Tag Archives: Ex-Chairman

NIMASA Pays Tompolo N1.5bn Monthly- Ex-Chairman

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The pioneer chairman of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Ahmed Tijani Ramalan, has disclosed that the agency pays the sum of N1.5bn monthly to the ex-militant leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, to protect the nation’s maritime areas.

Dr Ramalan, however, lamented that despite such gesture, the country still loses over 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the nation’s shores.

The former NIMASA chairman, who revealed this to LEADERSHIP in an interview in Kaduna, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel the contract given to the ex-militant by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said, “Over 400, 000 barrels of crude oil are being stolen daily from our shores under President Jonathan; yet we had a government that has the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, and the government of Jonathan decides to hand over the security of our maritime waters to Tompolo at a very exorbitant amount of money.

“And these same people that are given the job of our maritime security are the ones that are collaborating with the international shipping companies to steal our oil.”

According to him, one of the ways to help the country’s economy to bounce back is to revoke Tompolo’s contract.

“And if Buhari does not do so, we will be the first to start attacking him. There is no basis to give that kind of billion naira job to ex-militants,” he declared.

Making further clarification on how long the payment has been going on, Ramalan said it started “sometime after 2011 when Jonathan won his election and since then the payment has been on.

“I was the pioneer chairman of NIMASA, and NIMASA is the one funding the contract given to Tompolo. This is a guy that is collecting about N1.5bn every month and yet our Armed Forces are not well funded. So, we call on the president to discard such contract.”

He further stated that Buhari’s strong character and honesty would help him to lead country well.

“We supported President Buhari’s presidency because we believe that the country needs a strong leadership. The insecurity and economic problem that we are having in the country today is because of lack of a strong and quality leadership,” he said.

“We believe the country needs a leader that is not corrupt, because the issue of corruption in the country has led the country to its knees.

“The country would have gone down if the administration of Jonathan was allowed to continue. For us, we believe that having a new leader is what the country needs because of the massive corruption. We believe in President Buhari; we believe there is hope in having him as the president.”

He also expressed confidence in Buhari’s ability to solve the problem of insecurity in the country.

Credit: leadership

Ex-Chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor Blames PDP For Jonathan’s Defeat

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A former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Vincent Ogbulafor, has accused his party of helping its presidential candidate lose the last elections and called on the members of its National Working Committee, NWC, to resign.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria in Umuahia on Sunday, Mr. Ogbulafor said the members should take the path of honour by bowing out of the committee.

He added that the members should resign in the interest of the party and pave the way for fresh hands to pull the party out of the woods and reposition it ahead of the 2019 general elections.

He described the resignation of the National Chairman and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Adamu Muazu and Tony Anenih respectively, as a welcome development.

“I feel happy about their resignation because I feel they did so in the interest of the party.

“So, I feel it is better for all the committee members to voluntarily resign if they love the party and want it to survive,’’ he said.

Mr. Ogbulafor further urged the NWC to accept responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the 2015 general elections and the failure to win a second term in office for President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The party played the politics of hate and exclusion,” he said, adding that “past national chairmen were completely excluded and were never invited to offer our own ideas on how to deliver Jonathan.

“When I was the chairman, I controlled 28 states and a majority in the National Assembly and also won additional four states for the party.

“Some of us performed better and have good ideas on how to keep PDP in power for as long as I predicted,’’ he said.

Mr. Ogbulafor, who predicted that the party would rule Nigeria for uninterrupted 60 years, said that the feat was possible had the party sustained the line-up.

“I made the prediction in clear conscience and realisation that it was achievable, given that PDP controlled 28 states, majority in the National Assembly and local government administration.

“So, there is nothing that could have stopped PDP if we were able to control the line-up.’’

Mr. Ogbulafor blamed the woes befalling the party on the emergence of a ‘’reform group,’’ saying that the group created factions within it.

He also said that the incessant change in the leadership, with five chairmen so far produced within a space of five years after his exit was counter-productive.

“Since I left office, PDP has changed its chairmen five times. This is a pointer that all is not well with the party.

“This is why I am calling on the NWC members to quit without compulsion to pave the way for fresh blood that will bring vibrancy and help to move the party forward,’’ he said

Mr. Ogbulafor said that the incoming governors, who would be the financiers of the party, would also wish to inherit a fresh NWC, populated by fresh people. He said he was not planning to leave the party in view of the current challenges.

He said his visit to the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, John Oyegun, on the heels of the party’s electoral victory was to congratulate him in the spirit of sportsmanship.

Mr. Ogbulafor, who also congratulated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari described his election as compensation to Katsina and the north over the death of late President Musa Yar’Adua.

‘’I feel happy that the presidency went to the north, particularly Katsina, the home state of late Yar’Adua, who died in office without completing his tenure and the slot for the north,’’ he said

Credit: NAN