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Money Laundering Allegation Against Obasanjo’s Aide: Matters Arising. By Senior Fyneface Nigerians would want to know if now that the U.S. Secret Service investigation report and a competent court of law have indicted the President’s aide based on a fully investigated and established case of money laundering and currency racketeering whether the EFCC would take up the matter from where the U.S. authourities stopped with a view to prosecuting all the people that were fingered in the scandal? Such action would heavily lend credit to the EFCC’s claims of being unbiased and apolitical. Details
Now Will Nuhu Ribadu Investigate Andy Uba? By Saliu Iyanda If the EFCC fails to act promptly and accordingly on this subject-matter, then the EFCC will amount to nothing but a willing tool in the hands of the president to persecute perceived political opponents. And, more importantly it means we have not starting waging war against corruption in the country. It has been said severally that the war against graft has been unduly politicized. Details
Ubagate: Yet Another Question for EFCC. By Nuhu Shuaib The aspect that is of particular concern to a lot of people is that whenever the name of President Obasanjo or those of his cronies are mentioned in connection with any corrupt practice, EFCC approached it lackadaisically. If Nuhu Ribadu’s response is sought on the issue, his response can be summed up as ‘of all the good work we have done, and still doing, my critics will isolate a small fragment that is not done to castigate us’. Details
The Scandal Of Money Smuggling On A Presidential Plane: Matters Arising. By Aonduna Tondu Also, this scandal involving an Obasanjo confidant – one that is said to be very close to Kabiyesi – and the reaction to it by another sidekick of the tyrant, Nuhu Ribadu of the EFCC have once more called into question the purported anti-corruption campaign of the regime. Details
Obasanjo: Where is that War Against Corruption? By Ladi Ladan the truth is that the unfolding scenario in the country, is leaving no one in doubt that the so-called anti-corruption war and its agencies most particularly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has other invisible functions aside the one that is being made public, like it is being used to harass, intimidate and curtail the freedom/movement of those perceived to be the enemies or opponents of this administration precisely, President Olusegun Obasanjo. Details
Blood For Oil Project: Unraveling Obasanjo’s Covert Actions In Niger Delta. By Senior Fyneface Unknown to the U.S. Embassy officials, the anticipated spate of violence were being dangled as a dummy by the new groups trained, armed and financed by the agents of the Federal Government to break the ranks of the well-coordinated existing groups such as MEND amongst others. Details
Serial Presidential Comedies. By Anie Udoh As Obasanjo ends his tenure in May 2007, he deserves our respect and appreciation for fighting a good fight. He did not conquer all and certainly no one can. He still has a duty to complete the final lapse by supervising the conduct of a free, fair and just election to culminate in a seamless transition come May 29, 2007. Details
Nigerians Reject Autocracy. By Laura Esem It is so sad that, the citizens are witnessing the destruction of the country by the very man we elected to protect and defend it. The President has weakened the other aims of government as well as the other tiers of government. Details
Ribadu's Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. By Moses K. Gadol Gimbiya It is amusing that Nuhu Ribadu, as a law enforcement officer, has not seen as amounting to corruption or abuse of office the fundraising ceremony for the $50million presidential library organised by the President, to which oil contractors generously contributed and where government officials (governors and board chairmen), drew directly from the treasury to donate. Details
What Obasanjo Will Not Want Nigerians To Know About Him. By Jide Ayobolu President Olusegun Obasanjo since 1999 has said severally that his government will work relentlessly to curb the menace of corruption that has systematically led to the development of underdevelopment. In his maiden speech, president Obasanjo said nothing will be spared in the war against corruption, and that there will be no untouchables. But in the fight against corruption, the president that has presided over the affairs of NNPC since 1999, but has not explained the missing N311 billion that should have been paid into the revenue account, and Nigerians are eagerly waiting to know what actually happened to the said amount. Secondly, it was reported that N84 billion was missing in NPA, involving a bigwig of the ruling PDP, hence, the EFCC has been lily-livered to make public its findings since, the main dramatis personae is an alter-ego of the president, again, Nigerians want to know what really happened in NPA. Details
Sam Aluko's Caution on the Polity. By Musa Ilallah Professor Aluko’s recipe for averting the impending catastrophe was contained in a letter he sent to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. His words of caution should be listened to and acted accordingly as words of our elders are words of wisdom. He should not be ignored especially in view of the antecedents he had illustrated in his letter. Details
Pension: The Dilemma of Retirees. By Yushau A. Shuaib The event was a modest send-forth party to honour new retirees from the public service. After serving the nation to the retirement age, some of them still looked radiant while others were haggard as everyone at the occasion poured genuine encomiums on their uprightness and sense of brotherhood. Details
Is Nigeria Becoming a One-Party Nation? By Dr. Wunmi Akintide As long as you have only one Party dominating Nigerian politics, the country can hardly make progress. The ideal thing is to throw out the bums and let one of the new Parties with a promising manifesto try their luck. The voters should reserve the right to throw out any Party that does not perform. The PDP has been a total disaster, all things considered, and should be totally rejected at the polls come April or May 2007. Details
AIT’S Unprofessionalism And Pursuance Of Narrow Political Interest. By Saliu Iyanda AIT has lost it as a media organization completely; this is because some few years ago, AIT was in a financial mess as a result of loans which it took from a consortium of banks that was thoroughly mismanaged by the management of the confused media outfit. And, after running from pillar to post the governor of Rivers State came to their rescue and substantially bought into AIT, in fact now he can be described as the owner of AIT. Details
Fraud Scandal: National Assembly/Neiti Should Probe Award Of Oil Blocks. By Senior Fyneface In the Nigerian oil and gas circle, the Obasanjo-led administration would ever be remembered for two remarkable achievements. First as the government that pretended to fight corruption but successfully elevated fraud, corruption and shady dealings in the Petroleum Ministry to a working status that could be technical ranked as an upstream/downstream day-to-day business. Secondly, the government has beaten all the existing records as the only administration that has given away more lucrative oil blocks than the cumulative number of acreages given out by all the governments that rule the country since independence. Details
Political Harakiri, Constitutional Aberrations And The Death Of Democracy. By Jide Ayobolu In all the troubled spots, the problem has been the failure of the dramatis personae to resolve their disputes within the confines of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria. Added to this is the perceived double-dealing of the Federal government, which has circumscribed the ability of its agencies, particularly the police and the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, to discharge their responsibilities efficiently.Details
Aviation Minister is Short of Truth. By Kunle I Sowunmi It is obvious the former Hon Minister of Aviation Professor Borishade is not capable of the job given to him infact, there is nothing professorial about his conclusion on the recent ADL Air Crash around Abuja last Sunday. How come the Minister did not listen to the Black Box or the VRC, which would have given the true picture before rushing to blame, the dead Pilot? Suppose the unserious people at the control Towers lied to him about the true picture of what actually happened? Details
Truth, Trust and Nigerian Polity and Politics. By Abdullahi Lamido Mohammed Truth and trust have become clichés, in Nigeria’s social and political parlance, to trust somebody, something, an arrangement, agreement or organization, has also become a folly of a kind. In the society people no longer, trust their elected representatives in carrying out their delegated responsibilities, so also in the market-place, transactions are carried out in distrust. Details
EFCC: A Classic Case Of The Law Of Unintended Consequences. By Jay L. Adedeji If the EFCC is really an intended consequence of this administration, despite its political machinations, intrigues and antecedents which do not amount to much, then the serious work of rooting out vices in society such as poverty, unemployment, lack of food, poor education, lack of human and fiscal resources, lack of infrastructure, spate of robberies and assassinations, corruption and money laundering, should continue with full speed ahead. Also, the fight to create an enabling environment in Nigeria is all but urgent, and thus the strengthening of the fledgling democratic process cannot be compromised. Details
What Obi’s Impeachment In Not About. By Ifedigbo Nze Sylva The impeachment plot has nothing to do with the welfare of the civil servants of Anambra who saw hell during the Mbadinuju era and who now enjoy an increase in their “talk home” plus assurance of prompt payment. Obviously it also has nothing to do with plans to industrialize Anambra nor the granting of micro credit loan facilities to empower citizens of the state to create wealth. Details
Delta Militants: Deconstructing Obasanjo’s Fresh Agenda For Bigger Crisis. By Senior Fyneface To President Olusegun Obasanjo and his government, insulting the battered and grossly neglected people of the oil producing Niger Delta region has become a pastime engaged to enjoy themselves. How else can any sensible person describe the federal Government’s move to employ and arm “organized youth groups” of the region to protect oil facilities so that Government can continue to have an unhindered access to crude oil flow from the region. Details
Why Obasanjo is Subverting Senate Probe. By Musa Ilallah The worry of the Atiku campaign office and in fact of all patriotic Nigerians like me and you is that an unprecedented fraudulent, systematic, accelerated and evil plan to obstruct justice and subvert the spirit and letter of the Senate on the imitative of the highest echelons of government in order to 'sanitise' the records of the fund. Few days after the press release from the Atiku office, the intimidating and witch hunting tool of the OBASANJO, EFCC raided the Abuja branch of the Platinum/ Habib Bank and forced the bankers to surrender original cheques and other documents that have something to do with the controversial MOFAS and MARINE FLOAT campaign accounts being funded by the PTDF. Details
Where the President Comes from, Should It Really Matter. By Ben Igiebor The main problem for the country today is that there are no proper structures in place to ensure hitch-free appointments of leaders at the helm of affairs. The current 36-state structure and 'geo-political' divi- sions do not create the right atmosphere for a condu- cive process of choice of people to run the nation's affairs and until this is addressed, things will continue as they presently are. Details
My Fear for Nuhu Ribadu. By Abdallah Mailafia Shaibu The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is in the eye of the storm for his dual role in the fight against corruption by the Obasanjo administration. Obasanjo is not believed to be sincere in his war against corruption. This has sometimes put Nuhu Ribadu between the Devil and the Red Sea. State’s institutions are being used to witch-hunt perceived enemies. There are ample of proofs to support this assertion, but this does not come within the ambit of this discussion Details
Alhaji Saad Abubakar a Colonel in the Army, and a potential Brigadier-general in the making, has recently been named the new Sultan of Sokoto beating into second and third place a distinguished technocrat and a well known business man. the former military Governor of Rivers State, Navy Captain Diete Spiff is now a traditional ruler. So is the new Alake of Abeokuta, who was a Colonel and the new Orodje of Okpe in Delta State who was a General in the Nigerian Army. Among such men coud be counted the late Deji of Akure, Oba Ataiyese Adesida who was an Assistant Commissioner of Police before his coronation. So is the new Oba of Lagos, Kabiyesi Akiolu who was a Deputy Inspector General of Police and the present Eleruwa of Eruwa in Oyo State who was a uniformed Custom Officer before his coronation Details
Lawyer’s Law and the Law. By Mamman Lawan Yusufari The breach of public trust exposed by the current Obasanjo/Atiku duel and the shame in Bayelsa, Anambra, Plateau and Ekiti States, though just tip of the iceberg, explain why and how immunity clauses find their ways into constitutions – our ‘leaders’ cannot simply stand the test of law. Details
The Death Sultan Muhammadu Maccido. By Jide Ayobolu One would have expected the president that is inviting a very prominent 80year old traditional ruler to such a forum, to have deemed it fit to make available for his use, one of the many planes in the presidential fleets, by not doing this; he unduly exposed the Sultan to needless hazards. These are planes that Andy Uba, a personal aide to the president uses at will, even to pick his nomination forms to contest for the gubernatorial election of Anambra State. Details
Not Yet Uhuru In The Aviation Sector. By Jide Ayobolu The removal of Dr. Babalola Borishade and his replacement with Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode is a good riddance to irritating rubbish, it is good that at least in the final analysis, the former minister was removed as he has brought a bad omen to the aviation sector with the incessant air disasters, but rather than post him to some other ministry he should have been eased out the system, he is not the only person from Ekiti State that can be a minister Details
Coffins in the Nigerian Air Space: Avoidable Danger. By Akpodigha Filatei This is one mishap too many, yet, there is potentially no end in sight. Each time these accidents happen, the political leaders always come out to shed crocodile tears but they shortly thereafter forget and continue as if nothing happened, only to be jolted by another accident a couple of weeks or months later. Details
“I leave every thing to Allah” those were the words of late Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Mohammadu Maccudo in 1988 when his selection as Sultan was nullified, by then Sokoto state government. He died on Sunday 29-10-2006 as a result of ill fated plane crashed that occurred on their way from Abuja to Sokoto. Details
Is El-Rufai The Next President? – A Rejoinder. By Ajayi Olatunji Olowo As regards qualifications, the FCT Minister has all it takes as one of the brightest emerging generation of young and dynamic leader to lead Nigeria if given the opportunity. Apart from being a First Class Quantity Surveyor with an MBA and chains of leadership and economic reform trainings across the world, including the prestigious Harvard University in Boston Massachusetts in USA, el-Rufai has displayed a rare ingenuity in the practical sense as a public officer. ... On the issue of readiness, if fate bestows the honour on him to lead Nigeria, while no pre-determined script is being orchestrated herein, there is no doubt that el-Rufai would be more than ready to steer the ship of the state if it is a call to duty to serve. Details
Inequality Taxation in Nigeria. By Halima Ali Abatcha Furthermore untold inequality taxation in Nigeria resulting from tax avoidance and tax evasion is seemingly endemic it is not unwise to recognize at this juncture that tax collection is a problem encountered by all nation of the world, but developing countries (which Nigeria is one) are more plagued in intensity than developed countries because of ignorance. Details
A ‘Dancing Tortoise’ And The State Of The Nation. By Aonduna Tondu The time for sitting on the fence is over. Any deference to evil-doers will only embolden them. If Nigerians do genuinely want a "better tomorrow", they must immediately imagine bold and concrete steps for taking out the source of their continued suffering. I concur with the Abia state governor, Orji Kalu and Ishaku Ibrahim that the various state executives should constitute a rampart against the rampaging, undemocratic impulses of the current madman of Nigerian politics. Details
The Farce Called Presidential Education Forum. By Kola Ibrahim However, the present government which emerged from subjugation of the wish of the people and which is bent on implementing neo-liberal policies cannot genuinely fund education properly. Even the little being spent on education are being diverted to private pockets by politicians and bureaucrats at federal, state and local government levels. Details
2007 Presidency And Zonal Configuration: Panacea For One Nation? By Ritchie Ejiofor With the next presidential elections in Nigeria around the corner, there have been speculation and actual campaign groundwork by would be and aspiring presidential hopefuls. The mind bugling scenario that is beginning to shape up is a denegation of an unwritten but widely accepted agreement of rotational or presidential zoning among the major (Abacha Created) six zonal structure. Details
Ekiti Lesson For The Future. By Anthony A. Akinola Talking of corruption and corrupting democratic ideals, it should be highlighted here that Ekiti legislators were not known to have emphatically on their own called Fayose to order over his gambling of public money on frivolous gifts and favours. They were all, at one time or the other, beneficiaries of his prodigalism and Machiavellianism. Details
Peter Obi Is Not A Politician. By Uche Nworah Peter Obi may have sealed his own fate the day he accepted the appeal court ruling which upturned the ‘election’ of Chris Nwabueze Ngige. By accepting and rejoicing over the belated ruling, he may have danced on the grave of his political future having accepted what many at the time regarded as a poisoned chalice. Details
The Rape Of A State And A Continent By Outsiders Then Insiders. By Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa A state of emergency was declared in Ekiti and the President called on a former military governor to the rescue. The same was done in Plateau State and fear is spreading about which State is next. Anambra resisted it with blood and might of their people once; do they have to do it again and again? The last time we had a civilian administrator, Dr. Majekodunmi, in a state of emergency was in the old Western Region. Since then, we have tapped into military emergency each time we can not resolve our differences. Details
Water: Issues Beyond Public Health. By Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji In 1999, an estimate of 32million (30%) of Nigerians lived in urban areas, compared to 21million (or 20%) in small towns and 54million (or 50%) in rural areas. During this period, only 15million of the 32million urban population i.e. 46% had access to water supply. Details
African Petroleum Plc: Swimming in the Down Stream Sector… By Zayyad I. Muhammad Sometimes it is easy for us to drive our cars into fuel service stations and filled-up our cars’ tank, but not knowing the process it take for a quantity of fuel to reach these stations that serve us- it involves painstaking and Herculean tasks, where the NNPC and oil companies have to content with Details
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