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Tag: President Goodluck Jonathan

  • Jonathan, top aides review ceasefire

    Jonathan, top aides review ceasefire

    President Goodluck Jonathan and some of his top aides reviewed yesterday the ceasefire with Boko Haram.

    It was learnt that there was optimism in the Presidency that the ceasefire will work.

    But the military was still cautious, as it stuck to its decision to toe the line adapted by the political class on counter-insurgency in the Northeast.

    It was gathered that the weekend’s clashes were attributed to “self defence” by the military.

    A top source, who spoke with our correspondent said: “The President and some of his top aides met to review the ceasefire deal and how to see it through to a logical conclusion.

    “There were some doubts but the government is trying to tidy up to make a success of the deal.

    “I think a team will leave either Monday night or early Tuesday for Chad in continuation of the ongoing negotiation.

    “The list is still being kept under wraps to avoid undue pressure on members of the delegation.”

  • Rivers APC: Jonathan’ll lose if he runs next year

    •Party insists ambition against national interest

    President Goodluck Jonathan would lose should he  seek re-election next year, the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday.

    The party, in a statement in Port Harcourt by its Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, advised the president not to bow to the pressure being mounted on him by selfish groups and individuals to run.

    The APC claimed that the handwriting was already on the wall for Jonathan, following the calibre of leaders and unprecedented masses that attended the declaration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to contest  next year’s presidential election.

    It said it has become vital for the president “to start writing his handover notes as his game is up”.

    “It is now clear why President Jonathan is scared and reluctant in accepting the call to contest the 2015 general election as evident in his  statement that: ‘In deciding on an appropriate response to such calls, I will place the greater interests of national harmony, cohesion, unity, security, political stability, progress, equity, justice and fairness above any personal ambition or sectional agenda.’

    “We must commend him for this wise stand as he knows that his contesting will not be in the greatest interest of national harmony. He must, therefore, perish the thought if he really loves Nigeria and wishes to promote the greatest interest of national harmony,” the statement said.

    The APC warned that “if Dr. Jonathan, however, succumbs to the pressure of haters of Nigeria to contest the 2015 general election, he should prepare to be the first sitting President to lose a general election since there is no basis whatsoever for him to win any election again as his record card shows that he is a failure.

    “Today, Nigeria has never had it so bad as the present leadership under Jonathan has inflicted unimaginable suffering on Nigerians.”

    Ikanya noted that besides the imminent failure awaiting him at the polls, Jonathan knew that his participation in the 2015 election would be totally immoral since he was not qualified to run, since he was enjoying a second term in office. “The Constitution of our country makes it clear that no one can enjoy three consecutive tenures as president and Jonathan is bound by the constitution,” Ikanya said.

    He expressed happiness over the high quality of tested and trusted leaders who have indicated interest to fly the flag of APC in its rescue mission.

    “PDP’s reign these past 15 years has brought shame and hardship to our nation and we must unite to salvage this nation from the hands of the present confused leaders of PDP,” he said.

    The party chairman aligned with the position of its leader, Governor Chibuike Amaechi, who queried where Jonathan would get the votes that would get him elected in 2015, knowing that he had lost Lagos, Kano and Rivers states before the election.

    Rigging, he warned, would not be considered for the 2015 general election.

    Further echoing Amaechi’s position, the statement added: “For us as APC, we will line up behind the party. Go back home now and get your voter cards. We will punish these people. Rivers State is not in their hands. Lagos State is not in their hands. Kano State is not in their hands. So, tell me where we are going? They are banking on using security against us. We shall teach them a lesson. We will fight with our body, with our lives because there must be change this time.

    “And I have said it again and again, there is no aspirant in APC that is not better than the aspirants in PDP. What we must do is not only to vote for the aspirants in support; we must also take the voter card so that when we finish nominating our candidate here, we will line behind that candidate and ensure that we will vote out Jonathan.”

  • Jonathan greets Gowon at 80

    Jonathan greets Gowon at 80

      • Says he will remain a worthy  icon of Nigerian history 

    President Goodluck Jonathan has heaped encomiums on former Head of  State, General Yakubu Gowon, as he celebrates his 80th birthday.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, Jonathan described Gowon as a worthy, steadfast and iconic feature of Nigerian history.

    He said that the nation will always owe the former Head of State a huge debt of gratitude for successfully managing and guiding Nigeria through an unfortunate civil war out of which it emerged as an even stronger and more united nation.

    He said: “As you deservedly celebrate this noteworthy anniversary, I join your family, friends, protégés and well-wishers in celebrating you and thanking Almighty God for the unique and richly fulfilled life. He has blessed you with these past 80 years.

    “Over the years, you have continued to use your exalted position to engender bridges of love and harmony across the country; availing successive governments of your wise counsel and demonstrating your unwavering faith and willingness to partner with us in our quest to bequeath to our collective posterity, a nation of which we can all be proud. Nigeria owes you a huge debt of gratitude.”

    The President wished General Gowon very happy 80th birthday celebrations and prayed that Almighty God will continue to bless, guide and protect him.

  • Ikom State constituency endorses Ndoma-Egba

    The Ikom State Constituency of Cross River State has jointly endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan and Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) to continue in office in 2015.

    Ikom is the political and economic capital of Cross River Central Senatorial District.

    The endorsement was contained in a communiqué signed by Rt. Hon. Joseph N. Ndoma, Dr. Ebaye Akonjom, Hon. Glory E. Akonjom and Dr. Tony N. Ngban representing Abanyum, Nde, Nta/Nselle and Nnam wards respectively for Ikom State Constituency. The communique reads in part: “It was pointless changing a winning team since Senator Ndoma-Egba and President Jonathan have performed creditably well, we have endorsed them each for another term in office.”

    Ndoma said:  “The meeting was convened to discuss the way forward for our constituency, particularly with respect to political aspirations of our people under this present dispensation.

    “While it may be true that prophets are not revered at home, we want Nigerians to know that Senator Ndoma-Egba, who is, today, the Senate Leader is revered and loved at home.

    “He is in touch and in tune with his people.

    “We, the leaders of Ikom State Constituency aver that political office aspirants should be growth-conscious and to stop revolving around political office just for the sake of ambition. We are pleased with him and thus, we want him to continue in office, come 2015.”

  • Delta governorship seat: Anioma leaders seek Jonathan’s backing

    A delegation of Anioma people of Delta State, led by the Asagba of Asaba, Prof. Chike Edozien, has requested for President Goodluck Jonathan’s backing on their quest to occupy the governor’s seat next year.

    The details of a closed door meeting of the delegation with the president at the State House, Abuja last Wednesday, was not made public.

    Sources told The Nation that the delegation presented three people governorship candidates to Jonathan.

    They are Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Health Ndudi Elumelu, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Victor Ochei.

    The meeting did not, however, select any individual as the prefer candidate for the governorship seat.

    But Prof. Edozien, in an interview with State House correspondents after the meeting with Jonathan, said: “We are here to confer with the President on national issues; issue of security affecting the country and the coming elections”.

    He said the delegation pledged its support for the president, if he decides to seek re-election next year.

    The monarch confirmed that the issue of the zone, which will produce the next governor of Delta State, was also discussed.

    .Asked who he had in mind, the monarch said: “We have many worthy sons and many people in our area that if elected will be good governors.”

    Meanwhile, Ndudi, who is the younger brother of businessman and philanthropist, Mr. Tony Elumelu, has declared his intention to run for the governor.

    The younger Elumelu, who declared his intention at a special service at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Onicha-Uku in Aniocha-North Local Government Area, promised to prioritise the welfare of the people, if given the opportunity to lead the state.

    He donated 10 vehicles and 30 tricycles for distribution to people in the three senatorial districts as part of his empowerment programme.

  • Ekiti judicial crisis: Jonathan finally speaks

    Ekiti judicial crisis: Jonathan finally speaks

    After Ekiti State governor-elect, Ayo Fayose, inspired the intimidation of the judiciary in Ekiti a few weeks ago, I wrote that it was necessary for Nigerians to wait for the reactions of President Goodluck Jonathan, given his oath to defend and uphold the constitution, the National Judicial Council, and a few other leading Nigerians. The NJC, perhaps for obvious reasons, was quick to respond. It ordered the reopening of the courts in Ekiti, asked for the police to both provide adequate security for the courts and investigate the crisis, and arrest those who planned and executed the attacks on the courts and their judges.

    The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also spoke fairly quickly. Through its spokesman, the unscrupulous Olisa Metuh, the party reiterated the allegations made by Mr Fayose suggesting that the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), which lost the June governorship election, was planning to use the courts to subvert the swearing in of Mr Fayose. He saw nothing wrong with the self-help embarked upon by thugs acting on behalf of his party. He did not see the danger of the consequences of intimidating the judiciary, how it could predispose the country to anarchy, where everyone second-guesses the courts and takes unlawful steps to achieve or enforce private objectives.

    For weeks, the president kept quiet. Finally, however, Dr Jonathan has spoken, and what he had to say is truly depressing. By keeping silent over the grave attacks on the courts, attacks that horrified the rest of the world more for the tepid response of security agents and the government, the president is unaware he has spoken. He in effect has endorsed the attacks by conniving at it. Any other president would have moved speedily to protect the judiciary. But since he himself had once attacked the judiciary by prejudicially sacking a president of the Appeal Court, Justice Ayo Salami, it was inconceivable that he would be horrified by the attacks on Ekiti courts inspired and led by Mr Fayose.

    To reinforce the president’s unspoken but unmistakable views on the attacks, the courts ordered reopened by the NJC have been kept under lock and key by soldiers and policemen. The security agents are supposed to provide security for the courts as they reopen, but they have ensured they are shut even against a few of the judges who attempted to gain entry and resume work. The security agents hide under the strike embarked upon by Ekiti civil servants to defy the NJC and to keep the courts shut until Mr Fayose is sworn in. The country has not felt sufficiently outraged enough to compel Dr Jonathan to live up to the oath he took to uphold and defend the constitution. Politicians, unable to appreciate the enormity of the precedence being laid in Ekiti, hide under partisanship to excuse the anomaly. We are sowing the wind; and it is certain we will reap the whirlwind.

    It takes a visionary leader to see the damage to the body politic caused by the Ekiti attacks. It takes a leader to understand the dangerously sublime message being sent out by the attacks. It takes a deep leader to recognise that in a global village the madness shown in Ekiti and connived at at the highest level lowers us, and particularly the president, in the esteem of the world. The president has indeed spoken, and we must recognise that what he had to say is unflattering and humiliating to the black man. The consequences are unavoidable. They will come. And it is not only the victims of the court closure and attacks that will suffer; even the inspirers and executors of the attacks, not to say the presidency itself, will suffer much more.

  • APC to Fed Govt: come out clean on cash seizure

    APC to Fed Govt: come out clean on cash seizure

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday urged the Federal Government to come out clean on the seizure of yet another Nigerian cash by South Africa.

    In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the APC asked President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently address Nigerians on the serial embarrassments to which his administration is subjecting the country in the comity of nations.

    The party said the issues surrounding the first seizure of $9.3 million had yet to be resolved before the latest scandal, wondering why the government would want to turn Nigeria to a rogue nation by taking ownership of money laundering and other acts of illegality, thus devaluing the currency of every Nigerian.

    ‘’Again, Mr. President, Nigerians are urging you to please come clean over these cash-for-arms scandals. They want you to answer critical questions on the legality of your administration’s repeated conduct. They want to know the identities of the two Nigerians who were arrested with an Israeli in South Africa over the first illegal deal, especially since the Israeli has been named.

    ‘’Nigerians want to know why the purported arms procurement for the government is done illegally between private companies that are neither known nor registered for dealing in arms? And why are the movement of monies not transparently documented for what they really are, if they are truly for legitimate purposes?

    ‘’They want to know whether indeed the weapons which the government is seeking so furiously to procure are for the battle against Boko Haram or for a sinister motive, considering the desperation of your Administration to continue to rule at all cost and by any means possible. They want to know whether every Nigerian should begin to fear what will happen in the days and weeks leading to the forthcoming general elections, against the backdrop of your Administration and party’s do-or-die politics.

    ‘’Mr. President, if the funds involved in the latest seizure were sent through bank transfer, can the government explain why Oritsejafor’s plane was stuffed with cash and transported to South Africa? Can your Administration’s embarrassing explanation that it is customary for other country’s security agencies, including with MOSSAD, KGB and CIA, to cart plane loads of cash across the world to purchase black market weapons hold any more water now? These are some of the questions Nigerians are asking, not an untenable spin by untruthful government officials,’’ the APC queried.

    The party also wondered whether the funds being ferried up and down by the Administration were appropriated by the National Assembly, or whether they were part of the missing $20 billion oil money.

    The APC slammed the federal government for issuing childish and immature threats against South Africa, threatening its investments in the country, instead of addressing the pertinent questions surrounding the illegal arms procurement deals.

    ‘’Mr. President, you cannot threaten another country when your Administration is willfully breaking the laws of that country. In this case, your Administration stands on a weak moral ground, as its hands have been caught in the cookie jar. Therefore, issuing infantile threats is laughable, unacceptable and wrong,’’ the party said.

    It reminded the Jonathan Administration that nowhere else does a government engage in illegal black market movement of money or arms – both signatures of terrorism worldwide, adding that only terrorists and pariah nations move money and procure arms in clandestine manners as the Jonathan Administration is doing.

    ‘’Even at a time when we were ruled by military dictators and our country was a pariah nation, we did not experience these repeated and embarrassing national disgrace and clandestine, terrorist groups’ approach to the purchase of arms. How can Nigeria truly be a respected member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)  when our own government and its operatives are self identified and self confessed money launderers?’’ APC queried.

    The party wondered how many other unknown scandals the Jonathan Administration had plunged Nigeria, and appealed to the Administration to tread softly in the interest of all Nigerians, who will be the ones to suffer the repercussions of the government’s repeated illegal conduct.

  • The president and the proverbial lizard

    The president and the proverbial lizard

    Jonathan’s self-assessment on Nigeria’s 54th Independence celebration

    President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated himself over his administration’s performance since 2011. It has been wonderful indeed. The president had told Nigerians in his 54th Independence Anniversary speech that he has delivered on his electoral promises.

    But, beyond the felicitations and clinking of glasses despite what we were told that the independence anniversary was low-key in Aso Rock, as usual with the Jonathan government’s claims, we have done well by way of figures than by actual that Nigerians can see, feel or touch. I mean the assessment was tall in statistics even if abysmally short in reality. Hear Doyin Okupe, the president’s senior special assistant on public affairs: “It is an incontrovertible fact (hum?) that Nigeria under Jonathan has reduced its food imports by about 40 percent and increased its local production of rice, cassava, sorghum, cotton and cocoa in percentages ranging from 25 to 56 in the last two years.

    Indeed, he singled agriculture for special mention: “For the first time since independence, the Nigerian agricultural sector is attracting unprecedented Foreign Direct Investment.

    “Over the past two years, the sector has attracted $ 4 billion in private sector executed letters of commitment to invest in agricultural value chains, from food crops, to export crops, fisheries and livestock. Will Dr Akinwunmi Adeshina, our Minister of Agriculture stand up for special recognition?

    Okupe continues: “The number of private sector seed companies grew from 10 to 70 within one year. Over $ 7 billion of investments from Nigerian businesses have been made to develop new fertiliser manufacturing plants, which will (emphasis mine) make Nigeria the largest producer and exporter of fertilisers in Africa”. I underscored the word ‘will’ because many things that governments in Nigeria claim as achievements are things alwaysin the womb of time. Anyway, may be the reason they do this is because, as they say in Yoruba land, ‘whether the baby is going to die or survive, we should first congratulate the mother.

    And if there has been so massive investment in the country, where are the jobs so created? Why are Nigerians still dying on job queues? Indeed, Okupe himself anticipated what would have been going on in the minds of Nigerians by virtue of this claim, so he quickly added that “All these people who are bringing huge resources to invest in the Nigerian economy are no fools or novices”. He knew the people would be asking how come people would be investing in a country where the level of insecurity is so high and the power sector comatose.

    That brings us to electricity supply; the government also has soothing words (I wonder if Nigerians have not had a surfeit of that).  According to Okupe, “the major component of the reform which is the privatisation of the generation and distribution power infrastructure was successfully accomplished in 2013, thus putting Nigeria on a sure path of steady power supply in no distant future.” Whoever told Okupe that mere privatisation is the ‘major component’ of the power sector, after 15 years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rule and in spite of the billions of dollars already invested in the sector! The ‘major component’, for Nigerians, is steady power supply. The PDP cannot spend eternity to lay the foundation for insanity; if it does, when will it begin to exhibit madness proper? How can the same PDP government be talking about “a sure path of steady power supply in no distant future” in 2014 when by the various targets set by its previous rulers (and even the present of the I go dash you my generator fame), from the days of Chief Bola Ige as power minister, we are supposed to have achieved a certain level of power generation by now, which has never materialised?

    Anyway, maybe we have to give President Jonathan the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he is just bringing out the bird from the bag; we therefore should not be too inquisitive in knowing whether the colour of the bird is black or red.

    But, on a more serious note, only Lagbaja and the President’s unrepentant arm-chair critics could have regarded these palpable achievements as nothing. Fifty-four gbosas for President Jonathan! Congratulations. The President should not mind the critics because I know they would soon resort to proverbs, like that of a lizard congratulating itself by nodding when it falls from a wall and the people around do not acknowledge the feat it has performed. How can anyone in his right senses say President Jonathan has not performed; tell me, how? May be such critics do not know that it is possible to forward march to the past. Or that a leader can move his country forward in reverse? For sure the President cannot be behaving like the woman who has only one child and when told that her child was fighting, she asked, “which of them”?

  • FG as money launderer?

    FG as money launderer?

    •No explanation can remove the illegality and odium of the $9.3m cash haulage scam

    Call it serial bungling, insinuate mind-numbing corruption or official money laundering, all these tags will stick like a desperate tick on the Federal Government, considering the manner governance is conducted in Nigeria today.

    The latest in the list of this scandal-drenched environment is the report of the arrest last Monday in South Africa of a Nigerian private jet with a cash haul of $9.3 million. The jet had on board, two Nigerians and an Israeli. A curious twist in the tale however, is that the jet belongs to a well-known clergyman, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the country’s apex Christian body. Oritsejafor is also a well-known confidant and consort of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The Federal Government had intervened quickly on the side of the private jet crew, claiming ownership of the cash and knowledge of their mission. According to it, the cash was meant for the procurement of arms in furtherance of the raging war against insurgency in Nigeria. But the South African authorities are not convinced. By the end of last week, that country’s Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), had obtained a court order to freeze the cash.  In a statement, NPA said, “The money was initially detained by the South African Revenue Service as it was neither disclosed nor declared at Customs and was above the prescribed legal limit for the amount of cash that may be brought into the country.”

    NPA also raised questions about Nigerian authorities’ explanation that the cash was meant for arms procurement. It notes that Tier One Services Group, the firm the Nigerian government claimed it was to procure arms from is not authorised to sell or rent military hardware. Further, the invoice issued by Tier One to a Cyprus-based firm purportedly in respect of procurement of armaments also raises suspicion as to its true intent and leaves classical money laundering trails.

    There is no doubt that this singular heist has portrayed Nigeria and her government as dubious, having scant regard for rule of law and indeed anachronistic, to say the least. As the South African Authorities have pointed out, the issues here border on criminal breach of foreign exchange laws; a breach of international arms procurement conventions and has tell-tale signs of official-backed large-scale money laundering.

    The intervention of the Federal Government has also shown up Nigeria as a banana republic, a jungle nation of the 21st century where anything goes. The Federal Government makes it seem legitimate under some guises to ship out undeclared currencies through her ports. But that is not the law of the land: every sum above $10,000 must be declared and approval required before it can be ferried out. Does the Nigerian Customs have record of this cash; did they approve its shipment?

    Many more questions arise: why would the Federal Government pay cash for arms procurement? The only plausible answer is that it is buying from the black market. Why would a country of Nigeria’s status seek to purchase arms from dark alleys and corner markets patronised by terrorists and hoodlums?

    Why would government use a private jet, and why the uncanny coincidence of using one that belongs to the CAN president? And some questions for Oritsejafor: we thought he was a clergy man; now he runs a jet charter firm? He told the world he needed the jet for evangelism when Nigerians raised eyebrows over its purchase sometime ago!

    Speculations have actually been rife as to the devious uses most Nigerian owners of private jets have been putting  them to and we are now more inclined to begin to take a more critical look at ownership of private jets in Nigeria.

    In spite of all the explanations that the Federal Government has proffered, two most sacred institutions in the land have been badly tainted by this scandal – the Presidency and the church. We urge the National Assembly to look into the matter and find ways to mitigate the shame and odium it has brought to the nation.

  • Transforming railway is Jonathan’s priority, says Tukur

    The transformation of the railway has been described as President Goodluck Jonathan’s top priority.

    The Nigeria Railway Corporation’s Chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, disclosed this during a familiarisation tour of the Northern District of the Railway in Kaduna last  Wednesday.

    He said the NRC board is determined to rebuild the railway and make it the backbone of the nation’s public transit.

    He said:“In line with President Jonathan’s commitment, we have intensified efforts toward transforming the railway to give it a new and dynamic face. With the President’s determination, Nigerians should expect a new, vibrant and enviable railway very soon.”

    He said revitalising the railway would facilitate job creation, boost business activities and strengthen the bond of relationship among Nigerians.

    Tukur equally charged railway workers to be committed to their duties to complement the tireless efforts of the Federal Government toward rebuilding a new railway.

    Addressing their agitation for salary increase, the chairman promised that the board would review their salaries to boost their morale.

    Earlier, the District Manager (RDM), Mr Akinwale Akintola, said Kaduna junction was symbolic to NRC because it was the hub of the railway’s passengers and freight services.

    He said the NRC in collaboration with Kaduna State government was presently running “four single-direction daily intra-city train services,” under public private partnership arrangement.

    “The train cumulatively runs 24 train services per week and 96 trains per month, respectively,” he said.

    He said in view of the successful delivery of the existing intra-city services, the “diesel multiple unit” has been proposed to be launched as additional intra-city for a segmented service in the state.