Front Pix
Those Needless Quarrels …Of IBB,Clark Public Outbursts
Gen Babangida And Edwin Clark
After reading a joint-statement issued by two former
Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) on Monday,
July 30, 2012, which among others prescribed the use of clerics as
inter-mediaries in the face-off between Boko Haram and the Federal Government,
I was minded to ask why Now? But both are statesmen and former
Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and should know better, when
to attack and when to retreat in battle.
Also, by their pedigrees in National politics and leadership
of the army, they are in a better standing than most to analyse government’s
approach to tackling the menace of the Islamist extremist group and proffer
timely advise on form of engagement. More importantly, as influential members
of the Council of State, they enjoy unimpeded access to government and should
wield unimaginable influence in the running of the Nigerian state.
This means, they could, from time to time, advise the
serving President and Commander-in-Chief on alternative ways of addressing the
Iingering insecurity in parts of the North and also help reach out to key
figures, including Islamic clerics and the Christian clergy and preach the need
for tolerance, peaceful co-existence and national unity.
Both Obasanjo and IBB had risked their lives in battle to
defend the Unity of Nigeria so, it would be foolhardy on their part to sit idly
by and watch the systemic destruction of the same values that highlight the
beauty of the country’s diversity: Mutual respect, right to religion, national
Unity, Peace, Justice and indeed an egalitarian society where every citizen or
group enjoys the right of protest in a non-violent manner.
Instead, it should remain a lifelong duty to forge
dependable, potent and enduring common grounds that momentarily remind the
citizenry of the true value of our Unity,
as other former Heads of government do, in other lands. This is why the
content of their well-worded statement on the state of insecurity in the land
came across to me as a viable project of
the patriots, that should not be delegated.
The fulcum of the leaders’ treatise was the need for
dialogue, using clerics as intermediaries to properly engage “all armed
belligerents,” as a means of checking the spate of insecurity in the land, with
the suggestion that a grassroots approach be adopted, if the nation was to make
any headway.
Both leaders decried the increasing loss of human lives, on
account of the terror attacks by the Boko Haram and other criminals and called
on all tiers of government beginning with the 774 local government councils, to
comprehensively engage their communities at the various levels including;
elders, youth organisations, trade unions and associations, women bodies, the
clergy and other community stakeholders.
By its nature, the joint statement is effective but it would
have been more proactively so, if its content had been encapsulated into a
joint-project by the two former Heads of government to complement efforts of
the Federal Government. It would have been most appropriate if that effort had
taken off far far earlier than now, a reason that whittles down its essence as
a face-saving measure or after-thought.
It is true that when the disturbances got to a disturbing
pedestal in Maiduguri, Borno State, former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited
the terror-torn areas and pledged to intervene and did. He visited bereaved
families, empathised with the aggrieved and later called for peace which was
required to properly address the issues. Perhaps, only perhaps, all the
killings would have abated if IBB, considering his influence, had joined
Obasanjo or ventured an independent trip.
Capitalising on that seeming negligence, one-time Minister
of Information and prominent Ijaw-Leader, Chief Edwin Clark threw what IBB
considered a fatal jab on his person and integrity. Clark who was guest
lecturer at a symposium organised by the
Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in Abuja, August 1, 2012 had said
that the silence of IBB and former Military Head of State, Major-General
Mohammadu Buhari’s silence on the Boko Haram crisis was not golden and amounted
to tacit support for the group.
“IBB should have spoken on the Boko Haram issue long before
now, why has he been silent all this while? Former President Obasanjo had
visited Maiduguri, why have IBB and
General Buhari not visited the place? “He asked.
Unfortunately, Clark’s opinion was voiced barely a day after
the joint statement by IBB and Obasanjo which inadvertently questioned the
former’s real intent in co-releasing that joint public document. And did an
angry IBB pour his venom on good old Clark.
Babangida in a statement released on his behalf by his media
aide, Kassim Afegbua, described Clark as a loose cannon in public discourse,
who deserves pity, and his views, as not only misguided but senseless. With no
urgent intent to touch the accusation of ‘long silence,’ IBB’s response veered
into self-praise and proper dusting of his military pedigree and love for
Nigeria’s unity.
“The Former President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces and civil war hero does not and will not have a hand in anything
untoward against the unity and stability of the Nigerian state.
“Having seen it all in life, and now enjoying his retirement
in Minna, Niger State, General Ibrahim Babangida has paid his dues by serving
fatherland to the best of his ability at various times in the history of the
Nigerian state.
“Having invested so much in the unity and stability of the
country, to the extent of fighting in the civil war to keep the country
together, it is out of place for anyone, least of all an old man of Edwin
Clark’s nomenclature, to input directly or indirectly that the great IBB should
prove his innocence on the Boko Haram menace,” the statement further said,
adding, rather than crucify him (IBB) Clark should advise President Goodluck
Jonathan (his Ijaw kinsman) to undertake more consultations with former
presidents, opinion moulders and leaders of thoughts nationwide to find lasting
and integrated solutions to the nation’s problems. That’s it.
Should it take Clark’s seemingly unsavoury comments on his
person, for IBB to advise Jonathan on the essence of wide consultations? Was
IBB’s silence, as pointed out by Clark, informed by the absence of such
consultation by Jonathan?
As former Head of State doesn’t IBB attend meetings of the Council of State?
Has the security situation never been discussed or such discussions were never
addressed while the patriotic general from Minna was in attendance? If
consultation was an issue, who consulted IBB
and Obasanjo to issue that wonderful joint statement? And more
importantly, had his comfortable Minna-home been touched by the lingering Boko
Haram menace as did other public places and homes of other top government
officials, would IBB require presidential consultation before searching for
solutions?
It is a popular Igbo saying, that one whose house is on fire
does not go chasing rats, which is why I consider it unstatesmanly for
accomplished national leaders like IBB and Clark to be busy chasing rats when
the Nation they claim to love is on fire.
Clark on the one hand did not need the podium of an
anniversary lecture, even if it offers literary privilege, to be as honest as
he could, to challenge IBB to put his vast military experience, high level
patriotism as demonstrated during the civil war and indeed his limitless
knowledge in handling security matters to bear on the Boko Haram menace. On the
other hand, IBB need not see Clark’s position as the right opportunity to
identify lack of adequate consultation with former Heads of State or Presidents
to tinker a way forward as reason for the Iingering insecurity.
Afterall, was it not said that an aged woman does not look
the other way when a pregnant goat delivers in its tethers.
Rather than use the pages of newspapers to chronicle past
heroic exploits or blame one another for the poor state of security in the
land, couldn’t these elder statesmen forge a non-ethnic, non-religious but
purely national front and pursue the engagement of all stake-holders in support
of the Federal Government? Or is it now Jonathan’s government?
It is never too late but late, only when some issues are over-looked much longer
than necessary they risk being late. Such indeed was the time-frame of silence
between when Boko Haram’s senseless killings started nearly two years ago and
when, IBB and Obasanjo finally made a joint statement. On the other hand, if
Clark appreciated both Buhari and IBB’s pedigree and influence in taming the
Boko Haram, why did he not approach both leaders for such intervention, for
love of the country?
My Agony is that the insecurity in the land is being reduced
to a Jonathan’s personal problem that
must be tackled as such. It has, accordingly divided the leadership into those
who like or dislike the serving President.
The sad irony is that what is being ignored based on
considerations founded along pro and anti Jonathan divides will some day,
consume all concerned, hence, the need for all to proffer honest solutions and
not waste ample time on ego trips and name calling. That will not do.
Soye Wilson Jamabo
Front Pix
DEPLOY YOUR CAPACITY, TECHNICAL KNOWHOW TO REVITALISE SONGHAI FARMS, FUBARA TELLS TASK FORCE
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has said that diversifying the economy of the State has become inevitable because of the need to solve the problem of food shortages while also providing jobs for the teeming unemployed youths.
These, he said, are the reasons why great care has been taken to critically look at the prospects of revitalising the Songhai Integrated Farms, which is located in Bunu Tai, in Tai Local Government Area of the State.
Governor Fubara insisted that if the problem associated with food shortages is tackled with good intent and purpose, about 40 to 50 percent of current problems of economic hardship plaguing the country and its people would have been solved.
Governor Fubara made the assertion while inaugurating the Chairman, Mr Biedima Oliver, and members of the task force saddled with the responsibility of supervising the revitalization of Songhai Integrated Farms by its partners: Vitalcrop Ventures Limited and Imagine Adama Limited, at Government House in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Other members of the task force included, the Rivers State Commissioner for Agriculture, Engr Victor Kii; Commissioner for Finance, Barrister Emmanuel Frank-Fubara; Dr Ayebaesin Beredugo; and Mr Maurice Ogolo.
The Governor explained that it took him time to approve the constitution of the task force being inaugurated because of the ugly experience with the previous group that shown such interest.
Governor Fubara stated that a process was initiated and driven halfway into the handing over of Songhai Farms on concession to an interested partner who latter showed a total lack of the needed capacity to undertake such task.
He said, “As a matter of fact, if few of you could remember, we even conceded the place to an investor who came in after he had made his presentation, and we, believing that he has the capacity, we said okay to him, and we had already signed up.
“But something happened. He came back to tell us that he wanted us to give him a N5billion bank guarantee. We then asked him, why? If we have the N5billion, why do we need you to come and even revitalize Songhai Farms? We would have put that N5billion there ourselves. For that reason, we cancelled that arrangement.”
Governor Fubara said now that two separate companies have come together to indicate interest and given the assurance of having the needed capacity to drive the process, he is delighted to see them meeting that expectation.
Governor Fubara pointed to the expectation of the people who want to see the Songhai Farms back on stream on a sustainable basis.
That expectation, he insisted, is also what his administration wants to see actualised within its lifespan.
He noted, “We want to see food sufficiency, because we know when Songhai Farms comes on board, there will be food, which is one of the problems we are having in this country. If we are able to tackle the issue of food, 40 to 50 percent of our problem will be solved.”
Governor Fubara also stated that although he believes in the presentation made by the group and has taken their assurance to heart, but warned that he would not tolerate a repeat of what happened before.
The Governor said, “I hope your story will not be (end) halfway too. I hope you have the capacity and all the technical knowhow to handle it. It is not when we start now, after we had finished inaugurating the task force, you will come back to tell us that you need $2million. If we have $2million, we won’t need you. We will invest it by ourselves.”
Governor Fubara, however, praised the capacity of the Chairman of the task force, Biedima Oliver, saying that incidentally, he was one of the personnel that convinced the then administration to develop the Songhai Farms, and had worked with the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) to manage the project.
He said, “He knows and understands the workings of Songhai, and now that we are making you the chairman of the task force, we want to believe that you will make that place come back to life.
“I don’t have any doubt in your capacity. A few things you’ve touched, you turned them to gold. Please, bring it back to what we used to see in Songhai. Bring it back with the help of your committee.”
Governor Fubara assured that his administration will remain committed to providing all the necessary support that they may require to make their assignment a success.
He added, “So, I hereby inaugurate you. Your task is very simple: Do everything within your powers and with our support to make sure that Songhai becomes operational to the benefit, not just the people of Tai, but to the entire Rivers State and Nigeria as a whole”.
In his acceptance speech, the Chairman of the Task Force to Supervise the Revitalization of Songhai Farms with Vitalcrop Ventures Limited and Imagine Adama Limited, Mr. Biedima Oliver, expressed appreciation to Governor Fubara for the opportunity and confidence reposed in them to revive Songhai Farms.
Mr. Oliver assured that they will deliver the expected goal on Songhai Farms, and doing so on time and on target so that the good people of Rivers State can eventually be happy and also benefit from the huge investment.
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has declared that all the policies and programmes of his administration are tailored towards the protection of interest of Rivers people, especially the youths.
This, he said, is borne out of the importance his administration attaches to youths’ development and empowerment as leaders of tomorrow.
Fubara, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Nelson Chukwudi, disclosed this when he received the youths of Emohua Local Government Area under the auspices of “Emohua Youths For SIM” on solidarity visit to Government House, Port Harcourt, last Friday.
He said that his administration has put in place modalities that will boost the livelihoods and well-being of Rivers citizens, which youths of Emohua will also benefit when they materialise.
The governor, who spoke through the Rivers State Head of Service, Dr. George Nwaeke, pointed out that the recently awarded Elele-Omudiaga-Egbeda-Ubimini-Ikiri-Omoku Road, the ongoing Emohua-Kalabari Road, reinstatement of illegally sacked workers of Emohua Local Government Area and the approval for electrification of the area, are part of deliberate measures to open up the area to make life conducive and more meaningful for the people.
According to him, “Everything about the governor is putting the interest of Rivers State first. He is looking at and taking action on those things that we need to do to restart the wheels of progress in Rivers State.
“There are many things the governor has planned and is already doing that will boost the life and welfare of every citizen of Rivers State, but most importantly the youths.
“Growing up, I learnt that Egbeda is one of the biggest communities in the whole of Ikwerre, and it’s predominantly an agrarian community. They have food in Egbeda, they have food in Ubimini, they have food in Omudiaga and other natural resources. The whole world is tilting to agriculture, and this is the way to go.
“The Elele-Umudioga-Egbeda-Ubimini-Omoku road, when completed, will open up the area for real development. Your food and everything you produce there will now have value, they will no longer be thrown away. In all these, you the youths are going to be the utmost beneficiaries.”
He added, “Same will be applicable to the Emohua-Kalabari Road which will also, trigger development in the area, and you will be the greatest beneficiaries. When the LGA is also electrified, you will be having 24 or 20 hours of electricity, and those things the youths can do with electricity, you can stay at home and create wealth for yourself and children.
“All the totality of what the governor is doing, when they are completed, or even as some are completed now, the youths are going to be utmost beneficiaries.”
While acknowledging that youths are the true leaders of tomorrow and any government that fails to carry them along in the scheme of things is doomed to fail, the governor assured them of his administration’s commitment to always address issues concerning youths and ensure that they are part of his government.
He commended the youths for toeing the path of truth by identifying with his administration, urging them to sustain the tempo and shun evil, as his government will ensure that the trend whereby politicians turn youths to beggars are over.
He said, “Youths are, indeed, the leaders of tomorrow. The time of youth is a very important time. It a time that your parents or whoever is your leader at that time have to make the greatest investment in you. And any Government that decides to only carry the elderly, chiefs aling and abandon the youths is bound to fail,” he asserted.
“But I am happy that Governor Fubara has concentrated his energy on everything that will benefit the society, especially the youths.
“And based on these, I want to thank you for recognising what is good and calling it good, for shunning what is evil, for saying the Governor is standing for you.
“Let me tell you, you are on the right direction. Let me tell you again, Rivers State is the bride of Nigeria. The whole Nigeria is looking at what will happen here. As they look here and see you standing on the path of truth, this is a very important step that you have taken to right all the wrongs of the past, to make Rivers State stand on the tripod of justice, peace and security. That is what we are going to gain through the governor, taking all the wise actions that he has already initiated.
“The projects the governor is embarking on are meant to prepare nets for the youths to fish and put food on their table, hence you should continue to follow him.
“The SIMplified Movement brought upon by the governor will ensure that Rivers youths stop the habit of going to bow down before politicians, pledging loyalty before they can eat.”
Earlier, spokesman for the Emohua Youths for SIM, Comrade Ovamale O. Ovamale, had said that the visit by youths from the 14 political wards in Emohua Local Government Area was to thank the governor for the award of the Elele-Omudiaga-Egbeda-Ubimini-Ikiri-Omoku road, the approval for electrification of the area and reinstatement of sacked workers of Emohua Local Government Council, of which the youths were mostly affected.
According to him, “Siminalayi Fubara of recent has given Emohua Local Government road that links Elele to Omoku, which comprises over four communities in the local government.”
“Emohua Local Government has also been in darkness for eight years. No community in the local government that has light. But, of recent, because of the passion and love the governor has for the people of Emohua, he has approved the electrification of the local government.
“Also, the illegal sack of Emohua Local Government workers, for which the youths were mostly affected and without the approval of the Local Government Service Commission, the governor, in his compassionate nature, has reinstated them, and that is why we said we must come and thank His Excellency”, he said.
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has assured that his administration will collaborate and continue to consult widely in delivering a liberated State experiencing enduring peace.
Fubara said, in doing so, he would not operate as a dictator but as a member of a team that has the best interest of the State at heart and determined to leave a lasting legacy that can be celebrated.
The governor spoke during the formal presentation of Certificate of Recognition and Staff of Office to the Amanyanabo of Okochiri Kingdom, King Ateke Michael Tom, as first class tradition ruler, at Government House in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Fubara stated that, during the Sixth State Executive Council meeting, N80.8billion was approved with 50 percent contract value paid already as the Government awarded the construction of the Elele-Egbeda-Omoku Road.
He said the project will be funded from the savings from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to underscore his administration’s prudence without also borrowing to complete the project.
“We are at a crossroad in our State where we all need to stand for what is right. It happens once in a life time. So, for now, be one of those people that will be in the course to liberate and free our dear State.
“And I know strongly that having the support of a peace-loving Amanyanabo of Okochiri Kingdom, having the support of the wonderful Council of Chiefs, having the support of the great people of Rivers State, we will bring peace in our State. We will do those things that are right to develop our State.
“We will continue to consult. We will not act as dictators. We will act as people who know that one day, we will leave, and when we leave, the way we have acted will speak for us. We will not force people to talk good about us. Our legacy will be a signature for how we led”, the governor said.
Fubara explained that he acted within the ambit of the law to upgrade the traditional stool upon which King Ateke Tom sits in recognition of his efforts in promoting peace in Okrika, and indeed, the State, and urged him to continue to do justice to everyone.
In his speech, Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Hon Charles Amadi, congratulated King Ateke Tom for being formally presented with the Certificate of Recognition and Staff of Office as first class traditional ruler.
Also speaking, former Transport Minister, Chief Abiye Sekibo, thanked the governor for fulfilling his promise of upgrading the traditional stool of Okochiri Kingdom, and pledged the support of Kirike Se people to his administration.