₦airaland Forum

In 2003 when he broke ranks with his fellow Southwest governors and declined to form an ethnically motivated political and electoral alliance with former president Olusegun Obasanjo, few people knew what really motivated Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was at the time Lagos State governor. When the alliance blew up in the faces of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) governors who blundered into it, it was suggested that Asiwaju Tinubu was prescient. It was obvious he could not trust Chief Obasanjo whom he considered adept at ambushing friends and enemies alike and skillful in seeking advantage over them, often unscrupulously. But there was a second, perhaps more potent, reason for balking at the deal with the former president. Asiwaju Tinubu was naturally uninterested in any alliance not anchored on ideas. Allying with Chief Obasanjo simply because he was Yoruba, especially one who neither approximated nor projected Yoruba worldview and values, was to him ignoble.

In retrospect, Asiwaju Tinubu served notice early in the day what kind of politics he wished to play, and what kind of person he liked to be thought of. His ideas might not possess Aristotelian streaks, but he was passionate about them, and he took inordinate risk imbuing them with life. He was not afraid to walk alone, nor be pilloried fairly or maliciously, and he seemed to take pleasure in risking everything he had for the sake of causes, and if it came to that, persons, he believed in. But he took care to outlive the enemy rather than hug reckless martyrdom. He of course recognised he was not always right, but he seemed at peace with himself even when he was wrong. Sometimes brusque, sometimes combative, a little obtruding and consciously ruthless, he was in equal measure humane, farsighted, sacrificial and thoughtful. He in fact seemed to have built his political career on a curious amalgam of virtues and vices that made him one of the most loathed and loved, but more accurately paradoxically indefinable, person in politics today.

Twelve years after he defined his place as a huge risk taker in politics, and after more than a decade of plotting and scheming, envisioning and practicalising, Asiwaju Tinubu has worked himself into a central position as an ideologue, kingmaker and democrat to whom, more than anyone, the country owes both the deepening of its democracy and the dramatic electoral overthrow of the Goodluck Jonathan government. He could have shortsightedly entered into the unwholesome and opportunistic electoral arrangement with Chief Obasanjo in 2003, and settled any discussion as to what kind of man he was. And in 2007, he could also have accepted the government of national unity offered by his close friend and former Katsina State governor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua. But on both occasions, his instinctive understanding of the value of opposition politics, his unstated belief in the superiority of his ideas, and his charismatic independence, even aloofness bordering on isolation, compelled him into a different political trajectory.

That trajectory has taken him through a roller coaster of emotions, plucked him from the politics of one state — Lagos — and hopped, stepped and jumped him via regional politics of the Southwest, and landed him smack in the coveted middle of national politics, as tactician, strategist and kingmaker. Now, even his enemies, of whom there are hundreds, will respect him though they continue to loath him. Asiwaju Tinubu’s success and prominence in politics must, however, be properly contextualised. In the 2015 polls, he was simply well positioned. Dr Jonathan had worked up the electorate into a fever over his poor handling of national affairs, including unemployment, Chibok schoolgirls abductions, declining economy, corruption and many debilitating and vexatious policies. A change had become desirable by as early as 2013. Gen Buhari, the APC candidate had also recognised the limitations of his politics of exclusion and non-compromise, and had risen astronomically in the stock of the electorate to achieve cult following. And the world itself, especially the great powers and superpowers, had become quite fed up with the mediocrity in Nigeria. The conditions were ripe for change, and it required someone of uncommon perception, vision and courage to midwife it.

Nigeria was fortunate that the ripe conditions were met by one man (or what a great wit poignantly and cryptically describes as ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’), Asiwaju Tinubu, who showed fierce determination and character in 2003, reinforced that character and self-belief in 2007, expanded his horizon from thence onward, and in 2011 began to envision the kind of alliances and friendship across ethnic groups, regions and religions that were necessary to change the old order. While still confined to his Lagos State as a lone survivor of the Obasanjo Tsunami, and whereas the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) controlled more states than his Action Congress (AC), he began to act and speak as the national opposition, unafraid he could be crushed by a dominant Abuja and a domineering and unsparing President Obasnjo.

Not only did he succour former Plateau State governor, Joshua Chbbi Dariye, who was unlawfully impeached and hunted by both President Obasanjo and a colluding PDP in 2006, he also lent a helping hand to former Oyo State governor, Rashidi Ladoja, who had also come under President Obasanjo’s impeachment axe in the same year. To underscore the fact that his political convictions were not a fluke, he was to later extend the same assistance to the impeached Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako. An incurable believer in presidentialism and its undergirding principle of federalism, Asiwaju Tinubu gladly reached out as a champion of the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers to anyone oppressed. It was no surprise that he took active interest in the electoral processes of Southwest states, including the South-South state of Edo; nor was it also surprising that many ambitious politicians saw him as a reliable friend and bulwark in the fight for electoral probity. He fought to reclaim Ekiti, Osun, Ondo and Edo States; and by the next round of polls in 2011, he offered more than an arm and a leg to claim Ogun and Oyo States.

Between 1999 and 2011, it was clear to every observer that the presidency meddled in the affairs of the National Assembly, thereby robbing Nigeria of one of the main legs for the sustenance of democracy. In particular, Chief Obasanjo meddled actively in the legislature, enthroning and dethroning at will. Even out of power, in 2011, he still attempted to enthrone Hon Mulikat Adeola-Akande as the Speaker. By that time, however, Asiwaju Tinubu’s Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) had come of age. Brushing aside the sentiment of zoning and ethnicity, and recognising that his party held the ace in the Southwest, and also aware that he needed to stamp his authority on the democratic process, he forged an alliance with other independent forces within and outside the House of Representatives to elect a Speaker of their choice, Aminu Tambuwal.

It took enormous courage to embrace a prescient choice that at face value seemed to disadvantage the Southwest to which the PDP had zoned the position. But needs must when the devil drives, and Asiwaju Tinubu shut his eyes, steadied his nerves and bit the bullet. The recriminations that followed were fearsome and unrelenting for more than four years. He was blamed for every problem in the region, and in particular for Dr Jonathan’s deliberate and orchestrated marginalisation of the Yoruba. The grey hairs and hot blood of the Afenifere and Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) respectively assailed him, and propped up the Teflon Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State as the new rallying point for the Yoruba. They are now all silent, their last hoary gasp made when Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos took the Igbo in Lagos to task.

It is not clear at what point Asiwaju Tinubu began to entertain the thought of winning the centre, especially because he had unsuccessfully tried to forge a winning alliance both in 2007 and 2011 for that purpose. But after seeing the political spinoff from his fortuitous backing of Hon Tambuwal for the position of Speaker, and considering the doors it opened to the North, and the fact that many permutations suddenly became appealingly possible, a fresh and more vigorous attempt to form an alliance looked realistic. The Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, bitterly opposed the ACN, denounced Asiwaju Tinubu, and blamed him for all the region’s woes. Undeterred, however, a new broad-based alliance, which took advantage of the estrangement of some five or seven PDP governors, was formed a year after in 2012. But notwithstanding the flourish and excitement with which the new party called APC presented its roadmap and manifesto, few knew that barely two years later, they could sweep so dramatically and grandly into power.

If Asiwaju Tinubu dreamt of winning the presidency for the APC, he did not speak it confidently. There were the structure and organisation of the gangling and unsteady party to contend with, as many old party hands resisted new ones. There were also contentious primaries to overcome, not to talk of the more volatile election of a presidential candidate. Indeed, every prognostication was unfavourable, with many analysts, including former Aviation minister Ebenezer Babatope, swearing that sooner or later the new party would implode. Surprisingly, perhaps also to the party’s leaders, the party held together. It also became clear that the driving force was Asiwaju Tinubu, who worked tirelessly and imaginatively to keep the new alliance going. Even if he could not get the ultimate prize of the presidency for the APC, he thought, the party could at least rise to become a strong and powerful opposition with expanded reach. A number of Southwest groups, including Afenifere, accused him of helping the North to enslave the Yoruba, but he forged on nonetheless.

Any astute politician who studied the statistics of the 2011 polls would know it is sentimental nonsense to speak of enslavement. Dr Jonathan himself had to forge an alliance between at least four geopolitical zones to win in 2011. No northern or south-western politician could win the presidency without a strong alliance. A smart politician would appreciate that Dr Jonathan’s policies had alienated the North. It was, therefore, ready for an alliance. The Southwest, notwithstanding the outlandish conclusions of the Afenifere, was also frustrated and alienated, and was ready for a deal. If no other zone embraced the change mantra, four zones already implicitly did. Having secured the friendship of the North, instead of hating and preaching to them like the Afenifere did, Asiwaju Tinubu managed to finally cobble together a winning alliance and formula which even the controversy over the presidential running mate could not scupper.

Two final factors seal the reputation of Asiwaju Tinubu. Not only was he ready to work with difficult politicians like Chief Obasanjo, whose crippling conservatism and meddlesomeness many Nigerians resented, since 1999 he had imbibed the Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello culture of leadership recruitment, building young men and women whom he unleashed on the country as future leaders, while also reconciling with his powerful detractors to the point of even describing Chief Obasanjo incredulously as the navigator. Those future leaders sometimes disagreed with him, and even took advantage of his liberal spirit and forbearance, but he seemed to have an uncanny appreciation of their limitations and thus readily accommodated or overlooked their foibles.

He may not be president-elect or vice president-elect, but the role he played in deepening democracy, sustaining and nurturing the culture of opposition, and strategising the defeat of the PDP, have all raised his profile sky-high. Like the APC, his main challenge will be how to manage both his success and new profile. Two years after its formation, the APC won the presidency even before it had time to solidify its structure and reinforce its raison d’etre. It is, after all, clear that the party has many tendencies, and its core values may seem even tenuous and fragile, especially seeing how a mixed multitude had flocked into its membership in the past months. Asiwaju Tinubu himself, the man with the onomatopoeic Borgu (kwara State) traditional title of Jagaban, is not the most patient of men when it comes to running with a vision; but while he is doubtless a progressive, he appears more pragmatic than philosophical, more practical than an ideologue.

The APC is a young party, undoubtedly precocious. But it is also brash and to some extent inexperienced. It needs time to establish itself and concretise its philosophy and traditions. Asiwaju Tinubu is tarred with the same brush. Though he sometimes sounds eclectic, his ideas are nonetheless still in formation. But much more challenging to him is that not being president or vice president, and being consumed by a gripping vision for the seemingly impossible, he must now watch how his party and other elected officials would run with the vision. He will assume that everyone has cottoned on to the vision; but more, he will squirm and writhe in anxiety from a point (which point?) in the scheme of things that posterity will place him. For someone so enormously endowed, but one also abounding in his own idiosyncratic shortcomings, his greatest battles may be ahead of him: not battles of strategising and winning elections; but battles of sustaining the lofty height he has climbed as a person and politician, and turning the APC into a more cohesive, disciplined and philosophical organisation, one capable of both midwifing the change the country yearned for when it voted Gen Buhari and developing Nigeria into a developmental tiger far surpassing those of Asia.http://thenationonlineng.net/new/apc-and-the-tinubu-phenomenon/

osed the ACN, denounced Asiwaju Tinubu, and blamed him for all the region’s woes. Undeterred, however, a new broad-based alliance, which took advantage of the estrangement of some five or seven PDP governors, was formed a year after in 2012. But notwithstanding the flourish and excitement with which the new party called APC presented its roadmap and manifesto, few knew that barely two years later, they could sweep so dramatically and grandly into power.

If Asiwaju Tinubu dreamt of winning the presidency for the APC, he did not speak it confidently. There were the structure and organisation of the gangling and unsteady party to contend with, as many old party hands resisted new ones. There were also contentious primaries to overcome, not to talk of the more volatile election of a presidential candidate. Indeed, every prognostication was unfavourable, with many analysts, including former Aviation minister Ebenezer Babatope, swearing that sooner or later the new party would implode. Surprisingly, perhaps also to the party’s leaders, the party held together. It also became clear that the driving force was Asiwaju Tinubu, who worked tirelessly and imaginatively to keep the new alliance going. Even if he could not get the ultimate prize of the presidency for the APC, he thought, the party could at least rise to become a strong and powerful opposition with expanded reach. A number of Southwest groups, including Afenifere, accused him of helping the North to enslave the Yoruba, but he forged on nonetheless.

Any astute politician who studied the statistics of the 2011 polls would know it is sentimental nonsense to speak of enslavement. Dr Jonathan himself had to forge an alliance between at least four geopolitical zones to win in 2011. No northern or south-western politician could win the presidency without a strong alliance. A smart politician would appreciate that Dr Jonathan’s policies had alienated the North. It was, therefore, ready for an alliance. The Southwest, notwithstanding the outlandish conclusions of the Afenifere, was also frustrated and alienated, and was ready for a deal. If no other zone embraced the change mantra, four zones already implicitly did. Having secured the friendship of the North, instead of hating and preaching to them like the Afenifere did, Asiwaju Tinubu managed to finally cobble together a winning alliance and formula which even the controversy over the presidential running mate could not scupper.

Two final factors seal the reputation of Asiwaju Tinubu. Not only was he ready to work with difficult politicians like Chief Obasanjo, whose crippling conservatism and meddlesomeness many Nigerians resented, since 1999 he had imbibed the Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello culture of leadership recruitment, building young men and women whom he unleashed on the country as future leaders, while also reconciling with his powerful detractors to the point of even describing Chief Obasanjo incredulously as the navigator. Those future leaders sometimes disagreed with him, and even took advantage of his liberal spirit and forbearance, but he seemed to have an uncanny appreciation of their limitations and thus readily accommodated or overlooked their foibles.

He may not be president-elect or vice president-elect, but the role he played in deepening democracy, sustaining and nurturing the culture of opposition, and strategising the defeat of the PDP, have all raised his profile sky-high. Like the APC, his main challenge will be how to manage both his success and new profile. Two years after its formation, the APC won the presidency even before it had time to solidify its structure and reinforce its raison d’etre. It is, after all, clear that the party has many tendencies, and its core values may seem even tenuous and fragile, especially seeing how a mixed multitude had flocked into its membership in the past months. Asiwaju Tinubu himself, the man with the onomatopoeic Borgu (kwara State) traditional title of Jagaban, is not the most patient of men when it comes to running with a vision; but while he is doubtless a progressive, he appears more pragmatic than philosophical, more practical than an ideologue.

The APC is a young party, undoubtedly precocious. But it is also brash and to some extent inexperienced. It needs time to establish itself and concretise its philosophy and traditions. Asiwaju Tinubu is tarred with the same brush. Though he sometimes sounds eclectic, his ideas are nonetheless still in formation. But much more challenging to him is that not being president or vice president, and being consumed by a gripping vision for the seemingly impossible, he must now watch how his party and other elected officials would run with the vision. He will assume that everyone has cottoned on to the vision; but more, he will squirm and writhe in anxiety from a point (which point?) in the scheme of things that posterity will place him. For someone so enormously endowed, but one also abounding in his own idiosyncratic shortcomings, his greatest battles may be ahead of him: not battles of strategising and winning elections; but battles of sustaining the lofty height he has climbed as a person and politician, and turning the APC into a more cohesive, disciplined and philosophical organisation, one capable of both midwifing the change the country yearned for when it voted Gen Buhari and developing Nigeria into a developmental tiger far surpassing those of Asia.

the political ingenuity of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu which resulted in the victory of the party at the recently concluded general elections, the Royal Ambassador to the Alaafin of Oyo, Aare Ayandotun Ayanlakin has said he (Tinubu) had attained towering political heights similar to that of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

He insisted that with the enviable pedigree of Tinubu, there is no living Yoruba leader today that can match his record.

Aare Ayanlakin said this yesterday while addressing newsmen in Ibadan.

He further stated that just like his prediction a year ago that Governor Abiola Ajimobi would win the election, he said that the governor would become the Vice-President of the country sooner or later.

He said, “I agree that there is a saying that the people of Oyo State don’t serve one governor twice. But the saying arose because those who had been governing Oyo State, especially during the current republic, until Ajimobi came on board, had not been serving the people.

“They have been serving themselves rather than serving the people. The reverse is the case with Ajimobi. He has been serving the people and that is why the people of Oyo State gathered together and gave him a second term.”

Ayanlakin said, “Since Ajimobi assumed office, the masses have witnessed tremendous change and that is why Ajimobi broke the age-long second term jinx because he is an outstanding governor, who has made land mark achievements and the electorate will vote for him on that basis.

“He has transformed almost all sectors. He has built roads, transformed the health sector, turned around education and agriculture, created a peaceful and conducive atmosphere and improved the welfare package of workers.”
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/2015-polls-tinubu-fits-into-awolowos-shoes-says-alaafins-aide/#sthash.TUnbNyXm.dpuf

Stealing is not corruption

Gale of defections hitting the outgoing ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP assumed a serious dimension yesterday with its former National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor visiting the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Abuja.
Ogbulafor who arrived the secretariat at about 2:35pm went into a closed door meeting with the APC national chairman, Chief John Oyegun.
The meeting lasted for about 40 minutes.

Vincent Ogbulafor
It will be recalled that as sitting PDP national chairman, Ogbulafor scored a first when he boasted in 2008 that PDP would rule Nigeria for 60 years.
The phrase later became maxim for the party members even in the last presidential election campaign.
But it was not too long when things fell apart between the Abia State born politician and President Goodluck Jonathan consequent upon a statement credited to him before 2011 general elections that power must remain in the north before 2015.
The statement was seen as an affront to Jonathan who though was serving out the term of his former boss,late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua also haboured ambition for 2011.
Ogbulafor was later forced to resign and later faced the court for several years over some charges of financial embezzlement. He was only freed on October 2, 2014 by the court that eventually quashed the case.
Since then Ogbulafor who had also been National Secretary of PDP, Minister in the government of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo had remained silent, almost politically idle and out of news until yesterday when he visited APC leadership.
Coming out of the APC office, Ogbulafor was accosted by Journalists who enquired the reason for his mission at the opposition camp.
Responding, Ogbulafor said he was at the secretariat to congratulate APC national chairman for “a job well done”. The brief interview between Ogbulafor and Journalists ran thus:
We are surprised you are here sir?
I just came back into town yesterday and I came to congratulate the national chairman of APC for a job well done.
Don’t you think some of your party members in PDP, might read meaning into this?
How can they feel offended? I am still in PDP.
Are you considering joining APC?
Not yet. Even if I will, not yet.
How do you feel about General Buhari’s victory at the poll?
I am very happy.
But we recall that you were the one who said PDP will rule Nigeria for 60 years?
Yes I said so. But when they dismantled governors forum, what do you expect?
But you are coming to associate with APC?
I am a Nigerian.
Will it not be treated as anti-party activity by your party?
I am a Nigerian. APC has produced the president of this country and I have to congratulate him for job well done.
Are you still in PDP?
Why not?
How would you describe the election in Abia, your home state?
When they conclude it you will get the result.
How soon will you be joining APC?
I have been National Chairman, National Secretary and Minister. I will remain in PDP until it becomes necessary to make a change.
Meanwhile, every effort to get a word from APC National Chair, Oyegun who also emerged shortly after Ogbulafor exited the arena yielded no result as he jumped into his waiting Jeep, beaming smiles, clearly dodged questions from newsmen.
But the APC Deputy National Chairman, South, Engr. Segun Oni offered to speak to Journalists with regards to Ogbulafor’s visit to the secretariat. Also, the interaction ran thus:
We just saw the former National Chairman of the PDP around and we learnt that he had fruitful discussion with APC leadership. I saw him, but I think it is a private visit he came for. Don’t forget, the National Chairman is his friend and some of us are also his friends.
Does it have anything to do with him joining the APC?
I don’t think it has anything to do with him coming to the APC.
Won’t you be happy if he joins the APC?
Of course, we will be very happy if he comes to the APC, but that is not the purpose of his visit.
But his presence here will create room for speculations?
He came to visit his friend and to congratulate us. That is the way politics should be played. Even if he were still the National Chairman of PDP and he comes here to congratulate our national chairman and meet some of us his friends, that will be good politics. I am looking forward to our friend, the National Chairman of PDP visiting us here to say congratulations. As politicians, we must salvage this process called politics. We must rescue it from charlatans. We must give it a colour of decency, we must give it a colour of maturity. I will expect that even if he does not have time to visit us now, he should send us a letter.

These two individuals are not the most corrupt members of the now infamous Goodluck Jonathan led presidency—and it will take a very long time before the full extent of the damage done to our economy can be fully established, if at all possible! However, in the case of Deziani and Okonjo-Iweala, the information gleaned from the several House of Representatives investigations into the 10 Billion Naira NNPC plane maintenance contracts, and oil subsidy payments that were not budgeted for provide the incoming President with enough information to order their immediate arrests and have them charged with the appropriate offenses the same day.

I can afford to take the risk of concluding that the majority of Nigerians would like to see brought to justice, and swiftly so, the people who brought Nigeria to her knees through the looting of our commonwealth.

Many Nigerians are afraid that some, if not most of these looters, may flee the country after May 29, 2015, before investigations are commenced/concluded. The purpose of this article is to advocate that the President elect, Mohamadu Buhari, should start the blitzkrieg against corruption immediately after concluding his swearing-in ceremony at Eagle Square on May 29, 2015.

Based on readily available public information, there is no better way and place to start that fight than the arrest Allison Deziani Madueke and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala before the end of day on May 29, 2015. Both women are currently serving as minister for Petroleum and Finance respectively. They both represent some of the biggest fishes, yes fishes, in the pond.

These two individuals are not the most corrupt members of the now infamous Goodluck Jonathan led presidency—and it will take a very long time before the full extent of the damage done to our economy can be fully established, if at all possible! However, in the case of Deziani and Okonjo-Iweala, the information gleaned from the several House of Representatives investigations into the 10 Billion Naira NNPC plane maintenance contracts, and oil subsidy payments that were not budgeted for provide the incoming President with enough information to order their immediate arrests and have them charged with the appropriate offences the same day. The new president should demonstrate his commitment to the rule of law and the time limit requirement for charging arrested persons with offences known to law and having such persons presented before a court of law by ensuring that both women appear in the court on Monday June 1, 2015 to enter pleas and apply for bail. (May 29, 2015 being a Friday). Like many other Nigerians, I believe that both women are surely guilty of more heinous offenses than the ones mentioned above. However, arresting and charging them will send a clear and unambiguous message about the ferocity of the incoming President’s war against corruption, yield valuable information into the more  complicated investigations and encourage others to step forward and make voluntary disclosures, thereby reducing the time and resources needed for the fight against corruption.

The President-Elect can then offer leniency on the basis of voluntary disclosures, have a hiatus of a few days and wait to see if there will be takers of the offer. The majority of Nigerian politicians are cowards and trust me, seeing the powerful Deziani and Okonjo-Iweala charged before the court, they will be lining up to confess. This approach will be cheaper, point you to previously unknown and maybe otherwise never possible to find stolen resources. I believe it will also yield more of the stolen resources. This topic will be fleshed out in full in another article.

For me, calling for the arrest and trial of Okonjo-Iweala is personal anguish for me but the nation’s interest must be the over-riding consideration. It is anguish for me because at the tail end of Obasanjo’s presidency she was one of those I sincerely considered worthy of becoming the President or Vice President at the very minimum. How she allowed herself to be sucked into the bowels of Goodluck Jonathan’s rampaging corruption whale is an examination that would have commenced inside her head by now.

Let PDP supporters call me what they want and I am not a member of APC. The party I support is the one I believe has the interest of Nigeria at heart. I believe Mohamadu Buhari of APC does at this point in time. Nigerians, including me are eager to see these corrupt and arrogant politicians from all parties who bestrode our political landscape in the recent past like Colossus, feeding fat on our collective inheritance brought to justice and swiftly so. The stoppage or reduction of corruption and the recovery of our stolen resources is critical the efforts to build a sustainable society in which we all have a reasonable chance of achieving our legitimate aspirations.

Illesanmi Omabomi

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and former minister in the Second Republic, Senator Bello Maitama Yusuf, are currently flexing muscles over N15 million campaign funds allegedly diverted by the latter.

Consequently, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which reportedly released the money to the Senator, is seeking to arrest him, with a view to recovering the money disbursed for purposes of electioneering. It was alleged that he defected to All Progressives Congress, APC, after taking the money.
While Governor Lamido asked Senator Yusuf to refund the money or face arrest, the Senator dared the governor to arrest him. Vanguard authoritatively gathered that Governor Lamido approved the release of N15 million to Yusuf for onward disbursement to the electorate in his Gwaram constituency during the governorship, state assembly and House of Representatives elections.
Senator Yusuf, in a swift reaction, denied ever taking campaign funds from PDP for disbursement to electorate in his constituency, adding that his defection to All Progressives Congress, APC, was the reason the story was concocted to malign him. Yusuf said: “I am just a victim of circumstance; because I defected to APC.
“It is unbelievable. I do not have business with campaign funds. I spend my own money for the development of my people and the party.”

Many factors aided the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest geo-political zone at the governorship elections. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the epic battles, issues that shaped the contests and lessons from the elections.

It was a fierce battle. And it was fought on all sides with vigour, energy and resources. During the campaigns, it was as if the zone was preparing for a major war. Indeed, it was an epic battle for the soul of the most politically conscious and sophisticated region, the Southwest. The All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its allies – the Accord, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Unity party of Nigeria (UPN), participated in what could best be described, a popularity test. At the close of the polls, the wheat was separated from the chaff.

The general elections, according to observers, were free and fair. Many gladiators escaped defeat narrowly. Some others were not so lucky, they were humbled. Across the three states-Lagos, Ogun and Oyo – where the governorship election held, the margin was not wide. There were a lot of surprises. Candidates that were perceived as weak contenders waxed strong on poll day. The so-called power brokers fell during the exercise. The contest was keen, an indication that electoral democracy has become much more competitive. For the first time, the people took ownership of the process. The lessons of the parliamentary and governorship polls will remain instructive. They may guide the zone in its preparations for future elections.

The outcome of the poll heralded a new dawn in the Southwest. Indeed, for the first time, four states in the region-Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun – which had loathed mainstream politics, or put succinctly, alliance with the conservative centre, is aligning with the centre under the banner of progressive politics. This has implications for inter-governmental relations in an atmosphere of cooperative federalism. The era of federal/state bickering may be replaced by a gradual movement to political understanding. However, to enlarge its coast in the region, APC has an unfinished business. Although the party made further in-road into Ondo State, where it won two of the senatorial seats, it met a brick wall in Ekiti, where it was roundly defeated by the PDP at the presidential, National and State Assembly polls.

Between 2011 and 2011, the perception of the Southwest about President Goodluck Jonathan has changed. The people of the region were stunned by his inept administration. The poor performance cut across all sectors. To them, the government has not tackled corruption, addressed unemployment and the issue of power. Rather, it has encouraged waste, inefficiency, thuggery and impunity. Consequently, when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other compatriots mooted the idea of a mega party to challenge the PDP, there was enthusiasm in the region.

The four governors have an arduous task ahead of them. While fraternising with the Federal Government, based on party affiliation, the regional integration project they have subscribed to must not be abandoned.

Lagos

Since 1999, the PDP and the progressive bloc have been locked in a battle of supremacy in Lagos. The Federal Government had always wanted to capture the state, but at every election, the bid has been futile. The recent governorship election was not an exception. The PDP candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, a pharmacist, fought gallantly. But, he lost to the APC standard bearer, Akinwunmi Ambode, a chartered accountant. The opposition, built on its previous record of failure. In 1999, its candidate, Chief Dapo Sarumi, was defeated by Senator Bola Tinubu of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). In 2003, Tinubu also defeated the PDP flag bearer, the late Mr. Funso Williams, an engineer. In 2007, the PDP candidate, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, crashed before Governor Babatunde Fashola of the defunct Action Congress (AC). Also, in 2011, the PDP candidate, Dr. Ade Dosunmu, could not fly. He lost to Fashola, who ran on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Ahead of the recent general elections, the crisis-ridden PDP chapter, reflected on its failed attempts to capture power. Its leader, Commodore Bode George (rtd), took Agbaje to Aso Villa, to sell him to the President. The Afenifere chieftain, who had earlier rejected overtures to defect to the PDP, shortly after the demise of Williams, finally agreed to run on the platform of the party. The PDP has always been a divided house. To encourage Agbaje, there was a sort of camouflage reconciliation among the warring chieftains. Unlike the APC, Agbaje emerged as a candidate at a rancorous primary election, which Obanikoro described as a sham. But, the party was united by the pumping of money into the chapter by the Presidency.

Agbaje is a people’s man and Lagosians took him seriously. He is a polished politician; urbane, nice and sociable. The pharmacist is brilliant; he is a good speaker, knowledgeable and widely perceived as a man of integrity and honour. But, according to analysts, Agbaje ran on a wrong platform, which mocked his antecedent as a committed progressive. This called attention to his pedigree. Those who voted for him, did so on merit, not because of party affiliation. His party, to many Lagosians, was not appealing.

The PDP was desperate to capture Lagos. Before the presidential poll, it employed four methods. President Goodluck Jonathan secured the endorsement of the polarised regional group, Afenifere. But, reality later dawned on him that he struck a deal with a section of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group that could not successfully mobilise support for a councillorship candidate in any part of the region. Also, the PDP-controlled Federal Government mobilised both factions of the ethnic militia, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), led by Dr Fredrick Faseun and Gani Adams, to terrorise Lagos for eight hours. Irked by the show of shame, former Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, said that the sponsors of the perfidy were on the way to doom. The third strategy was the ethnic card, which has now created a division in Lagos, with its implications for peaceful co-existence among the diverse tribes. The PDP succeeded in inciting the Igbos against their hosts by inventing the highly divisive and potentially provocative slogan of ‘Lagos is no man’s land.’ In the opinion of observers, Agbaje also made a mistake of playing ethnic politics, unlike in 2007 when he dwelt on issues. Thus, PDP promised Lagos Ndigbo six commissioners and an Eze Ndigbo of Lagos, which would have been very difficult for Agbaje to fulfill, if he had won the race. The fourth was the massive financial inducement of the electorate.

The party was more desperate, shortly after it lost the presidential election. The PDP peeped into the future, noting that it would need money to play the role of the opposition. It therefore, resolved to capture Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states. But, the plot failed in Lagos and its victory in the two oil-rich states remained controversial.

Lagosians were yearning for change. Therefore, they supported the presidential ambition of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Besides, the struggle for change at the centre began from Lagos. The crusade was led by Tinubu. He was the last man standing in 2003. Under his leadership, the progressives reclaimed other Southwest states, although Ondo and Ekiti were re-captured.

In the last 16 years, Lagos has also been building on the solid foundation laid by Asiwaju Tinubu. In 1999, the former governor inherited a state struggling for survival. But, through creative financial engineering, Lagos State jerked up its internally generated revenue. Tinubu also laid the foundation for infrastructure battle in the Centre of Excellence. He was succeeded by a competent aide, Governor Babatunde Fashola, who built on the legacies. Therefore, when the APC family led by Tinubu, the pathfinder, and Fashola, the actualiser, called for the sustainability of the progress made so far through a government of continuity, Lagosians believed in them and in the standard bearer, Ambode, the consolidator. The PDP propaganda, falsehood and campaign of calmuny against the APC national leader and the ruling party failed. What gained prominence was the counter-argument that Lagos was not ready for experimentation under an untested politician and a party with no attraction.

Now, Lagos is in the mainstream. The state suffered for 16 years under an unfriendly Federal Government. It is believed that the new federal/state parley will herald many dividends of democracy for the city-state.

Oyo

Oyo State became a PDP state in 2003, following the political earthquake that swept through the Southwest. For eight years, the Pacesetter State suffered the indignity of being ruled by uncaring politicians. But, there was a clean break from the past when Governor Abiola Ajimobi assumed the reins in 2011. Thuggery, violence, arson and disruption of the state by road transport workers were the order of the day. There was no peace. Also, godfatherism was enthroned. Development and progress were at a standstill. The hand of the government was heavy on the state. Corruption was rife. The state was in chaos.

The former governor, Rashidi Ladoja, and his godfather, the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, parted ways, following disagreement over the sharing of the state revenue. Ladoja resisted the suggestion that his benefactor deserved a portion of the security vote. Hell was let loose. His administration was full of tension. The atmosphere was tense. It was not conducive to good governance. Ladoja lost his seat. He was replaced by his deputy. By the time he regained it, time was running out.

His successor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, also ran a controversial government. It was obvious that the state was fed up with the PDP. The people yearned for change. Their prayer was answered in 2011. Ajimobi defeated Alao-Akala. He inherited a heavy burden. But, he swung into action. The financial loopholes were blocked. It was obvious that Senator Ajimobi cannot be intimidated by unscrupulous elements. He took charge of the state without any recourse to a godfather.

In four years, the governor turned the state into a huge construction site. His urban renewal projects have been hailed beyond the targeted cities. Also, he has fought the infrastructure battle across the nooks and corners of the state. A risk taker, the governor also stepped on toes in the interest of the state. Under him, there was no room for personal aggrandisement.

However, he could not curtail strife and rancour in the ruling party. Ambitious compatriots, including Senator Olufemi Lanlehin, defected to the Accord, in protest. Even, elder statesman Chief Michael Koleoso decided to take a back seat. But, the governor maintained intimacy with the people who enjoyed the dividends of democracy under his administration. His foes went to town to twist the objective of the urban renewal project, saying that it was meant to deprive the traders of their ware points. Others said that a regime of unbearable taxation was underway. There were other fabrications by his detractors. But, the governor weathered the storm.

Ajimobi ran an incorruptible and transparent government. Unlike those before him, he did not sponsor thuggery and hooliganism. There was no divide and rule among road transport workers. Under his administration, peace returned to Ibadan and its environs.

Ajimobi made the traditional institutions the cornerstone of his administration. The parley with royal fathers – the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Jimoh Oyewumi, and the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade – worked. Their children are commissioners in the state. The children of the Alaafin and the Soun were also APC House of Representatives candidates in their domains. Blood is thicker than water. The royal fathers are popular in their kingdoms. So, their subjects listened to them. Besides, the governor ran back to the leading lights in Ibadan, urging them to support his re-election bid. He got their endorsement.

The people started to compare Ajimobi administration with the previous administrations. He was adjudged a performer, despite the liabilities he inherited. A searchlight was beamed on Ladoja and Alao-Akala governments. It was discovered they performed below expectation. In particular, they perceived Alao-Akala as a controversial politician. The people were not impressed by new promises reeled out by the former governors to stage a comeback into Government House.

Also, the APC has waxed stronger and Ladoja’s party, Accord, and the Labour Party (LP), on which Alao-Akala ran, were no match for the ruling party. The PDP was also in ruins. In fact, the PDP did not put its house in order. It has disintegrated, with Ladoja, Alao-Akala, Senator Teslim Folarin, and Seyi Makinde, who are chieftains of the party, working at cross purposes. The former Senate Leader was the PDP candidate. Makinde, a rich engineer, defected from the fold to run on the platform of the relatively unknown SDP. They were consumed by the clash of ego and ambitions.

At the presidential election, Oyo honoured the governor by voting for Gen. Buhari. His campaigns were also not in vain. The ruling party won the three senatorial seats, to the consternation of his rivals. The power brokers of yester-years were dusted at the poll. Reality dawned on them that they could only contend with past glory. However, the challenge before Ajimobi, whose re-election has broken the second term jinx, is how to manage the success, work hard, make the party one and implement a succession plan that will enable him hand over to a worthy successor.

Ogun

The forces against the governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, were formidable. But, he is not strange to political battles. The people did not elect him in vain in 2011. Amosun has lived up to expectation by his giant strides across all sectors of the state economy. No governor has worked assiduously like him in the Gateway State. The testimonies are the new roads springing up across the state, the new classrooms, the hospitals and health care centres, and other social infrastructure. In particular, the roads and bridges in Shagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Abeokuta, Sango-Ota/Akute are signposts of successful infrastructure battles.

Royal fathers across the state have also testified to his financial re-engineering and judicious allocation of resources. Amosun, according to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has performed, despite dwindling resources. Urging voters to vote wisely, the former President said their decision on poll day has implications for the state and the future of their children.

But, as it turned out, performance was not the only factor that could guarantee victory. The governor campaigned vigorously to woo back voters, whose minds have been spoilt by sheer falsehood, fabrication and propaganda by his opponents.

Amosun’s main challengers were Gboyega Isiaka of the PDP and Senator Akin Odunsi of the SDP. But, it was clear that they could not match the APC candidate, who was miles ahead of them. But, the outcome of the senatorial poll jolted the APC. Its candidate, Dapo Abiodun, an influential businessman, crashed before the billionaire business mogul, Prince Buruji Kashamu of the PDP. Amosun has stepped on toes in the Ijebu-Remo axis, when he insisted that the commonwealth of the state should not be sold to godfathers. Therefore, they ganged up against his second term ambition.

Also, ahead of the polls, the rift in the APC could not be resolved, resulting in the defection of Senators Gbenga Obadara, Odunsi and Gbenga Kaka, the deputy governor, Hon. Segun Adesegun, and other members of the Osoba camp to the SDP. But, the outcome of the Ogun polls demystified Aremo Olusegun Osoba, a founding father of the APC, who deserted his original political family to embrace a new and strange platform. The SDP was unknown to the people. Across the three zones, it lacks formidable structures.

The PDP was also a divided house. The cracks could not be mended before the polls. The effects of the pre-primary crisis robbed off on the party during the general elections. Also, Obasanjo’s exit from the PDP was a blow to the opposition party. To ordinary folks, Amosun was a performer. Therefore, he earned the mandate of the people for the second term on merit.

The governor has an unfinished business of re-uniting the ruling party, building on the achievement of his first term and reconciling with critical stakeholders in the state, despite their opposition to his re-election bid. With that, he will be magnanimous in victory.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/why-pdp-failed-in-southwest/

The political party of the former governor of Ogun state, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Social Democratic Party, SDP could not meet up with its promises that it will defeat the incumbent during the just concluded elections.

Findings revealed that the political party did not win any seat during the governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.

The former governor, who was instrumental in Governor Ibikunle Amosun winning in 2011, left the All Progressives Congress in 2014 after the duo fell out politically.

Osoba departed the party with the three serving senators in the state and seven of the nine federal lawmakers. After several meetings and deliberations, the defectors formed the SDP.

The party became an household name in Abeokuta and gradually across the state and other parts of Nigeria.

in Ogun, rigorous campaign and sensitisation were conducted round the 236 wards and the 20 local government areas. The party did not field a presidential candidate because it endorsed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate and incumbent president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Though some of the leaders of the party denied this as they stated that there was no time they agreed on such decision.

But the party fielded candidates for both the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives but none of its candidate won a seat.

At the just concluded governorship and House of Assembly elections last Saturday,the party contested for the governorship seat with the Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Akin Kamar Babalola Odunsi as its flag bearer.

Few days to the governorship election, it was rumoured that the party was planning to merge with the PDP to wrestle power from incumbent, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

The party however denied it at a press briefing stating categorically that any such allusion was mischievous and untrue. The party contested and lost the governorship election to Amosun of APC.

Its senatorial candidates Adegbenga Kaka (Ogun East), Gbenga Obadara (Ogun Central) and Biyi Otegbeye (Ogun West) all lost as well including all nine House of Representative candidates.

Announcing the result of the governorship election, State Returning Collating Officer,Prof. Duro Oni,Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, UNILAG disclosed that the party polled a total vote of 25, 826 votes to finish third in the governorship election.

The party came behind the All Progressives Congress, APC,the eventual winner and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

All its 26 House of Assembly candidates were defeated, causing the party to lose all elections from the federal to the State House of Assembly.

The question on the lips of many political analysts now is what next for Chief Olusegun Osoba?

“Most Igbos says they are the people that developed Lagos and made Lagos what it is today. They say without Igbos, Lagos is finished. And i keep wondering, how has Igbos helped in shaping and developing Lagos?

“Lets get the fact right, Igbos didn't develop Lagos rather, it was Lagos that shaped and made the Igbos what they are today. Without igbos in Lagos, Lagos will remain Lagos and without Lagos, most Igbos may likely be nothing.

“Reason for my assertion is that most giant and top companies that attracts millions of people across the country to Lagos are not owned by the Igbos so, how has Igbos shaped and developed Lagos?

“This are the achievements and economic advancement Igbos gave Lagos and Lagosians; tokunbo and fake spare parts at Ladepo Market, China Electronics and pirated CDs at Alaba market, bend-down select cloths at Idumota and yaba and kotangowa market, Chinese and tokunbo computers accessories and phones at Computer village Ikeja are Igbos economical achievement and contribution to Lagos. In fact, most Igbos are causing nuisance in Lagos. A visit to this markets will tell you the amount of nuisance that Most Igbos has caused in Lagos. The environments this Igbos traders are mostly populated are always polluted with waste of all sorts, they are dirty, stinking, rough, erection of illegal shops on road, on pipeline and railway lines are encouraged in this market places that causes traffic gridlock and other dangerous acts and when Lagos state government dismantle this illegal shops, they get angry, if Lagos state government close their shops for environmental violation, they pick offence. How then has the Igbos developed Lagos?

“As long as am concerned, PZ, COCA-COLA, 7UP, CADBURY, MTN, ZAIN, GLO, ETISALAT, DANGOTE, SHOP-RITES, GOLDEN PENNY, FLOUR MILL, INDOMIE, UNILEVER, P&G, CHI LIMITED, GUINNESS, NIGERIA BREWERIES, OANDO, CONOIL, TOTAL, MOBIL, CHEVRON, SHELL, AQUADANA, KFC, EKO HOTEL, INTER CONTINENTAL HOTEL, PROTEA HOTEL, JULIUS BERGER, RCC CONSTRUCTION, NESTLE, KPMG, GSK, FRISLAND FOOD, WAMCO, BRITISH AMERICA TOBACCO, FLOUR MILL, SCHLUBEGER, AIT, SILVERBIRD TV, CHANNELS TV, LARFARGE, etc are not own by the Igbos. This companies are what attracted millions of people to Lagos.

“Igbos shouldn't lay claim that they develop a place by becoming nuisance. Most of the top churches in Lagos are not also owned by Igbos. House on the Rock, Redeem, Christ Embassy, Deeper life, living faith, MFM, etc are not owned by Igbos, the only church that's reasonable that's owned by an Igbo man is TREM, while another Igbos church Lord Chosen church encourage nuisance in Lagos and it also double as the most dirtiest church in Lagos.

“Records shows that 75% of robbery cases in Lagos are carried out by Igbos, 85% of ritual cases in Lagos are carried out by Igbos, 60% of drug cases in Lagos are carried out by Igbos, 70% of fraud cases in Lagos are carried out by Igbos, 90% of pirated CDs in Lagos are carried out by Igbos, 60% of fake and Adulterated drugs in Lagos that has kill thousands of Lagosians are carried out by Igbos, in fact, most of the crimes in Lagos are related to the Igbos so how has Igbos developed Lagos when they can't get their hands off crimes?

“There's no Igbo man among the top three richest people in Nigeria, so how are they successful?

“The truth is that Igbos should be grateful that the Yorubas accommodated them in Lagos peacefully, they shouldn't take the Meekness and kindness of the Yorubas for granted.

“Igbos didn't make Lagos but its actually Lagos that made Igbos.”

General T.Y.Danjuma Blows Hot, Lambast Atiku Abubakar over TARABA election.


General T.Y.Danjuma dare Atiku Abubakar the Former Vice President of Nigeria and other Politician to stay clear of Taraba State Politics or face the risk of meeting with the Lion of the Jungle. Action Speak Louder than words and a word is enough for the wise. He further stated that we control the affairs of this Nation and Taraba State is my Zone…my jurisdiction
http://www.osundefender.org/?p=238057

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has challenged the president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari to “implement a 5-point programme against corruption if he is to send a strong signal of change and ensure improved governance throughout the country.”

In a statement today signed by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organization said that, “the biggest obstacle to reconstruction and development in Nigeria is corruption. For many years, systemic corruption has distorted incentives, undermined critical institutions of governance, slowed economic progress and redistributed wealth and power to the undeserving. No wonder the percentage of Nigerians living in poverty has continued to rise.”

“Today the level of confidence in Nigeria is low but there is clearly public enthusiasm that the incoming government will be able to bring about a society that serves its people’s interests,” the organization said.

“Nigerians have heard plenty of rhetoric about corruption and now is the time to take concrete action to combat the problem. SERAP urges the president-elect to consider and implement the following 5-point programme against corruption to make sure that Nigeria does not drop deeper into a pattern of corruption and impunity of perpetrators,” the organization also said.

The 5-point programme reads in part:

“The president-elect must appreciate the legacy of systemic corruption, its human rights costs; and anticipate the scale and challenges of reconstruction.”

“First, the president-elect should demonstrate the political will to prevent and combat corruption not only within his presidency but also at all levels of governance. His strategy should reflect the importance of transparency, accountability and participation.”

“As a first step, the president-elect should immediately after 29 May 2015 demonstrate his total rejection of corruption by publicly declaring his assets and publicly instructing all members of his government to do the same.”

“Second, to break through a culture of corruption, the president-elect should not shy away from “frying big fish” including members of the National Assembly and regardless of the political party they may belong. The president-elect should promote and ensure the naming and punishment of big corrupt politicians so that a cynical citizenry can believe that his anticorruption drive is more than words. Such prosecutions can send a powerful signal of change.”

“All unresolved cases of corruption including in the aviation, oil subsidy scandal, alleged mismanagement of trillions of Naira by the Security and Exchange Commission, missing N300 billion in the petroleum ministry since 2011; and others should be urgently and satisfactorily addressed.”

“Nothing will kill public confidence quicker than the belief that the anticorruption drive is directed only at those below a certain level in society. But it is also important that a campaign to combat corruption is not confused with a campaign against the opposition.”

“Third, the president-elect should also prioritise prevention of corruption by carrying out reforms of institutions of governance including the judiciary, the police, anticorruption agencies, and the regulatory authorities on electricity. To build momentum, the president-elect should begin his anti‐corruption campaign where citizens perceive it to be most evident.”

“Fourth, the president-elect should be able to mobilize other actors and invite those outside of politics to become part of the solution. Only collective action and credible systematic reform can end the problem of corruption. Citizens should be part of the solution. The president-elect should also be able to mobilize international support in the fight against corruption, including the diagnosis of corrupt systems and institutions.”

“Finally, the president-elect should lead the process to domesticate and effectively implement the UN Convention against Corruption within the legal system.”

“The president-elect should publicly endorse the global initiative for an International Anticorruption Court (IACC) to demonstrate their expressed commitment to satisfactorily address corruption and impunity of perpetrators. Given that many Nigerians have lost faith in the ability of successive governments to combat high-level official corruption and money laundering, an IACC could erode the widespread culture of impunity and contribute to creating conditions conducive to the democratic election of honest officials in a country with history of grand corruption.”

“Ultimately, the president-elect should work hard to reduce monopoly of government’s institutions, limit and clarify discretion and increase transparency and accountability at all levels of government. The objective should be to empower Nigerians, to enable them to overcome poverty and insecurity, and enjoy the basic necessities of life that citizens of civilized countries take for granted.”


Signed

Adetokunbo Mumuni

SERAP Executive Director

9/4/2015

Fayose's Impeachment: Ekiti House of Assembly Directs Chief Judge To Set up Panel

The resolution, obtained exclusively by SaharaReporters, was signed by the speaker and two other members of the "G19", the 19 majority members of the All Progressives Congress who want the two-time governor removed from office.

Our sources said the House membership met at an undisclosed location in Ado-Ekiti to discuss the way forward following the notice of impeachment they served against Fayose on March 3rd 2015.

Appearing on a live radio and television show on Tuesday, Governor Fayose bragged, “I’m like Israel that is in the midst of enemies but will always prevail. Whoever wants to remove me will first have to impeach God.”

In October 2006, Fayose and his first term deputy, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, were impeached on corruption charges. If impeached in the ongoing drama, he would become the first man in Nigerian history to be impeached twice from the same elected position.

SaharaReporters has published evidence as to how the Peoples Democratic Party, in collusion with the security services, rigged him back to power in June 2014.

Dear Igbo Compatriots:

One of the closest Igbo man to the President Elect is Dr Chris Ngige Onwa, a Senator who was defeated in the Senatorial Election.

See how bad Igbos are at strategizing? They couldn’t override a pathological hatred for General Buhari to make a hedge bet and return this man to the Senate, to enhance his chances at Senate President, incase General Buhari wins, which he did.

Instead folks played tribal and religious politics to the tilt as drunken sailors, and failed the man and the chance to make history as Senate President.

That’s what happens when emotions trips common sense and folks succumb to hustlers like Peter Obi and Arthur Eze, hustlers after their own interests instead of the masses they pretend to serve.

I urged caution, I pleaded that we were making a huge mistake to hitch our wagon on Jonathan who wasn’t going to win. And predictably he lost, so also our chance in the new administration.

I hate to gloat.

But maybe, maybe, only maybe he gets a good ministerial appointment, but nothing beats being Senate President.

Igbos are very bad at politics.

Fifty years after independence, we are yet to produce a president when others have taken multiple turns. Our answer? Blame others! If you only Hausas didn’t do this or Yorubas didn’t do that, perhaps the god of politics will bless our lot.

And sadly it won’t stop until we learn to coexist with others instead of our ‘better than thou’ attitude when dealing with the Hausas and Yorubas. We are not better than anyone, these folks we thumb our noses at, are God’s creatures like us.

We don’t like the Hausas and we don’t like the Yorubas, yet we populate their States in search for our livelihood.

Our politics should mirror our economic aspirations, not the other way around. There is no wisdom in living in the North, earning a living, yet despise the Northerners. That’s being ungrateful. The gods of politics don’t like that.

How long can this collective amnesia insulate us from meaningfully seating at the table, making contributions to Nigeria’s political evolution?

How long can this foolishness go on?

How long?

There is a miserable silence across the land today, because we are realizing that we were sold off for pennies by pimps who parade as Igbo leaders.

Where are they?

Anyone home?
http://www.newsat247.com/2015/04/open-letter-to-the-igbos/

Jonathan , the architect of his own failure

IF President Goodluck Jonathan was afraid of the outcome of the just concluded presidential election, he never showed it. Before the election was held, he had started giving conditions on the type of people he wanted to dominate the forthcoming Eighth National Assembly

“I would want you to elect members of the Peoples Democratic Party to the National Assembly so that I can work with people who are not rancorous” – President Goodluck Jonathan told party supporters at one of his numerous presidential rallies.

But like the biblical Moses, Jonathan has failed to lead his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, to his dreamland. His reign has brought to an abrupt end the 16-year uninterrupted reign of the party, whose former National Chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, had boasted would remain in power for at least 60 years. A senior employee of the party told our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday that the former party chairman could have probably meant 16 years in his projection.

Though the President didn’t start out to fall by the wayside, some states actually plotted his downfall. Principal among them were the five out of the six states of the South-West. Traditionally, the President, being a southerner was expected to have wormed his way into the hearts of the people of the South-West. This was because when he was being haunted by the then presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change, who was his major challenger in 2011, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), Jonathan came to seek the backing of the zone. All of the states in the zone obliged him except Osun, where he lost. But in other states like Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo, he won.

However, in 2015, it was a different scenario as only the people of Ekiti State seemed to still remain friendly with the President. With a little margin, he got 176,466 votes as against 120,331 votes of Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress. Even in Ondo State, where the President’s party is in charge, the people revolted. In unison, the majority of the people abandoned him for Buhari by giving him 251,368 votes as against 299,889 they collectively gave the former Head of State.

Taking a leaf from the South-West example, some states in the North-Central, which were traditional supporters of the President, also deserted him. Those states include Benue, Kogi and Kwara. A former Governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, was among the members of the PDP, who were hounded out of the party. Saraki threw his hat into the ring and joined forces with the opposition to give a killer blow to his former party and its presidential candidate.

Though the President was able to make a showing in other states from the zone, voters from the North-West were not considerate of Jonathan in their voting. The only zone with seven states witnessed all of them chorusing in harmony and actively participated through their votes in the revolution that sacked Jonathan from Aso Rock. These states are Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kaduna.
Abubakar Shekau in Aso Rock

Abubakar Shekau in Aso Rock

Boko Haram insurgency

It was also not a rousing outing for the outgoing President in the North-East, where his government has been battling Boko Haram insurgency. Five out of the six zones voted for change and rejected continuity which the President campaigners said he represented. Voters from those states that would prefer President Jonathan to relocate to his Otuoke, Bayelsa State home, instead of spending another four years in office, were those of Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa, Borno and Gombe. The governors of the zone, who are members of his party and who he regularly referred to as his field commanders, were outrun by the voters with their Permanent Voter Cards, which they willingly used as their weapons. These governors are Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), James Ngilari (Adamawa) and Ibrahim Damkwambo (Gombe). Nevertheless, the President made a remarkable showing in Taraba State. But that was not enough to guarantee his second term ambition. These are the part of history-making states that made President Jonathan the first Nigerian president to lose his re-election bid. A return to Otuoke, therefore, beckons.
Mrs Patience Jonathan

Patience Jonathan

President’s wife, Patience Jonathan

The President would however not return alone. He is expected to be accompanied by members of his immediate family led by his wife, Patience, whose stay in Aso Rock has added a wide vocabulary to Nigeria’s political lexicon.

Her many gaffes were said to have drawn more flaks for the President. If this was true, Patience was not bothered. While the President asked his supporters to moderate their speeches and stop hate campaigns, his wife was uncontrollable.

Throwing caution into the winds on many occasions during the PDP women presidential rallies, Patience once described Buhari as “brain dead” and asked Nigerians to reject the retired soldier. Referring to his age, she said it was wrong for such a 72-year-old man to be dragging the office of the President with her husband.

It was obvious that her counsel was not convincing enough to the voters, who in their millions voted for Buhari and rather asked Patience and her husband to vacate the opulent building they moved into since 2007.

God bless Nigeria

#50 to watch live presidential election result in viewing centre

A familiar looking man was spotted by our correspodent yesterday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport with his entourage, desperately trying to book a ticket to Madagascar.

On closer inspection, we were shocked to realize it was Ekiti Governor, Ayo Fayose.

News making the rounds have it that after his scathing Newspaper adverts wishing death on General Buhari, Fayose is stunned by the current trend the results are following. Fearing a Buhari win and subsequent punishment for his libelous adverts, he decided to run away.

We could clearly hear him saying “Eh? Aburo no ticket? Ah. Wahala ti de o. Any standing? Joo fun mi standing, mo like e, mo manage. Ah, no standing? Mo ku. Kosi space ninu cargo hold? I will manage it. Ah my broda epp me……epp me……….if this baba wins, mo ku. The suffrin will not be a small something. Epp me”.

When we approached him he immediately changed his tune. “What? Me? Running away for fear that Buhari will win? Rubbish. I fear no man. I am only going to Madagascar for vacation.Why are you asking why I was begging to stand? I like standing. It’s good exercise”

Buhari Leads With 3 Million Votes After Controversial Results From Rivers, Akwa Ibom Give Jonathan A Boost

Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), continues to lead incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a comfortable margin, even as controversial election results from Rivers and Akwa Ibom states were added to the national tally, giving a boost to Mr. Jonathan.

Election observers as well as Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State had declared that last Saturday’s elections in the state turned into a fiasco, marked by intimidation and shootings of APC members and widespread manipulation by security agents. Even so, the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state declared that Mr. Jonathan polled more than 1.48 million in the state, leaving Mr. Buhari with a little more than 69,000 votes.

Despite this figure and results from Akwa Ibom that gave the incumbent president 953,304 votes, the APC presidential candidate maintains his lead.

Two sources told SaharaReporters that several top APC politicians have already arrived in Abuja in preparation to declare victory in the presidential polls.

The delay in announcing polling results from the South South and South East zones had caused apprehension within the country and heightened allegations that President Jonathan’s associates were surreptitiously attempting to inflate the incumbent president’s vote tally from the two zones.

Below are updated polling figures:
http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/30/buhari-leads-3-million-votes-after-controversial-results-rivers-akwa-ibom-give-jonathan

ABUJA – WHAT may be described as election tsunami has hit the senate following the recent declaration of the National Assembly election results which took place last Saturday as some Senators regarded as ‘big boys’ like Senators Chris Ngige, Smart Adeyemi, Olubunmi Adetunbi among others lost their bid to come back to the Red Chamber.

Also on the losing list was the Senate Deputy Leader, Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central who lost his seat to the All Progressives Congress.

But apart from Senator Ningi, other principal officers like the Senate President, David Mark who is returning to the senate for the fifth times, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the Minority Leader, George Akume among others retained their seats.
Adetunbi, Adeyemi, and Ngige

Adetunbi, Adeyemi, and Ngige

Senator Chris Ngige representing Anambra Central from the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, lost the seat to a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Uche Ekwunife of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Smart Adeyemi, Kogi West, who is one of the prominent PDP Senators lost his seat to Hon. Dino Melaye, while the PDP candidate from Ekiti North took over Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi of the APC.

Senator Mark scored 99,538 votes to defeat his opponent of the APC, Daniel Onje, who scored a total vote of 50,115, while Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP Abia South scored 1011433 to beat his challenger from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, that had 70,502 votes.

Senator Bassey Otu who was forced out of the PDP won the senate seat for Cross River South, on the platform of the Labour Party defeating governor Liyel Imoke’s candidate and godfather of Calabar politics, Chief Geshorm Bassey of the PDP as well as Senator Banabas Gemade who also lost the PDP primary ticket to governor Suswan was returned on the APC platform.

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Deputy Senate President, Uche Anichukwu, said that Ekweremadu, PDP, Enugu West was declared winner having polled 120,075 out of the 123,286 valid votes cast in the Saturday, March 28 senatorial election.

According to Anichukwu, the result, which was announced at Awgu Collation Centre by INEC returning Officer, Professor Fab Onah, showed that 10 candidates contested the election with Ekweremadu’s closest rival, Honourable (Mrs) Luisa Achieze of APC, who scored 2,314 votes.

Senator Ekweremadu in his acceptance speech said his election was a renewal of a political covenant with his people.

He thanked the electorate of Enugu West, the PDP family, clergies, traditional institutions and his members of staff for standing by him when the going was tough.

He said, “About six months ago, it was rather difficult for many people to believe that we would get to this point but eventually, we are here today. It is another evidence that there is God in heaven and I give Him all the glory.

“My commitment to Enugu people and Enugu West in particular has been renewed today. For me, I have the responsibility to serve them much better. I am conscious of the fact that my primary responsibility as a parliamentarian is to make laws and to oversight the executive.
“Also, I am committed to seeing to it that my people are well catered for by providing infrastructure and attracting projects generally to Enugu State and Enugu West in particular. I am committed to empowering the people to ensure they earn a living.”

He, however, stressed that unity of the people, irrespective of political leanings and disagreements was imperative for accelerated development, assuring that his representation would accommodate everyone.

“As for all those who were not particularly in support of my re-election before now, I bear no grudges. I would like to say that we are indeed one people and we are going to march together to the Promised Land; let everybody come and let us work together in the interest of our people.”
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/election-tsunami-ngige-adeyemi-adetunbi-ningi-others-lose-senate-seats/#sthash.2lXMrKig.dpuf

POLLS: Tension as results trickle in

on March 30, 2015 / in Headlines, News 12:07 am / Comments

LAGOS — The nation was in suspense, yesterday, as results from last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections continued to trickle in.

At press time, only Ekiti and Osun States had fully declared results of the elections. President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP won all 16 local government areas of Ekiti but lost in Osun.

In the National Assembly results declared, the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark was in pole position to become the only senator to have survived since 1999 having won all five of the seven local government areas in his Benue South Senatorial District.
All Progressives Congress (APC) party supporters march towards the Independent National Electoral Commission Office in Port Harcourt during a demonstration calling for the cancellation of the Presidential elections in the Rivers State on March 29, 2015. Thousands of supporters of Nigeria's main opposition party demonstrated in the southern state of Rivers, calling for the cancellation of elections locally because of alleged irregularities. AFP

All Progressives Congress (APC) party supporters march towards the Independent National Electoral Commission Office in Port Harcourt during a demonstration calling for the cancellation of the Presidential elections in the Rivers State on March 29, 2015. Thousands of supporters of Nigeria’s main opposition party demonstrated in the southern state of Rivers, calling for the cancellation of elections locally because of alleged irregularities.
AFP

However, Governor Babangida Aliyu lost in his Senate bid. He lost in all the wards of Niger East Senatorial District to David Umaru of the All Progressives Congress, APC. The incumbent senator for Niger South, Senator Zainab Kure also lost in her bid to return to the Senate.

President Jonathan, who returned to Abuja on Saturday night after voting in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Vanguard learnt, had strategy sessions with senior officials of the PDP in the Presidential Villa on the ensuing development.

Abia: Orji wins

Governor Theodore Orji was returned as senator for the Abia Central Senatorial District, beating his All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA challenger, Emmanuel Nweke by 65,653 votes to 46,070 votes.

The Presidential election results so far announced in Kogi State by the various returning officers in 11 local governments shows that the APC, won in six local governments while the PDP won in five local governments.

The results were announced at the INEC headquarters under the supervision of the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Halilu Hussain Pai, and security agents.

In Delta State, deputy leader of the House of Representatives, Rep. Leo Ogor easily beat off a challenge from his APC opponent to coast home for a record fourth term in the House.

Trends from states, however, showed President Jonathan in a stiff fight against his APC challenger in most sections of the country with the president losing ground in Kwara, and most of the South-West states, sections of the country that projected him to victory in 2011.

In Osun, Buhari polled 254,739 votes while Jonathan scored 168, 476 while in Ekiti, Jonathan polled 176,474 votes to 120,332 polled by Buhari.

In the FCT, results released from two council areas showed that in Abaji Area Council, Buhari beat Jonathan in the presidential poll by 10,853 votes to 7,762 votes, according to the results released by the Returning Officer, Dr. Abdullahi Mohammed Evuti of the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Abuja.

He also announced that Buhari polled 15, 348 to beat the PDP candidate who scored 13,091 votes in the contest in the area council.

KANO: Buhari in comfortable lead in 7 LGAs

Buhari, at press time, was in a comfortable lead in seven local government areas announced by INEC yesterday afternoon.

The results announced by the returning officer, Professor Mohammed Hamisu, former Vice Chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi indicated that in Albasu local government area APC scored 34,000 votes, while PDP polled 3,047 votes.Click here to see Presidential Results

In Kibiya, APC posted 23,000 votes while PDP scored 4,999.

Also in Gabasawa council area, the APC received 31,000 votes, while the PDP polled 8, 840 votes.

In Bagwai local council, the APC scored 38,750 votes against PDP 8,159; Kunchi Council, the APC scored 24,542 votes as against PDP 2,921 votes.

In Tsanyawa local government area, APC polled 32,662 votes to PDP 4,819 while in Gaya local council, APC pulled 38,085 votes to PDP 1,888.

OGUN: Buhari wins in 7 LGAs

In Ogun State, results of the 10 local government areas released, showed that Buhari had won seven with three local government areas going to Jonathan.

The local government areas released so far are Obafemi-Owode, Abeokuta North, Odogboolu, Odeda, Imeko-Afon, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode, Remo-North, Ewekoro, and Ijebu North-East.
Local representatives of the Nigeria Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) collate figures from the general election in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria's southern oil-rich Rivers State, on March 29, 2015. Nigeria's closely fought general election went into a second day after failures in controversial new technology snarled the polling, including for President Goodluck Jonathan. AFP PHOTO

Local representatives of the Nigeria Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) collate figures from the general election in Port Harcourt, capital of Nigeria’s southern oil-rich Rivers State, on March 29, 2015. Nigeria’s closely fought general election went into a second day after failures in controversial new technology snarled the polling, including for President Goodluck Jonathan. AFP PHOTO

Details are as follows: Odeda Local Government (number of registered voters -63,935 number of accredited voters -17,463); APC -11,102; PDP -4,456 Total valid votes -16,152

Voided votes -775 Total votes cast -16,927.

Imeko Afon Local Government (number of voters registered -35,31, number of accredited voters -23,481); APC -7,657; PDP -12,153. Valid votes cast -20,466, void votes -1,122.

Sagamu Local Government (number of registered voters -77,955; number of accredited voters -37,772) APC -15,761, PDP -17,263.

Ijebu Ode Local Government (number of registered voters -55,127; number of voters accredited -25,973. APC -14,043, PDP -8,972.

Remo North Local Government (number of registered voters -39,180; number of accredited voters -16,960) APC -6,164, PDP -9,278.

Ewekoro Local Government (number of registered voters -62,425; number of accredited voters -14,193) APC -9,626, PDP -3,227.

Obafemi-Owode Local Government (number of registered voters -74,871; number of accredited voters -24,402) APC -15,207, PDP -5,786.

Ijebu North-East (number of registered voters 36058; number of accredited voters 15214); APC- 7638, PDP -6163.

Odogbolu local government (number of registered voters 70658; number of accredited voters 25752). APC -11623, PDP -11405.

Abeokuta North local government (number of registered voters -12 5485; number of accredited voters -30556); APC 21213, PDP 5,742.

Meanwhile, at press time, APC was maintaining a clear lead in the Presidential election in the state as it has won 12 local governments while the PDP won seven councils. One council was still being expected.

The only local government yet to be declared at press time was Ipokia.

OYO

Results so far declared in Oyo State showed Buhari winning six out of the seven local government areas so far declared.

KAJOLA: APC-14,538; PDP- 11,045; AFIJIO: APC- 8,001; PDP-5,738; OORELOPE: APC-9,425; PDP -5,384; IREPO: APC-10,380; PDP -4,979; ITESIWAJU: APC-7,257, PDP-7,605. Click here to see Presidential Results

ENUGU

Results trickling in from Enugu showed that PDP won 21,700 votes in Ezeagu Local Government Area as against APC’s 407 in the presidential election.

In Isiuzo, PDP polled 21,225 while APC secured 239 votes. In Aninri, PDP scored 22,660 as against the 178 scored by the APC

In Udi, home of Governor Sullivan Chime, PDP polled 31,354 while APC polled 1020.

KATSINA

Daura: Buhari defeated President Jonathan in in Sakin Yara “A”, Kofar Baru in Daura local government of Katsina State. Of 501 votes cast in the presidential polls, APC got 499, PDP got nothing while three votes were voided.

Similarly, in the National Assembly elections, APC polled 478 for Senate, PDP 18, the People’s Democratic Movement, PDM got three votes while three votes were invalidated.

APC also took the day in the House of Representatives contest as it scored 500 votes while PDP and APGA polled one each.

KWARA: APC in clear lead

ILORIN: INEC in Kwara State said results from Saturday’s election will not be formally known until much later today. Spokesman for INEC in the state, Jacob Ayanda, disclosed this in an interview yesterday saying only results from Isin and Oke-Ero out of the 16 local governments had arrived the commission’s headquarters as at about 3.00 pm.

Vanguard, however, gathered that, results collated from polling centres across the state yesterday indicated that APC was in clear lead with most leaders of the PDP in the state losing their polling units in the election.
Young men dance in front of a makeshift figure of former military ruler and presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna, which was hit hard by interreligious violence during the 2011 election, on March 29, 2015. Nigeria counted ballots in its closely fought general election after failures in controversial new technology pushed voting into a second day, with officials calling for calm in the tense wait for a winner. AFP PHOTO

Young men dance in front of a makeshift figure of former military ruler and presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna, which was hit hard by interreligious violence during the 2011 election, on March 29, 2015. Nigeria counted ballots in its closely fought general election after failures in controversial new technology pushed voting into a second day, with officials calling for calm in the tense wait for a winner. AFP PHOTO

The PDP had won only in Oke-Ero local government area while the race for Ekiti, home council of the PDP governorship candidate, Senator Simon Ajibola, was still too close to call.

Among those who lost were Minister of National Planning, Dr. Suleiman Abubakar; Kwara Central senatorial candidate, Alhaji AbdulRazak AbdulRahaman; business mogul and close associate of First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, Hajia Bola Shagaya and her son, Sherrif who contested the House of Representatives seat for Ilorin West and Asa federal constituency.

According to the collation, Suleiman lost to the APC in his polling unit with the PDP scoring 27 votes against 377 for the APC in the Presidential slot while PDP again scored only 29 votes against 386 for the APC for the Senate and 35 votes against 385 for the House of Representatives.

The PDP polled 159 against 367 for APC in the presidential slot in AbdulRazaq’s unit, 265 against 278 for the Senate and 313 against 227 for the House of Representatives.

Shagaya also lost to the APC in her Ojuekun Sarunmi Unit 02 where APC polled 149 against 88 for the House of Representatives and 140 against 90 for the Senate.

However, the PDP scored 143 votes against 83 for the APC in the presidential race at the polling unit.

ONDO: Collation Officer arrested for allegedly tampering with result sheets

Results of the presidential election were as at last night being declared and out of the 12 declared at press time, the APC won in seven local government areas while the PDP won in five.

Meanwhile, a Collation Officer has been arrested by the police for allegedly tampering with the election result sheets that were submitted to him after the voting.

The State REC, Olusegun Agbaje, said the man had been taken to the police headquarters for interrogation over alleged mutilation of collation forms.

Agbaje pointed out that the allegation is under investigation by the police.

Addressing newsmen yesterday, Prof. Jega said the winner of the presidential election would most likely be declared today as he cautioned against announcements by unauthorised declarations.

Jega speaks on Rivers crisis

Meantime, Professor Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, has said the commission had received the formal petition by the APC in Rivers State that there was no election in the state even as he promised that the petition would be investigated.

According to him, supplementary elections took place yesteerday in a few polling units in some states. They include Lagos with 90 polling units, Kebbi, 16; Adamawa, 25; Niger, 6; Yobe, 37 and Borno, eight polling units. Others are Jigawa, 37 polling units; Kano, 13; Taraba, 116 while Abuja had two.

Similarly, the chief electoral umpire added that he had also heard of the torching of the INEC office in Rivers State even as he said that he had notified the Police of the development and they have promised to carry out a thorough investigation.
All Progressives Congress (APC) party supporters march towards the Independent National Electoral Commission Office in Port Harcourt during a demonstration calling for the cancellation of the Presidential elections in the Rivers State on March 29, 2015. Nigeria's closely fought general election went into a second day after failures in controversial new technology snarled the polling, including for President Goodluck Jonathan. AFP PHOTO

All Progressives Congress (APC) party supporters march towards the Independent National Electoral Commission Office in Port Harcourt during a demonstration calling for the cancellation of the Presidential elections in the Rivers State on March 29, 2015. Nigeria’s closely fought general election went into a second day after failures in controversial new technology snarled the polling, including for President Goodluck Jonathan.
AFP PHOTO

He said: “We are concerned about what is happening in Rivers State. This morning (yesterday) I received a letter from the APC party calling for the cancellation and rescheduling of the election in Rivers State. We have started investigations into what happened and if our staff are involved, we will apply the appropriate sanctions.

“We received many allegations and complaints that in some places some supervisory officers disappeared with result sheets, in fact we saw lapses more than we envisaged. In other places we received allegations and accusations that ad-hoc staff were substituted.”

Use of card readers was a huge success —Jega

On the use of the card reader machine for the conduct of the polls, Jega said it was a huge success despite the noticeable lapses in some places which he put at 0.25 per cent of the over 150,000 card readers.

He said: “It is also gratifying to note that the card readers worked well in the majority of polling units, even though there were some areas where difficulties were experienced (and) necessitated additional guidelines by the commission to allow for manual accreditation of voters, as announced yesterday (Saturday).

“So far, Osun, Kebbi, Ekiti, Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa, Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi States reverted to manual-only accreditation of voters in some polling units. Investigation into what accounted for the difficulties with the card reader is ongoing.”

The chairman further agreed that there were attacks by people suspected to be members of the Boko Haram insurgents who attacked a polling centre in Gombe State which left some people dead including two ad-hoc staff on duty.

Another area of concern was the issue of under-aged voters in Taraba State, a development Jega condemned even as he said he had mandated the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state to investigate.

Meanwhile, the APC, in Ekiti State has asked INEC, to charge the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kolapo Olusola, for election violence.

APC’s call followed his alleged directive to his security aide, to shoot an APC member, Jide Owolabi, in Ikere-Ekiti, during Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.

It also asked INEC to cancel the election result in Ire-Ekiti over allegation of violence and ballot snatching.

Reacting to the two incidents, Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatubosun, said in a statement that the two incidents were well plotted as strategic plans by the PDP to have undue advantage to win the ballot.

He alleged that the deputy governor’s action in the Ikere-Ekiti incident was a reckless display of lawlessness and flagrant abuse of power to intimidate the opposition for advantage at the poll.
Nigerian troops take position during a demonstration by All Progressives Congress (APC) party supporters calling for the cancellation of the presidential election in Port Harcourt in the Rivers State on March 29, 2015. Thousands of supporters of Nigeria's main opposition party demonstrated in the southern state of Rivers, calling for the cancellation of elections locally because of alleged irregularities. AFP PHOTO

Nigerian troops take position during a demonstration by All Progressives Congress (APC) party supporters calling for the cancellation of the presidential election in Port Harcourt in the Rivers State on March 29, 2015. Thousands of supporters of Nigeria’s main opposition party demonstrated in the southern state of Rivers, calling for the cancellation of elections locally because of alleged irregularities. AFP PHOTO

He said: “What happened in Ikere-Ekiti was a pre-meditated incident to cow the opposition to submission. We had earlier raised the alarm to the plan by top officials of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s administration to employ violence and intimidation to cow our members to enable them manipulate the electoral process. We wrote the security agencies, including both local and international human rights organs, about PDP’s plan. Yesterday’s (Saturday’s) incident was just a manifestation of the fears we raised.

The APC spokesman said the INEC and security agencies should not allow the attempted murder to go un-investigated.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/polls-tension-as-results-trickle-in/#sthash.8567X8Nb.dpuf

Wife of Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, has misfired again by saying those who jailed ‘Adelabu’ would also jail the people of Oyo State, if they voted for the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Patience was speaking at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, women’s presidential rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Wednesday.

But she goofed. Adegoke Adelabu, with the nickname, ‘Penkelemis: Peculiar Mess) was a colourful politician in Ibadan in the 50s. He died in March 1958.

The political leader, Mrs Jonathan had in mind was Alhaji Busari Adelakun, a former commissioner in the state under Chief Bola Ige, between 1979 and 1982. Adelakun, a political toughie, later abandoned Ige’s Unity Party of Nigeria and joined the Federally ruling National Party of Nigeria.

Following the coup of 31 December 1983, he was arrested by the coupists. He died at the University College Hospital, after a protracted illness.

But speaking in Ibadan, Mrs Jonathan said that the APC and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari plan to jail many people, including herself if they win the 2015 election.

Patience said: “I want to tell you the people of Oyo State, you don’t need to listen to APC. APC is a spare drug; they don’t have material to quantify PDP material. You should know that they have been in government before; they were there before PDP, before Goodluck administration. If they come to Oyo, ask them, what do they have for you, not ‘I will, I will’. You were there; when you were there, what did you do for the people of Oyo State?

“All what they did for you people when they were there was to send your fathers and your children to prison. That’s all what they have for you people, and I want you to remember. Some of you were still small by then when your fathers were sent to prison by this very APC people. Some of them died in the prison; you know them. You want me to call one of them that died in the prison – don’t you know Adelabu? Haven’t you heard that name before in Oyo? He was the leader of NPN then.

“He was imprisoned by this APC, by this very people that want to enter there and he died there. They are coming again to jail your fathers and your mothers and even me, but God would never allow them – Holy Ghost fire, Holy Ghost fire, Holy Ghost fire. They would never succeed, because they have nothing to offer. Their own is ‘I will, I will’; that’s all what they have to offer.

“PDP has come to liberate the people. After this one, when they fail, they won’t have any name to bear again. The last time they failed, they changed their name to APC – not knowing APC is a spare drug.”

Patience has been in the eye of the storm after she told PDP supporters in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, recently to stone anyone that mouths the slogan ‘change’. ‘Change’ is the slogan of the opposition APC.

APC threatened to send a petition against her to the International Criminal Court, ICC, for inciting PDP supporters against APC’s supporters.

Even after the threat, Patience has not relented in her hate speeches against APC and Buhari. At another rally, she even said Buhari was “brain dead.”

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/03/26/patience-jonathan-misfires-in-ibadan/

despirado

Goodluck Jonathan has no regard for Nigerians and therefore doesn’t believe it is wrong to look us in the eye and lie to us.  Much as I respect the office of the President, I must confess the office has been so diminished by the president occupant of the Aso Villa, that it does not deserve the respect of any self-respecting Nigerian.  At every given opportunity, Jonathan has been embarrassing the country and Nigerians, all in his desperation to retain power by all means possible.  We have been forced to listen to the president’s fables in the past five weeks after he and his security goons forced Attahiru Jega to shift the general elections earlier scheduled to take place in February.  Not content with churning out barefaced lies by him and his crude spokesmen, Jonathan has upped the ante of embarrassment by lying against a fellow country’s leader and to the international community through his interview with the BBC.

Before the dust settled on the Moroccan phone call scandal, Jonathan told Will Ross of the BBC that he is not desperate to win the 2015 election, something I find insulting to me.  If he is not desperate to win the election then can he explain the unnecessary tension he has been subjecting us to in the past six months or so?  It will be a herculean task to attempt to list all the desperate moves Jonathan made in order to win the 2015 election by crook – he doesn’t care about the ‘hook’.  But let us attempt to itemise them, anyway.

Supporter of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, wears a mask with his image, during an election campaign rally in Lagos
Sunday Alamba/AP
The contrived “adoption” of Jonathan by all the organs of his party, the PDP, which culminated in his coronation as the sole candidate for the presidential election, was purely because of his desperation to avoid facing a credible – or even an alternative – candidate in his party.  The party and its apparatchik made sure no one was allowed to challenge Jonathan because of the fear of rejection by his party men.  If this was not a desperate move, what is?  The INEC fixed February 14th, 2015 as the date for the presidential elections but the commission was forced to eat humble pie by Jonathan and his party because they saw defeat facing in the face and the only thing they came up was the insecurity boogie.  The elections were shifted in order to give Jonathan and the PDP more time to corrupt the system and the populace.  If this is not desperation, what is?

We have seen the heightened level of criss-crossing the country including Jonathan’s temporary relocation to Lagos and the states of the south west while Namadi(na) relocated to Kano and Kaduna, distributing money like confetti to voters.  They were unmindful of the damage they were doing to the electoral process.  If this is not desperation, what is?  The series of fictional documentaries produced and directed by his campaign team (which is made up of people with questionable characters) trying to smear the presidential candidate of the APC and the leadership of the party falls into the desperate pattern which must have been directly approved by Jonathan himself.  If this smear campaign is not desperation, what is?  The newfound bravery of our armed forces in attacking and chasing Boko Haram insurgents from hitherto occupied towns and villages after six years of running from the rag-tag insurgents says a lot about the government’s commitment or otherwise in fighting the scourge.  We suddenly have the “ferocious” Boko Haram elements running with their tails between their legs at the sight of the Nigerian army.  It took the smell of defeat before Jonathan got serious about the sanctity of human life, if this is not desperation, what is?

With a naval force and the Civil Defence, Jonathan decides in his wisdom to outsource the protection of our shores and pipelines to criminals who are euphemistically called ex-militants by a media wowed by brown envelopes and sectional mind-set.  These are the same guys who routinely break the pipelines and steal oil, yet are now rewarded for their criminality.  This comes barely two weeks to the presidential election.  May I suggest that since there are oil depots in Maiduguri, Bauchi, and Yola – areas considered spheres of influence of Boko Haram – the protection contracts should be extended to Boko Haram and other militants in Plateau, Nassarawa and Benue states to make the reward system for treason and murder national in outlook.  This is not desperation but an avenue for creating employment for youths from a section of the country to the detriment of other areas.

Then the persistent call for the sack of Jega as INEC chairman before the conduct of the 2015 elections.  The calls range from pseudo-statesmen like Ekwueme, to old militants like Edwin Clark, to oil thieves like Asari Dokubo and Tompolo and those with blood on their hands like Gani Adams.  These are Jonathan’s current bedmates whose main bond is the prevention of General Buhari from winning the elections and sending them to oblivion or the gulag, where they rightly belong.  

Not desperate?  Try this.  In his desperation to cling to power, Jonathan is not loath to use the ethno-religious card, unmindful that this road may lead us to Kigali.  With the Abidjan scenario becoming more real to Jonathan, he would rather that Nigeria take the Kigali road.  His dim wife has been traversing the country inciting jobless, hungry youths against the opposition and in the process insulting her betters.

Jonathan is desperately desperate and he shouldn’t deny that.  For a chief security of a country to be seen hob-knobbing with treasonable felons like Asari Dokubo, Gani Adams, the MASSOB guys and the rest of the oil thieves a few days to a national elections says much about his frame of mind.  Though Jonathan and his wife have been trying to give new meanings to certain actions like corruption and stealing, they can’t change the meaning of desperation.  They are desperate to cling to power at whatever cost to the nation and Nigerians shouldn’t make the mistake of lowering their guards believing that Jonathan is not desperate.  The wife, who wants to remain the First Lady, but behaves like an unrefined street food hawker, in her characteristic dimness, let out her fears of facing her just desserts when she said she is not ready to feed her husband in jail.

It was Gbagbo’s desperation that plunge Ivory Coast into a needless war in 2010; it was also the insensitive insults by journalists and politicians that led to the massacre of over 800,000 innocent souls in Rwanda in 1994.  Nigerians should be mindful of desperate politicians who would rather the country disintegrate than them losing the paraphernalia of office.  The Jonathans have done enough damage to an already fragile union.  Let’s boot them out of the Aso Villa on March 28th before they take us down the road to Kigali.

VOTE FOR CHANGE

However, there are no indications Mr Jonathan wouldn't be tempted to use the military to its ultimate destruction, given the thickheaded and irresponsible egoism of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with their politics of cattle trading where national interest is utterly subordinated. This still cannot deters a people's resolve that the highest and truest expression of human spirit lies in the volition to determine their existence.

y Monday next week - to be precise - the son of canoe-carver-born former university teacher would have bitten the dust. Results of the presidential election would have humbled him. It would be the heaviest political fall from grace to grass where he was wrath primitively on the luckless nation. If he wins by default, through deceitful manipulation of the poll or announce himself as the winner of the election, he would have succeeded in manipulating Nigeria out of herself, in the same token.

The relief of President Goodluck Ebele "Azikiwe" Jonathan's exit from the nation's top job would be profound in many ways. If he loses, it would mean that the nation's participatory democracy has attained some appreciable level of liberal maturation. It will explain that the country's democratic experiment has taken the will of the electorate into account. It will also give credence to the fact that the era of deploying dollars to buy people's votes is over. It would again means that no criminally corrupt government as Mr Jonathan will ever force itself on the nation, indefinitely.

However, there are no indications Mr Jonathan wouldn't be tempted to use the military to its ultimate destruction, given the thickheaded and irresponsible egoism of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with their politics of cattle trading where national interest is utterly subordinated. This still cannot deters a people's resolve that the highest and truest expression of human spirit lies in the volition to determine their existence. It could come by blood and iron.

Another issue is the deceptive propaganda which sullen whatever reputation Mr President has mustered. The president expects Nigerians to watch the minimal dents his Administration made on airports renovations, road rehabilitation in televised advertorials in a country where power stability is less than an hour per day after trillions of Naira was looted in the name of power generation! He even swore to go on self exile if he failed to complete the Second Niger Bridge by 2015.

It's now the butt of joke on 'Instant Media' and elsewhere, where the president's minders regularly ask those against him to go and hug transformer. The responses of those against the president now come with pictures of young boys and girls hugging transformer with the saying, "I been hugging this transformer in the last twenty hours without electricity". That is how deep in the abyss of national wreckage the nation has sunk.

We are in this horrible state because from the beginning, Mr Jonathan has confused himself with the role propaganda can play in modern days society. He seems to believe propaganda creates leaders! Such terrible assumption has robbed him of the earlier empathy which was wrongly ascribed to him by Nigerians who were deceived by the merest of his simple appearance, but coated in slyness, spinelessness, infinite shrewdness, serpentine slush and gross deception.

In 2013, before Jonathan finally submerged into morbid corruption, a catalogue of President Jonathan graft was submitted to the United States Congress by the Secretary of State, John Kerry which stated categorically that Mr Jonathan Administration levitates corruption beyond what is humanly acceptable, even in stone age. The document titled: "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012" was prepared by the Department of State using information from US embassies and consulates abroad, foreign government officials, non-governmental and international organisations, and published reports.

In the report under the chapter on Nigeria in Section 4, which deals with "Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government," states: "Massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption affected all levels of government and the security forces." Noting that though Nigerian law provides criminal penalties for official corruption, the report said, "government did not implement the law effectively, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity."

The judiciary was not left out: "There was a widespread perception judges were easily bribed and litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgments. Citizens encountered long delays and alleged requests from judicial officials for bribes to expedite cases or obtain favorable rulings".

The report further stated: "On April 18, a House of Representatives Committee led by Representative Farouk Lawan and charged with investigating the fuel subsidy programme from 2009 to 2011 released a report showing massive fraud, corruption, and inefficiencies in the operation of the program. The report alleged misappropriation of nearly half the subsidy funds, with poor or nonexistent oversight by government agencies.

"The report estimated government money lost to “endemic corruption and entrenched inefficiency” amounted to 1.067 trillion naira ($6.8 billion). The committee recommended reform of the oversight and enforcement mechanisms and further endorsed investigation and prosecution of culpable officials." It further stated: 'In July the government released a list of those who had benefited illegally from the subsidy programme, which included relatives and colleagues of key government officials. In late July the EFCC began arraigning suspects, first with a group of 20 indictments, including six oil companies and 11 individuals.

"By year’s end the EFCC initiated prosecutions of approximately 50 cases related to the subsidy scam. The majority of these cases involved companies and individuals who had fraudulently received subsidy revenue. Investigations and trials had not produced any convictions by year’s end." It also recalled the twists in the subsidy probe, noting that in June (2012) "allegations and a video surfaced, allegedly showing Lawan accepting a 94.2 million naira ($605,000) bribe from entrepreneur Femi Otedola, who had advised Lawan on the investigation but whose company had not received fuel subsidy payments."

The report stated: "After Lawan solicited the bribe from Otedola, the latter approached the SSS to record the hand-off as part of a “sting” operation. The attorney-general referred the case to the police for further investigation. The allegations initially overshadowed the committee’s findings, but the EFCC continued with investigations at year’s end." It also cited the stealing of 32.8 billion naira ($210 million) Police Pension Fund, which led to the arraignment of six suspects including a director at the Police Pension Office, Atiku Abubakar Kigo, who later rose to become permanent secretary in the Ministry of the Niger Delta, and the criminal charges against former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, for laundering close to five billion naira ($32 million) of funds belonging to state.

Noting that the charges were instituted on February 24, 2012, the report said the court adjourned the trial until January 2013. Other corruption cases cited in the reports were the arrest of former minister of Works and Housing, Hassan Lawal, for 24 counts of fraudulently awarding contracts, money laundering, and embezzlement of 75 billion naira ($480 million); arrest of Mr. Dimeji Bankole, former speaker of the House of Representatives, and Deputy Speaker Usman Nafada for the alleged misappropriation of one billion naira ($6.4 million) and 40 billion naira ($256 million) respectively; arrest of former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, former Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, former Nasarawa State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma, and former Gombe State Governor, Muhammed Danjuma Goje.

"The four (governors) allegedly misappropriated or stole 58 billion naira ($372 million), 25 billion naira ($160 million), 18 billion naira ($115 million), and 12.8 billion naira ($82 million), respectively. Their trials began in December 2011 and continued at year’s end", the report noted. It also cited the guilty plea entered by former Delta State Governor James Ibori in the Southwark Crown Court in London to charges of money laundering and other financial crimes totalling 12.4 billion naira ($79 million) he had committed during his eight years in office.

The report shrilled further: "Soon after the court announced Ibori’s conviction, the EFCC issued a statement it intended to pursue a case against Ibori in Nigerian courts." On the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), signed into law in May 2011, which allows any person to request information from a government office, the report said "Civil society groups continued to introduce an increasing number of cases at the national and state level to test the FOIA during the year. Despite the number of cases introduced, there was only one reported successful prosecution during the year."

The report also contained the controversy over declaration of assets by Nigerian public officials noting statutory provisions that provide that, "Public officials, including the president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, cabinet ministers, and legislators (at both federal and state levels), must comply with financial disclosure laws, including the requirement to declare their assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) before assuming and after leaving office. Violators risked prosecution, but cases rarely came to conclusion." In conclusion, the report: "In June the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and other groups demanded President Jonathan disclose his assets from 2007 to 2012. On June 24, the president refused the request.”

Nigerians can now know where Mr Jonathan is coming from and the composite ruin his Administration visited on the people. Any gain saying it's unknown to him that corruption is the greatest problem confronting the powerfully endowed nation and that frontally combating the hydra-headed monster is the CHANGE Nigerians need? How else can Nigerians celebrate themselves than Jonathan's rustication? It will be a celebration of an end to his tartuffery government and hollow platitudes.

Erasmus, A Public Affairs Analyst writes in from Lagos, Nigeria.

Follow me on twitter @Erasmus_Ikhide
Visit: www.fresspress.com.ng

Nigerian Breaking News
There is fire on the mountain, and everyone is seems to be on
the run....
With less than 7days to Nigeria Presidential Election, the very
big crack is said to have been open in PDP which expert said
may cdonsume and mark the end of the most wicked, the most
heartless political party in Nigeria.
The Current PDP National chairman whom was speculated to
have resign last week was said to have sneak out of the
country to Dubai, from there he will travel to Saudi Arabia for
lesser Hajj and may not come back to the country till after
Election.
In Jigawa State it was announce that 10 Commisioners and 8
house of Assembly members decamp to APC.....
in Akwa Ibom state just yesterday a former Governor of the
state for 8years under PDP Obong Victor Attah along with, a
top Member of PDP board of trustee and some fomer senators,
Rep members has also decamp to APC with over 500, 000
supports.
There are strong indication that by tuesday next week, 4 PDP
serving Governors may also decamp to APC and many more
stakeholders in PDP........CAN THIS BE TRUE?

My own list is as follows in descending order
1. Bola Ahmed Tinubu
2. General Olusegun Obasanjo
3. General Muhammedu Buhari
4. Atiku Abubakar
5. T Y Danjuma
5. General Ibrahim Babangida
6. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
7.Kwankwaso
8.Bukola saraki
9. Sule Lamido
10. Edwin clark
10. Rotimi Amaechi

Uncertainty surrounds conduct of polls as Jonathan, Jega, security chiefs end meeting

Ahead of the March 28 presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday met behind closed doors with the heads of security agencies and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, at the State House, Abuja. But there was no firm commitment from those who briefed the press after the meeting that the general election will go ahead as planned. While Jega simply said the meeting went well, the Chief of Army staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, said it was up to INEC to decide whether to go ahead with the polls or not. The meeting, which lasted for about five hours, was attended by Vice President Namadi Sambo; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; the Chief of Staff to the President, General Jones Arogbofa; the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki; the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali; the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan; and the Minister of Interior, Abba Morro. Others included the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh; Minimah; the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Adeola Amosu; the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin; and the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba. It was also attended by the heads of the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency. Asked by State House correspondents the thrust of the meeting, Jega simply said: “I believe it went well.” He made no further comment. On security issue, briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Minimah said Council reviewed the North East operations, particularly in the last three weeks, and renewed its confidence in the Nigerian Armed Forces and commended them too. He said: “You know Yobe and Adamawa States have been liberated completely and we look forward to the reinstatement of structures of government and governance. “I am also sure you know that in Borno State out of the 27 local governments we have, three local governments remaining – Abadam, Kalabaldi and Gwoza – and we are optimistic that with time we will liberate those local governments.” Responding to questions whether there were discussions on the forthcoming elections, Minima said: “I am not competent to speak on that matter. “INEC is still there. “INEC has to re-access the situation and evaluate because the areas have been liberated, but I can also tell you that not all structures of governance have been reinstated and they will need to be reinstated so that citizens can go back to their areas and it is then I think they can execute their rights as voters. “How soon? “I don’t know.” On whether the military will conclude operations in the North East before the March 28 date for the polls, Minimah responded: “War is war. “It is our wish and we pray God gives that to us, but war is war. “War sometimes is not fought on some platforms of permutations.” Asked about the whereabouts of the Chibok girls, Minimah said: “No news for now. “In all the liberated areas we have, we have also made enquiries but the truth is when the terrorists are running away, they also run with their families. “And those we have come in contact with have not made any comments suggesting that Chibok girls were there and taken away. “But we are optimistic that as it becomes closer the territory is becoming elusive to them, we will get further details on that.”

Culled from: The Eagle Online
http://theeagleonline.com.ng/uncertainty-surrounds-conduct…/

Please friends I need your advice on this matter. You are all aware that I don't look for troubles and I don't like,troubles.
Now this military guy has been toasting my girl friend; and I have made up my mind to go to their barracks and warn him or possibly fight him to stop toasting my girl.

In fact I was already on my way before I changed my mind and decided to seek ur advice.
So plz advise me guys

Dear Compatriots,

In the past few months that I have traveled round this country on campaigns, I have experienced the sheer beauty of our diversity. From Port Harcourt to Kano, from Abeokuta to Gusau, I experienced first-hand the daily sufferings and struggles of our people. I also experienced the overwhelming desire of our people for change.

When I arrived in Port Harcourt on the 5th of January to start my campaigns, I was met by our teeming supporters, who stayed till late in the evening to welcome us. Among them were many young men and women, who in the few minutes that I shared with them at the airport, made me to reflect on what kind of future awaits them in our country.

The gestures of 90-year-old Hajia Fadimatu Mai Talle Tara from Kebbi State and 9-years-old Nicole Eniiyi Benson from Lagos State, who donated their life-savings to my campaign, reflect the overwhelming desire of our people for change. In their gestures, I perceived a longing for the days when honour, national pride and dignity of labour were the fundamental social principles that governed our country. As I encountered millions of our youths, who sometimes run for hours in front of my car and hanging precariously on our campaign vehicles at our state rallies, I also pondered the enormity of the task ahead. How do we give jobs to our youth? How do we reform our economy and make it work for every Nigerian?

I know however, that what we require to revamp our economy and rebuild our country is our ability to galvanize all our citizens to believe once again in their government, in their country and especially, to believe in themselves. This can only happen if we are able to rebuild the trust and belief that our people used to have in government, and indeed, in our nation. The leadership that I will provide will be built on this critical awareness. I intend to lead with integrity and honour and commit myself totally to everything that is of concern to our people: security, employment, health, education, good governance and others.

This Covenant is to outline my agenda for Nigeria and provide a bird’s eye view of how we intend to bring about the change that our country needs and deserves. This Covenant is derived from the manifesto of my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). It however, represents my pledge to you all when I become your President.

I have no doubt that God being on our side, with the abiding support of all Nigerians, we shall all witness the great change that we desire and achieve the Nigeria of our dream.

Thank you

Gen. Muhammadu BUHARI (Rtd.), GCFR
Presidential Candidate, APC

Corruption and Governance
No matter how vast our resources, if they are not efficiently utilized, they will only benefit a privileged few, leaving the majority in poverty. I believe if Nigeria does not kill corruption; corruption will kill Nigeria.

I pledge to:
Publicly declare my assets and liabilities and encourage my political appointees to also publicly declare their assets and liabilities.
Affirm that our strategy for tackling corruption will not only focus on punishment. Rather, it will also provide incentives for disclosure and transparency.
Show personal leadership in the war against corruption and also hold all the people who work with me to account.
Inaugurate the National Council on Procurement as stipulated in the Procurement Act so that the Federal Executive Council, which has been turned to a weekly session of contract bazaar, will concentrate on its principal function of policy making.
Review and implement audit recommendations by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
Work with the National Assembly towards the immediate enactment of a Whistle Blower Act.
Work with the National Assembly to strengthen ICPC and EFCC by guaranteeing institutional autonomy including financial and prosecutorial independence and security of tenure of officials.
Make the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) an autonomous and operational agency.
Encourage proactive disclosure of information by government institutions in the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act.
Ensure all MDAs regularly comply with their accountability responsibilities to Nigerians through the National Assembly.
Work with the leadership of the National Assembly to cut down the cost of governance.
Present a national anti-corruption Strategy.

Access to Justice and Respect for Fundamental Human Rights
One of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria is building a country that is fair to all of its citizens; a country in which all individuals feel and know that they are valued members of society with constitutionally guaranteed rights; a country that respects human dignity, promotes human development, fosters human equality and advances human freedom.

I pledge to:
Lead a government founded on values that promote and protect fundamental human rights and freedoms. I will promote the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law, affirm separation of the powers of government and support an independent judiciary.
Present a detailed strategy for protecting the fundamental rights and freedoms provided for in our Constitution. There will be emphasis on the rights of vulnerable persons including women, children and persons living with disabilities as well as access to justice and prisons reforms.

Insurgency and Insecurity
I have had the opportunity to serve my country in the military up to the highest level, as a Major General and as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. In the course of my service, I had defended the territorial integrity of Nigeria. And if called upon to do so again, I shall rise to the occasion. As a father, I feel the pain of the victims of insurgency, kidnapping and violence whether they are the widows and orphans of military, paramilitary or civilians.

I pledge to:

Ensure that under my watch, no force, external or internal, will occupy even an inch of Nigerian soil. I will give all it takes to ensure that our girls kidnapped from Chibok are rescued and reunited with their families.

Deliver a Marshal Plan on insurgency, terrorism, ethnic and religious violence, kidnapping, rural banditry and ensure that never again will Nigerian children be slaughtered or kidnapped at will.

Boost the morale of our fighting forces and the generality of Nigerians by leading from the front as the Commander-in-Chief and not hide in the comfort and security of Aso Rock.

Give especial attention to the welfare of our armed forces and all other security personnel and their families, including State-guaranteed life insurance for all officers and men as well as protect the families of our fallen heroes.

Ensure that acts of heroism and valour in the service to the nation are publicly recognized and celebrated.

Establish close working relationship with governors of the states affected by insurgency, with leaders of our neighbouring countries and with leaders around the world to cooperate in combating insurgency, oil theft, piracy and criminality.

Activate regular meetings of the National Police Council to ensure the discharge of its true constitutional roles in a transparent and accountable way.
Fight for you, and alongside you. We will fight together to defeat terrorism. But I will be honest with you about our challenges and I will bear the responsibilities of my charge. I will not lie to you or exaggerate our triumphs. My administration will be thoroughly transparent in every step of our daily struggle and together we will win the war.

Niger Delta
In many years of oil exploration, the Niger Delta has become perhaps, the world’s worst eco-system, a byword for environmental degradation, exploitation and diseases. I believe that protecting the livelihood of our people in the Niger Delta should transcend our interest its oil.

I pledge to:

Commit myself and my administration to the protection and regeneration of the environment in the Niger Delta and to ensure that oil companies comply with global best practices on environmental protection.

Sustain and streamline the human capital development in the Niger Delta, especially focusing on youth and women.
Reform investment in infrastructural development of the Niger Delta and ensure that the NDDC is held accountable to its mandate.

Diversity
Nigeria’s greatest asset is her people. My commitment is to invest in our people and ensure that they have the opportunity to achieve their full potentials and enjoy the full benefits of their citizenship, regardless of their religion, region, ethnicity, gender or disability.

I pledge to:

Continually acknowledge our diversity and consciously promote equality and equity in all government businesses and activities.
Implement the National Gender Policy including 35% of appointive positions for women.
Work with the National Assembly to pass the National Disability Act and the Equal Opportunities Bill.

Health
We must give real meaning to the old saying that Health is Wealth. We must take all possible measures to ensure that our people stay healthy, but we must also ensure that when they fall ill, they can get help.

Healthcare in Nigeria is in crises. Too many people do not get any treatment. For those who do get treated, all too often, the care they receive is poor. Far too many die from easily treatable diseases and what should be routine treatment often end in death. Furthermore, Nigeria is set to miss our MDG targets. The statistics speak for themselves.

I pledge to:

Unveil a health sector review policy to ensure efficient and effective management of our health systems with focus on prevention.

Ensure that no Nigerian will have any reason to go outside the country for medical treatment.

Guarantee financial sustainability to the health sector and minimum basic health care for all.

Review occupational health laws and immediately commence enforcement of the provisions to reduce hazards in the work place.

Partner with State Governments and development partners to ensure all-round implementation of our primary health plans by expanding access to health insurance for rural communities.

Education
I believe that our education system must prepare our children for the responsibilities of citizenship and prepare our youths to contribute to the development of our country. Therefore, I shall focus on restoring the lost glory of our education by implementing reforms that will bring quality back into our schools and position our universities and polytechnics to provide market-relevant skills to our youths.

I pledge to:
Embark on a program of mass mobilisation to ensure that all children of school age, no matter where they may reside in our country, and no matter the social conditions of their parents, are in school. Working in co-operation with the State Governments, we shall make the required investments in infrastructure, learning materials, nutrition and children healthcare. To this end, UBEC Fund will be reviewed to ensure greater efficiency in utilization.

Provide on-the-job retraining opportunities for existing teachers at both the basic and secondary levels while providing the right incentives to keep teachers in the classrooms and attract bright young men and women to take up career in teaching.

Work with other levels of government and through relevant government agencies to allocate resources to schools while strengthening community participation in school management.
Implement a comprehensive review of the goal and content of our secondary education to ensure that it also serves the purpose of skills acquisition and fits purpose.

Set up Colleges of Skills and Enterprise to replace the old technical colleges. This will be done with direct participation from relevant industry and professional groups in the private sector. Based on local market demands, each of the colleges will focus on high job demand sectors of the economy such as agriculture, ICT, telecommunications, entertainment, construction, oil and gas and sports.

Establish special purpose fund for a Secondary School level education.
Improve the competitiveness of our universities and polytechnics and position them at the heart of the national productivity, innovation and enterprise.
Pursue a policy of non-discrimination between the universities and the polytechnics.

Agriculture
Oil has served our country, but it has also excluded majority of Nigerians from the mainstream of our economy. I am convinced that our guarantee for inclusive growth is agriculture.

I pledge to:
Make agriculture a major focus of the government and lay the institutional foundation to attract large-scale investments and capital to the sector.
Actively promote a well-coordinated and innovatively funded Youth in Commercial Agribusiness Programme.
Establish agricultural produce storage, pricing and marketing systems to ensure real commercial value and minimize waste.
Work with State Governments to launch Agricultural Support Programmes that will drive agricultural land development and mechanization.
Revamp, revitalize and improve on the national agricultural extension and rural support service system.
Lay the groundwork for a standardized market uptake and aggregation outlets for specific agricultural produce.
Revamp the key development banks (Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and Nigeria Import & Export Bank) to fund inclusive agricultural value chain operations
Liberalise and expand agricultural and rural insurance system with premium subventions support to farmers
Revamp the agricultural cooperative system to drive rural agriculture and improve stakes for smallholder farmers.
Develop a system of small-scale irrigation systems to ensure all-year round farming.
Revamping key agriculture research institutions and deliver their outputs through effective network of extension services.

Management of the Economy for Shared Prosperity
All Nigerians deserve to benefit from our collective wealth. We promise not to leave any Nigerian behind in our determination to create, expand and ensure equitable and effective allocation of economic opportunities. No matter the amount of wealth we create, it would be meaningless unless it benefits the majority of our people.

Power
Our failure to ensure a stable supply of electricity has been an impediment to economic growth, productivity and national security.

I pledge to:
Address the gaps in power sector privatization to ensure it serves the needs of our people.
Explore and develop alternative sources of power such as small, medium and large hydro plants, wind, coal and solar and other forms of renewable energy to ensure efficient and affordable power supply.
Invest in technical skills development for efficient management of energy resources.

Sports and Culture
Sports and culture are important instruments for social cohesion, national integration and promotion of positive national image. They also provide a strong platform for youth development and the expression of our abundant creative talents.

I pledge to:
Invest and encourage investments in both small and large-scale sports facilities to enable mass participation in sports.
Ensure that participation in sports become a core component of our education at all levels.
Activate incentives for the private sector to invest in the development of high performance sports.

Culture

I pledge to:
Support real investments in the entertainment, arts and creative industries.
Strengthen the regulatory framework to protect and preserve our culture and creative industry and prevent it from the scourge of piracy.
Develop and strengthen the value link-chain of the culture industry to deepen the industry and provide jobs.

Read more: http://newsrescue.com/my-covenant-with-nigerians-by-general-muhammadu-buhari/#ixzz3UelwQIk5

President Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation has said there is no evidence linking a former Head of State who is also the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), with the Boko Haram sect.

The spokesperson for the organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, stated this at the maiden press briefing of the organisation in Abuja on Wednesday.

But he said that because of the alleged anger shown by the APC when the sect was proscribed by the Federal Government, the APC might be in support of the group.

Vote wisely...


http://www.punchng.com/news/no-link-between-buhari-boko-haram-jonathan-campaign-group/

Former president Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari speaks:

Buhari did not overthrow my government, it was when those boys that overthrew our government were looking for someone with integrity, honesty and fairness to be the head of their government, that was when Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s name came in, former president Shagari said.

It was Gen D.Y Bali that mentioned his name, and all of them agreed; Gen Tunde Idiagbon was asked to announce his name when he “Buhari” was not even there, I thought he was in India for a course, Shagari explained that those who overthrew his government were, Major General Tunde Idiagbon, Major General Ibrahim Babangida, Major General Tunde Ogbeha, Comondor Augustus Aikhomu, Nureni Yusuf, Bridgadier General Sanni Abacha, DY Bali, Lt Col Oladayo Popoola.

Shagari was reacting to allegations leveled against opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari, that he overthrew democracy and he wants to be elected under the same democracy that he truncated 32 years ago.

Read more: http://newsrescue.com/buhari-did-not-overthrow-my-government-shagari/#ixzz3UdIPE2nv

Ffk advice to all Nigerian electorate