₦airaland Forum

2011 PRESIDENCY: Britain, US conduct surveys on IBB


STRONG indications have emerged that some developed countries, who are keen on having former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, become the president of Nigeria in 2011, have been taking steps to decode his personality before finally casting support for the bid.


Nigerian Tribune learnt that interested countries, including Britain, the United States, France, Germany and now China, have of late conducted different surveys on the personality of General Babangida, with a view to testing his popularity ahead of the 2011 elections.

The surveys, it was learnt, were conducted among political parties, National Assembly members, civil society groups and women organisations, said to have been considered as critical to the next elections in Nigeria.

Apart from speaking to Babangida directly through their respective envoys in Nigeria, the countries were said to be keen on getting responses from Nigerian groups and individuals on a possible Babangida presidency in 2011, purposely to design a constructive programme meant to guide the intervention of the international community on the future politics in Nigeria.

The National chairman of National Democratic Party (NDP), Prince Chudi Chukwuani, confirmed this development in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, disclosing that he had received agents from the Chinese and British governments, whom he said organised informal meeting during which they tactfully inquired about Babangida and the nature of politics in Nigeria.

The NDP chieftain disclosed that the nature of questions posed to him at different times by those who met him convinced him that the countries involved were keen on the future of Nigeria, disclosing that he had an impression that the investigators had very fair knowledge about politics in the country.

"These are people who have been in the country for some time and had probably done much of intelligence work for their respective countries. They came to my office one after the other and started asking questions about Nigeria, though informally, and then they asked for my opinion about Babangida, occasionally," said Chukwuani.

He said that some of the Chinese businessmen he had known in Nigeria had cornered him several times to make enquiries about the interest of General Babangida in the next general election and the reason for his seeming reluctance to  enter the presidential race.

A member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Fatimat Raji Rasaki, had earlier relayed a similar experience. She said some Americans, who visited the National Assembly for a function by women parliamentarians, asked questions about Babangida.

In the same vein, the National co-ordinator of NGO Network, Mallam Mahmud Attah Bougie, told the Nigerian Tribune that he had once been contacted by an American pro-democracy group with special interest in Nigeria to assist in x-raying through a paper on the coming presidential election with emphasis on the chances of each of the likely contestants, including IBB.

There had been reports that the rating IBB has been enjoying from the international community of late is not unconnected with his liberalism, since he was generally believed to be a secular person, an attribute he reportedly demonstrated during his eight-year rule of Nigeria.

According to Honourable Fatimat Rasaki, Babangida is generally perceived outside Nigeria as a leader who could easily build consensus in government, considering the nature of support he could rally from across the federation.

IBB had shown interest in the 2007 presidential election by collecting the nomination form of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), though he later withdrew from the presidential primaries because he said he would not like to feature in the same presidential contest with the former governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua, who he referred to as a younger brother.

However, the inability of Babangida to get the support of the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, was considered the main reason behind his withdrawal from the race. Obasanjo reportedly advised him to support a younger candidate for the position.

Since 2007, the former military president has been keeping a low profile in politics.
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http://odili.net/news/source/2010/apr/1/627.html
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I thought Nigeria is an independent, sovereign state! How come these countries are sampling opinions about IBB? Or, is this a propaganda? If so, how come it’s Tribune that is the agent of IBB’s propaganda? Awolowo’s body must be rolling in his grave.

In fact this relates directly to a thread I've just created. Read this!
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-418765.0.html

Pastor or spellbinder?
•He cast a spell on my wife and spent all her money, man alleges
•No, she’s just my business partner –Pastor
By CHRISTOPHER OJI
Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Police detectives in Lagos are currently working hard to unravel the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of a mother of three, just as a Lagos-based pastor who allegedly eloped with the married woman is being detained by the police.

The man of God, Pastor Ken Obinwa, is also alleged to have swindled the woman’s husband of several millions of naira. Husband of the run-away woman, simply identified as Eze, as well as her children were seen at the Festac Police Station begging the pastor to release the woman or tell them her whereabouts.

Eze, who narrated his ordeals in the hands of the pastor, said he had enjoyed 22 years of blissful marriage with his wife, Clara, before the pastor reportedly caused confusion in their home.
“We were blessed with three children,” he said. “One of them is studying abroad. I am a caring father and husband who have always taken good care of my family. I bought cars for my wife and I had travelled abroad with my wife and children several times. We don’t lack anything. God blessed us with money and we were happy until this pastor came into my wife’s life.”

Eze said he got a shocker from his children when he returned home one day with some food he bought from an eatery. “My children rejected the food,” he said. “I thought it was a joke until they started running away from me. I came back home the second day and my little angels refused to greet me. They kept running away from me.”

He said when he reported the case to his wife, she told him to confess his sins, adding that a pastor had revealed that he was planning to kill her. “She said the pastor told her that I was planning to kill her and her children. I tried to find out who the pastor was, but that was when my wife gave me another shocker. She accused me of belonging to an occult group, that the pastor also told her I am a cultist.

“I started suffering what I did not know anything about. I think the pastor hypnotized my wife. Each time I wanted to explain things to Clara, the more she would complicate the issue.”
Eze said as a result of his wife’s strange behaviour, he joined the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a Christian denomination. “But my wife stopped giving me food. Later, God started his miracle when my undergraduate son confessed to me that he was in Pastor Obinwa’s house for over six months. My son told me that the pastor asked him to come for some spiritual bath and the mother took him to the pastor’s house. This was a boy who told me he was in the school.”

The distraught husband said his son also told him that the pastor had been taking them from one river to the other for spiritual baths. He said his daughter also revealed to him how their mother had been packing food items, money, clothes and other personal effects to the pastor. “The pastor must have collected several millions of naira from my wife because her bank account is now empty,” he said. He quoted his children as saying that the pastor’s wife also frequented their home to collect things.
According to Eze, after hearing his children’s confessions, he decided to confront his wife who he said later eloped with the pastor. He then decided to report the matter to the police who arrested the pastor.

“I am begging the pastor to give me back my wife. If he can’t bring her back, let him tell me where she is. I am sure the pastor used some diabolical means to deceive her. This fake pastor has shattered my home. It is only God that can set me free.”
His son, Charles, who took the narrative from the father said: “When I got admission to study at the university, the pastor told me not to go, that I would die as soon as I arrived at the school. Out of fear, I stayed in his house for six months. My father bought me a laptop and gave my mum N500, 000 for my school fees and upkeep. But mum spent the money with the pastor. They were lavishing my money on themselves.

“Pastor told my sister and that our daddy is a member of an occult group and that he wanted to use our blood for rituals. My mum told us to believe the pastor. That was why I started running from our dad. My sister too was afraid of our daddy.”
Eze’s daughter, Clara, who corroborated Charles’ story, also begged the pastor to release their mother. “Our mum drove out in her jeep and I know she went to the pastor’s house. Please, pastor, give us our mother. We love her and we need her.”

Pastor Obinwa told Daily Sun that the woman was just his business associate. “I only transact business with her. My wife introduced her to me. I am not her pastor. I was only doing business with her and she is our family friend.”
On her whereabouts, he said: “My friend, the woman told me she was travelling to London. I prayed with her and I wished her safe journey.”

On whether he was visiting the woman’s house while the husband was away, he said: “Yes, I used to visit the woman who is my very good friend. It is true that her husband and I had never met until today but madam is a very good friend of mine. There was a day my wife prepared a cake for her, and her husband even ate from it. That is to show you that we are family friends.”
A mild drama ensued when the police told the husband to call his wife on her cell phone to know her whereabouts. The woman, however, refused to pick the call. But as soon as the pastor called, the woman answered.
The embattled man of God said that the woman is still alive. “She gave me a foreign number. She is in London. Oga don’t worry, your wife will soon come back to you,” he assured.
Police spokesman in Lagos, Mr. Frank Mba said investigations on the case are on-going.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/citysun/2010/mar/24/citysun-24-03-2010-001.htm

Yar’Adua’s men fight back •Hire 7 SANS to tackle Jonathan •2 ex-ministers fail security tests •Jonathan, lawmakers in crucial meeting



Written by Taiwo Adisa and Idowu Samuel, Abuja


LOYALISTS of ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua are said to have hired, at least, seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to fight the decision by the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to dissolve the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
It was gathered that the aggrieved kitchen cabinet members had resolved to fight  the acting president for taking the decision without recourse to the sitting president.

A source said that members of the dislodged cabal were bitter over the dissolution of the cabinet, which meant that all of them had lost their plum positions.

The group is said to have raised N500 million to prosecute its legal challenge.

It was gathered that the group was also planning to embark on lobbying of members of the Senate to ensure that they delayed the screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees for, at least, two weeks.

A source said that the cabal leaders had hoped to undo the decision of the acting president within the next two weeks so as to return the nation to status quo.

At least two notable SANs were said to have been engaged while some other senior advocates numbering five were said to have joined the team.

A source said that no fewer than 25 companies which got major contracts from the leaders of the plot when they were in government had been mandated to raise the required funds to pay the legal fees and also lead the charge to lobby members of the National Assembly.

“Their plan is to ensure that the programmes of the acting president are truncated and they have decided to look for pliable judicial hands to help their cause.”

“But members of the National Interest Group in the Senate have also been alerted to this.

“They have all resolved to fast-track the screening process of the ministers to the extent that most of the returning ministers will not be made to pass through prolonged screening,” a source in the Senate said.

Meanwhile, at least two members of the recently dissolved cabinet of President Umaru Yar’Adua  have failed security tests, following their screening by the security agencies.

Former  Minister of Works, Dr. Hassan Lawal and his counterpart in the Ministry of Aviation, Mr. Tunde Omotoba, were facing security scares on Monday.

It was gathered that petitions on the ill-fated Abuja Airport runway had been piling against Omotoba at the headquarters of some of the security agencies, while the works minister was also said to have some petitions against him.

A source also said that some security agencies forwarded list of the ministers they were investigating to the acting president through the National Security Adviser immediately the cabinet dissolution was announced.

The information was aimed at guiding the acting president in the recomposition of the cabinet, sources said.

Sources said some other ministers in the dissolved cabinet were also facing security challenges and  some of them were actually dropped as a result of that understanding in government circles.

It was learnt in Abuja, on Monday, that  reports of the State Security Service (SSS) and other agencies indicated that petitions had been pouring in against some of the immediate past ministers and that their clearance  for Senate confirmation might be a tall order.

The source said the reason behind Jonathan’s decision to drop some loyalists of President Yar’Adua was actually because of the security challenges and not as a result of the hatred between the camp of the ailing president and the acting president.

The acting president was said to still hold his boss in high esteem and he did not harbour ill feelings against him, despite his inability to see him in the past weeks.

The source said Jonathan had personally dissuaded members of the dissolved Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF) from debating the issue of invocation of Section 144 of the 1999 Constitution so as not to portray the council as anti-Yar’Adua.

The acting president had also dissuaded his supporters in the Senate from embarking on the impeachment option on the strength of the fact that the ailing president did not deserve to be disgraced from office.

The Senate is still expecting the ministerial list today amidst conflicting signals that the list was encountering problems at the hands of security operatives.

It was gathered that the presidency had resolved to send the names of the returning ministers to the Senate, such that the lawmakers could do something about the screening before they embarked on Easter break.

Meanwhile, Acting President Jonathan is not leaving anything to chance in re-constituting the EXCOF which he sacked a week ago, as he held a crucial meeting with some  members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Jonathan’s meeting with National Assembly members, which was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday night, was able to resolve issues on who should constitute the new cabinet, with some of the shortlisted candidates being dropped due to negative reports against them.

Senators and members of the House of Representatives met with Jonathan under the aegis of Integrity Group. About 20 members of the group were said to have been invited to the meeting by the acting president.

Members of  Nigerian First Forum, which emerged in the House of Representatives,  were equally selected to look at the list of ministerial nominees.

The acting president had, at the close of last week, held a similar meeting with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Security Adviser, General Aliyu Gusau, during which those in attendance put a seal on the shortlisted candidates.



Is it a DO or DIE MATTER? These fools called cabinet ministers must be benefiting from this impasse. What have they done to make life bearable for Nigerians that they've been asked to quit and would want to remain in office. WHY NOT INVITE THEM TO A MEETING AND HAND THEM SPECIAL TEA TO DRINK. HOW I WISH A WAITRESS/WAITRER IN THE ASO ROCK CAN LACE THESE POLITICIANS' FOOD AND DRINK

i unreservedly sympathise with all and sundry directly affected by this incident, and wish all in the government similar but worst fate.