Sunday 14 July 2013

Fashola announces 83% budget performance: Yes but he stole all, says Lagos PDP



Opeyemi Adesina

The Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has chided the governor of Lagos State,  Babatunde Raji Fashola for his periodic self-praise on his budget performance, saying that the governor's claims can only be conceded from the angle that "He stole the budget claims to himself"

The opinion of the party is echoed  and premised on the fact that not only has Fashola performed so abysmally, the cost of the meagre developments in the State that are paid for directly from the budgets have been so tainted with corruption as they are over bloated even as such development contracts are awarded many times to a particular construction firm and with multiple payments.

The party also stated that governor Fashola has become an embarrassment to civilised leadership by his self-praise, arrogance and misappropriation of funds.

The Party's outburst is a reaction to Governor Fashola's recent claim that he has attained 83 percent budget performance in this quarter. The Governor had stated this at the Year 2013 Budget Second Quarter/Half-Year Performance Appraisal at the Lagos House, Ikeja,

"The pseudo performance of Governor Fashola is continually being powdered and coated as excellent, but indeed the more he tried it, the worse his rating became.We doubt whether Governor Fashola knows that he can no longer walk on Lagos Street without Security escorts. We challenge him to a street walk.

"We always wonder whether Governor Fashola actually lives in this Lagos State otherwise how on earth can a Honest Governor be comfortable with this level of development in a State that has collected over 17 trillion Naira from Federal Government and that has also realised at least 23Billion Naira every Month as IGR in the last 36 Months. This amount is equal to the revenue of Twenty Three States put together.  Notwithstanding these monies, the State remains the biggest debtor in the federation with over 10Thrillion Naira as Local and Foreign Debts. Lagos is presently living on the developments propelled by concessionaires who are businessmen and indeed profiteering or will profiteer from their investments. E.g is the development of the Lekki-Epe expressway; LASUTH; LightRail project; Garden Parks.
It will do Fashola a lot of good If only he can prompt a media tour of the purported projects and expenditures that have now justified the 83 percent budget performance".

The party reiterates that the Fashola Administration is a failure and remains only a hyped and propagandists administration. The 83 percent budget performance claim has a motive and its simply to shore up the already exploitative taxation in the state!
"When indeed one wonders whether the areas as: Ayobo, Igando, Makoko, ajeromi, Ejigbo, ifako etc  Are not part of the state wondering why such areas have not enjoyed any state development whilst the same state government claims it has spent so much on "invincible" federal projects!"

The Lagos State PDP opines that the Governor deliberately claims success to embarrass his predecessor who indeed did nothing to improve the state thus giving the present Fashola administration a "grade A" outlook. "Unfortunately for Fashola, his administration is worse because he has realised more money than his predecessor but he has neglected to touch the life of the common man in the state. Rather he has expended more money on Propaganda to portray his administration as acceptable. It is our counsel that he must admit his policies have inflated poverty in the State and he should show human feelings and seriousness to redress this by establishing the ministry of poverty alleviation in the State".


Tuesday 25 June 2013

COMMUNIQUE OF THE SOUTH WEST PDP LEADERS HELD IN LAGOS 25TH JUNE, 2013





The South West leaders of the PDP held a summit on 25th June, 2013 in Lagos in a deliberate and conscious effort to re-strategize and reposition the party towards regaining and reclaiming the South West States in the forthcoming elections. The meeting which was well attended by elders and key stakeholders in the zone hereby resolved as follows:

1. Having been briefed of the outcome of the leaders meeting with the President, the stakeholders resolved that the BOT members should continue to pressurize the Presidency on the need to accommodate the South West in the remaining executive positions in the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

2. Elders agreed that there is a need for peace and unity in the zone and that everyone should see the 2014 elections in Osun and Ekiti states as a starting point for the return of PDP to governance and relevance.

3. The zonal leadership upheld the status quo as regards the present zonal offices and positions in strict compliance with approved guidelines of the NEC as announced by the convention committee and called on the leaders in each state to encourage candidates with requisite experience, integrity and loyalty to the party to contest.

4. The leaders resolved to support and respect the decision of the national leadership to reposition the party.

5. The leaders acknowledged and support the guidelines approved by NEC which disqualify all members of the care-taker committee from contesting any of the position in the forthcoming zonal congress and national convention.

6. Elder Wole Oyelese’s motion which acknowledges the significant selfless leadership of Chief Olabode George in the South West was upheld unanimously. The meeting commended Chief Bode George for his leadership steps in the resolution of the challenges facing the South West and he was endorsed to continue the leadership of the zone in the interface with the Presidency.


Sgd:
Sen Bode Olajumoke.
Alhaji Yekeen Ade Ojo


Wednesday 19 June 2013

Recall confused Tinubu, says Lagos PDP




Opeyemi Adesina

The Lagos State PDP has described the confessional statement by senator Oluremi Tinubu that she cannot understand the operations of the senate and indeed confused about the workings of the Senate as the long awaited evidence needed to commence the Recall of the confused Senator.


The party therefore calls on the registered voters in the lagos central Senatorial district to immediately commence the recall process of the Senator without further delay.


The Party opines that Senator Oluremi Tinubu has not only performed below expectation on the floor of the Senate, she has indeed not initiated any successful bill to justify her membership of the senate.
Worse still, Senator Oluremi Tinubu also acted dishonourably when she chastised her Senator colleagues for acts not proved when she alleged that "they don't go home to their people"
She has also misapplied the privilege of being the senator representing the most strategic senatorial district in the state, even though she is non-lagosian. An experience that may not encourage lagos indigenes to allow non indigenes hold sensitive political office henceforth.
She also said unequivocally that she has not been able to understand the workings of the senate. "What then is she still doing in the Senate. This is a vindication of our cry that the senators representing lagos are not fit and proper to defend the interest of the state.
Indeed another product of imposition is now obviously not prepared for the job.
The senator should resign honourably or face imminent recall".


The senator had on Saturday asserted this view during her meeting with some NEWS editors she organised to give reports of her stay in the Senate and also to denounce the popular belief that she is interested in the Governorship of the State in 2015.

Sunday 9 June 2013

Kalu delivers OPC's June 12 lecture



A former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, will on Wednesday deliver a lecture to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.


The election, described as the freest and fairest so far in the democratic journey of Nigeria, was won by late business mogul, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.


It was annulled by the military regime of retired General Ibrahim Babangida.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the election, Kalu will speak on the topic: "20 years after June 12: Options for survival," at a lecture organized by the Oodua People's Congress.


The lecture, which holds at Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos State, on June 12 at 11am, according to the National Coordinator of the OPC, Otunba Gani Adams, who is also the Chief Host, will have Kalu as the Guest Speaker and renowned academic, Prof. Akin Oyebode as Chairman.



The Special Guests of Honour for the lecture will be the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji; a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, Dame Priscilla Kuye; and the President, Campaign for Democracy/Women Arise, Dr. Joe-Okei-Odumakin.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Stop empty criticisms, Jonathan warns Buhari, Tinubu



Unperturbed President Goodluck Ebelle Jonathan on Sunday reacted to criticism of his government by opposition leaders at the just concluded national convention of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, in Lagos, dismissing them as people who do not have what it takes to move the nation forward.

The president who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, at a press conference in Lagos condemned the ‘penchant’ of opposition leaders to denigrate the government and the nation, and assured that the government will not be distracted by their ‘empty’ criticisms in its unrelenting drive to transform the nation’s social, economic and political landscape.


File photo; Tinubu and Buhari – leaders of ACN and CPC
He described General Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who criticised his administration at the convention as “heavily burdened political liabilities.”

He also reacted to the decision of two nominated members of the Boko Haram committee, Mallam Shehu Sanni and Alhaji Datti Ahmed, to reject their membership of the committee, saying it was an unfortunate development which, however, will not affect the work of the panel.

Okupe said the two were included in the committee because of their earlier personal initiatives to help resolve the crisis, and that they should have seen their inclusion in the committee as an honour to serve the government and their country, as people in several other countries see such calls to service.

His assertions nonetheless, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, yesterday pressed further its allegations of incapacity on the part of the Federal Government saying the administration has wholly politicized the national security crisis in the country.

On corruption, the President’s adviser said it didn’t start with this administration, adding that a problem of about 50 years cannot be wiped out overnight.

Okupe also explained that it was in a bid to reinvigorate the anti-corruption war that President Jonathan overhauled the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, saddled with the anti-corruption drive and also signed the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill which two previous administrations refused to sign. He added that the President will continue to leave those in charge of EFCC and ICPC to rise up to the challenge.

Okupe also described newly-formed All Progressive Congress (APC), which comprises opposition political parties, as being made up of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) renegrades, a “moribund and lack lustre” All Nigeria’s People’s Party (ANPP), and the ACN, “a one-man owned and controlled party with no form of  internal democratic credential whatsoever and totally devoid of any form of modern liberalism.”

Said Okupe: “These sets of politicians who want to desperately supplant the Jonathan administration are promoting an incongruous alliance of political weaklings and dysfunctional Lilliputians out primarily to foster their ego and psyche being repeatedly frustrated political mongers; forgetting that one million giant ants can never muster the required strength to lift a concrete pole not to talk of a nationally entrenched pillar and structurally established institution like the PDP.

Carpets APC leadership

“In 2003, their choice was Vice President Atiku Abubakar who now knows them better. In 2011, it was a protégé of former President Olusegun Obasanjo Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who fitted the slot although he was later betrayed and sacrificed on the altar of self-interest.

“Presently, the debates within the factionalized alliance suggest that they will not mind fielding another PDP stalwart as its Presidential flag bearer.

“It is clear that a party that consistently over a period of 12 years has been unable to find any suitable member from its own rank and file as presidential candidate has clearly exhibited its own structural and ideological weakness and its unsuitability as an organization capable of providing national leadership and can therefore not run an efficient or competent federal government in a country like Nigeria.

Okupe carpeted the ACN national leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, who spoke disparagingly about the Jonathan administration on issues bordering on economy, democratic governance and social security.

According to Okupe, “Senator Bola Tinubu who spoke about meager wages for public servants in Nigeria was known to have ignored calls of Lagos civil servants for a 7,500 naira monthly wage and when he eventually buckled to the pressure of Labour leaders, he wickedly sacked the major arrow head of the struggle in the person of Comrade Ayodele Akele who was never re-instated.

“The present National Chairman of the ACN,Chief Bisi Akande as Governor of Osun State during the same period denied workers of a 5,500 Naira minimum wage and eventually laid off over 9,000 workers during his four-year reign. Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who was then NLC President and now Governor of Edo State led workers on protest march in Osun State during the period but Chief Akande remained adamant. Where then is the credential of these people to talk about job creation, promotion of workers interest and democratic etiquette?

“As I speak with you, Ekiti and Osun states which are being governed by these opposition political parties are embroiled in one form of industrial crisis or the other as a result of the insensitive, cruel and anti-workers policies of their present governors.

Don’t politicise national security — CPC

Pressing further its claim on the incapacity of the PDP-led administration to address the security situation in the country, the CPC in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin cited the recent Boston bombing in the United States to show how government should be run.

The party said: “After the initial Presidential reticence in agreeing to amnesty for the Boko-Haram insurgents, and  when confronted with reasoned argument, President Jonathan decided on commencement of talks ostensibly leading to amnesty. Yet again, Pastor Oritsejafor continued to obdurately urge the government not to yield to the dialogue option.

“As the President’s confidante, was he projecting the President’s unexpressed desire? This double-faced posturing by the Federal government is, undoubtedly, a show of its insincerity, which has quite rightly alienated some of the members of the proposed amnesty committee.

“Is it not a matter of concern that the more money voted to combat insecurity brings more insecurity, thereby giving justification for more Security allocation?”

“In the last two years, the Nigerian government has been patronizing ex-militant lords with hefty security contracts in a manner that showed abandonment of the constitutional function of the Nigeria Police. This government’s action, perceived as deleterious to the socio-political harmony of the land, is being intensified in other regions of the cSountry, ahead of the regime’s preparation for another election in 2015…”

“The regime’s Propagandist machine has caused the Boko Haram phenomenon to defy reasonable logic. In February 2013, a French family of seven persons was held hostage by Terrorists in Cameroon.  Boko Haram was reported to be responsible. They were allegedly brought to Nigeria by Boko- haram. The hostages were freed last week in Cameroon and released to the French government. Was it the ‘ghostly’ Boko haram that negotiated the hostages’ release with the French? Was any insurgent (in captivity in Nigeria) released in exchange for the hostages? How did Boko Haram cross (at will) Nigeria’s borders, with all the hostages, without the knowledge of Nigeria large security apparatus? Shall we assume that Boko Haram has spread its operational base to Cameroon? Undoubtedly, this leaves many more questions than answers!”

“As a Party, we are not unaware of the desperation of the Jonathan regime ahead of the 2015 general election. The regime, in a despicable manner that is unprecedented, played up the fragile fault lines of ethnicity and religion for its own aggrandizement in delusive electoral victory in 2011. A regime that is unwilling and incapacitated in implementing none of the fundamental objectives (entrenched in the Nation’s statute book) now seeks to use unconscionable schemes to delude, confuse and over-awe the citizenry, ahead of the next general election in 2015.
 We stand shoulder to shoulder with the Nigerian people in ensuring the noble ideals of the rule of law reign in our land. We shall continue to campaign against the vestiges of impunity and all forms of corruption and corruptive tendencies that are prevalent in this PDP-led administration.”  




vanguardngr

Friday 19 April 2013

Text of Orji Uzor Kalu's address to the British House of Commons on the plight of Igbos in Nigeria


THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF NDIGBO IN NIGERIA - Statements from His Excellency Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu

Dear all,

Please find below excerpts of His Excellency Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu's presentation at Jubilee Room, House of Commons on April 18th, 2013 -

===

“THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF NDIGBO IN NIGERIA’’:

Honourable Members of the British House of Commons:

There is a belief amongst us Ndigbo. It is believed that a person, who does not know from where the rain started to beat him or her, will also not know where the rain stopped to beat him or her.

Ask me for one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, in fact, one of the largest three, and I’ll show you the Igbo ethnic nationality.

Ask me again for that group, which produced key Nigerian nationalists like Alvan Ikoku, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, Mbonu Ojike, Denis Osadebay, Nwafor Orizu, and many others, and once again, I’ll show you the Igbo ethnic nationality.

Ask me for perhaps the most illustrious, the most widely spread and traveled ethnic group in Africa (not just in Nigeria this time), and I’ll have an answer for you: the Igbo. You find them everywhere, adding value to commerce, the academia, industry, the professions, sports, agriculture, indeed, they are in all walks of life.

And also, if you ask me for a people who are so development oriented that wherever they are,they make a definite mark by building up the place, I’ll show you once again the Igbo of eastern Nigeria. In fact, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, one time Federal Capital Territory Minister in Nigeria once remarked that 70 per cent of properties in Abuja, are owned by the Igbos.

But then, this sad one! Ask me for a people so repressed, so marginalized, so ill-treated and mistreated, a people who are killed not just in their hundreds, but in their thousands, both during war and peace time, and with tears in my eyes, with a broken heart, with trembling lips, head bowed in sorrow and regret, I’ll show you the Igbo, an ethnic group that has gone through terrible travails in Nigeria.

Ndigbo are shockingly and carelessly murdered in Nigeria, not even like animals in countries where animal rights are established, but like animals in the jungle by hunters. One was described by those in the Northern Nigeria as a retaliation of some Northern elites, who were believed to have been victims of a January15, 1966 coup. Then, a hatchet job was done against Ndigbo: Our people were killed in the North in droves and their mutilated bodies were ferried down our villages and towns amidst tears.

This coup was regarded by propagandists as being an indicator that Ndigbo wanted to "dominate" all spheres of life in Nigeria. But the fact was that the coupists never consulted any of the known prominent Igbo leaders. The North characterized it as “Igbo-inspired Coup.” Hence, they killed Ndigbo in the North, and have been killing till such a date.

When the Ndigbo mutilated bodies were ferried down our villages and towns from the north amidst tears, Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, then Governor General of the Eastern Nigeria, was among notable Igbo sons and daughters, who stood up and cried and called the entire world to come and see the pogrom that was committed against Ndigbo.

The Northerners wanted to break out of Nigeria.

For cheap political gains, those who killed our people moved falsehood as necessary inspiration for carrying their war against Ndigbo. They falsified that General JTU Aguiyi Ironsi’s military regime was nursing towards one-system form of government and if not stopped, would be harmful to the assorted composition of Nigeria. Ironsi was Igbo, and the first Military president of Nigeria, and was later killed by the same northerners, on a reconciliatory courtesy visit.

On that note,some of our unbiased scholars have been asking that if the claim of sending many Igbo sons and daughters to their early graves by the northerners, and that Ironsi’s regime was tending towards a unitary government, and was also against Nigeria’s corporate importance between January 15, 1966 and July 28, 1966, how come that after the July 29, 1966 revenge coup, unitary system of government has been made strong and has continued within Nigeria till the present-day.

What has changed after July 29, 1966? Nothing! Except that the same northerners held political power in Nigeria among themselves for a period of 35yrs, therefore making Ndigbo their “Prisoners of War” in the much touted “One Nigeria”. As regards to this,I can say that such behaviour makes the international community to classify people in our country as “Different Nigerians”, but “One Nigeria”.

Our intellectuals, poets, writers, journalists, etcetera, have continued to ask questions that, could it be that some sections of Nigeria were entitled to impose and operate a unitary form of government on other sections of Nigeria,while some other sections are not entitled to do the same. Our men and women of book and pen have continued to say that the Hausa-Fulani, while hiding the real intentions for the war, drafted in the Yoruba, in the dishonourable project; and the groups set about poisoning the minds of some Eastern Nigeria minority groups with propaganda of Igbo “oppression” and “domination” among them, which enticement, they ingested into the minority groups and also across the world,and do not want Ndigbo to survive in the political environment in Nigeria.

Due to the unfriendly acts that our people have suffered in the hands of our believed countrymen and countrywomen in the northern part of the country, the now out-of-use Eastern House of Parliament, known as Eastern Nigeria before 1967, saw the reason our people must be a sovereign state from Nigeria. The Parliament commanded Colonel Ojukwu (now of blessed memory) to declare Biafra in May 1967, when it was clearly perceived that Ndigbo were no longer safe in Nigeria, due to the killings and destruction of property that were targeted against them in the northern Nigeria. After the declaration, was when the Nigerian Government-led by a northerner, started a war of slow-destruction against Ndigbo-led Biafrathe same year, which came to a biased end in 1970. Those who initially wanted to pull out of Nigeria turned to label Ndigbo rebels before the world, which our people neither were nor are.

Forty two years after the (un)civil war against Biafrans was said to have come to an end, our people’s plights in Nigeria are yet to come to an absolute end. As part of its unholy political tool against Ndigbo, we have come to endure promises upon promises in the hands of the government at the centre in Nigeria. About two years ago, the Nigerian government gave assurance to repay veterans of the civil war, but this promise died after the newspapers and magazines that it was published were read.

Our Biafranex-war veterans have been pleading with the Federal Government to honour the assurance of the N1.5 billion it said was going to be given to them. These men and women of honour, who brought pride and honour to our people, and protected the lives of millions of our people, who would have become preys like millions of their kiths and kins crying in the undignified graves in the thick forests and paths that dot our towns and villages, battered by the munitions of the aggressive Nigerian troops, are still crying that their plea to the government has not been hearkened to since 14th May 2012 that the said money was noticeably promised them.

It was on July9, 2012 that some of our good spirited sons and daughters commissioned what is known today as Biafran War Veterans’ Home, in Okwe, Okigwe, Imo State, whereas Nigeria has a government but regrettably, the one that merely pays lip service to the situation of her people, but most especially, when such situation has to do with Ndigbo.

On-the-face-of-it all, the government from the time Crude Oil was discovered in striking quantity-ing one of our ancient towns of the Niger Delta in 1956, the Nigerian state has not hidden its character that shows it loves the Crude Oil derived from our villages and towns, which is the hub of the country’s economy, more than our people. How to do we prove this! I can only ask you to come to our villages and towns, and cry.

Who can believe that before our brave war-veterans were relocated to their new building that consists of just 20 flats for over 120 of them, Oji River was the home of the Biafran veterans along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway. They lived at the location since July 11, 1975. They took there as an abode after they were forcefully chased out from GTC (now IMT Enugu), where they lived in a dormitory alongside with leprosy victims, by the government.

These our heroes are elders not less than 65 years of age and many of them were not married before the outbreak of the war, yet the northern apologists continue to say that the northern part of the country is impoverished. And I always ask myself:By whom? Take for instance: The oil wealth from our villages and towns has been used in developing Lagos, once known as the Capital of Nigeria. And today, the same oil wealth is being used in developing Abuja that was once a beehive of mountainous rocks, while our people continue to walk the streets in abject misery and poverty, borne out microscopic Federal Government presence in Igbo land.

While Ndigbo have forgiven those involved in the war (but have not forgotten about the war),who wanted to rinse-out our people from the surface of the earth, it is very hard to reconcile our people’s buildings and landed property that were seized by fellow countrymen and countrywomen in different parts of the country and were christened “Abandoned Property” instead of “Stolen Property”, of which the Nigerian Government has always behaved in the unconcerned manner, when its attention is drawn to the issue, to revoke these hard earned articles of our people to the rightful owners, from the hands of  slanderers of our economy.

In such place that our people’s property were seized is the old Rivers State, which was created in 1967, at the peak of the Nigerian war of annihilation against Ndigbo, to further the Nigerian government’s efforts in making sure that the strength and spirit of our people were weakened. In the intensive continuation to reduce our people to nothing in the political sphere of Nigeria, the Nigerian Government,  after the war in 1970, paid every Igbo man and woman 20 (Pounds sterling), no matter how many millions of money that the Igbo had in the bank, before the outbreak of the war. Before this, Ndigbo were fighting to live, while the Federal Government had announced a total naturalization of all the companies Ndigbo had so much interests in, especially on the Nigerian side.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) negotiation of fund was to fund the war in favour of Nigeria – his pay master and a percentage of this fund went to the National Bank. This bank was solely owned by the westerners. As a result of this, Yoruba people had direct access to loans for the purchase of the share interests taken away from Ndigbo till date. Amongst others, these were the rigorous adventures that were coordinated against Ndigbo by the Nigerian Government.

Then came Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as military president of Nigeria in 1976. He took Ndigbo less than a beast, after the death of Murtala Mohammed. The representations of Ndigbo in the federal level were next to nothing. A lot of people said that it was the hatred culminating from the Yoruba-race since during the war, that made Obasanjo hand power over to Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979, even when Shagari, it was clear in many quarters, did not win the election with the two-third(2/3)majority, as stipulated in the Nigerian electoral rules. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe –Igbo – was supposedly robbed in that election.

Despite all these atrocious acts against Ndigbo and the speculations from different quarters that we must have learnt our lessons in Nigeria, we have not resolved our belief of a prosperous country. We have learnt not to relent in developing Nigeria and, beyond. We did not mind the #20 (Pound Sterling) that was given to each Igbo that had money in the bank after the war. The Nigerian apparatus against Ndigbo thought that they could kill the nature-given enterprising spirit in us. But they did not succeed, and will not. Ndigbo’s trading network today in West, Central Africa and indeed, the world over, has diversified. We have been strengthened rather than weakened. “Abandoned property” has also not deterred our people about the distribution of infrastructure in Nigeria.

Selective killing and marginalisation of Ndigbo in Nigeria:

Ndigbo have always had the courage to stand for other tribes in Nigeria; without mentioning names, we have voted into power persons from different tribes across the country.But these tribes we have helped by voting their men and women into power,habitually, keep on sabotaging us, so that we remain in an everlasting bondage in Nigeria. Because political powers are rested in their hands, instead they would use such powers to elevate the status of our people that have seen only the bad and the ugly in Nigeria, (no good) they rather re-defined democracy in Nigeria by the size of the Naira each tribe has, knowing that the money that our people had were money they earned through their individual labours, and not money accruing from the sales of Crude Oil that are not significantly accounted for.

Would it surprise us that in a fresh report released by the honourable men and women of the Federal House, the Northerners are controlling eighty-three percent of oil blocs in Nigeria, yet their propagandists’ mercenaries are clamouring that the poverty in the north is very wide than that in the south. By this example, we can see who is really holding each other on the ground and, at the same time,is crying for help.

Ndigbo are highly marginalised and killed in Nigeria, to further our haters continued efforts that we go on extinction from the surface of the earth. Our people are betrayed in Nigeria recklessly. The powers that feel they are do not want Ndigbo to inherit any political lineages as are being shared and enjoyed by other tribes, not minding the fact that we are one of the majority ethnic groups in Nigeria.

I have beenfighting against this evil gift to us decisively. I’ve always fought that themarginalization of Ndigbo is structural by the Nigerian Government, fortysomething years after the war. If not, how could a big tribe like ours be the only one in the country that has five states grade in the six geopoliticalzones across the country? Our experts in numerology have always said that sincethe last state creation exercise in Nigeria our people have suffered immeasurable loss predictably above N1.8 trillion, due to the imbalance in the Federal monthly allocations to states.

I am not talking about the erosion that is sacking most of our villages and towns that the government is merely treating with the kid’s glove. The insurgents in the northern part of the country who are at it again – killing our people in thousands and destroying our hard earned property and businesses and at the same telling our people to leave the region – is no longer news.

It baffles me that if there was an Islamic crisis in any foreign countries, the northerners target our people in the north, and inspect their cooperation with their foreign counterparts on our people, by killing us and destroying our property,of which we have not shown any reprisal attack. I am paused to ask: Is this not the same Nigeria that the north had always boasted that she fought for, to unite as One Nigeria? How come that the slogan in the north today by the insurgents is that our people should leave the north and relocate to our structural impoverished towns and villages, when it is obvious that we have erected monumental edifices in the north? Can this messenger’s warning be as are a result that the presidency has shifted from the north to another tribe? Your guess is as good as mine.

Today, the President is from South South, the Vice President from North West, Senate President North Central, Speaker House of Representatives from North West, and the highest-ranking person in the Order of Protocol from South East is the Deputy Senate President. Yet, we are among the three largest ethnic-nationalities in the country.

As if exclusion of the Igbo was a deliberate policy, let’s look at Nigeria’s 36 states structure. Most of the geo-political zones have at least 6 states, while the North East even has more. Only the South East has only 5 states, a classic case of inequity and marginalization, since you can have access to federal resource based only on the number of states you have. Strident calls for a redress of this injustice have gone unheeded for years.

What of the state of our roads? South East has the worst road network in the country. Lives are lost daily on the crater-filled roads, which our people are compelled to use daily, since they are very commercially oriented people.

The bridge that connects the South East to other parts of the country, called the Niger Bridge,has been in existence before the Civil War. Today, it is decrepit, and indeed an accident waiting to happen in terms of collapse. Government after government has paid mere lip service to it, and today, it has become an object of political manipulation. Yet, no second Niger Bridge, which is very crucial to the welfare of Igbos.

As an oil-producing country, refineries and petrochemical projects are sited in different parts of the country by government. Except in the East. Steel mills are also in other parts. Except the East. But we have large scale erosion and other forms of environmental degradation in plentiful proportions. Oh, why are we so blessed?

Self-reliance of Ndigbo in Nigeria:

Historically and politically supportive, I have always told the Nigerian Government that the injustice against Ndigbo in Nigeria cannot be said has come to an end, if there is no Igbo presidency in 2015. Not beyond! In our people’s resolve to make Nigeria a peaceful and habitable place, we have always been peaceful. Even when the northerners plucked the eyes of our beloved ones in our presence, we have remained unprovoked, but apostles of peace.

I have volunteered that the Federal Government should send me to broker peace between it and the insurrectionary in the north, but this selfless gesture is like water that dropped on the shell of melon. This voluntary move was coming when I saw that many names from the north that were assigned with this task by the dreadful sect, refused to pay heed. Maybe, they refused the peace-move out of fear or, because they wanted the slow-destruction of Ndigbo to keep-on in the north.

These words that I am presenting before us today is a summary of Ndigbo’s political and psychological sufferings in Nigeria, because there is no book in the world that can contain the blow that we have suffered in the amalgam of nations of 1914 that is today regarded as Nigeria and called same. In my perception, all the decrying by the Federal Government of the killings of Ndigbo in the north and other vices targeted against us, would only amount to mere lip service if by 2015, there is no Igbo presidency. The Nigerian state cannot carry-on calling on our people’s support in managing the security situation in the country, and at the same, does not want our people to be president of the country. Is this not an extension of the insecurity that Ndigbo are facing in Nigeria?

Enter Njiko Igbo

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, what then is the way forward for the Igbos of Nigeria?Must they remain hewers of wood and drawers of water in perpetuity? No. And it would take all men and women of goodwill to do something about it.

Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, in a paper entitled ‘Ndigbo: An integral part of the Nigerian project,’ says the aim of the Nigerian project “is to develop and sustain a nation in which all the constituent parts and citizens are able to pursue their self-fulfilment, and to enjoy as high a quality of life as possible; a nation that would be a source of pride to its citizens, to Africa and to peoples of African descent all over the world.” It is in this spirit that we have, therefore, decided to set up NjikoIgbo (Igbo Unity), which is a movement dedicated to changing the power formula in Nigeria in favour of the Igbo ethnic nationality. As Chief Anyaoku further said, “There are so many Igbo names in the pantheon of our country’spioneer educationists, professionals in medicine, law, engineering, journalism,and in private business.” So, why then can’t an Igbo be president?

So, what does Njiko Igbo seek to do? It is a platform for the galvanization of Igbo, at homeand in Diaspora, for the attainment of a Nigerian president of Igbo descent. It is non-partisan in that it embraces all Igbo, no matter their political affiliations. We want to mobilize Igbo all over the world to speak with one voice, and pursue the Igbo presidency project with all our might. If we fail to lead the way in the struggle to reposition our race, nobody else will do it for us. Our destiny lies in our hands.

Njiko Igbo has attracted membership in large numbers from Nigeria, and indeed, different parts of the world. The Igbo nationality is fully mobilized, and we will be fully represented in the 2015race for the presidency. We demand justice in Nigeria, we demand equality, we demand equity. And we shall get it, with the support of distinguished people like those in this hallowed chambers. Igbo presidency in Nigeria in 2015 is a possibility, and we will go for it.

Conclusion

Former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Chief Raph Uwechue says of the Igbo, in a paper entitled ‘Igbo are nation builders:’

“To the Nigerian project, the Igbo have given a great deal yesterday, are still doing so today, and have a lot more in store for a much greater tomorrow.”

Yes, the Igbos have a lot more in store for Nigeria. They have sown, they have tended the plant, it has matured. Now is harvest time.

Please join us in the great harvest. We will reap till our barns are full, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Please join us in the great harvest.

Permit me to use this opportunity to appeal to the British government through this honourable house to increase funding to Africa especially Nigeria as against the proposed legislation to reduce aid for health, education, infrastructure amongst others while committing more funds to war areas such as Mali with the provision of arms and ammunition. Nigeria needs increased funding to meet our development challenges, the biggest of which is achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This intervention will bridge the gap between the rich and poor countries, thereby making the world a place we will all like to live. It will also avail developing countries access to improved health services, increased infrastructure projects, food security, economic growth and development and in essence improved standard of living.

I thank you for listening.

Sunday 31 March 2013

Stop character assassination, Lagos PDP tells Lai Mohammed 



Opeyemi Adesina

The Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the unsolicited cry of the National Publicity Secretary of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Muhammed over purported SURE-P money causing disaffection within PDP as another show of his "busy body and reflection of an idle hand that remains a devil's workshop"

The party indeed expects Alhaji Mohammed to tell Lagosians how SURE-P monies meant for States and LGs have been utilised.

The party states that the ACN is at this point confused about how to confront the PDP in the 2015 elections seeing that our leaders, ever than before are now working together and already miles ahead in planning whilst the ACN is still battling with another Label to contest future elections having destroyed its current name.

The party is not worried at all as it has actually prepared for worse character assassination "we know the modus operandi of the ACN is to cause disaffection within PDP. This time they will fail because all the fifth Columnist erstwhile within PDP are now with them. They cannot find any 'material' again.

Notwithstanding we are saying loudly that the ACN may continue the character assassination of our Leaders, BUT we will not condone any assassination of any of our Leaders, not again"

The party wonders why alhaji Mohammed has refused to react to the PDP allegation that his Company, Westminster Dredging Ltd collected money from LASG but failed to execute the dredging of canals in the State which led to Flooding and many deaths.

Saturday 9 March 2013

Islamist group, Ansaru, kill 7 foreign hostages  



Nigeria-based Islamist group Ansaru said on Saturday it had killed seven foreign hostages it seized on Feb. 7 from a construction company in Nigeria, SITE Monitoring Service said.

The group issued a statement in Arabic and English on an affiliate of the Sinam al-Islam network accompanied by screen shots of a video purporting to show the dead hostages, SITE said. One screenshot showed a man with gun standing above several prone figures lying on the ground.

Ansaru, which has kidnapped other foreigners in the past, had blasted into the compound using explosives and abducted a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers, the largest number of foreigners kidnapped in the mostly Muslim north since an insurgency by Islamist militants intensified two years ago.

The group’s full name is Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan, which roughly translates as “vanguards for the protection of Muslims in Black Africa”.



In its statement, the group said it had decided to kill the hostages, taken from the compound of a Lebanese construction company in the northern state of Bauchi, because of attempts by Britain and Nigeria to rescue them.

“(We) announced the capture of seven Christians foreigners and warned that should there be any attempt by force to rescue them will render their lives in danger,” the statement said.

“The Nigeria and British government operation lead to the death of all the seven Christians foreigners,” it said.

Ansaru was suspected of being behind the killing of a British and Italian hostage a year ago in northwest Nigeria and Britain’s parliament has labelled it a terrorist organisation.



(REUTERS)

Monday 18 February 2013

Fashola’s project tour, another attempt to deceive Lagosians—Lagos PDP






Opeyemi Adesina

The Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the Governor Fashola led ACN government in the State as now terminally diseased, bound to worsen and will be laid to rest in the Propagandists graveside of history.

The Party is making this description as a reaction to the ongoing manipulated project tour of the Governor aimed at justifying the very bogus claim of 89% budget success in 2012.

The Party asserts that the so-called project tour is a charade and the budget success claim only exposes the desperation of the ACN Government to force mediocrity into lagos Government.

"We are indeed not comfortable to allow the ACN Government in the State continue to run a propagandists Government. Especially because lagos is fast moving away from 'Centre of Excellence' to 'Centre of Mediocrity'. Imagine the ongoing charade being referred to as project tour and the claim that this administration attained 89% budget success in the Year 2012. Honestly, this is deceitful, fraudulent and deliberately meant to fake performance"   

The Party is particularly surprised that Governor Fashola can boldly lay claim to such bogus success when its Government has continuously plunged the state into local and Foreign debts of well over 900Billion Naira, even when the State now realises over 40Billion naira Per Month as Internally Generated Revenue and has collected over 16Thrillion Naira from the Federal Government, since 1999.

Notwithstanding these monies, the few major projects being flaunted on the tour are not directly linked to the said budget but actually contributions of Private investors, Philanthropists, Concessionaires, Federal Government and Community Associations.

Such projects include the: Lekki-Epe Expressway, BRT, Light Rail, rehabilitation of Oshodi-Oke road, Modern Markets.

"We wonder how the Government of ACN in Lagos State can shamelessly award performance success to itself when it has actually failed to address its promises to lagosians such as: A 4th Mainland Bridge, rehabilitation of Isheri-OkeAfa road, provision of qualitative & affordable Education, affordable housing, payment of 18000 Naira Minimum Wage, Provision of employment, Portable Water, Qualitative and affordable health Services, affordable Markets etc"

The Party Opines that these prevalent deficiencies in the State indeed manifest in the number of Pure Water factories, Private Hospitals, Area Boys, Street Traders, Traffic jams all over the State.

The Party has thus rated any budget year of Lagos State under former Governor Bola Tinubu and Governor Fashola as not exceeding 45% and Challenges the Government to a live debate.

"We have our Data and thus convinced that under Governor Tinubu and now Governor Fashola, lagos has never attained over 45% success in its budget implementation. We challenge them to a project tour, where representatives of NUJ, Labour, Students Leadership, Opposition Parties, NGOs, Civil Society Organisations, Engineers will partake.

As a matter of fact, we shall acknowledge and do a public apology if our claim is wrong"

Njiko Igbo, best way to actualize Igbo presidency - Igbo leaders in Europe



Igbo leaders in Europe have said that the best way for the South East zone to produce the president of Nigeria in 2015 is by aligning with Njiko Igbo, a group specifically set up for that purpose.

At a meeting of Igbo leaders in Luxembourg over the weekend, the leaders agreed to pursue the Igbo presidency through Njiko Igbo.

The Igbo leaders, from all over Europe, thus endorse endorsed Njiko Igbo for its ideology of Igbo unity.

They also commended a former Governor of Abia State and Protem Chairman of Njiko Igbo, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, for the formation of the group.

Speaking at the meeting, the Coordinator of the Igbo leaders in Europe, Dr. Basil Okeke, advised Ndigbo to rally around and support Kalu, whom he described as "the true Igbo leader of our time."

Okeke added: "Being an Igbo leader is not by wealth but by the level of sacrifices made in order to protect the interest of Ndigbo.

"Constructive criticism is welcomed in the 21st century but not when it is detrimental to the progress of ones ideology.

"We do not need sycophants to lead Ndigbo because of some double standard publications accredited to Senator Ben Obi, Senator Uche Chukwumerije and one would be wondering if these are the people that will represent the interest of Ndigbo.

"The 2015 presidency of Igbo extraction is real and we shall all work together to achieve this great task."
The representatives of Njiko Igbo in the United Kingdom thanked the organisers for putting together the event.

They said they would continue to pressurize Kalu to lead Ndigbo in 2015 because statistics have shown that he has the qualities and the spirit of unity.

They added: "We advise Ndigbo to come together and stop witch hunting themselves."

Tuesday 12 February 2013

SEAL who shot bin Laden speaks out



Yahoo News



The U.S. Navy SEAL who shot and killed Osama bin Laden is speaking out for the first time since the May 1, 2011, raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

In an interview with Esquire, the former SEAL—identified as "The Shooter" due to what the magazine described as "safety" reasons—said he's been largely abandoned by the U.S. government since leaving the military last fall.

He told Esquire he decided to speak out to both correct the record of the bin Laden mission and to put a spotlight on how some of the U.S. military's highly trained and accomplished soldiers are treated by the government once they return to civilian life.

Despite killing the world's most-wanted terrorist, he said, he was not given a pension, health care or protection for himself or his family.


"[SEAL command] told me they could get me a job driving a beer truck in Milwaukee," he told Esquire.

Plus, he said, "my health care for me and my family stopped. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare to Blue Cross Blue Shield. They said no. You're out of the service, your coverage is over. Thanks for your 16 years. Go f--- yourself."

The problem seems to be that "The Shooter" left the military well before the 20-year requirement for retirement benefits.

(Esquire)

According to the magazine, the government provides 180 days of transitional health care benefits, but the Shooter was ineligible because he did not agree to remain on active duty in a support role or become a "reservist." Instead, the magazine noted, he will "have to wait at least eight months to have his disability claims adjudicated."

The SEAL also gave his account of the historic raid, including the moment he pulled the trigger and shot bin Laden.

“In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead," he told Esquire. "Bap! Bap! The second time as he’s going down. He crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed. He was dead. I watched him take his last breaths. And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: Is this the best thing I've ever done, or the worst thing I've ever done?

"I'm not religious," he added. "But I always felt I was put on the earth to do something specific. After that mission, I knew what it was."

He also recalled watching CNN's coverage of the first anniversary of bin Laden's death.

"They were saying, 'So now we're taking viewer e-mails. Do you remember where you were when you found out Osama bin Laden was dead?' And I was thinking: Of course I remember. I was in his bedroom looking down at his body."

In September 2012, fellow former SEAL Team 6 member Matt Bissonnette published a controversial book, "No Easy Day," under a pen name about the raid, drawing the ire of both his fellow SEALs and the Pentagon.

A spokeswoman for Esquire told Yahoo News that the magazine did not pay the SEAL for the interview.





Monday 11 February 2013

Merger plans will fail - PPA chairman



Opeyemi Adesina

The National Chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, Chief Sam Nkire, has predicted the failure for the proposed merger of four opposition political parties in the country. 

Nkire, in a statement on Sunday, said the best and most workable arrangement would have been for the parties involved to keep their structures but field one candidate during the presidential election.

According to the PPA national chairman, the real problem will start when it comes to filling party positions at the federal, state, local government and ward levels.

He said for every new party position created in the new All Progressive Congress, three former office holders in the four merging parties were bound to lose their positions, which may lead to mass defection to other political parties such as PPA. 

Nkire said it was difficult to ask a Nigerian political office holder to step down for another and become an ordinary member and expect 100 per cent loyalty from the person.

The PPA boss further said that already there were signs of a serious crack within the merger as expected.
According to him, one of the four parties is already dissociating itself from the marriage, a crack that is widening by the day.

In anticipation of mass exodus from the merging parties, the PPA national chairman said his party would not reject anybody who willingly wants to join it.

Njiko Igbo condemns murder of MASSOB members


Opeyemi Adesina

The platform for the actualization of the Igbo presidency in 2015, Njiko Igbo, has condemned the alleged killing of members of the Movement for the sovereign State of Biafra and the dumping of their bodies in a river in Anambra State.

Njiko Igbo said it it was true that the corpses found in the river belonged to members of MASSOB, those who carried out the extra-judicial killing must be found and punished.

A statement by the Director of Operations of Njiko Igbo, Senator Emmanuel Onwe, said the government must as a matter of urgency set up a commission of enquiry into the killing.

The statement by Onwe reads in full: “Three weeks ago, citizens of Anambra and Enugu States were justifiably petrified when unidentified corpses, estimated to be forty or more in number, were discovered dumped in Ezu River. The cause of those deaths remained indeterminate. Yesterday, however, the leadership of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) were reported to have alleged that the victims of these apparent extra-judicial executions were its members.

“If MASSOB’s claim were to be established as factual and correct, it will set off consequences of seismic proportions in Igboland. Indeed, right at this moment, the atmosphere is growing tense and charged. And it is for this reason that Njiko Igbo is compelled to sue for calm as a first reaction. Then an immediate public judicial enquiry led by a Justice of the Supreme Court of proven integrity must be instituted by the Federal Government with a wide-ranging remit to conduct a thorough investigation that will lead to the establishment of the identities of the victims, the cause or causes of their deaths, the perpetrators of the crime, the entity in whose custody they were held, the extent of the health hazards created for the people of Enugu and Anambra whose source of water was so recklessly and negligently contaminated and adequate compensation recommended for the community that fell victim to this heinous crime in addition to the imposition of criminal liability on the perpetrators. It is imperative that now that the security forces stand accused of these crimes that they must stand aside and let experts from the Nigerian Bar Association and the Nigerian Medical Association to bring their professionalism to bear on the work of the proposed public judicial inquiry.

“This matter must not be fudged if violent reaction of catastrophic proportions by Igbo youths who are thoroughly fed up with police brutality is to be averted. The Igbo nation is not and must not be treated as a conquered and occupied zone by men and women of the Nigerian security forces.

“Even if it transpires that the dead young men were people of disreputable or even criminal bent, it still remains a fundamental fact that no individual or authority or agency of government reserves the right to execute a Nigerian citizen without a full and due process of the law.

“MASSOB is a benign organisation reminiscent of the political agitprops of the 1970s. Its rhetoric is far more lethal than its cold war for Biafran independence. It is the Nigerian security forces that have declared an astonishingly savage hot war on the members of MASSOB. Members of the group have been subjected to intense campaign of harassment, intimidation, unwarranted arrests and detentions without trial, and there have been examples of extra-judicial execution of members of the group. Njiko Igbo condemns without reservation the systematic violations of the civil liberties and constitutional rights of members of MASSOB as long as they remain citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We further call for the immediate arraignment and trial of all its currently detained members in open courts of law, or, failing that, their immediate release without further delay.

“A good police/community relations is an indispensable condition for the smooth maintenance of law and order and the effective combating of crime in society. Where this fails to take root, anarchy can be expected to reign. It is clear that the Nigerian police have failed in this respect in many part of south-eastern Nigeria and they must wake up and address this matter with urgency and a recognition that they are operating in a civilized society.”

Friday 8 February 2013

UNILAG’s Golden Jubilee Convocation Ceremony (PHOTONEWS)




The University Of Lagos (UNILAG) today at a convocation for its 2011/2012 graduating students marked 50 years of its existence.

At the event, the staff, alumni and friends event of the institution proudly expressed confident that the institution will continue with its name unchanged. 

It would  be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan on May 29, 2012, tried to rename it Moshood Abiola University, a move that was resolutely opposed nationwide.

During today’s jubilee ceremony, the institution posthumously conferred an Honorary Degree on former Prime Minister, Late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, as well as upon a former Vice Chancellor of the University, Mr. Afe Babalola, and Mr. Arthur Mbanefo.

The university also conferred professorship and distinguished professorship titles on persons it said were deserving of it.

President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the Visitor, described the university in his message as “a great and leading institution” in the country.   He was represented by Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, the Education Minister.


Sahara Reporters

Thursday 7 February 2013

“I was paid $3,000″ – Barber, 45, caught with N50 million worth of cocaine at Lagos airport



Ozoh Chukwuemeka, 45, a Nigerian barber living in South Africa was caught at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos with N50m worth of cocaine, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) reports.

Weighing 6.1kg, the drug was detected during the outward clearance of Arik Air passengers to South Africa.

NDLEA Airport Commander, Hamza Umar, said they identified the packages at the baggage check in desk at the departure hall.

“The drug, which was neatly hidden in a false compartment of his luggage, was discovered during routine check on passengers,” he said.

According to reports, the suspect who has a child, had lived in South Africa for 10 years, during the search, it was alleged that he had insisted that the bag contained chemicals.

“A friend of mine in South Africa requested that I bring a bag containing chemicals from Nigeria to South Africa for $3,000. I asked him if it was drug but he said it was just chemicals. He paid for my return ticket.

“I am only struggling to take care of myself with my barbing business. If I had known that things will turn out this way I would have rejected the proposal.

“I have a daughter but I am separated with my wife,” Uzor had pleaded.

But the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, was unimpressed with the excuses; he described the suspect’s action as sad. “This is sad and the explanation unacceptable,” he said.



YNaija

Wednesday 23 January 2013

PDP leaders, members re-affirm support for Kalu



Opeyemi Adesina

The leadership and members of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Wards A and B, Igbere, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State again paid a visit to a former Governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, in his country home, reaffirming their support and acceptance on his readmission into the party.

During the visit, the PDP Chairman for Igbere Ward B, Gideon Amaechi Uko, said no amount of intimidation would make them relent in the reconciliation efforts of the party at the ward level.

Uko also encouraged Kalu that he should keep up the good work in ensuring the betterment of Abia State.
The PDP Woman Leader, Ward B, Ifekwe Chike, reiterated the unalloyed support of the women of the entire ward for Kalu.

Chike said Kalu's return to the PDP was the best thing to happen to democracy in the South East in recent times.

She said anytime the women are called upon by Kalu, they will heed to the core.

The Secretary of the PDP in Ward B, Princewill Destiny Akoma, said the decision to re-admit Kalu was in line with the PDP constitution and the reconciliatory initiative of the leadership of the party.

Akoma said that Kalu, having fulfilled all constitutional requirements of the party, is now a full fledged member of the PDP.

He advised Kalu not to be distracted by the negative antics of some political half wits in the state but to keep an open mind and focus on bringing positive changes to the PDP and Abia State.

In his response Kalu said he was one of the founding members of the PDP and was instrumental to the formation of the party in Abia State.

He also showed his appreciation to the PDP in Igbere Wards A and B for a repeat visit to reaffirm their support for his return to the PDP.

He told them that he remains in support of their course and that the he will do his best to strengthen and reposition the party both in the state and nationally.

Don't turn Lagos to fascist state, Lagos PDP warns Fashola



Opeyemi Adesina

The Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm that Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has skeletons in his cupboard and desperate to cover up his misdeeds, even If he has to turn the state into a fully fascist State.

The Alarm is a reaction to the recent directive by the Governor to his commissioners and Senior Civil Servants not to speak to the Press on matters of Governance in the State.

In a press release issued by the State Chairman of the Party, Chief Tunji Shelle, the party asserts that only an attempt to cover up misdeeds can necessitate the hoarding of  information by a Governor who had severally touted himself as running an open door Government. Similarly, such a step pre supposes that all is not well in Alausa and the governor is panicking.

The party posited that such a reactionary directive can only be sustained in a fascist regime which the governor may turn the state into if not checked. The Party further holds that no wonder the LAHA is so slow to domesticate the FOI Act, which would allow private persons to get information on the workings of the Government.

"We have said severally that Governor Fashola is not on the seat to serve Lagosians selflessly. We have equally stated too that the huge IGR, now over 40B naira Monthly, are being shared between the Governor and the ACN Leadership and that the assumed developments in the state are by Concessionaires, Philanthropists, FG and needless Loans.

"Now that the Governor is jittery and has come out to ban his Commissioners and Senior Civil servants from speaking to the Press, then he has admitted failure and misdeeds. We are now indeed Vindicated"

It would be recalled that the same Governor had sometime sacked certain Media houses from reporting from the State Secretariat, claiming that they are Anti ACN-policies.

"We make bold to say that Governor Fashola is now obviously fatigued of ideas to further govern Lagos State. He is now so overwhelmed by the self imposed pressures and no more has original ideas for lagosians. Lagos state is too sophisticated to be used as experiment. Rather than become a "taiwan" idea Governor, we advise Governor Fashola to apologise to lagosians and bow out honourably", the party added.

Monday 7 January 2013

We didn’t endorse Obanikoro for 2015– Lagos PDP




The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday said it did not endorse Senator Musiliu Obanikoro for the 2015 governorship election in the state.

Obanikoro was the party’s candidate in the 2007 governorship election in the state.

The party, in a statement on Sunday by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, said the party was dissociating itself from a news report indicating that it had selected the ex-envoy for 2015.

He said the party had neither chosen any individual nor looking in the direction of a particular person to become the party’s governorship candidate in the next election.

According to him, the report is orchestrated to cause disaffection within the Lagos PDP.

The party said, “We are saying emphatically that we have not endorsed or focused on any particular person to be our governorship candidate in 2015.

“Presently, we are occupied with ensuring conducive environment for a free and fair primary as may be directed by our National Headquarters. Our party is a fully democratic one and we don’t intend to deviate from that identity, especially in selecting our candidates at all levels.’’

It added that it was aware that the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria was not comfortable with its new popularity in the state.

The party also alleged that the ACN had disappointed Lagosians so much that ‘‘they have become lepers and like the proverbial leper that cannot squeeze out milk, they will rather opt to spill the milk”.

He added, “We cannot underestimate   the desperation of ACN to hold onto power in Lagos State. Consequently, we shall intensify our prayers this time so that no harm will befall any of our would-be candidates”

2015: Ndigbo will provide qualitative leadership - Kalu




Opeyemi Adesina 

Embattled former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has said that the Igbo will provide qualitative leadership for Nigeria and Nigerians if given the opportunity to lead the country in 2015.

Kalu, the Protem Coordinator of Njiko Igbo, said he has no doubt that the economic fortune of the country would be turned around if a president of South East extraction leads Nigeria.

The former governor spoke at a dinner with the Nigerian community in Belgium at Speidemberger Hotel Resort, Brussels on Friday.

He said anyone who will emerge president from the South East will have dynamic leadership qualities that can turn around the economy.

Kalu decried the unfair treatment by the government to the people of the South East when compared to other regions in all spheres of life.

Speaking on Njiko Igbo, Kalu described it as a non partisan and apolitical movement conceptualized to correct the anomalies Ndigbo have suffered over the years. 

He stated that the association is not in competition with other groups but playing a complimentary role to other established social, economic and political and cultural bodies, with the collective interest of Igbo sons and daughters at home and in Diaspora in mind. 

He noted that what Nigeria needs at this critical period is dynamic leadership that will be responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. 

He said that Ndigbo, having excelled in various fields of endeavour, with qualified people who can bring their vast experiences in the private and public sectors into play if given the chance to rule the nation, should be given the nod to rule the country.

He said: "Igbos are the salt of the nation.
"Anywhere you don’t see Ndigbo, the economy is incomplete." 

Kalu said Njiko Igbo, in partnership with other stakeholders, is preparing a policy paper anchored on three focal areas - internal security, infrastructure and agriculture - for the nation.

He said this will serve as a manifesto for any Igbo presidential candidate in 2015. 

He noted that the people of the South East are not just clamoring for the zoning of the presidency to their region but are ready to change Nigeria for better, adding: "We absolutely believe in pragmatic strategies for rebuilding the nation.”

Dr. Kalu lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission for deregistering some political parties, noting that in a democratic setting, only functional parties should be in existence so they could contribute constructively to governance. 

He tasked the Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attairu Jega, to conduct all elections in a day and ban everyone, including government officials, from the collation centres in future elections. 

He decried the payment of money by politicians to the electorate in exchange for votes and admonished Nigerians on the need to participate in the political process by voting genuinely for leaders of their choice for a better Nigeria.

In his remarks, Mr. Nuhu Tadeh, a classmate of Kalu at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, lauded the courageous effort of Njiko Igbo in championing a genuine cause and providing a common platform for Ndigbo to seek for a chance to rule the nation. 

Tadeh stated that with the challenges facing the country, there is no doubt that Nigeria needed someone with vast experience in the private and public sector to steer the affairs of the nation.

He said: "I believe in Dr. Orji Kalu, who has wide acceptability in all the regions of Nigeria."

He advised Kalu to join the presidential race in 2015, stating that he is a detribalized Nigerian with wide network of contacts and goodwill across the geographical regions of Nigeria.

Dr. Ebe Ozua, a medical practitioner in Brussels, in his vote of thanks, appealed to Nigerians to live in peace and harmony. 

Ozua commended Njiko Igbo for its noble efforts in mending fences and faces in the South East in order to reposition Ndigbo and reaffirmed the support and commitment of Nigerians in Diaspora to any cause that will make Nigeria a great country.


Igbos cannot produce president with five states- Onwe



The theoretical case for the emergence of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction has been eloquently established beyond any reasonable doubt. The economic case is persuasive; the legal case, which is a derivate of the constitutional principle of federal character, is incontrovertible; the political case is self-evident and the moral case is utterly compelling.
But the establishment of the case at the intellectual and theoretical plane is quite clearly insufficient to meet the rigorous demands of our ambition. Genuine ambition is contingent upon action.

Ndigbo have, for decades, expressed the desire and the thirst for the prime political office in this country. We have clearly shown, by oral advocacy, why we have that desire and thirst. Now we must take the forward steps in the direction of the oasis from which we hope to quench our thirst for justice and our desire for equity in Nigeria.

The next step is the crusade that will take our case to the other three cardinal points of our nation – west, south and north. The legwork and mobilisation that must underpin the theoretical case has been commenced by Njiko Igbo. Igbos should crave, plead and obtain – rather than presume, expect or demand – the support and solidarity of ALL Nigerians.

The component tribal groups that make up the Nigerian republic have unique experiences arising from their history of participation in the union; but none is quite as unique as the Igbo experience, made so by being the only tribe to have pledged allegiance to two different nations within the same territorial borders – first to Nigeria and then to the Republic of Biafra and then back to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In between this shifting citizenship have occurred pogrom/genocide, starvation and conquest.

This history and experience place us in a complex category in our union. And no Igbo citizen should be in any doubt that our quest for the presidency has remained a mirage precisely because of this unique experiential history – and nothing to do with the popular myth about disunity amongst us. 

Accordingly, our challenge in attaining the prime office in this land remains herculean and requires efforts of corresponding proportions to prevail.

No authentic Igbo citizen should fold his or her arms and wait to be recruited into, or consulted about, this dream. Instead, our recruitment efforts and consultations should be directed at non-Igbo Nigerians. The focus of our pleas and arguments should be firmly directed at those who remain unpersuaded or unsympathetic to the justice of our cause.

This crusade is an Igbo one, the staff and the rod is Njiko Igbo. But Njiko is not claiming an exclusive right to arms. Other warriors are welcome and, in fact, encouraged to rise to the occasion. Our job is to motivate, consult, mobilise and persuade both Igbos and non-Igbos alike. 

Additionally, Njiko Igbo is a platform for debate and exploration of deeper ideas about the place of Ndigbo in the Nigerian federation.

What I have said elsewhere bears repetition on these pages: “As an Igbo man, I harbour a deep sense of sadness at the manner in which we, as a people, have been consigned to the peripheral reaches of the Nigerian power structure for more than four decades. Where is the justice or equity or the idea of equal opportunities in a pluralistic society such as ours? When shall these be accorded Ndigbo in order that we can have the assurance that, yes, we are not Osu (outcasts) in a nation family where we have played a brave and distinguished role to make its history more solid and more enduring? As a Nigerian, observing our unending national degradation, I feel a sense of outrage that the Igbo option appears never to be in contemplation as a legitimate instrumentality through which our national challenges could be finally confronted in a manner that could genuinely yield transformation.”

Of course, it’s self evident that we cannot achieve our goal without first putting our house in order. We must show a unity of purpose which must be demonstrated through the pursuit of this one and irreducible ambition. It will entail the sacrifice of the personal on the altar of the collective - which must be demonstrated through allowing ourselves to be dedicated to a purpose greater than our individual selfish commitments.

The battle spirit of our old struggles must be summoned. A genuine hand of friendship and solidarity must be stretched across and over the Niger to other tribes and tongues. We must summon the courage to take a stand and the stamina to stay the course.
These are some of the ways and means through we can attain the goal of ascending to the presidency. 

But let me add that the organising principle of our struggle is not founded solely on the capture of power. In the coming days, weeks and months, we shall lead a national debate on what the Igbo option truly means for Nigeria and why our national regression is due in part to our indifference to, or rejection of, this option.

A Nigerian president of Igbo extraction may or may not be able to transform our country into the Singapore of our dream in 4 or 8 years, but how might we know what is possible until we have explored all the options at our disposal? There is one certainty, however. It will place a crown of truth and seriousness on the much trumpeted “No victor nor vanquished” slogan. And it will release us, finally, from the political ghetto-status to which we have been confined for over four decades.

ONWE is the Director of Operations, Njiko Igbo.

Their merger is a fantasy – PDP



In this interview with ALLWELL OKPI, the Publicity Secretary of the Lagos Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Taofik Gani, dismisses the merger of the opposition as no threat

The opposition has maintained that PDP is afraid of the planned merger of the Action Congress of Nigeria, the CPC and the ANPP. Is there truth in that?

I can tell you that the leadership of the PDP is not bothered at all by their merger plan. I think they are capitalising on the fact that Nigerians are quick to jump at any new thing. So, that the merger is likely to bring about a new thing is only a fantasy. PDP is not bothered at all. PDP is the only party that has clear party structure in the country and we control majority of the states and majority in the National Assembly. You win election by looking at the number of people carrying your banner at the local government, the state houses of assembly and of course the governors. As far as PDP is concerned, they should go ahead and form the merger. If it succeeds good, but for it to succeed against PDP is just an imagination. They are just dreaming. I think their merger plan could spur PDP to dominate.

But do you think the plan would succeed?

There are different characters involved in the merger. The leader of the CPC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, is very moral. You cannot compare the attitude of Buhari with that of the national leader of the ACN, Bola Tinubu. If you look at the other people who are interested in the merger, you would see that they have very different ideas. The national leadership of our party is not interested in thwarting the arrangement because we don’t see it as a threat.

Looking at the result the 2011 election, the CPC won states in the North and the ACN controls the South, are you sure their combination won’t be a threat?

ANPP is the same as CPC. Even before CPC pulled out of ANPP, ANPP was already disintegrating. PDP was already winning the states back from ANPP. Even governors elected for under the banner of ANPP, were already decamping to PDP, when they saw the wind blowing. Talking about the CPC, it has only Nassarawa State. And we all know what happened in the state. It was the internal crisis is the PDP that resulted in CPC winning in Nassarawa, just like it happened in Ogun State. For ACN, it did not win the states in the South-West through the ballot. They got them through the Court of Appeal and we all know how it happened. People have always voted for PDP. That they are controlling the states does not mean that the people want them.

The opposition has said it would be easier for them to win if PDP fields Jonathan, citing poor performance as the reason. Do you agree?

They have spoken as a disillusioned opposition that does not believe in the tenets of development.  Otherwise, how can an opposition say that President Goodluck Jonathan would be a bad candidate? The President of China has come out to say that in the next five years, the world would focus on Nigeria’s economy. And for the first time, we have a President that has guaranteed us a credible electoral process. In fact, they want to form merger and contest election because they are confident that their votes can now count. President Jonathan remains the best candidate that PDP can have. Even if the PDP comes out with a template that disqualifies President Jonathan, I can tell you that anyone that PDP brings out as candidate would still win. I think Jonathan has tried in terms of reforms. Power has improved. There is development in the agricultural sector and so on. I think they don’t want President Jonathan to contest. And I’m sure, that is because they are against a person from a minority group being the President. For allowing a person from the minority to become President, is a credit for the PDP. All these other parties would not do that.

Apart from the presidency, don’t you think the merger would challenge PDP in the states?

ACN is now a bad product. In fact, the reason they are forming this merger is that the ACN has been exposed as a party of pseudo-democrats and a party of people who do not like development. So, the only way they can help themselves is to rebrand and change the nomenclature of the party.

-punch