₦airaland Forum

EzeUche0:
Into the dragon's den!

But remember, northerners will never kill a very import guest. They prefer to do it in another man's land. Look at what happened to Ironsi.

ON SECURITY SITUATION IN NIGERIA
Mallam Ribadu this is Ikhide, I’m going to take you down to something a little bit less controversial (laughs), let’s talk about the security situation in Nigeria. I was in Nigeria in September and quite frankly I was appalled and frightened by the state of insecurity. The police force was openly with begging bowls demanding money from folks and just basically berating and abusing them if they didn’t comply, we have law enforcement personnel, citizens falling to the bullet of dare devil arm robbers and we have criminals just doing really perversely creative things in the land. The question I have goes to how you will hope to improve the country’s security situation; you saw what happened on October 1st? That’s just horrible. Real quickly, what is your vision about reforming the Nigerian police force? Do you think the current situation,  

Nuhu Ribadu : My brother, let me tell you, this is one area that I can make a difference for our country. Security is central, security is fundamental; it is the foundation of a society. A lot of us Nigerians are out there and because we are so afraid coming back home, internal people are unsafe, daily we are tormented by robbers, kidnapping and so on, our businesses are not safe, our money is not save, everything is totally upside down, but you have in me a professional, you have in me a person who has done a lot in that regard, I know the security setup in and out, I’ve been a law enforcement officer all my life. I will change it immediately, it’s an area that I can beat my chest and tell you that I’ll be able to do something about it immediately.

I believe if given the chance, it’s not about just reorganising the Nigerian police force, it’s about organizing the entire justice sector, it’s about changing things, it’s about bringing new ideas, it’s about bringing the tools, it’s about wiping out corruption within the law enforcement itself, it’s about ensuring that we deliver, and for God’s sake you know you have an example to give.

I have a something to prove, I was given chance to address corruption and I did something about it that everybody sees, I can change the security situation in my country, give me one year, I was even saying some  six months or so, I will stop violent crime, I will control it, I will stop it, give me a chance in Nigeria that I’m going to be the President  you will not see these things, it will be stopped, it’s a promise that I can give and I’ll beat my chest that I will deliver it. I’m going to ensure that Nigerians are going to be safe wherever they are, including of course what is going on.

How can you, for God’s sake, I mean as a country man with so much resources with a lot of law enforcement agencies, Nigerian Police force alone, is over 350,000 people, but you cannot guarantee basic things, for example like you can sleep in your own house safe, you can move on the street and small little people call themselves armed robbers, kidnappers continue to torment people and we cannot do anything about it. I will stop it, I will stop it.

Could you clarify a statement that you recently made; you said something about using 5,000 policemen to solve our security problems, what was that all about?

Nuhu Ribadu : I didn’t say so, this is the tragedy about individuals and the media, I never said a thing like this. What I said was with 5,000 policemen you can stop violent crime. You see, I’m a policeman, I know internal working of the police force. You see, in the police we have what they call anti robbery squad, we have the departments, different, different departments, today that units is not up to two to three thousnd people and that is wrong, we need to get qualified quality people, a number maybe like 5,000 and with 5,000 people well trained on issues to do with violent crime you can stop it, that is the point I was making.

I did not say that Nigeria needs 5,000 policemen, this is the sad story, I tried to even compare it, I said how many thousands of policemen today are guarding VIPs and how many are there in the anti-robbery squad. This is the point I was trying to make.

50,000 of our policemen today go to guard duty, 50,000 minimum go to duty for VIPs, It is a waste. If you have a solid quality trained policemen, 5,000 of them on the issues to do with violent crime like armed robbery, kidnapping, and things like that you would stop those violent crime that is causing so much havoc for our people. That’s the point I was trying to make, I cannot say that 5,000 policemen is enough to do policing in Nigeria, No.

How would you improve the economy?

Nuhu Ribadu :  The good thing about this is I do have experience as part of the economy management team that managed the country, and we improved the economy within a short period of time as an individual I was in the lead of it, I was more or less maybe more than any individual today that was responsible for the reorganization of the banking sector, I started it. Ah the capitalization of the capital market, we did a lot, we worked hard to bring foreign capital into our country, we preserved the money that we were earning, and then we made sure that we have improvement in budgetary performance.

We have fiscal discipline and responsibility. I was part of it, given the chance I will change the way things are today in our own country. I will make sure that we get value for the resources we have, I will make this practice where 70 or 75% of our oil earnings goes to recurrent expenditures, imagine the last budget that we had four point something trillion, 70% of it go to recurrent, which means nothing for growth, nothing for development, nothing to have new schools, new universities, nothing to build hospitals, it is just to run government, it goes to the salaries of people, it goes to services, these are the things that must stop if we are going to have an improvement of the economy.

I intend to make an economy that is productive, not a consumption country. Today, literarily everyday planes are coming, I mean, ships are bringing goods for us to continue to consume, to consume, to consume, we do not produce, it must be reversed.

Today, when I look at Abuja I feel sad because billions and billions of money is sunk into Abuja, but nothing productive, it’s just a very conspicuous consumption that has no progress, nothing new coming into our own economy. Abuja has no too solid industries, but you go into the houses, you go into streets, you go and see the cars that are being driven on the streets, so sad, these are the basic things that are showing that things are not working, we must find a way of reversing it.

The economy has to be the economy that has to be growth economy, an economy that is going to bring jobs to the people. Every single thing that we export today, whether it is crude oil, we are exporting jobs, those are issues that have to be addressed, those are economy fundamentals that must be looked into. I do, as a President , redefine the entire thing in a way that it is an economy that is going to be productive, first and foremost to save the money from being taken away, wasted as it is today.

INTRODUCTION: WHY SHOULD WE VOTE FOR YOU?

I want you to win my vote. I want you to tell me why I should vote for you, why you’re the most qualified candidate to be the President at this time.

Nuhu Ribadu : Well, first and foremost, thank you very much and I’m grateful. Also a big thank you for what you are doing for our country, and indeed our people. I am today asking for Nigerians to consider me, to vote for me TO BE the President of Nigeria.

First and foremost I’m a Nigerian, I love my country and I'm honest about my country, and I am passionate about my country. I’m close to 50 years, almost at the same age with Nigeria. I’ve been in public service for 25 years of my life. Half of my life I’ve given it to Nigeria as a public servant. I don’t know anything other than to work and see what I can do to help my country move forward.

I will talk a little bit about my own qualifications. There are good Nigerians across; there are people who are qualified, there are good people who can do something. I also consider myself as one.

A little bit of my own history. I’m from a political family. My family and father, all have been in public service all of their lives. I got trained as a lawyer and after graduation as a lawyer, after qualifying as a lawyer I decided to join the Nigerian Police Force, the first in my family. I worked there as a prosecutor, I mean as a lawyer I became a prosecutor within the Nigerian Police Force, and for 10 to 15 years I’ve been in the forefront in prosecution in my own country. I in that capacity participated in tribunals, commission of enquiries; I also worked as an Interpol officer within and outside Nigeria.

In 2003 I had a chance to set up a government agency – EFCC (Economic & Financial Crime Commission) it was a piece of paper that was given to me, and I turned it to what it is today. I had a fruitful,  I mean I had a chance to exhibit my own management skills, ability for one to create something and for it to stand and deliver, a government agency with the responsibility that delivers. I had that chance and I’ve shown it to Nigerians that it could be done.

Today EFCC is a household name; I also had the chance as a law enforcement officer and also in the capacity as the chairman of EFCC to address one of the biggest problems confronting our country – corruption. It’s the primary cause and the reason why things do not just work. I had that chance and I fought corruption and I think I have something to show for it. I believe that I did it as part of a team of Nigerians who go up and said yes we could do it, we changed the country a lot, we recovered so much money, we got a couple,  I mean, convictions, and we, as a result of that carved a little bit of a better name for our country.

Also after that, of course in that capacity, I’m part of the government, as a member of the economic team that managed the economy of Nigeria from 2003 to 2007. In that capacity I was part of the team that came out with NEEDS as an economic program, and we attempted to implement it. Indeed we did and we saw a change in the country within a short period of time, for example the reserve of Nigeria that was less than 7 billion at the time when we started the reforms, by the time in 2007 when we had four years of reform it went to over sixty-something billion dollars. We wiped out the national debt of Nigeria, improved generally fiscal responsibility and order, budgetary performance. Things started changing in our own country. I was part of the change, central in everything that took place. I had that chance to exhibit my economic qualification as well.

I’m grateful to God for that. Also after that, I went to NIPSS, the highest institute for management in our own country and I was there for one year. I had a chance after that to be a fellow of Oxford University, I also had a job at the Centre for Global Development, I attended courses, I gave lectures in almost all the IVY league universities in the world, I have a chance to interact with the best in the world, Presidents, parliaments and so on. That, I believe, qualified me. In addition, I believe Nigeria is in a dire need of people who could do something for it. I believe I’m in the position to do so. I believe I have the honesty and the courage for me to make a change or probably doing something about the problems confronting us today. I can unify our country, I am a detribalised Nigerian, I am a modern person, I can do it, and I believe I can do it.

Ibime:
@ Beaf,

There is no other mans cross except you are accusing me of holding brief for IBB. I carry no cross except the cross of my conscience.

I was taught that circumstantial evidence is admissible in court if built on step by step basis.

(a.)The first step to dismissing my post as innuendo is to assume that GEJ never spoke to Uduaghan about the Warri bombings.

If (a.) Is the case, then you will agree that denotes irresponsibilty on the part of a National leader.

(B) Otherwise, the second step then would be to acknowledge that the matter was quietly dropped.

I have only laid out several circumstantial prologues as to why that may be the case. You may disagree whether these provide just cause or not but you cannot disagree with (a) or (b).

Ibime:
Fed Govt has always been responsible for the security of all citizens. Any argument to the contrary has no foundation.

Secondly, it is the height of naivety to assume that discussions on the Warri bombing never took place between GEJ and Uduaghan. The obvious outcome of that discussion was to let the matter die a quiet death so as not to wash Niger Deltas dirty laundry in public, most probably with a view to preventing embarassment of Niger Delta sons at both Federal and State levels. It is common knowledge that the world of these politicians and militants are highly intertwined so any debate on the subject would bring out unwanted info. It is also common knowledge that GEJ and Uduaghan were regular visitors to Camp 5 pre-amnesty and that there is no politician in Bayelsa and Delta without first hand dealings with the central character. This is not conjecture, just circumstantial evidence to consider.

becomrich4:
why dont you open the IP , so that everybody would know, you are the same person login in with 50 different names.

And why are you using seun osewa , you dont want to pay taxes to the USA govt. Let FBI [size=14pt]caugh [/size] you.

mikeansy:
Please that is just not how things work and a news report from next about a Governor demanding assistance from the Federal Government does not suggest that that is some kind of definition of the process and how the process must work. it does not have to always work like that.

The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not require permission from any State Governor to protect Nigerians in any state, While coutesy demands that he does liaise with the Governor, that does not mean he can not act if the Governor chooses not to act.

The President can not be everywhere at everytime but he is not personally carrying out these investigations himself or driving armoured tanks to keep the peace himself. He just has to dish out orders and his orders are carried out, that is what a commander-in-chief does.

if this is too much for him, then may be he should give way let others try.

mikeansy:
Onlytruth

May God bless you. Some folks think the solution to Niger-delta problem is amnesty to Militants. it simply is not.
The current amnesty programme will simply create a loop that simply produces billionaire ex-war lords while new commanders take their place on the fighting field as soon as the previous commanders embrace amnesty.

The long term solution to this crisis is honest leadership geared towards development that all can feel, genuine resource control. That way the people will see and experience real changes and MEND will no longer be popular. If anybody carries arms claiming to fight for Niger-Delta then they will have to explain why they think they can take the laws into their hands and why they are anymore responsible to the people of Niger-Delta than the Government in place. As we the Government of the day do not have the moral right to take this issue head on because of corruption.

Hence a whole industry has been built on the misfortunes of the Nigerian people expecially folks in Niger-Delta. You now have ex-thieves and ex-pick pockets lining their pockets all in the name of fighting for the common man. Asari, Ateke, Fara, Tompolo, Okah etc . all of these boys are now millionaires. How many have put up a simple bore hole for the sake of the people they claim to be fighting for?

And then you have the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who instead of focusing on his job is now trying to help us define who MEND are.

What a circus.

naijaway:
Goodluck Nigeria is not the same as goodluck to Nigeria. The latter comes first and needs to be prayed for more. If it were about name, some peoples name are godspower, etc. A great intellect can bring goodluck to Nigeria. If we are to stick to our cultures, some people campaigning names would be ebele nigeria,[s] ribadu nigeria, babaginda nigeria, buhari nigeria, etc [/s] pratice what you preach not only when it suits you.

jabbok:
It was about the 'fake' MEND correlation afterall. I salute u

mikeansy:
So are you saying that if a Governor does not ask for Federal Support or refuses one, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has no power to intervein in matters that have to do with security of lives and properties in the State?

Please do not re-write the Nigerian constitution

Who gave Jonathan permission to send EFCC to State Governments you people want to have it both ways

becomrich4:
bk.babe97y = Beaf =chosen04  =seun osewa= Obinna alomah

You are the same person. You must be the same person that bomb abuja , and also behind the kidnap. EFCC should arrest you and charge you, you are also the one calling jonathan, obasanjo and others name. You should be in jail by now.

mikeansy:
Talk about devolution of National Tragedy and abdication of responsibility.

How come we have centralised Police, Centralised Army, Centralised security agencies . . . . but when a National tragedy occurs we start devolving responsibility?

You people will say anything to get GEJ off the hook. Please we need a President that takes responsibilities for his failures.

Jonathan's talk about bombs going off in Nigeria without investigation betrays a sense of a man who is over 8months into his job but yet does not understand his job description.

Onlytruth:
To all the English language pedants here, I have a very simple question.

Please, who was the president of Nigeria when all these previous bombings occurred and was not investigated?
Did any other those bombings take place under Yar adua? I really need to know.

Maybe I need to take up Beaf's adult English class.

ITbomb:
Our problem as always been english language. we cant simply communicate with it Even here on nl one statement can be interpreted with different meanings. my own interpretation is that; Mr presido said that other bombings were tagged niger-Delta crisis and since resolution is on the way no need for new investigation. so this abuja bombing should be treated as a stand alone terrorist act as such investigation should be made involving everybody not limiting it to mend.
That is my humble interpretation

I just thought to contribute this important piece to the thread; English Grammar Lessons for Adults

wine4dguy:
gej no try at all amin does he think all nigerians knows about fakebook this portrays that he doesnt have the statues of his people in mind

oyb:
i like the new beaf . he has been cowed somewhat

though he still shows his inability to comprehend - some things cannot change

our very own almustapha , arguing over nigeria's security

snakova:
that your point blank news is full of horse excreta.
@oyb
dont mind him, this faeb/beaf is a real illitrate. He doesnt understand english i.e. figures of speech.

oyb:
inspector beaf strikes again - the master of conjecture , circumstantial evidence and waterflooded cases

the last time i checked transferring money between countries is not evidence of anything, other than business dealings.

also, having connections with suspects dos not indicate anything either

if the sanusi you love to hate thought like you, he would have had the entire senior mgt of oceanic bank arrested - after all, they all must have called/texted Cecilia at some point

namdo:
if there are further evidences pointing to Dokpesi's involvement, i pitty him in this one but if not, great for we are in a 'democracy' and rule of law.

Asked if information obtained from Dokpesi were enough to indict him, the security source said "we have obtained his cell phone records which showed his communication with the detained suspects and he has equally giving us useful information so we can run with that for now while we continue investigations.