₦airaland Forum

I want to commend the Independent National Electoral Commission for the smooth conduct of the Osun State governorship election.

After a long period battling with electoral irregularities in the country, it seems that we are finally getting to the Promised Land as far as credible elections as it is seen in 5 different states conducted like: Edo, Ekiti, Anambra, Osun and Ondo across the country.

I want INEC to keep up the feat as this is the only way the masses can elect credible people into positions of authority.

Though, there are some complaints on the deployment of soldiers to Osun State, it is now crystal clear that the presence of heavy security men in that state was not to intimidate the electorate but to protect them against harassment.

If we condemn the commission when it messes up, we should also commend it when it redeems itself.

President Jonathan’s administration,INEC chair, Prof. Attahiru Jega, the entire INEC Staff and Nigerians as a whole, have apparently brought great changes to this great country.

EL-RUFAI on BUHARI'S AMBITION ' I was 25yrs old when BUHARI &BABANGIDA were Head of State & I'm now 50 & they still want to be Head of State. I dont understand that. If you ask any of these people running for presidency, they will think that BlackBerry is a fruit '.-NASIR EL-RUFAI, THE SUN, MARCH 25, 2012.

Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has warned politicians across the country to stop using the abduction of the 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, to seek political advantage ahead of the 2015 general elections.

The group said this in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, on Tuesday.

The group was reacting to a statement by the Northern Elders Forum asking President Goodluck Jonathan to bring back the abducted girls and end insurgency in Nigeria by October or forget about the 2015 elections.

The northern elders had also maintained the conflicts in the North-East were being engineered to “weaken the North politically and economically by interests which intend to exploit such weaknesses for electoral benefits.”

In its reaction, however, Afenifere said what the country requires at the moment is cooperation among all citizens irrespective of tribe, to end the reign of terror rather than making inflammatory statements.

It said by linking the electoral fortune of Jonathan in 2015 to returning the abducted girls, the Northern elders have confirmed the suspicion that the activities of Boko Haram was either enjoying the sponsorship of some elites of the North or at the least having their sympathy.

The statement read, “A traumatised country that has been held in anxiety over the fate of the abducted girls cannot but challenge these elders at this stage to appeal to their wards in Boko Haram to release the innocent young girls who now appear cannon fodders in the struggle for “we want our power back.”

It added, “We are demanding that the government must not relent in its efforts to secure the release of the Chibok girls and end the insurgency in the land .We, however, frown at the disingenuous attempt by unconscionable elites who are now dishing out a two-month ultimatum to end an insurgency that they prepared the atmosphere for in decades of exploitation and iniquitous dealings with their own people. Can they name one country that has defeated terror in 60 days?

“How many rulers have we had in Nigeria since 1960 and how many come from the North? Why did it not occur to any of them that the Almajiris should go to school?

“The country has suffered enough of the errors of these leaders which have now produced terror in the land. They should stopping pouring salt on the injury.”

Our northern political actors who want to wrest power from President Goodluck Jonathan come 2015 should put on their thinking cap and reason properly. The North as a political unit plundered Nigeria for a period of 38 years since independence in 1960.

The Northern political elite should allow Jonathan to complete his eight-year tenure. The Ijaw nation nay the Niger Delta region where the President comes from has been sustaining the Nigerian nation from its oil revenue for decades. We must appreciate and show gratitude to the Ijaw nation instead of castigating and blaming them for the woes being experiencing in the country.

One good turn,deserves another!

I've never been a fan of President Goodluck Jonathan. I didn't vote for him in the last elections and I've always said I won't vote for him in 2015 if he decides and is cleared to run. But I can't ignore the fact that he has enabled the country to hold peaceful and credible elections. The electoral body (INEC) has never been so transparent and professional in its duties. While I don't think it proper to commend a leader for carrying out his responsibilities, one shouldn't ignore the fact that we've had terrible leaders in the past, and as such good ones should be encouraged by commending them. Their heads won't swell too much. Will it?
Five elections under Jonathan: Ekiti, Ondo, Osun, Edo, Anambra states; four opposition parties and only one PDP winning in these elections. Gradually, GEJ seems to be winning me over to his side without attempting to do so.

Dr Doyin Okupe is the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Public Affairs. In this interview with Associate Editor, Tinu Ayanniyi, he speaks on the Chibok girls abduction saga, the removal and threat of removal of some governors, among other issues. Excerpts:

You served in the Olusegun Obasanjo’s government and you are now in Jonathan’s. What are you looking for?

Working for President Jonathan was not a straight affair. There were national issues that predated it. I took sides in the succession of the late president Umar Yar’adua matter, like my usual self. I was vociferous, made my position public as the matter raged on; I continued to defend without having met him. The hostility continued even after he was sworn in. I have a natural passion for defending what I consider true and just. I met him after about a year by happenstance. Subsequently, I got a call from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, and when I went to see him, he told me the president would like me to work with him and that was it.

As an insider, could you assure the global public that the Chibok girls will be found?

The much assurance is that of an insider. What I know as an insider is that, from the government president’s perspective, there is an overriding commitment to following through with every effort possible to get the girls back. It has nothing to do with global or local pressure; it’s a matter of national integrity and commitment of government to its responsibility. I don’t see this president or his government resting on its oars until the fulfillment of this very strong drive. But above all things, the priority is also the safety of the children.

Is President Goodluck Jonathan truly clueless or are his aides?

This is a wonderful question. It is a concept contrived, not just by the opponents but also by very powerful stakeholders who feel aggrieved by the continued existence of Jonathan’s presidency in the history of Nigerian politics. There is no fallacy or disinformation that is greater than this preposterous, indefensible falsehood which was propagated through the powerful media manipulation of the opposition. Unfortunately, the idea was allowed to sink by the failure of government information machinery from the very onset.

The Jonathan administration has been maintaining a healthy economic stability and indices, reforming our dead rail system, totally transforming our agric sector to the extent that our food import bills have been reduced by almost two-thirds from about N16 trillion per annum to just about N650 billion, the rehabilitation of virtually all our aviation infrastructure and also the repair and rehabilitation of major economics arterial roads nationwide, doubling of our power generating capacity and unbundling the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which was not achievable for over five years, the establishment of the first mortgage refinancing corporation funded by government to the tune of over N50 billion and which will allow ordinary Nigerians to have access to long term funds to facilities with which they can own their own individual homes. The establishment of a new industrial policy which has the potential of revolutionising our manufacturing capabilities to the extent that the world acclaimed finance consultants, Mckinsey Institute, now project independently that Nigeria will be among the first 20 economies in the world by 2030.

If all these achievements are products of cluelessness of a president and his administration, then it may mean that the sun no longer has power to lighten our days.

Where is President Jonathan on his Transformation Agenda train?

Transformation Agenda is what separates Jonathan from all our previous leaders. The president had the leadership of the country thrusted on him by the unfortunate demise of Yar’adua. Fortunately for him, that afforded him a reasonable time not to just jump into governance but rather to take time off to prepare a road map for transforming the country. There are various sectors on the agenda and these include power, agric, economy, infrastructure, housing, transport, road infrastructure, unemployment and security.

When you look at the sectors, I can say with all certainty that most of the milestones set in the agenda have already been achieved or are in the latter stages of their full actualisation.

Most Nigerians and the opposition believe the government is behind raging impeachments and threats of impeachment in some states. How true is this?

We are in a democracy and this administration has exercised extreme political liberation. There was a time in this country when the All Progressives Congress (APC) bestrode the country, going from state to state trying to woo serving Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) serving governors into their fold. Their successes were not only orchestrated but gleefully celebrated. The PDP and the government of Jonathan didn’t do anything towards stopping them because it is a free country. We believe they were marketing their product which they have a right to do: the APC is a political contraption put together on the base of hate. It is only love that binds; hatred never binds anything together. Besides this, the APC state machineries have internal contradictions which made the chief executives to take political decisions not in sync which their followership and stakeholders.

For example, in Adamawa, how come a state governor, a two-term chief executive and political head will allow a situation where his legislative arm will be made up of assembly men, who are in overwhelming majority against his own party affiliation?

In Nasarawa, from day one, the governor was sitting on a keg of gunpowder and owed his existence as chief executive to the generosity and grace of his assembly men, who were largely PDP members. Under such circumstances, a chief executive cannot afford to tow a hard line of opposition and rub it in the nose of his assembly men. Look at Edo, Oyo and Imo states and you will see that in all these places, the governors, by their own making, have alienated themselves from their political bases.

In spite of all these, they continue to do unconstitutional things and directly opposite to the interest of the stakeholders in their states. Their continued existence as governors remains essentially precarious. From all the above, you will see that Shakespeare’s famous statement “Dear brothers, the fault is in us not in our stars” is very true in these cases.

The APC leadership should examine itself, the make up of their party, the political indignation and ill dispensation of their governors to correct whatever anomalies exist rather than blame their misfortune on Jonathan.

The president does not need to remove any APC state governor from office in order to win the 2015 election if he wants to contest. The result of Ekiti election has provided a profound lesson that media noisemaking and political grandstanding in the absence of sound judgement and quality performance will not sustain or guarantee an electoral reform.

I want to say categorically that we have no hand whatsoever in the misfortune of these politically inept APC governors. Is President Jonathan, for instance, the cause of the rift between Governor Ibikunle Amosun and Chief Olusegun Osoba in Ogun state or the struggle for power between Senator Femi Lanlehin and Governor Abiola Ajimobi?

Do you think President Jonathan stands any chance, if he decides to run in 2015?

When Jonathan declares his intention or otherwise, the battle line will be clearly drawn out. If he decides not to run, the PDP is too overwhelming to be subdued by a budding political platform like APC, which is yet to overcome its own internal problems. If President Jonathan decides to seek re-election in 2015, the sheer weight of evidence of his performance, which I will admit, we have not successfully and adequately propagated, will reduce any opposition from any contender from any party to a mere political Lilliputian. In other words, it would be more or less a no contest. I believe the opposition recognises the fact that is why a lot of moves and evil designs are being executed either to discourage or to misrepresent the president in the eye of the populace or even frustrate him outright. But we believe that, as long as God liveth, all these evil plans will never succeed.

GEJ '2015!!!

Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju is a former governor of Anambra State. He speaks with CHINELO OBOGO on the ongoing national conference, insecurity and other national issues. Excerpts:

There are some issues and recommendations by delegates in the national conference among which are states creation, taxing of religious institutions, scrapping of commissions and increase of derivation funds from 13 to 18 per cent. How workable are the recommendations?

I would not hesitate to support the scrapping of state electoral commissions because our national electoral commission never complained they are unable to do at state level what they have done at the national level. The state electoral commission is an unnecessary duplication and a waste of state resources. Furthermore, the governors of the states control the local governments and some of them become dictatorial because of the enormous powers conferred on them, and because of that they began to rub shoulders with the President and other authorities because they have accumulated money, and influence, and power. For me, there is nothing to gain by continuing with state electoral commissions and I believe they should be scrapped.

On the issue of taxation of religious bodies, I really don’t know how this is done in other countries. In America, the very big gospel Churches pay tax, it may be so for other countries. If money from the big churches reach the poor who are mainly in the smaller churches, not in the big cathedrals, the government may still assess the income of churches and decide what to do. If Churches in Nigeria should be taxed, the money raised must go to the poor in our society. Government will assist with funds from the churches. Nobody, I think, will complain for such an arrangement as it is only the very rich churches that government should target. Government may set-up a Commission with members to help lessen the burden of poor in our midst. It is a good idea. What I say about the church should also be true of rich Muslims and Mosques everywhere in Nigeria.

On the issue of derivation and whether funds should be increased from 13 to 18 percent, I’m inclined to say that even that is low. I support higher derivation fund because every State of the federation has natural resources, including oil. I don’t also believe that without oil some states cannot survive. Every State can survive with or without oil.

I’m inclined to suggest 50 percent derivation fund for every State product and 50 percent for the federation account. The Federal Government will have too much that they probably won’t know what to do with the enormous revenue accruing to it, except for some Federal Government Services.

On the issue of creation of more states, it should not be a problem ordinarily. Already, we have six zones in the country, the North West zone has seven, the North East zone has six; the North Central zone has seven states; the South West zone has six; the South South zone has six; and the South East zone has only five.

It is either we add one state to South East to make six like others, or we add one more state to each of the four states for them to have seven states each. Because “equity is equality” the present five states of the South East Zone will move up to seven in line with the other zones of the Federation for the purpose of equality of zones and balance of the federal structure, this is the only solution everyone should support.

The President asked for approval of N1 billion loan to tackle insecurity. There have been discordant tunes over the issue. What is your opinion?

No amount of money is too much to fight terrorists as long as it is well spent. If the governors have security votes, and it is not accounted for, how much more the Federal government? Boko Haram is an unfortunate phenomenon and they believe that if they kill, they go to heaven.

Insurgents and terrorists are fought all over the world, so let not Nigerians think that it was Jonathan that brought Boko Haram to Nigeria. But they are now with us, so everything should be done to save the lives of Nigerian people.

They didn’t stop with the life of our people alone but also of their property; they burnt Churches and Mosques, homes, markets and peoples’ means of livelihood. But our consolation is that we are not alone but this is the time we, as a nation, should come together and accept fully the leadership of President Jonathan and support him because he means well for Nigeria.

Do you think our security agencies are doing enough to fight the terrorists?

It cannot be rightly said that our security agencies are not serious in their response to anti-terrorism, I don’t agree with that idea. Those international groups still battle insurgents in their own counties and never won. Our military are trained as they exhibit in their foreign and international combats. The most recent was that of Mali where our forces stopped the advance of the insurgents as the Prime Minister escaped. It was Nigerian Forces that made their day. But after a Nigerian should have been appointed to lead the operation, the command was given to another person of less experience and qualification from another country. This is the case of “monkey de work, baboon de chop”.

Do you think the Federal Government did well to accept foreign assistance?

We are in a global village and nations share views and discuss strategies. I have already indicated in the above question the fact that Nigeria is rated one of the best in international combat. If we must fight in other states and countries for their freedom, why would foreign forces not reciprocate and fight along with Nigeria on our soil at this hour of our need?

The problem is that most Nigerians don’t trust themselves, how then can they trust their government who means well for them. We are very far from being nationalistic. We prefer admiring the gains of nation-building in other countries but they neglect the achievements our leaders are recording at home. I call on fellow Nigerians to remind them that “charity begins at home”.

Are there things that you did that you wished you would have done differently?

There is nothing I did in Anambra State that I could regret. I took over the Sate from the military and when I began my work I realized that the Government House was burnt just before the Military handed over. I inherited four months unpaid salary which I quickly paid off and began to pay workers salary of N583 million monthly, paid them Christmas bonus. Workers morale was high and we worked well until workers, spearheaded by the then National President who is now governor of his state started trouble. He is in trouble as he had put me in some trouble too, fulfilling the law of karma and nemesis.

Anambra fared well despite problems of funding which at times I could only receive N200million while workers salary was N583million every month. It was difficult, but we sailed through, establishing the first Anambra State University among other infrastructural developments of which the then President Obasanjo scored us ‘A’ on the scale, and in the area of security and welfare, I took the gold cup in a national competition at Abuja. I thank God for Governor Willie Obiano and Anambra State for deciding to take up my projects left half way. Indeed, no governor leaves office with all his projects completed. It is like relay race, one starts the other completes it. Actually, I never saw Governor Willie Obiano and he may not have seen me too, except in pictures. But by our works and utterances we have heard of each other. Willie as he is fondly called will govern Anambra State constitutionally and within his period, we will one day shake hands if he invites me.

With the forthcoming 2015 elections, do you foresee a situation where the South East will present and support a candidate for the presidential election?

The South East has decided to support President Goodluck Jonathan. He is about completing his first term and to do his second term as provided by the constitution. It is because of the minority syndrome that a man from the minority area should not be allowed to complete his two terms in office. It is not fair. And because such a thing happened to me, I would not like it to repeat for anyone I know.

So, if President Jonathan declares that he would not recontest, then the South East will support him. I don’t see Jonathan as a weak President as people say.

What we should remember is that there is a clear difference between a civilian president and military president. A military president rules by decree and it does not matter to him whose ox is gored. Nigerians are so used to military dictators that when there is an elected president, most Nigerians expect the civilian president to govern the country as military dictators had done. We must therefore be careful as to what Nigerians expect from their leaders in office.

President Jonathan’s hand is not only tied by the dictates of his religion, he also took the personal decision to be guided by his oath of office as prescribed by the constitution which he felt he must abide by the rules and regulations. If Chief Obasanjo had played according to rules of constitution, he wouldn’t have aspired for 3rd term in office, or stopped some governors from 2nd term which the constitution grants them.

President Jonathan’s chorus of election based on one-man, one-vote, one-woman, one vote, and so on, singles him out as a real democrat, and he did not allow electoral fraud as part of elections in Edo, Ondo, Anambra and Ekiti. President Jonathan will be remembered as the best active and action-packed President Nigeria has had. It is unfortunate that there is too much hatred in the system now and if care is not taken Sodom and Gomorrah may be a child’s play.

GEJ' 2015!!!

Federal Civil Service Pensioners in Nigeria have thrown their weight behind the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying he has done so much to deserve a second term.

Rising from an emergency meeting held in Lokoja the Kogi State capital, at the weekend, the pensioners dissociated themselves from an earlier statement credited to the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), which said pensioners in the country would not vote for the president in the 2015 presidential election.

In a communique signed by the National President, Mr. J.S Nmodu and the Secretary, Eddie Mene-Ejegi, the group said the statement credited to the NUP president was repulsive, selfish and did not represent the interests of all the members.

The communique, therefore, urged all members to vote en masse for the re-election of the president whenever he signified his intention to run.

The communique demanded equal representation in Nigeria Union of Pensioners’ executive, Board of Trustees and in core committees.

It also urged the NUP to release the check-off dues already collected from the Federal Government to the group within 21 days or face its wrath.

The communique also urged the head of service of the federation and other relevant bodies to involve members of the Federal Civil Service Pensioners in supervising the proposed verification exercise of pensioners in the 36 states of the federation.

GEJ '2015!!!

The Deputy Governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Mukhtari Shagari, who is a strong member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday urged Northerners to vote enmaess for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in his second term bid as President in 2015. Doing this, he said, would instill fairness, justice and equity in the fabric of the country’s polity.

The former Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, premised his argument on the fact that everyone who had the opportunity to become president of Nigeria, were given the opportunity to go for second term, adding that former Presidents Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, were given the same opportunity.

“If the former late President, Umaru Shehu Yar’Adua were still alive, he also, would have been given the same opportunity. Why not Jonathan?”, the deputy governor asked.

Shagari who granted THISDAY an interview in Abuja, said Jonathan, who is from the South-south and the people of that region have been supportive of the Northern political agenda for almost 50 years.

On why he maintains such declaration, even though some elite opposed Jonathan’s second term bid, he said: “If now, the opportunity has come for us as northerners, to support the candidacy of the South-south, because one good turn deserves another, and I knew at that point in time, when I made that pronouncement, politically, it was not a popular thing to say.

“We should not just vote based on popularity, we should in this country imbibe this idea of fairness, justice and equity and allow others to have opportunity when that opportunity comes around, and I still maintain that position, in that Jonathan should be given all the support that he needs to have a second term, because as far as I’m concerned there are challenges, yes, but he is doing the best that he can to make this country a better place for us.”

According to him, any President, could be in the same shoe with him, regarding all the security problems, adding that Nigerians should not ask him to go based on those challenges. He said Jonathan should be given all the support that he deserves.

Shagari said: “We should also understand that the problem of this country was not created by him. He inherited most of them, including the security problem. What we have to do as a nation is to come out boldly and support him to fight the insecurity that we have, and also to give the people of the South-south the opportunity to have a second term.”

GEJ '2015!!!