Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, has revealed how the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha allegedly bribed some top traditional rulers in the South West to truncate the Presidential election vctory of one of them, late Onakakanfo Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola in the June 12, 1993 controversial Presidential election. The Lagos monarch, spoke in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, during the visit of the Emir of Kano and former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Muhammed Sanusi II, to the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, at his palace. The monarch, who was the Lagos State Police Commissioner at the time, said that with the exception of one or two traditional rulers, other prominent Yoruba Obas collected bribe from the Abacha administration, declaring that he personally shared the money to the monarchs. The monarch said the traditional rulers collected the bribe from Abacha to assist the late Head of State to remain in office following the relentless protests that trailed his coming to power. He hinted that he has the names of the monarchs and the role they played, especially the Yoruba traditional rulers and vowed to expose them after the 2015 general elections. He was part of Emir Sanusi’s entourage to Ijebu-Ode after the latter had visited him at his Iga Idunganran Palace in Lagos on Saturday. Delivering his speech at the palace, Oba Akiolu disclosed that he had spoken with President Goodluck Jonathan to forgive and forget the errors that Mallam Sanusi might have committed as CBN Governor, adding that all humans are prone to errors. “The Awujale is not part of them (corrupt monarchs). When the time comes, I am going to expose those monarchs who were given bribes in order to aid the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, to remain in power. “I was a Commissioner of Police then in Lagos; I was at the meeting where money was being shared to the monarchs; I know those that collected money. I was given the share of Awujale to send it across to him, but I told them, right there that he will never collect the money and truly, when he was approached, he rejected it. “There are some monarchs that I personally gave their own share and they collected it from me. I have their names and when the time comes, I will expose them. I am not afraid of anybody; they are corrupt and those are some of the bad eggs in the traditional institution. These are the people, you (Emir of Kano) should be very careful of associating with.” He advised the Emir not to look down on his subjects, as they were the main source of his traditional power. It will be recalled that former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Bola Tinubu had during the 80th birthday of the Awujale last May taken a swipe at Yoruba Obas, saying that most of them soiled their hands during Abacha’s regime. Earlier in his welcome address, Oba Adetona applauded the contributions of the Emir to the economy of this country when he was the governor at the apex bank. Among dignitaries at the palace to join the monarch to receive his guests were the former governor of the state, who is also the Aremo of Ijebuland, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Senator Adegbenga Kaka, the three state commissioners from Ijebu Ode: Otunba Bimbo Ashiru (Commerce and Industry), Adebayo Fari (Forestry) and Olugbenga Otenuga (Physical and Urban Planning). Also present were members of the state Council of Obas and Ijebu chiefs, religious leaders, the Hausa community in Ijebuland. Mallam Sanusi explained that he decided to visit the two Obas in the South West because they were the only ones who identified with him during his coronation as the new Emir of Kano, adding that they were his adopted fathers.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is set to go into Presidential contest for the 2015 Presidential poll as he formally declares his ambition tomorrow morning on the platform of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), even against the backdrop of his being endorsed by a South-west caucus of the APC. A press statement by his media office in Abuja, said the former Vice President would make his formal declaration at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja at 10 O’clock in the morning. According to the statement, the activities marking the declaration would be a largely youth-focused event to emphasize Atiku’s passion for the challenges facing young men and women in the country. It said that Youth economic empowerment is one of Atiku’s cardinal objectives because he regards them as the fulcrum around which the development and future of Nigeria revolves, the statement noted. “In particular, the former Vice President is concerned about the alarming youth unemployment and he focuses on his policy objectives on the development of entrepreneurial skills for our youth so that they don’t have to depend entirely on the limited, if not elusive government jobs,” the statement added. Meanwhile, a caucus of the APC in the South-west zone has endorsed Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the party in the 2015 presidential election. The caucus, known as the Atiku Abubakar Collectives, made the announcement of its endorsement of the former Vice-President at an interactive session with Atiku yesterday. The group, which members were drawn from the six states of the South-west and Kogi State, and led by Chief Bode Ajewole, said its endorsement of Atiku was predicated on the former Vice President being the most experienced among all the likely contenders for the ticket of the party. According to Ajewole, “Atiku has shown that he has the capacity to restore the unity, peace and prosperity of our great country. “At such a time like this when our country is at the threshold of disharmony fuelled by mutual suspicion along ethnic and religious line, we need a strong leadership. A strong leadership by a bridge-builder; someone who understands the intricate nature of our geo-politics and strengthens the bonds of our unity as a people who share a common hope in a Nigeria for all Nigerians.” Responding to the endorsement of Atiku, Director General of Atiku Abubakar Campaign, Professor Babalola Borishade, said that it was important for supporters of Atiku to engage everyone within the APC and mobilize support for Atiku to emerge as the flag-bearer of the party. According to him, “Our focus now is how we win the primaries of the party. In doing so, we have to dread very carefully. The strategies for each state are different. I understand that some of you are national delegates of the party. But what is important is to build the momentum in the party that will make our candidate emerge victorious and avoid being confrontational with other contestants. We should make sure that the party stands united during and after the contest for the presidential ticket.”
Umbrella body of Nigerian Muslims, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), has raised seven questions over the $9.3 million seized from government agents by South African authorities last week even as it expressed dissatisfaction over the explanation by the Presidency that the money and the private aircraft in which it was discovered were on a mission to buy arms with which to prosecute the on-going war against insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East. In a statement issued in Kaduna, JNI raised seven questions about the issue, even as it challenged the National Assembly to debate the scandal and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe it and bring anyone who may have breached the law to book. The statement signed by its Secretary General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, a copy of which was made available to Newsmen said: “We at the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) are in disbelief over the recent news at both national and international media of impounding of a private jet in South Africa, laden with 9.3 million US DOLLARS in cash, purportedly to buy arms in that country. “What is more shocking is the said government’s full knowledge of it, despite its illegality and the attempt to intervene in such a scandalous matter which attracts the full weight of the law to address. There is more to the explanation given by the government on the matter. “Therefore government should tell Nigerians the real fact on the issue. We hope the matter will not be wheedled with. However, we note with dismay the unguarded utterances of some leaders that they will call on their followers to defend themselves. Also we note the uncourteous speeches attacking other leaders, which live much to be desired and over heat the polity. “The following posers are instructive: Is government short of official agents which necessitates assigning non official ones? “Why were the Presidential fleet of jets not used? “With the current trend of cashless financial transaction why is such huge amount carried in cash? “Isn’t arms deals executed via third party? “Where is the Ministry of Defence and the office of the National Security Adviser? “Was Due Process followed through relevant government agencies? “Are bilateral matters dealt with in that way? “Our Senators at the upper chamber and Representatives members at the lower chamber must rise to the occasion for special discussion on the matter as urgent public interest revolves on it, as it relates to threat to national security. “EFCC must wholly play its role in this direction by prosecuting those involved to adequately face the wrath of the law. It doesn’t matter whose ox is gored. “All relevant government agencies must also discharge their responsibilities without fear or favor showing the world that our country is serious. “For its internal and external integrity, government must clear off dabbling into issues which the Nigerian Law had properly addressed. We have been saying that certain elements are now fond of breaking the law with impunity, feeling super and above the law. “We appeal that justice be done by all concerned in order to serve as deterrent to those who feel they are above the law. “We are in support of any move in restoring peace and security and we will not waiver. We commend the efforts of security agents in the fight against terrorism and the successes so far achieved. “It is always our prayer to Allah the Exalted to restore back peace and security to our dear country and guide our leaders aright.”
Members of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), today, staged a walk out on other members who dismissed the seizure, by South African government, of a private jet belonging to the President of the Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, with $9.3 (about N1.6 Billion cash). The money was allegedly meant to procure arms for the soldiers fighting Boko Haram in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. The APC Reps insisted that there should no cover up of the case, which is still pending in South Africa. This House of Reps had, today, rejected a motion to investigate the matter with a voice vote, initiated by the presiding Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha. The motion favoured the majority, who opposed the debate. Membersf APC subsequently walked out on the House after the debate was stalled. Opposition lawmakers made it clear that from all indications, the PDP-led federal government has some explaining to make, even as they demanded that the matter must brought properly into the open. It would be recalled that the private jet with three people from Nigeria, including an Israeli, conveyed the money, said to have been intended for the procurement of arms and ammunition to South Africa. Last week, South African authorities dismissed the Nigerian government’s claim about the purpose of the seized funds as flawed discrepancies. The Federal Government had submitted data and transaction details to the South African authorities, insisting that the seized funds were not laundered or smuggled for any covert reasons.
A Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, capital of Taraba state has stopped a medical panel set up by the state House of Assembly to probe Governor Danbaba Suntai’s health status. The court today ruled the panel cannot continue to probe the health status of the governor because a case relating to the governor is pending the resolution of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Suntai’s ex-parte motion was filed before the court by Alex Izinyon. Mr. Izinyon was represented in court by a lawyer from his firm, Elijah Nyaro. It would be recalled that the state House of Assembly, led by the speaker, Josiah Sabo Kente had constituted a five-man medical panel woth Professor B.B Shehu as chairman and Dr. Inusa Samaila, Professor Peter Alabi, Dr. Shehu Sule and Dr. Ahmed Kara, Suntai’s personal physician, as members to determine Suntai’s state of health. The action followed a letter from the State Executive Council to the lawmakers to constitute a medical panel to ascertain the “mental and physical condition of the governor so as to know whether he is capable of steering the affairs of the state.” Suntai suffered serious injuries when a helicopter he was flying crashed near Yola, the Adamawa State capital on October 25, 2012. Earlier, the acting governor of the state, Garba Umar, had alleged that some people he called the ‘cabal’ are concocting an impeachment plot against him and Governor Suntai. Umar alleged, while speaking on BBC Hausa radio, that the cabal is bent on usurping power illegally in Taraba state. “Since they are saying my boss and I be impeached, it means they are not with him. They are lying; they just want to seize power illegally and there is no law that permits doing that in this country. The constitution must be abided by. “And I don’t even know what offence I committed that would warrant my impeachment.” He said that he and Governor Suntai had no misunderstanding but that some cliques are trying to satisfy their own political selfish ambitions by creating mischief where none existed.
Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory Administration has said that it requires a minimum of $3.8 Billion (about N600 Billion) of private sector capital to develop a total land area of 4,283.2 hectares in the territory. The distance of this area is averagely 20 minutes from the City centre and 15 minutes fromthe Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The FCT minister, Bala Mohammed made these known while addressing the 2014 conference of the Nigerians in Diaspora which took place at the Embassy Suites, Columbus, Ohio, US at the weekend. The Minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary of FCT, Engr. John Chukwu, asked Nigerians in Diaspora to think how they can contribute to the development of Nigeria. He said that the implementation thrust of the Transformation Agenda in FCT is to open up the Territory to unfettered private capital-driven development. He said that it is this thrust that made the FCT Administration to introduce the Land Swap programme as a catalysts for accelerated development. According to him, the private sector would be incentivized to provide site and services within the districts. He added that Government’s emphasis would be to provide the policy, legal regulatory environment for seamless private sector participation in the development of the districts. The benchmark, he said, is to open up by providing modern infrastructure in at least 10 new districts within five years. “Development is based on contractual Agreement with 15 Private Investors on the basis of the Land-for-Infrastructure Swap Framework; The total land area for the development is 4,283.2 hectares and projected to require a minimum of $3.8 Billion of private sector capital. The distance of this area is averagely 20 minutes from the City centre and 15 minutes fromthe Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.” He said the benefit analysis of the investment initiatives of the FCT Administration include creation of more than 300,000 jobs within the plan period; inflow of N1 trillion investment to the FCT; reduction of housing deficit by 20%; reduction of cost of rent/lease by 15%; increased funding to human capital development and enhanced security of lives and properties 20% of schooling population.” The theme of the 2014 conference is: “Nigeria’s Transformation Agenda and Leadership Accountability: The Role of Nigerians in Diaspora.”
Dr. Stephen Davis responded to an allegation by Ijaw activist and leader of the defunct Niger Delta Volunteers Force, Alhaji Mu¬jadid Asari Dokubo that he, Davis was play¬ing a script by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in his recent disclosure on the sponsors of Boko Haram. Asari- Dokubo had, in an interview in Yenagoa with The SUN newspaper, said that he was the first Nigerian that Dr. Davis negotiated with and that the international negotiator was being economic with the truth. Below is full text Dr. Davis’ response today made available to newsmen: “I read with interest Asari Dokubo’s comments published on September 14. Asari is quite correct in saying that he knows me well and has met members of my family. In 2004, the Niger Delta was aflame with conflict. Asari, Ateke Tom and Tompolo were waging a fierce war against the Nigerian federal and state governments. Many people had been killed. Nigerian military were having trouble contending with Asari’s guerrilla warfare. Small, highly mobile and heavily armed militant forces in fast boats struck across the Niger Delta targeting oil installations and military posts. Nigeria’s oil output at one point dropped to as low as 600,000 barrels per day and on average was halved to one million barrels per day. This was a devastating blow to Nigeria’s economy and the operations of the major international oil companies. Apart from the economic impact, communities were suffering from the conflict with many innocent people killed in military efforts to purge the communities of militants. My wife and I were living in Port Harcourt and, in 2004 I explored the idea of a peace deal with an Ijaw friend, Von Kemedi. As an Ijaw, he knew Asari who was also Ijaw. Von was able to make contact with Asari who agreed to meet with me. Von and I subsequently travelled through the swamps in a speed boat to Opurata village to see the damage to villages before transferring to a canoe that we paddled to another village from where we were met by Asari’s men in another fast boat. With a blindfold on we were taken to another island where we waited until another boat escorted us to Asari’s camp. A vigorous discussion took place that night surrounded by Asari’s well-armed fighters. By the end of the night, the foundation of a peace deal has been set down. I subsequently took the peace proposal to President Olusegun Obasanjo and found him ready and willing to support peace and disarmament. The deal also encompassed demobilisation and a programme to reintegrate the militants back into the communities. This required a skills training programme which President Obasanjo supported. A final essential element was weapons surrender and destruction. The protocol used was that set down by the UN and was agreed by both sides. I stayed in close contact with Asari by satellite phone each evening around 5pm. We worked out the details of the peace process. The first step was a ceasefire. The ceasefire was set in place on September 8, 2004, but in the following days was broken three times and each time it was the Nigerian military that broke the ceasefire. Even when under fire during a ceasefire breach Asari, honoured his word and withdrew, firing only for self-protection. To complete the peace deal, President Obasanjo directed me to oversee the extraction of Asari and his key commanders in September 2004. I travelled to the Niger Delta with a handful of SSS men headed by Fubara Duke, an Ijaw man known to Asari and trusted by President Obasanjo. At 1am on September 29, 2004 Asari, and his commanders met us at Abonnema Landing in the Niger Delta and we proceeded to Port Harcourt airport where we boarded a plane at dawn to take us to Abuja and direct to President Obasanjo in the Cabinet Room. That day was punctuated with amazing revelations as Asari recounted events that led him and his men to defy the government and launch a guerrilla style campaign. Asari always kept his word to me. He gave me an undertaking on the ceasefire and kept it even in the face of breaches by the military. When it came to time for weapons surrender, he asked me how many weapons I wanted him to surrender. I said, ‘ Asari you have 3,000 men, so I want 3,000 weapons.’ Asari gave a commitment to hand over 3,000 guns, 100 general purpose machine guns and some rocket launchers which were subsequently destroyed in a series of public destructions to UN standards overseen by the Army at Bori Military Camp in Port Harcourt in mid-November 2004. President Obasanjo kept his word and on October 1, 2004 the peace accord was announced and Asari and his commanders returned to the Niger Delta. Asari is correct is saying I never paid him anything. I never paid anyone and no one paid me either by way of funds or favours. President Obasanjo did not offer to pay me for the Niger Delta peace accord and I did not seek payment. The peace deal was built on trust. I went to Asari’s camp unarmed and without any security. Asari and his key commanders travelled with me and the small SSS contingent totally unarmed. We trusted each other with our lives and that built trust. There can be no peace without trust. Without trust, there is merely a ceasefire which will eventually be broken and the fighting resume. Asari said in his interview with the Daily Post that President Obasanjo broke his word. I am not so sure of that. What I think Asari may be referring to is the demobilisation and skills training that did not materialise after the peace accord. Funds were to be set aside to train the ex-militants for employment and to reintegrate them back into their communities. This phase of the work was to be undertaken by the state governors. By March 2005, a full six months had passed without any sign of training and reintegration. It was no surprise then to find 200 Niger Delta ex-militants had been recruited by foreign mercenaries to participate in a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. The ex-militants were intercepted as they departed Warri in a ship bound for Guinea. They had each been promised $5,000 and an AK47. Had the promised skills training and reintegration been implemented, these young men probably would not have agreed to join the coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. So Asari is right but it was more likely that the governors were not sincere and not former President Obasanjo. It was the governors that had armed, promoted and used the gangs for political purposes in much the same way that former Governor Modu Sheriff was alleged to have done in Borno State. It was this failure to honour the agreement to demobilise by providing skills training and reintegration that fuelled discontent and provided the conditions that formed MEND which added bombing and kidnapping to its mode of operation. Contrary to Asari’s understanding, former President Obasanjo did not bring me to Nigeria on my recent trip to seek the release of the Chibok girls or for any other purpose, nor did President Jonathan or anyone else. I came to Nigeria in April this year to seek the release of the Chibok girls at my own expense and of my own volition because I could see no progress on the release of the kidnapped girls. While Asari may not believe any girls were kidnapped, let me assure you that hearing the stories of some girls who have escaped from Boko Haram camps is a sobering experience. There are many girls who have been kidnapped apart from the girls from the Chibok School. The kidnapping of girls by Boko Haram has been going on for at least a year. Initially Boko Haram kidnapped girls because the fighters could not go back home to their wives. They used the kidnapped girls. Girls tell how they were raped every day, week after week. One girl was raped every day, sometimes several times a day by groups of men. Some did not survive the ordeal. The escaped girls tell harrowing stories of rape and abuse. They are traumatised and require medical treatment and counselling. These girls are testament to the horrifying truth about the kidnappings. But the Chibok kidnappings were only the start of my recent journey to Nigeria. It soon became apparent the (alleged) sponsors did not want any interference in their plan. The “political Boko Haram” which (allegedly) started out as Sheriff’s ECOMOG (so named after the military peace keeping forces operating in Liberia at that time because an SDP – Social Democratic Party – candidate was protected from an angry mob in Bama by a group of youths supporting the SDP) that targeted his political opponents in the 2003 and 2007 elections have since mutated into the Boko Haram we see today that terrorises through beheadings, butchering innocent villagers, bombing innocent people at shopping malls and in churches, raping and kidnapping. It is true that Sheriff fell-out with Yusuf and the allegation stands that when the military captured Yusuf in late July 2009 and handed him over to the police in Borno State, he was allegedly executed on Sheriff’s instruction; thus the root of the perception that Sheriff cannot be a sponsor but a hated enemy of Boko Haram. But the core of the old Yusufiya is no longer part of Boko Haram. Boko Haram is a mutation of political Boko Haram and Shekau’s Ansaru. The Yusufiya grew out of the Izala movement and had great respect for Izala. Boko Haram now beheads Izala followers. The “slaughterers” work with the political assassins and suicide bombers. The sponsors of Boko Haram do not care how many innocent Nigerians are slaughtered, how many women are raped, how many girls and boys are kidnapped, how many villages are plundered. I have met too many victims to say, “It is not my problem”. We are each diminished if we allow such crimes against our fellow citizens to persist. The Nigerian military is diminished if it uses Boko Haram tactics to address the problem. Evil will flourish and triumph if good men and women do nothing. Many Nigerian politicians have said little and done nothing to curb the slaughter of Nigerians that is being supported by the sponsors. While fathers die to protect their daughters and wives are raped and butchered the sponsors of Boko Haram are accorded privileges and protection. They fly in private jets and are accorded military protection. Are the sponsors of Boko Haram so far above the law? Have the citizens of Nigeria lost the right to bring these men to justice? Who will stand up for the poor and oppressed who are being slaughtered and raped in their hundreds? By the grace of God we trust that good men and women will stand up and justice will prevail.
The recent statement credited to the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Enwo-Agariwey in most Nigerian newspapers published on Monday September 15, 2014, stating in clear terms that Ohanaeze Ndigbo is not interested in the participation of Ndigbo to produce the President of Nigeria in the 2015 presidential election is heart-rending and the “unkindest cut of all.” In my 38 years active involvement in Igbo rights crusade, no Igbo leader occupying the exalted office of President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has gone this far in betraying the Igbo people. I was a very young member of the Igbo Forum as an undergraduate in 1976 when it was formed. The Forum had Dr. Akanu Ibiam as Chairman, Justice Daddy Onyeama as Vice Chairman, Chief Jerome Udoji as Secretary and Mr. Jacob Ukeje Agwu (my Uncle and Guardian) as Assistant Secretary. It was Mr. Agwu that brought me to the Igbo Forum. It was in 1979 that the name of the Forum was changed to Ohanaeze Ndigbo with the same officers in control. These men of unquestionable integrity did their utmost to restore the battered self-esteem of the Igbo people who had just came out of the debilitating fratricidal war, the Nigeria-Biafra War which ended in 1970. By the way, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was the Patron of the Igbo Forum and for a brief period the Patron of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Things began to go wrong in Ohanaeze when businessmen, government apologists and contractors began to lead the organisation. In 1979 under the chairmanship of Igwe M. N. Ugochukwu, a renowned contractor and the Traditional Ruler of Umunze in Orumba Local Government Area of Anambra State, Ohanaeze was misdirected to pander with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). This unfortunate partisan posture of the leadership of Ohanaeze angered Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and all his Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) associates and they pulled out of the organisation. Ohanaeze collapsed. It was not until 1983 that Ohanaeze was revived with the clear resolution to stay the organisation away from partisanship in order to ensure the respect and loyalty of Ndigbo. It remained on course and became a very powerful and respected mouthpiece of the Igbo people. But during the Presidency of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the leadership of Ohanaeze under Prof. J. O. Irukwu as President General aligned with the Third Term ambition of Obasanjo. This resulted in the first major factionalisation of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. A Committee led by Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu as Chairman and Chief Mike Ahamba as Secretary, amongst other notable members, including respected Clergymen brought Ohanaeze Ndigbo once again back on track with Dr. Dozie Ikedife as President General. In 2011 the leadership of Ohanaeze under the leadership of Amb. Raph Uwechue led Ohanaeze into full-blown partisanship. Ohanaeze Ndigbo became an appendage of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Even at that, Amb. Uwechue repeatedly assured Ndigbo that it would be their turn to go for the Presidency of Nigeria in 2015. This assertion of the Ohanaeze leader found eloquent and powerful expression in the Key Note Address he delivered at a Seminar in commemoration of the Ahiara Declaration in 2012. Here we are in 2014 to be assaulted and insulted by Chief Gary Enwo-Agariwey, the President General of Ohanaeze with the offensive and heart-breaking statement that Ohanaeze is not interested in the project of Igbo man becoming the President of Nigeria in the 2015 General Elections. Even the predecessors of Agariwey who towed the path he is following now clearly avoided the heresy of an outright betrayal of the legitimate aspiration of Igbo people by stating that the Pan-Igbo Organisation was not interested in an Igbo man vying to become the President of Nigeria. It may be necessary to remind Chief Agariwey that it was Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igboman that spearheaded the struggle for the independence of Nigeria. Dr. Azikiwe, an Igboman contested to become the First Prime Minister of Nigeria in 1963 on the platform of the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). He did not succeed in that bid but wisely led his Party to form a Coalition Government with the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). The fallout of that coalition was that while the NPC produced the Prime Minister in the person of Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, the NCNC produced the President And Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces in the person of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. The NCNC also produced the Speaker of the First Post-Independence Nigerian Parliament in the person of Dr. Jaja Wachukwu. Ndigbo stood to be counted and were respected in Nigeria. The creation of Mid-Western Region was made possible because of the collaboration between NCNC that led the struggle and the ruling NPC. In the Second Republic, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe contested twice to be President of Nigeria in 1979 and 1983. After 1983 when Dr. Azikiwe last contested for the President of Nigeria, Igbo people consigned themselves to the sideline and were practically missing in action in the politics of Nigeria until 20 years after, in 2003, when I founded the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). God used me to present to the Nigerian people on our Party platform Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu of blessed memory as Presidential Candidate. Whatever was the outcome of that election, Ndigbo stood to be counted and we were respected. In 201, the appropriation of APGA by agents of the Presidency had been virtually completed. To reward the Presidency for assisting their stooges to assume the leadership of APGA, the party adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as their candidate for the Presidential Election of that year unconditionally. Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu was terminally ill and incommunicado in a London Hospital at the time of this coupe de grace. The lie was even told that he gave his consent, but his son Chief Emeka Ojukwu Jnr. in a measured public statement stated that his father was not in any condition to communicate with anybody let alone making such weighty political commitment. In 2012, I led my associates across the country to found the United Progressive Party (UPP). The National Executive Committee (NEC) of UPP in its inaugural meeting in November 2012 graciously zoned its Presidential slot for the 2015 Presidential Election to the South-East geopolitical Zone in a very strategic initiative that has positioned our party very well for the impending epic encounter of 2015. The least that is expected of the leadership of Ohanaeze at this time is to appreciate and commend the UPP for giving the Igbo people of Nigeria a voice to be heard and a place to stand in the contest for the highest office of the land. The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo by the reckless statement he has made regarding the interest of Ohanaeze or lack of it in an Igboman vying for the President of Nigeria in 2015 is a grievous act of ingratitude to UPP, as well as the betrayal and sabotage of the Igbo collective aspiration. Neither Afenifere nor Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Ohanaeze counterparts in Yoruba and the North, will never be caught undermining the collective aspiration of their people. We demand the General Assembly of Ohanaeze to disown the statement credited to its President General and reassert their commitment to the well-being and welfare of the Igbo race in line with the vision of the founding fathers of Ohanaeze. On the other hand, Igboezue joins all well-meaning Nigerians, especially Ndigbo in commending and appreciating the kind gesture extended to the people of the South-East Zone by the party which will enable an Igboman to fly the Presidential flag, a situation that was last witnessed about 12 years ago. We have implicit confidence in the leadership of UPP and we shall accept in good fate any political alliance the party may wish to enter into which will be to our collective benefit and interest, and for the political development and stability of Nigeria. To Ndigbo, we urge them to take heart in the face of the Ohanaeze betrayal. The plague of the present leadership of the organisation shall one day become history like others before it. Ndigbo should remain prayerful. It shall be well. [myad]
No fewer than five leading members of the deadly Boko Haram were said to have surrendered and turned in their weapons to Nigerian troops in Konduga, Borno state. This Followedrelentless onslaught by Nigerian troops, launched on the sect in the past few days. In a tweet by the Defence Headquarters today, it said: “as the heat on the terrorists continues, five terrorists surrendered on Saturday (September 20, 2014) with all their weapons to troops at Konduga, pleading for mercy.” Other captured terrorists who refused to surrender have also been giving useful information on the subsequent plans of the group in an apparent offer to cooperate. In the last few days there have been several attempts by terrorists desperate to gain entry to Konduga which the Nigerian troops have continued to foil. A report by PRNigeria said that the terrorists’ move was aimed at recovering the bodies of their prominent fighters who had died in the previous encounters in the area. Meanwhile the Nigerian troops have recovered more weapons during mop-up operations while some of their (terrorists’) vehicles have been destroyed.
Nigerian President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Addressing UN General Assembly
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will on Wedneday, breif the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, the United States of America on the current state of affair in the fight against Boko Haram terrorist gang in Nigeria. The President, who left Nigerian in the early hours of today, is expected to join other members to attend the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. A statement from speicla adviser on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati said that President Jonathan will also, as part of his schedules, attend receptions hosted by President Barack Obama and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon. The statement, which was silent over the number of people in the entorage of the President, said that Jonathan is also scheduled to address the United Nations Security Council High-Level Session on “Threats to International Peace and Security, Caused By Terrorist Acts.” President Jonathan, Abati said, is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Mr. Ban Ki Moon and the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, adding that he will stop over in London for a brief private visit before proceeding to New York. The President will return to Nigeria on Thursday, the statement said.
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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is set to go into Presidential contest for the 2015 Presidential poll as he formally declares his ambition tomorrow morning on the platform of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), even against the backdrop of his being endorsed by a South-west caucus of the APC.
A Federal High Court sitting in Jalingo, capital of Taraba state has stopped a medical panel set up by the state House of Assembly to probe Governor Danbaba Suntai’s health status.
Dr. Davis Comes Clean On Main Sponsor Of Boko Haram
Dr. Stephen Davisand Asari Dokubo
Dr. Stephen Davis responded to an allegation by Ijaw activist and leader of the defunct Niger Delta Volunteers Force, Alhaji Mu¬jadid Asari Dokubo that he, Davis was play¬ing a script by former president Olusegun Obasanjo in his recent disclosure on the sponsors of Boko Haram.
Asari- Dokubo had, in an interview in Yenagoa with The SUN newspaper, said that he was the first Nigerian that Dr. Davis negotiated with and that the international negotiator was being economic with the truth.
Below is full text Dr. Davis’ response today made available to newsmen:
“I read with interest Asari Dokubo’s comments published on September 14. Asari is quite correct in saying that he knows me well and has met members of my family. In 2004, the Niger Delta was aflame with conflict. Asari, Ateke Tom and Tompolo were waging a fierce war against the Nigerian federal and state governments.
Many people had been killed. Nigerian military were having trouble contending with Asari’s guerrilla warfare. Small, highly mobile and heavily armed militant forces in fast boats struck across the Niger Delta targeting oil installations and military posts. Nigeria’s oil output at one point dropped to as low as 600,000 barrels per day and on average was halved to one million barrels per day.
This was a devastating blow to Nigeria’s economy and the operations of the major international oil companies. Apart from the economic impact, communities were suffering from the conflict with many innocent people killed in military efforts to purge the communities of militants.
My wife and I were living in Port Harcourt and, in 2004 I explored the idea of a peace deal with an Ijaw friend, Von Kemedi. As an Ijaw, he knew Asari who was also Ijaw. Von was able to make contact with Asari who agreed to meet with me.
Von and I subsequently travelled through the swamps in a speed boat to Opurata village to see the damage to villages before transferring to a canoe that we paddled to another village from where we were met by Asari’s men in another fast boat. With a blindfold on we were taken to another island where we waited until another boat escorted us to Asari’s camp. A vigorous discussion took place that night surrounded by Asari’s well-armed fighters. By the end of the night, the foundation of a peace deal has been set down. I subsequently took the peace proposal to President Olusegun Obasanjo and found him ready and willing to support peace and disarmament. The deal also encompassed demobilisation and a programme to reintegrate the militants back into the communities.
This required a skills training programme which President Obasanjo supported. A final essential element was weapons surrender and destruction.
The protocol used was that set down by the UN and was agreed by both sides.
I stayed in close contact with Asari by satellite phone each evening around 5pm. We worked out the details of the peace process. The first step was a ceasefire. The ceasefire was set in place on September 8, 2004, but in the following days was broken three times and each time it was the Nigerian military that broke the ceasefire. Even when under fire during a ceasefire breach Asari, honoured his word and withdrew, firing only for self-protection.
To complete the peace deal, President Obasanjo directed me to oversee the extraction of Asari and his key commanders in September 2004. I travelled to the Niger Delta with a handful of SSS men headed by Fubara Duke, an Ijaw man known to Asari and trusted by President Obasanjo.
At 1am on September 29, 2004 Asari, and his commanders met us at Abonnema Landing in the Niger Delta and we proceeded to Port Harcourt airport where we boarded a plane at dawn to take us to Abuja and direct to President Obasanjo in the Cabinet Room. That day was punctuated with amazing revelations as Asari recounted events that led him and his men to defy the government and launch a guerrilla style campaign.
Asari always kept his word to me. He gave me an undertaking on the ceasefire and kept it even in the face of breaches by the military. When it came to time for weapons surrender, he asked me how many weapons I wanted him to surrender. I said, ‘
Asari you have 3,000 men, so I want 3,000 weapons.’ Asari gave a commitment to hand over 3,000 guns, 100 general purpose machine guns and some rocket launchers which were subsequently destroyed in a series of public destructions to UN standards overseen by the Army at Bori Military Camp in Port Harcourt in mid-November 2004.
President Obasanjo kept his word and on October 1, 2004 the peace accord was announced and Asari and his commanders returned to the Niger Delta.
Asari is correct is saying I never paid him anything. I never paid anyone and no one paid me either by way of funds or favours. President Obasanjo did not offer to pay me for the Niger Delta peace accord and I did not seek payment. The peace deal was built on trust. I went to Asari’s camp unarmed and without any security. Asari and his key commanders travelled with me and the small SSS contingent totally unarmed. We trusted each other with our lives and that built trust.
There can be no peace without trust. Without trust, there is merely a ceasefire which will eventually be broken and the fighting resume.
Asari said in his interview with the Daily Post that President Obasanjo broke his word. I am not so sure of that. What I think Asari may be referring to is the demobilisation and skills training that did not materialise after the peace accord. Funds were to be set aside to train the ex-militants for employment and to reintegrate them back into their communities. This phase of the work was to be undertaken by the state governors.
By March 2005, a full six months had passed without any sign of training and reintegration. It was no surprise then to find 200 Niger Delta ex-militants had been recruited by foreign mercenaries to participate in a coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea.
The ex-militants were intercepted as they departed Warri in a ship bound for Guinea. They had each been promised $5,000 and an AK47.
Had the promised skills training and reintegration been implemented, these young men probably would not have agreed to join the coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. So Asari is right but it was more likely that the governors were not sincere and not former President Obasanjo. It was the governors that had armed, promoted and used the gangs for political purposes in much the same way that former Governor Modu Sheriff was alleged to have done in Borno State.
It was this failure to honour the agreement to demobilise by providing skills training and reintegration that fuelled discontent and provided the conditions that formed MEND which added bombing and kidnapping to its mode of operation.
Contrary to Asari’s understanding, former President Obasanjo did not bring me to Nigeria on my recent trip to seek the release of the Chibok girls or for any other purpose, nor did President Jonathan or anyone else. I came to Nigeria in April this year to seek the release of the Chibok girls at my own expense and of my own volition because I could see no progress on the release of the kidnapped girls.
While Asari may not believe any girls were kidnapped, let me assure you that hearing the stories of some girls who have escaped from Boko Haram camps is a sobering experience. There are many girls who have been kidnapped apart from the girls from the Chibok School.
The kidnapping of girls by Boko Haram has been going on for at least a year. Initially Boko Haram kidnapped girls because the fighters could not go back home to their wives. They used the kidnapped girls. Girls tell how they were raped every day, week after week.
One girl was raped every day, sometimes several times a day by groups of men. Some did not survive the ordeal. The escaped girls tell harrowing stories of rape and abuse. They are traumatised and require medical treatment and counselling. These girls are testament to the horrifying truth about the kidnappings.
But the Chibok kidnappings were only the start of my recent journey to Nigeria. It soon became apparent the (alleged) sponsors did not want any interference in their plan. The “political Boko Haram” which (allegedly) started out as Sheriff’s ECOMOG (so named after the military peace keeping forces operating in Liberia at that time because an SDP – Social Democratic Party – candidate was protected from an angry mob in Bama by a group of youths supporting the SDP) that targeted his political opponents in the 2003 and 2007 elections have since mutated into the Boko Haram we see today that terrorises through beheadings, butchering innocent villagers, bombing innocent people at shopping malls and in churches, raping and kidnapping.
It is true that Sheriff fell-out with Yusuf and the allegation stands that when the military captured Yusuf in late July 2009 and handed him over to the police in Borno State, he was allegedly executed on Sheriff’s instruction; thus the root of the perception that Sheriff cannot be a sponsor but a hated enemy of Boko Haram. But the core of the old Yusufiya is no longer part of Boko Haram.
Boko Haram is a mutation of political Boko Haram and Shekau’s Ansaru. The Yusufiya grew out of the Izala movement and had great respect for Izala. Boko Haram now beheads Izala followers. The “slaughterers” work with the political assassins and suicide bombers.
The sponsors of Boko Haram do not care how many innocent Nigerians are slaughtered, how many women are raped, how many girls and boys are kidnapped, how many villages are plundered. I have met too many victims to say, “It is not my problem”.
We are each diminished if we allow such crimes against our fellow citizens to persist. The Nigerian military is diminished if it uses Boko Haram tactics to address the problem. Evil will flourish and triumph if good men and women do nothing. Many Nigerian politicians have said little and done nothing to curb the slaughter of Nigerians that is being supported by the sponsors. While fathers die to protect their daughters and wives are raped and butchered the sponsors of Boko Haram are accorded privileges and protection. They fly in private jets and are accorded military protection.
Are the sponsors of Boko Haram so far above the law? Have the citizens of Nigeria lost the right to bring these men to justice? Who will stand up for the poor and oppressed who are being slaughtered and raped in their hundreds? By the grace of God we trust that good men and women will stand up and justice will prevail.
[myad]