[size=14pt]Nigeria Cannot Trust Jonathan[/size]

By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Posted: November 10, 2010 - 21:24



Last week, Saharareporters published on its website an article titled Secret Army Report Implicates NSA Azazi, Ibori, Alamieyeseigha, Henry and Sunny Okah In Sale Of Military Weapons To Niger Delta Militants.

Also, courtesy of Saharareporters, the full report Niegrian Army Intelligence Corp (NAIC) can be obtained at http://www.saharareporters.com/sites, oads/Azazi.pdf. The title of the NAIC report which was addressed to Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was Investigation Report into the Theft and Sale of Arms to Niger Delta Gunrunner by an Officer and Some Soldiers of the 1 Base Ordinance Depot Kaduna.

For me the full report is a turning point. After reading it thrice, I am left with no choice but to ask this embarrassing question: Can we, Nigerians, afford to trust Jonathan with the presidency in 2011 in the light of his association with the people involved in the arms theft, with those who covered them up and, of course, his commitment to the militant cause of Niger Delta which is increasingly becoming apparent in his decisions and utterances since he became President? The question is embarrassing because Jonathan is already our President. And there could not be a situation more embarrassing than citizens seeing their President as a security risk.

Briefly, the NAIC report contains details of how close to 7000 assorted weapons were stolen between 2000 and 2007 from the ordinance depots in Kaduna and Jaji. The theft was masterminded by one Maj SA Akubo, who sold them to Niger Delta militants through Sunday Okar, the junior brother of Henry Okar, the MEND leader. It started with the discovery of the Jaji incident in February 2007, which renewed another inquiry into the theft that has been taking place in Kaduna when Gen Azazi (rtd) was the GOC of 1 DIV. Investigations revealed that the two incidents were related. Maj Akubo, Sgt Mathias, LCpl Alexander, LCpl Moses and LCpl Nnamdi were the principal culprits in the incidents. The Kaduna theft was investigated and suppressed by SSS when Lt. LKK Are was its DG in collaboration with Azazi and one Maj Gen Adekhegba, then Director of Military Intelligence (DMI). Azazi continued to cover up the case, first in his capacity as GOC 1DIV, then later as COAS. It took the discovery of the Jaji theft in 2007 and the tenure of another DG of SSS to mount a conclusive investigation. None of the recommendations of the NAIC report were taken seriously except the court-martialling and jailing of Maj Akubo and the soldiers involved. Sunday Okar was freed and presently aiding Jonathan in the case of the October 1 Abuja Bombings against his brother Henry.

Two former governors, James Ibori of Delta State and Dipriye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa, purchased the weapons for the militants when they were serving governors. They were never questioned or sanctioned and no further investigation into the culpability of other politicians was conducted as recommended by the NAIC report in order to nib in the bud the possibility of someone among such politicians becoming a President of Nigeria one day. NAIC also recommended, among other things, that investigations be carried out to ascertain the conspiracy theory that the thefts were part of the Niger Delta plan to secede from Nigeria.


http://nigeriavillagesquare.com/forum/main-square/58828-nigeria-cannot-trust-jonathan.html

To my knowledge, the Nigerian Army has not come out yet to refute the authenticity of the report. As a citizen of a democratic society, I think I am free to express my opinion about it.

This is a report that Nigerians must not let go. With Jonathan on the wheels of the nation, it is my opinion that its contents has great significance to our national security. This is also the opinion of NAIC: “It has been suggested that this issue should be handled in a secretive manner in order to avoid bad publicity to the NA and the government due to the embarrassment of the extent of the theft. It is our opinion however that this is a wrong advice. In as much as this issue deserves to be carefully handled, we do not have the luxury to keep it under cover.” Leaking the report could be in reaction to the appointment of General Azazi as the National Security Adviser (NSA) with the intention of alerting the nation to its dangerous implication.

The most relevant part of the NAIC report to this discussion is this: “One wonders what would happen if Nigeria ends up with a president who does not believe in the entity of the Nigerian nation, and has a record of involvement in cases like this.”

We now have a president - Jonathan - who was the deputy to one of the culprits, Alamieyeseigha. One cannot imagine that Jonathan as the deputy governor could not know anything about the arms deals which his boss was financing. Emancipation of the Niger Delta is a regional cause and there could be no way that a deputy governor then would not know how it was financed or how its weapons were procured. Impossible.

Not only that, Jonathan became the governor when the flow of weapons from Kaduna and Jaji into the hands of Niger Delta militants was still taking place. His name could not have been mentioned in the report because it was compiled in September 2007 when he was already the Vice President! It was not surprising that investigation into the “many more” politicians involved in the case was not attempted at all.

More importantly, however, is the association of Jonathan with the people implicated in the report after he became President. Jonathan cannot claim ignorance of the report. Yet, as Saharareporters noted, “Alamieyeseigha…is championing the President Goodluck Janathan’s presidential election bid… Sunny Okah has since been recruited by the Jonathan administration and is being used to press the case against his brothers.” The most revealing, however, is the appointment of General Azazi (rtd) by Jonathan as the new NSA despite his multiple roles in the case that are explicitly mentioned in the report. For this, we need to indulge ourselves in some details about his role.

First, “the period of the arms theft that Maj Akubo masterminded at 1BODK fall within the period of Gen Azazi’s tour of duty as GOC 1 DIV”, said the NAIC report. This alone is bad enough. He instituted two shoddy investigations into the theft to cover up his failures.

Secondly, he was the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) when the DSS (or SSS as we popularly know it) investigated the 1BODK theft later. He directed, the Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), Major General Adekhegba to “facilitate the release of the officers to the DSS, find out why they were looking for them and also respond on his behalf.” Adekhegba who was ostensibly working under unwritten directives of Azazi “approved the release of Maj Akubo with an incomplete investigation of a case that has probable negative implications on military security without clearing from the COAS,” said the NAIC report.

Thirdly, according to the NAIC report, the DSS completed its investigations of the Kaduna thefts before the Jaji one was discovered without intimating the “NA or NAIC of their findings. Neither did the NA nor NAIC request for any feedback.” Also, “there is nothing on record to indicate that the DSS obliged or even responded to the requests” of NAIC to have “military intelligence officers be part of the investigations”. DSS kept mute on its findings. NAIC report posed some questions here: “Is there likelihood that this case was shabbily handled in order that General Azazi command failures may remain undiscovered? Did Azazi use course mate influence on the then DG of DSS Lt. Col. LKK Are (rtd) to ensure the case remain suppressed? Otherwise, why did it take until now, when Are is no more in office for the DSS to reopen the case and be willing to cooperate fully with the NA?”

Fourthly, still on Gen Azazi, the army intelligence report had this to say: “Gen Azazi obviously has more questions to answer regarding his roles in this case considering the key appointment he held during the period of the theft. Gen Azazi has already nominated Maj Gen RO Adekhegba for national merit award, probably as a reward for his role in ensuring that his complicity in this issue remains undiscovered.” It did not therefore come as a surprise that the NAIC report noted that “after becoming the CDS, it is reported that Gen Azazi’s nominee for the position of CDI is Maj Gen Adekhegba.”

What late President Yar’adua did as a result of this report was to fire Azazi in 2008 when he was the Chief of Defence Staff, a source told Saharareporters. I remember that was the time when there were widespread reports that Niger Delta militants have infiltrated the top hierarchy of the Nigerian military and the Federal Government was just threatening to intensify its assault on them.

The recent appointment of Azazi as the NSA by Jonathan justifiably raises doubts regarding the latter's commitment to the security of this country. Naturally, the appointment could only be possible if Jonathan was impressed with his record. And to be so impressed with what we have listed above requires a mind that shares the same cause with Azazi, not only in the past but also in the future. Here lies our concern as a nation. How could a President, who is promising Nigerians a new future if elected in 2011 appoint as head of the entire national security apparatus a person who was an accomplice in serious security breaches when he was a GOC, COAS and CDF? How can he return a person fired as CDF and forcefully retired from the army for reasons well known to the President? For a possible answer to these questions, the NAIC report gives us some important clues.

The report suggested a “conspiracy theory” which it recommended to be investigated. The report believes that "there is a link between the 1989 aborted Orkar coup; the 2001 Ikeja Cantonment arms depot explosions; the arms theft at 1BODK and the militancy in the Niger Delta. It is believed that there is an orchestrated plan by the Niger Deltans to secede from Nigeria which is being played out over the years with every opportunity they have. It is also believed that they took maximum advantage of the unique opportunity they had with successive appointments of Gens Ogomudia, Asemota and Azazi as GOCs I DIV.”

This secession theory is not the speculation of a columnist or Saharareporters. It is a theory coming from Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps and it must be given due recognition. If indeed they intend to secede as entailed by their threats, militancy and weapons accumulation, then they can do so easily in the near future, for their plan is rolling so nicely without any obstacle. They now have the Federal Government headed by a President of their own. He is doing everything to cover them up and strengthen them. He has now appointed another of their own, who collaborated with them so much before in stealing arms from Nigerian military depots, to head the institution that oversees the Army, Navy, Air Force, SSS, Police, etc. He now advises the President on anything regarding these bodies. And, of course, by his antecedents, he cannot advise him against the interest of his own people. He has also appointed another Niger Deltan, Ita Ekpeyong, as DG of SSS. And Nigerians are simply watching!

Equally alarming is the plan to recruit the militants as national coast guards. Few days ago, on 2 November, 2010, Daily Trust reported that the Vice President inaugurated a committee on the integration of the militants as guards in an inter-ministerial/interagency meeting on human capital development master plan for amnesty programme. “Incessant insecurity at our coasts”, the VP noted, “is as a result of inadequate coast guards who may give information and perfectly protect the coasts… Sustainable security in the Niger Delta can only be achieved if there is enough surveillance by the security agencies.” Are the criminals in the Niger Delta the most qualified to secure our coasts? Why won't the government also recruit Odua Peoples Congress in Lagos and Boko Haram in Borno to achieve "sustainable security" on our borders in the southwest and northeast respectively? In fact, aren't there enough law abiding, able-bodied and patriotic youths in the Niger Delta to employ as coast guards? Why resort to vandals, thieves, kidnappers, insurgents and terrorists?

So these militants will be officially recruited, trained and armed by the very government they have been fighting against for over fifteen years. And the President is doing so very fast such that the militants would be employed, trained and armed before he leaves office next April, just in case he fails in the next elections. Thus, the committee is just given ten days to submit its report on the modalities of the integration, implying that the matter is already fait accompli.

This is the most bigoted poll I have ever seen in my life.

Moderator please move this thread to tribalism section, non of these have anything to do with politics.

mikeansy:

This is the most bigoted poll I have ever seen in my life.

mikeansy:

This is the most bigoted poll I have ever seen in my life.

Moderator please move this thread to tribalism section, non of these have anything to do with politics.

Why is this bigoted please?. Jonathan is strongly affiliated to two groups that have threatened secession in Nigeria and why is mentioning it bigoted?

alj harem:

Mumu.

Aloy+Emeka:

Mumu.

alj harem:

Malu; you are winking yet you voted that Jonathan cannot be trusted because he is not a Northerner. Fuccing malu-jiri.

[size=16pt]NO BECAUSE HE IS PDP! -PEOPLE DECEIVING PEOPLE[/size]

Aloy+Emeka:

Malu; you are winking yet you voted that Jonathan cannot be trusted because he is not a Northerner. Fuccing malu-jiri.

very funny!

mikeansy:

This is the most bigoted poll I have ever seen in my life.

Moderator please move this thread to tribalism section, non of these have anything to do with politics.

I agree - the question should have been can Nigeria trust PDP.

By George Kerley
I read through Dr Aliyu U. Tilde’s Discourse 301article and could not help but shake my head in disbelief.

In just a few months, especially after Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria decided to run for the Presidency in 2011, the quality of Dr Tilde’s writings has fallen so badly. These days, almost every paragraph of his essays could be mistaken as the placard ranting of a zoning zealot.

He has lost that flair for inciting communal reasoning and become the mouthpiece of that group of Northern Nigerians that is so bent on undermining the other constituent parts of the Nigerian State.

If Dr Tilde had taken the time to do a good research, he would have found out that the said NAIC report was not even a military report but a dubious, mischievous and concocted exchange between military officers.

Paragraph 54, page 27 of the said malicious document reads and I quote

", It is believed that there is an orchestrated plan by the Niger Deltans (emphasis mine) to secede from Nigeria which is being played out over the years with every opportunity they (emphasis mine) have. It is also believed that they (emphasis mine) took maximum advantage of the unique opportunity they (emphasis mine) had with the successive appointments of Generals Ogomudia, Asemota and Azazi as GOCs 1 Div."

What is the writer inferring? Very easy to see. The writer is inferring that Niger Deltans no matter how highly qualified, should never be allowed to hold highly sensitive military positions any longer.

Any intelligent reader will have no difficulty in deciphering that this dumb memo was an exchange between a Northern junior military assistant to his boss of clearly the same ethnic stock. The objective of this dubiously lettered package was clearly to undermine the people of the Niger Delta and build a process that would continuously shortchange military officers of Southern origin. This is worthy of national condemnation and an act of ingratitude to the people of the Niger Delta whose resources have catered for the sustenance of the Nigeria state for decades now.

It is also shameful that even a Dr Aliyu Tilde could not even take some time to research further in spite of the fact that the internet has made light research very easy.

I am most curious why Dr Aliyu U Tilde did not research to find out and discover the malicious intent of the author of that report who deviously refused to include that the Nigerian Army had inaugurated a General Court Martial (GCM) to try the accused officers.

Neither did the report mention that the said officers were given various degrees of punishment including life imprisonment etc. That court martial was reported in quite a number of national newspapers. One of such was the Compass Newspapers of November 19, 2008. Read story here.

In a spasm of literary madness, Dr Aliyu U. Tilde opined that “………….if this trend continues until 2015. Niger Delta would have completed all arrangements for a secession: increased oil revenues that could be used to buy weapons; complete undermining of the military through posting agent officers as commanders especially along the coastal area and possible relocation of military hardware to the region; and well trained guards to oversee the illegal activities required to achieve this goal with the aid of Nigerian state machinery which they did not enjoy hitherto. Then, the conspiracy theory of the army intelligence corps would not need to be investigated into and ascertained. It would be a reality, just as would become of the prophesy of the disintegration of the nation by 2015 that is widespread in diplomatic circles.

This is the most tragic piece of literature to have come out of the Nigerian State in almost five decades and is a key pointer to the fact that Dr Aliyu U. Tilde is nothing different from the Northern fundamentalists who consistently threaten the peace of the North.

How else can anyone in his right senses decide to go so low?

Why would anyone seek to deliberately undermine President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan or the National Security Adviser General Andrew Owoye Azazi?

Is President Jonathan’s magnanimity being taken for granted? Were these people not holed up and silent in their homes when Abacha Gestapo was on the prowl?

Did Dr Aliyu Tilde and his likes come out to condemn Abacha and Babangida when they were running down the Nigerian State?

What manner of nepotism, parochialism and intense myopia is this?

Dr Aliyu U. Tilde has today declared himself as a barefaced ethnic regimental officer of the dubious ageing Northern war criers who believe that the governance and government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has become their birthright!

Their persistent attempts to color the current political and democratic agitations as a North-South fight for domination is to say the least damning.

It again begs the question. Would these pro-zoning power-mongrels from the North have allowed the people of the South OR the Niger Delta a piece of their action if the oil and gas resources were in their domain?

Could this be a wake-up call to the elders, youths and children of the Niger Delta?

How else can you explain Dr Aliyu U. Tilde’s careless and uncouth attempt to undermine, malign and impugn the character, capacity and competence of the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

How else can you explain how the PhD parading Aliyu U. Tilde can garner the temerity to declare that Nigerians cannot trust President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR because of a matter that surfaced when President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was Vice President?

In spite of everything, the South understood with President Umar Musa Yar’Adua during his time as President. What is it about the Niger Delta and President Jonathan that they fear so badly?

In his short time as President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has done far more than most Nigerian Presidents did in far more years. He has visited more states across Nigeria than many of those before him. He has commissioned more projects across the federation than many before him.


Nigerians no longer have to hoard petroleum products or stand in line at long queues to buy gasoline because those days are gone. It took President Goodluck Jonathan only a few months to deal with an issue that past governments, from Abacha to Obasanjo could not do even though they continued to increase the price of gasoline each day. How can we be so ungrateful so soon?

To tackle the power situation in the country, President Jonathan has assembled some of the best minds in the Industry to come up with a radical master plan that would ensure that Nigerians begin to enjoy uninterrupted power supply. He has given the team express mandate to deliver on time. Yet these people say he has not done anything. Are they serious?

Where were these people when their godfathers were ‘switzering’ up the Nation’s coffers? Billions of naira was siphoned to secret bank accounts in Switzerland in what became a way of life for many of them. Much of these will never be recovered to build Nigeria or even compensate the Niger Delta.

What could have been the intent of Dr Aliyu Tilde and his co-conspirator author of the Sahara Reporters article? Where they angry that General Andrew Owoye Azazi was appointed National Security Adviser (NSA)?

Could this be because General Azazi is the only non-Northerner ever to be National Security Adviser of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in almost 4 decades?

Why question the competence of someone whose credentials is the most impressive of all former NSAs?

In his previous active years as Chief of Army Staff and Defence Staff, General Azazi was the object of tons of media and personal attacks by militant groups in the Niger Delta who accused him of giving his total loyalty to the Nigerian state and having disdain for his region.

It is therefore laughable for Dr Aliyu Tilde and his likes to suddenly wake-up from their groping nightmare and accuse the same General Azazi of aiding and abetting the activities of armed militants in the Niger Delta.

And then they talk about trust.

Come to think of it. Who should talk about Trust? Dr Aliyu U. Tilde? A member of a distasteful Northern Cabal that has for decades now been cloaked in the garment of tragic mistrust and distrust? Let us now take a look at the Trust profile of some of their leaders.

General Muhamadu Buhari was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 3rd Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army in Jos when he overthrew his then principal and President Shehu Shagari in December 1983. Trust or Distrust?

General Ibrahim Babangida was Chief of Army Staff of the Buhari regime when he overthrew his principal and head-of-state under trumped up allegations of high-handedness in 1985. Babangida then plunged Nigeria into 8 years of destructive loose-handedness which saw Nigeria and Nigerians witnesses increase in drug trafficking and the murder and execution of hundreds of promising young Nigerian military officers. Trust or Distrust?

After a long rigmarole in dubious political transition programs which cost the nation billions of naira, General Babangida ended up annulling what was famed as Nigeria’s most successful elections on June 12, 1993. Trust or Distrust?

Prior to stepping aside in 1994, General Babangida handed over to an Interim National Government headed by Ernest Shonekan after cunningly drafting General Aliyu Gusau to serve as Chief of Army Staff in the Interim Government. The rest is now history.

In a quick daylight operation, three top military generals – General Abacha (Secretary of Defence in the Interim National Government), General Oladipo Diya (Chief of Defence Staff) and General Aliyu Gusau (Chief of Army Staff) walked into the office of their principal (and the Head of the Interim Government) Chief Ernest Shonekan and asked him to resign. That was November 17, 1993.

Are these the kind of people who should be talking about Trust? Certainly not!

This is a New beginning and a fresh generation of Nigerians are looking for good leadership. They want a government that will listen to them and give them the opportunity to access the opportunities provided by a better quality of life. Coming from a long history of leadership by military dictators who did not trust themselves and even went as far as executing and murdering themselves, Nigerians may be unwilling to trust too quickly. Most importantly, we seek leaders who will earn and win our trust.

At The Jonathan Project, a volunteer movement for the support of President Jonathan, we have gone a step further. We understand that Trust and Confidence building is a mutual thing. Therefore, we have challenged ourselves to encourage President Jonathan to work towards winning the trust of progressive minded Nigerians by doing the right thing for all Nigerians.

We believe in President Jonathan because he has lived a life of service to mankind. We trust in President Jonathan because he believes in the Almighty God and so we expect that he will trust the Good Lord to direct his path in bringing great leadership to all Nigerians.

So far, so good. We are committed to building a new Nigerian where new levels of trust will grow between all ethnic nationalities within the Nigerian federation.

One thing is sure, we will succeed. Our success will never be dampened by the antics of a myopic thinking bunch. They will fail.


George Kerley

Is only mumu dont know where this zoologist is taking Nigeria to, but the end is coming.

This thread is idiotic!!!

As if Nigerians ever trust to somebody.

And the poll is a joke!

So, over 60% of Nairalanders do not trust Jonathan?

If GEJ can not be trusted, show me the one who we can trust.

jamace:

If GEJ can not be trusted, show me the one who we can trust.

Lanre Banjo can be trusted.

Abu-Maryam:

Is only mumu dont know where this zoologist is taking Nigeria to, but the end is coming.

what an irresponsible statement. whoever fails to see things from your utterly cynical viewpoint is a mumu?

@poster

Within the context of available candidates, i can authoritatively tell you that i trust him with atleast my vote.

babytoun:

what an irresponsible statement. whoever fails to see things from your utterly cynical viewpoint is a mumu?

@poster

Within the context of available candidates, i can authoritatively tell you that i trust him with atleast my vote.

Good.

In what context?I personally do not trust religious leaders not to talk of politicians.

Secondly Jonathan has not made any statement for me to use as a reason for trusting or not trusting him.

IBB made a promise that he would de-centralize power and hand over to an Igbo in 2015 so if I was to vote on trust for that I would vote no.

abagoro:

In what context?I personally do not trust religious leaders not to talk of politicians.

Secondly Jonathan has not made any statement for me to use as a reason for trusting or not trusting him.

IBB made a promise that he would de-centralize power and hand over to an Igbo in 2015 so if I was to vote on trust for that I would vote no.

So because he promised means he is going to fulfill it right?

yes.he is a good man

Hm 63% approval. . .not bad (so far)

the question shld be, CAN WE TRUST OBASANJO?
jonathan is been presented and supported by obasanjo who imposed jonathan alongside yar adua in 2007 on us.

How can we trust a President cum spokesman of Terrorists/Militants.
How can we trust a President who not only negotiates with terrorist, but gi.ves them excuses and even has breaskfast and photo-shots with them.
How can we trust a president who is backing an election rigger and appointing PDP members as RECs.
How can we trust a president who has endorsed illegality in Ogun state,this particular issue is a very serious one but people dont see it as such.

Muza:

How can we trust a President come spokesman of Terrorists/Militants.
How can we trust a President who not only negotiates with terrorist, but gi.ves them excuses and even has breaskfast and photo-shots with them.
How can we trust a president who is backing an election rigger and appointing PDP members as RECs.
How can we trust a president who has endorsed illegality in Ogun state,this particular issue is a very serious one but people dont see it as such.

gbam

must people that support him are blinded by him and obj

Pharoh:

So because he promised means he is going to fulfill it right?

I said I don't trust him(IBB).I cannot vote on Jonathan because I don't have what to vote for.He is yet to make any promise.