Huriwa Logo

Huriwa Logo

Tuesday 31 July 2012

HURIWA WANTS PROBE OF ATTACKS OF EDITORS


“The recent dastardly criminal attacks, horrendous physical brutality and despicable violence targeted at the persons of two Newspaper editors in Lagos within a space of two weeks by armed hoodlums is too much of an existential coincidence to be dismissed with a mere wave of hand as the usual work of men of the underworld”.
“These dangerous patterns of armed attack of Newspaper editors and purveyors of information should be comprehensively, transparently and forensically investigated by a combined team of Nigeria police Force (NPF), and state security service [SSS] to establish if the era of targeted assassination of media workers has returned”.  

With the above opening phrases, a media focused and development inclined Non-Governmental organization – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has called on the Inspector General of Police Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar and the Director General of State Security Service (SSS) Mr. Ita Ekpenyong to order the immediate investigation of the recent armed attacks of the editor (Daily) of Daily Sun Mr. Steve Nwosu and editor (Daily) of compass Newspaper – Mr. Gabriel Akinadewo.
In a media statement jointly authorized by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the Director of National media Affairs, Miss Zainab  Yusuf, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) called on the nation’s law enforcement Chiefs to take professional and competent look at the emerging pattern of armed attacks against these media Chiefs to determine if the evil era of targeted assassination of Journalists which led to the brutal killings of many Journalists in the past has indeed re-emerged.

The group said it was unfortunate that the law enforcement Agencies in the country have all but failed woefully to track down the real perpetrators of these dastardly cruel crimes against Journalists in order to successfully and competently bring them to Justice to serve as deterrent. The Rights Group charged Government to ensure that the Nigeria Police Force [NPF] sets up functional standard criminal forensic laboratories in the six geo-political zones to quicken the pace of crime investigation even as the country essentially needs a national crime data bank.
“Nigeria has already entered the World record as a sovereign nation whereby suspected killers of Journalists and other civilian citizens of the country have gone undetected and unresolved by all the branches of law enforcement organs including the Nigeria Police Force and het State Security Service”, HURIWA, lamented.
It stated further thus; “Beginning with the first ever letter bomb assassination of the founding editor of Newswatch Magazine Mr. Dele Giwa during the military era to the most recent assassination of Mr. Bayo Ohu, an assistant editor with The Guardian among scores of other journalists, the Nigerian State has failed spectacularly to bring the perpetrators to face the full weight of the law”, HURIWA stated.     
  
The Rights group challenged the current security chiefs in the country to begin a revolutionary law enforcement agenda that will effectively lead to the closures of all the past violent assassinations of Journalists by ordering fresh transparent and scientific – based investigations into all the past and the current attacks so as to remove Nigeria from the global black book as a nation that tolerates impunity and anarchy.
Specifically, media reports quoting some security forces said the Daily editor of Daily Sun Newspaper was attacked last week by suspected armed robbers.

Steve Nwosu, who serves as the editor of The Daily Sun, suffered a grazing gunshot wound to his head during the alleged robbery on Wednesday July 25th 2012. The Sun’s Thursday July 26th edition said Nwosu was attacked by suspected robbers on a motorcycle after leaving a bank in Lagos with more than $1500.
Similarly, on Sunday night of July 29th 2012, suspected armed robbers in police uniform attacked the Editor of the Nigerian Compass, Gabriel Akinadewo and snatched his Toyota Avensis car after brutalizing him.

But HURIWA asked the security forces to openly and transparently probe these attacks since it is an open secret in the international community that attacks on media workers remain all – too common in Nigeria, described in some critical global cycles as a nation where political actors, security operatives and others with wide contacts with the powers- that- be routinely harass, physically intimidate and violently attack Journalists, for allegedly writing unfriendly news stories.     

31/7/2012

Monday 30 July 2012

AS ADOKE BATTLES PETROL SUBSIDY THIEVES By Emmanuel Onwubiko

A mutual friend who is not media savvy and is indeed as media shy as much as the current Minister of Justice and Federal Attorney General Mohammed Bello Adoke, esq [SAN] is, peeped through the screen of my laptop computer on Monday morning while I was completely immersed and deeply carried away by the flow of thoughts' pattern and what I thought to be an articulate presentation of an essay I was typing with the help of the keyboard titled "As Adoke Battles petrol subsidy thieves"  and she shouted 'WHAT?'. 

At first I never read any sinister import into her early morning oral vibration since I have always known her to be a good Poet so I indeed thought she was making up her mind to settle down into writing one of her many great poems, particularly upon my realisation that she just emerged from the "REST ROOM" acclaimed as one of those unfathomable places that she gets her inspiration as a budding writer and poet, but I was dead wrong. She took a second look at the theme of my piece and shook her head violently as if to say that this man is indeed not serious about what he was doing and she repeated her word-'WHAT?'.

Looking at her in terrifying amazement with a demand written all over my lips for her to offer possible explanation for what I may consider a sudden and rude exclamation upon her sighting my piece but she would not let me have it on a platter of gold even as she stood up and made to walk away in stupefying shock.

But I left the computer and accosted her as quickly as she could walk and pleaded with her to give me the meaning of her exclamation because as a writer I have always fancied peer review as one of the ways to gauge the quality and standard of any piece that I am going to send to the public space since the Nigerian public is increasingly becoming sophisticated and academically upwardly mobile to decipher when they are being taken for a ride and to shout blue murder.

She offered very scanty but well- loaded words thus; "Do you really believe from the bottom of your heart that the current holder of the office of the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke would have the liver to competently prosecute members of this powerful fuel subsidy cabal alleged to have stolen huge public fund and donated part of these massive stolen wealth to the campaign treasury of the Peoples Democratic Party's Presidential flag bearer in the 2011 General Election- the current President Dr. Good Luck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan?."

 Knowing me for being tenacious in holding and defending what some analysts may term as hardline stance on some issues that border on the need for the Government to wage unrelenting war against corruption and economic crimes, my mutual friend who asked that I never mentioned her name further asked me that; "   Don’t you think that what the current Government is doing by parading these small accused persons in the ongoing judicial procedure relating to the disappearance of over half a trillion tax payers' fund is to just use them as experimental guinea pigs to confuse the vocal members of the public and create an impression that at least the Federal Government has indeed summoned courage to do the needful by charging some persons connected to powerful politicians in court for alleged theft of subsidy fund?

 My friend simply told me that she completely adopts the position canvassed by the veteran and courageous columnist of Daily Sun Newspaper Mr. Duro Onabule who indeed wrote a piece titled; "Guinea Pigs on trial for fuel subsidy fraud" in his column of Friday July 27th 2012 page 23.  She repeated aspects of Uncle Onabule's position that; "It is not as if these trials are anything serious or even ground-breaking ventures. Recall past showdowns of the same magnitude? After the lawyers, the suspects will plead not guilty. Their lawyers will then argue for bail which will often be reflected with the offer of a substitute to be filed. The Suspects would then be clamped into EFCC custody. The court will then adjourn till a specific return date for the bail application to be argued...Mark it, nobody will be punished for the fuel subsidy fraud as public interest will be deliberately wearied and waned out. Nobody will even remember. Of course, there may be token fines of ten million Naira for the Billions of Naira stolen in each case".

 Duro Onabule has been in and out of Government at the highest level as Chief Spokesperson of a powerful office holder in one of Nigeria's military dictatorship so most persons believe that he knows what he was writing since he has been part of the ruling elite and so is in a better position to decode the techniques of what the late Music Icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti would rightly call "GOVERNMENT MAGIC". But some other persons who equally should know dismiss him as a Nigerian who has lost out of the political power equation and is therefore out to hit back at the current beneficiaries of the "spoils" of political offices. Who knows? But in all of these arguments one thing is as sure as the Northern STARS and that is the fact that Mr. Duro Onabule is a man of his words and he is courageous, firm and he is a man that has achieved high level of integrity and credibility as a columnist who puts down what he believes to be true.

 But again, as a writer I am also a person who believes in giving each person the benefits of doubt and in this instance I know that the Federal Attorney General is a man known by most of his friends as a principled believer in the RULE OF LAW and not RULE OF THE MOB and therefore would stick tenaciously to following the due legal process in seeking to bring alleged law breakers like the suspected petrol subsidy thieves to swift trial.

 Adoke is a man though media shy but a great and consummate reader of quality books and journals including newspapers, is aware that the judgment of history is swift and decisive and therefore would not let his good name and image be dragged to the mud of comprehensive historical condemnation should the public perceive that those undergoing trial for allegedly stealing huge taxpayers money from the petrol subsidy fund scheme are only being paraded as "GUINEA PIGS' to masquerade and confuse Nigerians into thinking that Government is determined to bring decisive justice to these characters no matter how very powerfully connected they are to some very influential persons in the current administration.

 Knowing Mohammed Bello Adoke as a good man from the abundance of human evidence that I have gathered in the last twelve years and also following his work pattern in the last couple of months that he was appointed into the powerful office of the Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice, I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt to competently charge, prosecute and obtain quality conviction of these persons charged now in the competent courts of law in accordance with section 6 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 [as amended] not necessarily because public opinion is of the well considered view that those who steal from the public till must be punished sternly but because it is lawful and just to bring alleged perpetrators of economic crime to swift justice and to retrieve allegedly stolen public fund put at over N400 billion by two highly powered technical Presidential committees headed by a tested and trusted Banking Executive Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. 

Appraising the beautiful scorecard of these two Presidential committees that investigated and unearthed the huge heist in the management of the fuel subsidy scheme, the highly rated newspaper columnist and journalist Mr. Simon Kolawole wrote on Sunday July 29th 2012 in his back page column in ThisDay newspaper titled;"STILL ON FUEL SUBSIDY, FAKE SUBSIDY" that "Millions of Nigerians are being made to bear a higher cost of living through the removal of fuel subsidy because we are told the bill is 'unsustainable'. Now we know where the bulk of the fake subsidy is going. I ask: Is that one sustainable?".  

The ball is in the court of Mohammed Bello Adoke to ensure that substantial justice is brought to bear on these alleged petrol subsidy thieves and indeed Nigerians will monitor the court rooms to see if their Lordships will deny Nigerians the fruit of justice by compromising on the prosecution of these suspected petrol thieves in these trials that have just been dubbed as 'silent revolution' by the newly appointed Senor Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs  Dr. Doyin Okupe who spoke with Chuks Okocha of Thisday at the weekend. Adoke may bring quality body of evidence to nail these subsidy thieves but if the courts presided over by Judges are not predisposed to render good justice there is nothing the Minister of justice can do since he is not the ultimate minister in these temples of justice but the judges are.



+ Emmanuel Onwubiko, HEAD, Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria, blogs at www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

 30/7/2012

Friday 27 July 2012

ATTACK ON HON.GBAJABIAMILA IS UNDEMOCRATIC – HURIWA

A democracy inclined civil society group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the orchestrated attack by some politicians belonging to the South West Zone of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) targeted at the person of the minority leader of the Federal House of Representatives Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila.

Femi Gbajabiamila of the Action Congress of Nigeria who represents Surulere Federal Constituency of Lagos State at the Federal House of Representatives has come under persistent sponsored attacks by a section of the Peoples’ Democratic Party leadership following his motion recently in the lower legislative Chamber which warned President Good luck Jonathan of possible impeachment by September 2012 should the 2012 budget fail to be implemented to appreciable percentage.

But the South West Zonal leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reportedly demanded the resignation of Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila following alleged professional indictment slammed on him but later lifted while he was practicing law in the United States of America following alleged professional misconduct.

In a statement by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National media Affairs Director, Miss. Zainab Yusuf, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) said the timing of the publication of the so-called professional indictment of Honourable Gbajabiamila of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria by some sympathizers of the Presidency amounted to ‘political blackmail’ and an attempt to intimidate members of the political opposition platforms from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression, and speech.

Besides, HURIWA urged the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) especially in the South West to desist from overheating the polity with largely unsubstantiated and half-baked allegations against political office holders belonging largely to the Action Congress of Nigeria because according to the Human Rights group, these unverified and wild allegations may not stand the test of time in the competent courts of law.      

The Rights group which however lauded President Jonathan for his statesmanlike and nationalistic response to the impeachment threats emanating from the Federal House of Representatives stated that freedom of speech and expression is one of the greatest elements of democracy without which dictatorship and authoritarian tyranny may set in. “We commend the maturity exhibited by President Jonathan in the wake of the impeachment threats against his Presidency and we are indeed proud that he showed remarkable democratic credentials when he restated his government’s determination to implement the 2012 budget to an appreciable percentage by September”, HURIWA asserted.

Citing section 39(1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Rights body stated that Honourable Gbajabiamila as a citizen of Nigeria is entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinion and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

HURIWA also advised those circulating damaging publication against rival political office holders to desist from this unwholesome practice because it would create the impression in the international community that Nigeria is a jungle where impunity and character assassination reign supreme.   

 27/7/2012

Wednesday 25 July 2012

ABUJA LAND GRAB AS FESTERING SORE By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Abuja is a conundrum wrapped carefully in indescribable mystery. Abuja land is even more complex to understand which explains why many people are in the race of their lives for a piece of the action. Abuja landed assets are as valuable as diamonds.

From 1975 when the then General Muritallah Mohammed-led military Junta mooted the innovative idea that Nigeria’s political capital has to be centralized and the team of wise men led by Justice Akintola Aguda recommended Abuja as the most centralized seat of power, right until the dictator General Ibrahim Badamasi political cum military contraption known as Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) transferred Nigeria’s seat of power in 1992, Abuja land was not hot cakes.
But soon after the relocation that was ordered by the General Babangida’s-led military Junta in 1992, an unrelenting regime of land grabs, land speculations and the primitive acquisition of Abuja land became the cynosure of all eyes by the political and business elite who have consistently used their connection to the powers-that-be to grab as much landed assets in Abuja as the human mind can imagine.
The contest of who grabs the biggest Abuja land and the near-satanic disposition of rich clients to pay outrageous fees for these landed assets in Abuja is the underlying reason that the race for the position of minister of Federal Capital Territory has become a race for life, a do-or-die affair and has indeed become the exclusive preserve of a section of the country.
Land in Abuja is intricately and inherently linked with the office of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory so much so that whoever becomes the minister of Abuja usually transmute into an emperor overnight who does the bidding of his/her appointing authority-the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Section 302 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides that; “The President may, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 147 of this constitution, appoint for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja a minister who shall exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be delegated to him by the President, from time to time”.

Conversely, section 297 subsection (2) provides that; “The ownership of all lands comprised in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja shall vest in the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
This provision perhaps became imperative since Abuja does not operate as a state within the federating units of Nigeria and therefore not covered by the general provisions of the land use Act of 1978.

Section 2 (a) and (b) of the Land Use Act provide that; “all land shall, subject to this Act, be under the control and management of the Governor of each State” and (b) “all other land shall, subject to the Act, be under the control and management of the local Government within the area of jurisdiction of which the land is situated”.
In discussing matters related to land ownership, Abuja is a very interesting case study in that the authority to allocate landed assets lies with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is like the ‘Governor’ of the Federal Capital Territory but the president delegates this awesome power to his handpicked choice cabinet member clothed with the power and office of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

But what has always happened is that whoever is the minister of the Federal Capital Territory often embarks on the adventurous journeys of appeasement and patronage through generous allocation of choice landed assets to wives of political office holders beginning with the wife of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who [the President of Nigeria] in the first place is the appointing authority of the minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The race for choice landed assets by wives of political office holders in Abuja is what further complicates the intrigues and machinations that characterize the administration of land and has therefore made the process to be totally lacking in transparency, accountability and zero-tolerance to corruption. Land allocation regime in Abuja has become criminally opaque.

During the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the then minister of the Federal Capital Territory Malam Nassir El’Ruffai claimed that he was concerned about restructuring and reforming the process of land administration in Abuja began the process of digitalizing land ownership under the office of the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS). But this bold land reform which in paper was aimed at institutionalizing efficient land markets and effective land use management was seemingly deformed by the operators who also feasted on the insatiable quest for primitive acquisition of choice landed assets by wives of political office holders, their cronies and patrons.
Soon After the then Abuja minister left office, he (El’Ruffai) was indicted by the Senate of the Federal Republic for alleged land-related racketeering and fraudulent allocation to even his two year-old son and was banned from holding public office for ten years. He has instituted a litigation to challenge this far- reaching decision of the National Assembly.

Other ministers of Abuja after Malam Nassir El’Ruffai did not fare well as they quickly settled down into the business –as- usual rush for Abuja landed assets. The minister of Abuja under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, Senator Adamu Aliero will go down in history as one man who distributed Abuja choice landed assets allegedly to his cronies and the then first lady Mrs. Turai Umaru Musa Yar’adua who is now engrossed in a celebrated land-ownership litigation with the current wife of the President Mrs. Patience Goodluck Jonathan.
Mrs. Jonathan was said to have benefitted from a land allocation by the current minister of Abuja Senator Bala Mohammed but this time around the minister allegedly appropriated the land already allocated to the former first lady so as to allegedly appease the current first lady.

The current Abuja minister reportedly revoked a choice landed asset hitherto awarded by his predecessor to the former first lady Mrs. Yar’adua and re-awarded same to the wife of the current President. But Mrs. Turai rushed to the court for judicial remedy.
On Tuesday July 24th 2012 when hearing in the land litigation came up at the Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Peter Affen, the Federal Government stepped into the personal land litigation involving the former and current first ladies and informed the court that Government would waste tax payers’ money to resolve the matter out of court.

Media report of the pending litigation over Abuja land by the two amazons showed that the dispute arose when the land duly allocated to Mrs. Turai by the then Abuja minister under her late husband for the purposes of running her non-governmental organization-Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYE) was revoked and re-awarded to the wife of the current President by the Abuja minister who is a handpicked cabinet member of her husband- the President.                          
From the above scenario, one is left with no choice but to conclude that Abuja land grab has become a festering sore.

In May of this year, media report quoted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt practices and other related offences (ICPC) as saying that the process of land administration in Abuja is full of corrupt practices and that both anti-graft bodies would probe Abuja land administration process.
The Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, and his ICPC counterpart, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said the probe had become necessary following the dubious sale of land in the Federal Capital Territory.

Lamorde said the fraud in land acquisition in Abuja was such that people laying claim to a parcel of land would produce two original Certificates of Occupancy for the same land.
A statement by the EFCC’s acting Head of Media and Public Relations, Mr. Wilson Uwujanren, quoted Lamorde as saying this while speaking at the public presentation of a report entitled ‘Systems Study on the Federal Capital Territory Land Administration and Documentary on Grassroots Involvement with Budget Process in Abuja.

The report was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme.
He said, “If there are areas that have become interesting to visit and where fraud is being perpetuated, it is land administration in the FCT.

“It is in the FCT that people brandish supposed originals of the Certificate of Occupancy of plots of land and other people still come and contest it with the original certificate.”
The ICPC chairman in his own presentation stated thus; “Land plays a very critical role in our private lives and national development.  High propensity for corrupt practices in land administration if left unchecked can lead to frustrations, demolitions, civil strife and deaths”.

The unbridled quest for land ownership in Abuja can be located in the well considered report published in www.wealthandwant.com which says that the value of land is elastic and significantly unquantifiable.
The study revealed that; “A landowner is also a person with labor power. He or she can earn income like any worker. Landownership gives income above that, which gives discretionary spending or waiting power. In contrast with capital, land has the greater waiting power because over time capital depreciates, while land appreciates…”

There are many interesting proverbs in Igbo language that demonstrate the symbolism of land but two are apt and they are; “Agbara aka n’azo ana onye ji ji ana akonye” (If you embark on land tussle without financial muscle, he who has the cash would win); “Achowa ihe gbasara ana ajuo Okenye” (the best repository of land wisdom is the elder).
As can be seen, land is indeed a big deal but the criminality, greed, and official indiscretion that surround land administration in Abuja must be checked so that the poor citizens are not always the victims since they would be incapacitated and unable to ever acquire Abuja land legitimately.

Government and the National Assembly must take up the historic challenge of amending the Land Use Act of 1978 to collaterise land ownership in the rural areas so that local farmers can use such land titles to benefit from financial lifelines and credit lines available in the Banking institutions to expand their economic activities.
This festering sore of corrupt land allocation in Abuja must be confronted frontally and defeated.


*   Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF    NIGERIA blogs at www.huriwa.blogspot.com. 

25/7/2012      

  

APGA: WILL INEC ACT FAST? By Emmanuel Onwubiko


This ordinarily would have been a time to comprehensively assess the roles that political parties play in the development process or otherwise going on in the different federating units of the country. Any practical assessment of the roles of political parties in the institutionalization or stifling of good governance all across the country would have been informed by the fact that no one ever gets elected into political offices in the federation without riding on the flag of one of the many registered political parties in compliance with extant provisions in the constitution of the federal Republic of 1999 (as amended).
But rather than dwell on the aforementioned critical issue, the ongoing renewed crisis of leadership in one of the few vibrant registered political parties-All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has attracted the attention of this columnist.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance emerged from the ashes of nothingness soon after the emergence of democracy in 1999 to capture the seat of governor of Anambra State through a judicial pronouncement after the then holder of the office produced in the 2003 poll Dr. Chris Ngige was dethroned after a long drawn legal challenge in which Chief Victor Umeh played pivotal role.
In the 2011 general elections, APGA also defeated the incumbent Peoples Democratic Party Governor of Imo State Mr. Ohakim when it featured Chief Rochas Okorocha as its candidate.        
From early 2004 up until very recently when another factional infighting commenced, Chief Victor Umeh was the National Chairman after the premier National Chairman Chief Chekwas Okorie was removed in what was seen then by some observers as the handiwork of the Anambra State Governor Mr. Peter Obi who felt that Chief Chekwas Okorie nearly undermined his judicial victory against the Peoples Democratic Party.
Chief Chekwas Okorie waged relentless legal challenge up to the Supreme Court of Nigeria which eventually declared Chief Victor Umeh as the National Chairman.
Soon after the Supreme Court Victory and the hard won electoral victory of the party, some members of the party’s hierarchy launched ferocious factional infighting to unseat Chief Umeh who is rumored to have fallen out of favour with the Anambra State Governor Mr. Peter Obi who is his kinsman from Nnewi. Speculation is rife that the reason why Governor Peter Obi allegedly decided to fund a rebellion against the Chief Umeh’s national leadership of APGA is the contest for who emerges as the party’s governorship flag bearer in the 2014 Governorship election in Anambra State.
Supporters of the Victor Umeh’s national leadership accused Governor Peter Obi of manifesting a dictatorial tendency in trying to foist his handpicked successor on the party. They also accused Governor Peter Obi of lacking in democratic credentials for his abysmal failure to conduct local government elections since eight years that he has presided over as Governor of Anambra State.
Supporters of Chief Umeh have credited him with achieving so much for the party within a short period of time. As someone who has covered APGA as practicing journalist I can attest to the fact that APGA has indeed achieved revolutionary landmarks from a small party to a political party to beat in a section of Nigeria. Both Peter Obi and Victor Umeh are credited with achieving these feats.
According to Chief Umeh’s supporters, “It was during Chief Victor Umeh’s leadership of the party that Mr. Peter Obi regained his stolen mandate from Dr. Chris Ngige of the Peoples Democratic Party who was wrongly sworn-in as governor of Anambra State on 29th May 2003. Peter Obi assumed duty on 17th March 2006 and was re-elected for a record second term in office in February 2010. Today, the party’s fortunes have increased to two governors, eight National Assembly members, over 36 State Houses of Assembly members, several Local Government chairman and councilors. Three members of the party were recently appointed Ambassadors by President Goodluck Jonathan, aside of other Federal and States Public office holders of APGA extraction”.
My concern basically is why the Independent National Electoral Commission has always kept quiet to watch different contending factions emerged in APGA even when the constitution recognizes it as the custodian of the authentic register of leadership of all the political parties in Nigeria.
In my book titled “Politics and litigation in contemporary Nigeria” published in 2005, I had similarly questioned INEC’s conspiratorial silence when leadership infighting starts in political parties.
In that book I had stated in chapter 45 thus; “…INEC is the single most troubling cause of the crises in the political parties because it has refused to play its role in stabilizing the parties. Apart from the fact that it has not defended the funding of the political parties as indicated in the 1999 constitution, the electoral body has consistently maintained studied but conspiratorial silence whenever factional infighting commences in the registered political parties”.
INEC must speak up now.

* Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, writes from       www.huriwa.blogspot.com.    

23/7/2012
      

Tuesday 24 July 2012

CRUDE OIL THIEVES, SUBSIDY THIEVES AND A BATTERED NATION By Emmanuel Onwubiko

I must confess that since he assumed full presidential powers with the 2011 presidential election, President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan read what could easily pass as his most charismatic and inspiring presidential speeches on Monday July 23rd 2012 at the opening ceremony of a maritime sector presidential Retreat which he hosted at the heavily fortified Aso Rock presidential palace in Abuja.

Speaking at the summit with the theme “harnessing the potential of Nigeria’s  maritime sector for sustainable Economic development”, President Jonathan in his rare moment of elevated profound philosophical mood, stated; “It is embarrassing that it is only in Nigeria that crude oil is stolen. It is a very bad news and I believe that Nigerians and foreigners who are involved in that act need to throw their heads under the pillow because all over the World, it is only Nigeria that crude oil is stolen. This must stop.  We will be decisive in putting an end to this malaise. Our charge to all relevant agencies and departments of government is to work cooperatively  with the desired urgency”.
In that speech, President Jonathan had set out to address the most disturbing phenomenon of crude oil theft which has become a hydra-headed monster which was recently described by the Coordinatng minister of the economy and Finance minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the nation’s drain pipe and the greatest threat to Nigeria’s economic growth.
President Jonathan exhibited the profound intellectual depth of a sound university lecturer when he euphemistically described Nigeria as the only place in the whole wide world where crude oil theft occurs. He said that though Nigeria is not the only crude oil producing nation but unfortunately the country has easily won its way into the infamous global record as the nation that harbor the greatest percentage of crude oil thieves. The President promised to take further decisive steps to bring the ugly situation of crude oil theft in the oil rich Niger Delta to a quick end.
It is on record that the current Nigeria’s federal administration set up powerful joint military task force to combat the ugly phenomenon of crude oil theft but not much has been achieved by this formidably funded joint military task force. There are widespread allegations that crude oil theft in the Niger Delta are largely carried out by some powerful forces who have the backing and protection of some powerful forces in the military and the political hierarchy. Not too long ago, media reports quoted one of the crude oil thieves caught in the very criminal act that their major backer was a high profile leader of the ruling People Democratic Party [PDP]. High profile traditional leaders of the Niger Delta communities have also been fingered as being behind some of the most prosperous crude oil thieves.
The Presidential pledge by the current president to combat crude oil theft should not end up like the many promises to tackle the unprecedented terror-related violence in the North that the federal Government has so far failed to keep. President Jonathan is known to have addressed the armed Islamic insurgents as terrorist group waging war against the state and has also been severally quoted in the media as saying  that the government would put measures in place to check the mass killings.
But rather than abating, the killings by these armed rebels in the North has become even more troubling leading to the recent declaration by the President Barrack Obama-led administration in the United States to declare three suspected kingpins of the armed Islamic rebels in Northern Nigeria as terrorists who are big threats to the American interest and are therefore legitimate targets for elimination through drone attacks which some human rights analysts have criticized.
But the Irony in the Nigerian scenario is that while President Jonathan has in more than one thousand reported stories in the local and international press called the Northern-based armed Islamic rebels as carrying out dastardly criminal acts of terrorism, the same federal administration vehemently opposes the decision by the United States government to brand Boko Haram as a global terrorist organization which would enable the United States to tackle the terror-related violence in Nigeria.
It is for this presidential inconsistencies that the recent presidential statement pledging to take decisive steps to tackle the economic threats posed to Nigeria by crude oil thieves may not be received favourably by analytic-minded thinkers.
President Jonathan clearly understood the magnitude of threats to Nigeria’s economy constituted by these bad elements in Nigeria and their foreign collaborators engaged in the dastardly criminal acts of crude oil theft, but the federal administration is yet to show clear evidence that the other gangs of cabals that stole several billions of United States Dollars from the nation’s petroleum subsidy scheme would be brought to effective, transparent and decisive prosecution in the competent court of law. To most Nigerians, the subsidy thieves are on the same page with the crude oil thieves and should therefore be prosecuted without further foot dragging by the relevant law enforcement agencies.
Although the officials of the current federal administration are yet to come to terms regarding the exact loses in monetary terms incurred by the nation to the dare-devil activities of the crude oil thieves, but there are scientific sound, water-tight and unimpeachable body of evidence to show that Nigeria has lost close to N1.4 Trillion to the activities of petroleum products subsidy thieves.
Two committees set up by the delectable and energetic minister of Finance Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have come to a conclusion that over N400 Billion of tax payers' money were stolen by members of the dreaded petroleum subsidy cabal from the petroleum subsidy scheme. Thus the distance between the findings of the discredited Farouk Lawan-led House of Representatives' ad-hoc committee on petrol subsidy and those of the Federal Government accredited committees of experts is not much of a problem since both investigators arrived at the same conclusion that massive  funds belonging to the Nigerian public were stolen by the petrol subsidy cabal members.  The former Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Mr. Nuhu Ribadu who was recently made the chairman of a task force on Petroleum Revenue has also blamed the Government funded Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for the massive and historic theft of public funds from the petroleum subsidy scheme.
President Jonathan rightly stated that Nigeria is the only country that crude oil are stolen by the citizens but Mr. President should take special note that Nigeria is the only oil producing nation that harbours the greatest percentage of the gravely impoverished populace even as a tiny minority have cornered the entire common wealth to their pockets.
Has President Jonathan read the well constructed editorial of the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper of Thursday July 12th 2012 in which the paper rightly accused the Executive and legislative arms of government of mismanaging the scandals trailing the probe of the petroleum subsidy scam in which the erstwhile chairman of the Federal House of Representatives committee that probed the mismanagement of the oil subsidy scheme, Mr. Farouk Lawan, publicly admitted collecting $620 USD from a businessman Mr. Femi Otedola to exonerate the businessman from eventual indictment?
In that editorial aptly titled “Stop the oil subsidy charade”, the Nigerian Guardian wrote thus; “Both the Executive and legislative Arms of Government have mishandled the oil scandals, thereby setting new lows for already discredited national institution. The impression created is that the Nigerian police will not take an interest in cases of clear criminality if it senses that its political bosses want to resolve them otherwise…” I ask President Jonathan to tell Nigerians whether stealing of huge public funds in the name of petrol subsidy scheme by well known crooks in high places has become a 'family affair'?
Does Mr. President also know that it is only in Nigeria that a government institution like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is accused of several criminal and fraudulent acts of diversion of public fund only for the same federal government to fail to punish the persons so indicted and even proceeded to re-appoint the minister of petroleum as chairman of a reconstituted governing board?
Specifically, KPMG, a global auditing firm hired by the Federal government to audit the accounts of the corruption-ridden NNPC, came out with extensively damaging report of monumental heist and looting of public fund and yet no single official of that damaged public institution is confined to the fore walls of the Nigerian Prisons. The audit set up in July 2010 came up with the report in November 2010 tagged; “current state assessment Report on the process and forensic review of NNPC”.
Commenting on one of the many ways that officials of NNPC siphoned several billions of US Dollars from  public treasury, the auditors found out that though it is the duty of the NNPC to remit its earnings promptly to the federal Account, but that is not exactly what obtains, from the report of the auditors.
The auditors noted that; “from our review of the cycle time for the remittance of domestic crude cost into the federation Account, sweeping of fund took an average of 110-120 days as against the 90 days credit line offered by the NNPC”.
A possible reason for these criminal lapses could be the rolling over of the money in private accounts where they are lodged before remittance and therefore “Nigeria is being deprived of timely use of fund, and non-compliance with contractual agreements on the side of the Federal Government”.
President Jonathan must name and expose members of the cartel within the NNPPC establishment responsible for these corrupt activities so that public fund in their private accounts are retrieved and they are sternly punished by the competent court of law.
Nigeria is the only country whereby the National legislators earn more money than the president of the United States of America who is the most powerful political office holder in the World- President Barrack Obama.    
In the Nigerian Guardian of Monday July 9th 2012, we were rightly told thus; “One major point of concern in the nation’s National Assembly is the high cost of maintaining the federal lawmakers. It is so high that the total emolument of a Nigerian senator is more than the US$400,000 (63,822,400 million) US President, Barrack Obama, earns annually”.
“According to reports, in 2006, a member of Congress received an annual salary of $165,200. Congressional leaders got $183,500 per year. The Speaker of the House of Representatives earns $212,100 annually. The salary of the President pro tempore (Senate President) for 2006 was $183,500 equal to that of the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate. Privileges for lawmakers include an office and paid staff”.
“In 2008, non-officer member of Congress earned $169,300 annually. While there are complain that congressional pay is high compared with a median American income of $45,113 for men and $35,102 for women, there are other arguments that the pay is consistent with other branches of government.”
But in Nigeria, legislators have become overnight billionaires who are busy chasing and securing huge contracts than concentrate on the arduous job of thorough and patriotic law making for the betterment of Nigerians who are increasingly becoming impoverished and insecured.
Although I don’t share the opinion that the current presidency has diminished due to impunity that takes place in higher places, but I am worried that economic criminals and bribe givers are openly seen celebrating, dinning and winning with the presidency in Abuja. This is sad and must be reversed if Nigerians and the rest of the civilized World would take us for our word to battle the scourge of corruption. I believe that Nigeria is not finished yet because we are eternally doomed if we allowed Nigeria to disintegrate since no country is generous enough to host us as refugees considering our number and higher intelligence.
 
*   Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.    
 
24/7/2012