Governor Adams Oshimhole of Edo state has lamented the lawlessness that is being perpetrated by four Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the state House of Assembly with full connivance and back up of men and officers of the Nigeria police in the state. Oshiomhole, who spoke to newsmen at the side of the National Council of State meeting held at the Presidential Aso Villa today, said the PDP members have chosen to disregard a High Court ruling barring them from entering the Assembly even as the police continue to give them cover to disrupt peace in the state. The governor said that as a unionist who had spent most parts of his adult life fighting the government and bad system, he would not allow himself to be intimidated by the federal government, using Police and four renegade members of the state House of Assembly. He narrated how the four members decided to create unnecessary confusion in the governance of the state simply because they wanted to show their masters in Abuja that they are strong. “The good people of Edo state know their antics and have placed them where they belong. They even asked the High Court that barred them from the premises of the Assembly to go to hell. That no court can stop them from doing what they want to do. “What is happening in Edo state is a celebration of lawlessness by just four suspended PDP members of the House of Assembly with police providing them support.”
Facing censure at home and overseas for a perceived failure to protect civilians from violent Islamists, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has launched an international media offensive to try to turn the tide of public opinion in his favour.
But those efforts have backfired abroad, where many greet his defence with scepticism, and at home, where he was slated for hiring U.S. public relations (PR) firm Levick for $1.2 million, in what critics called a waste of money.
Jonathan, and Nigeria as a whole, have suffered a worsening image problem since Islamist militant group Boko Haram kidnapped more than 276 school girls from the northeast village of Chibok, Borno state, in mid-April. Over 200 remain in captivity.
The attack overshadowed Nigeria becoming Africa’s biggest economy after a GDP rebasing in April, and its hosting of the World Economic Forum in May. Security is a major headache ahead of national elections in February that are likely to be the closest-fought since democracy returned in 1999.
An opinion piece by Jonathan in the Washington Post last month – in which the president wrote “nothing is more important than bringing home Nigeria’s missing girls,” but added that he had to “remain quiet” for their safety – drew open scorn.
Soon after, the Washington Post’s Karen Attiah published a satirical send-up of Jonathan’s op-ed. Her piece included lines such as: “Nothing is more important than stopping the machinations of Boko Haram, except maybe my desire to keep up appearances and show the international community that Nigeria was winning the war against the group.”
Analyst Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives, thinks the president’s timing was wrong.
“That op-ed backfired partly because the negative narrative was still so strong,” he told Reuters. “But often the PR guys advising want the upfront fees and don’t care about the result.”
Jonathan’s media team declined to comment on their PR strategy. A presidency source confirmed Levick’s contract but said such PR initiatives were standard practice for governments.
“All over the world governments engage PR firms and lobbyists to achieve certain objectives within a particular time frame,” the source, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
In this case those objectives involve reversing months of damaging publicity over the Chibok girls’ abduction, magnified by a #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign that drew in celebrities including Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie.
In the past week Jonathan’s articulate and Washington-savvy Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has toured the world doing press interviews, for example with CNN’s Christine Amanpour.
These often include earnest assertions that the Nigerian president is “doing his best” to get the girls back.
Ultimately, the bad publicity is unlikely to doom Jonathan’s 2015 re-election chances. In Nigeria, patronage can produce a ballot win more reliably than perceived performance, analysts say, as was proved in last month’s governorship poll in southwestern Ekiti state.
There, incumbent Kayode Fayemi, a well-spoken reformer with a track record of improving services was ousted by a populist former governor from the ruling party whose team gave out tens of thousands of bags of rice to voters ahead of the poll.
“BATTERED IMAGE”
Jonathan’s supporters and the army – the defense spokesman did not respond to a request for comment – see PR as a key part of the war against Boko Haram. They view each negative report on the security forces or president as a psychological victory to the “terrorists”. And there have been a lot of them.
First the military was pilloried for not protecting the Chibok school or responding quickly enough to a distress call. Then the absence of information on the girls’ whereabouts – and a bungled statement from the military briefly claiming to have rescued them from which it later edged away – worsened things.
Footage circulating showing Jonathan dancing at a political rally in the northern city of Kano shortly after the mass abduction didn’t help, neither did comments from Jonathan’s wife Patience, in which she publicly told the protesting parents of the abducted girls in the capital Abuja to “go back to Borno.”
“No PR firm can save Jonathan’s battered image,” Jibrin Ibrahim, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a Nigerian NGO, wrote in the local Premium Times website. “Forget the public relations firm and concentrate on the task … The government did nothing for over three weeks.”
Jonathan’s administration says that is unfair, arguing it faces an enemy that is mobile over a wide, remote area and with a track record of wanton killing of civilians, so any rushed rescue could end up in a bloodbath. But few are convinced.
“Best wishes to Levick, merely the latest in a long line of Western image consultants that Nigerian governments have been known to routinely engage for miracle-working purposes,” popular blogger Tolu Ogunlesi wrote in local daily The Punch last week.
Ogunlesi told Reuters that “this time the stakes are so much higher. You’re dealing with a major national embarrassment.”
A weak response is to always deflect blame for Nigeria’s problems onto foreign elements, Ogunlesi added, such as Jonathan describing Boko Haram as al Qaeda in West Africa.
REVERSED PERCEPTIONS
Ironically, many of the characteristics for which Jonathan is now being publicly vilified – a perceived indecisiveness and weakness in the face of a determined foe – were what initially attracted voters fatigued with decades of bullying strongmen.
His initial humility, quiet demeanor, apparent openness to listening and an unpolished manner of speaking may at first have won Nigerians over. Now they cringe when he mumbles on international TV.
“He was something refreshing at the beginning,” Nigerian columnist Cheta Nwanze told Reuters. “But the office of the president is supposed to carry a lot of weight. Damage has been done by his being exposed to ridicule.”
Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Chief Ernest Shonekan, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar at the Council of State Meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today.
Nigeria soldiers were said to have captured the stronghold of the fighting members of Boko Haram after a fierce battle over the weekend, resulting in the loss of at least six Nigeria soldiers. According to the Director of the Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade in a statement, the cleared stronghold of Boko Haram is located in Balmo forest which stretches from Bauchi through Jigawa States with links to the fringes of Sambisa forest. This base has been used by the terrorists as hideouts from where they launch attacks on various communities. General Olukolade said that well-armed terrorists operating in the forests have been completely rooted out while some have been captured during the operation. Among those captured, according to him, were two foreigners who are suspected to be mercenaries. Also captured, he added, are several weapons and equipment, including power generating sets, communication equipment, vehicles, motorcycles, foodstuff and kitchen utensils. The information director said that over 44 members of Boko Haram were killed in another military operation in Kerenoa and adjoining communities. He said that their attack on the communities was repelled, adding that they were armed with IEDs and other high caliber weapons. “A large number of terrorists had carried out a predawn attack on the communities but met with stiff resistance of the troops. During the operation, several of them were captured as well as weapons and ammunitions of various calibre.” General Olukolade said that troops on routine patrol around Banki and Miyanti in Borno State also fought through an ambush laid by terrorists resulting in casualties on both sides. “Altogether, a total of 6 soldiers were lost in the various encounters with terrorists during the weekend while those wounded are receiving treatment.” [myad]
Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has revealed that the country’s ten-year accumulated pension assets are now N4.21 Trillion as against the deficit of about N2 trillion (USD 12.9b) in 2004. The President, who declared open on Monday, the World Pension Summit ‘Africa Special’ in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, recalled that the Pension Reform Act was enacted by the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 2004,, to address the recurring challenges experienced in the administration of pension and to enhance efficiency in the system. “This reform initiative established the Contributory Pension Scheme, for the public and private sectors. “In ten years of sustained policy innovation and meticulous management, these have facilitated confidence and credibility in our pension system and administration. The President said that apart from strengthening the pension institutions, the pension Act has enable the government to restructure the system of administration of the defunct Defined Benefits Scheme in the public service. The government under the Act, according to Jonathan, set-up the Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD) and appointed its substantive Head, in order to improve the scheme. “Our goal is to digitize pension payments and streamline payment procedures to ensure prompt and ease of payment of pension benefits.” President Jonathan announced that he had just signed into law, the new Pension Reform Act 2014, which repealed the 2004 Pension Reform Act. “The new law seeks to consolidate the gains of reform, address the identified implementation challenges and provide the enabling legal environment to facilitate the creation of quality instruments through which pension assets could be best invested for infrastructure and real estate development.” The President is confident that these fresh initiatives will assist in consolidating the remarkable achievements recorded by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme, over the last ten years, for the benefit of contributors, and the entire economy. He expected that PenCom would put in place the necessary regulatory and supervisory framework to facilitate and accelerate the objectives of the reform. “Most especially, ensuring the safety of pension assets and hence, workers’ security in retirement. I believe that other African countries share similar experiences, and reform zeal, as Nigeria and it is encouraging that a number of African countries have visited Nigeria, to understudy our pension reform and share ideas which we believe can be useful to the entire continent. “As we commit to share experiences and seek growth, let me conclude by emphasizing that the protection of pension assets for the payment of retirement benefits, as and when due, should always be our paramount objective. “I am confident that participants will seize the ample opportunity offered by this inaugural World Pension Summit ‘Africa Special’ to reflect and share experiences on how best to fine-tune African pension systems to globally acceptable standards, while retaining tailored and unique adaptations.”
Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III has made it clear that the Boko Haram insurgency and other form of insecurity in the country are just part of the struggle by politicians to gain upper hands against one another in the 2015 elections.
The Sultan who spoke during a chat with journalists at a Ramadan dinner held in his palace in Sokoto, Sunday night, maintained that the rising wave of violence and wanton killing of innocent citizens is being geared towards 2015 elections, adding that the incessant killing of innocent citizens is all politics.
According to him, politicians are behind the myriad of problems ravaging the country.
“Politicians are the main problem of this country. The whole issue of insecurity problem in this country is geared towards 2015 election and nothing more. If there is no election in 2015 and they said till 2030, everything will cool down.
“You see, everybody is trying to take his own position and put himself at a vantage point to gain an extra mile ahead of 2015. The whole thing is all about politics. That is why you see killings but what is paining us is that innocent people are being killed everyday, especially people that don’t even know what is politics.
“We are shedding too much blood of innocent Nigerians and God will not be pleased with us when we keep on shedding innocent blood because their cries mean a lot.”
Sultan Abubakar advised Nigerians to put aside their religion and ethnicity and come together to tackle the myriad of problems bedeviling the country, saying that those who are perpetrating the killings live among the people and as such, there is the need for concerted efforts by all and sundry in order to bring an end to the insurgency.
“The best thing is let us identify these problems, we need to just come together, let us leave religion and ethnicity out of this issue. Let us be sincere and trust ourselves by coming together to solve our problems.
“There are some insurgents killing our people how do we stop them? let us find a way to stop them. These people doing this are not spirits but human beings. So, let us work together to solve our problems.”
The Sultan stressed the need for the Federal Government to dialogue with the Boko Haram insurgents with a view to securing the freedom of over 200 school girls abducted in Chibok, Borno state. [myad]
With election into the executive committee of the Nigeria’s football ruling body, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), former governor of Abia state, Orji Uzor Kalu has INDICATED HIS desire to contest for the position of the President of the body.
Kalu told sports writers: “I am interested in becoming the next president of the NFF. I will run for the position if the atmosphere is good.”
Kalu, who served as governor for eight years in Abia state, said that Nigeria will be the first African side to win the world cup, with him in charge, stressing: “I believe Nigeria can win the world if I become the NFF president.”
Elections into the NFF board have already been fixed for the 26th of August and it is on that premise that Kalu believes he become the next NFF boss.
There is some controversy presently in Nigerian football with a high court injunction sacking the board of the Nigeria football federation led by Aminu Maigari. [myad]
The issue of state creation which members of the National Conference dabbled into since last week, is now threatening to tear the confab apart as some members said they have been short changed.
In a heated argument that ensued on the matter today, the former Nigeria Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Josephine Anenih had to advise the delegates to mind the way they speak, just as she advised the Chairman (Justice Idris Kutigi) “not to allow anyone raise your blood pressure. We don’t have to die because we want to make Nigeria great.” Trouble started today when Yusuf Abubakar, from Sokoto State, drew the attention of the Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi to the letter he said delegates from the northern part of the country sent to him on some of the decisions taken in the past. Kutigi had called delegates to suggest amendments or move for the adoption of the minutes of the debates and proceedings of Thursday. “So, Mr. chairman, it is very important to let us know your reply and we are serious about the issues we raised in the letter. We cannot adopt the minutes without hearing from you,” Abubakar said. He reminded the conference that it must abide by its rules that provides for a situation where, when a voice vote is taken and some delegates are not satisfied, he said those delegates have the right to call for a division. Kutigi however ignored him and called for further amendment to the reports, if there were any even as Abubakar insisted that the issue he raised must be addressed, saying that the conference had taken some decisions in error. A labour delegate, Mr, Issa Aremu, in his contribution, also faulted the recommendation for the creation of states, saying that it was wrong to create more states when those in existence according to him, were battling to pay salaries. This comment further emboldened Abubakar who stood up and said: “We are making error because the proceedings are wrong. “I won’t sit down because these are fundamental issues. It is my privilege under Order 10 Rule One that says all decisions shall be by consensus or be decided by 70 per cent of delegates present. I called for a division, but we are being ignored. We have to use the law and not convention.” At this point, Kutigi became angry and said, “I can rule you out of order. I then rule you out of order.” Another delegate, Aisha Madawaki, wondered how the names of the states were arrive at, and demanded the modalities used, insisting that the delegates were not consulted. Abdulsalam Olawale, in his submission, said it was wrong for the conference not to have named Ose as one of the states to be created, saying all the people from the area where the proposed state would be created have agreed to its creation. Mr. Robert Audu told the conference that the compilation of the states to be created was fraudulent, saying the list did not emanate from any of the conference committees. A traditional ruler from the South-West, Oba Aderemi Adedapo insisted that Oduduwa State was on the list of the states recommended to be created. “The agitation for the creation of this state, whose capital would be in Ile-Ife, has been on for the past 30 years. We want the state evaluate every Yoruba believe that he hails from Ile -Ife.”
Senator Ibrahim Idah also queried the allocation of two states to the North-West, when he said, the zone remains the most populated in the country, just as Mrs. Talatu Nasir from Katsna State, wondered why states like Kaduna were omitted. As delegates were booing many of the speakers, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari appealed to delegates to stop shouting down other delegates even if they did not agree with views being expressed. He reminded them and the conference leadership that the Northern Delegates Forum had drew the attention of confab leadership on the abuse of the Voice Votes and that they felt very strongly that amendments should not be considered as the final outcome of confab. He said confab leadership promised to look into the matter and urged the leadership to continue to guide the confab well. Gambari suggested that Confab must strictly follow the rules of procedure. He urged that the use of voice votes should be minimized. He went on to recommend that all amendments to issues should be sent to delegates earlier. He said all that he said are contained in the letter they sent to the confab leadership. A former Minister of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, regretted the action of some delegates, which he said was becoming negative when the conference was widening down. In anger, he said it was wrong for anyone or tribe to assume that Nigeria belongs to them, saying: “this country called Nigeria is made up of equal citizens, and that was the basis of its amalgamation. We are all the same and no one is bigger than the other. “We have children that went to some of the best schools in the world, so, no one should come to flaunt his professorship here. No one must insist that only his point of view should be reflected.” He particularly frowned at Prof. Awwalu Yadudu for a letter to another delegate, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi in which he said delegates from the north were withdrawing from a committee of 18 delegates who met earlier to arrive at positions on behalf of all the zones. He appealed to delegates to be united and avoid sentiments. Another former Minister, who was also a former Acting National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Haliru Mohammed said though he agreed that consensus had been used in reaching agreements and that the conference should stick to it, “The report of the committee is not sacrosanct and we should be allowed to meet and talk on issues that are not agreeable,” he said amidst shout of ‘no, no,” by some delegates. Yadudu sought for permission from Kutigi to respond to the issues raised by Clark and Dokpesi. He said it should be on record that Dokpesi was wrong to say what was circulated in form of agreement among the six zones was the decisions reached by the committee that Gambari and himself led. “No issue such as term of agreement between the zones were agreed,” he said. He added that Dokpesi was wrong to say he was not a member of the 18 delegates. He said he was a member alongside Bello Suleiman and Ruqayyat Rufai from the North-West Yadudu said he was not in the conference to scuttle it as being speculated. “In fact, on the contrary, I am one of those who made it possible for the confab to proceed as one of the 50 wise men”, he added. He said since he represents a people and express the views of such people who he said sent him to the conference, he had no regret over his actions. On the document, he insisted that it was nothing “but a set of agreements reached by the South-South, South-East, South-West and some elements of the middle belt.” [myad]
A 44 year old Manager of a new generation bank in Arepo, Ogun state, Mr. Habeeb Olatunde has committed suicide by hanging himself after taken excuse from office on account of being stressed up.
Olatunde, who was declared missing on June 18, was said to have taken his own life while he was on casual leave.
A statement from Ogun state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the death of the Bank chief, saying that his decomposing body was found dangling in an uncompleted building at Arepo, along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Saturday.
The statement read in part: “The police detectives attached to Ibafo Divisional Headquarters led by the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Salawu Jimoh, have discovered the body of one Mr Habeeb Olatunde, m, 44, native of Kwara State, the manager of a commercial bank,who was declared missing since June 18, 2014, in an uncompleted building at Arepo, near Ibafo, at about 1500hrs on Saturday July 5.
“The decomposing body was found hanged in the building when the police detectives arrived at the scene. Preliminary investigation revealed that the top bank official committed suicide by hanging.”
The Police said that his corpse had been released to his family for burial according to Islamic rite “as no mark of violence was found on the body and no foul play suspected.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye was reported as commending members of the community for their support and cooperation towards achieving adequate security of lives and property in Arepo and Ogun State in general.
“The commissioner also commiserated with the family of the deceased, members of his community and his colleagues in the office for the loss, praying that God would give them the fortitude to bear the loss,” the statement said. [myad]
The Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas has promised that Israel will “pay a tremendous price” after eight militants were killed overnight in Gaza. Five died after a missile reportedly struck a smuggling tunnel near Rafah.
The Israeli military said it had hit “terror sites and concealed rocket launchers” in response to rocket and mortar fire from the coastal territory.
Tensions have risen since a Palestinian youth was killed in apparent reprisal for the murder of three Israelis.
On Sunday, Israeli police said they had arrested six Jewish suspects in connection with the death of Mohammed Abu Khdair last week.
Hamas’s military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said Israeli aircraft had targeted a “resistance location” in the southern city of Rafah.
It initially said six of its members had died, but sources later told the BBC that one man was still alive.
Medical staff said a smuggling tunnel near the border with Egypt had been hit by a missile.
But some Israeli media quoted defence officials as saying the tunnel might have collapsed as a result of the militants’ explosives detonating accidentally.
The Qassam Brigades also said a drone had attacked a site in northern Gaza, killing one fighter, while two other militants were killed in a separate strike east of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. [myad]
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Governor Adams Oshimhole of Edo state has lamented the lawlessness that is being perpetrated by four Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the state House of Assembly with full connivance and back up of men and officers of the Nigeria police in the state.
A 44 year old Manager of a new generation bank in Arepo, Ogun state, Mr. Habeeb Olatunde has committed suicide by hanging himself after taken excuse from office on account of being stressed up.
President Jonathan’s PR Offensive Backfires In Nigeria And Abroad, By Tim Cocks