NGF crisis: Obasanjo peace move crumbles -PUNCH

THE efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to douse the tension among the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have failed.

Obasanjo met with the governors on Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to intervene in the crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

A major decision at the meeting was to persuade both Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi; and his Plateau counterpart, Jonah Jang, to step down for a neutral person as Chairman of the NGF.

But The PUNCH learnt on Wednesday that the two governors had refused to step down.

Amaechi and Jang are both claiming the chairmanship of the forum since its controversial election three months ago. The NGF has since split into two with Amaechi and Jang controlling different factions.

Before the Tuesday’s meeting, which ended at a few minutes after 3am, Obasanjo had earlier met with the governors on Monday night.

The two meetings were said to have centred on discipline in the PDP, the NGF crisis and sundry issues among which are the crisis in Rivers State; matter of  automatic tickets for political office holders, and lack of cohesion among the governors.

On Wednesday, it was gathered that some of the governors in the Jang faction of the NGF raised the matter of persuading both Jang and Amaechi to step down but those in the Amaechi Camp objected, saying that the matter was beyond what could be discussed at the meeting.

Though a source at Monday’s meeting said that there was hope that the issue would be resolved, he said that the matter assumed a new dimension at the resumed meeting on Tuesday when both parties refused to shift ground.

A source close to the two governors, on Wednesday, said, “There was nothing like that. Both of them have agreed to stick to their mandate.”

He added that though Jang was “almost ready to step down because those who voted for him were at the meeting, Amaechi however said he needed to meet those who elected him since his supporters cut across party lines during the election.”

The source added that Obasanjo had agreed to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan on the matter.

Speaking through the Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, Jang said, “The meeting is still inconclusive.”

The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, described Amaechi as a defender of democratic principles and would not hesitate to yield to the opinion of the governors that voted him as their chairman.

Semenitari, who spoke with one of our correspondents in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, explained that the governors had not asked Amaechi to step down, so he remained the NGF chairman,

She said, “What I know is that Nigerians are aware of the democratic process by which the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum was picked. As far as I know Governor Chibuike Amaechi, I also know that he believes that the democratic process should not in any way be one that we will treat with levity.

“Everybody who knows Amaechi knows that he does defend democratic principles. What I am certain of is that the Chairman of the NGF as of today is Rt. Honourable Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

“But if all of the governors, especially the governors who voted for Governor Amaechi, ask him to step down, that would mean that the majority of the governors have decided that there should be a new chairman. Naturally, he would concede to his colleagues. But today, that is not the case.”

Meanwhile, one of the aggrieved northern governors, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State, on Wednesday met with the President behind closed-doors at the Villa, Abuja.

That was the first time Nyako would meet with Jonathan alone since the crises rocking the PDP and the NGF started.

While speaking with State House correspondents at the end of his meeting with Jonathan, Nyako insisted that Jang did not have any claim to the NGF chairmanship because he did not win the election.

When asked specifically whether the governors resolved at their recent meeting with Obasanjo that both Jang and Amaechi should step down as the chairman of the NGF, the governor said, “You are saying Jang should step down, step down for what? Did he win the election? What we are saying here is that if he is going to step down because he is second winner, then that is their business and it is not the business of others or the winner to tell him to step down. He is number two, he got the second highest votes and that is the way forward. Step down for what? From number two to where? Number three or four?”

Nyako said the crisis in the NGF was unnecessary because it was clear that Amaechi won the election.

He said one of the criteria of electing a leader for the forum was that their chairman must be trustworthy.

He said while the governors wanted a chairman that would have a cordial relationship with the President, they could not be comfortable with a chairman that would turn himself to the President’s “yes man.”

Nyako said, “The election in the governors’ forum has become an issue. It should not be an issue. When you say 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, even someone who is in elementary school knows which one is higher.

“If one group got 19 votes and the other got 16, in a democracy even in the eyes of the people in elementary school, they know that 19 is higher than 16. It should not be turned into a controversy.”

When asked whether the NGF issue was discussed in the meeting with Obasanjo, he simply said, “It was part of it but you should understand the rationale.”

REGINA ASKIA WRITES FEMI FANI-KAYODE OVER SEX RANTS

 

I’ve Just Been Told That Having Sex With An Igbo Woman Is A Great Accomplishment!!! After reading another hard-drug-influenced-essay by the Yoruba idiot parading himself as Femi Fani-Kayode,Ex-Minister of the Nigerian Federation, I felt there was no need to blame him for giving us another reason why his family members should as a matter of urgency, BUNDLE HIM BACK TO A REHAB! No! I don’t blame Femi Fani-Kayode for having a fun-filled day telling us how he ‘breezed’ through Bianca Onoh before our very revered Eze-Igbo married her… I blame Bianca Onoh , Chioma Anasoh & Adaobi Uchegbu for being naive or to have rather stooped so low to have intimate relationship with a Yoruba rascal/urchin/idiot whom i’m very sure was on heavy use of cocaine (and still is) at the time!

Were Bianca, Chioma & Adaobi blind to Femi’s madness/drug-addiction or maybe he flashed his Ministerial/Ex-Ministerial portfolio to entice them? This is the first time a former public figure (I blame Former President Obasanjo for giving him that privilege) has preferred to reel out the names of women he had sex with, in a bid to show-off how he has been able to conquer tribalism in Nigeria or maybe trying to tell others he has been able to have sex with one of the prettiest ex beauty queens another tribe may boast of, like Bianca Ojukwu (Nee Onoh) of the Igbo tribe.

Some persons have adviced that Femi Fani-Kayode should be ignored due to his MENTAL INSTABILITY but i say NO to it! I will not ignore him because when a mad-man chases one into his house & still want to exhibit that madness there, the owner of the house will definitely react except he doesn’t value his house!

This has taken a tribal angle & its such a shame that many Yorubas have been applauding Fani-Kayode’s spiteful comments against the Igbo. I may not want to generalize the behavioural disorders of even the average Yoruba, but i want to use this ample opportunity to remind our single Igbo sisters that if “He” is not Igbo, He can’t be like an Igbo-man who won’t be so ridiculous to think that giving us some of the names of our ladies he had sex with makes him a superman, as Femi Kayode must be ‘thinking’ in his fool’s paradise.

Right now in Nigeria, the likes of a Yoruba bastard like Femi Fani-Kayode have proved that Igbo women should think “wisely” in making choices as regards whom they allow ‘ACCESS’ to their much fancied bodies. An Igboman would NEVER do what Femi Fani-Kayode did with the names of Bianca Ojukwu (Nee Onoh), PDP’s Adaobi Uchegbu & the relatively unknown Chioma Anasoh or even women from other tribes. He typically exhibited behavioural disorder of the Yorubas, which is to them, a normal way of life. What a shame!

Bianca Ojukwu & the other two ladies should as a matter of urgency, reply Femi Fani-Kayode’s show of lunacy, stupidity, foolishness, infantile reasoning & utter disrespect for them!

Femi Fani-Kayode consciously & gladly made a spiteful remark of Igbo women & our women should take the fight to him in a very deserving impudent manner! I am waiting for the responses by Bianca, Adaobi & Chioma.

By the way, I never knew men from other tribes take having sex with an Igbo lady as a great feat… Bianca & others should hold their heads high up.

I slept with Bianca ...Ojukwu's Wife -FaniKayode

Those that call me a tribalist are simply misguided. Perhaps they do not know the meaning of the word or its true import. Those that know me well can confirm the fact that I am not a tribalist, a racist or a bigot and that I consider such sentiments as being unworthy of a man of class, good breeding and culture. I am however a firm believer in the propagation of truth and I appreciate the value and importance of history. Sadly many of our igbo compatriots do not believe in that. For them history consists of only one thing- how other Nigerians have always marginalised them and treated them badly.
If only they knew their own history, where they are coming from, what they used to be, where they were 100 years ago and what their forefathers did to the rest of Nigeria over the last 80 years they would know why they have always had such a hard time in this country. Sadly because they dont know any of these things they cannot learn from them. And if they cannot learn from them they will continue to make the same mistakes. That is why they can come to another mans land and territory and call it their own and when we say ”no” they tell us to shut up and call us tribalists.
I was not a tribalist when I wrote a tribute to Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu after he died or when I condemned the ’60′s pogroms that took place in the north in which their people were slaughtered like flies. I was not a tribalist when I wrote against my good friend Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima and child marriage in the north. Yet now I am a tribalist because I spoke the truth about our history and who the yoruba are. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Bianca Onoh, an igbo lady, who many years later married Ojukwu and who is now our Ambassador in Spain. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Chioma Anasoh, another igbo lady, who I almost took as a second wife. I was not a tribalist when I had a long-standing and intimate relationship with Miss Adaobi Uchegbu, another igbo lady, who was exceptionally close to me and who is now at the National Headquarters of the ruling PDP.
I was not a tribalist when I wrote essays defending the rights of the igbo and every other Nigerian nationality to exercise their right of self-determination and leave Nigeria if that is what they wanted to do. I was not a tribalist when I consistently wrote that Nigeria must have a Sovereign National Conference where the rights and obligations of all its various nationalities would be clearly defined and agreed upon. I was not a tribalist when I employed more igbo people as a Presidential spokesman and a Minister of the Federal Republic than even my own yoruba. I was not a tribalist when I wrote an essay, just two years ago, extolling the virtues of igbo women and telling the world about their sudden and meteoric rise and how far they had gone in the power circles of this country in the last 10 years. I was not a tribalist when I condemned the bombing of predominantly igbo and catholic churches and the killing of the igbo and others by Boko Haram in the north over the last three years.
I was not a tribalist when I risked my life by consistently writing against Boko Haram and urging our President to do a better job at protecting the lives of all Nigerians even though I live in the north. I was not a tribalist when I wrote against political sharia in the late ’90′s and I participated in protracted and sometimes acrimoniuos debates with islamic fundamentalists and islamists. I was not a tribalist when I was in NADECO and when we fought against military rule in Nigeria. I was not a tribalist when I fought for a President from the south-south or the south-east. I was not a tribalist when I wrote in defence of the igbo when it came to the abandoned property issue. I was not a tribalist when I wrote about the excesses of the Federal troops during the civil war. I was not a tribalist when I commended Azikiwe and the virtues of the NCNC in Nigerian history. I was not a tribalist when I wrote that it was unfair and wrong for the Federal Government of Nigeria to leave the igbo with only 20 pounds each after the civil war. I was not a tribalist when many years ago I attended and gave my life to Christ in a church called TREM which was established by a great igbo man by the name of Bishop Mike Okonkwo. I was not a tribalist when my grandfather Justice Victor Adedapo Kayode, taught Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe at Methodist Boys High School in Lagos and when my father, Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode, was appointed as the leader of the predominantly igbo NCNC in the Western Regional House of Assembly. I could go on and on. These people have very short memories and anyone that does not agree with them all the time or that says one word against them at any point in time is labelled a tribalist for life.
They called Chief Obafemi Awolowo a tribalist, an igbo-hater a genocidal maniac and a child-killer simply because the man refused to join sides with them in the civil war yet they forgot that on one of the occassions that Awolowo ran for the Presidency his running mate was from the east and not from the north. They called Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Chief S.L Akintola and Sir Ahmadu Bello igbo-haters and tribalists simply because they saw through the igbo agenda at a very early stage in our history and they marked and killed them all for it. They called General Yakubu Gowon a genocidal maniac, a child-killer, an igbo-hater and a tribalist simply because opposed Biafra, stood up to Ojukwu and insisted on keeping Nigeria together and even though he declared that there was ”no victor and no vanquished” after the civil war.

They accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of being a tribalist and an igbo-hater even though he appointed an igbo man as the first GOC in the Nigerian Army since 1966 and even though he appointed more igbos into key positions in his government than any President before him. They accused President Shehu Shagari of being a tribalist and an igbo-hater even though he pardoned Ojukwu and allowed him to return back home after a long period in exile. They have accused the Nigerian people of being tribalists and igbo-haters simply because we have not had an igbo President since 1966 forgetting that Nigeria was magnamonious in victory and that she not only gladly welcomed them back into the fold after the civil war but that she also gave them the Vice Presidency of the country only ten years later. They have labelled the northerners as tribalists and igbo-haters simply because the north has refused to tolerate their excesses and accept their complicated ways. They have labelled the Niger Deltans as tribalists and igbo-haters simply due to the ”abandoned property issue” and because historically many of them have always resisted the idea of igbo domination.
They have labelled the yoruba as tribalists and igbo-haters simply because we have refused to accept their claims to our land and territory and even though we were more charitable, hospitable, accomodating and generous to them than any other nationality in Nigeria after the civil war. The yoruba particularly have been too kind and gentle with them. That is the problem. They see our liberal and accomodating nature as stupidity and weakness. That is why they always call the yoruba cowards forgetting that the history of the yoruba proves otherwise. It is now time to tell the truth. They despise the yoruba and they only pretend to believe in one Nigeria as long as they can always have their way and laud it over others. Worst of all, generally speaking, they have no restraining factors because money and the acquisition of wealth is their sole objective and purpose in life.
Someone ought to tell them that this is not a virtue but a vice. It is a cultural deficiency which is borne out of not having any history. If they did they would be less aggressive, more restrained and far more civil to others even where and when they disagree with them. If speaking these bitter home truths and yearning and fighting for a better Nigeria makes me a tribalist then it is a toga that I would be happy to wear. I will not sit by quietly and allow my people, the yoruba people of south western Nigeria, to be rubbished, insulted and cheated by anyone no matter how aggressive and given to extreemities that anyone may believe he is. I make or offer and no apology for my views. My numerous assertions on the igbo stand.
Meanwhile I have read all sorts of strange submissions in various newspapers and blogs that have held themselves out as rejoinders to my two articles titled “Lagos, The Igbo and the Servants Of Truth” and “The Bitter Truth About The Igbo”. Sadly other than the usual abuse and ungodly clap-trap not one of them has been able to address ANY of the issues that I raised in either of the two articles, answer any of the questions that I posed in them or successfully challenge my presentation of historical facts.
The bellicose nature and sheer crassness of these so-called rejoinders goes to prove two things. Firstly that those that I have descibed as being collectively unlettered, uncouth, uncultured, unrestrained and crude in all their ways really are all those things and a lot more and secondly that they cannot put up any reasonable or serious arguement to discredit or refute the message so instead they are attempting to destroy the messanger. Meanwhile the two essays have been published in various newspapers in our country and outside and it will continue to be published by others long into the forseeable future.
The message is clear and it is already out there. It cannot be called back in. The horse has bolted from the stable and the falcon has left the nest. No matter how hard those that are attempting to intimidate us into silence may try it will not work and we will not be cowed. The message is already out there and the genie is already out of the bottle. Those that seek to continue to denigrate and belittle the yoruba and lay claim to what is rightfully ours should desist from doing so. They should grant us our peace and give us our due respect and they will get the same in return. If they do not do so those things will elude them and eventually history will repeat itself again in this country.
Meanwhile when anyone reads a rejoinder that addresses the issues that I raised in my essays and that has some level of scholarship and intellectual content they should please let me know and I may well dignify it with a response. The shameless and emotional thrash and disjointed verbiage that have been described as rejoinders so far are just not up to scratch. They are bereft of any scholarship and intellectual content. They also invoke pity in me for the faceless plebians that wrote them and those they claim to be speaking for. When the igbo, or anyone else, find a real champion that can cross swords with me and give me a good run for my money someone should please let me know. I am itching for a real debate with a worthy adversary on this issue.
Like the great Achilles I feel that I have no match. Are there no Hector’s out there? Sadly it appears that my accusers, traducers, opposers and haters cannot find one. All they have is their hate, their ignorance, their insults and their inbred crudity and vulgarity.

MY WALK WITH UOU: 31 REASONS HE'S MY 2015 PASSWORD! -Bush

MY WALK WITH UOU: 31 REASONS HE'S MY 2015 PASSWORD!

 
6) He's Uniquely-ENGAGING:

1.0 I was somewhere today when an AIT programme came on air. Presenter Gbenga Aruleba, while introducing one of his two guests, spent sometime eulogising the man. He spoke of how the man has been in the National Assembly since the 1999 return of democracy. When Mr. Aruleba named the guest, a guy who was also watching hissed and said, 'Is Senator Ita Enang not tired?' Bla bla bla. As a rule, a politician (sorry, a public office holder) must be very good for me to defend him/her in public. I don't pretend about these things. For Senator Ita Enang, even his enemies know he is one of the best in the history of lawmaking in Nigeria. I said so to the guy, and with facts. As my people say, the guy changed mouth immediately: 'Ah, it is people like Senator Ita Enang that Nigeria needs!'

2.0 From the foregoing, Nigerians are moving from the point of anything-goes. We are tired of change for change sake; tired of sending our family or friends to power only for them to draw blank all through the tenure. Our interest now lies in people who can deliver. Post 2015, I see an Akwa Ibom where Oro nation will prefer Ibibio as governor once sure such a one can perform better than its own son or daughter, and vice versa. As Ibibio myself, I want to root for an Eastern Obolo man or woman who boasts of the right credentials to be my governor. Angling to be my governor only on the basis of where you come from, smacks of stone age politics. For me, that is a no no. So, I ask again: what will the man or woman you want bring to our 2015 table?

3.0 Straight up, here's more of what I consider to be the USP of my Choice 2015. I like very few of the leaders I see in Nigeria. I can say that again. Most of the people leading my country should be behind someone else. Enter UOU. With his monumental capacity, content and quality, this ENGAGING personality is a leadership asset. An NLC Chief at home once told me that his family and he decided to follow UOU the day the man was called up at very short notice to address some Niger Delta Oil & Gas Forum. The Labour Boss said he never thought any Akwa Ibom man or woman could speak that well and factually, extempore, in a field he/she was not a known authority. UOU is that all-weather expert, or rather a Jack of all trade and master of all. He knows a little of everything. I joke with him regularly that he should be a journalist. As for our State Search 2015, I pray Heaven considers this EARNEST, EASEFUL, EDUCATED, EFFECTIVE, ELEGANT, ENIGMATIC, EXPERIENCED figure, IJN. Jesus is Lord! ...B