Musdapha Ilo

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has commenced a post election review of its performance during the last general election the North east, in an attempt to make the necessary adjustments in subsequent polls.

The chairman of the post election review committee, Shuaib Oyedokun, who made this known to newsmen in Gombe said the PDP is prepared to regain power in 2019.

The three-man post election review committee has the task of critically looking at the party’s poor performance at the polls at all levels in the 2015 general elections.

It would also work out a road map for repositioning the party and restoring confidence in the party.

According to Oyedokun, stakeholders of the party from the six states of the North east would appear before the committee to identify what went wrong during the election and proffer solution.

These suggestions would be forwarded to the national secretariat of the party.

“We are having audience with delegates from the six states of the zone and we have been having serious frank discussions about what happened and the way forward. We will later report back to our national headquarters in Abuja, for proper analysis and final recommendations to the party,” he said.

He said the template provided by the party would be strictly followed as directed.

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“We are also looking at how conflicts were resolved during the polls, the campaign strategy as well as funding and disbursement of campaign funds among many others,” Oyedokun said.

The former national deputy chairman of the party admitted that complacency was partly responsible for the failure of the party but assured that corrections would be made, so as to reclaim power.

“We were not careful enough. We failed a little in managing the success we had for 16 years and we were complacent. This failure now has taught us a lot. This exercise we are embarking on is indeed an innovation,” he stated.

Recently the PDP set up a committee headed by the deputy senate president, Ike Ekeremadu to assess its dismal performance in the 2015 polls. The committee was broken down into sub committees to cover the different geo-political zones.

The party lost in some of its traditional strongholds, including Bauchi, Plateau, Benue, Niger, Katsina and Kebbi states.

By Tosin Omoniyi

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the immediate release of N713.7billion as intervention funds for states currently battling to pay workers’ salaries.

The bail-out, it was gathered, is part of a three-tiered relief package that will end the plight of workers in the state.

About N413.7billion will be given directly to states as special intervention funds while the balance of N300billion is expected to be issued as soft loans to states.

The N413.7 billion will be sourced from the recent Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, proceeds while the balance of N300 billion is a Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, assisted special intervention fund.

As an added aid, the Debt Management Office, DMO will directly assist impoverished states to restructure over N660billion commercial loans which are stunting the growth of their respective economies.

The Federal government will equally wield its influence to guarantee the elongation of the subsequent loan repayment by the states in order to help them get back on track.

The beneficiaries of the relief package would also include workers in federal ministries, departments and Agencies, MDAs, and other relevant agencies currently affected by the cash crisis.

The measures to be put in place are also expected to put more cash in the hands of the average worker thereby reflating the depressed economy a bit.

The special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, while confirming that there was indeed a relief package on the way to help out the keeling states, added that these were just a part of measures being spearheaded by the federal government to kick start the economy.

States currently battling to pay off backlog of workers’ salaries include- Osun, Ekiti, Rivers, Buachi, Oyo, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, and Benue.

Analysts estimate that the phalanx of states collectively owe their workers about N110 bn.

Officials of the finance ministry and the CBN have, however, said that the owed salaries and arrears are in the region of N250bn.

It would be recalled that at a parley between state governors and the President a few weeks ago, the former had stoutly rejected any bailout from the government.

Speaking on behalf of his colleagues,Zamfara State governor, Abdulazeez Yari, said instead of bailouts, the governors requested for the refund of federal government project monies they carried out in their states.

According to him, the governors also asked that the tax paid by the Nigeria Natural Liquefied Gas Company be paid into the Federation Account shared between the federal and states governments.

They also asked the federal government to ensure that all monies paid into the Federation Account for sharing be divided as stipulated by the Constitution.

President Buhari had promised to look into their demands. He also subsequently set up a committee headed by his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo to look into the government coffers with a view to ascertaining what monies could be shared immediately to assist the embattled states.

By Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

The Edo State chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, on Monday announced the suspension of its six-month-old strike.

It subsequently directed its members to resume work at their duty posts on Wednesday.

The protesting workers had earlier defied two separate directives by the State Judicial Service Commission to resume work or face outright dismissal from service.

It was gathered that the suspension of the industrial action followed the intervention of a committee headed by a judge, P. A. Akhihiero.

In a statement jointly signed by its national legal adviser/assistant secretary, P Nnamani, and the state chairman, Uyi Ogieriakhi, the union however said the suspension would last for one month.

It added that this would enable the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, meet up with their demands.

It also requested that no worker who took part in the strike would be victimized.

Those believed to have intervened in the faceoff between the workers and the state government include the Esogban of Benin Kingdom, David Edebiri, the Catholic Archbishop of Benin, Augustine Akubeze, the Anglican Bishop of Benin Diocese, Peter Imasuen; the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Henry Idahagbon, as well some state chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Nigeria Bar Association.

It would be recalled that judiciary workers in the state have been on strike since January, 5, 2015, over the unwillingness of the state government to implement a Federal High Court order which granted financial autonomy to the judiciary.

They were also protesting the non-payment of their July, 2014, and January, 2015 salaries.

By Tosin Omoniyi

The Nigerian Army will today conclude its annual Army Day celebration which is currently holding in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

The public relations unit of 7th Division of the Nigeria Army said on Sunday that the annual celebration, usually held in Abuja, would be held in Maiduguri this year.

It added that the move was aimed at boosting the low morale of the troops serving in the embattled city.

Tukur Gusau, a colonel, who spoke on behalf of the division, said in a statement on Sunday said the 2015 celebrations will focus on the theme: “Equipping the Nigerian Army to Enhance Operational Efficiency in Combating Threats to National Security”.

Reports indicate that the army boss, Kenneth Minima, a general and other top military brass had already arrived in Maiduguri as early as Sunday evening.

The generals are expected to participate in the concluding events of the celebration, which begun Friday July 3 with prayers offered in mosques.

The celebration also continued on Sunday with church services at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Maimalari cantonment.

By Tosin Omoniyi

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Sunday said that the police invitation to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekeremadu, to appear at force headquarters on Monday over allegations of forging senate rules was a ploy by the All Progressive Congress, APC, to arrest him.

It said there was also a grand plan by the ruling party to use legal tools to remove Ekeremadu from his position in the senate.

In a swift reaction,however, the APC has denied the allegations, calling it a fabrication and insisting that the party had nothing to do with Ekweremadu’s invitation by the police.

Also, the deputy force public relations officer, Abayomi Shogunle, on Sunday provided an insight on why Ekeremadu was invited to come to the force headquarters.

According to Shogunle, Ekeremadu was not being targeted by the police as an individual.

He explained that the police was only investigating a petition by a senator, alleging a forgery of the senate rules and standing orders.
Shogunle said the case was being handled by the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, and expressed the resolve of the police leadership to gather evidence in order to treat the matter.

He added that the FCID had sent a letter to the senate clerk requesting a meeting with principal officers, Ekeremadu included.

“The police didn’t send a letter to the deputy senate president, but to the clerk. What we did was to write to the clerk to facilitate a meeting with some of the senators to verify the allegations that were made, the police have respect for democratic values. But the clerk is yet to respond to the letter,” Shogunle said.

Shogunle said the issue should not be misconstrued as that of “an individual, but about those that should be in the know of the senate rules and standing orders.”

But the PDP’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday insisted that Ekeremadu was being singled out by the APC because it was still enraged by his emergence as Deputy Senate President.

He alleged that once Ekeremadu appeared before the team of investigators on Monday, he would be subsequently arrested so that a vacuum could be created at the Senate for a preferred candidate of the APC to occupy.
He also said that the police had been given ‘permission’ by the APC to intimidate the senator.

“We are aware that some APC senators opposed to the emergence of senators Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu as senate president and deputy senate president respectively met last week and concocted a petition, accusing the deputy senate president of altering the senate rules on the process of election of the presiding officers, upon which the police via a letter dated July 1, 2015 and signed by the Deputy Inspector General in charge of criminal investigation at the Force

Headquarters has invited him to appear tomorrow (today), Monday, July 6, 2015 where he will be detained and put under pressure,” Metuh said.

Metuh said the senate standing rules is strictly done by the bureaucracy under the Clerk to the National Assembly and that Ekeremadu could not have been guilty of altering it.

“Apparently to ensure that the agenda is given an official stamp, the Inspector General of Police, acting on instructions, has invited the deputy senate president with a view to arresting him over phantom charges as a build up to incarcerate him, create a vacuum in the senate and pave way for the imposition of an APC preferred senator to take over his position,” Metuh alleged.

He also said the APC was exploring legal loopholes and also expending efforts at the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in order to come up with phony charges that will attempt to reveal that

Ekeremadu did not file the relevant documents at the commission before his elections, tarnish his image, thus paving way for his eventual removal.

He also said that the PDP was alerting Nigerians on the possibility of its leaders being targeted for victimization or worse, political assassinations by the APC.

“PDP would not consider it a mere coincidence if our key leaders suddenly become victims of terror attacks or are suddenly killed by armed robbers. This is especially as we are aware that the APC has even gone to the ridiculous extent of trailing key PDP leaders and bugging their telephone lines,” he said.

However the APC has denied the allegations of deliberately targeting opposition figures for victimization.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by its national publicity secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said it did not write any petition against Ekeremadu to the police.

It said however, that the police, as a law enforcement agency had the duty of investigation any alleged infraction of the nation’s laws by any individual or group.

”Forgery is a crime that is being regularly investigated by the police, and it beggars belief that such investigation will now be interpreted to mean that Nigeria is descending into dictatorship or that democracy and the enjoyment of personal freedoms are now endangered. These claims by the scaremongering PDP are far-fetched and preposterous,” the statement said.

The APC urged Ekeremadu to honor the police invitation in order to clear his reputation adding that no person was above the law.

”President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly said that at every point, the law must be supreme and everyone must respect the law, if the nation’s democratic system is to survive. Extrapolating a police invitation of anyone, no matter his status, to mean the onset of dictatorship is itself an invitation to lawlessness and anarchy, which
permeated ye long but ineffective rule of the PDP,” the party said.

The two major political parties have been embroiled in controversy over the election of principal leaders in both chambers of the national assembly.

The schism in the ruling party had seen its preferred candidates for both chambers, Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajamiala, losing out in the intense power struggle.

The ensuing confusion in the ranks of the APC had been exploited by the opposition PDP which led to the emergence of Ekeremadu, a PDP legislator, as Deputy Senate President.

An aggrieved group of APC senators had in the past few weeks called for the resignation of Ekeremadu, a move the PDP has resisted