Anti-Uduaghan elders: Ijomah, others back out
By Austin Ogwuda
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Asaba—HISTORY was made yesterday in Asaba when political leaders drawn from Delta North senatorial district of Delta State who had been opposing the emergence of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as the state PDP gubernatorial candidate made a U-turn and said it was time to sheathe their sword and work for the successful election of Uduaghan and his running mate.

These leaders who are PDP members at a peace meeting tagged ‘1st Delta North Reunion for Equity in solidarity with Uduaghan/Utuama’ held at Grand Hotels drew politicians from the district who until recently would not like to see eye to eye because of the political divide.

Ironically, the meeting was convened by Prof B.I.C. Ijomah, who had been a key member of the Chief EK Clark’s Elders Forum, which had vowed that on no account should Dr. Uduaghan be allowed to become the next governor.

Ten of the leaders drawn from the nine local governments that make up Delta North senatorial district who were invited to the meeting were asked to convey the message home that the fight was over.

The convener of the meeting, Prof Ijomah in his opening address said “in my estimation, we have failed thus far. Never in the history of Nigeria has Delta North been as factionalized".
Let us come together so that we can redeem our claim that without Delta North nobody can win the governorship race.

“The time”, he went on, “is short; I invite our brothers in government to work with us in our new found spirit to deliver Dr. Uduaghan".

We have fought a good verbal war. The past is always a mirror for the future and if we continue to bemoan the past, without working hard to prevent a repeat of the same injustices, the future will be a mirage”, he stated.

Construction work on the proposed International Airport for Asaba, the Delta State Capital, may commence in a month's time as Oceanic Bank International Plc and First Bank of Nigeria Plc have agreed to collaborate with the Delta State government to ensure the completion of the project. Already, the parties involved have met with the contractor to the project, Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) and resolved that they should re-convene in about two weeks time to fine-tune the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Besides, the state government has initiated moves with other Chinese concerns to revive some ailing companies in the state and turn around the Koko Port to make it viable and attractive to users. Speaking at a partnership meeting in Asaba, the state Deputy Governor, Chief Benjamin Elue said the government was determined to make the dream of an airport in Asaba a reality.

Enio Labello
Lagos

Nuhu Ribadu is a man after my heart. Since his appointment as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he has, at great personal risk, taken on the powerful and the powerless, the high and the lowly, the big and the small as well as the strong and the weak. In the discharge of his duties, he has displayed uncommon courage, exuded infectious passion and shown a religious dedication to the anti-graft war. In the last three years, Ribadu has fashioned the EFCC into an effective weapon against money laundering and cyber crime and 419 and embezzlement of public funds. Through his doggedness, some state governors have not only been impeached for corrupt enrichment, such governors are either on trial or on self-exile. You may not agree with the style of the anti-graft agency particularly in the way it has gone after corrupt public officials, you cannot, however, deny its effectiveness. If nothing else it has considerably reduced the culture of impunity in the theft of public funds. Public officials now rigorously apply themselves and look over their shoulders before dipping their hands in the till.

But then, this is not without its controversies. Many complain about Ribadu's quick resort to media trial, his scathing attacks on notable public figures he believes are corrupt, a style that has blurred the sharp line between intelligence and politics. The argument is that the head of an intelligence agency like the EFCC should mainly be seen and not heard. Ribadu, however, perhaps because of his passion, is so voluble he uses every opportunity to give corrupt public officials a piece of his mind. Some also complain about the EFCC's penchant for blackmail and strong arm tactics whenever it is determined to get a state governor impeached. Obviously because the legislative process has been so corrupted in the states that the Houses of Assemblies are practically impotent, the EFCC has perfected what many see as unlawful tactic of arresting and detaining Assembly members until they, in part or in whole, begin impeachment proceedings against their governor. That was the situation in Bayelsa State when Diepreye Alamieyeseigha was removed, and in Plateau when Joshua Dariye was impeached. That is also the situation in Adamawa where Governor Boni Haruna was last week served an impeachment notice. A similar thing is happening in Taraba State where Governor Jolly Nyame has equally been filed a list of impeachable offences from his legislators quarantined in Abuja.


Indeed, the EFCC has been pooh-poohed as a blackmail weapon President Olusegun Obasanjo deploys to hound his political opponents, particularly those opposed to the infamous tenure extension scheme. Vice President Atiku Abubakar has consistently waved this banner since he became a subject of EFCC investigation after falling out with the president. Before Atiku, Alamieyeseigha sang the same tune. Some other governors like Bola Tinubu (Lagos) and Orji Kalu (Abia) have linked the agency's activities in their states to their open opposition to Obasanjo. As a great admirer of Ribadu and his works, I used to dismiss such claims by pointing out those who were pro-Obasanjo but fell to EFCC's searchlight. Former police boss Tafa Balogun was one. Immediate past Senate President Adolphus Wabara was another. On-the-run Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State was yet another. Ribadu's men have also been quite active in states such as Rivers, Enugu and Ogun whose governors are Obasanjo's loyalists. Having jumped bail in London after they were separately arrested for money laundering, how could Alamieyeseigha and Dariye continue to oversee the affairs of their states? It is in the light of this that I had always argued that those condemning the EFCC or linking their problems with the agency to Obasanjo were only waving the banner of blackmail. I had always believed that despite its shortcomings, the agency had been doing a fantastic job.

I am not so comfortable pushing the same argument any more. This is not unconnected to the advisory list the EFCC sent to some political parties on candidates it claimed to have investigated and indicted for corruption and therefore found unfit to hold public office. The process of compilation, and release, of the advisory list was completely untidy and therefore fraught with suspicions. There was no evidence of transparency and fairness in how the EFCC arrived at the names of those who made the list and how they made it. Few days before the list was released for instance, Ribadu in Ibadan publicly described the Oyo State deputy governor and governorship candidate of the PDP, Adebayo Alao Akala, as corrupt and unfit for office. By the time the list was made public, however, Akala's name was not only missing, the Oyo deputy governor got the PDP flag. How will Ribadu explain this?

Lanre Tejuoso, the ANPP (All Nigeria peoples Party) senatorial candidate and opponent of Iyabo, the president's daughter in the April polls also has his name on the list. I do not know if Tejuoso is a government contractor and perhaps may have failed to deliver on a project after collecting mobilisation fees. But I do know the man has never held any public office where he may have soiled his hands. The EFCC owes the nation an explanation on how Tejuoso qualified for the advisory list to at least give a lie to the speculations making the rounds that his name was smuggled in to give Iyabo a smooth sail. These two incidents among others have clouded the EFCC's motive for the advisory and may have informed the haste with which other parties dismissed the whole thing as a charade.

Obasanjo has not helped the EFCC with his campaign statements. Addressing a rally in Abeokuta, the president, perhaps in reaction to media speculations that Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel was listed on the EFCC advisory and may be dropped by the PDP, said the party stuck to Daniel for the April polls because "a known evil is better than a hidden angel." The president was quoted as saying that nobody was without inadequacies, but that Daniel's inadequacies were pardonable. That being the case, how come the inadequacies of Rivers' Rotimi Amaechi or Taraba's Danladi Baido or Kano's Rabiu Kwankwaso were not overlooked? The three had earlier been dropped by the party because their names appeared on the EFCC advisory. Issues like these make it difficult to defend allegations of double standards. Indeed it has fuelled speculations, and rightly so, that the advisory was doctored by the presidency, with names of some favoured candidates removed.

Of the more than a hundred names on the list, only Atiku has been indicted by an administrative panel. Even then that indictment is still being challenged in court. It is strange that the EFCC could claim to have investigated and indicted those on the advisory list when none of them has been prosecuted in court and convicted. Obviously realising this, the federal government, in apparent confusion, quickly set up an administrative panel to look at the allegations against those on the EFCC advisory. Expectedly, state governors on the list have vowed not to appear before the panel and they are right to so do since Nigeria is a federation where one level of government should not lord it over others. In any case, if EFCC is so sure of its facts, it may as well take those on the advisory to court. After all only Atiku and the governors amongst them have immunity.

The handling of the advisory list has undermined the good work Ribadu is doing in EFCC. It is difficult to explain that the list was not released, if not compiled, for political witch-hunting. It has further armed those who accuse the president of using the agency to harass his opponents. If there was any reason to doubt this, Obasanjo erased this the other day in Akure. He told a rally of party supporters that former Housing minister, Olusegun Mimiko, declined his entreaties to back Governor Olusegun Agagu, quit the PDP to pick up the flag of Labour party in Ondo State. The president told those at the rally not to worry as the EFCC would soon investigate Mimiko for corruption. In other words, the president was saying, had Mimiko backed Agagu, there would have been no need for EFCC investigations.

Such pettiness and dishonesty and double standards have been the hallmark of the Obasanjo presidency in the last eight years. It is one form of corruption that negates everything the EFCC is fighting. Fortunately for the country, the president is winding down in office, and at the same time climbing down the mountain of life. Ribadu on the other hand is still relatively young and can therefore still look ahead to many years of fruitful service to the nation. He should not allow the politics of Obasanjo to destroy his future or undermine the great job he is doing with the EFCC. He should know when and where to draw the line.

Posted to the web January 18, 2007
Austin Ogwuda
Asaba

THE problem of fuel scarcity in Asaba, Delta State is worsening as it has crippled commercial and social life of the people.
It has also greatly affected the productivity of the civil servants in the states as workers deserted their offices to join queue at the few fuel stations that have the product.

Investigation carried out by Vanguard yesterday showed that most workers either did not report early to their duty posts or failed to turn up as at noon yesterday. Some of them where seen queuing for petrol at one of the filling stations which has supply along Anwai/Illah road in the state capital yesterday said they had no option but to get fuel first.
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Only few taxi cabs now ply the road while okada riders, who buy from the black market at cut-throat price of ten litres at N2,500 charge exhorbitant fee. Some motorists have abandoned their vehicles at home and prefer riding on Okada.
Another worrisome aspect of the scarcity is the danger being posed by the long stretch of queues especially on the busy Benin-Asaba highway poses.
Queues now stretch to about one to two kilometers on the highway thereby disrupting easy flow of traffic.

In prosperity our friends know us. In adversity we know our friends.

Posted to the web January 17, 2007
Austin Ogwuda

PROPERTY worth thousands of naira were gutted by fire on Monday night at Ogbogonogo market, while two dead bodies were recovered near the scene. The same Ogbogonogo market was gutted by fire a couple of years ago and was presently being reconstucted at a cost of nearly N500 million.
When our reporter visited the scene yesterday morning, the fire was yet to be completely put out but the only luck was that the main building currently under construction was not touched.


Eyewitness said that the fire might have started from a heap of gabbage near some of the shanties erected as shops at the back of the new building and spread with the aid of the harmattan breeze and affected the textile, meat and provision sections of the market.
Two dead bodies were also found beside the debris but the State Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Miss Olabisi Okuwobi said "the two dead bodies are not connected with the fire. The bodies were recovered from the River Niger where they probably got drowned. Infact, it was we (police) that noticed the fire and contacted the Fire Service", she stated.
The same market was gutted by fire sometime in 2002.

The foundation of the new Asaba Modern Market nearly completion was laid on 17th June 2005 by the state Deputy Governor, Chief Benjamin Elue at a contract sum of N487.6 million awarded to Arbico Plc.
Speaking on the occasion, Elue said "the market is expected to have a total of one thousand shops and ancillary facilities, which include offices, banking hall, police post, telephone exchange, fire station, a crèche for infants, cold room, warehouses, pharmacy and restrooms for males and females".
He added that "the importance of the Asaba modern market to this community cannot be over-emphasized in view of the growing political, social and commercial importance of Asaba, as one of the main hubs of government activities in the state. Lack of good physical space for business transaction has compelled many entrepreneurs and traders to convert every available space into shops and warehouses. And this has led to the unhygienic practice of executing unplanned temporary structures which deface the environment."

By Nonso Awih Ugbolue
Lagos

It is rather ironic that the glory of the Anioma people in Delta state ebbs even further with every electoral contest in the state. If the outcome of the just concluded primaries of the political parties in the state are to be taken seriously, then the people of Delta North may well be at the verge of suffering their worst political fate since they committed the 'political crime' of allowing President Ibrahim Babangida to name Asaba the capital of Delta State.

It is in explicable that since the creation of the State, the Igbo-speaking people of Delta North have 'peacefully' resigned to being regarded and even treated as second class citizens in their own state by the privileged ethnic groups, particularly the Urohbos who pride themselves as the "Real Deltans." Yet the truth is that General Babangida exploited the peaceful nature of the Igbo-speaking people of the old Bendel (whose quest for an Anioma state was not only most profound but very powerfully articulated and zealously pursued). Hoping to kill two birds with one stone, Babangida through military fiat gave the Urohbos and their Itsekiri cousins a state and sought to pacify the Anioma people by citing the capital of the same state in Asaba! The General simply forcibly fused two states together. And typically, the Anioma accepted this anomaly "so that peace will reign." This shameful arithmetic haunts the people even till date.


By 2005, Governor James Ibori had lost control of the ruling PDP to a rampaging politician from Delta North, Chief Godswill Obielum. The Governor's soft political underbelly was further exposed when the PDP held its elective state convention in 2006. Chief Obielum's men practically took the party structure from the Governor and his cronies as a staunch loyalist of Chief Obielum, Dr. Mallam Obi was said to have been elected the chairman of the ruling party in the state. One of the key members of the Obielum camp was Dr. (Mrs.) Marian Ali, the wife of the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali. The wife of the PDP National Chairman who is from Delta North carried on as if she was genuinely concerned about the criminal political marginalisation of the Anioma people. Unknown however to the rather politically naïve Chief Obielum, Mrs. Ali was only keen on feathering her own nest. She would spend the day grandstanding within the Obielum camp but at night Mrs. Ali enjoyed dinning and winning with the very savvy Governor James Ibori. So it was after one of the series of sumptuous meals that Mrs. Ali and Ibori struck the deal: betray the people of Delta North and get rewarded with the Delta North Senatorial seat!

But resilient as ever, the Anioma people set out to elect one of their own, Prince Ned Nwoko as their candidate for the Delta North Senatorial seat. Ned Nwoko was seen as an unusual son of Delta North who sacrificed his lucrative law practice and international business empire and re-located home in 1998 to help shore up the dignity of the people. Nwoko as a member of the House of representatives from 1999 to 2003 was an effective voice for his people and helped to attract virtually all the federal projects, (particularly roads) in Delta North even till date. Nwoko has also been helping in no small way in securing good jobs and federal appointments for persons from Delta North.

In any case by 2003, Hon. Ned Nwoko kicked off the process of the political emancipation of the people of Delta North by presenting himself as a gubernatorial aspirant under the PDP. Curiously not a few political leaders in the same Delta North frowned against this his bid as they insisted that there was an accord of sorts with the other ethnic groups in the state that Gov. Ibori be supported to go for a second term and that in 2007, an Anioma candidate would be similarly supported to succeed Ibori.

The resolve of the Aniomas to massively back the candidature of Prince Ned Nwoko during the senatorial primaries was the people's bold effort to sound it loud and clear that they were poised to resist political servitude. Sensing that all was not going as scripted, Mrs. Ali wisely dropped out of the Senatorial race and never showed up at the two venues of the Senatorial primaries. But poised to meet his own side of the bargain, Gov. James Ibori sent his men to conduct the Delta-north Senatorial primaries in the two designated centres. Prince Ned Nwoko swept the polls in the two centers. Senator Patrick Osakwe came a distant second. It must be noted again that Mrs. Ali was not a candidate in the Delta North Senatorial primaries and the result sheet did not at all bear her name.

Moments after voting ended the men Governor Ibori sent to conduct the election held that they could not declare the result of the election at the venue, that they had instructions from 'above' to return to the Government House Asaba where the results would be announced. This attempt at broad-day light robbery was overwhelmingly resisted by Prince Ned Nwoko and thousands of party members. Thousands of party men and women heard it loud and clear when Hon. Ned Nwoko who scored more than 50% of total votes cast was declared the elected candidate of the PDP for the Delta North Senatorial seat. Thoroughly flustered, the Governor's agents alleged that unlicensed firearms were found in Prince Ned Nwoko's car and promptly arrested him and held him incommunicado for all of two days. Even more important, the once peaceful but serially humiliated people of Delta North have finally lost their cool.

But who should the people run to for respite? Dr. Ahmadu Ali? President Olusegun Obasanjo? Indeed the President, as gathered sympathises with the Anioma people of Delta North and has indeed promised to wade into the crisis with a view to convincing Dr. Ahmadu Ali to withdraw his wife from the Delta North Senatorial race. The Anioma people are still waiting for the important intervention of President Olusegun Obasanjo even as the February 13 deadline for substitution of the candidates in the list submitted to the INEC inches even closer.