Buhari momentum surges towards coronation

Buhari and Jonathan

by: Idowu Akinlotan

There is not one unbiased analyst who does not expect that as things stand in the 2015 electioneering, the APC candidate, Gen Buhari, would be crowned on February 14. The tide began to turn in favour of the general when the opposition managed a flawless presidential primary last December; and the tide became a mighty wave when, against all expectations, they again managed to select as running mate Prof Osinbajo, a law teacher of great repute, in a political masterstroke seldom seen in these parts. In rally after rally, the APC presidential candidate has attracted waves and waves of crowds on fire for a ticket that has somehow inexplicably become chic and sexy. Few people, except perhaps elitist critics, are interested in what Buhari and his running mate have to say, whether their programmes and manifestos promise the right things, or whether what they promise even angels would not struggle to implement.

But the phenomenon is not quite as inscrutable as circumstances make it. The PDP has tried to sully Gen Buhari’s reputation by alleging perjury against him, suggesting he did not have a school certificate as he claimed.  It has attempted to whip up emotions against him using some of his policies and actions as head of state in the 1980s. And it has tried to draw a wedge between him and the Yoruba using the animosities, prejudices and bigotries of the past, and projecting upon his idiosyncrasies a dismal future for Nigerians under his presidency. None has worked for the simple reason that the PDP misjudges the mood of the moment, the spirit of the time.

First, the PDP and Jonathan sympathisers are unable to appreciate that the leitmotif of this election is the incompetence of Dr Jonathan, his failure as a leader, his weakness in tackling the grave security challenges  facing the country. The election is thus not really about Buhari, what he can do or won’t do, what certificates he brandishes or does not hold, what acts of cruelty he performed in the past or acts of kindness . The election is strictly speaking about Dr Jonathan, by what margin to repudiate him, and about how to punish him for the humiliation and disgrace he has brought upon the country locally and internationally.

The PDP is already distressed. The more they abuse Gen Buhari and paint him as a monster, the more the crowds at his rallies swell. Though unfortunately the northern yokels have begun to stone Dr Jonathan, perhaps in anger, it is obvious that the president will be extremely lucky to get any sizable vote anywhere in the North, notwithstanding Governor Sule Lamido’s wailing last week that the president’s northern supporters were being stigmatised and intimidated. Nor is it likely that the even more discerning Southwest would leave a ticket on which their erudite son, Prof Osinbajo, is perched to vote for a president who in fact and by his own admission is a woeful failure. Increasingly too, parts of the South-South, a significantly larger part of the North-Central, and parts of the Southeast have begun to swing towards the Buhari column.

It is doubtful whether there is any magic by which the coronation of Buhari could be avoided next month. It will happen not because the voters happily trust Gen Buhari, but because they heartily distrust and loath Dr Jonathan. The elections, I think, are already lost and won. It would indeed be risky to try to procure a different outcome by the shenanigans the ruling party is accustomed to.

BOMBSHELL ON THE ECONOMY - PROF. CHARLES CHUKWUMA SOLUDO EX-CBN GOV. SLAMS GEJ, SAYS GEJ "OUTPERFORMED HIS PREDECESSORS EXCEPT THAT IT IS IN REVERSE ORDER."

In sum, the mismanagement of our economy has brought us once more to the brink. Government officials rely on the artificial construct of debt to GDP ratio to tell us we can borrow as much as we want. That is nonsense, especially for an economy with a mono but highly volatile source of revenue and forex earnings. The chicken will soon come home to roost. Today, the combined domestic and external debt of the Federal Government is in excess of $40 billion. Add to this the fact that abandoned capital projects littered all over the country amount to over $50 billion. No word yet on other huge contingent liabilities. If oil prices continue to fall, I bet that Nigeria will soon have a heavy debt burden even with low debt to GDP ratio. Furthermore, given the current and capital account regime, it is evident that Nigeria does not have enough foreign reserves to adequately cover for imports plus short term liabilities. In essence, we are approaching the classic of what the Shagari government faced, and no wonder the hasty introduction of ‘austerity measures’ again.
Fourth, poverty incidence and unemployment are also simultaneously at all-time high levels. According to the NBS, poverty incidence grew to 69% in 2010 and projected to be 71% in 2011, with unemployment at 24%. This is the worst record in Nigeria’s history, and the paradox is that this happened during the unprecedented oil boom.
One theme I picked up listening to the campaign rallies as well as to some of the propagandists is the confusion about measuring government “performance”. Most people seem to confuse ‘inputs’, or ‘processes’ with output. Earlier this month, I had a dinner with a group of friends (14 of us) and we were chit-chatting about Nigeria. One of us, an associate of President Jonathan veered off to repeat a propaganda mantra that Jonathan had outperformed his predecessors. He also reminded us that Jonathan re-based the GDP and that Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa; etc. It was fun listening to the response by others. In sum, the group agreed that the President had ‘outperformed’ his predecessors except that it is in reverse order. First, my friend was educated that re-basing the GDP is no achievement: it is a routine statistical exercise, and depending on the base year that you choose, you get a different GDP figure. Re-basing the GDP has nothing to do with government policy. Besides, as naira-dollar exchange rate continues to depreciate, the GDP in current dollars will also shrink considerably soon.
We were reminded of Jonathan’s agricultural ‘revolution’. But someone cut in and noted that for all the propaganda, the growth rate of the agricultural sector in the last five years still remains far below the performance under Obasanjo. One of us reminded him that no other president had presided over the slaughter of about 15,000 people by insurgents in a peacetime; no other president earned up to 50% of the amount of resources the current government earned from oil and yet with very little outcomes; no other president had the rate of borrowing; none had significant forex earnings and yet did not add one penny to foreign reserves but losing international reserves at a time of boom; no other president had a depreciating exchange rate at a time of export boom; at no time in Nigeria’s history has poverty reached 71% (even under Abacha, it was 67 -70%); and under no other president did unemployment reach 24%. Surely, these are unprecedented records and he surely ‘outperformed’ his predecessors! What a satire!
One of those present took the satire to some level by comparing Jonathan to the ‘performance’ of the former Governor of Anambra, Peter Obi. He noted that while Obi gloated about ‘savings’, there is no signature project to remember his regime except that his regime took the first position among all states in Nigeria in the democratization of poverty—- mass impoverishment of the people of Anambra. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, poverty rose under his watch in Anambra from 20% in 2004 (lowest in Nigeria then) to 68% in 2010 (a 238% deterioration!). Our friend likened it to a father who had no idea of what to do with his resources and was celebrating his fat bank account while his children were dying of kwashiorkor. He pointed out that since it is the likes of Peter Obi who are the advisers to Jonathan on how to manage the economy (thereby confusing micromanagement which you do as a trader with macro governance) it is little wonder that poverty is fast becoming another name for Nigeria. It was a very hilarious evening.
My advice to President Jonathan and his handlers is to stop wasting their time trying to campaign on his job record. Those who have decided to vote for him will not do so because he has taken Nigeria to the moon. His record on the economy is a clear ‘F’ grade. As one reviews the laundry list of micro interventions the government calls its achievements, one wonders whether such list is all that the government could deliver with an unprecedented oil boom and an unprecedented public debt accumulation. I can clearly see why reasonable people are worried. Everywhere else in the world, government performance on the economy is measured by some outcome variables such as: income (GDP growth rate), stability of prices (inflation and exchange rate), unemployment rate, poverty rate, etc. On all these scores, this government has performed worse than its immediate predecessor— Obasanjo regime. If we appropriately adjust for oil income and debt, then this government is the worst in our history on the economy. All statistics are from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Despite presiding over the biggest oil boom in our history, it has not added one percentage point to the growth rate of GDP compared to the Obasanjo regime especially the 2003- 07 period. Obasanjo met GDP growth rate at 2% but averaged 7% within 2003- 07. The current government has been stuck at 6% despite an unprecedented oil boom. Income (GDP) growth has actually performed worse, and poverty escalated. This is the only government in our history where rapidly increasing government expenditure was associated with increasing poverty. The director general of NBS stated in his written press conference address in 2011 that about 112 million Nigerians were living in poverty. Is this the record to defend? Obama had a tough time in his re-election in 2012 because unemployment reached 8%. Here, unemployment is at a record 24% and poverty at an all-time 71% but people are prancing around, gloating about ‘performance’. As I write, the Naira exchange rate to the dollar is $210 at the parallel market. What a historic performance! Please save your breathe and save us the embarrassment. The President promised Nigeria nothing in the last election and we did not get value for money. He should this time around present us with his plan for the future, and focus on how he would redeem himself in the second term—if he wins!
Sadly the government’s economic team is very weak, dominated by self-interested and self-conflicted group of traders and businessmen, and so-called economic team meetings have been nothing but showbiz time. The very people government exists to regulate have seized the levers of government as policymakers and most government institutions have largely been “privatized” to them. Mention any major government department or agency and someone will tell you whom it has been ‘allocated’ to, and the person subsequently nominates his minion to occupy the seat. What do you then expect? The economy seems to be on auto pilot, with confusion as to who is in charge, and government largely as a constraint. There are no big ideas, and it is difficult to see where economic policy is headed to. My thesis is that the Nigerian economy, if properly managed, should have been growing at an annual rate of about 12% given the oil boom, and poverty and unemployment should have fallen dramatically over the last five years. This is topic for another day." Source Vanguard News

ON BUHARI I STILL STAND

PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
Fellow Nigerians, let me reiterate here that I’m a latter day convert to Buharism. Truth is it took me years to see the light. I had resisted the conversion due to an overdose of poison from anti-Buhari elements that litter our socio-political landscape. Those who wish to continue the current charade and wish Nigeria would remain in perpetual servitude would do anything and everything possible to make a Buhari Presidency impossible and unrealisable. However lies can run faster than truth but truth will always catch up especially when lies become predictable.
I have received many reactions, and read many comments, on my mathematical calculations about the 2015 elections, earlier published. I have also followed the interventions of my two great Brothers, Simon Kolawole and Segun Adeniyi. We are all committed to seeing a better and greater Nigeria. I don’t think anyone prays for the personal downfall of President Goodluck Jonathan who has obviously faced too many challenges in the last four years. What I see personally is the sad reality that the present problems have overwhelmed him beyond redemption, and asking him to continue is to extend these tragic times for another four years. When Dr Jonathan became President, he inherited a burden heavier than an elephant.  If PDP had managed Nigerian affairs a tiny bit, all the hullabaloo about APC would have been unnecessary. But PDP could not keep its own house in order not to talk of governing well.
The implosion of PDP had long been foretold. It is clear that no political party could ever sustain its level of recklessness and rascality forever. Any serious observer and chronicler of events would have seen and known that a day would come when the rampaging monkey would go to the market and fail to return. Such was the case of PDP which behaved like Nigerians were too docile to react or move against it. Such is the kind of complacency and rudeness that has set Burkina Faso on fire today.
The first sign of trouble came from within during the Nigerian Governors’ Forum election in which Rotimi Amaechi roundly defeated Jonah David Jang the favoured candidate of Mr President. But rather than see the handwriting on the wall that something terrible was about to hit its household, the PDP gladiators chose to dig deeper and engage in unholy wars with whosoever challenged its purported invincibility. Before our very eyes, the Nigerian Governors Forum was dichotomised and decimated in a vindictive manner. Seven PDP Governors rebelled and started a nationwide consultation with different socio-political groups. Eventually, five of them chose to challenge fate and decamped to the new amalgamation of political parties known as APC but two later chickened out for obvious and personal reasons.
The birth of APC was bound to change the political configuration and alter the electoral calculations ahead of the 2015 elections. But again the PDP underrated the influence of the confluence of political parties brought about by the emergence and existence of APC. The arrogant assumption by PDP that its power and glory cannot be challenged by APC is what has become its seeming albatross and possible waterloo.
 However, APC still has a long and dangerous bridge to cross. My mathematical calculation did not write off the victory of President Jonathan who controls an awesome arsenal which he seems ready to deploy against his enemies. I only opined that APC has a stronger and better chance than the opposition has ever had if it manages its internal contradictions very well. Let’s now examine the defection of the Speaker House of Representatives, Waziri Aminu Tambuwal from PDP to APC. I will address this controversial move from its genesis to revelation before moving on with my forecast.
There was nothing surprising about Tambuwal’s dramatic elopement, if it could be called that. Tambuwal from Day One had been living with a lover while pretending to be in a marriage elsewhere. What Tambuwal did this week was to boldly come out by openly revealing the love of his life and damning all consequences. It was sweet revenge against PDP, and payback time for APC, after he’d been rejected by the original lover when it mattered most. Tambuwal would not have been made Speaker but for the benevolence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who encouraged members of ACN in the National Assembly to support his candidacy. Since then the Speaker has remained fervently in romance with Tinubu and company.
 On the possibility of Tambuwal jumping into the APC Presidential race, my answer is a big NO. That was the thinking once upon a time and I was probably the first columnist to write about it. Two major factors affected and aborted that dream.
Tinubu had hoped to groom Tambuwal for the Presidential race. He was seen as a sellable candidate who by virtue of his position and exalted office would readily have his foot-soldiers in most of the Federal constituencies. A lot of work had been done even to persuade the People’s General, Muhammadu Buhari, to come out and anoint Tambuwal publicly. General Babangida had already endorsed him openly. General Obasanjo, the most vocal of the Generals, had no objection to him as everyone knew him to be humble and likeable.
Let me quickly explain before I continue this enthralling saga. Nigeria is a Mafia nation controlled by four different groups. The political Capos are about ten members including Generals Yakubu Jack Dan-Yumma Gowon (the Head of State who fought to keep Nigeria as one country and most senior Army General around), Olusegun Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo (only person to have tasted power as military Head of State and civilian President and has the widest international influence), Muhammadu Buhari (most feared of the lot but closest to the poor people of Nigeria), Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (only military Head of State and military President), Abdulsalami Abubakar (only man who kept his word of serving for only one year without the temptation of elongation), Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (who has never governed Nigeria but is the richest, very cerebral and most taciturn power-house in the country), Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (who by virtue of his present position is a member of that Mafia even if he looks more like a stranger in the fraternity) and Senator David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark (retired Army General and current Senate President who has worked his way up the Mafioso ladder in Nigeria)… There are of course a couple of others who have been security chiefs at one time or the other.
A few Royal icons are sometimes contacted or consulted by the original Mafia. They include The Sultan of Sokoto, The Ooni of Ife, The Obi of Onitsha, The Alaafin of Oyo, The Emir of Kano, The Emir of Zazzau, The Shehu of Borno, The Lamido of Adamawa, and a few others.
There also exists a super caucus of stupendously wealthy business men who hold the economy of Nigeria together and form the third axis of power in the country. They include Dr Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Isola Adenuga (the enigmatic billionaire who controls substantial interests in oil & gas, telecoms, banking and real estate whose true worth has never been revealed); Alhaji Aliko Dangote (with interests in cement, sugar, rice, salt, refineries, and one of the world’s richest men); Dr Tony Elumelu (Group Chairman UBA, Heirs Holdings and Transcorp Corporation of Nigeria); Mr Jim Ovia (with vast interests in banking, telecoms and hospitality); Mr Femi Otedola (with a firm grip on the diesel market and petroleum products) plus two controllers of wealth, both ladies, Diezani Alison-Madueke (Minister of Petroleum Resources) and Ngozi  Okonjo-Iweala (Minister of Finance). These men and women have unfettered access to power. Add to the mix some very influential religious leaders who space constraint and time would not allow me to name and you have a cauldron of intrigues and machinations everywhere. All the above-mentioned interests have to be delicately managed with that of the political operatives in the process of seeking Presidential power in Nigeria even if there are occasional or accidental miracles like that of President Jonathan. Tambuwal had a robust network with most of these interest groups.
But the technical complexities of declaring his interest while retaining the Speakership became too knotty to untie. In the process, the steam of Tambuwal’s ambition slowly and steadily evaporated. Then something unexpected overtook the game. Tinubu came into the picture as a possible Vice Presidential candidate. It is still unclear who sold the idea to Tinubu or whether he had nursed the ambition secretly all along. The decision of Tinubu and his team was that such ambition could only be realised in conjunction with Buhari or Atiku since other Presidential aspirants would be too little in status to him. The small group then decided to amplify Buhari’s candidacy. This was how Buhari was cleverly persuaded into returning to the race at a time he had almost said goodbye to perpetual electioneering.
The next hurdle was how to sell what would naturally become a major combustible element in this season of religious conflagration in Nigeria, the Muslim/Muslim ticket, which I wrote agaist very early as a true friend of Tinubu. In fact, a very influential Yoruba man had called and lambasted me for saying the Muslim/Muslim ticket would not work this time. The man was livid as I tried to let him see reason with me. I was now convinced that many people were misleading Tinubu who ordinarily is a master tactician and strategist. The group again decided that for the Tinubu project to work, they must get a Christian candidate for Lagos as palliative to shut up the Christian groups. This was the main reason the Akinwumi Ambode Governorship project became a spiritual obligation.
The group also became very chummy with their erstwhile foe, General Obasanjo, hoping he would not openly attack the project.
Their worst fear was confirmed when Obasanjo gave a blistering attack against a Muslim/Muslim ticket last week thus forcing even the APC Chairman to promptly react that no such idea was ever contemplated. The plan B is now how to get a Christian within the group to step forward as replacement. Except Tinubu changes his mind today or tomorrow, Buhari or whoever gets the APC Presidential ticket would have to suffer some serious migraine because the group wants the reward of working for APC right here on earth and not in heaven.
 They are not willing to let go of that VP slot which they are convinced is rightly theirs. The candidate would have to do one of two things, succumb to pressure from Tinubu’s camp or call their bluff. Neither is going to be easy.
The first is the belief that no one can ignore Tinubu’s electoral value in the South West. Some party members are so scared of stepping on Tinubu’s toes even if they believe his influence has waned drastically in recent months. Tinubu’s camp unfortunately is not able to produce a Christian politician with national appeal at this time. The best candidate for the job would have been the wonder-man of Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, but there are problems with him on two fronts. The first is that he is a Muslim like Tinubu. And even if his incredible popularity provides him an automatic waiver, he is locked in a battle of wits with his godfather on the issue of who becomes the next Governor of Lagos.
Tinubu is insisting on Mr Ambode while Fashola prefers his former Attorney-General, Mr Supo Shasore.
About ten aspirants have already picked up nomination forms. Ambode has launched his campaign and so has Mr Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the three-Term Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly and probably the most formidable politician in the race. No one knows how things would pan out.
With Fashola out of the Vice Presidential equation, Tinubu is relying on his friends, the three Musketeers: Yemi Osibajo (a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and former Attorney-General in Lagos); Yemi Cardoso aka Headmaster ( an accountant, banker with a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Management from Havard, served under Governor Tinubu as Commissioner of Economic Planning and Budget); and Olawale Edun (with an exceptionally brilliant background in Economics and great career in Merchant banking, corporate finance and stockbroking; he was a Commissioner of Finance under Governor Tinubu).
There is a fourth personality under consideration, Professor Robert Ajayi Borrofice, a distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic from Ondo State who was Director General, National Space Research and Development Agency, with a PhD in Genetics. They are all distinguished and honourable men but many doubt their electoral value in a complicated environment like Nigeria.
Many APC members believe the South West should not produce the Vice President so soon after Obasanjo left power. Their greatest consideration is that the region that lays the golden eggs, the South-South cannot be ignored if peace must reign and President Jonathan is to be pushed aside. The conclusion is that both Governors Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi have the national appeal as well as Executive experience that Buhari would require after so many years out of power.
Amaechi in his case has the additional advantage of legislative exposure as two-Term Speaker of Rivers State while Oshiomhole comes with intimidating Labour credentials.
I will still place my bet on Buhari emerging as the APC Presidential candidate. He’s a safer risk for his Party and one man the other aspirants can unite around. He would now have to be bold enough to take the difficult risk of who becomes his running mate.
I wish him the best of wisdom.

2015 RE-ELECTION BID: Nigerians Lambast Jonathan

Adams Odunayo

Many Nigerians think and have described President Goodluck Jonathan as an insensitive leader amidst the reactions coming from his steps to formally declare his intention for a 2015 comeback.

Goodluck Jonathan

From his said failed administration in terms of the kidnapped Chibok girls, many Nigerians are worried that Mr president is solely about his selfish gains and not his real responsibilities of protecting lives and the property of the citizens  are his utmost priority

READ ALSO: Jonathan’s 2015 Declaration: More Details Emerge

The President who had a change in cabinet on Thursday set up a Presidential Declaration Committee with a former Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru, appointed as the chairman, also former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, was appointed as the Deputy Chairman and Senator Anyim Pius Anyim will serve as secretary of the committee.

Mr President who had made it known some years back that he would not stay in office beyond 2015 has however made Nigerians to have many thoughts ranging from being able to have secured the release of the Chibok girls even before he declares for a re-election.

READ ALSO: Amaechi Accuses GEJ, Minister

However, according to punch, the Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Adetokunbo Mumuni, has made it known that the fact that the President had chosen to concern himself about returning to power at this time amounted to insensitivity.

Mumuni, made it known on Thursday that the President could simply have delayed his declaration until when the Chibok girls are rescued.

“But in Nigeria, politicians at all levels, not just the President, think mostly about the moment rather than the future. It has become customary that they don’t bother about the situation in the country when their political career is concerned.

“There were reports that the girls would be released last Monday but this is the end of the week and nothing has happened. What the President should have done was to address the nation on this issue and tell us why nothing has happened.”

Mr. David Anyaele, who is the Executive Director, Centre for Citizens with Disabilities,  also expressed worry over the President’s seeming reluctance to prove to Nigerians that he could provide adequate security for them. Urging that Chibok girls must be rescued, he said:

“Nigerians should demand that the President should produce the girls right now to show he has the capacity to provide security for the country beyond 2015 and that he is not insensitive.”

Speaking on behalf of the Chibok girls, the spokesperson for the BringBack Our Girls Campaign, said it would be unfair to the abducted girls for the President to put politics above their safe return.

He said, “For us at BBOG campaign, one of the things we have been demanding is that we need to see a resolve from the Presidency that rescuing the Chibok girls and other boys and girls who have been kidnapped in the past remain number one on the agenda of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, this is a time we have different political intrigues and the 2015 elections close by. Sometimes we feel they have placed politics above the return of the girls.

“We demand that the government should rescue the girls and communicate with the families of the girls who have been kept in the dark since the news broke that there was a ceasefire and a negotiation.”

An Abuja-based lawyer and social commentator, Mr. Jide Oluyemi, said it is a shame for the president to seek re-election in the midst of the security crisis in the country, especially in the North-East, making it known that the president is totally insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.

Oluyemi said, “Six months ago, Boko Haram abducted over 200 Chibok schoolgirls and they have yet to return home. There are thousands of people displaced and yet President Goodluck Jonathan still has the gut to declare his ambition to seek re-election.

“This is insensitivity at its greatest height; this is unfair to many Nigerians who have lost their loved ones to the insurgency in the North. This display of insensitivity must stop. He should address the insecurity first and lay aside his ambition for now. He was not properly advised on this one.”

Fred Agbaje, a Lagos-based lawyer, says that though the President has the right to seek Nigerians’ mandate for re-election, the timing was wrong.

“There is no law or any process which bars the President from declaring his interest. Once the necessary provisions of the law are met, he can declare. But the question is whether he can still go ahead to declare in the face of mounting insecurity, unemployment, corruption and abduction of Nigerians, among other problems confronting the country.

“Yes, he can still declare but it is now left for Nigerians whether in the face of the social ills that I have highlighted to open their eyes and allow him to continue to rule us and we continue to suffer or we open our eyes and reject his coming back and say we don’t want him.

“Just like the governor of Kano State said, we have had many opportunities to reject Jonathan and vote him out. Just on Thursday, we heard that some group of girls and women were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents while this government told us it had entered into a ceasefire agreement with the insurgents.

“I am sure the ceasefire agreement the President is telling Nigerians about is not true or done with the wrong people. Otherwise, the original sect would have told us by themselves if there was any ceasefire agreement. That is why they are still going ahead, kidnapping, maiming, and killing people. I agree with Kwankwanso that we have lost opportunities to vote the President out especially in the midst of all the social crises facing the country.”

 Naij.com

My Right To Humane Treatment Is Non-Negotiable By Hadiza Bala Usman

             

I have watched, with keen interest, recent attempts by some principal officers of the Federal Government of Nigeria to discredit me and the #BringBackOurGirls group. This is not new. It has been the case since we commenced our citizens-driven advocacy movement. My initial reaction was to ignore the chatter and concentrate on the noble work of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

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Sahara Reporters

by Hadiza Bala Usman Oct 22, 2014

I have watched, with keen interest, recent attempts by some principal officers of the Federal Government of Nigeria to discredit me and the #BringBackOurGirls group. This is not new. It has been the case since we commenced our citizens-driven advocacy movement. My initial reaction was to ignore the chatter and concentrate on the noble work of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Unfortunately, my humble silence is being taken as license to further dissuade and divide the populace by spreading inaccurate information, through advertorials, thereby tagging the #BringBackOurGirls group as an affiliate of the APC.
Hadiza Bala Usman.

I am a card holding member of the APC, and there has been no time I have hidden this fact or tried to mask it. But let’s be very clear, when I worked to mobilize women, men, and Nigerians at large to come out on April 30th to protest that the Government should intensify efforts to #BringBackOurGirls, I did so not as an APC member, but first as a HUMAN BEING, as a WOMAN, a MOTHER, and as a NIGERIAN.

 It was never about politics or political affiliations; it was rather about our shared humanity as human beings. As a mother, I have experienced the trauma of not knowing where my child is for few minutes; does it then surprise many why I would be moved to act on behalf of mothers who are yet to see their daughters for 2 weeks (at the first instance) and now over 190 days after?

I came out as a concerned citizen of Nigeria, one that is very interested in the unity, growth, and development of this nation; one that knows the important role an educated girl-child would play in contributing to the success we all anticipate for our dear country. That these girls dared education in the face of terrorism, insecurity, and other life-threatening circumstances, is a rare display of courage, doggedness, and hope. This is why I, alongside other #BringBackOurGirls campaigners, have been advocating daily for 175 days today to make sure that these girls are not forgotten, but that they are rescued and returned home to contribute their quota to national development.

I came out as someone who, from a very young age, watched my (late) father always advocating and standing up for what is right, no matter the cost. These are values he passed down to me and there was no way I was going to sit down, keep quiet and get on with my live while 276 girls are abducted and held in captivity by a terrorist group. If my father was alive today he would have lent his voice to the Chibok girls.

No one should be denied the right and opportunity to express their natural sense of empathy because of interests and political affiliations. When we allow such divisive narratives as that being peddled by people paid with taxpayers’ money to fester in our national discourse, we must see that rather than gain, we lose instead. Rather than come united, we become disunited.

This moment offers for us a rare opportunity to stand united as a nation, whether you are in PDP, APC, or any political party; Christian or Muslim; from the North or the South. The issue of the abducted Chibok girls is an opportunity to UNITE and not DIVIDE - to stand against insurgency, terrorism, and every common enemy that seeks to divide us as a people. We must unite to ensure that every girl and boy in Nigeria has equal access to education. We must unite to change the narrative that no matter one’s tribe, gender, religion, social strata, interests, and political affiliations, we can all come together as one to build beloved nation.

I, Hadiza Bala Usman, choose to tow the path of UNITY; I will not be intimidated by anyone and I will continue to stand for the Chibok girls regardless of my tribe, religion and political affiliation.

ONLY BUHARI CAN SAVE NIGERIA

 A STATEMENT BY THE 4TH FORCE BY SENATOR PATRICK O. ANI
The general elections of 2015 have been described as those that would mark a watershed in the political history of Nigeria. Nothing can be nearer the truth. To be sure, the unprecedented attention that the elections will attract has little to do with the state elections as they affect the governorship and state houses of assembly. Nor has it anything to do with the national elections as they affect the Senate and the House of Representatives. The attraction that the next year’s poll has to do with the presidential election that has been slated for St. Valentine’s Day-February 14. That is the particular election that is expected to be epoch, if all goes well. It is the election that will determine the direction that the country would go-whether or not it would chart a new course or continue on the same path that has it has been since the return of democratic rule in 1999.
Having walked for 16 solid years (by 2015) on one side of the street, Nigerians are desirous of crossing to the other side, if only for the purpose of experiencing life on that side. For that long, the people of this country have been fed with the same dishes, with the lie that the no other dish could taste better.
A fair assessment of governance under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the advent of the Fourth Republic shows that it is perhaps in the last three years or so that the country could be said to have recorded any semblance of development mainly in agriculture and privatization of power sector, which benefits Nigerians have yet to experience, though there is reason to be optimistic.
In the area of economy-undeniably the most critical aspect-ythe rebasing of the economy, which has sen the Nigerian econmy overtaking South Africa’s as the biggest on the African Continent, has not had any impact on the lives of the people. While government officials celebrate the development as indicative of the country’s growth, the hopeless situation in which a vast majority of Nigerians lives; the failing standard of education; poor healthcare; high rate of unemployment, insecurity and alarming rate of corruption give lie to the claim of improved standard of living in the country.
While some credit could be given to the Jonathan administration for its effort at revamping the economy and solving some of the multifaceted challenges that face the country today, indeed its reluctance to get to the root of the country’s perpetual state of underdevelopment-corruption-makes all its effort to pale into insignificance. As a matter of fact, President Goodluck Jonathan‘s kid gloves handling of corruption-related issues has rubbished any claim that he might make about building a new Nigeria. The foundation has to be new; if the society is to be new.
But thank God for democracy. We are no longer in the military era when people suffered in silence because they had no choice. Now they have choice. Every four years presents an opportunity for Nigerians to make new choices. Despite bogus figures that government officials bandy every day, the fact remains undisputable that Nigerians are not happy. They are unhappy not because the country is poor and lacking in resources to make life more meaningful to everybody. They are unhappy because the resources of the country are being mismanaged by a handful of people who have ensured that the generality of the people remain perpetually in lack, want and are subservient to the few that hold the reins of power. Next year, Nigerians have an opportunity to make a choice between remaining in poverty in the midst of plenty and being content to utter a few muffled voices of complaint, or breaking free to begin a new life. That choice has come about with the existence of the All Progressives Congress (APC). But while the party offers Nigerians the hope of a better alternative to the suffocating and exploitative influence of PDP, its choice of presidential flag bearer in the all-important election will either reinforce that alternative or ensure that the country continues to engage in what may be referred to as stagnant movement.
Before now, it was possible to differentiate APC from PDP as not being a party that is dominated by the hawks that have bled the country and brought it to its knees. Now the story is different. In its effort to swell its ranks for the battle to dislodge the ruling party, the opposition now boasts of members who cannot seriously look PDP in the face and call it a party of corrupt people without being labelled the kettle that called the pot black. The party now harbours people who hitherto hobnobbed with those they now describe as corrupt. And these are the people who want Nigerians to believe they are different from the pack in the PDP, and can save this country from its current slide down the abyss.
But despite that they have created in the minds of Nigerians on the suitability of APC for the struggle to give Nigerians a breath of life, one man stands shoulder above the rest, unarguably the only one that has what it takes to rescue the country from the ruin. He is the former Head of State, GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI(RTD).Among those that are touted as presidential aspirants on the platform of the party today, the former military leader is the only one that does not come with any bag of political liabilities that borders on integrity. He is the only one that can pass the integrity test, discipline and commitment to the emancipation of Nigeria from economic slavery in the midst of plenty.
Buhari’s credentials as the leader, Nigeria needs at this crucial stage of its history bear no repeating. He stands today as the only Nigerian Leader-dead or alive-with no blemish trailing his tenure in all the offices he has held, which include state governor, minister of petroleum , head of state and chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), an agency that was more or less a parallel government , because of the enormous financial resources at its disposal. This agency was far richer than the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The two qualities that Buhari has, which are lacking in Nigerian leaders, namely, integrity and discipline, stand him out of the pack in the APC as the only one that the people of this country can see today as a better alternative to Jonathan. The president is not known to be corrupt, nor has he been linked with any corrupt practice. His greatest undoing lies in his lack of political will to fight the canterworm that have destroyed the Nigeria fabric. His weakness lies in his willingness to sacrifice the country’s interest for his own personal political interest.
Buhari is not known to protect officials whose hands are soiled to lucre, just to protect his political interest. Were he to be the prudent,. There is no way a minister would remain in office after sending young and hapless job seekers to their early graves as a result of greed. Buhari, a president, would not keep for an extra day in office a minister that flies about in private jets hired with tax payers’ money. His was on corruption would be by example, starting with his appointees.
Would Nigeria, under Buhari be the laughing stock that the country has been turned into in the past few weeks over questionable arms deals in South Africa?
As a civilian president, the former military leader would not condone the level of waste that goes on in government circles, especially at the federal level. His track record in all the places where he held office bears him out. With a drastic cut in wastages, the country would have more money to provide the basic needs of Nigerians.
It is worthy of mention that those who are pushing for open primary election to choose the presidential candidate of APC intends to capitalize on Buhari’s lean financial resources to ensure he does not get the party’s ticket. They know that not having amassed wealth in all the offices he held, the retired general will not be able to match the competition to buy the pockets of delegates to the convention. In other words, they want the party’s presidential ticket to go to the highest bidder.
Herein lies the choice that APC members have to make, which will in turn determine the choice that Nigerians will make next year. Do they want an aspirant who will line their pockets with monies whose sources are questionable, with the certainty that if elected into office next year, his immediate propriety would be to recoup what he spent to win the party’s ticket? Or do they want a candidate who , not having spent a dime to bribe everybody to get the party’s ticket, faces squarely the business of instituting the change that Nigerians yearn for, from the first day he assumes office next year?
Beyond the one question of integrity and discipline, the question that APC members needs to answer is-who among the aspirants is capable of taking advantage of the current yearnings in the northern part of the country for the next president to come from that party? Who, between Atiku Abubukar and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, can pull half of the 12 million votes that Buhari got in 2011 election, with over 80 percent coming from the North?
It does not take an expert in political strategy to know that APC needs only to win in the North about the same number of votes that Buhari won in 2011, and win the South West, to clinch the presidency next, regardless of what it gets from the South-South and South-East geo-political zones.
Those who see Buhari as a serial election looser should read Abraham Lincoln’s political history to know, as the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo said, what matters is not how many times a man falls ,but his ability to get up each time he falls. Between 1832 and 1859, Lincoln failed election into Illinois State Legislature; failed two times to win election into Congress; failed two times to win election into the Senate; failed once as vice president and won election in 1860 as president.
It is not by accident that after failing in three attempts to get elected president; Buhari is alive to strive to contest election into the nation highest office again. We believe that the same factors that worked against him in previous elections will work in his favour this time around. He may not have been accepted is the South before now because of the wrong perception that people in that part of the country had of him as a sectional leader. With the current political enlightenment as to who is truly a national leader, coupled with the strength of APC in the South West, which attracts the second highest number of votes , after the North, the 2015 election will be a different ball game altogether.
That the former head of state commands a cult-like followership in the northern part of the country is not in doubt. The figures are there for anyone to see. Only a party that is not interested in winning an election that means the whole world to it and, by extension, Nigerians would not want to take advantage of this strength. With the sure victory of the party in the South West (despite the strong challenge by PDP) and its expected reasonably good showing in the South-South and South-East, it would be difficult to see how next year’s presidential election would be a tea party for PDP.
The APC constitution provides for the selection of candidates through Consensus. More than at any other time, this is the time for the party to adopt that option and choose Buhari as its flag bearer. The man was there when it mattered most. He laboured to make the party attractive to the latter day entrants who may have scoffed t his attempt to form a credible opposition party. The party should not make the mistake of putting its fate in the hands of people who cannot be trusted not to be the dog that goes back to its vomit when it and a better food is not in sight.
We must put aside primordial sentiments that have held this country back for decades and face the truth that continues to stare us in the face. If the country is to break away from the cycle of underdevelopment that has given it a stunted growth in 54 years. That truth is simply the fact that Buhari is the only leader that can save the country today. He is the only leader that can ensure the wealth of the country goes around. The 2015 presidential election may be our last hope.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA

Senator P.O Ani
(National Coordinator)
080333326547,08071241227
E-mail: forth_force@yahoo.com
Culled from : The Nation, Friday October 24, 2014

Buhari’s place among African heroes

by Mika’ilu Barau

Brooding over national and personal issues induced about two-hour insomnia in me the previous night. The role of the Nigerian media in misleading the gullible public carried greater part of my attention.

I explored this phenomenon in relation to the way media have been working in giving one of our greatest national figures in General Muhammadu Buhari a sectional outlook. This concern took me into the adventurous appraisal of GMB’s personality in the context of contemporary Nigerian society and Africa. I was shocked to discover that sometime this week, one Ibrahim A. Waziri drew a conclusion similar to mine, namely that none of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Mandela and others measured up to GMB in national service.
It was indeed consoling to find someone sharing a seemingly radical conclusion and making it public. This piece is considered necessary in that it will aim at reinforcing Waziri’s view by presenting an alternative procedure for drawing the same conclusion. I approached this evaluative endeavour from the perspective of three wars that General Buhari fought, which no other African hero was privileged to fight in and survive. This I consider as ‘triple war angle’ thus: 1. CIVIL WAR: General Buharei fought a real battle to keep Nigeria one. Even his adversaries among Nigerian Army Generals attest to Buhari’s courage and valour in the war that nearly tore the populous African nation apart.
2. CORRUPTION WAR: Immediately after the Civil War, most Nigerian top military figures used their participation in the war as a license for looting the nation’s resources and treasury. The wealth amassed by many of those who participated in the war, and several other post-civil-war army officers, could hardly be explained within the boundaries of legitimate earning. General Buhari outstandingly survived that battle by emerging out as a corruption free personality after serving as Head of State, Military Governor, Petroleum Minister and Chairman of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund of Abacha days. I read an interview in which Buhari confirmed that the only corruption he would live to regret was reading Things Fall Apart that he borrowed (and returned) from the library of University of Nigeria Nsukka without the permission of nonexistent librarian during the civil war!
3. MEDIA WAR: This war is ongoing. Ever since General Buhari decided to participate in politics and save Nigeria from the onslaught of its thieving politicians, he has been the subject of negative media campaign of the dreaded Lagos-Ibadan axis of the press. They falsely attribute divisive tendencies to this outstanding General in order to appease their paymasters and continue to deceive average Nigerians. If divisive tendencies did not manifest in Buhari during his crucial and sensitive services earlier mentioned, it will be a lot ridiculous to imagine that it would happen at the stable post - sixty phase of his life. The performance of Buhari in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 election is indeed a good indication that he is surviving the evil media war that sent many good people and policies to their graves prematurely. I strongly feel, he will in one way or the other harmonize this victory in the 2015 election.
I loaded many African personalities (Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo, Nelson Mandela, and Kwame Nkrumah, etc) as variables in my triple war equation but only General Buhari remains in the bracket. Most of our first generation African heroes did not fight real wars while the later ones faltered in the battle field of corruption. The few that have been enduring (General Gowon for example) could not take the risk of politicking and bearing the corollaries of blackmail of the so-called Mgbati press. Thumbs up to the People’s General: a tree that makes a forest; one person that makes a crowd and a politician that makes a party!

Barau wrote from Kofar Dawaki, Talata Mafara, Zamfara State

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