The Nation Newspaper

Tag: President

  • Re: President can sack INEC chairman

    SIR: I read Dr. Kayode Ajulo’s interview published on page 42 of The Nation of Tuesday, February 24, particularly as it concerns the powers of the president to sack the INEC chairman.

    Ajulo in his interview gave affirmation to the question whether or not the president has the right to sack the INEC chairman. He claimed that his position stem from the provisions of the constitution and other extant laws even though he cited no particular section of any law or constitution. He finally concluded by asserting that the president appointed Jega, therefore has the right to fire him.

    With due respect to Dr. Ajulo, I greatly differ. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a creation of section 153(1) (f) of the 1999 constitution as amended and not a creation of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria. By the provision of section 154(1) of the constitution aforesaid, the appointments of chairman and members of INEC are made by the president subject to confirmation by the senate. In essence, in the appointment of chairman and members of INEC, the president has the originating powers of the process of installing an INEC chairman. However, once the INEC chairman is confirmed by the senate, the president loses the powers to initiate the process of his removal from the office and therefore cannot originate or activate the process of removing the chairman or members of INEC.

    By the provisions of section 157 of the 1999 constitution which deals with removal of a person holding the offices created by section 153 which includes INEC (but excludes members of National Population Commission), for such an office holder to be removed by the president, the president will act on an address supported by two-third majority of the senate requiring or praying that such an office holder be removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body or any other cause) or for misconduct.

    The implication of section 157 of the constitution is that for INEC chairman or any member of the commission to be removed, the process of such removal must be initiated by the senate through a panel or committee who must investigate the allegation during which the officer affected must be heard.

    Following the investigation, and report of the panel, the senate of the whole of 109 members shall in a session by not less than 73 persons pray the president to remove the affected chairman or member of the commission. The figure 73 is next approximate to two-third of 109 as held by the Supreme Court in the case of INAKOJU Vs. ADELEKE (2007) 143 LRCN @ 89.

    I hope Dr Ajulo knows that the commission enumerated under section 153, (INEC inclusive) is separated from such federal bodies that draw their lives, existence and operations from ministries and executive departments like the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    The power to remove INEC chairman is not domiciled with the president but requires a joint effort of senate and the president.

     

    •Victor C. Nwaugo Esq.                                                                                    

    Hospital Rd, Aba, Abia State

  • A president and a statesman

    A president and a statesman

    •Alhaji Shehu Shagari, president of the Second Republic, turns 90

    Even at 90, he remains true to type – self-effacing, taciturn and stately. In an age in which statesmen and former leaders are quick to take positions in a roiling polity, Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari remains dignified in his silence. His was the rare privilege of mounting the saddle as the first executive president of Nigeria in the Second Republic at the beginning of Nigeria’s experimentation with Presidential system of governance.

    It was the second coming of civil rule in 1979 after the upheavals of the 1960s and the military interregnum. The General Olusegun Obasanjo-led military regime was gracious in returning power to civilians once again. The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) which had the most semblance of national spread had preferred Shagari as its presidential candidate against sturdier, more educated and more charismatic aspirants like Malam Adamu Ciroma and Maitama Sule.

    Shehu Shagari aspired to go to the senate having secured a form to that effect until he was drafted into the presidential race. He did not only win the keenly contested three-horse race during the NPN primary, he also won the presidential election beating political giants like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of the National Party of Nigeria (NPP) and Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

    It was a close race between Chief Awolowo and Alhaji Shagari and the ballot had to be decided by the courts in favour of the latter. That he could win against all the political juggernauts of his time and emerge as Nigeria’s first ever president is no doubt a mark of the Nigeria’s skewed leadership selection process which has continued to dog her till today.

    On the other hand, Shagari’s emergence must also signpost his essence as a very genial and unobtrusive personality. It is indeed these traits of character that must have galvanized his long, illustrious career in the civil service and in politics. Educated at Sokoto Middle School and Kaduna College which was initially a teachers’ training institute, he taught science for many years in Sokoto and Zaria Middle Schools. He also had a long track record as a civil servant that he was reputed to be perhaps the longest serving in the Colonial service of his days.

    He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and was a minister in Alhaji Tafawa Balewa’s in 1958. Prior to this, in 1954, he had been elected to the Federal House of Representatives for Sokoto southwest. He went on to hold several ministerial positions in the following ministries under Balewa: Economic Development (1960); Internal Affairs (1962); Works and Survey (1965).

    And during the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon he was appointed a Federal Commissioner for Economic Development and later, Finance (1971).  His is a rich trajectory of public service in the different milieus of colonialism, post-colonial civil rule and military administrations leading up to the Second Republic when he won the number one seat.

    Though his presidency was in a time of global economic turmoil occasioned by the oil price tumble of the early 80s, he had no radical answer to the problem as his import licence regime and exposure of the economy to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were no panaceas to the economic ills of the day. However, he will be remembered for his party’s national housing scheme and for investing in the steel mills in Ajaokuta and Delta. He also tried to mechanize agriculture with his Green Revolution initiative which did not out-live his era.

    His otherwise impeccable long public service was almost tainted by a certain permissiveness of nature which gave his appointees leeway to corrupt and abuse their offices. It is as if he was incapable of reprimanding his underlings. It is this seeming leadership flaw that damaged his presidency and led to a shambolic election in which desperate lieutenants hijacked ‘victory’ in some parts of the country. The aftermath of this electoral rascality eventually gave the military the impetus to return to power. Shagari never really had a handle on his presidency nor did he really seem to understand true democratic ethos.

    However, he is considered a man of high personal integrity and dignity; he was never indicted or known to have abused the numerous high offices he occupied. Unlike what is preponderant today, he has lived a lean and Spartan life despite his long exposure to public offices. In this age of mind-numbing graft, he is indeed a statesman.

  • Interim Govt is treasonable, says President at mass

    Interim Govt is treasonable, says President at mass

    President Goodluck Jonathan should call his supporters and aides to order, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said yesterday in his review of the political activities in the country.

    Many Nigerians are worried about the manner government officials and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign Council members have been heating up the polity.

    Contrary to President Jonathan’s statements, his campaign team has been pillorying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega.

    Some of the President’s supporters have been making inflammatory statements, including saying Dr Jonathan must win the elections or the nation will burn.

    But the President has always insisted that his ambition is not worth the blood of anyone.

    Yesterday, the President said he would not be part of any Interim Government, an idea he described as treasonable and alien to the Constitution.

    He also affirmed that the March 28 and April 11 dates picked for the general elections will remain sacrosanct.

    Dr. Jonathan and Cardinal Onaiyekan spoke at the opening mass for the plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral, Garki, Abuja.

    The President said he would not head an Interim Government, which can only be set up by a military government.

    Besides, he said an ING will not be acceptable to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).

    He said: “There is no way Goodluck Jonathan, elected by people with clear mandate, will now go and head an Interim Government. The only interim government anybody can constitute is that of the military government which, of course, will not be accepted.

    “ECOWAS, AU, UN won’t accept it. And Nigeria will not be a pariah state. Clearly, the insinuation of interim government to me is treasonable.”

    Stressing that the postponement of the elections was a blessing in disguise, he said: “Elections will be conducted as scheduled by INEC.”

    “Look at what happened in Gombe on February 14… If the elections had been held, the casualty figure after that attack in Gombe would have been great. It is better for us to conduct elections that will not be contested, elections that are credible, free and fair.

    ”We believe no criminal element can come and prevent us from conducting our elections. I will not do anything because of personal interest; that would jeopardise the interest of this nation.

    Jonathan also faulted utterances that overheat the polity and portray Nigeria as being at a point of going up in flames.

    “When I listen to how some of us politicians talk… but God is supreme, this nation will survive”, he said.

    He also thanked Christians for the prayers for the nation, adding that the whole world was going crazy because of the bloodshed by terrorist groups, including Boko Haram.

    Cardinal Onaiyekan urged President Jonathan to call his aides and supporters to order so that they will desist from poisoning his resolve that elections will hold on the new dates – March 28 and April 11 – set by INEC and to ensure that the May 29 inauguration of a new government remains sacrosanct.

    According to the Archbishop, personal insults and caricature should give way to national discourse that will benefit all.

    He said: “Good families make a good nation. We can go even further to state that a good nation should be a family of families. The diversity of our nation is well known. But that is no reason why we cannot see ourselves as belonging to the same national family.

    “Apart from the fact that the things we have in common far outweigh our differences, even those differences need not be causes for conflict and friction. If we acquire the habit of respecting one another, then our differences can become beauty to celebrate in harmony.

    “Politics is very much in the air. It is a notable and sacred task meant to serve the common good of the family that is the nation. The hot competition between political parties should not make them forget the common objectives that everyone should be pursuing: justice, peace, prosperity, harmony, good order, building a nation we can all be proud of, etc.

    “The differences are in strategies and priorities. These are what should be presented to us, positively and transparently, to guide our free choice at elections.

    ”There should, therefore, not be room for negative campaigns. Personal insults and caricatures should give way to rational discussion of issues that concern us all. Truth must be sacrosanct even in politics. Lies, deceit, calumnies cannot move us forward.

    “They are the hallmarks of the bad politics which have not allowed us achieve the high level that we deserve as a nation. These are what builds tensions, heat up the polity, spreads dangerous rumours and cause deep distrust among rival political groups. All this is not in the interest of our people,” he said.

    On the rescheduled elections, Cardinal Onaiyekan urged politicians to use the extra time to mend fences.

    He also warned that the new dates should not be violated to avoid dire consequences.

    He said that while the president has promised that the elections will hold on schedule and that May 29th remains sacrosanct for a new government to take over, he urged him to caution his supporters not to poison the air.

    According to him, the dates are declarations by the President and he should be given  the benefit of the doubt.

    He said: “However, one judges the wisdom or even justice of the postponement of the elections, we should commend the political parties for patiently accepting a ‘fait accompli’ that seriously disrupted the plans – and maybe even budget – of many of them.

    “The nation will nevertheless be better served if we use the unexpected extra time to work for better outcome in our elections. Can we spend the time left to change attitudes, repair broken relationships and build trust? For example, Mr. President has declared publicly that he is committed to a free and fair elections. While we believe him, we hope that he will not allow any of his supporters to poison this his holy resolve.

    “In the same vein, he has declared that not only May 29 but also March 28 and April 11 are sacrosanct dates. There is no question of any new shift of dates. By the same token, he has excluded any idea of a much speculated ‘interim government’ for which there is no provisions in our constitution. These are sacred declarations from our President, which cannot be violated without the kind of serious consequence that is in nobody’s interest.

    “It would be better, therefore, that we give Mr. President the benefit of the doubt and stop sowing doubts that only raise tensions and create avoidable anxieties.”

    The Archbishop urged clergymen not to make reckless remarks and political  utterances liable to compromise their sacred role.

    He said, “The clergy should lead in this regard. As spiritual fathers to all for the common good, they should avoid reckless and politically partisan utterances, liable to compromise their sacred role and confuse the flock.

    “We commend and encourage our members to have decided to take on the apostolate of public life, in the spirit of service and not for selfish aims. As Catholic politicians, they should be witnesses to the truth, justice and peace that are the hallmarks of our Catholic Social Teaching.  If it is often said that ‘politics is dirty’, they should dare to be different, armed with God’s grace, and play a clean game, even at the cost of being declared losers at the polls.

    “As for the rest of… faithful, you are ambassadors of Christ to spread peace and harmony all around us. Reject and refuse to spread unfounded alarms, dangerous rumours, promote mutual trust and love, so that, together we can make our nation one united family under God our father.”

  • Appeal Court reserves judgment in suit challenging President’s re-election

    Appeal Court reserves judgment in suit challenging President’s re-election

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday reserved judgment in the case challenging President Goodluck Jonathan’s eligibility to stand for re-election.

    Presiding Judge Datijo Yahaya, after entertaining arguments from lawyers representing parties, said they would be informed of the judgment date. Other Justices on the five-man panel that heard the appeal include Mrs. Akomolafe Wilson, T.Y. Hassan, J. E. Ekannem and M. Mustapha.

    The appeal was filed on April 16, 2013 by Cyriacus Njoku, who is challenging the judgment of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court delivered by Mudashiru Oniyangi (now of the Court of Appeal) who had earlier ruled that Jonathan was eligible to contest.

    Yesterday, appellant’s lawyer, Okon Obon-Obla urged the court to allow his client’s appeal and grant his prayer to reverse the decision of the lower court.

    He equally urged the court to hold that it was wrong for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to declare President Jonathan as its presidential candidate and proceeded to adopt him in the capacity while the appeal was not yet decided.

    Obono-Obla also urged the court to hold that, as against the respondents’ contention, Njoku has the locus standi (right to sue) to file the case.

    President Jonathan and the PDP, represented by the party’s National Legal Adviser, Victor Yusufu Kwon, urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

    Kwon said Jonathan, by presenting himself for election, was acting within the provision of the law.  He said the PDP’s adoption of Jonathan as its presidential candidate was supported by the existing judgment of Justice Oniyangi.

    “The party nominated Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as its Presidential candidate and in doing that it was in line with the extant judgment, so it is wrong for anybody to suggest that the PDP acted lawlessly in adopting the President”, Kwon said.

    Njoku had, in 2012 filed the suit before the FCT High Court and sought among others, a declaration that Jonathan’s tenure of office as President began on May 6, 2010 when his first term began and his second term shall end on May 29, 2015 after taking his second oath on May 29, 2011.

    He had argued that by virtue of Section 136 (1) (b) of the Constitution, no person (including the Jonathan) could take the Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of Office prescribed to in the 7th Schedule of the Constitution more than twice.

    Njoku sought an order of injunction restraining Jonathan from further contesting or attempting to vie for the office of the President of Nigeria after May 29, 2015 when his tenure ends.

    He also asked for an order restraining the PDP (2nd Defendant) from sponsoring or attempting to sponsor Jonathan as candidate for election to the office of the President in the 2015 presidential election after the expiration of his two terms on May 29, 2015.

    In his judgment on the March 13, 2013, Justice Oniyangi dismissed the case and held that President Jonathan was free to contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the PDP.

  • Our foxy president

    SIR: Nigerians will recall that barely six months into his first term, President Goodluck Jonathan broached the idea of a seven-year single term for president and governors in office. Thank God, Nigerians quickly saw through the bait and vehemently rejected the idea.

    Then came the second brain-child of the president: the National Conference that he set up early last year, ostensibly to fashion out a better constitution for this nation, but was actually one of those tricks from the president’s bag to pave way for his treasured hope of selling another tenure elongation dummy to the nation for himself. Again Nigerians raised their voice vehemently against the proposal. Mercifully for Nigerians, the National Conference overwhelmingly voted against it, and as Nigerians would say, “they died the matter”!

    Not yet done with his obsession to stay in power forever, two weeks to the general elections, the president through his acolytes, started flying the kite of elections postponement when the National Council of State failed him in the quest for election postponement. He then called on his military chiefs to subtly muscle the INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to announce that the elections could not go on as scheduled because of the Boko Haram war that the military has suddenly woken up to realize that elections were very very near and has to fight and win! Six weeks to do what they have failed to do in a long period of almost six years!

    Fellow Nigerians, if the president truly has a clean and clear heart for this elections, is it not now that our forces with those of Chad, Niger and Cameroon should rain bullets and bombs on the insurgents and finish them off once and for all? The Chadian forces alone as reported in the papers drove the insurgents from the border town of Gamboru recently. So why can’t one half of our military stave off the rebels for two weeks while Nigerians perform their constitution duties of casting their votes to elect their president, governors and representatives?

    The answer very clearly, lies in the heart of the president. On Wednesday February 11, it was announced in the media that Femi Fani-Kayode, the president’s campaign media chief, revealed the real reason Prof. Jega asked for the extra six weeks to hold the elections: purported INEC’s inability  to be ready for the February elections. Has the military not stated earlier on that it was not ready to provide security during the February elections now rescheduled? All this means that the military doesn’t want to seen as the agency responsible for stalling our democracy. Somebody has to be blamed for it, hence, Fani-Kayode has shifted the burden from the military and heaped it all on INEC chairman, Jega. Poor Jega! The PDP is doing everything possible to make a jest of him in a matter that has dire consequences for the nation if not properly handled.

    But nobody can be fooled. President Jonathan’s antecedents and body language have shown clearly that he is acting a Maradonic script. He should be reminded however about the fate of all those who travelled this way before. They have all come to grieve! A word they say is enough for the wise!

    It is really sad to hear our president say that Jega did not consult him before announcing the elections postponement. It is baffling. Was it Jega that convened the National Council of State meeting to deliberate on elections postponement? Is Jega in charge of the military and the security forces that said they were not available for the election on February 14 and 28? The tail sadly, is now certainly waging the dog!

    Our foxy president. He came in like a lamb. He soon turned a lion. And now, he has become a law unto himself! God have mercy!

    • Olu Ajayi

    Ibadan

     

  • A President and his mediocre security chiefs

    A President and his mediocre security chiefs

    Unlike the parliamentary system of government, where the Prime Minister is only first among equals in a body of ministers picked from parliament, most of the key officials in government under the presidential system are appointed at the discretion of the President with the constitutional requirement of confirmation by the National Assembly. Under the presidential system, therefore, the quality of heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies will often reflect the intellectual capabilities, moral integrity, statesman-like wisdom and patriotic instincts of the President. A President with a high quotient of these qualities will naturally seek and appoint the ablest and most competent men and women to assist in achieving his vision for the nation.

    An intellectually challenged and patriotically famished Presidency which is deficient in vision and integrity is also naturally likely to attract men of the lowest intellectual, professional and moral calibre into government. For one, such a Presidency is most unlikely to appoint officials of superior capability especially when the outsize ego of the overall boss far exceeds his natural capacities. In such a situation, he is unlikely to be intelligent enough to realize that aides of the most sublime qualities in high office can only boost the quality of governance for which the President will naturally take credit. Furthermore, even those aides of high ability in the administration will most likely deliberately climb down to the Lilliputian mental environment in which they find themselves to keep their jobs. The implication will be a rudderless administration systematically descending from one level of absurdity to even more atrocious depths of theatrical tragi-comedy till it inevitably self-destructs.

    It is certainly only under a presidency like that of Dr Goodluck Jonathan that a country can be so unfortunate to appoint and keep in office such men of superlative mediocrity as the National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki and the current team of service chiefs. Under their collective leadership, a rag tag band of Boko Haram ragamuffins have consistently and continuously run rings round and routinely humbled an ordinarily invincible Nigerian military machine in the embattled North-east region of the country. Mutinies in the Nigerian military have been embarrassingly high in recent times. Stories have been rife of under-equipped and demotivated soldiers reluctant to engage insurgents they would normally rout in more auspicious circumstances.

    The way the military high command handled its recent collaboration with the Jonathan presidency to abort the polls previously scheduled for today and the 28th of this month only demonstrates the manifest ineptness of the service chiefs. Even if they wanted to help an embattled President fearful of a humiliating electoral loss, the NSA and service chiefs could have gone about it in a strategically smarter and less self-indicting way. First, the NSA publicly advocated postponement of the polls to enable a more widespread distribution of Permanent Voters Cards by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). When the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, was resolute on the preparedness of the commission to hold the elections on the scheduled dates, the NSA and service chiefs now informed INEC that they could not provide security for the exercise. They needed to concentrate their energies for the next six weeks, they claimed, to crush the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Did the military high command think through this move with characteristic clinical military precision? Their professional acuity was unfortunately blunted by wanton and irresponsible partisanship. What are the implications of the NSA’s letter to INEC? First, it amounted to an indictment of Dr Jonathan and the PDP which have been unable to provide the country with a police force capable of meeting its constitutional responsibilities over the last 16 years without the unconstitutional intervention of the military in the statutory responsibilities of the police. Second, it was a self-indictment of the military leadership, which has confessed to its inability to fulfil its constitutional obligations to the country.

    Third, if the military can crush in six weeks an insurgency that has festered for six years, it makes itself vulnerable to suspicions and insinuations that it had the capacity to do so all along but had deliberately failed to act till a moment like this for partisan reasons. If so, the military leadership can be held responsible for partisan dereliction of duty that has led to loss of thousands of lives as well as loss of Nigerian territory to insurgents. Fourth, in announcing to the whole world that it cannot provide security for elections in Nigeria for the next six weeks because it is concentrating all its energies and resources on fighting insurgency in the North-east, the military has sent a dangerous signal to unpredictable terrorists abroad that other parts of Nigeria may be vulnerable during the period. This is unpardonable military tactlessness.

    Fifth, the postponement of the elections is the greatest psychological victory the military high command has so unintelligently handed Boko Haram since the commencement of the insurgency. It shows that the terrorists are achieving their objective of disrupting normalcy not just in one region but the whole of Nigeria. They will greatly celebrate this victory. In countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, also faced by insurgency challenges, elections have been successfully held on schedule to deny terrorists any such satisfaction, which implies that they are winning.

    But then, are there any lessons the opposition can learn from the unfolding tragic episode? I think so. First, the Jonathan presidency has deliberately divided, bought over and severely weakened potent civil society groups in the last six years. The opposition should have been empowering and working with new civil society groups and coalitions to protect democracy at moments like this. Secondly, the opposition should have continued to step up the pressure for the deepening of electoral reforms particularly the measures suggested by the Justice Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reforms Committee to strengthen the institutional autonomy of INEC. Dr Jonathan has only capitalised in the slackening of the struggle for deeper electoral reforms to seek to manipulate existing weaknesses to his electoral advantage. Third, neither the opposition nor the media has any excuse for not monitoring INEC’s handling of Permanent Voters Cards more closely and blowing the whistle early enough for identified anomalies to be addressed.

    Can Dr Jonathan get away successfully with his current efforts to manipulate the elections in his favour? I do not think so. The weight of public opinion is too much against him. Indeed, his complicity in the postponement of the elections has only further exposed his administration’s vulnerable underbelly. The truth is that the all-powerful Nigerian President has demonstrated a visceral fear of people’s power by desperately trying to avoid elections by all means. A President who won and celebrated a pan-Nigerian victory in 2011 is obviously scared of a pan-Nigerian defeat in 2015. It is a grand irony. This unprecedented presidential fear of elections is itself a great victory for the Nigerian people. Dr Jonathan cannot postpone the ever increasing momentum for change forever.

    Furthermore, history is not on Dr Jonathan’s side. All Nigerian leaders before him who tried one form of tenure elongation or the other failed abysmally. He will not be an exception. In attempts at electoral manipulation and tenure elongation of this nature, there are always unanticipated consequences that the manipulators are not prepared for. For instance, are Dr Jonathan and his accomplices sure that all PDP members are with them on this project? How are they sure that some PDP members are not silently rooting for a Buhari presidency?

    Again, have those engaged in these manipulations pondered the implications of the brazen utilization of the military for partisan purposes? A cardinal lesson of Nigerian history is that it is when partisan politics intervenes in the Nigerian military through the nefarious activities of unscrupulous politicians that the military are opportune to intervene in politics. Let no Nigerian politician, least of all Dr Jonathan, think that the Nigerian military has any special love for them. The military professionals are trained experts in the art of camouflage. As Chief Adisa Akinloye perceptively noted in 1983, there are only two political parties in Nigeria – the politicians and the military. A word should be sufficient to the wise.

  • Teflon president-in waiting

    SIR: Teflon is a kind of plastic often applied on pans to prevent food from sticking to them. If anything can be said about the developments in Nigeria’s political arena these days, it is that Gen. Buhari, the APC presidential candidate is really”Mr. Teflon.”

    In its panic mode, the PDP campaign organization of President Goodluck Jonathan has thrown everything at its disposal at him. None, nil, nada has been able to stick!

    First, political darts were thrown to no effect. At age 72, Buhari was declared to be too old to be President by over-weight pot-bellied political hounds that cannot even outrace the General in a 50 metre race! Their contentions were laid bare when the honourable people of Tunisia elected an 88-year old gentleman as President of their country.

    Next, they went into the kitchen and started throwing everything at him. General Buhari has cancer they screamed. No luck! His doctors promptly disabused their minds and brains; they have become befuddled.

    They picked up another refrain; Buhari has no secondary school leaving certificate. For a time, it looked like their allegation would gain traction. Then the General displayed what made him a General; strategy! In a concerted, well-orchestrated response, all of the institutions the General attended made public all of the information in their possession. All of the information released by these institutions point to the fact that Gen. Buhari has satisfied the requirements of the appropriate section of the Nigerian Constitution. They have not stopped. Gen. Buhari wants to convert Nigerians to the Islamic faith, they avow, even though at all the times he has run for the office, his running mates have been Christians! Another blatant lie. However, Gen. Buhari gets more popular by the day and the endorsement by the people that really matter, the voters, are coming in bunches.

    The PDP and its cohorts, in my humble opinion, have two problems. First are the memories of the Nigerian people. They have gone through both administrations; Jonathan’s and General Buhari’s. They remember and prefer Buhari’s two years in office over Dr. Jonathan’s six years in office. The differences are just too glaring! Hence, they have picked up Gen. Buhari’s refrain of “change.”

    The second problem is encapsulated in late Chief S. L. Akintola’s memorable assertion – You have not suffered in life and you say you are wise. Who is your teacher? This assertion is a major problem for the PDP. Nigerians have suffered tremendously. And they are still suffering. Finally, the die is cast, the last straw has broken the camel’s back and they do not want to suffer anymore. They have smartened up!

    Nigerians want results now not promises. They want the electric power they pay for not the darkness that hovers over them for days, months even years. They want roads, hospitals, schools, and social services which they know the country can pay for but which have been denied them by peculator incumbents of public offices. They have realized that now is the time for good governance, not good luck! Nowhere in the world has good luck built a country. Instead, honesty, integrity, consistency, commitment, visionary leadership, cooperation and character build nations.

    Like Barack Obama, who rode into office on the crest of a popular political movement that destroyed every political “monument” or obelisk in its path in 2008, Buhari’s train is riding through the thick and thin of the needless hurdles being put in its path by mediocre political midgets, political prostitutes and hirelings of no consequence to the country, with the ease of a knife going through butter.

    Honestly, seems to me like this is Buhari’s divine assignment. He has a date with destiny.

    • Angelicus-M. B. Onasanya,

     Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State

  • President: Those accusing me of sponsoring Boko Haram are mad

    President: Those accusing me of sponsoring Boko Haram are mad

    President Goodluck Jonathan has described those accusing him as the sponsor of Boko Haram as mad people, saying only “a mad man” will  level such accusation against him.

    He said this while speaking in Yola during the continuation of his presidential campaign, insisting that the Federal Government was determined to fight insurgency and root out Boko Haram from the country.

    The president also announced the recovery of Michika Local Government Area from insurgents today.

    He said Federal troops liberated Michika Local Government, adding that soldiers would proceed to capture Madagali and other areas still under insurgency.

    He called on the people of Adamawa State to vote him into office, promising to liberate the country from insurgency.

    Amid shouts of “sai Buhari” at the Muhammadu Ribadu Square, the President vowed to do more, if re-elected on  February 14.

    The National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu,  announced the lifting of the suspension placed on Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Chief Joel Madaki.

    He called on the two men to work hard for the unity of the PDP in Adamawa State.

  • President: Those accusing me of sponsoring Boko Haram are mad

    President: Those accusing me of sponsoring Boko Haram are mad

    President Goodluck Jonathan has described those accusing him as the sponsor of Boko Haram as mad people, saying only “a mad man” will  level such accusation against him.

    He said this while speaking in Yola during the continuation of his presidential campaign, insisting that the Federal Government was determined to fight insurgency and root out Boko Haram from the country.

    The president also announced the recovery of Michika Local Government Area from insurgents today.

    He said Federal troops liberated Michika Local Government, adding that soldiers would proceed to capture Madagali and other areas still under insurgency.

    He called on the people of Adamawa State to vote him into office, promising to liberate the country from insurgency.

    Amid shouts of “sai Buhari” at the Muhammadu Ribadu Square, the President vowed to do more, if re-elected on  February 14.

    The National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Adamu Muazu,  announced the lifting of the suspension placed on Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and Chief Joel Madaki.

    He called on the two men to work hard for the unity of the PDP in Adamawa State.

  • ‘Buhari not too old to be President’

    ‘Buhari not too old to be President’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, is not too old to be President, the party’s Lagos State chapter has said.

    In a statement by its spokesman, Joe Igbokwe, the party said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its members have indirectly been campaigning for the APC through their utterances and actions.

    “In their futile bids to stop candidate Buhari they have angered Nigerians who now feel that the man is being persecuted for nothing,” Igbokwe said.

    APC Lagos faulted PDP’s claims that Gen. Buhari is too old and unfit to be president.

    “Now look at this: President Robert Mugabe is still ruling Zimbabwe at the age of 90 even though this is not a good example.

    “Beji Caid Essebsi has just been elected at 88 as the president of Tunisia. Anerood Jugnauth is the Prime Minister of Mauritius at 84.

    “Karolos Papoulias is the President of Greece at 85. The late President Mandela started ruling South Africa at more than 75 years old. Eamon De Valera ruled Ireland at 90. Shimon Peres ruled Israel at 90.

    “Arthur Pasizade is the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan at 79. Raul Castro is the President of Cuba at 83. Paul Biya is the President of Cameroon at 81. I can go on and on.

    “Candidate Buhari has been campaigning throughout the country while the death wishers think he has cancer. This is no longer politics but wickedness.

    “Again this stupid and wicked attempt to belittle the image of candidate Buhari has backfired and consequently pushed more votes to the man,” Igbokwe said.

    The party spokesman said the call by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki for the postponement of next month’s elections shows that the “PDP and the President handlers cannot think and have run short of ideas.”

    Igbokwe said: “Millions of Nigerians think PDP is jittery and afraid of the impending defeat, possible humiliation and collapse of the party.

    “The NSA and PDP have been pushing millions of sympathisers to APC without knowing it.

    “To suggest that presidential elections should be shifted means a third term agenda for President Jonathan and these people do not see that Nigerians hate the idea which is unconstitutional.”

    According to Igbokwe, PDP treats its supporters and members with scorn and levity. ”Arrogance, overzealousness and inability to manage success have ruined PDP and made millions of its supporters to look for shelter in APC.”

    Igbokwe said despite the threat of some Southsouth leaders, many now feel Nigeria can do without oil.

    “In fact they believe that disappearance of oil will make us to reason, think, plan and dream big,” he said.

    The APC spokesman said the controverial advert sponsored by Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose could have put the nation in jeopardy “if it was not well managed by eminent Nigerians.”

    “It was a day Fayose took primordial sentiments and ethnic preoccupation to a frightened dimension. It could have been worse…”