Politics & Policy Friday 25 May 2018
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Fashola, Banire not behind Oki group - Lagos APC faction …Says factional chairman seeking relevance INIOBONG IWOK
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faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of the state and current minister of works, power and housing, and Muiz Banire, national legal adviser of the party, were not behind the formation of the Fouad Okiled faction of the party in the state. Recall that two state executives of the APC emerged in Lagos last Saturday, after two parallel state congresses were held, with the Tinububacked faction holding its congress at the party state secretariat in ACME Road in Ogba in which Tunde Balogun emerged the chairman, while the other faction simultaneously staged its congress at the Airport Hotel in Ikeja, and elected Fouad Oki as the state chairman. But speaking in an interview with BusinessDay, Biodun Salami, deputy publicity secretary of the party in the state, said that Fashola and Banire had publicly denounced the group, adding
Babatunde Fashola
that there was no evidence that the faction had links with the two party leaders. “They are only looking for recognition and he is doing all this for his personal interest. Fashola and Banire are not with him; they spoke and denied knowledge of the faction. Several of the people in his faction have been pulling out; the heat is on them; they cannot survive in Lagos we have a way of doing things,” Salami said.
According to him, the Okiled faction could not complain about any irregularity in the state congress because the faction did not take part in the ward and local government congresses, stressing that forms were sold for interested members of the party by national officers of the party. Salami dismissed allegation that the congresses were held in the 37 seven local council development
areas (LCDA) which were not recognised by the election guidelines and the electoral law, adding that the party acted within the provision of the law. The party chieftain said Oki was only seeking political relevance and working to fulfil his personal agenda which informed his decision to set up a parallel state executive of the party in the state. “They are the one in problem; I am sure very soon they would be looking for a soft landing, but we don’t want that now, let them finish what they have,” Salami said. According to him, “As far as Lagos is concerned, most of the elite politicians are in APC and the people appreciate what the governor is doing. They cannot complain because they did not take part in the ward congress and local government congress as at that time Fouad was the vice chairman why can’t he use his power to change it? “The 57 local governments are recognised by law; there was even a Supreme Court judgment on that. We have been on this since the Fashola administration. How can somebody that benefited from the process just come now and be saying all this?”
Politicians behind Benue killings - Soyinka
…Advises FG to seek international assistance BENJAMI AGESAN, Makurdi
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ole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate and professor, has advised the Federal Government to solicit the assistance of international community to curb the menace of killings being carried out by Fulani herdsmen in the state and entire country. Soyinka, who gave the advice on Thursday in Makurdi when he paid a courtesy visit to Governor Samuel Ortom at the Benue People’s House in Makurdi, also alleged that the killings were sponsored by desperate politicians because of their selfish motives. He attended the 35th anniversary of Senator Suemon Chia’s novel, Adam wade Kohol GA written in Tiv Language. “If the government cannot cope, it should not shy away from asking for international help”, he said. Soyinka further said that he
knew for sure that the international community would come to the aid of Nigeria to enable it tackle its security challenges. “The killings that are taking place in Benue and other states are targeted at ethnic cleansing and there is no any other word to describe it than that,’’ he emphasised. Soyinka lamented that instead of hunting animals for food why are the killer herdsmen hunting human beings? He described the act as barbaric, stressing that some people want to change the narrative that the killer herdsmen were Libyans and he queried who brought them, who keeps them and who funds them. He pointed out that they kill and occupy people’s homes which clearly revealed their actual motive which is to kill and occupy. He also admonished the FG to give marching orders to the Fulani herdsmen that are occupying commu-
nities that are not theirs to vacate them in 48 hours. Soyinka said that hundreds of thousands of people were trapped by Boko Haram in the North East. “We have to come together to probe the ugly situation so that the impunity which is going on in the country for long will stop. If the President had visited any community where lives were lost due to the killings perpetrated by the armed Fulani herdsmen and give warnings, the killings would have stopped since,’’ he said. Soyinka said that the killings were sponsored by desperate politicians because of their selfish motives, adding that the killings were not sporadic but well coordinated and the people behind the killings should be identified for prosecution. He advised that the phenomenon was not new because it happened in Rwanda and other crisis-ridden countries, so Nigerians ought to
have learnt from Rwanda to avoid the situation turning into an epidemic. Responding, Governor Ortom thanked him for the solidarity visit, stating that he had always identified with the state in all situations. The governor said that Soyinka had told the whole world of what the state was going through particularly its security challenges. Ortom said that Soyinka had at several fora demanded justice for Benue people and that the Professor’s voice is a voice of gold for he has not relented in adding his voice to what happens to the state. “What is happening to us is not a hidden agenda because the Fulani herdsmen, through Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, have said at several fora that they want to take over the Benue valley and the attacks were also the continuation of the jihad which was truncated by the Benue people in 1804,” he emphasised.
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2019 presidency: Why I chose YPP... Continued from page 1
when many other political parties have offered to make him their Presidential ticket because its ideologies provide the affirmative answers to the many questions he has about the leadership debacle in Nigeria. He also said the decision to seek the mandate to be the next Nigerian President on the platform of YPP which is a relatively new party followed “a wide consultation and accumulation of data and information across the country and across a series of hard-nosed operatives, thinkers and doers.” The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this at a press conference and political party declaration ceremony in Abuja, adding that it has become imperative to build a radically different type of leadership in Nigeria. The 55-year-old public intellectual with international repute, criticised both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for bringing Nigeria to its present social, economic and political doldrums, hence he decided to use a new party that is ideological as well as innovative. “So I am here today in response to the other parties of the past; in response to umbrellas that block out the light of hope, and brooms that sweep away truth and replaced them with lies and evil propaganda,” he said. “In response to the parties of tired old tricks and tired old systems and tired old men, I and millions across Nigeria will choose the Young Progressive PartyYPP - the party of today and tomorrow,” the presidential aspirant stated. He promised to restructure Nigeria along the six geopolitical zones with resource control as the basic component, stressing that the Nigerian economy is in crisis because past leaders have not been innovative enough because of the over reliance on crude oil, which the leaders have abysmally failed to add value to. Moghalu called on all Nigerians to join hands with him and warned that the people would not be released from the bondage of poverty and insecurity until they rise against the class holding them down. “We can only be released from it when people from outside that class of old and tired recycled politicians rise against their greed because
they have no vision to offer this country other than the quest for power for the sake of power and access to our national treasury,” he said. He promised that if he becomes president in 2019 he will move Nigeria away from an oil economy to an innovation and knowledgebased economy. “Under my presidency, we will establish a massive venture capital fund of a minimum capital of N500 billion from the government and most likely another N500 billion from the private sector to invest in the mass production of inventions and in new businesses for young men and women who have no jobs. “Government does not create jobs, government creates enabling environment in which the private sector will create jobs. I have the intellectual power and the practical experience to make it happen,” he noted. The Anambra born political economics, graduated with a law degree in 1986 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and at the Nigerian law school in Lagos 1987. He subsequently obtained an M.A. degree at the Fletcher School of Law of Diplomacy at Tufts University, and later obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) at the university of London UK, and the International Certificate in Risk Management from the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) in London. Moghalu joined the United Nations in 1992 his first assignment was in Cambodia as a UN human rights and elections officer with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). A year later, he was appointed political affairs officer in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN Headquarters in New York. From 1996 to 1997, he served in the former Yugoslavia as political advisor to the special representative of the UN SecretaryGeneral in Croatia. He joined the central bank in 2009 and served as the Deputy Governor of the bank for Financial Stability, he led the implementation of far-reaching reforms in Nigeria’s banking sector after a combination of the global financial crisis, corporate governance abuses and weak risk management left one third of Nigerian banks on the edge of collapse while also later serving as Deputy Governor for Operations till 2014 when he left.