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President Goodluck
Jonathan never contacted the former chairman of DAAR Communications,
owners of the African Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower Radio,
Raymond Dokpesi, to head his campaign organisation, the Goodluck/Sambo
Presidential Campaign Organisation, said yesterday in Abuja.

The organisation
was reacting to Mr. Dokpesi’s media interview at the weekend in which
he denied he said he was being roped into the October 1 bomb attacks
because of his refusal to head Mr. Jonathan’s team.

Mr. Dokpesi, who is
the director general of Ibrahim Babangida Campaign Organisation, was
quizzed last week by the State Security Service (SSS) over his alleged
involvement in the incident. He is believed to be reporting daily to
the security organisation.

But in a statement
yesterday, titled ‘Disclaimer: Dokpesi was never under consideration’,
the president’s campaign handlers said Mr. Dokpesi was never approached
for the job.

“The attention of
the Goodluck/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organization has been drawn to
certain utterances by the Director General of the Babangida Campaign
Organization, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, to the effect that he was
suffering an imagined political persecution because he declined to head
our campaign organisation.

“Nothing could be
farther from the truth. At no time was Chief Dokpesi considered for
such a role. He never made it to anybody’s short list or long list,”
the statement, signed by Sully Abu, its spokesperson, said.

The organisation
said Mr. Dokpesi’s claim defies political common sense “as such
position is normally given to someone outside the geographical zoneof
the aspirant. Dokpesi, being from the South South, as is President
Jonathan, could never have been considered for such a position.”

Campaign tour

Meanwhile, the
organisation, led by its director general, Dalhatu Tafida, will today
arrive in Sokoto in the north west geo-political zone, to begin a
nationwide “meet-the-stakeholders” tour.

Harry Akande, the
former Board of Trustees chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party
(ANPP), has declared his intention to contest in next year’s
Presidential election on the platform of the party.

Mr. Akande made the
declaration during a tour of some northern states, saying there is
increasing pressure on him to run for the plum job. He said he will no
longer ignore the pressure.

Last month, the
billionaire businessman lost in a bid to become chairman of the party
during its national convention on September 19. He lost to the current
chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu by 1479 to 3945.

Race to win

His entry into the
race brings to three the number of ANPP members wishing to vie for the
presidency. The others are the governor of Kano State, Ibrhahim
Shekarau and Bashir Othman Tofa.

“People requested
me to run presidency, the overture is high and I don’t think I will
keep off from the will of the people. I will be running for presidency
to win election, and not to posture or put my name on the list,” Mr
Akande told party faithful in Katsina.

“Gone are the days
when people say that what is important is to participate at the
Olympics and not winning the medals. That is simply a case of wanton
waste of resources and energy, as well taken failure as a norm.” Mr
Akande noted that his entry into the race was premised on his
commitment to women and youth development in the country.

He pledged to
manage the resources of the nation prudently, adding that Nigeria could
rank among the best countries in the world if it finds a man who can
provide the right leadership.

The politician said
he is still in love with the ANPP despite his failure to become
chairman, stressing that “the party belongs to the people and those who
have the interest of the people at heart must resist every attempts by
some few individuals turning it to their personal political
instrument.” He added, “My advocacy and struggle in the party is to
establish that ANPP belongs to the people and the real people must be
given the right to choose their leader. Consensus is no more a
contemporary language in politics, election is the hallmark of every
good Democracy.”

The Jigawa State
Governor, Sule Lamido, on Sunday, said that though faced with series of
challenges, Nigeria has been pliable when it comes to handling crisis.

Mr Lamido, while
speaking to aviation correspondents on Nigeria at 50, at the Murtala
Muhammed Airport, Lagos, said that crisis and dissenting voices will
always abound in a country that is trying to remain united, and advised
that the ability of leaders in the country to manage their challenges
is what truly counts. “There must be problem in life because nothing in
this life is so ideal,” he said. “There will be crisis, differing
voices and whatever it is, but it is the capacity and the ability to be
able to overcome such kind of things that is most important and Nigeria
has such kind of capacity. Nigeria has been so resilient.”

Mr Lamido said that Nigeria has made positive achievements in the
last 50 years, and urged Nigerians to be thankful to God for the feat
the country has attained. According to him, Nigerians have worked hard
for the country to stay together. “For Nigeria at 50, I think the
journey has been very, very easy,” he said. “Though sometimes there
have been some difficulties in our evolution, but there again like a
growing nation there will always be some challenges, and I think that
whatever thing anybody would say there have been some remarkable
progress in Nigeria. I think we must thank Allah almighty for keeping
us united, and for giving Nigerians the commitment to stay together.
And I think so far it has been very, very eventful not minding what
people will say.”

“We were on duty around Bayelsa
court,” said a police constable, who was one of those wounded at the
Independence Day bomb blast in Abuja.

Agbo Ochife said after the first
bomb exploded, he and other security agents were controlling the crowd
without knowing that the car they stood beside has ticking bombs.

Mr. Ochife, who has been a
policemen for only two years, however, sees the incident as part of the
normal duties of policing, and vows that he will get back to his beat
as soon as he recovers.

But Ochife’s leaders in the
Nigeria Police Force, along with those in the other intelligence and
security agencies, were caught flat footed on that day. The result of
their lack of robustness left some 16 people dead. Tellingly,
government has not released the exact number of the dead and wounded, a
week after the bomb explosions.

Reports pieced together from
different sources who all spoke on conditions of anonymity due to the
sensitivity of the issues involved, revealed that while some western
intelligence agencies shared the results of their monitoring and
observation with our country agencies, they either did not take the
briefings seriously or reacted the wrong way. It was learnt that Henry
Okah, suspected to be the mastermind of the bombings, had been having a
running battle with President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

Shortly after he assumed office as
acting president, Mr. Jonathan reportedly directed that payment, which
commenced under late president Umar Yar’Adua, to Mr. Okah must stop. In
a discussion subsequently with an aide to the president, Mr. Okah
allegedly threatened to make the country ungovernable if the payment
does not resume.

SA intelligence agencies

It is also believed that Mr.
Okah’s phone calls were being monitored by security agents.
Interestingly, security sources confirmed that it was not the
government of Nigeria that asked South Africa to arrest Okah.

“He (president) never made the
request to South Africa, but I do not believe that no one else in his
services did not make the request as well,” said a security source.

But South African intelligence
agencies are said to have picked the intelligence about Mr. Okah’s
subterranean moves and dutifully informed the Nigerian government,
which most likely explained the president’s statement that the outrage
was caused by a ‘foreign group.’

There is no doubt that security
monitoring has become lax, as some agencies have been compromised in
discharging their duties, putting the country at great risk. An example
is the EFCC that has lost its bite in keeping corrupt elements at
check, resulting in large volume of cash moving around for nefarious
purposes.

At the same time, the president is
said not to fully trust the security chiefs. The exit of the former
national security adviser, Aliyu Gusau, unsettled the apple cart, and
sources said that was why he did not make Kayode Are, Mr. Gusau’s
deputy, the NSA. His appointment of Andrew Owoeye Azazi, a former chief
of army staff, as the NSA last Monday, is believed to be a way of
dealing with this distrust.

“The president needs to clean out
SSS and the National Security Adviser office and set up direct routes
for reporting and information,” said another security source.

Maybe by the time Ochife is well to resume at his beat, the bungling
security chiefs would have been replaced by dynamic and efficient ones.

Mr. Okah’s South
African lawyer, Piet Dupleiss, in a telephone conversation with NEXT,
said that his client could receive calls whilst in custody, but that he
could not make calls from within the cell.

“Mr. Okah does not
have access to his personal phone,” he said. “However, with permission
he can receive calls on the official prison phone.”

During a call to
Mrs Okah in South Africa on Friday, she asked to get clearance from her
husband and call back. She did, and fielded questions.

Later, a man claiming to be Mr Okah called and spoke with us. Excerpts:

Phone-calls from detention

This is a civilised
country where phone calls are not a special privilege. I can make calls
anytime I want to. I am aware of efforts by the federal government to
debunk my phone conversation with Al-Jazeera as a hoax, trying to make
it seem like the call to Al-Jazeera was not real. To dispel this, I am
going to talk to the BBC and CNN.

Claim that the federal officials asked him to implicate the north

Yes, let me confirm
to you that government officials, who I will not name now, called me
and made the appeal. I also have a text message which reads:

“Please, reach out to MEND and ask them to retract the statement and the government will blame the Northern elements.”

Status of the text after his phone was seized by prosecutors

I have saved the
message on another phone. Shortly after I got the text message, Dopkesi
(IBB’s campaign manager) was arrested. I will not release the message
now because if I do, the next thing they will say is that someone/IBB
has paid him to do this. As they continue to sour my name the more, I
will release the message. I am also in no hurry to release this message
yet, because we are fighting the system, not Jonathan. So I don’t want
it to be seen as if I am giving an undue advantage to anybody. I will
release everything I have and leave the public to judge.

The officials that sent the text

I cannot tell that
now. I understand the sensitivity of the whole drama and I will
definitely play my cards right when the time comes I will reveal them.

Being described as
a terrorist I am a sympathiser and not a terrorist. Let me tell you now
that those thugs assembled in Abuja have no control in creeks. Only
Boyloaf and Farah Jack are the real MEND members amongst those paraded
on Tuesday. Let them know that there are still weapons and people in
the creeks still willing to fight. For every 1,000 weapons in the
creeks, there are 1001 people willing to fight.

His charge by the South African government

They searched my
house and found nothing. Yet government said I sent warning emails and
everybody knows that emails can easily be tracked.

Ayiba Okwudili, 28,
a mother of four, is being interrogated by the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over the importation of 1kg of wrapped
substances suspected to be heroin.

The suspect, who
was nabbed by operatives of the anti-narcotics agency attached to the
Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) warehouse at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, is said to have
concealed the substances in a refrigerator imported from Dubai.

Family affair

Hamza Umar, airport
commander for the agency, on Thursday, stated that the suspect, who
deals in frozen foods at Alaba, Lagos, told narcotic agents that the
consignment was sent to her by her husband who lives in Dubai.
According to Mr Umar, investigations showed that the suspect allegedly
functions as an intermediary between her husband and his associates in
Nigeria. “This is another suspected case of family involvement in
drugs,” he said. “The suspect was nabbed while attempting to clear the
goods sent to her by the husband. The consignment was addressed to one
Chinonso who was found to be a five-year-old son to the suspect while
the telephone number was also traced to the suspect.”

In a statement from
the agency, Mrs Okwudili said that her greatest regret is the welfare
of her children, and admitted that her husband is in the attitude of
sending his family things from Dubai after leaving the country. “My
husband told me that he has sent a fridge to me,” she said. “He has
been sending things to me. I feel bad that the drug was found inside
the refrigerator. My greatest worry is my children; I do not know how
they will cope. I married in 2001 and have four children, the eldest is
seven years. My husband moved to Dubai in search of greener pastures
four years after our marriage but visits at least twice in a year.”

Mitchell Ofoyeju, the spokesperson for the agency, said that the
suspect will have to face the law. “The suspect hails from Anambra
State and will soon appear in court,” he said.

The Central Bank
has come down hard on directors of rescued banks who have insider
related loans, in a renewed crackdown on those that have contributed to
the terrible state of some of the banks.

As part of efforts
to recover the loans, the Central Bank has placed some of the affected
directors on suspension with an ultimatum to repay the loans or face
prosecution.

Specifically, the
regulator on September 27 suspended four non-executive directors of
Finbank for 90 days for failure to pay their debts. They are Ernest
Orji, proprietor of Southern Sun Hotel, Ikoyi; Ezelue Efobi;
Iheanyichukwu Anyadiegwu; and Agnes Ebubedike.

The suspended
directors together owe the bank N20 billion, out of about N25 billion
of insider related loans. Mrs. Ebubedike is also standing trial
alongside Okey Nwosu, the former chief executive officer of the bank;
Danjuma Ocholi; and Dayo Famoroti, both of whom are former directors of
the bank.

The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had in 2009 taken them to court on a
90-count charge, bordering on money laundering and granting of reckless
loans, amongst other offences.

Outstanding indebtedness

The CBN gave each
of the directors an ultimatum to repay their outstanding indebtedness
to the bank within that period, failing which, they shall be prosecuted
and blacklisted from holding any position in any bank or financial
institution, under the purview of the CBN.

It had earlier
issued letters of query to the recalcitrant directors, who failed to
heed the warning. This latest action by the bank became inevitable,
since the affected directors did not pay back their loan.

It was gathered
that the CBN may have moved against the affected officials in order to
recover the funds from them before their final exit from the bank. The
Central Bank recently released tenure guidelines, which stipulate that
non executive directors would only serve for two years after which
their terms may be renewed for another two years, but will be subject
to the approval of the apex bank.

A source at Finbank
said the CBN onslaught is also a moral issue as directors who are
indebted to the banks have no justifications to decide on actions
against other debtors.

“It is not proper
that directors who are indebted would now sit at meetings where
decisions are taken against other debtors. This is a corporate
governance issue. It is part of the sanitisation process,” the source
said.

Only Finbank

Mohammed Abdullahi,
the Central Bank spokesperson, said the action was taken against the
directors of Finbank, and not to directors of other rescued banks. He
added that the move against the directors was in fulfillment of the
code of conduct of bank directors, which stipulates that directors
should not have non performing insider related loans.

Sola Oni, the Nigerian Stock Exchange spokesperson, said he was not aware of the development.

Finbank officials refused to comment on this development. They did not respond to enquiries on the issue for nearly a week.

But Susanne Iroche,
its chief executive, told shareholders at a forum in Lagos recently
that the bank is operating with negative capital, as 88 percent of its
loans are currently non performing.

“We have taken
deposits and shareholders fund up to N88 billion, which is yielding
nothing for us but that is costing us money. We can’t continue to
operate like that. We have to resolve this as quickly as possible,” she
said.

Only N2.7 billion
has been recovered from insider related loans, putting the total amount
of non performing loans at N156 billion, while the bank expects to
recover between N10 to N15 billion before year end.

My first daughter
turned ten about three days ago and she requested that I buy her story
books, cookies, chocolate and a Bible. I really am trying to drive off
the path of the famous bombs: the letter bomb that killed Dele Giwa,
the bomb by MEND in Warri, the bombs around Eagle Square on
Independence day and the bombs arranged in the hearts of supposed
statesmen that are dropping from their unpatriotic and selfish mouths,
waiting to detonate.

As a young boy,
after experiencing the efficacy of the ‘scare tactics’ used by our
parents and observing the dangerous drift of society that is very much
in a hurry to adopt the ‘sex education’ tradition of western countries,
I once angrily asked God not to give me female children. But it pleased
Him to bless me with two beautiful angels and I thank Him everyday for
that.

I am no saint, but I am trying to be perfect.

My mother died when
I was writing my WAEC and somehow, the responsibility of caring for my
siblings landed on my shoulders and I promised myself that if God will
help me to protect my three younger sisters from the claws of our
decaying society, I also will stay away from other people’s sisters and
He did. They say a man who fears nothing, loves nothing. They also say
the dirty spoon that you cannot eat with, do not give it to others. In
other words, do unto others what you wish them to do to you. Then, it
was my sisters that I feared for. After they are grown, my weak flesh
was planning to indulge like every other man in our sinful nature. But
God quickly brought my wife and my fear is now for my lovely daughters,
so eternity will remain in view.

Indeed, I and my
wife are doing all that God has taught us to make sure that at least we
keep our own corner clean. We try to make sure we are not part of the
problem but rather, we strive to be part of the solution. Our struggle
is not to allow decaying society to steal God’s gifts from our hands;
with what we hear on radio, see on television and the internet. My wife
concocted eleven ‘girl-child rules’ for our two girls and some for the
boys. We have started praying for God to prepare and bring their
husbands early enough because the bible says, “blessed is the wife of
your youth”.

It works. Yes, it
does. My wife was taught early in church to pray to God to prepare her
husband, wherever he may be – spiritually, physically, financially and
materially – to come for her early (because the bible says, “he who
finds a wife…”) according to His wise counsel and good plans for her
and God answered. I really do not intend to preach, but it is my
daughter’s tenth birthday and I have always asked her and her siblings
to read my weekly stories.

Charity, they say,
begins at home. The first congregation of any serious preacher should
be members of his household. At least, let me try and stop the log from
finding a place in my eyes before I remove those in other people’s
eyes. On Friday the 15th also, my first son will be twelve and I also
expect him to read this story. And I am very prepared to give him more
answers concerning those bombs that went off on “Nigeria at 50” day.

I love my children
and I fear for them. I struggle to hold them, yet society battles to
tear them away. I try to train them up in the way they should grow, so
that they will not depart from it; yet society has its own agenda. I
inject in their blood the need to honour us their parents so that their
days may be long in the land that God Almighty has given us; but some
are trying to blot out that God-given land.

It was some young
men, the sons of people, that were instigated to drop off those heinous
explosives that claimed the lives of innocent Nigerians and if my son
does not fear God and listen to me and his mother, he could be used
like a pun in the chess board of some evil men and mischievous and
unprogressive elements in our society. If he does not exude peace and
humble himself like Goodluck Jonathan, he cannot be elevated by God.

I rest my case, for now.

The wife of the former military
administrator of Ogun and Rivers States, Sam Ewang, has been kidnapped.

Comfort Ewang was kidnapped on her
way into her private school, Beulah International School, at Ekom Iman, Uyo-the
Akwa Ibom state capital, yesterday morning.

Confirming the kidnap to NEXT,
Mr Ewang stated that kidnappers are “demanding that I step down for Akpabio
(the governor of Akwa ibom state) and pay them a ransom of N300,000,” adding
that he has been under immense pressure since the incident occurred.

Mr Ewang, is a gubernatorial
aspirant on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Akwa Ibom where
the incumbent Governor, Godswill Akpabio is seeking a second term in office on
the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The former military
administrator officially declared his intention for the gubernatorial race last
week at Beulah International School where he had to relocate to after officials
of the Ibom hall; a state government owned auditorium denied him the use of the
hall.

Mr Ewang is the second aspirant
for the Akwa Ibom’s governor office to suffer the kidnap of a relative
following the abduction of the aged mother of Ini Udonwa in May 2010 after he
declared his intention as well.

The transition
chairman of Ukwa west local government, Henry Nwokengbede is one of 39
suspected kidnappers arraigned yesterday before an Umuahia senior
magistrate court presided over by Adiele Ogbonna, for kidnapping and
related offences.

Security officials
said the arraignment of the suspects was part of their intensified
efforts to free Abia from the clutches of kidnappers. The suspects,
including 14 females, were arrested on September 30 when soldiers
launched an offensive against kidnapping gangs around the Ukwa west
area of the state in search of the 15 children abducted on their way to
school.

The suspects were
charged under Section 3 (C) of the Prohibition of Terrorism Law of Abia
state, “for being aware or reasonably having been aware that some
persons, names unknown are being kidnapped or held hostage in your
various communities, fail to disclose the place to the police within
reasonable time.” However, no plea was taken when the charges were read
and the matter was adjourned to October 12, while Mr Nwokengbede was
directed to appear on October 26.

The Inspector
General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, said the end had finally come for
criminals who have been holding Abia hostage. He said the minister of
police affairs will visit Abia to handle the political aspect of the
ongoing efforts to clear Abia of all criminals.

“I have the
mandate; I have the order to flush out all the criminals in the
shortest time,” he told Abia State governor, Theodore Orji during a
courtesy visit, adding that the increase in number of police and army
personnel in the state was a sign that there was no longer a hiding
place for hoodlums.

He said the
kidnappers and other criminal elements have to choose either to come
out of the forests and surrender or “we will meet them in the forest
and they will face annihilation.

“We shall not go
out of this place (Abia) until we achieve the success we are determined
to achieve,” Mr Ringim said, adding, “we are law abiding and we will on
no account violate fundamental human rights of any body.”

Mr Orji said he supported Mr Ringim’s position that there should be no mercy for the criminals who only want quick money.