NOBEL Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has described President Olusegun Obasanjo’s response to the letter from his party Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbeh, as an embarrassing catalogue of self-indictment which does not adequately answer to the issues raised by the party chairman.
Meanwhile, more troubles await Chief Ogbeh and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party as a motion on notice for the immediate suspension of the committee and the appointment of a caretaker committee in its stead will be moved today at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja
Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), plans to visit Anambra with a view to brokering peace between Governor Chris Ngige and his god-farther, Chief Chris Ubah, South-East coordinator of the IBB presidential campaign machinery, Chief Peter Ogbogu, said in Abuja yesterday.
In a statement in the United States made available to the press, the playwright noted that the exchange of letters between the president and the PDP chairman made an “extremely dismal reading.” Said Soyinka: “The recent exchange of letters between the Chairman of the PDP and the president of the nation makes extremely dismal reading,” adding that this was an affirmation of what he had always insisted regarding the Anambra State crisis.
“First, let us begin by stressing that this is an affirmation of what we have insisted on from the very beginning, that the obvious criminalities that began with the abduction of a governor go beyond the personalities involved. They transcend the chairman, the president and the ruling party, they reach beyond the state of Anambra and deeply into the very core of national integrity and the democratic imperative,” Prof. Soyinka said.
For now, according to him, “let me state clearly that the president’s response is an embarrassing catalogue of self-indictment.” The Nobel Laureate said Obasanjo’s response did not make “the slightest effort to answer the chairman’s remarkably restrained charge of, at the very least, a dereliction of responsibility or, at the worst, a complicity in the seamy intrigues that have led to the organised destruction of state institutions and the sustained destabilisation of governance in one of Nigeria’s states.
“In a dismissive tone regarding Obasanjo’s response to Ogbeh, Prof. Soyinka said: “President Obasanjo’s response is the equivalent the Yoruba saying: o fi ete s’ile, o npa lapalapa, one ignores the leprosy, continues to massage the ringworm.”
But he had commendation for the PDP Chairman’s claim that the crisis is reflecting badly on Nigeria’s image.
PDP moves against Ogbeh
The highpoint of the motion against Ogbeh is alleged financial irregularities by the NWC under Ogbeh’s leadership, which the NEC members said had failed to account for N5.046 billion collected from the sale of forms, donations and levies during the last elections.
Contending that the NWC breached Article 16 A (1V) of the party constitution, which provides that “any party official engaging in dishonest practices, defrauding the party, its members or officials shall be sanctioned,” the NEC members alleged that “from official documents available to us from the National Secretariat of the party, vouchers for payments are not properly authorised, and in some instances, only one signature is appended.
“Also, payees never signed the vouchers in reference, and such vouchers never passed through the internal audit department, which is prone to fraudulent practices. Information contained in many payment vouchers are not self-contained, which makes it extremely difficult for any auditing exercise. This is corroborated by the National Auditor’s (Mr. Ray Nnaji’s) internal memo of 20th April, 2004 to the National Chairman and other NWC members.”
The 13-page motion on notice, which was prepared by four members of the NEC on behalf of the other aggrieved members, has already been forwarded under the cover of a two-page letter on the letterhead of the National Secretariat, to President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara.
Others copied with the letter dated November 25, 2004 and entitled: “A call to save PDP from further degeneration,” are Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari; Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih and Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, Obong Victor Attah.
Signatories to the motion on notice were not released yesterday, but a summary of the signatories shows that three NEC members from the Presidency, 12 from the National Assembly, 14 governors, five NWC members, four zonal vice chairmen, 31 state chairmen, 21 National ex-Offico members totaling 90 out of 129 NEC members signed the motion. The figure represents over two-third majority, as the constitutional two-third required to effect the dissolution of the NWC is 86 members.
According to them, “the accounts of the party have not been audited since no such document has been presented to NEC, especially the 2003 accounts. There is no gainsaying that this is a gross violation of the party’s constitution, and it is a serious offence that should attract stiff penalty.” They, therefore, prayed: “In view of the foregoing, all well-meaning and patriotic members of our great party should naturally agree that urgent remedial measures are desirable if the lofty aims and ideals of our party must be realised, more so, when what has been revealed above is just a tip of the iceberg.
“It is, therefore, hereby moved that the NWC should be suspended forthwith and a Caretaker Committee be put in place under the provision of Article 16 (c), pending investigation in accordance with Article 16, Section B (1A).”
IBB to reconcile Ngige, Ubah
However, Igbo National Assembly has called on the judiciary to save the nation from further embarrassment by nullifying the election of Governor Chris Ngige. Chief Ogbogu said General Babangida would assess the situation and mediate. He said as a card carrying member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), IBB was worried about the face-off between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and has started making moves to reconcile them.
Chief Ogbogu said since it was the Anambra crisis that was the contentious issue between Chief Ogbeh and Chief Obasanjo, IBB had agreed to visit the state in his private capacity to see and appreciate the extent of physical losses incurred by the state in the violence, then try to mediate in the issue.
“This is just to express the love and respect that the General holds for Anambra State and the responsibility he holds for the party,”Ogbogu said.
Igbo group, party want emergency rule
Meanwhile, Igbo National Assembly’s call which was contained in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Onwuka Ukwa, came against the backdrop of the revelation contained in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to Chief Andu Ogbeh. President Obasanjo had in the letter dated December 9, 2004, revealed that Governor Chris Ngige accepted that he did not win the April 2003 gubernatorial election.
The group, in the statement entitled: “Swear in Peter Obi as Governor of Anambra State immediately”, called on the Justice G.N. Nabaruma’s election panel sitting in Awka to take judicial notice of facts contained in the president’s letter.
It said the governorship elections petition tribunal still sitting in Awka now lacked the constitutional and moral authority required to function, and asked it to wind up its activities. “The foundation of any constitution and law is not based on falsehood and deceit, but rather on justice, equity, fair-play and the protection of the right of every citizen to democratically elect their leader, in case of Anambra, a governor of their choice,” the group said.
Also, leadership of the Labour Party (LP), one of the political parties that participated in the 2003 general elections, asked President Olusegun Obasanjo to impose a state of emergency in Anambra State following revelations that Dr. Chris Ngige did not win the gubernatorial elections.
National chairman of the party Mr Dan Nwanyanwu, who spoke to Vanguard in Abuja yesterday on the controversy generated by the exchange of letters between President Obasanjo and the PDP National chairman, Chief Ogbeh, accused the latter of “playing the ostrich.”
According to him, “our position is that Dr. Chris Ngige should step aside immediately. His political godfather, Chief Chris Uba, should step aside immediately too. There should be an emergency government in Anambra State for six months, then a proper election will have to be conducted which will be supervised by international observers for us to have a governor in Anambra State, who had the mandate of the people to govern.”
Obasanjo warns Army on disloyalty
The Federal Government has warned that it will not hesitate to apply the requisite sanctions on officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces who engage in any form of disobedience or disloyalty to constituted authorities and the nation.
President Olusegun Obasanjo read the riot act during the closing ceremonies of this year’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) conference held in Owerri, Imo State capital. "I charge you all to be obedient, patriotic and loyal to all constituted authorities and to the nation. I would also like to warn that the Federal Government would not hesitate to commensurately sanction anybody found to be disloyal or disobedient to constituted authorities," he said.
