₦airaland Forum

Part of forgiving the past is tolerance, and that is why we are facing these challenges today.

I’d rather die than exist in the present day Nigeria without trying to make a change. It was the same thing the older generations did, and look at where that got us today.

Our society teaches us to show respect to our elders. As a matter of fact, the holy books preach the same values as regards our relationships with older people. But I have lived long enough to know that respect is earned. Respect is a condition of being honored (esteemed, respected or well regarded) and in most cases, people prove themselves in order to earn it.

Our parents and the older generations keep complaining about our generation, about how our moral values have been so corrupted and how we have successfully achieved a big feat; creating a living hell on earth. But who is to blame?

When our past leaders fought hard and worked for our independence, they had a vision to make this beloved country a glory in the African continent. I was watching a morning TV show on AIT sometime ago and I heard a man say that Awolowo was the reason why he could speak good English because (Awolowo) provided free education for every child in the western region at that time. Decades after, many children still can’t afford to go to school. The whole system has failed. Infrastructure is dead. Public schools are bedrocks of criminality. Nothing works perfectly in this nation. How can we explain that the 7th largest oil producer in the world cannot refine its own fuel within its own borders?

These news and stories of suicidal corruption keep coming up every day on Nairaland and I see posts and comments. What I see shows that we are probably even worse than our irresponsible older generations. Yes, that is how I see them. They are cowards. They are selfish and useless to themselves. During the Arab Spring, lives were lost. As I type this, people are dying in Syria, fighting for their freedom. What are we doing here in Nigeria? Posting news on the internet and expecting God to come down and fight for us? No. That will never happen.

We have been blinded by our elders in this nation. We are the change we seek. Our irresponsible elders have made us this way, and we have conformed to their cowardly attitude. All they know how to do is bully us to show respect to them, when they cannot respect themselves and come out to fight for our sake and the future generation of this country. Providing clothes and shelter isn’t enough for us. We need to know that we have the potential to be better than any country in this world. I am not exaggerating.

I am not a coward and I don’t believe that any child raised in this blessed country is pusillanimous. We need to understand that these irresponsible generations will keep cheating us until we rise up against them and do what is right. Enough of the big comments and grammar we post on the internet. We need to rise up and fight these devilish people before we don’t have any country to call our own.
Finally, I want us to see one another as one, irrespective of our tribe and ethnicity. The reason why America is so great today, (regardless of their multi-racial community) is because they all had a common goal; the future success of their country, and provision of a better world for the coming generations. Our elders have pitched us against other tribes. This was part of their political campaigns back then, but now things have changed. Most especially in Lagos where I grew up, I didn't know the difference between a Yoruba boy and an ibo boy. As a matter of fact, everyone is my brother and sister, and I don’t generalize the fault of one person towards his/her tribe. It is totally wrong because the truth is that nobody is perfect. But we should know that moral values can change all of that. Let us all learn to treat one another with respect, and the basis for judging ones character should be on how his behavior has affected the society as a whole…not just a tribe.

I dream of a future Nigeria that other nations would regret not being a part of. I hope it happens in our generation.

And where is this same Abati today

I wonder why many of us here fail to use our God given wisdom and hope for a miracle to happen in the Nigerian Polical scene. We have the power to change all this rubbish by speaking the truth and throwing the lies our elders av told us for their own selfish interests. We are all one!!! The tribes we come from should be considered as secondary when we are talking about Nigeria as a whole. GEJ does not deserve to be president and the whole world knows dat!

By SaharaReporters, New York
No fewer than four persons were feared killed and over 40 houses razed down in the early hours of Tuesday in a bloody crisis that erupted between the Ijaws and the Itsekiris in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta state.
The crisis, our correspondent reliably gathered, is connected with who occupies the position of the council chairman, which has always been enjoyed by the Itsekiris.  The Egbema Ijaws are now insisting that it is their turn to produce the next chairman.
Impecable sources in the LGA disclosed that several Itsekiri villages, including Gbokoda, Udo, Ajamita, Obaghoro and Ayerode-Zion on the Benin river axis, were razed down.
Although the number of persons killed could not be ascertained as of the time of this story, some sources said at least four persons were known to have died in the violence.  One other person was seriously injured and was said to be receiving treatment at a hospital in Sapele, while Itsekiris and Ijaws from neighbouring communities were said to have fled their communities for fear of being attacked.
Yesterday’s invasion of the Itsekiri communities is reminiscent of the fratricidal war between Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities between 1997 and 2001.  
Speaking with SaharaReporters, an Itsekiri who pleaded anonymity said, “The Ijaw had demanded that the chairmanship position of the council be allocated to them if peace must reign in the area. We have six electoral wards in the council and before now we have always produced the chairman while the Ijaw that have four electoral wards take the position of the vice-chairman.
“But sometime ago the Ijaw protested against the whole arrangement that this was no longer acceptable to them and unless they occupy the chairmanship position heads will roll. This same Ijaw also protested against the population figure produced by the National Population Commission (NPC) as well as wards delineation done by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC that gave us the Itsekiri the upper hand over them. The Ijaws till date have regarded that exercise as fraudulent.”
As of the time of this report, the Commanding Officer of the Joint Task Force codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, had relocated to the troubled areas to maintain law and order and prevent any escalation of the crisis to other parts of the state.
A source at the police headquarters in Asaba told our correspondent that the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Adaba, invited some Ijaw and Itsekiri leaders to his office yesterday to deliberate on how to nip the crisis in the bud and find a lasting solution to it.
It was gathered that following a briefing on the incident, Governor Uduaghan directed security agents to fish out those behind the violence, warning that he would not fold his arms and allow some disgruntled elements to truncate his peace and security agenda.
Condemning the action, Ijaw elder statesman and Egbema leader, Chief Emma Ebimami, stated that following the leadership tussle in Itsekiri communities, some aggrieved Itsekiri youths could have invited the Ijaw youths to come to their assistance.  He called for a thoroughly investigation of the matter, stressing that those found wanting should be made to face the music.

Rossikk: I keep reading that "they are doing drainage work" here and there. Excuse me, but is this open gutters we are talking about, or properly built, covered drainage?

well covered with concrete slabs...

But these trains are just so uglyyy!

The drainages at Orimolade has been completed and Coker road is still in progress. The one from college road to Aguda(excellence hotel) is ongoing. I know 2 other streets around that axis that are being rehabilitated. I'm not a politician. I'm just a random citizen, but i see development and it is exciting.

Arab Contractors is working on college road Ifako Ijaiye LGA...they are working right now as i type.

A Sports complex is also being constructed near the Ifako Ijaiye general hospital.

I see these works everyday. Fashola is working. The south west is improving.

By SaharaReporters, New York
Local government chairmen and members of the Kaduna State House of Assembly are helping themselves to funds of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) in the state, SaharaReporters has learned.  
 
A lawyer handling the briefs of some concerned citizens in the State said that some citizens have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) about the monumental fraud and stealing.  The lawyer, who is also an indigene of the state, said the SURE-P funds are being shared on the basis of political patronage, contrary to the aims of the programme as claimed by President Goodluck Jonathan.
On the methodologies being employed by members of the House of Assembly with Local council chairmen, he gave the example of one of his clients who told him that the Majority Leader, Hon. Umar David Gurara, who represents Kachia constituency, was the house's deal cutter.
“Hon. David was said to be one of the few to have pocketed his share before others because his Local Government Chairman, his clone, is too spineless to resist his master,” he said.  “Others gave certain percentages but couldn't dole out 10% like Hon. Gurara's chairman. The entire formula of how the committee was agreed to be formed was disregarded by most LGA Chairmen, just to have a smooth way of stealing people's money.”
The lawyer added that the office of the State Governor has been inundated with complaints and petitions from people on how the SURE-P funds are being handled. “Reports reaching us show that the Governor is reluctant to act because of the involvement of the Kaduna State House of Assembly and some of his closest aides in the scam. Above all, he is afraid to act because of his involvement in unconstitutional spending of monies in the Joint Account.  It is now time for anti graft agencies to swoop in to save the people of Kaduna State from this fraud that is denying them dividend of democracy.”
Taking a look at the overall picture in the state, he noted, “The present local government Chief Executives in Kaduna State were elected in December 2012 for a two years mandate. They took oath of office immediately. With the same alacrity they instituted their councils and assigned portfolios in January 2013.  Local Governments are the third layer of authority that is the closest to the people. It's often argued, that it is the most important government to a poor man. After the 70s unification decree, Local Governments across the country acquired similar scope in terms of functions. Six months down the line, mandate givers in Kaduna State are yet to begin to reap dividends of democracy in terms of embarking on developmental projects in areas the constitution and various house of assembly bills allowed. For a while now, the Council bosses have come under sharp criticism from the people, and rights and good governance advocates. They have been whispering and also complaining of the State Government's control over their funds coming from the Federation under what is called Joint Accounts. And delay of passing of their budget by Kaduna State House of Assembly.”
 
He further pointed out that since the election of members of the House last year, it was only last week that the House passed its budget, and that it has yet to be signed by the Governor.  “However, despite their complaints, the chairmen were given new 407 Peugeot Cars and Hilux pick up. Two weeks ago ALGON Chairman Hon. Yusuf Akuso Danjuma and some of his colleagues and some Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Local Government went on a 10 day jamboree in the United States with taxpayers monies under a fake conference.”

That place is lyk 3streets away from my house. We call it zanga. Criminals hideout and cool off in dose zones..nice one Lagos govt.

Ow does it concern u? Mind ur fuckin business.

Onyocha: [b]

may God Almighty deliver Nigeria from the clutches of Israel and the US during this Jonathan (niger delta) administration.

last it was Iranian made weapons bought by gambia that Israel plotted to get ceased in Lagos,and the Iranians were arrested.

now Lebanese businessmen who are Shia Muslims and have nothing to do with salafist (shia hating) boko haram (a Wahhabi alqaeda affiliate) are now arrested and framed for "ties" with boko haram.as for "ties" with Hezbollah,what does "ties" mean? Hezbollah isn't depending on the money of businessmen to organize itself.hezbollah gets Iranian funds in hundreds of millions of dollars,and Syrian government support.

moreover,this would be a case of hypocrisy to the maximum.just last month when the Lebanese president,Michel Suleiman,visited Nigeria,the Lebanese agriculture minister Hussein Haj Hassan (a member of Hezbollah),accompanied him.he was one of the accompany members of the president's entourage.why didn't Nigeria arrest him? since when is Hezbollah a "terrorist organization" in the eyes of Nigeria? even the European union has so far refrained from designating Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization",and European officials often hold meetings with Hezbollah officials.german intelligence officials conduct prisoner exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel.hezbollah has MPs in the Lebanese parliament and ministers in the government,and represents the Shia Muslim community,which is the largest single religious community in Lebanon making over 40% of the total population.


as usual in Israel designed plots,the stories are either not consistent or contradictory.there is an attempt to link Shia Lebanese to Salafist/Wahhabi Boko haram.(note the west is supporting Wahhabi/salafist terrorists in Syria).and there is an attempt to link them for "ties" with Hezbollah "plotting" against Israeli and western targets.which claim are we going to believe? and the most sad,annoying and ignorant part is when Nigerian officials dramatize when the word "Hezbollah" is mentioned,without regarding the above stated facts.

Israel and the US should stop taking Nigeria as a field to execute their plots against their own enemies because our president is not a hausa man;a hausa man as president is known for being tough against western dictates .in Nigeria we live peacefully and embrace all foreigners and treat all strangers kindly.

[/b]

Whether Shi'a or Sunni(Salafist,Wahhabi), they all practice one religion. ISLAM.

Onyocha: [b]

may God Almighty deliver Nigeria from the clutches of Israel and the US during this Jonathan (niger delta) administration.

last it was Iranian made weapons bought by gambia that Israel plotted to get ceased in Lagos,and the Iranians were arrested.

now Lebanese businessmen who are Shia Muslims and have nothing to do with salafist (shia hating) boko haram (a Wahhabi alqaeda affiliate) are now arrested and framed for "ties" with boko haram.as for "ties" with Hezbollah,what does "ties" mean? Hezbollah isn't depending on the money of businessmen to organize itself.hezbollah gets Iranian funds in hundreds of millions of dollars,and Syrian government support.

moreover,this would be a case of hypocrisy to the maximum.just last month when the Lebanese president,Michel Suleiman,visited Nigeria,the Lebanese agriculture minister Hussein Haj Hassan (a member of Hezbollah),accompanied him.he was one of the accompany members of the president's entourage.why didn't Nigeria arrest him? since when is Hezbollah a "terrorist organization" in the eyes of Nigeria? even the European union has so far refrained from designating Hezbollah as a "terrorist organization",and European officials often hold meetings with Hezbollah officials.german intelligence officials conduct prisoner exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel.hezbollah has MPs in the Lebanese parliament and ministers in the government,and represents the Shia Muslim community,which is the largest single religious community in Lebanon making over 40% of the total population.


as usual in Israel designed plots,the stories are either not consistent or contradictory.there is an attempt to link Shia Lebanese to Salafist/Wahhabi Boko haram.(note the west is supporting Wahhabi/salafist terrorists in Syria).and there is an attempt to link them for "ties" with Hezbollah "plotting" against Israeli and western targets.which claim are we going to believe? and the most sad,annoying and ignorant part is when Nigerian officials dramatize when the word "Hezbollah" is mentioned,without regarding the above stated facts.

Israel and the US should stop taking Nigeria as a field to execute their plots against their own enemies because our president is not a hausa man;a hausa man as president is known for being tough against western dictates .in Nigeria we live peacefully and embrace all foreigners and treat all strangers kindly.

[/b]

Whether Shi'a or Sunni(Salafist,Wahhabi), they all practice one religion. ISLAM.

Now I am VERY SURE that my president is either delusional or very selfish. What about the standard of living of the masses?

I live on college road, around ogba. We have light for abt 5hrs during d day, n all nyt. Started on monday I fink

By SaharaReporters, New York
Directors at Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs are refusing to retire after attaining the mandatory retirement age of 60 years, sources have said.
Several Ministry workers confirmed that the directors, with the approval of the Minister, Ambassador Gbenga Ashiru, have been campaigning against retirement, claiming that if about 100 of them retired by January 2014, the Ministry will collapse.
The sources, speaking anonymously, told our reporter that the decision of the aging directors to remain in office is hurting staff morale as junior directors are made to feel they are incompetent and stand no chance of moving up the ladder.
The reality of the situation hit them on Sunday when Olutola John Onijala, State Chief of Protocol (SCOP) to President Goodluck Jonathan, turned 60 but showed up in office to continue work today.
As a civil servant, he should have been retired from the service according to the statute, but for reasons beyond anybody's comprehension, President Jonathan is alleged to have been misled into allowing Mr. Onijala to stay on.   
The Ministry, from which SCOPs are picked, was supposed to have nominated three directors to the President since February 2013 from which to choose a suitable replacement, but because of the active connivance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ashiru and Jonathan's Chief of Staff, Mike Oghiadomhe, this was not done.
Instead, Minster of foreign affairs waited until late April to direct his Permanent Secretary to send a letter to the President’s Chief of Staff, recommending that Ambassador Onijala remain in office indefinitely.  The COS, in-turn, reportedly “coloured” the recommendation before forwarding it to the President for his endorsement.
A source told Saharareporters that as highly-regarded as Ambassador Onijala may be, it is against the law for any retired officer to occupy a position reserved for serving officers, especially as there are over 100 capable hands readily available to choose from.  
Political observers cite this indiscretion as one of the manipulative excesses of President Jonathan.  They recall cite the removal of Governor Sylva from office, and his ongoing prosecution.  Furthermore, he retained Ms. Oruma Oteh in office, contrary to the directives of the National Assembly; refused to restore Justice Ayo Salami to his rightful position even against court orders, and granted pardon to convicted "thief" DSP Alameiseigha even though there exists an international arrest warrant.
SaharaReporters reached out to Ambassador Onijala today to ask why he returned to office after turning 60 years.  He requested that we call back in one hour, but did not answer subsequent calls or return text messages sent to his phone.

By SaharaReporters, New York
 The health of Nigeria's First Lady Patience Faka Jonathan has deteriorated again. She has become so critical that she has been dropped from President Jonathan’s upcoming official visit to Namibia and South Africa.
Sources in Aso Rock said Mr. Jonathan will fly out for the four-day junket to the two Southern African countries on May 5th and return to Abuja on the 10th.
 
Sources informed of the medical situation stated that Mrs. Jonathan remained unwell after returning from Germany about three weeks ago.  She had stated that her trip, which started on March 17 in Paris took her through Italy to Germany where she claimed she tendered to her foster mother, "Mama Sisi."
 
Since returning from that trip, the First Lady has remained under medical observation at the presidential villa.
 Her latest trip to Germany is the third medical trip since her prolonged trip last year where she spent several months in a Wiesbaden hospital.  
 
Although she denied those details upon her return, in a thanksgiving service in February 2013, she confessed her travails, including nine surgeries within one month, and declaring she had died but was saved by God.
The presidency has refused to disclose the exact nature of her ailment, but medical sources say she is suffering from a deadly ailment that may be manageable.

Italian oil firm Eni says it has shut down its activities in the swamp area oil fields in Bayelsa, from which it produced about 40,000 barrels of crude oil daily, over a growing wave of illegal oil bunkering.

It regretted that it lost about 7,000 barrels of its crude production daily to oil thieves in Bayelsa, a development the firm described as unsustainable, necessitating the shutdown.

Eni, which operates in Nigeria as Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) said it authorized the suspension of operations on March 22 and declared force majeure on its oil output from the facility.

Force majeure is a legal notice that absolves an oil firm of liability for failure to meet supply obligations to crude buyers due to circumstances beyond the firm’s control.

On March 3, Ikarama Community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa reported a fresh oil spill at the Taylor creek oil well which is being operated by NAOC. That followed an earlier oil spill which began on February 20 at NAOC’s pipeline network in neighboring Kalaba Community in Yenagoa.

A statement from the oil firm today attributed the frequent spills to oil theft by vandals, adding that it had decided to shut down to prevent further damage to the environment.

“Eni confirms that during the night between 21 and 22 March, the company has declared force majeure and ordered the closure of its onshore activities in the Swamp Area, located in the Bayelsa State in Nigeria.”

It said the decision was made due to the intensified bunkering, consisting in the sabotage of pipelines and the theft of crude oil, which has recently reached unsustainable levels regarding both personal safety and damage to the environment.

“Sustainability is for Eni a priority in Nigeria, as in all the countries in which it operates,” it stated. “Eni has always promoted and carried out in the country several social and environmental initiatives in co-operation with national and local authorities.”

It will be recalled Shell Petroleum Development Company, Nigeria’s largest oil producer had similarly threatened to shut its Nembe Trunk line because of rising incidents of oil theft through its pipeline network in Bayelsa.

Mr Mutiu Sumonu, the Managing Director of SPDC, on March 4th, urged the Joint Task Force to step up its activities to reduce oil theft, which currently stands at about 60,000.

SAHARA REPORTERS

By Daily Nation
The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya's fourth president.

Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said Mr Kenyatta and William Ruto were validly elected as President and Deputy President respectively.

The judgement paves way for the swearing in ceremony of Mr Kenyatta set for April 9 at the Kasarani Gymnasium in Nairobi.

The Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia said the government will gazette Tuesday, April 9 as a public holiday when Mr Kenyatta will be sworn in as president.

"The rehearsals will begin on Monday. We have adopted the programme we had earlier on,” said Mr Kimemia Saturday.

Martha Karua, who was a presidential candidate in the March 4 General Election, lauded the Supreme Court's decision.

"It is great that the first and most contested decision of the Supreme Court was unanimous. It is a good start for the court," she said.

By SaharaReporters, New York
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has stated that the controversial presidential pardon recently granted to convicted former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State, was likely to open a dangerous floodgate for criminal impunity.

In a brief interview with a Lagos correspondent of Saharareporters earlier today, Mr. Falana stated that President Goodluck Jonathan’s extension of clemency to Mr. Alamieyeseigha would jeopardize the prosecution of other corrupt former governors whose cases are currently in court.

Mr. Falana also recalled a court’s recent decision to grant a perpetual injunction against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. He suggested that the injunction, which came in the wake of the widely criticized pardon of the former Bayelsa governor, did not augur well for the anti-corruption crusade.

Mr. Falana disclosed that progressive lawyers in the country were planning a new convention, adding that the group would help to combat injustices in the country and arrest the march to anarchy.

Excerpts:

Question: Since the president can free criminals on his sheer caprices, regardless of how many years and how much it cost the EFCC to secure the conviction of high ranking criminals, do you think the EFCC still has purpose to its existence?

Falana: In order to ensure that the power is not exercised capriciously or arbitrarily, the President is required to consult the Council of State, a body constituted by former Presidents (but not ex-military dictators), current and past chief justices and Senate President, House Speaker, governors and the attorney-general of the federation. The council is expected to take the interests of the country into consideration in advising the President in exercising the prerogative of mercy.

The statement credited to the Adamawa state governor, Alhaji Murtala Nyako, that the pardon for those who were jailed for corruption was not tabled before the Council has not been denied. I guess that the other people who were at the meeting have resolved to keep quiet so as not to embarrass the President. But the last has not heard on the matter as one of the NGOs has demanded for the minutes of the meeting of the Council of State under the FOI Act. Sentiments apart, the power to grant pardon or clemency or even amnesty can be exercised by the President or governor depending on the circumstances of each case. In 1976, President Gerald Ford lost the election to Mr. Jimmy Carter because of the pardon granted his predecessor, Mr. Richard Nixon. Mr. Bill Clinton got away with the controversial pardon granted by him because he did it on his last day in office. So, if the power is exercised recklessly, the President can be called to order.

Frankly speaking, the pardon of Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha has to be viewed in the context of the general atmosphere of impunity. This has aided other ex-governors to stall their cases. One of them got a perpetual injunction against the EFCC. Another one had a 171-count charge dismissed by a court in Nigeria only for the same fellow to plead guilty to similar charges in the UK where he was convicted and jailed. Instead of dissipating energies on the pardon we need to strengthen the EFCC and ICPC [Independent Corrupt Practices Commission] and build a new legal system which will institutionalize the rule of law. Right now, we have the rule of man. Hence, only the poor are jailed while the rich and powerful citizens are above the law. In such a situation the rich who may be jailed for one reason or another are pardoned by the President.

Question: Given the president’s ability to jeopardize the work of anti-graft agencies merely by one decision, would you propose a limitation to the power of the president on intervening in criminal matters and/or granting pardon to criminals?

Falana: The EFCC and judges handling corruption cases deserve our sympathy because impunity has become the order of the day. A few progressive lawyers and I are meeting soon to arrest the manipulation of the legal system by a visionless ruling class aided by some senior lawyers. We intend to mobilize our colleagues in the legal profession to appreciate the enormity of the crisis of injustice in the land. It is going to be a tough struggle but we are determined to succeed. Otherwise, we are going to have anarchy and chaos in the country.

By SaharaReporters, New York
SaharaReporters has learned that Nigeria's First Lady, Patience Jonathan, is sick again and is shuttling between Spain and Germany in search of treatment. A source also told SaharaReporters that the First Lady was also contemplating receiving medical treatment from a US hospital.

Mrs. Jonathan’s renewed health woes have accounted for her absence from several official events in Abuja and her home state of Bayelsa State over the last few days. A few days ago, Mrs. Jonathan made a quiet exit from Abuja en route to France where she was to allegedly receive some unspecified award. However, a source within the Presidency told SaharaReporters that Mrs. Jonathan’s trip to France was a ploy to enable her to shop for new doctors in Europe for her deteriorating health.

A source disclosed that she left France for Spain. The same source disclosed that the First Lady was considering being moved to a US hospital today. However, a source in the US who is close to the First Family told SaharaReporters that he was “not heard from the first lady regarding her trip to the US.”

Ayo Osinlu, a spokesman of the First Lady, told SaharaReporters that Mrs. Jonathan was in Europe in order to care for an ailing elderly woman who helped raise the First Lady. He failed to disclose the specific European nation where Mrs. Jonathan’s foster mother is hospitalized.

During Mrs. Jonathan’s first extended medical sojourn in Germany, Mr. Osinlu had misled reporters by declaring that the First Lady was merely vacationing abroad after what he described as a series of grueling official functions, including the hosting of a conference of African First Ladies.

Mrs. Jonathan was noticeably absent from a Friday church service organized at the presidential villa yesterday as part of Easter celebrations. She was also missing at another key event where her Africa First Ladies Peace Mission donated relief material to the war-torn country of Mali. An aide of the First Lady reported that a minister, Ms. Jumoke Akinjide, represented Mrs. Jonathan at the event where relief material was donated to Mali.

During the church service at the Presidential Villa, President Jonathan was flanked by his elderly mother, Eunice Jonathan, as well as Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and Ndudi Elumelu, a member of the House of Representatives indicted for corruption in power sector projects. Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who has been romantically linked to Mr. Jonathan, wore a large diamond ring at the church service.

One of the last times Mrs. Jonathan was seen in public was on her return from an official visit to Cote d’Ivoire on March 2, 2013. She later made a brief visit to Lagos where she attended a dinner organized for Nollywood stars. Afterwards, she was sighted in Paris where she received the “Global Women Leader for Peace Award 2013.” Since receiving the award on March 17, the First Lady has not been seen in any official photos released from the Presidency.

Her trip to Paris coincided with her husband’s official visit to Equatorial Guinea. Mr. Jonathan was accompanied on that official visit by two female ministers, Stella Oduah of Aviation and Ms. Diezani of Petroleum.

A source in Abuja said Mrs. Jonathan had not been seen in public for close to a week and half, including during a breakfast meeting with the members of the House of Representatives led by Leo Ogor on March 21, 2013.

A few weeks ago, Mrs. Jonathan was at the center of an obscene event where she loquaciously celebrated her ostensible “resurrection from the dead” after dying for more than a week. Some 5,000 guests attended the event at the villa which was televised live, with Pastor Oritsejafor presiding. At the event, Mrs. Jonathan claimed to have undergone several surgeries during her medical sojourn in Germany. The extended medical visit, which was first reported by Saharareporters, cost Nigeria close to 5 million Euros in medical expenses. Mrs. Jonathan’s aides had initially passed off her medical trip as a vacation. On her return from Germany, Mrs. Jonathan had also denied ever going for medical treatment.

Saharareporters contacted several presidential aides seeking information about Mrs. Jonathan’s whereabouts, but they failed to return our reporters’ phone calls and text messages.

http://mobile.saharareporters.com/news-page/patience-jonathan-sick-again-europe-treatment

She's really a nice person. Stop judging that family. Leave them alone people. Nobody holy pass.

This is definitely doctored by people who are definitely not APC representatives.

The results look fake.

Did anybody notice it too?

why not try Male applicants?

Try Grace Covenant Church, Opopogbooro road, just beside Mojere Market. Most of the University staff attend the church. I have attended their services and annual conventions several times and it is always a wonderful experience.

An official of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of telling bald lies and engaging in fabrication by claiming that a political party called African People’s Congress had applied to the commission for registration.
 
In a statement issued in Abuja today, Lai Mohammed, the ACN’s national publicity secretary, said INEC’s claim, which was made by the commission’s spokesman, Kayode Idowu, was not supported by the sections of the Electoral Act that regulate the registration of political parties.
 
Mr. Mohammed insisted that no party today with the acronym of APC had applied to INEC to be registered. He added that the African People’s Congress was a phantom organized sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party in order to hijack an acronym adopted by a coalition of political parties that recently declared their merger in order to unseat the PDP in the 2015 general elections. 
 
The ACN’s statement asserted that the so-called African People’s Congress had merely written a letter of intent, adding that INEC had not even discussed the letter much less taking any decision on it.
 
Mr. Mohammed claimed: “The statement credited to Mr. Idowu is therefore reckless and provocative and clearly betrays INEC as truly having merged with the PDP to frustrate the merger of the progressives under the banner of the All Progressives' Congress (APC). One wonders who the spokesman is speaking for and what interest he represents. He should therefore be called to order before he sets the country ablaze.” 
 
In order to debunk INEC's claim that the phantom African People’s Congress had applied for registration, the ACN invoked the sections of the Electoral Act that are relevant to party registration. Part V Political Parties of the Electoral Act, Section 78 (1) stipulates as follows: “A political association that complies with the provision of the Constitution and this Act for the purposes of registration shall be registered as a political party, provided that such application shall be duly submitted to the Commission not later than 6 months before a general election.” Section 78 (2) states, “The Commission shall on receipt of the documents in fulfillment of the conditions stipulated by the Constitution immediately issue the applicant with a letter of
acknowledgement stating that all necessary documents have been submitted to the Commission.” 
 
According to the ACN, “In this case the applicants on behalf of the phantom African People’s Congress, the clients of Legal World Chambers, have not submitted any of the documents stipulated by the Constitution to the Commission. They have only written a letter of intent and therefore INEC could not have issued them any letter of acknowledgment, not to talk of starting the process of verifying the documents.” Mr. Mohammed added: “At this point they cannot even be regarded as applicants. Why then did INEC through its spokesperson gleefully go to the media to proclaim that another political association has applied to be registered as African People’s Congress using the same acronym APC? Clearly INEC is on a mission of mischief and its paymaster is PDP [which] has been having sleepless nights since the merger arrangement was announced.”
 
Mr. Mohammed also called attention to Section 78 (6) of the Electoral Act, which says: “An application for registration as a political party shall not be processed unless there is evidence of payment of administrative fee as may be fixed from time to time by the Commission.”
 
The ACN said it was aware that the applicants in question had not even paid any administrative fees and therefore INEC could not have commenced processing their application, because there is no application before INEC as they have only written a letter of intent.” Mr. Mohammed described the INEC spokesman who announced that another political association had applied to be registered as APC as a stooge of the PDP.
 
He said the INEC spokesman was “definitely being paid by the PDP to mislead Nigerians, subvert extant regulations and scuttle the proposed merger of the ACN, ANPP, APGA and CPC. He should immediately be called to order before he sets the country ablaze.” 
 
The ACN declared that the whole controversy pointed to INEC’s collusion with the PDP to stampede the merging parties to commit errors and also intimidate them to drop the acronym APC. The party added, “This has failed because as of today in accordance with the provisions of S. 78 (2) and S. 78 (6) of the Electoral Act as explained above, there is no applicant on record for the acronym APC,
contrary to the deceit being spread by the INEC spokesman.”
 
The ACN also alerted Nigerians to the fact that INEC has had a definite knowledge of the merger plan and the existence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for a long time, going by statements credited to the INEC spokesman both in the print and the electronic media.
 
On February 17, 2013, the Punch newspaper quoted Mr. Idowu as stating that the All Progressives' Congress (APC) remained a political association, even though it was yet to be recognized by the commission.
 
The newspaper quoted Mr. Idowu as stating, “By law, we do not expect APC to come to INEC. The political parties that are fusing into another party will individually and respectively come back to INEC, notifying us that they are fusing into a party with a new identity.” 
 
''The same Idowu also told TVC news on February 8, 2013 that INEC was expecting the leadership of the All Progressives' Congress to apply for formal documentation. With these statements, it is clear that INEC has always had a constructive knowledge of the All Progressives' Congress (APC) since the merger plan started, and that the emerging party did not have to do anything until all the component parties have held their conventions and ratified the constitution, manifesto and logo of the APC.”
 
The ACN said it wished to assure its “supporters within and outside Nigeria that there is no cause for alarm. The merger process is on course. The All Progressives' Congress that is the legitimate people's APC will berth safely and deliver Nigerians from the oppressive yoke of the PDP.
 
“We also wish to seize this opportunity to thank the thousands of concerned Nigerians who through text messages and emails have overwhelmed us with their advice and words of encouragement in the last two days.” 
 
The party however called for vigilance on the part of all progressive forces in Nigeria “especially because we have it on good authority that a top official of INEC has boasted that the emergence of the All Progressives' Congress (APC) will be frustrated at all costs.” 
 
Mr. Mohammed’s statement added that, while the PDP had stated that it was not bothered by the coalition of opposing forces, the ruling party “has been having sleepless nights and working round the clock to device measures to sabotage the merger.” It cited the use of the phantom African People’s Congress in order to hijack the acronym APC. Mr. Mohammed warned that the current collusion between INEC and the PDP was “a tip of the iceberg.” He asked Nigerians to watch out for “more devilish plans by the PDP,” but added: “we are comforted by the fact that the forces of darkness have never prevailed over the forces of light.”

Source: Sahara reporters

i dont think an ordinary person will eat ebo o.

Class of 2005 representing. Congratulations Seun.

topsy1971: To the best of my knowledge, the house can only be sold with mutual consent of all the concerned and identified children. In this case,the children of the three wives and the identified child. There might be litigation if handled otherwise. In short,where there is no will,mutual agreement is necessary.

Ok thanks for your response. But do you think the kids have the right to throw out their step-siblings from the home?

Recently, one of Nigeria’s most respected opinion writers ever, Mr. Sonala Olumhense, crafted another great piece: “There Is No Rift Between OBJ and GEJ” in which he raised one very important point: why former President Olusegun Obasanjo could have identified the late President Umaru Yar’Adua as his fitting successor. He

wrote: “But let us, for one moment, give Obasanjo the benefit of the doubt and assume that he had simply been seduced by Yar’Adua’s record as governor of Katsina State.

“But he then chose Jonathan as Yar’Adua’s running mate. Jonathan had been governor for less than one year at the time that Obasanjo called him and said, “I am going to make you Vice-President.”

What was Jonathan’s record? He had been a teacher and an environmental inspector before his adventure in politics. His record was unremarkable, and he would never have stood out in a casual search for achievers.

“But Obasanjo chose him for the vice-presidency.

“What is even more astonishing is that as Obasanjo made that choice, he had in his hands the report of his 2006 Joint Task Force (JTF) on corruption, which, just months earlier, had indicted Mr. Jonathan and many other serving and former governors for breaching the Code of Conduct Bureau Act.

“Members of the JTF were the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB); the Department of State Services (DSS); and the Nigeria Police.

“The panel was chaired by Mr. Nuhu Ribadu in his capacity as the chairman of the EFCC. Among others, it indicted Jonathan for false declaration of assets, and he was recommended for prosecution.

“That is the report that was in Obasanjo’s hands in 2006 as he declared Mr. Jonathan to be the best person he could find in all of the South of Nigeria to become Vice-President”.

The great “S.O” was not only right; his uncommon insight into events is legendary. Reading him has always been a great privilege to me; often he is my Editor all over again, giving his Reporter a new vista of looking at things and new pegs on which to hang new stories.

The place to begin is to ask and answer the simple questions: How and why did Obasanjo choose the two men? The question remains relevant especially as Nigeria has been lurching towards the precipice, like a drunk, under the unfortunate administrations that seized the luckless nation since 1999.

Hey, will I also be accused of defending Obasanjo, Jonathan or Yar’Adua? Though I fully believe with Prof Chinua Achebe that a writer need not offer apologies for writing, I feel the need to define my stand on this issue for I am tired of being whimsically compartmentalized. About the opening sentence in one of my unpublished literary works is this: “Perhaps, never in history did a people wait for so long, for so little, as Nigerians waited and hoped for good leadership from three elected Presidents in the 12 years which this book covers (1999 -2011); and they were convincingly, thoroughly and unmistakably disappointed, no, betrayed”.

Now, fully confident that none will accuse me of defending Obasanjo, I call attention to page 356 of Nasir el-Rufai’s book “The Accidental Public Servant”. El-Rufai wrote: “Obasanjo chose Yar’Adua for reasons that to this day nobody can be sure of”. This is a supreme insult to Nigerian democracy for it makes the very idea of that democracy a sham; no single person is supposed to choose any leader for any nation.

Yet…, yet, this idea of a single man sitting somewhere and choosing Nigeria’s leaders for the NEXT 24 YEARS, was one great recommendation the self-advertised brainy and incomparable el-Rufai and one of the numerous committees he served on, fed Obasanjo in a document dated August 2006, but unsigned, whose authors are now known thanks to el-Rufai’s garrulousness - titled Draft Succession Strategy, Presidential Advisory Team (T6), Nigeria 20 -2020 From 2006 to 2020 Sustainability And Succession Plan, Draft for Discussion (Confidential).

Interestingly, a subsection of that document, “Selection of Presidential and VP Candidates For The PDP” contains this grave sin as recommended: that Obasanjo should identify and nominate those to provide leadership “for Nigeria for the next 24 years. This can be achieved by considering three excellent people who could both be effective Presidents and loyal VPs from the North and South. The North could generate candidates N1, N2, N3, and the South S1, S2 and S3.” So, here we are complaining that Obasanjo chose Yar’Adua and his successor Jonathan, but what if he had set in motion the machinery to provide those six persons to lead Nigeria for the next 24 years as was recommended to him?

In another section called the “President’s Core Group”, El-Rufai and Co recommended: “the function of the Core Group is to systematically coordinate the use of the Police, SSS, EFCC, ICPC and other state organs as per their respective roles before and during the elections based on the new approaches which subject matter will be detailed out subsequently.” Moreover, this group further advised that it should also determine the “Selection criteria for nomination of President/VP, Governorship and Legislative candidates” and “Agree to support the emergence and election of reform-minded candidates at all levels in 2007”.

So, a full-fledged dictatorship was being planned. But for whose benefit? The document supplied the answer in its “Preamble”: that only the implementers of Obasanjo’s Economic Reform Agenda (ERA) should be allowed to come to power – “in the next 24 years”, yes twenty-four years. And now, Ribadu and El-Rufai are pretending at being democrats strengthening the opposition. How gullible Nigerians can be!

And who was the most visible implementer of that ERA? The answer is El-Rufai and nobody else! Now, if you have taken note of the August 2006 date of that diabolical document that would have done Hitler’s Third Reich proud, you will understand why Nuhu Ribadu, hypocritically claiming to be fighting corruption, went to the Senate the very next month to sack all the serving Governors as corrupt – in the so-called indicted list that the illustrious Sonala cited in his article. And Nigerians, gullible as ever, justifiably baying for the blood of corrupt politicians, hailed Ribadu, not knowing that all he was doing was playing politics in the interest of his puppet master, El-Rufai. Here, at least two Nigerians (Mr. Daniel Elomba of elomba.com and Mr. Adeseni Coker, two discussants I grew close to on the internet discussion for a but never personally met) can bear me witness that I have often told them that Ribadu was the puppet and El-Rufai was the puppeteer.

When Obasanjo grew weary of the El-Rufai-for-president group, mistakenly tagged Economic Reform Team or several versions of that high-faluting nonsense, after he had seen through the members’ machinations and power-grab-grab tendencies, perhaps he did not want to hand over power to Nigeria’s second Diminutive Demon (Abacha was the first).

Yet, to give El-Rufai his due, at least his brain was functional, and that brain told him that the game was over – when Yar’Adua informed him that Obasanjo had picked him for the presidency. But Ribadu, who has never been an incandescent mind, thought that the force he packed through his Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairmanship was enough to turn the table. If you find this surprising, please remember that Hitler also once launched a coup attempt with a rag-tag group straight from a bear palour. It’s the mindset, stupid! Ribadu had used the EFCC as a battering ram to bring down some state governors through illegal impeachments; so he thought his powers to be almighty.

That was how and when Ribadu moved against Yar’Adua, on trumped up charges, as El-Rufai informed us in his book. El-Rufai continued that he told Ribadu: (page 359) “You want me to be President because I am your friend, not because you think I am quite different or better than Yar’Adua”. El-Rufai added in that book (because of Ribadu’s actions against Yar’Adua) “things have really gone bad for me and all of us”. In fact, El-Rufai’s title for that section of the book is telling: “Umaru Asks Nuhu For Support; The Beginning of Our Problems”.

Yet, in two different books: “My Story; My Vision” by Ribadu himself and in Wale Adebanwi’s “A Paradise for Maggots”, Ribadu never mentioned his quixotic actions against Yar’Adua and the repercussions against him and friends. Instead, he claimed that he was fighting corruption and Yar’Adua went after him after he arrested Yar’Adua’s friend; James Onanefe Ibori. And Nigerians, not seeing through his lies, gave him their blind support. You could also read through Azubuike Ishiekwene’s “The Trial of Nuhu Ribadu” and you would never know that Ribadu acted corruptly against Yar’Adua and so Yar’Adua had the most cogent reasons for not wanting Ribadu as head of EFCC.

Now, why did Obasanjo pick Yar’Adua? First, the Governors Forum, then headed by the then Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose, chose Yar’Adua when Obasanjo asked the Governors to reach a consensus. He also asked the Senators to do the same, but they couldn’t. Yet, the El-Rufai teams had plotted to eclipse every one of the Senators and the then Governors as they were never in Obasanjo’s economic team; here, it becomes clear why El-Rufai and friends kept harping on that nonsensical team. It was a ploy to inherit political power. Why did the Governors pick Yar’Adua, a man who had hardly attended even one single meeting of the Governors’ Forum? I do not have the answer as I have not asked any former Governor that question.

Now, about Jonathan’s choice as VP! In a bid to clear the way for El-Rufai, Ribadu had stepped on the toes of several Governors of that era. He had also attempted to arrest any who showed interest in the presidency; Gen. Buba Marwa, for instance and threatened to arrest Gen Ibrahim Babangida (rtd). He had betrayed himself in the Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) investigations, going after Atiku Abubakar alone, leaving off glaring evidences of corruption; how over N3 Billion passed through an Obasanjo aide, one Bodunde, how Obasanjo’s lawyer received about N250 million as fee for registering a company at the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja, how Obasanjo’s then Spokesperson received N100 million for pictures for the State House Library, how millions of Naira were spent to provide an elevator for PTDF’s two-storey office, etc, etc.

Now, Ribadu and friends played Obasanjo’s script against River’s Peter Odili and for the benefit of Goodluck Jonathan. Why? Jonathan became Bayelsa state Governor before 2007 simply because his boss, Depriye Alamieyesiegha was impeached. He Jonathan was in Obasanjo’s camp while Alamieyesiegha was squarely with former Vice-President Atiku. Jonathan could be trusted to protect the interests of the Obasanjo gang, because he would have much to be grateful for and because he was so terribly meek that you could say he had the soul of a serf.

And that explains why Jonathan also went after Ibori and Henry Okah once he clawed his way into Aso Rock, becoming the worst Head of Government in the leakage of state matters to foreign embassies just like the loose-lipped and Western embassies – besotted El-Rufai and Ribadu. Ibori and Okah both supported Alamieyesiegha and family when others abandoned them. Jonathan concluded that action meant Ibori and Okah did not want him to become a state Governor. I hope this takes care of the nonsense people have been mouthing; that Jonathan went after Ibori because Ibori had allegedly opposed his becoming Acting President. To Jonathan, the battle line was drawn long ago while he was Deputy Governor with sights on the visible prize; the Bayelsa state governor’s office. Very early in the morning that day when Alamieyeseigha returned from Britain, a phone call woke me from sleep; the pro-Jonathan group was rousing journalists into action against his boss.

And that is the same Jonathan of whom conventional wisdom says that he has never schemed for any office.

Source http://elombah.com/index.php/articles/204-tony-eluemunor/14811-the-real-trouble-with-el-rufai-and-ribadu-by-tony-eluemunor