For close observers of the activities of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State since its drubbing by the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 governorship election, the events of Friday
August 18th where suspected militants believed to be sympathetic to the sacked
chairman, chief Tiwei Orunimighe attempted to disrupt a meeting of stakeholders
called by the acting chairman, Mr, Joseph Fafi, did not come as a surprise...
The tussle for leadership of the party between Orunimighe
and loyalists of the governorship candidate of the party and former governor,
Chief Timipre Sylva and the scramble for positions by members of the party in
Abuja after the governorship election, have hindered the party from being
cohesive. Not only that, the suspicion that the APC leadership and some of his
loyalists in the state are hobnobbing with the PDP, coupled with the political
naivety displayed by Orunimighe with his open challenge and brash criticism of
Sylva has made it inevitable that he ( Orunmighe) would have to leave as
chairman of party.
But the ugly incident at the APC secretariat which left two
people dead and many people injured is an indication that loyalists of
Orunmighe would not allow him to go down without a fight. The audacity of the
attackers in the presence of security agents is an indication that the APC
crisis in the state was far from over.
The beginning
Until he was brought from political oblivion after serving
as a chairman in one of the local government development centres created by
late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and later handpicked to become the chairman of
Southern Ijaw council, the largest council in Bayelsa State during Sylva’s
tenure as governor, many people had forgotten who Tiwei Orunimighe was.
During the Sylva administration, he was very vibrant to the
extent that he became one of the poster boys of the administration and because
of his alleged romance with ex-militant leaders, most of whom are from Southern
Ijaw area, Orunimighe was untouchable and this was noticeable in the entire
state.
He was at the fore front when Sylva battled the PDP forces
led by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 in his quest to retain the
governorship ticket of the party. Eventually, Sylva was forced out of the PDP
and he pitched his tent with the APC and shortly after, when names of state
executives were complied, Sylva, it was gathered, handpicked Orunimighe to head
the party in the state, against wise counsel.
At the 2015 governorship primaries of the party,
Orunimighe’s partisanship for Sylva against other aspirants was too glaring.
However, unknown too many party faithful, Orunimighe efforts had political
undertone as he was angling to be the running mate to Sylva. The bubble
eventually burst, leading to Sylva and Orunimighe parting ways, politically,
when Sylva picked a retired school principal, chief Wilberforce Igiri as the
running mate.
Following the decision, not only did Orunimighe mobilised
his supporters to tear Sylva’s posters at the party secretariat on Melford/
Okilo Expressway, he also threatened to frustrate Sylva’s ambition of becoming
governor. Aside that, he made damaging allegations against Sylva and the
minister of state for Agriculture, senator Heinkein Lokpobiri, accusing the
former of trading with political appointments meant for Bayelsa without
consulting with the party hierarchy in the state.
It was the general consensus among party members that
Orunimighe worked against the party in the governorship election in which
Governor Henry Seriake Dickson won in seven out of the eight local government
areas in the state.
Sylva, while commenting on the renegade attitude of
Orunmighe said he was given ample time to change but he insisted on mortgaging
the future of the party.
“This is a man you all know how we brought him up from
nothing. From nothing, we made him a council chairman. From nothing, we made
him, a party chairman. When the Acting President visited Bayelsa during the
peace tour, Governor Dickson said the APC and PDP were working together. The
working he was talking about is in the minds of the expelled chairman and the
governor.
“We gave him time so as to allow him change his ways but he
refused. He kept moving deeper into the mud. He is no longer an issue. No one
should talk about him again because he is no longer an issue. This is our party
and our state. We all want what is good for the people. The ship of APC is
moving and we cannot take it backward,” Sylva, declared.
The coup
Daily Sun’s investigations revealed that the decision to do
away with Orunimighe was reached after the non-elective congress of the party
in the state. Orunimighe with some of his loyalists were said to have gone
ahead to organize the congress without recourse to Sylva. Sylva on the other
hand believed Orunimighe “cup of political iniquities was full and decided to
end his reign as chairman of the party,” it was further learnt.
To ensure his clinical sack from the party, the allegations
of anti-party activities against Orunimighe his deputy, Eddy Julius and
secretary, Marlin Daniel which was lodged before the Zonal Executive Committee
was dust up. It was the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni
who issued a letter of expulsion with reference number APC/NDQ/552/31/017/002
to Orunmighe, Julius and Daniel.
Buni, in the letter disclosed that the National Working
Committee (NWC) of the party had adopted the recommendations by the Zonal
Executive Committee “which deliberated on the Report of the Disciplinary
committee that investigated your anti-party activities in Bayelsa State to the
effect that you be suspended and ultimately expelled from the party.”
It further directed Orunimighe specifically to hand over all
party property “in your possession to the Zonal Vice- Chairman, Bayelsa
senatorial district with immediate effect, while the National Vice- Chairman,
South- South shall coordinate the state chapter of the party.”
A letter from the National Vice- Chairman, South – South,
Prince Ntufam Hillard Eta appointing Fafi as the acting chairman finally nailed
the political coffin of Orunimighe.
The letter reads: “On behalf of the National Executive
Committee of our party, the All Progressives Congress, the National Working
Committee at its 23rd Regular meeting adopted the recommendations of APC South- South Zonal Executive which
deliberated on the report of the Disciplinary committee that investigated the
anti-party activities of the state chairman, deputy chairman and the state
secretary in Bayelsa and concluded that
the named officers be suspended and ultimately expelled from the party. Consequently,
the office of the National Vice- Chairman, South- South which I occupy has been
mandated to coordinate the Bayelsa State chapter of the party. By this letter,
you are hereby instructed and authorized to act as state chairman of the party
pending the ratification of same by the National Working Committee of our
party. You are therefore to coordinate meetings, deliberations and to ensure
the full functioning of the Bayelsa State APC secretariat.”
In defense of Orunimighe
Some leaders of the party led by a former Nigeria’s
ambassador to Venezuela, Felix Oboro, have rejected the expulsion of
Orunimighe, insisting that due process must be followed in removing him.
“The problem is that the congress we held, Timipre Sylva and the minister of state for
Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri submitted another list to Abuja. And from the
blues we had a publication that they have suspended or expelled Orunimighe,
Marlin and Eddy Julius for anti-party activities. We do not understand how. We
saw the letters on the social media, same letter, and same reference. One is
suspension, one is expulsion. We the elders of the party have stated that we
reject the suspension or expulsion.
“To suspend a state chairman, the suspension must start from
the state executive. It is the state executive that has the right to suspend a
member and forward it to the National Secretariat that would now look at it and
forward it to the BOT for approval. If you want to expel a member, such member
would face a disciplinary committee. As far we are concerned, Orunimighe is
still the chairman of our party. “The original crisis was between Orunimighe
and Timipre Sylva and the national leadership invited us to Abuja and we
expressed our views. The national leadership directed that the status quo should
remain which means Tiwei should be the chairman. The national leadership did
not recognize Fafi as acting chairman. They realized later that if they are to
follow due process, discipline matter should go to the Zonal Executive first,
so the Zonal chairman set up a committee to look into what the national
leadership had done before. I was among those interviewed. The Zonal committee
was to reconcile the two parties; in fact we repeated all the statements we
made in Abuja. This was since November or December. Since that time it was for
the Zonal leadership to tell the national leadership how the reconciliation was
going. But we did not hear anything from the Zonal or national leadership,” the
former ambassador, said.
He alleged that Sylva and Lokpobiri have a hidden agenda
which they want to execute and as such see Orunimighe as a threat to their
ambition.
“They should not be in a hurry to remove him but wait for an
elective congress. There is no problem. The congress we held had resolved
whatever problems we had in the party but it appears Sylva and Lokpobiri have a
hidden agenda. They have political ambition and they believe that Tiwei is
working to install another person, which is their suspicion. Their main concern
now is to get Tiwei out as the state chairman because they believe with him as
chairman; it would be hard for them to manipulate the party. NWC cannot start
the suspension of a state officer, it is the state executive that can suspend,
and then refer it to the NWC.”
SINCE the bill on
amnesty for treasury looters passed second reading, it has generated a
lot of heat in the polity. Do you think it is an appropriate move on the
part of the House?
The bill has just been listed for first reading, it has not gone through
the second reading for debate. In any case, I learnt that my colleague,
Hon. Linus Okorie, is the sponsor of the bill. I didn’t indicate any
interest in the bill until I got a call from South Africa, from a lady
who visits Nigeria regularly. She spoke about the bill, saying it’s not
just enough to present the bill to the people but that the people should
be educated on it.
She added that it may be necessary for a team to visit countries like
Indonesia, Malaysia or India where similar laws already exist. She spoke
extensively about the benefits of the bill. This does not in any way
mean that when people steal money they can now come back and say I have
stolen so much, while they have kept some aside and want to give back a
certain amount.
Amnesty to militants
She stressed the need to get the people on board to understand the
meaning of the bill. From my understanding of the bill, some people are
outside the tax net, they have stolen money and are not being
investigated. Given the opportunity, they might take advantage of this
law to avoid being investigated in the future. The bill envisages that
more looters that are not currently being investigated or may not be
investigated in the future will be captured in this net. This is not to
say that if they come forward to say they have defrauded the country to
the tune of xyz, you are just going to ask them for what is left and
allow them to go.
If you do that, the cycle will continue. But when someone says I am
repentant, I’m sorry that I did it and this is the whole story, I think
such persons should be listened to and whatever can be recovered from
them will be quickly recovered. If you can grant amnesty to militants
who blew up pipelines and killed people and extend same to Boko Haram
terrorists who killed defenseless civilians and say they don’t believe
in western education, why not those that the system enabled to steal.
From what I have gathered, billions of naira can be returned to the
country. Therefore, we should not see it in the light of a person who
has stolen and you grant him or her amnesty because the person returned
some money. In any case this is what plea bargaining is all about, which
is practiced all over the world. In the case of a plea bargain, the
person is already indicted but in amnesty the person comes forward
voluntarily. Hence the recovered funds become extra money to the
government to fund critical infrastructural needs. The spirit and intent
of the bill is that, as amnesty is being granted, the institutions are
strengthened to avoid the cycle of stealing and availing themselves of
amnesty.
Kidnapping is still on the rise despite attempts by some state
assemblies to make it punishable by death. Do you think there could be a
better way out?
When I came to the House of Representatives in 2015, one of my first
motions was an ‘Urgent need to curb the menace of Kidnapping in Esan
South East Local government area of Edo state’. This motion had to be
stepped down at the time because it was perceived to be highly
sensitive. The motion identified the threat of herdsmen and recommended
ranching as a solution to current grazing practices. Herdsmen were
killing and robbing people along Ubiaja-Ewohimi Road on daily basis,
even a serving state house of assembly member was attacked then. You
can’t over run people’s farms and not see anything wrong with it.
Rearing cattle is a business and should be seen as such. If you must
rear cattle, go to the community heads and acquire a place to do so.
It’s a burning issue all over the country, not just Edo State. When
motions on this subject matter come up, you hear things like the need
for increased policing/security. But how many police officers do we have
to provide the security and surveillance?
The eighth House seems to be interested in debating former President
Goodluck Jonathan administration’s confab, what is your take on this
possibility?
If taking it in piece meal is what we can get now, it’s ok. But the best
option is for us to bring the whole report, debate it and collectively
take a position which will become law. That’s the beauty of democracy.
The government spent billions on the confab report and should not allow
it to gather dust in the villa. There are quality recommendations in
that report that if implemented today can quell the current political
agitations in the country.
Can you beat your chest that your impact as a lawmaker is being felt in
your constituency?
When I came into the house in 2015, my predecessor’s projects in the
2015 budget were for construction of two blocks of classrooms with
furniture for one and provision of furniture for a third school. I was
told there was no fund for these projects, I refused to take no for an
answer but aggressively pursued it and delivered all three projects. But
in the 2016 budget, due to the padding issues, what was thought would
be in the budget was not. On my Constituency project, which is
agriculture, I had a town hall meeting with my constituents in both
local governments that I represent.
During my campaign, I told them that government alone can’t do it all,
so they should learn trades, agriculture and become entrepreneurs. I
gave them examples of some rich people in Esan land, when I was growing
up, who were not educated but were traders and merchants. In my budget, I
put agriculture there. Today we have cleared 100 hectares of land,
though the plan was to clear 200 hectares. However, what the money in
the budget could cover is 56 hectares, but we have cleared 100 hectares.
I have tractors on site, planters are there and before the harvest time
I will get harvesters. It’s 100 percent mechanized.
We have 200 youths – 100 from each LGA who will be given an acre each;
the proceeds from their one acre of farm land belong to them. That’s my
own way of creating employment for them because when you tell them to go
and farm, they are not inspired. In their estimation, their fathers did
that and are still poor. We have started training them on mechanized
farming. I also think government is paying lip service to agriculture.
My constituency project is agriculture but during the farming season,
funds and materials for farmers were not released until after the
planting period. And that’s why we are where we are now.
What do you have to say about true federalism in Nigeria?
Am in support of true federalism. If that is restructuring, then
perfect. We claim we are a federation but in the true sense of it, are
we practicing federalism? It’s just in name. If today, we say allow the
federating states to be on their own and pay something to the centre,
this country will be better for it.
I have said it severally, that if we didn’t have to leave our house, but
there is food to eat and money, will there be any incentive to leave
the house? But that is what is happening in Nigeria. At the end of every
month, the state governor sends his commissioner to Abuja to collect a
cheque. Which work did that state do, zero. That is why to see a
governor sometimes in Nigeria is very difficult. Even if you are coming
with business but he does not need you, he is not interested. Whether he
gets the business or not, money will come from Abuja at the end of the
month.
Again some of the northern states practice Sharia law, hence no sale of
alcohol and no brothels but you take VAT money from Lagos where they do
all these and share to the Sharia states; that should be blood money,
this is not sustainable. We say Nigeria is a secular state, yet the
government sponsors people on hajj to Mecca and pilgrimage to Israel. If
we are practicing true federalism, the states should function as
federating states and pay tax to the centre. We can cure these defects
by a simple constitutional review. Stagger the exclusive and concurrent
list, we will have a constitution that is not only federal in name but
in content and character.
How will you assess the Buhari led administration?
It’s zero! I really sympathize with the president. The former President
of USA, Barrack Obama, on his visit to Africa, asked Africans to build
strong institutions and not strong men. If we can do that, it will
checkmate so many things.
Template to fightcorruption
For me, the president came in without a template to fight corruption; he
came in with the 1980’s mentality to just throw people in jail and get
money to fund the budget, thinking everybody would be happy. But we have
gone beyond that. Though I see a man wanting to fight corruption but
even within his inner kitchen cabinet, people are misbehaving. That will
break any man’s heart. I sympathize with him.
My prayer is that we can systematically check corruption in this
country. For example, the millions of dollars (which has now been
forfeited to the government) that was found in Ikoyi in Lagos State, we
don’t know the owner till now, the simple thing EFCC should have done
was to plant cameras on street lights of that estate, somebody would one
day come for part of that money. Former police boss, Solomon Arase,
during last year’s NBA confere-nce in Port Harcourt, said that in other
countries you investigate crimes before you effect arrest but that is
not the case in Nigeria.
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/08/true-federalism-restructuring-perfect-us-hon-ogun/
Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/08/true-federalism-restructuring-perfect-us-hon-ogun/
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