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Tag: Jonathan

  • Proposed ban on Tokunbo cars not meant to cause hardship — Jonathan

    Proposed ban on Tokunbo cars not meant to cause hardship — Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has said the government’s   auto policy is not designed to cause hardship for Nigerians as being feared by some Nigerians.

    The policy will ultimately ban the importation of used cars popularly known as ‘Tokunbo’.

    Receiving a delegation  of the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) at the Presidential Villa,Abuja yesterday,President  Jonathan  said the policy would  be the best for the country on the long run.

    According to him, once cars  begin to be assembled in the country,a lot of Nigerian youths will be gainfully employed.

    He commended the RTEAN for its support for the policy,saying: “ We cannot come up with policy that will punish Nigerians, else I will abort it immediately.

    “The country losses $4 billion to importation, but by the time that is spent on assembling and manufacturing, it will create jobs.”

    President Jonathan was optimistic 2014 would be  better for Nigeria and Nigerians than 2013.

    “We should not be intimidated by challenges. We have to confront them in a way that will bring peace, unity and development of the country”,he said.

    In his speech read earlier, the Executive National President of the RTEAN, Musa Isiwele, said the union was ready to partner the Federal Government on  its plan to create 1.5 million jobs nationwide in the next one year.

    He said the association had flagged off a special mass transit scheme of 4,000 units of exotic brands of taxis and commercial buses/vehicles as part of efforts to support the efforts of government to achieve safe, comfortable and effective road transport service delivery.

    They demanded Federal Government’s Concessionary Sovereign Guarantee for loans and tarriff waivers on all vehicles imported by the RTEAN and land allocation for the establishment of world-class ultra-modern transit motor parks in each geopolitical zone of the federation with three to be established in Abuja to further add value to the FCT.

  • Jonathan urges clean politics

    Jonathan urges clean politics

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday called on politicians to turn a new leaf in 2014 and place national interest above others. This, in his view, will make Nigeria great.

    Dr. Jonathan spoke at the Catholic Church in Area 3, Abuja, where he joined the congregation at the New Year service.

    According to him, the time has come for all politicians to begin to plan for the next generation, instead of wasting energy on their own personal interests.

    He noted that Nigeria has the potentials not only to be great but to provide leadership for Africa.

    This year, the President stressed, will be better than last year. Sustainable power supply will be attained from the middle of this year, Jonathan said.

    He said: “All what we need to do is to make sure that we continue to do things rightly. That is why I always plead with my fellow politicians that yes we must play the politics, but let us take the interest of the country more than our own individual interest. And as we continue to play the politics in that direction, leaders will come and go but the country will stay.

    “Luckily, we have a Constitution that says that nobody will be a governor or president forever. It is only in the parliament that you can be there till you die. As long as we consider the interest of our country, children, grand children and we begin to plan for the next generation instead of wasting all our energies to think about ourselves, before we get to the next 100 years, the country will be better. Nigeria can even change in the next few years and things will be better for everybody.”

    The President also pointed out that Nigeria is not alone in all the challenges it is facing as they are global phenomena.

    He said: “Just like the senate president mentioned, the world as a whole is facing a lot of challenges within this period. If you put on your television and if you turn the newspapers, there are always breaking news and the breaking news are not positive news. Whenever I see breaking news, you know there is one crisis somewhere in the world.

    “We are reading about crises everywhere. And our country too, unfortunately, we also have our own fair share of crises. The issue of Boko Haram and the excesses of the militia groups, kidnapping in southern Nigeria. Boko Haram terrorist activities in the northern part of the country, but government is committed ….”

    Pointing out that some of the challenges in Nigeria started when there was no proper security architectural design in place, he said: “We are improving everyday. We have our challenges but there is significant progress.”

    The President promised that his administration would not rest until it stops the crises.

    “With your commitment, with your prayers for us as a nation, we will surely get to where we want to go,” he added.

    On the economy, Jonathan said: “As we enter this New Year, we will surely get our economy to continue to move in the right direction and in the direction we want it to move. We shall continue to work hard to make sure that not just that the economy will be growing based on economic parameters and indices, but that jobs are available for our young men and women and that food is cheap in our markets for ordinary people to buy and eat. That is the commitment of government.”

    To totally deliver dividends of democracy and good governance in Nigeria, he promised to work hard with the National Assembly, his cabinet and other government officials.

    He continued: “Despite our challenges, all what we continue to request from you is your continuous prayers because we believe …. And luckily we are in a Christian congregation, we believe that no matter what an individual thinks he is, if God doesn’t want you to succeed in achieving anything, you will not. You will get so close to it but at the end of the day, you will not get it.

    “And I believe God is with u. I believe God blessed this country because if you travel to other places and you see the way, no matter the challenges Nigerians have…. , you go to some countries, some of our brothers and sisters because of their desperation tend to do things that are anti-social. Some are even in prisons and so on.

    “But still, there is enormous respect for this country. People believe that Nigeria is a country that can continue to lead the continent of Africa. We have countries that are ahead of us in terms of the economy, in terms of technology but they still believe that Nigeria is the country that will lead this continent because they have seen the potentials in our country.”

    Dr. Jonathan recalled his meeting with United State President Barack Obamaa, who spoke about Nigerians potential to be great.

    He said: “I remember the second time I met President Obama after the 2011 elections and he said that Nigeria has the potential to lead Africa and Nigeria has the potential to be a great country. He said in America, there are over 25,000 Nigerian medical consultants working in the health system, not just people with MBBS, but consultants; over 25,000 …. And that today, if all these Nigerians leave, they will have a lot of challenges in the health system of America. And that is the President of the number one country now. He believes that Nigeria has a lot of potentials.”

    On Nigeria’s centenary celebration, the President said: “Surely, the country will get to where it wants to get to. Today is a special day, very special. 1st January, 2014 because we have been informing you that the amalgamation of our country to what we now call Nigeria happened on the 1st of January, 1914. Today, modern Nigeria is one hundred years old.”

    “The formal ceremony will take place by late February. The programme will soon be advertised for all Nigerians to see and know the areas they will participate because it is a programme for all of us. All the religious houses will be involved in one form of prayer or the other.

    “So, today, we are not just celebrating the new year but we are also celebrating a special new year. A new year that Nigeria, modern Nigeria, is 100 years. And we use this period to begin to think what will be Nigeria in the next 100 years.”

    “Not just to celebrate 100 years of the amalgamation of northern protectorate and southern protectorate to make the modern Nigeria, but what will be the future of our children, our grandchildren in the next 100 years. That is what occupies our mind. That is what we must all focus our attention on.”

    Insisting that everything will be better in the New Year, Jonathan said: “By God’s grace, this country will be better in 2014. Even in the power sector that people always make reference to, since we have been able to do the first phase of privatisation and generation and distribution have been handed over to the private sector, we believe that even before the middle of this year, power will be reasonably stable and that will stimulate the economy. I believe and I am convinced that 2014 will be a better year than 2013.”

    Jonathan earlier took the First Reading from Numbers, Chapter 6, verses 22 to 27.

    Delivering his sermon on the “Octive of Christmas”, the Catholic Arch-Bishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, noted that despite the challenges, Nigeria is still better than many countries. No one is molested in practising his or her faith.

    Stressing that respect for one another’s faith is an essential ingredient for peace and unity, he said that some clergymen are not helping to sustain peace and unity in the country.

    He said: “In our country Nigeria, do we see each other as brothers and sisters? We form cycles of exclusivity. The way some clergy leaders talk and behave, it is as if we don’t have one God. What a tragedy.

    “Our society is polarised more along ethnic lines. There is more need for fraternity among the churches; otherwise we shall not be the salt and light of the world.”

    Apart from open violence and conflicts, Cardinal Onaiyekan said that the Pope has also called attention to the less cruel wars being fought through economic and financial policies, which he said are killing more people across the globe.

    “My brothers and sisters, these problems are not only in our nation. You only need to read the Pope’s letter to realise that all over the world, we have problems of corruption, human trafficking, drug abuse, not to talk of wars and fratricidal killings. We ask you Lord to come to our aid and defend our nation.”

    Picking on corruption and security, the clergy urged God to grant leaders the wisdom to do what is right.

    Senate President David Mark promised that the National Assembly would cooperate with the executive to ensure that security challenges are overcome.

    “We must not politicise the issue of security in this country. In 2014, we will ensure that security challenges in Nigeria are overcome,” he said, without giving details.

    At the service were the President’s mother, Helen Jonathan, Chief of Staff Mike Ogiadhome, Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs Kingsley Kuku, Senator Philip Aduda and Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.

  • Jonathan’s N7b ‘talk show’

    Jonathan’s N7b ‘talk show’

    Just how much the presidency plans to spend on its controversial national confab expected to hold this year shows that the project will be as much about talking as it will be about money. Of course, it was anticipated that the dialogue would have significant financial implication; nevertheless, the figure of N7 billion projected for it certainly stretches the imagination. The Federal Government’s 2014 budget proposal, which puts the cost of hosting the conference at such eye-popping level, deserves to be viewed with suspicion.

    In particular, it is difficult to avoid distrust of the planned expenditure for the dialogue because there is curiously no breakdown of how the funds will be spent. Indeed, it would appear that this seeming omission is actually a commission. What could be the possible explanation for the oddity of presenting a total figure without defining its details? It suggests that perhaps the details don’t add up, or won’t add up. Also, it would amount to a fraudulent approach if the calculation is to get the budget estimate passed by the legislature before providing the desirable details.

    The bottom line here is that this is an unacceptable, if not condemnable, budgeting style. It should be expected that such absence of “full disclosure” would be rejected by the legislature, which would hopefully insist that Nigerians ought to have a full picture of the projected cost of the dialogue before it is passed. Failing to send this message to the executive in the strongest of terms would be grave dereliction of duty.

    However, there is the tragic possibility that the exclusion may be a deliberate attempt by the administration to provoke a situation, and thereby delay the passing of the budget figures for ulterior motives. Regrettably, holding up the approval of the budget will not be without precedent as the last two years witnessed serious disagreements over budget figures, resulting in delayed legislative consent. While it may be puzzling that government could be interested in pursuing this particular path, isn’t it even more perplexing that, wittingly or unwittingly, it left room for such counter-productive confusion? The country’s experience teaches that the ways of politics and politicians are mysterious and you really can’t put anything past them, no matter how absurd it may seem.

    To appreciate the importance of the missing information, it is relevant to highlight a similar project designed by former president Olusegun Obasanjo who in January 2005 sought legislative approval of N932 million to fund a three-month National Political Reform Conference. Significantly, the Obasanjo administration gave a breakdown as follows : delegates would earn N21.68 million as sitting allowance and N650.25 million as allowances in lieu of accommodation; N1.7 million for return tickets from London, Washington, Beijing and Johannesburg in addition to N28, 800 for return flights to Abuja for the inaugural session and subsequent conference meetings; N14, 400 for delegates for airport taxi and local transportation within Abuja ; provision for, at least, two CVU long wheel cars to be hired and fuelled at N2.9 million.

    So why did President Goodluck Jonathan apparently shun this path of reason? The nine-year gap between the two projects cannot explain this essential difference in specification. More importantly, the massive distance between Obasanjo’s figure of N932 million and Jonathan’s N7 billion cannot be on account of time factor alone. Furthermore, before apologists of the Jonathan administration identify inflation as a definitive factor responsible for the mind-boggling difference in costing, it should be pointed out that even such argument is farfetched.

    The most baffling aspect of Jonathan’s “talk show” is the fact that figures are being fixed while it is still unclear how the process will be organised, how long it will take, how many people will participate, among other key considerations. This is certainly a bad example of how to make budgets, or a good example of how not to make budgets.

  • Will Jonathan divide Nigeria?

    Will Jonathan divide Nigeria?

    The circumstance that surrounded President Goodluck Jonathan’s ascendancy to the nation’s highest office made him popular. Most Nigerians thought he would deliver the much-sought dividends of democracy considering his meek demeanour and amiable manner, despite being a member of a despised political party. He was given a chance but to our consternation, he has shown his true colour.

    What was not clear to Nigerians then, which is now apparent, was that his amiable visage masked his divisive tendency, which is now tearing the country apart.

    Because of his ambition, all zones, states, religious groups, the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) and even his political party – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – have been fractured.

    We should have seen through his divisive trait during the 2011 presidential electioneering when he sat on the fence as the zoning debate raged. In the end, the zoning policy of his party was jettisoned for him to run. Many political leaders in the North hooted and cried but no one could change the new political equation; that event resulted in the crack being witnessed in the PDP today.

    Upon the declaration of President Jonathan as the winner of the 2011 election, two catastrophic events followed, which deepened the division in along regional, ethnic and religious lines. One is the post-election violence that ravaged the North, targeting especially Jonathan’s supporters. The other is the escalation of Boko Haram’s activities under his watch, which grew from sectarian crime to full blown terrorism. This has further set the North against the South and Muslims against Christians.

    Instead of looking for a way to unite the country, the president is the one leading an attack against the unity of the country. President Jonathan and his goons invaded Rivers State where he is battling a governor whose remain an accusation that the governor is nursing an ambition to be Vice President in 2015.

    In his bid to crush opposition to his ambition, a new mathematics was introduced to the nation. An election that clearly won by Rotimi Amaechi with 19 vote to 16 of his opponent – Gov. Jonah Jang; Jonathan’s candidate – was turned upside down. In PDP’s mathematics, 16 is greater 19. President Jonathan, a supposed academic, believed this and congratulated the loser.

    With the help of the police, five lawmakers loyal to Jonathan in Rivers State House of Assembly got a phony mace to start a proceeding that political watchers said could lead to the impeachment of Amaechi. In a house of 32 lawmakers, five of them wanted to carry out an impeachment process. Another bad mathematics here.

    The fracas that broke out from the process further dented the battered image of the nation among the comity of nations. What followed was the suspension of Amaechi from PDP. While the PDP leadership succumbed to pressure in lifting the suspension of Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, apparently for supporting Amaechi, that of the latter was not reversed.

    Incidentally, the entire PDP hierarchy, including governors and members of the National Working Committee, is divided principally over Jonathan’s reelection bid. Instead of seeking ways to bridge the division, it would appear that Jonathan is fuelling it by setting up one group against the other.

    The problem in PDP reached its saturation point with Jonathan’s meddlesomeness in the election of officials to the National Working Committee of the PDP.

    He set up a committee of loyalists to screen applicants against the July convention of the party, hoping to get only loyalists elected to the NWC. The end product is further division within the party as some aggrieved seven governors walked out of the convention in protest against the irregularities. This led to the creation of a factional party known as nPDP. What followed afterwards is now history.

    It is no doubt that the president’s hope to win re-election by riding on divisions along various divides is already heating the polity and also threatening the existence of the nation. The president seems to have been battle ready to use all the powers at his disposal, including Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the police to return himself to Aso Villa in 2015.

    With the emergence of All Progressives Congress (APC) as a viable opposition party and with its continuous spread across the country, couple with the North’s seemingly opposition to Jonathan’s candidacy and the masses’ palpable displeasure with Jonathan’s leadership style, the battle line seems to have been drawn.

    This is evident from the accusations and counter-accusations, name callings and war of words from individuals, groups, religious, ethnic and political affiliations threatening war should Jonathan re-contest or the 2015 election rigged. However, we may not know the full effects of these divisions and threats until the presidential campaigns begin in late 2014 and early 2015.

    With the day of decision around the corner, these questions become pertinent: Would Jonathan still contest the 2015 presidential election considering the daunting challenges ahead of him? Would he pack out of Aso Villa honourably when he is voted against, or would he rig the election and damn the consequences? Would the president end up breaking the country?

     

    •Olalekan, 300-Level Law, UNILORIN

  • Jonathan and the letter to Obasanjo

    If the president’s uninspiring response to the weighty issues his godfather had raised in his December 2, 18-page letter about the shortcomings of his administration was all the committee he appointed to draft a reply came up with, the president should consider that as a betrayal. They have done great injustice to the president as a statesman either due to incompetence or because they are self-serving sycophants that have succeeded in capturing the president as alleged by Obasanjo.

    In any case, if moaning, name-calling and bellyaching were the answers to the issues ex-President Obasanjo had identified, what many of us have said of Obasanjo and his brand of politics would have been sufficient. In this regard, help for the presidency even came from an unlikely quarters, Iyabo Obasanjo, the ex-president beloved daughter. Her alleged letter to his father which our peerless columnist Olatunji Dare says “is perfuse with contempt, ridicule, scorn, and loathing abhorrence of the most visceral kind”, inflicted more damage to her father’s reputation than Jonathan’s abuses could have ever achieved.

    Just as we have said of Obasanjo who calls himself ‘Mr. Nigeria’, who Jonathan, his godson has since reminded us does not own Nigeria, of trying to define his baleful legacies including imposition of Jonathan on Nigeria, it is also obvious Jonathan was motivated only by concern for survival and his legacies and not about Nigerians. This came out clearly from the tenth reason he advanced for responding to his godfather’s letter. “The tenth and final reason why my reply is inevitable”, he says, “is that you have written similar letters and made public comments in reference to all former Presidents and Heads of Government starting from Alhaji Shehu Shagari and these have instigated different actions and reactions. The purpose and direction of your letter is distinctly ominous…” Consequently, nearly everything the president says in his letter is about his own survival and legacies which he like his godfather erroneously thinks he can define.

    Thus, on Obasanjo’s appeal that the president as the leader of PDP takes some measures to prevent the imminent collapse of the party, Jonathan says he is a better PDP leader than Obasanjo backing his position with a long list of PDP founding fathers he rightly claimed Obasanjo frustrated out of PDP.

    On corruption that has become a source of embarrassment to even friends of Nigeria including the late revered Nelson Mandela, Barack Obama and Britain’s Cameron, he says to Obasanjo,: ‘You will recall that your kinsman, the renowned afro-beat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti famously sang about it during your first stint as Head of State. Even in this Fourth Republic, the Siemens and Halliburton scandals are well known. And for a good effect, he added ‘sons of some of our party leaders are currently facing trial for their involvement in the celebrated subsidy scam affair. I can hardly be blamed if the wheels of justice still grind very slowly in our country’.

    On kidnapping and armed robbery, President Jonathan shot back “it is just as well to remind you that the first major case of kidnapping for ransom took place around 2006. And the Boko Haram crisis dates back to 2002. Goodluck Jonathan was not the President of the country then. Also, armed robbery started in this country immediately after the civil war and since then, it has been’.

    In response to what he described as the most ‘invidious allegation of training snipers to assassinate political opponents’, he said: ‘I have never been associated with any form of political violence. There have certainly been cases of political assassination since the advent of our Fourth Republic, but as you well know, none of them occurred under my leadership.’

    On the president’s alleged undertaking to serve for six years; he turned the heat on his godfather accusing him of a resolve to ‘embark on a virulent campaign to harass (him) out of an undeclared candidature for the 2015 presidential elections so as to pave the way for a successor anointed by Obasanjo.’

    The first nine other reasons the president gave as justification for responding to Obasanjo were equally all about Jonathan: three un investigated assassination attempts on his life in 2007, his administration better score card in foreign relations compared to Obasanjo’s; his administration’s attraction of $25.7 billion FDI in just three years compared to Obasanjo’s $24.9 billion in seven years, and his creation of level playing ground for Labour in Ondo and APGA in Anambra governorship elections unlike Obasanjo who favoured some PDP candidates (short of admitting Obasanjo had rigged for PDP candidates in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun).

    Many Nigerians must have felt diminished by President Jonathan’s letter. Jonathan was already our vice president when Obama became American President. Obama inherited a deeply divided and disillusioned American society facing two wars and saddled with $16 trillion foreign debt. When his aides started moaning and bellyaching about the legacies of Republicans and their half-educated President George Bush jnr., Obama coolly admonished them insisting American voters elected him to solve those problems. In other words he wouldn’t have been elected president if those challenges were not there.

    But let us for a moment even concede it to the president that he is overwhelmed by challenges of his office, a domestic insurrection by Boko Haram, punctured and leaking PDP family umbrella that once provided sanctuary for all manners of characters from which some elected PDP governors and legislators have since escaped seeking refuge under APC, crisis in his home Bayelsa and Rivers fuelled by Nyesom Wike, supervising minister of education who swears by the name of the president’s wife, kleptomaniac ministers, etc, but what can we say of belligerent and combative advisers, paid through the public purse to protect the president but chose moaning and name-calling as answers to daunting issues merely echoed by Obasanjo?

    Nigerians are not amused that the president chose to agonise over the un-investigated assassinations attempts on his life back in 2007 when he was a governor and vice presidential candidate. What Nigerian expected of the president who has been in power for close to five years was to have revisited not only the attempt on his life but other high profile assassination of his PDP family members like Marshall Harry, Aminasoari Dikibo, Funsho Williams, and others like Chief Alfred Rewane, and Bola Ige, an attorney general killed in his house under the nose of those detailed to protect him. Does a crime cease being a crime because there is a change of guard at the presidency? Once again, Nigerians are not asking the president and his advisers to invent the wheel. They can take a cue from Barack Obama’s five year crusade against American Congress over the battle to allow the 558 detainees in Guantanamo Bay detention Camp in Cuba face criminal charges in American courts or repatriated back to their respective countries.

    Nigerians feel insulted by President Jonathan’s advisers’ trivialization of problem of corruption by making reference to Obasanjo’s kinsman singing about corruption during Obasanjo’s first coming as Head of State. Instead of addressing the serious issues of corruption, it amounts to bringing governance to kindergarten level as alleged by Chief Bisi Akande, the APC interim chairman. The president must not be deceived by his self-serving advisers. Nigerians are angry about Jonathan’s lack of political will to fight corruption as alleged by the speaker of the lower house. Nigerians are angry he has laid a bad precedent by pardoning convicted Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who is also wanted for money laundering in Britain. Nigerians feel insulted and taken for granted by Jonathan’s silence on ‘Oduahgate’ after a House Committee’s indictment.

    Nigerians want their God-fearing president who was given a landslide victory in 2011 because they trusted him, to revisit the KPMG report on NNPC, the Ribadu report on fuel subsidy theft and the House Committee Report on fuel subsidy scandal. Our jobless youths whose future is being mortgaged want the president who was once a ‘shoeless’ youth, to revisit the House Committee Report on Privatization that recommended some of the companies given away to cronies at next to nothing, be taken back by the state so as to create job opportunities for some of our army of unemployed.

  • ‘How Supreme Court wrongly freed Bode George’

    ‘How Supreme Court wrongly freed Bode George’

    Lagos lawyer and activist Femi Falana (SAN) criticises the Supreme Court judgment which quashed the conviction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Bode George.

    In criticising the lack of commitment of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration to the anti-corruption crusade

    commentators have often failed to pay sufficient attention to the penchant of Nigerian courts to dismiss corruption cases on the altar of technicalities. It is on record that many corruption cases filed against members of the ruling class by the anti-graft agencies have been dismissed in the last few weeks on flimsy grounds. On the contrary, the courts have had no difficulty in convicting petty criminals and sentencing them to long terms of imprisonment for stealing telephone handsets, bush meat, tubers of yam etc on account of poverty. In reviewing the anti-corruption war, therefore, the class character of the nation’s neo-colonial legal system should always be taken into consideration.

    Last month, the case involving the missing hundreds of millions of naira from the Universal Basic Education Fund was struck out by the Federal High Court. A fortnight ago, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal struck out the criminal case filed against some bank chiefs by the EFCC on the ground that the Lagos State High Court lacks the jurisdiction to try them for allegedly stealing billions of Naira through the manipulation of the capital market. On December 13, 2013, the Federal Capital Territory High Court struck out the charge of stealing government land and allocating same to his wife and other family members filed against Mr. Nasir El-Rufai when it upheld his no case submission while the Supreme Court discharged and acquitted Chief Olabode George and other former members of the Nigeria Ports Authority on the ground that the offence of contract splitting was unknown to law at the material time.

    This review is limited to the case of Chief Olabode George & co. for two reasons. Firstly, the EFCC has decided to appeal against the judgments, which freed the other accused persons. Secondly, the verdict of the Supreme Court has serious implications for the nation’s criminal law jurisprudence. More so, that the finding of the apex court that the appellants were tried and convicted for contract splitting is not borne out of the records of both the trial court and the Court of Appeal. In other words, the Lagos High Court had convicted them of the offences of abuse of powers and disobedience to lawful order contrary to sections 104 and 203 of the Lagos State Criminal Code. However, while congratulating the appellants on removing the stigma of infamy from their names it cannot be denied that the outcome of the case is a major setback for the anti corruption crusade.

     

    The right to criticise court judgments

    Before one is accused of committing contempt of court for commenting on the controversial judgment, it is pertinent to point out that the right to criticise the judgments of courts is part of the fundamental right of every citizen to freedom of expression guaranteed by section 39 of the Constitution. Accordingly, the Supreme Court has always welcomed a constructive criticism of its decisions having regards to their finality and overall impact on the nation’s legal system. In Adegoke Motors v Adesanya (1989) 3 N.W.L.R. (Pt 109) 250 at 274-275, the reverred Chukwudifu Oputa J.S.C alluded to the finality of the decisions of the Supreme Court when he said that “we are final not because we are infallible, rather we are infallible because we are final. Justices of this Court are human beings capable of erring. It will be shortsighted arrogance not to accept this obvious truth”.

    In the same vein, the late Justice Kayode Eso said in the case of Adigun v Governor of Oyo State (No 2) 2 N.W.R (Pt 56) 197 at 214-215 that “the decision of the Supreme Court is final. Final in the sense of real finality in so far as the particular case before it is concerned. It is final forever, except there is legislation to the contrary, and it has to be a legislation ad hominem”. In recognition of the enormous powers of the apex court Justice Eso was of the view that “It is such dread powers that must necessitate great care in the calibre of the Court and such dread that must necessitate pungent and constructive analytical criticism of every judgment of the Court in the law journals and similar fora”. In reaction to the view of some judges and lawyers that it is contemptuous to subject decisions of courts to criticism Justice Eso stated that “the judgment of a court should not be treated with sacred sanctity, once it gets to the right critical forum”.

     

    Where the supreme court erred in law

    In the case of Chief Bode George & co. the appellants were tried, convicted and sentenced to various prison terms by the Lagos High Court on October 26, 2009 for abuse of powers and disobedience of lawful orders. Completely displeased with the verdict, the appellants challenged it on appeal. In its considered judgment delivered on January 21, 2011, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the learned trial judge, Olubunmi Oyewole J. Still dissatisfied the appellants further appealed to the Supreme Court. In its judgment handed down a fortnight ago the Supreme Court set aside the concurrent findings of both the Lagos High Court and the Court of Appeal with respect to the conviction of the appellants.

    In discharging and acquitting them the apex court held that the offence of contract splitting was unknown to law at the time the appellants were tried and convicted by the Lagos High Court. In his leading judgment the Honourable Justice John Afolabi Fabiyi held inter alia: “It occurred to me that Section 203 of the Criminal Code is not in tune with the dictate of Section 36 (12) of the 1999 Constitution. That being the position, the charges filed under section 203 of the said Code ostensibly for splitting contract in disobedience of lawful order by constituted authority cannot stand … I say it with utmost confidence that the same position applies to the provision of Section 104 of the said Criminal Code. Acts said to have constituted arbitrary acts resulting in abuse of office are splitting of contracts which were not offences known to law at the material time.”

    It is submitted, without any fear of contradiction, that the appellants were not charged for contract splitting by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission but for “abuse of powers” and “disobedience of lawful order” contrary to sections 104 and 203 of the Criminal Code of Lagos State respectively. In summarising the unassailable judgment of the learned trial judge, Clara Ogunbiyi JCA (as she then was) had, in her lead judgment, said the appellants were arraigned “on 68 counts of offences bordering on inflation of contracts, conspiracy to disobey lawful orders and abuse of office …”

    Since both sections 104 and 203 have been part of the Criminal Code as far back as 1914 it is unbelievable that the Supreme Court held that the appellants were charged under an unknown law. The crime of disobedience to lawful order by splitting contracts was not unknown before the enactment of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. In the instant case, contract splitting was a particular of the offence and not the offence alleged against the appellants. But for some inexplicable reasons, the apex court substituted the particular for the offence and arrived at a wrong conclusion. Curiously, the Supreme Court conveniently ignored the finding of the Court of Appeal that the appellants violated sections 104 and 203 of the Criminal Code when they awarded contracts beyond their approval limits which was “borne out by evidence from all the witnesses on both sides”.

    Although it has been established in a plethora of cases decided by the Supreme Court that an appellate court has no power to disturb the finding of a lower court which is not challenged on appeal. But for reasons best known to the apex court it decided to depart from the settled principle of law in discharging and acquitting the appellants. From the record of appeal it is indisputable that the Court of Appeal had unanimously agreed with the prosecution that the intention to defraud the nation was proved beyond reasonable doubt by the conduct of the appellants who consistently approved contracts of several billions of naira beyond their approval limit. There was not a single ground of appeal that attacked that particular crucial finding of the lower court. Yet the Supreme Court decided, albeit illegally, to tamper with the finding of the court below and proceeded to hold that the prosecution failed to prove the guilt of the appellants.

    The most embarrassing aspect of the judgment was that the Supreme Court annulled two provisions of the Criminal Code of Lagos without hearing from the Attorney-General of Lagos State in line with established practice. With profound respect to their Lordships there is no legal justification whatsoever for declaring sections 104 and 203 of the Criminal Code illegal and unconstitutional. No doubt, the attention of the apex court was not drawn to the undeniable fact that Section 104 of the Criminal Code is in pari materia with Section 9 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers set out in Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution which has created the offence of abuse of power. Therefore, Section 104 of the Criminal Code cannot be said to be unconstitutional since the same Constitution has created the offence of “abuse of powers”.

     

    Conclusion

    As the verdict of the apex court was based on wrong legal foundation its validity remains questionable. Although the appellants have been exculpated, it is hoped that the Supreme Court will soon have another opportunity to reverse the highly erroneous judgment so as to restore sections 104 and 203 of the Lagos State Criminal Code which were struck down for no justifiable legal reasons. However, the case of Chief Bode George & co. should not be treated in isolation as it is now the trend to strike out or dismiss charges filed against members of the bourgeoisie. To that extent, decision of the Supreme Court should be seen as an audacious expression of class solidarity.

    Perhaps, majority of Nigerians are not aware of the fact that out of the over 400 convictions which the EFCC has secured in the 10 years of its existence, only four members of the political class have been successfully prosecuted through dubious plea bargain deals. In the circumstance, instead of wasting the meagre resources allocated to the anti-graft agencies on securing convictions which are going to be set aside in favour of members of the ruling class it is high time the Federal Government stopped charging politically exposed persons and other influential criminal suspects to court. In the atmosphere of impunity in the land judges should equally stop the immoral practice of railroading petty criminals to jail.

     

  • The President’s pets

    The President’s pets

    If we say N34m is too much for two animals, we should pray they don’t die because we will spend more to bury them

    Poverty has always been and will indeed always be a disease. This was the impression I had on December 24 when I saw the lead headline in one of the national dailies titled “Villa zoo: Jonathan budgets millions of naira for animals”. According to the report, the Presidency is to spend N34million on two wild animals in the State House Zoo, and car trackers for presidential ground fleet and utility vehicles, next year. What a mouthful! Of the sum, N14.5million is the cost of the two animals. The paper even wanted to know the names of the two animals. Can you imagine!

    I know the question on the lips of many is: how many workers that amount of money will cover at a minimum pay of N18,000 per month? Managers that are poorly remunerated too will, instead of fighting for enhanced salaries, begin to query the sense in spending such stupendous amount on animals. But that is where the problem is. How on earth can anyone make such comparison? Compare minimum wage earners with animals that are privileged to be in the State House? Or managers who are poorly paid? Come off it!

    There is nothing unusual in what the President has done. In my primary school days, we were taught something about prevention of cruelty to animals. That was when the country still had its soul intact, though. We have since forgotten the agency charged with that responsibility. I do not blame people who feel we should not spend much on animals because of what is happening around us, even among human beings. With Boko Haram, we cannot be talking about cruelty to animals because Boko Haram is probably the height of man’s cruelty to man. As is usual with my people in Yoruba land, we have a saying or proverb for virtually anything under the sun. In this instance, they will tell you something translated to mean that a dog cannot be snoring when a human being is yet to find a place to sleep. I beg to disagree.

    Moreover, critics who may want to take on the president for splashing so much on beasts must have forgotten that he is a zoologist. He has a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Zoology. He also holds an M.Sc. in Hydrobiology/Fisheries biology, and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt. So, it is natural that he must feel for pets. As a matter of fact, we should not be surprised if the president sends a supplementary budget to the National Assembly for money to give some fishes a similar treat. The legislators should not hesitate to approve such supplementary budget proposal when it comes. After all, good life is not an exclusive preserve of the beasts of England, or beasts of Ireland, but for beasts of every land and clime; not forgetting those in Nigeria’s seat of power.

    A few months back when I wrote on one of the greatest table tennis stars of our era, Lekan Fenuyi, I mentioned how he was pampered by the authorities of Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode, where he was at the time. I talked about how the principal called him out for special recognition in the assembly hall after one of his exploits and pronounced him ‘the king’s goat’. Thereafter, his life in the school was no longer the same. I cannot remember the details of the privileges he enjoyed after that proclamation (as it were), but they were not the usual privileges. If a man far from the seat of power could be so privileged, and only on account of a proclamation by a school principal, why should animals that have the rare opportunity of living in a place like the Aso Rock Villa not be more than pampered? Many Nigerians will never be privileged to visit Aso rock in their lifetime; yet, some animals have the rare opportunity of being raised there. And some of us are complaining, instead of thanking God for the lives of the lucky pets and pray that God should also take us there someday.

    Mind you, these are not the kind of animals anyone can harass, and they are conscious of this fact themselves. Take the case of what we call agric fowls, for instance. They are different from the fowls raised in the village. When an agric fowl sees you, it ignores you, but not the fowl raised in the village which has known even before it was hatched that there can be nothing like true love between man and fowl; that when a man keeps feeding a fowl well, it is in anticipation of the day he would kill it for food. The fowls raised in the village know that the hearts of man towards fowls are full of evil. So, even if you pretend as if you want to give the village fowl food, it keeps a reasonable distance from you. You run and sweat before you can catch it. But not the agric fowl, which literally throws itself at you and offers a little resistance even when being led to the slaughter slab.

    The President’s pets enjoy better privileges, or should I say rights! President Jonathan’s fascination for the animals might also be due to the non-appreciative nature of man. This is a President that has done so much for Nigeria and Nigerians; yet, all he gets are abuses and criticisms, with people writing all kinds of unnecessary letters warning him before it is too late. Perhaps if the President showers a little of the affection he has been wasting on human beings on animals, the animals will be much more grateful. As a zoologist, he understands the language of the pets which not even the dreaded Boko Haram can have access to. Indeed, it is a privilege to get to them. They are like the agric fowl that I talked about. The difference between them and ordinary agric fowls is that you mess up with them at your own risk. Even dignitaries who visit where they are kept in Aso Rock must smile or laugh heartily if the President is the one taking them round the zoo. Those complaining about how costly it is to maintain the animals had better pray that none of them should die anytime soon. It is then they will know that their burial expenses are far more than the cost to keep them alive. Flags may be ordered hoisted at half-mast, with the President declaring some days of national mourning . Some of the country’s ‘who’s who’ may turn professional criers, weeping not necessarily for the dead pet/s but because they want to be identified with the President in such moments. As for the paper that is asking for the pets’ names, it would be shocked if they are the baptismal names of some of their editors.

    For these pets, like most other privileged pets, that ‘golden future time’ that George Orwell talked about in Animal Farm is here today. We should bless God for their lives rather than be envious of them; that is if our own time must come.

     

    Happy New Year in advance

    n this note, I have to say a wonderful thank you to people who have stayed with this column over the years, especially this outgoing year. Above all, however, I give glory to the almighty God for the inspiration He has been giving me in the course of writing my articles.

    By the time you are reading this column next week, we would have been five days into the supposed New Year (2014); which tells us that the year will no longer be that brand new by then. This also means that time waits for no one. If this year has been interesting, the next promises to be much more interesting, given the political and other alignments and realignments (going on) in the country. These, no doubt, are good. But the gladiators must bear one thing in mind: they are not the end in themselves. The alignments and realignments are only the means to an end.

    Be more expectant in the New Year. Stay blessed. It is well.

  • Jonathan’s annus horribilis

    Jonathan’s annus horribilis

    Annus horribilis is a Latin phrase meaning “horrible year.” Its use in recent times was popularised by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in a speech in November 1992 marking the 40th anniversary of her rule.

    She had dug deep for a special phrase to describe a year that shook one of the world’s oldest monarchies to its root. It was a nightmarish period in which the world was treated to the collapse of royal marriages, publication of late Princess Diana’s tell-all book, and a disastrous fire in Windsor Castle, one of the Queen’s homes.

    Ever since that memorable speech many other leaders like former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, Spain’s King Juan Carlos and others have had occasion to reference that unique expression to describe years that were not too pleasant in their realms and around the world.

    To say that President Goodluck Jonathan has had a torrid year is to state the obvious. In 2013 everything that could possibly go wrong went awry for him and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Although he sought throughout the year to create the impression that security challenges under control, events in large swathes of the north gave the lie to his presentation. Over the months Nigerians would receive a bloody introduction to hitherto anonymous places like Bama, Benisheikh etc.

    As the body count mounted an administration that had tried to project to the outside world that the Boko Haram insurgency was something it could handily crush with its local resources, was forced to declare a state of emergency across three North Eastern states. But rather than stem the tide of terror the measure only seemed to enrage the insurgents and spur them to unprecedented levels of depravity.

    So much so the United Nations Human Rights office declared that the sect’s actions amounted to crimes against humanity. Interestingly, a regime that had sought desperately to downplay the gravity of the situation by opposing efforts by the United States government to classify Boko Haram as a global terrorist organization, without any sense of embarrassment was the one of the first out of the blocks with praise after the Americans succumbed to reality.

    After making his toughest move with the emergency declaration and ordering lightning air raids on the insurgent camps, the president and his team were rewarded with several weeks of relative quietude. But just when it seemed like peace and safety the insurgents popped up in Maiduguri like some jack-in-the-box object with an audacious attack on military bases and the airport.

    It was a spectacular statement that rather than being damaged, the sect was growing in confidence and military capability. The attack featured a long line of pick-up trucks and high caliber guns. Even worse, it was a humiliating experience for the Nigerian military to be worsted in one of its redoubts by what many once sneeringly dismissed as a ragtag bunch of clueless gunmen.

    Today, despite throwing everything in its power at the stubborn sect the terror threat remains undiminished. Yes, Nigeria may not be fighting a civil war yet in the manner of Congo, Sudan or the Central African Republic (CAR), still on Jonathan’s watch the security situation has degenerated gravely in 2013.

    On the political front it has been a horror movie. For all of its failings the ruling PDP has over the last 14 years always managed to extricate itself from situations that that threatened its existence. But not any more.

    No matter how Jonathan or his party may want to spin it, then revolt of the G-7 governors – leading to five of them defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was a catastrophic development. To compound the injury, scores of legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives have followed the example of their leaders.

    Knowing the critical role played by governors in deciding presidential elections, the defections may well turn out to be the defining moment – not just of the Jonathan years but of the general direction of the Fourth Republic.

    The defections at the National Assembly are just as devastating. For the first time since 1999, the PDP lost the game of numbers in the House of Representatives. With the opposition in control of the lower house Jonathan’s legislative agenda for what is left of his tenure is in jeopardy.

    What makes this so remarkable is that these losses were self-inflicted. The five governorships and legislative seats were surrendered without one ballot being cast. It is truly unprecedented. Defections are commonplace in Nigeria politics but rarely on this scale – especially with more movements out of the ruling party anticipated in coming months.

    When Jonathan ran for president in 2011, he had a fairly united party behind him. Embittered northern politicians like former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Adamu Ciroma, ex-President Ibrahim Babangida and others who lost the zoning battle, simply adopted a siddon look attitude. But they were not urinating in the communal well or hurling verbal missiles at the party’s candidate.

    Today, the situation is radically different. The PDP is bitterly divided with internal trust and cohesion destroyed. Those who have not jumped ship are still lobbing broadsides at the president and party chairman, Bamanga Tukur. Clouds of suspicion hang around all who have shown less than unalloyed loyalty to the current powers-that-be.

    Parties going into elections understand the need for unity. It would take a miracle for the PDP to go into the 2015 general election with anything that approximates the kind of front it had in 2011. I suspect that for much of 2014 it would be engaged in trying to purge its ranks of “traitors” – an exercise that will not only weaken but also distract it.

    It is fitting therefore that a horrible year should close with the explosive and very public falling out with former President Olusegun Obasanjo – the incumbent’s erstwhile godfather. The exchange of toxic letters between the two has been substantially examined by sundry commentators.

    Many have suggested that Obasanjo’s antecedents disqualify him from criticising Jonathan in the manner he did. I take a different position. You can call the ex-president all sorts of names, but that does not remove the fact that the bulk of issues he raised in his epistle are part of the incumbent’s record on which he would be running in 2015.

    So while Jonathan and his supporters may be congratulating themselves for hurling barbs back at Obasanjo, they miss the point that all their responses and paid adverts have become academic. The former president’s devastating 18-page letter has long gone from an embarrassing correspondence from a frenemy to a template of attack that the opposition will adopt for 2015.

    So even if they attack Obasanjo from now to eternity the damage is already done by “a card-carrying PDP member.” It is not necessary to add that a house divided against itself is headed for a dramatic fall.

    It is often said that people grow in stature in a demanding office like the presidency. That is hardly the case with Jonathan in 2013. His many wars rather than make him larger than life have reduced him to a defensive figure whose most vociferous defenders are members of his Ijaw ethnic group.

    His defensiveness was evident when in response to the APC’s call for his impeachment he accused them of treason – forgetting that impeachment is provided for in the constitution. When Obasanjo raised pungent questions about his rule, he accused him of incitement and endangering national security.

    Intimidation and subtle threats are no way to respond to differences of opinion in a democracy. Only the insecure resort to bullying tactics when a robust discussion of issues would suffice.

    But by far the most unpresidential remark I have heard this year was the bit in the president’s letter to Obasanjo where he said most of the challenges faced by his administration began under other administrations. So what?

    Every administration inherits the problems left behind by its predecessors. People run for office promising to clean up existing mess. What we expect is not an incumbent regaling us with the history of our problems, but getting on with the business of making improvements.

    Unfortunately, as 2013 winds to a close Jonathan finds himself in situation where instead of pointing to achievements, he’s whining about what other regimes left undone. He should remember that in 2015 that attitude would not help him much when the opposition starts asking voters: ‘Are you better off today than you were four years ago’?

    Nigerians and their fragile ego

    Although I was away on a short leave of absence when the late South African President Nelson Mandela was buried, I followed the coverage closely like most people.
    Given the impact of the story of his life it was no surprise that leaders from all over were falling over themselves to pay tributes. Everyone was recommending to his neighbour the example of the anti-Apartheid hero, but no one was offering to be this generation’s Mandela.
    Frankly, for many who went to South Africa for the burial rites, it was more a chance to get their photo taken or hear their own voices. US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Dansih counterpart, Helle Thorning-Schmidt landed themselves in hot water when they were caught giggling while snapping selfies.
    Nigerians, for their part, were infuriated that their president was not given prime time billing. They lost no time in reminding the South Africans of how much this country did to secure their freedom.
    To hear some of us talk you would think Nigeria was the only country that helped the South Africans. In reality there are countless thousands from across the globe who supported the anti-Apartheid struggle morally, financially and diplomatically. But you would not find too many of them as demanding of recognition as Nigerians. It just smacks of a lack of humility.
    Nigeria’s contribution to the struggle in southern Africa is well documented and cannot be erased from history. We don’t have to keep banging on about our generousity. We may have given them cash, but they shed blood and gave their own lives.
    Songs of praise from outsiders are not what we need. Instead of working ourselves into a fit over perceived slights by the South Africans, let’s move on and focus on fixing our country. We’ll feel better about ourselves and the world will respect us more when our country works.

  • No politician owns Nigeria, Jonathan tells Obasanjo, others

    No politician owns Nigeria, Jonathan tells Obasanjo, others

    President Goodluck Jonathan has said that Nigeria does not belong to any politician or any group of politician.
    He spoke Wednesday at the Diocese of Abuja, The Cathedral Church of the Advent in Lifecamp, Abuja, where he attended his Christmas day church service along with his family members and some senior government officials.
    Even as he did not mention the name of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his speech, he referred to those making statements and writing open letters they ought not to write.
    Obasanjo had in a December 2nd, 2013 written an open letter to the President in which  he made weighty allegations against Jonathan and his administration.
    Jonathan Wednesday said: “For us at this time especially we the politicians that we think we own this country begin to think about next election and doing what we ought not to do, making statement we ought not to make, writing letters we suppose not to write.”“I call on clergymen and statesmen who really own this country because this country belongs to our statesmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our men, our women, our youth. Nigeria does not belong to any politician or group of politicians. So we continue to urge you to pray for this country.”

    On terrorism, he said: “The primate mentioned number of issues that deal with a number of nations that deals with crisis.  For those who know about terrorism, countries that are infested with terror will hardly get out of it. If you look at country like Pakistan, we even go to Pakistan to train our soldiers, in some parts of Pakistan as we are talking now there appears to be no government. So this country could have been worse.”

    “Look at the incidences in Abuja, even the police headquarters was boomed, the UN building right here in the seat of government, may be the next target would have been State House. So we have to thank God that we have been able to bring it to a reasonable level, though we are far from getting over. There are a lot of challenges but we have to thank God.”

    He went on: “Primate said if it were to be like Syria, what would we have done? Look at South Sudan they were part of Sudan and they felt that they were being dominated, they have resources, there is oil in part of South Sudan, they carried arms against the state, finally the whole world through the UN liberated them. In fact within this week we will be going for security council meeting under the AU. My envoy just came back on Sunday from where he had conversation with them on how do we stop this madness.”

    “So we have to thank God even though we still have this security challenges in our country at least we are reasonably better.”

    “In terms of Nigeria having crisis, the primate was mentioning can Ghana accommodate us, can Sierra Leone accommodate us. I was just laughing because even now Nigerians in these countries, the people are not even comfortable, we don’t have crisis but from Cameroon to Senegal, Nigerians are everywhere. If not for political and diplomatic reasons they would have even asked some of them to leave. Then assuming we have crisis, what would be the state, where will you go? Is it the Atlantic Ocean? So I urge you to continue to pray.”

    “I also thank the religious leaders of this country, they have been praying and I believe God has been hearing our prayers. We will do our best within the period that God has asked us to occupy the positions we are occupying.” He stated ]

    Delivering the sermon entitled ‘Peace and Joy, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh noted that the first coming of Jesus Christ brought peace and joy but that it will only be full at His second coming.
    According to him no part of the world is enjoying total peace as he urged Nigerians to continue to thank God for not making Nigeria’s situation worse like other countries.
    Quoting scriptures from Luke 2: 10, Isaiah 9: n6, Galatians 3: 28, 2nd Corinthians 5: 18, John 14: 27 and Matthew 5: 9, he urged Nigerians to continue to be a source of joy to themselves, their neighbours and the whole world.

    He said: “But we have challenges, how can you be talking of peace and joy to people in Syria, DRC, Southern Sudan, Middle East, Egypt, Indonesia and Ukraine. Will they understand? How do you explain joy to somebody who is bed ridden? These are the issues frost rating peace.”

    Blaming the western world for these crises, he said: “The western world sell these arms to other part of the globe and are still talking about peace. The money that people steal, they take it outside and they receive it and turn back to say these people are bad.”

    “Only God can give us peace and joy because man has so much complicated himself. If you have three good stories that give you joy, you are likely to have six stories that will upset you.”

    He also urged Nigerians to pray against agents of darkness who are thirsting for blood.

    Nigerians, he said, have no choice than to continue praying for peace as they have no other place to go.

    “Nigerians ought to be grateful to God and live responsibly. Do not join anybody to cause trouble. If we follow life diligently, Nigeria will blossom, your lives will blossom. Refugees are not the happiest of people, don’t make yourself a refugee.” He pleaded.

    The First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan read the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 9: 2, 6 and 7 while President Jonathan read the Epistle from Hebrew 1: 1 to 12.

    Among those who attended the service included the Minister of State (FCT), Olajumoke Akinjide, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, Minister of Police Affairs, Called Olubolade.

  • Obasanjo to Jonathan: I stand by contents of my letter

    Obasanjo to Jonathan: I stand by contents of my letter

    Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday said he would not give more details on the letter he sent to President Goodluck Jonathan few days ago.

    Obasanjo, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Tunde Oladunjoye, said it is no longer necessary to dwell on the content of the letter.

    The former president, however, stated that he stood by everything he wrote in the letter.

    The statement reads:

    “Since the publication of the letter written by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, which was in response to the letter earlier written by revered former President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR; we have received several requests from local and international media asking to know Chief Obasanjo’s reaction to Mr. President’s response.

    “One, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, acknowledges Mr. President’s letter/response. However, Baba, as he already indicated in his December 2, 2013, does not wish to make further comments beyond the contents of his last letter to the Mr. President or react to the said letter/response from Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Let me quote from page fourteen, paragraph two of Chief Obasanjo’s letter to Mr. President dated December 2, 2013 and titled Before It Is Too Late:

    ‘I will maintain my serenity, because by this letter I have done my duty to you as I have always done, to your government, to the party, PDP, and to our country, Nigeria’.

    “Two, let me reiterate here, that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR has tremendous respect for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “Chief Olusegun Obasanjo sincerely appreciates all of you, my cherished colleagues; gentlemen and women of the media profession, who have been very upright, ethical and robust on the subject matter.”