January 2, 2014

PDP denies members defection to APC in Kaduna

Kaduna - The People's Democratic
Party (PDP) on Wednesday denied
the rumours making the rounds
that over 1 200 of its members,
including its executives had
defected to the All Progressives
Congress (APC) in Kaduna.

The Chairman of the party in
Kaduna North local government
area, Alhaji Abdullahi Babawo
disclosed this when he paid a New
Year visit to the NUJ secretariat in
Kaduna.

Babawo, said the rumours was
meant to cause disquiet within the
party and also discredit the
person of the Vice President,
Alhaji Namadi Sambo.

“Those behind the rumours were
the aggrieved members of the
party in the state, to cause more
crises, and to portray the vice
president as not politically
relevant at home.”

“I can assure you that, instead of
our members defecting to another
party, the PDP would soon start to
receive members of other political
parties into our fold,” he said.
He said over 80 per cent of those
who the opposition claimed have
joined them are still bona fide
members of the PDP.

He said, “those they claimed have
joined them were yet to return
their membership card or formally
submit their resignation letter as
contained in the party's
constitution.”

“Though, one of the founding
party members in Kaduna,
Ibrahim Yaro and few others has
defected to the APC.”

“By 2p.m on Thursday, January 2
at Kabala Costain secretariat of
the party in Kaduna North local
government area, the party will
receive some APC decampees.

“The party had nominated five
persons from each of the 12
wards to meet and advise the
party on how to resolve its crisis
and bring back its aggrieved
members.”
- NAN

Atiku warns against taking Nigerians for granted

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned political leaders against taking Nigerians for granted.
Atiku said it would be wrong to take the citizens’ resilience for granted even as the country marks 100 years of amalgamation. He said Nigerians needed to pat each other on the back for their ability to live together for so long.
In a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, the ex-VP said the country’s leaders should redouble their efforts toward building a stronger and more united Nigeria rather than concentrating energies on division or breakup.
He said, “To me, it is regretful that more than 40 years after the unfortunate and devastating civil war the country went through, leaders could still be busy playing the ethnic and religious cards to gain power while poverty, unemployment, hunger and disease continue to ravage our people, leading many to venture into illicit and sometimes violent activities in order to provide for their families.
“True leaders must at all times shun the temptation of taking Nigerian’s perceived resilience for granted.
“Rather than being a source of weakness, diversity remains a major challenge to which all Nigerians must be sincerely committed.
“My message to fellow countrymen and women as we mark this landmark occasion is that we should not take our unity for granted or push our luck too far.”
He described as dishonest the calls for renegotiation of the country’s existence as one and asked those clamouring for such to reconsider their stand.
He said, “The recent clamour by some of Nigeria’s leaders for a renegotiation of the continued being of Nigeria is dishonest and an unnecessary distraction from the future that we can build.
“Such leaders need to be concentrating their efforts on tackling the challenges ranging from lack of security to addressing poverty and unemployment through infrastructural investments.
“The victims of structural ineptitude are not distinguished on the basis of their ethnicity, tribe, religion or region. It is also a truism that both the perpetrators and their victims are Nigerians, and secession will not fix these woes.”
Abubakar opined that if the country’s leaders could devote more energy on dealing with the basic challenges facing the ordinary Nigerians, ethnic and religious differences would be relegated to the background and that people would be able to focus more on the economic and social opportunities available to them.
He said once the citizens were contented through the availability of opportunities granted by good governance, these dividing lines would gradually become symbols of Nigeria’s unique composition, driving progress through a collaboration of perspectives and ideas.

Patience Jonathan visits New Year baby in Abuja

The First Lady, Patience Jonathan, on Wednesday, visited the first baby of the year at the Gwarimpa General Hospital in Abuja and prayed that he would grow in peace.
The first baby, yet to be named, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Zubairu at 12.45 a.m. through Caesarean section and weighed 3.5kg at birth.
Mrs. Jonathan, who was represented by Onyeka Onwenu, the Director-General, National Council for Women Development, said “babies are special gifts from God.”
“I wish them God’s blessings, peace and tranquility. The children will grow in peace and will be great because children are special gifts from God,’’ she said to journalists after the visit.
Also speaking to journalists, Ademola Onokomaya, the Secretary, Hospitals Management Board, said “our slogan is healthcare based on quality and equity to all.
“We are committed to bringing about quality healthcare to everyone.’’
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, the elated mother of the first baby, Fatima Zubairu, thanked the First Lady for the visit.
She also thanked her for the gifts given her and promised to give the best quality education to the child.
She said “I am happy and grateful for this visit and by Allah’s grace, we shall give the child the best education we can afford and may God reward the First Lady for this kind gesture.’’
Baby Zubairu was flanked by a group of 10 other babies also born on January 1, consisting of seven boys.
(NAN)

INTERVIEW: Why Al-Mustapha and I are plotting a tsunami – Dokubo-Asari

Mr. Dokubo-Asari says those opposing the president are wasting their time as the 2015 presidential election is a foregone conclusion. He explains that Mr. Jonathan is only waiting to be sworn in
The President of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Muhajid Asari-Dokubo told PREMIUM TIMES in this interview (conducted before his recent arrest in Benin Republic) that nothing would stop President Goodluck Jonathan from winning the 2015 presidential election. He also explains why he is working on a “tsunami” with Hamza Al-Mustapha and other ethnic warlords.
Excerpts:
There were reports recently quoting you as saying there will be bloodshed in the country. Did you really make that statement?
Yes, I did. If you look at the attacks that have been directed at Goodluck since it became apparent that he was going to become president since 2010, certain individuals especially the Ciromas, Lawal Kaita, General Muhammadu Buhari, General Ibrahim Babangida, have also made several statements that if President Goodluck Jonathan become president they will make sure that he fails. I quote: Lawal Kaita said ‘It is the turn of the north to produce the president, that if Jonathan by default wins the nomination of the PDP, we will stop him at the general elections. If we fail to stop him at the general election, even if he wins he will not be able to rule we will make the country ungovernable for him.’ Goodluck Jonathan comes from a place. Nobody has a monopoly of violence.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We cannot sit, fold our hands and watch. If we had done that Goodluck Jonathan would have been killed long time ago. He comes from a place, a place that feeds the nation. Nigeria is only existing because of Ijaw, Ogoni, Itsekiri, Isoko, Ibo and Urhobo oil. Nigeria is only existing because of its access to the coast provided by the Ijaws, Itskeri and the Yorubas. Nigeria would have become a landlocked country. So we contribute to the survival of Nigeria. All these men have gained from the misnomer called Nigeria because Nigeria claims to be a Federal Republic but it’s not, it’s a very crude primitive state where we have an all-powerful centre.
So it’s a reaction. We have to prepare for then.
The last interview I granted I said it on Channels television, there was no such thing. I said and I repeat and I have no apology to anybody that those who said that the blood of the monkeys, baboons, dogs and if they want to soak them on the water we will help them to soak the blood of the baboons and the dogs on the street; if they want to soak them in water we will help them. That was my statement.
Did you receive presidential pardon and amnesty?
I lead the people. I was president of Ijaw Youth Council, which is the biggest youth group up till date and I’m also the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force and Niger Delta Peoples’ Salvation Funds. Did I tell you that I collected amnesty? I am not a criminal. I don’t know what you are talking about. Asari isn’t a criminal. I am not a militant and I have a pedigree and I cannot soil my name. If the Nigerian state has any evidence to criminalize me they should go to court. They’ve done that several times and they failed without evidence. Yes people who took amnesty have been criminalized, that’s what it means. You pardon someone who has committed an offence, not all of them were criminals. But if you accept pardon as a criminal, why will I speak for you? You have accepted willingly. I did not collect amnesty and the majority of my people did not. Only those who broke away from us did.
Did you accept presidential pardon?
That question doesn’t sound right. I was granted bail by a competent court of jurisdiction and I am still on bail. I employed my lawyers. We went to the Supreme Court for bail application and for the first time in my life, the court suspended the constitution of this country because of me. The court says people can be arrested and be detained as long as the government wants. It’s a shame on the judiciary of this country that the Supreme Court gave a judgment suspending the constitution. That’s why some of us feel Goodluck is playing with these political miscreants who call themselves governors. He should hit them with the hammer. If I was hit with the hammer by Obasanjo, what is holding Goodluck Jonathan. He should hit these political miscreants with a hammer. Obasanjo should be arrested and detained, and Atiku too. They are ordinary citizens of this country. They are nobody. I don’t know about Babangida (because) he has not come out to talk about where he belongs.
The government first refused to bring me to court. Yar’ Adua was compelled to release me from prison because of the bribe, because of the oil, that they want production which had fallen into 600,000 barrels. Nigeria was losing money, so they wanted to release Asari but I refused to sign. So many things were offered me but I said no and I refused to sign. Henry Okah and others signed.
My mother died at the age of 29. I’m 50. My father died at the age 59. I’m 50. So, why should I be afraid of death? It will come when it will come. When God says you are going to die, you will die. So I cannot mortgage my integrity, my honour, my pedigree and that of my children.
What is your take on the amnesty programme of this administration?
I am one of the people who have been against amnesty. Amnesty is a crime against humanity. That someone raped, killed, committed all sorts of crime and after doing that, because you want money, mostly to steal, then you pardon the person. A man kidnapped another man, put him through trauma and you pardon him. A man raped and you pardon him. A man killed and you pardon him because you want money.
But your friends are beneficiaries…
My friends and I are not the same. My child and I are not the same, even my wife. None of my siblings took amnesty and NDPVF didn’t take amnesty. God has a way of preparing things since the time of creation.
You recently met with Major Hamza Al-Mustapha. What was the meeting all about?
You cannot divorce politics from whatever man is doing. Even between man and woman, politics is involved. The meeting with Al-Mustapha is to bring peace. Faseun, Uwazuruike, Yerima Shettima, Abacha, Tony Major and over 50 different organisations were there. Government wants to be oblivious of what is going on. It is a tsunami. It is the first time that people from the Caliphate, Borno and people from other part of this country are meeting. People have come to say ‘look, whatever has happened before we should put it aside, have a focus and put an eye on the future.’ All of us have suffered from one form of deprivation or the other. All of us have been in prison – myself, Pa Faseun, Uwazuruike, Al-Mustapha, Mohammed. We have been imprisoned at one time or the other. We have all suffered one form of deprivation or the other. Our collective suffering should be a sacrifice to bring hope to our people. We met and we saw the sincerity in them. Some people say I hate the north, but I laugh. They say I hate the Fulanis, Kanuris and I find that funny. I have two boys and their mother is a Fulani, living among Kanuri people from Borno state. One of them is named after me – Mujahid Dokubo and the other one is Nurul-Islam. They have been living with their mother. My son even speaks Hausa and Fulfude. He doesn’t even know how to speak my language. I am married to a Shuwa Arab also from Borno Empire. My in-laws come to my house, eat, sleep, live in my house and we do things together. When it comes to protecting the interest of my people, it is beyond me because of my personal life. So if people want to kill my people, I should fold my hands because I’m married to a Fulani woman? When everyone dies it will remain only my two sons and myself. God created me an Ijaw man for a purpose’
Are you supporting the president because he is Ijaw as you?
Me, I no dey pretend! They say charity begins at home. Goodluck is an Ijaw man, who will I support? Prophet Mohammed said whether your brother is right or wrong, support him. And the people asked why you should support your brother when he is wrong. The Prophet said support him by correcting him.
I am one of the most fiery, balanced critics of Goodluck, inside and outside the house. When the President does anything wrong and I don’t have access to him, I come out and shout at the roof top that he should fix things and they will start fixing it. The most important thing is that he is an Ijaw man. There is no compromise on that. As president of Ijaw Youth Council I’m to protect their interest. I’m an Ijaw man and I will protect their interest. In terms of performance, if you put Nigerian past leaders together, he has outperformed them.
The Benin-Lagos Expressway is now passable. Obasanjo was there for eight years, he didn’t fix it. Abdulsalami was there, and also Abacha. During IBB’s time, the road was okay. Look at the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway. They budgeted for it every year. In all the eight years of Obasanjo, they didn’t go more than 5km on that road and money was budgeted, appropriated, misapplied and misappropriated. The road was comatose.
Under Yar’Adua, they said N500 billion was released for special agricultural funds on a piece of paper, but nobody saw the money till today. Nigeria agricultural sector has come alive and everybody knows that. The investment profile of Nigeria has increased. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) profile has increased.
But there is widespread insecurity…
Nigeria is in a civil orchestrated by the Ciromas and the Kaitas trying to breath evil right on the back of a tiger. Abeg he go enter tiger belle. In Niger delta we have organization on the ground to put heads and balancing that when they put order everybody fall in line. We have order. But in the north, they don’t have the capacity because of years of deprivation of their people. The billion they made over this years doesn’t translate to the life of the ordinary northerners. The northerners are the poorest, the northerners are the most diseased, there is a lot of underdevelopment in the North. After years of looting so they have no control over their people so when they were thinking Boko Haram will be their own militia, their own militants they didn’t know how far Boko Haram will go. I schooled at Gamboru Gala. I learnt Quran there. Today Gamboru Gala is a no-go area.
What can the president do?
Goodluck Jonathan should declare a war in Nigeria. The country is in a state of war. Foreigners are coming into Nigeria, encouraged by the Ciromas and the Kaitas. These men should be arrested. They are the people who have come out to say they are displeased and they have done it and its happening. They should be arrested. They say if Goodluck wins they will make the country ungovernable for him and it has happened. If a witch says he will kill you today and tomorrow you have headache, it is the witch that caused it. The president should declare a war against these men. They have all apparatuses of a state. They are not ashamed. They said as far as they are concerned they are at war. Obasanjo brought helicopters to bomb my camp for 11 months we fought. In which state where he declared a state of emergency did he allow the political structure to remain? How will the president be playing with a life when we know and politicians from Borno state have accused SAS (Senator Ali Modu Sherif) that’s he’s responsible for setting up Boko Haram and he is a stalwart of APC. So why will the president be playing with them with kids gloves. These men should put in jail….
If I was put in prison, why should Ciroma not be out in prison. Why will Kaita and SAS not be put in prison? As for IBB, one statement or the other that he made is not enough for him to be put in jail. After that, he has made many mitigating statements.
Goodluck Jonathan should use hammer against those political miscreants. They are all miscreants and hammer must be used against them. There is only one registered PDP known to INEC and its only PDP. Jonathan is indulging. If you break the law you should be treated as a lawbreaker.
What is your relationship between you and your governor, Chibuike Amaechi?
Let me tell you – Amaechi is a traitor, a traitor to all people of the South-South and South East. I’ve said it over and over when this thing started that as a traitor you will be treated as a traitor. Goodluck is shielding him. The president is not even fighting him. If Goodluck were fighting Amaechi, by now he would not go to Port Harcourt again.
Many people have made sacrifices. Ken Saro Wiwa fought for our people. This man who calls himself Amaechi, who never won election, is a miscreant. We know his origin. He was Peter Odili’s ‘houseboy’ that Odili imposed on the people of Ikwerre Constituency without winning election. They collectively deceived the people of South-South.
We were all student union leaders. I’m older than him. Can Amaechi win election in his unit? Has Amaechi ever supported Goodluck? This is how you indulge this criminal, common criminal who is supposed to be in prison. How did he get over one million votes? It’s rigging.
I voted for Goodluck. Immediately after the election the position of PDP was that the South West should take the speakership seat. Amaechi and his people he brought to the National Assembly by manipulation supported Aminu Tambuwal and that is why they are heading important committees in the National Assembly. These are the characters working with this miscreant that we are indulging.
At what point did the president and Amaechi fall out?
I have already told you that all the PDP legislators that came from Rivers State stood against the president and supported Tambuwal. The problem started since then.
The only president that can be compared to Goodlcuk in Nigeria is Shagari. He is peaceful, he has human feelings and he doesn’t want to hurt an ant. Amaechi and Adams Oshiomhole from the South-South have projected that if Goodluck is the president for the next four years, they will become irrelevant. They will be out of power for four years. Oshhiolome will be out of power for two years plus. Oshiomhole is my brother, but when it comes to standing with the president, friendship has got nothing to do. If oshiomhole is going for the presidency today, I will stake my life for him. But if he wants to go and join people because of political agenda or survival, we should jettison sacrifice and die for the South-South.
So if Goodluck does not come back, anyone of them will aspire for the position of Senate President or the Speaker. Oshimhole is level headed than this small boy, Amaechi. He is not doing his own like a matured person, same as Rochas Okorocha. If Goodluck can complete eight years, they believe there is the likelihood that the presidency will go up to the north, that is if he wins the second term which I know he will.
The political interest of our people is at stake. They will chase Rochas Okorocha away. Rochas is a goner and he knows it and he will go. That is why some of us are going to be aggressive with Goodluck. There is no begging, there’s no retreat, no surrender. We are not taking any Prisoner of War. It is going to be total vanquish, no Prisoner of War. This one is do or die.
We are fighting for our soul and our survival now. They have aligned with Tinubu and we are going to see how it goes if Goodluck will contest. Let’s see how you will pass Goodluck and sit in Aso Rock. It is not about weapons to fight. Everything will be glaring and we will see it clearly. We heard Amacehi has been buying guns for the people. It is human beings that will shoot those guns. When the time comes we will see. Oshimhole is very mild. He opens ways for reconciliation, but Amaechi is not allowing reconciliation. He has reached the point of no return.
What is your take on the opposition of some PDP chieftains against President Goodluck Jonathan?
Kwankwaso is in charge of Kano. What is Goodluck business in Kano? They printed Kwankwaso with Buhari’s posters in Kano. Whether he’s behind him or not, they will not win the election. I don’t know whether he is part of it or not. Kwankwaso support is nothing. Atiku has started singing a new song. He said Goodluck could contest in 2015. I read it (in the newspapers).
I read it somewhere that Obasanjo is the problem of the PDP. Bukola Saraki did not support Goodluck; he was a presidential candidate. It is that same grudge that he is bearing against Goodluck. Each of the states has its own political colouration. Goodluck didn’t win any state in the North East and North West zones. People forget so soon. He got two-thirds of 36 states. He will have the two-thirds and win the 2015 presidential election. The election is concluded, it is a foregone conclusion. When they are contesting election in the USA they will tell who will win.
We have done our calculations and we know Goodluck has already won. If Goodluck won the last election with six million votes (then), now it will be 10 million votes. Most of them will start begging very soon and some have started begging.
Are you disturbed about the drop in revenue in Nigeria?
He who owns the land owns everything on the land and above the land. The Niger Delta people own all the things on the land and above the land in accordance with equity. They can’t steal what belongs to them. In accordance with equity and good conscience and natural justice, we will continue to have problems. You can’t take it from the Niger Delta and bring it to build houses in Abuja and go and develop Lagos and create Dangote, Otedola, Adenuga, Emeka Offor and even create Dokubo Asari. There must be natural justice and great conscience
Somebody sitting there at the National Assembly is opposing the Petroleum Industry Bill, a bill that will give more capacity to the oil producing communities.
Is it right for the Niger Deltans to steal oil, because oil theft is on the rise?
The oil belongs to them. They have the right to take it. My problem is the environmental degrading that comes with taking of the oil. They have the right to take it, but have no right to destroy the environment.

Jonathan signed single-term pact with PDP governors in 2011, Nyako insists

Murtala Nyako asks president to be a man of honour and not drag Nigeria into another civil war
The governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, has challenged President Goodluck Jonathan to be a man of ‘honour’ saying the president’s claim that he did not sign agreement with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governors in 2011 to spend one term of four years is not true.
Mr. Nyako told journalists in Yola, the state capital, that Mr. Jonathan signed an agreement with them not to re-contest after his first term in 2015, and pledged to abide by it.
Mr. Nyako is the second northern governor to claim that Mr. Jonathan signed a single term pact with the PDP governors. The Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, had similarly claimed in an interview with a Kaduna-based radio station,Liberty FM, that the president signed a single-term pact with the governors in 2011.
According to the Adamawa State governor, there was an earlier agreement in 2003 that the north would produce the president between 2007 and 2011. He said Mr. Jonathan, who was then deputy governor of Bayelsa State, signed as number 73.
Mr. Nyako said when he was approached to sign the new agreement in 2011 that the president would not re-contest in 2015; he was reluctant to do so because he (Mr. Jonathan) did not pledge to respect the 2003 agreement. He said he was subsequently prevailed upon to sign.
“In the first place, when that agreement was brought for me to sign, I told them that this President (Jonathan), in the agreement signed in the year 2003, he was number 73,” the governor said.
“Did we not agree under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that the term 2007 and 2011 belong to the North?
“He was number 73 as deputy governor of Bayelsa State, so when they came, they said I should sign, they said he had agreed that he would not contest in the year 2015.
“In the first place, I said I did not believe him because he didn’t give his pledge for the agreement signed in the year 2003. They said ah, ah, Baba Maimangoro. I said ok, I will sign. So I signed.
“After that, the Niger State governor took the paper to Jonathan and he signed. Obasanjo can confirm that he came here with Jonathan and pleaded with me to support Jonathan to contest the 2011 Presidential election.”
Mr. Nyako explained that it was Mr. Aliyu, Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State and others he did not name that brought the agreement to him to sign.
He stated that former President Olusegun Obasanjo accompanied Mr. Jonathan to prevail upon him (Nyako) to back the president who had already agreed to serve for one term.
He said, “Obj (Obasanjo) will tell you, he came here and pleaded with me to support Jonathan in 2011. He came here and virtually took an oath to serve only one term.”
The Adamawa governor, who said Mr. Aliyu was in the possession of the said agreement, upbraided the president for not being a man of honour, adding that such behaviour was capable of plunging the nation into another civil war.
“The Niger State governor has the agreement. We want to deal with people with honour, not people who want to drag us into civil war because of impunity, because of lawlessness, because of not fulfilling their pledges that will only take us to civil war,” he said.
“Leaders must be honest with their colleagues and the greater society. I have my craw craw from the first civil war and if there is need to develop another craw-craw in another civil war I will stand by.”
The governor also alleged that the declaration of a state of emergency in his domain was political because the state had the security situation under control.
According to him, Adamawa State was not even among the first seven states, out of a list of 12, that were having serious security challenges, stressing that Mr. Jonathan skipped several states to pick on his state for reasons he could not explain.
In February 2013, the Niger State governor said that Mr. Jonathan had an agreement with the PDP governors not to spend more than one year in office.
“What will be, will be in 2015. We must remind people of the promises they have made. When he (Jonathan) was going to declare, governors of PDP were brought together to ensure that we were all in the same frame of mind. Some of us, given the PDP zoning, were expecting that the northern states would produce the President for this number of years but God has done His own,” Mr. Aliyu had said.
“At that discussion, it was agreed that President Jonathan would serve one term and we all signed and when he went to Kampala, he said the same thing. But for now, President Jonathan has not declared his candidacy and we must not be speculating based on who those are benefiting from such a thing. I believe that we are all gentlemen enough and when the time comes, we will all sit down and see what the right thing to do is.”
But the president denied the claim with Mr. Jonathan, during a media chat, challenging Mr. Alyu and those making similar claims to produce the signed document.
Mr. Jonathan’s political adviser, Ahmed Gulak, also said Mr. Aliyu’s claim was false.
“President Jonathan did not sign such an agreement with anybody to the best of my knowledge,” he said. “The alleged agreement only exists in the figment of the imagination of somebody with presidential ambition.”
Mr. Jonathan also clarified that he had not taken a decision on 2015 saying he would decide on whether or not to contest this year.
The crisis in the PDP is traceable to the alleged pact the president signed with the governors. The crisis remotely led to the formation of the defunct New PDP, which seven of its governor floated.
The splinter group led by Abubakar Kawu, a former acting National Chairman of the PDP, has since fused into the All Progressives Congress, APC, with five of the governors enlisting their membership of the opposition party.
Those governors who joined the APC last year are Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers) and Mr. Nyako.
The remaining two governors, Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Mr. Aliyu of Niger State remain in the PDP.