The Eagle Gate

Tag: NASS

  • SHALL WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY? – Jude Idehen

    SHALL WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY? – Jude Idehen

    Hon. Jude Idehen is contesting for the seat of House of Representatives Ikpoba-Okha/Egor Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

    We have consulted widely across all 20 wards of Egor and Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Areas and analyzed the challenges facing our nation and constituencies. We have a robust blueprint based on the PDP manifesto to serve as a springboard for our constituency, placing her on a sunlit path of holistic development and material prosperity, and our Nigeria into a land where truth, justice and liberty reigns. These ingredients will satisfy our thirst and quest for unity and progress that for far too long have eluded us.

    I shall be part of those that will use the chambers of the Nigerian National Assembly to prepare a new bed for our country. 

    Ours is a genuine road map, within which are enshrined precise foundational, yet indispensable principles that are key to peace and progress in a pluralistic society like Nigeria. 

    We must transform our constituency and protect her citizens from the present unacceptable condition.My cardinal principles are enshrined in an agenda code-named the “RESCUE” mission. The “RESCUE” mission offers measurable commitments that will be implemented with passion, single-mindedness, incisive competence and experience. The RESCUE mission is an acronym for:

    R– Rule of Law

    E– Exact True Federalism

    S– Secularity

    C– Constitutionalism

    U– Unity

    E– Empowerment and Constituency projects

    Rule of Law 

    It is no news that successive administrations have made attempts to forcefully unite Nigerians employing centralism and coercion. It is also true that the repeated failure to do so implies the necessity of a new strategy to unite our nation. Justice is the most potent instrument with which a nation can stay glued and in perfect harmony and co-existence. Unfortunately, we are citizens of a country where justice is often denied, sacrificed, continually perverted and habitually mocked. It is almost only in Nigeria that because of the lack of accountability, nepotism, and gross impunity, giant camels, even if they are carrying hippopotamuses on their backs, easily pass through the eye of a needle. There can be no lasting peace or progress in any nation until its public officials are fully accountable to the people and answerable to the law. 

    Hence, we must wage a peaceful revolution for the supremacy of the rule of law in all facet of our polity. I will be one of the arrowheads of this peaceful revolution.

    Exact True Federalism

    As dictated by our constitution, the Federal Government is a monstrous octopus; its tentacles will continue to be a clog on the progress and unity of our people. Our constitution must devolve far greater power from the central government to the federating units of Nigeria. Dispersing power will help secure our freedom, increase citizens’ participation as well as structural, functional and institutional effectiveness. We must wake up and summon that uncommon courage and creativity to err on the side of subversion and on the compulsion to rule a multi-ethnic country in a militarist unitary fashion. Restructuring is key.

    Secularity

    Theology is the mother of all philosophy; people ultimately become whatever they theologize. Nigeria is a heterogeneous nation and Nigerians must be free to believe or not believe in God. Those who choose to believe in God must be free to worship Him or Her in whatever way they choose so long as their own freedom does not impinge on the freedom of others. Religion should not become a contrivance for heating the polity and sowing strife as it has for far too long strained our politics and divided our people. Nigeria is a secular nation and I will work hard to enforce this.

    Constitutionalism

    Forged and foisted on us by a cabal of military adventurers, our present constitution is incoherent and inapplicable in several regards. Conscious effort must be made and deliberate steps taken to replace it with a testament that emanates from the sovereign wishes of our people. The present arrangement, having been sown on the winds of certified fraud, has had us embroiled in endless controversies and turmoil. We must summon the courage and ingenuity to provide for ourselves a constitution that will reflect our hopes, assuage our fears, and minimize our conflicts. Such a constitution must be freely negotiated. Hence, I will work hard for a freely negotiated constitution emerging via a Sovereign Conference like that of 2014 and any other. 

    Unity

    Truly, Nigerians are trapped in ethno-religious sentiments. In addition, a ‘them-versus-us’ dichotomy is a nagging thorn in the Nigerian flesh. We often fail to listen to and empathize with the anguish of one another. Why is it so difficult for all of us to see the flagrant injustice inflicted on our oil-producing areas, the incessant terror and killings in many parts of the country? We must not all be Bini, Ogoni, Ijaw, Yoruba or Fulani before we can identify with a just cause. Let us stop perishing or stagnating together in the floods of needless conflicts. Let us bring down fences of segregation and invest in constructing bridges of understanding. We can collaborate to hasten the infrastructural development of our Northeast; we can terminate the injustices meted to our south-south, and accelerate the educational development of our Northwest. Southwest and the Southeast can be structurally unchained and thus, develop at whatever pace that suits them. As a legislator, I will work hard to sober reflection, gentle persuasion, robust analysis and essential compromise in the National Assembly.

    Empowerment and Constituency projects

    Youth empowerment is a process where young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then act to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes.

    Achievements of Hon. Jude Ise-Idehen as member, Edo State House of Assembly Representing Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area 2007-2015

    EDUCATION:

    He renovated over 6 blocks of classrooms in Oregbeni Primary School in ward 2 

    He provided tables and chairs in Ogbesun primary school in ward 3 

    He built 3 blocks of classrooms with headmaster’s office in Ewomodu Primary School in ward 4

    He built 3 classroom blocks for Umelu Secondary School, Umelu in ward 5 

    He built 3 classroom blocks at Evboriaria Primary School in ward 6 

    He renovated 6 classroom blocks in Enikaro Primary School in ward 7

    He provided tables and chairs for Urura Secondary School in ward 4

    SECURITY:

    He renovated the Police Station in Ologbo. Over the years, Ologbo has been the bedrock of crime and violence, and this made the community volatile and insecure. By renovating the police station, he motivated the police officers and spurred their enthusiasm to discharge their responsibilities effectively.

    ELECTRICITY:

    He provided over 10 transformers across the 10 wards in Ikpoba-Okha constituency.

    At Evbomoma Village in ward 9, the indigenes sought his intervention in assisting them with street lights, which he promptly provided.

    SOCIAL WAREFARE:

    While at the state house of assembly, he sponsored a bill for hospitals to always treat bullet wound victims without prior requirement of a police report. 

    He also renovated several health centres in Ikpoba-okha Local Government Area.

    He also supported orphanages and the homeless indigenes with shelter, books, clothes and finance, powered by an NGO (IYOBOSA HELPING HAND) that was overseen by his wife, Mrs. Gabina Ise-Idehen.

    He has managed to create a relationship with the Muslims and Christians alike by providing beverages, food stuffs such as yam, rice, and rams for the Muslims during their fasting seasons.

    He gave small scale business grants to the women in Ikpoba-okha Local Government Area. 

    He also empowered the youths by giving them resources like cell phones and recharge cards to start call centre businesses as well as capital for other start-ups.

    WATER:

    During his first and second year in the state house of assembly, all the wards were provided with borehole facilities, from ward 1 to ward 10. 

    Over 25 boreholes were sank in the various communities

    BILLS OPPOSED:

    Land Use Bill: As member Edo State House of Assembly, he strongly opposed the passage of the Land Use bill introduced by the then state government to oppress the poor.

    Iyamho University: He also opposed the establishment of the Edo state University Iyamho stressing the need to first upgrade and standardize the current tertiary institutions in Edo State such as the College of Education Ekiadolor, College of Agriculture Iguoriakhi, Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, and the Michael Imodu College of Physical and Health Education, Afuze.

  • DREAMING AS A NATION

    DREAMING AS A NATION

    The 2019 elections are fast approaching. The political tempo in the land is gradually cruising into high altitude. Whether the elections would be free and fair is of concern on one hand, while the other serious worry is whether those that would be elected have any worthy dream to rescue our very emasculated nation from the abyss of poverty, ignorance, disease, insecurity, human and capital flight. It would be wishful thinking to assume that the mere successful conduct of elections would deepen our democracy without a corresponding dream as a Nation to renew our national life in the hope of joining the league of developing nations.

    Many, may, underestimate the power of dreams, but let no one make a mistake about its potency. Several of the leading Nations of the world and industry captains of today are where they are because they dreamed dreams and worked sincerely to realize those dreams. For those who are Christians, the Bible is not only a spiritual authority, it is a veritable source of the history of mankind and Nations. The Bible lends credence to the theory of the potency of dreams. Let me recount one of the most common accounts in the Holy Bible, this account can be found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 41.

    Pharaoh, the king of Egypt had a dream. In that dream, “Seven fat, healthy looking cows suddenly came up out of the river and began grazing along its Bank. Then seven other cows came up from the river, but these were very ugly and gaunt. These seven other cows went over and stood beside the fat cows. Then the thin ugly cows ate up the fat ones”. Pharaoh became very concerned about the meaning of that dream and sought the interpretation from one Joseph, a young Hebrew who had a huge reputation for interpreting dreams.

    Joseph told Pharaoh that the seven fat cows represented seven years of prosperity while the seven thin cows stood for another seven years of famine that would follow those years of prosperity. He then advised Pharaoh to appoint a wise man to be in charge of a nation-wide programme to prepare for the famine that would follow the prosperity. He recommended that such officer should store 1/5 of the crops to be harvested during the year of prosperity into the royal store houses. In that way there would be enough to eat during the period of the expected famine. Pharaoh took no chances. He appointed Joseph to be in charge of such National programme. Joseph dealt with the situation in a prudent manner. As interpreted, the years of famine truly followed the years of prosperity but there was plenty to eat and a national calamity was averted from just a dream.

    If anyone still doubts the power of dreams, how about this popular one that most of us already know. Martin Luther King (jr) was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King. He followed his father’s foot steps and became a Baptist Minister in 1947. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black Seamstress, took a seat in the section of a Montgomery bus reserved for whites in the USA. When the driver asked her to move to the back under the state’s segregation law, she refused and was arrested. Martin Luther King (Jr) then launched the Montgomery Bus boycott. He became the symbol of the civil u movement and America itself. On the occasion of the “March on Washington for jobs and freedom” the August in 1963, King delivered the famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial in Washington to 250,000 civil rights supporters. The dreams were indeed many. I would only deal with the few that are related to this piece;

    – “ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”

    – “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of slaves and the sons of former slave. owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”

    – “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

    King did not just have dreams. He worked hard to realize those dreams. By 1964 the world acknowledged his hard work and rewarded him with the Nobel peace prize. Even when he was aware of threats to his life, King continued to work for his dreams to come true. With a premonition of the imminence of his death, King said, “well, I don’t know what will happen now. We have got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top … And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land”.

    Today, the American people have truly reached that Promised Land. America is living out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal. The election of Barrack Obama as the US president in November, 2008 marked the total realization of King’s dreams. Together, Obama and Biden sat at the table of brotherhood in the white House to preside over the United States. The content of Obama’s character prevailed over the colour of his skin. Such is the power of a dream.

    The Nigerian Nation must therefore not despair in this trying moments of our national life. We must dream as other great nations did. Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court at the third Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Dialogue once asked a useful question: “can we make Nigeria greater than nature made her…?” The learned Judge provided his own answer. He said as follows: “my answer is yes … if and only if our leaders have the sagacity of an Otto Von Bismark, the wisdom of a Cavour, the adroitness of a Mazini, the patriotism of a Gandhi and the selflessness of a Nyerere. ”

    Part of our National creed is to be found in the 1999 constitution of our country which states interalia; “AND TO PROVIDE for a constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of freedom, Equality and justice and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people”. Are we truly dreaming of living out the real meaning of this creed? Can we claim to have promoted the principles of equality and justice when there is no equal access to good Medicare and Education in our country? What is the state of our public schools today and how many of the children of those charged with the governance of this Nation attend such schools? What has happened to our public hospitals over the years and why have they become glorified death places for very minor ailments?

    The truth is that there is neither equality nor justice in our national life. The Buhari regime may have had the heart to begin the process, but that momentum appears stunted by policy duplicity, official lethargy of public functionaries and excessive bloodletting of uncommon proportions. The regime may have learnt its lessons and the entire country now wants a better deal.
    The good news is that we can begin to dream of it now. Let us start with the basic dreams:

    – That some day before year 2022, this nation would generate over 25,000 MW of power for the use of its millions of citizens.

    – That someday, this nation would upgrade its public schools at all levels to globally accepted standards and the products of such schools would no longer face the international discrimination that they suffer today.

    – That someday, this nation would upgrade its health institutions to health-care delivery levels away from its present day notoriety of being regarded as death centres.

    – That someday, this nation would truly be governed by the rule of law and founded on equality before the law, where high profile thieves in public life would no longer scorn the law and make only petty thieves of necessity to face the law.

    But these dreams would never come to pass until we find leaders who would “show the light and people will find their way” as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe epitomized by the slogan of his now defunct newspaper, the West African Pilot. Our Nation must learn from Queneau Raymond, a twentieth century philosopher who fizzled out all doubts about the need to dream in his famous statement that “man’s usual routine is to work and to dream”.

    *Dr. Ehiogie West- Idahosa is a former Member of the House of Representatives, lawyer and public policy expert.

  • Saraki/Ekweremadu’s Failed Removal: How APC Lost its Argument Morally & Constitutionally

    Saraki/Ekweremadu’s Failed Removal: How APC Lost its Argument Morally & Constitutionally

    By Chidiebere Nwobodo

    Having failed repeatedly to effect leadership change in the Senate via unconstitutional means, embittered ex-wife called APC has resorted to blatant blackmail and mudslinging in its renewed quest to oust Senate president Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu from their coveted seats. The more they attack the duo, the clearer it becomes to Nigerians that we have a government run by tyrants, who does not give a freaking damn about survival of our hard-earned democracy. These anti-democratic forces are hell bent on setting Nigeria ablaze, just to have their way. I think the time has come to cage this beast and small tyrant called Oshiomhole; enough of his excesses cum impunity.

    Section 52 of Nigeria’s constitution made it crystal clear that for a presiding officer of the senate like senate president or his deputy, to be removed from office, you need nothing less than two third majority of senators. In a Red Chamber of 109 senators, the 2/3 majority is 73 senators! The mind-boggling questions racing through the minds of discerning Nigerians are: can those tyrants in Presidential Villa and their foot-soldiers in the senate muster 73 senators to remove Senate President Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu? Can they infiltrate the impregnable support base of current senate leadership? Can’t they accept the stark reality that they have been outfoxed in this political game of thrones once and for all? Is it too late in the day to give peace a chance, at least for the sake of impoverished Nigerians, that are desperately yearning for the “change” promised them over three years ago?

    President Buhari and his mindless cabal, should be told categorically that they have lost this argument both in the eyes of the law and court of public opinion. They have also lost the moral aspect of the argument. For supporting Hon. Aminu Tambuwal to retain his seat as speaker of House of Representatives, having defected from PDP to APC in 2014, APC and its herd of zombies, masquerading as supporters, have lost the moral ground on which to demand Saraki’s resignation, using the benchmark of morality.

    The APC should better wake up from its hallucination that Saraki and Ekweremadu will be removed “by all means” as leaders of senate. Saraki is not carrying any moral burden as senate president, because APC never supported him to emerge in the first place. Power-drunk APC leaders cannot take back what they did not give in the first place. Nigerian constitution never implied that senate president or his deputy MUST come from majority party (if APC is still majority). Saraki/Ekweremadu senate presidency has come to stay till June, 2019.

    Any unconstitutional attempt to effect change of senate leadership, will be tantamount to toppling Nigeria democracy. President Buhari’s name will be written boldly in the hall of SHAME if he watch his party chairman, aides and conscienceless supporters push Nigeria down the deepest valley of anarchy and political turmoil. Oshiomhole and his fellow desperados in the APC, should know that Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu have become the rallying pillars and formidable shield to roll back the forces of fascism and dictatorship, of which President Buhari’s government has metamorphosed into. Nigerians are solidly behind them as commanders leading the army of democrats, against rampaging chariots and soldiers of tyranny, as we head into 2019 general elections.

  • Press Release: Response to Adams Oshiomhole

    Press Release: Response to Adams Oshiomhole

    Press Release
    August 10, 2018

    Response to Adams Oshiomhole

    1. It is rather surprising that Mr. Adams Oshiomhole is behaving like a rain-beaten chicken, crying all over the place about Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, as if the Senate President is the apparition haunting his life and the sinking ship that he captains.

    2. Having decided not to join the pigs in rolling in the dirt; we would not like to be involved in any meaningless exchange with the demagogue now in charge of APC. However, because he claimed that he was reacting to the issues raised by the Senate President during his World Press Conference, we thought it necessary to give the APC chairman some attention.

    Alas, we found that instead of addressing any issue raised by the Senate President, his press conference merely showcased his obsession and those of his sponsors with Saraki’s removal, which he did without any decorum befitting of his age or his awarded office. He brimmed with hate, hurled abuses, threw tantrums, told lies, huffed and puffed. In the end, he said nothing.

    3. It is indeed amazing that the same Oshiomhole, who is now describing Saraki as a politician of no consequence was the same one who only a few months ago was crawling all over the place pleading for Saraki’s support to become chairman. We are sure that those who took him to Saraki several times to plead his case must now be thoroughly embarrassed by his reckless and uncouth manner.

    4. By his conduct and utterances, Oshiomhole, who accused Saraki of not acting in national interest needs to do more to convince Nigerians that his desperate desire to become party chairman is not simply to feed his over-sized ego.

    5. The position of Oshiomhole and his cohorts in the APC that the Senate President must resign is a mere wishful thinking. They will continue to dream about their planned removal of the Senate President. They will need 73 Senators to lawfully remove Dr. Saraki and they will never get that in the present eight Senate.

    6. The argument of APC that the Senate President must come from a majority party; that the Senate Presidency is their crown and National Assembly is their palace is only supported by ignorance and dangerous delusion. First, the issue of which party is in the majority will only be resolved when the Senate resume. Two, Section 50 (1) (a) of the constitution is clear that any Senator can be elected as Senate President. If the only thing left of the APC change agenda is to change the Senate President we can only wish them good luck.

    7. Perhaps, Mr. Oshiomhole needs to be better educated about our parliamentary history when he Stated that “For the first time in parliamentary history in Nigeria, we had a situation where the APC had majority of Senators and went on to elect a PDP as Deputy Senate President”. Where is Mr. Oshiomhole when Senator John Wash Pam of the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) became Deputy Senate President in the Second Republic even when the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had the majority. The same thing happened in the House of Representatives when NPP’s Rt. Hon. Edwin Umeh Ezeoke was elected Speaker in an NPN majority House. But then, it would require a level of education to understand these things.

    8. What hypocrisy! To think that this same APC were jubilating when Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal retained his position after he defected from the PDP and still retained his seat, even when his new party was in the minority. These are people whose standards of morality are infinitely elastic.

    9. We are sure the remaining APC Senators need to do a lot of work to bring Oshiomhole up to speed about parliamentary practice. His ignorance are too clear in his comments about how the Senate was adjourned on July 24, 2018, the distribution of committee chairmanship in the Senate and the difference between the post of Senate President and Minority Leader.

    10. He has made so much song and dance about Mr. Godswill Akpabio resigning as Senate Minority Leader when he left the PDP to join APC. For this, Akpabio has become his hero and a symbol of honor. He obviously does not understand that the post of Minority Leader is a strictly party affair. And the PDP simply decided who to give it as it is not even a position that was mentioned in the constitution. Whereas, the Senate President position is a constitutional creation, which required majority votes of all the members. Again, we don’t expect people whose only experience in politics is at the provincial levels to understand this. No wonder they are talking of crowns and inheritance.

    11. The fair distribution of the Committee chairmanship is one of the stabilizing factors in the 8th Senate and has helped it in achieving more than all its predecessors.

    12. We need to inform this divisive element who now leads APC that if he wants to know why the 2018 budget was delayed, he should ask the heads of the MDAs. We reckon that should be easy for him since he is now their ‘headmaster’, moving around with canes to whip ministers into line.

    13. Oshiomhole once again demonstrated his lack of sense of history by talking of Buhari winning more votes in Kwara than Saraki. We are sure President Buhari himself will disagree with the APC chairman. We invite the APC chairman to look at the figures of votes secured by the President in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 to know that the difference is clear, like a commercial advert stated.

    14. We hereby assure this garrulous, tactless and reckless APC chairman that a million of Adams Oshiomhole cannot remove Saraki as Senate President. His illegal plots, can only feed his insatiable ego and keep him awake at nights. But it will remain an exercise in futility.

    Signed

    Yusuph Olaniyonu
    Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President

  • Akpabio’s defection story: A peep inside the locker room

    Akpabio’s defection story: A peep inside the locker room

    It is tempting for APC and it’s Chairman (of the Senate blockade fame) to get very excited about AKPABIO’s defection. The matter is much more than gathering crowd across the south-south Geo-political zone at Ikot Ekpene. Let’s give you a few tips;

    Many think that Akpabio only defected in other to protect himself from prosecution by EFCC for embezzling over 200 Billion Naira of public funds. That is only one of the reasons for defection. Even that is forlorn hope. As soon as the 2019 elections are over, the appropriate pressure would be brought to bear on EFCC to prosecute Akpabio and he would be duly prosecuted. No elected Governor in history has pilfered the kind of money that Akpabio carted away from the coffers of Akwa Ibom State. He should find out from Sen. Dariye and former Gov. Jolly Nyame whether defection to APC saved them from prison cells. Let Akpabio ask Orji Uzor Kalu whether or not a court of law ruled that he has a criminal case to answer and granted an interim order of forfeiture against most of his allegedly ill-gotten assets.

    Akpabio has forgotten how Obong Victor Attah tried to give the PDP governorship ticket to his son in law and how the people of Akwa Ibom resisted it. In the end, Akpabio was nominated as PDP Governorship candidate in 2007 and became Governor.

    After Emmanuel Udom became Governor in 2019, he remained fiercely loyal to Akpabio and allowed him to nominate persons for the posts of the SSG, several commissioners and a host of other Government offices in the state. Nobody enjoyed such benefit from Akpabio. The greed of Akpabio remained uncommon. Despite the huge debt he drove the State into and the frequent harassment suffered by the State in the hands of EFCC on account of Akpabio’s plundering of the resources of the State, Gov. Emmanuel stood by Akpabio in the spirit of the Governor’s name- EMMANUEL.

    Akpabio became restless. He took control of the entire Party apparatus and singularly decided who got what, when and how, in the State. He did this without any regards for the Governor on most occasions.

    As Akpabio got consumed in his greed, he demanded that the Governor should consult him before submitting Annual Budget Estimates to the State House of Assembly. He added another request. This time, he wanted the Governor to get his approval before expending State funds on any project whatsoever. Indeed, he was bent on running the government on behalf of the Governor. This was was the point of departure. Why on earth did Akpabio think that he would run the government for an urbane intellectual elite and technocrat like Udom Emmanuel ? How would Emmanuel defend that before the people of Akwa Ibom State who voted him into office? As expected, Udom politely refused. Akpabio began to nag. He wanted more of the public funds of the State in addition to the embezzled funds for which he is under EFFC Investigations.

    Wait for this. It would shock you. Akpabio then told Udom to commit to making his wife who is from one of the Ibo States, Deputy Governor in 2019. Udom flatly turned this down. Akpabio grew more red.

    When Akpabio could not get Udom to surrender the purse of the State to him and secure Udom’s commitment to make his wife Deputy Governor in 2019, he began to woo APC. He knew that the APC led Government had a penchant for promising forgiveness to economic sinners who repent by joining the party. He decided to gamble it. He became a mole in PDP, even as Senate Minority Leader. He leaked out the outcome of PDP caucus meetings to APC members and promised to help them realize the removal of Saraki as Senate President.

    A new darling had been secured in the Senate by the ruling party. Such was Akpabio’s infidelity when words filtered out that he had completed arrangements to defect to APC. Nobody was surprised when Akpabio told PDP Senate caucus members that he was off to Germany on a private trip, only to emerge in London prostrating like a recently pardoned convict before President Buhari.

    Back in Akwa Ibom, it would not be easy for Akpabio to claim the Government House from Udom. The Governor is an Ibibio man. They control 12 out of the 21 LGA’s in the State. Out of Akpabio’s Senatorial district comprising 8 LGA’s, 2 belong to Ibibios who constitute the majority tribe in the State. Not only is Udom working, he is very civilized and laying durable development plan for the State. The Ibibios are happy with him. The Eket people are enjoying his tenure. So are other component tribes that make up the State. How Akpabio hopes to reverse these gains in 2019 elections for his selfish interest is a matter for conjecture.

    In any case, the likes of Obong Victor Attah, Chief Don Etiebet, Akpan Udoedohe , Nsima and others were frustrated out of PDP by Akpabio. He was ruthless to them and their supporters. They were reduced to political- lightweight through complete exclusion from political participation and crass violence against their persons. Now Akpabio would be their new leader in APC and would imagine that they would surrender to his leadership. This would be some sort of dangerous optimism.

    Having resigned as Minority Leader of the Senate, what would qualify Akpabio as the leader of these eminent politicians? Would APC and the leaders of the party in Akwa Ibom State accept Akpabio’s wife as Deputy Governorship candidate of their party in 2019. Plenty of trouble ahead as it is not yet Uhuru for APC in Akwa Ibom State.

    Dr. Stephen Nwogu writes from Calabar.

  • THIS POLITICAL STORM WILL HELP OUR DEMOCRACY

    THIS POLITICAL STORM WILL HELP OUR DEMOCRACY

    The storm in the National Assembly is not to make any political party or person fear. The storm is about the right of people to associate and express political views without being terrorized by State apparatus. If former President Jonathan’s arrowheads had done half of what President Buhari’s men are doing to perceived internal and external political opponents, the President would be no where near the gate of Aso Rock.

    President Buhari must sustain the democratic environment that created the opportunity for him to assume office as President. He cannot stay more than eight years in office. There is no need to pretend that it is a life time job. President Buhari should fight corruption transparently within the law and no one would cry for what would legally befall the truly corrupt.

    The Police should concentrate on the protection of Nigerian citizens along Kaduna/Abuja road and other black spots in our country. They are so many that the number of citizens who daily lose their lives to hoodlums and herdsmen are unbelievable in Peace time. Never before has life been so cheap in our dear country. What a state of insecurity sustained by the continuous incapacity of those that the President has entrusted with such crucial assignment.

    The security agents should block the killing fields in our country and stop over concentrating man power on escorting VIPs and laying siege on political opponents or intimidating voters. Our country should show the light in sustaining democracy in Africa in order to rebuild our society and drive it to egalitarianism. We cannot go the way of Cameroon’s Paul Biya and a host of other wayward nations whose graduates yearly attend the Nigerian law school as they do not even have one in their countries.

    President Buhari should not allow the Party cheer leaders and supposedly non- partisan hailers to mislead him by calling him a strong man for the growing political intolerance of his opponents. In the event that he fails his second term bid, they would abandon him.

    Former President Jonathan got good advice from well meaning Nigerians in respect of spiraling corrupt activists, inefficiency of the public sector and how to curb the growth of Boko Haram insurgency which characterized his era. He did not heed.

    The powers of incumbency could not save his fall like Humpty- Dumpty and all the kings men who sang Hosanah -in-the- highest deserted him. Some defected to other Political parties and pointed accusing fingers at him. Such is the fluid nature of our political environment.

    Let the President redirect his energies in dealing with what worries the public the most- the state of insecurity in the country. He should keep on working to improve the economy in order to create more jobs, reduce poverty and raise the standard of living of country men and women. If the Government cannot build new infrastructure, it should strive to complete the incomplete projects on ground and renovate the existing ones. At the end, he should let Nigerians judge him and decide whether or not he deserves a second tenure in office.

    May God bless Nigeria.

    Dr. West-Idahosa.