NASIRU EL' RUFAI: AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN

By Osondu Ahirika

Kaduna State, Nigeria's hotbed of religious riots, extremism and fundamentalism is boiling after 8 years of absolute amity under former Governor Ahmed Markarafi. A succession of Governors beginning with his successor former Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was succeeded by Patrick Yakowa, who died in office to pave way for Mukthar Yero collectively, bequeathed relative stability to the State. 
All that is spinning on a reverse under the current Governor, Mallam Nasiru El'Rufai. After starting on a bright note by restoring Local Government autonomy and repealing joint accounts with the state, Rufai has since headed the wrong way. Under his watch, the Nigerian Army massacred over 1000 shite muslims(Rufai is Sunni Muslim) and he did not raise a voice against it.
Apparently riding on the alleged impunity with which the Shites conducted themselves in Kaduna State with their detained leader Sheik Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky as a caliph, Rufai moved to clampdown on religious freedom in the state. But history and empirical analysis of his proposed edict reveals that, the ultimate target is to undermine the practice of the christian faith in the State. The bill which seeks to regulate evangelism and licence preachers before they can preach in the State is being resisted by the Christian Association of Nigeria and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, while the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, is maintaining studied silence. Of course, CAN and PFN know that the Bill in the works, proposing to ban crusades and outdoor preaching, or use of public address systems, licence churches or preachers before they can operate, is targeted at them.

 Kaduna has a long dozzier of religious violence. Maitatsine riots in 1983; the riots after the Kafanchan incidence of 1987, the 2000 riots against the introduction of Sharia, and the 2002 riots among others like Zangon Kataf which also had religious undertones. Methink, the wise way forward is for Rufai to steer clear of stirring religious disaffection under any guise. But his well known obstinacy, defiance and pride, will nudge him on, to ignore overwhelming public opinion, that he rescind his commitment to having the bill passed.
Rufai's popularity rating has gone so low that, Nigerians were celebrating the trending news alleging that, his deputy governor, Architect Bala Bantex slapped him. Some have dubbed it, 'The slap of God, even when Bantex has come out to describe it as 'totally untrue.' In a press statement issued on Sunday, March 28, the Deputy Governor denied ever doing any such thing. In part the statement reads: 
“We should reject shrill cries that often betray prejudice and be firm that we must be guided by logic and history. For all that Kaduna State has suffered from religious violence, the many lives lost and the divided neighborhoods that have sprung up as a result, it seems that some people have forgotten.” If you ask me, although he denied any face-off with his boss, and reaffirmed the vitality and strength of their relationship, Bantex, in those lines afforestated, has made the point for who has ears to hear, including his boss, the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the people of all faiths in the state. Guided as he pleads, by 'history and logic', Rufai should let sleeping dogs lie. This outrageous bill contravenes the constitutionally guaranteed rights of all citizens to practice their faith without molestation.

Meanwhile, a popular prophet, Dr Chris Okafor has asked him to withdraw the bill or face the wrath of God. Okafor, known for his predictions in the country, said the governor had an ultimatum to revert the bill and failure to do same may yet fetch him serious consequences. Another fiery Christian leader, Apostle Johnson Suleiman, The Senior Pastor of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM), has passed a decree of death on the Kaduna state Governor if he fails to revoke the anti preaching bill.
Preaching in his church on March 27th, Suleiman said,"I am not just running my mouth. In the 1999 constitution, Chapter 4, under the fundamental human rights, section 38 says that everyone has a freedom of thought, conscience and opinion and it says they are very free to exercise their religion either in a community, in public or or in private. Public means put your speakers anywhere. So the man is not just going against the scripture. He is going against the nation. He is going against the constitution and he says because he did it in Abuja, nothing happened. He entered a christian community in Kaduna and he says he will destroy life. He will die!"he said.

Interestingly he described El Rufai as, "The Herod of Kaduna." Herod you will remember, gave an edict that all new born babes be put to the sword so he may have the new born king and baby Jesus killed. He also had John the baptist, jailed and put to death for preaching against his takeover of his brothers wife. In my view, Herod is an understating of Rufai's activity. This act of his is not unprecedented.
In scriptures, we had in Acts 5:28, where Peter and the other Apostles were paraded before the authourities, the query was, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."
(See Acts 5:28). To that edict,( Acts 5:29) - Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!"
In countries like Myanmar, Burma, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Laos, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Maldives, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, among others, Governments have enacted decrees to outlaw and criminalize profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Every effort and force is applied to legislate christian religious knowledge out of the school curriculum in so many nation states. Billions are spent to distort the story off his birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection through itinerant literature and sponsored movies. The question the world has failed to ask or answer is: why so much fear of the gospel of Jesus christ? Why is so much might poured into the fight to keep Jesus out of the hearts of men and shut their mouth. The bitter truth they have to swallow is, even when reggae eventually gets stopped, nobody can stop the Goodnews of love, Peace, righteousness, social justice, equity, fairness and salvation as espoused by Jesus Christ. 
El' Rufai must be told in clear unmistaken terms, that his bill is dead on arrival. The Church will reserve for him the same answer Peter gave the Council which reverberates through all ages against very dangerous odds. He has led a provocative history of controversies since he happened in Public office. With a vociferous appetite for bravado and muscle flexing, he has earned the sobriquet, Mr Bulldozer for his demolition of structures in Abuja as the FCT Minister, and Hell Rufai for his radicalism and attacks on Presidents Yar'adua and Goodluck Jonathan. But this is a different ball game and I concur with Apostle Suleiman that, it is time to test power.

The irony is, Rufai is an accident waiting to happen to Kaduna State in particular and Nigeria in general. Reminds me of the fact that he wrote a memoir titled, The Accidental Public Servant. A story of Nigeria, and its power game as told by him. In it, Nasir El-Rufai admits he rose to the top ranks of Nigeria's political
hierarchy by accident, serving first as the privatization czar at the Bureau for
Public Enterprises and then as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja under former President Olesegun Obasanjo. 
Reflecting on how to save Nigeria from destruction in that book, its shocking that El Rufai is now activating a time bom that could actually spell doom for the beleaguered nation. I join the college of those warning him to beware, lest he crashes out of Nigeria's power organogram by Accident just the way he came in. I also urge President Muhammadu Buhari to wade in and protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic from the breach El Raufai is stoking with his experimental bill. Keeping quiet is complicity and bodes evil or nigeria.

AKSG NEW MODEL FOR PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION , A NARRATIVE OF TRANSPARENCY

By Emmanuel Nicholas 
For Akwa Ibom State to take its rightful place and be more relevant in today's world, it requires bold, inspiring and visionary leadership, devoid of corruption and cronyism, and Governor Udom Emmanuel is an epitome of such leadership. Governor Udom Emmanuel represents honesty and trustworthiness. He is scrupulous, conscientious, high-principled, selfless, content, anti-corruption, upright, upstanding, high-minded, right-minded, good, virtuous, just, noble, respectable, decent and all above prudent. With Governor Udom, Akwa Ibom people have elected a leader who is not corrupt, and who places the people over his personal needs. In this world, to be competitive in all aspects, it demands radical socio-economic transformation and the Akwa Ibom Governor has vast knowledge in financial matters will usher in the economic change. 

Governor Udom with Wife

Udom is a leader that has good vision for the state. He has set standards for honesty and with him, mismanagement of the state's resources, cronyism and recklessness in governance will be grossly minimised if not eradicated. In leadership, your acolytes greatly influence your output. The people you work with should share same philosophy with you and be poised to interpret your vision statements into realities. Hon Ephraim Akparawa Inyang-eyen is one of the Governor’s team members whose philosophy synchronises with that of his boss. He is confident, assertive, innovative and committed to promoting and defending the interest of the Udom Emmanuel Government and that of the people. 
Hon Ephraim Inyang considers that the people's interest and development must be placed above our politics. Above all, he is prepared to seek solutions from within, and adopt the philosophies and practices that will deal with the various challenges that the State faces, and develop ideas to propel our State towards the best that it deserves for the better. Hon Inyang-Eyen operates an open policy that has integrity in its actions and is really good at managing its information. These are the foundations upon which government accountability is built and corruption is reduced. 

Mr Ephraim Inyang with A Foreign Contractor

To be clear, integrity in Ephraim’s context means that an open government follows the rule of law and that it works to establish a culture of integrity amongst its representatives and employees. This integrity pervades all aspects of an open government which reduces corruption and creates internal accountability, where government holds itself accountable. The last have not been heard about the payment of compensation to properties owners as the State takes on road construction projects. Across the country, the process of payment of compensation to property owners is usually marred with a lot of inconsistencies. Most times, some persons will collaborate with political office holders to induce the private valuer to inflate the price sum of each of the property valued. During payment to the beneficiaries, cheque are issued to owners without them having the privilege to see the actual sum that is accruable to each of them as the voucher always turns upside down and only the section of beneficiary signatures will be the only part that will be exposed to the beneficiary. Most times, the compensations are received by impostors and when true owners turn up, it will be discovered that his or her benefits has been collected by someone else. This will make the government sometimes pay more than one beneficiary for one property. When some property owners whose benefits are collected by impostors cannot get their Payment, it leads to an endless cycle of litigation as it prevent government and contractors from taking their right of way , hence delaying government projects from taking off . The metric of transparency in the payment of compensation has been changed, as Governor Udom Emmanuel has invoked new methodology in the process and procedure of payment. First a private valuer will value the property. Thereafter, the government valuer also goes in to value the properties and then submits their values before the government. Both teams will compare the submission and reach a compromise of the sums for each property. After both team’s assessment , a private finance consultant is engaged to effect the payment to eliminate all forms of malpractice by any official. Before each beneficiary is paid, he or she will present an Identity Card and there must a witness from the community to identify that truly she or he is the owner of the properties in front of the cameras.The beneficiary will also present original copies of the property documents, with two copies of passport photographs In the case of a family property, a "will" will, be presented to the consultant. In the absence of the will, the family will collectively sign the power of attorney, granting the name of one of them to be written on the cheque to avoid future opposition and litigation. After these processes, the cheque will be issued to the beneficiary and in 24 hours after paying in the cheque, government will release funds into their individual accounts. After receiving the compensation, the government will take its right of way for contractors to commence work on the project. 
On Monday 12 October , the Akwa Ibom State Government commenced the payment of compensation on the affected property in the ongoing urbanization of Eket Town , followed by payment of compensation to Tropicana unground water channelization, Ikot Udom Road Project in Ibiono Local Government , Awa Iman and Mkpok villages in Onna LGA Flagging off the programme, the Commissioner for Works,Mr Ephraim Inyang-Enyen informed the beneficiary that government of Deacon Udom Emmanuel will not condone with any act of fraudulence and has determined to keep to his promise of completion of all projects within a stipulated time frame. He said government decision to institute a new direction for payment was to guide against act capable of truncating the whole deal, "a situation where someone own a property and another man, get compensation will not be exercised again. We are effecting this payment so that the contract for the Remodelling project can be expedite by the contractors”. He said government had allowed owners of property in the affected area to hire their valuer but take charge of consultant who carry out the payment. This, according to the Commissioner was to ensure probity and accountability in the system. " every owner of property must show up with a witness, it could be a lawyer, valuer who must sign the cheque before payment is done. " 
He said the development will help eliminate the bottleneck associated with compensation. Hon Ephraim assured that Udom Emmanuel’s administration was committed to providing quality and meaningful projects to the people of the State. He called on the people to cooperate with government to enable him succeed, saying the mandate freely given him by the people was to deliver dividends of democracy to the people and not to give excuse. He said, for easy identification and payment, the ministry chose to drove down to the villages involved and ensure that affected property owners are identify in order to avoid double standard and omission. He said, payment of compensation to the affected owners will be carried out in two parts, which according to him is, through cheque and cash,
 "Those who have structures will receive cheque while those with tombstone and other economic trees will receive instant cash so as to ease the exercise”. Mr Ephraim Inyang has pleaded with the community leaders and other major stakeholders to cooperate with the ministry to carry out the exercise effectively. He asked everyone affected to present their identity card and two recent passport photograph for easy identification and payment. 
Despite the amount, the Commissioner also demand property owners to appear with witness and signed alongside. He said it was barbaric and fraudulence for people to claim other people's property, warning the community to desist from such. In one of those occasions, the Chairman, Ibiaku Ikot Oku village Council, Mr. Nkereuwem Daniel Robert commended the state government for coming to the aid of Ikot Udom and other communities that share the road, he said the people of the area has been under bandage due to inaccessible road network. He particularly commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for remembering the people of the area in his development agenda. 
The village head of Mkpok, Eteidung Ekerete Thompson Ufot lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel's development plan for the area and pledged the people's support for the government. It would be recalled that payments of compensation have earlier been effected in Eket, Uyo and Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area. 
The Commissioner stated that to ensure transparency in the on going payment of compensation, the government has employed the service of a finance consultant different from the Estate Valuer who valued the properties to handle the payment. He said the arrangement allows the estate valuer, the construction company, the finance consultant & government to witness every payment & is properly documented. For every leadership to have positive effect on the people, there must be integration of best practices to outplay the mistakes of the past. 
The synergy of Governor Udom Emmanuel and his Commissioner of Works is to synchronise qualitative and transparent leadership to sustain higher development strides in Akwa Ibom State , devoid of corruption but laden with transparency in the entire process of project execution and implementation