2015: Resurrection of opposition in Ogun

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
| credits: www.orijoreporters.com

After about two years of inaction, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party in Ogun State appear to have been awakened from their slumber, reports SEGUN OLATUNJI

The main opposition parties in Ogun State appear to have woken from their over two years of lethargic state as they have, of recent, left no one in doubt about their desire to challenge the ruling All Progressive Congress.

The Peoples Democratic Party arguably the biggest opposition party in the state, has launched verbal attacks on the policies of the Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration. The media has been awash with criticisms of the state government’s policies and programmes.

For the APC-led government in Ogun State, the holiday period is truly over with the verbal missiles being fired at it by the opposition.

Buoyed by the near-total absence of the opposition in the state due to the perennial crisis rocking the PDP, Amosun had, earlier in the year, stirred up a hornets’ nest when he declared that the PDP in Ogun was “dead and buried.”

The Ogun State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Adebayo Dayo, while addressing aspirants to various elective offices and members of his party from Ogun East Senatorial District, in Ijebu Ode, said it had become imperative for the party to rise up to the challenge of rescuing the state from Amosun’s “misgovernance”.

Dayo also noted that it was only through hard work that the people of the State could free themselves from Amosun’s “bondage”.

The state PDP boss said, “It is only through hard work that we can win the elections and I can assure you that at the end of the day, whether Ibikunle Amosun likes it or not, he’ll vacate that office. In Jesus name, we are going to occupy that office. What we should be struggling to do now is to work so that we can be in government.

“So, let’s work together and make sure we make it a point of duty to rescue ourselves from the bondage of Ibikunle Amosun.  Ibikunle Amosun has spoilt everywhere. Go and ask the market women and the students, teachers and everybody.

 “They know that this man is not performing. This man has no conscience and I can tell you, if we work very hard, at the end of the day, we’ll rejoice.”

Also, the state chapter of the LP has consistently faulted the cost and the rationale behind the on-going road construction projects across the three senatorial districts of the state, describing them as a “systematic means” of siphoning the state’s resources.

Secretary of the LP in the state, Sunday Oginni, described as unthinkable and alarming government’s spending of N260m to construct a pedestrian bridge.

The LP secretary added that the decision of the people of Oke-Sokori and other residents of the Abeokuta metropolis not to use the pedestrian bridge, which the state government claimed was fitted with air-conditioner, signaled the rejection of the “profligate spending” of the Amosun-led APC administration.

He said, “We want to say here that nobody is questioning whether it is good or it is bad; we know that it is one of the duties of government to develop our state. But the question now is, is he doing it in the proper way? Why building a pedestrian bridge with over N260m when nobody is ready to use it? It means you are just building a hideout for criminals.”

The party accused the Amosun-led administration of deceit. It argued that the billions of naira being paid as compensation to the owners of properties affected by ongoing road expansion projects across the state would have served the people better if it was used to develop new towns and create jobs.

Oginni, went further to say that the possibility of fraud was very high because of the likelihood of government officials paying compensation where it was not necessary.

He said, “When you pull down a building, you can say that it is N5m and the next building may not be up to that if it is valued.”

According to him, any government that is ready to misappropriate public funds will device means of doing so using various strategies, including compensation as is being done by the APC-led administration.

The party secretary pointed out that the administration could say it had pulled down 100 houses worth about N150m in a place but the reality on the ground could prove otherwise. He appealed to the people of Ogun State to take a second look at what the state government was doing in that area.

He noted that the money being expended on frivolous ventures was sufficient to create jobs for the people and that new towns could be built for the benefit of the state. “Nobody will criticise him if he is coming with Abeokuta new town; Ilaro new town or Shagamu new town and then opening spaces for people to even exercise their rights and project their business,” he argued.

According to the party, the state government was misplacing priorities in a poverty-stricken economy like the one in Ogun State.

The LP secretary cautioned the state government not to force the people of the state into perpetual slavery by its alleged excessive borrowing and spending on projects that would not be of economic benefits in the long run.

Similarly, an LP governorship aspirant, Mr. Gboyega  Isiaka, said the five cardinal programmes of the Amosun administration were anti-people and had brought untold hardship to citizens and residents of the state.

As expected, Amosun and the state chapter of the APC did not take the allegations levelled against the administration lying low.

Amosun described his critics as bad losers who ordinarily should have been behind bars.

The governor accused those making allegations of a contract scam against his government of lying to the people of the state. He observed that because they were idle, they had made themselves available to the devil by becoming his “workshop.”

Amosun said, “This is Sagamu (road), we started from the Benin/Sagamu expressway to Oba Erinwole Junction. I have heard what people have been saying and writing, saying that nothing is on this road.

“The truth is that it is a shame that people  that ordinarily should be in jail – people that looted the good people of  Ogun State’s money. When they had the opportunity for eight years, what did they do?

“They don’t even know what is happening, they are perplexed. Everyday they ask themselves, how is he doing it? They see what we are doing and they never believe it is possible, but we thank God and the good people of Ogun State for believing in us, unlike them.

Also speaking on a petition written by a group against his administration over the N8bn Sagamu road project, Amosun said, “They are thieves, EFCC is looking for them, they are thieves.

“They are educated, they should come and put figures on what we are doing here. They can’t stop us and I know the good people of Ogun State are ready for them.”

The Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state,  Mr. Sola Lawal, also spoke in defence of the state government. He accused the opposition of desperation. According to him, members of the opposition were desperate to “give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.”

Lawal said the Amosun-led APC administration had been at the vanguard of executing projects that were immensely beneficial to the people of the state.

He said, “Throwing weird allegations of financial indebtedness against the Amosun administration by the PDP and LP is tantamount to committing verbal suicide because no administration in Ogun history has even mortgaged the state the way the last PDP administration under which Gboyega Isiaka served did. The relics of that ignominy as signposted by decaying common patrimony are still being cleared by Amosun two years after.”

Lawal credited the Amosun-led administration with standing up against the misrule which was the lot of the state under the previous PDP-led administration headed by Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

He explained that the Amosun’s professional background as a chartered accountant had served him well, because he had not only followed the money but had ensured the prudent management of the state’s resources.

This, he said, was in contrast to the legacy of profligacy left behind by his predecessor. According to him, local government councils in Ogun State have never been this vibrant.

He also dismissed allegations that the administration was leading the state into bankruptcy.  He noted that opponents of the administration could believe the “dizzying pace of infrastructural revolution now going on in Ogun.”

As the 2015 elections draw near, it is expected that the ruling APC and the group of opposition political parties will continue to trade accusations over performance. However, the least the ordinary citizen of Ogun State expects from government is service delivery and a chance to contribute to the development of the state.

Tension as New PDP train hits Jonathan’s home state

The formation of the New Peoples Democratic Party in President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state of Bayelsa, is redefining the politics in the state SIMON UTEBOR, writes.

When in September aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party formed a splinter group in Bayelsa State, some political observers dismissed it as a fluke.

The emergence of a parallel PDP in the President’s home state has undoubtedly raised concerns among leaders of the state executive council of the party whose loyalty is to Dr. Bamanga Tukur and President Goodluck Jonathan.

Though the Seriake Dickson-led state government had said there was no cause for alarm, many do not share this optimism.

Those in this school of thought argue that the emergence of  the New PDP in the state has a far reaching implication for the party’s fortunes than the administration was willing to admit.

For one, they argue that “home trouble” for the President may mean a bad omen for his yet-to-be declared 2015 re-election bid.

The Chairman of the Bayelsa State chapter of the New PDP, Mr. Richard Kpodo, and members of his executive had been declared wanted by the state police command.

Kpodo’s allegiance to former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva is an open secret. He now serves as a rallying point for supporters of the erstwhile governor whose frosty relationship with President Jonathan is known.

Publicity Secretary of the faction, Mr. Godwin Sidi, a former youth leader of the PDP in the South-South, said the decision to declare support for the faction was due to the fact that the Tukur-led PDP lacked internal democracy.

Sidi said, “The PDP system is not working properly because some things were not taken seriously. First, the dissolution of constituted state executive councils and abnormalities in the system. So, we are now saying that this was not the basis of forming a party and we decided to break away.

“The argument that we are doing all this because of Timipre Sylva is not true.

“I personally have never worked for Sylva in any way. I have never got appointment from him. I did not execute a single contract during his administration.

“So, why would they now tie our faction to Sylva? I agree that he is my friend – from the same Bayelsa. It is not because he is my friend. I have been a zonal youth leader in South-South. It is a party that I have served.

“As regards Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Jonathan’s feud, what we are saying is (that it is) strictly a party matter. We are saying there is crisis in the party. Though we are in the same group, fine. I do not want to dismiss that, but it is not true that he (Amaechi) is behind us. We are saying that what is happening in Rivers State is not right and we have tried in several ways to correct it.

“We are also saying that the election that brought Bamanga Tukur to power as the national chairman of the PDP was not properly done and that he should go. It is as simple as that.”

Responding to a question as to whether the activities of the faction was not a threat to Jonathan’s possible 2015 re-election bid, he said Jonathan had no moral justification to seek for a “third term.”

According to him, the President and the Vice-President, are on the same ticket, as such, since Jonathan swore an oath of office and completed the term of late Umaru Yar’Adua, he had completed his first term and that he was currently serving out his second term.

“So, this is his tenure that is coming to an end, why would he now say he wants to run for the third time? Someone before him tried it and we kicked against it.

“I am a Bayelsa person, there is no sentiment. Personally I am going to the Supreme Court for it to interpret Jonathan’s tenure. It is after that we will know whether he is going for third term or for second term. It is the Supreme Court that will interpret that,” he said.

But the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Makbere John, dismissed the Richard Kpodo-led faction of the party. He said they were not registered members of the PDP.

He explained that it was curious that they were insisting on retaining the name of the PDP. He said, it was better if they left to form a new party if they felt so aggrieved instead of using the name and logo of the PDP in the pursuit of a “campaign of calumny.”

Makbere said, “Why are they sticking to the name of PDP? “It is like you want to separate from your husband by way of divorce and join another spouse, you should feel free to answer the name of your new spouse.

“Go and ask them when last they paid their party dues. Those are the issues we are raising with most of them. It is not every political appointee that is a legitimate member of the PDP. Ask them to tender their membership cards.

“As far as we legitimate members of the party are concerned, those people who are crying wolf are not members of PDP. It is for reasons that some persons do not want Jonathan to come back. And because Sylva is anti-Jonathan. Sylva is the brain behind the whole thing. Kpodo got his empowerment through Sylva. Can’t you see the handwriting?”

Makbere berated Sidi for saying Jonathan had no moral justification to run for second term.

He said Sidi was in no position to say that Jonathan had no moral justification. The PDP scribe noted that Sidi was not conversant with the spirit and letters of the constitution.

He said, “Are you saying that Bill Clinton or Barack Obama’s vice-president who served for eight years with them is not entitled to contest the Presidency? And if he eventually wins, he is not entitled to enjoy a second tenure? That is a rhetoric that will answer that question that he is raising. And if that answers it, I do not think it is an issue to be raised.”

Makbere, who introduced himself as a lawyer, said he had handled litigations up to the Supreme Court level many times and was prepared to meet members of the ‘so called New PDP’ at the apex court should they choose to take up the matter.

Dickson chose the venue of the monthly transparency briefing in October, to allude to the existence of the splinter group in his domain. He dismissed them as people who were of no political consequence.

He said, “When the time comes, we would sort them out. We know them and they are merely ranting.”

But members of the faction who are bent on making a political statement recently took the governor to task over the €60m Tied Direct Aid facility from the government of Poland.

Ordinarily, a grant or an aid of this nature is supposed to attract accolades especially in a state in dire need of basic infrastructure and the creation of jobs for its growing youth population.

But the proposed €60m (about N13bn), which the government said was a grant by the Polish Government to build a first-class maritime academy, had become an antithesis.

Dickson had at different forums dismissed speculations over the facility as a non-issue. He said the state accepted the grant as part of measures to open up the investment space as well as develop its potential in the maritime sector.

Civil society groups have joined members of the factional  PDP in alleging that the state government was being economical with the truth because the facility was a loan and not a grant.

The opposition insists that taking such a loan at a time the Dickson administration had boasted about the state’s liquidity was an indication that the administration lacked prudent management especially with the huge allocation it receives from the federation account.

Due to this skepticism, they decided to challenge the government to a debate in order to set the records straight.

In response, the governor insisted that the state enjoyed a solid financial base, saying that his government had no business borrowing to finance infrastructural development.

Dickson said, “The proposed €60m TDA from Poland is not a loan as being rumoured by members of the opposition.

“The financial assistance is interest-free and is aimed at financing the proposed Maritime Academy at Okpoama in Brass Island Local Government.”

He further explained that his administration was not taking any loan from any bank or government, rather the Polish Government had agreed to finance the proposed academy and to recoup its investment within 30 years.

It appears the governor’s explanation would not suffice as the opposition insists that the government’s position was at variance with that of the House of Assembly which earlier said the facility was a loan. While the debate lingers, it is safe to say politics in the state will not be the same again.

What Anambra needs is continuity –Obiano

Members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria on Friday protested their unpaid salary arrears by the Nigeria Port Authority.

The placard-carrying protesters stormed the national secretariat of the union, lamenting that they were deprived of their entitlements.

Though an agreement has been entered into between the union and NPA, the workers alleged that there was no sign that the port authority was ready to honour the agreement.

A copy of the agreement signed on August 15 and obtained by our correspondent, read in part, “The end of October 2013 was agreed for the payment of the outstanding bills after approval for the supplementary budget has been fully obtained.”

Our correspondent gathered that no fewer than 1,400 workers in the country are owed an estimated N500m.

Chairman of the tally clerks and on-board security men, poll district, Lagos, Mr. Akeem Lawal, who spoke on behalf of other workers, said they had not been paid for eight months.

He said, “There was an agreement between the union and management of the NPA, which was that at the end of October, they are going to pay us our money.

“We want to know why they used our money to pay cargo surveyors. As legal workers, we want to know why we should not be paid our entitlements.”

The President of the MWUN, Mr. Tony Nted, who received the protesters, assured that if the NPA did not pay them by October 31, the union would embark on an indefinite strike until payments are made.

He said, “We have had meetings with the Ministry of Works and NPA. We agreed that the arrears in salary, not arrears in increment, will be paid on or before the end of October. We want to believe that on October 30, the NPA will honour that agreement or the union will have no other alternative than to withdraw the services of members from all the ports of the federation.”