₦airaland Forum

The Nation / Frank Ikpefan, Abuja / 1 hours ago

The Northwest Solidarity Forum (NSF) has described the silence of the Peoples Democratic Party governors

controversial letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo

Jonathan

Goodluck

President

worrisome.

The group’s Zonal Leader,

Abubakar Danfulani, said in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja that the governors’ silence was worrisome to the Forum, adding that there was need for them to intervene in a measured manner that will engender reconciliation.

In the statement titled: “Obasanjo’s letter: Where are the PDP governors?” the Forum said it was concerned about the content of the 18-page letter which centred on issues of governance and exposed details of such other issues which should not have been meant for the public space.

The statement reads: “while the Forum is still pondering the motivation behind the declassification of the letter by Chief Obasanjo, it is quite surprising that none of the governors of the

Democratic Party (PDP) have deemed it necessary to intervene in the matter through measured comments that will engender reconciliation.

“The silence in the camp of the PDP

It gives the

is worrisome.

governors

Forum the impression

governors may be sympathetic to the cause of Chief Obasanjo since he was said to have been responsible for the election of no fewer than 18 out of the 23 of them (out of which five have now

Progressives

All

the

to

defected

Congress (APC).

“But is that enough reason to keep mute and stand the risk of being complicit in the grand plan by the former President to expose the underbelly of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to attacks by the opposition elements?

“At this point, the PDP governors who believe in the survival of the Federal Government and the PDP cannot afford to sit on the fence or keep mute.

“They cannot afford to pander to the whims and caprices of an

who has a personal axe to grind with President Jonathan at the detriment of the Federal Government and the ruling PDP.

“They must stand up to

party from

the

and

government

grand conspiratorial alliances that are being maliciously coupled

Obasanjo with a view to undermining the Federal Government under

watch of President Jonathan.”

The Source is leadership Nigeria

The national leadership of

Progressives Party (APC), has handed over the party's structure in Kwara State to the immediate past governor of the state, Dr Bukola Saraki.

This was in tandem with the demand made by the state governor, Alh Abdulfatah Ahmed when APC's leaders came to Ilorin to woo him and members of the new PDP into their party.

Ahmed had told his visitors that Kwara had a winning political machinery in place which in

dictated

had

decades

past four

the

political tune of the state and that Saraki was the state's political leader.

The interim state chairman of APC in the state, Rev. Bunmi Olusona made this known in Ilorin, the state capital yesterday at a news conference.

"Although we are yet to confirm or be fully briefed by the national headquarters of our party that Senator Saraki has been given a lifeline by handing over the APC structure in Kwara to him, but to this effect we have

letter

official

an

written

already

national headquarters of our party detailing our position on the issue,"he stated.

Olusona, however, described

frustrating the confirmation

development by the APC's interim national publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

have told

to

Mohammed

quoted



He

party's fact finding delegation that "already the party structure which we laboured

to build had been ceded to Saraki and his group and that there was nothing anybody could do except what Saraki wishes for our people."

He added that any aggrieved member had a choice of either leaving the party or accept the arrangement.

Olusona said that it was in an effort to ensure the advancement of the party that an 8-man Interim Executive Committee was appointed last weekend to oversee its affairs.

Influential Nigerian Islamic scholar, Sheik Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, on Saturday, warned President Goodluck Jonathan to resign from office or face humiliation in the 2015 election.

In a statement released by the islamic cleric on saturday, Sheik Gumisaid, “For Nigerians to be safe, [President Goodluck Jonathan] has three options. He either resigns or becomes impeached as the dirtbecomes overwhelming, or he is humiliated in a general election.

The cleric also stated" This time around, [the possibility of] rigging a national election with such wanton scandals is almost nil.”

The cleric added: “What really matters most in life is today not yesterday or tomorrow. For today, Obasanjo has done his best to admonish and warn the nation. I salute his courage and reversal! How many of our leaders can say what he said?”

The outspoken religious preacher also talked about his close shave with death.

“On Tuesday, August 14, 2012, at about 3.30 p.m. two men were attempting to plant an IED (improvised explosive device) as I was on my way to the mosque when it accidentally went off, killing both.

The two bodies were whisked away by the army preventing even the BBC and VOA Hausa reporters from filming the bodies. To date the bodies are hidden and the culprits are not identified publicly",he said.

Obasanjo and Jonathan: Another Love Letter… on december 15, 2013 at 12:59 am in politics

ByMustapha Abdullahi

Baba Obasanjo, sir, I read your love letter to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with delight; at times with sobriety; and at other times with disgust. I am sure when you read to the end of my love letter to you, you will understand why.

Your Excellency, in your usual characteristic manner, you brought heaven into the “fray”of your letter to the President. That is good, because in the matter between you and the President, the other arbiters like Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma are inconsequential.

What exactly, sir, did your readingof the Bible teach you? Or, if I may ask, did your training at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) not tell you that you do not speak ill of your leaders the way you did in the open market?

As an elder, I leave you to determine whether the way you de-robed a king in public was wise. And in de-robing the king, you brought in heaven, which has taught that we be taciturn and refrain from speaking ill of leaders.

There is no doubt that you got some points right. Very right! And it could only come from you, but I shudder when a man of your calibre would repeat an allegation, especially that of snipers and 1,000 Nigerians on political watch list. Are you not in a position to confirm this before throwing that information out there?

My former President, I like that aspect where you said no one is born to rule. But what ranklesis where you stated: “For me, I believe that politically, it was in the best interest of Nigeria that you, a Nigerian from minority group in the South could rise to the highest pinnacle of political leadership. If Obasanjo could get there, Yar’Adua could get there and Jonathan could get there, any Nigerian can. It is now not a matter of the turn of any section. It has been proved that no group-ethnic, linguistic, religious or geographical location-has monopoly of materialsfor leadership of our country. And no group solely by itself can crown anyof itsmembers the Nigeria CEO. It isgood for Nigeria.”

Sir, if you had the opportunity for eightyearsand Yar’Adua could not go eight years on account of his untimely demise, which many of us in the North believe you foreknew and mischievously exploited, why do you think that a minority from the South (unlike the majority that had ruled for upward of eight or more years) should get one term? So itis only minorities from the South that should get“minority years?”

Somewhere else, you claimed that Jonathan told you he wasgoing to serve only one term. We are happy that you did not say there is a pact, justlike we the northerners did notsay there was one between you and us when we, or our elders in uniform, agreed with you over “pepper soup in an officers’ mess”of aprison to do one term.

Thank you, sir, for reminding Jonathan that he will answer to God. So also will manyothers in positions of authority, past and present.

Ido not wish to comment on some issues because I agree with you, but what I cannot understand is why you made this an open letter when almost all through the letter you talked about instances, and there are many, where you met the President and discussed with him.

Are you angry he did not take advice coming from a larger than life statesman like you? Are you playing the script you agreed to with some of your G-5 boys and some of those generals you copied this letter to (please note that almost all the men they visited were the onesyou also copied)? Or, is it because Al-Mustapha, loose cannon in all rights, is on the loose with all the files he allegedly stole from the Villa? Is it pure, plain busybody attitude that you are telling all of uswhat you already discussed behind closed-doors? Do you remember what happened to aman called Audu Ogbeh because he dared to do whatyou are doing? Going back to the Bible that you are very conversant with, why do unto Jonathan what you did not want done unto you? And I am sadly forced to remember one of the generals you copied this letter. Whenever he was/is asked to comment on some state issues, he would decline because, according to him, he has ways of reaching the number one. Why have you refused to toe this path of honour and yet you talk about honour? Anyway, thank you for making some of these issues public, because we now know how some of you fiddle with our destiny. And like you said earlier, there is a day of reckoning with Him to whom we must all give account.

It is interesting what you wrote regarding the manner in which the President is seeking to go for another term, even after he assured you that he was not interested. I can onlysay that Jonathan is learning from amaster; a son learning from his father. Sir, I think your boy learnt a few tricks from you.

Passionately, I noted that you wrote: “When you won the election, one of the issues you very early pursued was that of one term of six years. That convinced me that you meant what you told me before my speech at the campaign. Mr President, whatever may be your intention or plan, I cannot comment much on the constitutional aspect of your second term or what some people call third term. That is for both legal and judicial attention. But if constitutionally you are on a strong wicket if you so decide, it will be fatally morallyflawed.

“As a leader, two things you must cherish and hold dear among others are trust and honour both of which are important ingredients of character. I will want to see anyone in the Office of the Presidency of Nigeriaas a man or woman who can be trusted, a person of honour in his words and character. I will respect you for upholding these attributes and for dignifying that office.

Chinua Achebe said, “One of the truesttests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised. Itis alesson for all leaders includingyou and me. However, Mr President, let me hope thatasyou claimed that you have not told anybody that you are contestingand that whatwe see and hear is a rumbling of overzealous aides, you will remain a leader that can be believed and trusted without unduly passing the buck or engagingin game of denials.” Baba, I agree totally with you that a man who is quick to give his word must abide by it. The other alternative is to keep quiet and be very slow to speak; that way, you will not be accused of lacking integrity. That is whyI doff myhat to you for not openly conceding to the Third Term agenda when, in actual fact, there were surreptitious movesto the contrary. That way, also, your integrity did not suffer any bashing when the Senate rode roughshod on the inclusion of that item in the new constitution we were planning. You see why I say Jonathan in some ways lookslike his political father who now appears disgruntled thatthe rug he has under his feet in the PDP is being pulled off. It is amazing, sir, thatyou are todaydeclassifying information on how Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was bought over to deliver political dividendsyears after it happened, even when it happened when you held the fort as the PDP BoT chair. For what reason(s), are you now divulging this information? Is it because it isthe righttime or you are pained by arecent occurrence? May be you should also pen another letter to General Muhammadu Buhari to tell him what awaits him if the right price is paid to the Asiwaju, again. Remember those five governors who left your party? They deserve an open letter to tell them the stuff the leader of the Asiwaju Progressives Congress (APC) is made of.

If President Jonathan indeed sold out Edo, Anambra, and Ondo Statesto the opposition as you claimed, then it was very rotten of him. I beg to side with you here and tell those who say Jonathan is more politically suave than you to shut up. How could the President be accused of selling out these three states like you were said to have sold out Borno, Yobe, and Kebbi states when you were in the saddle as president?

Iam sure that there are certain thingshe did not learn from you asa political child. You aptly put it when you said: ”I have heard it said particularly within the presidency circle that the disaffected Governors and members of PDP are my children. I begin to wonder if, from top to bottom, any PDP member in elective office todayis not directly or indirectlya beneficiary and, so to say, my political child. Anyone who may claim otherwise will be like ariver that has forgotten its source. But like a good father, all I seek is peaceful and amicable solution that will re-unite the family for victory and progress of the family and the nation and nothing else.”

When you were writing about that overnight leader of the South-west PDP, I was moved, because if we all keep mute when such acharacter isthrown up, then we and all our children are in trouble. That is what we all thought, too, when a governor was kidnapped in this country and support came from Abuja for such an act. In fact, afriend of mine in the security services noted that it was the beginning of the kind of impunity that we all now complain about.

But you summed it up when you said, “God is never asupporter of evil and will surelysave PDP and Nigeria from the hands of destroyers. If everything fails and the party cannot be retrieved from the hands of criminals and commercial jobbers and discredited touts, men and women of honour, principles, morality and integrity must step aside to rethink.”

In conclusion, I believe that all that you have written is food for thought for all of us that when we take certain actions and encourage certain tendencies that are unholy, we may reap the benefits of such ventures. The ball, like you said, sir, is in the court of Jonathan. He can become the Nigerian hero, if he so wishes; but he should note that no matter what an elder says, you may not like his tone or method, but you do well to take the kernelsof his speech and deal as appropriate.

We have heard that he has told his aides not to react, so we are waiting for his personal response, hoping that as a true Ijaw man, as opposed to those ones who think every other person is an enemy, he will be decorous in putting it all in the public domain the way the elder statesman has done. This is because if he does not put it in the public domain and chooses the private method, we are still going to continue to get letters like this where people divulge private discussions in a way that makes them look good, and the other party less than good. Mr. President, over to you!

* Abdullahi, a graduate of literature, can be reached via Mustaphabdullahi66@yahoo.com

He should quickly respond to the letter to save himself and the Nation at large.why must he be silent.

u first said Gej create employment nd u later begin to beg him to create employment.which one u dey?confuse nd corrupt kogi youth

over my dead body

Who among them shall come victorious,ASUU or FG.drop ur suggestion.

He is experienced and courageous

And so what?up Ngige

Am waitin for u to come nd shut myshop whether it is stella oduah dat build d shop for me u people wil tel me.

Statue should have slap all of dem.bunch of corrupt leaders

Politics is a game of number.

U ar dreamin if u think gej wil return power to d east by 2019 if at he win by 2015.gej wil return power to d north if he is able to survive 2015.be wise

Obiano is not qualified havin comited an electoral fraud.think twice apga

u did not mention other position dat is being held by christian.stop playing religious politics

U have siad it all.