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Ojukwu Responding to Treatment – APGA Chairman
The Punch
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Chief Victor Umeh, on Tuesday said that ailing ex-Biafran warlord Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, was responding to treatment in a United Kingdom hospital.
Umeh, who said he had maintained contact with people that accompanied Odumegwu-Ojukwu on the medical trip, however, tasked those interested in his health to pray for him.
He spoke against the backdrop of rumours in Nigeria and in London that the former warlord passed on Sunday.
“Ikemba is alive and responding well to treatment. It is not true that he is dead. I urge anybody who has concern for his health to pray for his quick recovery instead of speculating that he is dead,” Umeh said.
The APGA chairman described the rumour of Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s death as “false and very unfortunate.”
Shell Knew 'Everything' In Nigeria In Nigeria Ministries Through Spies
New subtitle
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Royal Dutch Shell had staff placed in key ministries of the Nigerian government, the Anglo-Dutch oil group claimed in a leaked US diplomatic cable. The group’s top executive in the African state told US diplomats that it therefore knew “everything that was being done in those ministries”, according to leaked cables from WikiLeaks website published by The Guardian newspaper on Thursday. The cables allege that the executive said the Nigerian government was unaware of how much the company knew about its internal deliberations.
Shell also swapped intelligence with the US, according to the cables, in one instance providing US diplomats with the names of Nigerian politicians it suspected of supporting military activity, requesting information from the US on whether the militants had acquired anti-aircraft missiles.Shell was for decades Nigeria’s biggest foreign oil operator by production although it is now selling some of its onshore oil-production assets following years of militant attacks. The cables from Nigeria reportedly show how Ann Pickard, who was then Shell’s vice-president for sub-Saharan Africa, tried to share intelligence with the US government on militant activity and business competition in the Niger delta. She is alleged to have disclosed the company’s reach into the Nigerian government when she met US ambassador Robin Renee Sanders, according to a memo from the US embassy in Abuja on 20 October 2009. Shell declined to comment on the correctness or incorrectness of the alleged contents of the cable.
Govt Files 16-Count Charge Against Cheney
Gaurdian News Paper
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A SIXTEEN-COUNT charge was filed by the Federal Government at an Abuja High Court yesterday against a former Vice President of the United States (U.S.), Richard ‘Dick’ Cheney over his alleged complicity in the $180 million bribe-for-contract scandal by Halliburton.
Barely 24 hours earlier, The Guardian had exclusively reported that government had approached an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court for a bench warrant for Cheney’s arrest.
A source said the bench warrant for the former Vice President, which is expected to be granted in the next 24 hours, is meant to aid efforts by government to ensure that he appears to stand trial alongside some top officials of Halliburton, where he was chairman at the time of the alleged bribe debacle and other oil services firms.
Sequel to the resolution by government’s lawyers and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), that Cheney could not be absolved of complicity in the bribery scandal since he was at that time of the bribery in 2006, the chairman of Halliburton, the country’s Chief Law Officer had directed the lawyers to amend the charge sheets in the on-going trial of Nigerian and Halliburton officials to accommodate the charge of criminal conspiracy against him (Cheney).
In compliance with the AGF’s directive, the legal team comprising of Joe Daudu, Emmanuel Ukala and Damien Dodo, all Senior Advocates of Nigeria and Godwin Obla yesterday filed the amended 16-count charge against Cheney and others.
The charge sheet reads:
• That you, Halliburton Inc., Halliburton Nigeria Limited, Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Richard “Dick” Cheney, Albert “Jack” Stanley, William Utt, David Lesar, TSKJ Nigeria Limited and TSKJ Consortium, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 conspired with Snamprogetti Netherland B.V., Technip S.A., Japan Gasoline Corp of Japan to commit a felony, to wit: giving the sum of $132,000,000.00 to one Jeffrey Tessler (now at large) and Tri-Star Investment Limited for the purpose of gratification of public officials concerned with the award of the contract of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project in Nigeria and thereby committed an offence under Section 96(1)(a) of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990 and punishable under Section 118 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990;
• That you, Halliburton Inc., Halliburton Nigeria Limited, Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Richard “Dick” Cheney, Albert “Jack” Stanley, William Utt, David Lesar, TSKJ Nigeria Limited and TSKJ Consortium, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 together with Snamprogetti Netherland B.V., Technip S.A., Japan Gasoline Corp of Japan committed a felony, to wit: giving the sum of $132,000,000 to one Jeffrey Tessler (now at large) and Tri-Star Investment Limited for the purpose of gratification of public officials concerned with the award of the contract of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project in Nigeria and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 118 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990;
• That you, Richard “Dick” Cheney, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005, committed a felony, to wit: abetting the giving of the sum of USD 132,000,000 to one Jeffrey Tessler (now at large) and Tri-Star Investment Limited for the purpose of gratification of public officials concerned with the award of the contract of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project in Nigeria and thereby committed an offence under Section 84 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990 punishable under Section 118 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990;
• That you, Halliburton Inc., Halliburton Nigeria Limited, Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Richard “Dick” Cheney, Albert “Jack” Stanley, William Utt, David Lesar, TSKJ Nigeria Limited and TSKJ Consortium within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 conspired with one Jeffery Tessler (now at large), AVM Abdullahi Dominic Bello, Tri-Star Investment Limited, Urban Shelter Limited, Intercellular Nigeria Limited, Snamprogetti Netherland B.V., Technip S.A., Japan Gasoline Corp of Japan to commit a misdemeanor, to wit: Giving several sums of money in tranches totaling in the aggregate of $7,700,000 without consideration to one Ibrahim Aliyu, (then a public officer, to wit: Chairman, Programme Implementation Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerned with the proceeding or business of award of contract for Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project) through companies under his control to wit: Urban Shelter Limited and Intercellular Nigeria Limited and thereby committed an offence under Section 96(1)(a) of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990 and punishable under Section 120 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja) 1990;
• That you, Halliburton Inc., Halliburton Nigeria Limited, Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Richard “Dick” Cheney, Albert “Jack” Stanley, William Utt, David Lesar, TSKJ Nigeria Limited and TSKJ Consortium within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 together with Snamprogetti Netherland B.V., Technip S.A., Japan Gasoline Corp of Japan committed a misdemeanor, to wit: Giving several sums of money in tranches totaling in the aggregate of $7,700, 000 without consideration to one Ibrahim Aliyu, (then a public officer, to wit: Chairman, Programme Implementation Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerned with the proceeding or business of award of contract for Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project) through companies under his control to wit: Urban Shelter Limited and Intercellular Nigeria Limited and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 120 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990.
• That you, Richard “Dick” Cheney, within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 committed a misdemeanor, to wit: Abetting the giving of several sums of money in tranches totaling in the aggregate of $7, 700, 000 without consideration to one Ibrahim Aliyu, (then a public officer, to wit: Chairman, Programme Implementation Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerned with the proceeding or business of award of contract for Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project) through companies under his control to wit: Urban Shelter Limited and Intercellular Nigeria Limited and thereby committed an offence under Section 84 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990punishable under Section 120 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990;
• That you, Halliburton Inc., Halliburton Nigeria Limited, Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Richard “Dick” Cheney, Albert “Jack” Stanley, William Utt, David Lesar, TSKJ Nigeria Limited and TSKJ Consortium within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 conspired with Ibrahim Aliyu, Urban Shelter Limited and Intercellular Nigeria Limited, one Jeffery Tessler (now at large), AVM Abdullahi Dominic Bello, Tri-Star Investment Limited, Snamprogetti Netherland B.V., Technip S.A., Japan Gasoline Corp of Japan to commit a misdemeanor, to wit: Giving the sum of $7, 000, 000without consideration to one Mohammed Gidado Bakari, Sherwood Petroleum Limited, persons in whom Ibrahim Aliyu, (then a public officer, to wit: Chairman, Programme Implementation Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerned with the proceeding or business of award of contract for Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas project) is interested in and thereby committed an offence under Section 96(1)(a) of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja)1990 and punishable under Section 120 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja) 1990; and
• That you, Halliburton Inc., Halliburton Nigeria Limited, Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), Richard “Dick” Cheney, Albert “Jack” Stanley, William Utt, David Lesar, TSKJ Nigeria Limited and TSKJ Consortium within the Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria sometimes between 1994 and 2005 together with Ibrahim Aliyu, Urban Shelter Limited and Intercellular Nigeria Limited, one Jeffery Tessler (now at large), Tri-Star Investment Limited, Snamprogetti Netherland B.V., Technip S.A., Japan Gasoline Corp of Japan committed a misdemeanor, to wit: giving the sum of $7, 000, 000 without consideration to one Mohammed Gidado Bakari, Sherwood Petroleum Limited, persons in whom Ibrahim Aliyu, (then a public officer, to wit: Chairman, Programme Implementation Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerned with the proceeding or business of award of contract for Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Project) is interested in and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 120 of the Penal Code CAP LFN (Abuja) 1990.
Pollution: Jonathan Blasts Oil Firms
Says New National Environmental Policy Underway
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PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday in Abuja took a swipe at the oil corporations operating in
Nigeria, claiming that their operations have adverse effects on the country's environment and food production.
Jonathan who was speaking while declaring open a national conference on the politics of hunger organized by Environmental Rights Action (ERA), an environmental justice organization, said, ''I will be the first to agree that environmental pollution, including those from the oil sector has grossly impacted our capacity to produce the foods that we need''
The president who was represented by his Special Assistant on International Relations, Ken Saro-Wiwa jnr, added, ''while oil produces national wealth, it has paradoxically also caused human misery among our people. Government is determined to ensure a clean national environment from Calabar to Lagos, from Sokoto to Maiduguri and indeed everywhere in this land''.
President Jonathan said he firmly believes that the environment is the life of the people, pointing out,
''government will unfold a clear environmental agenda that will ensure that Nigerians have a safe and satisfactory environment in which to live in a healthy and productive manner''.
Continuing, he said the change the country desires will not be top down, but bottom up. ''The foundation must be solid for a house to stand. I am a grassroots person and i have confidence that working with civil society groups, including small-scale farmers, producers and consumers is not an option but an imperative.
According to him, ''it is important that hunger is understood as being not only the absence of food critically the lack the lack of access to food. This is the crux of the politics of hunger. Hunger has been used as a tool for political manipulations and the time has come for this to be rejected. Today there are one
billion people who go to bed hungry in the world. About the same number are known to be obese. Hunger and obesity, especially the type that emanates from malnutrition, are ills that must be fought. Government pledges not to relent in this''.
The president said the hunger issue ''must be examined without recourse to manipulation of facts. It is an issue that we have to confront without ignoring local knowledge and national memory....Discussions flowing from this conference
will help government regenerate a once viable sector and help come up with a roadmap that will ensure that this great country of ours can meet the food needs of its population and ensure food sovereignty instead of depending on corporations and foreign countries who will place heavy burden on our people and greatly impact the environment and livelihoods''.
In his welcome address, the Executive Director of ERA, Nnimmo Bassey, said hunger has become a [political tool for manipulation of citizens, with devastating impacts on the poor.
''We note that African countries have really been open to manipulation by international financial institutions as well as aid and development agencies. Such bodies draft policy directions and foist them on African countries including Nigeria. We are forever domesticating policies that are of dubious benefit to our agriculture or poverty combating needs'', he said.
According to Bassey, the idea of fighting hunger has become big business, pointing out that food aid, with the connotation of philanthropy, has become nothing short of big business and a tool for crass manipulation and intimidation of those who are adjudged to be hungry.
Gunmen Attack Exxon Facility Off Nigeria
warned of further strikes against energy facilities.
Gunmen attacked an oil facility off the southern coast of Nigeria operated by U.S. energy firm Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote) overnight but it was unclear whether there were any injuries or damage, a security source said on Monday.
The site was a deep offshore facility off the coast of Akwa Ibom, one of the states that make up the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, said the source, who declined to be named because investigations were continuing.
The attack would be the second of its kind in as many weeks off Akwa Ibom. Militants attacked a rig operated by exploration firm Afren (AFRE.L: Quote) in the region a week ago, kidnapping two Americans, two Frenchmen, two Indonesians and a Canadian.
That attack was claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militant group in the region, which has warned of further strikes against energy facilities.
Auditors' report indicts former Exchange leaders
Missing Rolex watches top list of irregularities...
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The report on the affairs of the Nigerian Stock Exchange under the immediate past director general, Ndi Okereke-Onyuike is out, though unofficially. Commissioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission, in response to a petition by a former president of the Exchange Council, it detailed in clear terms many excesses that characterized Ms. Okereke-onyuike's tenure.
Authored by KPMG, an audit firm and Aluko Oyebode & Co., a legal firm, and dated September 29, the 41-page report chronicled some putrid actions of the Exchange. Among these is the fact that the Exchange spent N186 million on Rolex watches for its staff in 2008 for presentation to employees who had served the Exchange for 10 years. Interestingly, the report revealed that only 73 out of the 165 Rolex watches were actually presented to the awardees meaning that 92, valued at N99.5 million remain unaccounted for. "We observed that the gifts awarded/presented far exceeded the value stated in the staff handbook," the report noted.
Also, the report said, "Our investigation so far reveals that the following allegations may have merit: Total expenses of the NSE are too high, 2006 to 2008 expenses consumed more than 80 per cent of income/undisciplined spending and financial imprudence; That there has been sharing of money among council members, That the sum of N400 million were paid to the past president of the Council, That wages, training and IT expenses were overstated."
From Next News.
We Will Deliver Electricity to Nigerians - Barth Nnaji
By Bassey Udo
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‘We’ll deliver electricity to Nigerians,’ says Nnaji
By Bassey Udo
For those still trying to conjecture why the Special Adviser to the President on Power, Barth Nnaji, is fast developing gray hairs, two reasons came from the horse’s mouth at the weekend in Abuja: ‘suffering’ and his presidential assignment.
Though Mr Nnaji, who was responding to a toast to his achievements at a special dinner organised in his honour by ‘Friends of Barth Nnaji’, did not expatiate on what he meant, he, however, assured them of the present administration’s commitment to deliver on its promise to give Nigerians reliable electricity supply before long.
President of the South-east and South-south Professionals, Emeka Ugbuoju, who said Mr Nnaji was his former classmate back in St Patrick’s Secondary School, Emene, Enugu State, had eulogised him for remaining a worthy ambassador of his generation.
But Mr Nnaji told his audience, including the Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Emmanuel Egbogah; former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Paul Usoro, that he has been wondering why his former classmate (Mr Ugbuojo) has managed to look fresh, while he is graying all over.
“Emeka Ugbuoju said he used to sit next to me in school. But, look at my hair and look at his,” he told guests, as he made gestures at the graying hairs on his head.
“It is suffering that brought these things. And then, the President decided to heap the challenge of electricity industry on my head, and literarily said that my neck is on the line here. So, he gave me more gray hairs.” Mr Nnaji, who appeared overwhelmed by the gathering, thanked his friends for the gesture. He described it as humbling, acknowledging that though he is a people’s person, he always prefers celebrating others than being celebrated.
The former Chairman, Geometric Power, who was accompanied by his wife and son, then declared to his audience: “What I can promise you is that the work that the president is doing, we, the people in the trenches, who are working with him, will do everything to deliver electricity for Nigeria in a reliable way.”
Blazing trails
Don Adinuba of Discovery International Communicators, who proposed the toast on behalf of the group, described Mr Nnaji as one of the nicest human beings he has ever come across.
“We are gathered to celebrate a man who has risen to the top, but has not lost the common touch; one who has broken all records and still remains very humble in his modesty,” he declared, adding that Mr Nnaji has sponsored the training of about 300 people from primary school to university level, most of who are currently pursuing different professional careers both within and outside the country.
Mr Adinuba described Mr Nnaji’s academic accomplishments as exemplary, as he not only became a professor before the age of 30, he also broke a 120 years record in the history of St. John’s University, New York to emerge the institution’s first black to be named its best graduating student in 1980.
Before presenting a giant portrait of Mr Nnaji’s image, Barth Okonkwo recalled his tenure as Chairman of the Nigerian Peoples Forum, an umbrella organisation of Nigerians in the United States.
Burundi: Six illegal Tin Miners Die in Collapse
BBC Report
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Burundi: Six illegal tin miners die in collapse
At least six people have died after a cassiterite mine collapsed in Burundi, 120km (75 miles) north of the capital.
Three other people injured in the accident have been taken to hospital, and another four are missing.
The authorities in Kayanza province, where the accident happened, told the BBC the group were digging illegally.
A BBC reporter says despite Burundi's mineral wealth there are few official mines and even they use crude methods of extraction and safety is poor.
Most of the small mines found in the west and north of Burundi are exploited by villagers using hoes and ploughs.
Burundi is one of the world's poorest nations and is emerging from a brutal 12-year civil war which shattered its economy.
Mobile phone mineral
The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in the capital, Bujumbura, says mining accidents are common at this time of year, when the first rains arrive.
Cassiterite is the main ingredient for tin.
The mine fields in the northern province of Kayanza are also rich in colombo-tantalite ore, or coltan, used to make mobile phones.
Victor Ntakirutimana, the administrator of Kabarore district in Kayanza where Wednesday's collapse occurred, told the BBC many villagers do not mind risking their lives to get even a small amount of the mineral as it is so valuable.
Residents also say it is the miners' belief that when a big number of people perish inside a mine it is a sign that the mine is rich - so survivors continue to dig it even more eagerly, our correspondent reports.
Binational Talks on the Niger Delta
Nigeria and USA
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Washington, DC USA September, 14th, 2010 - U.S - Nigerian Binational Commission working group hosted by the council on Fireign Relations in Washington DC led by the Assistant Secretary of African Affairs Johnnie Carson and the Nigerian delegation led by Foriegn Minister Henry Odein Ajumogobia continued talks on its third meeting. Discussions centered on progress towards addressing economic and infrastructural development, social services delivery, governance issues, and Nigerian regional security issues with bilaterl cooperations in the region.
The binational commission was instituted with U.S Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton and the Nigerian then Secretary of Government Yayale Ahmed in April of 2010, and since four working groups have been formed to include Good Governance, Transperancy and Integrity, Energy and Investment, the Niger Delta Regional Security Cooperation and Food Security and Agriculture.
Completions of talks in these four areas are expected in a release today. While the U.S await the visit of the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan later in September 2010, this details of this talk is well awaited as a prelude to the current cooperation between the two governments.
EFCC: The “Onslaught” Against Ten Governors
G15 Raises in Defense for Northern Governors
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The EFCC onslaught against some allegedly corrupt state Governors (ten of them) and their
officials has in the last week been met with spirited protests by the concerned parties who are insisting that this is a clear case of political witch-hunt and intimidation closely tied to the 2011 general elections. Rivers state Governor Rotimi Amaechi whose Commissioners for Finance and Local Government Affairs have been arrested along with three local council chairmen in the state- those of Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor and Ikwerre has accused the EFCC of “being used as a political tool to truncate his bid to seek re-election.” He said: “What is the EFCC doing here? They never came all this while. Today they are here. Why are they here? Let’s say EFCC is doing their job. They have a responsibility to go after those who are corrupt. But there is a judgment of a Federal High Court, which says EFCC cannot come to Rivers state. Is EFCC above the law… Today EFCC has become a political tool.” The Governor boasted: “we will mobilise people against the commission.” He is not alone. The EFCC is also targeting nine other states: Imo, Kwara, Bauchi, Zamfara, Jigawa, Gombe, Kebbi, Katsina, and Sokoto.
By Thursday, September 2, its men had already struck in five states: Rivers, Kebbi, Kwara, Imo, Jigawa. "The Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF),” or the "G15", has risen in defence of the Northern Governors. It “urges President Goodluck Jonathan to enthrone a regime of tolerance of political opposition and to desist from the use of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intimidate and harass governors and political leaders who are opposed to his ill-advised attempt to subvert the agreed zoning formula by seizing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket in next year’s general elections." The group insists that this is a hrowback to the Obasanjo era. In its response, the EFCC denies being used to witchhunt the Governors and has asked anyone who has a case to answer to be prepared to do so. A number of questions, arising from all of this, deserve close interrogation. The Governors can clearly sustain their objections as there are clear grounds for suspicions of mischief; they should nonetheless be prepared to respond to the EFCC allegations; their mere protest about a witch-hunt is no defence, it is their proof of innocence that can strengthen their objections.
Is there any link between the EFCC’s latest action and the 2011 elections? It is surprising
that the EFCC would deny this. About a week ago, the EFCC Chair, Mrs Farida Waziri pointedly announced that the agency is prepared to stop corrupt politicians from participating in the 2011 elections. She specifically stated that the EFCC will stop some people who are trying to “come back”, because allowing them to do so will be “a mockery” of the political system. The use of the phrase “come back” refers to re-election, and so those state Governors who claim that this is an attempt to stop them from being re-elected for a second term may have a point. Eight of the ten Governors under scrutiny fall under the category of those who want to “come back.”
The extant law says, inter alia, that anyone who has been indicted for “embezzlement or
fraud” shall be disqualified from contesting public office (section 137(1)(i)); Section 182 (1)(i))… Although the Supreme Court has addressed this in the Atiku case, there is no guarantee that those who seek to be mischievous cannot under the same provision contrive an indictment for any politician and put him under pressure. The rule as established in Action Congress vs INEC (2007, 12 NWLR (pt. 1048), 222 is that Section 137(1) of the 1999 Constitution does not confer powers on either INEC or the security agencies to disqualify an electoral candidate, that power belongs to a High Court. The EFCC has laid itself open to allegations that its action is politically motivated by its own express announcement that it can exercise powers that it does not possess.
Why is the EFCC’s motive being suspected? First is the timing and the nature of the EFCC’s new-found aggressiveness. Since her assumption of office, Mrs Farida Waziri, the EFCC Chair has been accused of lowering the pace of EFCC activism. She has been compared endlessly to her predecessor, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu with notable differences in style, approach and substance. Under Ribadu, much progress was made with the anti-corruption campaign. Under Waziri, the EFCC seemed to have allowed the politicians some breathing space. In her memoirs, if she ever writes one, Mrs Waziri may tell us that she could not move faster than her bosses wanted. The late president Yar’Adua who appointed her to the position did not move fast on anything, and certainly not on the subject of the anti-corruption war. When President Goodluck Jonathan assumed office, the EFCC suddenly woke up, going after former Governor James Ibori. The character of the incumbent President as a determinant of EFCC’s quality of response is not a good excuse; if that excuse is offered, it would only further confirm the alleged politicization of the anti-corruption agency.
Institutions need not be at the mercy of individuals. Waziri’s EFCC inherited many
outstanding cases of abuse of public office by state Governors, notably those cases relating to the mismanagement of public funds. Many of the Governors who were so indicted are walking free today. Not much has been done about their cases almost four years after they lost constitutional immunity. Some of them have since resurfaced as political Godfathers; a few are threatening to seek election as President in 2011! This is the effect of EFCC’s ineffectiveness and lack of diligence. Take the Ibori case. They bungled it. They were busy grandstanding until Ibori stole out of the country. The EFCC chair would later explain that she didn’t know Ibori will run to Dubai, oh, he should have gone to China! So, Amaechi could ask: “What is the EFCC doing here? They never came all this while. Today they are here. Why are they here?” The Northern Political Leaders Forum is asking similar questions. It is the EFCC’s lack of transparency that makes those questions inevitable.
Are the targeted Governors all pro-zoning? Yes, in addition to other issues. The Rivers
Governor, Rotimi Amaechi is generally regarded to be pro-zoning and this has been cited as
one of the reasons why he is not an Aso Villa favourite. A week before the EFCC assault on his state, he had a widely reported disagreement with the President’s wife on the question of land in Okrika. With the way Mrs Patience Jonathan impatiently stormed out of the state, Amaechi had committed the additional social crime of offending the big man’s wife. Is he being taught a lesson in power politics? Even if not, sending the EFCC after him almost immediately after a disagreement with the First Lady looks untidy. Imo state’s Ikedi Ohakim has been one of the fiercely independent-minded and outspoken Governors in the PDP. There are speculations that he is planning to defect to another political party. Is this an attempt to whip him into line?
The Northern Governors: At a meeting of the 19 Northern Governors on the zoning principle
and the 2011 Presidential election in July, 10 of the Governors reportedly supported the
position that the presidency should remain in the North in 2011, seven supported the idea of
leaving it open, two Governors abstained. Is the EFCC clampdown meant to harass the ten pro-zoning Northern Governors? Let us check the evidence.
In July, the pro-zoning Governors who declared their stand were: Alhaji Ibrahim Shema
(Katsina); Alhaji Mahmud Shinkafi (Zamfara); Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); Alhaji Usman
Dakingari (Kebbi); Alhaji Mohammed Goje (Gombe); Alhaji Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Dr. Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Dr. Bukola Saraki (Kwara); Alhaji Modu Sheriff (Borno); and Alhaji Ibrahim Shakarau (Kano). Seven of the eight Northern Governors now being probed by the EFCC are on this pro-zoning and as it were, anti-Jonathan for 2011 list! The Bauchi Governor, Isa Yuguda, who is the eighth Northern Governor on the EFCC list did not attend the July meeting because it coincided with the burial of the late Emir of Bauchi, but he is also predictably pro-North and pro-zoning, he being a son-in-law of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. In March 2009, Isa Yuguda married Nafisa Yar’Adua as wife number 4. Why is there no pro-Jonathan Governor on the list? And why are all the Governors from the PDP? Is the EFCC saying it concluded investigations in the ten states at the same time, and that a few weeks to the PDP Presidential primaries is the best time to go after all the Governors?
The EFCC insists that these are the Governors against whom the largest number of petitions has been submitted. If petitions are so important to the EFCC, why has it not acted on all the petitions and the concluded investigations regarding over 26 Governors whom Nuhu Ribadu assured Nigerians should be on their way to jail after their loss of immunity in 2007? In its defence, the EFCC has raised two pertinent questions? "Is there any law barring EFCC from investigating fraud allegations before, during or after elections?” No. “Should election time be taken as a holiday period when law enforcement agents would have to close their eyes to the looting of public treasury?” Certainly not. The EFCC should do its job but it must be careful about the kind of signals it sends to the public in order not to raise questions of credibility about its operations. The wrong signal in the present instance is that the ten Governors currently being investigated by it are targets of a political witch-hunt.
But is this a throw-back to the Obasanjo era? This question is informed by suspicion and a
sense of history and the timing of the EFCC action. The Obasanjo government had a far more robust anti-corruption campaign, owing largely to the dynamism of the EFCC chair at the time. But it was also accused of being used as a tool of political victimization, especially in Ekiti, Plateau and Bayelsa states. What no one could controvert then, however, was that the targeted politicians themselves had a case to answer. The weight of public sympathy was therefore not on their side. In the present case, the EFCC has raised too many doubts about its motives. For those who believe in coincidences, the coincidences are just too many: Amaechi disagrees with the President’s wife, the following week, the EFCC descends on him and his commissioners. Ohakim acts as if he is defecting, he gets the EFCC knocking on his door. Mrs Waziri says some Governors will not be allowed to come back; eight of the Governors being investigated are actually trying to “come back.” Eleven Northern Governors insist that the Presidency should remain in the North, eight of them are under the EFCC searchlight. By the way, did the remaining three recant?
The EFCC could have been a lot smarter in its handling of the present situation both in terms of timing and the selection of the Governors in what we believe should be the first round of the exercise. This notwithstanding, the affected Governors should be prepared to stand up to scrutiny. Alleging that they are being victimized would not help; it doesn’t really help to keep insisting that the strategy of intimidation is familiar. If public funds have been stolen, misapplied, misappropriated, diverted and so on in any of the affected states, the people would like to know and see the culprits brought to book ultimately. This is the larger point.
The perception that the EFCC can be used to promote political ambitions is the biggest
albatross that the institution faces. And yet, there are strong reasons for it to be pro-active and to help raise the country’s integrity profile, rather than be reduced to a scare-mongering
mechanism in the political arena. With ten Governors out of the PDP’s total of 29, now being
chased around for corrupt practices and with many more likely to join, we are being told that the PDP is a party of corrupt politicians! It should be possible to separate the investigations from the politics of PDP presidential primaries. It is in the EFCC’s interest to demonstrate this clearly and to serve notice that it means business.
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