₦airaland Forum

Bode George lied, I never apologise to him — Bola Tinubu
April 28, 2015Adebayo Hassan

A former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday denied the claim that he apologised to a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party Chieftain, Bode George, for allegedly playing a part in jailing him.
Mr. George had, in an interview with THE PUNCH, said Mr. Tinubu apologised to him at a public function over his alleged involvement in his past travails.
“Initially, he thought I hated him so much and convolutedly conspired to use a judge to put me in prison,” he said.
He said Mr. Tinubu had since apologised for his alleged wrongdoing.
However, in a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Tinubu said there was no time he begged Mr. George for forgiveness since he never wronged him.
“I don’t know when and how I ever offended Mr. George. I have never wronged the man or even thought of it. I sought no forgiveness because no forgiveness was needed,” Mr. Tinubu said.
He said it amounted to hurling insult on the judiciary for Mr. George to assume his conviction was wrongly derived or that he had fallen victim of conspiracy.
He said there was no way he could have influenced Mr. George’s imprisonment.
The APC leader, widely credited for midwifing the success of the All Progressives Congress in the just concluded general elections, said, “Mr. George seeks to imbue me with more power than I could possibly have. I am flattered but in all humility I must protest the false assessment. If he can remember, the government of the day was that of the PDP.
“I have never had nor sought much influence in those circles. He was charged by the government ruled by his own party for an offence concerning financial irregularities at the Nigeria Port Authority, NPA, an appointment he received from that same government. It is an incredible tale indeed to state that somehow I could direct a party that tried to dismantle the progressive political structure of my party to bring down one of its key members.
“The more plausible explanation for his legal tribulation was that a member of his own cabal blew the whistle on Mr. George’s antics for reasons that only he and that person truly know. The rest is now history.”
“I believe he was convicted of “ Invoice Splitting” a violation of financial regulations,” Mr. Tinubu said. “This malpractice is a deliberate circumvention of the law so that the culprit may approval expenditures above his mandated authority to do so and without proper oversight.”
Mr. George, more than anyone else, caused his own incarceration with his actions and hand, Mr. Tinubu maintained.
He offered opposing account of what transpired at the burial of late Alao Arisekola, where Mr. George claimed the APC chieftain begged him.
“Mr. George claims the alleged apology was made at the burial of Chief Alao Arisekola. On that date, personalities such as Oba Otudeko and Governor Ajimobi approached me because I did not greet Mr. George initially. They pleaded that, in the memory of the man we were all gathered to honour, I should greet Mr. George. At their request, I turned back and came to greet him by saying “Good Afternoon Egbon”. That was all.
“If Mr. George wishes to interpret that as an apology, he has the right to do so. I also have the right to state categorically that no apology was made or even intended,” he explained.
Against the background of Mr. George’s reported declaration that he would go on exile should APC win the presidential election, Mr. Tinubu added that neither him nor APC had the intention of victimising the PDP leader, stating that, “We have no time or inclination to trouble ourselves by troubling Bode George.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/182202-bode-george-lied-i-never-apologise-to-him-bola-tinubu.html

No hiding place for NNPC looters

APRIL 24, 2015 : PUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD

FOR public officials and their cronies stealing the country blind through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the day of reckoning beckons. The thumping victory of Muhammadu Buhari in the March 28 presidential election was followed last week by the World Bank’s backing for his resolve to closely scrutinise the corporation. With persistence, the reign of impunity and unbridled looting will, hopefully, soon be over at the state-owned oil company. The incoming government must ensure that everyone involved in corrupt practice in the corporation is detected, investigated, prosecuted and punished.

Having coasted to victory on the promise to halt the pervasive corruption that defines the current administration and on his own reputation for accountability, Buhari has no choice but to, first, undertake a detailed probe and audit of the NNPC operations and account and, thereafter, break the corrupt monolith into a lean holding company. The executives, petroleum ministry and Presidency officials that have for so long gorged on the treasury through the NNPC should not get away with their loot. The World Bank’s backing should also put paid to some misguided calls that the in-coming administration should not “waste” time on probes. We disagree.

The magnitude of NNPC’s malfeasance demands one. Corruption is encouraged by both the incentives and opportunities to be corrupt. And so, the World Bank’s Chief Economist for Africa, Francisco Ferreira, said, “One norm that has to change is the norm of impunity.” A series of audits and reports has uncovered horrendous graft, unauthorised spending, alleged secret accounts and brazen theft. Described by The Economist of London as one of the world’s “most opaque” national oil companies, the NNPC unilaterally determines how much subsidy and other items it is entitled to and simply deducts. Global audit firm, KPMG, reported that between 2007 and 2009, for instance, it over-billed the government by N28.5 billion in subsidy deductions. In 2013, Switzerland-based non-governmental organisation, Erklarung von Bern, alleged that $6.8 billion was siphoned in crude revenues. The Finance Ministry complained in September 2007 that the corporation failed to remit $5.2 billion to the government.

For a company responsible for the country’s interest in the oil and gas sector that provides over 70 per cent of government revenues and 90 per cent of export earnings, this corporation must be made accountable. The NNPC has become a law unto itself and, as noted by Democracy Network, an NGO, “it is accountable to no one.” The veracity of this was confirmed by Petroleum Resources Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who pointedly told a parliamentary committee that the NNPC had the right under law to spend part of its revenue without recourse to the parliament despite the constitutional provision that all revenues accruing to ministries, departments and agencies of the government must be remitted to the Federation Account.

An organisation rated by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2007 to be “a source of corruption and national shame” and in March this year, to be “among the most secretive oil groups in the world,” can only continue to be so only with presidential and ministerial complicity. Successive Nigerian presidents have, according to an analyst, turned the NNPC into their “personal ATM.” A former presidential media adviser, in his memoirs, detailed how the then President would simply demand money from the NNPC group managing director for activities that should normally be funded by MDAs. There are allegations that the NNPC partly funds the re-election campaigns of sitting presidents.

The scale of the impunity perpetrated by public officials is simply awesome. What Nigeria needs is a holding company to manage her interests in the oil and gas industry, not a corporate behemoth that oils the machinery of graft. The reform should begin with a total withdrawal from the downstream oil sector – pipelines, refineries, depots and retail outlets should be privatised within six months of the new administration taking office. Its production arm, the NPDC, should also be privatised. Let the private sector run things, while the government strengthens regulation and sees to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.

As the late Singaporean leader,Lee Kuan Yew, put it,“Singapore is what it is today because of its system of transparency and integrity.” The new government should break quickly with the inertia, impunity and complicity of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration and exhume the panel and audit reports on the NNPC. Arising from the 2011 petrol subsidy scam where N2.53 trillion was paid in unbudgeted payments, four reports and committee reports to review them have not been acted upon. The latest report by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative on the period 2009-11, said N4.42 billion, N3.71 billion, and $1.7 billion in over-recoveries from marketers and use of expired memorandum of understanding with joint venture partners were still outstanding. This is a firm that, according to EvB, sells all of its crude through third parties, which creates room for kickbacks and shady contracts.

Nigerians want to know how much is really missing from the NNPC: is it $20 billion as alleged by the former CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi, or $10.8 billion as the NNPC itself once admitted only to later say it paid itself for kerosene subsidy? We need details of the refund of $1.48 billion recommended by PWC. What kind of accounting does NNPC operate that the CBN, the government’s banker, cannot unravel and one where the Finance Ministry, the Accountant-General and the apex bank have conflicting figures?

But if ever the argument that a fine toothcomb needs to be run through the NNPC is in doubt, Buhari needs only remember that despite producing 2.3 million barrels of crude per day, Nigeria imports refined petroleum products, the victim of NNPC’s incompetent, corruption-ridden monopoly in local refining.

The overall strategic approach to fighting corruption should apply across the board, with no distinction made on whether it is petty corruption or high level corruption. No exception is made for anyone and there are no “black areas” or “sacred cows” the law cannot deal with.

http://www.punchng.com/editorials/no-hiding-place-for-nnpc-looters/

Learn from Abba’s sack, shun partisanship, APC t​ells new Police ​I​G​

April 23, 2015Press Release

The All Progressives Congress has urged the newly-appointed Acting Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, to approach his new task with a high level of professionalism while shunning the kind of crass partisanship that has dragged key national institutions of state, especially the police, into the partisan fray.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party advised the Acting IGP to learn from the fate that befell his predecessors who, under their watch, turned the police into the enforcement arm of the ruling party, thus allowing the institution to be wantonly used to thwart the will of the people and act in ways that negate its constitutional mandate of maintaining law and order.
It said irrespective of the reasons for his appointment as the Acting IGP at this time, Mr. Arase must realize that he will be judged solely by the direction to which he takes the police, which is one of the most abused national institutions by those who have been at the helms
of the nation’s affairs since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
”We do not know the reason for the sack of the immediate past IGP, but we have read, just like other Nigerians, that it might not be unconnected with the role he either played or did not play in the last general elections,” APC said. “What we do know is that the police force under the former IG was a major actor in the massive rigging and violence that characterized the elections in some parts of the country, especially in Rivers ,Akwa Ibom
​, ​Sokoto and Gombe states just to mention a few.
”Now, Mr. Arase faces perhaps the biggest test in his new capacity with the supplementary elections coming up in Abia, Imo and Taraba. We do hope he will not allow the police under him to be used to thwart the will of the people in those states or to give cover to those who
will engage in violence. Any IG worth his salt does not need to pander to the President or the ruling party in carrying out his duties. All he has to do is to make sure the police carry out its statutory duties in accordance with the law and without fear or favour.”
The party said it does not believe the rumours making the rounds that the new Acting IGP was appointed to facilitate victory for the PDP in those supplementary elections, saying, in any case, that whatever may be the reason for his appointment, he should realize that Nigerians have now reached a level where they will not allow anyone, whether in uniform or not, to either prevent them from exercising their franchise or to collude with politicians to ensure that their votes do not count.
”When Mr. Arase’s predecessor issued an illegal order directing Nigerians to vote and immediately vacate polling units during the last elections, he knew he was acting against what the law stipulates, but he chose to do so anyway to please his masters,” he said. “However, armed with the position of the law, Nigerians simply ignored the illegal order, voted and stayed behind to defend their votes.
“When that unlawful order is placed side-by-side with other acts that ran contrary to the maintenance of law and order under the immediate past IG – including the cover given to the OPC to wreak havoc in Lagos, the illegal withdrawal of the security details of House of Representatives’ Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, whom he (former IG) refused to recognize as Speaker in a clear usurpation of the role of the judiciary, and the shameful role of the police in the Osun Governorship election last year, during which hundreds of APC members were arrested and detained without cause – one will realize to what extent the police was dragged into partisan politics under him.
”But in the end, those for whom the IG desecrated the police had no qualms about humiliating him out of office. We hope Mr. Arase will learn a lesson from this, toe a different path and not run the police like his private company and a tool in the hands of unscrupulous politicians.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/181906-%E2%80%8Blearn-from-abbas-sack-shun-partisanship-apc-t%E2%80%8Bells-new-police-%E2%80%8Bi%E2%80%8Bg%E2%80%8B.html

N25bn Alleged Fraud: Judges’ holiday stalls Igbinedion’s ruling again
April 18, 2015 Nnenna Ibeh

A federal court has again rescheduled its judgement in a case of alleged N25 billion fraud involving Michael Igbinedion, a younger brother to a former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion.
The case was stalled Friday due to an extended Easter break for judges.
Mr. Igbinedion was arraigned alongside Charles Eboigbodin by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for alleged money laundering, misappropriation of funds, conspiracy and abuse of office.
A new date, April 20, was fixed for the trial by Justice J. Liman of the Federal High Court in Benin, the capital of Edo State.

The extension came barely a month after Mr. Liman promised there would to be no further delay in delivering the ruling which has suffered several adjournments since January 30 when the case was first fixed for judgment.

On March 10, counsels had to re-adopt their earlier adopted written addresses in line with the constitutional provision that, “after 90 days of adopting written addresses, if judgment is not delivered, the judge can summon the parties to re-adopt”.
Messers. Igbinedion and Eboigbodin and their companies – Gava Corporation Limited; Romrig Nigeria Limited; PML Securities Company Limited and PML Nigeria Limited were also joined in the case.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/181631-n25bn-alleged-fraud-judges-holiday-stalls-igbinedions-ruling-again.html

Violators of Nigeria’s electoral law, constitution will be punished – Buhari print

Published on April 11, 2015 by

Nigeria’s president elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, said on Saturday that government officials and other agents of state who work to subvert the nation’s constitution will not go unpunished.
He spoke today in Katsina state, in an interactive session with journalists.
Against the backdrop of reported electoral infractions in Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Buhari said:
“The running battle from Rivers, south east and the rest of the South south, especially by governors Rotimi Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha and Adams Oshiomhole with INEC officials and law enforcement agencies is remarkable and I think it has to be totally exposed so that Nigerians will know which of the law enforcement agencies and at what levels are undermining the constitution of Nigeria because the electoral act is derived from the constitution of the country. So that in future, those who are in position will know that they are not beyond the law,” he said.
Buhari told journalists at his country home in Katsina that whether in the opposition or in the ruling party, anybody that works against the constitution will be allowed to enjoy the privileges conferred by the constitution.
While insisting that he will work in concert with the National Assembly to ensure constitutional amendment where necessary, the President elect said he will encourage the implementation of the Justice Mohammed Uwais report especially as it relates to the institution of a special court to try electoral offenders.
He said: “I will look for understanding and cooperation from the National Assembly when a change of the constitution or electoral act is necessary. So for me to make up my mind here and later try to lobby is out of it because some of them, if they are very hard, they will give me a tough time.
“I will say that I haven’t read the Uwais report, but I have read a few of the extracts from the papers, I think it is a good thing and we will encourage it. But we need to get a comprehensive report from the field.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/04/11/violators-of-nigerias-electoral-law-constitution-will-be-punished-buhari/

APC insists Jonathan is in Lagos to rig with N10bn

Published on April 10, 2015 by

The All Progressives Congress has offered some elaboration on its accusations against President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party that they were planning to rig the governorship and house of assembly elections in Lagos State.
At a press conference in Lagos today, the party’s publicity secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed accused the PDP of gun running, and distribution of fake result sheets, as part of measures to rig Saturday polls and capture Lagos at all costs.
President Jonathan has relocated to Lagos, the party claimed with a N10 billion war chest to supervise the rigging plans.
According to Mohammed, AIG Mbu Joseph Mbu has seized control of the Lagos command from Police Commissioner Kayode Aderanti for the elections and claimed that plans were afoot to arrest, harass and intimidate key leaders of the APC.
“Gentlemen, the PDP is ready to storm polling units in areas where the APC is strong either to disrupt voting by attacking voters or simply carry away voting materials. We have it on good authority that the PDP point man has been driving around designated pick-up points to drop fake NYSC and military uniforms, guns and cash. In a clandestine and brazen operation in Lagos, this point man and his team have also added the distribution of fake result sheets to PDP agents.
[b]“At a popular Maryland vendor stand, which is one of the muster points for the PDP thugs, 3 big bags containing NYSC Polo shirts, as well as fake police and army uniforms, were handed over to some PDP thugs by the agents. Then at 5:30 am this morning, at exactly the same location, the vendor stand in Maryland close to Mobil Filing station, two white Hilux trucks pulled up and dropped 60 medium size rectangular cartons.
“On hand were the same men who collected the bags of fake NYSC t-shirts some days back. Their conversation, which took place in Yoruba language, revealed a lot. The four men asked from the person delivering the cartons “owo nko” (where is the money). The man in the car said both the money and the guns were inside the box. He also explained to the four men that later in the evening of today, Friday, the four men should return to the same point to collect fake result sheets from Baju Laiye (the hub of printing in Lagos) that will be wrapped up in newspapers and delivered just like the way newspapers are delivered.
“The men who collected the guns, fake uniforms and result sheets are those designated to storm polling units to tomorrow. They will also instigate violence across the state, with a view to scaring away voters, especially in APC strongholds.[/b]
“The PDP has turned Saturday’s elections to a do-or-die affair. The plan is to use thugs and militants who have also been imported into the state to intimidate voters, snatch ballot boxes and provide cover for the PDP to announce false results tomorrow. Fake ballot papers as well as results sheets are already being issued to the PDP.”
Mohammed said the President flew into Lagos on Thursday expressly to oversee the PDP’s rigging plans.
“He met with his point men: Musiliu Obanikoro, Jimi Agbaje and Gani Adams, apparently to hand over the war chest to them. It is interesting that despite their failure, in view of the dollar rain that fell on the South-west, to capture the region, they have not relented in wasting public funds to swing the outcome of elections. Nigerians have shown that they cannot be swayed by bribery. If money were to be the determining factor, the PDP would not have lost the presidential elections. Just as they failed on March 28th, they will fail again tomorrow”.
Mohammed claimed that AIG Mbu, acting on Jonathan’s directive, stormed the Lagos police headquarters today and took over the CP’s office, claiming he is now in charge of the election in Lagos.
Meanwhile, the IG of police, Suleiman Abba, had posted the DIG in charge of training in Abuja, Mr Argungu, to oversee the election in Lagos. Mbu had been posted to take charge of affairs in Ogun state.
“The President by his directive has overridden the directives of the IG without his knowledge,” he added.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/04/10/apc-insists-jonathan-is-in-lagos-to-rig-with-n10bn/

Jonathan in Lagos, perfects rigging with Obanikoro, Gani Adams print

Published on April 10, 2015 by · 40 Comments

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has slammed the PDP over its desperation to capture Lagos State at all cost, including using fake result sheets which were flown in from Abuja for Saturday’s elections, warning that the people will resist any attempt to rob them of their votes.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the rigging plans are being led by President Goodluck Jonathan, who has already flown into Lagos where he has held a meeting with his point men, including Musiliu Obanikoro, Jimi Agbaje and Gani Adams.
It said that before the meeting, eagle-eyed Nigerians who are appalled by the PDP’s rigging plans have widely circulated on the Social Media the details of the planned electoral malfeasance, including the airlifting from Abuja to Lagos of a Black Kia Mohave SUV, with plate number DHQ 340, which was packed with election materials (especially result sheets).
“The meeting in Lagos was aimed at devising a strategy to distribute the fake result sheets that were packed into the SUV, which will be free to move around (because of its plate number) despite the restriction on vehicular movement during the elections.
“It is sad that the same President, who conceded defeat in the presidential election and then followed up with a speech in which he said he would like his ‘legacy’ of free and fair elections to endure, is the one who is presiding over a desperate move to steal the people’s votes on Saturday.
“How can President Jonathan’s ‘legacy’ endure when one of his last acts in office is a seeming vengeance mission to lead his party to capture Lagos, because the PDP sees the state as a cash cow that they can milk to death, with the party’s gravy train at the federal level having derailed?” the party queried.
“In their desperation over the Lagos election, they have shamelessly divided the people along ethnic, religious and regional lines, thus setting the stage for the condemnable hate speeches to which they have in turn latched on to further whip up primordial sentiments.
“The PDP cannot now seek to benefit from the problems it caused in the first instance. This party (PDP) and its leader, the President, have divided Nigerians in general and Lagos residents in particular more than any individual or group and at any time in history. If today things are being said that should not have been said, it is the direct consequence of the PDP’s divisiveness,” APC added.
The party advised the President to desist from any vengeance mission that will only rubbish whatever is left of his so-called legacy of free and fair elections.
It urged all APC members and supporters, and indeed all the good people of Lagos, to be extra vigilant on Saturday to thwart the evil machinations of the fallen behemoth called the PDP.
“Lagosians, please come out en masse on Saturday and vote in a peaceful manner for a candidate of your choice. Say no to coercion, defend your votes and repudiate all architects of divisiveness and rigging,” APC said.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/04/10/jonathan-in-lagos-perfects-rigging-with-obanikoro-gani-adams/

APR 09, 2015


The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted the security agencies to the moves being made Gov. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State to disrupt Saturday’s Governorship/House of Assembly elections in the entire South-West by instigating widespread violence.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the Governor has already met with the thugs, who have been trained specifically for the purpose of disrupting the elections, at Oshodi-Isolo in akure and Iro in Akure South Local Government Area giving the group of thugs at each location 350 million Naira for their devilish assignments.

”The strategy is to deploy these thugs to various parts of the South-West with the express instruction to violently disrupt elections through sporadic shootings and stealing of ballot boxes. This is the Governor’s answer to the massive shellacking he received from the electorate in the region in general and in Ondo state in particular during the March 28th presidential elections.

”The fear of the thugs have already sent many APC leaders, who have been targeted for attack, scampering for safety. While some have gone underground, others have relocated either from Ondo State or from the region entirely. There is also the report circulating in Ondo State in particular that the Governor has deployed thugs to every polling unit to cut off the hands of anyone who is suspected to have voted for the APC during the elections.

”These developments do not augur well for a free, fair and peaceful elections, hence the need for security agents to face the challenge posed by the hired thugs squarely,” it said

APC said the thugs have already started unleashing violence, killing one person at a rally in Igbara-Oke in Ifedore local government area of the state on Wednesday.

”Since his embarrassing loss at the March 28 elections, Governor Mimiko has almost become maniacal, hence his resort to the training and arming of thugs, many of whom will don fake police and army uniforms to disrupt Saturday’s elections throughout the South-West and especially in Ondo state.

”It is important to alert the sponsors of terror and electoral malfeasance that whether or not they have immunity from prosecution, ultimately they will be made to face the full wrath of the law to account for their unbridled penchant for violence,” the party warned.

It called on all APC members and supporters to be vigilant and to make sure they document all cases of brigandage and rigging across the region, while also alerting local and international observers to pay aclose attention to the conduct of the elections in the region, as well as in other flash points like Rivers State, on Saturday.


http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/09/apc-accuses-mimiko-arming-thugs-disrupt-govsassembly-polls

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORKAPR 07, 2015

Nervous Kaduna State governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, on Tuesday morning pre-empted a meeting in the State between Southern Kaduna top traditional rulers and in-coming Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

The Director General of Kaduna State All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council, Mr. Ben Kure, disclosed this in a press statement.

Osinbanjo was in Kafanchan to meet critical stakeholders in the area including traditional rulers, Christian leaders, academic, youth and women leaders ahead of Saturday's governorship election.

For the gathering, the over 20 traditional rulers drawn from eight local government areas were on their way to the palace of the Chief of Kagoro, the venue of the meeting, when they received the governor's instruction.

Some of the invited chiefs had already arrived in the vicinity when they received signals warning them against meeting with the Vice-President-elect.

Kure said "The programme was to first meet traditional rulers before church leaders, and we had notified them and they were ready to receive our in-coming Vice President. The meeting was to pay homage and intimate them of what the in-coming Muhammadu Buhari's government has in stock for Nigerians irrespective religion, ethnicity, region or political interests.

He said they were surprised to receive a message that the governor had stopped the meeting and cautioned the invitees to return to their domains. The monarchs complied with the warning.

Kure recalled that Governor Yero had three weeks ago also stopped the then presidential candidate of the APC from holding a campaign at Murtala Square in Kaduna, the state capital, adding that he has now tried to embarrass the incoming Vice President. "Are the people of Kaduna state and their traditional rulers slaves of the governor?” he asked. ‘It is quite unfortunate that Kaduna State is now under an individual who is above the law and ruling with impunity. "He should know that the people of Kaduna State are free people with the right of free association and choice. He will not force people to vote for him, it is a democracy and the voice of the people must be heard. "

On Saturday, Governor Yero faces a big battle for the gubernatorial office at the polls against former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nasir el-Rufai.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/07/kaduna-governor-yero-stops-southern-kaduna-chiefs-meeting-vp-elect-osinbajo

NIMASA blows over N2b on hotels for ex-militants
Posted by: Oluwakemi Dauda in Maritime 16 hours ago


For allegedly blowing N2 billion in hotel bills for former Niger Delta militants, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) may have run into trouble with the Ministry of Transport (MoT).
NIMASA is said to have spent the money in the past four years on keeping the former militants in hotels in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos.
It was learnt that the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, his officials and NIMASA account staff were shocked when they learnt of the bills.
The minister, it was gathered, was furious over the spending, which he considered reckless, considering that over 90 per cent was spent on former militants in exotic hotels.
The discovery of the huge bills, it was learnt, has caused a row between the management and the staff.
NIMASA Deputy Director, Public Relations (DDPR) Mr. Isichei Osamgbi denied the story. “Completely false. There is no such thing,” he said.
But, according to a senior NIMASA official, some of the ex-militants lived, dined and wined in their hotels for over a year.
An official of one of the hotels in Lagos said the bills rose to over N2 billion because whenever the ex-militants travelled, they refused to submit their keys and returned to their rooms after their trips.
He said when the ex-militants moved into the hotel, NIMASA did not say when they would leave nor write the management that it would no longer foot the bills.
“The agency did not write us that they will no longer be responsible for the hotel bills.’’
Sources at the Ministry of Transport said some senior officials of the agency had, in the past few days, been trying to keep the information relating to the bills from the public, he said.
A ministry official urged the incoming administration to investigate the matter, saying: “The All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government and the National Assembly must look into this spending spree by NIMASA. It is a source of great concern to us for agencies under our watch to be spending public funds the way the current management of NIMASA is doing.”
He said the agency’s conduct goes contrary to the government policy on fiscal reform.
“The money is public money. The leadership of the agency must be made to account for it. Why should the management allow people who have nothing to contribute to the agency stay in five-star hotels for years?
“The N2 billion bill is a disaster to public relations (PR) and pure maladministration.”
Sources at some of the hotels revealed that the ex-militants splurged on expensive foods and drinks.
“It is disgusting and highly despicable. The management of the agency took advantage of its privileged position to spend public funds the way it liked. Those people enjoyed expensive drinks during their stay in the hotels.
“There is no doubt that the country is in a financial crisis. The price of crude oil has dropped at the international market and the Federal Government has devalued the naira. Therefore, the N2 billion hotel bill is completely unethical, uncharitable, shameful and selfish. It is offensive to millions of Nigerians. The decision to keep the militants in the hotels is silly, despicable and shameful,” the official said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/nimasa-blows-over-n2b-on-hotels-for-ex-militants/

Harass civilians, prepare for retirement, Amaechi tells police

APRIL 5, 2015 : CHUKWUDI AKASIKE, PORT HARCOURT

The Rivers State Governor and the Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said with the emergence of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) as the President-elect, there will be no police brutality and molestation in the state.

Amaechi, who called on the people of the state to vote the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, in the April 11, 2015, election, assured voters that any police that harassed them would be punished.

Speaking during a ward-to-ward campaign in Emohua and Ikwerre Local Government Areas on Saturday, the governor urged the electorate not to be afraid to come out and vote.

“Next week Saturday, I expect everybody to come out and vote. There will be no police molestation again. There will be no Army harassment again. Any police that molests you must be preparing to retire and this time, it will not be retirement, it will be punishment for retirement. So, come out to vote. We are looking for you to come out to vote.

“The reason why I am running from ward to ward is to encourage you to come out because after what the police and the Army did last time, everybody will be afraid to come out. Saturday, we should all come out to vote and as your governor, I urge you to vote for APC,” he said.

Amaechi emphasised that his administration would set up a commission of enquiry to look into election-related deaths in the state during the March 28, 2015 presidential election, adding that those found guilty would be punished according to the law.

He said, “We have agreed to set up a commission of enquiry to investigate all the killings so far. So, all those people who killed, we shall punish them. Whether they like it or not, they must account for everybody they killed.

“For the police, we believe that by now, they must have learnt their lesson. We believe that by now, they must have known that they were politicians and not Nigerian police. This Saturday, we expect them to be Nigerian police and not Nigerian politicians.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/harass-civilians-prepare-for-retirement-amaechi-tells-police/

Dressing Jonathan in borrowed ‘statesman’ robes
Posted by: Idowu Akinlotan in Idowu Akinlotan, Sunday

For conceding defeat to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, in the March 28 poll, President Goodluck Jonathan has been lavishly described as a statesman. The word is debauched. Nigeria was doubtless on edge shortly before and after the poll, with many people stockpiling food and provisions and relocating from towns and cities they feared could erupt in violence if the poll results did not favour one of the contestants. But by placing a call to Gen Buhari and conceding defeat, the unbearable tension was instantly relieved. A grateful nation, it seems, could not have enough of the new Jonathan, whom they immediately dressed in the borrowed robes of a statesman.
A stupefied Abdulsalami Abubakar, former military head of state, ran breathless, together with his new National Peace Committee, to the president to thank him for his kind consideration and understanding. World leaders, awash in emotions, also sent word appreciating the new Dr Jonathan for placing country above self and ensuring post-poll peace. Even the APC itself, the main beneficiary of the electoral revolution that took place seemingly against the run of play, gushed to the president in coded language that all was forgiven. The president’s friends, hangers-on, and the media he dedicated to himself for the reelection race, have all painted him in glowing statesmanlike colours.
It is apparently so soon forgotten that Dr Jonathan, more than any other person, politician or unprincipled security agent, was responsible for the tension that convulsed the country weeks before the fateful race. He destroyed the security services, disemboweled them, and turned them into his party’s enforcement arm, to the extent that the world scorned what had become of Nigeria, and neighbouring countries ridiculed its armed services. It is also forgotten that the president was directly and solely responsible for creating and fostering religious and ethnic divisions in the country, and aggravated his irresponsible behaviour by condoning the threats and sabre rattling from Niger Delta militants and larcenous political elders sworn to his protection.
Moreover, though he was unable to deploy troops for counterinsurgency duties in the Northeast and had had to rely on Chadian soldiers and other heavily paid mercenaries, Dr Jonathan found the temerity to deploy soldiers for election duties in Ekiti and Osun States, and then finally on March 28, all over the country. Together with the police, the troops undermined balloting in Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta States. Such mindless intimidation never occurred in these parts before, let alone on that sickening and humiliating scale.
And finally, who could fail to notice that after securing postponement of the polls for six crazy and indefensible weeks, Dr Jonathan then sidelined his campaign organisation, opened the vaults and proceeded to seduce and induce those he identified as opinion moulders and grassroots mobilisers in the Southwest and a few other parts of the county. In any other country, the insane spending that closed the last week or so of electioneering, which the president unconscionably masterminded, should be enough to get him locked up for life.
Yet, after Dr Jonathan spent more than four years nurturing these horrifying malfeasances, he is today dressed as a statesman by public commentators, many of whom are satisfied with low public morals and standards. Everyone is lining up in the shrine to pour libation to the new statesman. Palladium will not, even though he recognises that Dr Jonathan redeemed a little of the damage he had done to the polity by calling Gen Buhari and conceding defeat. If Dr Jonathan’s expiatory afterthought is what it takes to be a statesman in Nigeria, the country must begin to mourn the loss of its future, and in particular the loss of the great values that undergird every sane and stable society. A nauseous culture is seemingly being bred — indeed as the cult of former heads of state already indicates — whereby a leader propitiates his misrule by the simple act of vacating power.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/dressing-jonathan-in-borrowed-statesman-robes/

BY SABELLA ABIDDEAPR 04, 2015

Around the world and around the country, notable and not-so notable persons have been congratulating President Jonathan for conceding defeat. They see it as a gallant, noble and courageous act. I disagree! I think such praises are bogus and exaggerated. Jonathan had no choice but to concede. On March 28, the people spoke; they made their choice known. In essence, they told him, in no unmistakable terms, to leave, to get out! It was that simple.

That he conceded is not special. That he called to congratulate General Buhari is not out of the ordinary. Electoral concessions are part of the democratic culture. In my opinion, therefore, it was a wise and self-preserving move to concede. Really, what choices did he have? Command member of the Nigerian Armed Forces to slaughterer Nigerians? Hold the country hostage? Encourage a coup? Establish an interim government? Really, what choice did he have?

This beautification and idolization of Jonathan must stop. We expect so little of our leaders that when they accomplish little, we praise them. We pat them on the back and doff our hats even when their accomplishments are insignificant by any human standard. What’s wrong with Africans? An African leader kills ten innocent children and he’s praised for sparing the lives of the eleventh and the twelfth. Nonsense! Africans must hold their leaders to a higher standard.

In the next couple of weeks and months, I hope we don’t suffer mass amnesia. I hope we don’t forget who Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan were. I hope we don’t forget all the billions of dollars that are said to be stolen and or mismanaged. We need those billions for the upgrade of our universities and hospitals. We need those billions for our roads and bridges. We need those billions for youth employment and electricity and for the retirement benefit of our service men and women.

You may praise and console Jonathan all you want, but we want our money back. In addition, we cannot forget Jonathan’s insensitivity, egregious impunity and indifference to many horrors and iniquities that befell our country. He and his aides and wife were a danger to our collective interest. Their greed and personal ambition knew no bounds. What they did to our public and governing institutions were simply terrible. Criminal, even!

That he conceded defeat shouldn’t have to erase the cruelty and criminality of his and his friends and associates. Those in power must be held accountable for their crimes. We cannot continue to live in a society where people are not held accountable for deliberate offenses. It is precisely because of this and other reasons that we – we the people – voted for the Buhari/Osibanjo ticket. We voted for Change in our culture, economy, political and social space. There should be no canonization of any type and for anybody!

Buhari and Foreign Trips:

The Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, and her French counterpart, President Francois Hollande, has officially invited Gen. Muhamadu Buhari to Germany and France. Nonsense, utter nonsense! Both leaders, along with their American, Canadian and European counterparts should, instead, come to Nigeria to pay homage to President Buhari and Vice President Osibanjo. They should come along with investors. In addition, they should return all the stolen money stashed in their banks and investment houses.

GMB should be wary of foreign trips. African leaders are always playing junior/subservient role to their western counterparts – with many hoping on the plane 5-15 times a year to go to western capitals for “consultation.”

Combined, African leaders make no fewer than 1000 trips each year to western capitals, each bringing with them 10-25 aides (not counting the advance team). But Africa is lucky if, in any given year, 10 western leaders visit the continent.

I am a proponent of bilateral and multilateral relationships. I am all for a robust foreign policy. But African leaders should stop hoping on the plane when cabinet ministers and or ranking members of federal ministries could do the job. Francois Hollande for instance, is talking about expanding trade opportunities with Nigeria. OK, that’s fine. But don’t we have a Minister of Trade, Minister of Commerce, or a Foreign Minister?

The Anointed Men of God:

For four long days at the tail-end of March 2015, much of the world focused its attention on Nigeria. Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t miss it. The news and the excitement were all over the place. It was all about Nigeria and the election and the two major candidates. Everyone in my circle of friends and friends of friend wanted to know who the winner would be.

On my Facebook page and elsewhere, I teased Nigeria’s so-called Men of God. None of them was bold enough to tell us, days and weeks in advance, whether we were going to experience Change, or Continuity. And so, I had no choice but to think they were phonies, liars and religious charlatans, or perhaps God – assuming there is a God – abandoned them.

And now that we know who the winner is, I have this to say to the clergy in the north, south, east and west: If you think of yourself as a disciple of Christ and a Man of God, and you took bribe from President Jonathan or his proxy (during the just concluded election), you should return the money to the Nigerian treasury. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Not only did you disappoint the President, you violated one of the cardinal rules of Christendom.

Winners and Losers:

One of the things life teaches us is that people love winners, they love champions. Very few people associate with political-losers. If you lose power or influence, many people will desert you. If you have money and can give it out, many people will pretend to love and worship you; but if it dries out or you no longer can dole it out, many of your supporters will decamp.

In the last couple of days, we’ve seen some organizations and individuals begin to change their tune and stance in regards to Buhari and Jonathan. Gradually, Jonathan is becoming a political-orphan, while Buhari is being wooed and flattered directly and indirectly. In places like Abuja, Kano, Katsina and Lagos, many this-and-that and many ex-this and ex-that are pledging to pledge allegiance to GMB and Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Heroes of March 28:

When sometimes in the future, historians write about this period (October 2014 – March 2015), I hope they will remember six of my favorite Nigerians who gave and committed so much of their time and resources to this just and noble cause called Democracy. They educated us, enlightened us, and fought the good fight for us and for future generations.

They made and continue to make our country proud and better. I am very proud of them. Yes, there are a million other Nigerians who were as committed; but in my part of the universe, I remember them the most. They deserve not only our gratitude, but also our nation’s national honors. Please doff your hats to: Bamidele Ademola-Olateju; Michael Olubusayo Oluwagbemi; Pius Adesanmi; Rotimi Amaechi; Omoyele Sowore; and Uche Igwe.

Reuben Abati and the Day After:

Reuben Abati was definitely not the most passionate writer of his generation. His essays does not make you want to organize or join a violent revolution. He was not a rabble-rouser, but was provocative enough garner millions of fans. His grammatical style and gentility has a way of intoxicating his readers. He was a words-smith, smooth and eloquent and breezy.

He spoke the truth differently. He attacked malfeasances and maladministration in different ways. He is smart and likeable and revered. In the opinion of many, however, all that likeability and reverence went through the window when he signed up for the Jonathan administration. Many have not forgiven him for “betraying the cause.” But my sense is that, in the fullness of time, many would. What I look forward to is a book or two by him. Until the books are written and available, what’s next for Dr. Reuben Abati? May 28 is just around the corner.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/04/04/canonization-jonathan-and-five-other-matters-sabella-ogbobode-abidde

BY SAHARA REPORTERSAPR 03, 2015

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state has uncovered plans by Governor Olusegun Mimiko to manipulate the April 11 House of Assembly election in the state.

In a press statement issued by the Publicity Secretary of the Party in the State, Omo'ba Abayomi Adesanya alleged "Governor Mimiko recently held meeting with some imported thugs (militants) in the State's Government House to destabilize and scare away voters in the State on Saturday, April 11.”

"We also have it on good authority that the Governor has been inviting all the INEC ad hoc staff -Presiding Officer (PO) (who are majorly Youth Coppers) in all the 203 polling units in the State to meetings in Government House to induce them with money, so that the Rivers system of withholding result sheets could be adopted in the State.

The Party alleged, "The governor is planning to use all arsenals within his disposal to manipulate the April 11 election. He has been begging a cross section of people; the House of Assembly members, Labor Union leaders, Civil Servants, Local Government Workers, Teachers and Artisans, to vote for the PDP so as to secure majority in the House of Assembly to continue perpetrate his dastardly act in the State.

"Mimiko is struggling in the mist of tempest wind occasioned by the defection of his deputy and also struggling to cover the alleged mismanagement of fund for the just concluded Presidential campaign. Undoubtedly, this “political chameleon” must have had the greatest shock of his life with result of last Saturday election swinging in favor of the “roaring” APC in the State.

"His deputy lamented and alleged the Governor of marginalization and exclusion of his followers from the Mimiko's government; he described the APC as a Party of justice, fairness, equity and freedom. This happened amidst allegations that what fuelled the development was due to lack of trust between the Governor and his Deputy.

"An African adage says, “A man who had suffered public humiliation would rather do everything possible to avoid being bludgeoned to death”. This explains why Gov. Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, his Ekiti State counterpart, Ayodele Fayose boycotted a meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors in Abuja yesterday.

"APC said, Governor Mimiko having lost touch with reality and popularity among the people is trying to use force and manipulative means to win the House of Assembly election desperately. As a matter of fact, we have it on good authority that the Governor has diverted the sum of N410m of OSOPADEC funds, meant for the development of the oil producing areas (Ilaje), to execute the Assembly election.

According to him, an APC dominated House of Assembly, will make it difficult for him to pay workers salaries and allowances, as he will use the State allocation to bribe the House, instead of paying workers salaries.

"Meanwhile, in our Party, we are disciplined people, we will not give or take bribe for whatsoever reasons. This is what the President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari has promised Nigerians, to fight corruption and allow justice to prevail irrespective of status. We also want to caution the INEC ad hoc staff (Youth Coppers) to deceit from any action that could undermine a free, fair and credible election in the State.

"We hereby call on the good people of Ondo State to ignore the deceitful appeal of Governor Olusegun Mimiko. Also appeal to all electorates in the State, to stay resolute in their resolve to vote in mass for all APC House of Assembly candidates come Saturday April 11. We urge you not to be intimidated and harassed, by the use of brute force either by the security agents or political thugs on Election Day, so as for our dear State, to secure a pride of place among its pears and a good relationship with the new government of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that would enhance our State good standing with government at the center, the statement reads.

Signed,

Omo'ba Abayomi Adesanya,

Publicity Secretary,

APC, Ondo State,

Akure.

April 03, 2015.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKMAR 29, 2015

In a blockbuster new interview, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has told The Guardian (UK) that until he told President Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian leader did not know for an entire five days that Morocco, a friendly but angry country, had withdrawn its ambassador from Nigeria.

“He jumped up as if his seat was on fire,” he said of the moment Jonathan learned of the situation, adding that it was that night that the president made a public statement about it for the first time.

“So when I say that there is a force around, I know what I’m talking about. There is a very sinister force in control and it is that sinister cabal which is responsible for caging him in and showing him what they think he should know about and keeping away from him things which are not in their interest, and this for me is the most dangerous situation that any nation can be in.”

See Full Interview here - http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/29/wole-soyinka-interview-nigeria-corruption-goodluck-jonathan

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/29/five-days-president-jonathan-did-not-know-morocco-had-withdrawn-her-ambassador-until-i



FULL INTERVIEW
--------------------
David Smith in Lagos
Sunday 29 March 2015 20.55 BST Last modified on Monday 30 March 2015 00.15 BST

Not for Wole Soyinka, Nigeria’s foremost man of letters, a gentle retirement or attempt to separate art from politics. The 80-year-old spent election day in Africa’s biggest democracy working the phones late into the night, gathering reports of technical glitches, irregularities and violence. There was plenty to keep him awake.

“We’re talking about a very positive response by the public in terms of determination to register and vote but, you know, this has been one of the most vicious, unprincipled, vulgar and violent election exercises I have ever witnessed,” Soyinka reflected sadly. “I just hope we won’t go down as being the incorrigible giant of Africa.”

A Nobel laureate and former political prisoner, Soyinka could be described as the conscience of the nation. In an interview with the Guardian in the commercial capital, Lagos, on Sunday he railed against what is thought to have been the most expensive election in African history, revealed intriguing details of a recent meeting with president Goodluck Jonathan (“He jumped up as if his seat was on fire”) and warned a “very sinister force” could exploit disputed results to mount something approaching a coup.

Jonathan is fighting for his political life against opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the most hotly contested poll in Nigerian history. Voting spilled over into a second day after widespread technical hitches on Saturday that saw Jonathan himself initially denied registration.

Tall and thin with a shock of white hair and Socratic beard, Soyinka said: “The stakes appear to be so high that all scruples have been set aside and it’s very distressing to compare this election with the election of 1993, which was one of the most orderly, civilised and resolute elections we ever had. This one was like a no-holds-barred kind of election, especially, frankly, from the incumbency side. One shouldn’t be too surprised anyway given the kind of people who are manning the barricades for the incumbent candidate.”

Countless millions of dollars have been lavished on the election campaigns, with commercials dominating television and newspapers for the three months. Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) produced a so-called documentary savaging Buhari’s character and last week paid for a 36-page advertising supplement in leading newspapers. Cities have been coated in placards and posters on a breathtaking scale.

“Most expensive, most prodigal, wasteful, senseless, I mean really insensitive in terms of what people live on in this country,” Soyinka continued. “This was the real naira-dollar extravaganza, spent on just subverting, shall we say, the natural choices of people. Just money instead of argument, instead of position statements.

“And of course the sponsoring of violence in various places, in addition to this festive atmosphere in which every corner, every pillar, every electric pole is adorned with one candidate or the other, many of them in poses which remind one of Nollywood.

“I get a feeling sometimes that some of these candidates were just locked in their wardrobes and they were told: ‘Just take selfies in there and don’t come out until you’ve finished the entire wardrobe.’ All kinds of postures. Just ridiculous. It has been an embarrassing exercise in terms of electioneering.”

The writer fears that Nigeria’s multi-millionaire tycoons will continue to call the tune. Nigeria is ranked 136th out of 174 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perception index.

“Obviously this money didn’t come from personal pockets only, there’s no question. It’s been bankrolled by lots of businesspeople – many of them I’m sure have been taxed indirectly – and they’ll be expecting some returns for this outlay, and so how are we actually going to get rid of this thing called corruption, if the electoral process itself has been so corrupted? It’s a money election. How on earth is that bugbear going to be lifted from the neck of society? I just don’t know.”

Soyinka was imprisoned for almost two years during one of Nigeria’s spells under military rule in 1967. He became the first African to win the Nobel prize for literature in 1986. He remains politically active and a constant thorn in the side of authority, although he insists that he lacks the temperament to ever run for office himself. He told how he was recently invited by Jonathan, who has a “boyish charm”, to discuss various issues.

“We even discussed life after power, whenever that takes place,” he recalled. “It was difficult for me to decide from his side how readily he might accept defeat. He absolutely swore that if he lost he was going back to [his home] Otuoke village. If I take him literally, I think he will accept the result, but I’ve learned never to trust any politician from here to there, even if they’re just coming out of communion. So I really don’t know.”

He added: “I think Nigerians have had a very rough time over the last few years with [the Islamist militant group] Boko Haram and all kinds of insecurity, failure of governance and so on. I think we deserve to have this period as a period of comparative tranquillity and peace of mind to reconstruct and address some really fundamental issues of society. So I really hope the result, however gracelessly or grudgingly, will be accepted by the loser.”

If it is not, however, chaos could ensure. Although both leaders have sworn a peace pledge, it is unclear whether they can control their supporters, some of whom have threatened a violent backlash. Soyinka fears that political instability could be used as an excuse by figures in the state security apparatus to seize power. “Even before elections there had been discussions and preparation for ‘interim government’,” he alleged. “Why on earth such a card should be on the table at all beats me. I asked President Jonathan, ‘What is this business of interim government?’

“What he said was, ‘I could never be part of it. I would consider it a downfall, a demotion. Here I am president of the nation, I was voted in by the whole nation, why should I then accept an arraignment, which is by a few people? I would consider it degrading to what I have attained in life.’ That was his expression. But President Jonathan is in a cage. He didn’t strike me as being aware of the forces which surround him.”

The author cited an incident earlier this month when Morocco recalled its ambassador to Nigeria in a diplomatic spat over whether Jonathan was trying to use the king of Morocco to win over Muslim voters. The Moroccan royal palace said the king had declined a request for a phone conversation, while Nigeria insisted that the two leaders had spoken at length. Nigeria later backed down and admitted the conversation did not happen.

“Here is a situation where a president did not even know that a foreign country, a friendly country, had withdrawn its ambassador from Nigeria. I was the one who told him. He jumped up as if his seat was on fire. I couldn’t believe it … He was not aware that for about five days the media had been absolutely hysterical with this embarrassing situation between the two. It was that very night that he made a public statement about it for the first time.

“So when I say that there is a force around, I know what I’m talking about. There is a very sinister force in control and it is that sinister cabal which is responsible for caging him in and showing him what they think he should know about and keeping away from him things which are not in their interest, and this for me is the most dangerous situation that any nation can be in.”

Soyinka is scathing about Jonathan’s record as president, notably his mishandling of last year’s incident when 276 schoolgirls in Chibok were kidnapped by Boko Haram, prompting a worldwide outcry and social media campaign. “I think he is remorseful now, but at the beginning he took it very lightly. He himself has admitted as much in public. When you are informed that 200 children are missing, you don’t go to dinner until you have got to the bottom of it.

“But it took him I don’t know how many days to believe, but it certainly took him about 10 days to react. Now, for a leader of a people that is just totally unacceptable. Two hundred people. And then his wife was telling the police to go and arrest people who were protesting. The whole of that episode, I told him, whether you win the election or not, you’ve got to do something to assuage the feelings of people over that particular lapse. That was one horrendous lapse of which no head of state should ever be guilty. You send children to school to go and take an exam, and then you’re told they’re missing. For me, the entire nation should not sleep until an answer to that assault is provided.”

But while Jonathan is too weak, critics say, his opponent, Buhari, may be too strong. He ruled Nigeria as a military dictator for 20 months in the mid-1980s, cracking down on the media among others, but claims to be a “born again” democrat who has contested three previous elections, losing every time.

Soyinka admitted: “My memory of General Buhari has become rather mixed up. Four years ago I certainly wasn’t even prepared to consider the possibility of a genuine ‘born-again’. But at the risk of being proved wrong, I think we have a case here of a genuine ‘born-again’ phenomenon.”

The poet and playwright declined to say explicitly how he voted, but dropped a big hint by saying: “Maybe we should all try to be a little bit of Mandela. If Mandela could actually make a leap of faith towards the Boers after the atrocities committed against the black people [in South Africa], when the moment comes and the system under which we operate has thrown up just two candidates really … I think I asked myself: ‘Who would Nelson Mandela have voted for?’ and that’s the person I voted for. That’s all I’m going to tell you.”

PDP’s N650m Campaign Fund Disappears
Published on March 27, 2015 by admin

Cyriacus Izuekwe

But for the prompt intervention of the police at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos State, western Nigeria, there would have been bloodshed on Thursday following the alleged disappearance of N650 million President Goodluck Jonathan reportedly donated to one of the groups campaigning for his re-election under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Members of the group under the umbrella of Goodluck Support Group, GSG, in the Lagos West Senatorial zone revolted after they discovered that the money given to them was allegedly diverted by their leaders.
The group comprises traders, businessmen and women, civil society groups and other well meaning Nigerians who came out to support Jonathan.
P.M.NEWS gathered that trouble started after members of the group were told that the president had released hundreds of millions of naira to the group but their leaders did not disclose the information and how much was given to them to campaign for Jonathan.
Some aggrieved members on Thursday re-grouped at the Trade Fair Complex along Badagery expressway and demanded for their share of the money.
When they did not get satisfactory answers to their demands, they revolted and attempted to attack their leaders present at the meeting.
This caused uproar at the meeting before a team of police officers was drafted to restore peace there.
Following the development, the leaders were forced to leave the scene to avoid being lynched by the angry members who felt that they had been short-changed.
Speaking on the development, one of the assistant coordinators, Barrister Dominic Ehimare, who confirmed the incident, said that members were short-changed after making a lot of efforts to set up the group.
He explained that members of the group were sidelined when the money was released to campaign for Jonathan in the Lagos West Senatorial Zone, adding that this has caused the members to be aggrieved.
Ehimare said when they were planning to form the group, they were spending their personal money on trips to Abuja from Lagos.
He said coordinators were appointed to coordinate the three Senatorial zones in Lagos and to oversee the affairs of the group.
He said when the president brought the money, they were sidelined and the leaders refused to disclose the amount, which other sources said was about N650 million.
“When the members got to know about the money, those responsible started dodging and stopped attending meetings,” he said.
Some of the members who spoke to our reporter on Thursday at the Trade Fair Complex expressed their disappointment about what happened and threatened that they will not vote for Jonathan because of the way their leaders treated them.
Most of them walked out of the meeting on Thursday after the fracas and swore never to come back as members.
Some even threatened to work against the ambition of Jonathan.
“On the election day, let those who collected the money vote for him,” an angry

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/03/27/pdps-n650m-campaign-fund-disappears/

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKMAR 25, 2015

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has alerted Nigerians to what it called “a sinister and desperate plan” by the Federal Government to deliberately engineer trouble in six Nigerian states in order to avert imminent defeat in Saturday’s presidential election.

To that end, "100 trained saboteurs" have already been deployed to each of those states, the campaign said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon signed by Garba Shehu of its Directorate of Media and Publicity.

[b]“Credible information available to the campaign from deep inside the federal government have starkly put it to us that the PDP administration has hatched a plan by which the States of Lagos, Imo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Kano and Sokoto will be racked by trouble of a serious magnitude in order to sabotage the presidential election and democracy in the country in a sinister, wicked and selfish objective," the statement said.

It further said the crises to be fomented in those States is clearly intended generate a crisis of such serious proportions that would lead to either the postponement or the outright cancellation of the election in order to exclude those states from the first round of voting. Under the plan, the electoral commission would be forced to cancel the elections and have the states conduct rescheduled elections a week later.

"The whole idea, according to these credible sources is that the government wants to buy time yet again, gain energy and pump resources into a renewed crackdown on popular will in those states. They [will] deploy the entire muscle and resources of the federal government to steal the election in the six states."[/b]

The APC Campaign advised Nigerians in the interest of the well-being of "our hard-won democracy and the overall interest of the nation to wake up to the reality of the threats and to do all that is lawful to resist the attempts by the outgoing Jonathan administration to bring down our democracy at the point of their exit."

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/25/president-jonathan-plans-trouble-six-states-apc-campaign-council-says

Buhari planning to build prisons —Patience Jonathan

MARCH 25, 2015 : OLUWOLE JOSIAH


Wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has warned women against voting for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, saying the retired soldier was planning to build prisons if elected into power.

Speaking at a rally organised by the women wing of the Peoples Democratic Party, in Akure, Ondo State, on Tuesday, the President’s wife said Nigerian women should reciprocate the gesture of her husband, who ensured that a large number of women was appointed into political offices during his administration.

She said the APC was a dying party that thrives on propaganda and lies, saying that women should not be deceived into “returning to bondage.”

She said, “If you vote Buhari, you vote for prison. When the PDP is busy building schools, they are busy thinking of building jails.

“We will not allow our children to be put in jail, God forbid. We pray for oneness, we pray for unity, we pray for peace.”

Patience urged the women to come out on Saturday and vote for “the government that has provided more access to education and health care and brought down by 50 per cent the maternal mortality rate.”

“He was a former Head of State, he did not build Almajiri schools. It was Goodluck Jonathan that built the schools.

“Ask him what he did for women when he was Head of State. It was Goodluck Jonathan that remembered women,” she said.

She also noted that the PDP government would increase the number of women in government to 45 per cent if returned on Saturday from the current 35 per cent.

“They said we should change, we can only move from bad to better, not from better to bad. Jonathan has done well and will do even better if returned. They have nothing to show,” she said.

She also promised to revive the works done by her predecessors, Mrs. Mariam Babangida and Maryam Abacha, in their efforts to better the lot of women.

Speaking earlier, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, said the President would get the maximum votes because of the impact of his programmes on the lives of the people of the state.

http://www.punchng.com/news/buhari-planning-to-build-prisons-patience-jonathan/

President mounts pressure on North’s leaders, Emirs

March 23, 2015
Written by Yusuf Alli


President Goodluck Jonathan has been paying nocturnal visits to the North’s leaders, Emirs and groups ahead of Saturday’s election.

Dr. Jonathan’s biggest challenger, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is from the North.

The President and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are worried about their prospects in Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kebbi, Niger, Bauchi, Kano, Borno, Yobe, Kwara, Zamfara and others.

This, said a source, is why the President has turned to the Southwest as the “real battleground”.

Jonathan has visited more than 50 key leaders in the North, urging them for support to sway votes in his favour.

A top source said: “Apart from the few visits captured by the media, the President has in the last six weeks met with more than 50 key Northern leaders, Emirs and groups to come to his rescue. His message has been reassuring that he will not disappoint the North.

“Jonathan made most of the trips nocturnal to protect the image of the leaders and Emirs, who are described as match-makers in the region.

“Some of the leaders Jonathan has lobbied are ex-President Ibrahim Babangida; ex-Minister of Defence Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma; former Minister of Defence Mallam Adamu Ciroma; former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Amb. Maiatama Sule; and Alh. Tanko Yakasai, among others.

“He believes these leaders and Emirs can turn the table against Gen. Muhammadu Buhari,” the source said, adding:



“It has, however, not been easy penetrating the North because of the perceived marginalisation of the region by his administration.

“It has reached a frustrating level that in some states, the President and the PDP are only striving at securing at least 25 per cent of the votes.

“The President panics because while he is sure of above 80 per cent of the votes in 11 states in the South-South and South-East, the North has been a hard nut to crack. Only Taraba, Plateau, Benue, Kogi and Gombe have given some ray of hope.

“As I am talking to you, there is a fresh plan for the President to visit Adamawa State for the third time to meet with some PDP stalwarts who defected to the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

“The President wants to prevail on these defectors to dump their ambitions and return to the PDP to ensure the victory of the ruling party.”

Vice President Namadi Sambo is said to be under pressure to deliver the region.

The problem, said the source, is compounded by the fact that most of the ministers from the North have not been embarking on direct campaigns for votes because of the likely backlash.

“None of the ministers has been outstanding in mounting the soap box for Jonathan because the North is volatile. Instead, the ministers only appeared at the presidential campaign and zonal rallies before receding into the background,” he said.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/president-mounts-pressure-on-norths-leaders-emirs/

Jonathan’s dangerous alliance with OPC, MASSOB

MARCH 23, 2015 : PUNCH EDITORIAL BOARD

NIGERIA’S uncanny romance with ethnic militias got an official boost recently when two distinctly dodgy groups, with notorious antecedents of constant brushes with the law, emerged as the chief campaigners for both the sacking of the Independent National Electoral Commission boss, Attahiru Jega, and the reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan. As expected, due to their violent antecedents, both the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Oodua Peoples Congress reportedly disturbed public peace in Awka, Anambra State and Lagos State respectively as they took to the streets to drive home their points.

What was striking about the incidents was the conduct of both groups during their demonstrations. While, in Awka, reports had it that MASSOB’s protest march was relatively peaceful in that people were not harassed, the same could not be said of the conduct of the OPC members in Lagos. They were armed and aggressive towards passers-by, mostly workers trying to beat the usual early morning rush to be at their duty posts. Clad mostly in T-shirts with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party inscriptions and President Goodluck Jonathan’s pictures on them, the Lagos protesters, who were interspersed with some Nollywood actors, also wielded weapons, namely guns, knives, machetes, cutlasses and broken bottles.

Although no record of death or injury that usually goes with such outings was recorded, it is however surprising that state security agents, who are often quick to disperse groups, even when the peaceful intent of their gathering is well known, did not so much as raise a finger against an armed group that constituted a public threat to peace. Rather, they gave the protesters armed protection, as they rolled out about 100 buses and held up traffic for hours on end.

A lot seems to point to the ominous nature of this unholy alliance between the President and groups such as the OPC and MASSOB. Barely two years ago, Jonathan had, in a mid-term report to mark the 2013 Democracy Day, told Nigerians, “The nation faces three fundamental security challenges posed by extremist groups like Boko Haram in the North, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra in the South-East, and the Oodua Peoples Congress in the South-West.”

Notably, about a week after the groups marched in solidarity with the President, he has not come out to dissociate himself from them, which is not surprising as the rowdy demonstrators came in buses marked with his campaign banners. Perhaps, Nigerians should now believe that they have turned a new leaf and are no longer the same people he likened to Boko Haram just 22 months ago.

What happened in Awka and Lagos should not come as a complete surprise to those who are familiar with the run-up to elections in this country. During such periods, unscrupulous politicians hire and prop up groups, who are used to fight their battles for them. In many cases, such groups are armed with sophisticated weapons and are unleashed on election days to snatch ballot boxes and chase away voters. Little wonder that the two groups had listed, among their numerous grouses against Jega, the proposed employment of card readers during the upcoming elections.

With the new development, it will be difficult to dismiss reports that some of these militant groups had been pencilled in for multi-billion naira security contract awards by the Federal Government, probably to buy them over. In a recent report, the founder of the OPC, Frederick Fasehun, had confirmed that his company was among those being considered for the contracts. It could therefore mean that the outings are perhaps meant to potentially repay the compliment.

But it is also pertinent to cast our minds back to the recent security challenges the nation has been facing, which have been traced, in the main, to the inadvertent creation of violent groups by politicians for the purpose of winning elections. Once the elections are over, such groups suddenly lose their relevance, and are cast into the society to fend for themselves. People who are armed and had been used to being spoon-fed, suddenly have to look after themselves. It is only natural that they fall back on their arms for survival.

The result is the proliferation of violent crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping and gang wars by groups seeking, in a mafia-like manner, to control areas for the purpose of extorting so-called protection fees. It has also been alleged that both the militancy in the Niger Delta and Boko Haram in the North-East of the country came about through this same means.

From the experience of trying to end militancy in the Niger Delta and Boko Haram in the North, it is clear that such outfits, once created, are usually difficult to eliminate. Under the threat of militants, Nigeria’s oil production quota of over two million barrels per day dropped to about 1.3 million bpd, as the militants sabotaged oil facilities and engaged the Nigerian military in a seemingly unending war of attrition. It was only an initiative of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to grant the militants lavish cash awards, veiled as amnesty, that ended the insurgency and the bleeding of the economy.

In the case of the Boko Haram terrorists, it has become obvious that the Nigerian Army alone can no longer successfully dislodge the group, after six years of full-blown war has proved abortive in doing so. The country has only been able to make noted progress after going into alliances with her neighbours in Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.

If, without official funding, the two groups, the OPC and MASSOB, were deemed to be security threats, what could become of them when empowered with contracts can only be imagined. It is therefore important to sound a note of warning about that dangerous alliance. For now, people can only see the beginning; nobody knows how it will end.

http://www.punchng.com/editorials/jonathans-dangerous-alliance-with-opc-massob/

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Governor Mimiko Blackmailing Ondo Teachers To Vote For Jonathan

Sahara Reporters Media
Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, is trying to blackmail teachers in the State to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential contest next week.

A source in the State told SaharaReporters the governor is traveling around with his campaign team, forcing the teachers into meetings with him and preventing them from undertaking their official responsibilities.

The trip is part of Governor Mimiko’s no-holds-barred carrot-and-stick assault on voters in an effort to ensure victory for President Jonathan in the March 28 presidential contest.

Yesterday the team arrived in Ondo West Local Government where the governor cancelled all school and compelled all the teachers to be present, with attendance taken.

“The governor was not present,” one teacher told SaharaReporters, “but [members of] his campaign team was around telling us why we should not vote for Buhari and APC.”

According to the disgusted teacher who asked not to be named, “They educated us on what we've known. Telling us history. They thought we are happy sitting and some people standing while they are vibrating, telling us lies.” One of the teachers disclosed that while some teachers were given N400, during yesterday's campaign they were each given N100 by Mimiko's team.

Governor Mimiko, who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party from the Labour Party last year, is desperate to deliver Ondo to President Jonathan, and is known to be using bribes as one of his weapons.

It would be recalled that last Monday, he bribed some former members of the Peoples Democratic Movement, pretending to be current members, to “endorse” Jonathan. They then held a press conference at the Adegbemile Cultural Centre Press in Akure, claiming they had endorsed the PDP candidate.

“Quote me anywhere,” one of the beneficiaries said after the make-believe press conference, “Governor Mimiko gave us money through our leaders to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan for second term.”

Bashir Yusuf, the National Chairman of the PDM, subsequently disclosed that those who claimed to be members of the movement endorsing Jonathan were “not card carrying members” of the movement.

Nonetheless, he said, the PDM had as far back as January already endorsed the candidature of General Muhammadu Buhari of the APC for the presidency.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/19/governor-mimiko-blackmailing-ondo-teachers-vote-jonathan

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola has revealed that 2,123 policemen provided security for President Goodluck Jonathan while armed robbers raided a bank in Lekki, Lagos last week.

Fashola, who spoke at the Agricultural Food Value Chain held in Agege area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday said when the president came to Lagos last Thursday, while citizens were being robbed, the president was protected by 2, 123 security personnel.

“Let me be very clear, the president is entitled to every protection, he’s our president, but the question to ask is that; when you were being traumatised yesterday, where were these 2,123 men? Because you are also entitled to be protected. The reason why the president gets all that protection is so that he can protect all of us,” he said.

The governor also decried Monday’s protest march for Jonathan in Lagos by members of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC and other pro-Jonathan groups in which the protesters terrorised Lagosians while brandishing dangerous weapons.

“Yesterday, they also showed the difference between us when the supporters of the PDP and President Jonathan came out. You know on 7th of March this year, just about a week ago, the APC held a solidarity rally in Lagos. Did anybody attack you on that day? So, yesterday, they held their own, but what I heard, because I received telephone calls and text messages from residents who explained to me, I received emails.

“I am sorry for the pain and trauma they put you through because residents continuously complained yesterday that they were traumatised by those people who supposedly were carrying out a rally in support of the president and in support of their gubernatorial candidate, just kidding.

“So instead of canvassing for your votes and showing you why their service record is better, they were showing you knives, cutlass and dangerous weapons. Some residents phoned to say that they were banging on their cars. Let me remind all of us, that the work of a party and a government is to protect citizens and not to terrorize them,” he stated.

Fashola said for those who still said that they did not know what the issues in these elections were, Monday’s event brought one issue sharply in focus, which he said was the issue of security.

He stated that the peace and safety that “all of you have enjoyed for eight years is now at risk. You have seen the kind of people who support the other party on Monday, you have seen the kind of people who support their presidential and gubernatorial candidate, those are the people that you will see around them. Monday’s experience, may God forbid it, would be what you would experience till 2019.

“Unless you come out massively on March 28 and on April 11, that is the only way that God would forbid that kind of thing from continuing in Lagos. It is your vote that would change it. A vote for General Buhari would put to end this kind of abuse of state power. A vote for Ambode will continue the security that we have built and protected you for the past eight years.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/03/17/lekki-robbery-2123-policemen-were-securing-jonathan-fashola/

Jonathan leading the campaign for violent poll, APC says
March 17, 2015Press Release

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of carrying his re-election desperation to a new height on Monday when he unleashed thugs on Lagos residents during a sponsored OPC protest against INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega.‎
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said just as it (APC) had alerted the nation in its press statement on Sunday, the President’s supporters, led by the OPC, took to major roads in the city during rush hour traffic to unleash mayhem on the citizens, create massive gridlock that prevented many workers from reaching their places of work and destroy any APC campaign poster they could lay their hands on.
”They said we are raising false alarm. But just as we had alerted Nigerians, the Jonathan Administration’s sponsored protest took place, with dire consequences for residents. However, the President’s chances in the forthcoming elections suffered a collateral damage as the 9-billion-Naira-powered protest backfired, with even supporters of the President being forced to have a rethink due to the massive scale of the lawlessness and brigandage that took place during a supposedly peaceful protest,” it said.
APC said the next plot by the Jonathan Administration is a series of anti-Tinubu demonstrations in Lagos, for which the planners have been mobilized with millions of Naira.
”During the forthcoming demonstrations, the protesters have been told to carry placards asking the EFCC to probe the allegations made against Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the deceitful, ill-intentioned and irresponsible ‘documentary’ that was sponsored by the same Jonathan Administration. Such is the level of President Jonathan’s desperation for re-election that a man who is not on the ballot in the forthcoming elections has become a target of unprecedented mudslinging by his (President’s) Administration,” the party said.
It said taking into consideration the sponsored protests by MASSOB and the OPC, the unprovoked and virulent attacks on the presidential candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, the sponsored documentary of lies as well as the planned demonstrations against Tinubu, and the inciting statements by First Lady Patience Jonathan, who has asked her supporters to stone APC members and supporters, there is undisputed evidence that President Jonathan himself is leading the campaign to make the elections violent and Nigeria ungovernable.
”It is a cruel irony that a President who swore to an oath to make the security and welfare of Nigerians his priority has been the same one orchestrating reprehensible acts of violence in the polity, to the detriment of the well-being and safety of his compatriots, just because of re-election desperation.
”Because they (protesters) were pro-Jonathan, hordes of policemen who could not prevent a deadly robbery, in which three policemen lost their lives in Lagos a few days back, offered massive protection to the OPC members who brandished guns, machetes, clubs and knives openly as terrified Lagos residents scampered for safety.
”It is noteworthy that the policemen who protected the OPC members during their protest did not stop them from destroying APC posters and other campaign materials, neither did they prevent them from unleashing mayhem on the people. As far as the increasingly-partisan security agents were concerned, everything done in support of President Jonathan is fair.
”We are therefore alerting all Nigerians as well as the international community to note that President Jonathan himself is the one setting the stage for violence before, during and after the forthcoming polls, despite his tiring platitude that his political ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. From this precarious situation to which the Administration and the PDP have pushed Nigeria, it is but a short cut to Laurent Gbagbo’s post-election Ivory Coast,” APC said.
The party wondered which country President Jonathan wants to govern when he is relentlessly engineering the destruction of Nigeria by goading ethnic militias into violence and exploiting the nation’s fault lines to divide the people along regional, religious and ethnic lines.
”We have said it before: President Jonathan is not interested in a free, fair and peaceful polls. He is not interested in the welfare and security of Nigerians. He does not give a damn about the unity of the country. For him, the end justifies the means, and any action, no matter how objectionable, is alright if it will favour his re-election.
”This is not the stuff of good leaders. What kind of leader is that who will be willing to plunge his nation into crisis just for his political ambition? What sort of President will be bribing people from all walks of live with foreign currencies just to return to office, instead of showcasing his achievements, if any? What desperation will make a President to empty the treasury and endanger the nation’s economy? Why would a leader worth his salt turn to ethnic militias to help him win re-election? These are some of the questions that are begging for answers from President Jonathan,” APC said.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/178614-jonathan-leading-the-campaign-for-violent-poll-apc-says.html

David Mark: A Man With A Mark Of Shameless Pleasure And A Man Without Chest By Bayo Oluwasanmi

BY BAYO OLUWASANMIMAR 12, 2015

On the eve of the fourth confirmation appearance of Musiliu Obanikoro as Defense Minister before David Mark's Senate, I penned an article titled “A Broken Senate Without Insight And Oversight Means Musiliu Obanikoro Will Easily Scale Through: Can Any Good Come Out Of David Mark's Senate?”

The article published by SaharaReporters March 10, begins with a prophetic and frighteningly introduction: “By the time you're reading this, Musiliu Obanikoro could have been confirmed by the Akindanidani senators.” In the piece, I described Mark as a godless character and self-serving and of no utility value as a senator and president of the senate to the Nigerian people.

I stated that not much is expected of a senate dominated by crooks, looters, and dupers like Mark, that the National Assembly particularly the Senate had abdicated its insight and oversight function. Then, I conclude with a question of some uncertainty and difficulty: “Will these cowards and thieves ruling Nigeria allow this nation to join the society of human beings? Who will breathe new life into this comatose nation?”

Tuesday, March 11, Obanikoro was confirmed by 69 PDP senators while 40 APC senators walked out in protest. Obanikoro was President Goodluck Jonathan's principal negotiator in the video (Ekitigate) involving the rigging of last year's gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State.

Mark is the wrong senate president at the right time. How a leader deals with the circumstances of life tells you many things about his character. The political scam which confirmed Obanikoro was initiated and led by Mark. It paints a powerful picture of Mark as a man without a vision. Crisis doesn't necessarily make character, but it certainly reveal it. Adversity is a crossroads that makes a person choose one of two things – character or compromise. Every time he chooses character, he becomes stronger even if that choice brings negative consequences.

Obanikoro's confirmation rail road by Mark shows Mark as a man with eyes that are larger than his stomach. Mark lives completely in the present, depends solely on corruption and other criminal perks hence he repeatedly failed to see the future. All his life – both as a military officer and as a politician – Mark is like the Biblical Esau known for his near nearsightedness. Like Esau, Mark focused solely on here and now, convinced that tomorrow never comes, always ready to give up the ultimate to get the immediate even with a single meal.

Any fool can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Leaders who navigate do even more than control the direction in which they and their people travel. They see the whole trip in their minds before they leave the dock. They have a vision for their destination, they understand what it will take to get there, they know who they'll need on the team to be successful, and they recognize the obstacles long before they appear on the horizon. Mark can't read the GPS of the Nigerian nation. He doesn't know where he's taking the nation. He doesn't have what it will take to get the nation to its destination. He can't assemble a team that is useful for the trip. A leader knows when to lead, what to do, and where to go. Mark doesn't know what to do and where to go. He's lost and so the nation.

Integrity matters. A leader should be able to challenge his friends and subordinates to identify his flaws. Only a leader with strong character and a strong sense of security can do that. C.S. Lewis called this quality, “Leaders with chests.” Lewis likened the properly ordered soul to the human body: the head (reason) must rule the belly (the sensual appetites) through the chest (character and spirit). The chest, says Lewis, is the indispensable liaison between reason and the appetites. Without a strong “chest,” Lewis says, men would succumb to excuses, relativism, and compromise. Lewis calls those with no character, or integrity, “men without chests.” Mark is a man without chest.

Mark has proven over and over again throughout his tenure as senate president that he's tormented by self-indulgent motives with no solid character. He's not committed to doing the right thing at the right time. When leaders like Mark become lazy and corrupted and insensitive, they lose their diligence in doing good for their people and for their country. They become sluggards and worthless to the people they're supposed to serve.

Mark forgets his time is limited. He forgets there is no way to retrieve misused time. He forgets leadership must be about something much bigger than him. He forgets if his leadership advances merely his own “kingdom,” only increases the profits of his own benefits to himself, he has failed the higher calling of leadership. A leader must serve and benefit others.

David Mark represents all that is wrong with leadership in Nigeria. Like a pig skittered between trees and sunk into mud, squealing with shameless pleasure, Mark has successfully chaperon a senate with a shameless political culture being nationalized.

Again, can any good come out of David Mark's Senate?

byolu@aol.com

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/12/david-mark-man-mark-shameless-pleasure-and-man-without-chest-bayo-oluwasanmi

PDP’s resistance to use of Card Reader: We have been proven right – APC

March 5, 2015Press Release

The All Progressives Congress has said the Peoples Democratic Party’s public avowal to oppose the use of Card Readers in this month’s rescheduled elections has shown the accuracy of the APC’s accusations that the ruling party is doing all in its powers to either prevent the election from holding or to rig it.
[b]In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party described as curious the fact that the PDP that rushed to the press to deny the APC’s claims quickly turned around to confirm them.
”At the press conference we addressed on Wednesday, which rattled the PDP and the Jonathan Administration so much, we listed the conditionalities of the PDP/Jonathan Administration for holding the election: No PVCs, No Card Readers, No Jega and the fact that they want the military deployed to harass and intimidate voters.
”We mentioned ‘Card Readers’ at least three times during the press conference, and said they (PDP/Jonathan Administration are doing everything possible to sabotage the machine and prevent its use.
”Both the spokesmen for the PDP and the Jonathan Campaign Organization rushed to the press to deny any such ‘reprehensible’ plan. But a few hours later, the spokesman for the campaign organization told an incredulous country that they would oppose the use of Card Reader, apparently after the spokesmen were overruled by
their party. Obviously, these men are outsiders in their own party and it is now obvious that the opposition knows more about the inner workings of their party than they do,” it said.[/b]
The APC said in an apparently-choreographed show, some 15 portfolio political parties called a press conference to also announce that they will oppose the use of the Card Reader, vowing to boycott the
elections and use a legal process to prevent the use of the machine.
The party said these syndicated threats are the latest indications of the mortal fear in the corridors of power about the machine that has now become the nemesis of election riggers and manipulators worldwide.
It said contrary to the claim by the PDP, Nigerians are ready for a free, fair and credible elections to be made possible by the use of the Card Reader, and will massively resist any move to dump the machine.
”Nigerians have sacrificed all they can to obtain their PVCs, which is now their most-prized possession. They have also hailed the plan by INEC to use the Card Reader to give Nigeria credible polls. Only dishonest politicians, those who plan to rig, those who have engaged in a massive purchase of PVCs and those who have something to hide are opposed to the use of the machine.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, our party is ready for any tool, including the Card Reader, that will ensure that the votes of Nigerians will count in the forthcoming election. In this regard, we sincerely hope that the nationwide tests of the Card Reader to be carried out this week by INEC will not be sabotaged by those opposed to the machine.
The Card Reader has been demonstrated to work, including at the Senate, and no one must come out to tell Nigerians anything to the contrary.
”The huge investments in providing PVCs for Nigerians will not be worthwhile if the cards would not be authenticated by Card Readers which, by the way, have been used in many other countries, all of them less endowed than Nigeria, in Africa,” APC said.
The party said it is taking the forthcoming elections very seriously and closely monitoring every move of those who do not want the elections to hold, or if they must hold at all, only on their own terms.
It said, for example, that the party (APC) is aware of an all-night meeting (Wednesday/Thursday) between a South-west Governor and security chiefs on how to rig the forthcoming polls in the geo-political zone, but it remains convinced that no one is powerful enough to stop an idea whose time has come.
The APC thanked Nigerians, both within and outside the government, for their efforts in keeping a close eye on those planning to sabotage the forthcoming polls, imploring them not to relent since eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/177974-pdps-resistance-to-use-of-card-reader-we-have-been-proven-right-apc.html

Afenifere’s endorsement of Jonathan deceitful, says Falana

MARCH 3, 2015 BY ENIOLA AKINKUOTU 102 COMMENTS

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has berated pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, for endorsing the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said the endorsement was based on selfish interest and deceit, adding that the Yoruba agenda which was tabled before the National Conference was a complete failure.

Falana said this while addressing protesters at a pro-democracy rally organised by human rights group, Nigerians United for Democracy

He said, “Some people claim to be speaking for the Yoruba while some pretend to be speaking for the Igbo while some pretend to be speaking for the Hausa, the Edo and the rest. Please, go and check all their agenda. None of their agenda relates to women.

“Go and look at the Afenifere agenda or Ohanaeze. None is talking about unemployment or the future of the youths. It is about who goes to Abuja to occupy a particular post. It is not about empowering the people. So, they do not speak for us.

[b]“You know dollars is being distributed in Lagos. After collecting dollars in Lagos, they did not know how to justify their curious endorsements and then they said they were endorsing him (Jonathan) because he was going to implement the resolution of the National Conference.

“I was in that conference and I tell you that the so-called Yoruba agenda in the National Conference was defeated. Restructuring of the South-West was defeated. The parliamentary system agenda was defeated. The state police agenda was defeated, regional autonomy was defeated. So, what is the Yoruba agenda that they are talking about?

“They wanted Land Use Decree removed from the constitution but it was defeated. They wanted a special status for Lagos State but it was defeated. So, I challenge them to tell us the agenda that was won that they are now using to deceive our people.”

Falana said the confab was not a total waste but doubted the possibility of its resolutions being implemented by Jonathan.[/b]

He said it was unwise of the President to have set up a committee to look into the resolutions of the confab.

He said, “The ruling class did not want minimum wage in the constitution but we fought them and won. Labour matter was put in the exclusive list of the confab. When the report is implemented, if you have no job, you can go to court and demand the government to pay you unemployment benefits. We won that.

“Anybody that is sick shall go to the hospital at the expense of the Nigerian state but the Afenifere is not celebrating that. President Jonathan got that report endorsed by 492 of us that attended the conference in July last year and he assured us that he would implement anything that we recommend but instead, he set up another committee of seven people headed by the Attorney General, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), to recommend the implementation of the recommendations. You can see the joke and that is what some people are celebrating.”

http://www.punchng.com/politics/afeniferes-endorsement-of-jonathan-deceitful-says-falana/

March 3, 2015Press Release

The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has advised Lagsoains to take the alleged bribe money being offered by President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party but vote out the PDP in the coming general elections.
The party said this advice became necessary given the alleged frantic bribery of Lagos voters by Mr. Jonathan and the PDP as the stupendous amount being used presently to bribe Lagosians were the money stolen from the country’s treasury.
In a release by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, the APC said that it is an admittance of failure for the Jonathan regime that made more money from the huge oil boom throughout its reign than the four preceding regimes combined, but with nothing to show for it, to now resort to bribing people indiscrimanetyl to vote for its continuity.
It said Lagosians, and indeed all Nigerians must reflect on what Nigeria will look like if PDP comes back to power and cleanses the treasury and waits till the next election to bribe voters to once again vote for it.
Mr. Igbokwe said, “For over one week, President Jonathan has permanently been holed in Lagos, where he is meeting all manners of religious, ethnic and tribal groups and unleashing stupendous bribes in every currency on them to buy their support for the coming presidential election. We feel assaulted that a president of Nigeria could resort to this illegal tactics of enslaving the victims of his corrupt and inept governance with such brazen inducements when he would have leveraged on his achievements for continued support of the people.
“Lagos APC is further assaulted by pictures of various shades of people lining up at State House Marina Lagos to see the President and partake in the sharing of Naira and Dollars which is a putrid resort of a desperate PDP to hang on to power. As Nigerians we are even assaulted that governance has been reduced to such bestial low where all it needs to continue in power is for an incumbent government to supervise a horrendous plundering of the nation’s treasury, ;leaving all sectors of the economy comatose and turning round at election time to bribe people with huge sums of money in both foreign and local currencies.
“We want Lagosians to invade State House Marina to partake in the free sharing which Jonathan is supervising in Lagos, as the money now being used to bribe them are the money that would have used to fix our dying power sector, used to create employment for millions of our hopeless, unemployed youths. The money Jonathan and the PDP are now sharing as baits for people’s votes is money that would have been used to fix the dilapidated federal roads in Lagos, guarantee the security of lives and properties which the Lagos State government has perfected for Lagosians in the face of clear dereliction by the PDP federal government.
“The money being shared indiscriminately and used to purchase worthless endorsements for the failed Jonathan/PDP government is the same money that would have reduced poverty drastically in Nigeria. It is the same money that would have been used to fix our decrepit health sector and our dead educational sector. The money Jonathan and PDP are sharing is the money that would have been used to fix our corrupt-ridden oil sector such that Nigerians would not be subjected to unending torture of waiting endlessly in non available fuel and kerosene at astronomical prices in filling stations as we are witnessing today. The money Jonathan and his PDP are spending so frivolously today are the money extorted from high tariff of unavailable light, high extortions by virtually all agencies of the PDP federal government, etc.
[b]“Given these and the desperation of the PDP government to use a chunk of the trillions it has stolen from the country’s treasury to purchase continuation of power, we urge Lagosians to see any money from the PDP as their share of the commonwealth. We urge them to collect Jonathan’s dollars and vote overwhelmingly against PDP in the coming election, we urge Lagosians to ponder whether the Nigeria Jonathan has presided over in the last six years is the Nigeria they desire for themselves and their children. [/b]We urge all Lagosians to continue providing the bastion of the progressive revolution of change from an inept, ultra corrupt and clueless government to an assured future for our children.
“We assure Lagosians that the PDP is a desperate sinking ship that now depends on openly bribing the victims of its failed governance and corruption to remain in power. Lagos being the base of progressivism, should lead the way to disappointing PDP’s base dreams. Lagosians should let Jonathan and the PDP know that they are not cheap wares that are easily purchased by debased politicians that have nothing but negative dividends of democracy for the people. So we ask Lagosians to take any money that is given to you as bribe from the Jonathan/PDP presidency but vote out PDP in the coming election for that is the way to salvage Nigeria from this failed government and party.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-west/177841-take-their-money-but-vote-out-pdp-lagos-apc-advises-lagosians.html

March 3, 2015 Press Release

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) on Monday attributed the sudden fuel scarcity in many parts of the country to sabotage by the opposition All Progressives Congress, which it said has infiltrated the ranks of Nigeria’s fuel marketers.
The Director of Media and Publicity of the PDPPCO, Femi Fani-Kayode, said in a statement in Abuja that the fuel marketers have taken a sub-contract from the opposition to frustrate supplies of petrol to fuel stations as part of a grand plan to create tension in the polity.
According to Mr. Fani-Kayode, “We know who the fuel marketers are. We know the relationship that exists between one of the biggest fuel marketers and a national leader of the APC. These unconscionable opposition elements infiltrated the ranks of the fuel marketers, whom they have contracted, in a calculated attempt to frustrate the good efforts of government.
“Why have they taken this time when all hands are on deck for the March 28 elections to cause this artificial fuel scarcity? The situation is so bad that they are not importing the product. They are even threatening tank farmers not to release any fuel in their depot in order to sustain the shortage. We are aware that the tank farmers have reported the threat to the Police and other security agencies.
“This shows how desperate and wicked the opposition APC can be in their quest for presidential power. Must they make Nigerians suffer simply because they want to rule? They must desist from this act of sabotage.
“The opposition should not take delight in celebrating over the pains and sufferings of Nigerians as they have continued to do with the Boko Haram attacks on our people and nation.
“The APC’s penchant to diminish the gallantry of our Armed Forces in the battle to defeat insurgency in the northeast zone whilst mocking the government whenever the insurgents bomb and take over villages in the zone, must be condemned by well-meaning Nigerians.
“This predilection exposes and portrays the APC and its leaders as forces of retrogression with a devilish mindset to unleash the worst form of anarchy on the nation before, during and after the March 28 presidential election because they know their party and presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari will be dealt a crushing blow by President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls.
“The PDPPCO also wishes to use this medium to alert the nation on the lingering plot by the opposition elements who have been sponsoring their agents of destruction in the power sector to vandalise critical infrastructure in order to reduce the megawatts of electricity that is being generated and reverse the gains that government is making in the sector.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/177824-apc-behind-fuel-scarcity-plotting-sabotage-of-power-supply-jonathans-campaign.html

BY SAHARA REPORTERS, NEW YORKMAR 02, 2015


In an exclusive interview with SaharaTV, Mr. J. Akinola Ajayi narrated the abduction, starvation, and unlawful detention of 15 year old Adamu Koli by the Nigerian army at the Adekunle cantonment in Ibadan last year. Adamu is the younger brother of Capt. Sagir Koli, the army officer who recorded the then Minister of Defense Obanikoro, Senator Omisore, Governor Fayose, and other leading political officials bribing army Brigadier General A.A. Momoh to rig the Ekiti State elections for PDP.

Mr. Ajayi, who is the lawyer responsible for locating and investigating the unlawful detention and horrible treatment of Adamu, told SaharaTV that he was held for nearly five months “in order to catch the brother Captain Sagir Koli” who had fled for his life after releasing the audio tapes of the Ekiti State election scandal.

From a legal perspective, Mr. Ajayi said that Adamu was detained longer than is outlined by the constitution. He was never taken to court” and added that “he should not have been held responsible [for his brothers actions]. His human rights have been abused.” Mr. Ajayi said that there is no law in Nigeria which calls for transferred malice, where Adamu could be punished for his brothers actions.

When asked whether the military knew of Adamu’s treatment, Mr. Ajayi said that there was a military officer watching over him the entire time Adamu was chained to the bed.

Brigadier General A.A. Momoh, who Mr. Ajayi met with during the course of his investigation into Adamu’s whereabouts, was uneasy around human rights lawyers and alluded that Adamu “was a security risk” so he will not answer questions about him.

“In confinement he went through psychological trauma,” and “was praying for his dying time till he was left the hook” over concern for himself and his brother. Adamu also needed to seek medical attention once Mr. Ajayi released him from his captivity.

Mr. Ajayi said that the military is wholly responsible for the treatment of Adamu, and that they are “taking up a suit against the army for substantial damanges on behalf of Adamu.”

Major General Chris Olukolade, the Spokesman for the Nigerian Defense Forces, could not comment on the situation because he says he has not been briefed yet.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/02/army-responsible-starvation-and-unlawful-detention-15-year-old-adamu-human-rights-lawyer

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKMAR 01, 2015

Sahara Reporters Media

Segun Ojo, a former Commissioner for Finance in Ondo State, has alleged that Governor Olusegun Rahman Mimiko has received N2 billion from President Goodluck Jonathan in order to rig the presidential election in the southwest for the incumbent president who is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Mr. Ojo claimed that the governor, who was elected on the ticket of the Labor Party but defected to the PDP late last year, had perfected plans for rigging the elections in Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, and parts of Edo States.

Mr. Ojo made the disclosure while speaking to a correspondent of SaharaReporters in Akure, the Ondo State capital. He asserted that the Presidency had given Mr. Mimiko two billion naira to execute the rigging process.

According to the former commissioner, Governor Mimiko had disbursed seven million naira to each of the PDP wards in Ondo State. He accused the governor of recruiting “political thugs” to strategize on ensuring that President Jonathan wins Ondo State at all cost.

“Governor Mimiko can’t lie to me that he didn’t received two billion naira. The money is now been dispatched ward to ward for the purpose of rigging this presidential election,” said Mr. Ojo. He added, “We all can see that the governor has been moving with his agents from one local government to another in the name of gathering support for President Goodluck Jonathan, doling out funds for people to vote the PDP candidate.

“I bet, President Goodluck Jonathan and his PDP candidates can’t win elections in Ondo State because the people have seen that they were only been cajoled and deceived by the PDP. They know PDP is a failure in Ondo State, and Mimiko came to the party for further destruction.”

Mr. Ojo, who served as a finance commissioner under the late Governor Adebayo Adefarati, criticized Mr. Mimiko for betraying many of his associates who have now left him for the All Progressives Congress (APC). He said many of the governor’s former allies even regretted working with him during his days in the Labor Party.

“Go and ask people who knew the journey of how Raman Mimiko became the governor of Ondo State. They will tell you that he is never a man someone can trust with his own life. We know what we lost for bringing Mimiko into government. He later became the governor, after many people sold their house, properties and some even lost their life for his ambition. He started witch hunting the people that helped him into power.

“He forgot the fingers that fed him while the road was still very rough. Already, he has failed and if there is anything you can compare him with, it is ‘evil’ because he deserves nothing more from the people of the state than to send him and his Jonathan parking,” Mr. Ojo said.

Mr. Ojo, who is now an APC member, claimed that 18 political parties in the state were ready to support the candidature of Mr. Buhari and his vice presidential candidate, Yemi Osibanjo.

“Buhari must come as president, Mimiko must go as governor. We are ready to show Mimiko out of Ondo State, and if Jonathan is sent parking, our betrayer Governor Mimiko knows he is leaving as well. He has been following the President up and down like a loose dog, lavishing the resources of the state on trips and private costs while civil servants and people of the state are languishing in poverty.

He boasted that Mr. Buhari would garner more votes in Ondo State than incumbent President Jonathan. He said his political organization called Ondo State Rainbow Coalition was working alongside APC party leaders to sensitize residents of the state on the need to send the PDP government packing.

“I can assure you that we would use the current crisis rocking the PDP in Ondo State to gain more support for General Muhammadu Buhari,” said Mr. Ojo. On the recent endorsement of Mr. Jonathan by some southwest leaders, Mr. Ojo said, “Nigeria of today is now different from the one of yesterday. Those elders were bought with dollars and they sold their conscience, especially those parading themselves as Afenifere. It’s a big shame.”

http://saharareporters.com/2015/03/01/mimiko-received-n2-billion-rig-elections-former-commissioner-alleges