Reuben Abati Lied: President Jonathan Did Lead 600-Man Delegation To 2013 UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Confesses

         

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bashir Wali, has confirmed that President Goodluck Jonathan did lead a massive 600-man delegation to the United Nations General Assembly last year, as reported at that time by SaharaReporters.

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by SAHARAREPORTERS

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bashir Wali, has confirmed that President Goodluck Jonathan did lead a massive 600-man delegation to the United Nations General Assembly last year, as reported at that time by SaharaReporters. Ambassador Aminu Wali

It was the world’s largest, he also confirmed.  He described the size of Nigeria’s delegations to the General Assembly every year as “embarrassing.”
Mr. Wali, a former Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, made the startling disclosures yesterday in Abuja while addressing heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In the Minister’s words, 80% of the people in the delegation have no business being on them, and do not add any value.
See Also         President Goodluck Jonathan Leads 600-Man Delegation To United Nations General Assembly 82 Comments 11 Months Ago SaharaReporters broke the story on September 22, 2013, disclosing disclosed that the delegation included including an inner circle of about 26 people.  It was bloated by about 547 civil servants drawn from the MDAs, who overran some of New York City’s priciest hotels.
Our story was immediately denounced by presidential spokesman Reuben Abati as lacking “substance,” and “a continuation today by Saharareporters.com of its usual scurrilous and baseless attacks” on Mr. Jonathan’s administration.
“There is also no substance to the rehashed charge of profligacy which Sahara reporters annually make against the President when he leads Nigeria’s delegation to the UN General Assembly,” he said in a statement, asserting that the delegation was “less than 30” persons.
“Other than them, the only other persons who are in New York for the UN General Assembly with the President’s knowledge and approval are relevant ministers and few essential aides,” Abati said, adding that Mr. Jonathan’s delegation was not out of proportion with Nigeria’s size, role and relevance in Africa and the global community.
“Sahara Reporters’ claim that the President’s delegation is the largest at this year’s General Assembly is an unjustifiable fabrication which can never stand any rigorous test of truthfulness,” the spokesman said.  “We are certainly aware that many Nigerian citizens are currently on visits to New York. These persons are here for their own purposes and neither President Jonathan nor his administration has any responsibility for the presence of these persons in New York.
“We will not be surprised if it is such persons who include Nigerian businessmen who are here for an African Business Roundtable event, members of non-governmental organizations and tourists that SaharaReporters  has been counting, for the sole purpose of mischief-making, as “members of the Nigerian delegation,” he also said.
Mr. Abati dismissed what he called “SaharaReporters’ usual fare of mischief, outright falsehood and erroneous speculation,” saying he wanted to “affirm for the benefit of the unwary that there is absolutely no truth in the allegation that the President took a 600-man delegation to New York.” President goodluck Jonathan addressing the UN last year State House Photo
Shoving Abati’s very words back at him, Ambassador Wali’s remarks not only vindicated our report, it put it in perspective.
“The size of Nigeria’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly last year was 567; that is something that is certainly way, way out; certainly it is unacceptable. On that basis I asked that they send me the list of three countries: Germany, South Africa and Egypt, to compare with what we in Nigeria have. None of them is up to one third of our own delegation,” the Minister said.
He regretted that not even China with a population of over one billion people can compare with the number of delegates that Nigeria sends to the event annually, confirming that Nigeria did have the largest of all the delegations to New York in 2013.
What is worse, the ambassador observed that 80 per cent of Nigeria’s vast delegations to the General Assembly do not add any value to the team’s work at the assembly.
“So, you can see that there is certainly need to really take a second look and see that those of our delegates that go the UN General Assembly do have value. It is not a question of having a jamboree, but indeed, it is more like a jamboree.
“I happen to have observed for four years as Nigeria’s ambassador to the UN, the delegation of Nigeria to the UN General Assembly. So, I know and if we are going to be honest to ourselves, I know that 80 per cent of the delegates that go from Nigeria do not add value to our team to the UN.”
Mr. Wali assured that his ministry was working to ensure that the country has value for money, stressing that there ought to be some measure of accountability and responsibility on the part of Nigeria’s delegates.
He is now awaiting the approval of President Jonathan to place a ceiling on the number of delegates that will be in New York this year, he said, declaring that Nigeria can “certainly” not afford a 567-man delegation.
“It is certainly something we will have to take a second look at again and see how we can look credible when it comes to issues like this,” the minister said.
It is an open secret that Nigeria’s public servants seize every opportunity to travel abroad on bogus official assignments, including meaningless workshops, seminars and conferences, as a ruse for collecting generous travel allowances known as estacode. Some of them do not even bother to show up at such events, preferring to shop, visit relatives or attend to other private businesses.
The 69th General Assembly opens next Tuesday, September 16.  The annual general debate will begin the following week, and President Jonathan is expected to be there.   
Nigeria’s 2014 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly on December 19, 2013 by Finance Minister Ngozi Ikonjo-Iweala showed capital expenditure of only 27 percent of the total.  The other 73 per cent would go into feeding the recurrent monster, including greedy and corrupt officials.
  OUR ORIGINAL STORY: President Goodluck Jonathan Leads 600-Man Delegation To United Nations General Assembly
Nigeria, which has failed to focus on implementing the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, is sending a record 600-man delegation to the 68th General Assembly in New York which will focus on a follow-up plan, SaharaReporters investigations reveal.
The delegation is led by President Goodluck Jonathan, who will speak at the plenary debate on Tuesday.  It includes two state governors and the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.
Most members of the delegation are 547 civil servants drawn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as advance team members who arrived in New York earlier to make preparations for the trip of the President.
 The Nigerian delegation is by far the largest of any nation at this year's UN event, the theme of which is: “Post-2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage.”
 SaharaReporters findings show that President Jonathan’s inner entourage comprises 26 people, including security aides, his wife, doctor and political associates.
The Nigeria leader, who has been much-criticized for squandering resources and for failing to lead by example, arrived in New York today and is staying at the lavish The Pierre Hotel across from New York’s Central Park in a presidential suite that will cost Nigeria at least $10,000 per night.  This means his tab for accommodation alone, for one room, will hit at least $50,000.  
 According to the hotel’s documentation, the 39th floor presidential suite, which features an expansive living room and two bedrooms, among others, may be combined with other rooms and suites to provide up to 6 bedrooms and a private floor, an opulent option Mr. Jonathan is likely to have jumped at.  According to the hotel’s itinerary which was seen by Saharareporters, he is booked for five nights.
 Several other members of the Nigerian delegations are booked in hotels around the city by the Nigerian consulate and staff members of some of the ministries that arrived in advance.
 Nigeria has become internationally-known for wasting valuable development funds on lavish foreign trips.  It would be recalled that during last year’s United Nations General Assembly, for instance, the Minister for Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, booked into two rooms in two different expensive hotels.  One of them was a $5,000 per night suite at the Four Seasons Hotel at 57 East 57th Street, and the other a 28th floor room at the Pierre for $3,000 per night.  It was unclear how she slept in two different hotels at the same time.
In addition, Ms. Alison Madueke’s delegation of seven from her Ministry also rented 10 limousines, at a cost of $1,800 per day, some of which were never used. 
As SaharaReporters reported last year, the profligacy of the Nigerian delegation attracted the attention of America’s National Broadcasting Corporation in New York, which reported on how African delegates from the poorest countries stayed in some of the most expensive hotels during the UN General Assembly and shopped in high-priced retail stores.
Mr. Jonathan will commence his official duties in New York this afternoon by engaging in an all-expenses paid lunch date with Nigerian professionals selected by Nigerian diplomats in the US.  The invitation-only event was chosen after the President and his inner circle abandoned a Town Hall plan for fear of protesters in the New York area.
    Reuben Abati SEE TEXT OF REUBEN ABATI'S REBUTTAL BELOW:
STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
PRESIDENT JONATHAN NOT IN NEW YORK WITH 600-MAN DELEGATION
We have noted with regret the continuation today by Saharareporters.com of its usual scurrilous and baseless attacks on the Jonathan Administration with publication of a false claim that the President is leading a 600-man delegation to the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
While we trust that discerning members of the public who are already very familiar with Sahara Reporters’ usual fare of mischief, outright falsehood and erroneous speculation will rightly dismiss this latest claim as a fresh manifestation of the online medium’s ill-will towards President Jonathan and his administration, we wish to affirm for the benefit of the unwary that there is absolutely no truth in the allegation that the President took a 600-man delegation to New York.
There is also no substance to the rehashed charge of profligacy which Sahara reporters annually makes against the President when he leads Nigeria’s delegation to the UN General Assembly.
The truth is that less than 30 persons arrived in New York with the President this morning as members of his entourage. Other than them, the only other persons who are in New York for the UN General Assembly with the President’s knowledge and approval are relevant ministers and few essential aides.
President Jonathan’s official delegation is definitely not out of proportion with Nigeria’s size, role and relevance in Africa and the global community.
Sahara Reporters’ claim that the President’s delegation is the largest at this year’s General Assembly is an unjustifiable fabrication, which can never stand any rigorous test of truthfulness.
We are certainly aware that many Nigerian citizens are currently on visits to New York. These persons are here for their own purposes and neither President Jonathan nor his administration has any responsibility for the presence of these persons in New York.
We will not be surprised if it is such persons who include Nigerian businessmen who are here for an African Business Roundtable event, members of non-governmental organizations and tourists that Sahara Reporters has been counting, for the sole purpose of mischief-making, as “members of the Nigerian delegation”.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
September 22, 2013

DAVIS vs FED GOVT - THE DENIAL WONT WORK

Critical Discourse's photo.

We heard that govt has denied engaging Mr Davis..hardly surprising though . In all honesty both the govt and the Media are the offending lots here..when the news broke out that Davis was meeting the terrorist to wade into the crisis , a weakened or may b overwhelmed and confused govt welcomed the idea , no denial then - as of then , just anything will do..the level of complicity and guilt of the govt is again on display here.. Why did the govt not disown Mr Davis when the media was awash with the news of his presence in the scene of negotiation..sure his name , before now had featured many times over. The govt had enough time to disown him then ..but turning around now to disown him underscores a bitter fact , which is , the govt is not pleased with his disclosure..govt is not pleased with his findings. The question then is why is govt not comfortable with his findings.. the normal thing to do , if govt has nothing to hide is to dig in and countervail but surely not to disown him now..besides this man never claimed that he was appointed by the govt, that bit was Nigeria's media creation and the govt was comfortable with it then.. Stephen Davis is a Reverend , renowned international negotiator , he had also been with the Niger Delta militants ( picture below) on the same mission ..the picture he took with them is allover the social media, am sure you hv seen it, so this man is just doing his thing , appointed or not and we hv no reason to disown him because we are not comfortable with his revelation ..worse still, the govt has no alternative revelation on the BH sponsorship . That Davis came out to say he was not appointed was a natural honest reaction to the govt's attempt at disowning him- quite normal reaction from sincere mind I must say.. This even adds credibility to the mans character - being truthful even at a huge cost..sure the man insists on his revelation...Finally we all know that the govt run by PDP would have embraced Mr Davis if he had named innocent people that the govt and the PDP had all along been struggling to rope them in and tar them with the BH stigma..the govt is just being half smart and opportunistic

Nigerian Military, Yesterday and Today

By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

In 1983, some Chadian soldiers invaded some communities in Nigeria. Chad had been in a prolonged civil war and its soldiers were known to be ruthless.

Nigerian armed forces were under the simple going but honest President Alhaji Shehu Shagari as its Commander-in-Chief and the COAS or CDS was Wushishi (forgive my memory). The then GOC of the 3rd Division in Jos under whose command the Northeast fall was Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari. Surely, northerners dominated the top command positions in the military then.

Without hesitation, the GOC in Jos was given the signal to flush out the Chadians. But on his own, the stern Buhari was determined to, in addition, teach them a lesson they will never forget.

In a twinkle, Buhari mobilized his soldiers and personally led them in the field. Within few days Nigerian soldiers not only got the Chadians to flee but they chased the latter right into Chad. Buhari couldn't stop. It took quite some effort to get the soldier in him to pull the brakes. Later, he will claim that he didn't know that he was already deep into Chad.

Buhari the GOC had an excellent relationship with his soldiers. He never allowed superiors to oppress their juniors or edit their allowances. He was riding a 504 saloon car and lived in a simple bungalow along Bauchi road adjacent to the Unijos Main Campus. When he was appointed the head of state after the coup, his soldiers in the barracks went wild in happiness. He bade them farewell, not knowing that it will be forever.

Well the Chadians never dared encroaching into Nigeria again. Buhari has permanently imprinted a lesson in them: Nigeria is mighty and no rat should dare step in its foot. The success was possible because the military chiefs and officers then were truly Nigerian. They believed in their hearts, not in their words only, that that the territorial integrity of this nation is not for bargain, its military must be strong and well catered for, and money was not their goal.

When the Maitatsine riots resurfaced in the Northeast during his regime, Buhari was the C-in-C and the story of how they were crushed ended in the burial of that sect forever.

No insurgency in Northern Nigeria surfaced again until when Obasanjo came to power. Like a joke, a group calling itself Nigerian Taliban surfaced in Yobe state. It engaged the police and the authorities in fights using guns and explosives. It was unbelievable. They were overcome but not wiped out. They had the chance to shift their base to Maiduguri and get patronised by the governors of Yobe and Borno states who gave them positions in government as a strategy of appeasement.

But the group couldn't be appeased. It continued to organise itself and train for a showdown to the full knowledge of the authorities in Abuja and at the dismay of the then SSS Director, Gadzama, who was from Borno and knew the risk his community and the nation at large would face in future.

When I raised this point at a conference in Kano, one of the former governors involved tried to discredit me, something I immediately objected to. These are facts, hard facts. Obasanjo as the C-in-C didn't do enough. By the time Yar'adua made an attempt to suppress the group extrajudicially, it was too late and, he too, didn't live a year longer than Muhammad Yusuf.

The death of Yaradua was a loss for the nation and its military. He gave the Niger Deltan terrorists a choice between war and peace. They chose peace. He sacked the then Chief of Defence Staff then, Andrew Azazi, for his involvement in arming the Niger Deltans and playing the fifth columnist in the fight against them. An army investigation report warned the nation of the existence of politicians from that region who nurse secessionist ambitions and who could become leaders of the country one day. A probe into their activities and level of
involvement in the arms theft, the report said, was necessary to avoid putting our national security at risk. Yar'adua, unfortunately, didn't institute the probe that would have seen Jonathan impeached. And he died, shortly and sadly. Thus, those fears expressed in the COAS office report in the theft of armoury from Kaduna and Jaji depots became real.

Jonathan, a Niger Deltan, became President. He returned Azazi as his National Security adviser and with that a different course was charted for the military.

Now, Nigerians have seen what a different calibre of leader Jonathan is. Also, the world has witnessed the mettle of the people - from the former Eastern region - he has chosen to lead the military and fight the insurgency. Their estimation in the eyes of the world is very low. Never in our history has a Nigerian president been so much a subject of ridicule by world leaders and press. Never in the history of our military has it performed so disastrously bad in the protection of the Nigerian citizen and became a subject of international disdain and contempt to the extent that the Americans said they will not share intelligence with it. How could they do so when they knew among our military are sponsors of Boko Haram, as Stephen Davies recently disclosed. (And believe me I have not seen a soldier in Ihejirika because he instantly became rattled by the disclosure, failed to put even a faint defence but resorted to blaming the president and Elrufai for underfunding the military.)

From Ihejirika to Minimah, various international and local media reports have shown our soldiers as neglected, ill-equipped, underpaid and many of them sadistic - taking delight in torturing Nigerians and killing them - as we have seen in the reported massacres of Baga and the latest slaughter video which the authorities said they are still investigating.

The Nigerian military is certainly witnessing its lowest moments. Soldiers are deserting it, as the authorities themselves confessed, and in moments of attack on civilians, they are seen running along with civilians for their dear lives. In one or two occasions, they fled to Cameroon in their hundreds where they were disarmed, packed into schools and escorted, like women and children, back to Nigeria. They arrived Mubi looking haggard, hungry and in need of help. Even in the battles that saw the fall of towns like Gwoza, Banki, Gamboru, Izge, Damboa, Bama, Gulak, Michika and Bazza, our soldiers were seen outrunning civilians for safety as their officers outrun civilian elites in building posh houses and riding the latest brands of cars.

What a depressing moment for every true Nigerian! What a moment of truth for our military! It is not a time for denial or pride, as a diplomat put it last week, because there is nothing to deny and nothing to be proud of when bandits earlier described as "ghosts" by the President can now capture large towns and keep them, one after another, and get our soldiers fleeing.

The Chadian soldiers that we could easily liquidate in 1983 today, in contrast, stand with their shoulders high. Three weeks ago, when Boko Haram abducted some 85 Nigerians and moved them across to a forest in Chad, Chadian soldiers instantly located them, fought them gallantly and freed the hostages, handing them back to Nigeria. Chad, for God's sake! Our Chibok girks and other abductees on Nigeria continue to languish in the hands of Boko Haram for my months now, awaiting for a rescue that will never come. Their government tells them: "You see, we can't rescue you because we don't want to see you harmed. You're safer there." What an excuse!

Cameroon too has been defeating the insurgents at every encounter, sometimes even crossing the border to assist Nigerian soldiers as it was reported in Ngala two weeks ago. Even yesterday, they routed the insurgents at a border town where they killed more than 100 of the latter.

Nigeria, where are the GOCs like Buhari, the chiefs like Wushishi, and Presidents like Shagari? Where are your courageous commanders like Shagaya and Malu who as true Nigerians earned us respect in Liberia and Sierra Leone?

The present GOC of the same 3 DIV, Zaruwa, must prove his mettle to Nigerians. His hometown, Bazza, is in the hands of Boko Haram, and so is Michika and Gulak. We want to see the reinvention of Buhari, Malu or Shagaya in him. Incidentally, the Chief of Defence Staff, Barde, is from neighbouring Mubi, a town that is half-deserted as it awaits its turn in the invasion tsunami of Boko Haram. Its people have been fleeing to Yola in their thousands. He too, we want to see a Wushishi reinvented in him. Let us see in the duo the reinvention of the ancient, legendary Margi warrior. We hope, but only hope can we afford, that the C-in-C and the COAS will give them all the support they need.

The comparison between yesterday and today for the Nigerian President and his military is truly odious. Nigerian leaders and indeed its military need to take a long, hard look at themselves. What went wrong and who are responsible for this state of shame? If we are serious, heads must roll. We also need a different set of leaders and commanders that are truly Nigerians in their past and future.

The spokeman for the Nigerians military, Olukolade, said Nigerians should not be discouraged with these setbacks and lose hope in the military. But, sincerely, where can we find the courage, where can we see the hope?

10 September 2014

Bola Tinubu Replies Tom Ikimi

            

I ordinarily would not have responded to Tom Ikimi's lengthy chronicle of falsehoods, cheap blackmail and abuse. My only reason for this response is that I know Tom Ikimi's style. He subscribes to the view that no matter how unbelievable a lie may sound if you brazenly assert it and repeat it often enough you may persuade many that it is in fact true.  I have seen Ikimi perpetrate this deviousness in his years in public life.

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I ordinarily would not have responded to Tom Ikimi's lengthy chronicle of falsehoods, cheap blackmail and abuse. My only reason for this response is that I know Tom Ikimi's style. He subscribes to the view that no matter how unbelievable a lie may sound if you brazenly assert it and repeat it often enough you may persuade many that it is in fact true.  I have seen Ikimi perpetrate this deviousness in his years in public life.

Bola Tinubu
1. Regarding Ikimi's bid for the Chairmanship of the Party. It was clear to practically everyone who had the interest of the party at heart that we simply could not have a man of Tom Ikimi's antecedents as Chair of the party. As chairman of the NRC, one of the only two political parties in the country under the military transition programme, Tom Ikimi not only connived with the then military regime to annul the elections, terminate the democratic process and sell off his party. He became Abacha's foreign minister, convincing the world that heinous state murders like the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa were just acts! If Ikimi were the Chair of APC the party would have to sleep with both eyes open lest its chairman sell off the party before day break .No matter what anyone may say about me it is unlikely that I can be accused of supporting incompetent or morally light-weight individuals for important political positions. My philosophy is to put the best forward, men and women of competence and integrity, who can stand up to us politicians to challenge us and say no when necessary. Such people are not noisy or able to gain attention by being loud, I believe my role is to do all I can to project them. Who in their right mind would compare the highly principled Chief Bisi Akande, or Chief Oyegun with a Tom Ikimi? Either of these two men are known for their no-nonsense styles, not once in their careers would you hear that they betrayed a cause or were anybody's stooge.
2. Ikimi also concocts a story of a meeting he claims I had with Deziani on the Oando/ ConocoPhillips transaction on the eve of the APC Convention.
Only a Tom Ikimi can come up with the absurd falsehood that on the eve of the APC Convention when I was in crucial meetings practically round the clock I was meeting with the Minister for Petroleum! What exactly would have been the point of such a meeting especially on the eve of the Convention? Was it to prevent Tom Ikimi from emerging as Chairman of the APC? To what end? Of what value would it be to anyone except Ikimi himself? Besides if this was so why he is back to the same party that purportedly planned his down fall?
What is the Oando/ConocoPhillips transaction anyway? For those who do not know this is a private sale of the assets of ConocoPhillips to Oando.  It was not patronage of any kind from the Federal government. The Federal government's involvement was merely to formally consent to the sale. I was not involved and I have never been involved in any of Oando's transactions.
Typically he plays on the fact that Wale Tinubu of Oando is my nephew.  Oando has been thoroughly investigated by South African and British authorities in the past 5 years as part of the process of listing the company on the stock exchanges of those countries. Those rigorous and comprehensive investigations conducted by the governments and risk control investigators are to discover the actual ownership of shares in the company. Politically exposed persons like myself are prime targets for those investigations. All these investigations have shown that I have no investments in Oando. My public position on the entire transaction is that if an indigenous Nigerian oil and gas entity run by young serious minded Nigerians raise money transparently in the international capital markets to purchase private assets of a multi-national the Federal government ought to give its consent. That it took so long is shameful. The Conoco/Phillips transaction was a $1.7 billion dollars investment in Nigeria that would create more jobs,witness the establishment of allied industries and make the Nigerian Economy  more attractive. I would have been extremely proud to have made such a transaction possible.

3. Regarding the nonsense about selling out on Ribadu. I think common sense should dictate that if ever such a deal were reached we would have had to inform our members in all the States. How could that have been done secretly? How do you tell hundreds of thousands of people not to vote for your own party without it becoming public knowledge?

At the formation of the APC, a crucial debate ensued about what to do about persons like Ikimi who had done awful things in the past, but who were now minded to align with the progressive tendency in Nigerian politics. Should we forever blacklist them? This would have been the easiest route, but it would have kept rancor alive. It would have made us slaves to the bleakest chapters of our past. Instead we opted to extend the hand of brotherhood, reconcile and put the past behind us. This would enable a broader political consensus, while also giving the likes of Ikimi an opportunity to atone for their grievous wrongs against the people and be rehabilitated.
We recognized that many leading Nigerians had committed acts of shame. Some for private profit, others who were otherwise decent people who had become prisoners to a terrible system.
Not surprisingly, Ikimi acting true to type abuse that magnanimity. He was never sincerely committed to the party. He was always playing out a PDP script. He only wanted the chairmanship of the party as a bargaining chip for negotiations with his benefactors.  His defection purportedly on account of the loss of the chairmanship of the party is a mere subterfuge, once his ploy failed he had no other objective within the party, I knew he would go back to his sponsors. He is back in the company he deserves. And APC is better for it.
-Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Issues Around Tom Ikimi’s Famous Letter of Resignation, By Edwin Ikhinmwin

On August 27, the news media widely published the press statement issued by Chief Tom Ikimi announcing his resignation from the All Progressive Congress – APC. In the statement, Chief Ikimi chronicled his stewardship in the APC and his hard work towards the formation of the party. He further discussed his ambition to be the Chairman of the party and the reasons why he failed.
In the process, he accused the governors of the All Progress Congress, prominent members of the party and its current chairman Chief Oyegun of conspiracy to thwart his ambition to become the chairman of the party. He further accused the party elders of being cowards in not being able to confront Asiwaju Tinubu about his so – called domineering posture in the party.
It should be conceded that Chief Ikimi has the right to aspire to any office in the land especially when in his opinion he has worked hard for it. Furthermore, he has a right to be frustrated and to express such frustration in whatever way he liked for failing to achieve his objective. However, he does not have the right to discredit respectable Nigerians just because he could not achieve his ambition.
Ikimi’s letter is a validation of why he could not be elected Chairman of the All Progressive Congress despite his supposed hard work. An examination of the contents of the letter may reveal the reasons why Ikimi could not become chairman of the APC in a free and fair election devoid of imposition. Reading from Ikimi’s letter and an unbiased review of the membership structure of the APC, one can identify at least five power centers; The Buhari bloc, Atiku bloc, Tinubu bloc, the Governors’ bloc and others. None of these voting blocks in the party acting alone has the capacity to dominate the others. Decisions like the appointment/election of the party chairman and other party executives will require the consent of all the voting blocs or majority of them to be successful. In the absence of executive presidential powers as in the PDP, Tinubu has to be a superman/magician to be able to coerce the other four voting blocks to impose any candidate or decision on the party.
It is therefore self-evident that the victory of Chief Oyegun and other members of his executive committee, could only have derived from their popularity and acceptance by all or majority of the stakeholder groups of the APC.
Party politics and election usually involve negotiations and horse trading. This is a legitimate component of the political process and to characterize such as conspiracy against an aspirant to any office is suggestive of ignorance of the political process and tyrannical arrogance by Chief Ikimi. It ought to be recalled that Chief Ikimi has not won any electoral contest since the beginning of the current civilian democratic dispensation. His appointment as the chairman of the NRC during the military transition program could be attributed to the influence of his high military contacts at the time.
Chief Tom Ikimi has by his own admission accepted that he has a personality trait that others perceive as arrogance which consequently repels people from him. If he knows this about himself, then he should work to change that perception rather than attribute his failure in an electoral contest to a phantom conspiracy theory. He might be a very successful worker but he needs to be popular to be accepted by voters whether in a general election or party election. It does not require a seer to know that in a political contest between Chief Oyegun and Tom Ikimi the victor will be Oyegun because Oyegun has a more amiable personality. A historical match-up of the past electoral contest between Oyegun and Ikimi shows Oyegun to be the better of the two. Oyegun as the gubernatorial candidate of the SDP defeated Ikimi locally in Edo State and also beat Ikimi nationally when Oyegun’s candidate M K O Abiola won the presidential election by beating Ikimi’s NRC.
Chief Oyegun and Ikimi are both independent and objective in their views but while Ikimi is militant and combative tending towards arrogance, Oyegun is persuasive and amiable.
It is a sad commentary on the Nigerian political elite that Chief Ikimi is leaving APC not because of any major ideological or policy disagreement but rather because he did not emerge as chairman of the party. What a myopic arrogant and selfish proposition. In the course of his lengthy letter, Chief Ikimi exhibited deliberate amnesia or propagated unqualified falsehood when he stated that he had been in the ACN, AC, and APC for 13 years struggling to form a credible opposition platform. He forgot his days in the APP, then the PDP where we can all remember the Eagle square “Obasanjo, Obasanjo, obasanjo and obasanjo.” spectacle. Perhaps if Obasanjo had rewarded him with a plum ministerial appointment after the Eagle Square performance, the “hard work” for a credible opposition platform would not have been necessary.
Ikimi was the Chairman of a major political party that participated in the ill-fated third republic, yet he was very comfortable to serve as a high officer in a government that derailed that republic. He defended the judicial murder of the late Ken Saro Wiwa a fellow south southerner. At the commencement of the current democratic dispensation he joined the APP, perhaps because of the erroneous misconception of many of the southern elites that a northern leaning party will always win federal elections, rather than the Pan Nigeria leaning PDP as it then was.
In contrast Chief John Oyegun has been a consistent advocate of progressive governance. He is an independent minded public servant who voluntarily retired as a federal permanent secretary and was elected the first civilian governor of Edo state in a popular contest in which the people acknowledged his humility and service credentials. Upon the overthrow of the legimate democratic order, Oyegun joined with others including Tinubu to form NADECO the platform that was used to resist the military autocracy of Abacha. Meanwhile Ikimi was luxuriating in the enjoyment of the loot of office as Minister of Foreign Affairs globetrotting and looking for friends as a result of the universal isolation of Nigeria. It is therefore laughable to suggest that leading a trade mission to China was a high achievement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. A director or any other such officer of government could have successfully led the trade mission and at less cost. The trade mission was foisted upon us because we were isolated and looking for friends. We can ask today what the benefits of that trip are.
The point of this write up is that Chief Tom Ikimi should learn to be a democrat. A political contest is not a do or die matter in which failure to win an election should lead to the denigration of erstwhile colleagues. For about seven years as stated in his letter, Ikimi had been in the same party with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the ACN, AC and APC without any major quarrel until his failure to be elected as APC chairman. He had exchanged visits with Chief Oyegun many times over the years and unsuccessfully wooed him to join the PDP. During these years, Chief Oyegun was nobody’s stooge but because Chief Oyegun beat him in a political contest, Oyegun has suddenly become the servant of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who is at least 10 years younger than Oyegun. This is heresy and an abomination in our culture.
The record is clear that Tom Ikimi is a serial “decamper” always willing to join any government in power and gives the impression that he will rather rule in hell than serve in paradise.
At 70 years one expects more from the high chief of Igueben.
Politics and ambition should be made of sterner stuff. Ikimi should articulate and pursue a vision of a brighter rewarding future for Nigerians rather than drag us into the politics of frustration, rumour mongering and vendetta as clearly evident in his epistle of frustration.
Edwin Ikhinmwin lives in Lagos. Kindly reach him via eikhinmwin@aol.com
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The Gospel According To Tom Ikimi

         

PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: delemomodu@thisdaylive.com

Fellow Nigerians, let me start by quickly stating my admiration for the person and personality of Chief Tom Ikimi. As a celebrity reporter, Ikimi is every journalist’s dream. He’s charismatic, charming, lively, debonair, suave, oratorical, worldly, creative, affable and absolutely political. I’ve had the privilege of spending time with him at home and abroad and found him very warm and affectionate. Despite our sharp political differences in those days when I used to visit him, he never appeared an intolerant soul. He was too cosmopolitan to disallow a healthy debate.  He never denied being overly conservative or adroitly capitalistic in nature.

Chief Ikimi could not have been otherwise. He’s a very successful architect. His profession thrives on uncommon creativity and some splash of eccentricity. I’m not sure if he still puffs his Havana cigars but I certainly recollect the vivid picture of the cigar-chewing fashionista. I was surprised when he sauntered from the conservative party of PDP to the relatively progressive party of ACN which later metamorphosed into APC. He was in fact one of the arrowheads that midwifed that miraculous birth. Many had dismissed the idea of such a merger as near-impossible but Ikimi and his team worked assiduously to make the impossible possible and they were well applauded for their brilliant efforts.

One would have thought the ovation received by the team would suffice and make them work harder on taking this hybrid party to the next level but the ways of our politicians are not the ways of ordinary mortals. In Nigeria, nothing goes for nothing. It is always a matter of what’s in it for me and my home. Tom Ikimi, who was Chairman of the bigger National Republican Convention over 20 years ago wanted to come back in 2014 as Chairman of APC. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was a young Senator over 20 years ago and a Governor as recently as seven years ago would love to run as Vice Presidential candidate to whomever in 2015. Chief Bisi Akande who was Deputy Governor to Chief Bola Ige over 30 years ago in old Oyo State and Governor of Osun State in 1999, returned as Chairman of ACN after and almost became a substantive Chairman of APC having been its interim Chairman. Chief John Odigie Oyegun was Governor of Edo State over 20 years ago and Vice Presidential candidate (to former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State under ANPP in 2011 and now Minister of Education under PDP in 2014) and is now Chairman of APC out of the blues.
I’m sorry if it sounds all confusing, intertwined and sticky like cobweb but such is the political incongruity we are saddled with in our dear beloved country. Nothing is as straight-forward as ABCD even if we all we all went through Primary schools and memorised it off-handed.  I was shockingly astonished that APC never thought of handing over their party to modern, colourful, energetic and populist politicians or technocrats like Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Nasir El-Rufai, Demola Seriki, Nuhu Ribadu, Dino Menaye, Dele Alake, just to name a few, to run some offices at the national secretariat. I thought the world has moved beyond putting hard-core and possibly tired politicians to run a party that requires agile workaholics. Just imagine the aura, influence and instant recognition that would have accrued to the new party had a Bukola Saraki been made the Chairman of APC with his pedigree as former Chairman of the Governor’s Forum and a two-term Kwara State Governor. The Chairmanship of a political party is never a joke. The world is moving in modern directions and demands those who understand the new lexicon of Leadership. That is why the British Labour Party picked a young bachelor, Ed Miliband as its Leader. But APC could not identify its first eleven and put them forward. Today we are left with mostly unknown and lacklustre players in the field of play. That is the tragedy of its strategy.

The aborted bid of Chief Ikimi should not have been contemplated in the first instance. He should have remained a statesman to the end. The moment he attempted to run the race, he should have known anything could happen. Only one man can win in an election. I’m surprised that as a seasoned politician, he expected Senator Bola Tinubu to abandon his old allies and support him just like that.  Politics is always about caucuses anywhere in the world. I don’t see what Tinubu has done wrong by supporting his own person for whatever reason. As a matter of fact, nothing precluded Tinubu himself from running. Tinubu as Chairman would have driven the fear of God into PDP. I shall come back to Tinubu shortly.

My epistle today is largely triggered by Ikimi’s recent long-winding and well-publicised gospel to God-knows-who. The epistle was clearly bitter and written to damage Tinubu and APC to boot. Ikimi started by stating his credentials, which I seriously enjoyed. He is a man who served himself, his nation and his God most meritoriously and fervently. He stated the reason he decided to abandon his conservative friends to join forces with members of the opposite camp. He worked actively with his new allies to form a new alliance as a counterforce to those hoping to foist a one-party State on Nigeria. All well and good up to then.
Chief Ikimi claims he abhorred the idea of a Unitary Government but yet exploded just because he failed to secure Tinubu’s blessing, and he’s willing to abandon the struggle and head back to where he came from and work for the establishment of that same system he claimed to loathe. I simply find this logic utterly cruel and ridiculous. As an architect, I won’t expect the great Chief to demolish his magnificent home just because a supposed mad man strayed into it.
I’m finally tired of all the attacks against the person of Bola Tinubu. Tinubu is far from being a saint but he has definitely contributed immensely to the Democracy we all seem to enjoy today. The man has wisely invested whatever he is said to have acquired on building solid monuments in the media, business empires and philanthropy, which most politicians have never been able to achieve.
Tinubu is often credited with the attributes of a King Kong and I’m sure the man himself enjoys the unsolicited appellation and coronation. I really don’t know how one man can wield so much power and none of the several Draculas in his party would be able to confront him. No one should blame Tinubu for the timidity of his co-travellers. I know Tinubu fairly well. I virtually lived and operated with him in our exile days. He’s a man who enjoys healthy debates. He’s a master thinker who’s brave enough to match his thinking with action. He and Lt. General Alani Akinrinade stood out in the fight against military tyranny in Nigeria. They spent themselves blind and did not shirk from selling off their properties in their pursuit of democracy and justice in Nigeria. Tinubu gained the upper hand against most of his contemporaries because he was ready to gamble his entire life for the sustenance of civil rule in our country while others played safe.

I’ve had cause to disagree with him in the past and he never took it personal against me. One of such occasions was when I challenged him for not supporting the candidacy of Tokunbo Afikuyomi and I blasted him in a newspaper interview. He invited me over to his house in Ikoyi. He wondered why I was kicking against his support for Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola and I replied that I was never against Fashola who was also our friend and saw me anytime he came to play soccer in Ghana; but I was opposed to the way he led Afikuyomi on when he could easily have told him of his choice. I realised one secret about Tinubu that night. Contrary to the allegation of being bullish, he finds it hard to hurt any of his close lieutenants. It is this coyness that gets him into constant trouble; the inability to boldly and openly say No to people.
The second and most recent disagreement I had with him was when rumour came out that he was plotting to be a Vice Presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari. Once I confirmed that it was a credible speculation, I wrote an article against a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015 for the following reasons. One, most of our mutual friends was opposed to it but none could tell Tinubu not to try. This is the problem with our people who are mostly waiting on Tinubu for a favour now or/and in the future. Those who can talk are those who expect nothing. Two, a Muslim-Muslim ticket is presently inconceivable with the current religious configuration and conflagration in our country.  Even if the ticket has the chance of winning, we should be sensitive enough to balance the religious equation.

Three, I believe a slot must be automatically given to the South-South region that lays the golden eggs for all of Nigeria. It would be wicked and dangerous to remove President Jonathan and also selfishly take away the number two position from them immediately. If the clamour is that North has been deprived of its number one position by the accident of the death of President Yar’Adua then the same argument holds true for the South South who would thus be deprived of the number two position by the providential accident that is the Presidency of Dr Jonathan.  Also, the tenuous permutation that the Yoruba would not vote unless there is a Yoruba man on the ticket is self-serving and debatable. What makes my position even more compelling is the fact that the Yoruba are always champions of equity and fair-play. How can Obasanjo spend eight years as President and another Yorubaman comes out of the shadow as Vice President eight years after?
Tinubu never complained. He took the public missive to heart like a true democrat, made wider consultations and decided to shelve his ambition for the sake of his party and the nation.  Unlike his traducers Tinubu has a great empathy for Nigerians and Nigeria.  He has always been willing to sacrifice his personal ambition for the sake of the development of democracy and the future of his country.  That he wields tremendous power and influence in whatever party he has midwifed in this political era goes without saying.  Yet, he has never sought to be Chairman of such a Party.  In 2011 he saw the wisdom in eventually plumbing for the candidature of Nuhu Ribadu whom he thereby rescued from political oblivion rather than pursue his ambition to be Vice President or even President. Even if he dumped Ribadu for Jonathan, he’s said to have seen that Ribadu was not accepted by his people and thus opted for a minority candidate.

It is amazing that it is to Tinubu that all those who demand justice and equity turn when they have been oppressed and abased by the PDP.  However as soon as they obtain that which they seek they immediately turn against their benefactor and rush headlong back into the arms of their abuser. Tinubu’s has been a thankless job but it is the measure of this remarkable man that he continues to open his arms wide to embrace all those who seek justice and equity not only because of his love for democracy but also in true spirit of a man who adheres to the holy injunction to love his fellow man as himself.  The list of those who have benefitted from Tinubu’s legendary largesse to retrieve their stolen mandate or seek retributive justice for perceived wrongs yet subsequently turn around to betray him is lengthy and is like a Who is Who of Nigeria.

It is said against him that he imposes candidates on his Party and is despotic and nepotistic.  However, it is only fitting that someone who has deployed such huge and significant personal resources to the cause when others have shied from doing so should at least be allowed to influence the selection of those who would guide and lead that cause.  This is particularly more so as he has had the singular opportunity of observing most of the contenders firsthand because of his ability to sacrifice his time and person and travel far and near to meet with party members and interact with them.  None of those who fault him have remotely done a fraction of what he has done in this regard and if truth be told his choices have always been quite successful. Governors Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Abiola Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola, Ibikunle Amosun, and Kayode Fayemi; Aminu Tambuwal and Abike Dabiri, to mention a few, have been particularly outstanding.
Tinubu’s monumental work to further ensure the future of democracy in present day Nigeria is most laudable and he should indeed be dubbed ‘Defender of the Faith’ and encouraged to do more.

2015: Men, forces that will stop Jonathan

         

    By Chidi Obineche

The tapestry of the 2015 presidential elections is gradually taking the shape of a two horse-race, with President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and a candidate, (ostensibly of Northern extraction) of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, slugging it out. Unlike the 2011 elections where Jonathan contended with a myriad of lack-lustre opposition candidates and forces, there are clear indications of an emerging fierce, hotly-contested battle that will ultimately test his might, popularity, and try his soul. But while the men opposed to his return to power, strategize, and fine tune their methods and tactics, a vortex of forces have crystallized to inject more pep to the inhibiting factors. These men and forces have clawed their way to illuminate the issues behind the elections, as well as an intriguing post-election outlook.
Jonathan, in obvious optimistic acknowledgement of the emerging vista, underscored it in his last democracy day remarks when he said “All these distractions were planned to bring down the government. Since they failed, terror will also fail. Forces of darkness will never prevail over light. I call on all Nigerians to continue to pray, and with God on our side, we shall overcome”.
The Men
A growing march of opposition to his second term bid for power has found breadth in an opposition movement that has recently metamorphosed in a constellation of core groups, with the APC serving as the rallying point. These men and groups are as vociferous as they are tenacious. They deploy tendentious propaganda, and a nimble pro-activeness to stoke the people’s consciousness, creating despair, and presentiments in the minds of the people.
They include, a former President, leaders of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Aggrieved Ijaw leaders, Civil society groups and the labour movement. Until recently, four of the six former heads of state were sharply opposed to his second term ambition.
In a deft political maneuver and engagement, only Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is yet to swing his support. The journey towards the realization of this objective formed one of the reasons while his erstwhile political adviser, Ahmed Gulak was unceremoniously relived of his appointment. So far, Jonathan has demonstrated immense courage, and tenacity of purpose in containing the ex-leaders, even as plans are afoot to rein- in the remaining dissenting voice. Respected clergy men, traditional rulers, and at least seven elder statesmen close to Obasanjo have been railroaded into the project. Initial advances to him were repelled. However, his obduracy is being gradually watered-down, given his considerably reduced criticisms of Jonathan’s government of recent.
Jonathan’s election managers are also reaching out to the “recalcitrant” leaders of NEF. No dice has yet been cut in the offensive, but there is hope that “they will soon be reined-in”, a source close to one of the Jonathan’s support groups told “Sunday Sun”. NEF is about the only remaining influential Northern group that is yet to assent to Jonathan’s 2015 return bid.
At the home front, Jonathan is contending with an array of prominent Ijaw leaders, whose disdain for his continued hold on power is as complex as they are confusing.
They include former Petroleum Minister, Prof Tam David West, Chief Alagbo Graham Douglas, supporters of Henry Okah’s Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), and of course, leaders of the APC in his zone, with Governor Rotimi Amaechi, and ex-governor Timipre Sylva at the apex. The latter vividly approximates the axiom of the fly that is perched precariously on the scrotum. A slam on it may result in smashing the scrotum with it. One of the Ijaw leaders often alleges incompetence as the main reason for his opposition to his comeback bid. But Sunday Sun findings reveal that his alliance with, and support for the presidential ambition of a former military head of state formed the nucleus of his opposition to Jonathan.
The political disagreements between Jonathan, on the one hand, and Amaechi and Sylva are too well known, and have formed the thrust of his homeland resentment.
The duo are working tirelessly to firmly implant the APC in the zone, with the motive of embarrassing Jonathan at home during the election.
But the president of the Ijaw Professionals Association, Arch Amakpe Kentebbe, has however dismissed the efforts of Amaechi, and Sylva as “falling short of standards of patriotism” adding however, that in a democracy they are entitled to their views and choices. He said, Jonathan is doing a good job and that is why the forces are gathering against him, “If he was not doing a good job, he will not have these forces gathering against him. He will overcome them. They are myopic people from a small segment of the population, he explained.
Although the PDP, and Jonathan’s election managers have worked hard in out-clawing the APC’s stranglehold in 18 states, about 10 serving governors will still be arrayed in opposition to him, the highest number ever since 1999.
The role and influence of serving governors in Nigeria’s electoral history are instructive and legendary. This, perhaps informed the drive and desperation of Jonathan in this regard. Although, it has been stridently denied, the governors of Borno, Yobe, Kwara, Ondo, and Anambra states are on their way to the PDP to galvanize support for Jonathan.
Civil society groups and the labour movement have shown tremendous apathy and disenchantment with Jonathan’s leadership style and are believed to be working towards aborting his dream. Leaders of the PDP have often accused these two groups of being lackeys of the APC, an accusation they have denied. The labour movement in particular has not made any move or statements injurious to the President’s ambition, but the body language, disposition and association, show the contrary in the buildup to the election next year. In the Ekiti governorship election of June 21 this year, the labour movement openly worked against the interests of the president’s party, and have also taken sides with the opposition on a number of issues.
The forces
About nine key forces may torpedo Jonathan’s dream if not adequately addressed. They include the handling of the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in some parts of the North, anti corruption battle, alleged single term pact, possible legal ambush, choice of running mate, controversies, internal disenchantment in PDP, local media opposition, and lop sided appointments.
His name sake Jonathan fields, a philosopher, elaborately enunciates the principles of the embattled man to overcome odds.
He wrote: “let’s face it – the leap of faith required to follow a dream is usually accompanied by guts, wrenching, knee quaking, soul shaking fear” Regrettably, his confronting the monster of insurgency has been largely perceived as lacking in guts, but profligate in knee quaking, and soul shaking fear. The perception may be faulty, but the vast majority of Nigerians are hanging on to that thin line of argument to push for the emergence of a macho- man, preferably of a military background to prosecute the war against terror.
Those who are favourably disposed to this strand of opinion hinge it on the complexity of the raging insecurity and the history of insurgencies.
Elder Asu Beks a prominent Ijaw son and leader of Ijaw Peoples Assembly differs. He captures it this way: All the wars in modern history have been successfully prosecuted by men with vision. Look at Wiston Churchill of great Britain and Eissen Hower of the U.S.A.
A President with vision understands the dynamics and rubrics of insecurity, and takes on the challenge as the tempo and circumstances dictate. Jonathan is well equipped to overcome the challenges and shame his critics.
For good or bad, the insecurity problem will be at the core of the 2015 elections, and will determine the thrust of support for Jonathan by a preponderance of voters. The Hydra-headed monster of corruption is also a formidable force. The opposition has latched on it as a campaign factor to stir anger and anti- Jonathan sentiments in the minds of people. Founder and National chairman of the United Nigeria Progressive Party (UNPP) Chief Chekwas Okorie, has even canvassed the stoppage of salaries for staffers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) , and ICPC ( the Independent Corrupt Practices and Allied Offences Commission) for redundancy.
“I think their salaries should be stopped. They are redundant.”  He told Sunday sun
The President’s alleged mysterious single term pact looms large ahead of his re-election.
Obasanjo first fired the Salvo in his speech at Eagle square, Abuja in March 2011, during the grand finale of the PDP Presidential rally that brought Jonathan to power. He said “we are impressed with the report that Dr Goodluck Jonathan has already taken a unique, and unprecedented step in declaring that he would only want to be a one term president. If so, whether he knows it or not, that is a sacrifice, and it is statesmanly. Rather than vilify him and pull him down, we  as a party should applaud and commend him, and Nigerians should reward and venerate him”.
Since that opening salvo,, those opposed to him have vicariously highlighted this speech.
Niger state Governor Muazu Aliyu Babangida, in the hey days of his trenchant criticisms of Jonathan, took it up from there: “I recall that the time he was going to declare for the 2011 elections, all the PDP governors were brought together to ensure that we are all in the same frame of mind. “and I recall that some of us said, given the circumstances of the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua,and given the PDP zoning arrangement, it was expected that the North was to produce the President for a given number of years. He was also said to have committed himself to one term in Kampala, Uganda at the time.
“Even when Jonathan went to Kampala in Uganda, he also said he was going to serve a single term.
… For now, President Jonathan has not declared for a second term ambition, and we must not be speculating based on those who are benefiting from the campaign. I think, we are all gentlemen enough. when the time comes, we will all come together to see the right thing to do”.
Another Northern governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso joined Babangida . “I have a copy of the agreement, and some of us have come together to enforce the agreement. We will soon release a copy of the agreement to the public to prove a point that we are not just raising the alarm. I think the right thing is for the president to stick to the agreement. Some of us were almost stoned for sacrificing the interest of the North for the South-South.” About 20 governors were said to have signed the agreement, prior to the party’s primaries in 2010. Also included, were members of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, then, led by Chief  Okwesileze Nwodo, Chief Tony Anenih, and the then Minister of Defense, Dr Haliru Bello.
Second Republic member of the House of Representatives Dr Junaid Mohammed adds more flavor to the agitation against the President’s aspiration. He said, “Even without the promise or deal, said to have been entered into by the governors with the President in 2011, an ordinary reading of the constitution at face value, will indicate that Jonathan cannot avail himself of another term in 2015, simply because the constitution provides for two terms for anybody, notwithstanding the intervening circumstances.
“Secondly, the constitution provides for people taking the oath of office only twice in their lifetime. Now, how this president can proceed to take oath of office three times is something I cannot understand, and they are unwilling to subject the matter to the Supreme Court for interpretation”.
While Jonathan is smarting from the single-term imbroglio, some PDP leaders are seething with anger and nursing secret grudges against him over what they term as his “inclination to selfishness and betrayal of members and the party’s interest for his own convenience”. The anger is most pervasive in Edo, Anambra and Ondo states.. An Edo PDP leader whose name is withheld told Sunday Sun that “The man may not have things easy with aggrieved members of the party like us, who have worked very hard in the past at various times to ensure the success of his presidency.
He uses and dumps members anyhow for his selfish interest, especially during times he was supposed to stand and defend the collective interests of the PDP and loyal members of the party’s interest.
“Look, many of us who are aggrieved are just keeping our cool and playing along with him until the appropriate time. Now that the campaigns are starting, and he is eager to come back, and the North is not disposed to him, he would have no choice than to fall back on us for one support or the other. Then, we will either have the choice of taking our pound of flesh, or back him for the sake of the party’s interest.”
“But I doubt if the man knows the level of animosity and ill-feelings towards him by members of PDP like us, who are unhappy because of the way he had dealt with us when it mattered most”.
A chieftain of the Anambra PDP (name also withheld) corroborated him, in reaction to the president’s alleged involvement in the loss of PDP to the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA in the November 16, 2013 governorship election in the state. “There is nowhere in any presidential democracy, where a sitting president of a ruling party would mortgage the electoral interest of his party for that of opposition”.
The choice of a fitting running mate also constitutes a clog in the wheel of his ambition. There has been doubts over whether he will retain the Vice President Arch Namadi Sambo. Sambo has been accused by several Jonathan’s supporters of deficient in grassroots politicking even in his Kaduna base, and lacks the clout to galvanize enough support for Jonathan’s candidature in the North. Some have even proposed his replacement with any serving governor from the North West, except governor Yero. The dilemma in making a choice is double-edged. If he retains Sambo, those opposed to the choice may work against him, and capitalize on Sambo’s alleged weaknesses. If he changes him, the uproar and backlash may be difficult to contain, and may indeed add to his headache.
Jonathan has in many ways than one, portrayed himself as not a skilled crises manager. According to Abraham Lincolm, “the dogmas of a quiet past are insufficient to the stormy present”. From the Nigeria Governors Forum,( NGF) crises, impeachments of governors, Good governance tour, to constant brushes with his aides, committing of gaffes, to Mrs Jonathan’s blabs, large doses of inertia which creates poor public perception have been thrown up.
It does not end there. His pardon of his former boss, ex governor Dieprieye Alameiseigha, and that of a rapist homosexual ex-major Bello Mogaji angered the international community. Mogaji was convicted and sentenced to 5 years for sodomy by a military court in 1996. He was said to have had sex serially with 4 students of Army Cantonment Boys Secondary, Ojo, Lagos state. (Mohammed, Joseph, Emmanuel, and Isaac).
The local media is also aghast at the president’s predilection towards the foreign media, and may likely dissolve into portent opposition to him.
Also of interest to his re-election dream is the nature and direction of his key appointments. For instance, there is a sweeping general belief in his stronghold in the south that he panders more to the North, especially the North West in all his key appointments. Former Anambra state governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife sums it up “The Minister of Defense- North West, National Security Adviser- North West, Inspector General of Police- North West, Chief of Defense Staff- North Central. What is left?”
As a riposte to some of these appointments, the South East PDP is up in arms with the IGP (Inspector General of Police) and by extension the president over the recent top police postings. The Ndigbo cultural society, a socio-political group also joined the South East PDP to condemn the postings. The group’s president, Chief Udo Udeoogaranya observed that “Ndigbo predominantly occupies two Geo-political zones of South East/ South South in Nigeria in addition to millions of residents in Lagos state and substantial residents across all other states of the federation. That they could not get a single police zonal command out of the I2 zones in the federation is totally inacceptable”.
Rather than be his oyster, Jonathan’s skewed appointments may turn to his albatross as he may end up losing his strongholds, while not holding firmly to the appeasement areas.
His assiduity, management of critical issues of governance in a 21st century Nigeria, deflation of the forces ranged against him, will prove decisive in the outcome of his dream.