Simon Kolawole
5 August 2007
column
Lagos — The way we play politics in this country is so devoid of grace, sincerity and honour that I often wonder why any self-respecting person would get involved at all. The ground rules are very scary: you must have a fine breed of thugs, you must carry guns, you must mudsling, you must destroy others by any means. We may make excuses for these unpalatable characteristics on two counts: one, our democracy is still in puberty and is therefore suffering the pains that come with adolescence; two, politics is a dirty game anywhere in the world. How valid these excuses are-and how long we are going to live with them-should interest any neutral observer.
Two cases easily come to mind in recent times. The first is the battle for the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has been zoned to the South-east. The second is the war for the soul of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which has been on for years. While it is true that politics is nothing without intrigues, I still don't think politics is a do-or-die affair. My own idea of politics is: market yourself. Sell your ideas, competences and programmes to the people. Some will say a little bit of mudslinging is an acceptable compromise, but by all means be fair-even in mudslinging!
I was going through the newspapers on Friday when I came across a rejoinder to a story about Dr. Sam Egwu, the former governor of Ebonyi, whom a lot of people regard as a gentleman. The rejoinder, written by Dr. John Otu, former Information Commissioner under Egwu, sought to disprove the allegations of corruption levelled against his former boss. I am not too familiar with the case, but he made some points which I took note of. One, Egwu is favoured to become the next National Chairman of the PDP and because of this, his opponents are hurling mud in his direction at this time to harm his chances. The petitioner and his organisation do not exist, he alleged. To me, this is not enough defence, although it is a very strong point in establishing motive.
Two, did Egwu steal or not? That was my own area of interest. According to Otu, most of the allegations are false and the rest are half-truths. The former governor owns a hotel, he agreed, but it was built with a bank loan and the loan is still being serviced. I think this can be verified. Egwu's wife owns a school but it is a non-profit organisation funded through donations and a loan from Standard Trust Bank (now part of UBA). This again is verifiable. Egwu bought 10 percent equity in Nigercem, Otu confirmed, but it was on behalf of the state government and it is registered in Ebonyi government's name. Yet again, this can be verified.
Three, did EFCC investigate Egwu or not? Obviously, the answer is yes. I read the reports in the newspapers. But did they find anything on him? Again, this is a fact that can be verified. According to Otu, Egwu allowed "unfettered access" to all government departments and records and the EFCC officials went through them for three days and left, "satisfied" that the contents of the petition were mere "fabrications". The EFCC can clarify issues here, at least.
Of course, I am not in a good position to defend politicians, but after reading the rejoinder, I kept wondering: could there be smoke without fire? Would a group of petitioners just sit down and be concocting allegations without any basis? What would they stand to gain from this mudslinging? My conclusion is that in the absence of a definitive statement from the EFCC indicting Egwu, the petition may indeed be aimed at Egwu's bid for the chairmanship of the PDP. A former Senate President, who is also said to be eyeing the party chairmanship, is being fingered as the brain behind the mudslinging. I know I am politically naïve, but if I want to be PDP chairman, I would rather focus on my selling points: my experience, my education and any other part of my history that would help in marketing me, rather than a resort to concoction of petitions. Thank God, I'm not a politician. I may never win an election, even if I run unopposed!
Now to the intriguing case of APGA. Two weeks ago, the party petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, over what it called a criminal case of "forgery" of documents allegedly perpetrated by the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, and Chief Chekwas Okorie, former national chairman of the party. APGA alleged that the forgery was meant to paint the picture that Okorie had been recognised by INEC as APGA chairman as far back as December 2006, thereby nullifying the list of candidates submitted to INEC by the Victor Umeh-led APGA before the April 2007 elections.
The forgery of documents, APGA said, was designed to frustrate the cases the party has before election petition tribunals through a portrayal that APGA did not participate in the elections at all and therefore has no locus standi to contest the election results. Already, Chekwas is contending that as "chairman" of APGA, he did not send any list of candidates to INEC for the general elections. Now this is curious: if Chekwas was recognised as far back as December 2006, why did his own APGA not field candidates in April 2007? Why did INEC accept the list of candidates from Umeh? Why did INEC print the pictures of Umeh's candidates on the ballot papers for the elections? Something just doesn't click here.
Tracing the genesis of the crisis, APGA accused INEC chairman of conspiring with Okorie to "forge" some documents. According to the party, Okorie had gone to court to challenge his expulsion from the party in an Abuja High Court. While the suit was pending in the court, INEC had accorded recognition to the appointment of Chief Victor Umeh as the acting National Chairman by a letter dated 28th June 2005 .
APGA wrote: "In suit No FHC/CV478/05 aforesaid, the learned trial court on 1st August 2006 made an order for maintenance of status quo as it is today ( August 1, 2006 ). The court also held that the order does not deny APGA the right to participate in the general election. Strangely by letter purportedly dated September 7, 2007 but received by the office of the chairman of INEC on 8th June 2007 , Chief Okorie falsely and fraudulently requested the chairman to restore recognition to the national executive of APGA under the leadership of Chief Chekwas Okorie. The Chairman INEC whilst minuting the letter to the chairman Political Parties Monitoring Unit [PPMU] attached a forged letter purporting to have been written on 22 December 2006 falsely claiming that 'sequel to the recent court order on APGA, the Political Parties Monitoring Commission should henceforth relate with Okorie led executive of APGA'."
But in its petition, APGA said that there was no court order on APGA made in December 2006 as claimed by the INEC chairman. According to the party, "The said letter dated September 7, 2007 by Chief Chekwas Okorie was received by the office of INEC chairman on June 8, 2007 the said letter dated September 7, 2007 was written long after the conclusion of the 2007 general elections." In Okorie's letter to the INEC chairman to request the commission's recognition as the authentic chairman of APGA, Okorie made references to the general elections held in April 2007, whereas Iwu's letter (a response to Okorie's request finally granting recognition to Okorie) was dated 22 December 2006 and stamped received on June 11, 2007 .
Now if this is what politicking is all about, we still have a long way to go. If we don't get the fundamentals of politics right and establish law and order in the society, when are we going to start discussing development with purpose and sincerity? Thank God, I'm not a politician!
Fire Your Share Analyst, Says Arowolo: Looking back at my growing-up years, I have two major regrets. One, when I had the opportunities of learning French and Hausa, I was perhaps too young and didn't know the significance. I turned the lessons into joking sessions. Today, I can barely speak any other major language. Well, I'm still a polyglot: I speak some English, Pidgin English, Yoruba and my village dialect-four languages in all. But it wouldn't have hurt to be able to speak French, Spanish and Swahili too.
My second regret is that I didn't understand this stock market thing on time. I used to read in the newspapers that Cadbury had gained 10 kobo and Coca-Cola had lost 2 kobo. I used to receive mails for my uncles with company annual reports tucked inside, along with dividend warrants. It was all magic to me. What is this stock market? How does it work? Even though I did Commerce in secondary school, I was unable to link my classroom knowledge to my economic environment. Had I known then, I would have started investing my pocket money in shares. I would have been a millionaire today!
But while it will task me a lot to start learning French or Ijaw today, my other mistake can easily be corrected. Now I know about shares. I think millions of Nigerians, including students, know about the stock market now. The Obasanjo era-especially this banking consolidation matter-has turned the stock exchange into something else. Now we are talking about one trillion naira transactions. Everyday, companies, banks especially, are coming into the market to raise funds. And some smart guys are making cool money by speculating in stocks.
However, Mr. Ayo Arowolo, former Group Business Editor of THISDAY and the man on whose reputation Financial Standard was established, has set out to give us sound education on stock matters. He does not want us to get our fingers burnt. In reality, you can make money in one second and lose it the next. He has now come out with a book entitled: "Fire Your Share Analyst!" It is a step-by-step guide for every investor-actual or potential-to be able to take sound decisions based on sound analysis. For 18 years, Mr Arowolo has made it his duty to educate people on personal finance. I am not surprised that this has turned into a full-time passion for him. He now publishes Moneywise, Nigeria's premier personal finance newspaper.
Mr. Arowolo has played a major part in my life. He made me Deputy Editor of Financial Standard in 1999. He promptly loaded me with materials, mostly books from Financial Times of London and The Economist, on how to write about economic issues without terrorising readers with technical jargons. Our slogan at Financial Standard then was: "Demystifying business reporting." In his book, he demonstrates this adequately. It is reader-friendly.
While we should all rejoice that our stock market is developing, it is also in the interest of investors to have adequate knowledge and make informed decisions. I am still devouring and savouring a copy of the book and I may be tempted to fire my share analyst soon
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
