The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Goodluck Jonathan

  • 2015: PDP divided over Jonathan’s endorsement

    2015: PDP divided over Jonathan’s endorsement

    Disquiet in Kano, Katsina, Jigawa

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election campaigners have hit an obstacle, with the Northwest Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) divided over his yet unannounced ambition.

    An attempt to present a unanimous block support for the President in the Northwest failed on Sunday.

    Jigawa State – one of the states in the zone- yesterday repudiated the communiqué of the Kaduna meeting of the zonal leader of the party, which purportedly endorsed Dr. Jonathan’s candidacy.

    Vice President Namadi Sambo and PDP National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu led others to the meeting.

    But Jigawa Governor Sule Lamido and House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal topped the list of PDP public officials who did not attend the meeting.

    The seven-page communiqué, read by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Aminu Wali, said, among others: “Having carefully considered the steady and stable progress of our nation under the able leadership of Dr. Jonathan, the stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party  in the Northwest, having in mind the monumental strides attained by this administration, have resolved to urge Dr. Jonathan to declare for president in the coming elections to continue the good work he has started. We ask for nothing less.

    “Consequently, we urge the national chairman of our party to convey this resolution and unanimous declaration of the leadership and membership of the PDP in the Northwest to Dr. Jonathan to render himself for continued service to the country.”

    Sources at the meeting said as soon as Wali began reading, aggrieved members, particularly from Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states, shouted “no”, “no”.

    The minister, who was interrupted frequently, read on. Those against it insisted that the communiqué had not been discussed.

    Jigawa State Deputy Governor Alhaji Ahmad Mahmud said yesterday in Dutse: “We are not part of the decision. We didn’t know the content of the communiqué read after yesterday’s (Sunday’s) PDP Northwest  meeting in Kaduna.

    “We, the government and people of Jigawa State are not in support of the content of the communiqué read after the zonal meeting, where it was announced that President Jonathan has been endorsed for a second term.”

    The deputy governor said the government and members of the party in the state remained loyal to the party.

    “The Jigawa government and people remain loyal to the party and the country. We are still members and remain loyal to the party and country.”

    Mahmoud, who represented Lamido at the meeting, denied knowledge of where the issue was discussed and the decision made.

    “Everyone knows the role Governor Lamido and Jigawa State government have played. They canvassed support and vote for President  Jonathan in the 2011 general elections, which led to his victory. But, to our dismay, the  President has not fulfilled his promises.”

    The Vice National Chairman of the PDP in the Northwest, Amb. Ibrahim Musa Kazaure, declined comment. He said: “I have no comment.”

    Kazaure, an indigene of Jigawa State and a Lamido loyalist, said: “Any member has a right to express his opinion.”

    The PDP Secretary in Jigawa State, Aliyu Mohammed Tukur, also dismissed the endorsement, saying: “Nobody has endorsed anybody.”

    He added:” I can confirm to you that nobody has endorsed anybody. Although the PDP is a family, and President Jonathan and Vice President Sambo are our leaders, what we are saying is that democratic procedures, processes and the rule of law should be followed.

    “Normally, if you are having a zonal meeting, the zonal secretary of the party ought to be the secretary of the communiqué drafting committee. But in this case, there was no communiqué drafting committee. That was why nobody signed the communiqué.

    “The communiqué ought to be brought to the larger house for everybody to discuss the content and then adopt it. Nothing like that was done. In this case, they just read a communiqué that was not discussed or adopted or signed by anybody, except that it was read by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

    “This is wrong. It ought to be read by the zonal chairman or secretary. Even the speech of the zonal chairman, a day before the meeting, the zonal chairman prepared his speech, detailing the achievements of the zone and challenges. But at the meeting, somebody passed another speech to him to read. How do you run a party like this?”

  • Ebola still ‘endangers’ Nigerians abroad

    Ebola still ‘endangers’ Nigerians abroad

    Last Wednesday, President Goodluck Jonathan complained about discrimination against Nigerians travelling overseas over the Ebola outbreak. But going by developments at the weekend, it seems Nigerians or anyone who has either travelled to Nigeria or any of the affected countries will continue to be treated as a potential patient, writes Asst. Editor OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    He  was hospitalised on Sunday with a high fever in Malaga, Spain. But because the 40-year-old Nigerian was recently home, he was placed in medical isolation at the Malaga Regional Hospital and tested for the Ebola virus. A spokeswoman at the Malaga hospital said test samples were sent to a laboratory in Madrid yesterday, and results of the tests are due today. The man was in stable condition yesterday, the spokeswoman said.

    In a related development, an unidentified young man who sought treatment for high fever and stomach pains at a local health clinic in Stockholm on Sunday evening was also isolated after medical staff learned that he had recently visited a West African country affected by the Ebola virus. Subsequently, he was transferred to medical isolation at Stockholm’s Karolinska University Hospital.

    The man has been tested for Ebola and the results show he doesn’t have the virus, said Ake Ortqvist, a communicable disease specialist, in a statement by Stockholm County Council health services.

    “We can conclude that there are no signs whatsoever that patient has contracted Ebola,” Dr. Ortqvist said, adding that the risk of an Ebola outbreak in Sweden is extremely low.

    Since the Ebola outbreak, countries, in Europe especially, have treated Nigerians in ways President Goodluck Jonathan said amount to discrimination and stigmatisation. Most of the Nigerians who have been isolated overseas form the suspected Ebola cases reported in Europe. After medical examination, the suspected cases have turned out to be false alarms.

    Jonathan condemned the stigmatisation and discrimination against Nigerians overseas over the Ebola Virus Disease while receiving a Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, on Ebola Virus, Dr. David Navarro, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Jonathan, according to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, cited the instance of Nigeria’s team to the Youth Olympics in China, who were forced to abandon its participation due to stigmatisation.

    He said there was no justification for such stigmatisation of Nigerians since the disease had been effectively contained in the country and has never attained epidemic level in the country.

    The President called for the cessation of such discriminatory actions against Nigerians over the virus. Jonathan said: “All hands have been on deck to contain the virus here. I commend my team and the Lagos State Government. We have been able to set politics aside and work in unison to deal with a national threat.

    “All other Nigerians have played a part too by complying with the directives and advice we have issued to stop the virus from spreading any further. The success we have had is a testimony to what we can achieve as people if we set aside our differences and work together.”

    “We will continue to monitor the situation and we will also support other affected African countries as much as we can because we cannot be completely safe from the virus as long as it continues to ravage some countries in our sub-region and continent. We will continue to work with the international community to curb the outbreak in other countries.”

    Mr. Navarro, who  had visited Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, three countries worst hit by Ebola before coming to Nigeria, told the President that he came on the instruction of the UN Secretary-General to applaud Nigeria’s successful containment of the virus.

    He said: “The Secretary-General asked me to come here too, not because you have an Ebola problem, but because you have tackled it in an exemplary fashion.

    “Your personal leadership on the matter has been key. There may still be some work to be done before the virus is completely cleared out from here, but other countries can learn from your fine example.”

    Navarro said: “I have discussed with the President the result of my mission in other countries in the region and we also examined the situation of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria.”

    “The point I made to the President of Nigeria is that this country and its people have performed excellently in their response to Ebola Virus Disease.”

    “It has been a whole of country effort. The whole of the society has been involved and the correct procedures are being adopted.”

    He said as a result of globalisation, free movement between countries and between communities, outbreaks of dangerous diseases would continue.

    He said: “The good public health techniques and the full involvement of all of society, strong leadership by all, whatever their political party, can lead to successful control effort.

    “We of course regret that some people lost their lives. There may be someone who got sick and died as a result of this current Ebola insertion into Nigeria but I am confident that the government and the people are responding in a proper way and to ensure that the situation is kept under control by the way they are paying full attention to the people’s rights and entitlement.

    “So thank you minister and through the media I would also want to thank the people, the government, civil society groups, doctors, nurses communities workers it has been a team effort and it is has been done well and I hope will continue go on well because there may be one or two cases but they will be dealt with.”

    More than 1,500 people have died from the Ebola virus in the four affected countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, with more than 3,000 probable and confirmed cases of the disease, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

    The WHO believes the epidemic could affect as much as 200,000 people before it will eventually be reined in.

    For now, there is no approved rug or vaccine for the dreaded disease. ZMapp and others are still being tested. While some have survived after using ZMapp, others have died despite taking it.

    Countries, such as Canada, are developing vaccines for the disease. Pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to invest in Ebola drugs because it is the sort of disease that comes once in a while and disappears, a situation which is not good for commercial purpose.

     

     

  • When TAN came to town

    When TAN came to town

    Nigerians should not be surprised at the multiplicity of groups springing up across the 36 states – all sworn to President Goodluck Jonathan re-election project. For those familiar with the coy ways of the minstrels of power, the long winding play going on; the feints, flanks and the manoeuvres; the grand pretences by those who covet the office so desperately they would rather remain there perhaps till kingdom come should not come as a surprise. Thanks to Abuja’s piggy bank which never runs dry, it is a question of time before Nigerians begin to lose count as groups merge, mutate and/or transform.

    However, we must give it to the undisputed leader of the moment – the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN). Irrespective of what anyone may think, or how repulsive their message might appear to be, the group has somehow managed to court public attention. Watching their activities in the last few months, I must confess that there is something intrepid – if hardly creative – in the activities of the group. That is of course permitting – although not excusing – the wild claims on prime-time television about the stature of their principal, putting him in the league of the world’s greats; or as has become increasingly common, the resort to outsize claims of achievement in the face of continuing state regression and failure.

    I do not think anyone would or should begrudge the group on their claims or even their current ambition to secure 10 million signatures for President Goodluck Jonathan either. However, like the deadly Ebola virus currently spreading like wild-fire leaving our typically ineffectual public health infrastructure reeling, what should bother us is whether law and morality can still hold in the face of intense saturation of the traditional and the new media by the gospellers of TAN. At this point, debates about the sources of the huge war chest which the group has deployed into action, is obviously, still superfluous.

    However, the question of whether the law is on their side or in their pocket, I believe that has already been answered by the group’s open defiance of the laws regarding the kick-off of the campaigns. With an impressive financial war chest to pull, the group obviously thinks little of the niceties of process – more so with the power and the institutions of the state so clearly behind them. We saw this at play at their debut national zonal rally for the South-east in Awka, the Anambra State capital; it was evident in Ibadan a week after. Port Harcourt would turn a climax of the orchestrated endorsements for the President – a signal that the Jonathan-for-second-term train is not only off the leash and revving at full throttle; it was coasting home to victory.

    For an investment, I do not think that things could have been better.  A total of 4,156,000 signatures for the President from the six South-south states, irrespective of how much was expended, considering how important Project 2015 is, ought to be worth every farthing. Hopefully, there should be enough time to find out whether or not the tally approximate the set of job-seekers asked to upload their personal details in the course of their search for an elusive job!

    Did I hear someone say scam?

    These are no doubt, interesting times. However, if you ask me, I will tell you that I have no problems with the group’s – or anyone’s – contempt for the law. Indeed, I have very little sympathy for the prey. Here, I am reminded of the beneficiaries of TAN’s 12 nights of bliss – an all expense paid trip to Brazil to watch the Super Eagles World Cup Group’s qualifying matches. Weren’t they assured by TAN that those memories would last a lifetime? What difference does it make that they returned to the dreary humdrum of an existence?

    Let me again be clear: I have no problem with TAN marketing their principal. My beef lies in their continuing exertions to distort the reality ordinary Nigerians daily face, and their mindless profiteering from the travails of their fellow citizens.

    While TAN is at liberty to frame the issues facing Nigerians anyway they deem fit, Nigerians are obviously entitled to asking fundamental questions about the state of their union; not least their well-being under the watch of their principal – President Jonathan.

    At issue is of course the impact of the so-called transformation agenda on the country and the people. Obviously the issue is best framed in terms of the following series of questions. First, is the country more united than it was four years ago when President Goodluck Jonathan took over? The question obviously bears asking given the presidency’s potential as a uniting force and given the President’s rather impressive pan Nigerian mandate of 2011.

    Nigerians are obviously familiar with the penchant by the administration’s hierarchs to hide behind statistics in their distorted accounts of economic performance. Nonetheless, it bears asking again: is the economy truly on course in an economy where manufacturing is virtually non-existent and where all manners of consumable items are imported?

    What about the prospects for the so-called inclusive growth? Are situations now better than they were four years ago?

    Away from the classy road shows, where are the so-called foreign investments in the absence of the pillars on which a truly modern, sophisticated economy can be built? Where are they – the sundry fly-by-night portfolio investors?

    What about the war against corruption? Can the administration truly claim to be winning the war?

  • Jonathan to attend anti- terror meeting in Kenya

    President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to Nairobi Monday  to participate in a meeting of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council scheduled to hold in the Kenyan capital on Tuesday.

    According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the Nairobi meeting is a follow-up to talks by President Jonathan and other African leaders at Pretoria, South Africa in May this year on joint action against terrorism.

    The meeting on Monday will receive and consider the report of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Terrorism and Violent Extremism in Africa.

    “Deliberations at the Nairobi Summit and the adoption of the African Chairperson’s Report by President Jonathan, President Uhuru Kenyatta and other participating Heads of State are expected lead to more collaborative actions by Nigeria and other African countries to rid the continent of acts of terrorism and violent extremism,” It stated

    The President, who will be accompanied to the Nairobi Summit by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed, the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.) and other advisers and aides will return to Abuja at the conclusion of the meeting on Tuesday.

  • Why Southwest should vote for Jonathan in 2015-Kuku

    Why Southwest should vote for Jonathan in 2015-Kuku

    THE Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, has urged people in the South West to vote en masse for President Goodluck Jonathan if he stands for re-election in 2015.

    Jonathan’s victory, he noted, would ensure fairness, justice and equity in the nation’s political system.

    Addressing journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Kuku said: “The whole world can see what President Jonathan is doing and many Nigerians can testify to it. On behalf of 1.6 million voters in Ondo State and four million indigenes of Ondo State, we pledge our support for Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, because within the last 10 years, he has occupied so many positions and have left good legacies there.”

    Kuku, who is also the Special Adviser on Niger Delta to Jonathan , said the recent efforts being made by the federal government to rehabilitate the Lagos/Ibadan expressway and provide jobs for the youth has shown how passionate the president is for the people of Southwest.

     

    He condemned those opposing the president’s re-election due to the insecurity challenges confronting the country, adding, “We should not just vote based on popularity; we should imbibe the principles of fairness, justice and equity and allow others to have opportunity when that opportunity comes around, and I still maintain that position, that Jonathan should be given all the support that he needs to have a second term, because as far as I’m concerned there are challenges, yes, but he is doing the best that he can to make this country a better place for us.”

     

  • We must restore reading culture, Jonathan pleads

    We must restore reading culture, Jonathan pleads

    PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has called on all stakeholders in the education sector to work hard towards rejuvenating reading culture in children.

    Jonathan noted that Nigerians need to be strongly educated on the importance of reading, noting that parents in particular have a vital role to play in teaching their children how to read.

    The president gave the advice in Abuja at the official launch of a children book titled: Goodluck Jonathan: The Making of a President.    

    Represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Youth and Student Matters, Comrade Jude Imagwe, Jonathan explained that his administration has initiated a lot of programmes targeted at re-awakening Nigerians on the importance of reading.

    He further stated that the federal government has built Almajiri schools across northern states for integrated education that would comprise basic western education with Islamic literacy.

    The Project Manager, Read for Peace Campaign, Muhammad Mustapha, said that the objective of writing and producing the book was to inspire children and youths to achieve great things in their lives, while also promoting reading and writing among them.

    Mustapha noted that the book tells the story of how President Jonathan rose from a humble background to attain great success in life.

    “This is somebody who rose from a humble background, who rose from a village somewhere in the Niger Delta and attained the height of academic excellence by becoming a Ph.D holder, becoming a deputy governor of Bayelsa Sate and eventually the president of Nigeria,” he said.

    The co-author, Maureen Sokari, disclosed that the organisation intends to circulate at least one million copies of the book.

    “It is to kick start a reading for peace project called “let’s read for peace” which we hope will contribute and support Mr. President’s government in the reduction of ignorance, increase in tolerance and avoidance of extremism that are causing insurgency and terrorism in our land,” she explained.

  • Chibok girls: Group demands Jonathan’s resignation

    Chibok girls: Group demands Jonathan’s resignation

    PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan should resign if he cannot supervise the rescue of over 200 abducted Chibok girls, a group, Action Team Against Conscription and Kidnap, has stated.

    Its convener, Comrade Debo Adeniran, told reporters at the weekend that the federal government is not winning the war against terrorism.

    He lamented that the government is busy with 2015 elections instead of rescuing the abducted girls.

    Adeniran said: “Our defensive mechanism is weak. It is sad that soldiers that are supposed to be deployed to Sambisa forest were sent to Osun State because of politics.

    “This is the highest insult the government has heaped on Nigerians and taken their interest with levity.”

     

  • Photo: Jonathan for President campaign

    Photo: Jonathan for President campaign

    PARTICIPANTS AT THE TRANSFORMATION AMBASSADORS OF NIGERIA, SOUTH-SOUTH ZONAL RALLY IN PORT HARCOURT ON SATURDAY
    PARTICIPANTS AT THE TRANSFORMATION AMBASSADORS OF NIGERIA,
    SOUTH-SOUTH ZONAL RALLY IN PORT HARCOURT ON SATURDAY

  • On 30% youth representation in govt

    SIR: With the refusal our octogenarians to relinquish the space  for the younger generation in the political sphere, it has become imperative to seek for ways of making them see reasons why the younger generation should be given the opportunity to govern .

    The recent pronouncement by President Goodluck Jonathan that youths should be allowed to vie for the presidency could not have come at a better time.

    To fully understand the demand for 30% representation of youths in elective and appointive positions, we must have a clear view of how our present elders emerged in positions of leadership.

    Former President Shehu Shagari became a federal legislator at 30 and minister at 35; M.T Mbu became minister at 25, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom at age 26. Richard Akinjide was Education Minister at age 32; Maitama Sule was minister at 29. Audu Ogbe was minister at 35 while at 32 General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), became head of state and successfully led Nigeria through one of the most difficult times in her history and prevailed.

    However, since the advent of democracy in 1999, our elders have consistently  monopolized virtually all leadership positions, transforming young people  into glorified thugs and tools for electioneering. This self -serving policy and greed have combined to exclude intellectually sound young minds with great ideas from governance .

    Over the years, our elders have insisted on the fact that we lacked the requisite experience to lead. But how do we secure the experience  when we are denied the opportunity to serve? They say we are leaders of tomorrow, while stubbornly refusing to allow tomorrow to come.

    The youth might not have the financial muscle to struggle for power with the elders on equal terms , but in the words of Lupita Nyong’o,  our dreams are valid !

    •Oche Joseph Otorkpa

    ochejoseph@yahoo.com

     

  • Untransformed fakers

    When salesmanship dovetails with sycophancy in the political arena, the result can be perfectly perplexing as well as revealing. The Goodluck-Jonathan-for-second-term campaign, which is unofficial because the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has not formally blown the whistle for electioneering, is an intriguing study in how far unreasoning partisanship can influence individuals in the pursuit of power. It is easy to imagine that President Jonathan must be enjoying the grandiose performances of his doting backers, even though he continues to feign unawareness and keeps playing a remarkable game of calculated suspense concerning his interest in the 2015 presidential election.

    Expectedly, the August 23 Southwest rally organised by the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) in Ibadan, Oyo State, did not fall short of the standard set at the August 16 Southeast version in Awka, Anambra State. It unmistakably promoted the expressed purpose of the obsessive non-governmental organisation, which is “the continuation of transformation by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ).”

    It is interesting that the group reportedly claimed to have succeeded in collecting 1.8 million signatures of prominent Nigerians in the Southwest geo-political zone who would prefer Jonathan’s re-election next year to any other possibility. Not surprisingly, the voices that were heard at the event spoke about Jonathan and his administration in fantastic terms. The Chief of Staff to the President, Brig-Gen (rtd) Jones Arogbofa, said: “You are a performing and transforming president and the people of the Southwest are calling on you to be president again.”

    Women were not left out of the monkey business. The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Olajumoke Akinjide, said: “I mobilised over 25,000 people to this event, in spite of the short notice, to join me in appreciating a man of honour, performer and transformer.” A former governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala, was quoted as saying: “It is logical that if we want to see laudable ideas develop, he deserves our support. No doubt, he has displayed good leadership qualities.”

    However, the gold medal and ultimate trophy for scandalous hyperbole must go to a familiar Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyalist. A report said: “In his words, a leader of the party in Lagos State, Olabode George, described Jonathan as a rare leader whose transformation agenda would take Nigeria to a higher level compared to what was obtainable in the advanced countries of the world.” Did George say “higher level”? Surely, that must be a reflection of his lack of high thinking?

    Perhaps there are even more nauseating promotional days ahead as the TAN train moves to the South-south on August 30, North-central on September 9, Northeast on September 20 and Northwest on September 27. Of course, the climax in the federal capital, Abuja, on September 30 promises to be a demonstration of climactic propaganda.

    There is no question about the right of the group and its supporters to push their agenda, even if their activities are informed by an uncivilised understanding of transformational government. It would appear that the self-acclaimed agents of transformation themselves are in dire need of transformative values. The Jonathan administration, if anything, has earned a deserved place in history as a government that focused on the buzzword, “transformation”, without positively transforming the polity.

     

     

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