Month: August 2016

Opening Remarks by Comrade Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL at the Exploratory Conference on the Lagos Open Parliament (Part three), LOP-3, held on 30 August, 2016 at the RIGHTS HOUSE, 48, Adeniyi Jones Street, Off Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos

 

On behalf of the entire members of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, and the Board of Governors, I welcome you all. We deeply appreciate the honour bestowed on us, demonstrated by the presence of everyone here today for this Exploratory Conference; a component part of the process that culminate into our periodic Publication called the ‘Lagos Open Parliament, LOP’. We say, a big thank you, to all for coming.

 

Majority of us here today, are conversant with the LOP and can simply aver that, ‘there goes CACOL again doing what they know how to do best’, but some are probably just getting to know about the LOP as a Project of our coalition for the first time. It thus becomes imperative to give a background on what the LOP is all about, I therefore crave your indulgence to do so very briefly.

 

The Inaugural LOP which was tagged ‘Lagos Open Parliament: True State of Lagos by Lagosians held in 2013. It led to a number of claims made by the supporters of the Lagos state government then. Many of them claimed we were sponsored to rubbish the ‘achievements’ of the Babatunde Raji Fashola-led Lagos State Government which they claimed were ‘visible to the eyes’.

 

This prompted us to go to town to inspect the so-called improvements in infrastructural development in the State. Our study showed that some aspects of the rot in infrastructure in some places mentioned in our earlier study had been improved on, whereas most of the other issues were yet to be addressed.

 

Our findings revealed dismal governmental failure especially in the area of the execution of the capital side of the budget and we discovered that Lagos had largely been governed by false pretences.

 

We thus deployed more tools in our research and field work following the lessons drawn from the inaugural LOP and have continually empirically modified our methods in scope and size in terms of research and strategy which have made the LOP what it is today.

 

And indeed, our findings confirmed the reality that Lagos State was being governed under false pretences. We discovered and established the ‘cosmeticism’ in government and governance in Lagos state as at then. Our empirical deductions from our findings were what we published as Lagos Open Parliament 2, LOP- 2.

 

The LOP, as a Project of our Coalition was conceived to be done annually, it is basically a Project targeted at; monitoring government performance and policies, promoting transparency and accountability and enhancing healthy interface between the civil society and government in the overall interest of the development of Lagos State as an entity.

 

Our research strategy utilizes different tools to carry out our self-assigned patriotic task to monitor government activities; including questionnaires, interviews, news analysis, visual investigations involving usage of videos and photographs etc.

 

Our Coalition published our findings in 2013 in the first edition which we tagged ‘Lagos Open Parliament, LOP 1’ in 2014 and have ever since continued to monitor Lagos state government’s activities on annual basis.

 

Generally, the LOP is a process with several events embedded in it, these include administering of questionnaires; compilation and analysis of data and news items (TV, radio, newspapers, online news and social media). Three interactive conferences are also held within the process of the LOP i.e. Exploratory, Validation and Public Presentation Conferences. The Public Presentation marks the end of the annual process.

 

The analysis and reviews in each LOP cover only for one year as specifically chosen by us, but at most times our work begin May 29^th of each year preliminary activities such as this Exploratory Conference. For example, the next Publication i.e. LOP3 will capture May 29, 2015 to May 29, 2016 as the period under review.

 

THE STATE OF LAGOS STATE

Without preempting what our end-point findings and deductions from the ongoing LOP process will be, it is important to comment on the state of Lagos state from the point of verifiable and objective analysis.

 

Arguably, the present regime appears to have begun on a good note given the avalanche of praises it has received so far from Lagosians based on what can apparently be seen by them physically.

 

That the government commenced the construction/reconstruction on 114 roads within its first 100 days in office is public knowledge; the Light-Up Lagos, the pedestrian and fly-over bridges under constructions; the improvement in government openness etc. are undeniable and commendable.

 

The recent launch of the first Helipad in the country is a hallmark achievement plus an improved environment in terms of security and some social services.

 

We, however strongly condemn some obviously anti-poor policies of the government as the negative effects of the policies definitely diminish the gains of the so far celebrated achievements of the government. So while commending the Ambode regime for some noticeable developmental projects being implemented across the state and encouraging the government not to relent, the regime must avoid snatching with the left hand what it has offered the poor Lagosians with the right hand.

 

These policies include the illogical move to enforce a ban on street trading and hawking; the over-taxing of the poor, the under-employed and unemployed considering that the conditions of existence of these categories of citizens have hitherto been painful. A life characterized with penury and deprivations; a situation which remain unchanged and as a matter of fact deteriorating rapidly.

 

The ban on street trading represents the increasing of the sufferings of the poor and toiling people who ordinarily are trying under the present extremely harsh economic conditions to fend for themselves. Majority of Lagosians and Nigerians have had to resort to self-help almost on every facet of life consequent upon the gross failure of government to fulfill its constitutional role of provisioning for the welfare and social security of the citizens. We question the logic behind the ban when those affected are largely already impoverished consequent upon the failure to facilitate gainful employment opportunities on one hand and failure in service delivery by the government on the other.

 

We affirm that the people are basis of governance, and government is a social contract. The reason government is instituted in the first place is to harness the resources of society for the social welfare of the people as enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Nigerian constitution. If government has failed in doing this, it is unfair and wicked for government to compound the pains of the impoverished who are engaged in self-help for their survival and existential issues by imposing unwarranted taxes policies that disrupt their source of existing.

 

Again, we question the rationale and the legality of the decision recently made by the Lagos state government to replace the hitherto existing unconstitutional Executive Secretaries with equally unconstitutional Sole Administrators considering that elections for Local government leadership had been long overdue.

It is disappointing and anti-democratic for Lagos State to illegally run Local Government Councils through the imposition of Sole Administrators as against the letters of the constitution.

 

We demand therefore that government must tow the path of true and constitutional democracy by organizing elections in the Local government councils to correct the aberration and illegality left behind by preceding one. Appointing Sole Administrators is akin to replacing illegality with illegality and it abuses the Constitutional status of Local Government Councils as an independent tier of government.

 

We call on Governor Ambode, not to pander to the dictates of political expediency or opportunistic political leaders to pollute his positive ratings occasioned by popular projects he is currently implementing across the state with anti-democratic dictatorial tendencies like the one under review.

 

Any government that lacks a vibrant and solid social base exists only in the air, because government and governance is all about social inclusion. Any government that develops policies without the consciousness for social inclusion will always fail. The only way the government can demonstrate the campaign mantra of ‘change’ upon which it rode to power to the people of Lagos state in particular and Nigeria is to generally and characteristically alter the hitherto existing situation and positively too.

 

I conclude by thanking you all again for honouring our invitation. Please we encourage us all to participate in the deliberations which promise to be very incisive. We shall also be administering questionnaires at this conference; we therefore seek your contribution to this process by filling a questionnaire on infrastructure and other government activities in your part of Lagos State.

 

Long Live, Lagos State

Long Live, Nigeria

 

 

Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman, CACOL

dadnig@yahoo.com

www.deboadeniran.com

0803-7194-969

 

 

The Coalition against Corrupt Leaders CACOL, has lauded the National Human Right Commission, NHRC, for revealing the perpetrators behind the electoral fraud committed in the 2007 and 2011 general elections, urging the commission not to relent until the culprits are judicially brought to book.

 

This came on the heels of a report by the NHRC that indicted the former governor of Delta state, Emmanuel Uduaghan; amongst other ex-governors, the former Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu and other government agencies, political institutions and security agencies, as participants in the electoral manipulations that occasioned the 2007 and 2011 general elections. The NHRC released the report at its headquarters in Abuja on Thursday.

 

Other indicted persons and institutions include former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, a former Acting Governor of Kogi State, Clarence Obafemi, and the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in the 2015 election in Benue State, Mr. Terhemen Tarzoor.

 

Reacting to the development, the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran wondered with dismay how a case of political corruption of such magnitude as revealed by the NHRC report be treated as if the acts allegedly perpetrated by the indicted individuals and agencies are of no consequence.
Adeniran said, “Political corruption itself which the revelations from the NHRC report represent is the ‘father’ of economic corruption and other forms of corruption. The corruption in our society today stemmed from political corruption and manipulations. The mould of leadership that have ‘foisted’ itself on the people for so long have all benefitted for the subsisting political corrupt background upon which they rose to leadership. And this how they have ensured that corruption dominates almost all facets of our existence.”
“With corruption having its tentacles spread to every facet of our polity and encroaching the whole system; the impunity and effrontery of characters that ‘pulled off’ such appalling crimes under our noses represent assaults on our intelligence and national psyche.”

 

“And with the very controversial ex-INEC boss, Maurice Iwu and others in play here, the revelations by NHRC validates the assertions Nigerians have always made that our electoral system is constantly manipulated. The Judiciary, INEC, and some other agencies have failed in discharging their responsibilities fittingly; the breaching of our electoral laws, when it happens is done with impunity in our country, yet the government and its agencies hardly bat any eye-lid. Cases of electoral malfeasance are hardly investigated or prosecuted, therefore culprits are not punished to serve as deterrent to other perpetrators of electoral fraud and as a result, electoral manipulations still characterize the electoral processes in our country.”

 

The anti-corruption Crusader, Mr. Adeniran in concluding called on the Federal Government, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami,  the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris,  INEC and other relevant institutions, to swing into action on the NHRC report.

 

“Investigations must be further conducted on the findings of the Commission, prosecution of culprits must be done and severe disciplinary actions must be awarded against those found wanting after judicial process is completed. This is how we can forestall electoral misconduct in the future.”

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CACOL

08141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,cacol@thehumanitycentre.org

August 16, 2016

 

For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at

www.corruptionwatchng.com, www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org

 

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, has called on former President Goodluck Jonathan to speak out on the plethora of corruption allegations and charges against his former aides and some of his family members following the anti-corruption war embarked upon by his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

Speaking through its Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran following the former President’s visit to incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential villa, the Coalition averred that if the interest of the country was much more important to the former President than whichever interests that he probably intends to protect by his silence, the logical thing is to speak out.

 

Adeniran asked, “we wonder how helpful the position of the former President is to the efforts to rid Nigeria of corruption? Or is his position perhaps based on possible culpability in some of the exposed corruption cases? As a Statesman, a former President and a Nigerian, it should be expected of him to stand clearly without equivocation on the side of the drive against corruption which has been one of the major banes that have stunted the country’s growth and development.”

 

The immediate past President, whose regime was and is still being perceived as profoundly corrupt, was reported to have told the media after his meeting with his successor that he was not ready to comment on the various cases of corruption so far instituted against his former ministers and aides by the present administration. He was reported to have evaded the question during an interview with State House correspondents. The former President said he would only speak on the corruption cases when all the matters had been resolved in courts.

 

The leader of CACOL said, “Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was reported to have said that there are too many cases such that it will not be fair to make comments adding he will do so at the appropriate time. This we see as unpatriotic of a Statesman who had been privileged to lead to the country. It would have been Statesmanlike and commendable if the former President expressed outrage over the tons of alleged corrupt acts that were perpetrated under his watch.”

 

“This his position as a matter of fact is giving more vent and strength to the insinuations that he was directly involved in the corrupt practices that happened during his tenure. Morally, as the Chief Accounting Officer of his regime i.e. person at the desk where the final buck stopped as President and Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces who superintended over a regime that has been described as the most corrupt in the history of country, the ex-president should have without hesitation clarified his role/s during his rule as they relate to the allegations.  This will clearly help the anti-corruption drive and the progress of the country. His refusal to comment is disappointing and sound more like holding the country to ransom or the “catch me, if you can” attitude and amounts to putting the personal interests of a very tiny few who are incurably corrupt over the vast majority and overall National interest.” Adeniran added.

 

In concluding, the CACOL leader said, “we are advising the former President to speak out to put the interest of country above any other interest. This will be more honourable and will demonstrate his ‘innocence’, sense of patriotism, genuineness and Statesmanship at this stage when the various plagues of corruption have battered our country almost into a pulp. The former President should remember that whether he talks now or not, the fight against corruption will continue and progress to fruition. What the people do not know today, they can definitely know tomorrow and by then it will be too late and useless for him to talk considering that he would indirectly have allowed the country to expend unnecessary energy, resources and time before the truth is brought to light. ‘Whatever is done in the dark, shall come light’ as a saying goes.”

 

 

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CACOL

08141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,

cacol@ thehumanitycentre.org

August 4, 2016

 

For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at

www.corruptionwatchng.com, www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre. org

 

Following yet another murderous rampage by herdsmen on the Kodomun community, Adamawa state, in the North East of the country which began on Monday; the Centre for Cultural and Religious Rights, CECURR has called on the Federal government to abandon its somewhat lackadaisical and insensitive disposition toward the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians.

CECURR speaking through its National Coordinator, Mr. Debo Adeniran, called on the government to embrace pro-activeness and decisiveness to immediately put a total halt to the killings that has persistently been perpetrated by Herdsmen along the length and breadth of the country for years.

Adeniran said “a government that is sensitive enough and knows its onions will value human lives and would have been outraged by the loss of lives and property whenever herdsmen carry out their barbaric bloodletting activities even before now.”

“One would have expected that by now government would have evolved an extra-ordinary security approach to the killings similar to the ones adopted against the Boko Haram insurgents, Arepo pipeline vandals/militants, the Niger/Delta militants etc considering that the activities of herdsmen across the country is gradually assuming terroristic dimensions.”

The media had reported resumed violence involving herdsmen and villagers at Kodomun village in Demsa Local Government Area of Adamawa State which claimed 15 lives and left many injured. Terror was said to have been unleashed on Kodomun village and some neighbouring villages on Monday at about 6p.m. when the villagers were resting after a burial of an old woman. The death toll stands at 30 at the moment according to media reports.

The National Coordinator of CECURR said “clearly, the modus operandi of these herdsmen reflects that the incessant attacks are consciously coordinated which make them go beyond the narrow confines of skirmishes. That the herdsmen carry sophisticated weapons and the incessantness of these gory occurrences also portrays an ‘army with a cause’. It appears the murderers are ahead of the government on this matter, as the herdsmen appear to operate freely without constraints and with bare-faced immunity.”

“We are therefore calling on government to dump the ‘kid gloves’ attitude towards the bloodletting activities of herdsmen. A look at the pattern of their operations reveals that the attacks cannot be treated in isolation as they cut across the country giving it a very bold outlook of a ‘nests of killers’ conjoined and working in a network. Theoretically, there is the dire need to interrogate and deconstruct the background to these tragic incidences which have remained incessant and apparently undying so as to be able to identify the immediate and remote causes. This is what will help in finding solutions to the trend of senseless killings by herdsmen.”

“The government must not wait for these incidences to occur before acting as it is already a ‘phenomenon’; anticipatory intelligence work must be on the top plate given that the groups involved in these killings and their locations are identifiable. This will make areas that are potentially prone to the violence to be isolated for preemptive security arrangements to forestall the further senseless killings.”

The leader of CECURR challenged the government be proactive in carrying out its responsibility as a government. “One of the most fundamental reasons governments are instituted in the first place is the protection of lives and property and to ensure the social well being of the citizenry as enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution. Where lives and property are being senselessly lost on such large scale as we have in this country can only mean one thing, and that is – the failure of government and governance! The time to act is overdue!”

 

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CECURR

08141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,cacol@thehumanitycentre.org

August 3, 2016

 

 For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at

www.corruptionwatchng.com, www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org

 

 

The Executive Chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, has reiterated the Coalition’s call for diligent investigations and circumspection in handling the revelations from the allegations of Budget padding in the Federal House of Representatives.