Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday appealed to Nigerians to support the current administration in its drive to contain extremist sect Boko Haram.
Jonathan who was reacting to the reported killings of some Nigerians by the terrorist group, noted that the war on terror must be collective.
In a message posted on his Facebook account, Jonathan said: “The death of any Nigerian at the hands of terrorists is a sad reminder that the war on terror is a task for all Nigerians not just the armed forces.
“I urge all Nigerians to continue to pray for peace in Nigeria and to support the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the government does its best to bring an end to these acts of terror and secure all Nigerians. May God bless Nigeria.”
Tag: Jonathan
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Jonathan seeks support for Buhari on Boko Haram
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It’ll take time to clear Jonathan’s mess, says Presidency
•PDP urges Nigerians to pray for govt
The Presidency said last night that it will take time to clear the mess created by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, contrary to the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Nigerians need to pray for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
PDP National Publicity Secretary Olisah Metuh made the call in his 30-day appraisal of the Buhari administration.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said Nigerians were already on the side of the administration, which he noted was on course.
“It requires scrupulous and painstaking planning to clean the PDP’s Augean Stable,” Adesina said, adding:
“It is amusing to read what the National Publicity Secretary of the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, considers a 30 days appraisal of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“He wants Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government, so that things would begin to move. What he does not know is that Nigerians had long formed such coalition. They are hands in hands, and that was what gave victory to President Buhari in the March 28, 2015 poll.
“They had teamed up to uproot an administration that had brought the country to her knees, and was about to tip her off the precipice. And Nigerians have resolved that never would they allow any government to divide them along regional, religious and ethnic fault lines again.
“The Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in the immediate past dispensation. That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning.”
Stressing that national life was devalued across all sectors under PDP, Adesina said: “And it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver.
“Metuh talks of people around the President conniving with bureaucrats to syphon money from the treasury. This must be deja vu, as it was the pastime of the immediate past administration, and the enormity of the sleaze will be evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon.”
He said that only time will offer Nigerians the opportunity to compare the current administration with the past in order to know which one has come to serve the people.
He said: “In the process of time, after all that is being planned by the current administration has matured, and bearing fruits, Nigerians will be able to determine who is serving them acceptably, and who has taken them for a ride. It is just a matter of time.
“Meanwhile, Metuh and his masters can only rue the missed opportunities to make salutary impact on the lives of Nigerians. They have a long road of regrets to travel.”
A statement yesterday by Metuh noted that the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and the ruling party in the last one month had made it imperative for Nigerians to pray as the success or failure of the Buhari administration would not only affect the President and his party but also the entire nation.
The statement said: “We urge Nigerians to join hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC because with what we have seen in the last 30 days, the present administration is finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while showing no inclination towards implementing its numerous campaign promises for which they were voted into office at the centre.
”We are deeply worried that the President, who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to decide on key appointments, such as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy.
”This is more so as the delay has brought government business in ministries, departments and agencies to a dangerous standstill with coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in tatters while the system drifts.
“This situation also creates loopholes through which overzealous persons around the President can connive with unscrupulous elements in the bureaucracy to syphon public resources in addition to possibly misleading the President to violate due process by spending beyond and outside his statutory limits.
“The situation is taking its toll on the economy sector, which has in the 30 days witnessed unprecedented decline with a terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic investments, including activities in the money and capital market sectors. Under President Buhari, the stock market has lost over N238 billion while the All-Share Index fell by 849.87 basis points as at June 19.
”In security, apart from the directive to relocate the counter terrorism command centre to Borno State and seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in the fight against insurgency which the President in his April 22, 2015 CNN interview promised to end within his two months in office.
“Instead, the anti-terrorism effort has completely lost steam in the last 30 days, with insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country.
“We also urge for adequate respect for all organs of internal security, such as the Directorate of State Security (DSS), which is answerable to the Nigerian state and as such should not be publicly ridiculed by an aide of the President.”
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Jonathan left $30b, says ex-minister
Former Minister/Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman yesterday said ex-President Goodluck Jonathan left $30billion in the nation’s treasury, contrary to the claim of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said this was in addition to the US$2 billion in the Excess Crude Account as at May 29.
He said the amount would have been higher, if not for the governors’ insistence on sharing the fund.
Sulaiman, who made the disclosure in a statement in Abuja, said Jonathan must not be criminalised and painted a plunderer.
He described Buhari’s claim as “unscientific and unfair”.
He said: “The Jonathan administration left behind $30billion in its Foreign Reserve. So, how does the question of an empty treasury arrive?
“In the Excess Crude Account, we left behind US$2billion as at May 29. And the sum would have been higher if not for the governors’ insistence on sharing it.
“The government can’t tell us that there is no Excess Crude Account (ECA), Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) or are we saying the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIR) and related agencies had not in the last one month been generating revenue?
“Until they are able to prove they had no receipts from these agencies in the last one month then Nigerians can now buy into Mr. President’s claims of an empty treasury.”
Continuing, the former minister recalled that under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria was rated the largest economy in Africa and 26th largest in the world, querying how come such a government would leave behind an empty treasury.
Sulaiman, who was a member of the Transition Committee of the Federal Government, insisted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration acted responsibly in managing state funds.
He added: “Money made by government is meant to be spent, and the past administration did responsibly. Every government, even in the so-called western world, including the US, which today remains one of the largest debtor nations in the world, government operates on deficit.
“Is it not on record that President Obama inherited US$3 trillion debt, a collapsed banking sector and mortgage industry, yet he never raised any alarm. None of these has happened in Nigeria under Jonathan.
“Under Jonathan, Nigeria became the largest African economy and 26th in the world amidst deadly security challenges and dwindling international prices of oil. In spite of all these, the Federal Government never owed salaries.
“Upon inception of Jonathan’s administration, it is on record that the price of oil at the global stage was over $100 per barrel and at the close of the administration, it dropped to $46. Yet, there wasn’t collapse of government and federal civil servants were paid as at when due.”
He said it was a “disgrace that Nigeria cannot pay salaries of its workforce”.
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Jonathan owes construction firms N600b
The President, Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI), Solomon Ogunbusola, said yesterday that the Goodluck Jonathan administration owes construction companies N600billion.
Among the construction companies owed are Julius Berger, which is owed N90billion, N70billion from FG, Others from states. SCC over N70billion, Setraco N80billion and a host of others.
Ogunbusola spoke at FOCI’s 59th annual general meeting in Abuja, pointing that construction industries in the country are in bad shape.
He said, “Construction industries in the country are not finding it easy at all, they are all working below 30 per cent. Most of the construction companies have closed with the management staff resuming for the purpose of continuity.
“Without the construction industries, government cannot make any significant improvement.
“Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) came up with the idea of publishing the names of debtors, I think it should be looked at holistically, if these companies are genuinely owed by government, it should be left alone, because by the time the names of these companies are published, the public begin to look at the company negatively.”
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Jonathan’s close friend, PDP, APGA leaders join APC
•Odigie-Oyegun: vote out Dickson
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s close friend and frontline politician, Chief Diekivie Ikiogha, yesterday led some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and thousands of his supporters to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The move, it was gathered, has depleted the ranks of PDP in the state ahead of the 2016 governorship election.
Ikiogha, a founding member of the PDP, embraced the broom revolution at an elaborate ceremony which ended in the evening at Kpansia open field, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
Also, members of other political parties, including the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) followed him to the APC.
Leaders of the PDP that defected with him are: Chief Victor Awala, Paul Ajuwa, Mrs. D. Irene, a former commissioner, Prince Abeki as well as over 150 former councillors from 1999 to 2012.
Over 43 non-governmental organisations under the aegis of New Bayelsa Initiative also identified with Ikiogha, who was described as a great grassroots mobiliser.
Ikiogha, a former Bayelsa State Chief of Staff, said to be a trusted and dependable ally of Governor Seriake Dickson, was one of the brains behind the emergence of the governor in 2012.
But indications of a rift between the duo emerged when the governor removed him in controversial circumstances as Chief of Staff and redeployed him to Abuja Liaison Office.
Ikiogha resigned his appointment in October 2014 to contest the House of Representatives seat for Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma on the platform of the PDP but failed to clinch the ticket.
Addressing the mammoth crowd that came to witness his formal movement to APC, Ikiogha said he decided to quit the PDP because it is a party full of betrayals and deceits.
He said: “The PDP is full of betrayals and deceits. There is lack of internal democracy and it is a party where the highest bidder always has his ways.
“As I left the PDP, I went on my private business until I started receiving calls from my supporters and those who believe in me that I could not quit partisan politics.
“It was then I discovered that I had a family in the APC. I also know that Bayelsa people are yearning for change which the APC represents.
“All those denied opportunities in the PDP are defecting to the APC with me. There are many of them and the solidarity cuts across other political parties including the APGA, Accord Party, Labour Party, among others.”
APC’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who was represented by the National Vice-Chairman, South-South, Hilliard Eta, received Ikiogha and handed him the symbolic broom.
Odigie-Oyegun noted the Dickson-led government of Bayelsa State had received over “N440bn from the federal government with nothing to show for it.”
He appealed to Bayelsans “to retire Governor Seriake Dickson”.
He declared that the occasion was not meant to give Ikiogha a governorship ticket to contest the forthcoming Bayelsa State governorship election but to receive him into the party.
He added that the process of electing a governorship flag bearer for the party would be transparent just like the process that produced Muhammadu Buhari as the party’s Presidential candidate.
Bayelsa State chairman of the APC, Chief Tiwei Orunimighe, said the journey to change Dickson, whom he accused of none performance, had just started.
He said the APC would use the broom to change incompetence that had bedevilled the oil-rich state for so long.
He noted that the doors of APC were open to all politicians with ambitions and aspirations.
It was gathered that Ikiogha, a former Commissioner for Agriculture, would soon formally declare his intention to contest the governorship election.
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Bayelsa can be better if youths lead – Siasia
- At an interactive session with Journalists, Moses Siasia, 35-year-old governorship aspirant in Baylesa State, revealed his plans to transform the state. He also lamented the interests of the old folks for the younger generations. David Lawal was at the session for The Nation Newspaper.
Considering your age, would you not need party elders’ support to secure the ticket?
While some remain myopic and wouldn't love to let go because that is where they get their pay from, there are some of them that are positive minded. And we must convince them that it is time for us take care of them and to take the interests of our people serious. And I believe that God will give us the grace to champion this course to the next level.
You should be aware of the level of debt in the state which successive administrations have incurred, how would you run a successful government with the high level of debt?
If you do not take up the challenge you will continue to allow people to accumulate debt for the state. My will is to put a stop to debt owing. We must create investments that would boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue of the state which is currently less than N1 billion.
We are going to diversify the economy and concentrate on sectors like tourism, agriculture. I would increase investment enough and create environment to attract investors.
We would tax the rich and the big hotels in the state and complete the abandoned five-star hotel project that former President Jonathan started so that people can come and see.
Bayelsa is where oil was first discovered in Nigeria. We would create a museum, a city out of Oloibiri, then develop Akasa and create a beach there. The environment in Akasa in Bayelsa is better than Miami in the US. If you sit in Brass at night you can sight Guinea. Bayelsa State is central to the Gulf of Guinea. You can get to Equatorial Guinea under one hour through boat from Brass. Hence, we can build partnership and build seaport.
We can use the opportunities to create wealth for the people. I am not going to run a debt owing state. There won’t be need to borrow to execute any project. Some of my partners are currently supporting some states in building infrastructures.
We would also team up with them. There are a lot of my partners who are looking for real business environment to invest; we can create that. The current administration created Bayelsa Development Centers in the United Kingdom and South Africa but not many investments have come to the state through this means.
In one year, we can bring about 500 companies in Bayelsa. We can create massive employment under one year, in fact about 50,000 jobs, viable jobs, not N10, 000 jobs or street sweeping jobs. We are going to create job that comes with job security. Wealth to me is not about how much I have in my account but how many lives I have been able to touch and that is why I want the people to vote for me. I have done that in the past.
Majority of the militants from the Niger Delta regional are from your state, what is your plan for them?
I do not see them as militants, rather, I see some of them as professionals. For example, on a high sea and on a very high level of water pressure, someone uses a speed boat to kidnap somebody and still uses the speed boat to escape with his victim. It requires a lot of technicalities to do what they are doing.
We would try to ensure that they channel their energy into productive ventures. We would show them the light to enable them use their potentials rightly and this will further strengthen the state.
That is where human capacity development comes in. I have started meeting with some of them and they have been impressed that someone within their age bracket is coming out for a post like governor, while some of them have not responded.
Well, but we would keep them informed about the dynamics of contemporary politics which largely involves youth participation.
How realistic is it for you to run the state without borrowing funds when elected as governor?
My business is not in debt. You must take loan to fund massive projects but the strategy we have used to run our business is to build partnership and that would be adopted too.
See, running a state is not so different from running a business. Some state governors were able to leave office with good reserves without debt. What we have is enough to sustain the state.
For instance, most investors have it in their business plan that they are going to get gas from Bayelsa and this makes the state very strategic. And we are going to build investment around this with the support of the Federal Government to ensure that we create massive wealth for our people. Our aim is that we transform Bayesa to a point that everyone would become proud of it.
Considering the current level of threat to life in Bayelsa due to kidnapping and hostage taking, how do you intend to ensure the safety of foreign investors and provide basic facilities which they are used to from where they are coming?
We would use Bayelsa as example for modern facilities by Optic fibre network. You would have access to internet from anywhere you are. There are companies that are willing to come and do this and thankfully people are beginning to key into this.
For security, I believe that once the people have a sense of belonging, the state becomes secured. This strategy was used in Borno and it is working. The environment becomes safe once you build confidence and the people are part of the projects.
We must transmit values that would sensitize the people so they would know that they are critical stakeholders in the system. People will be able to access me as this would help to build their trust.
How do you intend to dislodge political heavyweights like the incumbent governor, Dickson and Timipre Silva who are currently rumoured to be interested in the governorship race?
It is not about me, it is not just Moses Siasia, it is a movement. The people's will is more important in politics. This was evident in the last general elections. Power is going back to the people and this is what would happen in Bayelsa too.
Former President Jonathan is from Bayelsa and is expected to be the Godfather in the state. Do you have his support already or hoping to?
People's perception of godfathers in politics really worries me some times. I understand that there is need to gather the support of the heavyweights. I will consult the former president.
I know he is open to the voice of the youth as seen in his works while in office and this is the time for him to show again that he believes in the youth.
Does the ethnic game on ground in Bayelsa favour you? And how would you ensure that you are accepted at the grassroots?
I strongly believe in professionalism so I don't discuss matters like ethnicity or zoning formula. The incumbent governor is from my part of the state, he has used for years and I will also use four years. The choice is there for the people to make and they would make it rightly, I believe that we do not have buy people's vote because the people are wise now.
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Buhari to probe Jonathan’s $9.7m failed arms contract
President: I’ll kill corruption
What actually went wrong with the $9.7m arms deal? Why was the cash flown to South Africa from Nigeria?Was the money, which South Africa impounded, actually meant for arms purchase?
These are some of the questions which will soon be answered.
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to probe the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s deal.
He is to take up the issue with President Jacob Zuma.
The cash was seized by South African security men last September as it was being transferred into their country on a private jet by agents of the Federal Government.
Former President Jonathan’s government claimed that the money was mearnt to puchase arms from private companies in South Africa.
According to the government, Nigeria resorted to private puchase of arms to fight Boko Haram because the United States declined to sell arms to the country, in addition to persuading its allies not to allow sale of arms and ammunition to the country.
But eyebrows were raised about the manner the money was taken to South Africa.
“I will attempt to ask him (President Zuma) about our $9.7 million which was not correctly transferred,” Buhari told Nigerians in South Africa during a meeting with them in Johannesburg to round off his visit to the country for the African Union (AU) Summit.
He said: “I’m told there are 83 Nigerians in prisons, I don’t know what they have done but I spoke to the President of South Africa this afternoon. He wants to come to Nigeria. There are issues we will talk about, I will certainly talk to him, I hope our ambassador will send a comprehensive report about the court cases, about those who lost properties during the disturbances.”
The South African authorities froze $9.3 million transported in cash by two Nigerians and an Israeli for arms purchase. At the time, South Africa said the transaction violated its laws on movement of cash.
The two Nigerians and an Israeli were arrested at the Lanseria International Airport, Johannesburg, on September 5 in a private jet from Abuja.
The money, stashed in three suitcases, raised suspicion when the passengers’ luggage were unloaded and put through the scanners.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in South Africa said there was an invoice for helicopters and armaments intended to be used in Nigeria.
Two black plastic suitcases, filled with 90 blocks each containing US$100,000 in notes, with combination locks, were seized, as well as two pieces of hand luggage also containing US currency, according to City Press.
The Israeli national, Eyal Mesika, had the combination to open the locks.
Under South African laws, a person entering or leaving the country is expected to carry cash not exceeding US$2,300, or the equivalent in foreign currency notes.
The private jet involved belonged to the head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Pastor Ayo Ortisejafor.
Pastor Oritsejafor said the plane was on lease to a third party and he could not be blamed for its schedules.
President Buhari also promised to implement the cardinal policies of his administration.
He said: “Government is determined to secure the country, manage the economy, create employment and fight corruption. Some articulate writers have said if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. This APC administration intends to kill corruption in Nigeria. We will do our best, I assure you.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) government, Buhari said, is determined to secure the country, improve the economy and eliminate corruption.
According to him, the G7 leaders have expressed commitment to helping Nigeria tackle insecurity and develop its oil and gas sectors.
“We are getting the facts and logistic requirements together,” he said.
Buhari urged Nigerians resident in South Africa to be good ambassadors of the country, stressing that Nigerian and South African leaders will soon meet to discuss several issues bordering on their relationship.
“Those of you who have the opportunity to come here and represent us, make sure that you are representing Nigeria, you are all ambassadors of Nigeria. This means a lot of patience, restraint, self-respect and pride. You must have all these,” the President said.
According to him, those accusing him of locking them up have no case as himself was locked up for three and half years from his position as Head of State.
He said: “But I assure you that after being in the military for 25 years, and getting to the highest rank and becoming head of state and under unusual circumstances. As head of state, I went straight to detention for three and half years; so those who accused me of locking them up, I too have been locked up; so what?”
Buhari said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) messed up Nigeria and that was why the people decided to vote for him.
He said: “They remember me more as chairman of PTF than as a former head of state, than a governor or a minister of petroleum. Inspite of the fact that it was during my time that I signed the contract for Warri Refinery, Kaduna Refinery, more than 3,500 lying pipes and more than 20 depot, we got the tankers off the road, we saved lives, we saved fuel, we save the road itself. But from 1999 till date, PDP has messed it up. That is why Nigerians decided to vote me.
“In spite the fact that they say money is working from primaries to my election is a proof that Nigerians know what they want once they make up their minds. You can give them the money, some refuse to take it, some took it and said it is our money and they do exactly what they wanted to do.
“So, why did I join partisan politics in spite of that? When I went home people knew that I have no money I thought they will leave me alone, but they didn’t. They were coming to me, asking me to do this and do that. And I found that the only way I could do it is by joining partisan politics. And maybe if I speak even if I’m not a member at any level, people will listen to me.
“The second that happened that finally convinced me to join partisan politics was what happened to Soviet Union. You know the Soviet Union was an empire in the 20th century that collapsed without a shot being fired. Everybody went home. There was confusion. Now there are 18 countries out of the old Soviet Union. They were more advanced than the western countries in science because they wanted to go to space specifically in 1957, and they had more nuclear war heads and delivering system than Warsaw.
“And they had organised their societies and they had much less crimes and they got jobs for people. When people had no jobs they got one for them. And that was when I decided and I believed that the best form of governance is multi-parties democracy with a big caveat: election must be free and fair. And that was why I was in trouble. I moved from APP to ANPP to CPC, eventually to APC.
Buhari wished he got to be president when he was younger in age.
He said: “How I wish I became head of state when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do. But what brought me there I think mainly is because I love this country. I was in the war front for 30 months during our civil war, I lost a lot of loyal people to me, I lost a relative, a lot of Nigerians did too. We lost about two million Nigerian lives just to keep Nigeria one. So nobody should come now and tell us rubbish. We are going to remain one country God has given us another opportunity to reorganise this country. Those who work hard, the society will pay them back.”
Speaking earlier, the Consul-General of Nigeria in South Africa, Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, told President Buhari that 143 Nigerians were killed in South Africa between 2011 and 2014; 81 were in Johannesburg prison.
“Out of this 81 Nigerians, 21 have been convicted,” she said,
Ajulu-Okeke also disclosed that shops and other property worth millions of Rands belonging to Nigerians were destroyed during the recent xenophobic attacks.
The President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, Mr. Ikechukwu Anyene, congratulated Buhari on his election and inauguration, saying “your victory is victory over poverty, hunger and signals hope for the common man”.
Ayene urged the president to facilitate compensation for Nigerians affected by the xenophobic attacks.
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‘Jonathan deserves Nobel prize’
A former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Students and Youth Matters, Comrade Jude Imagwe, yesterday berated former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva for his alleged anti-Jonathan comment.
Sylva was said to have remarked that “Jonathan’s conceding of defeat is not an achievement”.
The former governor added that the former President should not be given a hero’s status for his action.
Imagwe who spoke in Benin, the Edo State capital, after a thanksgiving at the St John Vianney Catholic Church, Ohoghobi, said Jonathan’s singular act disappointed doomsday prophets, who had predicted that Nigeria would be plunged into bloodshed after the 2015 general elections.
He said those who said Jonathan was not qualified to lead the nation were unpatriotic Nigerians, who do not wish the country well.
Imagwe said: “I feel that if there is anything higher than a Nobel Peace Prize, that is what Jonathan deserves.
“This is because at a time when people prophesised doom for Nigeria, his singular action restored peace.
“At that time, the beneficiary would not have done what Jonathan did by conceding defeat.
“At that time, people were running away from the country for fear of what the enemy had prophesied. But his utterances returned peace.
“Any man who says he is not qualified for the Nobel Peace Prize is being unpatriotic and insincere.
“The man (Sylva) himself knows he is not truthful to himself and to the country.”
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Kinsman threatens Jonathan with lawsuit over Alamieyeseigha’s property
Former President Goodluck Jonathan is embroiled in conflict with his kinsman and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Mr. Sidi Godwin, over property seized from former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.
Alamieyeseigha was impeached in 2005 by the state House of Assembly and later convicted for money laundering, paving way for Jonathan to become the governor of the state.
His properties at home and abroad were confiscated and returned to the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
While as President, Jonathan, who always refers to Alamieyeseigha as his benefactor, granted state pardon in controversial circumstances to his former boss.
But Godwin told journalists in Yenagoa on Friday that some of the properties seized from the former governor were in the possession of the former President.
He claimed that Jonathan took possession of one of the seized buildings of Alamieyeseigha at Maitama, Abuja, and later handed it over to his political associate and friend, King A.J. Turner.
He accused Jonathan of confiscating a five-series bulletproof BMW car bought as a birthday gift for Alamieyeseigha by a friend.
Godwin gave the former President 72 hours to return Alamieyeseigha’s property in his possession or face a lawsuit.
He also asked the National Assembly to compel Jonathan to give account of the whereabouts of the Chibok girls since he was the Chief Security Officer of the country when they were taken away by terrorists.
He said his group had concluded plans to drag the ex-President to the International Court of Justice over the Chibok girls.
He argued that Jonathan conceded defeat to cover up political and economic atrocities he committed in office.
Sidi, a former South-South Youth Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asked the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to make Jonathan’s assets declaration public.
He alleged that the former President glorified in corruption and allowed graft to cripple the country.
He said: “Jonathan’s concession of defeat is a ploy to cover up political atrocities he committed while in office. Jonathan was instrumental to the removal of Alamieyeseigha and prior to his removal, I remembered vividly that a friend of Alamieyeseigha bought him five-series BMW car salon. Jonathan took that vehicle to Aso Rock.”
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Flashback: Jonathan’s special advisers and portfolios
As Nigerians await the official release of President Muhammadu Buhari’s list of Special Advisers, it is uncertain who the appointees will be. Only Mr. Femi Adesina, a former Managing Director of The Sun Newspaper has been be assigned the role of Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.
President Buhari had on Monday sent a letter to the National Assembly, requesting the outgoing lawmakers to approve his plan to appoint 15 aides.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan picked 18 special advisers for his administration and assigned them different portfolios.
Here are Jonathan’s special advisers and the positions they occupied:
– Eng. Mohammed Kachalla Abubakar – Deputy Chief of Staff to the President
– Hassan Tukur – Principal Secretary to the President,
– Dr. Tunji Olagunju – Special Adviser to the President on NEPAD,
– Mr. Oronto Douglas – Special Adviser to the President on Research and Strategy
– Hon. Kingsley Kuku – Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs.
– Prof. Abubakar Sambo – Special Adviser to the President on Energy,
– Mrs. Sarah Akuben Pane – Special Adviser to the President on Social Development
– Mrs. Sarah Jibril – Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values
– Senator Joy Emordi – Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters
-Pius Olakunle Osunyikanmi – Special Adviser to the President on International Relations.
– Prof. Dan Adebiyi – Special Adviser to the President on Special Duties
– Dr. Reuben Abati – Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity
– Mrs. Asma’u Abdulkadir – Special Adviser to the President on Gender Issues
– Nze Sullivan Akachukwu Nwakpo – Special Adviser to the President on Technical Matters
– Yakubu Abdullahi – Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters (Office of the Vice President)
– Barr. Bashir Sufyan – Special Adviser to the President on Legal Matters (Office of the Vice President)
– Senator Isaiah Ballat – Special Adviser to the President for Special Duties (Office of the Vice President).
