₦airaland Forum

PointB: He stood up for what he believed in. Now that doesn't make him infallible.

When you go about insulting people and calling them names; you are not solving any problem, you are fomenting crisis, and should accept responsibility for your action. That is what is happening to WS now. Let him deal with it by measuring his utterances like a statesman.

se.xkilza.phull:
Well, don't rope all those people into your disaster-in-waiting! Thinking like this was responsible for the destruction of Nigeria's first republic. You conveniently mentioned other tribes who are content people and you put ibo in the middle when we all know that is the only tribe that should actually be on your death list. Worry not, you will soon get what you deserve again!

debetmx: I find it ironic that the people he stood up for, are people trying to disparage his person and calling him unprintable names.

LFJ: If WS calling madam Jesus her real name is the reason why you are crying here I pity you and your group. You need to get ready for more challenges. By the time they take madam Jesus to beg the man of honour, e-rats will not be there.

the worst is that the Yoruba folks around that should help are even beating the drum higher.

Ajibel: Only the dead dont change their minds. So if BRF has decided to withdraw and Jang doesnt want that, then i suspect Jang is trying to ridicule BRF which i believe he wouldnt succeed in

Dora Akunyili: ‘God is in this with me’
By SHOLA OSHUNKEYE


On February 3, this year, at the peak of the controversy over the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s actual state of health, a needless controversy that almost drove the nation to the brink, Akunyili presented a memo to the Federal Executive Council, FEC, asking the council to square up to the reality of the ailing President’s dilemma and transmit a letter to the National Assembly for a smooth transition.



Although her memo shocked, awed and tore the federal cabinet apart, it provided the impetus for the flat-footed National Assembly to recognize Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, then Vice President, to assume duties as Acting President in Yar’Adua’s stead. The ‘shock-and-awe’ memo created a few enemies for Akunyili but further endeared her to majority of Nigerians who saw her as an embodiment of courage.

Akunyili Opens Up On Memo To Fec by mekuszyx: 2:47am On Feb 08, 2010

If I die I die: Dora Akunyili, the woman that sacked the president, opens up on Yar’Adua memo
By Pade Olapuju padepoju@yahoo.com

Sunday, February 7, 2010

When Information and Communications Minister, Prof Dora Akunyili, presented her memorandum asking her colleagues to wake up to their responsibility to the Nigerian nation, tempers flared and voices were raised. Some of the ministers rose from their seats so their voices would carry in the chambers of the Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF). Some rained insults on her. A few asked her if she had weighed the risks of her presenting such a position paper.

Akunyili


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There were also threats of sack from those who felt Akunyili should not continue to stay in council after submitting such a strong-worded memo.

Sunday Sun findings showed that the memorandum took the ministers by surprise and if the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, had not had the presence of mind to ask for the copies already in the hands of the members, it would have been difficult to calm frayed nerves at the meeting.


There were 42 copies of the document with all of the members but when the ministers were told to return them, the SGF discovered that three copies were missing. It took another round of search and persuasion before the missing copies were retrieved.

According to one of the ministers sympathetic to Akunyili’s stand, “I salute Dora’s courage because it takes courage to look your boss in the eye and ask him to step down for his deputy. Many of us are also not comfortable with the way things have gone in the country these past two months, which is why we are supporting her.”


A source at the meeting also told Sunday Sun that the memo took the ministers by surprise.

“We all thought it was just another presentation from her ministry until she started reading. You should have seen the faces of some of the ministers. They shouted, hurled insults at her and some pointedly told her her days were numbered in the council. They asked her if she had weighed the risks of her action. It was really a hot session.


“The meeting ended formally around noon but when I sent one of my aides to the Villa around 4 o’clock later that day, he told me some of the rattled members were still cooped up in a meeting, trying to figure out their next line of action,” the source revealed.

After the meeting ended, ministers were seen standing in groups discussing the memo, most wearing frowns on their faces.

But another minister angrily told this reporter when asked if he thought Akunyili was sincere or grandstanding: “What does it matter now if she is grandstanding? She has boldly stood her ground. Let others also boldly step out and grandstand. All I know is that four Katsina boys cannot continue to hold this nation to ransom.”


Why I did not tell Jonathan - Akunyili

Getting Prof Akunyili to speak on why she seized the EXCOF by the jugular last Wednesday was like trying to squeeze water out of a stone. But after a lot of persuasion, the protagonist agreed to speak with Sunday Sun for a few minutes, with a promise to speak more elaborately on all the issues later.


What prompted the bombshell you dropped on the Executive Council of the Federation on Wednesday?

Let’s just say I got tired of the whole thing. It just got too much for my mind. I could no longer live with myself. I was not sleeping well. I was depressed. My husband thought it was malaria but I knew it was not. I went for tests and nothing was found. I simply knew I could not continue to live a lie. On Tuesday night, I could not sleep at all and I spent half the night praying. That was when I decided to do the memo. I wrote and typed it myself. I only told my Assistants and Special Adviser on Wednesday.


What was their reaction?

Naturally, they thought it was too loaded, too much. They wanted me to tone it down. They were worried about something happening to me but I was resolute. I told them ‘if I die, I die.’ I was not afraid. I know that God who protected me through all my battles in NAFDAC is still alive.


Did you tell the Vice President?

No, I did not tell the VP. I felt he would discourage me if I told him what I wanted to do. I did not tell anybody. It was just a burden I wanted to do something about. It was my burden, my decision. While I was praying on Tuesday night, I remembered one sermon given by one bishop. He said, all the time people were screaming ‘crucify him, crucify him’ at Jesus Christ, nobody spoke up for Jesus. If one person had had the courage to say ‘no, Jesus does not deserve to die,’ perhaps he would not have been crucified. Maybe if someone had mustered the courage to speak up for Jesus, the course of history would have changed. But no, everybody joined the multitude to do evil. Remembering that sermon was instructive. I had to stand even if I was standing alone.


Did you at any point in time try to reason with your colleagues in the cabinet, convince them to join your stand?

Oh yes, I did. About four weeks ago, I tried to talk to some ministers but I did not get any encouragement.


What was the reaction of the ministers when you presented that memo?

I’m sure you can imagine it. Everybody voiced his opinion. Tempers rose but I was not bothered. I am happy with myself. I feel good. I feel like a heavy load has been lifted off my chest. That night I slept well.


Now that you have submitted the memo at the council secretariat, what should we expect next?

I am hopeful that the letter transferring power to Dr Goodluck Jonathan would finally arrive so that the tension in the country can be doused. I also expect that when President Yar’Adua returns, he will take over. The VP cannot stop him from returning to his office. It is not possible. Let me also state clearly that nobody wants Mr President dead. No child of God will wish a fellow human being dead. I don’t want my boss to die. Only evil people want him to die. He will return. So all this tension in the country is unnecessary. We all know what is right and that is what we should do.

When will Amaechi decamp from the pdp?
When will Tambuwal join other 'progressive' in APC?
When will Tanbuwal declear his ambition for the presidency?
Why couldnt FALANA fix our airport when he was avaition minister?
When will Buhari condenm boko haram?
When will soyinka win another laurel?
When will lagos have a modern state water project?
When will slums in lagos have basic amenities?
When will elrufai write another book?
When will tout-in-chief of river state stop telling lies?
When will lie mohammed have a change of name(sorry attitude of lieing)?
When will fashola and the gang complete lekki-epe road - its almost 8yrs now?
When will sahara reporters reports be accurate and balanced?
When will logosians get the light trains promised them 8yrs ago?
When will the house of rep cut their allowance? ( they are the highest paid reps in the world)
when will Buhari accept defeat?
When will Dino Melaye ever make sense?
When will the house of rep surmon me?

it is evil. Fine!Why do they want murderer governors in their midst? Why do they want us to be there? Number two, this so called APC is again what you call political fraud [/b]because you may change the nomenclature - change it ten times over, did the people come from heaven? They are the same old people. You see, to me,[b]I laugh at it more because the entire contraption is a creation of pain and anger. It is not about Nigeria. They are people who failed to make it in their political parties who think by coming together they can make it.

The APC publicity secretary recently said some governors would soon defect to the party by mid-July, is that true?
I’m highly amused. Do you know what they call self-wish? These are local propaganda which is terribly elementary. When you look at the party called PDP, I’ve been saying it since 1999- 14 years in 2013- it is PDP only that has remained. AD had gone from AD into AC, into ACN, into something else and now going to APC. APP had gone into ANPP and then, later on they are going to something. They are going to APC. Now, CPC is a one-man party. It is not so lost out on us of some parties that see Buhari as their industry. So they hang unto him and because he is very naïve, he thinks they are serious.

With the likes of Clark and Asari Dokubo, who have taken up the Jonathan fight, what are your fears for Nigeria?
It is just like Bola Ige of blessed memory and others in Afenifere and NADECO. When we talk about June 12, they were not anywhere near it on June 11. That is my worry- that people don't reckon with history- people who take advantage of a national effort and kind of appropriate it. Where were they on June 11?

Do you think Buhari is naïve?
Absolutely! He is politically naïve. Yes, he is politically naïve. Absolutely!