ACN urges N’Assembly to begin impeachment
Nigerians ask President to reject ‘church’
Supporters defend gift for president
Labour chiefs caution against donation
IT is one enduring relationship that a church gift now seems to be threatening. Indeed, President Goodluck Jonathan and Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited (GCG) are not strange bedfellows.
Their strong romance, The Guardian learnt, dated back to when the Nigerian president was governor of Bayelsa State. Then, the firm was the state’s major contractor.
And Jonathan is not even the first Nigerian president to maintain such fraternity with the Italian firm.
Jonathan’s predecessors, especially former President Olusegun Obasanjo, reportedly had a strong affinity with Gitto. That administration patronised the company with juicy contracts such as the construction of the Second River Niger Bridge.
The N58.6 billion bridge, which was planned to be completed within three and half years under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) deal, is yet to take shape.
The Italian firm is also said to be one of the major contractors that handled the controversial Presidential Library, Abeokuta, built by Obasanjo.
The Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library project was launched on May 14, 2005 in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State. It hosts the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Category Two Institute.
Also, the company handled the last phase of the National Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, which was completed during the tenure of Obasanjo.
And as controversy trails Gitto’s church “gift” to Jonathan or his Otuoke community in Ogbia Local Council of Bayelsa State, the President’s men and his critics are polarised on the matter.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which condemned the “donation,” asked the National Assembly to initiate impeachment processes against the President.
But one of the President’s ardent followers, Prof. Steve Azaiki, has said the uproar that greeted the St. Stephen’s Anglican Church building renovation by Gitto was uncalled for because the company only carried out its corporate social responsibility to the community.
As governor of Bayelsa, Jonathan is known to have awarded contracts for the Tower Hotel, Gateway Road and other projects to Gitto.
But Sunny Oputu of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Bayelsa State, apparently confirmed this yesterday in Yenagoa when he said “there is a link between Gitto and the President,” adding that if there was no such link, Jonathan would not have pressured his successor, former Governor Timipre Sylva, to make a N5 billion variation on the Tower Hotel when Sylva took over from him.
Since the dedication of the supposedly harmless “gift” of the 400-capacity church building (instead of 2,500 seats reported by some national dailies) last weekend, some eminent Nigerians and groups have condemned it.
President Jonathan was reported to have complained to the managing director of the firm about the aging structure, which he deemed unfit for the status of his village, upon which the construction company then re-built the church.
But some of the concerned Nigerians told The Guardian yesterday that if the renovation or even the construction of a new church was too dear to the President, “we will gather signatures and even organise a fund-raising to build one for him.
“But before we do that, the President must reject the “gift” from the firm because it violates the Code of Conduct Act.”
The Labour movement has also cautioned Jonathan against gifts that may cast aspersion on the exalted office.
The ACN said since Jonathan had admitted openly that he solicited “a bribe from a foreign construction company, in violation of the constitution that he swore to uphold,” the Legislature should kick him out office.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the start of the impeachment processes would enable the National Assembly investigate the matter and also reach the appropriate conclusions.
“To know the gravity of the President’s self-admission of soliciting the church “gift” from the Managing Director of GCG, one needs to understand Section 6 of the Code of Conduct for public officers embodied in the First Schedule of the 1999 Constitution and the Code of Conduct and Tribunal Act (CAP C15) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
The ACN said by his improper and unfortunate action, the President had undermined the country’s “fight against corruption and put Nigeria’s democracy in jeopardy, hence he must not be allowed to get away with such an egregious act.
‘’If the President and his supporters deny that he indeed solicited the bribe – as he admitted at the inauguration of the church – we challenge the Presidency to play – on national radio and television – the unedited audio and video recording of his speech at the occasion for all Nigerians to hear and see. Experts must also be called in to verify that the tape has not been tampered with in any way,’’ Mohammed said.
The Hope Democratic Party (HDP) presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru, said the reconstruction of a church by Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria would fuel corruption and lawlessness.
Owuru described it as inappropriate and a violation of the law and urged the President to publicly reject the offer because it was morally wrong for his community under whatever guise to accept it from a government contractor.
He told The Guardian in Port Harcourt yesterday that Jonathan who commissioned the contentious project ought to know that there would be lots of interpretations to the company’s gesture.
Former President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and Pastor of Abundant Life Evangelical Mission, Eugene Ogu, expressed dismay that the renovation of the church had generated unwarranted attacks from some Nigerians.
Ogu, who insisted that there was nothing wrong with Gitto’s gesture, said those accusing the President of impropriety were enemies of Nigeria because “they are not interested in its infrastructural development.”
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, said it might be too early to conclude that the President erred in receiving the “gift” on behalf of his community.
He urged the media to investigate and ascertain that the contractor gave the “gift” to the President or the community.
Esele said if it was discovered that Jonathan indeed solicited and got the church “gift” from a contractor that had benefited from government, “ then it is unfortunate.”
The General Secretary of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Marcus Omokhuale, said the donation should not be celebrated because the President had not committed a crime.
He said: “I do not see it as any crime. Building a church is meant to further the work of God. I do not know if Jonathan will benefit anything from it apart from the fact that the building was built when he was President. This noise is uncalled for and people should not divert our attention from the art of nation-building. My only advice is that effort should be made to ensure that ministers and other appointees do not go about collecting all sorts of things from contractors simply because the President got a church ‘gift’ from a contractor. I do not think that this will encourage corruption in the polity.”
Former Secretary-General of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. John Odah, told The Guardian in Abuja yesterday that the office of the President should be insulated against any abuse of power.
“There is a particular standard that is expected of that office that must be maintained at all times. The gift of a church though not wrong by any standard, it sends mixed message across to many people from diverse backgrounds and schools of thoughts. I see this gift (church) as a Greek gift that should have been rejected just to protect the integrity of the office,” he said.
But Azaiki, a former Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government (SSG), said it was wrong for any person or group of persons to insinuate that Gitto built the church for the President as it was not the President’s personal property.
He said the church belongs to the people and “there is nothing wrong if Gitto or any other company built a church, a school, market or any other public structure for the community.
Azaiki said rather than focus on any interpretation some people would want to ascribe to the renovation of the building, Nigerians should look at the overall benefit of the church to the community.
When The Guardian visited the community, a resident, Mr. Kelvin Azi, said that it was wrong for anybody to say Gitto built a new church for the community.
He said the building was only renovated.
According to him, members of the church from the community had long been worshipping in the old building even before the renovation.
He said for whatever it is, the people of the community now have a befitting church building, which beautified the Otueke community.
To the Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) in the state Mr. Sunny Frank Oputu, there was an undertone to the “gift.”
He said if Gitto was so generous, how many of such projects had it donated to other communities in the state.
The CNPP boss claimed that Sylva lost the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket because he did renew the contract for the Tower Hotel to Gitto.
Already, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the Italian firm’s conduct and the extent of the President’s involvement in what it described as a “Greek gift” to Jonathan.
In the petition dated Monday, April 2, 2012, SERAP said: “We are seriously concerned that given the huge sum of money involved and the timing of the church building ‘gift’, the acts may amount to a bribe to the government by a construction firm that has sought and obtained huge contracts from the Federal Government.
“Procurement and investment agreements corrupted by this kind of “gift” invariably lead to increased costs not only in higher prices but also in needlessly expanded and ultimately inefficient projects.”
SERAP said “both the acts of giving and accepting the disguised bribe undermine the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice, and jeopardises sustainable development and the rule of law. The acts also hurt the government and ordinary Nigerians who may suffer as a result of bad execution of projects by GCG.”
