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50 WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2015 • THISDAY<br />
NEWSEXTRA<br />
Speakership Race: Legislators Clash over<br />
Gbajabiamila’s Aspiration<br />
Jibrin, North-central members kick<br />
Muhammad Bello in Abuja<br />
Majority of the legislators of the<br />
House of Representatives, both<br />
old and new, from the North-west<br />
geo-political zone, yesterday threw<br />
their weight behind the aspiration<br />
of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.<br />
This is in spite of the growing<br />
cynicism and rejection of such<br />
actions credited to members from<br />
the North-east and North-central<br />
zones. Some elements of the House<br />
All Progressives Congress (APC)<br />
caucus from the two zones have<br />
recently rejected claims made in<br />
an advertisement and some stories<br />
that they support Gbajabiamila.<br />
This is as Hon. Ahmed Rufa’i<br />
Chanchangi, from Kaduna, told<br />
journalists that the zone supports<br />
the bid of Gbajabiamila, given the<br />
sacrifices he has made to uphold<br />
the interest of the North-west since<br />
2011.<br />
By his pronouncement, about<br />
80 federal lawmakers out of the<br />
90 coming from the North-west<br />
geo-political zone have lined up to<br />
back the candidacy of the Minority<br />
Leader, Gbajabiamila, in the race<br />
for speakership of the incoming<br />
eighth House of Representatives.<br />
Chanchangi said: “I think, to me<br />
and to the returning members of<br />
the House, there is no conflict at<br />
all. The only person in the race is<br />
Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila”.<br />
“Apart from him, I can’t see<br />
anybody in the race because when<br />
you are talking about someone<br />
being in the race, the first thing<br />
to be taken into consideration is<br />
your home support base.<br />
“Look at Hon. Abdulmumin<br />
Jibrin, I can say he is someone who<br />
is just trying to bargain with the<br />
whole issue because he is from<br />
Kano State, I have not seen even<br />
a single member behind him.<br />
“Let’s go to the other contenders<br />
like Hon. Dogara; there have been<br />
a lot of noise about Dogara and<br />
why I am saying it’s a lot of noise<br />
is that, first of all, you have to<br />
convince me that your state is<br />
behind you. Bauchi State has 11<br />
members and I don’t see any of the<br />
11 members going behind Dogara<br />
to campaign along with him, I<br />
have not seen anything like that.<br />
“So, for me, the only person<br />
that is contesting is Hon. Femi.<br />
I am from the North-west, we<br />
have almost 90 members from<br />
the North-west. Kaduna State in<br />
particular, we have 16, from Kano<br />
we have 24, Katsina we have 15,<br />
Jigawa we have 11 and in Sokoto<br />
we have 12 members respectively.<br />
He added: “What we have<br />
is almost one-quarter of the<br />
total honourable members of<br />
the House. And if you take a<br />
look at that statistics, from the<br />
90 honourable members, about<br />
75 to 80 are hundred per cent<br />
with Gbajabiamila and this is<br />
not because of party affiliation<br />
but because of what he did.”<br />
“This is someone who has<br />
been in the House for the past<br />
12 years, I just joined the House<br />
in 2011 but I have seen what he<br />
has been doing for the past 12<br />
years as the minority leader.<br />
“For someone to lead you from<br />
darkness to light, we know he is<br />
the right candidate. We don’t have<br />
to even start doubting. He led the<br />
opposition from minority party in<br />
the House now to majority party<br />
and he stood on his feet through<br />
thick and thin.<br />
He dismissed as baseless<br />
,allegation that the outgoing<br />
Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, is<br />
behind one of the contenders for<br />
the position. “Actually, I won’t<br />
say Tambuwal is behind any<br />
contestant apart from Femi. If he<br />
is, he should come out and say<br />
‘I am behind so and so person.’<br />
Once he cannot come out and say<br />
this, then we believe it is already<br />
‘dead on arrival’.<br />
“Whoever or the supposed<br />
candidates that are going about<br />
lying that Tambuwal is behind<br />
them are playing to the gallery<br />
and I don’t believe that such a<br />
thing exists at all”, he stressed.<br />
Meanwhile, Jibrin observed that<br />
recent claims of endorsement of<br />
aspirants by different groups<br />
of members of the House of<br />
Representatives will not ultimately<br />
decide who becomes the Speaker<br />
of the lower chamber.<br />
According to him, the popularity<br />
of an aspirant can only be<br />
ascertained by the number of votes<br />
he garners and not some unclear<br />
zonal and state endorsements.<br />
He told journalists that “as<br />
evident with the outgoing seventh<br />
assembly, members of the House of<br />
Representatives chose their leaders<br />
based on acceptance, not purported<br />
endorsement being bandied in the<br />
media. I am confident that the<br />
eighth Assembly will continue<br />
this laudable democratic trend.”<br />
“All the endorsement claims and<br />
counter claims have ended up as<br />
fake and lies. However, the focus<br />
should be acceptability not fake<br />
endorsements. Secondly, I have<br />
concentrated clearly in what I will<br />
do if elected, other aspirants are<br />
simply struggling to be speaker<br />
in a do or die manner. I challenge<br />
them (aspirants) to come out with<br />
their agenda if they are sure it will<br />
be in the new spirit of change!”<br />
Jibrin added.<br />
He further added that:<br />
“With the recent powerful<br />
and patriotic statement<br />
from the president-elect,<br />
the coast has been cleared for<br />
competence and merit to determine<br />
who becomes Speaker of the 8th<br />
Assembly.<br />
“It is a known fact that only if<br />
I am zoned out, under a free and<br />
fair contest I will win with land<br />
slide margin the 8th Assembly<br />
Speakership election. None of<br />
the aspirants can match my<br />
popularity or provide the<br />
needed compatibility with the<br />
incoming President to execute<br />
the needed reforms and deliver<br />
on our campaign promises like<br />
myself.”<br />
Orubebe Debunks Plans to Defect<br />
to APC, Threatens Legal Action<br />
Chiemelie Ezeobi<br />
Former Minister of Niger<br />
Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday<br />
Orubebe, has debunked reports<br />
making the rounds that he is<br />
planning to dump the Peoples<br />
Democratic Party (PDP) for the<br />
All Progressives Congress (APC).<br />
Orubebe had debunked the<br />
news following the uproar that<br />
trailed a tweet he supposedly<br />
tweeted announcing his decision<br />
to join the APC.<br />
The uproar was caused by his<br />
infamous protest at the collation<br />
centre during the just concluded<br />
general election where he accused<br />
the Chairman of the Independent<br />
National Electoral Commission<br />
(INEC), Attahiru Jega, of rigging<br />
in favour of the APC.<br />
Tweeting from @<br />
ElderGOrubebe, he supposedly<br />
wrote, “I have concluded plans<br />
to join my folks in the APC<br />
to champion and sustain the<br />
movement for a better Niger<br />
Delta in the new administration.<br />
Details will be released soon.<br />
Thank you all.”<br />
Following his announcement,<br />
all hell was let loose on Twitter<br />
with one writer simply identified<br />
as Woye, who seemed to have<br />
captured the general feeling of<br />
almost all Twitter users.<br />
Tweeting from @woye he<br />
wrote, “This account must have<br />
been hacked. Not the Orubebe<br />
that I know.”<br />
Imam Imam seemed to have<br />
agreed as he tweeted from @<br />
imamdimam, “Orubebe’s twitter<br />
handle has been hacked. Because<br />
it is tweeting responsible things.”<br />
Also, one Adebayo Salami<br />
tweeting from @Le_Stylo wrote,<br />
“Am I seeing clearly? Has this<br />
handle been compromised?<br />
@ElderGOrubebe to join @<br />
APCNigeria Interesting!”<br />
Chuka Chuka tweeting from<br />
@chukachuka0984 wrote “For<br />
real? Then you must make a<br />
big fortune being an actor, cos<br />
your role on the vote counting<br />
day was amazing!”<br />
Adeola Ahmed also wrote,<br />
“Elder! Please stay in your party<br />
and ensure government delivers<br />
public good to the Niger Delta<br />
people.<br />
“He has constitutional right to<br />
do so but does he have moral<br />
right? Time will tell.”<br />
One David Emzo wrote:<br />
“Exactly, now he’s talking about<br />
Niger Delta struggle when he<br />
was in position what did he<br />
do?”<br />
To which @teghmulu replied,<br />
“Dont mind him, he’s always<br />
been a runner to where the grass<br />
is greener. He did nothing for<br />
us and he still won’t.”<br />
Prince Akin Odunsi also<br />
wrote “Please Oga Orubebe! Sit<br />
down for your party! We don’t<br />
need you in APC! Okay? You<br />
can’t cope with our Jegamacine<br />
here! Stay there biko.”<br />
Kayode Ogundamisi tweeting<br />
from @ogundamisi wrote, “If it<br />
is confirmed that Elder Peter<br />
Godsday Orubebe is joining the<br />
APC then it is safe to say 99 per<br />
cent of Nigerian politicians need<br />
psychological help.”<br />
Not many however flayed his<br />
decision and among them was<br />
one Mrs. Yetunde Ogudo who<br />
tweeting from @yetundeogudo<br />
wrote, “Please do what is best<br />
for you and your country to the<br />
best of your conscience. Don’t<br />
let anyone dictate your life!”<br />
Orubebe, who has since come<br />
out to debunk any plans to defect,<br />
threatened legal actions against<br />
the rumours mongers, even as<br />
he disclosed that his Twitter<br />
handle was hacked by some<br />
unknown persons.<br />
BRIEFING THE MEDIA<br />
L-R: Contractor for Ministry of Women Affairs, Mr. Haida Saidi; Minister of Women Affairs, Hajia Zainab Maina; and the Permanent<br />
Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Ezekiel Onyemomi, addressing the press on the completion of the new office building of the ministry in Abuja...<br />
yesterday<br />
Julius Atoi<br />
Kaduna APC Transition Committee Wants Yero<br />
Investigated over N2.7bn Sure-P Funds<br />
John Shiklam in Kaduna<br />
The All Progressives Congress<br />
(APC) Transition Committee in<br />
Kaduna State has petitioned the<br />
Economic and Financial Crime<br />
Commission (EFCC) over alleged<br />
attempts by the outgoing governor<br />
of the state, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero,<br />
to temper with N2.744 billion, being<br />
funds that accrued from the<br />
Subsidy Reinvestment Programme<br />
(SURE-P).<br />
It was learnt that Yero had<br />
approached the state legislators<br />
to approve the disbursement of<br />
the funds said to have accrued<br />
for the 23 local councils in 2014.<br />
In the petition dated May 15, a<br />
copy of which was circulated to<br />
the media in Kaduna yesterday,<br />
the Chairman of the APC<br />
Transition Committee, Alhaji<br />
Balarabe Abbas Lawal, claimed<br />
that elaborate steps were being<br />
taken by the outgoing state<br />
government to legitimise the<br />
misappropriation of the funds.<br />
“I write to bring to your<br />
attention the elaborate steps being<br />
taken by the outgoing Kaduna<br />
State Government to legitimise<br />
the misappropriation of N2.744<br />
billion local government Sure-P<br />
funds, and to request that you<br />
exercise your responsibility of<br />
deterring crime by preventing<br />
this last-minute looting of public<br />
assets,” the committee stated in<br />
the petition.<br />
The committee said the<br />
state House of Assembly had<br />
earlier declined to appropriate<br />
the Sure-P funds in the 2015<br />
budget by removing it from the<br />
budgets submitted by the 23 local<br />
government councils in the state,<br />
insisting that the fate of the funds be<br />
left to the incoming administration.<br />
The committee however alleged<br />
that the outgoing governor has<br />
been putting the legislature under<br />
tremendous pressure to approve<br />
his utilisation of 50 per cent of the<br />
funds for a road project, while<br />
the 23 local government councils<br />
would share the balance.<br />
“Coming from a government<br />
whose tenure expires in less than<br />
two weeks, the intensity of the<br />
lobby for the money indicates a<br />
certain desperation that is clearly<br />
not in the public interest.<br />
“I wish to therefore request that<br />
you (EFCC) urgently investigate<br />
whether the Sure-P fund is still<br />
intact, or if it has been spent<br />
without appropriation thus<br />
necessitating a belated approval<br />
from the House of Assembly to<br />
provide a ‘legal’ means of retiring<br />
the funds.<br />
“If, as it is widely believed in the<br />
state, the monies have already been<br />
spent, it is crucial to determine the<br />
projects, the contractors and the<br />
procurement processes that facilitated<br />
such a deliberate hemorrhaging of<br />
public funds,” Lawan said.<br />
The governor-elect, Malam Nasir<br />
Ahmad El-Rufai, who expressed<br />
concern over the issue, has vowed<br />
that his administration will punish<br />
anyone who misappropriates public<br />
funds.<br />
El-Rufai in a statement<br />
declared that the incoming APC<br />
government in the state would<br />
punish anyone culpable in the<br />
SURE-P funds diversion.<br />
“I have been made aware<br />
of desperate attempts to secure<br />
approval to spend N2.744 billion<br />
SURE-P funds. Less than two<br />
weeks to its exit, the outgoing<br />
government of Kaduna State is<br />
seeking to pressure the outgoing<br />
House of Assembly to permit it to<br />
spend 50 per cent of the money<br />
on the Kawo road project, while<br />
the 23 local government councils<br />
will share the balance.<br />
“As governor-elect, it is my duty<br />
to caution every official involved<br />
in these last-minute deals that the<br />
incoming government will ensure<br />
that there are consequences for<br />
illegal conduct, breach of trust<br />
and stealing of public assets. Our<br />
government will certainly insist<br />
on accountability, and no one<br />
should be in any doubt about<br />
our resolve, be it the instigators<br />
of any impropriety or those<br />
who facilitated and executed<br />
it,” El-Rufai said.