***ACF sack Onoja for attending meeting endorsing Jonathan*** **** "We were tricked to meet Jonathan"*** – Senator Pam ***"I went to see the president as part of the people of North central and elders of the Middle Belt Forum"*** - General Lawrence Onoja Barely a week after the apex socio-political group in the North, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) publicly reprimanded one of its leaders and former military administrator of Plateau and Katsina states, General Lawrence Onoja, for visiting the Presidential Villa in Abuja along others to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 election, the forum has again come hard on the Benue State born retired military officer. The ACF has removed Onoja from all leadership positions and in his place appointed another retired military officer, General A. B. Mamman. One of such committees chaired by the ex-military administrator before his sack is the ACF’s harmonisation sub-committee on North Central, which was set up to unify all major groups in the North, especially the forum and the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). This is even as facts have emerged on how frontline Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, allegedly tricked some of the leaders who attended the controversial endorsement meeting to the presidential villa. Saturday Sun had last weekend reported how Gen. Onoja was rebuked by the ACF national chairman, Alhaji Aliko Mohammed, during the body’s annual general meeting in Kaduna, where angry youths also mobbed him, for allegedly joining some leaders on a visit to President Jonathan in the villa, where they endorsed him to re-contest in 2015. An angry ACF chairman had declared, in his remarks at the AGM: “We noticed with dismay that some members of this organisation have gone to the president and assured him that he must contest in the 2015 election. We are really surprised that some members that went there are also members of ACF. It is very sad that the Presidency has employed the divide and rule tactics against the North. “I am speaking particularly of two gentlemen; the two gentlemen I am referring to, one is in ACF and the other is of Northern Elders Forum. The person in ACF is retired General Lawrence Onoja. He was actually part of the group that went to see the president. Also, one of the elders, Senator John Wash Pam, was there. “It is the considered view of ACF that starting politics of 2015 is too early. It is counter-productive. Apart from heating up the polity, such early start can distract from governance, more so that INEC is yet to give the green light for political activities to begin. “We were surprised that they have gone to see the President, particularly Onoja that is here with us in ACF. We have gone with Onoja to every meeting we have held, and he turned round to say the President must contest in 2015, using the word, must.” Saturday Sun gathered that after Mohammed’s remarks, journalists were excused from the meeting, after which other leaders took on Onoja. A source at the meeting revealed that an opportunity was given to the former military governor to offer the forum an apology but instead he chose to defend his visit to the presidential villa, citing his fundamental human rights, as enshrined in the nation’s constitution as grounds of his defence. This posture, youth leaders in the meeting took for arrogance and mobbed Onoja calling him such names as “sell out”, “you’re broke”, “inconsistent leader” among others. It was learnt that it took the intervention of some ACF leaders, especially Senator Joseph Waku to calm the angry youths who wanted to lynch the retired Army General. Waku was said to have succeeded in prevailing on angry members at the meeting to consider the implication of any fracas, stressing: “Those who want to divide us will be happy.” The ACF national vice chairman, it was gathered, thereafter, asked Onoja to stand on his feet, while he (Waku) apologised to the Forum on his behalf. Onoja however, told journalists last week Friday that though Jonathan has constitutional rights to contest 2015 presidential election, he never at any time endorsed him under the platform of ACF but under the umbrella of Middle Belt Forum (MBF), stressing that ACF’s accusation that he endorsed the President for 2015, on its behalf, lacked every iota of facts and figures. He said that as a Nigerian he has every right to visit the president whenever he wanted to visit him, adding that nobody could stop him from visiting the nation’s seat of power. He said he would not apologise to ACF for what he did not do against the Forum, stressing that whoever apologised on his behalf must have done so out of elderly responsibility and wisdom for peace to reign. In his words: “It is completely false that I told Jonathan that on behalf of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) to contest 2015 election; it is a misinterpretation of the fact. I am a member of ACF. I am a very active member for that matter, and this was attested to by the Chairman during the AGM meeting. “And so for anybody to say that I went on a mission to endorse the President, the person does not have the fact before his conclusion on me. And let me also add that the president is a Nigerian. He is the elected president of Nigeria as of now, and he has the right to contest for his second tenure, and that is completely in his hand, it is not in anybody’s hand, he has the right under the constitution to seek second term. “As far as I am concerned, I’m a Nigerian who has the fundamental rights to choose to do whatever I want to do. I went to see the president as part of the people of North central and elders of the Middle Belt Forum. And when I went there I didn’t say anything to the press nor did I grant press interview. So if anybody issued a statement regarding the document, it is the person they should call and hold him responsible. “But for anybody to hold me responsible for any endorsement, that person does not have the facts. I have every right to visit the president any time I feel like doing so because the president is the president of the whole country. “I did not apologise to ACF over the matter, it was Senator Joseph Waku who apologised on my behalf. My reaction to that apology is that if I were to apologise directly I wouldn’t have apologised because I have no apology. After all, I had already left the venue when he apologised. However, as an elder, Waku must have intervened in a matter that involved me in the ACF, where I am a member. “As far as I am concerned, the president is my president; he is my Command-In-Chief, and I reserve the rights as a Nigerian to visit the villa at any time I feel to do so. “It must be remembered that as at today, the president is in a different party, and I am in a different party. As the president of the alumni association of National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, an outfit directly supervised by the president, I therefore, from time to time, go to the Villa to consult with the president or the vice president on issues relating to the administration of NIPPS along with the alumni association which is an outfit of that big institute.” The above statement by Onoja was said to have further irked the ACF leadership, which this week decided to sack the former military administrator from all committees either as chairman or member. The decision to remove Onoja, who has been noted to be an active member of the forum from all positions of responsibilities in the body, was confirmed to Saturday Sun by the ACF’s national vice chairman, North Central, Senator JKN Waku, who however, said all moves to communicate the decision to the retired General had so far failed because he could not be reached since the incident in Kaduna last week. According to Waku, “he (Onoja) is my younger brother. I brought him to ACF. Whatever he did wrong, it is my responsibility to plead for him. And I am sure he appreciated my intervention at the meeting because he called me last week Thursday night to thank me for my intervention. I have tried my best to save him from this embarrassment, but he came out to boast that he had no apology to offer, which is tantamount to ridiculing me.” When asked why Senator Pam Wash, who also attended the meeting with Jonathan, has not been punished, like Onoja, Waku said: “Pam had offered explanations and apologies at a pre-AGM meeting on how he was tricked to the villa.” A source told Saturday Sun that Chief Clark had invited some of the leaders, who attended the endorsement meeting, claiming that, “President Jonathan wanted them to come so that he can appreciate them for the votes given him by Middle Belt people in the 2011 election.” However, an ACF chief stated: “It’s unfortunate that they could be so easily tricked for whatever price,” while confirming the excuse as part of explanations given by Onoja and Pam for attending the villa meeting.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 21:22:27 +0000
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