The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PDP

  • Obasanjo’s farewell to PDP

    SIR: With the dramatic public rending of his membership card, one needs not to be told that Chief Olusegun has finally parted ways with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, with this unique farewell package, one can confidently conclude that Obasanjo’s unending wars with the PDP are also over. Obasanjo is the highest beneficiary of the PDP’s benevolence as he rose from the position of a condemned prisoner in 1998 to the exalted position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    The former president for quite some time has distanced himself from the activities of the PDP and government related functions. He did not show up at the PDP presidential campaign in Abeokuta. Obasanjo took advantage of every auspicious time at his disposal both at home and abroad to launch unprecedented verbal attacks on PDP led government and policies which he deems anti-people to the chagrin of his former party, the PDP.

    Apart from that, he was conspicuously absent at the National Council of State meeting held on February 5 where issues bordering on the prevailing security situation and the forth coming general elections were discussed.

    It is in the person and character of former President Obasanjo to diligently pursue whatever ideals he cherishes and stands for with sublime passion and vigour. He equally remains resolute and unruffled in the face of reactions or criticisms emanating from his views on any national or international issues. It was Harold Laski who affirmed that “without freedom of mind and of association, a man has no means to self-protection in our social order.”As a matter of fact, the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly of every Nigerian are guaranteed under Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. In as much as speech is free and truth sacrosanct; the former needs to be uttered with decorum and guarded with utmost care while the latter devoid of personal interest should in all circumstances prevail.

    The sage should understand that there are several decent ways of killing a rat. As former President and chairman Board of Trustee (BOT) under the same party which he has publicly humiliated, his behaviour and utterances at any given time should be reflective of restraint and decorum. However, the action failed the litmus test of self-control and cannot in any way be said to be statesmanlike.

    Obasanjo and the PDP were expected to show high level of maturity in managing their perceived differences for old time sake’s.  After all it is mutual respect for each other, uncommon restraint and forgiving spirit that sustains any relationship.  Both should be blamed for washing their dirty linings in the public. However, it is said that appropriate measure of blames should be visited upon the strong who in the course of a brawl with his neighbour publicly made him to defecate in his dress and the underdog who shamelessly messed himself up.

     

    • Sunday Onyemaechi Eze,

    Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna

  • APC’s manifesto unrealistic – PDP

    APC’s manifesto unrealistic – PDP

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as unrealistic, saying it is meant to deceive and misdirect the electorates.

    According to the ruling party, the opposition’s promise to pay N5, 000 monthly stipend each to 25 million poor Nigerians would amount to N125 billion monthly and N1.5 trillion every year.

    At a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said this cannot be achieved, given the poor state of the nation’s economy and dwindling oil revenue.

    “What is baffling is that the APC knows fully well that this is not only unrealistic but also impracticable in a nation with an estimated budget of N4.69 trillion comprising recurrent and capital expenditures yet they continue to dish it out to unsuspecting citizens in a clear bid to mislead.

    “Since its formation about two years ago, the APC has introduced and sustained an unfortunate political streak sustained majorly by lies, character assassination, false alarm, wild allegations, and lately visual simulation, all in the desperation to deceive and misdirect the judgment of the electorates.

    “We have with us an opposition party, which has been deploying all manner of schemes to derail and compromise the electoral process. Today, if the APC is not instigating violence or threatening democracy and our very existence as a nation, the party is busy procuring criminal hi-tech to hack into INEC’s data-base or clone the Permanent Voters Card (PVC).

    “The next day, the same party would connive with some unscrupulous electoral officers to deny non-indigenes in some select states their PVCs while busy making bogus promises to the electorates,” Metuh said.

    The PDP also faulted what it described as the opposition’s promise to create 740, 000 direct jobs in each of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory within one year, with one million jobs for Igbo youths within the same period.

    Continuing, Metuh said: “The APC has also promised to provide free education, daily free meals for millions of Nigerian school children, free tertiary education, free health care and free houses to Nigerians. The opposition knows too well that this is unrealistic yet they prefer to brandish falsehood.

    “The APC should explain to Nigerians how they would fulfill their promises with the prevailing 40 per cent drop in national income and dwindling oil price in the international market. “

     

  • Aspirant threatens to sue Delta PDP

    Aspirant threatens to sue Delta PDP

    An impending litigation may stop the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State from fielding a candidate for the House of Assembly election on April 11.

    It was gathered that the party arbitrarily substituted its candidate for Uvwie constituency.

    This followed the resignation of aggrieved persons and the refusal of the party leadership to follow due process.

    The party’s primary for the House of Assembly ticket was held on November 29, 2014.

    Of the 10 candidates screened for the primary, four withdrew before the election; four others withdrew on the day of the primary, leaving only the incumbent, Efe Oforburuku, and Sunday Edeki.

    Oforburuku beat Edeki.

    Oforburuku’s victory was short-lived when reports of his replacement with Mathew Mitami Tsekiri, one of those who had stepped down for him, filtered into town.

    Oforburuku resigned from the party and, Tsekiri, in January, was given the party’s flag as its candidate for Uvwie.

    Edeki, who would have been Oforburuku’s replacement, resigned, when the party’s ticket was given to Tsekiri.

    Edeki told reporters in Warri that he was heading to the court to ensure that the Uvwie PDP declared him the winner of the primary, following Oforburuku’s resignation.

    He said Tsekiri, before the primary, stepped down for Oforburuku, adding that there was no reason to declare him (Tsekiri) the winner of the primary he withdrew from, adding that PDP do not send tickets to people at home, when such people were not at the venue of the elections.

    PDP Chairman in Uvwie, Kelly Otuedor, could not be reached for comments.

    But Tsekiri said he did not have any issue with Edeki, who he described as his brother.

     

  • Muck raking in Abia politics

    Muck raking in Abia politics

    IR: Bullies are cowards, it is said. They are also empty. This is why, when overwhelmed in an encounter, they leave the issue and easily resort to throwing mud at their opponents.

    This is sadly, the current situation in Abia. With political parties getting through with their governorship primaries, such has been the grave unease in Abia Government House and state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    For a party in government and power, there should not have been need for it to be bothered, ordinarily. But that, incidentally, is its nemesis. With a performance record that is still out for the jury, the party further shot itself in the foot by a highly flawed primary that foisted a less-fancied Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu on the members as candidate.

    In going about the bizarre choice, the handlers of the PDP in the state, had carried on with the culture of impunity that had characterized its activities in the past. Of course, then, the political space was so much circumscribed that any person that picked the party’s ticket, regardless of how intellectually and temperamentally inadequate, readily embarked on victory lap, even before the polls. There was really no opposition, in the true sense of the word. The immediate impact of such odious arrangement was the history of underdevelopment that had trailed the state, especially in the last 16 years.

    Consequently, for a state that its founders had, over 23 years ago, envisioned to be a leading light among its peers, its development profile, has remained piteous. But because the beneficiaries derive a lot from this unprincipled rentier system, they treat any attempt at change as an affront.

    It is on this backdrop that the onslaught against the aspiration of Dr. Alex Otti, the state governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), by PDP and agents of the state government, will be adequately appreciated.

    While taking a dive from his apparent comfort zone where he had successfully led a relatively sure-footed Diamond Bank, for Abia governorship, Otti, had reckoned that the engagement was not going to be a tea party. Confronted with the discovery of a poorly managed entity characterized by acute infrastructure decay, dilapidated education system, bungled health care system and ill-motivated workforce, among others, there would have been the temptation to back pedal. But for a man that interprets perceived problems, rather, as projects, Otti has not been deterred from his dream.

    At many forums, he has declared that service to Abia and not exercise in self-aggrandizement, has been the driving force behind his aspiration. The APGA candidate, has in this respect, laid out a template for fixing the state. In his manifesto, he has established roadmaps towards repositioning the state’s education, health, agriculture, economy and other sectors.

    He has also given hints on how he intends to re-engineer Aba, the hitherto commercial hub of the South East and South-South regions that has painfully suffered criminal neglect in recent times.

    In going about the agenda, Otti has identified interplay of ideas as the surest way of lifting Abia from its current state of near hopelessness.

    The expectation therefore, had been that his opponents, especially the PDP, would have taken his challenge in good faith and come with superior argument, if any. But that is not the case. Rather, the party and its candidate, Okezie Ikpeazu, of course, backed by the state government, have chosen to side step the main issue of the discourse and have resorted to muck raking and shadow-boxing.

    The latest in this regime of misguided undertakings has been associating the APGA candidate with actions and antics that are not in his character. Among this is the curious allegation that he has been going about with hoodlums dressed in military and police uniforms. The allegation had further been extended to the ridiculous extent of accusing him of working with the military to bamboozle Abians. Having failed on that, there had also been an attempt to drag Diamond Bank into the fray, by accusing it of partnering the APGA candidate. The next phase of the propaganda is expected to be the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), being accused of favouring Otti.

    For Abia PDP and its candidate, there seems to be no limit in the muck-raking.

    • Emma Ogbuehi

    Umuahia, Abia State

  • Visa restriction

    Visa restriction

    •International community should treat partisan military brass with extreme disdain

    It is odd that President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, presumably a democratic government, could run the country ignominiously like a military dictatorship. Until the infamous announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, postponing the February elections, many would wager that President Jonathan’s administration is incapable of obtrusively influencing the electoral body.

    But that disingenuous interference, disguised as security challenges, has opened the eyes of Nigerians and the international community to the capacity of the presidency and their collaborators to cause harm to our democracy, unless they are checkmated.

    We consider it reassuring that the United States and her democratic allies are considering sanctions for any further infractions against an orderly election. Observably, while the final push for the postponement of the elections came from the security agencies, nobody is deceived that President Jonathan’s party precipitated the move. So, the fact that the announcement came from the INEC chief should not mitigate the culpability of the security chiefs and the presidency, for that unwarranted interference in the electoral process. We are happy that the international community understood that the National Security Adviser and the service chiefs merely used the security bogey, to act out the unpatriotic script of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    According to media reports, there are already plans for targeted sanctions on certain government and security officials should the presidential election now rescheduled for March 28, be postponed again. One of such sanctions, according to the report, will be visa restrictions, which the US Secretary of State had hinted on last month, when he made a shuttle visit to Lagos. We welcome the interest of other democracies, towards ensuring that the Federal Government is coerced, if need be, to organise a free, fair and transparent 2015 general elections. It is also appreciated that where there are infractions, those responsible for such intransigencies are singled out and punished, by the international community.

    To achieve the expectations of democratic Nigerians and the country’s international friends, we urge the international community, particularly the western democracies, to make it abundantly clear to the Federal Government that nothing short of transparent general elections would be acceptable. Indeed, should the federal authorities truncate or again undermine the elections, then, officials of state, from the presidency down, should be severely sanctioned. Of course the international community should have more effective ways to sanction anti-democratic offences, than the mere denial of visas.

    It is also pertinent to remind President Jonathan’s administration that Nigeria had worked this precarious path before, where government wantonly interfered with the election process, with devastating consequences for the country. But that was under a military aberration, the infamous Ibrahim Babangida regime, as against a democratic government. We recall the rigmaroles of the military President’s administration, to frustrate a transition to civilian government, which eventually culminated in the criminal annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections. Regrettably, just as in the present circumstance, the sitting military president was determined to ensure he became the chief beneficiary of that manoeuvre; but like all such misadventures, the entire thing ended in a fiasco.

    We hope that the present schemers of similar institutional double dealing will remember that monumental national tragedy, and the pains inflicted on ordinary Nigerians. If they were not around then, they should ask those who fought with all they had, to return Nigeria to a democratic part. Considering that many of them played no part in the struggle, they must be reminded that Nigerians are not ready for any form of autocratic government, by whatever name it may be called. So, those who seek to undermine our hard-earned democracy, must be ready for the consequences.

  • PDP resolves differences in Delta council

    PDP resolves differences in Delta council

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Patani Local Government Area of Delta State has settled the differences among its members, following the disputes in last December’s primaries.

    The party’s Contact Committee of the Campaign Organisation spoke on the development through Mrs. Judith Enamuotor, who led the committee’s high-powered delegation to the local government.

    The committee chair said members tabled their disagreements and amicably resolved them.

    She said the party had a better chance to sweep the polls in the March and April elections.

    A section of the party had threatened to work against its interest, when Timi Tonye was declared winner of the House of Assembly’s primary.

    They were angry that the man who won the primary, Basil Ganagana, was denied the ticket.

    The aggrieved members said the decision to give Tonye the ticket ended the hope of over 3,000 people the former aspirant catered for.

    They also said the development altered the political equation in Patani by giving the tickets for the local government chairman and the House of Assembly candidate to candidates from Patani North, leaving Patani South in the cold.

    Mrs Enamuotor, who is also a PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member, was accompanied by Rear Admiral John Kpokpogiri, Capt. Pius Sinebe and Basil Ganagana.

    The local government said the aggrieved members, led by Rev. Israel Unutame, Chief Richman and the councillor from the area, requested that any subsequent political appointment in the local government, after the election, should be made from Patani South.

    She said all the parties accepted the request.

    Mrs Enamuotor assured that the PDP would henceforth win landslide in the presidential, senatorial, governorship and House of Assembly elections.

    The chairperson urged party faithful from the state to vote massively for the party to ensure President Goodluck Jonathan’s victory and Dr Ifeanyi Okowa’s as Delta State governor.

  • Coordinator assures Benue PDP of logistic support

    Coordinator assures Benue PDP of logistic support

    Benue State Coordinator for Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Mr. Sam Ode, has told the Benue State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the campaign organisation would provide the logistics needed to execute its campaigns.

    He said the issues raised by stakeholders and state chapters of the campaign network in a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja were addressed, assuring that should state chapters agree on a total campaign, victory would be sure not just for Mr. President, but also for the PDP at all levels.

    Ode spoke yesterday at a town hall meeting organised by the campaign organisation in Makurdi for the Benue Northwest Senatorial District.

    Senator Jack Gyado asked the people not to take for granted, the Goodluck/Sambo project, as the presidential election was key for the PDP victory.

    He said: “You have to know that the presidential election and that of the National Assembly are coming first. Once we lose them, then you know our people like bandwagon politics. They will go the wrong way. I therefore urge you never to tinker with an idea of waiting for another election. You must start with the presidential poll.

    “We the minorities have sacrificed enough from all sphere in this country. We have paid our dues in every aspect. Eighty per cent of the fighting forces to unite this country came from the minority. We gave too much blood to be messed up. You must vote Jonathan back to power to protect us.”

  • PDP, APC, APGA governorship candidates boycott debate

    PDP, APC, APGA governorship candidates boycott debate

    •Ahmed: I had engagement

    Only the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Dr. Mike Omotosho, yesterday honoured the governorship election debate in Kwara State.

    Other parties, whose governorship candidates were invited, included the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    But the APC governorship candidate, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, gave reasons for his absence.

    The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communications, Dr. Muideen Akorede, said the governor was absent, following his prior engagement.

    He added: “The governor loved to be at the event, but for prior state engagement. He is desirous of interacting with the group anytime, to highlight his achievements in the last four years and what his plans are if re-elected.”

    The debate, held in Ilorin, was organised by the Kwara Coalition of Business and Professional Associations (KWACOBPA), in collaboration with the Nigeria Elections Debate Group, Centre for International Private Enterprise and International Republican Institute.

    It was assessed by a moderator and two panelists.

    Expatiating on his blueprint for the state, Dr. Omotosho bemoaned Nigeria’s over dependence on oil, saying such a development was dangerous for the economy.

    He promised, if elected, to place premium on the welfare of people with disability.

    “We in LP have constituted a lobby group to prevail on the President to pass the Social Disability Bill waiting for his assent into law. The bill has already been passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly,” the pharmacist-turned- politician said.

    On education, he said: “We have a blueprint to focus on qualitative education. We shall encourage deserving students by sponsoring them to tertiary institutions. To a large extent, we shall abolish the indigene and non- indigene disparity in the payment of school fees.”

    The Chairman of KWACOBPA, Chief Hezekiah Adediji, said the debate “is to give candidates the opportunity to address a large audience, discuss their programmes and respond to questions.

    “This debate is meant to promote politics of issues, as against thuggery and violence. I implore our candidates to be good sportsmen and the audience to be truly non-participatory.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Polls postponement can’t save PDP from defeat’

    ‘Polls postponement can’t save PDP from defeat’

    Femi Fani-Kayode accused APC leaders of holding meetings with INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega in Dubai and other places. The Southern Nigerian Peoples Assembly (SNPA) also accused him of holding meeting with Northern leaders. Did your party leadership meet him in Dubai or any other place?

    To answer your question, nothing like that happened. When someone like Fani-Kayode makes a statement, we should be able to ask him: where in Dubai did the meeting take place? Which leadership of the party met Jega in Dubai?

    But, he said he was not going to release any more information…

    He has not done so, because he doesn’t have any. If he has that information, knowing himvery well, he would have wanted it published.

    It is like the PDP is trying to do a damage-control, as its National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu came out last week to pass vote of confidence in Jega…

    Yeah, let me tell you; it is clear from what is going on that the PDP does not want Jega; the party does not want this election to go on at all and if it wants it to go on it don’t want Jega to conduct it. It doesn’t want the use of Smart Card Readers too; they don’t want free and fair election. Let me explain. One, if there is no pressure from Nigerians and the international community, there will be no elections because if the military has asked for at least six weeks. But, perhaps, six weeks may not be enough. Two, the postponement was done by President Jonathan using the military to blackmail INEC, so he can have more time for the party’s smear campaign, have time to militarise the election and perfect his rigging machinery. He is also hoping that, within that time, the court will be used to disqualify Buhari, steal more money and buy more PVCs. Those are the reasons they postponed the elections.

    Three, you can see that the moment the postponement was made, the only party on record, when we met Jega that supported the postponement was the PDP and 16 other portfolio political parties. I am serious. When, the position was made, the PDP justified it; it was happy about it. Last Saturday, I was on a TV programme, Okupe said there was no way the election could have held because X number of people had not got their PVCs. But, surprisingly, they did not use the argument of PVCs. Is it not surprising that the same day that the Council of State was meeting and the PDP co-travellers met and made allegations against the INEC chairman, asking for his arrest. They were preparing the ground for the postponement.

    The PDP said, I mean Ahmadu Ali, that they had no confidence in Jega. Now, given the fact that INEC had given a four-week extension for people to go and collect their PVCs, even as of February 5, 2015 about 67 per cent of registered voters had collected their PVCs, so it is reasonable to assume that within four weeks all those who intended to collect their PVCs could have done so. Now, how come they are now asking that we should not use PVCs again and that we should use TVCs? But, most people don’t their TVCs because either they’ve lost it or have submitted have their PVCs. The question people will be asking is, how do you want the election to have integrity? What has happened to the money you invested in card readers and in training? So, purely you can see that these people don’t want elections.

    Hasn’t what the President said a few days ago changed your perception about the election holding?

    There is no way I would believe anything Jonathan says. Absolutely not possible. You all watched the tape on Ekiti rigging. These are the same people that came out to say that the Ekiti election was free and fair and trying to justify that it is only when APC loses elections that they complain. After what I saw in Ekiti, in that tape, I don’t believe Mr. President one bit.

    There are two conditions we want to put on ground. One, election must hold as scheduled. Two, the elections must be free, fair and card readers must be used. Thirdly, there must not be militarization. The military must not play any role in these elections. If these conditions are met, we are going to accept the outcome of the elections. You heard what Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, then serving as Minister of State for Defence, said in the audio. He said we are not here for a tea party, I have been sent by Mr. President. Fayose said in this election, I am Jonathan. So, Mr. President assure who? No way.

    Obanikoro has sued; he is contesting the matter in court…

    Obanikoro can sue anybody he wants to sue. Look, we are not idiots. If you wake me up in the middle of the night, I know Obanikoro’s voice. They can’t deny it, unless there is an inquiry with that tape.

    Some people felt if Ekiti election had been rigged, there would have been violence…

    Look, that election was rigged so clinically that there could not be any protest. You heard and you saw that each tactical commander was given explicit instruction to go to each local government and work for the PDP. They did three things: one mass arrest of our leaders before and during election. Do you know what it means when you arrest leaders of the party? It means the man who has the resources to even pay agents and also mobilise is out, other person is just shoot-at-sight. Thirdly, which they did, which affected us, they were given specified instruction to work for the PDP. Let me be honest with you, we suspected it. In Ekiti, in run-off to the election, we were afraid about the movement, why did they change the Brigade Commander? What are these nocturnal meetings about? A serving governor, Rotimi Amaechi, was physically prevented from entering another state. So, what are we talking about and how could we have protested about those things? You think if we had known about this audio/film, we would not have presented it in court?

    Are you going to do that?

    You see, it might be late for the tribunal thing, but from now we will still go to court to say that this election was not conducted properly and that will be the bottom line. But, surely the military connived. What is going to happen is that this will help us in 2015 elections, in that we would not allow this kind of thing to happen again. Those military officers that compromised in the film have done great disservice to the military.

    Do you regret that this kind of audio or film is coming very, very late after the Ekiti election?

    We don’t regret it. I think it has come at a good time. You see, don’t forget that the man who made this video is not a member of the APC. He made the video and he confessed that when he decided to join the military, he didn’t expect to be used like this.

    What is the assurance that the March 28 and the April 11 election date will stand and, two, what happens if they start to reverse the order of election?

    We would resist it. For it to happen, they must tell us why? What would be the logistic reasons for putting one first before the other? We did not dictate which one should come first. As a matter of fact, we wanted it from the bottom up. Now, if anybody had planned to have National Assembly and presidential polls first, if they tell us they wanted to change, it means they are trying to rig for Jonathan and that election would lack credibility.

    We are not going to accept any change. Some Nigerians are asking me what would they do in case the shift they election again, and I said they should resist. The Presidency, the government, the political parties are products of this country.

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria has set up Tribunals ahead of the elections. Will the period between April 11 and May 29 be sufficient for litigation?

    Don’t forget that the Chief Justice set up Tribunal way ahead of February elections believing that elections would on February 14 and February 28.

    How has the postponement affected your plans?

    Clearly, the intention of the Jonathan administration in postponing the election is to create chaos and create an atmosphere where elections would not hold at all. But, we thank God that they have been disappointed. I think the reaction of our party and our presidential candidate, appealing for calm must have shocked them immensely. During the run up to the postponement, they were deliberately showing videos of post-2011 elections where people say Buhari asked his supporters to be burning cars and killing people. So, this is what they are expecting. But, thank God, wiser counsel prevailed and today we have frustrated their first initial plan. We thank God that postponement has annoyed more people and they have lost more supporters than they thought they would gain. Thirdly, I wouldn’t pretend, it would affect us because, one, we now have to look for more money; two, it would now give opportunity to continue with their smear campaign. It would also allow them to perfect their rigging plans; that is why you see the deployment of soldiers to some duties, but I can assure you, if anybody takes a survey between last Saturday and today, I can assure you that the APC has gone higher in the rating and the PDP has gone down. Yes, the intentions were to derail us and ensure they arrest our momentum, but unfortunately, what they have done was to postpone their funeral; you can’t wake up a dead man. What we would do is to make the best of a bad situation within the six weeks to gain more ground and acceptance everywhere.

    The PDP and some critics are asking why the APC is crying over the postponement of elections, while it has postponed local government elections in Lagos…

    Did they ever conduct election in Anambra? What are they talking about?

    But, it doesn’t make it right?

    No! Excuse me, what does the law say? What does law say about council election? It is a state law.

    What if those after Buhari get a pliable judge to get disqualify him…

    Nobody should toy with the fate of this country because the consequences would be too dire. Not all the people that are chanting change, change belong to the APC?

    Because it is clear, if one is qualified as a General and he retired as a General in the Army, it is clear that Jonathan’s aim is only to ensure that Buhari does not run. It is clear that it is between him and Alex Barde, the Chief of Defence Staff. Buhari’s certificate was removed from his record and it is on record. General Alani Akinrinade’s interview is so illuminating. Akinrinade said it is not true; he joined the army before Buhari, they requested for their certificates and their certificates were still with the army till today.

    You mean the removal of Buhari’s certificate is between Jonathan and the Chief of Army Staff, Barde?

    Yes. Buhari told me that he knew his certificates were in his file when he was the Army Secretary. They removed it. The army has become completely politicised. Quote me. The leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces has been completely politicised and the major casualty is this current political saga; it is not Buhari and it is not the APC. I am happy that some courageous generals are speaking up. It is insulting. For a man who went for several military trainings in Britain, India and the War College in US to be described as an illiterate leave much to be desired. They have condemned your entire military institution. So, everybody that goes to those military institutions are illiterates!

  • Firm condemns PDP’s ‘smear campaign’ against PTF

    Firm condemns PDP’s ‘smear campaign’ against PTF

    A firm of management consultants, the Afri-Projects Consortium, has condemned what it described as a smear campaign by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to discredit the achievements of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF).

    The firm, a PTF consultant for four years, said a statement credited to the Director of Media and Publicity of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, contained “irresponsible slander” against the firm and its director, the late Salihijo Ahmad.

    Fani-Kayode was quoted as saying that the late Ahmad was “the witness that could have nailed Buhari about the graft that took place at PTF…but died under mysterious circumstances.”

    The firm, in a statement by its partners, Alhaji Nuruddeen Rafindadi, Alhaji Murtala Aliyu, Mr. A. Dahiru and Amina Mohammed, said after painstaking investigations, Afri-Projects and its workers were never found to have behaved in an unprofessional manner in its dealings with the defunct PTF.

    It said contrary to Fani-Kayode’s claim, Ahmad died in Abuja on July 5, 1999 of complications from a long-standing heart ailment.

    The firm said members of PTF’s Board of Trustees were “persons of towering character and esteem”, including the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the late Mallam Yahaya Gusau, the late Alhaji Ahmed Talib, the late Chief Rufus Giwa, Prof. J. P. Clark, the late Prof. Chimere Ikoku, the late Chief D. B. Zang and the late Chief Tayo Akpata.

    It noted that after President Olusegun Obasanjo scrapped PTF in June 1999, he set up an Interim Management Committee (IMC), headed by Dr. Haroun Adamu, to wind it up.

    “The IMC went into a frenzy of investigation of the PTF operations and submitted a report in early 2000. That Haroun Adamu’s report, which is now being referred to, was a report lacking in credibility and undertaken with the pre-conceived notion of uncovering imaginary ‘sleaze’ by any means.

    “For instance, the committee report accused our firm of over-invoicing our professional fees, and recommended a refund, whereas we had charged an amount less than 1.5 per cent of the total value of PTF projects and programmes under our management, which is a very low charge by any professional fee standard.

    “In March 2000, President Obasanjo in disgust disbanded the Haroun Adamu-led committee for incompetence among other reasons.

    “Several hundreds of millions of Naira of public funds stolen from the PTF were actually recovered from some members of that committee. Indeed, there were indictments, court trials and convictions of the affected Haroun Adamu’s committee members,” the firm said.

    According to Afri-Projects, two other committees were set up to continue the investigation of the defunct PTF, and a final report was submitted by a former Police Affairs Minister Malam Adamu Waziri.

    “Not only were all our responses affirmed, but the government team also accepted the validity of our outstanding fees. Part of these fees was approved and subsequently paid.

    “The PTF certainly underwent some of the most rigorous investigations carried out on any agency, particularly with a fixed mindset to uncover ‘sleaze’ that was not there,” the firm said.

    It added that none of its workers was ever indicted for wrongdoing.

    “We wish to state that our firm, Afri-Projects Consortium, related with the defunct PTF in a professional and principled manner. We provided consultancy services spanning four years, involving over 350 highly skilled professional and support staff, at offices and sites located all over the country.

    “We discharged our services to PTF conscientiously giving our best and after its scrapping stayed around and engaged to give account of our services and we did so creditably and satisfactorily.

    “That was what our sense of duty dictated to us; it is what the late Salihijo Ahmad would have wished us to do,” the firm added.