THE FAILURE OF JONATHAN AND THE HOPE BUHARI CAN RESTORE

advertisement "You cannot compare one hundred Jonathans to one Buhari. I will always give my support to Buhari. He is the finest man I have ever known. Negative things that they say about him are not factual. I will continue to work for Buhari. "Corruption is the bane of Nigeria. Buhari is against corruption. Buhari is not corrupt. He is very clean and disciplined. Election rigging is worse than armed robbery. Buhari wants free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria." -Professor Tamunoemi Sokari David-West he situation in Nigeria today is worse than it was when Goodluck Jonathan came into the picture, but the only pictures and images we have been seeing since Jonathan came are those of hunger, unemployment, kidnapping, horrific road accidents, ill-equipped hospitals, horrific roads, grand-standing and looting. Looting has been the champion of all of these images combined. It is the pillar of the transformation agenda of today's Aso Rock and the plank upon which Jonathan has built his kingdom. It is the sum total of this that has made an erudite scholar and nationalist Professor Tamunoemi Sokari David-West to insist that a hundred Jonathan cannot be compared to one Buhari. Professor David-West will be 77 come August 26, 2013 and he has seen it all. He served as Petroleum minister with integrity and honour; straightforward in his dealings, and he brought order, stability and transparency to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the same national oil corporation whose accounts are today in disarray, in the red, held in secret and held unaccountable to the Nigerian people by Jonathan and his Bayelsa rough-riders who are looting the nation, men and women who think they have the right to loot the nation with the excuse that at least the oil is theirs. These are merely a few people who delude themselves and are using their sickening "transformation agenda," which is clearly pseudonym for looting and corruption, to do as they please and to mismanage the nation and steal her funds. Since corruption is very much alive and well - in fact well positioned in Aso Rock and occupying the throne of state - in the land, there is absolutely no hope for change in the lives of the people. Professor David-West worked with Buhari and it is not difficult for him to openly declare that Buhari towers above Goodluck more than a hundred times. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear will easily spot the difference between a time of national discipline, transparency and openness when order was enforced and compare it to the current season where looters are on the prowl and thieves occupy ministerial positions and hold sway right inside Aso Rock. The last time there was decency and order in Nigeria was during the time of Buhari and Idiagbon. NNPC was well managed, audited annually, and its audit reports made available to the public when Buhari was petroleum minister and also when he was head of government. His petroleum minister between 1984 and 1985 was Professor David-West and Dr. Onaolapo Soleye was his finance minister. Integrity still counted for something then and good names were still regarded and protected. Jonathan and his band of looters are not interested in good names or in service to the people; they are where they are for their own personal gains and for the opportunity to help themselves. Professor David-West will never support such people, notwithstanding the fact that most of the members of the greedy group are from his section of the South-South. Nationalists rise above local and ethnic politics' preferring instead to focus on issues, national interests, and service to the people. It is no surprise that Professor David-West is on the side of good governance, integrity, fairness, transparency, service to the people, and he just could not condescend to the low level of Goodluck Jonathan, who has wasted a rare and unusual opportunity to make a difference, preferring instead the opportunity for filthy lucre and personal gains. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Jonathan's Minister of Finance and pseudo-prime minister told the world this week that N58 billion revenue of government that was long overdue for remittance has not been remitted, but rather held in various banks and bank accounts. She considered the funds 'hidden' by unscrupulous bank managers and their 'collaborators' in various federal ministries and departments. She threatened heavy sanctions against the banks and the criminals in the government departments and ministries who are using state funds to earn interests and probably with the hope of stealing the funds out-rightly. But is that the way things should be? Should departments and ministries be threatened or pleaded with to follow established due process? Do these people need reminders to conduct government business responsibly and with integrity? Integrity is lacking at the very top and the rot just roll down the ladder; Aso Rock stinks and looting is alive and well, otherwise the criminal-minded in the various departments and ministries would have been jail-bound as we write. Aso Rock in collaboration with ministers is raking interests from government funds held for long periods of time in banks, and some of the funds just disappear altogether and eventually end up in the bank accounts of fronts and proxies of the ministers and their master-looter. Mercenaries are in control and poverty has badly twisted their heads and they are so small-minded and greedy that they will do anything and steal anything within their reach. The only thing that draws the attention and interest of mercenaries are stuff they can loot and plunder. Why is it a problem for the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance to provide a list of the government departments and agencies of government who failed to comply with standard process of government when it is abundantly clear to her that a few are making huge interest income off government's money? It is because that is how this government is and that is the way they do things - making money for themselves at the expense of the people, abusing their positions for their own greedy gains and ends: the name is corruption and looting, and public execution should be the price. If the finance ministry is weak, intimidated and/or unwilling to hold departments, agencies and ministries responsible for the way the nation's funds are managed, then we have a lot of problems. The nation deserve to know and possess the right to have a full list of the 'collaborators' and their ministries. If the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance can refer to these people as miscreants who are colluding with banks to cheat the nation, she should be able to expose them, and call them by their names. Such men and women should not be occupying any responsible office in any decent society. You cannot afford to put thieves in departments and government agencies, and the Finance minister has a duty to make sure not all ministers and heads of departments are painted with the same brush in the matter of unremitted government revenue that is as huge as N58 billion. I have no doubt this will not happen under Muhammudu Buhari; this can only happen in a very corrupt and criminal environment as we have it now. These people should have been handed over to the police (forget Jonathan's play-station called the EFCC) and prosecuted. It is certain that nothing will happen if the grandfather of corruption and looting is right inside Aso Rock, and no one will ever be charged because these ministers and top political functionaries are acting on instruction from their master, which is why the Ministry of Petroleum stinks and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is easily being looted and has no audited accounts. Some of the major issues relating to the corrupt activities going on in Africa, and in Nigeria in particular, were addressed by former Ghanaian president Jerry John Rawlings recently during a visit to Nigeria. Who else is very qualified to address issues relating to corruption than JJ Rawlings? Rawlings insisted that "we cannot continue to pay lip service" to corruption against the backdrop of the fact that petty thieves are sentenced to long prison terms while whose who embezzle millions and billions of state funds and those who dodge millions in taxes go unpunished. JJ Rawlings spoke directly to Jonathan in this respect. JJ Rawlings was the leader who brought sanity (during his housecleaning exercise) into the corrupt and rotten government in Ghana in the late 1970s and 1980s. Ghana is today the envy of other African nations since JJ Rawlings dealt firmly and decisively with the monster that was corruption in Ghana. And how did he do it? By example, by action and by strangling the monster and ridding the nation of the top thieves, which made the small thieves to quickly realize that no one is above the law. As Rawlings said in Awka, if the big thieves and top looters are held accountable and severely punished the small thieves will quickly put their dirty, filthy hands right back inside their agbada and trousers. Rawlings noted that "corrupt politicians in Nigeria escape punishment. We cannot continue to pay lip service to the strengthening, empowerment and independent management of our multiple anti-corruption institutions," like we do in Nigeria. It is impossible for someone like Goodluck Jonathan who did not even declare his assets (probably too much and now bloated since the declaration he made when he was vice president) and has people fronting for him and with close ties to contractors and businessmen, to deal with corruption. But Muhammadu Buhari is capable of dealing with the corrupt elements in Nigeria, a major problem confronting the nation today. Buhari will get the support of the Nigerian people to rid the nation of the few who are looting money earmarked for development, healthcare and social services. No clean candidate can emerge from the PDP and this is also true of most of the political parties in Nigeria, but this is the time to support this one candidate Muhammadu Buhari who has the reputation, integrity and ferocious desire to rid our nation of thieves and looters. If we fail to deal with this problem now the nation will deteriorate to a level way beyond what we are seeing today. Nigeria needs a disciplined leader today than ever before - someone who is clean, a decent leader, an untainted and bold father of the nation. We need someone who can straighten things out, lead by example, deploy decent and competent people, and ensure ethical standards of behaviour are introduced and followed. Nigeria needs Muhammudu Buhari today. Nigeriaworld.com

Obasanjo, Jonathan ‘boys’ set war in S/West

By Olawale Rasheed

A major political battle is about to take place in Yorubaland between two powerful forces as a mini-convention to elect the leadership of the South-West chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been fixed for July 11. The congress will pitch loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan against those of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a war for the control of the party in the zone.

Both sides have been at each other’s throats for some time now with chieftains on both ends firing salvo at each other. Since the dissolution of the South-West executive and the removal of the National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, peace has eluded the PDP in the zone. The leadership change in the zone was widely seen as a ploy to remove pro-Obasanjo elements from the control of the party.

Prior to the dissolution of the zonal leadership, the state executive committee witnessed a silent struggle for control. Both camps of Obasanjo and Jonathan were invisibly seen across the zones. While gubernatorial ambition accounted for the initial struggle, the issue of presidential race in 2015 silently crept into the equation. By the time Obasanjo openly fired at the president, the battle line was drawn across South-West. What appears like gubernatorial dreams instantly translated into camping behind one camp or the other. The battle was drawn boldly when the former president made moves to promote Jigawa State governor as an alternative presidential aspirant for 2015.

Chieftains of the party in the zone took sides openly and secretly. Alleged marginalisation of the South-West irked some party chiefs. While some see Obasanjo as the problem, others see Jonathan as the issue. Former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, at a point, asked the former president to stop further public criticism of President Jonathan’s policies and programmes and denied any connection between PDP South-West and Obasanjo’s posture concerning Jonathan, saying the former president was on his own.

Speaking on the recent developments in the party, the PDP Board of Trustees member stated that no matter the inadequacies of the present administration, the president deserved more time. “I am very careful while trying to comment about Obasanjo. This is because he is first and foremost a global figure. He is a mentor to many people.

“He is also a former president and, above all, he is a respected Yoruba man. But his recent posture on national affairs has become an embarrassment to the nation. His statement back home is also causing a lot of disintegration.

“First of all, his attitude to the Boko Haram issue is not expected of a statesman, although he made a bold attempt, sometime ago, by going to Borno State to discuss with leaders of the sect. However, while going there, one would have expected that he consulted with other leaders in the North such as former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, to get a better result.

“He made statements there that disrespected President Jonathan, telling him to use brute force to quench the insurgency. Also, his recent utterances outside the country about Nigeria are not expected of a good leader. Obasanjo should stop playing God. God has done more than enough for him socially, politically and economically,” Oyedokun, a veteran politician, said.

Former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, took exception to the open criticism of Obasanjo, taking a swipe at Alhaji Oyedokun for fanning embers of discord in the party. Oyinlola, in a statement, said it was unbecoming of an elder like Oyedokun to seek to create a rift between President Jonathan and former President Obasanjo through what he called statements based on falsehood.

Oyinlola said no fifth columnist could succeed through political subterfuge in creating a rift between the two foremost leaders of the PDP. He added that he suspected Oyedokun of being uneasy over current efforts by stakeholders to resolve the differences in the party, hence the statement.

Oyinlola said Oyedokun, as an elder, should have found out what Obasanjo actually said in Jigawa State before concluding that the former president attacked Jonathan.“I have painstakingly found out that what Obasanjo said in Jigawa State was that he was happy Governor Sule Lamido did not disappoint him, given the role he (Obasanjo) played in his emergence as governor,” Prince Oyinlola noted in the statement.

The former governor quoted Chief Obasanjo as concluding with a Yoruba proverb: ‘You can help someone get a job, but you cannot help the person do the job. We got Lamido the job and he has done it well.’ “That was it. There was no innuendo or allusion to President Jonathan in the statement, which Oyedokun has now clung to, to further cause divisions in the polity,” the former governor stated.

“I am particularly worried that Oyedokun did not agree with our BoT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, who, just last week at the PDP family dinner, called for peace and the resolution of all differences in the party. Could Oyedokun be carrying out the usual assignment of throwing spanners in the works of genuine members of the PDP who are working hard to reconcile all the party leaders and members and reposition it for the tasks ahead?

What could actually be his motive?

“I also read that he claimed Chief Obasanjo is planning to go to another political party. I think by now, Oyedokun ought to know that Obasanjo does not have the character of a betrayer. He is also not what, in the military, we call a deserter. He is a leader of the PDP and I am sufficiently close enough to him to know that he is ever committed to the growth and survival of the party and of the nation,” Oyinlola said.

The war of words in the zone has, however, taken a new turn as the forthcoming zonal congress may entail a test of strength among those who believe the president, as the commander in chief, should have his men in charge of the party and those who want the former president to be respected as a former leader of the nation. In the hard world of politics, it remains to be seen how the confrontation will play out. For now, there are clear signals that hawks within the president’s camp believe his ‘boys’ in the South-West should hold the zone.

Events of Thursday at Wadata Plaza may have further opened old wounds as the failed uprising against Tukur may embolden the president’s loyalists to test who truly is in control of PDP in the South West. Will Yorubaland be a battle ground ahead of July mini national convention? Only time will tell.

OsunDefender

Obasanjo, Jonathan ‘boys’ set war in S/West

By Olawale Rasheed

A major political battle is about to take place in Yorubaland between two powerful forces as a mini-convention to elect the leadership of the South-West chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been fixed for July 11. The congress will pitch loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan against those of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a war for the control of the party in the zone.

Both sides have been at each other’s throats for some time now with chieftains on both ends firing salvo at each other. Since the dissolution of the South-West executive and the removal of the National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, peace has eluded the PDP in the zone. The leadership change in the zone was widely seen as a ploy to remove pro-Obasanjo elements from the control of the party.

Prior to the dissolution of the zonal leadership, the state executive committee witnessed a silent struggle for control. Both camps of Obasanjo and Jonathan were invisibly seen across the zones. While gubernatorial ambition accounted for the initial struggle, the issue of presidential race in 2015 silently crept into the equation. By the time Obasanjo openly fired at the president, the battle line was drawn across South-West. What appears like gubernatorial dreams instantly translated into camping behind one camp or the other. The battle was drawn boldly when the former president made moves to promote Jigawa State governor as an alternative presidential aspirant for 2015.

Chieftains of the party in the zone took sides openly and secretly. Alleged marginalisation of the South-West irked some party chiefs. While some see Obasanjo as the problem, others see Jonathan as the issue. Former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, at a point, asked the former president to stop further public criticism of President Jonathan’s policies and programmes and denied any connection between PDP South-West and Obasanjo’s posture concerning Jonathan, saying the former president was on his own.

Speaking on the recent developments in the party, the PDP Board of Trustees member stated that no matter the inadequacies of the present administration, the president deserved more time. “I am very careful while trying to comment about Obasanjo. This is because he is first and foremost a global figure. He is a mentor to many people.

“He is also a former president and, above all, he is a respected Yoruba man. But his recent posture on national affairs has become an embarrassment to the nation. His statement back home is also causing a lot of disintegration.

“First of all, his attitude to the Boko Haram issue is not expected of a statesman, although he made a bold attempt, sometime ago, by going to Borno State to discuss with leaders of the sect. However, while going there, one would have expected that he consulted with other leaders in the North such as former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, to get a better result.

“He made statements there that disrespected President Jonathan, telling him to use brute force to quench the insurgency. Also, his recent utterances outside the country about Nigeria are not expected of a good leader. Obasanjo should stop playing God. God has done more than enough for him socially, politically and economically,” Oyedokun, a veteran politician, said.

Former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, took exception to the open criticism of Obasanjo, taking a swipe at Alhaji Oyedokun for fanning embers of discord in the party. Oyinlola, in a statement, said it was unbecoming of an elder like Oyedokun to seek to create a rift between President Jonathan and former President Obasanjo through what he called statements based on falsehood.

Oyinlola said no fifth columnist could succeed through political subterfuge in creating a rift between the two foremost leaders of the PDP. He added that he suspected Oyedokun of being uneasy over current efforts by stakeholders to resolve the differences in the party, hence the statement.

Oyinlola said Oyedokun, as an elder, should have found out what Obasanjo actually said in Jigawa State before concluding that the former president attacked Jonathan.“I have painstakingly found out that what Obasanjo said in Jigawa State was that he was happy Governor Sule Lamido did not disappoint him, given the role he (Obasanjo) played in his emergence as governor,” Prince Oyinlola noted in the statement.

The former governor quoted Chief Obasanjo as concluding with a Yoruba proverb: ‘You can help someone get a job, but you cannot help the person do the job. We got Lamido the job and he has done it well.’ “That was it. There was no innuendo or allusion to President Jonathan in the statement, which Oyedokun has now clung to, to further cause divisions in the polity,” the former governor stated.

“I am particularly worried that Oyedokun did not agree with our BoT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, who, just last week at the PDP family dinner, called for peace and the resolution of all differences in the party. Could Oyedokun be carrying out the usual assignment of throwing spanners in the works of genuine members of the PDP who are working hard to reconcile all the party leaders and members and reposition it for the tasks ahead?

What could actually be his motive?

“I also read that he claimed Chief Obasanjo is planning to go to another political party. I think by now, Oyedokun ought to know that Obasanjo does not have the character of a betrayer. He is also not what, in the military, we call a deserter. He is a leader of the PDP and I am sufficiently close enough to him to know that he is ever committed to the growth and survival of the party and of the nation,” Oyinlola said.

The war of words in the zone has, however, taken a new turn as the forthcoming zonal congress may entail a test of strength among those who believe the president, as the commander in chief, should have his men in charge of the party and those who want the former president to be respected as a former leader of the nation. In the hard world of politics, it remains to be seen how the confrontation will play out. For now, there are clear signals that hawks within the president’s camp believe his ‘boys’ in the South-West should hold the zone.

Events of Thursday at Wadata Plaza may have further opened old wounds as the failed uprising against Tukur may embolden the president’s loyalists to test who truly is in control of PDP in the South West. Will Yorubaland be a battle ground ahead of July mini national convention? Only time will tell.

OsunDefender

Jonathan’s agents carried out two bombings – Okah insists “Diezani called me 20 times to be made minister” • Allegations are false in their entirety – Presidency

 EMEKA MADUNAGU AND OLALEKAN ADETAYO

 

Henry Okah and President Goodluck Jonathan
| credits:

Detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah, has insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan’s agents sponsored the March 15, 2010 and October 1, 2010 bombings in Warri and Abuja respectively for political considerations.

Okah made the allegation in a 194-paragraph affidavit deposed to in the South Gauteng High court in Johannesburg, South Africa in Case No: A570/10.

The allegations first came to light in an interview Okah granted Arabic satellite television, Aljazeera, in October 2010, weeks after the blast. In the interview, he blamed the attacks on Jonathan’s aides and claimed he was arrested for refusing to influence MEND, to retract its claim of responsibility.

Since then, Okah has been denied bail at least twice, with one at the South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, where he is filing a new application for bail based on “new facts.”

The sworn affidavit was expected to be filed at the court between Tuesday and Wednesday as part of his renewed bid to secure bail, after spending more than one year in a South African jail.

His trial is set to start on October 1, 2012, exactly two years after a devastating blast that occurred less than a kilometre from the Eagle Square in Abuja, where Jonathan was attending Nigeria’s 50th anniversary.

He said the March 2010 car bomb blast (which he said occurred on March 14, 2010) at the Government House Annex, Warri, where South-South governors were attending an amnesty meeting, was intended to pave the way for the removal of Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, and his replacement by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godsday Orubebe.

“It is my belief that President Goodluck Jonathan’s government working with a faction of MEND planned and executed the bombings of 14 March 2010 and 1 October 2010.

“The purpose of the 14 March 2010 bombing in my opinion was to create an atmosphere of insecurity in Niger Delta where President Goodluck Jonathan at that time, was fighting to oust the governor Mr. Emmanuel Uduaghan whom President Goodluck Jonathan intended to replace with his Minister for Niger Delta, Mr Godsday Orubebe,” Okah said in the affidavit.

On the Independence Day bombing, which claimed 10 lives, Okah said it was meant to sway public opinion against the North and some of its leaders who were planning to run against Jonathan in the April 2011 presidential election.

Okah has been held at the Johannesburg Prison since October 2, 2010, and is currently standing trial for alleged involvement in the October 1 bomb attack.

He alleged that Jonathan was upset when MEND claimed responsibility for the October 1 attack, against a plan to blame it on Northern elements.

He stated, “The bombings of 1 October 2010 were also intended by President Goodluck Jonathan government to create anti-North sentiments nationwide in order to galvanize support from other sections of Nigeria against other Northern candidates in the Presidential election.

“Under the arrangement, MEND, I believe, was not to claim responsibility for the bombings which the Nigerian government hoped to pin on General Babangida and other Northern elements. The claim of responsibility by the central group for a bombing, possibly carried out by a faction of MEND, punctured the plans of President Goodluck Jonathan to round up his opposition and hold them in custody until after the elections.”

He claimed to have come under pressure from some of Jonathan’s aides to get MEND to retract its claim of responsibility for the bombing, recalling that his “refusal to cooperate in this scheme resulted in President Goodluck Jonathan placing a call to President Jacob Zuma during the evening of 1 October 2010, requesting President Zuma’s personal assistance in securing my arrest. My noncooperation was interpreted by President Goodluck Jonathan as support for the Northern politicians.

“The South African Government’s direct interference was responsible for securing search and arrest warrants against me.”

Okah also claimed to have influenced Jonathan’s appointment of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as minister of petroleum resources, at the prompting of a Jonathan aide. He alleged that between April 4 and 5, 2010, he received approximately 20 calls from Alison-Madueke, asking him to “put in a good word for her” with Jonathan to consider her for the position.

He also countered evidence and public statements by the SSS detailing his alleged involvement in the October 1 blast. Okah provided telephone numbers used by Jonathan’s aides and Alison-Madueke in reaching him.

The Presidency has, however, described Okah’s allegations as “false.”

In a statement by presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, the Presidency said the allegations were without any factual foundation and promised that government would full representation in court once the trial commenced fully.

The statement reads, “The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to reports in the media of allegations made against President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in an affidavit said to have been sworn to by Mr. Henry Okah, who is facing trial in South Africa for his involvement in terrorist acts against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The Presidency categorically affirms that these allegations are false in their entirety and without any factual foundation.

“As the case of Mr. Okah’s involvement in the plotting and execution of terrorist attacks in Nigeria is already before a court of competent jurisdiction in South Africa, the Presidency does not intend to say anymore on the matter for now and will, in accordance with due process and international law, make a full representation on the matter to the court when the trial opens.

“The Presidency also advises the Nigerian media to respect the sanctity of the legal and judicial processes in this matter and avoid becoming willing tools in the hands of Mr. Okah and his agents in an entirely diversionary trial by the media aimed only at falsely impugning the character and integrity of the President and officials of his administration.”

Punch

Obasanjo, Jonathan ‘boys’ set war in S/West

By Olawale Rasheed

A major political battle is about to take place in Yorubaland between two powerful forces as a mini-convention to elect the leadership of the South-West chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been fixed for July 11. The congress will pitch loyalists of President Goodluck Jonathan against those of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in a war for the control of the party in the zone.

Both sides have been at each other’s throats for some time now with chieftains on both ends firing salvo at each other. Since the dissolution of the South-West executive and the removal of the National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, peace has eluded the PDP in the zone. The leadership change in the zone was widely seen as a ploy to remove pro-Obasanjo elements from the control of the party.

Prior to the dissolution of the zonal leadership, the state executive committee witnessed a silent struggle for control. Both camps of Obasanjo and Jonathan were invisibly seen across the zones. While gubernatorial ambition accounted for the initial struggle, the issue of presidential race in 2015 silently crept into the equation. By the time Obasanjo openly fired at the president, the battle line was drawn across South-West. What appears like gubernatorial dreams instantly translated into camping behind one camp or the other. The battle was drawn boldly when the former president made moves to promote Jigawa State governor as an alternative presidential aspirant for 2015.

Chieftains of the party in the zone took sides openly and secretly. Alleged marginalisation of the South-West irked some party chiefs. While some see Obasanjo as the problem, others see Jonathan as the issue. Former Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party, Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, at a point, asked the former president to stop further public criticism of President Jonathan’s policies and programmes and denied any connection between PDP South-West and Obasanjo’s posture concerning Jonathan, saying the former president was on his own.

Speaking on the recent developments in the party, the PDP Board of Trustees member stated that no matter the inadequacies of the present administration, the president deserved more time. “I am very careful while trying to comment about Obasanjo. This is because he is first and foremost a global figure. He is a mentor to many people.

“He is also a former president and, above all, he is a respected Yoruba man. But his recent posture on national affairs has become an embarrassment to the nation. His statement back home is also causing a lot of disintegration.

“First of all, his attitude to the Boko Haram issue is not expected of a statesman, although he made a bold attempt, sometime ago, by going to Borno State to discuss with leaders of the sect. However, while going there, one would have expected that he consulted with other leaders in the North such as former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, and former head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, to get a better result.

“He made statements there that disrespected President Jonathan, telling him to use brute force to quench the insurgency. Also, his recent utterances outside the country about Nigeria are not expected of a good leader. Obasanjo should stop playing God. God has done more than enough for him socially, politically and economically,” Oyedokun, a veteran politician, said.

Former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, took exception to the open criticism of Obasanjo, taking a swipe at Alhaji Oyedokun for fanning embers of discord in the party. Oyinlola, in a statement, said it was unbecoming of an elder like Oyedokun to seek to create a rift between President Jonathan and former President Obasanjo through what he called statements based on falsehood.

Oyinlola said no fifth columnist could succeed through political subterfuge in creating a rift between the two foremost leaders of the PDP. He added that he suspected Oyedokun of being uneasy over current efforts by stakeholders to resolve the differences in the party, hence the statement.

Oyinlola said Oyedokun, as an elder, should have found out what Obasanjo actually said in Jigawa State before concluding that the former president attacked Jonathan.“I have painstakingly found out that what Obasanjo said in Jigawa State was that he was happy Governor Sule Lamido did not disappoint him, given the role he (Obasanjo) played in his emergence as governor,” Prince Oyinlola noted in the statement.

The former governor quoted Chief Obasanjo as concluding with a Yoruba proverb: ‘You can help someone get a job, but you cannot help the person do the job. We got Lamido the job and he has done it well.’ “That was it. There was no innuendo or allusion to President Jonathan in the statement, which Oyedokun has now clung to, to further cause divisions in the polity,” the former governor stated.

“I am particularly worried that Oyedokun did not agree with our BoT chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, who, just last week at the PDP family dinner, called for peace and the resolution of all differences in the party. Could Oyedokun be carrying out the usual assignment of throwing spanners in the works of genuine members of the PDP who are working hard to reconcile all the party leaders and members and reposition it for the tasks ahead?

What could actually be his motive?

“I also read that he claimed Chief Obasanjo is planning to go to another political party. I think by now, Oyedokun ought to know that Obasanjo does not have the character of a betrayer. He is also not what, in the military, we call a deserter. He is a leader of the PDP and I am sufficiently close enough to him to know that he is ever committed to the growth and survival of the party and of the nation,” Oyinlola said.

The war of words in the zone has, however, taken a new turn as the forthcoming zonal congress may entail a test of strength among those who believe the president, as the commander in chief, should have his men in charge of the party and those who want the former president to be respected as a former leader of the nation. In the hard world of politics, it remains to be seen how the confrontation will play out. For now, there are clear signals that hawks within the president’s camp believe his ‘boys’ in the South-West should hold the zone.

Events of Thursday at Wadata Plaza may have further opened old wounds as the failed uprising against Tukur may embolden the president’s loyalists to test who truly is in control of PDP in the South West. Will Yorubaland be a battle ground ahead of July mini national convention? Only time will tell.

OsunDefender

Why Incumbents Often Win

By: Aniebo Nwamu 

Conducting elections is one huge irritant that has been overheating the nation’s polity. I can’t remember any time since 1999 we’ve enjoyed a respite. Yet, each round of elections has been a fraud. Why do we keep wasting our scarce resources on meaningless elections that cause us to lose even more funds? If that is democracy, then, democracy is the worst form of government.

In the run-up to the 2011 polls, I begged INEC chairman Attahiru Jega to return the N84billion or so he had been given to the treasury. An accurate audit of the polls is near-impossible, but I guess over N200billion was wasted that year on “elections”. And what they produced? Almost a thousand people killed in post-election violence, heightened insecurity across the country and more Nigerians slipping into the poverty cesspool. The nation has not recovered; it is sinking deeper as 2015 approaches.

Let us therefore reason together. Rather than waste perhaps N500billion more on elections that can only create more instability, more rancour, and more deaths, let’s find a better way of selecting our leaders.  I can state authoritatively that the 2015 “elections” have been concluded already: the votes have been counted and we are only waiting for INEC to announce the results. The politicians’ influence is telling on the news media too. Every day, headlines are donated to divisive characters that have never contributed anything to this country – except pain. See how our national politics has been reduced to what one Ijaw leader said and Arewa’s reply.

The other day, it was a group of “south-south and middle-belt leaders” led by Chief EK Clark joining forces to endorse President Jonathan’s candidacy in 2015. The group comprising “northerners” like Gen. Lawrence Onoja and Senator Wash Pam went to the villa to “persuade” the president to run, prompting the northern socio-political group, Arewa Consultative Forum, to allege that it’s the president’s plan to divide the north.

I believe the 2015 election is over because INEC is not prepared to conduct free and fair polls; it is never ready. Today, there is no authentic voter register and there won’t be one up until the eleventh hour, as usual. And, in a non-credible poll, the incumbent always stands to win, or else… The Nigeria Governors’ Forum election held on May 24 should serve as a reminder. Asking an incumbent government to supervise free and fair polls in this country is like asking it to wage war on itself. So why are we deceiving ourselves?

The “war” may be shifting to the floor of the National Assembly where some spoilers are hoping to adopt a new constitution that will prevent the incumbent president and governors from benefiting from a six-year single tenure. Again, I expect President Jonathan to win this “war”, and, should he lose, nothing stops his kinsman DSP Alamieyeseigha from stepping in! This is a great country indeed. 

If angels were sent from heaven to conduct free and fair elections here, few of the current politicians would be elected. But they would get substantial votes because they have more money to share, too many voters are impoverished and most of those that could make right choices do not even have voter cards. So, the opposition parties or politicians seeking to dethrone the incumbents should tackle the election process and reawaken apathetic voters.

They can’t accomplish either, without first raising enough money to match the funds controlled by guardians of the public treasuries. Where will such money come from?  Even if a benevolent foreign power sent it to the opposition, would greed and clannishness allow them to deploy it wisely? When chieftains of the ruling PDP say that the emerging APC will break in one year, that’s what they mean. The struggle over sharing of party positions and candidates would be a child’s play. Knowing all these, then, I suggest that we spend the next two years at a (sovereign) national conference writing a new constitution. Let INEC be dismantled.

The money that would have been wasted on elections can fix the country’s electricity problem. And let nobody tell me that any such step would be in conflict with the law. Have we been observing the law all along? Creativity pays.

A More Realistic War On Terror

Many cynics see the current inflated budget for defence (upwards of N1.5trillion per year) as the outcome of a conspiracy of gangsters that created the terrorism industry in Nigeria. After all, security-vote managers thrive most in times of crisis! Until I listened to the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) on Friday, I didn’t really consider such viewpoint foolish.

I have wondered whether anybody in the presidential villa has a workable plan for ending terrorism in the country. Is it just a matter of fishing for Boko Haram, clamping kidnap suspects in jail and shooting Niger Delta militants? Are the security forces ready to kill more than 20 million street children and young adults or, as the latest statistic suggests, 10.5 million out-of-school kids in Nigeria? With the nation’s economy closing up, with more than 80 per cent of youths unemployed or underemployed, and with over 120 million Nigerians living in penury, the rate of crime and hopelessness can only grow higher.

It appears some people have been thinking in the right direction. However, I won’t praise them until I see the plan presented by Dr Fatima Akilu, director, behavioural analysis and strategic communication in the ONSA, put into action. Based on the strength of the blueprint, the national security adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), deserves high marks. At least, it’s very realistic.

Fighting terror, as the America-trained psychologist (Dr Akilu) explained, is not all about hunting for Boko Haram but about understanding the psychology of the group, rehabilitating former insurgents and preventing future insurgents. De-radicalising them will, of course, require education and good programmes that can put food on the table. I have stated several times that stomach security is the ultimate security. To this could be added: good governance that entails eradicating corruption, creating jobs and ensuring social justice.

I also agree with Dr Akilu and her boss NSA Dasuki that the best deterrent for terrorism is to not let it take root in the country. I’m not sure we’ve not missed the mark already: how long will it take to rehabilitate 20 million hungry, unschooled, unemployable young adults who have been indoctrinated into believing that crime pays better than hard work? No doubt, we’re in for the long haul. It may take five or even 10 years before we start seeing the results of the ONSA’s efforts; that is, if the blueprint is ever implemented.

Leadership

PDP faces imminent collapse, says ex-VP Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on concerned founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to speak up and come together to save the party from imminent troubles capable of leading to avoidable implosion and mortal crisis.

In a statement by his Media Office in Abuja, Atiku said he was particularly disturbed by the worsening polarization of the party and internal divisions which might weaken the party structures at the states and deepen the crisis between Governors and the President.

The former Vice President explained that as one of the founding fathers of the party, he had a duty to call on other founding members to rise to the occasion and caution the forces that are bent on tearing the party apart and providing the ammo for self-destruction.

He lamented the failure of the National Executive Council (NEC) to meet in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution and the inability of the Board of Trustees to rise to the occasion of arresting this ugly development.

According to him, the bitter internal divisions within the PDP, has led to crisis in the party leadership in some states, division in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and   the suspension of a sitting Governor over disagreements on principle could have been avoided if the founders of the party had added their voices of caution and moderation.

With the challenges of providing good governance and the bid for re-election in 2015, Atiku noted that the PDP could not afford the current acrimony as it is undermining democratic structures at all levels.

He warned that if the crisis was left to get out of hand or not properly managed, the PDP might find itself weaker and politically vulnerable.

According to Atiku, a house divided against itself could not stand, adding that silence by concerned PDP stakeholders was a dangerous option at this point when the party faces the challenges of retaining its leadership in 2015.

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