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Tag: Jonathan

  • Jonathan’s enduring love affair with the Southeast

    Jonathan’s enduring love affair with the Southeast

    Less than a year ago, President Goodluck Jonathan visited Anambra State to, among other things, commission Chief Arthur Eze’s oil production facility. When he got to the state, it was love at first sight. Dr Jonathan smooched Anambra, and the state in turn serenaded him. Both gushed so openly and so unabashedly that theirs seemed a marriage made in heaven. The relationship was of such intensity that on September 7, 2012 Hardball had this to say: “It didn’t take careful reflection or any logical consideration before Anambra began to serenade the president with their own promises. Since his project was among those commissioned by the president, Chief Arthur Eze, boss of Orient Petroleum Resources (OPR) production facility, needed little prompting to open the floodgates. Said he to the president with cold calculation: ‘Obasanjo took eight years; we are calling on you to take another four years as one term is too short for you to finish the job you have at hand. You can consider giving power to the north after your eight years, so that they will return it to the Southeast after their own eight years.’ The ordinary Anambrarian, and possibly the ambitious south-easterner, must wonder how easily and how cheaply approbation can be secured in those parts. Eze was not content ceding 2015 to Jonathan, he also worked the ratios out and conceded eight more years after 2019 to the North. Only then, he said with self-flagellating bashfulness, should power rotate back to the Southeast. How very considerate of him.”

    Dr Jonathan’s visit last year was to Anambra. This year, the president berthed his love boat in Enugu State for a one-day visit to, as usual, commission projects. Like the August 2012 Anambra visit, the latest one witnessed a replay of the attraction between the impassioned president and the ingratiating Southeast. For as in the Anambra visit, the top hats in Igboland gathered in Enugu to receive the president. The hosts reminded the president of the ties that bound the Igbo people to the president. Last year, it will be recalled, Dr Jonathan promised he would build the 2nd Niger Bridge or go into exile if he failed. As he put it elegantly and heroically, the 1st Niger Bridge was commissioned by the first Azikiwe, that is, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe; the second one would be commissioned by another Azikiwe, that is, Dr Jonathan. When he swore to an oath to build the second bridge, Anambra erupted into raptures and were only restrained by their eager Catholicism from promising the president eternal life.

    On Saturday, the lovebirds replayed history. Dr Jonathan had his trembling hands all over his lover, and his lover, or more appropriately, his lovers, moaned and groaned. Dr Jonathan was kind enough to appoint illustrious Igbo people into his cabinet, their spokesman, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra ululated, and the Southeast was indebted to the president. Dr Jonathan was captivated by the sweet words of his host, and he also began to rhapsodise. “I thank you for the kind of support you have given to me since I indicated interest in national politics,” gushed the president to the Igbo at a town hall meeting at the Governor’s Lodge. “Till today, I have the strongest support from the South-East; I want to thank you for that. I am very grateful. I am part of this part of the country and I will continue to remain so even after national service.” Dr Jonathan is not just the new Azikiwe, he has become an integral part of the Southeast, an inseparable part.

    And in a tone designed to make other zones green with envy, the president summed up his love affair with the Southeast with this pithy statement: “No other zone has equaled the Southeast zone in terms of support for me and my administration.” Move over, the turbulent Northeast for your infidelity. Move over, the Southwest for being such a sanctimonious handful to the lovelorn Jonathan. Move over, the Northwest for being a smorgasbord of impassive, inscrutable and conservative consortia of opposition figures. Indeed, Nigerians should pray for 2015 general elections to come quickly or else Dr Jonathan would trade off the entire country for love; for judging from his embroidered love poems, he is so smitten by the Southeast’s perfumed so-and-so that no magician or druid can be found to neutralise the talisman that fetched him.

     

     

  • NANS to Jonathan: state of emergency is long overdue

    NANS to Jonathan: state of emergency is long overdue

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has hailed President Goodluck Jonathan over the state of emergency he declared in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states.

    It said the development is long overdue.

    NANS said the decision would help curb killings in the North, adding that the Boko Haram sect should be called to order to avoid further crisis.

    The student body urged President Jonathan to take further drastic measure in securing Nigeria and show the perpetrators that they cannot get away with such activities.

    It also enjoined security operatives to support President Jonathan and ensure that no one is spared from discipline if found guilty in respect of insecurity.

    A statement issued in Abuja by NANS’ President, Comrade Yinka Gbadebo, said: “The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) hereby avows its unbridled support to the Federal Government, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, for the decisive step it has taken to halt the carnage and lawlessness that have engulfed some parts of Northern Nigeria, by the bold declaration on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

  • ‘Southeast has no projects to justify support for Jonathan’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Southeast has agreed with President Goodluck Jonathan that the region is his strongest support base.

    It, however, said there was nothing to show federal presence in the zone.

    In a statement by the publicity secretary, Osita Okechukwu, the Southeast APC said the zone had not reaped compensation from successive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations.

    It said: “We wish to state that successive PDP administrations have not repaid the support given by the Southeast.

    “We remember how ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo promised to build the second Niger Bridge, Onitsha Sea Port, Enugu Coal-Fired-Plant, Oguta or Ukwa Refinery or Gas Powered Plant, revival of Nkalagu Cement Factory.”

    The Congress said it regretted that the President Jonathan is taking Ndigbo on a roller-coaster ride again.

    The APC also pointed that since Prof Barth Nnaji was sacked, no mention was made of the Enugu Coal-Fired-Power-Plant by Jonathan, not even at Saturday’s Town Hall meeting.

    It said: “All we learnt was that the money budgeted by Nnaji has been squandered.”

    “We had thought that the occasion could have provided Mr President the opportunity to resolve the bickering between Ibeto group and Ebonyi State Governor Martins Elechi.

    “We are yet to locate the design of the second Niger Bridge, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Estate Evaluation of Assets.

    “All we have heard was the chorus lead by Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and other praise singers.

    “APC Southeast wishes to state that even during the military regime, Ndigbo had always had prompt and juicy appointments; all we crave for is justice, fairness and level playing field, not patronage.”

  • New Enugu Airport terminal to cost N13b, says Jonathan

    A new international terminal at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, will cost N13 billion, President Goodluck Jonathan has said.

    The airport will have the capacity to handle 500, 000 passengers.

    Speaking at the opening of the remodelled Enugu Airport, Dr Jonathan said the project was not only a fulfilment of his campaign promise in 2010 to give the Southeast a befitting international airport, but little of what is to come to the zone in his transformation agenda.

    Jonathan said: “The project will be built at N13billion and will accomodate 500, 000 passengers.

    “It will serve Enugu and the Southeast as a modern, efficient, functional, safe and secure gateway, but most importantly a prestigious edifice that will offer a befitting welcome and goodbye from the region and Nigeria.”

    In a statement by the Special Assistant to the Aviation Minister, Joe Obi, in Abuja, the President said the inauguration of the remodelled terminal was part of “a national effort at transforming the air transport industry.

    “The programme is ambitious, covering all 22 airports under the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    “It involves the remodeling of all 22 airport terminals within three years, modernising, expanding and upgrading the facilities to bring them in line with international standards.”

    Jonathan added that the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport terminal as well as the remodelled Yola Airport would be commissioned soon.

    The President regretted that ever since the various airports in the country were built decades ago, it had witnessed little or no developments, until the intervention of the currenet administration.

    Aviation Minister Ms Stella Oduah said the transformation agenda of the President “is being actualised tangibly at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu”.

    Ms Oduah said apart from the construction of the proposed aerotropolis projects and perishable cargo terminals, two international airline operators have indicated interest to begin operations to Enugu State.

    The statement reads: “The new international terminal with a total floor area of 25,000 square metres will have capacity to handle 500,000 passengers per annum and will be completed in 24 months.

    “Upon completion, this airport will answer its name in the real sense of the word Akanu Ibiam International Airport.

    “Two international airlines have indicated interest to operate flights into Enugu, adding that discussion along these lines will continue over the next few months as we prepare the airport’s infrastructure to meet this demand.

    “Nigeria’s aviation industry must take its rightful place in our national life.

    “The industry must become pivotal to the socio-economic development of our country as it is supposed to be and as we proclaim in our vision, we will continue to do what it takes to deliver just such an industry to Nigerians.”

  • Thanks but no thanks

    Thanks but no thanks

     Jonathan should ignore IMF’s call to remove fuel subsidy and instead focus on local refining of crude 

    IT was all so predictable – the International Monetary Fund, IMF’s call for President Goodluck Jonathan to fully remove fuel subsidy, to ensure a so-called fiscal adjustment. On May 9, Williams Scott Rogers, IMF’s senior resident representative/mission chief in Nigeria, told the media Nigeria badly needed the complete removal to record savings on recurrent spending, and further shore up the economy.

    The IMF’s latest advice is not new. With the mindset of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, it is even likely to sit well with the current drivers of the economy, madly in love with bean-counting in reporting “growth” that seldom translates into development in a shallow economy; rather than traversing a completely different paradigm that deepens the local economy and fires it for growth, development and eventual prosperity.

    That IMF’s advice is always ideologically coloured to maintain the economic hegemony of metropolitan western powers and further subject, to their suzerainty, the Nigerian economy is no big deal to these managers, ensconced head to toe, body and soul, in neo-liberal orthodoxy.

    IMF itself does not shy from its notorious one-shoe-fits-all prescriptive arrogance, which in the past only managed to wipe out some economies, before their Lordship Majesties on the ideological throne accepted maybe they did not have all the answers. But then, most African economies were such basket cases that earned the desperation of being subjected to IMF’s experimentation or were assured of total collapse.

    In the present Nigerian case, there is a lot to be said against unsustainable subsidies; for they drain scarce resources from core development and lavish them on elite comfort – if the Jonathan Presidency’s rather phony claim that petrol subsidy only massages the taste of the rich and their spoilt offspring, who cruise around Lagos with four-wheelers with humungous appetite for petrol.

    But that is if, and only if, the so-called subsidy is really subsidy; and not some scam masquerading as one. From the clear aftermath of the 2011 nationwide fuel strike, the so-called subsidy was a massive scam, the perpetrators of which are yet to be judicially sanctioned. Yet, IMF has the temerity to advocate subsidy removal, and its local orchestra-in-government the cheek to serve notice to act in that direction. Until the exact level of the so-called subsidy is conclusively established, sans sleaze, it is irrational for anyone to even think of removing anything.

    Even at that, the subsidy talk is only the result of a flawed energy policy. It is a classic case of taking off in the wrong direction, hoping against hope that somehow the wanderer would hit on where he is going. It would never happen.

    The Obasanjo presidency, running away from local refining, purported to liberalise petroleum downstream by resorting to fuel importation. That has led to massive fraud by crooks, but not without collusion by government officials, for illicit gains. It is that bill that feeds the sleaze the government, from Obasanjo to Jonathan, has been brandishing as “subsidy”.

    Now, is it not common sense that the government does away with importing fuel and instead focus on local refining; thus cutting the base off this massive stealing? But no: the Jonathan Presidency would rather muscle the people to repay what a few have stolen than getting rid of the flawed policy that engendered the fraud.

    On this score, the Jonathan Presidency, even if it appears hard of hearing, must listen to sound counsel: it should invest in local refining; instead of hearkening to IMF’s removal of phantom subsidy. Otherwise it can only head for the proverbial tortoise’s journey that would end in nothing but perdition and disgrace. A word is enough for the wise.

  • Jonathan’s carrot-stick offer

    Jonathan’s carrot-stick offer

    If anything, the declaration of emergency rule in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states has brought to the fore the inherent contradictions in our perception of and response to the war against terrorism in the country. It has also exposed the unreliability or deceit in some of the information we have hitherto been fed regarding what ought to be done to tame the scourge. More so when it is realized that terrorism, being a global phenomenon, ought to be confronted according to universally tested rules of engagement. But ours, for curious reasons, was touted to be different and therefore required some local therapy.

    Perhaps, due to pressure, outright confusion or to fulfill all righteousness, the federal government found itself incapable of taking the right decisions at the right time. This was in spite of clear evidence that some of the solutions being proffered were not only self-serving but inherently incapable of substantially redressing the threat to the nation’s sovereignty. And the cavalier handling of the matter was further portrayed as evidence that armed confrontation was incapable of taming the monster.

    So it was that President Jonathan fell for the amnesty lobby group. Not even the repudiation and rejection of the offer by the insurgents was considered enough signal that something was amiss. He pressed on, inaugurated the amnesty committee even on the eve of the bloodbath in Baga, Borno State. The subsequent sacking of Bama and other terrorist killings in parts of the north could not change the situation.

    The questions which nobody was interested in responding to were, if northern leaders who rooted for amnesty had the mandate, respect and confidence of the insurgents, why did they find themselves incapable of reining them in? Why were they unable to persuade the terrorists to sheathe their swords temporarily for the committee to conclude its work? Who really wanted the amnesty in the face of the resurging tempo in the criminal escapades of the insurgents? Or were these heightened attacks to underscore the point that the government has been brought to its knees and must therefore do the bidding of the terrorists? These were the nagging contradictions.

    President Jonathan’s declaration of a state of emergency in the three states was therefore, a direct consequence of this dialectics. It was a huge contradiction to accept that amnesty could pull the surprise when there is no change of heart by the insurgents. If the pontifications of apologists of amnesty had been relied upon, the terrorists could have mustered the needed capacity to over run the entire country. That was what drove Jonathan to order massive deployment of soldiers to among others, arrest, detain, search, cordon off any building and stamp out the impunity of the insurgents. He said that the activities of the terror group amounted to a declaration of war against the Nigerian state and an attempt to undermine its sovereignty. That is correct. Curiously, all the negative tendencies which Jonathan cited to justify emergency rule had all along been there.

    Yet, we were sold to the idea that dialogue is the most efficacious therapy to this unprovoked act of insurgency. The first issue thrown up by the impending military action in the three states is that it amounted to a loss of confidence in dialogue or the amnesty programme. And this loss is two dimensional. There is loss of confidence from the side of government that dialogue or amnesty is all it takes to redress the madness. And its resort to full scale military action illustrates it all. There will also be loss of confidence on the part of the terrorists in government’s genuine commitment to dialogue. These are not in doubt. Before now, the terrorists had complained they did not trust government’s sincerity to dialogue. That was why Dr. Ahmed Datti withdrew from the earlier panel on the matter. He cited the same reason for declining his nomination in the current one.

    But the government says military action will run simultaneously with discussions on amnesty. To underscore this point, the committee met with the president the same day emergency rule was proclaimed. How workable this will turn out is a matter of time. But it is difficult to conceive how the committee can reach out to the insurgents now their lives are in mortal danger.

    There are two axioms to contend with here. The first is that government has come to terms with the fact that it has to re-establish its authority in those states. It has also accepted that dialogue or carrot cannot do it hence the need to offer the insurgents the stick. But then, what are the likely outcomes of the combination of these two strategies in the fight against terrorism? There are some possibilities. The first could be to demonstrate government’s capacity to tame the monster. The idea is that if battle is taken to the hide-outs of the terrorists and they are smoked out, those left will be quick to accept the peace process. This draws support from the widely held view especially in the north that government is incapable of winning the war at the battle field and must therefore negotiate.

    The other could be to demonstrate very unambiguously that it has the capacity to re-establish its authority by militarily incapacitating the insurgents. The message is that the offer of dialogue should not be misconstrued as weakness on the part of the government. They are being told in very clear terms that it is either they embrace peace or be routed out by the superior fire power of the government forces. There are two possible scenarios. The first is that the insurgents may be so frightened by the new direction that they will quickly scamper for the peace option. If they embrace this option, they will save lives and bring a quick end to the hostilities. This appears attractive.

    The other is that unsure of the real intentions of the government and for fear of reprisals, the insurgents will fight on. Their hit and run strategy and the fact of the successes they had made before now, may embolden them to sustain the fight beyond the expectations of the government. And since the insurgents are driven by some weird ideology, there is every thing to expect that they will not succumb to the fear of escalated military onslaught. They will fight on. This possibility is also very high.

    If this happens, the government may have to wage the war much longer than envisaged. And in a desperate attempt to subdue the terrorists militarily, both the civilian population and the insurgents will suffer irretrievably. Then, it would have given skeptics ample room to mock the new offensive. Already, skepticisms are rife that the emergency rule will fail like the earlier ones declared in some local governments. Fears have also been expressed on the safety of the civilian population as the onslaught lasts.

    Whichever way, it is clear that government has a big burden to discharge in the way it confronts the Boko Haram insurgency in the days ahead. The choice of military action is justified. Somehow, the government has no other option than to restore peace and order in those areas or abdicate and throw in the towel. But the fight is likely to be encumbered by the strategy of the insurgents that blurs differentiation between them and the civilian population. It is therefore difficult to fathom how the military can wage this war successfully without being accused of violating the rights of civilians. That is the new challenge even as the Boko Haram insurgency must be stamped out.

  • ‘Asari Dokubo , Clark are problems for Jonathan’

    ‘Asari Dokubo , Clark are problems for Jonathan’

    Former Minister for Petroleum, Professor Tam David –West is a known social critic and political activist. In this in this interview with Taiwo Ogundipe, Associate Editor, in Lagos, he addresses the state of emergency, recent comments by Edwin Clark, Asari Dokubo, Kingsley Kuku and sundry matters.

     

    What is your opinion of the state of emergency declared by President Jonathan in three northern states?

    The action is constitutional. There is no doubt about that. But is it necessary? I will say it is not. I have listened to people, even legal experts on the television, saying it should have come earlier or that it is better late than ever. To me, they are missing the point. It may be necessary because there is breakdown of public order in the three states. But he could have handled the situation differently. Either he or his advisers, or both of them misled themselves. I often quote this Machiavellian statement: “For the Prince or the Leader to be advised wisely, the leader must be wise in the first place.” There is no problem with sending the armed forces to the states. It has been done in America before during the period of integration. But couldn’t he have sent the troops to the states without declaring a state of emergency? By declaring state of emergency in any area, one obvious thing is that civic liberties which are guaranteed by the constitution are suspended and derogated. The president should have sent the same troops without declaring state emergency. By declaring state of emergency, he is sending a very strong signal to the world that Nigeria is not stable. There is emergency and emergency is insecurity. The president is the number one law enforcement personality stipulated by the constitution. If as a person holding that position, he declares state emergency in an area because security has broken down, you are indicting yourself. It is a personal indictment. As Truman said, the buck stops at the table of the president. As the president and commander-in-chief, the buck stops on the table of Jonathan. He could have sent army to the troubled areas without declaring state of emergency.

    But up till now, the Joint Task Force had been deployed to the troubled spots without being able to bring the situation under control…

    I’ll come to that. I’ve also said that state of emergency is even worse than fire brigade measures. Fire brigade measure addresses sudden unexpected accident but with state of emergency, there is gradual, progressive breakdown of order and security that get up to a crescendo. Even in the Niger Delta, as I’ve said before, the deployment of the JTF has not achieved peace. I still maintain that it will never achieve peace. The Chief of Army Staff also said it. You cannot quell this problem we have with force of arms. The fundamental issue should be addressed. The problem can be solved. We are not approaching the problem with a clear mindset. For every failure on our part, it makes the other side bolder. I doubt very much if state of emergency will bring about the desired result. I wish it could.

    You said a civil approach should be adopted, don’t you think the amnesty programme, offered by the government, which Boko Haram also rejected, is designed to achieve that?

    I don’t have superior wisdom but like any other Nigerian, I pray to my God to guide me. I said Joint Task Force would not solve the problem in Niger Delta. The use of force of arms will not also likely solve the Boko Haram problem. The case of Boko Haram is even worse than that of Niger Delta. In Niger Delta you know who you are facing, you know the target. In Boko Haram you don’t know. The president himself has indicted himself.

    I’m very critical of Jonathan. One day he will realise that my criticisms are constructive. I don’t want Jonathan to be destroyed as a leader. I want him to perform as a leader. What would I gain from wishing the president of my country to be destroyed, especially when he is an Ijaw man? Being an Ijaw man is even very irrelevant to me. It doesn’t matter to me whether you are an Ijaw man or not. If you are not doing well, you are not doing well. Period.

    He came up with amnesty. Jonathan is not consistent. Sometimes he says one thing and changes. Sometimes he confuses himself in logic. Was he not the one that said the Boko Haram were ghosts? Can you negotiate with ghosts? He went further to say he would not negotiate with them because they are ghosts, I don’t know them. If you don’t know them and they are ghosts, then why are you negotiating with them? Why are you talking about amnesty? Amnesty is not a blanket thing; it is not one-way traffic. The two sides would sit down to talk and offer some concessions respectively.

    He then went further to say that he had Boko Haram in his government. If he has not been able to identify the Boko Haram whom he claimed were in his government, how can he identify the Boko Haram in the larger community? He is always contradicting himself. I wish he puts more thought process before he makes pronouncements.

     

    Recently, some Ijaw chieftains – Asari Dokubo and Kingsley Kuku – issued statements to the effect that Nigeria will experience turbulence if Jonathan does not return as president in 2015. What do you have to say about this?

    Absolute nonsense and rubbish! Asari Dokubo is related to me. He is my cousin. His mother and my mother were of the same father although the two wives were married under different marriage status and customs. Jonathan sees me as an enemy. I told Jonathan that Asari Dokubo and Clark are one million times more problem to him than Tam David-West who criticizes openly and constructively. The problem of Boko Haram is there. And more insurgent groups would spring up if care is not taken. When these people make Jonathan an Ijaw president, not Nigeria president, they create more problems. They are talking rubbish without facts. They call the Hausa/Fulani people parasites; they call Awolowo a criminal. Jonathan as president should not allow his ethnic group to insult other peoples because they are creating enemies for him and no friend. They are adding ethnic dimension to insurgency. This makes the situation more dangerous. Instead of them to be less belligerent in their utterances, they are making the other people to be more resistant. They are talking rubbish and nonsense. Asari Dokubo even said oil production will stop if he is arrested. He said he is the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force. That group does not exist any longer. Asari Dokubo is leading nobody. The other day when he came to Port Harcourt in Rivers State, he hired people to follow him. I know a number of his former followers. The breakup of the group came when he took all the money from government and never gave them their share, and was rather buying property all over the world. So they left him. The group’s name has been changed but still with the same acronym. He told Jonathan he had 40,000 people. Jonathan never found out if he had four or four hundred people and he gave him millions.

    The president should dissociate himself from these irresponsible utterances from his ethnic group. He could send his media outfit to please tell the country and the world that these people are not reflecting his views as the president of this country and of all Nigerians. Jonathan is president today not from only Ijaw votes. The total vote he had was about 24 per cent from his area. Jonathan is president today of some sort – illegal and unconstitutional. First, the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, founded and headed by a Yoruba man, Pastor Tunde Bakare and his compatriots forced the National Assembly, when it was reluctant to do the right thing as stipulated by the constitution, to do something. The person that said, look, we must take a stand as government because of the vacuum created by the person the long absence of the late President Yar’adua; the person that moved that motion in the then cabinet, is an Ibo woman, Dora Akunyili.

    The person that finally moved the motion in the National Assembly to make him acting president was an Hausa man. There was no Ijaw input. So, can’t he sit down as a PhD holder and think and analyse the situation like an intellectual? Though PhD does not make you an intellectual but it makes you to be broadminded in analysing situations. Everything that made Jonathan what he is today as president, 24 per cent of it came from his ethnic group. The other inputs were from other ethnic groups. His being made acting president was illegal and unconstitutional because our constitution has no provision for acting president. The act was branded doctrine of necessity which has no provision in the constitution. He metamorphosed from acting to becoming the president. With all these considerations, it behoves him as president and an Ijaw man to ask members of his ethnic group to please not make things difficult for him. They should help him to solve the problems he is facing and not add more to them.

    I’m more Ijaw than Clark. Clark cannot love Jonathan more than me. Clark is not even partial Ijaw, he is patch-patch Ijaw. When you say someone is partial, you are talking about half and half. Only his father is Ijaw. His mother and grandmother are Urhobo and Itsekiri. When Clark was studying in Britain, he was secretary of the Urhobo Progressive Union, not Ijaw Union.

    When Clark and Dokubo talk, they are creating more problems for Jonathan. I don’t know Kingsley Kuku. When he accused Buhari of inciting people, he got it all wrong. Buhari never incited anybody. He only said defend your votes if they wanted to steal your votes. In fact, I would say election riggers should be killed because they are worse than armed robbers. If you have death penalty for armed robbers, election riggers must also have it. Election riggers are worse than armed robbers because they target the whole country not just individuals. Until the day we take proven election riggers and shoot them, there will be no more election rigging.

    Asari Dokubo, Clark, Kuku and the rest of them are compounding Jonathan’s problem. He himself has been very docile not to stop them.

    Maybe the president feels that on the long run, their utterances and actions would help him.

    They cannot help him. Look, if in 2011, the Ijaw votes were 24 per cent, they would be less in 2015. And you cannot be president without the support of other ethnic groups. There cannot be any northern, western or southern president. There cannot be any Moslem or Christian president. The constitution is clear. You will not only win majority of the votes but you have to have 25 per cent in at least 24 states of the federation, that is two third of 36 states. So, Ijaw cannot make you president.

    With all these crises that are raging in the South-South axis of the country – including the Bayelsa scenario when erstwhile Governor Sylvia was forced out of office, and now the case of Rivers State where Amaechi is under a lot pressure presumably from the presidency ….

    It cannot be presumably. It is certainly from the presidency. Let President Jonathan himself deny that his hand is not there. It is the voice of Esau and the hand of Jacob.

    Do you think Amaechi has not done anything wrong to bring the pressure on himself?

    Not at all. I will come to that later. Every time they talk, they call Edwin Clark elder statesman. One can be an elder without being a statesman. Edwin Clark may be an elder because of biological age but I’m not sure he is a statesman. A statesman doesn’t talk like he talks. A statesman does not make pronouncements that divide the society. Also, Asari Dokubo’s recent statement that Ijaw people are violent is utter rubbish. The Ijaws are never violent people. He gave examples of the fact that we fought tribal or ethnic wars. He referred to the conflict over fishing rights. The Ijaws were never violent. If they were, the white people that came in through the south wouldn’t have been allowed in. All that is happening now in the South-south engineered by these and sometimes with Jonathan’s collusion or encouragement is making things more difficult for him. It is not endearing him to the bigger Nigerian society and the world.

    And I’ve said it before: if all this is being done for Jonathan to be president in 2015, then 2015 has been lost in 2013. 2015 has been forfeited by the excesses and irresponsibility of 2013 coming from people close to him or by his acts of collusion or commission. Take the case of Bayelsa State, I don’t know Sylvia but when they had Kangaroo impeachment of Alamieyeseigha and Ladoja, I came out in the papers, saying the impeachments were illegal, unconstitutional, and null and void. I was vindicated by the Supreme Court. Now, what has Amaechi done to Jonathan? Amaechi is PDP. I had not been in any political party. Amaechi is Ikwerre. I am partly Ikwerre too. Buhari is a Fulani. I’m a die-hard Buhari supporter. I’m also a die-hard Amaechi supporter. I have no apology for saying I’m not in support of Jonathan. I can never be in support of Jonathan because he has not performed well. He has not carried himself well. He has not been able to control the situation. What did Amaechi do wrong to him? Rivers State gave Jonathan the highest number of votes. If the governor was against Jonathan, he couldn’t have got it. The child that forgets the hand that feeds him is not only a bad or wicked child, but also one that is digging his own grave. Amaechi is a solid supporter of Jonathan. And I’m close to Amaechi. He always speaks very glowingly of Jonathan. Whenever we discussed together, he would always remonstrate with me whether my articles were not too critical of Jonathan. And I would explain to him why I was doing what I was doing. I would tell him I was not doing against Jonathan; I’m doing it for us as Nigerians and Ijaw people. If Jonathan messes up there, an Ijaw man would not see that seat for over 60 years in our lifetime. So Amaechi does not deserve what they are doing to him.

    The Minister State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who is now fronting for Jonathan, is the closest bossom friend of Amaechi. He was also Amaechi’s Chief of Staff before he became minister. So why are they treating Amaechi the way they are treating him? Jonathan is tilting at the windmill as Don Quixote in the book, The Man of La Mancha. Jonathan is seeing the windmill as enemy, a giant fighting him. He is tilting at an enemy that does not exist. In fact, he is creating more enemies for himself. Amaechi does not deserve what they are doing to him. Every measure has been put in place to deal with him. They are even planning to institute state of emergency against him. They have even brought into the state a fake mace. They are trying to do to him what they did to Alamieyeseigha. I was reading one book on war strategies. It says it is a bad general that opens war frontiers. He dissipates his energy. Sometimes, Jonathan is his own enemy.

    Another topical issue is the merger. Obviously, if the merger works, an Ijaw man might not become the candidate.

    I don’t care if an Ijaw man is not candidate. I care that a good Nigerian is candidate. I’ve said it before and I mean it: If my father contests against Buhari, – I’m not saying that Buhari is going to be the president , Buhari himself has said it, if the APC has more formidable candidate than himself, he would step down – I will vote against my father.

    And talking about the candidacy of Buhari, some people believe he should leave the political space for much younger people. What do you think of this?

    That is nonsense. Mandela (of South Africa) and Ronald Reagan (of USA) became presidents in their 70s. Mandela was president up to 80 something. So it is not about age. What is the guarantee that a younger person would do better? In Nigeria we have this nonsensical mindset that we need a younger person with degree. When Buhari met with Mandela, the Madiba said, look, you’ll be president. The story was published. He said he should not abandon the ambition. Mandela and Reagan were older than Buhari when they became president and spent their two terms of eight years. The criteria for candidacy should not be about age. It is irrelevant. Performance should be the criteria. Corruption and indiscipline are our major problems creating setback for us the most. Any candidate that is not corrupt; any candidate that is disciplined; he can be as old as Methuselah, I will not only support him, I will campaign for him to get Nigeria out of darkness. It is not about age or degree. People were jubilating that for the first time we had graduates in Yar’adua and Jonathan as the president and vice-president. Yar’adua has degree in Analytical Chemistry; Jonathan has degree in Hydro-Biology. I said rubbish, degrees don’t make leaders. Jimmy Carter of America had two PhDs in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry. Was he a better American president? Winston Churchill was among the worst in his class in Harrow, very dull in school. He was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century. Yar’adua and Jonathan never proved that degrees make better presidents.

    The president of Nigeria should be a man of character; a man that can be trusted; a man that is not corrupt; a man that is disciplined; a man that believes in God not by mouth. Some of them go to church on Sunday; some go to mosque on Friday: some to babaalawos to look for miracles. They come into government to rape the country dry. They are not even ashamed. They have houses all over the place. People are suffering. They cannot be pay N8,000 minimum wage. Graduates are looking for driver’s job. Graduates are serving in the restaurants. If we are not yet a failed state, we are fast failing.

    Some people believe that Jonathan, a South-south man, should be allowed to for a second term and that the Hausa Fulani should not always expect to always rule the country.

    This is another case of what I call lazy intellectualism. First, does Jonathan have the right to go second term? I think the constitution allows him. The interpretation that he had been sworn in second term is contentious. First, he completed Yar’adua’s term. I don’t dislike him. I just don’t like the way he rules the country. I’ve told him I’ll never support him. I don’t need anything from him. What I need from him is good governance and consistency which he is not giving us. He should talk less with some rationality. He can only ask for a second term when the first time is glorious. He should act with clear conscience. He should go to the Redeemed Church and kneel down before the great man of God, and say God, I’ve done well. Can he say that? No! His performance in the first term has been woeful. Another issue is the allegation that he signed to rule for one term. Jonathan has to disprove this allegation with facts and figure.

     

     

     

  • Jonathan secures release of 10 prisoners from Equatorial Guinea

    Jonathan secures release of 10 prisoners from Equatorial Guinea

    President Goodluck Jonathan has secured the release of 10 Nigerians held in Equatorial Guinea for various immigration offences.

    The prisoners have now been given a one-year resident permit.

    The kind gesture, according to Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of National Security, was secured during President Jonathan’s two-day official visit to the country.

    The official also noted that the release was as a result of the high regards the country has for Nigeria as it is the first time such a gesture is extended to any illegal immigrant in Equitorial Guinea.

    The names of the lucky Nigerians are Kalu Nkemnakolam David, Onyeka Uzoma, Obinna Uzoma, Linu Iwu, Uruka Onne, Ike Kelechi Okorie, Francies Chukwu, Obinna Samson, Henry Udoh Chukwu Eze and Adekunle Rasaki Akintolu.

  • If not Jonathan, then who?

    If not Jonathan, then who?

    Some have labelled him a bread-and-butter rebel with a cause. Some say he is just a smart man who knows how best to feather his nest. Others call him an ethnic irredentist who has perfected the art of empty blabbering. But I believe Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo is too big to be crated into someone’s warped descriptive nuances. In our quick rush to hang him in the sun to dry for daring to insist that President Goodluck Jonathan must remain Nigeria’s leader post 2015, we tend to forget that this true son of Niger Delta was speaking under the influence of a spirited dose of presidential amnesty. And instead of showing him some respect for accepting the Federal Government’s plea to distance his crew from violence and oil bunkering by voluntarily abdicating his kingdom in the creeks, we are busy nudging the police to arrest him for threatening a spiral of violence should Jonathan be eased off a seat which should be his for eight years! Why should we?

    And, in its usual atavistic way of looking at issues of national importance, the House of Representatives has compounded the problem by erroneously concluding that Asari-Dokubo’s patriotic rant of ‘it’s either Jonathan or no one else’ is “capable of creating disunity and disaffection among the good people of Nigeria.” As for the lawmaker who raised the issue on the floor of the House as a matter of urgent national discourse, Ali Sani Madaki (Kano), I doubt if he read through the reasons adduced for a continuation of the Jonathan presidency before crying blue murder. If he had taken out time to dissect Asari-Dokubo’s unimpeachable logic, he would by now be pushing for the conferment of the highest honours in the land not only on the former ex-militant but also on other well-meaning Nigerians who daily canvas for the extension of the fresh breath of air we currently enjoy.

    Like they say in my profession, facts are sacred and comments are free. Luckily for us, neither Asari-Dokubo nor the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Committee, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, can be accused of not dwelling on the facts on the table before declaring a no vacancy in Aso Rock until 2019. So, what are these facts? I’ll simplify them. First, that Jonathan is constitutionally guaranteed two terms of four-year tenure. Second, that he is from the Niger Delta, which produces Nigeria’s main revenue—oil. Third, that, with amnesty, the restiveness in the Niger Delta has abated with huge impact on crude exploration. And, most importantly, there is a sense in the insistence by the ex-warlord that “monkey no fine, but him mama like am”. Call it an apt description of the basest form of political skulduggery, it really doesn’t matter for as long this kinsman to many ‘generals’ is on the throne. He is simply the best!

    Besides, these guys are not asking for too much. They are, in my humble opinion, appealing to our sense of equity, justice and fairness. They say since we have voted massively for Jonathan to be in government, we should have the presence of mind to allow him to be in power for just another four years.  After all , didn’t we allow Obasanjo his eight years of deferred dreams? Would we not have tolerated an Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for eight years if he had not died in office? Would it have mattered if the country had been divided down the middle? So, why should anyone deny Jonathan the right to live in Aso Rock just because some debased minds are killing and maiming

    in some parts of the country? Would it not be better to live with the activities of these insurgents than allow the kind of ‘war’ being threatened by Asari-Dokubo and the likes?

    In any case, it is not as if those cavorting for a Jonathan presidency beyond 2015 are solely doing so on the basis of where he comes from. No. They are equally posturing with his unprecedented achievements in the last two years. They said he has been working silently to transform all sectors of the economy even if majority of us have opted to close our eyes to those things. Well, as they say, that one ‘na your toro!’ As far as Asari-Dokubo is concerned, that can only be the jabbering of “greedy politicians.” The common Nigerian from Otuoke in Bayelsa to Baga in Borno knows that a working machine has taken over Aso Rock and he is breaking new horizons in classical over-achievement.

    Listen to Asari-Dokubo: “The (Nigerian) story has changed. I made five hours from Benin to Lagos by road (by the way, it used to be three hours when I did my youth service corps in that ancient town in 1990). Electricity supply is relatively constant now than what it was before Jonathan came in as President. The Abuja-Lokoja Road that was neglected is almost completed and several other roads across the country. People have started using the rail system again. This shows that Jonathan is silently moving the country at the direction to satisfy these people, while we from the Niger Delta are not being satisfied. Before now, we have had university lecturers going on strike for over six months, people go to universities to study courses of four or five years, but end up staying five and six years because the lecturers were always going on strike, but that is not the case as at today because the government is handling the issue. Even at that, this is the most maligned government because some people think, and they have been made to believe that they are born to rule, and so many people who are very timid to challenge them have accepted it.”

    And did he have to say about the call for his arrest? He fired: “I am saying it bold and clear without mincing words, that the consequences of my arrest, Nigeria will be history.

    The last time Obasanjo arrested me, my arrest reduced Nigeria oil production to 700,000 barrels per day. This time, it will reduce it to zero barrel and we will match violence by violence, intrigues by intrigues. We are ready for them.

    Goodluck Jonathan will complete his tenure of two terms whether they like it or not; for us, they don’t even exist because we pay them; he who pays the piper decides the tune.

    And then…Kingsley Kuku: “People have created negative tendencies just to create the belief that President Jonathan cannot govern Nigeria. I did not say that Jonathan should be elected, by hook or crook, as President in 2015 otherwise there will be violence in the Niger Delta. I said for the peace process not to degenerate and collapse, President Jonathan should be allowed to implement the amnesty package. Nigeria will never be ungovernable. Nigeria will be governable under President Jonathan and he is already stemming the tide of restiveness.” Awww!

    How more logical can anyone be on this matter? Those who say the Jonathan train should be stopped because Nigeria is tottering on the brink of anarchy miss the point. It is not really important whether he has the capacity to rein in the terror that has assailed the nation. It matters not whether he is slow and sadly effete at tackling the ills that continue to plague the society. This debate is not about how guns echo sorrowful lullabies and ignite teardrops in our homes. It is about the politics of leadership in a nation that is forever perched on a plateau of non-populist leaders’ delusion of grandeur. It is not even about war and peace. Instead, it is about something more pedestrian than the lure of the stomach which has propelled many to think through their buttocks—what the National Auditor of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Adewole Adeyanju, tagged “turn by turn Nigeria Limited.”

    Being a man of figures, Adeyanju simplified all the fiery ranting of Asari-Dokubo thus: “PDP has leaders and we know them. Today, our leader is the President and Commander of the Armed Forces, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonatha n. This man is from the South-South. The best thing to do for Nigeria to sustain peace is to make Nigeria turn by turn Nigeria Limited. That’s why we can talk two terms. South-South is there now and we should just allow them to do two terms and that is how Nigeria can survive.”

    And so, neither cluelessness nor outright incompetence can stop the moving train in this asphyxiating environment of government by the whim! If not Jonathan, who else can help sustain this uncommon transformation – the motions without movement in our land and the unequalled peace of the graveyard that now pervade the land? Who else but Jonathan?

  • Escaping a cycle of violence

    Escaping a cycle of violence

    Struggling to contain a smoldering Islamist insurgency, the president of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has ordered in more troops and granted the military more powers to arrest, more authority to seize “any building or structure” and more leeway in “any area of terrorist operation.”

    Having cut short a trip to South Africa and annulled a planned state visit to Namibia, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria declared a “state of emergency” in three northeast states on May 14. In a speech to the nation, Jonathan acknowledged that there is an “insurrection” and that the government has lost control of certain areas to Boko Haram, a diffuse Islamist movement.

    The security services are already doing what the emergency declaration would permit them to do. Jonathan has promised more troops for the three states, but it is unclear where he will find them, as the military is already overstretched. Islamist violence and the brutal response from the security services are making the northeast of Nigeria ungovernable, as the state of emergency confirms. Though the insurgency uses much of the rhetoric of jihadist movements elsewhere and is increasingly adopting their tactics, it remains essentially a domestic revolt against the Nigerian state rather than part of an international jihadist movement.

    CFR’s Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) has tracked political violence in Nigeria since President Jonathan’s May 2011 inauguration, and some trends are clear. First, the graph of violence shows pronounced peaks and valleys; second, the security service’s joint task force of army and police has produced a high number of casualties; third, the insurgents’ tactics are evolving toward the style of internationalist jihadism.

    As the tracker illustrates, violence in Nigeria spiked higher on April 14-20 than any previous week since Jonathan’s inauguration almost two years ago. It mostly involved Boko Haram and its splinter groups, which notably battled state security services in the far northeastern fishing village of Baga, in Borno, a state included in the emergency declaration. But the NST also charts rising levels of violence associated with ethnic and religious conflict in the middle part of the country, and growing security service violence in response to criminal activity, such as kidnapping, in other areas.

    May could prove to be as violent as April. On May 8, the New York Times carried a front-page story documenting how Nigerian security services dumped corpses of alleged Boko Haram militants at already overburdened local morgues. In some instances, the overflow of deceased sent the stench of decomposing flesh across several neighborhoods in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno. According to the article, the military delivers dozens of bodies a day to the city’s medical facilities.

    The NST illustrates a pattern where Islamist violence provokes a brutal response from the security services that in turn drives popular support or acquiescence toward Boko Haram and its splinters. Northerners have described how, in the aftermath of Islamist attacks, security services round up large numbers of young men, many of whom are never formally arrested, prosecuted, or tried. They simply disappear. The Times report is evidence that the security services have likely extrajudicially murdered many of them.

    Several factors account for the brutality of the security services. In addition to being underpaid and poorly trained, soldiers and police are deployed outside of their native region as a matter of policy, in order to prevent their “favoritism” in a country with some 350 different ethnic groups and a population evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Security service personnel often have little understanding or sympathy for the people they are supposed to protect. Many do not even speak the local language.

    Meanwhile, the Jonathan administration stonewalls accusations of brutality. Outcry led by human rights organizations over the incident in Baga forced the administration to establish a commission of inquiry. But Nigeria has a long history of such commissions and their findings are rarely—if ever—made public.

    Under pressure from northern leaders who are also directly threatened by the insurgents, President Jonathan has appointed a separate commission to explore a possible “amnesty” program for Boko Haram, but the insurgents have shown no interest in laying down their arms. Instead, they are increasingly using tactics associated with international jihadist groups, such as kidnapping and suicide bombs. In the aftermath of the French intervention in Mali, supported by the Abuja government and the Obama administration, Islamist rhetoric is becoming more anti-Western, and there are more frequent attacks on Christians. The U.S. drone base in Niger is widely viewed with suspicion in northern Nigeria, and not just among extremists.

    The incessant violence is starting to impact the Nigerian economy. While Lagos hustles along without regard to the bloodshed in other parts of the country, economic activity has dipped, as in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city. Enterprises with exposure in northern Nigeria are seeing profits shrink. Cross-border trade between northern Nigeria and its neighbors is also down.

    Meanwhile, formal politics is almost entirely detached from reality. Goodluck Jonathan is widely regarded as feckless, especially in his response to the Islamist insurgency, but is still favored to win in the national elections scheduled for late next year. Nevertheless, there is more uncertainty about this election outcome than there has been at any time since the end of military rule in 1999. While Jonathan is trying to build support among the political class, his rivals are seeking to create a unified opposition party that could credibly challenge him at the polls. Sadly, both sides are resorting to traditional patronage-clientage politics without reference to the needs of the larger population.

    So anxiety about the future is high. In their more pessimistic moments, some Nigerians express anxiety about whether the country in its current form will survive to election day. There is some sentiment in favor of a military takeover, but there is little evidence that the upper reaches of the military have the stomach for a return to power. While the Islamist insurgents do not offer a viable political alternative and remain divided among themselves, the threat they pose to Nigeria’s political and economic future are significant, as Jonathan’s state of emergency recognizes.

    The federal government should reform the security services, including better pay and training, and end their impunity from legal prosecution. But, that would take time. Many northern leaders have urged that security service deployment be reduced, but Jonathan’s state of emergency moves in the opposite direction. In the longer term, decentralization of government authority, outlined in the country’s constitution but never really implemented, would be a step in the right direction. So, too, would be meaningful implementation of the rule of law, such as the arrest, prosecution, trial, and punishment of those convicted. Such steps would help address the North’s pervasive sense of alienation from the Abuja government and, increasingly, from the Federation.

    As for the United States and other friends of Nigeria, the first principle must be “do no harm.” The Islamist insurrection is the result of internal, specifically Nigerian, factors, especially a history of poor governance, impoverishment, and political marginalization against the backdrop of an Islamic revival. It would be unwise to view Nigeria’s situation through the prism of jihadist movements elsewhere in Africa, even if they share some of the same vocabulary. Nigeria’s friends should urge Abuja to approach the North through political means, rather than through more violence. A U.S. relationship with the Nigerian military would be particularly high risk. It is unlikely that U.S. training would be sufficient to affect military behavior. But even a token amount risks association of the U.S. military with Nigerian human rights abuses.

    Culled from http://www.cfr.org