Friday 3 September 2021

Niger Delta Militants Set to Join IPOB in War with Federal Government in Seven Days’ Time

By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh
The Niger Delta Region may on Monday, June 7, 2021 become the latest geographical zone of Nigeria to declare a state of war with the Federal Government as the Southeast region intensifies its war campaign against all state institutions and instruments of coercion. This is going by the 7-day ultimatum given to President Muhammodu Buhari by the most famous and dreaded former Niger Delta militants’ leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) In a press lease he personally signed, a copy of which was accessed by Civics Online Journal, Tompolo threatened to set the Niger Delta in a state of anarchy if President Buhari failed to inaugurate the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) within seven days. “I hereby proclaim a seven-day ultimatum from the date of this publication (being Monday, May 31) to inaugurate the substantive board of the Commission”. He said. Trailing this threat, security experts have warned Nigerians, particularly those with trades and businesses in the region not to take this warning of a dreaded militant with a pinch of salt. In context of the release entitled President Muhammodu Buhari and Senator Godswill Akpabio Should as a Matter of Urgency Constitute the Substantive Board of the Niger Delta Commission (NDDC), he said his threat was informed by his love for the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole. He queried the continuous running of the NNDC by a sole administrator, which according to him, negates the principle of democratic norms the country has adopted as her system of government. Tompolo said: “I have watched and observed with keen interest, the circumstances surrounding the constitution of NDDC board for some time now. I would have continued to keep watching and observing, but for the love of the region and the country. “The continuous running of the NDDC by a sole administrator at the instance of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Akpabio, is undemocratic and anti-development, hence unacceptable to the people of the region. The people of the region are averse to a one-man show in a commission that is supposed to attend to the development needs of nine states, namely, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers. It will likely set the region on fire sooner than later.” He went further to justify his position with evidence that the running of NDDC by sole administrator is a breach of the law that establishes it. He noted that Senator in charge of the Commission had deliberately used the proposed auditing of NDDC to impede inauguration of new board for his political ambition. He said: “The Act establishing the Commission provided, among other things, that it will be administered by a board comprising a Chairman, Managing Director, Executive Directors and Commissioners, who will be drawn from the nine states that make up the region. However, this provision has been blatantly undermined by Senator Godswill Akpabio and his co-travelers in the Presidency. There is no provision for either Interim Management Committee or Sole Administrator in the Act that establishes NDDC. “Common sense will tell you that the so called forensic audit that has been used by Senator Akpabio to strangle the Commission could be best conducted with a substantive board of representatives from the nine states and other parts of the country. As one from the region, Senator Akpabio’s initial mission to audit past activities of the Commission was seen as welcome development. But later, the people realized that it was a personal mission to feather the nest of his 2023 political ambition. Clearly, the present state of the Commission is abnormal and could throw the relatively peaceful region in the country into chaos and anarchy. “Undermining the very clear provisions in the establishing act under the guise of an endless forensic audit is evil and should be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians. It is itself an act of corruption as the people of the region have lost so much resources in the process of the so called forensic audit. No one can tell the amount of money that has been spent by Senator Akpabio in pursuing this divisive agenda. It is obvious that there will be another forensic audit to investigate the activities of Senator Akpabio by the time he let off the strangling grip of the Commission. This is disheartening and worrisome” Tompolo points out how the Commission as currently run has impeded developments and how it has been fraught with corrupt conducts under the one-man show of Sole Administrator. He also suggested that highly placed Niger Deltans may have been compromised to keep mute and see nothing evil about all this, describing this as “barbaric act” he is set to stop in the days ahead. He said: “The Commission has refused to pay contractors even after evaluation of the work done. The Commission has selectively paid cronies and those in the list of political patronage. It is an open secret that some contractors have been made to part with between 30% and 50% of the contract sum. I ask, where is the equity and probity of this sole administration? “There is no way things will continue in this manner. I am surprised at the recent silence of highly placed persons from the region on this matter. Perhaps Senator Akpabio is not alone on this NDDC ‘abduction’. This must be a product of high wired conspiracy among persons from the Presidency, National Assembly and security agencies to perpetually silence all well-meaning Nigerians in this strange deal. Senator Akpabio should know that it is time to end this barbaric act as it will be concertedly resisted in the days ahead. “Senator Akpabio’s temporal relieve from Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) protest is a child’s play compare to what is to come in a few days. He is about to be awaken to the rage of Niger Delta region. It is against this background that I wish to call on Mr. President, members of the National Assembly to work towards the constitution of the substantive board of the NDDC in a few days to avert a total breakdown of law and order that will equally affect crude oil exploration and exploitation activities in the region. “I hereby proclaim a seven-day ultimatum starting the date of this publication to inaugurate the substantive board of the Commission” Soon after Tompolo made his release, security experts were quick to describe his statement as a highly feasible proclamation of war against the Federal Government by the Niger Delta militia. “It is a case of the Niger Delta militants declaring their intention to go back to the creeks and take up arms against the institutions of the State”, said Mr. Bidemi Arinola, Chief Administrator of Security Affairs of an Ogun-based private security firm. He continued: “These militants may have found the state of insecurity in the whole of Northern region and the recent prevailing state of anarchy in the Southeast to make it the auspicious time to launch their own civil disobedience actions. Don’t forget; the business of kidnapping started with them, so it may not be out of place to say they are just about to resume the same trade as its appears to have become the new most lucrative business in the industry of crime today. Another security expert said: “What I can only advise genuine business operators in the region not to Tompolo’s threat with a pinch of salts. They need to know that he is a dreaded militant that might want to carry out his threats to make a statement because it is sure that President Buhari would not want to recognize him and rush to beat the militant’s ultimatum”.

Sunday 30 May 2021

APC Primary Polls: Mixed Grill of Disruption, Stiff Contest Attended the Elections with Large Party Members Turn Out, As Disruptions Draw Olowoopejo, other Aspirants’ Victory to Inconclusive Election in Alimosho

Story by Toyo C. Ngem, Razaq A. Jimoh and Aina Abiola
The All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections for the July Local Government Elections in Lagos State turned out to be a mixed of stiff competition and disruption across the state. This is going by the reports of our correspondents that went round to witness the elections across the state. In Alimosho Federal Constituency comprising of Alimosho LG and five local council development areas (LCDAs), it was a straight contest between the establishment and a new force within the Progressives fold which goes by the mantra identity of Otoge Alimosho, where both opposing sides mobilised to their respective venues of the primary elections. In Egbe-Idimu LCDA of the Alimosho, elections were disrupted in Ward A and Ward B, even as the incumbent Council Chairman bidding for a second term of office, Hon Kunle Sanyaolu Olowoopejo, appeared set to pick the party candidate ticket from the results of three Wards available to Civics Online Journal as at press time. The two aspirants seeking to grab the party ticket were the Olowoopejo (aka KSO), ostensibly the candidate for the establishment; and Hon Lukmon Idowu (aka L&K) who was being sponsored by the new force. However, the report gathered by our correspondents appeared to show that the latter group seemed not ready to go ahead with the elections over the disqualification of some aspirants belonging to their camp. This would later be given a verity of fact as elections were reported not to hold in Ward A (Isheri Olofin) and Ward B (Idimu North), which happens to be the respective Wards and supposedly strongholds of the party’s Apex Leader. Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo and member of the House of Assembly representing Alimosho Constituency 02, Hon Kehinde Joseph. In Ward B, all appeared well in the early morning as both sides cohabited peacefully while awaiting the Returning Officer (RO) and his team along with LASIEC observers. But trouble started at about 10am when consultations with the aspirants’ agents by the RO on how the election would proceed began. At that phase, one issue was raised and resolved after another until the RO declared to both parties that only one candidate was given to him as contesting for councillorship post in Ward B. This did not go down well with the new force group which representatives flared up instantly that there would be no election for that reason. After observations were raised as to the basis of their conclusions that their candidate was the disqualified aspirants since the RO had not revealed the identity of the valid aspirant for the election, calms returned and election deemed set to proceed. Thence both parties agreed to queue in four lines so that voting would be conducted in batches of four along with accreditation exercise. Lines were thus formed and voting set to commence until the RO again announced that he had only 700 ballot paper for the election. This was again taken for another issue of discomfort but turned out to be the last straw to break the camel’s back, as crisis erupted that made the RO left the venue never to return. When our correspondent spoke to Hon Kehinde Joseph via his WhatsApp line, he described the whole scene as a clarity that the opposition group attended the primary with the mission to disrupt it. He noted that only the party would have the final say on which way forward. The chat went thus: COJ: How would you describe today’s APC primary in your Ward B? Kehinde Joseph: But we are there together, so you can judge it yourself (which was) the troublesome group. COJ: Yes, we saw it all, particularly your interventions to make the whole event peaceful, but what position would you hold for a final conclusion on the whole exercise? Kehinde Joseph: They came there purposely to disrupt it because they know they can’t win. COJ: Given that as the opposition mission, would you say they were successful; and if so, what should be considered the way forward now? Kehinde Joseph: The party will make its position known soon. Mixed reports given by sources who claimed to witness the Ward A primaries also described it as a tensed atmosphere that would later lead to attack on the Apex Leader and Organising Secretary of the party’s Acting State Executive Committee, Alhaji Enilolobo. Election was said to be disrupted with skirmishes that involved a free for all fights characterized by throwing of chairs and pebbles, which was serious enough to hamper peaceful conduct of elections. Enilolobo was said to be padded out of the venue to safety. Efforts to get confirmations from Enilolobo’s aides by this magazine proved abortive before going to press. A message sent at about 2:18pm on Saturday to the WhatsApp line of Mr. Kazeem, his Media Aide reads: “Could you send us the results of Ward A (primary election) and possibly brief us on the election ambience? While it was confirmed delivered and read, no reply was given to our request till the press time. A SMS message also sent to Mr. Akadiri, Party Chairman of Ward A in the early hours on Sunday was not replied either. It read: “Pls can you avail us the results of yesterday primary election in your Ward. source informed us that it was disrupted such that there was no election. Ethics demand that we confirm and get your view on this”. News emerged late Friday that two aspirants were disqualified from the councillorship race in Egbe-Idimu LCDA by the outcome of the screening exercise. It cited the affected candidates to be Mr. Haleem Sulaimon Olanrewaju for Ward A and Mr. Bankole Olatunde Olumide in Ward B. The report accessed by our correspondent purportedly emanated from the State Secretariat of the party. The situation appeared not go down well with the Otoge Alimosh group which believed it was a power show of the establishment on display. A member of the top echelon of the group who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity insisted that their opposition side had “used their powers to refuse the contest of our aspirants in the primaries, we will also use our powers of the people to ensure that no primaries is held in Egbe-Idimu”, he said. Elections were however held in Ward C (Idimu South) Ward D (Egbe-Liasu) and Ward E (Agodo). Skirmishes were however reported to have happened in some of these wards too. One of the aspirants who is also the incumbent Council Chairman, Olowoopejo was caught on camera posted by his media aide as casting his vote in company of his wife in his Agodo Ward). The results of elections held in the three wards however showed he was in clear lead. In Alimosho Local Government, the primaries were reportedly disrupted with sounds of sporadic shooting by gunmen who invaded the election venue. However, a report by Ayinde Jamiu Kunle, the Senior Special Assistant, Media, to Hon Jelili Sulaimon, the incumbent Council Chairman seeking a second term ticket, claimed victory for his boss. He said even though it turned out to be a walk through a rough road, the joy was that it turned out victorious for his boss at last.