₦airaland Forum

NwaliE01:
Please stick to your Quran and stop misquoting the Bible.

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APC and PDP are the same. ANN is the way

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Quran 31:7 and Bible 31:7

During the just concluded PDP presidential election, Bukola Saraki scored 317 votes, behind Aminu Tambuwal and Atiku Abubakar.

Some people have taken this score to the Quran for explanation, believing that there is a message for the Senate President in Quran 31:7.

In Quran 31:7, Allah said " And when our verses are recited to him, he turns away arrogantly as if he had not heard them, as if there was in his ears deafness.

So give him tidings of a painful punishment" the verse concluded.

It is believed that, the painful punishment being refered to in this verse could also be extended to the fatal defeat the Senate President will suffer in 2019 general election.

This is so because, apart from the failure he would suffer in his national politics, a greater failure awaits him at the local level, in which for the first since taking over in 2003, he would be thoroughly beaten in Kwara State and his dynasty will most certainly collapse.

It was believed that the score of Bukola Saraki 317 and the message in Quran 31:7 is indirectly telling us what awaits the arrogant fellow, who walks away when being told that the people cannot be taken for granted like he has continued to do.

Even the bible is not so silent on the matter.

In bible 3:17, it says

"They fought against Midian, as the Lordcommanded Moses, and killed every man".

But that verse didn't stop there, it continued by explaining how it happened.
8. Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.

10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.

11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,

12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

Many believed that apart from the leader, all his lieutenants, aiding the exploitation of the state will also be dislodged completely, as Kwara will gain it's freedom from political servitude and mindless godfatherism.

Although, there is some elements of violence in the biblical narration, but what will take place in Kwara will be peaceful, through democratic means. All Kwarans are ready with their PVC.

May Allah spare us all beyond 2019.

Good Morning

Kwara Must Change

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Why INEC must deliver credible elections in 2019

Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim is the presidential flag bearer of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN).

In this interview with RUTH CHOJI, he speaks on the state of the economy and devolution of power to the stated among other critical issues.

How can Nigeria wriggle out of the economic morass it is anmeshed in?

Even when Nigeria was not in recession, the size of the economy was small. $510bn GDP is a small-size economy for 180 million people and that is why the people are grappling with poverty and squalor. The structure of the economy which makes it an exporter of raw materials has also put it in such a disadvantage within the context of the global economy. In the year when Nigeria was said to be earning so much from oil, the total revenue of the country was still less than $50bn in that year. In that same year in 2013 for instance, the economy of organizations like Disney World that produces entertainment, stripes and promote characters like Mickey Mouse made almost the same revenue, precisely $47m that year. This is just one company in Florida. Even if no cent is stolen from the oil profit in Nigeria, Nigerians will still be poor because the size of the GDP is poor. So, we have a national economic development plan which is aimed at expanding the GDP from $510bn to a target $4trn economy in 10 years time. That is the only size of economy that will make Nigeria a middle income country, which will place the citizens at the same per capital income between $16,000 to $18,000 just like Malaysia, which Nigeria was once at par with at time of independence. I am not saying that our target should be like America whose per capital income is about $50,000 every year but we should be at the same level with people that we have been at par with at independence. We were ahead of Malaysia at independence. Nigeria was not as bad and disorganized as this in the early years of our independence.

Where did Buhari government miss it?

They did so many things wrongly. The first thing they did wrong is that, the president does not understand economics and he interferes so much in the economic activities that he knows nothing about. They came in and had a currency crises due the fall in oil revenue. When that happened, it fell a little bit to around $40 to $45 per barrel from between $70 and $80. But everybody has always known that oil price is a cyclical movement, sometimes it comes down, and sometimes it goes up. In 1999, when the military disengaged from power, oil prices was as low as $20pb. So for the prices to be at $40 to 45pb, it was relatively high compared to the time of Obasanjo. So it was not a reason for panic and shouting. Some of the measures that the Buhari government adopted like introducing capital control was like taking the economy in reverse gear. Everybody held to their hard currency which led to scarcity in the market, then Naira started a free fall. The economy was drained of external liquidity because prior to this government, there were other sources that are funding the foreign exchange market like the FDIs (foreign direct investments), there were remittances from Nigerians abroad which by 2013 had reached a peak of almost $27bn. It was competing with the revenue from oil and all these revenue sources don’t want anything like capital control which the Buhari government introduced and imposed on the economy. Therefore, these sources of revenue dried up. So the economy was denied of external liquidity. Internally the government also moved all the currency in naira into what they call TSA. They were issuing bonds at 10% and they grounded the manufacturing sector, so nobody could access liquid cash. When you dry up external and internal liquidity, it is like you are draining out the blood of a human being and all the water in the body, the person will die naturally. So they killed the economy. It was a result of illiterate economic steps. Anybody who went to school and read ‘O.A. Lawal’ and other basic economics at ‘A’ levels knows that you shouldn’t have done that. You don’t need to be a professor in economics to know that it was the wrong step. The other thing is the fact that, when the Central Bank was trying to apply measures to control the crises, anytime they applied the measures, the president will go on television to say that he didn’t approved of it. Investors don’t like that kind of contradiction from those who are charged with fiscal and monetary policies. As a president, your job ends at appointing the Governor of CBN. If you want policies to go in a particular direction, you should get someone that will follow that direction. But once he is there, he will follow the rules and international practices to manage monetary policies. So you don’t expect the president to be struggling with the CBN governor or the media over monetary policies. That was wrong. We are not in a military government and investors don’t like that kind of thing. When they see such situation, they hold on to their money and refuse to invest it in the economy. So it was not the fall in oil prices that drove the economy into recession, Nigeria has had fallen oil prices many times and it didn’t go into recession. It was just the way they managed the crises that put the economy in recession. In any case, Nigeria was not the only country that had fallen oil prices, it effected Angola, and the Middle East states yet they didn’t go into recession.

Are you in support of calls to restructure Nigeria?

For me, it is not about the word restructure, but do we have to rearrange the way power is distributed between the states and federal government and I will say yes, we need to do that because there is too much concentration of power in the hands of the Federal Government. States should have some rights to make policies that will promote rapid economic development. For example, the way the distribution of power is arranged on the Exclusive List is not encouraging economic development at the lower level. For instance, an issue like transmission of electricity, if states are allowed to build their local grids, I know states like Ogun and Lagos combined together can net over a $100bn in investment in the power sector of those states because in those states, you have consumers who already have a culture of paying their bills, therefore investors are quite sure that when they invest in transmission and distribution in those areas and power gets to their customers, they will get their money back in record time with good profit. But now, they know that when they produce power, distribution is not in their hands. So if states are empowered and allowed to build their power grids, you can get an investment of over a $100bn. That is like 25% of Nigeria present GDP. That is an example of what devolution of power can mean. It also means that, a state like Zamfara will have its own ministry for mineral resources and therefore, you have small size investors that will go there and invest without coming to Abuja to convince somebody in Cadastral House that they want to do an investment. The central government is so loaded with power that makes economic development at the lower level impossible. It also encourages inefficiency and corruption. Any system in the world where you have to go and meet one emperor before decisions will be taken is prone to abused. Nigeria is an example of where there is absolute power at the center and nothing serious at the lower level. That is why you see people having so many meetings in Abuja where the officers will come out with red eyes and they easily collapse, they will tell you they haven’t sleep for days. This is because the system is not organised for efficiency. Donald Trump who runs the biggest economy in the world plays golf, he goes on weekend and still look like a human being because he doesn’t deal with small issues, yet their economy is growing now more than any other time you have ever seen in America. A lot of people are afraid about the word restructuring, but I am not concerned about nomenclature, what is clear to me is that we must decentralized power.

Is the political class determined to stop rigging in 2019?

I have seen lots of determination from what happened in Osun. I saw how people came out against all odds and voted for what they want. It’s about whether the incumbent government is ready to allow free and fair elections or not. That is the question that only Buhari can answer.

Do you think INEC is capable of delivering free, fair and credible elections?

Whether they like it or not, they must deliver clean and credible elections because the consequences of not doing that will be grave for Nigeria. I think the people heading INEC are patriotic Nigerians who are equally concerned as citizens of this country for the unity and stability of the nation.

https://leadership.ng/2018/10/12/why-inec-must-deliver-credible-elections-in-2019/

:P7

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One of the things that make a party strong is people, because they say politics is the game of number. You can have all the methodology but without having the numbers, you can’t win. Hashim came onboard with people from all across the country, strengthening the already existing platform and beyond that, he offers valuable advice because most of us are novices in this game. He comes with wealth of experience and knowledge and in that way, we have been able to benefit from his experience and knowledge but more importantly, he has contributed in his own way, financially to support the party. And that is the least that is expected from all our aspirants either Governorship, State Assembly or Presidential aspirants. None has ever come to the party and we ask them to bring certain amount of money like other parties do, no, we welcome them with open hands, but we expect that they should know that the party need some support in one way or the other and Hashim is one person that understands that. But even at that, as much as I acknowledge that he has supported the party financially; his contribution to the party till date is not even 10% of what I as a person have spent to get the party to where it is today. So that’s why it’s so insulting, so annoying when I hear people say outside that Hashim bought the party, that I have been bought, that is because of ignorance, people just talk based on what they hear or rumor that they heard. Hashim has supported the party very well, but he has not supported the party up to what I have spent in that party. (beating his chest for emphasis), what I have spent is far more than whatever he has contributed in the party. I am not a hungry politician, am not even a politician, am not hungry. So I don’t need anybody’s money or even Hashim’s money, I don’t need it, because if I wanted money, I won’t come into this nation building game that I came, I will just stay in my corner and enjoy what God has blessed me with. Am actually spending my own money because I have come to realize that Nigerians, we can only talk and shout that we want a new Nigeria, but people are not ready to stand up and put their money where their mouth is, only a few of us are left to push, piloting and supporting this thing but me, I know my limit. When we started to set up the party, I knew I was up to that, but the moment ANN became registered as a party, I knew I don’t have the resources, the wherewithal to finance a political party with national outlook, so that was why I was ready to step down and not continue as chairman, at the national convention because I don’t go deceiving myself. I don’t need to be the chairman, I mean here I am today, all the resources I have spent on ANN, am still who I am, I haven’t died, I don’t have hypertension, and am ready and willing to walk way this very minute because it doesn’t matter to me.


There is an information I heard somewhere that somebody talked about the Son of Pastor Adeboye being owner of ANN, Is he connected to ANN in anyway?

Smile…You still want me to talk about the spiritual angle.

Interjection.. No no, the reason is that, when you were mentioning the name of the ten people that founded ANN, his name was not mentioned but there are places I have been to that when you talk about ANN, they say O, that Adeboye’s Party?

ANN is not his party, I can stand here and say it to you that it is not his party, he is not a founding member of ANN. I can say it anywhere.


So how is he connected?

I don’t know. Maybe you should go and ask him.


One of the issues some people have with Hashim is that they said ANN is for technocrats and to them, Hashim is not. So, I don’t know, to you is Hashim a technocrat or does he fit into your definition of technocracy

(Laughing), so the people you are talking to, i don’t know whether they know what technocrat means. If Hashim doesn’t fit into technocrat, who fits into it? That is what they don’t know, but in anyway, am not the one to answer that question, he is in the better position to answer that. Again, that’s what am saying about the ideology, that he is more technocrat than some people who claim that they are technocrats, that’s my own assessment.

Thank you very much for your time.

Some people had accused Hashim of coming to hijack the party. What do you have to say on that?

Because they are acting on ignorance. There is so many false information out there. I think the problem a lot of people have with Hashim is because he was a founding member of PDP and that’s the sword they are dangling on his neck, but in terms of the ideological perception or believe in ANN, some of these people that are claiming to be ANN members, they don’t come anything as close to Hashim in the ideology and believe in the new Nigeria that we are championing in ANN. So, I hope Hashim can handle himself, but I just know that a lot of these complains are based on ignorance. What was our own mission as a political party was to provide a level plan ground for any aspirant on our platform, but we needed to build that platform, we needed everybody to play their role, you cannot want to benefit from that platform without doing anything to strengthen the platform.

In what way has Hashim Strengthen the Party?

Coming to the issue of Fela Durotoye, they have been laying claim to the party now and calming to be the presidential candidate of the party. We also saw some press releases in which they claimed that some Board of Trustee (BOT) members are upholding their primary. Who are these BOT members and are they really BOT members?

Well, we have members of Board of Trustees (BOT), but why I don’t want to join issues is that these are my colleagues and friends, some of them are fellow founders that we started the party together, but why I don’t join issues with the board of trustees members that have been supporting or issuing press releases in support of Fela Durotoye is because, apart from the fact that some of them are supporting Fela, some of them are acting in ignorance, half of the things I know, they don’t know. So, if they know, they won’t be acting that way.


So why don’t you put them in the know?

It’s happening gradually, In fact, as at now, the most among them that I have spoken with know, but they will not come out open because they know what is right and wrong for the party.

You also talked about some spiritual forces in the publication. Can you shed more light on that?

These are same forces am talking about, that are behind all the crisis in the party.

Interjection: Spiritual Forces?

(Laughing) Yes


I would like to know more about that because a lot of people have been asking what you mean by that and they don’t really understand. And even at the convention, you made mention of the same spiritual forces. Please shed more light on that.

(Smiles)….I will shed more light on that at the right time. I am holding my fire for now.

I read the piece you published and a lot of people are asking questions about what led to the current crisis in the party, starting from the August convention. If you recall, it was since that August convention that we have been hearing a whole lot of complaints. Please, can you tell us what led to that controversy?

The crisis or the controversy that we are witnessing in the party right now actually predates the August convention. It actually started last year. The gentleman that I just mentioned his name, Adebola Adekoya sometime last year, without my knowledge have been making some underground moves, which actually came to the open in January this year. And it all boils down to the fact that, he has been laying claims to be the owner and founder of ANN, which was against the tenents and purpose of the party. There was never a time that we said ANN belongs to anybody and if at all, ANN was to belong to anybody, I should be the one to be laying claim to own ANN, but ANN belong to nobody and he has no right to claim ownership of ANN. Along the line, we found out that he was being pushed by some people in the background. They are sponsoring him and making him cause all those troubles. He tried to divide the party, but by the special grace of God, we manage to arrest that process at that time. However, some of these things were still lingering by the time we did our convention last August, but one thing that we didn’t reckon with is that the people, the powerful forces that were behind him were not relenting, because what became very obvious was that his own style or the way he went about executing the mission that he was sent was very crude and brash and maybe they decided to re-strategize and use a more subtle way. But without bragging, I have been responsible for 90% of the funding of ANN. Apart from the financial resources that have been put in place, my time, my everything was involved. I am like a one man battalion running ANN. So, in the lead up to the convention, I was tired, weary and I didn’t think I was ready to continue as chairman. That was why in the build up to the convention, when a certain gentleman called Emmanuel Dania came forward and said he wanted to be chairman, even though I had some misgivings in the back of my head, in terms of, are you sure this guy is not coming from that same source of the wahala that we have been having, I was kind of happy that at least somebody was coming on board to take over from me. That’s why I gladly stepped down. But subsequent events after that have come clear to me that he was actually planted in the party by those same forces with the aim of hijacking the party and that’s what led to the crisis, or controversial issues of whether or not we had our primaries, but by the special grace of God, we have intervened and those things have been arrested and we are moving forward as a party.


Those forces you are talking about, why do you think, right from the onset, they want to hijack or take control of the party?


Because they have their own agenda and even though I have an idea of what the agenda is, I don’t think I am ready to go public with it at this point.

Well, ANN came about with the meeting of young and patriotic Nigerians, professionals, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, etc, who were been concerned about the state of decadence of governance in Nigeria and we felt it was right for us to play our role, hitherto even though most of us have not been involved in politics. We felt that we can’t just sit on the side line and be complaining instead of being part of the process. So, a group of us started coming together. We were initially 10 in number, but with time, we expanded with the original founding members of ANN, we are 10 and we cut across all professions and age. I happen to be one of the oldest among our group at that time. We all played different roles in the formation of the party, but one of the common understanding that we had in the beginning was that, ANN will be a party that will belong to no one, a party that every member, whether you are just joining or you have been a member from the very beginning, you can claim to be a member or an owner of the party provided you are a financial member. That was the underlying principle and guideline that set out ANN. So, ANN belongs to every Nigerian that is a financial member of the party, but one thing we are clear about is that, we would not allow people with special interests to be involved in the party, whether openly or discretely.


This 10 people who founded ANN, can you mention their names?

The 10 founding members of ANN are myself, Dr Jay Osi Samuels, Dr Dale Ogunbayo, Dr Nkata Chukwu, Victor Odoeme, Aesosa Osaghae, Thompson Nsima, Sunny Famojuro, Adebola Adekoya, Amos Musa and Steven Odesomi.

Powerful forces behind crisis in ANN Says Dr Jay Samuel

In this exclusive interview with Mr Rights, National Chairman of Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN), Dr. Jay Osi Samuels talks about the controvercy surrounding ANN presidential primary election. He also explained how the party was formed and the powerful forces trying to hijack the party. Dr. Samuels also clarified the party's relationship with Pastor Adeboye and issues that led to the current controversy.

Please give us a brief introduction about yourself

I am Dr. Jay Osi Samuels; a Medical Doctor by training, with specialization in Public Health, International Health Development and Health System Strengthening. I am from Edo state, born and bred in Ibadan, buttered in Lagos and I was based outside the country, United States presicely before returning to the country in 2016. I studied medicine at the University of Ibadan and I did my post graduate studies at Harvard University.

There has been a lot of controversy regarding the formation of your party, Alliance for New Nigeria (ANN). Please, can you tell us a little bit about how and who are those people who founded the party.

https://mrrightsng..com/2018/10/dr.html?m=1

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JaffyJoe:
Done! Last 3 alphabets of surname is "oye", thanks


Update: received in full. God bless.

Noted

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rentAcock:
How much did olawepo hashim pay you? Since you registered a nairaland account 6 days ago, you have been campaigning for him

Yinmu

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jimjemo:
There are two evil forces available in Nigeria , APC And PDP , we just trying to choose the lesser evil.

We don't have to chose any of the two evils, we can choose the greater good that Hashim represents

lovebless:
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as a matter of fact we have just two main parties, in this country until the likes of Hashim get the ticket on any of these two platform, PDP APC, any vote for them is a waste.

for example, myself I used to vote the like of Rev okotie, Pat utomi people that I see their profiles Worth it. just like Hashim, but i can't risk given buhari undeserved opportunity, so I will rather vote Atiku rather than voting Hashim.

I agree with you to some extent, but Hashim is different from Okotie and Pat. Hashim who is referred to as a political general has in addition to his competence, the political know how to be a force. He can win this election if we all support him. He has political experience, he has grassroots organisation experience, he knows the act of mobilisation and building consensus. Right now, he his well rooted in at least, 19 states,not just at state level or local government level or even ward level, but polling unit level. That was the structure he built.

This is a very strong candidate and if we all support him, we can make the difference

VULCAN:
We have 774 local governments in Nigeria. To win the election means getting an average of 20,000 votes per local government.

Can Hashim even get 20,000 votes in his own local government ONLY when with advanced rigging Fayemi, a former governor and well known in his state got 12,500 votes on average per local government.

When you have a strategy on how Hashim can achieve this in 5 months time let us know?

Till then we are gearing up to vote Gen. Buhari out and put Atiku in.

Your concern is genuine, but it appeared you don't really know who Hashim is and the kind of grassroots base he has in at least, 19 states. I tell you, if the election is tomorrow, Hashim will not only win many states, he will do so very easily. This is not a show boy politician, he his capable and rooted.

Getting 12500 is the easiest thing for him in his areas of strength. He will get much more in some.

He his a grassroots man, not a media lion. But very soon, you will see him in the media like never before.

The grassroots structure is so solid and it's time to fly

Join the team, it's a new Nigeria

adioolayi:
Is there really a Third force People on the streets are not aware

Ofcourse there is. We are also on the street and we are aware. But beyond just being aware, many are ready to support the third force come 2019