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Sunday

YOU’VE NOT HEARD THE LAST ABOUT EKITI ELECTION …FAYEMI

FAYEMI YELLS ■ YOU’VE NOT HEARD THE LAST ABOUT EKITI ELECTION …’Read my speech again. I did not accept defeat.’ Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has countered the widespread belief that he conceded defeat to his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenger, Mr. Ayodele Fayose who was declared winner of the June 21 governorship poll in the state.In his first interview after the election granted to Dapo Thomas, a journalist and university teacher who also writes for Sunday Sun, Fay­emi asked anyone who thought he accepted the outcome to read the transcript of his post-election broadcast again. “Anyone who understands the English lan­guage well would know that that speech was not the concession speech that many people are talking about. Yes, I have said I won’t chal­lenge the election in court and congratulated Mr Fayose, but that’s not tantamount to accept­ing the result. That’s about saving Ekiti.” The governor fielded questions on what went wrong in Ekiti; whether he had regrets for his policies and actions; his relationship with the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other compelling is­sues. The full interview is here presented: The outcome of the June 21 elec­tion in Ekiti shocked the entire na­tion and even the international com­munity. To what extent were you disturbed by the result? Very disturbed indeed and worried for the future of elections in our country. Nobody goes into an election to lose especially when you have put a lot into it. When you have worked hard and earned the trust of the people, you should have every rea­son to feel confident you are going to be rewarded for the hard work and performance. I said in the course of the campaigns that this election, in my own view, would be decided on the basis of char­acter and performance. On those two grounds, majority agree that we were heads and shoulders above every other candidate in the race. Leaving that aside, no candidate campaigned the way we did – touching every nook and corner of the state, towns and farmsteads alike. Most of the time we were on the field campaigning, PDP was nowhere to be found. We actually didn’t campaign like an incumbent. We campaigned as if we were the challenger, the underdog. But I must also say we were not unaware of the desperation of the PDP hierarchy to ‘win’ Ekiti by every means possible. We saw the federal forces at play in the election and they were undisguised in their desperation. Election is a process. An elec­tion is not just rigged when you snatch ballot box or when you change result at the collation centre. Election could be rigged by the processes leading to that election itself. When security agents that are supposed to be neutral for example go round pick­ing party leaders the night before an election and party anchors on the day of election in a coordi­nated and choreographed manner with no charge levelled against them, clearly you had a pre-deter­mined end that you are seeking. It is not time to go into any great detail about what we found to be unacceptable about the process which is why I was reluctant to give this interview in the first place. But we have also promised that the infrac­tions will be documented and exposed because we owe Nigerians that. You don’t want to accept the fact that something went wrong with the APC in the Ekiti election? The election was not about Ekiti, it was turned to federal forces against APC in the state. If it was performance, head and shoulders we won the election and in terms of mobilization, in terms of campaign, in terms of issues. As a matter of fact, the PDP candidate had no issues. He was reactive throughout. No issues, no agenda, no manifesto. The only manifesto was I am opposed to any policy issue Governor Fayemi has raised or is implementing. I even give some credit to the La­bour Party candidate who, even though at the last minute, still came out with a manifesto of what he would like to do in office. That clearly did not happen in the case of the PDP so we were really the only ones with a tested programme that had been implemented across the state. I have heard and read all sorts of “pepper soup joint” analysis about stomach infrastructure and people voting for rice and all that. Attractive as the analysis may be to some people, I don’t think it fully does credit to the Ekiti people. Really, yes there are tendencies of instant gratification that crept into Ekiti politics – particularly in the early days of PDP government in the state-but those tendencies are not so deeply ingrained as to imagine that our people depend on what they can eat here and now in order to deter­mine what happens to their future. It just offers these elements a convenient explanation for the abracadabra that they inflicted on Ekiti State. But again, as I said, time will tell. We may find the op­portunity now that the party has gone to court, we would find out from their own side. But I think it is important, as I said in my broadcast, to docu­ment all these extraneous elements; the siege on Ekiti by the military and other security agencies, the role they played in instilling fear in the state. There are of course a lot of arm-chair pundits who have argued that the security siege was insufficient to explain the loss of APC. Many of these pundits were not even in Ekiti during the election and had no idea what actually transpired. Two days to elec­tion, my colleagues who were coming for my final rally were stopped from taking off in some cases, mid-air in other cases and actually at the boundar­ies coming into Ekiti state. Ten days before then, my party people were attacked on account of the traditional sweep after the PDP rally. I was tear-gassed and ordered to be attacked on the instruc­tion of the Vice President who was in Ekiti on the fateful day, the same Vice President who had boasted that Ekiti and Osun elections will be war front. Even after I lodged a complaint with the Na­tional Security Adviser and the Inspector-General, it was my own people who were charged with ter­rorism. So, this was a very carefully orchestrated agenda driven by the forces, federal forces who have been saying to everybody’s hearing that they must take Ekiti because Ekiti, for them, was the gateway to taking the South-west. So there is noth­ing that happened that cannot be explained. But you conceded defeat Did I really? We were left with two obvious choices following the announcement by INEC on the morning of the 22nd of June. One was to reject outright what we considered was clearly a blatant manipulation or to accept it. There were a lot of grey areas in between those outright choices. It is convenient to many who want to re-write history to say Fayemi accepted the result. But all you need do is read the transcript of my broadcast and you would come to a very different conclusion. With over 30,000 security agents in the state with clear instructions from the Presidency to do everything to place Ekiti in the president’s corner, it was a critical moment for the state and I believe it was more important to rescue Ekiti from bloodbath than to plunge it into one. I believe it was impor­tant to turn a new leaf and fight our cause with­out resorting to violence. That’s what the Federal government and the PDP had planned for. That’s the verifiable intelligence I received. And as the Chief Security Officer of the state, I had to decide whether to allow Ekiti to be turned into a killing field by trigger-happy security agents already on instruction to mow them down for protesting the abracadabra inflicted on them. Under the circum­stance, my decision was clear: peace now, justice later. And really, do we want bloodbath in Ekiti? Do we want our people to be slaughtered? Do we want Ekiti to become the trigger for truncating Nigeria’s fledgling democracy? We felt we have a role to play in protecting this democracy no matter how flawed it is and that’s why I did what I did. Anyone who understands the English language well would know that that speech was not the con­cession speech that many people are talking about. Yes, I have said I won’t challenge the election in court and congratulated Mr Fayose, but that’s not tantamount to accepting the result. That’s about saving Ekiti. Anyone who heard me throughout the campaign would recall my consistent remarks that I won’t go to court for any reason, genuine or otherwise over the election. I was only ensuring that my word remains my bond. When Chief Oba­femi Awolowo decided he was not going to court over the ‘moonslide’ victory of the NPN in 1983, was that acceptance of the election? In any case, now that my party has gone to court to challenge the election, the various infractions in the election would be subjected to scrutiny. Even at that, was the decision not too hasty and are you saying you did not regret doing this? I don’t know what you mean by “too hasty”. I have always argued that for me, my politics is without bitterness. It is politics of principles and politics of service. No sacrifice is too much to make for Ekiti people and I have always said it, from 2006 that I became active in Ekiti politics, I have always said that I would not govern over dead people and I would not allow the blood of Ekiti people to be spilled on the altar of politics. The choice was simple, I could have done other­wise and my supporters were ready. I could simply say to them, you can see the manipulation because everybody was shocked that this was not our vote. Don’t forget, we have 226,000 registered APC members in Ekiti State. We completed our party registration barely two months before the collection of INEC permanent voters’ cards and the continuous voters’ registration exercise was done. We used the same INEC polling units for our party registration. The simple argument that is being made which defies logic is that at least 100,000 of APC members did not vote for their own candidate. If as INEC says, we have 120,000 votes in the election and we have 226,000 mem­bers in APC, I am not talking of sympathizers, I am not talking of outsiders who love Fayemi, who are not card carrying members of the party, I am talking of party members who registered in Ekiti State, 226,000. So, you are either saying that out of those 226,000 members, 100,000 among them did not collect permanent voters cards or they col­lected but they did not vote for their candidate. That is simplistic analysis of what you are saying and these people when they got to the field, when they got accredited, they knew one another, they knew who was APC, who was PDP, we were get­ting feedback on how many of our members were in each polling unit and yet the results in most cases were at complete variance with the evidence before us. So, it’s not enough to take the result de­clared at face value. We need to dig deeper into what happened and those alleging ballot fraud and so called Zimbabwean option are probably talking about that. However, on the basis of the declared result, it would simply have amounted to sour grapes and being seen as a bad-loser if we didn’t take the initial step we took to calm frayed nerves but with sufficient caveat that the last has not been heard on the election. Here is the simple answer to your question. If I had triggered a crisis by reject­ing the result, if I had made a different broadcast, a broadcast that simply says Ifaki people, they said you voted against Segun Oni and me; Oye local government, they said you did not vote for your son, are you going to let this daylight robbery go? It might have been the beginning of the end of Ni­geria’s fledgling democracy and a lot of Ekiti peo­ple on both sides PDP, APC, non-partisan people, innocent souls would have been lost, what would be my gain in that? I am not hungry. I didn’t come into politics as someone who doesn’t have alter­native. I did what I did by making that speech to save my people. So there was nothing hasty about it. I knew the plan that the military had, I knew the plan that the police had, don’t forget I am the chief security officer of the state and I get to hear from all these people. I knew the instructions they had given the soldiers because some of them were relating with me and they were not happy that they were being given instructions like the ones they got in Ekiti. As one of them told me, if they keep bringing us into these matters that are not our business, then they cannot complain if something totally negative happens. One of the soldiers told me that and it is an elementary principle of civil-military relations that the more you drag the mili­tary into civilian matters, you never know how it’s going to end. So it wasn’t hasty and I don’t want you to see it as if it was an acceptance speech…it wasn’t an acceptance speech. Please read it, if you read it, you would know that it was very condi­tional in very many ways. …..But in all this why didn’t you carry the party along? Who told you I did not carry the party along? You know there is a lot of myth and a lot of sup­positions that people make. I did not just make the broadcast, I sat with party leaders. Who is who in our party in Ekiti were all with me when I went to make the broadcast. We all sat down and agreed on even the format it would take. This was not a broadcast I decided to make out of the blues. We knew we had not lost an election freely or fairly and we knew the agenda was to annihilate and maul down our people. We love our people more, and our interest is to secure them, to protect them than to just protect our office. It was a carefully calibrated speech. You mentioned something about “a new sociology of the Ekiti people evolving” in your historic broadcast. Can you elucidate more on this? It was just an honest reaction that if indeed this was your will, then it runs counter to what we know politics is about. In politics, performance is rewarded more often than not. Yes we have had instances, of Winston Churchill losing an election after he came back as a hero in the Second World War or Pierre Trudeau of Canada. It happens but the fact that it happens does not confer correctness on it. If you say oh, this is the view we have of this governor, he has performed, he has demonstrated competence, his acceptance profile is very high, everybody loves him, yes there are things we may not like about him, he is detached. He is not a social animal. But it still will fly in the face of logic unless there is a new sociology. Because once you say performance is not rewarded then all you are say­ing, the message you are sending to politicians is, you know what, you better don’t behave like Fay­emi. You better get there and take care of yourself and your family and when it is election time, go out there and start sharing rice and boli and mouth organs and jump up on okada and say you are the peoples politician and I think it is a very dangerous message that we are sending about what politics should mean to our people. And that is why I said before that I didn’t even accept that that is what has happened because it is those who are hard put to explain their own success, this moonslide success, they are the ones saying you know it is because he is an elite governor, it is because we are on the street with the people. It is a very simplistic, a his­torical explanation. You will need to dig deeper and that information would come in due course. Your defeat in your ward and your local government was disturbing. One writer said this was because people were angry that you built an “imposing structure” in your home town Isan Ekiti in the midst of poor people that you never took care of? What is your reaction? I think whoever wrote that was ill-informed. One, I don’t believe anyone would say that I was defeated in my unit and my ward. The result is there they should go to INEC and check. As far as I am aware, in my unit, I think PDP had one vote, Labour had 0 and I believe of the 168 people that voted there, I had 167 that voted for me in my unit. In my ward, I had 2022 votes to PDP’s 261 much less for Labour. How anyone would describe this as a defeat is a way of calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it. And to now talk about impos­ing structure, it is so disingenuous, I don’t even want to comment on it. The building that I have in my community, I mean my house, was built long before I became governor. It was declared in the assets that I declared on October 16, 2010. This can be googled, I am one governor who is proud to say I have led an accountable, transparent life as governor. Anyone who can come out and say I have added one block to any part of my house around the world since I became governor, I chal­lenge the person to come out with evidence. I live a very modest life and there is no need for me not to. I have a small family and I have only one child. My politics is not politics of materialism but in Ni­gerian politics everybody opens their mouth and say whatever they like about you because that is the way Nigerian politics is. You must malign oth­ers in order to try and get some kind of foothold. I wonder what is massive about my house. So when I hear about this imposing mansion, I ask myself is he writing about me or writing about someone else and here was a journalist who said he had never been to Ekiti, because I read the piece. So, you then ask yourself, you write this and you have never been to Ekiti, where is your credibility? So this is where hatred blinds credibility. How would anyone take such a journalist who regards himself as a serious columnist serious when you write that. The same person you are talking about wrote that I have a university in Ghana and said that I have not denied that my wife has a univer­sity in Ghana. This is part of the misinformation that people spread even when they know it is a lie. A university is not what you put in your pocket. I have denied this at every opportunity I get and challenged the peddlers of the rumour to provide evidence, the university authorities in Ghana have denied this. They have come out to say that give us the evidence of this university. We know the universities that are in Ghana, we know those they belong to, yet you keep this Goebbelsian lie hoping that if you keep repeating it, it would stick. With time, somebody would now say oh, I read it somewhere and when somebody read it some­where, what is the name of the university, who is the Vice Chancellor or president of this university, how many students are there, who exactly gave you this information, where is it written. But you know why they would go for a university, it is Fayemi now, he is an intellectual, an academic, you can’t say he has an oil rig or an oil refinery. That may not be believable, you can’t say he has a power plant. But if you say he has a university, they would say you know he is one of these elitist academics so that is the kind of thing that he would like. Quite frankly, for me there is nothing wrong in having a university, but I do not have a univer­sity anywhere in the world. But you then ask your­self, why do people lie? What does it advance? It diminishes them more. Like that columnist, he is greatly diminished now, at least in my eyes, and in the eyes of many others. Those who used to take him seriously before would think twice about any­thing he writes from now on because they know that his writing is not based on any objectivity. It is personal, hate-mongering, disingenuous lies that define him and it is unfortunate because we don’t need that for the growth of this democracy. There are some people that you take serious. This is not something you are reading in a junk publication, if you are reading it in one of those funny rags that they call soft sell, it is understandable but not in a mainstream newspaper in which this person is a respected columnist, it is not just done. Was there any connection be­tween your defeat and the fact that you were never in control of the par­ty structure in the state? What do you mean by not being in control of the party? What is wrong in having collective lead­ership in which other party leaders have a say in the party structure? Don’t forget we are in a party where there are former governors, senators, House of Representatives honourable members etc. Why should a single individual aim to control a party of several thousand members? My position as the leader of the party is not challenged by anybody. The party chairman and the executives are not necessarily new people to me. In fact, I played a critical role in the installation of the party chairman way back in 2006 when I was not even a governor, I was not even the candidate of the party because we had just formed the AC from the amalgama­tion of AD and ACD. When Jide Awe became the party chairman, and he had been party chairman for 8 years since then, he is somebody I have a great deal of respect for; he is committed; he was a student union activist like me before getting into politics and he has done reasonably well in the position of chairman of the party and I don’t in­dulge in self- aggrandizement. The party machin­ery works for the state. I don’t know what anyone means if they say that we were not in control of the party machinery. Who is then? Who is in control? Do you regret any of your actions, policies, utterances, behavior and programmes considering the out­come of the election? There is nothing we have done that we don’t think it’s the right thing to do. I have always said that governance is different from politics. When election ends, governance starts and you must be able to, yes, mix both, but at the same time you have a duty as a leader to take firm decisions when necessary in the best interest of the people. Gover­nance is not a popularity contest, election may be a popularity contest but governance is about deliv­ering the greatest good for the greatest number of the people and to that extent there is nothing that we did that we cannot defend in terms of their im­pact on the people. Whether it is our free education programme, we know what has changed now, we know what our hospitals used to look like, people can go there and see what they look like now. We also know what the infrastructure in the state used to be like and we know the quality of infrastruc­ture we have since put in place. In Education, in healthcare, in agriculture, in rural development and community empowerment, in social security and women empowerment as well as provision of jobs, there are indelible marks of our administra­tion. However, there were a number of policies that many deemed controversial and as I said, you hear so many pepper soup analysts who go around say­ing, ‘Oh, it’s because Fayemi was doing test for teachers and was looking for ghost workers in lo­cal governments and putting biometrics integrated pay roll system for the civil servants and all that.’ You know vision is always 20/20 after the fact. In all the steps I took, my primary interest was to bet­ter the lot of my people. Though there are aspects of some of our reforms that might have been han­dled differently, there is none we would have jet­tisoned. There are also aspects of our reforms that might have been communicated differently to the people particularly those affected because change is always difficult to swallow. People don’t like change. Sometimes, the price to pay for leadership is to be firm in your approach to change particu­larly when you know that that change would be in the ultimate best interest of the majority of the population. So, sequencing you can argue about and say timing, sequencing of the reform, players, path, processes are issues that we deal with when we are talking about effective and efficient gover­nance. But the reality is that some of what we had to do we did and there is no need to regret anything we did because it was in the best interest of our people and I believe that posterity would judge us right on those policies. The Governor-elect, Ayodele Fay­ose has described himself as a grass­roots politician and you as an elitist politician. Did this make any differ­ence in the outcome of the election? Was there really a disconnect be­tween you and the grassroots? Well you know, I don’t want to comment on anything that Mr Ayodele Fayose says. He is, as I have said to Ekiti people, my brother. I have a duty to weld together everybody who had been fortu­nate and privileged to occupy this very important position and they are not many. In a substantive manner, we are only talking about four: Niyi Ade­bayo, Ayo Fayose, Segun Oni and me. So, I would love a situation in which the office would not be desecrated no matter who occupies it and the peo­ple who have occupied it would have to display sufficient maturity to always come together in the interest of the Ekiti people. But some of the things that people say must be analyzed, again in the in­terest of those who are gullible enough to believe these simplistic soundings; grassroots, elitist and other nonsensical terms. These are terminologies, which have been bastardized by those who do so for reasons best known to them. No government can be more grassroots than the government we run in Ekiti. For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a governor does not do budget until he has visited communities and I have done this thrice now, for 2011-2013 budgets. So, it is not by accident that over 1200 projects dot various communities in Ekiti, which were specific requests made in those town halls and village meetings held in those com­munities. What could be more grassroots than that? I don’t make budget by sitting in Ado Ekiti. I go to various communities, in spite of the fact that I have a plan, I have an agenda, everybody knows the agenda, it’s something the people can recite and they recite it all the time. The eight-point agenda, the road map to Ekiti recovery. It was like a man­tra. I don’t just stand on my agenda, I also go into communities and discuss objectively with them; what are your priorities for next year? What would you like me to do? There is hardly a single com­munity that you can get to today that you would not find five, six or more projects determined by the people not imposed on them from Ado Ekiti. When people talk to you about grassroots and elite they are talking about somebody eating roast corn on the roadside or hi-fiving an okada rider. Excuse me, that is bastardization of governance, that is not grassroots politics. Grassroots politics in my view means affecting the lives of people at the grass­roots in a fundamental way and improving their lot. The 25,000 elderly people that are collecting #5,000 every month in an institutionalized manner live in the grassroots, they don’t live in the air. The youth in the volunteer corps, the ones in the peace corps and youth in commercial agriculture, they are not urban-based, they are mostly in the grass­roots. I ask people, how many times did people see Chief Obafemi Awolowo eating boli on the road just to demonstrate that he was a grassroots man. The person who used to do that then, of course, quite popular in his own sense, Adegoke Adelabu, the penkelemesi man. Yes, very popular, a rabble-rouser. He knew how to rouse the people but he also genuinely loved the Ibadan people. For him, it was a two-love engagement because he was an in­tellectual. S.L.A Akintola too. Awolowo was seen as standoffish, an intellectual not a social animal. I am proud to follow in that footstep. I have actu­ally no regret if that is what it means to be elitist because the policies that we implemented affected people in the rural areas more than people in the urban areas positively. But honestly, I don’t want to engage in any political brickbat over the defini­tions of elitism and grassroots. Some have suggested that some of the agenda you set for your first term should have formed part of your second term agenda – the assess­ment test for teachers, the search for ghost workers in local governments and the civil service and demolition of some houses etc. Do you have any regrets for your actions? For me, objectively in politics of theory and practice of governance, one standard feature that crops up all the time is what we call sequencing. Yes, there are things that you may choose to do at a particular time but you also have to ask yourself, are we God? How can you plan for a second term when you have not even demonstrated to people what you can do with the first term. That’s an as­pect people leave out when they are talking about sequencing and timing in governance. What if I leave all these legacies out and not do anything throughout the first term, simply because I don’t want to hurt a fly, I don’t want to rock the boat, I don’t want to demonstrate leadership. Leadership is not about not taking decisions particularly hard decisions. I believe people know where I stand on governance now, if you were to ask people. I was very touched when I read The Economist and the first line in the report read thus “one of Nigeria’s most reformed minded governors has been ousted from office”. We are all writing our own history, I do not accept the logic that oh, you know don’t rock the boat. What I have done is a measure by which others would be judged now and they would have their own time to demonstrate what they can do in the interest of the people. Are people saying that ghost workers must be entertained, are they suggesting that people must have loopholes to steal government money? Are they saying that the future of our children is not important to us and the quality of teachers should be ignored? Is that what we are saying? I am sorry, I don’t come from that school of thought. The school of thought that I come from stipulates very clearly, this is what I would do when I get to office, it was an agenda. I shared the agenda with people all over Ekiti state. It would be disingenuous on my part, to now get into office and not revive Ikogosi that I promised to bring back and not revive Ire Bricks Factory, one of key pegs of our industrialization agenda in the state and not revive the quarries in Igbemo or not fix the roads that I promised to fix. Or not get the health centers and the schools reconstructed. Ditto, I couldn’t have left the teachers the way they were. Now, Ekiti teachers are the best paid teachers in the country. Because I promised that I was going to put them on a pedestal that would im­prove the quality of the pupils produced by them. So when they get core subjects allowance and they get teachers pecuniary allowance and they get ru­ral teaching allowance, is it just for nothing? They must also fulfill their own part by demonstrating dedication and commitment to the children. My interest is in those children and when I do the same in the university, it is not accidental that Ekiti has moved to number 17 out of universities in Nigeria from almost number 200 on the Webometric index in the space of three and a half years. The record is there for all to see. So if they like, because Fay­emi is no longer there, let them return to the era of miracle centres and let them start selling handouts again in the universities. Let the lecturers abandon peer review in the appointment process. All the in­novations that we brought even whoever occupies the seat would find out that these are things that should not be reversed in the larger interest of the people of the state. So, I have actually no apology, I’m sorry. Is this why people say your ap­proach to governance is too theoreti­cal or you think it’s not true? Of course, it is not true. Everything that we did was informed by analysis, deep-thinking of the Ekiti condition and what will take us speedily to sustainable development. If we do road infrastruc­ture in a landlocked state, rural place, it is because we are very clear in our mind that those who want to bring the proceeds of their farms to the urban centres would be able to do it in a relatively seam­less and painless manner. So if we connect our state with a network of multiple roads, it is not an accident when people care and set up facili­ties there. When I became governor, you can only refer to one standard hotel in Ekiti, maybe two: Fountain and Pathfinder. Since I became governor in Ekiti, not fewer than 10 standard hotels have sprung up. That’s a measure for you because they are providing jobs, facilities, leisure for people. There is nothing elitist about that or theoretical because for me, I am clearly convinced that hand­out is not what would make development real in Ekiti. Instant gratification does not bring develop­ment to any society, it is the enabling environment that you create for jobs to grow, for investment to come that would create opportunities to develop a sense of self-worth, and to begin to focus on how to earn a living, not to depend on crumbs from the table of politicians. So we have a fundamen­tal approach to our politics and it is a very clearly defined social democratic agenda and we believe that the strong must provide for the weak and they must be in a position to pull up the vulnerable in the society. So we have a very clear social welfare programme that everybody commends. But at the same time we have what you might call a fiscally conservative program, which some people don’t like because we go after those who want to reap where they did not sow. We fished them out of the system, we blocked all the corruption loopholes in the system particularly in the civil service. Some are not happy about that. We demand accountabil­ity and transparency of ourselves and of others and that was why I declared my assets as the governor publicly and not privately. So, in our government what you see is what you get but if people are now saying that is theoretical then what is theoretical about opening yourself to scrutiny and expecting that to happen of every other public officer. What is theoretical demanding of people to pay appro­priate tax whether they are lecturers in universities or commercial okada riders because the resources gathered from this would be used in the overall interest of everybody. Of course we have to pay for the free education, we have to pay for the free health care, we have to pay for social security and we cannot depend completely on what is coming from Abuja. You know I am not fazed by some of the resentment to this. Anybody who knows Western Nigeria’s history would remember what happened to Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1954. Because of one pound tax imposed for free edu­cation, he lost a regional election. The same free education, 50 years later, is what everybody is praising him for. So, those who say it is theoretical, fine. Others have also said Fayemi is years ahead of his time. I don’t know whether that is true or not because there is nothing we are doing in Ekiti that is extraordinary. These are policies and pro­grammes that have been tested elsewhere and they have worked in the overall interest of the people. For me, it is about our people, it is not about self. The Governor-elect referred to you as an honourable man, yet he said your achievements and performance were media hype because you built on his previous projects. He also said the Pavilion and the government house were of no economic value to the people. Are these comments befitting of a person described as an honourable man or was this used as a sarcasm? You have tried as much as possible to make me talk about Mr Ayo Fayose and I have tried as much as possible to avoid desecrating the office because there is no way I am going to talk about him or some of the remarks he makes that I would not have course to question the extent of his readi­ness for the office he wants to occupy. Honestly, I find it strange that anyone could say that a pa­vilion that has a sitting facility for 12,000 people, in a state where people come to do crusades, concerts and so on, and occupy secondary school pitches, would not find use. This is something that is bound to generate funds for the state if well managed. And I would be surprised if my brother said he could not see the economic impact of that. There is nothing that we have put in place that is not regenerative whether you talk of Ikogosi, the Pavillion, the Civic Centre or Oba Adejugbe Hos­pital. I don’t expect him to come now and see what we have put in Ikogosi and say he wants it to go back to the Ikogosi of his earlier period in office. I would hope not. Ditto, the Government House, the Civic Centre, Oba Adejugbe Hospital, Ire Clay Factory, the 700kms of road. So if he says I have built on what he did, well that’s what government is all about. It is a continuum. He should come and build on what I have also done now. The Governor-elect Ayo Fayose thanked the Labour Party candi­date, Barrister Opeyemi Bamidele for helping him to win the election. Do you regret not having Opeyemi Bamidele on your side? Opeyemi Bamidele took his own decision, he is an adult and I think we should respect his de­cision. But likewise he would have to deal with the consequences of his decision, that’s all I can say about him. I would like to have everybody on my side. There is no politician who wants to have enemies. I will continue to say this, my politics is not politics of opportunism, it is politics of prin­ciple and I am not afraid to stand alone as much as I would want to have people on my side. I am one politician who is not afraid to stand alone for my beliefs. So if there were people who chose not to be on my side for whatever reasons, I can only wish them well. How do you explain the allega­tions of perfidy and nonchalant at­titude leveled against most of your appointees? In politics, people always level allegations, in every political struggle, you would never find a 100 percent commitment, you would never find people acting in almost the same fashion. We ran a campaign, a hugely successful campaign. We would have people who will have their issues. There is no government in office that would have the groundswell of support that I had before it got to office. No government can maintain that be­cause politicians being who they are, somebody who wanted to be a commissioner and ended up being a senior special assistant, he would continue to eye that position of a commissioner and would continue to feel under-utilized and unhappy for whatever reason. Somebody who feels he wants to be chairman of a board or a local government who ends up being given a supervisory councillor position will also have his bones to pick with the governor and of course all complaints stop at the desk of the governor. I am not going to say that all my appointees and political leaders performed ex­cellently but I don’t think perfidy is an appropriate word to use to describe non-performance. Some people said your govern­ment was being run from Bourdilon. Others said you alienated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from your government. Can you tell us the true version or what kind of relationship you had with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu? One version says I am being micro-managed from Bourdilon, the other says he is his own man; he thinks he is an intellectual, he is independent, he has distanced himself from Bourdilon, from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Asiwaju is my leader, I have never denied that, he has done a lot for me personally and politically and I owe him a great deal of gratitude for that. But our relationship is also based on mutual respect because it is not a relationship that started in politics. I was never a member of the Lagos crowd as you know. I was never a commissioner in Lagos, I was never a senator or even a resident in Lagos. I knew him way back, I knew him in exile and we forged a common bond that was dedicated to the removal of military rule in Nigeria and that relationship continued. He played a critical role when I was asked to run for the governorship position in Ekiti. He supported it with everything he could muster and when we went to the election and I won, we ran into road blocks that eventually led to the tri­bunal. He was also very central and supportive of all that we achieved. But what many people didn’t give him credit for, for those who don’t know him well, is that they expect him as our party leader to send them my way all the time and for many people he refused to do that. He said look, let these people run their government, if you have any ad­vice to give them, you go to them directly but if you pass it through me, I would endeavor to de­liver your message to them. But no matter what steps he takes, he would be analyzed, analyzed and analyzed. Whatever steps I take, I would be analyzed and over-analyzed. Therefore, it’s a no-win situation. They will say he is running Ekiti. The truth of the matter is that when it comes to specifics, I have enjoyed a great deal of advice from him because he was a governor before. There were things that I have done that if I asked him for advice, he would give it. That, this is how I did it during my time but you know your area is different, it is not as cosmopolitan as Lagos. You may need to manage some tendencies much more carefully. He was always willing to give us advice. You would always have this and all my colleagues also faced the same issues. But the same people would say that oh, he has abandoned Tinubu, he has embraced Adebayo. I don’t run my life on a zero-sum game basis. I have several leaders, and I have a lot of respect for them and they have a role to play both in my emergence and in the suc­cess of our administration. I just consider it “Beer parlour” talk when they say all these things and I know that Asiwaju himself knows that that is what it is. When these people sit down and concoct stories, and peddle rumors you can’t stop them. You can’t legislate against rumors unfortunately, particularly against political leaders. There would always be all manner of things being peddled. Am I my own man? Of course I am my own man. Do I have leaders I respect? Absolutely, I have a lot of leaders I respect and they need not be mutually exclusive. I can be my own man and still have leaders I can take wise counsel from. People, I mean, public analysts and politicians, have singled out your Chief of Staff as the major cul­prit for your defeat. Why did you al­low him to have such massive influ­ence on you? It is very funny but I find it interesting. Chiefs of staff by their very nature, they are seen as the attack dogs of their principals. Go into history, chiefs of staff are almost always hated. Chief of staff is traditionally an American-created office. In British politics, you probably would have cabinet secretary, principal private secretary and all that. The chief of staff is the person who coordinates the governor’s office. That automatically makes you an object of hate. The way you now manage it will define how you are seen. Most chiefs of staff are not liked at all. When Tunde Fashola was chief of staff in Lagos, I know what some of his colleagues in the cabinet used to say about him… so that’s the first thing to say. So if you are the chief of staff who is seen to be close to the governor…but the truth of the matter is that the chief of staff in any government is only as powerful as the gover­nor wants him to be. So when people build myths around any government official, you are just providing an excuse and cover for the governor because the chief of staff is a shield. How many people want to see the governor? The governor’s office is a very busy office, part of the duties of the chief of staff is to manage expectations of people. On a normal day, if you get to Yemi Adaramodu’s office, he has more crowd there than you can ever find in my office because he has to manage a lot of people who are desirous of seeing the governor. Those who are unhappy that they are unable to see the governor don’t blame the governor even though it was the governor who would have been the one to give the instruction that “Mr chief of staff. I’m busy, I don’t want to see any one’. They put the blame on the chief of staff and in a situation like this, the blame game continues. I think it is unfortunate and I don’t think people should indulge in that, I think all of us have put in our best. There may have been lapses here and there but a lot of what they say about the chief of staff is unfounded and untrue. My chief of staff is not the most diplomatic person I can tell you that, that is his major problem, and it is also because he knows everybody very well and people don’t like to be exposed for their perfidy or their untoward act. There are things I would really not say about any politician, Yemi would say it and they would hate him for­ever for saying it. The governor rarely says anything that is negative or bad about anybody. But the chief of staff feels that it is his duty to protect the governor and to expose you if you are not working in the larger interest of the party. I recall when I came into politics, I knew what they used to say about a gentleman called Biodun Oyebanji who was chief of staff to governor Niyi Adebayo, I knew what they used to say about Alhaji Lai Mohammed when he was chief of staff to my leader, Asiwaju. It is the same story, so nothing new. You were accused of importing contractors from Lagos to do what local contractors can do. Why did you do this? This is rubbish. It is not even worth responding to because every­one knows the local content policy of our administration. I would rather my roads are constructed by contractors that I can hold their feet to fire and I can get sound warranty from them. We have had governors in this state who constructed roads that barely lasted six months because they just poured…so I believe that every naira that belongs to Ekiti should be utilized well for the Ekiti people. People can go and see the roads I have constructed and compare them to roads that have been constructed in the past. They should look at the drainages and yet some of the roads were constructed by Ekiti indi­genes, the street lights were done by Ekiti indigenes, the evidence is there for all to see. So I am not going to apologize for using those who would make our money last. We dont have limitless resources in Ekiti, so whatever we are spending money on, must be worth our while and it must be quality products that would be used rather than just the typical “shagbe loju yoyo” work. It’s something you would hear from those who are not really serious. What I would not accept is to give a job to a politician or local person who would not deliver and then he feels like what is wrong with that, that’s my own share of the cake. I am sorry there is no share of any cake in my government. This is the commonwealth of the Ekiti people, if you don’t do it, go and face maximum consequence. Yes, I have offended a lot of local contractors for that but again I do not have apologies for that Why did you create LCDAs when you have only few more days in office? Again, that is a distortion. The process leading to the creation of the LCDAs has been on for one year. I set up a committee that took memoranda from various communities and I also invited them to come and defend their memoranda. This is a process and we are just getting to the end of the process. And what do you mean by few more days in office? I still have three months left in government. So there is nothing that says we should not do something that our people are very desirous of and that is why I am creating the LCDAs. INEC, the Police and the Federal Government are all contemplating adopting the ‘Ekiti Arrange­ment’ as a template for elections in other states. Do you share this sentiment? Well, I do not know what they mean by ‘Ekiti arrangement’. What is the ‘Ekiti arrangement’? Is it the harassment? Is it the siege? Or the intimidation? Oh yes, they don’t even have to contemplate, that is what they want to do. Their arrangement is in top gear for Osun too. That ‘arrangement’ allows them to impose their will on the people. I think the country is in for a long and tortuous journey because once the will of the people is discounted and you do it in a seemingly ap­propriate manner, then it becomes a fait accompli that would halt this democracy and I think that is what we all must be careful about. The abracadabra in Ekiti is not a template that can endure. It is a template that they would love to use but it is a template that would drive the country into perdition because people would wake up to the reality sooner rather than later that a government that has not demonstrated any capacity to make a difference in the lives of the people, a govern­ment that has desecrated everything that is decent about Nigeria yet wants to keep itself in office by hook or by crook can only be asking people to resort to other means to rescue the country. What lessons can be learnt from the Ekiti elec­tion by you as a victim, APC as a party, Ekiti peo­ple, governors of other states and politicians gen­erally? The jury is still out on that Source: Sun
Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has countered the widespread belief that he conceded defeat to his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenger, Mr. Ayodele Fayose who was declared winner of the June 21 governorship poll in the state.In his first interview after the election granted to Dapo Thomas, a journalist and university teacher who also writes for Sunday Sun, Fay­emi asked anyone who thought he accepted the outcome to read the transcript of his post-election broadcast again.
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POST-IMPEACHMENT: NYAKO, LOYALISTS DESERT ADAMAWA …‘Impeachment drama far from over’

POST-IMPEACHMENT: NYAKO, LOYALISTS DESERT ADAMAWA …‘Impeachment drama far from over’ Murtala Nyako of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may have been impeached, but the unfolding drama trailing his unceremonious exit show that the PDP, which is the ultimate beneficiary of the recent battle for the soul of the state, may not have the last laugh after all. The ancient city of Yola, the capital of Adamawa State was surprisingly calm when Weekly Trust visited Wednesday, July 17, a day after Governor Murtalala Nyako of All Progressives Congress (APC) was sacked by an all Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state assembly. Expectations outside the state were that such an action was bound to elicit spontaneous protests, perhaps more than that of a mere impeachment notice generated in Nasarawa, another APC state. As it were, the city and its people merely shrugged off the action, which APC at the national level described as an “aberration”. Even Nyako’s party members in the state deserted him when he needed them most. Apart from a solidarity visit to the former governor last Sunday and an action in the court to stop the impeachment process, the party has maintained stoic silence. The reactions to the desertion of Ypla by Nyako and his loyalists were surprising: “The people reacted like that because they saw it coming and only Nyako failed to see the writing on the wall,” an APC stalwart told Weekly Trust. Since the incident, key party executive members have since left the capital, even as Nyako himself is yet to return from Abuja, where he had sought refuge before his ouster. Nyako’s ouster is a victory for PDP and a loss for the opposition, but analysts believe that it is not yet final. The impeached governor’s camp were quick to fault the process of impeachment, which they believe, could alter the arrangement altogether if he and his deputy decided to seek redress in courts. He has already indicated his intention to challenge the process, even though he accepts his removal “in good fate.” The lacunae pointed out by Nyako include the method used to serve the notice of impeachment on him. The notice was published in newspapers as against personal service after the Acting Chief Judge, Justice Ambrose Mamadi had rejected the Assembly’s request for substituted service which he declared unconstitutional and alien to the law, insisting they (Nyako and Ngillari) must be served personally. Speaking to Weekly Trust, an associate of Nyako, Mr. P.P Elisha alleged the process of impeachment was marred with illegalities which include contravention of court order restraining the Assembly from continuing with the impeachment. He said another court order issued by the Acting CJ restraining the three law makers that earlier defected to PDP from participating in the activities of Assembly was also desecrated. But the PDP maintained that the impeachment was carried out in strict compliance with constitutional provisions and that no illegality was committed. The Secretary of the PDP in Adamawa, Barrister Tahir Shehu said his party is ready to defend the impeachment in court without any fear. Observers may see Nyako recourse to litigation as an exercise in futility, but analysts believe that the threat to the impeachment saga and eventual emergence of the Speaker of the State Assembly, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as acting governor yet, was the manner of the exit of the Deputy Governor, Bala James Ngillari. The controversy about Ngillari’s resignation started when Nyako issued a press statement, through his spokesman, Ahmad Sajo, describing the resignation of Ngillari as illegal because he did not notify him. He argued that the law requires that the deputy governor submits his letter of resignation to the governor who will in turn transmit same to the House. Weekly Trust learnt that Ngillari had sent a letter to the Speaker which was read on the floor of the House minutes before Nyako’s impeachment, stating his intention to resign from his position for personal reasons. In their response, the House released a letter allegedly written by Nyako and addressed to the speaker, informing the law makers that sequel to the resignation of his deputy, he nominated the Member Representing Michika Constituency, Adamu Kamale as the new Deputy Governor. They argued that the letter showed that Ngillari had submitted a resignation letter to the governor. The Deputy Governor was already in court to seek interpretation to whether the investigative committee constituted by the chief judge to probe him and Nyako has power to summon him. The case is still pending in court and its outcome may determine, whether the whole process followed acceptable norm or not. Apart from the threat of litigation, another development, which may turn the hands of the clock against the PDP if not properly managed, are the politics surrounding the deputy governor’s exit. That the Deputy Governor is a loyal party man was not in doubt. He was the only key party figure standing, when the entire political structure in the state defected to the APC along with Nyako. He refused to follow his boss to the new party, insisting to remain and be damned while the exodus – which included members of the Assembly – lasted. It was hoped that that he would naturally be the main beneficiary of the intrigues and power-play that consumed Nyako. But he seems to have gotten the deepest cut from the people he trusted. Weekly Trust learnt that as the plot against Nyako gathered momentum, the Presidency, which is the key driver in the drama, had penciled the deputy down as the heir to the throne. But the party stakeholders in the state including some gubernatorial aspirants rejected the choice, fearing that if given the chance, the deputy could consolidate his hold and have an edge in governorship election in 2015. So the Presidency was convinced into backing down and jettisoning the idea. The grand endorsement by the PDP stakeholders, including former national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, Professor Jibrilu Aminu, Boni Haruna, recently, of the development in the state, gives credence to the plot against the deputy governor. “How could they have betrayed a man who has shown such loyalty to the party? It was one miscalculation that would cost the party immense loss in the coming elections,” a PDP stalwart, who would rather not be mentioned, pointed out. And the deputy governor is said to be popular in the zone, which also produced former governor, Senator Boni Haruna. Haruna it was believed, aligned with stakeholders because he wants to return to the Senate in 2015 and that the deputy governor’s aspiration would threaten his, as they come from the same area. Another issue, which analysts also agreed would be the PDP’s undoing preparatory to the next elections, which is a fall-out of the recent development in the state is individual interest of key stakeholders. Professor Jibril Aminu is supporting his godson and former Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Aliyu Idi Hong, who made him minster single-handedly during Obasanjo’s administration when Hong’s name was submitted alongside big names like Buba Marwa and Comrade Pascal Bafyau, former NLC chairman. Former PDP National chairman, Bamanga Tukur is said to have been working assiduously to promote the candidature of his son, Awwal, among party stakeholders and at the highest level of its leadership. Awwal, has been nursing gubernatorial ambition since 2007 when he aspired alongside Nyako but was disqualified by PDP alongside other aspirants to pave way for the embattled former governor. Reports indicate that powerful godfathers among Adamawa political class have already started fixing things for their candidates at Wadata Plaza and in the presidency. There is the belief that aspiration of other power aspirant with strong political clout and resources may further widen the rift in the party. Several aspirants have so far already indicated interest in the job and some of these contenders have powerful backers among the kingmakers and Abuja politicians who played as much role in the crowning of Nyako as in his removal. Posters of gubernatorial hopefuls compete at PDP offices, on the streets and at political gatherings while the aspirants are engaged in consultations with relevant stakeholders and grass root politicians to garner support for actualization of their plans. At the forefront of poster campaigns and consultations include Dr. Umar Ardo, Senator Abubakar Girei, Aliyu Idi Hong, Awwal Tukur General Buba Marwa, Marcus Gundiri, Ahmad Modibbo and Jerry Kumdisi. Senator Girei has been in contest since 2003 when he insisted in participating in the party primary election against the wish of the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar after other aspirants stepped down for the incumbent governor, Boni Haruna. He also aspired in 2007 alongside Nyako. Dr. Umar Ardo has contested in the last gubernatorial primaries with Nyako and challenged the result at the Supreme Court. He has been active member of the PDP Stakeholders and Elders Forum and key player in the fight to remove Nyako. An academician, Ardo is consistent in his resolve to participate in gubernatorial contest. Some insiders believe that the fortunes of the APC in the state declined as a result of Nyako’s larger-than-life influence in the party. The former governor, who defected from the PDP to the merger party was alleged to have hijacked the APC machinery as the leader of the party to the detriment of original members like Marwa and others in a bid to actualize the governorship ambition of his son, Abdulaziz. This led to the exodus of many stakeholders to the PDP, even members of the state assembly, who had earlier indicated interest to follow him to the new party, have to jettison the idea at the last minute when it was obvious that their interest was at stake. With his unceremonious exit, the leadership of the APC naturally transferred to one-time vice president Atiku Abubakar, whose influence across the state is not in doubt. A divided PDP will surely enhance the APC’s fortune in the state. Already the Atiku Support Group, a political group formed in the state to actualize the aspiration of the former vice president has begun grassroot mobilization across all the local government areas of the state recently. The Director-General of the Group, Malam Abdurrazaq Namdas, said the impeachment, though painful to APC members, will not dampen the spirit of the party as the leadership is working to reclaim the state in the next election. Analysts say the move was aimed at membership drive for the party ahead of future election. APC under the leadership of Atiku has already started talking to some PDP members who had defected from the APC as a result of alleged marginalization by Nyako men to prepare ground for a return, should they find their ambition unrealizable in the PDP. Source: Daily Trust
Murtala Nyako of the All Progressives Congress (APC), may have been impeached, but the unfolding drama trailing his unceremonious exit show that the PDP, which is the ultimate beneficiary of the recent battle for the soul of the state, may not have the last laugh after all.
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OSUN RESIDENTS ARMED WITH JUJU AHEAD OF POLL

OSUN RESIDENTS ARMED WITH JUJU AHEAD OF POLL Residents of Osun State are getting more apprehensive over the planned deployment of heavy security personnel to the state for August 9 governorship election. Investigation conducted by our correspondent revealed that following the planned deployment of heavy security personnel, some of the residents may have resorted to arming themselves with traditional substances believed to be mystical power (charms) in preparation of the governorship election. It was further revealed that though, some of the politicians in the state are without this traditional means of defence, it was gathered that the manner with which the substances is being circulated among politicians in the state now assumed alarming rate. When inquiries were made on why charms and other self defence means was being resorted to, they retorted that it is for self-defence and protection against any harassment and intimidation from conventional security personnel. The planned deployment of heavy security personnel for the election has continued to generate controversies among political parties especially the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP is boasting round the rallies in the state that they will use security personnel to claim the state from the APC as it was done in Ekiti State, explaining that the heavy presence of security personnel will ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order and election will go as expected. But the APC has condemned the deployment of heavy security personnel to Ekiti State on June 21 and the planned deployment to Osun State, saying that it was a ploy to militarilise electoral process in the country. It said using military in electoral process is against the constitution of the country adding that it amount to misuse of power on the part of President whose power for deployment resides on. Alhaji Waheed Lawal, a human right activist based in Osun said that the involvement of the military in the electoral process has removed the free will and choice of the people to cast their vote for candidate of their choice. He said that the deployment of military was aimed to harass and intimidate the people who he said must have the free will and choice to elect their leaders. He declared that the major assignment of the military is to defend the territorial entity of the country against external threats and foreign incursion. Lawal maintained that police, civil defence and other security operatives are enough to maintain law and order in an election period adding that soldiers are not needed for internal issues except for extreme cases such as insurgency. According to him, “deployment of soldiers for electoral process is another form of harassing the people. The moment you bring in soldiers there is no longer free choice for people to select. Source: Daily Independent
Residents of Osun State are getting more apprehensive over the planned deployment of heavy security personnel to the state for August 9 governorship election.
Investigation conducted by our correspondent revealed that following the planned deployment of heavy security personnel, some of the residents may have resorted to arming themselves with traditional substances believed to be mystical power (charms) in preparation of the governorship election.
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TRADERS, RESIDENTS PANIC AS ‘EXPLOSION’ ROCKS ENUGU MARKET

TRADERS, RESIDENTS PANIC AS ‘EXPLOSION’ ROCKS ENUGU MARKET An eleven-month-old baby was feared dead while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries, when an imaginary explosion occurred at the Eke Ozi market in Igboeze North local government area of Enugu state Friday. The incident, which occurred at about 2:00pm few metres to the Divisional Police Headquarters at Ogrute, was suspected to be a bomb blast, making the market women and traders to scamper for safety. It was however later discovered that it was a mere fire-cracker popularly known as knock-out thrown by some children who were playing around the market. The sound of the fire-cracker threw the entire market into pandemonium as marketers thought members of the Boko Haram sect had invaded the area. In the ensuing melee, the eleven-month-old baby was trampled upon, while hoodlums had a field day looting shops, during the stampede, which lasted for several minutes. The panic came barely a month after 21 suspected members of Boko Haram were intercepted at Obolo Afor community, about four kilometres away from Igboeze North. The police authorities however dismissed the allegation that the suspects were members of the terrorist group as they were moved to the police headquarters, Abuja for interrogation. Inspite of police assurance, there has been apprehension in the area to the extent that the people are ready to take to their heels at the slightest sound. Both Enugu Ezike and Obolo Afor are border towns between Benue and Enugu states. As at the time of filing this report, commercial activities had resumed at the market, even as traders whose shops were looted lamented their losses. Efforts to get the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ebere Amarizu, could not yield any result as his phone was switched off. But a police officer who refused to have his name in print, said the police high command was still studying the situation and would issue a statement in due course. “But the little information we got shows it was not really an explosion,” he said Source: Thisday
An eleven-month-old baby was feared dead while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries, when an imaginary explosion occurred at the Eke Ozi market in Igboeze North local government area of Enugu state Friday.
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NIGERIAN WITCHES WARN TINUBU •SAY HE WILL LOSE POLITICAL EMPIRE

NIGERIAN WITCHES WARN TINUBU •SAY HE WILL LOSE POLITICAL EMPIRE A bizarre event unfolded on Saturday as a group which called itself the Witches & Wizards Association of Nigeria (WITZAN) warned a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu, against relying on his close aides to prosecute the 2015 general election, saying they would betray him. The group’s position was made known via a communique signed by its president, Dr Okhue Iboi. According to WITZAN, in a report obtained from Trentonline, Tinubu’s political empire would crumble following the betrayal he would be subjected to by his political associates. “This betrayal will affect his political empire. “Tinubu’s political dynasty is under threat of crumbling,’’ it said. The group, while stating that Tinubu is a good man, however urged the APC leader to accept what it called the bitter truth, namely that the APC would not win the 2015 general election. According to the WITZAN president, “Many top notchers of PDP that are in APC now will go back to PDP. Witches said so in November last year and it happened. “I’m telling the whole world again today that many former PDP leaders that are now in APC will betray Tinubu and other APC leaders, they will go back to PDP this year, and before the 2015 general election.” The WITZAN president, who stated that the association was deeply worried by the situation in the country, especially the Boko Haram insurgency, added that the association had a meeting following a distress call by witches in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno, where members discussed the insurgency. “As stakeholders in the Nigerian project, we can no longer afford to fold our hands while the nation burns. Enough is enough. “Jonathan will win re-election. “Although there will be pockets of violence, Jonathan will win,” he said. Oboi appealed to APC chieftain, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) and Tinubu not to waste their money, time and energy on the poll, saying “They should go home and rest, and forget about becoming President or Vice President of Nigeria. “APC will still lose more governors to PDP before this year runs out.” He added that the association had correctly predicted the suspension of former CBN governor and Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, last November, and that he would face many challenges in the months to come. “Many people then labelled us fakes but what happened thereafter? “Sanusi was ignominiously removed from office without completing his tenure. “What we see before Sanusi is myriad of woes; his road will be rough. “Turbulent days lie ahead of him, he should not rejoice yet. “He will experience trouble within and outside the emirate. “His enemies are many, and to make matters worse for him, he had stepped on powerful toes,” he said. “He needs all the prayers in this world to survive the turmoil looming before him,” he said. Source; Tribune
A bizarre event unfolded on Saturday as a group which called itself the Witches & Wizards Association of Nigeria (WITZAN) warned a national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bola Tinubu, against relying on his close aides to prosecute the 2015 general election, saying they would betray him.
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BOKO HARAM: OPPOSITION IS A COALITION OF MUSLIM EXTREMISTS — RUSSIAN EXPERTS

BOKO HARAM: OPPOSITION IS A COALITION OF MUSLIM EXTREMISTS — RUSSIAN EXPERTS •Raise poser on Chibok abduction •Ex-Kremlin adviser, PDP paid agent —APC RUSSIAN security experts are worried over the possibility of the All Progressives Party (APC) taking over the reins of government in Nigeria next year, branding the party a coalition of Muslim extremists. The thinking in Russian political and security circles about the future of Nigeria was made known by a former presidential and Kremlin adviser, Alexander Nekrassov. Nekrassov, regarded globally as a political analyst and commentator, made the disclosure in a celebrated editorial opinion written for the respected Al-jazzera news channel. He noted that the thinking in Russia was to support President Goodluck Jonathan to continue in office and, if necessary, to extend emergency rule in the North-East base of Boko Haram and postpone the forthcoming general elections. But the APC, through its spokesperson, Lai Mohammed, branded Nekrassov, a hack writer, paid by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to him, ”it is clearly a hatchet job. He should be ashamed of himself. Here is someone who is out of job and paid by PDP as an agent of falsehood. Is he the government of Russia to say what he said? There is even nothing new in what he said; he only repeated what Fani-Kayode said for which we have taken him to court. We called for an inquiry. Has it been done? He is working for his pay.” Excerpts from the piece, entitled; “Is Boko Haram, a pawn in the bigger political game?” read; “When it comes to the current turmoil in Nigeria and the dramatic rise of the threat from the armed group Boko Haram, the question, “What’s in it for our American partners?” has not yet provided any real answers for the Kremlin. Rise of Boko Haram “Boko Haram, which had emerged initially as a non-violent movement that promoted Islamic values and rejected Western culture and its “decadence,” turned to violence in 2009, and since 2010, has been carrying out regular attacks, rapidly growing in numbers as a result of a recruitment campaign, both in Nigeria and beyond. “What adds to the confusion, from the point of view of Russian officials, is that Boko Haram, which is based in the North of Nigeria, is actually fighting for control of the area that has no oil reserves. “The interesting angle on the crisis in Nigeria is that it is seen in Moscow as political conflict, rather than a religious one, even though the country is equally split between Muslims and Christians. As the thinking in Moscow goes, if it was a classic ‘religious war,’ then, Boko Haram would not have been indiscriminate in murdering both Muslims and Christians.” Opposition’s benefits “After every attack, everyone is reminded that there is still no trace of the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls, although recently, bizarre reports surfaced that 60 of them have supposedly managed to escape while the terrorists were looking the other way. “Nevertheless, the kidnapping on such a vast scale was obviously intended as a blow to Jonathan’s tenure, first and foremost, because selling the girls for around $20 each was not really going to enrich Boko Haram. So, this was more of a slap on the face of the government in power that could only benefit the opposition. “In politics, anything that happens in a year leading to a big election should be always treated as a build-up to that election. And in Nigeria, the next presidential election is going to take place in February, 2015, with the opposition having a mountain to climb, considering that the ruling PDP got a substantial majority at the polls in 2011. The PDP politicians have been accusing the opposition, the APC of having links with Boko Haram, but the opposition has been strenuously denying it. “According to Russian experts, the recent upsurge in Boko Haram violence and the readiness to operate in broad daylight and take on the army and the police prove that the group has been getting some training and advice from outside. Some reports have linked the group with terrorist networks across Africa and the Middle-East like al-Shabab, al-Qaeda and Ansar al-Sharia, when it comes to combat training, funding and the exchange of military hardware and weaponry. “The one conclusion that the Russian experts have drawn is that the US and their Western allies have missed the growth of extremist groups, which has already manifested itself in Iraq with large parts of it now controlled by the Islamic State group, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.” Disastrous oversight “Russian military analysts predict a rise in violence in Nigeria leading up to the presidential election next year. Some even claim that increased international aid, perhaps, even an intervention, may be on the cards as the lessons of Iraq are starting to sink in, both in Western and African capitals. As one Russian official told me, ‘Losing Nigeria to Muslim fundamentalists is simply a no go, whichever way you look at it. What is happening now in Iraq has been a rude wake-up call for Washington.’ “Some experts fear that Jonathan may have to widen the state of emergency in the North and even postpone the elections next year, if the situation does not improve. It is worth remembering that the former APC candidate, Mahammadu Buhari, has been accused of inciting a violent uprising after losing the 2011 presidential election, resulting in nearly 1,000 deaths. Next year, some fear, this could be even worse.” Source: Tribune
•Raise poser on Chibok abduction •Ex-Kremlin adviser, PDP paid agent —APC
RUSSIAN security experts are worried over the possibility of the All Progressives Party (APC) taking over the reins of government in Nigeria next year, branding the party a coalition of Muslim extremists.
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Saturday

Nollywood Actress Bukky Wright Marriage Almost Crashed

Popular Nollywood actress, Bukky Wright, is at it again! This time, it's not for an attention-grabbing role in a blockbuster movie, but the real-life drama that played out in the actress' marital home recently.Report revealed that the fair-skinned role-interpreter was almost chased out of her matrimonial home, but for the grace of God. An inside source revealed that the actress' husband,via



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The Kate Henshaw Political Campaign has officially begun

 KATE HENSHAW GOES INTO POLITICS: TO CONTEST FOR HOUSE OF REPS Veteran actress Kate Henshaw has joined politics. She'll be aspiring to contest for the Federal House of Representatives for Calabar Munical/Odukpani Federal Constituency under the PDP. She will run within the PDP to get the ticket. The primaries is in October. If she wins, which is mostly like, she will become Hon. Kate Henshaw. She will be officially unveiled on www.campaign.ng tomorrow July 19th, which is her 43rd birthday
As a mark of update, we earlier hinted you that the ace Nollywood Actress and one of the Naija Got Talent Anchors, Kate Henshaw is set to contest the Federal House of Representative seat in Cross Rivers State.
Information Just reaching us now disclosed that the iconic artiste and a mother of a pretty damsel is marking her forty third birthday today, and as well launching her political ambition formally in her constituence.

See Her Profile Below.....
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Nollywood Actress Bukky Wright Marriage Almost Crashed

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Popular Nollywood actress, Bukky Wright, is at it again! This time, it's not for an attention-grabbing role in a blockbuster movie, but the real-life drama that played out in the actress' marital home recently.
Report revealed that the fair-skinned role-interpreter was almost chased out of her matrimonial home, but for the grace of God.
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I KEPT MY WIFE’S CORPSE IN A ROOM FOR THREE MONTHS HOPING SHE WOULD WAKE UP –EDWIN, CHRISTY ESSIEN IGBOKWE’S HUSBAND

I KEPT MY WIFE’S CORPSE IN A ROOM FOR THREE MONTHS HOPING SHE WOULD WAKE UP –EDWIN, CHRISTY ESSIEN IGBOKWE’S HUSBAND Edwin Igbokwe opens up on his grief and denial following the death of his wife, Christy Essien Igbokwe, three years ago and how he’s been coping with life Thirty five years ago, I married my soul mate and lifetime partner. She was Nigeria’s lady of songs, the late Christy Essien Igbokwe. I was a 26-year-old executive at The Punch while she was a 19-year-old songstress and actress that mesmerised Nigeria’s entertainment and theatre scenes with her young, affable innocence. Through those years, we celebrated togetherness and profound love, a love I felt the first time I blessed my eyes on her; a love that grew stronger each sunrise, until 9a.m, June 30, 2011. With each day’s sunset, our love blossomed, like flowers bloomed in spring. We stayed as one through the challenges of life. There were years of aches and pains, tears of joy and electrifying laughter. We stayed together and survived the rough and tumbles of life. We shared everything until it was time for her to go. She lived half a century. “As I walked down Jebose Boulevard, I tried to accept and appreciate all that life privileged after her eternal transition. It is over three years since Christy died. The denials, the depressions, forward from her death are paths to healing. I missed and mourned her tenderly. Time and support from friends and family were therapies to a second chance at life, living and loving. No one understands the discomfort and trauma of losing a dear family member such as your siblings, your parents or wife, a dearest lifetime partner; (the cherished one you swore before God and the people to love till death do us part), until it happened to them: We are never the same when we lose those that we loved and admired. A part of us leaves with them. Every one of us would come to that place in our lifetime; what matters is how we handled our different circumstances and who would be there to comfort us as we grieved. The mourning season may never end. I can imagine days of guilt, days of tear drops on the pillows and silent wails for losing my dearest wife. The pain is part of passionate memories, of a privileged, shared moment in our lives. These walks with you, Jebose, ignited emotional past pains of losing my late wife and a closure of tragic and traumatic chapters of my life. Christy was special and spectacular. She was a prophet. She revealed when she would die to the children and by extension, to me: she revealed to us that she had only half a century in this ‘wicked world;’ she told me that when death came, it would be middle of the year. She shared with close friends and members of the family, her end time. I always dismissed her because I was not ready to lose her. She told our children that she would live for 50 years and that any single day thereafter, they should be thanking God. She died June 30, 2011 at age 50. During one of our affectionate conversations, she told me she would be sick for three days before her death. She said she would exit without burden to anyone or herself. I didn’t believe, until it happened: four days before her death, she complained of stomach ache. We went to the hospital for scanning and treatment: the hospital placed her on overnight admission and began treatment, but she wanted to go home. Her desire to go home was bolstered by hospital’s electric power interruption. The hospital’s generator was also broken down. She said rather weakly, that she wanted to go home since the hospital had no electricity. I honoured her request. We left the hospital for our home. Halfway into our street, the doctor called and informed me that the generator suddenly activated, surprisingly nothing was wrong with it, we could return to continue treatment; we were almost home, my wife said she didn’t want to go back to the hospital. “The next day, the illness continued at home. She refused to go back to the hospital: the doctor came to the house and placed her on a drip. Even though she was weak, she was active and independent; she refused any assistance; not even a support on the staircase and into the car, as we set out for hospital again, having encouraged her to return to a different hospital for re-examination. I drove her into the waiting arms of doctors who further examined my late wife in a specialist hospital (Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja). She was placed on admission. She was seeing things and in her own world, as she lay ill, she was concerned about the staff and other patients in the hospital. She was kept overnight because of the diagnosis. The second night, she requested prayer warriors to begin intense prayers, not for her but for us, the living, and for her peaceful transition. She encouraged nurses in the hospital to pray: she would whisper prayer points and choruses. She muttered some messages to our God-son, George, who was with me in the hospital. We went into frenzy shouting for joy when she mentioned that ‘we were victorious and it was all over.’ By 5.30am June 30, 2011, we witnessed deteriorating changes in her health. I phoned Obi, our first son, and he quickly arrived at the hospital to assist. I dashed out to seek a transfer for her to another (the intensive care) room in the hospital. I left Obi and George with pastors and prayer warriors who arrived to pray with us. Something happened while I was gone. The mood changed when I returned. I smelt sadness from the travelling breeze within. The mood was solemn. I saw the sad faces of hospital staff and my son: I felt strange. Everyone from the doctors tried to find a way to tell me she had died… One of the midwives called me to the side and said I should brace up because my wife died few minutes then. That morning of her death, pastors and other prayer warriors ended morning prayer in her room; she whispered amen, and then slept off. It was exactly 9a.m. I felt dazed, shocked and awed when I was told I lost my ‘everything,’ my companion and the love of my life. Jebose, I caved into denial zone. We immediately moved her body to a room in our home, unknown to many. My late wife warned that her body must not be deposited in the mortuary. I had to respect her wishes. So we decorated a room in our house and laid her down. She was beautiful, peaceful in her sleep. The media and the enlarged burial committee members didn’t know where she was after her death. She lay in that room for almost three months. I was going crazy. I didn’t want to believe she would not wake up. She was smiling peacefully. I couldn’t believe it. I made sure I looked at her every day. I was confused, depressed, dejected and hopeless. The children began to monitor me. I was still in denial, hoping she was asleep… she would wake up. I kept reassuring myself. She never did. “I finally accepted her death when the pallbearers came into that room and placed her in a coffin for the Commendation Service at Arch Bishop Vining Memorial Cathedral, Ikeja on September 9, 2011 and from there later through the Muritala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja to Akanu Ibiam, Enugu airport en route Awka, Anambra State for funeral service and burial the next day. I knew then, that my best friend, my partner, my soul mate, the mother of my beautiful children, was truly gone. “After the burial, I was alone and lonely, I felt guilty for her death. I never expected to bury my wife. I always prayed that when my time was up, she, our children and grandchildren would bury me. I began to question God in these transitional periods: I was near complete depression because life was no longer interesting to me: I was lonely and mourning my wife. I was empty. I told everyone that I would never remarry because no woman could replace my late wife. I was suicidal. After her burial, the pain continued as life began to settle into normalcy, I began to see her in my dreams, encouraging me to live my life. She said she knew if I had the privilege of spending more time with her, I would have corrected certain things in our lives. She said I must move on with my life. Throughout our 32 years, we shared everything: we never separated from the same bedroom. The only time we separated was when we kept her body in a separate room while planning her funeral. Counselling from well-wishers helped me to begin to accept a life without her. “Her appearances in my dreams encouraged me to move on. In one of such appearances, she told me: “I came and I have fulfilled my destiny on earth. I wished I stayed longer but that was my destiny and God’s words must surely come to pass in our lives. I am not coming again. I am happy where I am. It is well with all of you! Please I want to be remembered always in happiness. Stop getting worried any longer because you do most times. You cry often for missing me and wished that I lived so that you make some amends. It is too late now. You should move on. Your focus should be how to live long for our kids. Advise them properly and correct them positively whenever they go wrong, for their own good. Take good care of them and their offsprings as long as you witness and always bless and not curse any of them. (She smiled…..) I never cursed any of them. I only tried to make them look forward to being independent as my last days on earth approached. Because you need to live long for the kids, you can remarry instead of running into some temptations that are building up. Pray hard. God will show you the right person. The person should not be very young. She must be older than our first kid. She must be able to stand in for the sake of the kids but she must not participate directly as one of the owners in any of our already established companies unless with express permission of all the kids. She will obey you. I must be respected. You know other things that would make the relationship to be soothing to me in death and useful to you in life unless if you want to continue to deceive yourself. You must not allow her do anything you know would not be pleasing. You are an intelligent man, I did say this often and I leave you to your conscience (she smiled…) till we meet to part no more. My love to all still existing and I want all to know this.” “If she didn’t appear to me in my dreams, I wouldn’t have remarried. I remarried after three years of her death. Time reversed everything. I didn’t want a situation where I would be bringing different women to our home: After the dreams, I began to consider marriage again. Being alone may not be the problem, the problem is the temptations that loneliness and being alone ferment. That would be very disrespectful to her memory and our children. I remarried, with her blessings. I am no longer mourning but her memories are indelible.” Source: Punch
Edwin Igbokwe opens up on his grief and denial following the death of his wife, Christy Essien Igbokwe, three years ago and how he’s been coping with life
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