We Shall Succeed In The Crusade To Save Nigeria From PDP – Tinubu

Immediate past governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday said the party would not falter in its legitimate struggle to “rescue Nigeria” from the “rudderless and clueless” Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government.

Tinubu, who made this known in Imoru-Ijebu, Ogun State, during the installation of the APC Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, as the Baba-Oba of Imoru by Oba Munirudeen Bashorun, said the APC would provide the country with “purposeful and quality leadership” needed to pull it away from the precipice.
According Tinubu, the struggle to rescue Nigeria and place her on the path of genuine development and transformation by the progressives had been on for a long time and can only get better with the addition of five PDP governors to its fold.
The APC National Leader, who is the Agbaakin of Imoru-Ijebu, expressed gladness that the party’s 16 progressive governors cutting across the country are currently joining hands with him and others in the “crusade for a better Nigeria”.
Tinubu said, “We will provide Nigerians with good leadership; once upon a time, Ogun State was on the wrong political corner of this country. Now, we have a purposeful and people-oriented government in Ogun State.
“There was a time I was alone, but today we have 16 governors on a rescue boat. We shall rescue Nigeria as a whole. We shall succeed in this crusade to save Nigeria. As Moses crossed the Red Sea, no going back to Pharaoh again.
“The PDP-led administration at the centre is demolishing democratic structures without any plan to rebuild it.”
While hailing the performance of APC governors in the South west and other parts of the country, Tinubu expressed delight at the scope of massive infrastructural development in Ogun State, which he described as second to none in the annals of the Gateway State.
He said, “Ijebu-Ode is already a giant construction site with the dualisation of roads going on, the overhead bridge, thank you Governor Amosun for your dedication and commitment to duty which made the transformation possible”.
In his acceptance speech, Akande, who was a former governor of Osun State, lauded Oba Bashorun, his chiefs and Imoru people for finding him worthy of the title of Baba Oba, pledging to always work for the growth and development of the town.
Akande noted that the traditional institutions remain the custodian of the people’s culture, history and tradition but lamented that it is now being bastardised by government’s interference.
He, therefore, warned traditional rulers in the country, particularly those in the Southwest region not to be part of the touted National Council of Obas, which he said may not be in their best interest and the institution they represent.

InformationNigeria

Obasanjo’s Letter: Nigeria’s Falling Under Jonathan – Balarabe Musa

As Nigerians continue to react to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa has accused the former president of contributing to the problems he highlighted in his 18-page letter which was made public last Wednesday.

Musa also noted that the country is ‘sick’ under President Jonathan because he does not have the faintest idea on what governance entails.
Speaking at the weekend in Kaduna, Musa said, “Having looked at the whole issues raised by Obasanjo, I found it hard to dismiss those allegations. The country in the real sense is dwindling under Jonathan.
“Many Nigerians should know that Obasanjo knows Jonathan more than them. He deliberately put him in power. It will be unfair to think that he doesn’t know what he was saying. Let us give him that benefit of the doubt even though he is not a character that should be listened to on critical issues.”
“However, the current government was midwife by him, therefore, people should consider his submissions.
“He has openly said what he knew and that represents the true identity of Jonathan, giving his own perception. I am confident of that. The country is sick under Jonathan”, he added.
Speaking further, the elder statesman noted that, “What is playing out now is a bad omen. Certainly, Jonathan lacks the capacity to handle this economy. He cannot fight corruption, rather he is compounding it. Obasanjo is in the best position to assess him as his godfather, who planted him in power.
“From the socio-economic point of view, the nation is falling under him (Jonathan) because he has no clue as to what governance is all about. Therefore, Obasanjo knows what he was saying and Nigerians should not disparage him on those serious issues he raised”, he asserted.

InformationNigeria

Chief Audu Ogbeh's Letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo. "ASO ROCK IS NOT A POULTRY FARM"

[December 6, 2004 - Hope For Nigeria Library]

His Excellency,
The President, Commander-In-Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria, Abuja

RE: ANAMBRA AND RELATED MATTERS
About a month ago, the nation woke up to the shocking news of a devastating attack on Anambra State resulting in the burning down of radio and television stations, hotels, vehicles, assembly quarters, the residence of the state Chief Judge and finally, Government House, Awka. Dynamite was even applied in the exercise and all or nearly most of these in the full glare of our own police force as shown on NTA for the world to see. The operation lasted three days.

That week, in all churches and mosques, we, our party, and you as Head of Government and Leader of this Nation came under the most scathing and blithering attacks. We were singly and severally accused of connivance in action and so forth. Public anger reached its peak.

Recommendation:
You set up a reconciliation committee headed by Ebonyi State Governor, Dr. Sam Egwu, and we all thought this would help calm nerves and perhaps bring about some respite. But quite clearly things are nowhere near getting better. While the reconciliation team attempted to inspect damaged sites in Anambra, they were scared away by gun fire, further heightening public anger and disdain for us.Bomb Explosion in Government House, Awka:
On Tuesday, the 30th day of November, 2004, another shocking development; a reported bomb explosion in Government House Awka. Since then, the media, public discourse within and even outside of our borders, have been dominated by the most heinous and hateful of expletives against our party and your person and government.
It would appear that the perpetrators of these acts are determined to stop at nothing since there has not been any visible sign of reproach from law enforcement agencies. I am now convinced that the rumours and speculations making the rounds that they are determined to kill Dr. Chris Ngige may not be unfounded.

The question now is, what would be the consequences of such a development? How do we exonerate ourselves from culpability, and worse still, how do we even hope to survive it? Mr. President, I was part of the second republic and we fell. Memories of that fall are a miserable litany of woes we suffered, escaping death only by God's supreme mercy. Then we were suspected to have stolen all of Nigeria's wealth. After several months in prison, some of us were freed to come back to life penniless and wretched. Many have gone to their early graves un-mourned because the public saw us all as renegades.

I am afraid we are drifting in the same direction again. In life, perception is reality and today, we are perceived in the worst light by an angry, scornful Nigerian Public for reasons which are absolutely unnecessary. Mr. President, if I write in this vein, it is because I am deeply troubled and I can tell you that an overwhelming percentage of our party members feel the same way though many may never be able to say this to you for a variety of reasons.But the buck stops at your table and in my position, not only as Chairman but also as an old friend and loyal defender of your development programmes which I have never stopped defending, I dare to think that we can, either by omission or commission allow ourselves to crash and bring to early grief, this beautiful edifice called democracy.
On behalf of the peoples Democratic Party, I call on you to act now and bring any, and all criminal, even treasonable, activity to a halt. You and you alone, have the means. Do not hesitate. We do not have too much time to waste.

A.I. Ogbeh, OFR
National Chairman, PDP. ...after receiving this letter, Obj went to his house in Asokoro, Abuja and told Ogbeh's wife he wanted to eat pounded yam and egusi soup, she promptly made the meal which Obj seemed to have thoroughly enjoy after which he told Ogbeh to resign, after he left Ogbeh's house, Ogbeh called his family together and informed them of Obj's purpose of visit, the family told him to resign and that was exactly what he did!

Obasanjo’s Open Apology Letter To Nigerians – By Segun Dada

• 
  

Fellow Nigerians,

This letter of mine is going to contain a lot of apologies. I have sinned against God and against you all. I have transgressed. I apologize. I apologize for pissing down the many opportunities you gave me to be the greatest Nigerian ever. I apologize for a lot of things. I apologize.
I apologize because I had some of the rarest opportunities in public service anybody could get anywhere, which in other climes should have been a stepping stone to greater things if I was a man with an iota of humanity or decency. For you my countrymen allowed me a total of eleven years as the head of state and President of Nigeria.
I apologize for being a disappointment. I apologize for being a tyrant masquerading as a democrat. I apologize for being self-centred, obnoxious, vindictive and a crude man. I apologize for all the times I sought at all cost to always impose my will on the nation, even where it was detrimental to the laws of morality, decency, common sense and of national interest.
I apologize for the killing of Nigerian university students in cold blood and the invasion and razing of the home and business premises of Fela Kuti who was my number one critic as military head of state. I know now that he was never my enemy even though I treated him as my enemy and an enemy of the Nigerian state.
I apologize for supporting the annulment of the election of a democratically elected president, Chief MKO Abiola and colluding with my military colleagues and setting up all sorts of anti-democratic political contraptions to negate the mandate of the people in an election widely acclaimed to be free and fair.
I apologize to Jesus Christ for claiming to be born again when I came out of jail and to you my countrymen and women for playing on your intelligence that I had seen some light when my soul was still much engulfed in the spirit of darkness.
I apologize for asking my soldiers to burn Odi to the ground and kill everyone in sight. I know I am a murderer and a war criminal. I apologize for asking my army to massacre more people in Choba, Igwuruta, Biogbolo and other places in the Niger-Delta. I apologize for being evil, heartless and tyrannical. I apologize to the families of the people my army massacred. I apologize to the orphans whose parents my army killed, to the widows whose husbands were killed. I apologize for everything. I apologize.

• NewsRescue-Petition: Investigate Pres. Obasanjo For 1999 Odi Massacre – Nigerians For Justice

I apologize for sowing the seeds that led to the Niger-Delta crisis. That transformed a non-violent struggle for justice, equity and fairness in the Niger-Delta into a full-blown war. I take responsibility for causing the crisis in the Niger-Delta today that has made heroes out of oil thieves and cultists like Asari Dokubo and other militants that the Nigerian government has to pay billions of naira to every month to keep from going back to the creeks.
I apologize for sending my soldiers to kill and burn down the communities of Zaki Biam, Vaase, Agbayin, Gbeji, Sankara and several others towns…. I apologize to the families of the people my army massacred. I apologize to the orphans whose parents my army killed, to the widows whose husbands were killed. I apologize for everything. I apologize. I weep and apologize.
I apologize for the murder of my attorney-general and minister of justice, Chief Bola Ige. I apologize for rewarding the man suspected of his assassination with political power. I apologize for my failure to nab, prosecute and jail the perpetrators of his assassination. I apologize for being insensitive and sadistic.
I apologize for the many backdoor deals I oversaw as president. I apologize for spending $2.2 billion on power without due process or any favourable end result. I apologize for the part I played in the Transcorp shares saga, the Obasanjo Library Fund, the COJA contracts, the PTDF scandal, the Siemens bribe scandal, the oil contracts and oil wells allocation which I singlehandedly allocated to myself, my women(oh, and I have a lot of them) and my cronies. I apologize for running the petroleum ministry during my tenure as my private estate. For shrouding my activities in the petroleum industry in utmost secrecy, for never rendering proper accounts of the oil revenue to relevant agencies, the Federal Executive Council or the National Assembly.
I apologize for using the EFCC as my personal bulldog to intimidate and bend the will of my political opponents and those who went against my will. I apologize to Nuhu Ribadu for using him for my own selfish interest.
I apologize for victimizing those who criticized me or who attempted to criticize me. I apologize to Audu Ogbeh for forcing him at gunpoint to sign his resignation, to Eedris Abdulkareem for victimizing him and forcing his promoters to do away with him because of the ‘’jaga jaga’’ song that depicted the true picture of Nigeria under me at that time. Look, Nigeria was indeed “Jaga Jaga” and is still “jaga jaga”.
I apologize to Rotimi Amaechi for striking his (Amaechi’s) name off the list of PDP’s governorship candidate list for the election just because I could. I apologize for withholding Federal allocation to Lagos under Bola Tinubu for three and a half years–an act of tyranny and dictatorship that I have come to realize.
I apologize to the people of Anambra state for turning a blind eye as the then sitting Governor, Chris Ngige, was kidnapped and forced to a shrine to swear an oath in broad daylight by one of my apologists Chris Uba who I made sure was above the law. I apologize for withdrawing his security just so to spite him and all the people of Anambra and show validation to the actions of Chris and Andy Uba.
I apologize for attempting to alter the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria just for the single selfish purpose of getting a third term. I apologize to you my fellow Nigerians for using your tax money to bribe lawmakers in an attempt to make my selfish interest come to fulfillment. I apologize for heating up the polity, I apologize profusely for being a self-righteous, self-centered crook and a vindictive so and so.
I apologize to everyone I victimized when the will of you the Nigerian people prevailed over my third term attempt. I apologize for imposing on you a sick president. I apologize because I knew he was sick and didn’t have very much to live for, but I still made him President to spite you all. I wanted to punish the Nigerian people for not letting me have my third term so I imposed him on you, went back to my farm and watched in amusement. I look back at it all now and I admit that I am a terrible man. I apologize for the evils my actions have caused you. I apologize for my actions. I apologize even more for making an unexposed tribal bigot his Vice President.

• NewsRescue-EXCLUSIVE: Yar’Adua Was Poisoned By Obasanjo’s Kitchen Staff — Professor Ukandi G. Damachi, USA Cables

I apologize for giving you the Nigerian people, Goodluck Jonathan–a man who had no antecedent in leadership. I apologize for making a man who was under investigation for false declaration of his assets, President. I apologize for making a man whose wife was then being investigated by the EFCC for money laundering, President of the Federal Republic. I apologize.
I apologize for everything you the Nigerian people are going through right now. Your present travails with poor leadership are the products of my machinations. I am Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan is me. I am the kettle that produced the blackened coffee. I’m the architect of your misfortunes. I’m the captain of the gang of pirates that are currently milking your motherland dry. I am the evil one. Goodluck Johnathan is a product of my evil mind. I apologize. I am sorry for all I have cost you. My head is deep in shame, my body is clothed in sack-clothes and my hair is filled with ashes.

• NewsRescue-How Obasanjo and Dangote Got Nigeria “Here” by Imposing Terminally Sick Yar’Adua- US Intel. Leaks from “Rat” Gusau

I appeal to you the Nigerian people today, flee from me and every of my many descendants. If Jonathan wants to contest in 2015, by all means he should. But I appeal to you the Nigerian to vote him out. For he has dwarfed everything I and the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and my good friend General Babangida ever thought of stealing. Under him, the impunity under me is a child’s play. Under him, the Presidency has turned into a laughing stock and the presidential jet has turn into a taxi for tribal warriors and ethnic jingoists who look for an opportunity to beat the drums of war. Ask Asari Dokubo.
And in conclusion, I apologize to my son Gbenga for sleeping with his wife and for embarrassing the office of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria and myself and my family.
I am very, very sorry fellow Nigerians. Forgive me, for I have erred. Forgive me because without your forgiveness, I will forever be miserable. Without your forgiveness, I will never have peace.
NB: Let me crave your indulgence to share this with your neighbours, friends and fellow countrymen who can’t have first hand access to this letter. Let my story be a lesson for whoever wants to lead this country in the future. I am a mess and I messed up.

Signed:
Olusegun Obasanjo
Architect of Nigeria’s misfortune(s)

NewsRescue

Muhammadu Buhari Has A Say On Obasanjo’s Letter To Jonathan

An important political figure in Nigeria, a former military ruler of Nigeria, Major General (rtd.) Muhammadu Buhari (b. December 17, 1942) published some of his thoughts concerning the controversial letter of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan. You can read the full text of his statement below.

The Obasanjo letter did not come as any surprise to us. No right thinking Nigerian will choose to ignore the apalling descent to anarchy that Nigeria is experiencing under this government.
The good people of this country are equally oppressed by the PDP regimes of both Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. Therefore, while we have the right to demand accountability for the pertinent issues raised in the said letter, we also have the moral responsibility to question the sincerity of the messenger, and to condemn and reject the duo (Obasanjo and Jonathan) for their crimes against the good people of this country.
The destiny of Nigeria is the destiny of 170 million of us. No single individual, no single tribe, religion, political party or region can usurp this destiny for its selfish whim. Our strength and unity is national, not regional. There are attempts by the PDP to undermine this hard-earned national unity, we must guard against such manipulations with utmost vigilance.

InformationNigeria

Discontent in High Places

Even though the motive is political, the issues raised by Olusegun Obasanjo are grave enough for adequate response
In the last one week, two letters, one by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and another by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, have been playing in the public domain. They both roundly indict the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
While the CBN Governor in his letter expressed concerns about the non-remittance of an estimated $49.8 billion of oil proceeds to the Federation Account by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Obasanjo was more sweeping in his concerns ranging from executive impunity and recklessness to tacit complicity in acts of corruption and outright insensitivity to the feelings of Nigerians.
In similar vein, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal on Monday said pointedly that President Goodluck Jonathan’s “body language doesn’t tend to support the fight against corruption”.
Taken together, these expressions of discontent cannot be ignored first on account of the political status of the complainants. More importantly, the contents of these communications happen to tally roughly with the feelings of a broad majority of Nigerians. In sum, there is an emerging consensus that the quality of political leadership and governance being provided by the Jonathan administration falls below the minimum public expectation.
Worse of all, the moral foundation of the nation has been vastly eroded by industrial scale corruption among high public officials to the consternation of both Nigerians and foreign observers. It is the totality of these concerns that unites Obasanjo’s letter and that of Sanusi with the strong indictment of the president by the House Speaker.
However, of greater symbolic importance is the 18-page letter by Obasanjo to whom President Jonathan largely owes his political ascendancy. Until very recently, Obasanjo was the de facto leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and on account of having led the nation first as a military head of state and later as an elected president, he carries tremendous political gravity among Nigerians and the international community.
Therefore, both his concern and arsenal of information should be unassailable. Unfortunately, given that the issues raised in his letter require serious consideration, it is very disappointing that the Presidency has reacted, rather hastily, with more of invectives than a reasoned argument and constructive engagement.
Needless to say, some of the allegations made by Obasanjo in his letter are such that threaten individual rights and are incompatible with the exercise of democratic freedoms. There are also some aspects that impinge on national security. Take for instance the allegation that the administration is training snipers at a secret location and has also put over 1000 Nigerians on a political watch list.
Coming from a man like Obasanjo, this is a rather weighty allegation that ought to be properly investigated by the security agencies and the relevant committees of the National Assembly. Obasanjo also insinuated that the judiciary is being deliberately manipulated not only to pervert the course of justice but also to achieve some political objectives.
It is bad enough that the institutional channels of public accountability through which the president should have accounted to the nation on these matters are largely in retreat. The National Assembly seems hardly interested in seeking a higher level of accountability from the executive. On its part, the executive holds civil society in disdain.
Yet given the sensitive nature of some of the issues raised in Obasanjo’s letter, President Jonathan should find it necessary to enhance the public accountability of his administration by minimally providing factual responses to them. While the motives and timing of the letter may indeed have everything to do with politics, the contents are matters of grave public concern. Therefore, dismissing the letter as a vehicle for conveying a private political agenda is neither here nor there.
It is also in the interest of the president to respond to the issue of whether or not a whopping sum of $49.8 billion is yet to be accounted for by the NNPC. From what is already in the public domain, Sanusi’s letter was addressed to the president and it is from him Nigerians demand explanation. And this is not an issue that should be lost in the subterfuge of setting up another committee. What Nigerians deserve is accountability from their commander-in-chief, so that they can rest assured that contrary to some insinuation, the guard is not the thief!

ThisDay

The 'fake' Mandela memorial interpreter said it all

He claimed an 'attack of schizophrenia' rendered his signing unintelligible, but his performance translated an underlying truth

Thamsanqa Jantjie, the man accused of using fake sign language at Nelson Mandela's memorial. Photograph: Foto24/Getty Images

Our daily lives are mostly a mixture of drab routine and unpleasant surprises – however, from time to time, something unexpected happens which makes life worth living. Something of this order occurred at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela last week.
Tens of thousands were listening to world leaders making statements. And then … it happened (or, rather, it was going on for some time before we noticed it). Standing alongside world dignitaries including Barack Obama was a rounded black man in formal attire, an interpreter for the deaf, translating the service into sign language. Those versed in sign language gradually became aware that something strange was going on: the man was a fake; he was making up his own signs; he was flapping his hands around, but there was no meaning in it.
A day later, the official inquiry disclosed that the man, Thamsanqa Jantjie, 34, was a qualified interpreter hired by the African National Congress from his firm South African Interpreters. In an interview with the Johannesburg newspaper the Star, Jantjie put his behaviour down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication: he had been hearing voices and hallucinating. "There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he said. "I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in." Jantjie nonetheless defiantly insisted that he is happy with his performance: "Absolutely! Absolutely. What I have been doing, I think I have been a champion of sign language."
Next day brought a new surprising twist: media reported that Jantjie has been arrested at least five times since the mid-1990s, but he allegedly dodged jail time because he was mentally unfit to stand trial. He was accused of rape, theft, housebreaking and malicious damage to property; his most recent brush with the law occurred in 2003 when he faced murder, attempted murder and kidnapping charges.
Reactions to this weird episode were a mixture of amusement (which was more and more suppressed as undignified) and outrage. There were, of course, security concerns: how was it possible, with all the control measures, for such a person to be in close proximity to world leaders? What lurked behind these concerns was the feeling that Thamsanqa Jantjie's appearance was a kind of miracle – as if he had popped up from nowhere, or from another dimension of reality. This feeling seemed further confirmed by the repeated assurances from deaf organisations that his signs had no meaning, that they corresponded to no existing sign language, as if to quell the suspicion that, maybe, there was some hidden message delivered through his gestures – what if he was signalling to aliens in an unknown language? Jantjie's very appearance seemed to point in this direction: there was no vivacity in his gestures, no traces of being involved in a practical joke – he was going through his gestures with expressionless, almost robotic calm.
Jantjie's performance was not meaningless – precisely because it delivered no particular meaning (the gestures were meaningless), it directly rendered meaning as such – the pretence of meaning. Those of us who hear well and do not understand sign language assumed that his gestures had meaning, although we were not able to understand them. And this brings us to the crux of the matter: are sign language translators for the deaf really meant for those who cannot hear the spoken word? Are they not much more intended for us – it makes us (who can hear) feel good to see the interpreter, giving us a satisfaction that we are doing the right thing, taking care of the underprivileged and hindered.
I remember how, in the first "free" elections in Slovenia in 1990, in a TV broadcast by one of the leftist parties, the politician delivering the message was accompanied by a sign language interpreter (a gentle young woman). We all knew that the true addressees of her translation were not the deaf but we, the ordinary voters: the true message was that the party stood for the marginalised and handicapped.
It was like great charity spectacles which are not really about children with cancer or flood victims, but about making us, the public, aware that we are doing something great, displaying solidarity.
Now we can see why Jantjie's gesticulations generated such an uncanny effect once it became clear that they were meaningless: what he confronted us with was the truth about sign language translations for the deaf – it doesn't really matter if there are any deaf people among the public who need the translation; the translator is there to make us, who do not understand sign language, feel good.
And was this also not the truth about the whole of the Mandela memorial ceremony? All the crocodile tears of the dignitaries were a self-congratulatory exercise, and Jangtjie translated them into what they effectively were: nonsense. What the world leaders were celebrating was the successful postponement of the true crisis which will explode when poor, black South Africans effectively become a collective political agent. They were the Absent One to whom Jantjie was signalling, and his message was: the dignitaries really don't care about you. Through his fake translation, Jantjie rendered palpable the fake of the entire ceremony.
• This article was amended on 16 December 2013 to comply with our editorial guidelines

TheGuardian