Bad governance gave rise to Boko Haram – General Temlong

The first Multi-National Joint Task Force Commander in the North-East, General Jonathan Temlong, (Rtd.), has said that to curb insurgency in the country, those in position of authority must address the issues of bad governance.

Temlong stated this in an exclusive chat with DAILYPOST in Jos, the Plateau State Capital.

“The important thing is governance. There is a deficit of good governance in this country. Unless we are able to get it right, we will see such groups coming up.

“I operated in the North-East as the first Multi-National Joint Task Force Commander.

“I tell you, and have said it in many places that there is the absence of governance in most of those areas.

“If you have people with such tendencies, they will use those areas and create their fiefdoms or whatever you want to call it and raise their own armies or start imposing dues on the people‎”, he said.

“The people are under their control, and once there is no credible alternative, the people pledge their allegiance to them. If there was a credible alternative, some of them would not go into the Boko Haram thing.According to him, “They start gradually until they become a monster because there is nobody to check them, and there is no credible alternative to them. Sometimes they even offer protection to the people.

“If you have grown up in this country, immediately after independence, you would have known that at the local government level, there were certain things that were being done. There were no tarred roads, but at least there were what we called labourers; they used to call them labourer toro, toro, a day. ‎Toro means three pence.

“They were paying them three pence a day. If you had no food in your house and other things, you were sure of going to the helmsman. We used to call them “helma” and get work for a day.”

“You go and dress a bump there and then they pay. In fact, if they are not ready to pay, they will tell you which day they are going to pay, and they will pay on that day. Those things are absent now.He maintained that, “Even in the villages we had what they used to call Baturen Gona (Agric Inspector). You could go to him, and he would give you this erosion control in our place, they used to call it bump.

“The only place you will get such things, is when you go and do godogo (work on someone’s farm) for someone who has some money. At the local level, there was governance.

“When the labourers were working, they provided some security for the children who used to pass that road and go to school. And being a commoners’ society, sometimes they shared their lunch with the children coming back from school. Sometimes they gave them water or kunu to drink. Today where are those things at the local government?” He asked.

“When you come to the state, it’s the same thing. Now population has gone up and there is no concrete evidence of planning to meet the requirement of the people.

The retired General, who insisted that government was about the people said: “If your projection is about the population, you must project the schools, hospitals they will go to, and
you must project the housing deficit that you will start bridging.

“And when students graduate from schools, how would their future be? You must create a condition for the private sector to thrive because government cannot provide work for everybody.

“Today, the Boko Haram got the ideology that western education is haram (forbidden), because it is the product of that education. When you go and read, you don’t get work, and those who did it are the ones doing the oppression”, he further lamented.

“Go to Maiduguri and see; I mean inside Maiduguri town, you’ll see the competition of houses, yet, you have over 90% of the population living in penury. Their existence in this country is as if nobody cares about them. There is no governance at all. There is no presence of governance.

“I was in the Lake Chad, the first time they heard about vaccination was when some of my troops gave them. I had to go to UNICEF to buy vaccines. We gave over 40,000 children. That was the first time they found out about it. The local government Chairman that I mentioned it to said he never heard of that place.

“So, you see the people were just staying on their own. It was survival of the fittest. There was no presence of government. You know within the hinterlands some of the local governments have no presence of governance. We must address the deficit of good governance, and once you address it, governors must be accountable to their people.

“Those in position of authority must be accountable to their people. I tell you, you will find out a situation where the troops will tell you they rescued 1,000 people, women and children. Was there any report about their abduction?” He asked.

“You only heard they were rescued, that means there is no accountability.

“If you cannot account for the people, who are you governing? Is it the Government House or your staff?

“If today an American gets missing, the whole of the U.S. stands still, until he is rescued. If one American is taken hostage, the U.S President knows, and they’ll start planning on ways to rescue him.

“You have thousands that the government doesn’t know about, the local government Chairman doesn’t know about. They are the closest. How do you expect the President to know? They are the channels through which information gets to the President.

“Lives have no value; people justify retaliation to kill people like flies. That means there is the absence of law and order.

“If today I kill your relation, and in five years time you come to retaliate, people justify it. What’s the meaning of that? That will lead to the state of anarchy.

“Those in positions of authority must watch their utterances. They must be accountable to the people; they should know they will be accountable to God”, he stressed

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OBASANJO says his Library setup go correct past mistakes

Osinbajo, Liberian President, Tinubu, others hail ex-president at unveiling of presidential library

After 12 years of physical construction, the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta yesterday became a reality, the first of its kind in Africa.
At exactly 12 noon, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia unveiled the inauguration plaque of the library.
The audience comprised 14 serving and past Presidents from Africa including Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
Also present were former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar; President Goodluck Jonathan; former United States’ Ambassador to the UN, Mr. Andrew Young; National Leader of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; former Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. Koffi Annan; Governor Ibikule Amosun of Ogun State; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State; and the industrialist, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.
Obasanjo, going down the memory lane, said the library was a combination of vision and dream which he conceived in 1988.
He lamented his inability to collect historical materials especially during the civil war, save those he could micro-film.
He said the library is meant to correct such mistakes.
The former president said the library would help in sustaining Nigeria’s heritage, inspire the future and enhance tourism.
He, however, flayed those who opposed the project either out of ignorance or mischief.
He singled out former Ogun State governor Olusegun Osoba for praise, saying it was the journalist turned politician that made land available for the library. He also thanked former military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar for setting him free from Prison.
Guest after guest paid tribute to Obasanjo for building the library.
Acting President Osinbajo described Obasanjo as a world statesman and a gift to humanity who has the rare luck of making history and writing it in his own word with the OOPL project.
He noted that history is one sure way of preserving the lessons, failures and successes of the past so that humanity can approach the future with more sure-footedness and less pains.
He explained that the OOPL is a demonstration of Obasanjo’s legacy and belief in one strong Nigeria as evident by the huge turnout of Nigerians to witness the inauguration.
“Very few human beings have a chance of making history and fewer still have a good fortune of making history and writing it as you go and live longer to even establish a library and write history in your own words,” Osinbajo said of Obasanjo.
“History is the most compassionate teacher. At some point in time we were told in an adage that experience is the best teacher but now we know it is only half of a well wise saying.
“The full statement of that adage is that experience is the best teacher for a fool, a wise man doesn’t need the pain of experience, history is a kinder and a more compassionate teacher.
“President Olusegun Obasanjo is therefore a gift in various ways being so intricately tied to the history of Nigeria, few years away from independence to the civil war and then Head of State with the Nigerian people and then the transition to civil rule and them from retirement and farming and being twice elected as President of Nigeria and then handed over to another President.
“At every turn, he recorded his views and perspectives and his perspectives especially of the times in various books, articles, seminars and now in this amazing monument to add credible life of service to our continent and to our world.
“We are fortunate that it is not only a life participant and sometimes victim of the twist and turns of history of our nation and continent but it is an enthusiast, erudite and resources chronic life of his contours and his textures through the years.
“Aside from all else, his enduring legacy will be his belief in one strong, detribalized Nigeria and this is so evident in the gatherings of Nigerians here and also his belief in word and in practice in an Africa united in vision and thoughts.
“Again, that Pan-Africanist vision is evident in the large gathering of African serving and former Heads of governments here present. But we diminish his vision if we do not recognize his place as a world-state man. Even that is evident from the representatives of the world that are present here today.”
President Johnson-Sirleaf lauded Obasanjo for the Presidential library and urged other African leaders to emulate him.
She advised African children, adults, and friends to visit OOPL to feel the exhibits from the life and times of a great son of Nigeria and Africa.
According to her, the library will continue to be a living legacy and a living testimony of Chief Obasanjo’s indefatigable accomplishments in Nigeria, Africa and the world.
She said:”History will bear truth to this precedent – setting occasion in Africa that will spell a long legacy of successful retiring Presidents to record and preserve the history of nation building for prosperity and for the benefit of today and future generations.
“The lessons herein are more than academic or events from the past, when history and technology meet as eloquently displayed in Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, history becomes alive as a dynamic reality and development of human kind for our people, our children who will read events of history, who will live, interact, feel and challenge the interpretation of past events.
Also speaking, ex – President Jonathan, said Obasanjo’s life and achievements attested to the truth that one can come from nowhere to become somebody.
Jonathan added that Obasanjo is a lesson to the nation’s youths to be focused and determined in life.
Dangote said Obasanjo made Nigerians proud with the first Presidential Library sited in Nigeria by a Nigerian.
For the better part of yesterday, Abeokuta was shut down completely as residents and guests from outside the ancient city trooped to the ceremony.
The roll call at the event also included Presidents Faure Gnassingbe (Togo); Ernest Koroma (Sierra – Leone); Patrice Talon (Republic of Benin); Nana Akufo – Ado (Ghana); Joyce Banda (Malawi); Pierre Buyoya (Burundi); former presidents John Kufour of Ghana; Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania), Amos Sawyer (Liberia), Nicephore Soglo (Republic of Benin) and Prime Minister Raila Odinga (Kenya).
Also present were former governors Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Emmanuel Uduaghan, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, Femi Otedola, Andy Uba, Prof. Ibidapo Obe, Senator Florence Ita – Giwa, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, among others.

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Maiduguri: Three tankers bomb carried diverted petrol

The Borno Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said yesterday that the three tankers destroyed by Boko Haram suicide bombers in Maiduguri on Friday, were carrying petrol meant for Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega stations.
It said the petrol was diverted and kept in a private home.
The Commandant of the Corps, Abdullahi Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that the agency’s surveillance anti-vandal team made the discovery.
He said that the incident would not have happened if the petrol had been taken to its destination by the petroleum marketers.
“It was unfortunate that some individuals were hell bent on diverting petroleum products to create artificial scarcity in the town,” he said.
“Those tankers destroyed by three female suicide bombers were meant to be in filling stations to meet local demands of motorists.
“We have been warning them against diversion but they won’t listen. Just last week we arrested about four persons and sealed their filling stations for selling petrol above the pump price.
“We learnt that there is a deliberate plan to create artificial scarcity in the town by hiding the product to make it scarce.
“This development is not only anti- people but also a threat to the lives and security of the good people of the state. We therefore warn marketers and petroleum marketers to desist from hiding and diverting petrol in their homes or face the wrath of the law,” Ibrahim said.
All the three suicide bombers died in the Friday attack.

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GTBank founder’s 8-year-old daughter sues bank over father’s shares

A Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned till March 24, 2017, for hearing in the suit filed by Miss Oluwatise Aderinokun, the eight-year-old and last child of the late founder and former Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTB), Olutayo Aderinokun, against the bank and six others over alleged manipulation of her late father’s shares.

Other respondents in the legal battle are GTBank’s Registrar, Datamax Registrar Limited, Kanali Investments Limited, Day Waterman Company Limited, Caribod Investment Limited, Mr. Babatunwa Aderinokun, and Investment One Financial Services Limited.

In the particulars of the affidavit of facts deposed to by one Mike Okoh, he averred that contrary to the averment of the sixth defendant, Mr. Babatunwa Aderinokun, the third to fifth defendants’ companies, namely: Kanali Investment Limited, Day Waterman Company Limited and Cariboo Investment Limited were incorporated as asset holding companies and vehicles through which late Aderinokun acquired invested and held his asset while planning his Estates during his lifetime.At the resumed hearing, the seventh defendant, Investment One Financial Services Limited, used by late Aderinokun, to acquire shares in GTBank, informed the court that it had filed an affidavit of facts to assist the court in the judicious determination of the plaintiff’s suit.

The deponent averred further that other shareholders and board of directors of the above mentioned companies constituting the first wife of the deceased, Mrs. Olufunlola Aderinokun, and the children of late Olutayo Aderinokun were fully aware of the deceased assets protecting strategy via corporate vehicles.

He further stated that none of them paid for the shares, neither did they participate in the management of the companies during his lifetime.

The issues regarding the distribution of his GTBank’s shares have been the subject of various discussions between the executors of his estates.

However, Olumide Aju, lawyer representing Babatunwa Aderinokun, urged the court to strike out the affidavit of fact as it cannot be placed within the realm of any law.

In the ensuing legal battle, Oluwatise Aderinokun who is suing GTBank and other respondents through her mother, Mrs. Salamotu Aderinokun, in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/1723/2015, is urging the court to declare that the recognition of three limited liability companies Kanali Investments Limited, Day Waterman Company Limited and Cariboo Investment Limited (the proxies), as being entitled to the rights accruing to the shares issued by GTBank, held in the proxies’ names and in the name of her late father, Olutayo Aderinokun, is wrong and breach of the implied contract between the defendants and her late father.

The plaintiff is also urging the court for an enquiry into what volume of her late father’s shares issued by GTBank were held in his name and the names of the three companies, Kanali Investments Limited, Day Waterman Company Limited and Cariboo Investment Limited (being shares/Properties held in trust of the beneficiaries of her late father’s estate), as at the time of his death on June 14, 2011.

The plaintiff is also seeking a court declaration that the recognition of the proxies by the defendants, as being beneficially entitled to the rights of her late father’s shares (issued by GTBank), held in the names of the proxies, was done in dishonest assistance of the breach of trust of her late father’s Will by the said proxy companies.

She also want the court to make an Order of Specific Performance of the implied contract between her late father, Olutayo Aderinokun, and GTBank, and Datamax Registrar Limited, whereby the said defendants are to accord late Olutayo Aderinokun all the rights and, or beneficial interest in the shares purchased by her late father, and issues by GTBank in the name of his corporate vehicles used as the proxies.

She wants an order of perpetual injunction restraining GTBank and other defendants in the suit from acknowledging/recognising the proxies as being the beneficial owners of the rights accruing to the shares held in their names in GTBank, and paying any sum declared as dividends accruing to her late father’s shares held in his name, and the names of the said proxy companies on the instructions of the directors on record.

The plaintiff, in her statement of claim filed before the court by her lawyer, Osaro Eghobamien (SAN) of Perchstone and Graeys, averred that upon the death of her father, he gave legacies and directive to his two wives and four children and her late father also appointed GTBank Asset Management Limited (now Investment One Financial Services Limited), and Mr. Babatunwa Aderinokun as joint Executors and Trustees, both whom were granted Probate on February 16, 2012.

She also averred that during the lifetime of her father, he had a peculiar manner of acquiring his assets, using the Proxies, among other corporate structures, rather than holding these assets directly in his own name, and that payments that were made for asset acquisition, or funds received in respect of the Proxy companies, were either paid from or into his personal accounts.

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