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Tag: Junaid Mohammed

  • I won’t vote Buhari in 2019 –Junaid Mohammed

    I won’t vote Buhari in 2019 –Junaid Mohammed

    A Second Republic lawmaker, front line public affairs analyst and one of the prominent voices from the north, Dr. Junaid Mohammed in this interview with ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE says President Muhammadu Buhari has not performed to deserve re-election.

    AHEAD of the 2019 general elections, is the north satisfied with Buhari’s performance? Are going with him or with any other northern candidate?

    First and foremost, if I am to vote in 2019, I will only have one vote, because I cannot even guarantee the votes of my wife and children, because they have the right to vote in secret without telling me who they are going to vote for.

    However, I believe democracy is a very rational institution. I believe no leader should present himself for election or re-election, unless he has solid reasons to persuade those who are voting that, he is equal to the task, that his leadership will be good for the country, that he can be trusted and who can. So, with these criteria, I am not persuaded that Buhari is qualified to submit himself for re-election, come 2019. I do not, however, rule out the possibility that he may do something spectacular, something good for the country, like he promised at some forum. Now, if there is no improvement, even though I am not foreclosing the possibility of this improvement, but so far, I must say that, I have seen nothing Buhari did since 2015, and I don’t see what miracle he has to offer in 2018 and January to March of 2019 that election will be held.

    But, is the north going to vote for him?

    As far as I am concerned, rational people will want to leave their decision till the last moment, to give some fairness to him, to his party and those he represents. But, unfortunately, when you look at the people he represents and those he has been trying to protect, because he virtually represents nobody, because the cabals around him are not a representation of the people of Nigeria. The ministers, like (Babatunde) Fashola and others who are busy pretending to be serving his interest are actually undermining him by making sure that, most of the strategic investments are done in the areas where they come from, for their own mischievous agenda, not for the people who actually voted for him. They are alienating the people who voted for him.

    There is nothing rational, in fact, everything that has been happening since 2015 till date, there is nothing that a rational person will say, these are the reasons I want to vote for this man. Now, there are these other people who are going about, and that seems to be the sinister campaign that has been going round by the cabals, members of his family and those who are close to him, that, they are now using dangerous traditional, tribal and religious sentiments. They are saying now that, because he is a northerner, he must be voted by northerners. I am a northerner, I am a Muslim and I will not vote for him, and there are several northerners who will not vote for him.

    It seems however that, since he came to power, they have collected billions or trillions of money, with which they want to either rig election, or unleash violence on the election or start arresting people unjustly, which was the kind of thing he did when he was in power from 1984 to August 1985. But, if he does that, the country is going to be in hell of confusion. And I don’t think he has the capacity to withstand that confusion in case he decides to go in for the confusion. Because, he seems to be determined and desperate about being the President. Unfortunately also for the country, people who will want to succeed him either within the APC, the PDP or within the so- called northern establishment or Northern notables are also equally desperate. So, APC is desperate, PDP is desperate and also people who are hanging in between like Atiku (Abubakar) and others are also desperate. So, you can see, we have a classical set up that will lead this country into a violent confusion if care is not taken. And I am concerned about that.

    Whoever governs this country is entirely not just his own business, but the business of the whole of Nigeria. And we have been very badly treated, very shabbily treated as a people. Even the APC as a party has been badly treated by Buhari, the cabals, his relations and his friends.

    I challenge those who will want to come and those who are now coming to say that we should vote for Buhari to tell us what Buhari has done.

    Are you not satisfied with his administration’s fight against corruption and insurgency?

    Clearly, there is a serious scandal within the fight against insurgency; contrary to what he has been saying, the Boko Haram is re-emerging as a very serious national threat. And nobody can tell me that this government has won the war against Boko Haram. What he said during his New Year broadcast is…(expletives). Clearly, he is not on top of the situation in the Northeast. Other similar insurgencies in the Niger Delta are not necessarily under control; what he does is to continue bribing the miscreants not to make troubles until after the elections.

    Again, when you look at the anti-corruption struggle, it is also in shambles, because what is happening is that, the cabals and some of his appointees are the ones undermining the anti-corruption efforts. The biggest threats (Ibrahim) Magu has today are the people within the APC, Buhari’s party. Some of the people he appointed like the DG SSS and others are the people who are now undermining and trying to destroy the anti-corruption war. And most of the people who are emerging untouchable, so to speak in metaphor, are people in his party and holding positions in Buhari’s government.

    Also, when you look at the way the economy is being handled, though he did not create the pre-condition for the mismanagement of the nation’s economy, but it has to be admitted that, his ignorance, his incompetence and his economic illiteracy has contributed massively to the country being propelled into economic recession, which has taken the country so long to come out of. He didn’t create the pre-condition for the recession, but certainly his handling of the economy has been very lousy.

    So, these are the critical areas, I thought we will see the impact of the new government, whatever government it was, but we have seen the impact and it is a negative impact and there is nothing to show that, he will handle the economy better in the next 12 to 15 months when elections are due.

    These are my own impressions and they are personal. And I am ready to confront anybody, from Buhari himself to a janitor or sweeper in the Presidency on these facts. And I am prepared to be challenged also, because what I am saying is based on facts, not based on religious, ethnic or opportunistic sentiment.

    He has been taking us for a ride on the issue of ministers. Clearly from day one, I condemned the appointments he made, particularly that of the Secretary to the Government of Federation, who has now been sacked. I described him as a squanderer and he turned out to be one. I also talked about the Chief of Staff whom I said is another squanderer, an opportunist and a very unreliable person and he turned out to be one. And I said most of the people who made appointment as Ministers were smuggled in by Mamman Daura and other members of the Kaduna Mafia and it turned out to be so. And they are now the biggest threats to his national re-election, because they have done very badly. Others are equally useless. The office of the Attorney General is also in another mess. So, what are we talking about?

    Now, the President has already jumped the gun by starting to campaign. Look at his New Year speech, which was drafted for him by faceless people who don’t know politics. Everything he was saying there was a campaign. None of the projects he claimed to have started or planning to start are now functional, they are not. And I can give you example. The Abuja-Kaduna – Kano express way was built that way, it is being maintained that way.

    And then, there is this, his concept of making every state capital connected to the railway. I don’t know how that can facilitate development and I don’t know what concept of development he knows that he is talking about. When you have a useless concept about building a road; East – West road from Lagos to Calabar and then another railway from Lagos to Calabar. What is it going to carry? Because Lagos is by the sea, Calabar is by the sea. So, what bulk haulage are they going to carry? Nothing. And we are no more in the era when money was not a problem. Now, money is a very serious problem, because we don’t have it.

  • ACF, Junaid Mohammed says no to withdrawal of troops

    ACF, Junaid Mohammed says no to withdrawal of troops

    The spokesman for the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim Biu and one of the prominent voices from the north, Dr. Junaid Mohammed have opposed the call for withdrawal of military from the troubled areas of South East.

    The security of every part of Nigeria, according to them, is the duty of federal government, and security agents should be allowed to deal with trouble makers accordingly.

    Biu told The Nation that  the agitation  for the  withdrawal of soldiers  from the Southeast was uncalled for, especially when similar security operations had one time or the other been carried out in other parts of the country.

    He hailed the Southeast Governors for banning the activities of IPOB and for restating their commitment to one united Nigeria, he said ACF would not back the withdrawal of soldiers from the Southeast.

    His words:”We are not in support of withdrawal of soldiers.

    “At least similar operations have been carried out in other parts of the country, from ‘Operation Lafia Dole’ in North East, to ‘Operation Sharan Daji’ in North West, ‘Operation Harbin Kunama’ in Kaduna, ‘Operation Crocodile Smile’ in the Southsouth and a similar one in Ekiti. So, why should this one be different? Why must soldiers be withdrawn?

    “ACF is reiterating its earlier appeal to the Military and the Security Agencies to be firm and resolute in not only discharging their constitutional roles of providing security to all law abiding citizens, but also deal decisively with those who do not wish this nation well.”

    In a separate statement, ACF lauded Nigerians outside the precinct of the Southeast and Southsouth, especially northerners, for “maintaining peace and understanding despite provocative messages and utterances over the unfortunate Abia crisis.”

    But it condemned “the clash between members of the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and troops of the Nigerian Army in Aba, Umuahia and Oyinbo last week which endangered some northerners residing in those areas and even innocent people in those areas.

    “Many videos and write ups claimed to have been on the unfortunate incidences were posted by enemies of Nigeria on the social media. They were deliberately meant to provoke reprisal attacks from the North and make the Igbo residing in the North to begin to move to the Southeast and stoke the activities of IPOB.

    “But to the surprise of the enemies of a strong united Nigeria, the northerners displayed maturity, understanding and patriotic courage in handling the situation. This is a welcome development and very heartening, which should not only be applauded but encouraged by all in order to sustain our unity and peaceful coexistence.”

    In his own reaction Dr. Junaid Mohammed said: “IPOB has since the coming of the APC government been terrorizing people and challenging the government to do something about them.

    “So, I don’t think that the Governors are right by calling for withdrawal of soldiers, because they are soldiers of the federal Republic of Nigeria and they are there by right.

    “IPOB is a terrorist organization and if soldiers are there to check their excesses and protect other law abiding citizens of Nigeria, I don’t think there is something wrong with their presence. Nobody has the right to ask soldiers or police and others to leave.

    “The IPOB members should be given Boko Haram kind of treatment. If they behave like Boko Haram, why not if the military gives them Boko Haram treatment? It is simple, there is no big deal about it.”

     

  • Democracy group warns former lawmaker against inciting statements

    A pro-democracy group under the aegis of Guardian of Democracy Movement (GDM), has warned elder statesman, Junaid Mohammed against making any inciting comments that could lead to unrest in the country.
     
    The group warned the former lawmaker to mind any utterance that could lead to military intervention. 
     
    Muhammed had said that should anything happen to President Muhammadu Buhari, the north would insist on two terms in 2019.
     
    He had said: “The zoning in the Peoples Democratic Party has not worked. Now it is trending in the All Progressives Congress. It is either we fix it or ship it out altogether. If that is not done, then you have to go back and redress it by saying that in the course of zoning and rotation, (Umaru) Yar’Adua died in office.”
     
    But reacting to the former lawmaker at a briefing with reporters in Abuja on Thursday, National Co-ordinator of the group, Mr. Sabo Odeh, noted that Mohammed’s criticism of the Buhari administration had become so commonplace that no one is moved by them anymore.
     
    “We like to set it out clearly here that we  decided to speak at this early stage, which some people may consider as hasty or premature, but we know that scenarios like our country is dealing with require proactiveness. Things must not be allowed to degenerate beyond repairs before critical interventions are made. 
     
    “Some few days ago now, President Muhammadu Buhari, notified the nation vide a letter to the National Assembly, explaining his trip to the United Kingdom for a follow up treatment with his doctors. This honest step taken in keeping with the constitution has become the subject of ceaseless abuse by people that are eager to start or reboot their political careers. The discounting of morality to explore the ill health of a leader is something that leaves those engaged in the act pitiable as they should be. 
     
    “This same understanding that desperation for relevance is behind the uninformed responses that some people have made about President Buhari’s health however does not extend to Dr. Junaid Mohammed, a former House of Representatives member and self-appointed critic of the current administration. 
     
     
    “He practically was calling for a coup, including making conjectures that amounted to him being categorical in wishing death on the president. This is bizarre beyond comprehension. 
     
    “Much as we like to dismiss Dr Junaid Mohammed’s grave error as what it is, based on information in public domain about moves being made by some self-seeking and over ambitious individuals, the admission a few hours ago by the military hierarchy after studying the various intelligence that people are approaching soldiers for political reasons has forced us to begin connecting dots. We can see where the politician’s confidence is coming from as he apparently thinks he can compromise a few soldiers to act along the subversive ways he has been hinting at for a while. 
     
    “We are telling Junaid Mohammed and his co-travelers that he is not speaking for any part of the country even though he couched his utterances in a way that suggests he has the mandate of a section of the country for his provocative remarks. He is on his own and if he is working with anyone, such persons who are anti-democratic should know that they risk jail terms as many have observed that they are extending their nocturnal meetings to some misguided elements in the Armed Forces to co-opt them into this unholy venture.
     
    “Our hope is that Junaid Mohammed is not by any chance trying to have his own Cote d’Ivoire military mutiny here in Nigeria because there are laws. 
     
    “He is not a supporter of the President neither is he a democrat and should not extend his hatred for the President to this venture that can set the country on fire. 
     
    “The news we have for Junaid Mohammed and those queued behind him is that nothing will happen to the President; he therefore has no business fueling such a demonic agenda that has no constitutional bearing anywhere in our statutes books. Even if he shouts himself hoarse it would be for nothing for his shouts would have been in vain when Mr President returns to resume the duty Nigerians entrusted to him. 
              
    “We urge the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to cite Junaid Mohammed for promoting ethnic intolerance and engaging in hate communication with a view to turning other ethnicity against the northern part of the country and vice versa,” he said.
     

  • Junaid Mohammed’s tribal rant

    Junaid Mohammed, self acclaimed convener of the coalition of northern politicians, academics, professionals and businessmen is fast acquiring notoriety for reckless and incendiary statements against the Igbo race. Because his provocative rant has somehow, been largely ignored, he comes up often, talking down on the entire Igbo race as if he would want them disappear from the face of the earth.

    What he thinks of himself, what it is that prompts him or those he purports to represent may not be of much relevance here.  The objective of such irrational and sectional diatribe and what they portend for the overall peace of this country are issues we can continue to ignore at great peril. At each point he gets media mention, he is either hauling invectives on the Igbo or displaying crass preference for war as a quick-fix to festering national challenges.

    His inordinate urge for war, conjures the impression that either the military will always act in the direction of his mindset, he is certain about what they will do in each circumstance or both. Often, he speaks with such a certainty that leads to the conclusion that those on whose behest he speaks, are in control of the military and capable of using them to achieve their goals. That was the essence of his classifying non-violent agitations for self-determination by pro-Biafra movements as terrorism. Yet, when the real terrorists were on rampage in the North-east, he was ambivalent in condemning their murderous escapades. That is Junaid for you.

    In 2013 when agitations for a sovereign national conference were on high gear, he had said that its supporters were asking for civil war. Again, following complaints against non-inclusion of the South-east in Buhari’s appointments, he said, “If the Igbo don’t like it, they can attempt secession again. If they do it, they must be prepared to live with the consequences”.

    And in a recent interview in a national daily, he not only spoke of the Igbo race in disparaging and irreverent manner but even averred with certainty that Obasanjo would have been “overthrown if he was caught in the tribal thing” during his last regime. It is not clear if he speaks for himself, the nebulous northern amalgam he purports to lead, or some other unseen hands. But he speaks with such arrogance and finality that suggests this country is the personal fiefdom of whatever interest he purports to represent.

    That was my reading when he recklessly averred that the Igbo have always misbehaved and shown open nepotism each time they are given certain positions and that nepotism in whatever they do is their stock in trade. He cited the tenure of former Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim to support his weird logic.

    Accusing Ihejirika of introducing tribalism in recruitment, training and promotions in the Nigerian Army, he labeled him the most corrupt army chief this country has ever had. His grouse with Anyim is that each time there was vacancy in parastatals under his office, he made sure an Igbo man occupied it. He singled out the case of the National Population Commission.

    His allegation against Ihejirika bears the imprimatur of the blackmail from fifth columnists sometime in his tenure especially when intense heat was brought to wrestle the Boko Haram insurgents to the ground.

    A faceless group had circulated documents alleging that at the recruitment in the Nigerian Army Depot in Zaria, Kaduna state; Abia state with a population of 2.8 million people had 450 recruits while Ebonyi with 2.2 million people had 377 recruits. In contrast, Kano, Kaduna and Lagos states that have populations of 9.3million, 9 million and 9 million respectively only got 258, 382 and 255. According to his traducers, this represented part of the plan to “Igbonize” the Nigerian army. The activities of this group may have had a direct link with the embarrassing indiscipline within the army at that time.

    As this writer contended then, the group simply bandied figures that were lacking in real statistical value for their failure to show the entire staff disposition of the Nigerian army. Singling out one recruitment and promotion exercise to sustain the allegation of ‘Igbonization’ of Nigerian army is not only guilty of the fallacy of hasty generalization but exposes the mindset of its peddlers as a bunch of ethnic bigots unable to come to terms with the reality of an Igbo man occupying that position for the first time since after the civil war. It will not be surprising if Junaid is part and parcel of the waning tribe of these ethnic jingoists. Had they availed the public the staff disposition of the entire armed forces, state by state, they may have discovered that if Abia and Ebonyi states had an edge in that singular recruitment, it may have been part of efforts to redress the inequities of past recruitments under the supervision of Junaid’s kinsmen.

    This point finds ample credence in events during the tenure of Lt Gen. Abdulraman Bello Dambazzau as Chief of Army Staff. Insider Weekly Magazine had in its June 2009 edition, reported that soldiers were grumbling over “parochial and unbalanced’ deployment in the army, wondering whether he “is building a Nigerian army, a Kano army or a northern army”. The magazine alleged that of the 32 key appointments, Dambazzau gave 27 to the north, the south-east three, south-west two and none to south-south. Yet, the tribal warlords saw nothing wrong with it and said nothing because “fouling the air is only good when it comes from the proverbial tortoise”.

    The same jaundiced perceptions that smack of pathological hatred for the Igbo led Junaid in another occasion to assert that the Igbo “have also grabbed most of the land especially for estates in Abuja where they do not have any historical claims or other logical claim to even one square foot of land”.

    This assertion is astonishing. It impliedly seeks to deny the Igbo or any other group, their rights to acquire legitimate property in any place of their choice including foreign countries. Grabbing most of the land in Abuja for estates connotes the impression that the lands in question were dispossessed from their rightful owners through unwholesome means.

    If most of the lands in Abuja have been acquired by Igbo developers, it is by dint of their hard work, industry and enterprise.  What right has anybody to deny them the fruit of their labour? Or when has it become a crime for any Nigerian or foreigner to invest his money in any part of the country?  Perhaps, he would also need the all powerful Nigerian state to decree quota system in private land acquisition for those he represents to have fair share in Abuja.

    The same parochialism blindfolded him to the point of asserting that without Nigeria, the Igbo presently living in neighbouring African countries will not be allowed to be there. The simple answer to this is that the Igbo nation predates the Nigerian nation. Nigeria came into being through the amalgamation of subsisting ethnic units.

    If these units existed before Nigeria, there is nothing to suggest that without this political contraption, they will disappear from the face of the earth. Practically nothing! Moreover, some of the countries where he said the Igbo are living courtesy of their Nigerian citizenship are of little economic and political significance in comparison with the states where the Igbo are presently domiciled. It does not take a genius to work out the logical dynamics of this analogy.

    We can go on to demonstrate the calamity which the views of Junaid have been to efforts at nation-building. Suffice it to say that the Igbo do not owe their existence to anybody. They are also not begging anybody for any favour. They only ask for their rights and equal opportunities as a key member of this unity in diversity. They have suffered and continue to suffer monumental losses in lives and property from the part of the country where Junaid comes. They need to be saved from the atavism of the likes of Junaid.

  • Fashola, Saraki, Junaid Mohammed deplore siege

    Fashola, Saraki, Junaid Mohammed deplore siege

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, Social Commentator Alhaji Junaid Mohammed and Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday condemned the military siege to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s Lagos home.

    Senator Bukola Saraki said the opposition party’s leaders were ready for the assault from the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government.

    Speaking at a political rally in Ejigbo, Lagos yesterday, Fashola said: “See what they are doing now, they are removing security from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In the last 24 hours, they are deploying soldiers in Asiwaju’s house.

    “Every night now, they take truck-load of soldiers to Asiwaju’s house. But, I have news for them, we will not be intimidated. When President Goodluck Jonathan was looking for our votes in 2011, he did not use soldiers, he was begging us. He told us that he had no shoes.

    After collecting our votes, he has been inflicting pains on us,” he said.

    Mohammed said: “If Tinubu has committed any offence, the Federal Government should take him to court. Nigerians are today confronted with a creeping coup detat. Those marked for rejection by the people want to retain power by all means.

    “The Army has a responsibility not to keep vigil in the house of a perceived enemy of the Federal Government but to protect all Nigerians equally, irrespective of party affiliation or religious inclination.

    “They have no business harrassing any political leader. The Nigeria Army is not a political party. They are maintained by tax payers money and should discharge their respoinsibilities as well-spelt and stated in the country’s constitution.

    “They should be warned that if our democracy is scuttled, there will be a price to pay by all responsible for it. They have failed to protect Nigerians in the much-troubled Northeast where the Boko Haram insurgents have routinely asserted their supremacy over an enclave supposedly under their concern. They have no business harrassing innocent Nigerians. If anything happens to Tinubu, so many people will pay the price.

    “I support the calls emanating from General Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Tinubu that this country should be wrestled from the stranglehold of the rudderless overlords of the Peoples Democratic Party who have done nothing to show proof of competence to bring joy and needful change to the country and its people in 16 years.

    “The people must be forever vigilant to protect themselves and this democracy for it to endure.

    “Those who are putting him under surveillance should explain why. Given the track record of killings of notable leaders in the country, since the 1966 coup to date, we have every cause to exercise fears regarding the latest assault on Tinubu.”

    Saraki said:  “We have heard of plans to clampdown on us; we are prepared, I learnt the other day military trucks were moving around and I asked what for? But the truth is that this issue is now beyond the APC leaders and so the message is that they should not take the calmness of the people for granted. People want change and anything that will stop that, they won’t accept.

    “My concern is that we don’t plunge this country into a constitutional crisis, so we must ensure that May 29 is sacrosanct. I want Nigerians to stand up and hold both the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the President to account to ensure that they stick to the handover date. It is up to the government to now assure us that there is no hidden agenda.

    “The nation needs not only political stability but economic stability; President Jonathan should give commitment that there will be no further elections postponement.”

    Asked about the spate of political violence in the state, the former governor said it would be the product of “new people” just coming into the politics of the state but asked that security agencies should hold leaders of the parties accountable.

    Saying the violence, was targeted against his party, to incite his followers, he urged APC members to maintain the peace. “I have told them that you don’t win elections by destroying billboards,” Saraki said, adding: “My view is that political leaders should be held responsible as is the practice all over the world; the leaders must be made to know that the International Court is there for such cases.”

  • Automatic ticket for Jonathan negates tenets of democracy -ACF chieftain

    Automatic ticket for Jonathan negates tenets of democracy -ACF chieftain

    •Says zoning is dead, poll possible in Adamawa, Borno, Yobe
    •Junaid Mohammed: Nigeria’s democracy, a joke if PDP is not destroyed

    A leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mr. Anthony Sani is appalled by the decision of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to grant automatic second term ticket to President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Sani says the development shows lack of   internal democracy in the nation’s political parties, with another strong voice from the North, Dr. Junaid Mohammed saying Nigeria’s democracy will be a joke, unless the PDP as a party is destroyed.

    Sani, former spokesman of the ACF, said in an interview that zoning of political offices in the country died in 2011 after the North was denied the Presidency slot.

    He said: “The automatic ticket given to President Jonathan by PDP demonstrates the wisdom of those who say there is no internal democracy in the political parties in Nigeria. Democracy is the ultimate loser. That is why some people believe our democracy is being redefined.

    “You may wish to note that democracy may differ in forms. But when it comes to its three elements of liberty, justice and common decency, democracy is the same.

    “So those who wish to redefine the three elements of democracy under home grown can as well reinvent the wheel or redefine the truth.”

    He said the purported trade- off between the PDP governors and the President to insulate the governors from probe by the EFCC was disturbing.

    His words: “More distressing, there are reports that the PDP governors and the president had a deal that the president would disallow the EFCC from looking into their files after leaving office in exchange for the endorsement.

    “I do not want to believe the reports because corruption is the most singular thing that stands on the way of the efforts at socioeconomic development of this country.

    “Corruption has distorted societal values, it has redefined our sense of justice and it has outsourced employment as well as stealing empowerment, stealing the opportunity and stealing the future of young Nigerians.

    “That is why the government and public spirited Nigerians must resolve to fight corruption to a stand still for public good.”

    Sani said since zoning is dead, Northern candidates should canvass for votes on merit and not “on the basis of the fact that they are Northerners.”

    “They will be expected to go round the country and convince Nigerians why they are eminently qualified and better the incumbent whose performance is on the table.

    “I therefore plead with the media that since the South espoused politics of zoning and morally black mailed the North into accepting it during the 1994-1995 constitutions confab, and it was the same South which said it should be killed when it was time for the North in 2011, politics of zoning should be dead and buried for good.”

    Asked if INEC should postpone poll in the North-East because of insurgency, he said: “If there could be election in Afghanistan, in Pakistan and in Iraq, there is no reason why the elections should be postponed in Nigeria because of Boko Haram.”

    In a separate interview, Dr. Junaid Mohammed said the automatic ticket for President Jonathan was aimed at disenfranchising other PDP members who might be interested in the race.

    “The issue at stake is not just a PDP internal affair. Because what is at stake is that, whether we like it or not, PDP is the predominant party in Nigeria, and whatever they do, right or wrong will affect other aspect of our national life,” he said.

    “In a very straight forward manner, this is very unhealthy for the Nigerian democracy. Firstly, there are certain principles which govern democracy. First, it is in anchored in the rule of law; if there is no rule of law, there cannot be democracy. Secondly, the will of the people freely and openly expressed, this must be supreme and it must be permanently respected. Also, in a democracy, the majority will always have their way, but the minority within the party or within the polity must always have their say.

    “The idea that, one man or a group of people, whether they are in the National Working Committee or the Board of Trustees or the PDP Governors or whatever can sit down and in a very arbitrary manner declare a candidate of a party bypassing the constitution of the party, the constitution of the country and the electoral law of the country is nothing but a complete outrage.

    “In fairness the PDP has never claimed to be a democratic party, so, if they do certain undemocratic things, we ought not to be surprised, but what they are doing now has surpassed even their terrible lousy standards. Because what they are doing now is that, they don’t believe in democracy, they have no respect for their own constitution.”

    When asked what he thinks Nigerians can do, he said, Nigerians should react by any means possible. “I have no doubt in my mind that, Nigeria’s democracy will be a joke, unless the PDP as a party is not destroyed. I repeat, there will be no democracy in the country unless the PDP is destroyed.”

     

  • ACF, others can’t speak for North – Junaid Mohammed

    Second Republic lawmaker and social critic, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has said the Arewa Consultative Forum and other Elders group springing up in the north do not have the right to speak on behalf of the region.

    Mohammed spoke just as former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain and spokesman of the Northern Elders Council, Ambassador Yusuf Mamman, said the ACF still remain the umbrella body of the north despite the emergence of the Northern Elders Council.

    In a telephone interview with The Nation, Mohammed that they cannot claim to speak for the north when nobody has given them that mandate, pointing out that you cannot claim to speak on behalf of someone until he gives you the express permission to do so through an election.

    He alleged that both the Northern Elders Forum and the Northern Elders Council were being sponsored by the Presidency to undermine the interest of the north.

    He said, “I have always said and I will repeat it to you. I have never claim to speak for the north. I speak because I am a Nigerian and a northerner because I was born in that part of the country. I also speak because the constitution of Nigeria confers on me certain rights and privileges which include my right to speak up on issues whether they are national, regional, local, economic, political or social.

    “Beyond that those who claim to speak for the north must be put to test. They must be asked on what basis are they claiming to speak for the north? As far as I am concerned, not one of the so called self-assigned, self-appointed pan northern groups speaks for the north. None of them has ever been appointed in the course of their entire political career.

    “Infact, most of them come from background, culture and career that are undemocratic. The establishment most of them served were guilty of torturing and killing northerners in the name of politics.

    “You will discover that there is a preponderance of Generals and policemen in the so called northern groups and among the political class are people that have been discredited and have no political base in their respective communities.

    “If these are the people who claim to speak for the north, then, the north is in a terrific mess. In a democracy, you don’t claim to represent somebody until he tells you expressly by means of vote to represent him.

    “Beginning from the PDP which was financed with money from the treasury by Abdulsalami Abubakar in billions to so many other governors and other groups, none has ever respected the simple, but very basic culture of election whereby people should have the leaders they choose and those leaders who should be chosen through a credible voter system.”

     

  • No Junaid Mohammed, no

    No Junaid Mohammed, no

    Jonathan can run again; what we should insist  on is free and fair election

    Even many people who do not like the Goodluck Jonathan administration will not agree with Dr Junaid Mohammed’s threat that blood will flow on the streets of Nigeria should President Jonathan insist on running for president in 2015. Although I share Dr Mohammed’s views about the Jonathan presidency, I would have been satisfied if he had stopped at his statement that “… if there is going to be a free and credible election, I don’t mind if Jonathan runs, because I know he would be roundly rejected by Nigerians”. But to say blood will flow on account of the president running again is to me superfluous.

    The truth, though, is that Nigerian leaders have a way of speaking in tongues when the issue is staying put in office. President Jonathan’s godfather said he was waiting on God for direction when asked if he was going for second term or not. This was a man who was born again only in the upper part of the body! The essential area is however still steeped in iniquity. Now, according to Dr. Mohammed, President Jonathan has said he is under pressure to run; and that that, so far, is the only clue we have as to whether the President wants to run again or not.

    Like Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Dr Mohammed may not be a good body language reader, so, at least for now, we should rely on his claim that the president is ‘under pressure’ to run again; a thing that does not go down well with the medical doctor: “Quote me, if Jonathan insists on running, there will be bloodshed and those who feel short-changed may take the warpath and the country may not be the same again. His running will amount to taking about 85 million northerners for a ride and that is half of the country’s total population”. I have issues with some of these claims, but that is not important today.

    The 1999 Constitution stipulates conditions for people who aspire to our presidency. President Jonathan has more than the minimum requirements. If he hadn’t, he would not have been president in the first place. For me, therefore, the next question to ask is whether the president has done well to merit reelection. Permit me to refer to Mohammed’s criteria:

    “…On the three criteria globally used to measure preference for a leader, this man (Jonathan) has got none of them. They are competence, integrity and acceptability. On competence, you journalists know this better. President Jonathan is incompetent. He has got no integrity … On acceptability, apart from his few ethnic and tribal advisers, who are urging him to contest, Jonathan today (please note my emphasis on TODAY) is not acceptable to the generality of Nigerians. So on all these three counts he is nowhere, so on what basis is he going to run again?”

    This is a pertinent question. But on what basis has the president’s party been winning some of the elections it claimed to have won in the past? I agree with Dr Mohammed that the Jonathan administration is an administrative fiasco. I may not know of the president personally, but I agree too that his government is corrupt. These being the case, the answer to the third question (that of acceptability by voters), is already settled. So, if it is indeed true that some people are putting pressure on President Jonathan to run again, this must be the handiwork of ethnic advisers as Dr Mohammed said. And, if I may add, those other people whose bread is being buttered for every minute that President Jonathan is in office.

    But this should not surprise anyone because it has always been like that; Nigeria has never been in short supply of such characters. These sycophants are sans borders, it has nothing to do with the part of the country the leader comes from. They were there in the Second Republic and they did not leave the Shehu Shagari government until the president had the knock of soldiers on the door, telling him the game was up. They were also there in the Gen. Sani Abacha years when they told the general (who was disliked at home and distrusted abroad) that Nigeria would collapse if Abacha did not transmute to civilian president. They eventually saw Abacha to his grave.

    These are the people who are now preventing President Jonathan from knowing that things have changed since the 2011 elections and that if free and fair elections are held today, the president will perhaps lose his deposit. This reminds me of a question I asked President Jonathan’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, when he visited this newspaper sometime ago: “since when did the Jonathan administration begin to be loathed by Nigerians? Was it not the same Nigerians that gave the president an overwhelming support during the 2011 presidential election”? Okupe replied that it was probably since the fuel subsidy withdrawal issue. That could jolly well be true; but what effort has the Jonathan presidency made to reverse the trend? The government has only gone progressively worse on all indices of good governance.

    I am not sure any other government since the Babangida era caressed corruption the way the Jonathan administration is doing. And what this does is to reinforce the impression by not a few persons that the president does not give a damn about his legacy but only sees his time as the turn of the Niger Delta region to rule Nigeria. People from other geo-political zones have done it before and they had second term. So, it is immaterial if he too does it well or not; the Niger Delta is entitled to two terms and other Nigerians must understand and accept this notorious fact, and return him (Jonathan) possibly unopposed.

    Perhaps another reason that many people have been silent on concerning their frustration with the Jonathan government is that this is the first time Nigeria is having graduates not just as Number One citizen but also as Number Two. All the while we have been lamenting that while the country is blessed with numerous erudite scholars, it had not been privileged to have a graduate as president. Now that both the president and his deputy are graduates, with the president having a PhD, there is still no difference. Isn’t this enough reason to be aggrieved, when great expectations turn to great frustrations?

    By 2015, President Jonathan would have been in power for five years (his four years plus one year he inherited from the late President Umaru Yar’Adua); this is only two years short of the seven-year tenure he has championed for president and governors. What value is the president going to add to governance that he could not have added in five years? If morning shows the day, we can see clearly there is none.

    All said, what we should be fighting for now is not that President Jonathan should not run again, because he has the backing of the constitution to run. Rather, we should be preparing ourselves for free and fair elections. That should be the sing-song of the opposition parties to their supporters. Now, perhaps more than ever before, it is becoming clearer that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has completely outlived its usefulness. The party has ruled for over 14 years and, going by its fantasy, it wants to rule for 60. When an ant sends its apologies about its inability to attend a social function, saying it has been having diarrhea in the last three days to that function, the natural question to ask is: whether there would be any trace of such an ant after three days of continual running of the stomach? What is the size of the ant even while enjoying good health?

    If the sorry pass that our country has become today is what the PDP could post after 14 out of their projected 60 years in power, then Nigeria would become history if that party stays in power longer than necessary.

  • Junaid Mohammed and other cowards

    Cowardice, unbeknownst to many is a deceptive pathological condition. A coward always wears the camouflage of bravery and courage yet he is merely a weasel. Like a bully, he is imbued with the inexplicable urge to hurt and torment others but he cannot stand a prick of the pin. He will rouse a murderous mob but will tunnel into the ground when blood begins to flow. Such is the state of mind of some Nigerians who have made it a pastime lately to beat the drums of war and destruction over the 2015 presidential election.

    One such person is Dr. Junaid Mohammed, a Russian-trained physician and a veteran politician who made his mark as an acolyte of the great Malam Aminu Kano. Once upon a time, Mohammed was one of the most personable, well-spoken and well loved-politicians across even ethnic zones of the land. He was considered a ‘radical’ politician with progressive and people-oriented ideas. He was supposed to have drunk from the fount of that apostle of talakawa politics and perhaps ought to have been the touch-bearer of that ideological school, inheriting Aminu Kano. But Junaid Mohammed like a storm-tossed ship has not been able to find any political relevance since the demise of his mentor. He has moved from one party to another, from one ideological extreme to another and aligning with some strange bedfellows or another all in search relevance and even gravy.

    Our most beloved Junaid Mohammed, that eloquent young man in the House of Representatives of the 80s has in his old age ironically, grown into an ethnic jingoist and rabble-rouser. In an interview in last Sunday Sun, he simply broke the bounds of decency and decorum expected of someone who ought to be an elder statesman and nationalist. Asked whether President Goodluck Jonathan should run for a second term in 2015, he had this to say: “He is humble enough to know the consequences of his action, should he insist on running. But let me warn that he should not do anything that would plunge the country into avoidable anarchy.”

    He spoke further: “Quote me, if Jonathan insists on running, there will be bloodshed and those who feel short-changed may take the warpath and the country may not be the same again. His running will amount to taking about 85 million northerners for a ride and that is half the country’s total population. So, there will be bloodshed. We don’t pray to get to that level before his ethnic and tribal advisers pull him back.”

    Apparently, Mohammed has joined the bandwagon of the North-for-president-in-2015-or-no Nigeria campaign. In his obvious anger he was unguarded and uncontrolled in his utterances. He even rained abuses on the president: “We now have this nincompoop as president.” We may not like Jonathan but he remains the president of Nigeria and he occupies our sacred stool. We can correct and even upbraid without lapsing into naked and personal abuse. Our elders especially must set that example of civility in political discourse for the younger ones.

    One is particularly nonplussed by Mohammed’s invocation of violence and mayhem upon his fatherland should he and his part of the country fail to grab power once again in 2015. It is quite a puerile and infantile notion to think that any part of the country can be intimidated into surrendering power to another by mere threat of violence or even actual acts of bloodshed. It never happens that way. Second, statements like this do the North no good and it triggers that annoying sense of birthright and entitlement to the throne. That is not on and it is never acceptable. The North has held the number one spot longer than any other part of the country and unless it is telling the rest of us that it is indeed a birthright, others are equally entitled to it as well.

    Need we also remind that no president relinquishes power on account of threats of bloodshed and prospect of violence; not when he is constitutionally entitled to contest for another term in office? Power is gained through strategic thinking, building of consensus and pushing of laudable policies to the people, the ultimate beneficiaries.

    Lastly, whose blood is Dr Mohammed bringing to the altar for sacrifice? Of course not his children’s or his family members’ and surely not his own or his close friends’? It brings us back to the logic of the coward: he is often quick to pledge the blood of others in exchange for his selfish ends. But call for his own head and he dies before you unsheathe your sword. Have you seen our Mujahideen Asari Dokubo recently, the one who wears permanent scowl just to scare the rest of us? A few hours’ arrest recently in the Republic of Benin rattled him so much that he sings like a troubled canary about enemies of President Jonathan’s second term who pursued him across the border. Jonathan must have a second term even if the heavens fall, he declared extending that weird logic. The same manner our octogenarian Papa Edwin Clark finds every opportunity to say to us, woe betide you all if Jonathan does not return.

    But these are old tricks deployed by cowards when they sense an imminent defeat and loss. In 2015, what will be, will be – as has been ordained!

    LAST MUG: Gov. Amosun’s tower and aspects of S.W. integration

    I was waiting for the right moment to comment on the laudable South West integration agenda when I learnt about Gov. Ibikunle Amosun’s tallest building in Africa project. While one would return to the emerging flaws of the integration soon, Expresso humbly appeals to the Ogun governor to shelf the idea of a tower (of Babel?) which is a mere ego trip and holds no economic good whatsoever. All over the world, governments hardly build skyscrapers; they are economic propositions of individuals. Is the Cocoa House for instance fully occupied? Is it yielding revenues? Is it well maintained?

    We feel insulted when our governors tell us they travel abroad to seek investors; such anachronism really need to be jettisoned. And the Malaysians partnering Ogun to build a white elephant will do well for us developing our agro-industrial estates based on oil palm, cocoa, maize and cassava instead of building us a tower of wastage.

    It is the same ego-tripping that governs the rash of airports in Ekiti and Osogbo when the ones in Ibadan, Akure and Benin grossly under-utilized. Why not modern light rail lines that link major cities of the Southwest? Or are these airports and towers what the integration document ordered?

     

  • Junaid Mohammed: Giving North a bad name

    A few weeks back, Hardball was hard-put to politely upbraid our octogenarian elder, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark on this page. The piece cautioned against the old man’s hawkish stance against the rebel governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It also sought to discourage the current overflow of intemperance and hate. But, last Sunday, another elder, this time from the North, raised the decibel of hate a notch higher in the current sabre-rattling game between elements from different parts of the country.

    In an interview in Sunday Sun of December 1, Junaid Mohammed, a veteran politician; a member of the House of Representatives in the 2nd Republic let loose what may be described as a barrage of unguided and ill-conceived utterances. Asked whether President Goodluck Jonathan should contest in the 2015 presidential election, he seemed to have lapsed into a rage. Hear him:

    “Quote me, if Jonathan insists on running, there will be bloodshed and those who feel short-changed may take to the warpath and the country may not be the same again. His running will amount to taking about 85 million northerners for a ride and that is half of the country’s total population. So, there will be bloodshed. But we do not pray to get to that level before his ethnic and tribal advisers pull him back.”

    What malevolence, what infantile rage from a highly educated man (he is a medical doctor); a septuagenarian and an elder who ought to be a statesman of the realm. Hardball finds it hard to believe that Dr. Junaid Mohammed actually said these words. When people like him threaten his fatherland with bloodshed, Hardball is quick to ask: whose blood are we talking about? His own? Would he be found anywhere near the barricades when the streets are angry and bellowing with smoke? Would his children and grand-children be out on the violent streets exchanging futile stones for bullets?

    Mohammed’s must be the most irresponsible statement ever uttered in this country in recent times. And Hardball asks him: what was the blood count in the last post-election riots in the North in 2011? How many Nigerian youths got wasted; how many businesses and sources of livelihood went up in smoke; how many were orphaned and how many thousands are today incapacitated living with eternal handicap? I will bet Mohammed does not know and, of course, he does not give a damn. If only he cared, if he looked back, if he took stock of the mayhem, he would not be talking so glibly about bloodshed.

    Muhammed, like ilk, are just power bees; they do not possess the capacity to think deep; they just stick their nose up and trail the nectar of power. They only buzz around the nectar and gorge on the honey. If they have to waste the lives of hapless Nigerians to maintain their hold on power and its trappings, so be it. What is particularly troublous is to see a man like Mohammed, who ought to be one of the guiding lights of the nation sounding worse than those half educated militants. But let it be known that no group or zone has the franchise to violence and bloodshed; every zone would devise a means to defend itself when the chips are down so it is childish and laughable to brandish ‘bloodshed’ as a form of intimidation.

    Mohammed does the North no good when he makes such utterances that show them as if they are obsessed with power; or as if North will cease to exist without the presidency. More worrisome is the suffusion of anger in Mohammed’s heart which elicited personal abuse against the president. Hear this: “…We now have this nincompoop as president.” Love him or hate him he symbolises the nation and in gunning for him, let us be careful not to gun down the country.