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Tag: Jonathan

  • Jonathan urged to implement conference report

    Jonathan urged to implement conference report

    President Goodluck Jonathan has been advised to implement the resolutions of the National Conference, so that the efforts of the conferees would not be an exercise in futility.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Falcon Group and a senatorial aspirant, Capt. Jerry Ogbonna  (rtd), who spoke in Lagos, said the resolutions of the conference should be implemented.

    He urged Nigerians to give Jonathan a second chance to enable him implement the resolutions.

    Ogbonna said he would vie for the Abia North seat in next year’s general elections.

    He said: “Nigerians should not allow the resolutions of the National Conference to go the way of the past ones. It is not easy to assemble eminent Nigerians for a  conference.

    “Federal Government spent huge sums of money to organise the conference. So we should give the convener, President Jonathan, the opportunity to implement the resolutions.”

    Ogbonna enjoined the National Assembly to work with Jonathan to implement the resolutions.

  • Bayelsa communities unite for Jonathan, Dickson

    Bayelsa communities unite for Jonathan, Dickson

    President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Seriake Dickson  are getting more supporters for their re-election bids. For their sake, communities in the state seem to have dropped their acrimonies and feudal battles to queue up behind and identify with them.

    In fact, local government areas are taking turns to shower encomiums on and declare support for the duo. Sagbama, Ekeremor and Kolokuma/Opokuma local councils at separate occasions  assembled their sons and daughters to make statements and tell Nigerians how much love they have for their kinsman, President Jonathan and their Governor, Dickson.

    Niger Delta Report monitored a similar communal meeting involving the communities in Yenagoa Local Government Area under the aegis of the Yenagoa Stakeholders’ Forum (YSF) recently.

    The hall ‘overflew’ with representatives of the communities that constitute the council. Most of the enthused participants wore their best traditional regalia festooned with beads and other symbols of Ijaw culture. Women in their various groups adorned themselves in their best outfits woven around colourful wrappers with headgears of different sizes to match.

    Community leaders, aides to the governor from the council and lawmakers representing the council at the state House of Assembly  as well as representatives of non-indigenes flocked the hall to identify with the occasion.

    The Chief of Staff, Government House, Abuja, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha, was one of the brains behind the success of the event.

    Also present were the Commissioner for Information, Deacon Markson Fefegha, the Chairman of the forum, Chief GM. Odumgba, the forum’s Secretary and governor’s Representative, Mr. Ebiwarie Wariowei.

    Others were the Commissioner for Works, Mr. Lawrence Ewrujakpor, Chief of Staff, Yenagoa Government House, the Mayor of Yenagoa, Chairman of the Traditional Rulers Council, Yenagoa chapter and Commissioner for Tourism. In fact, everybody who matters in politics and tradition of the council was in attendance.

    Describing Jonathan and Dickson as the two illustrious sons of the state, he appealed to the people to urge the duo to contest the the presidential and governorship elections in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

    “The reason for this clarion calls by the people are not far-fetched. Both have performed creditably to deserve a second term. He enumerated the near completion of the East-West Road, handling of the insurgency in the North-East, establishment of federal universities and implementation of the amnesty programmes among the achievements of their son, Jonathan.

    On Dickson, he said his Restoration Government has performed marvelously within record time.

    “This has not only attracted the people’s admiration, it has set the tone for so many pressure group’s and organisations to call for the endorsement of the governor for a second term”, he said.

    He reeled out the Isaac Boro Expressway, the Yenagoa-Angiama-Ayama Road, the New Gateway Road, the Tombia-Amasoma Road and the flyovers among others as the evidence of Dickson’s performance.

    “The various housing structures that have changed the landscape of Yenagoa cannot but be appreciated. The new ADR building for the judiciary, the Traditional Rulers secretariat, the Okaka Housing Estate and many others are commendable strides of this pragmatic administration,” he said.

    Also, the representative of non-indigenes, Chief Sunny Chukwueze, was excited that Yenagoa had risen to make a statement. He said he was initially uncomfortable that the council was mute when people all over the country were speaking.

    “Today, the jinx is broken and Yenagoa is speaking”, he said adding that President Jonathan had shown enough commitment to pilot the affairs f the country. He was, however, particular about Dickson whom he referred to as a friend to non-indigenes.

    He said Dickson won the love of non-indigenes by appointing some of them to his cabinet and paying them a thank-you visit after his election. He said in the history of the state, no leader had returned to thank the non-indigenes for their support after election.

    He said in June non-indigenes made a statement to support the reelection of Dickson. “Today, I am reaffirming the endorsement of Dickson and Jonathan”, he said.

    The Chairman of Yenagoa Traditional Rulers Council and Ibenamowei of Gbarain Kingdom, King Funpere Akah, asked Jonathan to declare for 2015.

    “We are saying boldly that we are behind him and that he is going to win”, he said. The royal father also drew applauses from the crowd when he claimed that he saw Jonathan in his dream emerging victorious after the 2015 elections.”

    He further said Dickson had fulfilled his promise of turning Yenagoa to a construction site. “He has performed beyond expectations. Our traditional rulers council secretariat is first class and the police officers’ mess is one of the most beautiful in the country”, he said.

     

  • Jonathan to board: create three million jobs

    President Goodluck Jonathan  inaugurated yesterday a Presidential Jobs Board of Nigeria with a mandate to create three million jobs within the next 12 months.

    Vice-President Namadi Sambo is the Chairman of the 31-member board. Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu is vice-chairman. The board is  drawn from public and private sectors.

    Jonathan urged the board to work out a road map that will on monthly and on a yearly basis create jobs for the youth.

    Urging the committee to give time-to-time report to Nigerians on its progress, the President lamented the “missing link” between training and employment in Nigeria.

    He challenged government-owned job training agencies to fine-tune their duties for the benefit of young unemployed Nigerians and the national economy.

    Jonathan said: ”No one can deny that jobs are at the centre for economic revolution. Infact, the problem facing any head of government all over the world is Job creation. They are essential to make our people live well and they are critical to the promotion of our people’s dignity.”

    “Jobs enhance self worth and it is a source of personal pride. Indeed it is at the  heart of national economic and social development.”

    “Let me charge department and agencies of government that have been training people over the period, like SMEDAN, ITF, PDTF, NDE, NIMASA, Ministry of Women Affairs and other agencies  that do that as a part of their responsibilities, to train and create jobs.”

    “There is a missing link, because there is a difference between training people to acquire skills and job creation. I have observed over a period that agencies of government are more interested in training. “

    “My conviction is that if you train 100 people and none of them is either self employed or employed by any corporation that is a total waste, you are rather frustrating more people and probably increasing the number of criminals in the society. “

    He went on: “I always say

  • Ex-President faults NANS’ solidarity visit to Jonathan

    The Yinka Gbdebo-led National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) came under fire for paying a solidarity visit to President Goodluck Jonathan and commending him.

    Former President of the association, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, described the visit as ‘politically motivated’, adding that NANS leadership did not say how Jonathan would rescue the Chibok girls and address the security challenges facing the country, among other issues.

    Onjeh vowed that Nigerian students would henceforth, resist any attempt by NANS leadership to ridicule the association.

    “They (NANS) should have used the opportunity to challenge the First Lady and the President, to use their immense influence and innermost powers to address the Chibok Girls issue and the rot in the education sector which require a declaration of a state of emergency.

    “Only 31 per cent of those who sat for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination five subjects and above including English and Mathematics. Universities, polytechnics and colleges of education only resumed recently after a prolonged strikes,”.

    The conferment of the  Grand Commander on Jonathan”, Onjeh said: “is null and void as it lacked the requisite legal backing of the appropriate organ of NANS charged with the responsibility.”

    The statement continued: “Many Nigerians could not believe the recent spectacle of the Yinka Gbadebo-led National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) passing a vote of confidence on Dame Patience Jonathan, wife of the President and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

    “Yinka Gbadebo and his fellow sycophants, including some former presidents of the once prestigious Students’ Union, told the First Lady that they have endorsed her husband for a second term. Their sycophancy became more visible when they met the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, a former university lecturer under whose watch universities, polytechnics and colleges of education were on strike for more than half of their academic calendar.

    “Mr. Gbadebo and his co travelers gave President Jonathan the hitherto non-existent and meaningless award of Grand Commander of Nigerian Students. That conduct and action negate the principle and charter of demands of NANS.

    “It is completely at variance with what NANS stands for or stood for since one is now confused about NANS. If such honour exists at all, it’s the prerogative of NANS Congress, not even NANS Senate to ratify before being conferred on the beneficiary. There is nothing wrong in the leadership of NANS paying a courtesy visit to the First Lady, or her husband, the President, since by virtue of their positions they are symbols of the state and deserve due respect.

    “What is wrong, however, is using such an opportunity for personal aggrandisement instead of pursuing the common interest of the greater majority of their constituents – the students. The Yinka Gbadebo-led executive has completely derailed from the focus and priority of NANS and this has exposed the level of rot in modern student unionism.

    “The Chibok school girls, who are their immediate constituency, have been living in nightmare since their abduction over 145 days ago; yet not a word was uttered about them by Mr. Gbadebo and his coterie of shameless sycophants. This is wicked, heartless, unconscionable and in bad taste. Mr. Gbadebo and those former NANS leaders, who went on this misplaced and opportunistic courtesy visit, are a disgrace to fond memories of our past student heroes who laid down their lives for a better Nigeria. They are not and can never be the true reflection of the minds of Nigerian students.

    But in a swift response, Gbadebo said Onjeh was only trying to raise unnecessary dust  because he was not part of the delegation to President Jonathan

    Speaking with The Nation, Gbadebo said NANS’ decision to visit President Jonathan was favoured by other past presidents, who also went with him for the award presentation.

    He said: “Before God and man let me say the reason he (Onjeh) was doing this was because he was not invited to be part of the delegation.

    “The First NANS president Comrade Sunday Oladele, with other nine past presidents including myself making 11, went on that trip. Also on the trip were NANS executives and the four zonal coordinators. Can you then tell me that the 11 of us including other members were wrong in our decision?, he asked on phone.

    “In November last Year, Onjeh was stripped of his membership ofNANS because of his nefarious activities. NANS found out that he had been defrauding people in the name of the association.  So, NANS took that decision at the 68th Senate meeting held at the University of Port Harcourt in November last year. A communiqué issued after the meeting stated NANS resolutions categorically. We even run the adverts in some national dailies including The Nation Newspapers.”

  • Jonathan’s electricity programme, a sham

    President Goodluck Jonathan’s Electric Power Sector Reform, ballyhooed over the years as the magical bullet for the  debilitating electricity situation in the country, is a big flop. The nation has since April been in the rainy season when public power supply perennially improves dramatically because of sufficient water in the dams for the three hydro plants at Shiroro, Kanji and Jebba—all in Niger State—but this has not been so. If anything, power supply has been worsening.

    Going by the projections of the Electric Power Sector Reform programme, which President Jonathan launched with fanfare on August 26, 2010, at Eko Hotel in Lagos, the nation should by now be generating, transmitting and distributing at least 15,000 megawatts (MW). But what is currently generated is a far cry. The country is producing less than 4,000MW, or about a quarter of the projected quantum of power! For a nation of some 170million, the electricity per capita is embarrassingly poor, falling behind Ghana’s, among others.

    After announcing for months that 10,000MW would be generated by December, the Ministry of Power on August 3, announced, without any sense of embarrassment, that the new target for the period is 6,000MW, a little above half of the figure bandied about for some time. Even so, no one is realistically expecting the nation to hit 5,000MW by December which is only four months away.  After all, the dramatic improvement which Power Minister Chinedu Nebo promised the nation that would be experienced from last June has yet to be realized. The power sector has been  a shambles since hawks, anti-reform and extremely corrupt elements in the Jonathan government forced the world renowned engineering authority, Professor Bart Nnaji, to resign as Minister of Power on August 28, 2012. The steady improvement in power supply experienced under Nnaji, who raised power generation, transmission and distribution to an all-time high of 4,500MW, ended a few weeks after the professor left office abruptly; ever since then, the country has been on a downward slope, electricity-wise.

    The new owners of the six generation companies and eleven distribution companies privatized since November 1, 2013, are all in a mess financially. If great care is not taken, the banks which loaned them huge sums in the belief that they were assisting a worthy national development cause will be shaken thoroughly. All the assumptions upon which the entrepreneurs committed huge investments in the electricity privatization programme have turned out to be calamitous. Generation firms are unable to produce much because there is no gas supply from the Nigerian Gas Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) under the leadership of Deziani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources. Apparently, she has shown little interest in addressing this problem, preferring instead to focus on petrol and kerosene and crude oil lifting contracts. The President commissioned the Geregu power utility in Kogi State and the Omotosho plant in Ondo State without a single molecule because there was no gas pipeline to any of them. The nation was taken for granted.

    The joint press conference on the power situation addressed by Mrs Alison-Madueke, Power Minister Chinedu Nebo, National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) chairman Sam Amadi and  Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele on August 3, was a panic public relations stunt to calm Nigerians who are becoming increasingly restive over power supply as the 2015 election is fast approaching. NERC’s decision to substantially  increase tariff during the next Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) will not make a dent on the distribution companies’ obligations to banks if there is no considerable increase in quantum of power generated and transmitted by various firms. Distribution companies themselves have already been over-billing customers in a desperate effort to remain afloat, and in some instances, they have refused to supply power to rural communities because of the paltry returns. In other words, electricity is worse for the Nigerian people than in the pre-privatisation days.

    Worse still, the transmission network is in a mess. It cannot wheel up to 5,000MW because it is old and poorly maintained. Politicians in government and elsewhere have been swooping on the limited resources available to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which has in the last one year had two chief executives and two board chairmen. Manitoba Hydro International of Canada, contracted three years ago to manage it for three years, has not been given a free hand to run the company professionally.  As if to add a comic touch to the farcical drama, President Jonathan announced two years ago, a unilateral cancellation of the $20m contract, only to swallow his own vomit in public a few days later when the international community challenged him over his unilateral action.

    Nigeria’s power sector is in no doubt in a fiasco. Perceptive analysts knew  all along that this fiasco was an accident waiting to happen. Any government which could afford to dispense with the services of Nnaji as Minister of Power cannot possibly mean well.  Any government which sold the Kano Electricity Distribution Company and Sapele generating facility to cronies of some people in The Presidency cannot mean well for the Nigerian people. Any government which sold the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company to unknown quantities in power, over and above the Southeast state governments and their most accomplished entrepreneurs and researchers. has merely sentenced the South-east permanently to the dark age of history.

    A serious government will appoint only professionally sound persons as Minister of Petroleum Resources and Minister of Power and heads of agencies under them, so as to work with honesty and a sense of urgency on various electricity projects.  A serious administration will look into petitions of controversial privatizations of key power assets to fronts of government officials.  A fair minded administration will simplify and reduce the current requirements for power generation and distribution so that state and local governments as well as private organizations can produce and distribute electricity without the federal administration breathing down their neck.

    A serious administration will create a lot of incentives in the gas sub-sector so that investments will flow into it. It will also encourage the exploitation of resources like coal so that it could serve as a major source of power;  our coal is among the best in the world, given its low sulphur content. In addition, it will aggressively explore alternative sources of energy like solar, water, wind, biomass, etc, in collaboration with international development agencies and friendly countries like Germany which have advanced technologies in this field. Such power should be off-grid, that is to say, generated and supplied to end users in the vicinity, instead of being sent to the transmission network. A serious administration should cause electricity distribution companies to provide pre-paid metres to consumers within 12 months of coming into being.

    It is no longer in dispute that the President Jonathan’s Electric Power Sector Reform, advertised as elixir for the crippling electricity mess, is a big flop—in fact, a national swindle. Instead of generating light, it is generating heat and darkness. It is not working because of a profound lack of sincerity of purpose, a profound lack of vision, a profound lack of commitment and a profound absence of depth and rigour.

    • Dr Ishaku and Engr Nwosu signed this article on behalf of Electricity Stakeholders Conference.
  • Boko Haram: Uduaghan solicits support for Jonathan

    Boko Haram: Uduaghan solicits support for Jonathan

    DELTA State Governor Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has called for support and collaboration with President Goodluck Jonathan to enable him tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.

    The governor, who spoke at a service at the Avenue Baptist Church, Warri, Delta State, said the support was necessary because of the peculiar security challenges facing the country.

    He said: “There is no President that faced the type of challenges our President is facing today. Let us rally round him and continue to pray for him and our brothers and sisters in the North because they are facing a lot of challenges.

    “As a nation, we have the challenge of Boko Haram. We should pray that those who do not want others to live will not also live.”

    Uduaghan scored his administration high in the area of security, noting that the peace and security agenda of his administration had ensured that gunshots, which were a familiar occurrence in Warri before his election, were no longer heard.

     

  • Jonathan and Automated Teller Machine

    There was a momentary uneasy calm in the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja on the last Thursday of last month during the Presidential launch of the new Nigerian national electronic identity card.

    The ATM brought for demonstration appeared malfunctioned, momentarily though.

    The machine was to demonstrate to the whole world, through televised transmission coverage at the occasion, the effectiveness of the use of the new identity card for carrying out financial transactions.

    President Goodluck Jonathan, who was to demonstrate with the machine after he was issued with his new national identity card at the occasion, had to make many cash withdrawal attempts before the machine could pay him.

    While he was battling with the machine for about four minutes, there was a pin-drop silence in the hall as everyone’s eyes were glued to the Access Bank ATM to see whether the card project was another white elephant project that would drain the national treasury.

    Many officials of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), which produced the new multi-purpose national identity card and the staff of the Access Bank, partners of the Commission and other stakeholders were visibly jittery in the hall while the President was trying his card on the machine in the full glare of the world.

    Worried by the scenario, someone adorning the official tag for the function whispered to a colleague of his: “This is going to be a national shame if this machine fails to pay the President.”

    The Master of Ceremonies’ voice that broke the silence in the hall as the President was making attempts on the machine might have provided the solution to the problem being posed by the machine.

    Sensing the uneasy calm in the hall and trying to give reason for Mr. President staying too long on the machine, the MC jokingly said that the President has been trying to make very big sum cash withdrawal from the machine.

    That might have been the saving grace for the day because the machine immediately paid the President as soon as a lower cash sum withdrawal request was made by him.

    Mr. President’s immediate display of the new N1, 000 notes for the whole world to see elicited jubilation in the hall.

    Before the unveiling of the card and the ATM demonstration, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIMC, Mr. Chris Onyemenam had made some presentation and showed video clips to the audience to highlight the usefulness of the card.

    Benefits of the new card, according to him, are fostering cashless economy, making life easier for Nigerians, fostering financial inclusion and access to credits, helping to eliminate ghost workers phenomenon, among other benefits.

    Other benefits of the card containing biometrics of the holder, advanced chip design and 13 applets, he said, include protection against identity theft and related fraud, improving law enforcement and national security, improving pension and tax administration, improving e-government and service delivery, enhancing social welfare programmes and subsidies, facilitating easy movement and travel as citizens will be able to assert their identity globally.

    President Jonathan was very happy with the launch of the card and could not hide his excitement and joy over the new multi-purpose card throughout the occasion.

    He said: “Of course, today is a very glorious day. We have seen as a nation that we are happy that NIMC has reached this level today. I am particularly pleased about NIMC because there are a number of things we are supposed to do well as a nation which we are not doing. And sometimes we blame government because of failure of the system and the credibility of the process.

    “If you take the issue of subsidy of transport, what we do is subsidising hydrocarbon. But it does not go to the ordinary people. Government spends huge sum of money running into hundreds of billions of Naira every year in the budget in this regard.

    “During the 2011 elections, there were crises in some states. Properties were burnt. But how do we address these issues? We set up committee to make inventories of things and take data of people, but by the time you want to make payment, the duplications will be so much. Those who are affected will not get the money.”

    But his happiness with NIMC was not the same for the Nigerian Security and Minting Company (NSMC) at the occasion as he expressed sadness with the performance of the NSMC over the years.

    He was particularly sad that Nigeria had to go abroad to print ballot papers for elections in Nigeria and international passport among other items that drain Nigeria’s hard earned foreign exchange.

    Regretting the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the NSMC, he said: “In fact, when I appointed the new Governor of the Central Bank Nigeria (CBN), I told him that the Nigerian Security and Minting Company must be reformed. The board must look into management and get choice global players who are into this business and partner with them.

    “There is no way we can do local government election, election of members of state Houses of Assembly, election of governors in Oyo, Ekiti, Adamawa and what we will use in those elections will be produced outside this country. Why is this so?

    “Other countries produce their needs; we claim to be a giant, a giant that will just send everything out. We empower others and do not create jobs for our people.  So, the NSMC must be restructured.”

  • Groups give Jonathan 21-day ultimatum to probe war crime allegations

    Nine civil society groups have urged President Goodluck Jonathan to set up an Independent Commission of Inquiry on war crimes as alleged by the Amnesty International in a recent report.

    They said the commission’s terms of reference should be wide enough to cover similar allegations made in the past by the Human Rights Watch and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

    The groups said they would go to court should the President fail to act within 21 days of receiving their petition.

    “If the government fails to do this, we will use all available legal avenues to press these demands, and vindicate the legal responsibility of government to undertake the actions requested,” they said.

    The report titled: “Nigeria: Gruesome footage implicates military in war crimes,” was accompanied by gory footage of security forces allegedly committing grievous violations of human rights which included detainees having their throats slit and their bodies dumped in mass graves by men who appear to be members of the Nigerian military and the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF).

    The groups are Access to Justice (AJ) (whose Executive Director Joseph Otteh signed the letter), One Voice Coalition for Sustainable Development in Nigeria (OneVOICE), Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), Human Rights Law Services (HURILAWS), Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Network on Police Reform in Nigeria Foundation (NOPRIN), Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association (NATA), Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG) and Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation (CENCOD).

    Noting past allegations of violations of human rights by security forces operating in Northeast, the groups observed that the government is bound to respect and defend the rights of its citizens, including those under suspicion for alleged crimes.

    On why an independent body is needed, the groups said: “The military clearly lacks the kind of independence required to conduct these investigations since the atrocities were allegedly committed by military operatives themselves.”

    They added: “Your government must now take deliberate action calculated to…end the culture of impunity reportedly flourishing within security forces fighting terror and insurgency and ensure that the rule of law is an integral part of any efforts to combat terrorism in Nigeria.”

    According to them, persons suspected of terrorism-related crimes are as entitled to the constitutionally guaranteed right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence.

    “The very idea of arbitrarily arresting persons who may or may not have any connection with terrorism and then slitting their throats before the evidence against them is presented in a proper forum is loathsome, barbaric and intolerably inhuman,” they said.

     

  • Jonathan in Chad for talks on terrorism

    Jonathan in Chad for talks on terrorism

    To forge stronger alliance against terrorism and violent extremism in the region, President Goodluck Jonathan will today in Ndjamena, Chad hold talks with his Chadian counterpart, President Idriss Deby.

    The talks in Ndjamena, according to a statement by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, is a follow up to their discussions in Nairobi last week on the sidelines of the African Union Peace and Security Council Summit.

    Jonathan and his host, who is also the current Chairman of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council, will discuss how to further actualise agreements for greater cooperation against insurgents and terrorists reached by Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon at a meeting in Paris earlier this year.

    The statement said: “Their talks are expected to lead to the strengthening of the Paris Accord on joint border patrols, intelligence sharing and the prevention of the illicit movement of terrorists, criminals, arms and ammunition across shared borders.”

    President Jonathan is accompanied by the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the Minister of State for Foreign  Affairs,  Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed and the Director General of the National Space Research and Development Agency, Professor Sheidu Mohammed.

    Before returning to Abuja tomorrow, President Jonathan will also be a Special Guest of Honour at an international conference on Information Technology and Communication holding in Ndjamena.

  • APC faults Jonathan’s directive on ballot papers

    APC faults Jonathan’s directive on ballot papers

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the Presidential directive that all electoral materials must be printed by the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) as a threat to the independence of electoral agency INEC and the organisation of a free, fair and credible elections in the country.

    In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the directive is suspicious because it was followed by the dissolution of the management of the NSPMC, which may be a ploy by the President to inject PDP card-carrying members into the reconstituted management so that the company could become another rigging tool in the 2015 general elections.

    ‘’On the surface, there is nothing wrong in having the NSPMC print electoral materials, since this will translate to more jobs for Nigerians and save money. However, against the background of the PDP-led Federal Government’s abuse of national institutions like the military and the police, which are used as the enforcement arms of the PDP during elections, it will be dangerous to have the Federal Government take control of the printing of ballot papers and other electoral materials via the NSPMC.

    ‘’Secondly, where is the independence of INEC when the President can just direct it by fiat to do its bidding? INEC should be left to determine where to print its electoral materials to ensure the integrity of such materials.

    ‘’Thirdly, asking the CBN Governor, an appointee of the President, to now oversee the ‘reform’ of the NSPMC, and the Governor’s promptitude in visiting INEC over the presidential directive, raise more questions. While the CBN is a part owner of the NSPMC, it is not INEC’s supervisory ministry and should not tamper with its duties,’’ it said.

    The APC said the bottom line is that INEC should be left alone to carry out its onerous duties without interference from any quarters whatsoever.

    ‘’There should be a limit to the desperation of President Jonathan and his party to win the 2015 elections at all costs. They have perfected the use of the security forces, especially the military, the police and the DSS, to harass and intimidate the opposition during elections. While the whole nation is still trying to get them to stop abusing the security forces, they should not draft another institution into the election rigging fray,’’ the party added.