Court sacks Umeh, APGA NWC, voids 2011 National Convention

THE entire National Working Committee, NWC of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA led by the party’s National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, was yesterday sacked by an Enugu State High Court presided over by the state Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezulike.
The court declared the February 10, 2011 election and the party’s national convention that produced the current members of the National Executive Committee as “unconstitutional, null and void” just as at it restrained Chief Umeh from parading himself as the National Chairman of the party henceforth.

Gov. Peter Obi (middle), flanked on the left by the National Chairman of APGA, Chief Victor Umeh and the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Engr. Emeka Sibeudu and on the right by the Gov’s wife, Margaret Peter-Obi and Wife of the National Chairman, Lady Prisca Umeh at the Flag-off of APGA Campaign, at Ekwueme Square, Awka.

To fill the vacuum created by the judgment, Justice Umezulike directed the NEC of the party, which has been dissolved by the order, to meet and fix a date for the election of new NEC members to pilot the affairs of the party.
Justice Umezulike, who made these orders while delivering judgment in the suit filed by an expelled member of the party in Enugu State, Mr. Jude Okuli, held that the tenure of Umeh and his executive came to a legitimate end on December 2, 2010, adding that since the party failed to conduct a valid election that could have produced another executive, the party is deemed not to have a valid executive in place since the expiration of the tenure of that executive.
He resolved all the seven issues set out for determination by the plaintiff (Okuli) in his favour saying the party leadership under Umeh did not comply with Section 18 of its constitution in the conduct of the February 10, 2011 election while agreeing with the plaintiff that he was not rightly expelled from the party.
He said that the party’s constitution was violated when at that convention voice vote was used to re-elect the Umeh-led executive instead of the prescribed secret ballot, adding that even though the matter was an internal affairs of the party, the court had powers to look into the issues affecting the political parties if their constitution was violated in the conduct of its affairs.
But in his reaction to the judgment, Chief Umeh said that the verdict by Justice Umezulike did not come to him as a surprise, as he had reached the same conclusion even before trial as earlier published by the national dailies.
He said:  “It is very clear that Justice Umezulike is very confused in his conclusion.  He avoided the National Convention held by APGA February 10, 2011 and sacked the entire members of the National Working Committee elected with me. He declared the election a nullity and turned around to make an order that the NEC of APGA should elect another executive of the party, which is not in the constitution of APGA.  First of all, if you remove the entire committee of APGA you have practically left the party without any leadership.  So, who is going to convene that meeting to elect a new executive?
“Justice Umezulike was asked to make an order by the plaintiff that congresses of the party shall commence from the Wards, States down to the National Convention to elect officers of the party.  He did not make any pronouncement on that prayer made by the plaintiff knowing that there is no way he can validly make the order.
“True, NEC members which he sacked were 29 in number. The plaintiff sued only me (Chief Umeh). If he was challenging my election through that election, he was bound to join all the people elected at that convention and this is one of the reasons why we have said that the suit before him was incompetent. Necessary parties were not joined in the suit.
“By sacking the National Working Committee of APGA that was elected at the National Convention of 10th February 2011 which the court declared null and void, Justice Umezulike has completely decapitated APGA and left it without a leadership.  This is like removing the head of a trailer and the body of the trailer can no longer move. By this his judgment, there is no organ of the party left to execute the orders he made, therefore the orders are in vain. Nobody including Governor Peter Obi, the sponsor of this suit can derive any benefit from the judgment until the matter is determined at the two levels of appeal available (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court).

Jonathan Graces Obasanjo Foundation Launch

Olusegun Obasanjo

• 3 presidents also in attendance
• President to miss Nations Cup final        
President Goodluck Jonathan and three other African leaders joined former President Olusegun Obasanjo Friday in London to launch his charity organisation christened Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation. The former president said the foundation "will focus on helping to assuage the numerous problems facing Africa".

Also yesterday, President Jonathan who had earlier promised to join the Super Eagles in South Africa for the final of the African Cup of Nations, opted out "because of urgent official commitments in London and Paris".

President John Mahama of Ghana, Boni Yayi of Benin Republic and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia were the other African leaders present at the Obasanjo Foundation launch. About 1000 other guests from different parts of the world were also in London for the launch.

In his speech, President Jonathan said: "For any country to achieve meaningful development, its citizens must be educated enough to drive the economic potentials. If I was not educated, I couldn't have been the president of Nigeria. In one's life, education is important."
President Yayi said the Obasanjo Foundation was in line with the United Nations’ policy of working towards alleviating the problems facing Africa.

"We also want to help young people to enable them support their families. Vocational training is important in Africa and training the youths is vital for job creation," said President Boni.
Other head of states spoke about creating jobs and empowering youths with desirable skills.
Obasanjo who spoke to journalists at Grosvenor Hotel, prior to the launch, said the foundation would focus on five major areas - girl child education, youth unemployment, preventing non- communicable diseases, food and human security.

The former President who spoke at the conference alongside the Chairperson of the Foundation, Ms. Anne Welsh and Mr. Richard Attias, a consultant, noted that government of various countries in Africa "are doing their best" to reduce the aforementioned issues, but insisted that a lot still need to be done.

"I am not saying that government, the private sector and other foundations are not doing enough. In spite of all what they are doing, there is still a gap that must filled. Human security is not the responsibility of one organisation alone," he said.

He explained further on why the foundation was focusing on girl child education: "If you educate a girl child, you educate a family. There is girl child discrimination due to cultural, religion and poverty."

Speaking on non-communicable diseases like blindness and high blood pressure, he said: "Out of the 38 million people who are blind in the world, 90 per cent can get their sight back. This is because they need to do simple things like eating good food, exercising regularly and regular medical checks.

The foundation, which he said would cut across various countries in Africa is expected to start with Malawi or Mali.
Other dignitaries at the launch were Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, Chukwuma Soludo, Oby Ezekwezile, Senator Grace Bent and Timi Alaibe.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan will no longer be in South Africa for the AFCON final as earlier promised because of his tight schedule.
In order to boost the morale of the Super Eagles ahead of the final on Sunday, he has despatched a high-powered delegation led by the President of the Senate, David Mark  to South Africa.
He charged the delegation to ensure that the members of the team are properly motivated and in the best possible spirits for a resounding victory for the nation on Sunday.

But THISDAY learnt that barring the fact the former president visited the Presidential Villa personally and pleaded with Jonathan to attend the launch, the president would still have travelled to South Africa. "It may have seemed like a meeting arranged to resolve the seeming cold war between the two as reported in the media, but the real reason for the visit was to plead with the president to attend the launch," a source said.

PHOTONEWS: Governor Sullivan Chime Returns To Enugu State

 Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State  today arrived Enugu to the waiting hands of aides, commissioners and the deputy governor after 141 days of absense from work..

The governor arrived the Enugu International Airport on chartered jet this afternoon.

Hospital detains mother, twins for 45 days

Mrs. Bisi Fayemi

An indigent mother of a newly born set of twins, Mrs. Toyin Adebayo, was detained by the management of a private hospital in Ado Ekiti for 45 days after failing to offset the hospital bill for a Caesarean section.

Our correspondent gathered on Friday that the woman was rushed to the hospital on December 23 from a mission house, where she was taken to be delivered of her babies.

Adebayo was said to have been rushed to the private hospital when she started bleeding profusely following a complication.

Although the family of the woman could not pay any deposit, the hospital management was said to have ordered that the woman be operated upon to save her life and her unborn children.

The hospital was said to have later demanded about N100,000 but no member of her family showed up.

Consequently, the woman and her set of twins were detained in the hospital until the medical bill could be paid.

 A medical officer at the hospital told journalists that the result of the scan carried out on the woman showed that the placenta was wrongly positioned.

The husband of the woman, Femi, who is a technician, was said to have opted for okada business to raise the money.

His efforts were thwarted as he was arrested by a policeman for allegedly violating a traffic law. The policeman was said to have demanded a bribe of N10,000 before releasing the motorcycle.

The husband, who became frustrated after this, was said to have resorted to begging from churches where he met the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ado Ekiti, Mr. Joseph  Adewumi, who invited the Justice Sector Reform Committee.

The committee informed the state governor’s wife, Mrs. Bisi Fayemi, who visited the hospital, paid the bill and secured the release of the woman and her babies.

Jonathan fumes as gunmen kill nine health workers in kano

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati

President Goodluck Jonathan has condemned the killing of nine health workers by gunmen in Kano on Friday.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President promised that the death would not be in vain as his government would intensify efforts to eradicate polio in the country.

He said he would continue to increase efforts aimed at apprehending terrorists.

Jonathan also ordered that security be increased around health workers across the country.

Reacting to the incident, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad said, “It is unfortunate and tragic that health workers in the course of their duties were killed. We sympathise with the Kano State Government and the families of the departed. We are still awaiting findings on the incident, but it is too early to conclude that it was polio campaign related.”

The nine female polio vaccinators were killed in two shootings at health centres in Kano, the police told the BBC.

In the first attack in Kano, the polio vaccinators were shot dead by gunmen who rode a tricycle.

Thirty minutes later, gunmen targeted a clinic outside Kano city as the vaccinators prepared to start work.

Some Nigerian Muslim leaders have previously opposed polio vaccination, claiming it could cause infertility.

On Thursday, a controversial Islamic cleric spoke out against the polio vaccination campaign, telling people that new cases of polio were caused by contaminated medicine.

Such opposition is a major reason why Nigeria is one of just three countries where polio is still endemic.

But this is believed to be the first time polio vaccinators have been attacked in the country.

Some Kano residents told the BBC’s Yusuf Yakasai in the city that other people injured in the first attack had been taken to a hospital.

A health official confirmed to the BBC that those killed in the second attack in Hotoro were female health workers – there were earlier reports that people waiting at the clinic may have been among those shot.

Witnesses in Hotoro told the BBC that the gunmen also approached the health centre in a tricycle.

Power tussle: Ribadu tried to incriminate Yar’Adua –El-Rufai

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has alleged that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu tried to incriminate former President Umaru Yar’Adua.

This he said happened when former President Olusegun Obasanjo showed a preference for Yar’Adua as his successor and not el-Rufai or the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

El-Rufai said this in his new book, The Accidental Public Servant.

El-Rufai also alluded to the insistence of Ribadu to be made Obasanjo’s successor in the book.

He said the former boss of the anti-graft agency was livid with anger the day Yar’Adua informed him that Obasanjo had asked him to pick the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential nomination form.

“Well, Obasanjo has not told me, and as far as the Presidency is concerned, I have my candidate for the presidency, and that is Nasir el-Rufai. I am going to speak to Obasanjo about this,” Ribadu had told Yar’Adua, according to el-Rufai.

He said when it dawned on Ribadu that Obasanjo was in support of Yar’Adua, the former police boss started looking for incriminating petitions against him.

El-Rufai wrote, “Nuhu’s instinctive reaction was that of a typical policeman – dusted up EFCC files and combed for petitions against Umaru.

“Nuhu did not realise it at that time, but he was the one in trouble, not Obasanjo or Umaru. He dusted up all his files and found petitions against the then Katsina State governor and launched investigations.

“He was clearly trying to take Yar’Adua out of the race and narrow all options to zero except for el-Rufai,” he said.

The investigations, he said, led to the arrest of local government chairmen in the state, on the allegation of diversion of local government funds.

The former minister said he had to persuade Ribadu to stop the investigations, saying that people would read meanings into all his actions.

“Anything you do henceforth will only just confirm what people say about you –that you target people that threaten certain interests. If you had been investigating Yar’Adua for a year beforehand, that would have been different, but you were not. It is too late to start now,” el-Rufai claimed he had told Ribadu.

El-Rufai also said leaving office as the President of Nigeria in 2003 was very painful for Obasanjo.

Writing under the sub-headline, ‘The final breakfast,’ el-Rufai said the former President looked pale and sad the day he was going to hand over power to his successor, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

He said rather than being happy, Obasanjo looked as if he was going to be killed.

He wrote, “The sentiment of the breakfast was for the most part upbeat, though it struck me that Obasanjo, that morning, looked like he had grown several years older.

“He looked as if he was about to face death – his skin was sallow and it was very clear that this was difficult for him, like someone in the final hours before heading to the electric chair.

“He did not eat any breakfast, he just had some tea. I never thought of losing power as being that painful, but he was visibly pained.”

But a source close to the former President said that el-Rufai, who was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under Obasanjo, said he (el-Rufai) decided to deride the former President because he did not anoint him as his successor.

He said el-Rufai had thought that the former President would put him forward as his preferred choice instead of supporting Yar’Adua.

The source said that the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, had told Obasanjo to narrow the search for his successor to only the former minister of the FCT.

The source, also a former minister, said, “el-Rufai is bellyaching. He has not forgiven Obasanjo for not asking him to pick the PDP presidential nomination form, unlike Yar’Adua.

“He, with Ribadu backing him, had thought that the President would make him his natural successor. The anger of his rejection manifested in his new book.”

Army puts retired general, others under watch

Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika

The authorities of the Nigerian Army have put a retired Major General under close watch over the allegations of nepotism against the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika.

Also being closely watched are a few of the accomplices of the general, who are strongly suspected to have aided him in whipping up ethnic sentiments in the army.

The general was said to have served in the army for the mandatory 35 years but was retired compulsory during the last retirement exercise involving some 51 top officers of the army.

Investigations showed that his retirement came unexpectedly to him as the Chief of Army Staff had initially agreed to retire the generals on their birthdays.

Defence sources did not give the reasons for the change of mind on the part of the COAS for the retirement of the affected generals, some of who were said to have made separate cases for service extension to afford them the opportunity to build their personal houses.

It was learnt that the army was giving a serious attention to the issue of the ethnic dimension in the military because of its implications. It is considered inimical to national unity.

It was, however, not clear whether the army would move to apprehend those suspected to be behind the allegations that have caused grave concerns in the military in recent time.

Since a group of military personnel under the aegis of Group for the Salvation of the Nigerian Army cried out over alleged ethnicity and favouritism in promotions and postings in the army under Ihejirika, the army has been silent on the allegations.

Although an official response has not been given on the issues contained in the petition which was reportedly forwarded to the National Assembly, army officials are insisting that a combination of officers, who were retired and others who were not promoted were behind what they described as a campaign of calumny against the army chief.

The group had claimed among others that the promotion exercise had created disenchantment within the army because it was skewed in favour of a particular section of the country.

The anonymous authors of the document appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan, the National Security Adviser, Bello Dasuki, and the National Assembly to intervene in the purported division rocking the army to prevent unpalatable consequences.

The Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna was mentioned as one area where no person from the South had been appointed as commandant for years.

It was alleged that even positions like the Adjutant and Registrar of the institution were exclusively reserved for a particular part of the country.

Ihejirika was said to have attracted the ire of some powerful individuals when he broke the jinx and appointed Emeka Onwuemegbu, a former Defence Spokesman, as the commandant.

Investigations further showed that the decision to challenge the entrenched imbalance was responsible for the anger among some military personnel.

It was learnt that only officers from a section of the country were being posted to the Brigades at Obinze and Port Harcourt.

 The situation was the same at the Warri Battalion until Ihejirika ensured that changes were made in the postings to those places.

“What other investigation are you talking about? The army knows who is behind this deliberate move to discredit the service. We know the man behind it. He is gone and no matter what he does, he cannot come back. It is the President and Commander-in-Chief that has the power to recall anybody.

“It is that particular general and a few of his boys that are behind this attempt to destroy the army by whipping up ethnic sentiments. He has got to his retirement period; you don’t behave as if you are more important than others.

“And because the issue is sensitive; you know it involves ethnic sentiments, the army is taking it very seriously because ethnic sentiments are being raised against the leadership.

“The man is really balancing things. Haba, this army is called the Nigerian Army; it belongs to all of us. He is making efforts to balance years of sustained partiality in the postings and people are angry.

“They are angry because the Chief is up against a partial practice that has lasted several years. Take a look at postings to the military formations in the South-South and South like the Port Harcourt Brigade, the Obinze Brigade and the Warri Battalion, no southerner has been posted there since the 1990s because they say they are from there.

“Since the 1990s, this is the first time this monopoly in postings has been broken,” the source said.

Since reports of the allegations broke out, the army has not come up with a comprehensive defence on the issue. The Army Directorate of Information has kept mum over the allegations.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff is scheduled to meet with the media on Monday, where is expected to clear the air on the raging allegations rocking the service.

When our correspondent contacted the Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the calls placed to his mobile telephone indicated that it was either switched off or in an area outside of network coverage.