₦airaland Forum

Tinubu Media office
April 21, 2015


Our attention has been drawn to the recently advertised letter by Mr. Buruji Kashamu to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in which he described Tinubu in superlative terms and as his role model. Kashamu needs to stop this cynical fawning. It will not work.

The days of false adulation are gone in Nigerian politics. Fake praise singers like kashamu will find that their particular craft is no longer in vogue. During this election cycle, their practice has dramatically turned from the way things are to how things used to be.

Henceforth, there will be consequences for the positions a politician takes and the words they utter.

Politcians will no longer be able to change direction and loyalties as if they were changing clothes. Those in politics must know that responsibility and accountability shall now follow them. One can no longer walk both sides of the street at the same time. In case Kashamu has not noticed, the politics of principle defeated the politics of posturing.

That Kashumu undermined the democratic process by buying his victory does not mean he is part of the new Nigeria. He is merely an isolated vestige of a dying past. The man is an extinct species the realization of which will soon dawn on him.

For him to liken himself to Bola Tinubu is for a small rut to call itself a mountain. For Kashamu to call Tinubu a role model is kashamu ‘s admission that he does not know the meaning of the term. There are no grounds for comparison. There is only contrast. Tinubu has sacrificed years trying to bring democracy to Nigeria. He struggled in opposition to the powers that be. Without this, at times, lonesome fight and singular determination, the great change in Nigerian politics would not have happened as it did. TInubu is an architect of democracy. Kashamu is a failed demolisher of that which Tinubu has strived to build. Under Kashamu’s designs, our elections would be a wholly mercantile undertaking.

Meanwhile, Kashamu has blown wherever the prevailing winds took him. He stood for nothing and sacrificed nothing except the people's welfare.

This same Kashamu rained insults on former President Obasanjo in a vicious campaign of calumny. Kashamu’s party, PDP sponsored defamatory documentaries full of lies and innuendos against me, General Muhammadu Buhari and other leaders of APC. Please keep your peace until you make your trip to the USA as a Senator elect. Upon your return we can then have a conversation. We can then proceed with your repudiation of the PDP with a promise that you will stop corrupting and fouling the political system.

That Kashamu would deign to compare himself with Tinubu is a distasteful insult to Tinubu and to anyone who knows Nigerian politics. If he has any sense of propriety, Kashamu should retract the corrupt missive and apologize for this latest lie to the public.

Kashamu in a factory of incoherent mischief aimed at achieving selfish goals. Before the election, Tinubu was his archenemy. Now he seeks to be the prodigal son returned hone. This scam will fail.

Kashamu may be prodigal but he is no political son of Tinubu. Kashamu's political lineage tracks to people like Bode George and President Jonathan. He should direct his encomiums to these men who are his true role models. They need his contrived affections more than Tinubu does.
Signed-Sunday Dare/Media Adviser to Tinubu

Kashamu is knocking on the wrong door at the wrong house at the wrong time.

Tinubu is a patriotic, law abiding NIgerian whose achievements make him world-renowned. He is also global citizen who travels freely to the USA, UK, and other nations. He associates with individuals who seek the democracy and good governance for all. He does not spend time with characters whose values are at variance with societal expectations and laws governing a decent society.
Everyone should disregard Kasahmu's foray of mercenary and vain praise. It was but the futile attempt of one of our nation's chief villains to look into the mirror and imagine himself as one of the nation's heroes. On top of being bad, it seems Kashamu has also gone convoluted in thinking.

In 1999, Asiwaju Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu had an enviable political track record before he was voted in as Governor by Lagosians and other residents. Later in 2003, he was voted to continue which is a buildup of his achievements between 1999 & 2003.
In 2007, Babatunde Raji Fashola was not just a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Chief of Staff to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu but an excellent thinker with enviable experiences in the public sector. This fast tracked his popularity and eventually aided his victory to become Lagos State Governor thru the poll. His mind blowing deliverables between 2007 & 2011earned him a reelection.
The contributions of the duo mentioned in the above paragraph towards building the cosmopolitan city we call Lagos, can neither be undersized nor can it be over emphasized. The former drew the architectural design and laid the strong foundation needed to build on, while the later has successfully built a growing cosmopolitan city on the foundation laid by his predecessor.
Now, should Lagosians choose a 'pharmacist with no experience in public service' over a globally 'certified chattered accountant with 27years of excellent public service to Lagos and a man who was consistently active in the entire metamorphosis of our present beloved Lagos'?
We have worked really hard in the past 16years to position Lagos State as a model to other States. Let's continue, let'd consolidate on our successes.
On 11 April, 2015, Vote our consolidator, Vote Akinwunmi Ambode for Governor.
@KazeemDiary

On 8 December, 2014 Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, an aspirant of the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial primaries, publicly described the conduct of the election where he polled 343 votes to emerge runners up in the ill-tempered primaries against Jimi Agbaje who won with 432 votes as a “complete sham” and vowed to seek redress in a competent court of law.

We still can’t comprehend how accredited delegates of 806 as announced by the committee rose to 867 at the end of sorting the casted votes. This led aggrieved aspirants of the PDP gubernatorial primaries rule that it was a predetermined scheme by Chief Bode George and Mr. Jimi Agbaje and should be contested.
Bode George, a party chieftain and key supporter of Mr. Jimi Agbaje, blamed Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro of using his thugs to unleash mayhem and intimidate delegates. The blame was later replicated by Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro and other aggrieved aspirants.
The above led to an affidavit which Sen. Obanikoro filed before a Federal High Court in Abuja in support of his suit, the former minister said he saw the police recover five guns and rounds of ammunition as well as live cartridges from the thugs brought by Chief Olabode George and Mr Jimi Agbaje, a co-aspirant during the party primary.
The process is completely tainted and going forward with that will lead to an outcome that will not be beneficial to the party. His final submission was that as far as he is concerned, there is no fair election result and the election should be cancelled. The leadership of the PDP ignored his concerns and proceeded with campaigns for the controversial winner.
Earlier, as counting of votes was going on, one of the aspirants, Babatunde Gbadamosi, kept shouting “fraud, fraud, shameless fraud” but the conspirators gave a deaf ear, following their determination to ensure that their preferred candidate emerge victorious by the end of the election. Mr. Gbadamosi made a position that the election was “concluded” before it even started, as there was intimidation; tear gassing of delegates from start to finish.
In the light of the fraud that enveloped the ill-treated PDP gubernatorial primaries, the head of the election committee said elections had taken place and the votes must be counted, then the issues can be discussed later.
At this juncture, it is imperative for Lagosians to note that a product of an electoral fraud can never be trusted with the leadership of our beloved State. The allegiances of a failed process will always be with in submission to the master minders. Lagosians must be reminded that the conspirators of Mr. Jimi Agbaje are people of questionable character and should not be allowed to take over the leadership of our beloved Stated. We have worked tirelessly to make Lagos a growing cosmopolitan city for almost 16 years, it’s important that we continue this process at the interest of us all.
Come 11 April, 2015, let’s converge at our respective polling units and cast our votes for the continuity of the APC strategic plan for Lagos. Vote Akinwunmi Ambode for continuity and consolidation.

Joint UK and US statement on the Nigerian
elections
From:Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Philip
Hammond First published:30 March 2015Part of:Foreign
affairs, Nigeria, USA and United Kingdom
Foreign Secretary and US Secretary of State joint statement
on the Nigerian elections.
placeholder
Our governments welcome the largely peaceful vote on 28
March. The Nigerian people have shown a commendable
determination to register their vote and choose their
leaders.
So far, we have seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of
the process. But there are disturbing indications that the
collation process - where the votes are finally counted -
may be subject to deliberate political interference. This
would contravene the letter and spirit of the Abuja Accord,
to which both major parties committed themselves.
The Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom
would be very concerned by any attempts to undermine the
independence of the Electoral Commission (INEC), or its
Chairman, Prof Jega; or in any way distort the expressed
will of the Nigerian people.
Further Information
Follow the Foreign Office on Twitter @foreignoffice
Follow the Foreign Office on Facebook and Google+
Media enquiries
Email
newsdesk@fco.gov.uk
News Desk
020 7008 3100
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Published:
30 March 2015
From:
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
The Rt Hon Philip Hammond
Part of:
Nigeria
USA
United Kingdom
Sent
from my Samsung Galaxy
smartphone.

1.PDP plans to announce the results and declare that Jonathan has won. This will be followed quickly by already planned victory rallies across designated places in the country.

2. PDP plans to compromise the card reader process. They plan to jam as many card readers as possible in order to force the resort to manual process.Manual voting which can be easily manipulated. They intend to do this in areas where APC is strongest.PDP is desperately trying to side step the card reader.

3.PDP plans to use Supervisors and Presiding Officers to perpetrate these tricks. Fake serialized Results sheets about 10 copies have been procured.

4.PDP plans to deploy more security to areas where they are weak. They are willinhg to fill fake results sheets where they are weak


5.PDP Plans is to deliberately make the card reader not to work well in the areas wjere PDP is weak. This will make the presiding officers use manual forms that will be filled as evidence of accreditation.

6. where PDP is strong, the machine will function well and even those who are not owners of PVCs will be allowed to use them.

BREAKING NEWS - Rivers REC, Mrs. Gesila Khan Hands Over The Original Copies Of The Yet to be held Presidential Election INEC Result Sheet To Chief Nyesome Wike

Reports reaching us indicates that the Rivers REC Mrs. Gesila Khan have few hours ago handed over the original copies of the INEC result for tomorrow's election to Chief Nyesome Wike the PDP guber candidate at an undisclosed location in Port Harcout.S

ON THIS DAY, VOTE FOR OUR DEMOCRACY
-Bola Tinubu calls on Nigerians to perform their patriotic duty by voting.
-Calls on the Military not to depart from the fine tradition of allegiance to the country and not an individual
-Salutes former Heads of State, Abdulsalami, Babangida, Shagari for guiding this process to the day of elections
-Do not be afraid, he counters Voters.

Democracy extends itself to our nation. This time, on this day, let us fully embrace it. What we do today shall decide whether we secure our democracy or mock it. We must not waste the precious chance. When the history of our nation is told, let it be said it was this election that allowed the nation to make its great turn onto the path of full democracy and good governance.

In this vein, we must applaud many of our former leaders. During this tense time, they have demonstrated impartial statesmanship and a keen understanding of what lies at stake. Former Head of State Abdulsalaam has demonstrated upmost patriotism throughout this electoral season. His work in forging the second Peace Accord on March 26 between General BuharI and President Jonathan is an example of his fine contribution. Likewise, former Heads of State Babangida and Obasanjo and other leading figures have make courageous, impartial statements calling for free and fair elections that would forever consecrate the presence of democracy in our beloved land.

We must follow the call of these statesmen. March 28 is supposed to be a great and happy day for Nigeria. The right to vote, to express your opinion and select the leaders of your choice are things we must cherish and not fear. Be not afraid of the good thing that has come to us.

For the average man and woman, this is your day. It is your moment to join your voice to the collective chorus of those like you who, together, shall determine the path you want this nation to go and the person you would have lead us. When you go to the polling booth, vote your conscience, vote your heart, and vote for your vision of what Nigeria should be. Do not be discouraged by fear of insecurity or violence. These are all rumors generated by those who want to keep you huddled behind closed doors. That way they may prevent you from opening your destiny as you deem fit.

Vote and encourage everyone you know to do cast their vote. Let the chance to determine and redirect your future inspire you to do just that: vote for a better destiny for yourselves and your nation.

To those who will conduct this election, we thank you for accepting this vital task. You are the unsung heroes in our journey to democracy. From the staff at the individual polling unit, to the ward, to the local government, to the state and to the national levels, you have been entrusted as the custodians of the electoral process and of our democracy on this fateful day. We hold the highest hope that you will rightly fulfill the sacred task given you. May you carry out your duties in a fair and impartial manner. Every valid vote tendered must count and every ill attempt to distort the process or rig the vote shall be stopped and not allowed to stand.

The police have the duty to provide security on this day. This is an essential task. Please do your best to ensure everyone polling booth is secure and peaceful. Create an atmosphere of liberty and peace so that all who are eligible to vote feel free to do so without intimidation or retribution.

There has been much said about the position of the army and other security agencies in this process. The final word must be that of the constitution and Electoral Act. Our laws state the army shall have no role in providing electoral security. Any attempt to inject the military into the process is an illegality undermining the fairness of the elections.

Our army has a fine tradition. Its primary mandate is to protect the nation from foreign threats and, more recently, to defeat a terrible and violent domestic menace in Boko Haram. However, the army has no role in policing the electoral process. It is ill suited for that mission. Such an assignment would place it in disrepute.

We ask that the army -- from the esteemed General staff to the most recent enlisted recruit -- to obey the law and resultant court orders. Obey the oath you swore to uphold the constitution. Do not allow anyone to give you an order or otherwise entice you to break the law by improperly interfering in this election. Honor the law, honor your institution and honor the nation. If you do so, history and even Honor itself will vindicate you in the eyes of your fellow citizens.

We have come to the intersection of destiny and fate. We dare not renege on our sweetest promises to ourselves to do our utmost to forge a better nation grounded in the tenets of democratic fair play and justice for all. We dare not walk back into the dark night when the light of a new day casts its first beam at our feet.
-Bola Tinubu

TINUBU MEDIA OFFICE

LAGOS -NIGERIA

PRESS RELEASE

The Federal High Court in Lagos today granted an interim injunction restraining the Chief of Army Staff, his privies, agents and servants from arresting, detaining, harrasing or intimidating Bola Ahmed Tinubu pending the determination of the motion on notice.

Bola Tinubu had approached the court on March 25th through his lawyer, Femi Falana seeking the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
In the restraining order granted by Presiding Judge, J.T. Tsoho, the interim injunction also barred the Chief of Army Staff or his privies, agents and servants from further laying siege on the home of Bola Tinubu situated at number 26, Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi. Furthermore, the military or its agents are restrained from preventing him from participating in the 2015 general elections.

The determination of the motion on notice in the matter between Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Chief of Army Staff was moved to March 31st. In the past 2 weeks, news of the planned arrest of Tinubu had circulated in the media. Despite denials by the government, no one believes them.
711E7EB3-6D53-40AF-B854-8E5A20D0D081

COMMITTEE FOR THE PROTECTION OF PEOPLES MANDATE (CPPM)

10, Afolabi Lesi Street, Ilupeju, Lagos

Telephone: 08023172694, 07033853232

Email: cppmandate@gmail.com

26/03/2015.

STATE OF THE NATION



No to Militarization of the 2015 General Elections



Being the text of a World Press Conference addressed by the Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) as a prelude to the 2015 General Elections of Saturday March 28th and Saturday April 11th 2015 in Lagos.



Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, Compatriots and Esteemed guests, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this august occasion meant to examine some disturbing developments which have to be put in proper perspective in order to understand the impediments to the conduct of a free, fair, transparent and credible 2015 General Elections in about 48 hours from now.



It is an indisputable fact that democracy as system of government is anchored on the principle of strict observance of the rule of law in the conduct of affairs between the government and the governed. Therefore, it is with this perspective in mind that we want to address threats to the peaceful and orderly conduct of a credible 2015 general elections.

· No to Militarization of the democratic space before, during and after the elections

We have watched with deep concern the recent irresponsible, unconstitutional, provocative, inciting and undemocratic movement of military personnel and hardware across states in the country solely as a show of force meant to intimidate voters ahead of the election, which is a negation of the principle of democracy which emphasizes that voters must not be intimidated or induced in exercising their franchise fairly and freely in a transparent and credible exercise. One would naturally expect a responsible government and military to be fully mobilized and concentrated on the ongoing war against insurgency in the North East based on the fact, that this was the lie of an excuse used to arm twist and blackmail INEC treasonably to reschedule elections by the service chiefs. We regard this unlawful and intimidating tactics by the federal government through open display of military show of force in peace zones and on the eve of the 2015 general elections as the height of irresponsibility and an assault on the democratic rights of Nigerians which must be condemned. Therefore, we want it placed on notice that President Goodluck Jonathan as the commander in chief of the armed forces should be held responsible for this provocation and unwarranted assault on the democratic rights of Nigerians which is totally unacceptable.

· No to Deployment of Military for 2015 General elections

We remain steadfast and resolute in obeisance to the constitution and with the Nigerian people in insisting that the rule of law and the constitution must be obeyed with regards to the deployment of the military for security duties on Election Day. The 1999 constitution is very much explicit and unambiguous is stating that the military is constitutionally responsible for the protection of our territorial integrity and this much was only recently emphasized by the Court of Appeal which ruled that it is unconstitutional to deploy the military for election duties which is a purely civil matter. Therefore, it is our fervent admonition that President Jonathan will depart from his culture of lawlessness and impunity to obey the constitution despite facts on the ground pointing to the contrary.

· Conduct of Security Agents Deployed for Electoral Duties

We call on the Inspector General of Police and the heads of security agencies to ensure the deployment of only well trained, civil and vigilant personnel who must be alert to their constitutional responsibility of maintaining safety, law and order at the polls. We demand that all security personnel to be deployed for the polls are well kitted in their official uniform with name tags for proper identification. We must warn that it is unconstitutional and a violation of the Electoral Act for security personnel with firearms and no means of identification to be found at the polling units, collation centres and other designated points.

· Conduct of the Electorate

We call on the electorates to troop out enmasse on Election Day in a peaceful and orderly manner with their legitimate Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to accredit, vote and remain at the polling units for votes to be counted and results publicly announced by the polling officer. At the end of the accreditation exercise, voters must ensure that the numbers of accredited voters are publicly announced before election commences in order to curb electoral irregularities. The electorates are hereby enjoined to perform their civic responsibility with an eye on history by voting for candidates of their choice in an atmosphere devoid of intimidation and without ethnic, religious and other primordial sentiments. The electorate must realize that the security and sanctity of this election is a collective responsibility, therefore, they must be security conscious to complement the roles of the security agencies by remaining at the polling units and other designated election points from the beginning till after the conclusion of the exercise.

· Conduct of INEC

The Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM) wholeheartedly commends INEC for its tireless and innovative efforts in enhancing the credibility of the democratic system through the introduction of PVC and E-card reader despite the challenges and campaign of calumny against its leadership by anti democratic elements. We are happy to note that despite all the hiccups, INEC has been able to achieve 82% PVC distribution nationwide which in any exercise is an excellent mark and deserves commendation. As we go to the polls on Saturday March 28th, 2015 in the first phase of the general elections, we want to admonish INEC to ensure that its personnel and materials are adequately and timely deployed to polling units across the country for a free, fair, transparent and credible exercise. We equally want to counsel that INEC must ensure that all election results are publicly announced at the polling units before onward transfer to the wards, local governments and states collation centres.

· Political parties and Candidates

We want to enjoin the political parties and their candidates to play the game by the rules and shun all forms of violence by educating and sensitizing their supporters on the need for peaceful conduct during and after the polls in the larger interest of our democracy and country. They must encourage their supporters to conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner at the polls by obeying the provisions of the electoral act to the letter and refrain from any act of electoral malpractice and brigandage. The parties agents must also be admonished on the need for civil conduct and not be overzealous to cause crisis at the polling units. Elections will come and go, but Nigeria will remain.

· Threats of Violence

We condemn in strong terms, threats of violence and violence unleashed on innocent Nigerians by political thugs and miscreants in the build up to the 2015 general elections and call on the security agencies to rise up to their constitutional responsibility of protecting life and property. We equally condemn the acts of criminality and brigandage unleashed on hapless Lagosians on March 16th, 2015 by an outlaw group, OPC with the funding and support of the Federal government through the award of oil pipeline protection contract and call on the security agencies to immediately place this group and other outlaw organizations under surveillance in order to prevent a breakdown of law and order before, during and after the elections.



Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished patriots, the signs are ominous of the untiring but bound to fail efforts of anti democratic elements and agents of darkness to truncate our democracy by compromising the 2015 general elections, but as we begin the countdown to the D-day, it behooves on us all as stakeholders to be extra vigilant because the walk to freedom is a long walk and we must play our patriotic part of owning the process through strict monitoring, sensitization and dissemination of information at every step of the journey.



However, we must publicly admonish the Nigerian people to be on red alert to legitimately resist any attempt by anti democratic elements and agents of evil to truncate our democracy through the installation of an unconstitutional and illegal interim government or the execution of a coup d’état as being planned. Anything short of the installation on May 29th 2015 of a democratically elected government by the Nigerian people via the exercise of their franchise on March 28th and April 11th 2015 will be met with stiff resistance as expressed in the people’s power.



Like we say, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty because as we make our bed, so shall we lie on it and here is wishing Nigerians, a peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible 2015 General Elections.



Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.



Long live Democracy.



Thanks.



Yours Sincerely,



Signed,



Nelson Ekujumi

Executive Chairman

: Alh Sani Musa, the owner of ACT Technologies, the company that supplied the cards and the readers (via LC's opened with the bank) has been in DSSS custody since yesterday in a bid to obtain the codes of the card readers. He is under toucher to confess that he has given tinubu the code. So that they can rope tinubu and stop the card reader. Inec was contacted by Sss and were told that the man only provided them with machines not even the software..

Following the recent appearances of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country, the government of President Jonathan as characteristics of it as a government of blame game and buck passing has once again blamed fuel marketers for the shortages and fuel queues, accusing them of sabotage.

My people, what manner of a government is this that on every public issue that requires proactive attention if the government were responsible, she blames everybody but itself.

On Boko Haram, she blamed the opposition,
On oil theft, it was vandals,
On erratic power supply, it was saboteurs, etc.

One can go on and on, but the truth of the matter is that this government is always economical with the truth and irresponsible. The reason for the scarcity is that fuel marketers have reduced importation because of the high interest rates for loans to import fuel which is not paid on time and the terribly falling rate of the naira which has killed businesses and makes importation of fuel very unattractive.

The earlier we vote out this buck passing government come March 28th 2015, the better for our country and economy which is comatose.

Nelson Ekujumi

SPEECH DELIVERED BY ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU AT THE 7TH ANNUAL BOLA TINUBU COLLOQUIUM, HELD AT EKO HOTEL, LAGOS, NIGERIA, MARCH 25, 2015


We have reached point where we must make a point. History beckons. We must answer it well or not all. To respond wisely is to open ourselves to a better future.

Elections are set for March 28. They will determine the fate of the nation for years to come. There can be no more fence-sitting because that fence has been torn down by the vast disparity between our current reality and our desired future.

We have a decision to make. We must decide whether wisdom is better than cunning, if bravery is sounder than bribe, if compassion speaks more than corruption, if patriotism is a more worthy vocation than pillage and if love of the nation and its people can overcome the love of power and stolen privilege.

These fundamental questions will be asked of us this Saturday at the polls. Do not try to avoid them. This is the time to believe in something more profound and nobler than the governance we now see.

This is the time to have faith in yourselves and your fellow Nigerians that we can actually realize our hope for change.

Let us believe that we can call forth a better destiny. A new day must stand and the bleak night of injustice must fade into the recesses of the past.

I am filled with the expectation of a more just and rightful future. My conviction has always been this day would come.

Almost a year ago, last April, we held the final Action Congress of Nigeria convention. At that convention, we decided to merge into the APC. At that convention, I told you:

“History is upon us, asking something bold. Those who hear must respond to its call because history is impatient when it has set itself in motion. If we tarry, history will not. If we fail to act as the situation requires, history will still move forward and post its unanswerable verdict against us.

A storm is brewing. Be not afraid. It is a positive storm carried by a positive wind. Those things that have no roots and offer no solution to the plight of the people shall be swept away. This storm shall change the political terrain forever. I am not afraid of this storm. In fact, I welcome it because this storm is us.”

At that time, I said that the convention must be the ACN 's final one. It was. At that time, I said we must join the APC not for ourselves but for the good of Nigeria. We did and were right to do so.

For today, we approach the eve of a moment where, if allowed the freedom to express their sovereign will, the people will cast off the yoke of misgovernance. They will vote for a change that will usher in a new day for a new Nigeria - right before our very eyes.

I already see it. If you have compassion for this nation that gave birth to you, you surely see it too.

Not all Nigerians want a change for the collective good. A powerful, small few benefit from the unjust ways of today.

They profit so much from present inequities. Hence, they view as a personal curse the change most of us would count as a national blessing.

They scoffed at the formation of the APC. They said it would never come to pass. They were wrong. Then dread came upon them. They tried to defraud the public by forming other parties with similar names. They only fooled themselves. We continue building our democratic edifice on a solid foundation of fairness, transparency and merit.

They attacked General Buhari, saying he would not subject himself to a primary. He did and won it as our party held the most open and transparently honest convention ever held in Nigeria.

They said I connived and conspired my way into the VP seat. They lied so easily that it was the price I extracted from General Buhari to support his bid. If not, I would destroy the party on the altar of my ambitions.

They were wrong. I pulled myself out of contention. The very brilliant and capable professor Yemi Osinbajo became our VP candidate. A man of integrity and impeccable character.

Alas, this sent Jonathan’s henchmen into disarray. In the quiet of their private closet, even they could see clearly enough through the darkness of their own hearts to recognize that our ticket was so much better than theirs.

They could see that our progressive vision for the nation was so much better than their blind one.

They also could see what they did not want to see and dared not admit: That whatever good they might have done had a long ago vanished.

They hold office yet have abandoned governance. They hold power but have no good idea about the use of it. They lost over 200 of our daughters to Boko Haram. They lost part of our territory also. While they lay a heavy hand on the opposition the Chibok girls remain lost and Boko Haram continues to terrorize our people.

They are lost because they are blind and blind because they have already lost. Instead of allowing the nation to choose a leadership that would rescue them and us all, they would rather that all become as lost as they are.

Thus, on the eve of elections last month February, they postponed the exercise. They claimed security as their excuse.
We know better. For Jonathan, an election held on February 14 would have been an election lost.

He would have made history he did not intend: Our first incumbent president defeated in an election. He would join the club of wealthy leaders who left no legacy for their people.

I say here and now that the postponement merely gave him a six-week stay of electoral defeat. That is all he accomplished.

During the six week interval, his cohorts had hoped to turn public opinion his way. But the way they have acted, should only sour the people all the more. He has exposed himself as a man who would rather wreck democracy than to live by it.

He is like the shoeless boy given a complex toy. The more he plays with it, the less he understands the precious thing.

In his desperate drive to hold to power, there is not one national institution Jonathan has left unmolested or untarnished.

To save his post, Jonathan and his team would eagerly corrupt every national institution within reach. Everything is for sale and nothing is left sacred.

Although the nation suffers an economic downswing that will require astute policy to overcome, Jonathan has raided the national coffers as if money were as plentiful as sand. There is no dollar in this nation that his hand has not tried to grab. No naira that his underlings have not tried to pinch.

Their tactic is one of the most cynical that can be done by a leader to his people. They have decided to squeeze and starve the economy dry. With people desperate for money, they let go a droplet here, a droplet there.

So relieved shall you be of your fear of poverty, that you will think they favoured you by returning a small portion of what they took. The man steals your home that you may act grateful when he returns to you a door knob and a broken window.

That is their game. It is a dark, ancient deception in use since the first moment that man began to oppress his fellow man.


They have thrown money at Christian and Muslim clerics, attempting to buy two great faiths as if they were two cheap commodities. As such, they have attempted to turn our houses of worship into open dens of corruption.

They have dangled money in the face of our traditional fathers believing their conscience is for sale. Many have been brave enough to cohere to the nobility of their office more than worry about the expansion of their bank accounts.

They have corrupted some civil society groups and organizations to engage in violent protest against the electoral process and the use of the card readers. They oppose the card reading machine because the instruments foil their customary avenues of vote rigging.

Jonathan‘s team has already read the writing on the wall should these machines be used. They would be handed a defeat so resounding that they would begin to fight among themselves believing that each betrayed the other.

The reality is that they all have betrayed the nation and now it is time that the electorate merely pays them back in kind.

Thus, they will fight the use of the card reader to the last minute.

As in the Ekiti election, they have also tried to influence and corrupt the security agencies that they may do their bidding.

Credible reports show they are ready to arrest APC leaders.

No one wants to be arrested but neither am I afraid. The threat of arrest will not silence me. I cannot keep silent when I see those who are supposed to lead the nation trying to purchase it on the cheap. The people’s exclusive right to elect the leaders of their own choosing cannot be negotiated away.

You may arrest me and others but you cannot arrest an idea whose time has come.
The time for a common sense revolution has come to Nigeria.
In calling for a commonsense revolution, I do not advocate violence. I abhor it. That is not the type of revolution we seek,

This revolution is strong but peaceful. It is a revolution to use our votes to throw out ineffective leaders. It is a demand for a true electoral democracy and the responsive leadership associated with it. It is a revolution to rescue us from violence, injustice and poverty.

This revolution is not a violent one to tear things down. It is a positive one to rescue, repair and restructure the nation and its institutions in ways that further collective prosperity and well-being.

The only violence that is to be done is to violence, injustice and poverty themselves.

At its essence, a common sense revolution is a call to return to a level of decency in the relationship between government and the governed, between each one of us and his neighbour.

This implies that the society in which we live is a far distance from the society that should exist. A revolution in mind, spirit and action is needed to close this gap between what is today and what ought to be.

Commonsense Revolution speaks to the need to elect patriotic leaders that can give hope to our best aspirations as a nation and people. It speaks to how we must elect thinkers and doers to work together to bring about a beautiful revival of the national spirit and the good fortune of the people.

It takes us to a place where luck, good or otherwise, is insufficient. We must move forward with conviction, courage and creativity to mould a better nation out of the clay we now hold in our hands.

We must bring forth relief to the hard-pressed among us. For example, we have to finally end the sad chapter that Boko Haram has written in our history.

We must fight them boldly yet wisely. We must rebuild the afflicted area in a way that extremism may never take root again. If this requires revamping our fighting forces, so be it. A few “BuhariBattalions” and “Osinbajo Brigades” will do in months what the whole of Jonathan’s army could not do in six years.

Some say we need a Marshall Plan to rebuild the region. They are correct in approach but mistaken in name. We shall establish a “Buhari/Osinbajo Plan” and it will work.

There is too much poverty in the land. We need a government that will improve the social safety net to help those who, through no fault of their own, cannot help themselves.

Pay the pensioner! Feed the hungry and care for the sickly! And improve the nutritional values of our school children. We will domesticate this economy to bring about recovery.

We must bring recovery to our economy. The austerity this government imposes will visit upon our economy a depression that similar measures brought to Greece.

Our APC Government will use its fiscal and monetary space to jumpstart the economy. Economic history tells us that countercyclical policy is the best remedy to what we face. To the present government, such talk is revolutionary. To me, it is common sense.

Last, we must reform governance. Opaque budgets must be made transparent. NNPC, which today makes more money than we are told and other revenue-making bodies will not maintain two sets of books, one for public consumption and a secret one to show where the money really went. 20 billion dollars -- enough to fund government for a year – shall no longer disappear as if by magic!

Briefly, these are the tenets of a common sense revolution. We need this bold approach because too much has gone wrong for too long.

You can help co-author this return to decency by voting wisely on March 28.

We fight no one and hate no one. We are all Nigerians. However, some things we do to each other must stop. We are better than how we seem and how the nation now performs. We must commit ourselves to our better nature that we may enjoy a better nation. This does not require any special genius. All it requires is the common sense to recognize we share a common fate and destiny. In your hands and actions lies so much of my future and in my hands, lies much of yours.
Now is the appointed time to rise up and work together to build a new country. A new day for a better Nigeria is possible.

I thank you all for listening.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
March 25th, 2015

JONATHAN’S GAME OF DECEPTION. HIRES OPENLY GAY RICHARRD GRENELL AS ATTACK DOG

Who is Richard Grenell? According to Wikepedia, Richard Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American media commentator and former diplomat. He is the longest serving U.S. Spokesman at the United Nations and briefly served as national security spokesman for Mitt Romney in his 2012 campaign for president of the United States. HE BECAME THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SPOKESMAN FOR A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, after being hired by Mitt Romney. He resigned after pressure from social conservatives and gay liberals alike.

The PDP that has accused Buhari of going abroad to say he will repeal the anti-gay law has now hired a gay consultant to attack Buhari. So Jonathan has set another record, HE IS THE FIRST NIGERIAN PRESIDENT TO HIRE A GAY CONSULTANT to promote his campaign.

Richard Grenell lives in California with his partner of nine years, Matthew Lashey, a media and entertainment company executive. This gay man "married" to another man is the PDP consultant telling NIGERIANS not to vote Buhari because he is pro-sharia. I dey laff o!!

Having hired a gay man, we await the lesbian adviser of President Jonathan! For all we care they can hire Lucifer to threaten fire and brimstone against NIGERIANS. We will still vote Buhari. PDP and Jonathan have lost this battle. Sai Buhari/Osinbajo.
Ex American Envoy Richard Grenell has said electing Buhari as President of Nigeria will be a disaster for Africa because of Buhari's sharia credentials according to him.
The PDP press has been agog with this news since it came out on March 19.
In their desperation to discredit Buhari, Jonathan and PDP will go to any depth to use even the lowliest of persons to attempt to achieve their objective.

JONATHAN’S GAME OF DECEPTION. HIRES OPENLY GAY RICHARRD GRENELL AS ATTACK DOG

Who is Richard Grenell? According to Wikepedia, Richard Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American media commentator and former diplomat. He is the longest serving U.S. Spokesman at the United Nations and briefly served as national security spokesman for Mitt Romney in his 2012 campaign for president of the United States. HE BECAME THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SPOKESMAN FOR A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, after being hired by Mitt Romney. He resigned after pressure from social conservatives and gay liberals alike.

The PDP that has accused Buhari of going abroad to say he will repeal the anti-gay law has now hired a gay consultant to attack Buhari. So Jonathan has set another record, HE IS THE FIRST NIGERIAN PRESIDENT TO HIRE A GAY CONSULTANT to promote his campaign.

Richard Grenell lives in California with his partner of nine years, Matthew Lashey, a media and entertainment company executive. This gay man "married" to another man is the PDP consultant telling NIGERIANS not to vote Buhari because he is pro-sharia. I dey laff o!!

Having hired a gay man, we await the lesbian adviser of President Jonathan! For all we care they can hire Lucifer to threaten fire and brimstone against NIGERIANS. We will still vote Buhari. PDP and Jonathan have lost this battle. Sai Buhari/Osinbajo.
Ex American Envoy Richard Grenell has said electing Buhari as President of Nigeria will be a disaster for Africa because of Buhari's sharia credentials according to him.
The PDP press has been agog with this news since it came out on March 19.
In their desperation to discredit Buhari, Jonathan and PDP will go to any depth to use even the lowliest of persons to attempt to achieve their objective.

Court bans deployment of soldiers for elections
MARCH 23, 2015 : RAMON OLADIMEJI 96 COMMENTS




A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday declared as unlawful, the deployment of soldiers for maintenance of security and order during elections in the country.

The declaration was made by Justice Ibrahim Buba in a judgment delivered in a suit filed by a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila.

Buba’s pronouncement was the third of such declaring as unconstitutional, the use of soldiers during elections.

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had, on February 16, made a similar pronouncement while ruling on the appeal against the judgment of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which upheld Governor Ayodele Fayose’s victory.

The appellate court had cited and relied on an earlier judgment delivered by Justice R. M. Aikawa of the Federal High Court in Sokoto ‎on January 29, 2015 barring the use of the armed forces in the conduct of elections.

Buba on Monday reiterated that the deployment of soldiers for elections was a contravention of Section 217(2)(c) of the Constitution and section 1 of the Armed Forces Act.

Gbajabiamila, who is the Minority Whip of the House, had asked the court to determine whether the deployment of soldiers for elections in Osun, Ekiti and Anambra States was constitutional.

Joined as respondents in the suit were the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief Of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff , the Chief of Naval Staff and the Attorney General of the Federation.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr. Seni Adio, had submitted that there were allegations and evidences that the soldiers inhibited free movement of the electorate, prevented free access to the polling booths and intimidated voters in Osun, Ekiti and Anambra States where they were deployed for election purposes.

Adio had contended that the Armed Forces Acts, relied upon by the respondents, was subordinate to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He consequently urged the court to declare as unlawful the deployment of soldiers for any election in the country.

In his own submission, however, counsel for the respondents, Dele Adesina (SAN), had argued that the President, being the Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces, was empowered under the Armed Forces Act to deploy military to maintain law and order.

Patience Jonathan: Let the Righteous Beware!
Nigeria is in perilous times & Christians must watch & pray.
“My name is Pastor Kilawu Ashwa from Kogelo village, Siaya County in Kenya. I write with sorrow seeing how the Nigerian brethren have been distracted while the Devil snatches souls of men. Christians cannot be blind & undiscerning because there is a battle over the soul of Nigeria & Nigerians in the spirit realm. Nigerian land is soaked with the blood of innocent people in sadistic & horrific sacrifices for appeasement of the fallen angels in the spirit realm & it is all about political power. It saddens me that some respected men of GOD in Nigeria knows of this & refuse to speak up. Harken now to the voice of GOD, for on the last day all that claimed to work in his name & deceived people, took money from politicians to spread the message of hate & lies amongst Christians & brothers & sisters of other faiths should desist from such. For thus says the LORD, “HIS wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness & unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Romans 1:18.
Christians have become too weak to pray without ceasing & to remember that we battle not against flesh but against evil forces of darkness & principalities in high places. Have any of your ever spared a thought to the wanton killings & bloodshed in your country since 2010? Do you ever care to wonder why siblings & relatives of Jonathan keeps dying each year despite the endless pool of money he has to afford healthcare for them, yet he doesn’t & they die yearly from not too complicated ailments? Do any of you know that in order for the wife of your president to recommend you for political appointment, you must perform certain occultic rituals often involving Blood Sacrifices that no one would ever link you to, but people connected to you or around you die. Once that is done and you swear an oath of allegiance at a flowing water, you instantly become powerful & daring to even people above you.
Do you know that the spiritual reason for the postponement of your elections was because certain high-placed rituals need 42 days to complete its circle? Postponement of your election wasn’t for 6 weeks in order to fight terrorism. Have you cared to ask your President what happened all the 6 years before & then just now he demanded for 6 weeks to arm the military? 6 weeks is 42 days, do you care to ask why 11 women died after seeing Patience Jonathan on 14th February 2015? Forty-two is a number with a direct connection to the Antichrist. His evil efforts will last 42 months in the end time, and thus forty-two is firmly associated with him (Rev.11:1 - 2), (Rev.13:4 - 5) Hidden Devil worshippers know this.
42 is made up of 6 and 7, showing a link between mankind and God's spirit and a link between the Antichrist & Jesus. As much as your President’s wife is a Devil worshipper & making blood sacrifices for attainment of Power for her husband, Nigeria would never know PEACE.
The number 11 in the occult realms signifies destruction and power comes after that happens. It is a Sacred Number in Satanism, examples of these are:
Sept. 11, 2001, the World Trade Centre, March 11, 2011- the Japan Earthquake, & year 2011. The day of the attack: 11, the Date of the Attack, Sept. 11 or 9/11 = 9 + 1 + 1 = 11,
Sept. 11th is the 254th day of the year: 2 + 5 + 4 = 11, of the 2 Flights, Flight 11 had 92 passengers, 9 + 2 = 11, Flight 77 had 65 passengers, 6 + 5 = 11. Twin Towers look like an 11
The rituals of numbers 42 & 11 were initiated by your First Lady. The truth is that she is Callous, you can't imagine a woman who just lost 11 friends calling for stoning of people. It's because more people have to be killed & sacrificed to pagan gods that Mrs. Jonathan worships secretly for the President to retain power. She is a powerful woman and the power behind President Jonathan. Her recent hate speeches were deliberate. She told Nigerians to fight & stone each other over campaigns. That is Bloodshed being called for. GOD save your country. Plz Re:BC

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-He pardoned James Ibori, a man who stole billions of naira and left the Delta state coffers an empty shell.
-He pardoned Alamesiegha, the man who was convicted abroad and had to escape dressed as an ugly woman.
- He pardoned and embraced Buruji Kashamu; a wanted drug baron and made him a party chairman.
-He pardoned Al mustapha; the hench man of Late Sani Abacha to use him in order to achieve some selfish political gains.
-He accepted and embraced Ali Modu Sheriff; a well known boko haram sponsor and gave him the PDP ticket to contest for senate. He failed to prosecute Stella Oduah, the Aviation Minister for the massive sleaze of her ministry's treasury to buy bullet-proof cars. He failed to prosecute Aba Moro; the Interior Minister who suprintended over the death of many graduates in search of immigration jobs and collected a thousand naira from each candidate. He failed to prosecute Diezani Madueke; the Petroleum Minister who has not been able to account for the missing billions of naira that developed wings under her care and was indicted abroad for brazen corruption. He failed to prosecute the man who stole billions of pension funds meant for those who have deligently served their father-land for 35 years. Aminu Oguche, the man who was extradited, a self-professed master-mind of the Nyanya bomb blast in which so many lives and properties were destroyed; was set free
and to this day, not a single word has been heard from the presidency. He appointed Obanikoro, a known and unrepentant election rigger as a Minister in his cabinet. He appointed Femi Fani Kayode, a man with a money-laundering case on his neck, as his campaign co-ordinator. When Nigeria had a president, Gani Adams was in hiding, Uwazurike was in detention awaiting trial for treason, Asari Dokubo was in detention awaiting trial for treason, Tompolo was in hiding.Now vagabonds are in power the result is what we are witnessing today. Nigerians, these are the kind of people Jonathan loves to work with. Should we continue to leave our yams in the 'care' of goats A president who cannot muster enough strength to confront our greatest problem is not fit to be re-elected! People, pls tell me, is this the kind of person we honestly want as our leader Should our dislike for Buhari make us continue with the mess we are in Haba! CHANGE is natural and
absolutely necessary! Jonathan is a disaster to this country. Behind (Talk Until spmething happens)Sent from Samsung Mobile

PDP, Jonathan's supporters hatch plan to make elections in SW inconclusive - APC

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the supporters of President
Goodluck Jonathan in the South West have hatched a plan to make the
March 28th elections in the geo-political zone inconclusive, having
realized that they cannot deliver the zone to the PDP as they have
promised.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by the All Progressives
Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the
party said the plot was conceived at a meeting held in the Ondo State
Government House on March 13th and attended by Governor Olusegun
Mimiko and the Coordinator of the Jonathan Campaign Tokunbo Modupe.

It said those planning to disrupt the elections are working in cahoots
with the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), and they have trained and armed
a number of youths with guns and other weapons, in addition to
providing many of them with military and police uniforms, which we
earlier said were being sewn in the capital of a state in the South
West.

APC said the highly-disruptive and armed protest by the OPC in Lagos
on March 16th was a dress rehearsal for the plan to be executed across
the states in the South-west.

The party also said the PDP has compiled and forwarded to the Police
Anti-Cult Squad the names of APC youths in all the Wards in Ondo State
so they can be arrested and locked up before, during and after the
elections, to give the PDP and its cohorts the free rein to carry out
their nefarious activities.

''As a matter of fact, funds have been provided to the Police
Anti-Cult Squad to expand its detention facility, and work is going on
at the facility as we write. The reason for these actions is that,
despite the massive infusion of illicit funds to bribe individuals and
groups in the South West, the PDP and its agents in the region have
realized that their strategy has backfired and even given the people
more impetus to vote against the ruling party,'' it said.

APC therefore called on the security agencies, especially the police
and the State Security Service, to shun partisanship in carrying out
their assigned responsibilities to prevent any individual or group
from disrupting the elections, irrespective of their political
leanings.

''Let's be clear: In the event that the security agencies fail to
carry out their duties, we will hold them, as well as those behind the
plot to disrupt the elections, totally responsible for any disruption
in the polls. They will also be held responsible for any act of
violence or intimidation against the opposition,'' the party warned.

It appealed to its members and supporters across the South West to be
calm but vigilant, and to document all actions aimed at harassing and
intimidating them, as well as all acts of violence and all moves to
disrupt the polls in the geo-political zone.

''The forthcoming elections are being closely watched within and
outside Nigeria. In other words, the eyes of the world are on our
country. Therefore, no one who engages in violence, rigging or
intimidation of voters, to scare them away from the polling booths,
will go scot-free, irrespective of his status,'' APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Lagos, March 22nd 2015

PRESS STATEMENT
BY THE VALUE AND INTEGRITY GROUP.
MARCH 20TH, 2015

WE CALL FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF RAYMOND DOKPESI AND THE NEDG
1. NIGERIA ELECTION DEBATE GROUP, NEDG, IS A PARTISAN, PRO-PDP ORGANIZATION RUN BY RAYMOND DOKEPSI.
2. RAYMOND DOKPESI RUNS NIGERIA ELECTION DEBATE GROUP AS A PRIVATE COMPANY.

Contrary to the belief that the Nigeria Election Debate Group, NEDG, was a neutral, independent and non –partisan organization, it has be discovered by be a one man’s show operated on a partisan basis by Raymond Dokpesi owner of AIT (DAAR COMMUNICATIONS).
Documents and Investigations revealed mind bugling facts about how Dokpesi single handedly runs the affairs of the NEDG. Other very suspicious and questionable activities linked to Dokpesi show how one man appropriates the NEDG and uses it as a political bargaining tool for private gains and political advantage.
Incorporated on April 27th, 2011 with an RC number 949139, the NEDG listed six organizations as shareholders each with a representative. The shareholders are Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria represented by Mallam Abubakar Aji, DAAR Communications, represented by Tony Akiotu, Nigeria Union of Journalists, represented by Mohammed Garba, Alliance for Credible Election represented by Emma Ezeazu, Nigeria Guild of Editors and TMG represented by Moshood Erubami.
Unknown to these Directors Dokpesi had turned the NEDG into a private estate put at the service of the President Jonathan and his party members .This is how he did it. First, he opened a first bank account for the NEDG and had himself as the sole signatory, even though he is not one of the Directors. He also used the DAAR communications office address, a personal address as the address listed in the bank account. These two moves effectively turned the NEDG into Dokpesi’s private company. An initial 1 million naira was paid into the NEDG account. Again on March 28th 2011 another 20 million naira was paid into the account. The N20m was paid into his personal current account number 2017171535 because the NEDG account opening was in process then hence he received the N20m in his personal current account instead of NEDG.
A test message from Dokpesi to the banker confirms this. The text message reads- “He sent about N20 million to the account since last week and I utilized about N50 million for the NEDG DEBATE. As soon as the sponsors pay, I will pay in.daar
He also tried to open another First Bank account in 2012. The first bank account was opened by Dokpesi at the Maitama branch of the First Bank in Abuja with account number 2021069251 with Chief Raymond Dokpesi as sole signatory to the account with the help of his aide banker.
The second account which Dokpesi equally instructed the banker to open in the Bwari branch of the First bank is pending to be opened because the banker left. However, before then, Dokpesi infact signed the application forms, attached his passport photos entered his personal details in 2012. The account was yet to be approved before one of the managers handling it was eased out of the bank. Copies of the account opening packages and signature mandate card duely signed down by Dokpesi was discovered in the bankers private files in his office in Maitama with some documents of Dokpesi;s failed attempted fraud . He committed fraud because sum of 100,000 dollars was given to him at the villa and instead of paying to the NEDG account which he fraudulently opened, He asked his accomplice crook banker to pay it into his personal domiciliary account number 2017451925.
Other directors are completely in the dark about the financial transactions of the NDEG.Thus the NEDG has been up for sale for partisan purposes by Dokpesi. But under Jonathan, it seems s to have been purchased.
This of course in total violation of one of the 8 Memo/ Articles of Association for NEDG that stipulates that the NEDG will organize and promote and host independent civil none profit, non-political, non-partisan open debates. Dokpesi’s name does not reflect in the NEDG registration documents from the CAC only that of DAAR representative, Tony Akiotu. But Dokpesi opened the account In his name and went ahead to single handedly organize the 2011 election debate with AIT staff-Amoni Amarere and Nancy Ilo as moderators. Again, he is the one solely organizing the 2015 presidential election debate for the NEDG which has become an appendage of the Jonathan presidency and at the service of the PDP.
The NEDG is clearly in the pocket of Dokpesi. Presented to the unsuspecting public as a non-partisan body, the NEDG is fully partisan in favor of PDP.Dokpesi, a very close friend of Jonathan, once josltling to be chief of staff has put NEDG at the disposal of the ruling party, PDP.It is suspected that for the 2015 debate, he must have received well over 250 million to organize the 2015 presidential debate,. The refusal of Buhari to attend has thrown some spanners in the walks. For his refusal to attend Buhari, APC and its leaders have come under severe attacks on AIT news programming and defamatory documentaries.

BEING TEXT OF PRESS BRIEFING ADDRESSED BY VALUE AND INTEGRITY GROUP (VIG) TO DEMAND INVESTIGATION OF NIGERIA ELECTION DEBATE GROUP, NEDG AND DR.. RAYMOND DOKPESI CONNECTION ON FRIDAY 20TH MARCH 2015 AT HAYES HOTEL IKEJA, LAGOS.

Contrary to public held belief that the Nigeria Election Debate Group, NEDG, was a neutral, independent and non –partisan organization, it has be discovered to be a one man’s show operated on a partisan basis by Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, owner of AIT (DAAR COMMUNICATIONS).

Documents available to our group and Investigations have revealed mind bugling facts about how Dr. Dokpesi is alleged to have single handedly runs the affairs of the NEDG. Other very suspicious and questionable activities linked to Dr. Dokpesi show how one man can be said to have appropriated the NEDG and uses it as a political bargaining tool for private gains and political advantage.

Incorporated on April 27th, 2011 with an RC number 949139, the NEDG listed six organizations as shareholders each with a representative. The shareholders are Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria represented by Mallam Abubakar Aji, DAAR Communications, represented by Tony Akiotu, Nigeria Union of Journalists, represented by Mohammed Garba, Alliance for Credible Election represented by Emma Ezeazu, Nigeria Guild of Editors and TMG represented by Moshood Erubami.

Unknown to these Directors, Dr. Dokpesi had turned the NEDG into a private estate put at the service of President Jonathan and his party members. Our investigation reveals as follows: First, a first bank account was opened for the NEDG and had Dr. Dokpesi as the sole signatory, though he is not listed as one of the Directors. He also used the DAAR communications office address, a personal address as the address listed in the bank account documentation. These two moves effectively turned the NEDG into Dokpesi’s private company. An initial 1 million naira was paid into the said NEDG account. Again on March 28th 2011 another 20 million naira was paid into his personal account. The N20m was paid into his personal current account number 2017171535 because the NEDG account opening was in process then hence he received the N20m in his personal current account instead of NEDG.

A test message from Dokpesi to the banker confirms this. The text message reads- “He sent about N20 million to the account since last week and I utilized about N50 million for the NEDG DEBATE. As soon as the sponsors pay, I will pay in.daar

He also tried to open another First Bank account in 2012. The first bank account was opened by Dokpesi at the Maitama branch of the First Bank in Abuja with account number 2021069251 with Chief Raymond Dokpesi as sole signatory to the account with the help of his aide banker.

The second account which Dokpesi equally instructed the banker to open in the Bwari branch of the First bank is pending to be opened because the banker left. However, before then, Dokpesi in fact signed the application forms, attached his passport photos entered his personal details in 2012. The account was yet to be approved before one of the managers handling it was eased out of the bank. Copies of the account opening packages and signature mandate card duly signed by Dr. Dokpesi was made available to our group.

From our extensive and thorough investigation, other directors are completely in the dark about the financial transactions of the NDEG. Thus, the NEDG can best be described as the non-profit wing of DAAR communications, available to do the bidding of the ruling party. An Organisation on the board of the Group, Transition Monitoring Group, had last year dissociated itself from the planned Presidential debate.

The group accused the organisers of the debate of fraudulently using its name in the promotion of the event and warned NEDG to desist from such shenanigan forthwith.

This of course is in total violation of one of the Memo/ Articles of Association of the NEDG. It is stipulated that the NEDG will organize and promote and host independent civil non-profit, non-political, non-partisan open debates. Chief Dokpesi’s name does not reflect in the NEDG registration documents from the CAC only that of DAAR representative, Tony Akiotu. But Chief Dokpesi has opened the account in his name and went ahead to single handedly organize the 2011 election debate with AIT staff-Amoni Amarere and Nancy Ilo as moderators. Again, he is accused to be the sole organizer of the 2015 presidential election debate for the NEDG which has generated unpleasant credibility crisis for the NEDG.

The NEDG is clearly compromised and bereft of a fundamental impartiality, requisite of any medium facilitating a forum such an electoral debate. Presented to the unsuspecting public as a non-partisan body, the NEDG, just as the AIT, is fully partisan in favor of PDP. Chief Dokpesi, a very close friend of Jonathan, once jostling to be chief of staff has put NEDG at the disposal of the ruling party, PDP.

It is alleged that for the 2015 debate, well over 250 million has been paid to the organizers by the Presidency. Unfortunately, the refusal of the leading opposition to attend the integrity deficit presidential debate, AIT has chosen to unprofessionally attack and even defame both the candidate and the party.

We are therefore calling on the Special Fraud Unit and the Central Bank of Nigeria to investigate documents presented by Chief Dopkesi for the opening of accounts in the name of NEDG at First Bank, Maitama and Bwari in Abuja.



Sina Odugbemi Popoola Ajayi
Coordinator Secretary

PHASING OUT CARD READERS AND PVCs, A PANACEA TO ANARCHY

I have considered it necessary to shed more light on the interrelationship between the memory Card Readers which is commonly called PVC machines by Nigerians and the electronic smart card which is popularly known as Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), before taking on issues that surrounds its introduction, sustenance and its anticipated untimely extinction.
It is no gain saying that the memory card reader, which is a data input device that reads data from a card-shaped storage medium was proposed and funded by the President Goodluck Jonathan led administration, after a few logical deliberations at the floor of our National Assemblies and with meaningful inputs from technological savvy citizens both at the helms of affairs and the common. The first of the memory card readers were punched card readers, which read punched cards that were used during the first several decades of the computer industry to store information and programs for computer systems.

Modern card readers like the one introduced by the presidency are electronic devices that can read plastic cards embedded with either a barcode, strip, computer chip or another storage medium, which will ultimately drastically reduce the electoral hiccups that has enveloped the sanctity of our electoral institution from the advent of democracy in our nation. No doubt, the introduction of this advance technology is expected to mark the beginning of a new Nigeria, as checkmating the ills that characterizes will be made easy, provided the umpire does not compromise the process.

On the other hand, the smart card which is popularly called a Permanent Voter Cards used for communication with a memory card reader, which is a device used to scan and electronically save printed electronic cards, it must have located it perfect replica on the database before the memory card readers can successfully recognized the electronic smart card at the point of verification, then it can proceed to the identification stage before access can be finally granted to the user.
To the end of the brief information about the interrelationship between the memory card readers and the permanent voter cards, it is very important to also say that all biometric readers to include the memory card readers have a similar architectural design and working principles, by comparing the template stored in memory to the scan obtained during the process of identification. If there is a high enough degree of probability that the template in the memory is compatible with the live scan (the scan belongs to the authorized person), the ID number of that person is sent to a control panel. The control panel then checks the permission level of the user and determines whether access should be allowed. The communication between the reader and the control panel is usually transmitted using the industry standard Wiegand interface.

The Peoples Democratic Party has made their position on their disagreement with the use of the much talked about and funded technology, memory card readers in a few press statements which has eventually raised questions that seems unanswerable by these detractors in the ruling party and its sub-political parties or congresses. After a critical analysis of the number of the TVCs used in year 2011 and the number of casted votes in that year’s election and comparing the present INEC declared numbers of produced PVCs and the large number of the uncollected PVCs in year 2015 with the former, I don’t feel remorse to confidently submit that the large number of uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the present PDP led States and those States lost to the APC at the tribunal, are the Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) used to rig the elections in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, which concurrently aided the victory of the PDP in the 2011 general elections.

On this note, reports from our feelers in the President Goodluck Jonathan cabinet has given strong indications that the presidency in conjunction with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has concluded every necessary plans to ensure that the incumbent chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega and the existing 14 Resident Electoral Commissioner (RECs) proceed on the purported terminal leave which will take effect on or before this coming Saturday 21 March, 2015 or before next Saturday.

In addition, the success of these mischievous plans as orchestrated by President Goodluck Jonathan and his political party will witness the emergence of a new leadership of our electoral umpire, there are strong indications that the ushered in INEC leadership will abort the ‘finger print authentication’ during the accreditation phase of the forthcoming general elections and the possibly the relegation of the memory card readers to the trashcans, which will eventually support their evil plans to scuttle the electoral figures, if the people does not coarsely resist the complete phasing out of the card readers and PVCs.

The newly ushered in leadership will eventually request for more time, let's say not more than 60days after May 29, 2015 in order to conduct free, fair and credible elections, which will ultimately lead to an outrage amidst the people and the formation of an national interim government.

If the introducer of an advance technology could turn back to condemn it after being embraced by concerned people, then Nigerians are expected to conclude that something must have gone wrong with the evils attached to the introduced technology by the introducer. Nonetheless, i am afraid that Nigeria will never remain the same, if the ruling party successfully have their way to frustrate the helpless Nigerian masses both before and during the polls, as a predictable anarchy might consume our nation in history.

Sulaiman Kazeem
sulaimanadeshina@yahoo.com
@KazeemDiary

I have considered it necessary to shed more light on the interrelationship between the memory Card Readers which is commonly called PVC machines by Nigerians and the electronic smart card which is popularly known as Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), before taking on issues that surrounds its introduction, sustenance and its anticipated untimely extinction.
It is no gain saying that the memory card reader, which is a data input device that reads data from a card-shaped storage medium was proposed and funded by the President Goodluck Jonathan led administration, after a few logical deliberations at the floor of our National Assemblies and with meaningful inputs from technological savvy citizens both at the helms of affairs and the common. The first of the memory card readers were punched card readers, which read punched cards that were used during the first several decades of the computer industry to store information and programs for computer systems.

Modern card readers like the one introduced by the presidency are electronic devices that can read plastic cards embedded with either a barcode, strip, computer chip or another storage medium, which will ultimately drastically reduce the electoral hiccups that has enveloped the sanctity of our electoral institution from the advent of democracy in our nation. No doubt, the introduction of this advance technology is expected to mark the beginning of a new Nigeria, as checkmating the ills that characterizes will be made easy, provided the umpire does not compromise the process.

On the other hand, the smart card which is popularly called a Permanent Voter Cards used for communication with a memory card reader, which is a device used to scan and electronically save printed electronic cards, it must have located it perfect replica on the database before the memory card readers can successfully recognized the electronic smart card at the point of verification, then it can proceed to the identification stage before access can be finally granted to the user.
To the end of the brief information about the interrelationship between the memory card readers and the permanent voter cards, it is very important to also say that all biometric readers to include the memory card readers have a similar architectural design and working principles, by comparing the template stored in memory to the scan obtained during the process of identification. If there is a high enough degree of probability that the template in the memory is compatible with the live scan (the scan belongs to the authorized person), the ID number of that person is sent to a control panel. The control panel then checks the permission level of the user and determines whether access should be allowed. The communication between the reader and the control panel is usually transmitted using the industry standard Wiegand interface.

The Peoples Democratic Party has made their position on their disagreement with the use of the much talked about and funded technology, memory card readers in a few press statements which has eventually raised questions that seems unanswerable by these detractors in the ruling party and its sub-political parties or congresses. After a critical analysis of the number of the TVCs used in year 2011 and the number of casted votes in that year’s election and comparing the present INEC declared numbers of produced PVCs and the large number of the uncollected PVCs in year 2015 with the former, I don’t feel remorse to confidently submit that the large number of uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the present PDP led States and those States lost to the APC at the tribunal, are the Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) used to rig the elections in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, which concurrently aided the victory of the PDP in the 2011 general elections.

On this note, reports from our feelers in the President Goodluck Jonathan cabinet has given strong indications that the presidency in conjunction with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party has concluded every necessary plans to ensure that the incumbent chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega and the existing 14 Resident Electoral Commissioner (RECs) proceed on the purported terminal leave which will take effect on or before this coming Saturday 21 March, 2015 or before next Saturday.

In addition, the success of these mischievous plans as orchestrated by President Goodluck Jonathan and his political party will witness the emergence of a new leadership of our electoral umpire, there are strong indications that the ushered in INEC leadership will abort the ‘finger print authentication’ during the accreditation phase of the forthcoming general elections and the possibly the relegation of the memory card readers to the trashcans, which will eventually support their evil plans to scuttle the electoral figures, if the people does not coarsely resist the complete phasing out of the card readers and PVCs.

The newly ushered in leadership will eventually request for more time, let's say not more than 60days after May 29, 2015 in order to conduct free, fair and credible elections, which will ultimately lead to an outrage amidst the people and the formation of an national interim government.

If the introducer of an advance technology could turn back to condemn it after being embraced by concerned people, then Nigerians are expected to conclude that something must have gone wrong with the evils attached to the introduced technology by the introducer. Nonetheless, i am afraid that Nigeria will never remain the same, if the ruling party successfully have their way to frustrate the helpless Nigerian masses both before and during the polls, as a predictable anarchy might consume our nation in history.

Sulaiman Kazeem
sulaimanadeshina@yahoo.com
@KazeemDiary

The use of the card readers will add credibility to the elections
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 7, 2015, went to the field to test-run the reliability of the Smart Card Readers (SCRs) and the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the general elections. The trial took place in 225 out of the total 120,000 polling units and 358 out of the 155,000 voting centres that will be used for the elections.

While there might have been a few hiccups, the exercise was generally considered a good outing across 12 states in the six geopolitical regions of the country. The field reports largely justified the objective of the exercise: to verify PVCs presented by voters at polling units to ensure that they are genuine and to biometrically authenticate the person who presents a PVC at the polling unit and ensure that he/she is the legitimate holder of the card. To the extent that the real objective of the experiment is to ensure that only eligible voters exercise their franchise and that it is only such legal votes that are counted and tallied, we support the idea of PVC and SCR and urge INEC to go ahead.

However, the experiment was also marred by some problems that INEC will have to look into so it could perfect its act before the election proper. For instance, there were complaints about the slow process of accreditation, card reader’s inability to capture thumbprints of some eligible voters who had their PVCs as well as the inadequate enlightenment of staff and the voters for the exercise. The verification of PVCs, in some cases, also lasted up to 10 minutes per voter. Some states like Nasarawa, Rivers and Ebonyi recorded worrying SCRs failures. Indeed, a disturbed INEC had decided “to thoroughly investigate the cause” as well as “repeat the public demonstration” in Ebonyi State yesterday.

While the result is still being expected, the hitches observed were big enough to renew the rivalry between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in an already highly polarised political climate. The APC of course hailed the outcome of the exercise as an impediment to “manipulate the coming elections”. But the PDP dismissed it and asked that the usage of the card readers for the crucial election be shelved. The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh said the outcome of the test “vindicates earlier widespread calls by stakeholders that the card readers should be thoroughly tested to ascertain their workability before the general elections.”

The PDP point of view is being helped strangely by some 15 fringe political parties which have signalled their unpreparedness to go to the polls if the electoral body went ahead with the card readers for the conduct of the polls. Indeed, other interest groups have gone beyond verbal challenges as they have lodged their complaints against the use of the card readers in courts of law for appropriate interpretation, claiming its use would contravene the 2010 Electoral Act as amended as well as the 1999 Constitution. But many lawyers have waded in that it would not and that seems to be the conventional wisdom as the two leading parties seem to have resigned themselves to the use of both PVC and SRC for the election.


We feel, like most Nigerians do, that the use of the smart card readers will eliminate malpractices and add to the credibility of the elections. We urge INEC to ensure that the card readers function properly during the crucial elections. According to report, the electoral body has already procured 152,000 card readers with additional 26,000 units and 35,000 batteries as spares. These are enough equipment to end the needless controversy. For the 2015 general elections, we reaffirm our endorsement of the use of PVC and SCR even as we urge INEC to ensure that the process work seamlessly on polling days.

Tags: Editorial, Featured, INEC, Smart Cards

Written corruptly in support of Goodluck Jonathan PDP and his highway robbers in government. It If Obasanjo who indicted Tinubu by the strong EFCC and ICPC during his tenure but had no evidence to prosecute him for the same accusations levelled against him in the botched arrangee documentary aired by AIT then what are you saying Femi Aribisala . Tinubu is the architect of modern Lagos that you patrol about in now day n night safely ,the lagos where you have acquired properties and are receiving good value for it. Tinubu is responsible today for the powerful amalgamation of progressives challenging the PDP today and making them postpone and try to annul and sack INEC boss. Today we witness in Nigeria an incumbent govt afraid to call an election for fear of defeat. Tinubu today has risen above all negativity to bridge the gap of religious bigotry tribal hatered and illusions of a nation on the brink of collapse and war,to create a new mood and hope for change amongst Nigerians . The whole nation has risen in the hope for change , in support of APC Buhari and Osinbajo . Femi Aribisala is just deplorable and disappointing. He has crumbled over intelligence becoming a disgrace to his pen . How can he not read between the lines , how can he be so blind to the realities of this fraudulent government. He pitched his tent against the tide of hope , the tide is high and Nigerians are moving on. Aribisala perpetuated a massive onslaught against Buhari levelled all sort of accusations from his certificate issue to his service record etc and failed . Now is Asiwaju who is not even running for and elective office. They seem to be missing their target all over and surely they will fail at the polls on the 28th of March 2015.

In his latest assault against veracity and good taste, the hot-air balloon and loose mandible known as President Jonathan’s campaign spokesman FFK has tried to deflect public attention away from the dirty tricks and tactics the government is set to deploy in order to oppress and intimidate key APC figures during these final days before the march 28 election.

He claims the government is not misusing the vehicles of state power to oppress the opposition. He then quotes Biblical verses to further claim that APC leaders are wicked. FFK should proceed carefully with the use to which he puts his tongue. Not every word a person speaks is a lark that evaporates the moment after its expression. FFK ropes his tongue in danger when he, of all people, uses the Bible to ridicule others. He must be careful for he does not mock man. He mocks a Higher Power and should be wary of his excesses in this regard.

When FFK looks in the mirror he thinks he sees a man who should be Pope. Instead, what he should see is a man guilty of more public lies than any Nigerian of his generation. Perhaps FFK can delude himself because his memory is short while his ambition is long. His hope is that our memories are even shorter. Here he is wrong again.

Those of us in the APC know him for what he is. It was roughly a year ago that FFK tried to join the APC. In attempting to ingratiate himself, he spewed endless venom against his current boss. Because we knew him, we held him at arm’s length. The man is willing to say anything for a taste of power and to wiggle his way into some office or another. When he saw the door closed to him, he predictably bolted. His exit remains our gain. History will mark it as a key point in the development of the APC.
If you doubt what I say, review carefully FFK’s statement why he returned to the PDP. It is an epistle of deceit. Examine its allegations. He lists several purported statements made by APC figures that allegedly soured him on the party. His allegations against the party members are inaccurate. Here, the dates of the alleged statements are more than the purported content that are important. By his own admission, every alleged statement he attributed to an APC figure took place before FFK tried to join the party. A consummate media hound, he must have been aware of the so-called offensive statements prior to seeking space under the APC banner. The statements did not deter him from joining. They also were not the reason he departed. He left because, although a fledging party, we were wise enough not to give him a position of importance. He did not leave because he feared the APC would lead him astray. He left because we did not give him the chance to
lead us astray.


The things that FFK said to us about Jonathan in private will remain private. But Jonathan would be wise to watch his back whenever he is dealing with this bugle for hire. The man has changed position so many times that he must feel like a tired chameleon on a spinning wheel of many colors. He is confused what color he should be. The only thing he knows is that he will soon change hue again.

Soon enough, Fani Kayod will discover that in the new Nigeria and in the responsible government to come, his tawdry skills will not be required. He can then go home and look in the mirror to see what he has made of himself.
-Sunday Dare, Special Adviser, Media to Bola Tinubu

Between Feb14th and March 14th, Jonathan has visited Yorubaland six times!

Lol....fire dey burn Jonathan! He has suddenly come to the cognition that those he marginalized are afterall the kingmakers of Nigeria and without their endorsement he stands no chance of victory.

First, the Obas in Egbaland told him to stop calling them to unecessary and unproductive meetings.

Second, the Muslim body in Yorubaland told him they dont need his bribe and its a waste of his time and theirs to invite them to a unproductive meeting.

Now Awujale has told him he is wasting his time paying visits to Obas in Ijebuland, and Yorubaland generally. Go and face the people with your accountability, dont bring your message to Obas, go tell it to the people you ruled for 6years.

There is two weeks to election....Jonathan is confused!

He should go to North, the Emirs might accept his message and help him in their domain.....make sure to take Patience Faka along to greet "troway shildren" along the streets.

He doesn't have to worry about Ezes in the East, they are already bought and in his pocket....there is no negotiation about whether or not they will deliver....their choice is already purchased!
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11/03/2015


Because of the way and manner that one was brought up at a time in point in our history when the social values exerted huge control in shaping an individual’s utterances and actions in the society, the situation of things today is sickening and repulsive to ones sensibilities.

One has become astonished by the level of absurdity and obscenities that pervades the Nigerian landscape with the way we conduct our affairs both in private and public life. Our society today has become one in which to say, anything goes, with apology to former chief of army staff, Gen Salihu Ibrahim (Rtd.) is a compliment, rather, we have become a society in which impossibility have become possibility with regards to inanities. One has become so disturbed that one cannot just fathom how we got to this pathetic and inhuman state?

At a point in time in our national history, if you are alledged of being involved in violations of the law, even before investigation and prosecution/conviction, the society will keep you at arms length as a sign of disapproval of such acts. But rather today, even when people commit or run away from prosecution for an alledged offence committed in foreign land, they are rewarded and giving state cover in violation of the laws as well our traditional values of responsible human conduct.

Honestly, never in our political history have our humanity and dignity been assaulted like we are currently experiencing under Mr. Goodluck Jonathan in which every societal value of humanity is being gradually eroded and destroyed before our very eyes, which has left me thinking about what we want to bequeath generations coming behind us. Is it this culture of no values of human conscience?

Are we conscious that one day, we will depart this planet and be succeeded by incoming generations? What will be written about us, that we maintained a conspiratorial silence in allowing some people to destroy our values as members of the human community just for political expediency? Like Prof. Wole Soyinka wrote, "The man dies in him who keeps silent in the face of tyranny".

It is in this light that one should condemn in the strongest terms those senators who played no small part in assaulting our humanity by allowing the "confirmation" of an alledged electoral robber, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro as a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria even before he was investigated for his inglorious role in the Ekitigate gubernatorial scandal which has come to light to our collective shame and dent to our democracy.

Today, represents a black day for our democracy and an assault on our humanity which is undergoing torture from those who are supposed to uphold it and am very sure that soon, very soon, this injustice that they have meted to the Nigerian people will catch up with them.

Thanks.

Nelson Ekujumi

Though he's not the candidate with the name "Goodluck," Muhammadu Buhari, the challenger in Nigeria's now-delayed presidential election, must be feeling lucky.

As the race shapes up to be the closest election since the return of “civilian” government in 1999, it also promises to be the most important test of Nigeria's nascent and imperfect democracy. Unlike the previous four elections, there's a real chance that the dominant People's Democratic Party (PDP) could fall from power. If it does, Nigeria's incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan will be judged by history on the basis of how he left office as much as what he did in power.

onathan today is as embattled as African heads of state typically get. Struggling in his fight to halt Boko Haram's rise in northeastern Nigeria as a growing international threat, and reeling from a collapse in global OIL PRICES that's left his government staggering to slash a national budget already inadequate to address the dual challenges of Nigerian security and development, the country's nominally independent national election commission postponed its general election for six weeks—from February 14 to March 28—ostensibly to register more voters in areas affected by the Boko Haram insurgency and to give the Nigerian military a chance for one last offensive against the group.

The six-week delay initially felt like a suspicious opportunity for Jonathan to rally his chiefly southern, chiefly Christian supporters to win reelection. But it is already turning out quite differently. Jonathan is increasingly sidelined by economic and security problems, and last week brought a long-time-coming defection from his former patron, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, who tore up his PDP membership card last week, the latest chapter in an increasingly vocal turn away from Jonathan and toward Buhari.

Far from rallying Jonathan, the current six-week extension period is something like a triumph for Buhari, who's so comfortable about the state of the race that he spent over a week in London on a charm offensive in the United Kingdom, which has retained close postcolonial ties with Nigeria. Buhari quietly met with former prime minister Tony Blair, and he spoke at Chatham House, a LEADING London think tank, on February 26. Opponents, most notably Ekiti governor Ayodelse Fayose, claim that Buhari's trip is related to ill health, and Buhari himself said upon his return to Nigeria that he used the trip in part as a rest from the campaign trail, but there's no indication that the seventy-two-year-old candidate was seeking medical treatment abroad.

Notwithstanding his overseas trip, Buhari is no unfamiliar face to Western policy makers. Buhari is waging a compelling and credible campaign on two joint rationales—first, that he can reduce the extent of Nigeria's massive corruption and second, that he is better suited for thwarting Boko Haram than Jonathan.

But Buhari would arrive at the presidency with considerable baggage.

Three decades ago, Buhari led a coup against the civilian government of former president Shehu Shagari. Though the military coup was widely popular and Shagari despised for perpetrating corruption on a previously unseen scale, Buhari has a decidedly mixed record during his own tenure as Nigeria's military head of state between December 1983 and August 1985. Among the most egregious excesses involved the enactment of “Decree 4,” a repressive measure that curtailed press freedom by punishing the publication of anything that brought Nigeria's government into “ridicule or disrepute” with a two-year prison sentence. Several prominent journalists at the time were tried before military tribunals and imprisoned.

Nevertheless, Buhari led the most committed campaign in Nigerian history to eliminate graft and corruption, and his ambitious “war against indiscipline” sought to instill a sense of professionalism within the civil service and civic pride among the Nigerian population. It was Buhari's intolerance for corruption that probably brought his government to an overhasty conclusion. Terrified elites, in both Nigeria's north and south, breathed a sigh of relief when another military leader, Ibrahim Babangida, came to power in yet another coup. Babangida, who remained a powerful Nigerian political boss in the north after his own fall from power, has even endorsed Buhari in 2015, thirty years after deposing him.

Western fears run high that Buhari's victory would restore to office a figure who first rose to power by deposing Nigeria's first elected leader and who, while in office, evinced little regard for human rights. But a Buhari victory could, under the right circumstances, actually strengthen Nigerian democracy. It demonstrates quite a bit of confidence on Buhari's part that he is spending so much time wooing Western officials before any votes have even been cast. It also underlines just how cozy relations between the Jonathan government and Western governments are, especially during U.S. president Barack Obama's administration.

But the knee-jerk distaste for Buhari might be too pessimistic.

As John Campbell, George W. Bush's former ambassador to Nigeria, writes in his memoirs, Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink, "Buhari's reputation at home was that he, almost alone among the rulers of Nigeria, tried to address the problems of the country. The popular view was, and largely remains, that Buhari's anti-corruption campaign was waged against the oga networks on behalf of the 'everyman' . . . at present, Buhari is probably the only national political figure with genuine popularity, at least in the North. . . . for those who have benefited from Nigeria's current political economy, Buhari is high risk."

Since the return of professedly civilian rule under Obasanjo in 1999, Buhari has tried (and failed) three times to win the presidency. He lost to Obasanjo in 2003 by the lopsided margin of 61.9 percent to 32.2 percent. In 2007, he lost to Obasanjo's hand-picked successor, northerner Umaru Yar'Adua, by an even more lopsided official tally. Jonathan, an ethnic Ijaw who comes from the oil-rich Niger Delta, assumed the presidency upon Yar'Adua's death in 2010, and he, too, defeated Buhari when he ran for election in his own right in 2011.

But those margins coincide with reports of widespread voter fraud, and so they likely understate the level of Buhari's true support. In 2011, many members of Nigeria's northern Muslim political establishment cautiously backed Jonathan, notwithstanding Jonathan's decision to reverse a pledge to stand down in 2011, which would have restored the balance of alternating the Nigerian presidency between the Muslim north and the Christian south. In 2015, virtually the entire northern establishment backs Buhari. Nigeria's opposition movement is stronger than at any time since 1999, with several political parties and a handful of PDP stalwarts defecting to form the All Progressives Congress (APC), united chiefly in their desire to wrest power back from Jonathan.

For sixteen years, the PDP's rule has made Nigeria an effectively one-party state. Buhari's victory would change that, and the APC's strength, especially in the north, could deliver it a firm majority in Nigeria's National Assembly. But the country has yet to experience a peaceful transfer of power from one democratically elected president to an opposition figure, and in 2010, there were fears that the uncertainty surrounding Yar'Adua's incapacitation and death could invite the kind of military intervention all too familiar prior to 1999. National elections are marred by commingling of campaign and government coffers, with rife examples of vote-buying and outright vote-stealing. In the best-case scenario, Jonathan's reelection would be tainted by suspicion of an unfair and unfree vote. In a worst-case scenario, Nigeria's military might even intervene to keep Jonathan in power. Ironically, despite Buhari's military past, top army officials are sympathetic to Jonathan and PDP rule, under which they are much likelier to maintain their economic and political interests.

The election is of paramount importance to global interests in sub-Saharan Africa. As the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, and as of last year, its largest economy, Nigeria represents a particularly strategic U.S. ally. Even as the country cycled from military to civilian leaders, and between less corrupt and more corrupt governments, Nigeria consistently partnered with the United States. That makes it an important anchor for regional stability in west Africa, even when Nigeria is itself in danger of rupturing chaotically. Nigeria today faces many of the same problems, in miniature, as greater sub-Saharan Africa, making it a template as well as a touchstone for how twenty-first-century Africa might either progress or stagnate in the decades ahead.

Its oil production brings with it the same “resources-curse” issues of overvalued currency, corruption and the crowding-out of other export industries, such as Angola, Sudan (and perhaps in the future) Ghana and other countries. A renewed effort by a Buhari administration to, at a minimum, reduce corruption would divert more oil funds to the Nigerian treasury to boost education, welfare, agriculture and other economic sectors.

Its split between a northern Muslim and a southern Christian population means that Nigeria faces the same ethno-religious tensions as many other Sahelian countries, including Mali and Ethiopia, where a Muslim majority may emerge over the course of the next decade. Boko Haram's insurgency in northeastern Borno state means that, like Kenya and Somalia, a cash-strapped Nigeria is scrambling to allay the flames of extremist violence. Though Boko Haram's leadership despises Buhari nearly as much as Jonathan, Buhari has more credibility with Nigeria's Muslims. He supported the introduction of shari'a law (in name more than in practice) to twelve northern states in the early 2000s, and he would take power with a strong chance to soothe long-running north-south rifts.

Within seven years of the country's independence in 1960, when the chiefly Muslim Northern Protectorate hastily merged with the chiefly Christian Southern Protectorate to form “Nigeria,” ethnic strife over control of Nigerian oil led to a three-year civil war to keep “Biafra,” a secessionist state in the southeast, from splitting. The resulting growth of the Nigerian military in political affairs proved more enduring than Biafran separatism.

At the national level, the northern Hausa-Fulani group competes with the southwestern Yoruba and the southeastern Igbo for power, while each of those ethnic groups, in turn, faces opposition from minorities at regional levels of government. That includes Jonathan's own Ijaw group, which is concentrated in the oil-rich but impoverished southeastern Niger Delta. A Buhari administration would have to move fast to reassure LEADING Ijaw figures, who stand to lose more than anyone in the winner-takes-all nature of Nigerian general elections. Even though it's the center of the oil industry, the Niger Delta hosts a hodgepodge of violent, anti-Abuja, quasi-secessionist militias, many of which continue to operate despite Jonathan's rise to power.

Although the election appears, at first glance, like a Hobson's choice between corrupt incompetence and pious dictatorship, there are reasons to believe that there's a path for Nigeria to survive its 2015 election—and to emerge with its democracy not only intact, but strengthened.

Kevin Lees is the editor of Suffragio and is an INVESTMENT attorney in Washington, D.C.

Image: Wikimedia/Department of State

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/muhammadu-buhari-nigerias-ticket-strong-democracy-12386?page=show

--

It also quoted a former Nigerian government minister as
saying that “Nigeria, is a country where you can disappear
an elephant into the pocket of a shirt.”

The minister claimed that his civil servants offered him a
20 per cent slice off his department’s multi-billion
dollar budget, assuring him they could bury their tracks.

Their expectation, he said, was that they too would be
rewarded with a generous tranche of the loot.

The senior politician, who cannot be named for his own
safety, alleged that he had been approached shortly after
his appointment to cabinet, while staying in a hotel on a
high-profile foreign trip.

He told Channel 4 News that he refused the offer, telling
his civil servants that he wouldn’t be able to sleep at
night.

“The scale of corruption by this country’s political
elite is breaking people,” he said. “Some see it as the
dispensing of patronage, so they can survive. But let’s
say it straight. It is theft. Theft with a sense of
entitlement.”

Jonathan Miller of Channel 4 News said that a couple of days
later, “I was interviewing Nigeria’s flamboyant finance
minister. Inevitably, before long, our conversation homed in
on the C-word. “Your country has become a byword for
corruption,” I said.

“I reject this completely!” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, shouted
indignantly at me across the six-foot gap between our two
armchairs in her ministerial office, s

Reading Shaka Momodu’s diatribe against former Lagos Governor Bola Tinubu entitled ‘The Flawed Progressive’ in a ThisDay opinion column recently, one must extend the deepest sympathies to Momodu. The man’s soul has vanished, yet he writes this shameless piece to announce to the entire world that his soul has not died but that he merely sold it. Good for him. I hope he received a hefty payment. No matter the cost, the man lost something money cannot buy.
Shaka’s piece is a classic case of a journalist who needs urgent help. He writes like one on furlough from the institution. No trained professional hand, cultivated and lucid mind would have lent his name to such a puerile piece. His analysis showcases his disdain for rigour. The rigmarole in his arguments exposes the hollowness of the write up. His piece on Bola Tinubu exposes him to be not what he claimed to be; a journalist and writer. Bereft of what constitutes a logical and commonsense analysis, Shaka exposed his hand in a piece that is not only in bad taste but a sponsored hatchet job, ill-timed, ill-motivated and ill-advised.
Of course, Shaka’s right to write whatever he feels like writing cannot be begrudged. However, he must reckon with the fact that there is a wide gulf between responsible journalism and malicious fiction. Shaka has fallen into that gulf and from what we can see, it appears he has allowed himself to drown in it as well. His attempt to cast Tinubu as something other than a progressive is like a man who had bought the wrong size of shoes and was struggling to fit the shoes in because he must wear it at all cost.
Let us look at how the World Wide Web defined the word “Progressive”: ‘Favoring or promoting progress, advancing, forward looking, and forward thinking. A person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties.’
Looking at the definition above, Shaka Momodu knew he was treading on thin ice. Yet, for lucre, he took on the ugly assignment. He had been recruited to disparage the person of Asiwaju. And he attacked the job like a hungry but enfeebled hyena without any teeth. Thus, he made the hyena noises but barely barked and for all the words, he never truly showed any bite. He therefore tried to set up Tinubu by first lavishing him with false praise. He asserted that the man is held in high esteem and loved by many. Shaka, the hatchet man, used his initial effusive praise to feign to be a balanced columnist but his intention was clear; to attack the person of Tinubu, not with hard facts but innuendo and claptrap. Remember the saying; “A lie oft repeated tends to be taken as the gospel truth by many.”
Continuing with his piece, Shaka went ahead to tell his readers how Tinubu was liked and hated by many, but he failed to tell us was how he arrived at his myopic conclusion. Was any survey conducted to determine the level of love and acceptability of the person of Asiwaju Tinubu, or otherwise? What people like Shaka and his ilk do is to create an impression, albeit a false one, that they are speaking as a representative of the people. What they will not say, however, is that they are sponsored by those in the ruling party afraid of the growing stature of Asiwaju Tinubu in the national space. That Tinubu is hated is true. What reformer is not hated by the guardians of the status quo? Thus, in trying too hard to prove his point, Shaka refuted it. The issue is not whether Tinubu is hated but by whom and for what reason. Those who don’t want equality and change hate him. Those who want it like him. Tinubu is one of the few Nigerian politicians who can
walk freely among the people and also who likes to do so. Can the same be said of those hiding behind the high walls of Aso Villa?
The truth is the PDP never gave the APC a chance to survive as they wrongly assumed that key APC figures were like them and would place personal ambitions above national purpose. But now that the PDP have been caught unawares, they are flailing like drowning minnows, sponsoring men like Shaka, who, afflicted by the infamous Stockholm syndrome, will for a morsel, write anything and tell any lie to stay alive.
Factuality and verification is not their concern, rather their pocket determines what they do. At this time, when Nigerians should be glad that we have a viable opposition, some mercenary Nigerians will, for a little pay, do anything to malign personalities for no reason but to taste of the crumbs of the feast of the powerful and cruel.
He started to bare his fangs and showed his true intent when he attacked Tinubu’s intellectual accomplishments and what comes to my mind is, “Does Shaka have an ‘Intellectual Meter’ to measure how intelligent Tinubu is?” For one, I doubt if a mind that is less than cerebral can rise to become the Chief Treasurer of any oil giant of Mobil’s size and global reputation. But as earlier noted, Shaka just had to throw in a lot of mud with the hope that some will stick. Tinubu has never laid claim to being the present day Awolowo. In fact, he is on record to have said, “I have read Awolowo in several books, and he is our hero and mentor, but I cannot but be Bola Tinubu. I can only tread the path of Awolowo, without his shoes. I don’t know his size, I can’t step into his shoes because they are either bigger or smaller, and his image and legacy are bigger than me. I can only use and share the vision. He went away with his shoes and his cap but
he left a legacy, a vision.”
Here is one thing that is unassailable. When the PDP used hook, crook, ladder, hammer and nail to monopolize the South-West, Tinubu and Lagos stood as the lone survivor of these machinations. Had Tinubu fallen, the PDP would have swept the South West in its entirety and would have made a substantial down payment toward its objective for a One-Party State. However, Tinubu did not crumble. Not only did he hold ground, he used that foothold to claim more space for progressive politicians. From Ekiti, Osun, Edo, Oyo and Ogun came into the progressive camp. Would Shaka dare say that governors Fashola, Aregbesola, Fayemi, Oshiomhole, Ajimobi, Amosun are not progressives? In politics, as in other things, the fruit falls not far from the tree. Since these fruits are progressive, then the tree from which they appear must be likewise for a mango cannot be grown of an orange tree or a cashew of a lemon tree.
Tinubu has the ability to fight any battle he believes in. When the South West crumbled to the garrison politics of the PDP, Tinubu was the only man standing and that eventually made him a rallying point for the Progressives across the country.
Even ThisDay Newspapers, Shaka’s original employers, recognized Tinubu as their “Man of the Year, 2013″ and ascribed to him the “Man who re-built the Nigerian opposition.” I trust that the judgement of your paper was a sound and timely one and it was fully independent.
Tinubu has earned his place of honor in Nigerian history. He is the single person most responsible for preventing the creation of a one-party state and thus the person most responsible for salvaging Nigeria’s democracy from the PDP dictatorial inclinations. No other politician can boast of such a progressive achievement, particularly none in the PDP. The trajectory of his leadership skills is well documented. As Governor of Lagos, despite being starved of legitimate funds by the Obasanjo government, Tinubu dug deep and as a result of his resourcefulness and due to his shrewdness, Lagos state was the only state in Nigeria that could and can survive and even thrive without federal allocation. If that is not an achievement, then one must change the definition of the word.
He ensured that Lagos became financially buoyant because he achieved a massive increase in the states internally generated revenue. Few men in politics can compare to Tinubu’s depth and expert use of words, certainly not the current President. Tinubu has mastered and understands the power of words and ideas. Meanwhile Shaka and those who pay him have no idea what an idea is.
Another oft used but tired accusation used to accuse the Asiwaju and his party is that it lacks internal democracy. There are no hard and fast rules as to how candidates can emerge in a political party. Consensus, the last time I checked, has been a way by which parties in Nigeria chose candidates so as to limit acrimony and other negative fallout of primary elections. The PDP uses it a lot in picking their candidates and come out to conduct phony primaries but to appear democratic.
Shaka will do well to follow the Ekiti gubernatorial elections currently in the pipeline. The PDP has tried very hard to arrive at a consensus candidate and I fail to see how that is a problem. Accusing Tinubu of handpicking candidates is lowly hypocrisy. Was Oluremi Tinubu duly qualified to run for the Senate? Should being the wife of the biggest opposition figure in the country deny her of her constitutional right? Why is Bill Clinton’s head not on the chopper because his wife first became a Senator, later a Presidential candidate and later US Secretary of State? Because in America, your right as a citizen cannot be mortgaged because of your association by marriage, religion or other non-violent persuasions. I dare say that Oluremi Tinubu is doing a better job in her constitutional duties as a senator than Patience Jonathan is doing making a mockery of her unconstitutional role as first lady.
Tinubu did not get to where he is today by accident. Here is a man, who at great risk to his life, withstood the brutal Abacha and his goons and ultimately was forced into exile to avoid certain death. He is not without flaws, as only God is flawless. But as a man, his achievements are numerous and for all to see. When Tinubu became the governor of Lagos State, the state was internationally known as the dirtiest city in the world. Lagos has been improved, cleaned and made better. Take a drive round Lagos metropolis today and judge for yourself. At the end of his two terms, while the PDP gave Nigerians Yar’Adua, then Jonathan, Tinubu gifted Lagosians with one of the best administrators in Babatunde Fashola.
Tinubu has done excellently. The people of the Southwest recognize that but for his astuteness, courage, presence of mind and commitment to a better society the Southwest would have been overrun by the destructive and negative force called the PDP and other reactionary elements. These are days when most journalists are pliable, so the likes of Shaka come a dime in a dozen. Shaka’s piece is one fit for the trash. Tinubu has earned his accolade and his work speaks for him. Any wonder that anytime he talks, the entire PDP machinery starts to fall apart? Shaka, better go get a broom. You’ll need it!
Sunday Dare is the special Adviser on Media to Bola Ahmed Tinubu




The failed Contract to Blackmail Tinubu

http://abusidiqu.com/tinubus-records-trumps-his-detractors-sunday-dare-responds-to-shaka-momodus-article/

Lagosians and South west indigenes are no fools this election is settled ..It is based on non performance by PDP especially its policy to sabotage non Pdp states starving it if funds and failing to implement policy. Their hope and strategy was based on a perception that the region will continue to have docile sectional opposition . The birth of the merger its success and its stature today was totally unexpected and a major cause of the upheaval today. The president and his advisers are desperate and its showing in every move the make. Trying to bribe South west leaders with dollars is scandalous too and make no sense whatsoever. They are not the voting public who have nothing to show as dividends of democracy from the federal government . The PDP government made blunder after blunder and now trying damage control. Failure is failure they have failed and no amount of money can prevent change . APC represents change this is what the people in the South west believe in and want. They have a chance to put their tried and tested leaders at the driving seat in Abuja for a change. The merger is their greatest opportunity ever no amount of dollars can change that . Buhari Osinbajo is on our minds nothing can change that . We are resolved to effect change .

Wat a collosal load of Tommy rot