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Patience Jonathan, the wife of the president, said that Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, would send her to prison if he is elected.

Buhari Will Jail Me If He Is Elected – Patience
Patience Jonathan

The First Lady invoked the ‘Holy ghost fire’ to consume the ruling party opponents at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rally on March 25, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The Punch reports that Patience Jonathan firstly entertained the crowd of supporters by dancing to household music tracks such as ‘Kukere’ and ‘Personally’. After that she assured the crowd that the PDP-led government was a lover of women and youths in the country and should, therefore, be encouraged to continue.

“I want to warn you not to listen to the All Progressives Congress. The APC does not have materials to match what the PDP has on (the) ground. Their candidate was there in governance initially. What did he do? They only sent your fathers to prison.

“They are planning to even send me to prison. Holy Ghost fire! Holy Ghost fire! Holy Ghost fire! They have nothing to offer. They only say ‘I will’, ‘I will’.

Continuing her emotional statement, the First Lady said that the PDP was here to liberate the people of Oyo state, the Cable reports.

“Some of them died in the prison; you know them. You want me to call one of them that died in the prison – don’t you know Adelabu? Haven’t you heard that name before in Oyo? He was the leader of NPN then. He was imprisoned by this APC, by this very people that want to enter there and he died there.

“PDP has come to liberate the people. After this one, when they fail, they won’t have any name to bear again. The last time they failed, they changed their name to APC – not knowing APC is a spare drug.”

The First Lady also called on the crowd to vote for the PDP and its presidential candidate.

“A train is moving and it has now got to Oyo State. When we talk about train, some of you may have not seen a train before now. The last time a train moved in this country was when I was small and in primary school.

“When my children were small, they asked me what a train was. I had to take them to London and we entered a train from London to Paris. But the PDP government has brought this back to Nigeria. If you want to see train working today, you don’t need to travel again.”

Speaking earlier, Jumoke Akinjide, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, said that the president deserved to be re-elected because he gave women 35% representation in his cabinet.

“I enjoin the women and youths of Oyo State to vote for our party on Saturday. I have seen a campaign advert by the APC in the newspapers saying ‘God give us men’. But our prayer in the PDP is different. We pray that God gives us men and women.

“Jonathan is the first President in Nigeria to give women 35%. Going by the National Conference report, the President has said that if women have 35%, youths will also have 30%.”

Ahead of the presidential election in the country, the First Lady is taking an active part in the PDP rallies. On March 24 Patience Jonathan visited Gani Fawehinmi freedom Arcade ground in Akure, where she also begged Nigerians not to vote for Muhammadu Buhari.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/409347-buhari-will-jain-me-if-he-is-elected-patience.html

who do you think will win the debate?

What If The Rescheduled Elections Were Postponed Again?

The general elections in Nigeria earlier scheduled for 14 February and 28 were postponed for six weeks after deliberations on the security situation in the northern part of the country as well as the collection of permanent voters cards.

A few days to the election, with rumours that it might be postponed once again, many Naij.com readers took to Facebook to express their attitude to the rumour.

While some supported the move, others expressed discontent with it.

Jude Chukwu says; Unfortunately, the president and his members have lost ideas on how to win ordinary campaign. And believe me, APC are the best option to choose. Whenever they campaign, they make it known to people their plan to properly govern the critical situation facing Nigeria. But the PDP Members, will be busy campaigning based on religious, they will be campaigning based on their achievement including the eradication of “Ebola” in Nigeria. Did I hear them say they did it? No they lied about that because first, praise should go to our Almighty God for his insufficient grace and blessings upon Nigeria. Second, to Ms. Late Stella Adedevoh who discovered the deadly disease on time and make sure the infected are being isolated. And lastly, the governor of Lagos State, Dr Raji Fashola who made sure the deadly virus is being contained and River State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi of River State who also worked tireless to make sure the deadly virus is being contained. PDP members have lost ideas of campaign and the more they accuse GMB, the more the people’s general gain more popularity. Since PDP have started their campaign, they have not mentioned what they plan on doing if eventually they wins. They want people to praise them for wasting 6 years in office. Yet, they clamor they’ve achieved what they promised in 2011. To my fellow igbos reading my write-up, let me remind everyone of you that president goodluck jonathan isn’t the goodluck we want. We want another style of government. Let’s support GMB OF APC. I believe change is possible. Under this present administration of PDP led-government, so many funds have been missing without no trace. It’s unfortunate Nigeria can no longer get loan abroad because we’ve exceeded the limit and yet, there is nothing to show for it. Imagine the most populous country of over 160 million Nigerians are living in abject poverty, unemployment for the graduates and the standard of living is in totally shambles. They claim they’ve done a lot in federal roads but, potholes are visible to the eyes of the citizens. They claim they’ve improve in power supply. Yet, we have just 3,000 megawatts to generate power supply to the whole federation. Why won’t there be unstable power supply? In some area they’ve not experience light for donkey years. While other area, they can’t boast of 3 hours stable power supply. If president jonathan said he met the country filthy when he came into power, that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t work and cleanse the filthiness. Yes, I know people will quote me wrongly after reading this piece of my write-up. But let’s be realistic. What has president jonathan done to warrant the citizen to vote for him?. As soon as he won 2011 election, he introduced the removal of fuel subsidy. But today, the funds accumulated from the subsidy removal have been stolen and no one is been accounted for it. $20B got missing till today, the federal government have swept the case under the carpet. Billions of dollars were approved by the senate for the purchasing of arms to fight Boko Haram insurgents. Till today, boko haram are still killing senselessly. And the military are complaining for not being armed to fight the deadly terrorist sect. When over 200 chibok secondary school girls were kidnap, the president said nobody is missing but when Malala Yousafzai came to Aso Rock,that was when president jonathan knew the girls were actually missing. I don’t write base on sentiment, but I write base on issues that needs urgent address. Truly, Nigerians needs goodluck, myself need goodluck but “Goodluck Jonathan Is Not The Goodluck” We need. I believe in a democracy where a leader, will agree that both stealing and corruption are not welcome. I believe in transparency and integrity. GMB may have been a dictator in 1985 where he jailed corrupt people and during those years, there was no constitution. Now, there is constitution and I know GMB will treat corrupt leaders if elected in a democratic manner. I urge every good citizen of Nigeria reading my write-up, to vote wisely. Don’t Vote Based on Tribes, Don’t Vote Based On Sentiment. But, vote with your conscience. If you feel this government doesn’t deserve another 4 years after they’ve wasted a whooping 6 years, then let’s vote for change. CHANGE IS POSSIBLE. VOTE GMB OF APC. May God Bless The Federal Republic Of Nigeria.

Bolaji Folaranmi Ajibade stressed quoting former president shehu shagari’s statement:
“Buhari did not overthrow my government, its was when those boys that overthrew our government were looking for someone with integrity and honesty to be the head of their government that was when Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s name came in. It was Gen D.Y Bali that mentioned his name, and all of them agreed, Gen Tunde Idiagbon was asked to announce his name when he “Buhari” was not even there, i thought he was in India then for a course. Shagari said this to react to allegations leveled against Buhari that he overthrew democracy and he want to be elected under the same democracy he truncated 32 years ago.

Sunday Oluwarotimi Soyemi says; “Nothing would happen except for some peace protest as to incapability of the present government. By this time many Nigerians with a blinded support for the simple but yet insensitive governmentof Mr president to issues of National interests and development would by then be convinced Nigeria is truly on autopilot. Which must be given all the needed sacrifice a renewed destiny.I pray the election would hold on the dates and Nigerians destiny would not further shift

Iniedu Patrick Jacobson wrote: “Even if election is postpone to April 11th it has already being prophesied and no force on earth can stop it Goodluck Jonathan till 2019.”

Anselem Chinemezu explained that “if it is like the last postponement which was for good of the country, I wont be bothered. They can postpone it again and again if there is a good reason.”

While some readers support the move, and others say do not, a few others say it’s a call for war.

Meanwhile, A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has warned that the March 28 and April 11 elections may be sabotaged by anti-democratic forces, which could lead the military to stage a coup d’état and set in place an interim government.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/404987-what-if-the-rescheduled-elections-were-postponed-again.html

The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godwill Akpabio reportedly collapsed yesterday at a function in the state and rushed to an undisclosed hospital in the United Kingdom, newspunch.org has exclusively learnt.
This is following the defection of former governor of the State, Victor Obong Attah from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the opposition All Progressives Congress. Attah publicly endorsed the APC candidates in the State, despite being a BoT member of PDP
Since the governor’s collapse, his close aides, family members and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has been keeping the news from the reach of the media. But, a source, close to the governor, but who pleaded anonymity confided in reporters that the governor collapsed yesterday and had since be rushed to an undisclosed UK hospital
http://omojuwa.com/2015/03/gov-akpabio-collapses-rushed-to-uk-hospital/

The governor of Rivers State and Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign, Rotimi Amaechi has disclosed something about the relationship between wife of the President, Patience Jonathan and Chief Nyesom Wike.

According to Amaechi, Wike, who is the governorship candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, pays the sum of $1m (N199m) to Patience monthly in order to gain political favour, Punch reports.

The governor further accused Wike of being responsible for the killing an APC member, who was shot dead recently in his (Wike) hometown, adding that the police had been biased and could not arrest the PDP hoodlums who committed the murder.

He disclosed this at a praise and worship session organised by the Ikwerre Youth Movement and Ikwerre Women Forum at Isiokpo, headquarters of the Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state.

“Do you know that the PDP governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, has been giving one million dollars monthly to the wife of the President, Mrs Patience Jonathan? He has been doing this to gain political favour in the Presidency and to retain the favour.

“For eight years, our Okrika brother (Senator George Sekibo) has been occupying the senate (Rivers East) seat and now it is the turn of an Ikwerre son, but Nyesom Wike has gone ahead to accept another four years for George Thompson Sekibo. This is not acceptable, Chief Andrew Uchendu will take over this time, one man called Nyesom Wike cannot sell Ikwerre birth right,” Amaechi said.

In his reaction, Wike, who spoke through his media aide, Mr. Simeon Nwakudu, debunked Amaechi’s allegations, describing it as false.

He said it was another one of Amaechi’s attempt to divert the attention of the public from the monumental corruption under his leadership.

He challenged the governor to respond to the allegations of corruption against him, rather than cook up false stories.

“Amaechi has wasted over N3tn that have accrued to Rivers State, a large percentage of the funds being expended on the sponsorship of APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, and the APC,” Simeon said.

It’s been a war of words and accusations since the campaign for the elections started, especially between the PDP and the APC. The political parties have been pointing accusing fingers at each other, slandering their opponent’s candidates.

In Rivers state, the incumbent governor is strongly opposed to Wike, who he doesn’t want to emerge as the state governor. According to him, Wike is an Ikwerre man just like him and it is not right for another Ikwerre man to take over.

At the weekend, an APC rally at Elioparanwo-Port Harcourt, was disturbed by suspected thugs believed to have been sent by the opposition PDP.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/407029-why-wike-pays-patience-jonathan-1m-monthly-amaechi.html

Ayo Fayose, Ekiti state governor is disgracing the Fayose family name says Segun Fayose, a United Kingdom-based accountant and eldest brother of the governor.

Ayo Fayose's Eldest Brother Blasts His Political Antics
Segun Fayose has told his younger brother, Ayo Fayose to be careful about remarks that can discredit the Fayose family name

According to Osun Defender, Segun, has appealed to the governor to stop embarrassing the family.

Segun commented on their father saying he was a gentle pastor, who built and sustained a good name for the family, before joining his ancestors.

He said rather than sustain the good name which he inherited, the governor has been embarrassing other Fayoses with the way he insults elders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Emphasising that their father died with contentment, the elder Fayose said the family was known in Ekiti for sound character found in every omoluabi.

He also described Chief Obasanjo as Ayo Fayose’s benefactor.

Segun said: “It is a pity Nigerians are celebrating criminals. I am angry with Nigerians for electing somebody like Ayodele as governor. My children cannot come to Nigeria because of the terrible situation of our country.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/407125-ayo-fayoses-elder-brother-blasts-his-political-antics.html

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, has opened up that there’s no way his party will get a landslide victory in the forthcoming general elections.
Mu’azu, a former governor of Bauchi State, made the remark in an unusual statement he signed in Abuja on Thursday to try to shore up the party’s dwindling fortunes and refurbish his relationship with the President. He has recently declared he would rather resign his chairmanship than insult General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
According to SR, he hinged the PDP’s hopes on wooing undecided voters as well as traditional rulers, whom Mr. Jonathan is known to have been offering large bribes.

“We are going around the country in search of undecided voters, who are the final battle ground where the election will be won or lost, he said, adding that the APC could continue to stir the rumour mills into believing that he and Mr. Jonathan are in disagreement, but that they are very serious about winning the presidential election.
Strangely, Mu’azu implicitly conceded that the party was doing very badly before the elections were postponed, thereby confirming popular speculation that that was why Jonathan worked so hard to force the postponement. After three weeks of town hall meetings, the National Chairman said, PDP was “inching its way to victory” in the presidential election, with that time-frame being the additional lifeline supposedly granted to it by the postponement.
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According to him, “We shall continue this interactive engagement with Nigerians until 26th March when campaigns officially end before the March 28th Presidential elections, presenting our scorecard in government, our programme in the next four years to 2019, using the town hall format and meeting our revered traditional rulers…
“While I do not see a landslide victory coming, I am convinced that our party will perform creditably in the Southwest and the North of Nigeria and elsewhere in all the elections this year because the evidence is clear that despite our travails at the beginning, we have done very well over the past fifteen years of our nascent democracy since 1999 to record victory. Those who disbelieve our resilience will be surprised for victory is ours.’

http://omojuwa.com/2015/03/pdp-chairman-confesses-we-can-not-have-a-landslide-victory-again/

No fewer than 5,000 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have allegedly defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna state in the last five months.

This was disclosed on Thursday by the Vice chairman of APC in Kaduna, Alhaji Abubakar Rilwanu, adding that the new entrants cut across five local government areas of the Northern Senatorial District of the state that include Zaria, Giwa, Soba, Kubau and Ikara.

5,000 PDP Members Join APC In 5 Months
He said: “Defection to APC has now become a routine affair. As I am talking to you, we have so far received more than 5,000 defectors spread across the senatorial district who surrendered their PDP membership cards.

“Just yesterday (Wednesday), I received about 1,500 defectors at a village called Chijaki in Kubau Local Government Area. These people are from seven polling units in the area.

“In Ikara local government, we also received many defectors and most of these people were complaining that the government of the day takes things for granted by deceiving people, especially in projects accomplishment.”

Rilwanu claimed that some of the defecting PDP members complained that they have supported PDP in the previous elections, only to be neglected.

He said that APC expects “to receive more than 10,000 people, mainly from PDP,” before the forthcoming elections.

Only on Wednesday, the National Coordinator for President Goodluck Jonathan’s support group, (Jonathan Shall Lead Again), (JOSLA), Comrade Curtis Ugbo, defected to the APC.

According to Daily Trust, Ugbo, nicknamed the ‘peoples Speaker’ who abandoned Jonathan and declared support for the APC presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari, defected with thousands of his supporters on Thursday.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/405934-5000-pdp-members-join-apc-in-5-months.html

Editor’s Note: A growing trend with the President Goodluck Jonathan camp since the unfortunate postponement of the elections has been his visits to monarchs around the country to solicit for votes for himself as he shares dollars to these kings to win their hearts and those of their people. Acclaimed author, Okey Ndibe, questions where all the money being spent on monarchs is coming from when they can be better used to lift the economy of the country.

Article Highlights

– the dominant ethic that shapes Nigeria’s public space is the empowerment of a few gluttonous parasites who hijack the resources of the state

– The mindless accumulation of wealth serves as the singular agendum of the Nigerian political class

– If raw cash has given Mr. Jonathan what amounts to a political resurrection, the relative lack of cash has hampered the opposition APC

– Unable to do much without money, the APC’s presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, shipped out to the UK

(Sahara Reporters) – I have often argued that the entire Nigerian political machinery that bears the name “government” is little more than an arrangement to enable a few individuals to mindlessly loot the resources of the larger collectivity.

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This argument has been eloquently illustrated in several ways this current electioneering cycle. Let’s look at some of the anecdotal evidence.

First, there’s the postponement of the elections for six weeks. Here’s a short synopsis of how that event transpired. First, National Security Advisor, Sambo Dasuki, went to Chatham House in London to declare that he had advised the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the elections.

According to the NSA, the case for postponement rested on two planks. One was the poor distribution of permanent voter cards, with thirty million such cards lying in INEC’s various offices across the country, uncollected. The other was the security unease in the country’s northeast zone.

Many Nigerians hastened to portray Mr. Dasuki’s suggestion as a partisan attempt to give some air to President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign tottering, deflated campaign. There’s no question that the eventual postponement served Mr. Jonathan. The president’s campaign seemed to have little momentum and traction. He seemed to reel, a panting political boxer whose back was against the ropes, guards down, as the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) pummeled his torso.

I was appalled that Mr. Dasuki failed to see the sad neo-colonial mindset implicit in his choice of a think tank in the UK to make a public case for postponing the elections. Even so, his central contention—that the elections were not viable, with 30 voters yet to pick up their biometric voter cards—made eminent sense.

Mr. Dasuki’s call to postpone the elections triggered such a deafening decibel of partisan bickering that few people were able to pay attention to the NSA’s other remarkable pronouncements. Speaking in an uncharacteristically undiplomatic tone, Mr. Dasuki had accused some Nigerian soldiers deployed against Islamist insurgents, Boko Haram, of cowardice. “Unfortunately we had a lot of cowards, so there was a problem in the recruitment process,” the NSA, who is a retired colonel, told his audience in London. According to a BBC report, he accused some soldiers of “[giving] every excuse in this world not to fight.” In an obviously testy mood, he warned, “If you don’t want to fight, it’s not your fault, get out of the army.”

These were strong, direct words. In effect, he repudiated the oft-repeated argument that the soldiers were ill equipped, poorly armed for the assignment of combating Boko Haram. Mr. Dasuki noted that how fleeing soldiers often surrendered large caches of weapons to the Islamist fighters. How could soldiers with such weapons claim they were inadequately armed, he argued?

As the debate inspired by the NSA’s Chatham address raged, Nigeria’s security chiefs echoed him. If the elections began on February 14 as they had been scheduled, they said, then their services would be in no position to guarantee security around the country. However, if the election dates were shifted by six weeks, the Nigerian armed forces said they would have enough time to dislodge Boko Haram fighters from their entrenched locations throughout the northeast. In the end, INEC was compelled to move the elections to March 28 and April 11, 2015.

The whole messy deal, I suggest, buttresses my opening contention: the dominant ethic that shapes Nigeria’s public space is the empowerment of a few gluttonous parasites who hijack the resources of the state.

Both INEC and Nigeria’s security apparatuses knew, four years ago, that elections were coming in 2015. What then explains INEC’s sloppy preparations? Why, despite its array of staff and budget, was the electoral commission unable to do a sounder job of distributing biometric voter cards?

Many were skeptical when the Nigeria’s military said they would rout Boko Haram in six weeks. Yet, once the elections were postponed, the military began to surprise critics. In battle after battle, soldiers decimated the insurgents. They have been able to recapture scores of towns, large and small, that the insurgents had seized with relative ease over the past two years.

Nigerians ought to wonder: what the heck changed? Why is the military doing in a matter of weeks something it had failed to accomplish in several years? If some of the soldiers were cowards, as Mr. Dasuki stated at Chatham House, had the military authorities injected them with some courage-boosting hormone? Or is the decisive turn in the war a result, perchance, of Nigeria’s alleged recruitment of mercenaries from South Africa? Or does it owe, even, to the gritty spirit and determination of soldiers from neighboring Chad, Niger and Cameroon?

I’d suggest that none of the foregoing scenarios explains the turnaround. Instead, we are witnessing a rare act of what’s possible when the ruling class in Nigeria is desperate enough to embrace the idea of governance as a mechanism for addressing problems. The mindless accumulation of wealth serves as the singular agendum of the Nigerian political class.

Like his predecessors, military and civilian, President Jonathan and his co-operators of the Nigerian state are wedded to this debilitating ideology. But for the first time in the country’s electoral history, an incumbent government at the center was confronted with the prospect of utter defeat. In order to stave off that prospect, their military wing suddenly brought their “A” game to the table. That, I conjecture, explains why the military became transformed overnight into a nimble, diligent bunch able to stare down Islamist insurgents.

It serves the interests of the military arm of the Nigerian state to showcase itself as a responsive, primed-to-deliver force. I don’t think that Nigerian soldiers became less cowardly. Nor do I believe that it’s all about the infusion of a few South African mercenaries. I doubt that warriors for hire have what it takes to so decisively reshape the fortunes of a war that, until a few weeks ago, was a series of humiliating retreats for the Nigerian military. More likely, President Jonathan and his civilian as well as military cohorts saw the doleful sign writ large on the wall. They realized that, unless they rose to the challenge of taming the insurgents, their political access to state largesse would be doomed. So, the military got cracking, both to save the incumbent president’s job and to preserve the interests of its top brass.

But Mr. Jonathan has not been able to wean himself altogether from the old rubric. Since the postponement, he’s appeared to depend on the logic of doling out raw cash—dollars, no less—to buy political mileage. Once the elections were postponed, the president seemed re-invigorated. He began to zip around the Nigerian landscape, but not necessarily to spell out ideas or to press the case that he has been, in truth, a transformational leader. Rather, his junkets have been, literally, about buying affection and political traction. By some accounts, he’s taken to holding cash-sharing conclaves with traditional rulers, ex-generals, civic “activists” and a host of so-called “stakeholders.”

A dollar-boosted president, who looked all but lost a few weeks ago, has been strutting the stage with a new spring in his gait. But he’s merely exuded the swagger of an operative who is infinitely more loaded than his opponents, but with dollars instead of ideas. The Punch of March 15 2015 carried a telling headline: “Jonathan rains dollars on South-West Obas”. The paper reported that some obas received as much as $250,000 each!

In a season where presidential “endorsements” have become a minor, dollar-denominated industry, nobody is asking where all the slush funds are coming from. Or, for that matter, why the president—who enjoys a clear edge from the reign of free cash—didn’t deem fit to use all that money to reshape Nigeria for the benefit of all citizens.

If raw cash has given Mr. Jonathan what amounts to a political resurrection, the relative lack of cash has hampered the opposition APC. In fact, the postponement of polls represented a kind of masterstroke for the PDP.

The ruling party has the leverage to conjure up cash from all kinds of places, including public treasuries, the oil sector, the energy sector, banks and other corporate entities. The APC is similarly funded from state funds. But with revenues to states dwindling, the party’s purse suffered. Unable to do much without money, the APC’s presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, shipped out to the UK.

The party seemed to go into a state of hibernation. It was one more moment when the APC proved itself to be Siamese twins with the PDP. And since the party is not distinguished in its vision, but shares, with the PDP, the same ideology that money rules—it went into a state of suspended animation once cash ran low.

Whichever faction of the ruling class triumphs in the 2015 elections, Nigerians will have the next four years to think hard about a system that empowers a few looters to disinherit the rest of us. And they will discover that the whole system must be radically uprooted and restructured if our condition is not to remain hapless.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/404945-how-jonathan-used-the-poll-shift-to-loot-nigeria.html

A group has mocked President Goodluck Jonathan in newspaper political adverts with famous answers he gave to journalists in recent past. The advertisement was made in one of the national dailies last week. The group modified “Goodluck Ebele Jonathan” to “Goodluck Dunno Jonathan” based on his famous phrase “I don’t know”. They added questions like, ‘do you know where the Chibok girls are?’, ‘is it true that $20Billion is missing from NNPC?’, and more….with supposed replies tantamount to making a mockery of the president.

The ridiculous newspaper advert ended with “It is time for real leadership. It is time for change! Vote APC. Vote Buhari/Osinbajo”. Is this what politics about?

It would be recalled that not long ago, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Senator Ayo Arise clashed with Governor Ayo Fayose over his constant attacks on the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

http://www.naij.com/404593-photo-have-you-seen-this-advert-mocking-jonathan.html

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Related: Buhari On Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

Few days ago, former president Olusegun Obasanjo was interviewed by the International Business Times UK and here are five major things the former Peoples Democratic Party chieftain said.

5 Vital Things Obasanjo Said In Dubai

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo was at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai on Sunday, 15th of March and he said a lot of things which will interest every political onlooker. The former president was interviewed during the event by International Business Times UK and he spoke on Boko Haram and the abducted Chibok girls. Obasanjo said that the terror group, Boko Haram has a genuine reason to be angry.

He also condemned the federal government over its failure to effectively tackle the recovery of the kidnapped school girls by Boko Haram in Chibok Local Government, Borno state. However, Naij. com has gathered five important things he said during the interview:

1. The government did not believe that there had been an abduction. Maybe if the Federal Gvernment had believed on time and swung into action, the Chibok girls would have been rescued.

2. Boko Haram has become a regional issue and we have to deal with it regionally.

3. Boko Haram has legitimate grievances.

4.The response of the government initially was definitely not enough. When Boko Haram started showing their fangs about four years ago the reaction should have been firm and unmistakable. We have lost ground.

5. If Boko Haram is ready to talk, [we should talk]. But by the time they are ready to talk they will need to be pounded a little bit militarily: at that stage they will be ready to talk.

Meanwhile, the media director of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, recently accused the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, for ignoring security reports and the counsel of the Federal Government against holding the 2014 May/June West African Examination Council in Chibok before the school girls abduction.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/404399-5-vital-things-obasanjo-said-in-dubai.html

Desperation surges within the presidency and PDP camp. Postponing the election to March 28, this group thought they had bought added time to alter the electoral equation in their favor. They were frightened that February 14 would have been their demise. Four weeks out of the six week delay, they have not found the elixir they craved. The date change has not changed the electoral dynamic in their favor. With the damage they have done to the nation, how could they think a mere six weeks would return to them the precious goodwill they had so meanly squandered? They now discover there likely is no sudden alteration that can repair the mess they have made of things. The extra time has only been a temporary stay of execution of the people’s sovereign will against a desolate government that, through its callous neglect of the economy and national security, has been more hindrance than help to the people it once vowed to serve.

The PDP remains in virtually the same position they occupied in early February. They look behind them to find the people no longer there. They are angry because they think the people have deserted them at the eleventh hour. The greater truth is that they abandoned the people at the very dawn of this administration. They will now reap the dividends of their indifference.

Just as they did a week before the original February election date, all senior PDP figures have run into the street not to contest in the elections but to contest against elections being had at all. They remain afraid of the outcome of a clean and free exercise. They would like it to be loose and murky or not to hold at all.

This is the reason they vehemently hackle about the use of a card reader for the elections. They have belatedly learned the card reader will prevent customary electoral malpractices. The reader will separate them from their cherished weapons of multiple voting and ballot stuffing. The best hope for them to manufacture victory is to manufacture reasons to nix the card readers, thus necessitating a last-minute reversal to the old, discredited process.

The claim that use of the cards will disenfranchise voters is bogus. The world over, voters are required to register to vote and to present at the polling booth on election day a voter registration card. This process is not materially different than what takes place in other nations.

Neither the card nor the reader itself is used to cast votes. The card is a form of identification, an important and effective method internal control, verification and confirmation, affirming the voter is the eligible to participate in this important civic exercise.

In the old system, the voter still had to present a voter registration card that would be verified by the appropriate electoral official. The verification process was porous and inaccurate due in part to innocent human error and to willful malpractice.

By making the verification process dependent on computer-read biometrics, the elements of human error and mischief have been eliminated from this important process. Fingerprints cannot be altered nor can the machine’s reading of them be distorted. Only those entitled to cast ballots will be allowed to receive a ballot to cast. I cannot understand how anyone with even the pretense of a democratic bone in his body can bemoan this improvement.

They cry that the card- reading machines are imperfect. No one can guarantee that each and every machine will perfectly work. However, the alternative is fraught with even greater imprecision. Each national election conducted in Nigeria since 1999 has been a feat of ample rigging and malpractice. That is the way of the old system. It incentivizes gross impropriety. This new way discourages if not prevents it. Unless the card readers are being sabotaged by PDP agents, the possibility of a massive failure of the readers is so scant as to be statistically implausible. The rate of innocent human error inherent in the old system far exceeds that of computer error in the new one. When we add the high rate of willful mischief and wrongdoing the old system condoned, the new digital path is vastly superior to the reversion the PDP would have us make.

At the end of the day and every day has its end, the people need to vote and need to have confidence in the entirety of the process. The computerized card reader gives us a high probability of finally conducting a clean and fair election. A return to the old system is a sure return to crimes and wrongs that have made our elections a mockery of the democratic ideal and of the people’s will. If one system gives us but the mere possibility let alone probability of a credible undertaking while the other system is doomed by the certainty of the misconduct it produces, it simply makes more sense to opt for the chance of success instead of settling for the certainty of failure.

That the PDP cohort wants the old way means they do not want to advance democracy by insuring a decent electoral process. They want to kidnap democracy by orchestrating the electoral result.

They are afraid of the verdict of the people because they know they have ill-served the nation for so many years.
The energy this administration should have invested in governing the people for six years is now being expended in these last few weeks in the frantic attempt to scuttle or side-wind an election that is tantamount to a referendum on the Jonathan administration. They want to save their skin by choking your democracy. Their efforts come as too much, too clumsily, too late.

Do not be persuaded by their attempts to paint themselves as last-second democrats. Their governance has been haughty and arrogant, an eruption of insecurity, unemployment and deep economic recession depleting the national treasury by the day if not by the hour and minute. The times have been fertile and fecund for them but barren and bankrupt as to you! Their long track is one of disservice to you on all accounts — employment, power, water, roads, national security, corruption, education, health, housing and social security. Now at the last minute, they want you to believe they have become paragons of democratic virtue, the guardians of your right to vote. This is an insult to our collective wisdom. Your right to vote is seen as a wrong to them. They don’t seek democracy. They seek to strike fear in you that you may recoil from grasping the democracy that is now so closely at hand.

Let us give true democracy a chance. At the end of every contest, the cards must be placed on the table and read. Let all the cards that you as voters hold in your hands be read. Only those afraid of the will of the people fear what the cards shall read.

-Bola Ahmed Tinubu

See more at: http://citizenconfidential.com/reading-the-card-reader-issue/#sthash.OaRJEZhH.dpuf

Nigeria President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan has been accused of being hell bent on returning for a second term in office by any means necessary thus massively bribing militant groups across the country to cause chaos, before, during and after the rescheduled elections, so that if he loses, Nigeria will not know peace.

This allegation was contained in a press release by the Coalition of Oodua Self Determination Groups (COSEG ) signed by its Chairman, Ifedayo Ogunlana; and Secretary, Rasaq Olokoba; after an emergency meeting of the group in Lagos on Tuesday, 17th March, 2015 where issues bothering on the 2015 elections and the recent walk carried out by militia groups in Lagos on Monday, 16th March, 2015 were discussed.

The group disclosed that from its intelligence gathering, many groups are mobilised by the presidency through the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, stressing that insisting on the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) boss few days to the rescheduled general elections is unnecessary, diversionary and invitation to chaos.

According to COSEG, “the desperation of President Jonathan is taking a dangerous dimension with the massive mobilisation of militia groups across the country to cause trouble before, during and after the rescheduled general elections. Let it be known to Jonathan and his handlers that Nigeria is bigger than any individual, no matter how highly placed. The call for the sack of the INEC chairman some few days to the 2015 general elections is uncalled for, reckless and diversionary which may lead to anarchy”

Continuing, the group stated that, “though we recognize their rights to freely assemble and protest, we however view the show of shame displayed by members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) on Monday, 16th March, 2015 in Lagos as an insult on the people of Yoruba land and the security agencies as militia boys were seen brazenly shooting sporadically to scare innocent citizens going to their various places of work.

“Many of them could hardly make it to their offices due to traffic snarl caused by the open display of guns, machetes, charms and other dangerous ammunition. While we will not blame them for their partisanship, but the open brigandage is uncalled for, inciting and irresponsible, especially under the cover of the security agencies,” the group averred.

The group however stated that the entire world should hold President Jonathan responsible for any break down of law and order before, during and after the general elections as he is seeking a second term in office by all means necessary and that from the cover given the gun wielding militia on Monday, 16th March, 2015 in Lagos, it’s just a signal that our security agencies are compromised“.

The group however posited that the people of Yorubaland will determine where to vote irrespective of the antics of these anti democracy elements masquerading as democrats, maintaining that a day a reckoning is around the corner.

“We want to make it clear to the dollar sharing and desperate presidency that responsible and peace loving as well progressive Yoruba people who are in the majority do not have guns to wield round, but have permanent voters card (PVCs) to wield so as to vote out this tyrannical government that is desperate to rule over us again even without our consent. The show of shame going in Nigeria clearly show that President Jonathan lack the requisite ability to lead a nation like ours again, however, anyone who feels otherwise is either unpatriotic or corrupt who does not wish Nigeria well,” the group concluded.

The Coalition of Oodua Self-Determination Groups (COSEG) is a pan-Yoruba socio-political pressure organization.

It is one of the umbrella organization for Yoruba self-determination groups. The COSEG has not only brought together the various Yoruba organizations, but has also made overtures to self-determination groups of other ethnicities and regions of Nigeria which, while representing different interests, are united in their opposition to the current federal structure, and hence the federal government, of Nigeria.

They have been known to express their views on issues ranging from politics to other Yoruba-related problems. They express concern and advice on topics that might, in the long run, affect Yoruba welfare via press statements and releases.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/404062-opcs-armed-protest-jonathan-wants-to-set-nigeria-on-fire-if-he-loses.html

President Goodluck Jonathan has today been locked in a crucial meeting inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with Prof Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and heads of all security agencies.

Jega emerged from the Security Council meeting at about 2.20pm after briefing the members on his commission’s preparation for the elections.

He was accompanied by two top officials who attended the meeting with him.

When State House correspondents asked him about the meeting, the INEC boss simply said, “I believe it went well.”

He did not answer subsequent questions relating to the use of card readers during the elections and the level of the commission’s preparedness as he made his way out of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The security meeting is still ongoing.

Security chiefs are also expected to brief the meeting on the success so far recorded in their anti-terrorism war and preparations for the elections also.

The meeting which started a few minutes after 11am has in attendance Vice President Namadi Sambo; the secretary to the government of the federation, Senator Pius Anyim; the chief of staff to the president, Gen Jones Arogbofa (retd.); the national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki; the attorney general of the federation, Muhammed Adoke (SAN); the minister of police affairs, Jelili Adesiyan; the minister of the interior, Aba Moro; and the minister of foreign affairs, Ambassador Aminu Wali.

Others in attendance are the chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh; the chief of army staff, Lt Gen Kenneth Minimah; the chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin; the chief of air staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu; the inspector general of police, Suleiman Abba; as well as the heads of the Department of State Security and the National Intelligence Agency.

A definite pronouncement on the forthcoming elections is expected at the end of the meeting.

With two weeks to the general elections in Nigeria slated for March 28 and April 11, the electoral body the INEC, headed by Prof Attahiru Jega, is making efforts to deliver to all Nigerians their Permanent Voters Cards.

Meanwhile, the elections which were earlier postponed for six weeks triggered a lot of reactions from Nigerians and they all look forward to free, fair and credible elections beginning March 28.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/403921-jonathan-jega-security-chiefs-in-crucial-meeting.html

The incumbent governor of Imo state, Governor Rochas Okorocha has expressed his displease with the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration which according to him has seen the south-east completely marginalized.

While addressing Imo state indigenes who gathered on the banner of Imo State Towns Development Association Lagos (ISTDAL) at a colourful reception for him at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Governor Okorocha said that under the Jonathan’s administration, the south-east has been sidelined.

He said: “Under President Jonathan administration, the South-East is not among the five topmost positions in the country (President, Vice President, Senate President, Chief Justice of the Federation, Speaker of the House of Representatives), does not have any of the service chiefs, Inspector General of Police, Controller of Customs, Immigration, Civil Defence, etc. We only have controller of Prisons. This is not fair”.

Speaking on why Nigerians should vote for the All Progressives Congresss (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Okorocha, likened General Buhari to the late Dr. Nelson Mandela of South Africa and urged Nigerians to give him the mandate to steer and stabilize the ship of state.

Okorocha said at 72, the only thing uppermost in Buhari’s mind was to clear the rot in the polity and move on.

The governor, who spoke in Igbo language, said if the South-East Zone wanted to produce the president in the immediate future, the people must elect Buhari.

He said: “Buhari is the Mandela of our time. At 72, what does he want? He will do one term, fix the country and move on and then power will be come back to the South. When power rotates to the South, the South-East will have it in 2019 because the South-West has had it through Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the South-South through Dr Goodluck Jonathan’’.

It would be recalled that the Governor last week predicted the aftermath of the 2015 presidential election, if General Buhari of the APC emerges victorious after March 28.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/403685-buhari-is-nigerias-mandela-okorocha.html

This man!

The All Progressives Congress has called on the Peoples Democratic Party and the Federal Government to shun any plan to assassinate Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The APC also raised the alarm over an alleged plot by ruling party to discredit Buhari.

But the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Abdullahi Jalo, has urged the APC to provide evidence of any of such plan by the ruling party to assassinate Buhari.

The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Lai Mohammed, told The PUNCH that the PDP-led government had security men specially trained as snipers to eliminate those opposed to President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid.

He said, “I have never seen a government so terrified of elections as this present administration. And I have never seen a candidate so terrified of the opposition as Jonathan. Even as recent as last week, (Ekiti State Governor Ayodele) Fayose was asking for the withdrawal of Buhari from the Presidential election; and it is just bizarre -but that coming from Fayose, one should not be surprising.

“Coming to issue of security, they have made an attempt on his (Buhari) life once before; it can be done again. But, let us warn them that any attempt on the life of Buhari or Bola Tinubu will lead to a consequence that will be very dear for this country. They should not even contemplate it.”

Muhammed told one of our correspondents that the allegation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo concerning President Jonathan’s administration training snipers to assassinate opposition politicians was true.

The APC spokesman claimed the Special Force Team was drawn from the Police, the Air Force, the Navy, the Department of Security Service and the National Intelligence Agency.

“It is true. They were trained in Belarus. They are security agents drawn from the NIA, the DSS, the Police, the Air Force and the Navy. They were trained on how to take out targets without any trace or without being discovered and they will leave the scene quietly.”

In spite of this alleged threat, Mohammed said all APC members and supporters should remain resolute and calm.

Speaking further, the party’s spokesman berated the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, for allowing himself to be bullied by the Presidency and security chiefs.

Reacting to the allegation, Jalo told one of our correspondents that the APC spokesman and his party were known to make wild, unproven allegations, saying the allegation to take out Buhari was not true.

“The PDP is committed to the election peace pact signed in Abuja. We will abide by it. It is a covenant we are determined to keep. Having said that, the burden of proof concerning Lai’s allegation rests on him and the party. In the usual manner of whipping up sentiments to deceive Nigerians, they have come up with this propaganda. Let him and his party provide photo, video, audio or meeting place where a plot to assassinate their presidential candidate was hatched. Nigerians have become wiser today. They cannot be swayed by the APC propaganda machine,” the PDP spokesman said.

http://www.punchng.com/news/dont-attempt-to-kill-buhari-apc-tells-pdp/

Hundreds of Arewa leaders who received Kano State Governor, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, in Lagos on Sunday, said they rejected hundreds of thousands of dollars which was offered to them by President Goodluck Jonathan when the President visited the state two weeks ago.

The leaders, who were drawn from the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state, distanced themselves from the endorsement given to Jonathan by a group.

Speaking during a meeting at the Ikoyi home of a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Tinubu, the Chairman, Arewa Community in Lagos, Alhaji Sani Kabiru, said those that endorsed Jonathan were impostors.

He said on the day of the endorsement, some people bought turbans at Agege and went to visit Jonathan at the State House, Marina, posing as emirs only to deceive the President.

He said, “When President Jonathan came to Lagos with dollars, some of us here quickly went back and gathered ourselves and started calling our own not to go to visit Jonathan. I also commend some leaders here for leading an offensive and convinced people not to go there.

“Most of the Arewa leaders and ‘serikis’ did not even go there to collect the dollars. At that event, card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party bought turbans at the Central Market around Moshalashi Bus Stop, Agege. The person that sold the turbans told me that they dressed up as emirs and they were on their way to Jonathan’s place.

“So, most of them were fake. They went to collect dollars but cannot tell anyone because they are in hiding. But we did not stop at that; those that we knew that went, we called them to order and asked them why they went but they said they only collected dollars but they would not vote Jonathan.”

Kabiru said virtually all Arewa members had collected their Permanent Voter Cards. He promised to ensure one million votes for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.); and the state’s governorship candidate, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode.

While fielding questions from journalists, Kwankwaso berated Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, for what he termed, “inciting comments.”

He said Fayose’s comments against the North were a reflection of Jonathan’s temperament. He, however, urged the people to express their choice at the polls on March 28.

He said, “When I did my National Youth Service Corps in Ogun State, I imbibed the belief that this part of the country has people that are positively cultured ranging from Obafemi Awolowo, Ernest Shonekan, MKO Abiola, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Olusegun Obasanjo and others.”

A special sitting of the Vice President, Namadi Sambo with the Governor of Kaduna State and heads of security arms in the state has been leaked and the conversation translated into English.

NewsRescue – Below is a translation from Hausa of the leaked report from the meeting of the Vice President with the Governor and security agencies in Kaduna.

Men in attendance
General officer commanding (GOC) of 1 Mech. Brigade, [Army] Kaduna
Police commissioner 3. Commandant, Immigration
Head of Prisons, Kaduna
Commander, civil defence, Kaduna
Commander, NAF, Kaduna
Head, State Security [DSS], Kaduna

These heads of security agencies conferred with the Governor Kaduna State and the Vice President sat in a meeting with the following single: how to use the security agencies in Kaduna State to assist PDP in the forthcoming elections.

The meeting discussed extensively on how to short-change the people of Kaduna State and secure two million votes for President Goodluck Jonathan in Kaduna State BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. These two million votes, according to the Vice President have become absolutely necessary in Kaduna State because it is only in this state that such opportunity exists in the North West Zone.

The Governor, Mukhtar Yero, explained further that this could be accomplished by the PDP only with the cooperation of the security agencies across the state.

The Vice President, Namadi Sambo stated that they need the heads of the security agencies in Kaduna State to, as a matter of urgency, submit the names of their officials that are likely to refuse to cooperate, so that they could immediately be transferred out of the state.

In the meeting, the GOC [Nig. Army] and the head of immigration confirmed that there is indeed the need to transfer some of their officers that must be transferred out of the State for this plan to succeed.

MEETING CONCLUSIONS
Compile and submit immediately names of officers that must be transferred out of Kaduna State from each of the security agencies in Kaduna State, to ensure the success of this plan.
Mobilize selected officers to the LGA’s, with guidance from the Kaduna State governor as to specific areas that the PDP needs special assistance.
Compile and submit to the commissioner of police and the Director SSS, a list of key APC leaders and supporters to be targeted for special harassment during the election period.
Election Day disbursements: N15 million for each of the heads of security agencies, in addition to what will be given to the police personnel to be deployed.
Each of the heads of the security agencies that attended the meeting was given N2 million, in addition to certificates for plots of land in Kaduna.
Each of the heads of security agencies was given strong assurances of support in their respective departments for special promotions if PDP becomes successful

It will be recalled that the Nigerian presidency had finally expressed concern with the use of voter card readers for the general elections, questioning its legality and efficiency, and defending an earlier position of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP on the matter.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/403078-sambos-election-rigging-meeting-exposed.html

That is what we know him for. ... If not for this useless country that GET has turn this country to, Fayose suppose to have been in Malaysia now. #SaiBuhari come 28 of March. Fayose is a disgrace to Ekiti State, Yoruba land and Nigeria as a Whole.

That is what we know him of... If not for this useless country that GEJ has turn this country to, Fayose should have be in jail by now after the airing of the Ekiti Rigged Election.

The National leader of All Progressives Congress Party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu this afternoon advises President Goodluck Jonathan to thank God and leave Aso Rock for his country home in Bayelsa.

The former Lagos State Governor spoke at his residence home, Bourdillon, Ikoyi Lagos during a meeting with members and leaders of Arewa of Consultative Group Lagos led by Architect Kabiru to pay a courtesy call on the leader of the progressive party.

Bola Tinubu, addressing the group said, “It is time we all come together as one to install a purposeful government that will provide security and safety to its people, as well as drive a developmental policy that will alleviate poverty away from Nigeria not the government of Jonathan.


“Jonathan should be grateful to God, he has gotten six years. This is someone that has no shoe before. With our votes in 2011 we have bought him many shoes, many clothes and afforded luxuries. He should just admit defeat and leave for Bayelsa because there is no permanent tenant in Aso Rock.

Aso Rock belongs to Nigerians as the landlord. As a tenant, if you make good use of your stay you might enjoyed longer staying liberty from the landlord which is Nigerians. But, in sincerity, Jonathan has failed us and we cannot afford another 4years of impunity.

The National Leaders also charged Nigerians to be determined. He urged the Arewa people not to be intimidated by Jonathan’s dollars. “Show resilience, focus and be unwavering. No amount of dollars can buy you comfort you have been enjoying in Lagos. Without the dollars, you have been doing business here for many years he concluded.

In attendance was Gov Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of Kano State. Lagos APC party leaders and member of Board of Trustees.

http://citizenconfidential.com/tinubu-to-jonathan-there-is-no-permanent-tenant-in-aso-rock-thank-god-and-leave/

Editor’s note: A Daily Trust correspondent, Abdullateef Aliyu, is trying to investigate whether the widespread reports that Gbemisola Saraki is going to quit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are true or not.The reports that Saraki is leaving the PDP are connected with the alleged maltreatment of the ex-senator by the party’s leadership.

The views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Naij.com.

Story highlights:

– Senator Gbemisola Rukayyat Saraki’s career: a retrospective look

– Her stay in the PPD has bred suspicion, anxiety, apprehension and tension

– What is Saraki’s problem in the PDP?

(Daily Trust) – The name of Senator Gbemisola Rukayyat Saraki, fondly called GRS, rings a bell in the nation’s political space not only on account of her 12 years’ legislative experience as a two-time senator representing Kwara Central and member of the House of Representatives (Asa/Ilorin West) but also by virtue of her father’s popularity as a political titan.

Besides being a governorship aspirant of the PDP, Gbemisola was the candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) in the 2011 governorship election in the state. In the build-up to the forthcoming general elections, Gbemi joined the PDP at a time her brother and former governor, Bukola Saraki was bidding farewell to the party, having led others, including Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, GRS publicly declared for PDP with a mega rally and canvassed support for President Goodluck Jonathan. According to Gbemi, notwithstanding the defection of her brother and some aggrieved former PDP members to the APC, the party remained strong in the state. Her declaration was seen in the political circles as a deliberate step to show her loyalty to the party and convince the PDP supporters that she was not in the party as a spoiler.
Irrespective of her disposition to PDP and the Jonathan administration, Gbemi’s defection to the PDP was taken with mixed feelings by a section of the party leaders who doubted her sincerity in the party. Her stay in the PPD has bred suspicion, anxiety, apprehension and tension in the midst of the clamour by a section of the party to put an end to the Saraki rein in Kwara State. Those who believe in uprooting the dynasty therefore see GRS as an unwanted element in the party.

But as events unfold, it appears Gbemi is one personality that cannot be toyed with, especially with her role in the emergence of new executives of the PDP where she has sufficient loyalists as members. Besides, Gbemi through her GRS forum, with chapters in all the 16 LGAs of the state, has been able to sustain her political structure with ardent supporters who believe in her politics.

She contested the governorship ticket of the party, rubbing shoulders with prominent party loyalists for the ticket. Among them were Dele Belgore, Professor Oba Abdulraheem, Deacon John Dara, Senator Mokanjuola Ajadi, among others before Senator Simeon Sule Ajibola won the ticket.

Following the conclusion of the primaries, there were moves to reconcile all the aggrieved candidates in a bid to secure their commitment to support the PDP candidate. However, Gbemi left the country almost immediately after the primaries while her supporters back home complained bitterly of ill-treatment in the party. They alleged that little or no regard was given to their principal even as they called on the national leadership of the party to warn some members against denigrating the Saraki dynasty.

One of her closest aides and PDP Secretary for Ilorin West Local Government, Alhaji Toyin Olosasa, confirmed the ill-treatment of Saraki in PDP, saying, “we Sarakites in the PDP are not happy with the development.

“I just want to make our views known to Mr President and the national secretariat of the PDP on the way and manner in which the PDP in Kwara State is treating us. They have neglected us. We were not involved in all the activities going on as par the ongoing campaign of PDP.”
Olosasa also called on the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, to warn the state chapter of the party against hurling abusive words on late Dr Olusola Saraki, saying, “This act is painful to we Sarakites in PDP.”

Daily Trust reports that indications of Gbemi Saraki’s grievance in the PDP emerged with her conspicuous absence at many activities of the party including President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign visit, the inauguration of the campaign council and the flag-off of the PDP campaign. Her action has therefore fuelled speculations of her impending exit from the party.

However, Gbemi arrived Ilorin penultimate week with a declaration that she still remains in the PDP. Asked if she has given instruction to her supporters who have consistently alleged maltreatment of their master, she was evasive in her response, saying her supporters were mature enough to take a decision.

It was gathered that the issue of Gbemi Saraki has created division within the party. While a section of the executive loyal to Gbemi believes in pacifying the former senator, others see no reason for that.

Investigations reveal that several organs of the party have intervened to douse the tension and stall her impending exit. It was gathered that the national executive of the party has been notified of the developments and it is currently mediating to keep Gbemi and the party united ahead of the April 11 election.

Some observers believe that the state PDP cannot afford to lose Gbemisola Saraki if its desire to form a new government is to materialise. Already, the party has lost some bigwigs including the Labour Party governorship candidate, Dr Mike Omotosho, former senatorial aspirant for Kwara Central, Hajia Bilikisu Gambari and their supporters. Given Gbemi’s clout and followership, it would be suicidal for the party to lose her, analysts say.

Should the reconciliation move fail, Gbemi and her supporters might have to seek solace in another party, but it is not likely to be APC considering the suspicion about an alleged rift with her brother and scion of the Saraki dynasty.

But it is clear that the APC would be the sole beneficiary of her imaginary defection. Will she dump the party? This is still within the realm of speculation. Only time will tell.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/401862-gbemi-saraki-between-defection-and-reconciliation.html

A bus loaded with ballot boxes was intercepted by police in Issele-Uku, Aniocha North local government area, Delta state, on March 12, 2015, Thursday.

According to Vanguard, more than 30 ballot boxes were dropped off by a luxury bus heading to the east from the north at Onicha-Ugbo junction.

A reliable source said that the luxury bus had taken off before the people in the area could draw attention of the police to the event, and described how a smaller bus with number plate Edo USL 832 XL, which came to pick up the boxes at the junction, was stopped by police and the driver apprehended.

The witness, who did not want to be named, said the boxes had the picture of one of the major political parties’ presidential aspirants and his running mate on them.

Attempts made to contact the divisional police officer for comments on the incident were unsuccessful at the time of writing this report.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer close to the division confirmed the arrest, and added that an inquiry was being conducted to determine the source of the boxes.

Stating that the boxes were similar to the ones used in the days of the Federal Electoral Commission, he said the driver admitted that they were being used to raise funds for the said presidential candidate at the grassroots.

The police official said the ballot boxes were sent through a waybill from the Kano central office of the party.

The driver and the bus loaded with the ballot boxes were still being detained at the police station.

The state secretary of the party (names suspended) said he was not aware of the case.


Another source in the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “I am not aware of anything like that. If at all it is true, it must be the handwork of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, because there is nothing they cannot do. PDP can stage-manage anything.”

Deinghan Ray-Macaulay, the state PDP publicity secretary, said: “PDP could not involve itself in anything like that when we are sure of victory at the elections, particularly in Delta State.

“We are getting upper hand so we cannot do a thing like that. It is only those who are not sure of victory that can do such a thing and forment trouble.

“I strongly appeal to the police to carry out a thorough investigation into the matter.”

In a similar episode, ballot boxes loaded inside a truck were found during a search operation by soldiers from the 35th Artillery Army Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta, on January 20, in Ogun state.

Another lorry full with ballot boxes was found in Ibadan, Osun state.

Recently Kaduna state police arrested a woman who was accused of being engaged in the business of selling permanent voter cards.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/401752-a-bus-of-ballot-boxes-arrested-by-police-in-delta.html

The vice presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), has noted that corruption is at the root of all the troubles bedeviling Nigeria.

He also drew the public attention saying it may be the cause for the escalation of Boko Haram insurgency.

Osinbajo stated this during a town hall meeting in Yola, Adamawa State on March, 10, where some stakeholders, among which are Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN clerics, APC stalwarts, some non-government organizations, pressure groups, and journalists were gathered.

He also declared the country’s corruption must be finally eradicated, as the problem of corruption has become the cancer of Nigeria.

“The high level corruption in the country today had stifled development in various sectors of the economy and also contributed to the festering insecurity across the country”.

Besides, Osinbajo criticized the dwindling economy of the country. He blamed those politicians who rather than building it ended up plundering it as well as its external reserves.

However, the vice presidential candidate ensure APC will do all the best to provide to the Nigerians a new social order.

He pledged that General Muhammadu Buhari would ensure prudence and quality service to the Nigerian populace, respect for the rule of law, and abide by the tenets of democracy.

The professor of law also frowned at the claim of the federal government which has expended N4.3 trillion on security whereas the security situation in the country has not improved.

Osinbajo, who was fielding questions from journalists at the Catholic Social Forum in Abuja, said his party would only accept the outcome of the March 28 presidential election, if the election is free, fair and credible.

He also said use of card reader machines was not electronic voting, as being claimed by some people.

Meanwhile the presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammudu Buhari, arrived Nigeria on Friday after a week out of the country. It is believed he used the time out of the country to take a rest after the hectic presidential campaign rallies.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/400215-osinbajo-about-nigeria-corruption.html

With the 2015 elections just barely three weeks away, the tension and anxiety has continued to mount as reports reaching us indicate that over 2000 supporters of The All Progressives Congress (APC) and The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) clashed in Rivers state, today, March 10, 2015.

The reports have it that the clash would have been very deadly if not for the operatives of the Rivers State Police Command who were on board to avert the situation.

Over 2,000 supporters from both parties had surprisingly converged in the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) along the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, protesting an alleged bias by the commission.

While the PDP supporters accused the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Gecilla Khan, of planning to rig the forthcoming general election in favour of the APC, those of the APC were also alleging that Khan was doing the rigging to favour the PDP.

However, armed policemen, who were on the ground, had a hectic day trying to avoid the exchange of blows by supporters of both parties as some security operatives took positions in strategic points to avoid any form of invasion of the protesters into INEC’s office.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/399792-tension-as-over-2000-pdp-apc-supporters-clash-in-rivers.html

Yoruba people of the South-West will assess President Goodluck Jonathan. not by what he is promising to do for them, but what they have already experienced of him in the last six years. “That experience is the most painfully degrading that the Yoruba nation has ever had in the last half century. President Jonathan cannot, therefore, expect to be rewarded for this crime against the Yoruba people”. This was the sentiment expressed by the All Progressives Congress in Osun State in a statement by the party’s Directorate of Publicity, Research and Strategy in Osogbo at the weekend. “The sheer neglect of the Yoruba people by Jonathan in the scheme of things was a display of sordid ingratitude and contempt for a people who did the most to help him become President “, the party said. “If in the last six years alone, Goodluck Jonathan has down-graded the Yoruba from the first three positions to below the 15th in Nigeria, either in political or civil service structure, and, in particular, in Nigeria’s ratings of expertise and valued contributions to the country’s development, then he does not deserve, and will not get the Yoruba vote this time around. “All his promises to the Yoruba people are empty and deceitful. Our people not only know it, they feel it and they will act appropriately on March 28, 2015”. The party’s spokesman in Osun, Barr. Kunle Oyatomi, who signed the statement, described, as “sadistic” , the treatment meted to the Yoruba people by Jonathan’s administration, who, having downgraded them to below the 15th position in Nigeria, “also went ahead to starve virtually all Yoruba states controlled by the APC of their legitimate and constitutional funding in order to humiliate the people and stifle development in their area”. Oyatomi continued: “For such a President to now crawl about in Yorubaland, seeking their votes to continue in office is nothing short of insulting the intelligence of the Yoruba people. That is aggravated insolence. “Jonathan will pay a price equal in magnitude to his deliberate crime against the Yoruba nation; for nobody pokes a dirty finger in the eyes of the Yoruba people and gets away with it. Jonathan will get the red card in Yorubaland, and he will fall. “The party said that since Jonathan became comfortable in his position as President – largely through the efforts of Yoruba intellectuals and political leadership – the President has been so negatively disposed to Yoruba that his Federal Government did practically nothing of significance to encourage the sympathy of the Yoruba nation. “It is therefore a wasted effort for the President to be frantically seeking the support of Yoruba traditional leaders who already know how bitter their people are against Jonathan,’ the APC said, adding that ‘Yoruba people can see, feel and taste the deceit in President Jonathan’s promises. They cannot trust him after the humiliating treatment of the last six years of Jonathan’s Presidency”. -

See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/jonathan-worst-experience-ever-for-s-west-osun-apc/#sthash.mZLPRQf8.dpuf

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

Sunday Dare is the special Adviser on Media to Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Secret documents relating to a scandalously inflated $500 million defense contract that President Goodluck Jonathan awarded to Arthur Eze, have been obtained.

Mr. Eze is a well-known Nigerian businessman, a close friend of the president, and a major financier of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sahara Reporters informs.

Some military sources also opined that the contract was saddled with the procurement of helicopters for the Nigerian military.

The documents below reveal that Mr. Eze, the chief executive of Triax Nigeria Limited, received the gigantic sum of $466.5 million in order to militarize six Puma helicopters with the aid of an Israeli company named Elbit Systems. This meant that each of such helicopters costs around $78 million.

“For the price of each helicopter provided by Engineer Arthur Eze, the Air Force could have acquired seven top grade military helicopters,” said one of sources.

One of the same edition’s sources have even accused President Jonathan and Mr. Eze of using the refusal of the US to sell Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria as a reason to engage in a large-scale squandering of funds involving the Federal Government and Mr. Eze’s company, the Triax Company Nigeria Limited.

“In the US, a brand new AH Cobra attack helicopter costs around $12 million each,” said the source, adding: “That means that, with $400 million, Nigeria could have purchased up to 40 brand new helicopters.”

According to the source, the Cobra attack helicopter is one of the best US-made helicopters. “It is highly effective in the battlefield. It would have given us big battlefield advantage over Boko Haram,” he said.

In an additional proposal, Mr. Eze’s company sought to purchase 4,000 57mm S5 rockets, 400 80mm S8 rockets, 500 general-purpose bombs, and 20,000 units of unguided rockets.


To be mentioned, Mr. Eze is one of the biggest personal financiers of Mr. Jonathan’s re-election. The businessman, who also controls huge interests in oil fields both in Nigeria and other West African countries, has been investing millions of dollars into Jonathan’s campaign, said an insider PDP source.

During the administration led by the late General Sani Abacha, Mr. Eze became one of the confidantes of the general and his wife. He received a huge windfall when Mr. Abacha handed him the $120 million contract for rural electricity and water projects in the southeastern states. Even though the contract sum was borrowed from the African Development Bank, Mr. Eze pocketed the money without doing any of the projects, a scandal that led to the firing of the bank’s chief executive.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/399437-secret-documents-of-millions-defense-contract-found.html

The Chadian president, Idriss Deby, has claimed that he is the one responsible for the current coordinated attacks on Boko Haram.

President Deby said that if left to President Jonathan alone, nothing would have been done to tackle the terrorists.

Nigeria Is Not Allowing Us To Go Further - Chadian Army

Deby is said to be the one who was responsible for the attacks on Boko Haram camps, as the insurgents have been obstructing Chad’s trade routes with Nigeria.

Officials from three nations who have been affected by the insurgency, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, say that Nigeria has failed to organise a regional task force against the terrorists, according to Reuters.

Diplomats have said that Nigeria has left the security work to be done by its significantly smaller neigbours, despite being one of Africa’s major powers.

READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/398230-nigeria-is-not-allowing-us-go-further-chadian-army.html

some foolish and stupid people will come and say they pay all these crowds nau.... waitn 4 dem to come.