NSA’s family member being held by insurgents, says governor

by: Duku Joel, Borno and Nicholas Kalu

National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno has his job cut out for him – a member of his family is being held by Boko Haram insurgents, Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima said yesterday.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday named Gen. Monguno NSA. He fired the Service Chiefs and replaced the NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) with Monguno.
To Shettima, the change of guards at the military hierarchy has offered a unique opportunity to defeat Boko Haram.
Reacting to the appointment of Gen. Monguno and Maj-Gen Tukur Buratai as the NSA and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the governor said Nigeria cannot afford to lose the anti-Boko Haram battle with the new appointments.
Shettima, who described the appointment of the duo of Gen. Monguno and Gen. Buratai as “one of the happiest moments in his lifetime”, said: “The fight to overcome insurgents ‘is now or never’ because with the duo, Nigeria now has the best of chances to overcome the challenges of insurgency facing it since 2009.”
The governor was hosting members of the Insurgency Victims Support Fund Committee, chaired by Lt. Gen. Theophilus .Y Danjuma, who visited him at the Government House in Maiduguri, the state capital.
Shettima said President Buhari’s choice of Gen Monguno and Gen Buratai as a classic case of putting square pegs in square holes, adding that both men have been given the mandate of liberating their state, which has been the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency.
According to him, the military top brass possess ancestral knowledge of the state’s terrain besides being direct victims of insurgency attacks with their relatives killed, their homes destroyed and their towns raided.
His words: “Yesterday was the happiest moment of my life. President Muhammadu Buhari made a strong statement by his decision to appoint two highly competent sons of Borno to the offices of the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Army Staff.
“I think his strategy was to get people with ancestral knowledge of the Borno terrain. Maj-Gen Tukur Buratai is even a direct victim of Boko Haram attacks. He lost family members when his residence was attacked earlier this year in Buratai, a town in Biu Local Government area.
“Monguno (town) was destroyed and once occupied by Boko Haram and that is where the new NSA, retired Maj-Gen Babagana Monguno, hails from. In fact, a key family member of General Monguno is still being held captive by Boko Haram insurgents.
“These two generals are from Borno; they know exactly where it pinches and, most importantly, they understand the terrain and can easily connect with communities to get local support.
“Added to them is also the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who hails from Bauchi, also in the Northeast. AVM Abubakar spent many of his formative years in the military here in Borno State. He has spent over 10 years in Borno; he knows the terrain very well also and connects with the people.
“I think, for us, it is now or never because  the President has generously put the sons of Borno and the Northeast  to lead the battle for the freedom of Borno, the Northeast  and rest of Nigeria, from the murderous threats of insurgents.
“Insha Allah, with the combined efforts of other competent Service Chiefs and all Nigerians, the war on terror will soon be won by the supremacy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The governor called on Nigerians to support the President who,he said, has left no one in doubt about his persistent commitment to ending the insurgency.
Also yesterday, Senate President Bukola Saraki spoke on the appointees.
Clearing the air on Tweets concerning the screening of the Service chiefs, Saraki said the security chiefs do not need to undergo screening before they are cleared. He also said the National Assembly needs no consultation by the President before he names Service chiefs.
A statement by his media aide Sunni Onogu reads: “The attention of the Media Office of the Senate President has been drawn to a story making the rounds to the effect that the Senate does not need to screen or confirm the new Service Chiefs appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“However, we want to make it abundantly clear that based on inquiries made to the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on whether the Senate was consulted before the appointment of new Service Chiefs was announced, he had in response tweeted that the appointment of Service Chiefs is the exclusive function of the President as stipulated by the Constitution.
“Let it be known that his comment is now being misinterpreted to say the Senate will neither screen nor confirm the new Service Chiefs. This is far from the truth.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Saraki has said his comment is without prejudice to extant laws and court pronouncements on the issue and, therefore, that the Senate will do the needful when the list of the new Service Chiefs is sent to it by Mr. President.
“This is to clarify the earlier position which was not up to date and does not represent the position of the Senate President on the issue of screening of the newly appointed service chiefs .
“The Senate will perform its constitutional duty when it receives communication from the President on the appointments.”
Also yesterday, Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade said the President had demonstrated that “he is for nobody but for everybody” as promised in his inauguration speech of May 29.
Ayade was expressing the gratitude of the government and people of his state to Buhari for the appointment of Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, a Cross River indigene, as Chief of Naval Staff (CNS).
He noted that by the appointment, the President had demonstrated his avowed declaration that he would be president-for-all.
Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas is from Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media/Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Ita, Ayade said: “I wish to express my sincere gratitude to our President, Muhammadu Buhari, for the appointment of our son and brother, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas as the new Chief of Naval Staff.
It is now clear to all that this is a President who is very much committed to his pronouncements as a leader. He has demonstrated that he is a man of his words and a man of conviction. He declared to Nigerians soon after his inauguration that he would be president-for-all. There is no doubt that every day, Mr. President is walking his talk.”
The governor congratulated the new naval chief on his appointment, which he described as an elevation well-deserved.
He said: “I wish to, on behalf of myself and the good people of Cross River State, congratulate our son and brother, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, on his well-deserved appointment as the new Chief of Naval Staff.
“As a true professional, I have no doubt in my mind that he would acquit himself in his new responsibility and lend his wealth of experience in combating the challenges of insecurity in the country.”

Why I didn’t join PDP – Buhari

•President says he spent 42 months in detention
… Tasks Zuma on seized $9.7m arms money, xenophobia
FROM JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, ABUJA
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday broke his silence on why he didn’t join the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when he made up his mind to play partisan politics.
He spoke on the reasons he opted for the opposition parties when Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.
This is even as the President urged Nigeria’s Consul-General in South-Africa, Amb. Uche Agulu-Okeke to furnish him with a comprehensive report about court cases involving Nigerians and the properties they lost during the recent xenophobic attacks on foreigners in that country.
President Buhari spoke to reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa after attending the African Union (AU) summit there. He dwelt on issues including his incarceration for three and half years after the coup that toppled his regime in 1985. He was Head of State between December 1983 and August, 1985.
Buhari recalled that the country lost about two million Nigerians to keep the country one, so nobody should come forward to talk about breakup. He said Nigeria will remain one country since God had given him another opportunity to reorganise Nigeria, saying the society would pay back those who work hard.
The President, who wondered why people keep referring to the fact that he jailed people during his regime, said he also went to jail for three and half years.
According to him, “after being in the military for 25 years, and getting to the highest rank and becoming Head of State and under unusual circumstances, as Head of State, I went straight to detention for three-and-a-half years. So, those who accused me of locking them up, I, too, have been locked up, so what?,” he declared.
Buhari said not on his life did he believe he would one day join partisan politics, giving reasons why he changed his mind said, “Why did I join partisan politics in spite of that? When I went home people, knew that I have no money and I thought they will leave me alone, but they didn’t.
“They were coming to keep asking me to do this and do that.  And I found out that the only way I could do it is by joining partisan politics.
“And maybe if I speak even if I’m not a member at any level, people will listen to me.
“But then I joined the opposition, I joined APP (All Peoples Party). I didn’t want any political office at first, if I wanted I would have joined PDP then and maybe I would have gotten to where I am much earlier. But then I wanted to go with the opposition.
“The second thing that happened that finally convinced me to join partisan politics was what happened to Soviet Union. They were more advanced than the Western countries (NATO) in science because they wanted to go to space specifically in 1957, and they had more nuclear war heads and delivering system than Warsaw countries. And they had organised their societies and had much less crimes and they got jobs for people. When people had no jobs, they got one for them.”
Buhari said he believed that the best form of governance is democracy, but election must be free and fair.
That, he said, was why he was in trouble and he had to move from APP to ANPP, CPC and eventually to APC.
“And that was when I decided and I believed that the best form of governance is multi-parties democracy with a big caveat, election must be free and fair. And that was why I was in trouble.
He contested his electoral losses in 2003, 2007 and 2011 up to the Supreme Court because of his belief that election must be free and fair.
“In all those cases from High Court to Supreme Court, we sent people to the field, they found out why the elections were not fair. They came to the court and gave evidence but in the end, they will say ‘oh well, there were some flaws in the elections but PDP has won. At last, the PDP has lost now!” he added.
The President said he decided to tell the long story instead of reading his prepared text because he wants to encourage Nigerians never to give up on any of their dreams despite oppositions.
Buhari described as irritating that despite occupying different positions like military governor of North Eastern State, Minister of Petroleum Resources, military Head of State and Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund, people only remember his days at PTF because he equipped hospitals and schools.
“I bought bed sheets and put in hospitals and some X-ray machine and some buses for the schools.
“They (Nigerians) remember me more as chairman of PTF than as a former Head of State, than a governor or a Minister of Petroleum.
“In spite of the fact that it was during my time that I signed the contract for Warri Refinery, Kaduna Refinery, more than 3,500 pipelines and more than 20 depots.
“We got the tankers off the road, we saved lives, we saved fuel, we save the road itself.
“But from 1999 till date, PDP has messed it up. That is why Nigerians decided to vote me,” he said.
Buhari said despite the money politics being played in Nigeria, his victories during his party’s primary and the March 28 presidential election had proven that Nigerians know what they want once they make up their minds.
He said some rejected inducement while some collected and still did exactly what they wanted to do when there was time to vote.
On the $9.7 million seized by South-Africa, Buhari said he would meet with President Jacob Zuma in Nigeria, noting that in the said meeting, he intends to ask Zuma to furnish him with all he knows about the seized cash meant for arms purchase for the Nigerian military.
The South African authorities had seized Nigeria’s airplane with $9.7 million in cash meant for arms purchase for the Nigerian military last year and another tranche of N5.3 million later.
Controversy had trailed the seized cash.
The President who wished he was the president at a much younger age, particularly at the age when he was the governor of a state that has now been broken into six – Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Taraba, and Gombe, noted that though there is a limit to what he can do at 72, he assured that he was back to revived all destroyed institutions, as well as implement the three cardinal points of the All Progressive Congress (APC) campaign promises of securing Nigeria, efficiently managing it by trying to build the economy again, generate employment and deal with corruption.
Earlier, Ambassador Ajulu-Okeke told the President that a total of 143 Nigerians were killed in South Africa between 2011 and 2014, while another 81 were in Johannesburg prison.
“Out of this 81 Nigerians, 21 have been convicted,” she said, adding that shops and other property worth millions of Rands belonging to Nigerians were destroyed during the recent xenophobic attacks.

APC crisis: Buhari launches rescue mission

• Meets Atiku, Oyegun, govs, others
By WILLY EYA
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday initiated a rescue mission for  the All Progressives Congress (APC), with a meeting aimed at dousing tension and saving the party from further crisis.
The APC has been embroiled in crisis following the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives respectively, against the party’s wish. The APC leadership had endorsed Senator Ahmad Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila as preferred candidates for Senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives, ahead of the National Assembly inauguration on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, which could not materialise.
Shortly after returning from South Africa, where he attended the Africa Union (AU) summit, Buhari met behind closed-doors, at his Aso Drive residence, with former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, alongside some leaders of the APC, including embattled National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Katsina State Governor, Bello Masari and Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura.
Although the agenda of the meeting was not made public, Daily Sun gathered that the president impressed it on those present that the APC must not only overcome the disappointment over the National Assembly leadership elections but also move on as a united political party.
Sources said Buhari mandated Atiku and others present to use their influence to ensure that all the aggrieved parties bury the hatchet, so that APC would remain one cohesive entity.
Following the meeting with Buhari, Oyegun last night also met with other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), in his attempt to ensure that the president’s wish for a united party is achieved.
Since APC’s preferred candidates lost at the National Assembly leadership elections, the party has been in turmoil. Some party chieftains, unhappy with the development, had blamed the party’s leadership for the loss.
One of those who felt that the APC leadership should be blamed for the turn out of events at the National Assembly is former Kano State governor and now a sitting senator, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, Kwankwaso blasted Oyegun over the APC crisis, saying what happened was due to leadership failure.
Kwankwaso said APC’s inability to push through its preferred candidates in the National Assembly had divided the party but refused to back calls for the resignation of the National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
The senator said the South-East must be given its dues by the APC, arguing that Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu’s election was a fallout of APC leaders’ many mistakes.
He accused the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party of poorly handling issues concerning the zoning of Senate president and House speaker.
Asked to specifically state what the party did wrong, he said: “APC did the right thing at the wrong time. The party missed crucial opportunity to fix the issue of zoning. The party missed some important steps and things went wrong.”
Kwankwaso, who was a supporter of the Ahmed Lawan/Akume Group, said the APC gave the Bukola Saraki group an opportunity and seized it.
He said: “the party gave ample opportunity to Bukola group and they used it effectively. They used the advantages that came to them as a result of the mistakes of the party.”
Listing some of the factors that swayed some senators, he said some lawmakers believed that former Lagos State governor had taken a lot and needed to be stopped. Besides, he said some people backed Saraki because of what he did for them in the past.
Further lampooning the party on its handling
of the whole thing, Kwankwaso, who was the former Minister of Defence, noted that some lawmakers believed Odigie-Oyegun’s NWC did not consult them as would have expected. “Many lawmakers believed that the party would have done more in terms of consultations with them,” he said.

… Party’s governors step in
From FRED ITUA, Abuja
The raging crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) might soon come to an end, following the decision of governors on the platform of the party to intervene.
Chairman of APC Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, who briefed the media on behalf of other governors of the party last night in Abuja after a meeting that lasted for over five hours, said the contentious issues rocking the party would soon be resolved.
The governors, who were about 12 in number, also begged the Federal Government to bail out states as they struggled to pay workers’ monthly salaries. The governors said the dwindling oil revenue had affected the fortunes of the states and therefore needed immediate bailout.
Okorocha said: “We the governors of All Progressives Congress met today (yesterday) to review the state of the economy. We also met to review the issues as it affects our great party. First, on the economy of the nation, we are concerned and worried by the dwindling revenue of the states, which today has affected negatively the lives of our people.
“It has become so serious and urgent actions must be taken for a bail out for the states. States ‎are not getting better either. We sat down to review what steps could be taken. We are calling for overhaul of the system to block all the leakages in our economy.
“We have realised that what we are going through today is as a result of the poor management of our economy. The APC government met a near empty treasury. This has become very worrisome, not ‎just for us, but for the entire nation.
“We also have congratulated the leadership of the National Assembly. We are aware that the process attracted a lot of disagreement here and there. We, the governors of the party, have resolved to embark on a peace process to make sure that we return as members of one family we have always been.
“We have also discussed to strengthen our party. This is the party that brought change and that change must stand. We will make the party meet the desires of our great members. We are ensuring Nigerians that we will remain focused and address some of the issues.”

I chose Yar’Adua because others were corrupt –Obasanjo

Ramon Oladimeji

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo

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FOrmer President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Wednesday that he chose the late former President Umaru Yar’ Adua as his successor because the others who wanted the post were corrupt.

Obasanjo said one of the people who wanted to succeed him in 2007 was “stinkingly corrupt” and that the only way he (Obasanjo) could justify himself before man and God was to go for Yar’Adua, who, he said, was the only one among the contenders then who was not corrupt.

The former President, who spoke in an interview with a private television station, Channels Television, in Abeokuta, did not mention the ‘corrupt’ Yar’Adua rivals.

Among the prominent presidential hopefuls in the Peoples Democratic Party in 2007 were Obasanjo’s deputy, Abubakar Atiku; and ex-Governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili.

Atiku later abandoned the PDP to contest the presidential election on the platform of the defunct Action Congress while Odili’s ambition fizzled out with the nomination of Yar’Adua.

The AC later metamorphosed into the Action Congress of Nigeria, which later merged with the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party to form the now ruling All Progressives Congress.

Obasanjo’s choice of successor died on May 5, 2010 from heart-related ailments. Many condemned Obasanjo for choosing a man who was manifestly sick to lead the country.

But in the Channels interview, Obasanjo said he only acted based on the information made available to him.

He said, “Even if you take your son as your successor, you are not sure of what he will do when he gets there. Don’t ever kid yourself.

“What do I know about any successor? What he presents. When he gets there, he presents it differently.

“We did our best, but if you say our best is not good enough, I will say, when it comes to your turn, do better.

“With all the people that are available for successor, what we came up with was about the best that we could think of at that time.

“One of those who wanted to do the job came to me and said, ‘Sir, I like your job, but I cannot do it the way you are doing it.’ Now, if he had told me that, should I then come and say, ‘okay, come, let me give you the job?’ He had told me that, ‘I like your job, but look, the way you are doing it, I haven’t got the stamina to do it that way.’ Then, what do you expect me to do?

“Or the one that I know that, oh!, this one, before he gets the job, he’s stinkingly corrupt. Now will I be able to defend myself before God and man if with what I know I give this job or I encourage the man to have this job?”

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Report on Ekweremadu out next week –Police

Adelani Adepegba and Sunday Aborisade

Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu

The police said on Wednesday that they had concluded their investigations into the alleged forgery of Senate rules by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and some principal officers and management of the National Assembly.

The police said they had interrogated all the persons involved and that the findings would be made public next week.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Wednesday that “the police had done the needful.”

When asked if investigators had quizzed all the suspects in the forgery case, he said, “We have talked to all the people involved in the case and by next week, the findings would be made public.

“The outcome of investigation and legal advice will determine who to be prosecuted.”

Ojukwu spoke shortly after the Senate Unity Forum, a group made up of anti-Senate President Bukola Saraki senators, expressed concern over the slow pace of police investigation into the forgery allegations.

The SUF called on well-meaning Nigerians to, as a matter of urgency, prevail on authorities concerned to commence necessary investigation that would unravel the alleged forgery scandal.

The group’s secretary, Senator Suleiman Hunkunyi, had petitioned the police, alleging that the 2015 Senate Standing Rules was forged.

Hunkunyi’s petition read in part, “We write to bring to your attention the existence of the fraudulent introduction of a 2015 Senate Standing Rules as amended.

“We wish to attach the original and authentic Standing Order for 2011 that was used by the 7th Senate, Annexure A.

“We again attached the annex Herero, a purported amended Standing Orders 2015, which was used by the Clerk to the National Assembly (along with the Clerk of the Senate) in inaugurating the 8th Senate on June 9, 2015.

“The so-called new Standing Orders purports to allow for secret instead of the open ballot system that has been prevalent in all Senate elections as permitted by the extant rules.

“This infraction, among others, arises from the fraudulent production of the Rules without an approved consideration by the 7th Senate.

“At no time was the Standing Orders of the Senate amended during the entire life of the 7th Senate neither has the 8th Senate sat for long enough to produce the rules now being circulated and in use”.

The police, on the strength of the petition, subsequently quizzed the leadership of the 7th Senate, including Senator David Mark; his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba; and the former Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang.

But the SUF, in a statement by its spokesperson, Senator Kabir Marafa, in Abuja on Wednesday, lamented that the police action on the issue was becoming too slow.

Marafa said, “The problem is that the Senate was inaugurated using a forged document. Who forged that document? We can’t gloss over or sweep that criminality under the carpet, Nigeria is not a Banana republic.

“The standing order is an upshot of the constitution, it spelt out clearly in order 110 (1-5) how it can be amended just like the constitution spelt out how it can be amended in section 9 (1-4).

“The insertion of order 3 (2 IV) & 3 (3e i-iiii) in the 2015 edition is a deliberate act perpetrated by 5th columnist operating within the National Assembly to sabotage the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“It was done to cause friction, disaffection and generate bad blood among senators from different zones and provoke confusion in the senate with the sole aim of stagnating government business to give them time to perfect their agenda.”

He lamented, for instance, that the insertion of order 3 (2 iv), was done to favour the Peoples Democratic Party caucus in the Senate who supported Senator Bukola Saraki, to become the Senate President.

He said, “For 16 years of the PDP leadership, the presiding officers and committee headship were skewed in favour of the zones that produced more PDP senators but suddenly they introduced equality of zones in the distribution of these offices because they lost out, this is unacceptable by APC senators.

“Let me use this medium to call on all well-meaning Nigerians to as a matter of urgency call on all the authorities concerned to commence investigation into this illegality before it overwhelms us as a nation.”

Marafa added that there was no law that set time frame within which to clear the service chiefs, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari had the powers to appoint the service chiefs on acting capacity.

The President had on Monday appointed new service chiefs and a National Security Adviser after sacking those he inherited from his predecessor, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Buhari had said the service chiefs would function in acting capacity pending their approval by the National Assembly as required by the Constitution.

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Obama to Break Tradition for Buhari

 By:   Monday Agu Jnr, Washington D.C.  




 


President Barack Obama
…US President ‘ll host Nigerian leader at Blair House for three days
IN demonstration of his readiness to do closer business with Nigeria, United States President Barrack Obama will be breaking his administration’s tradition when President Muhammadu Buhari arrives in Washington D.C. on a state visit on Monday next week.
The American leader will host President Buhari as his personal guest at the Blair House, right opposite the White House.
When President Muhammadu Buhari arrives in the United States of America on Monday next week, he will be hosted at the Blair House, the official guest house of the American President, the Daily Times has learnt.
This is in clear departure from the American government’s attitude to visiting Heads of State, particularly Nigerian leaders.
It is also in demonstration of US President Barrack Obama’s admiration of President Buhari and to support the Nigerian leader’s acclaimed frugal lifestyle and disdain for ostentatious lifestyle.
The decision to host President Buhari in the official Guest House of the United States President will not only cut down the cost of the trip but also allow time for informal discussions by both leaders.
Buhari is said to have pegged his entourage at 32, a clear departure from the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan who was once reported to have embarked on a two-day trip with a team of about 100 persons.
It was also learnt that although the Nigerian protocol unit had planned the trip to be for two days, the US government offered to accommodate the visitors of three days.
During official visits to Washington D.C. while in office, former President Jonathan and his entourage usually stayed at the Westin Grand Hotel. At other times, he booked Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Pierre Hotel.
During the coming visit of the Nigerian new leader, according to sources, Presidents Buhari and Obama will exchange “wish lists.”
These will contain the requests of both leaders from each other, as well as firm pledges on how they plan to come to each other’s aid.
It was learnt that top on the US government’s pledges is greater assistance in the fight against terrorism. In return, the US government wants Nigeria to show greater commitment to war on corruption, particularly transparency in public service.
According to Wikipedia, the Blair House is located at 1651–1653 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., opposite the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House, off the corner of Lafayette Park.
The main house was built in 1824. The original brick house was built as a private home for Joseph Lovell, eighth Surgeon General of the United States Army. In 1836, it was acquired by Francis Preston Blair, a newspaper publisher and influential adviser to President Andrew Jackson. It would remain in his family for the following century.
In 1859, Blair built a house for his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Blair Lee and Captain Samuel Phillips Lee, at 1653 Pennsylvania Avenue, next door to Blair House at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue. Captain Lee (later an admiral) was a grandson of Richard Henry Lee and third cousin of Robert E. Lee. The houses have since been combined, and the complex is sometimes referred to as the Blair-Lee House, though Blair House is the official name today.

Since I got married, became a father, I haven’t lost many matches – Djokovic

Novak Djokovic celebrated his first wedding anniversary with a third Wimbledon triumph on Sunday and insisted getting married to longtime girlfriend Jelena Ristic was key to his success. The world number one has captured nine titles and lost just seven matches since he and Ristic wed on July 12 last year just a week after he had won a second Wimbledon by beating Roger Federer.
On Sunday, he defeated Federer again for a third All England Club title and ninth major. “One year ago I won the trophy, and on this day, we got married, started a new life together. It’s really an amazing chapter of my life that I’m trying to enjoy as much as I can,” said Djokovic after his 7-6 (7/1), 6-7 (10/12), 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Three months after their wedding, Jelena gave birth to the couple’s first child, Stefan. “That was another great dimension of love and energy for us. Got us even closer together,” added the Serb.
“Whether I’m winning or losing, she’s always there. Family’s always there. When I go back home, I’m not a tennis player anymore. I’m a father and a husband. That’s a kind of balance that I think allows me to play this well.
“Ever since I got married and became a father, I haven’t lost many matches, I won many tournaments. I suggest that to every player, Get married, have kids.”