INVASION OF NUJ SECRETARIAT-Press Release

The National Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) views the absurdities of the ongoing Operation Python Dance 2 of the Nigerian Army in the south-eastern part of the country with dissatisfaction and disenchantment, especially the unnecessary clashes with innocent citizens. Of grave concern to us was the invasion of our Press Centre in Umuahia, Abia State by Soldiers on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 barely few days after three journalists were brutalized by the officials of Department of State Security in Osun State.

The NUJ had on several occasions initiated moves towards fostering safety of journalists and building synergy with agents of the state but unfortunately, brutalization and impunity by security agents still pervades. There is indeed an overriding need and urgency to promote safety of journalists and fight impunity against them, in order to create the enabling environment they require to optimally perform their fundamental functions in a democracy.

We condemn in its totality the conduct of the Army at the NUJ Press Centre in Umuahia, Abia State yesterday and demand for immediate investigation into this macabre act.

Our Stand

(1) The Union notes the apologies extended to the Abia State Council of the Union by the General Officer Commanding 82 Division of the Nigerian Army and the Commander of 14 Brigade of the Army.

We however demand for an unqualified apology from the Chief of Army Staff for the dastardly conduct of his soldiers, and call for punishment for those soldiers who carried out the attack.

 

(2) Although it may be impossible to estimate the extent of trauma caused our members by this despicable act, we however wish to demand for the payment of medical bills for all those who sustained physical injuries.

 

(3) We also demand for full compensation for all the furniture and office equipment destroyed by the soldiers at the Press Centre as well as all damaged gadgets belonging to members. Items seized must also be returned.

 

(4) For our members to trust the Army and deal with them in their professional capacities henceforth in Abia State and elsewhere, we wish to extract the commitment of the Army to ensure always the safety and security of journalists who cover their activities.

 

 

Shuaibu Usman Leman

Walin Shadalafiya

National Secretary.

AMAECHI’S CONFESSION OF THE APC CONSPIRACY

Political Note
By Emmanuel Aziken

Last Tuesday, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi finally opened up on the conspiracy he and a few other former members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP weaved to bring down the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Amaechi
Amaechi spoke on the sidelines of the meeting of the National Council on Transportation in Sokoto when he met with fellow plotter, Governor Aminu Tambuwal. At the time of the conspiracy, Tambuwal was the speaker of the House of Representatives and the fourth most senior government official in the PDP.

Amaechi’s confession came almost four years to the day on August 31, 2013, when the first signs of the plots came to national attention. On that day when the PDP gathered for a special national convention on its 15th anniversary, five governors walked out on President Goodluck Jonathan and the national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

The five governors were Rabiu Kwankwanso, Kano; Aliyu Babangida, Niger; Sule Lamido, Jigawa; Aliyu Wamakko, Sokoto; and Ahmed Abdulfatah, Kwara. They also had company in Senator Bukola Saraki and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Their walkout was partly framed on the fact that two governors, Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Amaechi (Rivers) were locked out of the convention on account of intra-party controversies that had led to the factionalisation of the party in their two states.

In Adamawa State, Governor Nyako was bested in the battle for supremacy with his in-law, Tukur. Tukur as national chairman refused to accredit Nyako’s faction of the party for the convention forcing Nyako to sit it out at the Adamawa Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.

Amaechi’s case was even worse; he had won the reputation of being the first PDP governor to be expelled from the party.

So, on the 31st of August, 2013, a day the PDP was supposed to project its 15 year dominance of the political space, the party for the first time became factionalised at the national level, leading to a crisis that eventually led to its historic loss of the 2015 presidential election.

As Amaechi revealed last Tuesday, Tambuwal was not part of the initial conspiracy that involved mostly the seven governors, Saraki, Atiku and reportedly another South-South governor who chickened out.

However, Tambuwal’s pivotal role in stoking rebellion against the PDP and the then incumbent president is well documented. Apart from his remarkable overturn of the PDP’s zoning formula for the office of speaker, Tambuwal for most of his time as the nation’s number four citizen was a critic of the foibles of the ruling party and the administration. His presence and words of admonition were sometimes like internal ulcer.

For his efforts, Tambuwal got his compensation when the APC at a special national convention in October 2014 amended its constitution to allow new members to contest for political office without meeting the former 30-day membership rule. There are some suggestions that the amendment was made purposely to benefit Tambuwal, though some former PDP members including Samuel Ortom and Senator Barnabas Gemade also benefited in Benue.

But after all the struggles and the conspiracies, how far have they gone, Amaechi and Tambuwal may have asked one another last Tuesday?

Today, nearly all the pioneer plotters have been left with the short end of the stick.

Tambuwal and Wamakko were ignored in the appointment of a minister representing Sokoto. Kwankwanso has been so hounded in his native Kano State that he has visited home only once since he relocated to Abuja as senator!

Amaechi some say may be an exception having gotten a juicy position for himself and some of his acolytes. He is also described as the APC political godfather in the South-South. However, some argue that the reward does not compare with the sacrifice he put in. Imagine the APC lost in 2015, and what could have become of him and Mrs. Patience Jonathan!

Nyako, another pioneer conspirator, has been arraigned with his son for alleged corruption. What of Saraki? He has been through the valley of the shadow of political annihilation; and even more, the humiliation of being arraigned by those he arranged to put in high office!