diluminati: what is happening to our democracy? we have probable evidence that there was an electoral fraud and the players in the game are all exposed...
This is a crime that needs immediate attention and investigation Immunity clause does not cover a huge crime like this..
But why is the govt. downplaying this saga? why is there no widespread CONSTANT media attention on this heinous crime?
The former chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), Christopher Kolade, resigned after a short while. There had been rumours that he was not pleased about happenings around the fund but he said nothing until several months after his resignation when he said publicly that Nigeria used to be better, and criticised the current leadership.
Kolade was replaced as SURE-P chairman by the former Chief of Army Staff, retired Gen. Martin Luther Agwai. Yesterday, Agwai was in Abeokuta to deliver a speech during the 78th birthday event of former president Obasanjo, and he said that change in leadership is inevitable. He also advised that the military stays off partisanship.
“In life, you find out that everything needs change, if that is what the community wants, what the people want, you must give it to them and as such, it becomes inevitable,” he said.
He added: “You can have everything nice, but, if you don’t have the right leadership to propel it, it cannot go anywhere.
“Integrity matters, doing what is good for the larger society, and not just what you want to do for a narrow society to please yourself.”
Here is how Daily Trust reported it:
In a lecture titled, “Imperatives of a National Security framework for the development and progress of Nigeria,” Gen Agwai said the involvement of the military in politics would retard the growth and development of the country.
He said the military should remain professional, adding that integrity also matters in providing quality leadership.
Agwai described Gen Obasanjo as an inspiration to a generation of military officers in the country, adding that they should always be appreciative of his contributions to their lives.
The chairman of SURE-P said the former President has been a source of inspiration for him and others, particularly from the minority ethnic group.
“I for one, from somewhere (small) ethnic group in Nigeria; from a small village to have become Chief of Staff. I will always remain appreciative of this,” Agwai said.
About Corruption: Dikko was a "bit" corrupt like most 9ja politicians then but not more than other core Northern politicians of that time that got no punishment. Barkin Zuwo was just crude to keep his money in bed room. A "bit" because they were amateurs compared to these days.
I was around when it happened. Not told.
Wow! Some hagiography you've got up there. I bet you've got a gold minted halo to hand too.
DinoAnnberry: He's finally Ok to travel. I see. Hope u are coming along with your certificate?.
Jonathan till Buhari passes waec
It does not quite work like that, TANoid DinoAnnberry.
When are you untutored clowns going to understand that things worked a little differently in the 1960s? Or that 'University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate' (UCLES) no longer exists in its original form.
For one; all enquiries relating to certificates of exams held that far back, must now go to 'Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Exams' (OCR) - a new examination board
Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Exams (OCR) Contact OCR if your old exam board was one of the following:
East Midland Regional Examinations Board (EMREB) Midland Examining Group (MEG) Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessment Council (OCEAC) Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board (OCSEB) Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Southern Regional Examinations Board (SREB) Southern Universities Joint Board for Schools Examinations (SUJB) University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) West Midlands Examinations Board (WMEB) If your exam board was the East Anglian Examinations Board (EAEB), contact either Pearson Edexcel or OCR - they both hold some of the records.
And two; OCR would only provide a 'certifying statement of results' - the equivalent of the same document already provided by Katsina college - and not an original CERTIFICATE.
I don't mean to knock the dead but I have always thought that it is the height of imbecility to wish an unnatural death on anyone, especially in a society where the average life expectancy is as low as 52 years.
So here we are; a 46 year old who should otherwise be full of life...crossing over to the great beyond.
#Justsaying...
Life expectancy in Nigeria 17th lowest globally — Report
OCTOBER 13, 2013
The average life expectancy in Nigeria, which was put at 52 years as of 2011 by the World Bank’s recent report, is the 17th lowest in the world.
SUNDAY PUNCH’s analysis of the report showed that the bottom 20 countries were mainly Sub-Saharan African countries, except Afghanistan, where the average life expectancy was put at 49 years.
According to the report, five African countries, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau and Central African Republic, ranked lowest in life expectancy with 48 years.
About 30 countries, mostly in Europe, have average life expectancy of 80 years and above, with Switzerland and Hong Kong having the highest average of 83 years.
The report, which compared life expectancy in 1990 and in 2011, showed that most countries improved over the period of about two decades.
The world average life expectancy rose from 65 years in 1990 to 70 years in 2011.
For low-income regions, it rose from 53 years to 59 years, whereas in the middle-income regions, it rose from 64 years to 69 years.
In 2011, the life expectancy average for Sub-Saharan Africa stood at 55 years, 66 years in South Asia, 72 years in Middle East and North Africa, 74 years in Latin America and Caribbean, 72 years in Europe and Central Asia and 72 years in East Asia and the Pacific.
The Euro area had the highest regional average of 81 years.
For Nigeria, the average life expectancy rose from 46 years in 1990 to 52 years in 2011.
World Bank records have it that the figure for males is 51 years while that of females is 53 years.
The report also showed that infant mortality rate dropped from 126 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 78 per 1000 live births in 2012.
Further analysis by our correspondent showed that Nigeria had the 7th highest infant mortality rate in the world as of 2012.
The countries that had higher infant mortality rates as of 2012 were Sierra Leone with 117 per 1000 live births, Angola 100, Democratic Republic of Congo 100, Chad 89, Guinea Bissau 81, and Mali 80.
Under-five mortality rate in Nigeria dropped from 213 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 124 per 1000 live births in 2012.
The report also showed that in Nigeria, men died more than women between 2006 and 2011.
OREMUSSANCTUS: Obasanjo spent $16B power sector, did ya open ya smelling mouth to condemn him? Now ya want jonathan to do d magic. Fools roaming NL since bacarnista left apc!
So we are in agreement on one thing then; Obasanjo and his prodigal godson, both products of the ruling party, failed to add meaningful value to this important sector.
Now with the above said, why do you - on good conscience - run amok on these boards shouting "GEJ till 2019". Are we looking at an issue of undiagnosed psyschosis?
P.S -- "Psychosis refers to an abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality" (Wikipedia)
I don't mean to knock the dead but I have always thought that it is the height of imbecility to wish an unnatural death on anyone, in a society where the average life expectancy is as low as 52 years.
So here we are; a 46 year old who should otherwise be full of life...crossing over to the great beyond.
#Justsaying...
Life expectancy in Nigeria 17th lowest globally — Report
OCTOBER 13, 2013
The average life expectancy in Nigeria, which was put at 52 years as of 2011 by the World Bank’s recent report, is the 17th lowest in the world.
SUNDAY PUNCH’s analysis of the report showed that the bottom 20 countries were mainly Sub-Saharan African countries, except Afghanistan, where the average life expectancy was put at 49 years.
According to the report, five African countries, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau and Central African Republic, ranked lowest in life expectancy with 48 years.
About 30 countries, mostly in Europe, have average life expectancy of 80 years and above, with Switzerland and Hong Kong having the highest average of 83 years.
The report, which compared life expectancy in 1990 and in 2011, showed that most countries improved over the period of about two decades.
The world average life expectancy rose from 65 years in 1990 to 70 years in 2011.
For low-income regions, it rose from 53 years to 59 years, whereas in the middle-income regions, it rose from 64 years to 69 years.
In 2011, the life expectancy average for Sub-Saharan Africa stood at 55 years, 66 years in South Asia, 72 years in Middle East and North Africa, 74 years in Latin America and Caribbean, 72 years in Europe and Central Asia and 72 years in East Asia and the Pacific.
The Euro area had the highest regional average of 81 years.
For Nigeria, the average life expectancy rose from 46 years in 1990 to 52 years in 2011.
World Bank records have it that the figure for males is 51 years while that of females is 53 years.
The report also showed that infant mortality rate dropped from 126 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 78 per 1000 live births in 2012.
Further analysis by our correspondent showed that Nigeria had the 7th highest infant mortality rate in the world as of 2012.
The countries that had higher infant mortality rates as of 2012 were Sierra Leone with 117 per 1000 live births, Angola 100, Democratic Republic of Congo 100, Chad 89, Guinea Bissau 81, and Mali 80.
Under-five mortality rate in Nigeria dropped from 213 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 124 per 1000 live births in 2012.
The report also showed that in Nigeria, men died more than women between 2006 and 2011.
PassingShot: Everything about Jona is corruption and looting.
APC is doing a very good job at exposing all their plans even before they get to hatch them.
Getting Buhari disqualified is surely impossible for them at this stage except someone is ready to be Gbagboed in the process.
The desperation of a sinking Jona is capable of taking Nigeria through another civil war.
Adoke and Jonathan both ooze corruption from every orifice - fact!
An Attorney General who is fingerr#ed as having enriched himself through fradulent means, and with a reputation that lies in tatters, is not what Nigeria needs at this hour. Problem is; this is precisely what his equally repugnant principal desires.
The All Progressives Congress, APC today outlined 10 fresh tricks the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP is plotting to use to rig the March 28 and April 11 general elections. The main opposition party which unveiled the plot at a press conference by its spokesman, Lai Mohammed said Nigerians and the international community should watch out for the plot as the ruling party brings them out one after the other. According to APC “It’s just about three weeks to the start of the rescheduled 2015 general elections, and the expectations across the country and outside our borders are very high, just as the tension among Nigerians!
“The eyes of the world are focused on our country, Nigeria, to organize a free, fair, credible and violence-free election that will not only deepen our democracy but will also show to the world that our leadership position in the West African sub-region and the African continent is not a fluke.
“While we in the All Progressives Congress (APC), and definitely most Nigerians, also expect nothing less than very transparent elections, indications are that those at the helms have grown so desperate that they do not even want the elections to hold. And even if the elections must hold at all, they must be held on their own terms: No PVCs, No Car Readers, No Jega, and the military must be deployed to intimidate voters!
“These dangerous conditionalities by the ruling party, the PDP, and the Jonathan Administration have been playing out publicly, no thanks to the inauspicious comments by elements of the ruling party, who could no longer hide their disdain for credible polls and, indeed, for democracy itself.
“But what has not played out openly are some of the criminal and unlawful actions being secretly hatched by the PDP and the Jonathan Administration to rig the forthcoming general elections and perpetuate themselves in power.
“The handwriting is clear: This Administration knows it can never win in a free, fair and credible elections because of its appalling record in office. Nigerians want change through the ballot box, and they are determined to effect that change with their PVCs.
“Let me now take you through some of those evil plots being hatched to deny the people of Nigerians their right to vote for change.
1. There is a plot to transfer a humongous amount of money into the bank account of the INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, and then claim that the money came from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC in order to justify the ongoing plan to sack Prof. Jega so he won’t organize the elections.
Beyond Jega, there is also a plan to credit the bank accounts of some key national institutions with huge amounts of money purportedly from our party, the APC, ostensibly to compromise those institutions.
2. There is plan to use some political parties that are satellites of the PDP to push for the postponement of the elections again. The plot is to get the parties to address a press conference to say the elections should not hold in the North-east until Sept. 2015 because of the ongoing counter-insurgency battle there. The intention is to make sure Jega’s tenure expires before the polls, so that they can appoint a malleable card-carrying member of the PDP as INEC Chair to conduct the polls.
3. There a plan to use the security agencies to intimidate key opposition leaders as well as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunications service providers to disrupt voice and data transmission, especially in APC strongholds, on election day.
As we have said earlier, the telephones of our leaders have been bugged and their movements are being daily monitored.
Top on the list of the security agencies to be used against the opposition is the DSS, which will be used to compel all Resident Electoral Commissioners in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to hand over the names and telephone numbers of all INEC’s regular and ad hoc staff who will conduct the elections, as part of the Jonathan Administration’s rigging plans.
It is no longer news that a signal has been sent to all state commands of the DSS to get the list of all INEC Returning Officers and Adhoc Staff before March 10th.
4.There is also the ongoing illegal recruitment over 500 new cadets into one of the country’s security outfits, 50% of whom are from the home state of the outfit’s top brass, in violation of the provisions of the Constitution, especially as the recruitment does not reflect the Federal Character
5. Nocturnal meetings are being held between various heads of national security agencies and the leadership of the PDP to undermine the coming elections;
6. The Presidency has retained the services of two Israelis and a Belgian who are currently holed up in the Aso Rock Villa to hack and corrupt INEC computers on election day, with the trio having already been paid 25 percent of their contract fees upfront.
7. There is an ongoing effort to compromise the card reader, which the Jonathan Administration sees as inimical to its rigging plans.
8. Huge funds are being provided for retired and serving security personnel to buy up PVCs, with the hope that they can be used once the card reader is compromised. Remember, gentlemen, that there is a case in court seeking to declare the use of the card reader in the forthcoming elections unconstitutional.
9. In the days leading up to the elections, the Jonathan Administration is planning to give the opposition the Ekiti treatment by massively arresting key opposition leaders, with a view to destabilizing their ranks, putting them away and paving the way for a free rein of their rigging agents. Towards this end, thousands of signed blank detention orders have been procured.
10. As part of the plan to implicate our leaders, illegal substances may be put into their checked-in luggage during local and international flights. That is why we are calling on our leaders to travel only with their carry-on baggage.
“Let me say that the detailed plans by the desperate Jonathan Administration and the PDP are part of the massive intelligence we are receiving daily from patriotic Nigerians, within and outside the government, who are eager to see the organization of a free, fair, credible and violence-free elections that will catapult Nigeria to the league of truly democratic nations.
“We have decided to share the information we are receiving with Nigerians because we believe that no power is strong enough to stop a people who are determined to effect change in the way and manner they are being governed, and that the ultimate power resides in the people.
“We have no doubt that the information will fortify the local and international observers who are coming for the elections, in addition to enhancing the vigilance of the citizenry before, during and after the polls.”
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has declared Musiliu Obanikoro as unfit to be a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in view of what it called “the prominent role” he played in the Ekiti State election scandal which was recently exposed by Captain Sagir Koli.
The students revealed their verdict today during a protest rally in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.
Led by the NANS Vice President (External Affairs), Ogunkuade Oluwatosin, the students called on Mr. Obanikoro to take perpetual leave of politics and leadership aspirations in Nigeria, saying his actions have not only destroyed the fabric of democracy but also eroded the hopes of Nigerian students that an idealdemocracy will ever be celebrated in the country.
On the forthcoming election, Oluwatosin said, “We knew from antecedence that the present leadership of the country cannot be trusted in any way and that was why we have been emphasizing that the Chairman of INEC must not be removed under any guise whether through sack or terminal leave. Any attempt to force Prof. Attahiru Jega out of INEC in this crucial time could adversely affect the fragile peace we are enjoying in the country.”
He emphasized that should the presidency or its proxies tinker with the dates of the forthcoming elections, they should be prepared to face the wrath of Nigerian students through maximum protests across the length and breadth of Nigeria.
“The tsunami-like protest would be a child’s play when compared to what happened in Tunisia, Libya, Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Hong Kong,” he said.
He also denied rumors that Nigeria students have endorsed President Goodluck Johnathan for the election, explaining that the meeting conveyed by Jude Imagwe, the Senior Special Assistant to President Johnathan on Students and Youths was attended only by some selected youths and a minute fraction of the executive of NANS.
Their statements, he stressed, in no way reflect the minds of suffering Nigerian students.
“The appropriate way for the President to seek endorsement was to visit the campuses and showcase his achievements and not [to gather] un-matriculated students in Aso rock Villa for endorsement.”
He wondered why any right-thinking Nigerian student would endorse President Johnathan for a second term, drawing attention to the deaths recorded in student communities, especially in the Northeastern andNorthwestern parts of Nigeria, as well as the numerous strikes which have adversely affected academic stability in the country.
[b]These are the reasons why l have embraced Buhari. If you look at his past, and some of the statements credited to him, he is not an easy man for a person like me to embrace. But 30 years is a long time and l honestly believe he has had enough time to reflect and to change. He is no more a military officer. He has retained a sharp, social conscience for the people. I am impressed with the hunger with which he has fought for elections. I want to believe that it is out of an earnest desire to work for the people and to do some things right that General Buhari has struggled so hard to win the nation's leadership through the electoral process. While he may not be a saint, he is certainly not a villain. His choice of a very good man in Professor Yemi Osinbajo, for a Vice President gave me the assurance that Buhari was listening to the comments on his areas of weakness. There are enough checks and balances in a democratic set up to make fears of a return to dictatorship a joke. I am also impressed by his modest lifestyle, unlike many of his ilk who live in opulence and indulgence. This says something about the man. I can trust this man with my wallet in a way l cannot do with Jonathan who appears to have forgotten where he came from. Jonathan has lost the golden opportunity to fundamentally affect the lives of the ordinary folks.[/b] I am persuaded that it will be a tragedy for us to continue in this drift for another four years. While Buhari is far from being my ideal candidate and l worry about some of his deficiencies, my perception is that although he may be short on the skills required for the modern management of a state - technology, economic management etc. - his record shows that he has the ability to enlist support. I hope this time he will choose the right people and avoid those who will use his name to do iniquity. While Buhari may not be the ideal candidate we need, he is, certainly the best we have. There is a time in the history of a nation when an individual is needed to rescue it or perform a historic role. As it was with Winston Churchill who provided Britain with the much needed war-time leadership, General Charles de Gaulle who restored the confidence of France, Madiba, Nelson Mandela of South Africa who championed the cause of majority rule and showed the way to national reconciliation and our own Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo who provided leadership to a country on the brink after the Abacha years, my belief is that this is the hour for Muhammadu Buhari to stop the torment of a hemorrhaging nation and restore its confidence.
Lastly, the General owes me one. I will still like Buhari to vocalize an apology and offer some succour to people like me whom his government brutalized in the past. It is the least he can do. To do so is not weakness. Indeed, it is strength to admit the mistakes of the past and to promote national reconciliation. For now, even ahead of the apology, and in the national interest, l have thrown in my hat with Buhari. So has Lola Shoneyin's father. Now 87 but still spritely and alert, my big brother and comrade, Engr. Tinuoye Shoneyin, always a big heart, is enthusiastically by my side at political rallies and party support meetings. Our jailer has become our hope. Life is indeed nothing if not an agglomeration of ironies.
That was many years ago and since l have focused on re-building my life and raising my family. I have prayed and tried hard to forgive my unjust tormentors but l know that the scar is there and people like Lola Shoneyin stroke that weak point now and again, albeit unwittingly. Obviously this is not an experience that can be wished away because it evidently affected my being and changed my life fundamentally. It makes me appreciate people like Mandela so much - 26 years on Robben Island (have you been there?) and he came out with no bitterness and no guile! Such men are rare!
Understandably then, it has taken some effort for me to embrace Buhari's candidacy. I have never voted for him. I did not even like him. But as my friend, Audu Ogbeh said to me once, "so much has gone wrong with our polity, that our emphasis now must not be on ourselves but on the survival of the nation." I have no doubt he is right. This is a time when the overriding interest must be that of the country. As a student of history, l know that while constitutions can be copied and adopted, in the end every nation will only learn by its national experience. The history of many of the democracies we admire today is replete with unimaginable and odious occurrences that characterized their development. It is obvious to me that the trust we reposed in President Jonathan in 2011 has been wantonly squandered.
The sobering state of our nation and realpolitik has made me take another look at Buhari. How viable is he for our polity given the available options? Is the General, the devil he is portrayed to be, or a victim of circumstances or a misunderstood individual? To me President Jonathan has been such a disappointment in many critical areas of our national life. There has been unprecedented violence and blood letting under this administration, which, naively in my view, treated the Boko Haram insurgency with kid gloves and a total lack of resolve. Today, Boko Haram has established a formidable force and has succeeded, before our very eyes, in changing the map of Nigeria. The President appears to have turned deaf ears to the voices of wisdom and surrounded himself with cronies whose main pre-occupation is to exploit him. Some of his spokesmen have made a virtue of rascality and turned public relations upside down. Miscreants who should be in jail for their past deeds are the ones now threatening that our collective vote must go a particular way or there will be insurrection. We never heard of "democracy" at gunpoint till now.
To the discerning, it is clear that the Boko Haram insurgency has been employed as a source of inscrutable abuse, or how else do we explain a Nigerian private plane filled with raw US dollars being impounded abroad? How many such planeloads escaped without being caught is anybody's guess, yet our troops are said to be so ill equipped that the insurgents have better arms. All this despite the huge sums that have been voted for defence under this administration; one wonders where all that money went. Then the massive corruption in every sphere of public office - pension funds stuffed into pillows and mattresses, etc. The disgusting state pardon for a man who, before an incredulous world, broke the terms to a court order and left Britain dressed as a woman! This is not how a leader should exercise such hallowed prerogative power. [b]The President's conduct sent a chilling message down the spine of the polity that corruption and stealing are the way to go. You can add to that the company of shady men wanted abroad for all manner of crimes, including drug offences, who have been installed in positions of leadership in the PDP or have been fielded as Senatorial candidates. The management or lack of it of our foreign reserves (which have become totally depleted) and reports of billions of missing dollars dominate the air. Everybody who is working hard is in trouble. Joblessness has risen to record levels. The youths are, justifiably restless because they have no future in the present dispensation. The tales of woe are just endless. Billions of dollars have disappeared into petroleum subsidy yet even the cost of kerosene, the poor man's fuel, is at an all-time high. It is the oil sheiks that are being subsidized not the ordinary people. To say the ship of state is clearly adrift in Nigeria is an understatement. A land that should be flowing with milk and honey has become the laughing stock of the international community. We simply can no longer tolerate this grotesque level of gluttony and of corruption. There is an urgent need for a change otherwise, we face a huge problem and social dis-location ahead beyond what we already have.[/b]
I came to understand that Diya's grouse with me was that l was so close to the late Chief Olabisi Onabanjo, my governor, and that there was no way of getting Onabanjo without getting Adefulu his political son and confidant! "Onabanjo did nothing Adefulu did not know of," Diya was reported to have said repeatedly. So l had to be purged! Oluokun the head of state security, himself a dastardly character, was Diya's hatchet man. When all efforts at intimidation and harassment failed, they changed tactics and tried to recruit me as an informant against Onabanjo. It soon became clear to them however, that I was not going to be party to their pursuit of crass injustice and motive hunting. I asked Oluokun pointedly to cock his gun and shoot and kill me because under no circumstances would l be part of such villainy. In any case, unless l wanted to become a liar, such incriminating evidence did not exist except in the figment of Diya's convoluted imagination. Onabanjo was the quintessential leader - open, fair minded, as straight as a spoke and a great lover of the people; a man who, to this day, several years after his demise, l still hold in the highest regard.
At the time of my incarceration, my family was at a more delicate stage than the Shoneyins, because it was younger and less endowed. My first son Adeoye, was just under 10 years and our last daughter, Dayo was three months old. I was 37 years old at the time of the coup. My family was subjected to a long and extremely humiliating deprivation. It was the unjust compensation l received for a job to which l gave the very best of my life at a very young age (try as you may, such injustice never leaves you. The wound may heal but the scar is there and sometimes stares you in the face). I tried hard to be strong and for the most part, l was. The knowledge that I had served with the very best of my ability in a job l truly enjoyed, gave me peace of mind and assurance. The open and vocal agitation of many well-meaning citizens such as Professor Wole Soyinka for my release was an act of grace for which l will forever be grateful. The only time l broke down was the day my son, Adeoye, turned 10. With a smuggled recorder, I had recorded a birthday message for him and his young siblings admonishing them to be strong in the knowledge that God was on our side. After recording the message, l wept profusely. It was terrible! My co-prisoners, including my Deputy Governor, the late Chief Sesan Soluade, and the present Emir of Suleija, Alhaji Anwal Ibrahim, the erstwhile Governor of Niger State, and the others, tried hard to console me. I had been the strong one, the encourager of the brethren, but l guess the cup had become too full and it ran over.
While time heals, the impact of such injustice endures. It leaves a telling effect which you carry for the rest of your life. Ironically, when l was finally released, l was in hospital where l had just undergone an emergency operation. Liberty had come at last but it met me totally broken and incapacitated. At my release and after, no one offered any apology for this gruesome and very unjust recompense. Nobody, without due process, should ever have the power to visit such humiliation and injustice on any human being. The irony of dictatorship is that a leader can be so conscientiously wrong in his crusading mission. The Buhari regime was very wrong in my case as in the case of several others. I, along with many others, had come into office with the purest motive of service. It was what l had always wanted to do. I thought it was my life's mission and when the opportunity came l did the work as if my life depended on it. I left a lucrative practice to serve my people. I was totally accountable, yet l was unfairly thrown into jail for no just cause for 18 months!
I found Lola Shoneyin's piece on Buhari titled, "How My Father's Jailer Can Offer Nigeria A Fresh Start" very engaging although it dredged up some very painful memories. It took me down memory lane; indeed, it was a vivid reminder of an awful road on which l and others like Audu Ogbeh, now an ardent Buhari backer, travelled. It was my painful duty as the “Captain” of the detainees, to receive Lola's father, Engr. Tinuoye Shoneyin into the Abeokuta prison and to make him as comfortable as possible in the extremely difficult prison environment, providing him with clothes, a towel and toiletries. Engr. Shoneyin had, as a matter of courtesy, responded to the invitation of the government of Ogun State then led by Colonel Oladipo Diya, who later became the deputy to Gen. Sani Abacha, to answer some questions and had expected to be back home that evening. He was not to return home for six months!
Lola's account dwelt on the torture that she (at such a young age) and her family had to endure and the telling effect of such an experience on the family. Many detainees never recovered from the torture and the injustice that this experience represented. In many cases, mine included, there was no accusation, much less a charge. One slight misstatement in Lola's account was that the detention was at the behest of Col. Tunde Idiagbon, the erstwhile deputy to General Buhari. I doubt if that is quite true. [b]The problem with autocracy is that once the atmosphere has been established or allowed by the leader, many tin gods at the various levels of the strata will for any number of reasons, exploit the situation for the purpose of settling personal and petty scores including disputations over girlfriends! So in the case of Lola's father, the local despot at the time was Colonel Oladipo Diya who was mean, brutal and sadistic and locked up as many people as he wanted, for good, bad or sometimes no reason at all. He flogged civil servants for lateness, taxed the people on every imaginable score, and signed for nearly 20 people who had been sentenced to death (none of whom his predecessor permitted to be killed), to be executed by hanging in one day. He reveled in making people suffer wherewith he was promptly given the name of "Kunya" meaning tormentor which was the direct opposite of what his name “Diya” means in the Yoruba language. He was, indeed, the harbinger of torment and suffering. He it was who saw a ghost in every situation. If the sun was too bright he blamed it on the dethroned politicians. He was a cruel taskmaster who tried irrationally to get water out of stone. At a stage he rounded up contractors who had done various jobs for the state government and dictated that they should either pay certain arbitrary fines or be locked up in prison.[/b]
I was in the gulag for 18 months, 16 of which l spent in the Abeokuta prison. Prior to this time, I had presided over three Ministries in four years and three months. There was never an accusation or a charge of any sort against me. His investigators were surprised at how clean my affairs were and how l could succinctly explain every transaction l was involved in including providing photocopies of cheques that even pre-dated my appointment. "Were you expecting that this type of thing would happen? Why did you leave a thriving law practice for a job like this?" they asked me repeatedly. Therein lies the dilemma of our country that needs good people to preside over its affairs, yet castigates the few who dare to get in the fray. "The punishment for the wise who refuse to take part in the government of their people," said a Greek philosopher, "is to be ruled by fools."
Orikinla: [size=18pt]Dear President Goodluck Jonathan, I hope you know we are now in the 21st century and not 20th century. The best way to boast and brag is to be a 21st century leader with 21st century ideas and projects and not jumping up and down like an overgrown kid on toy horse for just taking more than US$12 billion from government coffers to contract Chinese railway builders to construct railroads and then important some coaches from overseas. Any dummy can do that. [/size]
Thanks for bringing this issue into sharp focus.
If you recall, Sanusi did sound warning bells about this costly and dated approach to nation building...
Africa must get real about Chinese ties
It is time for Africans to wake up to the realities of their romance with China.
...Nigeria, a country with a large domestic market of more than 160m people, spends huge resources importing consumer goods from China that should be produced locally. We buy textiles, fabric, leather goods, tomato paste, starch, furniture, electronics, building materials and plastic goods. I could go on.
The Chinese, on the other hand, buy Nigeria’s crude oil. In much of Africa, they have set up huge mining operations. They have also built infrastructure. But, with exceptions, they have done so using equipment and labour imported from home, without transferring skills to local communities.
So China takes our primary goods and sells us manufactured ones. This was also the essence of colonialism. The British went to Africa and India to secure raw materials and markets. Africa is now willingly opening itself up to a new form of imperialism. ....
Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has predicted that Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari will be elected on 28 March as Nigeria’s new president, to succeed incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan.
At the same time, he dismissed fears of any election annulment as it happened in 1993, under the Babangida administration, when the election of Moshood Kashimawo Abiola was annulled by the military junta.
Obasanjo spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun state today, when he met a group that styles itself, Concerned Citizens of Nigeria.
According to the former Nigerian leader, there will never be a repeat of what happened in the country in 1993 after the Presidential election.
Obasanjo declared that he has confidence in the All Progressives Congress,APC Presidential candidate, General Muhammed Buhari because he was a trained military officer.
The group called on the former President to intervene in the country’s looming political crisis before matters degenerate.
“We have come to express our deep concern over series of dangerous political miscalculations currently going on under Jonathan administration.
“We are afraid that crisis is seriously looming and it is like another June 12 crisis is on the way and it may be very tragic for the country. We want you to as a matter of urgency intervene into the matter before it is too late sir,” the group opined.
In his response,the former President allayed their anxieties, saying that the 2015 election will never be like the June 1993 election.
“You need not to worry about anything. There can never be any June 12 annulment again. Buhari is not Abiola, he is a trained and highly intelligent soldier.
“Oyegun is not Anenih, Osinbajo is not Kingibe. Jega is not Nwosu, Jonathan is not IBB and this time around, Obasanjo will not support any interim government.
“Obasanjo will rather support a free, fair and credible election.”
...According to Mr. Fani-Kayode, We know who the fuel marketers are. We know the relationship that exists between one of the biggest fuel marketers and a national leader of the APC. These unconscionable opposition elements infiltrated the ranks of the fuel marketers, whom they have contracted, in a calculated attempt to frustrate the good efforts of government. “Why have they taken this time when all hands are on deck for the March 28 elections to cause this artificial fuel scarcity? The situation is so bad that they are not importing the product. They are even threatening tank farmers not to release any fuel in their depot in order to sustain the shortage. We are aware that the tank farmers have reported the threat to the Police and other security agencies. “This shows how desperate and wicked the opposition APC can be in their quest for presidential power. Must they make Nigerians suffer simply because they want to rule? They must desist from this act of sabotage. “The opposition should not take delight in celebrating over the pains and sufferings of Nigerians as they have continued to do with the Boko Haram attacks on our people and nation. “The APC’s penchant to diminish the gallantry of our Armed Forces in the battle to defeat insurgency in the northeast zone whilst mocking the government whenever the insurgents bomb and take over villages in the zone, must be condemned by well-meaning Nigerians. “This predilection exposes and portrays the APC and its leaders as forces of retrogression with a devilish mindset to unleash the worst form of anarchy on the nation before, during and after the March 28 presidential election because they know their party and presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari will be dealt a crushing blow by President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls. “The PDPPCO also wishes to use this medium to alert the nation on the lingering plot by the opposition elements who have been sponsoring their agents of destruction in the power sector to vandalise critical infrastructure in order to reduce the megawatts of electricity that is being generated and reverse the gains that government is making in the sector.” http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/177824-apc-behind-fuel-scarcity-plotting-sabotage-of-power-supply-jonathans-campaign.html
Thankfully a national governing agency has now offered a more balanced appraisal.
FFK needs to be tied to the nearest tree, and forced to undergo cold turkey from what appears to be a drug induced haze, for true deliverance
Navy: Nigeria loses N433.62bn annually to oil thieves
The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, revealed yesterday that the current fuel scarcity was caused by the devaluation of the Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
The CBN devalued the Naira in November last year and February this year.
Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Farouk Ahmed, made this disclosure when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) to defend his agency’s 2015 budget proposal.
Ahmed informed the committee that the devaluation caused huge confusion in the oil sector as the petroleum agency did not know the exchange rate to be used for payment on fuel importation.
This disclosure was revealed the same day the Nigerian Navy also disclosed that the country is losing about 100, 000 barrels of crude oil estimated at N1.18bn everyday to oil thieves.
Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin, who stated this in his presentation while defending the 2015 budget of the Navy before the Senate Committee on Defence (Navy), said the development is making Nigeria to lose N433.62bn annually.
Ahmed said the marketers could not deliver the cargoes of fuel expected from them because they were not sure of the exact delivery cost as a result of the devaluation, explaining that the old template used for paying the marketers was no longer useful.
“The recent events have to do with delay in the arrival of cargoes. Non-arrival of cargoes made it difficult for Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS, to be delivered.
“What actually complicated it was the devaluation of the naira – two times. The first one that took place on November 28 devalued Naira from N155 to N168 to $1. The second one that took place on February 18 brought the exchange rate to N199 to $1.
“These two developments brought a lot of confusion into the oil sector. Marketers were not sure of the actual delivery cost. We had to draw a new template as advised by the CBN. The delay we have now is caused by the November devaluation. But the reality is that the policy is clear now,” Ahmed said.
The executive secretary, who explained that PPPRA had to seek the advice of the CBN before it could eventually draw up a new template said the crisis had eventually been resolved as the Budget Office on Monday approved payment for outstanding bills that the marketers are being owed.
He also said the truce was brokered after a meeting of the Ministry of Finance, PPPRA and other relevant agencies.
He said: “The Minister of Finance, PPPRA and other agencies are working closely to ensure that outstanding bills are paid. And that one had been done now.
“Yesterday, we got an approval from the Budget Office for payment of all outstanding bills. We have adjusted the template now. We have to put the exchange rate at the interbank rate. Now, we have a direction.”
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Magnus Abe, who could not conceal his committee’s anger over the none appearance of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, before the committee to give its own side of the fuel scarcity directed that the corporation must appear before the committee tomorrow.
“We invited NNPC to come and defend their budget. They didn’t show up. They don’t even have the respect to give any response to the invitation. We are directing the clerk to re-invite the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Pipeline Product and Marketing Company, PPMC, and all refineries.
“All of them must appear before this committee on Thursday. All of us have our roles in constitution. The letter should contain a strong warning that NNPC must never repeat this before the committee. NNPC has never agreed to bring their budget for discussion.
“This is the same problem we have every year. I’m disappointed that after we agreed on this issue last year, we are still back to it,” Abe said.
At the Navy event, Chief of Logistics, Rear Admiral Peter Agba, who represented the Chief of Naval Staff, explained that his statistics on oil theft was drawn from the information from the Chatham House, United Kingdom.
The Naval chief lamented that the military institution submitted N205.4bn as capital budget for 2015 but that the Ministry of Finance reduced it to N8bn, which is 90 per cent reduction of its original budget proposal.
According to him, “The proposed capital projects for 2015 (captured in the initial N205.4bn), include the on-going acquisition of two OPVs, acquisition of patrol crafts and helicopters, procurement of arms and development of vital support infrastructure.
“The equipment are needed to improve naval operations and the welfare of personnel.”
The Naval Chief further disclosed that despite the substantial reduction in Naval appropriation in 2014, it was able to arrest 84 vessels and 155 suspected oil thieves.
In addition to this, Jubrin stated that the Navy also destroyed 120 illegal oil refineries, 29 barges, 93 boats and 1, 259 auxiliary equipment and tools used by the oil thieves, stressing that this “deterred criminal activities in the water ways and helped in no small measure in providing the enabling environment for the continued exploration and exploitation of the nation’s oil and gas resources.”
But the All Progressives Congress, APC, said the looting of the $12bn domestic gas fund as well as President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration’s failure to pay the fuel subsidy and the cost of interests on bank loans to oil marketers were the real causes of the scarcity.
The opposition party noted that because of the inability of the government to keep to its side of the bargain, it has become impossible for marketers to begin another round of importation of refined petroleum products
In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP and the Jonathan Administration decided to divert attention from those problems by accusing the opposition of being responsible for the scarcity – a most laughable and irresponsible statement by a sitting government that is always so eager to blame everyone but itself for the nation’s woes.
“’The truth is that this profligate government has run Nigeria aground, and the oil sector, whether upstream or downstream, has particularly suffered hugely. The quantity of petroleum products that was imported has almost been fully consumed, without fresh products being brought in to augment supplies that have now fallen well below re-order level.
“The implication is that in addition to worsening power supply, crumbling prices of oil at the international market, weakening Naira and unprecedented corruption, Nigerians – who routinely provide their own electricity to power their homes and business, now have to face another round of government-imposed hardship with the ongoing fuel scarcity,” the party said.
It said the fuel crisis would not have reached the stage it is in now had the $12bn domestic gas project fund not been looted under President Jonathan.
The party said that had the gas project being executed, many vehicles, cooking stoves and generators would have been converted to use gas to reduce the importation of PMS, diesel and kerosene, and gas would have been available to fire the gas turbines at power stations while more power would have been delivered to the national grid.
APC said President Jonathan sabotaged the domestic gas project started by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, with the $12bn cash call provisions for gas development for domestic power generation looted under his (President Jonathan) watch.
The party also slammed the Jonathan Administration for its inability or unwillingness or both to secure power installations from contrived sabotage.
He said: “For a Federal Government that is in control of one million people under arms (military, police, civil defence corps, etc), and one that has spent in excess of N4trn on security, there is no justifiable reason why power installations could not be secured against sabotage,” APC said.
Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, yesterday condemned the return of queues on the Nigerian roads, calling on the Federal Government to quickly move in to address the situation rather than engaging in blame game.
A statement signed by the TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama and the Secretary General, Comrade Musa Lawal, described the scarcity as fortunate especially coming at a time Nigerians were enjoying the slash of pump price from N97 to N87.
The union said that while it was a bad thing to make Nigerians go through the pain again, it was worrisome that government was engaging in a blame game rather than addressing the situation.
The statement said: “It is bad enough that the masses are meant to go through these needless pains again but worst that instead of the leadership and stakeholders rising up and facing the challenge frontally they are busy casting aspersions and playing the blame game again.
“The Congress finds it very difficult to describe things happening on the eve of the 2015 general elections. It has indeed become an onerous task to explain because instead of politicians addressing issues and how they intend to help the economy to do better they are busy dwelling on personalities.
“Sometimes we wonder if our politicians are bothered by the current price of crude in the international market as against what it was sold for few months ago!
AustineE1: all you ve said means he doesnt have a certificate and Nigerians shouldnt expect one.....you are so funny.
Mumurity.
If you go back through my posts on this particular subject (under both my handles); you would note that every piece of advice I have offered is, timely and unassailable. Even before the (new) Cambridge examination board released a press statement, I had already provided a wealth of useful information to illustrate what the likely outcomes were.
Now if you are the sort who can discern the difference between 'real knowledge' and 'white noise', you are bound to ask yourself why I have been correct each time.
I can't stop you and other TANoids who refuse to engage with credible information, while screaming 'GEJ till 3010' ad infinitum, from displaying your visceral but misplaced thinking to the world. After all, when all is said and done, some actually derive inordinate pleasure from the display of stuupiity.
SeverusSnape: She's right, Buhari is a fanatic misogynist.
The way I see that man, Women will suffer greatly under his regime, just like the taliban did in Afghanistan.
There is considerable gender equality under the Jonathan aadministration, Women can now hold key and sensitive positions of authority.
#Neveragain shall our women be subjected to this inhumane treatment
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The party's official line, which Buhari will have to adhere to:
On Women Empowerment
we will:
1. Ensure the rights of women are protected as enshrined in our Constitution; 2. Guarantee that women are adequately represented in government appointments and provide greater opportunities in education, job creation, and economic empowerment; 3. Recognize and protect women empowerment and gender equality with special emphasis on economic activities in the rural areas; 4. Use the Party structures to promote the concept of reserving a minimum number of seats in the States and National Assembly, for women.
When are you untutored clowns going to understand that things worked a little differently in the 1960s? Or that 'University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate' (UCLES) no longer exists in its original form.
For one; all enquiries relating to certificates of exams held that far back, must now go to 'Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Exams' (OCR) - a new examination board
Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Exams (OCR) Contact OCR if your old exam board was one of the following:
East Midland Regional Examinations Board (EMREB) Midland Examining Group (MEG) Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessment Council (OCEAC) Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board (OCSEB) Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Southern Regional Examinations Board (SREB) Southern Universities Joint Board for Schools Examinations (SUJB) University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations (UODLE) West Midlands Examinations Board (WMEB) If your exam board was the East Anglian Examinations Board (EAEB), contact either Pearson Edexcel or OCR - they both hold some of the records.
And two; OCR would only provide a 'certifying statement of results' - the equivalent of the same document already provided by Katsina college - and not an original CERTIFICATE.
A civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has dragged the Minister of Finance,Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to court over “failure to provide information about spending of the alleged missing N30tn, which represents some accruable income to the Federal Government in the past four years.”
The suit filed at the Federal High Court Ikoyi followed a Freedom of Information request by SERAP to Mrs Okonjo-Iweala dated 2nd February 2015. The originating summons with suit number FHC/L/CS/196/2015 was filed on behalf of the organization by SERAP Senior Staff Attorney, Olukayode Majekodunmi.
SERAP’s suit followed disclosure by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo that over N30tn had been missing, or stolen, or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged under the minister’s watch.
In the suit, SERAP argued that “a necessary implication of the rule of law is that a public functionary and institution can only act in accordance with law, as to do otherwise may enthrone arbitrariness. Obedience to the rule of law by all citizens but more particularly those who publicly took oath of office to protect and preserve the constitution is a desideratum to good governance. In a democratic society, this is meant to be a norm; it is an apostasy for public official like the Minister of Finance to ignore the provisions of the law.”
SERAP also argued that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala “As trustee of public funds has a legal duty to render account on the missing N30tn to the beneficiaries (Nigerians) of the trust, if and when called upon to do so.”
SERAP also argued that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala “has so far failed, refused and/or neglected to provide the Plaintiff with the details of the information requested. By virtue of Section 1(1) of the FOI Act 2011, the Plaintiff is entitled as of right to request for or gain access to information which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution. By the provisions of Section 2(7) and 31 of the FOI Act 2011, the Defendant is a public official.”
“By virtue of Section 4 (a) of the FOI Act when a person makes a request for information from a public official, institution or agency, the public official, institution or urgency to whom the application is directed is under a binding legal obligation to provide the applicant with the information requested for, except as otherwise provided by the Act, within 7 days after the application is received. By Sections 2(3)(d)(V) & (4) of the FOI Act, there is a binding legal duty to ensure that documents containing information relating to spending of the alleged missing N30tn is widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means,” the organization also said.
According to the organization, “The information requested for, apart from not being exempted from disclosure under the FOI Act, bothers on an issue of National interest, public peace and security, public concern, social justice, good governance, transparency and accountability. The Defendant will not suffer any injury or prejudice if the information is released to the Plaintiff.”
The organization also argued that, “Unless the reliefs sought herein are granted, the Defendant will continue to be in breach of the Freedom of Information Act, and other statutory responsibilities. It is in the interest of justice to grant this application as the Defendant have nothing to lose if the application is granted.”
“As a key agency of government, the Ministry of Finance has a sacred duty to ensure that the country’s resources and wealth is used solely to fulfil the basic economic and social rights of all Nigerians and achieve the country’s overall socio-economic development. This implies providing strong leadership in the efforts to curb public sector corruption, and to refer to appropriate anticorruption agencies any allegations of corruption in which any agencies of government may be involved or officials of your Ministry may be complicit,” the organization also argued.
“Therefore, it is necessary to provide clarity as to what exactly happened to the missing N30tn if the Ministry of Finance is to continue to play a leadership role in the transparent and accountable management of the country’s resources and wealth, and to enjoy the public trust and confidence essential for the Ministry’s effectiveness and impact,” the organization further stated.
The organization is also seeking “a declaration that by virtue of the provisions of Section 4 (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2011, the Defendant is under a binding legal obligation to provide the Plaintiff with up to date information relating to the spending of the alleged missing N30tn, which represents some accruable income to the Federal Government in the past four years including: a) any receipt, however described, arising from the operation of any law; b) any return, however described, arising from or in respect of any property held by the Government of the Federation; c) any return by way of interest on loans and dividends in respect of shares or interest held by the Government of the Federation in any company or statutory body.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the application.
You wouldn't be the first to default to a state of unreason. Just don't crying, here, when the fire eventually consumes you and others of the same ilk.
I, Muhammadu Buhari, believe that our politics is broken. Our nation urgently needs fundamental political reform and improvement in governance, more transparency and accountability. If you vote me in my administration will:
1. Initiate action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit;
2. Strengthen INEC to reduce, if possible, eliminate electoral malpractices in Nigerian’s political life;
3. Attract the best and brightest of our sons and daughters into our politics and public service by aggressive recruitment of private sector people, academics, and professionals within Nigeria and in the Diaspora through internships, fellowships, executive appointments, and special nomination to contest elective offices.
4. Prevent the abuse and misuse of Executive, Legislative and Public offices, through greater accountability, transparency, strict, and implementable anti-corruption laws, through strengthening and sanitising the EFCC and ICPC as independent entities;
5. Amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases;
6. Restructure governance for a leaner, more efficient, and adequately compensated public service sector, while promoting effective participation of the private sector for more robust job creation programmes to employ the teaming youth.;
7. Require full disclosure in media outlets, of all government contracts over N100m prior to award and during implementation at regular intervals;
8. Reform and Strengthen the Justice System for efficient administration and dispensation of justice with the creation of special courts for accelerated hearing of corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism and similar cases of national importance;
9. Fully enforce the Freedom of Information Act l so that government held data sets can be requested and used by the public and then such data sets be publish on regular basis;
10. Amend the Constitution to require Local Governments to publish their meeting minutes, service performance data, and items of spending over N10M.as a team.
Louislewis: What do you expect from NJCC leader Mallam Yakubu Abdullai a core northern and Muslim. Are you expecting him and his cohort to be happy with any GEJ supporters? These are people that have been under the blindfold of their leaders since independent of this nation. They have governed this nation for over 40yrs, yet they lack behind in all ramifications. He had the opportunity of piloting student's affairs; he had the gut to form a coup against somebody supporting GEJ who brought light to the north. No matter how truth has set him and his cohorts free from this administration, they can never see anything good about it as long as the government of today is being piloted by the southern. That was why they remained in the dark for years blindfolded begging from gate to gate, sleeping outside from gate to gate. Now, Yakubu wants to go back to that era. Era as demanded by Boko Haram. Such a person can never see anything bad about Boko Haram. It is a pity for my fellow southern dancing and dinning with the blinds.
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There is no need to pop a vein, if you are making sense.
Tijani Usman is not exactly in the good books of Shekarau or other members of the establishment either, so you can stick your TAN-inspired rant where the sun don't shine.
NANS Passes Vote Of Confidence On Shekarau
Dec 3, 2014 |
The National Association Of Nigerian Students( NANS) has passed a vote of confidence on the Minister Of Education Ibrahim Shekarau just as it revealed that Comrade Tijani Usman Shehu is not a registered student of any university and so can’t be the president of NANS.
This is against the backdrop of the ultimatum issued yesterday by the factional NANS leader Comrade Tijani Usman Shehu that the student body has declared war against Shekarau and has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately sack the minister over what it alleged as his dishonorable actions.
...Comrade Wali also stated that in the bid to rid the students body of its extreme partisan stance,NANS has set up a screening Commitee to sanitize the organisation and rid it of unscrupulous dissidents who have converted this association which was once the Nigerian student pride into a full time business that is run by a fully non student cabal
“This same cabal that has hijacked the machinery of NANS today have a 45 year old man, one Mr Tijani Usman as its figure head. Mr Usman Tijani in some instances claims to be a student of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and at other occasions claims to be a student of Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic Kaduna. Either way we say without fear or favour,affection or ill will that he is neither a student not graduate of any institution known to us.”
OrlandoOwoh: Nice one there. How can any reasonable student endorse this government. The expelled NANS President has shown signs that he would be worse than Jude, a former NANS President and a serving SSA to Jonathan. NANS (then known as NUNS) died in the days of Segun Okeowo and Mayegun.
I could not agree more @OrlandoOwoh. NANs has been nothing more than a pliable tool in willing hands, for quite sometime now.
Today, NANS presently wears a new face painted with wealth. During the last strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the association had condemned ASUU for prolonging the strike despite certain concessions made by the Federal Government and had threatened to drag the varsity lecturers to court for keeping them at home for such a long time. This position contradicted the earlier resolve of the association not to get involved in the crisis, noting that the agitation by the aggrieved lecturers was for the good of the nation’s university system.What made the students’ body shift its ground and become so sympathetic with the government, despite the reasonable demands made by their lecturers remained unclear.
wakacome: You are wrong,actually he is a "professional thief"
You are not too far wrong...
NANS UNDER FIRE!
OCTOBER 21, 2014 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...Recall that NANS led and motivated mass action against the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) imposed by the Ibrahim Babangida. The association, unbowed by military might, remained a strong opposition to the military. Worthy of mention was the heroic courage of the association during the popular ‘Ali Must Go’ protest. Sadly, gone were the days when every government in power dreaded students like a gadfly.
Today, NANS presently wears a new face painted with wealth. During the last strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the association had condemned ASUU for prolonging the strike despite certain concessions made by the Federal Government and had threatened to drag the varsity lecturers to court for keeping them at home for such a long time. This position contradicted the earlier resolve of the association not to get involved in the crisis, noting that the agitation by the aggrieved lecturers was for the good of the nation’s university system.What made the students’ body shift its ground and become so sympathetic with the government, despite the reasonable demands made by their lecturers remained unclear.
However, investigation by our reporters revealed that key executive officers of the union drive in a convoy of exotic cars, spending weeks in five-star hotels on the bills of faceless benefactors. They become hired hands for those seeking elective offices. Members of the union serve as advance party for politicians during political rally, chanting their ‘Aluta’ songs in solidarity. The students’ body has degenerated to a lame dog, crawling behind self-seeking politicians for pittance. To some students, NANS has ceased to protect their interests and must be disbanded.
Recently, one- time Senate President of the association, Tijani Usman, emerged the 28th NANS President amid high expectations for change from those who want corruption rooted out of the students’ body.
Politics › Re: Why Is President Jonathan Downplaying Ekitigate? by TheOtherview: 1:13pm On Mar 06, 2015
