One of Nigerian most treasured politician, Professor Dora Akunyili (59), the former Director General of the the NAFDAC and ex-minister of Information, has passed on according family source
Dr. Akunyili lost the battle with cancer in an India Hospital.
May His Soul Rest In Peace!!!
Traditional rulers in all the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta have endorsed the second term ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying it is his constitutional right to seek re-election.
The monarchs, under the aegis of the Association of Traditional Rulers of Oil and Mineral Producing Communities of Nigeria (TROMPCON), in a communiqué issued at the end of their second quarter National Executive Council meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, pledged their unwavering commitment to Jonathan’s bid and urged him to shun all distractions and run for the Presidency come 2015.
The communiqué, which was signed by Eze Akuwueze Raphael Ikegwuruka, and Etinyin Okon Effanga Edem, national chairman and national secretary of association respectively, said the traditional rulers lauded the federal government for its various development efforts in the Niger Delta region, especially the establishment of a Maritime University at Okerenkoko in Delta State, and the sustenance of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.
“That TROMPCON with optimism calls on Mr President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to shun all distractions and run for second term come 2015, as it is his constitutional right to do so. To this end, TROMPCON pledges its unalloyed support and encouragement”.
The association, however, expressed shock over the call by northern delegates in the ongoing National Conference, for the scrapping of the NDDC, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs as well as serious downward review of the 13% derivation fund, urging the delegates to listen to the voice of reason and retract their demands.
The communiqué reads in part; “TROMPCON observes with keen interest the setting up of the National Conference, which has indeed added to the chains of achievements of the present administration and therefore encourages all participants to be positive minded in ensuring a one Nigeria agenda.
“However, we note with surprise that while Mr. President and his cabinet are on the progressive lane, some leaders of the Northern bloc tend to be on the reverse, particularly judging from their call for proscription of the NDDC, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, serious downward review of the 13% derivation fund, and other obnoxious, grave and unrealistic demands.
“TROMPCON therefore seizes this opportunity to call on all the concerned leaders to listen to the voice of reason and immediately retract their unpalatable request”.
-(Information NG)
President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday met with his security chiefs in Abuja. He is believed to have kept his security topguns abreast of the deliberations he had with leaders of West African neighbours who met at the weekend in Paris , France.
The West African leaders agreed to wage a total war against Boko Haram.President Jonathan also said at a news conference in Paris that Boko Haram has become an AlQaeda operation.
Today’s meeting may have reviewed the Paris meeting along with the support from other global allies in the efforts towards bringing back the Chibok girls as well as a comprehensive strategy against the sect.
Observers expect that the weekend’s protest in Maiduguri over extra judicial killing and the resurgence of bomb blast in Kano Sunday night would have also been touched on during the president’s meeting with his topguns.
The police averted another bomb blast Monday morning,a clear sign that even in Kano, all may not be well yet.
By Jesutega Onokpasa
The Delta 2015 gubernatorial race is fast emerging as the most complicated and probably most confusing race for any Government House nationwide. Pundits are continuously shifting their bets, laboring beneath a debilitating cluelessness on how those bets may safely be hedged against the background of ever surprising developments which kept sprimgimg up to dprminate the political landscape in the high-octane race to 2015.
While the idea that the Governorship will shift to the Delta North senatorial zone was hitherto more or less a given, serious contenders for the governorship have solidly emerged from all three zones. Needless to say, where does that leave advocates of power shift like me? I have often interrogated my support for political inclusiveness. However often I choose to embark on that exercise, I end right where I began.
It is not possible that God created any group of people not fit to rule. Indeed, the idea that certain ethnic groups may validly be precluded from aspiring to the highest office in any cline is blasphemous and unreasonable. We are all created equal and that equality, being innate and inalienable, is non-negotiable. That is what informed my support for Governor Emmanuel Uduanghan and what powers my continued support for a Governor from Delta North. Of course, as an Urhobo, I dream of the day one of my kith and kin would emerge as President of Nigeria. At any rate, which of us minorities wasn’t excited when one of us emerged president of Nigeria in the person of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan? What is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander and I will not in conceit and agreed, proceed to deny my fellow man what I want for myself. But I also have a closer-to-home reason for my stance.
Few people bother to remember anymore that the existence of the State we are at daggers drawn to rule is traceable to efforts led by a man of Delta North extraction. Dennis Osadebe, premier of the defunct Mid-West Region was the man of who spearheaded its creation from the defunct Western Region.
At the time of the struggle, my late father, Benedict Etedjere Onokpasa, was a member of the Action Group, AG. When it dawned on him that Obafemi Awolowo was immovably opposed to the creation of the Mid-West Region, he decamped to the Nnamdi Azikiwe led national council of Nigerian citizens, NCNC, a party that tacitly supported its creation.
Matters came to a head for my dad when the AG, as was its clandestine nature in those days, brought trumped up charges against him alongside other decampees, including a fellow Okpe man, the late chief Brass Ometan. They were arrested in Warri and environs, transported to Asaba and marched before a judge. It was Dennis Osadebe, irrepressible bulwark of the Mid-West Movement who defended them. Incidentally, it was the same Osadebe who coined the term Anioma and I simply cannot see how he could have championed our collective libration from the Western Region, being the premier of the Mid-West Region, and for some reasons, another person from Delta North cannot become the Governor of a State created from the same region he was most instrumental in creating.
Upon what is, in all likelihood, the resignation of Victor Ochei, former speaker the Delta State House of Assembly, I had resolved not to support anyone, from anywhere, for the Governorship of Delta until such a time as a candidate emerges in the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. But then, I had chosen to support Ochei because he had asked me to support him. As we say in Urhobo, it is the man who calls you that you answer. Yet, I had known Dr. Festus Okubor, present Chief of Staff to Governor Uduaghan long before I ever met Ochei, and has served with him on the Delta PDP campaign council (2011). Dr. Okubor is an interesting fellow.
Remarkably humble, unassuming and perennially down to earth in a political theatre of egotistical individuals, there are few heights these medical doctor has not attained in politics. Between 1996 and 1998, he emerged on the national political landscape when he became national publicity secretary of the defunct grass root development, GDM. Later in 2002, he became chairman, Ika North-East Local Government and a year later became the State director of protocol, Government house, Asaba.
Okubor was then appointed Commissioner for Special duties in 2006, later as Commissioner for information and then, Commissioner for health in 2007. In 2008, he became chairman, Delta State hospitals management board.
In the hair-raising morass of the 2010-2011 electioneering season which saw two gubernatorial elections held in Delta in remarkable quick succession, Okubor emerged as deputy director general, Uduaghan campaign organization. The challenge with Okubor derives from his remarkably cool approach to politics.
*Mr. Onokpasa, a public affairs commentator wrote from Warri, Delta State.
(DELTA OSHOBE)
Since June 6, 2011, when Hon. Victor Ochei, representing Aniocha North Constituency, emerged Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, DSHA, the lawmakers lived in harmony, trust and oneness. They shared things in common. Aside this, they also shared ideas. In fact, the Speaker was sleeping with his two eyes closed. But all these have since changed.
Ochei’s exit
At inception, there were 29 members out of whom Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had 18 as against 9 for the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, while the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and the United Democratic Party, UDP, had one each. Burutu 11 constituency then remained foggy as it was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
But why did the chord that bound the 29 lawmakers together snap recently when the opposition DPP now has only two members against the 27 PDP members? On the day of Ochei’s resignation, an Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC, and other vehicles carrying dozens of mobile policemen were already stationed at the gate of the Assembly to prevent protesters loyal to Ochei from having their day and also to effect the change peacefully.
March 18, 2014, when the chord snapped and the leadership of Ochei collapsed following the acceptance of his resignation, the same Hon. Sam Obi that seconded Ochei’s nomination also seconded the elevation of Hon. Peter Onwusanya, representing Oshimili North Constituency, as new Speaker after the position was declared vacant. Deputy Majority Leader, Johnson Erijo, who represents Isoko South II nominated Onwusanya for the position before the new Speaker was unanimously elected by voice votes.
How the cookie crumbled
It would be recalled that in his acceptance speech, Ochei had assured that, he was desirous to provide the needed efficient, effective and purposeful leadership, in the fifth assembly, in collaboration with other arms of government to positively impact on the lives of Deltans, and to vigorously strive to foster a cordial working relationship with the executive and the judiciary without compromising the independence of the legislature
But the same man who assured of purposeful leadership disappointed Deltans when he resigned Tuesday, March 18. In his letter of resignation, addressed to the Deputy Speaker, Ochei stated that the decision to resign was “based on my personal resolve to pave way for a new leadership that would take the House and the state to a high level, having contributed my quota in that regard.”
The omen that signaled an abrupt end of administration started on the day he emerged as Speaker. The ceremony was dramatic as Mr. Raymond Yavbieri, then Clerk of the house ignored the directive of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan by reading the proclamation of the Assembly’s inauguration instead of the Governor. The perceived waste of time and misplaced priority of the programmes of event was said to have informed why the Governor left the venue of the event abruptly.
Following this was the suspicious and political withdrawal of the Clerk of the House, Mr. Raymond Yabieri, through the office of the Head of Service, HOS, from the house. The letter maintained that the Clerk who is said to be on a second batch of the lawmakers’ overseas trip should hand over to the Director of Legislative Matters, Mr. Anthony Aki. Those under the Clerk also got their own share; he suspended or stopped imprest to deserving officers of the house, grounding the activities of the house and leaving them bewildered and nervous about the development.
Crisis of c onfidence
The crisis reached a feverish level when the Speaker was said to have held a meeting with certain management staff where he set up a seven man committee with Mr. Frank Onwuma and Mr. Pinna Ogianugba as Chairman and Secretary respectively to find out who among the staff deserved imprest and to report back to him without inviting the clerk, and leaving out most directors.
Why the sudden and forceful resignation? While a school of thought claimed it may not be unconnected with plans by the other 29 lawmakers to impeach him for his alleged romance with All Progressive Congress, APC, high-handed policies, non-transparency in the handling of the affairs of House, especially in the use of funds and execution of capital projects, others based it on the determination by the powers that be in the state to whittle down his influence ahead of the 2015 election.
With the House armed with the constitutional mandatory two-third majority of the members required to carry out the coup, coupled with the recall of some House members who were outside the country and hurriedly coerced into the plot, the only option left for Ochei was to resign as it would be a soft-landing for the embattled speaker who was reported to have instantly contacted his benefactors in the state and beyond concerning his resignation, which was meant to stave-off impeachment.
Impeachment threats were not new to Ochei. A member representing Ughelli 11 Constituency, Rufus Akpodiete, was once suspended for allegedly plotting to impeach him. Hon. Basil Ganagana, Deputy Speaker, moved for the suspension of Akpodiete, a member of DPP, the opposition party in the state, while Hon. Martins Okonta seconded the suspension that lasted for six months or more.
Growing feathers
Ochei, according to reports, could threaten anybody no matter how highly placed. He is reported to have once threatened to deal with erring lawmakers who treat the resolutions of the House with levity. To make concrete his threat, he placed one month suspension on Akpodiete for going against the resolution of the House, to serve as deterrent to others. He warned other members to uphold the resolutions of the house at all times, warning that any member who indulged in such issue would still be dealt with. Some lawmakers unanimously supported the motion by Erijo, others pleaded on compassionate capacity for the House to temper justice with mercy following Akpodiete’s apology, but this was turned down by the Speaker, Victor Ochei, who slammed a one month suspension on the lawmakers.
The two lawmakers, Hons Joseph Oshevire and Akpodiete, were said to have spoken against the DSHA Service Commission Bill. The motion for their suspension which stemmed from matters of urgent public importance was moved by the Hon. Johnson Erijo, Deputy Majority Leader, and seconded by Hon. Daniel Mayuku, representing Warri South West Constituency.
Governorship ambition
Ochei again stirred the hornet’s nest when he posited that an Anioma governor is an inalienable right based on the conventional tripod arrangement in which the Central and South Senatorial zones have produced governor. He spoke in Asaba during a visit by the leadership of the Anioma Agenda, maintaining that the demand by the Igbo speaking people of Anioma for the governorship of the state was their inalienable right, a development that will justify equity and fairness. He went further to tell journalists that he was still consulting over his ambition to be governor of the state, disclosing that as a politician he was getting ready for 2014 when political activities would come up. He said as a politician he would not stop politicking based on the fact that he was holding a political position, especially when he is entitled to contest for any position, and if he felt qualified he would seek the support of all Deltans.
But when Anioma Congress and the Asagba of Asaba, on behalf of Delta North Traditional Rulers, invited the governorship aspirants from Delta North for screening Friday, February 28, 2014, only Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Prof Victor Izegbu, showed up, Ochei and others shunned the invitation but it was observed that they had time for other political engagements. Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan may have been alluding to this when he advised the new Speaker to concentrate more on legislative duties than political activities.
Edwin Clark, Ijaw National Leader, before now had advised Ochei to forget his 2015 gubernatorial ambition for the sake of peace in the state, describing him as a contractor who got a mega deal of N27 billion contract for an Independent Power Project, IPP, at Oghara or Oghareki. He alleged that Ochei received N18 billion from the Delta State Government, but nothing has happened on the site.
Confronted with allegations
Ochei instantly denied ever inflating the contract, insisting that the actual contract sum for the project which is located at Oghareki was over N23 billion and not N27 billion just as he said there was nothing wrong in soliciting for contracts even as speaker. He maintained that due process was followed in its award which was succinctly captured in the Delta State Government Due Process Journal of January to March, 2010. He said that he disinvested from the company last June 3 shortly before his assumption of the Speakership position because his continued membership of the board could result in conflict of interests. According to him, he had never been a member of the House Committee on Energy and so couldn’t have used his position to influence the award of the contract. He also pointed out that the choice of the indigenous contractor was a step in the right direction as it was all part of increasing the local content.
Stepping on toes
Equally, Ochei must have stepped on the toes of the power brokers when he overrode the Governor’s veto when 26 out of the 29 Delta lawmakers passed the Anti-Kidnapping Bill 2002 into law after the mandatory 90 days during which the Governor was supposed to have appended his signature to the bill. In a move which may signal his resolve not to sign the death warrant of any convicted kidnap suspect in spite of the unanimous veto by lawmakers, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan had advocated for a law to empower judges who sentence criminals to death to be able to sign their death warrants. In a letter from Governor Uduaghan to Ochei, dated January 18, titled “Re: Delta State Anti-Kidnapping Bill 2012,” he argued that death penalty had not in any way stopped criminal activities in any part of the world, adding that some sections of the bill as passed by the legislators infringed on the fundamental rights of citizens as enshrined in sections 36 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution, the Exclusive legislative list of the 1999 Constitution and some of the provisions that violated section 251 of the 1999 Constitution. However, Ochei who reported the deliberations on the bill by the committee of the House at its plenary session insisted he relied on sections 100 and 105 of the Constitution to override the veto by Uduaghan.
While the above was yet to subside, the 29 lawmakers, between 29th July to 9th August, 2013, moved to America for leadership training at Goldman School of Public Policy, University of Califonia, Berkeley, USA. There was a speculation that they lavished over N1billion on the training. However, Hon Johnson Erijo, member, DSHA, representing Isoko South 11 Constituency told Daily Independent that the amount spent was not up to N200 million and that no reasonable individual or group can expend such an amount on a two-week training. He maintained that there was a fiscal responsibility law to determine the fixed amount to be spent when one travelled abroad, especially when there was budgetary provision. “There is no room for extravaganza. We are amazed at the report that we wasted over one billion on the training. If we had such an amount to spend, none of us would have come back from the training.”
Heating up the polity
Another area where Ochei created tension in the state was when the Assembly dissolved the Board of Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission, DESOPADEC. The board members kicked, saying that only Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan can hire and fire them. The 26 DSHA lawmakers who signed for the dissolution claimed the dissolution became necessary following the non-performance of the board of the commission.
Ochei, who presided over the sitting, maintained that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan should reconstitute the board in line with the law establishing it while the Commissioner of Police should ensure compliance. He ordered the chairman and commissioners to hand over the properties of the commission in their possession to the secretary after putting the motion to a voice vote.
The report of a plot to assassinate Ochei during a routine familiarization and thank-you tour of Obomkpa, Aniocha North Local Government Area, last year was also seen as a rude shock and embarrassment to the power brokers. He was said to have arrived the venue of the ceremony at the Eke Market Square, when a loud explosion and its attendant smoke threw the crowd into pandemonium.
Late Lucky Uyabeme, former Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, explained that going by preliminary police investigations, Ochei was never the target of the cannon which misfired at rustic Obomkpa during a ceremony.
Uduaghan’s intervention
To stop heating up the polity, Governor Uduaghan, speaking at a memorial thanksgiving service for Pa Donald Ochei and Mama Juliet Ochei, parents of the Speaker at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Onicha-Olona, Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, noted that with the dates of the general elections drawing near, political office seekers should not be distracted by lies and rumours but charged them to be focused in their quest to achieve their political ambition. In particular, he charged the various aspirants to go about their businesses in a peaceful and lawful manner as the government would not tolerate acts or utterances that were capable of breaching the peace of the state.
With his cup full to excesses and thinking he had a grip on the lawmakers, Ochei went to sleep, slumbering while the plotters easily worked on the few not loyal to him at least to teach him how to be humble and regard constituted authority, especially party leaders, while they employed blackmail, threat, inducement and coercion on the difficult ones. The strategy brought the needed impetus which scaled through without much stress. The presence of Chiefs Ighoyota Amori, Faith Majemite, Adviser to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan and Barr Peter Nwaoboshi, PDP Chairman, Delta State and others on the gallery to enforce the Ochei-must-be-removed plot lent credence to the fact that the powers that be were involved.
Now that the rug has been pulled from under Ochei’s feet, has the power brokers succeeded in teaching him a bitter lesson? Subsequent events would provide answers to this.
-(DAILY INDEPENDENT)
As political parties prepare for the next year’s general elections, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Ughelli South I Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Honourable Samuel Mariere, has declared that the party would not lose any seat in the 2015 general elections.
Mariere, who made the disclosure to newsmen on Wednesday in Asaba, the state capital, said the state is a one-party state, which is (PDP) and would win all the elections in the state, including the chairmanship and councillorship.
The lawmaker commended Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan on the level of infrastructural development in the state, adding that they (members of the assembly) are very satisfied with the level of infrastructure in the state.
Reacting to the recent court judgment that declared 37 members of the House of Representatives who defected from PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC), he said, the constitution only empowers the Speaker of the House to declare the affected seats vacant.
According to him, in a case of division in the party, the House (Speaker) can advise the affected lawmakers to resign, not the court.
On alleged pilgrimage board challenges, Mariere, who is the chairman, House Committee on Special Duty, admitted that there were some challenges in the Pilgrims Welfare Board, both for Christians and Muslims that were noticed, especially during the recent abandonment of pilgrims at the Port Harcourt airport.
-(MY DAILY NEWS WATCH)
“ANIOMA SON MUST SUCCEED UDUAGHAN COME 2015”-#DELTA PROJECT15
Professor Pat Utomi and Chief Fidelis Tilije, yesterday declared interest in the governorship seat of Delta State during the 2015 general elections under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Leaders Forum and members of the party.
Prof. Utomi is a renowned economist and Director of Lagos Business School, while Chief Tilije, was three-time former running mate to Great Ogboru, a governorship candidate of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP).
Speaking during an enlarged meeting of the Anioma APC Leaders Forum, held at his country home at Ibusa, Oshimili North local government area of Delta state, Utomi, a former presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), said he was moved to join the governorship race in his own state to contribute his quota to the good governance of the state stressing that “enough is enough.”
While promising to turn around the fortune of the state for the better, Prof. Utomi enjoined the people to rally round him and work for the interest of the party in the state and at the national level.
On his part, Chief Tilije, who lambasted the Emmanuel Uduaghan administration, stated that his intention to join the governorship race was to give Deltans good governance.
In his speech earlier, Chairman of Anioma APC Leaders Forum, Engr. Hyacinth Enuha, also carpeted the state government, Governor describing it as “a visible monumental failure in all ramifications.”
In the words of Enuha, “What we see here in Delta state is all about advertisement on the pages of newspapers but we that are on ground here we don’t see those things that are been advertised on the pages of newspapers.”
-(DAILY TIMES)
deltaproject15 