The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Doyin Okupe

  • Presidency, Nyako clash over genocide claim

    Presidency, Nyako clash over genocide claim

    THE Presidency has described a memo written by Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State to the Northern Governors’ Forum as a sad betrayal of trust by a major beneficiary of the Nigerian nation.

    Reacting yesterday to the memo which highlighted Governor Nyako’s fears that the Presidency may intentionally not be doing enough to solve the many problems of insecurity in the north, the Presidency said the Governor’s positions smacks of “an unmitigated leadership disaster.”

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in a statement said the content of the governor’s letter betrays his lack of a sense of history. According to Okupe, the memo portrayed the governor as incapable of rising above parochial sentiments as a result of his deep rooted disdain for facts and truth in public discourse.

    The SSA, who said the memo is extremely divisive, added that it was intentionally meant to incite one section of the country against the other.

    “Governor Nyako claims that President Goodluck Jonathan is from the Eastern region which according to him was responsible for the killing of Northern political elites on the 15th of January 1966. This is a very disgraceful remark by the governor and a pathetic embarrassment to the Nigerian Military from where Nyako derives his career antecedents. It is certainly a reflection of the Governor’s ignorance and unpatriotic inclinations.”

    Similarly, the Adamawa State governor referred to the Boko Haram terrorist group as a ‘phantom organization’ which he believes does not exist! How hypocritical? In his unwise and desperate attempt to demonise the Federal Government, Governor Nyako likened the military operations against insurgents to the activities of German dictator, Adolf

    Hitler. In his befuddled mind and apparent hallucination, the Federal Government should be held responsible for the activities of insurgents in the North East and the sad killings, wanton destruction, murder and kidnapping of school children as well as other horrendous activities of Boko Haram should be hung on the neck of the Federal Government!

    “He therefore invited his colleague northern governors to join him to sue the Federal Government. This definitely defies common sense and portrays Mr. Nyako as unfit for the hallowed position of a state governor. It is obvious that Governor Nyako’s opposition to the declaration of a State of Emergency in three affected states of the North East as well as his repeated calls for the withdrawal of the Military from troubled states without any credible alternative or security road map, is an open endorsement of the activities of the insurgents which is meant to provide them unrestricted opportunity to further unleash terror on innocent citizens in order to precipitate chaos, further instability, mayhem and anarchy ; a situation which they intend to exploit to undermine the administration and truncate our growing democracy. This, Nigerians will surely not allow to happen.”

    Okupe restated the federal government’s “continuous determination to defeat terror and restore peace to every part of northern Nigeria so that every law abiding citizen can go about with his/her socio economic pursuit without let or hindrance.”

    But reacting to the presidency’s statement same day, Governor Nyako said the response by the Presidency to his memo to Northern Governors has further proved that those running the Federal Government are too arrogant and confused in their handling of the affairs of the country.

    Accusing the Presidency of telling lies and feeding the public with untruth in its response to his memo to fellow Governors of the northern states on the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect and other issues of insecurity, Nyako, in a statement by the Director, Press and Public Affairs in the Government House, Ahmad Sajoh, said it is now very clear that President Goodluck Jonathan is very complacent about the insecurity in the northern part of the country.

    According to him, “They arrogate all knowledge and wisdom to themselves alone. We hold the statements we released as true and challenge those who claim to have a sense of history to cut-off the use of jaundiced semantics to address the issues raised in this and several other documents before it. By telling black lies about the attack on Governor Nyako which was never investigated nor ascertained, the Presidency is providing further proof that it knows more than it is willing to admit in the whole saga.”

    The statement accused the federal government of misleading the populace on all fronts saying, “Feeding the public with untruth is becoming a new culture in Abuja. The statement on the supposed rescue of the abducted girls is enough to prove that. It is a pity that responsible and supposedly educated people could manufacture statements and attribute them to others just to create an escape route from their glaring failures. None of the statements attributed to Governor Nyako by the Presidency were ever made by him. They were all manufactured for lack of a sound counter argument.”

    The Adamawa helmsman challenged the President to react directly to the issues raised in the memo instead of making up statements that were not part of the correspondence in question.

    He continued “If indeed the Presidency is not complacent about the killings in the country how come the President went dancing a day after several citizens were killed in Abuja? If they claim that Nyako does not deserve to be Governor, are they fit to be where they are? When we say the Boko Haram phenomenon is phantom we are talking based on several testimonies by the President.

    “At one point he said there are Boko Haram in his government, at another point he said they are ghosts he cannot dialogue with ghosts, yet recently he admitted that the young poverty stricken persons so far arrested cannot afford the guns they carry. And we say to them you have full command and control of the Armed Forces and security outfits with all the Intelligence units, investigate their activities, expose their patrons, sponsors and strategic commanders and arrest them.”

    He challenged the Presidency to expose the source of the arms used by the insurgents. “We still repeat the earlier questions we raised. How come the insurgents move about unchallenged at night in our states under so called Emergency Rule when we have a night time curfew in place? How come the insurgents operate for many hours unchallenged when we have military units all over the place? How come the insurgents move with a large convoy of vehicles through routes that have 24 hours military check points? How come statements by the Presidency and other authorities in Abuja are always at variance with realities on ground at the theatres of conflict? We want answers not insults or empty rhetoric.”

    On allegation against the Governor that he is creating divisions among the people with his utterances, the Adamawa State Government said President Jonathan is the chief culprit in this.

    “On the issue of creating divisions among the people, no one does it better than the Presidency that urges its backers to direct its people to implicate innocent Northerners in bombings they know nothing of, or one whose known official uses online sources to implicate someone it chooses to hate for no just cause. This Presidency also encourages some of its spokespersons to speak ill of certain persons and religion without a reprimand.

    He accused the Presidency of being the most divisive administration in the country to date, “This is the most divisive leadership in the history of this country and it also the most desperate to cling to power even at the cost of several lives of innocent citizens. Unfortunately it is also the most inept, confused, greedy, corrupt and incompetent regime ever. On the corruption mantra, while the Presidency is fond of asking Governors to account for allocations given, we challenge them to live by the same token, declare what you got and account for it.”

    He accused the Presidency of not executing project that funds have been disbursed for. According to him, “After all we now have proof that certain projects which are not executed have been announced as completed such as the Hong to Mubi road in our state which the Minister of Information announced its execution at their Bauchi Rally. Meanwhile, someone should help us ask the President under what Budget sub-head did he get the money he allegedly gave Governor Kwankwaso to bribe delegates to vote for him which was allegedly diverted.

    “We think rather than vent their venom in insulting people, presidential spokespersons and media managers should do better by re-focussing the man to be more open minded and competent in grappling with the myriads of challenges facing the nation,” Nyako said.

    The governor had in the now controversial memo accused the administration of President Jonathan of carrying out genocide against northern states with impunity. The Governor said the adverse security situation in the North in particular and Nigeria in general is being felt by all genuine stakeholders but lamented that while every state government is doing everything possible using virtually all its resources to stem the tide of near disaster facing the North, the present federal administration has become a government of impunity run by an evil-minded leadership for the advancement of corruption.

    Nyako regretted that the protection of life and property of innocent citizens in Northern Nigeria and recognising their human rights and voting right in the forthcoming general elections is no longer a cardinal principle of the administration.

    “Clearly the victims of the Administration’s evil-mindedness are substantially Northern Nigerians. The administration is bent on bringing wars in the North between Muslim and Christians and within them and between one ethnic group and another or others in various communities in the region. No wonder, we in the Northern Nigeria are now facing an organised ethno-religious campaigns of hate fuelled by the federal administration to make communities which hitherto have remained peaceful for centuries to start killing the minorities in their midst and to facilitate mass killings of the innocent and the arbitrary arrests and torture of elders of minority ethnic groups in the various Northern communities.”

    Listing occurrences of violence the governor wrote, “We, in Adamawa State, have been battling this heinous machination in the last three years. We also saw it as the Beginning of Genocide. Genocide kingpins are now on prowl in Northern Nigeria! Fulani communities in parts of the North who have been in their locations for over 100 years are now being raided and uprooted by paid killers within the Nigerian Army for the satisfaction of the Federal administration instead of being protected as citizens with their rights and dignity safe-guarded.”

    He observed, “The Federal administration’s affront to frame Northerners is also an open secret. Senior Special Assistant to Mr. President tried to hoodwink us into believing that Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was kingpin of Boko-Haram. Mr. Henry Okah, the convicted leader of MEND also stated under oath that he was being put under pressure by the administration to implicate senior Northern elements such as Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari as financiers of Boko Haram terrorism. We are in deep trouble. We have begun to sleep with ‘both our eyes widely open.”

     

  • Mandela: Jonathan’s shocking prognosis

    Mandela: Jonathan’s shocking prognosis

    Nothing reveals the essential President Goodluck Jonathan as when he extemporises. The speeches may turn out not to be inspiring or even informative, nor sometimes offer his audience any philosophical guide or lessons. However, they always reveal his mind, which is often inscrutably disengaged; his ideas, if they can be so described; his scope, using the most conservative measurements; and his limitations and worldview. Last Sunday, at the Aso Villa Chapel, Dr Jonathan once again gave the country stellar performance from his rich repository of innocent, youthful outbursts. The occasion was hardly appropriate, seeing that it was a memorial service in honour of Nelson Mandela, but his conclusion was unmistakeable, even as it was highly controversial and deeply wounding. The speech was largely extempore, but it came from jottings. Had it been a prepared speech, it would probably have been weeded of its many blatant flaws, baits and unreflective provocations.

    His simple thesis was that given the nature of Nigerian politicians, a nature he gratuitously bestowed upon other African leaders somewhere along his speech, Nigeria could never produce someone as great as Mandela. It is not clear why he thought and spoke so negatively, and especially on that sombre occasion when it was more useful to draw upon the nuanced lessons of Mr Mandela’s life and to gently prod his wary audience into emulating the life of the departed icon. The relief, however, though this is not an excuse, must be that at least it was not a prepared speech that benefited from the introspection and research expected of the leader of 170 million people.

    It was clear that the Jonathan speech reflected something much more insidious than the topic of Mandela’s example which it pretended to address. Dr Jonathan’s Aso Villa speech betrayed the anger and frustrations he has endured in the past few years. Indeed, there are few occasions since he assumed the presidency when he has not ventilated his bitter reservations about his critics, most of whom he believes are unfair and wicked. Not too long ago, he even concluded that he was probably the most vilified president in the whole world. That of course was an exaggeration, but this has not deterred him from responding furiously to every criticism with characteristic lack of presidential dignity.

    Nothing will mollify the rage and disgust Dr Jonathan feels for his critics. And though he cleverly used pronouns such as ‘we’ and ‘us’ as the subject of his discourse, it is clear he did not and could not have meant himself. He was referring strictly to others – his enemies, opponents and critics. If proof is required, all you need do is read his speech closely, and you will discover that he referred to himself only in those places where he talked of leaders who were criticised in the early years of their reign, but canonised as their reforms began to yield fruits. Dr Jonathan’s literary sleight must, therefore, be de-emphasised in order to have a proper understanding of the bitterness that caused his speech to misfire badly last Sunday.

    During the memorial service in honour of Mr Mandela, the president established the foundation for his drastic conclusion in the following words: “In fact, if you listen to those of us who are politicians, from all political parties, the way we talk; some of us speak as if Nigeria is their personal bedrooms that they have control over. Read the papers, listen to the radio and television and the social media and see how politicians talk; we intimidate, we threaten, show force in our communication. This definitely is not the virtue of great men. They are certainly the vices of tiny men.” Apart from the brutal inappropriateness of that kind of talk at a memorial service, the president seems undisguisedly and a little shamelessly flustered. He is bothered that his critics are relentless and aggressive. His was, therefore, a plaintive, hopeless cry for relief.

    Yet, his arguments showed more pointedly that the label he sought to slam on his traducers in fact depicts his style and that of his aides such as the effusive Doyin Okupe, the cynical and hyperbolic Ahmed Gulak who thinks the ruling party owned Nigerians, and the scaremongering Nyesom Wike who personifies the immoderation that assails presidential corridors. Much more than any of his critics, Dr Jonathan has spoken with much thunder and meanness like someone who sees Nigeria as his bedroom, and has trampled on the freedoms and liberties of his countrymen with such ferocity that few would dispute a description of him as a monarch.

    Finally, to cap a bad speech, the president then deadpans: “Sometimes when I listen to politicians, the ones older than me, my contemporaries and some even the younger ones, I come to the painful conclusion that it would be probably easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a politician to be truly great.” It is hard to explain his pains. Clearly, the president does not have an understanding of what great leadership is all about, whether as it relates to its metaphysical properties, or the discipline, sacrifices, charisma, intuition, and the often unfathomable intellect that constitute its rubric. Unable to understand these properties, Dr Jonathan simply chose the wrong moment and wrong place to trivialise the topic and to make sweeping and pejorative judgement about his country’s fallibilities.

    Even discounting the many howlers in his speech, such as when he used ‘pressurised’ for pressured, and his appalling misunderstanding and misconception of China’s developmental trajectory, the speech was still a very bad attempt at justifying his cynicism of fellow politicians and pessimism of Nigeria’s self-belief. All his Sunday speech showed was not why Nigeria could not produce its own Mandela, but how unable he is in adequately grasping the concept of leadership. The closest he came to understanding the idea was when he spoke glowingly about Mr Mandela’s fine attributes, the icon’s great skill in uniting peoples, forgiven his enemies and exhibiting humility. He then added the contradistinctive observation of bad leaders who sought vengeance and practised repression. It was almost as if the president forgot what he has been doing in Rivers State.

    If Nigeria has not produced its own Mandelas, it is not because Dr Jonathan’s critics and fellow politicians talk as if Nigeria is their bedroom, an obvious barb directed at the top politicians of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but because only South Africa could have produced a Mandela, just as only the US could have produced a Lincoln, China a Mao Zedong, Soviet Union its Lenin and Stalin, etc. If Nigeria has a surfeit of what Dr Jonathan describes with cruel mockery as ‘tiny men’ it is because he himself, not to talk of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and others before him, had failed to seize the moment. And they failed to seize the moment because they lacked the philosophical depth to judge the moment. It is noteworthy that by his analysis Dr Jonathan writes himself off. No one will dispute his self-reproof. But Dr Jonathan’s pessimism must not fool us into thinking Nigeria does not have the objective conditions for producing great leaders.

    Great leaders can be produced in Nigeria, and will be produced when the contradictions and circumstances are ripe. Imagine, for instance, if the departing military rulers had not foisted the misfit Chief Obasanjo on Nigeria in 1999, and if he in turn had not foisted the lethargic Umaru Yar’Adua on the country in 2007? It is indeed a deep and disturbing irony that Chief Obasanjo missed the self-reproof in his televised tribute to Mr Mandela, whom he praised for turning down his (Obasanjo’s) suggestion to go for a second term, an indication both of the nobility and self-abnegation of Mr Mandela and the ignobility and self-aggrandisement of Chief Obasanjo.

    By all means let Dr Jonathan continue to give us his extemporaneous speeches, perhaps armed only with highlights of his discourse. For then, in spite of his often disapproving style and content, it would open a window into his ingenuous mind, assuring us that a few more years of Dr Jonathan would be both a costly misadventure for the country and a destiny deferred or altogether destroyed.

  • UI lecturers, students shun classrooms

    Lecturers and students of the University of Ibadan (UI) yesterday stayed away from the campus.

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) lashed out at Dr Doyin Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, for calling the union “enemy of the state”.

    The union urged the President to read its letter to know that it was not out to disrespect him but to give him more credibility.

    When our reporter visited the campus yesterday, the lecture rooms remained shut without any lecturer in sight. There was also no register for either the lecturers or students to sign.

    The union assembled its members at a congress and resolved not to sign any register.

    It urged the government to implement the agreement the union signed with it.

    The UI-ASUU Chairman Dr Olusegun Ajiboye said the union would ensure that the government funded public universities well.

    Ajiboye said the union respects the office of Mr President, adding that Dr Okupe and other sycophantic advisers were indirectly ridiculing the office through their unguarded utterances.

    Ajiboye said: “Nigerians should judge the true enemies of state between a person begging the owner of schools to fund it and the praise singers saying the government has released money, when it has not. Posterity is there to judge us all.”

  • ASUU out to undermine Presidency- Okupe

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe has accused the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of attempting to undermine and subvert  the Presidency.
    Okupe who made the allegation at a press briefing on Sunday in Abuja described the leadership of the union  as rigid and insensitive.
    Okupe said: “The negative disposition of the ASUU leadership is unarguably a pre-conceived and calculated treacherous plot pointedly intended to undermine the Presidency and subvert the Federal Government of Nigeria.
    “This is clearly a hallmark of a leadership that is determined to employ subterfuge in an attempt to hold government, students and their parents and other stakeholders to ransom in a reckless and irresponsible display of insensitivity, lawlessness and absolute lack of patriotism and even the fear of God.
    “Unfortunately, all this is perpetuated using unsuspecting but otherwise loyal, patriotic and responsible members of ASUU whose families are also sad victims of this reprehensible and callous attitude of their leadership.
    “From all indications therefore and other information available to government, it has become obvious that this is no longer an altruistic strike borne out of good intentions and aimed at improving the welfare of students and staff of the universities and the standard of our educational institutions.
    “Rather, it is an evil programme motivated by selfish political interests and motivations within the polity”.
    The government lamented what it described as ASUU’s intransigence despite the various concessions made to the lecturers, stressing that the teachers have pushed the government to the wall.
    “Given the fact that government had reached agreement with ASUU to make available N100 billion for the provision of infrastructure on campuses of 61 universities covered in the needs assessment of universities, with a further commitment of another N200 billion over the next two years, and N40 billion of the N90 billion Earned Allowances demanded by the lecturers one would have expected them to reconsider their stand.
    “This was despite the fact that the ASUU leadership in the meeting with President Jonathan failed curiously to articulate the basis of the calculation of the demanded N90 billion earned allowance, which has been on the table since 2009.
    “It becomes crystal clear therefore that the Federal Government has shown good faith and commendable commitment by acceding to most of the demands of ASUU.
    “This ordinarily ought to be a thing of pride and an outstanding achievement to the ASUU having been able to secure these unprecedented   concessions as a  direct benefit of the prolonged and painful five month strike.
    “Given this dangerous and invidious tendency no right thinking government sworn to protect the welfare of its citizens will fold its arms and watch the situation deteriorate any further.
    “History has shown that when governments worldwide are pushed to the wall, they take whatever lawful steps that are necessary to protect the interests of its people and the state over which they govern.
    “This is why we make bold to state that there is absolutely nothing dictatorial, draconian or undemocratic in the order by the Federal Government for striking lecturers to return to work or face dismissal.
    “You may wish to recall that on the 5th of August 1981, Ronald Reagan then American President sacked 11, 345 air traffic controllers after a two-day strike. Reagan took the decision after the striking workers turned down an 11 percent wage increase he had offered them”.
    Okupe stated that the demands of the ASUU leadership unwittingly questioned the integrity of the President, adding that the ASUU leaders went into negotiation with government with a mindset.
  • Why budget presentation is delayed, by Presidency

    Why budget presentation is delayed, by Presidency

    The Presidency explained yesterday why the presentation of the 2014 Budget proposals to the National Assembly is being delayed.

    Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Dr. Reuben Abati said the delay was to ensure strong intra-governmental harmony between the Executive and the National Assembly.

    The delay, he said, would also prevent unnecessary acrimony that usually trails budget passage.

    He said: “Previous acrimonies were blamed on failure of intra-governmental relationship.

    “The budget has been ready for over a week now, but since the two arms of the National Assembly are yet to harmonise their positions on the crude oil bench mark in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP, it was wise for Mr. President to wait until this is done.”

    He said the Presidency would cause the budget to be laid before the National Assembly as soon as the harmonisation is concluded.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe, defending the President, said: “This disparity, if not harmonised, will grossly undermine the veracity of the projections in the 2014 budget as prepared by the Federal Government.

    “The President, therefore, chose to allow the two chambers arrive at a harmonised figure after which the presentation of the 2014 budget will be done by the President such that the processing and approval by the National Assembly will not be unduly encumbered.

    “We trust that this pragmatic approach will be appreciated and wholesomely well received by the distinguished senators and honourable members of the National Assembly”.

    The President’s aide debunked insinuations in some quarters that the President boycotted the exercise for security reasons or that the government had anything to hide on the budget issue.

    “We assert that this is not a boycott of the National Assembly or an attempt to create discord between the two arms of government. Rather, it is an effort to improve on procedural efficiency, conviviality and cooperation between the legislature and the executive in the overall interest of our nation, our citizens and good governance,” Okupe said.

     

  • Fitch rating excites Presidency

    Fitch rating excites Presidency

    The latest Fitch’s rating of the Nigerian economy has continued to excite the Presidency, as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Thrsday went celebrating.

    The latest Fitch report had rated the Nigerian economy in the ‘BB’ category.

    Okupe, in a statement, enthused that the rating was an acknowledgement of President Goodluck Jonathan’s “robust” fiscal policies and “landmark” reform agenda.

    He stated: “It is indeed gratifying that the respected rating agency acknowledged the robustness of Federal Government’s fiscal policies which has among others ensured that inflation rate declines to eight percent (the lowest in five years) as well as ensured that Nigeria successfully avoids exogenous shocks, which could have occurred as a result of severe flood in 2012 and various security challenges occasioned by insurgent activities in some parts on the north.”

    According to him, the report is consistent with the verdict of other global rating agencies on the Nigeria economy, adding that the non-oil sector is recording appreciable growth in line with the policy framework of the administration’s transformation agenda.

    “Nigeria’s sovereign and overall external balance sheets, current account surplus, debt service ratio and external liquidity are all stronger than BB category medians,” he added.

    Okupe stated further that the confidence expressed in the Nigerian economy is also attested to by the volume of investments coming into the country in the last two years, especially in critical sectors of the economy.

    He continued: “Nigerians will particularly note that the painstaking and transparent execution of critical components of the power sector road map launched by President Jonathan shortly on assumption of office, has been commended by economic experts and analysts who described it as one of the largest singular privatization exercise in the world.

    “The 3.0 billion dollars privatization exercise in the power sector, which had suffered terrible hiccups in previous years, has now been successfully carried out by the Jonathan administration in line with best global practices and in a manner devoid of vested interests and official manipulations.

    “This has effectively put Nigeria on a sure path to uninterrupted power supply. It has also attracted a guaranteed investment of over 4 billion dollars from the World Bank and other multilateral agencies.

    “It is significant to note the unprecedented growth in Foreign Direct Investments in the Agricultural sector (8 billion dollars); manufacturing (7.3 billion dollars); Housing (300 million dollars); Rail Transportation (over 4 billion dollars) as well as other sectoral growth are essential pivotal to creation of direct and indirect jobs for millions of Nigerian youths in due course.

    “The 300 million dollars World Bank investment in the Housing sector is particularly significant in that it will boost the mortgage industry, create millions of jobs and provide long term loan to first time home owners in order to drastically reduce housing deficit in rural and urban areas in the country. The loan which is at zero percent and a 0.7 commitment charge has a 40 year repayment period and will definitely revolutionize the housing sector. “

     

  • Rivers crisis: Amaechi hits back at Okupe

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi has  hit back at the Presidential Assistant on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe over his comments against him that he is a tyrant.

    He said Okupe’s comments were infantile vituperation  that will not help President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid in 2015.

    He said the  earlier the President purged the Presidency of characters like Okupe, the better for us all.

    Amaechi, who fired back at Okupe in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, David Iyofor, said it was regretful that “small minds like
    Okupe in a democracy, still see holding a different opinion from the Presidency on any issue as anti-Jonathan and fighting Mr. President.”
    The statement said: “Again, on Saturday August, 18, 2013, Presidential Assistant on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe on a radio programme, continued his grossly irresponsible, repugnant and contemptuous, albeit, feckless mission of denigrating and disparaging the person and office of the Governor of Rivers State and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum(NGF), the Rt. Hon. Chibuike RotimiAmaechi.

    “In the past few weeks, we elected to ignore scurrilous statements from Okupe, as we do not wish to, wittingly or unwittingly, avail him with a sparring partner as he strives, though fecklessly yet again, to elevate his act from an attack puppy to an attack dog.

    “Moreover, like most Nigerians, we believe that Okupe is an irrelevant in the political equation that no serious-minded person should take seriously. Over time, his comments and statements are akin to some sort of notice-me monkey dance in front of his boss and his band of cheerleaders.

    “However, it has become pertinent to alert/notify the populace and Mr. President that the likes of Okupe represent the very worst of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration.

    “With an aide and adviser like Okupe, President Jonathan certainly does not need any enemy. Indeed, Okupe is more than a handful. Pray, what kind of advice will an aide/adviser like Okupe give to Mr President? The earlier Mr President purged the Presidency of characters like Okupe, the better for us all.

    “Okupe sank to a new low when he falsely and indecorously claimed that Governor Amaechi used the police to harass, intimidate and punish people unjustly and could not provide one instance or any evidence to back up his claims.

    ” He bragged about some phantom text messages from “ordinary people” whose families have suffered grave injustice in the hands of Amaechi and, yet again, did not tell us the content and senders of the text messages. What does Okupe take Nigerians for? The phantom text messages exist only in the devious mind of Doyin Okupe.

    “The Presidential spokesman then sank even deeper as he condescendingly descended to become the Chief Advocate and Defender-in-Chief of the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Mbu Joseph Mbu, who the National Assembly has resolved categorically should be removed from Rivers State.

    “Okupe’s warped argument is that the call for the redeployment of Mbu from Rivers State by the State government is because Mbu has refused to be a ‘tool in the hands of Amaechi’.
    ” Pray Okupe, if that is the case and Mbu is such ‘a professional with dignity’, why then did the House of Representatives and the Senate(who sent a committee to Rivers State to investigate the issues) passed two separate resolutions calling for the immediate removal of Mbu from Rivers State?
    “If Okupe’s trend of agbero logic is anything to go by, his likely response would be that it’s because Mbu refused to be a tool in the hands of the National Assembly!”

  • Okupe blasts five northern governors

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe has said  that the events in Rivers state and the tour of the country by some northern governors was part of the plot to unseat President Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015 general election.

    Speaking on a Liberty Radio programme, Guest of the Week monitored in Kaduna, Okupe said the claim that  the tour of the governors  is  motivated by the crisis in Rivers state is a national joke.
    He wondered  why the governors  failed to do same when the Boko Haram insurgents were busy bombing innocent Nigerians.
    He said however that President Jonathan has not told him that he intends to contest the 2015 elections, pointing out that the heat being generated in the polity was as a result of the fear that Jonathan will contest the 2015 elections.

    “If Jonathan wants to contest and you are not happy about it, go to the poll and defeat him….Nigerians must wake up. What is four years in the life of a country that is it worth burning a country? Is it worth destroying our democracy?”

    Okupe who was apparently reacting to the statements credited to former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai on the same programme, said “you heard about five governors who said they were motivated to go round the whole country because of Rivers crisis. Is that not a national joke? It is like watching African Magic.
    “What is the crisis in Rivers? Who is Amaechi and what is the issue that the whole country is being disturbed because of something that happened at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).
    “What is Nigerian governors forum to the destiny of this country? What has it got to do with us? The Rivers crisis is something that people just latch unto to fane the embers of this anti Jonathan emotion and to continue to promote hatred against Good Luck Jonathan.
    “And of course, Amaechi is a willing tool, very rich and is very useful to the opposition. What you are seeing is an over dramatisation of the preparations for 2015 period.
    “These governors that were so motivated, so passionately concern about the ultimate destiny of Nigeria, were not motivated when the Boko Haram crises were raging in the north to go round the north and plead on how to solve the problem.
    “They were not concern enough for the thousands of people that were being bomb, killed in their mosques and churches in their domains under their eyes. I feel like crying, people are opening their doors to hypocrites.
    “Let them leave the Rivers state police commissioner alone. I don’t know how people got my number. I have text messages from ordinary people who are not politicians, people whose families have suffered grave injustice in the hands of Amaechi in Rivers state, I am telling you this, God Almighty is my witness, I will show you these text messages so that you can confirm it.
    “Amaechi used police and power to harassed, intimidate and punish people unjustly. Mbu has refused to be a tool in the hands of Amaechi and has refused to bend to his unjustified high handedness. However, because he is supported by the opposition, he now presents Mbu as a villain. It is not true. He is a professional man, he is a man of dignity who has remained steadfast……
    “Poeple must find the truth. The Holy book said you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Nigerians are becoming too gullible, they swallow anything hook line and sinker. I am glad that Chief Obasanjo as an elder states man is trying to mediate, he has mediated in many international conflicts and has recorded successes, but in his own country people cannot listen because the stakes are higher than Obasanjo’s intervention. People are looking for power in 2015.
    “So am not surprised that there is no result. How will these five governors be at a meeting and they will not rally round Obasanjo and solve the problem. The elites in this country are only after their own interest”.

     

  • Boko Haram: Detained suspects to be released in phases – Presidency

    Boko Haram: Detained suspects to be released in phases – Presidency

    … CAN rejects sect members’ release

    The Presidency on Wednesday made clarifications on the release of persons detained in connection with the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in a statement, said the suspects would be released in phases.

    According to him, the first batch of suspects to be released would be women and children who were detained on suspicion of involvement or connection with insurgency in some parts of the country.

    Okupe said the phased release of detainees was to encourage other insurgents who may wish to embrace the peace option to come out and take advantage of the dialogue and peace option.

    “This would be followed by other phased releases where cases would be treated on their individual merits by the Defence authorities and security agencies,” Okupe added.

    The President’s aide stated that President Goodluck Jonathan’s directive on the detained suspects was as a result of the interim report by the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peace in northern Nigeria.

    The committee, he said, recommended the measure as part of government’s multi-faceted strategy to solving the security challenges posed by the activities of the Boko Haram sect.

    “This directive by Mr. President further proves that the Federal Government has not foreclosed dialogue as a viable option in its bid to put an end to insurgency and terrorist activities in the northern part of the country.

    “It is expected that this phased release of detainees would encourage those who wish to embrace the peace option to come out and take advantage of the dialogue and peace option provided by the committee put in place by government.”

    Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria has opposed the planned release of the Boko Haram suspects from detention, saying government’s decision to free the suspects is like giving them the “license to carry out more suicide bombings.”

    The body said “if those who deliberately killed innocent people are given freedom to walk the streets without punishment, then is clear indication that Nigerians have no nation.”

    Addressing a press briefing at the NUJ House in Makurdi on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Benue State chapter of CAN, Bishop Yiman Orkwar, appealed to President Jonathan to withdraw his directive on the suspects’ release, saying such action would further escalate the security situation in the region.

    He also condemned the recent killing of innocent farmers in the state by people he described as Fulani jihadist.

     

  • FG alerts states, communities on impending flood

    FG alerts states, communities on impending flood

    The Federal Government has alerted states and communities living in flood prone areas on impending flooding as the raining season advances.

    To this effect, the government has advised the affected states and communities to take precautionary measures against heavy flood which may result from torrential rainfall as well as opening of the Lagdo Dam by the Cameroonian authorities.

    It will be recalled that Cameroon opened its overflowing Lagdo Dam during the rainy season last year, which caused heavy flooding in many states and communities in Nigeria.

    The flood claimed several lives and property worth millions of naira and rendered thousands of Nigerians homeless.

    Many of the victims are yet to recover from the disaster with a good number of them still living in resettlement camps in different parts of the country.

    A statement signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Tuesday said the warning was issued by the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe.

    Quoting Mrs. Ochekpe, the statement said “in view of the fact that the Kashimbilla multi-purpose dam being constructed by the Federal Government in Taraba State to reduce the impact of water released from Cameroon is not yet completed, there is a need for concerted efforts by state governments to mitigate the likely effect of the large volume of water that may be released from the Cameroonian dam in the peak of the raining season.

    “While stating that Nigeria and Cameroon have reached a substantial level of understanding on how to prevent an occurrence of the devastation caused to Nigerian communities last year, the Water Resources Minister urged state governments to complement this initiative by clearing drainages and evacuating people from flood plains in their states.

    “She also disclosed that work is at various advanced stages on 23 dam projects which the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration embarked upon to provide safe water for different communities, irrigation for farmers and generate additional megawatts for the power sector in the country.”

    Ochekpe was similarly quoted to have said that six of the dams located in Imo, Ondo, Katsina, Abia, and the Federal Capital Territory are ready for commissioning, while the Kashimbilla multi- purpose dam will be ready before the next raining season.