It will also mediate in the conflict between Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Aloysius Etok.

Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the PDP caucus in the Senate had set up two committees to attend to the issues affecting the two states.

He briefed the press on Tuesday at the end of what he described as a routine meeting of the parties caucus in the Senate.

The meeting was attended by the President of the Senate, David Mark, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu.

Ndoma-Egba said, “The PDP Senate caucus just finished its meeting. You know that our caucus meetings are routine meetings. The Senate President was here in person. The Deputy Senate President was here in person.

“The entire leadership of the PDP in the Senate was here and we looked essentially at the challenges our party is facing in some states.

“We looked especially at the situation in Rivers State and Akwa Ibom State. We looked at the relationship between the governor and our colleague, Senator Aloysius Etok.

“It was decided that there was a need for the Senate PDP caucus to intervene with a view to see how we can return the two states to cordiality and normalcy and to that effect we have set up two committees to engage the dramatis personae in the two states.”

The Senate Leader, however, did not name the committees, but said the committees would start work immediately.

There had been a subtle battle between the President and Amaechi in connection with the chairmanship of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which is currently receiving extensive media coverage.

Akpabio, on the other hand, is at daggers-drawn with Etok over his representation in the Senate, as the governor has declared his intention to replace the senator in the National Assembly in 2015.

Ndoma-Egba further explained that the caucus was also concerned about the clamour for the increase in the representation of members of the National Assembly in the National Executive Committee of the PDP.

He said, “Yes, there has been the clamour at the National Assembly for increased membership of its members in NEC. That has been ongoing as you are fully aware. And we are still pressing that we want a greater representation of the National Assembly in the National Executive Committee of the PDP.”

-Punch

Akpan, who stated this in Uyo on Saturday during a press conference, explained that the state government had already consulted the state House of Assembly on the need to write off the UBA loan facility which attracts 18.5 per cent per annum.

Akpan said, “When we got the UBA facility, we were also working with an international financial institution. The essence of this loan is to enable us bring down the cost of governance for the people. We have to do this based on the interest that has been shown by the international financial community based on the performance of the governor.

“The UBA facility was meant to be a start up to augment our finance. Borrowing from a local market is easier than borrowing from the international market.

“But we were also conscious of the fact that the UBA facility was a double digit facility. We borrowed at 18.5 per cent interest rate per annum while at the same time we were working with the international financial community to work out a modality where we would also borrow at a less than nine per cent.

“So, the UBA facility was just a bridge to support the state as at the time it came, because we were conscious that once we finalised arrangement Standard Charter Bank, we would use it to upset the UBA loan facility.”

He said the state House of Assembly had approved the N50bn loan from UBA, adding that the loan with its interest rate of 18.5 per cent per annum was part of the budget.

Via Punch

The incident took place on August 15, 2012 at Ibiaku Atta, Ikono Local Government Area of the state.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Etim Dickson, told newsmen in Uyo that Udofia was invited for questioning by the police.

He said, “In reaction to several calls from media practitioners across the state on the above issue, I hereby confirm the invitation to state CID Homicide Section of Hon. Victor Udofia, member AKHA representing Ikono State Constituency on his alleged involvement in the murder of one Nsikak Edet Etefia in Ibiaku Atta on 15/08/2012.”

Dickson, who said investigation had been ongoing since 2012, revealed that if found culpable, Udofia would be prosecuted.

It was learnt that a disagreement had ensued between Udofia and Etefia over the award of a Niger Delta Development Commission contract meant for the constituency to non-indigenes.

Etefia was said to have prevented the contractors from entering the site of the project, leading to an altercation between him and Udofia.

In the process, Etefia was shot dead.
-Punch

Given such reality, a question arises: Should we just accept things the way they are and try to adapt? Some people say yes because they truly feel overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness and all they can do is hope for a miracle to change the system. Some people say yes because they are cunningly and ferociously waiting for their own turn to do the same (like senior boys do to junior ones in school) or to have some one from or friendly to their ethnic or political tribe in power to manoeuvre things in their favour. I say no. That will turn us into a S.T.A.D Nation (So They All Do); we must resist such trajectory.

When confronted with the mess in the country, many of those in a position of authority or responsibility seem not to know where to start. With his now notorious exuberant mode of operating and lately speaking, Governor Godswill Akpabio has done us all a favour by giving a possibility and a challenge to those who really understand what democracy and commonwealth mean and care about these ideals to stand up and act in their defence.

With his self-incriminating declaration and consequent clumsy attempt to deny that he personally overturned the results of party primary senatorial elections in his State, many now have the opportunity to explore the essence of our democracy, and fix some essential far from perfect components within the system.

For anyone that missed it, and just to be clear for all, we now have Governor Godswill Akpabio on record (audio and video) saying: “I used my own hand to strike out the name of the person who has won before, and I said it is important for me to give that [Ikono and Ini Local Government Areas] region a Senator in 2007, and I produced Senator Aloysius Etuk for you; that’s where he comes from.”

Thanks to Governor Godswill Akpabio, activists, analysts, public commentators and teachers if worthy of such designations now have the opportunity and duty to explain to Nigerians the importance of primary elections and how they should be conducted in the country. Contrary to the nonsense some are saying either out or sheer ignorance or with a conscious effort to deceive many into believing that primary elections are just mere internal party rituals, the whole of process of representative democracy actually starts from and depends a lot on primary elections and caucuses. These processes are in fact the essential condition without which we cannot have the emergence of a capable and committed political class that is not involved in or compromised by corruption disguised as generosity or servilisim misconstrued as loyalty.

It is not by accident that under the electoral acts that governs political parties and with which INEC functions, the regulator’s monitoring powers over political parties allows the commission to observe primaries and as it deems fit, either to accept or reject the outcomes.

The deafening silence of INEC on this issue is to say the least unbearable. In a normal country, the organisation officially charged with regulating electoral matters should by now be investigating an election about which someone in the position of the Akwa Ibom Governor has made such statements. Governor Godswill Akpabio has done us all favour by giving a possibility and a challenge to examine the role and function of INEC in our democracy and see how fit it is for purpose.

Where do the judiciary and our security forces stand on this matter? Don’t they read the papers? Where is the press? After Governor Akpabio reported himself, we should be now have feature stories on whose name he struck off that list, how did such candidate react, and what is he doing now and intends to do?
It must be said that in making these incriminating declaration, the Governor’s intent was to demonstrate his fairness and generosity to the people of Ikono and Ini Local Government Areas by righting a wrong and putting one of their own into power.

Now let us for a moment blindly and dangerously assume that Governor Akpabio is a completely righteous and exceptionally competent politician whose actions are solely dictated by the good of his state and that he genuinely meant well, even in such scenario, what he should have done is to openly canvass for and make a case for the candidate he deems best for the post.

Elected officials ought to remember that their tenure in office is only for a limited period of time. They ought to bear in mind that after them, a self-serving scoundrel or a lucky imbecile might just come into power and consequently, it is their duty, today, to create precedents and discontinue patterns that, for any reason in the world, might allow others to abuse power.

Governor Akpabio has done us all the favour of reminding us of the need to remind them of this duty.

Akpabio, who is also the PDP Governors Forum chairman, made the confession when a delegation of the National Good Governance Tour visited the state on March 9.

The tour, which was recorded with a video camera, was led by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku. The video which went viral on Sunday was as of 8.47pm viewable on premiumtimes.com, the website of an online Nigerian news portal, Premium Times.

The governor made the confession while defending his claim of being fair to the people of Ini and Ikono.

He was responding to a question that he had not impacted the lives of the people of the two communities, especially in the area of roads, schools and other public infrastructure.

The communities form part of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. Akpabio said he struck out the name of the person who won the PDP primary election and replaced it with Aloysius Etuk.

Etuk went ahead to win the senatorial election. He remains a serving senator having won a reelection in 2011.

The governor said, “The people of Ikono and Ini (Local Government Areas) from 1960 have never produced a Senator.

“I used my own hand to strike out the name of the person who has won before, and I said it is important for me to give that region a Senator in 2007, and I produced Senator Aloysius Etuk for you; that’s where he comes from.”

Etuk, who was in attendance at the town hall meeting, confirmed the claim when Akpabio asked him to stand up and “take a bow”.

The governor’s confession shocked many in attendance.

The governor, who was later hinted of the implication of his claim then sought to further clarify it.

He said, “So, I must say that I thank all of you, including the members of the National Assembly led by Senator Aloysius Etok. And when I said that I made Aloy(sius Etok) to become a senator in 2007, I need to explain it so that you don’t think that I wrote his name and he became a senator.

“During the primaries of the PDP, we zoned the Senate seat to his federal constituency. And from the federal constituency, he came first in the primaries. That happened in the PDP. So we said since he was the first among the people who came from his federal constituency for the primaries, then he must be the one to become the senator.”

-Punch

Seeing a state governor abandoning his duties to attend such a function is by itself an act of irresponsibility. Committing state funds to such an event is another disservice to the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Sadly, the governor acknowledged at the ceremony that he was not aware that the road leading to the bride’s village was in a bad shape and that it would be fixed by the time Tuface and his wife would be bringing the “fruit” of their wedlock for dedication in less than a year. As customary with Nigerian politicians, Akpabio would have fixed the road for the wedding event if he had known its deplorable state to advertise to the media and the VIPs coming for the event that his government is working.

With the way poverty walks tall in Akwa Ibom State, and almost every state of the nation, how does the governor feel that donating two SUVs at the cost of about $100,000 each and sending 29 delegates to Dubai for the wedding of Tuface will address the needs of his people? The people in positions of authority need to think. There are many young and talented citizens of Akwa Ibom who need a fraction of this money to succeed in life but they can never have access to the governor because of the walls surrounding him.

Just recently, an American socialite, Kim Khadashian, spent 45 minutes in Nigeria and earned $500,000 for talking for 45 seconds. Our President when he was the Bayelsa State governor was also reported to have released $1m from the poverty alleviation fund to pay Beyonce for attending a private show in Nigeria to sing national anthem in 2006. His wife was also recently reported to have raised half a billion naira for the thanksgiving celebration for the healing of an illness she once publicly denied. Why are we like this?

Nigeria cannot progress if we continue to administer public funds like this. Our leaders should wake up and see how public funds are spent in saner climes. A former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment because he attempted to “sell” the senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama in 2008. Rev. Jesse Jackson’s son is currently being prosecuted for spending his campaign funds on personal items as a member of the House. President Obama personally picked the bills for going to a dinner with the Republican senators recently. Why can’t our leaders learn lessons from these people? Of all the challenges the US president is facing with the Congress, no one has successfully accused him of stealing a dime. Who among Nigerian politicians can ever come this clean under a similar pressure?

Akpabio in the interest of common sense should either use his personal money to fund this profligacy or cancel it entirely. The fund earmarked for the Tuface wedding can be used to address a fraction of the many problems facing the people of Akwa Ibom more so that the recipient of the gesture is a wealthy young man who can as well donate to the community from where his beloved bride hails from. It is also time the people called their leaders to question. No one should be surprised if the common people who were fighting over food at the event clapped when Akpabio made this bizarre announcement. It shows the abysmal level that our leaders have cowed our reasoning. No nation ever survives with this brand of leadership and self-defeat admittance by the populace.

Sunday Odeleke

Houston, Texas.

The million dollar van

Inside of the custom made bullet proof van from Texas

Inside of the luxury bullet proof van

The vans will join a remarkable fleet of top-of-the-line bulletproof luxury Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) Mr. Akpabio already has in his official convoy, making the latest purchase superfluous and insensitive, insiders in the government reportedly told the website.
PREMIUM TIMES later downloaded the photographs of the tastefully customized vans from the Facebook page of The Texas Armoring Company, which is using the images to promote its products.

The company could not be reached for the actual cost of the vans. Calls to its Texas office were unanswered. But those familiar with automobiles and their costs say Mr. Akpabio could have spent about a million dollar depending on the extent of customisation and the number of units.

The governor too could not be reached for comments Tuesday night.
Mr. Akpabio is one of Nigeria’s most profligate governors, spending his state funds as if they were his personal wealth.

At a forum held in honour of the movie industry in Nigeria on March 3, Mr. Akpabio promised to release an unsolicited N50million for a so-called ‘Goodluck Jonathan Prize’ award for best performers in the film industry.

A few days later, he announced a gift of two brand new Toyota Prado SUVs to Tuface and his wife. He also promised to bankroll an all-expense paid trip for 29 delegates from the state to attend the white wedding of the couple fixed for Dubai, the United Arab Emirate on March 23.

Besides, he also hosted a lavish state dinner in honour of the couples and promised to rehabilitate the Eket-Ibeno Road ahead of the child dedication of Tuface and Annie.

A governor, who seems to have obsession for awards, Mr. Akpabio is known to move around with huge cash taken from the state coffers, recklessly distributing them to whoever captures his fancy.
He is believed to be spending heavily buying good press and awards across the country.

In March last year, three staff of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCo) attached to Arik Airlines were arrested for allegedly stealing N2million from the luggage of a Government House, Uyo protocol staff at Ibom International Airport.

The money was said to have been removed from the about N8million reportedly taken to Lagos by the protocol team for use during Governor Akpabio’s trip for his investiture as the Sun Newspapers Man of the Year award ceremony a few days earlier.

Bundles of the mint-fresh notes reportedly kept in one of the official’s luggage allegedly developed wings in mysterious circumstances when some top government officials on the governor’s entourage were returning to Uyo.

Nothing has been heard of the case for a long time but there were reports at the time that the state government was pressuring the police to drop the case against the airline officials to avoid bad publicity for the state.

Governor Akpabio is widely celebrated in the local media and the Peoples Democratic Party for “governing Akwa Ibom State well”.
But residents say beyond the facade, the poverty and unemployment rate in the state remained among the highest in the country.

Local contractors are routinely ignored for multinationals in the execution of infrastructural projects, and residents complain of huge capital flights from the state.

The largest employer of labour in the state remains the civil service which is already overstaffed.
Most state-owned industries have closed shop and the state is not known to have attracted any substantial investment in spite of Governor Akpabio’s several overseas trip in search of foreign investors.
Worried by the massive poverty in the state, the Anglican Bishop of Uyo Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Isaac Orama, on September 12, 2012, advised Mr. Akpabio to face reality and fight the widespread unemployment and poverty in the state.

Mr. Orama gave the advice while delivering the Bishop’s Charge 2012 at the first session of the sixth Synod of the Anglican faithful drawn from churches in the Uyo Diocese.

But residents say Mr. Akpabio has not hearkened to the call, but has instead been wasting even the limited funds available to the state.

From TAIWO AMODU, Abuja

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Board of Trustees, (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, said yesterday that with prayers, the ruling party will survive its present challenges and retain its position in the polity. Anenih disclosed this to journalists shortly after a closed-door meeting with the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, at the party’s presidential campaign office, Legacy House, Abuja.

Asked by newsmen what role the BoT would play under his leadership to resolve the crisis in the party ahead of general elections in 2015, Chief Anenih said: “Prayers, prayers, prayers ! That is what we need!!” His meeting with Tukur, according to Daily Sun findings, was to discuss the agenda of the meeting of National Caucus of the party scheduled for last night at the Presidential Villa. It was also revealed that in a move to strenghten the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of 2015, certain PDP governors have been elevated to join the rank of members of the PDP National Caucus.

According to the PDP Constitution 2009( as amended), no serving governor is a member of the caucus. The new PDP Constitution, 2012( as amended) which made provision for six governors was yet to be adopted by the PDP National Executive Committee. The NEC meeting was held last July. But in a letter signed by Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, and addressed to Alhaji Tukur, the latter was asked to inform six of the PDP governors to make themselves available for the National Caucus meeting.

The governors as stated in the letter made available by a source are Ibrahim Shema, Godswill Akpabio and Gabriel Suswam, Governors of Katsina, Akwa Ibom and Benue states respectively. Others are Theodore Orji, Isa Yuguda and Emmanuel Uduaghan of Abia, Bauchi and Delta states respectively. In the recent move to remove Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the six governors were the arrowheads of the aborted coup.

Katsina State Governor Ibrahim Shema was pencilled down to succeed Amaechi, while Akpabio had since emerged as chairman of a new platform, the PDP Governors’ Forum. The letter signed by Ogiadomhe also called for the presence of Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, his counterpart in the Transport Ministry, Ibrahim Umar and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) to join the National Caucus.

But while Section 12.67 of the PDP 2009 Constitution ( as amended) made statutory provision for “three ministers who are members of the party, nominated by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, one of whom shall be the Attorney-General of Federation,” as members of caucus, it made no provision for governors for serving or former governors. Other members of the National Caucus are chairman, deputy national chairman, national secretary and national legal adviser.

Other members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) who equally belong to the party caucus are national treasurer and woman leader. The constitution also accomodates the chairman and secretary of the BoT. The rest are President, Vice- President, Senate President, Speaker of House of Representatives and certain principal members of the National Assembly.

The functions of the party caucus, according to section 12.68 of the party constitution, is to “harmonise the relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government and coordinate their activities and those of the party.” It is also to “consider, review and advise on policies and programmes of government.”

Via Sun

Speaking with journalists on arrival from London, United Kingdom, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, Akpabio, who was among the three other governors who visited the sick governor in his hospital bed in London, recently, declared that Chime was hale and hearty and capable of ruling the state upon his arrival.
Akpabio admonished Nigerians to always trust their representatives and warned against playing politics with people’s health.

“I was a part of the delegation that visited the governor in London and I brought a message of goodwill to His Excellency, the Governor of Enugu State; and like I said, we must learn to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice. We should not play politics with people’s health.

“I’m very grateful to God that Governor Chime has recovered fully and he would be assuming duties within the next 10 days. It’s not something that any Nigerian should be sad about, rather, we should be happy because he’s returning to the country within 10 days from today and he would be in the Government House in Enugu. I can confirm that,” he affirmed.