28042019 - No delaying minimum wage, go ahead and pay, FG tells MDAs, states, others

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PAGE 30— SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 28, 2019 By Bashir Adefaka A flashback into the little beginning of the Olori Omo Oba Owu of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prince Bola Ajibola, became necessary when he was celebrated on his 85th birthday in a prayer session held at his Olusegun Obasanjo Hilltop GRA, Abeokuta home. The occasion was attended by many dignitaries including the Registrar/Chief Executive of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede. The celebration continued at the Crescent University Abeokuta (CUAB)’s Bola Ajibola College of Law (BACOLAW) Auditorium where the 13th Founder’s Day Lecture of the university and award of excellence were held in honour of the retired Judge of the International Court of Justice (IJC) at The Hague, Netherlands. Founder’s Day at Crescent University Abeokuta had been dedicated by the university’s Senate and Governing Council as a yearly event to mark the birthday of the institution’s proprietor, who is the longest serving Minister of Justice and Attorney- General of the Federation. Apart from his involvement in philanthropy in the course of which he has produced many university graduates and chartered professionals, the Bola Ajibola Community Award was instituted in 2018 to recognize and reward excellence. The first edition of the award was dedicated to recognizing community policing and the awards went to the immediate past Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, and some of his officers. It is, therefore, the reason a tribute, published by The DEFENDER in celebration of the man of exceptional integrity at 84, last year, said: “The name Bola Ajibola can no longer need an introduction. So, I do not have to start my tribute with an introduction of who the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice is. “What needs continuous mention about the man who, despite the campaigns of calumny by his own people at home and in the community of lawyers where he belonged, emerged in a globally participated election at the United Nations (UN) as a Judge of the International Court of Justice (IJC) at The Hague, however, is the story of his ‘Golden Nights’ and how he had survived death four times just because he had to brush aside his royalty status to struggle to have a handshake with a successful future that is being talked about today.” That tribute, which attracted wide commendations, was apt, particularly in the area of the ‘Golden Nights’. What one has found out is that the life story of Ajibola will not be complete without the mention of the ‘Golden Nights’ of sleeplessness when, according to him, working in the day and reading with candle lights in the night was the norm. One could imagine the stress, therefore, that the prince of Oba Abdul-Salam Adewunmi Ajibola, Gbadela II, the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta, between 1949 and 1972, must have passed through. It is no wonder that the heir of the Bola Ajibola dynasty, Muhammad Mahruf Adesegun Bola Ajibola (SAN), said: “Baba had made sure that all the sufferings of his children he has had. However, he never allowed our upbringing to be devoid of one which makes us forget where we are coming from and where we are going. He is a religious, God-fearing man and he has •Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN) left, presenting an award of excellence to a recipient of Bola Ajibola Community Service Award during the 13th Founder’s Day organised to mark his 85th birthday at Bola Ajibola College of Law Auditorium, Crescent University Abeokuta. BOLA AJIBOLA AT 85: A judge must be free of iniquity • The man who escaped death four times, worked as Minister for six years without collecting salary, sold all he had to establish his dream varsity brought us up along that line.” Four experiences History has it that Ajibola’s father was a recipient of Queen Elizabeth’s British Award of Excellence, having been noticeably active as a police inspector playing the role of a crack detective for 13 years before he retired for the reason of ascension to the throne in 1949. Of note also is that Oba Ajibola’s core-life story has been captured in ‘A Life of Excellent Service” coauthored by his son, Bola, and Chief Oladipo Yemitan. In a tribute on his 84th birthday, a writer had said: “Do I need to mention when he had actually wanted to pass on and he let on his gas cylinder to let loose its content while sleeping in a locked up room? That was precisely one of the four experiences he had with death. But why would Abdul-Jabbar Bolasodun Adesumbo Ajibola (SAN) want to be taken away by the content of a gas cylinder? That is a story for another day. But the reality of all of those experiences, from the era of ‘Golden Nights’ to those other ones, boil down to the fact that achieving greatness in life is not an easy task.” The tribute continued: “If I was not lucky to be alive to see him in his days of the ‘Golden Nights’ and others because I was not born at Ajibola, under whom Vice President Yemi Osinbajo served as Special Assistant when he (Ajibola) was Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, did the only law reform Nigeria has ever had that time – only arrived on September 3, 1972 – I was alive, alert to recognising happenings around me when he became the Attorney- General of the Federation and I saw Prince Bola Ajibola as pragmatic person, who went into government at no cost to government but at a huge sacrifice and denial of personal comfort. That was because for the six years, six months, six weeks, three days and one and a half hours that he was in office as Minister of Justice, he earned no kobo from the treasury of government. “Rather, he spent his own hard earned money to take care of his personal needs required of him to serve his father land. That is exactly what he did that General Babangida saw and still sees him as truly an enigma.” How best is it then to celebrate a man who has seen it from his immediate environment to the global community other than to make his birthday worthwhile? This year’s weeklong programme of events, however, did not just happen the way of the past. It happened with reminiscences on Ajibola as a student to his great achievements as the first President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) from where his activities got the attention of President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (GCFR) (1985 – 1993) who appointed him as the Attorney-General of the Federation. From a humble beginning as a student of Baptist Boys’ High School Abeokuta, Ajibola became a World Court Judge, the President, Arbitration Panel of the World Bank, the Chairman, International Boundaries between Nigeria and Cameroon, Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and emerged one of 500 most influential Muslim leaders in the world. No to ‘brilliant beasts’ He sold all that he had acquired only for him to invest it in an educational project to give Nigeria and entire Africa a brilliant example of well managed university. Ajibola has for, close to a decade, been producing graduates, not as ‘brilliant beasts’ but proudly nurtured in moral and academic excellence. That is what Crescent University Abeokuta, considered to be “the peak of my life achievements”, according to Bola Ajibola, has done in its 14 years of existence as a Nigeria’s leading private university. Speaking at this year’s event of the Founder’s Day, Ajibola, quoting the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, stressed that “recognition of greatness in others is in itself greatness”, adding that the recipients of awards deserved them. Ajibola, as a statesman, contributes to national discourse anytime he finds it desirable. For instance, he showed his displeasure over the rot in the Nigerian judiciary against the backdrop of the false assets declaration charges levelled against former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen, saying it was high time all hands were on deck in support of President Muhammadu Buhari’s crusade against corruption. He warned that the nation may be “stepping on dangerous ground” should the Federal Government fail to handle the Onnoghe saga as required. He said: “It is a very delicate matter. The moment a judge is to take a decision on himself, his own proprietary and being found wanting on issues of which he is supposed to be a judge, the nation would be stepping on a very dangerous ground if special care is not taken in addressing the matter, and that care should be one in which a judge is free from any iniquity. “He should not be found wanting, he should not be suspected of anything at all. “In other words, he should not be corruptible. As a result, once the CJN is tainted, it becomes a terrible situation for the judiciary and the judiciary must handle the case with care and trepidation. He should not become a judge unto himself. “But having said that, such allegations must be carefully looked into, they must be carefully checked. He should be given the opportunity of being heard.” Ajibola, under whom Vice President Yemi Osinbajo served as Special Assistant when he (Ajibola) was Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, did the only law reform Nigeria has ever had. He once advised Buhari to stay firm as the anti-corruption fight he had engaged in since May 29, 2015 was not going to be an easy one because people with complex romance with corruption, impunity and spirit of not-doing things properly will hold onto any criminality in sight to frustrate him. He cited his own experience fighting corruption as Minister of Justice, concluding, however, on an optimistic tone that all will be well with Nigeria.
PERISCOPE SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 28, 2019, PAGE 31 48,000 voided votes. How many voided votes did we have in the state assembly election? Less than 5,000. “Our agents were negligent during the presidential election because those voided votes, if you had strong agents, they could have secured them for the APC; so, in the state assembly election, we retrained our agents and changed many of them.” Change of tide Edo Central Senatorial District has always been dominated by the PDP but the tide changed during the state assembly election when the APC, for the first time since 1999, won the entire five seats in the district. The area has always been the stronghold of the PDP largely due to the influence of the late Chief Tony Anenih. It was observed that many of the voters saw the state assembly election as local seeing it as a testimonial for the performances of Obaseki in terms of infrastructure across the three senatorial districts of the state. To underscore the importance of winning the seats in Edo Central, the governor had to deploy his deputy, Shaibu, his Chief of Staff, Taiwo Akerele, among other leaders, to Edo Central, and for several days, he was meeting with leaders in the district, trying to convince them on why they should all be in the mainstream. *Oshiomhole By Johnson Osamede THE success recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State House of Assembly election has continued to resonate across party faithful even as they say the result was a referendum on the popularity and acceptability of Governor Godwin Obaseki who just returned from one-month vacation ahead of the governorship election slated for 2020. Analysts say media reports of a rift between Obaseki and his predecessor, Comrade Adams Oshiohole, were a figment of the imagination of some supporters of the two men who believed they could get personal benefits from continuous reports of a rift. They said the two men always speak well of each other and that even though there could be areas of disagreement, they were being blown out of proportion for purely selfish reasons. Before Obaseki started his leave during which he, in an unprecedented manner, handed over the reins of government to his deputy, Comrade Philip Shaibu, it was reliably gathered that while some close party leaders advised him against it so as to create the impression that he does not enjoy absolute loyalty from his deputy who is the political son of Oshiomhole and should not be trusted with power, the governor was said to have laughed it off and told the party leaders that he is running one government where all of them see themselves as one family. He had invited members of the APC from all over the state to celebrate the party’s resounding victory in the March 23 state House of Assembly election where the party won the entire 24 seats up for grabs. This is the second time since 1999 when Edo would be having all members of a party in the House, the first being between 2003 and 2007 when the entire members were of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The victory came two weeks after the party had a not-tooimpressive outing during the presidential and National Assembly elections. In Edo North, the APC had swept all the Senate and three House of Representatives seats in the presidential They said the two men always speak well of each other and that even though there could be areas of disagreement, they were being blown out of proportion for purely selfish reasons and National Assembly polls but lost the entire Edo Central and parts of Edo South where it could not win the Senate and two of the four House of Representative seats. A colourful thanksgiving ceremony organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in celebration of the landslide *Obaseki How the tide in Edo changed after presidential poll •Reported rift between Obaseki and Oshiomhole ‘is figment of imagination’ victory in the state House of Assembly election was attended by party leaders from across Edo. The governor, in a post-election statement, said having a one-party House of Assembly was a plus for the people of the state. Obaseki also stressed that his administration would no longer accept boreholes and toilets as constituency projects from members of the national and state assemblies. “I will not accept boreholes and VIP toilets as constituency projects any more. Edo people have spoken that they want real change and we must deliver the change to them”, he said. “For the elected members of the House of Assembly, every constituency you represent must have something meaningful in the budget on a yearly basis”. According to him, duplication of projects would not be allowed, to ensure efficient use of the state’s resources. Obaseki further said that he would be holding interactive sessions with APC members in the National Assembly on monthly basis to review their projects, noting that the lawmakers have no reasons not to deliver good governance to Edo people who gave them the mandate to serve. Speaking on behalf of the newly elected state House of Assembly members, Hon. Washington Osifo, said they would ensure the executive succeeds on its programmes. “I want to assure you that you will enjoy our support and you will be happy at the end of the day that you have all the 24 seats in the state assembly”, Osifo said. “We will ensure that as you are working for the good of Edo people, we will give you all our support”. The poor outing of Edo APC in the presidential and National Assembly elections had been attributed to many factors including sabotage by party members who were alleged to have collected millions of naira for mobilisation and party agents but pocketed them under the excuse which some described as flimsy compared to the implication of losing the election. The party members were said to have complained that the governor had been starving them of funds for over two years and saw the release of the election money as an opportunity to line their pockets since they did not know when such an opportunity would come again. It was equally reliably gathered that some of the party agents were not also forceful in defending the votes cast in favour of the APC in the elections as 48,000 votes believed to have been for the party were voided. Some party leaders allegedly chose stooges and family members to act as agents. Another factor that led to the failure of the Edo APC at the presidential and National Assembly polls, it was gathered, was the influence of some religious leaders, particularly pastors, who were said to have been preaching anti-President Muhammadu Buhari messages to their members and this is also believed to have had its toll in the urban local government areas of Oredo, Egor and Ikpoba-Okha local government areas in Edo South where the opposition PDP won. Challenges A senior member of the APC told Sunday Vanguard that even the Presidency was aware that Buhari would find it difficult to win 40 per cent of the votes in South-South states, saying that was responsible for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s regular visits to the area not less than four times before the elections during which he repeatedly met with the leadership of CAN and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). He said, “But even at that, we still performed more than we did in Edo in 2015 where we scored 43 per cent votes for Buhari. “Because of the popularity of this government in the state, we were able to increase the performance to 49.7 per cent in the 2019 election. The difference between the two parties was less than 8,000 but we had Edo North Edo North is traditionally an APC stronghold. The National Chairman of the party, Oshiomhole, commended the peaceful conduct of the state assembly election in the district. He said those who kicked against the deployment of military for the conduct of the election were enemies of democracy and Nigeria. “We had one or two incidents where thugs allegedly hired by the PDP came to disrupt the election by shooting sporadically and trying to cart away election materials but the people were determined and, with the military patrolling the area, the situation was brought to normal”, he said. “As you know, Ogbido and Ulouke are areas where APC got 99.9 percent votes during the presidential and National Assembly elections; so disrupting the elections would have affected the results but the military was on hand to ensure peace and voting commenced. “This is why when some armchair analysts disputed the idea of deploying the military during the general elections, we said only enemies of democracy, enemies of Nigeria, enemies of peace and merchants of violence will support such campaign against military deployment. “Imagine when you deployed unarmed one or two police officers to a polling unit, what can they do to gun trotting thugs? They will watch helplessly when thugs attack.” Edo South In Edo South, Obaseki expressed satisfaction with the turnout of voters in the state assembly election. Speaking shortly after voting in Emokpae Primary School Ward 4 Unit 19 of Oredo local government area, the governor said, “It is a local election and the people that are concerned live in the neighbourhood and in the same community. “And you should know that we only have one election today, so the process is quicker, but in terms of turnout, I believe we are going to see a turnout that is slightly higher than what we saw in the previous elections.” Observers say politicians and their supporters who have been chorusing frosty relationship between Obaseki and Oshiomhole may have to cast their minds back to when Buhari visited Edo during the campaigns ahead of the polls and when Oshiomhole publicly acknowledged the performance of Obaseki both as a governor and politician. Oshiomhole had said at the campaign rally held in Benin-City, “I am proud of what, under your (Obaseki) leadership and guidance, Edo State has been able to achieve over the past two years. Because we have worked closely together, there is no learning curve. “Whichever sector you have looked at, things have changed and things will continue to change. I am not saying things are perfect, they can never be perfect. I believe Governor Obaseki has added value and Edo State is better than I left it. “This afternoon I am proud of Godwin Obaseki because I was nervous when I was coming to Benin. I had followed Mr President to Akwa Ibom, and I saw what our people in Akwa Ibom under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio did. Then we went to Kogi, our neighbour, and we saw the turnout and then we went to Warri and we saw what Warri people did by saying they have totally and collectively rejected PDP by the way they turned out. I am happy, I am proud with the quality of the crowd that I am seeing here”.
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