OPINION: Stella Oduah will not resign and there’s nothing you can do about it - By Bisi Lawrence
Fuming
behind a shield of ruffians, a member of the Advisory Committee, an old
soldier, Col. Tony Nyiam, proceeded to bring into disrepute the
committee and himself by attempting to heckle the governor
I strongly feel I should bring you all that Governor Adams Oshiomhole
of Edo State said in Benin City at the meeting of the Presidential
Advisory Committee on National Conference/Dialogue, despite the attempts
to gag him by a mob of hired hooligans. You might have been aware of it
anyway, though I believe some parts of it can bear repeating for a
number of reasons..
The former Labour Leader No. 1 was not against discussions on “very serious issues”, he explained. However, “whoever wants to convene a meeting must be clear what the issues are. You don’t assemble people and then ask them, what do we talk? I cannot agree more.
Even the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks — SALT — which was convened between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in the sixties had a clear agenda for the so-called “talks about talks”, It even had a given name right from the outset. But here we have so much vacancy in the line-up of the headings for the proposed “dialogue” that one doesn’t really know whether it is a conference, or discussion, or convocation, or whatever. The Presidential Advisory Committee on it still has to give it a proper name. To
Governor Oshiomhole, as it appears, it is all about the “politics of sharing: who is getting what, who has this natural endowment, who should do this, or not do this… “ And that he describes as “the act of perfecting poverty “.
The truth is that the man who convened the dialogue … or whatever … President Goodluck Jonathan, probably still needs to convince himself that it is useful beyond the function of diverting the people’s attention from the “very serious issues”.
Governor Oshiomhole went on: “The real challenge is getting Nigeria back to production. The real challenge is creating industrial base and this cannot be resolved through conferences. “ The Edo State Governor remains one of the few people worth listening to in our nation today. He is forthright as behoves a real leader, and speaks from a full tank of experience in social engineering and human relations.
Fuming behind a shield of ruffians, a member of the Advisory Committee, an old soldier, Col. Tony Nyiam, proceeded to bring into disrepute the committee and himself by attempting to heckle the governor. It was perhaps his own way of assuring himself of his relevance within the committee. He never seemed to have been possessed of anything much to contribute to seeking, howbeit, a nebulous solution to an unformulated problem. But as a sometimes military person, one would still expect him to respect what might be called the “rules of engagement” at such a gathering. In the porous defence he later put up, he claimed that Oshiomhole was “sarcastic” in a manner disrespectful of the President. That is one of the reasons why the entire text of the Edo State Governor’s address should have been published. There was not a breath of anything derogatory about the President in it. Nyiam,of course, has to shamefacedly, frame an excuse.
It would be instructive, however, to mark the fiasco at the Benin Conference as a warning for what might ensue at the Conference proper when it holds — not if it holds, because it will definitely be held. The stakes are already high even among those who do not believe in the purpose of the confab. Among them are some who believe that they could turn the scheme round to veer from the purview of the National Assembly’s eventual decision. That, of course, will not happen. Dear old Goodluck, our amiable President, is not going to shoot himself in the foot — twice.
There will be emotional moments, especially among Nigerians who cannot accommodate the emergence of an idea, or a proposal contrary to their own, or detrimental to their standpoint. The assault led by the stalwart colonel in Benin City would be child’s play in comparison with what may be in the offing when the real confrontations, as it may all turn out to be, begin. From this distance, it hardly looks like an ideal environment for a talk-shop about anything apart from how to start a bush-fire. I hope I am wrong, but get your fire-extinguishers ready.
In the meantime, it has been suggested that Col. Nyiam should resign his membership of the Advisory Committee. The Chairman has indicted that only the man who “hired” him could “fire” Mm — and that is the President. Well don’t hold your breath in expectation of that eventuality. In the normal course of things, it may take the birth of a committee to investigate the merits and demerits of the Colonel’s standpoint, as well as his plain bad manners, to decide whether he should resign or be allowed to “soldier on’1.
The grandstanding of the so-called G-7 — that is the seven People Democratic Party’s State Governors who stepped out of the Party — baffles us. At the beginning of the imbroglio, when nineteen governors were said to have voted for the Rivers State Governor Amaechi to be the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, any division created by that issue would have been expected to split the POP along that equation. But only seven came out and have held firm, it would appear. Although some other State Governors apart from the PDP did add to that number, one expects to see a solid feature, a recognizable visage, by now. But only words.
The leadership also seems diffused. The gathering — one can hardly call it an organization — was often referred to as Baraje-led; at the initial stage it seemed as former Vice-President Atiku was going to be the leader, but since he is not a governor, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, has claimed the palm. But his absence at only one meeting, recently set tongues wagging that he had withdrawn from the group. He had to swiftly refute the report as false and state that he was still in the fold, and as the leader at that.
The fact that some credibility was lent to the false story indicated the dwindling support of the faction. That is what they were and that is what they have remained, and that is not a very attractive identity. But from what Governor Aliyu recently indicated, they may be just that, perhaps till they cease to be. The Niger State Governor said they were waiting for the President to make the next move. What other move?
President Jonathan is supported by the Constitution to seek a second term of office, and he intends to do just that unless there is a legal interpretation of his tenure which decides that he is already serving that second term. Whichever direction one looks, there is not even a smudge of that on the clear horizon. We can now all agree that he has given every notice of his decision about 2015, bar the shouting. And the determination of aborting that project is one of the platforms on which the G-7 rest their return into the fold of the PDP.
Another pillar of their conditions for a return to the mainstream of their political base is the removal of the party’s chairman, Bamanga Tukur, a veteran warrior and denizen of monumental intrigues. He is firmly anchored in the good graces of President Goodluck whom he spares no pains to publicly support wholeheartedly. With a benign outward disposition, he has cunningly employed quality time to dig holes around the legality of the G.7’s existence as a political entity, and watches the dwindling credibility of his fumbling “children”. Thus, at this point, we see Baraje decreasing, while Bamaga – with a Father Christmas gusto — is increasing daily. And yet the G-7 initially seemed to have everything going for them. May the better men lose?
the better men losing?
If you have had enough of the figures of 255 million naira, and 2 armoured cars, purchsed for just 1 lady minister, you may stop reading this page at this point. Much as I crave your esteemed readership, I would hesitate to weary you with just another story of corruption in high places.
While we must not keep quiet and allow such stench in our public life to pass muster, we should begin to review weapons available for fighting against this kind of evil in our midst.
What can we rightly do about Stella? She has not misappropriated public funds—only apparently squandered them. She decided, it would also appear, to ride a car — pardon me, two cars— costing more than that of the President of her own country. But then, you may even ask, why two cars? Well, why not? You may write lengthy articles in the newspaper for those who may not have known the details; they will read them, shake their heads, and dump the newspaper out of sight because they can do nothing about it. The people who can do something about it will not read the newspaper because they know what is in it, and know they won’t do anything about it.
Ah! So you take to the streets and begin to demonstrate with placards decrying corruption only to run into another group also carrying placards but decrying your action — and you get arrested by the police, to boot. On the orders from above. From there also came the order to set up a panel — one of those panels, you know — which consume more funds from the national coffers and submits its report. And that is that.
Do not ask for Stella to resign. She will not, anyway. All the facts are now known and you can see that improprieties abound. But there is nothing you can do about it. Only the man who “hired” her can “fire” her. And will he? Time out.
PS I thank all of you who congratulated me in any way on my eightieth birthday. I feel I did not do a good enough job last week. But I could never do it well enough, for the outpouring of love was overwhelming. It feels so good I wish I was eighty all over again. God bless you all.
The former Labour Leader No. 1 was not against discussions on “very serious issues”, he explained. However, “whoever wants to convene a meeting must be clear what the issues are. You don’t assemble people and then ask them, what do we talk? I cannot agree more.
Even the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks — SALT — which was convened between the United States of America and the Soviet Union in the sixties had a clear agenda for the so-called “talks about talks”, It even had a given name right from the outset. But here we have so much vacancy in the line-up of the headings for the proposed “dialogue” that one doesn’t really know whether it is a conference, or discussion, or convocation, or whatever. The Presidential Advisory Committee on it still has to give it a proper name. To
Governor Oshiomhole, as it appears, it is all about the “politics of sharing: who is getting what, who has this natural endowment, who should do this, or not do this… “ And that he describes as “the act of perfecting poverty “.
The truth is that the man who convened the dialogue … or whatever … President Goodluck Jonathan, probably still needs to convince himself that it is useful beyond the function of diverting the people’s attention from the “very serious issues”.
Governor Oshiomhole went on: “The real challenge is getting Nigeria back to production. The real challenge is creating industrial base and this cannot be resolved through conferences. “ The Edo State Governor remains one of the few people worth listening to in our nation today. He is forthright as behoves a real leader, and speaks from a full tank of experience in social engineering and human relations.
Fuming behind a shield of ruffians, a member of the Advisory Committee, an old soldier, Col. Tony Nyiam, proceeded to bring into disrepute the committee and himself by attempting to heckle the governor. It was perhaps his own way of assuring himself of his relevance within the committee. He never seemed to have been possessed of anything much to contribute to seeking, howbeit, a nebulous solution to an unformulated problem. But as a sometimes military person, one would still expect him to respect what might be called the “rules of engagement” at such a gathering. In the porous defence he later put up, he claimed that Oshiomhole was “sarcastic” in a manner disrespectful of the President. That is one of the reasons why the entire text of the Edo State Governor’s address should have been published. There was not a breath of anything derogatory about the President in it. Nyiam,of course, has to shamefacedly, frame an excuse.
It would be instructive, however, to mark the fiasco at the Benin Conference as a warning for what might ensue at the Conference proper when it holds — not if it holds, because it will definitely be held. The stakes are already high even among those who do not believe in the purpose of the confab. Among them are some who believe that they could turn the scheme round to veer from the purview of the National Assembly’s eventual decision. That, of course, will not happen. Dear old Goodluck, our amiable President, is not going to shoot himself in the foot — twice.
There will be emotional moments, especially among Nigerians who cannot accommodate the emergence of an idea, or a proposal contrary to their own, or detrimental to their standpoint. The assault led by the stalwart colonel in Benin City would be child’s play in comparison with what may be in the offing when the real confrontations, as it may all turn out to be, begin. From this distance, it hardly looks like an ideal environment for a talk-shop about anything apart from how to start a bush-fire. I hope I am wrong, but get your fire-extinguishers ready.
In the meantime, it has been suggested that Col. Nyiam should resign his membership of the Advisory Committee. The Chairman has indicted that only the man who “hired” him could “fire” Mm — and that is the President. Well don’t hold your breath in expectation of that eventuality. In the normal course of things, it may take the birth of a committee to investigate the merits and demerits of the Colonel’s standpoint, as well as his plain bad manners, to decide whether he should resign or be allowed to “soldier on’1.
The grandstanding of the so-called G-7 — that is the seven People Democratic Party’s State Governors who stepped out of the Party — baffles us. At the beginning of the imbroglio, when nineteen governors were said to have voted for the Rivers State Governor Amaechi to be the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, any division created by that issue would have been expected to split the POP along that equation. But only seven came out and have held firm, it would appear. Although some other State Governors apart from the PDP did add to that number, one expects to see a solid feature, a recognizable visage, by now. But only words.
The leadership also seems diffused. The gathering — one can hardly call it an organization — was often referred to as Baraje-led; at the initial stage it seemed as former Vice-President Atiku was going to be the leader, but since he is not a governor, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, has claimed the palm. But his absence at only one meeting, recently set tongues wagging that he had withdrawn from the group. He had to swiftly refute the report as false and state that he was still in the fold, and as the leader at that.
The fact that some credibility was lent to the false story indicated the dwindling support of the faction. That is what they were and that is what they have remained, and that is not a very attractive identity. But from what Governor Aliyu recently indicated, they may be just that, perhaps till they cease to be. The Niger State Governor said they were waiting for the President to make the next move. What other move?
President Jonathan is supported by the Constitution to seek a second term of office, and he intends to do just that unless there is a legal interpretation of his tenure which decides that he is already serving that second term. Whichever direction one looks, there is not even a smudge of that on the clear horizon. We can now all agree that he has given every notice of his decision about 2015, bar the shouting. And the determination of aborting that project is one of the platforms on which the G-7 rest their return into the fold of the PDP.
Another pillar of their conditions for a return to the mainstream of their political base is the removal of the party’s chairman, Bamanga Tukur, a veteran warrior and denizen of monumental intrigues. He is firmly anchored in the good graces of President Goodluck whom he spares no pains to publicly support wholeheartedly. With a benign outward disposition, he has cunningly employed quality time to dig holes around the legality of the G.7’s existence as a political entity, and watches the dwindling credibility of his fumbling “children”. Thus, at this point, we see Baraje decreasing, while Bamaga – with a Father Christmas gusto — is increasing daily. And yet the G-7 initially seemed to have everything going for them. May the better men lose?
the better men losing?
If you have had enough of the figures of 255 million naira, and 2 armoured cars, purchsed for just 1 lady minister, you may stop reading this page at this point. Much as I crave your esteemed readership, I would hesitate to weary you with just another story of corruption in high places.
While we must not keep quiet and allow such stench in our public life to pass muster, we should begin to review weapons available for fighting against this kind of evil in our midst.
What can we rightly do about Stella? She has not misappropriated public funds—only apparently squandered them. She decided, it would also appear, to ride a car — pardon me, two cars— costing more than that of the President of her own country. But then, you may even ask, why two cars? Well, why not? You may write lengthy articles in the newspaper for those who may not have known the details; they will read them, shake their heads, and dump the newspaper out of sight because they can do nothing about it. The people who can do something about it will not read the newspaper because they know what is in it, and know they won’t do anything about it.
Ah! So you take to the streets and begin to demonstrate with placards decrying corruption only to run into another group also carrying placards but decrying your action — and you get arrested by the police, to boot. On the orders from above. From there also came the order to set up a panel — one of those panels, you know — which consume more funds from the national coffers and submits its report. And that is that.
Do not ask for Stella to resign. She will not, anyway. All the facts are now known and you can see that improprieties abound. But there is nothing you can do about it. Only the man who “hired” her can “fire” her. And will he? Time out.
PS I thank all of you who congratulated me in any way on my eightieth birthday. I feel I did not do a good enough job last week. But I could never do it well enough, for the outpouring of love was overwhelming. It feels so good I wish I was eighty all over again. God bless you all.
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Source: Thisday Newspapers
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Kevin Djakpor's B;og
