quote: This day 15/03/2004 Slok, IRS Airlines' Ban, Political Vendetta By Ndubuisi Francis
Aviation safety advocacy group, Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI), has described as a political vendetta, the revocation of the operating licences of Slok Air and IRS Airlines, calling for an immediate review of the action.
Abia State Governor, Chief Uzor Orji Kalu who is currently in the eye of the storm over his recent outburst that the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Chief Tony Anenih allegedly threatened to kill him, is believed to have dorminant interest in Slok Air while Kano businessman, Alhaji Isiyaku Rabiu owns IRS Airlines.
The Aviation Minister had last Friday announced the suspension of the operating licences, otherwise known as Air Operator Certificate(AOC), predicating the action on the airlines "contravening provisions relating to safety and security under the Civil Aviation Act and Regulations"
The minister was only to issue another statement barely 24 hours later recanting his earlier position and claimed that rather that suspension, the licences were revoked.
But in response to the development, NASI through a statement issued in Lagos yesterday expressed "shock and awe" at the revocation order. It warned of the dire consequences in allowing a new wave of "political vendetta" to find a home in a capital intensive industry like aviation.
NASI alleged that against the shadow of the recent events, it may not be misplaced to conclude that the Aviation Minister had embarked on an agenda of political vendetta primarily targeted at Slok Air with IRS Airlines merely a "victim of circumstance" used as "a smokescreen to justify the vindictive action against Slok".
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged
quote: Daily Independent Online. * Monday, March 15, 2004.
NASI faults suspension of airlines’ licences By Dan Alo
Correspondent
and Shola Ogunode
Aviation Reporter, Lagos
The Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) has called on the Aviation Ministry to review its suspension of the air operators certificates (AOCs) of two private airline operators, Slok and IRS Airlines.
It also called on the National Assembly to initiate the amendment of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Act with a view to granting full autonomy to the regulatory agency.
The ministry suspended the licences last week, citing breach of operation guidelines.
Slok, based in Owerri, began operation on January 27 and is being penalised for unethical practices, yet unspecified, contrary to the terms of its licence.
IRS is accused of destroying an instrument landing system (ILS) equipment at Kaduna Airport while one of its aircraft was taking off on a flight to Jeddah for the 2004 Hajj.
Reacting to the developments, NASI Executive Director, Jerry Agbeyegbe, said: “With regards to the sanction against IRS Airlines, it is certainly not the first time that airliners would make unscheduled contact with navigational aids during flight operations.
“It is on record that a couple of years ago, a Nigerian Airways DC-10 aircraft, taking off from the Kano International Airport for Jeddah, damaged and severed part of an antenna, Nigeria Airways was not grounded nor was there any sanction against the airline or the crew.”
He also referred to an incident, “barely weeks before the EAS Kano crash on May 4, 2002,” when an Albarka Airlines plane, taking off from the same Kano Airport, damaged and ripped off sections of a localiser antenna, over which neither the airline nor the affected aircraft and crew was grounded or penalised.
He called on the ministry to show that the handling of the issue is unconnected with an agenda he described as “political vendetta,” targeted at Slok with IRS being a “victim of circumstance” used as a smokes screen to justify the action against Slok.
Observers believe that the clamp down on Slok may be connected with the face off between Abia State Governor,
Orji Uzor Kalu, and some powerful members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Kalu allegedly owns shares in the airline.
Slok Air has described the withdrawal of the AOC as a shocking development.
Senior officials of the new airline, which has operated local routes for only 42 days, and has warmed itself into the hearts of the flying public, were seen Sunday at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport pacifying passengers enraged by the cancellation of its flights.
They pleaded that “the airline will be back in the air soon.”
The officials, who preferred anonymity, said in an interview: “The apex regulatory body in the aviation sub sector, NCAA, has never written the airline for violating any safety or security standard procedures or recommended practices in its 42 days of operating as an airline in the Nigerian airspace, so the AOC withdrawal comes as a shock.
“Before issuing out the air operators certificate, NCAA carried out all the mandatory checks on all our equipment and manpower, including operational procedures, aircraft which their report certified as one of the youngest fleet in the country.”
According to the officials, Slok is the first local airline to connect 13 cities, duly applied for and granted based on its capability to operate the routes.
They added: “Slok Air is an assemblage of seasoned professionals and businessmen and it is not owned by Orji Kalu as claimed by many. He may be an investor in the airline, but he is not on the board and has never held any position in the airline.”
In his reaction, former Chief Security Officer at the airport, Mr. Ade Oni said: “It is bad when we politicise issues relating to aviation. There are 90 days minimum of mandatory checks before an AOC is given and if Slok has just operated 42 days and NCAA has quickly discovered safety and security violations in their operations it then means that they did not conduct proper checks in the first place before the AOC was issued.”
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
No one was fooled when Obasanjo and the members of his PDP ruling machinery quickly concluded that Dikibo was killed by robbers. A lot of people were surprised by the hasty conclusion; more so when it was obvious that the police were yet to fully investigate the matter. Of course, anyone would be gullible to believe that after the Presidency had opined that Dikibo was murdered by nameless, faceless assailants, his lackey at the helm of police affairs would dare to ‘discover’ anything different! So, the spate of politically motivated killings proceeds apace.
There is one consolation however—the savage creatures that lord the cash cow called Nigeria over the helpless masses are beginning to turn on each other like the greedy vultures they really are. Who said there was no retribution? Who said that the daily cries of the people of this tortured nation does not and could not cause the Fates to frown at the inhuman condition that this most debauched, callous leadership has forced upon the unlucky inhabitants? Is anyone really surprised that Nigeria has now descended to the state of nature where the powerful must prey on the powerless in a shameless cycle for survival? Who is really surprised that the situation has become so dire that even the lions in a pride now attack each other when carving up the spoils of their conquest—the gory subjugation and subjection of Nigerians to their base desires? Like desert vultures gathered at the scene of a tiny cadaver, these so-called leaders are now turning on each other clawing and pecking away in a fit of frenzy. Perhaps, this is how the PDP machinery must in these perilous times play out their eventual self-destruction. And who can really change things the way they have been designed to go?
Orji Uzor Kalu would be building castles in the air if he assumes for a split second that the Igboland that he and his fellow errant governors (and other PDP bigwigs) have rendered prostrate and delivered to unprecedented deprivation and destruction would arise en-masse to avenge his death should the threat that he allegedly received come to pass. Perhaps, it is because of that realization that he is making sure that other world leaders are aware of his predicament. Orji Uzor Kalu had better perfect other strategies to avenge his death should the “nest of killers” (in the words of Wole Soyinka) in this present administration make good on their threat. I think its sufficient to say that the crime-fighting capabilities of the Nigerian Police Force is virtually non-existent; so is the NPF’s ability to fully and thoroughly investigate crime to unmask the evil that walks about unchallenged in broad Nigerian daylight.
So while Orji Uzor Kalu reserves the right to scream at the top of his lungs regarding the death threat that Mr “Fix-it” Anenih reportedly issued, it would be misguided for him to imagine that he can bank on Igbo outrage should anything happen to him. What happened when other ruling wonks in the PDP met their untimely deaths? What outrage was expressed when every opposition to this dangerous cabal was systematically eliminated? Has anyone determined what really killed Okadigbo? What can I say for Harry Marshall, Ajibola Ige, OGB, and a host of others? Have all those police “investigations” not come to nothing now? When the chips are done, the assassination of Kalu would be just like bringing coals to Newcastle—it would be greeted with exactly the same cold-nosed indifference by the villains in power that would orchestrate it and equally with demonstrated Police incompetence or even conspiratorial negligence!
Kalu’s case is getting even more hair-raising twists especially now that his deputy (the same person upon whose words Kalu based his allegations) has started changing his tune. Why is his deputy clamming up now? Could it be that his deputy was forced to change his position especially now that its painfully evident that the president’s henchmen are beginning to circle the wagons as Kalu’s dramatic accusations have pointedly become inimical to their general interests? Kalu refuses to go before a PDP fact-finding committee neither would he tone down his vociferous denunciations, so, is it any surprise that this vindictive government has predictably climbed over the wall and begun to come down hard on Kalu’s business interests? Let us hope that the foreign governments that he put on alert would deem him significant enough as to deal decisively with their pawns in Aso Rock in retaliation for his possible demise. No one needs to hold his or her breath on that possibility.
Nonetheless, it is never too late to come out in the open to expose the schemes of this apathetic government. Yes, let the consciences of the mob that have foisted their bizarre definition of democracy on us all continue to prick them till one by one, they own up to their wicked conscious treatment of the masses. We shall be the wiser by that effort. Let their resolve fail and force them to expose their cruel experiment with their unique version of ‘democratic governance’. Let them eliminate each other at will in that mindless jostle for political power. They can stew in their own juices.
The underlying truth still remains that he that forcefully takes what belongs to a child would never sleep a wink as he would have no peace…..and if he raises his hands to stop the child from retrieving what’s rightfully his (child), a time would inevitably come when his hands would be heavy and then shall he be forced to give back all that he had seized!
So what will the people at the rudder of the ship called Nigeria do in the face of the reckless violence, robbery and unchecked assassinations that is rocking this doomed ship?
quote:Panicky govs run to OPC • Abuja politicians, top officials too
ROTIMI WILLIAMS
MEMBERS of ethnic militias have literally taken over the security of some top public officials, including governors, following the spate of killings in the country.
At least one of the governors has ordered that henceforth, an official vehicle conveying such body guards should come next to the one carrying policemen in his convoy.
Most of the public officers, among whom are members of the National Assembly are currently mounting pressure on leaders of the ethnic organisations in a frantic bid to beef up security around themselves and their families.
The demand for such guards, followed the recent armed attacks on the convoys of the Benue and Lagos States governors, Mr. George Akume and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Andrew Agom and a police sergeant were brutally shot dead during the attack on Akume on his way to Abuja from Makurdi.
Tinubu’s convoy was attacked twice last Saturday when he went to Anambra State to bag a chieftaincy title.
Although, he was not in the convoy, one of his security escorts was shot and wounded by the bandits.
As a pre-emptive measure, many other politicians have made written requests to the ethnic militias.
Two of the groups in the South-west: the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and the Oodua Republic Front (ORF), have been bombarded with applications for the past two weeks.
A source said as at last Wednesday, more than 950 applications had been received by the headquarters of the organisations.
No fewer than 150 applications have been treated so far, while some applicants, especially those based in Abuja, who expressed urgency in their requests have also had their requests, answered.
Some applicants, mostly senior government officials and politicians, however, had their requests scaled down.
Some of them had demanded for four bodyguards each, but ended up getting two per applicant.
Two governors, who sent in their applications by proxy, are now enjoying the services of militiamen.
The new private security men have been assigned an official vehicle, which is always directly behind that of the police in the convoy of one of the governors.
As part of an agreement reached between the applicants and the leadership of the groups, it is the responsibility of the applicants to pay the salaries of the guards.
The leaders of the OPC, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, Chief Gani Adams, heading their groups and Kayode Ogundamisi, ORF National Coordinator, confirmed the upsurge in the requests by public officers for the services of members of the groups.
“It is true, we have received applications from notable Nigerians asking that we provide our men for security. The demand has been on the increase in the past few days,” Fasehun said.
Adams, on his part, affirmed: “OPC has already acceded to the requests of some of the applicants,” noting that the protection of lives and property to complement the police is what the group stands for.
He, however, declined to give the names of the big shots who had applied to the group for protection noting: “It is strictly confidential.”
Ogundamisi, who was the former General Secretary of the OPC said: “The ORF is in the process of properly screening some of its applications so as to ensure that our men are not used for other jobs outside their briefs.
Sunday PUNCH March 14, 2004
will OPC/ORF do the magic.
Posts: 4 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
Here are some of the articles in vanguard that further indicate the perplexed condition everyone is still in. This allegation has temporarily inflicted nothing short of a disorienting political concussion from which all including journalists are still reeling.
If one looks closely, one begins to see the makings of the strategy for rebuttal which the Anenih/Aremu side intends to employ as they begin to regain their wits about them:
SUNDAY
Here’s Ojeifo appearing like a neutral analyst of unfolding events:
On the very same day’s publication here is another article from Ojeifo in which Orji Kalu’s side has been very thoroughly but very subtly discredited and media assasinated in a manner appearing to be open minded, however it is obvious Ojeifo has possibly just been tapped on the shoulder and told what spin to throw out there and which side is which. We later find some of the facts Ojeifo revealed to come out in open publication on Monday:
Does’nt that article above sound somewhat too contrived and directed?, too manicured and channelled? All on the same day as his previous article above?
One wonders how predictable, cheap and desperate this Abaribe guy has shown himself to be all along. I hope he has a limit somewhere. Seeking political relevance at all costs does come with a price, and it has everything to do with public humiliation and eternal irrelevance to the very public you seek to impress.
Next,
Here’s an article this guy started to write, then abruptly stopped when Anenih/Aremu’s hired (4th estate) guns came to remind him which side is which:
If anyone believes this, I’ve got this piece of ocean front property on the southern coast of Spain I would like to sell them for cheap. In any case whether 127 billion Naira or 300 billion, what in the state of Biafranigerian roads today demonstrates that there was even any “Minister” manning the ship of the “Public works” ministry? Yet Anenih was known as “Mr. fix it”. People need to beware of those who loyally served Abacha, when many were crushed and knuckled under, but now loyally serves Aremu. The word to describe such is ruthless!, and of all the suspects in Bola Ige’s murder who one could have imagined commited the crime, none is as smooth, dapper, debonair, but callously ruthless as Tony Anenih, a man who today has single handedly championed the coralling of Yoruba, Middle Belt, Deltan and Igbo, aspirations to true democratic governance into the hands of the PDP party machinery where when Northerners take over again, we would be back to square one, while an Aremu like “Messiah” from each ethnic group or Zone would occassionally be humored to “rule” and amass personal fortune at the expense of the masses whose opiate would be the sense that they have tasted power by extension. Yes it is entirely possible that “Mr. Fix it” could have killed Ige and others, and known how to get away with it while suppressing any overly nosy party. He was an ex-Police chief, and if the common thread after Buhari’s rule from Babangida, Abacha, and now Aremu, has been serial assasination, then it may not be too far fetched to look for the serial murderer among those who have enjoyed unfettered access all through, and have had a motive all along to assasinate. Here again, therefore, I would not doubt the possibility of credibility to Orji Kalu’s allegations despite my misgivings about Orji Kalu’s overall intentions and direction in all these.
Next,
Someone must have informed Gana that he was betraying Aremu’s ace too quickly, so here’s damage control for you:
Here’s the Guardian “Nigeria” news, that elegant organization for tabloid reporting, trying to create by this headline, the impression that Orji Kalu is changing his story thus betraying possible unreliabability:
As it now appears, the Anenih/Aremu side is out swinging, this is just the PR spin-control aspect of things we are witnessing. Can one then imagine what else is going on frenetically behind the scenes?
This is the kind of event that will expose those individuals (moles) who are working for which politicians and power-blocs, while talking to the rest of us from another side of the mouth. especially among: Politicians, Press, Labor, NGOs, ethnic publics, etc. Woooonnnnnddderrrrment!!!
Dont be surprised if Labor (Oshi-omo-ole) suddenly calls for a general strike on some outrageous and insignificant issue, just to distract public attention while Orji Kalu is being sorted out behind the scenes.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
ORJI KALU VS T. ANENIH: MISSILES NOW RAINING DOWN
quote:Reps stop Kalu’s N3bn bond bid
•SEC raises brokers’ capital base to N70m COSMAS EKPUNOBI, Abuja
Moves by Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, to raise N3 billion from the capital market has finally hit the rocks.
A month-long lobby by a pro-Kalu group in the House to secure the support of lawmakers failed last Thursday as the legislators rejected a motion directing the Finance Minister, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to approve the N3 billion for the state.
The rejection of the motion last week through a majority voice vote, was alleged to have jolted the state government.
The failed motion is asking Okonjo-Iweala and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Kayode Naiyeju, to issue a N3 billion bond order in favour of Abia State.
Sponsor of the motion, Hon. Emeka Atuma, in his lead debate, said Abia like every other state of the federation, had the right to source revenue from the capital market to "augument the monthly statutory allocations to enable it carry out its programmes and developmental projects."
According to him, "the state has fulfilled all requirements of law for the fi0rm execution of the bond except and perhaps to execute an irrevocable standing payment order to the AGF and receive the approval of same by him, under the authorisation of the Federal Government."
The Federal Government was said to have referred the move by Gov. Kalu to raise N3bn bond from the capital market to the House of Representatives on the ground that it might further worsen the state economy.
But the fresh move failed last Thursday as members insisted that it was only the State Assembly that is constitutionally empowered to handle such matter.
The State Assembly had earlier approved the purchase of the bond.
Despite the apparent smokescreen, these Fed govt PDP boys want to leave no one in doubt as to whose side they're on.
IT IS DEFINITELY NOT THE SIDE OF THIS GUY BELOW:
quote:
One is in a quandary not to let a distaste for Orji Kalu's unrequited over-ambitiousness allow Igbos to ignore the exposure of gross illegality and misconduct to which ends "Nigeria" will go to continue their assault to dehumanise Igbos using Orji Kalu as a symbol and target of their venom in this instance. One hopes that Igbo PDP political party officials and operatives usually otherwise obscure and insignificant, as well as their civil service professional counterparts will desist when all at once they are being suddenly given unusual authority and direction by non-Igbo higher-ups to eagerly do their own fellow Igbo in. It may be one thing not to rise up in arms against Orji Kalu's PDP bedfellows should they pull the trigger against him, it would be another thing altogether to be the one being delegated by Igbophobes to pull that trigger.
It kinda feels like Deja vu to the OJ Simpson trial where every white person knew for certain that OJ and all Blackmen were guilty of mesmerizing and screwing beautiful white women to pure satisfaction, and dumb and strong enough to subdue two people single-handedly without using an assasin(and thus should be taught a lesson on police planting of evidence using OJ as an example)
On the other hand, Black folk though knowing OJ was as guilty as sin for complicity in murder, also knew they did not want to be dehumanized by whatever example white society wanted to use the police and the court system to teach OJ Simpson, so they lined up behind OJ'S legal team, rooting for a piece by piece deconstruction of the racist motives and mystique of the LA Police dept, as a symbol of their own desire for an example to be made of racist law enforcement nationwide, a phenomena which white America to this day misconstrued for Black support of OJ's apparent crime.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
ABEOKUTA—THE Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the South West yesterday backed Governor Orji Kalu of Abia State over his death threat allegation against Chief Tony Anenih asking the Federal Government to conduct a public enquiry into the matter.
The party also vowed to go to war in the South West during the forthcoming local government elections if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) attempts to rig the election.
Addressing a press conference in Abeokuta, Southwest Chairman of AD, Alhaji Mufutau Olatunji Hamzat saluted the courage of Governor Kalu for coming out with the allegation which he said confirmed that indeed a nest of killers exist in the PDP.
He said “ the issue of threat to the life of Governor Kalu leveled against Chief Anenih should not be swept under the carpet. We want to know why an elected Governor in Nigeria should come under such threat. It should not be treated as a trivial matter. Let there be a public enquiry on the matter and the report should be made public.
“I want to state categorically here that Nigerians should now hold the Obasanjo-led government responsible for the death of their serving Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Chief Bola Ige.
“Not only that, the issue of a 300 billion Naira released for construction and rehabilitation of Nigerian roads should be addressed. Nigerians deserve to know how the money has been expended. We want Chief Tony Annenih to come out publicly and explain”.
Alhaji Hamzat noted that as the country continues to groan under increased cases of killing, the issue of state police should be revisited so that community police would be established to combat crime.
quote: Daily Independent Online. * Tuesday, March 16, 2004.
Gunfire as Ikimi, Anenih supporters clash
By Benson Agwu
Correspondent, Benin City
Power play between the National Chairman, Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Tony Anenih, and former External Affairs Minister, Tom Ikimi, took a dangerous turn at the weekend as the peace meeting called by the Igueben Council chapter of the party ended in fiasco.
A source said the meeting, intended to resolve the crisis that has rocked the party in the locality, was midway when a chairmanship aspirant, whose name could not be ascertained, stormed the venue with suspected members of the dreaded Black Axe cult.
They demanded to see the party’s chairmanship candidate in the March 27 council polls, Fred Ijiekhuam Gwameh, who left the meeting barely five minutes before their arrival.
When it dawned on them that Gwameh had left, they started shooting sporadically and in the process injured a party member from ward five in Udo community, now receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Irua.
The shooting later took another dimension when thugs, on sighting the party’s chairman in the area, S. Imafidon, believed to be Anenih’s protégé, shot at him.
Imafidon, who was last January stripped naked at the state secretariat of the party in Benin, was said to have left the meeting unhurt. PDP is polarised in the area along Anenih and Ikimi camps, with the Anenih group seemingly having the upper hand.
Anenih is the famed godfather of Edo politics.
Some peace forum I tell you. I think Orji Kalu should stay away from all the so called PDP peace meetings. All the recent guys who were ERASED were on their way to one PDP meeting or the other.
Obusonjo is highly power-drunk at the moment and a friend told me they now use a Yoroba chant to announce his entrance in every public gathering.
quote:"The one who speaks and even the ground(earth) will obey him"
___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
Apparently, we have not heard or seen the last in this PDP stalwarts’ macabre dance of shame. From the Guardian we read:
quote:Kalu Accuses Deputy Of Double Speak
• Says retraction was induced by Presidency, Anenih, others From Gordi Udeajah Umuahia
YET another twist was yesterday added to the controversy over an alleged threat to the life of the Abia State governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, by the chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih.
The governor accused his deputy of double speak. He also argued that Nwafor's retraction of his allegation of death threat was induced after his deputy had met with a Senator, Anenih, the Presidency and the Inspector General of Police, Mr Tafa Balogun.
Kalu, who restated his accusation against Anenih has also directed Nwafor to make public, the memorandum to him in which the deputy was said to have made the allegatiion.
The PDP's national chairman, Dr Audu Ogbeh was in Umuahia, the Abia State capital yesterday. He pledged that the party would soon take a stand on the controversy.
Nwafor, who returned to the state yesterday after the Abuja meeting on Thursday, declined comments on the development last night. The deputy governor had on Tuesday threatened to sue a newspaper for reporting that he denied Kalu's allegation.
In Abuja, on Thursday however, the deputy governor said there was no death threat on Kalu.
But a statement yesterday by the governor's Chief Press Secretary, Samuel Onuoha Udeala accused Nwafor of double speak.
The statement reads:
"The attention of the Abia State Governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has been drawn to a statement credited to the Deputy Governor of the State Dr Chima Nwafor to the effect that he never told the Governor that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Tony Anenih threatened him.
"We want to state categorically as follows:
• " Governor Kalu had never discussed Chief Anenih with his Deputy since assumption of office. It was the Deputy Governor who, on return from the Council of State meeting in Abuja where he represented the Governor, briefed the Governor in a Memo with elaborate oral reports on his encounter with the PDP chieftain.
• "According to Dr. Nwafor, Chief Anenih had told him on a flight from Abuja to Owerri in early February that he was very, very bitter with Governor Kalu and that plans had been concluded to deal with the Governor as they dealt with Bola Ige.
• "Based on this, the Governor wrote a letter to the President on the purported threat to his life as well as other fundamental national issues. He stated that the reason for the threat to his life was his stance on the N300 billion expended for road rehabilitation and construction which the President alleged was mismanaged.
• "When the letter got to the media, the Deputy-Governor was quoted by The Tribune of Tuesday, March 9, 2004 that he never told the Governor that Chief Anenih made threats on him. In a swift reaction, Dr Nwafor refuted this and stated inter-alia "I, Dr Chima Nwafor has been steadfast in the dispensation of my duties as the Deputy Governor of Abia Sate and have neither failed Abia State nor Nigeria.
"It would therefore be a travesty if I should keep quiet on this matter of national significance. I have sincerely without mincing words delivered all messages meant for the Executive Governor of Abia State, including the message from the Former Minister for Works and Housing, Chief Tony Anenih. Whatever my boss does with the message is his business."
"From the foregoing, one would like to observe the following contradictions:
• Honourables Jerry Ugokwe and Tony Aziegbemi said in the same Tribune story of March 9, 2004 that the Deputy Governor, "not only refuted Kalu's story but also denied having any discussion with Chief Anenih on that day"
• "The same Honourable members claimed that they met Dr. Nwafor in Ile-Ife, when actually Dr. Nwafor was in Umuahia on that day.
• "Honourable Chuma Nzeribe in The Guardian of March 9, 2004 alleged that Dr Nwafor had told National Assembly members in Port Harcourt on Saturday March 6, 2004 that he never reported Anenih to Governor Kalu. Dr Nwafor was not in Port Harcourt as alleged by Chuma Nzeribe.
• "The Special Assistant to the Governor in Abuja Liaison office Sir I.K Daniels was reported by the media, on March 11, 2004 to have introduced Dr. Nwafor to Chief Anenih on that day.
• "The Political Adviser to the President Professor Jerry Gana in a statement claimed that it was Professor A.B.C Nwosu that introduced Dr. Nwafor to the PDP chieftain and reiterated that apart from the introduction, there was no further discussion between the duo on any matter let alone a threat. Chief Anenih, in his taciturn reaction has denied any conversation beyond mere introduction to the Deputy Governor.
• "Contrary to all expectations, the Abia Deputy Governor told State House Correspondents after the security meeting of March 12, 2003 that he introduced himself to Chief Anenih. "From these contradictions, one can say without mincing words that there is a cacophonous babel among some individuals to divert public attention and trivialize the fundamental issues raised by Dr. Kalu in his letter to the President, which centred mainly on:
• "Threat to Governor Kalu's life
• "The demand to account for how N300 billion expended on roads rehabilitation and construction was used when Chief Anenih was the Minister for Works and Housing, and
• "The general State of insecurity in the country. "The sequence of events within the last 48 hours prior to the purported retraction of the earlier statement made by the Deputy Governor could provide an insight into what informed the current volte-face.
"On Wednesday, 10th of March 2004, at about 10:30 a. m in the absence of the substantive chairman of the state Executive Council, Dr. Oriji Uzor Kalu, Dr Chima Nwafor presided over the state EXCO meeting.
"At the said meeting under his chairmanship, a matter of urgent public importance was raised. The substance of the motion was a vote of confidence on the Governor and condemnation of the threat to his life issued by the former Minister for Works, Chief Tony Anenih.
"In addition, the resolution condemned the recent spate of assassination of lives of eminent Nigerians and called on the presidency to ensure that law and order was maintained.
"The Deputy Governor at the end of the meeting was commended by the State Executive Council for his loyalty as exhibited by his act of reporting the threat on the life of the Governor to the Governor promptly.
"The next day, 11th March, the Deputy Governor travelled to Abuja to represent the Governor at the meeting convened by the President to deliberate on security matters.
"We have it on good authority that the Deputy Governor was whisked off from his Abia Governor's Lodge in Abuja shortly on arrival by Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, who took him to Chief Tony Anenih, then to the Presidency and later, to the Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun.
"After the encounters and rendezvous, the visibly flustered Deputy Governor, who was made to address the press was alleged to have retracted some portions of his earlier reports and submissions.
"To quote Thisday of 12/03/04, he was 'incoherent and hesitant.' New Age Newspapers described him as "a clearly nervous deputy," Daily Independent said he was "sounding rather incoherent" The Vanguard said he became "rather incoherent and hesitant."
"It is obvious from the foregoing, that something had transpired between the arrival of the Deputy Governor in Abuja, his encounters with Chief Anenih and others and his subsequent press briefing. Was there a Judas Kiss
• "Inspite of all this, Governor Kalu wishes to restate that the crux of his letter to the President is the potent threat to his life by Chief Anenih no matter how veiled or in whatsoever language, expression, and style it was conveyed.
"Meanwhile, the Governor has directed that the official memo sent to him by the Deputy Governor on the meeting/discussion with Chief.Anenih be de-classified. The Governor has also authorized the Deputy Governor to circulate copies of the memo to the media and the general public. Nigerians must know the truth and sift the wheat from the shaft.
"The question that must be answered is: What happened to the N300 billion purportedly spent on roads from 1999 to 2003?”
posted
Is Kalu’s outcry really a political ploy? Assuming we give Kalu the benefit of the doubt, is there a reason why Kalu broke from the conventional PDP secretive “it’s-a-PDP-family-affair-so-let's-settle-this-amicably-in-our-closed-chambers” mode to announce loudly to anyone who cared to listen about this threat? The Sunday Punch reports:
quote:Why Kalu fights Anenih•What Anenih told me -Dep Gov
YUSUF ALLI
INTENSE schemings by the major power blocs in the linked Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to control the party’s machinery ahead of 2007 may be behind the feud between the Chairman of PDP’s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih and Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State.
Investigation by Sunday Punch showed that the various camps of the main stakeholders had been involved in a prolonged but discreet battle over who calls the shots as politicians prepare for the next general elections.
Following the search for a successor to PDP’s former BOT Chairman and Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, two dominant power blocks reportedly emerged, with each scheming to have its candidate take over the seat.
On Friday, February 7, 2004, the governor claimed, in a petition addressed to President Olusegun Obasanjo, that Anenih was threatening his life.
The power tussle reportedly became more intense last August when information filtered that Anenih, the former Minister of Works, could be the successor to Ekwueme.
The information was said to have jolted some influential cliques, some of whose members have been positioning themselves for choice elective offices on PDP platform in 2007.
They were said to have gone back to the drawing board to restrategise on how to checkmate those behind Anenih’s candidacy for BOT Chairman.
One of the strategies they reportedly evolved was to make a deliberate move to weaken his political machinery in Edo State where he comes from.
The power tussle between the pro and the anti Anenih forces was said to have created a new stalemate among the party leaders over the choice of a successor to Ekwueme.
Worried by the development, the Presidency reportedly waded into the matter by holding consultations with PDP stakeholders.
Though the leaders claimed that Anenih eventually emerged on consensus as chairman, sources within the party told Sunday Punch that the choice still left behind some measure of discontent among some power brokers.
According to sources, the fear of such party stalwarts is that the new position has put him in good stead to influence major decisions over the selection of PDP presidential candidate in 2007.
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is among the prominent PDP members said to be eyeing the party’s ticket and possibly emerge successor to Obasanjo.
Speculations are rife that Kalu is scheming to be chosen as presidential running mate, come 2007.
But the Senior Special Assistant to Atiku on Public Communications, Dr. Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo has absolved his boss over the face-off between Anenih and Kalu.
“Although he is a friend of Kalu, just like he is a friend to so many governors and public officers, he is not in anyway connected with the latter or the disagreement between the two,” he told Sunday Punch in Abuja.
Attempts have also been made by a PDP top official, Alhaji Shuaih Oyedokun, to clarify the circumstances and raison detre for the choice of Anenih as BOT boss.
Oyedokun, who is the party’s Deputy National Chairman (South), explained that Anenih’s choice is meant to guarantee a “smooth succession.”
Besides, he said other factors that influenced the decision were competence and commitment to national cause” as well as “seniority in the system.”
Meanwhile, following the directive given by Kalu, Nwafor released the memo containing his discussion with Anenih for public consumption on Saturday night.
In it, Anenih was said to have protested the accusation of wasteful spending of N300 billion meant for road construction allegedly levelled against him by Kalu.
He was reported to have condemned this remark by Kalu.
The memo read in part: “Chief Tony Anenih protested seriously to me that Your Excellency, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, accused him of spending N300 billion on roads without any kilometre road to show for the money he spent.
“He was very, very bitter and unhappy about the remarks he read from The Sun Newspaper.
“I told him that newspapers could report anything to sell their papers, but he retorted that the write-up in The Sun newspaper was master-minded by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Abia State. He was very much disturbed.”
Astonishingly, no threat to kill or to deal with Kalu was contained in the released memo.
Kalu had penultimate Friday petitioned the President alleging plots by persons close to the presidency particularly Anenih to assassinate him.
The governor urged Obasanjo to urgently address the myriad of problems plaguing the nation, including unresolved assassinations cases.
In the letter, was copied to world leaders such as President George Bush of the United States, Tony Blair of Britain, French President, Jacques Chirac and international bodies, Kalu fingered Anenih as having vowed to deal with him the way they dealt with Chief Bola Ige.
“I write this letter with a heavy heart, but with strong spirit. This letter for sure, is quite different from any other letter I had written to government, even though it bears my trademark, brutal frankness and courage. The issues I have raised in it could have overwhelming implications for our dear nation if not handled carefully and promptly,” Kalu stated in the letter.
Two days later in an interview with reporters, the governor explained he had to write the letter because “enough was enough.”
However, in a swift reaction, the PDP on Monday apparently rallied to defend Anenih, describing the contents of the petition as unsubstantiated.
The party condemned the publication of Kalu’s letter to Obasanjo, calling saying the action is a ploy to score cheap political points.
posted
No matter whom one decides to believe in this dispute, it has become painfully clear that Orji Kalu is an extremely irresponsible man, one without proper counsel, or one that has chosen to jettison the advice of his counsel. Kalu has chosen to wage a public war over a legal matter of life and death. Therefore, the burden is on Kalu to publicly show that the allegations he has made are true. It is unlikely now that he will be able to do that, since he now finds himself in open disagreement with his main corroborating witness, his deputy governor.
In a society where everything depends on a corrupt patronage system, it increasingly appears that after Kalu's deputy returned to Abia following his airport encounter with Anenih, the deputy used the encounter as an opportunity to seek favor from Kalu. That worked, for as long as the allegations were not subject to scrutiny, public or legal. Now, that it is more beneficial to be loyal to Aso Rock, Kalu's deputy is squarely on the Anenih-Obasanjo side even while he, the deputy, is in Abia State.
The deputy governor has stated publicly that the information he gave to Kalu concerning Anenih's "threat" was written in a memo, which he purports is classified. Fully aware of the contents of that memo, the deputy governor denied telling Kalu that Anenih threatened the former’s life. My suspicion is that if the memo were really as incriminating against Anenih as Kalu has alleged, Kalu would have made the memo public by now. I do not believe that Kalu has enough cautious fiber in him to exercise restraint if he knew that releasing the memo would give him an advantage, especially now that he is in open disagreement with Nwafo, his deputy.
One can only observe that Kalu began all this without first making sure that his source would back him up when the time came to prove the allegations. Now, the fight is between Kalu and his deputy, not between Kalu and the hoodlums in Abuja. The survivors and families of the next victims to fall to the murderous whim of Onbasanjo or Anenih will now have a weaker case against those men, and Kalu's loose tongue must share part of the blame. It is a shame that some people have such an immature person as governor.
___________________ No Nonsense Posts: 79 | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted Chidi Orhegbe: Anenih: Kalu Lied, Says His Deputy
Abia Gov vows not to honour PDP's invitation From Josephine Lohor, Kola Ologbondiyan in Abuja and Chukwudi Nwabuko in Lagos
.........But PDP Assistant National Auditor, Dr. Godwin Daboh, yesterday in Abuja said Nwafor actually told Kalu, that Anenih, promised to deal with him.
Daboh, who made this revelation in his office in Abuja during an interactive session with newsmen, said, "last Thursday evening, I was with Orji Kalu and as we were having dinner with about 10 other people in Kalu's home at about 9.15pm, the deputy governor came in to join us for dinner."
"Kalu was sitting on the top seat, I on his right and the deputy governor came in and sat beside me. At this stage, Kalu was telling us about the threat to his life before the deputy governor came in because his P.A. (Personal Assistant) was reading the letter Orji wrote to President Olusegun Obasanjo and the deputy governor restated what he had told the governor because the governor had told him to recount what he said that necessitated the letter.
"I asked him is he sure? He maintained that it was what Anenih told him. I believed this was a matter that was serious. I asked if he had got in touch with the Presidency he said no but that Mr. President got the letter.
"The deputy governor, as deputy chief security officer of the state to come and inform his chief security officer that this was what happened, what do you do if you were in his situation? You will obviously investigate and bring it immediately to the notice of the leader."
The above statement was made by Daboh:
Kalu's camp forgot to add the following to the list. If they know whats good for them, they better ask Godwin Daboh not to change his story.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
This Anenih guy is bad news to Nigeria. Someone needs to take care of this problem for the benefit of nigeria.
quote: Gunfire as Ikimi, Anenih supporters clash By Benson Agwu
Correspondent, Benin City
Power play between the National Chairman, Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Tony Anenih, and former External Affairs Minister, Tom Ikimi, took a dangerous turn at the weekend as the peace meeting called by the Igueben Council chapter of the party ended in fiasco.
A source said the meeting, intended to resolve the crisis that has rocked the party in the locality, was midway when a chairmanship aspirant, whose name could not be ascertained, stormed the venue with suspected members of the dreaded Black Axe cult.
They demanded to see the party’s chairmanship candidate in the March 27 council polls, Fred Ijiekhuam Gwameh, who left the meeting barely five minutes before their arrival.
When it dawned on them that Gwameh had left, they started shooting sporadically and in the process injured a party member from ward five in Udo community, now receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Irua.
The shooting later took another dimension when thugs, on sighting the party’s chairman in the area, S. Imafidon, believed to be Anenih’s protégé, shot at him.
Imafidon, who was last January stripped naked at the state secretariat of the party in Benin, was said to have left the meeting unhurt. PDP is polarised in the area along Anenih and Ikimi camps, with the Anenih group seemingly having the upper hand.
Anenih is the famed godfather of Edo politics.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
| IP: Logged
Below is a reproduction of the declassified report of Dr. Chima Nwafor, Deputy Governor of Abia State, to his boss, Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State which sparked the present controversy.
“From: His Excellency, the Deputy Governor To: His Excellency, the Executive Governor Ref: GH/DGOV/S.14/III Date: 6th February, 2004 “Your Excellency,
Invitation by the presidency on pipeline vandalisation/small and medium scale enterprises/infrastructure agriculture “Thank you once again for giving me the
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
