ODIMEGWU
There was jubilation in parts of northern Nigeria today as President Goodluck Jonathan bowed to pressure from a section of northern Nigeria politicians and relieved the Chairman of the country’s National Population Commission, Mr Festus Odimegwu of his position. The president appointed Sam Ahaiwe, the Commissioner representing Abia State in the Commission, to act as chairman pending the appointment of a new chairman of the commission.
Observers were not surprised at the abrupt removal of Odumegwu who at a public function had said: “No census has been credible in Nigeria since 1816. Even the one conducted in 2006 is not credible. I have the records and evidence produced by scholars and professors of repute; this is not my report. If the current laws are not amended, the planned 2016 census will not succeed”.
Sequel to that indicting statement, which echoed the views of many experts, northern Nigeria politicians and governors led by Rabiu Kwankwaso undertook a virulent lobby which urged Jonathan to drop Odimegwu. They noted that Odimegwu’s blunt statement was capable of destabilizing the country.
Kwankwaso is the current governor of Kano state which has benefitted the most from the same fraudulent population figures that Odimegwu complained about.
Following his visit to President Jonathan after the vexed Odumegwu statement, Kwankwaso offered the following statement to the media and making a snide reference to Odimegwu’s past as boss of Nigeria Breweries PLC: “…I also raised the issue of the Chairman of the National Population Commission headed by one Festus Odimegwu. We are not happy about that appointment, and think that it was a mistake. He had only one thing in alcoholic industry (sic), all his life. And my guess is that he’s taking a lot of his products and that is why we feel that his appointment is a mistake because he cannot be the Chairman of NPC and at the same time attack what his predecessors have done”.
Although international agencies recognise Lagos as hosting an estimated 15 million people, making it one of the most populated metropolis in the world, Nigeria’s last census exercise which was fraught with fraud as Odimegwu opined, ascribes the largest population to Kwankwaso’s Kano State instead of Lagos.
Africanewscircle learnt that President Jonathan had persuaded Odimegwu to tender the resignation which he accepted today (Thursday).
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