The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PRESIDENCY

  • Reps to Presidency: return Budget Office to NPC

    The House of Representatives has attributed the dismal budget performance over the years to the removal of the Budget Office from the National Planning Commission (NPC).

    The lawmakers said having the Budget Office in the Presidency has made it a near-impossible task of achieving effective planning, implementation and proper coordination of the economy.

    Chairman of the House Committee on National Planning Commission, Bethel Amadi, who spoke at NPC’s budget defence at the weekend in Abuja, said the nation should take a cue from other countries that have returned their Budget Office to Planning Commission.

    He said: “Many of us in the House are agonised at the amount of resources given to the commission with such a large role.  We are of the strong believe that you deserve more than the resources being given to you if you are to truly determine the growth pattern of our economy, implement and  as well play your monitoring and evaluation  role effectively.

    “This is why we are of the opinion that budget office should be part and parcel of the National Planning Commission. The new way of having the budget office in Finance is not working.

    “A lot of countries, like India and South Africa, have gone back to the old ways and it is working for them. The National Planning must sign off before Finance can pay. We can’t just be paying for projects, many of which are like stop gaps.

    “This is why we have hundreds of uncompleted projects, most of which are very critical to our economy. We know the Ministry has been taken over by the Finance Ministry, but again we want to emphasise that the planning commission must be repositioned if the country is to achieve the desired change.

    “We need to build strong institutions and not strong men and women.  Powers and authorities should reside in institutions and not individuals.”

    While the commission was praised for the achievements recorded last year despite the limited resources at its disposal, the lawmakers assured the Commission of the Committee’s determination of getting the right funding for it to carry out its mandate.

    In his presentation, the Minister for National Planning and Vice Chairman of the NPC, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, who described last year’s appropriation as “ridiculous and release insignificant”, regretted that non-compliance with budget allocation by various sectors had remained the major hindrance to the nation’s development.

    He also informed the committee that paucity of funds has made the realisation of the commission’s core mandate of formulating, implementing and monitoring/evaluation of policies and projects an uphill task.

  • Buhari at Chatham House: APC slams PDP, Presidency

    Buhari at Chatham House: APC slams PDP, Presidency

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday  condemned what it called   the needless resort to sheer hysteria by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  and the Jonathan administration over the  appearance of the APC’s presidential candidate, General  Muhammadu Buhari, at the Chatham House in London on Thursday.

    National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement in London that  the PDP and the Jonathan administration were  “so stunned and stung by Gen. Buhari’s well-accepted presentation,” adding that  they “could have saved themselves from further disgrace by simply keeping quiet, instead of exposing their inanities.”

    ”For the spokesmen of the PDP and the Jonathan Campaign Organization to have rushed to the press to denounce what was a patriotic presentation by a high-regarded Nigerian is not only absurd but a new low, even for those who have lost every sense of propriety in their public actions and pronouncements,” APC stressed, pointing out that  “the  level of paranoia of the PDP and the Jonathan administration was so high, even before the General’s presentation, that they went to hire some poor folks to protest at the Chatham House over an issue they knew nothing about.”

    The party said it was just as well that the rent-a-crowd show boomeranged on the PDP/Jonathan administration, when those among the scanty protesters who were interviewed said they did not even know why they had come there, with some of them hiding behind their placards.

    ”The fact that the Jonathan administration wasted public funds in hiring people to protest against Gen. Buhari’s appearance is another indication of how the commonwealth has been consistently frittered away under the  clueless and incompetent Jonathan administration.”

    The APC wondered  who appropriated the funds that were “wasted on the uninformed and disinterested band of protesters.”

    It also described as the worst case of double standard for  spokesmen of the PDP and the Jonathan administration to question the basis for Gen. Buhari’s appearance at the Chatham House, when the same platform was used a few weeks back by the administration, which sent National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki there to push for the postponement of the 2015 general elections.

    It said: “So it is OK for Dasuki to speak at the Chatham House, one of the most important platforms for any statesman, but forbidden for the APC presidential candidate to use the same platform? The needless vituperations of the PDP and the Jonathan megaphones against our candidate is precisely the reason the sinking ruling party and the  failed administration it sired have become the butt of jokes around the world.

    ”Instead of apologising for seeking to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians by saying that General Buhari went to London for medical treatment, these band of poor propagandists persisted in dancing naked in the public square. What a pity?”

    The APC hailed General Buhari for  his  “well-crafted, well-delivered and patriotic presentation, and his deft handling of the subsequent question-and-answer session at such a big-league platform as the Chatham House,” saying  that despite the barrage of personal attacks and death wishes by the PDP and its agents, the General’s stock has continued to rise both within and outside Nigeria.

  • PRESIDENCY Provide good teachers

    WE have a serious problem in this country, but this is not known to most people, especially our leaders.

    The problem is in the area of education. To simply put it, we do not have qualified and experienced teachers manning our schools at both primary and secondary levels.

    This problem is responsible for the poor performances of our pupils and students in schools and examinations like the WASSCE and NECO.

    I am now using this opportunity to call on our leaders to go into this matter with a view to finding a lasting solution to it.

    Without good education, there will be no meaningful development. In the light of this, the president and all our governors should swing into action on this important matter.

     

    Muhammad Bashir,

    Gwagwalada, Abuja.

  • Thought of another GEJ Presidency?

    SIR: I was not born at the time General Muhammadu Buhari was Head of State from 1983 to 1985 but I have read and heard a lot of different accounts of his reign. I read that he overthrew Shagari’s democratic government; I also read that he was a tyrant and an extremist who made sure that all critics of his government were thrown in jail. That he also passed Decree Number 4, which stifled communication (written or spoken) that would bring the military government, the state government or any public officer to ridicule.

    The mere fact that we would consider casting our votes for a man who stands accused of many wrongs is a clear indication of the failure of the Jonathan led administration, a once loved, widely voted government which presently wallows in unpopularity and rapidly increasing disfavour with the people.

    I voted for the first time in 2011, circumstances and age having stopped me from voting in previous elections. I voted for President Goodluck Jonathan. I was convinced at the time that I was doing the right thing. I was happy that my vote would count too. I was glad to lend my puny strength to the cause of a better Nigeria. “Fresh air” was the slogan at the time, very much like the “Change” I presently cry. I believed that the President was not a chip off any old block; I believed that the President was a deviation from the norm of recycled leaders and that he represented our hope for a better, progressive Nigeria where visionary “young” people would pilot the affairs of the nation.

    Buhari had no prayer of winning that election, not with the zeal and the passion with which we trouped out to vote the President. As at the 2011 elections, Buhari’s chances of winning the presidency were at their lowest. Four years on, the chances of the same man, with the same history are at their highest. Many Nigerians who voted the President in 2011 (myself included) will now rather vote Buhari. There is deafening clamour for change and the clamour is not restricted to geographical zones or religion or age. The clamour is all thanks to the failures of the present government.

    For every year of Jonathan’s tenure, Nigerians have suffered great setbacks and problems that could have been addressed by quality planning and decisive leadership. To usher in 2012, we had the subsidy removal which increased the burden of the citizens, crippled the nation for weeks (the strike) and later was the source of the huge legislator/businessman bribery scandal (now under the carpet). In 2013, the universities were on strike for more than half the year, our future leaders (if they ever get the chance) were denied of an education in a rapidly declining education sector.

    In 2014, the doctors were on strike for the greater part of the year, in response to the strike, the President fired all resident Doctors and after the Doctors called off their strike, JOHESU went on strike. Need I refer to the Chibok case, to the many bomb blasts and unrest in the north-east? The sad heart-rending case of the FGC Buni-Yadi students burnt in an attack? The recent Baga case that went largely unnoticed?

    Hit after hit, pain after pain and our “transformational “President in whom we put a lot of trust and hope remained inactive. Making promises, fulfilling nothing and returning in the face of our anguish to declare his intentions. Really?

    The failures of the present government make exceedingly light the tyrannies of the Buhari government. Buhari’s heavy-handedness fades into insignificance for Nigerians who have experienced the Jonathan’s non-delivery. The frenzy is on; mudslinging campaigns on pages of newspapers fly back and forth. The campaigns make no difference to me. All I see are years of hope and trust betrayed. They speak louder than any campaigns for and against.

    Thought of another Jonathan Presidency? No, thanks.

     

    • Nneoma Anieto

    adaanieto@gmail.com

  • Presidency waves security joker to push polls shift

    Presidency waves security joker to push polls shift

    The Council of State will be told today in Abuja that the February 14 and 28 elections cannot go on for security reasons, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    The eminent citizens will be told that the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast will not make the elections feasible.

    The Jonathan presidency, according to sources, will be seeking to postpone the elections for at least two or three months.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) insists that it is ready for the elections, which its chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega has been under pressure to shift.

    A source said last night that some security chiefs had joined the pressure to make Jega change his mind and embrace the polls shift plot, which many fear may spark a huge constitutional crisis.

    INEC’s determination to conduct the elections has caused anxiety within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Presidency.

    All Progressives Congress (APC) governors met in Abuja last night over the matter.

    The Service Chiefs, it was learnt, will brief the Council of State on security in the Northeast particlularly. They make a case for “a few months to carry out a mop up operation” after which they will ask to assume the guardian of security for the nation and thereby direct INEC to shift the election.

    Members of the Council of State chaired by the president are: Vice President, Senate President, House of Representatives Speaker, Chief Justice of Nigeria, governors, former Heads of State, Government, former Chief Justices of Nigeria and Attoney – General of the Federation/Minister of Justice.

    On the judicial and political plane a retired Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is the arrow head of the postponement campaign.He is being used to talk to people in the judiciary and the political class, many to whom he has shared millions of naira in the hundreds. The 16 parties that have now lined up to request for election postponement were each bribed with a whopping sum of 250 naira million each according to some members of the parties,” a source said.

    The Presidential Campaign Organisation of the APC yesterday urged the National Council of state to put the interest of the nation above selfish interest and refuse to be drawn into the controversy of election postponement.

    Spokesman of the Organisation Mallam Garba Shehu said in a statement that considering the zeal of Nigerians for change and their passion to vote, there should be no excuse to deny Nigerians the right to exercise their franchise.

    He said since INEC, which is constitutionally empowered to conduct elections is saying it is ready for the elections, there is no basis to contemplate its shift on the grounds of politically-expedient excuses.

     He said: “The Independent National Electoral Commission is the custodian of the electoral process and should therefore be given a free hand to conduct the 2015 general elections in line with the laws of the land.”

    He explained that since postponement of the election is a serious national issue, the Council of State members should vote according to their conscience when the issue of election postponement comes up for consideration.

    Shehu reminded members that their honour and integrity are at stake, and therefore, they must weigh the implications of an election postponement.

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana yesterday said the Council of State has no power to postpone elections.

    In a statement Falana said the council was one of the federal executive bodies established by Section 153(1) of the constitution.

    He said the role of the council is merely advisory.

    The council is constituted by the President, with him as the Chairman, Vice President as the Deputy Chairman, all former Presidents and all former Heads of the Government of the Federation, all former Chief Justices, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Governors of the States, and the Attorney-General of the Federation as members.

    The council is vested with the power to advise the President in the exercise of his powers with respect to:

    •National population census and compilation; publication and keeping of records and other information concerning the same

    •Prerogative of mercy;

    •Award of honours

    •The Independent National Electoral Commission (including the appointment of members of that Commission).

    •The National Judicial Council (including the appointment of the members, other than ex officio members of that Council), and

    •The National Population Commission (including the appointment of members of the Commission); and advise the President whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order within the Federal or any part thereof and on such other matters as the President may direct.

    He said: “From the foregoing it is crystal clear that the council has no power to take a decision on any national policy but to advise the President in the exercise of his powers in the aforementioned matters.

    “With respect to the INEC, the council may advise the President in the exercise of his powers to appoint the Chairman of the INEC, the National Commissioners and the Resident Electoral Commissioners.

    “Since the power of organizing and conducting the general election including the fixing of dates for the election is the exclusive responsibility of the INEC the council of State is not competent to advise the President or direct the INEC to postpone the General Election.”

  • NUPENG, others vie for NLC presidency

    NUPENG, others vie for NLC presidency

    With a total of 3,119 delegates, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its 43 affiliated industrial unions are set to elect a new president at its 11th Delegates’ Conference scheduled for Abuja, between February 9 and 12.

    The three contenders for the position of the NLC president are the President of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN),  Ayuba Wabba,  President of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Igwe Achese and the General-Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Joseph Ajaero.

    Members of the congress will also elect other members of the National Executive Council (NEC) at the conference, slated for the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

    The new president will take over from Abdulwahed Omar, whose tenure comes to an end after spending two terms of four years.

    Though, seven positions will be filled by 16 people during the conference, the real battle will be for the presidency, for which three labour leaders will be contesting.

    Other available positions are:  deputy presidents with three seats; vice president, four seats; treasurer, financial secretary and trustees, one seat each; auditors, three seats and ex-officio, two seats.

    The conference’s Credentials Committee, headed by Dr Nasir Fagge Isa, has already released the names of contestants duly cleared for each position, while the Secretary of the Committee, Emmanuel Ugboaja, said all is set for the election.

    The three candidates were all nominated by their respective unions, as the NLC constitution stipulated.

    However, the chances of any of the candidates emerging president would depend on the number of his union’s delegates to the conference and how he would be able to garner enough support from other affiliate unions.

    The number of delegates of each union is also determined by the financial standing of the union and certified monthly average contribution to the NLC over the 46 month period since the last delegates’ conference.

    According to the provisional list of delegates sent to all the union’s 43 affiliates by the General-Secretary of the congress, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, a total of 3,119 delegates will participate in the conference to elect the president and other members of the executive.

    Among the 43 unions, MHWUN, which nominated Wabba, has the highest number of delegates with a total of 526 delegates. The NUEE, which also put forward Ajaero, has a total number of 471 delegates in second position, while the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), has the third highest delegates with 383.

    NUPENG, which is also aiming at producing the next president through Achese, has 182 delegates. The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), has 210 delegates, while the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), parades 187 delegates.

    Other unions with reasonable high delegates, are the Nigeria Civil Service Union, 131; the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives 123 and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), with 91 delegates.

    Among the unions with the least number of delegates are, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, with five delegates each.

    The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Nigeria Welders and Fitters Association (NIWELFA) and Nigeria Union of Mine Workers (NUMW), with six delegates each.

    The other two positions to be contested are the Trustee with one seat, and Auditors with three seats. While there are two candidates for the position of the Trustee, eight will be contesting for the three seats for Auditors.

    Dr. Ozo-Eson, however said the congress is ready and adequately prepared for the election, despite the challenges.

    He said: “We think that we are reasonably prepared. The hosting of a conference of this magnitude certainly has a lot of challenges. We noticed that we are going to have the largest number of delegates in our history at this conference. The delegates are in excess of three thousand.

    ”We have set up a number of committees that are working. We are on top of the situation. Other than those, things crucial for the conference are constitutionally regulated.”

  • Obama presidency and racism in America

    SIR: Obama phenomenon – no doubt – was a watershed moment in American politics. It instilled a sort of equality complex in the minds of many black Americans who hitherto feel segregated just because of their body pigmentation. But today, those psychological gratification and inclusion has already began to wane. From the streets of Miami – Florida and Ferguson – Missouri along   Staten island – New York and down to Cleveland – Ohio , African Americans are not just being discriminated and killed but also judicially deserted.

    Racism is something that deep rooted in American history. And thus any worthwhile analysis must consider its history. The evolution of racism in American started with the transatlantic slave trade. According to transatlantic slave trade database, between 1626 and 1850, an estimated total of 305,326 Africans were forcibly transported via US vessels to the Americas.  Many of them worked out their lives in sugarcane  plantations under harsh climatic and unacclimatized environmental conditions.

    These inhuman treatment meted against the and stolen Africans in the united States of America continued until President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1865 which freed slaves in the defunct Confederate States of America and the 13th Amendment of December 6 , 1865 that finally established the freedom of slaves in United States of America.

    Today, America is once again awash with streets protest . Eric Garner is the latest rallying point in the recycling racial violence that are burning American society like a wide bush fire set in harmattan.

    Eric Garner- an African American- died in Tompkinsville neighborhood of Staten island,New York , after a police officer put him in apparently chokehold for 19 seconds – a tactic banned by New York City  Police Department (NYPD)- on suspicion of selling “loosies”, single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps.

    Before Eric Garner,  it was Michael Brown. And before Michael Brown,it was Trayvon Martins. And just recently we heard about Tamir Rice , a 12-year old black boy shot by a police officer just for brandishing toy gun. All happening under Obama’s watch. The question all these phenomena are begging is : Is Obama’s presidency a disappointment to the Black Americans?

    Day after day, race relation in America is getting worse and judiciary is not even helping matters. In the Trayvon Martins’ case, a black teenager (17) was shot dead by Gorge Zimmerman, the coordinator of neighborhood watch in the gated community where Martin was temporarily living. The six female jurors acquitted Zimmerman. In a shocking judgement on Michael Brown’s case, the grand jury ruled that the officer – Darren Wilson – that shot Michael Brown should not be indicted even when the multiple gun wounds on Michael’s body suggested otherwise. Eric Garner’s case followed suit and it’s now generating much protest. Tamir Rice case is on-going and following  the judicial principle of stare decisis, Tim Loehmann might be acquitted. This is not a good story for American judicial system. The picture being portrayed is that the police can continue to shoot unarmed black youth without being prosecuted!

    Black youth are 21 times more likely to be shot dead in America than their white counterparts, according to an analysis ProPublica. Black people are arrested 10 times more often than white people in this country, USA Today reported last week, but black people don’t commit 10 times more crimes.

    Obama’s presidency has helped to expose the fact that America still has to do more to combat racism. Of course America has made strides from 60’s to date. Nevertheless, a lot is yet to be done for Martin Luther king Jr’s dream to be completely fulfilled.

     

    • Asikason Jonathan,

     Enugwu-Ukwu , Anambra State.

  • Presidency summons IGP over NASS fracas

    Presidency summons IGP over NASS fracas

    The Presidency on Friday summoned the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, over the fracas witnessed at the National Assembly on Thursday.

    Policemen and women had blocked the entrance of the National Assembly complex to prevent lawmakers from accessing their offices and chambers.

    Most of the lawmakers, who scaled the fence, were tear-gassed by policemen acting on order from above.

    To address the crisis, Abba was summoned to the office of the Vice President Namadi Sambo at the State House, Abuja

    After about one hour closed-door meeting, the IGP emerged from the meeting and parried most of the questions thrown at him by journalists.

    The encounter is as follows:

    Did you authorise the invasion of the National Assembly by your men?

    IGP: “Who did what and who didn’t do what will be disclosed to you later. You know we work with investigations, investigations are going on and the press officer will address you.”

    Are you saying you are not aware of this operation?

    IGP: “I still repeat who did what, who didn’t do what you will hear later, it is subject to investigations. We just don’t talk anyhow.”

    Another interview with the Hausa service at the State House follows:

    Is it true that some of your police officers were injured?

    IGP: “Everybody has seen that somebody was even beating somebody, somebody was pushing a policeman from the car.

    “Somebody was removing road blocks mounted by police, we have never seen this kind of thing in the whole world. So we will talk to you later.”

    What action are you going to take?

    IGP: “Just wait, our findings will reveal.”

  • A lawless presidency

    A lawless presidency

    •President Jonathan exercised impunity by allowing the police to try to deny the speaker access to the premises of the National Assembly

    It is not the sort of theatre that the quiet mien and the meek diction of our president presage. Few kilometres from the Aso Rock Villa where President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan resides, the police over which he presides as commander-in-chief committed havoc Thursday.

    The National Assembly wanted to sit to deliberate over the president’s bill to extend the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. It was also an emergency sitting since the House had adjourned any activities until December. The deputy speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, was ushered into the premises by the police authorities. But the speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, was barred any access. This sparked off a sense of outrage among Tambuwal’s colleagues who wondered why the speaker, who constitutionally had every right to walk in, was denied his fundamental right: freedom of movement, especially the freedom to perform his duty as a senior officer of the realm.

    This outrage propelled the fellow members of the House to lift the speaker physically, in defiance of police tanks, guns, teargas canisters and the hoods of the armed men, onto the premises. The speaker gained access in spite of the security barricade.

    The nation is still smarting from the impunity that happened in Ekiti State barely a week ago where the same sort of tanks and policemen cordoned off the state house of assembly and seven lawmakers decided to elect a so-called protem speaker among themselves and decided to conduct affairs of the legislature. They contravened the constitution and planted a sense of constitutional defiance and  lawlessness in a state that had slipped steadily into a halcyon air only four years earlier.

    The president has not condemned the Ekiti act of lawlessness and kangaroo temperament of his party members. The state  governor, Ayo Fayose, has confirmed his brutish ways not only by indecent language but also by serial acts of primitivism.

    Now with what happened in Abuja, it has become clear that the Ekiti State episode of shame was a PDP template with a clear and unblushing presidential stamp. Now, two important issues impugn the office of the president in this matter.

    One, the House of Representatives had to be summoned to deliberate over a matter at the behest of the president who sent an emergency bill over the trouble of insurgency that has turned the northeast into a cauldron of hate and death, and where pious zealots were humiliating the Nigerian state and armed forces, lapping up territory after territory. Was it not in the interest of the president to facilitate the deliberations over the emergency? From the theatre of the foolish that happened Thursday it is tempting to believe that the president was not interested in the bill and that he merely threw it up as an excuse to torpedo the legislature’s apple cart and cast a slur on the authority of Tambuwal, the speaker. This is, to say the least, cynical, un-presidential and reckless. It is out of sync with the high office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Why did the police supervise the easy access of deputy speaker Ihedioha and bar Tambuwal? Were they trying to reenact the familiar drama of overthrowing the house hierarchy by turning a minority to majority by subverting not only the letter and spirit of the constitution but also overturning simple mathematics? They tried this in Rivers State where the timely vigilance and intervention of Governor Rotimi Amaechi frustrated the efforts. Such foul air has been unleashed in Nasarawa and Edo states just as it happened recently in Ekiti State.

    It also shows that the president prefers the politics of personal scores and party triumph over his constitutional duty to Nigerians, especially his preeminent duty as the chief security officer of the state. Many people are dying, livelihoods are lost in priceless scales, Nigerian territories are falling, yet his overriding interest is his ability to win meretricious victories.

    The president and the chiefs of his party did not hide their displeasure when the speaker announced his defection to the All Progressives Congress APC). That announcement was followed by an act of lawlessness by the police on the president’s watch. They recalled all his security privileges as the number four citizen in the realm without recourse to the provisions of the constitution that required a court of law to give such order, if it was necessary.

    The matter was, after public expression of disapproval, taken to the court of law. Even up till now, the court has not ruled on the matter. Rather than wait for the court process to take its course, the president and his men took the law into their hands and allowed the police to commit the acts of impunity before the full glare of Nigerians.

    It is also important to note that the nation is a far much shrunken landmass today than when President Jonathan took office in 2011 with an oath to defend all lives, property and the corporate integrity of the country. He has declared serial emergencies in the north, but they have not blunted the fury and ferocity of the Boko Haram sect to the extent that the Chief of Defence Staff could not defend his village from falling to the hands of the evil marauders. He quickly rescued his family before the invaders who played havoc with the other villagers arrived.

    President Jonathan keeps flexing the muscles of the police where vulnerable citizens carry out harmless daily chores. In the Ekiti and Osun state elections, hooded men were deployed to harass innocent voters and residents. But in the northeast, while he is cutting his precious birthday cakes, Nigerians rely on hunters to free towns and villages from the stranglehold of the Boko Haram insurgents. It is a shame that the same president was frozen in Aso Rock Villa by so-called militants in Niger Delta from visiting Delta State to commission the Export Processing Zone. He became hostage to ethnic politics and to a militant that he put in charge of peace in the country.

    The president has turned governance upside down. Where he should uphold the law, he has lofted the torch of lawlessness. This is a president that has placed his role as a raw and uncouth politician over the polish and dignity of his office as president.

  • Amaechi is reckless, says Presidency

    Amaechi is reckless, says Presidency

    The Presidency criticised yesterday Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi for being “reckless” and “a liability” to his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, berated the governor at a media briefing in Abuja.

    The presidential aide accused Amaechi of “incitement, treason and gross rascality”.

    Okupe was reacting to the governor’s statement that Nigerians would be mobilised for civil disobedience, if the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rigged the 2015 elections.

    He said: “This statement is clearly a further evidence of Governor Amaechi’s penchant for lawlessness and anarchy in his unbridled pursuit for power. It is curious and unthinkable that a man who was himself a beneficiary of the court process would disdain the platform through which he acquired the opportunity to make his reckless and provocative statement.

    “It is even more worrisome when one considers the fact that Governor Amaechi’s party, which is relatively new, came on board promising hope to Nigerians. With statements like this, it is clear that Amaechi is more of a liability to his party than an asset; he has the potential to bring his party to further opprobrium and disrepute.

    “Discerning Nigerians know that a comment like this does not only augur well for any democracy but also portrays Amaechi as a reckless, power-hungry individual who lacks the democratic temper and respect for constituted authority and institutions…”