President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the leadership style of the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan by conducting a successful referendum to decide on the future of leadership for the country.
A statement by special adviser on media and publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, quoted Buhari as equally commending the citizens of Turkey for the successful conclusion of the referendum yesterday, Monday.
The Nigerian leader said that President Erdogan had displayed foresight and maturity in leading his people to the polls to decide on the future of leadership meant at further deepening peace and stability.
Buhari said that the referendum showcases the democratic credentials of the country and reflects a willingness of the Turkish people to live together and jointly pursue a better future.
Also today, President Buhari wrote to sympathize with the family and friends of former Nigerian Ambassador to Turkey, Senator Ajuji Waziri, who died yesterday, Monday.
The President described late Senator Ajuji as lawmaker, who worked assiduously to improve the conditions of his community and the country.
“As a public servant, who served in many capacities, the President extols the humanity, integrity and purposefulness that Waziri brought into all his responsibilities, particularly in improving relations with Turkey, which has over the years become one Nigeria’s strong allies in the international community.”
Consoled the late Senator’s colleagues in the diplomatic corps,members of the National Assembly, his wife who was former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) boss, Farida Waziri, the children and the government and people of Gombe State.
The President prayed to God tol receive the soul of the departed and grant his loved ones the fortitude to bear the loss. [myad]
A 53 year old Nigerian journalist working in New York, the United States of America, Abdullahi Shuaibu, has been arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD) for robbing four Manhattan banks, all during his lunch break.
Abdullahi Shuaibu, who was initially posted to the US by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which was his first employer, has already been charged by the NYPD on two counts of robbery and two counts of attempted robbery.
The NYPD’s Major Case Squad arrested Abdullahi Shuaibu, at his office at the Foreign Press Centers across from the United Nations building. He was said to have robbed a HSBC bank at 40th Street and Third Avenue on Monday and then returned to work shortly before he was arrested. They say he’s wanted in at least three other bank robberies.
Police believe that Abdullahi Shuaibu was the man who robbed a Santander Bank on Madison Avenue on February 27, a Bank of America on Third Avenue on March 13, and a Santander Bank on Third Avenue on March 27. In each of the robberies, the suspect passed a note to a clerk demanding money.
The suspect was sacked by NAN in April 2013 following his refusal to resume work in Nigeria at the expiration of duty tour and extended period which he requested to enable him complete an academic programme.
Abdullahi Shuaibu also worked as a communication specialist at the United Nations in Darfur, spending two months there in 2013, according to a U.N. spokesperson. [myad]
Turkey went voted on Sunday in a referendum to grant expansive new powers to President Recep Tayyip Edorgan, which International election monitors said took place on an “unlevel playing field” with the “yes” campaign dominating media coverage.
This was even as the Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said that the monitors’ findings are a “reflection” of a “biased and prejudiced approach. The comment that the referendum was below international standards is unacceptable.”
Representatives from a coalition of international bodies said that voters were not provided with adequate information, opposition voices were muzzled and the rules were changed at the last minute.
“The legal framework remained inadequate for the holding of a genuinely democratic referendum,” the monitors’ initial report said.
President Erdogan’s margin of victory in the referendum was razor-thin. Despite a state of emergency and a widespread crackdown on dissent, he succeeded in persuading only 51.4% of voters to back his constitutional upheaval.
The three biggest cities — Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir — rejected the plans, which would abolish Turkey’s system of parliamentary democracy and replace it with an executive presidency with sweeping, largely unchecked powers.
Opposition groups vowed to challenge the outcome, citing a rule change to allow unstamped ballots, announced after polls had opened.
US President, Donald Trump called Erdogan on Monday to congratulate him on the win, the White House confirmed.
According to the official readout of the conversation, the two leaders also discussed the US missile strike on a Syrian airfield April 7, along with the counter-ISIS campaign.
The two last spoke in February.
Earlier, Trump’s State Department noted concerns raised by election observers about “irregularities on voting day and an uneven playing field during the difficult campaign period.”
In a statement, State Department spokesman, Mark Toner wrote that the United States was looking to Turkey “to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all its citizens — regardless of their vote on April 16.”
President European government, meanwhile, acknowledged the result, but bristled at a suggestion by Erdogan that he would seek the restoration of the death penalty — a move that would sink Turkey’s long-stalled bid to join the European Union.
The results cement a year-long effort by Erdogan to consolidate his position. After serving as Prime Minister for nearly a decade, he took over as President in 2014 and, through force of will and charismatic leadership, turned a largely ceremonial position into the de facto head of government.
A failed coup last year allowed him to turn up the heat on opposition voices in the run-up to Sunday’s referendum.
The “no” campaign said it faced intimidation and threats of violence, while opposition figures and journalists were jailed. The narrowness of the result, coupled with allegations of irregularities, sets the scene for further instability.
The country’s National Security Council advised Monday that the state of emergency — which came into effect in response to the coup attempt and was due to expire April 19 — be prolonged for three more months, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Turkey’s council of ministers will meet to decide whether or not to make the extension.
Criticism from monitors
The monitors — a partnership of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council for Europe — offered a harsh analysis on the way the referendum was conducted.
Presenting their preliminary findings at a news briefing in Ankara, Tana de Zulueta, head of the monitoring mission, described a litany of shortcomings.
The state of emergency imposed after a failed coup last July had a profound effect on the political process. “Fundamental freedoms essential to a genuinely democratic process were curtailed,” the monitors’ report said. “The dismissal or detention of thousands of citizens negatively affected the political environment.”
State media was biased in favor of Erdogan and did not adequately cover opposition. “The legal framework for the referendum neither sufficiently provides for impartial coverage nor guarantees eligible political parties equal access to public media,” she said.
Monitors saw “no” supporters subjected to police intervention at events and senior officials in the “yes” camp equated them with terrorists.
The involvement of Erdogan and other national and local public figures in the “yes” campaign led to a “restrictive” and “imbalanced” campaign framework, she said.
The decision on the day of the vote to allow unstamped ballots “significantly changed the ballot validity criteria, undermining an important safeguard and contradicting the law.”
Erdogan praises capital punishment
Erdogan showed no signs of being cowed by the narrow margin of victory. In a rousing speech to supporters in Ankara, he hailed the result and attacked his Western critics. The vote, he said, demonstrated that Turkish people had said, “Yes to a single nation. Yes to a single flag ….Yes to a single state.”
Erdogan, speaking in Ankara on Monday, served up blunt words for the international election monitors.
“There is an organization named OSCE in Europe. Now they are preparing a report in their own way, saying that such and such happened in Turkish elections,” he said.
“First of all, you should know your limits. Know your limits. We would neither see nor hear nor know the politically-oriented reports you prepare. We will just march ahead. This country has just undertaken the most democratic elections never seen in any Western country,” he said.
He reiterated his desire to restore the death penalty as crowds chanted: “We want capital punishment.”
Opposition parties criticized the decision of election authorities to allow ballots that did not bear an official stamp.
Bulent Tezcan, deputy chairman of the main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, said his party would contest the result in Turkey and, if necessary, at the European Court of Human Rights.
“The only decision that will end legitimacy debate and ease people’s concerns about the judiciary is for the High Election Board to cancel the referendum,” Tezcan said.
Turkish opposition parties have three days to appeal the referendum results under the election law, CHP lawmaker and human rights lawyer Sezgin Tanrikulu said.
“We will do all we can within the rule of law.”
‘Profound changes’
Once confirmed, moves could get underway to implement the 18-article reform package put forward by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
They include:
Abolishing the post of Prime Minister and replacing it with a powerful executive President with powers to rule by decree.
Giving the President the power to appoint a cabinet and some senior judges.
Curbing the power of Parliament to scrutinize legislation.
Resetting term limits for President, meaning Erdogan could serve until 2029 if he wins elections in 2019 and 2024.
Ahmet Kasim Han, an associate professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, said the result would “profoundly change the way the country is governed.”
Critics of the proposals say they give overly broad powers to the president, Han said. Supporters of the “Yes” result argue the changes are justified given the “existential threat” on the country’s southern borders with Iraq and Syria, along with last summer’s attempted coup, he added.
Serkan Demirtas, Ankara bureau chief of Hurriyet Daily News and an expert on judicial issues, explained that the Board is expected to respond to CHP’s appeals next week. He doesn’t expect a different decision from the Board, the Constitutional Court or the European Court from Human Rights.
Caution from Europe
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the result showed that “Turkish society is deeply divided” and called for the Turkish government to engage in “respectful dialogue” with all political entities.
Turkey referendum: Related content
In a joint statement with Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, she called on the Turkish government to “address concerns” about the voting process.
The office of the French President, Francois Hollande, warned that any referendum in Turkey on the reinstatement of the death penalty would constitute a break with EU values and commitments.
The Council of Europe, a human rights organization that promotes European values and of which Turkey is a member, said the tight vote meant the country would have to proceed with caution.
“In view of the close result the Turkish leadership should consider the next steps carefully,” said the statement from Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland.
Joy and despair
As the results came in, thousands of the president’s supporters converged at the Ankara headquarters of the AKP, which Ergodan founded. Waving flags, they shouted, “Tell us to kill, we will kill. Tell us to die, we will die. Erdogan, Erdogan, Erdogan.”
But there were just as many who were devastated by the result.
“No” supporters gather in Istanbul to protest the result.
Umut Serin, a 32-year-old marine engineer who was working at a polling station in central Istanbul told CNN: “The government tried to reflect it as if the ‘yes’ votes were clearly ahead, from the very start. They created this perception through the media. There was huge pressure on TV channels.”
Serkan Taskent, 31, a graduate student in Istanbul, said the opposition was not strong enough to stop the reforms going ahead. “If the opposition continues to be this ineffective, which looks like it’s going to be, then it will be very hard to bring the 23.7 million opposition voters to the ballots again.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected of $280 million into various sectors of the market and the commencement of its weekly $20,000 sale to licensed Bureaux de Change.
The apex bank also announced the opening of bids for offering $100 million wholesale 7-45 days forwards through the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs). This is to underscore its determination to sustain liquidity in the foreign exchange market.
A breakdown of the intervention shows that invisibles such as Basic Travel Allowance, Personal Travel Allowance, medical bills and tuition received $80 million, while the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) window received $100 million. Together with the wholesale bid auction, the Bank, today, Tuesday, sold $280 million into the market.
The Bank’s spokesman, Isaac Okorafor, confirmed the releases, saying that the new window for SMEs would no doubt boost the business of SMEs through the importation of eligible finished and semi-finished items, thereby boosting FOREX supply to the retail business segment of the market.
Okorafor explained that the CBN introduced the use of FORM Q for the SMEs, which requires just basic documentation, to ease their documentation challenges usually encountered by this category of businesses. He reiterated that SMEs are allowed to purchase $20,000 per quarter on this arrangement.
He restated that the new form, which must be completed by all SME applicants, requires the applicant to fill the form with a supporting application letter as well as beneficiary invoice and bank wire transfer. According to him, eligible applicants must have operated their bank accounts for a minimum of six months.
On the sale of forex to BDCs, the Bank said the decision was taken to ensure that the high volume demand by low-end users are met promptly.
Meanwhile, with the intervention of the CBN in the various aspects of the market, analysts are of the view that the naira will strengthen against other major currencies of the world in the forex market this week and beyond.
While urging market participants to abide by the rules to ensure the preservation of our external reserves, stability of our financial system, and growth of our economy to the benefit of all Nigerians, the Bank’s spokesman warned that the CBN would neither tolerate unscrupulous actions nor hesitate to bring serious sanctions on offenders, be they banks or their staff. [myad]
Nigeria’s minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has arrived in Washington DC, the United States of America to attend the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings. The Minister is participating in a range of events focused on different aspects of the Federal Government’s economic reform agenda.
A statement from her office today said that the minister gave an address to the Global Parliamentary Conference, alongside parliamentarians from around the world, focused on Nigeria’s economic reform agenda and the need for strong executive and legislative collaboration.
The statement said that Adeosun told senior representatives from the World Bank and IMF as well as over 150 parliamentarians, the need for greater focus on collaboration in illicit financial flows from Africa as a core pillar of the government’s strategy to significantly enhance domestic government revenue and deliver sustainable economic growth.
“The government is focused on resetting the Nigerian economy by addressing our traditional over-reliance on oil revenues and establishing the basis for sustainable non-oil revenue growth. To improve non-oil revenues, we have to address illicit capital flows. When stolen money is transferred from Nigeria, or other African countries, there are too few questions asked by those countries that receive the funds, but when we identify those funds as stolen and seek to recover them, there are too many questions being asked. There is money sitting in foreign bank accounts that we have spent over a decade trying to recover. That is money that could deliver significant value for Nigeria as we seek to increase spending on critical infrastructure and establish a basis for long term sustainable growth. I hope that the Automatic Exchange of Information scheme coming into force next year will be a step towards achieving greater transparency, but we need more collaboration amongst parliamentarians in Africa, and across the World to ensure that this situation improves and that recipient countries are held to account.”
Speaking on the domestic agenda to ensure significant reductions in ‘leakages’ of public funds, and improved efficiency in public expenditure, the minister was quoted as saying: “we are going after those who have stolen our money. We have put in place a very successful whistle blower programme that is delivering results, and allows those who report illicit activity to receive up to 5% of any funds that we recover. We are also significantly improving our financial management controls to ensure that it is considerably more difficult for public funds to be diverted. We have to do more though and that means collaboration with the legislature. We need tighter tax and financial reporting legislation and to ratify bilateral agreements so that our enforcement agencies are empowered to deliver the results that we need.”
The statement said that Adeosun will be attending a series of meetings over the coming days, including meetings with the World Bank to take forwards conversations about lending into strategic sectors of the economy as part of the administration’s focus on addressing Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit and accelerating implementation of critical projects. [myad]
I have just returned from Abuja travelling through the Kaduna airport. As we disembarked from the aircraft and moved towards the arrival section, I could hear an announcement being made. The diction of the announcer was clear. She didn’t sound like those On-Air-Personalities (OAP, they are called) who speak as if they have hot water on their tongues. Airport continuity announcers in Nigeria tend to imitate these OAPs.
This has been for me a great source of irritation. The last time I travelled from Lagos to Abuja, for example, I missed my flight because I just could not figure out what was being said. I was stranded because someone chose to speak fake English. The electronic boards at Nigerian airports where they are available, are unreliable and so, you invariably have to rely on those announcements.
The way I go round this sabotage is to keep asking people, or going to the departure gate to find out if the flight had been called or not. So, when I got to Kaduna and found a difference, I was glad that the bad habit at the Lagos and Abuja airports had not yet been exported to Kaduna. It was also the first time I would travel in that direction since the Abuja airport was shut down and traffic was diverted on March 8, to Kaduna, to allow the Federal Government repair the damaged runway in Abuja. Six weeks, they said it would take. I found myself in Kaduna five weeks later.
I met an upgraded Kaduna International Airport. The upgrade is not yet completed but I hope when the diverted traffic from Abuja disappears, the uncompleted parts of the airport will be sorted out and the airport can be put to better use, and not abandoned, and the investment would not be allowed to waste. At the arrival section, a group of persons reiterated the announcement that had been made as we arrived. “Free buses to Abuja are available, please join the buses outside to take you to Abuja, show your ticket and boarding pass please”. Another lady said: “if you want to travel by train, please join the buses outside to take you to the train station, it is free.” This got me curious.
It turned out that the Federal Government had indeed made arrangements to make life easier for persons who had to travel from the Kaduna airport to Abuja. I took a look at the buses. Chisco buses. Coaster buses. I also spoke with a few persons who had travelled through the Kaduna airport en route Abuja. The feedback was positive. I was told the bus ride takes about three hours, the train ride about one hour, twenty minutes. But one guy differed.
“I think,” he said, “it is better to charter a cab. If you take a cab, you can get to Abuja in about two hours. If you take the bus, you may have to wait for the bus to fill up, and then for security reasons, the drivers will not drive fast, if you are not careful, you could be on the road for four hours.”
“I guess security is more important than speed”, I said.
“But they will go and drop you at the Abuja airport, and you will spend another one hour getting to the town, and in that case, you will still have to take a cab and pay.”
“Why Abuja airport?”
“That is what they do”
“But come to think of it, is it possible they will go and drop people in front of their homes?”
“Well, I am a man in a hurry. Time is everything. I don’t take the bus or the train. I just take a cab and move.”
“What of the helicopter shuttle?”
“I am sorry I don’t know anything about that. It is better and cheaper to take a cab.”
“And how much is that?,” I asked.
“Between N25k and N30k. But you can also join with other people. If two other persons join you to take a cab, you’d end up paying at most N10k.”
“But is it not better to go with what government has provided, for security reasons?”
“There is no serious danger on the road, particularly if you travel during the day, and not wait till it gets dark. There are policemen and FRSC men keeping watch all the way to Abuja. You don’t have to worry about anything. I have been on this route every week since they shut down the Abuja airport.”
I had an appointment to keep in Abuja and time was not on my side. I could not afford a four-hour journey, so I embraced the guy’s advice, and took the cab option, and just as I had been told, the road to Abuja was safe and stress-free. I made it in good time and did not miss my appointment. On my way back, two days later, the trip was even smoother and faster. But I ended up not travelling after spending so much time at the airport. My return ticket was wrongly booked: instead of Kaduna to Lagos, I had a Lagos to Kaduna ticket! This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though.
It gave me the opportunity to take a better look at the airport. At the VIP section, and elsewhere, the staff appeared polite and helpful, obviously delighted with their assignment. Free drinks, coffee and water, were offered at the VIP section. The missed flight also gave me the opportunity to spend more time with my friend and colleague, Umar Sani who lives in Kaduna. Umar Sani the Cat as I call him, is the Media Adviser to former Vice President Namadi Sambo.
I spent the night in his house, and as always we shared reminiscences. We exchanged views about the present and worries about the future. This was accompanied by day-long enjoyment of dollops of pounded yam, freshly prepared pepper soup with fish from Kogin Kaduna, delicious ram suya, and Hausa music from the old masters. One particular Hausa musician caught my attention, he actually sounded, beat by beat, like the late Yusuf Olatunji were it not for the difference in language.
But the night became darker when we received the news of the sudden and untimely death of Gordon Obua, our former colleague who served as Chief Security Officer to President Goodluck Jonathan. Obua, like many of the Jonathan boys, went through a lot in the last nearly two years. Umar Sani and I tried to reach many of our other colleagues. One said he was scared about tomorrow and what else would happen. Another said he was so sad, he just chose to go to bed. The grief was deep and widespread; the shared emotion was touching. Everyone worked with the CSO. Nobody can access the President or any part of the Villa, without an encounter with the CSO and his team. The Presidential Villa is not an ordinary workplace, it is, every part of it, a security zone.
Our return journey to the airport the following morning was less excitable, marked as it was by unspoken thoughts and pregnant reflections. I made it to Lagos.
Looking back, the Federal Government and the Kaduna State Government, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other stakeholders who were involved in managing the process of diversion of traffic from the Abuja airport to Kaduna deserve our commendation. They have not done badly at all. The airport handled many flights daily, including international flights by Ethiopian airlines – the only foreign airline operating in Nigeria that embarked on a voyage of faith and support to Kaduna. I am aware that some travellers have had cause to complain about the lack of a seating area at the ticketing section in Kaduna, the insistence of the airlines on cash payment, the absence of restaurants and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), and the relatively relaxed security around the airport at certain periods of the day. Nonetheless, I offer a pass mark.
Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation and Nasir el-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State both promised that there would be no problem. They have so far kept their word. We may just have found in the management of the rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport, and the diversion of traffic to Kaduna, a template for inter-governmental co-operation and government-civil society strategic interface on key national issues.
When the idea of the diversion was first mooted, we were all skeptical. Foreign airlines operating in Nigeria kicked, other stakeholders in the aviation sector protested, the general public was worried. I wrote a piece titled “Before the Abuja airport is shut down” (January 10) in which I gave voice to these concerns. I accused the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria of incompetence and inefficiency, citing the mismanagement of the renovation of the Port Harcourt and Owerri International Airports. In other countries, airport runways are not abandoned for 21 years, and if they have to be repaired, the entire airport is not shut down and travellers put through discomfort. In Glasgow, Scotland, an entire runway was fixed within weeks of off-traffic operation, at night. I later wrote another piece – “A visit to the Gusau Institute” (February 7) in which I complained, parenthetically, about the horrific nature of the Kaduna-Abuja road and the likely threat to travellers.
Criticism obviously helps but that is if the concerned party is willing to listen. Optics also matters. Stakeholders complained previously about the shambolic state of the Kaduna airport. I met a better airport, in varying stages of improvement. I wrote about the bad state of the road linking Kaduna and Abuja. The potholes seem to have been fixed. It also seems as if the state Governor has appealed to the bus drivers on that road to drive more carefully, the motorcyclists to stay off the highway and the trailer-drivers to be more circumspect. I also complained about how difficult it was to get information on the purchase of train tickets between Abuja and Kaduna. The Nigeria Railway Corporation may still have a lot to do to improve the quality of its services, but it managed in the last six weeks, to attract significant interest and patronage. Governance is not as difficult as it is made to appear- just do what is right and put the people first.
What remains all things considered, is the need to place greater emphasis on the value of maintenance culture as an element of the infrastructure management process. We tend to wait until everything breaks down in this country before we attend to them. We prefer the fire-brigade approach and although we love infrastructure, we do not have in place a system for maintaining assets. We have problems because we run government with the mentality of children. Children love new things, and are impressed by toys. But in due course, they spoil the toys or they get distracted and abandon them. In the same manner, government sets up structures, impresses itself and the public and then moves on until everything collapses. This institutionalized culture of waste and leakage is deplorable. It falls short of best practices elsewhere.
The Minister of Aviation says the Abuja airport is now ready and that it will be back to business on the promised date of April 19. He has taken journalists to the airport to assess progress. The Vice President and the Minister of Information also visited. The promptitude with which the Abuja airport renovation has been handled is un-Nigerian. I actually don’t mind if the Ministry of Aviation takes additional two weeks to get everything properly in place. When eventually traffic returns to the airport, the Federal Government and the Kaduna State Government should work together to ensure that the hopes that have been raised about the Kaduna airport are not dashed. The investments made there in the last six weeks should be well-managed and the still on-going upgrading of the airport should be completed. [myad]
Our nation is now a big theatre where farcical actions and events take place at a pulsating pace. And, keeping up with the tempo of the outlandish dramas that have grotesquely assailed our sensibilities have not been easy. The totality of the bizarre storyline centres on the recoveries by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of monies believed to be part of our looted commonwealth by some former and, possibly, serving government officials.
The EFCC has, in dramatic fashions, been recovering huge sums of monies from unusual places, far away from the strong rooms or vaults of banking institutions, purportedly on the prompting of some whistle blowers. So dramatic have the locations- airport, market isolated air-conditioned bungalow- and the magnitudes of the discoveries been that they have elicited equally dramatic reactions from different quarters.
The latest discovery of $43.4 million, N23.3 million and 27,800 pounds in a flat at the Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos, has unarguably been the biggest of such discoveries by the EFCC. How so much money could be kept outside the banking system and in a flat whose ownership has generated controversy speaks to the extreme degeneracy that has afflicted us as a nation.
One had thought that, by now, having had the grace to recover from the shock find and to realise that we were not dreaming after all, the federal government should have quickly cleared the mystery surrounding the ownership of the money through the instrumentality and superintendence of the superior intelligence of its security and investigative agencies.
Indeed, it was enough that the sheer magnitude of the discovery almost benumbed our sense of sanity and questioned our humanism; but to now attempt to throw mindless shenanigans into the mix in order to shield the real owner(s) of the monies in question is to portray Nigerians as fools. Even if we do not know how our commonwealth is being managed, at least, we should be fully briefed about this glaring and unconscionable diversion of huge public fund hidden in the Osborne Towers flat.
The undisguised attempts by the federal government and its agencies, particularly the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to befuddle the Nigerian people over the ownership of the money should be condemned and rejected by well-meaning Nigerians and the international community. NIA has claimed ownership of the money. But Nigerians have justifiably doubted the agency’s claim.
It is just not enough to put up such claim. There must be incontrovertible evidence to prove it; otherwise, the NIA would be deemed to be playing a fast one, in the circumstance, for reasons best known to it. Some people have even insinuated that the NIA might have resorted to this fatal gambit in order to shield the real owner(s) of the monies.
And Nigerians are reasonably anguished. They are aware that, more than ever, they are being taken for granted by a government which is a custodian of their sacred mandate. Governance is no longer about the people, but about the few privileged elite who have taken advantage of public office to plunder our commonwealth. The owner(s) of the monies is (are) believed to enjoy the sympathy and, possibly, the protection of government.
The NIA claim of ownership is finding it difficult to fly. Or, is the NIA trying to appropriate the monies in the hope that nobody would be courageous enough to come forward to claim ownership? Or, is it acting to protect the real owner(s) for some pecuniary interests? Sincerely, I am not taken in by the NIA claim. The agency has a well-fortified office in Abuja to warehouse its funds for covert operations.
It thus beggars belief that the agency would choose to use an unguarded flat as a safe house for such a humongous amount. Nigerians have asked good questions since the bizarre discovery was made: who is or are the owner(s) of the flat? That can be ascertained. If the owner(s) of the flat leased it out, then to whom did the owner(s) lease it? That also can be verified. The relevant investigative agencies can follow the trail. In between the leaser(s) and the lessee(s), the mystery over ownership can be unraveled.
Dramatically, the governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, has come out to say that the money belongs to Rivers state. The plank on which he has grounded his claim is understandable. Amid the controversy over the ownership of the flat where the monies were found, a series of speculative claims have been made, which linked some individuals with the flat. Former governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, who is the incumbent minister of transportation, was one of those who have suffered the misfortune of being mentioned. He has denied ownership of the flat.
The latest media reports, as of press time, were tending in the direction of the existence of some documents -deed of assignment, et al – that point in the direction of NIA ownership. Still speculative as the reports might be, I just hope it is not an attempt to perfect the agency’s gambit to appropriate the monies, the existence of which it did not deem fit, before the discovery, to brief either President Muhammadu Buhari or the National Security Adviser (NSA) about. Why was it after the EFCC discovery that the NIA DG was moving round to brief those he should have briefed before the bust?
Indeed, the entire development has been deliberately made convoluted; and, an otherwise simple matter of pointing a finger of guilt to the culprit of the flat 7b Osborne Towers humongous cashgate, has been made much more complicated by the insincerity of government and some of its agencies. This is very depressing. President Buhari should feel very embarrassed that this is happening under his watch. Instead of seizing the big stage to flog the issue expeditiously, his government is dancing round the issue, perhaps, to protect some person(s).
If the government is thus indicted, then its chicanery will not only blow up in its face, it will also make nonsense of its much-trumpeted anti-corruption crusade. Nigerians who voted for the administration on the platform of its potential capacity to fight corruption to the finish can as well begin to sing the administration’s Nunc Dimittis. Sadly, Nigeria’s international image will suffer a further collateral damage on account of this shocking infamy.
However, I must commend the EFCC – whether it is seeking to impress the president or Nigerians – for the bust and its decision to go to a Federal High Court in Lagos to secure an order for temporary forfeiture of the monies to the federal government. This is salutary in that the court had given enough time for the owner(s) of the money to file an affidavit or a counter affidavit as the case maybe to prove claim of ownership.
The federal government must suspend any other action(s) that may be prejudicial to the court action. Whoever is claiming ownership of the monies should go to court to join issues with the EFCC on May 5; otherwise, the court should proceed to give an order for permanent forfeiture of the monies to the federal government.
And, once that is done, it should settle the matter conclusively. Our angst as a nation would be assuaged if the monies are judiciously and transparently used for programmes, projects and polices that will promote the welfare of the citizenry; otherwise, it will turn out a much monumental tragedy if the monies are re-diverted into the pockets of some smarter public officials, who will, eventually, scornfully laugh at us. That is the real concern.
Former member of the House Representatives, Dr. Haruna Yerima has alleged that most of the members of the National Assembly are bench-warmers and can never contribute to any form of legislative duties.
Yerima, who spoke at the 34th Aminu Kano Annual Memorial Symposium held in Kano, said: “I have a colleague who spent 12 years in the NASS but had never seconded a motion not to talk of moving it on the floor of the house.
“The problem is that most of our legislatures are attached to their governors and are dancing to their tunes.”
He insisted: “we have to make our legislative members and senators understand what democracy is all about. We have to make them understand the rules of the house and the constitution even if they cannot read and write.”
Dr. Yerima also alleged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo gave N50 million bribe to each member of the National Assembly that supported his third term bid, saying that some lawmakers accepted it, while others turned it down.
“In the House of Representatives, I was the only member who rejected the Obasanjo’s third term bid and that was what led to my exit from the House.”
He is sure that there is nothing anyone can do at the moment to stop corruption in the National Assembly. [myad]
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has certified the rehabilitated Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, safe and ready for commercial flight operations.
NCAA’s Director General, Captain Muktar Usman, told newsmen today, Monday, that the final inspection has been done and they were satisfied.
”Well, as you can see, we have just done the final inspection of the runway rehabilitation and reconstruction of Abuja International Airport. It is done and it is quite satisfactory.
“We inspected yesterday and we made some observations but the findings that we found were not safety critical and today we found that they have been rectified.
“So, the airport, the runway is very ready to accept flight operations safely. By this we are declaring that the airport and its runway are quite operational at the time that has been determined as the official opening of this airport.”
Capt. Muktar said that the NCAA has carried out the inspection and confirmed that the job has been done quite satisfactorily in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Standard and recommended practices.
“The normal thing is to inform the aviation world through what we called, Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and that has been done and all aviators now know the airport is ready for reopening.”
On calibration, he said: “nothing has been tampered with as far as the instrument landing system is concerned and everything is in calibration. Calibrations are normally scheduled and very soon this airport will also be calibrated along with other airports.
“It is not as if there is need for recalibration because nothing has been distorted. It will be normal routine calibration which will be applicable to other airports that are due for recalibration.”
Also speaking to newsmen, the FAAN MD Engr Saleh Dunoma, said “we are very ready. All the repairs have been completed on the runway.
“Previously, when you come here, you see various construction equipment on the runway, but today, you can see through from one end to the other. That is from runway 04 to 022, their is no equipment on site. The runway has been cleared.” [myad]
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced the use of Form X for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that requires just basic documentation. This is part the determination of the apex bank to increase foreign exchange liquidity and improve access to the SMEs) and retail businesses
Confirming the new development, the apex Bank spokesman, Isaac Okorafor, said that the innovative measure is intended to ease documentation challenges usually encountered by this category of businesses.
He explained that the new form which must be completed by all SME applicants requires the applicant to fill the form with a supporting application letter as well as beneficiary invoice and bank wire transfer.
The objective of the new guideline, he added, is to remove obstacles usually encountered by those whose forex needs for either visibles or invisibles were as small as or less than $10,000.
He reiterated the apex bank’s determination to continue to ensure adequate supply of forex for genuine transactions in the coming days. [myad]
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Our Moments Of Anger, By Sufuyan Ojeifo
Our nation is now a big theatre where farcical actions and events take place at a pulsating pace. And, keeping up with the tempo of the outlandish dramas that have grotesquely assailed our sensibilities have not been easy. The totality of the bizarre storyline centres on the recoveries by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of monies believed to be part of our looted commonwealth by some former and, possibly, serving government officials.
The EFCC has, in dramatic fashions, been recovering huge sums of monies from unusual places, far away from the strong rooms or vaults of banking institutions, purportedly on the prompting of some whistle blowers. So dramatic have the locations- airport, market isolated air-conditioned bungalow- and the magnitudes of the discoveries been that they have elicited equally dramatic reactions from different quarters.
The latest discovery of $43.4 million, N23.3 million and 27,800 pounds in a flat at the Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos, has unarguably been the biggest of such discoveries by the EFCC. How so much money could be kept outside the banking system and in a flat whose ownership has generated controversy speaks to the extreme degeneracy that has afflicted us as a nation.
One had thought that, by now, having had the grace to recover from the shock find and to realise that we were not dreaming after all, the federal government should have quickly cleared the mystery surrounding the ownership of the money through the instrumentality and superintendence of the superior intelligence of its security and investigative agencies.
Indeed, it was enough that the sheer magnitude of the discovery almost benumbed our sense of sanity and questioned our humanism; but to now attempt to throw mindless shenanigans into the mix in order to shield the real owner(s) of the monies in question is to portray Nigerians as fools. Even if we do not know how our commonwealth is being managed, at least, we should be fully briefed about this glaring and unconscionable diversion of huge public fund hidden in the Osborne Towers flat.
The undisguised attempts by the federal government and its agencies, particularly the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to befuddle the Nigerian people over the ownership of the money should be condemned and rejected by well-meaning Nigerians and the international community. NIA has claimed ownership of the money. But Nigerians have justifiably doubted the agency’s claim.
It is just not enough to put up such claim. There must be incontrovertible evidence to prove it; otherwise, the NIA would be deemed to be playing a fast one, in the circumstance, for reasons best known to it. Some people have even insinuated that the NIA might have resorted to this fatal gambit in order to shield the real owner(s) of the monies.
And Nigerians are reasonably anguished. They are aware that, more than ever, they are being taken for granted by a government which is a custodian of their sacred mandate. Governance is no longer about the people, but about the few privileged elite who have taken advantage of public office to plunder our commonwealth. The owner(s) of the monies is (are) believed to enjoy the sympathy and, possibly, the protection of government.
The NIA claim of ownership is finding it difficult to fly. Or, is the NIA trying to appropriate the monies in the hope that nobody would be courageous enough to come forward to claim ownership? Or, is it acting to protect the real owner(s) for some pecuniary interests? Sincerely, I am not taken in by the NIA claim. The agency has a well-fortified office in Abuja to warehouse its funds for covert operations.
It thus beggars belief that the agency would choose to use an unguarded flat as a safe house for such a humongous amount. Nigerians have asked good questions since the bizarre discovery was made: who is or are the owner(s) of the flat? That can be ascertained. If the owner(s) of the flat leased it out, then to whom did the owner(s) lease it? That also can be verified. The relevant investigative agencies can follow the trail. In between the leaser(s) and the lessee(s), the mystery over ownership can be unraveled.
Dramatically, the governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, has come out to say that the money belongs to Rivers state. The plank on which he has grounded his claim is understandable. Amid the controversy over the ownership of the flat where the monies were found, a series of speculative claims have been made, which linked some individuals with the flat. Former governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, who is the incumbent minister of transportation, was one of those who have suffered the misfortune of being mentioned. He has denied ownership of the flat.
The latest media reports, as of press time, were tending in the direction of the existence of some documents -deed of assignment, et al – that point in the direction of NIA ownership. Still speculative as the reports might be, I just hope it is not an attempt to perfect the agency’s gambit to appropriate the monies, the existence of which it did not deem fit, before the discovery, to brief either President Muhammadu Buhari or the National Security Adviser (NSA) about. Why was it after the EFCC discovery that the NIA DG was moving round to brief those he should have briefed before the bust?
Indeed, the entire development has been deliberately made convoluted; and, an otherwise simple matter of pointing a finger of guilt to the culprit of the flat 7b Osborne Towers humongous cashgate, has been made much more complicated by the insincerity of government and some of its agencies. This is very depressing. President Buhari should feel very embarrassed that this is happening under his watch. Instead of seizing the big stage to flog the issue expeditiously, his government is dancing round the issue, perhaps, to protect some person(s).
If the government is thus indicted, then its chicanery will not only blow up in its face, it will also make nonsense of its much-trumpeted anti-corruption crusade. Nigerians who voted for the administration on the platform of its potential capacity to fight corruption to the finish can as well begin to sing the administration’s Nunc Dimittis. Sadly, Nigeria’s international image will suffer a further collateral damage on account of this shocking infamy.
However, I must commend the EFCC – whether it is seeking to impress the president or Nigerians – for the bust and its decision to go to a Federal High Court in Lagos to secure an order for temporary forfeiture of the monies to the federal government. This is salutary in that the court had given enough time for the owner(s) of the money to file an affidavit or a counter affidavit as the case maybe to prove claim of ownership.
The federal government must suspend any other action(s) that may be prejudicial to the court action. Whoever is claiming ownership of the monies should go to court to join issues with the EFCC on May 5; otherwise, the court should proceed to give an order for permanent forfeiture of the monies to the federal government.
And, once that is done, it should settle the matter conclusively. Our angst as a nation would be assuaged if the monies are judiciously and transparently used for programmes, projects and polices that will promote the welfare of the citizenry; otherwise, it will turn out a much monumental tragedy if the monies are re-diverted into the pockets of some smarter public officials, who will, eventually, scornfully laugh at us. That is the real concern.