Tension as Northern govs meet in Abuja

GOVERNORS of the 19 northern states are due to meet in Abuja today, ahead of the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The meeting, which was supposed to take place in Kaduna, had to be shifted to Abuja at the instance of the vice-president, Alhaji Namadi Sambo.

Sources said the meeting would allow the governors to take a common stand on the schedule of primaries of the PDP and the bid by National Assembly members to become automatic members of the NEC.

The governors, according to sources, had resolved to fine-tune a number of issues before the NEC meeting and they could also use the opportunity to take a stand on their support for President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Sambo.

It was learnt that the governors wanted to take a common position ahead of the governors meeting and the meeting of PDP governors.

“The meeting could resolve a number of issues. We could see the governors adopt the Jonathan-Sambo ticket in view of current realities and we could see hem taking a final decision on the NEC membership issue by the National Assembly members,” a source told the Nigerian Tribune.

It was gathered that the northern governors were also planning a common position on the leadership of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), which was moving to effect leadership change.

Activists demand prosecution of Shell over Wikileaks revelations

Environmental activists have urged the Nigerian government to begin criminal prosecution of executives of oil giant, Shell, for alleged treasonable activities committed by the corporation as revealed by an online whistleblower, WikiLeaks.

In the released cables of US diplomats in Nigeria, WikiLeaks revealed that Shell’s vice president Ann Pickard admitted to a former US envoy to Nigeria that its employees were seconded to all the relevant ministries and agencies of the Nigerian government and thanks to the infiltration, the company was able to keep a tab on all governmental policies and deliberations.

But the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) said the revelation has shown that rather than operate as a company, the oil-giant had become “a pseudo-political organization bent on taking political power and undermining our national interest, national security and our sovereignty.” The group, in a statement, issued yesterday, said Shell had gone beyond merely doing business in Nigeria but had “perfected its despicable act of corporate rule through which it has over the years evaded justice for all its atrocious activities against the environment and the Niger Delta People.”

Quoting statements credited to Ms. Pickard that the oil company knew “everything that was being done in those ministries” as the Nigerian government had “forgotten” about the extent of Shell’s infiltration and unaware of how much the company knew about its deliberations, the activists claimed that it had finally “been vindicated!”, noting that it raised alarm several years back about “Shell’s surreptitious attempt to assume full control of our national systems.”

The group noted that Shell was not only in the drivers’ seat of the oil fields of the Niger Delta but also in government policy-making meetings where it consistently instigated policy sommersaults with the Petroleum Industry Bill and other far-reaching laws that would guarantee transparency and accountability which it did not want.

“With these leaks, it is time for the Nigerian government to reclaim our sovereignty from Shell and restore dignity to the Niger Delta people by forcing Shell to stop gas flaring, reckless oil leaks and total disregard of the environment,” ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey, said.

The group said that when Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former employee of Shell was appointed minister for petroleum, “we warned that it was a tactless surrender of Nigeria’s oil industry to Shell. We told Nigerians that there is irreconcilable conflict of interest in her appointment because the minister has never for once hidden her true identity as a protégé of Shell.”

Damaging cancer

The group also called on the Nigerian government to begin an immediate “investigation to identify those Shell agents planted in ministries and government agencies and flush them out of the system.” According to the group’s programme director, Godwon Uyi Ojo, “Shell has become a cancer that is damaging every organ of the Nigerian polity. No wonder Shell has been able to evade justice for ecological devastation, complicity in cases of human rights violation and other atrocities linked to its operations in the Niger Delta.”

Secret dispatches from Washington’s embassies in Africa also revealed that Shell swapped intelligence with the US, in one case providing US diplomats with the names of Nigerian politicians it suspected of supporting militant activity, and requesting information from the US on whether the militants had acquired anti-aircraft missiles.

Mr. Bassey pointed out that with these leaks, “we have been validated by our publication in 1993 that Niger Delta people have been trapped between a vicious global corporation and a visionless government.”

‘Don’t politicise data capturing machines theft’

The recent theft of data capturing machines imported by the Independent National Electoral Commission at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos is an internal security issue that should not be politicised, the minister for defense, Adetokunbo Kayode, said at the weekend. Mr. Kayode, who told reporters in Akure that those who stole the machines were petty thieves, said the government was doing everything to address the internal security at various airports and warned authorities of the airports to brace up.

“Internal security is one of the biggest challenges we have in this country,” he said. “That is why we have not left everything to the police alone. Mr. President has directed all the armed forces to support the police to ensure that our internal democracy is stabilized. Theft in any airport is normal, but it is not acceptable. What happened was that some petty criminals stole some computers. Though they have all been arrested, it just showed that it is not uncommon. Many times you travel outside the country and you discover that your bag is missing. In fact, some airports are even worse. You have to hold on to your trousers because before you know it your trouser is gone.”

On the forthcoming primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Kayode said the party was ready to field the best candidates and would allow for internal democracy where a level playing field would be provided for all the aspirants. He, however, said all the political parties in the country are facing challenges of internal democracy.

“The smaller parties are worse than the PDP when it comes to internal democracy,” he said. “Internal democracy is a challenge to all political parties. It will be foolish for any party to think that it is only PDP that has the problem of internal democracy. The PDP is huge and has bigger challenges than all these small parties. The small parties that control two or three states are not better than the PDP in terms of internal democracy. What is presently happening in the folds of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Lagos state is a good example. There were protests because some people said they were being sidelined.”

The minister who called for support for the candidacy of President Goodluck Jonathan, said the people of Ondo state would support his candidacy because he offered the best credentials among those jostling for the position.

“The voting pattern in Ondo state has always remained the same,” he said. “When it comes to a presidential candidate, we always go the same way without party affiliation. I am very sure that those in the Labour Party and other political parties in the state will support President