Uganda Rural Community Support USA

Since he became president of Sierra Leone, all of Alhaji Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah’s choices for the post of Foreign Minister have been squarely
sentimentally made. From Maigore Kallon to Shirley Gbujama and Sama Banya, all
have failed to capture the imagination and the eyes of people that matter in
international affairs and diplomacy.

While Maigore Kallon was aging and sickly, Shirley Gbujama, despite her pre-
ambassadorial experiences, was too soft and drowsy to vigorously pursue the goal
and even the essence of a Foreign Minister. As for Sama Banya, he encapsulates
the flaws of his last two predecessors. He is weak, dull, inert, and lacks the
ability to robustly project the image of his country. Consequently, the
President and his Finance Minister have been compelled to be acting as Foreign
Minister from time to time.

Things have so changed on the fields of world and national politics that with
an effective Vice President and a powerful Foreign Minister, the President only
coordinates and supervises the affairs of government both locally and
internationally.

Whereas a Vice President takes care of the day-to-day administration of a
country, a country’s Foreign Minister champions his overseas course. This is why
leaders of the big and powerful countries are falling for young and energetic
ministers who have vision and clairvoyance. This is lacking in Sierra Leone.
Whereas most of our Parliamentarians go to sleep in parliament or lazily hasten
up debates to make room for their badly needed rest - thanks to their age, the
US Congress and the British House of Commons are full of filled with dramatic
and fiery dispositions - thanks to their youth and youthfulness.

These are the days of young and dynamic energetism and clairvoyance. No
ministry needs this more than the Foreign Affairs Ministry. A foreign minister
does not only need to be articulate and eloquent, he/she should also be crafty
and witty with his choice of words whenever he talks. Preferably, he/she should
be able to do so in at least two leading languages of the world, preferably
English and French.

This enables him/her to interact easily and freely with as many of his
opposite numbers as possible. Since a nurse or a medical doctor cannot become a
Minister of Justice and Attorney General, so also should somebody who has not
studied the rudiments of foreign policy and diplomacy be made a foreign
minister. As a matter of fact, you don’t expect a leper to be able to snatch
foo-foo nor do you expect a bitch to cackle. Bleating is for sheep and barking
is for dogs.

I recall during the rule of the AFRC junta, Sierra Leone’s foreign machinery
was completely ground to a halt. Not only was the then foreign minister dormant
and mute as if nothing was there to be said, even the High Commission in London
under the leadership of Prof. CP Foray, was up to no good. Consequently the
country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr. James Jonah was
traversing the world putting things where they should be.

Also, Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the United States, John Leigh became the
unofficial foreign affairs spokesman. Furthermore, following the January ‘99
invasion of Freetown by rebels, the office of the foreign minister evaporated
and almost became non-existent - thanks to the inert and inept Foreign Minister
Sama Banya. This brings me to the clout displayed by the young, witty and
clairvoyant foreign minister of Liberia.

Amidst the international pressure on Liberia for its supportive role in
helping the rebels in Sierra Leone Monie Captan went on a series of whirlwind
foreign tours to the West and other countries of the world. He effectively
articulated the views of his government. Even though his government was 100%
guilty of the charge, foreign minister Captan was able to loose the tightening
of the screws on needs. his government. That is the kind of aggressively
vigorous Foreign Minister Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone’s foreign affairs job in projecting the country’s is purely
being done by journalists notwithstanding the government’s bashing of
journalists. The country’s foreign ministry is impotent. He is also not a man
who is liked by the people. Don’t say that to President Kabbah though. Sama
Banya, if he must be a minister, should be sent some other place as the ministry
he is currently heading is none of his business.

At this most crucial time when this country needs the attention of the world,
and at a time when neither President Kabbah nor Dr. James Jonah can afford to be
always overlapping to another ministry, Sierra Leone needs a very dynamic
Foreign Minister who can help sell the country to the world. The country surely
does not need a spent force who will continue distracting the attention of the
President to be doing his own assignment.

Only an incurable political non-realist and an unrepentant cynic
would contest the argument that Ambassador Francis Okelo’s replacement is
political - to compensate Nigeria for its never-say-die Big Brother role in
normalising the tick-tock of our political clock.

It has nothing to do with Francis Okelo’s weakness in monitoring the peace
process or Oluyemi Adinige’s reservoir of knowledge in conflict resolution, as
some people have been misrepresenting the UN’s decision to replace Okelo.
Nigeria wanted to supply the commander of the multi-national troops of the
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).

This was unacceptable to the United Nations. Nigeria would pull out of Sierra
Leone if its wish was not met. The U.N would not risk the non-participation of
the giant of the sub-region that had also promised to provide the bulk of the
soldiers of the proposed force. Nigeria has been in the thick and thin of the
Sierra Leone crisis; a development which is as much a blessing to legitimacy as
it is to humanity, anyway.

The compensation therefore is the Nigerian U.N Ambassador Oluyemi Adenige
stepping in the shoes of Ambassador Francis Okelo. For a student studying the
dynamics of real-politic, President Olusegun Obasanjo is certainly an exciting
study and his handling of the Sierra Leone crisis, both for the good of this
country and his, is a veritable source of data. President Obasanjo it was who
pressed the appropriate buttons at the appropriate time and Okelo is now packing
his bags to make way for his successor, Adenije.

It’s been rumoured that he wrapped this up when he visited Bill Clinton. But
if I may be clear, I still do not believe, as some others do, that Adinije is
coming at Okelo’s expense. I also disagree witrh those who think his replacement
is premature, as well as him not being ready to leave the scene at this time.
One writer even wrote that Okelo is “encouraging some people to blackmail
Adinije.”

That is baseless. Okelo is not a failure in Sierra Leone to begin to think
that he would be desperate to hold on until some feathers are added to his cap.
He has plenty already as far as his assignment is concerned. Naturally, Okelo
would have loved to continue as nanny to the baby peace that he played mid-wife
to himself, if only to ensure that it receives abundant milk for a healthy
growth. Anybody in his position would have.

Unless one is in a hurry to devour of Okelo’s achievement and again engage in
cheap propaganda for selfish reasons, there is no reason to believe that anyone
(particularly Okelo himself) would hire the services of pressmen to discredit
Adinije who is yet to materialise in Sierra Leone. Discredit Adinije for what
and about what? Okelo is a servant of humanity working by the grace of the UN,
so he never would get drunk by his accomplishment to begin to imagine that he is
indispensable.

He knows all about UN decisions, which he cannot alter .He has not been
sacked or demoted to feel like undermining his successor. Before Okelo was,
there had been Dimka; so he (Okelo) would regard his removal from here as
routine. For the life of me, he may have even sent a sincere congratulatory
message to his successor. I have not talked with him about this but I am
positive about that.

Frankly, I regard it as a display of wickedness, a madness to get cheap
favour and an exhibition of ingratitude for anybody to discredit Okelo as
attempting to finger Adinije even before he comes to Sierra Leone. In fact
Ambassador Okelo deserves honorary Paramount Chieftaincy title (as it is slowly
becoming a norm) for his role in throwing in a life jacket to our drowning
nation. Our good-bye to Okelo should not just be dressed in the conventional
“thank-you-for-a-job-well-done.”

It should be garmented with hope as sounded by Umaru Fofana - that he be
around somehow to provide invaluable tutelage on the country’s situation to his
successor. So, its good-bye Okelo. Now, how do we welcome Adinije? I feel to
singsong his academic credentials and wealth of experience is a non-starting
point, except if we were expecting the UN to send us an academic dwarf. I feel
we should observe no ceremonies to sharpen the responses of our new UN Envoy to
the ultimate desire of the people of this country which is peace. He knows this
already, but no matter how sharp a knife is, it needs re-sharpening now and
then.

Without doubting his diplomatic acumen, we should let Adinige know at once
that we want results; he should bring down angel Gabriel, if he could, to
prevail on the rebels to turn in their mortars, RPGs and AK 47s. More
importantly, let those that may be close to Ambassador Adinije warn him against
initial praises from the Sierra Leonean press for he would soon find himself
being crucified by the same press. Ambassador Adinije is expected to build on
what has already been achieved in the peace process.

And he has the advantage of coming to head a Mission in a country that holds
his nationality in high esteem and in which his kinsmen are the dominant group
serving in the peacekeeping force. Good luck to him.

Ambassador Francis Okelo, yesterday told the advanced batch of UN
troops that arrived in Sierra Leone late Monday night that the hopes of Sierra
Leoneans were hinged on the troops whom he implored to “build on the impressive
achievements and sacrifices of the men and women of ECOMG.”

Ambassador Okelo also implored the Kenyan troops to discharge their duties
with “diligence”. He said the people have suffered immensely in the last ten
years and were now desperate for peace.

“They need only something from you; the rest they can do for themselves”.
Kiswahili Ambassador Okelo greeted “Ndugu wetu ya Kenya, Karibn Sierra Leone,”
meaning welcome to Sierra Leone, Kenyans.

Members of Parliament were yesterday embarrassed when Permanent
Secretaries from various ministries and departments failed to appear before the
MPs even when they had been invited.

The speaker of the House, Hon Justice Kutubu, said in parliament that a
circular was sent to them for their presence during debating on the budget
speech. PDP Member of Parliament, Hon Dr. B.M. Kamanda raised a point under
standing order 23, that they should adjourn for 30 minutes, to allow the clerk
contact them through telephone. Hon Dr. Kamanda stressed that as this Bill, the
Appropriation Act 2000 is very important, it is necessary the PS be present.

“We are going to allocate monies to ministries and departments. The corrupt
practice in some of the ministries is not new to us”.

They are going to spend these monies Hon Dr. Kamanda cautioned. Hon Dr.
Kamanda then took a quick look around the chambers to see the comptroller of
customs, Mr. Nat Cole. The Finance Minister, Dr. James Jonah was also present.

Achema Stirs Kogi: The ghost of Stephen Achema, PDP Chieftain who
died in a car crash on 6 November is on the loose in Kogi State. Innocent Atabo
reports

“He was a political guru and a strategist who lived all his life fighting
injustice. He disliked oppression of the downtrodden whose cause he had always
championed.” Those were the words of Dr. Sam Egwu of the University of Jos as he
pays tribute to the late Dr. Stephen Achema. A huge overflow of such tribute is
expected on Saturday 27 November as the remains of the politician who died in a
motor accident on 6 November on Abuja-Suleja road are finally interred.

Until his demise, Achema was one of the leading politicians of his generation
among the Igala of Kogi State. Though a chieftain of the ruling People’s
Democratic Party (PDP), his support is believed to have helped Prince Abubakar
Audu of the rival All Peoples Party (APP), to win the last governorship
election. Little wonder, Governor Audu broke down in tears when news of Achema’s
sudden death reached him at Government House, Lokoja.

Achema was on his way to attend the Kogi State congress of the PDP when he
met his death. Questions are still being raised about the death of Achema. Not a
few Igala consider the death mysterious. Accusation mostly issued in muffled
tunes indict his political enemies. Some of his more courageous loyalists have
even narrowed the culprits to what they called the powerful “troika that
staddles PDP in Kogi State.”

All these have only help sensationalised Achema’s exit yet the question of
what killed him is simple: He died in a vehicular accident.

Still those who believe otherwise would swear that some unseen but powerful
forces eliminated Achema. But why will anybody want to kill the political icon?
Sources told TEMPO that some of the PDP gladiators in Kogi State had never been
comfortable with Achema’s rising political profile and his recent entry into
what is described as the exclusive club of political kingmakers in the state.

The late politician was said to have been instrumental in fixing the 6
November date for the PDP congress in his home state. Against this backdrop,
sources informed that there had been anxiety in the camp of his political foes
that Achema was plotting a political coup that will ensure victory for his
anointed candidate. Aside this, many in the party are said not to have forgiven
Achema for working against his own party in favour of Governor Audu in the last
guber elections.

Political pundits told TEMPO that with this scenario, it was convenient for
the ultraconservative establishment which had dominated Kogi politics to have a
political playing field that lacked the presence of an Achema.

Ironically, the sudden death of Achema has not diminished his influence in
Kogi PDP. The most significant evidence to this fact is that the state congress
which was postponed thrice never held. Kogi youths, especially the so-called
Ogbega Boys loyal to Achema ensured this through continued protest. An attempt
to forcefully hold the congress against their position almost ended in tragedy.

Chief Sunday Awoniyi and Dr. Ahmadu Ali were mobbed by irate youths who
appear to resent the roles these leaders have played in Kogi politics. Unlike
Awoniyi and Ali, Paul Achimugu, a former managing director of Arewa Textile
Company could not escape the wrath of the aggrieved youth. He was beaten to
pulp. The treatment is said to be punishment for his opposition to the late
Achema.

As at press time, armed policemen are said to be keeping guard at the Idah
home of Achimugu to protect him and his household from attack by the town’s
youths.

Obviously, Achema’s ghost appears to be on the rampage. The angry youths are
said to have vowed to punish some of the ‘vultures’ should they attempt to
attend Achema’s burial on Saturday 27 November.” They dare not show their
faces,” the youths threatened. It may not be in empty threat after all.

However, Awoniyi doesn’t believe the situation was getting out of hand. He
told TEMPO that “Kogi’s political problems are all man-made, and with
understanding, everything will be resolved soon, many hope this prayer is
answered sooner than later.”

Okadigbo Is Senate President

The troubled tenure of Chief Evan Enwerem as president of the Senate, came to
an abrupt end on 15 November when he was booted out for alleged incompetence.
Ninety senators voted to remove Enwerem. He was immediately replaced with Dr.
Chuba Okadigbo, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who
contested the presidency with Enwerem last June.

Senator Okadigbo, representing Anambra-North Senatorial District is a
mercurial politician and former university teacher who came to national
limelight as political adviser to Second Republic president, Alhaji Shehu Aliyu
Shagari.

Daisi Heads NIPC

A top banker and industrialist, Chief Kola Daisi, has been appointed to head
the newly-reconstituted governing council of the Nigerian Investment Promotion
Commission (NIPC).

Daisi takes over from Alhaji Gujba and would function in an executive
capacity. Consequently, the former secretary of the commission has been
redeployed to pave way for the complete restructuring of the commission.

Daisi, 67, is the immediate past president of the National Association of
Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, (NACCIMA), and current
president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Other members of NIPC
are the CBN Governor, Sir Joseph Sanusi, Dr. (Mrs.) Remi Aribisala, Mr. Pascal
Dozie, Dr. Mfon Amana, Chief P.S. Achimufu, Ambassador Dogonyaro and Alhaji
Mahmud Bello.

Simply Governor’s Wife

Osun State Governor, Chief Adebisi Akande, has ordered that his wife should
no longer be addressed as the Osun State first lady. He prefers her to be called
simply as the wife of the governor. Speaking while declaring open the second
phase of the National Immunisation Programme in the state, Akande said since his
wife is not a political office holder, she did not deserve the title. He also
said he was determined to do away with all undemocratic structures created by
the military including the office of the first lady.

Gemade Wins

Former Secretary for Works and Housing in the Chief Ernest Shonekan-led
Interim National Government and erstwhile chairman of the defunct Congress for
National Consensus, Engineer Barnabas Gemade, emerged chairman of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP). In the party’s national convention held on Sunday at the
Eagle Square in Abuja, Benue-born Gemade polled 1,828 votes against the 985
votes of his closest challenger, Chief Sunday Mobolorunduro Awoniyi. Other
contestants for the top PDP job included Ambassador Yahaya Kwande who polled 27
votes and Senator Ahmadu Ali who polled nine votes. Another contender, Alhaji
Mohammed Hassan withdrew from the race before the election. Two hundred and
sixty-four votes were declared invalid for various reasons.

Publication date: December 2, 1999

Before the last transition programme, it was appropriate to say that
political violence was not in the character of Benue State people. But all that
has changed.

The state lost its innocence to the political transition programme which
ushered in this dispensation. Violent skirmishes were recorded. One almost
turned the state into a theatre of war. Mr. Audu Ogbe, a PDP chieftain and
former communications minister was attacked in his Makurdi home in the night of
the council poll last December by suspected assassins. He narrowly escaped death
but not without gunshot wounds that kept him in hospital for weeks.

The INEC office in Oju local government area was razed and electoral officers
attacked in Ado. Death was recorded in Ukuni local government area during the
council poll where a councillorship candidate was shot dead shortly after he was
declared winner.

There seems to be no end to the spate of such attacks. Several months after
the elections were won and lost, the principal actors in the Benue theatre of
violence appear to be oiling their guns for fresh assaults.

On 11 October, Senator J.K.N. Waku, chairman of the Senate committee on water
resources, sent a three-page petition to the state commissioner of police
appealing for his intervention in what he described as “a matter which, if not
curbed instantly, will lead to breakdown of law and order with consequences
better imagined than described.”

The strongly-worded 21-paragraph petition alleged that “one Mr. Samuel Utoo
is engaging in open attacks on my person and needs to be called to order.” Mr.
Utoo contested the senatorial election on the platform of the All Peoples Party
with Senator Waku for the Benue North-East Senatorial District.

The senator alleged that Utoo who lost his bid to quash the election at the
election tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Jos has abandoned the due process
of law and has resorted to “making spurious allegations, damaging statements and
casting aspersions on one for reasons best known to him”. Utoo, he complained,
has carried his campaign of calumny, back-biting, tale-bearing, slander and
blackmail against one to beer parlours, market places, political gatherings, and
to anyone who cares to listen.” Waku explained further that apart from Utoo
denigrating his person, he has subjected his party supporters to threats and
intimidation.

‘I continue to receive reports on daily basis about Utoo’s plans to use thugs
to disrupt any party meetings attended by me and to precipitate violence in my
constituency any time I visit my senatorial district,” the senator wrote.

Apparently most disturbing to Waku is what he termed “abortive attempt to
bribe the press,” in order to “give me negative publicity and to write damaging
articles against me.” Relying on the verdict of the election tribunal and the
appeal court, the lawmaker averred that “no pressman worthy of his profession
will ignore these incontrovertible evidence and resort to libellous
publications.”

Senator Waku, who holds the high chieftaincy title of Wan Begha U Tiv (son of
a lion) said he is not scared of Utoo’s threats.

“As an individual, I am quite capable of handling Utoo and whatever measures
he may wish to take.

“I am more than equal to the task,” he assured.

He, however, expressed fears that his supporters’ patience is running out.

“Even the patience of a saint can be overstretched. There is a limit to which
I can restrain them,” he warned.

Waku’s petition, copies of which were made available to Utoo elicited
immediate response from him. In a seven-page letter to the state police
commissioner he said he sensed danger in Senator Waku’s petition. “It is an old
military tactic, badly applied, which he must have acquired during his
colourless stint in the army; diversion plus preparatory (sic) bombardment,” he
claimed. He said the aim of Senator Waku’s petition “is to shift attention from
himself while preparing me for a kill.”

He said Waku’s boast of being “more that equal to the task” brought to mind
the gun attack on his household on 18 February, two days to the senatorial
election.

“The assailants on failing to find me in at the time of their attack beat up
my wife, traumatised my entire household and carted away my money.”

He observed that the manner of the attack was evidence that they had a clear
mandate to eliminate him.

Mr. Utoo, while not denying that he challenged the declared victory of Waku
at the tribunal and appeal court, said he considered the matter as closed when
he lost out.

Against Waku’s claim that he has been attempting to bribe the press, Utoo
said: “it is rather Chief Waku who, in his paranoia, has been talking to the
press and calling me names” He cited a paid interview in a national daily on 3
October. “I dare say, all the same that if the press knew as much about Chief
Waku’s case it would have by now been celebrated as the “mother-of-all forgeries
and perjury.”

Utto told the commissioner of police that the problem is the present
situation in the country where those with fake achievements and documents are
being exposed, a development which, he said, has thrown Chief Waku into a frenzy
of fear.

He alleged that “Chief Waku was not, and still is not, a fit and proper
person to be a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by virtue of his not
having met the minimum educational qualifications required by law.” He further
alleged that the Senate committee chairman “is an army deserter (63 NA/31036)”
who absconded with troops pay amounting to N950,000 and was consequently
dismissed after he was court-marshalled in absentia as recorded in “Nigerian
Army Medical Corps part II orders (offrs) SN 10/75 of June 1975″.

He called on the police commissioner to use the “available records to unmask
this falsehood (sic) and fraud called Chief J.K.N. Waku in line with the current
national mood.” Both politicians now eagerly await the reaction of the police
commissioner, Mr. Sunday Aghedo.

Publication Date: December 2, 1999

Mr. Ganiyu Adams, 29 is a leader of a faction of the Oodua People’s
Congress (OPC). In this interview with Idowu Akinrosoye, he gave an insight into
his background and the Origin of OPC

Q: Much has been heard about you but many Nigerians don’t know you, can you
briefly tell us who is Mr. Gani Adams?

A: Gani Adams was born, 13 April 1970. I attended Army Children School,
Otukpo, Benue State. I also attended Municipal Primary School Lagos, after this,
I was at Ansar-Udeen Secondary School. After my Secondary School education in
1986, I became an apprentice cabinet maker. I finished the training and joined a
construction company as one of their workers in 1992 and I became an independent
worker in 1993. I joined the Human Rights struggle 15 July 1993. I was a member
of the Campaign for Democracy and after three months, I became the PRO for
Mushin Local Government. Later, I became one of the co-ordinators and founders
of Oodua Youth Movement (OYM), and we founded Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in
August 1995. I was one of the nine people that founded OPC then.

Q: Who are the eight other people with whom you founded OPC?

A: They include Tony Ngorubi, Mrs. Idowu Adebowale, Mr. Ibrahim Abobananwo,
Mr. Olumide Adeniji, Evangelist Adesokan, Mr. Ibrahim Atanda and Dr. Fredrick
Fasheun.

Q: What exactly was the objective of OPC when it was p founded in 1995?

A: We noticed from our struggle that when we were fighting for the
revalidation of 12 June 1993 election, 95 per cent of the people in the struggle
were Yoruba and we sensed that if we actualise 12 June and regain the mandate
all Nigerians will enjoy it, and we could see some sentiments that some other
tribes were not ready for the struggle, they were saying that it was a Yoruba
affair and Abiola was voted for by all the tribes. When we discovered that these
other tribes were not ready particularly the Northerners, we decided to form an
organisation that will speak for the Yoruba. So we founded OPC to see to the
emacipation of our people and to liberate our people from the hands of the
Hausa/Fulani oligarchy.

Q: But when President Obasanjo, a Yoruba man was sworn-in on 29 May 1999,
Nigerians even Yoruba were relieved, was OPC not relieved? Is there anything you
still want that has not been given?

A: We have been agitating for the restructuring of this country before the
transition that brought in this civilian administration. We have been agitating
for a Sovereign National Conference and have been agitating for equity in
revenue allocation and the government turned deaf ear to these agitation. You
know we did not participate in the transition programme, because we did not
believe in a transition programme without a constitution, a transition programme
without legality and a transition programme administered by people who put us in
trouble because Abubakar was part of the Babangida government that annulled 12
June election, he was also part of Abacha’s government that killed most of our
prominent leaders, so, we believed that such a person cannot administer a
transition programme to our satisfaction. When you now say that our man is the
president, you should realise that democracy is a game of number and there are
three arms that control the government, the legislature, judiciary and the
executive. Now, we have three political parties that participated in the
transition programme, that is, the PDP, AD and APP. Out of these three, only one
that agrees with our aims.

In the Senate, we have only 18 members and in the House of Representatives,
AD has only 120 members. The reason for this is that the Hausa had used their 34
years in government to create more local government, for themselves. Nigeria
today, has 36 states, the Hausa/Fulani, have 19, Yoruba has eight, yet the Hausa
are still saying that they own Kogi and Kwara State. We have 774 Local
Governments in Nigeria - the Hausa/Fulani has 460 and the Yoruba has 151, the
Igbo do not have up to 120 and the minorities don’t have up to 60. Bayelsa where
40 per cent of our revenue is generated from does not have up to eight local
governments. So, this country has to be restructured if there must be peace. The
1914 amalgamation of Nigeria has to be re-examined before we can have peace.

Q: Is that supposed to be the primary goal of OPC?

A: Definitely that is our primary goal, the country must be restructured. The
252 ethnic nationalities must seat together. The expression “Federal Government
of Nigeria” is a mere synonym for cheating. Let all the component states have
autonomy; if they don’t want it like that, let us have regional autonomy.

Each state will have its Police Force because a situation where you go and
bring somebody from Maiduguri to safeguard lives and properties in Osun State is
not helping matters.

Q: Are you saying the struggle will continue if the government fails to
accede to the call for restructuring of Nigeria and the convocation of a
Sovereign National Conference?

A: Definitely the struggle will continue. Look what OPC has done, the
enlightenment we have created in this country and there is no way we can stop
the struggle if our demands are not met. The government must listen because this
is a democratic system. President Obasanjo must listen to the voice of the
people, if there must be peace. He must restructure this country.

I don’t mean the caricature kind of restructuring that he is doing. What we
want is constitutional re-structuring. Why not allow each region to control
their resources and use it to develop their people and not a situation where you
will tap crude oil from the Niger-Delta and take it to Kaduna to refine.

Q: What is the strength of OPC in terns of membership?

A: In the last four weeks, our membership stands at 3.2 million and we are in
all the eight states of Yoruba land. In all, it is only in Kogi State that we
don’t have representatives in all the local governments.

Q: Are you saying that Kogi is a Yoruba state?

A: Kogi is a Yoruba state, go to Lokoja you will see them speaking Yoruba
fluently.

Q: How do we differentiate between the Fasheun’s faction of OPC and yours.

A: I can tell you authoritatively that Fasheun does not have 2000 members,
that is why he is running after the press so that he can push his recognition,
if you have the grassroot followership, you don’t need to run after the press.
He said he was going to Port-Harcourt, he couldn’t go.

Q: You often say you don’t use guns, rather you believe in African Mechanism,
why are you so confident in this?

A: Our fore fathers have been in existence for more than 50,000 years and
there had been wars in Yorubaland and we have always conquered. Our forefathers
have been using “African mechanism” when we noticed that they continued to kill
our people, we decided to go back to our history. We have only allowed the
imported religions to displace what our fore fathers left for us.

Publication Date: December 2, 1999

The atmosphere was charged. The dominant emotions were those of anger
and bitterness. The forum was a two-day conference on the Niger Delta problem.
Titled: Conference On The People Of The Niger-Delta And The 1999 Constitution,”
organised by the Environmental Rights Action, Era/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria,
in Port-Harcourt between 2 and 4 November 1999.

The conference attracted representatives of the ethnic nationalities in the
Niger-Delta, social movements across the geo-political zones in the country.
Setting the time for the conference, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, director of Era said the
gathering was “not a mere jaw-jaw (session); it is an empowerment programme at
which we will join our hands and (to pursue) our collective destiny. It is a
crucial meeting to address the fundamental matter of resources grabbing and
forceful castration of a people.”

Taking a cue from Bassey, political analyst and former private secretary to
late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Mr. Odia Ofeimum undertook a historical excursion to
locate the source of the problems of the Niger-Delta and other minority
nationalities. Mr. Ofeimun said that the policies and constitutions the country
has, had since 1914, when the colonies of Northern and Southern Colonies were
amalgamated have always been designed to serve the interest of the major
political hegemonists in the country. A major interest of the political
hegemonies according to Mr. Ofeimun, has been the grabbing of resources in areas
like the Niger-Delta. Ofiemun added that successive Nigerian constitutions since
independence have been hostile to the interest of the minor units of the
Nigerian Federation. According to him, not even the 1999 constitution deviated
from this pattern.

Taking a swipe at the centralization of power and the injustice against the
oil producing communities in revenue allocation, Mr. Ofiemun warned that the
hostile atmosphere in the areas would prevail until the people are allowed
control of their resources.

Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey told the conference that it was
the desire to protect “unjust” profit and a total disregard of the local people
that provides the atmosphere of spoilation and utter disregard of the
environment in the Niger-Delta.

The Era director said that, it was as a result of this “injustice” that the
very fabric of the country is severely threatened. “We have been made to become
suspicious of one another’s move to the extent that the forces sucking out our
blood now appear to be our best friends,” Mr. Bassey submitted.

Speaking on “Niger-Delta Crises, the Failure of the Nation State model and
the 1999 Constitution,” Mr. Alfred Ihenre, Secretary General of the Ethnic
Minority Indigenous Rights Organisation of Africa (EMIROAF), said that the
neglect of the Niger-Delta (South South) region was brought about by the
distortion of the original federal structure which placed emphasis on regional
autonomy, power -sharing and revenue allocation based on derivation. “The Niger-
Delta area produces over 90 per cent of the national revenue. Its environment,
as a consequence of vast oil mining, exploration and extraction has been
degraded and devastated,” the EMIROAF scribe said.

Ihenre, added that what the people of Niger-Delta want is a more equitable
revenue sharing formula in line with what existed from 1946 at the creation of
the three regions until the Binn’s Commission of 1964 which upheld the principle
of derivation at 50 per cent to the region of production, 35 per cent to
distributable common pool and 15 per cent to the central government. “This
revenue sharing formula was in existence until the end of the civil war in 1970
when the military dictatorship upturned it,” he argued.

A political science scholar, professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, while discussing
the 1999 Constitution as it affects the minority, submitted that the inadequate
protection of minority nationalities calls for an immediate review of the
“imposed constitution and replace it with the constitution that takes into
account the wishes and aspirations of the people.

Professor Ihonvbere espoused the convocation of a Sovereign National
Conference (SNC), to discuss and find solutions to the persistent conflicts of
nationalities in Nigeria. He also advocated legislation aimed at restructuring
the Federal Government into a genuine federation of autonomous units.

Mr. Oronto Douglas, Lawyer, environmental rights activist and leader of
Chikoko Movement (CM) was also at the conference.

Appraising the 1999 Constitution as it relates to the Niger Delta, Mr. Oronto
described the document as an “Emperor” who has “no clothes.” According to him, a
constitution is so called because it is made of constituents. This document
according to the Chikoko Movements leader must necessarily reflect the history,
culture, tradition and way of life of the people for whom it is meant. The 1999
Constitution, he says, lacks this vital ingredient.

Oronto said this neglect shows that it was time for the people of Niger-Delta
to exact their humanity.

“Recently, the Kaimia Declaration for the whole of Ijawland (KDI), the Urhobo
Economic Summit Resolution (UESR); the Ogoni Bill of Rights (OBR); the Aklaka
Declaration for the Egi People (ADEP) and the Ikwere Rescue Charter (IRC), have
added their weight to the need for the rule of law and not that of force. Any
constitution that does not carry our dreams (sic) is a constitution of force,”
he stated.

Publication Date: December 2, 1999

Against all expectations, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu’s ambition to succeed
Chief Alani Bankole as the national chairman of All Peoples Party (APP) is
combusted by a new zoning arrangement. TONY EGBULEFU reports

Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, former civilian governor of Abia State started well in the
race for the national chairmanship of the All Peoples Party (APP). He declared
his interest for the number one position four months ago. He followed the
declaration with action, touring the nine APP-controlled states to establish
structures and mobilise support for his ambition.

Although Dr. Onu was perfectly aware that the existing zoning arrangement of
his party gave the chairmanship slot to the North, he was not deterred. He was
encouraged by the new thinking within the party’s leadership which favoured a
shift of the chairmanship to the South. Added to this is the goodwill he is
enjoying from dozens of APP chieftains for the role he played at the party’s
first national convention in Kaduna. But recent events have proved that Onu had
miscalculated. As the party prepares to review its zoning arrangement this week,
information reaching TEMPO shows that Onu’s chairmanship ambition may have been
combusted as the party’s national convention committee headed by the Zamfara
State Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Sani Yerima, has recommended that the position
remains in the North.

Before this setback, Onu had pursued a highly-visible campaign backed by the
former governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Saleh Michika, Governor Adamu Ahero of
Kebbi State, former party chairman Senator Mahmud Waziri and virtually all the
state chairmen of the party in the South. Apart from the rare spirit of
sportsmanship he exhibited in acceding the APP’s presidential ticket to Chief
Olu Falae of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) on the spirit of the APP/AD
alliance, many had identified with Onu out of a belief that the APP should, as a
matter of strategy, rezone its chairmanship slot to the South. The bottomline
was to shore up the waning support and membership for the party in the zone. The
rank of APP leadership in the South has been depleted by the spate of carpet-
crossing as not a few chieftains had jumped ship into the rival People’s
Democratic party (PDP).TEMPO learnt that those who favoured Onu believe that his
personality and clout could become the flash point for new membership drive to
re-energise and refocus the APP to sustain, and perhaps, improve its influence
in the zone. Some argued that Onu as APP chairman would have compensated for the
loss of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Prince Pat Abii and Dr. Bode Olajumoke to the
PDP. They also claim that Onu’s presence in the national executive council of
the party could have assisted the effort to make the national leadership have a
national character.

Analysts have observed that the party, either by omission or commission, has
tilted more towards the North or has found greater acceptability in that region.
For instance, all the nine APP governors are from the North. The party won no
significant election in the South-West and only managed to garner 13 out of the
98 National Assembly seats in the East. Until Senator Mahmud Waziri resigned as
the national chairman in June, the party’s leadership machinery firmly rested in
the hands of the northern chieftains. Alhaji Rahman Owokoniran, the party’s
chairman in Lagos State says, “it does appear the APP is a northern party and we
in the South are just following them.” He argues that Onu’s chairmanship of the
party “would have given the East and the West and the party members on the
South-South a sense of belonging.” According to him, only this “would be fair
and just.”

But Chief Alani Bankole, the acting national chairman told TEMPO that a
contrary view to Owokoniran’s exists within the party. “Some members believe
that it would be unfair to take the chairmanship from the North just because the
South which wanted the presidency in the initial zoning arrangement did not win
it.” According to Bankole, if the South had taken the presidency, “we wouldn’t
have been talking about re-zoning the chairmanship from the North.” As APP
members prepare for the scheduled 3 and 4 December national convention in Abuja,
Chief Bankole confirmed that it was no longer a matter for speculation that the
Governor Ahmed Sani-led 17-man national convention committee has nullified Dr.
Ogbonnaya Onu’s chairmanship hopes by its recommendation to maintain the
existing structure. Going by the committee’s recommendation, Dr. Onu is only
eligible to vie for the post of national secretary which remains zoned to the
South-East. It was authoritatively gathered that the party’s national executive
committee which is due to meet on Wednesday to consider the report of the
convention committee, “will most likely approve their recommendation.”

The committee’s report is widely speculated to be a perfect coup against Onu
by certain elements who do not want him as national chairman.

Investigations reveal that a northern caucus of the party comprising mainly
APP National Assembly men, some governors, Alhaji Aliyu Doma and Comrade Paschal
Bafyau was instrumental to the committee’s recommendation to retain the post of
national chairman in the North. Members of the caucus were said to have
impressed it upon the committee (which had 12 of its 17 members drawn from the
North) that there is a need for the APP chairman to come from the North to
enable it consolidate its performance in the region. They argued that there
wasn’t any guarantee of any political dividends were the position shifted to the
South. They concluded that the northern zone should not be made to bear the cost
of the inability of the southern candidate to win the presidential election
after the North had conceded the ticket to the zone.

The attention of the Governor Sani committee was averted to a clause in the
party’s constitution which provided for zones which hold party offices to do so
for a period of three years. The North, they argued, had not exhausted its
constitutional mandate to produce the national chairman.

TEMPO also gathered that the frantic last-minute jostling to retain the
zoning formula was partially inspired by a strong resolve by the current
leadership to checkmate elements believed to be loyalists of the former national
chairman, Senator Waziri. Onu, this magazine learnt, was encouraged to seek the
chairmanship on the basis of the accord he struck with Senator Mahmud Waziri and
various protagonists of APP/AD alliance that the position of the APP
chairmanship would be his for the asking if he agreed to be used as a pawn to
truncate presidential ambitions of leading politicians then in the party. That
was before the controversial convention of the APP where Onu, a dark horse,
emerged as the party’s flagbearer. He later surrendered the ticket to Chief Olu
Falae, who carried the alliance banner in the presidential election.

Chief Bankole is happy with the zoning arrangement. Though he claimed he
distanced himself from the work of the convention committee, the retention of
the chairmanship slot in the North was good for his reputation, he said. Had the
post been re-zoned to the South, the acting national chairman said it “would
have created problem and provided fertile ground for rabble-rousers who might
say that Bankole had taken it to the South to favour his own people.”

Bankole said he respected the views of those who wanted it for Onu or for the
South, but argued that “it was better not to rock the boat of peace in the name
of expansion. You don’t add risk to risk,” he concluded.

Chief Bankole believes that the action of the committee was based on
“transparency and was all-embracing.” The organisational capability of members
of the committee, he said “is not in doubt and the confidence reposed in them
has not been abused and will not be abused.”

Even with Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu seemingly out of the race, the picture for the
APP chairmanship is still hazy. For now only Comrade Paschal Bafyau has made his
intention public. Alhaji Aliyu Doma, though said to be interested in the race,
is still locked in behind-the-scenes moves. But as Chief Bankole assured, “more
aspirants will come up as from Monday when the chairmanship nomination forms
will be put on sale.”

Publication Date: December 2, 1999

In the recent past, a search through the print media reveals at least
two reported cases every fortnight of rape of children and teenagers, and women
telling stories about how they were raped.

It is clear that reports of cases of rape and other forms of sexual abuse in
the Nigerian society are inadequate. The underreported cases contrast sharply
with the actual widespread incidence of rape and other forms of sexual violence
against females in the Nigerian society.

The widespread but low reportage of rape perhaps explains the mass rape in
Choba, the official and unofficial claims, counter claims and interpretations.
The Army has denied the involvement of its men in the rape in Choba. But, that
denial makes the following speculations plausible. First is that, perhaps,
certain soldiers recruited themselves (because of their interests) or were
recruited and paid (by some interests) to quell the youths uprising in Choba.
Given the recent history of indiscipline in the military, this is possible.

The second is that, the soldiers rented out their uniforms to the Egbesu boys
or some other people who then went raping. The third is that, perhaps people who
wanted to stage-manage rape stole Army uniforms. Either way, girls and women
have been dragged out of their homes and have been subjected to sexual rage,
dominance and violence, and the Army and its men are implicated as the rapists
or accessories to rape.

Even if the official Army line of a stage-manage is to be considered, stage-
managing is possible only because soldiers have raped women in the conflicts in
the Niger Delta area in the past. The violent sexual escapades of the then Major
Okutimo and his boys against Ogoni girls and women in their war against MOSOP in
Ogoniland is a testimony to this view.

Thus, it is for the reasons that the Army cannot exonerate itself from the
Choba mass rape; the representation of power which underlines men of the gun and
the representation of power and strength which rape itself signifies that it is
important for a society with conscience to engage the Choba mass rape and go
beyond it. Before the appearance of the Choba rape pictures, it used to be that
when girls and women complain about rape and other forms of sexual abuses in
formal and informal settings, men and even women in Nigeria assumed that rape
victims are lying; that they deserve it, they were badly dressed, they wanted to
be raped and that they even enjoyed the violence somewhat! And men who raped
children were dismissed as psychotic.

This shows a complete lack of understanding (or pretense to it) of rape.

Rape is a demonstration of patriachal power; it is a product of lawlessness;
it thrives in an atmosphere of complete lack of respect and contempt for the
rights of human beings. More importantly, rape is a product of patriarchy, a
social system which is based on men’s false superiority (over women) and which,
on the basis of this false-hood wrongly confers decision making power in the
society on men. Given this, the typical male assumes he has an absolute,
unrestricted and unquestionable access to the interior of a woman’s body. All
these conditions the that explain rape were present in our society before the
Choba mass rape and they are still with us. These conditions explain the Choba
mass rape. These conditions explain why Kudirat Abiola’s assassins were given
the brief to rape her before snuffing life out of her. They explain why Suliat
Adedeji’s killers had instructions to rape her, pump bullets into the interior
of her body and then terminate her life.

Rape is a question and problem of power, patriarchal and social. So, whether
Choba was stage-managed or not, the Nigerian State and the civil society must
engage these conditions that turn our women and female teenagers into raw
materials for the sexual escapades of men.

Given that the Army and by extension the Defence ministry are parties to the
Choba mass rape, the government should set up an independent judicial panel of
inquiry headed by a respectable judge to investigate the mass rape in Choba and
the reported cases of rape and sexual abuse by soldiers in the Niger-Delta.
Nigeria is presently conflict prone. So, there is likely to be more cases of
rape by men of the gun who are deployed to end conflicts. Rape is a criminal
offence. So, offenders must be brought before the law and prosecuted.

Rape has serious medical, psychological and social implications. Hence, the
Nigerian State must discharge its duty to its citizens in the Niger-Delta and
elsewhere by rehabilitating victims of rape and sexual abuses and providing
medical and counselling services to victims. Without these, the mind and the
psychological state of the RAPED may never be the same again.

Publication Date: December 2, 1999