LAGOS—PRESIDING Bishop of The
Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM,
Dr. Mike Okonkwo last Sunday said
majority of the nation’s current
political gladiators navigated their way
to power for their selfish interests and not the interest of the nation and its
teeming masses. Addressing newsmen at the opening
ceremony of this year’s Kingdom Life
Conference tagged, Open Heaven, the
presiding bishop said: “About 90 per
cent of them who are in power today
both at the federal and state levels are there not because they have
something to offer. Nigerian leaders
are not there to develop the country.
Their interest is their personal
interest.” According to him, people voted into
power at the federal and states levels
are not there to develop anything.
“For instance, each time I think of the
South South region of the country that
produces the wealth of the nation and the rate of neglect in the place, you will
be forced to ask yourself, what kind of
human beings who have brains will be
able to sit down and watch such
neglect without thinking of
developing the area. “That is why I said these people are
not honest. If they are, such places
where majority of the nation’s
resources come from, should be
developed to make the indigenes feel
a sense of belonging. So for me until we address such imbalances, I don’t
think we are ready yet to move the
nation forward.” He argued that “we need to put things
right and get people who know that
the purpose of governance is for the
benefit of the people. But the present
structure we have is such that allows
charlatans and cowboys, all in the name of politics, move into
Government Houses because of the
benefits that are there and not
because they have something to offer.
Corruption had been there but the
present magnitude is worrisome. The moment we started exchanging
money for performance and integrity
that was when we started having
more problems.”















@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@As the Presidential Committee on the
proposed national Conference
continues its tour of the country,
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola has advised the Federal
Government to make life better for Nigerians saying what they need at
the moment was availability of the
basic necessities of life. Governor Fashola, who spoke in
Sokoto while featuring in a special
edition of Channels Television
programme, “SUNRISE”, as part of the
second Retreat of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum, said the life of the ordinary Nigerian would be improved
through making electricity available,
providing good roads, food and
healthcare adding that these things do
not need a National Dialogue but
meticulous planning, funding and execution. Wondering whether the Conference
was meant to produce a new
constitution for the country, the
Governor asked: “What do the people
want, a better document or better life?
To me, it is better life and that appropriates to power, good roads,
water, food, healthcare and others. “You don’t need to discuss good
roads, the contractors are there, just
find the money and give them. You
don’t need to discuss how to generate
power, GE, Mistibushi and all others are
there. You don’t heed to discuss how to plant maize and yam. Just develop
an agricultural plan and go and
implement it,” the Governor said. He advised that instead of organizing a
fresh conference, the Federal
Government should retrieve the
resolutions reached in the similar
conference in 2006 and implement
them adding: “The truth is that when people begin to get prosperous, the
body of science out there says that
they will be less violent. The reason is
that they begin to seek how to protect
their prosperity. And, therefore, crime
tends to be coming down”. Governor Fashola, who was on the
programme with his Ekiti State
counterpart, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, also
spoke of the split in the Nigerian
Governors’ Forum and his reason for
going to court, saying he sought redress in court because he saw the
split as something rooted in impunity
which, according to him, should not
be allowed to thrive. “I feel a little scandalized that
something as basic as an election by
us, amongst us, leaders of a club, to
put it mildly, could result to such an
unsavoury outcome and that is why I
took the step to go to court; because what is being touted there as a splinter
group has its foundation based on
impunity and an unwillingness to
accept the result of a contest that they
subscribed to.” He described the action as both
unsportsmanlike and bad for the
country adding, “The proceedings are
still afoot, some objections to some
issues and all that. But irrespective of
the outcome of the matter, I think the point that it makes to me is that we will
not stand by and allow impunity
thrive”. He hoped that arbiters of the matter
would take judicial decisions and in
the event make some announcement
one way or the other noting, “But out
there in the open, I believe clearly, and
there is some documentary evidence, in spite of people trying to hide behind
a finger, as it were, suggesting that
they didn’t vote, they didn’t
participate.” Recalling the incident that brought
about the split, Governor Fashola said:
“Out of the 36 governors, 35
Governors attended either by
themselves or by their deputies, 35
votes were counted, results were announced, if you add 16 and 19, you
get 35. So it was really a case of
standing logic upside down in a spirit
that is unsportsmanlike. “I think it is a joke that has gone too
far and I want to use this opportunity
again to appeal, the Governors’ Forum
is not a place where there are victors
and there are vanquished. Our doors
remain open let us show leadership, let us reach out, discuss this issue in a
very fair and firm manner, go out there
as brothers and put this issue behind
us,” he said. Responding to a question on the 2015
General Elections and insinuations that
the country may split in that year,
Governor Fashola, who rather
predicted further improvement in the
nation’s electoral process in 2015, said the nation would emerge from the
elections both stronger and more
united. Noting that just as in the last general
elections in 2011 when some
improvement was recorded, 2015
would not be different, the Governor
declared, “In the last elections, in spite
of all the insinuations and hiccups, there was some improvement. I think
we will get there where after votes
have been cast we take the outcome
like sportsmen.” On the insinuation that the country
may breakup in the next election year,
the Governor dismissed it as mere
imagination noting that it is Nigerians
who tend always to whip up such
sentiments every election year even when experiences of the past election
years have shown the contrary.
“For the insinuation that the country
would break in 2015, I have heard
that before and nothing has changed.
Perhaps what has changed is in the positive. In the last elections, in spite of
all the insinuations and hiccups, there
was some improvement,” the
Governor said adding that nothing
would change negatively in 2015. Asserting that 2015 would prove to
be just another year, the Governor
declared: “It will come and go and we
will continue to live. Some people have
described it as a watershed. Yes 1999
was a watershed, 2003 was a watershed and 2007 was a
watershed. We went through 2011
when they said heavens would fall. “Really, we have been pushing
ourselves to the brink of the wall but
when all is said and done we pull
ourselves back from the brink. So
there will be nothing different in 2015.
I think we will get there where after votes have been cast we take the
outcome like sportsmen,” he said. He expressed the confidence that the
nation would advance to the position
where, after elections were concluded
and results announced, the defeated
contestants would take the results
with equanimity and congratulate the winners adding, “I think it boils down
to that spirit of sportsmanship and I
know we will get there. I am optimistic
that we will change. We are not where
we were in 1999. We have moved”. Frowning at the manner of
preparation for elections in the
country, Governor Fashola noted with
dismay: “When we are preparing for
an election, we prepare as if we are
going to war but we are only going to a contest. Newspaper headlines begin
to carry how many policemen and
soldiers have been moved to election
sites. It makes my skin crawl”. The Governor, who blamed this on the
ethnic sentiments still very prevalent in
the country’s politics, said because
Nigerians do not move around
enough in the country, they tend to
focus more on their immediate environments while they look upon
others with suspicion. “Perhaps we don’t focus enough on
the things that unite us. I am coming
here for the first time and I am glad
that I came because, aside cultural
connections, there are quite a lot to
see in our country. We don’t travel enough. I went round the town. I saw
an economy that is vibrant, that is
moving. People were still moving by
11.30 in the night and for me these
are the kinds of stories that should
really go out,” the Governor said.


(please don't be angry with my post but the page was showing(Please wait for a few minutes before submitting this post. Our server is overwhelmed.) thank u 4 understanding.

Including a lot of church leaders

smartchoice: Including a lot of church leaders

For a moment when I saw the headline, I thought you wrote ; "Nigerian leaders are self servicing" LOL.

I agree with the Bishop though. All of our leaders are self serving including our religious leaders

this man is one of the respected men of GOD I know in Nigeria. he is courageous and speaks the truth.

but the truth is that we Nigerians dont really want change. He has spolen the truth, instead of people to reason and find solutions they are busy pointing fingers at religious leaders.

Are religous leaders governing you and me? the the policies the have in their churches affect u?

Open your eyes man/boy!

mekaboy: this man is one of the respected men of GOD I know in Nigeria. he is courageous and speaks the truth.

but the truth is that we Nigerians dont really want change. He has spolen the truth, instead of people to reason and find solutions they are busy pointing fingers at religious leaders.

Are religous leaders governing you and me? the the policies the have in their churches affect u?

kenshin17: LAGOS—PRESIDING Bishop of The
Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM,
Dr. Mike Okonkwo last Sunday said
majority of the nation’s current
political gladiators navigated their way
to power for their selfish interests and not the interest of the nation and its
teeming masses. Addressing newsmen at the opening
ceremony of this year’s Kingdom Life
Conference tagged, Open Heaven, the
presiding bishop said: “About 90 per
cent of them who are in power today
both at the federal and state levels are there not because they have
something to offer. Nigerian leaders
are not there to develop the country.
Their interest is their personal
interest.” According to him, people voted into
power at the federal and states levels
are not there to develop anything.
“For instance, each time I think of the
South South region of the country that
produces the wealth of the nation and the rate of neglect in the place, you will
be forced to ask yourself, what kind of
human beings who have brains will be
able to sit down and watch such
neglect without thinking of
developing the area. “That is why I said these people are
not honest. If they are, such places
where majority of the nation’s
resources come from, should be
developed to make the indigenes feel
a sense of belonging. So for me until we address such imbalances, I don’t
think we are ready yet to move the
nation forward.” He argued that “we need to put things
right and get people who know that
the purpose of governance is for the
benefit of the people. But the present
structure we have is such that allows
charlatans and cowboys, all in the name of politics, move into
Government Houses because of the
benefits that are there and not
because they have something to offer.
Corruption had been there but the
present magnitude is worrisome. The moment we started exchanging
money for performance and integrity
that was when we started having
more problems.”

Let him LEAD.by selling the private jet he bought over 4billion naira and use the money to empower youths and market women in his town(AWKA ETITI)

Thank you....am hapi you can see

i.chuka:

Let him LEAD.by selling the private jet he bought over 4billion naira and use the money to empower youths and market women in his town(AWKA ETITI)