₦airaland Forum

…And Jonathan gets embroiled in land deal

March 1, 2015

Written by Idowu Akinlotan


It is apparently part of politics to defend the indefensible. Otherwise it seems incomprehensible that anyone, let alone a political party that claims to have set norms and standards for Nigeria, will attempt to defend Dr Jonathan’s Abuja land deal under some constructive corollary of constitutional approbation. The facts of the case are as follows. In 2011, in his second year in office, Dr Jonathan incorporated Ebele Integrated Farms Limited, with him as major shareholder. Sometime between that 2011 and 2013, the president applied for land in Abuja for farming purposes. He did not think it indiscrete. Then, in January 2014, he was granted a huge 94 hectare plot in, of all places, Abuja’s Aviation Village, a bad enough distortion as any.

When the opposition APC brought the matter to light some two weeks ago, the president’s campaign organisation rested its argument and justification on two main grounds, to wit, that when former president Olusegun Obasanjo was in office, he also applied for an even bigger plot of land and was granted; and that second, the constitution permits a sitting president, like any other government official, to do the business of farming. No other kind of business was permitted. This perhaps explains why, according to the APC, the Minister of the Federal Capital City (FCT), Bala Mohammed, incorporated a farming business, Bird Trust Agro-Allied Limited, in 2012, applied for land in Abuja over which he is minister, and was granted about 40 hectare plot by his ministry in April 2014 in the same choice Aviation Village.

It is inconceivable that both the president and the FCT minister do not consider what they have done as corrupt. Of course, had the president not set the tone, there is no way Mallam Mohammed would have imitated him. But let us examine the arguments of the president and his campaign organisation. As the APC and many commentators have argued, it is not clear how Dr Jonathan and his supporters think his land grab was excusable simply because Chief Obasanjo committed the same indiscretion. It is a lousy, childish and senseless argument to make. Two wrongs do not make a right. Second, does the constitution really sanction farming for a sitting president? Yes, it does, but it is also clear that (a) it assumes that the president was already doing the business before he assumed office, and (b) he was of course not expected to begin to use state resources, state power, and presidential influence to run that business because it would inevitably lead to a conflict of interest.

Third, and significantly, it is a bad law, one probably inspired by Chief Obasanjo himself when he was military head of state, and which the military, also inspiring our various constitutions, incongruously retained in every constitution they midwifed. The president should not be involved in any business, and every business he had before assuming office must be put in blind trust in order to avoid conflict of interest. It is certain the constitution, notwithstanding its drawbacks, expected nobility from those elected into office. Since Chief Obasanjo, Nigerian leaders have unfortunately fallen disastrously short of the standard of morality the spirit of the constitution, rather than the letter, naively presumed on their good sense.

[b]There is no way Dr Jonathan can claim the high ground in this seedy transaction. Apart from the fact that he is naturally and personally lacking in noble deeds, and his life and politics not based on any philosophical principle or conviction, he appears bereft of an understanding of the history of the country he so undeservedly presides over. Does he remember that some First Republic leaders like Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello established or prepared the framework for universities without citing them in their own towns? Chief Awolowo conceived the then University of Ife to be established, not in his Remo Division of present Ogun State, but in Ile-Ife. Nor did Ladoke Akintola, whose government announced the establishment of the university in 1960 put it in his native Ogbomosho. And the Sardauna, Sir Ahmadu Bello, planted the Ahmadu Bello University not in Rabah, Sokoto Province, but in Zaria. Examine these facts against the unflattering fact that when Dr Jonathan would put a university in his state, he invariably put it in his small town of Otuoke in Bayelsa.[/b]

All of Dr Jonathan and his campaign organisation’s excuses are disingenuous. Applying for land under his own government was immoral and indefensible, and getting that land in Aviation Village is a bad and horrendous distortion of what that piece of territory is, from its name, reserved for. African leaders, it is said, lack discipline and moral compass to take their nations to great heights. Nigerian leaders are probably even much worse, and Dr Jonathan a far more ignoble example.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/and-jonathan-gets-embroiled-in-land-deal/

APC Lawmakers Oppose Obanikoro’s Ministerial Screening Due To His Involvement In Election Rigging In Ekiti

BY CHINENYE UGONNAFEB 27, 2015

Eighteen senators of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Thursday opposed the nomination of Musiliu Obanikoro by President Goodluck Jonathan for a ministerial position.

The lawmakers cited Mr. Obanikoro’s alleged involvement in the rigging of the Ekiti elections as a reason for their decision.

The APC senators led by minority leader, George Akume, alongside Sani Saleh representing Kaduna central; Ojudu Babafemi representing Ekiti central senatorial district and Danjuma Goje representing Gombe central, disclosed their stand to journalists on Thursday.

“Obanikoro is not qualified to hold public office based on his antecedent,” Mr. Babafemi said. “It is our position that such a person is not qualified to hold public office and we are going to oppose that.

“Three senators from Lagos have written to the President of the Senate David Mark opposing that.”

He added that the case would be coming up on March 6 and the Senate President, David Mark, would ensure the matter was cleared in court and not the senate.

The nominations of seven others were also deferred: Fidelis Nwankwo from Ebonyi state, Augustine Okwudiri Akobundu from Abia state, Joel Danlami Ikenya from Taraba state, Nicholas Akis Ada from Benue state, Patricia Akawashiki from Nasarawa state, Hauwa’u Lawan from Jigawa state and Kenneth Kobani from Rivers state.

The senate did not officially disclose reasons for its decision.

A 37-minute audio tape was released in February implicating Mr. Obanikoro in the rigging of the 2014 Ekiti gubernatorial election.

Others accused are the Governor of Ekiti state, Ayo Fayose, Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, former deputy governor of Osun state, Iyiola Omisore and an honourable member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Abdukareem.

The tape was leaked by a Captain in the 32nd Artillery Brigade stationed in Ekiti State, Sagir Koli, and was recorded on June 20, 2014.

He recorded the politicians when he was asked to attend a meeting with his Commanding Officer, Aliyu Momoh, a Brigadier General, at Spotless Hotel.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/27/apc-lawmakers-oppose-obanikoro’s-ministerial-screening-due-his-involvement-election

DP has destroyed Nigeria’s economy — Oshiomhole

February 25, 2015Premium Times

November 21, 2014
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government has destroyed the nation’s economy.
Speaking to a coalition of women from across the 18 local government areas of the state, led by Evelyn Igbafe, who paid him a solidarity visit, Tuesday, Mr. Oshiomhole said, “PDP has mismanaged the economy. You can all see that you need about N220 now to buy $1. When PDP took over power in 1999, $1 was between N60 and N65.
“They have destroyed the economy. After 16 years PDP cannot give light to Edo people and upon the darkness, they are using their might to collect what they call fixed charges from very poor people and because there is no light, the woman that has to grind pepper has to buy a generator; because there is no light, the woman that grinds cassava has to buy a generator; because there is no light, the woman who has to sell articles at night has to buy a generator.
Mr. Oshiomhole said, “I like what the Benin leaders are saying. We cannot say this is what we have gained from the PDP and because we are working, they are very afraid. When I see the PDP Chairman of the State wearing multiple colours and talking and spend all his time abusing Oshiomhole, but fails to spend some minutes to say what the PDP has done in 10 years, I laugh.
“When you are going now, pass through the Central Hospital to see the beautiful work that is being done there. This is what is giving the PDP sleepless nights because all the evil plans they had against that hospital did not work. Before APC came, PDP asked students to pay school fees. We have stopped all of that. If you have two three children in school and you do not pay school fees for any of them, is that not extra savings? Under PDP, they were paying for schools that didn’t have roofs and chairs.”
“There are still many things to be done because the damages done by PDP in ten years cannot be repaired in six years. I want to promise you that we will continue to do our best.”
Earlier, the leader of the women coalition, Evelyn Igbafe, said they were in Government House to thank the governor for the re-appointment of a traditional ruler, Ehioze Erediauwa, as a member of Edo State Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission, and assured the governor of their continued support always.
“We have come to encourage you that you should continue with your good works in Edo State, we appreciate your government and we want APC to continue the good work and we to assure you that APC is carry go,” she said.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/177500-pdp-has-destroyed-nigerias-economy-oshiomhole.html

Jonathan Gave S/West Coops N10b For Votes print

Published on February 25, 2015 by admin
Kazeem Ugbodaga

It has emerged that Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan in a desperate move to win the forthcoming elections has allegedly splashed N10 billion on Southwest Cooperative Societies to garner votes for him in next month’s election.
P.M.NEWS reliably gathered that the meeting the Southwest Executives of the Cooperative Societies held with Jonathan at the State House, Marina, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria last Friday.
Though the president promised to build the first ever Cooperatives University in the Southwest, it was alleged that the leadership of the cooperative societies got $5 million (N10 billion) from the president so that they could support his ambition.
The money is to enable to cooperative societies mobilise their members in the Southwest to vote for the president. There are over 20 million cooperative members in the Southwest alone.
“It was the first time I saw dollars being packed in ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ bag,” a source at the meeting was quoted as saying.
After the sharing of the booty one of the cooperative zones in one of the Southwest zones got over N200 million after converting the dollars to naira.
There many zones in that particular state, meaning that each state got over N1 billion as their share.
President, Lagos State Cooperative Federation (LASCOFED), Mr Oriyomi Ayeola, who spoke to P.M.NEWS on Wednesday on the issue, said he was aware that Jonathan promised to build a Cooperative University, but that he was not aware of money changing hands.
P.M.NEWS also sent a text message to President Jonathan’s media aide, Reuben Abati, to react to the alleged N10 billion largesse to the Southwest Cooperative Socities but he failed to respond at the time of filing this report.
At the meeting with the Cooperative Societies, Jonathan had promised to build the first Co-operative University in the country to be sited in the Southwest region of Nigeria.
The President said he would set up a study group to examine how such a university functioned in Kenya to determine the various faculties and departments suitable for Nigeria.
Jonathan said the study group would also comprise members of Oodua Cooperative Alliance, OCA, which made the request for such a university.
“The issue of university is that, you will nominate some people and we will send them to Kenya to go and really look at the setting up of the Cooperative University. They will look at the key departments and faculties they have. I really believe in the setting up of specialised universities. That was why I set up the Maritime University in Delta State,” he said.
On Sunday, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State had accused President Jonathan of distributing dollars during the five days he spent in Lagos.
He said during those five days, the president held several meetings with different groups in order to win their support and splashed dollars on them.
During the five days, Jonathan reached out to different groups such as traditional rulers of various ethnic nationalities, cooperative societies, market women and others to garner support for his re-election on 28 March.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/02/25/jonathan-gave-swest-coops-n10b-for-votes/

BY LAI MOHAMMEDFEB 25, 2015

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as untenable and an after-thought the statement credited to President Goodluck Jonathan as the reason why the Ekiti rigging audio tape has not been investigated, saying the President's waffling on the issue shows he may have something to hide.

In a statement issued in London on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the President was wrong to have said the rigging audio tape had not been investigated because the army captain who leaked it had not come forward to authenticate it.

It wondered whether the President would have toed the same line if the tape had revealed that the APC colluded with the military to rig the Ekiti election in favour of the APC candidate.

APC said the security agencies need no prodding or even a presidential directive to launch an investigation into a weighty issue that amounts to a subversion of democracy.
''Some people were found to be undermining democracy using a powerful national institution like the military, and all the President could say is that there will be no investigation until the officer who secretly recorded the tape has come forward to authenticate it. What a disingenuous argument!

''Is the President not aware that Capt. Sagir Koli, who recorded the tape, went into hiding because his life was in danger?

​Is the President not aware of the fate that befell Capt. Koli's 15-year-old younger brother who was ​arrested and tortured at a military facility in Ibadan over the issue?
Does ​the President ​not appreciate the patriotism which the officer exhibited by exposing those who criminally subverted democracy?'' the party queried.

It wondered on what basis the President declared the audio tape a fabrication when he has now confessed that he has not even listened to it, and when almost all those who were at the rigging meeting, including Musiliu Obanikoro, Ayodele Fayose, Jelili Adesiyan and Iyiola Omisore, have now owned up to attending the meeting.

''Unless President Jonathan is afraid of what an investigation into the tape may reveal, he should be in the forefront of those calling for an investigation. This is because, according to the major players in the rigging tape, the Ekiti rigging assignment was done expressly in the name of the President.

''Obanikoro invoked the President's name, saying he sent him to clinch victory for the PDP in the Ekiti governorship election. Unless the statement made by Obanikoro is true, the President has no business seeking to delay, even for one day, the investigation into the very serious allegations contained in the tape. The presence of Capt. Koli is not a necessary pre-condition for an investigation into the rigging allegation.

''We are therefore repeating our call for an urgent investigation of the Ekiti rigging audio and at the same time demanding that all those who are found to have willfully subverted democracy be tried for treason. For the avoidance of doubt, no matter how long it takes, we will ensure that all those involved in the Ekiti show of shame are brought to justice,'' APC said.

The party advised President Jonathan to immediately summon his aides to play the audio tape of the meeting and the video tape of the subsequent interview with Capt. Koli for him, so that he will be able to make an informed judgement on it, instead of making incoherent and confounding statements on the issue.


http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/25/ekiti-rigging-tape-mr-president%E2%80%8B-obanikoro-said-you-sent-him-rig-apc

Patience Jonathan’s kinsmen, AtekeTom ban rallies in Okrika

FEBRUARY 24, 2015 BY CHUKWUDI AKASIKE, PORT HARCOURT

WORRIED by the spate of political violence in their area, kinsmen of the President’s wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, including a former Niger Delta agitator, Chief Ateke Tom, have placed a ban on political rallies in Okrika Local Government Area.

Mrs. Jonathan’s kinsmen said it would not tolerate any political campaign in the area in order to ensure the safety of lives and property of their people.

They expressed dissatisfaction that politicians were trying to turn Okrika to a war zone without minding the safety of the people of the area.

It will be recalled that a governorship campaign of the All Progressive Congress was attacked by hoodlums, even as a policeman lost his life after being shot by the intruders.

One of the President’s wife’s kinsmen, Mr. Marcus Orabipi, who spoke on behalf of Okrika people on Tuesday, explained that the decision to shut out politicians from campaigning in the place was aimed at maintaining peace.

Orabipi, who made the remark shortly after an Okrika stakeholders’ meeting, stated that every eligible voter in the area was free to vote for any candidate of his choice.

He expressed the sympathy of the people of Okrika to the family of the police that was killed during the attack on the APC rally on February 17, 2015.

According to Orabipi, “The whole town commiserates with the family of the policeman who died as a result of the violence that transpired when the APC held its rally on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at the National School Field.

“As a result of what happened, stakeholders have decided that there should be no more rallies for now in Okrika until further notice. The town (Okrika) has spoken and the decision is unanimous. The decision was taken to avoid further incidence of violence as a result of the attitude of political parties.”

Orabipi, however, explained that though members of political parties were free to discuss issues, they should avoid insulting persons and institutions, even as he described the people of Okrika as peace loving.

Also, Ateke Tom, who was part of the Okrika stakeholders’ meeting, expressed his support for the decision of Okrika people on the banning of political rallies in the area.

Ateke Tom specifically stated that there would be no rally for the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, maintaining that the people of the area were not comfortable with the wave of political violence in the place.

The former Niger Delta militant leader said, “The people of Okrika have spoken and I am in support of the decision they have taken. My people have spoken and they have said there is no more political rallies in Okrika.

“I am in support of their decision. Who I am I to say no? You want them to kill me? When the PDP held their rally (in Okrika), there was no problem. But when the APC held their own rally in Okrika, there was violence.

“Unfortunately, a policeman was killed and property were destroyed. So, PDP and APC, there will be no more rallies. We don’t want violence in Okrika again. The people of Okrika want to hold on to the existing peace in the area.”

Ateke Tom, however, called on the youths to shun politicians’ overtures, adding that the aim of the politicians was to use and dump them.

http://www.punchng.com/news/patience-jonathans-kinsmen-ateketom-ban-rallies-in-okrika/

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKFEB 23, 2015

Sahara Reporters Media

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and the Olusola Oke, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2012, are engaged in a “cold war of words” over control of the party’s campaign largesse as well as leadership of the party machinery in the state. Mr. Oke, an estranged key party figure, has accused the governor of undermining him and other party members as well as failing to account for campaign funds allegedly donated by the party’s national headquarters.

The latest crisis, which broke open last weekend, centers on conflicting claims by Mr. Mimiko that he alone funded and organized the presidential campaign visit of President Goodluck Jonathan in Akure. In disputing the governor’s impression, Mr. Oke asserted that he contributed funds to mobilize people for the event.

Both Mr. Oke as well as two other sources at the Ondo State secretariat of the PDP disclosed that the party leadership in Abuja had released N80 million a few weeks before Mr. Jonathan’s campaign rally in the state.

Our sources said Governor Mimiko’s failure to account for the funds triggered the latest feud in the state chapter of the PDP. One source said it was a major reason Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State kept away from the Akure rally. “Governor Fayose was not happy that the national chairman of the party did not release any such amount to Ekiti during the president’s visit to the state,” the source said.

One pro-Oke source said part of the funds was given to a few members of the pan-Yoruba social-cultural group, Afenifere, which endorsed President Jonathan after consultations with Mr. Mimiko at the residence of Reuben Fasoranti in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Mr. Oke is embittered by what he regards as the governor’s propaganda in the state and national media to take credit for organizing Mr. Jonathan’s presidential campaign.

Speaking in Akure on Saturday, Mr. Oke accused the governor Mimiko of failing to account for N80 million he collected for the presidential campaign rally in Akure. He added that the governor failed to “carry party members along,” noting that numerous individuals had made financial contribution to the president’s campaign event.

“See, the truth of the matter is that the national secretary of the party released N80 million which our so called ‘Mr. Governor’ collected and transferred into his account, and refused to tell anyone of us how he squandered the fund. Even till date, he has refused to account for it,” said Mr. Oke.

He added: “Earlier, before the campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan to Ondo State, the governor didn’t call anyone [to disclose] if he received any money from the Presidency. But [he] was only preparing alone and building structures at the venue. That was when I knew that program was going to be a failure.”

Mr. Oke blamed the governor for the failure of the campaign rally. “It was clear on that day that people do not want the PDP again. The people are tired of the fallacy, they are tired of the deception, they are tired of failed promises, they are tired of poverty, they are tired of backwardness and they are tired of being deceived,” he said, adding that he was one of the few in the state with the credibility to talk to the people of Ondo State.

He asserted that, even though the presidential rally in Akure was well funded by the PDP headquarters in Abuja, he and Kingsley Kuku, the special adviser to the president on the Niger Delta, raised personal funds to mobilize supporters to the campaign ground.

He also accused the governor of sponsoring personal attacks aimed at defaming him and his supporters in the riverine areas of the state.

In a chat with a correspondent of SaharaReporters, Mr. Oke said Governor Mimiko seemed to have defected to the PDP in order to “disrupt” the party. He accused the governor of portraying many party stalwarts in poor light in Abuja, disregarding the fact that the members had labored to sustain the party. He said the governor wanted to leave the impression that he was the only person working for the party’s success in the state, adding that this was not the case.

He warned that Mr. Mimiko, who had lorded it over members of the Labor Party, would not be allowed to do the same in the PDP where, he said, everyone is regarded as equal.

He lamented that the ongoing crisis, which he blamed on the governor and his cohorts, might derail Mr. Jonathan’s bid for reelection.

“Mimiko said I have not being working for the interest of the party. Could this be true?” he asked. Then he added: “He met me here in PDP after his kangaroo defection. I am a leader in the PDP in Ondo State and I have been there from inception. I didn’t defect neither am I a joiner.

“I don’t need to go and give him a daily report on how I am gathering support for our presidential candidate. I learned he believes in propaganda. I believe in interacting with my people. Let us see who wins.”

Declaring that the governor played “enmity politics,” Mr. Oke advised Mr. Mimiko to learn how things are done in the PDP. “Forget that he was once in the PDP. Let him know, he is now a new comer. He can’t come here and talk to us, especially the elders in the party, on how to work or run our affairs. He needs to know that the PDP is the one that respects the integrity of its followers,” he said. He added: “We don’t have sole administrators here like they used to have in the moribund Labor Party. I and the elders are the ones to educate him on how the PDP is now being run which is different from the ‘gira gira’ politics he used to know. I am not going to report to any landlord or headmaster.”

Mr. Oke said a report in last Thursday’s edition of ThisDay titled “Oke Playing The Loser’s Game”, was part of the governor’s efforts to tarnish his [Mr. Oke’s] image, adding that the governor was also trying to depict Tokunbo Modupe, Mr. Mimiko’s choice for state coordinator of President Jonathan’s state campaign team, as the only one working for the reemergence of the president.

“The people behind this publication are no other persons than the PDP of LP extraction in the state and I point all the fingers at Governor Olusegun Mimiko. I am convinced that he is behind this.

“I know it’s their plan to brand me incompetent and not working enough for the success and reemergence of President Goodluck Jonathan. The loyalists of the governor have been to Abuja on several occasions to report us to the leadership of the party that we are not doing enough and that it’s only Governor Olusegun Mimiko that is working. They have even said I am working silently for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state,” he said.

He also alleged that Mr. Mimiko had in the past constantly blocked in his road to promotion. “I recalled how this same Mimiko blocked me from being inaugurated as the chairman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Abuja. He also blocked my way from emerging the party’s national secretary at a national convention held in 2012,” Mr. Oke added.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/23/governor-mimiko-oke-feud-over-pdp-campaign-largesse

APC demands independent probe of Ekiti rigging tape

February 22, 2015Press Release

​The All Progressives Congress (APC) has renewed its call for a thorough probe of the Ekiti rigging tape that was recently released by an army captain who recorded the audio tape, saying it is wrong for anyone to label the tape a fake without a forensic investigation.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the issues exposed by the tape are too grievous to be swept under the carpet or dismissed on the basis of nothing but gross partisanship.
It said the investigation is particularly necessary because of the alleged role the military played in the whole rigging scenario, and against the background of the court rulings against the deployment of troops for elections.
”If the government officials and politicians whose voices were heard on the tape are not interested in clearing their name, what of the military institution that was dragged into the show of shame? Has the integrity of the military not been compromised by the alleged role of a General and hundreds of his troops in the rigging saga?” APC queried.
[b]The party said the inconsistency of the federal government’s response to the whole saga has exposed its underbelly and made it more urgent for a forensic investigation of the tape to be carried out.
”First, those whose voices were heard on the tape rushed to deny there was any such meeting. Later, after they were confronted with a preponderance of evidence, they started owning up one by one, starting with Police Affairs Minister Jelili Adesiyan, then Minister of State for Defence Musiliu Obanikoro and then Ekiti Governor Ayodele Fayose, even though they all denied the meeting was about rigging. Of course Nigerians know better.
”But these men, on the basis of their initial denial, are no longer credible as far as the rigging tape is concerned, hence it is necessary to have an independent investigation of the whole issue,” it said.
APC also said that while President Goodluck Jonathan had rushed to dismiss the authenticity of the tape, telling the Wall Street Journal ‘It’s all fabrications’, his campaign spokesman Femi Fani-Kayode said the exact opposite: ‘We have listened to the audio clip and we make bold to say that the discussion that took place in it did not make any mention of any form of rigging in the Ekiti state governorship election and neither did it contain any evidence of any conspiracy to rig.’[/b]
”Can anyone listen to a non-existent audio tape? This confusion in the government circles is the clearest indication yet that they were so panicked by the revelation that they could not fashion out a coherent response to it, hence the discordant notes by the major culprits and their oga at the top!
”We sympathize with them, but we are more worried about the effect this revelation will have on a respectable national institutional like the military, which was dragged into the rigging mess. This is why even the military itself must carry out its own investigation.
”If an Army General could be so bullied into submission by political partisans, to the point where he said he will cry, what will they not do to any other military officer or men? Does this whole rigging saga not call into question the role of the military in elections?” the party further queried.
It vowed not to allow the issue to be swept under the carpet in the interest of the nation, and commended the media and indeed all Nigerians for sustaining the discourse on the rigging tape.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/177314-apc-demands-independent-probe-of-ekiti-rigging-tape.html

Sambo using religion to divide Nigerians —APC

FEBRUARY 20, 2015 BY ENIOLA AKINKUOTU 183 COMMENTS

The All Progressives Congress has accused Vice-President Namadi Sambo and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, of using religion to divide Nigerians.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Thursday, said Sambo, while addressing PDP supporters in Kaduna, said the APC was pushing a Christian agenda and should be rejected at the polls because its vice-presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has “5,000 churches.”

The APC said, “It must baffle every right-thinking Nigerian what the vice-president stands to gain by his resort to basic instincts. It is more baffling against the background of the fact that it was his party, the PDP, that first labelled our party, the APC, as a Muslim party.

“Not even when the APC elected a Christian as its National Chairman, supported by many party officials who are also Christians, did they back off from their incautious claim. It did not occur to them that our party is more religiously diverse than they have sought to portray it to Nigerians.”

The party urged voters not to be swayed by those who were using religion as a campaign tool.

It said some unscrupulous politicians had already begun distributing leaflets portraying the APC as a religious intolerant party.

It said, “They are hoping that by further inflaming passion with the highly emotive issue of religion, they can revive their shrivelling political fortunes. That is why they have devised the latest strategy of pitting Christians against Moslems through the circulation of satanic leaflets. Nigerians should not be taken in by this cheap plot.

“We ask Nigerians to disregard anyone peddling religion as a tool for securing votes in any part of the country. Faith is a personal thing to individuals and no responsible government will seek to use religion to divide the people.”

http://www.punchng.com/politics/sambo-using-religion-to-divide-nigerians-apc/

Rigging clip: Reps ask Senate to stop Obanikoro’s screening

Posted by: Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi

Members of the House of Representatives have asked the Senate not to confirm Senator Musiliu Obanikoro as a minister, until the scandal of the Ekiti rigging audio clip has been investigated.
The lawmakers said due to the weight of the allegations, there was need to ascertain Obanikoro’s involvement in the alleged rigging of the last June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State.
President Goodluck Jonathan has sent a list of eight ministerial nominees, including Obanikoro, to the Senate.
Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, in a motion of urgent national importance, said in light of the damning audio clip, it was necessary to probe the involvement of the army in the postponement of the elections earlier slated for February 14 and 28.
“The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, said the elections were postponed because the military said it could not guarantee security for the election. We should look at it critically to see if the military has a role in the postponement of the elections.”
The motion was slated for debate today.
In a chat with The Nation after plenary yesterday, Gbajabiamila and Chairman, Committee on Public Accounts Solomon Olamilekan Adeola said the Senate should neither screen nor confirm Obanikoro, pending the conclusion of the probe into the audio clip.
Gbajabiamila said: “Part of my prayer is to have the audio clip of the Ekiti election investigated because it is a matter that this House has to address to determine whether or not the military has a role to play in our elections.
“My prayer is to investigate it and then for the government to declare that we cannot use the military in the election. There are two court judgments now. In the last few weeks; the Court of Appeal judgment states that the military has no role in election.
“They should fire the Commanding Officer of 32 Artillery Brigade, Brig-General Aliyu Momoh and Obanikoro because you can’t have such evidence and a week later you confirm them, it’s not done. In another country, he will be facing trial.”
According to him, INEC as an independent body, acted within the purview of the law, adding that there was no need for consultation with the National Assembly before taking such step.
“What led to the postponement is the question we need to ask. The commission would only require the National Assembly’s approval in case there is need for another postponement. Which they won’t get.”
Adeola described the allegation against Obanikoro as weighty and said there was need for an in-depth probe before the Senate’s approval.
“We are calling on the Senate to investigate before clearing Senator Obanikoro for any appointment. If he is found wanting, his nomination should be declined by the Senate.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/rigging-clip-reps-ask-senate-to-stop-obanikoros-screening/

Again Lagos APC asks National Assembly to reject Obanikoro as Minister
February 19, 2015Press Release

The Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress has warned once again that unless Nigeria is a banana republic there is no reason Senator Obanikoro’s name should be considered again for ministerial position, given his deep involvement in Ekitigate election scandal.
In a release in Lagos by its State Publicity Secretary of the party, Joe Igbokwe, the party says Nigeria must not continue to reward persons with questionable and dubious character in a nation where good and quality people are not in short supply.
“Ekitigate scandal is such a weighty and monumental fraud that cannot be swept under carpet as it rocks and undermines the very foundation of our democratic journey.
“Senator Obanikoro and his forty thieves in Ekitigate scandal must be brought to book to serve as deterrent to others. When offenders are not punished the hearts of the people are schemed to continue to do wrong.
“What is the purpose of reappointing Senator Obanikoro who has just lost an election in Lagos as a Minister if not to continue to use the exalted position to plunder our common patrimony at this critical point in the nation’s history.
“Senator Obanikoro must be kicked in the ass and thrown out of the hallowed chamber of the National Assembly for decimating and desecrating our hard-earned democracy.
“With this singular act of representing this very bad and ugly candidate, the President is sending the wrong signals to the world that Nigeria is a nation of anything goes.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/177145-again-lagos-apc-asks-national-assembly-to-reject-obanikoro-as-minister.html

Without investigation, and despite admissions by Fayose, Adesiyan, Jonathan says Ekiti rigging tape fabricated

February 17, 2015Nicholas Ibekwe

Despite the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, and the Minister of Police Affairs, Adesiyan Jelili – two of the characters in the Ekiti rigging audio recording – admitting the authenticity of the recording, President Goodluck Jonathan has described the tape as a fabrication that is not worth his attention.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, last Friday, Mr. Jonathan said he was not going to investigate the authenticity of the audiotape describing it as a “fabrication.”
“It’s all fabrications. Why should I investigate things that are not real?” he asked.
It is not clear how Mr. Jonathan determined the tape was not real without conducting an investigation.
Guardian Consulting, The New York-based security firm that helped analyse the voices of the characters in the leaked recording, said it conducted a forensic examination on the discussion and compared the voices to public record samples of the known individuals.
“The voices from the recording were subjected to a Forensic Voice Frequency Comparison against known samples and were found to match to a 98 per cent degree of certainty,” the firm said.
But rather than order his own investigation into the scandal, Mr. Jonathan has dismissed the tape, labelling it a fabrication the same way he, without investigation, hurriedly absolved the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta of complicity in the October 1, 2010 bombing that killed many and injured several others.
He was later to blame the same MEND for the incident, saying the group wanted to kill him.
An intelligence officer, Sagir Koli, a Captain in the Nigerian Army, recorded the audio of a meeting between his superior, Aliyu Momoh, a Brigadier General; former Minister of State for Defence, Musliu Obanikoro; Mr. Fayose and Mr. Adesiyan where strategies for rigging the 2014 Ekiti State gubernatorial election were discussed.
While Mr. Obanikoro has denied taking part in that meeting and threatened to sue PREMIUM TIMES and Sahara Reporters for their relentless reporting of the issue, Mr. Adesiyan confessed that the recording was genuine but that it was more of an altercation between Mr. Fayose and Mr. Momoh after the former accused the later of being bribed by the then governor of the state, Kayode Fayemi.
“Fayose accused the General who supervised the Ekiti election of taking bribe from Fayemi and APC, that was two days before the election. They called me because they said the General disarmed policemen and I told him to allow the policemen to do their job,” he told the Sunday Punch newspaper.
“I was there, Fayose was there, Otunba Omisore was there, Senator Obanikoro was there. I am not denying that there was a conversation but it was not what they are saying.
“Nigerians are not dummies. These people are mischievous; somebody recorded the scene but let everybody listen to it. Listen to it yourself and get back to me,” Mr. Adesiyan said.
After initially claiming his voice was manipulated using speech software such as Natural Voices, Mr. Fayose later admitted during a political event in Ekiti that it was his voice that was captured in the tape but claimed he was rebuking Mr. Momoh for favouring the All Progressives Congress.
“If you listen to the tape about military rigging in Ekiti. Listen to the tape you will see that I was the one accusing the army of compromise. Listen, take time to listen. But they would come back with propaganda and saying it all as if the whole world of propaganda belongs to them,” he said.
President Jonathan, however, insists the tape is not real and has even proceeded to nominate Mr. Obanikoro, a principal character in the election rigging scandal, for ministerial appointment.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/177009-without-investigation-and-despite-admissions-by-fayose-adesiyan-jonathan-says-ekiti-rigging-tape-fabricated.html

U.S. fighting ISIS but refusing to send troops against Boko Haram – Jonathan

February 17, 2015Adebayo Hassan


In what appears an admittance of Nigeria’s inability to deal with the terror group, Boko Haram, President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to the United States to send troops to take on the increasingly powerful sect.
In an interview with the U.S-based Wall Street Journal, Friday, the president said he had since 2014 appealed to the U.S. government for combat troops and military intelligence to help curb the menaces of Boko Haram, but that the US turned down his request.
The president said there was intelligence about Boko Haram insurgents, currently holding some parts of the North East, receiving training and funds from the Islamic State, the jihadist group whose leadership is based in Iraq and Syria.
Mr. Jonathan asked why the U.S. was withholding help to Nigerian when it is currently involved in the fight against ISIS, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Why can’t they come to Nigeria? They are our friends. If Nigeria has a problem, then I expect the US to come and assist us,” he said.
“Are they not fighting ISIS? Why can’t they come to Nigeria?” said the president.
The president’s claim about request for combat troops was, however, denied by the spokesperson for the United States’ military, John Kirby.
Mr. Kirby, a Rear Admiral, said the U.S. government had not received any request for troops from the Nigerian government.
He said there were no plans to unilaterally send troops to Nigeria, but added that the U.S. is discussing its participation in a multinational task force with African nations to assist Nigeria. The task force, he said, will be designed to help build up Nigeria’s own counterterrorism capabilities.
“These discussions are really just now starting,” Mr. Kirby was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying. “I can tell you that there are no plans as I speak here…unilaterally to send or to add U.S. troops into Nigeria. There are no U.S. troops operating in Nigeria.”
Although the U.S. has helped the Nigerian military with training, equipment and funds, recent allegations of human rights abuse and the refusal of the U.S. to sell Nigeria weapons, have prevented deeper ties between the two countries over Boko Haram.
In 2014, Washington refused to supply vital arms to Nigeria, citing human rights abuses.
Mr. Jonathan told the Wall Street Journal the allegations of human right abuses are overblown.
The president said despite the request for troops, the Nigerian military will retake all territories currently under Boko Haram control within eight weeks.
Within eight weeks, Mr. Jonathan said, “we will be able to take over all the territories that they are holding.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/177021-u-s-fighting-isis-but-refusing-to-send-troops-against-boko-haram-jonathan.html

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKFEB 15, 2015


President Goodluck Jonathan and his inner circle have begun new moves to jettison elections altogether, hoping that members of the National Assembly will agree to postpone polls once again and instead settle for a so-called interim national government, according to information received from several sources, one of them embedded in the Presidency in Abuja.

The sources disclosed that Mr. Jonathan, Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke, the chairman of the PDP’s board of trustees, Tony Anenih, Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko and Ijaw political figure, Edwin Clark, were the main players in the new scheme. They are reportedly determined to sell their new plan to a small nucleus of key legislators at the National Assembly to discuss how best to recruit supporters, sources knowledgeable about the astonishing plot revealed.

The team pushing this new idea, one source said, is operating on the premise that it would be “dangerous to hand over power to Muhammadu Buhari.” Ms. Alison-Madueke was reported to be a hawkish pusher of the idea, with one of our sources adding that the Petroleum Minister was extremely anxious about the prospect of a Buhari Presidency exposing her numerous shady deals in the oil sector through which she and a few players selected by her have drained billions of dollars of oil revenues into their private holdings.

Ms. Alison-Madueke has assured the group that some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as several big-time beneficiaries of oil sector deals, including importers of refined fuel, were committed to the plan and willing to provide slush funds to pay a bribe of $2 million dollars to each senator and $1 million to key members of the House of Representatives to persuade them to endorse the plot to derail elections permanently and install an interim national government. The president is working through officials of the NNPC to fund the massive bribe scheme.

Mr. Jonathan’s henchmen have begun discussions with some members of the National Assembly as the legislative body prepares to resume another legislative session in Abuja next week. It would be the first time the legislature would sit after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced last week that polls, which were scheduled for February 14, 2015, had been postponed for six weeks.

According to those who briefed SaharaReporters on the latest scheme by the Presidency, Mr. Jonathan plans to sell to key legislators the argument that, since Nigeria is at war at the moment, the government would need another six months at least to fight off Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast of Nigeria before elections can take place.

A source close to a former military head of state, Abdulsalam Abubakar, told SaharaReporters that Mr. Jonathan had approached the retired officer and pleaded with him to consider heading an interim national government that would be put in place on May 29, 2015 if Mr. Jonathan’s plan prevails. “General Abubakar promptly declined the offer and immediately informed some ex-heads of state about the offer,” the source disclosed.

Mr. Jonathan and Ms. Madueke have revived the scheme to avoid elections after a sobering meeting the president held last Thursday night with PDP governors and top party figures. The participants at the meeting were candid in conceding that the forthcoming presidential elections would not favor President Jonathan despite its postponement for six weeks.

A source close to former President Olusegun Obasanjo told SaharaReporters that the incumbent president’s machination to thwart elections was the provocation for a recent intensification of verbal warfare between Mr. Jonathan and ex-President Obasanjo. The latter has publicly accused Mr. Jonathan of plotting to stymie election now scheduled for March 28, the same way former President Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivoire caused a political crisis in his country after loosing an election, bringing his country close to a civil war.

The latest plan by Mr. Jonathan, several sources said, is driven by Ms. Alison-Madueke’s desperation. The Petroleum Minister is reportedly worried that she would not be able to avoid prosecution for several questionable deals in the oil sector that have catapulted her and her minions to billionaires. Her fear is reportedly heightened by the fact that she does not see the prospect of being granted asylum in any European or North American nation should she decide to flee abroad if Mr. Jonathan loses.

A source close to Mr. Jonathan revealed that First Lady Patience Jonathan has occasionally fumed and blamed Ms. Alison-Madueke of causing her husband’s popular unpopularity.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/15/scheme-afoot-bribe-national-assembly-members-postpone-elections-again

CSOs seek immediate sack of NSA, security chiefs

Posted by: Olugbenga Adanikin in News 14 hours ago

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) under the aegis of Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD) yesterday called for the immediate sack of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
The coalition also demanded that the Chief of Defence Staff (CODS), Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff should be relieved of their positions for stating they could not provide security for the general elections, which should have held yesterday.
Representative of the CSOs, Barrister Solomon Dalong, made the demands during a rally in Abuja by the pro-democratic movement.
Members of the movement protested from the unity fountain to the federal secretariat with inscriptions such as: “No more postponement, one man one vote”; “No to interim government”; “INEC must be independent”; “Power belongs to the people through democracy” and “No repeat of June 12,” among others.
Police and Department for State Security (DSS) operatives provided security for the protesters.
They alleged that the NSA had connived with the service chiefs by usurping the powers of the National Security Council and President Goodluck Jonathan whose responsibility was to protect lives and property.
Dalong said: “We condemn in strong terms the action of the NSA and the service chiefs. We find their threat not to provide security to INEC for the conduct of the elections as a blackmail and indeed a coup against an institution of Nigeria and the Nigerian people.
“The NSA does not have the constitutional mandate to advise INEC on security matters and it is not in his purview to guarantee the security of the nation.”
They protested that the elections should have been rescheduled only in the 14 local councils affected by terrorism, adding that the military may not guarantee security in the March and April polls.
The CSOs cautioned against further postponement of the elections.
They said Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Atahiru Jega, should be retained while Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and Card Readers should be made available to eligible voters.
The Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Ms Hassan Idayat, said government should ensure the elections, saying the shift has affected the economy and Nigerians.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/csos-seek-immediate-sack-nsa-security-chiefs/

Jonathan has no plans to leave Presidency, says Obasanjo print

Published on February 14, 2015 by

Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

Former president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has likened President Goodluck Jonathan to the former president of Cote d’Ivoire, Lauren Gbagbo, following the postponement of general elections which was supposed to be held today across the country.
Obasanjo declared that the postponement was a big shock and surprise to him, adding that, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was forced to make the poll shift.
The former president who returned to Nigeria last night after he launched his autobiography, “My Watch” abroad and attended various meetings said Jonathan has a grand plan to ensure his continuous stay in office.
While answering questions from newsmen who had laid siege at his Presidential Hilltop, Abeokuta Saturday morning he said: “I am surprise with the postponement. I left Nigeria penultimate Wednesday, I traveled to Morocco, Munich, Nairobi, London and New Delhi. Exactly a week today, we were in Munich for the Munich Security Conference. I was there with Koffi Annah, a lot of world leaders were there and I was to talk about peace in Africa.
“Suddenly, people started asking me questions from different part of the world about the development in Nigeria. I decided not to issue any categorical statement until I got back home.
“It turned out to be a forced decision on INEC, it was alleged that the security chiefs were unable to provide security and as a result, Jega has to postpone in accordance with the dictate of the so called security chiefs. It is a bad precedent for democracy in Nigeria. It means no matter any preparation the nation set on ground in future for any elections, the final decision lies on the security. This is a sad day for democracy in Nigeria,” Obasanjo stated.
Ebora Owu, as Obasanjo is fondly called revealed that President Jonathan is up to something and his plan is to scuttle the electoral process and cause chaos in the country as was done by the former President of Ivory Coast, Lauren Gbagbo.
“President Jonathan has a grand plan to ensure that by hook or crook, he wins the election and if he fail, he scuttles it and brings chaos, confusion and unpleasantness in the whole country. It is either he is following his own grand plan or playing a script, which of course, must have gotten his endorsement.
“He is trying to play Gbagbo, the former president of Cote D’Ivoire. He postponed election in his country until he saw that he will win. He doid not allow elections to hold, when it eventually held, it was an inconclusive election. In the run off election, he lost to Quattara and he refused to hand over, he unleashed horror in that country until nemesis caught up with him. I believe we may be seeing a repeat of that, what I called, ‘Gbagbo Saga’,” Obasanjo revealed.
He however declared that with his experience in security matters, it will take only God’s miracle to achieve what the security chiefs said they will do in just six weeks, eradication of the boko haram insurgency in the country.
Obasanjo further stated that Buhari is more competent and well equipped to tackle the corruption, recklessness and impunity that has eaten deep into the fabrics of many Nigerians.
Balogun of Owu kingdom with the statement credited to Mr President during his media chat few days back that he was not aware of what the security chiefs said, bluntly said, “he is reigning and not ruling, so who are those hiding somewhere and ruling this country?”, he queried.
Obasanjo disclosed that he believes in the leadership of Buhari more than anybody at this present time, asking Nigerians not to compare the military era to the democratic system.
According to him, “I believe General Buhari will fight corruption, he will give firm leadership. When he was there before, he was a military and military leader is both the executive and the legislative but in democracy, it is not possible like that.
“Moreso, military has been rendered impotent and I believe he will do everything to resuscitate it because he knows the military well, so he will do it, if he fails to do it, I will say shame unto him,” Obasanjo posited.
Obasanjo in his submission, appealed to President Jonathan not to listen to those who are creating phobia of Buhari and phobia of enquiry, adding that, the President has done well and he should rather have a dignified exit which will acclaim him as a patriot and true democrat.
He also appealed to the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that after the election,which he believes Buhari will win,must find a way to allay the fears of many who see him as a threat in the area of human right,obedience of our constitution and rule of law.
On his final analysis, tasked every Nigerians to play their parts in the progress and development of this great country,saying,”for me I would not stop,there is nothing better than democracy. And for those who are pushing President Jonathan,he should beware because when the chips are down,he will be naked and they will mock him at the end. I wish President Goodluck Jonathan, General Muhwmmed Buhari and every Nigerian every good wish,” the former President concluded.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/02/14/jonathan-has-no-plans-to-leave-presidency-says-obasanjo/

Power supply drops to 2,869MW

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 BY ‘FEMI ASU

Power supply from the national grid to households and businesses in the country slumped to 2,869.84 megawatts on Tuesday, exactly a month after it fell to 2,502.39MW.

Power generation tumbled to 2,936.83MW on February 10, while peak generation on that day was 3,913.20MW, according to data obtained from the Presidential Task Force on Power on Wednesday.

According to the Federal Ministry of Power, generation as of February 8 was 3,407.28MW, while 3,333.33MW was sent out.

Power generation and supply in the country have dipped below the 3,000MW mark for at least three times in the past one month.

On January 11, 2015, generation fell to 2,502.39MW, while 2,449.04MW was sent out, according to data obtained from the PTFP. Generation fell to 2,948.45MW on January 6, while 2,880.31MW was sent out.

The downturn in power generation then was attributed to the sabotage of the Trans-Forcados Pipeline, which supplies gas to several power plants in the country.

The quantum of electricity available for distribution to various classes of consumers as of December 29, 2014 was 4,112.29MW out of the 4,389.7MW generated, according to the ministry.

The country achieved the highest peak generation of 4,517.6MW of electricity on December 23, 2012.

http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/power-supply-drops-to-2869mw/

Leaked audio: Soldiers to testify against military, says Fayemi

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 BY KAMARUDEEN OGUNDELE

A Former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has revealed that some soldiers were ready to testify in support of the leaked audio file on how chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party connived with the military to rig the June 21, 2014 Ekiti governorship election.

The audio file released by Sahara Reporters, an online medium, detailed how Ekiti Governor, Ayodele Fayose; former Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro; Sen. Iyiola Omisore; Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan and the military allegedly rigged the poll.

Fayemi, who spoke on a live programme, “APC Change Hour,” on an Akure, Ondo State-based Adaba 88.9 FM, said the postponement of the 2015 general elections was not about security but about a secret plot to rig the polls.

He said, “We are taking every step to ensure this does not go unpunished. There are many soldiers willing to testify.

“There are many Captain Sagir Kolis who are willing to give evidence in the court of law. I am just appealing to all Nigerians to be patient as events unfold.”

He vowed that the All Progressives Congress would resist militarisation of the election based on a judgment of a Federal High Court, Sokoto, which ruled against the use of soldiers for electoral duties.

“We in the APC will not allow the use of the military to oversee the conduct of the elections because we know and we are aware that they have sown fake police uniforms, they have sown fake army uniforms but we will not allow them,” he said.

Still wondering how the APC lost the governorship election, Fayemi said, a party (APC) that had three senators, six members of the House of Representatives, 25 House of Assembly members, council chairmen and councillors could not lose so scandalously saying the latest revelations have proved the fact that the poll was rigged.”

He disclosed that the APC had 260,000 members in the state wondering whether those party members would not vote for their party.

“Fayose is a desperate man, he is more desperate than President Goodluck Jonathan. He is one of the apostles of interim government. Gen. Momoh is a victim; he wants promotion.

“He believes that all his atrocities will come to hunt him. The judges that were beaten, the legislature that was sacked, the civil servants that were harassed.

“They are now using the military to rig elections and Nigerians must be vigilant. It is when the situation cannot be handled by the Police that you call in the military.

“If you hear what Captain Koli said, he said they were given instructions (to rig Ekiti polls). Chris Uba who is not a military officer giving order to military officers.

“It was soldiers that drove vehicles that conveyed PDP members to arrest APC members. Our members were arrested and they were not released until the election was over.”

Answering questions on why he conceded a day after the poll, Fayemi said there was a “grand plan” from Abuja to kill as much people as possible after the election should there be any demonstration or protest against the result.

Speaking on alleged plot to remove Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Fayemi urged Nigerians to hold Jonathan by his words as promised that he would not be removed.

Fayemi urged Nigerians to use their votes to flush out what he called “an incompetent government” during the forthcoming general elections saying Nigerians needed to be vigilant in the days ahead to ensure that their electoral wishes were not tampered with.

http://www.punchng.com/news/leaked-audio-soldiers-to-testify-against-military-says-fayemi/

Conspiracy To Scuttle Elections Exposed

Published on February 11, 2015 by admin

The conspiracy to scuttle this year’s general elections which was postponed from February to March and April, appears to be gaining momentum, following allegation by the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Tuesday that leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are planning a meeting with some military top brass on how to rig the election in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Lai Mohammed made this allegation at a news conference where he also accused the PDP of mopping up permanent voter’s cards in Ogun State, western Nigeria, to disenfranchise voters in APC stronghold.
He alleged that the three-day meeting is taking place in Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria.
A military source at the 1 Division of the Nigerian Army in Kaduna confirmed that the Presidency is working hard and also using the opportunity of the postponement of the coming elections to rig back Jonathan to power at all costs.
According to the source, “a secret memo has been forwarded to all the heads of Divisions, Brigades and Battalions of the Nigerian Army across the country for a 3-day strategic meeting in Kaduna this week. The agenda of the meeting is on the coming elections and how to effectively use the military to intimidate voters especially in all the strong areas of the opposition across the country. The meeting will also be attended by the head of the special presidential task force and other Service Chiefs. The Army Chiefs will work with other security arms of government to rig the coming election in favour of GEJ.”
Also, Senator Babafemi Ojudu has revealed President Goodluck Jonathan’s secret plot to avoid election and extend his tenure by two years on the grounds that Nigeria is at war.
Ojudu (APC, Ekiti Central) told members of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) that Jonathan has been making spirited moves to court National Assembly members into approving his agenda for the two-year tenure elongation.
According to the Daily Trust, Ojudu made the revelation Tuesday while addressing the ARG gathering inside the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan with the theme “The change Yoruba will vote for.”
[b]Senator Ojudu, in his submission, said: “If anybody thinks there is going to be elections on March 28, the person is deceiving himself. All the people that are close to me, especially my friends, I told them a year ago that there would not be election and that they are just deceiving us.
“Some of us who are perceptive have seen this in the body language of our colleagues; the body language of the Senate President himself, David Mark. When we came back from the summer recess last year, he said that for him, it’s not time for election. We should not be thinking of elections now, rather we should be thinking of fighting Boko Haram. The moment we took him up on that, he reversed himself.
“There are conscious attempts at lobbying some of us to work against having elections. Therefore, where they have got to now is the preliminary stage.
“We will resume next week Tuesday. I can assure you, they may likely bring a motion asking us to adjourn or postpone the elections for six months because there is an ongoing war.[/b]
“The constitution allows this. The constitution states that where and when there is a war in any corner of the country, the President can bring a motion to the National Assembly to postpone the elections for six months in the first instance and this can be passed by just a simple majority.
“If you think at this time that they may not get simple majority, you may be wrong. This is because 80 per cent of the senators and House of Representatives members are not returning, not out of choice. Perhaps, I am the only person who is not returning out of choice in the entire National Assembly. All others attempted but they did not make it.
“This may surprise you, we are all broke. If they say we want to give you two more years as it is being quietly requested by Jonathan, virtually everybody will vote for that.”
He said Jonathan had been pleading that the National Assembly should allow him to continue for two more years because he feared that if the election holds and a northern Muslim wins, there may be problems in the Niger Delta, adding that Jonathan also argued that if he wins there would be problem in the north.
“Therefore, the solution is for him to do two more years and at the end … you can have northern-northern and Muslim-Muslim candidates. That is their logic and that is what they are working towards. Left to us, they know it shall not pass. We must have to start crying out now and be strategic in our planning,” he said.
“We are about entering into a very long night in Nigeria. It is a very sad thing that whenever we thought we have made a progress, we take ten steps backward. This is what is happening now.”
Plans had been concluded to present the request to the National Assembly ahead of members’ resumption next Tuesday.
“We have been told that the president will forward the request to us in the National Assembly in which he will declare that Nigeria is now in a state of war as foreign troops under the multinational joint forces of the African Union are now in Nigeria,” the source said.
“The presence of the foreign troops must be backed by appropriate legal instrument and that is why the relevant constitutional provisions must be invoked,” the source said.
The president, sources said, will request the National Assembly to approve the six months tenure extension in accordance with the provisions of the constitution which allow for elongation of tenure of political office holders if the nation is in a state of war.
A source in the legislature said already, “monies have been made available to induce lawmakers into approving the request. Again, they know that 65 percent of the National Assembly members do not have return tickets and many of us may be willing to approve the extension,” the source who is ranking lawmaker said.
The initial six months extension would be used as a smokescreen for subsequent extensions as the president will request for three more extensions to make it two years.
When contacted, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business Senator Ita Enang declined to comment saying “I am not aware of it and I won’t talk about what is not before us.”
However, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC, Borno) said any such request must be approved by 2/3rd majority of each chamber of the National Assembly and “as far as I am concerned, it won’t scale through. We will defeat it. APC has majority in the House and they (PDP) do not have 2/3rd majority in the senate,” he added.
Another source said if the tenure extension plot fails the Presidency would resort to “Plan B”. He said this entails setting up an interim government to be headed by a former Nigerian leader or an ex security chief.
Sources said the idea of handing over to an interim government is the last card to be played by the presidency as hopes for the president’s re-election keeps dwindling.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/02/11/conspiracy-to-scuttle-elections-exposed/

Coup-makers at work

Posted by: Olatunji Dare

[b]Every outrage on the popular will in Nigeria has followed a familiar trajectory.
There is, for a start, the stage of disbelief and anger and visceral rejection. “How could they do this to us?” the violated ask in indignation. “This must not pass,” others vow.
At this stage, the perpetrators are somewhat tentative. Their exultation is restrained and private. Having no reliable measure of the balance of forces, they do not want to precipitate a showdown yet.
In the second stage, those who belong in the substantial ranks of the “any government in power,” with support from the “anything goes” brigade, step gingerly out of the shadows to congratulate and embrace the beneficiaries of the outrage. Consummate players that they are, they say nothing about the process that wrought the controversial benefit, nor about how deserving the beneficiary is. The important thing is that the beneficiary is their man. Nothing else counts.
Hard on the heels of these groups follow those who prize “stability” above all else, “national stability” especially. Outrage or no outrage, they counsel, the “nation” must not be allowed to drift into chaos. The outrage, they remind you, is only the latest in a very long line of outrages; so, why single it out? And, in whatever case, far greater outrages have occurred elsewhere. The really important thing is for everyone to come together “to move the nation forward.”
Meanwhile, congratulatory messages for the beneficiary that had begun as a trickle turn into a cascade. So do “solidarity” visits by an assortment of royal supplicants, influence peddlers, contractors and entrepreneurs with an eye to kick-starting their failed businesses, not forgetting other classes of political adventurers. These “solidarity visits” are dutifully captured live on national television. They are staged primarily for television anyway. It is the cameras that give them resonance.
In the face of all this, the ranks of those who had vowed that the outrage would not pass begin to thin; their voices grow less insistent; the ranks and the voices of those urging acceptance of the outrage for the sake of stability and “moving the nation forward” appear stronger than they actually are.
Soon, many of those who had vowed that the outrage would not stand begin to feel overwhelmed. They give up and move on, persuaded that resistance is futile.
The foregoing first appeared in my column for May 1, 2007, written in the wake of the presidential election in which the Umaru Yar’Adua/Goodluck Jonathan ticket was declared winner over the Muhammadu Buhari/Chuba Okadigbo. International and domestic observers said of the poll that it ranked among the most fraudulent they had ever witnessed anywhere.[/b]
Subsequent events followed the trajectory I sketched above. Yar’Adua took the reins, dying two year later in office and was succeeded by Jonathan, who went on to win a disputed four-year term that has now run its desultory course.
But Jonathan, his suborned Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Security Agency and their confederates in and out of uniform, have got to be practically unconscious if they expect that reactions to the coup they staged over the weekend will also follow that trajectory.
The “any-government-in-power” marionettes, the “anything-goes” choir, the stability merchants and the fixers, we shall always have with us. But they have had their day.
A new consciousness is sweeping the land – a consciousness that rejects the manipulations, the subornation, and the corrupt blandishments that a long line of rulers had employed to get the people to connive in the subversion of their own will.
Four weeks before they executed this coup, a source who is in a position to know had told me that Jonathan was going to do everything within his power to put off the general election for as long as possible, or to avoid it altogether, because he and his camp know that they are headed for a thumping.
“Can he do that?” I asked the source, one of the most knowledgeable and reliable a reporter ca ever had in his corner.
“It’s too late,” he said.
In retrospect, he was wrong, as are all those who have in the face of compelling evidence, continued to underestimate Jonathan’s capacity for the perverse, the devious and the downright dishonourable.
Calls for postponing the election, at first few and far between, grew louder and more insistent. Less than one-half of the electorate has received permanent voters cards stood to be disenfranchised if the election were held as scheduled, Jonathan’s proxies chimed.
Suddenly the same Jonathan who for two weeks did not give a damn about more than 200 innocent girls kidnapped from their school hostels and has not given much of a damn subsequently was overflowing with solicitude for the voting rights of residents of the area – the same Jonathan who agreed to meet the distraught parents of the abducted students only at the urging of the Pakistani child activist, MalalaYousafzai
The area in question, 14 local government areas spanning three states in a country comprising 774 local government areas spanning 36 states and Abuja Federal Capital Territory, is widely believed to be a stronghold of the opposition APC, the party stands to lose if voting there is spotty because of the insurgency. Conversely, it is Jonathan’s PDP that stands to gain the most under the circumstances.
So when the Jonathan and the PDP take on the role of advocate for those residents in the Boko Haram-infested areas, you know they are not motivated by altruism. It is just another excuse for scrubbing the projected poll.
Leaving nothing to chance, Jonathan tried to conscript the National Council of State to rubber-stamp his design. The Council rebuffed him and his confederates.
He then reached for his trump card to rein in the unyielding INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega and delay summary judgment on his failed presidency that an electorate with which he has not kept faith was poised to deliver; an electorate that he and his corrupt administration have more often betrayed than served.
The commander-in-chief who had been missing in action, the one who visits the troops in the frontline decked out in the finest clothing, directed the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the state security apparatus to inform INEC in writing that it the armed forces were set, at long last, to launch a massive offensive against Boko Haram, beginning the very day the presidential election was to be held and lasting all of six weeks.
During the period, the armed forces would tolerate no distraction. Nor could it guarantee the safety of election officials or voters.
In short: You are on your own, Attahiru Jega. Go ahead and stage your election, and may the blood of those who come to harm in the event be upon your head.
Who can blame Jega for submitting to this tawdry blackmail? But the self-indictment of the security chiefs is not lost on the public.
If you are paid and provisioned handsomely to ensure the security of lives and property, and you declare that you cannot guarantee the discharge of that remit, you have no business remaining in office. Do the honourable thing and resign.
But honourable conduct is not something that Jonathan demands of himself or his officials.
In any case, what makes them think they can crush the insurgency in six weeks when Boko Haram has been running rings around them in the past four years? What would happen if six weeks passed and the insurgency continued to rage?
When Jonathan asks Nigerians to accept his shabby conduct “in good faith,” he adds wanton insult to bitter injury. What does he know about good faith?
When he goes on to assure the public that May 29, the day the winner of the election will take office is sacrosanct, not March 28, the day of the re-scheduled poll, he raises new questions about his sincerity.
Ironically, it is the sedate APC candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari who has increasingly been looking presidential, while Jonathan the incumbent has been running scared, a pathetic study in desperation and fecklessness.
In six years on the job for which nothing had prepared him, not even a dodgy doctorate in ichthyology from the University of Port Harcourt, Jonathan had ample opportunities to equip himself to overcome his early stumbles and rise to its lofty demands. Instead, he cut the office down to his own picayune stature. Before a global audience, his inadequacies became more glaring and more embarrassing with each passing day.
And now, he wants four more years?
Nigeria deserves better.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/coup-makers-work/

APC accuses PDP of buying PVCs from Nigerians

February 10, 2015Press Release

The All Progressives Congress has accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of resorting to underhand tactics, including the purchase of PVCs and the intimidation of some voters to seize their PVCs, in the wake of the recent postponement of the general elections.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party also said a company, Agro-Allied Communities Service Nigeria Limited, has been formed ostensibly to provide N50, 000 loan each to “empower” women.
It said, however, that anyone seeking to get the loan must provide her PVC as ‘collateral’, which is basically the essence of the establishment of the company that is supposedly a private concern but in reality a PDP front to mop up PVCs, especially in opposition strongholds.
APC said it was now getting clearer by the day what the PDP-led Federal government sought to gain by forcing the postponement of the elections for six weeks – which is to perfect their rigging plans.
The party warned those behind the abhorrent acts to desist from such tactics, which reflect the desperation by some people to hold on to power at all cost, even when it is clear that Nigerians have widely rejected them due to non-performance, massive corruption and profligacy under their watch.
It also appealed to its members and supporters in particular, and Nigerians in general, not to sell their PVCs under any guise, saying that is the only power they have to effect a meaningful change that can ensure the delivery of democratic dividends to them.
Our members have alerted us to the fact that PDP agents have been operating in all villages between Kobape and Orile-Imo along the Sagamu-Abeokuta Expressway in Ogun State, giving N10,000 to each poor villager and collecting their PVCs. The PDP agents are also promising each villager a monthly stipend of N10, 000 if and when their party assumes office in the state.
”Indications are that this objectionable PVC mop-up is being replicated in all opposition strongholds by the frenzied PDP, hence we at the APC have decided to alert the nation to the reprehensible act,” APC said.
The party also said that some Immigration personnel, acting under the guise of arresting illegal aliens with voter cards, are dispossessing a lot of unsuspecting locals in the northern part of the country of their PVCs. These unsuspecting people are arrested and their cards seized, all in an attempt to disenfranchise them.
”This act of desperation is totally unacceptable and must stop forthwith. Every voter should be allowed to exercise his or her franchise in accordance with his/her conscience, without intimidation or inducement,” it said. “We hope this is not part of the reasons that the PDP relentlessly campaigned for a postponement of the elections, so it can engage in PVC purchase and the disenfranchisement of innocent Nigerians through harassment and intimidation.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/176587-apc-accuses-pdp-buying-pvcs-nigerians.html

Poll shift, a failed coup –Oyo APC

FEBRUARY 10, 2015 BY BAYO AKINLOYE AND ALEXANDER OKERE 2 COMMENTS

The All Progressives Congress in Oyo State has described the alleged pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission, which was said to have culminated in the postponement of the general elections by six weeks, as a failed coup against democracy.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, had on Saturday announced a change in the timetable of the polls, citing the inability of the military to ensure the security of the elections, as the basis for the shift.

But in a statement issued in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Monday by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, the Oyo APC regretted that the Peoples Democratic Party could go to the extent of coercing federal agencies expected to be impartial on election matters into the ploy to frustrate the conduct of the general elections.

The statement read in part, “Among the billions of the world population who know much about the character of the human elements in the Nigeria’s albatross called the PDP, only a few would be surprised at the latest development.

“But the sad thing about it is that President Goodluck Jonathan and his sympathisers have again reduced Nigeria to a laughing stock in the international community more than ever before.

“Regrettably also, the circumstances surrounding the poll shift announced by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, have revealed the extent to which every national institution has been damaged by the PDP.

“The whole world has been to see that INEC and national security agencies are under the jackboot of the PDP cabal, which could subject them to acting its own script against national interest at any time.”

Also, Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole on Monday urged eligible voters in the state to tolerate the postponement of the elections by INEC.

The governor, who spoke in Benin, said that the development showed that the ruling PDP was not ready for the May 29 handover date, even when Nigerians were set to cast their votes.

“They can’t postpone Christmas,” he said.

Oshiomhole, who argued that presidential elections had taken place in countries with similar challenges as Nigeria, however, assured that the APC would continue to mobilise more support, even from the PDP “so that Edo State will be 100 per cent for APC.”

He said, “Few days back, they called us for a meeting at the Council of States and we said they should go ahead and do the election. In any event, we are not the only country with security challenges. Even election is held in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“So, whether they postpone the election or not, we won’t fight. They can’t postpone Christmas. I want to appeal to all of you; nobody should be angry because I know you were ready for Saturday’s election.

“Only a debtor thinks tomorrow is far; if they like, let them keep coming up with issues. Elections will hold. APC is already in power by the grace of God. Don’t fight; make peace.”


http://www.punchng.com/news/poll-shift-a-failed-coup-oyo-apc/#comments

Leaked Ekiti Tape: Lawyers, civil society demand full investigation

February 9, 2015Ben Ezeamalu

Several lawyers and civil society activists have urged the Nigeria government to embark on a thorough investigation of the audio recording revealing how some Peoples’ Democratic Party chieftains connived with security agencies to rig the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State.
At the meeting, as evidenced by the recording, prominent officials of the PDP were heard discussing strategies for rigging the 2014 Ekiti governorship election, a poll in which the party eventually won by a landslide.
But some of the actors, including Musiliu Obanikoro, a former Defence Minister, and Ayo Fayose, who defeated the incumbent governor, denied being a party to the plot to rig the election and questioned the authenticity of the recording.
Despite their denials, the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan, who also attended the meeting, confirmed Sunday that the tape was authentic.
He however disagreed with the context of the discussion, saying the meeting was never about plans to rig the Ekiti State election.
Speaking in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, lawyers and activists said they were convinced the recording, which was leaked by Sagir Koli, a Captain in the Nigerian Army, is authentic.
Debo Adeniran, Executive Director of Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, CACOL, said he believed the incident actually took place.
“When people do such things, they normally do it in secrecy with a view to denying it when they are busted. Which is what Obanikoro and Fayose have done,” said Mr. Adeniran.
“But that will not deny the fact that the voices and mannerisms were for those whose voices were recorded, especially Obanikoro and Fayose. Their denial should not be taken as final. They should be tested in a court of competent jurisdiction so that at the end of the day people should not force themselves on the citizens.”
Mr. Adeniran urged the relevant authorities not to sweep the matter under the carpet, noting that the incident “portends a great danger for the future of Nigeria.”
“A democracy whereby people can stage a coup and get away with it. This time around, the police and DSS (Department of State Security) should promptly arrest those ones not covered by immunity, extract more information from them, and charge them to court. Those in the military should be made to face a court martial.
“If it is true that the election in Ekiti State was rigged, because the governor had no reason to win it in the first place, the situation should be reversed and impeachment proceedings instituted against the governor.”
In addition to Messrs Obanikoro and Fayose, others who participated in the alleged rigging plot include Iyiola Omisore, a former PDP gubernatorial candidate in Osun State, and Aliyu Momoh, a Brigadier General, among others.
Festus Keyamo, a human rights lawyer, said that the leaked tape was not meant for entertainment.
“That incident that was recorded is an incident that touches and goes to the very root of our democracy. It’s a tape that will dictate the survival of our democracy or otherwise.”
Mr. Keyamo called for a thorough investigation of all the dramatist personae involved, including the officer who recorded the conversation, and for the findings to be made public.
“Whoever is found culpable must be punished. The matter must not start and die with the denial of the people involved. There must be a thorough criminal investigation.”
Another human rights lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, however, said that the release of the audio recording was belated and therefore no longer useful to the Election Petitions Tribunal.
“I believe that the responsibility is on the person making the allegation to make himself available for investigation,” said Mr. Adegboruwa.
“Why did he wait until judgment was delivered at the (Election Petitions) tribunal? Having waited for the tribunal process to be completed it is of no relevance to the judicial process.
“It can’t be used for appeal because the Court of Appeal is not a court of evidence. It only reviews the judgment delivered by a lower court, you can’t smuggle in evidence at that stage.”
Mr. Adegboruwa also called for the arrest of those involved in the incident.
“If these allegations are true, it casts a shadow on the integrity of this government and that of the electoral process. I suspect that there may be more to it than meets the eye.”
In his reaction, Chino Obiagwu, National Coordinator, Legal Defence and Assistance Project, LEDAP, said that the development has justified calls for the setting up of an independent Electoral Offences Commission.
This Commission will be saddled specifically with the task of investigating incidents such as the one in the leaked audio tape, according to Mr. Obiagwu.
“If the meeting held, then all those involved must be prosecuted effectively such investigations should be the basis to annul that election for reason of premeditated interference and a use of power in the process.
“Only an independent prosecuting agency can handle it.”

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/176527-leaked-ekiti-tape-lawyers-civil-society-demand-full-investigation.html

Leaked Ekiti Audio: Presidency has a case to answer – Fashola
Published on February 8, 2015 by ·

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state has insinuated that the Presidency has a case to answer after the office of the President was mentioned on a leaked recording on the eve of the governorship election in Ekiti state.
Fashola who spoke on Sunday after he collected his Permanent Voter’s Card, PVC, at his polling unit in Surulere area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria stated that some of the persons on the audio cannot deny it.
It would be recalled that a New York-based security firm helped analyse the voices of the characters in the leaked recording on plans to rig Ekiti election and the company, Guardian Consulting, said Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Hon. Abdulkareem and Caleb Olubolade were the persons on the tape.
Guardian Consulting said it conducted a forensic examination on the discussion and compared the voices to public record samples of the known individuals.
In Governor Fashola’s reaction he said he was sure of some of those who spoke on the recording, especially the one who claimed that the promotion of security officer was in his hands.
“They have drawn the presidency into it. They said they were acting on behalf of the presidency. I am sure that fellow and even his grandchild will know that, that is his voice, so how he wants to deny it, I don’t know.”
“His own grandchildren will recognise his voice and many of us have already done. This must open the mind of the Nigerian people to what it takes to win an election. When Governor Aregbesola was celebrating, I know what he went through, because we have been through it, we have been in opposition here, and when we win elections in Lagos as we have always done, we know what it takes to do so, to keep votes that are legitimately cast for us.
“Those people in that audio are the examples of some of the kind of base desperation for power that you can never see. So, why ordinary Nigerians are struggling in the sun, trying to collect their PVCs, trying to vote, you see what they are doing at night, you see how seriously that party that they represent takes your vote and your effort and your sacrifice for democracy. I am sure now that Nigerians are getting wiser, because all of the things that they thought was done in the dark, is now out in the open,” he stated.

http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2015/02/08/leaked-ekiti-audio-presidency-has-a-case-to-answer-fashola/

The Good Of Bad

BY PIUS ADESANMI FEB 08, 2015


Sahara Reporters Media

Shortly before he withdrew totally from discussing and keeping abreast of Nigerian current affairs, a friend once advanced a thesis that has since haunted my consciousness and kept me awake at night. What worries me is not just the suspicion that his nightmarish proposition may damn well be right, it is the knowledge that I have come close to that conclusion so many times myself. Now, that really scares me.

He is in his fifties. Some thirty of his fifty something years on earth he has spent in Europe, Canada, and the United States (Egbon, sorry o, I warned you I would have to use this your story in an op-ed one day). The thirty something years he has spent outside of Nigeria has been spent permanently agonizing about the terrible tragedy that is Nigeria. The success he has made of his life outside has not been any comfort. Thirty years of pain and anguish, of gnashing of teeth, of sorrowing, of headache, of being in a state of permanent dissatisfaction because of the terrible failures of his Nigerian homeland. When he left Nigeria in the 20th century (1980), regular electricity and water were the stuff of miracle in his hometown. He visits every other year. During his visit in 2010, he realized that he was now in the 21st century and regular electricity and water were still the stuff of miracle in his hometown.

That visit was in 2010. What he also realized is that the Nigerian tragedy has consumed the self-worth and dignity of the citizen. Water and electricity were irregular when he left (although much better than what obtains today) but you knew that those services were your right. You did enough social studies in primary school, enough Government in secondary school, to understand that those are things that must come with the territory of your citizenship. And there he was in 2010 surrounded by citizens ready to call you a traitor and shout you down if you are not sufficiently grateful to whoever is currently stealing from them for providing a kilometre of road here, one hour of electricity there, refurbished World War II locomotives here and there.

There he was surrounded by folks ready to go and give testimony at Church on Sunday for the miracle of three hours of electricity. Between 1980 and 2010, the ruling classes had ensured the total annihilation of civic sentience and awareness, producing the sort of psychology ready to be grateful for President Goodluck Jonathan’s mediocrity – and to label those who are not grateful for it unpatriotic. Nigeria has thus produced two generations of citizens without civics and that in itself is a crime committed against the people by their rulers.

We are talking about 2010, the year of my friend’s crisis of consciousness when he travelled home to Nigeria. Things were even still good. That was long before the incubus that is President Goodluck Jonathan went to Kenya to announce to the world that Nigeria has the highest number of private jets in Africa and that is how he measures the well-being of Nigerians. My friend put all these scenarios together and announced to me that he was through with Nigeria. At fifty something, he was going to dedicate the next phase of his life to being a patriotic American citizen. I asked him why and that's when he gave me the rationalization that has traumatized me ever since.


He told me coolly that he is no longer interested in thinking through Nigeria's endless self-inflicted woes and self-designed failures because he has accepted and made peace with the fact that not all countries are meant to be good. Not all people are meant to make a success of nation statehood. Not all people are meant to make it to the mountain top of project nationhood. Some countries, he said, are meant to be permanently bad, permanently dysfunctional, and permanently unsuccessful and even if you gave Dubai to such countries they'd transform it to Darfur in no time. He is able to live with this sad conclusion, he tells me, because in their badness, such countries serve a good purpose, a good cause: they serve as examples to others of how not to run a country, how not to envision and envisage project nationhood, how not to be a country. Another Nigerian would later make this fatalistic claim on my Facebook wall: he has accepted his fate and accepted Nigeria as is because some countries are not meant to be good.

When I heard of the great evil that Goodluck Jonathan had visited on our country today, my mind went to this thesis. I was despondent and discouraged. My heart palpitated. I very nearly drove to the Residence of the Nigerian High Commissioner to drop my passport with Ojo Maduekwe and be done once and for all with a nation-space that has found permanent employment for my tear ducts. I don’t need this, I tell myself. That one wicked, evil man could scheme to reverse every gain we have made on our journey as a people since June 12, 1993 was just too much for me to bear.

Make no mistake about it, what Goodluck Jonathan has called a postponement of the election, after getting his compromised security goons (especially his irresponsible National Security Adviser) to intimidate and blackmail INEC, is a pre-annulment of an election in which he was going to suffer a humiliating defeat. Boko Haram has never stopped Goodluck Jonathan from frolicking and partying away in Kano or from marriage festivities anywhere. Boko Haram murdered two thousand Nigerians and he was more worried about a dozen journalists murdered in France. To now use Boko Haram so cynically to rape our democracy is an ultimate act of treason for which, one must hope, Goodluck Jonathan and all the enablers of his evil shall one day stand trial.

Questions assailed me: are we meant to do Africa and the rest of humanity a good turn by being bad as a country? Are we the bad example that aspiring democracies in Africa must use as a guide out of the woods? If you want to make a success of 21st-century nation-statehood and the practice of genuine democracy, study Nigeria and avoid her steps? Is this the good ordained to come out of our bad? Is this the joke we have allowed folks like Goodluck Jonathan to reduce us to?

I found my answer in hours of online and telephone interaction with outraged Nigerians all over the world. Across all our fault lines – ethnicity, religion, etc – they poured out into our spaces and spheres of national discursive communion to condemn evil. Even career Jonathanians, too far gone in whatever highs he serves them to be able to openly admit that Goodluck Jonathan is not Jesus Christ the infallible – had enough sense to recognize the great evil that their man has visited on our country and wisely kept a low profile today. Only a few irredeemable career Jonathanians have been out defending this treasonable civilian coup-d’état.

[b]The near-national consensus on the recognition of the great evil that was done to our country today and the strident determination of our people to persevere, persist, and overcome has taught me a fundamental lesson. Perhaps some countries are meant to be bad and, in being bad, serve a good purpose of example to others. Perhaps some people are fated to eternal self-inflicted injuries and self-designed failures on a doomed march to nationhood. Perhaps some people are not meant to make it to the mountaintop of project nationhood. None of these things matters to me anymore for Nigerians have taught me today that what matters is how history records a people’s reaction to the badness in which they find themselves on the great pathways of history. In your millions, you poured out to the public sphere to have your voices recorded against badness and evil. The Jonathan junta rolled out troops, thinking you’d give them the excuse of violence to shed your blood but the fools do not know that your victory lies elsewhere.[/b]

And we must pity President Goodluck Jonathan, holder of a (P)owerful (H)igh (D)egree from the University of Port Harcourt. We must pity him because he is devious and he has surrounded himself with criminals and evil men bent on ruining Nigeria. That is why they are afraid to let him know the truth they now understand only too well. Reuben Abati, for instance, has read too many books not to understand that what is happening now is a mass movement for integrity in which Buhari has become a transcendental sign. Buhari is now a sign and a movement has coalesced around that sign. When that happens, no force is powerful enough to stop the movement of such a tide. Even Buhari is powerless to stop what is blowing across Nigeria now and has adopted him as arrowhead irrespective of his human strengths and weaknesses. This tide has become so much bigger than Buhari now – big enough for a Nobel laureate to sense it and carefully arrange himself.

Those who have read some books in the confederacy of criminals around President Jonathan are afraid to tell their Oga that pre-annulment or postponement – whatever they call it – is powerless against this sort of tide. This tide is an idea whose time has come. We have now heard them in the Ekiti tapes so we understand only too well what they hope to achieve with this so-called Boko Haram postponement: re-oil the rigging machine and promise juicy promotions to key military men. Unfortunately for these puny little men trying to stand in the way of the hurricane that is blowing across Nigeria, their scheme is dead on arrival.

The people who rose up en masse today to condemn Goodluck Jonathan’s evil were going to do just one thing on February 14: punish him for failure and send him packing to Otuoke. Now, he has annoyed many more people than were going to sack him. He has merely strengthened the tide and the movement. The Nigerians who were going to sack him for only one reason in February must now sack Goodluck Jonathan for two reasons in March: (1) Failure; (2) Treason.


http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/08/good-bad-pius-adesanmi

BY SONALA OLUMHENSEFEB 08, 2015

Sonala Olumhense Syndicated

Up until last Thursday, the 5th of February 2015, there were people in Nigeria who thought President Goodluck Jonathan still had a chance to be re-elected president next Saturday.

Among that number, some mistook the pageantry and pomp of incumbency for the power and pump of Nigeria’s fledgling democratic heart.

As Mr. Jonathan stumbled and wobbled in poll after poll—several of them operated or commissioned by operatives and hirelings in and around the administration—they looked for scapegoats and escape holes.

As politicians trooped from his PDP into the suddenly-attractive APC, Jonathan’s team deployed abuses and excuses.

As organizations and important individuals around the country and abroad endorsed Mr. Jonathan’s principal challenger for the presidency, his cheerleaders encouraged him to disburse more promises, dismissing forecasts of his imminent electoral demise.

Well, not entirely. At first they clung to the strategy of trying to destroy the claims to character of Muhammadu Buhari, the APC presidential candidate.

That lost steam.

They shifted into blame mode, questioning the readiness of the electoral commission.

That, too, lost steam.

Then they—they who thought the “Independent” in the Independent National Electoral Commission was ridiculous and refused to honour its budgetary and programmatic requirements; who refused to encourage Nigerians to collect their voters’ cards; who refused to protect the rights of the internally-displaced to vote—these emergency philanthropists argued Nigerians had not received their cards.

That track also lost steam.

Then they dropped the P-word: postponement. They wanted the election postponed.

At first they wanted six months. Then, dawn and reality closing in, they wanted eight weeks.

Eight weeks?

Eight weeks. They had had four years—or five, or even eight, depending on how you looked at it—to prepare for the 2015 elections. They had had all the time in the world to grant the electoral commission all the support it needed to be absolutely prepared, but did not.

They had had all the time to support the IDPs, including those displaced by floods, but did not.

They had all the time in the world to revamp the military and Nigeria’s entire Boko Haram strategy towards making the Northeast safer and more election-friendly, but they did not.

It came down to begging and crawling to try and gain eight weeks.

To be sure, they gained a few voices. They got some minor political parties to whine on their side of the fence. They hurled a few moles in front of television cameras and radio microphones and Internet keyboards. They refused to grant visas to foreign journalists heading into Nigeria to report the election.

But it was hopeless, as opposition to postponing the election was substantial. Asserting itself, the electoral commission said, “We are ready. We are as ready as we are ever going to be!”

And then on Thursday, four days ago, the Council of State detonated a bomb right in the heart of the government, saying it had failed to find a shred of evidence why the election could not go on.

In other words, the Council did not fall for the tenure-elongation schemes of the Jonathan presidency in the face of the clamor of the populace to speak at the ballot.

These were gargantuan, seismic shifts.

It is not difficult to imagine that the presidency, after being doused with such ice-cold water on a bitterly-cold morning, did not crawl into alcohol and refuse to be consoled. It was not difficult to see that Nigerians simply wanted an opportunity to vote out Mr. Jonathan and the PDP.

It may be clichéd, but Nigerians wanted change.

This bothers some people, who argue—bravely you might say—that Buhari and the APC do not offer change. That argument is what emerges when you fail to clean your ears.

Buhari and the APC, I assert as someone who has openly denounced the PDP since the 2003 elections, are change. They offer a change from the PDP in the elementary sense that someone—anyone else—is hope, and something of a new beginning. Anyone and anything but the PDP is the definition of change.

Now, is APC the change Nigerians want? Well, that is a completely different animal. The truth is that you cannot have the second without the first. To say that APC is not the change Nigerians want should not be to say that PDP and Jonathan are a nightmare they want to maintain. It is the nature of homo sapiens, when confronted with pain or injury, to try something…different.

As for me, I am reformed. For five years, I have pointed out how weak and unsuitable for leadership Mr. Jonathan was. But it is all clear to me now: his mission in politics was never to be a conqueror or an achiever, for he is not so equipped; it was to show Nigerians how nasty life can turn when they are not vigilant.

Nigerians were not, and they got Jonathan.

The PDP were not, and now, it is about to be de-mystified and detonated.

In the process, Jonathan’s luck seems to have run out, and he is being unveiled as an impostor, the passerby in the mask of the King. Unveiled not just as the man who didn’t give a damn, but as one who couldn’t spell it. He will spend a lot of his old age trying to explain how he got to Aso Rock; how he got to the University of Port Harcourt, if he did, how long he spent there, and what he did there; and even the loyalties of those who cheered when he did not give a damn.

Speaking of Uniport, Mr. Jonathan may have singlehandedly damaged that brand. Every alumnus is on now his own.

Unless you are wearing damaged ethnic or regional blinkers, the only reason for any passionate support of Jonathan is because he upholds a lootocracy to which you belong. There is nothing about his public voyage that fills a normal man with anything but contempt.

But let us be clear: this election is not about Jonathan. It is not about Buhari. It is about Nigeria, as a country that has for too long been taken for granted.

This is also why Buhari, his team, and the APC must be on notice. It is not about you, and if you win, it would be the final tragedy should you act as if there is one day to waste, or as if the standards of measurement will be lowered because you enjoyed popular support on your way to the kingdom. The support is for the country, not you, and not your party.

Actually, your journey will be a lot more difficult because in the period since your much-admired presidential party primary, a lot has changed, and the resources that will be available to you on Friday, May 29, 2015 will be considerably less.

The comfort is that if you really and truly give a damn, you will have plenty of company and help on the road to restoration.

sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

Twitter: @SonalaOlumhense

http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/08/election-neither-about-buhari-nor-jonathan-sonala-olumhense

Former Minister Of Aviation, Stella Oduah, In Bid To Buy Appeal Court Judgment

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKFEB 06, 2015

Former Aviation Minister Stella Oduah and her well-connected cohorts within the Presidency have bribed a majority of justices on a panel of the Court of Appeal that is scheduled to deliver judgment on February 6 in a case to determine the legitimate senatorial candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra.

Speaking to a correspondent of SaharaReporters, a senior judicial staff as well as a source within the headquarters of the PDP disclosed that Ms. Oduah and her group have bought several justices of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, particularly the presiding Justice Abdulkadir Jega, to declare her the party’s rightful senatorial candidate for Anambra north senatorial zone. Our judicial source disclosed that Justice Jega is related to Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Justice Jega is heading a panel of justices that will rule on an appeal filed by PDP in a case tagged PDP vs. Ejike Oguebego and 2 others. Judgment has been fixed for (today) February 6, 2015.

On February 2, Justice Jega had made an astonishing confession during a hearing to the effect that the President of the Court of Appeal and Chief Justice of Nigeria were pressuring the appellate justices to hear the appeal quickly. “It’s amazing that Nigeria’s top justices would take an undue interest in the hearing of a case that is, relatively speaking, of minor import,” said one lawyer familiar with the case.

Ms. Oduah had declared herself a senatorial candidate following an ostensible primary that her opponents say never held. “This woman just used the money she stole when she was a minister to buy some powerful people in the PDP headquarters and they allowed her to say she is the senatorial candidate,” one PDP member in Anambra State said.

Ms. Oduah’s shady deals as a minister were exposed by this website after she caused the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, an agency under her control, to spend $1.6 million to pay for two bullet-proof BMW cars that were never delivered.

In a stunning reversal of fortunes for her, INEC had excluded her name from a list of candidates released by the electoral commission. But Ms. Oduah continued to campaign for the Senate, a move that one of our sources said reflected assurances she received from the judiciary that judgment would be given in her favor.

Our sources said Ms. Oduah enjoyed the unflinching support of Secretary to the Federal Government Anyim Pius Anyim in her push to influence judgment in her favor. Mr. Anyim, a former Senate president, reportedly owes loyalty to Ms. Oduah because the former Aviation Minister awarded him significant contracts when she was on the cabinet.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/02/06/former-minister-aviation-stella-oduah-bid-buy-appeal-court-judgment-become-senatorial

Presidency allegedly bribing small parties ahead INEC meeting Saturday

February 6, 2015 Sani Tukur

The Nigerian presidency is currently engaged in the bribery of small political parties who are billed to meet with the Independent National Electoral Commission Saturday to discuss possible postponement of the forthcoming elections, multiple sources in the presidency and in the parties have told PREMIUM TIMES.
A presidency source, who declined to be named for security reasons, said Friday night that presidency officials are distributing between $30,000 to $50, 000 to the parties and asking them to push aggressively for the postponement of the elections on Saturday.
Our sources said apart from the smaller parties, government officials are reaching out to the resident electoral commissioners, who will also hold a separate meeting with Mr. Jega on Saturday.
“A large chunk of the dollars have also been budgeted to bribe some of the RECs to vote for the shifting of the election,” our source said.
Another source said the smaller parties have been asked to push for at least six weeks extension.
Presidential spokesperson, Reuben Abati, could not be reached to comment for this story. Calls to his telephone failed to connect.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, did not answer or return calls.
INEC has fixed separate meetings with chairmen and secretaries of all registered political parties, and resident electoral commissioners for Saturday to decide whether to go ahead with the general elections scheduled for February 14 and 28.
A statement Friday by Kayode Idowu, the spokesperson for the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, said after the meetings, “the Commission will address a press conference to brief the nation on its decision with regard to whether or not the general elections will hold as currently scheduled”.
Mr. Jega had on Thursday briefed the National Council of States on the preparedness of the Commission to conduct the 2015 general elections.
He made a presentation titled “Preparations for the 2015 General Elections: Progress Report”.
The National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the nation’s services chiefs also briefed the Council on the current security situation in the North-East.
Mr. Jega told the Council that his commission was in a better position to conduct election at present compared to its state of preparedness for the 2011 election.
“Compared with the 2011 General Elections, for instance, our systems are definitely more robust. We believe that we are ready for the elections as planned,” Mr. Jega said.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that convening of the meeting even after the Council of State gave the green light for the poll to go ahead was a result of intense pressure from the Federal Government.
The Electoral Act 2010 as amended recognizes INEC as the only body with powers to shift polls, often due to security concerns.
The Act however, requires the commission to only shift the polls in specific areas where there is no sufficient security to conduct the poll, except if the nation is at war
Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (amended) states that:
“Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election, and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date or it is impossible to conduct the elections as a result of natural disasters or other emergencies, the commission may postpone the election and shall in respect of the area, or areas concerned, appoint another date for the holding of the postponed election provided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable.”
Sixteen political parties and four presidential candidates have earlier in the week called for the postponement of the general elections, threatening a boycott should the elections hold as scheduled.
Among the parties who called for the postponement were United Democratic Party, UDP; the Citizen Peoples Party, CPP; the Peoples Party of Nigeria, PPN; the Action Alliance, AA; the Peoples Democratic Congress, PDC; the Labour Party, LP; Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN; Alliance for Democracy, AD; the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP; the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP; and the Independent Democrat, ID.
The presidential candidates who want the election dates moved are Sam Ekeh of CPP, Anifowose Kelani of AA, and Ganiyu Galadima of ACPN.
However, 10 other parties on Thursday also addressed a press conference rejecting the call for postponement by the 16 other parties.
The 10 parties are the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM; African Peoples Alliance, APA; KOWA Party; Mega Progressives Peoples Party, MPPP; Social Democratic Party, SDP; African Democratic Congress, ADC; Hope Democratic Party, HDP; Democratic Peoples Party, DPP; United Progressives Party, UPP; and Accord Party, AP.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/176386-presidency-allegedly-bribing-small-parties-ahead-inec-meeting-saturday.html

Storm brews over South Africa’s military advisers in Nigeria

Posted by: Our Reporter in Featured, News 13 hours ago

•As ‘private military experts’ arrive to train Nigerian soldiers in counter-terrorism
•Pretoria threatens to arrest them on return home

Nigeria and South Africa may be heading towards a fresh diplomatic row after about 100 South African ‘private military experts’ arrived Abuja to train Nigerian soldiers on how to confront the Boko Haram terrorism.
The South African government is opposed to the arrangement, calling the ‘military experts’ mercenaries.
It threatened to arrest them on returning home.
Nigeria is playing down the invitation of the South Africans, many of whom are believed to have worked for the defunct apartheid government to hunt down black freedom fighters.
Spokesman for the Defence Headquarters, Major General Chris Olukolade said during the week that : “It is well known that terrorism being an international and trans/cross border menace calls for the involvement of all well meaning countries all over the world.”
The South African Minister for International Relations and Co-operation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, speaking to journalists on the sideline of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia expressed dismay at the involvement of her compatriots in the deal.
“We always discourage South Africans to enter the fray in a situation like that,” she said.
The brewing face-off is coming on the heels of the September 2014 seizure by South Africa of a total of $15million cash belonging to the federal government.
The money was ostensibly for the purchase of arms from the open market to fight the Boko Haram insurgency.
The first tranche of $9.3 million cash was confiscated from two Nigerians and an Israeli who flew into South Africa in a jet owned by a Nigerian clergy.
The men landed at Lanseria International Airport, Johannesburg, on September 5 in a private jet from Abuja with the money stashed in three suitcases.
At the time, the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS), said customs officers became suspicious when the passengers’ luggage were unloaded and put through the scanners.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), in South Africa said there was an invoice for helicopters and armaments intended to be used in Nigeria.
The second tranche of $5.7 million was seized three weeks later.
Under South African laws, a person entering or leaving the country is expected to carry cash not exceeding US$2,300, or the equivalent in foreign currency notes.
Nigeria responded at the time that it had to turn to South Africa after the Western countries refused to sell arms to it, on the grounds of human rights abuse.
Government has since succeeded in getting some of the required arms from Czech Republic.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Adamawa in this month’s election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu says Nigeria was “desperate” for military supplies and had to turn to the black market because Western governments were unwilling to help.
“The world might regard this as illegal, but we were being stopped from getting help and our people were being slaughtered,” Mr. Ribadu told The Globe and Mail of Canada
“We were being wiped out, and the world didn’t give a damn. Nigeria was forced into the black market.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/storm-brews-south-africas-military-advisers-nigeria/

Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke Owes You N50,000.00 By Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo


On Sunday, January 1, 2012, the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA ), Reginald Stanley, released a statement announcing that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol would sell for N141.00 a litre instead of the N65.00 a litre that it sold the day before. That was a N76 a litre increase or 113%.

The agency said that it needed to recoup the N1.3 trillion that Nigeria’s government paid in subsidy to petroleum marketers. The government argued that the landing cost of petrol was N139 a litre. On the day of this change, Brent crude oil sold for $111.12 a barrel.

Nigerians went to the street to protest. The government expected that reaction. In fact, it would be right to say that it was factored into government’s calculation of what subsidy amount to announce to the people.

The government’s calculation was that after the protest they would announce a reduction in price that would calm Nigerians down. And that was exactly what happened.

Even at that, let us for the purpose of this analysis believe that the government, despite its fuzzy mathematics, was truthful in its figures. So after the protests, the government reduced the price of petrol to N97 a litre. That was a N32 a litre increase or 47%. Again, remember that crude was selling at $111.12.

According to OPEC, in 2011, the average price of the Brent was $107.46 a barrel. In 2012 it was $109.45. In 2013 it was $105.87 a barrel.

On October 16, 2014 the price of Brent crude oil fell to $84 a barrel. From that point, it has continued to fall.

According to some calculations done by statisticians and economists using government figures, Nigeria’s subsidy disappeared at the $84.00 a barrel mark. So from October 2014, the price of petroleum products in Nigeria should have been coming down, fuel, kerosene, gas etc. Now that crude is below $50 a barrel, the price of petrol should have dropped by at least 30%. In America, it has dropped by almost 40% in most markets. And the same is true across the world.

So the token N10 drop that the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison Madueke, announced is unacceptable. In fact, it is just another fraud built on fuzzy math. A N10 drop from N97 a litre to N87 is only 11%. If Nigeria had followed international best practice, the price of petrol should have dropped by at least 30% at the current crude oil price of about $50 a barrel. That means that a litre of petrol in Nigeria should cost about N67 a litre.

Spreading out what should have been a gradual reduction in the price of petrol in the last 6 months, the average customer should have spent N10 less on a litre of petrol in the last six months.

Now here is how the government has been stealing from the pockets of Nigerians. If an average car takes 45.42 litres and you fill your tank twice a week, that's about 91 liters a week. In a month that is 364 litres. If you buy 364 litres of petrol in a month, in 6 months that is 2184 litres. That alone means that Diezani Alison Madueke owes you N21,840.00 refund.

If you spend the same amount on fuel for a generator, i.e. 364 a month, Diezani Madueke owes you another N21,840.00. Put together, an average consumer of petrol in Nigeria has spent a total of N43,680.00 in excess. By the time you add expenditure on gas or kerosene, the total amount that Diezani Madueke owes an average Nigerian will be N50,000.00.

That's exactly what they owe you.

So since October 2014, the government has been stealing from the pockets of all Nigerians who buy petroleum products. Instead of thanking Mrs. Diezani Madueke for the N10 price reduction, Nigerians should demand for N50,000.00 they paid in excess and also insist that the price be dropped to N67 a litre.

This is necessary because when crude oil price recovers, the government will not blink before they jack up the price of petrol. This time, if they have no reelection to face, they may go for their dream price: N141 a litre.

For those who may be tempted to sympathize with the government, the fraud in the oil sector and in the management of that resource is tremendous.

With subsidy removed partially on January 16, 2012, the government realized not the full N1.134 trillion a year it had wanted but more like half of the amount, which would be about N600 billion in 2012. The same would be true for 2013 and 2014, which will bring the total amount that Nigerians paid into the pocket of the government at N600 bn x 3 = N1.8 trillion.

At the same time, the government was constantly budgeting for subsidy to make up the short fall from the partial removal of subsidy. In 2012, the government budgeted N888 billion for that. So the subsidy gap was fully accounted for.

Also, crude oil benchmark used in Nigeria’s budget 2012 was set low at $75 a barrel when the average price of Brent for 2012 was $109.45. In 2013, the benchmark for the budget was $78.00 a barrel when the average price was $105.87 a barrel. In 2014, the benchmark was $77.00 a barrel while the average for Brent crude oil was $99.50. The difference, for a country that produces 2.4 million barrels of oil a day, was in billions of dollars that went into the excess crude account.

That money, as we now know, has been depleted.

Remember that during the subsidy debate some of the sweet talking points of the likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Diezani Alison Madueke and Lamido Sanusi were that by the end of 2014, Nigeria would not be importing petroleum products because by then we would have repaired our refineries and new ones would be coming into production. They also argued that the pain would be temporary and that after the pain the benefits would overwhelm Nigerians. They promised urban buses, monthly publication of the amount of money saved, maintenance of the Port Harcourt refinery, construction of eight major roads, two bridges, modern railways etc.

As of today the situation with petroleum production is even worse than it was in 2011. Kaduna and Warri refineries for instance were idle in September of 2014.

Don’t even ask the minister of finance and the coordinating minister of the economy questions. Questions like, how much did the government realize in subsidy removal in the last three years? Where did the estimated N1.8 trillion go? SURE-P? When did the subsidy disappear? When did she stop paying subsidy? How much is Nigeria saving a month since the subsidy disappeared? And where does it go? For our N1.8 trillion, where are the promised urban buses, eight major roads, two bridges and modern railways?

She can point at the ubiquitous SURE-P and a map of a bridge yet to come because they have put in only N10 billion out of the N130 needed, but where is the monthly publication of the money saved from oil subsidy since January 1, 2012?

The government of Goodluck Jonathan is allergic to transparency. That’s why it will not release the $20 billion missing NNPC audit report. The good thing is that any Nigerian who has bought a petroleum product in the last 6 months does not need an audit report to demand a refund from this government.


http://saharareporters.com/2015/01/21/mrs-diezani-alison-madueke-owes-you-n5000000-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo

Jonathan has admitted failure in Niger Delta – Amaechi
Posted by: Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin in News Update 23 hours ago

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, said on Thursday in Benin City, Edo State that President Goodluck Jonathan admitted in Port Harcourt on Wednesday that he has failed the people of South- south for not impacting meaningfully in the region.
Amaechi said with the self confessions of failure by the President, the people of South-south should not waste their votes on him come February 14.
He said,”My people, President Goodluck Jonathan came to Rivers State on Wednesday and admitted that, he (Jonathan) has failed in his responsibility to the people of the region. Is that not enough to tell him to go home and rest? After six years, there is nothing to show our people that this what our President Goodluck Jonathan has done for us, haba.
“This our brother President Goodluck Jonathan is telling our Rivers State people that I will do this, I will do that and after six years. Haba!
“For me and my brother Adams Oshiomhole, what we tell our people is what we have done, not I will do.”

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/jonathan-admitted-failure-amaechi/