Rotimi Amaechi

THERE was a mild drama on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday when a lawmaker representing Rivers East Senatorial District, George Sekibo, rose to present a petition against the nomination of former governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, as a minister.

No sooner than Sekibo, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, raised a point of order to submit the petition than the All Progressives Congress senators kicked against the submission, and raised their voice, shouting No!! No!!!

Notwithstanding the reaction of the APC senators, Sekibo went ahead with his point of order and got the permission of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to submit the document on behalf of his other colleagues from Rivers State.

Saraki, who ignored the protests of his party members, referred the petition to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the allegations against Amaechi and report back to the Senate.

Speaking with journalists in his office shortly after the plenary, Sekibo said the petition was based on an investigation carried out by a Port Harcourt-based group, called the Integrity Group.

Sekibo said the same petition had earlier been forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari and the various anti-graft agencies in the country about two months ago when the group concluded its investigation.

He said, “The Integrity Group, based in Port Harcourt, believes in transparency, fighting against corruption. They (Integrity Group) believe in good governance and effective utilisation of every fund that is allocated to any state government.

“They went into a research and discovered that over N70bn were transferred from hard currency account to places outside the country. A petition on this note was written to Mr. President. I believe the President has not read it.

“If he has read it, he may not have hurriedly nominated Rotimi Amaechi to be a minister. Amaechi is qualified to be a minister, but when issues of corruption and fraud are openly X-rayed by people, it is necessary for Mr. President to take a critical look and examine the allegations whether they are true or not.”

Sekibo said senators from Rivers State were not kicking against the appointment of a Rivers man to be a minister, but that Buhari should pick another member of the APC from the state with cleaner records.

Reacting to the action of the APC senators, a Peoples Democratic Party member representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Ighoyota Amori, lamented the development, stressing that such behaviour would send negative signals to Nigerians.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Publicity, Senator Dino Melaye, on Wednesday explained why the APC members in the upper chamber protested the submission of petition against the nomination of Amaechi, as a minister.

Melaye told one of our correspondents in an interview that his colleagues in the APC protested against the submission of the petition because it was submitted by senators.

He said, “Our responsibility as senators is to screen the ministerial nominees based on petitions received from outsiders like civil society organisations, and communities and not from senators.

“We specifically objected to Senator George Sekibo presenting the petition not because we are against the investigation of allegation against Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, but because the petition was brought by senators.

“Petitions should come from outside. They should not be sponsored by members within the chamber. We should not be the judge in our own case.”

Meanwhile, the Rivers State chapter of the APC has flayed Sekibo for his attempt to submit a petition against Amaechi’s nomination as a minister.

The State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, said Sekibo lacked the basic knowledge of how Amaechi administration worked.

Finebone recalled in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday that Amaechi had supported Sekibo’s second term bid for the Senate against the wish of the current governor of the state, describing the lawmaker as a man that bit the finger that fed him.

Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha

A former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, has been compulsorily retired from the Army.

His compulsory retirement, according to a military source, arose from his unavailability in the Army for a period of over 14 years, while he was away to face trial over the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, a wife of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

Our correspondent on Wednesday sighted a copy of the retirement letter sent to Al-Mustapha from the Army Headquarters.

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Following Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998, Al-Mustapha was arrested in October of the same year for the murder of Kudirat, an offence for which he was tried for 14 years.

The Federal Government also pressed other charges which did not succeed against Al-Mustapha during the period.

He was subsequently sentenced to death for Kudirat’s murder by a Lagos High Court in Igbosere on January 30, 2012, but he was discharged and acquitted on July 12, 2013 by a superior judgment of the Court of Appeal in Lagos.

But his letter of compulsory retirement indicated that the Army Council took the decision to force him out of service at its meeting held on August 5, 2013, more than a year after the Court of Appeal acquitted him.

The letter sighted by our correspondent on Wednesday was however dated July 14, 2014 and it put the period the former Head of State’s CSO was in the army at 33 years and 11 days.

It further indicated that the decision of the Army Council to retire him was based on the provisions of Paragraph 09.02(c)(5) of the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Nigerian Armed Forces 2012 (Revised).

The reason for his compulsory retirement, “undeployability arising from restructuring and/or lack of establishment,” is the fifth in the list of nine conditions as stated in the law which the Army Council can based such a decision on.

The letter with reference number, AHQ MS/G1/300/226, commended him for demonstrating “good conduct in the discharge of your duties” throughout his service in the army.

The letter partly read, “You are authorised to retain your substantive rank of Major. You are also entitled to gratuity and pension as well as Certificate of Military Service and Retired Officers’ Identity Card.

“You are entitled to your ceremonial dress, service dress and mess kit. However, you should wear uniforms corresponding to your rank at the time of retirement only when you are invited for military ceremonies; military weddings; memorial services of National Day celebration and Regimental dinners.”

Chief Edwin Clark

A former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has hailed the anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari and knocked former President Goodluck Jonathan for lacking the political will to fight graft.

Clark, who said it was wrong for anyone to accuse President Buhari of fighting a selective war in his drive to return sanity into the polity, also declared that he had formally left the Peoples Democratic Party.

Clark called on Nigerians not to distract the President from achieving his goal, just as he appealed to the President to remain focused in his determination to rid the country of corruption.

The Ijaw leader spoke in Abuja on Wednesday when a group, Think Nigeria First Initiative, paid him a courtesy call in his Abuja residence.

He said, “Jonathan didn’t have the political will to fight corruption. He’s a gentleman. Drivers of yesterday are living in palatial buildings now under his government.

“In advanced countries, when you are living above your means, people query you. That’s not so in Nigeria. Former governors, lawmakers are now asking for immunity.”

Clark, who was a staunch supporter of former President Jonathan, however, said he had quit the PDP. But he said he would not join the governing party, the All Progressives Congress.

He said, “I no longer belong to the PDP. I won’t go to the APC either, but I will continue to talk as an elder statesman and leader of this country. I have left politics.

“If anyone comes to me to say he’s running for any elective position in the PDP or the APC, I won’t support you. I’m not a member of the PDP anymore.”

It was however not clear if Clark quit the party because of the defeat suffered by Jonathan during the last presidential election.

It will be recalled that President Buhari, who was the candidate of the APC, defeated Jonathan, who was the PDP candidate during the election.

Clark also accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of institutionalising corruption in the country.

He had also said that he and other supporters of former President Jonathan were worried because of the outcome of the last presidential election. He, however, added that there was nothing they could do since the former President had conceded defeat.

He said, “Some of us were worried when Jonathan conceded defeat. We were worried. If a man who contested election conceded defeat, who are you to say no?

“Elections had been held, winners had emerged and losers had agreed, what next? Buhari is now my President and the President of Nigeria.

“We should all try and support him, particularly in his determination to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. For eight years Obasanjo legalised corruption.

“Yet, he’s the one talking about corruption today. Nobody should distract Buhari from fighting corruption. People should stop talking about sectional or selective justice.”

Clark said those who ruled the country before Buhari, like the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Jonathan didn’t have the political will to fight corruption.

He specifically accused Yar’Adua of being a friend to the jailed former Governor of Delta State, James Ibori.

Clark said, “Yar’Adua became friend with Ibori, who is very corrupt and because of this, he could not fight corruption.”

In his reaction to Clark’s dumping of the PDP, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, said the party would want to wish the elder statesman well.

“He is a man we respect so much. If he’s leaving our party and wants to retire from politics, we wish him well,” Metuh said.

source:pounch

According to Punch there were strong indications on Wednesday that Switzerland might extradite Nigerian oil baron, Kola Aluko, to the United Kingdom.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, in an email to one of its correspondents, confirmed that the UK had sought for mutual legal assistance from its country.

In an e-mail sent to it, the office of the AGF of Switzerland was asked if it had received extradition request from the UK on the businessman.

It was also asked to specify the time the extradition process would begin and when he would be extradited.

In his response, Nathalie Guth of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, said:

“I refer to your request of today and we can confirm that the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has received a request for mutual legal assistance from England in this context.”

He declined to give further information on the request.

“The mutual legal assistance” could lead to eventual extradition of Aluko to the UK in connection with the investigation of former petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

When Punch contacted the spokesperson for the UK High Commission in Abuja on Wednesday,Joe Abuku, he said:

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“I can’t give any information on the extradition issue because the official that would brief me is out of town and cannot be reached on the phone, but I will try and get him tomorrow (today),” he said.

A top security official in the United Kingdom told The PUNCH that:

“There are srong links between the former oil minister and Aluko. Extradition is not out of question.”

Aluko is an associate of former Petroleum Minister, Alison-Madueke, who was arrested in the UK last week for alleged bribery and money laundering.