Jonathan’s N21bn donation: Impunity taken too far

 President Goodluck Jonathan

THE Peoples Democratic Party Fund Raising Dinner held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to boost President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign war chest has been attracting public attention. The event, which took place last Saturday, was attended by business people, multinational organisations, interest groups and individuals who donated a sum of N21.27 billion to support his campaign for the 2015 presidential election.

But the President and his party will definitely have trouble explaining away this latest bizarre development in regard to the law of the electoral game and the morality in politics.

Though how a political party’s candidate raises his or her campaign funds is the party’s affair, the process must comply with the extant laws and pass the integrity test. First, Nigerian laws are unambiguous on campaign expenses and funding. The 1999 Constitution in Section 221 clearly states: “No association, other than a political party, shall canvass for votes for any candidate at any election or contribute to the funds of any political party or to the election expenses of any candidate at an election.” The Companies and Allied Matters Act also expressly forbids companies in Section 38 (2) from funding or donating gifts, property or money to any political party or association. Then the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, specifies in Section 91 (2) that “the maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate at a presidential election shall be N1 billion.”

But Jonathan, the ruling PDP and its 21 state governors took lawlessness to a new height on Saturday when one Tunde Ayeni, leading other donors, gave N2 billion on behalf of himself and his unnamed “partner” and “friends.” Jerry Gana, a permanent fixture in successive governments, announced N5 billion on behalf of his equally mysterious friends and “associates in the power sector.” Not to be outdone, oil and gas sector “friends” also pledged N5 billion; real estate and building sector, N4 billion; transport and aviation sector, N1 billion; food and agriculture, N500 million; power, N500 million; construction, N310 million; road construction, N250 million; National Automotive Association, N450 million; and Shelter Development Limited, N250 million. Going by the Electoral Act, which caps the donation an individual could make at N1 million, 5,000 donors must have been behind Gana’s N5 billion gift.

There is no doubting the fact that these donations raise salient questions verging on transparency. At a period when the government should be taking interest in enforcing compliance with the money laundering laws, people should not come out to announce donations on behalf of themselves and their “friends,” without actually naming those “friends.” It should also be of interest to know if those donors and their anonymous “friends” have complied with appropriate tax obligations. International best practices stipulate this as the minimum irreducible requirement.

Many Nigerians will also be interested in knowing how the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, which was credited with producing N15 million, came about its donation. As a government agency, where did it derive such powers to donate to a political party from? Having done this for the PDP presidential campaign, will the commission also make a similar amount available to other parties?

As for the sectoral donors, there is also the need for total disclosure. Who were the actors in the oil and gas sector that donated N5 billion? If they are publicly quoted companies, did they get the approval of their shareholders before going on the spending spree? How did the power sector that has not been able to muster enough investible funds come about a N500 million donation? With the automobile industry donating N450 million, it is no longer surprising that it benefited so much from the government’s controversial waivers.

Ayeni, a legal practitioner whose consortium recently acquired NITEL and Mtel, is also the chairman of Skye Bank Plc and a director in the Ibadan Electricity Development Company. Given that these big time sectoral players have suddenly become the big donors to the President’s campaign, what is the guarantee that regulators would be able to control them? It is little wonder that the government, after selling the power sector to private operators, is still interested in arranging a N213 billion bailout for them.

So, except the players in the various sectors donated their own money, they have brazenly violated the law if they did so on behalf of their companies. The relevant authorities should demand their tax returns. As of 2010, domestic airlines collectively owed banks and regulators over N300 billion. To say the least, this is another outrageous example of brazen impunity in government.

Indeed, a string of ugly scandals has dotted the Jonathan administration. Among the most unsettling cases is the N2.53 trillion paid out in 2011 as petrol subsidies to cronies and “ghost” businessmen when the National Assembly approved only N245 billion that year. We also recollect the mind-numbing loss to the national treasury of some questionable waivers that cost the country N64 billion in first six months of the year. Funds that disappeared from the public till can now find their way back as campaign donations. There is also the unresolved issue of missing billions of dollars at the state-owned oil company.

This scale of campaign slush funds and illegal contributions in return for some political and economic favours is deeply worrying. On moral grounds, leveraging on political power to raise campaign funds is corrosively anti-democratic. That it was done by previous administrations should not be a justifiable excuse for the flagrant abuse of power. There is next to no doubt that some of these funds are of doubtful origin. It is just sickening to find a President who claims to be fighting corruption fraternising with the venal high and mighty.

But a graver worry is how the toxic donations will further poison the electoral process and shore up the system of patronage. We are also faced with a total collapse in political morality, with corruption worn now as a badge of honour. It is sad to note that there is an instinctive conclusion among the Nigerian public that the Jonathan government is the most financially corrupt, fiscally irresponsible, politically insensitive and socially disconnected in Nigerian history. What a shame! The 21 PDP governors should also explain if their state legislatures approved the N50 million each they donated and whether they will extend the largesse to other parties.

In real democracies, laws regulate the conduct of candidates and international best practices demand transparency and specificity in campaign financing. In the United States, for instance, campaign contributions from government contractors, personal or business funds, individuals or sole proprietors who have entered into a contract with the government are prohibited by law. Any infraction or suspected questionable behaviour is investigated and culprits punished. This explains why French authorities since 2013 have been investigating Nicolas Sarkozy, the immediate past French President, over the allegation that he received €50 million from the late Muammar Gaddaffi as financial help for his 2007 presidential campaign. The US federal prosecutors have launched a clutch of corruption investigations against politicians such as Washington Mayor, Vincent Gray, and Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, who received money from local businessmen they claim was in accordance with accepted campaign finance practices.

Impunity starts from little things left unpunished. These financial irregularities inside the Jonathan re-election campaign should also be investigated. While Section 8 (1) of the Federal Inland Revenue Service enabling law empowers the FIRS to adopt measures to identify, trace, freeze, confiscate or seize proceeds derived from tax fraud or evasion, Section 35 (3) says “…the Service may cause investigation to be conducted into the properties of any taxable person if it appears to the Service that the lifestyle of the person and extent of the properties are not justified by his source of income.” Most of the donors in this bizarre event fall within this category. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has sufficient grounds to investigate the suspicious financial transactions.

It is all evident that Jonathan has failed badly to build a credible, honest and minimally effective government for almost half a decade that he has been President. This is regrettable indeed.

Jonathan condones corruption, says Osinbajo

Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

The Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has said that one of the fundamental problems bedeviling the nation is the failure of the President Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government to tackle corruption.

Osinbajo stated this during a Twitter chat tagged #AskProfOsinbajo.

He said it was saddening that under Jonathan’s government, “there is no consequence for corruption.”

He added, “One of the fundamental problems is that there is no consequence for corruption. I think that what everyone will agree to about a Buhari government is that it will not tolerate corruption.

“If the number one citizen has a clear and uncompromising anti-corruption stand then the anti-corruption policy will work. If the number one and number two citizens have a strong stance on anti-corruption then our policy can succeed.”

Osinbajo added that a Buhari Presidency would bequeath to Nigerians a country where everyone would have a good job and lives a descent live in peace security.

He also accused President Goodluck Jonathan of politicising the fight against the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

Osinbajo argued that the present administration had failed to “sincerely identify” the menace posed by the insurgent group.

The law professor also blamed the failure of the security forces to contain the excesses of Boko Haram in the on-going war against terrorism on corruption.

“The current administration has politicised Boko Haram. The corruption around defence funds has created a situation where soldiers are not well equipped and motivated.

“General Muhammadu Buhari wiped off Maitatsine, another Islamic insurgency during his administration, by sincerely identifying the problem as a challenge to the authority of the state to maintain law and order.

“The administration took command and funded the military transparently and that is what we need to do now to end this insurgency,” Osinbajo said.

Meanwhile, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Kanu Agabi (SAN), has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to be steadfast in the fight against corruption in the country.

He said that the operatives of the EFCC must carry out their responsibilities with the conviction that society had put them in a position to enforce the nation’s laws against corruption.

The former AGF said that he had the belief that the commission had credible personnel with the capacity to enforce the laws of the land.

A statement signed by the Head of Media and publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, quoted Agabi as having made the comment while delivering the Special Guest’s address during the commission’s maiden ‘Rewards and Recognition’ ceremony in Abuja on Monday.

How to treat a naked woman: Another rejoinder

Adelakun who took her inspiration from some women and men in faraway Kenya that “protested a culture that strips a woman naked– to enhance her dignity and protect the sanctity of their society” had in the write-up surrendered to all values that are antithetical to Africa, elevated even the strange modern culture that is hunting the West and condemned African culture as a myth that never existed.

In her words, ‘It never fails to amuse how some folk paralyse themselves with nostalgia of an Africa that probably never existed… Today, a number of the values people attribute to traditional African values are Victorian ideals, prompted by colonial incursion into their societies.’’

The writer also blamed “shame” about nudity or being “naked” on social conditioning, quoting a misleading anthropological account by Alfred B. Ellis – first published in 1894 and “some other accounts” that debunk myths of sexual puritanism – where people have sex only for procreation.

But Sado in an attempt to exonerate women from taking responsibility through their subscription to lewd culture that prompted men to prowl on them blamed the African and Arabian worlds for sexual harassments of women. He also holds the puritan culture responsible for allowing such other issues like the Kenyan woman harassment to thrive.

The article keeps one wondering if Sado had the slightest understanding of the implication of his assertion as he failed to convincingly prove to his readers the particular aspects of the African and Arabian social systems that encourage abuse and disrespect of the women folk.

Contrary to his assertion on the inappropriateness of the African and Arabian culture, the modern day culture (not only Western) which has been imported from different climates and region, is leading the womenfolk towards annihilation both in substance and figure. There are various interpretations of what defines a sophisticated woman, all of which defies the true essence of her existence and impacts negatively on her natural purpose.

The woman these days dominates discussions in many fora: seminars, symposiums and academic gatherings. She is discussed in various media outfits: both print and broadcast; online publications and tabloids. Some of the discussions often steer up quite a lot of arguments, debates and in fact inspires further studies which I suppose is because of her uniqueness.

The woman has also occupied an interesting position in the hearts of many in these past few weeks; thanks to the United Nations day tagged: the International Day for the Rejection of Violence Against Women.

Writing about the uniqueness of the woman can be very moving and amusing. Thanks to the woman, for without her, the future of man is insecure. Thus, the woman, with her overbearing presence in the society, deserves to occupy the most conceivable elevated and honourable position!

Every man is required by the law of nature to respect the emotions and position of every woman in his life simply because he wouldn’t find himself in any meaningful relationship and the associated nomenclatures; be it a father, brother, son or even in-law, except for the consequential relevance and presence of a woman’s figure in his life.

Violence against any female sex, be it a child, adolescent, spinster, married, widowed or aged, is therefore a despicable act, not only towards the individual but the general public. Violence, be it sexual or physical certainly cannot be excused away on any justifiable reason. Such appalling actions towards the female folk, who according to some scholars, are the stronger of the two sexes (in terms of life expectancy) should never be tolerated on the very vulnerable member of a society.

Having said that, it must be stated unequivocally that for every right, there is a corresponding duty or obligation. We all might have read or heard recently in the media, series of reports on the notorious ill-famed paedophiles who could not seek legal and upright means of satisfying their canal desires than to seek and wrongly trap the innocence of our female minors. How on earth and why in all sense of decency will anyone who calls himself a man with females in his family and lineage enjoy inflicting indelible stigma and harrowing pains in the life of an innocent minor, all in the name of gratifying ill-fated sexual urge?

It is either we have become more incognisant of the rampaging effects of this act on our decaying society, engendered by our negligence of good moral practices on the mental health of people, or we are simply not paying attention to the consequences of licentiousness and promiscuity on the society at large.

We seem to always want to emulate everything from the West without a reason to look back and sieve the grains from the chaff, the reverberation of which is ripping the society apart.

It is obvious that every man who gratifies his sexual urges from a minor doesn’t have the fire of his animalistic passion lit by that minor, as women, we therefore must be very cautious of any of our actions that may spur potentially rapacious men on, for one innocent, defenceless child out there might be the one to pay the price for our careless actions.

For crying out loud, why are women usually the object often depicted as representing seduction and sexual themes? Why do we allow ourselves to be subjugated by the society by dressing and dancing dishonourably on TV when the men dress corporately even at beaches? Why do we use ourselves as sexual appeal for men who eventually go away with all the benefits and the profits of the promos? Why do we sell our humanity and indeed our womanhood cheaply? And why do women activists and civil society groups keep criminal silence with none of them embarking on a campaign for the restoration of women values and dignity?

As women, we owe ourselves the duty to protect ourselves and our future generation from being constantly reduced to agents of entertainment. This is depicted in the portrayals of women in the various media as objects of sexual ignition. For example, in a game of American football or rugby, the men are usually well clad in their sport suits leaving no part of the skin bare, but the reverse is the case in the female version. This is also reflected in athletics, long tennis, wrestling and a host of other sports worldwide.

The question that now arises is: Who is more deserving of a decent and protective sports suit than the women? What social benefits are there in exposing so much, all in the name of a game?

Our major problem is our inability to make judgments based on the unfolding natural laws which, if distorted, continue to impact negatively on the structure of the society. Men and women play complementary roles in the society. That is the way of the natural laws, which are in themselves inherent. Deviation from this is usually detrimental, which explains the alarming rate of sexual perversion in different garbs.

Paradoxically, Sado advanced security reasons for supporting legislative actions against outfits that cover every inch of the body, but he inadvertently contradicted the very essence of his write-up, which is to show his solidarity for the female folk.

Sado must understand that women who wear apparels that conceal all parts of their body simply do so on the basis of their religious beliefs and under the protection of the constitution and universal laws. Curiosity of a prying eye to know the personality behind the cloak cannot diminish this fundamental human right.

For men, who endlessly blame the women folk for their uncontrollable sensual feelings and assault, why not take to discipline. Lower your gaze, refrain from lustful gazes and shun places and sites that engender those feelings which eventually stimulate the animal instinct and incite you to anti-social behaviours!

B’Haram attacks two state capitals again

Scenes of the Bauchi and Gombe bomb attacks 

At least 29 people were   killed and more than 65 others wounded on Monday   in two separate attacks by suspected Boko Haram insurgents on the capitals of Gombe and Bauchi states.

The Gombe State attack was   by a female bomber who struck at the Dukku Motor Park in Gombe. She killed 19 and left 40 others injured at about 10.58am.

Almost five hours and 28 minutes after, another insurgent   detonated a bomb hidden in a shop at the ever-busy Central Market in Bauchi.

It could not be ascertained if the bomber was a male or a female.

The Gombe bomber was said to have disguised as a passenger carrying her lethal weapon hidden   in a sack .

Eyewitness said she   detonated the explosive   near a bus   loaded with passengers.

“The bomber chose her   target carefully. She probably was standing by and observing   when some of   the buses in the park were fully loaded before setting off the bomb.”

The witness, who said that two buses were completely burnt, added that majority of the victims were passengers and   hawkers .

The Police Public Relations Officer of the state police command,   Fwaji Atajri,   and the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed   the death of 19 people .

While Atajri said 25 were injured, NEMA, in a statement   by its Information Officer, Manzo Ezekiel, gave 39 as the figure.

The PPRO said that         the injured were being treated at the Gombe Specialist Hospital.

The statement by Ezekiel read, “Following the explosion in Dukku Motor Park in Gombe on Monday, the NEMA-led rescue operations evacuated all persons affected by the incident to the hospital while the area has been cordoned off.

“Most of those evacuated were taken to the Gombe State Specialist Hospital where they are now receiving treatment from injuries sustained in the explosion.”

At about 5.28pm on Monday, another bomber struck   at the Central Market in Bauchi  when traders were preparing to close for the day.

When The PUNCH correspondent in the state visited the scene,   tension was high as some   angry youths   ordered journalists   to leave   or be attacked .

Gunshots were fired by security agencies at the scene to scare away the youths but they   responded   with stones and other dangerous objects.

An eyewitness,   Mu’azu Musa, said   he saw bodies of the victims   being evacuated from the scene of the blast.

Musa, a commercial motorcyclist, added that he found himself in the hospital after losing consciousness on seeing the charred bodies of the victims.

At the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, one of our correspondents   saw injured victims     taken there by Red Cross officials.

The Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Council of the hospital, Saidu Kadas, told journalists that the actual casualty figure   could not be ascertained   as more victims were being brought in.

Also,   the Chairman of the ATBUTH branch of the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, Mr. Idris Ado, said that striking health workers   had been called upon to report for work on Tuesday(today) to   help in treating   the wounded victims.

Governor Isa Yuguda, in a statement, condemned   the blast   as most unfortunate and barbaric.

The governor, according to the statement   by his Chief Press Secretary,   Ishola Adeyemi, said those behind the attack were   cowards.

He told the people that   his administration would not relent in its efforts to ensure that their lives and property   were protected .

Southern hunters to join anti- Boko Haram campaign

Meanwhile, hunters in Southern Nigeria on Monday announced that they would join   their colleagues in the North-East in   ending   what they described as the “senseless war” against Boko Haram.

The hunters, under the Association of Animal Hunters of Nigeria,   told journalists in Benin, Edo State,   that the war in the North-East had persisted for too long.

The President of the association, Mr. Raymond Macaulay,   said, “We just want to be there, and put this nonsense behind us. We want to let our fellow hunters there know that they are not alone. As hunters, what hurts one hurts all.

“We are feeling what they are feeling. And now, we are going there in our thousands to end this nonsense. Their business is our business. It’s time for action.”

While arguing that no country could end   insurgency through the military alone, Macaulay advised the Federal Government and other well-meaning Nigerians to urgently empower his group     with logistics to enable them to “move immediately to the North-East, especially in view of the renewed bombings and abductions of women and girls.

He said, “Hunters out-number insurgents and even security agents. We can no longer allow antelopes to harass our people in the North. We are ready to join our brother-hunters in the North-East to stop the   mindless destruction of our people.”

The   President of the Senate, David Mark, has challenged security operatives to bring their intellect and investigative skills to bear in finding out those behind the   insurgency in Nigeria.

He also implored community leaders and other Nigerians   to collaborate with the security agencies in order to expose the financiers of the criminals forthwith.

Mark, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Paul Mumeh, stated this in Abuja after decorating his Aide-camp,   Mr. Abel Miri, with his new rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police.

The Senate President reasoned that one of the ways to end insurgency was to unmask their sponsors within and outside the country.

Mark said, “The unabating situation demands extra-ordinary measures to handle. All of us, irrespective of status must be alert to our responsibilities.

“Let us rise as one people faced with a common problem to say no to these harbingers of death . Let’s come together and work hard to free ourselves .

“All Nigerians, must see these terrorists as a threat to our existence. Nobody should sit on the fence any more. It is a choice we have to make in chasing these terrorists away or wait to be consumed by them.

“This is not about politics, religion or ethnicity. It is about our survival as a nation.”

Mark told his newly decorated security aide that his new rank “demands higher responsibility and dedication to the service of his fatherland.”

Blaming Jonathan for insurgency won’t exonerate APC

The Peoples Democratic Party also said on Monday that no amount of allegations against President Goodluck Jonathan can exonerate the All Progressives Congress of blame for the   wave of violence in the North-East.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh,   alleged that the body language and inciting utterances of APC leaders,   had served as fuel to the raging flame of terrorism.

It said that by going to the international media recently to distance themselves from complicity and in turning round to blame it (PDP),   the APC was asking Nigerians to suddenly forget the barrage of earlier statements by its leaders

The PDP statement reads,   “Nigerians have not forgotten the spontaneous violence and mayhem on innocent citizens following a statements by(Muhammadu) Buhari and other APC leaders in the defunct Congress for Progressive Change , upon losing the 2011 presidential election.

“The APC leaders have so far left no Nigerian in doubt of their party’s violent disposition as Gen.Buhari in May 2012, remorselessly stated that ‘the monkey and baboon will be soaked in blood’ should he lose the election.

“Nigerians have also read and heard other ricocheting calls for violence and threats of parallel government from other leaders of this same party. These are not just mere slips but incontrovertible snips from the agenda of the APC to sustain insurgency and set the stage for carnage after they lose in the 2015 general elections.”