Monday, November 25, 2013
Niger Delta Amnesty Programme and FG’s $1b expenditure - The Truth of the Matter BY Niger Delta Ex Militants Leadership Forum
Gentlemen of the Fifth Estate of the Realm,
As part of a weekly exercise to enlighten Niger Deltans and Nigerians and then seek a favourable review of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, we will continue to inform about the continued failings of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the inability of those that manage it to get it right largely as a result of deliberate FRAUD, carefully plotted embezzlement, elaborate concealment of the facts and outright mismanagement.
The truth of the matter is that the Amnesty Programme itself was a laudable programme aimed at engaging those who took up arms against the Nigerian State. The problem however is with the management of the programme.
More than 90% of those who are currently benefiting from the training and educational programmes of the Presidential Amnesty Programme were never ex-militants involved in the agitation in the Niger Delta. Many of them had their names smuggled into the amnesty training document list due to the connivance of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta who also doubles as the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and some of the criminal elements amongst the militant leaders.
So in essence, while non-militants are ferried around the world for various training programs and educational engagements, the real McCoys (the actual ex-militants) have been abandoned in their various communities where many of them now lead gangs that actively engage in the theft of crude oil and related acts of oil facility sabotage.
Fact is, they do not have a choice.
What we seek for is not rocket science. Can the amnesty office today allow any relevant agency or private investigators verify the list of those it has sent to it many aviation training schools whether it be South Africa, Dubai or UAE?
The Amnesty Office bragged about trainees who are currently engaged at the Lufthansa aviation center in Germany. Can the amnesty office state emphatically and provide evidence that those beneficiaries have ever been part of the armed agitation in the Niger Delta? And that for each and every one of these wrongly placed names, there exist one true militant who is currently stealing crude oil from our creeks?
Can the amnesty office provide its data on ex-militants and then compare the accepted list of non-militant elements who truly have a right to enjoy the benefits of the amnesty program?
As a matter of fact, the monthly payments to ex-militants is also another wholly dubious charade that has gulped billions of naira. Very few of those to whom monthly remittances have been made are actual militants and the Amnesty Office led by Kingsley Kuku is well aware of this.
For every N2 billion naira mismanaged by the Presidential Amnesty Office, Nigeria looses more than N40 bn worth of crude oil. The facts are there and the sooner the President reviews the Amnesty Programme and rejigs the leadership of the Programme, the better for his government and the better for Nigeria.
We believe that President Jonathan is committed to getting it right in the Niger Delta BUT we also believe that a continued plot to deceive and hoodwink the President is also in play and it was planned, hatched and orchestrated by the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Kingsley Kuku.
There are evidence to show that Kingsley Kuku has been bragging in several centers about how he cannot be removed because he has been "throwing money and favours at the right place". Whatever that means.
A word is enough for the wise.
Gentlemen of the Fifth Estate of the Realm,
As part of a weekly exercise to enlighten Niger Deltans and Nigerians and then seek a favourable review of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, we will continue to inform about the continued failings of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the inability of those that manage it to get it right largely as a result of deliberate FRAUD, carefully plotted embezzlement, elaborate concealment of the facts and outright mismanagement.
The truth of the matter is that the Amnesty Programme itself was a laudable programme aimed at engaging those who took up arms against the Nigerian State. The problem however is with the management of the programme.
More than 90% of those who are currently benefiting from the training and educational programmes of the Presidential Amnesty Programme were never ex-militants involved in the agitation in the Niger Delta. Many of them had their names smuggled into the amnesty training document list due to the connivance of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta who also doubles as the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and some of the criminal elements amongst the militant leaders.
So in essence, while non-militants are ferried around the world for various training programs and educational engagements, the real McCoys (the actual ex-militants) have been abandoned in their various communities where many of them now lead gangs that actively engage in the theft of crude oil and related acts of oil facility sabotage.
Fact is, they do not have a choice.
What we seek for is not rocket science. Can the amnesty office today allow any relevant agency or private investigators verify the list of those it has sent to it many aviation training schools whether it be South Africa, Dubai or UAE?
The Amnesty Office bragged about trainees who are currently engaged at the Lufthansa aviation center in Germany. Can the amnesty office state emphatically and provide evidence that those beneficiaries have ever been part of the armed agitation in the Niger Delta? And that for each and every one of these wrongly placed names, there exist one true militant who is currently stealing crude oil from our creeks?
Can the amnesty office provide its data on ex-militants and then compare the accepted list of non-militant elements who truly have a right to enjoy the benefits of the amnesty program?
As a matter of fact, the monthly payments to ex-militants is also another wholly dubious charade that has gulped billions of naira. Very few of those to whom monthly remittances have been made are actual militants and the Amnesty Office led by Kingsley Kuku is well aware of this.
For every N2 billion naira mismanaged by the Presidential Amnesty Office, Nigeria looses more than N40 bn worth of crude oil. The facts are there and the sooner the President reviews the Amnesty Programme and rejigs the leadership of the Programme, the better for his government and the better for Nigeria.
We believe that President Jonathan is committed to getting it right in the Niger Delta BUT we also believe that a continued plot to deceive and hoodwink the President is also in play and it was planned, hatched and orchestrated by the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Kingsley Kuku.
There are evidence to show that Kingsley Kuku has been bragging in several centers about how he cannot be removed because he has been "throwing money and favours at the right place". Whatever that means.
A word is enough for the wise.
Thabo Mbeki's blunt message to Nigerians is the subject of a pungent Punch editorial.....enjoy and have a great week....
Mbeki’s damning verdict on Nigerians via The Punch
FORMER South African President, Thabo Mbeki’s contention that ordinary Nigerians deserve as much blame as the politicians for the leadership failure in the country provides a valid platform for the re-evaluation of citizens’ role in governance in Nigeria. According to the man who took over the mantle of leadership from the great Nelson Mandela, it is only the citizens themselves that can put a stop to bad leadership. We agree.
Democracy’s efficacy and legitimacy are predicated on an informed citizenry; without active and knowledgeable citizens, democratic representation remains empty; without vigilant, informed citizens, there is no check on potential tyranny. Mbeki’s position quickly brings to mind the statement credited to a French historian and political thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville, that “in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.” Given his background as an activist and freedom fighter, whose struggles helped to bring down the obnoxious apartheid system in his country, Mbeki certainly knows what it takes to put a government under pressure and compel it to do the bidding of the people, in whom lies ultimate sovereignty. This civic political culture is lacking in Nigeria at present.
But recent events in the Arab world, known as the Arab Spring, have clearly demonstrated what the people can do with power when they realise that it belongs to them, and is only held in trust on their behalf by politicians. Once the Arabs lost faith in the way they were being governed, they expressed their views very strongly and forced changes. The change of government that took place in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt was an inevitable capitulation to the will of the people, just in the same manner as the reforms that were introduced in Morocco.
This point has been made even more pointedly in Egypt where, after three decades of authoritarian rule, the government of Hosni Mubarak was unceremoniouslybrought to an end. Notably too, even his successor, Mohammed Morsi, was swept away in a gale of protests, barely a year after assuming office as the first democratically elected president of the country. To achieve this, the people were ready to put their lives on the line, confronting security agents and defying live bullets.
Unfortunately, here in Nigeria, nobody wants to put his life on the line. Apathy by the civil populace has meekly handed politicians and political office holders the freedom to steal the country blind and squander its resources in a manner, perhaps, unheard of in the annals of the country. It is difficult to think of a country where over N2 trillion spent in the name of subsidy has not been properly accounted for; yet, nobody is behind bars two years after. It is unimaginable that in a country that professes the rule of law, billions of naira belonging to pensioners could vanish into thin air and nobody is made to account for it.
Indeed, it is still difficult to fathom how over 100 security agents could be murdered in cold blood while on official duty and the killers still prance around unmolested. It is perhaps only in Nigeria that a minister would authorise the purchase of two extra cars, apart from her other official vehicles, for N255 million. To think that this is happening at a time when a minister was given the boot in Ghana for merely expressing her desire to acquire up to $1 million through politics only reinforces the extent to which Nigerians are docile and satisfied with the kind of government that they have. The Nigerian minister in question is still in office.
It is not just under the current government, governments in Nigeria have always acted as if they exist in a different planet and owe the electorate neither explanations for their actions, nor effective service delivery. Yet, when the time comes to make a change through the ballot box, it is either the same villains are returned to power or they rig themselves back, regardless of what the ballot says.
In Nigeria, it appears nothing can provoke the people into demanding accountability from political office holders. Things that would jolt a government in any other clime go unnoticed in the country. For instance, how does one explain the continued deterioration in the quality of infrastructure amidst an endless flow of money from the sale of crude oil? How can the decline in the quality of education and health care delivery be explained in view of the amount that accrues to the country from the crude oil sale? It is in this same country that a government came to office when the price of oil was $18 per barrel was able to pay off the country’s debt of over $30 billion and saved over $50 billion in foreign reserves and more than $20 billion in Excess Crude Account. But the country is now accumulating debts, even when the price of oil in the international market has remained largely above $100 pb in the past six years. Yet, Nigerians are not asking questions and are so enfeebled that their views, when expressed, don’t count.
A major factor has been the role of ethnicity and religion in the way people perceive issues in the country. Once a person offends the law and is about to be brought to justice, there will be shameless protests from his kith and kin, claiming victimisation on account of the person’s ethnic origin. This blackmail has worked in many cases, including the corruption case of a former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, and it is currently being put to test in the ongoing bulletproof cars purchase scandal involving the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.
Making democracy work, says the National Democratic Institute, a United States-based non-profit organisation, requires informed and active citizens who understand how to voice their interests, act collectively and hold public officials accountable. Democracy’s credibility and sustainability depends, to an important degree, on how it works in practice, and on what it delivers. As Mbeki puts it, bad governments thrive in Nigeria, or elsewhere for that matter, because “the leadership does not feel pressure from the people.” It therefore follows that if Nigerians desire the dividends of democracy, they will have to fight for it. They must decide whether to continue with the way they are being governed or become active in demanding transparency and accountability from government.
Mbeki’s damning verdict on Nigerians via The Punch
FORMER South African President, Thabo Mbeki’s contention that ordinary Nigerians deserve as much blame as the politicians for the leadership failure in the country provides a valid platform for the re-evaluation of citizens’ role in governance in Nigeria. According to the man who took over the mantle of leadership from the great Nelson Mandela, it is only the citizens themselves that can put a stop to bad leadership. We agree.
Democracy’s efficacy and legitimacy are predicated on an informed citizenry; without active and knowledgeable citizens, democratic representation remains empty; without vigilant, informed citizens, there is no check on potential tyranny. Mbeki’s position quickly brings to mind the statement credited to a French historian and political thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville, that “in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.” Given his background as an activist and freedom fighter, whose struggles helped to bring down the obnoxious apartheid system in his country, Mbeki certainly knows what it takes to put a government under pressure and compel it to do the bidding of the people, in whom lies ultimate sovereignty. This civic political culture is lacking in Nigeria at present.
But recent events in the Arab world, known as the Arab Spring, have clearly demonstrated what the people can do with power when they realise that it belongs to them, and is only held in trust on their behalf by politicians. Once the Arabs lost faith in the way they were being governed, they expressed their views very strongly and forced changes. The change of government that took place in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt was an inevitable capitulation to the will of the people, just in the same manner as the reforms that were introduced in Morocco.
This point has been made even more pointedly in Egypt where, after three decades of authoritarian rule, the government of Hosni Mubarak was unceremoniouslybrought to an end. Notably too, even his successor, Mohammed Morsi, was swept away in a gale of protests, barely a year after assuming office as the first democratically elected president of the country. To achieve this, the people were ready to put their lives on the line, confronting security agents and defying live bullets.
Unfortunately, here in Nigeria, nobody wants to put his life on the line. Apathy by the civil populace has meekly handed politicians and political office holders the freedom to steal the country blind and squander its resources in a manner, perhaps, unheard of in the annals of the country. It is difficult to think of a country where over N2 trillion spent in the name of subsidy has not been properly accounted for; yet, nobody is behind bars two years after. It is unimaginable that in a country that professes the rule of law, billions of naira belonging to pensioners could vanish into thin air and nobody is made to account for it.
Indeed, it is still difficult to fathom how over 100 security agents could be murdered in cold blood while on official duty and the killers still prance around unmolested. It is perhaps only in Nigeria that a minister would authorise the purchase of two extra cars, apart from her other official vehicles, for N255 million. To think that this is happening at a time when a minister was given the boot in Ghana for merely expressing her desire to acquire up to $1 million through politics only reinforces the extent to which Nigerians are docile and satisfied with the kind of government that they have. The Nigerian minister in question is still in office.
It is not just under the current government, governments in Nigeria have always acted as if they exist in a different planet and owe the electorate neither explanations for their actions, nor effective service delivery. Yet, when the time comes to make a change through the ballot box, it is either the same villains are returned to power or they rig themselves back, regardless of what the ballot says.
In Nigeria, it appears nothing can provoke the people into demanding accountability from political office holders. Things that would jolt a government in any other clime go unnoticed in the country. For instance, how does one explain the continued deterioration in the quality of infrastructure amidst an endless flow of money from the sale of crude oil? How can the decline in the quality of education and health care delivery be explained in view of the amount that accrues to the country from the crude oil sale? It is in this same country that a government came to office when the price of oil was $18 per barrel was able to pay off the country’s debt of over $30 billion and saved over $50 billion in foreign reserves and more than $20 billion in Excess Crude Account. But the country is now accumulating debts, even when the price of oil in the international market has remained largely above $100 pb in the past six years. Yet, Nigerians are not asking questions and are so enfeebled that their views, when expressed, don’t count.
A major factor has been the role of ethnicity and religion in the way people perceive issues in the country. Once a person offends the law and is about to be brought to justice, there will be shameless protests from his kith and kin, claiming victimisation on account of the person’s ethnic origin. This blackmail has worked in many cases, including the corruption case of a former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, and it is currently being put to test in the ongoing bulletproof cars purchase scandal involving the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.
Making democracy work, says the National Democratic Institute, a United States-based non-profit organisation, requires informed and active citizens who understand how to voice their interests, act collectively and hold public officials accountable. Democracy’s credibility and sustainability depends, to an important degree, on how it works in practice, and on what it delivers. As Mbeki puts it, bad governments thrive in Nigeria, or elsewhere for that matter, because “the leadership does not feel pressure from the people.” It therefore follows that if Nigerians desire the dividends of democracy, they will have to fight for it. They must decide whether to continue with the way they are being governed or become active in demanding transparency and accountability from government.
Friday, November 22, 2013
olawale sojiopa & co
A family had only one daughter who
was 19yrs old. Accidentally she got
impregnated by a boy who asked
her to terminate d pregnancy. Her
parents got to know and told her to
live it. She was locked indoors for
9months so as 2hide it from
neighbors and friends. D mother
started disguising as if she was
pregnant also. D daughter gave
birth to triplet and d kids were
claimed by d parents to be theirs.
Not allowing d actual father to
claim ownership. D kids were named
by d girls father and are currently
answering their grandfathers name
as their surname. If u were to be d
boy who impregnated her what will
u do?
was 19yrs old. Accidentally she got
impregnated by a boy who asked
her to terminate d pregnancy. Her
parents got to know and told her to
live it. She was locked indoors for
9months so as 2hide it from
neighbors and friends. D mother
started disguising as if she was
pregnant also. D daughter gave
birth to triplet and d kids were
claimed by d parents to be theirs.
Not allowing d actual father to
claim ownership. D kids were named
by d girls father and are currently
answering their grandfathers name
as their surname. If u were to be d
boy who impregnated her what will
u do?
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