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Tag: Jonathan

  • Jonathan: 2015 poll ‘ll meet global best practices

    Jonathan: 2015 poll ‘ll meet global best practices

    President Goodluck Jonathan has assured the international community that next year’s general elections would be conducted in accordance with global best practices, to strengthen democratic institutions.

    He spoke at meetings with the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon and the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, before leaving New York late on Wednesday night.

    A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the President reaffirmed his commitment to making elections credible.

    In keeping with his administration’s dedication to openness and transparency in the conduct of public affairs, Jonathan said international observers would be allowed to monitor the elections to ensure that they are free, fair and credible, as promised by his administration.

    He thanked Ki-Moon and Cameron for their support to Nigeria’s effort to curb terrorism, insurgency and extremism, saying the Federal Government would welcome more assistance from Britain, especially in intelligence-sharing, anti-terrorism training and defence logistics.

    At a meeting with the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Margaret Chan, President Jonathan expressed Nigeria’s appreciation of the support it received from WHO in the containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    Affirming that Nigeria was Ebola-free, he urged greater international support to ensure that the virus was also eradicated in affected West Africa countries.

    The President said: “Nigeria is free of the virus now, but we know that to be permanently free, we must be vigilant and work with WHO and the international community to eradicate it from our sub-region and forestall its re-emergence on our shores through migration.”

    He assured her that despite hindrances by insurgents, terrorists and extremists, government was committed to eradicating polio from the country.

    Chan and Ki-Moon hailed Jonathan for stopping the spread of Ebola.

  • Ndigbo and Jonathan

    God, in his infinite wisdom, created me Igbo. If it is possible to reincarnate, I will return to this world an Igbo. I don’t know any section of Nigeria that could withstand the rest of the Nigerian federation for a whole 30 months as Eastern Nigeria did between 1967 and 1970. Despite the severe economic and air blockade, Biafra was a bold statement about the blackman’s scientific and technological capabilities, as the preeminent American scholar of sociology, Stanley Diamond, reported to the world in 1968. Frankly,  I don’t know of any part of Nigeria that would come out of the catastrophe with practically no money, and yet within only three years there were scarcely physical traces of the war. Perhaps only the Igbo could challenge the Yoruba in educational development and within a mere 20 years  (from 1945 to 1965) “wipe out their educational handicap in one fantastic burst of energy”, as Chinua Achebe puts it in The Trouble With Nigeria.

     In any endeavour where merit is the sole criterion for determining recognition like sports, music and education, the Igbo would always excel. The Igbo are often referred to as the African version of the Jewish people whom Ali Mazrui, the most published African scholar, calls in his most ambitious book, Cultural Forces in World Politics, a race whose prodigious achievements in science, philosophy, finance and international politics are far in excess of their population. In her charming book, World On Fire, Amy Chua, an economist and distinguished professor at Yale Law School, calls the Igbo “an economic dominant” group in West Africa. The Bamileke people of Cameroon are called Igbo on account of their industry and entrepreneurship.

    However, the Igbo, once guided by such far-sighted men as the Great Zik of Africa, Michael Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, Ukpabi Asika, Pius Okigbo and others, are now in dire need of strategic direction. Already, it would seem we are not being taken seriously. On Thursday, January 30, Governor Seriake Dickson led a large delegation of Bayelsa leaders to thank Vice President Namadi Sambo for “supporting our son, President Goodluck Jonathan”. Sambo’s contribution to Jonathan’s presidency is a matter of speculation.

    Why does Governor Dickson find it important to constantly thank Vice President Sambo for his support but has not uttered a word of gratitude to Ndigbo who have given Jonathan unprecedented support, far more than he has received from his own Niger Delta region? Has Edwin Clark, the leader of the Ijaw, ever publicly  acknowledged Igbo support for Jonathan?

    Erstwhile Anambra State governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife, who for years was in the vanguard of the campaign that “it is either an Igbo president in 2015 or Nigeria will cease to exist” now threatens war if Jonathan is not returned to office next year. He probably borrowed the war threat from the lips of Asari Dokubo of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force. How did Ezeife, a former lecturer at Makerere University in Uganda and retired federal permanent secretary who holds a Harvard doctorate in economics, find himself in the same company as Mujaheed Dokubo? Indeed, there is a Jonathan frenzy throughout Igboland. But it is not founded on any discernible rationality. A very influential Igbo professor who is one of the architects of Igbo support for Jonathan is often the first person to admit in private that Jonathan’s development presence in the South-east is embarrassingly poor, saying it is worth about the sixth of federal government’s  projects in the North-central geopolitical zone.

    The Enugu-Onitsha highway is not passable. The Okigwe—Aba Road is a death trap. The Umuahia—Ikot Ekpene Road is probably the worst road in the world, after the road leading to Arochukwu. All federal roads in the South-east, with the exception of about three or four, are in a messy state. The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company has been handed over to Emeka Offor’s Interstate Electrics which the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the National Council on Privatisation in a joint report declared financially and technically incapable of doing electricity distribution business. Ironically, the consortium promoted by the five South-east state governments and the finest entrepreneurs from the zone and recommended by the BPE/NCP for the Enugu Disco was in a bizarre act overruled by the Jonathan administration. Electricity distribution is a natural monopoly, so it means all parts of Nigeria can develop in the foreseeable future but not the South-east. No place can grow without adequate electricity.

    True, a number of Igbo people have under Jonathan been appointed to “juicy positions”. There are more Igbo private jet owners now than ever. But in a world where the buzz expression now is inclusive development, as opposed to a policy which excludes the majority of the people from the economic process, the new concept of Igbo empowerment is anti-thetical to development. Igbo leaders are not asking Jonathan to help create a system which could accelerate development of Igboland which unfortunately is increasingly becoming an economic desert. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics show the South-east and severely security-challenged North-east to be the least developing geopolitical zones in both relative and absolute terms.  No one is asking the president to build natural gas pipelines to the South-east, as there are in the South-west, so that heavy industries could be established in the area. No one is asking that a seaport be built in, say, Onitsha, for economic and strategic reasons.

    In his absorbing book, My Vision: Challenges in the Race for Excellence, Dubai Ruler Mohammed Maktoum explains that the establishment of the world’s largest man-made port and other seaports in this desert emirate has been at the heart of Dubai’s phenomenal development. Igbo leaders are not even asking Jonathan to do something as simple as directing ministries, departments and agencies to patronize Innoson vehicles, so that this ingenious Innoson Motors firm would not go the way of Anammco in Enugu which collapsed on account of poor patronage by even government agencies across the nation. Igbo leaders are not asking Jonathan to help revive the Nigerian Cement company at Nkalagu in Ebonyi State.

    What we rather hear from these leaders is that Jonathan is a great leader because he has promised to build a second bridge on the River Niger so that traffic would flow easily from Asaba to Onitsha during Christmas and Easter when Igbo people return home en masse. Is this what is called strategic thinking in the 21st century? The Jonathan presidency is modernizing the Lagos—Kano rail which is bound to have a significant impact on the economies of these two states and their neighbours. Neither Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola nor Kano State governor Kwankwanso has ever kowtowed to the president for this strategic and capital intensive initiative. But the moment the president promised he would start the second Niger bridge, Peter Obi, in his capacity as chairman of the Conference of South-east Governors, mobilised large delegations of Igbo leaders in a well-choreographed show of endless public adulation and obeisance to Jonathan. Frankly, it is unrealistic to expect any major ethnic group which has chosen this inelegant role for itself to be taken seriously. Any wonder the president had no difficulty throwing out Festus Odimegwu, a particularly brilliant and gifted technocrat, out of office once Governor Kwankwaso balked at Odimegwu’s pledge that he would be the first chairman of the National Population Commission to conduct a credible national census?

    To be sure, Igbo leaders are at liberty to support any person. But such an endorsement should be on certain conditions which must hinge on long term interests of Ndigbo. The current hysteria over Jonathan without negotiating any deal for the development of our homeland belittles all of us. It is does not portray a people prepared, in Achebe’s words, to join the rest of the world step into the 21st century with restored hope and dignity.

    • Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.
  • Jonathan: we’re working hard to free Chibok girls

    Jonathan: we’re working hard to free Chibok girls

    he United Nations Security Council should be reformed urgently in view of the pressing security challenges and continous threat to world peace, President Goodluck Jonathan said last night in his address to the United States General Assembly.

    The President also called for an urgent review of United Nations peacekeeping operations across the world.

    He promised that the abducted Chibok schoolgirls will be released and urged support for Liberia and Sierra Leone to combat Ebola, which he said Nigeria had battled to a standstill.

    United States President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, Egyptian President Fatah El – Sisi were among the presidents and leaders who also spoke on the opening day of the UNGA.

     Jonathan said: “Mr. President, the failure of unanimity of action by the Security Council over pressing challenges to global peace and security, in Syria, Iraq, the conflict in Ukraine, and the renewed aggression between Israel and Palestine, have strengthened the case for the reform of the Security Council.”

     ”Today’s challenges can only be resolved by a Security Council whose working methods engender transparency, inclusivity, and common ownership through equitable representation of all regions in the decision making process of the Council.”

    “It is imperative that we take advantage of 2015, which also marks the 50thAnniversary of the 1965 reform, to make concrete progress on the reform of the Council.”

    “We call for a fast-tracked process, in line with the initiative of His Excellency John Ashe, President of the 68th General Assembly, for establishing a working Group on reform. Indeed, the Security Council requires the collective resolve of all member states to ensure that 2015 brings decisive progress,” he added

    Noting that the United Nations was established about 70 years ago to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, he said that the world sadly continues to experience conflict and human suffering.

    Jonathan sad: “Today’s terrorism is vicious and aimless. Its consequences are extremely agonising, marked by a tendency to annihilate victims, and completely destroy infrastructure and properties. The involvement of foreign fighters has remained a common feature of terrorist groups – whether Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, Al Shaabab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, or the newly emerging Islamic State (I.S).”

    “The new dimension introduced by I.S. to conquer territory and establish its destructive ideology, is a major challenge that must be collectively halted before it becomes the norm. This refocuses attention on the need to review present tools for United Nations peacekeeping operations,” he said.

    The President assured the gathering that the Federal Government would continue to do everything possible to rescue the abducted Chibok girls and curb the violent and criminal activities of Boko Haram.

    “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the countries and organisations that expressed solidarity with us, and have continued to support our determined efforts to free our daughters.”

    “Although it has been over three months since they were abducted, we have never relented in our efforts to set them safely free. Together with our partners, we are working assiduously to free our daughters and reunite them with their families.”

    “Let me underline today, that we shall not waiver until we end this mindless war on the innocent, and bring all the perpetrators to justice. We will triumph over terrorism,” Jonathan stated.

    On to the outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus disease in West Africa, the President confidently assured the United Nations that Nigeria is now free of Ebola, but said that the world must act in unison to stop the disease from becoming a global disaster.

    He said: “While Nigeria was able to respond effectively to control the spread of the disease, the situation in Liberia and Sierra Leone requires sustainable, collective global action to contain. Through the concerted efforts of our healthcare professionals, the World Health Organisation and our international partners, we have been able to contain the EVD and we can confidently say that Nigeria is today, Ebola-free.”

    “We have however continued to support efforts at containing the spread of the disease in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. It is pertinent to stress the need for the international community to properly appreciate the enormity of the EVD challenge.”

    “Indulging in isolationist and discriminatory tendencies will only worsen an already critical situation. To prevent the disease from becoming a global catastrophe, the UN must accord it the concerted effort it deserves,” the President said.

    He concluded the statement by reaffirming Nigeria’s belief in  the indispensable role of the UN in the global bid to overcome the challenges of conflict, terrorism, climate change and economic development.

    “We have been, and will remain a reliable and active partner, especially as we collectively work to resolve the new and emerging threats to global peace and security,” President Jonathan told the assembly of Heads of State and Government.

  • Book on Jonathan launched

    Book on Jonathan launched

    A biography on President Goodluck Jonathan, written by America- based writer, Matthew Uzukwu, an adjunct professor of operations management at Bowie State University, Maryland, has been launched.

     The book, titled: “‘Moving Forward: A Biography of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,” documenting the life of the president from birth to his presidency, was launched at the Pierre Hotel, located at 2 East 61st street, in New York City.  The author, Uzukwu, described the book as a vital record for upcoming generations to know the man called Goodluck Jonathan. The President did not attend the launching.

  • ‘Jonathan not qualified to run in 2015’

    ‘Jonathan not qualified to run in 2015’

    Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have gone to the Federal HIgh Court, Abuja, seeking to, among others, restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) and the Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF) from allowing President Goodluck Jonathan to participate in the 2015 presidential election.

    In a suit by four Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), the plaintiffs argued that by the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the President, having contested the presidential election twice, won and taken the oath of office and allegiance twice in respect of that office, he could no longer present himself for election to that office the third time.

    They relied on sections 132(1), 135(2)(a) and (b), 137(1)(b), 142(1) and (2) and the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Marwa and Nyako (2012) 6 NWLR (Part 1296) 199 at 306.

    The plaintiffs argued that by the provisions of the constitution, the President and Vice President, who were elected in the same election and sworn into office on the same date and at the same ceremony were in law, taken to have been elected for one single term of four years notwithstanding the death or even impeachment of the President.

    “That being so, the reference to “two previous elections” in Section 137(1)(b) of the Constitution includes two previous oath of allegiance and oath of office as President. It is therefore safe to conclude that a Vice President, who had taken the oath of allegiance and oath of office for two previous terms as President is, in law, deemed to have been elected into the Office of President at two previous elections, thereby standing disqualified to contest another election into that office.”

    The suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/662/2014, with Adejumo Mansouru Ajagbe (a member of the PDP from Lagos  State) and Olatoye Wahab (a member of the APC from Osun State) as plaintiffs, listed the AGF and INEC as defendants. The case, filed last Friday by James Ocholi, A. J. Owonikoko, Okon Efut and Mahmu Magaji (all SANs), has been assigned to Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed for hearing.

    They raised five questions for the court’s determination and are seeking seven reliefs, including an order of  perpetual injunction, restraining the AGF and INEC from accepting as candidate in the 2015 presidential election anybody caught by “two previous elections limit and eight-year term limit.”

  • Why PDP endorsed Jonathan, by Dickson

    Why PDP endorsed Jonathan, by Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson said yesterday that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate to institutionalise the right of first refusal for any incumbent president.

    The governor said the party, by the move, set a new precedent for incumbent presidents to have the right to fly the party’s flag without an elective primary.

    Dickson said the new thinking would also reduce the huge cost and internal wrangling associated with a primary election.

    The governor spoke when  members of the Federated Correspondent Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) visited him.

    He said the right of first refusal given to Jonathan would promote stability in the political system and unity among party members.

    Dickson insisted that the party’s gesture was being misconstrued in some quarters to mean a declaration of sole candidacy.

    “It is not a declaration of sole candidacy. What we have done is to stabilise the political system.

    “What we have done is to say that we don’t want to subject our members to costly and stressful processes. What we have said is that once you are a president from a party, you have a right of first refusal. It will reduce in-fighting and cost of lobbying and campaigns.

    “Whoever comes after Jonathan will no longer have issues with intra-party conflicts but he will have the right to first refusal. In the first term of an administration, there is much in-fighting.

    “If the right of first refusal had been institutionalised in the past, former President Olusegun Obasanjo wouldn’t have been subjected to such issues that came up before his re-election.

    Dickson maintained that democracy should not be about conflicts and unnecessary intrigues but about the stability of institutions.

    “If President Goodluck Jonathan refuses, then the elective convention will be conducted. This decision is provided for by the electoral law,” he said.

    A PDP chieftain, who pleaded for anonymity, said the party took the decision because of the change in the country’s body polity.

    The source said with the All Progressives Congress (APC) on board, internal rancour was the last thing PDP needed.

    He said the party leaders gave Jonathan a clean bill of health to enable PDP capitalise on the power of incumbency to retain the Presidency next year.

    “We discovered that with the APC on board, having a competitive primary will further divide the party.

    “Right now, the country, especially the North, is divided between APC and PDP and we cannot afford to make a mistake that will further reduce our votes,” he said.

  • Jonathan as sole PDP candidate?

    SIR: The presentation of Goodluck Jonathan as Peoples Democratic Party candidate for the 2015 presidential election fulfils the desire of few groups and individuals. The adoption of Jonathan is not a surprise as it has been something long expected; rather what came as the surprise is the “sole candidate” which is Jonathan.

    Having a sole candidate for the most coveted political position in a political party like the Peoples Democratic Party tells of the hidden rancor and disintegration going on within the party. After the dissolution of a faction of the party which called themselves New PDP, many had thought that the party has come together in unison but this act of adopting Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate makes it crystal clear that there is still division within the party.

    The automatic cancellation of the presidential primary which was scheduled for December 6 means that Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido and Speaker of the house of Representative, Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, both nursing ambition on the party ticket, have to look elsewhere if they are still interested in the position or settle for less. It is quite evident that Hon. Tambuwal will defect to All Progressives Congress (APC) to compete with General Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for the ticket of the party.

    With the defection of Aliyu Wamakko and impending defection of Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, it tells of the looming division in the house of PDP.

     

    • Oyetunji Oluwatobi,

     University of Ibadan

  • TAN: no plan to scuttle Jonathan’s rally

    TAN: no plan to scuttle Jonathan’s rally

    The Enugu State chapter of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) has denied reports in some newspapers that it plans to scuttle a rally being organised by the Enugu State Movement for the Re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The group alleged that the state government was behind the reports.

    The report accused Enugu TAN of working with a federal lawmaker to hold electoral ward meetings to distribute money to disrupt the rally.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Ugulu O. Ugulu, Enugu TAN said the allegations were frivolous, baseless and laughable.

    The statement said: “It is a global knowledge that TAN is the flagship organisation in the campaign for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan. Yet, it is on record that the Enugu State Government had serially misused the police to either scuttle or attempt to scuttle the meetings of TAN in the state.

    “It would be recalled that the Enugu State Government was the only Southeast state not officially represented at the first geopolitical zonal rally of TAN at Awka, Anambra State, on August 17.

    “Instead, Governor Sullivan Chime preferred to lead the State Executive Council (Exco) and 17 local government chairmen to a birthday party at Umuahia (Abia State) and directed the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to summon the party’s local government executive council meeting by noon on the same day of the rally.”

  • Holiday in Enugu for Jonathan’s rally

    Holiday in Enugu for Jonathan’s rally

    Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime has declared tomorrow public holiday to enable the residents attend a rally for President Goodluck Jonathan.
    The rally is organised by the Enugu State Movement for the Re-Election of President Jonathan (EMJ).
    A statement by Information Commissioner Chuks Ugwoke said the rally would hold at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu at 10am.
    It said schools, markets, banks and other financial institutions would be closed.
    The statement urged relevant authorities to take note of the directive.
    It advised the residents to honour the President with a large turning at the rally.
    Also, The EMJ has cited what it called the President’s brave and unprecedented efforts to restore a sense of belonging to the Igbo in the country as the reason behind his popularity in Enugu and other South East States.
    Chairman of the group said to have been floated by Governor Chime, Barrister Charles Egumgbe stated this while briefing journalists on the pro-Jonathan rally.

  • Kalu hails Jonathan’s adoption

    The former Abia State governor and a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Orji Kalu, has described the party as the only brand that can guarantee the welfare of Nigerians.

    He spoke yesterday when addressing a cross-section of PDP members at the Sheraton Guangzhou, China.

    Kalu, who hailed President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts in tackling insecurity, said the Boko Haram insurgency had been politicised.

    He said: “We should desist from playing politics with issues of national concern. Everyone, irrespective of political and religious divide, should support the fight against terrorism. The country belongs to all of us.”

    Kalu praised the PDP national leadership for inaugurating regional integration committees to reconcile aggrieved members.

    The ex-governor, while praising the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP for endorsing President  Jonathan as the presidential candidate, urged Nigerians to vote for him in the coming elections.