HIS Royal Majesty, HRM, Benjamin Ikenchukwu Keagborekuze I, Dein of Agbor Kingdom in Delta State, showed some radicalism and clairvoyance during my recent visit to his palace when he declared that one of the things that turns him off was seeing Nigerians openly castigate themselves, leaders and country.
His words: “I think here in Nigeria, we like to talk about negative things too much and when you talk about the negative too much, you will be surprised that you encourage the negative to happen. This is a great nation, and we have many things to celebrate; let us talk about the positive things in life and celebrate them.”
Monarch’s wise counsel
The world’s youngest crowned monarch, widely-travelled and Officer in The Order of Belgium, said the world was watching Nigeria and the off-putting comments of the people about their leaders, especially in the social media, was doing the nation more harm than good internationally. It was a royal admonition to Nigerians to tame their tongues.
You would, therefore, imagine the royal father’s consternation when the Chairman of a Special Committee set up by the National Executive Council, NEC, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, outrageously declared, some days later, that Nigerians would pelt former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his fellow looters with stone if they found out that he spent N140 billion on consultancy alone on the 2nd Niger Bridge project.
Scandalous: Oshiomhole’s outburst was shocking as it was public knowledge before his bombshell that the total cost of the bridge procured as a Public Private Partnership Project under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer, DBFOT, model is N108 billion. The posers are how consultancy alone on such a project would gulp N140 billion? Where did the governor get his information? Did he crosscheck before going to town with it?
However, mother monkey says she can only deny for the unborn child in her belly because she did not know if the child on her back stretched hands and collected somebody’s banana while she was passing through the market. Missiles: Before you could say Jack Robinson, former Minister of Niger-Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, last Tuesday, fired at Oshiomhole, describing him as an ingrate and Villa sycophant, quick to switch allegiance to whoever is in power.
Evidently, Orubebe was miffed at Oshiomhole’s negative comments about Jonathan and his administration. He asserted: “It is unfortunate that Oshiomhole, who should talk like a governor, is today biting the fingers that fed him and seems to have forgotten in a hurry that he once cried around the former President for assistance and recognition.”
Daring the lion in its den: Apparently on a familiar terrain, Oshiomhole hit back 24 hours later, describing Orubebe as a clown, who was afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari’s planned probe of several billions of naira squandered on the East-West Road and on the amnesty programme under Orubebe’s watch as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Peter Okhiria, he said the “incompetence” of people like Mr. Orubebe contributed to the dismal failure of the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan. Orubebe replied immediately, slamming the governor as a ‘garage boy’ and somebody suffering from chronic diarrhoea of the mouth, which explains why he has lately been misleading Nigerians. He said the governor’s illiteracy was beyond human comprehension.
As if waiting for such diversion, Oshiomhole exploded again from Benin. This time, he said Orubebe was an elevated thug: “Orubebe is no more than a common tout and political thug, too illiterate to know the difference between a “garage” and a “motor park,” recruited by his paymasters as Deputy Director-General of the 2015 Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organization, and agent provocateur to truncate the last election.
“But for the maturity and sound leadership orientation of Professor Atahiru Jega, Nigeria would still have been reeking in utter anarchy and political protestations.”
Surrender: The verbal war continued at the weekend with Orubebe saying that he would no longer reply Oshiomhole anymore because it had become apparent that the governor was empty. He said: “You can see the kind of governor we have in our country. My response is simple: I am through with him. I will not talk about him again. On this issue, I am through with him; I have no business with such a governor, who has no brain. “I thought he was more knowledgeable on the issues of governance.”
Backlash: That Oshiomhole took Jonathan to the cleaners is not in doubt, but it has become obvious that the 2nd Niger Bridge project may run into difficulty if the matter was not properly handled. Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, Aminu Dako, in a statement, said Federal Government was scrutinizing the contract cost and conditions surrounding the 2nd Niger Bridge and that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the Ministry of Works to review the cost of the project.
He also said the Commission had identified some errors in the project, but the bottom line of his statement was that Federal Government had suspended work on the project. Dako skirted around issues like the commission having to give certificate of compliance; communities around the areas clamouring that they have not been paid compensation; Onitsha Traditional Council complaining that it was not well-represented in the transaction and all that. The directives and policy frameworks came just the same time that Oshiomhole went public with the dance.
Putting records straight
Contrary to Dako’s position, Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji, expressed shock over the allegation by Oshiomhole that N140 billion was spent on consultancy for the bridge. He said that only $2.21 million dollars (about N340 million, using the then exchange rate of N154/$1) was spent on consultancy for the project. According to him, the cost of consultancy for the bridge was less than one percent of the cost of the project, which was way below global standards.
A document made available to Niger Delta Voice indicated that “the project was initially estimated to cost N108 billion excluding duties and VAT. If duties and VAT are included, the project will cost N117.9 billion. “This was equivalent to $700 million at the then prevailing exchange rate of N154/$. The final project cost would naturally be affected by exchange rate fluctuations and other variables.”
Mr. Orji said that Federal Government made a commitment of N30 billion out of which it has released N18.3 billion so far, of which N10.4 billion was disbursed on early construction works. On the governor’s allegation of non-performance, he said a lot of piling work had been done on the project site, located some distance from the current bridge.
Unnecessary distraction
Currently, there is outrage not just among South-Easterners, but other Nigerians that instead of facilitating the completion of the important project, Nigerian leaders are playing politics with it to score cheap political points.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/

Hmmm

This article is too long.

Oshomole and Amarchi are coursed beyond remedy, there day is fast approaching when we will judge them on the street.