BY EDEGBE ODEMWINGIE AND BODE GBADEBO
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday described President
Muhammadu Buhari as a good leader, saying he not only has listening
ears, but is also anxious to learn.
He stated this when he led some Colombian security experts to meet
with the president at Aso Rock to share their experience in tackling
insurgency.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Obasanjo said Nigeria needed
to take a cue from Colombia in respect to how that country had been
Yarima able to manage that insurgency it had been battling with for more than
50 years.
He said: “I have come to see the president for two reasons. The first
one is the one you have just seen: I brought a delegation of those of us
who visited Colombia last year under the auspices of a foundation which
I am the chairman.
“We went to Colombia to see how the Colombian authorities were
handling the issue of insurgency which had been with them for more
than 50 years. As a result of that visit and the experience we had, a
book was produced and I said to them that it will be interesting for us in
Nigeria to learn as much as we can learn from the experience of
Colombia.”
On how the president reacted to their submissions, Obasanjo said, “He
(Buhari) was interested. You know that one thing you can say about the
president is that he is anxious to learn and he has listening ears. Of
course, nobody knows it all. A good leader must seek every opportunity
to learn and to put what he learns into practice.”
The former president also hinted that the second purpose of his visit to
the Villa was to brief the president on the success recorded so far in
resolving the political crisis in Guinea Bissau.
He said based on his visit to Guinea Bissau last Friday, where he
spent last weekend and returned on Sunday morning, that country has
finally agreed to put a new government in place, which would be
formed either yesterday or today.
Obasanjo said, “The second aspect of my visit was the work that both
the president and the ECOWAS gave me in Guinea Bissau. The
last time, we were able to resolve all the issues of getting a new prime
minister. This time, we had also been able to resolve the issue of now
forming a government.
“If nothing intervenes, I believe, between today and tomorrow, a new
government will be in place in Guinea Bissau. They have been without
government for almost two months.
“When I was there, I praised the restraint of the general public and
particularly the military because the military leaders hold me that for
two months, they have not gotten salary. They could not even buy fuel
into military vehicles and yet they continue to maintain restraints.
“That cannot go on forever. So, I hope that the actions that we have
taken over the weekend (I was there on Friday morning and I left
early morning of Sunday), we might be in the process of putting that
behind us”.
On the lessons Nigerians can learn from insurgency in Colombia, he
said, “The specific thing is that they have been fighting insurgency for 50
years. They celebrated their 50 years in existence in May last year, in
fact, we went there in June.
“So, we want to see what has kept them going, what has kept
insurgency going? What has made the government of Columbia to make
three attempts to seek peace, to end the war and insurgency and they
failed. What is the new efforts that they are making? How likely are
those new efforts going to succeed?”
Obasanjo further expressed hope that Nigeria can win the Boko
Haram war the way the country was able to overcome the civil war.
He said, “Oh yes. If we won the civil war, we can win this one. But
like the Columbian said, we are not waiting until we kill off every
insurgent to say we have won. I believe that once the military has the
upper hand, other measures that have to be taken will be put in place.
“There will be measures of socio-economic development, education,
employment. All that has to go into the process of eventually winning
the war and saying, ‘here is Uhuru”.
Asked whether the war against Boko Haram can be won in three
months as declared by the President, Obasanjo said it was only normal
that the president should give target to which Nigerians could aspire to.
He said, “The president must give a target. When you give somebody a
target, you give him something to aspire to, giving him an objective.
Target is not cast in stone.
“I believe that if you are talking of getting the upper hand, gradually,
we are getting the upper hand. We are not there yet but we are getting
close. And once we are getting upper hand, we move on and do other
things”.
PMB Faults Auditor-General On Lake Chad Report
* Queries non-inclusion of $5m in report
A mild drama played out yesterday when the Auditor General of the
Federation, Samuel Ukura presented environmental audit reports on
the drying-up of the Lake Chad to President Muhammadu Buhari.
After receiving the report at the Council Chamber of the Presidential
Villa, Abuja, Buhari demanded to know from Ukura why $5 million
doled out by Nigeria for the Lake Chad study was not captured in an
environmental audit report on the drying lake.
On noticing that the report presented did not reflect the feasibility study
carried out by a team under former President Olusegun Obasabjo’s
tenure which committed $5 million, Buhari said he was dissapointed at
the report and asked the auditor general to explain the omission.
He noted that the $5 million was released for the study on how to divert
rivers from the Central Africa Republic to the drying Lake Chad.
Buhari said, “I have to digress here based on personal knowledge of
this. I saw an article in the journal of National Geographic in 1978 that
a professor in the University of London in 1925 has foreseen what we
are just seeing.
“I handed over the article to Gen. Obasanjo and I understand that
Gen. Obasanjo took the initiative sometimes ago, it is on record that he
is the only Nigerian that has presided over the country for more than 11
years.
“He gave $5 million to the study, and the study was that unless some of
the rivers from the Central Africa Republic are diverted to empty into
Chad Basin, Lake Chad will dry up. I understand that this report
which was sponsored by Nigeria has been submitted”.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the report, the president said, “I am a bit
disappointed that in the speech of the Auditor-General, there was no
mention of this report and whether my own report was correct: that $5
million was given.
“One of the recommendations was that at the time the report was
submitted, the cost of diverting one of the rivers to empty into Lake
Chad would be between $13 billion and $15 billion.
“I will like the Auditor-General to comment on this, whether they
have received this report or the Ministry of Water Resources. I think
this government will like to see this report and see how we can ask our
foreign friends on how they can help us”.
Responding to the president’s query, the Auditor-General explained
that the group were not given the report which covered what happened
under Obasanjo.
Ukura said, “The report was not made available to the group. It was
only made available to the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).
May be they will be in a better position to comment on it. It was not
made available to us during the study”.
But representative of the LCBC countered Ukura, saying “the report
is a public document; actually it has been in the public domain since the
study was concluded”.
The LCBC rep continued: “Departments of government of Nigeria
and other member states have received copies. The situation is that the
study had been completed. The cost estimate for the project is $
14.5billion.
“We have been consulting the Congo Basin to allay their fears on the
environmental impact assessment they want us to add and we need some
additional political support to be able to convince them that it is also in
their interest to see that this water is diverted to Lake Chad.
“We have made effort with the Champion of Save Lake Chad, former
President Obasanjo, to sensitize the international community, particularly
Europe whom we perceived have some unfriendly attitude towards the
transfer”.
Earlier, President Buhari asked the National Assembly to expedite
action in ratifing the Lake Chad water charter.
According to him, Nigeria was committed to leading the war against
insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin and would not waver in her
support to the commission.
The president said, “Since the audit report has been fully submitted, to
the Lake Chad Basin Commission Heads of States and Government,
we will ensure that recommendations are considered for implementation.
“I am aware that the Lake Chad Basin water charter which was
adopted by the Heads of States and Government summit on April 30th
2012 has not been approved by the National Assembly. I will urge our
National Assembly to domesticate this all important Lake Chad Basin
water charter”.
Buhari said he delighted at the existence of the Summit of Governors
of Hadeja Jama’are, Kumadugu Yobe Basin Trust Fund from
Bauchi, Borno, Kano, Jigawa, Kano and Plateau State, which was
established on June 8, with take off grant of N100 million from each of
these states and the federal government matching grant of N850million.
He assured that he will sustain the platform to ensure sustainable and
equitable water resources management based on integrated industrial
principles.
Before presenting the reports to President Buhari, the AGF had
noted that there was correlation between the shrinking of Lake Chad and
the current insecurity in North East of Nigeria.
Buhari Hails New House Rule On Executive Summons
A new amendment by the House of Representatives which reviewed its
rules on summons of executive bodies by House committees has been
hailed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The House had last Thursday approved amendments to the standing
orders in which standing committees are now to hold joint sittings on
matters that affect same agencies instead of hold separate sittings.
The new rule 112(2) added to order XVII said committees of the
House shall hold joint hearings and joint oversight activities, where
necessary to ensure efficiency and avoid overlap of responsibilities.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly
Matters (House of Reps), Hon. Kawu Sumaila in a statement issued
in Abuja yesterday, said the new rule will help streamline activities of
the agencies in relations to the parliament.
He said a situation where two or more committees of the House invite
the same ministry or agency over same issue does not augur well for the
government.
Kawu said the new rule will help reduce previously frosty relations
between the executive and the legislature.
The presidential advisor also called on the National Assembly to come
up with a unique channel for issuing invitation to federal ministries and
parastatals.
Kawu reported that in many instances, such invitations does not get to
the affected ministry of parastatal on time. There is therefore the need
to use a single channel for invitation of government agencies by National
Assembly committees.
PMB Mourns Alamieyeseigha, Says His Death A Lost To
Ijaws
President Muhammed Buhari yesterday described the death of former
Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha as a loss to the
state and the Ijaw people at large.
In a condolence message signed by his Senior Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the president urged the
Ijaw people of Nigeria to take heart over the loss of one of their
notable indigenes.
He quoted Buhari as saying, “Former Governor Alamieyeseigha was
well loved by his people. This love was expressed in the way they
supported him through his time in public office, and also in the way they
stood by him after he left office, in good times as in bad”.
The presidential spokesman added that President Buhari expressed
sympathizes with the family of the late governor, urging them to take
the loss as God’s will.

Source http://www.leadership.ng/news/466812/well-win-boko-haram-fight-like-civil-war-obasanjo

and when is the time?

no, ah wcch kind text book be this?

Amen

Still waiting and hoping for d best.....in other news my birthday is today...fellow nairalanders show some love

This man should grow up already.

Obj is a m*oron. Comparing Boko haram to civil war makes him a dullard.

We are wining the war.

Mad man

Did the biafrans go about killing, and bombing people?.
Did they kidnap countless others including the virgins?.
Nonsense.

Where they not fighting because of the injustice placed on them by mainly the Northerners, and entire Nigerians?.

Where they not fighting for their lives, their tribe, their freedom, their race
Rubbish man.

Btw, what exactly did you contribute to the war? Your face alone can even scare the most hardened soldier. The sooner you stop comparing the biafrans who were technologically, strategically, economically, stronger than then Nigerian troops, to Some bloody Jihadist terrorist the better.....

Peace.

ABOUTERICA:
Amen

What is amen? Obj don turn your pastor ba? De there de decieve yourself while BH boys are bombing churches.

In reality amen is powerless wishful thinking. Action is what will need to overcome.

Amen. Click LIKE if you think we'll win the war and SHARE if you think we will divide eventually