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| ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo |
Odusanya reportedly worked behind the scenes when Obasanjo was in power.
In a live interview, with an online news portal, Sahara Reporters, Odusanya alleged that the former President lodged the killer squad at a State Security Service headquarters, known as ‘Yellow House.’
He appeared on the programme alongside Mr. Segun Seriki, a PDP member in Ogun State and a member of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic, under the Social Democratic Party.
According to Odusanya, the squad was used for political assassinations and was responsible for the unresolved killings of politicians under Obasanjo’s administration.
He further alleged that Obasanjo knew about the murder of the former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige, and a South-South politician, Chief Harry Marshall.
Odusanya said, “I believe that a killer squad created during the Abacha regime was kept by Obasanjo and housed at SSS headquarters, known as Yellow House, and was used for political assassinations.”
Explaining Obasanjo’s alleged link with Ige’s death, Odusanya said, “The night Chief Bola Ige was assassinated, a top PDP member confided in me that Obasanjo told him Bola Ige was down.”
Concerning the murder of Marshall, he said, “I also took a gift to Marshall and he was assassinated just a few weeks later.”
Odusanya also alleged that the ex-president benefitted from an account with the defunct Trans-International Bank and that from the funds in the account, Obasanjo, asked him to deliver a Peugeot 607 and the sum of N500,000 to a woman (name withheld).
When contacted for Obasanjo’s comments, his Chief of Staff, Mr. Victor Durodola, said his boss was not available to react to the allegations.
He challenged those who made the allegations to come out with their evidence.
Durodola said, “The former president is not available. Therefore, he is not in a position to respond to the allegations. However, my personal comment is that these are people who indulge in blackmail.
“Why are they using online television? They should come to Channels, AIT, or NTA; these are television stations that are known.
“Definitely, that is not Obasanjo’s character they are describing and everybody knows that. Of all the military rulers, the issue of killer squad cannot be attributed to him. That was not his style. He is not around now but I doubt if he would even give it any attention whatsoever.
He stressed that the ex-president could not have been responsible for the unresolved killings under his administration.
He further argued that Obasanjo had no reason to be involved in Ige’s assassination.
“We would like to see it (the interview) but these are issues you know cannot be possible. The killings were unresolved, yes, but you know that nobody could have attributed that to him. He would kill his minister for what? So that he (Obasanjo) could be minister?” Durodola said.
Another Obasanjo aide, Vitalis Ortese, told one of our correspondents on the telephone that the allegation was a non-issue.
He said, “I don’t know them. Let them prove the allegation. I don’t know any Segun Seriki or Richard Odusanya.”
Also reacting to the allegations, Bola Ige’s eldest child, Mrs. Funsho Adegbola, told SUNDAY PUNCH that her father’s killers are still alive.
Adegbola, a lawyer, called for the reopening of the Bola Ige murder case.
She said, “I can’t put anything past them. I haven’t seen the interview. I don’t know the content of the report but I can’t put anything past them. I believe the people who killed my father – the foot soldiers and the people who sent them – are alive. They are not people from Mars.
“A murder case can go on for 30 years or more. If there is political will and the government wants to show that people should pay for their crimes, this can be done. The family can’t do anything about it because it is the state versus the suspects. The family can’t sue; it is the state that can take action.”
Ige, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, was shot dead in his Ibadan home on December 23, 2001.
Following a mass protest over the killing, the Federal Government had deployed troops in the South-Western state to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
While security agencies had arrested some suspects allegedly involved in the murder, including the then deputy governor of Osun State – Ige’s home state – Mr. Iyiola Omisore, they were however discharged and acquitted.
Just like Ige, Marshall Harry, who was the National Coordinator, South-South geopolitical zone of the All Nigerian Peoples Party Presidential Campaign was murdered by at his No,28 Karaye Close, Garki II, Abuja residence on March 5, 2003, barely a month to the presidential election in which Obasanjo was re-elected.
The ANPP chieftain was said to have been killed in the presence of his daughter and his niece, Loliya Harry.
The only security guard in the house, Mr. Polini Aniya, said the assailants numbering about five forced their way into the ANPP chieftain’s residence around 3am.
The ANPP, and it presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, had insisted that agents of the PDP and Federal Government assassinated Harry.
At Harry’s burial ceremony, Buhari, alleged that in its desperation to rig itself into power, the PDP-controlled Federal Government bankrolled assassins to eliminate political opponents.
After the incident, the police arrested four suspects in connection with the murder.
However, after seven years in detention, the accused standing trial for the murder were discharged and acquitted by an Abuja High Court.
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| PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur |
At inception in 1998, the Peoples Democratic Party attracted a motley crowd of individuals from different backgrounds and ideological persuasions who were united in their quest for power.
Some argue that these individuals could not disguise their desire for power so much so that they reflected it in the party’s slogan which has over the years transformed from “power to the people” to simply, “power.”
The party has been in power at the centre since democracy returned in May 29, 1999. It has so far produced three Presidents: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Umaru Yar’ Adua and incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
Each of them had at various times sought effective control of the party machinery to advance their positions in the power game. Obasanjo has so far remained unequalled in this area. He mastered the art of whipping party members into line even if it meant looking the other way when a sitting governor was abducted or when anti-graft agencies were unleashed on governors considered disloyal.
Strong-arm tactics such as the forced resignation of party chairmen and the imposition of a state of emergency was commonplace. In certain instances, contrived impeachments of sitting governors without prejudice to pronouncements of the courts also featured while he held sway.
Virtually all arms of government felt the weight of his might. He had running battles with the leadership of the two chambers of the National Assembly. He stands accused of engineering the removal and replacement of no fewer than three out of the five Presidents of the Senate, for standing up to him on issues of public interest.
His handpicked successor, Umaru Yar’Adua, perhaps did not stay long enough to prove his mettle in this area. He battled health challenges until he died. The succession battle which raged during his ill health and after his demise; dealt a further blow to the fragile cohesion party members could lay claim to. After the bitter party primaries which produced Goodluck Jonathan as flag bearer, the party finds itself gasping for breath each time elections are near.
From the outset of the current administration, it became clear that party discipline was going to be a major challenge. Following what political pundits describe as the collapse of the party’s zoning arrangement, party loyalists picked and chose which directive to comply with. After the 2011 election elections adjudged the most credible, free and fair in recent memory was won and lost, the sharing of the spoils of victory became the first litmus test for the party leadership.
An attempt by the party to revive the zoning arrangement with the distribution of principal offices at the National Assembly failed in the House of Representatives. Despite threats of sanctions, party loyalists ignored the party leadership’s directive to endorse Mrs. Adeola Akande as Speaker of the House; they rallied round their opposition colleagues to vote in Aminu Tambuwal who was their choice for the job. Since then, the most vocal voice of opposition to some government policies have come from PDP members of the House.
Perhaps the most potent threat to the party’s claim to being a cohesive political force is the challenge coming from the influential Nigerian Governors’ Forum.
Opposition party governors under the platform of the newly formed All Progressives Congress took a step that put the Jonathan-led PDP administration on the spot. They paid a visit to the troubled city of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, a feat which the President was unable to achieve since the Boko Haram insurgency began.
As if that was not enough, the NGF which is made up of Nigerian governors drawn from across party lines and has Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Ameachi of the PDP at the helm has been a thorn in the flesh of the executive.
Amaechi’s leadership style which inspires confidence among his colleagues is something the PDP has grown uncomfortable with.
His activism especially during the debate on the Sovereign Wealth Fund, and disbursements from the Excess Crude Account attracted more than a passing interest by hawks within the Jonathan administration.
To make matters worse, he is remoured to have an ambition to team up with the Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido to run for the Presidency in 2015.
A number of PDP governors were also having running battles with the Party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, over the control of the party machinery at the state and federal levels.
The party’s National Working Committee is still polarised along the lines of those considered fiercely loyal to the President and the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur on one hand and those who are still tied to the apron strings of their state governors, at whose pleasure they got into office on the other.
Pundits posit that strategists both within the party and the Presidency went to work to check what they feared could mark the beginning of the waning of the powers of the President and his number one supporter within the party in the affairs of “Africa’s largest party.”
Although President Jonathan is yet to declare his interest in the race, there are signs that he is most likely to run. Considering the growing influence of governors in the running of political parties, the party, some say the Presidency, decided it was time to rein in its governors.
The return of Chief Tony Anenih, a well-known PDP strategist popularly called Mr. Fix It, as Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees put to rest speculations about the President’s nay to the party’s desire to compel members’ obedience.
No sooner had he assumed office than the plan became public knowledge, a meeting of some of the President’s close associates and PDP governors was promptly convened and the formation of the PDP governors’ Forum announced. The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, a vocal member of the NGF whose closeness to Jonathan is considered legendry, was made chairman.
Proponents of the new group argue that it was long overdue since other political parties and even sections of the country have similar platforms to articulate their policies and perform peer review functions based on their party ideology.
The choice of Akpabio did not surprise many because apart from his closeness to the President, he is considered a “pound for pound” match for Amaechi in the struggle for the hearts and minds of the governors especially those from the South South.
Akpabio was one of the few governors who spoke out during the power tussle between aides of the late President Yar’Adua, and then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, at the height of the former’s health challenge.
He was also on hand to lead others to ensure the PDP Presidential ticket went to Jonathan who was serving out the term of his predecessor.
Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, took time off to explain why the party decided to create the Akpabio-led PDPGF.
He said in an interview, “Nobody should pretend that we are happy with the leadership of the Nigerian Governors Forum. We are not happy because of their attitude, because of their refusal to really explore the mechanism within the party.
“We believe that as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and as a PDP governor and member of the PDP, Amaechi should subject himself to the supremacy of the party and the leadership of the party.
“The PDP as a party has decided to have its own Governors Forum, why do we have the ACN governors’ forum for example? The ACN governors though very few in number, meet from time to time to discuss their party, to discuss their common challenges and aspirations. Why should people lose sleep because the PDP has decided to form its governors’ forum?”
PDP insiders equally hail the formation of the forum as a good strategy to give a sense of direction to governors on the party’s platform. However, opponents argue that it would deepen the rift between governors and the President. There are already speculations that some of them are considering other options including joining the yet to be registered APC.
In an attempt to give the public the notion that all is well, Olisa Metuh, PDP’s National Publicity Secretary said there was no rivalry between the NGF and the PDPGF. According to him, the two bodies will complement each other.
He said, “Governor Amaechi is a leader who complains about what he thinks can cause problems in the party and he helps to solve them. Governor Akpabio is a humane and passionate person. He is passionate about the party and its members and the two of them complement each other.”
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| Mr. Victor Umeh |
What is your take on the ongoing merger talks among opposition political parties?
Our position on this has always been very clear. APGA is not part of any merger discussion with any party; our party is disposed to alliance discussions with other political parties when such alliance discussions became necessary.
The court just issued a judgment in your favour. However, a convention was held before the judgment, what will now happen?
The constitution supersedes any other law we have in Nigeria. The Court of Appeal gave a judgment that people should maintain the status quo and it returned me as the national chairman of APGA. The judgment of the Court of Appeal will subsist and is binding on everybody. It doesn’t matter what you want or what you make of yourself, the decision of the court cannot be made in vain. Whoever is saying that the decision of the Court of Appeal is an enterprise in futility is exhibiting unseriousness and it cannot happen in Nigeria. Public institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission will obey the decisions of the court especially the Court of the Appeal. Don’t forget, those claiming to have held a convention did so illegally. Even INEC can tell you that those usurpers impersonated me. A court of competent jurisdiction in Enugu has also issued an order restraining those who claim to have emerged as party leaders from that illegality from parading themselves as such.
Two of your governors are claiming to represent the authentic APGA while the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha has declared for APC, what’s your take on this?
What I can tell you is that, as of today, Governor Peter Obi and Governor Rochas Okorocha are members of APGA. Peter Obi is the one leading a rebellion against the party. This does not mean that I have a personal problem with him. If we have a disagreement on policy issues that affect the party, I don’t want the Nigerian public to see such a disagreement as a personal disagreement. The party produced him as the governor of Anambra State, he didn’t produce himself. He must subject himself to the leadership of the party. The leadership of the party is supreme over its members, no matter how highly placed such members are. It is an aberration that in Nigeria, somebody will humbly come to a political party, seek support to get nomination, the party works for him, the person wins elections, gets access to public funds and begin to use the public funds available to him to destroy the same party. It is immoral and undemocratic and that is what we are resisting. In Nigeria, nobody can say he does not know or she does not know that it was our leadership of APGA that made Obi what he is today in politics. If we ask him to do what is right and he refuses to do it, we will not allow that. On the issue of merger, Okorocha said it publicly that he is in the merger talks in his capacity as Rochas Okorocha, the governor of Imo State and that he is not representing APGA in the discussions. He made it clear. That does not mean he is still not a member of APGA. He is entitled to pursue his political ambition but when it comes to the issue of dragging APGA to the merger, APGA will decline. For now, there is no party called merged party, so we cannot begin to talk about Okorocha not being a member of APGA, until when Okorocha declares that he has joined that party. It is only after he has done that that we can say he has left APGA. Before he does that, I am sure he will tell me, as at today, he is still a member of APGA. There is no one involved in that merger talk that is not still claiming membership of his or her individual political party. Members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, are still operating as officers of the ACN, until it changes; officers of the All Nigeria Peoples Party are still operating as officers of ANPP until it changes. Lai Mohammed issues statements regularly as spokesperson of ACN; he has not issued statements as national publicity secretary of the APC or any other party. So, this issue of their membership is not in contention.
On the issue of merger, you know that the Electoral Act and the constitution both require parties that will come together in a merger to submit the certificate of their registration to the INEC. The APGA certificate of registration is in our possession and we are not surrendering it to anybody or for any purpose other than for the purpose for which it was registered. The certificate is in the safe. We are not taking it along to any merger. In view of recent developments, the court has restored my chairmanship of APGA and those people who purportedly went somewhere and did things in the name of the party did so illegally. I am aware that a Federal High Court in Awka has issued an order restraining them from parading themselves as officers of APGA. Nigerians know now that they are not leaders of APGA.
With this crisis, do you see the party winning elections in 2015?
APGA is the most popular party in Nigeria today. There is no newspaper you open today and you will not see something about APGA. Whenever people are publishing or talking about the crisis in APGA, they are promoting the party and creating awareness among Nigerians.
We know we are building our party even in the middle of this crisis and I don’t think that the crisis in APGA is out of proportion considering what is happening in the Peoples Democratic Party and other political parties today. We are strengthening our position to contest the elections that are to come. Governor Peter Obi should allow peace to reign in APGA. He should stop disrupting the party, if he stops disrupting the party, we will win the 2014 governorship elections in Anambra State. I am making this emphatic statement.
You have been accused of being a sit-tight ruler. Is it true?
I am not a sit-tight leader because I was elected at the convention of the party in 2006 and the constitution allows for a second term in office which is another four years. At the second convention we held in 2011, I was again elected; my second term will expire in February 2015. Those who are accusing me of being a sit-tight leader have forgotten that Governor Obi became a governor before I was elected at the convention of 2006 as the substantive national chairman of APGA and Obi has not finished his second term in office which will end in 2015. So, how will my eight years end before his eight years end? This is all propaganda by people who don’t have anything to say. Some have said I have been chairman for 14 years; APGA itself has not reached 14 years since it was founded. This is 2013, by the constitution of the party I am still within my tenure.
Have you started the process of reconciliation?
Those who rebelled against the party initiated the rebellion on their own. There was no justification for the rebellion. If they come back to their senses, they will come back to the party but if they continue with their anti-party activities, the party will protect itself against destruction. We will not allow it. For those who Obi has misled in the past particularly those small people who he intimidated especially in Anambra State, we have said we don’t blame them because Obi was the emperor intimidating hapless party members ‘We don’t intend to move against anybody. But those of them who are not constitutionally allowed to remain in office will have to go. There are some who are holding government appointments and still holding party positions,’ the party constitution forbids that. It is like holding dual citizenship which our constitution does not recognise. Those who are serving in the Anambra State Government automatically lose their party offices. For us, all those people that Obi purportedly removed during the illegal convention will still have their positions; I urge them all to return to work.
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| John Mahama, Akufo-Addo |
This according to him, was the wide array of interest and pressure groups you would have to consult before you arrive on an individual for the position. He however denied that his decision to reshuffle all ten regional ministers after they were sworn in was a mark of indecision.
He explained that as someone who has served as minister before, he is aware of the various tribe and family factors that often choke you from concentrating on your core mandate as government appointee, hence the decision to move them all from their original region.
“I had to do wide consultation from the various regional caucuses then come to a decision on who is fit for the job and after they were approved by parliament then it means that they can also serve anywhere as regional ministers”.
Speaking on metro TV’s Thank God it’s Friday program, the president said though his first hundred days has been turbulent, he is grateful as the experience gathered within these challenging times have prepared him for the years ahead
When asked about his relationship with NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, President Mahama said though they were not close friends while in parliament, if they are privileged to meet they may probably discuss other issues including the court case.
“I wouldn’t say Nana Addo and I have been close pals but who Knows, when we meet today we may probably stand and discuss issues including the court case"
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| Mahamudu Bawumia |
Deep Throats within the party have told this paper that the entire legal team was “very upset and disorganised” by Dr Bawumia’s revelation that the document he was using to “refresh” his memory was an “updated” Version when he had been coached never to say a thing to that effect.
“It’s absolutely sickening and annoying for him to use the word “updated” and even repeated it several times over; we could not but find means of wriggling ourselves out the legal maze Dr Bawumia had entangled us with,” a source within the NPP legal team revealed.
On day three of the substantive hearing in which three NPP leaders are challenging the verdict of the 2012 general elections, the witness-in-chief of the petitioners, Dr Bawumia admitted to making “mistakes” in some of the documents the NPP had tended in evidence.
Mr. Tony Lithur, lead counsel for President John Mahama, the first respondent, revealed that Dr Bawumia had “deliberately repeated polling stations to shore up figures” to buttress his claims and the claim by the two other petitioners that the second respondent, which is the Electoral Commissioner erred in declaring John Mahama winner of the 2012 polls.
After submitting and pointing out the inaccuracies in about 37 pink sheets, Mr Lithur pointed out, “I suggest to you that you deliberately duplicated these pink sheets to deceive the courts.”
Dr Bawumia, apparently a novice to court proceedings and traditions also retorted, “I suggest to you that I did not deceive the court,” an answer which drew prolonged and loud laughter from those in the court who were later warned by one of the judges to be civil or be thrown out of the courtroom.
Dr Bawumia confirmed that even though the exhibit numbers were different for the same polling station as pointed out by the counsel for the first respondent, figures for each polling station were only entered once in his analysis.
He said the different exhibit numbers came about as a result of manual recording and electronic recording, an admission to which Mr. Lithur retorted, “Oh, so you also make mistakes?” which again drew some laughter from the gallery and other lawyers in the courtroom.
Lithur repetitively and laboriously named 38 of the various polling stations named by the petitioners and which had the deficit of double exhibit numbers, and pointed out to the witness and to the court what he claims were a deliberate scheme of duplication.
In a post-court interview with the media, Nana Ato Dadzie, a member of the legal team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) suggested that the principal witness, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the Petitioner's legal team were “not sure of what they are fighting for.”
He accused the New Patriotic Party's legal team of varying the number of reported irregularities on day three of the substantive hearing.
