Alison-Madueke denies seeking asylum anywhere

By Soni Daniel,

Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, said last night she was not seeking asylum in any part of the world, as claimed by her traducers.

Madueke, who spoke through the Group Public Affairs
General Manager of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, denied ever contemplating relocating from Nigeria.

An online publication reported, yesterday, that the minister had been denied asylum by six countries, where she had so far applied, but did not mention the countries involved.

Alegbe said his boss merely went for a short vacation
outside Nigeria and would soon return to her job.

He said the claim that the woman had been denied asylum by six countries was not only a fabrication aimed at confusing some gullible persons, but deliberately targeted at smearing the minister and her office.

Alegbe said: “I want to say that the Minister of Petroleum has never contemplated going on asylum in any part of the world and has never applied for any.

“The minister has only gone for a short vacation abroad and will soon return to Nigeria, having no reason to leave her job and country for any other place.”

The online medium, quoting a group known as Business
Council for Africa, BCA, had said that no fewer than six
countries had already refused an asylum request by Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The BCA gave the impression that the minister would be investigated under the new administration of Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari (retd), even though he had said that he would not probe his predecessors.

“Given her reputation, it comes as no surprise to learn that six countries have already refused to grant her asylum to live in their countries as she now wishes to leave Nigeria at the earliest possible opportunity,” it said.

Buhari to move against pension for ex- governors

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor & Gbenga Oke

LAGOS — President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), is to lead a campaign to repeal the pension laws for governors enacted by many states of the federation.

The proposal by the incoming president is based on what sources close to him affirm as the incongruity of the laws under the country’s socio-economic environment and also, as a way of demonstrating moral leadership from the top.

Majority of the nation’s 36 state Houses of Assembly have enacted generous pension entitlements for governors that in many cases provide 100 per cent pay for the incumbent governors buildings, generous medical allowances for them and their family members and annual holiday provisions, all of which are to last for life. Provisions in the pension allowances are also made for staff, security and vehicles that are renewable every three or four years.

Buhari’s inclination towards a review of the pension for
former governors was first publicly declared few days to the presidential election at the All Progressives Congress, APC, retreat in Owerri, Imo State.

It’s scandalous

A source conversant with the development disclosed that Buhari told the governors that there was no way Nigeria could survive under the financial weight of the pensions that had been earmarked for governors. He was said to have described the pension laws as enacted by states controlled by APC and PDP governors as scandalous.

According to the source, “he was very blunt about it and said that it was something that was going to be done immediately, especially because it is not something that can be sustained.

“The feeling was that not only was it wrong and morally unconscionable, but that it was not something that should be encouraged, and he was appealing to them that it should be changed.”

However, the response of the governors, who were present at the retreat, was not immediately given.

It’s a welcome proposal —Keyamo

The development was, yesterday, welcomed by leading Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, who described it as a fantastic proposal but disclosed that it was something that could, however, only be accomplished through moral suasion.

“Fantastic, fantastic. It is a very welcome proposal,” the Lagos lawyer, who backed General Buhari against President Goodluck Jonathan in last month’s presidential election said.

He, however, said the proposal was something that Buhari could only effect through moral suasion as the pension acts were enacted by state Houses of Assembly.

The crave for financial safety out of office was recently also extended to the legislature after the Lagos State House of Assembly passed pension laws to guarantee generous pension entitlements with proposals for former presiding officers of the house.

States that have passed the law

Many states of the federation had steadily been passing the law since return to civil rule. States like Lagos, Edo, Gombe, Oyo, and Rivers have passed the law, through which several former governors are already drawing applicable benefits, which in some cases are 100 per cent of what the incumbent is earning, while in others, some benefits in the pension laws are as high as 300 per cent of what obtains in some states.

100% of basic salary in Lagos

The Lagos State Governor and Deputy Governor Pensions Law of 2007 provides that “a former governor and family (spouse and children both married and unmarried) are entitled to free medical treatment which is not capped.

Another highlight is that the ex-governor is entitled to a cook, steward, gardener and other domestic staff who are pensionable.

The benefits:

Annual Basic Salary: 100% of annual basic salaries of the incumbent governor and deputy.

Accommodation: One residential house in Lagos and another in FCT for the former governor; one residential house in Lagos for the deputy.

Transport: Three cars, two backup cars and one pilot car for the ex-governor every three years; two cars, two backup cars and one pilot car for the deputy governor every three years.

Furniture: 300 per cent of annual basic salary every two years.

House maintenance: 10 per cent of annual basic salary.
Domestic staff: Cook, steward, gardener and other domestic staff (no limit) who shall be pensionable.

Medical: Free medical treatment for ex-governor and deputy and members of their families (not just spouses).

Security: Two DSS operatives, one female officer, eight
policemen (four each for house and personal security) for the ex-governor; one SSS operative and two policemen (one each for house and personal security) for the deputy. PA: 25% of annual basic salary.

Car maintenance: 30% of annual basic salary.

Entertainment: 10% of annual basic salary.

Utility: 20% of annual basic salary.

Drivers: Pensionable (no limit to number of drivers).

Severance gratuity: Not specified.

100% of basic salary in Kwara

The law stipulated that qualified former governors and their deputies be paid pension for life, without other perks like accommodation, cars, etc.

The law was reviewed in 2010 by Bukola Saraki, a former governor of the state and a serving senator, who with the support of the state House of Assembly imposed outrageous raises on all the benefits.

The 2010 law gives a former governor two cars and a
security car, replaceable every three years. The governor is also entitled to a “well-furnished 5-bedroom duplex,” furniture allowance of 300 per cent of his salary (which totals over N6 million).

The law also gives the governor five personal staff paid for by the state, eight policemen, three DSS operatives (of which one must be a female), free medicals for the governor and the deputy.

Other entitlements are 30 per cent of salary for car
maintenance, 20 per cent for utility, 10 per cent for
entertainment, 10 per cent for house maintenance.

100% of basic salary in Rivers

The Rivers pension law was first approved in 2003 by
former governor, Peter Odili, having been passed by a state assembly headed by the present governor, Chibuike Amaechi as speaker.

The 2003 pension law provides pension for life for governors and deputies, defining “pension” as embodying annual terminal basic salary, annual transport allowance, annual rent subsidy, annual utility allowance, entertainment allowance, domestic staff of not more than four.

Like Lagos, the new law gives the former governor a house in Rivers State and anywhere in Nigeria. The former governor is also entitled to pension for life at the rate of the governor’s basic salary, 300 per cent of salary for furniture paid every four years, three cars every four years, free medical and 10 per cent for house maintenance.

The law gives the former governor a security detail
comprising two DSS operatives, four police officers, 30 per cent for car maintenance, 10 per cent entertainment, 20 per cent utility and several domestic staff.

100% of basic salary in Edo

The Edo State House of Assembly on May 16, 2007 passed a law entitled ‘Provision for the Pension of Rights of the Governor and Deputy Governor of the state.’

This law was passed few weeks before Governor Lucky
Igbinedion left office as Governor of Edo State.

It provides for 100 per cent pension for the governor at a rate similar to the salary of the incumbent office holder and for domestic staff among others for the former governor.

300% of annual salary in Oyo

The Oyo State Pension Law 2004 provides that the
Governor and Deputy Governor after leaving office shall be entitled to Pension for life at a rate equivalent to the annual salary of the incumbent Governor or Deputy Governor.

Furniture Allowance of 300 per cent of the annual basic salary, Leave Allowance of 10 per cent of annual basic salary and severance allowance of 300 per cent of the annual basic salary.

Tambuwal Urges Politicians To Put National Interest Above Personal

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu
Waziri Tambuwal, yesterday warned of ominous signs in the polity that point to the possibility of a return to
“dark days”, especially with the present efforts to scuttle free and fair elections.

He, therefore, called on politicians to avoid placing their
personal interests above the national interest as doing
that is capable of throwing the country into crisis.

The speaker stated this yesterday when a delegation of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room visited him in his office at the National Assembly.

“We recognise the importance of the civil society and
what you do to our democracy. I believe you will not rest on your oars in this hour of our need”, he said.

Tambuwal, who was responding to the call by the group not to allow further extension of the election timeline, said “our ambitions should not be greater than the survival of our country. If you decide to do what pleases you and at the end of the day, crisis breaks, what will you do?”

The speaker, who said only the National Assembly can
declare Nigeria being at a state of war, also questioned
the grounds upon which some people were talking about interim government in the country, saying it was entirely unconstitutional, except a coup was in the offing.

Leader of the group, Clement Nwankwo and his deputy,
Festus Okoye urged members of the National Assembly
not to allow for another rescheduling of the election
dates as such a move could elicit a negative reaction
from the people.

Politics Fayose Empowers Ekiti Carpenters With N1.2billion Contract

Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose has
awarded a N1.2bn contract to the
Carpenters and Furniture Association in
the state; PUNCH reports.

Representing the Governor at the
signing of the Memorandum of
Understanding for the contract, Chief
Dipo Anisulowo, Chief of staff to the
Ekiti governor said, ''This is an
empowerment project. We are awarding
the furniture aspect of the Millennium
Development Goals project to these local
furniture makers. The project covers
about six local government areas in Ekiti
State, so they will make the chairs and
the tables for all the schools in the six
LGAs.

''The whole project would cost the
government about N1.2bn. This gesture
by the governor is the first of its kind in
Ekiti State. The governor did this to
make good his promise to empower local
contractors and artisans in the state.

''I hope you would not disappoint the
governor because he has reposed a lot of
confidence in you to have given you this
project. I pray you will reciprocate his
kind gesture by doing a very good job'',
Anisulowo said.

Special Reports - If i have a vote in the 2015 Nigerian elections..

In 28 days Nigerians will be selecting their leaders for the next four years. I and millions of Diaspora Nigerians will not be voting even though we contribute billions of dollars to the economy, in fact we contribute more to the economy than over three quarters of Nigerian states contribute. It is another case of taxation without representation. But this will
be a subject for another day and time.

Before I jump into what I would do with my vote let me say what I will not do. I will not vote for General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) and here are my reasons:

1. He overthrew a popularly elected civilian president. He
became a dictator. He did not respect the people’s choice and voice. He is now preaching that something had happened to him on his way to Damascus where he was going to persecute Christians (politicians). And that spirit of democracy caught up with him and told him to go there and preach democracy. This Thomas is in doubt. I still ask “is this not Saul of Tarsus?”

2. GMB does not have experience working in a civilian
setting. He should have started as a governor and learned how to work with legislators before trying for the presidency. Aso Rock should not be the place for in the job training (OJT). Especially when his vice is as, or more inexperienced, as he. His VP has not run any important thing such as a university, large business or a corporation. His political experience is merely a rookie politician. His management experience extends only to managing a parish church in a very small denomination.

3. GMB’s military career is not distinguished. We know who commanded which division, who was Chief of Staff, who was in charge of Logistics, intelligence, ordinance, training, etc. during the civil war. What was GMB’s role during the most difficult time in Nigeria? Did he not just wear well ironed khaki and drove fancy cars at HQ?

4. He has had a stint as a head of state. What is the legacy from that era other than that Nigerians stood in line to board buses? What infrastructure was started (don’t mind completed as he was not there long enough), which educational institutions was started, what policy initiatives came from then, which rehabilitation efforts of the Biafrans do we associate with him? His two-year tenure does not resonate.

5. I feel that this is GMB’s second coup. The difference
between the last time when they used enlisted Nigerian
troops to overthrow President Shagari and now is that he is using terrorists. GMB has not condemned the insurgency (he made awkward attempts at Chatham House) but it was too little and too late.

6. I am not convinced that GMB is healthy enough for the job. If he can take a two-week vacation in the last months of the election it suggests either ill health or laziness. Neither is good for a Head of State or Government. Or that he is entitled to rule and that Nigerians must honor his aspiration.

7. Has GMB written anything such as his political manifesto where he explained his philosophy of government, economic management, and social philosophy of even ordinary beliefs? Are they published in peer reviewed journals or even in daily
newspapers? Has he ever done any research? How
intellectually sturdy is Buhari?

8. GMB seems to me as a man who is another man’s man. His first presidential action was the appointment of his vice. GMB thinks that the best Nigerian after him is Mr. Osibanjo, a man he never met until just a couple of weeks before his appointment and a god son of Tinubu. This suggests that GMB would not be making his own decisions. Nigerians want their elected officers to be in charge.

9. GMB’s incompetence is best manifested by the way he handled his educational qualification when it became an issue. He went and swore an oath that turned out to be lying under oath, he scrambled to submit papers that even now has not fully answered or settled the debate. Where does this matter stand to date?

10. GMB is associated with the emergence of
Sharia Courts. Why has he not made his stand on religion clearer knowing the religion is an issue in Nigeria polity? Why is he not going to churches to allay the fears of Christians?

Ten points seem enough.

I will not vote for Buhari. Ok. Who will I vote for? I will vote for the reelection of President Goodluck Ebere Jonathan (GEJ). I will do so holding my nose. It will not be an enthusiastic vote but the better of two evils.

a. GEJ has held the country together despite many
difficulties.

b. The economy is growing at 7% one of the fastest growth rates in the world thanks, to Ms. Okonjo -Iweala and her team.

c. The press is freer than it used to be.

d. He built 12 more universities although I do not think it is the right thing to do.

e. He has managed to work with the legislature which is a difficult balancing act.

f. I HOPE he will develop a stronger backbone next time
around.

g. He is not a dictator and never was one.

h. I hope he will confront BH more strongly if he has no
elections to face.

i. I hope he will help Nigeria build strong institutions that would make corruption less rampant than it is now.

j. I hope that the Diaspora Nigerians will get the vote next time around.

I do not have a vote and this is a pity.

By.
Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba.

Special Reports - When Change Becomes Inevitable.

If you have been following recent happenings in our polity objectively as it concerns the general elections in the past three months, you will understand it is now clear to the discerning, obvious to the dissenting and acceptable to the pragmatic that change has become inevitable in our polity.

This article was inspired by one of my favorite songs of
Lucky Dube- of blessed memory, "It Wasn't Easy".
In the song, he called on his mother, "mama I'm getting
married". She replied, "Son did you take out time to know her"?

The artist: "Mama she's the best, but today it hurts me so to go back to mama and say mama am getting divorced, this choice I made, didn't work the way I thought it would, it hurts me so mama...".
The lyrics of the song are exactly what are playing out in ourpolity today.

Rewind back to 2011 presidential election, we were so carried away by the circumstances surrounding president Jonathan's emergence that we ignored many things and forgot to ask necessary questions. He gathered all the sympathy, popularity and attention through his "I had no shoes while growing up" quote. Thinking he's the Moses of our time, people defied ethnic and religious affiliations to vote and ensure he emerged president.

Fast forward to 2015 presidential election, everything has changed. The ones trusted and popular Jonathan had become the rejected stone. It is an irony that same process that ensured the emergence of a younger president in 2011 is same process that has kept him on the verge of losing the 2015 presidential election.

The ruling party in its quest for jaded attention allowed itself to be sub-tenanted in the last 4 years by every paid and unpaid apologist of the government. The president's incorrigible media team didn't help either, they were beyond reproach, with their misleading and contradicting information they made it difficult for citizens to get accurate information on the happenings of the government, they hurled bitter diatribes and tirades to every critic of the government, in doing so their language deteriorated and included every profanity and obscenity on their lips and ended up accumulating more enemies for the president within and outside the shores of the country thereby making change inevitable.

In the area of corruption, President Jonathan has shown little willingness to tackle corruption. He identifies with the corrupt and presides over a government that embezzles public funds with reckless abandon. After much criticism of his government, Mr. President in an attempt to demystify corruption made a political gaffe. "What is being referred to as corruption is common stealing".

Right now our nation is hemorrhaging from all sides, the bleeding is imminent and inevitable, with the daily decline in our economy, there hardly seem to be anyone who is not feeling the economic hardship this government has reduced us to.

Many unfulfilled campaign promises of the ruling government have contributed to this inevitable change. The fact that Nigeria is yet to generate more than 4000 megawatts of electricity after expending millions of dollars in four years in the power sector is beyond comprehension.

Until recently, security is near zero with insecurity and
insurgency taking a lead in wanton killings and destruction of lives and properties in the North East.
With its little and infinitesimal performance, the attack dogs of the ruling government have been obfuscating in defense that president Jonathan in the last six years has performed more than all our past rulers.

They pretend not to know records have shown under
President Jonathan Nigeria has generated more funds per annum from the sale of crude oil alone in the past 6 years than we have made in the past years.
It is saddening that nations of equal promise like Nigeria have left Nigeria in its elementary level while at different levels of advanced development, hence the need for a change of government.

The opposition APC may have its flaws but as the Economist Magazine aptly puts it, "Sometimes there are no good options... a former dictator is a better choice than a failed president".

Back to the song, "It Wasn't Easy", same way the above named reggae artist went back to his mother, "mama am getting divorced", Nigerians want a divorce from the ruling government, because the choice we made in 2011 didn't work out the way we thought it would and it hurts us so much.

I take consolation from the words of his mother in the song, "it's not easy to understand it son, but I know you'll make it, you'll be happy again".
Nigerians will make change possible come March 28 2015 and we will be happy again.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time; we are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. -Barack Obama
Joe

Pray for peace, total defeat of Boko Haram, Jonathan urges intending Easter pilgrims

President GoodLuck Jonathan has urged
prospective Easter Christian pilgrims to pray for
peace in the country and total defeat of Boko
Haram militants.

The President, represented by the Anambra
Governor, Mr Willie Obiano, gave the advice at the
launch of the 2015 Easter Pilgrimage to Israel,
Greece and Rome on Sunday in Enugu.

He said “as you go to the Holy Land, try and pray
for peace in Nigeria and total defeat of the Boko
Haram and victory for our military personnel.”

He urged the intending pilgrims to work as a team,
irrespective of their denominations so as to lift the
spirit of the entire Nigeria.

According to NAN, Jonathan also advised them to
obey the rules guiding them while in the Holy Land
so as not to bring shame to Nigeria.

The Deputy Senate President, Mr Ike Ekwerenmadu,
also urged the intending pilgrims to pray for the
nation, saying that the problem caused by the Boko
Haram had brought hardship to every tribe and not
just the people of the North East.

Mr John Kennedy, the Executive National Secretary,
National Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC),
pleaded with the intending pilgrims to be good
ambassadors of Nigeria while in the Holy Land.

He said the Christian Pilgrims Commission was
already collaborating with the National Lottery
Commission for Christian Pilgrimage Lottery
Scheme, saying it would afford every Christian the
opportunity of obtaining a ticket that could take
them to Israal or Rome.

Kennedy said that the Commission had introduced
some basic programmes to strengthen the Christian
pilgrimage activities.

“We are introducing basic leadership and skill
acquisition programmes; we also introduced the
youth pilgrimage and Christian Pilgrimage Lottery
Scheme.

“This innovation will be our trust in reaching more
Christians who otherwise have remained
untouched.”

He appreciated Obiano for the large number of
pilgrims he had sponsored, adding that it was a
thing of joy that Anambra was the first to start
the Easter Pilgrimage.

Earlier,the Chairman of NCPC, Archbishop Nicholas
Okoh, advised them not to take laws into their
hands, rather, they should work as a team.

He asked them to remain focused so as not to
distract each other, saying their visit to the Holy
Land was not for shopping, rather, it was for
spiritual exercise.

The Anambra Christian Pilgrim Board Chairman, Dr
Levi Muonanu, called on the Federal Government to
increase sponsorship of more Christians in the
state.

Some participants said they were delighted to be
among those given the opportunity to embark on
the 2015 pilgrimage.

Mrs Nkiru Kwuazu said she was full of
expectations, saying her purpose of embarking on
the Holy exercise was to pray for peace in the
country and for her family.

Rev. Emmanuel Okolo from Awka Dioces said his
going there was for spiritual growth and peace in
Nigeria.

The theme of the pilgrimage is “A Tool for Moral
Transformation and Spiritual Rebirth: Moving to
Stability.”