DIAGRAM OF A SPIROGYRA

SPIROGYRA

Systematic positions:

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum : Chlorophytes

Class : Chlorophyceae

Order : conjugales

Family : Zygnemaceae

Genus : Spirogyra

Common name : Pond-scum/ Pond silk

Occurance:

Spirogyra is at large genus consisting of about 300 species and is cosmopolitan in distribution. They are found in fresh water such as pools, ponds, lakes, ditches etc and also in slow running water of rivers and streams. They occur as free floating bright green masses in the water but few species such as spirogyra dubia, spirogyra affinis, spirogyra rhijoides  develop specialized structure ‘hapteron’ with the help of which they can get attached with substratum. They are slippery in nature so are commonly known as Pond Silk or Water silk.

Vegetative structure:

The plant body of spirogyra is a gametophytic thallus which is elongated cylindrical, unbranced silky thread like structure known as filament. Eacj filament consists of numerous elongated rectangular cells joined end to end in a row. The cells are separated by a partition wall known as Septum.

Each cell can be differentiated In to two reasons;cell wall and protoplast.

Cell wall is the outermost protective double layere structure. The inner layer of which is made of cellulose and the outer layer contains pectose. The outermost lining of Pectose turns into Pectin and get dissolved in water to form Mucilage which surrounds the filament and forms Mucilagenous sheath.

The protoplast contains Plasma membrane,cytoplasm, single large centrally located vacuole and Chloroplast containing Pyrenoids.

The plasma membrane lies inner to the cell wall and semi permeable in nature(allows the passage of selective substance).

The granular cytoplasm is distributed in the peripheral region of the cell. Single large vacuole is bounded by Tonoplast snd containing watery fluids. Cell sap occupies the central part of the cell. Spirally coiled ribbon shaped chloroplast containing Pyrenoids are present in position. The number of chloroplast ranges from 1-16 depending upon the species. The rounded Proteineous structures known as Pyrenoids lie equidistant from each other inside the chloroplast. They contain Central core of starch surrounded by Protein plates and help in formation and storage of starch. Single prominent nucleus lies at the center of the cell which is held in position by the thin delicate, radiating cytoplasmic strands.

Reproduction:

All the three methods of reproduction i.e.

1.       Vegetative reproduction

2.       Asexual reproduction

3.       Sexual reproduction

Vegetative reproduction:

During favorable conditions spirogyra reproduces vegetatively by the method of Fragmentation. Fragmentation is brought about due to the mechanical injuries caused by the biting of the dished and other aquatic animals or due to the change in temperature , P^H , and other aquatic conditions or some intercalary sells of the filament (intermediate cells).

Fragmentation involves the breakage of filament into small pieces known as fragments each of which can develop into new filament by the process of repeated cell division and growth.

Asexual reproduction:

During unfavorable conditions some species of spirogyra reproduce asexually though rarely by the formation of –Akinetes

                                        -Aplanospores

                                        -Azygospores/Parthenospores

       

Akinetes: Few species of spirogyra such as spirogyra farlowii reproduce asexually by the formation of Skinetes. In this method the protoplast of few cells of the filaments lose  water get contracted and round off and develop thick walls around themselves due to the extra deposition of cellulose and Pectin and form the akinetes which are thick walled resting spores that can develop into new filament with the coming of favourable conditions.

Aplanospores: Eight species of spirogyra such as spirogyra aplospora,spirogyra kanalae form Aplanospores during asexual reproduction. Here, the protoplast of the cell after forming rounded structure develop thin cellulosic walls around themselves and form the aplonospore which are the thin walled,non motile spores that can germinate into new filament with the coming of favorable condition and after the decaying of the mother filament.

Azygospores/parthenospores:

in this method at the beginning of conjugation the protoplast of the conjugating cells  form gametes but due to some Physiological and atmospheric conditions these gametes fail to fuse and start functioning as the asexually reproducing spores known as Azygospores of Parthenospores.

        e.g Spirogyra mirabilis

              Spirogyra varians

              Spirogyra rhizoides

Sexual reproduction:

Sexual reproduction in spirogyra occurs by the method of conjugation. Conjugation is the process of fusion of two gametes out of which one acting as the male gamete passes through the conjugation tube to the female gamete. In spirogyra all the cells of the filament can form the gametes which are Morphologically similar and are referred to as Isogametes. This phenomena of sexual reproduction is known as Isogamous type of sexual reproduction. But at the time of conjugation one of the two isogametes shows motility and is considered as the male gamete. This phenomenon is referred to as Physiological anisogamy.

In spirogyra,two types of conjugation occurs:

1.       Scalariform and

2.       Lateral conjugation

Scalariform conjugation occurs between the two filaments whereas Lateral Conjugation occurs between the adjacent cells of single filament. Therefore after the completion of Scalariform Conjugation the cells of one filament appear empty and those of the another filament contain Zygospores, after completion of Lateral Conjugation empty and zygospore containing cells alternate in the filament.

Scalariform conjugation:

Occurs between the two filament  and seen in heterothallic/dioeious species

1.       Two filament of opposite strands come closer and lie parallel to each other throughout their length and get surrounded by commom Mucilagenous sheath(Due to attraction)

2.       The opposite cells of two filaments produce small papillae outgrowth /Processes from their opposir\te walls.

3.       These papillate outgrowth increase in their size and join through their anterior end. By this time filament secretes enzyme cytase. Two filament secrete the enzyme cytase due to the activity of which the partition wall is sissolved between the two process forming a continuing passage conjugation tube. The ladder like structure is formed due to conjugation of many cells. Same time the protoplast get contracted forms gametes known as Gametangia. Thus, forms gametes are Isogametes in gametangia(bag to hold gamete) out of the isogametes one gamete shows motility and can be determined as male gamete. The male gametes enters through conjugation and enters the female gametangia and fude with femate gamete and forms Zygote. This zygote after the secretion of thick wall forms Zygospores.

               

Lateral conjugation:

Occur rare type of conjugation and seen in Homothallic/Monoecious species. It is of two type direct and indirect.

                Indirect:  On the lateral side of filament above the septum the two adjacent cells gives papillate out growth. Cytase is secrete by the cells the partition wall get dissolved forming conjugation pasage due to the activity of enzyme cytase. Simultaneously the protoplast of the adjacent develops into the gamete which is Isogametes. The cells are referred as Gametangia.

After sometime one gamete out of two gamete shows motility and determined as male gamete. The male gamete passes through conjugation tube and enters the female gametangia and fuses with female gamete to form zygote then forms thick walled Zygospore.

                Direct: (Primitive type of conjugation)

During the time of conjugation few attached  species shows.

Two adjacent cells which are going to conjugate. The lower cell get enlarged and form barrel shaped structure termed as Female gamete.

The upper cell (male gametangia) forms male gamete which are some what elongated cylindrical and pointed lower end and here conjugation tube are not forming. The male gamete with pointed end directly pierces the septum and forms a hole in septum and passes through the hole into female GAmetangia where it fuse with female gamete to form gametes. The zygote after developing thick wall develops into zygospore.

Zygospore:

Zygospore represents the only diploid stage in the lifecycle of spirogyra and it is yellowish brown ellipsoidal structure having diploid nucleus and covered by three layered wall : - the outer exospore/exine

                              - The middle mesospore/mesine

                              - th innermost Endospore/ intine

The zygospore due to the thick wall can withstand long period of dry and dessication. They are liberated after the destruction of mother cell or mother filament and they remain at the bottom of water body. With the coming of rainy season,the zygospores start to germinate. Before germination,the diploid nucleus divides meiotically and form four haploid nuclei. Out of which three degenerate and one remains at functional nucleus. At the time of germination the exospore and mesospore rupture and the endospore along with functional nucleus comes out as single cell germinating tube which immediately divides into two celled structure. The basal cell forms the rhizoidal cell and the upper cell by repeated division and growth develops into new spirogyra filament.

fire outbreak in ketu

BREAKING: Ketu sawmill on fire

January 28, 2016

Sodiq Adelakun

Details soon…

Nancy Isime - I love funny men

Nancy Isime is a hot super model. The former 2009 Miss Valentine International, is also an actress and anchor of ‘Trending on Hip TV’. The bubbly actress spoke with VANESSA OKWARA about her budding career and the qualities in a man she finds interesting
How long have you been in the entertainment industry?
I started as a model; then I won a beauty pageant and started modelling full time. Acting came along the way and I started acting and I have also added TV presenting to my career. I anchor the popular TV program ‘Trending on Hip TV’.
Which pageant did you win?
Miss Valentine International, 2009. When did you go into modelling? I was barely 18 when I started modelling. I did so because a lot of people kept telling me I needed to model and that I look good as a model, so I just did.
What has it been like in the modelling industry?
Modelling for me is not so much on my plate now. I’m not modelling a lot because I’m mostly presenting and also acting. So modelling has kind of reduced but when I was in it, it was amazing, it was very kind to me, it was fair to me because I got a couple of campaigns, runways, you name it. I was on everybody’s list at that time so it was good.
What made you go into acting?
It was literally from a director named Dickson Zambazu, a Ghanaian director. He saw some potential in me that I didn’t see in myself and he said I should come and read a script and I did. I went because he said he was going to pay me and I just love to make money, so I went there and I got picked.
Then people started telling me that I was talented in acting and I was like, okay! Since then it’s become a very good passion. I like to say that anything I find myself doing, I like to be passionate about it; I put in my hundred per cent because my name is my brand, so once my name is on it, I go all in.
What movies have you starred in that people easily recognise you?
I starred in ‘Hex,’ a 26-minute short film directed by the popular cinematographer, Clarence Peters. It’s a horror movie. The short film won an award at the 2015 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), as the Best Short Film.
There are a couple more on Ebony Life TV series like ‘Haven’, also ‘Echoes’, ‘Daddy’s girls’ and music videos from celebrity acts like 2Face’s ‘Iheneme’ and Solid Star’s ‘Omotena’ and a couple that are just out there at the moment.
What was growing up like?
Growing up was amazing. Growing up was like every other Nigerian child, my dad wanted me to be a Chief judge but, I’m sorry daddy, I can’t read every day and every night. I’m not cut out for that type of life to keep reading.
But he’s proud of me right now because I’m doing really well and he has not seen any bad part of me. Nobody has come to him to say your daughter is this, your daughter is that and he’s a very big fan of all my works.
He watches all my TV series and tries to watch all my movies and he watches all my programs. So that makes me very proud and am trying to make him proud of me.
I am honestly just living my life the way I want to and fortunately, it pleases my dad. My mom is late, she died in 1996, we are five in the family and I have a younger sister and three older ones. I’m the 4th child, from Edo State, Esan precisely.
What is your beauty routine like?
I just literally wash my face, apply some toner and some moisturiser and am good.
What’s your passion, what drives you?
The fact that God created the earth in just seven days is a huge inspir a – tion for me. It just shows that i f you put your mind to something, you can actually do it. What really drives me is the fear of failure.
My dad believes in me so much, he allowed me to go out and start working at the age of 17. So I don’t want him to think that after a few years, even after allowing me work early, I’m still nothing; so it pushes me to be better.
What is your fashion style?
My style really is comfortable; anything that is comfortable is my style. I will wear anything that looks good on me. I don’t have to follow trends. I don’t want to go out and I look like every other person.
Sometimes I cannot avoid it but when I can, I try not to. So I just like to look decent. Sometimes I try to look anyhow, depending on my mood.
Would you pose nude for a certain amount?
As a model I will; but I will not show you parts that you are not supposed to see. I can do glamour photography. T h a t is where you do a kind of silhouette; where someone can say, ‘this girl is naked but I can’t s e e anything.’ As a model, I’ve done glamour modelling, but go full nude? I cannot.
What part of your body is your best feature?
My brain is my best asset. Some people think I have a good nose, I will say it’s not my best asset, my nose is not the best there is.
Are you in a relationship now and what is he like?
I’m in a relationship with me, myself and I. We are in love, we happen to be in this perfect relationship where we are just happy every day and we are making money. Unfortunately, I don’t like to talk about my personal relationship.
I’m a TV presenter and I get to ask people about their relationships and I force them to tell me but for me, I don’t want to talk about it because as a woman, things change. I can say today that I’m single and tomorrow I might be in a relationship. Let’s just say that I’m in a very happy place and I intend to stay in it for the longest time.
What are the qualities in a man that you admire?
He has to be extremely funny to make me laugh. He has to have something he’s doing. I don’t like idle people and he has to be very smart. I like to hold conversations with a very intelligent person, so if he cannot hold a conversation with me that I can pick up from, then I will not be talking to him anytime.
I like intelligence, I like someone who is very self-secured, whose self-esteem is on the high not someone I have to babysit.
I’m sort of in the lime light, everything I do is on TV, so if I have to explain why I’m holding Dbanj and his hands are on my waist, then I don’t want to be with you because you should know exactly what am capable of doing and what am not capable of doing; someone who just trusts me.
What are the things ‘you long throat for’ as they say in the popular parlance on social media?
I have been seeing that but I didn’t give it a second thought because I don’t like trends, but I will say I ‘long throat’ for a stress free life. In Lagos, it’s pretty hectic so if I say I ‘long throat’ for a stress free life, I mean all round…business, personal, everything.
What is your fashion fetish?
It could be earrings, stud earrings. Actually my nose ring is what I don’t joke with, since I got it pierced like three y e a r s ago, I h a v e b e e n o b – sessed with it; s o m e p e r – fumes a n d s o m e n i c e comfy gowns.

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WE WILL PUT JONATHAN IN DETENSION

As a lawyer, John Bayeshea, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and clergy, is well known for his dogged interventions in public affairs and human rights issues. He was at the head of the legal team that prosecuted the popular court action by the UNILORIN 49 teachers which saw the Supreme Court reversing their sack and reinstating them after nearly 10 years. In this chat with BIODUN OYELEYE, Bayeshea, expressed disdain for the way investigators are treating ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, with kid gloves over the arms purchase scandal. To the legal luminary, in saner climes, Jonathan should be answering questions from detention by now. Besides, he took a swipe at some stakeholders in the judiciary alleging that they have become tools in the hands of ‘corruption’ to fight the ongoing efforts by the Buhari administration to cleanse the system

How do you react to the issue of the missing budget?
Well, this is Nigeria; anything and everything ugly is possible. Otherwise it is unimaginable that the budget that was presented to the joint session of the National Assembly will be missing, you know it is in this country that all scandalous things happen. So it is missing, so what are they going to do?
But I think Ali Ndume the Senate Majority Leader, has said there is nothing like that. I think people are just playing some games. I don’t believe it is missing.
But you see, the problem of the National Assembly is a moral issue. If you look at how the leadership of the national assembly came to be in place, it has been raising a lot of moral questions and it is this moral question that is still haunting the national assembly; issues of integrity, issues of probity, issues of sincerity and righteousness. People don’t even believe in what they are doing. So that is part of the whole package of the moral problem.
That is what I can say about that and I think we should just leave it at that.
Last year, former President Goodluck Jonathan presented supplementary budget to the National Assembly to spend more on arms purchase and it was approved. That money is part of what has now become the Dasukigate. What is your reaction to the whole scenario?
I don’t know….personally I am so frustrated about the affairs of this country that sometimes I feel I should not talk about anything because in some other countries, in some other more serious countries, even the former president cannot be in his house by now. He should be in detention answering questions.
Look at Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and his sons; they have been in prison for over five years now. The man is over 80 years old. He and his sons were given jail terms of four years on some charges. They appealed to the highest court in the land; the appeal was rejected last week.
The man is in detention in a military hospital; from there they bring him to court. Look, you cannot injure the collective wellbeing and welfare of the citizenry and be walking free on our roads as if nothing has happened. When people are dying, imagine graduates of five, ten years roaming the streets without jobs.
It not as if we don’t have money. This money is in few hands. I don’t know the type of human rights that people are propagating in this county which allows you to steal, loot the treasury, keep the loot and you will even be intimidating the state and you will be fighting the system with the loot and you will tell the system you will not even return the loot and some courts will be lending you support.
It’s a big concern for everybody. We cannot fight corruption in this way. The President has good intentions but he cannot do it alone. He is not getting cooperation.
If the National Assembly gave the former President approval, that was even a good thing. It means that that was one step towards good process. You presented to them that you were going to buy arms because our soldiers were being slaughtered by a rag tag army of Boko Haram and these soldiers were complaining they had no arms; that the rag tag army of Boko Haram were better equipped.
Because of these complaint, about 100 of the soldiers were court-marshaled and sentenced to death. And you said you wanted to use the money to buy arms and the money now ended being used for campaign for PDP.
In some other countries they will be stoning them right left and centre. Such huge money? In America, if a penny or what is called slush fund is found in any person’s account, such a person will pay dearly for it. Even if it is the President of the country, he will pay dearly for it. These people are well prepared to fight anything that will destroy the very foundation of righteousness, probity and good governance.
They will fight it to high heavens. So they gave you approval, and you now gave the money to one man. What type of country is this? This is a banana republic.
You now bring it in Ghana Must Go bags. Are there no accountants, are there no vouchers, are there no cheques again? You know, sometimes I think there are more dollars in Nigeria than even in the USA?
In USA you cannot make a withdrawal of more than 10,000 dollars from any bank at a time. If you want to withdraw 10,000 dollars alarm will sound because the unthinkable is happening. Their transactions are basically a cashless system because they want to monitor everyone. But here, we are talking about huge money, $2.1 billion.
From that Raymond Dokpesi alone got N2.1 billion. No wonder he was making so much noise during the election. So it means he (Jonathan) deceived the National Assembly to give him approval. At least as bad as Nigeria was under him, those National Assembly if they had known he was going to distribute the money anyhow like that I believe that National Assembly, as terrible as things were then, they would not have approved that money.

So he should be invited and interrogated?
Nobody should be above the law – whether they are going to arrest or invite or by whatever name because the bulk stops on his table. He cannot tell anybody that he did not know anything about these things. After all, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told us she got his approval to give the money to Col. Sambo Dasuki, (rtd) for him to spend.
They knew they were going to use it for campaign. Our money! The most painful aspect of this thing is that even the money they recovered from looters, where did they keep the money?
They didn’t tie it to any project for us to see. The money they recovered from Abacha is enough to do all the roads in Nigeria. Even if they take the money whole and use it to build the Third Niger Bridge at least people will see and be saying oh, the huge money we recovered from Abacha this is the project we used it for. And imagine how many people have stolen our money like that.
So I have asked questions about this, that it is like a case among the Yoruba that says a thief steals and another takes it over from him. They gave you cooperation, America gave you cooperation to recover the money but see how they have related it. If we now want to recover funds from the new looters. Will any country cooperate with us now? Are we serious as a nation?

How can we stop these abuses?
The only thing we can do is that anybody and everybody who is involved in these dirty deals must be tried and if found guilty let them go to jail first and foremost, so that people will know that crime does not pay. In Nigeria, crime and criminals are celebrated. In fact, the legal system seems to make them heroes of some sort.
Because when they manage to arraign them in court after the hue and cry, after the media hype, then they make a caricature of them with shouting headlines as judge remands them in prison, but after that what happens? The judge comes to grant them bail. Haven’t you seen the trend?
No matter how stiff the bail condition is, these people are able to meet the terms. They will say N200 million, N500 million and the surety must be a current director in the civil service. Where do those directors get that huge amount?
How are they able to become surety? Because the courts are even thinking that no civil servant will be able to get that type of money because what the courts are doing by that bail condition is that if the accused should jump bail, the guarantor will forfeit the amount of money.
And imagine the number of directors who are ready to forfeit that amount of money by signing for those people to be released on bail. So you can see that this country is stinking to high heavens. And immediately these people are given bail, that is the end of the hype.
The trial doesn’t get up to anywhere again. They will begin to frustrate it. We have cases in court that have lasted for seven years and so on, that are languishing in the courts, in fact some of them cannot be heard again because the witnesses are no more, the cases have been badly already frustrated by time lag. So we must first of all deal with this current situation. Punish severely those in court.
That is when we can now sit down and ask, what regulations we can make about campaign funds? Until we deal with the basic criminals now, the foundation is ugly, terrible and bad and the bible says if the foundation is bad what can the righteous do. So you cannot do anything if you don’t deal with the foundation. That is why the developed nations are far ahead of us. Every day they are dealing with situations that want to truncate their system.
Do you support the idea of plea bargain for these looters?
Those who proposed plea bargaining under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act have looked at the peculiar situation of Nigeria and found that our legal system is too porous.
No matter whatever effort you make, we don’t know what is wrong with some judges or some of the courts, we don’t know where they get their powers from, we don’t know where they get their courage from, and we don’t know what is happening. If you take these people to court, they will just say they have been discharged and acquitted.
Even some of these courts will even make some orders that they should never be arrested again; they should never be prosecuted again, etc.
What sort of country is this? That is why those who proposed plea bargain thought that if God helps us and we are able to collect our money from these people, let’s collect the money first then we can now talk about the type of sentence we can give that person.
The idea of plea bargain is not that you should run away completely from liability. No. That was how it was before. It was badly and terribly abused before.
I can give you the case of former governor Lucky Igbinedon who was taken to court on charges of taking billions from the state and he just went to court casually after they had done plea bargain and they were shouting they had done plea bargain. He was convicted and give an option of N3 million.
Nothing was said about the money he was accused to have stolen again. The N3mliion even his cook can pay it and then he went home. So the ACJA has looked at the pros and cons; there are very stiff conditions that people don’t know about this plea bargain. When people recently were castigating the AGF for saying that for cases that have caused serious damages to our lives and economy that he is not prepared to enter into plea bargaining with anybody, he was right because plea bargain cannot succeed unless the prosecution who are under the AGF agree. And it is at his discretion, it is not compulsory.
The Act did not make it compelling that Nawhen plea bargain is proposed then it must be accepted. So cases will be looked at in their own circumstance and merits before plea bargain would be accepted. So it is not as if once it is mooted then it must be accepted. No. It is his prerogative as AGF.
Al I know is that plea bargain, if properly followed will not be abused. Parties may even agree to plea bargain, that is both the prosecutor and defence teams, but the court may still reject. So it is not as if it’s sacrosanct. It was even never like that. It was meant to ease prosecution and recovery because nobody makes plea bargain without first admitting the charge.
Plea bargain is not mean to help the person keep the loot, no, you will return the loot. But you will still be punished only that the punishment will be very light.

Recently, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), expressed concern about apparent refusal of FG to obey court orders as regards the detention of some suspects. 

How do you see the development?
I read it myself and I will rather say that I have reservations about his statement. I have told you before that I don’t even understand some of our courts. We have reached a stage in Nigeria where the system, made up of the executive, judiciary, legislature and the citizenry as a whole should stop celebrating people who have caused and are still causing pain and tragedy for Nigeria, either economic tragedy or human tragedy in any form whatsoever or anyone who threatens the peace, security, stability and continued existence of Nigeria.
In this, why will criminals not be rejoicing and celebrating thinking that they are smarter than everybody when the system is over-protecting them?
Even the citizens are over protecting them. You could imagine that people are writing all sort of rubbish in the papers saying that this man, his human rights are being destroyed, the rule of law this and that. Rule of law is not a fraudulent concept. Rule of law is all encompassing. If you want to enjoy the benefit of the rule of law, you must conduct yourself properly within the legal system of the country. Obey the laws of the land properly. Don’t take the laws of the country for granted. Don’t take the country for granted.
Because it may get to a stage that you may not find it easy anymore. It may be easy at some point but along the line the challenges may be big that you will have to face the rigours of the law in a very raw and very drastic form.
We seem to be in that era now. Excuse me, what right does a man have under rule of law or fundamental whatever you call it whereby you create economic adversity for the whole nation, for the citizenry, you bring misery, you bring diseases, poverty and hunger and death to people in the country and then you go to court?
People don’t even know what human rights are anymore because human rights without economic emancipation, without good economic standing does not make sense. People think that human rights refers to locking people up and freeing them. It’s all encompassing.
There is economic rights which cannot be fulfilled because some people have also taken even your basic right to life, to enjoyment, and then he comes back and tells you that they should give him human rights. It is an abuse of the total concept of human rights.
As at today, even in USA and Britain, nobody takes the system for a ride and goes scot free. In fact, they will not let you go home until they finish your case.
The only difference is that they will fast track it. If the President or Prime Minister steals their money today they will take them to jail to go and wait until they finish their case. The Common Law system we are practising in Nigeria is from Britain. Do we claim to know it more than those people? Today, if you cause this type of damage of monumental proportion that we are seeing here, in Britain, they will not let you go home.
Let me tell you, even their lawyers have already studied their system, they know the body language of the system that they will not even ask for your bail. They will only press for speedy trial and you know your fate. After granting them bail, no case succeeds in Nigeria again. Go and look at the list. Unless we have a paradigm shift under this administration, the dangers to our system is unimaginable.
So Falana is entitled to his opinion but the system must stand firm and strong in pursuit of the objective that it is enough, things cannot continue the same way in Nigeria again.
What of the issue of immunity for some public office holders?
I don’t believe in immunity from day-one. Where we borrowed the concept from let me say again that they will hardly abuse that immunity. Let me cite an example; when (former) President, Bill Clinton, had the problem of Lewinski, which almost cost him his presidency, they didn’t spare him.
His impeachment was almost perfected. If they grant you immunity, it means so much confidence has been reposed in you that they put you in government; that you are able to get to the position you got to.
At the tail end, when Clinton was to end his tenure, you remember thy said he committed perjury. On the eve of his leaving office, his legal team, not even government lawyers and that is why plea bargain is good sometimes if properly used, they went and met him at the White House and told him his immunity would cease.
They reminded him of the case of perjury and that they had studied it and could not see any reasonable defence that could help him; that they had been talking to the prosecution and raised the option of plea bargain on his behalf.
That if he could just confess, which was what the whole country was looking for, that the president would just own up and say I am sorry because that means no one is bigger or higher than the system. They told him if he agreed, the prosecution would let him go home but there would be sanctions which include conviction and ban from practising in Arkansas for 10 years.
They said if he refused plea bargain, he would march straight to prison from the White House immediately he finished handing over. He agreed and embraced the plea bargain. The system now punished him, but they did not allow him to go to prison because confession on its own was a very big matter. But do you know that some of these people carry this thing too far? After leaving office security people are hardly able to touch them. Look at (former) president Jonathan now. Nobody is even talking about inviting him.
Why should the system be afraid of anybody? Look at Olisa Metuh, in some other countries, it’s not that they are asking you to release the money in your account, once security people are able to prove that he didn’t work to get that money, he cannot keep that money.
They will get court order to forfeit the money. Although I am also beginning to have problems with our courts though not all of them are bad. A lot of them will stand for what is right.

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Looters of arms fund should be tried for felony – Momoh

                                                  

                                       NEW TELEGRAPH

Prince Tony Momoh, a journalist and lawyer is a former Minister of Information and Culture. In this interview with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE, the former National Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) speaks on the arms procurement scandal, anti-corruption war and the forthcoming Edo State governorship election, among other issues

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has been steering the ship of the Nigerian state in the last eight months, how would you assess his administration?

Buhari is the only Nigerian who came into politics because he wanted to be president. Other people who were in politics and later became president did not prepare to be president. Tafawa Balewa, who was Prime Minister from 1960 to 1966 wanted to be a broadcaster but became prime minister.
Shehu Shagari wanted to be a senator, he became president. Before Olusegun Obasanjo became president in 1999, he was praying to leave prison alive. Umar Yar’Adua became president when he was planning to rest and take care of his health after being governor for eight years.
Goodluck Jonathan was taken away from Bayelsa where he was governor and brought to Abuja to be made vice president. He later became acting president and president. Buhari came into politics in 2002 and said he want to be president. He had a document he called ‘Project Nigeria’ which addressed every aspect of development in Nigeria.
First of all, secure Nigeria; then stabilise Nigeria and prosperity will emerge. That was the simple equation. He tried to win elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011 but succeeded in 2015. So, if you want to know what Buhari is going to do, look at his attitude to security in the country. He will secure the country. He will stabilise this country through infrastructural development and Nigeria will prosper under his reign.
But the only visible thing to some Nigerians about the present administration is the anti-corruption war…
The fact is, how can you grow a country with corruption? How can you secure a country with corruption? Corruption is the law of taking and unless you establish the law of giving, you cannot grow a country. Let people take what is their due and concede to others what is theirs.
Corruption is about taking; and anybody who wants to grow this country must ensure that there is good behaviour and discipline in the area of control and distribution of resources. Look at the way people took the money meant for procurement of arms to secure the country, sat down and shared it. In other jurisdiction, they would be subjected to firing squad. Even in our country, we have treasonable felony and all those who took part in the sharing of the arms fund ought to be charged to court for treasonable felony, not just corruption.
The consequence of looting from the treasury is that the roads, hospitals, schools or other infrastructural development in chapter two of the constitution; social, economy, education, environmental, foreign policies and all those areas that ought to have been improved with the money that we have, were deprived of growth because some people shared public funds. Today, if people have headache, they go to Dubai, India and Egypt while the health and education sectors at home suffer.
Some of the countries that looked forward to Nigeria at independence have taken off but we are still sitting down. And people who were in control and who are supposed to serve the people don’t feel guilty stealing. In other climes, they would have faced firing squad.
The tragedy is that people are even defending corruption by saying: ‘Is he the only one; what about the other people?’ Was the opposition in government? Were they part of the sharing? One thing I can assure you is that Buhari looked at the rules and applied them irrespective of whose ox is gored. When he says I have nothing against anybody but everybody should bear the consequences of their acts; that is telling us strictly, what drives his action.
But some people believe that Buhari’s anti-corruption war is selective on account that no chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is among those being prosecuted. Was there any enquiry set up with a High Court judge or Court of Appeal judge to probe anybody?
No. What President Buhari said is: ‘I will draw the line and move forward and I cannot question what the previous governments that have power to do things did. But the fact is where you have agencies that investigate any wrong doing; I will not stop them from doing so.’
Is there anybody who has been found wanting because of a particular board of enquiry that Buhari set up? No. The police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other bodies are doing their work and anybody who says he is not guilty should present his case in the court.
Are you suprised with the involvement of some politicians in the sharing of the arms deal fund?
What befall all those who are involved and found guilty should befall politicians as well. They didn’t get involved in the arms deal because they are politicians; they did so because they are businessmen or human beings. We can’t say because they are politicians, they should not be dealt with or they should be dealt with because they are politicians. This is the time everybody should answer their father’s name.
But some of them believe they have no case to answer since they didn’t have direct contact with the former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki…
That is a defence, so they should go and proffer that defence in court when they get to court. If they said they collected money, let them explain what they collected the money for. If their explanation is satisfactory, then they are free. But I don’t know how someone can collect over N4 billion to provide prayer warriors. I can’t defend how money that was supposed to be used for procurement of arms to fight a war is being shared by some people.
But some of them have justified the money they received. Some claimed that it was for political activities.
The money was meant to buy arms to fight a war but they didn’t buy the arms. Even those who were supposed to be fighting the war were not equipped and when they ran away from superior forces of Boko Haram, we brought them back, tried them and sentenced them to death.
How can people be so cruel? Let everybody answer their father’s name. Whatever the money went for, let them explain because if it is discovered that all those people who were involved knew that the money was for arms, they should be charged for treason.
But if they know that the money was not from funds meant for procurement of arms, they can be charged for other offences. But nobody can go free for taking money that he has no right to take.
Would you support the views of some Nigerians calling on ex-President Jonathan to speak on the matter since he was in charge then?
Do not try to bring Jonathan to the public to embarrass or blackmail him. Why should we bring Jonathan to come and stand in public or in court to attest to certain things? We should respect our leaders. The EFCC should not invite Jonathan; they should go to him and ask questions if there are questions to be asked? But don’t forget that what took place was an enquiry and some people mentioned Jonathan, Tony Anenih and some other people’s names during the enquiry.
They should package all the allegations and send it appropriately to the former president to respond and he should respond. He is a law abiding citizen and if he is find culpable, he should face the law because the law is no respecter of person.
The court on many occasions has granted bail to Dasuki but yet the Department of State Security (DSS) has refused to release him.
Have you ever heard of anywhere where people who diverted money meant for fighting war for personal use, which is even treasonable, get bail? Even armed robbers and kidnappers don’t get bail. I don’t know how Nigerians want to be ruled.
People, who diverted money meant to secure the country for personal use are being tried and some people are saying government is not following rule of law in trying them. Which rule of law are people talking about? What is more rule of law than detaining those who have undermined the state?
What type of rule of law do people want? I am a lawyer but if for instance someone had bail in regard of a particular offence and still have cases to answer in other courts, he may not be granted bail because one court cannot give bail to someone who has cases in three courts. I don’t know where people read there law from.
So, you believe government is following due process in its anti-corruption war?
Due process is being followed. If due process is not being followed, there are procedures in court. You can approach a court and if you don’t get justice you can move to another until you get to the Supreme Court.
How would you react to the insinuation in some quarters that there is no difference between Buhari as a military head of state and a civilian president?
The Buhari of 1984 is not Buhari of now. In 1984, he was a head of state but now a civilian president. If he was a military president, a lot of things that are happening now obviously would not be accommodated. He is not breaking any law against Nigeria.
He is not trespassing any law passed by the National Assembly. He took the budget to the National Assembly. He didn’t just sit down spending money. He didn’t appoint ministers the way he wanted; he sent them to the National Assembly for clearance.
In 1984, lots of things were done according to the dictate of the Supreme Military Council, which was the ruling body then. But now, he is doing things according to the dictates of the constitution. The constitution has provided what he needs to do and he swore to an oath to abide by the provision of the constitution and nobody has said that he has undermined the constitution.
Many people are of the view that Nigerians are yet to witness the change the APC promised…
Those people saying so should thank their God that they have no skeleton in their cupboards. Anybody who has anything to hide now is jittery. If you go to the port and you want to give bribe, they will tell you to go and pay for your documents. Anywhere you go to in government today, people are following due process.
Those are changes of mindset. If you go to England, Dubai and other world markets, where Nigerians are known to be throwing around dollars, you won’t see them anymore. Many of them are changing. New order and discipline is coming to the system and Nigerians who are involved know it. I can assure you that very soon, Nigerians will earn the respect of the world.
What is your view on the controversies over alleged doctoring of the 2016 Budget?
There is nothing like doctoring of the budget. Why are people unbalanced in their thinking? Budget is a law; what is given to the National Assembly is a proposal and it can be amended anytime through supplementary budget. Even if it is one naira that you want to change, you will send it to the National Assembly and follow due process of amending it.
The National Assembly recently inaugurated a constitution amendment committee headed by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. What is your view on the proposed amendment?
The Eighth Assembly has the power to initiate amendment to the constitution but before an amendment becomes effective, all the commitments must be attended to. So, the Eight Assembly will not be the first and the last to initiate amendment, as long as due process of amendment is followed.
Are you not worried about the resurgence of militancy in the North Delta, especially with recent bursting of pipelines?
I am worried when there is indiscipline anywhere but the first duty of government is to attend to indiscipline and find out the cause of indiscipline. But I think it is indiscipline on the path of those who felt injustice to be undisciplined by not following due process. If for instance, Niger Delta militants have any issue, they should raise it through appropriate channels like Niger Delta Ministry, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and even the Amnesty office that have addressed Niger Delta problems in the past.
They know what to do and they should do it. That is my appeal. But if for one reason or the other, people take law into their hands and start blowing up pipelines, it is going to lead to another era of war, where some people would die unnecessarily.
I don’t suggest people in Niger Delta to get involved in confrontation. Every issue that emerges, either blowing of pipeline, kidnapping, assassination for money, armed robbery, insurgency in North-East geo-political zone and struggle by Indigenous People of Biafra are manifestations of people who feel undermined and reactions to what people think is injustice.
And my plea is that there is a procedure for attending to what people regard as injustice and when things are attended to through peaceful means, order can be restored. But when people take to up arms, then you cannot blame those who have the constitutional right to maintain order and peace like the police and army.
Are you not worried over pocket of crises in different parts of the country based on agitation by some ethnic and religious groups?
The unity of the country is not negotiable; nobody can negotiate that. If you do so, you will be confronted; whoever you are. So, if people have a problem, they should table it for us to approach it constitutionally but if you take laws into your hands, someone will tell you that there is a limit.
In fact, the law says your freedom ends where mine begins. You cannot shut down a street and say people should not pass and think you are making a point whether you are a religious body, ethnic body or a political group.
So you believe that no group can hold Nigeria to ransom?
Nobody has the right to hold Nigeria to ransom. We are one people, one country, one nation; we should try to settle our problem internally. If anybody wants to divide this country, the government in power will be failing not to confront that challenge.
Do you believe that Boko Haram has been largely defeated as claimed by President Buhari and the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed?
Why are you asking me that question? Am I in the war front? But I think the issue of Boko Haram is not as serious as it was before. There was a time that many local governments in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states were occupied by Boko Haram. It is not so now. So, we should really help the military.
If the $2.1 billion arms money has been used for the purpose it was meant for, Boko Haram would have been a thing of the past but the government in power sat down and organised its sharing to retain office but it failed.
Since the victory of APC in the last general elections, many chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have defected to the ruling party. Are you not worried by the trend?
I was a foundation member of the PDP and I am in APC today. So, what is the big deal? Many political parties have waiver in their constitution. We also have waiver but we held a convention and say no waiver; we don’t need waiver for anybody. If you come to APC today, you enjoy all the rights and privileges of an APC person.
So, that is why someone can come to APC today and want to become a governor or a senator. You are not going to be guided by the rules and regulations of the party you were before but the rules and regulation of the party you are now. APC has a manifesto and by coming to APC, you agreed to be bound by the party’s constitution and manifesto.
Don’t you foresee an implosion in APC before the 2019 general elections over several forces fighting for the control of the party?
When you come to APC, you are embracing the mission and vision of the party as reflected in its manifesto. So, if you want to go tomorrow, you can leave. Don’t you see many people leaving the PDP and handing over their membership cards to their ward chairmen?
So, if anybody wants to leave APC, he can leave and go and form a new party or leave for another party. So, we welcome anybody coming to APC but you must register in your own polling unit and collect the constitution and manifesto of the party.
What is your take on the forthcoming Edo State governorship election?
I think those who are interested will express their interest. There would be a primary election and whoever wins will fly the flag of our party. Some people have been accusing the governor of trying to impose someone. The governor is not imposing anybody. The governor is not in a position to impose anybody.
The governor is a human being; he can have someone he is supporting but that is not imposition.Imposition means when someone has emerged as a party’s candidate; then someone goes and pick another person as candidate. It is not an imposition for a governor to prefer someone to succeed him.
If the governor likes someone and says he want Mr. B to be governor; he has a right to say so, but he has no right to force people to vote for the person. If he (governor) uses his money to support someone, that is not imposition.
What about the issue of power shift and zoning which some people are clamouring for?
As a citizen and son of Edo State, I believe that the next governor should not come from Edo North. The zone has had it for eight years, so the governorship should go to either Edo South or Edo Central.
The PDP is determined to take over Edo State from APC. Do you see the opposition as a threat to the ruling party?
What is wrong in being a threat? The president said that he was messed up in 2003, 2007 and 2011 but was elected in 2015. He does not want the compromise that denied him ways to be introduced during his time. So, he has read the riot act to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections and be responsible to nobody.
As you can see, the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa were free and fair. INEC has a right and responsibility to conduct free, fair and transparent elections and nobody is going to interfere with that. INEC must ensure that it follows the guidelines in the Electoral Act.