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DailyTimes:
ALSO READ: 22 Things President Jonathan Said During The Presidential Media Chat

DailyTimes:
ALSO READ: 22 Things President Jonathan Said During The Presidential Media Chat

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has welcomed the endorsement of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying it will convince more Nigerians to vote for him and his party.

Buhari said this on Wednesday night during an interview with CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, Christine Amanpour.

Obasanjo had on Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya during an interview with the Financial Times of London at the launch of his controversial autobiography entitled, ‘My Watch,’ expressed support for Buhari.

When asked by Amanpour what he thought of Obasano’s endorsement, Buhari said, “It would certainly bring more supporters to us and more confidence again to us for those who are sitting on the fence.”

This, he said, was “because General Obasanjo is highly respected and as far as the Nigerian nation is concerned, there is no serious issue that can be discussed without people seeking his opinion and listening to it.”

In the course of the interview, Buhari disagreed with President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party on the reasons behind the postponement of the general elections.

Although the ruling party insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission was not prepared for the elections, Buhari maintained that INEC was forced by the military to delay the elections even after insisting it was prepared.

Despite his disappointment, he explained that since the action was constitutional, the APC had asked its supporters to obey the law and remain calm but resolute.

Asked about the Boko Haram insurgency, Buhari restated his belief that the military had been unable to overcome the insurgents because resources meant for the military had been misappropriated.

He cited scuttled plans by the National Assembly to probe the funding of the army over the last three years and interviews granted to the foreign media by soldiers, who he said, claimed that they had to fight without proper weapons, to back his view.

He said, “The National Assembly attempted to conduct a hearing by getting the budget approved by the National Assembly over the last three years and inviting the service chiefs to come and tell them why the weapons were not procured and sent to the soldiers under competent leadership and that hearing was scuttled.

“So, it showed the misapplication or misappropriation of the resources provided by government and says why the Nigerian military was unable to defeat Boko Haram.”

Regardless, Buhari said the military was competent to tackle the insurgency.

If elected as president, he said achieving that goal would not be “too difficult.”

“I believe this problem will not be too difficult for the APC government because we know the Nigerian military is competent. It is a question of making sure that the money voted for equipment and training is properly utilised,” he said.

The APC’s presidential candidate also said corruption had to be tackled “because there are serious citizens of this country that (have) said unless Nigeria kills corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.”

In endorsing Buhari, Obasanjo had said, “The circumstances he (Buhari) will be working under if he wins the elections are different from the one he worked under before, where he was both the executive and the legislature – he knows that. He is smart enough. He is educated enough. He’s experienced enough. Why shouldn’t I support him?”

And Buhari expressed a similar view when asked if he had changed.

The former military dictator, who admitted that some of the things his regime was accused of had a degree of accuracy, insisted that things would be different.

“I think I would be judged harshly as an individual that what happened during military administration can be extended under multi-party democratic system,” he said.

DailyTimes:
ALSO READ: 22 Things President Jonathan Said During The Presidential Media Chat

The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday raised fresh allegations aiming at discrediting the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, over the conduct of the elections.

At a crowded press conference in Abuja, the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, alleged that Jega had meetings with some unnamed leaders of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

But the commission said it was not in its character to join issues with political parties.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said this when contacted to react to the allegation.

Idowu said, “INEC doesn’t join issues with political parties, because the commission is a dispassionate umpire.”

However, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, dismissed the allegation as utter nonsense and irritable.

Speaking in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents on Wednesday, Mohammed said, “I’m in Abuja with some of our leaders. Baba Bisi Akande is here, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is here, former Governor Kayode Fayemi is here. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is in Lagos.

“No leader of the APC is outside the country. So, tell me who is Jega meeting? Is it members of our NEC? Not one of our leaders is outside the country. This people are paranoid. We are preparing for our NEC meeting. We have some of our governors here. The PDP is paranoid.”

But Fani-Kayode also alleged that the meeting was aimed at making sure that those who had yet to get the Permanent Voter Cards were denied the opportunity of receiving them.

The former Minister of Aviation put the number of those voters at 23 million.

Fani-Kayode added that the commission was scheming out voters in states and areas where he said supporters of the ruling party were.

Besides, he alleged that the PVCs were still at China and had yet to be imported to Nigeria.

He said, “Pieces of information at our disposal have shown that Jega has had meetings with the APC stalwarts in Dubai and other cities in the world to perfect this wanton conspiracy against 23 million eligible voters.

“Besides, we have information that the PVCs that Nigerians are scrambling for are not in Nigeria and will not arrive before the elections.

“These PVCs are still in China and Jega has strategically delayed their arrival to suit his electioneering permutations.”

Asked to provide proof about the alleged Dubai meeting, Fani-Kayode refused.

Fani-Kayode however said that Jega must also show Nigerians proof that the Chinese company printing the PVCs had been paid in full by disclosing the total contract sum and the amount paid to date.

He also demanded that Jega should show proof of arrival or expected date of arrival of all PVCs for the elections and that he should equally tell Nigerians how he could have distributed 23 million PVCs within five days to election if there hadn’t been postponement.

He said it was wrong for the commission to have claimed that the election was shifted due to insecurity, adding that the electoral body was not fully ready for the election.

“The matter is that INEC has failed in its responsibility to produce and distribute PVCs to about 34 per cent of registered voters who would require the cards to vote in the elections.

“This brings us to the issue of statistics of PVC distribution and collection which we believe Jega, as a person acting in concert with some forces of retrogression, is playing games with.

“We express our concerns today that Jega may have decided to aid the APC to rig the forthcoming elections through the manipulation of the production, distribution and collection of PVCs, such that emerging trends have consistently shown calculated attempts to deprive parts of the country that would traditionally vote for President Jonathan of their PVCs.”

DailyTimes:
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DailyTimes:
ALSO READ: 22 Things President Jonathan Said During The Presidential Media Chat

President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday cleared the air on alleged plans to prolong his tenure, saying if the result of the March 28 presidential election does not favour him, he will hand over to whoever that wins.

Jonathan, in a live media chat apparently organised to douse the tension generated by the postponement of the general elections, spoke among others, the   alleged plot   to sack the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, insurgency and corruption.

Before and after the polls were shifted from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11, there were rumours that   the President and the Peoples Democratic Party were nursing a sinister plot not to hand over power.

The rumours   were further fuelled by statements credited to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in far away Nairobi, Kenya.

Obasanjo was quoted as saying, “I sincerely hope that the President is not going for broke and saying ‘look dammit, it’s either I have it or nobody has it.”

But Jonathan told a panel of interviewers that he was not desperate to remain in power. He said such   “insinuations and wrong information” were meant to discredit him by his political opponents.

He said, “Let me assure Nigerians that a new government will be formed on May 29.They should not be perturbed about rumours that we are planning to send Jega on a terminal leave and other rubbish that is being circulated.

“In 2011, I said I will conduct a free and fair election and that if I lose, I will happily move on and that it should be recorded.

“Then I just concluded the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s tenure. I said I will be happy to go if I lose. I said this nation is more important than anybody. Anyone who wants to hold the office of   President and feels he is more important than the nation is not right.

“So if as of 2011, I made a commitment that   if I lose I will go, it should tell you more about my stand on free and fair elections.

“But now, Nigerians have given me the opportunity to be here for four good years and so if the elections are conducted and I lose, of course, we will inaugurate a new government.

“The rumour that I will not hand over or that I am scheming to prolong my tenure are insinuations; they are not true. Those are insinuations; it is quite unfortunate that so much wrong information is floating in the system.”

Jonathan faulted the claim by Jega that INEC was ready for the elections. He said the information given to him by security chiefs was that poor distribution of   Permanent Voter Cards could have caused a security challenge in the country.

He, however, said he would not sack Jega.

Jonathan said, “During the Council of State meeting, the issue of security was emphasised and there is no way security chiefs would have disclosed all the details to everybody but they disclosed some things to me which they did not mention to others.

“There are two aspects to the issue of insecurity. The first is   Boko Haram and   the second is the threat factor in the country.

“When INEC picked the dates for elections, the threat level was not   high until we started the campaign. So, it was important for the security chiefs to review the security architecture otherwise the country would have gone up in flames.

“In election, a lot of problems are involved. When the issue of PVC was being branded as a problem, INEC, from what Jega mentioned that day, clearly was not ready for the elections. They said they were ready but they were not.

“The day we held that meeting that led to this adjustment of dates, in Lagos for example, only about 38 per cent of registered voters had their PVCs. That means if we conduct elections in Lagos, 62 per cent of   voters   not would not have been able to vote.

“Don’t you think there are security implications in that?

“Some other states had slightly above 30   per cent collection while some had 50 per cent and there were some states that had 60 to 70 per cent. The security agencies highlighted the security implications of this but ordinary people might not see it that way.”

Boko Haram

On the insurgency in the North-East, Jonathan said he was confident that within the six weeks, the international forces would have been able to regain the 14 local government areas occupied by insurgents.

He however noted that Boko Haram could not be completely crushed within six weeks but maintained that the security situation would be such that elections would   hold in the troubled areas without problems.

He said, “In 2011, when the elections were conducted, we had Boko Haram. Boko Haram started before 2007 but became a major problem when their leader was killed in 2009. Nobody is saying we must wipe out Boko Haram completely before conducting elections.

“We said that security wise, there are certain things that they need so that they can consolidate on the security architecture; so that we can conduct elections but in the next six weeks, security advancements will be made but we cannot say we will wipe out Boko Haram. At best we can only regain territories.

“When they started, they were not taking over territories; they were going to markets and using suicide bombers. Elections will hold and I don’t see why we should continue to doubt the inauguration of next President in May.”

Chibok girls

Jonathan also berated those criticising him for failing to rescue the Chibok girls who were abducted by terrorists in April last year.

He said he was confident that most of the girls would be rescued soon.

The President said, “I believe now that we are working with Chad and Cameroon, in the next few weeks, the story of the Chibok girls will change. It’s going to get better.

“I believe we should be able to rescue some of them. But I don’t want to be quoted, I don’t want you to say the President said so, that in two weeks time or in four weeks time, I cannot say that because the diapperance of those girls has taken quite some time.

“But we have mapped out strategies, we are working with our neighbours and we will comb all the areas. So, just give us sometime.”

The President denied that he went partying when the girls were kidnapped, saying people only tried to play politics with the matter.

The President said, “People are playing politics with Chibok girls and it is very unfortunate. That is one of the problems that we have in Nigeria. In other countries, when there is an issue of terror, political boundaries collapse and people work together.

“The interest of the country is paramount but in this case when we have terror, then Nigerians believe it is better to go to the United States or the United Kingdom or France and appear on television to celebrate themselves. Is that how we will bring back those girls?

“Let us face facts. When there was 9/11 in the US, how many Americans went round the world criticising their government? Is it by carrying flags and singing around the world that we will bring those girls back? I expected that those with international connections would help the country and not the other way round.”

The President   debunked the report that the Federal Government was swindled when   Boko Haram sect announced a ceasefire last year.

Jonathan admitted that there was no ongoing talks with the sect as of now because its leaders had remained   faceless.

Corruption/stealing

The President corrected the statement credited to him that stealing is not corruption.

He said he only quoted a statement by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapha, during a meeting he held with stakeholders on how to fight corruption.

Jonathan insisted that many social vices were being wrongly referred to as corruption.

He cited an example that people could be easily isolated or lynched if they were called thieves rather than being referred to as being corrupt.

Attacks on his convoy

Jonathan decried the various attacks on his convoy during his campaigns in the northern part of the country.

He said it was a treasonable offence to attack a sitting President in that manner.

Jonathan said he saw those who attacked his convoy and that they were mainly young people who were probably instigated.

Campaign funding

Asked if he was bothered by the large amount of money spent during campaigns as against the stipulations of the electoral law, the President said pressures from the supporters of party candidates had risen beyond control.

He, however, said funds being raised by the PDP were meant for the building of the PDP secretariat, adding that the N21bn raised for his campaign was “mere pledges, some of which have not been redeemed.”

"In few weeks, Nigerians will see positive results on the fight against boko haram" - Pre. Jonathan

"For now, no plans to suspend or sack Jega, he's my appointee, if for obvious reasons, I find him incapable, I will replace" - Pre. Jonathan

"I knew nothing about the postponement of Elections, if I was aware the elections would be postponed , I won't have been wasting my time and government resources'---- Pre. Jonathan.

" On Chibok Girls, I believe now that our Neighbours, I mean CHAD have indicated interest to support and help us, am sure we would get a positive response soon. I don't want to promise anything or say give us two weeks but please give us some time" -Pre. Jonathan.

"I didn't go partying after Chibok girls were kidnapped"--- Pre. Jonathan.

"I said 'Stealing is not Corruption' cause I quoted the former CJN in person of Justice Mustapha"--- Pre. Jonathan.

"Our People hates people been called thieves, they naked you, humiliate you and your family but if you say 'This man is corrupt', some don't even know the meaning... A thief should be called a thief, Ole should be called Ole... Don't use the word Corruption to qualify a thief, so I quoted Mustapha"---- Pre. Jonathan.

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