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Tag: tinubu

  • Tinubu condoles with family

    The national leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), has described as shocking and unbelievable the tragic death of veteran journalist Dimgba Igwe.

    He said, “The tribe of great journalists in Nigeria has again been depleted by this sudden death. It is indeed a sad day for the media and all those that were associated with Dimgba.  He was a thorough bred journalist and writer who remained steadfast and lifted the Sun newspapers to a position of reckoning.”

    The former Lagos State governor, who described the circumstances of his death as painful and avoidable said it was a great loss that saddens him deeply, “I knew Dimgba personally and respected his professional contributions to building our country.  I recall vividly my encounter with him. Dimgba and Mike Awoyinfa after chasing me down interviewed me for close to three hours on the book they were writing on Lagos State and the post military era development. It was an enjoyable experience.

    “My condolences go out to his wife and family and all relatives. I pray God will grant them strength for this period and peace in abundance. “

  • Tinubu replies Ikimi.

    Tinubu replies Ikimi.

    I ordinarily would not have responded to Tom Ikimi’s lengthy chronicle of falsehoods, cheap blackmail and abuse. My only reason for this response is that I know Tom Ikimi’s style. He subscribes to the view that no matter how unbelievable a lie may sound if you brazenly assertit and repeat it often enough you may persuade many that it is in fact true.  I have seenIkimi perpetrate this deviousness in his years in public life.
    1. Regarding Ikimi’s bid for the Chairmanship of the Party. It was clear to practically everyone who had the interest of the party at heart that we simply could not have a man of Tom Ikimi’s antecedents as Chair of the party. As chairman of the NRC, one of the only two political parties in the country under the military transition programme, Tom Ikimi not only connived with the then military regime to annul the elections, terminate the democratic process and sell off his party. He became Abacha’s foreign minister, convincing the world that heinous state murders like the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa were just acts! If Ikimi were the Chair of APC the party would have to sleep with both eyes open lest its chairman sell off the party before day break .No matter what anyone may say about me it is unlikely that I can be accused of supporting incompetent or morally light-weight individuals for important political positions. My philosophy is to put the best forward, menand women of competence and integrity, who can stand up to us politicians to challenge us and say no when necessary. Such people are not noisy or able to gain attention by being loud, I believe my role is to do all I can to project them. Who in their right mind would compare the highly principled Chief Bisi Akande, or Chief Oyegun with a Tom Ikimi? Either of these two men are known for their no-nonsense styles, not once in their careers would you hear that they betrayed a cause or were anybody’s stooge.
    2. Ikimi also concocts a story of a meeting he claims I had with Deziani on the Oando/ ConocoPhillips transaction on the eve of the APC Convention.
    Only a Tom Ikimi can come up with the absurd falsehood that on the eve of the APC Convention when I was in crucial meetings practically round the clock I was meeting with the Minister for Petroleum! What exactly would have been the point of such a meeting especially on the eve of the Convention? Was it to prevent Tom Ikimi from emerging as Chairman of the APC? To what end? Of what value would it be to anyone except Ikimi himself? Besides if this was so why he is back to the same party that purportedly planned his down fall?
    What is the Oando/ConocoPhillips transaction anyway? For those who do not know this is a private sale of the assets of ConocoPhillips to Oando.  It was not patronage of any kind from the Federal government. The Federal government’s involvement was merely to formally consent to the sale. I was not involved and I have never been involved in any of Oando’s transactions.
    Typically he plays on the fact that Wale Tinubu of Oando is my nephew.  Oando has been thoroughly investigated by South African and British authorities in the past 5 years as part of the process of listing the company on the stock exchanges of those countries. Those rigorous and comprehensive investigations conducted by the governments and risk control investigators are to discover the actual ownership of shares in the company. Politically exposed persons like myself are prime targets for those investigations. All these investigations have shown that I have no investments in Oando. My public position on the entire transaction is that if an indigenous Nigerian oil and gas entity run by young serious minded Nigerians raise money transparently in the international capital markets to purchase private assets of a multi-national the Federal government ought to give its consent. That it took so long is shameful. The Conoco/Phillips transaction was a $1.7 billion dollars investment in Nigeria that would create more jobs,witness the establishment of allied industries and make the Nigerian Economy more attractive. I would have been extremely proud to have made such a transaction possible.
    3. Regarding the nonsense about selling out on Ribadu. I think common sense should dictate that if ever such a deal were reached we would have had to inform our members in all the States. How could that have been done secretly? How do you tell hundreds of thousands of people not to vote for your own party without it becoming public knowledge?

    At the formation of the APC, a crucial debate ensued about what to do about persons like Ikimi who had done awful things in the past, but who were now minded to align with the progressive tendency in Nigerian politics. Should we forever blacklist them? This would have been the easiest route, but it would have kept rancor alive. It would have made us slaves to the bleakest chapters of our past. Instead we opted to extend the hand of brotherhood, reconcile and put the past behind us. This would enable a broader political consensus, while also giving the likes of Ikimi an opportunity to atone for their grievous wrongs against the people and be rehabilitated.
    We recognized that many leading Nigerians had committed acts of shame. Some for private profit, others who were otherwise decent people who had become prisoners to a terrible system.

    Not surprisingly, Ikimi acting true to type abuse that magnanimity. He was never sincerely committed to the party. He was always playing out a PDP script. He only wanted the chairmanship of the party as a bargaining chip for negotiations with his benefactors.  His defection purportedly on account of the loss of the chairmanship of the party is a mere subterfuge, once his ploy failed he had no other objective within the party, I knew he would go back to his sponsors. He is back in the company he deserves. And APC is better for it.

    -Bola Ahmed Tinubu

  • Ikimi, Tinubu and APC

    Ikimi, Tinubu and APC

    Chief  Tom Ikimi, who is the latest mani festation of the virus of political vagrancy in Nigeria, deserves commendation for at least rigorously, meticulously and logically attempting to justify and rationalise his decision to quit the All Progressives Congress (APC). His treatise, titled ‘My Reflections’, is no doubt a valuable document for students of Nigerian politics. Of course, like all analysts and historians, he tells his story from his own perspective based on certain assumptions, facts and values that others may consider biased, selective, self-serving and jaundiced. But that is no sin. After all, others can also write their own version of history in which they are puritans, saints and principled heroes no matter the depth of their ideological and moral bankruptcy. Ikimi is a rebel with a grouse. His pain is that he was prevented from emerging as National Chairman of an APC that he believes he worked harder than any other person to bring into being.

    Chief Ikimi writes with passion about his commitment and sacrifice towards constructing an alternative political platform to challenge the PDP for power. His vision is that of a Nigeria in which power oscillates periodically between two dominant parties through the ballot box. But what would be the ideological content of such political platforms? Would power simply rotate between the two alternate parties for its own sake? Should the APC seek to replace the PDP only to continue with the same bankrupt neo-liberal and excessively centrist political and economic policies that have spelled disaster for Nigeria since 1999? Ideology hardly features in Ikimi’s lengthy treatise on party construction. He thus does not see the irony when he writes that “It is not a coincidence to me that the prominent members of APC targeted by Bola Tinubu such as Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, Senator Ali Modu Sherrif and myself as former NRC member are those perceived as conservatives”. Pray, what are professed conservatives doing in a supposedly progressive party? As the APC Chairman, Chief Odigie-Oyegun rightly noted as regards the on-going party defections and counter defections, “What is happening really is that the PDP and APC are being purified. All the birds that ought to flock together are beginning to fly together. That is a good thing for the country; it is good for the APC and the PDP”.

    Unfortunately, the rigour and quality of Ikimi’s analysis is blunted by his obsessive preoccupation with the person of Tinubu. As far as Ikimi is concerned, Tinubu is the alpha and omega of his woes in the APC. Adopting crude ‘bolekaja’ tactics, he employs rumour, innuendo, unproven insinuations and even gossip in an attempt to savage Tinubu’s reputation. For instance, he asserts that Tinubu boasts that he is the sole financier of the APC. He does not tell us where and to whom such claims were made. In any case, Tinubu has been known to have given strong financial support to whatever political causes he believes in right from the pro-democracy struggle that resulted in the present political dispensation. Wondering about the source of Tinubu’s wealth, Ikimi alludes to “whispers in the inner circles of the party” that “Tinubu is the recipient and dispenser of bags and bags of party funds” as well as “the beneficiary of most of the lucrative contracts in all the ACN states without exception”. The respected chief does not give a scintilla of concrete evidence to support these insinuations. In any case, Ikimi is himself a man of immense wealth and there is no evidence that his riches “derive from any stupendous inheritance, ancient or modern”.

    Utilising one’s financial resources to further set political objectives is no sin. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was able to found and run viable political parties in the first and second republics as well establish as the country’s oldest private newspaper in the country because he had the means to do so. This is why the vindictive Coker Commission of Enquiry accused him of building a political empire around himself based on financial wealth – the same kind of allegation levelled against Tinubu today. When the defunct National Concord newspaper mischievously published that Awolowo owned 360 plots of land in Maroko in 1983, the sage famously noted that “if a poor man is fighting for the poor, he is accused of being jealous of the rich and if a rich man fights for the poor, he is asked to first of all go and commit class suicide!” He wondered how he could have sustained his political struggles if did not have a solid financial base. MKO Abiola’s wealth was a key factor in enabling him to build the national political network responsible for his decisive victory in the June 12, 1993, presidential election.

    According to Ikimi, Tinubu boasts that “he has control of all the votes from South West Nigeria”. We are not told where or when such an absurd claim was or to whom. Yes, Tinubu and the tendency he symbolises has become a major force in the politics of the South West. No one familiar with the politics of the Yoruba will ever claim that he is the custodian of “all the votes” of such a proud and politically sophisticated people. Ikimi apparently underrates Tinubu’s intelligence. There is a major contradiction that runs through Ikimi’s otherwise rigorous analysis. On the one hand, he creates a superhuman image of a Tinubu who dominates the APC and can manipulate and steer the party in any direction he wants for his selfish interest. On the other hand, he brilliantly paints the picture of the APC as an emergent dynamic party with contending and countervailing interests that are simply too volatile and unpredictable for one man to dominate.

    Some of the contending forces at play within the APC, as rightly noted by Ikimi include regional caucuses, legislative caucuses, the influential governors’ forum as well as caucuses built around such powerful individual politicians like General Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Given the vitality and vibrancy of these interests, it is impossible, for instance, for one person or tendency to unilaterally determine the colouration of the party’s presidential ticket. The final decision will be the outcome of intricate and delicate negotiations, balancing, compromises and trade- offs. At the end of the day the party’s saving grace will be transparent, free and fair primaries conducted in strict fidelity to the party constitution. Going by Ikimi’s own logic, for instance, Tinubu would have wanted Chief Bisi Akande to continue as National Chairman because of his alleged preference for a “weak national leadership” that could be easily manipulated. At the end of the day, Ikimi writes, Tinubu and others had to reach a compromise that resulted in the emergence of the current APC leadership. That is the beauty of democracy. It completely makes nonsense of Ikimi’s attempt to portray the APC as a one-man party.

    Ikimi is unhappy that Tinubu “parades himself as party leader and leader of opposition”. That Tinubu is a notable leader of the APC and has been at the forefront of political opposition since 1999 is beyond dispute. It is impossible for Ikimi to re-write history. His insinuation that Chief Bisi Akande and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun are ‘weak’ leaders vulnerable to external manipulation is completely misguided. A core and unrepentant Awoist, Akande is as principled and spartanly disciplined as they come. His perceived rigidity on principles is a major reason why he lost the 2003 governorship election in Osun despite his sterling performance in office. Ace columnist, Professor Olatunji Dare, who is not flippant with praise, has attested to Oyegun’s character, competence and ability. Given his years of experience in politics and the tireless efforts he contributed to the merger that resulted in the APC, Ikimi should look beyond Tinubu for his failure to emerge as the party’s national chairman. It is not impossible that he is being haunted by the moral burden of his political past.

  • Tinubu: governor battled tyranny

    Tinubu: governor battled tyranny

    National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday hailed the re-election of Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    But he described as “abominable, the militarisation of the state before and during the election.

    To the former Lagos State governor, Aregbesola “bruised the head of tyranny” to snatch victory.

    Tinubu praised Aregbesola for standing firm in the face of state-sponsored terror against his person,  his government and the people of Osun State.” Your victory is the victory of good leadership over a leadership with tyrannical tendencies.

    “You and the people of the state of Osun have sent a clear and unambiguous message to all usurpers and individuals who exploit power to abuse and deny the people their rights. We have heard you and we take heed as a party,” the APC and Nigerians.

    “The lessons from Osun abides. We should never take for granted what we have else the gangsters in power will forcibly take it from us . What happened in Osun was abominable.

    “The massing of the military and over sixty thousand security men to intimidate and harrass a peaceful people is the sign of an unsecure government and party.

    “It is a pre – condition to manipulate and perpetrate electoral fraud. Under any democracy, there can be no moral or political  justification for the security armada against our party leaders and followers in Osun.

    “The implications  for our democracy fortels of dire consequences.

    “But the APC and its vast membership nationwide will not sit idly by and allow a band of gangsters determine our future simply because they happen to be in privileged positions.

    “Osun has demonstrated that it is possible to confront them. On our part, we accept this challenge. Aregbesola runs a government that places primacy on a social welfare philosophy that pursues vigorously the vision of socio – economic empower ment and developmental ethos rooted in the progressive orientation of the Yoruba nation. The people of Osun are lucky to have him as their governor and for a time such as this.

    “Our Osun victory reignites and marks the next phase of taking Nigeria back.

    “Osun re-energises us to the common good, a commitment to the people and an unbending commitment to ensure Nigeria is governed better,” he said.

  • Photo: Tinubu, Fashola celebrating Aregbesola’s victory

    Photo: Tinubu, Fashola celebrating Aregbesola’s victory

  • Don’t give up on Nigeria – Tinubu

    Don’t give up on Nigeria – Tinubu

    Former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday urged Muslim faithfuls to imbibe the lessons learnt during the holy month of Ramadan.

    The former governor made the call in his Sallah message to Muslims in the country.

    He urged them to continue to pray for unity of the country.

    He said, “We must not give up on Nigeria particularly in the face of our current security and political challenges. We shall overcome if we all remain steadfast in our patriotism and prayers.

    “We must at all times imbibe the spirit of unity, no matter our religious or political affiliation or ethnic grouping. Nigeria belongs to us all and all must come together to defend our togetherness.

    “Those that insist that they are more patriotic than other Nigerians because of different political or religious affiliations must desist. They do this country great harm by seeking to exploit our present circumstances to gain political space and advantage.

    “At the end of it all, no one is greater than Nigeria as we will guide our unity with a singularity of purpose and superiority of vision.

    “I call on all well-meaning Nigerians of all faiths to seek the face of God at this most trying of times. Insurgency is an unwanted and dangerous guest in our midst; we must be resolute and consistent in confronting it. We can only do this with a united front.”

  • Tinubu: we’re all marked people

    Tinubu: we’re all marked people

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu lamented yesterday that the country is in the grip of terror.

    He also castigated the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration for its “bungling, back passing and blackmailing Presidency”.

    Tinubu issued a statement, “Attack on Buhari and innocent Nigerians” to denounce the Kaduna explosions.

    It said:  “The multiple bomb attack today on General Buhari, one of the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and innocent Nigerians confirms that our county is in the grip of terror. Sadly, we are  in the hands of a bungling, buck passing and blackmailing presidency.

    “I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on General Buhari and his convoy. And the  innocent Nigerians that suffered untimely deaths.  I thank God that  Gen. Buhari’s  life was spared for greater service to the fatherland. Under an increasingly incompetent and incoherent PDP- government, Nigeria slips into a low intensity war. We are all marked people under a government that prefers to label and attack opposition rather than apply itself to providing security and good governance.

    “Today’s multiple attacks are a bad omen that signposts a future filled with danger and uncertainty. Unfortunately, Nigeria is saddled with a leadership totally intolerant of ideas, suggestions and advice that do not emanate from them. We in the APC has put forward concrete suggestions which have been consistently rejected and sneered at by the PDP-led Jonathan government.

    “Instead of reaching out and paying attention to our suggestions, they have turned the guns on us and are manipulating and doctoring reports and stories to label us. It is a label that is false. It is a label that will not stick. We are patriots and stand united against anyone who wants to do this great country harm.

    “This government has raised the art of scapegoating to a new level. Rather than govern, they have politicised everything to the detriment of Nigerians and Nigeria.

    “There can be no justification for the continued loss of innocent lives and the unending attacks. I call upon those with the power, the resources and in charge of the security apparatus of this country to get up and do something before we all are consumed.”

  • Is Tinubu the problem with Nigeria?

    Is Tinubu the problem with Nigeria?

    These past weeks have not been any different from the past months; Nigeria has been stumbling from one crisis to another, from one killing to another, from one scandal to another from one distasteful act of impunity to more disquieting acts of impunity and so on. In all of these there is no hope that things will quieten down anytime soon or indeed that we have seen/heard the worst. Things happen with such varying degrees of absurdity and at such frenetic pace, that it is not feasible for any ‘breaking news’ to grab our attention for any length of time. The military clampdown on some media organizations and seizure of their newspapers is distant memory. The infamous tragicomic only you waka come rendition has had its screenplay hijacked and adapted only for pure comedy away from the horror show that it so cruelly depicted. The Chibok saga is still in the news thankfully because of the  #Bring back our girls campaign. Even at that, the fact that Onyeka Onwenu and Kema Chikwe both frontline national women leaders publicly doubted the fact of the Chibok abduction is faint memory.

    The bombings in Abuja have receded from our memory to be replaced for now with the apprehension of where next. The Ekiti election has come and gone and any messages, if at all, drowned out by contrived public commentary which very much mirrors a situation where a commentator watching a football match at Onikan Stadium will be commentating on a basketball match at National Stadium. If the election itself is distant memory, then talk less of the interview, Senator Ayo Arise gave, penultimate day to the election, on national breakfast television where with the typical arrogance of ‘today’s people’ he boasted of certain victory. His deep insights included the fact that the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan had made money available to the Fayose campaign and so they will outmatch the APC cash-wise! That kind of talk has not been worthy of any further analysis, not even in the short-lived post-Ekiti debate.

    The polarization of the country has obviously fractured every institution and every profession and it takes the deeply discerning to have a fair idea as to what is really going on because in most cases reportage or public discourse is only the end product of serious back room strategy by various interest groups. So when in the past few weeks, personal attacks and ‘damaging’ reviews, overviews and opinion pieces started appearing regarding Senator Bola Tinubu, my senses went into auto alert. When the brilliant Rudolf Okonkwo of Sahara Reporters joined the fray, I knew the onslaught was akin to the Ekiti election, ‘operation blanket cover’ and like the Ekiti version with seamless execution – no blood, only tears which dry very fast!

    Many commentators even blame Tinubu for the APC Ekiti ‘loss’, tracking his overbearing godfatherism as responsible for the revolt of the Ekiti people. The line of argument being that Ekiti people do not want to be ruled from Lagos. Presumably the security cover for the election was provided by proud independent Ekiti people. Also the money referred to by Ayo Arise did not carry any ‘foreign’ stamp. Indeed the argument stretches to cover the proposition that the Ekiti loss is the signpost of APC’s impending death because of an overbearing godfather, which has suddenly become exclusive to Tinubu and a cardinal sin in Nigeria’s politics! What confuses me further, is deciding whether to be persuaded whether Governor Fayemi lost because of Tinubu’s unpopularity or Fayose’s popularity in Ekiti? In my view a marriage of both positions is contradictory and will remain so even in this era of same-sex marriage. Still more confusing is the general, albeit grudging admission that Governor Fayemi governed Ekiti conscientiously and prudently and transformed Ekiti State even if not to the level of ‘uncommonality’ but definitely beyond the scope of the states resources. So if Ekiti was being run from Lagos, are we also insinuating that Tinubu should be seen as the non resident architect of that rare example of good governance? At times I wonder what to make of public discourse in Nigeria; it gets too complicated and confusing.

    Excuse the digression, but in truth that is what this piece is about. It is about our inability as a people to correctly tune in and stay focused on issues for any length of time, the issues that affect our overall well being as a people. It is so easy to divert our attention and I give it to the strategists of the government, they are getting better at the art. How can we in all good conscience analyse the Ekiti election without analysing the fact of misuse of military power and its bearing on our nascent democracy. So in a boxing match if one boxer is tied to one spot and consequently pummelled to submission by his mobile opponent, we should take the view that the restraint was not important because being smaller in stature and lacking crowd support he would have lost anyway! Or perhaps that his coach was too overbearing! Why do we not surmise rather that the people who put the restraints are not fools and that if victory had been assured they will not have resorted to such absurdity? If Fayose and PDP were so popular, and Fayemi, APC and Tinubu so unpopular, why the resort to all manner of crudity? I know Fayose may be rough but is not foolish, PDP may be ‘anything goes’ but is not a stupid party and my dear president Jonathan is clued up on winning elections.

    Tinubu has been accused of many things and not having sufficient information, it will be foolhardy for me to attempt any defence. That is also not the objective of this piece. It is a notorious fact that Tinubu is living large today and being a party leader of a formidable party in the Nigerian setting, with the attendant ‘responsibilities’. I will not argue with anybody who takes the view that his stint as governor and now party godfather has conferred other benefits for which many will not mind the attendant sleepless nights!

    My view though is that the ruling party sees Tinubu as the single most significant factor that can threaten its continued dominance of power in Nigeria. His energy and organisational ‘never say die’ determination has in their view been allowed to go too far. So time to take him out. Take him out and the opposition will fracture and evaporate. So there is a concerted effort not only to criminalise opposition politics but also rubbish Tinubu the arrowhead and even blame him in crocodile tears fashion, for his party’s simulated impending death so as to create doubt and confusion in the ranks of its supporters and other opposition politicians. In Nigeria’s fickle and monetized political culture, it will take genius, guile, money, luck and superhuman perseverance to overcome the desperate antics of a party with no qualms about using every trick in its huge divisive bag of tricks.

    All the talk of godfatherism and definition of who is or not a progressive are just to goad the opposition to restructure APC into another National Conscience Party, a party populated with only progressives but which is yet to win any election. Of what use are all the progressive ideas in the world and saintliness of operators if the result is not access to the power required to effect those progressive ideas?

    What seems to scare the PDP is the realization that APC also understands Realpolitik and that Tinubu a product of the NADECO struggle who survived, Babangida,  Abacha and later Obasanjo has a few tricks up his sleeve too and may just lead APC into Aso Rock by road whilst the PDP machinery is deployed at the airport!

     

    • Ukpong, is a Lagos-based legal practitioner
  • Loan meant to buy casket for democracy, says Tinubu

    Loan meant to buy casket for democracy, says Tinubu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for $1 billion (about N165 billion) is not for fighting terrorism, as the government wants everyone to believe.

    The frontline politician said the loan would be spent to wage war against opposition and scuttle democracy.

    He noted that the administration would not be transparent in expending the loan, adding that its records showed a deep-rooted mismanagement of the nation’s resources and abuses.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos, Tinubu said: “The news that President Jonathan has requested the National Assembly to approve his request to seek a loan of one billion dollars, purportedly to battle Boko Haram terrorism, should lead any person with sober conscience to fall out of their chair.

    “If only our spendthrift President attacked terrorism with the daring by which he assaults democracy and our common sense, there would be no need for any expenditure. Boko Haram would have been vanquished many yesterdays ago.

    “Yet, Boko Haram continues stalking us because the President would rather play tricks than govern as a statesman. The bottom line is that the only thing remotely military about this massive request is that it serves to camouflage a sinister aim. The man seeks to bolster the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) electoral war chest on the backs of the victims of terror and on the heaviness of our collective fear of the terrorist’s threat. In cloaking the request as part of the battle against terror, he believes no one will have the courage to object and this will enable him to get away with what should not be gotten away.

    “He is not asking for help in tackling terror.  He is asking us to turn a blind eye and empty mind to an abject heist. This is as cynical a measure as a national leader has ever undertaken during the time of national calamity.  He demeans his office and the nation in this time of crisis. Of all things, he now subordinates the gravest national threat we have faced in four decades to his desire to hold on to office.

    “Yet, do we know precisely what the loan is for? No. What will they purchase that has already not been set to purchase? No one knows. Again, by saying this is to fight terror, we are supposed to act blind, deaf and dumb or rush to congratulate him for his new found vigour. At best, he appears as a Johnny-come-lately to the fight against Boko Haram. This man has been commander-in-chief for over three years. Where has he been? He has been ensconced in the cosy, safe confines of Aso Villa, giving less than a care about the ravaging of northern Nigeria.

    “It was only upon hiring a foreign Public Relations (PR) firm did he begin to act as if Boko Haram and the Chibok crisis exist. Before that, he was sleepwalking in the midst of the storm around us.

    “I fear hired handlers may have told him to do this thing because it will help him get elected and will make it appear to the outside world that he is doing something. Johnny-come-lately is also now on stage, dancing and performing in dual capacity, as Johnny do-the-wrong-thing and Johnny-wrong-step.

    “Hasn’t he presented the National Assembly defence bills and budgets totalling over three trillion naira in the past three years? Boko Haram has been terrorising throughout this period. Tell me, what has changed, what is so different now that he must stack another $1 billion atop the funds already given him to defend and protect the nation? The answer is nothing, except that elections are approaching.

    “Thus, we are left with two alternatives. In the past three years, he has been so bereft of conscience and derelict in duty that he presented defence budgets, which are woefully inadequate to face the challenge we all could plainly see before us. Alternatively, he has been so bereft of conscience and derelict in duty that he has squandered the money given him in the worst of ways, giving contracts to cronies and leaving our frontline soldiers without boots or bullets.

    “Now, he asks us to applaud his request for $1 billion loan. He and his claque have siphoned money from the states to deposit in the illegal Excess Crude Account/Sovereign Wealth Fund. The government said it did this unconstitutional confiscation of state and local funds to save for a ‘rainy day’. Well, terror is reigning over and down on us from all sides. The blood of the innocent rains on our national conscience.

    “If those who control this money do not think we are not now in the hands of calamity, then there will be no other earthly occurrence that may ply their hands into releasing the people’s money for the people’s security and well-being. In short, there is no need for the loan. If the funds are truly needed for our collective safety, Nigeria has the money.

    “But Jonathan seeks to borrow money because of his foreign handlers. They have told him, if he borrows from abroad and spends that same money aboard, he will win the favour of foreign lenders, arms contractors and assorted business ventures. These people will, in turn, pressure their governments to love Jonathan where they now loathe him and his incompetent handling of high matters of state. As such, he can then ramrod his way through the 2105 elections and not risk international reaction. This is the plan. This loan is not intended to defend Nigeria any more than a pig is built for aerial flight. It is intended to launder his image and buy foreign favour that he may conduct his coming electoral misdeed in international silence.

    “In reality, this loan will be used to buy the election and pay for the intimidation of the opposition and the electorate. Most of it will go into the PDP coffers. The portion which finds its way to the Armed Forces and security agencies will be to purchase their services in suppressing all who are not PDP. The loan will not be to fight terrorism. It will be to fight the legitimate dissent.

    “Thus, the President’s request should be rejected categorically, for he seeks not to use the money to construct a safe haven for the people. He seeks the money to build a casket for democracy.

    “I want to rid this nation of Boko Haram but I also am not prepared to be fooled by a trickster and his tricks on this important point. Given his track record of corrupt expenditure, the burden of proof lies with Jonathan. If more money is truly needed to tackle Boko Haram, I have no qualms with it. Before we get there, the President must give the nation a full accounting of what happened with the vast funds already allocated. If we need more funds, let it come from the illegal funds the government now controls.

    “Moreover, if money is needed, the National Assembly must institute a special fund and exercise special control and monitoring over the sum. All expenditure must be audited by impartial experts so that the funds are used solely for the battle against Boko Haram and not for partisan objectives.”

  • Soyinka is conscience of our nation, says Tinubu

    Soyinka is conscience of our nation, says Tinubu

    Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka is the conscience of the nation.

    In a statement yesterday in Lagos by his Media Office, Tinubu said: “No word can describe what you have achieved as a professional  and a patriot. You are one of a kind. You have become the conscience of our nation, pricking us and alerting us to the dangers ahead. You have not stopped there; you have gone further to proffer solutions in a timely and comprehensive manner on how to move things forward. Your words and interventions continue to resonate here at home and globally.

    “You remain one of the few  truly celebrated Nigerian icons and a solid and powerful voice. Indeed, one of the very few powerful voices who continue to speak up against injustice, inequality and creeping fascism. The more they try to diminish you, the more your status rise in distinction to their incoherence and verbiage. Each time they try to silence you, your voice rings out louder and clearer. You have always said: ‘The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.’ And you  are being proved right with our experience. We take instruction in these words of yours.

    “Nigeria’s search for true democracy remains on course because of your unrelenting and lucid interventions. Through the years, you have demonstrated a fierce commitment to the Nigerian project and worked assiduously with different groups and organisations in the singular effort to ensure that Nigeria’s democracy survives and we achieve an egalitarian society.

    “I identify with you in this struggle for a better and greater Nigeria and stand side by side with you in your condemnation of the impunity of the present administration and the demand you have made that the current Nigerian government has a case to answer for all the unconstitutional acts it is perpetrating.

    “I celebrate with you today. May you grow in wisdom and knowledge. May you find peace and remain in good health. Happy birthday.”