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Tag: President Goodluck Jonathan

  • HOW FAR CAN JONATHAN AND HIS SOUTH WEST BACKERS GO?

    HOW FAR CAN JONATHAN AND HIS SOUTH WEST BACKERS GO?

    PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan is trying to court the marginalised Southwest geo-political zone, ahead of March 28. The Commander-In-Chief spent four days in the South West recently. He was in Lagos, Ogbomoso, Ibadan, Oyo and Akure, where he held partisan meetings with monarchs, Inthe renewed battle for the region, the president has visited the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Samuel Odulana, the Soun of Ogbomoso, Alhaji Jimoh Oyewumi Ajagungbade, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the Olowo-Eko of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, and other traditional rulers. The Jonathan Campaign Organisation has also regressed into ethno-religious politics. His challenger, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has not visited mosques. But, the president has been frequent at church services, especially at The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) led by Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye and Winners’ Chapel shepherd, Bishop David Oyedepo.  Besides, he has met with other ethnic groups in Lagos, playing the ethnic card. Unlike in 2011, when voters gravitated towards the president with little prompting, a combative Dr. Jonathan appears to be on the prowl. Four years ago, he almost got the Southwest bloc votes. The president polled 2,786, 5410 votes. But, ahead of next month’s poll, he is scrambling for a fraction to reduce the likely gap.

    The Southwest region, comprising Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti, is the second most populous zone, trailing the Northwest, which has seven states. It is generally perceived as the stronghold of the All Progressives Congress (APC), although the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controls two states – Ekiti and Ondo. The last governorship election in Ekiti is still being contested in court. With the release of the audio tape on the pre-election rigging strategy, the exercise, which was uncritically adjudged free and fair, paled into the most grievous assault on the ballot box. Ondo became a PDP state recently, following the self-liquidation of the Labour Party (LP) and defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.

    The campaign trains of the president and Buhari have rolled into the six states. The former military leader pulled more crowd in Lagos, Osogbo, Abeokuta, Akure and Ado-Ekiti, where the people perceive him as the symbol of the envisaged change. He came with a bundle of promises, urging prospective voters to support his push for power shift, based on his pedigree, integrity, honour and valour. At 72, his goal is not primitive accumulation, the vice he had shunned as a soldier on the war front, military governor, Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Head of State and Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF). His style as a big commoner seeking power for the good of society was fascinating to the crowd under the scourging sun, who believed and internalised his message.

    But the people expected more from President Jonathan. They expected him to woo voters by showcasing his achievements. Southwest is an enlightened and politically sophisticated zone. When the President could not list any feat, except the snail-like rehabilitation of the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, they went home disappointed. Consequently, his shortcoming became Buhari’s gain.

    Opinion is, therefore, divided on the last minute consultation by the president. To many people, it is too late to convince prospective voters, who are unhappy with the federal government over the neglect of the region and marginalisation in the distribution of federal appointments. But, to others, particularly PDP leaders, who may have concealed the true picture from the national PDP leader, twenty four hours is a long time in politics. Thus, Dr. Jonathan’s advisers believe that, since the Southwest vote is critical to the determination of his fate at the presidential election, no effort should be spared to either divide the bloc vote or alter the existing voting pattern.

    According to sources, it has become increasingly difficult for the president to make an in-road in the north, which is solidly behind the APC standard bearer. In this political season, the north and Southwest appear to have sealed a pact. But, the calculation is that, if a significant part of the Southsouth, Southeast and some parts of Southwest endorse him on poll day, hope is not lost on his second term ambition.

    However, the president’s efforts may be futile in the Southwest, particularly in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and many parts of Ondo. It appears people have made up their minds. In addition, the traditional rulers, who are now being tacitly drawn into partisan politics, know what is good for their communities. According to an analyst, the blood of some of the rulers flow in the APC administrations in the Southwest. For example, the children of Alaafin, Olubadan and Soun are commissioners in Ajimobi’s Administration. Also, in Ogbomoso and Oyo, Prince Hakeem Adeyemi, former Atiba Council boss, and Prince Oye Oyewumi are House of Representatives candidates of the APC.

    Southwest APC governors are also performing. Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has remained a model chief executive. Even PDP governors have hailed him, saying that he has built successfully on the foundation laid by his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC National Leader. Under his administration, the state has become a huge construction site. As he mobilises for Buhari in Lagos, he tenders his stewardship. For Lagos, the presidential election is a special project. This is the base of Tinubu. For the Centre of Excellence, it is a pride to produce a vice presidential candidate. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), who is Buhari’s running mate, is the former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State.

    In Oyo, Ajimobi’s popularity is soaring. His party is not divided, unlike the PDP, which has four candidates – Senator Teslim Balogun, Senator Rasheed Ladoja of the Accord Party (AP), Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala of the LP and Seyi Makinde of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

    In Ogun, Senator Ibikunke Amosun has delivered on his promises. Across the three senatorial districts, his impact is felt. Although there are some notable indigenes firing salvos at him from the PDP and the SDP, the people have become his shield. Ogun also has a stake in the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket. The professor of Law is an indigene of the Gateway State.

    The victory of the Osun State governor, Chief Rauf Aregbesola, has attested to his popularity and the declining fortune of the PDP. In 2011, Osun was the only Southwest state that denied President Jonathan of votes. There is no sign that the trend will change.

    What may also likely work against the

     

  • You’ve failed my people, Warri monarch tells Jonathan

    You’ve failed my people, Warri monarch tells Jonathan

    •Tompolo, Emami in verbal battle before meeting with President

    Faced by the grim prospect of losing   the support of the Itsekiri of   Delta State in this month’s election, President Goodluck Jonathan has bowed to pressure to perform the groundbreaking of the $16bn Delta Gas City project at Ogidigben in the  Warri South West Local Government Area of the  State, before the poll.

    The  deal was struck at separate meetings he held with the paramount ruler of the Itsekiri,Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II and other Itsekiri leaders, as well as  with former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo)  and  Ayirimi Emami (aka Akulagba), at the  Government House, Asaba on Friday night.

    Sources at the meetings said the President  told Ayiri and Tompolo that “he was coming to Warri in two weeks to perform the groundbreaking ceremony and asked them to go and settle their differences in the interest of peace and development of the area.

    “Consequently, everybody has agreed in principle to allow the groundbreaking ceremony to take place . We are expecting the ceremony to come up in two weeks time. The president has asked the governor and NNPC to work towards that date.”

    The Itsekiri and the Ijaw are laying claim to the project site.

    Threats  by Tompolo and his Ijaw kinsmen to unleash mayhem on the area forced the President to  call off the first attempt to perform the ceremony last November.

    Stunned by the President’s action,the Itsekiri  resolved to  vote massively against him  in the president election.

    Meanwhile, a source at the meeting between the President and Itsekiri leaders said the  Itsekiri monarch  “bluntly told the President that he failed the Itsekiri during his tenure” and that he (Olu)  could not guarantee his people’s  votes for him.

    The traditional ruler was also said to have told the President that his people even got a better deal from former President Olusegun  Obasanjo.

    “He told  the President that as the paramount  monarch of the Itsekiri people, he could advise them on how to vote. Nevertheless, he said it was not possible to go back to tell his people to vote for him considering the raw deal they have received from him.

    “The Ogiame particularly lamented the manner the President aborted the groundbreaking ceremony of the gas project, which was the only benefit his people would have received during his entire six years.”

    Apparently worried by the tone of the monarch, President Jonathan was said to have requested for a private meeting with Tompolo and the Akulagba – two of the key players in the controversy over ownership of the lands in the area.

    It was gathered that a pre-meeting between the duo was almost called off due to hot exchange of words between the Ijaw and Itsekiri leaders, who bickered over the ownership of the contentious site of the project.

    “Although Tompolo was willing to concede that the 2,800 hectares site of the gas project is  owned exclusively by Itsekiri, he wanted an assurance from Akulagba  that the site of the deep sea port would be conceded to the Ijaws of Gbaramatu.

    “Ayiri insisted that all the land, including where some Gbaramatu communities are located is owned by the Itsekiri, insisting that he would not be cowed by threat of war or violence to concede his kinsmen’s property  for peace.”

    In spite of the latest development, it was gathered that Emami is planning to go to court if the deep sea port is conceded to the Ijaws as it is being proposed by the President and the Delta State Government.

    “From what we have gathered, he has concluded plans to challenge the Ijaw’s claim to the land, particularly Ikpokpo and other communities alleged annexed by the Ijaws during the Ijaw/Itsekiri crisis.”

  • The problem with presidential interviews

    The problem with presidential interviews

    During his blitz through the Southwest more than a week ago, President Goodluck Jonathan met with many Yoruba politicians and traditional leaders to sensitise them to his political and managerial virtues, and to convince them to ignore the mixed reviews on his past five years presidency. He stressed his promises for the future, such as the implementation of the national conference reports and bountiful representation of the Yoruba in his government. A faction of the Southwest elite is convinced, without proof, that the president will keep his word. Such faith has no precedence. Dr Jonathan also granted interviews to a few media establishments, among them Tribune and THISDAY newspapers, in which he reveals far more about himself than the mere answers to the questions asked him, some of the questions ingratiating and supplicatory, indicating he still has difficulties comprehending and responding to the deeper and more complex issues of statecraft.

    The interviews exposed Dr Jonathan’s curious mindset. He is prickly, somewhat superficial, excitable and boyish. Age has done nothing to temper this mindset. Nor, to borrow from his favourite exaggerated allusions and anecdotes, can 100 years on the presidential throne do much to transform or ennoble him. From the interviews, there is little doubt he wants to do great and mighty things, but he is both unable to summon the discipline required and incapable of appreciating the weight of work and the intellect necessary to match contributions with expectations. Had he any of these qualifications, either singly or, better still, in combination, his boyish and infectious innocence, not to say his yearnings for praise and renown, would have led him to extraordinary feats of statesmanship and valour.

    Alas, his faults and weaknesses cannot be remedied, for they are already cast in granite. His critics and traducers must also now know that whatever they have to say of Dr Jonathan, particularly about his weaknesses, will only lead him to more resentfulness, bad temper, scurrility and tempting and insidious acts of tyranny. He is keenly aware of the bad press he has attracted, much of which he attributes to local and international consultants working for the opposition, and he is keener on ‘investing’ in managing it and turning it around. He tries to present himself as studious and cerebral, even flaunting his second class upper degree, but he frets under the weight of the anonymity of the course he studied, a course he self-deprecatingly described as ‘not prestigious.’

    Now and again, he rises, in the interviews, to heights of Machiavellian ecstasy, with his panegyric to the gullible faction of the Southwest elite with whom he is today besotted, but against whom in the first few years of his presidency he contemptibly erected a benumbing architecture of exclusion and marginalisation. The love affair is waxing hot, and it is perhaps a relief that both the president and his Southwest converts are locked in embrace, else, they would have had to seek out classes and groups more virtuous than they to seduce and desecrate. No one who reads the interviews can fail to conclude that the president is pristinely untouched by the rudiments of democracy, notwithstanding his vainglorious assertions on the subject, and may never be able to comprehend its philosophical underpinnings beyond its consideration as a system of government.

    A few examples from Dr Jonathan’s rich and revealing interviews will suffice. Asked to expatiate on his now discredited seven-year single tenure proposal, Dr Jonathan seems painfully incapable of understanding the irony embedded in his suggestion. It is true he is persuasive in denying his interest in benefiting from the proposal had it been accepted, but he simply could not see that the damage to the polity of an ineffective president remaining in office for seven years, just one year short of two terms of eight years, far outweighs the hazards of the cost and dislocations of electioneering. Political campaigns have their therapeutic effects, their potential to trigger a country’s renewal, and sometimes to cause an acute change of direction. Dr Jonathan simply focused on the cost of elections and the troubles of campaigning and renewing mandates almost to the total exclusion of the other benefits. The idea was roundly denounced when he first suggested it; it is a remarkable indication of his stoicism and imperviousness to reason that time and experience have not helped him to either refine his view or redefine the basis of his conviction.

    Apart from erroneously claiming credit for voter awareness, affirming that he gave ‘freedom’ to Nigerians who now value their voter cards and are eager to participate in the electoral process, Dr Jonathan stretches that questionable bequest with a rueful statement. He says: “Look at the freedom Nigerians enjoy. You abuse the President and I smile. In some countries, you abuse the President, they deal with you.  In so many countries, including African countries, you cannot abuse the President and go to sleep with your two eyes closed. It is only in Nigeria that you can do that.” In the first place, Nigeria is not another country, as he himself acknowledges later on in the interview, on account of the country’s diversity and complexity, and in the second place, Nigeria is not the only country where freedom of speech does not come with devastating repercussions.

    But rather than celebrate this strange bequest, Dr Jonathan in fact laments it. He may deny it, but the fact is that if he had his way, those who abuse him, a word he confuses with criticism, he would deal with them, or at least make them lose sleep. That way, the quietude he pines after would be achieved. According to him: “It is easy if you write something against me for me to ask my security agents to come and arrest you and throw you into a dungeon for 24 hours, so that you know that there is government. Yes, one can do it. But is that what you use power for?” For a president who had just rhapsodised democracy, he betrayed his secret preferences by entertaining the thought of locking a critic up for 24 hours. And he entertains the thought because it is not beneath him.

    His response to the Charles Soludo criticism of his economic policy is appalling. Here, he simply demonstrates an exceedingly poor grasp of economics, and illustrates his embarrassing subservience to and awe of World Bank economists. He also chafes at the Chibok abductions, that remorseless totem of his impotence, and makes the non sequitur assertion that only a failed president could preside over a failed state.

    One last example. Asked to justify why he dismissed the Ekiti audio recording done by a military intelligence officer as fabricated, the president backtracks a little and puzzlingly suggests that the officer must come and defend his recording. Dr Jonathan does not show his dismay and discomfort with the fact that some of his ministers were caught on tape conspiring with an Anambra moneybag and a top army general to subvert the electoral process on behalf of his party, nor does he appear to understand that he occupies an office that has a responsibility to defend the constitution without reservation and uphold the law without fear or favour. Nor, obviously, does Dr Jonathan have the mental fortitude and intellectual depth to appreciate, like great leaders, how to build a country and a legacy. At 56, and given his mindset and intransigence, it may be a little too late for him to acquire the wherewithal for profound leadership. And should Nigeria return him to office in the next poll, as he intrigues, irrespective of his huge and irredeemable shortcomings, the country is unlikely to fare any better than it has done in the past five years.

  • Presidential obscenity

    Presidential obscenity

    Ebele Integrated Farms Limited’s over 90 hectares of land is corruption writ large

    The sullying content of an advertorial published in the media by Purpose Driven Initiative (PDI), a non-governmental organisation accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of vilely acquiring 94.04 hectares of land in Aviation Village, Abuja, through Ebele Integrated Farms Limited that he purportedly owns majority shares in, is deplorable.

     The advertorial titled: “Let us talk about corruption. This is how the Nigerian government conducts business and fights corruption,’ declared: “A sitting President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, incorporated a company, Ebele Integrated Farms Limited in which he is a major shareholder on December 30, 2011…Ebele Integrated Farms Limited applied for and was granted 94.04 hectare plot of land, Plot 1689 in Cadastral Zone EOS Aviation Village, Abuja on January 13, 2014.”

    What the law says: The 1999 Constitution (as amended) under the Fifth Schedule Part 1(Code of Conduct for Public Officers), Section 1 provides: ‘a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.’ Despite the fact that the same Fifth Schedule, section 2 provides that “without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, nothing in this sub-paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming,” it is clear to the discerning that the sub-section does not condone public officers’ acts of putting themselves in a situation where their position conflicts or gives them undue advantage over others. This is what happened in the president’s land grabbing expose. It defiles and defies the law. It disrespects the high innocence and majesty of public his office.

    The law forbids the president or any public officer from simultaneously holding any position with the one being currently occupied. And quite contemptuous of the law is the fact that Mr. President registered a company with his native name as a sitting president, hiding under farming and thereby deploying his clout in a corrupt manner to secure such strategic land for himself and the company. Questions: Who pays for the land and at whose expense? How many of the executive heads of agencies and states, especially those ones under the control of the ruling party, can ignore requests for land from the president’s company with his name prominently stated as its leading director on its letter-head? Is this not arbitrary and cynical? Is this not a clash of interest in the discharge of public duties that section 1 of the Fifth Schedule frowns at? How can Mr. President’s anti-corruption crusade be taken seriously by anybody, not even his aides that are privy to his proclivity for grabbing not only just land but also anything in sight?

    No wonder he set a bad precedent, which his supporters claimed was inherited from former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, as they asserted, secured 100.12 hectares of land, Plot No.1 Cadastral Zone E09 Kuje, Abuja on June 27, 2005, to self for same farming purposes through Obasanjo Farms Nigeria. Also, Bala Mohammed, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), appointed by the incumbent president and who also approved the land for his benefactor, took to this reprehensible ruling party’s pattern when he also incorporated Bird Trust Agro-Allied Limited on May 31, 2012; and reportedly put himself as its major shareholder before subsequently going ahead to secure for self through his company, a 40.4 hectares, plot 1683 in Cadastral Zone E05 of same Aviation Village in Abuja on April 11, 2014.

    We wonder about the number of several unknown top government functionaries of the ruling party that have been emulating the president’s illicit and unfathomable primitive acquisition of public land in the FCT. At the rate at which the land is being grabbed by those in power, we wonder what is left of the remaining land originally designated for aviation purposes at the Aviation Village in the Abuja Master Plan.

    This singular act puts a serious question mark on the moral and ethical right of President Jonathan to continue to rule the country. In better-managed climes, his indiscretion on the Abuja land grab is sufficient to make him resign from his position, not to talk of him still hopeful of contesting the March 28, 2015 presidential election.

    We state without equivocation that the grabbing appetite of the president is obscene and shameful, and condemn his involvement in such public immorality. The president and the governors across the states, according to the law, are trustees of the land kept in their custody since all land belongs to the people. So, it is abominable for the president to acquire land meant for public purposes for personal end under the guise of embarking on farming. Public officers can acquire land for farming but we doubt whether it should be by grabbing the ones hitherto allocated for a justifiable public cause even before the president got into office. Mr. President and others involved in this ignominious land grabbing should forthwith return them to the original owner. This is much more so that what was reported was not all about farming but more of other commercial activities. This is the least expected of the president since no one would want to initiate impeachment proceedings against him over the matter.

  • Kasumu berates Mimiko over Afenifere endorsement of Jonathan

    President, Afonja Descendants’ Union, Ilorin, Kwara State, Alhaji Olola Kasumu, has berated the Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, for facilitating the endorsement of the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan by pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere and Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC).

    Kasumu also called on the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to call to order the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, over his incessant “death wish” for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

    Speaking exclusively with The Nation in Ogbomoso, Kasunmu described as “laughable, idiotic and a mission in futility” the endorsement of Jonathan by Afenifere and OPC, since in his view, leaders of the two organisations lack the clout to convince people of the South West to vote for Jonathan.

    Describing leaders of the organisations as “unpopular kings without subjects,” Kasumu added, “It is unfortunate that the so-called leaders of these two groups have lost touch with the realities of the moment and have descended so low for a mess of porridge.

    “I am a one of the principal co-founders of the OPC and it is regrettable that the motives behind its formation had been ashamedly betrayed and derailed. Both Fasheun and Gani Adams are now running after pipeline contracts running into billions of naira. Is that how to fight the cause of Yoruba progress and development? What led to the split of Afenifere into two groups?”

     

  • 27 die in Boko Haram bus stations suicide bombings

    27 die in Boko Haram bus stations suicide bombings

    Kano, Yobe hit

    Jonathan attacks sect

    APC: govt to blame

    The Boko Haram bloodletting continued yesterday with suicide bombings in the North’s commercial capital, Kano and Potiskum, Yobe State’s biggest town.

    No fewer than 27 people died at bus stations in the cities, giving an indication of a co-ordinated action.

    Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the manner of the blasts point in the direction of Boko Haram.

    President Goodluck Jonathan criticised Boko Haram for what he described as its focus on “soft targets”, saying the latest action is “an act of a sect facing extinction”.

    Twelve persons were killed in the Kano blast. Five others were injured as the explosion rocked the Kano Line Motor Park at Kofar Nassarawa. Fifteen died in Potiskum.

    At about 3.15pm, three suspected suicide bombers walked into the park, disguising as passengers.

    It was gathered that the suspected bombers believed to be aged between 17 and 18, carried bags and mixed freely with passengers travelling to various destinations.

    An eyewitness account said two of the suicide bombers stood by the side of an Urvan bus loading passengers and detonated explosives. Ten passengers were burnt to death.

    The third suspected suicide bomber reportedly escaped during the pandemonium that followed the blast.

    Three vehicles were burnt.

    Kano State Commissioner of Police Idris Ibrahim, speaking at the blast site, said: “As you can see, it involves three vehicles – a Sharon, a bus and a golf car. We estimated that about 12 people died. It seems that the two suicide bombers came in that Sharon car as passengers from outside the city.

    “As indicated, investigation is ongoing.”

    An eyewitness, Bello Ibrahim, said: At exactly3:05pm, I greeted some of the people, including the man writing passengers’ manifest. Shortly after, I heard a deafening sound. I saw   bodies being roasted.

    “I saw the two suspected suicide bombers. They were strange faces, young boys between 17 and 18. Among the dead were the man writing the manifest of passengers and a bread seller. There were up to 10 dead.

    Another suicide attack in Potiskum, Yobe state’s commercial city, killed 15 people. No fewer than 33 were injured, eyewitnesses said.

    Yesterday’s was the third successive attack in Potiskum within one week.

    Last year, members of a Muslim sect on procession were attacked. Many died.

    The bomb was reportedly detonated by a woman at the roadside Tashan Dan Borno Motor Park along Kano Road.

    Hospital sources said 15 people died while some of the injured were transferred to the Federal Medical Centre, Nguru for better attention.

    An eyewitness account said the bomber came into the bus station and went straight into the Kano-bound Toyota bus before blowing herself up, throwing the entire vicinity into confusion after the bang.

    Speaking on how the blast was carried out, an official of the National Road Transport Workers Union (NURTW) said the vehicle was getting set for take-off, when the car went into flames.

    “The loaders were getting ready to collect money from passengers because the motor was about to filled when we heard a loud sound and the car went up in flames,” he said.

    Another witness said the entire vicinity was thrown into confusion with the loud sound from the explosion.

    In a statement yesterday by his Special Adviser of Media, Dr. Reuben Abati, President Goodluck Jonathan condemned “the reversion by the terrorist group, Boko Haram to the callous bombing of soft targets in parts of Nigeria in the wake of the ongoing rapid recovery by gallant Nigerian troops and their multinational allies of areas formerly controlled by the sect.

    “President Jonathan commiserates with all families who have lost loved ones in the bombings which continued today with attacks on Kano and Potiskum.

    “The President shares the grief of all the bereaved families and is deeply saddened by the continued loss of many innocent lives at the hands of misguided and desperate fanatics who are now feeling the heat of the intense counter–insurgency operation by the Nigerian Armed Forces.

    “The President assures all Nigerians and the people of the North-Eastern states in particular that the days of mourning victims of incessant terrorist attacks in the country will soon be over as the tide has now definitely turned against Boko Haram.

    “President Jonathan further assures the people of Nigeria that the gallant, courageous and patriotic officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces, supported with new platforms, equipment and logistics provided by the Federal Government will carry the ongoing operations against the terrorists through to a successful conclusion in the shortest possible time.

    “He affirms that his administration will continue to take all necessary action to guarantee the success of ongoing military operations against the terrorist group and drastically reduce its ability to take and hold territory or recruit, groom and brainwash young persons to undertake suicide bombing attacks on soft targets.”

  • APC: blame Jonathan for Boko Haram’s killings

    APC: blame Jonathan for Boko Haram’s killings

    President Goodluck Jonathan should pull the brakes on his re-election bid and apologise to Nigerians for allowing the Boko Haram insurgency to fester for this long, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday.

    The party said the plan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration is to harvest votes but it all went awry.

    The war against Boko Haram has cost about 15,000 lives and about $32.88billion, according to the APC.

    Besides, more than three million people are displaced.

    But, to the APC, in a statement issued yesterday by its spokesman Lai Mohammed in London, the military deserves kudos for its successful battles against the insurgents.

    The “string of successes” in the party’s view, show that the military can defeat terrorism – if well equipped.

    The APC said by his own admission that he and his team “underrated the capacity of Boko Haram”, President Jonathan “has finally owned up to his globally-acknowledged incompetence, a development which, in truly democratic societies, should be part of a statement of resignation by a leader whose terrible error of judgement has caused so many deaths and inflicted so much pain and sorrow on his compatriots”.

    The APC believes that Jonathan deliberately allowed the Boko Haram crisis to go on because he and his team saw it as their trump card for winning re-election in 2015 by currying local and

    global sectarian sympathy with a Muslim-group-killing-Christians narrative that totally distorts the fact that Boko Haram is a band of marauders who have no consideration for ethnicity, regionalism, religion or any other thing beyond their mad disposition to terror.

    The party said the marauders are equal-opportunity killers who were not discriminatory in their savagery.

    It recalled that the APC had raised the alarm on many occasions, including during an appearance at the British Parliament in 2014 when Lai Mohammed said the PDP and President Jonathan were using the Boko Haram crisis as a trump card to retain power in 2015.

    ‘’Is it not curious that the same President who has stood by while Boko Haram decimates a whole section of the country over the past six years has suddenly realised there is something he could do to crush the sect in six weeks? Is it not curious that a military that has been globally acknowledged for its successes in peacekeeping at regional and international levels has suddenly found itself unable to tackle a band of criminals? Is it not curious that the necessary fighting

    equipment that have not been made available to the military, despite the injection of over 32 billion US dollars into the defence and security sector since 2008, have suddenly become available?

    ‘’There are more questions to be asked: At what point did President Jonathan begin to have a clear idea that Boko Haram is a major threat to the very survival of our country? Was it after about 300 innocent girls were abducted from their school in Chibok or before? Was it after hundreds of boys were slaughtered in a secondary school in Buni Yadi or before? Or, was it before or after the Nyanya bomb blast that led to the deaths of hundreds of people? Just when did our President wake up to his primary responsibility?

    ‘’The truth is that after their Boko Haram-as-a-trump-card strategy blew up in their face and their electoral fortunes plummeted, the PDP-led Jonathan Administration came to the realisation that a stepped-up campaign against the insurgents is needed to revive their electoral fortunes, hence they then decided to pep up the military and rally regional troops – the same suggestions from the opposition that the Administration has pointedly ignored over the years – to combat the terrorists.

    ‘’President Jonathan, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, must take responsibility for the monumental cost, whether of his incompetence or his political strategy-gone-awry or both, apologise to the nation and immediately back down from seeking re-election. The President must not be allowed to profit from an error of judgement that has cost 15,000 lives, forced over three million out of their homes and cost the taxpayers $32.88 billion,’’ the APC said.

    The party also expressed concern at the efforts of the Jonathan administration to make Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau look invincible, with the President’s statement that Shekau will be caught before the elections.

    ‘’It is no longer news that the authorities have gleefully announced the killing of Shekau at least twice in the past, with the picture of the supposedly-dead Boko Haram leader widely circulated in the social and traditional media. That raises the question as to which Shekau is to be captured. Or are we to believe the stories making the rounds that the government plans to capture a ‘Shekau’ who will then be used to implicate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as a sponsor of the sect, just to pull the brakes on his runaway acceptance by Nigerians?’’ it queried.

    APC said while Nigerians will undoubtedly be happy and relieved to see the end of Boko Haram, they must be wondering what would have happened if the plummeting electoral fortunes of President Jonathan had not forced his Administration to push for the six-week postponement of the general elections. They must also be wondering what would have happened if the elections have been scheduled for 2016, instead of 2015.

    The party praised the “long-suffering, gallant Nigerian soldiers” and urged Nigerians to continue to support them.

  • Jonathan’s dark power

    It could be described as a weekend of power, by power, and for power. This is one way of speaking about the power-related activities of President Goodluck Jonathan on February 20 and 21. Ironically, there was no powerfully believable statement by Jonathan at the inauguration of the 750 megawatts Olorunsogo Power Plant Phase II, Papalanto, Ogun State. He said: “And we promised this country that surely in the next two years, the interface between 100 per cent government control of power sector and 100 per cent control of the private sector will be sealed properly and Nigerians would take power for granted.”

    It is interesting that, the next day, Jonathan continued his sweet talk at the inauguration of the 220 megawatts rehabilitated gas turbine at the Egbin power station in Lagos. Jonathan boasted: “Very soon, the problem of epileptic power supply will be history in this country. We shall be out of darkness. With the progress we have made, there will be no going back, we must stabilise power in the country.”

    Is Jonathan aware of  the elasticity of words and the possibility of a variety of interpretations? In particular, when he declared, “We shall be out of darkness,” did he understand the words beyond the context of the ceremony? In other words, did Jonathan grasp the illumination that darkness could be understood figuratively?

    Indeed, the reality is that there is a deep darkness across the land, which is not just about the state of electricity supply. To illumine this thought, it is sufficient to highlight the darkness of inexcusable backwardness despite the country’s enviable resources and the darkness of official corruption that is a veritable blight on the land. These are dimensions of darkness that the people cannot wait to escape; and the chance to do that is here, speaking of the expected general elections, which have been rescheduled by six weeks.

    It is noteworthy that Jonathan was quoted as saying: “Since we launched the roadmap in 2006, I have been encouraged by the progress we have made. And this is part of our transformational efforts in the power sector.” More than what Jonathan says he feels, what matters is whether the people have been encouraged by the progress, if any, that his administration has supposedly made not only in the power sector but in general.

    Jonathan said his administration had spent over US$8 billion to boost the national electricity generation capacity; but talk is cheap, even when it’s about such expensive expenditure. It is paradoxical that the result of this publicised spending is a reflection of the power of darkness.

    Again, it is useful to reflect on the figurative use of language. Doesn’t the power of darkness suggest the darkness of power? When the corridors of power are not brightened by any moral lamp, darkness follows. The guiding light is that the people need to pursue the enthronement of the morally enlightened.

    Jonathan is entitled to his power timetable and his 2017 target; but it is food for thought that his dates for the achievement of stable power continue to be unstable. Isn’t that why he represents dark power?

  • Jonathan in trouble over Abuja land deal

    Jonathan in trouble over Abuja land deal

    •Pro-govt coalition says constitution allows farming
    •President, Obasanjo in proxy war

    Despite moves to improve his sliding campaign fortunes, President Goodluck Jonathan is battling  to explain all he knows about  a multi- billion dollar farm which a non – governmental organisation (NGO) says belongs to him in alleged violation of the 1999 Constitution.

    But a pro-Jonathan group, New Generation Coalition says the constitution allows a public officer to engage in farming. It also alleged that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo also benefited from Abuja-Land -For-Farms grab while in office to engage in farming.

    According  to an NGO , Purpose Driven Initiative (PDI), the farm was incorporated on December 30, 2011 barely seven months after he was sworn in as president for his current tenure which he wants Nigerians to renew.

    The farm is about 94,04 hectare plot of land along the highway leading to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

    The group said in adverts in some papers last Friday : “  Let us talk about corruption. This is how the Nigerian government conducts business and fights corruption.

    “A sitting President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, incorporated a company, Ebele Integrated Farms Limited in which he is a major shareholder on December 30, 2011.

    “Ebele Integrated Farms Limited applied for and was granted 94.04 hectare plot of land, 1689 in Cadastral Zone EOS Aviation Village, Abuja on January 13, 2014.

    “Under the Fifth Schedule Part 1( Code of Conduct for Public Officers) of the 1999 Constitution, Section 1, ‘a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.’

    “Do we need any more evidence of how the Jonathan administration has been fighting or will fight corruption.”

    Investigation revealed that crocodiles are some of the livestocks  being reared at the  aquatic farm.

    A source said: “The farm house sits on a hill top overlooking the airport at the nation’s capital with rest chalets and presidential conference rooms.

    “I think the farm may worth about $500m when completed. It is believed to being managed by some Israeli experts. As part of the plans, a helipad may be established on the farm, which may be solely export-oriented.”

    The whistle-blowing group also alleged that the Minister of FCT, Mallam Bala Mohammed, has abused his office and violated the  1999 Constitution by incorporating Bird Trust Agro-Allied Limited on May 31, 2012.

    “The company, Bird Trust Agro-Allied Limited then applied for and was given(by the same FCT that the major shareholder, Bala Mohammed, heads) a 40.4 hectares, plot 1683 in Cadastral Zone E05 of Aviation Village in Abuja on April 11, 2014,”the group said.

    Rising in defence of the President and the minister, the pro- government coalition said Obasanjo enjoyed the same perks while in office.

    It said: “Is it corruption?As a sitting President, Olusegun Obasanjo incorporated a company, Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited. Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited applied for and was granted a 100.12 hectares of land, Plot No.1 Cadastral Zone E09 Kuje, Abuja on June 27, 2005.

    “The sitting Minister if FCT, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai(now APC chieftain) allocated the land and signed Certificate of Occupancy no. 17c2w-1b99z-9d15r-cb2au-34u3 certified to Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited on July 24. 2006.

    “Just  like Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited, Ebele Farms and Bird Trust Agro Limited are companies in which the sponsors engage in farming and other allied agriculture production and processes.

    “Under the Fifth Schedule Part 1 Code of Conduct for Public Officers of the 1999 Constitution, Section 1 states that ‘a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.’

    “Section 2 states that without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph …, nothing in this sub-paragraph shall prevent a public officer from engaging in farming.

    “Is it corruption for a public officer to engage in farming as stipulated by the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 with the view to making Nigeria self-reliant in food production?”

    Findings confirmed that the presidency has decided to go for broke against Obasanjo for allegedly claiming that Jonathan is corrupt.

    A presidency source said: “Let them reveal more, we will also expose more. Whoever lives in a glass house must not throw stones.

    “The battle line is drawn, no one can rubbish or stain President Goodluck Jonathan. We have records of personal demands by these so-called anti-corruption saints in the country.”

    It is not clear why the coalition dragged Obasanjo’s name into the allegation by the NGO.

    On Friday  , Jonathan declared that Obasanjo was still  his godfather, notwithstanding the ex- president’s resignation from the peoples Democratic  Party.

  • Stop attacks on Obasanjo, Ogun Obas tell President

    Stop attacks on Obasanjo, Ogun Obas tell President

    Traditional rulers in Ogun State have advised President Goodluck Jonathan to call his men to order in their use of intemperate language , if he wants to make a headway  in next month’s presidential  election.

    The Obas are particularly irked  by the persistent abuse of former President Olusegun Obasanjo by those claiming to speak for the president’s campaign team.

    The Obas spoke their mind on Friday at a brief meeting  with the president  after the commissioning of the Olorunsogo Power Project in the Ewekoro Local Government of the state.

    Obasanjo is a high chief of Owu,Abeokuta, the capital of the state.

    At the meeting with the President was the Olowu of Owu,Obasanjo’s quarter,Oba Sanya Dosunmu.

    Also present were the Alake of Egbaland and Chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers,Oba Oyedotun Gbadebo, the Akarigbo of Remo,Oba  Michael Sonariwo and former governor of the state,Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

    Sources close to the meeting said the Obas told Jonathan, who sought their support in the election, that his men were not helping his cause in anyway by their continued insult of Obasanjo.

    They said Jonathan would be the ultimate  loser if he failed to rein them in

    Obasanjo and Jonathan are locked in a long running battle  with the former President accusing the incumbent of mismanaging the country.

    He believes the president  has not done much in the fight against corruption . He also accused him of depleting the nation’s foreign reservesthrough reckless spendings.

    Jonathan countered ,saying  that Obasanjo  was behaving like a motor park tout.