(NO SCN) BUHARI RESIGNS
olorunfemi ojo
Buhari quits PTF ahead of planned scrapping
Rilwan may be back as Oil Minister
South-East PDP okays Enwerem for Senate Presidency
World Bank VP arrives for Obasanjo
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Buhari quits PTF ahead of planned scrapping
By Emma Ujah, Abuja
FORMER Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari resigned yesterday as
Executive Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF), 48 hours
ahead of the assumption of power by President-elect, Olusegun Obasanjo who
has vowed to scrap the organisation.
The resignation takes effect from today.
Two unnamed members of the organisation’s Board of Trustees resigned along
with him, according to PTF Secretary, Chief Tayo Akpata.
Also on the board of trustees are Prof. John Clark, Chief Rufus Giwa, Alhaji
Yahaya Gusau, Prof. Chimere Ikoku, Alhaji Ahmed Talib, and Chief D.B. Zang.
Chief Akpata said Gen. Buhari broke the news of his resignation at the end
of the management committee meeting of the PTF held yesterday where he also
announced the "resignation of two other trustees of the board."
Gen. Buhari was said to have expressed "appreciation for the opportunity
offered him by the Nigerian government to serve the nation, and thanked the
generality of Nigerians for appreciating the contributions of the PTF to
social and infrastructural restoration in the country." Furthermore, he
thanked the "board and management for their cooperation with him during his
tenure."
Chief Akpata said the management committee "in turn thanked Gen. Buhari for
his distinguished service to the fund and to the nation at large, and wished
him well in his future endeavours. They promised to maintain his enviable
work ethics."
Gen. Buhari handed over his functions to Chief Akpata in line with the
provision of Section 9 of the decree setting up the fund.
Gen. Buhari had in May last year promised to leave the fund by October this
year.
He said in a BBC Hausa Service program that his dream was without prejudice
to whether or not the then Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha remained in
office by that date.
His worlds: "If he (Gen. Abacha) continues in office, it will be on
politics, and the way politics is played now, I don’t believe in it. I am
not a politician. I have nothing to do with politics."
The incoming President, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo has said repeatedly that the
PTF is irrelevant in a constitutional setup and would scrap it once he
assumes office.
The PTF was established via Decree 25 of 1994 as amended by Decree 1 of 1995
to ensure effective utilisation of accountable revenue from the increase in
pump price of petroleum products introduced in 1994.
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Rilwan may be back as Oil Minister
By Ademola Adedoyin, Ag. Business Editor & Jide Ajani
Indications are rife that the Secretary General of the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Alhaji Rilwan Lukman may head the
Ministry of Petroleum Resources in the incoming Obasanjo regime.
He may likely retain the title of Special Adviser to the President on
Petroleum Resources.
Sources close to the Obasanjo administration said the special adviser would
be vested with all the powers of a minister.
It was gathered that Gen. Obasanjo was disposed favourably to appointing as
special adviser, a thoroughbred technocrat who is not necessarily
politically partisan.
Alhaji Lukman was until his OPEC assignment, Petroleum Resources Minister.
In the second republic, the then President, Shehu Shagari appointed the late
Alhaji Yahaya Dikko as his Special Adviser on Petroleum Resources with all
the powers of a minister.
Gen. Abubakar had similarly appointed oil technocrat, Aret Adams as his
Special Adviser on Petroleum Resources. Mr. Adams, however, does not have
the powers of a minister.
Top level sources in Obasanjo’s camp disclosed, however, that the
President-elect was searching also for a technocrat who is non-controversial
from the oil producing areas to be offered the job.
Another source in Abuja said Alhaji Lukman had already agreed in principle
to work with Gen. Obasanjo.
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South-East PDP okays Enwerem for Senate Presidency
By Tunji Olawuni, Sufuyan Ojeifo, Abuja & Ikechukwu Eze
THIRD Republic Governor of Imo State, Chief Evan Enwerem is the choice of
the committee set up by the leadership of the PDP in the Southeast zone to
screen candidates for the Senate Presidency.
Alhaji Ibrahim Salisu Buhari from Kano State has also been endorsed by the
leadership of the party in the Northwest for the Speakership of the House of
Representatives.
The Southeast Committee picked Chief Enwerem ahead of other candidates at a
meeting of the PDP’s zonal working committee held in Enugu.
The meeting commenced 8.00 p.m. Wednesday and ended 1.00 a.m. yesterday with
a decision to forward Enwerem's name to Dr. Alex Ekwueme who would in turn
forward it to the party leadership for further action.
Chief Enwerem emerged by beating Gen. Ike Nwachukwu (rtd.) by 16 votes to 3
after a ballot cast by members of PDP’s zonal working committee in the
Southeast.
At a recent meeting, PDP leadership in the zone set up the committee of the
five chairmen of PDP in the South-Eastern states to consult among
senators-elect from the zone with a view to finding who among them should be
recommended, following the rejection of the post by Dr. Alex Ekwueme.
The committee met several times, and on May 20th conducted an election for
the four senators-elect who indicated interest in the post.
They were Chief Enwerem, Gen. Nwachukwu, Chief Jim Nwobodo and Dr. Chuba
Okadigbo.
At the end of the voting, there was a tie between Enwerem and Nwachukwu who
scored 14 votes each. Nwobodo polled 12 votes and Okadigbo 10 votes.
The sub-committee then recommended to the zonal working committee to make a
final selection between the two who tied.
At the meeting yesterday in Enugu, the 16 committee members present decided
to cast ballot for the two candidates, with Enwerem scoring 11 votes while
Nwachukwu scored 3 votes. Two members were said to have abstained.
It was decided that the chairman of the zonal working committee, Dr.
Sylvester Ugoh who is also the Vice-Chairman of the party for the Southeast
zone should forward the decision to Dr. Ekwueme.
• PDP leadership wades into Senate Presidency tussle
The Chief Solomon Lar-led National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP was
due to meet last night in Abuja to take an official position on the Senate
Presidency.
It was learnt that the NEC meeting was convened on the strength of a letter
to Chief Lar dated May 25, 1999 on the Senate Presidency by 49
senators-elect who expressed support for the aspiration of Dr. Chuba
Okadigbo.
The 49 senators-elect had in the letter intimated the National Chairman with
their desire to "cooperate fully among ourselves and with party leaders in
the most important responsibility of choosing a President of the Senate, the
most dignified Chamber of the National Assembly."
They had expressed their resolve to support the candidature of Dr. Okadigbo
stating that "our consensus of this matter will also undoubtedly prevent our
political opponents from taking undue advantage of any decisions that may
arise."
It was gathered yesterday that the letter prompted the convening of an
emergency NEC meeting to discuss on the party’s official candidate.
The NEC meeting, according to party sources, would put paid to the crisis in
the leadership rank over who should become the Senate President.
Sources said the leadership was divided over the candidature of Dr.
Okadigbo, who is said to enjoy Alhaji Abubakar Atiku’s sympathy and Chief
Enwerem who is believed to enjoy Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Alex Ekwueme
’s sympathy.
• AD/APP senators-elect consult on Senate Presidency
However, senators-elect of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Peoples
Party (APP) have been holding consultations on who to support in the race
for the Senate Presidency.
All those who have indicated interest in the position so far are from the
PDP.
Sources told Vanguard yesterday that the senators-elect agreed that if they
were not satisfied with the candidate presented by the PDP for the Senate
President they would field their own candidate and support him.
According to sources the AD/APP senators-elect might have narrowed down
their choice to between Dr. Chuba Okadigbo and Chief Evan Enwerem.
The sources told Vanguard that the choice of Maj.-Gen. Ike Nwachukwu was out
of the question because of his military background.
Sources also disclosed that some of the senators-elect are against the
choice of Chief Enwerem because he decamped from the APP.
According to a source, "the AD/APP senators will decide on who is best for
the position in the interest of democracy."
• PDP North-West zone endorses Buhari, but ...
Members-elect of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Northwest zone
rose from a caucus meeting yesterday in Abuja, voting in favour of Alhaji
Ibrahim Salisu Buhari as the zone’s candidate for the speakership of the
House of Representatives.
His co-contestants, however, disputed the conduct of the meeting and the
shadow election, which threw up Alhaji Buhari.
Alhaji Mohammed Farouk Lawan, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yar’Adua, Zelani
Mohammed, Dr. Sanni Udu and Ibrahim Ganyama, disputed the election at a
press conference in Abuja.
Indications that all was not well at the closed-door meeting held at the
Arewa Suites, Abuja emerged when Alhaji Lawan and the four others staged a
walkout, alleging that "the meeting’s agenda had been altered to advance a
sinister motive."
They said that the decision by the meeting to conduct shadow election
detracted from the purpose of the meeting, which was to agree on criteria
for supporting a popular candidate.
The meeting, presided over by a leader from the zone and National Vice
Chairman (Northwest), Alhaji Abubakar Iro Dan-Musa, nevertheless went ahead
with the shadow election. At the end of election, Buhari was said to have
scored 49 votes as against Alhaji Yar’Adua’s one vote and others zero vote.
Reacting to the outcome of the meeting, the five aggrieved aspirants
declared that "if any election was held, it did not have our blessing and as
such, not binding on us."
Their spokesman, Alhaji Lawan said, "we walked out on the meeting when we
discovered the sinister motive of the meeting which was to hijack the post
of speaker through the instrumentality of money."
According to him, "we are not a party to the so-called shadow election of a
candidate for the North-West; all of us are still in the race for the
Speaker of the House and we are committed to the emergence of a credible,
versatile, broad-minded and intellectually sound person for the post.
"For emphasis, we did not go to the meeting to adopt or elect a candidate;
we went there to agree on the criteria for supporting a candidate.
"This would have simplified the process if it had not been hijacked. Now, we
will have to go to the floor of the House for the Speaker to be elected by
the 360 members-elect. Irrespective of zoning, they will have to vote.
"What the zone can do is to list criteria, examine all the aspirants,
shortlist the credible ones and forward those names to the PDP Parliamentary
Caucus for selection, but this was not done."
He said "in the light of the present situation, the five of us are likely to
come up with a common position (consensus candidate) before the election and
whoever satisfies the criteria will be acceptable to us."
He said that, apart from Alhaji Dan-Musa, alleged to be Alhaji Buhari’s
campaign manager, no other members of the PDP, Northwest leadership caucus
was at the meeting.
A member-elect from Borno, Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi Daggash, who is jostling
for the post of Majority Leader of the House, expressed reservations at the
way members-elect were going about the scramble for post."
According to him, "I think we should be more mature in the pursuit of
positions because every key office goes with greater responsibilities and
only mature and responsible people should be saddled with such
responsibilities."
Alhaji Daggash, who is highly favoured to emerge the House Majority Leader,
stated, "everybody has the right to run for office he or she deems he or she
is fit for."
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World Bank VP arrives for Obasanjo
THE World Bank Vice President for Africa, Mr. Jean Louis Sarbib arrived
Lagos yesterday to represent the bank at tomorrow’s inauguration of
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He is heading a World Bank delegation that includes the Director of Country
Operations for Nigeria, Mr. Yaw Ansu, the Resident Representative in
Nigeria, Mr. Trevor Byer and Mr. Akin Fatoyinbo, the Regional Communications
Adviser in West Africa.
The delegation is expected to meet officials of the outgoing and the
incoming administrations.
Mr. Sarbib is also expected to be the guest speaker at the luncheon for
senior representatives of the private sector, academia, and media organised
by the prestigious Alumni Association of the Nigerian Institute of Policy
and Strategic Studies at the Metropolitan Club in Lagos at noon today.
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Vanguard Transmitted Friday, 28 May, 1999
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