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PDP national secretary: We haven’t paid our staff for three years, how can we rule Nigeria?

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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PDP national secretary: We haven’t paid our staff for three years, how can we rule Nigeria?

Ben Obi, National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, says if workers at the party’s secretariat in Abuja have not been paid for three years, the party cannot claim to be able to rule Nigeria.

Obi was speaking during Saturday’s PDP national convention where delegates are expected to elect new national executives of the party.

The convention, which is being aired live on various television stations, is taking place at the Eagle Square in Abuja.

“We have not paid our staff at the PDP secretariat for over three years. If we cannot do that, how can we claim to be able to lead Nigeria?” Obi said.

He said the convention came at the right time as a new National Working Committee (NWC) would bring about a smoother running of the administrative organ of the PDP.

Also speaking at the event, Ahmed Makarfi, PDP Caretaker Chairman, called for a one-minute silence in honour of Alex Ekwueme, one of the founding members of the PDP who died recently.

Makarfi reminded party faithful that the end to the myriad of court cases involving Ali Modu-Sheriff does not translate to an end to the numerous challenges facing the party.

“We took difficult decisions with a better PDP in mind,” he said. “We have laid a good foundation for the rebirth of the PDP, hence those who left are either coming back or knocking on our doors. Our doors remain wide open.

“In words and action, we must continue to reassure members that loyalty to the party pays. Our women have been blazing the trail in several endeavour.

“Youth must be factored in everything because sooner or later they will be taking over. They should be prepared for the task ahead by exposing them to leadership and its vagaries. Part of it is to ensure that they receive quality education.”

Makarfi advised that the PDP “should amend its constitution to make provision for students bursary loans”.

Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State and Chairman of the convention organising committee, assured the rest of the party that the committee would deliver the best elective process ever witnessed in the party.

He also urged all contestants to play by the rules.

Ex-House of Reps contestant ‘defrauds’ people of N100m by promising them juicy govt positions

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Ex-House of Reps contestant ‘defrauds’ people of N100m by promising them juicy govt positions

 

The Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, Abuja, has remanded one Eno Ekapong Ofem in prison custody after he was arraigned by the the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for allegedly defrauding several persons of over N100 million.

According to a statement by Rasheedat Okoduwa, ICPC’s spokesperson, Ofem, who contested for a seat in the federal House of Representatives during the 2015 general election, was arrested after a petition was written against him.

Ofem was said to have posed as a Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff to the President, while asking people to pay millions into his account in order to help them get juicy appointments from the federal government.

“Investigations by the Commission revealed that Mr. Ofem allegedly claimed to be a Special Adviser to the Chief of Staff to the President, a claim that he used to defraud citizens to the tune of One Hundred Million naira, on the pretext that he would get them ministerial, board and other appointments. The monies had been deposited into his bank account on various dates from June 2016,” the ICPC statement read.

“The charges brought against the defendant indicated that his actions contravened Sections 324 and 322 of the Penal Code Act and Cap 352 Vol. 4 LFN 2004.”

When Ofem was arraigned before Justice Valentine Ashi, he  pleaded not guilty to the six-count charge brought against him, following which Edidion Osungurua, his lawyer, filed a bill application.

The bail application was not opposed by the ICPC prosecution team, led by Elijah Akaakohol, who only asked for stringent conditions to be attached to the bail.

Justice Ashi, however, denied the accused person bail, ordering instead that he be remanded in prison custody until January 16 when the hearing was scheduled to commence.

Adeosun: I suspended Gwarzo because he threatened to blackmail me

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Adeosun: I suspended Gwarzo because he threatened to blackmail me

Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, says she suspended Mounir Gwarzo as Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because he threatened to blackmail her over the ongoing probe of Oando Plc.

Adeosun made this known in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, explaining that Gwarzo had threatened to leak information to the media if any action was taken against him.

“Mr. Gwarzo personally delivered the memo using SEC staff seconded to the office of the Minister, in breach of normal procedures for the receipt of mail,” Adeosun’s statement read.

“The copy of the memo in the possession of the Minister was delivered with a message that any action against Mr. Gwarzo would result in same being leaked to the press.

“It was this threat of blackmail that strengthened the resolve of the Minister to suspend Mr. Gwarzo and allow the Administrative Panel of Inquiry to proceed with its probe.”

Adeosun said the reports Gwarzo was suspended because he refused to stop the forensic audit he ordered into Oando’s finances, were “misleading and mischievous.”

Gwarzo was suspended on November 29 alongside two other senior staff of SEC — Abdulsalam Naif Habu, Head of Media Division and Anastasia Omozele Braimoh, Head of Legal Department — over allegations of financial impropriety.

But days later, reports emerged in the media that Gwarzo’s suspension was as a result of his refusal to obey Adeosun’s directive allegedly ordering him to discontinue with a probe he ordered into the finances of Oando Plc.

Gwarzo was said to have written Adeosun, explaining to her why the Oando probe should be allowed to go on. But instead of heeding his counsel, Adeosun fired him the next day.

The House of Representatives waded into the matter on Tuesday, ordering a probe into the matter and advising Adeosun to reinstate Gwarzo pending the outcome of the probe.

Atiku: Nigeria would be like Zimbabwe if I didn’t fight — and win — with Obasanjo

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Atiku: Nigeria would be like Zimbabwe if I didn’t fight — and win — with Obasanjo

Abubakar Atiku, former Vice President of Nigeria, says he prevented Olusegun Obasanjo from perpetuating himself in office like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Atiku said this in a letter he wrote to Francis Agoda, a Nigerian Comedian popularly known as ‘I go die’.

The comedian had written an open letter to Atiku last week after the latter’s return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

In the letter, he charged Atiku to list his achievements while in office as Vice President between 1999 and 2007.

“Don’t use sentimental empathy on the youths to express your political ambitions. Sir, you are one of those that have immensely benefited from Nigeria since your birth in 1946,” he had said.

“Remarkably, between 1999 and 2007 that you were the Vice President of Nigeria, it is recorded that tertiary institutions witnessed several strikes that wasted 17 months, three weeks and three days. Within this period, what did you do?

“If social support were given to youth then, their children will be between 18 and 20 years during the 2019 elections, obviously they would have willingly voted for you or anyone that you endorse in 2019.”

In reply, Atiku listed among his achievements, the thwarting of Obasanjo’s infamous third agenda that would have seen him remain in office beyond the constitutional eight years.

“I regret that we had that disagreement with my boss. Some say I was disloyal, but I looked at the events in Zimbabwe recently, and it gives me confidence that I did the right thing fighting the attempts to elongate the presidential tenure beyond eight years,” Atiku wrote.

“If I did not win that fight, do you think we would be having a discussion on young people getting into leadership today?”

Atiku also credited himself with bringing about the telecommunications revolution that afforded many Nigerian youth the opportunity to prosper.

He said: “I oversaw the telecoms revolution, which is why young people like you, I Go Die, now have a flourishing career.

“Under our tenure, we witnessed a large repatriation of Nigerians back to Nigeria, driven by the hope of the recovering economy.

“It is sad that many of those young people are heading back abroad now — this is to show you that leadership matters.

“As VP, I assembled what is arguably the best Economic Team ever in Nigeria. It was made up of young, world-class professionals, who came home to work.

“Some of those professionals are now political leaders, governors and world leaders in their own right.

“If you ask what our first task was, coming into government in 1999, it was to bring stability to the economy after decades of military rule.

“For example, between 1999 and 2003, oil prices then were hovering between $16 and $28 yet we managed to pay up salary arrears from decades back, clear up our national debts and built up foreign reserves. Our GDP grew at the fastest rate we’ve seen since the return to democracy.”

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Buhari’s whistle-blowing policy not yet successful, say journalists

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Buhari’s whistle-blowing policy not yet successful, say journalists
The whistle blowing policy is domiciled at the federal Ministry of Finance, under Kemi Adeosun

Almost one year after the Muhammadu Buhari administration formally launched a whistle-blowing policy as part of its anti-corruption campaign, the policy cannot be said to have succeeded yet.

This was the unanimous agreement reached at the end of a media dialogue organized to review the whistle-blowing policy and its performance so far.

The media dialogue was organised by the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), under its Corruption Anonymous (CORA) project.

Speaking at the event, Theophilus Abba, Managing Editor of Daily Trust newspaper, noted that the whistle-blowing policy should not have been domiciled in the Ministry of Finance as is the case.

Abba also pointed out that the anti-corruption campaign should not be centred around theft of funds only.

“What has taken place in Nigeria over the years is much more than theft,” Abba said.

“For instance, one is given N33 million to build a Primary Healthcare Centre, now the healthcare centre is not built, government knows that the health centre was not built, government knows that the money has been released, why will government wait for a whistle-blower in order to recover the money?

“If government is really serious about whistle blowing, then we need to do much more than what we are doing right now.

“Journalists have published stories about corruption based on tips (from whistle-blowers) and I discover that nothing was done. People will do big stories exposing fraud here and there, and one would think that the National Assembly or the Presidency would take it up, but everybody will be looking at it.

“And you (as a journalist) will be like: ‘what’s the importance of what I’m doing’? So I’m thinking that government needs to do more to convince Nigerians that they really want to fight corruption using this policy.”

Also, participants at the dialogue picked holes in the Whistle-blower Act, wich was recently passed by the Senate, saying it leaves so much to be desired.

Catherine Agbo, former Editor at Leadership Newspaper, pointed out a clause in the Act that prohibits public officials from blowing the whistle to the media, arguing that ordinary citizens seem to trust the media more than government agencies.

“Many whistle-blowers prefer to go to the media because they feel safer, they are sure that their security is guaranteed especially when they want to give the information anonymously,” Agbo said.

Participants also criticized government’s handling of the Ikoyi cash recovery saga, and the failure of the finance ministry to reward the whistle blower whose information led to the recovery.

Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL, urged the government to do more to ensure that persons who volunteer useful information that exposes wrongdoing are protected.

He cited the example of Murtala Ibrahim and Teslim Anibaba, staff of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), who are yet to be reinstated months after being dismissed for blowing the whistle on the bank’s management.

Not even a directive from Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, was enough to get them reinstated.

Ministry of happiness will achieve amazing things, says Okorocha

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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Ministry of happiness will achieve amazing things, says Okorocha

Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, says the newly created Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment will record such ‘amazing” feats that its critics will be full of regrets.

“At the end of the day, the achievements of the new Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment will be so amazing that the critics of the initiative will not only be shocked but will also regret to have drawn the curtain for the new Ministry even before it takes off,” Okorocha said in a statement issued on Thursday by Sam Onwuemeodo, his Chief Press Secretary.

“We accept all the criticisms in good faith and commend the critics. That is what makes the society dynamic and our democracy juicy.

“The truth is that the new Ministry is not an accidental discharge but a well-thought out idea that will benefit Imo people in particular and all men and women of goodwill in general. We only ask the critics to give us time.”

Okorocha expressed confidence that public criticism of the move will eventually be overshadowed by the applause and commendation that would come eventually.

He also explained his decision to honour Jacob Zuma, the South African President, with a statue in the state capital, Owerri.

“Some people have also talked about Jacob Zuma’s statue as a referenced case. The criticisms that greeted Zuma’s statue were all anchored on the corruption allegations against the South African President.

“Yet the fact remains that the man is still the President of that country. He has neither been sentenced to imprisonment nor impeached as President following these corruption claims,” he stated.

On the criticism by Ikedi Ohakim, his predecessor, Okorocha said Ohakim was not in any way qualified to criticize his policies.

FLASHBACK: How DSS raided Justice Ademola’s residence in 2016

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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FLASHBACK: How DSS raided Justice Ademola’s residence in 2016

 

Adeniyi Ademola, Justice of the Federal High Court, Abuja, tendered a letter of voluntarily retirement on Thursday, but given that his actual retirement date is March 2018, it ill not be out of place to suggest that this decision is the culmination of a series of unsavoury events that began in the wee hours of October 8, 2016.

It was the night that a team of masked operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) raided the residences of several senior judges, across various states of the federation, on suspicion of corruption.

According to the DSS, the raid was ordered after months of investigations, during which it was credibly established that the affected judges were involved in questionable financial dealings.

The judges whose houses were raided were:  Adeniyi Ademola and Nnamdi Dimgba, both of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court, Kabiru Auta of Kano State and A. I Umezulike, then Chief Judge of Enugu State, Muazu Pindiga of Gombe State and Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.

However, the operation in Rivers State was thwarted by Nyesom Wike,  Governor of the state, who, on getting wind of the operation, rushed to Liman’s residence and prevented DSS personnel from arresting him.

But the DSS personnel were able to gain entrance into Justice Ademola’s residence, and claimed to have recovered huge sums of money in local and foreign currencies.

According to the DSS, at least $400, 000 and N39 million in cash, in addition to documents of landed properties were recovered from Ademola’s residence.

However, in an open letter Ademola wrote to Mahmud Mohammed, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, he described the DSS operation at his home thus: “I saw about 45 masked officers of the State Security Services, all heavily armed pointing their guns at me.

“They flashed a document purported to be a search warrant and ordered me to sign a document claiming that they had already conducted a search downstairs.

“They also added that I was totally under their control today as I have always made orders against them.

“They threatened me if I did not sign it they would not leave me alone and whatever they did to me at that point would be recorded that I will not be alive to tell the story of what transpired between me and them that night.

“For fear and interest of my life, and unknown persons with masks on their faces, I collected the written items and signed the document.”

Ademola also claimed that his ordeal was being orchestrated by Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation, whom he said had vowed to “bring me down”.

“What is more intriguing in this whole episode is that I see it as a vendetta/revenge from the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN),” Ademola stated.

“Whilst I was in Kano between 2004 and 2008 as a Federal High Court judge, he was involved in a professional misconduct necessitating his arrest and detention by my order.

“However, with the intervention of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Kano Branch, the allegation of misconduct was later withdrawn by me.

“Consequently, the National Judicial Council,NJC, referred Abubakar Malami to the NBA Disciplinary Committee for disciplinary action.

“It was as a result of this he was denied the rank of SAN by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee for a period of four years until when he produced a fake letter of apology, purportedly addressed to me.

“It was then he was conferred with the rank. Since the above incident, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has threatened to revenge and swore to do anything to bring me down.”

Nevertheless, Ademola’s case, as well as that of the other arrested Judges, was transferred to the EFCC, who later filed corruption charges against him.

Ademola was arraigned before Justice Jude Okeke of the FCT High Court, in December 2016, alongside his wife Olabowale, and Joe Agi (SAN), on an 11-count charge bordering on conspiracy to receive bribe and receiving bribe.

Another set of charges was also filed against Ademola at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), where he was accused of engaging in private business as a public officer and making false assets declaration.

According to the charges, Ademola was said to have engaged in the purchase and sale of foreign exchange currencies while being a judge of the Federal High Court, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 6 of the CCB and Tribunal Act.

Following the development, Ademola was suspended by National Judicial Council (NJC) pending the determination of the cases.

However, Ademola was cleared of all the corruption charges in April 2017, after the presiding judge upheld a no-case submission he filed in relation to the charges against him.

Justice Okeke held that the evidences and witnesses produced by the EFCC were not enough to establish a prima facie against Ademola to warrant him to enter a defence.

He was subsequently recalled by the NJC and was due to retire in March 2018, before his voluntary retirement on Thursday.

Court ignores ‘killer wife’ Maryam Sanda’s pleas, sends her back to prison

YEKEEN Akinwale
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Court ignores ‘killer wife’ Maryam Sanda’s pleas, sends her back to prison

 

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Jabi, Abuja, has ordered that Maryam Sanda, who allegedly killed her husband Bilyamin Bello, should be returned to Suleja Prison pending her re-arraignment next Thursday.

This was after the court refused an oral application for bail made on the accused’s behalf by Joseph Daudu, her new lawyer, when the matter was brought up for hearing on Thursday.

Maryam has been remanded at the prison since November 24, after pleading not guilty to the charge before the court.

In a two-count charge, the FCT Police Command  accused Maryam, daughter Maimuna Aliyu Sanda, a former Executive Director of Aso Savings and Loans, of killing her husband, Bilyamin.

The Police alleged that Maryam had caused the death of Bello “by stabbing him on the chest with a broken bottle which eventually led to his death and you did with the knowledge that your act is likely to cause his death”.

At the resumed hearing, James Idachaba, Police Prosecutor, informed the court  that an amended charge had been filed before the court where Maryam’s mother, Maimuna Aliyu, has been added as defendant together with two others.

Idachaba, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), said all efforts to serve the charge on Maimuna and the others have proved abortive.

He asked the court to adjourn the matter to Thursday, December 14 to enable the Police bring all the defendants to court so they can take their pleas together.

After this, Daudu, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), asked the court to listen to the bail application filed on Maryam’s behalf.

But Idachaba urged the court to also adjourn the bail application to December 14 after new pleas must have been taken.

The trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, ruled in favour of the Prosecutor and said the bail would be taken after the re-arraignment.

Again, Daudu pleaded with the judge, this time orally, to release Maryam on bail pending the Thursday. He said the prison conditions are unwholesome for Maryam’s six-month-old baby.

“It is unfortunate that a life has been lost already, but we should not take more lives,” the senior lawyer pleaded.

After another objection by the Police Prosecutor, Justice Halilu, held that he was not disposed to granting the oral bail application since issues had been joined on the formal application for bail.

“The defendant in the main time shall be returned to the prisons pending Thursday, December 14,” the judge held.

Earlier, the judge had ordered that Maryam’s daughter in the custody of a relative be taken out of court after the baby’s persistent crying.

The baby continued crying outside the court room throughout the court proceedings.

The court room was filled to capacity, with as many more people standing both inside and outside.

Okorocha and the limits of clowning

Editorial
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Okorocha and the limits of clowning

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

I was about leaving my office on Thursday, November 30, when a friend and former colleague called to ask if I was watching the Lagos-based Television Continental (TVC).

I was not! Why did he ask? Rather than answering, he riposted, “What is wrong with your state governor for God’s sake?” My friend, who is Yoruba, knows I am from Imo State and Owelle Rochas Okorocha is my governor. I asked him what the governor had done again, whether he had erected another statue.

He said there was a live broadcast of the 50th birthday anniversary of the governor’s wife, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha, and wondered why in this very austere economic environment, a governor would waste a people’s patrimony on such vainglorious celebration.

I had no answer partly because the question, what is wrong with your governor, has become a daily burden for Imo indigenes. He sympathized with me and hung up.

The grandiose celebration of Nneoma’s birthday came just three months after the governor used almost the whole of September to lavishly celebrate his own 55th birthday with 27 giant cakes.

The question, what is wrong with Governor Okorocha echoed again on Monday, December 4, when he swore in 28 new commissioners, 10 months after the dissolution of the Imo State Executive Council, and 27 Transition Committee Chairmen for the local government councils in the state.

Curiously, Okorocha, the man who claims his vision drives him crazy, created a brand new “Ministry for Happiness and Couples’ Fulfillment,” to be manned by his younger sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo.

Okorocha, the man whose vision drives crazy

Many Nigerians are scratching their heads searching for reasons to explain Okorocha’s bizarre disposition to governance.

Besides, why is he reducing governance in Imo State to a family affair? Before this latest appointment, Mrs. Ololo had served as his Deputy Chief of Chief and Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs. Okorocha’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Uche Nwosu, who is his son-in-law, is the state’s de facto deputy governor. When the current deputy governor, Prince Eze Madumere, was the Chief of State, Nwosu was the commissioner for lands.

The worst kept secret in the state is that the governor will stop at nothing in ensuring that Nwosu, his daughter’s husband, succeeds him in 2019. The only minister from Imo State, Professor Anthony Anwuka (Minister of State for Education) is father-in-law to Okorocha’s second daughter, Uju. It was this same Mrs. Uju Anwuka that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government appointed a member of the Board of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, an appointment Okorocha said he rejected because he was “never consulted or briefed.” Many believe that the so-called rejection was because he didn’t see that particular board as a juicy one and, therefore, undeserving of his daughter’s membership.

In December 2016, the governor, through his Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. George Etche, disclosed that his wife supervises four ministries – women affairs, works, health, as well as office of the SSG. And the question is, in what capacity? Nobody knows. Okorocha thinks he owes Imolites no explanation for his actions. He takes the people for granted because in his subconscious, he believes he is doing them a huge favour as their governor when the entire country is yearning for an Okorocha presidency.

Let us be clear here. There is nothing wrong in a governor appointing a relation into his government as long as the appointee is qualified and primed to add value to governance. But to think that in a state blessed with pristine human resource as Imo is, only members of the Okorocha family can play such roles is the height of self-delusion. To say the least, such contemplation is surreal.

Back to the extant issue! What does happiness and couples’ fulfillment mean? In real terms, what will be Mrs. Ololo’s job description? What will be her key duties and responsibilities? In what way(s) will the commissioner guarantee that Imo couples find fulfillment? What will be the yardstick for measuring success? Which committee of the Imo State House of Assembly would have oversight responsibility over this ministry?

Beyond all these, what does a state in a country struggling to extricate itself from the asphyxiating grip of self-inflicted recession do with 28 commissioners? How can a governor that is delinquent in the payment of salaries and pensions assemble such an unwieldy cabinet at this 11th hour?

In over six years as governor, Okorocha has refused to conduct local government election. It is only in an unserious country like Nigeria that this impunity can go on unchallenged. What manner of democracy makes an elected official a god whose actions, no matter how spurious and injurious to the wellbeing of the people, cannot be challenged?

To say that Okorocha is a clown in government is to be charitable because even clowning has its limits. What is going on in Imo State in the name of governance is beyond clowning. It is a tragedy.

To add insult to injury, he takes himself serious, thinking he is the best thing to happen to the state since its creation as he alluded to when he claimed that his administration had exceeded the achievements of all the previous administrations in the state, both civilian and military, put together.

Am I surprised at this sheer delusion of the grandeur?

No!

Many people have forgotten that this absurd theatrics didn’t start today. In July 2011, Okorocha stunned Nigerians when he appointed 70 advisers that included the position of Special Assistant on Comedy/Chief Comedian of the State.

How did we get to this sorry pass? Of course, many people have latched on the hackneyed refrain that people get the leadership they deserve. After all, this is a democracy and Okorocha is the governor only because the people voted for him.

Maybe!

But I just wonder how Archbishop Anthony Obinna of the Owerri Archdiocese feels now. Obinna, it was, who literally made Okorocha governor in 2011 by leading the assault of the Imo Catholics against the then governor, Ikedi Ohakim.

Okorocha and Ohakim

When all else seemed to have failed in the orchestrated campaign of calumny against Ohakim, the church pulled the joker from its bag of intrigues alleging that he physically assaulted a Catholic priest. The noise the allegation generated was so deafening that Ohakim’s feeble voice of protest was completely lost.

Ironically, nobody saw or heard from the Reverend Father who was assaulted. When Imo Catholics, wearing black, demonstrated in the state capital, Ohakim’s re-election bid was doomed irreversibly. The popular refrain then was that the man who beat a Reverend Father will never govern the state again.

But does that explain the lack of moral outrage in the state against the shenanigans of their governor? Or is it that the people are so ashamed of the role they played individually and collectively in enthroning Okorocha with his bizarre tendencies in office that they would rather keep quiet? Is Imo State now Okorocha’s conquered fiefdom?

What are the members of the state House of Assembly doing? Is the legislature no longer constitutionally obligated to act as a check and balance on the executive arm of government and to rein in executive lawlessness such as the one presently in full display? Aren’t the shenanigans in Imo in the name of quixotic governance already beyond the pale? When will the people say enough is enough?

It is really a tragedy that Imo, a state once governed by Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe, the Eastern Nigeria heartland, has become the butt of all national jokes courtesy of a man who claims to have come on a rescue mission. Ndi-Imo must retrieve their state from Okorocha’s clowning vice-grip and now is the time. Tomorrow will be too late.

FG gives Kachikwu ‘marching orders’ to end fuel queues by weekend

Kingsley OBIEJESI
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FG gives Kachikwu ‘marching orders’ to end fuel queues by weekend

Lai Mohammed, Minister for Information and Culture, says the Federal Government has given Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, the “marching orders” to ensure that fuel queues at filling stations are eliminated before the week runs out.

He also said the government has no plans to increase the pump price of petrol.

Mohammed said this while addressing State House correspondents after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

“The council gave him (Kachikwu) a matching order that this fuel scarcity should not last beyond this weekend and they are going to work very hard to ensure that it is curtailed,” Mohammed said, adding that “the government has no intention at all to increase the pump price of PMS.”

He said that Kachikwu had briefed the council on the current fuel scarcity and assured the public that the country has “enough products till next one month or even till the end of January”.

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