Crisis is brewing again within the Edo State health sector as the state government has threatened that any doctor in her employment who fails to report to work by 8am today will be given a "summary dismissal," just as it strongly condemned the ongoing strike action embarked upon by members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA).

Following the recent abduction of a former Chief Medical Director of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, (UBTH), Eugene Okpere, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) had directed all members of the union to stay away from work until security condition in the state improves. Mr. Okpere had since been released, but several doctors in the state have been abducted lately and many were only released after payments were made.

The state government, in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Pally Iriase, said "from reports collated so far, many innocent persons have died as a result of the strike/industrial action. Edo State government can no longer condone this inhuman, unethical and irresponsible action.

"Government notes that the reason advanced by the striking doctors is that they are protesting the insecurity engendered by the criminal activities of kidnappers, but government on the contrary also notes the inhumanity of the frequent recourse to strike action at the flimsiest of excuses by doctors whose duty it is to save lives. The excuse of the doctors for embarking on the latest strike action is untenable and un-acceptable, as the state of insecurity pervades the whole nation as it is not limited to Edo State only and the criminal actions of the kidnappers affect all strata of the society." Mr. Iriase said despite the fact that matters of security are under the purview of the federal government,the state government has done all within its powers to assist security agencies in the state with operational vehicles,communication gadgets and allowances.

"The Government especially notes the irresponsibility of doctors in the employ of the state government,paid with tax-payers' money, who find it convenient to shut down public health facilities under the guise of strike action. Clearly, this is a ruse for them to create time for their private practice in their clinics while also drawing their full pay at the end of the month," the SSG said.

Doctors Want Apology

Chairman of Edo State chapter of Nigerian Medical Association, Phillip Gbodagha described the threat as "provocative." "No doctor was summarily employed by the state government, so there is no doctor that can be summarily dismissed by Edo state government," Mr Gbodagha said.

He said the doctors would remain on strike until the leadership of the association meet and he called for the overhaul of security operatives in the state and the deployment of military personnel to the state as done in Abia state. The NMA, in a statement signed by Stanley Ehiaremwan and Bruce Ossai, said the partial strike was to press for improvement in the security situation in the state.

"In compliance with the NMA Edo State branch directive, doctors in the Hospital Management Board have been going to work on daily basis, taking calls,attending to in-patients, emergencies and surgeries," the organisation said. "For the Edo state government to have,among other things, describe doctors in her employment as irresponsible, in-human and un-ethical because of compliance of a directive of their parent body is to say the least undeserved and negate the spirit of freedom of association.

"We take exception to the use of unpalatable language, and therefore demand an unreserved apology from the Edo State government." The doctors vowed to maintain their stand until further directive from the NMA.

‘Return to Class or Quit’

Angry that striking workers of the Abia State University, Uturu have refused to shift grounds, the state governor, Theodore Orji advised all those dissatisfied with the conditions of service at the institution to quit. The governor said this during a meeting between the state government and major interest groups in the state seeking to find ways of ending the three-month-old strike.



Mr Orji said efforts by his government to ensure that striking staff unions return to work have been rebuffed by the unions’ leadership, which was why he decided to invite religious leaders to wade into the matter. He said federal institutions are there for lecturers who feel they can no longer stay in ABSU and called on the lecturers to make concessions towards resolving the strike in the interest of the students.



The governor said he had promised to pay 100% of the agreement reached by the unions with effect from January next year adding that if the unions insist that the arrears must be paid, he would have to revert to paying only 50%. He said other sectors of the state economy must receive attention, adding that the state has two other tertiary institutions that must also be attended to. As part of efforts to resolve the impasse, the stakeholders, including parents, students and the university management arrived at the conclusion that the striking staff should call off the strike and accept the state government’s offer.



No Wage Increase



They equally agreed that the new wage increase would require an increase in fees paid by students, but that the increase should not be such that parents would be forced to withdraw their wards from school as such action could lead to crime, prostitution and other social vices associated with frustration and idleness.



The pro chancellor of ABSU, Joshua Ogbonnaya gave an overview of the steps so far taken by government to resolve the imbroglio. Bishops and other religious leaders suggested that a meeting be convened between them and the striking unions to try to resolve the issues involved.

Contract Row Threatens 1,000mw Alaoji Power Plant

Nigeria’s power sector roadmap, a comprehensive plan to ensure adequacy of electricity supply in the country recently unveiled by President Goodluck Jonathan, has come under a major threat, THISDAY investigation has revealed.

An unnamed petitioner is said to have pointed out irregularities in the gas contract award for the 1,074 megawatts Alaoji Power Station, the biggest of the country’s gas fired power plant under the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) which is expected to contribute significantly to the roadmap.

The contract for the supply of gas to the power station was tagged “emergency” to avoid the scrutiny of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and allegedly awarded under questionable circumstances to a contractor with no track record of building gas pipeline.

The scope of the project includes construction of 18-inch x 2.5kilometre gas pipeline system with associated facilities from intermediate pigging station to Alaoji metering station; construction of 18-inch x 1.2kilometre gas pipeline system with associated facilities from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Imo River station to Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), Owaza Compressor Station; and Hot Tap existing Imo River-Aba gas pipeline and SPDC Imo River flow station tie in points.

It also includes testing and commissioning the early gas supply system; relocation of 30 million standard cubic feet per day capacity early gas delivery facility from Omotosho to Alaoji Metering Station site; review of an existing design already carried out and procurement, supply and transportation to site, all materials and equipment for the construction, testing and commissioning of the pipeline system.

However, all the materials, including line pipes are already procured by the NGC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and are to be issued free to the contractor.
A source at the NNPC, who was aware of the deal, told THISDAY at the weekend that a top Group Executive Director (GED) of the corporation had deceived the NNPC Group Executive Council (GEC) to invite a sole bidder for the project instead of calling for an open bid from qualified indigenous contractors, thereby subverting public procurement process.

The GED, according to the source, also allegedly misinformed the NNPC GEC to approve the contract for the sole bidder at its meeting of June 18, 2010, at the cost of $8.4 million, with a provisional sum of $807,102.71 plus N5 million.
It was alleged that this cost, which covers only construction and commissioning, was fraudulent as the total project, including detailed engineering design and supply of the line pipes and metering station, was initially meant to cost $30 million, while construction and commissioning was meant to cost about $4 million.

“How come this project is awarded at $8,400,000.00 for only construction and commissioning, when all the materials are to be supplied by the NGC?” queried an NNPC source, who was familiar with the deal.
The contract, it was alleged, did not pass through due process as the top GED was said to have tagged it “emergency gas supply to PHCN power plant at Alaoji”, to ensure that it was not subjected to due process.
Director-General of BPP, Mr. Emeka Eze confirmed to THISDAY that the contract was not in the data base of the agency, which was a contravention of relevant regulations that stipulate that any contract that is up to N1 billion must pass through BPP for due process certificate.

“Any contract that is up to N1 billion is supposed to pass through us. But this one did not pass through us; it is not in our data base. So, I would not know if the contract has been awarded,” he said.
On the alleged use of the word “emergency” to subvert due process, Eze expressed doubts if the project qualifies for emergency.
“It is actually in the case of emergency that someone can award contract before coming to us for due process certificate. For instance, if a bridge collapses or heavy rainfall cuts a road into two, you can find someone to fix it quickly and later come for due process certificate. But I don’t think what they have done qualifies for emergency,” he added.

It was also alleged that the contractor has no track record of building gas pipeline as the current project it is handling for an unnamed oil company is crude oil pipeline and not gas pipeline – which requires a different technology.
According to investigation, the NGC on a routine check with the oil company got a damming report on how the contractor had delayed the execution of the crude oil pipeline project, but the top GED at NNPC, who was bent on awarding the NGC’s gas pipeline contract to the same contractor, directed the NGC to “step it down” – that is, to bury its findings.

It is feared that the Alaoji gas pipeline contract, which is expected to be completed within three months, is a clear attempt to derail President Jonathan’s efforts to improve power supply as it will be delayed the same way as the crude oil pipeline contract being executed by the same contractor.
“The only reason the contractor was singled out for an arranged contract award is to ensure that there is no completion that will bring value to NNPC,” an insider said.

“It is wrong to ask for only one contractor to submit a bid of this type. It would have taken the same time to evaluate bids of three contractors that are known to NGC to be fully qualified for this scope of work. NGC has a data base of good contractors to get the best value for their money. There are clearly more qualified indigenous contractors that are available and if included, would have brought the required competition and value to NNPC,” he added.
Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP), Professor Barth Nnaji however told THISDAY that his task force does not get involved in such contracts.

“Believe me, I don’t know anything about the contract. We leave the award of such contracts to the NNPC and we expect them to do proper due diligence. It is only when there is problem that we begin to look into such contracts,” he said.
Nnaji further disclosed that the first phase of Alaoji Power Station would come on stream by the first quarter of 2011.
Another NNPC source, who called for the re-award of the contract to a competent contractor, argued that the project is technically flawed, stressing that planning an 18-inch gas supply to come off from a 12-inch Imo River-Aba gas pipeline does not make technical sense.

“An 18-inch line is being built to take gas from the existing 12-inch line. The 12-inch line is a Low Pressure (LP) line built in the 1960s to deliver gas to Aba industries – Aba Textile Mills; Nigerian Breweries; and International Equitable Industries. This line is an LP and is very old with suspect integrity. The power station requires higher pressure to operate and the quantity of gas from the old line will not suffice for this requirement,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the NNPC has stated that due process was undertaken in the award of the pipeline power plant contract.
Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, alleged that contrary to an anonymous petition being circulated to media houses by a disgruntled contractor, the management of the corporation took all relevant measures in ensuring that transparency ensued all through the award process.

He said the contract was revoked after the said contractor failed to deliver on the project six years after the award.
"It is common knowledge that the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan attaches huge importance to the issue of power supply to Nigerians. Thus after waiting in vain for six years for the contractor to perform, NNPC Acting on the instruction of the Presidential Committee on Power Chaired by the Vice President Alhaji Namadi Sambo, was mandated to re-award the contract to a competent contractor under a matter of urgent national importance to a competent contractor that can deliver on time. So tell me what is wrong with that?" Ajuonuma said.

PERCEPTOR: 7 Questions On The Anti-Kidnapping Strategy

Perceptor: “By doubting we come to question, and by questioning, we perceive the truth.(Peter Abelard, 1079-1142)

7 Questions on the Anti-Kidnapping Strategy: Perceptor had not intended to write about this matter, because frankly, Perceptor is totally fed up by the way everybody is jumping up and down and acting as though something strange and unusual has happened because this time, it is some journalists who have been kidnapped.

The formal ‘profession’ (i.e. not us here) may have been rather surprised at the acerbic reaction from members of the public, especially those who live in the Eastern states. The general feeling is that since it is the journalists who have refused to report on the situation in the region – how much prominence was given to the fact that banks in Aba were closed for over a fortnight because of armed robbers, or the refusal by NUPENG to deliver fuel to Abia State because they were tired of having their members kidnapped? – then ( leaving aside people looking for public relevance by making clichéd statements as if they too have just discovered that kidnapping is a menace in the country) why all the noise now? In fact, if Perceptor is to be brutally honest, many people outside the charmed circles of journalists and politicians are firmly convinced that the press was taking money to keep quiet about the situation. Or were just too lazy or blind to notice that for more than a year now, nobody in Abia State dresses up for anything or rides big cars any more. Was the press keeping quiet so that unsuspecting innocents would keep coming to the region and get kidnapped because the “watchdog” had gone to sleep or been induced to close its eyes?

So no, Perceptor wasn’t going to write about kidnapping just because journalists were the victims. They seem to be doing quite enough of that themselves anyway. (Journalists writing about the kidnapping of journalists, that is.)

But the more Perceptor sees of the way that the Nigeria Police Force is handling the matter, the more the questions that arise about the strategy that they seem to be employing ...
1. What happens now that the 24 hour ultimatum that IGP Onovo gave the kidnappers has expired?

It may seem callous, but Perceptor must confess to heaving a bit of a sigh of relief when the IG’s ultimatum to the kidnappers to release the journalists and their driver within 24 hours or face the full wrath of the law expired. Because what Perceptor was worrying about was: if the kidnappers release the journalists within the 24 hours, does that mean that they will be allowed to go scot free? Because if they have to release the journalists and NOT face the full wrath of the law, doesn’t that mean that they will be free to make up their losses from ordinary people? Over whose sufferings the media professionals can go back to sleep?

2. Does Mr. Onovo really think that registration of SIM cards is going to ‘flush out’ kidnappers?

If he does, may Perceptor recommend that he find time to read the harrowing account of his kidnapping ordeal by Dr. Ohaka. Perceptor doesn’t know whether the IG would have read or heard the account in any of the print or electronic media whose members are now the subject of so much official concern, but it was widely circulated through the Internet at the end of May this year.
If the IG can get hold of a copy, he will discover that when the kidnappers want to make contact with the relatives of their victims, they don’t use their own mobile phones. They use their VICTIMS’ phones.

And that’s before we even get to the subject of the number of mobile phones (with SIM card intact) that are simply stolen from the owners ...

3. Does Mr. Onovo really think that all SIM cards are going to be registered in any meaningful way anyway?
It is all very well to insist that all SIM cards must be registered, but Perceptor doubts that that is really going to happen. For example, when it comes to registering for post-paid telephone services, you have to produce electricity bills, international passports or documents like that to back up your request. Now, Perceptor invites you, dear reader, to take a straw poll of the number of people you know who have a mobile phone, and find out how many of them can produce any of these documents. Perceptor is very glad that we’ve moved beyond the days when telephones were only for the rich, but since they are now for everybody and his housegirl, Perceptor wants to suggest to Mr. IGP, ever so gently, that IT WON’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE!

Why? Because does anybody really believe that mobile phone operators are going to strangle their business by stopping anybody who wants and can afford a SIM card from getting one just because they haven’t got some solid proof of identity? Perceptor doesn’t THINK so! And if Mr. IG does think so, Perceptor wonders whether he can tell us what is the current state of the requirement that the same mobile phone operators should start using the IIEE numbers of telephone handsets to deter mobile phone theft ...

Perceptor also draws Mr. IG’s attention to the fact that even countries that started with all sorts of stringent requirements for someone to get a mobile phone are moving away from that sort of regime because they know that there’s so much fakery and theft in the field that IT WON’T MAKE A BLIND BIT OF DIFFERENCE!

4. Do the Nigeria Police actually know how mobile telephones work?
As Perceptor understands it, the important thing with kidnappers is not: Whose phone are they using? but: Where are they calling from? Actually, Perceptor is sure that the NPF knows very well that you can trace the place where calls are being made from by the relevant tower that relays their signal. But does it help to start shouting (possibly on the basis of that simple bit of techno) that you’ve found the kidnappers’ hideout when you haven’t actually found either the kidnappers or their hostages?

5. What about all those unseen spies?
One thing Perceptor remembers from Chris Anyanwu’s book about her experiences in Sani Abacha’s gulag, ‘Days of Terror’ is that while she was being processed, the SSS was receiving reports from a wide variety of people that she would never have suspected were SSS informants, pepper sellers, taxi drivers, cooks, roadside tea canteens, vendors, and so on.

Have all these people been retired? Yes, Perceptor knows that in Anyanwu’s day they were probably spying on harmless human rights activists, but surely if they are still on the job, they would notice if someone in the area is keeping hostages wouldn’t they? Or ... aren’t the SSS talking to the NPF? And if they aren’t, why don’t they grab a bit of the glory for themselves?

6. Does any kidnap victim trust the NPF?
Perceptor really does advise Mr. Onovo to read Dr. Ohaku’s account. Because when he threatens the victims of the carelessness and inability of his own men to provide security with punishment for securing the release of their relatives by paying ransom, does it occur to him to wonder why people prefer to do that instead of going to the police?

As Dr. Ohaku said at the end his account, when he went to collect his car from the POLICE STATION where the kidnappers had parked it, he “guarded his utterances because you never know who the insiders were.” He also said “I did not involve the police and it was the best decision. The location of the camp is not hidden. ... The chairman/leader of the group who authorized each release has facial tribal marks, speaks same dialect. It may not surprise me if he is a northerner and security personnel.”

Well, it is Dr. Ohaku who had the terrible experience so he must know why he said that. But despite all the declaration of war on kidnapping by everybody from President Johnson to David Mark and the IGP, Perceptor can’t help wondering ...

7. ... how can the Police ever hope to stop kidnapping when nobody believes that they aren’t hand in glove with the kidnappers?

Babangida and Mrs. Beeton

For those who don’t recognise her name, about 100 or more years ago, Mrs. Beeton wrote a famous cookbook. One of the popular dishes of the day was ‘jugged hare’, and several people were championing their own recipes for the favourite meal. Mrs. Beeton however, was expected to take a more practical and pragmatic approach. Thus it is that her own recipe for jugged hare is often popularly misquoted as having begun with the words: “First catch your hare ...” Because truly, all those fancy recipes are not going to do a cook much good if said cook doesn’t actually have a hare to jug! First things first eh?

You will understand therefore, gentle reader, why this misquotation sprang to Perceptor’s mind when news broke that Ibrahim Babangida had been boasting that “Nobody can annul my election.” All that Perceptor can say to Mr. Babangida is, as Mrs. Beeton might have said: “First win your election ...”

Perceptor’s unfinished perceptions ...
You, dear reader, are ever on Perceptor’s mind, and many is the time that Perceptor has put finger to keyboard only to have the matter overtaken by some other (preferably income-generating) events. That is why a lot that Perceptor starts, doesn’t get finished before the thing that it was about has become stale news. What follows are the ones that never quite got to the finishing line ...

Travel O.G.U.E.
(TRAVEL On Government Unlimited Estacode)

Yes, Perceptor knows, the 140 has been broken down into the President’s advance party, the ‘Recce’ party, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ own advance party, the ’plane-flying party and for all Perceptor knows, the First Lady Dame’s hairdresser’s trouser-press holder’s party. But when Perceptor tries to beat the upper limit for signing cheques at Perceptor’s bank by signing four or five cheques, each of which comes in below the limit, Perceptor’s bank joins all of them together and declares a foul. So Perceptor doesn’t think it is so out of order to join up all those Toronto-bound Naija public servants and say that Mr. President travelled for a meeting at which Nigeria is only a participant with 140 people at government expense. Or rather, at Perceptor’s expense. And yours.

What baffles Perceptor is that this ‘cast of thousands’ approach to official international travel manifests itself no matter what the particular reason for the trip is. So it was that two-thirds of the Senate went to watch our 23-man football squad score a total of ... three (3) goals without winning a single match. Perceptor is very sure that it was out of sheer sympathy for the long-suffering Nigerian masses that Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s foot refused to score that goal against South Korea the other day, thereby removing any further excuse (on footballing grounds at least) for further jamboree at their expense. Yes, Perceptor knows that you will say that the trip was arranged by MTN, but unless and until (and probably not even then) Perceptor hears a categorical denial from each and every one of those 69 Senators that they did not and will not collect Estacode for the trip, Perceptor will be forced to list that trip under TRAVEL-On Government Unlimited Estacode.

The Senatorial mission to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa which was obviously designed solely to offend the god of football, is not to be confused with the Presidential mission to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa which was in solidarity with and to thank our South African brothers and sisters who so obligingly stepped in to do what the ‘Giant of Africa’ has been so spectacularly unable to

Remind Perceptor again what it was that Mr. President and his 140 Merry Men (and Women too!) went to do in Toronto? Oh yes, it was so that Mr. President could make a 20 minute address at a side-meeting to beg for debt relief for Africa. Because we are too poor to pay the money back. Now, Perceptor’s brow is positively furrowed trying to work out what on earth could it be that is making us too poor? Where, Perceptor wonders, could all the money we get from oil and other taxes, customs duties, fees and so on, where oh where can all that money have gone?

My Uncle, the Cow ... (I wan’ chop beef)
When Perceptor first started this list, Perceptor had been struck by the number of people who were crawling out of the woodwork to start shouting about Merit! Not Zoning! All because they wanted to suck up to the new President, Goodluck Jonathan. It reminded Perceptor of the popular rebuke to sycophants: “Must you call a COW ‘UNCLE’ just because you want to eat BEEF?” It turned out that there is a long list of would-be beefeaters in Nigeria, but every time Perceptor turned around, the list had grown longer. And longer. And longer. In the end, Perceptor just had to give up!

Comfort Ovbiagele: He was described at the end of his article in The Guardian of 14th May as “a Lagos-based media consultant”. Perceptor has no idea what that might entail, but his hilarious article in The Guardian of 14th May is surely the gold standard when it comes to bootlicking sycophancy. Jonathan, who other commentators were embarrassed to note did not even know what Nigeria’s foreign policy is on his first trip to the US to join a gang of 14 anti-nukes heads of state to do some finger-wagging at Iran and get some ‘face time’ with Barack Obama, according to Comfort, has an “unassailable international profile”.

Timipre Sylva: Perceptor recognises that “needs must when the devil drives”, but surely nobody is being taken in by this new Best Friends Forever gig?

Hon. Beni Lar: House of Representatives Member from Plateau State suddenly discovered that zoning was unconstitutional.
Plus including Solomon D. Lar:

Isa Yuguda, Bauchi State Governor has also suddenly discovered that zoning is unconstitutional. According to him, it is only God who makes leaders.
Bo! The list kept on growing. And Perceptor is already fed up with it. Please add your own names. Just call them ‘BEEFEATERS’.

But Perceptor notes that some beefeaters are quite ready to call a GOAT ‘UNCLE’ if BEEF goes out of fashion. Thus it is that while we find Ibrahim Babangida also spouting one thing one day about zoning and another thing the next, Perceptor thinks that the gold prize for shameless beef-o-philia has to go to his election-ready suggestion that “Nigeria must IMMORTALIZE late M.K.O. Abiola ...”

By Your Friends ...
Perceptor is as anxious to jump onto the tail of another recently re-discovered saint as anybody else, but ... e get but. Mr. Nuhu Ribadu is back in Nigeria sprouting AIG (Rtd) among his titles, and will soon add ‘Dr.’ to these and more, so the ‘Friends of Ribadu’ have been quickly up and doing, taking out full page advertisements in a number of national newspapers to tell us that Ribadu is a National Hero with more to come. At first Perceptor was quite hurt at being left out the Friends of Ribadu listed in these adverts, but on second thoughts, Perceptor doesn’t know whether to be glad or sad.

On the one hand, the friends include stalwart human rights activists such as Femi Falana, Ike Okonta, Joe Odumakin and Ledum Mittee. There are loads and loads of media men Babafemi Ojudu, Dapo Olorunyomi, Dele Olojede, Ben Bruce and Raymond Dokpesi amongst others. Well Perceptor can understand why AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) might have so many friends in the media – after all, he did court them so assiduously during his time as boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission didn’t he?

Perceptor can even understand why big businessmen like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, are on the list: after all, once you’ve clawed your own way to the top of the heap, you want everybody else to play by the rules don’t you? And perhaps the AIG (Rtd.) and Hakeem Bello-Osagie became chums during the time that Bello-Osagie spent in the custody ... oh! Perceptor means Company ... of the EFCC back in the day. Yes, Perceptor could have quite fancied being in a group like that.

But on the other hand, Perceptor must confess to being surprised to find the names of quite so many politicians amongst the friends of AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) listed on full page adverts welcoming him back. Since Shola Akinyede chairs the Senate committee that deals with AIG Ribadu (Rtd.)’s old stamping ground, Perceptor can (just about) understand why he is there. But what are Akin Oshuntokun, Babatunde Raji Fasola, Kayode Fayemi, Ken Nnamani, Donald and Onari Duke doing there? Could it be that they are just taking out insurance against some past and future political activity?

Yet, if THOSE politicians are taking out insurance, aren’t you supposed to pay the premium before the disaster strikes? So what then, are the Abdul-Razaqs and Femi Fani-Kayodes doing there? The EFCC and/or ICPC have already dragged them to court! Or is it just their way of saying how grateful they are to AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) that he never tried anything like that with them when HE was in charge? In that case ... but no, Perceptor can’t find the name Olusegun (don’t say ‘Haliburton’) Obasanjo on the list. Odd, that.

Frankly, Perceptor finds it a bit hard to work out WHO AIG Ribadu (Rtd.) is, going by this particular list of friends. Andy Uba? Bayo Ojo? Zakari Hassan Biu??!!

Or is this just a list of wannabe’s, peppered with some genuine pals to make the thing look decent?

In the Spirit of Aunty Dora

Perceptor wishes to report several good things happening in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The main item under this heading, in which we say nice things to say about this great nation of good people, is that Perceptor’s teeth are beginning to ache.

The next item is ... Perceptor’s teeth are aching, SO WHAT? did Perceptor hear you mutter? But surely it is obvious? Perceptor’s teeth are aching because Perceptor is being forced to drink large quantities of ice cold water! Need Perceptor say more? Long unbroken hours of public power supply ! ! ! Refrigerators that as a result, actually refrigerate ! ! ! Duuuh!

Now, as Perceptor was saying. The next item is ... er, ... that’s it.

Jonathan’s Wife Begins Her Power-Grab Career From Abia

Those who thought the exit of Hajia Turai Umar Yar’Adua automatically freed Nigeria from the manipulative claws of a power lusting Presidential spouse, need to worry about the perfidious script currently playing out in Abia State under the direction of Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan.

It is no longer news that newly handpicked National Chairman of PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, led a band of political jobbers to go to Government House Umuahia to prostrate before Governor Theodore Orji to rejoin PDP. But what is unknown to the Nigerian public is the unseen hand of Dame Patience Jonathan, directing the macabre orchestra in Abia State.

It was Dame Patience who ordered the “Beggars’ Delegation” to officially solicit the Okija Governor’s return to “Africa’s Largest Party”, less than one month after the largely ineffective Mr Orji himself dragged the highly revered Igbo leader, Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, to come to Umuahia to receive him into APGA, having been disgracefully kicked out by PPA for non-performance. Sources close to Mrs Jonathan said she does not care a hoot about Mr Orji’s notoriety or demonstrated incompetence as State Governor. That the man has failed woefully to govern the state, which has now been completely overrun by kidnappers, bank robbers and other dare-devil criminals, is of no consequence for the Hajia Turai’s successor. Like King Herod’s wife in the Bible, Dame Jonathan is hell bent on promoting Mr Orji’s candidacy to secure his support and those of Abia delegates for her husband’s Presidential ambition, which is increasingly under threat of derailment by dogged Northern opposition.

The mission of Nwodo and the “Beggars’ Delegation” would not be the first time Dame Patience would be intervening on behalf of Mr Orji. At a recent meeting with President Jonathan, at which other Niger Delta Governors pointedly accused their Abia State counterpart of being the chief reason for the incessant cases of kidnapping in the zone, President Jonathan, urged on by his wife, was believed to have refused to sanction the Abia Governor, despite the insistence of Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Ikedi Ohakim of Imo. The President’s seeming inaction against Mr Orji, in spite of overwhelming evidence produced by the three Governors, including what Aso Rock insiders say are foolproof security reports indicting him on the kidnap saga in his state, was said to have shocked the governors who were present at the meeting held in the Presidential Villa on Tuesday June 15, 2010. The governors may have so resolved to abandon the idea of regional cooperation in fighting the kidnap saga in favor of a state-by-state action.

Very reliable reports from Aso Rock also confirm that Dame Patience thoroughly abused the spineless Nwodo for attempting to re-admit former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu into PDP “without clearance”, read, her permission, forcing the lily-livered National Chairman to recant in less than 48 hours, after publicly “welcoming” Orji. Humiliated and flustered, Orji Kalu and his stunned camp are questioning the principle in Nwodo’s turn-around performance, demanding to know why Theodore Orji is good enough for PDP and not his mentor.

Reports say Orji Kalu is spoiling for a decisive showdown with his renegade godson, a protégé he twice took to the infamous Okija shrine to ensure his loyalty and avoid unpleasant experiences like the one he is undergoing presently. From Orji Kalu’s aides come the report that as part of the total war against Theodore Orji, Orji’s Mother, Odiuko Eunice Kalu, hurriedly abandoned her medical treatment in the United States to relocate to Abuja where she is said to be contacting Professor Dora Akunyili and Mrs Josephine Anenih, to grant her access to the Abia Puppeteer, Dame Patience.

Meanwhile, stung by the unexpected snub it suffered in Government House Umahia from the cocky Governor, members of the “Beggars Delegation have relocated to Abuja to re-strategize. They have declared “Operation Bring Ugochukwu”, whatever it takes. Sources inside Government House said Theodore Orji was greatly disturbed when he did not see Onyema Ugochukwu, the PDP governorship candidate, despite the assurances he was said to have gotten from a high-ranking female National Assembly member who chairs a committee that oversights the financial sector and who was said to have been “mobilized” to “bring Ugochukwu at all costs”.

A source who was inside the close door meeting said Governor Orji told the delegation pointblank that “there are certain political leaders in the state who should be at the meeting for him to take the meeting serious”, meaning, until he secures Ugochukwu’s blessing, he would not commit. Members of the “Beggars’ delegation”, completely embarrassed, were said to have exchanged mournful glances at one another but swallowed their hurt.



A former National Assembly member who turned down the invitation to join the delegation said those from Abia who showed up in Government House “have dug their political grave”. Abians are enraged. The anger in the land gushed like a waterfall. Although most people are not shocked by the caliber of men and women who went to beg Gov Orji, considering their opportunistic antecedents, Abians are scandalized that the meeting took place at all.

Nwodo has sold himself for a penny in the state. The former legislator also confirmed that there was no chance of Ugochukwu joining forces Nwodo and company to beg Gov Orji.

“The Ugochukwu we know is stubborn and highly principled. Despite his controversial losses in the court, he is immensely popular with the ordinary Abians, so why should he go and beg TA? Nigerians must expect a repeat of the Soludo scenario in Abia should they impose Orji on theparty”.

Nwodo, already under nationwide fire for his flip-flops on zoning, and now leading a delegation to beg a governor who was expelled by his party for non-performance, to rejoin PDP, was accompanied on the infamous trip by what reads like the elite group of Abia’s Hall of Shame.

Names like Emeka Wogu, Jonathan’s Labor and Productivity Minister, dumped ex-foreign affairs minister Ojo Maduekwe, perennial ministerial lobbyist, Gen Ike Nwachukwu, Ogbulafor, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, Dr Ihechukwu Madubuike, Hon Chinenye Ike, Hon Nkiru Onyejeocha, Hon Mao Ohuabunwa and state party chairman, Ndidi Okereke.

Gov Orji was said to have sized them up and waved them aside as “paperweights”, hence he rolled out four impossible conditions to be met before he joins PDP, knowing full well that there was no way they could meet the conditions. The cheeky Orji, aware that none of these characters parading themselves as “Abia leaders” could deliver their ward in a free and fair election, demanded the humiliating sack of the State Party exco headed by Ndidi Okereke.

Terrified about losing his job, Okereke joined the “Beggars’ Delegation” to prostrate before Orji, hoping the New Pharaoh would mercifully spare him. But sources say Orji has already made up his mind to form his own exco and rubbish the present members if he gets the chance.

Same for other elective positions. One of his most trusted aides is sure Mr Orji has lined up his men to take over after sweeping aside the PDP cadre. Apart from Okereke, whom the source said he bears a special grudge, the three senatorial positions will go to Senator Uche Chukwumerije (Abia North); Allen Nwachukwu (Abia Central) and ---(Abia South), meaning that incumbent senators Nkechi Nworgu and Enyinnaya Abaribe would kiss the dust, their coming to kneel before him notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, Mr Orji has not stopped mocking the “Beggars’ Delegation” since its shameful visit last Friday and has not missed any opportunity with visitors and cheerleaders to make a jest of how he hired a jet to bring the delegation to come and beg them and how they were scrambling for the largess he threw to them while they were leaving, their tails tagged behind legs.

Disgusted and humiliated, Abians are spoiling for an opportunity to teach Mrs Jonathan and her barefaced Abia cheerleaders a bitter lesson. Already, the bond of Eastern Unity forming between the Igbo and their Ijaw neighbors,s is under threat of a rupture, with several Igbos wondering aloud if it is still necessary to continue supporting an Ijaw President who is unable to prevail on his domineering wife from further humiliating its leaders.

In a recent radio phone-in programme monitored from Umuahia, callers could not hide their anger, pouring unprintable invectives on Mrs Jonathan over her attempt to impose Mr Orji on Abians.

“We love Jonathan but rather than help develop Igboland, he is encouraging his wife to impose an unpopular leader on Abia people.”

“They have forgotten our history and who we are. Aba women rioted against British colonialists. We fought a bitter civil war to preserve our dignity. We shall fight Mrs Jonathan and Theodore Orji.”

“If President Jonathan cannot control his wife, then he should set her destructive sights on her native Rivers or Bayelsa state. Why Abia? Is it a furtherance of the Old Ijaw Agenda to hold back Igbo progress? We have not forgotten the Abandoned Property issue and the bastardization of Ikwerre names, all premeditated Ijaw acts targeted at wiping out Igbo influences in Port Harcourt. Now they are taking the oppression to Igbo heartland. Each time people take our solidarity for a sign of weakness.”

“At a time God is about to deliver Abia from the clutches of a satanic cult holding down her progress, by putting confusion in their midst, this Kalabari woman is abusing her Presidential connections by rallying together political desperadoes and prostitutes, to impose a useless governor on Abia State, as if we have no mind of our own.”

“If Mrs Jonathan respects Igbo people, why can she not use her powers to bring projects to Igboland? Or at least leave us alone?” These are the questions ordinary people were asking.

bia Assembly concludes plan to impeach dep gov

Abia State House of Assembly has concluded plans to impeach the state’s deputy governor, Mr Chris Akomas, on the allegation of disloyalty to Governor Theodore Orji, the Nigerian Tribune has authoritatively gathered.

Governor Orji and his deputy were elected on a joint ticket of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in 2007 in the state, but the cordial relationship between the two degenerated into sour and suspicious one ostensibly because of the re-election bid of Governor Orji.

Investigations conducted by the Nigerian Tribune in the Umuahia seat of power revealed that though the deputy governor still came to office and stayed in his official quarters located within the Government House, the relationship between him and his boss had nosedived to the lowest level due to alleged disloyalty of the deputy governor in recent time.

It was also gathered that the 24-member House of Assembly, which planned to commence the impeachment move when it resumed sitting in few weeks time, had gone on recess immediately it passed vote of confidence in Governor Orji last week, just as the governor left PPA to join All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA).