Imo govt, Labour disagree at arbitration panel over salary arrears

IMO workers under various unions may have disagreed with the Imo State government at last Thursday’s mediation/arbitration panel’s sitting to resolve the impasse between the former and the latter over payment of salary arrears spearheaded by the officials of the arbitration panel of the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Owerri, according to sources. It was revealed that while the Labour unions were initially insisting that all workers and retirees be paid all arrears owed by the government, the state government insisted that it can only pay what it has which is not enough to clear the arrears. The Imo State chapter of various Organised Labour unions, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JPSNC), the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and about four others, dragged the state government to the panel for alleged non-payment of their salary arrears and pensions ranging from two to eight months in the case of civil servants and workers at the state-owned parastatals respectively and civil pensioners and retired primary school teachers ranging from seven to 19 months respectively. Workers had embarked on five-day warning strike from July 27 through July 31. The Imo State government was represented by the Head of Service, Mr. Calistus Ekenze, while the labour unions were led by Mr. G. C. Agbara of the JPSNC, accompanied by the TUC chairman, Paul Akalazu, the chairman of the Joint Health Sector Unit, Francis I. Ezenwata, his counterpart at the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners, Dr. Akukwu Darlington, among others. At the end of the proceedings, Agbara said the Labour leaders insisted that though workers should work according to the rules and regulations of the civil service, the state government must fulfil its obligation by paying workers promptly, adding as the palliative measures, the state government should pay all workers at par till the month of May. He said that the state government expressed the impossibility to pay all workers to that level because of financial difficulties. We gathered that there was the likelihood that workers may warm up for another round of strike which may cripple activities in the state as a result of the feuding sides to agree on the payment. Meanwhile, the 27 local council members of staff in the state have continued to reject payment of their May salaries because the state government sent Permanent Secretaries to their secretariats to pay them by cheque, a new phenomenon. The directive, it was gathered, was given by the governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, because of alleged discovery of fraud of ghost workers in 17 local councils and 40 per cent in the case of pensioners, have not changed as the workers insisted that they be paid cash as in the past. A statement at the weekend by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Sam Onwuemwodo, said the Forum of Directors of Administration and General Services (DAGs) has urged the workers to accept the payment, commending them for their intervention.

How gunmen killed PDP secretary in Rivers

For the family of Olala Osundu, July 21, 2015, became a Black Day when the 41-year-old was assassinated on that fateful day by three gunmen, who stormed his house located on Engineer Uwaya close, off Ru­muoke road, Ada-George, Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, at 12.30 am and shot him dead.
Until that day of infamy, Osundu was the secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ahoada West Local Government Area of the state. The dastardly act was committed shortly after he returned to his house from a meeting. The gunmen apparently trailed him home and broke into the compound, and shot him in the chest and quickly escaped. He was rushed to a hospital with the assistance of a neighbour. But he died along the way. Wife of the deceased, Prisca Osundu recalled the moments preceding the fatal attack by the gunmen and what followed. She said: “I was expecting my husband. About 12.30 am, I heard his footsteps. Then suddenly, I heard the sound of gunshots. Upon hearing the gunshots, I rushed out and saw my husband lying on the ground. There were three gunmen, who rushed out of the compound. They took his wristwatch and phone. “Immediately, we rushed my husband to the hospital, but he died on the way. My husband usually comes home with his political associates. It was only on July 21 that he came home alone. I am finished, who killed my husband,” the grieving woman lamented. The couple met when they were both students at the University of Port Harcourt and got married thereafter, and the union has been blessed with three children. Before he was assassinated, Osundu was studying for the Masters’ degree in Management at the University of Port Harcourt. The elder brother of the deceased Prince Osundu, described the slaying of his younger brother as a big shock, noting that he was like the pillar of the family, who was very generous to the family. He said that their parents had nine children altogether – five boys and four girls. One of the sisters, Gloria Habila expressed the hope that the people who committed the “wicked act” would be fished out, adding that the brother was loving and caring to the family. The Commissioner of Police, Mr, Chris Ezike, revealed that one of the suspected killers, who is still at large, had been using the phone of the victim to call the family members. For this reason, the case was transferred to the Anti-Kid­ napping Squad of the Rivers State Police Command for further investigation, with a view to apprehending the culprits. He expressed the resolve of the police command to smoke out the perpetrators of the dastardly act and bring them to justice.
Sunday Sun

Ijaw group, Sylva trade words over Nembe killings

The Ijaw Young Professionals in Bayelsa State at the weekend accused the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) of mas terminding the attack on military men in Nembe on Thursday, killing four soldiers and a mobile policeman. It said that it was part of a plot by the Timipre Sylva-led APC to create a sense of insecurity in the state ahead of the December 5 governorship elections. In a statement, the leader of the body, Barrister Seighfa Tonye-Brown, alleged that the yet to be identified gunmen had attacked the military personnel about midnight on Thursday, killed the four men in uniform and took their rifles. He also claimed that the gunmen removed four machine guns from the military boats and another machine gun that was placed on duty, alleging that the weapons were being gathered in readiness for use during the elections. He alleged that this latest incident was among the plans being hatched by the opposition party to unleash, between now and the election, tension and insecurity in the state in order to force the hand of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency and possibly take over the state. The strategy, he said, would also lead to change in the security high command in Bayelsa State as a ploy to situate the change as necessary because of high level of violence and insecurity in the state, adding that the impending change could take place next week. “By next week, we are well informed that the Police Commissioner and Director of SSS will be replaced with new officers who will do the bidding of the APC in the forthcoming governorship elections,” he stated, noting that the opposition party had perfected strategies to carry out the plot to remove the governor by resorting to violence to achieve its objective. “Already, this attack on the military men is a clear pointer to the execution of the evil plot and we are reliably informed that more sinister actions are on the way”, he alleged. “The resort to violence as the only means of winning elections in this state is no longer fashionable. The people of the only Ijaw state say no to violence. We reject APC and its brand of violent politics. Their hope that increased violence and insecurity will force Buhari to declare a state of emergency in Bayelsa State has failed,” he said. But in a swift reaction, former Bayelsa State governor and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Tmipre Sylva, debunked the allegations linking him to the dastardly attack on the Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield base in Nembe. In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Doifie Buokoribo, and made available to Sunday Sun, Sylva described the allegation by Ijaw Young Professionals as “wild, unsubstantiated and irresponsible.” Sylva maintained that neither himself nor the APC was contemplating employing violence to win the forthcoming governorship elections in the state. The statement by Buokoribo reads in part: “Sylva wishes to state categorically that he knows nothing whatsoever about the Nembe killings. Similarly, neither Sylva nor the APC that he leads in the state is privy to any plan to employ violence as a strategy to win the December 5, 2015 gubernatorial election in the state. “Sylva notes further that the escalation of violence in the state should be put squarely at the doorstep of the incumbent government of Mr. Henry Seriake Dickson. That government has failed woefully in securing lives and property, but instead has overtly and covertly procured and traded in violence to intimidate political opponents and any voice of reason.” ­
The Sun

Forgery: AGF accuses senator of fighting Ekweremadu’s battle

The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation has responded to a suit, seeking to stop investigation into alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders 2015, describing it as one filed by the plaintiff, Senator Gilber Nnaji, to fight the battle of the Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu. The Ministry of Justice’s opposition to the suit is contained in the notice of preliminary objection, filed through its Director, Civil Litigation, Mr. Taiwo Abidogun, asking the court to strike out the suit for not disclosing the personal interest the plaintiff seeks to protect. Ekweremadu has been at the centre of the controversy surrounding the allegedly forged Senate rules used for the election, which produced Dr. Bukola Saraki as the Senate President and Ekweremadu as his deputy on June 9 shortly after the proclamation of the 8th Senate. The police have in the course of investigating the forgery allegation, invited some principal officers and management staff members of the National Assembly for interrogation. Nnaji, who is Ekweremadu’s co-Senator from Enugu State, had filed the suit asking the court to stop the police investigation on the grounds that it “is inspired by a devious petition by the Secretary of the Unity Forum Senators, solely aimed at unjustly incriminating the office of the Deputy President of the Senate”. But in its preliminary objection, the Ministry of Justice contended that the plaintiff had not shown sufficient interest which conferred on him the right to institute the action. “However, in the light of the foregoing, we submit that it will be in the interest of justice for this matter to be struck out in its entirety as the plaintiff’s suit has not disclosed or shown that he has any personal remedy arising from the disclosed cause of action that exceeds that of Senator Ike Ekweremadu or the Senate as an entity. We urge your Lordship to uphold same,” a written address accompanying the Senator’s notice of preliminary objection read in part. The address added that Nnaji had no justification for instituting the suit since he was only inaugurated as a member of the Senate after the alleged forgery had taken place. It read, “My Lord, by paragraphs 16 and 24, most especially paragraph 24, the said standing orders, the subject of the investigation came into the hands of the plaintiff (Nnaji) for the first time when the house was inaugurated. “How then can the plaintiff be justified in challenging the investigation into an allegation that occurred prior to his inauguration and how has it affected his interest? “We further submit that this is a suit that should rightly be instituted by the Senate as an entity or better still by Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who, by the plaintiff’s affidavit at paragraph 27, is identified as the ultimate targeted of the petition.” The police, joined as the first defendants in the suit, had also filed similar notice of preliminary objection, contending that Nnaji lacked the legal competence to institute the suit. Justice Gabriel Kolawole on August 4 fixed September 8 for the hearing of an application filed by another Senator, Suleiman Hunkuyi, seeking to be joined as a defendant in the suit.

Amaechi as Buhari’s moral burden

One does not have to be super-intelligent to recognise that the elaborate social reception held in honour of Mr Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State, at the Abuja International Conference Centre on Sunday, August 2, is part of an equally elaborate image laundering scheme for Mr Amaechi. The guests included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Aishatu, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari; Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC); serving and former state governors, including Mallam Nasir El- Rufai of Kaduna, leading members of the APC and a host of others.
The sentiments heaped on Amaechi that night were effusive, with Vice President Osinbajo describing the guest of honour as a person worthy of emulation. Others eulogised the former Rivers State governor for the role he played in ensuring victory for the APC in the last general elections, especially the presidential polls. Rotimi Amaechi was Director General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, a position he got after he was apparently passed over as nominee for the Vice President slot.
But amid the torrents of eulogies, no one could satisfactorily explain or justify why such a galaxy of VIP guests were out to dine and wine in honour of Amaechi. The APC had long since celebrated its landmark electoral victory and President Buhari is inching towards his first 100 Days in office, although with an approval rating that is a far cry from the euphoria that swept him to power. Before he left office as governor on May 29, Amaechi had also staged a book launch in Lagos, to celebrate his tenure as Rivers State Governor. The Lagos event was equally well attended with the usual partisan crowd.
However, on August 2, Mr Amaechi did not disappoint in inadvertently disclosing the rationale for the social reception hosted in his honour in Abuja. It was to muster support as a counter measure to any move intended to block his nomination for a federal appointment. If other APC stalwarts in the other 35 states were to be hosted to similar ostentatious receptions, to garner support for their ministerial nomination, the cost would be enormous and the very idea itself runs contrary to decency. It’s worrisome that, while the Buhari administration is trying to enunciate a regime of frugality, some persons are spending lavishly to polish Amaechi’s image. As has been his tendency in the past couple of years, Amaechi, at the reception, disparaged immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, dropping the innuendo of suspected graft in the high claims for fuel subsidy during Jonathan’s administration. Amaechi also went after his successor as governor, Chief Nyesom Wike. “May God not give me the kind of ambition of Nyesom Wike; he can sell anybody,” Amaechi was reported as saying at p.5 of The Nation newspaper of Tuesday, August 4, 2015. Amaechi further said: “Let me tell you what is currently going on in Rivers State. The governor and PDP are afraid of me getting an appointment to the Federal Executive Council because that will determine what the politics of Rivers State will be. They know that the current President abhors corruption and the only way they can stop me from getting the appointment is to associate me with corruption. The people that know me in Rivers State know that I don’t like money…And I expect them to defend me that I don’t like money.”
Pray, what evidence is available since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic rule that the politics of Rivers State has been determined by whoever was minister from the state? When Amaechi himself became Governor in 2007, what role, if any, did the minister from the state play? While Amaechi was governor in his second term, Nyesom Wike was a member of the Federal Executive Council. Was Amaechi scared of Wike as minister? At least, the impression created by his frequent vituperations is that Amaechi is a fearless lion. Why would Wike be scared of Amaechi being a minister, or other appointee of the Federal Government? Those present at the Abuja reception for Amaechi probably see only one dimension of the man. Rivers people see several dimensions. In the twilight of his eight-year rule as governor, Amaechi took on the unusual role of DG of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, which meant that Amaechi abandoned governance at the state level. For those who are quick to cite international best practices, it will surely be a difficult exercise to cite a parallel example of a governor of a State in the United States, virtually abandoning the post for which he was elected, to play the role of lead national coordinator for a US presidential candidate. Amaechi was unapologetically obstructionist in his last days as governor of Rivers. He did not hand over to Wike, as civil servants in the state were under strict directive not to prepare any handover notes. Furthermore, Amaechi’s agents went shopping from one court to another in search of an injunction to stop Wike from being sworn in on May 29, on the ground that Rivers State had neither a substantive nor Acting Chief Judge to perform the swearing in and their futile search for an injunction was notwithstanding the sad fact that Amaechi had crippled both the judiciary and the legislature in the latter part of his tenure. But, if he could not stop Wike from assuming office, Amaechi ensured that Wike inherited a poisoned chalice. Despite a valid court injunction, Amaechi’s government went ahead to conduct a farcical local government election on May 23 and then purported to swear in new council officials. When he spoke at the August 2 reception, Amaechi made a song and dance of his claim that he “doesn’t like money.” The insinuation is that those who like money are corrupt, and therefore will not pass Buhari’s test of integrity. How might we then classify abuse of office? Well, at the same reception, Mallam El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, committed a faux pas, by praising Amaechi for deploying (financial) resources to help fight electoral battles in PDP-controlled states. Amaechi is no Rockefeller, nor is he a Bill Gates, or a Dangote. Whose resources did Amaechi deploy to fight electoral battles? How did he have access to the resources, bearing in mind the processes for spending government funds? And yet, Amaechi is saying that people want to tarnish his image. It’s indeed a commonly held view that if Buhari is really serious in fighting corruption, he must begin with those who assisted him to power, particularly the money-bags who came with funds from yet-to-be-disclosed sources. Amaechi claims that as chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, he disagreed vehemently with former President Jonathan over the management of the Treasury, that is, the Federation Account. But the jury is still out on how he, Amaechi, managed the resources of Rivers State and those resources include receipts from the Federation Account as well as the state’s internally generated revenue, which at a point hit over N7 billion monthly.
“I chose the path of honesty and truthfulness. You cannot catch me doing such a thing,” Amaechi said at the reception, painting himself as a saint, while demonizing Jonathan and Wike. Well, Amaechi was Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly for eight years and governor for an equal duration. He knows the paper trail for government transactions, in particular the release of funds. Problems arise where due process has not been followed, or where on closer examination a transaction is manifestly fraudulent, or the circumstances of the transaction and payment are questionable. For example, a consulting firm suddenly appears; it is given a job without tender and payment is directed to be made to the firm, even when in all reasonableness the firm could not have executed the job within the timeframe and for the huge sum it’s being paid.
Again, as stated earlier, the jury is still out on Amaechi, and he needs not cry wolf. After all, a clear conscience fears no accusation. The abandoned Port Harcourt mono-rail project tells a gripping story about the Amaechi years as governor and likewise the still-born Karibi Whyte Specialist Hospital. President Buhari, it’s said, is intolerant of corruption, as he would not shut his eyes to red-hot evidence against a guy who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Above all, President Buhari has given firm assurance in recent interviews that no one, including members of the ruling APC, would be spared if found to be corrupt. Time will tell what granite-solid evidence will emerge as to the management of public resources by the immediate past administration in Rivers State.
Douglas, a public affairs analyst, contributed this piece from Port Harcourt

Nigeria to make own weapons

Abuja -
President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday, Nigeria planned to ramp up the domestic production of weapons for its armed forces, in an effort to cut the country's dependence on imported arms. "The Ministry of Defence is being tasked to draw up clear and measurable outlines for development of a modest military industrial complex for Nigeria," Buhari said during a speech at the National Defence College in Abuja. He said he wanted an overhaul of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), a military division responsible for weapons production which was set up in 1964 but has fallen into decline. Its factory in the northern city of Kaduna now mainly produces rifles and civilian tools, said Buhari's spokesperson Garba Shehu, adding that defence chiefs had been asked to "re-engineer" DICON. "We must evolve viable mechanisms for near-self-sufficiency in military equipment and logistics production complemented only by very advanced foreign technologies," said the president, a former military ruler. Buhari took office on May 29 after an election victory earlier in the year that owed much to his vow to defeat militant Islamist group Boko Haram, whose six-year-old insurgency aims to set up an caliphate in northeast Nigeria. Nigeria's military has repeatedly said it needs better weapons to fight the militants, who have killed thousands and left about 1.5 million people displaced in Africa's most populous country. Buhari said Nigeria's dependence on other countries for critical military equipment was unacceptable. The administration led by his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, turned to foreign suppliers. Last year a dispute developed between Nigeria and South Africa after South Africa seized $15m in funds which Nigeria said was for legitimate deals procuring weapons for its armed forces. On Tuesday a group of visiting US Congress members said Washington could lift its ban on shipping arms to Nigeria's military to help fight the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, if Abuja improved its human rights record. Since taking office, Buhari has replaced his defence chiefs and moved the headquarters of the military operation against Boko Haram to Maiduguri, the heart of the insurgency. And he has worked with Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin to set up an 8 700-strong multinational force to tackle the militants, who have killed over 600 people in Nigeria since his inauguration. Reuters

Kano battles with overseas students N3bn unpaid tuition

The Kano State Government is battling to pay over N3bn school fees of its students in foreign universities and 50 female nursing students. State Governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, said this while receiving members of the General Association of Northern Nigerian Students based in Egypt at the Government House on Friday. Ganduje explained that the delay in settling the fees was due to a mix-up in the list of the students. The governor attributed the huge amount of the arrears of school fees to the prevailing unfavourable state of the economy, saying there was a need to handle the unpaid tuition with caution. He assured the students of his continuous support for their studies, adding “that no right thinking person will joke with the education of the populace’’.

Onyeka Onwenu shuns ICPC’s Invitation to explain N17m bribe

The Director General of the National Centre for Women Development, NCWD, Onyeka Onwenu, on Friday refused to honour the invitation of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over an alleged N17 million contract bribe. An insider at the ICPC headquarters in Abuja told Leadership that the NCWD DG declined to appear before the anti-corruption agency because she had to attend to a health challenge. However, the chairman of the ICPC is believed to be ready to explore all options, including giving Onwenu a new date in order to ensure that she answers her part in the whole 17 million naira bribery allegation. “In line with our investigations into the alleged 17 million bribery for the contract at the NCWD, we decided it was high time we summoned the DG to say her part of the story. Though, she had declined to honour our invitation, we believe that with the arraignment of her PA, Chika Abazu, we need to complete the other leg of our investigation because findings have shown that some officials of NCWD were also implicated in the bribery scandal. “While we integrogated other key persons like Mukhtar Usman, Jauro Jibrin and Sadeeq Umar on the same issue yesterday, it has come to the turn of the DG,” the source stated. It would be recalled that on July 10, Onwenu’s personal assistant, Abazu, was arraigned before an Abuja High Court on a six-count charge of bribery and gratification, but pleaded not guilty to the charges. The aide was denied bail and ordered to be remanded in the Federal Prisons, Kuje, until the case is dispensed with. The presiding judge, Justice Chukwu Ndukwe, adjourned the case till September 28 for trial.