maclatunji: Hahahahahahaha! How can we trust a leader who cannot get his facts correctly in an address to the country on our national day? This is a national embarrassment of monumental proportions. Is it not the same President who "doesn't give a damn " about what people are saying? He has been copying and pasting from Newspapers- what a shame from our PhD. holding President!

Mind you, he said the same thing at the Independence Church Service at the National Christian Centre on September 30 - would Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and other Christians come out to condemn Mr. President for practically lying in church!? Your guess is almost as good as mine.

gregg2: Demdem & Dayokanu are one and the same person. Stop logging in and logging out - switching user Id's.

‘Apologize for Misleading Nigerians on Anti-Corruption Fight,’ ACN Tells President Jonathan
Posted: October 3, 2012 - 04:11

Lai Mohammed
By SaharaReporters, New York
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to apologize unreservedly to Nigerians for misleading them on the blunder concerning the alleged positive rating given to the country by the global anti-corruption body, Transparency International.

In a statement issued in Lagos today by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, ACN expressed shock and sadness that the President of Africa's most populous nation and the continent's second largest economy can make such a frivolous claim on an issue of global concern as corruption.

''Transparency International has denied claims by President Jonathan, in his 52nd independence anniversary speech on Monday, that the global body has rated Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,'' the statement said, noting that the ACN’s demand for an apology came after it saw a copy of Transparency International's response to inquiries on the President's claim.

“Transparency International does not have a recent rating or report that places Nigeria as the second most improved country in the fight against corruption,” the body said in response to enquiry by Premium Times.

''In the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures perceived levels of public sector corruption, Nigeria scored 2.4 on a scale where 0 means highly corrupt and 10 means very clean. It was ranked 143 out of 183 countries.”

ACN said that in addition to apologizing to all Nigerians for the embarrassment, the President must immediately kick-start an investigation into the source of a claim that has exposed his Administration and the entire country to global ridicule.

Furthermore, the President, who was apparently trying to showcase the 'achievements' of his administration in the fight against corruption, has now raised doubts about the authenticity of other claims he made in the anniversary speech, the party noted.

It said: ''Among other claims, the President had said that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.1 per cent on average; that his Administration's Investment Climate Reform Programme has helped to attract over N6.8 trillion local and foreign direct investment commitments, and that Nigeria is ranked first in the top 5 host economies for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inAfrica, accounting for over 20 per cent of total FDI flows into the continent.”

It stated that in view of the fact that the President's claim of positive rating for Nigeria in the anti-corruption fight has been debunked, it is logical for Nigerians to doubt the truth in the other claims, and indeed in the entire speech.

“This is very sad for the Jonathan Administration, because if the bond of trust between the government and its citizens is broken, the government's credibility suffers and, without credibility, any government is not worth its name,'' ACN said.

The party said if the President fails to act quickly to unearth the source of such a spurious claim and ensure it does not recur, he risks a bigger embarrassment from officials who may want to tweak facts and figures to justify their positions.

''In the end, the responsibility for any inaccuracy in any speech by the President rests squarely on his shoulders,'' it said.

It would be recalled that during a worship service at the National Christian Centre in Abuja on Sunday, President Jonathan attracted widespread mockery and laughter when he said that he is almost second to none in combatting corruption.

“Our commitment to the fight against corruption is second to that of America’s commitment,” he told the shocked congregation. “We are very commitment to it and everybody knows.”

utumunta: This man has demystified d office of d president; acting like d ordinary man on d street who is overwhelmed by life's problems but trudging on. This is why he connects with d ordinary ppl beta dan any nigerian politician dat pretends he knows it all & see d rest of d populace like dim wits.
Come 2015, ds trait is going to work in his favour. D ppl want 'one of their own' as president.
#(this is just an objective analysis of d situation & not holding forte for GEJ)#

steffans: So why does he Pay Okpue and Abati GEJ is actuall a President Trainee as CAN claims..cuz dis guy is really Clueless......SMH 4 9ja

caseless: He said 'leadrshp is collective effort' but he stil chose d people he tinks ar best 4 d job. Dis ppl hav alwayz strained dis man 2 d state of obloquy because of his cluelessness. Sack abati and d rest of media team 4 dis presidential speech-mishap. Smh!

taharqa:

The President only clarified that the part about the TI report was misleading, not other parts of that speech. If you have any issues with it, point it out so we could debate it.
http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/52nd-independence-speech

This move by the Presidency is simply the best move: admit your mistake, express your regrets and move on. They rightly judged that it doesn't show weakness but Strength to admit( I certainly would NEVER have supported them if they did otherwise cos cant stand Distortions ). It takes courage to discountenance the pettiness of some opposition critics who would surely pounce on this admission of indiscretion to further their own political aims, and do the RIGHT thing; Leadership requires such courage at times.

I expressed my thoughts on this yesterday:

jadakiss213: Quiet,Mr Man...where you there?

HQ: Geez, Let me get something straight.

The Presidency now get their information from the National Dalies?

Shocking.

gregg2: Demdem & Dayokanu are one and the same person. Stop logging in and logging out - switching user Id's.

Chubhie: "That anything published and goes unchallenged is the truth" GEJ has good intentions but the sychos and money grabbers keeps misinforming this peace loving and gentleman..... When oga presido nor be small pikin....How dem end up still feeding him lies and he keeps buying baffles me o. I dont envy the position that GEJ box himself into..... Fire all them sychos and make example outta of em.

superior1: Abeg, what is the meaning of Notorious Fact [/b][/size]

deletrue: this president is the best so far in this country in that he is the one and only president that has admitted a mistake. my highest or greatest praise goes to him, No one has ever done this in this country no matter how gravious an issue is. I also no that since the president has a greater number of enemies, it is ththis kind of things they have been praying for. Instead of the revers.

Elueme: [b]Talk is cheap, keep talking till, your saliva runs dry. First, this topic is mischievous, it is a very big lie the way it is presented sensationally and very misleading. Secondly, the presidency never said that Nigeria is 2nd to America in the ratings of countries with improved corruption indices however, what the president said and which was based on a pure fact was that Nigeria is ranked second to the US amonged countries who have reinvigorated efforts at reducing the corruption menace( it's left for TI to tell if that effort is improving in the fight or not). He ( GEJ) went further to state ( during the interdenominational thanksgiving service) that the country awaits a new rating from transparency international to see if this will reflect on the country's position. These words are sharp contrast to what political jobbers in the opposition are preaching.. These jobbers thinking that most Nigerians won't think had twisted the president's statement to mean that GEJ said that Nigeria is 2nd to the U S in the fight against corruption .. These are different statement aparts and it will take good understanding of English language to decipher.[/b]

kokoA: If this is true then I wonder why Mr. President have not sent his speech writers parking.. This is really embarassing for the presidency. Now GEJ should know that his enemies isn't the opposition nor his social media critics, his enemies are those dinning with him there in aso villa. No Nigerian wants our country to fail, so it beats my imagination when people criticise the government are calle "haters" of the president. Smh! Maybe the speech was written by an CAN member to embarass the president sha.

This post i love