Grant presidential pardon to Ibori, Ijaw group urges Jonathan

James Ibori

An Ijaw group, the Ijaw People’s Development Initiative, IPDI, in Delta State, weekend, called on President Godluck Jonathan to grant presidential pardon to the former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, before his exit from Aso Villa, next month.

National President the group, Mr. Austin Ozobo, in interactive with newsmen, said: “Chief Ibori has suffered enough and there is no justification for not granting him clemency, as had been done to others.”

Ozobo said Ibori was not the only corrupt leader in the country, but unfortunately, he has undergone indescribable hardship more than others.

“Ibori should be freed. Hundreds of persons, who looted heavily from government coffers are walking freely in the streets. The continuous incarceration of one corrupt man among a million other corrupt citizens cannot change the menace of high level corruption in the country.

‘’Ibori’s imprisonment could be seen as a witch-hunt and such is highly barbaric and provocative and the Nigerian government must quickly do something about his matter. ‘’Despite the ordeals Ibori is passing through, Deltans hold him in high esteem and his great achievements while in office cannot be discountenanceded.

‘’There should be no sacred cow among political office holders. Ibori’s case is not different, he is a victim of circumstances. Release him and let him breathe fresh air and let other corrupt public office holders be tried as well.”

APC NEC to ratify zoning of N’Assembly posts this week

The National Executive Committee of the All Peoples Congress will meet this week to ratify the zoning of key posts in the National Assembly.

The National Working Committee of the party , which rose from a meeting in the early hours of Saturday, had zoned key offices like the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But findings showed that the NWC   agreed that the Senate President should be zoned to the North Central.

The decision has now left Senate Minority Leader, George Akume from Benue State and   Bukola Saraki ( Kwara State) as the two front liners for the post.

However, investigations indicated that the decision on the zoning of the position of speaker was not very clear , as influential political figures from both the North and the South are allegedly scheming to have their candidates assume the seat.

The development led to two separate accounts on what exactly transpired at the NWC on the position of speaker.

One early account claimed that the post was zoned to the North-East.

But, a second account insisted that as of the time the meeting ended on Saturday morning, it had been resolved that the South-West should take the speaker’s slot.

By this account, the post of Deputy Speaker was reportedly zoned to the South-South.

In order to achieve this arrangement, the post of Deputy Senate President was also zoned to the North-East.

This implies that while the North will be in charge of the Senate, the South will control the House.

A top   National Assembly official in Abuja said, “This is the way things stand, looking at the general direction of the negotiations.

“What is most important though is that, all of this is actually in principle.

“It is the NEC that will have the final say in this week. It then means that a lot of lobbying and wooing by both the North-East and the South-West will take place this week ahead of the NEC”,

It was gathered that should the South-West push its way through at the NEC, House Minority Leader,   Femi Gbajabiamila, would likely emerge as the speaker of the 8th House.

Gbajabiamila (Lagos State), a lawyer and fourth-time member of the House , had also served as Deputy Minority Leader in the 6th Assembly.

He has been largely regarded by his colleagues as the “leading voice of the opposition” since 2003.

The National Assembly source added, “But, if the North-East takes it, the man to watch is   Yakubu Dogara (Bauchi State).

“He has a lawmaker from Borno State, Mr. Mohammed Monguno, as his rival in the zone.

“Much again depends on what the NEC will ratify, between Deputy Senate President and House Speaker as the position zoned to the North-East.”

Investigations revealed that the APC was guarding the process “cautiously “ to avoid a possible revolt by the younger and mostly independent -minded members of the House, who might choose not to toe the party’s line.

“In 2011, the current Speaker, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal (North-West) , emerged against the decision of the Peoples Democratic Party to zone the seat to the South-West.

“The APC is being careful to avoid a repeat scenario, where members will vote in a direction different from the party’s,” the official said.

When contacted, House spokesman and member of the APC,   Zakari Mohammed, confirmed that decisions had been reached on zoning.

He added, “Certain decisions were reached, but you see, there is still NEC ahead.

“We should wait for the NEC to ratify and come up with a decision to avoid unnecessary speculation”, Mohammed said.

The PUNCH reported that despite the fact of the NWC narrowing the position of speaker to between the South-West and the North-East, Chairman, House committee on Finance,   Abdulmumin Jibrin (North-West) was still campaigning for the job.

For example, Jibrin, who is from Kano State, is scheduled to meet with newly-elected members this week in Abuja.

Others in the race are   Pally Iriase (Edo State); . Ajibola Famurewa (Osun);   Mojeed Alabi (Osun); and   Mohammed Monguno.

My plea for forgiveness not cowardice –Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said his asking for forgiveness should not be taken for cowardice by his opponents, saying his tenure in office will be determined by God.

He said he took the step to seek a genuine reconciliation with the All Progressives Congress, whose 19 lawmakers in the state House of Assembly were plotting his impeachment.

The governor spoke on Sunday at the thanksgiving service organised for him at the Cathedral Church of Emmanuel, Anglican Communion, Ado Ekiti, to celebrate his electoral victory at the Supreme Court.

Fayose said, “I asked for forgiveness for reconciliation and to pursue genuine peace. Waiving the olive branch does not mean cowardice, it is for peace.

“Conspiracy is against God’s will. What better way could one seek peace other than asking for forgiveness.”

The governor advised the APC to emulate President Goodluck Jonathan who conceded defeat and saved Nigeria from disintegrating.

“When I contested for Senate they said I lost and I did not fight anyone. I did not go to the tribunal and I was saying good things about the government then. The opposition should be courageous enough to accept defeat. I follow Jonathan in and out of office. Jonathan gave up for survival of Nigeria. Jonathan prevented the prophecy that Nigeria would break up in 2015.

“I’m enjoying the mandate of God through his people and that cannot be controverted. My sin is because I allowed the common man to breathe the air of hope.

“The people have spoken (governorship election), they said it was military intervention. They spoke the second term (presidential election), is that one photochromic? And they spoke again the third time (House of Assembly election).

“If God that gave me victory cannot defend me, I better go home. If the people cannot defend the mandate they gave to me, I better go home. Power doesn’t come from man. Power belongs to God. Anyone against the voice of God is following Satan’s way.

“In a democracy, you need a simple majority to win elections, but I enjoy total majority. They want to take government by force, firing shots at people; that is coup against the people. They said they are coming again tomorrow, we are waiting for them.”

But the APC lawmakers advised Fayose to stop inciting the people, saying his Sunday broadcast had demonstrated that he was not committed to genuine reconciliation.

The APC lawmakers in a statement on Sunday accused the governor of inciting the people against them in the broadcast.

A statement by the Special Adviser on Media to Speaker Adewale Omirin, Wole Olujobi, said the governor in his broadcast demonstrated that he was never committed to the peace he preached barely 24 hours before his inciting broadcast.

“How do you reconcile this inciting broadcast with a plea he made for peace not quite 24 hours earlier, which Ekiti people and indeed Nigerians thought was a good move by the governor to thaw the frozen relationship between him and the lawmakers?

“This is a confirmation of what Dr. Omirin said in his Sunday Punch interview that the governor can’t be 

trusted in any peace move.

“It is shocking that the governor, who refused to make any remark or commitment during the church service after the man of God appealed to him to embrace peace, could go on air few minutes after the church service to start inciting workers, traders, okada riders and artisans to defend him with their last drop of blood.

“As if his inciting live broadcast was not enough, Ekiti people were shocked when a public service announcement started running intermittently on the state media urging okada riders to look out for strange faces across the state and attack them because they are thugs that are being imported into the state by the APC lawmakers.

“They are also to converge on the House of Assembly as early as 6am on Monday to prevent the lawmakers from performing their legal duties,” the statement added.

Stressing that they were not planning any invasion of the state with thugs, the lawmakers called the attention of Nigerians to the unlawful acts of the governor in his desperate move to ensure that the lawmakers were rendered ineffective in the discharge of their lawful duties.

S’Africa attacks: Nigerians lose N21m, says envoy

Nigerian Consul-General in South Africa, Amb. Uche Ajulu-Okeke, said on Sunday that Nigerians lost more than N21m Rand (1.2m) in the on-going xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Ajulu-Okeke told the News Agency of Nigeria by phone from Johannesburg, South Africa, that the loss included looted shops, burnt shops, two burnt mechanic workshops, 11 burnt cars and two stolen cars, among others.

“Nigerians have compiled the cost of the damage to their property and it is totalling about 1.2m Rand or N21m, which will be sent to the Federal Government for further action,” the ambassador said.

She said that two of the three Nigerians who were wounded during the attacks in Durban had been treated and discharged from the hospital.

The consul-general said that she would go back to Durban to assess the situation on ground and meet with the provincial authority on the security of Nigerians in that province.

She said, “The Nigerian mission in South Africa is on top of the situation. We are working hard to protect Nigerians in South Africa.

“Though the task has not been easy but we are trying our best. In one of the hot spots at Jeppe, near Johannesburg, the mission assisted about 50 stranded Nigerians to re-settle.

“I have also visited the site of the attacks in Johannesburg to assess the damage and it was enormous.”

She said the Nigerian mission would meet with the Nigerian union chapters in the nine provinces of South Africa to devise means of checking further attacks.

“I am bringing all Nigerians together so that we work out a vigilance and alert mechanism; they will also tell me what their challenges and issues are,’’ she said.

Okeke said the mission and the Nigerian Union had been working together to meet the challenges caused by the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.

I didn’t spend N2tn on elections –Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said there was no truth in a report that he and the Peoples Democratic Party spent N2tn for campaigns ahead of the just-concluded general elections.

He also denied setting up a committee to conduct an audit of how the elections funds were disbursed by party members and state officials.

Jonathan made the clarification in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

Abati was reacting to a story of the SUNDAY PUNCH of April 19 titled, “Jonathan demands N2tn election funds refund, audit.”

He described the report as “mischievous, false and embarrassing.”

The presidential spokesman said with the country’s budget being a little above N4tn, the story suggested that half of the federal budget was spent on elections.

This insinuation, he argued, was meant to incite the public and instigate a national crisis.

Abati said the Presidency was worried that since the March 28 and April 11 elections, some persons had continued to work very hard to diminish the Jonathan Presidency.

He said such people needed to be reminded that the time for politics was over and it is time to focus on the in-coming government, with emphasis on national development.

The statement partly read, “The front-page story of the Sunday Punch of April 19 alleging that the Presidency spent a whopping N2tn on the 2015 general elections, and that a Committee of Five has been set up by President Jonathan to conduct an audit of how the funds were disbursed by party members and state officials is mischievous, false and embarrassing.

“The President has not set up any committee as alleged in that story. It is also not true that the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party used state funds, or spent N2tn on the campaigns. The innuendoes are wrong-headed; the motives behind the story are suspicious.”

Ugwuanyi wins in Enugu, APC calls for cancellation

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has won the governorship election in Enugu State.

Ugwuanyi, a member of the House of Representatives, defeated his closest rival, Okey Ezea of the All Progressives Congress with a wide margin, after winning in all the 17 local government areas in the state, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

However, the APC has called for the cancellation of the result of the governorship election.

The governorship candidate of the APC, Ezea, who addressed journalists at his campaign office in company with the party’s chairman, Dr. Ben Nwoye, alleged that the poll was marred by irregularities and violence perpetrated by the PDP.

The APC urged INEC to conduct a fresh election in the state.

Ezea, who had lost to the PDP in previous governorship polls, said, “Every four years we are made to believe that there will be free and fair elections. We put in all our efforts and resources but at the end of the day, we find out that the election is nothing but a scam.

“The supposed election of yesterday (Saturday) was nothing but a sham.

“It was marred by electoral violence, intimidation, harassment, ballot box snatching and physical injuries to APC sympathisers by PDP thugs.”

Ezea further alleged that Ugwuanyi and the PDP “imported more than 5,000 thugs into Enugu State, particularly in the Nsukka area” during the election.

He added that INEC’s directive that voting should not take place in places, where result sheets were not available, was not complied with.

According to him, INEC officials sold result sheets to the PDP.

“At the end of the day, we found out that the result sheets were actually sold out before the election.

“INEC sold more than half of the PVCs in Enugu State to the PDP,” he added.

Ezea alleged that “there was a deliberate policy” to ensure that voting did not take place in his village.
He claimed that thugs hired by the PDP broke the head of his elder brother while carting away ballot materials at his ward in Itchi village.

“As far as we are concerned, there was no election in Enugu State and we call on INEC to conduct a fresh election,” he stressed.

APC’s Masari wins Katsina gov poll with 943,000 votes

Alhaji Aminu Masari

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives and All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Masari, polled 943,085 votes to beat the candidate of the Peoples Democratic

Party, Musa Nashuni, in the state’s governorship election.

Nashuni polled 476,768 to come second in the election.