9.6 BILLION FRAUD HITS BENUE AS DANGOTE SHARES GO MISSING

Benue earns N9.6bn from selling 43m units of Dangote shares

BENUE State Government has sold 43 million units of its shares in Dangote Cement at a value of N9.6 billion.
 The government had persistently denied the sale of the shares, warehoused by the Benue Investment Property Company.
  Documents from Elixir Investment Partners, a fund management and advisory firm and the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), showed that the state has offloaded the 43 million shares.
  Governor Gabriel Suswam had categorically denied that the state’s holding in Dangote Cement was ever put on the market. Speaking to newsmen in Makurdi, he said the shares were still intact and had not been sold to anyone.
  Suswam, who refuted claims that the shares were valued at N20 billion at the stock market, said the state government owned only N43 million shares in the company. He blamed his detractors for peddling such falsehood on the shares.
  However, it was learnt that the shares are being gradually offloaded by the state and this actually started on Friday August 1, 2014 and gathered momentum last month.
  Said to be working on the instructions of the government, Elixir on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, offloaded a significant amount of the shares in 16 transactions which involved the sale of 6,152,127 units, earning N1.35 billion in that single deal. 
  Elixir returned to the market on Wednesday, September 17, when it concluded 11 transactions. The next day, 29 sale transactions were concluded. Similar transactions were conducted on September 19, September 22 and September 23. The biggest single transaction was concluded on Wednesday, September 24 when over nine million units were sold for N2.19 billion.
The document revealed that a total of 29,192,297 units of shares were sold, with the last recorded sale happening on Friday, September 26, 2014.
The implication, according to the analysts, is that the outgoing state government may be aiming to divest its entire investment in the largest cement company in sub-Saharan Africa.
Last Wednesday, Benue chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) staged a protest against the divestment of the over N43 billion shares, saying the action amounts to a major blow to the socio-economic life of the state.
 Addressing journalists, the chairman of CAN in Gboko, Rev. Sam Gar, who led other clerics and worshippers in the protest, lamented the deals and therefore called on all to join the association’s opposition to the sale.
 Gar, who threatened that CAN would be compel to invoke the wrath of God against those behind the deal, appealed to all the political parties as well as their aspirants to take decisive steps to reverse the action or be rejected at the polls.
   In 2010, Dangote Cement Plc bought majority shares in Benue Cement Company (BCC).
   With production capacity totaling 20.3 million tonnes across three Nigerian plants, the company is already in 14 African countries, bringing total capacity to more than 60 million tonnes by 2016.
  Dangote Cement share price closed N212 on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as at close of trading on Friday, while market capitalis    ation was N3.61 trillion.

OF POLITICS AND TRIBALISM IN BENUE STATE: THE BRUTAL TRUTH

By Ati Kenneth Kengkeng
PART 1

Countless times as I sojourn on Social Media I come across various submissions seeking to entrench the dichotomy that exists between the Tiv and Idoma people in Benue State. If one is not questioning the tribal inclination in the quota allocation of Federal job slots and appointments to Benue State, then it will inevitably be the quest for an Idoma person to be Governor of Benue State. This anomaly took a voracious dimension shortly after the 2007 elections when the Idoma tribe commenced a robust campaign for power shift. Friends who have no dispute whatsoever soon begin to poke hands into eachothers faces at the slightest dint of tribal inclination in any activity. I know a Pentecostal church where some Idoma folks don’t respond to Tiv songs and vice versa. The advanced level of this dichotomy is the movement for the creation of Apa State. This divide is raising its head in almost all facets of our daily lives.
Benue State has an uneven population distribution among its tribes. Tiv, Idoma, Igede, Etulo, Nyifon, Afia and Abakwa are the indigineous tribes resident in the State. Of the 23 Local Governments in the state, 7 are Idoma speaking, 2 Igede speaking and a highly populated 14 are Tiv speaking areas with a massive spill-over into Taraba, Nassarawa, and Plateau states. Etulo as an entire tribe has only one council ward to itself while Nyifon, Afia and Abakwa exist in total obscurity. They are all found within or around Buruku, Katsina Ala and Ukum Local Governments. In this distribution, half of the Tiv speaking Local Governments (Logo, Ukum, Katsina Ala, Vandeikya, Konshisha, Kwande and Ushongo) represent Benue North East (Zone A)with Chief Barnabas Gemade as Senator. The other half (Makurdi, Guma, Gwer East, Gwer West, Gboko, Tarka and Buruku) represent Benue North West (Zone B) with Senate Minority Leader His Excellency Sen. Dr. George Akume as Senator while the remaining 9 (Apa, Agatu, Ado, Oju, Obi, Ohimini, Otukpo, Okpokwu, Ogbadibo,) represent Benue South West (Zone C) with the Senate President David Bonaventure Alechenu Mark as their representative.
In the above explanation, one thing stands out: The supremacy of the Tiv nation. No doubt, the Tiv population outweighs that of Idoma and all other tribes combined. This numerical strength is by all standards the greatest asset of the Tiv tribe. Could this also be the undoing of the Tiv tribe? Has it been or is it a tool for oppression of the minority tribes? How well has this numerical strength cum political supremacy helped the Tiv people and the state? What is the story in Zone C? How well has the Idoma tribe (Second largest) handled their own end? At the same time, do they have a noble case in their quest to Govern Benue? What has been the opinion of the seemingly non-existent tribes? Do they have equal rights as the major tribes in this game of numbers?
I want to state emphatically that the lack, failure and derogatory state of affairs in Benue State is totally the doing of the Tiv man. If Benue State has had any indigenous Governor from creation in 1976 to date, he is a Tiv man. In the line of succession excluding Military intervention are Late Mr. Aper Aku, Late Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu, Dr. George Akume and Dr. Gabriel Suswam, all of whom have spent a cumulative minimum of 23 years out of the 38 years of our existence as a state. Since tribe is the bone of contention here, it is almost needless to point out the achievements and failures of individual administrations. However, I will be doing my conscience a disservice if I fail to mention that Mr. Aper Apollos Aku of blessed memory has been and is still the Best Performing Governor that ever ruled Benue. I was born 7 years after he took his first oath of office and I was 2 years old when he died but today, over 25 years after his demise; I walk and drive smoothly on roads and streets he paved; I’ve built structures with the cement from the factory he built; I grew up eating foods cooked with oil extracted in factories he built; I drank from water treatment plants he established; I buy and sell at the modern market he built; My mother just retired as a civil servant and was well accommodated in a befitting secretariat he built; and a lot more too numerous to mention. Lots of the achievements of his administration have suffered loss due to neglect by successive governments while others were deliberately surrendered on unworthy platforms to gain selfish political and financial advantage. Since the exit of Aper Aku, the abysmal performance of successive administrations has made his achievements enigmatic and beyond the comprehension of todays “super performers”. No civilian Governor, in essence, nobody has measured up to the standard he left behind. This is no doubt one of the sources of the agitation for power shift to Zone C. It is beginning to look as though the Tiv nation is lacking the capacity to select and elect their best brains into positions of authority to at least match up with the level Aper Aku did. The situation is not as though we don’t have the brains but the system we have on ground today has been doctored to attach value and generate appreciation for mediocre personalities, something Iorliam Shija captured perfectly when he wrote:
“In 2004, the same society that honoured men like Jerome Tilley Gyado, that great Industrialist and men like JS Tarka, the minority rights activist for their achievements and contribution to the development of Tiv society is honouring SPACO, OSAMA, SHORTMAN and John Akperashi. My people, what is the common denominator of the former and the latter? That’s why I say honour is cheap in Tivland today…”-Iorliam Shija 2014.
He stated again: “I know that today, unlike in the past, people that are honoured in Tivland are known murderers, criminals, cultists, thieves and the likes. So how can we develop as a people?”- Iorliam Shija 2014.
At the same time, in a rare case where the “going” began on a good note, same elements within the Tiv nation instigated enmity or confusion in the political system which stimulated a turn-around in the original mindset of the policies and programmes of the government of the day. Governor Gabriel Suswam started on a handsome note. The “Our Benue Our Future” policy document was a water-tight manifesto for a united and prosperous Benue. Half way into his first term, we suddenly did not know where we were heading. Petitions were flying in and opposition to programmes of government became the order of the day. Politics took centre stage and development was relegated to the back-burner. This is not an attempt to hold brief for the Governor but an exposition of one of the factors that entrench under-performance in government. As a matter of fact, I expect my Governor to be loaded with the capacity to work under tremendous pressure and deliver with utmost exactitude. This attitude has cost the Tiv nation tremendous losses at all levels of our human existence. The death and burial of the movement for the creation of Katsina Ala State is one example too many.
To further buttress the quest for power shift, the Idoma tribe has suffered a lot with underdevelopment and neglect. Passing through Otukpo as I sojourn to PortHarcourt, I posted a comment on my facebook wall which spoke of the level of backwardness in Zone C. Otukpo, the most developed town in the entire Zone is a haven for dust, mud, laterite, filth, smoke and brown zinc roofs. Zone A and B have not benefitted much but the story in Zone C is worse. Virtually all functional industries and agencies built by the detribalized Aper Aku regime have been abandoned. Otukpo Burnt Bricks is a simple case study. Zone C fits the perfect description of a dead zone. This is enough for anyone to excuse every explanation and opt for a tribal shot at Benue State Government House. Many have argued that Senator David Mark is expected to ensure infrastructural upgrade and the all-round wellbeing of his people using his office as Senate President. Whether he has that capacity and has failed or he doesn’t have that capacity remains a topic for another day.

I almost lost my re-election because I was not sharing money —Suswam

Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, last week, spoke to newsmen in Makurdi, where he bared his mind on the journey so far. JOHNSON BABAJIDE, who was there, brings the excerpts:
Looking back to the journey so far, will you say you are satisfied with what you have done for the people as their governor?

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I set off perfectly but, I won’t say I have met those targets the way I had wanted it. But, on a second thought, before I came, there were a lot of things that were not in place. Our attitude generally, for instance, has been a shift paradigm. When I started the roads in Makurdi, the question was whether people were going to eat the roads; the attitude was wrong. They didn’t appreciate the fact that people needed to operate in a decent environment.
I almost lost my election because they said I was not sharing money. There is no part of Benue that you will go that there are no rural roads or electricity. These are things people never believed can be done. For instance, the electricity in Oju started in 1979, they never saw electricity until I became governor. Ditto for Igbo. So, the only way I could change the negative attitude of our people was to say things and do them. There was no single block at the Makurdi water works. My predecessor had dug a hole there but I have built the water project from the scratch and it is ready for reticulation. I said I would build a water project in Otukpo, I have successfully done so. Ditto for Katsina Ala. I have also put up a befitting government house so that a governor can at least sleep and wake up to think properly.
I have also done very well in the area of security. We don’t have a situation where we are at war with our neighbours in Nasarawa, Taraba, Kogi, Cross River and Ebonyi states. So, I might not have been very satisfied that I have achieved completely what I wanted, but there is a paradigm shift. There is a solid foundation which can be used to judge others. School’s infrastructure that were dilapidated have been fixed. I have shown the Benue people that the government can make a difference. So, if a new governor comes and does not build on what I have put in place, then you will know there is a problem.
So, what were your challenges all these years in office?
My greatest challenges have been that of money and people who wish to be destructive no matter the efforts. I never complained when there was money. Now, we are talking about salaries and the monies to apply on these projects are no longer there. And if you are paying salary, everything will decay and collapse.
The rural economy has greatly improved and this was made possible by the electricity and rural roads we did. So, I will say I have tried from where we are coming, but because of the challenges of funding, we have been unable to reach our targets. Again, there is the issue of bad attitude. Look at our street lights, which were meant to beautify the city, especially at night, and as well provide security. Do you know that people were unscrewing and dropping them? Those are not my lights; it is meant to improve the security situation. That is the kind of negative attitude we have. Just because you don’t like me and I won election, you think the street lights don’t belong to Benue, but they are Suswam’s light, so let’s destroy it. But, we have moved and I’m happy that our attitude is changing.
On the issue of security, this has continued to be a challenge. Recently, a group of Fulani boys raped two girls of about 14 and 18 years old and the one that survived is 19. They raped the two and killed them. One escaped with machete cuts. Now, the young man I put as the chairman of task force among the Fulani was able to trace and arrest one of them with about 200 cows. We brought the Fulani boy to Makurdi, but he insisted that he was alone. But, the girl, who escaped, said they were three. Of course, it is difficult for one man to rape three women. It is almost impossible. Now, if the Fulani people are insisting that there must be crisis, we must be cautious of what the issues really are. Those girls were not stopping them from grazing. There wasn’t any land in dispute, so why would they rape two girls and kill them?
 We have another instance, where the Fulani people went and burnt down houses in Gboko unprovoked. I’m beginning to think that there is another agenda other than what we know about. Otherwise, I have done everything that is humanly possible to make sure that between us and the Fulani, we live in peace. But, there are some criminal minded ones who are bent on ensuring that we must be thrown into crisis. So, it is totally unacceptable to me. It’s a situation that should worry people and I’m very worried because if these people decide to go on a reprisal attack, then there would be problem. I have invited the president of Miyetti Allah to discuss, so that he can help to control his people. I have made sure that the people do not retaliate. I have been very proactive on the issue of security. We want to urge our people not to continually engage in conflicts, because I want to leave behind a peaceful state.
You stated recently that you are planning to create new local governments in the state. Will this happen before the 2015 election?
Not before the elections. We will do it. But, I’m not sure we will finish it before the elections. I have just inaugurated a panel of seven men, who will be going round to receive memoranda and suggestions on how to do it. We are creating 12 more local governments and we are going to make sure they do a good job.
Last week, it was reported that Benue has put up its 20 billion unit of its shares in Dangote cement company for sales. Why is state government selling its shares and what do you want the money for?
I am looking for money and I wished that I even had enough shares to sell and apply the money to solve some of the problems that we have but unfortunately, we don’t have. The shares we have in Benue Cement are a little over 43 million units. No one is in the market.  So, it’s a good thing they have decided to give them out. Jokes apart, the Benue Investment Property Company (BIPC), which is in charge of business portfolios of the government, are supposed to trade in shares if they have them. That is why they are set up.

‘14,000 ghost workers in Benue LGs’

NO fewer than 14,000 ghost workers have been discovered at the local government areas of Benue State.
Among those identified as ghost workers, according to the interim report on local government salary automation exercise carried out by Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, were under-aged children.
Oblivious of their action, the under-aged children who were said to be in their teens, according to the report, were said to have appeared for screening exercise.
The Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Solomon Wombo, who disclosed this to council chairmen during their joint meeting on Friday, added that out of the purported 29,000 workers in the 23 council areas of the state only 16,000 have genuine letters of employment.
The outcry by the local government workers to ensure the implementation of minimum wage to them prompted the bureau to embark on staff audit. At the moment, about N4billion was said to be the wage bill of council workers in the state.

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Mr Wombo disclosed that a joint committee will be sent out to verify and confirm the authenticity of the report for onward presentation to the governor. He cautioned the chairmen to resist the temptation of carrying out new employment especially now that their tenures were getting to an end.

Full text of Buhari’s speech at his formal declaration for presidency

 
APC will rescue Nigeria from PDP stranglehold – Buhari
{Being the full text of the speech given by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at the Eagles Square during his formal declaration for the presidency}
First I would like, Mr Chairman, if I may, pay tribute to Nigerians as a whole who are enduring all sorts of hardships and deprivations on a daily basis. Many millions are grappling with extreme poverty and barely eking out a living. Nearly all are in fear of their lives or safety for themselves and their families due to
· Insurgency by the godless movement called Boko Haram;
· By marauding murderers in towns and villages;
· By armed robbers on the highways;
· By kidnappers who have put whole communities to fright and sometimes to flight.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is everyone’s duty to resolve and help the national effort to overcome these immense challenges. I would like us to place on record our appreciation for the efforts of our Armed Forces under new leadership and police in confronting these challenges.
I would like, secondly, to thank our supporters up and down the country for their perseverance and resolve in face of an oppressive PDP government.
Mr Chairman, this is an occasion to celebrate our efforts and to resolve to continue until victory is won. I humbly wish to present myself before you, before all of Nigeria and before God seeking to be elected as APC’s Presidential candidate. Having appreciated that the only way to relieve Nigerians of the PDP, the main opposition parties decided to pool their strengths into one party. We have worked very hard in the last 18 months to put up structures from the polling units to wards, local governments, states and the centre.
We have tried to ensure all processes in our party formation to be transparent and credible. These structures will lead to free and fair polls. There is no point in holding elections if they are not free and fair.
Interference in the form of rigging which PDP Government has practised since 2003 is the worst form of injustice – denying people their right to express their opinions. Whether they like it or not, injustice cannot endure.
Since 1999 PDP has presided over our country’s decline. Nigeria in my experience has never been so divided, so polarized by an unthinking government hell bent on ruling and stealing forever whatever befalls the country. Mr Chairman, we in APC are resolved to stop them in their tracks and rescue Nigeria from the stranglehold of PDP.
The last 16 years of PDP Government has witnessed decline in all critical sectors of life in Nigeria
· There is now general insecurity in the land
Quite apart from Boko Haram, there is prevalence of Armed Robbery, kidnappings and killings, cattle rustling, market and farmland arson.
These outrages have taken a new and a frightening dimension, disrupting economic and social life across whole communities.
· The economy continues to deteriorate while the Government continues to announce fantastic growth figures but manufacturing is down, agriculture is down, commerce is down
Simply because you sell oil and steal part of the money does not entitle you to cook figures and announce phantom economic growth when all the major indices namely,
· Employment
· Manufacturing
· Farming
· Trading
are demonstrably on the decline.
· When PDP came to power in 1999 Nigeria was generating about 4,000 M/W of electricity. After 15 years and $20 billion spent we are generating between 3,000 – 4,000 M/W. No failure is more glaring than this.
We in APC are resolve to bring change to Nigeria. We plan to do things differently.
We plan to put priority on
· Protection of lives and property.
· Pursuing economic policies for shared prosperity and immediate attention on youth employment.
· Quality education for development, modernity and social mobility.
· Agricultural productivity for taking millions out of poverty and ensuring food security.
· Reviving Industry to generate employment and “make things” not just to remain hawkers of other peoples’ goods.
· Developing solid minerals exploitation which will substantially attract employment and revenue for government.
· Restoring honour and integrity to public service by keeping the best and attracting the best.
· Tackling corruption which has become blatant and widespread. The rest of the world looks at Nigeria as the home of corruption. Nigeria is a country where stealing is not corruption.
· Last, (but not the least or final) respecting the constitutional separation of powers between the executive, legislatures and judiciary and respecting the rights of citizens.
Mr Chairman, there, in outline are some policy proposals about the direction APC should take when, by the grace of God, we are given the responsibility of serving Nigeria in Government.
- source Daily Trust 

Suswam Senate bid suffers set back

The percieved smooth sail of Governor Gabriel Suswam to the senate may have hit rocky waters as former Chiarman of the Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS) and seasoned banker, Mr. Andrew Ayabam  has joined the race  to slug it out with the erstwhile acclaimed unopposed candidate.

Gov. Gabriel Suswam

In an exclusive chat with atiterkula, Ayabam, who is from the favoured Kwande/Ushongo Federal constituency which was popularly touted for loaning the position to SANKERA and specifically Suswam, said his decision to run was an indication that the Kwande/Ushongo people had not loaned anybody their due.
According to the banking czar, his joining the race was not in antagonism of his erstwhile boss but out of the need to bring the needed development to his people.
Refutting the rumour of alleged loaning of the position, Ayabam described the purported loan as a hoax by a mischievous lot to extort money from the governor.
Lamenting the lack tangible government presence in the entire federal constituency, he further wondered why it will be believed that in a federal constituency which prides itself with professionals and technocrats, there will be a lack in someone capable to represent it at the senate.
It will be worthy to note that according to the zoning formula, Ushongo is favoured to clinch the seat being the other half of the Kwande/Ushongo federal constituency, as such with Kwande in hot contest for the House of Representatives,the Ushongo half has been favoured to pick the senate.
However prior to this endorsement, a group of politicians and traditional leaders had in a controversial ceremony, declared their decision to loan the position to Suswam on the grounds of want of candidate to fill the slot.
sourced from http://atiterkula.wordpress.com

Suswam: Benue Govt’s Shares at Dangote Cement are Intact

Benue State Governor, Hon. Gabriel Suswam, yesterday said the state government had not sold its shares in Dangote Cement Plc.

Speaking with journalists in Makurdi, Suswam said the shares were still intact and had not been sold to anyone.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Suswam, who refuted claims that the shares were valued at N20 billion at the stock market, said the state government owned only N43 million shared with the company.

He said the shares were warehoused with the Benue Investment, Property Company (BIPC) and  blamed his detractors for peddling such falsehood on the shares.

He blamed BIPC for not trading with the shares to add value to it.

He said the company was yet to fully achieve the purpose for its establishment and called on the management to use the existing business potentials in the state to expand its scope.- Thisday