Benue South Tribunal: David Mark secretly begs Dan Onjeh to withdraw case from court

Former Senate President, David Mark is allegedly making moves to persuade his opponent in the last election withdraw the suit against from court.

Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party and Dan Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress contested the Benue South Senatorial seat in the March 28 National Assembly election.

Mark was declared winner of the election, which his opponent claimed recorded several irregularities.

Mark’s opponent and flagbearer of the APC had approached the court, seeking dissolution of the poll.

Onjeh was subsequently granted permission by the court to inspect the electoral materials and amazingly, in the course of the inspection, it was detected that the number of votes announced in favour of Mark was more than accredited voters.

At the adjournment of the last sitting, the Tribunal granted Onjeh the leave to tender his last document.

However, Mark was expected to appear in person at the court on Monday to defend the election that brought him to power for fifth term.

DAILY POST recalls that while some of his witnesses failed to show up at the court, those who were present disappeared before the hearing.

However, information available showed that Mark had reportedly sent some of his associates to beg Dan to withdraw the petition in order for them to have brotherly chat.

Our reporter gathered that efforts to sit Onjeh down for a one-on-one chat with Mark by his associate had being futile, as the opponent seems to be adamant and was not ready to shift ground.

“Onjeh is not ready to meet with or entertain any offer from Mark and his loyalists. They have tried as much as possible to bring him for a one-on-one meeting with Mark but it did not yield any fruit,” a source said.

When this newspaper contacted Onjeh, he confirmed that some close associates of the former Senate President had being wooing him on his behalf to give up on the case but that he was not ready sell his mandate.

“Like I said earlier, I won the election convincingly and we are on our way to reclaim our stolen mandate. No retreat, no surrender,” Onjeh averred.

However, when DAILY POST contacted an aide to the former Senate President, he laughed off the claim.

“Anybody who thinks Mark will beg Onjeh is dreaming. Beg him for what, that he did not win the election or what? Let them go and check the margin and stop dreaming. Senator Mark is too busy to stoop so low,” the aide who would not want his name in print told our reporter on phone amid serious laughter.

Source: Daily Post

How Jonathan’s Aides, Ministers Shared Federal Government Houses

A report by The Sun newspaper claims that some aides and ministers of former president Goodluck Jonathan shared 500 houses owned by the Federal Government in Abuja and Lagos before they left power.

Aside the ministers and aides, some heads of powerful feder­al agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and top military officers also benefited from the alleged largesse of the Jonathan’s administration.

Making reference to the documents sight­ed in the office of the Secretary to the Govern­ment of the Federation (SGF), the report revealed that the allocation of the houses was not done in their individual names but in the names of front-companies.

The report also claims that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to probe Jonathan’s administration has prompted the former government officials to abandoned the properties.

A source in the SGF office said they are now scared to take possession of the properties which are scattered all over Asokoro and Maitama areas of Abuja as well as Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Apapa areas of Lagos.

The source further said, most of the houses were abandoned because “the owners are obviously looking for private sec­tor individuals that can buy them as many of them didn’t really get the allocations to live in the houses, they only want to sell them off and make profit.”

When queried why the allocations were done in the names of companies rather than the names of the actual beneficiaries, the offi­cial said: “Most of the owners got the houses while still in government and they wouldn’t like to disclose such huge assets in their assets declaration forms with the Code of Conduct Bureau because of the questions on the source of the funds used to pay for such. We’re only the ones who knows who owns what but if you follow the table of allocations, you will only find names of companies as beneficiaries.”

The source also exonerated the com­mittee in charge of the houses  of any complici­ty, adding: “Decisions and approvals more of­ten than not, come from the Presidency.

“The committee also has no control over which name will be used for the purpose of allocation and what such beneficiaries do with the properties afterwards”, the official added.

Another source in the Ministry of Lands and Housing, however, said that the number of houses allocated was far lower than 500. The source dis­closed, “It is true that some requests for allo­cation came towards the end of the last admin­istration but the real allocation was tactically delayed by some officials to avoid running into trouble with the then in-coming Buhari admin­istration.”

 Meanwhile, about 12 close aides of former President Goodluck Jonathan have been stripped of their official passports.

Source: Daily Sun

Ekiti lawmakers retain Speaker, approve commissioners, others

Fresh facts have emerged that Ekiti lawmakers did not impeach the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, rather the legislators approved the reconstitution of the local government caretaker committees and confirmed the commissioner-nominees of Governor Ayodele Fayose.

It was earlier rumoured that seven members of Ekiti State House of Assembly backed by well armed policemen, Monday, impeached the speaker of the state house of Assembly, Adewale Omirin.

Source

Jonathan may lose Cross River over lingering crisis – Ambassador

A Former Nigerian Ambassador to Mali, Mr. Sony Abang, on Monday expressed the fears that  the adopted candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2015 Presidential elections, President Goodluck Jonathan, may lose in Cross River State if the intra-party crisis in the state continues.

Abang,  who is also a two term chairman of the party in the state,  stated this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.

He alleged that the leadership of the PDP in the state was allegedly sacrificing the collective interest of its members on the alter of personal interests of certain individuals who joined the party barely a year ago.

He also lamented that the current leadership of the party was in the hands of non politicians who were until recently,  in the civil service before they retired and drafted into politics by the leader of the party in the state.

He said, “If we go to the 2015 election with the way things are,  I am not too sure that the PDP will have a good outing in the state. The present leadership did not emerge through the same process that brought us in.

“When I was a local government chairman,  it was a consensus among all the party leaders that I should come and head the party.  It was not the decision of one individual but today, the choice of the state chairmanship, was the decision of one or two persons.

“They wanted somebody, who will just be there to do their bidding. The state chairman,  everybody knows,  is a civil servant who just retired.  He was the Clerk of the state House of Assembly. He doesn’t know anything about party administration. He doesn’t even know the people he was supposed to administer.”

The politician, who regretted that the actions of the political actors in the state had drafted him away from active politics at the moment,  said the PDP membership strength which was about one million as at 2008, had dropped to 200, 000 now in the state.

He said, “We have an election in 2015 and we know the implications.  When I left as party chairman in 2008, the membership of the PDP in Cross River State was nearly one million because we had a policy that every  eligible voter in the state must be induced to be a member of the PDP.

Source

Ekiti State House Speaker Impeached

Seven members of Ekiti State House of Assembly backed by well armed policemen today impeached the speaker of the state house of Assembly, Adewale Omirin.

The seven persons were shepherded into the state assembly complex by Bayelsa born Mobile Police Commander, Selenkere Michael, to carry out the illegal act.

The police prevented 19 others including the substantive speaker from entering the assembly complex earlier today. One Olugbemi, was purportedly “elected” by the seven-man house as acting speaker.

-SR

JONATHAN SETS SELF FOR GOOD RETIREMENT PENSION, PAYS OBJ, IBB OTHERS N3.2 B

The Federal Government plans to spend N3.19bn on the pensions and allowances of former Presidents, Heads of State, their deputies, former leaders of the National Assembly and their families in the year 2012.

The proposed N3.19bn represents an increase of about N2bn from what was provided for the former rulers in the 2011 Budget.
The government also earmarked a total of N141.7bn for the pensions and gratuities, of retired civil servants, that are not captured in the contributory pension scheme.
The amount contained in the 2012 budget currently before the National Assembly is under Service Wide Votes. Our correspondents report that beneficiaries under this heading will receive a total of N414.4bn for the fiscal year.
The Remuneration for former Presidents, Heads of State Act passed by the National Assembly in November 2010 provides for the remunerations of all former Presidents, Heads of State and their deputies, including the families of former leaders who are late.
Currently, those who benefit from the Act are former Heads of State Gen. Yakubu Gowon; Gen. Muhammadu Buhari; Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar; Gen. Ibrahim Babangida; former head of the Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; former President Shehu Shagari; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; their living deputies; and former heads of the National Assembly.
Other beneficiaries are the widow of a late former President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe; the widows of a former Prime Minister, the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; and the widows and families of former Heads of State, General Murtala Muhammed; and Gen. Sani Abacha.
When the N1.2bn bill was presented to the Senate in 2011, the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs queried the amount, saying that it was too high a price to pay for the comfort of former leaders who presided over the “economic retardation” of the country.

But explanations from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation showed that there were seven living former Heads of State, five Vice Presidents, six families of deceased leaders and two families of deceased Vice Presidents.

Among other benefits, the former leaders are expected to get a five bedroom housing accommodation each in any location of their choice with telephone services; at least three vehicles; and salaries of personal staff.
Also, the law provides that government should cater for the needs of the former heads of state whenever they visit Abuja, as well as pay for their use of courier services.
Reacting to the provision, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Bassey Otu, said the Senate would take a look at the provision and ensure that the former leaders did not get beyond what they deserved.
He said the N3.19bn might be slashed in line with the new posture of government to reduce the cost of governance.
“Rest assured that anything that should be done to bring these budgets to their proper sizes, will be done,” he said.
But the President of Campaign for Democracy, Joe-Okei Odumakin, criticised the increase from N1.2bn to N3.19bn, saying it smacked of insensitivity.
She told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview on Sunday that voting more money for the care of former leaders suggested that the poor would remain poor while those who had misruled the country would continue to grow richer.
She said, “First and foremost, it is extremely outrageous. How can you explain an increase from N1.2bn to N3.19bn? It smacks of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians. It is sad that this is happening when our citizens are impoverished.
“It means that all the mouthing that the regime will reduce their pay is cosmetic and hypocritical.”
Also, the All Nigeria Peoples Party said the huge budget provision was President Goodluck Jonathan’s way of preparing the ground for when he would leave office.
According to the National Publicity Secretary of the ANPP, Chief Emma Eneukwu, the government has no idea of how to move the country forward.
He said, “We keep on saying it that this government has no human face and that it does not care what happens to the people.
“It was telling Nigerians that it was going to cut expenses, yet, it went ahead to increase the budgetary provision for these leaders.
“This same government told us that the economy would collapse without the removal of petroleum subsidy. It did not tell us that the economy of individual would collapse.
“This government is proving it day-by-day that it is a government that lacks vision and cannot be trusted. Nigerians cannot be deceived forever. One day is for the thief, the rest are for the owners.”

via omojuwa.com

Jonathan Is A Born Liar - Sylva

The former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, Saturday, said he (Sylva) performed far more than Jonathan’s tenure given the challenges he faced in office as the governor of the Niger Delta state.

Reacting to President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign rally Saturday in Yenagoa in which he (Jonathan) cited the stoning of the former governor and the Five Star Tower Hotel project as monument of disgrace, Chief Sylva said it was the same President Jonathan that came back and spoke glowingly of his achievement at the January primaries of the party.

Chief Sylva in a statement issued by his media aide, Doifie Ola, described as barefaced lie and a misrepresentation of open facts the President claim that the Five Star Hotel had been the way he (Jonathan) left it.

He challenged the President “to tell the world how much he (Jonathan) paid the contractor and how much Sylva has paid the contractor.”

The statement reads, “Timipre Sylva has read with utter dismay some statements credited to the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign rally on Friday, 03 February in Yenagoa.

“Two things stand out in the President’s speech. He talked about a stoning incident in Yenagoa that he watched with pleasure and the Tower Hotel project in Yenagoa that was conceptualised by the Government of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, which Jonathan took over as Governor of Bayelsa State and passed on to Sylva as Governor.

“The stoning in Yenagoa happened during the president’s visit and it was widely believed to have been arranged by a few misguided elements, which with the backing of Mr. President, had used the presidential security to subvert the security of the state on purpose to embarrass Governor Sylva. Sponsors of the incident had tried to deny their involvement and present the event as indicative of the governor’s non-performance.

The world now knows better, of course. Everyone is now perfectly well aware of the mastermind of that insult on the Ijaw nation.

“But let us state that it was not the governor who was disgraced by the stoning. Instead, it was the president himself. Now, if stoning is a yardstick for non-performance, are we also right to say that the burning down of Mr. President’s house in 2007, in the run-up to that year’s general elections, was also an act of rejection by the people of the state? A lot of people believed that the burning of his house and the action of militants in 2007 were an expression of rejection. Is Mr. President now confirming that wide belief?

“In addition, can we also say that the stoning of President Jonathan in May last year in Uganda was a global act of rejection? Besides, it was after the stoning incident in Yenagoa in late 2010 that Mr. President came back to Yenagoa, raised the hand of Sylva, and spoke glowingly about his achievements, saying he has performed excellently well and that the people of Bayelsa should vote him into office.

“It was after the stoning that he came back and voted in the January 2011 PDP governorship primaries and gave a glowing report of Sylva’s performance. So what suddenly changed from January 2011 to later that year when President Jonathan manipulated all the institutions of state, including the armed and security forces, the judiciary and critical organs of democracy like the political parties, in full cry, leaving the security and economic challenges which he faced, to embark on OPERATION REMOVE SYLVA as the sole mandate which the people of Nigeria gave to him?“Didn’t Jonathan know there was a stoning incident when he came to say Governor Sylva should be voted in January?”


via vanguardngr