₦airaland Forum

The People ’ s Democratic Party has attacked the ruling All Progressives Congress, saying the party has nothing to celebrate two years after took over the mantle of leadership .
The National Publicity Secretary of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi -led National Working Committee, Mr . Dayo Adeyeye , in a statement on Sunday claimed that the APC- led Government was marked by highhandedness, crass ineptitude and lack of tolerance for the opposition .
He said the APC had endangered democratic foundation laid by the PDP which enabled the opposition to win elections .
Adeyeye said that the activities of the ruling APC were suggestive of a bleak democratic outing for the country in the 2019 elections .
He lamented that Nigerians had nothing to celebrate as the APC “ has plunged the vast majority of the people into this two years of despondency, ambiguity, repressed and depressed condition . ”
He said , “ Beginning with the issue of corruption in this discussion is critical in line with the APC /President Buhari’ s ‘ Change Agenda ’ and ‘ hype in corruption chase ’ which has left sour taste given the dishonesty and charade that have characterised the actions of this government so far .
“ For the record, ‘ corruption’ is endemic in our system since the military era and using it to whip up citizens’ sentiments is absurd while playing ignorant of honest achievements made by the PDP government to combat this alarming menace.
“ The question is what has the APC done to fight corruption? Nothing! Yes indeed nothing except noise , hounding , torturing , flouting of court orders and vilification of opposition leaders and members in and out of courts ; incarcerations without proving anything; harassments , intimidation , indiscriminate arrests and detention of judges in order to cow them to desecrate the judiciary and deny the people justice ; promote gestapo state and by extension , kill democracy. ”
He added that Nigerians and the international community had lost confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission as the APC allegedly prevented it from performing its electoral responsibilities without interference .
On the economy, Adeyeye said that President Buhari ’ s utterances during his visits to foreign nations scared away investors who had withdrawn their money from the country which had earlier attracted $20bn worth of investors in three years.
http://punchng.com/apc-has-nothing-to-celebrate-says-pdp/

By Soni Daniel
AFTER exactly two years in the saddle, the federal government, yesterday, boasted that it had rescued Nigeria from predators and set the country on the path of recovery and sustained development.
Besides, the government pointed out that the country would have been much worse but for its strident effort to arrest corruption and plug loopholes exploited by looters in the past to fleece the country.
The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the position of the government in an exclusive interview with Vanguard in Abuja last night.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari has shown commitment, determination and courage in delivering on the administration’s key agenda of driving out corruption, terrorism and fixing the economy.
President Buhari
Mohammed said Nigeria would have been much worse, but for the incorruptible, disciplined and forthright leadership provided by President Buhari and blamed a vocal minority in the country who had been comfortable with looting public funds of making noise about the move by the present administration to tackle corruption and make Nigeria a better place.
He said: “But because of this administration, there is change from impunity to accountability, change from a mindset where corruption was actually glamorized to an era today where people see the evil of corruption and try to run away from it.
“We have been able to secure Nigeria by restructuring the economy in a manner that the nation can no longer be held hostage by just one product, oil. The change that has come is one that has made agriculture attractive, viable and creating millionaires from it.
‘’The change that we have achieved through the sterling and incorruptible leadership of President Buhari has launched Nigeria into a comity of nations that is taken seriously.
“But we must note that change is generally difficult to adopt. We are trying to make people to change from a lifestyle based on rent to industry.
‘’We are trying to change from rent taking to transparency and integrity as a way of life. But those who have been living on corruption are not only resisting us but are also fighting back because of the huge cash they stashed away and control of the social media.
‘’The corrupt elements are fighting back to return to their old ways of living on the public funds they were depending on. There was a time they openly said they wanted corruption back.’’
The setback notwithstanding, Mohammed pointed out that the Buhari administration had recorded concrete achievements in several areas of the economy, boasting that the nation would soon exit recession going by the economic outlook already in sight.
The minister revealed that despite the tough times, the government had been able to boost its foreign reserves by $7 billion between October 2016 and this year.
He also said the administration had raised Sovereign Wealth Fund by $500 million and added $87 million to the Excess Crude Oil account in 2017.
Mohammed also indicated that the government had slashed the price of fertilizer by 30 percent and increased yield per hectare from two to seven tonnes.
The minister said that the administration’s effort to look inwards had also yielded tremendous result by drastically reducing rice import from 580,000 metric tonnes to just 58,000 tonners per year.
On infrastructure, Mohammed said, “We have constructed about 300 kilometres of roads and fixed over 420 kilometres of roads and we have been able to return over 17,000 construction workers to work by promptly paying the contractors and encouraging them to return to sites”.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/buhari-2-weve-secured-nigeria-predators-fg/

SporaD8:
This people will never learn from past history!
...and when Nnamdi KANU finally slaughtered the Cow, they will be like - KANU FINALLY KILLED BUHARI!!!
Was that not how they started displaying the picture of nzeogwu starting over the lifeless body of the murdered sadauna that led to the mass murdering of these Igbos in 1966

omode lo'nse won, their will never learn from history

NwaObinkita:
Iheanacho is not 20years....


He is in his mid thirties...

Nigerian players should learn that Pele did not become great by reducing his age.

some times you talk like sensible person

NwaObinkita:
Iheanacho is not 20years....


He is in his mid thirties...

Nigerian players should learn that Pele did not become great by reducing his age.

some times you talk like sensible person

NwaObinkita:
Why will someone go and play ball after eating Ewedu and drinking Agbo

your are a fool, stupid kid

conductor11:
This is why Nigeria will never work

Igbos should not expect anything because they didn't invest in Buhari, but Buhari will export our tax money and oil proceeds to go and live comfortably in a UK hospital?

Make them share this country ASAP.

which oil?

God bless Pmb

Ailing President Muhammadu Buhari has regained his strength,significantly improved, doing very good, okay and awaiting his doctor’s nod to return to Nigeria
President Buhari after Jumaát prayer
The President left Nigeria for London on May 7 to continue with his medical treatment.
Premium Time reports that only his physicians can determine when he will return to Nigeria and to work.
“Oh yes; we thank God,” a source in the Nigeria High Commission in London, United Kingdom, told this newspaper when asked if the president’s health had improved substantially.
“He is doing very good; he is ok but his doctors will determine (when he will return).”
The official, who sees Mr. Buhari regularly, asked not to be named because he had no permission to discuss the president’s condition with journalists.
He had returned to Nigeria on March 10 after spending 51 days in the British capital during attending to his health.
Upon his return, the president said he “couldn’t recall being so sick since he was a young man, including in the military with its ups and downs.”
He also said he could not recall ever having blood transfusion before.
The president also hinted that he would return to the UK for further treatment.
“I’m feeling much better now. There may, however, be need for further follow up within some weeks,” Mr. Buhari had said while addressing the country.
The embassy source expressed sadness that some Nigerians could wish the president dead, saying “(it is) sad that any human being will wish another dead.”
“It’s sad but God is all seeing and will always suffice and to Him we submit all our affairs. They have failed and will continue to fail.”
Meanwhile, women from all walks of life on Wednesday converged in Abuja for a one-day prayer and fasting session for the speedy recovery of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The women, led by President of the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Mrs Gloria Shoda said the prayers had become necessary to ensure the good health of the president.
“We have been praying as individuals in our closet but this time, we have decided to hold this open prayer for our president.
“We want him to recover quickly and return to work. The council has decided to make this prayer a monthly routine to ensure that things work well in this country also.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us and it is our responsibility to always pray for our leaders, most especially our president, irrespective of our political affiliations,’’ she said
Shoda said that the prayer session was also held to ask God to restore the glory of Nigeria and move the country forward.
Also speaking, Anna Nosike, the founder Gender Support for Women Emancipation and Empowerment Development told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the prayer session was to bring down the Hand of God upon Nigeria.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/buhari-disappoints-wailers-regains-strength/

we all have story to tell

In 1971, after my primary school education, poverty drove me to Lagos to find something to do to help my poor mother and siblings. Civil War devastated my father’s thriving business in Onitsha and we all suffered from 1966 to 1970 when the war ended.
With four wives and 34 children, my parents could not cope any more. My brothers and sisters dropped out of school to learn a trade. Because I was a little ‘sharp’ in school, my father encouraged me to finish primary school. It is needless here to recall how I and few of my siblings survived to finish our primary education. Consequently when my mates were taking Common Entrance Examination, I did not because there was no need to do so. No money, no three square meals a day, no good clothing, just nothing.
My mother encouraged me to travel with friends to Lagos. We landed at Sawmill Ebute Metta where I worked as a sawdust carrier at seven Shilling, six Pence a day. My job was to pack sawdust from the Machines to the Lagoon from 7am to 5 pm daily. I did this for nearly two years and later I became a danfo conductor plying Idioro/Ajegunle axis. From there I joined my brother in a supermarket business at Ijesha Road, Surulere. I did this until I returned home during Christmas in December 1973. I came home to meet my friends I was beating academically in school trying to make me feel and look inferior. Again I also noticed while in Lagos that if I fail to go to school, I may end up doing menial jobs meant for illiterates till the end of age. I decided to go back to school to add values to my life. But where are the school fees? There was nothing. How I managed to get the first school fee to start and what happened thereafter will take a book to do the narrative.
In 1979 I left Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi with Division One and was the school Head Boy. I taught in the same school as an Auxiliary Teacher from 1979 – 1980. In 1980 I got admission to read Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and graduated in 1985. I did my Youth Service in Ogun State and thereafter I returned to Lagos in 1986 to begin a journey to where I am today. I walked the streets of Lagos from 1986 – 1988 until the then military government headed by Gen Ibrahim Babangida set up the National Directorate of Employment, (NDE) to encourage graduates to start their own businesses. I got a loan of N27,500, using my NYSC discharge Certificate and my Degree Certificate as collateral at 9% interest rate. I set up a Restaurant Business in Western Avenue, Lagos and hit an instant success. While doing this business, I spread my nets also to the auto spare parts market in Lawanson, Surulere where my brother thrives as a very successful importer. I opened a shop there and got a boy to take charge of the business. From there, I entered into Auto dealership in Western Avenue Surulere. I paid back that loan in full and collected back my certificates.
In 1995, I wrote my first book, Igbos: 25 Years After Biafra. I also established National Vision Newspapers in 1997. In 1999, I wrote my second book: Heroes of Democracy. In 2004 I co-authored 2007: The IBB Option with my good friend, Peter Claver Oparah. One thing led to another. I became an opinion molder, a public commentator, political analyst, writer and an advocate of the peoples’ cause. I bought my first car in 1990 and became a millionaire in 1995 after launching of my first book.
In 2006, the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, made me the pioneer General Manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure & Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) and I was there for almost 10 years. I served Asiwaju’s government for the remainder of his days as Lagos Governor. I served His Excellency Governor Babatunde Fashola for 8years. In September 2015, His Excellency Governor Akinwunmi Ambode moved me to Wharf Landing Fees Collecting Authority Apapa as Chairman. I became the Publicity Secretary AC, ACN, and APC since late 2006 till date. By the grace of God I have been the Chairman of Conference of APC Publicity Secretaries (CAPS) in Nigeria since 2014.
These positions and exploits have put me in the limelight in Lagos and Nigeria since the early 90s, and God has been kind to me. These offices have opened the doors of the rich and poor to me. They have opened the inner ways,byways, subways, expressways and highways to the corridors of power in Nigeria. I have been connected to the pace setters, policy makers, the movers and shakers of blue chip companies, newsmakers and the powers that be in Lagos. The magic of Lagos, the beauty of Lagos, the dynamics of Lagos, the glory of Lagos, the momentum of Lagos, the capacity, capability and the strength of Lagos touched me in no uncertain terms since 1986 (32years ago) till date…..and still counting.
My sojourn in Lagos for 32 years has also opened my eyes as a historian as to what Lagos has done for my people from South East. Today as I write this Igbo do not have a quarter of what they have in Lagos in the South East in terms of investments. As I write this book, Igbo are the second most populous ethnic group in Lagos. Today, Igbo exert tremendous influence and capacity in Lagos and its success story. Few years back two prominent sons of Nnewi told me in confidence that they did not know they have been wasting their time in Nnewi until they came to Lagos. They said Lagos opened doors for limitless opportunities and endless possibilities. I have seen people come from other parts of Nigeria to hit gold mine in Lagos.
I got married in 1990 and all my five kids are all Lagosians and so are millions of Igbo kids born in Lagos. They have lived most of their lives in Lagos, schooled in Lagos, worked in Lagos, made friends in Lagos and have keyed to the Lagos success story. They know any other place except Lagos. Lagos is their home. This is not limited to Igbo alone but all other ethnic groups and of course Yoruba from outside Lagos. Lagos is a melting pot, a mega city, a cosmopolitan beehive. Lagos controls the heartbeat of Nigeria, its wealth, its influence and its strategic socio-economic and political hub. Lagos changed my thinking and original thoughts, Lagos emboldened me, Lagos motivated me, Lagos challenged me and Lagos made me. I can say no less. This is the story of Lagos, my Lagos. It is still unraveling, not for me alone but millions of other Nigerians, to the glory of God.
Joe Igbokwe writes from Lagos.
http://saharareporters.com/2017/05/23/my-lagos-my-story-joe-igbokwe

to be sincere i think lagos is a country on her own

ellagabs:
abeg, wo go do Prof bubu own 4 me?

you no get papa? make you first do his own first

terribly

A Muslim cleric, Sheik Yusuf Amzat-Salam, 35, his wife and four children were killed by hoodlums suspected to be herdsmen in the early hours of Tuesday in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun.
The incident occurred at Atiba area of Odogbolu Local Government Area.
The eldest child, a girl, was aged 11, followed by her twin brothers, aged 8 and the last female child, aged 2.
All the victims had since been buried according to Muslim rites amid wailing.
The attackers, whose motive could not be ascertained, butchered the entire household with machetes.
The victims were discovered in the pool of their blood when school bus came to pick the children.
A close family friend, Mr Yusuf Oludaisi, described the act as dastardly and wicked, wondering what the victim must have done to warrant such treatment.
“He was someone whom we grew up together. I have known him for 30 years to be humble and kind to everyone who came across his path.
“It’s really sad because this was someone you will never see quarrelling or being disrespectful”, said Oludaisi.
The younger brother of the victim, Alfa Ishaaq Amzat-Salam, however, said he would leave the matter for God to judge.
“I leave those who perpetrated such evil into God’s hands for He alone will judge them. The deed cannot be undone.
“I will always remember my brother forever for his loving kindness as he was a shining light to us all”, said Ishaaq.
Ex-Senator Gbenga Kaka (Ogun East), who was at the burial of the victims, described the incident as very sad.
“I am a close friend to the father of the victim and when I heard what happened, I was in bitter shock.
“It is unimaginable what these people did and it brings much sadness to my heart. I don’t even have the words to describe it”, said Kaka.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in Ogun, Bimbola Oyeyemi, said the command was aware of the incident.
“We are already doing all to investigate and apprehend the culprit”, he said.
Sympathisers described the cleric as a peace-loving, humble and caring individual.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/shock-as-imam-wife-4-children-butchered-in-ijebu-ode/

By Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA-In a manner that apparently portrays an affinity between them, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has said that President Muhammadu Buhari sees him as a brother and also treats him like his son,
he spoke in Katsina, the home state of President Buhari on Thursday while launching the State’s version of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise, MSMEs clinic.
Osinbajo’s latest position has overtly countered the perception in some quarters that there may not be any love lost between him and his boss following the wording of a recent letter the President wrote to the National Assembly, announcing a transfer of power to him (Osinbajo).
President Buhari had on Sunday at the verge of his departure to London for a follow-up on his medicals written to the National Parliament, informing the lawmakers of his trip abroad in the fulfillment of Section 145 of the 1999 constitution.
While many expected the president to categorically state that Osinbajo would “act” in his stead, the President in the letter said that his vice will “coordinate” the activities of government in his absence.
The development didn’t sink well to many and has consequently elicited concerns across the nation.
But in a series of tweets @akandeoj yesterday, the spokesman to the Acting President, Laolu Akande quoted Osinbajo as saying that President Buhari has assigned him many responsibilities outside treating him like a son.
The remarks were however a response to the benign and hospital words of the Emir of Katsina to Osinbajo who had said “Here you are home, welcome to the most peaceful state”. We all sit together side by side”, during the launch.
Responding Osinbajo said: “I feel very much @home in KT. Moreso because this is the State of the President who has taken me as a brother.”
“In fact, the President has taken me as a son in the way he treats me”.
“The amount of responsibilities President Buhari has given me shows he seriously believes we can live together as brothers”.
“I pray the Lord will preserve our President to continue to lead as the nation has voted him to do. He seriously believes in Ngr unity.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/buhari-takes-brother-treats-like-son-says-osinbajo/

k

Ado Ekiti-The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has declared that in the event that the country is divided, only the Igbo nation can survive because of their resilience.
The Governor also boasted that there has been no politically motivated killing of anyone under his administration.
Fayose stated this yesterday when the Ndigbo Community in Ekiti conferred him with the traditional title of ‘Nwanne – De – Namba at the Olukayode Stadium, Ado Ekiti during the Igbo Cultural Day.
Fayose deployed those he called’ fake political leaders ‘ who are only accessible to the people when they are looking for votes only to buy bullet proof cars and erect artificial walls around themselves so that they would not be accessible to the people after the poll.
He said, “whatever anybody says, the Igbos are a unique people in the country. God forbid, if Nigeria should break, they are the only nation that can survive because they are industrious people.
” All the permanent structures found everywhere are owned by the Igbo people. Wherever you go in the country, you will find an igbo man there.
“No igbo man can vote for any other party in Ekiti State except the party I belong to because we are bonded with one another “, he said.
The Governor lamented that women have been relegated in the scheme of things adding that his administration would provide for them in
the 2017 budget of Ekiti State.
Earlier in his address, the President General of Ndigbo Community in South West, Chief Nathaniel Ezeonu said that the Igbo people in Ekiti State want to have their own market.
He added that the traders want to acquire an uncompleted market along poly road Ado Ekiti which the state government has pegged at N380 millions.
He pleaded with Governor Fayose to rescind the decision to shut down Fayose market believed to be populated by igbo traders selling phones and other accessories.
Ezeonu said that the the theme of the Cultural Day titled :Ndigbo and Socio-economic Reality in Nigeria, Which way Forward, was apt because the race have contributed more to the economic development of the country.
To mark the occasion, major shops owned by the Igbos in the state capital were under lock and key.
Those Present at the conferment of the traditional title on the Governor included the state Executives, local government Chairmen as well as traditional rulers in Ekiti and igbo land.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/11/igbos-can-survive-divided-nigeria-fayose/

my presido

Security is tight in and around Katsina metropolis following the arrival of the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for a one-day working visit to the state.
Joint security personnel have been posted to various strategic places in the state capital, Katsina.
A combined team of armed soldiers and mobile police has been posted to the Emirs palace, Government House and the State Secretariat where the Acting President is expected to visit.
Some of the security personnel were seen patrolling major streets of Katsina metropolis, while others were stationed at selected roundabouts in the ancient city.
Armed soldiers and policemen were also seen at the Umaru Musa Yar’adua International Airport where the Acting President’s aircraft had landed.
The one-day event is the launching ceremony of a Pilot Edition of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Clinic for viable enterprises in the state.
The event is organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) under the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/tight-security-osinbajo-visits-katsina/

k

By Levinus Nwabughiogu
ABUJA-Federal Government has described the uproar generated by President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly, making Vice President Yemi Osinbajo the “coordinator” of activities of the federal government in his absence as a needless distraction.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo (ist from right); Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita and NSA Major General Babagana Mongonu during FEC Meeting held at the Council Chamber in Abuja.
It will be recalled that President Buhari who left Abuja for London Sunday night to attend to his failing health had written to the National parliament, informing them of his trip and also announcing Osinbajo as the man in charge of the nation’s affairs in compliance with Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
But a Senator from Abia State, Moa Ohuabunwa picked holes with the letter, saying that the wordings put Vice President Osinbajo as merely a “coordinating” Vice President instead of Acting President.
Buhari’s letter read by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Tuesday stated thus: “In compliance with Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), I wish to inform the distinguished Senate that I will be away for a scheduled medical follow-up with my doctors in London. The length of my stay will be determined by the doctor’s advice.
“While I am away, the Vice President will coordinate the activities of the government. Please accept, the distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest consideration.”
The development had incidentally generated concerns from many quarters with many people arguing for and against.
But reacting to the arguments, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC presided by Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday said that they were unnecessary.
According to him, what was valid was the compliance with the relevant section of the law which he said was fulfilled.
“It’s a needless controversy. It’s just a distraction. The operating sentence is that in compliance of section 145(1), any other word used is not relevant”, he simply said.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/05/arguments-osinbajos-current-status-needless-distraction-fg/

The author equally observed that Mr. Obasanjo, was, on many occasions, the target of attacks by prominent Ijaw leaders and groups. This, states the author, was one of the reasons for his famous open letter to President Jonathan in December 2013. Titled, “Before it is too late,” Mr. Obasanjo’s letter accused Mr. Jonathan of pursuing selfish interest by destroying his own party, polarizing the country along regional and religious lines and ridiculing Nigerians globally. “For you to allow yourself to be ‘possessed’, so to say, to the exclusion of most of the rest of Nigerians as an Ijaw man is a mistake that should never have been allowed to happen. To allow or tacitly encourage people of Ijaw to throw insults on other Nigerians from other parts of the country and threaten fire and brimstone to protect your interest as an Ijaw man is myopic and that you are not openly quieting them is even more unfortunate,” wrote Mr. Obasanjo.
Obasanjo’s criticisms of Mr. Jonathan were a boon to the opposition, whose disparate bits were in the process of coalescing into the All Progressives Congress (APC) to be reinforced by the defection of some PDP governors.
Cleverly painting Mr. Jonathan as dishonorable, Mr. Obasanjo said Mr. Jonathan told him before the 2011 election that he would serve for a single term and made the same promise to governors, party stakeholders, and Nigerians.
“As a leader, two things you must cherish and hold dear, among others, are trust and honor, both of which are important ingredients of character. I will want to see anyone in the office of the presidency of Nigeria as a man and woman who can be trusted, a person of honor in worth and character,” Mr. Obasanjo stated.
He referred to the “gentleman agreement” of a single term brokered in 2011. “Up till two months ago, Mr. President, you told me that you have not told anybody that you would contest in 2015. I quickly pointed out to you that the signs and measures on the ground do not tally with your statement. You said the same to one other person, who shared his observations with me. And only a fool will believe that statement you made to me judging by what is going on. I must say it is not ingenious. You may wish to pursue more credible and honorable path,” Mr. Obasanjo added.
Mr. Jonathan responded in kind and his battle axes in the media went for Mr. Obasanjo, an indication that a full-blown war had been declared. An expert at milking situations, Mr. Obasanjo did not allow his former protégé any respite. Speaking at the Ake Arts and Books Festival in Abeokuta, he delivered a dim verdict on Mr. Jonathan when asked to rate his administration.
“I rate this current administration below average. When the head is rotten, the whole body is useless,” he said woundingly.
In what seemed an attempt to deflect the accusation that he yoked the country with the Jonathan presidency, the author quotes Mr. Obasanjo as saying Mr. Jonathan was not his first choice as running mate to the late Yar’Adua.
“It was Dr. Peter Odili. But whether by fate or by some conspiracy, Odili had hurdles that made it impossible for him to take the position. That was how I settled for Jonathan,” the former president is quoted as saying.
While admitting not knowing Yar’Adua and Jonathan well enough, he stated that you can only accurately gauge people’s capacities when they are given power and responsibility.
Obasanjo also rejected the notion that he knew that Yar’Adua was terminally ill before anointing him his successor.
“One, the lingering doubts about his health, while the other was a very pervasive allegation that he had a manipulative wife, who had too much influence on him,” the book quoted him as saying.
Mr. Obasanjo, however, said the accusation against Yar’Adua’s wife was out of jealousy, as she was close to the husband. On Yar’Adua’s health, Obasanjo told the author: “Not being a medical practitioner, I gave the report to a friend and a renowned professional in the medical field, who reviewed it, and told me the person in the report that he was not on dialysis, by which he meant either he didn’t have kidney problem or that he has successfully undergone a kidney transplant. That was the report I had about his health.”
Explaining why he endorsed Jonathan for the 2011 presidential ticket, following Yar’Adua’s demise, Mr. Obasanjo said: “I saw the emergence of Jonathan an opportunity to solve the problem of minority agitation. The three majority ethnic groups in Nigeria can always sort themselves out but not so for the minority. A good example is my state here in Ogun. Despite the best intentions, nobody from Ogun west has been able to become governor because of this minority issue and it will take a conscious effort to make it happen. So, it was in that context that I had to plead with prominent people in the north to allow Jonathan run for a term.”
Signs that Mr. Jonathan was not going to be a successful president, according to Mr. Obasanjo, manifested in certain actions the man took early in the life of his administration. One of such, he said, was the appointment of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as Minister of Petroleum Resources, an action he said he warned against and for which he received assurances was not going to be taken.
“He (Jonathan) gave me the impression that he was not going to give her the portfolio. At the end, he did and then we can see the consequences. He, of course, knew what he was doing,” he told the author.
Mr. Obasanjo’s rift with his protégé oiled the opposition machine operated by Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, behind whom many disaffected politicians, including from the PDP, were queuing. He, however, denied supporting Mr. Buhari.
“I didn’t join them in supporting Buhari, I joined in opposing Jonathan, so Buhari was just a beneficiary of my opposition to Jonathan since my position was AOBJ: Any Option But Jonathan,” he told the author.
He explained that Mr. Jonathan and his supporters thought they could buy the country. “They were so arrogant about it that the PDP will print only one nomination form for him and him alone. If he was wise, he would have yielded the ticket to somebody else in the PDP,” he stated.
The former president also depicted Mr. Jonathan as corrupt and lacking the capacity to deal with Boko Haram in his three-part book, My Watch.
This, observed the author, was hugely damaging to Mr. Jonathan’s profile and persuaded the US and Britain to lean towards Mr. Buhari, whom they believed was strong on those key issues. Ever the man to time his attacks well, Mr. Obasanjo, in January 2015, just a few weeks to the initial date of the election, accused Mr. Jonathan of squandering $25 billion crude oil savings left behind by his administration.
The crippling allegation was made when he hosted southwest women leaders at his residence in Abeokuta. “Our reserve after we had paid off the debt was about $45 billion. As I said, it continued till the end of 2007, I heard that the reserve increased to almost $67 billion before the end of the year. Our reserve now, I learned, is left with around $30 billion. That is why the naira has been falling against the dollar,” he said.
While he mentioned no name, he left his audience in no doubt the target of his barbs.
“In the profession, I know very well, the military, what we normally say is that there are no bad soldiers, but bad officers. If you see a situation where the soldiers are not doing very well, you need to examine the officers in charge. So, it is in the family, the community, the town and the country,” Obasanjo stated.
He followed it up with an advice to Nigerians to use their votes judiciously during the general elections. Mr. Jonathan created some breathing space for himself when, two days after the scalding from Mr. Obasanjo, his government rescheduled the elections by six weeks.
But again, Mr. Obasanjo stepped up his attack, accusing Mr. Jonathan of copying former Cote d’Ivoire president, Laurent Gbagbo, who kept postponing election so he could manipulate the process.
“It looks to me that the President is trying to play ‘Gbagbo’. I believe this is the sort of thing Nigeria may fall into if I am right in what I observed as the grand plan. We all remember that in the run-off Gbagbo lost with 8 percent behind Ouattara and then refused to handover. All reasonable persuasion and pleading was rebuffed by him and unleashed horror in that country until nemesis caught up with him,” Obasanjo said in London.
He equally expressed a dim view of the role of the military and security chiefs in rescheduling the elections.
“I believe the President’s concern or fear is not about life out of office per se, but he and I have had occasions to talk about this, both seriously and jovially. I believe the President’s fear is particularly motivated by the person he sees as his likely successor, that is General Buhari. I believe people must have been telling him that Buhari is a hard man and he will fight corruption and he (Jonathan) will end up in jail if not in the grave,” added Mr. Obasanjo.
The attack, unsurprisingly, got the Jonathan camp red-eyed. Spokesperson of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, accused Mr. Obasanjo of desperately wanting to see Mr. Jonathan defeated.
“He has raised issues and made assertions that are capable of derailing our democracy and creating chaos in the land. It is vital that we consider his motives for this latest outburst and his credentials as a leader and an elder statesman. The truth is that he knows that President Jonathan will win the next month’s presidential election and that it why he wants to destroy the credibility of the whole process right from the beginning,” said Fani-Kayode.
Ultimately, observed the author, Mr. Obasanjo’s opposition to Jonathan’s re-election emboldened the opposition and suggested to many others that an incumbent could be defeated. He equally argued that Obasanjo helped to weaken Mr. Jonathan both within the PDP and in the general population of the country and convinced the US and Britain that the second term for Mr. Jonathan would be disastrous for Nigeria.
Also, Mr. Adeniyi reckoned that with Mr. Obasanjo’s weighty voice not being lent to Mr. Jonathan’s candidacy, big businesses, which are always backing the incumbent with billions of naira to the exclusion of the opposition, felt confident to support his opponent, Mr. Buhari.
“What this ensured was that for the first time in four attempts at the presidency, Buhari had enormous

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed why he opposed the re-election of immediate past president, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election.
Mr. Obasanjo’s reasons are contained in a book, Against the Run of Play, written by Mr. Segun Adeniyi, Chairman of the Editorial Board of ThisDay Newspapers.
The book, an account of what happened in the 2015 presidential election, is due for public presentation in Lagos on Friday.
The relationship between the former presidents, noted the author, had soured long before the election. Mr. Jonathan, whose political rise is widely credited to Mr. Obasanjo’s influence, had sought to make up with his presumed benefactor and keep him on his side for re-election. He arranged for a meeting with Mr. Obasanjo in his Abeokuta home.
Before leaving for the Ogun State leg of his campaign in January 2015 wrote the author, Mr. Jonathan had concluded plans to visit Mr. Obasanjo, who had agreed to meet him.
Mr. Obasanjo, however, gave a condition: Jonathan must come along with someone of sufficient credibility to act as a witness at the meeting. Mr. Jonathan agreed to bring one along.
He approached the hugely influential General Overseer (GO) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor EA Adeboye, who accepted to play the role of a witness.
But on the evening of 12 January 2015, the agreed date of the meeting scheduled for Mr. Obasanjo’s Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Pastor Adeboye arrived in the company of Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel.
“It was only Pastor Adeboye that Jonathan told me was coming with him, but Bishop Oyedepo is a man I also know very well, so I had no problem with his presence at the meeting,” Mr. Obasanjo was quoted as saying.
The meeting, stated the author, was an unpleasant one for Mr. Jonathan, a man Mr. Obasanjo had assisted to become Vice President and then President. Mr. Obasanjo frontally told Mr. Jonathan that he was not going to support his re-election bid, saying he considered his performance as president sub-par and that he had acted less than honorably for reneging on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) zoning arrangement, which prescribed that it was the turn of the North to produce the president.
“I told him in the presence of his witness that I was not going to support him for a second-term and I gave my reasons. Aside the issue of zoning on which he was reneging, his stewardship up to that point had also shown very clearly that he was not up to the job,” Obasanjo reportedly said to the author in December 2016.
Mr. Obasanjo, according to the author, claimed to have nothing personal against Mr. Jonathan, explaining that his disagreement with him was based on certain principles on which he was not prepared to compromise.
“My decision was based on what would be for the good of Nigeria and since I didn’t consider Jonathan god enough, I told him to his face. What would I be afraid of?” asked Obasanjo.
The outcome of the meeting was a huge blow to Mr. Jonathan, who was initially billed to be on the ballot in February 2015 before the eventual postponement of the election. Mr. Jonathan, expectedly, left Abeokuta dejected.
The outcome of the meeting was the culmination of years of disdain, initially muted, with which Mr. Obasanjo held the Jonathan presidency. Signs of his irritation first manifested on 3 April 2012, when he resigned his position as chairman of PDP Board of Trustees.
Two months later, he delivered a wounding assessment of the Jonathan’s administration’s capacity to confront corruption.
On 15 June 2012, at a debate organized by the club De Madrid (an independent, non-profit organization comprising 80 former democratic presidents and prime ministers from fifty-six countries) in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr. Obasanjo laid into the Jonathan administration with full force.
“I haven’t seen that will of persistency and consistency in Nigeria because the people that are involved in corruption, they are strongly entrenched and unless you are ready to confront them at the point of even giving your life for it, then you will give in, that is the end of it,” he told BBC
Ritula Shah, moderator of the debate. Clever sniping by an accomplished verbal sniper. From then on, Mr. Jonathan was a sitting duck.
A year later, Mr. Obasanjo abandoned sniping for an all-out shootout. His first major target was the oil pipelines protection initiative of the Jonathan administration.
“This morning, on my way from Abeokuta by road, I was listening to the radio. I heard that the Jonathan administration said that they are going to set up an agency for pipeline protection. Now, what are the police there for? What are all the security agencies doing? This is another chop-chop,” Mr. Obasanjo said in Abuja during a thanksgiving ceremony to mark the 50th birthday of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education.
He sustained his attack with details of how he thought the Jonathan administration was not interested in accountability, noting that its handling of the Boko Haram insurgency indicated that if allowed to continue in power, Mr. Jonathan could fatally damage the country. “Jonathan and his people turned Boko Haram into an industry for making money. Rather than seek for solution, Boko Haram became an ATM machine for taking money out of the treasury. Take the issue of the Chibok tragedy. If he had acted within the first 48 hours, they would have found most of the girls. The CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) Chairman of the local chapter in Chibok was here to see me and he explained how they were helpless with no reaction from the authorities for several days,” the book quoted Mr. Obasanjo as saying.
The author noted that Mr. Obasanjo had advised early in the life of the Jonathan administration that Jonathan, as president, needed to pay more attention to the Boko Haram insurgency, a counsel that was ignored.
In November 2012, the author stated, at a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary on the pulpit of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the then CAN President, Obasanjo suggested that the Jonathan administration was mishandling the challenge posed by the insurgency.
“My fear is that when you have a sore and you don’t attend to it early enough, it festers and becomes very bad. Don’t leave a problem that can be bad unattended…if you say you don’t want a strong leader who can have all the characteristic of a leader, including the fear of God, then you have a weak leader and the rest of the problems is yours,” he said at the occasion.
Mr. Obasanjo also accused Mr. Jonathan of clannishness and promotion of a form of Ijaw triumphalism, which he described as “sickening”.
“I once asked him: ‘What is this Ijaw thing all about? Can the Ijaw people make you president?’ I remember when he granted pardon to Alamieyeseigha (Diepriye, the former governor of Bayelsa State convicted for corruption) and it became an international embarrassment. I also asked him: ‘Why did you do it?’ He started by offering a lame excuse that it was a Council of State decision before I reminded him that Council of State was merely advisory and that the decision was his. After a while, he said if I was at the meeting, he probably would have acted differently because nobody opposed him on what he could do to address the problem. But it was either because he didn’t have the courage to broach the issue with Alamieyeseigha or he didn’t think it was important. he did nothing afterward,” Adeniyi reported Obasanjo as saying.
The author also noted that the public conduct of some Ijaw men such as ex-militant, Mujahid Dakubo-Asari, and a former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark damaged the image of Jonathan and that of his administration.
Mr. Adeniyi observed that the fact that Mr. Jonathan did not restrain them created the impression that he supported what they were saying and doing. For instance, in May 2013, recalls Adeniyi, Dakubo-Asari said Niger Delta militants would throw the country into chaos if Mr. Jonathan was not re-elected in 2015. Again, on September 9th, 2013, he declared that Jonathan’s presidential ambition in 2015 was already settled.
“The way things are going, there is no sitting on the fence in the battle before us… All of us will have to be in the ring and fight. 2015 is already a settled matter. Goodluck Jonathan would be president in 2015,” Dakubo-Asari declared.
A few days later, Chief Clark did the same, saying Jonathan would remain President in 2015 because it was not yet the turn of the North.
“In the Constitution of Nigeria, every president has two elections to be contested. (Alhaji Shehu) Shagari did it in1979 and 1983. In 1999, (Chief Olusegun) Obasanjo did it and 2003. In 2007, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of blessed memory did it and if he had remained alive, he would have done it again in 2011. So, Jonathan has the right to contest again. This is an incumbent that has not done a second-term. It is not yet the turn of northerners. They have the right to contest as Nigerians. Yes, but in other parties,” said Chief Clark.
At the same occasion, the late Alamieyeseigha bragged: “Aso Rock is not vacant. The northern agitators will all, at the appropriate time, join the moving train. They may have their opinion, but I can assure you that President |Jonathan will remain as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2015.

source?

na wa ooo pdp have finished.

By Dennis Agbo
ENUGU – COORDINATOR of the 2015 Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign organization in Enugu state, Chief Rex Onyeabor, has defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Until his defection to the APC, Onyeabor was a member Board of Trustee, BOT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and at one time an acting National Secretary of the party.
During his official defection at his country home, Ugbawka, Nkanu East local government area of Enugu state, Onyeabor said he was cross carpeting to the APC because the PDP was not likely to survive it’s present leadership crisis.
He said: “Apart from being former national secretary, I was BOT member which is the highest advisory body in PDP and I attended a lot of meetings, virtually every meeting, reconciliation meeting.
“There are some people who are still there attending meeting to reconcile; you see what they are doing now, Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi, and recently Jonathan and Seriake (Dickson); it is not likely that an agreement will be reached very soon.
“So I looked at all the efforts we have made in the past trying to restructure the party, trying to bring the party out of the melancholy or depression of defeat, it has not worked; that’s why I decided to pick my bag and take a walk.”
Aside from that, Chief Onyeabor said that APC provides the best platform for changing Nigeria for now, noting that though APC might not be the best party in the world but that it was better than other parties in Nigeria today.
On what might have prompted the mass exodus of notable Igbo politicians into APC, Onyeabor said that Igbos have now seen the light and that given what he knows about PDP, which he said he was not ready to make public, he now believes APC was the best choice for the realization of Igbo aspirations in Nigeria.
Enugu state chairman of the APC, Dr. Ben Nwoye expressed excitement for the influx of political bigwigs into his party, saying that they were joining not only to help win elections but to also organize the party as some of them are political technocrats and bureaucrats.
Notable among former members of PDP who recently defected to the APC in Enugu state include the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, and former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Eugene Odo.
The immediate past Governor of the State, Mr. Sullivan Chime recently resigned his membership of the PDP but is yet to make official declaration into APC.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/04/jonathans-‎campaign-manager-defects-apc/

johnbuck81:
best democratic leader in the history of Nigeria.most people that voted for buhari are regretting,even Jega himself.

story for the god's

johnbuck81:
best democratic leader in the history of Nigeria.most people that voted for buhari are regretting,even Jega himself.

story for the god's

nice one oga fash.