Why I Support The Mutineers - Gov Amaechi

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYFKkINEGJATNEURYLyDtW9d7lOK1DCVOQBWOkgQMogSjfbZ3dF3lRZ04E8vbg6QGtly791ITBT4tFguAJBK_m_Jv0jjc-Z2-8r8tbW9pvVkcQLXsCtgD5HAvE_gex16YuzHP5HBvfZE/s1600/Rotimi+Amaechi.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYFKkINEGJATNEURYLyDtW9d7lOK1DCVOQBWOkgQMogSjfbZ3dF3lRZ04E8vbg6QGtly791ITBT4tFguAJBK_m_Jv0jjc-Z2-8r8tbW9pvVkcQLXsCtgD5HAvE_gex16YuzHP5HBvfZE/s1600/Rotimi+Amaechi.JPG" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Chibuike Amaechi, Governor of Rivers State and Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, says he will continue to support the soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny because the soldiers acted within their rights by protesting against the authorities who refused to adequately equip them. </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Speaking on Tuesday during an interactive session with journalists at Eko Hotels, Lagos, Amaechi, identified the challenge of the Nigerian military as corruption, not funding. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The soldiers have the right to protest for the federal government’s failure to fully equip them. You want to kill 50 military officers who are saying, ‘please equip us properly, I can’t go to the battlefront without the right weapon. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Now you are sending him to fight a man with RPG and you gave him an old AK47. He says you are risking his life. They have a right to protest that. You don’t kill them for that.” </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Amaechi, who said a leader in the mold of Muhammadu Buhari, the party’s flag bearer, is required for the development of the country, also dismissed reports that he was funding the APC campaign with Rivers state funds. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Those making the allegations that I am funding Buhari campaign are enemies of democracy. Anybody who said we spent money should come out with evidence,” he said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We have maintained consistently that Nigerians would fund us and that is why we have launched in our campaign meeting a fundraiser and we will ensure that we will convince Buhari to be the only signatory to that account. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We can’t fight the president on funds. See how much he raised from those who collected the N2.3trillion on oil subsidy and they have to pay back if he is not prosecuting them on oil subsidy. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We will fight the president with the people of Nigeria who need change. The symbol of change for our party is General Buhari and the APC. Buhari did not pay any delegate any money to win the primary.” </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He said that after his appointment as the DG, attempts were made to  tarnish his image by saying he had not paid eight months salary, but it was not true. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “As I am speaking with you now, I want to tell you that we did not owe workers eight months salary. Is it possible for you to be owed eight months salary and you still be working? What logic is there? I have directed that salary should be paid and they have started since yesterday (Monday) and hopefully, it will end today. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “I got a call today that civil servants are happy that they are going home to celebrate Christmas with their salaries. This was what we agreed on in the cabinet that everybody should go on with their salaries, because I know that today and tomorrow, Christians will want to go to shop for the festival.” </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He accused the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan of performing far below expectation, saying the country is really yearning for a change. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “You have seen Buhari as head of state for two years and Jonathan as head of state for six years, so who do you want to choose? You want to choose a man who has brought tears? Just yesterday, we lost so many people to Boko Haram. Or you want a man that chased away the Maitatsine or Chadian rebels? </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We need to chase Boko Haram or Boko Haram would chase us. When he was an officer, Borno was attacked by the Chadian rebels but Buhari chased them away. It takes a strong leader to do that. We need such a person.” </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He further accused the present administration of corruption, saying the APC presidential candidate would transform the country massively if elected. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The federal government has not been able to handle insurgency because of corruption,” he said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The country is broke because of the diversion of funds at NNPC. The president sacked the then governor of Central Bank governor because he exposed the missing $20 billion dollars. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “This is affecting everybody, including me. The way to deal with this is to fight corruption. When you fight corruption, the money goes back into the system.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The treasury appears being empty. They have stolen all the money. I tackled the minister of finance that we are broke and she came out on air and said ‘We dey kampe’. Later, she came to re-base the economy and shortly after she came up with austerity measures. You see the contradiction?.” </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He revealed that APC would commence campaign in early 2015, and all states of the federation would be covered. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “I believe that we would commence campaign in the early part of next year and we will take the campaign to all the 36 states of the federation. We hope Nigerians will hear the message and the message is simple: Buhari. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We would deal with the problem of power because if you if you do not deal with power, you certainly cannot deal with unemployment. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “I am happy that the president claimed to have crushed poverty but believe me when I go back I still see the people I left behind wallowing in poverty. We don’t have the middle class again in the country. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “I am assuring you that once you elect Buhari into office , he would solve insurgency. It is poverty that makes people to go and register in Boko Haram. Buhari will deal with unemployment. He will deal with the problem of agriculture and agriculture will take care of unskilled labour.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://www.thecable.ng/amaechi-buhari-will-deal-insurgency-power"><b>TheCable</b></a></div>

Why I Support The Mutineers - Gov Amaechi

Chibuike Amaechi, Governor of Rivers State and Director-General of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, says he will continue to support t...

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Why We Took Powers From Civilians - Buhari

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAu199nCXIFxWctKBJ_x_6JPbovpI21PgEgm0RsMSCc1ZDSEtevF2PL9NIhuHvQrn7h2OksY8f9Z9-MegpEGaWRFm_id1TefGC0TcU7MOEZ1vqYhZ7_dESdfm5rPL8429ampJFRlKpgqI/s1600/MUHAMMADU-BUHARI-8_compressed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAu199nCXIFxWctKBJ_x_6JPbovpI21PgEgm0RsMSCc1ZDSEtevF2PL9NIhuHvQrn7h2OksY8f9Z9-MegpEGaWRFm_id1TefGC0TcU7MOEZ1vqYhZ7_dESdfm5rPL8429ampJFRlKpgqI/s1600/MUHAMMADU-BUHARI-8_compressed.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Below is a transcript of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari’s speech from December 31st, 1983, after the military coup.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In pursuance of the primary objective of saving our great nation from total collapse, I, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari of the Nigerian Army have, after due consultation amongst the services of the armed forces, been formally invested with the authority of the Head of the Federal Military Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is with humility and a deep sense of responsibility that I accept this challenge and call to national duty.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As you must have heard in the previous announcement, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979) has been suspended, except those sections of it which are exempted in the constitution. The change became necessary in order to put an end to the serious economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting our nation. Consequently, the Nigerian armed forces have constituted themselves into a Federal Military Government comprising of a Supreme Military Council, a National Council of States, a Federal Executive Council at the centre and State Executive Councils to be presided over by military governors in each of the states of the federation. Members of these councils will be announced soon.<br /> <br /> The last Federal Military Government drew up a programme with the aim of handing over political power to the civilians in 1979. This programme as you all know, was implemented to the letter. The 1979 constitution was promulgated.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, little did the military realise that the political leadership of the second republic will circumvent most of the checks and balances in the constitution and bring the present state of general insecurity. The premium on political power became so exceedingly high that political contestants regarded victory at elections as a matter of life and death struggle and were determined to capture or retain power by all means.<br /> <br /> It is true that there is a worldwide economic recession.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> However, in the case of Nigeria, its impact was aggravated by mismanagement. We believe the appropriate government agencies have good advice but the leadership disregarded their advice. The situation could have been avoided if the legislators were alive to their constitutional responsibilities. Instead, the legislators were preoccupied with determining their salary scales, fringe benefits and unnecessary foreign travels, <i>et al</i>, which took no account of the state of the economy and the welfare of the people they represented.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> As a result of our inability to cultivate financial discipline and prudent management of the economy, we have come to depend largely on internal and external borrowing to execute government projects with attendant domestic pressure and soaring external debts, thus aggravating the propensity of the outgoing civilian administration to mismanage our financial resources. Nigeria was already condemned perpetually with the twin problem of heavy budget deficits and weak balance of payments position, with the prospect of building a virile and viable economy.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig. There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not developed confidence in the presidential system of government on which the nation invested so much material and human resources. While corruption and indiscipline have been associated with our state of under-development, these two evils in our body politics have attained unprecedented height in the past few years. The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in the last four years has been the source of immorality and impropriety in our society.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Since what happens in any society is largely a reflection of the leadership of that society, we deplore corruption in all its facets. This government will not tolerate kick-backs, inflation of contracts and over-invoicing of imports etc. Nor will it condone forgery, fraud, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and illegal dealings in foreign exchange and smuggling. Arson has been used to cover up fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am referring to the fire incidents that gutted the P&T buildings in Lagos, the Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal Capital Development Authority Accounts at Abuja and the NET Building. Most of these fire incidents occurred at a time when Nigerians were being apprehensive of the frequency of fraud scandals and the government incapacity to deal with them. Corruption has become so pervasive and intractable that a whole ministry has been created to stem it.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of truth. My colleagues and I – the Supreme Military Council, must be frank enough to acknowledge the fact that at the moment, an accurate picture of the financial position is yet to be determined. We have no doubt that the situation is bad enough. In spite of all this, every effort will be made to ensure that the difficult and degrading conditions under which we are living are eliminated. Let no one, however, be deceived that workers who have not received their salaries in the past eight or so months will receive such salaries within today or tomorrow or that hospitals which have been without drugs for months will be provided with enough immediately. We are determined that with the help of God we shall do our best to settle genuine payments to which government is committed, including backlog of workers’ salaries after scrutiny.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> We are confident and we assure you that even in the face of the global recession, and the seemingly gloomy financial future, given prudent management of Nigeria’s existing financial resources and our determination to substantially reduce and eventually nail down rises in budgetary deficits and weak balance of payments position. The Federal Military Government will reappraise policies with a view to paying greater attention to the following areas: The economy will be given a new impetus and better sense of direction. Corrupt officials and their agents will be brought to book.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In view of the drought that affected most parts of the country, the federal government will, with the available resources, import food stuffs to supplement the shortfalls suffered in the last harvest. Our foreign policy will both be dynamic and realistic. Africa will of course continue to be the centre piece of our foreign policy. The morale and combat readiness of the armed forces will be given high priority. Officers and men with high personal and professional integrity will have nothing to fear.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other holders of judiciary appointments within the federation can continue in their appointments and the judiciary shall continue to function under existing laws subject to such exceptions as may be decreed from time to time by the Federal Military Government. All holders of appointments in the civil service, the police and the National Security Organisation shall continue to exercise their functions in the normal way subject to changes that may be introduced by the Federal Military Government.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> All those chairmen and members of statutory corporations, parastatals and other executive departments are hereby relieved of their appointments with immediate effect.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The Federal Military Government will maintain and strengthen existing diplomatic relations with other states and with international organisations and institutions such as the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and its organs, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth etc. The Federal Military Government will honour and respect all treaties and obligations entered into by the previous government and we hope that such nations and bodies will reciprocate this gesture by respecting our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully intervened to save this nation from imminent collapse. We therefore expect all Nigerians, including those who participated directly or indirectly in bringing the nation to this present predicament, to cooperate with us. This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> May God bless us all. Good morning.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Source: <a href="http://www.omojuwa.com/">Omojuwa</a></b></div>

Why We Took Powers From Civilians - Buhari

Below is a transcript of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari’s speech from December 31st, 1983, after the military coup. In pursuance of...

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$27Billion 'Missing From Excess Crude Account'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1y_2sWU4Xe05cCubv2bqqhD6QpYR1m-78fZFYp5ooX6HLMcnjZ2KRxHeTFnhmGvj7rRUu7q_aEvvUXphLaw_VYiY8SkpDifjqnkjC_pxLBJq782k_EH4iqYMeo4yAMhKaJmTnkSFEOA/s1600/Adams-Oshiomhole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR1y_2sWU4Xe05cCubv2bqqhD6QpYR1m-78fZFYp5ooX6HLMcnjZ2KRxHeTFnhmGvj7rRUu7q_aEvvUXphLaw_VYiY8SkpDifjqnkjC_pxLBJq782k_EH4iqYMeo4yAMhKaJmTnkSFEOA/s1600/Adams-Oshiomhole.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Adams Oshiomhole, Governor of Edo State, has alleged that “barely $3 billion is in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), which ordinarily should have “over $30 billion”. </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Oshiomhole, who was speaking when traditional rulers from Edo South senatorial district, paid him a visit, said Nigeria has been losing 700,000 barrels of oil everyday for the past 12 years to crude oil theft, describing the act is currently worse than it was during the era of the militancy in the Niger Delta. He lamented that the lack of access to the crude account funds by state governments was hindering developments in different parts of the country. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “From the last time we had a meeting, the handouts they distributed show that sometime for a period of two weeks, we were losing as much as 700,000 barrels a day and that has been on for the past 12 years,” he said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “I am not able to understand why, suddenly, Nigeria cannot protect its territorial waters because the boundaries have not changed and the people are still the same and at the peak of the so-called militancy, we were still exporting about 2 million barrels a day. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Then how can we explain that after we have resolved the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta, we have rehabilitated the ex-militants and even awarded contracts to them, that we are losing as much crude oil as that to oil thieves and to the best of my knowledge, there is no major known person who has been prosecuted and convicted for oil theft in a way that reflects the magnitude of what is allegedly stolen. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “What this means is that our budgets have not performed over the past three years whereas the budgets have been based on an average of between $77 to $78 and $79 a barrel. The average price of Nigeria’s sweet crude has been around $108 per barrel. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “That gives a surplus of over $30. Ideally, we ought to be saving $36 per barrel and 2.3 million barrel a day over the past three years and if you look at these numbers you will find that what we have in our excess crude oil account should be over $30 billion but as we speak, we have barely $3 billion in our excess crude account.” </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Lamenting that the federal government had not shared money from the excess crude account with state governments for about 18 months, Oshiomhole claimed that the development had hindered the establishment of beneficial projects in different states. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He claimed that the account had almost become empty, accusing the federal government of mismanaging the country’s resources. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Over the past 18 months, we have not shared the excess crude account and yet, the account is empty,” he said. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Sometimes, we are told that they have taken money from it to fund subsidies, including subsidy on kerosene, but your Royal Highnesses, there is nowhere in your various domains where kerosene is sold for ₦50. So in the name of subsidy, large sums of money are being stolen. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Things are tough now around the country because the federal government mismanaged our national resources and what is being stolen, nobody agrees it is being stolen. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “What is arguable is, who is responsible for this stealing? When the federal government and the president talk about oil theft and the amount that is allegedly stolen is huge such that whereas we have the capacity to produce about 2.4 million barrels a day, what accrues into the federal government account is less than 1.8 million barrels a day. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Now, oil price has dropped to $60 and because we have not saved, the naira is undergoing devaluation. Already as low as ₦180 per dollar and I believe by February when the elections are over, nobody is going to want to hold the naira. Wherever the election goes, I expect that the naira will hit over ₦200 per dollar. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The inflationary consequence of that is prices of everything will go up and part of the vicious cycle of the devalued naira in the manner that is being done is that the price of petroleum products imported in dollars will go up in naira and government will be asking people who are already poor to pay more money for petroleum products.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <a href="http://www.thecable.ng/least-27bn-missing-excess-crude-account"><b>TheCable</b></a></div>

$27Billion 'Missing From Excess Crude Account'

Adams Oshiomhole, Governor of Edo State, has alleged that “barely $3 billion is in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), which ordinarily sho...

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Watch And Pray, Watch And Prey - By Wole Soyinka

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP0ZPW_ZlUMoOi8bvhiOwBfkzYdG9LgUjc2d41LVWyjVah36G-F6NMf3cMxCrF4t68rMrykctcw5dRpdWtMhfvVn7NbOH43oyQo74W8I8GECtdTannxb4A8u-awGGt_Qr9AgtftqqARYU/s1600/Wole_Soyinka_press.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP0ZPW_ZlUMoOi8bvhiOwBfkzYdG9LgUjc2d41LVWyjVah36G-F6NMf3cMxCrF4t68rMrykctcw5dRpdWtMhfvVn7NbOH43oyQo74W8I8GECtdTannxb4A8u-awGGt_Qr9AgtftqqARYU/s1600/Wole_Soyinka_press.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b><br /></b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>I had fully attuned myself to the fact that our Owu retiree soldier and prolific author is an infliction that those of us who share the same era and nation space must learn to endure. However, it does appear that there is no end to this individual’s capacity for infantile mischief, and for needless, mind-boggling provocations, such as his recent ‘literary’ intrusion on my peace.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Perhaps I ought to interrupt myself here with an apology to some mutual acquaintances – ‘blessed peacemakers’ and all - especially in this season of ‘peace and goodwill to all men’. Please know that your efforts have not been entirely in vain. I had a cordial exchange with Obasanjo over the phone recently – engineered by himself, his ground staff and/or a chance visitor  – when I had cause to visit his Presidential Laundromat for the first time ever.  During that exchange, I complemented him on making some quite positive use of landed property that was acquired under morally dubious circumstances, and blatantly developed through a process that I denounced as ‘executive extortionism’. That obscene proceeding has certainly set a competitive precedent for impunity in President Jonathan’s recent fund-raising shindig, editorialized in <b><a href="http://nigerianewsroom.blogspot.com/2014/12/punch-editorial-jonathans-21b-donation.html">THE PUNCH (Dec. 23, 2014) as “Impunity Taken too Far”</a></b>. So much for the latest from that directions - we mustn’t allow Handing-Over notes between presidents to distract us for too long. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> To return to our main man, and friendly interventionists, you may like to note that I went so far as to engage him in light banter, stating that some of his lesser sins would be forgiven him for that creative conversion of the landscape – a conversation that he shortly afterwards delightedly shared with at least three mutual acquaintances. I promised a follow-up visit to view some mysterious rock script whose existence, he informed me, was uncovered by workers during ground clearing. The exchange was, in short, as good as ‘malice towards none’ that any polemicist could hope to contribute to the ongoing season of peace and goodwill. Obviously that visit will not now take place, any more than the pursuit of vague notions of some creative collaboration with his Centre that began to play around my mind.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> That much I do owe you from my report card.  Perhaps you will now accept that there are individuals who are born incorrigible but, more importantly, that some issues transcend one’s personal preferences for harmonious human relationships even in a season of traditional good will. The change in weather conditions sits quite well with me however,  since we are both acquainted with the Yoruba proverb that goes:  the child that swears his mother will not sleep must also prepare for a prolonged, sleepless infancy.  So let it be with Okikiola, the overgrown child of circumstance. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> One of the incessant ironies that leapt up at me as I read Obasanjo’s <i>magnum opus</i> was that we are both victims of a number of distasteful impositions  - such as being compelled again and again to seek justice against libel in the law courts. I felt genuine empathy to read that he still has a pending thirty-year case instituted by him against his alleged libelers! Judgment was delivered in my favour regarding one of the most nauseating only this year, after surviving technical and other procrastinations, defendant evasions and other legalistic impediments for nearly as long as his. That leaves only a veritable Methuselah on the court list still awaiting re-listing under the resurrection ritual language known as <i>de novo</i>. Unfortunately, not all acts of defamation or willful misrepresentation are actionable, otherwise, my personal list against this newly revealed fellow-sufferer would have counted for an independent volume of the Nigerian Law Report since our paths first crossed during the Civil War.  My commitment to the belief in the fundamental right of all human beings NOT TO BE LIED AGAINST remains a life obsession, and thus demands, at the very least, an obligation of non-commission among fellow victims.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I must therefore reserve a full, frontal dissection of Obasanjo’s  <i><b>My Watch</b></i> for later, most especially since the work itself is currently under legal restraint and is not readily accessible to a general readership. So, for now, let me single out just one of the most glaring instances of this man’s compulsive career of lying, one sample that the media can readily check upon and use as a touchstone – if they do need one - in assessing our author’s multifaceted claims and commentaries on people and events. I refer here to the grotesque and personally insulting statement that he has attributed to me for some inscrutable but obviously diversionary reasons. In the process, this past Master of Mendacity brazenly implicates an innocent young man, Akin Osuntokun, who once served him as a Special Adviser. Instead of conferring dignity on a direct rebuttal of an ignoble fabrication, I shall simply make a personal, all-embracing attestation:</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I despise that species of humanity whose stock-in-trade is to concoct lies simply to score a point, win an argument, puff up his or her own ego, denigrate or attempt to destroy a fellow being. However, even within such deplorable species, a special pit of universal opprobrium is surely reserved for those who even lack the courage of their own lies, but must foist them on others. When an old man stuffs a lie into the throat of an age-mate of his own children - <i><b>omo inu e!</b></i> - we can only pity an irredeemable egomaniac whose dotage is headed for twilight disgrace. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> D.O. Fagunwa, the pioneer Yoruba novelist, was a compulsive moralist. I suspect that he may have exerted some influence on our garrulous general, resulting in his pupil’s tedious, misapplied and self-serving deluge of moralizing. It seems quite likely indeed that the ghostly, moralistic hand of Fagunwa reached out from the Great Beyond, sat his would-be competitor forcefully before a mirror and bade him write what he saw in that image. I invoke Fagunwa because, at his commemorative colloquium in Akure in August last year, I drew my audience’s attention to a remarkable passage in Fagunwa’s <b><i>Igbo Olodumare</i></b>. The passage had struck me during translation and stuck to my mind. I found it uncanny that the original creative moralist, Fagunwa, had captured the psychological profile of a being whom I have been compelled by circumstances to study as an eerie creation, yet this was a character Fagunwa was unlikely to have encountered in real life at the time that he produced that work. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The section comes from an account of a visit to the abode of Iku, Death, the terrifying host to Olowo-aiye, the narrative voice of the adventure.  Iku, the host, had been admonishing his guests through the histories of seven creatures who were not permitted a straightforward passage to Heaven or Hell, but were subjected to admonitory punishment at the halfway house to the abode of the dead. The most horrendous tortures were reserved, it would seem, for the last of the seven such ‘detainees’, and I invited my audience to ponder if they could identify any prominent individual, a public figure whose life conduct seamlessly fitted into Fagunwa’s portrayal, which went thus:</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The seventh…. is not among those who set out to improve the world but rather to cause distress to its inhabitants. It was through manipulations that he attained a high position. Having achieved this however, he constantly blocked the progress of those behind him, this being a most deplorable act in the eyes of God, and rank behaviour in the judgment of the dwellers of heaven – that anyone who has enjoyed upliftment in life should seek to be an obstacle for those who follow him. This man forgot the beings of earth, forgot the beings of heaven, in turn, he forgot the presence of God. The worst kind of behaviour agitated his hands – greed occupied the centre of his heart, and he was a creature that walked in darkness. This man wallowed in bribery, he was chairman of the circle of scheming, head of the gang of double-dealing, field-marshal of those who crept about in the dark of night. With his mouth, he ruined the work of others, while he used a big potsherd to cover the good works of some, that others might not see their attainments. He nosed around for secrets that would entrap his companions, and blew them up into monumental crimes in the eyes of the world. He who turns the world upside down, places the deceitful on the throne, casts the truthful down – because such is a being of base earth, he will never stand as equal among the uplifted.”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> My co-occupants of the High Table, in side remarks, and those who came up from the audience afterwards to volunteer their answer to the riddle, without exception named one individual and one individual only, even as I remained non-committal. Indeed, one or two tried to put up a defence of that nominee, and I had to remind them that I had named no one! Fagunwa wrote largely of the world of mongrelized creatures but, as I remarked, his fiction remains a prescient and cautionary mirror of the society we inhabit, where beasts of the forest appear to have a greater moral integrity than those who claim to be leading lights of society.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> In this season of goodwill, we owe a duty to our immediate and distant neighbours: <b>CAVEAT EMPTOR!</b>  Let all beware, who try to buy a Rolex from this indefatigable watch peddler. His own hand-crafted, uniquely personalized timepiece has been temporarily confiscated by NDLEA and other guardians of public health but, there is no cause for despair. Such has been the fate of the misunderstood and the envied, avatars descended from the heavens before their time, the seers, and all who crave recognition. Our author invokes God tirelessly, without provocation, without necessity and without justification, perhaps preemptively, but does he really believe in such an entity? Does our home-bred Double-O-Seven believe in anything outside his own Omnipotency? Could he possibly have mistaken the Christian exhortation – <i><b>‘Watch and Pray’</b></i> for his private inclination to '<b><i>Watch and Prey'</i></b>? This is a seasoned predator on others’ achievements – he preys on their names, their characters, their motivations, their true lives, preys on gossip and preys on facts, preys on contributions to collective undertakings…..even preys on their identities, substituting his own where possible. Well, hopefully he may actually believe in the inevitable End to all vanities? So, let our Great Immortal, the Unparalleled Achiever, Divinely appointed Watchman even on the world that is yet to come remember Fagunwa’s  Iku, the ultimate predator whose visitation comes to us all, sooner or later.  </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <b><i>Chei! There is Death o!</i></b><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <b><a href="http://saharareporters.com/2014/12/24/watch-and-pray-watch-and-prey-wole-soyinka">SaharaReporters</a></b>

Watch And Pray, Watch And Prey - By Wole Soyinka

I had fully attuned myself to the fact that our Owu retiree soldier and prolific author is an infliction that those of us who share the...

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Donations To Buhari: S/East APC Hails Ndigbo

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkTmxxX5aDLexuWVua0S09XI8Sn7UO0-4SNCJqtnRZ0usR-c8wceyJ2-LIVwanhKmYLwT6-1OyUlP0xMZKna2qA20N6GK1LZ-1QXda7-uGVpDfWdhA784FrBBo_z-nIK7LhQ2A-RjDVw/s1600/Buhari-with-Chukwuma-Azikiwe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkTmxxX5aDLexuWVua0S09XI8Sn7UO0-4SNCJqtnRZ0usR-c8wceyJ2-LIVwanhKmYLwT6-1OyUlP0xMZKna2qA20N6GK1LZ-1QXda7-uGVpDfWdhA784FrBBo_z-nIK7LhQ2A-RjDVw/s1600/Buhari-with-Chukwuma-Azikiwe.jpg" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>The South-East All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated <i>Ndigbo</i> for topping the list of donors to the Buhari Support Organization Campaign Fund, a peoples' contribution to General Muhammadu Buhari’s (GMB) war chest for the 2015 presidential election.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We are happy to announce that when the managers of the First Bank of Nigeria warehoused fund unveiled  ₦54 million so far realized, <i>Ndigbo</i> topped the list of the highest donors; a unique account that has GMB as the only signatory,” APC South-East spokesman Osita Okechukwu said in a statement.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “By topping the donor list, <i>Ndigbo</i> has graciously demonstrated that the celestial bond between GMB and the Nigerian masses and the middle class is Pan-Nigeria and not sectional as insinuated,” he said.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He noted that the Buhari Campaign Support Fund has General Buhari as the sole signatory for purposes of transparency, and is aimed at assisting the candidate, who refused to enrich himself while in office, to prosecute his presidential campaign.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The South-East APC salutes our people who embrace the Buhari-Bandwagon-Vehicle for Salvation; for it is our candid opinion that it is less than wise for the hard working and enterprising <i>Ndigbo</i> to put all our eggs in one basket,” Okechukwu said.</div> <br /> <br /> <b>SaharaReporters</b>

Donations To Buhari: S/East APC Hails Ndigbo

The South-East All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated Ndigbo for topping the list of donors to the Buhari Support Organizat...

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Female Suicide Bomber Arrested In Kano

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdMdB6JakMOrb1c0jKfnQWesHc9YIb1gJMVGx37p4lXoaRIc84h9bmIFHkAXviMdeHvCNrytBT4z9YUR64NEoii9RiS06Itl4Oy2ifdIO47NehIDf8LPnrrj4nhRkPQ2MJwwugl0_r6Y/s1600/SuicideBomber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRdMdB6JakMOrb1c0jKfnQWesHc9YIb1gJMVGx37p4lXoaRIc84h9bmIFHkAXviMdeHvCNrytBT4z9YUR64NEoii9RiS06Itl4Oy2ifdIO47NehIDf8LPnrrj4nhRkPQ2MJwwugl0_r6Y/s1600/SuicideBomber.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>Following a recent string of bombings in Nigeria's northeast, security operatives today say that they have arrested a girl in Kano State with explosives attached to her body.</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The girl, Zahra'u Babban Gida, claims she was abducted from Bauchi State. The girl, whose age has not been disclosed, alleges that she was unconscious until today, when she was released by her kidnappers and strapped to an explosive vest.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Babban Gida was arrested opposite Kantin-Kwari textile market, the scene of a major explosion two weeks ago, in which two female suicide bombers detonated explosives, killing many.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Kano State Commissioner of Police Alhaji Tashid Adenrele Shinaba says officers arrested the girl based on suspicion of her movements. She was later taken to headquarters for investigation, where the police were joined by operatives of the State Security Service.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-UGRUFQYEn8tG78DtmYZs0MYCfY3cuVPrRwt4-0swuhuO2BKYhQgyUm2UpilcFjlCJYeVQ1AmyIb_yeyAWSvJ7H3WuLurN7K-VNNfbcmWmJPCaVcPeIucYeDTFI-hQJb6qDsjY31otA/s1600/Explosives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT-UGRUFQYEn8tG78DtmYZs0MYCfY3cuVPrRwt4-0swuhuO2BKYhQgyUm2UpilcFjlCJYeVQ1AmyIb_yeyAWSvJ7H3WuLurN7K-VNNfbcmWmJPCaVcPeIucYeDTFI-hQJb6qDsjY31otA/s1600/Explosives.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The explosives vest she was wearing at the time of arrest</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> State Security Service Director Bassey Etan assured Kano State residents to report any suspicious activities to the authorities.</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <b><a href="http://saharareporters.com/2014/12/24/girl-arrested-near-kanos-kantin-kwari-market-wearing-explosive-vest">SaharaReporters</a></b></div>

Female Suicide Bomber Arrested In Kano

Following a recent string of bombings in Nigeria's northeast, security operatives today say that they have arrested a girl in Kano S...

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