THE 17 POLITICAL HAPPENINGS THAT SHOOK THE YEAR 2016 IN NIGERIA.

2016 has been characterised by intrigues and dramas from different political gladiators scheming to consolidate power. They include:
 
 1. Budget Scandal
The 2016 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly on December 22, 2015 was described as full of errors by the time members of federal legislature returned from that year’s Christmas recess. This affected the February passage date .

A twist was added when the Senate declared that the hard copy of the budget presented to the National Assembly by the Presidency was missing.

Matters were made worst when the chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin, alleged padding of the budget by some principal officers of its lower legislative chamber.

2. Fuel Price Increase
After months of uncertainty during which Nigerians endured debilitating shortage of petrol, the Federal Government in May, ended the subsidy regime on the product and approved an increase in the pump price to N145.

The product previously sold for N87. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who announced the new price regime said the decision was reached at a stakeholders’ meeting presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and attended by the leadership of the Senate, House of Rep-resentatives, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and labour unions, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.

3. Abia Governorship Tussle
Abia State was thrown into a political dead end in June following the sack of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu by the Federal High Court in Abuja presided by Justice Okon Abang for submitting false information to his party – PDP – for its governorship primary in December 2014.

The judge ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately issue a certificate of return to the plaintiff, Dr. Uche Ogah, who polled the second highest number of votes in the party’s primary.

INEC swiftly complied with the order thereby throwing the state into confusion as both men declared themselves governor.

But the Court of Appeal in Abuja later set aside the judgement, calling it “a rape of democracy.” In a series of judgements on six appeals by Ikpeazu, Ogah, the PDP and Mr. Friday Nwosu, the five-member panel of judges led by Justice Morenikeji Ogunwumiju, faulted the technicalities on which Abang arrived at his judgement.

The judge said Abang deliberately ignored examining the tax documents which were tendered to his court as exhibits.

4. Saraki, Ekweremadu Arraigned For Forgery
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, were also in June arraigned before an Abuja High Court for alleged complicity in forgery of the Senate Standing Rules, 2015.

They were arraigned alongside former Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Abubakar Maikasuwa and his deputy, Mr. Benedict Efeturi.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge preferred against them by the Federal Government and they were all granted bail and the case was adjourned till July 11. The Federal Government later in October filed a motion to withdraw the charge.

5. EFCC Freezes Governor Fayose’s Account
The personal accounts of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and those of some of his associates were frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in June.

The action immediately prompted diverse reactions with a large majority of lawyers and Nigerians contacted affirming the validity of the commission freezing a governor’s account, but only upon the orders of a court.

Fayose, who by virtue of being a governor enjoys constitutional immunity from criminal prosecutions, said the decision to freeze his account was illegal.

The EFCC, however, said the governor’s immunity does not stop the agency from investigating him.

6. House of Reps’ Sex Scandal
The House of Representatives was hit by a sex scandal in June following a petition by the then United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, to the Speaker of the lower chamber, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, accusing some members of improper conduct, attempted rape and soliciting for prostitutes while on official trip to the US.

The ambassador, in a letter dated June 9, addressed to Dogara, alleged that three members of the House namely: Hon. Mo-hammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Hon. Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Hon. Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue) had, on the visit to the US for the International Visitor Leadership Program, brought disrepute to the parliament by soliciting for sex from prostitutes and grabbing an hotel housekeeper in a bid to rape.

But, the affected lawmakers denied all the allegations and threatened to sue the ambassador and the US government for “character defamation and a calculated attempt to ridicule the National Assembly.”

One of the accused lawmakers, Gbillah said that there was no iota of truth in what the ambassador said but a calculated attempt to cause disaffection between them and their wives, families and constituents as they were not given any fair hearing before the letter was sent to the speaker. The lawmakers were later cleared by the colleagues of the allegations.

7.Deepened PDP Crisis:
The leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deepened in August, when the party’s national convention to elect a new National Working Committee (NWC) was thwarted by policemen, who sealed off the Sharks Stadium, Port Harcourt, Rivers State venue of the event.

The police said they took the action following a court order suspending the convention. Another Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had earlier ordered the PDP to go ahead with the convention.

Some chieftains of the party, however, went ahead with convention and appointed a caretaker committee led by former Kaduna State governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi to oversee affairs of the former ruling party.

Since then, the Makarfi and Ali Modu Sheriff factions of the PDP have been in and out of the courts over who controls the party’s structures.

8. Former President Goodluck Jonathan Accused of Backing Militants
Former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Patience, were in August alleged to have link with a militant group – Niger Delta Avengers.

The former president, who hails from the crisis rocked oil-rich Niger Delta, was accused alongside some officials of his administration and political associates.

Those alleged alongside Jonathan by a splinter group of the NDA – Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) – include Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers) and Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); former Akwa Ibom State governor and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; wanted exmilitant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo) and chairman emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, Chief Raymond Dokpesi. All the accused persons denied having any link with the militant group and nothing had been heard of the allegation since then.

9. Chibok Girls' Release
Twenty-one schoolgirls kidnapped by the Boko Haram militant group were freed on October 13, after being held for more than two years.

The 21 were part of a group of nearly 300 girls taken by Boko Haram in April 2014 from the town of Chibok in Borno State.

The release was negotiated between the Federal Government and Boko Haram. The girls were later taken to the Presidential Viilla, where they met Vice President Osinbajo, who described their release as“very exciting news” for the whole country.

10 Whistle Blower Jibrin Suspended by House of Reps
The House of Representatives in September concluded the probe of the budget padding scandal which led to the suspension of the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin for one year.

Jibrin was suspended for allegedly “breaching privileges of members” of the House and was directed to submit a letter of apology to the House before he is allowed to sit.

His suspension would see him banned from the premises of the National Assembly in the course of the disciplinary action.

He would also not receive salaries or allowances. The House also directed that Jibrin will not be able to hold any position of responsibility for the span of the current National Assembly as part of the punitive measures. These followed the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges Chaired by Hon. Nicholas Ossai .

The report said that Jubrin’s statements were injurious, scandalous and denigrating to the House as an institution.

It also stated that Jubrin’s statements brought down the image of the members thereby subjecting the House to opprobrium. It added that the Kano lawmaker’s action amounted to an infraction of section 21 and 24 of the legislative House.

11. Obaseki wins Edo governorship election; Akeredolu Wins Ondo Elections:
The candidate of the APC in the September 10 Edo State governorship election, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, was declared winner of the poll by INEC after polling 319,483 votes to defeat his main rival and candidate of the PDP, Pastor Osagie Ize- Iyamu, who had 253,173 votes.

Likewise in Ondo state, Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was on November 21, declared winner of the Ondo State governorship election. He polled 244,842 to beat his closest rival, Eyitayo Jegede of the PDP, who polled 150,380, while Olusola Oke of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) came third with 126,889 votes. Akeredolu will take oath of office on February 24, 2017.

12. Tinubu, Oyegun in war of words
The suppressed crisis in the ruling APC came to fore in September, when the party’s National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, accused the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, of being a fraud.

Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State and one of the arrowheads of the party, described Odigie- Oyegun as a regressive element, who cares nothing for the progressive ideas upon which the party was founded and is hell-bent on guiding it into the ditch.

Odigie-Oyegun, in his reply, described Tinubu’s allegations against him as baseless and reckless.

13. EFCC freezes Patience Jonathan’s account
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in September froze an account belonging to former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

The development came barely one month after the financial crimes watchdog uncovered four questionable companies’ accounts in a commercial bank with a balance of $15,591,700.

However, before the EFCC could arraign the four companies in court, the former president’s wife deposed to an affidavit, claiming that the money belonged to her and was for medical bills.

Despite Mrs Jonathan’s claims, the EFCC arraigned the four companies – Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited; and Globus Integrated Service Limited.

The companies pleaded guilty and the EFCC had already begun moves to ensure that the money is forfeited permanently to the Federal Government.

14. Judges' Arrest
The Department of State Services (DSS) in October arrested Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro of the Supreme Court; Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and Justice Muazu Pindiga of the Federal High Court, Gombe Division over alleged corruption.

Others arrested are a former Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike; the Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Tsamiya and the judge of the Kano State High Court, Justice Kabiru Auta.

The DSS said it recovered large sums of money in Nigerian and foreign currencies from three of the judges during the raids on the houses of the judiciary officers.

Some of the affected judges have been placed on suspension by the National Judicial Council (NJC), while others have been arraigned before various courts.

15. Aisha Buhari’s Interview & the First Family Drama
The decision of President Buhari’s wife to go public with her concerns over his spouse’s government shocked the polity The president’s wife in an interview she granted to the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in October, said Buhari’s government had been hijacked by a “few people,” who were behind appointments.

She also said that the President did not know most of the officials he had appointed. She warned that she may not back his husband at the next election unless he shakes up his government.

According to her, people who did not share the vision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been appointed to top posts because of the influence a few people wield.

Her words: “The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years.

Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.”

While many commended Mrs. Buhari for speaking out, her husband dismissed the claim of his government been hijacked by a cabal. He said: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.

So, I claim superior knowledge over her and the rest of the opposition because in the end I have succeeded. It’s not easy to satisfy the whole Nigerian opposition parties or to participate in the government.”

16. Buhari Presents 'Unpadded' 2017 Budget

President Buhari, on December 13 presented a budget of N7.30 trillion for 2017 before a joint session of the National Assembly. The President gave the assurance that there will be no such thing as budget padding in the document.

He condemned what he termed injecting rogue projects and figures into the financial document, saying it is unfair to Nigerians and detrimental to the growth of the economy.

The president said that N2.24 trillion, representing 30.7 per cent of the 2017 budget, would be committed to capital expenditure aimed at pulling the economy out of recession as quickly as possible.

He said the capital expenditure was increased from N1.8 trillion in 2016 to N2.24 trillion in 2017.

The president also announced N2.98 trillion as recurrent expenditure for the 2017 fiscal year. He said, having reviewed the trends in the global oil industry, the government had decided to set a benchmark price of $42.5 per barrel and a production estimate of 2.2 million barrels per day for 2017 fiscal year.

According to him, the aggregated revenue available to fund the 2017 is N4.94 trillion, 28 per cent higher than the 2016 budget.

He said that oil was projected to contribute N1.99 trillion of the amount and non-oil revenue would be contributing N1.73 trillion.

17. Ibori Released from UK Prison

Former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, was released from a United Kingdom prison after last-minute effort by the UK Homeland Office to keep in jail via a court application failed.

Ibori, who governed the oil-rich state between 1999 and 2007, has been in jail since April 2012, having been sentenced for 13 years by the Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to 10 counts of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

Granting him freedom, Justice Juliet May, opposed the unlawful detention of the ex-governor, as the Home Office earlier took a decision not to release him.

Despite his release, Ibori would be confined to house arrest on a flat at Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood area in London, pending a confiscation hearing scheduled for January 2017.

The UK government is pushing for confiscation proceedings on his properties as well as deportation, while Ibori wants to return to Nigeria on his own terms. 

NGBulletin



Isaac Nobenz