal aspect is meant to check what the beneficiaries of the allocation did with what they got. The only thing the law did not give the Commission was the power to punish those who fail to use it properly. If the Commission mobilizes and allocates revenue, if one fails to use the revenue well, for instance, steal, the Commission cannot do anything beyond just monitoring. If one steals, the Commission should say one has stolen, and that you must not continue to steal.

PT: During your time, were there no incidences of stealing your Commission found out?

Tukur: Did the stealing start yesterday? Stealing has been going on in this country for quite some time. But, I must say the situation was never this alarming. At that time NNPC never failed to remit monies to the Federation Account.

PT: But, would you say all these cases of missing revenue, as a result of one government agency or the other, like NNPC not remitting monies to the Federation Account, would not have arisen if the Commission was doing its job well?

Tukur: The big answer is No.  Before every Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held every month, the Commission would monitor every revenue agency, including the Ministry of Finance, to know what has gone into the Federation Account. Throughout my tenure, I never went to the Accountant General Federation to ask what he was doing with the Federal Government’s money. Similarly, each of the Commissioners from each state of the federation is supposed to be monitoring what their state government was doing with the total percentage revenue allocation sent to him, while their counterparts in the local governments should do the same.

PT: How did you deal with the issue of missing monies in your time?

Tukur: You must understand the role of the Commission. We are talking about revenue mobilization and then allocation. The Commission should be able to mobilise all the revenue from all sources to the Federation Account before sharing among the three tiers of government.

PT: What would say is the biggest challenge in managing the Federation Account?

Tukur: First, the structure of that management is faulty. For the Federal Government to put its own Minister of State for Finance as the Chairman of the FAAC is wrong. It is not right that the Federal Government as a principal beneficiary from the Federation Account should be the one to preside over the sharing. There is no way it would be fair and transparent. Does that make sense? For transparency and accountability, the Commission should preside over the FAAC meetings. So long as the government is a beneficiary and also presides over the FAAC meetings when the revenue is being shared, there will always be problem. There is no way all the revenues that should come in would be declared. This why there is always a problem about Stabilization Account and the other components of the Federation Account – oil minerals revenue, ecological fund and derivation. Top functionaries are not helping the country on what it should do to develop. If one wants to steal, one should work first, may be steal in bits later till he is caught.

PT: What’s your view about the excess crude oil revenue account (ECA?)

Tukur: Whether you call it excess crude revenue account, or Sovereign Wealth Fund, all of them are illegal. There is no place for any of these things in the Constitution. They keep talking about benchmark. What is the meaning of benchmark in terms of the budget?  Budget is a proposal of what a government wants to do within the next one year. If one comes out to say one has gotten enough of the money and does not want any more, without a law, does it make sense? If that budget is approved by the National Assembly and the President signs it, it is absolutely illegal. Which agency fixes the benchmark in the budget?  This is also illegal, because all revenues are supposed to go into the Federation Account and shared to the three tiers of government according to approved sharing formula. The data the Commission had are still the ones being used till today. We did not change the governance structure. It is the Commission that has refused to give the country a fresh revenue allocation formula. It was supposed to be changed every five years. Nobody knows what is happening at the Commission any more. It appears there is no political will to do so.

NASS members walked out on us when confronted over their jumbo pay — ex-RMAFC boss, TukurPRE

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Administration Wanted Me To Implicate El-Rufai For My Freedom - Okah

Charles Okah, whose brother, Henry Okar, led the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, until he was jailed by South African authorities, speaks to PREMIUM TIMES about the aftermath of the October 1, 2010 Independence Day bombing, his business deals with the United States and the United Kingdom and more.

HENRY OKAH

How were you arrested and where were you taken to from the time of your arrest to the time you were sent to Kuje Prison?

I was arrested at my residence in Apapa GRA, Lagos on Saturday, October 1, 2010 at about 1pm. There was no arrest warrant produced. It was a crude kidnap-type operation. The team leader told me that I was being arrested on suspicion of being the elusive spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, who goes by the pseudonym Jomo Gbomo. My eldest son who was back from school in the United States at the time was also arrested.  We were bound, blindfolded, and taken to the DSS Lagos office where we spent the night. The next morning, we were flown to their Abuja headquarters in a military plane. Two days later on Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010, the DSS spokeswoman, Ms Marilyn Ogar, was announcing on national television that “their investigations had revealed that Charles Tonbra Okah is Jomo Gbomo”. But barely two weeks after that announcement, while still in their custody, the same Jomo Gbomo released a statement, and has continued up till this day. I was transferred to Kuje Prison custody by an order of the court on December 24, 2010, where I have remained since then.

Before your arrest, what was your relationship with GEJ?

I was not close to him. I met him on a few occasions when he was deputy governor under my cousin, Chief Diepreye Alamiesiyegha. Again, when he was governor, he spoke to my brother through my phone in his office, because Henry did not want to call him directly. I also met him in Pretoria, South Africa as Vice President, when the then President Yar’Adua sent him, in the company of Chief Timipre Sylva, and Senator David Brigidi to establish communications with Henry towards addressing the problems inside the creeks. I was in South Africa on business at the time.

We understand that Goodluck Jonathan administration was constantly in contact with you here in Kuje Prison?

That is true. There were several surreptitious and nocturnal visits that spanned the over four years I have been held here in Kuje Prison. The visits were made by Gordon Obuah, former Chief Security Officer to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in company with the Special Adviser on Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku. Their mission was to ensure that I cooperated with the government in implicating Nasir El-Rufai and others in the October 1, 2010 bombing.  Mr. Obuah and Kuku said I would be set free if I implicated the perceived enemies of the former president.

When and how did they visit you in the prison?

The visits were done after the 6pm final lock-up of inmates. Before any visit, the Presidency and the DSS would inform the Controller General of Prisons who in turn would inform the Controller FCT Command, the Officer-in-Charge, Kuje prison and the Chief Warder to ensure they wait and receive the high profile visitors. The prison officials are usually told to wait outside the office of the Officer in Charge when the meeting is on. After these visits, some moneys were given to the prison officials for my welfare and that of two others arrested over the 50th Independence Day Anniversary bombing.  The last meetings came in late 2014, where I was shown a draft of an endorsement for Goodluck Jonathan by Mr. Kuku which he said had been sent by email to MEND. He promised that we would be released as soon as GEJ is voted for a second term, and wanted me to find ways to reach out to MEND to release that draft as its endorsement for Goodluck.  The former CSO on his part assured me he would ensure the container which was ordered by my company on behalf of the United States Embassy and seized by the DSS at the Tin Can Island Port on the allegation it contained plastic explosives, would be released to my wife. They also promised to off-set school fees owed by my children.

But MEND did not endorse Jonathan after all?

MEND refused to support Jonathan and I was told to forget any financial aid and to brace myself for another four year stay in prison when Goodluck wins, as if it was my fault the group endorsed Buhari.

Did you say you had a contract from the American Embassy?

Yes I did. The 40 foot container, which was not tendered in court as exhibit even though the reason given by the DSS for its seizure was that its contents included plastic explosives, was imported by my company for the American Embassy on Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. The contents were plastic floating docks and installation accessories which originated from the EZ Dock Company in Monnet, Missouri, USA after we received a Local Purchase Order from the embassy which was approved in Washington.

Who is currently in custody of the container?

I have no idea. Since they claimed I imported plastic explosives for the American Embassy, I would expect the container to be at the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos under heavy security or in the premises of the DSS in Abuja, to be presented at short notice to the court. My concern is the damage that has been done to the improperly stored contents of the legitimate import.

Did the American Government reach out to former President Goodluck Jonathan to sort out the issue of the container?

I have no idea what transpired between the Goodluck Jonathan government and the American Government. I was informed by my wife when she visited me at the DSS headquarters where I was being held that in an attempt to distance themselves, the American Embassy sent her a letter revoking the contract for the floating docks which had already been brought into the country. That was the least of my worry. My main concern was that the Embassy would refuse my son re-entry into the United States where he was concluding his studies at the University of Kansas. But as God would have it, the Embassy did not give him any trouble. The problem came from the DSS operatives attached to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport who refused him to leave on two occasions until Festus Keyamo intervened.

Did the Jonathan Government pay fees for your kids?

We got assistance from time to time from a few friends in the government, but this was not in any official capacity.

Apart from El-Rufai, who were the other person’s the administration wanted you to implicate in the Oct 1, 2010 bombing?

I wouldn’t know if the DSS interrogators were acting on instructions from GEJ but I know that they had a list of names but only presented the names of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. Somehow they were aware that I had visited Gen. Babangida early 2010, at his residence in Abuja, and wanted to use that visit as the platform to work out a false statement which would suggest that the general’s house was the rendezvous for an assassination plot to eliminate former President Jonathan on Oct 1, 2010.

Were some of the people you were asked to implicate aware of the plot?

I don’t know since I have not had contact with the outside world. The only person who got to know at that time was Mallam Nasir El Rufai. I had managed to smuggle a letter from the prison to warn him and others. He later published that letter in his book, “The Accidental Public Servant.” I couldn’t implicate innocent people in a crime I was implicated simply because my accusers promised me freedom.

Could it be that the bombing was organised to nail you and others?

I would not know but from what I read in the papers, the bombing was claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) who never make false claims of responsibility. I read that the bombing was a symbolic attack meant to counter the impression that the group no longer existed as was being propagated by Goodluck Jonathan and some ex-militants. The DSS and Jonathan strategists may have wanted to take advantage of that MEND attack minus the claim. After the bomb blast occurred, Elder Godsday Orubebe, and Mr. Tony Uranta contacted my brother (Henry Okah) in South Africa to use his influence to ask MEND to retract their statement which claimed responsibility so that, according to Uranta in a text message to Henry on October 1, 2010, the bombing could be blamed on ‘Northern elements’. The request was refused by Henry.

But the former President had during a PDP rally in Lagos accused your brother, Henry, of being hired by some persons to assassinate him. Were you also accused?

Yes they did after I refused to ‘cooperate’ with them. They said that the money I withdrew for the purchase of dollars for my son’s school fees came from the ‘sponsors’ of the bomb blast and insisted that the money was used to buy cars used in the bombing. It was after filing charges that they eventually traced the source of the money to a payment made into my Zenith Bank account by the British High Commission in Abuja through its defence attache. This payment which was made around September 2010; was for a contract awarded my company to install a floating dock for the Nigerian Navy at its Lagos Satellite Town Base. I wonder why they have not yet arrested the British High Commissioner and his US counterpart for alleged involvement the phantom plot.

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Administration Wanted Me To Implicate El-Rufai For My Freedom - Okah

APC Crisis: Oyegun’s exit isn’t a solution - Sen Alimikhena

Senator Francis Alimikhena, APC, Edo North is the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate and a retired military officer. In this interview with Vanguard, Senator Alimikhena, who is in his first term in the Senate and the only APC senator from the South-South, speaks on topical issues affecting the Senate and his party.  Excerpts:

What should one expect from you as the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate?

I am going to do the best I can for Edo North and Nigeria in general. As deputy chief whip, I will make sure that I make my office very attractive and robust and do what is right for all manner of people.

 

What are the issues stoking the crisis in your party?

Well, it is a leadership issue and at the same time, it is a family affair. You know in every family, there must be issue and it is good to resolve the issues among the family. It all goes down to misunderstanding. As I can say by my own perception,  misunderstanding and wrong direction are the causes of the wrangling.

 

There are calls from some quarters that the National chairman of your party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun should resign or be removed. What is your take on this?

I do not believe that he should resign because any decision taken rightly or wrongly is a collective responsibility. If they feel that Oyegun has not done well, it is not only Oyegun that should go, all the National Working Committee, NWC of the APC should go. But I don’t think he should go, it is just a matter of consensus.

When mistakes occur then they can be rectified because if you say one mistake occured here and you say the people that made that mistake should go, what of other people that will come? If they make similar mistakes, will they have to go? I don’t think that it is fair on him for anybody to clamour that they should go because of what has happened.

What is your agenda for the Senator Bukola Saraki led 8th Senate?

Well, I don’t have to set agenda for him because he is an agenda person. He can set good agenda that he believes can be good for the country. You should bear in mind that he was once a governor and he did well in Kwara State and this is his second term in the Senate. He should be able to know the agenda that is good for the country.

For instance, today he has set up two committees. There is the legislative committee which has not been done before in the Senate. And he also set up a finance committee to look at the finances of the Senate in a way to prune it down so that a lot of people talking about what goes to the Senate should be able to know. Information matters.

If they come up with a blueprint, then Nigerians will know what comes to the National Assembly and it is in the right direction that he has set up those two committees.

What do you expect from your colleagues and secondly, what is your take on the controversy concerning the huge allowance for lawmakers?

First and foremost, my colleagues and I expect that we should work in peace and harmony. It is when there is peace that there will be development. I don’t expect anybody to have any ulterior motive whereby you come to the Senate to fight. The Senate is not a place to fight, it is a place to make laws for the good of the country.

Wardrobe allowance

Like all these talk about  jumbo pay and the rest, I have not seen the jumbo pay. For instance they were talking about wardrobe allowance of about N6 million or thereabout. But we were told the wardrobe allowance is N42,000 and N42,000 cannot be a jumbo pay.

I have not seen the jumbo pay. Whether the jumbo pay will come tomorrow, it is only when I see it that I can comment on it.

Meanwhile what they read on the floor of the Senate to us is what I have just told you now. They said wardrobe allowance which the papers published as N6 million for every Senator is N42,000 and I don’t think that N42,000 is a thing that somebody should make noise about.

And if you calculate all these as you were told, the take home pay of a Senator is about 900thousand a month, so I don’t see the jumbo pay there. Maybe probably they calculated what you take in a year or added the furniture allowance which you receive once in four years.

And the 42thousand wardrobe allowance that they are talking about is paid once in a year.

So I have not seen any jumbo pay, maybe  the jumbo pay will come, I don’t know.

It is based on this thing that the Senate President set up a committee on finance to look at all the loopholes.

This Senate is not going to be an extravagant Senate and you should also bear in mind that this is change. The slogan of APC is change, change for the good and not change for the bad. The change from the wrong way of doing things to change to good things so that Nigerians will benefit. I don’t think the 8th Senate is insensitive to the yearnings of Nigerians.

 

APC Crisis: Oyegun’s exit isn’t a solution - Sen Alimikhena

Exclusive Interview: Wike Desperate To Pull Down Amaechi But He Won"t Succeed - Eze

 *Speaks on relationship with Amaechi, Wike, Peterside and Princewill

*Explains why Peterside will be Governor

Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a renowned Media Practitioner and APC Chieftain, was for several years National Director of Publicity and Public Affairs of the famous Turaki Vanguard. He was also the National Publicity Secretary of the New PDP (nPDP), one of the parties that merged to form APC and which started the decimation and defeat of PDP during the 2015 general elections. One of the principal actors that gave birth to the formation of APC, the current ruling political party in Nigeria, Chief Eze is currently the Spokesman of Rivers State APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya. He recently spoke with selected journalists on burning issues pertaining to the politics of Rivers State, especially the running battles between Governor Nyesome Wike and his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. FAUSTINUS NWAORGU was there and presents excerpts of the insightful interview.

Nyesom Wike and Romiti Amaechi

Question: Please, tell us what you are both to the immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Rt. H on. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and the incumbent Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike

Chief Eze: I think the best approach to your question is to give a little background information of both Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Governor Nyesom Wike. Principally, both are of  Nkwerre extraction in Rivers State. From 1999 to 2007 Rt. Hon. Amaechi was the Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, an office he used to lobby and influence the election of Chief Nyesom Wike as two-term Executive Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Council, one of the richest Local Government Areas in Nigeria. While Amaechi was the Chairman of the Council of Speakers’ Forum, Wike was the Chairman of the Local Government Councils’ Chairmen’s Forum in Nigeria.

From 2007 to 2015, Amaechi was the Governor of Rivers State with Chief Wike as his Chief of Staff from 2007 to 2011. Apart from all these, Chief Wike was the Director General of the Re-election Campaign Organisation of the then Governor Amaechi, which he executed satisfactorily, which made Amaechi to nominate him as a Minister to represent Rivers State in the then Federal Cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan.

From the above, it should be very clear that Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi was the leader of his political dynasty with Chief Wike assisting him accordingly and those of us that found ourselves in this political family were submissive and loyal to these two leaders. I am very close to two of them if. I am to answer your question direct. During the 2011 general elections with Chief Wike as the Director General of our Campaign Team, I was in the Media Team, which Chief Wike wanted me to head. It is on record that I was the first person that showcased Chief Wike to the international community through my article titled ‘Wike and the politics of Anyanali’, in which I captured all his inputs towards the re-election of Rt. Hon Amaechi as the Governor and his type of politics in Rivers State.

On Amaechi, apart from the fact that he is my political leader, I am and will always be loyal to him as far as he maintains his stoic stand against evil, undemocratic elements and unprincipled actions of some of our leaders. He was the person that nominated me as the National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New PDP to the other six Governors and leaders that made up the New PDP. After that national assignment, he drafted me back to Rivers State as the Spokesman of the APC State Chairman. He is a brother in the true meaning of the word.

So what may have caused the rift between Amaechi and Wike?

A lot of forces contributed to the rift which will take writing a book to unravel but for the exigencies of this interview, I will only state that Chief Wike, sadly, allowed himself to be used as a tool by former President Jonathan, his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, and their collaborators in their blind ambition to destroy Amaechi, whom they saw as a threat to their continued plundering of the common patrimony of our nation. The second factor was the gathering or unification of those that see Amaechi as a threat to the realisation of their political ambitions in Rivers State. The third factor was the Dr Peter Odili/Sir Omehia Group, which felt that Amaechi sent them on a forced exile to Abuja after the 2007 gubernatorial election. The last but not the least was the ambition of Chief Nyesom Wike to govern Rivers State, which many never knew until it was too late to stop him. It was his ambition and readiness to provide himself as a tool for the realisation of the goal – which is destroy Amaechi by any means – that united all these other groups. They embarked upon this project with zeal without knowing the end but, knowing what future portends for Wike, Amaechi and Jonathan, I did my best to dissuade them from this unwarranted struggle but Wike and Jonathan refused to see reason. The result was the failure of Jonathan to survive the 2015 general elections.

Who is Amaechi?

Amaechi, apart from what we all know about him politically, is the proper definition of what humility is all about. However, to some people who don’t know him very well he is an arrogant fellow who must be destroyed. Amaechi is an enigma that defies description. Engr Tele Ikuru, his erstwhile Deputy, who seems to know him better than most of us, tried to give an insight into who this man is when during the seventh anniversary of the Supreme Court Judgement that brought Amaechi to power stated: “Today, we have come to celebrate a resourceful leader, a dogged fighter, a political enigma, a change agent, people defender, transformer, catalyst, trail blazer, phenomenon of our time, His Excellency, the Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the Executive Governor of Rivers State. A leader whose word you can take to the bank. A trusted friend and ally, a man who stands by his friends and confidants, both in good times and in times of difficulties and challenges. A man of conscience who does not hide under the veil of circumstances to betray his friends and allies; a compassionate leader whose love for the development of the state and its people has no parallel.“A sincere and honest leader, who rather than cart away the commonwealth of Rivers people entrusted to his care, has diligently applied it to the development of the state to the admiration of the true Rivers people and even his traducers. A visionary leader who knows and sees his people first.” I don’t know if any other person can beat this definition of the enigma known as Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. 

 
Who is Wike?

Chief Wike is a fellow who if he pursues a goal nobody or force – even if you are his benefactor – can dissuade him from achieving it. Whatever he needs to do to reach his goal he does it, whether good or evil. He is a philanthropist par excellence and kind to a fault and someone who is ready to sell his last property to get you to his side if need be. He also values friendship.

Is the current face-off between Amaechi and Wike necessary?

It is not necessary as both of them are assets to Rivers State but to those fanning the embers of the war within the various camps the fight must continue for their selfish goals to be realised. To those in the camp of Wike, they feel that Amaechi has been unfair to them by not giving them a share of the treasury of Rivers State. They are also bitter about the manner Amaechi stopped militancy through which most of them used to feed, as well as the way some of them were sent to Abuja on exile. Such people saw the ambition of Chief Wike as a rallying point to deal with Amaechi and probably hijack the treasury of the State and continue with the discarded system of sharing the State’s funds instead of investing it towards the general development of the State.

Governor Wike is alleging that the former Governor looted the Government House before leaving office. What is your response?

As I stated above, Wike is a character who can do anything to achieve his goal. Actually, there was no looting of any form in the Government House. I was one of the very few that left the Government House after Amaechi departed Rivers State to Abuja on 28th May, 2015 and I can confirm that there was no looting. Therefore, if there was any looting, it’s either in the imagination of Chief Nyesom Wike or he arranged the looting in order to portray the immediate past Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi, in bad light. To me, this plot is very childish as Wike knows that Amaechi is a highly principled leader who can’t be involved in such a petty issue like looting. Besides, from the little I have come to know about Amaechi, he detest materialism. Check his record from his university days and you will come to appreciate this man as a unique leader. Chief Wike is a character who can go to any length to achieve a purpose, including running down anybody on his way – even if that person is his benefactor like Rt Hon Amaechi, who has shaped his political life.

A probe panel has been set up by Wike and mandated to investigate Amaechi. What does this portend for Amaechi? Some have argued that probe and accountability should be part of the change that APC preached during the 2015 electioneering campaigns.

Contrary to what Wike is saying, I wish to make it clear that the panel was principally set up to witch-hunt, tarnish the image and malign the hard-earned reputation of former Governor Amaechi. My happiness is that no Rivers man can be deceived by the antics of Chief Wike in this regard as they are fully aware of what Chief Wike and Rt. Hon Amaechi individually stands for. Wike affirmed my position when he stated and I quote: “Don’t forget that Amaechi likes pointing fingers at others; calling them names and claiming to be a man of integrity and a man who is not corrupt. As a governor then, he probed his predecessor and he did not see it then as a vendetta. So, let him help the public to know, between him and Rivers State Government, who is right or wrong.” It is, therefore, evident that the main aim of this probe panel is to indict Amaechi as a corrupt leader so as to soil his good name.

If Chief Wike is truly serious about probe, he should extend it to the period when he was the Chief of Staff to Amaechi from 2007 to 2011 – when he was in charge of most of the activities of government. During that time most of the contracts Chief Wike awarded to himself and his cronies were either executed poorly or abandoned while pocketing all the billions of naira. To me, Chief Wike is just playing politics with the probe issue as he knows very well that if there ever existed any sound and transparent Governor in Nigeria, Amaechi should be that Governor. Wike is playing this dirty game because he knows that the Election Tribunal will soon send him packing. His thinking and that of those promoting him is to present Amaechi as a very corrupt person whose candidate for the imminent fresh election should not be elected. They, however, fail to understand that the people of Rivers State have already made up their mind that Wike is not the type of character to govern them, especially at this time.

Yet another reason why Wike set up the panel is his belief that by demonising Amaechi, he would reduce his chances of occupying any sensitive position in the Buhari administration, which he believes will be detrimental to his interests and those of his newfound godfathers in the scheme of things at the national level. However, one thing Wike and his strategists fail to understand is that President Buhari is already aware of their desperation to victimise Amaechi and also knows the politics of Rivers State as he knows his fingers. Therefore, their game evil plot is an exercise in futility. 

On what the probe portends for Amaechi, the fact remains that Amaechi has fought a lot of political wars and came out victorious and this will not be an exception. Oh yes, in APC we believe in accountability but when it turns to victimisation we vehemently resist the probe as in this particular case.

Why did Amaechi refuse to hand over to Wike on May 29? 

I don’t need to waste much time on this. Let me quote Amaechi on this: “There was no truth in this as all commissioners and heads of MDAs submitted their handover notes to the Secretary to State Government, who forwarded same to the Head of the State Civil Service as is appropriate. Furthermore, I directed the then Deputy Governor of the State, Mr. Tele Ikuru, to be the liaison between the outgoing administration and the incoming one.” So who is saying that Amaechi did not hand over?

The former Governor has been accused of leaving behind a huge debt allegedly worth over N400 billion. How does Rivers APC feel about this?

Whoever that made such an allegation is not fair to Amaechi as he ensured that Rivers State was the least indebted State in Nigeria. According to Amaechi in his farewell address to the people of the State, “Today, Rivers State is the least indebted state with a loan portfolio of N17.7 billion to banks owed as follows: agriculture loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria – N2 billion; Zenith Bank Plc  – N15.7 billion.” On the N15 billion owed to Zenith Bank, Amaechi noted that the repayment for the loan was via an irrevocable standing order, so it would have reduced as at today. On the N150 billion owed the Ministry of Works’ contractors, Amaechi has explained that he inherited a State that was comatose and in dire need of infrastructure due to years of militancy and criminality that had forced government and business in Rivers State to a standstill. As he made clear, by the time he was leaving office, he had completed 90 per cent of the Phase 1A of the Rivers State Monorail, completed two major interchanges, two flyovers, 25 bridges, and five shore protection projects and equally completed 890 kilometres of the on-going 1,424 kilometres of road projects across the state.
In addition, there are over six land reclamation/shore protection projects at Andoni, Opobo, Buguma, Abalama, Olumbie/Owukiri Island, and Oba-Ama-Okrika with over 1,140,000kilometres completed. Out of the roads completed, some of these were federal roads for which the Rivers State Government was owed N108 billion. As at when Governor Amaechi was leaving office, the debts owed the contractors in the Ministry of Works, which were for ongoing road projects totalled N44,942,354,44.10. So who ever that gave the figure of N400B is a joker

Is it true that Wike stopped former President Goodluck Jonathan from paying the Rivers State Government the N150b used to work on some of Federal Government projects in the State?

This is just the fact. This was one of the strategies Wike used to sabotage the development of Rivers State during Amaechi’s second term as Governor. It is on record that other states such as Akwa Ibom and Abia received repayment for the federal roads they reconstructed while such a gesture was never extended to Rivers State.

Under Wike, the courts have resumed operations after more than two years of being shut under Amaechi and APCs watch. How does the party feel about this?

Go and investigate why the courts were closed. Wike was part of it when they plotted to impose Justice Daisy Okocha as the Chief Judge of Rivers against the spirit and principles of the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria and when they were bombing our courts left, right and centre, thus forcing the Judicial Council in the State to close the courts for the safety of our citizens. Now that they have taken over and reopened the courts, have you heard of any court being bombed?

What are the party’s chances at the Election Tribunal? 

A good General does not disclose his war strategies, so it would be unwise for me to give details of the facts at our disposal with which we shall unseat Wike at the Election Tribunal. Let me, however, say that the election that brought Wike to power was such a charade that in some places the figures ascribed to Wike were higher than the number of voters accredited by the Card Reader.
It was reported that while there were 292, 878, voters, INEC allotted a whopping 1,029,102 votes to Wike, representing 87.77 per cent of 1,228,614, being the conjured number of total accredited voters. With this alone, Wike is a goner. If the recommendations of the Ahmed Joda-led Transition Committee to president Muhammadu Buhari are anything to go by, Governor Nyesom Wike should be somewhere else but not at the Brick House.

As for the imminent re-run guber election, we have all the documents that will shock the world when released; Chief Wike and his corrupt nature will be tabled before Rivers people to enable them make a wise choice on who will govern them during this dispensation. We are confident that Dr Dakuku Peterside, the APC candidate, will surely be formally elected during the re-run election as comparing him with Wike is like comparing darkness and light.

Prince Tonye Princewill, Wike and Peterside, all your good friends, contested the 2015 Rivers State guber election what is your relationship with each of them?

I accept the fact that Princewill, Wike and Peterside are my friends but one thing many don not know is that we are brothers and, as God would have it, we were all born on 1st January, making us family members of Capricorn. Apart from this, we are all products of Amaechi’s political dynasty. Apart from me, the other three were core members of the Economic Team of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi. We are such a family and what affected any of us affected the others – until we were divided by our recent political differences. Four of us all are sound leaders in our own rights.

Why are you so hard on Wike not minding his love for you?

If not for the immorality of Wike’s governorship ambition nobody would have had any problem with him. His candidature is morally wrong in three ways: One, it was promoted by those who want to destroy his brother and benefactor in many ways. Two, both Amaechi and Wike are of Ikwerre extraction, and it is totally wrong that after eight years of Amaechi’s governorship another Ikwerre man would succeed him. Three, his candidature is not acceptable by any sound Rivers man due to the expectation that leadership in the State should rotate amongst the upland and riverine areas of the State. Two upland leaders in the persons of Dr Peter Odili and Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi have governed the State for 16 years to the detriment of the riverine area. Assuming that Wike succeeds to be the Governor of Rivers State after the rerun elections it means that the riverine area will not taste power in their own State for 24 years!

The manner in which Wike was imposed on PDP was unconstitutional and morally wrong. I have, therefore, decided to sacrifice my relationship with Wike for the general interest of the people of Rivers State, which I believe should override any personal interest.

Why should you ditch Princewill when he needed you most?

On Princewill, I don’t want to discuss his issue until at the appropriate time. Even so, let me say that one major issue is that his latest politics of supporting Jonathan, who has no room for the emancipation and development of Rivers State, against Amaechi, who has done his best to promote him politically, differs from my own political stand of supporting Amaechi, whose love for Rivers State is unparalleled. Besides, Princewill is in Labour and I happen to be one of those that formed APC, so we cannot possibly be together at the moment.

Why are you supporting Peterside to the detriment of others? 

On why I am supporting Peterside, apart from the fact that we are in the same political party, we decided to remain with Amaechi, who has been unjustly treated by the forces supporting Wike. Besides, Peterside has a richer CV, a far better record of performance, and his vision and programmes for the emancipation and development of Rivers State by far dwarf those of all the others you mentioned. The Rivers State interests were aptly captured via the Four-Point Agenda of Dr Dakuku Peterside, which serves as his commitment to revolutionise governance and take the State to the next level. The Four-Point Agenda, also known as ‘Road Map to Prosperity’ aimed at taking Rivers State to the next level, include Public Sector Accountability and Security of Lives and Properties; Employment Generation and Wealth Creation; Social and Human Capital Development and Empowerment; as well as Institutional and Physical infrastructure Development and Food Security

What is the future of Rivers State?

The future of the state is bleak under Wike but we are hopeful that Dr Dakuku Peterside will repay the damage done by Wike when he eventually takes over the reins of governance in a few months’ time.

Exclusive Interview: Wike Desperate To Pull Down Amaechi But He Won"t Succeed - Eze

Saraki Can Use His Position to Attract PDP Members to APC, says Evey

Having experienced a similar situation in 1992, a former Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, Maurice Wayas Evey, in this interview with Adebiyi Adedapo, believes that APC may at the end gain from the unfolding development in the Senate

You have a similar experience with what played out during inauguration of the 8th National Assembly. Can you let us into it?

My name is Maurice Wayas Evey, a former Speaker of the Cross-river state House of Assembly between 1992 and 1994. I am particularly interested in the event that played out in the senate, where the members of the two leading political parties, the PDP and APCcolluded to form leadership of the senate against the dictate of the ruling APC. This is similar to what happened in 1992 in the Cross River State House of Assembly.  There are certain things I want the whole country, especially, my party, the APC to learn from.

 

Bukola Saraki

I belonged to the SDP, and we had 15 members in the House while the NRC had 13 members, unfortunately for SDP, the NRC produced the state governor. The governor then wanted to use his position to install a speaker from the minority party (NRC). When the House was inaugurated, NRC with connivance of the Clerk of the House, brought out six court injunctions placed on six SDP members, asking us to leave the chambers, based on the injunction, whereas, the law doesn’t allow a regular court jurisdiction over election matters, so, since the injunction was not from the tribunal and it was a ploy to install an NRC member as the House speaker, we refused to leave the parliament.

Knowing that if all SDP members should leave the parliament, a quorum had been formed and the NRC members could go ahead to elect the leadership, we resolved to remain in the House and disrupt the process as long as the Clerk  paraded the six injunctions.   We also remained in the assembly for nine days to forestall their several plans and attracted attention of the whole country on the development. After the nine days, we all went to Lagos and stayed there for about one month to re-strategise, but while in Lagos, the state chairman and a few other executives of the party told me that they were no longer going to support me for the speakership.  But before this time, we had a straw election within the SDP where I emerged as the preferred candidate for the office of the speaker, and the state chairman wanted to go contrary to that decision. By the time the news reached other stakeholders in Cross River, some of my supporters arranged a meeting with the governor, they agreed with him to step down his plan to install an NRC speaker and that they were going to contact me and two other SDP members, to align with NRC members and support me for speakership, by so doing the NRC would not have anything to fear, having contributed to the emergence of the speaker.

What about the deputy speaker?

The arrangement was that the deputy speaker would emerge from the NRC, but unfortunately, as soon as I was elected speaker, I had no voting right in the election of the deputy speaker, invariably, SDP maintained the majority and an SDP member was again elected as the deputy speaker.

Did the NRC members feel betrayed, giving the initial arrangement?

Yes! The rule of the house was that the election would be a secret ballot system, but SDP members rejected the secret ballot and canvassed for an open ballot system.

Hence the election was conducted through an open ballot, nobody wanted to be fingered. But as the speaker of the house, I brought justice to bear, I worked across party divides in appointing principal offers. Although, the SDP maintained the majority and of course produced the majority leader while NRC produced the minority leader, the chairmanships of various committees were shared justly and equitably.

Giving your experience at the time, do you foresee a stabilised senate with the current arrangement?

Yes, I foresee it, if only my party, the APC will listen and accept a wise counsel, what has happened is another way of strengthening the APC; I am saying this out of my experience, I used my vintage position as a speaker that was influenced from the minority party to now drag some of the members of the minority party (NRC) into our party (SDP). I can remember vividly, the day late MKO Abiola visited Cross River State and came to the house to canvass for vote in the primaries, because of the way I treated other members from NRC, the minority leader who was an NRC person was the one who drove late Abiola in his car from Calabar to Uyo because when Abiola landed in his plane, he wanted to use a taxi to convey himself and his entourage to Uyo which was not ideal.

So the NRC minority leader drove Abiola who was an SDP presidential candidate from Calabar to Uyo and back to Calabar where he took his flight back. That is why I am saying that Saraki, being the Senate President can use his position now to take more members away from the PDP into the APC.

Did you see it as a wrong development?

The problem came from the APC, we were told that the North-central was to produce the senate president, before we later heard that it was not zoned to a particular geo-political zone. That first arrangement was the wisest thing to do, but when they changed it without any cogent reason, you know all of them are stakeholders in the project of APC, it wouldn’t have been right for the party to change, so that change from North-central to the North-east became a problem for the party. In the real sense of it, there was nothing wrong in the original idea, the first line of thought was the right one.

Are you saying APC should be blamed for the happenings?

Yes! they would have come out quite early to zone the positions in the national Assembly; there is nothing wrong with that, every party zone for expediency, the delay in announcing a zoning formula and keeping to it caused this very problem. We had zoned other positions; why not zone the offices in the National Assembly.

What is your reaction to President Muhammadu Buhari’s disposition to the National Assembly debacle?

If the president said he wasn’t interested, that didn’t apply to the party, for political reasons we have to zone, so that every part of the country will feel a sense of belonging. So if as at that time, the party stood its ground and say that the senate president should go to the North-central and the speaker of the house should go to the South-east, this problem wouldn’t have arisen.

But the party decided on Senator Lawan from North-east, do you think Senator Saraki should be penalised for going against the party’s position?

I don’t know the nature of what the penalty will be, but it should not be the type that will hurt the party. Definitely, the party came together and agreed at a later time and there was a straw primary that produced  preferred candidates, notwithstanding, the party should look at the silver lining in the cloud. Perhaps, I would say it was a divine intervention, it is not always good to change thoughts midway, the first thought is always the right one, any one that comes secondary becomes an intellectual work, the first thought that the senate presidency should be zoned to the North-central was a guidance from above; the party should have kept to it, but that second thought was now an intellectual activity, which is subject to a lot of errors like what is happening now.

The party should take a critical look; APC is not an ordinary movement, to me, I feel there is a divine hand in the formation of the APC in this country. If you see the way the elections came up, I have never seen the turn-out in the presidential election since my days in politics, especially in my community in Obanleku LGA where I participated, the turnout was so massive.

Some are of the opinion that the division signals the beginning of the end of APC, what is your take?

That is not true, rather it will strengthen the party, only the dead will not argue or quarrel among themselves, in a community of human beings, there will normally be a movement; this action is just normal in politics. It is very necessary, it will help to strengthen the party, depending on how we manage it, I feel the mistake had been made; the two sides have to be blamed because the party didn’t take a decision quite on time.

What about the 51 senators threatening legal actions, will this not spell doom for the party?

When they talk about legal action, we need to see what actually they have that will enable them to go to court. But from what we saw, all the requirements were met with  due apologies to my party, maybe they are thinking otherwise, but I feel what happened in the senate met all the necessary legal requirements. Firstly the quorum was formed which is one-third of the members, those who voted were those who were supposed to vote, and again the law didn’t say everybody must vote. The mere fact that we had a technical problem somewhere and some of our members were not available in the senate wouldn’t void what happened there.

The party took a stand, condemning the process and Saraki’s emergence with Ekweremadu, but some party leaders recognised and congratulated the leadership that emerge, even though some party leaders also vowed not to recognise the National Assembly leadership as constituted, do you have any fears about this?

I still see it as a normal process in politics, people will always take their positions and at the end, they will come together, I still believe deep inside me that at the end of the day, APC will come out stronger. That the leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is holding a very strong view, which he has the right to do so, but I believe that in the long run, wise counsel will prevail. I am looking forward to the president himself coming out decisively  to end the feud, the onus lies on him as the president of the country and as the leader of  the party, he needs to make a definite statement which will help solve the problem, I am happy about his response so far, it is like trying to placard the two sides, standing by the party and also accepting  the he was going to work with the outcome of the of the  National Assembly leadership.

In all these, how will the much promised change be affected?

I will advise the PDP never to jump up and start dancing. Rather, they should look at it as they might have probably lost some of their members already, somebody like the deputy senate president, if my eyes are still seeing very clearly, I don’t see him remaining in the PDP, in the long run. Now that he has accepted a form of coalition government in the senate, it has happened in this country severally, those who took part in coalition governments never went back to their parties, so PDP should not dance, they should expect more strange things to happen to them. Like you know, APC needs to make an inroad into the South-east geo-political zone, APC needs South-east, just like the South-east needs APC, there are different ways of going into the market.

So you think Senator Ekweremadu can be an inroad for APC into the South-east?

Why not? He is ready to work with the APC in the senate as he has accepted to work with Saraki, nothing stops him from taking a step further to consolidate and bring better things to his area.

Saraki Can Use His Position to Attract PDP Members to APC, says Evey

APC leaders are poor students of history - Senator Roland Owie

’We will expose PDP big wigs who betrayed Jonathan if …’

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

Senator Rowland Owie is a former Chief Whip of the Senate and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).   In this interview, Owie  speaks on the crisis in the National Assembly, faulting the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for picking principal officers for the lawmakers. He admonishes the APC leadership to embrace the new leaders of the National Assembly to give President Muhammadu Buhari the right atmosphere to fulfil his promises to the people.

Roland Owie

Owie attributes the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win the March 28 presidential election to betrayal on the part of some PDP leaders while alleging dictatorial tendencies of people close to former President Goodluck Jonathan. 

He hints on how the next governor of Edo State will emerge in 2016. He acknowledges that the APC government of Adams Oshiomhole has done better than  PDP former administrations.

 How do you react to the crisis in the National Assembly?

I would not have commented because I will be telling the APC what to do, but, as a major stakeholder in the Nigerian project, I am particularly a Catholic Knight that has obligation to say the truth both in private and  public, I wish to advise the leadership of the APC to steer clear of  what is happening in the National Assembly so that the country can move forward and so that the party can have peace.

This is because when a party in power does not have peace, the government that it produced will not be able to perform. In 1979-83 when I was in the House of Representatives, the NPN, though in power, had 34 per cent of  the membership of the National Assembly, while the other parties had the remaining percentage. And as soon NPN and NPP got into an alliance in the National Assembly, principal offices were shared. Joe Wayas became the then President  Senate President while Ume Ezeoke  of  the NPP became the Speaker of the House, and the principal officers were chosen. And  for that four years, there was stability in the National Assembly and Shagari budget never stayed more than three weeks in the National Assembly.

For instance, the new Benin Post Office, near the Oba’s palace, was the  project I put in the budget even as an opposition member but it was implemented. The current National Chairman of  the APC, Chief Oyegun, was Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of  Internal Affairs. It shows the accommodating nature of the NPN Federal Government then and there was peace. Three House of Reps members, Rowland Owie; Dr Sowho, representing Ethiope Federal constituency now Delta State; and Hon.Iduwe, representing Ika Federal constituency, now in Delta, jointly put in the  budget the Agbor-Evboghae-Oghara Road, the three of us didn’t belong to the same party and Shagari approved it.   They started constructing it even though it was not completed before that regime was sacked by the military. That tells you it is good to have a united and peaceful National Assembly.

In 1999, PDP zoned their National Assembly offices, e.g the Senate Chief Whip to Edo and Delta and the Deputy Speaker to Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Bayelsa. On the Chief Whip that was zoned to Edo and Delta, the PDP wrote a letter to the Clerk of the Assembly, the letter was signed by Chief Tony Anenih; Chief Solomon Lar, who was then National Chairman of the party; and Dr Patrick Dele Cole. In that letter, Senator Osunbor was recommended to be the Senate Chief Whip, while the South-South caucus of the PDP said no,  it must be Senator Rowland Owie. And we went to the floor of the Senate and I defeated Osunbor. In fact, nobody seconded Osunbor’s nomination by Senator  Zingina. Obasanjo interfered and made Senator Enwerem the Senate President instead of the choice of the senators, Senator Chuba Okadigbo. Also in the House of Reps, he bulldozed Salisu Buhari into becoming Speaker.

In no time, Buhari and Enwerem were swept off  and  replaced by the late Chuba Okadigbo and Ghali Nabba. In all of these, the  PDP was mature enough and they quickly withdrew from confronting the National Assembly and, subsequently, the PDP at the national level  never interfered on who becomes the leaders in the National Assembly apart from the last one that had to do with Hon. Tambuwal. They can advise but they will not enforce it because the greatest danger in a presidential system is for the President or a governor to have a hostile Assembly.

You cannot sack them, you cannot suspend them; even the provision of recall in the Constitution  is Herculean to implement. And  that is the only arm of the three arms of government that gives the status of democracy to any government in the world. So I advise the National Chairman of the APC and the leadership to  allow the National Assembly members handle their affairs and face their party so that they can deliver what they promised Nigerians. They should learn from the PDP so that Nigerians can enjoy dividends of democracy. They should allow House Speaker Dogara and Senate President Saraki be and, if they don’t want them in future, they can master the numbers to remove them. But what they are doing now is complete distraction.

Why do you think your party, the PDP, failed in the just concluded presidential election?

One is impunity in the choice of candidates. Some party leaders arrogated to themselves the power of God. For instance, look at the Adamawa gubernatorial primary, there was no war in Adamawa but they moved the primary to Abuja and Abuja imposed a candidate on the people. It also happened in Plateau, Abia, Benue, they imposed unpopular candidates, forgetting that the electorate are wiser now, you cannot intimidate them. Above all,  former President Jonathan was fenced by a number of unpopular party leaders. Because of what happened to Jonathan, my slogan now is that if a President or governor is elected, he is as good as being in prison unless that President or that governor has the will power to get out of the  prison.

That is the type of will power that Governor Oshiomhole has that  made him to survive some sycophants who tried to cage him when we were in the party; even though he got out of  the prison fairly late, some good people had already left the ACN then. Majority of the governors and former President Jonathan were imprisoned by people who will not allow good people to get near them. I make bold to say that for all the major actors around  former President Jonathan, the most truthful person was Oronto Douglas; others were palace jesters who were only thinking about their pockets and not the future of the President or the PDP.

For instance, they was the allegation of over N700million given by a governorship aspirant to some members of the National Working Committee of the PDP. Now, assuming that was true, how can such people attract respect for the party? For instance, the campaign for President Jonathan’s re-election was organized by a body outside the party and, with all due respect, Col Ahmadu Ali, who was made the DG of  the campaign, could hardly win his ward, and the party became helpless. And in some states, DGs were appointed for Jonathan’s campaign who don’t have credibility to lead a campaign for a presidential candidate especially when some of them had contributed to the destruction of the PDP governments in their states before then and for which PDP was fighting to regain credibility. There were a lot mistakes made. But the way Jonathan accepted defeat was an indication that we were  humbled  to look inward and rebuild the party.

Also, those who pretended to be reconciling aggrieved PDP leaders all over the country flying in  presidential jets, only to preach peace in the afternoon and privately tell some governors  to betray the party and fight Jonathan, know themselves and should steer clear of the party or we will be forced to expose them. I want the Acting Chairman of the BOT of the PDP and other credible members of the body to ensure that there is no extension  of tenure for all the executives of the party from the ward level to the national, they should all stand dissolved at the expiration of their tenure. No extension for anybody if they want the party to bounce back.  Enough is enough of impunity and imposition in the PDP in Nigeria and PDP Edo in particular.

I thank God I have been in this vanguard since 1979 when we formed the UPN. Chief Anenih, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, Dr Ogbemudia, Enahoro, Chief Michaeal Ibru, Chief Orikeze, my late maternal uncle, Chief D.N.Oronsaye, and host of other prominent Bendelites were all in the NPN. Myself, Tony Omoaghe, Barr.Eddy Osifo, Clement Edo Osagie, Dr Thomas Salubi, Chief B.O.Imafidon, the late Chief Idahosa (Akakasiaka), Chief V.I.Amadasun, we defeated those big names. It was only Chief Igbinedion that won the Ovia federal constituency, the rest lost woefully. So, by the grace of God, myself and some of our colleagues in the state will rebuild the PDP in Edo and ensure that these impunity operators who call themselves leaders are swept away.

Edo 2016 governorship

One, it is not easy to give what you don’t have. Credibility begets credibility, good name, they say, is better than riches. The Binis and Edolites are already aware of what good governance is by remembering the achievements of the  late Prof.Ambrose Ali and seeing now too the performance of Governor Oshiomhole. The truth is that the PDP government of 1999-2007 cannot be compared to the performance of the Oshiomhole government because we all have eyes, we can see.  You can see achievements in roads, schools and many other spheres of life. The Ugoneki-Ehor Road, which passes through my community, was done in 1974 by the military administration; no body touched that road until Oshiomhole came. Today I can get to my village  in 20 minutes from Benin.

So he did better than my own PDP government of eight years. But the truth is that the poor performance of the Igbinedion administration is not the fault of Igbinedion alone, it is also the fault of some leaders who were supposed to guide him but because they were enjoying largess from that government, they could not. I am happy when I read the interview of  Igbinedion where he  said  those who contributed to his problem were the over ambitious people around him who created different groups that disrupted his administration.

The 2016 governorship will not be based on political platform, it is going to be who that candidate is.  I am going to join other well-meaning leaders of the PDP to bring out a credible candidate who does not have connection with a failed government. For the PDP to be seen to have broken ranks with irresponsibility, we have to be sure that our candidate for 2016 will not have any relationship with previous failures of the PDP government in Edo. Today, Lucky Igbinedion is being blamed whereas 75 per cent of the failure is attributable to those who surrounded him. Take a cue from the last PDP primaries in Edo, look at how most of the giants failed. It is not that those aspirants were bad, the PDP members  voting in the primaries were mirroring these aspirants against the back ground of what happened before. People were very watchful about where the aspirants were coming from, you could  no longer fool anybody in Edo.

We are aware you are one of the founding members of the APC in Edo, but, overtime, those who left the PDP to join the then  AC  claim to have built the party including bringing Oshiomhole. What is your take on that?

ACD, which later became AC, then ACN, now APC, is the off shoot of  the ANPP in Edo State. It was  put together by myself, Barr. Gentleman Amegor, who was to be the deputy governorship candidate to Adams Oshiomhole, and started from my house. It was at that point that Igbinedion’s supporters in the PDP were deregistered and a responsible clergy man led the  former governor to my house so that  those who were deregistered  could  work with us. After meetings and assurances, we agreed to work together and shared the party positions in Edo between our group and the PDP people that were deregistered. Lucky Igbinedion brought Tony Omoaghe as Chairman of the party, I brought Amegor as Secretary. Lucky brought Modino Emovon as Woman Leader. I brought Reti Uzzi as Publicity Secretary.

Then we shared the local government positions. In Edo South, former ANPP took five local government Councils, Oredo,Ikpoba Okhai, Egor,Ovia South West and Ovia North East. Then the people that came from the PDP took the Director of Research and two local governments. So those who  claim  they formed ACN were with Igbinedion in PDP throughout his administration.

The only major operators that joined us openly were Rev.Eghareva and Charles Idahosa.

Charles Idahosa was the  first National Publicity Secretary and each time he was going to Abuja for meetings,  he went with our Royal Link vehicle. He fought openly, so I laugh when I hear people say they formed ACD and brought Oshiomhole, they didn’t form ACD.  As a matter of fact, the late Haruna,  Enogie Ebue and Oshiomhole worked with the programme I prepared, touring the whole state. Oshiomhole worked hard, he made contacts. Yes, Lucky Igbinedion brought money to support us secretly but they were not founding members like Pastor Ize-Iyamu is claiming. They didn’t form the party, they were PDP members then. So this issue that they brought APC, they brought Oshiomhole, to me, is laughable.

 

APC leaders are poor students of history - Senator Roland Owie

APC has deceived us with their Change slogan - Ameh, chairman, PPA

Chief Peter Ameh is the National Chairman of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA. In this interview, he bares his mind on the recent development in the nation’s political scene. Ameh while x-raying the controversies which characterised the recently conducted National Assembly leadership election concluded that a bi-partisan legislature is good for the country.

How would you react to the controversies generated by the election of presiding officers in the National Assembly?

Peter Ameh, PPA Chairman

There have been a lot of intrigues behind closed doors among the various blocs that came to form the All Progressive Congress, APC, that gave it the power it now has and the ability to have the national spread that gave it the advantage to take over power at the centre.

These power blocs have been pitching opinion against opinion and interest against interest, and that is what has really made this thing very difficult. But nevertheless, we know that there is a good intention from the elected president. But APC as a party is making very serious mistakes maybe from the leadership.

I thought that based on their popular slogan of Change, that they would be an all-inclusive party, a party that has respect for internal democratic process, a party that has respect for the interest, wishes and aspirations of it members. But so far, APC has fallen short of that and has failed to achieve that in a lot of areas.

Like the National Assembly elections, I want to sincerely fault the leadership of the APC. While we commend the President, Muhammadu Buhari for accepting that he would work with any person that is chosen as leader at the National Assembly level. We want to fault the negative influence of the APC as a political party in the leadership process of the National Assembly.

Because one, if you say a member who wants to contest for the post of the Senate President has an interest and that member is a member of your party, and that member has contributed financially up to date, the member has contributed personal manpower by moving from one state to another campaigning for the victory of the APC. You said that member should not run that you have a preferred candidate, what have you done? Have you not infringed on the right of that person to participate and have you not refused to create a fair playing field for participation for all your members? Have you not refused to create an all-inclusive process of election?

These were all the things that the previous political parties like the PDP were doing that were wrong that caused the party to crash and yet APC claimed change. APC would have allowed its members to elect the leader or leaders of their choice without any imposition.

As the national chairman of a political party do you think Senator Saraki and Speaker Dogara violated party discipline by contesting against the party’s nominated candidates in the leadership contests?

I want to tell you one thing, our party the PPA, had people like Senator Uche Chukwumerijie of blessed memory elected to the Senate in 2007 under its platform, Chief Ikedi Ohakim became the governor of Imo State under the platform of our party, Chief Theodore Orji, the immediate past governor of Abia state became governor under the platform of our party. I think when the position of the party becomes too stiff; you push your members away, and the damage that would be done would be too much to recover from.

If you say party discipline, you must create a system of fair hearing, you must create an equal level playing field for all those persons that you want them to follow party principles and party policies; you must create that equal playing field.

You cannot be a judge in a matter where your interest is already known, there is no way you can judge that matter fairly because from day one the party was known to favour some candidates as the choice candidate of the party; Lawan-Akume and Femi Gbajabiamila tickets. So there is no way if I were involved in the process, if a member of my party is involved in that process that he would want to participate because there was no equal level playing field.

And there is nowhere that you will create a straw-poll for leadership of the Senate before they go to the floor of the senate because you have no right to do that. The leaders as stipulated by the constitution and all external rules said that the elected leaders of this Senate and House of Representatives will elect a leader amongst themselves on the floor of the Senate. So the party went above the normal thing.

PPA adopted former President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate in the last presidential election. Why did he lose?

Internal wrangling, betrayal here and there caused his loss because Jonathan as a person did well for this country, he has served this country well. Indeed, we formed a committee; issues were reviewed. Before we adopted Jonathan, we took time. We were the last set of people to adopt Jonathan, we took our time, we reviewed a lot of issues and sincerely, lawyers were involved in this process. We discovered that Jonathan was the best candidate for that election from my own point of view.

We became happier when despite losing an election Jonathan became a celebrated individual; he became more celebrated than even winning because of his approach to the election after he lost. He called President Buhari before the final result was collated, they have not even announced some states.

So at the time we took our decision, with all the relevant information at our disposal, it was the best decision we took at that point in time. So for Nigeria that has come and gone, we are now engaged in nation building. In politics you align, and you re-align and you continue to create an alliance for a better Nigeria and that is what we are doing. We are here to build a better future for our people, so it is not a personal thing.

The governorship election in your state, Kogi is expected to hold by October this year, will your party field a candidate for the governorship election.

If I don’t feature my interest to show how much I am on the ground in the state. You know the last election, Senator Abetemi Usman, as serving senator contesting on the platform of my party lost by just a slight margin because of the Buhari syndrome.

 

APC has deceived us with their Change slogan - Ameh, chairman, PPA

I encouraged Buhari to run for president – Adesina

In this interview with SAHARA TV monitored by ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, the newly appointed Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who is also the immediate past Managing Director of The SUN and President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, speaks about his appointment

Are you excited about your appointment?

Well, it is a call to service and one should be thankful when called to serve one’s country.

With this appointment will you be switching sides that is, from scrutinising the government to defending the government?

Femi Adesina, Mallam Garba Shehu

Let me first of all examine what you said, that I will switch sides from scrutinising to defending the government. No. The scrutinising part will still be part of my duty. Before I can speak for the government, I must first scrutinise the decisions and the policies and then make an input before I can then defend. So, it is not a total switch. There must still be a lot of scrutinising because anything I am going to defend, I have got to be able to understand it, agree with it and see the rationale behind it before I can defend it. So, it is not a total switch.

So, what if you do not agree with a policy? How will you approach it?

If I don’t agree with a policy, I will first ask for an explanation and when I am given the explanation, I will make my input. But then, my input does not have to override what may be in the public interest or what is in the interest of the larger number of people. My opinion might not necessarily be the correct one. So, when such challenges come, you have to weigh it and say, is it in the larger interest of the people, is it in the interest of the country? Will it eventually result in a better standard of living for the people? That is the way to look at it. It doesn’t have to be something I must agree with all the time. I should be able to appraise the decisions that have been made and seek to understand them and then make my contribution as necessary.

There are reports that you know President Muhammadu Buhari very closely. What is your relationship with him?

I will say yes. The President is somebody that I have admired for a long time since he was a military ruler. When he was a military ruler, I was already in my third year in the university. So, I can say I knew him and his style and I liked it. I felt sorry when his government was overthrown. So, when he came back into partisan politics in 2003, it was something that was very exciting for me and since then, I have been supporting him. I am a journalist and I write a weekly column. I have been pointing Nigerians in his direction since 2003. And whenever I wrote anything in his (Buhari’s) support, he would call me on the phone and we would discuss and he would thank me. I remember in 2009 or thereabout when Prof. Tam David-West wrote a book on Buhari and it was to be presented at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. I was the master of ceremony of the occasion so we got to speak and know each other better. That was the first time I would meet him (Buhari) in person. Thereafter, he ran for President in 2011 and I still wrote in my column that I thought he was the best person to rule Nigeria and bring a change. Whenever I wrote those things, he would call me and he would thank me and we would talk.

So, eventually, in August 2013, I lost my mother and we needed to do her funeral. So, I sent Buhari an invitation card. The service was in Lagos and lo and behold, before the service started, he drove in. It was a pleasant surprise. It was a Christian service and he sat through it. Those who had said that he was a religious bigot were shocked. This was a Muslim man that came for a Christian service and attended the full service and yet they were saying he was a religious bigot. So, that act cemented our relationship because after the event, I phoned him the next day and thanked him but he said he was the one that should be grateful because he had never given me a kobo and yet I always gave him all the support. He said there were people that could pay me millions of naira for such support but I had decided to pitch my tent with somebody that could not give me anything. So, that cemented our relationship.

You know, in 2011, he said he would not contest the Presidency again but in the run up to the 2015 election, I felt he should still run and I wrote that the fact that he said in 2011 that he would not run again could not be carved in concrete and he could change his mind if he wanted and the rest, they say, is history. He changed his mind, he ran and he won. Significantly, on the night that he was declared the winner, my phone rang around midnight and one of our leaders in the media called and said, ‘Please hold on for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’. I was shocked and when he spoke to me, he said he appreciated my support throughout the campaigns and now that victory had come his way, he just wanted to say thank you. So, that was how it played out.

How did you get the appointment? Did he call you or were you interviewed?

After he had been declared winner and after he had called me on the telephone, I deliberately stayed away from him for two reasons. The first was because I knew he would be under a lot of pressure. A lot of people would be calling to congratulate him and probably seeking one thing or the other. So, I think from that night, which was March 31, I deliberately stayed away from him because I did not want to add to the pressure that would be on him and secondly, I didn’t want it to be that I was seeking a position in his government. I am a born again Christian and I want anything that happens or comes my way to be what God has ordained. I don’t push anything; I don’t lobby for anything so I kept my distance from him. But then, people around him kept talking to me and kept telling me that they believed I was the best person to be the spokesman for the incoming President. However, I did not give any commitment for two reasons. The first, as I said earlier, was that I didn’t want to lobby and secondly, I have a job that I enjoy doing: Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of one of the leading newspapers in the country, The Sun, and then I was also the President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors. Those are high calibre jobs and responsibilities. So, I wasn’t looking for a job but then people around me kept talking to me till eventually, there was some sort of interview but I would not say it was a direct interview but people singled me out to say, ‘Well, if you are invited to serve in government, will you serve?’. My conviction had always been that I would never serve in a government except one headed by Muhammadu Buhari. So, when they singled me out, I told them I didn’t think I wanted to serve in the government but since it is Muhammadu Buhari, I will consider it. But I also reminded them that I also have a job and I have to consult with my publisher (Orji Uzor Kalu) and I have to seek his blessings. Reluctantly too, my publisher gave his blessings. He told me that they would not know the sacrifice he had made by letting me go but since it is a service to the country, I have his blessings. So, I got back to them and told them yes, that I had sought my publisher’s blessing and the next I heard was the announcement that I had been appointed Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.

You will be going into the job in a changing media landscape. You will grapple with the social media and the traditional media. How do you hope to navigate these two worlds?

I would rather refer to the social media as digital media because the social media is just a variant of the digital media. Nobody can do anything successfully in the media today without factoring in the digital media. The social media, the digital media and every other thing will be used together. You would have seen the role they played in the campaigns. You could feel the pulse of the electorate and could already discern the direction the election would follow by merely following the digital media, particularly the social aspect of that digital media. It played a major role in the campaigns and there is no way you are going to ignore it. The traditional media has its place because there are people who are still glued to it. But the younger generation uses the digital media so you then need to use all the avenues to reach the people.

So far, what do the media headlines regarding Buhari’s administration say to you about what you are going to be dealing with on the job?

I will tell you it is no tea party. It is going to be a hectic work but then it is going to be me working for somebody that I believe in. So, I guess I will have to throw my all into it. I am under no illusion that the job is going to be easy or a picnic. It will not be. But I will throw my all into it and as long as my principal remains who he is: straight, accountable, focused and someone who wants to effect a change in the country, I guess we will get it done. When you have a good product, the marketing is easier.

Have you spoken with previous government spokesmen like Mr. Reuben Abati and Mr. Segun Adeniyi?

I have spoken with Segun Adeniyi (the late President Umaru Yar’adua’s spokesman); I have spoken with Ima Niboro who was former President Goodluck Jonathan’s first spokesman; but I have not spoken to Reuben Abati.

What advice did they give you?

They gave me an insight into how to do the job successfully. I have spoken with Segun more than once but I have spoken with Ima Niboro just once. I will meet with Segun again and we will talk.

I encouraged Buhari to run for president – Adesina