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Tag: Dr Reuben Abati

  • ‘Good interpersonal relations key to harmonious industrial relations’

    The Ogun State deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Reuben Abati, has said good interpersonal relationship is key to a smooth industrial relation with labour unions.

    Abati spoke at the weekend in Abeokuta, the state capital, at the governorship debate organised by the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    The former chairman of The Guardian editorial board noted that to maintain a harmonious relationship between labour and government, justice and honesty must be the underpinning principles.

    He said since the welfare of the people is the foundation of all labour and government activities, they must do all within their powers to avoid unnecessary rancour.

    Abati began the session by reading out the covenant of the Kashamu-Abati ticket with Ogun State civil/public officers.

    The document reads: “Sequel to the general undertaking I took regarding my commitment to complete and full remittance of local governments’ allocation, I wish to further state as follows:

    “Since transparency is one of the cardinal principles that shall guide the policies of my administration, I am irrevocably committed to the prompt payment/remittance of cooperative deductions.

    “All appointments in the service shall be on merit, and promotions shall be as and when due.

    “For career progression, civil/public officers will be encouraged to get to the peak of their careers in line with statutory guidelines.

    “Our administration will ensure compliance with statutory provisions in the discipline of workers and where any perceived injustice exists, it will be reviewed.

    “Our administration will review the Contributory Pension Scheme with a view to making it more workers-friendly.”

  • ‘Born to rule’ syndrome and Nigerian elite

    ‘Born to rule’ syndrome and Nigerian elite

    Last week in this column, entitled: “Jonathan’s fair-weather friends,” I said Dr. Reuben Abati, former spokesman for ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, was wrong to subscribe to the popular belief that a section of this country, specifically the North – for which read the so-called Hausa/Fulani – believed it is, to use the hackneyed expression, “born to rule.” Abati did not use exactly those words in his well-publicised sharp reprimand of Chief Edwin Clark over the godfather’s recent denunciation of his erstwhile godson, Jonathan. But the difference between the words he used and the hackneyed phrase was more or less like that between half a dozen of one and six of the other. The only difference this time was that Abati stretched the presumed northern superiority complex to include others outside the region.

    The betrayal of Jonathan’s confidence by the likes of Clark, Abati said in his putdown of the old man, was one reason “why the existent power blocs that consider themselves most fit to rule, continue to believe that those whose ancestors never ran empires can never be trusted with power.”

    Abati’s reference to “those whose ancestors never ran empires” obviously would include at least the Jukun, who once ran the mighty Kwararafa Empire, the Yoruba who ran the Oyo Empire and the Edo, who ran the Benin Empire. Abati, I am sure, knows very well that none of these three nationalities, or for that matter any other nationality, would agree that it suffers from any superiority complex, along with the Hausa/Fulani. But then even the Hausa/Fulani themselves would deny they suffer from this complex and even go further to accuse others of the same complex.

    The fact is that every nationality in the world, no matter how small, thinks it is superior to others – hence its faith in preserving its language and culture – but paradoxically also accuses others of the same complex. This clearly makes the notion of ethnic superiority, and by the same token, ethnic inferiority complex, more subjective than objective.

    Take, for example, Nigeria’s political-economy, which has rested on a tripod of its three biggest ethnic groups, the Hausa/Fulani in the North, the Yoruba in the West and the Igbo in the East. In his 1987 autobiography, the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose, post independent Nigeria’s greatest newspaperman, provided what I believe is probably the greatest insight into the country’s tripod-based politics.

    This was in Chapter 7 where he shed some light in what led to the infamous Kano Riots of May 18, 1953, which started from Sabon Gari, the mainly Igbo settlement on the city’s outskirts. Jose was at that time on tour of the North as a senior reporter of Daily Times. He had, he said, arrived Zaria from Kano by train when he heard that a riot had broken out in Kano following a campaign rally addressed by Chief Ladoke Akintola, then Deputy Leader of Action Group, in which he disparaged the Northern leadership “in fluent Hausa” for opposing the independence motion that had been moved in parliament in Lagos by his party.

    As a resourceful reporter, Jose persuaded a senior railway officer to allow him to double-back to Kano on a goods train that night. He then filed an eyewitness account of the riot in which he reported that it was one between the Hausa and the Yoruba. “Somehow,” Jose said, “it appeared in the Daily Times as a riot between the Hausa and the Igbo, a very different matter, and potentially a very dangerous error.” So dangerous that Percy Roberts, the expatriate boss of the newspaper, was summoned by the Chief Secretary of the Government (today’s equivalent of Secretary of the Government of the Federation) and persuaded to withdraw the entire edition and reprint it with the correct story.

    “We,” Jose said, “never found out how the mistake occurred. Was it an accident or was it a deliberate attempt to foment trouble?”

    Whatever it was, the incident provided an insight into how politics in this country has revolved around the three biggest ethnic groups in the country. As Jose pointed out in that chapter: “The Yoruba had literally ruled Nigeria since the British came, to the exclusion of the Hausa and the Igbo. While the Yoruba had produced the second generation of graduates in law, medicine and engineering, the Igbo were just starting with the first generation. But the Hausa had not started at all… Lagos was Nigeria and there was resistance to the backward provincials coming to share power in Lagos.”

    So Nigeria’s predicament has been one in which democracy, as essentially a game of numbers, has pitched the elite of one big ethnic group who think they have the numbers to dictate the shots against the elite of the other two big groups who believe they have the Western education to be the rightful heirs to the departing colonialists. And until Jonathan, an Ijaw, came along in 2011, the other smaller ethnic groups were supposed to be little more than bit players in the country’s political drama.

    Numbers may have trumped Western education in the politics of this country since independence, but neither the West (Yoruba) nor the East (Igbo) have the moral right to accuse the North (Hausa/Fulani) of thinking it is “born to rule.” If nothing else, the victory of Chief M. K. O. Abiola, a Yoruba, against Alhaji Bashir Tofa, a “Hausa” in the now famous June 12 1993 presidential election even in the North, and the support his victory got from leading Northern elite like the late Major-General Hassan Usman Katsina, Malam Adamu Ciroma and Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has since debunked the notion that northerners alone believe they are born to rule.

    Of course, a northerner, military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the election and another northerner, General Sani Abacha, buried the struggle for its realisation as military head of state. But none of them had any one’s mandate to do so. And they only succeeded with the active support of elite from all over the country.

    The fact is that few of our elite, whatever their ethnicity, believe in democracy as a means to power through the popular will. Fewer still are prepared to work long and hard to cultivate any reasonable level of popular support across ethnic, regional and religious lines. Instead, they’ll sooner use all three, and others more, to divide us in order to rule us.

    Anyone inclined to accuse only the North of a “born to rule complex” should remember how, in an interview in Sunday Vanguard of July 21, 2002, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, then a spokesman for ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, declared that whether anyone liked it or not, the South would rule Nigeria for “close to 50 years.” He even argued that the North would “actually be better-off being ruled by people from the South” because the benefits of good governance, which, presumably, was a southern preserve, would “flow down.”

    It should also be remembered that three years after Fani-Kayode’s declaration, the Southern Leaders Forum met in Enugu and demanded that power should remain in the South beyond the 2007 elections and threatened otherwise to boycott the elections.

    So if the so-called Hausa/Fulani, and by extension, the North, appear more guilty of a “born to rule” syndrome than the other big ethnic groups – and remember as we have seen in several multi-ethnic states, such as Benue, Kogi, Delta and Bayelsa, one man’s minority group is another’s majority – it is not because it is the veritable truth. It is simply because as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. the American historian once said: “Karl Marx held that history is shaped by those who control the means of production. In our times history is shaped by those who control the means of communication.”

    In Nigeria’s information and communication order, the North has clearly been grossly disadvantaged historically and has remained so even today. For this, however, the region can have only itself to blame because it has had more than 50 years to catch up or at least narrow the gap significantly, but has failed to do so.

  • Jonathan’s fair-weather friends (I)

    Jonathan’s fair-weather friends (I)

    DR Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to former president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has been expressing great anger at Chief Edwin Clark, his principal’s self-appointed godfather, over the godfather’s apparent denunciation of his godson recently. In a well publicised article last week, Abati said he couldn’t believe it when he first read remarks by Clark that Jonathan was a good man except that he seemed incapable of fighting corruption.

    “I have,” he said in the opening sentence of his article, “tried delaying the writing of this piece in the honest expectation that someone probably misquoted Chief E.K. Clark, when he reportedly publicly disowned former President Goodluck Jonathan. I had hoped that our dear father, E.K. Clark, would issue a counter statement and say the usual things politicians say: “they quoted me out of context!” “Jonathan is my son”.

    Instead of a disclaimer by Clark, Abati said, “the old man” has been joined by “some Ijaw voices” in denouncing a president they had “defended to the hilt” for all these years. “If,” he said, “President Jonathan had returned to power on May 29, 2015, these same persons would have remained in the corridors of power, displaying all forms of ethnic triumphalism.”

    Abati is absolutely right to denounce Clark and Company as ingrates – as friends who deserted a man when he needed them most. But Abati is equally wrong to blame only Clark and Company for their show of ingratitude. Truth be told, his principal must accept a greater share of the blame.

    Abati was also wrong to say their ingratitude is “why the existent power blocs that consider themselves most fit to rule, continue to believe that those whose ancestors never ran empires can never be trusted with power.” This patently snide remark, obviously targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari’s triumphant coalition with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in March’s presidential election, exposes Abati as harbouring a bitter grudge over his boss’ loss. More importantly, it also suggests that for all his education, Abati is among many otherwise highly educated people who subscribe to the nonsensical but successful propaganda that only those from certain sections of this country believe they are born to rule. I’ll return to this subject next week, God willing.

    Meantime consider an adage in Hausa which says “Ba’a mugun sarki sai mugun bafade,” which translates literally as “there is no bad king, only a bad courtier.” This is one adage I have always considered essentially, if not absolutely, untenable. For me it is no more than an attempt by the society to shield its leaders from the bad consequences of their bad leadership. After all, as another, and for me a much more tenable, adage goes, “show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are.”

    Abati may be right to denounce Clark for denouncing his godson in his hour of need. However, as Abati knows all too well, Jonathan chose Clark, not the other way round. In other words, when Clark unilaterally claimed the godfatherhood of Jonathan, the man had a choice not to acquiesce. Ditto with all those who claimed they were his friends and arch defenders.

    Power, Jonathan should have learnt from the lesson of History, is the absolute aphrodisiac, as Henry Kissinger, the world’s greatest modern-day diplomat, once said. As president of the biggest country in Africa and one of the world’s most naturally endowed, Jonathan ought to have known that few of those who flocked around him and swore by his name, day in day out, did so out of conviction. On the contrary, most of them did so for what they thought they would get out of him.

    You can blame the Clarks of this world for using half-truths and barefaced lies to get the man’s ears. But you cannot blame them for his inability to distinguish between truths and their pretences. The man can have only himself to blame for believing their half-truths and barefaced lies that the vast majority of Nigerians were happy and satisfied with his handling of their country’s political economy all these years, and that any claim that there was widespread disaffection with his rule was the creation of a few disgruntled elements.

    However, even as Abati is right to condemn the Clarks of this world for being fair-weather friends, he ought to know that there are others even more deserving of his anger than Clark and Company. Worse than the Clarks of this world who make no pretence at being apolitical are those who claim they are technocrats whose only concern is to get things done, regardless of the politics of those they work for.

    The fact is that their pretences at being apolitical notwithstanding, these so-called technocrats, especially those we employ from abroad, are past masters at camouflaging their personal interests with the public interest.

    The most obvious case here is Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who former President Olusegun Obasanjo first employed as Finance minister from the World Bank during his second term, until they fell apart towards the end of his tenure and she had to return to her old employers. Then after his 2011 victory at the polls, Jonathan re-engaged her and this time gave her at least nominal control over the economy as Co-ordinating minister, in clear breach of the Constitution, which vested the supervision of the economy in the vice-presidency.

    Under both Obasanjo and Jonathan, the lady from the World Bank carried on as if she did Nigeria a favour by leaving her job to come home and serve her country. “I don’t think,” she once angrily retorted to a BBC interviewer who had asked her if the cases of widespread corruption in Nigeria were not damaging to her reputation, “my reputation is under threat and to imply otherwise is distinctly wrong. I know what I’m doing. I know why I’m here. It would be very easy for me to sit at the World Bank and earn a nice salary and criticise. I gave up a comfortable career to come here and do my bit because I recognise that nobody but us Nigerians can clean it up.”

    Her most singular achievement under Obasanjo was to have helped secure the so-called debt relief of $18 billion – so-called if only because the whole debt of $30billion was questionable to begin with, as several leading economists, including the late Prof. Sam Aluko, had pointed out, and because the onerous terms of paying $12 billion at a go for a country with an annual budget a quarter that amount, was unprecedented. In any case the debt relief made little or no difference to the dismal life of the ordinary citizens of the country. If anything, their lot got even worse.

    However, that achievement did raise Okonjo-Iweala’s profile abroad because it served the interest of International Capital, her real masters.

    Under Jonathan her most singular achievement was to rebase our economy, making it the No. 1 in Africa, ahead of South Africa’s the hitherto No. 1. As with the debt relief, the rebasing made little or no meaning to the lives of ordinary citizens. Even then Jonathan celebrated it as one of his greatest achievements for which he deserved re-election.

    In spite of the fact that the lives of Nigerians have only worsened under Okonjo-Iweala’s supervision of the economy and in spite of the fact that Nigeria has never witnessed the degree of corruption it did under Jonathan, with little or no protest from the lady, all she has received from abroad are accolades in the form of honorary degrees from Ivy League universities, and more recently, appointments from blue-chip companies abroad. It’s not hard to imagine how the opposite would have been her fate if she were the minister of finance of some Western country whose economy had done as badly as Nigeria’s in recent times.

    It is interesting that even the man she has so ill-served by not having the courage to tell him how bad things were, has since joined in her praise-singing, even congratulating her for apparently serving the interest of her masters abroad and friends at home – think of all the generous billions of dollars of waivers to importers for all sorts of junks which she gave out as finance minister – better than those of her country.

    “I have no doubt in my mind,” the former president said the other day, “that you would excel in the two assignments, given your past excellent service both in Nigeria and internationally.” Jonathan was, of course referring to her recent appointment as a senior adviser in Lazard, an American investment bank, and as chair of Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI).

    The contrast between Jonathan’s (indirect?) condemnation of his erstwhile godfather through his spokesman and his praise for his former finance minister couldn’t have been sharper. Yet, the minister served him not anymore truthfully and faithfully than the godfather.

    Hopefully, the lesson of all this would not be lost on President Muhammadu Buhari as he prepares to form his cabinet.

  • Who is fooling who?

    Most politicians are notorious for making false promises and claims. To get elected, they usually make promises which they cannot fulfil. They promise their supporters and voters heaven on earth even when it is very clear that they do not have the capacity to be true to their words.

    When they fail to live up to their promises, they are not usually honest enough to admit their failure. They make false claims and brag about what they claim to have achieved to justify asking for another term or seeking another position.

    They can be very disingenuous in their desperate bid to hang on to power like we are currently witnessing in the race for 2015.

    Even when it is apparent that not much transformation has taken place in the lives of Nigerians across the country, some incumbent political office holders have come up with laughable claims of not only being endorsed by their supporters, but financial contributions to buy/purchase nomination forms.

    Last Thursday, President Goodluck Jonathan joined the list of aspirants who reportedly enjoy so much support that their supporters decided to contribute money for them to buy forms.

    According to his Special Adviser on Media, Dr Reuben Abati, over N98million was contributed by a cross section of Nigerians for President Jonathan to buy the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) N22m Presidential nomination form.

    Before President Jonathan, Akwa Ibom State Governor,  Godswill Akpabio, now seeking Senatorial seat after two terms as Governor;  Senate President, David Mark who has served three terms as Senator; and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima have made similar claims of having their nomination forms paid for.

    Before now, supporters have always been known to contribute to campaign funds, but this new wave of claims of supporters buying forms is vintage Nigerian politicians who can be trusted to do anything to  back their claims of being the ‘people’s candidate’.

    If only the Presidential aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC), General Mohammed Buhari knew better, like other politicians, he would have sought the financial support of his supporters to pay for his nomination form to test their loyalty instead of getting a loan to pay for his form as he claimed.

    President Jonathan and others can deceive themselves about the contributions to pay for their forms, but only those who don’t know the ways of politicians will believe them. This false claim, like many others is to give the false impression of how popular their candidature is.

    If indeed some supporters paid for the forms, it must have been from what they have benefited from the aspirants or what they hope to get. The incumbent aspirants have more than enough to pay for their forms and should have spared us the joke about the financial contributions.

    Apart from the financial support claim/Aside the claim of financial support, aspirants should also stop claiming that they are contesting based on the call by their ‘people’. If they don’t have enough personal conviction to run or don’t have the capacity for any office, they should not (contest).

    Nigerians are tired of having (reluctant)? candidates who don’t have any clear agenda about what to do to improve on the level of governance in the country. What we need are candidates with clear vision of how to genuinely transform the country and reverse the decline in virtually every sector in the country.

    .

  • Jonathan’s illness not caused by hang-over, says Abati

    Jonathan’s illness not caused by hang-over, says Abati

    •Due back home today

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent illness in London was not caused by any birthday hangover, his Chief Spokesman, Dr.Reuben Abati, said yesterday.

    Abati who explained that his principal is now fit and due back home today debunked a social media report that the illness was triggered by a “heavy birthday party thrown to celebrate the President’s 56th birthday at his Presidential Suite in the InterContinental Hotel in London.”

    He denounced the report as “fictional nonsense” and declared that “there was definitely no party in London to celebrate President Jonathan’s birthday on Wednesday night.”

    The president was in London to attend the Honorary International Investors’ Council (HIIC). However, he fell ill and could not attend the Thursday session of the meeting.

    Abati said the president was treated for abdominal pains and the doctor who attended to him has certified him fully fit to return home and continue his official duties.”

    “After a thorough evaluation of the President’s symptoms, medically referred to as acute abdomen, the doctors concluded that no surgical intervention was required.

    “President Jonathan will therefore return to Abuja tomorrow evening (today)and will be at work in the Presidential Villa as usual on Monday.”

    He expressed the president’s appreciation to all Nigerians for “their sympathy, support and prayers for his quick recovery following the announcement of his indisposition.”

    But he had harsh words for those who suggested that the illness was caused by a birthday hangover.

    He said the report was “utterly irresponsible, deplorable, highly unprofessional and unethical antics.”

    According to him, it is “very regrettable indeed that after, in compliance with President Jonathan’s standing instruction that Nigerians must never be kept in the dark about the state of his health, the public was duly informed that the president had received precautionary medical attention for an unexpected indisposition in London, some other reckless, lawless, impudent and unpatriotic internet-based media chose to assault the sensibilities of all decent Nigerians again with their entirely fictional, malicious, hate-driven and scurrilous distortion of the facts of the president’s indisposition.

    “The truth is that President Jonathan observed his 56th birthday quietly. For part of the day, he was airborne, in transit between Abuja and London. On arrival in London, he spent the rest of the day in the privacy of his hotel room. It has never been his custom to celebrate his birthday and no exception was made this year.

  • APC, Awo’s predicted synthesis, must walk the talk

    APC, Awo’s predicted synthesis, must walk the talk

    The starting point for the new party, therefore, is to ask: what do Nigerians want and what vision of this sleeping giant does it see a few decades down the line? 

    Time was 1983 and the NPN had just rumbled through the country courtesy its ignoble ‘moon slide’ victory of that year and, like Dr Reuben Abati just did, talking down to Chief Bisi Akande, the interim Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Chuba Okadigbo, himself then a presidential spokesperson, was waxing lyrical, calling both Zik and Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, the highly regarded GNPP leader, unprintable names and asking them to shut up or be summarily dealt with.

    It was in that circumstances, the Avatar, the ever clairvoyant Awo, made the prediction, a whole 30 years ahead, which is today uncannily unfolding before our very eyes. Summarising the events of that year’s general elections, one in which the writer was an active observer-participant, Awo made it clear that by its own hands, the then ruling NPN has self-destruct by acting like the thief who took far more than the owner. NPN had then just rummaged through the length and breadth of Nigeria, even claiming to have won in Oyo and Ondo states, both in Awo’s impregnable Western Region.

    Consequently, at a well attended congress of the UPN in Abeokuta on Thursday, 15 December, ’83, he declared as follows: ‘The goal of dialectic process is perfection. It aims at the perfect attainment of all the virtues embodied in it. Whether we like it or not, all human beings are inescapably involved in the binary compounds of thesis and antithesis of the dialectical procession. In other words, all of us in the UPN and those of them in the NPN and other parties are already in the thesis-antithesis war. When the war is over, only the best of us will be accommodated in the synthesis, with the best in the antithesis in complete dominance’. Going forward, Papa said: ‘I do not hesitate to aver, in all sincerity and solemnity, that the NPN, together with its political regime and all that it stands for, symbolises the thesis, and that the UPN together with all those who are conscientiously and honestly opposed to the NPN, symbolizes the antithesis. The war between the two is already being waged with vehemence and inflexible resolve. Sooner or later, I believe much sooner than later -the figurative ‘explosion’ will occur in which the forces of the thesis and the antithesis, in their original forms, will disappear. Then the synthesis will appear which will embody the best in the NPN (thesis) and the best in the UPN (antithesis). But the dominant feature of the synthesis will be the best in the UPN’.

    As those words rang out that historic morning in the historic Olumo city at which the writer was present, what they poignantly brought back to me , especially when Papa talked of the ‘figurative explosion’, were my classes in Dialectical Materialism at the great university of Ife, Ile-Ife, as taught by one of the very best in the business, my teacher per excellence, Dr Segun Osoba.

    How prescient Chief Awolowo remains was beautifully captured by Chief Jide Awe, the Ekiti state interim Chairman of APC, as state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, hoisted the APC flag in the state to the great admiration and acclamation of a huge crowd of jubilating leaders, members and supporters of the brand new party on Monday, 12 August, 2013 at Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.

    In a recent article in The Nation of Monday, 12 August, 2013, entitled :’ History, civil war and haunted house’, The Chairman of The Nation’s Editorial Board, Sam Omatsheye, wondered aloud as to how today’s events uncannily mirror the immediate pre civil war events in our country.

    One good example of things remaining largely the same, apart from the crass insecurity that envelopes the country, was how egregiously the PDP, like NPN before it, rigged the 2011 presidential elections especially in states in the North where the CPC actually won and, to cover up, found a solution in discrediting a just and redoubtable Judge who they never wanted to head the Presidential election Tribunal which they knew would have exhumed their electoral malfeasance. The very first thing the reconstituted Election Tribunal did, therefore, was to upturn all the reliefs the earlier panel had granted Buhari , including access to election materials and presentation before it of the database of the voters’ register.

    That, however, belongs to history and what must now concern us is a determination not to let our inability to learn from history repeat itself. Not many believed that APC’s registration would ever see the light of day and what did PDP not do to make it impossible? Working through agents external, and lackeys within the top echelons of the Electoral Commission, all manner of spurious, wannabe political parties with the acronym APC sprung up, one of them hurriedly filed by a self-confessed baby lawyer. It would later go to court hoping that its sponsors would be able to orchestrate the type of legal shenanigans that ensured Justice Salami’s matter was permanently before the courts. Like baby Moses in the holy writ, everything was done to abort APC but it is now here and about. It is now it’s bounden duty to shoulder those critical responsibilities Awo foresaw in what he called the Synthesis.

    The starting point for the new party, therefore, is to ask: what do Nigerians want and what vision of this sleeping giant does it see a few decades down the line? The Yoruba say, if you do not know where you are coming from, you will, at least, know where exactly you are headed. PDP, as a party and government, has taken Nigeria through a rudderless decade and a half and if Nigerians do not vote right, come 2015, this visionless party may just achieve its hoped-for 60 years and more.

    Without a doubt, circumstances in the country today are much more perilous than in the days of Awo and his contemporaries as, though a civil war we may have fought, nothing compared then to today’s Boko Haram which, as Abuja slept away until Obasanjo reminded them of something called carrot and stick, had carved out for itself, swathes of territory in a part of the country. Indeed nothing, not our epileptic power situation, nor the ravaging unemployment, more poignantly demonstrates the utter vacuity of the Jonathan administration than what Boko Haram has done, and continues to do to this country. Without peace, no government can embark, talk less of achieving, any meaningful economic development. Today, both Syria and Egypt are in shambles and one needs no rocket science to know that programmes for economic development must have taken a back seat in both countries.

    There is, obviously a crying need for infrastructural development, for stable power to jump start industrial and other economic activities just as unemployment, especially among our young graduates has to be tackled head-on. Corruption too has become so systemic that some concerned Nigerians are now planning to go on demonstrations in both the U.K and the U.S to draw international attention to our circumstances as the federal government has proved completely incapable of fighting it since it is actually its mainstay and hope for 2015.

    In order to make meaningful corrections and achieve much more, however, leaders of the new party must realise that they have the daunting task of going far beyond the merger. Reactions to my last week article were replete with accusations of lack of internal democracy -they called it imposition of candidates, – of religious extremism and ethnicity, amongst the leaders of the merged political parties just as many felt sure the party will most probably collapse on the altar of uncontrollable self-interest, especially when it comes to choosing its presidential candidate. These are all very weighty matters and although thus far, these leaders have demonstrated considerable self abnegation, much more will- power will be needed in subsuming self interest for the good of this very unhealthy country. Ego must be scrupulously kept in check and the leaders must ensure unimpeachable process of choosing its candidates for all elections, state, federal and presidential. As I concluded in my article under reference, APC has a distinct, indeed, very good chance of, not only re-engineering, but completely re- branding Nigeria.

  • 220 federal parastatals may be scrapped

    220 Federal Government’s parastatals, agencies and commissions may be scrapped in the on-going restructuring and rationalization exercise of the government.
    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday,  Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati said that the White Paper Drafting Committee have accepted 321 out of the 541 Federal parastatals, commissions and agencies recommended by the Presidential Committee on the Rationalisation and  Restructuring  led by ex-Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Steven Oronsaye.
    But he noted that the final decision on the recommendations of the two committees would soon be taken by the Federal Executive Council.
    He also assured that the on-going exercise is not meant to witch-hunt but to boost efficiency, reduce cost of governance towards delivering quality service to Nigerians.
    “There is no cause for any anxiety. The Oronsaye Committee considered suggestions, recommendations from different quarters and in total, that committee looked at 541 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies. The white paper drafting committee out of that accepted 321, noted some recommendations, rejected some.“At the end of the day, the FEC will take final decision on this recommendation and when that is done, the white paper will be made public. I don’t think we should jump the gun, the thing to note is that all of this is being done to ensure efficiency, to reduce the cost of government, to avoid leakages and wastage and to make government far more effective in delivering quality service to Nigerians.

    “This is not targeted at pushing anybody out of work, this is not an exercise in making life difficult for anybody. This is just government restructuring for better level of efficiency. People should not be unduly anxious,” Abati stated.

  • Emergency: Presidency faults Al-Jazeera’s report

    Emergency: Presidency faults Al-Jazeera’s report

    The Presidency yesterday denied a report by the Qatar- owned Al-Jazeera Television that innocent citizens in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states are being killed indiscriminately by troops deployed to the states under the emergency rule.

    Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that contrary to the Al-Jazeera report, the main objective of the security operations is the protection of the civilian population and the territory from terrorists.

    He said that Nigeria will not allow itself to be maligned, discredited or its efforts undermined by the foreign media.

    Citing the Al-Jazeera report of Thursday, May 31 entitled ‘Civilians among dead in Nigeria offensive”, Abati said it “sought to put the government and the people of Nigeria in bad light. This is regrettable.”

    Continuing, he said:”For the avoidance of doubt, the declaration of a state of emergency and the consequential security operations are meant to protect the civilian population and the territory from the macabre and dastardly assault on the Nigerian state by insurgents and terrorists. It is not an operation against innocent citizens as Al-Jazeera and others are suggesting.”

    President Jonathan, he stressed, has directed that the operations should be conducted in line with applicable rules of engagement and peculiar care in managing a unique situation.

    Abati said:”In an earlier statement, he had also made it clear to the military high command and received assurances that those who violate their operational orders will be disciplined accordingly.

    “In line with this regard for the rights of the civilian population, President Jonathan had ordered the release of women and under-aged persons in protective custody, and made arrangements for their immediate rehabilitation. Fifty-eight persons in this category have been released.

    “There is nothing to suggest so far any violation of operational orders by the troops operating in the North East. Their intervention has received popular support, among the civilian populace, and within two weeks of operation, the possibility of calm and normalcy resonates even as enclaves of terrorists are raided and their capacity to continue their reign of terror heavily compromised. This is a process and the government owes it to the people of the North-East to see it through.”

  • President not a despot, says spokesman

    President not a despot, says spokesman

    Presidential spokesman Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement last night, denied that President Goodluck Jonathan is “descending into despotism” as alleged by the Action Congress of Nigeria (AC N).

    Abati said: “The latest press statement by Lai Mohammed of the Action Congress of Nigeria, in which he claims, wrongly as always, that the Jonathan administration is “descending into despotism,” represents yet another attempt by the ACN and its spokesperson to stand the truth on its head and indulge in the politics of abuse. They should not be allowed to get away with their perfidy.

    “President Jonathan is a democratically elected leader who is running a people-oriented, inclusive and progressive government. Under his watch, Nigeria’s democracy has been consolidated; the scope for human freedoms has been further expanded and there is respect for due process and the rule of law. Ordinary Nigerians appreciate the fact that they have a President who is humane, disciplined and focused.”

    Abati said: “The ACN should start by removing the log in its eyes”, adding that: “President Jonathan is not a despot.”

    Abati went on: “The Transformation Agenda which Lai Mohammed tries to pooh-pooh is a well thought-out blueprint on the basis of which this administration continues to serve the interests of the people and move the country forward. The evidence of the Jonathan administration’s achievements is visible in many aspects of Nigerian life and society: from agriculture, to aviation, the economy, job creation, power, industry, trade and investment, transportation and others. No amount of name-calling or partisan criticism will distract the government’s attention, just in case the ACN assumes that its persistent distortion of the facts will achieve that objective.

    “The ACN’s allegation that there is a disagreement between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, is also wrong-headed and mischievous. Governor Amaechi has publicly stated that this particular allegation is a piece of fiction created by certain persons and the media. We insist that President Jonathan is not engaged in any quarrel or dispute with Governor Amaechi. And it is wrong to use the matter of the aircraft that was grounded by the aviation authorities to concoct stories of persecution.

    “The institutions involved have offered reasons publicly why they took their decision with regard to the unlicensed aircraft, which in any case is an asset of the state, not the governor’s personal property. The President has nothing to do with that incident.

    “The ACN claims that there is “a growing propensity to stifle the freedom of expression and freedom of the press.” The report by the Committee to Protect Journalists which the ACN quotes is not a comment on government-media relations in Nigeria. This administration sees the media as a strategic partner in the business of nation-building. The government not only enjoys a robust relationship with the media, it continues to encourage the freedom of expression and of the press.

    “Lai Mohammed tries to substantiate his claim by seeking to build something on nothing. He tries in vain. The truth is that the Nigerian media is pluralistic, vibrant, independent and free; it has grown in scope, size and in terms of the freedom to practise under this administration.

    “All lovers of democracy must join us in reminding the ACN and its spokespersons that they cannot pull down this house with mere spittle because our democracy is strong and solid and the man at the helm of affairs is a democrat and a progressive leader.”

  • Presidency denies endorsing campaigns for 2015

    The Presidency has denied claims and allegations that President Goodluck Jonathan has endorsed the beginning of campaign for 2015 elections.

    This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati.

    Specifically, Abati refuted a front page news report that a 21-member committee had been set up for Jonathan’s Second Term Bid.

    “This is totally untrue and without any basis in reality.

    “As he has truthfully declared on several occasions, President Jonathan has not yet taken a decision on whether or not he will seek re-election in 2015.

    “He has, therefore, not mandated any individual, committee or organisation to start working on his behalf for the 2015 elections.’’

    Abati said the president’s stated wish to be left alone to focus on delivering on his promise of good governance and national transformation without unnecessary distractions should be respected.

    “Political jobbers and their collaborators in the media should stop heating up the polity with baseless speculations and falsehoods revolving around imaginary plans and schemes by the Presidency for the 2015 elections,” he said.

    Abati said the Presidency had also observed an emerging trend whereby political opportunists were using the president’s name to promote themselves and their ambitions.

    He said some unscrupulous persons were printing 2015 campaign posters with President Jonathan’s photograph when INEC had yet to announce the beginning of campaigns.

    The special adviser cited an advertorial suggesting that the president had endorsed a particular candidate for Anambra gubernatorial election.

    “For the benefit of the unwary, the Presidency emphatically states that President Jonathan has not endorsed any candidate for any position whatsoever ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    “The President has neither commissioned persons to start campaigns for his own candidature,” he said.

    Abati warned all 2015 political office seekers, and their sponsors, friends or collaborators, to desist from “unconscionable exploitation of the president’s name in the service antics of self-aggrandisement, promotion and positioning’’