[b]A national leader of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, has
lamented the manner in which the
Federal Government handled the alleged
missing $11 billion (N1.7 trillion).
The Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, Lamido Sanusi, had, in a
recent letter to President Goodluck
Jonathan, alleged that the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC,
did not remit about $49 billion (N7.8
billion) to the government’s coffers. Mr.
Lamido later recanted, saying only $11
billion was not returned. He explained
that CBN did not capture the figures of
the allocations to the Federal Inland
Revenue Service, FIRS, and Department
of Petroleum Resources, DPR.
Mr. Tinubu said in its poor handling of
the controversy, the government had
portrayed itself as a “robber
government,” that deserved to be swept
out of power with the APC’s broom.
He said the country had regrettably
degenerated to the extent that losing
such a huge amount had become a sign
of fiscal rectitude.
In a New Year message to Nigerians,
Mr. Tinubu argued that in an
atmosphere of good governance, the
money should not be missing and if it
happened to, senior officials of the
government should by now be under
criminal investigation by the police.
“Under this administration, the matter is
swept aside as if a minor thing, like a
broken tea cup on the floor. If this
government can treat a missing $11
billion like a minor accounting
infraction, much more than a teacup
needs to be swept away. This robber
government needs to feel the broom
and the sweep of change as well,” Mr.
Tinubu said.
Strange government
Mr. Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos
State, also criticised President Goodluck
Jonathan over his recent statement on
the nation’s security challenges, which
Mr. Tinubu stated showed no urgency
or initiative.
He recalled that the president told
Nigerians during a church service on
Christmas Day that Nigeria was not like
Syria and other war-ravaged lands and
as such they ought to be happy
because things could be worse.
“In the face of the nation’s greatest
security challenge since the Civil War,
this is the presidential policy: to lay low
and measure your failure relative to the
failure of other nations,” Mr. Tinubu
said. “As long as other nations suffer
conditions worse than ours, we should
accept our fate and commend
government for allowing only one of our
legs to be amputated and not both.
Jonathan’s hands-off and laissez faire
approach to civil insurrect does not
commend itself to national greatness or
wise statecraft.”
Mr. Tinubu said President Jonathan
was promoting a lazy and dangerous
policy.
“This nation will not improve simply by
being content that we are not as bad as
other nations. That is not way of
improvement. It is the excuse of a
leader grown too comfortable with
failure,” he said.
Describing the Jonathan administration
as a “strange government that resides
in Abuja,” Mr. Tinubu expressed worry
that it applauded itself for economic
growth when the majority of people
suffered caustic poverty.
“The growth they commend is restricted
to them and their cronies. The rest of
the nation stagnates,” he said.
“Children’s bellies swell not from feast
but from near famine. Schools close.
Businesses are shuttered. Jobs
evaporate. The streets fill with the
frustration of the unemployed and
hopeless. Homes, stores and factories
are dark. There is no light.”
He noted that officials of the Jonathan
administration believed they had taken
Nigeria to the Promised Land and as
such, intended to keep things as they
were now.
The former governor also alleged that
the Jonathan administration believed
the economy should be permanently
structured in such a way that the vast
majority of Nigerians squirmed under
the boot of poverty while government
officials relaxed in the nectar of luxury.
“This is an unfair, crooked deal. We
reject it and, as the drumbeat of change
marches closer, it will drown out their
lame excuses to make way for a fairer
economy,” he stressed.
A year of decision
Stating that the advent of a new year
was a time for people and nations to
resolve themselves to a greater future,
the APC leader said 2014 would present
Nigerians a stark choice whether to
remain were they were or to root for
change.
According to him, his party was floated
as a vehicle to generate and accelerate
the process of change towards the
most beneficial end for the greatest
number of Nigerians.
“Nigerians must enter the New Year
determined to succeed although much
around us signals failure. As a nation,
we are destined to be better than we
now are. Today, we slump in a low
place but that is only for now,” he said.
“Our nation is crippled but not broken,
confused but not lost. Given into the
hands of enlightened progressive
leadership, this nation can become a
fertile land of prosperity, of law, of
peace and dignity for us all.”
He said the coming year would be one
of decision; for change or against it.
“Shall we continue as we now are? If so,
failure will be our sole destination and
darkness our only compass. As for me,
I reject this end as well as the means
that lead to it. We have gone far enough
down the unlit road. We want no further
part of it,” he said.[/b]

[b] The promise of the APC
Mr. Tinubu said the APC offered
Nigerians the choice to return the
country to her best path, adding, “We
realise the Nigerian public has been
stung so many times by false promises
that the people will not give their trust
quickly. Given our political history, this
is only wise and prudent.”
He said the APC, in the New Year,
would show the people the vast
difference between it and the PDP.
“They are a conservative and elite
network of under-the-table deals and
backroom governance. We are its open
and progressive alternative. We mean
the people well and do not work to keep
them in the dark. We will show the
comparative differences in several
ways.”
He explained that the party would
demonstrate its commitment to
democracy by exercising internal
democracy and transparency on its
deliberations and also communicate to
the people at the grassroots level as
well as the national level.
“You will see and hear from APC
members and leaders at the local, state
and national levels. We will create
venues and platforms that you may
communicate your concerns to us as
well. We will highlight the ideological
and substantive policy differences
between the progressive us and the
elitist them. Where the PDP has
imposed trickle-down economics
reminiscent of a 1980’s Reagan-
Thatcher-IMF road show, we seek an
economy of genuine and broadly shared
growth where the laboring wage earner
and small businessperson benefits
proportionally to the powerful financier
and big corporate power.”[/b]





http://premiumtimesng.com/news/152419-jonathan-running-robber-government-tinubu.html

What a Way to End the Year 2013! I'm not surprised the statement is coming from the leader of the 'much touted Progressive Party'. APC claims to be on a 'rescue mission' but God needs to rescue us from such a Self-Seeking party first. May God see us through 2014. AMEN.

This is a case of kettle calling pot black, is it not those that are running this country that have gone to form APC, old wine in new bottle will still give the same taste.

nice write up,I hope una no go disappoint

oluwashaddow: nice write up,I hope una no go disappoint

"una"! who is/are the una?

Sai APC!

ceo4eva: What a Way to End the Year 2013! I'm not surprised the statement is coming from the leader of the 'much touted Progressive Party'. APC claims to be on a 'rescue mission' but God needs to rescue us from such a Self-Seeking party first. May God see us through 2014. AMEN.

If at your age you cannot make used of your brain,when do you intend to start using it,maybe in your grave.

Toktee: If at your age you cannot make used of your brain,when do you intend to start using it,maybe in your grave.

Thanks but the main thing is that U got my message. Happy New Year!

ceo4eva: What a Way to End the Year 2013! I'm not surprised the statement is coming from the leader of the 'much touted Progressive Party'. APC claims to be on a 'rescue mission' but God needs to rescue us from such a Self-Seeking party first. May God see us through 2014. AMEN.

if only you could define the bold

Ok.