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Tag: Goodluck Jonathan

  • Jonathan meets with Southwest governors

    Jonathan meets with Southwest governors

    President Goodluck Jonathan met yesterday with some Southwest governors behind closed-door at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    The governors are Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) and Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun).

    Fashola, Aregbesola and Fayemi were led to the President’s office a few minutes after 4pm by the Chief of Staff, Brig.-Gen. Jones Oladeinde Arogbofa (rtd.).

    Amosun arrived at the Villa at 4:30pm.

    Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko and Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi were not at the meeting.

    When the meeting ended around 5:36pm, the governors declined to give details of their discussion.

    Fayemi said: “We came to see the President and it is in connection with issues of national importance. It is for the development of the Southwest.”

    Amosun said: “That is why it is called a private meeting.”

    Fashola said: “We came to see the President.”

     

  • Why Governor Shettima was right (I)

    Why Governor Shettima was right (I)

    In a preface to today’s piece last week I said I would examine this morning the lamentation by Governor Ibrahim Kashim Shettima about the military’s apparent incapability to end the Boko Haram insurgency in his North-East region and the harsh response his remarks provoked from its commander-in-chief, President Goodluck Jonathan, and from some of the president’s men.

    Governor Shettima had told the State House press corps shortly after his visit to the Villa on February 17 to brief the president about the upsurge of Boko Haram insurgency in his state since January, that the military seemed too ill-equipped, undermanned and insufficiently armed to defeat Boko Haram. Aminiya, the Hausa weekly newspaper in the stable of Media Trust Ltd, publishers of Daily Trust, provided perhaps the most graphic illustration of the background to the governor’s lamentation in a table it published of alleged Boko Haram killings since January in its edition of March 7.

    There were, the newspaper said, ten attacks against villages and communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states between January 28 against Waga Chekawa which left 30 people dead and against Jakana on March 4 in which the casualty was 11. In between were the attacks on Kauri (83 dead), Konduga (34), Izge (106), Bama (60), Buni Yadi (59 pupils of the unity school located in the town which is in Yobe State), Michika and Shuwa (28), Mainok and Maiduguri bombing (97) and Mafa (30), making a total of 538 dead within a period of less than two months. In all these killings, most notably that of the school children which took place AFTER the governor went to brief the president, the military arrived at the scenes long after the killers had taken their time to carry out their acts of barbarity.

    As the governor asked rhetorically on his second visit to brief the president again on the issue, “Have we ever succeeded in thwarting any of their (Boko Haram’s) plans? They went to Konduga and did what they wanted to do; they held sway for over four hours before they left. They were in Kauri, Izge…In a nutshell, what we are being confronted with is that we are in a state of war.”

    It was against this background of the civilian population’s total helplessness from alleged Boko Haram killings that Governor Shettima told the press that it was “absolutely impossible to defeat Boko Haram unless more military personnel and hardware are deployed.”

    At the same time, however, the governor went on to praise the army and the police for doing their best in the circumstance. “In fairness to the officers and men of the Nigerian army and the police,” he said, “they are doing their best given the circumstance they have found themselves. But honestly Boko Haram are better armed and better motivated than our own troops.”

    Quite understandably, our president and commander-in-chief of our armed forces ignored Shettima’s sympathy for the troops and took strong exception to his unfavourable comparison of the military with what is widely regarded as a ragtag army of Islamic ideologues which probably number no more than a few thousand and whose funding cannot begin to compare with the country’s nearly trillion Naira yearly armed forces and the police.

    The president displayed his anger at the governor’s remarks in his first media chat this year when he described them, in effect, as ill-informed and threatened to withdraw his troops to see if the ungrateful governor can cope without them. “If we pull out the military from Borno State,” the president said, “let us see if he will be able to stay in Government House.”

    For the president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Africa’s most populous and most influential country, Dr. Jonathan’s reaction was rather churlish, to say the least. No one, including Shettima, I am sure, says the military is underfunded. On the contrary, there are many who would argue that for a country that is at peace with its neighbours, its military is overfunded, notwithstanding the internal insurrection it is faced with.

    Obviously what Shettima was echoing was the undeniable fact that despite its huge budgets, our military has not been equipped, staffed and motivated enough to eliminate an insurrection in one, albeit vast corner, of the country. The proper reaction to Shettima’s remarks, therefore, was not to berate the messenger. Rather, it was to examine the veracity or otherwise of the message, especially since the messenger had built himself the reputation of speaking with the greatest restrain as the governor of the main theatre of the Boko Haram insurrection.

    In an attempt to be more Catholic than the pope, two of the president’s men, namely Dr Doyin Okupe, the president’s spokesman on public affairs and Mr Labaran Maku, the minister of information and, until last week, the supervising minister of defence, displaced even less restrain than their principal in attacking Shettima. The governor, said Okupe, was an illiterate in military affairs, as if as a medical doctor who has been long on sabbatical he was any better knowledgeable than anyone in such affairs.

    And as if to expose his own illiteracy in such matters Okupe could not even make up his mind whether what the country was faced with in the Northeast was war or not; “We are certainly not engaged in a conventional warfare,” he said on February 18 in his hastily convened press conference with the State House press corps in denunciation of Shettima, only to change his mind on February 28 and say “We are in a war and there is no gainsaying that fact. I am willing to admit that we are in a war situation.”

    If to Okupe Shettima was an ignoramus on military affairs, to Maku the governor committed “serious indiscretion” against the military by his remarks for which he presumed to forgive the governor. “I think,” he said in handing over the Ministry of Defence to the new minister, Lt-Gen Aliyu Mohammed, last week, “that was serious indiscretion. And I can forgive that because may be he did not know the deeper work that was going on and is still going on in the Northeast.”

    Obviously if government has been doing “deeper work” in the Northeast, the result has not been on the ground for anyone to see. Maku’s strange explanation of the resurgence of terror in the region was that the attacks were like the actions of a wounded and caged lion. Maku, his principal and others in government may choose to believe his simile but any sensible person knows that wounded and caged lions don’t have the luxury of taking their time and choosing which victims to attack. And the pattern of the attacks in the Northeast since January clearly suggests premeditation rather than desperation.

    As I’ve said, the president and his men should not have assumed, as they obviously did, that Shettima’s lamentation was in bad faith. If they had given him the benefit of their doubts they would have seen that the evidences that his remarks were true were right there under their very noses.

    One such evidence was contained in an advert in the Leadership of February 21, in which one, Hassan Mungono, attempted to defend the governor’s remark. The advert quoted the Commander of the 21 Armoured Brigade, Brigadier-General Mohammed Yusuf, at the time of an attack on Benisheikh by Boko Haram not too long ago, that the troops had to withdraw from the town in the face of the superior numbers and arms of the attackers. “They came in droves,” the advert quote the brigade commander as saying, “driving 20 pick-up vans followed by light armoured tanks , all wearing military colours. We had to retreat to our base after running out of ammunition.”

    Anyone thinking the brigade commander as a Muslim is a closet Boko Haram, should refer to the lead story of The Guardian of November 21 last year. “Yesterday,” said the newspaper in that story, “the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Azubuike, stressed the need for troops of the Seventh Division of the Nigerian Army in Borno to get more weapons to fight insurgents. The army, he said, has recorded some achievements but stressed the challenge of replacing ‘military arms and hardware’ lost to the insurgents in the last six months.”

    Now, if this is not an admission that the army, as the lynchpin of the war against Boko Haram, is under armed and under-equipped, I don’t know what is.

    Much earlier the same newspaper had carried a lead story in its July 2, 2012 edition which quoted some anonymous police officers of complaining about the neglect of staff welfare by the authorities. “We are in a war situation against faceless Boko Haram,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed police officer as saying, “but the government and police management are pretending as if nothing were happening. The force authorities are drafting Southerners to war zone without any welfare in terms of accommodation, allowances to cushion the hardship…Officers cluster in a cubicle, so-called officer’s mess, without amenities like water, accommodation, food, coupled with harsh weather. The world should know this.”

     

     

  • Jonathan asks Appeal Court to dismiss suit against second term bid

    Jonathan asks Appeal Court to dismiss suit against second term bid

    President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the Court of Appeal to strike out a suit challenging his eligibility to seek a second term.

    He raised a technical point on why the appeal by a member of his party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Mr. Cyriacus Njoku, should not be entertained.

    Dr. Jonathan said the appeal filed against him did not comply with Order 18 Rule 2, of the Court of Appeal Rules.

    He asked the court to dismiss the appeal because the time within which Njoku ought to file his brief of argument had elapsed.

    In 2012, the appellant, through his counsel, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, approached the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to declare that President Goodluck Jonathan was spending his second term in office as the nation’s leader.

    He said Jonathan ran for president in his first term in office on a single and inseparable ticket with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

    He said the 1999 Constitution does not make provisions for separate elections for the office of the president and vice-president adding that the ticket with the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007, made it Jonathan’s first term in office.

    But on March 1, 2013, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi said Jonathan could contest in 2015.

    Dissatisfied with the judgment, Njoku headed for the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.

    He sought two issues for determination. These are;

    • Whether Section 135(2) of the Constitution which specifies a period of four years in office for the President is only available or applicable to a person elected on the basis of an actual election or includes one in which a person assumes the position of President by operation of law as in the case of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

    • Whether Section 137(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which provides that a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections applies to the 1st Defendant who first took an Oath of Office as substantive President on May 6, 2010 and took a second Oath of Office as President on May 29, 2011.

    But in response to the Motion on Notice, the President through his counsel, Ade Okeaya-Inneh and K. M. Nomeh, sought for an order “dismissing the appeal for want of diligent prosecution and for such other order(s) as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

    The President based his application on the following grounds:

    “The judgment of the lower court was delivered on the 1st of March 2013 by Honourable Justice M. N. Oniyangi of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

    “The Appellant filed his Notice of Appeal on the 16th of April, 2013 against the said judgment of the lower court.

    “The First Respondent was served with the Appellant’s Record of Appeal in July 2013. By the provisions of Order 18 Rule 2 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2011, the Appellant is mandated to file his brief of argument within 45 days of the receipt of the record of appeal from the court below.

    “The time within which the Appellant shall file his brief of argument under the rules has elapsed.

    “By Order 18 Rule 10 of the rules of this Honourable Court, this Court is empowered to dismiss the Appellant’s Appeal for want of prosecution. That it will be in the interest of justice if this application is granted.”

    The counsel to the appellant, Osuagwu however said: “We wrote a letter to the Court of Appeal two months ago for a date to hear our motion for extension of time to compile and serve Record of Appeal but the court refused to give date.”

  • NSC targets N20.5m revenue generation for 2014

    NSC targets N20.5m revenue generation for 2014

    • As House Committee showers encomiums on Elegbeleye

    The National Sports Commission (NSC) is targeting revenue generation of N20.5 million at the end of the 2014 fiscal year.

    The Commission had visited the House of Representatives Committee on Sports to defend its budget for the 2014 but NSC Director-General Gbenga Elegbeleye was asked to take a bow after he was eulogised by the Committee.

    Elegbeleye had told the House Committee on Sports that the targeted fund would come from the use of main-bowls, car parks, staff canteens, handball courts, shops and kiosks, swimming pools and the use of open spaces.

    The document submitted by the NSC revealed that while the ministry raked in N12.225 million revenue in 2013 from the same sources, it has an 82.7 per cent projection in 2014.

    Also, against the insistence of the upper chambers of the Senate, the members of the Committee unanimously told the NSC D-G to take a bow as a former member of the committee.

    The Committee members showered encomium on Hon. Elegbeleye describing his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan as a round peg in a round hole, just as they attributed the successes recorded in sports to his contribution.

    First to speak after the D-G had finished presenting the annual appropriation for the Commission, a member from Imo State, Alphonus Gerald Ilonta, had moved a motion for the committee to simply ask the DG, ‘not to take a bow but to walk away’.

    “Interestingly, this is the first time we are meeting with Hon. Elegbeleye since his appointment by Mr President. The achievements recorded in sports since his assumption of office are indications that he is the right person for the job.

    “He has distinguished himself and we should be proud of him. In view of this, I want to move a motion for this committee to tell the D-G not to take a bow but to walk away. I want to base my motion on the fact that having been on this side previously, he knows what to do and how to do it to take Nigerian sports to the next level,” Ilonta said.

  • Southwest and Jonathan’s 2015 calculations

    Southwest and Jonathan’s 2015 calculations

    President Goodluck Jonathan has visited some traditional rulers in the Southwest, ostensibly to seek their support for his second term ambition. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the presidential moves, ahead of the 2015 election.

    President Goodluck Jonathan was in the Southwest and Kano recently for consultation with traditional rulers. He held closed door meetings with the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi; the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade; the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero; the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu; and the Oba of Badagry, De Wheno Aholu Menutoyi, Babatunde Akran.

    Jonathan told reporters that the visits were private. What he discussed with the traditional rulers in their inner chambers was not disclosed. But, analysts said the President’s visit was political. They are of the view that he has embarked on nationwide consultation on his second term ambition. The fact that he held private talks with the traditional rulers in their palaces pointed to the fact that he was seeking royal blessing, ahead of his formal declarations, to run in the 2015 presidential election.

    The President lent credence to this position when he told the crowd at the Alaafin’s palace that he came to thank the people of Oyo State and the entire Southwest for the support given to him and the PDP in the 2011 election. He said: “I thank, not only the people of the state, but the entire Southwest for the support we received in 2011. I have come to reciprocate the gesture with the hope that things will continue as well. We are one. I remain your own.”

    Besides, President Jonathan addressed PDP supporters in Badagry, shortly after holding private talks with Oba Akran in his palace. He said: “For the PDP members, who have come out to receive us, we thank you most sincerely. I want to thank you for this warm reception and assure you that the glorious days of Badagry will be returned.”

    Observers believe that President Jonathan owes the people of Southwest appreciation for the votes he got from the zone in the 2011 presidential election. but, they queried the timing of his visit because he had waited for almost three years to express his appreciation. They said Jonathan was going round the Southwest to solicit the support of the royal fathers and canvass for Yoruba votes, ahead of 2015.

    In the 2011 presidential election, Jonathan polled 2,786,410 votes from the Southwest, the stronghold of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which has transformed into the All Progressives Party (APC). Despite the fact that the ACN fielded a presidential candidate, Jonathan came first in all the Southwest states, except Osun. A breakdown of the figure shows that he polled the highest vote of 1,281,688 in Lagos State, Oyo 484, 758; Ogun 309,170; Ekiti 135,009; Ondo 387,376 and Osun 188,409.

    The question is: can Jonathan perform this feat in 2015 in the Southwest, which is APC’s stronghold? Can he penetrate the Southwest through the traditional rulers? Can the royal fathers influence their subjects to vote Jonathan?

    Analysts said that it will be impossible for Jonathan to win in the Southwest, except Ondo State where he enjoys the support of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party. They argued that the emergence of the APC would make it difficult for Jonathan to make an impact in the zone.

    Former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora described Jonathan’s visits to Yoruba traditional rulers as a diplomatic shuttle. According to him, the President came to prepare the ground for his formal declaration for the presidency in 2015. He noted that his visit is already causing a row among the Obas, as the Olubadan Oba Samuel Odulana, had kicked against President Jonathan passing through his domain without stopping over at in his palace.

    On whether the President and his party, the PDP, can penetrate the Southwest through the royal fathers, Mamora said: “It is most unlikely because the Southwest is comfortable in the hands of the APC. We are not going to rest on our oars. We will double our efforts to ensure victory for the APC in 2015, not only in the Southwest, but throughout Nigeria. I am not against Jonathan’s diplomatic shuttle; he has the right to do that, but it will not make any difference.”

    The Co-ordinator of the Coalition for Democratic Reform (CODER), Ayo Opadokun, said the political setting that made people to vote for Jonathan in 2011; irrespective of political affiliation, have changed. He said the political leadership of Southwest as at that time interacted with their colleague in government to give him solid votes in 2011, but that situation does not exist today.

    Opadokun explained that the Southwest political leadership and those in government today are not on the same page with the President.

    According to him, in any partisan setting, it is expected that the party in power at regional or state level would mobilise the people to vote for its candidate.

    Except things change later, political leaders in the Southwest and the President are not together. They have different political agenda. So, what happened in 2011 would not play out this time around,” Opadokun said.

    Public Affairs analyst Bernard Briggs is of the opinion that President Jonathan has chosen a wrong place to kick off his consultation on his re-election bid. Briggs said one million visits to Yoruba traditional rulers would not make Jonathan and his party to win more votes than they deserve.

    He described the Southwest as the traditional home of the progressives. He added: “I don’t see a situation whereby the Yoruba would for any reason this time around abandon the APC, which was co-founded by their leaders and other like minds across the country.”

    Besides, Briggs noted that the politics of the Southwest is based on principle and people’s interest, adding: “That explains why the leaders have been consistent, pitching their tents with progressives. I am also aware that traditional rulers in Yorubaland have no influence as regards the political direction of the people.”

    Briggs wondered why the President decided to pay a thank you visit to the region, three years after the Southwest voted for him. “To me, it is belated. The visit was politically motivated. The President should know that the Yoruba voted for him in 2011, not because of his personality or that his party manifesto was better. They probably voted for him because of where he comes from- the Southsouth – the region that had never produced the President,” he said.

    A lawyer, Ajibola Bashir, queried: “Despite the goodwill the people of Southwest accorded him in 2011, what did they benefit from his government?” He said Jonathan’s approach to governance is negative.

    Bashiru lamented that Jonathan had squandered the opportunities that came his way.

    Bashiru warned the President against polarising the Southwest by sponsoring “dead woods” and promising to bring them to political limelight because, according to him, such a plan will fail.

    One issue that is working against Jonathan’s interest in the Southwest is the marginalisation of the region under his administration. The allegation emanated from the Yoruba elders who are known to be sympathetic towards Jonathan Administration.

    Chief Olu Falae alleged that the President’s pattern of appointments with no consideration for the Yoruba suggested that he does not appreciate their contribution to his emergence as the President.

    Falae said the Yoruba were sidelined in appointments and control of political offices. He listed the topmost positions as that of the President, Senate President, Vice President, Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief Justice of the Federation, Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, President, Court of Appeal, Secretary to the Government of the Federtion, National Security Adviser, and Head of Service of the Federation.

    Falae said none of these offices was being occupied by a Yoruba, stressing that the absence of Yoruba in the power hierarchy had adversely affected the zone. He also cited the sack of eight General Managers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, six of whom were Yoruba, by the former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah.

    Another Yoruba elder said that the relegation of the Yoruba is not just in higher hierarchy of government, but also in agencies, parastatals and corporations. He said: “A situation where the total appointments for the entire Southwest fall short of those of certain individual states suggests either a deliberate effort to ignite ethnic resentment or a glaring outcome of total collapse of co-ordination in the machinery and records of government.”

    According to him, “available data indicate that the Yoruba have lost more than half of their appointive positions since demise of President Yar’Adua.

    He observer listed areas where the Yoruba were marginalised as follows: the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Chairman, Federal Civil Commission, Chairman Police Service Commission and National Security Adviser

    Also there is Yoruba among the entire 10 executive chairmen of the Federal Executive bodies such as Federal Character Commission, Federal Civil Service Commiasion, Federal Judicial Service Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission, National Population Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

    Out of 12 top government agencies, none is being headed by Yoruba. The top Corporations and Heavy Budget Agencies include Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF), Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Health Insurance Health Scheme, and Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

    There is no Yoruba heading any of the Revenue Related Agencies like Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Customs Service and Auditor General of the Federation.

    The story is similar in security and anti-corruption Agencies which include the Police, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences (ICPC) and Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

    When the Southwest leaders of PDP met the President over the lopsided appointments in the Federal Service, he promised that his administration would rectify the anomalies in 2015 when he would commence another term in office. How Jonathan would convince the Yoruba that his pattern of appointment with no consideration for the most educated and enlightened group in the country was not deliberate is known to him.

  • Emir to Jonathan: revive NIREC

    Emir to Jonathan: revive NIREC

    The Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to do everything possible to resuscitate the Nigerian Inter-religious Council (NIREC) to promote peace, unity and progress in the country.

    The Emir, who led traditional rulers from the Northwest to receive President Goodluck Jonathan at the Hassan Katsina House in Kaduna, said the unity of the country could best be promoted if more attention is given to the security of lives and property.

    The Emir said: “I want to make a passionate appeal to the government to resurcitate the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council at the national level. After this, there should be the establishment of branches of NIREC in all the 36 states of the Federation.”

    Jonathan told the traditional rulers that the unity rally embarked upon by the PDP was not a campaign rally, but efforts aimed at reconciling aggrieved members of the party.

    Also speaking, Vice-President Namadi Sambo said the President has delivered on his promise to the people of the zone, adding that an additional 215 megawwats power project would be completed and commissioned in November by the government as a way of boasting power supply to the zone.

    The Vice President also announced that N10 billion was approved by the Federal Government for the Great Green Wall to address the challenges of erosion, adding that the rail line from Abuja to Kaduna was 70 per cent completed and the Kaduna to Kano project was in progress.

     

  • Dickson’s aide’s sister abducted

    Dickson’s aide’s sister abducted

    Kidnappers have laid siege to Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    They struck at Oloibiri, the community where oil was first found in commercial quantity in 1956, and abducted Joyce Ebua, a sister of the commissioner for Sports, Maitama Obodo.

    Security officials are still battling to locate the President’s kidnapped cousin, Inengite Nitabai.

    Nitabai was abducted on February 23 by 10 gunmen from his home in Otuoke, President Goodluck Jonathan’s hometown.

    It was gathered that five gunmen stormed Ebua’s home at 8.55 p.m. on Monday and whisked her away.

    The incident, it was learnt, angered the Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield, Maj.-Gen. Emmanuel Atewe.

    Gen. Atewe was said to have summoned the officers and men to the headquarters in Yenagoa at 2.30 a.m.

    The commander ensured that nobody in the command slept after the incident, a JTF source said.

    The source, who attended the meeting, said the commander was angry.

    The source, who pleaded for anonymity, said Gen. Atewe wanted the soldiers to move to the crime scene immediately.

    But he was said to have later ordered the Commander, 5 Battalion at Otakeme in Ogbia to lead troops to the scene.

    “We were jolted by the action of the new commander. He summoned us in the night and mandated us to rescue the victim. We did not sleep.

    “He said we cannot be here and people are being kidnapped. He said he would not allow kidnapping during his reign. He hit the table several times as he spoke to us,” he said.

    It was gathered that the JTF commander led troops to the crime scene yesterday morning.

    The gunmen were said to have shot sporadically into the air before taking their victim away.

    One of the kidnappers was reportedly dressed in a mobile police uniform.

    An eyewitness said: “They were five and one of them was wearing MOPOL uniform. They put the victim in a waiting speedboat at the waterfront behind her house,” he said.

    JTF’s Media Coordinator Col. Onyema Nwachukwu said: “The command has activated the security network on both land and waterways in conjunction with other security agencies to track down the kidnappers.”

    Commissioner of Police Hilary Opara said the police had begun investigation into the incident.

     

  • Jonathan, South West Governors in closed-door meeting

    Jonathan, South West Governors in closed-door meeting

    Some governors from the South West zone of the country are presently meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The governors include Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi and Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun.

    The first three governors were led to the President’s office few minutes after 4.00 pm by the Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General Jones Oladeinde Arogbofa (rtd) as Chief of Staff.

    The Ogun State governor arrived the Villa by 4.30 pm.

  • APC to Jonathan: visit Yobe pupil’s families

    APC to Jonathan: visit Yobe pupil’s families

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to visit Yobe State to commiserate with the bereaved families of the schoolchildren murdered by terrorists last month.

    In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was inconceivable that about two weeks after the killings of more than 29 schoolchildren, the President has visited the state.

    It said such a visit would provide great succour to the families of the victims and reassure them that their government has not abandoned them.

    The statement reads: “There is no other democracy in the world in which that number of schoolchildren will be killed and the head of government will carry on with business as usual. Since the killings, President Jonathan has made a national broadcast in which he mentioned the killings only as a footnote, instead of making it the central point of the broadcast.

    “Since the killings, the President has presided over a wasteful national celebration, in which the drums were rolled out to mark the country’s centenary even as devastated families were still mourning and those injured were reeling from their pains.

    “Since the killings, President Jonathan has been gallivanting across the country, surreptitiously kick-starting his electioneering campaign for 2015 under the guise of receiving some inconsequential political jobbers now wearing the tag of defectors. This junketing has taken the President everywhere, including Sokoto, Minna, Ilorin and Onitsha. But he has pointedly avoided Yobe. To put it mildly, the father of the nation has been practically dancing on the graves of those innocent souls. This is not the stuff of leadership and the President must make amends by visiting Yobe today.’’

    The party said Jonathan should take a cue to what obtains in other lands, especially in the US after which Nigeria has modelled its democracy.

    “In January 2014, US President Barack Obama flew to Tennessee, where he spoke at a high school where students were still reeling from the shooting death of just one of their classmates; In 2012, President Obama paid a similar visit to Newtown in Connecticut, where he met relatives of the 20 schoolchildren and 8 adults who were shot. These are examples worthy of emulation by President Jonathan,’’ it said.

    The APC challenged the President to tell Nigerians why he has not or why he would not visit the scene of the gruesome murders.

    “Whatever his reasons are, the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces must not give the impression that there is any part of the country he cannot visit for any reason whatsoever, otherwise he would only have succeeded in handing some sort of victory to the terrorists who have continued to kill and plunder in the Northeast,’’ it said.

     

  • Jonathan laments high capital flight on medical tourism

    Jonathan laments high capital flight on medical tourism

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday lamented the high rate and capital flight being wasted on medical tourism by Nigerians abroad.

    He spoke through Vice President Namadi Sambo at a Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

    In a bid to achieve the 30 per cent health insurance coverage as targeted by the Federal Government, stakeholders have suggested ways to this, besides making it compulsory, as earlier canvassed.

    At the summit, it was the opinion that quality health care could be achieved with the right political will.

    President Jonathan noted that although Nigeria had made good progress in the health sector, it had not got to “where we ought to be.”

    Stressing that the country was working with partners to improve healthcare services, he said many Nigerians in the diaspora are returning home to invest in the health system.

    Said he: “We are not where we ought to be in health care delivery. For this to be possible, health insurance must be a regular culture, as it is at an unacceptable level.”

    Urging Nigerians to be involved and contribute to the drive towards affordable healthy care delivery, the President said universal health coverage is the priority of government at all levels.

    He said the challenges limiting the attainment of the universal health care are surmountable, as the political leadership would provide the support and commitment for the people to access it.

    President Jonathan said: “We set our own target to achieve universal health carea next year and have invested in programmes towards this. We have worked with partners to access primary health care medicine and have also improved infrastructure.

    “Many Nigerians in the diaspora are returning home to invest in our health care system. Social health insurance is also gaining ground. It is important that physical access to good health care can be achieved.

    “We still have a large number of people today, travelling out of the country to seek health care services. The scale of medical tourism is enormously not justifiable. We are conscious that they can be addressed with appropriate policy review if desirable. The lawmakers and others must come together to make laws that will ensure better health delivery for Nigerians.”

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said financial access is possible if health insurance is made compulsory and treated as the right of citizens.

    According to him, establishing independent health quality commission to ensure standard and compliance would also be desirable to enhance the desired results.

    Towards boosting the universal health care system in the country, he suggested the introduction of one naira levy per telephone calls made by anybody in the country.

    Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko said to boost universal health care, the country needs better approach than just paying lip service.

    A sustained political will, he said, would do all that was required in the drive to achieve universal health care by next year and that more than the targeted 30 per cent projection would be achieved.