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Lagos has no social right to ban street trading — Adeniran

 
Executive Chairman of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, Mr. Debo Adeniran, tells BAYO AKINLOYE that Lagos State Government’s renewed enforcement of Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law 2003 is unfair and unwarranted

Why are you against Lagos State’s renewed enforcement of the Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law?

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders is opposed to the promulgation of the anti-street hawking law in the first place because Nigeria, and Lagos in particular, has a preponderance of poor people who live on less than a dollar a day. The situation even gets worse when you realise that there are people who live on less than 50 cents a day. We said that all the facilities that are available for the people are far beyond their reach. We educated the previous administration on the need why such a law should not be promulgated. The concept of creating a megacity is not about making the environment look beautiful with flowers and other architectural projects and de-population; chasing out the poor from the city. It is about expanding the existing infrastructure to accommodate the mega population. The government needs to provide adequate structures and facilities that will enable every member of the state to realise their potential within the ambit of such provisions. Since there has not been any provision to keep people gainfully employed away from major roads, it is improper for the government to invoke a law that is, considering the present realities, against the masses’ welfare. True, we do not want anybody to constitute a nuisance on the road but we do not want a situation where the poor pay for the convenience of the rich. The ban on street hawking as it is today only satisfies the needs of the rich rather than the poor’s.

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THE UNDYING NATIONAL QUESTION AND THE RENEWED CALL FOR RESTRUCTURING OF NIGERIA

The recent renewed call for the restructuring of Nigeria’s body polity requires to be profoundly interrogated, to understand the motivations and core purpose of the seemingly justified call. Circumspection on all the labyrinths of issues over the National question is very imperative, so as not to fall into the pitfalls of the past. 
 
Without any iota of doubt, Nigeria as a country remains a geographical expression like Chief Obafemi Awolowo posited and its faulty foundations remain shaky owing to the historical reality that Nigeria and Africa in general were indeed partitioned at the bayoneting ends of the guns of colonizers, for the convenience of their exploitation and subjugation of the people.
 
Again without any iota of doubt, the call to restructure Nigeria is neither the exclusive preserve of the ruling class in their intra-class factional struggles, nor is it a new call. It is a call, a demand, a bargaining weapon of choice, in their now covert, now overt intra-class skirmishes.
 
The truth is that no matter how Nigeria is restructured, the fundamental issue will remain about the social emancipation of the vast majority of the people. Any form of restructuring that is not achieved side by side with the social emancipation of the component units of Nigeria will amount to naught. Such achievement will make no significant difference in National life and the lives of majority of the people who would still remain oppressed and exploited in any arrangement that emerges from ‘restructuring’ designed and controlled by the present ruling class i.e. the representatives of the political and economic status quo.
 
It is important to learn from the history of Nigeria’s several attempts at addressing the National question, either initiated by the Government or by the people (Civil society). From the Obasanjo staged managed National Conference to the last National Confab organized by the Jonathan Goodluck-led government, it is explicit that the call for restructuring and addressing the National question is beyond what the status quo will organize for obvious reasons.
 
No genuine National Conference, if organized by the people like the attempt of the National Consultative Forum (NCF) under the leadership of Mr. Alao Aka-Bashorun in 1990, National Conference of Ethnic Nationalities organized under the leadership of Drs Beko Ransome-Kuti and Fredrick Fasehun at the Century Hotel Okota around 1995, and the Pro-National Conference Organization (PRONACO) led by Pa Anthony Enahoro will not turn the table around in favour of the vast majority of Nigerians and against the subsisting status quo.
 
Flowing from this background, unless and until when the oppressed people of the different component units of Nigeria unite against their oppressors in their various units in a popular process that will put the destinies of the vast majority in their hands regardless of the unit/s they come from, the National question may permanently become a permanent question.
 
The pre-independence constitutional conferences, as well as the post-independence constitutional reform processes have all been at heart about restructuring Nigeria, as has been the numerous state agitation/state creation processes and the many constitutional and political conferences.
 
The call to restructure Nigeria, it must be affirmed has also periodically found resonance among ordinary Nigerian citizens like NCF and PRONACO which gained traction particularly in times of deepening economic and political crisis. The more debilitating the economic crisis, the greater the instability in the polity, the more strident the calls for restructuring get.
 
It is therefore important to handle the recent strident calls shielded in ‘Nationalism’ from members of the ruling class with ‘a pinch of salt’. This is because the ruling class factions and fractions who lost out or are losing out in the jostle for control of and access to state power at central and sub national levels proceed to mobilize existing grievances along the lines of existing cleavages, as well as co-opt existing and incipient resistance struggles of impoverished and oppressed citizens against declining living conditions and intensifying economic hardships.
 
A Sovereign National Conference organized by the people themselves is the one and only way to resolve the National question that continues to linger and rears its disturbing head almost at all facets of our National life. This was what the original Campaign for Democracy (CD) focused its attention on since early 90s but never achieved because of intrinsic but unwarranted fear by the successive government that they would lose power of governing to the Conference!
 
We believe that an SNC is the beginning of true nationhood; the alternative is to keep an unstable geographical expression pretentiously described as country but lacks the socio-moral and political capacity to run under a common constitution since it was ab initio constituted under defective, thus illegitimate arrangement. To achieve an SNC requires a people in defiance and willing to overhaul the system politically and economically in the equation called ‘Nigeria’ which has persistently been described as a ‘lopsided’ arrangement and ‘marriage of convenience’ in some quarters.
 
It is true that a major contributory factor to why we are where we are today is the fact that states, which are supposed to be the federating units have become too small and too stripped of the powers and the capacity to generate and collect revenue to be fiscally autonomous of the federal government at the centre.
 
Of course compounding this basic structural defect have been the congenital greed, the inherent incompetence and ineptitude, and the crass opportunism of the ruling class.
These has helped to create an enabling environment unbridled treasury looting in the race for competitive primitive accumulation by the ruling elites, with the result that public wealth and public resources have been plundered and the state rendered incapable of provisioning the basic needs of citizens.
 
The point being made is that although a defective structure cripples the ability and capacity of the state to be utilized as the instrument of radical social transformation, of the type that enables equitable access to resources, opportunities and wealth of the society; thus enabling an all-round and more socially just human and societal development; nevertheless the structure of the polity alone without a corresponding socio-economic structure that is equitable and justice will not address the problem of deepening and intensifying inequality and widening gap between rich and poor.
 
 
Debo Adeniran
Executive Chairman
Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL
08037194969
July 8, 2016
 
 
 
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www.corruptionwatchng.com, www.cwatch.thehumanitycentre.org
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The Ban On Street Trading Without Alternative Is Insensitive To The Plight Of Poor, Working And Toiling Lagosians – CACOL

Akinwumi Ambode, Lagos State Governor

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, unequivocally condemns the ban on street trading by the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led Lagos State government. The ban represents the increasing the sufferings of the poor and toiling people who ordinarily are trying under the present extremely harsh economic conditions to fend for themselves.

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THE BAN ON STREET TRADING WITHOUT ALTERNATIVE IS INSENSITIVE TO THE PLIGHT OF POOR, WORKING AND TOILING LAGOSIANS – CACOL

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, unequivocally condemns the ban on street trading by the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led Lagos State government. The ban represents the increasing 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.

The ill-thought ban if violated will attract 6 months imprisonment or 90 thousand naira fine according to reports. Mr. Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman of CACOL questioned the logic behind the ban when those that are going to be affected are largely already impoverished consequent upon the failure of government in facilitating gainful employment opportunities on one hand and failure in service delivery by the government on the other. Adeniran observed that “the existing retail markets are too expensive for the average trader while they are too remote, rough or lacking in basic facilities that could make them attractive to those who would have patronized them.”

He said, ‘’one would expect a government that promised what was presumed to be positive ‘change’ during electioneering campaigns to alleviate the sufferings of the people to understand that the conditions of living of these categories of persons who engage in street trading cannot but get worsened should their source of earning the pittance they live on be blocked following the ban on street trading.”

CACOL is aware that street trading is a global phenomenon even in the other mega cities of the world which Lagos wants to emulate. What such societies did was to organize the poor income earners like street traders in such a way that they do not constitute nuisances as they carry out their activities.

Adeniran said “it is all about social inclusion; the governance and governance policies must be all inclusive. Those that will be affected by this ban are also Lagosians who pay taxes and most likely voted for the present government, it is therefore a betrayal of the hope and trust they reposed in the government.”

The Executive Chairman continued, saying “It is important to highlight that it is the women, most of whom are the ‘economic managers’ of the families that would largely be affected and this makes the effect of the ban very deep-seated on family livelihood, the livelihood of the cradle of every society.”

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, while commending the Ambode regime for some noticeable developmental projects being implemented across the state and encouraging the government not to relent, would not want the regime to snatch with left hand what it has offered the poor Lagosians with the right hand.

“It is imperative to note that, this ban if allowed to stay, is also going create avenue for the traditionally unruly Lagos state paraphernalia of security outfits like KAI, LASTMA and the Police to harass, extort, maim and even kill poor people who are only struggling to exist.” Adeniran warned

In concluding, he said, “we therefore call for the quashing or humane amendment of the insensitive law that outrightly put blanket ban on street trading without providing viable, accessible and affordable alternative means of livelihood for the victims of the ban. We also call on government to create employment opportunities that will automatically make street trading unattractive to the prctitioners. It is the constitutional responsibility of government to cater for the security and welfare of the people. It is the duty of government to protect the poor and downtrodden and their interests not just the interests of the rich few. Lagos is both for the poor and the rich; at this rate Governor Ambode is gradually towing the line of his wicked predecessor who ensured that the pains and sufferings of the ordinary poor Lagosians were escalated beyond incredible limits when he ruled.”

 

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CACOL

08141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,

cacol@thehumanitycentre.org

4 July, 2016

 

 

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

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

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ONE YEAR THE ASCENSION OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND THE ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS (APC) TO POWER: MATTERS ARISING

TEXT OF THE STATE OF THE NATION PRESS CONFERENCE HELD on 29 JUNE, 2016 COMRADE DEBO ADENIRAN, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF THE COALITION AGAINST CORRUPT LEADERS, CACOL

 

ONE YEAR THE ASCENSION OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND THE ALL PROGRESSIVE CONGRESS (APC) TO POWER: MATTERS ARISING

Preamble

On behalf of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, I welcome you to this Press Conference called to address the state of the nation one year after the ascension to power of President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressive Congress (APC) to power haven emerged victorious in the 2015 general elections. We thank you for honouring our invitation and appreciate your consistent reportage of our activities as one of the foremost anti-corruption organization in the country.

This Press conference will analyze the state of nation politically, economically and socio-culturally at the present time and proffer recommendations to address the multifarious challenges that confront us a nation and people.

THE NIGERIA POLITICAL SITUATION: JUST THE DIFERENCE BETWEEN SIX AND HALF-A-DOZEN!

An Overview

One year after the ascension present regime to power, it is apparent that the hope President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC-led the Federal level gave to majority of Nigerians prior to the victory of the party at the last general elections held in May, 2015 has been betrayed.

Politically, it has become obvious that fundamentally, political control still remain within the tenacious grip of a ruling class that have maintained and displayed the same ineptitude, maladministration, corruption, impunity and insensitiveness for decades resulting to the painful situation of existence of majority of Nigerians.

The hardships that Nigerians are going through continues to be compounded by the political decision to maintain the kowtowing to the neo-liberal dictates of the IMF/World Bank which is manifesting in the lack of access to basic needs required for humane living and existence.

The present APC led Federal government is not a radical departure from hitherto existing governments that favoured only the elite and the extremely wealthy ruling class. Yet, this is a government that rode on the mantra of ÇHANGE to get elected. We ask, whither the change?

The difference between the hitherto regime and the present one is like comparing a half-full and a half-empty cup. The political scenario continues to be riddled with intrigues, deceits and abhorrence of democratic norms and popular participation.

Insecurity of lives and properties continue to thrive; from the exhuming of the Biafra agenda and the violence it engendered to the killings by Fulani herdsmen, from undying insurgence of Boko Haram to emergence of the pipeline-bombing Niger Delta Avengers, the country remain in serious quagmire. Kidnappings, abductions, ritual killings, conscriptions, rape and other violent crimes are still rife. And all these are as a result of the absence of formidable political will to confront the security challenges of the country, reminiscent of the immediate past regime.

The 8th National Assembly under Bukola Saraki’s leadership: An Assembly with a ‘rotten’ head and an ‘infected’ body

From the inauguration of the 8th National Assembly, NASS, in June 2015 and the emergency of its leadership, the NASS have acted in ways that are very antithetical to the doctrine of democracy and good governance. This began manifesting when it was discovered that the rules of the Assembly were forged to facilitate the emergence of the present leadership, a development which up till now remain unresolved and is in the Court of law for adjudication.

From ‘budget paddings’ and unnecessary delay in passage of the budget which led to blame trading between the Executive and the NASS to the travails of the Senate President, Mr. Bukola Saraki over corruption charges, from the 108 Land Cruiser SUVs distributed amongst the members of the Nigerian Senate to their humongous salaries and allowances, from sexual misdemeanour to the implication of the Senate President in the Panama Paper Leak and the present ‘face-off’ between the Executive and NASS over forged rules, the journey of the 8th Assembly has been topsy-turvy in a very unprecedented manner.

To paraphrase Prof. Niyi Osundare, who described members of NASS as ‘lawless lawmakers’, ‘beyond shame’ and ‘allergic to honour’, the Senate is full of “scoundrels, cut-throats, venal warriors. Criminal spawns of our triumphant Kleptocracy, they steal our votes, purloin our prospects in their noble service to our ‘New Democracy’”.

To demonstrate its self-serving ends, the NASS in spite of the hallowing and excruciating conditions of living of the vast majority had the effrontery to ask for Life Pensions and Immunity for its Presiding Officers in a putrid stench that oozed out of the Retreat of Members of the National Assembly, NASS, on Constitutional Review recently held in Lagos.

We say an emphatic NO to life pensions for legislators. The proposal for Life pensions has however thrown up a situation that calls for introspection on the rationale behind the State paying of life pensions to any category of elected officials at all. Elected officials are ELECTED to SERVE, such responsibility or duty is not a CAREER or a PROFESSION! Elected persons are expected to work for their earnings prior to being elected and after serving their tenures; they deserve only to be paid for the period that they are incumbent.

We therefore call for the halting of the payment of life pensions to elected public officials across board henceforth as this is illegitimate and usurping!

One of the most reckless and ironically ridiculous move by NASS is the refusal to carry out their constitutional duty of screening the Ambassadorial nominees of the President and the declaration of war against the Executive following the charging of the Senate President and his Deputy for forgery of the NASS rules and ethics; a serious criminal offence against the state. We wonder what they were elected to do if they abandon the primary purpose why they are elected which is to legislate and to perform oversight functions. Their attitude is sabotaging and tantamount to carrying out a coup against the Federal government of Nigeria.

It is time the NASS is cleansed of the dishonourable and incurably corrupt elements in the Hallowed Chambers to save Nigeria the humiliation its reputation is suffering as a country within the comity of Nations.

Prior becoming the Senate President, a position which he assumed via very controversial means; Mr. Saraki was known for running publicly-owned businesses bankrupt and someone with a poor reputation such as his, isn’t fit to be called or be elected as a Senator not even to talk of becoming the Senate President.

With such a background and considering that he  oscillates between sitting in the criminal suspects’ box in the Code of Conduct Tribunal as a criminal suspect and in  the High Court for forgery charges while also sitting as President of the Senate in the hallowed Chambers of the National Assembly as the President of the Senate doubling as the Chairman of the National Assembly, the situation becomes an aberration and makes Saraki a misfit to occupy a seat in the Nigerian Senate in the first place and unfit to continue to occupy the exalted position of the Senate Presidency.

It is absurd for someone who sits high at the throne of the law making guild in Nigeria to discredit himself so much in the eyes of the public and thereby tarnishing the image of the country. Nigerians must mobilize from their constituencies to ‘decapitate’ the NASS via the instrumentality of impeachment and subject the body to thorough cleansing in order for the country to progress developmentally, both economically and politically.

 

NIGERIAN ECONOMY: AN ECONOMY MOVING STEEPLY INTO RECESSION

Coming to terms with the reality of the present times, it is very glaring that our country, Nigeria, is at a dangerous precipice with the present economic repression characterized by the increased sufferings and excruciating pains of the ordinary poor, working and toiling people who constitute the majority.

The skyrocketing increases in the cost of the very basic needs of life; from food to water, fuel to health services, dwindling income to rapidly increasing unemployment and under-employment rate etc. all stem from the progressively receding economy that stare us as a people in the face so boldly.

The economy of the country prior to the present steep recession had been rudderless or directionless and this is in spite of the fact that the indicators were there for the handlers of the Nigerian economy to see before it assumed the recent dimensions.

And because there seems to be no direction, because the economy seems to be at best on autopilot, and at worst under the spell of a powerful magician, the problems emanating from the cesspool of the past keep rearing their ugly monstrous heads, becoming ever more resilient as they expand in scope and scale.

Overwhelmed by the scale of the rot it inherited on assumption of power, and clearly fazed by the enormity of the task at hand, the present ‘change’ regime keeps reminding us at the slightest hint of any difficulty that the humongous maladministration and impunity of the recent past is the cause of our present problems. This worn out lazy excuse has become so monotonous and routine, that each time they speak now; they sound like broken records/audio CDs.

While the government have busied itself with flying excuses around; from past sharp and corrupt practices to fall in the price of international price of crude oil to the freefall of the naira against the dollar etc. the economy has moved from being directionless straight towards recession or a ‘melt-down’.

Let it be said that we know where we are coming from, we know where the rain started beating us, and we know when the rain became a raging storm; but isn’t that why we voted out that sorry excuse for a government? Was that not why we agreed and chorused ‘enough is enough’? Isn’t that the reason we sent that most parasitic of governments parking from power and Aso Rock? Was that not why we embraced the amorphous and ill-defined change?

As a country, it is time to move beyond excuses and expression of frustrations; the government needs to eschew lamentations and come up with pragmatic and practical ways out of the present precipitous economic recession as the situation call for extraordinary measures. Lamenting and agonizing over the past will not automatically translate into inclusive economic growth and national development, without a clearly articulated, debated and shared economic and human development plan of action.

The Minister for Finance and Economic Development seem to be overwhelmed with present the economic situation in the country. These times require the very best hands; for the period is indeed a very challenging one, as such a change in the Ministry is imperative as the economy is too central to all other aspects of our national life to be left in the hands of the mediocre. We thus call for the removal of Mrs Kemi Adeosun as Minister of Finance with the obvious reality that she is overwhelmed and this stems from her innate incompetence.

The Treasury Single Account, TSA and the failure of Government to fulfill its contractual agreements with SystemSpecs

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, based on our conviction that the Treasury Single Account, TSA is an initiative that can plug the several holes which corrupt public officials have utilized to perpetrate and perpetuate their incorrigible sharp practices have followed the processes that have been involved in the implementation of the initiative, from the point of its adoption by the Federal government till date.

 

CACOL thus find it disheartening and disappointing to read that the government has not paid for the services rendered by SystemSpecs, the providers of the technological backbone (Remita) for TSA as reported in an advertorial (Why We Have Continued Provide Support for the TSA – SystemSpec) placed in ThePunch Newspapers of 28 June, 2016 (page 26).

 

It is seriously astounding to discover that in spite of the fact that the country has continued to enjoy the seamless services of the leading software house, government has failed to fulfil its contractual agreements with SystemSpecs. For a government that claim to have zero tolerance for corruption, the present situation represents an antithesis to the philosophy of anti-corruption and must be condemned.

 

In the first six months of its operation, the Federal government was been able to save about 2.2 trillion naira (which by now has increased to over 3 trillion naira) through the TSA initiative, an amount that is about half the budget for 2015; this huge sum of money would have ended up in private pockets without trace. Why then would anyone want to kill the TSA or undermine the idea if it has been so beneficial to the country? It is our opinion that most of those opposed to the TSA initiative are those who were beneficiaries of the leakages that the TSA has been able to block.

CACOL holds the belief that the controversies over TSA are unwarranted; just like the whole anti-corruption war is coming under attacks, the TSA is facing a similar fate, it is corruption fighting back. We believe it is not really the contractor or the contract awardee that is at the bottom of these controversies but the recalcitrant attitude of those that want the old ways of corruption to be sustained.

We are convinced that tampering with Treasury Single Account (TSA) initiative will be tantamount to unplugging the holes of corruption that has already been plugged by the very effective strategy that has helped the country to check fraud and promote accountability. Also, failure to fulfill contractual agreements by a government that is championing anti-corruption will be contradictory and betrays the integrity that is supposed to a core value of the present government. Consequently we call on the Federal Government to fulfill its contractual agreements with SystemSpecs.

 

THE POWER SECTOR: TIME FOR THE MINISTER OF ‘DARKNESS’ MR. BABATUNDE FASHOLA TO BE SACKED!

Topping the list as far as we are concerned in terms of abysmal performance that requires radical change in the present Federal Cabinet is the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. It is our view that the ministry has been the main one that has most misrepresented the campaign promises of APC and the change Nigerians expected. All the actions and policies of the Ministry have compounded the sufferings of Nigerians in multi-folds; from lack of power supply to the illogical hike in electricity tariffs, from continually decaying infrastructure to death traps as roads with a Housing sector that is ‘non-existent’ or in absolute comatose.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing keeps standing logic on its heads by asking the already impoverished Nigerians to bear the brunt of his failure by asking Nigerians to pay for darkness and for services not rendered even up to the effrontery of hiking the tariff of electricity against a background of a country in perpetual darkness.

The Minister has made history by achieving the lowest, ZERO, mega watts for more than 18 hours in history of power generation in Nigeria; he has nothing to offer than damage, we call on Mr. President to ask him to honourably resign or he should be sacked! The Minister is obviously overwhelmed as the tasks before him seem very daunting to him.

THE CLAIM AND THE CLING TO IMMUNITY, THE ATTEMPT TO USE BLACKMAIL AS DEFENCE BY THE EKITI STATE GOVERNOR, AYODELE FAYOSE IS PREPOSTEROUS.

The claim and cling to immunity by the governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose over the freezing of his bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC is fallacious, null, void and ultra vires. CACOL views the governor’s position as frivolous, shameless, insensitive and immoral.

 

The recent revelations emanating from the freezing of the personal account of Fayose; a “sitting” governor shows that there is the likelihood that other leaders are being “shielded” by the immunity clause. Apparently, some so-called leaders have perfected the act of running riot with our commonwealth knowing fully well that before the end of their tenures all records showing their misdemeanors would have been “taken care” of. This is the same reason why the Senate is pushing for immunity for their leaders also so as to “enjoy” the untouchable status, while pilfering, maladministration, impunity and sharp practices thrive!

 

It is rather embarrassing that the immunity clause have consistently been racked and shown to our faces, because it is enshrined in our constitution for Presidents and their Vice and Governors and their Vice all in an effort to justify the “sanctity” of our democratic arrangement. This is why we have found ourselves in a situation where people of seriously questionable characters that get elected into public offices, emboldened by the cover of the immunity clause act with impunity.

 

The attempt to hide under the immunity clause is a shameless one; it is a bid to escape or pervert justice which be made futile by all right thinking Nigerians and the relevant agencies. EFCC in particular should as a matter of urgency fast track the work on the Fayose case and extend the current investigative skills to other “sitting” and “immune” leaders since for all we know, Fayose’s “secret personal dealings” might be a tip of the iceberg!
The Fayose saga has shown, that, with all hands on deck, Nigeria can battle corruption and win, the saga is an illustration of this reality, thus we call on the EFCC and the all other agencies not relent in their efforts as the ongoing anti-corruption drive gains momentum. All the arguments and explanations of Fayose and his pathetic supporters piles up to naught in the realm of dialectics and law!

 

ON THE ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE

CACOL commends the Federal Government and the anti-corruption agencies for the feats achieved so far. The anti-corruption drive of the present government remain its main highpoint and must increase in momentum based on the fact that corruption is fighting back, viciously, deploying every crooked means available.

As corruption fights back, the logical response is to; lawfully remove all the encumbrances on the path of the anti-corruption drive which corruption criminals cleverly use to wriggle through the labyrinths of the existing judicial system to escape justice, amend our laws and the creation the Special courts for corruption cases.

 

The President Mohammadu Buhari-led administration recently released the figures of funds and assets recovered from the looters of the country’s resources without revealing the names of the people that are involved in the crime as requested by many Nigerians. This is rather unfortunate as stealing is a crime against the state and should not be covered up, it does not augur well for the anti-corruption drive and makes the recovery process opaque and lacking in accountability. We therefore call for the names of the looters that returned loots to be made public!

The Brigadier General Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) saga that is presently in the front-burner of public discourse following the revelation that the General own two plush and palatial Mansions in Dubai must be thoroughly investigated and if any wrong-doing is legally established, the General must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

That the General claimed in his explanation that he used his life savings to purchase the properties and he declared the properties in his the assets declaration he did at the Code Conduct Bureau (CCB) is not   tenable at all, it only raises more questions.

For instance, looking at the value of the Mansions, if all his earnings since he started working were put together in a lump, can it buy the said properties in Dubai? If it cannot, the General’s story falls flat on its face and this indicts the CCB itself, given that it should have investigated the value of the properties and ascertains the source via which the General could afford such extremely expensive Mansions.

The attitude of Military in the defense they have put up so far has been suspicious and even increases the imperativeness of thoroughly investigating the Buratai case. The case will serve as a litmus test for the much touted anti-corruption war of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government which has been described as been ‘skewed’ in some quarters!

LAGOS OPEN PARLIAMENT

We want to use this opportunity to inform the Media that preliminary processes of our programme tagged ‘Lagos Open Parliament LOP” has commenced with the administration of questionnaires on the state of infrastructures, service provisioning etc.

The LOP surveys government performance in Lagos state by getting feedback directly from Lagosians with the goal of promoting and enhancing good governance. This years’ LOP is tagged ‘LOP3’, it will survey and process data gotten from survey to assess the last one year of governance in Lagos state under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s leadership. We shall keep you updated; including inviting you to the Exploratory, Validation and Public Presentation conferences as soon as the dates and other details are harmonized.

 

We thank you once again for your prompt attendance.

 

Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman, CACOL

08037194969, dadnig@yahoo.com, www.deboadeniran.com, cacolc@yahoo.com,

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

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

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THE CLAIM AND THE CLING TO IMMUNITY, THE ATTEMPT TO USE BLACKMAIL AS DEFENCE BY THE EKITI STATE GOVERNOR, AYODELE FAYOSE IS PREPOSTEROUS. – CACOL

The Coalition Against Corruption Leaders, CACOL has described the claim and cling to immunity by the governor of Ekiti state, Ayodele Fayose over the freezing of his bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC as fallacious, null, void and ultra vires.

 

This came on the hill of a report that the EFCC had frozen the personal account of the Ekiti state’s governor with Zenith bank following an alleged order. CACOL views the governor’s position as frivolous, shameless, insensitive and immoral.

 

The Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran while reacting to the report said “the recent revelations emanating from the freezing of the personal account of Ayo Fayose; a “sitting” governor shows that there is the likelihood that other leaders are being “shielded” by the immunity clause. They have perfected the act of running riot with our commonwealth knowing fulyl well that before the end of their tenures all records showing their misdemeanors would have been “taken care” of. This is the reason why the Senate is pushing for immunity for their leaders also so as to “enjoy” the untouchable status, while pilfering, maladministration, impunity and sharp practices thrive!”

 

“It is rather embarrassing that the immunity clause have consistently been racked and shown to our faces, because it is enshrined in our constitution for Presidents and their Vice and Governors and their Vice all in an effort to justify the “sanctity” of our democratic arrangement. This is why we have found ourselves in a situation where people of seriously questionable characters that get elected into public offices, emboldened by the cover of the immunity clause act with impunity”. Adeniran added

 

Describing the attempt to hide under the immunity clause is a shameless one; the anti-corruption crusader said “the attempt to escape or pervade justice in this case will be futile. EFCC should as a matter of urgency fast track and extend the current investigative skills to other “sitting” and “immune” leaders since for we know, Fayose’s “secret personal dealings” might be a tip of the iceberg!”

 

CACOL congratulates the EFCC for the great work it’s doing in exposing corrupt leaders. “Who would have believed that Fayose that have refused to pay workers’ salary in Ekiti state for several months had more money (ill-gotten money/blood money) in his personal accounts to the extent that he is richer than the state he is governing? It is all thanks to the EFCC for their diligence that Fayose has been exposed!”

 

Adeniran continued “another positive from the scenario, for which the Federal Government deserves commendation, is the Bank Verification Number (BVN) which it introduced. We believe the BVN has helped tremendously in the tracking of loots kept with the banks. We commend also the Zenith Bank for clarifying that it never donated funds to the Ayo Fayose campaign.”

 

In concluding, he said “the Fayose saga has shown that with all hands on deck, Nigeria can battle corruption and win, the saga is an illustration of this reality, thus we call on the EFCC and the all other agencies not relent in their efforts as the ongoing anti-corruption drive gains momentum. It is our desire to see the agencies treat all suspected corruption criminals in the same way in order to send appropriate message to innocent Nigerians that corruption is a shameful act. This is in line with CACOL’s perpetual advice through its pay-off line – Name, Nail, Shame and Shun corrupt leaders anywhere, everywhere.

 

 

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CACOL

08141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,

cacol@thehumanitycentre.org

June 23, 2016

 

 

 

 

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SARAKI’S FRESH APPLICATION TO DISQUALIFY CHAIRMAN OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT TRIBUNAL, CCT, IS PART OF HIS PLAN TO ESCAPE JUSTICE – CACOL

The Federal government has last week opposed a fresh application filed by the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, seeking the disqualification of the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, Danladi Umar from further presiding over his trial on charges of false and anticipatory asset declaration.

 
The Senate president filed a fresh application for the second time asking the CCT Chairman to withdraw from his trial based on the alleged ongoing investigation of his involvement in N10m bribery allegation. Saraki in the application accused him of been biased against him during the June 7 proceeding where he   warned the defense Counsel against delay tactics in the course of the trial.
Executive Chairman of Coalition Againt Corrupt Leader, CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, in his reaction to the development supported the position of the Federal government. He stated that Saraki is trying to use the tactics to get lesser sanction, get sympathy from the people and also buy some time for himself.
Umar made the statement and which was ‘picked-up’ by Saraki when he was warning the defense that their delay tactics would not reduce the consequence that the defendant will meet at the end of the trial. Saraki claims the statement will prejudice the outcome of his trial.
In agreeing with the Federal government Adeniran explained that since the statement made by the CCT Chairman was quoted out of context, Saraki’s accusation remain baseless and attention should not be paid to it. He said that the CCT should carry out its constitutional duties without fear or favour and that the trial needs to be sped up and let justice prevail.
In concluding he said “like we said before, that with a background like that of Saraki and considering that he  oscillates between sitting in the criminal suspects’ box in the CCT as a criminal suspect and sitting as President of the Senate in the hallowed Chambers of the National Assembly as the President of the Senate doubling as the Chairman of the National Assembly, the situation becomes an aberration and makes him a misfit to occupy a seat in the Nigerian Senate in the first place and unfit to continue to occupy the exalted position of the Senate Presidency.’’
 
Signed
 
Wale Salami
Media Coordinator, CACOL
08141121208
June 22, 2016
 
For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at
 
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THE PROPOSAL FOR IMMUNITY AND LIFE PENSION FOR LEGISLATORS: A PUTRID STENCH THAT IS TRAGIC, COMEDIC AND PROVOCATIVE! – CACOL

A putrid stench oozed out the Retreat of Members of the National Assembly, NASS, on Constitutional Review in the form of a proposal for Life Pension and Immunity for presiding Officers of the NASS. This proposal was said to have been made at a-two day retreat on Constitution Review organized by the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Constitution Review in Lagos.
 
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, finds this call as an insensitive, irresponsible and self-serving one that must have emanated from the minds of the incurably corrupt, inept and parasitic members of the so-called hallowed Chambers. The proposal which seeks life pension on one hand also seeks immunity from prosecution for the presiding Officers while still in office on the other hand.
 
The Executive Chairman of CACOL, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said while responding to the call, “those seeking immunity for NASS members are the same people supporting the weakening of the anti-corruption agencies. This is even coming at a time the Nigerian public is clamouring for the removal of the immunity clause that protects the executive arms of federal and state government with a view to reducing the impunity with which corruption and other crimes are committed by them.”
 
Adeniran said that, those pushing the proposal are those who commit the worst form of corruption crimes and are desperate to escape justice by every means possible. “Asking for life pension for NASS members is like asking to be paid for rendering no service; it is like asking for legalization of stealing public finds. Already many of NASS members have been accused of drawing pensions, sometimes salaries, from places they earlier served as public servant while still drawing salaries from their present assignment at the National Assembly.”
 
“It is very insensitive and provocative against background of the fact that in this same country, workers who have worked diligently for 35years find it difficult to access their pensions and gratuities. The present attempt is an attempt to legalize official stealing while the quest for immunity is meant to help confirmed criminals amongst them to escape justice.” Adeniran averred
 
Members of the 8th National Assembly seems to have taken opportunism to an all new and embarrassing heights, the anti-corruption crusader said, adding that “such a crave is a manifestation of their proclivity to committing heinous crimes and desires to get away with them. We call on Nigerians should rise in unison to resist this attempt to institutionalization of official extortion and protection of official criminals!”
 
The CACOL Leader concluded by saying, “only the heartless and the most selfish amongst us as Nigerians, which will under the present trying times, apparent economic recession and the attendant excruciating conditions of living of the vast majority of Nigerians come up with such a diabolic and ironically ridiculous proposal. We must collectively condemn this move and ensure that the proposal becomes ‘dead on arrival’ or ‘brought in dead’; we must say an emphatic NO to the shenanigans, the extremely selfish and greedy parasites disguised as ‘Honourable men in our hallowed Chambers! Now!”
 
Signed
 
Wale Salami
 
Media Coordinator, CACOL
08141121208
June 20, 2016 
For more press releases and statements, please visit our website at
 
 
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RESIDENTS DOCTORS’ STRIKE: CACOL CALLS FOR PAYMENT OF SALARIES –CACOL

 

The Coalition against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) condemns the irresponsible attitude of the Federal government towards the negligence of the health sector and the non-payment of salaries to the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in spite of the fact that the doctors are on a National strike.

 

Reacting to the news on behalf of the Coalition, its Executive Chairman, Comrade Debo Adeniran said, “this is yet another round of avoidable impasse caused by the government which would have an adverse effect on the citizens if the doctor’s request for negotiation is ignored.”

 

Continuing, he said, “the occurrence of industrial actions is highly inevitable in the subsisting system of governance and true salvation would only come when the system itself is cleansed of malfeasance, profligacy and mis-governance that has plummeted the commonwealth of the nation and made the kind of situation where workers’ are left unpaid possible.”

 

Considering the quintessential role doctors play in saving lives, Adeniran said “the Government should accede to their request for hazard allowances. We know how important it is to always have doctors available in our hospitals and the doctors ought to be equipped with the necessary resources.”

 

Speaking further, Adeniran urged the Federal government to bear it in mind that Nigerians will be the ones to bear the brunt of whatever happens should the government remains recalcitrant by failing to accede to the demands of the NARD. “The Buhari-led administration should do everything possible to come to a mutual agreement with the doctors which is preventing them from doing their jobs.”

 

“As the strike lingers on, lives are being lost on daily basis and the of the sick have been exacerbated in multi-folds. It is insensitive for government to dilly-dally on the situation of the welfare of health workers, as it is a matter of ‘life and death’ which makes the job of the doctors sacred.” CACOL Leader concluded.

 

 

Signed

 

Wale Salami

Media Coordinator, CACOL

08141121208

wale@thehumanitycentre.org

cacolc@yahoo.com,

cacol@thehumanitycentre.org 

June 21, 2016

 

 

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

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THE STATE OF NATION: NIGERIA, A COUNTRY AT CROSSROADS; A PEOPLE IN EXCRUCAITING PAINS AN ECONOMY MOVING STEEPLY INTO RECESSION

Coming to terms with the reality of the present times, it is very glaring that our country, Nigeria, is at a dangerous precipice with the present economic repression characterized by the increased sufferings and excruciating pains of the ordinary poor, working and toiling people who constitute the majority.

 

The skyrocketing increases in the cost of the very basic needs of life; from food to water, fuel to health services, dwindling income to rapidly increasing unemployment and under-employment rate etc. all stem from the progressively receding economy that stare us as a people in the face so boldly.

 

The economy of the country prior to the present steep recession had been rudderless or directionless and this is in spite of the fact that the indicators were there for the handlers of the Nigerian economy to see before it assumed the recent dimensions.

 

And because there seems to be no direction, because the economy seems to be at best on autopilot, and at worst under the spell of a powerful magician, the problems emanating from the cesspool of the past keep rearing their ugly monstrous heads, becoming ever more resilient as they expand in scope and scale.

 

Overwhelmed by the scale of the rot it inherited on assumption of power, and clearly fazed by the enormity of the task at hand, the present ‘change’ regime keeps reminding us at the slightest hint of any difficulty that the humongous maladministration and impunity of the recent past is the cause of our present problems. This worn out lazy excuse has become so monotonous and routine, that each time they speak now; they sound like broken records/audio CDs.

 

While the government have busied itself with flying excuses around; from past sharp and corrupt practices to fall in the price of international price of crude oil to the freefall of the naira against the dollar etc. the economy has moved from being directionless straight towards recession or a ‘melt-down’.

 

Let it be said that we know where we are coming from, we know where the rain started beating us, and we know when the rain became a raging storm; but isn’t that why we voted out that sorry excuse for a government? Was that not why we agreed and chorused ‘enough is enough’? Isn’t that the reason we sent that most parasitic of governments parking from power and Aso Rock? Was that not why we embraced the amorphous and ill-defined change?

As a country, it is time to move beyond excuses and expression of frustrations; the government needs to eschew lamentations and come up with pragmatic and practical ways out of the present precipitous economic recession as the situation call for extraordinary measures. Lamenting and agonizing over the past will not automatically translate into inclusive economic growth and national development, without a clearly articulated, debated and shared economic and human development plan of action.

 

THE CRISES OVER WAGES, SALARIES AND EMOLUMENTS OF WORKERS AND PENSIONERS

 

It is sad that many states in the country at the moment owe their workers several months in salaries, wages and pensions. Government at different levels has unashamedly expressed ‘inability’ or should we say lack of willingness to pay giving very untenable reasons. This is against the background of government and political office holders’ jumbo salaries and allowance packages plus their characteristic manner of wasteful spending and misplacement of priorities that put their self-aggrandizing interests over that of the workers that create the wealth of the country.

 

This situation is totally unacceptable and condemnable! From the Residents doctors’ nation-wide strike to workers’ strike in Ondo and Ekiti States, which has now infested federal health workers, from the pensioners plight in Imo state to the mass-quake in Oyo state, the whole country appear to be engulfed by the anger of the working people following the failure of government to pay for legitimately earned wages, salaries and emoluments.

 

This failure to pay is very reprehensible particularly where the states are concerned given that the Federal Government had earlier in the year given bail-out funds to some states that couldn’t pay their workers to facilitate their ability to pay. But majority of the states that benefited from the bail-out ended up diverting the funds for other purposes.

 

We condemn this insensitivity to the plight of workers by government and support the working people in every step they are taking to claim the rights and their legitimately earned wages. Presently, Imo state government owes pensioners for 70 months’ pay, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states owe over 6 months’ salary; this is sheer wickedness! This is happening in a country where ex-governors are on life pension with reigning ones rollicking with bogus security votes to run into billions of naira!

 

We call on the Federal government to ensure that the 90 billion naira it is going to give to states as bail-out do not go the way the first one went. Fundamentally too, the self-sufficiency and self-sustainability of states must be developed as against the present order where the Federal government has to bail states out for their financial recklessness, mis-governance and maladministration.

 

ON JOB CREATION

Following its reneging on its electoral campaign promise to pay 5, 000 naira per month to unemployed youths in the country, the Federal government has announced some initiatives targeted toward job creation like the 500, 000 graduates to be employed in a country where unemployment and under-employment rules the lives of almost 70% of its employable population. This will of course be a like a drop in an ocean if the scheme ever come to fruition.

 

The reality is that job creation is the outcome of your economic policies and programs. There is no such project as ‘job creation’. Job is created when the economy is growing and expanding, when opportunities are equitably distributed and can be equitably accessed; when small scale businesses can stay in business, grow, expand, become profitable and so can employ more hands; when new businesses can be set up, and the environment is enhancing of their ability to survive and grow; when labour is adequately compensated and workers welfare are enhanced making it possible for productivity to grow, for workers to save, and for workers to spend more to buy goods and services that have been produced; when the cost of doing business is not prohibitive and the ease of doing business is improved.

 

THE POWER SECTOR: TIME FOR THE MINISTER OF ‘DARKNESS’ TO BE SACKED!

Topping the list as far as we are concerned in terms of abysmal performance that requires radical change in the present Federal Cabinet is the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. It is our view that the ministry has been the main one that has most misrepresented the campaign promises of APC and the change Nigerians expected. All the actions and policies of the Ministry have compounded the sufferings of Nigerians in multi-folds; from lack of power supply to the illogical hike in electricity tariffs, from continually decaying infrastructure to death traps as roads with a Housing sector that is ‘non-existent’ or in absolute comatose.

 

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing keeps standing logic on its heads by asking the already impoverished Nigerians to bear the brunt of his failure by asking Nigerians to pay for darkness and for services not rendered even up to the effrontery of hiking the tariff of electricity against a background of a country in perpetual darkness.

 

The Minister has made history by achieving the lowest, ZERO, mega watts for more than 18 hours in history of power generation in Nigeria; he has nothing to offer than damage, we call on Mr. President to ask him to honourably resign or he should be sacked! The Minister is obviously overwhelmed as the tasks before him seem very daunting to him.

 

 

Debo Adeniran

Executive Chairman, CACOL

08037194969

dadnig@yahoo.com, www.deboadeniran.com

cacolc@yahoo.com,

June 17, 2016

 

 

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

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