His Highness Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

Sam Nda-Isaiah

I would like to preface the column today with a condolence message to the people of Kano over the death of Alhaji Ado Bayero, the 56th Emir of Kano. HRH Bayero had an eventful tenure; he will be remembered as a very respectable traditional ruler. He maintained his dignity throughout his reign and was never involved in any scandal that could have undermined the traditional institution. He made friends all over the nation and even across the world. May his soul rest in peace.

The king is dead, long live the king. And now the 57th Emir. Is it not poetic that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi would become the 57th emir of Kano? Indeed, “Dia ris God o!”, if you know what I mean. If Jonathan had known God’s plan, he would not have created this embarrassment for himself by giving himself the power to “remove” a CBN governor even when the law was clear about this. And, to make matters worse, the president did it to silence someone who dared to challenge the mindless stealing, the type that this nation had never seen, in his government. But all that is by the way. Jonathan will see more of this type of poetic justice in due course. That is usually the fate of all leaders who see their offices as an opportunity to commit serial injustices.

Having said that, I would like to congratulate the people of Kano on the choice of His Highness Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as their 57th Emir. The story of Sanusi’s ascension to the throne of his forebears is interesting and will be told for several generations. As a child, Sanusi’s nickname was “crown prince”. From his primary school days, he did not hide his desire to become the Emir of Kano, and he occasionally suffered for it.

Sanusi had always been broadminded and intelligent. A personal story will suffice here. In the early days of this newspaper, as with all newspapers, it was tough getting adverts, especially from bluechip companies and banks. Adverts from First Bank were particularly impossible for new newspapers. Within a year after we started, Sanusi was appointed executive director at First Bank. It was a big appointment for him. Before then, he was a general manager at UBA. Almost immediately he became executive director at First Bank, I placed a call to him and gave him the assignment of ensuring that LEADERSHIP start getting his bank’s adverts. When he appeared not to be succeeding fast enough, I went to Lagos to see him. He was very happy to see me and he immediately called the man in charge of advert placements to his office. When the man arrived, he introduced me as the publisher of LEADERSHIP and asked him why he was yet to start giving adverts to the paper in spite of his instructions. The man went through a litany of complaints. At a point, Sanusi got angry and told him, “Look my friend, I told you that LEADERSHIP is a national paper that is very popular with northerners and we need to advertise in it. If as ED and a northerner you will not take my word, get out of my office.” The man left and I jokingly told Sanusi, “It appears LEADERSHIP would have to wait until you become managing director before we can get First Bank’s adverts.” His response to me is the stuff for history books. He looked at me and said in Hausa, “Haba Sam, have you ever heard of a northerner becoming the MD of First Bank? Just pray that I should become CBN governor and then Emir of Kano.” We both laughed. I never discussed the advert issue with him again. Then, around October 2005, one of LEADERSHIP’s editors walked up to me and said, “Sir, your friend Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has been appointed First Bank’s MD.” I looked at him and said, “Get out my friend. That’s how you spread rumours.” He laughed and stuck to his position. I then said, “Anyway, let me call Sanusi.” I tried him several times but could not get through. I then sent him a text message asking him to call me. He did in less than five minutes. He told me he was in a board meeting in Dubai. I then told him that one of my editors had been spreading the dangerous rumour that he had been appointed the managing director of First Bank. He said it was true but he would fully take over in January 2006. “What!” I said. “What happened to the received wisdom that northerners do not get appointed First Bank’s MD?” He laughed and said we would talk when he returned.

And now wait for this… Even before Sanusi took over, the same man in charge of advert placements who had rebuffed him about a year earlier started passing lots of adverts to LEADERSHIP. When I told Sanusi this, we both had a good laugh.

Then, one day in late May 2009, Aniebo Nwamu walked into my office at about 10pm to declare that Sanusi had been appointed governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to succeed Charles Soludo. Everyone in LEADERSHIP knew Aniebo’s relationship with Soludo’s CBN. I immediately placed a call to Sanusi who confirmed that indeed President Umaru Yar’Adua had called him to inform him about it more than three weeks earlier. I immediately cut off the conversation so that he would not plead that the news should not be reported. I called in the editor and told him to lead the next day’s edition with the story. After the announcement was made, I called him to say “one more”, by which I meant his appointment as the Emir of Kano. That happened yesterday to the applause and jubilation of the entire country, except for a few misguided young men.

I told someone yesterday that if President Jonathan had not treated Sanusi so shabbily, he probably would not have been so favoured to succeed Ado Bayero. Whatever God destines must happen, no matter human machinations.

May God grant the 57th Emir of Kano a long and peaceful reign.

Ran Sarki ya dade!

APC will crush PDP, salvage Nigeria in 2015 – New Chairman, Oyegun

Ex-Edo Governor, John Odigie Oyegun

Nigeria’s main opposition party has concluded its first national convention.

The new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, has said with the successful enthronement of a new national leadership for the party, there is an opportunity for it to kick out the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from power in 2015.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, the Third Republic governor of Edo State emerged as the national chairman of the APC at the party’s convention in Abuja which ended Saturday morning.

APC is the product of the merger of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Congress for Progressives Change, CPC, All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and the then new PDP
The convention is its first since its registration as a political party by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, last July.

In his acceptance speech Saturday morning, the chairman said the ruling PDP had failed to provide Nigerians with stable power supply, failed to provide them with security that would enable them sleep peacefully on their beds at night, failed to provide employment for millions of Nigerian youths, and failed to stem the tide of corruption that was robbing Nigeria’s children of their future.

The chairman, who was the vice presidential running candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in the 2011 presidential election, said the APC would provide Nigerians with a visionary, dedicated, and people-oriented leadership that would liberate the nation from PDP’s rule of poverty and oppression.

Under the stewardship of the APC, he stressed, Nigeria would progress and Nigerians will thrive.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun, however, admitted that the task of savaging Nigeria would not be easy because the rot in the country was deep. He noted that the task would be more difficult because the PDP would be determined to frustrate APC’s mission.

Below is Mr. Odigie-Oyegun acceptance speech delivered on Saturday morning.

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH OF CHIEF JOHN ODIGIE OYEGUN ON THE OCCASION OF HIS ELECTION AS THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) EAGLE SQUARE, ABUJA ON FRIDAY, JUNE 13TH, 2014

“WE MUST SET FORTH AT DAWN”
My dear fellow members of the All Progressives Congress, I salute you. My name is John Odigie Oyegun and I am highly gratified and honoured to be standing before you tonight as the newly elected National Chairman of our Great Party. I am humbled by the great honour you have conferred on me and the sacred trust you have reposed in me. And with extreme humility, I accept this responsibility that you have entrusted to me, to lead our Party onto the next phase of its evolution and onwards to the fulfilment of its destined mission as the liberator of the Nigerian people. This is a heavy responsibility, but I assure you it is a responsibility I will not take lightly. I pledge to do my utmost, God being on my side, to justify the faith and confidence you have reposed in me.

Before I go further, I will like to express my deepest sympathies to the Borno State delegation and families of those that lost their lives in the unfortunate accident that occurred on their way to this convention. May God in His infinite mercy rest their souls in perfect peace. I assure all gathered here today and the nation generally that the blood they have shed will not be in vain.

I congratulate and thank you, my fellow party men and women, for your maturity and orderliness at this our historic national convention, and for the personal sacrifices you all made to ensure the success of the occasion.

I thank especially all my co-aspirants to the office of National Chairman and all other aspirants to other National offices. Our individual desires to serve our party at the highest level underscore our collective passion for the success of this endeavour. I congratulate all those elected into the National Executive with me, and on their behalf extend a hand of fellowship to all our co-aspirants to rally round and continue to donate their passion and talent to our common cause.

I wish to thank the visionary architects of our party who worked diligently to build this great national party we have today. Through personal sacrifices and patriotic vision, our party leaders assembled an impressive array of patriotic Nigerians and welded them into this great party and thus, for the first time in the modern era of Nigerian democracy, built a truly national party that provided a robust alternative to an oppressive ruling party.

I wish to especially appreciate the role played by Chief Tom Ikimi. I recall that for six long months he hosted and chaired the Merger Negotiations Committee and finally succeeded in bringing into being the APC, a feat that has never before been successfully accomplished in Nigeria. For this singular feat his name will go into political history of our dear nation.

I would also like to thank our Interim National Executive officers who undertook the extremely difficult task of getting our party up and running, and keeping it on its feet in its infancy, even as our opponents tried every trick in the book to knock us down. It is a testimony to the faithfulness of our members and the doggedness of our interim Officers at both the national and state levels that our party overcame all the hurdles of mischief.

Ladies and gentlemen, our party has much work to do. The state of our nation is highly disturbing. It could be said with some justification that our great country Nigeria is on the ropes. A nation blessed by the Almighty with all the key endowments to make any nation great has been virtually brought to its knees by corruption that is unbridled and will qualify for the Guinness Books of Records, resource mismanagement, directionless and what some have described as cluelessness. As if these woes are not enough, our situation has been compounded by the amazingly visionless national leadership that has been inflicted on Nigerians by the People’s Democratic Party since the dawn of our latest democratic dispensation. In this past decade and a half of genuine suffering, Nigerians have been frustrated by the fact that there was no alternative national party of comparable strength to rescue them from the clutches of the PDP.

Tonight I say to Nigerians: “Your wait is over. Your prayers have not been in vain. Help is on the way”. The APC is here! In 2015, Nigerians will finally have the opportunity to kick out a long-ruling party that has, among other things, failed to provide them with stable power supply, failed to provide them with security that will enable them sleep peacefully on their beds at night, failed to provide employment for millions of Nigerian youths, and failed to stem the tide of corruption that is robbing Nigeria’s children of their future. In 2015, the All Progressives Congress will provide Nigerians with a visionary, dedicated and people-oriented leadership that will liberate the nation from PDP’s rule of poverty and oppression. Under the stewardship of the APC, Nigeria will progress and Nigerians will thrive. This is our sacred pledge to Nigerians tonight.

But we must not be under any illusion: our work will not be easy. The very task of salvaging Nigeria will, on its own, be hard because the rot is deep. But the task will be made even harder by the fact that we have, as opponents, a Political Party that will stop at nothing to frustrate our mission. We know the make-up, the habits, the philosophy and the mindset of our opponents. We know the extent they will go to cling on to power. And we know the immensity of the resources at their disposal. But because the resources they misuse are resources that should rightly be used to improve the lives of the Nigerian people, those resources will not be effective in frustrating the people’s hopes for liberation.

But for us to succeed, dear brothers and sisters, we must pledge this night to work together as a team. We must embrace the ideals of unity, oneness and harmony, and the spirit of give and take. We must learn to let go of past grudges and previous grievances and move forward together as members of the same family. And so tonight, I call for the healing of rifts and the smoothening of cracks. I call for forgiveness of offences and injuries.
I call for unity in our great party. I call for our collective embrace of a common vision. I call for a commitment to work hand in hand to accomplish the task before us. If we fail in our task due to disunity and acrimony, it is not only ourselves we would have let down. We would have betrayed the hopes and aspirations of long-suffering Nigerians. And we must never lose sight of the fact that the collective destiny of the Nigerian people is far more important than our individual or group interests, ambitions or grievances.

Because the road ahead of us is long and hard, we must heed the wise advice of our esteemed Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka that “we must set forth at dawn”. And so, whereas tonight we party to celebrate the successful conclusion of the National Convention of our Party, early tomorrow morning, we must rise with the dawn and set forth on our patriotic mission to set Nigerians free, and usher in the New Nigeria of our dreams.

Once again, I thank you. God bless you all. God bless the APC and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

APC NATIONAL CHAIRMANSHIP ELECTION: EDO APC CONGRATULATES OYEGUN

Edo State Executive Committee of All Progressives Congress (APC) hereby  congratulates the First Executive Governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie- Oyegun as he emerges the choice of the National caucus of the party for the office of the National Chairman.

At a meeting presided over by its Chairman, Barrister Anslem Ojezua, the State Executive acclaimed Chief Oyegun as a reliable democrat, an indomitable freedom fighter and a seasoned administrator.

The Executive Commended APC National caucus for its sagacity and meticulousness in the screening of candidates for the foremost leadership position of the party.

It appealed to the three other candidates dropped by the Caucus, namely, Chief Tom Ikimi equally from Edo State, Dr Sam Sam Jaja from Rivers State and Chief  Timipre Sylva, all of whom are eminently qualified for the exalted office, to co-operate with Chief Oyegun.

Edo APC acknowledged the efforts of Chief Oyegun in promoting peace and unity in the party even at a time that the recently defected cabal of mercenaries attempted to instigate him against Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

The State Executive equally commended Governor Adam Oshiomhole for his objective role in the process that led to the Caucus’ choice of one of the two Edo indigenes who aspired to the National Chairmanship.

Edo APC appeals to all delegates to the ongoing convention to endorse the choice of the national caucus.

Comrade Godwin Erhahon

State Publicity Secretary. 

For Dora Akunyili

 

 By Sam Nda-Isaiah

When the rumour that Professor Dora Akunyili, former information minister, was very ill started, I didn’t get the real sense of what people were talking about until I saw her photograph. I am not sure I have fully accepted the photograph I saw as Dora’s. If I had met the person in that photograph in the street, I would have walked away without knowing she was the one because that image was hardly that of the ebullient and lively Dora I had known for a long time. The photograph would leave you in no doubt that Dora Akunyili is indeed terribly ill. She is currently in India receiving treatment for an ailment that, I am told, has defied diagnosis.

Dora, a true Nigerian, has always been in the service of the country for as long as I have known her. Before she got to NAFDAC, few knew the havoc that fake drugs wreaked on our society. I once jokingly told her that before she happened on NAFDAC, many people thought their ailments were the handiwork of the witches in their villages. It took a Dora for many to realise the damage that fake and substandard drugs and medicines caused our society. She simply laughed and, being Dora, she went into a very long discussion of her job and the threats she faced daily from mainly her kinsmen who were predominantly the merchants of the illegal items. She told me how she once narrowly escaped the bullets of people she suspected to be fake drug merchants.

She faced criticism though from a few pharmacists who were a little suspicious of her. It did not help that they were her professional colleagues. But we must give it to her that she did more than any Nigerian, dead or alive, to draw attention to the evil of fake drugs and medicines. It is the standard she left behind at NAFDAC that is still being improved upon by her successor.

As a politician, Dora is no less a dogged fighter and a pragmatist. I have never been in the same tendency with her and actually disagreed with her politics most of the time, but we kept close nonetheless. We always found a common ground because Dora usually means well and always works hard for what she believes is right.

I took a stand against Umaru Yar’Adua’s government in which she was minister of information. One day, she casually walked into my office to appeal to me to take it easy with their government especially because, according to her, Yar’Adua was my brother. I agreed with her that Yar’Adua was my brother but that was precisely why I demanded a higher standard from him and his government. She spent a very long time with me and insisted that, because both of us were pharmacists – she is a professor of pharmacy – I must do it for her. She explained that I couldn’t take such a stand against a government in which she was information minister and chief image maker. I told her that the issues at stake were not personal and that they were national issues bigger than both of us and that even I enjoyed some relationship with the president then. President Yar’Adua was a decent man, I told her, but many in the government she served took advantage of his illness to loot the nation dry. She left my office that day without achieving her objective but she was not bitter and did not lose her sense of humour. And, most important, we remained close friends.

But when it became clear that Yar’Adua had become permanently incapacitated and some people in their government were lying to themselves and to the Nigerian public about his whereabouts, she became the first person to go public, saying that the cabinet in which she and others served had a greater responsibility to the country and insisted that the constitution must take precedence over any other narrow consideration. It was because Dora had the courage to bell the cat that progress was made towards the appointment of an acting president of Nigeria in those trying times. Some people childishly and sentimentally accused her of betraying the man who appointed her minister, but the majority of Nigerians were thankful – and Nigeria was better for it.

Dora has always been a courageous person and that must have been the driving force that also motivated her to attend the opening session of the ongoing conference, even though she was in a very bad state.

Those of us who believe in miracles and have seen lots of them look forward to the day we will see Dora fully recovered and vivacious again to continue in her service to her country. I wish her well.

Donald Sterling Blasts Magic Johnson for Having 'AIDS'

Disgraced Clippers owner maliciously disparages NBA legend during interview.

It was supposed to be an apology interview where disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterlingsaid sorry for making racist remarks against African-Americans.

However, the banned owner also dedicated a large portion of his interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper to maliciously disparaging NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.

"I think [Johnson] should be ashamed of himself," Sterling told Cooper during the interview, which aired Monday night. “I think he should go into the background. But what does he do for the black people? He doesn't do anything.” 

"He's got AIDS," Sterling added. "What has he done, big Magic Johnson, what has he done?”

When Cooper countered by saying Johnson is a successful businessman and clarified that the basketball legend is HIV-positive but does not have “full-blown AIDS,” Sterling retorted:

“He acts so holy. He made love to every girl in every city in America, and he had AIDS, and when he had those AIDS, I went to my synagogue and I prayed for him, I hope he could live and be well. I didn't criticize him. I could have. Is he an example for children?"

Sterling also used the interview to allege that Johnson had reached out to Sterling and advised him to “be patient” and “we’ll work it out.”

To that allegation, Johnson told TMZ that it was Sterling who called him, requesting that they sit down together in an interview with Barbara Walters. Johnson scoffed at Sterling's request, according to the celebrity news website. Johnson will surely provide more of a response Tuesday night, when his interview with Cooper airs on CNN.

Sterling’s lambasting of Johnson even drew a reaction from NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

"I just read a transcript of Donald Sterling's interview with Anderson Cooper and, while Magic Johnson doesn't need me to, I feel compelled on behalf of the NBA family to apologize to him that he continues to be dragged into this situation and be degraded by such a malicious and personal attack,” Silver said in a statement. "The NBA Board of Governors is continuing with its process to remove Mr. Sterling as expeditiously as possible."

If three-fourths of NBA owners vote against Sterling, he will be forced to sell the Clippers.

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KWANKWASO RESHUFFLES CABINET

Abubakar Salihi

Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso yesterday made a minor cabinet reshuffle to further strengthen government machinery for better result.
The two new commissioners who were sworn in yesterday are Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna for the Ministry of Agriculture, and Alhaji Ali Ahmed Yako for the Ministry of Higher Education.
Speaking on the new commissioners, Kwankwaso said that the commissioner for commerce and industry, Dr. Nuhu Abubakar Danburam is now the commissioner for information, while that of information, Dr Farouk Jibril Umar will take charge of commerce ministry.Also, the commissioner for land and physical planning, Alhaji Muhammad Nadu Yahaya will take charge of the Ministry of Budget and Planning, while the commissioner of Budget and Planning, Yusuf Bello Danbatta was transferred to Ministry of Land, Physical Planning.

Leadership

'Jonathan Is Overwhelmed By Boko Haram' - Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said President Goodluck Jonathan is overwhelmed by Boko Haram and needs a new approach in handling the insurgents.

Olusegun Obasanjo

Speaking on a BBC programme, Focus on Africa, which aired a special edition on Nigeria’s insecurity yesterday night, Obasanjo said there's nothing wrong in trying a new approach to end the Boko Haram menace.

"If you had tried stick and stick alone and it has not worked, is there anything wrong to try something along with the stick," he said.

According to Obasanjo, in 2011, he took upon himself to investigate Boko Haram when they were getting out of hand in order to be a mediator and also find out if it was an organisation with aims and objectives and if they have foreign backing.

He said he met with people who knew the sect and he found out that Boko Haram has leaders and they had somebody acting as their lawyer.

"The lawyer, who was acting in proxy told me: ‘Mr President if you want to meet their leaders give me three hours. I will gather their leaders, not in Nigeria but outside Nigeria. Obviously, they have leaders," Obasanjo said.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Shehu Sani said Obasanjo has a list of the leaders of Boko Haram sect which has a theocratic agenda.

He warned the Federal government against using force to fight Boko Haram as it has not been able to yield any results.

He added that the federal government should first get the girls back home safely before using force on the Boko Haram insurgents.

Obasanjo had some days back condemned the President Goodluck Jonathan administration on how they handled the issue of the abducted Chibok School girls, saying they couldn't have acted immediately the news broke to save the girls but they didn't.

Naij.com