₦airaland Forum

Blasts FG over Chibok girls
By Olasunkanmi Akoni &  Monsur Olowoopejo
LAGOS—Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, said the alleged $9.3 million cash seized by the South African government has made the country a laughing stock worldwide.
Fashola also added that Abuja had not been consistent with information on the abducted Chibok girls and the attack on the Bama Community, saying; “Nigerians deserve to know the current state of the issues.”

From left: Mr. Remi Ibirogba, Commissioner, Information and Strategy, Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and Mr. Lateef Raji, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, during the Governor’s Press briefing  at Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Bunmi Azeez
Fashola made the remarks at the 2014 Gani Fawehinmi Memorial Colloquium held at the University of Lagos, Yaba, which also had in attendance, former governor of Lagos State, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Professor Itsey Sagay and others.
Reacting to the alleged arms deal and what the late Gani Fawehinmi would have done if he was alive, Fashola lamented that the issue has made Nigerians mere laughing stock worldwide.
‘’And this happened because of the value choices that we have made. Let us stop pointing fingers at those people, you all voted for them. They are representatives of the values we have chosen to live with.
“Would Gani Fawehinmi have stood by and watch without demanding an explanation on how  money was spent. How N2 trillion was spent on oil subsidy without appropriation. Also, how will he have reacted to the stories of the disappearance of the $20 billion or $49 billion depending on what  you believe?”, he added.
The governor also lamented that the central government had not been consistent on sensitive issues concerning its citizens especially the abducted Chibok girls saga.
Commenting on the Nigerian Army’s claim that the abducted Chibok girls had been released and few hours after, back-tracked on the information it released earlier, Fashola said: “At one moment, the information was that the girls were not abducted. Later, we were told by the Federal Government that they now know where the girls are kept.”
“Few months later, the same government informed its citizens that the girls have been recovered. And in few minutes, they (Federal Government through the Nigerian Army) back-tracked on its earlier information.
“Over the last few days, similar incident occurred in Bama and the report from that place was that insurgents had taken over power. The media organisations who reported it were castigated. The reason was that they reported that Bama have been ceded. And few days later, there was another report that Bama have been recaptured. So if you recapture it and you said that you didn’t lose it.
“It shows that there is a problem; the right to know. We (Nigerian) must be updated on the progress and challenges on the issue.”

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/09/9-3m-arms-deal-ridicules-nigeria-worldwide-fashola/#sthash.9K00Cwhz.dpuf

A security source revealed to SaharaReporters that along with the pastor, President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, coordinated the movement of the cash, and that its original destination was Cyprus, not South Africa.

Contrary to the denials of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), details have surfaced confirming he was involved in the movement of $9.3 million cash to South Africa, purportedly for the purchase of arms.

A security source revealed to SaharaReporters that along with the pastor, President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, coordinated the movement of the cash, and that its original destination was Cyprus, not South Africa.


Ayo Oritsejafor
It would be recalled that the story and documents emanating from the Nigeria government are to the effect that the officials were going to use the money to buy arms from Tier One in South Africa. It turned out Tier One is not registered in that country to sell arms, and that it was going to buy them, somehow, from the ESD International Group Ltd in Cyprus. 

Trying to wash his hands of the sordid story, Pastor Oritsejafor had said he leased the jet to Eagle Air, in which he has an interest.  Eagle, in turn, said it leased it to Gold Coast Produce Limited. 

The source told our reporter that the web of so-called leases woven around the transaction was concocted in August to enable Pastor Oritsejafor deny knowledge of the deal.

Repeated efforts by SaharaReporters to obtain from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) a copy of the so-called lease entered into by the pastor failed to yield any fruit, as officials there claim the Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, was away.

Similarly, the Corporate Affairs Commission, where Pastor Oritsejafor registered the plane under “Eagle Air” Limited, claims that their server has been taken over by one of their server/service providers, and that they are therefore unable to access information concerning ownership of Eagle Air.

As previously revealed by SaharaReporters, Pastor Oritsejafor’s Bombardier jet was seized in South Africa’s Lanserai airport on September 5 after law enforcement officials found that the jet had illegally ferried $9.3million cash into the country accompanied by an Isreali, Eyal Miseka and two Nigerians. The Nigerians are yet to be identified.  

As soon as the seizure took place, President Jonathan intervened with the South African authorities in order to get the aircraft released as a way of preventing the public from knowing that Pastor Oritsejafor’s jet was involved in the deal.

Source: http://saharareporters.com/2014/09/25/93m-cash-transfer-security-source-confirms-pastor-oritsejafor-was-involved-botched-arms

emonk: How can APC walk out on our Nigeria maze. I think this should be punishable by law. What an insult to nigeria

Did xpect dem to av stayed and carried on like nothing was wrong?
Don't 4get dey r d minority.

Dey walked out nd d issue has refused to b swept under d rug.

Guess all dis would av been averted if d pdp majority had simply allow the house to debate on d issue. But they decided to suppress d voice of d opposition using some silly house rules.

Now it's all becoming messy.

barcanista: I understand your concern for age, I once had it but bros it is inconsequential. It is not about old age but what is brought on the table. Uzor Kalu was one of the youngest governor in 1999-2007, but you can't compare his performance to that of his contemporaries like BAT who are older in age. Gabriel Suswam of Benue State was young when elected but his Ideas and performance is a celebration of mediocrity-compare him to "OLD" Ajimobi of Oyo State or Oshiomole. What we should be interested in is ideas. Even the PDP major players are "OLD" men. Anenih, is 80plus and he is the Chairman of Nigeria Port Authority. Boni Haruna who is supposed to be "Youth Minister" is 50plus in age. The "Ambassador @ Large" Bamanga Tukur is a very old man. What about defense Minister General Aliyu Gusau who has been in government for STRAIGHT 30plus years? Are you talking about SGF Ayim Pius Ayim who is 60plus? It is not about their age per se but what they have to offer. I support young people to aspire for leadership position but it will be ridiculous to make that a priority

Just when TANoids think they've made a valid point out of their shallow minds, Barcanista dissapoints them.

Keep up d gud work while they tirelessly try to justify every missdeed of dis failed administration.

Bros, I can host you if you want to see bad governance in 3D.[/quote]This line got me cracking.

On a more Crious note, I spent 4 years in Lokoja nd I cn attest to d decay.

It's all bn about dangote cement plant @ obajana.

Samson Osagie made very valid points one of which is that Nigerians deserve to know d true story behind d $9.3 million. Its source, what it was really meant for, why it wasn't declared, why d SA govt had no knowledge of d purported arms deal nd why a private jet belonging 2 a god of men was used instead of a plane in d presidential fleet.

On d other hand Leo Ogor repeated d lies told by his paymaster gej aka Jonathan. He even went on 2 say it was a waste of valuable tym debating on such issues. This is a house just resuming from 2 months break.

Until proven otherwise nd beyond reasonable doubt, it is generally believed that d $9.3 million SA saga was a money laundering deal gone south.

I think d opposition shld av taken stronger measures, by now, Nigerians shld b on d street demanding explanation for this rubbish.

Not a bad Formula[b][/b]

I hope d APC bigwigs r listening.

Logic nd realism in d mix.

Although i'll prefer a Buhari/Fashola Combo.

To hell with religion.

450k. Crious buyer 2.

500k if d engine is in gud condition. I'll com inspect on Monday morn

Location pls nd cn it fly for 420k?

Is 450 gud 2 deal?

Nice ride. Can it fly for 520k?
Very curious buyer

Will it go for 550k?
Crious buyer

Wots d price?

Pls cn u post d engine pic of dis car? I'm offering 450k

mikeansy: I did not say it's APC

I said we don't know that it's not APC

Just as we don't know that it's not PDP

Even if APC had a hand in dis, Jonathan shld take a large chunk of the blame cos days wot he was elected 2 do rather than wait 4 d south African government 2 do his job 4 him. Who knows Hw much money nd weapons av bn moved in nd out of Nigeria via private jets nd yachts under d nose of commander in chief.

kropelgrada: Nigerians listen!!
Don't try and vote Buhari in 2015..This man will Islamise Nigeria.Pls i beg you
He promised to de-stabilize Jonathan's government after the 2011 general election,and he has since being doing that with Boko-Haram
Don't listen to this man

Guess ur kids born/unborn will disfather u after reading ur post.

I'd rather av a GMH who can de-stabilize jonadafts govt dan a Jonathan(C in C of d armed forces of Nigeria) who can't apprehend and persecute GMH whom u accuse of dis-stabilising d country.[b][/b]

EUROBOMBER: Barcanistan, if you continue at this rate you will slowly and painfully die of heart attack. I can see your veins bulging from your forehead and your neck.

Take my advice my brother barcanista, select any of this two, they have been tested and trusted. You can use Ratak which kills giant rats in seconds or the rope which will sustan your weight well on a tree. Whichever you prefer, just make your choice. You cannot continue with this miserable existence of yours, go on and end it quickly. I have told you that it will not be easy to manage high blood pressure from now till 2019 and God help you if the C-in-C decides to go for a third thirm due to his brilliant performance so far despite all the challenges of boko haram with the moral support of the sheik bokobinhari the jihardist.

Like Jonathan, like his followers.

scribble: Is KWankwaso delusional

He was minister of defense under OBJ, he looted, he chop money

he didnt add any value

as Kano Governor his citizens are bombed on d reg but he wants to rule Nigeria

[b][/b]Going by the logic in your post, How can Jonathan want 2 rule Nigeria again with all the bombings in kano, Yobe, Adamawa, Maiduguri, Abuja, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau etc. After all He's been the C in C of ther armed forces for the last 5+yrs?

#TAN Pls take dis ur rally 2 either maiduguri, yobe or adamawa state bearing in mind dat those places r also part of the geographical entity called Nigeria which gej swore 2 protect.

[/b]DATS IF U FEEL HIS PERFORMANCE IN DAT REGARD HAS BEEN OUTSTANDING[b]

ogbenicodes: .

Your assertion above cannot b disputed xcept by Greedy Nigerians celebrating mediocrity.

Trust me they'll soon b here to give lame excuses and defend d most clueless drunk to have ruled d most populous black nation on earth.
Interestingly, all these great leaders above av gone on to transform thier respective countries earning them local and global regognition as world powers(in Defence and Economically)

[/b]Quite inspiring quotes[b]

poiZon: the last time i checked IBB n ABDULSALAMI are enjoyng their loot n aint thinkng abt contesting for the post of presidency cause it ill hv bin a mockery to nigerians. and also they atleast are sensible and still acts as advisers when needs arises unlike ur baba buhari, a cmplete lIABILITY to the nation, his advice to the youth can be felt faraway in the south negatively n is still being paid by awa oyel money without employing even a soul nor contributing to federation account. .n investment that contributes to alleviating the sufferings of the youth. in USA this man wont even contest for councillorship post cause he isnt even a bad or good manager. but a LIABILITY, DEFICIT!

Talking about the USA, funny u did'nt know Hillary Clinton told the world Bill nd her left the White house in DEBT.
Imagine a president of the United States of America leaving the office with personal debts. In Nigeria, we xpect our Presidents to leave office as billionaires. So much for your thinking nd double standards.

Collynzo16: APC might have a hand in the proliferation of that banner.
They can do anything to smear the good name of Jonathan.

[b][/b][font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]EVEN LIGHTENING CANNOT RESTORE UR MEDULLA TO FACTORY DEFAULT.

DIDNT U C ABATI'S TWEETS? NOW U WANT 2 BLAME APC FOR THIS 1 AGAIN
MAY GOD PUNISH ALL Y'ALL DEFENDING AND CELEBRATING CURRUPTION&MEDIOCRITY IN NIGERIA.

Onegai: As usual, people will blame the US, APC and anyone else except themselves for their problems.

We import Paper, Toothpicks, Clothes, Shoes, Jewelry, Pencils, Palm oil, Apples, Almond oil, Fish and Meat, the list goes on.

Meanwhile, oil exports are our main business and corruption has given it to few wealthy people.

If we continue like this, we're going to be a big economy made up of 20% wealthy and 80% poor. And it's already showing: Education standards keep dropping (no-one accepts your local degrees internationally without backup from a foreign degree, public or private university), we are losing our Healthcare business to foreigners, just like Telecomms was lost. So Nigerians are getting poorer, but you can't see it until you change your salary to any foreign currency and realise you're too poor to relocate on your current income. You're also losing jobs, so that Employment you've been crying and praying for, it's not coming soon.

Instead of stoning every single politician in this country, so that they fear the masses and do the right thing, you are fighting for them, as if they will give you a job after (story!). Continue! Foreigners are happy to profit off Africa's foolishness, as usual.

10 GBILLION LIKES 4 D TRUTH U POSTED UP THERE

Onegai: As usual, people will blame the US, APC and anyone else except themselves for their problems.

We import Paper, Toothpicks, Clothes, Shoes, Jewelry, Pencils, Palm oil, Apples, Almond oil, Fish and Meat, the list goes on.

Meanwhile, oil exports are our main business and corruption has given it to few wealthy people.

If we continue like this, we're going to be a big economy made up of 20% wealthy and 80% poor. And it's already showing: Education standards keep dropping (no-one accepts your local degrees internationally without backup from a foreign degree, public or private university), we are losing our Healthcare business to foreigners, just like Telecomms was lost. So Nigerians are getting poorer, but you can't see it until you change your salary to any foreign currency and realise you're too poor to relocate on your current income. You're also losing jobs, so that Employment you've been crying and praying for, it's not coming soon.

Instead of stoning every single politician in this country, so that they fear the masses and do the right thing, you are fighting for them, as if they will give you a job after (story!). Continue! Foreigners are happy to profit off Africa's foolishness, as usual.

10 GBILLION LIKES 4 D TRUTH U POSTED UP THERE

kolaaderin: Down 2%

DOWN 3%

stingbreed: Boko Haram insurgents have reportedly taken over the town of Bama in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, following heavy fighting with government troops, but the military disputed the claim.

Scores of Boko Haram militants on Monday launched pre-dawn attacks on troops that had deployed in the town in preparation for a large-scale offensive to reclaim territory seized by the Islamists.

Hours of intense fighting, which followed previous attempts by the group to seize territory in Nigeria's far northeast, led to an exodus of thousands of residents to the state capital, Maiduguri.

The military said on its Twitter account @DefenceInfoNG on Monday evening that it had pushed back the insurgents and followed up on Tuesday morning with another, which stated simply: "#Victory."

But residents who fled the 75 kilometres (45 miles) to Maiduguri claimed the insurgents drove out the troops and took control of the town, including its military base.

"Bama is now in the hands of Boko Haram because not a single soldier remains there," said Umar Dahiru.

"More than 400 soldiers in Bama joined residents in fleeing the Boko Haram insurgents who took control of the military barracks," he told AFP.

People coming to the city have to pass by the University of Maiduguri, where one student, Aliyu Dawud, said he saw "many soldiers driving into Maiduguri in open vans" on Monday evening.

"Some of them had no boots, some had only vests on them while others had no guns. From their looks they were on the run for their lives," he added.

The military initially seemed to have the upper hand against Boko Haram, but that changed when the military jet bombarded its own troops, forcing soldiers to flee, one resident said.

"The jet could not distinguish between soldiers and Boko Haram and bombarded the military barracks which was at the time under the control of soldiers," said Yasir Zarami.

"The aerial bombing destroyed the military barracks and forced soldiers to flee towards Maiduguri along with thousands of civilians."

Borno senator Ahmed Zannah told BBC radio's Hausa service late on Monday that Bama fell to Boko Haram and soldiers were forced to flee because the jet bombed and destroyed their barracks.

Maiduguri, which is the Islamists' spiritual home, has had its curfew extended from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am (1800-0500 GMT).

The military said this was to prevent "infiltration into Maiduguri Metropolis by insurgents who suffered heavy casualties".

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rival-victory-claims-boko-haram-nigeria-battle-142413871.html

Pls when is the next "TAN" Rally? Guess thats more important to our C in C right nw.

[quote author=aguiyi]
No they have not. They realized that silence is the best answer for a fool hence they decided to ignore Steve Davis.

U mean gej recruited a fool as Negotiator?

So much jonathan and his followers

There’s a new business in Nigeria. It’s the business of drafting President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to present himself for reelection. A group called Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) has emerged as the biggest, most enterprising player.

Every few days, some busybodies under the aegis of TAN descend on some city in Nigeria to advance the ostensible business of drafting the president into a race all but the inhabitants of outer space know he’d been ready to run from the early days of his Presidency. The latest political craze in town is to draft a man who, long ago, already drafted himself.

These decoy “drafters” stage spectacles called political rallies. At each location, they announce their collection of millions of signatories demanding one thing and one thing only: that Jonathan should succeed Jonathan. In fact, the signature record appears to fall with each new outing.

Last weekend, the bandwagon arrived in Port Harcourt, the biggest city in the president’s own geopolitical region, which goes by the intriguing and perplexing name of South-South. There, the orchestrators of the draft even saw fit to warn Mr. Jonathan to forget about ever coming home if he failed to run again. Talk about pressure from these wooers of the president!

The Port Harcourt jamboree stood out for another reason. According to a report in the Tribune, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance (aka Coordinating Minister of the Economy), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, used the occasion to remind the president’s heady supporters that Mr. Jonathan “has led Nigeria to become the largest economy in Africa.” She added, the paper reported, that “Mr. Jonathan had created three million jobs” and “managed the country to become the fastest growing economy in Africa.”

For a second, I expected that the honorable minister would remind the president that he was the one who made it possible for every single Nigerian to own a private jet, every single Nigerian to make the Forbes list of global billionaires, every single Nigerian to have access to the extraordinary Nigerian specialist hospitals located in Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, India, the US, and the UK, every single Nigerian to own a mansion in the swanky precincts of Dubai.

But seriously, what does all this theater mean? It means, I suggest, that we’re faring well in our usual business—sycophancy masked as adulation, self-interest dressed up as altruism and high-mindedness. It’s in the best interests of some, especially the small circle of profiteers, that Nigeria’s main business must remain the unceasing, perennial preoccupation with politics. My hunch is that this business of entreating the president to re-seek the job he already holds is lucrative for those engaged in it. If they don’t have returns on their “investment” now, they labor in expectation of getting some rich reward in the near future.

The price we pay, of course, is that we disdain vision and forget the arduous art of real governance. Vision and governance? Those are for wimps who are weak at playing politics. Yet, the cultivation of vision and painstaking application of governance skills were used by the broad elite who built—and continue to build—the countries where Nigeria’s ruling elite love to take vacations, to seek medical care, to send their progeny to school.

For many Nigerian public officials, governance is about self-inflation. It’s about being called His Excellency, the Executive Governor of So-and-So State. It’s about being addressed as Distinguished Senator, even when the person so flattered has never blown air into a microphone at the Senate.

But how about a concern with policies, especially those that are the product of deep thinking, capable of truly transforming the wretched condition of the vast majority of Nigerians? No, such policies must be discountenanced, for there is the pressing game of politics begging to be played.

Don’t count on any letup in this theater of the absurd. We’ve fully entered the rainy season in Nigeria’s tremendously profitable business of politics. It’s a season when self-appointed apostles make it their business to remind the man at the top about his dazzling, transformational touch. As if their idol’s memory is impaired, they itemize for him all the unparalleled achievements of his first term. They assure him that all citizens are 110 percent loyal. As for the few, negligible number of naysayers, why, they are congenitally disgruntled elements.

Let’s be clear: I don’t mind Mr. Jonathan running for reelection. But it behooves him to come out and use his mouth to tell Nigerians what they have already intuited: that he’s running. Let him use his mouth to tell Nigerians the number of jobs he created, and how. For that matter, let’s hear directly from him how he’s fared in meeting the promises he made when he ran for his current term. Where he’s failed, let him look Nigerians in the face and explain why he failed. And let him, in his own voice, define a roadmap for where he wishes to take Nigeria should he win a second term.

This whole orchestration by TAN is tiresome, and should be shelved. It’s redolent of the awful political practices of the past, from the shadowy group that threatened to sue Ibrahim Babangida if he ever stepped down to the posse that urged Sani Abacha to transform from a uniformed dictator to an agbada-adorning ruler. There was the crowd that told Nigerians that their constitution must be changed to accommodate a third term for Olusegun Obasanjo. And, even as Mr. Jonathan’s predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, lay sick in a Saudi hospital, his courtiers were telling us to brace for a second term of the man!

Mr. Jonathan should recall his Finance Minister to Abuja, and ask her to get cracking with the business of seeing that Nigeria’s much-vaunted economic growth lifts up more Nigerians from poverty and translates into employment opportunities for the milling unemployed youngsters. He should ask Anyim Pius Anyim to leave the business of chasing down fairytale signatures to those who have nothing better to do. Mr. Anyim should be by the president’s side helping him grapple with the many crises besetting Nigeria—insecurity, electric power woes, a debilitated educational sector and a dismal healthcare system that is being further strained by the unpredictable, dreadful Ebola virus.

In the end, I doubt that anybody believes that Mr. Jonathan is reluctant to run for reelection, and needs to be coerced. The attempt to leave the impression of a reluctant candidate insults the intelligence of Nigerians. Worse, at a time when the Nigerian army needs to be better equipped to take on Boko Haram, when Nigerian infrastructure demands urgent attention, the so-called campaign to draft Mr. Jonathan constitutes an unconscionable, deplorable investment of public resources on a political farce.

Please follow me on twitter @ okeyndibe

(okeyndibe@gmail.com)

egift: Buhari Instituted decree 2 and Decree 4 that was aimed at gaging the Press and Banned street protests. This is his only low but he was honest in his actions. And the good news is that under democratic dispensation, there are institutions of government in place that will checkmate and over zealousness.

U forgot to add that Just recently, Soldiers were used to destroy newspapers meant for circulation for 2days with huge losses to d newspaper coys.
This happened under a democratic setting, tell me hw its diff 4rm what Buhari did back den.

Bunch of hippos