‘For Stability, Jonathan Should Forego 2015’

RUTH CHOJI

Honourable Mathew Omegara represents Isiala Mbano/Okigwe/Onuimo Federal Constituency, Imo State on the platform of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with selected journalists, including LEADERSHIP SUNDAY’s RUTH CHOJI, the chairman, House Committee on Reform of Government Institutions speaks on the FOI Act, N5000 note, 2015 and more.
What is the function of your committee?
The House Committee on Reform s of Government Institutions is principally set up to implement the FOI Act (Freedom of Information Act) which is about letting Nigerians know that, they have the right to know certain things about their government.
When our attention is brought to moribund institutions we take it up with the assembly and whoever is supervising it and then we advise the executive. Ours is to make the laws and then the executive would merge them where they have become irrelevant and continue to be a drain pipe to the Nigeria economy.
Nigerians will like to know the challenges your committee have faced and how effective it has been since inception?
Prior to the coming of FOI Act, we had a law called Official Secret Act. It was the monster left for us by the colonial master in 1911 and the coming in force of Freedom of Information Act when Mr. President signed it into law in 2011 is to upturn the Official Secret Act. It is a big challenge to ask people to forget about the whole way they do things and start in a new way.
The officials of government prefer to act in secrecy. They do things that they don’t want the public to know. They do it as if it is their personal act. For instance, a policeman will arrest somebody that is quarreling with his girlfriend and he will lock him up for seven days; he will not want to give you reasons why the man is arrested. We now try to let them know that, you cannot do that anymore.
The FOI Act throws the activities of government and their officials open; that whatever you do must be according to the law. For now my committee has embarked on enlightenment. I personally do not believe in law by ambush. We need to let Nigerians know that things have changed and then know those who want to resist the law and prescribe sanctions for them. There is also law to punish those who want to punish their subordinate for disclosing information.
But Nigerians are still complaining of not having access to information from government even with the law in place; how do we make top government officials obey this law?
The law has made it easier for those who want to get information. If you write and seek for information and that information is not given to you within the specified seven days as expressed in the law, you have the right to go to court. The judge does not necessarily need to see the person you are suing; the law permits the judge to give you a summary decision compelling the person holding that information, in as much as that information falls within the context of the law should release it to you without delay.
The information that you cannot access is clearly shown in the law, that information is something you will appreciate; it has to do with security. It is not everything; the way Mr. President runs the government day to day is not everything that will be given to you.
If Mr. President makes a budget to buy furniture, it is not part of the information that can be revealed. If it information about somebody trying to overthrow government in connivance with other people at large, the law says that information cannot be released until investigations is completed.
So that you do not jeopardize the investigations. I see the press as the enemies of the information act because they have refused to join in the enlightenment forum. Most times when we hold seminars and try to tell people their right, I still see people come to tell me that, they are gentlemen of the press, anything for the press? They want to me pay them for the work I am doing for them.
I have consistently accused the press of subverting the FoI Act. The press is the enemy of itself, and they only come out and name the FoI Act when they are arrested or molested. As soon as that goes down, they forget about it.
How successful has the law been since it was passed?
For those who know it, I can tell you that it has been a success. I recently receive a letter from somebody who wrote the PPRA on the subsidy record, the PPRA knowing the law quickly replied him with the information and then copied me as the chairman of the committee. Though the reply is not detailed, but there was an effort. The problem is that, Nigerians are not willing to sacrifice a moment to follow the due process and get the information they want.
Are there some categories of people that are exempted in the application of this law?
Nobody is exempted from this law; in fact we are preparing a memo for the Clerk to disclose certain formation to me. I have already written the accountant general of the federation to disclose what are the releases they have done to the national assembly and then I am asking the National Assembly Clerk how they have disbursed the money. I want the press to join us in this task by asking the ministries what they have done with the budget.
I saw some funny things in the budget over-head, four billion naira (#4b) capital projects, twp billion naira (#2b) how do you use four billion naira to supervise a project of two billion naira? How can this be justified? Give us details to show Nigerians. I am not to quarry them, Nigerians will quarry them. That is the benefit of the FoI Act.
As a member of the Aviation Committee, Nigerians have criticized the lifting of the suspension on the DANA airline. What is your take on this?
Our committee does not see to the day-to day running of the executive affairs; they have the right to conduct their own preliminary investigation and if from what they have, it is proved that the airline is not technically deficient, there is no reason why they cannot lift the ban for them to fly…
But what was the outcome of your investigation?
Our investigation is not yet concluded; we are still looking at the evidences. Whatever they have done will not have any effect on our recommendations. But we don’t have the technical knowhow to investigate the technical aspect of aircraft in the committees.
But personally, what do you think is the problem with our aviation sector?
I will not want to comment prematurely as a member of the committee that is investigating these matters.
What is your take on the proposed introduction of the #5,000 note.
I vehemently object to it. It does not make sense. The CBN governor as professional as he may claim to be as an economist is yet to convince me as a layman that after he has told us that we are moving into a cashless society, that he will now come and tell us that he is introducing five thousand naira note so that people can carry more money. It amaze me when I watch them on television saying ,the #5, 000 note will make it easy for transportation and carrying more
Are you saying that it is Sanusi that is a bad economist or the people that are against him?
I don’t have a degree in economics, but I have my head together. By the time we print N5,000 note, we will soon print N10,000, N20, 000 and on and on. Before we know it, we will become another Zimbabwe. I have three trillion Zimbabwe money in my house, when I made enquiries; it was not up to one naira.
There was lot of speculations that a lot of people smuggle millions of naira outside. So if you now reduce it, they will have no choice than to bring back all they took.
I don’t know which one to believe, but I know that it is senseless to continue to print #5,000 notes.
There were reports that some prominent Igbo leaders have endorsed President Jonathan for 2015, are you in support of this move
I have not heard that, but individuals have their right to do their thing. I have not attended any meeting where they discussed it. And whenever it is discussed, I will be able to say my mind. But I think when a man says something; he should keep to his words.
To save this country from anarchy and chaos, there is every need for Mr. President to withdraw and hold credible elections.
If a sitting president is not running for elections, the tendency that we will have credible elections for once will happen; a poll where we will have bio-data. When you put your National Identity card, you information will appear and when you put your thumb print, nobody can use It again. You lose an election; you will have no need to go to court. That is the kind of society I want to leave for my kids.
Leadership

Flooding: Food scarcity looms, expert warns

Jide Orintunsin

THE unprecedented flooding sweeping across many states of the federation is a threat to food security in the country and a sign of possible food scarcity next year, the Managing Director, Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority (UNRBDA), Professor Paul Shaba Marley warned yesterday.
Marley, a professor of crop production, told reporters in Minna, Niger State, that the floods have washed away many farmlands, especially in the North.
He said the country should therefore brace up for possible food scarcity on account of the devastating effect of the flooding.
The river basin authority boss pointed out that the volume of water associated with flood is inimical to crop production adding that except the water in the submerged farmlands recedes quickly, especially in places where cereals are grown in the North, next year may be unpleasant for the country.
He said: ‘’Except for rice that is highly tolerant of water, other cereals are not. Horticulture corps and other food corps in flood affected areas are being lost and these will cause the country big problem in food production next year because it may take long for the water to recede.”
He observed that, “most town planning regulations are being flouted in the name of development. People build houses, shops and parks on water ways and whatever happens, water must find its way out and find its level and whatever is on its way becomes a victim as such obstacles are washed away by the flood.
“Flash flood is very dangerous; it washes anything that is on its path. We recorded the highest devastation from flash flooding this year. It washed away thousands of houses and farmlands.”
The Nation

Why Tukur, PDP governors are at war

by: Augustine Avwode.

THE 2015 elections and alleged unconventional leadership style of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Bamanga Tukur, are responsible for the frosty relationship between him and the party’s governors, it was learnt, at the weekend.
The cold war hit the roof last weekend when majority of the governors snubbed a book presentation to mark Tukur’s 77th birthday in Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan was at the event.
Only three PDP governors were in attendance. Those who attended were Alhaji Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Chief Theodore Orji (Abia), and Patrick Yakowa (Kaduna). Governor Ibrahim Shema (Katsina) and Jonah Jang (Plateau) sent their deputies.
Party sources told The Nation yesterday that the issue of who flies the party’s flag in 2015 is at the heart of the cold war.
A party chieftain from one of the South-South states, who craved anonymity, said from day one, many of the governors, especially those from the North have interpreted Jonathan’s insistence on making Tukur national chairman to be for no other reason than 2015.
He said once they were unable to stop Tukur’s emergence they are not ready to allow that sole objective for his emergence to materialise.
“It is all about 2015. The governors want one of their own, which is a tradition they want to establish in this country. Already, there are two or three governors from the region who are known to harbour presidential ambition and they have succeeded in reaching out to some of their colleagues in the South-South region to run as vice president. But in all, the issue is that the North wants to produce the president in 2015 but from all indications, the chairman is not favourably disposed toward the idea and that is the crux of the matter”.
The source also revealed that the style of the national chairman has tended to “erect a wall that the governors find uncomfortable. They think that it was never like this, there is a visible sign of alienation or keeping one’s distance, if you know what I mean”, the source stated.
But media aide to Tukur, Alhaji Ujudud Sheriff debunked the insinuation as untrue. In a telephone interview with The Nation yesterday afternoon, Sheriff said: “To the best of my knowledge, that is not true because, coincidentally, this morning, I don’t know whether you listened to the Voice of Nigeria (VON) or not, he was asked to comment on a similar question. So it is not true. As far as we are concerned the governors were all present because they sent representatives of theirs. Let’s face it, there is no way all the governors of the party would be there at the book presentation. They also have very pressing programmes, don’t forget.
“Those who were available came. So it has nothing to do with 2015. But this is democracy; you must allow people to express their minds.”
He said the chairman has always maintained that it is not time to talk 2015 and that it is time to sit down and work to satisfy the aspirations of Nigerians who voted for the governors and the president.
Sheriff also said the issue of the manner of running the party being a source of friction is totally false as he has never heard anything like that before.
At the presentation of the book, ‘The Global Villager,’ a biography on Tukur, written by Eddie Aderinokun, Orji apologised on behalf of his colleagues and claimed that he had their mandate to pick few copies for each of them.
The Nation

Here Comes another Fuel Crisis

Simon Kolawole Live!

Lucky me. As I stepped out of church last Sunday, reports of a looming fuel crisis started playing on my mind. I gently drove to a filling station, loaded my tank and triumphantly headed home. It was N97 per litre, thank God. The following day, I went out with my wife’s car and decided to fill up the tank to be better prepared for the crisis ahead. Alas, I was told to pay N110 per litre at a filling station along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. “Not so fast,” I mumbled and left the station, not too sure if I was taking a hopeless gamble. It worked. I got petrol for N100 per litre a few metres away. With our cars now fully loaded, I was ready to confront the week ahead like a warrior.

Then, I paused. What’s going on? A few weeks ago, there were fuel queues in Abuja. Now, Lagos has joined the queue. The official line was that because of a broken pipeline at Arepo, Ogun State, supplies were being affected. I decided to dig deeper. There was no broken pipeline in Abuja, yet the city is experiencing shortages. I made a few calls to those who should know the true picture. It became clear to me that there was more to it than meets the eye. Somebody put it more brutally: “The current shortage is a tip of the iceberg. If care is not taken, we are going to be in this till December.” I sighed.

What are the issues? I will try to simplify things as much as possible. Last year, there was this fuel subsidy scam that rocked Nigeria. I call it “the biggest fraud in the history of Nigeria”. Dubious characters were given licences to import fuel. Most of them did not import a drop. But with the connivance of banks and government officials, non-existent vessels offloaded non-existent fuel for onward transmission to non-existence tank farms. The subsidy bill came to about N2.19 trillion for 2011 alone. Private jets (now fondly called “PJ” by the nouveau riche) flooded the tarmacs of our airports, most of them owned by the emergency “subsidy billionaires”.

After seeing the hefty bill, President Goodluck Jonathan decided—in anger, I suppose—to remove fuel subsidy. Many of us cried foul, maintaining that we must first distinguish between “fuel subsidy” and “fake subsidy” before deciding on the way forward. There were massive public protests against the increase in petrol price. Truth be told, Jonathan has not recovered from the damage the protests inflicted on his relationship with ordinary Nigerians. Nevertheless, he sought to address the concerns raised by many well-meaning Nigerians on how to tackle the scam. The new Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr. Reginald Stanley, moved to sanitise the import regime.

To be fair to Stanley, he has set up an effective system to check the fraud. Some of the measures include appointment of independent inspectors of imported products; submission of financing documents by marketers; submission of contractual agreements between marketers/importers and traders/suppliers; a satellite-based monitoring of vessels bringing products to Nigeria; etc. He inherited an unwieldy list of 125 importers. New qualification and verification measures have reduced that to just 39. From a volume of 5 billion litres of petrol imported in the first quarter of 2012, importation is down to 4.20 billion litres in the third quarter. Daily consumption has crashed from the bogus 59 million litres per day to about 30 million litres now.

The Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Committee did a great job of identifying the suspected subsidy scammers. The names of the indicted marketers/importers, some of them very powerful individuals, were made public. The tighter measures put in place by the PPPRA, along with the Budget Office and the Debt Management Office, were implemented by the Ministry of Finance, which now verifies subsidy claims, unlike before. And we’ve seen good results. For instance, as at June 2011, government had paid N1 trillion as subsidy for the year. But as at August 2012, government had paid only N78.8 billion, although with N43.25 billion still outstanding after the settlement of another N56.75 billion last week. Put together, that is N178.8 billion only for eight months. At this rate, the actual subsidy bill for 2012 could be about N300 billion, compared to N2.19 trillion last year! Not even the increase in pump price from N65 to N97 per litre can explain the huge difference. We were just being ripped off in the past, simple as that.

Now, why should there be fuel shortage now? That takes us to another issue: the Federal Government was obviously trying not to overshoot the subsidy vote in the 2012 budget. With no realistic data from the petroleum industry amidst allegations of fraud, the government had decided to play safe by using consumption figures of 2009. It initially arrived at N1.314 trillion for this year, but revised it to the poetic N888 billion after the increase in petrol price in January. It was a safe thing to do then amidst public anger over the subsidy scam.

But it soon dawned on the government that the figure might be insufficient. The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was the first to raise the alarm. Roughly N450 billion of the N888 billion subsidy vote for 2012 is for 2011 arrears alone! The government inevitably ran into the dilemma over how to pay the genuine importers whose claims have been verified under the new regime, with the products already consumed. With this delay in the payments, many marketers developed cold feet. They drastically scaled down or stopped importation altogether to protect themselves. Put simply, we are not importing enough to meet consumption. That, in a large nutshell, is what is responsible for the latest fuel queues.

Last week, finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, moved to douse the crisis by paying more verified claims for 2012. Hopefully, this will ease the supply crisis. It seems the subsidy bazaar is coming to an end. But the genuine importers and marketers are, without a doubt, justified to ask for their pay. And unless they are paid consistently and on time, the crisis will continue in different episodes.

And Four Other Things...

Quiet Qaqa
Last weekend, the joint military task force claimed to have attacked the hideout of Boko Haram militants in Kano and killed key leaders, including “Abu Qaqa”, who regularly issued statements on behalf of the group. Although I would readily concede that the security agencies are trying their best given the serious limitations hampering their operations, I was a bit sceptical about the “Abu Qaqa” matter. But given that the killing is yet to be denied by “Abu Qaqa” himself, maybe there is some truth in it. In which case, we must continue to encourage and support the agencies to keep it going. We shall win the war. It’s winning the peace that I doubt.. 

The N5000 Question
So, President Goodluck Jonathan has suspended the introduction of the N5000 note. While I still can’t understand the sense behind the protests against the new note, I blame the CBN governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, for not doing his homework before going to town. I am amazed that, not for the first time, he did not consult or carry along the critical stakeholders in taking certain decisions. All I could see was a fire-brigade approach after the act. Nevertheless, I’m worried that CBN’s duties and functions are now being subjected to political interference. Soon, the National Assembly will ask the CBN to increase lending rate.

Jonathan and His Critics
Who is going to mediate between President Goodluck Jonathan and his critics? The other time, his spokesman, Dr. Rueben Abati, took them on headlong. Then the critics fired back. And now the president himself has come out again, blaming the January protests against removal of petrol subsidy as the handiwork of opposition politicians. Somebody should please help me whisper to the president that globally, it is part of the job description of the opposition to take advantage of any situation that presents itself to criticise the sitting government. Oh yes!

Arik and the Minister
Someone please tell me the spokesman of the Minister of Aviation did not describe Arik as an “ailing airline”! Responding to allegations that the minister, Princess Stella Oduah, was giving the airline hell because of personal interests, the spokesman was reported as saying: “Why will the minister want to have a stake in a business that is not thriving?” I believe such statements shouldn’t come from a representative of the Federal Government, but I worry more about the state of the aviation industry in Nigeria. Aviation oils economic activities everywhere in the world. We are in for a tough time.

ThisDay

True Muslims and Christians must stand together to defeat the menace

Boko Haram:

By Abs Umar, London

The problem with most Muslims is where to draw the line between the peaceful virtues of Islam and Arab cultures. Only in the Western part of Nigeria has it been well and sensibly done in practice, at least, well intertwined within many family units.
Islam is a religion, people who profess Islam are called Muslims and there is Only One God. Islamic doctrines are well documented in the Holy Quran but how many people (read Muslims) actually read it, and truly understood what they were reading? Most would instead accept the wordings and preaching of 'illiterate scholars' that lack not only the honesty but the intelligence to understand it.

Instead of embracing the deeper meaning of Quranic texts, their mundane tribal bigots become the “gospel of truth of Islam” fed on Fridays to ill-mannered youths. Such is the astounding stupidity of religion preachers in all places of worshiping God today, Churches not excluded.

I am still looking for where in the Holy Quran says innocent persons can be killed, but instead, saw that one cannot be a Muslim without believing in Isah A.S (Jesus) (Quran, sura 19 Maryam, ayat 30-33). The belief in Jesus (and all other messengers of God) is required in Islam, and a requirement of being a Muslim.

The Quran mentions Jesus twenty-five times, more often, by name, than Muhammad, (SAW) four times. It states that Jesus was born as the result of a miraculous event which occurred by the decree of God. It states that Islam is for the benefit of mankind and commands Muslims to make no distinction. "...it (the Quran 10:37) is a confirmation of (revelations) that went before it, and a fuller explanation of the Book - wherein there is no doubt - from The Lord of the Worlds."

Similarly Quran 46:12 states "...And before this, was the book of Moses, as a guide and a mercy. And this Book confirms (it)...", while the Quran 2:136 commands the believers of Islam to say: "we believe in God and that which is revealed unto us, and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."

(Surrendered to the will of God….and accept Isah A.S (Jesus) and all that He “received from the Lord” so why would Muslims hate Christians; killing and maiming innocent people with bombs, as Boko Haram and other terrorists make us believe, how can anyone justify bombing Churches in the name of Islam?)

And for those who refer to Boko Haram as my people, in my opinion, are only displaying their own self-worth, witlessness and inanity in public. My name should NOT be seen that I share any ideology with terrorist nor did I proclaim to anyone that Abs Umar is a card carrying member of such groups. I have equal rights and equal opportunities, like every good citizen of the world, to see that darkness does not dominate light in any part of the globe. I don’t fight God’s war too, God is mighty enough to do His own battle, the reason He built Hell with Fire, so stop telling me to go and face a senseless group, when you sit on your butts! Everyone would carry their own cross on Judgment Day, and be judged according to their deeds, not by tongue, name or tribe, but by good and evil, sin and innocence.

However, it is well documented in the Holy Book Quran; one must read to understand it all and take in the whole context, not pick and distort what it really means, if one does not want to offend God, the Omnipotent & Omnipresent.

Christians, in my humble opinion have done themselves a disservice to world peace for their lack of understanding of the true meaning of Islam. How many actually want to, as much as, hear a word from the Holy Quran, at least for the sake of knowledge, after all, there are many English versions in the market today. I often laugh at many improbable quotations out of context to justify deeds done by some ungodly humans in the name of Islam.

However, violence in that manner, in the name of Islam is synonymous to abominations done in the name of Christianity too, only an ignorant person would argue the opposite. We absolutely have to understand the philosophy of the superficial. It is however, absurd to divide people into good or bad by the religion they follow. It is an emotion that is unbecoming of Nigerians to make unnecessary things our necessities today.

We have good and bad people in all walks of life, but the mask that each one of us wears, when it comes to religion, reflects our own habits and acquired bigoted vile behaviors; devaluing ourselves rather than being above it, resting on true reality that lies behind the mask; that, one to one, we all get along as good human beings; the more one analyzes people, the more all reasons and doubts for analysis disappear.

It is quite demoralizing that Boko Haram, a terrorist group of no importance, whose ideology is grotesque and contradictory to Islam, has become the acceptable face for Islam, by ignorant dogmatists. An organization that disdains education in all forms, whereas the world owes a great debt to Islamic scholars for preserving and transmitting to posterity the classics of Greek mathematics. Their work was chiefly that of transmission; they developed considerable ingenuity in algebra and showed some genius in their work in trigonometry. (Simplifying its practical application to calculate the phases of the moon), advances in optics, and advances in astronomy.

In Medicine, Islamic scholars translated their voluminous writings from Greek into Arabic and then produced new medical knowledge based on those texts; making the Greek tradition more accessible, understandable, and teachable. Islamic scholars ordered and made more systematic the vast and sometimes inconsistent Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopedias and summaries; and many contributions in many other fields for the advancement of humanity, while Boko Haram avowedly despises knowledge in all forms.

The Boko Haram as a group, is cocksure and the intelligent among us all are full of doubts. Today the terrorist merely requires a certain amount of repugnant terrorism and that triggers our own certain lack of imaginative thoughts, and a certain low passion for unity of our country.

We, forgetting that evil people always look for alliance and the opportunity to divide sound minds, instead throw all our dignities, our respectability, values and standards out of the window and become vulgar, common and vicious in our own views. We have degenerated to a low sense of moral responsibility of the terrorist, instead of us to be steadfast in our values and join hands as good people to condemn darkness and havoc raining on us all as a people of light and integrity.

Religion and respect for others is always unjustly handled by the few among us. It is like throwing petrol on fire just to enrage everyone else, and then hide under the umbrella of freedom of speech. Doesn’t freedom of speech involve respect for others too? The uncultured elements in this world do not understand the virtues of religion, all they do is destroy everything the human race has ever built; releasing uncontrollable resentment and bitterness in the society, while innocents who had nothing whatsoever to do with it pay with their lives in the crossfire.

Those who take pleasure according to the vulgar standard of hurting and insulting others' religion just to provoke us all must not be encouraged. Sad that we live in the age where the least intelligent among us wants to be noticed; a world full of criminals-with-noble-faces, poor odd types of humanity in hideous masks, who feed people lies and shock them to fame as a writer - that is all. But our values and standards must console us always rather than become so gullible and absolutely imprudent with our comments.
What should be interesting about people in a good society is optimism for a better life and good future NOT religious war!

Nigerian youths Set to Endorse Buhari

BY COMRADE AREMU
I HEREBY announce my support of General Muhammadu  Buhari as Nigeria’s next  President. He is credible, and capable of changing Nigeria for the better. Is GMB an angel? No. Indeed, I have criticized him in the past. I have expressed my disappointment that PDP and their background act as if they are all that Nigerians has got by looting our Money! Which is not good for our country.
Come2015 elections, however, he will be the best that Nigeria has got. Everyone will see that 2015 election will be the most free and faire in Nigeria’s history.
It will show whether we have learned anything from our own history or not, and therefore whether we are determined to move forward or not. Of the lessons we have learned from the ruling party, the elections will show, most of all, whether we have learned what I call the David Hill lesson. As editor of the London Weekend, Mr. Hill wrote a column in which he considered the question as to why people would do the same thing over and over again but expect different results.
He wondered why a man who struck his own thumb with a hammer twice would expect not to experience the same excruciating pain the second time. That is the same question Nigerians must answer in less than three years from now. My answer is: Yes, if you clobber your thumb with that hammer, you are going to feel the same screaming and searing pain all over again. Actually, the pain will feel worse the second time because—unless you are of considerably languid intelligence— your brain would have informed you ahead of time about just how much of a fool you are and how bad the agony is going to be.
Demographically. General Muhammedu Buhari can stretch out one of his long hands and arrest the drift. At this time in our history, his candidature is the wisest, the most promising, and the most logical. He has honour, discipline and strength of character: attributes every great leader must have.
Furthermore, GMB knows what is wrong with Nigerians, and knows what to do about it, an insight he demonstrated in his Military tenure, and he led a memorable assault on indiscipline and excess in public life.
Nigerians needs in office a leader whose word will command respect; a leader who will not speak out of both sides of his mouth; a leader who will deploy power in the national interest and not in the massaging of his own bloated ego and the greed of his friends. Nigerians needs a leader who is capable of holding himself and those around him to high standards of accountability and performance, not one who simply preaches about them in public.
Nigerians need a man who has demonstrated he can stand up to masses needs of the rich and influential, not one whose friends, colleagues and mistresses are exempted from the law. Nigerians needs a man who will be consistent from day to day, not one for whom right and wrong depends on the company or the time of day. Nigerians needs a man who can tell opportunity from opportunism; a man who can resist the greed, insensitivity and ethical nothingness that now defines the country.
There are many people asking to be Nigeria’s President in 2015, but only GMB truly meets these basic considerations. Only he answers the question: Who is Nigeria’s best hope for halting and reversing the deterioration and decay? Only he can change the questions and seek new answers. He can bring in new men and women of character, and throw open a genuine new beginning anchored on public service.
He can slam the doors on indolence and compromise, and unlock the cellars where the bad politician hopes the bodies will never be discovered. I wholeheartedly endorsed his candidature as Nigeria’s next President because he has the capacity to bring a sense of responsibility and mission to governance. If he does, implementing budgets and policies will become standard, and good men and women will have a place in our nation head of the mob of monsters. All of this is possible because GMB has character. He has also chosen another man of integrity. Through action, not loud rhetoric, they can correct the principal weaknesses that have made Nigerians underachieving and under-developing State.
I have never met GMB or spoken to him. But I have observed him closely for the better part of three decades, and I know that what he offers is superior to the weaknesses those who fear his ascendancy are eager to cite.

Desert Herald

President Jonathan In Secret Get-Away Out Of Abuja To See Ailing Wife

President Goodluck Jonathan

By SaharaReporters, New York

A plane with President Goodluck Jonathan has reportedly left Nigeria's capital, Abuja, several hours before the Nigerian leader was scheduled to depart to New York to attend this year's United Nations General Assembly. SaharaReporters learnt that the secretive maneuver meant that the president was most likely headed for Germany to see his ailing wife.
“There has been a great measure of secrecy surrounding the president’s departure,” said a source close to the Presidency. “I believe that Mr. President will stop over in Germany to see the First Lady before arriving in New York.”
Mrs. Patience Jonathan is spending her fourth week in a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany.
A Saharareporters source in Germany disclosed that German authorities cleared a Nigerian presidential jet to travel last night out of Abuja.
Earlier today, the Presidency issued a statement to the effect that Mr. Jonathan would head for New York accompanied by a delegation of several Nigerian officials including state governors and presidential aides. SaharaReporters had earlier reported that the governors of Bauchi and Akwa Ibom are included on Mr. Jonathan’s delegation.
A source in Abuja told our correspondent that presidential aide Oronto Douglas and Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State were recently added to the delegation.

SaharaReporters had also disclosed that German doctors ruled out the prospect of Mrs. Jonathan making the trip to New York. “Once the president heard that the First Lady cannot make it to New York, he began to plan how to make a secret trip to Germany to her,” said a source in Abuja.
In a bid to deflect attention from his stopover in Germany, Mr. Jonathan decided to travel to New York in two separate jets. The first plane, which is being used as a decoy, was to take the president to Germany on a secret mission to see his wife while the second jet will leave Nigeria and head straight to New York sometime tomorrow.

A source at the Presidency disclosed that it was unusual for the president to travel with two presidential jets. The only exceptions were when the First Lady insisted on traveling with a separate delegation, a major source of waste in the Presidency.
President Jonathan frequently travels either on a Boeing 737-7N6 business jet with tail number 5N-FGT or a newer jet, a Gulfstream G550 with tail number 5N-FGW. The Gulfstream was bought in April 2011.