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Tag: Jonathan’s govt

Amaechi: we should stop criticising Jonathan’s govt

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has agreed with those saying the present administration should focus on achieving its campaign promises and stop criticising former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

The minister spoke in Abuja when he received the report of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the finalisation of the Draft National Transport Policy (NTP).

The I9-member committee was drawn from all the transport sectors and agencies.

Amaechi said there was need to invest more in the technological aspect of transportation.

His words: “I agree with those who said we should stop criticising the last government and do our own. We need to leverage on what we know. People are shouting intermodal transport. I went to the new airport in Singapore and I didn’t find one person at the airport. As you walk in, technology takes over.

“They also said in the next few years, they would introduce driverless cars. We should also think outside the box about on how to improve our transport sector and think less about how the sun and moon affects the sector or building more bus stops.

“We should see how much investment we can put into ICT. Intelligence transportation should not be ignored.

“What assure Nigerians is that under the Buhari administration, we would do everything possible to ensure that we maximise the resources which accrues to each ministry.

“I also assure you that we would take the next step you want us to take. Usually, people take experts contribution for granted, but the fact is experts know better and if we don’t come to you, who would we go to?

“We will go through it and I will direct the Permanent Secretary to give a copy to the Minister of State for Aviation while I read a copy. Once we are through, and we share our views, we will take it to the cabinet for approval”.

Committee chair of the Mfon Usoro explained that the adoption of the policy would make the economy stronger.

“Adoption and implementation of the NTP by all tiers of government will lead to a stronger economy and a profitable future for the transportation service sector, and for the many sectors that rely on transportation in a diversified economy,” she said.

December 6, 2017
Why we are yet to retrieve $15m seized by South Africa from Jonathan’s govt, by AGF

NIGERIA’s $15m seized in South Africa during the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration is yet to be retrieved – no thanks to diplomatic intricacies and the long process.

Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami said such hindrances also accounted for why the government was yet to record appreciable success in its efforts to repatriate looted funds.

“As it relates to the money in South Africa and other countries, my reaction to recovery generally is that it is a process; a process involving mostly nations whose legal systems differ.

“The process in respect of diplomatic consideration equally plays a key role over and above international convention and best practices.

“So, when multiplicity of legal systems is in issue, multiplicity of diplomatic engagement is in contention, delay is naturally bound to set in.

“But, one thing I want to state categorically is that the government is doing whatever is possible to ensure the recovery of moneys that relate to Nigeria in all jurisdictions and not necessarily limited to South Africa,” he said.

Malami, who spoke in Abuja yesterday while reviewing the activities of his ministry in the last one year, however declined to answer a question on the rift between him and the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, over the country’s suspension from the Egmont Group.

He also declined comments on whether or not his directive that the EFCC provide him with a status report on on-going high profile cases had been complied with.

Malami said the Federal Government planned a committee on how to defray the N113billion judgment debt pending against it and its agencies to avoid its assets being attached.

He said the Judgment Debt Verification Committee, to be headed by the AGF, will, among others, ensure compliance with enforcement of court judgments and orders against government and its agencies.

Malami said memos on the recommendations of the Senator Ken Nnamani-led Constitution and Electoral Reform Committee would soon be presented before the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for deliberation and adoption, following which Bills relating to the recommendations would be sent to the National Assembly.

The minister, who could not confirm if members of the Nnamani committee had been paid their allowances, said he was aware the Federal Government has approved the payment and that the approval had been forwarded to the Ministry of Finance.

On the prosecution of Boko Haram suspects being kept in custody, Malami said a speedy trial had been planned.

He said some judges have been assigned to handle the prosecution. He declined to give further details, citing security concerns.

Malami also hinted of plans for prisons decongestion, which he said would be electronically driven and last for the next two years.

The AGF, who praised his ministry for a successful outing in the last legal year between 2016 and 2017, said it concluded 7,119 criminal cases, including 4,709 petitions and 325 civil cases in the last legal year.

Malami, who highlighted various plans to be executed in the new legal year, said a coordinating centre would be created in his ministry for among others, ensure coordination of all criminal justice agencies.

The unit will enable the office of the AGF to “have a first-hand information of the status of all criminal investigations/trials in the country”.

Malami also spoke about a plan to create an investigation unit in the ministry to address the “want of legal expertise in the conduct and process of investigation by the various security agencies and to address such anomalies leading to the consistent rejection of vital evidence in the course of prosecution.”

The AGF is relying on his constitutional powers and the provision of Section 105(1) and (3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to create the unit, it will coordinate and form part of every investigation to ensure robust investigation and successful prosecution of cases, Malami said.

August 30, 2017
Enugu APC backs Mbaka over comment on Jonathan’s govt

The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has backed Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka’s recent stand on the suffering of the masses.

In a message, the fiery cleric had criticised former President Goodluck Jonathan for running down the nation’s economy and inflicting suffering on Nigerians.

He said: “It is not easy everywhere. Hunger is everywhere. Hunger is in the atmosphere. There is a sword moving about in the country. People are dying like flies. The sword of hunger is eating the land.

“The past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government was a grasshopper and a locust to Nigeria. The past government was a disaster to the land of Nigeria. The past government was cancer to this country. There is no need to cover its incalculable and iniquitous mess.”

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Kate Ofor, the Enugu State APC reassured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari would restore the country to the path of progress.

The statement reads: “Let us once more salute Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, the crusader of the masses, liberation ideologue and Head of Adoration Ministry, Catholic Church of Enugu State, for speaking truth to power, as evidenced by his unrelenting attack on those in power and his memorable prediction of President Buhari’s victory on January 1, 2015.

“We wish to reassure Fr. Mbaka that President Buhari will not, in the fullness of time, disappoint Nigerians or fail to fix our dilapidated social and physical infrastructure. Never! Buhari is devotedly committed to pull Nigerians out of poverty, hunger and squalor.

“For us, yesterday …is the architecture of today. Nobody can wish yesterday away. Therefore, Fr Mbaka is correct in stating that the past regimes sowed the whirlwind we are regrettably reaping today. If the $16 billion expended on power supply was prudently expended; if the three Greenfield refineries awarded on May 13, 2010 were not dead and fund decayed in the sand; if the $8.3 billion spent on the old gauge Lagos-Kano railway were for standard gauge; if the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Second Niger Bridge the and other federal roads’ funds budgeted were not eaten by locust; if the funds meant for Enugu Coal were nor embezzled and if the billions budgeted for our schools and hospitals did not grow wings, hunger could not have been in the land; unemployment could have been drastically reduced and our prosperity could have been guaranteed.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State and, by extension Nigeria, feel the pains and pangs of hunger, feel the gruesome hardship and abject poverty ravaging the land. We are not immune to hunger nor the gross unemployment dislocating our youths.

“To be candid, in our closed-door meeting with Mr President, he disclosed that he was aware, concerned and worried about the sordid economic situation. This is why he is waging strident war against corruption. His solution is to effectively and prudently implement the 2016 and subsequent budgets to fix the decayed infrastructure.

“On the issue of being slow, Mr President pointed out that the 1999 Constitution, the Procurement Act and other extant laws make it impossible for any official to expend funds not appropriated by the National Assembly. Otherwise, he could have dipped his hand into the trillions budgeted and hit the ground running.

“It is pertinent to inform as well that Mr President is embarking on economic diplomacy, travelling the length and breadth of the globe, utilising his huge goodwill to attract foreign investors to fulfil the solemn pledge he made to the good people of Nigeria.

“It is common knowledge that destruction is very easy and reconstruction very difficult. This is the ordeal Mr President is facing in fixing Nigeria.

“Accordingly, we wish to once more reassure Fr Mbaka, and indeed all Nigerians, that in the fullness of time nobody will regret ever voting for President Buhari. All he needs are prayers patience and support.”

August 9, 2016
Ex-NNPC chief: Jonathan’s govt blew N2.2b on prayers

Besides the fortune sunk into phoney arms deals, no less than N2.2billion was spent on prayers against Boko Haram, it was learnt yesterday.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration blew the cash on special prayers in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to win the war.

The cash was disbursed through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), following a proposal by a former Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa.

Baba-Kusa, in his statement of witness filed in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is facing trial with a former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) and three others.

The others are Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited (owned by Baba-Kusa) and a former Director of Finance in ONSA, Shuaibu Salisu.

In the statement, Baba-Kusa said the N2.2billion was spent on prayers to hasten the defeat of Boko Haram.

The cash was released in two tranches of N1,450,000,000 and N750,000,000.

Baba-Kusa told EFCC investigators that the contract proposal was verbal.

But the suspect has promised to refund the N2.2billion by disposing of his assets.

Baba-Kusa said: “I approached the former NSA and discussed Boko Haram problems and I suggested there is need for prayers and he considered and accepted in 2013 when he first came to office.

“I personally sponsored many people locally and some few to Saudi Arabia. Some monies were later paid into our companies, which we paid to some of the mallams.

“I then arranged to recover my personal expense which I put into our own businesses.

“We have been spending a lot from our businesses and personal accounts. Money paid through UBA, First Bank and ECOBANK. For Acacia Holdings Limited(A/C 1017330319-UBA); ECOBANK(0122012650); and First Bank(Reliance Referral Hospitals Limited A/C 2022394057). The total amount is N2,200,000,000 from October 2014 to April 2015.”

He told detectives that he is not an expert, “but I used some of the mallams to organise in Abuja, Zaria, Kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Kaduna and Saudi Arabia covering 2013 to 2015.”

He added: “I give them funds as required from time to time, ranging from N500,000 to N30million, depending on their needs, traveling, sadaqat and others for local expenses and travels to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj.

“I reminded the NSA many times before payments were made. We grew up together with the former NSA with common friends in ABU.

“Most of the payments in cash were meant to give out cash to people that have been organising prayers. Some transfers to Acacia to other banks were for logistics and also to some mallams in cash.”

The suspect also confirmed that the prayer contract was not documented.

He added: “The proposal made to the former NSA was not documented by him or myself. The verbal proposal to him was for prayers to overcome Boko Haram within the shortest possible time.

“The engagement for prayers by organising some people to be praying was not formally written down.

“There was no amount of money agreed on. I said to him, I will start organising, which he agreed and said he will see what he would give at a later time.

Baba-Kusa said he had an estimate of over N700million spent “from my own resources before I started to ask for money from him”. Some of these funds came from disposal of some of my land in Abuja. One in Maitama, one in Gudu and one in Guzape. The Maitama was a little over N200million; Guzape (N80m), Gudu(N18m), he told the EFCC.

But, according to him, he kept no records of the money he gave to individual Mallams organising various groups. I requested for no acknowledgement from them when I gave money to them.”

He assured the EFCC that he would refund the said cash if he is able to dispose of his landed properties.

He said: “I am making efforts to dispose of my properties in Abuja which would be over the total amount of N2.2billion. If the sales go through and the amount from the sales is made in full, I will make full payment.”

In the 19 charges against the five suspects, Baba-Kusa, Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited are alleged to have “between October 2014 and April 2015 in Abuja agreed to do an illegal act to wit : dishonestly receiving property to wit: an aggregate sum of N2,200,000,000 being part of the funds in the accounts of the Office of National Security Adviser and that the same act was fine in pursuance of the agreement among you and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 97 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532, Vol.4, LFN 2004.”

March 11, 2016
Jonathan’s govt has divided Nigerians, say Tinubu, Oshiomhole

The Jonathan Presidency has bitterly divided Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines, All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole said yesterday.

Lamenting the situation, both leaders canvassed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government should be voted out on March 28.

Tinubu spoke in Amuwo Odofin in Lagos during a rally in support of the APC Lagos State governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode. Oshiomhole spoke while receiving hundreds of defectors to the APC in Edo State.

Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and his Imo State counterpart Rochas Okorocha, among others, also spoke at the Lagos rally.

Okorocha announced that seven PDP governors would join the APC.

Tinubu urged the electorate not to fall for the campaign of calumny by the PDP, using religion and ethnicity to polarise the country.

“The over 15 years of PDP rule in the country merely points to failure. Jonathan tells you a pathetic story that when he was in school he had no shoe. ‘I am from a poor family; I know what poverty is’; now he has forgotten.

“Now he has plenty shoes, plenty clothes and plenty hats, but does that put gari on your table? If you spend five hours at the gas station without light for your business, is that what we want? They even ask you to pay for the electricity that you did not use. So, that is double jeopardy, by paying for diesel that you did not consume and electricity that was never utilised by you. In that situation, do you want them to continue?

“In our schools in Lagos, did we register you on the basis of your tribe? Did we discriminate in our school fees? I am sure you are all aware of how we do things in Lagos. We believe we are the same, so we treat everybody equally. After six years, they have not been able to do anything meaningful for the people.

“It is time for them to leave, to allow those with ideas and capability to lead the country. They do not have the skills to run effective government, so they need to go back and take the position of apprenticeship,” he said.

Tinubu railed against ethnicism.

He said: ”God decided the language you speak and the tribe you were born in to. It is not your choice; it is the choice of God. When you get to the hospital do you see Christian or Muslim section? Do you see Igbo, Yoruba or Ijaw ward? We are one people.

“Does hunger or poverty have tribal mark? Can you go to an Igbo bread seller and say I am an Igbo man, I need bread? Can you go to a Yoruba woman selling roasted plantain and tell her to give you one because you are a Yoruba person? The road is not labeled Muslim, Christian, or Obatala road? Let not these people continue to deceive us.

“Those of you travelling with flights; for instance Dubai, when you want to board the plane, do you ask about the name, tribe or religion of the pilot. All you simply do is to pray to God for a safe flight.”

Tinubu said the government had not been able to provide employment and insurance cover for soldiers in the battle front against Boko Haram, but the PDP-led Federal Government is going about distributing foreign currencies to woo voters.

“Soldiers and police who are working in danger. Their insurance has not been paid, but they are busy bribing people for votes,” Tinubu said.

Oshiomhole accused the PDP of stoking religious sentiments to sway voters, adding that its desperation, the PDP has bought some church leaders to preach against the APC and taint it as a Muslim party.

He warned the PDP not to polarise the country along religious lines, saying it is dangerous for the polity as both Christians and Moslems have been victims of what he called the PDP’s misrule in the past 16 years.

According to him, the PDP has made copies of a documentary which has been distributed in churches to the effect that the Gen. Muhammau Buhari (the APC presidential candidate) would Islamise the country when voted as the President on March 28.

He said: “Some pastors after collecting money are now preaching that Buhari wants to convert the nation to Islam. When Buhari was Head of State with absolute power, did he convert Nigeria to Islam? Did he convert Dodan Barracks to Islam enclave? Are there not Christian Generals all over the place?

“The issue of this election is not about religion or tribe. It is about who has what it takes to repair our country. It is about who will give us light. If PDP couldn’t give us light in 16 years, shouldn’t we give it to someone else? Take a critical look at this election, when NEPA takes light, do they segregate between Christians and Muslims? When they bring fixed charges, do they differentiate between Christians and Moslem? Are both Christians and Moslems not suffering the inefficiency of PDP’s 16 years of mis-governance?

“They are saying APC is a Muslim party. How can a party that parades Christians, such as me, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Prof Yemi Osinbajo and many others, be described as a Moslem party? Now let’s look at it, if Nigeria’s problem is about religion, since 1999 till now, Christians have ruled the nation for 14 years, how come if it is really about religion that despite ruling for 14 years, Nigeria that ought to be like heaven is still like hell?

“Nobody should use God’s name to deceive the people. The matter of governance is not about what you claim but about the state of your heart. In this state, from 1999 till now, all those that have governed Edo State are all Christians yet those that governed from 1999 till 2007 did nothing. Are we not all Christians but is it all of us that worked? They even stole from church because when you do not pay salaries for three months can the workers pay their tithe?

”In Edo State, Christians, Muslims and traditional worshippers live together in peace and harmony. Across Edo State you find people of different religions and nobody should bring religious war to Edo State.”

March 10, 2015
APC: Jonathan’s govt has abdicated its responsibility to Nigerians

The All Progressives Congress (APC) accused yesterday the Goodluck Jonathan-led Federal Government of abdicating its responsibility to Nigerians.

The party alluded to a statement attributed to Dr Jonathan that those calling for the safe return of the abducted Chibok, Borno State schoolgirls should address their protests to the abductors rather than to the President or the government he leads.

In a statement yesterday in Lagos by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC said it was logical to conclude that “there is absolutely no hope for Nigeria and its citizens under this capricious government”.

It added: “A government that is unwilling to take any responsibility for anything, and one that is unwilling to recognise that its raison d’etre is to ensure the welfare and security of its citizens has simply abdicated its responsibility. It should not be counted upon to do all that is necessary to rescue the over 200 schoolgirls who were abducted under its watch.”

APC said the insurgents, who have inflicted so much pain on the nation, would not have succeeded as much as they have if the government had believed – in the first instance – that it had any responsibility to the people, in which case it would have taken its responsibility very seriously instead of engaging in its pastime – blame game!

It said: “If the Jonathan-led government is right, then anytime a country suffers from deadly flooding, for example, the people should rather blame the sea or the sea goddess instead of looking up to their government for succour. If the Jonathan-led government is right, then the United States (U.S), Britain, France, China as well as the United Nations (UN), which have all been asking the government to do more to secure the homeland, are wrong and do not understand the concept of governance. Certainly, there is a problem somewhere.”

Also, the party said it would neither be browbeaten nor blackmailed into abdicating its responsibility as a virile opposition party by keeping quiet when the government continues on the dangerous path of running the nation aground.

It said: “There seems to be a grand plot by the Jonathan administration to silence all criticisms and sweep all ongoing corruption investigations and government incompetence under the carpet under the guise of uniting to fight terrorism.

“This is fraudulent, as President Jonathan is only trying to profit from his own corruption and incompetence. While we are ready to partner the administration and join all Nigerians in the fight against terrorism, especially in efforts to ensure the safe return of the missing girls, we refuse to be cowed or tricked into submission and allow the looting of our resources and the bad governance to continue unchallenged.

“A government that is quick to accuse others of failing to sympathise with the victims of the insurgency that it had allowed to fester has no qualms campaigning aggressively for a second term of office for a President who has made a failure of his first term. A government that rushes to the media to condemn even an INEC-sanctioned rally, rather than the illegal rallies it engages in, has no shame running a daily advert, under the guise of the hitherto unknown Protectors of Nigerian Posterity, thus showing no respect for the mood of the nation.

“If the Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) want to be taken seriously, they should ask their campaigners to apply the brakes out of respect for the mood of the nation. They should try to make a success of their yet-unfinished term of office before even seeking another.

“President Jonathan and the PDP cannot continue with their campaigns and then continue to blackmail us into keeping quiet. If anyone is exploiting the national tragedy, it is Jonathan and the PDP. If anyone is politicising the insurgency, it is Jonathan and the PDP! Thankfully, Nigerians are aware of this double-standard of this feckless, clueless and incompetent Federal Government.”

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, faulted yesterday the claims by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that President Goodluck Jonathan has abdicated his responsibility to the masses.

The presidential aide said Dr Jonathan had never abdicated his responsibility as a President, adding that he always acknowledged that the primary duty of government is to secure the life and property of Nigerians and all persons living within the geographical area.

He said the intention of APC was to play politics with insurgency.

The statement said: “While we admit that the opposition can claim that it is part of its duties to criticise the government of the day, in the case of the APC, many of its spokespersons have made it clear that their duty is to pull down the Jonathan government, and they have not hidden this motive.

“Nonetheless, we think that this is a statement that should not have been issued because it sounds irresponsible; it flies in the face of common sense and even the logic behind it makes absolutely no sense.

“To start with, when the bombing in Nyanya occurred, followed by the abduction of the girls at Chibok, the President called a special National Security Council meeting which was attended by representatives of the APC.

“At that meeting, the governor that spoke on behalf of the APC, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, made it clear that he was coming from a meeting of the party and that they resolved at the meeting that this was an issue that was above partisanship.

“He said they resolved that the issue of terrorism requires a bipartisan approach and that everyone involved must rise above partisanship, irrespective of political ideology, political affiliation, religion or ethnicity…

“It is very clear that the APC is being dishonest. Its intention is to play politics with insurgency and terrorism. I think the question needs to be pointedly asked: What country does the APC belongs to? What country is the APC seeking to preside over?” He queried

“As it appears, the APC seems blinded by its own narrow ambition and that is why in recent times, you can find some persons purportedly speaking for the APC making completely illogical and unreasonable statements.

“If you look at the statement by Lai Muhammed, he is accusing the government of abdicating its responsibilities. President Jonathan has never at any time abdicated responsibilities.

“He has consistently made it clear that the safety of every Nigerian is important to him, that the security of lives and property is central to all the goals and objectives of this administration…”

May 26, 2014