The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Alhaji Lai Mohammed

  • Jonathan’s comment on Chibok girls callous, morbid, says APC

    Jonathan’s comment on Chibok girls callous, morbid, says APC

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) is appalled by President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent statement that the Chibok girls are still alive because Boko Haram would have displayed their bodies if they had been killed.

    The party says the president’s comment is   callous, morbid and insensitive.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the party found the comment “deeply offensive to human sensibilities rather than providing hope and succour for the traumatised parents of the girls.”

    A key role of presidents everywhere in times of tribulations and tragedies, the APC pointed out “is to offer hope and be the Consoler-in-Chief, not to make statements that will deepen the suffering and sorrow of victims.”

    The party said: “one would have expected a president to speak on the basis of actionable intelligence, not some twisted, melancholic and offensive logic,”  adding that the president’s statement played on the fears of the parents of the girls and indeed of all Nigerians concerning the fate of the girls, “who have now been held in captivity for over 300 days, with an impotent government unable to rescue them.”

    It said all that the parents of the girls as well as all concerned people around the world want to know is what the Jonathan Administration is doing to bring the girls home safely and as soon as possible, not a depressing statement about their bodies being displayed via a video by Shekau if they had been killed.

    APC said President Jonathan should borrow a leaf from his Chadian counterpart, who came across as being very presidential in his comments on Shekau, in which he said: ‘’It is in Abubakar Shekau’s interest to surrender, we know where he is. If he refuses to give himself up, he will suffer the same fate as his comrades.’’

    It said the Chadian President’s statement  also contradicted the earlier claim by the Nigerian authorities that Shekau had been killed at least twice, the last of which was backed up with a ‘pictorial evidence’.

    The APC said: ‘’The Shekau that President Deby was referring to is the same Shekau that the Jonathan-led Administration claimed to have killed at least twice, and the same Shekau the same Administration is now seeking to capture alive.

    ‘’Mr. President (Jonathan), how many Shekaus do you want to kill or capture? Or is there a Shekau that is known only to your Administration?’’ APC queried.

  • Practise what you preach, APC tells PDP

    Practise what you preach, APC tells PDP

    THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been described as a Janus-faced bumbling party for allegedly mudslinging the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its leaders, especially in the aftermath of the national convention which produced Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as APC’s presidential candidate.

    APC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who decried the attitude of PDP in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said the PDP that had been preaching issues-based electioneering campaign has done nothing, but mudslinging against the person of Gen. Buhari.

    The statement also accused the PDP of disparaging Buhari’s running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; party’s leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu and “the entire APC”.

    According to APC, the spokespersons for President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP have thrown caution and decency to the wind by their crude, rude and rambling statements, after they were “apparently stung into a stupor by the rancour-free emergence of the party’s candidates for the 2015 general elections and the overwhelmingly positive reactions from Nigerians.”

    The statement reads: ‘’What is issues-based in calling Gen. Buhari a ‘semi-literate jackboot’ as the PDP’s National Secretary Wale Oladipo has incautiously said? Where are the issues in the pejorative reference to Prof. Osinbajo as an ‘acolyte’ of Tinubu, or in describing Tinubu himself as a puppeteer, as the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh has said in the most vitriolic and irresponsible statement that can ever be issued by the spokesman of a ruling party anywhere?

    ‘’Where are the issues contained in the statement by the serial bumbler and gormandiser called Doyin Okupe, who regards Gen. Buhari’s refusal to enrich himself from the public till as a vice rather than a virtue? Why would a ruling party go after the jugular of the opposition simply because it took its time in choosing its presidential running mate, especially since it did not run afoul of any electoral law in doing so?

    ‘’The truth is that the Jonathan Presidency and the PDP have no issues to canvass during the electioneering campaign for the 2015 general elections because they have wasted the mandate given to them by Nigerians on the altar of unprecedented corruption, incomprehensible incompetence and cluelessness and perhaps the worst leadership ever inflicted on our country.”

    The party expressed delight that Nigerians have taken it upon themselves to respond to the PDP and its barbarians, especially in the social media.

    ‘’Had these philistines been monitoring the reactions of Nigerians to the capricious comments they have been making against the person of Gen. Buhari and his party, they would have desisted. But then, they need to impress their paymasters. It seems the more they pour invective on our leaders and our party, the bigger their pay. We wish them luck in their ludicrous pursuit and shadow chasing,’’ it said.

    APC assured Nigerians that its campaign for next year’s elections would be based on how the party plans to restore hope to the forlorn citizens, who have been taken for a ride by the government they voted into power, and how Nigeria can be made great again and how the comatose economy can be resuscitated, for the benefit of all, rather than a few fat cats.

    The party added: ‘’We are delighted at the increasing level of political awareness among Nigerians and their engagement in the political scene. We believe Nigerians are more interested in what the candidates for next year’s elections can offer rather than on how much mudslinging they can dish out. In the end, Nigerians, who are the real masters, will spot the difference!”

  • ‘Tell Nigerians what you found at data centre’

    ‘Tell Nigerians what you found at data centre’

    THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged the Department of State Security Services (DSS) to tell Nigerians the result of its investigation into the alleged Permanent Voter Cards’ ( PVCs) cloning, which led to the unlawful invasion of the party’s offices in Lagos.

    Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said if no evidence of PVC cloning was found, the DSS should apologise to Nigerians for acting on the basis of faulty intelligence.

    The party said any further delay in telling Nigerians the outcome of the investigations, after almost 10 days, could mean that the DSS was trying to manufacture evidence to support its faulty intelligence.

    The statement reads: ‘Without carrying out any investigation and with no shred of evidence, the DSS gleefully announced to the world that they stormed our data centre because they got information that PVCs were being cloned there.

    ‘’On the basis of this uncorroborated announcement, the PDP categorically accused the APC of cloning PVCs. It is now over a week since the DSS carted away materials and computer servers after ransacking our offices for over two hours. The agency’s experts must have analysed the information in the materials and on the servers.

    ‘’Therefore, we are now asking them to immediately announce their findings to the world. After all, it took them only a few hours after their Gestapo-like invasion of our offices before they issued their baseless allegation of PVC cloning to justify their action.”

    The party said while it had gone to court to seek redress, the DSS needed to tell Nigerians if indeed no evidence of card cloning was found.

    It advised the DSS to always act professionally and fairly in carrying out its duties, rather than taking beer parlour gossips as useful intelligence, adding: ‘’It is this type of faulty intelligence that has been stifling the efforts to deconstruct Boko Haram and facilitate the battle to end the insurgency that is daily killing and maiming innocent Nigerians.

  • APC raises alarm over PDP-instigated impunity

    APC raises alarm over PDP-instigated impunity

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday raised the alarm over “a PDP-led and police-backed acts of impunity in Ekiti State.”

    A statement signed by Mohammed said: “The issue of the Caretaker Committees, which Governor Ayodele Fayose plans to swear in on Monday after the illegal approval by the House, is sub judice, hence the House cannot even discuss it, not to talk of acting on it. Also, while the governor was advised by the Clerk of the House that seven members out of 26 do not form a quorum, he said after all, only eight of 24 members in the Plateau House of Assembly impeached then Governor Joshua Dariye in 2006!”

    The APC said ahead of what is clearly the height of impunity by a democratically-elected government, the utility services in the official residence of the House Speaker, including electricity supply, have been cut off while his salaries and allowances have been stopped. Other acts of intimidation have been directed at the Speaker by the state authorities.

    “We know that President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the leader of the PDP, has elevated impunity to an art, but he has simply overreached himself with his party’s latest show of shame in Ekiti. The fact that the President’s body language supports impunity has emboldened officials elected under the banner of the PDP and appointed by his administration to perpetrate acts of impunity with impunity.

     

    “Over 200 policemen could not have been deployed for this illegal act in Ekiti without the knowledge of the Inspector General of Police. Yet, the same IG trampled the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by assuming the powers of the court to unilaterally withdraw the security detail of House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal.

    “Can the IG claim not to be aware that his men are offering protection to only seven out of the 26 members of the Ekiti House of Assembly? Does he honestly believe it is part of the responsibility of the police, which is being funded by tax payers, to become the enforcement arm of the PDP? Does he believe that the police that is empowered to enforce the law should play a lead role in breaking it?” the party queried.

    It warned the “excitable and depthless” Governor Fayose not to throw the state into a needless crisis by his “trademark tomfoolery”.

    The party warned that while a lot of unconstitutional and illegal activities have taken place under the PDP-led Federal Government, including the impeachment of then Governor  Joshua Dariye of Plateau State by only eight of the 24 House of Assembly members, any decision taken by only seven PDP members in the 26-member Ekiti House of Assembly will not stand.

    The party called on the PDP and the Federal Government to stop instigating crisis in APC-controlled states, saying the PDP-instigated crisis in the Edo State House of Assembly has yet to subside before the “anarchic” ruling party decided to pounce on Ekiti.

    “No matter how long it takes, those who are willfully flouting the laws of the land and engaging in anti-democratic actions will come to justice. Nothing in the world will justify the subversion of the Constitution by anyone, especially those who are democratically-elected. We are, therefore, warning the puppeteers in Ekiti to put a leash on their dogs of war, and not to set Ekiti State ablaze over their narrow interests,” it said.b

  • APC: Intelligence failure, corruption caused Nyanya bombing

    APC: Intelligence failure, corruption caused Nyanya bombing

    •Party seeks convocation of security summit

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the bombing of Nyanya Motor Park in Abuja was the failure of intelligence and a combination of corruption and incompetence.

    The main opposition party noted that despite the billions the Federal Government had spent on security equipment in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), nothing was working to enhance security surveillance in the territory.

    APC Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, addressed reporters in his home town, Oro, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, after attending the dedication of St. Andrews Catholic Church in the town.

    He said: “What is happening in Nigeria today is simply the failure of government. What happened in Nyanya was failure of intelligence and it is a combination of corruption and incompetence.

    “How can the government tell us it spent N86 billion to install closed circuits cameras (CCTV) in Abuja and yet none is working today? If that money had been truly spent, we would have had footage of what happened in Nyanya. Is the Federal Government really telling us what it knows about Boko Haram? We suspect the government is trying to make political benefits out of the lives of our people.”

    The party faulted the claim of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the APC was behind insurgency in the land.

    APC said: “It is quite reckless and unfortunate that anybody without any proof would come and make such senseless accusation. Who are our leaders you are accusing of supporting Boko Haram? Who are our leaders that you are accusing of being fanatical Muslims? They will mention Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Unfortunately for many Nigerians, we are ruled by emotions, not by facts. In December 1983, when Gen. Buhari came to power, he had a Muslim as the second-in-command, the late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon. Yet, Gen. Buhari refused to drag Nigerians to the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).

    “Is there any further proof that this is a man who believes that Nigeria should not be divided on the ground of religion? Why have Nigerians forgotten this? Nigerians have also forgotten that our forefathers, our former leaders, ran away from everything that would divide us, especially in terms religion and ethnicity?

    “That was one of the reasons the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was introduced – to forge unity among Nigerians. One of the reasons the Federal Character Commission was introduced and made part of the constitution was to ensure that despite our differences, there is balance and equity.

    “This (PDP) government has brought religion and ethnicity to the forefront. It is very sad, and it pains me when Nigerians take hook, line and sinker the accusation by the PDP that APC is behind religious uprising. What would APC gain from killing the people it wants to govern; from destroying the economy of the (Northeast) states?

    “Each of the governors in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe is spending so much money, which ought to have gone to infrastructural development, on security. They have had their entire economies destroyed. There are over 10,000 widows in those three states; there are 201 schools destroyed in Yobe and 800 classrooms destroyed in Borno.

    “It would have been sensible if Boko Haram were the creation of APC and it was attacking PDP states. What is the information that Olisha Metus has that the National Security Adviser (NSA) does not have? If it is true we are behind Boko Haram, why can’t you arrest and prosecute us?

    “Not too long ago, the President himself admitted that his government was infiltrated by Boko Haram. The late National Security Adviser (NSA), General Owoye Azazi said the Boko Haram problem stemmed from inequity and injustice in the PDP.”

    On the solution to the security challenges in the land, APC said: “We have offered them (the Federal Government) our hands of cooperation. The latest we suggested is a National Summit on Security. The government should urgently convoke a National Summit on Security. This is different from the ongoing national confab. However, the insincerity of government is worrisome to us.

    “Even the reaction of President Goodluck Jonathan does not portray him as somebody who is genuinely concerned about the plight of Nigerians. Otherwise, 24 hours after the Nyanya bomb blasts, he would not have left Abuja to go dancing in Kano or for the Olubadan of Ibadan’s centenary to drink champagne when we had over 75 people roasted alive.

    To combat religious acrimony in the land, the opposition party offered a good example.

    Mohammed said: “I will urge Nigerians to emulate my small community where religious harmony and tolerance are at play. However, the truth of the matter is that Nigerians are really not divided along religious lines. But I think people who want to seek elective offices or people who want to seek undue advantage to exploit these primordial sentiments of religion and ethnicity are the problems. I think the average Nigerian can live together harmoniously, irrespective of his or her religion.

    “The Boko Haram insurgency is worrisome because, going by the statement credited to Akwa Ibom Governor Godswill Akpabio. He said President Jonathan should sack the three governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, not for any reason but because it would give the PDP an advantage towards 2015.

    “That, again, gives us concerns, that probably the manner the government has been handling the Boko Haram insurgency has been with a view to 2015 elections. That will be very sad, because I know that our party has severally warned that nobody should politicise, ethnicise or regionalise the issue as it is a national matter. It is even becoming a global issue. We should all be sincere in our approach to it.”

  • APC alleges Presidency gave $32b to 16 PDP governors

    APC alleges Presidency gave $32b to 16 PDP governors

    The Presidency has clandestinely given out N2 billion each to 16 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states, the All Progressives Congress (APC) alleged yesterday.

    The Interim National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, addressed reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a forum organised by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

    The APC scribe noted that the aim of the largesse was to starve APC states of funds for development purposes.

    He said: “As a matter of fact, as I am speaking today, we have in our possession a document that the President has given N2 billion each to 16 states, and of these states not one of them is an APC state. The idea is to starve the APC states of their constitutional entitlements and secretly fund states that are perceived to be with the President.

    “This is a matter we will take up and the National Assembly, we hope, will also take up the matter. I think the matter should be thrown to the court of public opinion.

    “The President should understand that whatever money accrues to the Federal revenue account is for the benefit of all Nigerians. It is not for Mr. President to use as Christmas gift or as a carrot for those who support him. We know that the battle for 2015 would not be easy but we want to assure the President that he is going to have a tough battle on his hand.

    “Many things are happening in the Villa today. One thing is clear: Mr President is ready to use all manners, all methods constitutional and illegal to ensure he punishes governors.

    “I will only give you two instances. I am sure you have heard about the controversy over the benchmark issue. The President wants the benchmark to be put at $74 per barrel of crude oil; the Senate passed $76; the House of Representatives insisted on $79. The politics of benchmark is very simple. If you remove all the fine grammar of economics, benchmark simply means cost price. Crude today sells for about $110. “At $74, it will be impossible pay states their statutory allocations. If it is $74, the states will be entitled to only 28 per cent of $74, multiplied by, say two million barrels. At the end of the day the balance between $110 and $74 will be kept in the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

    “The Excess Crude Account is at the discretion mostly of the President. The idea is that if the National Assembly approves $74 as the benchmark, the states will be starved of funds and there will be no money for development.

    “Meanwhile, the President will now take money out of the Excess Crude Account to give to states that are very close to him through probably Ecological Funds or relief.”

    Mohammed added: “The singular act of registering the All Progressives Congress (APC), the face of opposition changed in Nigeria and the opposition became broad-based. On August 1, this year, seven Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors walked out of the national convention of their party and I believe that the PDP is yet to recover from that internal rebellion.”

    “On November 28, five of the PDP governors came along with the leadership of the New PDP to become part of the APC. I think these three events have changed the political climate, landscape and calculation of the entire polity. These three events, put together, have also altered the aspirations, ambitions of not just the individuals but also of the political parties.

    “We are today standing on the threshold of a new dawn for Nigeria, because as things stand today, there is a balance of term in Nigerian polity.”

     

     

     

    Before now the biggest opposition political party had only six governors, 18 senators and 66 members of the House of Representatives. But to the APC, especially with the defection of the New PDP, it has 16 governors, 217 members in the House of Representatives and 53 senators.

    “Yes, we might control just 16 states, but if you look at the demography of those states, they are the largest in terms of population in the country. Even in those states where we don’t produce governors, the APC is the party of choice. I believe Nigerians are all witnesses to this. I believe the next few months will be interesting and entertaining.

    “With the antics and reactions of the PDP and the President at the Villa, we can say there is confusion and panic in the Villa and the Presidency today.

    “Only yesterday (Sunday), I heard the President say the governors who defected to the APC were not kings or gods. That was a very strange reaction, because if you lose one governor, it is a tragedy; if you lose five in one fell swoop, is is a fiasco.

    “Mr President’s statement is akin to a person who is so lost.

    “Only yesterday (Sunday), the President invited two of the newly converted APC governors. You begin to wonder that if the President said the loss of five governors did not matter and yet he was wooing them. “I am happy that at that meeting Governors Musa Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) told the President that their decision to leave PDP was irreversible.”

  • ’23 governors now in APC’

    ’23 governors now in APC’

    Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of Action Congress of Nigeria, on Friday said 23 governors are already in the fold of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Mohammed spoke in Lagos at the 7th Town Hall Meeting of Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, representing Lagos Central.

    He said 12 more governors had signified interest to join the party in addition to the 11 already in the fold.

    “The 12 governors will make their declarations after the party has been registered, possibly in two weeks time.

    “We are likely to get our registration certificate by the end of June or second week of July,” the ACN spokesman said.

    He explained that the delay in submitting the new party’s application to INEC was caused by “the complexity of merging.’’

    “Merging is not an easy process, it is complicated. Aside from the name, constitution and logo change, each of the merging parties must hold special conventions to adopt the merger.

    “The merger forming APC comprises ACN, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Grand Progressive Alliance (APGA) and the Democratic People’s Party (DPP).”

    In her speech, Tinubu, who is the wife of a former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, described APC as “an assurance of hope for Nigeria.’’

    She said:“Without the genuine change and development being advocated by our great movement — APC, Nigeria risks further descent into the abyss of underdevelopment and backwardness.’’

    On the bill seeking special status for Lagos, the senator said no effort would be spared to achieve it.

    Tinubu disclosed that the three senators from Lagos had sponsored a bill seeking provision of financial grants to the state in the constitution, in recognition of its status as the nation’s economic hub.

    The News Agency of Nigeria  reports that Tinubu distributed free November/December General Certificate Examination (GCE) forms to 220 youths in the senatorial district.