[wa-zo-bia I] [Naija-news] Newswatch (fwd)

[CHINKATA.ONYEKWERE.OKPARA]

Newswatch VOL 31, Nos. 9 & 10

How Buhari Ran PTF
Interim Management Committee on PTF raises questions over some of the
transactions it considers irregular during the tenure of retired
Major-General Muhammadu Buhari

By Jossy Nkwocha

How did N500 million belonging to the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF,
disappear mysteriously? That is one of the questions being raised in
the preliminary report of the Interim Management Committee, IMC-PTF,
set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo to wind-down the activities of
the organisation.

Newswatch gathered that the money was put in a bank by the erstwhile
management led by Muhammadu Buhari, retired major-general and former
head of state. But when the IMC-PTF took over the operations of the
body, it discovered that the money had been withdrawn by unidentified
persons.

Haroun Adamu, executive chairman of IMF-PTF who confirmed the story,
said: “They took in N500 million but by the time we came in, there was
no one kobo from the deposit.” According to Newswatch investigations,
both the bank and Buhari were dragged before President Obasanjo who
insisted that the money must be recovered. Adamu told Newswatch in
Abuja a fortnight ago that the bank has now agreed to pay back the
money in seven years but his committee insists that the money should be
refunded as soon as possible. Adamu neither named of the bank nor say
whether or not Buhari was personally involved in the matter.

The mysterious withdrawal of the money is one of the allegations
levelled against the Buhari-led past administration of PTF by the IMC
which seems to have put the four-year tenure of Buhari as the executive
chairman of PTF under intensive searchlight. Although Adamu insists
that Buhari is not under probe, he said that a technical
audit/verification exercise being carried out by the committee shows
that a lot of ugly things had taken place under the acclaimed
no-nonsense retired army general.

The committee is asking questions about several contracts worth N207
billion awarded by PTF under Buhari. It is also raising serious doubts
over different payments totalling N135.59 billion made by the Fund for
various projects, leaving a debt burden of more than N70 billion owed
numerous contractors, consultants, manufacturers, publishers and
suppliers who are now waging a big war against the IMC-PTF.

Some of the other unwholesome things dug up by the IMC include the
“unholy” alliance that existed between the Buhari led PTF and
Afri-Project Consortium, APC, a private consultancy company, which
literally and exclusively ran the affairs of the fund, and the alleged
over-inflation of contract sums such as the one involving the N650
million extension of the PTF headquarters in Abuja; IMC is also
alledging serious contractual anomaly in the N800 million PTF staff
housing estate; importation of expired drugs especially the N28 billion
HIV/AIDS screening and confirmation kits as well as the mysterious
disappearance of the N500 million.

The missing money, in fact, exposed the kind of “unholy” business
relationship that existed between PTF of the Buhari era and APC led by
late Salihijo Ahmad, a 42-year old businessman from Adamawa State.
Newswatch learnt that the APC consultants virtually managed PTF. In
fact, a report prepared by the IMC showed that APC was really in
charge, not Buhari.

“When the IMC took over the management of PTF, there were no contract
documents, drawings, or specifications relating to committed projects
within the premises of PTF headquarters. All that were available were
lists of projects and programmes in the following sectors: roads and
road transportation, water supply, education, food supply, health and
other projects. The client as is mandatory in all contractual
relationships, is expected to have in his possession, the client’s
copies of all documents relating to projects on which payments have
been made. In PTF, this was not so,” the report stated.

It went further to say that “all documents (including the mandatory
client’s copies) were in possession of Afri-Project Consortium, APC,
who were appointed as the sole management consultants to PTF.” APC was
also said to be responsible for the corporate development and
recruitment of staff for PTF.

The IMC report said that PTF in its operation was not functioning as a
government agency in the real sense. “APC was actually the real PTF
and yet it was a private company,” it lamented.

One area of the PTF-APC alliance that worried the Adamu-led committee
was the fact that Buhari delegated his powers as executive chairman of
PTF to the APC. The IMC also discovered that the “power of the
engineer” which normally should reside with the client (PTF) was
delegated to APC through a letter. “With this power of the engineer,
APC was able to award contracts and vary same without any reference to
PTF,” the IMC report stated.

Newswatch gathered that PTF had about 620 consultancy firms reported to
the APC, which had the sole responsibility for the issuance of
certificates for payments by PTF. Indeed, too much power and
responsibilities were said to have been given to the APC. Adamu told
Newswatch that the situation created a scenario where proper procedures
were not followed in the award of contracts. Some of the contracts, it
was gathered, were inflated by more than 100 percent. In many cases, no
bidding was taken. People were just given the contracts and contract
sums slapped on unilaterally.

When the Adamu-led committee was set up, the members visited Ahmad, the
managing consultant of APC, in his office to look into the issues. He
promised to make all records available to the committee and gave Adamu
an appointment for Monday July 5. Before he could keep the appointment,
he suddenly collapsed and died that day.

Official sources within the IMC informed Newswatch that the committee
was therefore determined to take full control of the activities of PTF
from the APC. It wrote a letter to the sole consultants demanding the
client’s copies of all documents relating to all projects and
programmes of PTF. It also withdrew the “power of the engineer”
delegated to thefirm by Buhari.

In response , APC sent to the IMC a letter of resignation as management
consultants to PTF. It gave a three-month notice expiring on November
15, 1999 during which all PTF project documents in the company’s
possession would be physically handed over to the IMC. The IMC is now
in full control of PTF.

The technical audit/verification exercise embarked upon by the
committee has shown that “projects were abandoned at random and
completion rates were no higher than 30 percent with contractors
holding on to vast sums of advance payments.” Newswatch learnt that
PTF had a multi-layer of consultants (about 620) who were paid hundreds
of millions of naira as consultancy fees. It was also gathered that
there was no performance evaluation criteria for any of the management
consultants including APC.

“What has been discovered is that the consultants were working at their
own pace and space and as long as APC did not raise any query,
everything was alright,” the IMC source said, adding, “in spite of the
array of consultants at different layers, the supervision of projects
was very defective, resulting in low performance rating on projects.”

APC was indeed literally incharge from project conception to execution,
thus virtually control of the billions of naira which the late General
Sani Abacha government pumped into the PTF. The fund was originally
meant to rehabilitate social infrastructure in all the nooks and
crannies of the country and as at December 1998, PTF had received
N144.51 billion from the federal government.

As a confirmation that APC was really making payments on behalf of PTF,
Newswatch investigation showed that in 1995, PTF lodged N1 billion in
Commercial Bank Credit Lynonais, Elephant House, Marina, branch, Lagos,
but it was APC officials who made withdrawals from the account for
various payments. By the end of 1997, only N200 million was remaining
in the account.

Since Ahmad died, APC has virtually died with him, moreso, since the
new Adamu-led committee took away the PTF job from them. When Newswatch
visited their Abuja office last week for comments on the allegations
against them, the place was virtually empty. No official of the company
was ready to speak on anything relating to PTF.

But before he died, Ahmad had admitted Newswatch in an interview
published by the magazine in the April 19, 1999 edition, that APC was,
indeed, the main force behind PTF operations. In fact, he said it was
APC, which wrote the proposal that defined the mandate of PTF.

Said he: “By that definition, we were now able to postulate or
interpolate and be able to identify the assignment of the PTF, the
resources, both human and material that would enable them implement
their own projects successfully and effectively.” “We came out with an
indication of what we think their institutional structure should look
like and proposed some operational policies and guidelines which would
enable them effectively implement their own projects to the end.”

The APC chief stated in the interview that in the implementation
strategy, his company also conceptualised the engineering project cycle
adopted by PTF. He said it was APC that also suggested the criteria and
procedure for the selection and appointment of PTF consultants,
contractors and suppliers. He said APC, equally conceptualised the
monitoring mechanism adopted by PTF for its projects.

Some analysts believe that Buhari was not effective enough in running
the affairs of PTF, especially judging from the fact that he ceded much
of his executive powers to a private company which decided the fate of
the organisation and the fate of Nigerians at that time. Adamu told
Newswatch that it might have been Buhari’s own style of management, but
it may not be acceptable to some management experts.

As a result of Buhari’s alleged poor handling of PTF projects and
finances, some PTF officials believe that the N135 billion that was
disbursed out of the PTF’s total income of N146 billion was squandered.
“It is unfortunate that such a colossal sum of money was squandered. It
wasn’t used properly,” the source told Newswatch.

But Buhari and his team have tried to explain how they spent the N135
billion. In the PTF 1998 Annual Report and Accounts, they stated that
N60,029,375,000 (N60.03 billion) was spent on the rehabilitation of
13,500 kilometre roads under the national highway and urban roads
rehabilitation programme. Buhari said the programme was able to attain
80 percent completion by December 1998.

The health sector, he said, gulped N17,433,879,000 (N17.43 billion).
This involved the drug revolving scheme, the screening and diagnostic
kits for HIV/AIDS control, the research for the development. of
Niprison, a drug for the treatment of sickle cell anaemia as well as
the rehabilitation of several health institutions across the country.

But Adamu told Newswatch that most of the drugs supplied to PTF expired
because they had very short shelf life. He was particularly unhappy
with the HIV/AIDS kits on which, N28 billion was spent. He said his
committee had visited Israel to discuss with the manufacturers on how
to solve the problem.

Last July, a media-based HIV/AIDS group, Journalists Against AIDS,
JAAIDS, raised the alarm that the purchase of the kits was a “colossal
waste” and “a scandalous squandering of scarce resources that would
otherwise have benefited 4.5 million Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS.”

In a statement signed by Omololu Falabi, the project co-ordinator,
JAAIDS, said: “Our discovery is that not only is the amount claimed to
have been spent on the kits in excess of the requirement of all
hospitals and medical institutions in Nigeria, the shocking fact is
that more than half of the kits expired in June this year (1999) while
the rest will expire by the end of August.”

The Nigerian Guild of Medical Directors, NGMD, had also said that fake
and expired drugs were supplied to PTF. Rowland Ogbonna, secretary of
NGMD, in September last year called on the federal government to
withdraw all drugs supplied by the PTF from hospitals in the country.
Briefing the press on Saturday, September 11, 1999, he said: “Unless
the federal government immediately withdraws all the PTF supplied
drugs, and do a reappraisal of their relevance, Nigerians are at a high
risk of consuming expired and fake drugs.

Ogbonna further stated that “PTF deliberately sidelined qualified
pharmacists on its committee for the importation of drugs and went
ahead to hand over same drugs to businessmen and contractors who have
been selling them without expert advice.” In Kogi State, Governor
Abubakar Audu, said most of the drugs supplied to his state by PTF were
expired. He has set up a panel to investigate the scandal.

But on Wednesday, February 16, a body known as the PTF Consultants and
Contractors Forum submitted a memorandum to Chuba Okadigbo, senate
president denying the involvement in the purchase of the expired drugs
denying the involvement in the purchase of the expired drugs. In the
12-page document signed by Ibrahim Mahmood and Femi Aluko as
co-chairmen, the body insisted that its members never supplied any
expired drugs or equipment to PTF. “The fact of the matter is that no
drugs or seeds were ever accepted for payment without a quality control
certification from NAFDAC and the National Seeds Service which are the
federal government agencies that have the statutory resposibility to
certify locally manufactured and imported drugs and seeds
respectively”, it said.

The forum argued that if any of the drugs or seeds had expired, it was
due to the inaction of the Adamu-led IMC in directing the distribution
of the items. Mahmood told Newswatch in Kaduna last week that the IMC
was only giving a bad name to their members so as not to pay them their
legitimate claims.

According to the PTF 1998 Annual Report and Accounts, five other
sectors that combined to eat up huge sums of PTF money are education,
water supply, food supply, security, the federal capital territory,
FCT, and “other projects.” Education gulped N6,829,614,000 (N6.8
billion), water supply took N9,053,774,000 (N9.1 billion), food supply
got N7,590,629,000 (N7.6 billion), security consumed N27,284,000,000
N27.29 billion) while FCT got N2,043,278,000 (N2.1 billion). The report
said disbursements made in the security sector and the FCT were direct
transfers to the task force on armed forces and police PTF and the FCT
respectively.

In the “other projects” sector, one of the projects that is causing
worries among IMC-PTF members is the Abbajaye housing estate taken over
by Buhari. It has 32 housing units made up of eight units for grade
level 15 officers; eight units for level 13-14 officers and 16 units
for grade level 10-12 officers. As at December 1998, Buhari had paid
the total sum of N479,.325,398.00 on the project which is earmarked to
cost about N800 million on completion.

Two things are bothering the IMC-PTF on the housing estate issue.
Firstly, the cost is said to be too high. The new consultants
commissioned to assess the project said it cannot cost more than N400
to N500 million, said Adamu. Secondly, the estate was originally being
developed by Alhaji Abba Jaye and Sons Limited, a private developer. At
a point, PTF took it over, demolished the man’s own structures and
started afresh to put up very beautiful buildings on the land. PTF
agreed to pay N4.5 million per annum to the man but after 12 years, the
estate would revert back to Abba Jaye, the original owner.

Adamu told Newswatch that he found such an agreement quite unwholesome.
He prefers paying the owner his due compensation while PTF takes over
the estate completely. He has succeeded in getting the authorities to
revoke the ownership of the land in favour of PTF.

Another controversial project is the extension to the PTF headquarters
in Abuja whose contract value is said to be N650 million. Adamu said
their technical audit shows that the building would cost between N300
and N400 million.

Even in the food supply sector, Adamu said the farm power machinery
rehabilitation programme in which Buhari claimed to have repaired 786
tractors, 29 heavy-duty equipment and 2,744 units of implements was
badly managed. According to him, most of the commissioners of
agriculture in different states of the federation complained that the
programme only provided an opportunity for some people to loot the PTF
money. The farm equipment was hardly repaired.

Another allegation being levelled against Buhari is that he
marginalised some states heavily in the sharing of PTF projects. The
situations in Imo and Bayelsa states were said to have shocked the
project verification teams. Buhari was said to have concentrated most
of the heavy projects in Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Niger, Edo and Adamawa
states. Adamu told Newswatch that his committee had noticed the gross
imbalances in the way the PTF projects were shared but regretted that
it cannot do much now to redress the situation because the committee
does not have the mandate to start new projects.

Newswatch made efforts in the last two weeks to speak with Buhari on
the many allegations levelled against him. When our reporter met him in
Kaduna, he declined to comment on the allegations, saying he had spoken
on them sometime ago in Sokoto but his comments were grossly twisted by
the press.

Last week, Newswatch also faxed a letter to him detailing all the
allegations against him. “We have been trying since last week to get
you to respond to the allegations. Because we would not like to publish
a one-sided story, we shall be pleased if you could respond to the
allegations and fax same to us on or before 6 p.m. tomorrow, February
29, 2000,” the letter stated. But upto the time we went to press last
week, Buhari did not respond to the allegations. But in a recent
interview in TheWeek magazine, Buhari had insisted that allegations of
corruption against him were false. “My integrity is intact,” he said
and challenged anybody who can prove that he was corrupt as PTF
executive chairman to take the matter to either the Christopher Kolade
panel on review of contracts or soon to be established panel on
corruption. In another interview, he contended that the press had not
appreciated the magnitude of what he did for Nigerians in PTF.

Some of his associates told Newswatch in Kaduna that Adamu was only
being vindictive because he was one of the persons detained by Buhari
in 1994 when he (Buhari) was head of state. Adamu denied this charge in
an interview with Newswatch, contending that he and Buhari are friends.

Adamu insisted that he was not probing Buhari’s tenure at PTF.
According to him, the IMC is only carrying out the terms of reference
given to it by President Obasanjo. The seven-point terms of reference
are: to ascertain all monies accruing and received by PTF from the
inception of the fund to date; to ascertain the state of all bank
accounts operated by PTF for the whole of the period of its existence
to date; to produce an up-to-date comprehensive projects and programmes
report including location, coverage and whether performed, performing
or abandoned; and to produce a final report of assets and liabilities
as well as to examine the administrative structure and the cost
effectiveness of PTF projects and services.

Other items on the terms of reference include the review all contracts
and agreements entered into by PTF; and re-negotiation of cost of
projects/programmes and services to reflect current financial realities
of PTF. The seventh item states that “no new projects should be
undertaken during the committee’s tenure except under the directive of
the president."”Adamu told Newswatch that after their preliminary
investigations, they will pass on their report and recommendations to
president Obasanjo who will institute a debt recovery panel to recover
all excess monies paid to the PTF contractors and consultants under
Buhari.

But Adamu and his IMC are now being accused of corruption. Each member
of the committee has received a furniture allowance of N5 million. Some
PTF officials are also being accused of extorting money from
contractors, and consultants before they are paid their claims. Mahmood
told Newswatch that only persons who are able to pay the bribes are
paid their claims.

Adamu told Newswatch that the N5 million allowance was to make the
members comfortable and prevent them from being corrupted by
contractors whose contracts and projects are being reviewed. He said
the allowance is not too much for a committee handling an investment of
N250 billion. He also challenged the contractors to name any of his
officials who are extorting money from them so that he can discipline
such an official. He, says that such claims by contractors amount to
pure blackmail meant discredit or distract his committee from the job
it has been asked to do in PTF. The last, it appears has not been heard
about the PTF controversy.

Additional reports by Ibrahim Modibbo, Tunde, Abuja and Janet
Mba-Afolabi.

------------------

Mayhem

Kaduna city explodes in violence as Muslim and Christian extremists and
other hoodlums clash over a proposal to introduce Sharia in the State

By Tunde Asaju and Dotun Oladipo

Nothing gave yaha- ya Halidu, a practising muslim from Ayangba in
Dekina local government area of Kogi State, an inkling of the evil that
would befall him Monday February 21. As a regular visitor to Kaduna,
the Kaduna State capital, Halidu usually stays in Amana Hotel,
located in Tunduwada area of the city and owned by Sunday Jemedafe, his
business partner. This time, he had been in Kaduna for more than two
weeks until the unimaginable happened: The hotel was attacked by
Islamic fundamentalists during a clash with Christians over the
proposed introduction of Sharia in the state.

According to Jemedafe, when trouble started in Kaduna and hotels were
being torched, he sent his security man, Malam Sani, a muslim, to
rescue Halidu from the burning Amana Hotel. Sani arrived there late,
Halidu had attempted to flee the hotel but was caught by the mob and
set on fire. Sani himself was stabbed but he escaped death.

For two days, Halidu’s body could not be moved to the mortuary. It took
the intervention of some of his Lagos-based friends who made frantic
calls to Tafa Balogun, the assistant inspector-general of police, AIG,
in charge of Zone 1 to recover Halidu’s body. Balogun sent police
escort to Jemedafe. Halidu’s body was deposited in the mortuary
Wednesday afternoon. To Jemedafe, the death of his friend was an
irony. He told Newswatch he could not understand why the mob would
kill a fellow muslim.

Opponents of the introduction of full fledged Sharia by some Northern
state governments felt vindicated last week. Their fear that the move
would spark off violence was confirmed when the Monday bloody riot
broke out in Kaduna leaving death and destruction of property in its
trail. As at last Wednesday, hundreds of people were reported dead
though Balogun said only 13 bodies had so far been recovered by the
police. Property worth billions of naira were also destroyed.
Thousands of people were equally rendered homeless. By last Thursday,
the riot had spread to Zaira and Kafanchan, both in Kaduna State.

Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, catholic archbishop of Lagos archdiocese, told
Newswatch last week that he anticipated such a crisis erupting over the
Sharia issue. Okogie said that he had faulted the thinking of those who
thought that the problems associated with the introduction of Sharia
would just fizzle away. He added that if government allows the
situation to go on as it did last week, the crisis in Kaduna would only
be a child’s play and that it “is going to be very unwholesome for this
country, very very unwholesome.”

Akintoye Branco-Rhodes, Lagos State chairman of the Democratic Advance
Movement, DAM, also said that the crisis should not have been
unexpected owing to the failure of government “to address the
workability of Sharia in Nigeria. It has left room for anarchy.”

In fact, there seems no better word than anarchy to describe the
situation in Kaduna last week. The mayhem had its root in an
anti-Sharia march embarked upon by Christians last Monday February 21
to show their displeasure, over the planned introduction of the Sharia
in the state. The state chapter of the Christian Association of
Nigeria, CAN, was to oversee the peaceful demonstration, which was
scheduled for Lugard Hall, the state house of assembly complex.

One of the CAN leaders in the state told Newswatch that Christians in
the state decided to embark on the march because for two weeks
continously pro-Sharia demonstrations had been allowed in the State.
Apart from this, the source who asked for anonymity said that the state
CAN was twice denied permission to stage the peaceful demonstration by
the police.

Hamisu Isah, the state police commissioner, denied this allegation in
an interview with Newswatch last week. All the same, the CAN leaders
decided to embark on the demonstration, advising all Christians to lock
up their shops during the demonstration. Over 50,000 Christians,
Newswatch learnt, responded to the call. They were mainly from Kaduna
south area, a predominantly Christian settlement, according to sources.

As early as 5.30 a.m that Monday, some Christian youths were seen in
parts of the city marching and doing exercises. By 8.00 a.m. the first
set of demonstrators armed with green leaves, marched to the Lugard
Hall leaving in their trail streams of leaves. By 9.30 a.m. the Ahmadu
Bello way was crowded with hundreds of other Christians. While trying
to pass through the Katsina Roundabout, they met with some angry
Muslims who were shouting “Sai Sharia ko anki ko anso” meaning “Sharia,
whether they like it or not.” This allegedly led to shouting match
between them with some insisting that the protesters would not pass.

Seidu Dogo, the Kaduna State secretary-general of CAN, confirmed the
stand of the state Christians in an interview last week. He said there
had been several pro-Sharia demonstrations in the state without “any
Christian saying even a word to the demonstrators despite the way they
conducted their demonstrations. It is only today (Monday) when some
Christians organised themselves to present their stand to the governor
on Sharia implementation, which we do not support its introduction.”
Dogo said it was while they were being briefed at the government house
that report reached them that a Christian had been killed by
slaughtering.”

The incident which occurred at the main market of the city led to panic
as some traders who had earlier gone to the market began to move their
things out. Those who locked up their shops watched as the shops were
attacked by irate mobs. By 10.00 am, three mosques along the
Katsina/Nupe road had been torched. There was also an attempt to torch
the St. Joseph’s Cathedral near the market, an attempt that was
strongly resisted by the parishioners. The irate mob moved to a storey
building opposite the cathedral and torched it. Next, some hoodlums
moved down to Ikara Motors. They were faster than the owners who
succeeded in saving only a vehicle. All others were burnt. A. J.
Suleiman’s electronic shop, the largest in Kaduna, was equally burnt.

Boniface Ugwu was also not so lucky. Early that morning, he left his
home, took his car and went to his shop an off-licence liquor shop in
Badanawa village. His five children had left home; three of them he
dropped at their respective schools. As he was returning, he met a
crowd of protesters armed with leaves. He did not make much of it. A
few minutes later, he was told that some hoodlums were already making
mincemeat of people and destroying homes.

Ugwu rushed down to his shop thinking perhaps that he might be able to
save his Peugeot 404 pick-up van which he had loaded that morning with
crates of beer in readiness for that night’s business. It was not to
be. He told Newswatch: “I heard that some Hausas were grouping
themselves to go and scatter my shop. I went down to kick start my car
but when I saw them coming in full force, I ran away. From the safety
of my hiding place, I saw them breaking into my shop, scattering my
crates of beer outside and publicly drinking some and taking some to
their houses. They also burnt my pick-up van”.

Realising that the police had no clue to how to solve the problem,
Stephen Shekari, the state’s deputy governor, who acted for the
governor who is out of the country, summoned a meeting of the state
security council at 4 p.m. But the meeting did not last long since not
much progress was made on how to curtail the disturbance. Shekari’s
next line of action was to announce the imposition of a dusk-to-dawn
curfew on Kaduna metropolis.

But things had gone out of hand. Both Christians and Muslims had
mobilised in full force for a counter attack. The curfew itself served
no purpose. For one, the government-controlled media treated the
reports with levity. The problem was caused by the inability of
government to furnish the media with enough information. Only an
eight-line statement emanated from the office of the secretary to the
government of Kaduna State.

Said the statement: “Further to my broadcast today on the fall-out
following the protest march by a group of Christians, adequate
arrangements have been made for the security agents to take firm
control of the situation. However, it is necessary to put in measures
that would ensure the quick return to normalcy. Accordingly, a curfew
is hereby imposed on Kaduna town and environs from 6.00 p.m. to 6.00
a.m. daily until further notice. You are hereby advised to comply in
the overall interest and security of the state as any breach would be
dealt with ruthlessly”.

The import of the message was hardly felt. Most commercial vehicle
operators had been forced out of the streets leaving most workers
stranded between their offices and homes. Those who live in
non-indigenous areas had no homes to return to. The homes they left in
the morning were burnt down that afternoon . Hordes of people who were
forced into the streets by this development walked into the waiting
hands of rioters.

The streets of Badanawa,Unguwar Rimi, Unguwar Dusa, Kawo and Television
village were littered with corpses. Men who were lucky enough to get to
places where their clansmen outnumber their enemies formed themselves
into vigilante groups. For these category of people, it was the longest
of nights. Survivors, especially veterans of the many religious wars in
Kaduna know that most hooligans would use the cover of darkness to go
from house to house to do their own religious cleansing. Indeed, the
vigil kept by these groups served little or no use. Armed youths,
mostly indigenes moved in groups chanting “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God
is Great,” rampaging through Christian areas and avoiding police
roadblocks.

In Kawo, at least 20 bodies were counted by Newswatch among those
roasted. A young man who called himself Ifeanyi told Newswatch that he
approached his home only to see it in flames. As he made to retreat, he
was accosted by his neighbours who pursued him to a storey building. He
said he hid in the kitchen of a Hausa couple from 4.00 p.m till 10.00
p.m. when he was ferried to the safety of the Nigerian Air Force, NAF,
club by armed airforce men.

Those who suffered most were notable personalities in Kaduna. They had
their houses and offices reduced to ruins either by fire or by looters.
Idris Abdulrahman, an editor with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN,
recalled seeing uncontrolled looting for an hour in the mostly
Ibo-dominated area of the central market.

Another journalist was accosted at the Katsina road junction and asked
to chant a verse of the Holy Quran. He quickly reached for his pocket
and produced his mini-tape recorder and his identity card. He was
reluctantly left off the hook. He ran to the NUJ Press Centre at Whaff
Road. Bashir Sanda Gusau, the Zamfara State government director of
press, DOP, also escaped death with his staff as they ran into a
Christian mob around the Nigerian Defence Academy. The windscreen of
the vehicle in which they were travelling was smashed.

Those who fell into the hands of Christian groups were asked to swear
that they were not for Sharia. But by night the hooligans were more
concerned with what they could get. A survivor told Newswatch that
after he had recited the first chapter of the Quran, his driver, a
Christian, only escaped lynching when he offered them the only N2,000
in his pocket.

Only police barracks and military formations were spared. A young
businessman who had earlier come to the city by the morning flight said
Chanchangi Airlines waited until they had landed before saying it had
information that there was a fight. He hired a Peugeot 504 with
registration number AA 275NSR to get to NAF club. On the way, the car
was attacked.

The driver sustained deep cuts to his mouth and was nearly clubbed to
death before escaping. He drove the car into the Nigerian Defence
Academy, NDA, and remained there until late in the night when he was
rescued by armed soldiers. The NAF club was like a refugee centre.
Those who managed to escape to the club sprawled on available space
within the club premises.

At around 4.00 a.m., a senior air force officer brought in about 22
people caught destroying property in the town. Among them were two
hefty young men dressed in cassock-like robe with their shaved heads
painted white. They confessed that they specialised in burning
churches and killing pastors. Their blood-stained clothes gave adequate
testimony to that. They were taken away in a military patrol van.

By Tuesday morning, the orgy of looting, killing and maiming had not
stopped. The whole premises of NAF club and other military formations
looked like a scene in war-torn Somalia or Sierra Leone. There were
people with fresh gaping wounds ferried in to safety. There were few
cases of those who could not recite verses of the Quran whose hands
were chopped off by miscreants.

A young man, who said he was a Christian but could recite the Quran was
stabbed on the left hand. His gaping wound was treated with antispetic
at the NAF club premises by a young female nurse, who also escaped from
the mayhem with her family. A young man from Akwa Ibom State had bullet
lodged in his neck. A few minutes after he was taken to hospital by
security men, his relatives returned wailing. He was in need of blood
but no one was available to donate blood.

The family of the victim spoke of the gory sight they saw at the
hospital. Nurses and doctors who had been in the hospital for over 24
hours had run out of medical supplies. A group of young men coming to
Kaduna from Kano and who slept at the toll-gate end felt bold to move
into town on sighting a police patrol team. The police patrol car was
followed by a convoy of about 50 cars but that did not stop the
hoodlums from attacking them.

Dahiru Musdapher, a justice of the Abuja Court of Appeal, was not so
lucky. Musdapher who had stayed at the NAF club was advised by his
driver and police orderly by Tuesday morning that it was safe to move
to Abuja. He took the advice. But the journey was ill-fated. His
beautiful redish-brown Toyota jeep was damaged. He found his way back
into the hotel and told a joke that he would need to borrow money from
the hotel staff to pay for an extra night.

Later armed military personnel, pushed by constant distress calls, were
positioned around most strategic places. At NAF Club, a detachment of
airforce men armed to the teeth, announced to the relief of those
hurdled inside that a full-time curfew had been imposed from noon on
Tuesday to 6 .00 a.m. the next day. It was later made a 24-hour curfew.
The airforce men, promptly took positions in strategic places and began
their patrol. Less than 45 minutes after they moved towards Unguwar
Rimi and Malali area, they returned with their trucks full of rioters.

But most fascinating for many observers was the arrest of a retired
army captain who was travelling in a blue Toyota bus filled with Muslim
youths armed to the teeth. Apparently, the group had escaped the
vigilant eyes of the soldiers drafted to the streets because of the
influence of the captain. They were not so lucky as they were stopped
at Rabah Road. A long sword, daggers and knives of various sizes were
recovered from them. They claimed they were not rioting but could not
explain where they were coming from and where they were going.

A few minutes before dawn last Tuesday, hope came for the starving
refugees in the NAF club as money and materials were now arranged to
ensure their feeding. Most of the refugees had left their offices
without any form of protection or money. Not a single bank was opened
Monday afternoon. Most shops were closed. Mezu Linus, a computer
engineer who took shelter at the NAF club, told Newswatch that he had
N45,000 in his burnt shop and an additional unspecified amount at home.
He had his three children with him but the whereabout of his wife was
unknown. He had less than N200 on him. He said he was relying on good
samaritans to feed his children.

For most of Tuesday, the National Electric Power Authority, NEPA, could
not supply light to the city. Newswatch learnt that NEPA shut down
partially because, like most government and private establishments most
of its staff were on the run to prevent attacks from hoodlums. By
evening of Tuesday, some parts of the city were supplied with
electricity. Most had no water and with a shoot-on-sight order given to
soldiers who were deployed to the town, not even the lion-hearted would
dare to go out.

Not even the drafting of AIG Balogun to Kaduna, and the assurance by
Isah could give residents of the city any assurance of their safety. As
at Tuesday night, there was still the occasional gunfire in the inner
parts of the city where soldiers and police could not reach. The
security patrol was limited to major roads. Newswatch heard gunshots in
inner parts of Badanawa area by the hoodlums.

It was gathered that the hoodlums in the area were on a house-to-house
search for their victims. While children and women were mostly spared,
men were not. They were either kicked or inflicted with deep machete
cuts. This eventually led to the 24-hour curfew.

The crisis assumed an alarming proportion that it forced President
Olusegun Obasanjo to cut short his visit to Abia State to make a
nationwide broadcast. In the broadcast, President Obasanjo sympathised
with "those who have lost relations…, those who have been injured,
those who have lost property and all those who have been disturbed in
any way” as a result of the crisis. Obasanjo said the crisis was caused
by adherents of the two main religions who have no idea that both
religions preach peace. He promised that government will spare no
effort in protecting the lives and property of Nigerians.

It is very unlikely that the Sharia trouble would stop. This was
because Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, governor of the state who was on a
visit to Hungary, vowed to implement the Sharia legal system no matter
the opposition. Makarfi, according to a report on the Hausa service
programme of a German radio station said that Sharia is in the
constitution and that “it is these things that we want people to
understand”. He added: “unless we do away with sentiments, then we
will not understand what ways will bring peace among the people
especially in Kaduna State, where we have both Christians and Muslims
in large numbers”.

Last week’s mayhem was caused by a disagreement on the floor of the
state’s house of assembly. While Serki Fada, speaker of the house, was
in support of the introduction of Sharia in the state, Gideon Gwani,
his deputy, thought otherwise. The motion which was moved a few hours
after Makarfi inaugurated a committee to advise the state government on
the adoption of the legal system, divided the house along religious
lines. But curiously, Fada was quoted a few hours after the motion was
moved as having told members of the Jama’atu Nasril Islamic group that
visited him at the assembly complex to register their support for
introduction of Sharia. He allegedly told them that members had
accepted to adopt the legal system in the state.

Gwani took an objection to this. When the issue was raised with him,
Gwani expressed surprise at the statement credited to Fada. He said
that apart from the over 25 percent of indigenes of the state who are
Christians, there are several non-indigenes who are equally Christians.
He said he believes “a larger number of the population in Kaduna State
are Christian and don’t believe they will accept Sharia and I will not
agree that Sharia should be adopted.”

He added: “I am still nursing this fear that this issue will bring
problem in Kaduna State. But I do hope that this matter would be
handled in the appropriate manner so that we would not have problems in
Kaduna State”.

It was as if he predicted the bloody clash in the city last week. But
most of the people who reacted to the mayhem in Kaduna laid the blame
at the doorstep of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his advisers for not
taking adequate steps in resolving the legality or otherwise of the
Sharia legal system since it was introduced last year in Zamfara State.
Apart from a statement credited to Obasanjo while he was on an
overseas tour that the introduction of Sharia was unconstitutional, the
federal government had not taken any firm stand on the issue.

Okogie said the government was wrong not to have taken any action on
the issue. Okogie told Newswatch last week: “Obasanjo was one of those
who said it would just fizzle out. That oh, don’t worry it’s an-ill
wind that does nobody good…it is not legal, it is unconstitutional.
Then people were not taking things low. They concluded that if that
was all the president has to say let’s see. So everybody began to flex
their muscles.

Okogie said Obasanjo did not do what he expected him to do arguing that
the president’s lawyer ought to have challenged the constitutionality
of the sharia legal system in court. “He (Obasanjo) has an
attorney-general, what is he doing? He has a chief justice, what is he
doing? Are we going to allow another civil war, or religious war to
ensue in the country?” Okogie asked.

Branco-Rhodes equally expressed surprise at the attitude of the
government. He told Newswatch last week that what worries him is the
federal government’s approach to the issue. Said Branco-Rhodes: “The
attorney-general has irresponsibly refused to address the workability
of Sharia in Nigeria. This is incompetence, dereliction of duty and
irresponsibility. It has left room for anarchy. Due to the neglect of
responsibility by the executive and the judiciary at the centre, the
nation is degenerating into anarchy and chaos. It is because of this
that the attorney-general must be asked to resign”.

Indeed, many had expected that Kanu Agabi, the attorney-general and
minister of justice, would have been able to resolve the
constitutionality or otherwise of the introduction of the Sharia legal
system. Both proponents and opponents of the legal system derive
justification for their arguments on the 1979 and 1999 constitutions of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Ahmed Sani, governor of Zamfara State, the first state to introduce and
implement Sharia, told Newswatch that the implementation of Sharia is
constitutional and that even Obasanjo had confirmed this. Sani told
Newswatch: “Even the president said on television that each state is
free to adopt the Sharia system provided it does not affect the
non-Muslims” Sani relied on the opening chapters of the constitution
which says: “we the people of Nigeria agree to live together under
God.” He argued: “This is an indication that the constitution is under
the Bible and Holy Quran. So whatever the Christians believe should not
be seen as a contradictory position to the constitution. And whatever
the Muslims are implementing based on their belief, should be over and
above the constitution.”

Lateef Adegbite, secretary-general of the Nigeria Supreme Council for
Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, said the constitution provides the introduction
of Sharia in the country. Adegbite said that “Sharia should not be
restricted to law or legal system. “It is very much wide, extending to
all facets of life – social, economic and political. Thus, while we
are saying Islam – is a way of life we have in mind Sharia as a vehicle
for the fulfilment of the goals of the faith.”

In an address delivered on his behalf at a national seminar on Sharia
in Kaduna early this month, Adegbite said the “federal structure of
the Nigerian state has made it easier to operate legal pluralism in the
country. Hence, Sharia and customary laws are treated as state matters
to be regulated by the respective states.”

Adegbite said the 1999 constitution, like the 1979 constitution,
provides for the creation of a Sharia Court of Appeal for Abuja, the
federal capital territory as spelt out under section 260 and for any
state that desires similar courts as contained in section 275 of the
constitution. He said the constitution also provides for a state Sharia
Court of Appeal which has appellate and supervisory function in civil
proceedings involving issues of Islamic law which the courts are
competent to decide.

Mohammed Bello, former chief justice of the federation said there
should be no controversy as to whether a state could introduce the
Sharia legal system as the constitution has so provided. Bello said
there is no doubt that the state “has the power since the British
started it with the native court ordinance in 1934 by adopting the
Sharia as the law of the Alkali court.”

Bello said in his address at the Kaduna seminar on Sharia that section
four of the 1979 constitution provides for the distribution of powers
between the states and federal government with both capable of making
laws. Sharia, he said, falls within the residue of the state. Bello
said section six further empowers a state to establish courts to
exercise jurisdiction on matters with respect to which the house of
assembly of a state can make laws.

Section 275 of the constitution specifically empowers any state that
requires it to establish the Sharia Court of Appeal to hear appeals
from lower courts. Not only that, the 1999 constitution also adopted
all the laws and courts which existed before May 29 last year when the
1999 constitution came into being. As such, the Sharia civil laws, the
penal code whose bill was drafted in1959 and the Area court laws were
adopted by section 315 and 316 of the constitution.

But the former CJ had a word of caution also for states wishing to
adopt Sharia. Bello said there are areas of conflict with certain
other constitutional provisions. He said that section 36 (12) of the
constitution provides that a person should not be convicted for any
Sharia offence unless the offence and its punishment are enacted by the
National Assembly or a state house of assembly and such must be
codified. But the Sharia law, Bello pointed out, is not a written law
within the context of section 36 (12) of the constitution and as such
offences and punishments cannot be applied based on Sharia law. So also
did Bello point out that parts of Sharia law runs contrary to section
38(1) of the 1999 constitution. Bello said with the supremacy of the
constitution as provided for in section 1 of the 1999 constitution,
Sharia law becomes void in some areas.

That is where Gani Fawehinmi, Lagos radical lawyer also stands. He
said that there should be no controversy over the Sharia issue because
where a law runs contrary to the constitution, it is the constitution
that supersedes. Fawehinmi said much as the constitution allows for the
establishment of various courts, section 10 of the constitution forbids
any state from operating “a particular religion.” Fawehinmi also said
that section 4 which deals with the fundamental human rights of
Nigerians “takes, precedence over any other law…People must appreciate
the fact that Sharia is not alien to the constitution, it is part of
the Nigerian constitution. But whichever law that must be made in a
state, like the Sharia, must not be above section 4 which deals with
the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people. The president, the most
powerful civilian administrator in Nigeria today cannot act against
chapter 4.”

Olu Onagoruwa, former attorney-general and minister of justice said the
Zamfara State government violated the constitution by introducing
Sharia in the State. “More gruesome”, he said is the violation of
section 12, 14, 15, 18,19 and 21. Significantly, Zamfara has violated
chapter 4 of the constitution by depriving citizens of their right to
the dignity of human person and by subjecting them to inhuman and
degrading treatment.”

Sunday Mbang, president of CAN, said Sani had taken “Sharia above the
Nigerian constitution.” The constitution does not allow each state to
set up a state religion. It does not even allow the country to set up a
country religion,” he argued.

There are those who feel that Sani is being used by forces from outside
the country to destabilise the current democratic dispensation. Though
Sani has denied it several times, the fear still persists. Akinola
Aguda, an eminent jurist, said the introduction of Sharia “is
absolutely unnecessary and I think it is inconsistent with the times
whether planned or unplanned. It is an attempt to destabilise the
present government.”

Patrick Ekpu, archbishop of the Catholic diocese of Benin, Edo State,
said after a CAN meeting in the state that there is a “strong suspicion
that Sani was being used by Islamic fundamentalists, individuals and
nations to float the idea of Nigeria’s membership of the Organisation
of Islamic Conference with a view to feeling our pulse on the issue.”

The Catholic Laity Council of Nigeria equally felt offended by action
of the Northern state governments. In a press release signed by Tony
Uko-Akpulu and Joseph Falase, national president and secretary-general
respectively, the council urged the attorney-general of the federation
to take legal action against the Northern state government for the
purpose of declaring the Sharia law in Zamfara state illegal, null and
void.

But with the failure of the federal government to make a categorical
pronouncement on the issue, more state governments are set to
promulgate the Sharia legal system in their states. While the crisis
in Kaduna State raged last week, Dalhatu Bafawara and Mohammed Kure,
governors of Sokoto and Niger States respectively, fixed May 29 and May
4 for the take off of the Sharia legal system in their states. Other
states where the idea of the Sharia legal system has come up for debate
include Borno, Katsina, Yobe, and Bauchi States.

Mala Kachalla, governor of Borno State, was reported to have said that
the implementation of Sharia was a must in the state as majority of the
state indigenes have opted to be governed by the Sharia legal system.
In Yobe, Abba Bukar Ibrahim, the state governor, has already appointed
a new Grand Khadi in preparation for the take-off of Sharia. In
Bauchi, the bill has been read by the state house of assembly. Despite
the mounting opposition to the passage of the bill by CAN members,
Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, governor of the state, said the bill would be
signed into law because of the large percentage of Muslims in the
state.

In Katsina State, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, governor of the state, said he
was not rushing into the implementation of the sharia legal system
because it required adequate planning. This, he said, is to ensure
that people do not suffer unnecessarily when the law comes into effect.

That exactly is the fear of the Women in Nigeria, WIN. After its
executive council meeting in Kaduna, WIN, stated in a communique signed
by Benedicta Dauda that the introduction of Sharia is bound to affect
non-Muslims, especially women. WIN said it is usually a way of
depriving women of their rights and bringing untold hardship on the
populace.

The fear of hardship coming on the populace, especially women, is
already becoming noticeable in Zamfara. Women are not expected to ride
on commercial motor-cycles. They now trek long distances because taxis
are few in the state. Two weeks ago, 24 commercial motorcycle operators
who were caught carrying female passengers were ordered to be remanded
in prison till March 3 by the judge. Each of the passengers was
allegedly given 20 strokes of the cane.

Such development is what CAN in Kano is afraid of confronting. In a
message to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, governor of Kano State, CAN threatened
that if the governor goes ahead with his plan, Christians would rise up
to challenge his rights to uphold one religion against the others.

Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ikemba Nnewi and ex-Biafran warlord, said in
Kaduna earlier this month that Christians are prepared for physical
exchange with the Muslims over the Sharia legal system. Speaking at a
seminar, Ojukwu said Christians had before now not been known to place
any obstacles to the unity of the country nor have they threatened to
burn down the property of fellow citizens. “We had never threatened to
kill anybody.” Ojukwu said that with the threats to lives and property
of Christians, “we (Christians) are tired of being threatened,” adding:
“No religion has a monopoly of violence. If for instance you tell me
about the Jihad, know that we had our crusades too and you did not fare
better.”

It is such confrontation in past that led to religious violence that
had sometimes threatened the corporate existence of the country. The
first major religious violence in the country was the Maitasine riots
of 1980. Muhammadu Marwa, a Cameroonian who was jailed for three
months in1962 for disturbing public peace and was deported back to his
country, found his way back to Nigeria to set up an Islamic
fundamentalist group. He called it the Maitasine group. The riot that
erupted over the religious extremism of the Maitasine group left more
than 4,000 people dead.

In 1987, the Kafanchan riot in Kaduna State also claimed several lives.
The riot which started in Kafanchan over the preaching of Bello
Abubakar Bako, a new Christian convert, at the town’s College of
Education, spread to other parts of the state. General Ibrahim
Babangida, then military president, was so taken aback by the wanton
destruction of lives and property that he had to order full-scale
military operation to quell the riot.

Babangida had to contend with another religious riot in 1991. He was
away to Harare, Zimbabwe, when the riot broke out in Kano over a
crusade organised by Reinhard Bonnke, a German televangelist. Muslims
in the city were protesting the refusal of the state government which
prevented an Islamic cleric of South African origin, Ahmed Deadat, from
organising a similar crusade. Several hundreds died in the crisis that
saw military barracks in the ancient city turning into refugee camps.
Babangida had to cut short his trip to Zimbabwe to attend to the
burning issue.

Many are, however, praying that such situation would not repeat itself
because of the introduction of the Sharia legal system by the Northern
States. Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye, out-going primate of the Church of
Nigeria, Anglican Communion said last week that a religious war would
not be in the interest of the country. Onyeabor Obi, former senator,
said the federal government must take a decisive action to stem the
rising tide of ethnic and religious disturbances in the country.
According to him, religious war is an evil wind that will not blow
anyone any good. M. C. K. Ajuluchukwu, a renowned politician, wondered
why Nigeria’s religious problems are always in the north. He said that
the southern part of Nigeria boasts a sizeable population of Muslims
yet they live in peace with their Christian neighbours. He blamed
politicians who have elevated Sharia which is a private law for Muslims
to state law, thereby causing the present crisis. Mohammadu Maccido,
Sultan of Sokoto, said religious violence will only impede the growth
of the nation.

Worried by the unwholesome development, Chuba Okadigbo, senate
president, said the senate would raise a panel on the Sharia issue. But
Newswatch learnt in Abuja last week that the senate had even before the
crisis in Kaduna set up a committee to study the Sharia crisis and
advise the senate on what to do. Newswatch learnt that Ibrahim Mantu, a
Muslim from the predominantly Christian state of Plateau, is a member
of the committee.

The issue also came up for debate in the House of Representatives.
Reports last week showed that the members were divided along religious
lines on the issue. But the house asked Agabi to clarify the
constitutionality or otherwise of the introduction of the Sharia legal
system.

Indeed, how the government handles the situation will determine if the
crisis can be contained without further casualties.

Additional report by Janet Mba-Afolabi, Emmanuel Ugwu, Yemi Adebowale,
and Fola Adekeye
------------------

Sharia’ll Lead to Open War

Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, archbishop of Lagos Catholic arch-diocese,
speaks to Fola Adekeye, reporter/researcher, on what President Olusegun
Obasanjo must do to avert a national disaster over Sharia

By Fola Adekeye

Newswatch: Since Nigeria returned to civil rule, there hasn’t been
genuine peace. The nation has been moving from one form of needless
violence to another. What really is happening to Nigeria as a nation?

Okogie: Studying the trend of events since President Olusegun Obasanjo
took over the reins of government, one would not be too wrong to say
that there are some elements within the corridor of power that are not
happy with what is happening. Some of them seem not to be happy with
Obasanjo as the head of state. It is not what they bargained for that
they are getting. But it is clear, whatever he does, whatever he says,
you hear people talking among certain groups which feel that the OIC
Organisation of Islamic Conference issue (You know we are still
contesting its implication). We do not believe that they are there on a
permanent level because Nigeria is not an Islamic country, it is a
secular state. There are those who feel that since the constitution is
very weak, then they are now working to ignore the constitution and do
whatever they like. There are others also who are trying to destabilise
the nation by trying to uproot “the unwantable.” That, I think is what
is giving rise to all these things.

You will notice that after the inauguration of Obasanjo and he
announced his cabinet, the very first outcry was marginalisation. From
where? From the north. But if you look at it carefully, you will
discover that it is not true. If you brought the list of the ministers
and their portfolios, to me, there is no sign of marginalisation there.
The only people I think had the right to cry of marginalisation are
those from Alex Ekwueme’s side. I don’t want to say the Igbo. But those
are the people, if you look at it, I feel for them. If you look at the
constitution or rather the formation of PDP, you see the part Ekwueme
played there. What did he get? All of a sudden, came Obasanjo from the
blues. So if you look at things, even though it is not my problem but
as a Nigerian I have to be interested. Now after the cry of
marginalisation then came the outcry for Sharia. Don’t forget that
Sharia is one of the demands in the constitution of OIC for full
membership. The OIC constitution demands among other things that the
Muslim must be in charge of education, petroleum. All the good, good
things. Even finance of the nation. It is all there in the OIC demands.
You will remember that I was one of those who shouted against OIC and
then Sharia. So to me, Sharia is not a new thing in the country. But
what they are now trying to do is to try and enforce it; and damn the
consequences and throw the constitution into contempt. And if
government allows it to go as it is now, it is going to be very
unwholesome for this country. Very, very unwholesome. This Kaduna
thing they are talking about is a child’s play. Do you know what other
fanatics, other fundamentalists from the so-called religions are now
planning.? Lives have been lost. Properties gone. It is not going to be
a child’s play. When the whole thing started, I am sorry to say,
Obasanjo was one of those who said it would just fizzle out. That oh,
don’t worry, it’s an ill wind that does nobody good. I think he was
speaking from America then, he said “don’t mind, it is not legal, it is
unconstistutional. Then people were not taking things lying low. They
concluded that if that was all the president has to say let’s see. So
everybody began to flex their muscles. He didn’t do what I expected he
should do. It is not too late. He is supposed to have a body of
lawyers. What are they doing? They can take them to court. He has an
attorney-general, what is he doing. He has a chief justice, what is he
doing? Are we going to allow another civil war, or religious war to
ensue in the country? They don’t want the unity of this country? You
have some people shouting confederation, some people shouting
marginalisation, some many other things. Where are we heading towards?
What is happening?

Let me leave Zamfara alone. There is no governor in this country that
can come out and say all my citizens are Muslims or all my citizens are
Christians. Impossible! Impossible! When the man in Zamfara was put to
task that the Muslim law does not allow co-education this was what he
said: the girls would be in front and the boys behind. What kind of
rubbish is that. Is he serious?

Newswatch: At this critical stage what should Obasanjo do?

Okogie: Let him summon the attorney-general or call his chief justice.
Go and contest these things in court. Call out the legal luminaries.
Let these things be decided once and for all. Once it is decided,
enshrine it in the constitution because the constitution that came out
under Abubakar was so weak when you talk about Sharia. There is a lot
of loopholes there. Although, I am not a lawyer but I can see. There
are a lot of loopholes. So if tomorrow, the Christians, take for
instance, the Catholic, we have our own laws. We have cannon laws which
have been in existence for several years. But we don’t force it on
everybody. We enforce it on our own believers, on our own faithfuls. I
can’t enforce it on an Anglican person. But that is what they are
trying to do. And if Islam means peace as they say, is there any peace
in what they are doing now? I am sure if Muhammed were alive today, he
would condemn them outright. I challenge anybody on this because they
are misreading the Quran just like some Christians are misinterpreting
the Bible. They are misreading the Quran. It didn’t say you should
force your religion on other people. Then it is not a religion. Look at
the irony. We are all serving under the umbrella of the same God. Now,
how do you want to tell me that your God is better than my God? How?
Isn’t that stupidity? Isn’t that foolishness?

Newswatch: Do you really see this Sharia thing as a religious matter?
Okogie: I don’t see it so. One thing you have to know is this. In the
Islamic religion, there is no difference between religion and politics.
In Christian religion there is a big demarcation.So, I don’t call Islam
a religion. The moment they finish from the mosque, they would sit down
there and start discussing politics and businesses. This doesn’t happen
in churches. The Christians have a lot of respect for where they
worship. Where is the respect they have for Allah they talk about?
Where is the respect? If you study it, you will see, there is no
demarcation between religion and politics. Its just like you are
telling me you are only flesh and blood what about the spirit in you?

Newswatch: So, Sharia is exploiting the obvious weakness of the
nation’s constitution?
Okogie: (cuts in) I would not say Sharia. Some fanatics are trying to
use Sharia, number one, to destabilise the nation, that is to tell you
that there is nothing like secularity in Nigeria. The same people have
agreed that Nigeria is a multi-religious state. Now, if Nigeria is a
multi-religious nation, why must you condemn my own religion? Why must
you impose your own on me?

Newswatch: Now, how should we address the weakness in the
constitution?

Okogie: Unfortunately, my brother, I am disappointed with the members
of the senate, with the members of the House of Representatives even
with some governors. All of us were shouting during the military era
and praying, some were crying even that the military boys should go
back to their barracks. We should be democratic. We are suffering. I
can even stick out my neck. Including Mr. President, how many of them
have now championed the cause of the common man? How many of them? The
first things they are looking for is their own money, their own pocket,
their own enjoyment, their own peace, their own happiness. Like one
paper said that the president has now turned into “Ajala travels all
over the world.” Do you blame such paper? Then tomorrow they would say
that paper is useless, it is abusing the head of state. I mean, if you
travel, come back and tell us what you have brought. You are
representing Nigeria. You are number one. So you are accountable to us
as servant of the people. All your legislators, that is what they are,
if they only know the meaning of their position.

Newswatch: What are the consequences of all these things?

Okogie: The consequences, if care is not taken, there would be an open
war. I am sorry. You remember what happened in Ilorin, Kwara State. I
told a reporter when that happened that that was just a tip of the
iceberg. Maccido had to come down. Everybody started saying it was
unfortunate. We don’t know. Even the governor who was backing them
before, does not want war. Nobody wants trouble. People know these
fanatics. But it’s like the cultists in the universities. People know
them but would not talk. If care is not taken, I hope they will not set
this nation ablaze and that is what they are looking for. Kaduna is
much a sensitive state. It’s like looking for such a thing to happen in
Lagos. God forbid. There are so many sensitive places in the
federation. Nobody would care about Zamfara. Ibadan even Sokoto are
sensitive places. Who are the traders (when you talk about traders in
the true sense of the word in most states of the federation are they
Muslims?

Newswatch: People are saying Christians are not confrontational. Do
you agree?

Okogie: No, my brother, no. You see when you see a lion sleeping but
pretends to be friendly, my friend, it is not all that friendly .What
is holding Christians back at the moment is what we are telling them,
it is good to live in peace and not in pieces. But if they take that
as a weakness, good luck to them. I wouldn’t say more than that.
Goodluck to them. I want to appeal to all religious leaders to please
warn their adherents. It is not fair. Let’s face it. These same Kaduna
Muslim fanatics marched on the streets unhindered. Nobody touched them.
They even enjoyed the protection of the police. Why must it be now that
the other people go to the governor’s office that there were
skirmishes. We must be prepared to do the best for this country.

-----------------------

I’ll Resign if Sharia Is Unconstitutional

Ahmad Sani, governor of Zamfara State threatens to resign if the
federal government does not allow him to implement the Sharia legal
system in his state. He bared his mind in an interview he granted to
Dotun Oladipo, senior staff writer

Newswatch: Why did you decide to introduce Sharia in the State?

Sani: It is compulsory for any Muslim who wants to govern a state, or
any state he is elected as the leader of that community, he must
administer that state according to Sharia. It is a directive by God
and so I try as much as possible to operate my life according to the
directive and dictate of my religion.

Newswatch: So how do you see the changing life of people of Zamfara?

Sani: Very positive. You see people are now alive to their
responsibilities To Allah, unto Allah, their responsibility to their
neighbours, their families, their Muslim brothers and sisters and to
non-Muslims because in Islam, you must be just and fair to any human
being irrespective of that person’s religion and tribal inclination. So
if you worship God and at the same time be unjust and unfair to people
unjustly or unfairly, you are not a good Muslim.

Newswatch: All along, you have stated clearly that non-Muslims will
not be affected by Sharia. However, you must agree that running a
state according to Sharia must affect Christians in some aspects such
as education and transport system. How do you intend to address the
grievances affecting their lives?

Sani: You see it does not affect their lives negatively, it affects
their lives positively. One, I cannot see any problem in separating
girls from boys in the educational system. I cannot see how it affects
anybody. We do not say that children should not go to school. We are
trying to improve the moral standard of our youths. You see because of
the low level of literacy here and the level of poverty, you find that
this intermingling of boys and girls is causing a lot of problems for
the society. The number of girls that are pregnant in mixed schools is
increasing day by day and therefore parents are withdrawing their
children from schools and getting them married at a tender age. This
policy has changed the trend. You find out that the level of enrolment
especially in female schools has more than tripled now. So, I don’t see
how it affects Christians. A Christian can send his child to any
school. If they want mixed school for Christians, they can have it in
private schools. And in primary schools, pupils are not separated. In
primary schools, the boys are at the back and the girls are at the
front. That was what obtained during the colonial period and afterwards
but gradually because of the nonchalant attitude of people they don’t
look at the development of education and try to improve it. They
ignored this area and therefore the problems I’ve mentioned earlier
continue to arise. And in the area of transportation, we did not say
that they don’t enter our public transport system. If you look at the
private system, it is still operating in the same way and manner it
used to operate. Our people don’t want to invest in transportation.
Therefore, the predominant means of transport is the commercial
motorcyle which is very dangerous to the womenfolk. You find pregnant
women riding on Kabu-Kabu and when the cyclist brakes, she can fall
down or her baby. The woman is put in very dangerous positions. But in
Islam, women are given very important positions because of their
nature. God has already told us that they are really precious and
should be given utmost care, what we are trying to do is to provide
public transportation for women and families. If a Christian is coming
with a family, they are free to enter but essentially, they are meant
to reduce the hardship faced by women in using motorcycles. So, I met
with CAN before the introduction of Sharia but I told them that the
only area they will have problem is the area of alcoholism and they all
agreed that their religion prohibits the consumption of alcohol. All
other areas are meant for Muslims. Like the Sharia courts, we have
Sharia court for Muslims and magistrate’s courts and common courts for
non-Muslims. So there is no way the Sharia affects Christians.

Newswatch: One of the elements of Sharia that elicits wide reactions
is amputation and flogging. So a lot of people are afraid of Zamfara.
A lot of people are basically worried about what this means. We have
already had a case of flogging. If someone is found guilty of stealing
in a Sharia court, will the offence justify amputation?

Sani: You see, the issue of amputation, flogging and beheading are just
beliefs and religious issues. I cannot see why any person should bother
and care about laws that do not affect him and he doesn’t believe in.
These are divine rules and regulations.

Newswatch: What about Muslims?

Sani: That is what I am saying. The Christians themselves look worried.
What of the Muslims themselves who are affected by these issues? They
have been living it and believing it. It is part of their faith. So we
are only trying to implement our religious beliefs and regulations.
These are divine rules and regulations. Anybody who says he doesn’t
want them is not a Muslim. As far as we are concerned, once you are a
Muslim, you should accept everything that is there, in your leisure.

Newswatch: Already President Obasanjo has said the introduction of
Sharia is unconstitutional. If you start bringing in high level
expectations of Sharia like amputation and beheading, don’t you see
yourself running into problem with the federal government? How are you
going to handle it.

Sani: They reported in the press that the president said it is
unconstitutional. It is the same press that said he said it is
constitutional. Even the attorney-general was on the air. Even the
president said on television that each state is free to adopt the
Sharia system, provided it does not affect non-Muslims. It is limited
to Muslims. There is no conflict. You see the constitution of this
country is an agreement. If you read the opening chapters, it says: “We
the people of Nigeria agree to live together under God”. You see, it
says under God not over God. The constitution is under the Bible and
holy Quran. So whatever the Christians believe, should not be seen as
a contradictory position to the constitution. And whether the Muslims
are implementing based on their own belief, should be over and above
the constitution. What I am saying is that there will be no clash
between the federal and state governments because the federal
government is fully aware of the norms and values of Islamic
principles.

Newswatch: In spite of your assurances, Christians are still worried.
I understand they are important players in Zamfara’s commercial life.
If Christians say they don’t want to stay in Zamfara again and they
start to leave, don’t you think it will affect the economy of the
State?

Sani: I don’t think they are going to leave. I have friends amongst
them. I have told them over and over again that this Sharia is not
going to affect them in any way. Therefore, all these reports that
Christians are worried here and there are not true. You find these
Christians in government activities, we patronise them and give them
contracts. They are part and parcel of our family relationship and so
on. I don’t see any situation where Christians will leave. Even if
anybody leaves because we are implementing our religious belief, I
think he is only helping situations in the state because our people
will rise to the challenges of providing what they need. So I don’t
see it as a problem any way but I know that we are confident that we
are not in anyway going to tamper or affect our religious beliefs.
There is a clear direction in the holy Quran and it says, “we deal with
our religion, and other people deal on their religion. As far as they
don’t tamper with our religion, we will never affect their religious
belief and faith or their way of life” It is a directive because if
you should tamper with their religion, whatever happens, you should
bear the consequences. If we are implementing Sharia to get Allah’s
favour when we die, in the process we harm deliberately anybody who is
not a Muslim, we take the blame.

Newswatch: One aspect of Islam that gets attention in the western media
is Islamic extremism. What you are saying here sounds very modest.
But if you have these extremists here do you think you can control them
when you set the ball rolling here?

Sani: You see, if you discuss with the commissioner of police, the
problem we have is not the Christians. It is the extremists. They are
based in Zaria and we have a pocket of them here. They are the people
who feel Sharia is not possible unless, there is an Islamic state.
That is, there should not be any magistrate’s or high court. There
shouldn’t be any church and there shouldn’t even be Christians.
Christians should only be here as visitors. So they want revolution
where people will be eliminated and a lot of blood. This is not
Islamic. A genuine Muslim who believes in Islam believes that Islam is
peace and Allah says that you should operate your life based on what
you can afford. That means he has not placed any burden beyond what a
soul can take. Before now, Sharia is not implemented in Nigeria
because Muslims believe, constitutionally, there is provision in the
constitution. But now that we have seen the provision, Section 6 (5)
says that states can create courts and provide jurisdiction to these
courts. So we created Sharia courts and provided jurisdiction to them
to administer Sharia laws. Even recently, when a Christian had a
problem with a Muslim, who deals in automobiles, he bought a car and
they had a problem, he wanted his money back and the Muslim refused to
pay, the Christian reported him to a Sharia court. There and then, the
Muslim was forced to pay. But this is against our law. A Christian
should not go to Sharia without a knowledge of CAN. We don’t want any
situation he will come back and say he was forced to go to Sharia
court. If it were against him, he would have reported a different
story. So I now said that if there is any Christian who wants to go to
Sharia, he should put it in writing to CAN, let them know before the
case is heard. So, we are trying as much as possible to ensure that
only Muslims are affected by our rules and regulations. Of course, they
are the only people who believe in Islam and the only people who
believe in the divine rules and regulations. It must be followed if you
are a Muslim. If you don’t follow this, it means you are not a Muslim.

Newswatch: Are you getting financial support in the implementation of
Sharia and running of the state?

Sani: I have not received anything yet but if there is anything, we’ll
take. Not only from Islamic community but from western countries too.
You see democracy is defined normally as government of the people by
the people for the people. So, anything that is going to enhance the
attainment of the wishes of the people should be encouraged not only by
Islamic countries but by even western countries. We are doing this
because our people are interested.

Newswatch: Which is more important to you, that you live your life as a
Muslim or as a Nigerian.

Sani: If I’m not a Muslim, I will not be a Nigerian. I am in Nigeria
because I’m a Muslim. God created me and made me a Muslim. So, if I’m
in Nigeria as a Nigerian, once I’m brought up in Nigeria, I’m a
Nigerian. Surely I’ll prefer being a Muslim because I can never change
myself. One thing is that in Islam once you attain the age of puberty,
18, once you are matured, you know what is good and bad, if you change
your religion from Islam, the penalty is death. We know it. And we
didn’t put it in our penal code because it is against the
constitutional provision. It is the law of Allah which now is a
culture for the entire society. So if a Muslim changes his faith or
religion, it is the duty of the society or family to administer that
part of the justice to him. It has been happening before and after the
colonial era. If anybody changed from Islam, he was killed. So he
didn’t really have to go to court, that is why we don’t have it in the
panel code. The society took immediate action.

Newswatch: As a governor and as an individual, what if a situation
arose that necessitated you choosing between having a Sharia state and
staying with the federation, which will you prefer or choose?

Sani: As a governor, it can still happen now, if the federal government
comes out to say that Sharia should not be implemented. I will resign.
Islam means peace. We want to continue as Nigerians and live as
Nigerians. So, if the federal government says Sharia should not be
implemented, then I will resign and go home and implement Sharia in my
family. That means I will try and obey God to the best of my ability. I
will ensure justice, be honest to my family, my friends and relations.
The federal government is over and above everybody. So, the decisions
of the federal government are binding on the whole states.

-----------------------

Obasanjo’s Tough Stance on Sharia

After several bloody riots in parts of the country, President Olusegun
Obasanjo took positive steps to stop the implementation of Sharia legal
system in some northern states

By Dotun Oladipo

Bloody reprisal riots, stormy national council of states meeting,
mounting tension across the country, two law suits against the federal
government and a national broadcast by president Olusegun Obasanjo, all
last week, were indications that the crisis which broke out in Kaduna,
February 21, over the Sharia legal system constituted a real national
problem.

The riot which began Monday February 28 in Aba, Abia State, left many
more people dead. The riot later spread to other Eastern states
including Imo, Rivers and Akwa Ibom States. Newswatch learnt in Aba
last week that the riot was a fallout of that of the previous week in
Kaduna .

Youths in Aba were said to have taken to the streets chanting war songs
when a luxury bus loaded with corpses of Igbo traders returned from
Kaduna. The traders who were on business trips to Kaduna were said to
have been stopped by Islamic fundamentalists who killed all the
occupants of the bus except the driver who was ordered to “return home”
with the corpses.

The sight of the corpses of the dead traders was said to have enraged
their colleagues who immediately decided on a reprisal attack. Led by
the dreaded “Bakassi men”, the traders went in search of muslims from
the northern part of the country residing in Aba. Some of them were
caught and killed.

A tour of Aba by Newswatch during the mayhem confirmed this. At Asa
road, eight corpses were seen on the street. So also were several
others sighted on Ariaria-Faulks road and Milverton road. Vehicles
coming into and leaving Aba were stopped and thoroughly searched.
Besides, two mosques – one on Asa road and the other on hospital road
were burnt.

The police, who were taken aback by the incident, could not react
spontaneously. By noon on Monday when Newswatch visited Aba, the
magazine did not notice police presence on the streets. Adeniran
Akinwale, an assistant superintendent of police, ASP, and the state
police command public relations officer told Newswatch that he was
“still monitoring the situation.” It was only at about 2.30 p.m. that
police presence was noticed in Aba.

While the Aba riot was going on, the news of the killing of the
traders spread to other eastern states. Protest broke out
simultaneously in several towns including Umuahia, the Abia State
capital. Reports put the death toll in the city at 29. In Owerri, the
Imo State capital, two persons were reportedly killed. By Tuesday last
week, the crisis had spread to Port Harcourt, Calabar and Uyo.

In Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, the governor, imposed a curfew from 6
m. to 12 noon. In a broadcast, Kalu sued for peace urging the youths
to lay down their arms. He said everything would be done “to protect
the unity and sovereignty of our nation” adding that “we shall contain
the crisis and protect the lives and property of every subject who
lives in Abia State… I appeal to our people to go about their normal
business and remain law-abiding and peaceful. Remember, dialogue is
the only way out of the present crisis.”

As the news of the reprisal killing spread to the Northern states panic
again gripped the residents. The situation in Kano was so tense that
Igbo traders in the ancient city hurriedly locked up their shops to
forestall any trouble. There were also unconfirmed reports that major
luxury bus transporters such as C.N. Okoli and P.N. Emerah who ply the
Kano – Eastern routes had ordered their buses withdrawn from Kano. Many
of the non-natives took refuge in military and police barracks in the
city. A Kano resident told Newswatch on Tuesday that his neighbours
thought he was crazy when they returned from the Bukavu Barracks, where
they had passed the night to meet him and his family still in their
compound.

>From the motor parks, the Kano-Eastern axis trip, which used to cost
about N700 before the tension, went up to N2,300. Despite soaring cost
of transportation, more and more people were still getting out of Kano
as at press time last week.

Even in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital where there has been no
mention of the introduction of the Sharia legal system, tension
continued to mount last week in anticipation of a clash between
Christians and Muslims. The police were put on red alert as a result of
a death sentence pronounced on Okenna Nduka, an Igbo trader, by a
group known as the Muslim Brothers. Nduka’s offence was that he
allegedly desecrated the name of Muhammed.

The Muslim brothers said what Nduka said amounted to an offence
“against the holy prophet” which is punishable by death. The group
threatened that if no action was “taken against this blasphemy on Islam
and Muslims of the state” such havoc as was wrecked on Kaduna,
Kafanchan, Kano and Sokoto would be unleashed.

The police acted swiftly by arresting Nduka. Clement Roberts, a deputy
superintendent of police, DSP, and the Taraba State police public
relations officer, PPRO, told Newswatch that after the report of the
blasphemy got to them Nduka was promptly arrested. Roberts told
Newswatch that though Nduka denied making such a statement in
writing, he was still being held in custody “for his own protection.”

But the move by police could not prevent pre-emptive moves by
non-natives and non-muslims in the state. There was panic movement out
of the state mainly by Igbos. Simon Kpota, a businessman in Jalingo,
told Newswatch that he had already sent his wife and two children home
and was likely to follow soon. “It is in a situation like this that one
should remember the adage that says ‘prevention is better than cure’,”
he said.

A young woman who merely gave her name as Sarah was seen at the motor
park with what she said were her entire possession in Taraba. She said
she was heading back to Delta State where she comes from. Several such
movements continued throughout the week.

Things were so tense that the state house of assembly could not sit
February 22 due to what was described as “tense security situation in
the state.” Sam Adda, a member from Wukari II constituency, who moved
the motion for adjournment barely ten minutes after the house
commenced sitting, told Newswatch that there were several reports of
suspicious movements in the state capital. Adda said in such tense
atmosphere, it was better to err on the side of caution. The house had
to suspend its consideration of the 2000 appropriation bill on which
it was working.

The state police command was prompted to issue a statement in which it
said police authorities were aware of moves in certain quarters to
disturb the peace. The statement warned that the police would deal
“decisively with anybody or group which attempts to foment trouble and
endanger the peace and economic gains which had been recorded by the
Nyame administration.

The state government also commenced series of meetings aimed at
fore-stalling any crisis. Nyame ordered local government chairmen in
the state to beef up security in their respective areas, warning that
government would hold them responsible for any breach of the peace in
their domain. The state government also banned all forms of open air
preaching in the state till further notice.

Plateau State took similar measures last week when open air preaching
was banned. The secretary to the state government in press statement
said the measures was taken to forestal any breach of peace and
security.

Abuja, the nation’s seat of power, was not left out in the panic
measures taken by wary residents. For two days, Hamzat Ahmed, the FCT
commissioner of police, did not sleep in his house. He was denied his
necessary daily bath and change of uniform as he had to personally
supervise operational measures aimed at nipping any crisis in the bud.

Ahmed was overheard telling some of his friends that he had spent two
nights trying to persuade religious and political leaders in the
federal capital to prevent any outburst of tension. By Monday night,
Ahmed was said to have spent a large part of the night at the new
“Bakassi market” personally monitoring things. There had been rumours
that some fanatics were planning to spring up from the new market to
disturb the peace of the city.

By Tuesday morning, several parents refused to allow their wards to go
to school for fear that extremists would rupture peace in the towns.
There were rumours that Nyanya, a city some seven kilometres from the
city centre had actually been engulfed in flames Monday night and that
the police had killed a few fanatics. Africa Independent Television,
AIT, reported that police had confirmed that there were plans by some
hoodlums to disturb the peace of Abuja. Ahmed, however, debunked the
rumour. Said he: “The general public is hereby informed that there is
no truth in these rumours and it is just a false alarm by some
miscreants. Most of these rumours have been investigated and found to
be untrue. The FCT police command has put in place various security
measures to ensure public safety. Be rest assured that there is no
cause for panic as the rumours have been dispelled.” Ibrahim Bume,
minister of the FCT banned open air preaching in addition to the
increased security.

A panic in that city had left several people fleeing into the relative
safety of mountains. The police confirmed that rumour mongers tried
to exacerbate the situation and that calm had been restored. They also
confirmed that rumour mongers had tried to inflame Karmo and other
satellite towns but that the situation had been brought under control.

Residents of Karmo had, perhaps, taken a lesson or two from the
disturbance in Kaduna. Those who relied on the assurances offered them
by Stephen Shekari, deputy governor of the state, Tafa Balogun,
assistant inspector-general, AIG, in charge of the Zone 1 command and
Hausa Haminusi Isah, the Kaduna State police commissioner, returned to
their houses paid dearly with their lives. The mayhem spread faster
than they could imagine.

In Kachia, a town of about 100 kilometres to Kaduna, 65 persons were
killed in the mayhem that followed the one in Kaduna. Kafachan was
also engulfed in crisis. Zaria equally had its share of the violence.
Students of Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, in the town last week
abandoned their studies, leaving for home in anticipation of an
eruption of more violence. It was the same situation on the campuses
of the State Polytechnic and Federal college of education, FCE, also
in Zaria.

One of the ABU students told Newswatch that she and a few other male
students escaped being lynched after some Islamic fundamentalists
burnt down their fellowship centre. A reprisal war by Christians to
burn down a mosque was stopped by the school authorities. The student
told Newswatch that they had been living in perpetual fear since the
mayhem in Kaduna broke out.

By the time Obasanjo visited Kaduna last week, he met a town in ruins.
Obasanjo who was taken round by Shekari said the sight that confronted
him made him “speechless and I asked: how long have people been
planning this? Was it pre-planned or it was spontaneous? Was it the
work of hoodlums who hijacked what would have been a peaceful
demonstration?”

Obasanjo said he was miffed by the involvement of teenage boys in the
mayhem. He said something urgent needed to be done to strengthen moral
and religious training because “I don’t believe we have it right,
because if a boy of 14 to 15 years can take a cutlass and hack a man to
death, then something must be wrong.”

He added: “If we have a community that is so divided that at the
slightest provocation of ethnic and religious nature, we go on the
rampage, then something is wrong. And the strength of the country is
in its diversity… Confidence has been shattered . Trust has been
shattered. The earlier we worked to bring confidence and trust, the
better.”

Obasanjo was so troubled by the Kaduna mayhem that an emergency
meeting of the national council of states was called for Tuesday last
week. However, Obasanjo had mandated Atiku Abubakar , vice-president,
to hold a caucus meeting with the 19 northern states governors,
especially those that have introduced Sharia, in a bid to soften the
ground for the full NCS meeting.

Abubakar, according to Obasanjo’s expectation, was to use his
in-depth knowledge of Islam and his popularity among the Northern
State governors to settle the Sharia dispute amicably. The meeting was
scheduled for Monday.

It was attended by several state governors including Ahmed Sani,
Dalhatu Bafawara and Mohammed Kure, governors of Zamfara, Sokoto and
Niger States respectively. While Sani had started the implementation of
Sharia in Zamfara, Bafawara and Kure have scheduled May 29, and April
4, respectively for the take-off of the law in their states.
Noticeably absent from the meeting were Nyame and Bonnie Haruna of
Taraba and Adamawa States.

Abubakar did not have it easy at the meeting. Sani, spotting his now
legendary beard, stormed out of the venue a couple of times, sending
his colleagues and friends scampering after him. Newswatch gathered
that the Zamfara governor refused to heed to pleas that he should
stand down the implementation of the legal system. The meeting had
to be re-scheduled to continue on Tuesday when it dragged on late into
the night.

The continuation of the caucus meeting with Abubakar delayed the
commencement of the NCS meeting for one hour 30 minutes. The meeting
was originally scheduled for 10 a.m. Even at the full NCS meeting
which had Obasanjo, Abubakar, former heads of state and governors in
attendance, Sani still insisted on having his way. He reportedly
stormed out of the meeting thrice but was prevailed upon to return.

Events at the end of the meeting confirmed the division in the NCS.
While Abubakar told reporters that it had been resolved that all states
should withdraw the Sharia legal system, Sani told the Hausa service
of the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, in an interview that the
agreement was that all those who had not introduced the system yet,
should put it on hold while those who had should keep practising it.
Efforts by Newswatch last week to speak with Sani yielded no fruit as
he was shielded away by his aides. He did not even speak with state
house correspondents at the end of the meeting despite his presence at
the press briefing by Abubakar.

Abubakar told state house correspondents that the northern states
governors agreed to drop the Sharia legal system following the grim
picture painted of the crises across the country and the likelihood of
its degeneration . Abubakar said this informed the decision of the
NCS to restrict the operation of the religious laws to the panel code
which has been part of the customary law in the north since
independence.

Said Abubakar: “Particularly, Northern governors have agreed that this
is not a new issue because the penal code which is the operating law
in the northern states is substantially Sharia law. In order to
restore normalcy and create confidence among all communities , it was
therefore decided and agreed that as far as the Sharia issue is
concerned, we would return to the status quo ante.”

Obasanjo made a national broadcast Wednesday night on the Sharia
issue. “I enjoin all Nigerians to embark on the urgent task of
reconciliation and confidence building” he said . Doyin Okupe,
presidential spokesman, said that the decision of the NCS over the
issue was a “triumph of nationalism” above personal, group, religious
or ethnic interests. Okupe said that it has demonstrated Nigeria’s
capacity to bounce back and overcome any crisis.

Okupe said at the NSC meeting, everybody was allowed to say his mind
on the issue at stake. According to him, it was after everybody had
expressed his feelings that the decision to reverse Sharia law to the
status quo was taken in the interest of the nation.

But like Sani, there are those who are against the resolution of the
NCS, Usman Jubril, leader of the Ja’amat Nasril Islam, JNI, told the
BBC that as a muslim, he was not happy with the decision of the
council of states. He said that the president should have waited for
the tension to calm down” before taking the decision.

According to him, the decision “has created another problem.” That
means there could be a backlash from the muslim faithfuls. However,
Usman said that “we shall appeal to them to calm.” because of the
likely “serious repercussion.”

Rabiu Kwankwaso, governor of Kano State, has also rejected the decision
of the NCS. Kwankwaso in a broadcast made on his behalf by one of his
commissioners said the Sharia legal system in the state would only be
applicable to muslims. Shehu Shagari, Nigeria’s former president and a
member of the NCS who was absent at last week’s meeting, also berated
the decision of the NCS. He said it was an action that was taken in
favour of christianity. Shagari said the issue should not even have
been discussed by the NCS as it was not on the council’s agenda for the
meeting. But as it turned out, the Sharia debacle was the only issue
discussed at last week’s NCS meeting.

To forestal similar ugly situation in future the senate last week
asked Obasanjo to order Kanu Agabi, attorney-general and minister of
justice, to seek the constitutional interpretation of the legal
status of the Sharia from the supreme Court within seven days.

The senate said it had become imperative for Agabi “to determine the
constitutionality of Sharia or any other legal system having regards
to sections 323 of the constitution of Nigeria”. The resolution of the
house which was read by Chuba Okadigbo, president of the senate, said
the senate would approve the proclamation of emergency laws by
Obasanjo in any state where violence threatens the country’s
corporate existence.

Indeed, before the resolution by the senate, two law suits had been
filed against Obasanjo and Agabi. The suits were filed by Obinna
Obiaka and Olisa Agbakoba, both Lagos-based lawyers. Agbakoba in his
suit filed at the Gusau Division of the High Court in Zamfara State
wants the supreme court to be invited to make a pronouncement on the
constitutionality of the Sharia law. The law suit which was filed by
Agbakoba on behalf of Human Rights Service, HURILAWS has Agabi and the
attorney-general of Zamfara as defendants.

In its originating motion HURILAWS wants the supreme court to decide
whether the implementation and application of the establishment of
Sharia court laws in Zamfara State could not endanger the continued
existence of the country and whether any legislative house in Nigeria –
federal or state – or individual “has any competence, jurisdiction,
power, authority, right, privilege, jurisdiction or excuse to adopt any
religion as official or state religion” in the light of section 10 of
the constitution.

HURILAWS will also want the Supreme Court to decide whether the
adoption of Sharia by Zamfara State does not amount to adoption of a
state religion. The summon is supported by a 27-paragraph affidavit.

Obiaka is in court to challenge the failure of Obasanjo and Agabi in
seeking the interpretation of the provision of Sharia in the 1999
constitution and its adoption by some states. In an originating
motion, Obiaka is asking the Lagos High Court to compel Agabi to
take legal action against the states that have signed Sharia into law.

In a 13-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, Obiaka said the
adoption of Sharia by Zamfara was inconsistent with the federal
provisions. He said as much as it is the duty of Obasanjo and Agabi by
virtue of their oath of office to defend, protect and preserve the
constitution, Agabi should have immediately sought the legal
interpretation of the adoption of the Sharia legal system.

Many Nigerias see the resolution through the courts as a permanent
solution to the unending crisis. Lateef Adegbite, secretary-general of
the National Supreme Council for Islamic affairs, NSCIA, said that
those opposed to the introduction of the Sharia legal system should
seek redress in the court or the state houses of assembly. Adegbite
said this was a better and mature way of seeking justice instead of
resorting to violence.

Ibidapo Obe, former Supreme Court registrar is of the opinion that a
quick interpretation of the constitution will save the country from
further mayhem. Said Obe: “Had Mr. President been firmer when the
state of Zamfara signalled to introduce Sharia, peradventure these
sad killings in Kaduna State would never have happened. Afe Babalola,
an Ibadan-based lawyer also called for the legal interpretation of
the Sharia legal system.

For most part of last week, however, appeals were still being made to
the warring factions in the crisis to lay down their arms. Lam
Adesina, governor of Oyo State, said any religious war in the country
would endanger Nigeria’s nascent democracy. Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu,
Ikemba of Nnewi and ex-Biafran warlord, warned against the
encouragement of violence by some individuals. He said the violence
and wanton destruction of lives and property “has already taken the
lives of men, women and children..” He called for a stop to the madness.

A statement last week by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria,
CBCN, condemned the wanton loss of lives and property caused “by the
armed conflict unleashed in Kaduna State, the victims being mostly
innocent citizens.” The statement signed by John Onaiyekan, archbishop
of Abuja and vice-president of the CBCN, and Matthew Kukah, a reverend
father and secretary-general of the Catholic secretariat of Nigeria,
appealed for an end to the fighting.

There were also calls for the perpetrators of the dastardly act to be
brought to book. CAN said in a statement signed by Sunday Mbang,
president last week that Obasanjo must bring all those found culpable
in the crises to book. The National Association of Nigerian Students,
NANS, also called for appropriate punishment to be meted out to
perpetrators of the disturbances. Obasanjo and Abubakar promised last
week that all perpetrators of the atrocities would pay for their
crimes regardless of their station in the society.

Additional Reports by Ibrahim Modibbo, Tunde Asaju, Clarice Azutalam,
Emmanuel Ugwu, Fola Adekeye and Saa-Aondo Adzegeh.
---------------------

An Acid Test

The people of Ebonyi State are not happy that contract for the
reconstruction of Abakaliki-Afikpo federal road is given to a local
construction firm noted for executing shoddy jobs

By Emmanuel Ugwu

For decades, the Abakaliki-Afikpo federal road in Ebonyi State has been
a death trap and a source of distress for the people. Ebonyi citizens
jumped for joy when the federal government said recently it had awarded
a contract for the reconstruction of the 74-kilometre road. That joy is
now giving way to anxiety and disappointment.

Hapel Engineering Company Limited which won the contract is said to be
unfit to handle such a road project. Newswatch learnt that Hapel has a
history of doing shoddy jobs, hence the growing opposition to its
winning of the contract. Not only that, the construction company is
said to lack the equipment to handle such a big road project as the
Abakaliki-Afikpo road.

Newswatch learnt that immediately it was known that the
Abakaliki-Afikpo road was among the 14 federal roads slated for
construction this year, there were moves to ensure that “a reputable
and competent” construction firm handled the project. For instance,
the Catholic clergy in Abakaliki diocese sent representation to Sam
Egwu, Ebonyi State governor, urging him to prevail on the federal
government to give the road project to a competent firm.

The fear of the Catholic priests just like other concerned Ebonyians
was that it had taken so long for the federal government to listen to
the cries of the people and if the road is poorly handled, the people
of Ebonyi State will live to regret it. The priests were concerned
that the federal ministry of works and housing, FMWH, should be guided
by the recommendation from the state government where a road project is
sited in awarding the contract. Egwu, on his part, assured the priests
that his government would ensure that the Abakaliki-Afikpo road project
was handled by a construction firm that would do a good job.

At the federal level, pressure was also mounted on FMWH to understand
the importance of the Abakaliki-Afikpo road to the people of Ebonyi
State and treat it as such when awarding the contract. In a letter sent
to Tony Anenih, minister for works and housing, six members of the
house of representatives from Ebonyi State underlined the need for the
road to be handled by competent hands.

They stated that it would help to “avoid the ugly incidence of the past
where several contracts for rehabilitation of the same road were
awarded but never executed as a result of the award of the contracts to
incompetent firms.” The concerned law makers also urged the minister
to ensure that “a reputable and experienced firm was considered for the
contract giving the difficult terrain and topography of the area.”

The pleas of the Catholic priests, the federal legislators and other
concerned groups and individuals apparently fell on deaf ears. Hapel
got the job out of the seven construction firms including Strabag
Nigeria Limited and Fung-Tar Engineering company that bidded for the
contract. Hapel quoted N1,210,866,961.90 and completion time of 18
months. Strabag bidded for N2,199,693,935.95 and 24 months duration
for work whereas Fung-Tar said it would take N1,358,196,845.75 to do
the job in 20 months.

Other bidders included Elite Construction Company Limited which quoted
N1,447,703,607.74; FGN Okoye and Sons Nigeria Limited,
1,266,601,219.53; Enerco Nigeria Limited quoted N1,184,366,083.00 and
Energo Works Nigeria Limited, 1,172,572,450.10. Strabag, FunTar and
Elite were favoured in that order.

Ever since the contract was awarded to Hapel, a sense of betrayal has
pervaded Ebonyi State, especially among the people from the South and
Central senatorial districts who are the primary beneficiaries of the
road project. Emmanuel Oko Isu deputy governor of Ebonyi State has
been fingered as the person who “unduly influenced” the minister of
works to award the contract to Hapel.

Now Isu is an embattled man. He has been trying to explain his role in
the award of the contract to Hapel and the competence of the firm. But
Newswatch learnt that he is a director of Hapel and is said to have a
long standing relationship with Emmanuel Nwokoro, managing director of
the company. Protests have also trailed Isu and Hapel. Early February
this year, there was a big demonstration at Afikpo, the deputy
governor’s home town.

Agbi Onya Ojon, president of Afikpo Youth Organisation, AYO, which
organised the protest, said that Hapel had already demonstrated through
its slow pace of work on the road that it lacked the necessary
equipment and manpower to execute the project satisfactorily and on
schedule. Ojon pointed out that many jobs handled by Hapel were either
substandard or abandoned without completion.

Past jobs executed by Hapel have remained its albatross. Its critics
readily point to Eza and Ogoja roads in Abakaliki, the Ishiagu/Mile
Two-Okigwe road and others. Three years ago, Aba youths visited their
fury on a prominent traditional ruler burning his palace for supporting
the handling of Aba-Owerri road in Enyimba City by Hapel. Strabag was
said to have sub-contracted the road projects to Hapel but Aba youths
felt the latter was incompetent to do the job.

The heat on Hapel is borne out of what the people of the south-east
have experienced from indigenous construction firms. “It is a total
vote of no confidence on indigenous firms operating in this
geographical area,” said a lecturer in Ebonyi State University who
preferred anonymity. The don told Newswatch that the protests against
Hapel was a welcome development which would make it and others take
their jobs seriously. “The problems with them,” he said, “is that they
put their profit margins above their reputation and goodwill of the
people.” According to the university teacher, some of the indigenous
firms do resort to under-bidding for a contract just to get it only to
discover that the quoted amount would not enable them do a good job and
make profits. “At the end, profit consideration takes over and the
result is poor job or outright abandonment of the project,” he said.

Aware of the dust it has raised over the Abakaliki-Afikpo road project,
Hapel has assured that it would perform well. Nwachukwu Nwokoro, the
commercial manager of the company, said in Abakaliki that Hapel has
recognised that the road means a lot to the people and would build it
to meet all specifications to ensure durability. Having attracted a lot
of criticism and doubts over its competence Hapel is now facing a big
challenge. It is left for the company to prove its critics wrong using
the Abakaliki-Afikpo federal road as a case point.

-----------------------

Echoes of the Wild, Wild West
Political intrigues in Oyo State House of Assembly divide the members
into two irreconcilable camps

By Olu Ojewale

The unfolding drama over the alleged N6.5 million fraud involving some
members of the Oyo State legislature, continues this Wednesday, March
8. The accused persons, including Asimiyu Alarape, speaker of the
house; Adebayo Amao, chief whip and Olaogun Adelowo, chairman,
parliamentary council, are expected to appear for the second time
before an Ibadan magistrate’s court in connection with the case. They
are to appear with 11 others including bank officials suspected to be
connected with the case.

Taofeek Olufemi Adeleke, majority leader of the house, and some bank
officials were still at large at press time. They were also said to be
involved in the fraud. Kehinde Ayoola, former speaker of the house and
Mojeed Olaoye, a member representing Ibadan northwest as well as some
civil servants, were said to be among the people who have made some
useful statements to the police on the fraud.

At the resumed hearing, the police are expected to throw more light on
the allegation and give the result of findings of the handwriting
experts studying the signatures presented to the banks as against those
of the accused. Alarape, Amao and Adelowo had told Uzoma Akinrinade,
the magistrate, at the first hearing, February 23, that they knew
nothing about the two fictitious accounts through which the money was
siphoned. They also claimed that their signatures were forged.

Nevertheless, the allegation continued to haunt both the executive and
the state legislature, throughout last week. Like a double edged sword,
it has succeeded in dividing the house and brought some members on a
collision course with the state government.

Last Tuesday, the house proceeding was held under a very tense
atmosphere. Prior to the commencement of the proceeding, the mood in
the premises of the house was palpable. All the visitors coming in were
subjected to unusual security checks. They were questioned, screened
and frisked for dangerous weapons. Even the private gate leading from
the governor’s office to the assembly hall, was locked and manned by a
security man whose duties included ensuring that no undesirable element
gained access to the premises.

The speaker himself hired seven bouncers to protect him. He also hired
the services of some policemen to provide security for other members.
By the time the assembly went into session at 10.40 a.m., there was no
serious incident. But at the floor of the house, it was another ball
game. Within minutes of the proceeding, Akinbolanle Akinteye, a member
of the house, got up, and reviewed the events of the previous week in
which Alarape and other key officials of the house were arrested.

He said the incident was humiliating, embarrassing and unwarranted
“because the allegations against the three leaders are nothing but
fabrications”. Akinteye said despite their ordeal, the three members
had conducted themselves in an honourable manner. He alleged that while
officials of the banks were enjoying their freedom wining and dining
with their wives and relations, the three members were languishing in
detention. As if that was not bad enough, he said, the official police
escort and other privileges attached to them had been withdrawn by the
government.

That notwithstanding he said, they had remained resolute. Akinteye
therafter, moved a motion to reaffirm the confidence of the house on
the three officers. The motion was supported by Bayo Fawole. Said he:
“I am in full support of that motion that the house re-affirms its
confidence in the three leaders”.

Muili Popoola, a representative of Ibadan North-East, made a feeble
attempt to counter the motion by saying that the move was
unconstitutional. He quoted Section 109 sub-section (b) and Section 66
(H) of the 1999 constitution to buttress his argument. Lekan Oladepo,
another member countered, saying there was nothing in the quoted
sections to say that the house could not go ahead with the motion.

Eventually, the motion was passed. Thereafter, the house adjourned
sitting until March 23. But while Olusegun Adebayo-Alata was addressing
the house, Mojeed Adekunle Olaoya and Olusegun Oyetunji, members from
Ibadan local government areas, hurriedly walked in.

Olaoya had hardly taken his seat when he started saying: “Mr. Speaker,
sir, information”. Alarape replied saying: “You just walked in and you
don’t even know what we are discussing. Why don’t you wait for a while
and allow us to listen to Honourable Adebayo-Alata. I will call you
when he has finished”. But Olaoya insisted that he must be heard.

The altercation between Olaoya and Alarape lasted for about 25 minutes,
during which the speaker asked Olaoya to walk out. When he refused, he
ordered the sergeant-at-arms to lead him out. Olaoya again resisted.
“March him out”, Alarape again ordered, and immediately four of the
fierce-looking bouncers who had escorted the speaker in, moved in to
carry him out.

But he again resisted and shouted: “You ordered thugs to carry me out.
I will like that very much. Press, I hope you are looking at what is
happening.” The sergeant-at-arms, the clerk and some of Olaoya’s
supporters formed a ring round him to prevent the bouncers from taking
him out. Olaoya charged: “If I am to leave this House, we are going to
leave together. He has no right to walk me out. He cannot walk me out
like that… I am performing my civic duty and this is a democratic
set-up, he cannot be autocratic…”

The show-down was apparently embarrassing to some of the members who
immediately made entreaties to the two gladiators. The speaker then had
a change of heart. But it was apparent that he would not allow Olaoya
to have a last laugh. Shortly after, Alarape allowed Adebayo-Alata to
continue his address. The legislator recounted how some Ibadan
Polytechnic students stormed and disrupted the proceeding of the House
February 21 and drove away with the speaker’s car; the arrest of
Alarape, Amao and Adelowo the following day as well as their
appearance before a magistrate’s court February 23, “for an offence
they did not commit, while the main culprit is still walking about a
free man”.

The legislator said he had conducted an investigation into the
students’ action and discovered that they were sponsored and incited
by Olaoya, who was once a student leader at Ibadan Polytechnic. He
charged that Olaoya’s attitude on the floor of the House that morning
was not honourable because he defied a constitutional order of the
speaker. He asked rhetorically: “How long shall we continue to condone
this kind of unruly behaviour?”

Adebayo-Alata then suggested that a committee be set up to investigate
Olaoya’s connection with the students’ action and report to the House
later. In the interim, he moved a motion that Olaoya be suspended
forwith until the case was properly investigated. “The house can no
longer condone his uncultured attitude and uncivilised behaviour”,
said the legislator. He also appealed to the state government to come
to the aid of the legislators in resolving the crisis engulfing the
house. The motion was endorsed by other members. Alarape, in his
ruling, said that in view of what happened that morning and other
allegations against Olaoya, he had decided to invoke Section 41
sub-section (3), to suspend Olaoya. But Olaoya remained defiant. He
told Newswatch that he was never suspended. “Alarape has no
constitutional right to preside over the proceeding of the House.
Section 109 sub-section 1(b) and section 66 (H) of 1999 say he has lost
his seat because he has a criminal charge against him. He is not fit to
sit and preside. He is banned by the constitution,” Olaoya argued. He
promised to go back to the House when it reconvenes March 23. “I will
come back to the floor of the House, the ban is a ruse and of no
effect”, he argued.

Indeed, the battle line has been drawn. The house is divided but not on
equal basis. The Alarape group has 23 members called G23. The group
which Olaoya and Ayoola belong has nine members. It is called G9.
Observers say the current crisis could be traced to the removal of
Ayoola as speaker of the house, November 24, 1999. The campaign of
Ayoola’s removal was said to have been led by Adeleke. Both Ayoola and
Adeleke are regarded as political sons of Lam Adesina, the state
governor.

But when Ayoola was removed as speaker, Adesina was said to have been
very disappointed by Adeleke’s role in the crisis. The former speaker
had been accused among others, of incompetence, high-handedness and
pro-executive tendencies. This was said to have angered both the
executive and members of G9 who started a move to replace Adeleke
with Olaoya. Newswatch learnt that they were already compiling a
dossier on the illegal activities of the majority leader before the
fraud scandal. Perhaps in order to envoke some sympathy, two weeks
after Ayoola lost his post, information was circulated alleging that
Brimo Yusuf, a senator from Oyo north, Kolapo Ishola, former Oyo State
governor and Alaafin of Oyo were behind his removal. But the G23
insisted that he was only being selfish and sentimental.

Another information indicated that the removal of Ayoola was caused by
a disagreement between Bola Ige, minister of Mines, Power and Steel and
Adesina. Newswatch could not confirm either of the two allegations.
That notwithstanding, there was an attempt to return Ayoola as speaker
early last month. Olaoya brought a motion proposing that Ayoola’s
impeachment be converted to resignation. But the motion was defeated
and outrightly rejected. Lekan Oladepo, a lawyer and legislator, was
said to have told the house that the action would be unconstitutional
and unheard of in the history of democracy anywhere in the world.

When that failed, the executive was said to have found another avenue
to re-instate Ayoola when the fraud was discovered in January.
Newswatch learnt the lid on the scam blew open when a staff of the
University of Ibadan came to the state ministry of finance to obtain a
tax clearance certificate. The accountant who noted that the
institution had not been remitting its pay-as-you-earn tax deduction,
told the UI official so. On inquiries, it was discovered that the
cheques forwarded by the institution were intercepted and deposited
into Wema Bank Plc, Sango branch and Standard Trust Bank Plc, dugbe,
illegally . Cheques from the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic
research, NISER were equally traced to the illegal accounts.

At the time the alarm blew, more that N4.2 million had been deposited
into the Wema account but only a balance of about N48,000 was left in
the account. As much as N2.4 million had been deposited into the
Standard Trust Bank, but what was left was a balance of about N900. The
total amount of money stolen through the two accounts was put at
N6,573,760.33. Newswatch learnt that government decided not to release
the information on the scam immediately because the House was still
debating the state budget and did not want the scandal to delay it.
But the arrest of Alarape and his associates for the fraud was said to
have a political motive. Some people who spoke with Newswatch on
ground of anonymity in Ibadan last week, believed that the executive
was trying to scheme out Alarape to pave the way for the return of
Ayoola as the speaker.

According to the analysis presented to Newswatch, the post of the
speaker was originally zoned to Oyo. Alarape is from Atiba an area in
Oyo, while Ayoola represents Oyo east and Oyo west local government
areas. Therefore, if Alarape is removed, the only person who can
occupy the post according to the political arrangement, is Ayoola.

The G23 perhaps realising the game-plan decided that Alarape should not
step aside, resign or be removed from office. Olawale Ojo, deputy
speaker, also wants Alarape to stay. He argued that while President
Bill Clinton of the United States, was being investigated for criminal
offences, he was not asked to step down. He similarly made reference to
Bola Tinubu, governor of Lagos State, who was also investigated for
criminal activities, but the house did not ask him to step down. Based
on the wide-spread belief that Adesina has a hand in the crisis,
Newswatch learnt that the G23 is now compiling a dossier on the
governor himself for a possible impeachment. An unconfirmed report
said that the governor has erected a mansion behind his living
residence at Felele area of Ibadan. The mansion was said to have been
completed within three months. The governor was also accused of paying
the polytechnic students who disrupted the house proceeding February 21
more than N20,000 for their service. Adesina could not be reached for
comments last week.

A government official who refused to give his name, referred Newswatch
to a press statement issued by Kenny Olaosebikan, the governor’s
spokesman, February 24, in which Adesina denied having any link with
the crisis. The statement said in part: “This administration believes
in the due process of the law and the law should take its full and
normal course no matter how high-ranking the individual involved might
be in the society.”

Jibola Olanipekun, counsel for the accused legislators, told Newswatch
that a criminal case of that nature was not properly investigated
before it was taken to court. He noted that Mike Okuo, Oyo State
police commissioner, sent the specimen signatures of the accused to
handwriting experts at Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID,
for analysis, only after the arraignment. “It is obvious they did not
get the DPP’s or attorney-general’s advice before taking the case to
court, said Olanipekun. He insisted that his clients have no case to
answer. The lawyer did not rule out political insinuation in the case,
but warned that it was going too far. Whatever the case may be, the
drama seems to be unfolding.

---------------------

Who’s Senior?

At the inception of the Obasanjo administration it was evident that
there would be more ministers than ministries because after the
elections there must be “jobs for the boys” and the girls too.
President Shehu Shagari faced this problem in 1979. The way out, he
reckoned, was to introduce into Nigeria’s political lexicon such
designations as minister for, minister of, minister to … People made
bar room jokes of it but at least the boys had the jobs – and a full
stomach.

President Obasanjo resolved this dilemma by creating the posts of
minister and minister of state. The government envisaging that there
might be role-conflict decided to parcel out functions to the two
ministers in such ministries. But of course there can be no neat
separation of functions. Where they overlap there have been frictions.
Do the designation minister and minister of state denote seniority and
juniority? Some of the ministers think so but some of the ministers of
state say since functions are assigned to each minister, and since each
minister represents his own state in the cabinet, there is no pecking
order, a minister is a minister.

One of the ministers of state we learn travelled recently to South
Africa for business negotiations. A few weeks later a South African
delegation arrived in Nigeria and during the negotiation the minister
seemed at sea when the South Africans said: “but we had agreed on this
during the minister of state’s visit to our country.” The minister was
apparently not aware that the minister of state was in South Africa, a
case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing.

A few tiffs which came just short of exchange of fists have occurred
between some ministers and ministers of state and Obasanjo has had to
separate the warring ministers. We will spare them the embarrassment
for now by not naming them in the hope that they will not “dance naked
in the market place again”.

Adamu Ciroma

Our sympathy goes out to Adamu Ciroma, Minister of Finance who was
involved in a very serious accident recently. Ciroma, our source says,
has just come out of a coma but his condition is still critical.
Ciroma, even when he fully recovers is unlikely to return to the
cabinet. He was, we are informed, about resigning as a follow-up to his
disagreement with the party over the rigged PDP elections conducted in
Abuja a few months ago. Ciroma was a staunch supporter of Sunday
Awoniyi’s chairmanship candidacy in that election. We learn Ciroma and
Co. were so disenchanted with the handling of the crisis by the party
that there is serious talk of forming their own party. Ciroma, Awoniyi,
Bamanga Tukur and the rump of the APP is likely to be involved. As
events unfold we shall keep you posted.

Meanwhile, we learn the president is shopping around for a replacement
of Ciroma as finance minister. A name that has featured prominently is
Ebitimi Banigo, the minister of science & technology. Banigo, ex-IMB,
ex-All States Trust Bank chief is cerebral, cerebral, cerebral. In the
banking industry his colleagues acknowledge that he is a whizz-kid. If
other names come up you will be the first to know. Again, Eze Igbo

The Igbos are continuing the search for the leader, the Igbo leader.
Obviously, the Igbos are not short of men of stature, men such as Alex
Ekwueme, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chuba Okadigbo, Chukwuemeka Ezeife,
Prof. Nwabueze, Ebitu Ukiwe, Senator Jim Nwobodo, Ogbonnaya Onu,
Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Evan Enwerem, Ndubuisi Kanu, etc.

However, since Nnamdi Azikiwe died a few years ago, the vacuum has been
there. There has not emerged one leader generally accepted by the Igbos
as their leader. Yes, Ekwueme was vice-president to President Shehu
Shagari; yes, Ebitu Ukiwe was No. 2 man to President Ibrahim Babangida;
yes, Ojukwu had been the leader of the Igbos while Biafra lasted; yes,
as No. 3 man Enwerem was looked up to by the Igbos for leadership until
he was shocked out of the coveted seat. Yes, Iwuanyanwu, Onu, Nwobodo,
Ezeife, have aspired to the presidency but never breasted the tape.

Now, we learn, there is a silent war between Ekwueme and Okadigbo, the
senate president for the vacant throne. Ekwueme had been No. 2 but he
is holding down no government office now. From that corner it is all
quiet. Okadigbo is No.3 and lapping it up in style. He is busy talking
and busy showing his biceps to President Obasanjo. We learn, by the
way, that Okadigbo and Obasanjo had a frank talk the other day at the
villa. Each laid charges against the other but they eventually made up.

As we were saying, Okadigbo and Ekwueme are locked in combat for Igbo
leadership. We will see how they square up. Each one of them has a
godfather in the North. Ekwueme looks up to the Shagari (Turaki) group
while Okadigbo is entrenched in the Yar’Adua group of which
Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is the point-man.

So who’ll be the authentic Eze-Igbo, not the Ojukwu version, mark you.

The Bell Tolls

There will be a cabinet shuffle more likely as a first anniversary
shocker. Some of those who will kiss the dust think they are doing a
good job or they are very chummy chummy with President Obasanjo. But
they might be shocked. The president is said to be very disappointed
with some of the ministers who are either not performing or are
harassing their parastatals for “pocket money.” One of the ministers
whose head may roll has already had one of his public functions
assigned from time to time to other people because each time the man
performs that role he “wobbles and fumbles”(apologies to Fany Amun) and
the president can’t seem to bear the embarrassment.

And talking about ministers and their parastatals, one of them
reportedly collected $250,000 “pocket money” from the head of one of
the parastatals and it wasn’t long after that the guy was chucked out.
The hapless fellow is now raising shirted hell. Poor fellow!

-----------------

A Costly Misadventure

Bassey Ekpo Bassey, a prominent Efik son, advises Governor Donald Duke
of Cross River State to stop his “ misadventure” of laying claim to
parts of Akwa Ibom territory

By Obong Akpaekong

ross River and Akwa Ibom States are still at war over the ownership of
Effiat West fishing settlement, near Bakassi Peninsular. Two weeks ago,
Effiong Johnson, chairman of Mbo local government area in Akwa Ibom
State, in whose territory Effiat West was known to belong before its
purported ceding to Cross River by Vice president Atiku Abubakar,
insisted that the settlement was still in Mbo council area. He warned
that his people would resist every attempt to deprive them of the
area.

His words: “The government and people of Cross River State are advised
in their own interest to desist from acts inimical to the peaceful
co-existence of the two states as Mbo local government area and Akwa
Ibom State government as a whole, will not fold their hands to see
part of their land being excised, or their citizens being intimidated
and killed.”

Since the purported ceding of Effiat West to Cross River State in
December 1999 by Abubakar who is also chairman of the National
Boundaries Commission, many people have supported either of the two
states claiming ownership of the fishing settlement. People from Cross
River State have argued that Effiat West belongs to them while Akwa
Ibom people said it belongs to their state.

But last week, Bassey Ekpo Bassey, a prominent Efik son and former
chairman of Calabar municipal council, became the first Cross River
indigene to openly declare Effiat West as belonging to Akwa Ibom.
Bassey who addressed a press conference in Calabar February 22, said as
a political leader, he did not deem it proper to tag along with Donald
Duke, the state governor, on a “misadventure” of claiming an Akwa Ibom
territory or be silent about it for fear of being considered
unpatriotic to Cross River's interest.

Bassey traced Cross River’s claim of Effiat West to a letter Abubakar
wrote to Duke and Victor Attah, his Akwa Ibom counterpart referenced
SH/VP/SEC/35 and dated December 10, 1999 in which the vice president
attempted to define the composition of Bakassi local government in
Cross River State as well as set the border between the two states.

Bassey said in the process, Abubakar ended up awarding “Tom Shot
Island or Effiat West” to Cross River State. Bassey said, however,
that “because the area in question comprising 16 villages from James
Town, is in Akwa Ibom State, what the vice president attempted to do in
his letter was carry out a boundary adjustment”. He said section 8 of
the 1999 constitution had made the vice president’s boundary adjustment
of no effect, since such action could only be carried out by both the
National Assembly and the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the
local government council where Effiat West belonged.

Bassey said that it was wrong for Abubakar to believe that Effiat West
should be in Cross River because the people are Efik-speaking, pointing
out that there were other members of the Efik nation including Ikot
Offiong, Obot Itu and Atabong found in Akwa Ibom State.

He quoted K.K. Nair’s book, Politics and Society, in old Calabar, 1999
in his geneology of the Efik, which listed Efik descendants who founded
various Efik settlements as Eburutu, Mbang, Ukpang, Okpoto and Abatim.
Bassey who described the Efik as cousins of the Ibibio and Annang in
Akwa Ibom, said there have been Efik settlements in all of the then
Calabar, Ikot Ekpene, Opobo, Eket, Eniong, Itu and Uyo divisions,
arguing that political divisions should not always be based on strict
ethnic basis. Bassey had linked Duke’s interest in Effiat West to the
Niger Delta Development Agency, NDDA.

Earlier, Johnson had lamented that in spite of the well-known
geography of Bakassi Peninsula which, he said, covered the amphibious
territory between River Yafe, known locally as “Akpa Ikang” and the
right bank of Rio del Rey, “Akpa Usakedit,” Abubakar had attempted to
put Effiat West in Bakassi. Johnson argued that the boundary of Bakassi
was well-known to the federal government which had submitted its map to
the international court in The Hagues, Netherlands, where it is
disputing Cameroon’s claims of the area.

Johnson, however, traced the history of Effiat West to one Ayo Uyo
Ntekim of Idua Oron but argued that Effiat West people were not Efik.
“How can Effiat be Efik? While Effiat worship deities such as
Atabrinyang, Oboyeme and Akpangabasi, the Efik are identified with
Ekpenyonanwan, Ekanemanwan, and Anansa. While the Efik take dog meat as
a national delicacy, it is an abomination to ever rear dogs in Effiat.
We are not Efik, they are Efik Eburutu, we are Effiat Ikpoto, we are
Oron,” he explained.

In his geneology, Bassey had said that Okopto, an Efik descendant,
founded Effiat while Ukpabang founded Oron. Although Abubakar had
referred to Effiak West as Tom Shot Island, Johnson said they are two
different places. He said Tom Shot Island, once called Ute Nkoyo Osso,
used to be one of the villages in Effiat West but was no more in
existence, having been submerged by the sea. “… if what Vice president
Abubakar allegedly ceded to Cross River State was Tom Shot Island, it
is a pity, Tom Shot Island no more exists,” Johnson noted.

--------------------

All Set

By April this year, universal banking will commence in the country

By Salif Atojoko

Universal banking, a process whereby a licensed bank is free to engage
in commercial or merchant banking will kick-off in April. Joseph
Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said at the
workshop organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria
CIBN, in Lagos recently that universal banking would help kick-start
the economy.

When the system becomes operational, banks will be able to offer
non-banking services such as issuing house business, underwriting
capital issues and clearing house activities thereby bringing dynamism
into the sector. Sanusi said this would harmonise activities of
regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC,
National Insurance Commission, Corporate Affairs Commission and CBN’s
Financial Service Regulation Co-ordination Committee, FSRCC.

One of the perceived benefits of universal banking is the emergence of
big banking groups and financial conglomerates offering financial and
non-financial services as obtained in other countries. Sanusi said,
however, that banks would still be required to determine the segment
of the market they would like to operate in.

Earlier in the year, CBN had approved universal banking in its monetary
policy guideline for the year 2000. The approval which was granted in
principle came after a review of the operational environment and the
satisfaction of CBN that the system had become a global phenomenon with
the advent of trade liberalisation. But the modalities for the system
were not immediately released, prompting financial experts to call for
a time-table for the take-off of the scheme.

For instance, Tony Okpanachi, manager, corporate finance, Allstates
Trust Bank Plc, told Newswatch when the announcement was first made
that the CBN should act promptly by releasing the modalities for
universal banking to avoid further confusion in the industry.

CBN has moved to douse the fears within financial circles. At the last
Bankers’ Committee meeting, a forum where banks’ managing directors and
top officials of CBN parley over policy issues, it was agreed that a
committee should be set up to work out the guidelines for the
implementation of universal banking. Sanusi, however, warned that the
success of universal banking depended on a stable macro-economic
environment. He said such an environment existed in Nigeria presently,
prompting the approval of the system.

Certain basic issues, apart from a stable macro-economic environment,
must also be in place to strengthen the system. According to Sanusi,
there is the need for good sense of responsibility and transparency
among the supervising authorities and adoption of a high ethical code
of conduct through self regulatory organisations. Others are a decision
on whether banks can render insurance services; which of the banks
should participate in the clearing house? And whether banks should be
allowed to invest in subsidiary companies.

Luke Okafor, president of CIBN said the organisation had on several
occasions advocated universal banking for Nigeria. He said CBN
reached that conclusion on the basis of informed opinion and through
policies sub-committee of the Bankers’ Committee. “The important issue
about the adoption of universal banking is the fact that the
statutory separation between commercial and merchant banking activities
will be dismantled”, said Okafor. He said the differences between banks
in terms of functions and activities would exist only as a matter of
degree rather than by reason of regulatory barriers.

---------------

Unclaimed Containers

More than 4000 containers which came into Nigerian ports without clean
reports of inspection are yet to be cleared several weeks after their
arrival

By Stephen Ubanna

With barely one week to the expiration of the 30-day concession granted
importers of goods without clean reports of inspection, CRI, to clear
them, not one container has been released. The non-CRI goods were
imported under the previous fiscal policy of destination inspection.
The policy was abrogated by President Olusegun Obasanjo last September
and replaced with pre-shipment inspection agencies, PIA. Newswatch
learnt that over 4,000 containers came into the ports without CRI.

The five-man committee set up by Ahmed Mustapha, comptroller-general of
the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, to handle the exercise is already
having problems. When Newswatch visited the committee at Tin Can
Island port, February 25, members were found to be idle. There were no
importers or agents to attend to.

The preshipment inspection firms which ought to cooperate with the
committee are not willing to do so. The PIA’s grouse against the NCS
was that they were taken unawares. They claimed that they have not
received any directive from the ministry of finance as to the level of
their involvement in the exercise. Newswatch learnt that all the
applications sent to the PIAs for confirmation have not been returned.
A source close to Buba Hamidu, a comptroller and chairman of the
committee, said he was not happy at the response of the PIAs. Newswatch
learnt that the committee might ask for extension of time.

Innua Mohammed, managing director, Jafana Ventures Nigeria Limited, and
chairman, customs/agents relations committee of the Association of
Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, told Newswatch last week that
the association might request for an extension of time because the
committee was yet to begin serious work. He blamed the lackadaisical
attitude of the PIAs to lack of communication between them and the
Nigerian Customs Service. Mohammed pleaded with the government to
intervene to ensure that the opportunity offered importers to clear
their goods was not wasted.

A senior customs personnel who spoke on condition of anonymity said:
“If the PIAs can change their hardline position on the matter, the NCS
have adequate manpower to cope with the volume of work.” He said
however that the importers had not helped matters as they were not
coming forward with their applications. He warned that any importer
who fails to utilise the opportunity might forfeit his goods to the
government.

Since last year, importers with their clearing agents have piled up
pressure on the government to allow the NCS personnel inspect and
assess the goods. It was, therefore, a relief when Adamu Ciroma,
minister of finance, said the government has granted the request.

Under the guidelines released for clearing of the non-CRI goods, all
affected importers are required to apply to the customs committee in
the port of destination of their goods with details of their non-CRI
importation. On its part, the committee will dispatch the application
to the relevant pre-shipment inspection agency for necessary action.
There are four pre-shipment inspection firms contracted by the
government to handle pre-shipment inspection of imports. Among them
are Societe-Generale de survelliance, Cotecna, Swede Control/Intertek.
The relevant PIA, if satisfied, would then issue a certificate of
clearance to the committee that the goods were not pre-inspected by
them.

The guidelines further said that upon receipt of the certificate of
clearance from the PIA and other import documents by the committee,
the container should be positioned by the owner or agent for
examination. It said that the examination should be conducted by the
committee in the presence of government approved security operatives
who will jointly endorse the examination result sheet.

It went on: “A duty assessment of the goods in five copies should be
jointly determined by the PIA, and the resident valuation officer. The
PIA agent and the customs valuation officer, will sign the duty
assessment sheet which must be counter-signed by the NCS committee
chairman.”

The duty assessment sheet informs the importer or agent to go to any of
the designated banks to pay the stated duties and charges. Once the
importer scales through these hurdles, the next stage is to commence
the clearing process at the customs processing centre, CPC. The
documentation ranges from the completed customs duty assessment, CDA,
form; Form M; bill of entry/airway bill; packing list; insurance
certificate to certificate of payment schedule.

The guidelines were silent on whether importers would be charged flat
rates or at the discretion of the committee to fix their charges. In
1998,when importers had a similar problem, importers were charged flat
rates. Importers of 20-feet containers were made to payN750,000 each
while 40-feet container attracted N1 million. Perhaps, the committee
may adopt the same flat rate to fasten their job.

The guidelines came on the heels of new export incentives approved, for
exporters by the government. It also approved the use of
negotiable-duty credit in lieu of cash to settle claims of
beneficiaries under the new manufacturers-in-bond-scheme, NMIBS. It
cancelled the 10 percent fee charged exporters by the Nigerian Export
Promotion Council, NEPC, on beneficiaries of NMIBS. It increased the
grant given to exporters from four percent to 10 percent of their
annual export turnover.

The incentives were contained in the guidelines for implementation of
the 200 budget fiscal policy measures and tariff amendments by Ciroma,
January 25. Other far-reaching measures in the guidelines were the
zero duty concession on plants, machinery and spare parts to local
cement manufacturers. The government stated that cement can no longer
be imported in bagged form but in bulk. Perhaps, this may force down
the price of cement which currently sells at N650.000 per bag.

----------------------

We Won’t Bear Arms

Danyaro Yakassai, the immediate past corps marshal and chief executive
of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, was born in Kano municipal,
Kano State in 1954. He attended the Nigerian Military School, Zaria,
and the School of Management Studies, Kano. He holds a bachelor of
science degree in office administration from Kent State University,
Kent, Ohio USA and a post graduate diploma in development
administration from the Institute of Secretarial Training and
Management, New Delhi, India. He worked in the Government House Kano,
Kano Institute for Higher Education and Kano State College of
Education, Gumel. Yakasai is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of
Administration, Institute of Transport and Institute of Management
Consultants. He spoke to Ibrahim Modibbo our Abuja bureau chief.

Newswatch: How do you assess the FRSC at 10? Has it achieved the
purpose for which it was intended?

Yakasai: The organisation has achieved much within the period of 10
years. Apart from our enviable drive in reducing road accidents and
carnage on our highways, the commission in conjunction with the joint
tax board has improved our economy. The uniform licensing scheme is one
of such revenue-yielding apparatuses. The national drivers’ licences,
the vehicle number plate and other aspect of licensing contribute
greatly to our economy. One major thing is our speed limit control,
which we were able to control. We also revised our highway code to face
the challenges of the modern times. We also introduced mass education
for our road users which to a large extent has succeeded in making our
job easier. All I can say is that the commission has succeeded in most
departments of human endeavour, bearing in mind the limited resources
at our disposal. The awareness in road safety which we have created is
not only limited to Nigeria, it has spread throughout. We have become a
role model in Africa today. Nigeria is the leading country in road
safety.

Newswatch: You talked about this uniform licensing scheme. Are you
satisfied with everything about the scheme?

Yakasai: A uniform licensing scheme is like an organic kind of scheme.
This is a scheme which has room for changes and modification, year in,
year out. Within the confines of our operational base, I think we have
achieved much towards this direction. If you go to our roads now, you
will find out that majority of Nigerians have the new vehicle licensing
and that has gone a long way in showing how Nigerians welcome the
scheme.

Newswatch: How have Nigerians responded to the new drivers’ licence?

Yakasai: Nigerians have accepted the scheme with enthusiasm. Our survey
indicates that only about 10-15% of Nigerian drivers have not complied
with the new scheme. It is only the vehicle plate numbers that a
sizeable number of Nigerians have not completely complied with, but as
for the drivers’ licence, we have succeeded.

Newswatch: As a pioneering staff of the FRSC what do you consider to be
its major problems and prospects?

Yakasai: When you think of problems of an organisation, you think of
money. Although government is doing everything possible to assist the
organisation, still the resources cannot be said to be adequate. There
is the need for a lot of investments to be made towards the prevention
of road accidents on our highways. Although we know that there are
other areas that need government attention, we still need to be
considered when resources are allocated. However, we are grateful to
the government for all its support and we hope that more resources
would be allocated to us to take care of our problems and prospects.
The bottom line of all our problems as I said is money. We need it to
purchase towing vans, ambulances, patrol vehicles, mobile clinics and
health areas along our highways. All these are capital-intensive
projects. We also need driving school standardisation, an exercise
that would require certain machines to train and standardise our
driving schools. We also need offices all over the country. At the
moment, some of our officers are using political party offices for
their office accommodation, and most of these offices were vandalised.
So, for us to have a habitable office accommodation, some of the
facilities need to be rehabilitated. In some areas of the country, we
had to rent offices for our staff and this is gulping most of our
income. The commission also has the problem of training school for our
officers. We don’t have one at the moment and we need it badly. It
may interest you to note that earlier than now, we have been using
military training school and soon we have to contend with using the
police training school. I want to use this forum to appeal to
non-governmental organisations to assist the government toward this
direction. In countries like Togo and those around us, insurance and
oil companies do sponsor road safety activities but here in Nigeria, I
am surprised that insurance companies could not buy even one ambulance
to assist the road safety commission. We have approached some
insurance and oil companies for assistance and hopefully, they may
assist us in due course.

Newswatch: In terms of staffing, logistics and other operational
guidelines; how have you been able to cover the country?

Yakasai: As far as staffing is concerned, I think we have covered the
country up to 60% of the total number of officers required. With the
lifting of embargo on employment, I hope we would be able to recruit
more officers to meet the challenges of the new millennium. We have
about 6000 staff around the country, covering 89 commands. The
breakdown of this number shows that we have 8 zonal commands, 37 sector
commands while the remaining are unit commands.

Newswatch: Frequent cases of road accidents on our highways led to the
establishment of the Road Safety Corps. Have you been able to reduce
accidents on our roads?

Yakasai: We have every reason to be happy that road accidents on our
highways have been drastically reduced. If we are to look at it in
terms of percentages, I would say that accidents were reduced from 100%
when the FRSC was established to about 35% now. We hope to reduce it
further. We have introduced more patrol strategies and with the
vehicles we are now putting on our roads, I am sure we shall have
adequate coverage of our country.

Newswatch: There has been this controversy over the merger of FRSC with
the police. What is the situation at the moment?

Yakasai: I think the situation then was a kind of personality conflict
rather than a conflict between the two organisations. I don’t know what
it was but I suspect something somewhere might have been the cause of
that conflict, and unfortunately our former boss did not handle the
matter properly. In reality, he did his best but when it came to
dialoging and diplomacy, I think he was misled. I think some of our
colleagues may have misled him by giving him wrong advice. He would
have listened to some of us and if he had had the scope to accommodate
views like our own, the matter wouldn’t have degenerated to the level
it did. We have had this issue of merger from the inception of the
commission. The issue of merger first came up in 1989 during the
tenure of Wole Soyinka as head of the FRSC. Soyinka, then engaged the
then head of state in a constructive dialogue and he also allowed
meaningful discussions on the matter with the Inspector General of
Police and other people with noble intentions and the matter was
shelved. Even when he left, during Akin Aduwo’s time, we had such
problems. It also became a recurring decimal at the national
constitutional conference where the topic generated serious controversy
and heated argument. It was in fact more serious than the last one. So,
merger or no merger, the police and the commission have come a long
way. We were carved out from the police and whatever it is, since we
are paid with public money, we must have to respect government. If my
personal opinion were to be sought, the matter would have been treated
with kid gloves. The government has the yam and knife and since it has
made such a pronouncement on the merger, what logically could be our
reaction, was to go and dialogue with the authorities.

Newswatch: Some people are calling for the scrapping of the road safety
corps.

Yakasai: It would not do us any good to scrap something that has a
root, that is tied to the economy of the country. Apart from the lives
and property of human beings which the commission saves on our roads,
it offers employment to Nigerians. So why do we need to destroy an
organisation of this magnitude? It is better to have a joint or
bilateral cooperation between the police and the road safety than to
scrap it.

Newswatch: How corrupt are your men and what mechanisms have you put in
place to check corruption in FRSC?

Yakasai: We have expanded our monitoring and surveillance units to
check corruption. Monitoring and surveillance was usually done once a
month but it is now done regularly, on weekly basis. Our officers move
out in unmarked vehicles to check our patrol men at work so that they
do not indulge in corruption. It is a rule that our men should not
carry more than N50 while on patrol. Apart from declaring the N50, its
number must be written, so that extra money found on him, its source
must be determined. In the face of all these, we have some welfare
packages to motivate our officers. We are also paying their medical
bills. We have also formed some cooperative societies where essentials
goods are purchased and sold to them at affordable prices. We are also
using the media to educate members of the public not to give our
officers money.

Newswatch: Proposals were made years back for FRSC officers to carry
weapons while on patrol. Do you think such is necessary now?

Yakasai: Some of the weapons we bought under that proposal are still
with the ministry of defence. As for me I still feel that we should not
carry arms. We should maintain our civil look and therefore operate
without weapons. What we require is a good communication system and
good public enlightenment, so that the public could see us as partners
in progress. I don’t want a situation where there would be unnecessary
exchange of fire as armed robbers might capitalise on that to
forcefully collect weapons from our patrol teams. This is my personal
view and I still hold on to it that we should not carry weapons.

NB: This interview was conducted before Yakasai was removed from
office.

----------------------

Slippery Slope

By Soji Akinrinade

No one ever said that governing Nigeria would be easy. After being
plundered repeatedly by the military, little wonder that the pent up
anger in the country would be let loose to disastrous consequences. It
would have helped if our political leaders have shown strong commitment
to restructuring the nation rather than the grandstanding that is going
on at present. If they are not launching their spurious contract with
the nation, our legislators are busy playing to the gallery. They've
busied themselves with threatens to impeach the president or have been
stoking national hysteria and asking for the head of Senator Wacko
Waku, the one "who said" or didn't say he wanted a coup now. No one
knows what impeachable offence Obasanjo has committed. And as for Wacko
Waku, the only thing he's been guilty of is political naivety and
stupidity for calling the president a mad man and showing so much
bigotry for the Yoruba nation.

In nearly a year in office, the legislators cannot claim to have done
much for those who elected them. Only a couple of bills have scaled
through and both came from the president. They have shown little or no
initiative but we can still remember that memorable photograph our of
senate president dancing the Valentine night away with his wife.

It is as if the usual Nigerian syndrome has already set in.

When President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office May 29 last year, he
gave the nation a lift because of the way and manner he tackled some of
the problems he inherited. Not many people thought he would have the
courage to confront the military. But the retirement of so many
powerful officers, among whom were those who saw themselves as "Oba
lola" (tomorrow's king), gave us hope that he really meant business. No
other person in the political landscape of today could have done that.
Of course it paid that he had General Theophillus Danjuma as his
minister of defence and that there was a paper already in existence
advocating a restructuring of the military through the retirement of
political officers. Then he tackled the perennial fuel shortage and he
gave us light. If you had your money there was petrol for you to buy.
Ditto for electricity. You did not have to hurry to iron the clothes
you will wear for the next two weeks. Obasanjo had a good first 100
days in office.

But as we know all good things must come to an end. Lines have begun to
form at some petrol stations in some parts of the country, probably not
through the fault of NNPC. And, as before, never expect power anytime
seems to be order of the day now. In fact some people are ready to
swear that the situation is actually worse than it has ever been. And
that is despite the promises made by Bola Ige. Those promises now seem
premature and must have been plain political gimmick from a master of
the art.

But the worst thing that has happened to the nation is the total lack
of courage the government exhibited on the Sharia issue, an issue,
which still threatens the shaky foundation of the Nigerian union. It
has been clear from the word go that no good thing could come of an
outright declaration of some states as Islamic Sharia states, thereby
elevating Sharia laws above the constitution of Nigeria. What was
really worrying was that while Obasanjo and his attorney general told
us that what some of the states were doing was unconstitutional, the
administration did precious little to douse the fire and bring those
impetuous governors to order. We were told the government would not
institute a court action on the matter. I thought the ways governments
operate are mysterious enough to work around such sensitivities.

Now see the result of government inaction. Hundreds of lives lost in
avoidable mayhem in Kaduna; wanton destruction of property and
livelihood; thousands rendered homeless and still living in refugee
camps. This debacle was so pointless and points up the fact once more
that Nigeria is still not a going concern.

It may be in order for some to be jumping for joy now that the Council
of State has forced the Sharia governors to retrace their steps. But
pardon me for not believing we have heard the last of the Sharia
controversy. The passion it arouses amongst the fundamentalists is so
strong that whatever we have now can only be a respite. And this should
allow us time to tackle some of the niggling issues that have continued
to threaten the corporate existence of the nation. It should now dawn
on us that sooner than later we really need to sit down around a
conference table, tackle all our problems and redefine how we should
live together. Granted a sovereign national conference (SNC) is not
feasible in a situation such as ours when there is an elected
government. Even the most ardent proponents of the SNC are willing to
concede that it may not be possible now. What they are interested in is
a conference at which all nationalities in Nigeria can be represented
in equal strength and on equal term. Some cockamamie amendment of the
1999 Constitution will not resolve the problems of the Delta neither
will it give Nigeria the federalism it deserves. Those charged with
amending the constitution have too much to lose. We are on a slippery
slope now and we need to get a grip before we slide toward a certain
chasm.

There is strength in diversity.

Postscript.

Is it me or are the streets of Lagos actually becoming clean? I think
BT, our dear governor, is finally getting a handle of the situation in
this Centre of Excellence. Some of the ideas now coming out of the
government are refreshing. But more work needs to be done on the MOT
palaver. It is a good idea although it is uncertain that most Lagosians
still understand why it is for their own safety. The governor should
also be aware that anyone can buy his MOT certificate for N2000.
Chikena.

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