Olusegun Olanrewaju
Reprieve came the way of suspended chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim and former governors of Katsina and Ekiti states, Ibrahim Shema and Ayodele Fayose, from newly-appointed acting national chairman of the party, Umar Damagum.
The Damagun-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP reversed some punitive decisions taken against party leaders by the court-restrained national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu.
Ayu had led the party into suspending the trio, as well as two others, over alleged anti-party activities.
He had also led the NWC into referring Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, to the party’s disciplinary committee, for the same offence.
However, Damagun who was appointed acting national chairman of the PDP on Tuesday, held his first full-fledged meeting yesterday, where the decision to reverse these disciplinary measures was taken.
The decision to reverse the suspensions and other referrals was announced, after the meeting, by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba.
*Stops Ortom from facing the disciplinary committee, opts for reconciliation
He said, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its meeting today, Thursday, March 30, extensively discussed recent developments in the party.
“The NWC recognised the imperativeness of a total reconciliation among Party leaders and critical stakeholders for a more cohesive Party in the overall interest of our teeming members and Nigerians in general.
“Consequent upon the above, the NWC reverses the referral of the Governor of Benue State, His Excellency, Dr Samuel Ortom, to the National Disciplinary Committee.
“The NWC, in the same vein, reverses the suspension of the following under-listed members of our great party: Ibrahim Shema (Katsina State); Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti State); Senator Pius Anyim (Ebonyi State); Prof Dennis Ityavyar (Benue State) and Dr Aslam Aliyu (Zamfara State).”
Ologunagba added, “This decision is without prejudice to the powers of the NWC to take necessary disciplinary action against any member of the party at any time according to the provisions of the constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017).
“The NWC charges all leaders, critical stakeholders and teeming members of our party across the country to be guided by the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017) as well as the new spirit and necessity of reconciliation, unity and harmony in our Party at this critical time.
“The PDP must remain focused as we continue to take every necessary action to recover the stolen mandate freely given by Nigerians to our party and presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday, February 25, 2023, at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
Before yesterday’s signature move, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP last Thursday had referred Benue State governor, Ortom to its National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) over alleged involvement in anti-party activities.
Announcing the decision in Abuja, the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the NWC also approved the suspension of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim, and former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, from the party.
Others suspended were Prof. Dennis Ityavyar (Benue) and Dr Aslam Aliyu (Zamfara).
He said the party leadership decided after an extensive review of its affairs in the country and under the provisions of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).
He urged all leaders, critical stakeholders, and teeming members of PDP across the country to remain united and focused at this critical time.
Labour Party tried to pit Nigerians against each other – APC
*An end to ‘a comedy skit?
While others were hit with the suspension order before Ayu got his boot, Fayose was more forward in his reaction to the move.
Reacting to the development through Lere Olayinka, his spokesperson, Fayose said his suspension was akin to the “last kick of a dead horse” and a ‘comedy skit’.
*Reconciliation
At the entry point of his appointment into office in acting capacity as the National Chairman of the leading opposition party in the country on Tuesday, Damagum, who was the erstwhile deputy national chairman of the party said reconciliation comes top on his agenda.
When asked about the party members’ reactions to the suspension and how the party planned to move forward, Damagum said, “As a party, we are prone to reconciliation. We will review it, we will have an NWC (National Working Committee) meeting tomorrow (Wednesday), and in that meeting, we will discuss it, and there will be a possible review of whatever is happening.”
Damagun also stated that he was stepping into the position to act as chairman “to fulfill all righteousness” since he was only standing in the gap of party leadership because of a court order restraining Ayu from parading himself as the national chairman.
In his first interview with reporters in Abuja on Tuesday, he said, “We are here to fulfil all righteousness, we have a court order restraining the chairman, our national chairman and we are law-abiding.
The outcome of subsequent meetings was the action taken yesterday to recall some of the suspected kingpins of the party from the coolers.
The outcome, observers say, represents another trajectory in a party torn by striving and had been on a reconciliation mission since 2021 when former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was chosen to head a National Reconciliation Committee charged with restoring peace and unity to the troubled party ahead of the just-concluded general election.
FG blames state govs, charcoal dealers for massive deforestation
By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday disclosed that the ongoing deforestation in the country is perpetuated by powerful interests in states that protect loggers who produce charcoal for sale.
This came just as the President Muhammadu Buhari administration said it is pursuing its target to plant 25 million trees by the year 2030 under its afforestation policy.
Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, stated this when he appeared on the 69th edition of the Inter-Ministerial Media Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister said each time the federal government tried to move against the menace to save the environment, there was pushback at the sub-national level on the ground that the trees belong to the states.
Fielding questions on the felling of trees for charcoal, he said: “No other administration has tackled this issue like the Buhari administration. The challenge we are facing under deforestation and charcoal is engaging the Nigerian Governors Forum because of the Land Use Act.
“The federal government is just a policy provider and doesn’t have that control over state government land to work out a modality which Kaduna State government has keyed in properly.
“It has invested some hectares of land to plant and we are working with the local governments. So, we are projecting other states will follow suit.
“What we further did to have some level of control, apart from timber legal standard, we have what we call DFTA, which is essential to track in areas where there is so much pressure on our forests.
“After tracking it, raise the red flag and then engage those communities and the state governments so that a solution can be brought and have a level of the arrest of the continuous challenge to our forest.
“What we did not tell you, is that the activities of the people in the charcoal business with all due respect are being supported by several powerful people at the sub-national level. And if we try to do some level of enforcement, they will tell you, we own this territory, you are the Federal Government and you cannot enforce your rule and policy on us.
“So, that is part of the challenge in terms of controlling these activities. But despite this, the task force is still there, going after some of them on an ad-hoc basis, trying to find out who is involved, and who licensed. We are doing our best to curb the situation.”
Speaking earlier on the theme: Timber and Energy Standard, the Director-General of Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Prof Adepoju Olusola, said, “No other administration has tackled this issue like the Buhari administration. The challenge we are facing under deforestation and charcoal is engaging the Nigerian Governors Forum because of the Land Use Act.
“The Federal Government is just a policy provider and doesn’t have that control over state government land to work out a modality which Kaduna State government has keyed in properly.
“It has invested some hectares of land to plant and we are working with the local governments. So, we are projecting other states will follow suit.”
He said the President Buhari administration has so far planted five million trees as part of its target to plant 25 million trees by the year 2030 under its afforestation policy.
Commenting on the assertion by Governor Charles Soludo that Anambra State is the capital of erosion in the country and what the government was doing to arrest the situation, Abdullahi said, “On Anambra being the erosion capital of Nigeria, again some of these things boil down to the nature of our federal structure.
“Part of the problem is that, initially, the Federal Government used to intervene in states erosion matters under Ecological Fund, but the states insisted that they be given their share of the ecological funds.
“So, since then, Mr President being a democrat, gave directives that every FAAC meeting, deductions are made and paid to states from Ecological Fund. But despite that, the Federal Government through the Ecological Fund office still intervenes in states to support erosion challenges in several states.
“So as much as we want to intervene and correct some of these anomalies, we are also inhibited by funding issues.
“Again, that was the basis for which the federal government created NEMA so that the issues of erosion are handled in every state. There is a huge gap in the management of erosion particularly in the South-East states of Anambra, Imo, and Enugu.
“So, we are doing our best to support them, but we are also calling on the states to live up to their responsibilities and utilise those funds they get from Ecological Fund effectively. This way, we can support ourselves.”
On the issue of national environmental sanitation policy, he said, “Ours is to drive this policy and get the buyer in of stakeholders. Usually, what we do when we have these policies drawn up, we have what we call the validation process where the state governments, the Ministry of Environment, and agencies in charge of sanitation to jointly go through the document and implement the policy jointly.
“With all due respect state governors have politicized the process of sanitation exercise and programmes. While you find some states banning sanitation exercises and you find others instituting the exercises. So, there are discordance tunes in these exercises.
“But again, because of the nature of our arrangement, we cannot force it down the throat of state governments but in FCT we have the level of control working with the Abuja environment sanitation agency particularly has it had to do with plastic pollution in Abuja and the activities of developers because they have been trying to encroach into the Jabi Lake.
“I’m glad to inform you that we have formed an alliance with the FCT and we are set to inspect through a joint Taskforce to those areas and see what we can do to enforce sanitation.”
Abdullahi also alleged that state governments compound the menace of flooding in their states by issuing Certificates of Occupancy for buildings without giving a thought to terrains and topographies.
The Minister said with litigation issues over, President Buhari in the next couple of days will flag off the groundbreaking of the center of excellence for remediation and that of the power project and the hospital.
He said with inhibition out of the way, the ministry is on course to deliver on President Buhari’s directives on Ogoni clean up.
