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Tag: Goodluck Jonathan

  • Jonathan greets Oba Akiolu at 70

    President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated Oba Riliwanu Babatunde Akiolu I of Lagos as he turns 70 today.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President lauded Oba Akiolu’s “exemplary dedication to service”.

    He joined the people of Lagos, Oba Akiolu’s friends, associates and peers across the country in felicitating with the monarch, who has “exhibited exemplary wisdom, courage, selflessness, philanthropy and dedication to the service of his people” since he ascended the throne over 10 years ago.

    Jonathan said the Federal Government would continue to work with all tiers of government to improve the living conditions of Nigerians.

    The statement reads: “President Jonathan prays that God Almighty will grant Oba Akiolu continued good health and many more years of commendable service to the people of Lagos and Nigeria.”

  • Court orders service on Uduaghan, others

    Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered that court documents be served on Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo) following the two cases pending against them, President Goodluck Jonathan and others.

    The case on which court documents are to be served on Uduaghan seeks to join President Jonathan and some key members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a contempt suit.

    The court ordered the service of processes on Oshiomhole and Mimiko on a case seeking the nullification of the last governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

    Justice Adamu Bello ordered the service on the three yesterday after hearing two ex-parte applications seeking leave to serve the documents outside jurisdiction.

    The applications were filed by the plaintiff in both cases, Bedding Holdings Limited (BHL).

    BHL, in the first case, accused President Jonathan and others of unlawful use of its patented ballot boxes for the party’s last special convention.

    It filed an application seeking an order joining President Jonathan and 10 others in “the contempt proceedings already commenced by plaintiff/applicant”.

  • Igbo regent urges free, fair poll

    The Traditional Prime Minister and Regent of Igbo land, Onowu M.N. Ozua-Okoye, yesterday urged the candidates to play according to the rules and shun thuggery and rigging.

    He said they should see the poll as a brotherly contest in which one person must emerge winner. Ozua-Okoye hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for his effort to build the second Niger Bridge.

    The regent spoke in his palace at Ifite Awkuzu in Oyi Local Government during the 2013 New Yam festival and conferment of chieftaincy titles.

     

    Those who received titles include a reporter with Daily Sun, Mr. Emma Uzo, who was decorated as Ikenga Igbonine. Others are Chief Chinedu Uzor, (Ikukuoma 1 of Igbo land), Chief Ikem Okoye Dike (Ezeudo Igbonine), Dr. Fredrick Dike (Agunaechemba 1 of Igbo land), among others.

    The chairman of the occasion, Chief S.O. Mbanefo (Adama Nri), advised the title holders to uphold the Igbo cultural and traditional heritage.

    He warned youths not to allow themselves to be used as thugs during and after the election, enjoining them to turn out en masse and vote for the candidate of their choice.

    Adama Nri told them that integrity was more important than riches.

    He said: “I urge you to preserve Igbo culture so that it will not die. We have done our best in preserving our culture and tradition.”

  • Photo: Jonathan decorated with JP insigna

    Photo: Jonathan decorated with JP insigna

  • ‘Suspend strike’

    ‘Suspend strike’

    President Goodluck Jonathan again urged university teachers to allow reason to prevail and end their four-month-old strike.

    The President said his administration allocated N55.74 billion to the university subsector this year.

    Dr Jonathan, represented by Supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike, spoke at the 29th convocation ceremony of the University of Ilorin.

    He said: “Apart from establishing 12 new federal universities, the government has also increased the carrying capacities of existing universities to address access to higher education. The government has also increased the budget of education progressively from N234.8 billion in 2010 to N426.5 billion in 2013, with N55.74 billion allocated to university subsector alone.

  • Things fall apart

    GOODLUCK JONATHAN, Nigeria’s president, was visibly stunned when a former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, and seven state governors recently walked out of a convention of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in open rebellion against his leadership. The party has won every election since it took power after the end of military rule in 1998. But it is bitterly divided over whether Mr Jonathan (pictured above) should run for a second full term in 2015. As a result, there is a chance—most analysts are wary of putting it more firmly—that, whether or not Mr Jonathan stays at its head, the PDP’s mighty cash-laden machine may lose power. And that could turn Nigerian politics upside down.

    Mr Abubakar and the rebel governors have broken away to declare a “new PDP”. “We have taken it upon ourselves to rescue the party from its dictatorial leadership,” says Kawu Baraje, the new outfit’s chairman, who has accused Mr Jonathan and the rump party’s chairman, Bamanga Tukur, of allowing “political repression, restrictions of freedom of association and arbitrary suspension of members”.

    The breakaway faction has a distinctly northern flavour. Six of the seven rebel governors are from the north or the middle belt, exposing faultlines that have widened under Mr Jonathan, a southerner from the oil-rich Niger Delta. Only one rebel governor, Rotimi Amaechi, from Rivers state, is a southerner. Mr Amaechi, who is said to hanker after the vice-presidency in 2015, has been embroiled in an acrimonious row with Mr Jonathan and his wife.

    In May Mr Amaechi was voted in as chairman of the powerful Nigeria Governors’ Forum, beating the president’s favoured candidate, Jonah Jang of Plateau state—an embarrassing defeat for Mr Jonathan. The forum is divided, with 19 governors backing the rebel governor and the other 16 sticking with Mr Jang. “I am concerned for my safety,” says Mr Amaechi, who has apparently taken to driving alone, with non-government number plates.

    On September 1st 57 PDP members of the 360-seat House of Representatives, the federal National Assembly’s lower chamber, pledged their loyalty to the rebel PDP; 22 of the 50 sitting PDP members in the 109-strong Senate then followed suit. Several others are said to waver. The rebel caucus, known as the G7, may be able to swing the votes of delegates from their states at the PDP primary election next year, when the party is due to choose its presidential and vice-presidential candidates. The G7 includes the governors of Kano and Rivers states, two of the most populous. Unless Mr Jonathan squelches the party rebellion, he could lose the primary.

    In an effort to regain the initiative, the president has sacked nine of his ministers. It is no coincidence that four are from states whose governors have defected, while another two were originally nominated by Olusegun Obasanjo, a still powerful former president (1999-2007), who helped Mr Jonathan into the top job but has more recently been making trouble for him. A PDP insider says there is a growing mood of paranoia in the party as leading figures seek to dodge Mr Jonathan’s axe.

    Mr Jonathan may now put close allies in ministerial posts to limit the influence of governors, especially in states such as Kano and Rivers. On September 16th the rump PDP announced that Mohammed Abacha, son of the late General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s notoriously greedy military dictator (1993-98), had been brought back into the party from the opposition. It is speculated that Mr Abacha, who is himself vastly rich, may run for governor of Kano under the auspices of the old PDP in 2015.

    It is also possible that Mr Jonathan will get the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an agency that is supposed to snuff out corruption, to probe the PDP’s defectors, some of whom have already been targeted by it. A weighty northern senator, Bukola Saraki, had already been questioned by the EFCC before holding meetings for the rebel faction in his grand house in Abuja, the capital. “Jonathan will do anything to win,” says a senior PDP man. “But he will struggle in the north where the mood is very anti-Jonathan and anti-PDP.”

    One result of the in-fighting in the ruling party is that the momentum for economic reform, already flagging, has slowed even more. Few people now expect the long-stalled Petroleum Industry bill, which is meant to bring clarity to Nigeria’s oil industry, to pass. Nor will the PDP’s rows help the president to end violence and sabotage in the oil-rich south, where billions of dollars of oil money still fall into the hands of criminals and corrupt politicians, or to win the campaign against terrorists in the north. On September 28th militants from Boko Haram, a jihadist group, killed around 50 students at an agricultural college in the northern state of Yobe.

    The PDP’s feuding factions are to meet for talks on October 7th. Mr Jonathan and his PDP rump may have enough oil money to buy their way out of trouble. But for the moment the pendulum has swung in the PDP rebels’ favour. Moreover, the opposition in the shape of the All Progressive Congress, a recently formed coalition of three main parties, has also been getting its act together—and will surely try to lure some of the PDP rebels onto their side. The president, who often seems a hapless (but rarely hatless) figure on the national stage, has a real fight on his hands to keep his job.

    On October 1st he handed licence certificates to 14 private companies that have been allowed to buy chunks of Nigeria’s dismally incompetent state-owned electricity behemoth. If a lot more people had reliable electricity by 2015, that might win him some crucial votes

  • ‘New PDP can’t last in Kwara’

    ‘New PDP can’t last in Kwara’

    Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and former Works Commissioner Afolabi Yunus told reporters in Lagos that the original members of the party are not part of the insurgency led by the factional national chairman, Alhaji Kawu Baraje. MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE was there.

    You are the former Principal Secretary to the former Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who is leading the splinter group, nPDP. Is the faction justifiable?

    I am not one of the people supporting Baraje in the venture to divide the PDP with their self-styled nPDP, which has no place in Kwara State politics and Nigeria in general. As a result of that, I am not with him at all. We are not even happy that he can go to that length because we believe that, having been given the opportunity to serve as the National Secretary by Baba Saraki (may his gentle soul rest in peace), and had the opportunity of becoming the Acting National Chairman, he should remain loyal to the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan. But with all these, Kawu Baraje still went ahead to sabotage the government, considering that he was also given the position of the Chairmanship of the Board of Nigerian Railway Corporation. I believe that it is in Baraje’s character to betray the hands the feed him. Available records show that Bukola Saraki was even against Baraje taking that position. But he went ahead and took that appointment and, at the same time, he is now working against the same government that gave him that opportunity to serve.

    Not only that. Back home, I know Kawu Baraje very well. I am his senior when we talk about politics because I had the opportunity of being a member of the defunct Constitutional Conference in 1994 and I even served under Bukola Saraki Administration in the first tenure. I was Commissioner for Works and Transport between 2003 and 2007, while Kawu Baraje was made Permanent Secretary under Saraki’s government and this appointment was given to him by Baba Saraki because all forces were against Kawu Baraje as a civil servant then becoming Permanent Secretary. But Baba Saraki insisted that Kawu Baraje should be considered for that post. Having been given that post, he served as Permanent Secretary all through and thereafter, Baba Saraki still considered this same Kawu Baraje for the last Constitutional Conference in 2005. It was immediately after that that Baba still nominated this same Kawu Baraje for the position of the National Secretary, and it was when he got there that he started nursing the ambition of working against Baba Saraki’s interest when he teamed up with Bukola to supplant Baba in Kwara politics.

    What is wrong in Baraje’s decision to back former Governor Saraki?

    The general public will agree with me that the step Baraje took against Baba Saraki was an unfortunate step because, having had the opportunities from Baba, people expected him to advise Senator Bukola Saraki against taking steps against Baba Saraki. But he went ahead and gave Senator Bukola the support and ensured that they worked against Baba. So, as a result of this, I am seeing Kawu Baraje as a betrayer when you consider the fact that he betrayed his political mentor in Kwara State and now he has betrayed the President at the national level. Even, while he was in office, he had the opportunity of becoming the NAMA Chairman. All these are enough for him to have advised Bukola against the unfortunate step he took against Baba Saraki.

    Don’t you see any element of truth in what Baraje is fighting for now in the PDP?

    There is no truth in what he is fighting. He is only being selfish and arrogant. In fact, I want to say he is just being parochial. He is narrow minded and that is why they are now just pursuing their own self-styled PDP. It is surprising to many people to hear Kawu Baraje calling himself the Chairman of the new PDP. What sort of new PDP? The original PDP is the only future for Nigeria. We don’t recognise any new PDP or the self-styled version of PDP that they want to bring into place. There is no place for nPDP in Kwara and I know that it has no place in Nigeria. So, for that reason, any reasonable person will not join them because we know they are just buying time.

    I want to even say that I know they have made up their mind about where they are going. Maybe they have another party in mind and they are just buying time with what they are doing. That is just my observation.

    But the new PDP is in control of the government and the structure in Kwara. They produced the governor, the former governor and Kawu Baraje

    The original PDP is still on ground in Kwara State and the PDP in Kwara State has no problem with anybody. People are still interested in the PDP. It is only the way Senator Bukola and his team are managing the affairs of the PDP, that is why some people want to criticise the PDP. But really, the original PDP is on ground in Kwara State and people are prepared to go with the PDP. Those that call themselves the new PDP in Kwara State, we don’t know how they will define it. We don’t know what they will tell us, whether they are a faction of PDP and that they want to have a say in the PDP. No. Majority of the people in Kwara State today are tired of the leadership of Bukola. Baraje even has no place politically.

    You are saying that the loyalists of the mainstream PDP are still in Kwara now, despite the firm control by Bukola and the governor?

    They are still intact. We are very many and people are just waiting for time to come when this self-styled PDP will move to where they belong because we believe strongly that they are not fit to be in PDP.

    The belief is that the followers of original PDP or late Dr Olusola Saraki have moved to the ACPN, which he endorsed before he died

    I want to say that before now, Baba Saraki directed everybody in Kwara State to remain in the PDP. So, the issue of the ACPN in Kwara State is not happening now. Even long before now, while Baba was alive, he directed that nobody should go to any other party, whether CPC or ACN. He said they should all remain in the PDP. Everybody returned to the PDP while Baba was still alive. As far as I’m concerned, Baba never asked us to go to any other party and that is why we remain within PDP.

    But what of Senator Gbemi Saraki, who was fielded on the platform of the ACPN as the governorship candidate?

    I want to tell you that, at that time, it was just a kind of arrangement that came up. We started everything. I was in the PDP too with Baba, but it got to a level that Bukola just said he wanted to hold on to the PDP and let other people go wherever they like. So, that led to the introduction of the ACPN, which was short-lived. But immediately after that election, everybody dropped whatever allegiance they had with the ACPN. It happened within the election period and, immediately after the election, we dropped the idea of anything ACPN. Baba Saraki instructed us to be in PDP and that’s why all along, we have been in PDP. We are still card carrying members of the PDP.

    Are you saying that all the supporters of Oloye Saraki are now back in the PDP?

    All loyalists of Baba Saraki are in PDP. As I’m talking to you, I’m a card carrying member of PDP and I have my membership card with me. So we are still card carrying members of PDP.

    You are supposed to know the National leader of nPDP, Kawu Baraje inside out, do you see him as somebody who fights for principles because what the new PDP is telling us is that they are fighting on the principle of liberating the party from a few persons?

    Very far from that. They are the people that want to introduce a kind of selfishness into the PDP. They are not objective at all. When Baraje was even the National Secretary, the attributes of a good politician were never seen in him at all and efforts to advise him on that did not succeed. He would rather try to play his own parochial interest and have his way and when people come to see Baraje as the National Secretary, he would rather ask them to go and see the Special Assistant or the Principal Assistant. He was literally avoiding people and as a politician, you need not avoid people. You are supposed to listen to people and table solutions to whatever deplorable condition that is before you. But instead of that, Baraje would be avoiding people and as such, I don’t see him as a serious politician. He is not fighting for the interests of the people and he is not fighting for the grassroots. Instead, he is pursuing his own selfish end and that’s why I’m now saying that he’s not fit to be in politics because if you are a politician, you must listen to the masses and table solutions to deplorable conditions before you.

    What about Senator Bukola Saraki? You have worked with him; do you see him fighting for principles?

    I have worked with Senator Bukola and I want to say that he too has not been working for the principle of the common man. Rather, Bukola will bring people from nowhere so that, at the end of the day, they will be responsible only to him. Bukola will not carry the indigenes of Kwara along. Many of us were just pushed aside by Bukola and he will go to Lagos, go to Kaduna, go to Kano, bring in those people that have nowhere to point to as their base.

  • Boko Haram has nothing to do with religion, ethnicity- Jonathan

    Boko Haram has nothing to do with religion, ethnicity- Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has said the the terrorist killings in the country has no religious or ethnic link.

    He spoke at the Presidential Villa while receiving the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who led the Muslim community to pay Sallah homage on him after the Eid-El-Kabir morning prayers.

    According to him, the killings is because the world is generally experiencing terrorism.

    “That is why I asked those who killed those 50 students did they even bother about their religion or ethnicity? It has nothing to do with religion, it has nothing to do with ethnicity,” he said

    He however said there was need for Nigerians to  “talk to ourselves in  the way that our children will not develop hate amongst themselves.”

    “At times, when you listen to radio and read in the papers and you see  sometimes even our elders that are supposed to give us leadership quarreling over nothing, sometimes even insulting themselves and even making provocative statements that will sometimes instigate one group against the other.

    ” We decided that we cannot continue that way, the talking must have a direction. What has been happening on the pages of the newspapers are discussions that have no direction.”

    “We want a country that will have a direction so  the discussions must have a direction, the discussion must lead Nigeria to where we want to be, not a divided Nigeria, not a Nigeria that is sown on hate, not a Nigeria that will be based on acrimony, ethnicity and tribal sentiments in the way we conduct ourselves.”

    “That is a reason we set up that committee and we have given them the free will. Some people are still instigating others that the president is doing this, the government does not have the capacity to do that. We are totally committed to do what is right.”

    He thanked the muslim community and other visitors for finding time to pay homage.

    He said: “Some of you have been consistent. We thank God that inspite of the challenges we are celebrating.”

    “We have challenges but I’m glad that Allah made it possible for us to be here today. Other countries have had their own challenges, 53 years is a long period for an adult but as a nation we are very young.”

    Speaking earlier, Vice President Sambo congratulated the President’s successful outing at the recent United Nations General Assembly in the United States, Nigeria’s 53rd Independent anniversary and Super Eagle’s victory over Ethiopia in the first leg world cup qualifier.

    He also commended the efforts of the President towards ensuring political stability in the country.

    According to him, the National Conference initiated by the President was also commendable as it would promote peace and the unity of the country.

    Sambo and the Minister of State for the FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide later presented Sallah card to the President.

    At the occasion  were  Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim; former PDP National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali; Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar and National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki rtd and John Cardinal Onayeikan.

  • Prove your impartiality to Africans, Jonathan tells ICC

    *Seeks reforms in ICC for equity, fairness

    *Wants ICC to recognize customary international law, conventions, norms

    President Goodluck Jonathan has  declared that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is yet to prove to the whole world that it is not biased against African leaders.

    He made this remark while speaking at Extraordinary Session of African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the subject of Africa’s relationship with the International Criminal Court.

    Even as its work is useful to achieving a world without crimes against humanity, genocide and other acts of impunity, he said that ICC should take concrete steps to prove that it is not biased against African leaders as being alleged in some quarters.

    Pointing out the cases involving Presidents of Sudan, Kenya and his deputy, he said that ICC seemed to be devoting unusual energy on African cases than other continents.

    He said: “It is also the reason why the refusal of the International Criminal Court to accede to the requests by our member-states for the deferral of the cases involving the President of Sudan, and now, the President and Deputy President of Kenya has left many of us in the African continent disappointed.”

    “Many are concerned that the African Union’s principled position that African leaders should not be targeted by the ICC has been ignored, and that the ICC, despite its universal jurisdiction, seems to be devoting unusual energy and enthusiasm to the prosecution of cases from Africa, compared to cases from other parts of the world.”

    “If the Court is concerned about this implied allegation of bias; it has not, in our opinion, taken enough pro-active steps to address it and allay the fears of concerned stakeholders. We think it should.”

    Urging African leaders not to lose sight of the legal identity of AU, he charged the 34 African countries who are signatories to the States Parties of the Rome Statute, to mobilize requisite support to achieve reforms in the shortest time possible.

    Jonathan said: “It will also be useful to point out the limitations of the Rome Statute, in order to strengthen the ICC and reposition it for greater fairness and equity in the discharge of its noble responsibilities. This Assembly should urgently call its members in the Assembly of States Party of the Statute, to mobilize requisite support to achieve reforms in the shortest time possible.”

    Noting that certain Articles of the Rome Statute are not in the interest of Africa, he said: “In particular, Article 27 which denies immunity to all persons without regard to customary international law, conventions and established norms, must be amended.”

    “Similarly, Articles 63 and 98 need close scrutiny and review. There is also the need to align Articles 27 and 98 with a view to bringing them in conformity with the tenets of customary international law, conventions and norms.” He said

    On the need to speak with one voice on Kenya, he said: “Given that not all members of the Assembly are signatories to it, it is important that we balance our interests in a manner that enables signatory and non-signatory members of our Union to express solidarity with one another on matters arising from their obligations. In this regard, it is important that we maintain our unity and speak with one voice on Kenya.”

    He said that five years after the post-election violence of 2007 in Kenya, the people have proven to the world that they are capable of expressing their sovereign wishes in a free, fair and credible manner in accordance with democratic norms and values.

    “This is a clear demonstration to the world that the people of Kenya are in the best position to determine their own future and deal with their past.” He stated

    To accelerate the process of national healing in Kenya, Jonathan also urge the Kenyan Parliament to hasten its consideration of the Report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to facilitate the implementation of its recommendations.

    “What remains is for the international community, in particular, the ICC, to give the elected leaders of Kenya the space to discharge their mandate in meeting the aspirations and needs of their people.” Jonathan said

  • Boko Haram cannot frustrate Nigeria, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday declared that the activities of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram or any other group cannot frustrate Nigeria.

    Speaking at the 53rd Independence Anniversary Interdenominational Church Service in Abuja, he condemned the killing of 21 Agriculture students in Yobe State yesterday.

    According to him, the challenges and obstacles Nigeria is going through are transient and the country will soon get over them.

    He said that Nigeria has got to the turning point where it will join other developed nations as it is perfecting the starting point of conducting free and fair elections.

    Stressing that the country is almost there, he said that there are some forces in the country working against the nation.

    He said that all those trying to cause problem for the nation will not succeed, saying that his administration will leave the country better than it met it.

    He said: “No Boko Haram or any group can frustrate this country. We may suffer pains just like our Lord Jesus said at the critical moment that though the spirit is willing but the body is weak.
    Sometimes our body is very weak, we feel the pains of those who are our direct relations of those who have been killed carelessly. These are things I believe is the creation of the devil to slow down our  progress as a nation.”

    “Today you will agree with me that if you were in my shoes you will lack words to say. We had this programme in mind, we went to bed last night so that by this time today we will all gather here to thank God for what he has done for this country. But then only few minutes after 12 last night about 21 students were murdered in Yobe state by a group that describes themselves as Boko Haram.”

    “If you were wearing my shoes, what courage will you have to stand here before Nigerians, what message would you send to Nigerians, the parents of these young people, our future leaders, students in the school of agriculture.”

    “Do you say that the killing of these students is political? Which of the political parties do the students belong to? People who killed them don’t even know them. Do you say it is ethnic? Which ethnic group do the students belong to? Do you say it is religion or belief? These students are they Christians or Muslims?” He queried

    “This is the situation that plays almost on a daily basis.
    It is quiet depressing. But having listened to the message of the CAN President you will agree with me that all of us have hope and by God’s grace we will get to where we want to go as a nation.” He added

    “The journey of a nation is like the journey of an individual, we must have obstacles. Sometimes they say it is even darker when it is getting to the dawn of the day. The challenges we are seeing now are very transient and we will get to the end of it.

    Stressing that Nigeria is at the dawn of greatness, he said: “Nigeria is at the turning point where I believe we must move and join the global society. If you look at the journeys of nations, first and foremost before you liberate people you must make sure that they have a civilised way of electing their leaders and we have almost reached there.”

    “We must make sure we conduct free and fair elections, but forces of evil don’t want it that way. They want a situation where they will continue to impose themselves or whoever they like on the people. Look at the successes in the telecom industry and we now say the power sector that immediately we liberalise it will now be like the telecom industry.”