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THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Anambra State has so far declared results of six federal constituencies in last Saturdays election with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning in five while the All progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) won just one.

In a result announced Monday by the resident electoral commissioner, Hassan Suleiman, the PDP won in Orumba North and South where Ben Nwankwo won by 42,995 votes, Ogbaru where Okwudili Uzoka won by 21,365, Anambra East West with Hon. Wmona Anosike polling 98,775. Awka North and South with O.C Egwuaru polling 46,061 and Nnewi North/South/Ekwusigo where C.I.D Madubum polled 29,024.

However, INEC credited APGA with victory in the Anocha Njila/Diumakofia federal constituency where George Ozoainobi polled 33,086.

A surprise in the result released was the Anambra East and West federal constituency which Suleiman had declared cancelled the previous day.

However, in a swift reaction, the national treasurer of APGA, Victor Umeh dismissed the results of the constituencies save for that by Awocha/Njuloka/Bumukofia. He described the results as a concoction of INEC and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Umeh said that APGA was shocked about the result and asked for its outright cancellation. He alleged that the adhoc officials of INEC used to conduct the election were PDP card carrying members who substituted names earlier compiled by the commission.

He said that even in areas where APGA won and had the result sheets, the results were changed on the way to INEC office.

He also pointed out that in some areas namely Anambra East, Awka North, Ekwusigo among others, election never took place.

According to him, in Awka North for example, electoral materials were hijacked and the result written in a private house at Amansea.

Umeh argued that the Anocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia constituency was allowed APGA as a make believe.

Also, the deputy governor of Anambra state who run with AD ticket for the Anambra East and West constituency Prince Chinedu Emeka described the election as disorganised.

Emeka said he was sure there was no election in Anambra East where materials were not distributed but was surprised that results were declared in favour of his opponent.

Besides, he said that even where he won booth by booth at Ogboru federal constituency the results of which he is having a false result was declared.

Emeka said that he fears the current electoral process describing the results as “magical” what transpired on Saturday is not fair and we should fight against it”, he stated.

Also, Prince Orji Nwafor-Orizu who run on the ticket of APGA for the Nnewi North/South/Ekwusigo lodged his won protest at INEC and said that there was no election in his senatorial district where materials were not distributed up till 6pm.

Nwafor-orizu said it was only at Nnewi where election was properly monitored that true result was declared.

10 June 2003

The decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to investigate the activities of its Resident Electoral Commissioners in the last general elections may be the first step in the bid for the commission to re-discover itself, writes Oke Epia

It does appear that the Independent National Ele-ctoral Commission (INEC) is becoming wary and concerned about the unending complaints of misdemeanour against its officials. And in responding to this and the considerable dissatisfaction and disputations that trailed its conduct of the just concluded general elections in the country, the electoral Commission seem set to to take a hard look at its performance and possibly do some self-examination. That is if the words of one of its top official is anything to go by. Last weekend in Jos, Alhaji Shchu Musa, INEC Commissioner for the North-Central states, told newsmen that the commission would not spare any of its 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) that was found wanting in the credible discharge of his responsibilities after due investigations have been carried out. "We have asked alI the Resident Electoral Commissioners to brief the commission on all allegations of rigging against them, especially where elections were alleged not to have held," he said. Hinting of punitive measures for erring officials, he continued, " We can discipline our people but we need evidences. We have to make sure that the evidences are clear. We are not in a position to know all the malpractices perpetrated directly."

This position by the electoral commission is against backdrop of widespread allegations of collusion by its officials with agents of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)and security operatives to slant the outcome of the elections in favour of the PDP. The opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has led other parties under the aegis of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) to reject the election results and stridently called for the cancellation of the polls in some areas over allegations of massive rigging. Even foreign election observers who monitored the polls corroborated some of the claims that irregularities and malpractices had occured. Moreso, those deno-uncing the conduct of the last electoral exercise have also said that officials of INEC were part of the plot to rig the polls as they were alleged to have aided and abetted the malpractices that took place.

INEC's initial reaction to such plethora of protests, was to wave them aside in a rather careless and lethargic fashion. The commission's stand then could be taken to mean that of satisfaction for a job well done. On this note, it would be recallecl that less than two weeks to the April polls, INEC announced the reshufflement, of its 37 Resident Electoral Commissioners for the 36 states an~ the Federal Capital Territory, the second time in about two months. The reason was ostensibly to strengthen the RECs against corrupt tendencies and undue influence from state governments and other unwholesome influences that may fester on the familiarity built over a long period of time preceding the polls.

The INEC boss had said that much in his charge to the RECs shortly before the polls when he declared: "Laws, regulations, and statutory orders must not be flouted. In the performance of our task, we must resist and reject all approaches from anyone including the political authorities which appointed us, to act contrary to law and laid down procedures. What is required of the electoral officers is that they administer the electoral process fairly in accordance with all laid down rules and regulations with complete impartiality and non-partisanship." And, perhaps to give the impression that it was set to really play the impartial, non-partisan umpire, the commission's top hierarchy at a time during the build up to the national assembly polls, reportedly ordered the RECs in the 36 states and the FCT to investigate allegations of diversion of electoral materials in their areas. Whether the investigations were carried out or not remains uncertain. But what is however certain is that nothing was heard on the said diversion anymore. Seemingly satisfied that it had blocked possible loopholes and made adequate preparations for the polls, INEC accordingly demonstrated very little patience with criticisms of its conduct during the polls. That perhaps explains why Guobadia derogatorily referred to General Buhari, the ANPP Presidential candidate, as a frustrated man for consistently insisting that the polls were rigged. It cannot also be forgotten so soon how INEC had taken some of the foreign election monitors to task, alleging that some had exceeded their mandate as poll observers and probably had other less wholesome agenda to pursue. It was however, not until President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote the commission asking that genuine cases of malpractices be investigated that it started to sing a different tune about its conduct of the elections. It was Guobadia again who first cautioned that the commission could not pop champagne yet because the tribunals would still have to put through the fire its umpireship role in the elections. Musa, in towing the line of his boss agreed that "the essence of the tribunals is to hear all petitions that arose as a result of the elections." Ironically, the President in writing to INEC had relied on the report submitted by one of the groups of international election observers, the CommonWealth Election Observation Mission on the general elections which had observed some irregularities in the polls and counselled that both legal and administrative remedial actions be taken where possible. According to the President in his letter, " I am of the opinion that where the report raises issues about which administrative and legal actions are possible, such remedial actions should be promptly taken." While acknowledging the difficulty involved in taking a decisive remedial action by INEC, the President however stated that "it would be helpful if the commission can investigate such circumstances even if only to assist the election tribunals in expediting action to ensure some redress."

And that may just be the only achievable end given the circumstances. Because as things currently stand, by virtue of the electoral laws of the country, INEC has no powers to cancel declared results talkless of retrieving the certificates it presented to the winners at the polls. This now leaves every possible remedial action and redress at the ambit and discretion of the electoral tribunals sitting in different parts of the country. Good enough, there seem to be a general feeling of agreement that the tribunals be allowed to carry out their assignment. It is an investment of hope on the judicial process of redress. And the discoveries made from an investigative exercise undertaken by INEC now may form adequate ground to institute a judicial commission of enquiry to create more balm for sore wounds sustained during the elections.

But at the end of the day, it would have done the electoral body and indeed the entire system a world of good if INEC takes the courage to purge itself of corrupt elements that not taint its image but help to impugn the credibility of the electoral exercise. The records of such self-purge will be there to remind those who might be tempted in future to involve in electoral malpractices.

It also suffices to say that Nigerians as stakeholders in the democracy project also have more than a passive role to play in checking some of these indulgences by electoral officials. The INEC comissioner in talking about disciplinary actions for erring officials put some of the blames on Nigerians whom he said having prior knowledge of some of these discrepancies, sometimes keep mute until it was too late before crying out. He also enlisted the assistance of the public by calling for clear evidences. That is, for INEC to even succeed in any self-investigative exercise, it needs information from the people themselves who may have participated in the process or witnessed the anomalies firsthand. In that direction, it was good news when the election tribunal sitting in Anambra state was informed weekend, that some persons, including the INEC electoral officer in the area were arrested by vigilant citizens in Ogbaru Local Government for allegedly thumb-printing ballot papers in favour of the PDP during the governorship election. But it is hoped that the commission is sincere about any internal probe of itself. And to show that sincerity and transparency in this, many political watchers believe the commission owes it a duty to Nigerians to make its findings known so that everybody can learn some lessons. Moreso, it would have dispelled claims and allegations that its officials merely colluded with PDP agents and security operatives to achieve predetermined results.

May 4, 2003

Ogbaru LGA Chairman Calls For Smooth Transition

This Day (Lagos)
October 13, 2002

The Chairman, Transition Committee, Ogbaru Local Government in Anambra State, Sir Benson Nwawulu (Idu) says all hands must be on deck to successfully nurture and sustain the country's nascent democracy for the citizenry to fully reap the socio-political and economic gains of true democratic values and principles.

Addressing the people of the council at Atani, the headquarters, Sir Nwawulu traced the developmental history of Nigeria from Independence in 1960 to date with military interventions and their problems and charged the citizens of the area to rise to the challenges of the time by contributing meaningfully towards the development of the area.

He regretted that before the present federal, state and local government administration, virtually all democratic values and principles as well as human rights were brushed aside by the military but expressed satisfaction that now these democratic norms have been fully restored by the three tiers of government.

Sir Nwawulu enumerated some of the achievements of this administration within four months of its inception which included the payment of three months arrears of salaries owed the council staff by the past administration.

The setting up of a machinery in motion to pay off the arrears of salaries which the immediate past political office holders owed themselves despite the dwindling resources accruable to Local governments nationality, and the rehabilitation work on the Federal Government owned Uga-Atani-Ogu Ikpele Road now in progress.

The council boss paid glowing tribute to the Mbadinuju administration for what he described as it developmental strides and unparalled achievement in instituting "an effective security network in Anambra state and called on all Anambra indigenes to give the governor full support.

No fewer than 2,000 members of Alliance for Democracy (AD)in Anambra State including the chairman of Ogbaru local government area of the state, Mrs Callista Nwachukwu, at the weekend decamped to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Among other decampees were the deputy chairman of the council and his personal assistants; the 22-member AD executive at the Ogbaru Local Council, all AD councillors in the area, all personal and special assistants to Nwachukwu, all AD executives in the 16 wards of the council and other members of the party.

Nwachukwu made the declaration at the occasion which coincided with the inaugural ceremony of "Odera Victory Movement," a group of volunteers campaigning for re-election of the state governor, Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju come 2003.

Nwachukwu, leader of the decampees, declared: "Today marks exactly 35 months when I took the mantle of leadership of the council as the only Ad council chairman in the state, ordinarily, I would have blown the trumpet of my records of achievements here as the only female council boss in the state from a minority political party."

Continuing, she declared: "But what I am watching and witnessing today demand that I go beyond this beaten path because the Odera (Mbadinuju) administration since its inception has performed wonderfully well."

She also adduced the reasons for their decampment to the prevalent factions and factionalisation in the AD nationwide and the state in particular, the marginalisation of Igbo in AD nationwide, and the tribal, sectional and regional sentiment of "Afenifere", a Yoruba ethnic organisation in the affairs of AD while has become inexplicable.

Nwachukwu who further said the PDP in Anambra under the able and charismatic leadership of Mbadinuju has salvaged the decayed situation in the state. She noted that the state hitherto known as home for all social vices in Nigeria and synonymous with armed banditry, had suddenly become a soothing haven of refuge for others who were hitherto being molested, a situation which ,she said, has made the Mbadinuju administration in the state one with the milk of human sympathy which consequently salvaged the situation.

The Anambra State House of Assembly has forwarded an amended comprehensive list of 34 new council areas it proposed for creation to the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) for a referendum and possible ratification. Consequently, SIEC has fixed the referendum for tomorrow.

The House has a forthnight ago approved the recommendation of its committee on creation of new councils which came out with 41 new councils.

But owing to some petitions and protests from the agitators of some of the newly recommended councils, the House last week came out with the amended comprehensive list of the new councils which now dropped from earlier 41 to 34.

The list showed that the 12 additional council areas earlier recommended by the House Committee and approved by the whole House, for Anambra North zone remained same under the new list, while that of Anambra South zone was trimmed down from 18 to 11, just as that of Anambra Central remained 11 in the new list.

No explanation was however given by the House on the amendment but some members of the House had in their recent sitting called for a harmonised list of the new councils and equal number to help provide a level playing ground and maintain equity, justice and fair-play because according to them the three zones had seven councils each before now.

The Speaker of the House, Hon. Barth Onugbolu had in reading out the new list at the floor of the House, directed that the list be submitted immediately to the SIEC for a referendum that would precede its passage into law by the state legislature.

The amended list for Anambra North zone has Onitsha East with headquarters at Awada and a population of 121,343 as at 1996 census. Others are Onitsha Central (St. John School Odoakpu - 135,290), Ogbaru South (Ogwu Aniocha-50,000); Anambra North-West (Umueze-Anam-48,513); Anambra North (Nando-56,131); Anambra Central (Umuikwu-73,187); Anambra South-east (aguleri-26,216); Ayamelum North (Ifite-Ogwari-35,846); Ayamelu Central (Omor-32,490); Oyi North (Nkwelle-Ezunaka-12,868); Oyi South (Umunya-85,010) and New-Haven ) Okpoko-121,343).

In Anambra South, Amaiyi Local Government has its headquarters at Achina with the 1996 Census population of 71,068, Otikpo (Uga-86,732); Aguata North (Igboukwu-100,882); Ochi (Amichi-73,746); Oghomili/Odo (Oko-79,384); Ulasi (Orsumoghu-49,690); Anaedo (Oraifite-39,978); Nnewi North-west (Oruagu0Nnewi-o9,004); Uli North (Ndikpo-26,797) and Uli South (Umuoma-53,494). Anambra Central also has Anaocha North Local Government with headquarters at Agulu and a 1996 Census population figure of 11,517, Awka East (Obizi), (Nibo-79,989); Awka West (Mgbakwu-24,363); Awka North east (Ebenebe -29,344); Awka Central (Agu-Awka -76,581), Umunri (Enugu-Ukwu -87,626); Idemili East (Nnobi - 98,824); Idemili Central (Umuoji -48,085); Nkpor Urban (Nkpor -74,717); Obosi (Obosi -78,399) and Ekulo (Oba 33,254).

The Chairman of SIEC, Dr. Rogers Obi who confirmed the receipt of the amended list to newsmen in his office on Wednesday, said SIEC has fixed October 27 as a date for the referendum, adding that population, viability, assessibility and infrastructure would be considered in the referendum.

Legislators representing Anambra State, in the National Assembly, have been carpetted for not working for the state to benefit from the 13 per cent derivation revenue recently approved for oil producing states by the federal government.

The member representing Onitsha South II constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Mr. Valentine Elosiuba, told The Post Express midweek that "it smarks of improper representation" on the part of the state's representatives in the National Assembly not to insist that the state should be included in the 13 per cent derivation.

He said that it was "most unfair, unfortunate and disgusting" for excluding Anambra State in the derivation principle.

Elosiuba stated that there was availability of oil in Ogbaru and in the Ayamelum local government areas of the state, but that this was said to have been placed on "strategic reserve."

"It is illogical to say that because our oil is on reserve we cannot participate in the 13 per cent derivation, the implication of which is that for now, you have more than enough," he argued.

Elosiuba described as "day light robbery" the exclusion of Anambra State in the derivation arrangement, and saw it as part of the marginalisation of "ndi igbo" stating that the issue should be re- addressed as soon as possible.

"If Obasanjo cannot address the problem of Igbos, he should give us confederation," he suggested, arguing that "we cannot continue to participate in a federation that does not guarantee our rights."

The legislator described Anambra House of Assembly as "the best" in the country, stating that since its inauguration eleven months ago, they had passed 15 bills, 13 of which had been assented to by the Governor.

In a sleepy agrarian community in Anambra State a man and his deity hold the power of life and death over the people.

The Oguagbaka extended family was an embodiment of everything that to the generality of their native community would describe as "successful". Indeed, any other word would hardly have captured the enviable heights member of the family commanded in the setting they found themselves.

What else could a family desire? In a community that is preponderantly illiterate, the Oguagbakas monopolised the singular honour of giving their people their first graduate ever! And, from a foreign university. Clearly a shining example, the achievement threw a challenge to many a youth of the entire community, each of who got spurred to a subtle quest to distinguish himself or herself one way or the other. And, providence, it was apparent, had found a home in the Oguagbaka family. Those who did not find appeal on the academic path had various booming business enterprises to their credit.

That was some years ago. Ikemdi was an Oguagbaka. His place of abode was Maiduguri where he was a partner in a thriving financial consultancy consortium. By every standard he qualified as an upper class Nigerian and his immediate family led that life: Resident in the highbrow GRA, his children attended the very best of schools while his wife prided herself on owning a chain of supermarkets and confectionery stores. Apparently, Ikemdi did not have any kind of problem whatsoever.

Then one Tuesday, he phoned his wife from the office to expect him home earlier than was usual. He had just developed fever, he complained. Within a couple of minutes, he was chauffeured home and he walked upstairs himself. Settling himself on a sofa, he asked for a glass of water which his wife went about getting. Within a minute she had done so but, rather than take the glass, she beheld her husband's head inclined sideways. Thinking the effect of the fever must be too much to warrant such "weariness," she tried to rouse him to activity. The man did not respond, rather he collapsed onto the sofa lifelessly. By the time the family doctor responded to the woman's call, Ikemdi was stone dead!

With this incident, it was as if the lid had unfastened from the urn of mysterious deaths. It spilled its dreaded content on the Oguagbaka family. Thenceforth, mirth bade goodbye to the family as one death followed the other closely on the heels. Curiously there was a marked trend: Only the important male members of the family fell and each in the same puzzling circumstances as Ikemdi's until everybody that mattered was gone! Then the searchlight refocused. Welcome to the unsparing world of Iyioji.

Jane (not real name) is a female Oguagbaka married to a Yoruba. Two years after the last death in her maiden family, her eldest son fell off the balcony of their two-storey building in Lagos. He did not survive the fall. A traditionalist to the core, her husband, very much aware of the happenings in his in-laws' family, became suspicious of "a diabolic influence," as he put it. He did not hesitate to seek the diviner.

Somebody in the Oguagbaka family, the divination revealed, had incurred the wrath of Iyioji adreaded deity somewhere in Anambra State. Until it was sought and appeased, "tears will not dry on the faces of those who possess its 'property." Its property, it was learnt, referred to the material possessions of whoever it had killed in the past. Investigations by this reporter reveal how the deity allegedly operates.

Allegations of grave consequences is wrongly levelled at somebody, or somebody is wronged without justification; he has no confidence in the legal system and so to the deity he resorts. In his belief, it dispenses justice judiciously, being a supernatural force that is not affected by sentiments. He invokes it to fight for him as it were, by striking the offender.

The deity sets to work. It allegedly claims the unjust through death and his estate cannot be touched by the living until some form of restitution has been made to the deity. Anybody who as much as harbours a thought of owning the deceased's property marks himself for death. To be on the safe side, once it has been confirmed that the deceased is the victim of the deity, his surviving relatives cart all his material property to the shrine of Iyioji. That is if they cannot bear to watch them rot away without yielding to the temptation to convert them to their own use.

The alternative, it was gathered, is to appease the deity on the priest's own terms.

The offence Jane's son committed against the deity was that the cassette recorder he took to school was the very one Jane received as her own share of her late relation's wealth. All the Oguagbaka family members that died, except one, contravened, albeit ignorantly, the deity's law concerning ownership. Herein lies the peculiarity of Iyioji. Having become aware of her son's "sin," Jane has since gone to the deity and performed the rituals to set her family free.

The Oguagbaka extended family today offers a study in seemingly boundless powers of the Iyioji deity. The section of the community that used to generate irresistible pull, however, still does so, but for a different reason: To behold the ruins that once was the most beautiful quarter in the entire community. Houses have caved in and weed overgrow them, yet no one dares try to salvage anything. Else he will pay.

Such is the stranglehold of Iyioji. In the heart of Odekpe, an agrarian community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State lies the shrine of this deity. Reputed to be the most dreaded, especially among the riverine people of Anambra, Delta and Rivers States who are conversant with its potency, a woman told the reporter: "It is only he who has not seen what Iyioji did that does not dread it."

Odekpe itself has assumed a peculiar identity thrust on it by Iyioji. Mention the town to anybody who has heard about it and the image it evokes is that of a powerful deity.

But much more than that, one man alone personifies this image. That man is Ozegbe Nwachukwu, the Uzzi of Odekpe and the priest of Iyioji. The awe associated with the deity makes him an institution himself as he is shorn of independent identity. The talk anywhere, therefore, is about Iyioji Ozegbe. In other words, the man is the deity and the deity the man! From Lagos, the reporter went in search of him.

Welcome to Odekpe. Ozegbe being a household name, locating him compares to tracing an elephant in the desert. Despite that, however, disappointment greeted the enquirer: The burial rites for a notable figure were holding in the priest's part of the village and the attendant rituals forbid strangers. Moreover, the reporter was informed, the rituals apart, there was no way he could have seen Ozegbe, because the reporter wore a black pair of trousers. This, the man and his deity forbid. So a reverse journey to Onitsha commenced. Three days later he was back, the burial rites having ended.

That Saturday, clad in light-brown trousers and a white top the reporter faced the priest. Another disappointment, or was it a surprise? The way the name, Ozegbe, echoes far and wide, even among the very old, one had expected to behold a wizened old man who would conjure images of the deity itself. But no, Ozegbe looks quite young and very athletic. "I am not an old man," he tried to correct the impression, "only, I started this thing at a very tender age when my father died." According to him, he was in standard two then and that was about 60 years ago. Then the reporter repositioned himself happily thinking the man was going to reel out everything. In the euphoria, he prodded the man but rather than continue he gazed at the reporter and beckoned his son over.

The young man came over to the reporter, bent closely and told him the consultation requirements: A bottle of Ogogoro (local gin), a bottle of beer, a bottle of stout and a bottle of malt. The reporter tried to explain that he was not for consultation. It does not matter, the priest interjected, so long as he had said something about his deity on enquiry. The reporter could not but comply.

That settled, the expectation was that the priest was going to throw open the door to his world. That was not to be. He does not just talk about his deity, he informed, unless one is on appeasement mission. Nevertheless, the reporter must gather the information that brought him all the way from Lagos, so the man's unyielding stance was something of a challenge. He pressed on. In bits and pieces, the face of Iyioji was assembled like a huge puzzle. Photographs? Ozegbe would not hear it; none has ever been taken of the shrine in its history.

The Iyioji priesthood over the years has evolved into a hereditary office even though the reporter gathered, it was not originally so fashioned. The deity itself has a history which circumstances could rightly be said to be somewhat paradoxical. A long time ago when the trade in slavery held sway, a slave boy who was bought into Odekpe subsequently set up a shrine at which he worshipped.

When the slave aged and eventually died, the inheritance of the deity naturally went to another slave apparently because of the disdain free-borns had for slaves and whatever that owed its origin to them. However, the second slave died almost immediately and in mysterious circumstances. Divination revealed that he had erred in administering the deity. The community was at a loss as to what to do since abandoning the deity was out of the question, because of the role it played in their lives.

Then an idea struck an elder: One man particularly had an intimate relationship with the slave-owner of the deity. He should be conversant with the rituals that attend its worship. The elder then suggested that he be prevailed upon to inherit the deity. It was not an easy task initially but, ultimately the slave's friend was persuaded and ever since the exclusive right of Iyioji priesthood runs in his family, from father to first son. That friend of the slave was one of the forebears of Ozegbe.

The Iyioji priesthood has ever since become an exalted position, its slave origin having become shrouded in myth. The priest symbolises the omnipotence of the god itself as he serves as the link between it and man. His power is particularly played out when a case comes before him.

Normally, whenever he is consulted, somebody must have died or is at the point of death as a result of the invocation of the deity. He demands that the other party to the dispute be present. When he comes, Ozegbe inquires of him whether he favours the appeasement. If he does, Ozegbe further inquires from him the compensation he will require of the man who has wronged him. Whatever the wronged person mentioned will be triply provided by the offender. Two parts go to Ozegbe. It is even worse for a party who deliberately invokes the deity falsely and later approaches Ozegbe to placate his deity. The reporter gathered that the mass of belongings that litter the Iyioji shrine belonged to those whose people could not afford the terms of appeasement. They have been confiscated by the deity.

Ozegbe told the reporter that his god fights a just cause. Obviously. All who attest to the deity's potency agree on one thing: Anybody who Iyioji troubles must have erred, either directly or otherwise.

However, the powers credited to a deity have always engendered controversies anywhere. Not a few people who claim "liberation from agents of the devil" aver that deities are powerless over them. Some even contend that what one is ignorant of cannot have any effect on one hence the assertion by Afolabi Rafiu, an assistant superintendent of police, that "the Igboman's god is restricted to Igboland."

For G.A.I. Mowah, an Asaba-based legal practitioner, "everything will depend on the sameness of belief." He explained that a deity will have effect only on those who subscribe to the belief in any deity at all, hence the whiteman who professes inherent faith in Christianity may not be affected at all.

However, Chigbue Ekwealor, a philosopher of science at the University of Lagos, dismisses such arguments as demonstrative of ignorance of the concept of deity. "At the end of the day, that is at the spiritual realm," he postulates, "all deities are shorn of materiality (that is ethnic identity) and they dissolve into forces. So, why the forces of the other man's deity will definitely get the other man is because there are two basic motions within the force field - good and bad. So, if the Yorubaman does whatever that is bad on earth, no deity on earth will support him."

The Contract Review Committee set up by the embattled Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, last month, to look into contracts awarded in the state by previous military regimes, has swung into action.

Already, the committee has summoned about 18 chief executives of various companies to appear before it at the Committee Room, State Secretariat, Government House, Awka, Anambra State.

In a letter to this effect, dated 18 June, 1999 and signed by Col. R.C. Aghanya and Hon. Ozo Ughamadu, Chairman and Secretary of the committee respectively, the contractors were to appear before the Contract Review Committee between Tuesday, 22 June and Friday, 25 June, 1999, at 12 noon.

In addition, the contractors were asked to appear along with them, "all documents of the contracts under review."

Some of the contractors listed in the letter include Chief Chris Uba, Chairman/Chief Executive, Oil Construction Ltd. He was invited by the committee in connection with a N163.129 million presidential dual carriage way, Awka.

The same Chris Uba whose three-storey building along Chime Avenue, Enugu, collapsed on 12 June 1997 while still under construction, is also wanted by the committee in connection with a N685 million Government Lodge (Nnamdi Azikiwe place), Awka.

Other contractors invited by the committee are the Managing Director, Jakkos Construction Company Limited in connection with a N130.173 million Government Lodge, Abuja, Chief Emeka Nwandu, Chairman/Chief Executive, Anambra State Liaison Office, Abuja contract, Architect Goddy Jidenma, former Commissioner for Works in connection with a N15.5 million Direct Labour Burnt Government House, Awka, contract, Chief Ben Onuigbo, Chairman/Chief Executive, Bencov Construction Co. Ltd, in connection with a contract of N21.405 million for construction of the Amawbia - Nibo - Umuawulu - Awgbu Road.

Also invited are Chief F.C. Ojukwu, Chief Executive, Itanic International, in connection with a N108 million contract for Onitsha - Atani - Ozubulu Road, in Ogbaru local government council, Chief Emeka Nwandu, Chief Executive, Oil Resources Nig. Ltd., in connection with N35.27 million contract for gateways and round abouts, Engineer Sam O. Ojuju, Chief Executive, LISAM Construction Ltd., in connection with N9.05m Orsumoghu - Isieke - Mgbashi Uli Road contract, Mr. Anayo Nwandu, Chairman, Master Holdings, in connection with N30 million Nkpor - Umoji - Nnobi and also Nnobi - Agulu Road contract, Chief Nath Okechukwu, Chairman, Inter Ban Construction Ltd., in connection with four Onitsha urban roads, three deemed completed and Bida Road, Onitsha, outstanding. The contract sum is N131.2 million.

P.M. News however, gathered that many of the contractors invited by the committee protested the invitation on the grounds that it was selective.

"They are saying that there are contractors whose names should have been on the list equally but were deliberately omitted because they are linked with those in authority," a source told P.M. News in Awka.

The Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) engages in last minute hustling to save the fund The heat has been on for a while. It was strengthened by the surefootedness gathered by the political transition programme of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar since the last quarter of 1998.

The objective is to snuff life out of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund, the late Gen. Sani Abacha's only worthy legacy. Loyalists and antagonists of the PTF have, however, been fencing off tirades or fuelling it as the case maybe.

In recent times, the clamour has been intense with the contending camps marshalling supportive arguments to buttress their claims. President-elect, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo was initially on the con side with threats to consign the fund to the dustbin immediately he is sworn into office 29 May. Gen. Obasanjo has, however, recently moderated his views on the desirability of the fund as he was recently quoted as promising to examine its functions before deciding whether it should survive or not. Criticisms have centred on the lack of a constitutional backing for the body and at some other times on the lopsidedness of its operations.

Some critics dubbed it a body for the North, insisting it had done well mainly in the northern states. Two Senators-elect from Rivers State, Dr. Martins Yellowic and Mr. Adawawri Macpepple supported the view when they told PTF officials at a recent meet in Port Harcourt that the body was not relevant to the oil communities "as it is very discriminating in its operations." The body is, however, not just sitting back and absorbing the punches.

A frenzied move to counter the wave of negative opinions against it has been rolled out by the Zonal Community Education and Enlightenment Consultants, a move that is spreading round the country with the pace of a hurricane. In zone six, which comprises Edo, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Bayelsa states, tours of PTF accomplished projects are being organised for communities (stakeholders) and both elected members of the state and national assemblies.

The whole noise appear to sound loudest in that zone as conferences have been held in Benin, Uyo, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri, starting from mid April. Segun Akpata, zone six project director, told The News the PTF is blazing the trail in the public service by engaging a participatory approach to projects.

The PTF, according to him, is the first government agency which has initiated moves to enter into direct dialogue (and enlightenment) with stakeholders to ensure success for its projects. According to him, "criticisms against it (PTF) centre on what it is yet to implement in accordance with its operational guidelines and not what it has failed to accomplish.

There is glaring distinction in these two positions." At the enlightenment talkshop held in Warri, Saturday, 17 April where representatives of communities and organisations were taken into the details of PTF's River Niger dredging efforts, different communities, however, stormed the venue tabling different demands but most vociferously opposed to the Niger River dredging project. Since the end of the Nigerian civil war in 1970, there has been the clamour for dredging of the River Niger by various communities which hope to benefit immensely from the project.

One of the communities agitating for this has been the business class among the Igbo people of the southeast zone. The clamour got to its peak in 1982 when the Shehu Shagari government made it an election issue.

Shagari, in his reelection campaigns, had promised the Igbo, that he would dredge the River Niger. To give his promise a semblance of seriousness, the Shagari government cleared a portion of the Onitsha-end of the River Niger where a dredging crane was mounted.

The 31 December 1983 coup, which toppled the Shagari administration, however, stalled further action on the project. Since then, the dream has remained unrealised.

The present military regime is, however, reviving the project, through the PTF, by embarking on dredging not just the Onitsha-end of the River Niger, but a long stretch of 572 km of inland waterway which would, if completed, involve an extensive dredging of the lower Niger, from Warri in Delta State, to Baro in Niger State. The project, which some experts say, is aimed at improving the navigability of the waterways as well as providing a great potential for water transportation from the coastal areas of Warri and Port Harcourt to the middle belt and down to the North-Eastern and North-Western parts of the country, will traverse Niger, Kogi, Benue, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Imo, Bayelsa and Rivers states.

The News gathered that in spite of the clamour for this extensive dredging work, since after the civil war, only about 300 kilometres of the project from Aboh to Lokoja, has been undertaken due largely to the refusal by the authorities to release funds for the job. But when the Federal Government eventually found the will to do this (about N8.3 billion is to be spent by the PTF on the project), the political climate does not seem to be conducive for a hitch-free implementation.

A welter of opposition, mainly from various parts of the already highly restive Niger Delta, is gathering to stall the dredging work. Already, highly-placed officials of the dreaded Ijaw National Congress have vowed to sink the dredgers any time they turn up to execute the PTF contract.

The publicity secretary of the group, Mr. Joseph Evah, told this magazine that the people of the Niger Delta are not opposed to the dredging work because of the economic benefits that would accrue to their neighbours, mainly the Igbos, as a result.

Their grouse, he explained, stem from their belief that the project is another ploy by the Federal Government to use the wealth generated in the Niger Delta to develop the North.

"We are strictly opposed to this project because we noticed that it is another ploy by the Federal Government to waste the resources generated from our soil in developing the north. By embarking upon the project, the government does not have the interest of the people of the Niger Delta or even the entire south at heart. Their sole aim is to further develop the North, using our resources and we say an emphatic no to this," Evah posited, threatening further that, "we are going to sink the dredgers should they venture into this project. We have said it and we mean every word of it."

As if to show how committed they are to their protest against the N8.3 billion dredging project, the Ijaw National Congress has already commenced a legal battle against the Federal Government and its agents in the dredging business. In a suit filed at the Federal High Court, Benin City on 6 May by Lagos radical lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, who is the counsel to the congress, the group is praying the court to make, among others, such declarations that

(i) "the decision of the defendants to dredge the River Niger from Warri in Delta State, to Bida, in Niger State, a distance of 578 km, without carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment of the affected area is illegal and unconstitutional as it violates section 4 of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) Act (Cap. 131) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990," and (ii) "that the award of the N8.3 billion contract for the dredging of the River Niger, is illegal and unconstitutional as it violates the right of the Niger Delta people to a safe and healthy environment guaranteed by Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap. 10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990."

The group also prayed the court for "a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, privies and servants from dredging the Niger Delta area in any manner whatsoever and howsoever." The Ijaw National Congress is, however, not the only group seeking to stall the dredging project. In fact, a cluster of individuals and non-governmental organisations have been massing opposition to it.

One of such persons is Mr. Bello Erubebe, a lawyer and leader of the late Major Isaac Adaka-Boro-founded Niger Delta Volunteer Force.

Erubebe, who was among the groups from the Niger Delta which held discussions with the outgoing head of state, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, in Abuja recently, told The News that "we have rejected the dredging in its entirety. It would only compound our ecological problems." He argued further that the "spilling that will occur, will be in proportion that the N8 billion cannot arrest." He is not alone. Another group that calls itself the NEST FORUM (an NGO) has equally argued against the dredging.

The forum posited recently, that an "extensive ecological change will accompany dredging of the Niger River. Some of this change will be beneficial and some detrimental." It further stated that some 16 million cubic metres of earth matter would be dragged up by the dredging activities.

The group then cautioned that a detailed study of the ecosystems and habitats currently supported by the river is an absolute necessity in order to identify habitats and species in danger and also to weigh the relative impacts of both types of change. "Any loss of species resulting from dredging will be irretrievable," the forum warned.

From this magazine's investigations, one of the major fears of the people of the Niger Delta centre on the fact that if the River Niger is dredged, so many of their villages within the areas to be affected, especially those on wetlands, would be washed away. It is, therefore, on this premise that they have vowed to resist the dredging project with the last drop of their blood.

Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, chairman, Niger Delta Environmental Survey (NDES), who spoke at the 17 April workshop in Warri asked a lot of pertinent questions bordering on the physical environment, biological resources, human health issues and socio-economic issues.

Dredging of the River Niger, according to him, will generate a massive quality of soil: an admixture of soils of variable composition and undesirable chemistry. He wondered how these would be safely disposed of.Biological environment, according to Onosode, would also be impacted upon leading to mass killing of aquatic and marine life, increased toxicity and drastic reduction in oxygen concentration. Onosode also pointed at the health hazards inherent in the direct consumption of polluted water by the riverine communities since they lack alternatives.

"Are hospitals and clinics sufficiently adequate in number and equipment to deal with this?" he queried. But the Igbo, protagonists of the project, appeared to be singing a different tune.

At one instance of PTF's politics of institutional survival involving a gathering of top Igbo political and business personalities in Onitsha, participants not only approved of the dredging project, they also clamoured for the retention of the PTF. The gathering included such personalities as Professor A.N.A. Modebe, Hon. Mrs. Calista Nwachukwu (the only Alliance for Democracy elected chairman, for Ogbaru LGA of Anambra State), Bernard N'Obua, Esq., Olo E. Onuma, Esq., Chief Como Onyekaonwu, S.O. Elumai, Esq., Mike Nwosu, PTF's consultants, traditional rulers, opinion leaders and journalists from the two states.

In a communique they pushed out after the one-day talkshop, the participants claimed the dredging project is "a dream come true." The participants said their position was based on "the numerous benefits the project will bring." They called for infrastructural development and rehabilitation to be put in place simultaneously with the dredging adding that an adequate mainstream project must be embarked s upon to sustain the benefits of the dredging." Humphrey Bekeren, at the Warri talkshop, for Interface, consultants to the PTF, shared the same view.<

DailyTimes

10 June 2003