Nigerian News Du Jour - Tuesday, 16 December, 1997
Mobolaji E. Aluko
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Nigerian News Du Jour - Tuesday, 16 December, 1997
A Selection of Public and Private News on Nigeria
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In Today's Nigerian News Du Jour (NNDJ) ------ 7 Items
ABACHA ANNOUNCES NEW CABINET
FEDERAL MINISTERS - NEW AND OLD - AND THEIR PORTFOLIOS
NEW ENVOYS FOR EUROPE
HUMAN RIGHTS COURT FOR AFRICA
ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF YAR'ADUA'S DEATH WILL DO ABACHA ANY GOOD -
OBSERVERS COMMENT
NIGERIANS TAKE FOREIGN OIL WORKERS HOSTAGE
IN BRIEF
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ABACHA ANNOUNCES NEW CABINET
General Sani Abacha yesterday named a new cabinet, almost one month after
dismissing the old team of ministers, a statement from the presidency said.
The new cabinet includes 16 former ministers and 17 new ones. The
announcement has provoked criticism from opposition activists. ``There is
nothing here to inspire Nigerians,'' said Chief Ayo Adebanjo, chieftain of
the National Democratic Coalition, calling the Cabinet ``the same old
wine.'' The ministers of finance, foreign affairs and for the capital Abuja
also keep their jobs. Abacha dismissed his entire cabinet, known as the
Federal Executive Council, on November 17, four years after he took power
in the country. "Members of the new council will be sworn in at 10 a.m. on
Thursday, December 18," the statement said. In decision-making terms the
largely civilian cabinet ranks lower than the Provisional Ruling Council
which is chaired by Abacha, who has the final say on all matters. When
Abacha dismissed the cabinet, diplomats and political analysts said the
government change could help to bolster the 54-year-old general's position,
especially if he chose to take part in elections he has decreed for next
year. At the same time, Abacha promised to release political detainees who
do not pose a security risk. But so far no release has been reported and
one of the most prominent prisoners, former military vice president Major
General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, died in detention last week.
Etete, a surprise appointment in 1995, yesterday kept his post in the
government which many industry officials had expected him to lose. Etete, a
52-year-old businessman and politician from oil-producing Bayelsa state,
was one of 16 ministers to keep his job in the new 33-member cabinet
appointed by Abacha. Etete was seen by many analysts as an outsider when
he took the job of minister for Nigeria's most important industry in 1995.
Until then, his main connection with the oil industry had been as chairman
of a petroleum and energy committee under Nigeria's last elected
government, which was toppled by the military in 1983. In the past, he has
attacked Western oil companies, accusing them of greed and taking an unfair
share of the industry which accounts for more than 90 percent of Nigeria's
export earnings. Under his own tenure, Etete tried to give Nigerian
companies a bigger share of the oil industry and announced a plan to
transfer marginal producing fields from the oil majors to small home-grown
firms. For their part, the foreign companies say they have faced a crisis
of funding for the joint ventures they operate with Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the past two years, while Etete has been
in office. They say that Nigeria's production will fall if the military
government is not persuaded to come up with substantially more cash for the
industry than it has up to now. Local communities also complain they are
not seeing the benefit of Nigeria's crude oil production and reported
attacks on the industry by angry villagers demanding compensation money for
disturbance and pollution are on the rise.
Etete has not adopted a very public profile, but local media attention was
caught in June by a row between the oil minister and finance minister
Anthony Ani, also retained in the new cabinet, over funding for NNPC. Ani
insisted that all funding for the state firm must first be approved by his
own ministry, incurring Etete's wrath. Much of that funding is destined for
oil refineries, which are running at well below their theoretical capacity
after years of mismanagement and poor maintenance. The consequence has been
sporadic fuel shortages, for which Etete has not escaped public blame, and
which have forced Nigeria to import substantial quantities of petrol to
meet local demand.
FEDERAL MINISTERS - NEW AND OLD - AND THEIR PORTFOLIOS
1. Rear Admiral Jubril Ayinla Health (Replaces Dr. I.C. Madubuike)
2.. Alhaji Malami Ewai Agriculture (Replaces Gambo Jimeta)
3. Air Commodore Ita Udo Ime Aviation (Replaces Air Comm. N. Eduok)
4. Brigadier General S. Momah Science and Technology
5. Alhaji Uba Ahmed Labour and Productivity
6. Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu Internal Affairs (Replaces Alhaji
Baba Gana Kingibe)
7. Chief Anthony Ani Finance
8. Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulahi Justice (Replaces Chief M. Agbamuche)
9. Chief Tom Ikimi Foreign Affairs
10. Alhaji Alhasan Baki Min. of State, FCT (Replaces Mrs
Marian Ekejiani-Clark)
11. Major-General I.D. Gumel Transport
12. Prof. Iyawose Hagher Min. of State, Health (Replaces Mr David
Sadauki)
13. Mrs O. Akande Industries (Replaces Lt. General
M.B. Haladu)
14. Alhaji Hamza Takwa Water Resources (Replaces Aliyu J.
Yelwa)
15. Mrs Haju Sani Women Affairs (Replaces Ambassador
Judith Attah)
16. Brig-General G. Mohammed Works & Housing (Replaces Major-General
A.K. Adisa)
17. Alhaji Abu Gidado Min. of State, Finance
18. Mr Kunle Oluwasanmi Min. of State, Power & Steel (Replaces
Prof. Iyawose Hagher)
19. Chief I.K. Mokelu Information (Replaces Dr Walter
Ofonagoro)
20. Maj-General Patrick Aziza Communications (Replaces Maj-General
A.T. Olanrewaju)
21. Alhaji Buhari Bala Min. of State, Foreign Affairs (Replaces
Alhaji A.I. Kpaki )
22. Mrs. Rose Adulere Min. of State, Education (Replaces
Mrs Iyabo Anisulowo)
23. Chief Ayo Ogunlade National Planning
24. Dr Emmanuel Odogwu Commerce & Tourism (Replaces Rear
Admiral Isaac Areola)
25. Mr Frank Adejuwon Min. of State, Agriculture (Replaces
Prof. Ademola Adesina)
26. Lt.General Jerry T. Useni Fed. Capital Territory
27. Chief Dan L. Etete Petroleum Resources
28. Alhaji Umaru Danbe Min. of State, Pet. Resources (Replaces
Dr Kabiru Chafe)
29. Alhaji Hawda Dirma Education (Replaces Dr Mohammed Liman )
30. Alhaji Kaloma Ali Solid Mineral Resources
31. Rtd. Air Comm. Emeka Umeruah Youth & Sports (Replaces Chief Jim
Nwobodo)
32. Chief Elias Okete Min. of State, Works & Housing
(Replaces Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu )
33. Alhaji Babagana Kingibe Power & Steel (Replaces M.B. Dalhatu)
34. Gen. Sani Abacha Defence
NEW ENVOYS FOR EUROPE
A former foreign affairs minister during the General Ibrahim Babangida
regime is among a new crop of envoys named by Gen. Sani Abacha in new
ambassadorial posting to Europe. Chief M.T. Mbu who represented the federal
government in Britain in the early sixties has been posted to head the
nation's mission in Germany. Others are Elias Nathan, Ireland; Samuel
Aluko-Olukun, Spain; Professor Alaba Ogunsanwo, Belgium; Bunu Sheriff Musa,
France; Prince Ehenede Erediawa, Sweden; T.D Hart, Holland and A.A.
Anukwechi, Austria.
HUMAN RIGHTS COURT FOR AFRICA
African ministers of justice and attorneys-general have agreed to
establish a permanent African court on human rights, in hopes of improving
individual rights and freedoms on the continent. Under the proposal,
Organisation of African Unity member-states and individual citizens who are
victims of human rights abuses will be able to lodge complaints to the
court against other or their own governments alleged to have violated the
rights. The proposal did not say what decisions or judgements the court can
pronounce upon those found to be violating human rights. The court will be
based on the Charter of the African Human and Peoples' Rights, which is
ratified by every member-state. The proposal will be submitted to the next
conference of OAU ministers, who will in turn submit nominations for the
eight judges of the court. Legal experts from the 53 OAU countries have
met three times since 1995 to work out recommendations and legal framework
for the establishment of the court.
ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF YAR'ADUA'S DEATH WILL DO ABACHA ANY GOOD -
OBSERVERS COMMENT
The death in prison of Major General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, did not come as
a surprise, political observers in Nigeria have said. Most agree it could
have happened to Chief Moshood Abiola, or General Olusegun Obasanjo. Some
have already pointed out that when Abiola was arrested and detained for
demanding his presidential mandate and when his wife Kudirat, was
assassinated in broad daylight in Lagos last year, the heavens did not
fall. Others have recalled the 1995 execution, amid international outrage,
of the Ogoni Nine to buttress their conviction that Yar'Adua's death will,
at worst, only embarrass General Sani Abacha's government. ''If Yar'Adua
was so powerful, how come Abacha was able to jail him in controversial
circumstances in the first case'' one said.
But, observers from the core north say we've missed the point. They argue
that Yar'Adua belongs to a different class. ''His supporters may keep
quiet now, but when the time is right they will strike with unmistakable
vengeance'' one of them said. ''Infact, the combination of Yar'Adua's
supporters in the north and Abiola die-hards in the south may eventually
overwhelm Abacha'' he added. Yar'Adua is from the ruling elite in Katsina.
By virtue of his Fulani origins, he belonged to a relatively small but
politically dominant ethnic group affiliated to the Hausas who have, either
directly or indirectly, always controlled the levers of power in Nigeria.
Indeed, Abacha himself was born in Kano, and claims that ancient city of
the north as his home, but his stock is undoubtedly Kanuri. Historians are
aware of the political differences between the Hausa, Fulani and the
Kanuri. Yar'Adua's father was a minister in the First Republic government
of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, killed in Nigeria's first coup d'etat in
January 1966. He was one of the many school leavers from the core north,
encouraged by the Northern People's Congress leader Sir Ahmadu Bello, the
most powerful politician of the time, to join the army. Yar'Adua's meteoric
rise in the army has been unprecedented. He still holds the record as the
youngest retired Major General.
During the civil war in 1967, he rose to the rank of brigade commander. In
1975, Lieutenant-Colonel Yar'Adua leapfrogged at least 15 senior officers
to become Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters and number two to Obasanjo,
after Brigadier Murtala Muhammed, then military ruler was killed in a
coup. The preference given to Yar'Adua was political, since he was a far
north Hausa Muslim like the murdered Murtala, and it was felt important to
assuage the region's feelings. In 1979, the Obasanjo/Yar'Adua regime
relinquished power to President Shehu Shagari's elected government and
Major General Yar'Adua, still only 36, retired from the army. Historians
are quick to point out that Abacha's conflict with Yar'Adua dates back
several years. Most recently it was Yar'Adua's maneuvers at the National
Constitutional Conference in 1993. He had orchestrated the body's
overwhelming motion that Abacha should relinquish power in 1996. Soon
after, Yar'Adua and Obasanjo, as well as many officers and some civilians
and journalists the regime felt were ''security threats'' were arrested
and tried by a military tribunal, which sat in secret. Most of the
defendants were convicted. Yar'Adua was sentenced to death, but later
commuted to 25 years in prison after an international outcry. Years back,
Yar'Adua's father had reportedly clashed with the Abachas over the latter's
wife. ''Sani has no future and should not marry Maryam'' the senior
Yar'Adua was quoted as saying. ''That incident had really angered Abacha
who as you may know never forgives'' said a military source. But it is
believed that Yar'Adua's political clout was far more crucial to Abacha
than anything else.
>From behind bars Yar'Adua still wielded enormous influence, through his
political association. Reports of such exploits necessitated his movement
from prison to prison to curb what his gaolers considered his "excesses".
Those who witnessed Yar'Adua's funeral in Katsina said the mourners were in
tens of thousands. And there were no signs of tension. On Sunday, about
5,000 youths took to the streets of Katsina to protest his death. After the
death of Ahmadu Bello in the coup of January 1966, mourners were also in
their tens of thousands yet there was no immediate tension in the streets.
But Nigeria is still quaking from the backlash that followed only months
later. Of course, Yar'Adua and Ahmadu Bello were not of comparable status,
but with Yar'Adua's passing another part of the regional jigsaw of
opposition to Abacha has fallen into place. Only time will tell if
Yar'Adua's death in prison, will do Abacha any good.
NIGERIANS TAKE FOREIGN OIL WORKERS HOSTAGE
Negotiators in Nigeria are today trying to free nine hostages including
four foreigners held on a houseboat by angry oil workers, the company
involved said. U.S.-based oil service company Western Atlas said in a
statement faxed to the media in Lagos that the houseboat was in a tributary
of the Benin River, 175 km (110 miles) southeast of the commercial capital
Lagos. ``No one has been injured. Western Atlas and Nigerian officials are
currently negotiating with the labourers to resolve the disagreement,'' the
statement said. Diplomats said the four foreigners were two Britons, an
American and an Australian, but declined to name them while negotiations
were taking place. Another Briton was released on Monday. Hostage-taking of
expatriate workers is not unusual in Nigeria's volatile oil-producing Niger
Delta region. It often coincides with the end of a contract and demands
from local workers for substantial payoffs. Western Atlas is working under
contract for independent Nigerian oil company Consolidated Oil in the
region.
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IN BRIEF
International Merchant Bank (IMB) records 65 million naira profit.
A nationwide epidemiological study has found out that 16 million Nigerian
children are suffering from one form of psychiatric disorder or the other.
The study was conducted between April and November 1997.
Abakaliki prison inmates, where Yar'Adua was jailed have gone on hunger
strike in protest of his death. Prison sources said Yar'Adua was loved by
the inmates not only for his generosity but also for his initiation of
religious and social activities in the prison.
International Court of Justice, at the end of a seminar organised by the
OAU accuses Nigeria of human rights abuses
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