The former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika, (rtd.), has debunked his purported arrest by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

THISDAY authoritatively confirmed that Ihejirika was not apprehended nor invited by the DSS as was reported in some online medium.

A very reliable source close to the former army chief denied the report saying that Ihejirika was in the country and at home “relaxing”.

An online medium had claimed that the former COAS was arrested late last night at hi residence in Maitama, Abuja, in connection with the arms purchase scandal for which several former military and political chiefs are currently undergoing investigation or trial, among them the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd).

This was however debunked as a complete hoax by a confidant of the former army chief who expressed shock at the report.

“I am really amazed at the length people are determined to go to tarnish the image of the former army chief. As I am speaking to you, the chief who just returned from his village is in his house.

“What I don’t understand is how and why they orchestrated these fables and for what purpose. I think the intention of these people is to draw the attention of the federal government to the fact that Ihejirika has not been arrested,” the source said.

According to the source, “What people don’t know is that this government would not have wasted time in arresting Ihejirika from the word go if he was guilty all this while.”

Another source who also spoke to THISDAY on the development debunked the allegations peddled against Ihejirika.
The very senior military officer, noted that this is the umpteenth time, propaganda and falsehood are being peddled against Ihejirika without any iota of truth.

The officer noted that if left for the way some media and forces feeding them the false information, the former COAS would have been dead by now.

“Remember that this is not the first of such numerous false arrests, if not EFCC today, it’s arms procurement tomorrow, the army the next and now DSS. You should also remember the frivolous allegation by the Australian Steve Davies,” the source noted.

According to the source, what people against Ihejirika could not come to bear “is how come some of the other service chiefs has been indicted and yet he is free. It baffles them to say the least and they are not relenting.

Ekiseme:
Ha ezuzurukwana nakpuo be ha, until mgbo atuo mmadu n'isi

adirokwa asi ndo

they want change....make dem queue in a single file come collect 10 10 naira change

Splashme:
[b]Describes APC as a fragile anti-Jonathan setup


BROOKINGS, the world’s most influential think-tank based in the United States, have projected President Goodluck Jonathan’s victory over the opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, in the February presidential election, which it suggests would be keenly contested.

The analysis, context and rationale of the think-tank’s projections were contained in the Brookings publication entitled: Foresight Africa – Top Priorities for the continent (January 2015).

“Though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favour President Jonathan.”

According to Brookings, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a fragile anti-Jonathan establishment with a sole purpose to return power to the north.

“The party is, however, a fragile one that seems united only in its quest to wrest the presidency from Jonathan or to have power “returned” to the north.”

[b]“[b][b]The APC gets much of its strength from tapping into anti-Jonathan sentiments in the Muslim north and grievances among the Yoruba who feel that the Jonathan administration has ignored them in key political appointments.”[/b]
[/b][/b]
The report also indicated that “the APC’s strategy is hinged on a combination of popular votes from the North-West, North-East and “the battleground South-West” but also hinted at the possibility of Bola Ahmed Tinubu not delivering the region contrary to speculations.

“What remains to be seen, however, is whether Bola Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State who played a pivotal role in the formation of the APC and is considered to be the party’s strongest mobiliser in the South-West, will be very enthusiastic in delivering the battleground South-West to the APC during the elections.”

“Tinubu indicated his interest in being the party’s vice presidential candidate but being a Muslim like Buhari, the party’s strategists felt that a Muslim-Muslim ticket might offend Christians and cement the PDP’s labelling of the APC as an Islamic party.”

[/size]On President Jonathan’s performance: “despite Boko Haram, the country is thriving: The economy continues to grow and with the re-basing of its GDP, became the largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Jonathan’s supporters also point to his success in containing the Ebola virus, which earned him commendations from countries and institutions around the world.”

The Brookings report also identified factors such as incumbency and numerical control of states where PDP has 21 states and APC only 14 as giving PDP an edge.

“The greatest strength of the ruling PDP is its “power of incumbency,” and all the institutional support that goes with it. Not only does it have federal resources to use as patronage, it also controls key institutions.”

The report advised that all efforts should be deployed to ensure a free, fair and transparent elections and to avoid a meltdown as post-election violence seems very likely.

“Post-election violence is therefore likely in the north if the APC loses while renewed militancy in the restive Niger Delta is likely if Jonathan does,” the report noted.

http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/news-headlines/item/27083-apc-is-a-fragile-anti-jonathan-setup-brookings

Adminisher:

The problem with Nairalamd is there are too many half educated and unexposed young people, semi illiterates actually who have lost the power to research anything or think due to an inadequate educational system. A lot of them start ignorance exposing threads and spew trash unnecessarily.
First of all, Ojukwu was not of concern to the Buhari Idiagbon regime at all. The biggest enemy they had was Umaru Dikko, the NPN strong man who had stolen money and was threatening to start a gov't in exile, there was later an even bigger enemy within the administration itself which we now know was Babangida.. Ojukwu himself had been out of the country in exile for years and was only invited back by the NPN gov't to boost their chances in the East against Zik. At the time Ojukwu came back to Nigeria, he was practically friends with everybody except funny enough, the Lagos State government that was sitting on his dad's numerous properties in Lagos. Ojukwu was a spectacle to behold and he attended Miss Nigeria contest as guest, fell in love with the winner, CC Onoh's daughter who became his wife. That was the Ojukwu we knew, a glamorous celebrity.
When Buhari came in all politicians had messed up big big time and were very unpopular. The jailing of all politicians included Ekwueme Ojukwu, Pa Ajasin, Akinloye, Akinjide and Okadigno who used to insult Zik in public. All politicians were in prison except Zik, Awe and Shangri who was put on house arrest.
The Buhari regime came in as heroes to rescue the country and most newspaper articles were favourable. Umaru Dikko who was later put in a crate was like the Shekau now, a public enemy No.1
Please cure your delusion. The Buhari regime was not about Ojukwu and Ojukwu was not the main issue of the day.
It was just an Hausa-Fulani civilian government being overthrown by Hausa-Fulani military officers. Pure and simple.

shachris03:


If you think that GEJ would hand over to an igbo person after him, then you really are on a long thing bro.

Adminisher:


By all means possible make sure APGA wins in Abia. I am an APC supporter but that is what my gut feeling tells me. My second advice, stay away from Jonathan. It is better yo abstain from presidential voting than vote for someone like Jonathan. He has had too much greatness thrust upon him and is merely struggling.
He will block the chance of an Ibo presidency for more than two decades besides if he wins which is not possible so it might be double loss for the east as the APC begins to see the region as not their catchment area for votes

shachris03:


How can you be so sure when you have not tried buhari? What is your basis for comparison? Do you think you are being fair?

Eziachi:
How does Jonathan presidency translate into an Igbo interest?
What happened to our Gen Ihejirika and Barth Nnaji with GEJ?

shachris03:


your ethnic sentiments is not allowing you to reason straight. GEJ has failed us, you admit, yet we should still vote him? Got me thinking, do we as igbos enjoy pain? I want to ask you something, which era did the igbos receive all the massive amenities that they now enjoy? Most of the roads in igbo land, during which era were they built? I don't know where you get your facts bro, but GEJ is not representing any ibo interest. He is just there for himself and his Ijaw nation. A sensible igbo would endorse competence before tribal affiliations. Its high time we drop the civil war stigma.

iiichidodo:
My guy you can vote out PDP for Governorship and if you are truly nwafor then you vote in PDP for President..simple..the little patronage you get from this republic will be swept away if an Islamic hardliner takes over power.

shachris03:
I am born and brought up in aba. (nwa aba) and like we say, he who wears the shoe knows where it pains.

Since the era of PDP government in aba, a city that used to be the pride of the east has turned to a laughing stock for the whole federation. Aba is now synonymous with bad road. "are your roads as bad as aba's? " This pains me greatly because I know that aba used to have the best roads in the east as a whole. Azikiwe straight to faulks road then to aba owerri roads where model roads that had no patches. Built in the 80s yet lasted, even without maintenance into the 2000s.

I remember when Ariaria market was an international market. people used to come from Lagos, Kaduna, calabar , Ghana, Togo, Cameroon... all west Africa to buy goods from aba. Most companies had their major distributors in aba then.

Then the companies too. in the whole of the east, in terms of industries, after Enugu, you count aba. we had PZ, May baker, Nigerian breweries, Unilever (dad used to work there), aba textile company, vita foam, and many others too numerous to mention.
if you are really a nwa aba you would know that these things I'm saying is true.

Then the housing schemes were working. As long as you are a government worker, you are entitled to own a house if you want. You are given a free land to develop in the world bank estate. You can even borrow a loan to build your house from the mortgage bank. That is how my dad was able to build our home. I mean a poor man is entitled to a house.

We used to have free tap water in those days.

Now what have we seen since after PDP?

Bad roads everywhere you turn. its a fact that no single road in aba is up to standard. Na only wait and take road you see here.

The one that annoys me most is power. you see I live in the middle of two power plants. Geometrics and Alaoji. And I could tell you that since last month, ive not seen any power in my house.

Why the heck is geometries not in operation yet? A 450 million dollars project. Is wickedness Jonathan's nature or is he just a pure badluck?

I'm not an APC supporter but i m sick and tired of PDP and what they are doing to my beautiful city.

ashmarkakanmu:


I wonder when Nigerians will wake up from their slumbers and embrace something better than you already have... It seems you are just bent on having more bloodshed with this inactive clueless President we are parading. A man makes impunity the order of the day as I"ve never seen all my life that he is only successful building more enemies for himself and painfully our country too. And I believe everyone here must have some degree of education and should be able to think uprightly.

I am sure if you have lost your loved ones in any of this explosions, your view surely would have changed. why not take a trip to the North-west,not even the North-east. or better still, visit the displaced persons now in Abuja and get first hand information of what they suffer everyday. Human lifes are taken daily, not fowl's.

May God open your eyes to see beyond your nose, because if you don't share in dis pple's pain now, certainly the next generation will, and your relatives might fall victims too.

And pls be polite and stop insulting other pple's intellect.

hushmail:
op only 4 ur mind
gej 4 life

Dannyset:
Can corruption stop corruption?

Onlytruth: Any keen political observer would agree that the body languages of known coup plotters in Nigeria in the past few weeks indicate that something is going on behind closed doors. I would like to believe that those known coup plotters are only delusional to think that they will EVER again be allowed to dictate the fate of millions of Africans in their own land.
So, they can be carelessly led to believe that they can come back to relevance; it changes nothing on the ground! They will soon learn that Nigeria is not the land, and that the peoples that make up Nigeria will NEVER AGAIN allow them to dictate their futures.
I have always maintained that Nigeria is NOT the LAND, but the PEOPLE living there. Already, a sizable chunk of Nigerians are tired of the Nigerian experiment and want to end it. All they need is a very good reason to end it... like a coup.

koonbey: Inasmuch as the APC is not the Opposition we might have wanted,its also known that the Incumbent is far from being a Democrat's Fantasy,so...we manage,until we can push all of them out and put People there who know what they're about. The Fact does not change that if the PDP retains Power in 2015,it will only entrench the Corruption and Impunity which Pervade our Nation and make it much more difficult to dislodge them at any Time in the Future,whereas voting APC in will keep both the incumbent and the Opposition on their Toes once they realize that the Power,truly is with the People.

koonbey: Hmmn,I hope your School has a Money Back Guarantee...that's assuming you've ever seen the four Walls of one tho

koonbey:
Jeez,this your (Thought) Process is so reetarded,SMH. So you know so much about Government and yet you don't know that one Party retaining Control of Power in a Democracy is very unhealthy? Or that the Opposition which you deride so has been a Feature of the most Successful Democracies?

pullyacap:

It is a pity some of us are probably just experiencing democracy for the 1st time hence always feel and think every1 of us must share the same views and political ideology.

To these latter day democracy experiencers,whoever does not share in their one-way traffic view of life is a terrorist,dissenter and hater of the government! How purile and infantile a thought process

Infact dissent and opposition with an alternative view in every proposition of the ruling party is the real meaning of DEMOCRACY!

You said you don't want military dictatorship because they didn't allow anyone including the media to operate freely yet again it is people like you who also don't want anyone to say otherwise in a democracy....

How confused you lot are!!

Onlytruth: This woman's ONLY crime is the internationalization of Enugu airport -nothing more!
She is the only minister of aviation courageous enough to give Igboland an international access, and haters have been having SLEEPLESS NIGHTS over this. She must have received threats to her life because of this, hence the purchase of bullet proof cars for herself and her foreign visitors.
Who can blame her for this, except those we are after her life for trying to equalize the country?

I hereby advise every person who would benefit from Enugu International Airport to stand FIRM and so NO to blood hounds who are baying for her blood!
This is not time for foolish patriotism: but who is patriotic in Nigeria except those fleecing and milking her dry anyway, those who feel that they captured the country and must dictate who gets what?

Nothing must happen to Stella Oduah. She is a GREAT minister and public servant. She has achieved more than those before her.
Jonathan must NOT listen to those who do not plan to support him in 2015 anyway. Removing Stella Odua can cost him Igbo support.

Nuff said!