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Tag: BUHARI

  • APC youths admonish Buhari on education

    The All Progressives Congress  National  Students Vanguard (APCNSV), the student wing of APC, has called on the president-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to reduce school fees, especially in public institutions on assuming duties.

    The students also insist that the incoming government should change infrastructure in public institutions by replacing those that are obsolete with modern ones, in addition to focusing more on science and technology for the nation to leapfrog technologically.

    In a congratulatory message to Gen. Buhari, the group’s Coordinator and Secretary-General Comrade Abdulbaqi Shatta and Ahmed Muyiddden, said the spate of rising fees in public institutions was becoming ubiquitous, and placing heavy burden on parents who live from hand to mouth.

    Said the group: “The National leadership of APC National Students Vanguard (APCNSV) wishes to congratulate our president-elect Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on his election victory on Saturday, March 28.

    “As the student wing of APC however, we are appealing to the president-elect to take up the issues of tuition review which has now become a trend in public institutions nationwide.

    “The wave of skyrocketing tuition in the country has become a thing of serious concern that the incoming government must wade into upon assumption. The poor state of the economy, we must realise, places a heavy burden on parents who can hardly provide for their family let alone afford the ever increasing tuition fee.

    “Students of the University of Ilorin for instance, now pay about N70,000 per session. But UNILORIN is just one out of the many federal universities increasing tuition at will and to the disadvantage of children who are mostly from poor homes and whose struggling parents could hardly cope with such rising fees.

    “Therefore, let the government support public schools with more and up-to-date infrastructure as against obsoletes ones that dot our laboratories. We want public schools to be better funded. This lack of funding constitutes some reasons management of public institutions give for increasing tuition to augment government allocation.”

    The duo described Gen. Buhari as intelligent, conservative, and allergic to corruption, going by his antecedent as a military president, advising the president-elect to demonstrate that virtue once he is in the saddle.

    Recalling some of the statement Gen. Buhari once made and fulfilled in the fight against corruption as a military president in 1983, urging him to also walk his talk this time around.

    “He (Buhari) brought out what was known then as WAI (War Against Indiscipline) in which Lagos metamophorsed to KAI (Kick Against Indiscipline).

    “For these reasons, we will like to tell you all that the battle against corruption cannot be fought and won by one man.  The good people of Nigeria have shown their thirst, desire and affinity for positivity. To them, congratulations! The people of Nigeria dream and desire a country free from corruption reign.

    “Therefore, we, at APCNSV, wish to remind Nigerians that as we all look up to “the people’s general” to deliver us this new Nigeria, it is only with our support and solidarity that this can be achieved. We then pray that God, the almighty, grants general Buhari the strength and guidance required to move this country to a greater heights.

     

  • Anti-aging tips for Buhari in change era (1)

    All things being equal, as economists say, former Military Head of State Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) should succeed President GoodLuck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan on May 29. The choice of this date as a political succession day for Nigeria’s president, governors and parliaments may have petty origins on the surface, but, deep down, plugs into an important date in the universe. Traditionally since independent on October 1,  1960, this October day in which British colonialists transferred sovereignty to Nigerians has been Nigeria’s political transition day until the switch to May 1 now described as Democracy Day. In some spiritual circles world-wide, may 29 regarded as the peak of Pentecost, the outpouring of power from the Holy Spirit for the maintenance of creation.

    Christians recognise Pentecost as a one-off event when disciples of the Lord Jesus received power from on High after his earthly departure. But, say the spiritual circle aforementioned, Pentecost happens every year.

    From the highest planes of the spiritual realms, power surges downwards into creation like blood pumped out by the heart, for the maintenance and strengthening of everything which absorbs it. The regeneration observed in the spring season has been linked to the outpouring. So has the energising of human character and deeds, for good or ill. For this power, like electricity or atomic energy, is neutral, pliable into any form for which the “potter” bears personal responsibility.

    Commenting on this subject a few years ago, this column suggested many riots which have occurred in Nigeria’s history in this season, including the onset of Nigeria’s Biafra civil war (1967-70) on May 27, may have been due to the forging of this power into negative ends.

    For it merely helps to actualise inherent volition. Ideally, the inherent volition of man should be the transformation of earth-life into paradise-like beauty. But since his soul filled with poison, his use of this power can only be for ignoble ends.

    As we stand in the era of change, which president-elect Buhari promised in his election campaigns, our prayer is that he be clarified about these matters, see himself as an upbuilding tool in the hands of his creator, connect and attach to Him, act only under His guidance, open himself to the helping rays of the power of Pentecost which transcend religious frontiers and, as Nigeria’s leader of the moment lead us to loftier heights.

    If he does this, change would have meaning, significance and impact in our lives.

    Road to change

    The journey will be rough, we shouldn’t deceive ourselves. For the last thing many people desire and resist is change. And is because the spirit, tenant in the physical body we all legs about in, is in deep slumber.

    When I was 40, in 1990, I took one day off work and traveled to Abeokuta, Ogun State to re-connect with the radiations of the town in which I grew up. I found, to my shock that if I was blindfolded, I would on my own find my way from the high on which I parked my car, to St. Andrews Primary School, Ileara, where, thanks to Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free Primary School education project, I began school in January 1956, the year Chief Awolowo began free education in Western Region. My father was a colonial policeman and may have been unable to afford the bill. Nothing has changed in the environment between 1950 and 1990. The neighborhood was blighted.

    Even the once lushful lawn of the parade ground of Ibarra police barracks where a reception was held for Queen Elizabeth II in 1956 had become patched and blighted.

    Since the spirit forms the physical environment where it exists, it can be assumed that the state of the environment is the state of the spirit. Nigeria is replete with stories of successful people hesitant to build houses or make other investments in their villages out of fear that they may be killed.

     

    Aging Buhari

    There is no doubt that, at over 70, Gen. Buhari (rtd) is aging and would require bouncing health and energy to pull through his promises of four million jobs in one year, free education at all levels of schooling, steadying  electricity all day long, curb of corruption, improvement of security and professionalism in the military, among many others. Add to these subtitle picture of voting patterns in the presidential election of March 28 which has led many people to conclude that wounds of the 1967 to 1970 Biafran war are far from healed. Thus manifested in grave ethnic divisions that need to be addressed.

    Ethic division.

    The voting pattern was the geography of the biafran war… the Eastern- Region (South- East and South- South) pitched against the North and the West. Some political observers blame it all on the  South–West. Their thesis is that nowhere in history does the victor nation in a war relinquish power to the loser.

    They site Germany and Japan as examples. Both nations lost the second world war to Britain. The United States, France and the Soviet Union (now Russian). Till this day both nations are forbidden to manufacture offensive military weapons. Besides, foreign troops from the victor nations except perhaps China are stationed in Germany and Japan to monitor them. By this logic, Dr Ebele Goodluck Jonathan should not have become Nigeria’s President after President YarA’dua’s death midterm in office.

    The North opposed his ascension. But the South–West, backing constitutionalism, literally made him President. It is instructive that the bitter struggle between the North and the South–West, Dr Ebele Jonathan, as Vice-President, kept mute, like the South-East and the South-South regions. With victory achieved for Jonathan in both the left over two years of YarA’dua’s tenure and, later, a full four years term for himself, President Jonathan would display open pathological hatred for the South-West vengeance against the North. He was to describe South-Western as a pack of “rascals”,  re-engage in puletic office known foes of former President Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West, who set the stage for Dr Ebele Jonathan, as governor of Bayelsa State, to become Vice President of the YarA’dua Presidency.

    The South-West was diminished in key appointments as well. As for the North, President Jonathan adopted a carrot and stick approach. The carrot was key appointments, especially in the security terrain. The “stick”  came in the form of folding arms pretending to have no immediate solution for the Boko Haram insurgency, before which the well-respected Nigerian military would appear to flee. President Jonathan said he was not a “general”, in response to call that he engage the insurgents. Some critics of his Administration say the plot was to let a North –on-North war weaken the North for an easy political rout during the next Presidential election.

    This would be facilitated by a sudden and victorious military assault as Boko Haram which would position President Jonathan as a tie-President who was latter left alone for another term. But it would seem the agenda, if there was one, miscalculated politically that the North and South-West, sworn political enemies since 1959, could offer a common political front in Nigerian history, and even fracture fortresses of the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP). That the North/South-West coalition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was able to defeat President Jonathan was not just a question of the game of numbers but more of intellectual sagacity.

    While President Jonathan and the PDP were busy trying to destroy the person and image of Gen. Buhari (rtd) and image of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a master architect of the APC, the APC was busy abroad internationalising the coming election.  They knew the APC would win the polls and the PDP would attempt  to rig them and deploy soldiers to suppress protests. They were dead right in what happened in Port Harcourt and Abia State, among other discomfitures of the elections.

    Many people have said President Jonathan played the Statesman by unconditionally accepting defeat, a feat, it is said, for an incumbent African President. Somehow I do not share this view. I believe the President merely succumbed to international pressure reigned against him and accepted a negotiated settlement for a soft landing in which he would not be probed personally.

    There is a veiled reference to this in Gen. Buhari’s reply to President Jonathan’s congratulatory message in which the President–elect promised that the President would be treated with “respect” and “understanding”.

    We must now proceed from the geography of the presidential election to the psychological war inflicted ethnic injuries which a Buhari administration should tackle, which may sap his energy and for which, in the coming series of this column, it would be shown how again people like him can make themselves biologically younger than their calendar or calendaric ages and fulfil all their tasks as if they are young people and without a scratch or dent in their health

     

    Ethnic war injuries

    The South–East  has a grouse with the (1) North (2) South–West and (3) parts of the South–South.

    The North

    Hundreds of thousands of igbos were killed genocidically in the North in 1966 which security forces, either helplessly or in full support, looked the other way. Naturally Igbos fled eastwards, to their homeland. It was a clear lesson that the generosity or warmness of a host land, not withstanding, there is no place on this earth that is a NO MAN’S LAND. It is better to invest the fruits of adventure back home and not seek to make a home of a host land.

    Even Igbo soldiers in the Nigeria army returned home after skirmishes in the barracks in which some of them were killed by Northern soldiers. The mood in the East was for a breakaway from Nigeria. Lt. Col Yakubu Gowon, Head of State of Nigeria at 32, found this a daunting challenge. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of thought in the West, made the remarkable Statement: “If by commission or omission the East is allowed to go, the West will also follow.” The situation called for mediation and reconciliation. Ghana threw its doors open to Nigeria. All the regions met in Aburi, Ghana, Where Lt. Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, military governor of the Eastern regions, as opposed to federation, and Lt. Col. Gowon agreed. Lt. Col. Gowon rejected the agreement on his return to Nigeria, when the implications were explained to him. As was to be expected, Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu stuck to his guns, stating ON ABURI WE STAND. Chief Awolowo was to head for the East for a reconciliation meeting. It was at this meeting that the East said Chief Awolowo promised the East that, in the event of war between the East and the North, the West would fight in the side of the East.

     

    The West

    This thinking dominates the thinking of the average man and woman in the East today, and explains why the East persists in its traditional opposition to anything originating from the West, however good or beneficial to the East, and why the East would wish the West dismantled and its star city, Lagos, regarded as a no man’s land.

    Yet Chief Awolowo, in post-war speeches and in the books, have denied making  such a promise at the meeting with Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu. A tape of the meeting recovered by Federal troops in Enugu following the fall of the capital city, and reviewed by the Nigerian Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Gen. Gowon (as he later became) found no such promise. Even Odumegwu Ojukwu after his return from exile did not insist such a promise was made.

    The gap in this Eastern thinking and reality has led scholars to conclude that a promise of support from the West for secession by the East must have been invented by pro-seccession and pro-war intelligentia in the East to galvanise the population for a war of seccession.

    Incapacitation of the West

    The bitterness in the East over the West fighting alongside the North during the Biafra War takes no account of how the co-alition Federal government of the East (NCNC) and the North (NPC) emasculated the West in the civil service and the Armed forces, excused the Mid-West region (later called Bendel State, now Edo and Delta State) from the West as a part of that emasculation, encourage break up of the Action Group (AG), government party in the West, and sent the leader of the region, Chief Awolowo, to 10 years imprisonment on charges that he plotted to overthrow the NPC/NCNC Federal government. Reasonable people should have asked: how would Chief Awolowo have done this when his Yoruba kinsmen were little present in the Army under the said emasculation? An evidence of the emasculation presents itself in the story of Brigadier Ogundipe. After the killing of Maj. Gen. J.T.U. Aguiyi Ironsi, an Igbo, who was the Head of State of Nigeria, in the counter coup of July 1966, Brig. Ogundipe was the most senior Nigerian Army officer around. But when he commanded a northern private, the latter declined to obey until the head received instruction from a northern officer. Brig. Ogundipe had no Yoruba soldiers to enforce his order. So, like Igbo officers, he took refuge… in a naval ship commanded by a fellow Yoruba, who took him to England. With this kind of scenario, how did the East expect the West to fight a war. In any case, northerners controlled all the army barracks which rank up the West.

    In Lagos, there were Myong Barracks, Abalti Barracks, Bonny Camp, Doddan Barracks, Ojoo Cantonement and Ikeja Cantonement. There were army garrisons in Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode and other towns. In any case, the Yoruba are guided by the wisdom of the proverb of the elders that “ti owo omode ko ba ba ida, kii bere iku to pa baba re”, that means until he has firmly gripped the handle of the sword, a child doesn’t seek vengeance against the killers of his father.

    In the East at the time, Lt. Col. Banjo, a Yoruba, was in the custody of Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu. Lt. Col. Banjo was one of the four officers who staged the first coup in January 1966. They handed over to Gen. Ironsi when the coup failed. Banjo and Ifeajuna were released by Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu to work with him. When it would appear the West was not forth coming in striking a military blow, Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu decided on an invasion of Lagos from across the Niger through Benin. Banjo and Ifeajuna objected. He had them executed. Biafran troops from Onitsha crossed to Asaba and seized Bendel State which they renamed Republic of Benin.

    From Benin, they moved towards Lagos but were stopped at Ore by troops commanded by Maj. Gen. Muritala Muhammed. Had Biafran troops succeeded, it was possible a Republic of Oduduwa would have been declared. But many people in the West doubt this intention.

    Why, they wonder, did Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu not make the East the theatre of war by invading the North through the East-North border. Why force a war on the defenceless West? In any case, what were the justifications for the air bombings of a supposedly friendly or neutral Lagos?

  • Buhari and leadership burden

    President Goodluck Jonathan assumed the presidency in 2011 with overwhelming votes mostly in the three geo-political regions of the southsouth, southeast and the southwest. The singsong, most specifically in the latter zone then, was that they voted for Goodluck Jonathan and not his Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). The satisfaction that greeted the Jonathan presidential victory among those who voted for him was so palpable that it mattered very little—if at all—that some states recorded more votes for Jonathan than the actual number of registered voters.

    The electorate then, particularly those from the southern political divide, decided against Muhammadu Buhari largely because of the resentment they had haboured for so long about the hegemonic predilection of the northern dichotomy whence the General comes. Conversely, they saw Goodluck Jonathan as not belonging to the ruinous political class that had held them helplessly in the jugular for so long.

    So, when he told them his story about not having any shoes growing up during the campaign trail, it was as if that was the breath of fresh air they had been waiting to inhale. That statement further cemented his ‘outsider’ perception among voters and Jonathan’s fate as the next president of the republic was sealed.

    The ‘outsider’ status of Jonathan was also the proof-positive that the Nigerian electorates needed that their new and ‘unblemished’ president would fundamentally re-arrange the polity for sustainable growth and development, thereby giving them a new lease on life. They reasoned that he would be unencumbered and not tied to the apron strings of the deciders of who gets power in the country—military or civilian. But they misjudged; and very badly too.

    General Muhammadu Buhari, on the other hand, though not a stranger to these ‘kingmakers’, derived much, if not his entire support base from a critical mass of the poor from the north. The collective political class from both the north and the south had to be at the barricade against Buhari because, in their enlightened self-interests, a clueless and meek Jonathan was better than an unpredictable, no-nonsense Buhari who could turn off the spigot of the ‘milk and honey’ and haul them into jail because the taciturn general does not share their character traits of sleaze, primitive acquisition and plundering of the common patrimony.

    Thus, Buhari is a part of the political class without being a part of the political class. He seemed irredeemably sandwiched between a rock and a hard place. There is perhaps no time in the country’s history in which so much was expected of a chief of state—military or civilian—by the Nigerian populace than the March 28 polls that crowned Gen. Mohammadu Buhari as the president of the next political dispensation starting in May 29. While the bestowal of presidential victory to Jonathan in 2011 by the electorates was largely due to sentiments, Buhari’s assumption of the highest political seat in the land was brought about by the acute awareness of the same electorates that real change must take place in all aspects of national life, no thanks to Boko Haram that has become very significant non-state actors with a considerable chunk of the nation’s territory under their holsters, corruption of monumental proportion and an economy on a free fall, among others—all this on Jonathan’s watch. Thus, the crisis of expectation among both candidates is that while the electorates expected that Jonathan would do something upon becoming the president in 2011, the Nigerian electorates this time around are demanding that Gen. Buhari must do something about their collective national despair.

    Now that Buhari’s unflinching quest to situate Nigeria among the comity of nations, bound by universally acceptable moral and judicial precepts has finally been realized through the ballot box, it is extremely important that the next governing party and Buhari’s impending administration keep their eyes on this one-of-a-kind social contract with the Nigerian people. Just as the world was keenly interested in the election that gave him victory, the global community would also be watching Buhari’s every step from here on to see if we’re really serious about our desire to not only add values to ourselves and improve our living standards but positively contribute to humanity at large.

    Buhari’s emergence was unusual. Therefore, his government should be unusual if it must meet the people’s expectations in the shortest time possible as well as the long run. The Buhari government must find innovative and inventive ways to governance for the arduous tasks ahead. Once elected, Buhari is automatically conferred with the free rein and the latitude to construct his cabinet as he sees fit. Being made to work with people with very little or no antecedents of job accomplishments could be counter-productive and may be a recipe for failure.

    Just as Buhari’s win is akin to inheriting a house whose pillars are so weak that some low level wind gust could collapse the edifice anytime, so also is there a tremendous opportunity to build a new house with concretes that, although may be unfamiliar to the inhabitants, but guarantees a stronger house that will stand the test of time well into the future. Perhaps a good starting point of the Buhari government will be to put all but one or two of the presidential fleet of airplanes on the auction block immediately after it is sworn in and drastically reduce the workforce of the presidency.

    By this, the Nigerian people would get the signal that there would not be any sacred cow when it comes to confronting waste and the hydra-headed corruption monster. Reducing the size of the incoming presidency will not only save a considerable amount of money that is no longer available, no thanks to an epileptic economy that may not regain full consciousness anytime soon, but significantly reduce the recurrent expenditure which has always been the bane of growth in the polity.

    By extension, corruption will automatically reduce in this first tier of government bureaucracy. In the age of high and extreme automation, it makes no sense to retain, say, ten personnel when four would do the job just as effective. The Buhari/Osinbajo presidency should be so compact but highly effective that it should be able to fit in a suitcase.

    The mid-term approach in this fight against corruption and waste is for the Buhari transition committee to ask for the Steve Oronsaye’s committee report that has reportedly enunciated how the entire federal bureaucracy (MDAs) can be streamlined before that report grows some wings for swift implementation. The long-term component is the devolution of more powers to the states—which may not be more than two years—to be brought to fruition. When powers are devolved into the federating units, developments become fast-paced.

    States and their citizens will be able to make choices whether they want bloated bureaucracies or real growth. General Muhammadu Buhari may be the only one that knows the real reason(s)—except what was publicly stated—why he refused to give up after the first, second or third attempt, the least that Nigerians can do is to support the incoming administration to take this badly abused country to the enviable heights that she truly deserve. The challenges are no doubt daunting. But the opportunities, ironically, are also fantastic and the timing cannot be more auspicious.

    • Odere is a media practitioner.

  • Buhari, Fashola, Tinubu: Lagos won’t discriminate

    Buhari, Fashola, Tinubu: Lagos won’t discriminate

    President-elect Muhammadu Buhari returned yesterday to the hustings in Lagos to seek support for All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate Akinwunmi Ambode.

    He also addressed a town hall meeting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, to boost Governor Rochas Okorocha’s campaign.

    Governorship and Assembly elections are slated for Saturday.

    The rally in Orile, Lagos Mainland, an area with a big concentration of Igbo residents, presented the opportunity for the party leaders to address the reported anti-Igbo comment by the Lagos monarch, Oba Rilwan Akiolu. They spoke before a massive crowd of cheering residents, many of them excited to see Gen. Buhari, who was visiting the city for the first time since his victory in the March 28 election.

    Governor Babatunde Fashola and APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said the party should not be crucified for the Oba’s statement because he is not a member of the APC and was not speaking for it.

    Tinubu said: “To you the Igbo, don’t we pay your children’s school fees like others? When we conducted an exam and a spelling competition, an Igbo boy, Ebuka, from Anambra, came first and he became the governor for one day.

    “Those that won the competition three times in a row were Igbo. Ebuka was sent to Switzerland computer school and then Obafemi Awolowo University. We did not say he was an Igbo boy and he would not enjoy. He became an executive in Oando and he is now in Canada.

    “Another boy, Felix, won and went to Switzerland and OAU. We paid his scholarship; we did not deny him because he is Igbo.”

    The APC National Leader, who noted that he was the first Yoruba governor to ever appoint an Igbo commissioner, said the Peoples Democratic Party, having failed to win last week’s presidential election, was desperately trying to pull the APC into the Oba Akiolu controversy.

    Tinubu urged Lagos residents to vote wisely in the governorship and House of Assembly elections and not to waste their votes on the opposition.

    “As you vote on Saturday, pray that God will not let you waste your vote; a vote for progress is a vote for development,” he said.

    Tinubu said Ambode was chosen as the party’s governorship candidate because he had the brain, character, integrity and ability to do a good job.

    “Vote for the man that will give you solid development, happiness, hope and great progress in Lagos and in Nigeria.

    “We have a president-elect from the party now. We have gotten victory and we will continue with the progress that Nigeria deserves,” Tinubu said.

    He noted that in the last 16 years, the state had been fair to all ethnic groups.

    “In 2011, when Jimi Agbaje asked me to give him the governorship ticket, I told him he was not qualified and I told him I was going to support a man of character and sound mind, who is Fashola.

    “Since then, Fashola has performed tremendously well and has not been sentimental, especially against the Igbo,” he said.

    Tinubu added that the PDP has plundered the economy through its agents, such as Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and other bodies.

    He said the money meant for the country’s development was diverted to private pockets, noting that Nigerians have been in bondage under the PDP-led government.

    He said: “Now they want to sneak into Lagos through the back door.

    “Lagos is not for experiment; this is the job for great brains. And because I supported Fashola, he got angry. I told him I will support a man of character and sound mind. Now, let me ask you people, has Fashola not performed?

    “Did he discriminate against the Igbo? He paid your children’s WAEC money, school fees and other things like that. Did he ask whether you are Okafor or Mahmud when you visit government hospital for medication? Did he ask you to pay different money when you are not a Yoruba man?

    “That is what you must think about as you vote on Saturday. Your vote for APC is a vote for the progress of Lagos and, by the grace of God, APC will continue to serve your interest in the state,” he said.

    Gen. Buhari described Lagos State as too important for the APC to lose to the opposition.

    “Defy all elements, whatever it may be, and vote for APC from top to bottom,” he said.

    Gen. Buhari told the crowd that Lagos, with its huge investments, could not be toyed with.

    “Don’t attempt to be on the wrong side of the centre because we are now the centre.

    “Tell your neighbours, your relatives and even the opposition party to please bury the hatchet and fall in line and vote for APC,” he said.

    The president-elect assured the people that they stood to benefit a lot if they voted for the APC.

    Gen. Buhari said that he will prioritise investment in Lagos infrastructure, noting that the state is a “mini Nigeria”.

    “Governor Fashola told me how much the state has been spending to maintain Federal Government infrastructure, including roads, buildings and other institutions.

    “I urge Ambode, who will be the next governor of the state, to harass me sufficiently to honour my undertaking,” he said.

    Gen. Buhari praised Tinubu for all he had done to mobilise revenue to sustain development in the state.

    He also praised Fashola for his hard work, commitment to the state and to the country.

    “I am extremely impressed,” he said.

    Fashola called for Igbo support saying the APC created the Orile Iganmu Local Council Development Area, which has a large concentration of Igbo people.

    He said the state had spent over N51 billion to construct roads, which will benefit everybody, irrespective of where they came from.

    “Even if you did not vote us in the last election, you can change your mind and vote us now. We will build Lagos together.”

    Fashola urged residents to vote Ambode, saying: “We are 5.8 million on the voters’ register and I will want three million votes for Ambode.

    “Put ethnic sentiments aside, there will be no discrimination.

    “As your governor, I have defended you every time you have been intimidated without discrimination,” he told the crowd.

    Fashola said Gen. Buhari  had promised to compensate the state for all Federal Government assets it had maintained.

    “That sign of compensation is already here and I know you won’t want to miss it,” he said.

    Ambode also solicited support from the people.

    “I want to say a big thank you to you all; March 28 was historic for Lagosians. We said we wanted change and we made it possible.

    “We are united on one cause; we will not discriminate against anyone.

    “We are all one, be you Yoruba, Hausa or Igbo; that is how we will remain forever.”

    The huge crowd waited patiently for the arrival for the party leaders. They were entertained by a live.

    At 12. 25pm an open roof bus that conveyed the party leaders arrived at the venue. Those in the convoy include: National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Tinubu, Fashola, Rivers, State Governor Rotimi Amaechi Senator Chris Ngige, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, Lagos State APC Chairman Dele Ajomale, Ambode, Cardinal James Odunmbaku and Lagos State APC Women Leader Kemi Nelson.

    Others are Dr. Idiat Adebule, Mr. Audu Ogbe, Lagos State Deputy Governor Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire and Director of Organisation, Buhari Campaign, Boss Mustapha.

    Gen. Buhari presented Ambode to the crowd and urged them to support him.

     

  • Buhari must avoid Jonathan’s foreign policy, says Shehu Sani

    Buhari must avoid Jonathan’s foreign policy, says Shehu Sani

    THE Senator-elect for Kaduna Central District, Comrade Shehu Sani, yesterday urged the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to avoid “cassava bread foreign policy” of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    He said it was time for the nation to reassert its leadership role in Africa.

    He pleaded with Buhari to set up a team of experts to work in consultation with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (INEC) and Council on Foreign Relations to repackage Nigeria’s foreign policy.

    Sani, who gave the advice in a statement in Abuja, said: “The emergence of Buhari as president-elect will re-launch Nigeria back to its enviable position as the leader of Africa and the black race.

    “President Jonathan’s foreign policy is uncoordinated, unfocused, uninformed, non-directional and uncolourful. President Goodluck presided over a government that is ignorant of the continental and global status and responsibilities of the country.

    “Under Jonathan, our leadership position in the continent slipped away. President Jonathan operated a “cassava bread foreign policy.

    “President Jonathan administration’s foreign policy is dismal. Under Jonathan, Nigeria lost its teeth in the African Union (AU). Our president was absent at the 50th anniversary of the AU and in the continental effort to find peace in the Central African Republic, Sudan and Congo.

    “We failed to take a driver’s seat to help the people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in the height of their Ebola days. We betrayed the people of Palestine by abstaining from voting for their statehood in the United Nations (UN).

    “We helplessly watched as thousands of our African youths sank in the Mediterranean in attempts to cross over to Europe. We attracted condemnation from other African countries for depending on France to come and fight our homegrown terrorism in the Northeast.

    “We have no official position on the chaos in Libya and the dangerous presence of ISIS in the continent.”

    Sani, however, set agenda for the President-elect and urged him to reassert Nigeria’s leadership role in the continent.

    The statement added: “The President-elect must reassert Nigeria’s leadership role in the continent. Africa should continue to be the centre-piece of our foreign policy.

    “We must have a result-oriented and unambiguous position on pressing issues, which affects our continent and the entire black race. President Buhari must rekindle the idea of United States of Africa and give a new life to Pan-Africanism as propagated by the founding fathers of African independence – Kwame Nrumah, Sekou Toure, Patrice Lumumba, Gamal Abdul Nasser and others.

    “The new president-elect needs to set up a team of experts to work in consultation with the NIIA and Council on Foreign Relations to repackage Nigeria’s foreign policy with the view of returning Nigeria to the world stage in leadership and in influence.

    “Our new foreign policy needs to reflect the interest of our people and our continent and not an appeasement to any power. We need to be visibly seen and audibly heard in the world state again.

    “The President-elect must lead in the consolidation or search for peace in the African continent; he must lead in the global fight to end the presence of terrorist cells in the continent; he must lead in discouraging and rescuing our young men and women drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in search of “a better life in Europe”.

    “Buhari’s election brought relief and a new hope for our people and our country, we must radiate this to the whole continent. Africa must not be a safe haven for tyrants and terrorists. We must champion the cause of the ideals of freedom, democracy, peace and development in the continent.

    “Our economic relationship with China must be guided by the philosophy of mutual benefit and respect for the host and the environment.

    “President Buhari must operate an open, transparent and accountable government so as to inspire other countries in Africa and help dissolve the remnants of dictators who still parade the political landscape of the continent.”

  • North’s Christian leaders congratulate Buhari

    North’s Christian leaders congratulate Buhari

    Northern Christian Leaders Eagle Eye (NCEEF) forum has congratulated President- elect Muhammadu Buhari on his victory.

    It described his victory as the will of God.

    Addressing reporters in Kaduna yesterday, the Chairman of the forum, Pastor Aminchi Habu, said Buhari’s victory is not a surprise, as he has worked hard to achieve it.

    He hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for organising a free, fair and credible presidential election, stressing that “he has set the pace for the long-awaited change Nigerians have been craving, a new democratic system where the masses’ voices are heard and the people’s choice are considered without rancour and drums of violence.”

    Pastor Habu also praised the President for establishing a legacy of democratic freedom, transparency, economic growth and free and fair elections, adding that he showed a sense of statesmanship by conceding defeat to save the country from disaster.

     

  • PDP financier Okunbo hails Buhari

    PDP financier Okunbo hails Buhari

    A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Captain Hosa Okunbo, yesterday congratulated President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for winning the presidential election.

    In a congratulatory message, the businessman and ally of President Goodluck Jonathan described Buhari’s victory as unprecedented in the nation’s political history.

    Okunbo said it had been his vision over the years for the people to align with the party at the centre. He urged Edo people to welcome and embrace change.

    He also hailed Jonathan for demonstrating the spirit of good sportsmanship.

     

     

  • Cement producers advise Buhari over price

    The Cement Producers Association of Nigeria (CPAN) has advised the president- elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to take a critical look at the cement sector, arguing that selling the product at N1000 per bag was possible.

    Its Chairman,  Prince David Iweta, lamented that the N2,200  price of cement per bag was too expensive.

    “We wish to use this medium to appeal to you and your government at inauguration to declare a Change of price of cement from N2,200 per bag to N1,000 per bag. “This will serve as the first dividend of Change, which the people of Nigeria voted for,” Iweta said.

    The group said cement industry after the death of President Musa Yar’Adua has witnessed the worst height of price increase, adding that Nigeria is has the highest price of cement in the world.

    He said: “It is worthy of mention that countries that have attained self sufficiency in cement production all over the world sell cement at N500 per bag but in Nigeria where the Federal Government has claimed success in the cement industry and net exporter of cement is selling the commodity at N2,200 per bag.   It is a known fact that all West Africa counties, East, North and South Africa sell cement under N1,000 per bag but in Nigeria, it is selling for N2,200.”

    He said new foreign direct investors are barred from venturing into the Nigeria cement industry since the past six years so that cement price will remain high.

    According to the group, it is in line with international best practice to allow cement importation at the coastal regions for the purpose of cheap cement for such region instead of transporting the products over a long distance by road, one of the factors which has often been blamed for the punitive cost of the product.

    “But in Nigeria the reverse is the case. Cement should be allowed to be imported into Lagos, Warri, Calabar. Even with high degree of infrastructure development in Germany and Iran, cement is allowed to be imported into the coastal areas of these countries because it is cheaper by sea in large volume than by road within same country.

    “But in Nigeria, it is the opposite. Why? The reasons for the above are perpetuated by a single individual that wish to enrich himself enough  to buy the country called Nigeria and dictate the industrial policy of government,” he lamented.

     

  • Clark congratulates Buhari

    Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has congratulated President -elect Muhammadu Buhari

    He wrote a letter dated April 3 2015,to wish Buhari well.

    The letter reads: “I am pleased to join our other compatriots in this country and friends from the international community to convey my words of congratulations to you and your party, the All Progressives Congress.

    “I note that the election was keenly contested but the outcome has been determined by INEC, in the exercise of its statutory duties. We must therefore move forward in the interest of peace, unity and progress of our country.

    “I have noted that this is equally the position which you so well stated during your acceptance speech at the collection of your Certificate of Return.”

    “I am glad that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who was so gracious to beat the gun in congratulating you, both by a historic telephone call and a national broadcast, underlined the need for the spirit of placing our national interest above individual or group ambition.”

    “This was an uncommon display of purposeful leadership and patriotism which I believe sets a propitious cue for the new government.

    “This act of statesmanship and honesty of purpose no doubt went a long way to disappoint our detractors both within and outside our country who thought that the result of the elections will not be accepted by any of the two major contestants and thereby create a chaotic situation in the country and satisfying those prophets of doom who felt there will be no more Nigeria after the 2015 General elections.”

     

  • Falana, TUC to Buhari: tackle corruption

    Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has urged President  Muhammadu Buhari to carry out a reform of the judiciary to tackle corruption effectively.

    He said the judicial system has been taking over by corrupt people, adding that the incoming government owed the country a duty to re-position it for improved performance.

    He said: “There is the need for Buhari’s government to address the judicial system, which in recent times has been overtaking by corrupt-minded Nigerians. The act of messing up judiciary is permitted only in Nigeria. That is why I said the new government has a job to do, if it wants to reduce corruption to its abysmal level.”

    Falana told The Nation that cases involving former governors were not heard in 2007 because they were covered by immunity.

    Also, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Rivers State Chapter, advised Gen. Buhari to put in place measures that would prevent a waste of government’s resources.

    In a statement by its Chairman, Comrade Hyginus Chika, the body urged Buhari to fight corruption to a standstill.

    “We urged President Buhari to be dogged in the fight against corruption and the elimination of waste in governance through strengthening the institutions that fight corruption,” it added.

    He said offences relating to unexplainable wealth should be punishable to deter others from commuting them.

    “The government must pass into law, offence of unexplained wealth in Nigeria, and ensure that offenders are properly dealt with. People who commit the offence should be sentenced to at least 20 years imprisonment, aside forfeiting the wealth,” the statement added.