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Tag: Jonathan

  • PDP working hard to reclaim Kano, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is working hard to reclaim Kano State which he described as important to Nigeria.

    President Jonahan who was in Kano on Saturday to commission the N2.5 billion fly-over named after the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, said that PDP is determined to use the coming election to correct the wrong movements by some members of the party who decamped to the opposition.

    According to him, the recent movement by some party members would be corrected, noting that the PDP has put up all mercenaries in motion to correct all the wrongs and bring back old members that left the party.

    He also described Kano as very important to the nation’s economy, with its status as the commercial nerve centre of the North.
    He promised that if given a second chance, the Federal Government under his leadership will improve the value of the state in terms of commerce and industry and agriculture.

    His words: “Let me thank all of you gathering here to welcome us. Kano city is a great city in this country. Kano state is very very critical state in this country and that is why we have provided this bridge that flies over the transfer Sahara high way. This is one of the most important road that transverse this country.

    “This is a critical infrastructure that will help to promote commerce and industry. Kano state is known for commercial activities, known for agriculture, known for trade beyond Nigeria, beyond west Africa. So, it is a state that needs to work with the federal government, so that federal government working with the state will improve the quality of the life of the people, increasing production capacity of the people to generate wealth for the people.

    “We love the Kano people, we will work with you so that you don’t only get the groundnut pyramid back but to process it so that things we produce in our farms and forest, what we get from our soil has to be processed and add value to it so that we can create jobs and wealth for our people. That is why we are very happy that the Kano people believe in the leading the PDP. So, there are some movements recently but in the coming elections I know we can use it to correct these wrong movements.

    “We are not exploiting the people of Kano, we are ready to work and add value to these people. You are the people we love so much. So, for the bridge we want to commission, because we had a leader who just left us in this great state, one of our foremost traditional rulers was not known for controversy, he never played with his throne.

    “He held that office with extreme dignity, he gave colour to that office. He brought dignity and respect to the office. He left us but we live to continue to remember him. So, this bridge we are building, we are naming it after ado Bayero as one of the little things that the federal government can do to immortalize his name and continue to promote his legacies.”

    Those who accompanied President Jonathan to Kano included PDP National Chairman., Alhaji Adamu Muazu, Minster of Works, Mike Onolonemen, Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, Jigawa state Governor, Sule Lamido, Senator Bashir Lado, Senator Bello Hayatu and Hon. Farouk Lawal.m

  • I’m not desperate for power, says Jonathan

    I’m not desperate for power, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday maintained that he was not desperate to serve.

    He made the remark while speaking during launching of a book, ‘The People’s Choice’, in the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

    The book, which is in four parts and written by Rev. Fr. Charles Imokhan, is a story of President Jonathan.

    Over N170 million was realized from the book launch.

    According to President Jonathan, he is not ruffled towards the forthcoming elections as he is only willing and ready to serve the country but not desperate to serve.

    He also charged Nigerian politicians to desist from desperation in their quest for power.

    He said: “Sometimes people ask me Mr. President from what we read and what we see, we see you still smiling and unruffled. Yes, nothing will really ruffle me because I’m willing and ready to serve but I’m not desperate to serve.

    “And that is what keeps me going and if all of us who want to hold offices from the least, a counselor of a ward or a chairman of a council, a member of the state house of assembly or member of House of Representatives, Senate, or the President, if all of us are always ready and willing to serve our people but we are not desperate in that our mission then of course Nigeria will be a better place for all of us,” he said

    President Jonathan also expressed gratitude to the Author of the book, Rev. Fr. Imohkai for the great details of his account in the book, which he said is more than earlier publications on him.

    He reiterated his commitment to the empowering of the people with quality education to enable everyone realise his potentials like himself.

    He said: “Because my story is a humble story and whenever I read write ups about me especially my personal account from my birth to when I got into the limelight of deputy governor, most times the accounts are not very accurate and is expected.

    “I think the only accurate account will be when I write when I leave office. But to some extent this particular account is reasonably close, the whole story has been captured but except for minor details.”

    “Thank you for representing me to Nigerians and of course whole world. My story is meant to encourage young people. I have to thank the people who bought the books for Almajiri schools because my dream is that one day a product of Almajiri school will stand here as a president of this country.

    “And that is why I have been very passionate about education and I use to tell people that I grew up from a very poor background. But luckily Nigeria is not a cast society, if I was to be an Indian, I probably wouldn’t even dream of being a commissioner in my state.”

    He went on “Because in a cast society some people permanently belong to a lower class but Nigeria is an open society, so you can move from the lowest level to the top but for you to do that one key thing is education and that is why I lay so much emphasis on education.

    “That was why when I came here I decided that every state must have a federal university. The responsibility of primary school is that of local government and the state, but because of the drop out at the basic education level in so many states, the federal government under my watch decided to invest also at that level of education, both primary and secondary to assist states government.

    “Because without education, there is no miracle that would have brought somebody like me to face you today. So, I thank the governor of Anambra state and others who are committed to education.”

    He noted that the objective of the book which was to establish a foundation with the money raised to cater for the less privileged, was almost fulfilled.

    “I believe that the expectations of Col. Obi and Fr. Imokhai would have been met. Their hope is to set up a foundation though they are yet to give us the details.

    “So, feel free to mention whatever you have, the money is not coming to Jonathan’s pocket, is not also going to pocket of PDP but is going to the foundation that the author and the chairman of the organising committee have in mind.

    “I thank you Fr. Imokhai for this great work you have done for sitting down to write about me, you are indeed a lucky man if not luckier than me because within this period I have been in office, I have seen so many publications about me and none has attracted people like this.

    “So, you must be a lucky man to gather this creme of Nigerians including our former Head of State Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Oladipo Diya former Chief of General Staff, the former Chief of Justice of Nigeria, Justice Uwaise and Governor Willy Obiano and others,” he said.

    Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who stood in for Ambassador Maitama Sule as the Chairman of the occasion, corrected an impression in the book concerning the Aburi Accord.

    He said: “I have seen that you have gone back in history in your research with Ojukwu and myself on Aburi Accord. I was fascinated by that because I can assure you that meeting was to break the ice and to all of us allow the military leaders at the time to be able and to agree to be discussing our problems in Nigeria and to solve them.”

    “The little handicap that was at the final phase was scuttled. What happened to us at Aburi was that I couldn’t make it because I was unfortunately down with fever. And Ojukwu got back and made a statement and that wasn’t what we discussed and that was the beginning of the misunderstanding not because we agreed to work with Ojukwu.”

    “Since you presented that we have a meeting I thought I should make that comment and to correct that,” he said

    He urged Nigerians to vote for their conscience in the forthcoming general elections.

    He said: “This book is coming at the time as Nigeria will be voting in a matter of days. After reading the book those not yet decided you will vote for one of our presidential candidates. I can assure you that the President, as democrat as he is will say do not vote for me on the basis of religion, please vote your conscience, and if it is the people choice so be it.”

    “Vote your conscience but vote right. I hope all of you here will do the right thing and vote for the people’s choice,” he added

    The author, Rev. Fr. Charles Imokhai, said that he was encourage to write the book because of the good work the president has been doing.

    He said: “I see you are becoming clergy, in the ministry we hear what we do wrong and not what we do right. I wrote this book to assure you that you have done a few things right.”

  • El-Rufai blasts Jonathan over Abuja land grab

    El-Rufai blasts Jonathan over Abuja land grab

    Former Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister and All Progressive Congress, APC, Gubernatorial Candidate for Kaduna state, Malam Nasril El-Rufai has taken a swipe of President Goodluck Jonathan on the Abuja land grab issue.

    El-Rufai insisted Friday that the allocation of 95.88 hectares of land to President Goodluck Jonathan in the Aviation Village amounts to “another violation of the Abuja dream.”

    The vast expanse of land was approved by the current FCT Minister, Alhaji Bala Mohammed on March 8, 2012 to President Goodluck Jonathan’s Company registered as Ebele integrated Farms Limited.

    But there have been widespread condemnations regarding the propriety and otherwise of a sitting President using the instrumentality of his office to effect the allocation of vast expanse of land to himself through the FCT Minister at the Aviation Village, Abuja, for farming purposes.

    Responding to some questions from The Nation on the matter, the former FCT Minister described the issue of the Aviation Village as self-explanatory.

    El-Rufai through an e-mail from his media aide, Samuel Aruwan, said there were no such provisions for the land located at the Cadastral Zone to be converted to farm land in the original plan and design of the FCT.

    His words: “Aviation Village is self-explanatory….it is part of Phase 5 of the FCT, meant to accommodate aviation company needs – hangars, fueling and maintenance facilities, housing and hotels.

    “There were no provisions for agricultural land in the City footprint. Farmlands are located outside the City in places like Gaube, Kuje and Kwali. I am surprised that agricultural land is being allocated in the footprint of the FCT. This may be another violation of the Abuja Dream…..God Save us.”

     

  • Jonathan’s trojan horse arrives South West

    President Goodluck Ebele “Azikiwe” Jonathan has firmly convinced himself that in the history of all ages, there has never been a space without master; and that there wouldn’t be any in Nigeria of today. The attacker always comes up against a possessor in various  forms since the greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of oppressed.

    The possessors and the oppressed in this instance are the Nigerian people and the attacker is Mr Jonathan himself. The Presidency’s confusions and vacillations seemed to increase with each new month of the calendar. To him, the only alternatives are victory or destruction. He has enlisted the unshakable obstinacy of violent ethnic militias in the Niger Delta, South East and now South West to inflict maximum injuries in the minds of those who will not consider him electable.

    Like a thunderbolt, the calls for the removal of Prof Attahiru Jega, the chair of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was first echoed by the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, (MASSOB). The calls culminated in advertisements in both prints, electronics and the social media. The campaign is so strong that few days ago, the disbanded MASSOB militia protested in Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, among other locations in the South-East, calling for the immediate removal of Jega.

    These protests were attended by violent and untoward destructions as choreographed by the PDP and President Jonathan. Characteristically, the evasive Jonathan maintained dignified silence as though he had no hand in it. While the wanton destruction of property and harassment of law abiding citizens lasted, the Nigeria Police provided cover for the arsonists to have a field day. No words of rebuke or order to clamp down on the protesters came from the Commander-in-Chief. Mr Jonathan, in the past, has broke up protests against his government with the same police and the armed forces. Incompetent and lazy, vain as a peacock, dry and without direction as he has been, the president could be pardoned for not showing leadership.

    The aggression didn’t end there. The Oodua Peoples Congress and the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation in Lagos on Monday morning led other protesters to storm the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, demanding the sacking of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, before the March 28 elections.

    The bus of the campaign group and the members of the OPC, who massed at the 7UP/Toll Gate end of the expressway, led the protesters, who were chanting anti-Jega songs, giving reasons why Jega should be sacked. The OPC members carried guns, cutlasses, pocket knifes among other weapons, occupying one end of the busy highway while some members of the groups harassed some motorists and passers-by plying the road.

    Some people, who were clad in black vest, said to be beneficiaries of the SURE-P, also constituted a sizable portion of the protesters.

    Heavy traffic built up along the highway as the protesters, who were well protected by heavily armed soldiers and police presence, took over one part of the road, grounding movement of other road users. The protesters took time to distribute leaflets containing seven reasons why the INEC boss should be sacked. The leaflet also contained what the OPC described as the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan and why the President should be re-elected.

    Earlier, the National Cordinator of Oodua Peoples’ Congress, Chief Gani Adams has explained that his group resolved to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term, because of the promise to implement 633 recommendations of the report of national confab. “Yet some civil society groups have kept quiet on these issues. So, we need to move this country forward on the basis of structure and not about saying Buhari will come to perform miracle. When Buhari was in power, it was Buhari/Idiagbon government, not only Buhari. Idiagbon did much of the job in government. Buhari was just the administrator. Idiagbon was the master-strategist of that government”, he said.

    But prior to the violent protest of the outlawed militia, the All Progressives Congress, APC had alleged that it had uncovered a plot by its Peoples Democratic Party counterpart to fund ethnic militias to protest and demand Jega’s sacking. This allegation has not be refuted by either the PDP or the presidency.

    Vain and tactless and with incredible naivety and speed, Mr Jonathan has truly recruited and resuscitated the bloodcurdling OPC whose banal activities in South West Nigeria in the past almost laid the once urbane and sophisticated ethnic group prostrate. The consequences of arming militia terrorist group partly gave birth to Boko Haram insurgents and Niger Delta crisis for which the president himself is guilty of, and later became its victim when they bombed his house as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State.

    In introspection, it’s easy to now see that President Jonathan’s successful gamble with the postponement of the polls has brought him a victory more staggering and more fatal in its immense consequences than could be comprehended. Nigerians are not certain if Mr Jonathan would heed the note of caution, almost of despair, creeping into his second term bid.

    It’s yet unclear, day after day, who stands the most to gain from the chains of chaotic governance guaranteed by the PDP and Mr Jonathan in the last sixteen-years. It could be the people who barely sleep with one eye opened in virtual darkness. It’s possible it is the masses who stay awake all through the nights on empty stomach. If Mr Jonathan didn’t stand to gain from the  missed opportunities and aborted chances, why did he soil his hands with innocent people’s blood?

    In all of this, the plush official denizens who literarily took possession of his gutter government must have been having a field day.

    That Mr Jonathan awarded N9 billion contract to the OPC for the protection of pipelines in a country where you have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, policemen, Navy, Air Force, DSS and Civil Defence is a classical example of a gutter that becomes government.

    Feted and flattered by the ethnic militia as a reformist, even by the witches and wizards, the president becomes deprived of knowing how fateful his presidency has become. With the roaring dollars all over the place, Obas defaming their crowns, Christian leader cheering obsessively on the arrival of another easy money, assurances of God’s divinity issuing forth from the ‘Throne of Grace” for his continuity gambit, echoes of victory is all the president could hear.

    Well-meaning Nigerians know a thing that is unknown to the hired crowd or they pretended not to know. Should Jonathan stay beyond 2015 in Aso Rock by whatever means, the nation’s decadent economic situation would be worsened to an unbearable, even hopeless extent. The darkening time would have firmly gripped a people whose only hope  in the face of many failings was to have a voice in the affairs of their governance.

    As things stand, whoever lights the torch of electoral fraud can wish for nothing but chaos. Nigerians are already living in the solid conviction that in our time, nothing of such will be tolerated, not even a descend to the merest of manipulations. The renaissance of democratic ethos must take its full course so that Nigeria may make an imperishable contractual contribution toward the global strive for democratic space. That is the plight of the people in their proud nation and their unshakable belief in its indivisibility.

    • Erasmus, A Public Affairs analyst write in from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • $16b EPZ project: Jonathan to perform ground-breaking soon

    $16b EPZ project: Jonathan to perform ground-breaking soon

    President Goodluck Jonathan has finally agreed to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of the $16 billion Delta Gas City Project next week Thursday.

    The project, also known as the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), Ogidigben, had generated ethnic tension among the Itsekiri of Ugborodo on the one hand and Itsekiri and  Ijaw on the other hand.

    The tension had led to several postponements in the official ground-breaking ceremony dates by the president which fueled feelings that he was taking sides with his Ijaw kinsmen against the Itsekiri nation.

    But the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, at a stakeholders’ meeting held yesterday in Asaba, the state’s capital said President Jonathan had agreed to the Thursday date, which he said would not fail like the previous experiences.

    The Nation gathered that all the stakeholders at the meeting, including the Itsekiri, Ijaw of Gbaramatu Kingdom; both in Warri Southwest council area and the Ijaw of Ogulagha Kingdom in Burutu council area, agreed to allow a peaceful atmosphere for the ceremony.

    An Itsekiri representative at the meeting, Alex Eyengho confirmed the development to our correspondent when contacted. Eyengho applauded the choice of the new date saying that the purpose of the meeting with the governor was to announce to stakeholders and host communities that Mr. President has fixed March 26 for the groundbreaking ceremony.

    Eyengho, who is also a member of the Ugborodo Community/EPZ Interface Committee, noted that the most important thing is that the project is commissioned explaining that just like Escravos Gas to Liquids (EGTL) project, the project will be beneficial to host and impacted communities when it officially commenced operation.

    He said: “The agenda of today’s meeting which was called by Governor Uduaghan was clear. It was to officially inform all stakeholders that the groundbreaking ceremony has been fixed for Thursday March 26 which is next week by Mr President. It was also to appeal and solicit for the commitment of all to ensure that there are no awkward activities especially breakdown of peace during the visit.

    “The truth is that there is difference between host community and impacted community. I think people are now beginning to understand. The principal host community of EPZ project is Ogidigben people in Ugborodo. It is Ugborodo’s people that government acquires land from; there is no doubt about that while every other community is impacted community.

    “The buttom line is that everybody will benefit from the project. All impacted community in the EGTL project benefited and this is no different.”

  • ‘No Ilaje youths will vote for Jonathan’

    ‘No Ilaje youths will vote for Jonathan’

    Youths from Ilaje local government area of Ondo State Thursday disassociated themselves from a report published in some national dailies that they have endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan for second term

    It was reported that the State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) publicity Secretary, Banji Okunomo said the entire youths in the only oil producing community in the south west have resolved to vote for Jonathan.

    But, in a statement issued and signed by two leaders representing the youths in the two constituencies in the council, Mr. Erukusi William and Comrade Komalafe Egbowon said the PDP chieftain has no right to speak on behalf of the Ilaje youths.

    They noted that the said report only represented the interest and the wish of the PDP spokesman not the entire Ilaje youths.

    They said Jonathan has not impacted in their lives to justify the reason why they will back him for second term.

    The statement reads, “Ilaje youth will never support Jonathan anymore in this forthcoming elections we have decided to put our tent to general Mohamadu Buhari of APC, the entire Ilaje land and youths of Ilaje in particular suffered untold headship under Jonathan’s administration than any other successful administration in Nigeria, Ilaje land being the only oil producing area in Ondo state and the whole Yoruba land (South West) on commercial quantity in south west   region of Nigeria we the Ilaje are eluded of every good thing on federal appointment, no small developmental project in our land despite our peaceful gesture as far political participation is concerned.

    “Today the multi-national companies working in Ilaje land refused to discharge their social responsibility infact we have not benefited anything from all multinational companies we have written several letters to Mr. President all to no avail.

    “Total of 4000 pipe line surveillance were released by the president to the Arogbo Ijaw’s, we the entire youth of Ilaje want Mr. President to retrieve the whole 4000 pipelines surveillance slot and handover it to the rightful owner Ilaje.

    “Jonathan worked against the interest of Ilaje in 2012 during the Ondo State  guber election when the Ilaje people unanimously endorsed Olusola Oke as our candidate. There is no single Ilaje man or woman in his cabinet it is only a bastard son and daughter of Ilaje that will waste his or her precious PVC for Jonathan.”

  • Mbaka raises fresh alarm over threat to his life

    Mbaka raises fresh alarm over threat to his life

    Fiery Enugu Catholic priest and founder of Adoration Ministry, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka Thursday raised fresh alarm over alleged plans to assassinate him before the March 28 general elections.

    Mbaka spoke of a responsible young man who found his way to the podium while preaching and squeezed in a note in which he advised him to leave the country immediately as his “life has been sold”.

    Mbaka, who spoke through the media officer of the Adoration Ministry, Enugu, Nigeria, Barr. Ike Maximus Ugwuoke, cried out that he had been marked for death before the presidential election.

    In the Press Statement entitled: “JONATHAN WANTS ME DEAD BEFORE THE 2015 ELECTION”, the Adoration Ministry warned that if anything happened to “Mbaka, Jonathan’s government would be held responsible.”

    The statement read: “It is with a deep sense of concern that we are constrained to make this statement on the continued threat to the life of Rev Fr Ejike Mbaka over his 2015 New Year message titled “From Good luck to Badluck”.

    “The issue of threat to Fr’ Mbaka’s life became a public knowledge that it formed the headline of a national daily Publication of 5th January 2015, “My Life in Danger”.  The daily reported, ‘Enugu Catholic priest and the founder of Adoration Ministry, Rev Fr. Ejike Mbaka raised alarm that he has been receiving threat messages following his New Year eve message’.

    “Two days later, 7th January 2015, another daily also reported that the Enugu State Police Command has refuted claims by Fr Mbaka that his life is in danger. It dismissed Fr. Mbaka’s outcry over threat to his life as baseless. The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amarizu, DSP was quoted as saying, ‘We do not have any report by Fr. Mbaka over threat to his life. We have not received any complaint from him’”.

    The Ministry added that, “On the backdrop of the above, one begins to wonder whether the alarm raised by Fr Mbaka  on an alleged plot to kill him was a mere rhetoric as the police had made it to appear merely because there has not been an official report to the police over it. Absence of a formal report on threat to one’s life doesn’t negate the reality of such threat more so when the victim had made a public outcry on this issue. To argue otherwise is akin to denying the fact of death in the face of a man’s corpse merely because there is no certificate certifying his death.

    “Rev Fr. Mbaka had consistently in his public outings been raising alarm over threat to his life and strange calls and messages threatening to assassinate him.  The last of this was his assertion that assassins from the Presidency had been engaged to exterminate his life before the 28th March 2015 Election.

    “This was coming after he had made a public statement on 8th March 2015 that in the presence of some named witnesses, he rejected a parcel of money sent to him by the First Lady through the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and that the rejected money was with the latter.

    The issue of threat to Fr Mbaka’s life has become worrisome that even at his last Friday’s adoration Programme held on 13th March 2015, he did not turnout in his usual car due to security alert he had of his planned assassination on that day. Thursday strange hoodlums in a black hillux besieged his parish compound but they left disappointed when they could not see him.

    “Wherever and whoever this threat is coming from, we state that there are strong and compelling circumstances pointing towards the fact that Fr. Mbaka’s latest attacks were stemming from his said 2015 New Year message which was not favourable to the President Goodluck Jonathan led administration.

    “We also wish to state that before the 2015 New Year message of Fr .Mbaka, he used to pray for Jonathan’s Government and never raised any alarm on threats to his life but after the 31st night message which he was inspired to preach by the Holy Spirit he has been making a public outcry of threat to his life.  This is a clear case of a witch cries in the night and ones child is found dead in the morning.

    “We advise the Goodluck Jonathan’s government that he has a duty to protect and guarantee Fr Mbaka’s life as Adorers, Nigerians, the Catholic Church and indeed the international community will readily point accusing fingers to him, in event of any misfortune against Fr Mbaka or Adoration Ministry Enugu Nigeria.

    “With the stage the level of threat to Fr Mbaka’s life has reached, we call on Nigerian Police and indeed all security agencies in this country to protect the life of our Spiritual Director we else may resort to enforce his fundamental Rights to life against President Jonathan’s led government  as guaranteed under section 33 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended which confers on Nigerian citizens the power to secure the enforcement of their human rights even in events of likelihood of any infringements.  This is apparently due to the fact that the right to life can only be enjoyed by the living.”

     

  • OPC protest in Lagos: APC to report Jonathan to ICC

    OPC protest in Lagos: APC to report Jonathan to ICC

    A petition against President Goodluck Jonathan will soon be sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) said yesterday.

    APCPCO’s Director of Media and Publicity Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement yesterday, said the petition followed “the massive terror unleashed on the residents of Lagos by armed pro-Jonathan groups under the cover of a faction of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC)”.

    A protest was held in Lagos last Monday by the armed groups on the pretext of demanding the sack of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) National Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    Shehu said the machete-wielding and gun-bearing armed pro-Jonathan groups marched on major streets of Lagos, harassing and intimidating motorists, chanting anti-Jega songs in a manner that gave them away as acting the prepared script for the truncation of the general elections.

    The statement reads: “There was such disruption to the tranquility of the city that warranted the citizens scampering for safety in all directions, a foretaste of the violence they plan to unleash on election day.

    “Our investigations have confirmed that Monday’s show was a dress-rehearsal for the main disruption planned for the general elections. Lagos and the entire Southwest, being a stronghold of the APC, have been marked for massive dishevelling commotion that would involve killings, maiming and kidnapping.

    “Our findings have further shown that the recent N9 billion Pipeline surveillance contract to OPC and some militant groups in southern Nigeria was the elixir for the latest crude impudence of the pro-Jonathan armed groups. Indeed, the contract award was indeed a subterfuge for the mobilisation of these murderous militant groups for the destruction of life and property to force the desire of the re-election of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on the Nigerian people.

    “As an opposition APC, we are using this medium to serve Dr. Goodluck Jonathan the notice of our formal protest of this extreme show of impunity to the International Criminal Court (ICC). We are aware that Mrs. Patience Jonathan is already on the watch list of ICC. The activities of this President and his wife as regards the elections are not patriotic and very unhelpful for entrenching democratic values in the nation.

    “We recall the bombing of the APC secretariat and the shootings and disruption of the party’s campaign rally in Okirika in Rivers State, where the First Lady hails from, with a muted silence from President Jonathan.

    “Whereas the police authorities had denied the opposition party its legitimate and democratic rights to organise one million person march for General Buhari in Kano, it was, however, quick to approve that in Lagos, providing security to the pro-Jonathan armed groups while they unleashed mayhem on citizens in Lagos on Monday – a day that inhabitants of the city consider the most important of the week.

    “We are not ready to cower to the intimidation of Dr. Jonathan, ahead of the general elections. We believe Nigerians shall speak eloquently on March 28, 2015, and this brutality on the psyche of the Nigerian people shall cease.”

  • Jonathan appoints Ogungbesan FIRS acting chair

    Jonathan appoints Ogungbesan FIRS acting chair

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday approved the appointment of Mr. Samuel Ogungbesan as Acting Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    A  Coordinating Director at FIRS, he replaces Alhaji Kabiru Mashi who has served as acting Executive Chairman of the agency since 2012.

    His appointment, according to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, takes immediate effect.

  • ‘Why Southwest will not vote jonathan’

    ‘Why Southwest will not vote jonathan’

    All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Senator Babajide Omoworare (Osun East), who reflects on President Goodluck Jonathan’s visit to the Southwest to woo traditional rulers, contends that the last minute clandestine moves will not swing the pendulum of victory towards the direction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the polls.

    President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan visited Osun East (Ife Ijesa) Senatorial District on Saturday March 7, 2015. By the grace of God Almighty and the support of the good people of Ife Ijesa, I proudly represent that Senatorial District in the 7th Senate. I suppose the essence of Mr. President’s visit was to boost his electoral chances. Less we forget, the week before he visited my Senatorial District, he practically moved the seat of Federal Government from Abuja to State House, Marina, Lagos hosting some youths and was serenaded by pop stars etc. The President hosted General Adeyinka Adebayo, Chief Idowu Sofola SAN, Professor Adebayo Olateju and some other elders of Yoruba Council of Elders. He also visited Alaafin Oyo and Soun Ogbomoso, traditional rulers in South West Nigeria.

    The Chairman or President Jonathan’s Southwest Campaign Organization and governor of Ondo State Dr. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko CON has also tried very hard to galvanize support for Mr. President. He hosted Dr. Fredrick Fasheun, Dr. Gani Adams, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Senator Femi Okunrounmu et all; purportedly to appraise the recently concluded National Conference. It should be on record that Mr. President did not do any rally or canvas for votes. All he wants from South West is endorsement. Without being preemptive and imputing motive, I hope the  visits to South West will not be justification for electoral malfeasance.

    On Saturday August 2, 2014, a week before the State of Osun gubernatorial election, Mr. President visited Osogbo to campaign for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate. The city of Osogbo was locked down. Men from the Directorate of State Securities (DSS) covered their faces with balaclavas and shot sporadically into the air. The highlight of the visit was that when Mr. President was given the microphone to campaign, we expected him to inform us of what he has done in the State of Osun and what his presidency will, in the twilight of his government still has in the offing for the good people of the State of Osun. Alas, Mr. President said when next he comes he would tell us what they have done in Osun.

    Since that visit, President Jonathan has visited the State of Osun, by my estimate at least twice. He isnyet to tell us what he has done in my State. The last visit of Saturday March 7, 2015 was to my senatorial district. As usual, the City of Ile-Ife was locked down. Personally, I will remember this visit to my Senatorial District as opportunity for the Thugs of the PDP’s senatorial candidate to destroy APC Billboards. Yet, the President did not come to “turn the sod” for a new project, talk much less of “commissioning” a project. The truth is: there is none to commission. He came to visit our royal fathers, which is in order. What is not in order from my point of view is that one would expect Mr. President to remember the people I proudly represent on the floor of the Senate of the Federal Republic. If he is not starting a new project, he should even complete projects he promised to complete and not to just ask for our votes.

    In the past 6 (six) years, the people of South West Nigeria, particularly the people of the State of Osun and most especially, Ifes and Ijesas have not felt the presence and impact of the Federal Govenrment. The Ile-Ife Water Project that was abandoned in 2009 remains abandoned. The sum of about N4,000,000,000 (four billion Naira) is required to complete it and the Budget Office of Mr. President appropriated a paltry N5,000,000 (five million Naira) in this years’s budget, which is not enough to mobilize the Contractor to site. The counter-part fund of the State of Osun for the Ilesa Water Project in Kajola, a project also abandoned in 2009, is already available. The counter-part fund for the Federal Government in the sum of N2,400,000,000 (two billion four hundred million Naira) is not available. The meagre sum of N5,000,000 (five million Naira) is also appropriated in this years budget for this project. The dualization of Osu – Ife Road has been abandoned. The Omiokun Road project in Arubidi, Ile-Ife has just been commenced by the government of the State of Osun when the Federal Government failed to implement same. This same story will be told of the dualization of the Osogbo – Ilesa Road. The Ife Mini Stadium at Ita-Osa has also been abandoned. The President however, kept coming to South West without commissioning a project. The foregoing tales of woes is true about the entire South Western part of this great country. It is on record that His Imperial Majesty Ooni Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II reminded Mr. President of these outstanding projects and others, when he came last year August to campaign for PDP’s gubernatorial candidate.

    It is also unprecedented in the annals of Nigerian contemporary history that a geopolitical zone will be this jettisoned and abandoned like the Federal Government did the South Western part of this country, not only in the area of infrastruture development as gleaned in the foregoing but also in the area of filling political offices. Our supreme law has protected every geopolitical zone in Nigeria by providing for Federal Character in infrastruture development and appointments. Section 14 (3) of the Constitution of Nigeria provides: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.

    In this area, there has been gross injustice meted out to South Westerners; my geopolitical zone has been crassly short-changed and disgustingly marginalized. Let us even ask ourselves how the Yorubas have faired under President Jonathan’s government. A government that agency facted the afore-sited supposedly inviolable provision of the Constitution is definitely not a friend of Yorubas. This government cannot suddenly wake up from its slumber of almost six years and just fall in love us, because election is lurking. The President is from South South. From Mr. President’s geo-political zone, we also have the following: Petroleum Minister, the Director General (DG) of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA),  DG Security andExchange Commission, the Chairman Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Managing Director (MD) NDDC, the DG Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the Speacial Adviser (SA) to Mr. President on Millenium Development Goal (MDG), the Chief Economic Adviser to Mr. President, the SA Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation of Ministries, Depaprtments and Agencies (MDAs), Chairman Nigeria Port Authority, DG Directorate of States Security (DSS), , Chairman Poice Service Commission, the Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Service etc.

    The Northwest produced the Vice President as well as the Speaker House of Representatives. This geopolitical zone also prodused the Foreign Affairs Minister, the National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police, the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Registrar of Supreme Court,  the Comptroller-General of Customs, the Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission. The Senate President is from North Central, the Minister for Internal Affairs, the Comptroller General of Immigration, the DG Nigeria Health Insurance Scheme, the Auditir General of the Federation and the DG national Orientation Agency. The Chief Justice of the Federarion emerged from the North East with the President of the Court of Appeal, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Head of Service, the Chairman NIMASA, MD Nigeria National Petroleum Corporarion (NNPC), SA Political Affairs. The Deputy Senate President and the Deputy Speaker House of Representatives are from the South East, ditto Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Minister of Finance, the Chairman National Population Commision, the DG Budget Office, the DG Soverign Wealth Fund, the DG Debt Management Office, theh Comptoller-General of Prisons, the Chairman and Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission ( NCC), the DG/CEO National Identity Management Commision, the Chairman/CEO National Electricity Reulatory Commision.

    When faced with the foregoing, it is ostensible that my geopolitical zone of South West has been abjectly neglected and politically undervalued. We are not unaware of the fact the whole of Nigeria has been grossly underdeveloped; the seemingly deliberate retrogression of the South West is unprecedented in the history of governence both in terms of infrastructure as well as human capital. It is on record that the people of South West voted for Mr. President en masse in 2011. The good people of South West will assess President Goodluck Jonathan on his performance in our region in the last six years; our assessment will not be based on desperate and empty promises. One wonders what these trips cost? It would have been better if such cost had been put to use to develop projects in South West. To enable us assess whether President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration had been fair to us in South West, I use this medium to throw a challenge to the President’s handlers, let them reel out their achievements for Nigerians to juxtapose and judge. The Awujale of Ijebuland Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona was reported as corroborating my foregoing position when Mr. Presdient visited his Palace on Thursday March 12, 2015 by saying that “Ijebuland has not felt the impact of Federal Government and that Ijebu Sons and Daughters have not been given important appointments imto the quota arrangement of Nigeria.”

    It is therefore strange and curious that any freeborn Yoruba adult will adopt a President that has not done anything for his or her region. The All Progressive Congress presidential running mate is from this region, it is dubious that our elders who claim to be Awoists will not adopt the grandson-in-law of the late sage. Whether the people pandered as Yoruba Leaders that are endorsing President Jonathan actually have the mandate of Yoruba people to so do is another topic for future debate. Whether they even have the clout to deliver is another topic for intellectual polemic in future. What matters now is whether President Jonathan has reciprocated the over 2,700,000 (two million seven hundred thousand) votes cast for him by the Yoruba nation in 2011. What assurance do we have that the gargantuan maginalizatoion of Yorubaland by President Jonathan will not continue if he is re-elected? Will the present and coming generation forgive those endorsing Jonathan when accounts are given in future? How will they be remembered by the unborn generation? Anybody campaigning for and endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan in the South West is patently on his own.

    We can not continue on this perilious path and mortgage the future of the generation next and our imminent leaders. The die is already cast, effort of this nature of unfruitful and unmeritorious trips to South West by Mr President is an attempt to reap where he did not sow. I sincerely advice Mr President to listen to the street, do away with praise singing and empty promises of shylocks around him whose major interest is financial exploitation. The wind of change (blowing across the Nation) is looming to all except the Court Jesters in the Presidential Palace.

    I do not believe in nepotism, ethnic jingoism and tribal chauvinism, in fact I owe full allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I abide by my Oath to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic. Put siccintly, I am a patriotic nationalist. It is however a matter of duty for me as a Senator of the Federal Republic to protect the interest of those who voted for me in Ife Ijesa senatorial district, and the State of Osun as a whole. I also owe my Yoruba race to protect it from under development, systemic annihilation and calculated extinction. Lastly, as a matter of honour, I must uphold Section 14 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which from the foregoing has been serially impugned and successively assailed.