Monday, March 14, 2005

Obasanjo's hidden agenda   Daily Independent Tuesday March 15th, 2005 HOME | Previous Page Presidential system splits Obasanjo, S’West delegates By Tunde Abatan Snr Correspondent, Lagos   Efforts by President Olusegun Obasanjo to persuade South West delegates to the National Conference to retain the Presidential system may have failed. Daily Independent sources disclosed at the weekend that a meeting called by him at his Ota farm, which all South West governors and delegates attended, almost ended in a shouting match when he insisted they support his plan to retain the current system of government. He was said to have told the delegates, most of who favour the Parliamentary system – in line with the Yoruba agenda – to back a five-year single Presidential term, with him taking the first shot. The parley held after Obasanjo had attended the 70th birthday celebration of former Western State military Governor Oluwole Rotimi, who is also a delegate. A source said it resulted in dispute as the elderly delegates asked him why he invited them to the Conference in the first place “if there is no genuine effort at restructuring the country”. The man stated that those who attended the meeting wondered why the President kept them in the dark about his intention before the Conference. “Most of them asked him to allow them to go back home instead of disgracing them in a matter to which he already had an answer”. Five governors – of Osun, Ekiti, Oyo, Ondo and Lagos States – supported the President. But Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State reiterated his preference for a return to the Parliamentary system. According to the source, the President told his guests that the government would welcome only a slight increase in the power of the states but would not accept a return to regionalism or the creation of state police or ceding resource control as canvassed  by Southern governors. The meeting ended with the delegates resolving to resist the move by the President, which they fear would discredit them and turn the Conference into a  jamboree. Leaders of thought from the South West rose from a meeting in Lagos at the weekend with an agreement to part ways with their governors over their support for the President  and the governors’ refusal to support the Yoruba agenda at the Conference. They agreed to hold a mini Yoruba conference on March 29, “to rally the people” over the 71-page agenda, which they want circulated all over the world as “the agenda of the Yoruba in the Nigerian nation”. The resolution of their conference will be sent to the secretariat of the National Conference as the position of the South West. 5:24:29 PM    comment []

Obasanjo bragging about war exploits S’West officers made civil war victory possible Clara Nwachukwu President Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday recalled that the intervention of a few Army officers from the defunct Western region made victory possible for the Federal troops during the three-year Nigerian civil war. The President, who spoke at a dinner, organised by Presidential Insurance Company Limited, to mark the 70th birthday of Brig. Gen. Christopher Oluwole Rotimi (rtd), in Lagos, said that the officers, including the celebrant, joined the Nigerian Army because of their belief in the unity of the country. The late Phillip Effiong who acted as the Commander-in-Chief of the Biafran Army when Ikemba Nnewi Odumegwu Ojukwu, went on exile surrendered to Obasanjo who was then the leader of the Federal Government’s Third Marine Commando. The President said, “We joined the Army because we believed in Nigeria. “There was a time when officers from the West did not know whether they were wanted by the Nigerian Army or not. It was a very harrowing experience, but we decided to take the bull by the horns. It was either we were in or we were out. “We had to go and ask the Commander-in-Chief(Gen Yakubu Gowon) to find out whether we were in, and he told us we were in, and we decided to give it our best. “We went in there and made our contributions both individually and collectively, and without which the result of the war would have been different.” Although he did not elaborate on the exploits of the “few soldiers’’ during the war which ended 35 years ago, the President said just as credit was given to the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for the way he managed the government’s finances, Rotimi deserved commendation for providing the logistics that led to the success of the war. “Everybody said that the finances were well managed by Chief Awolowo, but the logistics were also well managed by Wole,” he said. Obasanjo said he particularly took interest in the conduct of Rotimi during the war because, “As a soldier, Wole, in every sense of the word acquitted himself creditably.” The President said he hoped that there would be another opportunity for him “to say all those things we did together, especially about our exploits in the military.’’ Rotimi, a one-time governor of the defuct Western State, and now a member of the National Political Reforms Conference, recalled that, “If there was no Nigerian agenda, Nigeria would have gone under during the civil war.” Noting that it is not easy to build a nation, Rotimi called on delegates to the National Political Reform Conference to subsume regionalism for a Nigerian agenda . He said that given the kind of sentiments being expressed at the conference, the unity of the country was being threatened. According to him, “People have come to the conference with all kinds of entrenched positions, but I am happy that some sanity is gradually coming because the majority are interested in Nigeria. “I have heard about all kinds of agenda- Yoruba agenda, Afenifere agenda, Arewa agenda, Ohaneze agenda, South-South- agenda, but all these are theatrics. “Delegates must think seriously about Nigeria and must subsume all other agenda under the Nigerian agenda.” He urged proponents of regionalism to have a rethink because, a federal system was the best for the country. “If there are differences in certain areas, let us fine-tune them. Even if it means giving a little more power to the states, so be it, but not going to the extent of demanding regionalism,’’ he said. The PUNCH, Monday, March 14, 2005, 4:40:06 PM    comment []

MASSOB Ebonyi State This Day (Lagos) March 12, 2005 Posted to the web March 14, 2005 Chinedu Eze Abakaliki About 30 members of Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) are currently being detained in Ebonyi Stte for conspiracy and the breach of public peace. The Ebonyi state director of State Security Service (SSS), Mr. Tayo Amu made this known on yesterday while addressing newsmen in Abakaliki, the state capital. Amu named Ogazi Godfrey, Iboko Martin, Chukwu Eze and three female members Rose Omiko, Ebere Okafor and Ifeoma Chukwu among those in custody. The SSS boss said that the MASSOB members currently facing trial were already remanded in the prison custody. Meanwhile, the director of SSS has commenced a security awareness sensitization campaign in Ebonyi state, starting with Ezza North local government area. At the council headquarters on Thursday, Mr. Amu appealed to traditional rulers and major stakeholders of the local government to dissuade their children and others to shun the activities of MASSOB. He pointed out to them that the movement was concerned about splitting Nigeria, which would not augur well for both Igbos and the rest of Nigeria, noting that such campaign is retrogressive and would go a long way in dislodging the Igbos who have business stakes in all the parts of the country. Instead of joining the movement of MASSOB, Amu advised the people of Ezza North local government area to accentuate their agitation for Nigerian president from Igbo extraction in 2007. He noted that prominent Igbo sons and daughters are currently members of the delegation who are deliberating on how to better Nigeria at the on-going political reform conference in Abuja and stressed that these representatives would project a better deal for Igbos in the Nigeria project. Amu reminded the people to reflect on the entrepreneurial skill of the Igbos and imagine what they would lose at the balkanization of the country, as they have made other parts of the country their home. He reminded the council chairman that as the chief security officer in the local government he should not allow any other flag that is not Nigeria flag to be hoisted in the local government area. In the responses, the various traditional rulers who attended the event assured the SSS director that the entire Ezza clan was ready to partner with government to ensure that there was security in the area, and said that they believe in one, indivisible 10:27:30 AM    comment []