With Gulak out in the cold…
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati merely said Gulak’s appointment was terminated with immediate effect and that the president “wished him well in his future endeavours.”How can you sack a man who has made so many enemies for himself in your behalf and then turn around and wish him well in his future endeavours? Which future endeavours? […]
Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati merely said Gulak’s appointment was terminated with immediate effect and that the president “wished him well in his future endeavours.”
How can you sack a man who has made so many enemies for himself in your behalf and then turn around and wish him well in his future endeavours? Which future endeavours? Since 2011 Gulak has attacked whoever was attackable in Nigeria. Anyone who showed less than total enthusiasm for Jonathan and his regime got the rough edges of Gulak’s tongue. Any trade union that went on strike under Jonathan’s watch; any member of the ruling PDP that showed less than total enthusiasm for Jonathan’s leadership of the party; any legislator who seeks to rein in the president, not to mention a member of an opposition party who wants to score a point against Jonathan, had to contend with Ahmed Gulak.
Even though the president has an official spokesman [Abati], an official spokesman of government [Maku] and a special “attack dog” [Doyin Okupe], Gulak outshined them all because he was ready to say things that the other three were reluctant to say. Gulak did more than engage the president’s critics and opponents on the airwaves. He engaged them in the streets as well. He floated numerous pro-Jonathan groups, of youths, women, students, traders etc. He retrieved such men as Ibrahim Mantu from obscurity and relaunched them on the wings of his pro-Jonathan groups.
From all indications that was where trouble came for Gulak. In recent days he was engaged in a battle against Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, who accused Gulak of interfering in the affairs of the Akwa Ibom PDP. A few days ago the Akwa Ibom PDP warned Gulak to concentrate on PDP affairs in his native Adamawa State, which it said needs serious help, rather than intervene in Akwa Ibom’s affairs. Ahmed Gulak took on the wrong opponent in Godswill Akpabio, the man who splintered the Nigeria Governors’ Forum on Jonathan’s behalf. Now Gulak is out in the cold. Maybe he will soon cross over to APC.
…Diezani takes the fifth
The House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee was supposed to sit yesterday and commence public hearing on the scandal swirling around the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke. The allegation was that since she took over this juicy post at the start of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s acting presidency, Madam has spared no expenses out of the public till to make herself comfortable and fashionable. She goes everywhere in chartered jets and the tab is picked up by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. At the last count, it was alleged that NNPC has paid up to N10 billion to charter these planes.
The public outcry was so loud that the House ordered its public accounts committee to launch a probe. The committee headed by Solomon Adeola-Olamilekan first called upon the minister and NNPC to submit some documents for its perusal, and then appear before its public sitting to answer some questions. No documents came to the committee and, on the day it was to begin the public sitting, a court bailiff sneaked into the National Assembly and slammed some papers on Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal’s desk.
There were two versions of the papers’ contents. While some newspapers reported that Justice Ahmed Mohamed of an Abuja Federal High Court granted the order ex parte to stop the probe pending the determination of the motion of notice, others said he ordered the court papers to be served on the committee and the House following Diezani’s demand for an ex parte order stopping the probe.
We are not yet sure which is which. The question is, why is Madam Minister reluctant to appear before the House committee and shed light on this serious allegation against her? By running helter skelter to the court to stop the probe, she has done the moral equivalent of what Americans do when they “take the Fifth.” The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution says a person should not be forced to testify and incriminate himself. The trouble with taking the Fifth is that you create the impression in everyone’s mind that you are guilty.