[Must See]: Buhari Leading Jonathan In Reno Omokri's Twitter Poll

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1le4dRFV7V1I7AxQwy3OlyNjmpJ4StT54T51lJ7cE2YYTw7E1uwkwiTVzMyi60Ruf28svmXElqy-8w4HzATUxK5uV6U2z5MbNq2HeaCtCBtdeZms4fyepG9F0VVXUBeub-lmkNhpUDhUd/s1600/Buhari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1le4dRFV7V1I7AxQwy3OlyNjmpJ4StT54T51lJ7cE2YYTw7E1uwkwiTVzMyi60Ruf28svmXElqy-8w4HzATUxK5uV6U2z5MbNq2HeaCtCBtdeZms4fyepG9F0VVXUBeub-lmkNhpUDhUd/s1600/Buhari.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>LOL! What more evidence do these people need to confirm that "it's finished!''? I mean when will they accept that the party is over, Read this.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Special Adviser to the President on New media, Reno Omokri  aka Wendel Simlincarried out a poll to test the popularity of his <i>Oga at the Villa</i>, President Goodluck Jonathan against heir so-called <i>Grand Pa</i> Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition APC.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Below is a screenshot of the results so far...</div> <blockquote align="center" class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> [BREAKING] Online polling takes another GEJ's lackey prisoner! <a href="https://twitter.com/renoomokri">@renoomokri</a> polling result: GEJ-209/GMB-2000+. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GMB15?src=hash">#GMB15</a> <a href="http://t.co/oxPEAgYFhF">pic.twitter.com/oxPEAgYFhF</a><br /> — APC United Kingdom (@APCUKingdom) <a href="https://twitter.com/APCUKingdom/status/562026509628870656">February 1, 2015</a></blockquote> Sincerely, this is no what Omokri bargained for. It's really a mockery of O-mockrey. As at the time of publishing this story, Omokri's tweet had received over 2,000 favorites (for Buhari) and 209 retweets (for Jonathan).<br /> <br /> I hope they won't come up to say the twitter handle was hacked by APC hackers. ...LOLS <br /> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

[Must See]: Buhari Leading Jonathan In Reno Omokri's Twitter Poll

LOL! What more evidence do these people need to confirm that "it's finished!''? I mean when will they accept that the ...

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala And The Missing Trillions (1) - By Chukwuma Charles Soludo

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPrlLpQ-eYPhyphenhypheneX5vhlOl6Pylcx4FW2-eaMkgFSt5LcaDHos4e8w3w9PT_CHrgJYivm0fbgz-ZpSyY0LMRig-Ub8R5EYNJZi0fps4RB5m28L_-88s0TlxXZNnbeTl50-bgaCWWMue1C86/s1600/Okonjo-Charles-soludo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPrlLpQ-eYPhyphenhypheneX5vhlOl6Pylcx4FW2-eaMkgFSt5LcaDHos4e8w3w9PT_CHrgJYivm0fbgz-ZpSyY0LMRig-Ub8R5EYNJZi0fps4RB5m28L_-88s0TlxXZNnbeTl50-bgaCWWMue1C86/s1600/Okonjo-Charles-soludo.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I read some of the responses to my article, <b>“Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”</b>, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further.  Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation. Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual. The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Here, I will focus on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response (as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy - CME and hence on behalf of the Federal Government). Since I have known her, out of deep respect, I have never called her by her name: I call her Madam. I must state that I have great pains seeing myself on the opposite side of the table with Madam, in this way. I respect you, Madam, and will always do. If you read my article of September 2010 (before you became Minister), the tone and elucidation were as strong as the current one. It is my honest effort to ensure that our choice of leaders is based on rigorous scrutiny of what is on offer. Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again. Regrettably, you have taken it very personal.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I am not bothered about the personal abuses: I actually expected worse. What name has the government not called President Obasanjo or any person who has dared to disagree with it of late? Anyone who disagrees with the government must either be ‘insane’ or have a ‘character’ deficiency or must be ‘looking for a job’ or ‘without honour’, or a ‘charlatan’. Yesterday, Sanusi alleged that $20 billion was missing and he was accused of gross financial mismanagement, recklessness and poor governance to the point of being the first Governor of Central Bank to be suspended from office. Today, he is the good one; and for daring to award an “F” grade for our economic performance, Soludo has become the ‘worst’ and ‘without character’ or perhaps ‘looking for position’ (Lol!). Some days ago, a former president was called ‘a motor park tout’ and ‘un-statesmanly’ just for disagreeing. This “how dare you criticise us” mind-set of the government is dangerous for our democracy.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In this Part One of my planned three part series, I will restrict it to the main issues you raised. I will not bother about the malicious attacks on my person. For me, it is nothing personal. In early 2011, I had a similar heated exchange with then Finance Minister Segun Aganga. But when the Nigerian economy was at stake and he invited me to a stakeholders meeting in his office (as Minister of Trade and Investment) to discuss Nigeria’s response to the ruinous EU- Economic Partnership for Africa (EPA), I flew into Nigeria for that (at my expense) - the first and only time I have been to any government office to discuss policy since I left office. It is about Nigeria. I will, as expected, remind people like you of the salient aspects of my record of public service in response to your charge; challenge your claim to debt relief, and your reason for not saving; highlight your forgery of economic statistics and the lies in your response; but most importantly re-focus our attention to the historic mismanagement of our economy which you carefully avoided. I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over ₦30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged - under your watch! We can’t go on like this, and I am convinced that an alternative future is possible. Can we have a public debate on this alternative future? The issues at stake are too grave to be trivialized through name calling. As I write, the naira exchange rate to the dollar is at ₦215 (from ₦158 a few months ago) and unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning. For the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Let me start with Madam’s rather comical, wild judgment on my tenure of office which I believe to be totally false and baseless. I apologise upfront that in the process of making a ‘personal defence’, it is difficult to avoid a rather uncomfortable emphasis on “I”. I did not want that but since Madam has dragged us this low, I have little choice but to do so in the next few paragraphs - just to keep the record straight!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In my view, there are three criteria for evaluating a public officer’s stewardship: the evaluation by his employer; the satisfaction of the public he served; and the hard facts of performance. As I will show on these three counts, I am convinced that I left a world record of public service, and a thousand Okonjo-Iwealas cannot re-write that history. I served Nigeria under two presidents (Obasanjo and Yar’Adua) and as my immediate bosses, below are their written testimonials of my record.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Said <b>President Obasanjo (December 2004)</b>:</div> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> "Charles Soludo is a true Nigerian. He is the sort of Nigerian that we all know we can rely on. Among his numerous virtues is COURAGE. I have found in him a man who can take tough and realistic decisions, stand his ground, educate others on the salience of his decision, and work very hard to ensure that the decision is efficiently and effectively implemented. His dedication to duty is first rate. His leadership qualities are admirable and his willingness to listen and learn is simply infectious. Professor Soludo has within a short time emerged as one of the leading lights of our nation. Not because he has a godfather but by sheer hard work, loyalty, dedication to duty, commitment to the nation, creativity, and undiluted association with the reform agenda…."</blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>President Yar'Adua (May 2009)</b> had the following to say about the Central Bank of Nigeria under my leadership:</div> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> "… the CBN has performed creditably well in delivering on its core mandates. This is especially even more so in the last five years. Most people would agree that without the successful banking consolidation and effective management of our foreign reserves, the current global crisis would have shaken the financial system and our national economy to their foundations with calamitous consequences".</blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In the President's special letter of commendation after the completion of my tenure of office, <b>President Yar'Adua (June 2009)</b> had the following to say to me:</div> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> "As your tenure as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria comes to a glorious end, I write on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria to place on record our debt of gratitude to you for your dedicated service and uncommon sense of duty over the past five years. I am confident that your worthy antecedents in the CBN and in prior appointments in the service of our nation remain sources of inspiration to an entire generation. As I wish you even more astounding successes in the years ahead, it is my fervent hope that you will readily avail us of your distinguished service when the need arises in the future".</blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> To the best of my knowledge, President Obasanjo has not changed those views even after ten years. The views of my two bosses, not the emotional outburst of an angry person desperate to get even, are what count.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> How did Nigerians evaluate my public service? Unfortunately, we do not have scientific opinion polls on job approval ratings for individual public officers. But if the public opinions of individuals and organized groups (labour, employers, depositors, borrowers, stakeholders of the financial institutions, newspaper editorials, investors, etc) as expressed in thousands of newspaper/magazine clips during and after my tenure are anything to go by, then 82% of the public largely agree with the sentiments expressed by my two bosses. Your views belong to the other 18% which is okay, after all, no one is perfect. Five Nigerian newspapers and magazines simultaneously named us “man of the year” in one year - unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. I do not talk about hundreds of awards and recognitions by various segments of our society (during and even after service) for “excellent public service”. I was particularly touched by the historic award by the staff union of the Central Bank and the tears in the eyes of many as thousands of the staff gave me a standing ovation as I walked the aisle after my brief farewell speech.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Certainly, the international community (investors, bankers, scholars, donors, media, etc) took serious notice of the revolution in Nigeria’s monetary and financial system. I am recipient of five international awards as global and African central bank governor of the year, not to mention dozens of other recognitions (even after leaving office). The London Financial Times described us as “a great reformer”. Even as the global economic and financial crisis raged in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly appointed me to serve on the Commission of Experts to reform the international monetary and financial system. You don’t appoint someone who has ‘mismanaged’ his national financial system to reform the global system. For 8 years until 2012, I served on the Chief Economist Advisory Council (CEAC) of the World Bank, and together with two Nobel Prize winners in economics and other experts we met periodically and advised two presidents and two chief economists of the World Bank, and in 2011, I served on the External Advisory Group of the IMF. Again, these are not positions for ‘mis-managers’. Since I left office, I have been advising countries and central banks; and there is hardly any two months I don’t consult/advise on banking/financial and monetary policy. I have given these illustrations to make the point that for every one Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to rewrite history, there are thousands who disagree.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Now, to some skeletal facts of our stewardship! I will be brief as I have a whole book to tell my story. As chief economic adviser, I had advised that our banking system could not support the private sector-led economy envisioned under NEEDS. When I assumed office at CBN, I inherited 89 rickety, mostly family banks (all of which put together were not up to the size of number four bank in South Africa). Many were insolvent, with depositors’ money trapped, and 20 more about to collapse. To get a credit of $300 million probably required all the banks to syndicate it. For me, there was a national emergency. I drafted a 13-point reform agenda, discussed and agreed all the specifics with the President, and his VP; as well as my management team at the CBN, and we swung into action. President Obasanjo promised 100% support and actually delivered 1000% - which was decisive. I apologize to you Madam because I did not brief or inform you about it. We just wanted to keep it confidential given the sensitivity of the announcement. It is on record that you never supported it.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It was both a revolution and a war and most people thought it was “impossible”, but thank God we succeeded. For the first time in Nigeria’s history a policy of that magnitude was announced and deadline kept with precision. We were courageous to revoke the licenses of 14 banks, including those of my friends, in one day. The FT-Banker concluded that the scale, precision, and cost of the transformation were unprecedented in the world. Before then, Malaysia had the least cost of banking consolidation at 5% of Malaysian GDP. It did not cost Nigerian taxpayers one penny. Twenty-five new, stronger banks emerged but the powerful idea behind consolidation ignited something even more powerful - ‘the race to the top’. Banks raised more capital, and even banks like First Bank, Zenith, GTB, etc that did not merge with others went on capital raising several times. The consequence was higher levels of capitalization and within two years, 14 Nigerian banks were in the top 1000 banks in the world and two in the top 300 (no Nigerian bank was in the top 1000 before I came). Even after I left office, still 9 banks were in the top 1000. Our vision was to have a Nigerian bank in the top 100 banks within 10 years. As I see the new Access Bank; Zenith, GTB, Fidelity, Diamond, UBA, FBN, FCMB, Skye, Stanbic IBTC, Union, Ecobank, etc, I cannot but feel that we have taken giant steps forward.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Deposits and credit soared (from barely ₦1.2 trillion to over ₦7 trillion); new technologies (ATM and e-banking) boomed, and banks had 57,000 new jobs; mega businesses emerged (ask any major operator in the Nigerian economy their experience with banking and credit before and after Soludo - the Dangotes, Arik, MM2, oil and gas operators; etc); capital market boomed and dominated by the banking sector. It was a new dawn for Nigerian private sector. I have heard Dangote twice say that he would not be near as big as he is today without the banking consolidation. Many other stakeholders still say it today. FDI and portfolio inflows flooded into Nigeria. The world celebrated, and one single transformative idea has changed the face of the private sector and economy forever. Banks became Nigeria’s first transnational corporations with about 37 branches outside of Nigeria.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Nigeria survived the global crisis because of this, and it is the banking sector that has largely been powering the economic growth you claim (compare banks trillions of naira credit for investments in the productive sector with your government’s miserable expenditure on critical infrastructure and investment; much of your borrowing - bonds - is from the banks). Your privatization of power sector, several PPP projects on infrastructure, etc, are now possible because of the mega banks. Today, Nigerian banks syndicate multi-billion dollar loans, unthinkable before. Madam, if the consolidation was ‘mismanaged’, there would not have been any bank to start with in the aftermath of the global crisis - as President Yar’adua correctly pointed out. Even you, during a recent presentation at the Banquet Hall in Abuja advertised consolidation as a historic achievement. How can you recognize a ‘mis-managed’ project as an outstanding achievement? As we say in Igbo, you can’t cover the moon with your palms.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Let me be clear: the quantum size of the new banks following consolidation presented challenges of risk management and supervision. We deployed all we had and overworked the CBN staff. The carry-over of bad loans from the consolidated banks was quickly cleaned up. To the best of my knowledge, we instituted stringent regulatory and supervisory regime (consistent with best practices at the time). We even had resident examiners in the banks and required bank MDs to personally sign their reports to CBN. I recall that the former MD of GTB complained of 'regulatory intrusiveness'. To our credit, non-performing loans (NPL) came down from 22% in 2003 and 2004 to 6% as at 2008. Anywhere in the world, a central bank that brought NPL from 22% to 6% over a four year period does not look like one with a loose supervisory regime. Name other developing countries that performed better, Madam. So, on point of fact, Madam lied. Yours was a reckless assertion without basis by a Finance Minister.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The banks in Nigeria were supervised by the CBN and NDIC, but other institutions - international firms which audited them, international rating agencies which also examined their books, capital market operators since most were listed companies - all had oversight. I put on record that there was never any information/report of infractions by any bank which was brought to my attention and which we did not act upon decisively during my tenure. I heard the comment that some of the bank MDs were my friends. Well, my response is that perhaps as CME you should kill all your friends operating in the economy or become their enemies. For the record, my successor audited all the banks and none of my so-called friends was indicted. It speaks volumes. Indeed, it is also a fact that the alleged personal criminal infractions (including lapses in corporate governance Madam alluded to) by some bank CEOs were found out, only AFTER they had been removed from office. My successor told me that the comprehensive audit of the banks did not reveal such infractions. Of course, you must be God or have a special tip-off from inside to get to such information while the MDs are in office. Unfortunately, all over the world, no financial system has succeeded in routing out all criminal behaviours by the operators. So, Madam, I challenge you to provide one shred of evidence that ‘there was no separation between regulators and regulated’ or be honourable enough to retract your reckless statement.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> What happened? The unanticipated and unprecedented crisis of 2008/09 hit the world. More than 40 US and European banks either collapsed or were shaken badly (remember the Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Wachovia, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, even UBS, etc) and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent to bail them out. The contagion effects spread like a wild fire, destroying national stock markets and banks. The nascent (big) banks in Nigeria faced sudden multiple shocks - liquidity, exchange rate, oil price, capital market, etc. As oil prices collapsed, loans to oil and gas became non-performing overnight; loans to the capital market became non-performing overnight; etc. Our first priority was to save the entire banking system and the economy from systemic collapse. I assured Nigerians that no bank would be allowed to fail, and not many people know what it took to achieve it. Once we had navigated through the unexpected /unprecedented turbulence, we laid out a comprehensive plan to clean up the debris which we presented to stakeholders in Lagos (March 2009). I had pleaded with the Senate to pass the AMCON bill which we sent to them in 2004. But I had a comprehensive plan to finish the clean-up with or without AMCON by the end of 2009, including second round consolidation and a ₦500 billion fund (my book will detail all these). I left behind an 11-volume document of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) which has remained the policy roadmap for the CBN/financial sector since I left office.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I have two analogies for our experience. Ours was really like an airplane that was cruising and suddenly meets an unexpected and unprecedented turbulence. After the pilots and the crew succeed in navigating through the potential crash and probably land the airplane, people look in and start blaming the crew for the broken tea cups, chairs, and drinks that fell during the turbulence as evidence that the crew never kept the airplane clean or serviced it. My second analogy is that of a sudden earthquake in a region it was never expected and some houses collapsed. All of a sudden, the housing authority is to blame for not requiring earthquake-proof foundations for the houses. Well, my legal experts call it force majeure, an act of nature!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> To be fair, after every crisis, there are lessons (and my book will detail what, with benefit of that experience, we should have done differently). Risk management - which has always been there - now took a new centre stage all over the world following the crisis. But for anyone to suggest that CBN under me, for one minute, took its eyes off the ball is, to say the least, ludicrous. The US financial system literally crippled the world costing America hundreds of billions of dollars but no one has suggested that Alan Greenspan is no longer the great maestro!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> AMCON is a big topic (which I will address at a later date) but her claims show either ignorance or mischief. She claims that ₦5.7 trillion of AMCON funds was used to rescue banks and the ‘bond issued’ as ‘cost to taxpayers’. Really? I will deal with the AMCON I envisaged and the AMCON under you later but let me state that even if 100% of the banks’ NPL was offloaded on AMCON, it would not be up to ₦5.7 trillion. Enough said for now. The fact is that the Federal Government has not put a penny in the AMCON fund: the banking system is financing itself, and together with the sinking fund by banks, AMCON surely can’t default (thanks to consolidation that the banks are now big enough to cough out such funds to solve the system’s problem). Did you intend to deceive the readers by refusing to tell them that much of the AMCON fund is ‘investment’ and not ‘expense’. Am sure you heard the IMF’s alarm about moral hazard? If you want, we can have a focused debate on AMCON.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Next, let me briefly respond to a few outlandish claims. She brags about ‘single-digit’ inflation rate ‘now’ and alleges that when I left office, inflation was above 13%. I just laughed at this one. In Nigeria’s history, no governor of the Central Bank has delivered 24 consecutive months of single digit inflation as I did until the advent of the unprecedented global crisis in 2008. It was not for nothing that the world cheered us as monetary policy czar, Madam! Perhaps you are also not aware that we broke a world record by having a depreciated real effective exchange rate during a time of export boom and this was at the heart of our reserve accumulation and the portfolio/FDI inflows. I resisted the IMF advice to deplete reserves for liquidity management, and Nigeria had enough self-insurance to survive the global crisis. The opposite has happened under you Madam, and the Nigerian economy is in trouble. Naira exchange rate appreciated under me from ₦133 to ₦117 before the global crisis; and reserves grew to all time high of $62 billion. For the first time since 1986, the official, interbank and parallel market exchange rates converged under me. You can’t match these records!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors - who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court - not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors - who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Next, Madam, I was really embarrassed for you to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’. Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3-2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95 mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about ₦12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? Come on, Madam!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another ₦12.6 trillion.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over ₦4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?).  How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years? As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel,  has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process?  Be honest: do you really know (as coordinator and minister of finance) how many trillions of Naira, self- financing government agencies earn and spend? I have a long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security. My estimate, Madam, is that probably more than ₦30 trillion has either been stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes in the past four years. Since you claim to be in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to account. Think about what this amount could mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians or for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay this or that tax, while some faceless “thieves” were pocketing over $40 million per day from oil alone.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> You alluded to debt relief in your response and tried to take credit. Well, your CV is honest enough to admit that your two achievements in office as Finance minister under Obasanjo were that “you led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club” and that you “introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation in the newspapers”. You are right about the two achievements. Let me put on record that Nigeria would have secured debt relief under anyone as Minister of Finance. President Obasanjo secured debt relief for Nigeria. Much of his first term was used to get Nigeria back into the international community and to campaign for debt relief. Before you were sworn in as Minister of Finance, President Bush visited Nigeria and both of us accompanied President Obasanjo during the meeting. There, Mr. Bush promised to support Nigeria with debt relief and asked our president to ensure that he met the conditions of the Paris Club. Obasanjo mobilized the global political support and coordinated all of us to ensure that the government met the check-list of ‘conditionalities’ as required. I spent 5 weeks in the hotel with my team (as coordinator/chairman for drafting the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS).</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Some of the reform targets in NEEDS became the ‘conditionalities’ Nigeria was required to fulfil to merit debt relief. You and I signed the various MoU with the IMF on behalf of Nigeria (the policy support instrument). We had a great team at work and each member of the economic team had specific aspects of the conditionalities to deliver: Bode Agusto was in-charge of the budget; Oby Ezekwesili held sway at Bureau of Public Procurement and later Minister of Solid Mineral, and Education (but specifically tasked with delivering on EITI and procurement reforms); Nuhu Ribadu was at the EFCC fighting corruption; I was at the Central Bank delivering on monetary policy and banking reforms; Steve Oronsaye worked hard to delist Nigeria from the FATF; Nenadi Usman was in-charge of the parastatals; El-Rufai held forth at FCT and in charge of public sector reforms; privatization programme went on, etc. Did you know that the IMF wrote President Obasanjo threatening that there would be no debt relief if the CBN did not meet some monetary targets, and do you know the magic we performed to meet them? Can you tell Nigerians which of the ‘conditionalities’ that you personally implemented? With the groundswell of political support and Nigeria meeting all the ‘conditionalities’, debt relief was assured.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Your major role as stated in your CV was to lead the team to negotiate the specific terms of the relief, having fulfilled the conditions. I still believe that Nigeria should have gotten far better terms than you negotiated. Of course, with your eyes on returning to the World Bank after office, I did not expect you to boldly stand up to the donor community in defence of Nigeria. Was there a conflict of interest on your part?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team - barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important? Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty. There are firebrand Nigerians all over the world to draft to service. It is certainly embarrassing to Nigeria for you to be bothering World Bank economists to help you with most basic economic analysis.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Your response on the poverty issue is deeply troubling. You accuse me of using “2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> What worries me is that this government is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys.  I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘review methodology’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the published figures. No government in our history has tried it: even Sani Abacha allowed a poverty survey that put poverty at 67% under his regime. At this rate, who will believe statistics coming from the Nigerian government again? Is it now the World Bank that sits in Washington and allocates poverty numbers to Nigeria? Something smells here!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Madam alleges that the NBS - as a parastatal under the National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published in 2005/2006 - more than a year after I had gone to the Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was a clever way to divert attention from your manipulation of published economic statistics. The NBS published its poverty data in 2006 when you were Minister of Finance, and you did not question the ‘methodology’ because the figures looked good. In 2011, the poverty numbers (using the same methodology as in 2005/2006) indicted the government and suddenly, the ‘methodology’ is wrong. Interesting times!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Now that you decide which economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones to ‘change the methodology’ to give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated figures to your international media circus for the vain glorious awards to sustain an empty hype, while Nigerians groan under hardship. We can actually ask Nigerians whether they are getting better off now contrary to your bogus figures.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Many of Madam’s responses were comical, but this one is classic. According to her, the chief economic adviser and NBS “worked hard to determine how many jobs we need to create in a year”, and went on to ask, “why didn’t Soludo do this when he was CEA?” (Lol!). Madam, any good economist needs less than 10 minutes to compute this figure, not the (months? of) ‘hard work’ by your team. My calculation is that the number of jobs Nigeria needs to create each year to significantly reduce unemployment rate to sustainable levels in the next few years is at least 3 million, and not the 1.8 million by your team. We are talking about the Nigerian economy, please.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers - for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank - financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc? People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank. I will offer you free consultancy on how to set up a development bank without a World Bank loan but we don’t need another one now. I actually gave President Yar’adua a two page note for a ₦3 trillion development fund then, and if we plug your leaking pipes, it could actually be a ₦10 trillion Fund. I envisioned and set up the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) - Africa’s premier infrastructure bank!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Frankly, I don’t understand why you seem highly troubled that the Soludo you thought had “disappeared from the political space” seems to be still around. Well, let me assure you that I will only ‘disappear’ in God’s own time. I gave credit to two past presidents who laid the foundation of the market economy we operate today. You did not contest or contradict any of my points. Rather, what you see is that Soludo must be ‘looking for a position’. Pity! If I am looking for a position, I would be running around one of the candidates now just as you are busy dancing Atilogwu dance at TAN and PDP rallies, struggling to keep your job. How Yar’adua drafted me to contest for governor in Anambra and APGA leadership as well and how I was “stopped” on both occasions are in the public domain. But I am not deterred for one minute. Chinua Achebe said that on leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. I am proud and happy to have offered to serve my people, and for the service of Nigeria, I will do it again and again. How many times did Abraham Lincoln, Obama, Reagan, etc contest before they got there? I actually encourage everyone who believes he/she has something to offer to get involved or stop complaining. I am happy seeing the increasing critical mass of professionals (like you) now getting involved. It is good for Nigeria!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria. Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the ECONOMY. We must offer Nigerians clarity on the choices before them. Can I propose a three-way debate with you (representing PDP/Federal Government), nominee of APC (Utomi or Fayemi? or any other), and myself (as independent citizen - I don’t belong to any of the two). Let us have two bouts of debate between now and 12th February, 2015 focusing on: CBN/AMCON and the financial system (if you want); our economy and its outlook, and agenda/alternative paths to sustainable prosperity post elections. Choose the dates and times, and for the sake of Nigeria, I will fly in. You can invite any of your international media friends as moderators. I feel the pain of the 180 million Nigerians whose tomorrow you have carelessly rendered bleak, and when I think of what the missing trillions could do for them, it becomes extremely urgent that we all must deepen the debate. Eagerly waiting for your response, please!</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Chukwuma Charles Soludo is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria</b></div>

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala And The Missing Trillions (1) - By Chukwuma Charles Soludo

I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election” , and I want to thank everyone who has contribute...

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Personally Respond To Ex-Militants' War Threats, Osundare Advises Jonathan

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6no6O1c7aHnBT_Ers671sGl_HxmgpFBEx1xHx3sBTv4C8KA39wnktvifXtippOZgkBh1mNRikJITaosARbHadOTVQoNgkznN2sz7yB4lxBHsz2ycS23NEz1iZL-LecKHame6HZ7x5mQb2/s1600/Professor-Niyi-Osundare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6no6O1c7aHnBT_Ers671sGl_HxmgpFBEx1xHx3sBTv4C8KA39wnktvifXtippOZgkBh1mNRikJITaosARbHadOTVQoNgkznN2sz7yB4lxBHsz2ycS23NEz1iZL-LecKHame6HZ7x5mQb2/s1600/Professor-Niyi-Osundare.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>President Goodluck Jonathan is coming under increasing pressure to distance himself from the militants who have been threatening fire and brimstone should he lose this month’s election.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> National Merit Award winner and respected scholar, Professor Niyi Osundare, yesterday asked the president to live up to his constitutional responsibility by personally speaking out immediately on the war threats by Niger Delta militants.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He joined former defence minister Lt. Gen Theophilus Danjuma  who, on Wednesday, asked that Asari Dokubo, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and Victor Ebikabowei (aka Boyloaf) and their likes be arrested for threatening the country’s unity and security.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Osundare, in an open letter published yesterday by <b>SaharaReporters</b> said that while  no one holds the President  responsible for the opinions and utterances of other people no matter how close they appear to be to him, "it is your bounden duty to disclaim incendiary utterances capable of setting the Nigeria house ablaze".</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Put succinctly, it is your inescapable duty to respond PERSONALLY and unequivocally to all such utterances with an emphatic: NOT IN MY NAME!" he said in response to the war drum beats.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://nigerianewsroom.blogspot.com/2015/01/we-are-going-to-wargo-and-fortify.html">The warlords, at a recent meeting at the Yenagoa Government House with Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Amnesty ,Mr. Kingsley Kuku, vowed to break up the country in the event that the President loses the February 14 election</a>.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The condemnation of their action by General Danjuma, only elicited <b><a href="http://nigerianewsroom.blogspot.com/2015/01/shut-up-or-ill-disgrace-you-boyloaf.html">defiance and further threats from them</a></b>, with a group of ex-militants giving him a seven-day ultimatum to withdraw the statement or face their wrath.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It took the ruling PDP several days to dissociate the Presidency from the threats.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, Osundare continuing in his open letter told President Jonathan: "I have not heard you say that, Mr. President. The whole country is waiting for you to say so. We have not seen your Inspector General of Police rein in the flame-throwers; nor have we seen your Attorney-General read them the portions of the Nigerian constitution forbidding their inflammatory incitements.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "There surely must be a wide discernible difference between a national leader and a tribal jingoist. Say something, Mr. President. Say something. Your silence in this instance is anything but golden. Your ostrich cannot hide for long, for the Nigerian sand has become so transparent,  thanks to many years of painful wisdom and enlightened skepticism of the people."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Osundare also expressed disappointment that President Jonathan has failed to give Nigerians, as he traverses the country to seek re-election "a credible anti-insurgency plan that would make Nigeria safer in your second term".</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> His words: "Mr. President, you will agree with me that this election is so crucial, so fateful that its outcome will decide the coming to pass or otherwise of the doom so loudly and so frightfully foretold for Nigeria. The troubling signs are all over the place, as visible, even conspicuous as Aso Rock which overlooks your presidential abode.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Right now, the whole northeastern flank of our country is literally out of and beyond your control. The kidnappings, blood-letting, and other gruesome barbarities in these parts make the Dark Ages look like a humane era. The Chibok Girls have been gone for almost nine months, with no possible solution from your government, and the whole wide world is defining Nigeria’s international standing by the utter helplessness and apparent apathy of its government.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Like those of other people in the world, my heart bleeds each time I remember these girls (and I do so many, many times a day), the manner of their abduction, and worse still, what fate must have befallen them in the hands of their violent captors. We have seen you traversing the country, making speeches, and waxing bold on the hustings, but we have not heard any credible anti-insurgency plan that would make Nigeria safer in your second term."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He admonished the President to “please remember there is life after power” and “make sure the coming election does not land Nigeria in the usual post-election crises.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Do not handle it with the impunity that has characterized many of your actions and those of your party’s functionaries. You are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Chief Security Officer of the Nation: use these powers justly and fairly by allowing the security agents to supervise the elections in a non-partial manner.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "I say this because experience has shown that election rigging in Nigeria is invariably carried out with the full and blatant ‘cooperation’ of security agents. Many of them do not even pretend about it as they often ask ‘who you think I go side? No be de person who pay my salary, the person who give me kola chop?’. Our police and other security operatives have always looked the other way when illegal ballot thumb-printing is going on, when ballot-box stuffing is in progress, and when ballot snatchers are at work.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "They have perfected the act of kidnapping and ‘disappearing’ leaders of the opposing party and holding them down till the elections are over. This is why the ruling party has always ‘won’ elections in Nigeria. This is why every major election in Nigeria is trailed by all manner of rancour and mayhem.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Let us do everything to circumvent the 2015 apocalypse. Make sure history does not write you down as the last President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."</div>

Personally Respond To Ex-Militants' War Threats, Osundare Advises Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan is coming under increasing pressure to distance himself from the militants who have been threatening fire a...

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Buhari Will Win Presidential Poll By A Landslide - Dele Momodu

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYT1-ny_OPfEYPYoPQ1XMQRgM0ry3v0b2K5fvEBxa8C6IZk__tCRGfurqpu9qh-92O4uKMzhHjtrQleyqQOv08geL7Pxehbd-2l69Bnk1VniL-WpZ57R_6tmVkRMwCO_IRvZ3-pUXjCzov/s1600/Dele+Momodu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYT1-ny_OPfEYPYoPQ1XMQRgM0ry3v0b2K5fvEBxa8C6IZk__tCRGfurqpu9qh-92O4uKMzhHjtrQleyqQOv08geL7Pxehbd-2l69Bnk1VniL-WpZ57R_6tmVkRMwCO_IRvZ3-pUXjCzov/s1600/Dele+Momodu.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>In this interview with <a href="http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/175994-interview-buhari-will-win-presidential-poll-landslide-dele-momodu.html">PREMIUM TIMES</a>’ Michael Abimboye, journalist, social critic and former presidential candidate, Dele Momodu, speaks on the coming presidential election, the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other sundry issues. Excerpts:</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>You are one of the critics of the Jonathan administration, what do you think it could have done better?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> For a man with that kind of background similar to mine, he should have been president of the people. Jonathan became an elitist president and the moment you are elitist in nature, outlook in attitude, you are bound to fail. Nigeria requires a selfless leader and reduces personal comfort for overall comfort of the people. The moment you gallivant all over the world, drive special jets, go to Jerusalem with entourage of people and people are lying to you that you are the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria, what nonsense.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The mistake he made was that he did not come as a leader who was ready to serve his people. You look at their budget in a year they are budgeting billions for food in Aso Rock. If the president is ready to downgrade his personal lifestyle, you will see that people will follow him.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The key element of leadership is trust. If you are coming to Lagos, you lock down everywhere; you cannot be a man of the people, you cannot see anything and that is why the Benin-Ore road they are making noise about is still useless. They have repaired some parts of it but did not do it all the way to Sagamu. Jonathan does not see all these because when he moves, they shield him.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Look at the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the most important road linking the heartbeat of Nigeria to the rest of Nigeria. The PDP has not been able to complete it in the last 16 years. There is headway in the railway, looking at Sijuade and the rest, but the government must be more serious than ambitious. If you just want to do one rail from Lagos to Kano then make it the best quality. When are we going to start doing quality projects?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Look at the international airport, the first point of contact with foreigners. I will expect the renovations that they are shouting about. I do not know how much it cost but the airport is one of the worst in the world today and that is why I took some pictures to show the world.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If I were in his shoes I would have merged all the universities so that it will reduce the overhead cost. In those days, University of Ife started from University of Ibadan. The Adeyemi College of Education was in Ondo but under University of Ife. If that is done we will have a single vice chancellor manage them well and standardize them.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I was made to know education is the bedrock of any great nation. Any nation where you do not make education as priority, you are going to have glorified illiterate. If we switch to economy, to create jobs is not difficult. It is for you to reduce cost of running government. If you reduce cost of running government you will be able to use money for the health of the nation. He should approach the National Assembly and tell them he is reducing the cost of running the government by 25 per cent or 50 per cent. If the National Assembly sees that he has reduced the cost by 25 per cent and plead with them to reduce the cost and they say no, then we will now take them to the court of the public. But when they see you are living lavishly, you cannot tell others not to do so.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The cost of running the Federal Government is outrageous. Imagine Nigeria wanting to go and borrow $1billion to fight Boko Haram. If corruption is reduced you will see that Nigeria will be top all around the world because we are the most brilliant people in the world. If it is seen that we have a good president, people will come back home to be among the best in the world. I interacted with them - our military as far back as 2001 in Sierra Leone, later in Liberia. As a matter of fact, Nigerian military was controlling 10 out of 15 states in Liberia. They were well equipped, motivated, well protected. Until that is done we are going to continue having the security situation. Our secret service has been politicized. I have never seen where FBI, CIA.... They should be well equipped so that they can carry out their job of spying, which is one of the important jobs in a country. That is why in France when the enemy strikes before 24 hours, they are tracked. Our men can do it but everything in this country has been politicized. We now have to choose based on ethnicity. Nigeria has brilliant people who can lead this country.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>A lot has been said about governance in Nigeria, what actually do you think is Nigeria’s problem?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Our problems are multifaceted. They are not problems we have not seen elsewhere. They can be solved by one man. People think it can be solved by all of us. I disagree with them and that is why I ran for the presidential race. The day we get the right president with the right mindset, a lot of things will go away because everybody is looking at the man at the top. If you see that the man at the top is not corrupt, even if you are corrupt, you will be more careful. People will say they are many corrupt people in APC, but I can tell you because I have good relationship with top characters in APC that they have maximum respect for Buhari. That is why I will call Buhari the Mandela of the nation. Once there is respect, we will not want to tarnish his image.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has been criticizing President Jonathan. Don’t you feel he is one of the people that created the problem in Nigeria?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He has been a critic of the government but if he makes a mistake, it is good for you to admit. I believe what Obasanjo is doing now is a way for atoning for his sins. He must be feeling bad and guilty that this problem is on Nigerians. So whether he is doing it for selfish reasons, the reason is best known to him. We must listen to him. He is one of the best we have in Nigeria, against all odds. He was able to fight for Nigeria, hold Nigeria together, went to prison, came out, and became president though he is not perfect. By now, I am sure he will be regretting some of these things that happened under his administration. He has his followers too and he is respected, internationally.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>As a former presidential candidate, why did you decide to support Mr. Buhari for presidency in the coming elections?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Well, the mood of the nation favours a change in our state of affairs. The average Nigerian, except maybe those who are profiting from the government, believes that government has not performed. So I have looked at the political situation, based on my vast experience working with late Chief M.K.O Abiola, working with Chief Olu Falae, and working for myself and I can see that the only way to dislodge the PDP is if we all join forces. I’m not a member of the APC, I’m a member of the National Conscience Party and I never thought a day would come when I won’t support my own presidential candidate. But the reality on ground is that we have to face the reality.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I now know what it takes to win a presidential election. I went through it. All the idealism that I had has evaporated. I was one of those who felt that Nigeria was ready for change in 2011. They would look at the track records, merits and they could see that I was one of the best candidates that was available in the country but the truth is that it takes much more than your personal character, achievement, popularity to win a presidential election and that is why I’m humble enough to say enough of contesting and let me find one of the candidates who has the ideals that I had in 2011. Unfortunately, I can’t find any other person than Buhari. It does not mean Buhari is a saint; it does not mean Buhari does not have his own faults because he’s human being and we are all mortals. But if I have to choose between Buhari and Jonathan, I will go for Buhari.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>So you are sure of Mr. Buhari winning the election?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Oh, I have no doubt that General Buhari is set to create an upset in Nigeria’s political configuration.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Despite the violence-free peace pact signed in Abuja by President Jonathan, Buhari and others, there are still cases of electoral violence. Do you see a violence-free election in February?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Oh, we can. What usually happens is that once a particular candidate is overwhelmingly popular and the mood of change permeates the entire society, it becomes difficult for people to fight because it becomes oblivious that one candidate was more popular than the other. That’s what happened in 1993. Nobody fought when Chief Abiola won. People expected that there was going to be violence, but there was no violence because it was clear that Abiola was way ahead of Tofa. How will you fight when your own people are supporting your opponent?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> If Buhari wins this election, it is not going to be a close election because he is going to win by a wide margin. Jonathan’s supporters who think they can fight now, by that time, it would have dawn on them that even in their own village, Buhari has supporters and in situations like that who are you going to fight?</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>There have been attacks on candidates as the elections get closer. What do you make of the advertorial by Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose on Buhari?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I will describe the advert as very satanic, extremely satanic. It is probably worse than the cartoon that caused problem in France and this is where you know that Nigerians are not really violent. In other places, that would have caused violence. What he did was to provoke anger in the people against the PDP and against Jonathan. If I were Jonathan, I will distant myself from Fayose immediately because that advert was totally reckless and irresponsible. I will appeal to us to tread carefully. Who knows tomorrow? Nobody has the power to life and death. Old age doesn’t mean you will die before a young man. I think he carried it too far. I’m sure by now he is regretting it but might not admit it. If I were him, I will run another advert on the same pages and apologize. If he carries on with this recalcitrant approach to life, he would not like it in future. We must all guide what we say and do because we need peace in Nigeria.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>There are reports that elections might not hold in some areas within the troubled north-east region. If elections do not hold eventually in those areas, do you think this will affect the outcome of the election?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I do not know what will happen. The elections are still over 20 days away. I don’t know what INEC’s decision is going to be. I’m sure the candidates will agree before a decision is reached. If the candidates agree to exclude those affected areas, so be it. The governors in those states are insisting that election can be held. Maybe what they have to consider is to do special election for the affected areas so they can concentrate more security. If it is just a one day affair, whatever it will take for those people to exercise their voting right must be done.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>The Federal Government announced reduction in price of petrol, what can you make of this?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> My reaction when I heard this was that it was a little too small and a little too late. I wrote in my column in <b>ThisDay</b> that what has been done in Nigeria is wrong and that it is different from what is done in other countries. You use to tell us that you were paying subsidies. If the price has fallen, so what subsidies are you paying? Removing ₦10 is an act of ‘tokenism’ and I’m sure it is because of election, which is sad. It is something you should have done under normal situation. You (Jonathan) went to Borno also. It is something you should have done on a normal basis. If sufficient interest has been shown, even the military would have driven into action but his body language is ‘I don’t care'.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>What is next for you?</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Well, you know I have always been a media person and I hope we will be able to achieve more aims because as you know that is my lone interest. I have been working quietly. My attitude to business is that: if you cannot make a difference do not bother investing. Whenever, you see me bring any media thing it has to be top notch.</div>

Buhari Will Win Presidential Poll By A Landslide - Dele Momodu

In this interview with PREMIUM TIMES ’ Michael Abimboye, journalist, social critic and former presidential candidate, Dele Momodu, spea...

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Mbu Again! Controversial Police AIG 'Insulted' By Toll Plaza Worker

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6x-J7oQRS_I5voWu-7mVlZzqDLjemfswULU7cV_qNvsOxWyqi5UFOF14xsTfWhK9oBzUr5d3KVw7CYwzB3dOJKjVdVgS5xLI2TcUKZ9nSi8WULKjkzxJZHi7MWQGmgtB90jzGFiLUcp2O/s1600/Mbu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6x-J7oQRS_I5voWu-7mVlZzqDLjemfswULU7cV_qNvsOxWyqi5UFOF14xsTfWhK9oBzUr5d3KVw7CYwzB3dOJKjVdVgS5xLI2TcUKZ9nSi8WULKjkzxJZHi7MWQGmgtB90jzGFiLUcp2O/s1600/Mbu.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Less than 10 days after he assumed duty at the Onikan Headquarters of Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Po­lice, Assistant Inspector General of Police Mbu Joseph Mbu, last Friday got a 'special welcome to Lagos' treatment by staff of the Lekki Concession Company Limited, which left him embarrassed and red in the face.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A source who witnessed the less-than-sa­voury treatment given to the AIG told <b><a href="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=102678">SUNDAY SUN</a></b> that Mbu's convoy, consisting of six po­lice cars and an armoured personnel carrier, sought to transit through the Ikoyi-Lekki toll plaza on Lane 8.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> On reaching the toll point, some of the po­lice orderlies escorting the convoy allegedly ran up and informed the LCC staff member on duty and the mobile policemen standing by that the AIG was in the convoy.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The staff member was said to have re­torted: "Who is the AIG? He should follow procedure and pay the toll."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The AIG was said to have overheard the remark and felt insulted by the effrontery of the LCC toll plaza staff. To make matters worse, the five mobile policemen attached to the plaza were said not to have shown proper courtesy consistent with the practice of the armed services and paramilitary organiza­tions as they engaged the orderlies escorting the convoy in an altercation. Their conduct was said to have enraged the AIG, who then ordered that they be arrested along with the LCC staffer and detained at the Maroko Po­lice Station.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Upon learning about the incident and the fate that befell its worker, LCC management was said to have reached out to the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu 1, who facilitated the release of the detainees yesterday. When contacted on the phone, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, DSP Kenneth Nwosu declined to comment on the incident, stating that it was not a matter related to the state com­mand. However, a senior police officer who pleaded not to be named confirmed the inci­dent and added that the affected LCC worker and policemen were arrested, detained over night and cautioned before being released. Meanwhile, SUNDAY SUN learnt that the AIG had ordered the immediate withdrawal of all policemen attached to LCC.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In recent times, the career of AIG Mbu has been dogged by controversy. Coming so soon after he arrived to assume duties in the Zone 2 Command, comprising Lagos State and Ogun State, the latest incident involving him in some sense bears out the belief held by many that controversy sticks to him like a leech.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The running battle between the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Mbu, when he was the Commissioner of Police in that state is still fresh in the memory of Nige­rians and officials of the Rivers State Govern­ment, who understandably heaved a sigh of relief when he was transferred to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Not long after he got to Abuja FCT as Police Commissioner, he was elevated to the rank of Assistant Inspec­tor General of Police. Then on Tuesday, Janu­ary 20, the Inspector General of Police, Abba Suleiman announced Mbu’s redeployment to head Zone 2 Command. The action taken by the IGP in the normal course of executing his duties, set off a ripple in the rank of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, which promptly issued a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbok­we, the next day, in which the party warned that it would not tolerate what it described as the "indecorous notoriety" of Mbu.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The statement read in part: "We want to warn Mbu that he is coming to Lagos. We want to let him know that naturally, Lagos is not tolerant of negative behaviours from cul­tural savages and people without scruples, so he needs to adjust to the civilized template of Lagos or get his hands burnt."</div>

Mbu Again! Controversial Police AIG 'Insulted' By Toll Plaza Worker

Less than 10 days after he assumed duty at the Onikan Headquarters of Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Po­lice, Assistant Inspector Genera...

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How Buhari's Letter To Ohanaeze Nd'igbo Split Group

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI_CCbKbavupr4uIOcVBqJjBDCVx4E9lFZArZQ0HPXgMuDwgOShMG0yeKL6fWbILjp_drfEAAJuNkKvtgKT27wNKbcZB_pCkXAzt1HBWK7W0zmzwe90Elb5RotIfl1_MnX_tqytGvPWNUF/s1600/ohanaeze-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI_CCbKbavupr4uIOcVBqJjBDCVx4E9lFZArZQ0HPXgMuDwgOShMG0yeKL6fWbILjp_drfEAAJuNkKvtgKT27wNKbcZB_pCkXAzt1HBWK7W0zmzwe90Elb5RotIfl1_MnX_tqytGvPWNUF/s1600/ohanaeze-.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>A letter written by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, to the leadership of the <i>Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo</i>, the umbrella socio-cultural organisation of <i>Nd’Igbo</i>, is at the root of the current crisis threatening the organisation, the <a href="http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/196179-how-buhari-s-letter-to-ohanaeze-stoked-crisis">GUARDIAN</a> has learnt.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Not long ago, there was an attempt by yet-to-be identified persons to destroy the Ohanaeze Secretariat at No 7 Park Road, GRA, Enugu, even as a splinter group, led by the First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, continues to battle the Gary Enwo Igariwey-led executive over the duration of its tenure.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, investigations by <i>The Guardian</i> revealed that, contrary to the argument by the Mbazulike Amaechi that the tenure of the Ohanaeze executive is for a period of two years, the letter from Buhari seeking audience with leaders of <i>Nd’Igbo</i> actually sparked off the hostilities. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It was gathered that after the South East spokesman of the APC, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, brought the letter personally signed by General Buhari, an argument ensued between Amaechi and the Ohanaeze leaders over how and where the APC presidential candidate should be received. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In the letter titled: <b>"Request for Consultative Meeting"</b> and dated November 7, 2014 Buhari had written: "A time comes in the history of nations, when the ligaments holding the nation are stretched to their very ends, creating uncertainty, despair and general despondency to pervade the land. It is without pleasure that I say our country is once at crossroads.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "This regrettably is where none of us wants our dear nation to be; and it is because of this unpleasant scenario that I am persuaded by many Nigerians to come forward again to seek for your votes, in order to halt Nigeria’s dangerous slide into anarchy and possible state failure.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "In coming to the inevitable conclusion to seek your support and lend my humble service again to our fatherland, I considered it pertinent to hold consultations with all communities nationwide in order to build a mutually acceptable national consensus. Needless to add, no national consultation will be complete or meaningful without a meeting with the leadership of <i>Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo</i>. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Since I cannot assume to know all the pressing issues facing <i>Nd'igbo</i> or what <i>Nd'igbo</i> expect of the new Nigeria we wish to build, I would greatly appreciate if you could kindly arrange a consultative meeting with <i>Ohanaeze Ndigbo</i> where we could discuss and try to determine how this could best be done".</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> But no sooner had the letter gotten to the <i>Ohanaeze </i>leaders than the subject matter divided them because while Chief Amaechi was said to have told the <i>Ohanaeze</i> executive led by Igariwey that he should be allowed to host Buhari and his delegation at his country home, the <i>Ohanaeze</i> leaders objected.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A source close to Amaechi confided in <i>The Guardian</i> that the elder statesman, having noticed the body language of the <i>Ohanaeze</i> leaders towards possible endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan, contended that, as the most senior living political actor in Igbo land, he should be the one to receive the Buhari delegation. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "But the Igariwey executive insisted that since the letter was addressed to <i>Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo</i>, Buhari and his delegation should be received at the <i>Ohanaeze</i> Secretariat. The argument was partly the reason the issue of endorsement of President Jonathan was shelved until all the various contestants must have met with Ohanaeze", the source disclosed adding that the crisis was instigated to ensure that each faction could endorse a different presidential candidate.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As at the time of filing this report, neither Chief Igariwey nor Chief Amaechi could be reached for comments.</div>

How Buhari's Letter To Ohanaeze Nd'igbo Split Group

A letter written by the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, to the leadership of the Ohan...

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Attacks On Jonathan's Campaign Convoy Disturbs PDP

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2N_1L0s3e6ZCHKBxGIIo-dY136_6XQPXHj-BTZJjzsTb72MI5VgsFb-1EiRFPQPf7R-8GZq5kapeNSKRy7N_cMd5gm4Cqyg2Tmsc9qTpPkKTjDID3vWjROhq8dHRPWpfVZf3Le6XYenM/s1600/Goodluck+Jonathan3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ2N_1L0s3e6ZCHKBxGIIo-dY136_6XQPXHj-BTZJjzsTb72MI5VgsFb-1EiRFPQPf7R-8GZq5kapeNSKRy7N_cMd5gm4Cqyg2Tmsc9qTpPkKTjDID3vWjROhq8dHRPWpfVZf3Le6XYenM/s1600/Goodluck+Jonathan3.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>The increasing spate of attacks on President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign train in some parts of the North is rattling the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Investigations by <b><a href="http://www.punchng.com/news/campaign-attacks-on-jonathan-rattle-pdp/">SUNDAY PUNCH</a></b> in Abuja, on Friday, showed that the grave situation were made worse by allegations that the attacks had been carried out by aggrieved members of the party.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It was learnt that the situation had prompted the President’s security team to take extra measures to protect him as he prepared to visit Gombe, Yobe and Niger states this week.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Our correspondents also gathered that the PDP had been further unsettled by the hot exchange of words between the Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Sen. Bala Mohammed, over the stoning of the President’s convoy in Katsina State.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The party and the Presidency were said to have been stunned by Yuguda’s claim that the attack on the President’s convey was arranged by the members of the ruling party, under the supervision of the minister.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In response, the minister accused the governor of being an opposition mole within the ruling party. However, the party and the Presidency were said to have intervened and made the two men to sheathe their swords.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Olisa Metuh, said the party had asked its members to be cautious of their comments on the issue.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "It is curious and it is not a welcome development if we have our leaders bickering in the public. We have asked them to be wary of their comments," Metuh said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A party leader from one of the northern states confided in SUNDAY PUNCH on the level of anxiety in the party.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said, "I will be lying if I say we are not disturbed. The truth is that some of our brothers in the North consider loyalty and support for General (Muhammadu) Buhari a religious obligation.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "They have resorted to intimidation and threats, when you see things differently they come after you and your family and burn your house. If you remember, in 2011 so many of us had our houses burnt and some barely escaped with their lives.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Some have not recovered from their loss and it may be difficult for some to take that kind of risks this time around."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The panic in the party, another source told SUNDAY PUNCH informed the decision of the party not to extend the suspension earlier slammed on its estranged national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. He said it was taken to forestall bickering and further loss of followership.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The party on Thursday lifted the one-month suspension it placed on Tukur on December 4.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Metuh rose in defence of the party’s decision to lift Tukur’s suspension.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said, "Tukur’s suspension was for 30 days. Since the suspension was not extended, we needed to lift it and that was what we did."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Also speaking on the issue, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Abdullahi Jalo, said what was happening was a smear campaign by the opposition.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said, "To the best of my knowledge; no member of the PDP was involved in stoning Mr. President. Northerners, especially our youths, respect elders. None of our members threw stones at our President."</div>

Attacks On Jonathan's Campaign Convoy Disturbs PDP

The increasing spate of attacks on President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign train in some parts of the North is rattling the leadership o...

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Shooting At APC Senatorial Candidate's Office

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUv6X2sl_Ly5pxFOVcvSPjCkwyJL-Vdi51FkHLBD9ZKQt4jJVX6SGXLlL4ag6_-o5KzvCowRXNwFqAgNdahZ83hX_3r-EkslcHwUqoexSvkDGladVYV7T_a7B3NOMR3N8ETheP0riouOXo/s1600/Yayi-450x330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUv6X2sl_Ly5pxFOVcvSPjCkwyJL-Vdi51FkHLBD9ZKQt4jJVX6SGXLlL4ag6_-o5KzvCowRXNwFqAgNdahZ83hX_3r-EkslcHwUqoexSvkDGladVYV7T_a7B3NOMR3N8ETheP0riouOXo/s1600/Yayi-450x330.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Thugs believed to be sympathetic to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday attacked the campaign office of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial candidate for Lagos West, Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The thugs, who stormed the office at No 32, Adeniyi Jones Ikeja about 7:15pm, reportedly fired shots into the office and damaged property.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The bullets, according to the Media Adviser to Adeola, Chief Kayode Odunaro, in a statement, damaged the rear windscreen of the candidate’s Toyota Land Cruiser, reports the <b><a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/new/shooting-lagos-apc-senatorial-candidate-yayis-office/">NATION</a></b>.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said the pellets also "damaged the exterior of the office room of Adeola's office."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Odunaro alleged that the PDP's senatorial candidate for Lagos West, Segun Adewale, personally led the thugs and some policemen on the attack.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The attack today is a brazen assassination attempt as both the vehicle and personal office of Adeola were hit by bullets fired by PDP aspirant who came in his branded campaign vehicle to carry out the attack", Odunaro further alleged. When contacted, Adewale denied neither he nor his supporters carried out the attack.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said: "What happened was that I was driving by Yayi's office and stopped at the gate to lodge a complaint to Yayi through the mobile policemen on duty.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "How can I go to someone's office and be shooting? For what?"</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Adewale accused Adeola’s supporters of destroying his billboards and posters, vowing to retaliate such moves.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Henceforth, it is tit-for-tat. If they destroy one car or billboard, I will destroy one thousand. Please quote me. He has his billboards everywhere; no one is destroying them.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Why should mine be different? I don't fear him. I only respect Governor Fashola, who has appealed to me to maintain the peace.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Recently one of my campaign vehicles was destroyed. The car is still at Area M police command. I have lodged a complaint with the Police and SSS.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "Yayi should call his people to order."</div> <div> <br /></div>

Shooting At APC Senatorial Candidate's Office

Thugs believed to be sympathetic to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday attacked the campaign office of the All Progressives C...

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Attacks On Buhari Wicked - Itsekiri Leader

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHg0PGJqIeeTIC5lGg0s0VVxT03fGAZWwlBf5aPuQtr_DCcDkcGrEF3Flhho3AsRSCxl9vRziM2Z1yoEXsUZdExkSCxEnvnFLz01H8aDZlVpdm2PKxHJ1hI0EusDHjxBHuNrBaFWz_KfU/s1600/BuhariFam8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHg0PGJqIeeTIC5lGg0s0VVxT03fGAZWwlBf5aPuQtr_DCcDkcGrEF3Flhho3AsRSCxl9vRziM2Z1yoEXsUZdExkSCxEnvnFLz01H8aDZlVpdm2PKxHJ1hI0EusDHjxBHuNrBaFWz_KfU/s1600/BuhariFam8.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and leader of Itsekiri nation in Delta State, Dr. Alex Ideh, has said the verbal and printed attacks on Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) by the Peoples Democratic Party and its supporters were wicked and misleading.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Ideh, who was the Secretary to the APC Convention Committee that produced Buhari as the presidential candidate, said in a statement Friday that such attacks on the person of the party’s flag bearer might mislead younger generation of voters.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He asked the PDP and its followers to abide by the Abuja Peace Accord by “refraining from such callous and disparaging verbal attacks.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “It is true he was a soldier and led Nigeria for 14 months. But, those who now seek to hold him out as an undemocratic monster must be guilty of an extraordinary amount of revisionism. We must uphold the truth and describe the circumstances as they are.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “I am privileged to speak on our experience of democracy because I have been a participant and a ring-side operator for over 30 years. I can assert with some authority that most critics of Buhari were romancing the civilian regime he ousted. I was a part of that regime and can recall with some regret, that the (Shehu) Shagari administration which he removed was an epitome of maladministration,” the statement read in part.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> According to the APC chieftain, there was widespread rancour during the Shagari administration which witnessed witch-hunting and corruption.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “In one iconic moment, Alhaji Shugaba, a full-fledged Nigerian, was thrown out of our borders on the contrived excuse that he was an alien. Such extra-judicial determination was part of a range of widespread abuses which disfigured the regime that Buhari was compelled to forcibly remove. Only few mourned the ouster of the corrupt Shagari regime.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “When Buhari took over, apart from a rump of the elites in the NPN, his regime was received with great adulation countrywide. This reception was reinforced not just by his personal reputation for probity and single-mindedness, but also because the prevailing orthodoxy welcomed military intervention as an antidote to perverse governance. Some of the persons now crucifying Buhari were amongst those who rolled out the drums when General Buhari intervened,” Ideh added.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He urged Nigerians not to fall for the misinformation being peddled by them, assuring them that Buhari’s reputation is guaranteed, the <b><a href="http://www.punchng.com/news/attacks-on-buhari-wicked-itsekiri-leader/">PUNCH</a></b> reports.</div>

Attacks On Buhari Wicked - Itsekiri Leader

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and leader of Itsekiri nation in Delta State, Dr. Alex Ideh, has said the verbal and print...

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Al Jazeera Journalists Mark 400 Days In Egyptian Prison

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYG5q5Vcvp4TwrWChol_dRfWP0t9zHWNoVPI8NZkzUzKmQOYXVlHN2uEFu5em3SDzxmpJrwrZGRMkBlSXmyhysp6S5JPCy52EWJTYtdOUquAlz1Gp6uewVb_sTAsi0Q7tWzUt7kuYb9sSF/s1600/AJ+Staff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYG5q5Vcvp4TwrWChol_dRfWP0t9zHWNoVPI8NZkzUzKmQOYXVlHN2uEFu5em3SDzxmpJrwrZGRMkBlSXmyhysp6S5JPCy52EWJTYtdOUquAlz1Gp6uewVb_sTAsi0Q7tWzUt7kuYb9sSF/s1600/AJ+Staff.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>One of the world’s leading human rights lawyer has condemned Western governments for failing to put enough pressure on Egypt to free three Al Jazeera journalists who have now spent 400 days in a Cairo prison.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Geoffrey Robertson told <b>Al Jazeera</b> on Saturday that it was hypocritical of so many leaders to stand up for media freedom over the Charlie Hebdo magazine killings in Paris while turning a blind eye to the same issue in Egypt.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "The success of the Egyptian tactic of locking up these journalists with lickspittle judges who do whatever the government wants and are keeping them in jail is likely to be followed by other autocratic regimes", the British lawyer said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Baher Mohamed, Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy have been falsely accused of colluding with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in a case that has sparked international condemnation.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> After their conviction in June last year, the men were sentenced to between seven and ten years in jail.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Greste has written a letter saying that 400 days in prison "feels far too long".</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "In our case, freedom is a continual fight. On January 1, the court overturned our convictions and ordered a retrial. We still have no idea when that might begin or how long it may take", said Greste.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> "So, while we remain strong and determined to do whatever it takes to clear our names and win our freedom, 400 days still feels far too long to correct an injustice."</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Egypt's Court of Cassation ordered a retrial one month ago, but there is still no indication of when that trial will begin.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> That court examined the procedures of the initial case but we are still waiting for its full written judgement to be published.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Meanwhile Fahmy, who has Canadian-Egyptian citizenship, and Greste, who is Australian, have both asked to be deported under a new decree announced in November, but it is unclear if their requests will be successful.</div>

Al Jazeera Journalists Mark 400 Days In Egyptian Prison

One of the world’s leading human rights lawyer has condemned Western governments for failing to put enough pressure on Egypt to free th...

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Desperation In PDP Is Frightening, Says Buhari

<div style="text-align: justify;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQha97-UAND6N42Iu6Yy74PZGBnLUFrQVBDeg6I8crBQ8CSFO1Kt7g3tcbB7HTWlUsuJuJbGW6XKcMV6GFG1VwuUemMDRit6mzMoXb7jgh3PzfYGVbHWr-f37ZBqOF80TSXILlM2X8yhIl/s1600/GMB+ILR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQha97-UAND6N42Iu6Yy74PZGBnLUFrQVBDeg6I8crBQ8CSFO1Kt7g3tcbB7HTWlUsuJuJbGW6XKcMV6GFG1VwuUemMDRit6mzMoXb7jgh3PzfYGVbHWr-f37ZBqOF80TSXILlM2X8yhIl/s1600/GMB+ILR.jpg" /></a></div> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>An unusual large crowd on Saturday welcomed the Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential train to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The train which touched ground at the Ilorin International Airport at about 10:40 am could not get to the Emir of Ilorin’s palace until around 12:41 pm; a distance of less than five kilometers.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This was due to the mammoth crowd of supporters that thronged the airport and also lined the road that leads to the palace.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The presidential team which comprised of Gen Buhari, his running Prof Yemi Osinbajo, National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Governors of Kwara, Osun and Rivers state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Chibuike Amaechi eventually arrived the Metropolitan Square venue of the event at about 1.35 pm.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> According to the <b><a href="http://thenationonlineng.net/new/desperation-pdp-camp-frightening-buhari/">NATION</a></b>, their arrival threw the whole arena into ecstasy as shout of Buhari and Ahmed rented the air.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Addressing the crowd Gen Buhari said that the desperation in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is frightening.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He added that “there is so much resources in their hands and with their coercive resources at their command, we have a problem and God’s willing we will overcome that problem.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said a vote for PDP is tantamount to ruining the future of the country and in coming generations.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The General said: “The most important thing is that you should vote. Make sure you get your permanent voter cards and on the election day you come out and make sure you vote and that your vote counts. If you allow the PDP by any chance to continue to run this country, you are ruining yourselves and you are ruining your country."</div>

Desperation In PDP Is Frightening, Says Buhari

An unusual large crowd on Saturday welcomed the Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential train...

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