Babangida Picks Odili As Running Mate

ormer military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida, is in advanced talks with Peter Odili, former governor of Rivers State, as he closes in on a running mate for the 2011 presidential elections.



A source within Mr. Babangida's camp said that the choice of Mr. Odili was strongly influenced by Raymond Dokpesi, chairman of DAAR Communications, and director general of Mr. Babangida's presidential campaign. The two men have a history of mutually beneficial dealings. Mr. Dokpesi was the director general of Mr. Odili's campaign when he ran for president in 2007. At the time, Mr. Odili was alleged to have invested N400 million of funds taken from the Rivers State treasury, into Mr. Dokpesi's company.



The EFCC, under Farida Waziri, quizzed Mr. Dokpesi over the money, but no charges were ever filed. According to the source, "Odilli will be groomed as the person that will succeed General Babangida, come 2015."



A Controversial Choice



Mr. Babangida, who is at the centre of several allegations, will be picking an equally controversial character if he settles on Mr. Odili as a running mate. Mr. Odili was elected governor of Rivers State in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003. His tenure was marred by human rights violations, insecurity, and widespread accusations of fraud.



During his governorship, Rivers State was, in theory, one of the wealthiest states in the country owing to its enormous oil revenue, but Mr. Odili instituted relatively few improvements. Instead, the former governor is on record for acquiring a South Africa-based hospital, and two Brazilian jets.



In November 2006, Peter Odili announced that he would run for president in the 2007 election under the ruling PDP. However, a day before the PDP's presidential primaries, Mr. Odili stepped down from the contest, paving the way for fellow governor, Umaru Yar'Adua, to emerge as the party's flag bearer.



Reports say Mr. Odili was forced out of that contest when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led by Nuhu Ribadu, released a report implicating him in fraud, mismanagement of state funds, money laundering, and abuse of office.



In February that year, Mr. Odili filed a suit challenging the powers of the EFCC to probe his administration. The court granted him an indefinite injunction stopping any investigations into his finances, describing it as a breach of his civil rights.



The Declaration



It was expected that Mr. Odili would be unveiled at a rally for the official declaration of Mr. Babangida's intention on Wednesday in Abuja.

However, a text sent out by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP. Rufa'i Ahmed Alkali. inviting all party executives to an emergency meeting on that same day , is raising eyebrows.



The coincidence in the timing is leading to speculation that this may be an attempt to steal the thunder from Mr. Babangida's declaration. As of the time of going to press , we were unable to contact Mr. Babangida to find out if he intends to change his plans. . Text messages to Mr. Alkali seeking clarity on the matter, remained unanswered

Atiku, IBB, Gana groups meet, seek common ground on Jonathan

TWO major groups that have been at loggerheads over whether President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest next year’s presidential elections or whether the presidency should remain in the North yesterday (Thursday) night began meeting in Abuja to find a common ground.
The agenda between the G15 of General Ibrahim Babangida/Atiku Abubakar/Adamu Ciroma coalition and the Professor Jerry Gana G20 Group was not known last night, but it is generally believed that both groups want to determine how the North should go on the issue of the Jonathan ambition.
The Guardian had reported last Monday that indications that opposing northern groups would meet over President Goodluck Jonathan ambitions for 2011 looked more feasible in Abuja.
The Babangida/Atiku group has been opposed to Jonathan taking a shot at the presidency, but another northern group G20 led by Professor Jerry Gana and two National Vice Chairmen of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) believe the President should contest the office because he had a joint ticket with late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and divine providence had opened the way for the country to have a President from the Niger Delta.
Sources had confirmed comments made by Gana last week that there had been an exchange of letters between him and Malam Adamu Ciroma. “Malam Ciroma wrote and I replied in a nice decent way. We shall come to a mutual agreement in the best interst of Nigeria,” Gana said last week Thursday at a press conference.
Another source said he was sure both groups will not agree on the issue of whether Jonathan should contest or not. “It is a waste of time, there are too many big egos involved,” the source said.
The meeting is coming even as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slated next week as the date he will formally declare his bid to contest the 2011 presidential elections on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He sent the invitation for the declaration yesterday and it is to be held in the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

IBB, Atiku’s alliance crumbles over 2011 presidential ticket

A sharp disagreement appears to have crept into the alliance between former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over who between them should fly the North’s flag in the 2011 presidential election.



Information available to the Nigerian Tribune indicates that the two leaders have failed to reach an agreement on this issue after spending some time discussing the details of the issue.

Sources confirmed, on Tuesday, that the duo of Babangida and Abubakar were unable to agree on who should step down for the other, if they succeeded in winning the zoning war in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Babangida and Abubakar had been at the forefront of the zoning campaign in recent weeks. They had held meetings where they insisted that the zoning policy of the PDP remained sacrosanct.

Sources insisted that the relationship between the inner circles of the two leaders who are championing the zoning cause had not been that cordial, notwithstanding the public show of unity on the matter.

While Abubakar was said to be flaunting his democratic credentials and the fact that he fought his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, between 2005 and 2007, to strengthen democracy, he was said to be insisting that such qualities should stand him out in 2011.

A source monitoring the developments quoted Abubakar as having insisted that his stance against the third term agenda of the Obasanjo administration showed him as a veritable democrat far above the credentials being flaunted by Babangida.

“There is the belief in Atiku’s camp that Babangida should not be seen in the forefront of a democratic contest because of the indelible dent of annulment of the June 12,1993, presidential election which he cannot wish away.

“The belief is that Atiku should be supported as the candidate with the appealing democratic credentials from the North right now,” a source said.

The source, however, added that Babangida believed he had the best political experience to handle Nigeria at this time and that he should be supported by former Vice-President Abu-bakar to run the 2011 race.

“In IBB’s camp, the belief is that being a former leader, he should have the chance of first refusal and Atiku should advert his mind to that reality.

“But for now, they are patching up the public image of the zoning war until it is the right time to neutralise the other. I think they want to first fight a common enemy before going fully for each other’s jugular,” the source stated.

However, the spokesman for Atiku Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, on Tuesday, said the two leaders had not experienced sharp disagreements on the zoning battle.

Shehu, in a telephone conversation, said “the situation has not even arisen. So how can there be a disagreement on a situation that is yet to arise?”

Meanwhile, the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday, insisted on the need to emphasise Nigeria’s unity above sectional interests.

Jonathan, speaking through his Senior Special Assistant, Research and Strategy, Mr Oronto Douglas, said he would not preside over a divided Nigeria.

ANPP set for convention, may dump zoning

AS preparation for the national convention of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) scheduled for this weekend heightens, there are indications that it may jettison its zoning arrangement, and allow a free-for-all contest. This follows the reported decision of the party’s National Caucus to zone its chairmanship to the South.
Two South-West and South-South zones of the party had, in separate communiqués in June, this year, adopted the candidature of the erstwhile head of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Harry Ayoade Akande, as the party’s next chairman.
Chief Don Etiebet from the South-South had served a five-year tenure as the chairman. The out-going Chairman, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke from Anambra State, is serving the slot of the South-East. Akande is from the South-West that is yet to hold the office.
However, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) chieftains have said the elders in the North will not join the train of those who may want to use the contentious issue of zoning to destabilise the nation. They equally dissociated themselves from the on-going debate on zoning within the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
And, Governor Ibrahim Shekarau has expressed interest to vie for the presidency of Nigeria in the forthcoming 2011 polls.
Shekarau, who spoke to reporters at the Kano Government House however remarked that the bid, which would be made formal on August 5, this year, is not a do-or-die affair.
The governor ruled out the possibility of contending with former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida who is rumoured to be plotting to move into the ANPP if the PDP supports President Goodluck Jonathan’s purported bid to contest the 2011 polls.
The governor said there was no way Babangida can stand on his way because he would not satisfy the provision of the ANPP’s constitution (Article 9, Section 9 sub-sections 3, 4) that stipulates that anybody vying for the position of the presidency on the platform of the party must have been a member for not less than 12 months.
But some notable leaders of the ACF including the former Minister of Mines and Steel and chairman of the Political Committee of the Northern Socio-Cultural Group, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Gusau, said that the forum must not shy away from any political development that may undermine the interest of the North.
The Guardian source yesterday in Abuja disclosed that the caucus of the party which met on Tuesday night actually zoned the chairmanship position to the South, but it was not clear, which geopolitical zone of the south it was zoned to. The decision, it was learnt, was influenced by a serving governor and a former governor of the party, now a senator.
An influential governor of the party was, however, not invited to the meeting. The chairman of the sub-committee of the Convention Committee, Chief Kunle Ogunade in a telephone conversation, confirmed to The Guardian yesterday that the party’s position had been zoned to the South.
“It was rumoured initially that the position had been zoned to the South, but there was serious apprehension when it was being rumoured that it has been zoned to the South-East. That has been adjusted. What is happening now is that all the aspirants will have to go to the field,” he said.
In their separate communiqués signed by all the leaders in Ibadan and Port Harcourt respectively, the two zonal caucuses hinged their support for Chief Akande on the fact that the South-West zone has not produced the national chairman since the inception of the party 12 years ago.
The South-West caucus said its demand for the slot was legitimate and fair, considering the fact that the zone remains the only one that has never produced the national chairman.
“The South-West zone also resolved that the only candidate the zone adopts and considered credible and capable as to successfully lead the party in the capacity of the national chairman, is Chief Harry Ayoade Akande.”
The South- South caucus of the party at its meeting in Port Harcourt on June 12, 2010 expressed its support for the zoning of the position of the national chairmanship to the South-West during the forthcoming convention “since it is on record that the other two zones have had a fair share of one complete tenure each in Chief Don Etiebet and Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke respectively.
“The chairman of the ACF, Gen. Ibrahim B.M. Haruna (rtd) who, in his opening remarks, insisted that the nation’s constitution must guide all political actions in the country, said that the debate on zoning was not the same with either the issue of the constitutional amendment which the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo embarked upon in the dying days of his regime to elongate his tenure or the non-remittance of letters to President Goodluck Jonathan by late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua which necessitated the “doctrine of necessity” that necessitated reactions from the Forum.
The ACF’s position on the debate was made known by the national chairman of the Forum during a “round-table discussion” on issues affecting northern unity in Kaduna, yesterday.
Haruna spoke as he also lamented over the level of disunity in the zone occasioned by non-co-operation between the organs of ACF and most of the 19 state governors in the north.
Among those who attended the “round table discussion” include, Gen. Haruna, Alhaji Saidu Barda, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, Mr. Hassan Hyet, Brig.-Gen. David Bamigboye, Maj.-Gen. David Jemibewon, Col. Musa Shehu (rtd), Alhaji Yusuf Idris, Alhaji Ahmed Mohammed Gusau, Dr. Nasirudeen Usman, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed, Hajia Halima Alfa, Alhaji Audu Sule, Mohammed Abdul and Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed.
Others include Alhaji Bala Sokoto, Mr. Anthony Sani, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, Alhaji Garuba Mohammed, Alhaji Ahmed Jalingo, Isa Kachako, Sheik Jarma, Gen. Garba Wushishi (rtd), Mr. John Paul, Burka Zarma, Idris Wada, Alhaji Aminu Attah and Mustapha Ahmed.
The chairman of the Political Committee of the ACF, Alhaji Gusau, had also lamented over what he described as the lukewarm attitude of some northerners to issues concerning the region, pointing out that “we should examine ourselves and see whether we are still one (North)”.
Gusau, who stressed that “this should not be the beginning of the disintegration of the North” pointed out that “most northerners now see themselves first as individuals before seeing themselves as northerners”, adding that the “North should harmonise its interests with national interest even as North needed its unity now more than before.”
However, in the address by Haruna entitled: “Viability of ACF as a vehicle of northern hegemony and its limit”, he stated that there was little or nothing that ACF could do as the matter fell within the purview of a political party which was designing how to share power as it deems fit.
According to Haruna, ACF is not a partisan organisation and therefore, constrained by its own constitution to dabble into political matters.
He, however, advised politicians on the need to “seek to promote democracy” by finding “workable system that would affect good governance in a multi-party democratic practice”.
Haruna added: “Recent political events have given rise to questioning the role, purpose and limits to the role of the ACF in the political ferment engendered by PDP in post-Obasanjo’s regime and the passing on of President Umaru Yar’adua.
“In as much as the Obasanjo’s Constitutional Reform Agenda was to promote his third term and subsequent self-succession, the same cannot be said of this later day zoning and rotation (PDP agreement), which can be enforced by the PDP or amended by them as they had done in the past.
“PDP, zoning and rotation do not call for any amendment of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria or even the Electoral Law even though it is the custom of our political practice, on the sharing of power. It therefore remains in the purview and political perspective of a political party to share power as they deem fit in adopting as their tactics for cohesion of their party, for promoting federal character, national unity and party loyalty.
“Therefore, the ACF as an umbrella body of the historical northern region can only fulfill its purpose as set out in its Constitution. It is a consultative forum of the people of the erstwhile northern region.
“While the ACF has been engaging its efforts to encourage unity in the North and promote security and peace in the North and indeed Nigeria, it is constrained by its constitution and therefore it cannot leap into the bounds of a political party’s domestic affairs or the preserves of the 19 northern governors.
“We have to remind ourselves that in the Nigerian Federation (not confederation), we practice presidential system (not parliamentary cabinet system where the prime minister is first among equals), where its 150 million people, in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory; its 774 local councils and its over 250 ethnic nationalities each have to expressly seek to promote democracy and have to find workable system that would affect good governance, in a multi-party democratic practice.
“In our growth in democracy we seek to build a plural, cultural society that shuns domination or marginalisation of any group and promotes the upholding of fundamental human rights.
“The ACF is in a hierarchy and at the epic piece, not PDP umbrella, one finds that it is composed of former “Arewareans” who had ruled in Nigeria.
“Regrettably, the body’s relationship has not been strengthened because of weaknesses in the contact between the state governor and the former national leaders.
“This has affected northern unity and the effectiveness of ACF. The resolve of the ACF to face its common challenges depends on the strength of its foundation and that is the state chapter.
“The chapters need a healthy interaction with the governors of their states, state authorities and their various ethnic people, to generally; nurture a non- partisan plural society.
“Whereas the ACF has reached out to meet with chapters, patrons and members through visits and general meetings and has submitted memoranda, to governments and commissions, the ACF, has yet to receive reciprocity from northern political and influential personalities to demonstrate some mutual desire to consult or co-ordinate our search for progress.
“However there are good signs, yesterday – we dialogued with the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF): there have been calls in certain quarters that ACF should demonstrate the qualities or effectiveness by acting as a principal, supervisor and dictators instead of consultants.
“We need to further better understanding of our different roles. To bridge the gap some patrons had noted that the lack of extensive discussions involving the top tier and lower tiers of ACF is the main cause and therefore suggested that ACF should initiate a meeting of leaders and elders.
“ACF therefore incorporated the leadership and elders’ meeting as a part of its 10th anniversary programme.
“The meeting was held on April 28, 2010. It was scantly subscribed and its agenda was tentative. Following what seemed whimsical at the meeting, the leadership requested that the ACF secretariat should in-not-so-distant date organize an all inclusive and embracing meeting to promote discussions by the leadership and the elders of ACF.
“It is to be noted that this meeting and the previous one were not conceived or motivated by the recent debates on Zoning and Rotation.
“While we recall that the ACF had throughout the debates on the Non-transmitting of the President illness; and the ‘doctrine of necessity’ conjured by the legislature maintained as its policy that whatever course a debate takes or decision that is taken should be a decision that is consistent with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the laws.
“The ACF’S policies and activities are founded on this premise of constitutionalism of its own constitution as well. We at ACF rein our Northern sentiments and emotions because we desire to become a leading civilized society under the laws, ethic, morality and the tradition and customs, so well established”.

ANPP Leaders Woo IBB

ome top members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), including senators and former governors, have urged the party to do all it can to lure former military President Ibrahim Babangida to its fold.

The move by the members is premised on the calculation that the former military leader may not secure the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to enable him contest in next year’s general election.

Among the arrowheads of the move to get Babangida into the ANPP are Senators Ahmed Sani Yarima (Zamfara West), Kabiru Gaya (Kano North), member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdulaziz Yari from Zamfara State and the ANPP National Secretary, Alhaji Saidu Kumo, among others.

Available information indicate that even though Babangida is yet to be contacted, a high-powered delegation will likely be sent to the general in due course to make the offer of joining the ANPP.

Giving an insight into the plan, former Zamfara State governor, Ahmed Sani Yarima, told THISDAY that: "It is true such a proposal was discussed, and we are exploring avenue to make it a reality. As at the last time we held a meeting in that regard, IBB has not been consulted, but we feel it is not necessary now. We are waiting to see how the PDP primaries will go.

"We feel with his popularity, mass appeal and experience as a former Head of State, he will be the best person for this country at the moment.
"Don't forget the fact that Babangida had himself given the hint that he may seek his ambition under another platform if denied the PDP ticket. We are trying to explore that and also ensure that we field a candidate that will match PDP in all ramification," Yarima, one of the top financiers of the party, disclosed to THISDAY.

He said, if IBB accedes to their request, the party would mobilise its members and resources to ensure he gets the ticket.
"I have spoken to the national secretary and others who are all eager to take the idea to the next level," he added.

Efforts to speak to the ANPP national secretary was not successful yesteday. However, the party’s publicity secretary, Mr. Emma Eneukwu said the party as a body has not discussed the issue.

"It is not even an agenda for us at the moment because the person in question (IBB) is not a member of our party. Until he joins ANPP, I cannot comment on his ambition. As for our members you mentioned, they are free as individuals to express their opinions on issues, and to propagate such opinions," Eneukwu said.

Also, IBB's spokesman, Prince Kassim Afegbua said the former military president is a strong member of the PDP and will seek to be its presidential candidate next year.
"That is the end of the matter. Honestly, we are very confident of getting the party's (PDP’s) ticket. As such, all our energy is tailored towards that," he added.

The move to drag IBB into the ANPP will make a strong opponent of Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau who has already declared his intention to contest next year's presidential poll under the banner of the ANPP.