Augustine Ehikioya
President Goodluck Jonathan spoke yesterday about his sojourn in governance, saying he has been in a cage since 1999.
Dr. Jonathan spoke when the Christian community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) paid him Easter homage at the new Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
He described himself as one of the luckiest Nigerians, having occupied public offices from the deputy governor of Bayelsa State to governor, vice-president and president.
He said: “I thank you for coming to encourage us. This Easter period coincides with when I’m leaving but I always say I’m one of the luckiest Nigerians. From 1999 I have been in the hands of government. I am yet to see somebody luckier than me. I was in the hands of governments for 16 years, not in government as a parliamentarian, because if you are in the National Assembly or House of Assembly, you take care of yourself in your house. I was in a cage being taken care of by the government. But I think it is enough and I am happy. Help me to thank God for that.
“I will continue to thank Nigerians for giving me that privilege. I became deputy governor because Baylesans voted for me and governor then. I became VP because Nigerians voted for me and Yar’Adua. And Nigerians voted for me and Sambo. We have to thank all Nigerians. Wherever I will be, I have to thank all Nigerians. Today is a glorious day for me.”
Dr. Jonathan noted that the key lesson of the Easter celebration is sacrifice.
He said: “Thank you for this Easter homage. It is a period to reflect on the essence of our belief. Because we believe without the resurrection there wouldn’t have been Christianity.
“Whenever we talk about this period, the key lesson there is sacrifice. Somebody sacrificed for our own salvation. So, as a people, as a government, what I always believe we should ask: ‘What sacrifice are you making?’
“Now it is not about supporting Jonathan or government. Now Buhari is coming on board; it is not about supporting Buhari or government, but what sacrifice as individual are you willing to make for government and for the nation?
“If you are a businessman and you say you are supporting government but you don’t pay tax, how do you expect that government to survive? That government will not survive.”
Continuing, he said: “While in Bayelsa State as a deputy governor, people used to come to me to say ‘I’m loyal’. Don’t tell me you are loyal, tell me I’m patriotic to the country and that you believe in Bayelsa State.
“To me, whenever I travel to different countries and see things work, those things didn’t fall down as manna. People made sacrifice. Therefore, in Nigeria people must also be ready to make the required sacrifice.
“Whoever becomes president is immaterial so long as the citizens are happy. Our children go to school, when we are sick they go to good hospital and of course the economy blossom.
“But for that to take place, people must make the required sacrifice. In ECOWAS sub-region, for example, Nigeria has the lowest VAT 5 per cent (Value Added Tax) payment, other countries pay up to 12 per cent.
“If for instance Buhari decides to increase VAT from 5 to 10 per cent, will Nigerians support him? That is sacrifice and we must make sacrifice.
“Nation building depends on the sacrifice of individuals and the patriotism of the citizens. These are two key elements. We must be ready to sacrifice for our nation. We are talking about Boko Haram or terror, soldiers are dying for us to live, police are dying for us to live; that is sacrifice. As individuals, you don’t need to die but there are various roles you need to play. You must make sacrifice.
“The economy of China was threatened but they locked themselves up for a period of time but by the time they opened their doors, they become even a threat to the biggest economy. Are we ready for that kind of sacrifice for the government? Whenever we talk of Easter, these are the key lessons of sacrifice.”
Vice-President Namadi Sambo thanked Jonathan for making Nigeria the pride of Africa and the world.
According to him, Jonathan’s name will be written in gold.
He said that the President had groomed him in the past five years to a doctorate degree level.
Sambo said: “I am proud to be your deputy. You are my brother and teacher forever. For the five years I have been with you, I have got Phd from you. I am forever loyal to you and we are of the same family.”
He prayed for God’s wisdom for the president in leading the nation.
Among the guests are Cardinal John Onayeikan, Chairman of FCT Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Israel Akanji, and the primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) Primate Nicholas Okoh.
Also in the delegation are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, FCT Minister Bala Mohammed, FCT Minister of State Olajumoke Akinjide and Chief Imam of FCT Hustaz Mohammed Musa.
Monday 6 April 2015
Saraki Dynasty: How PDP's Flaws Reunite Bukola, Gbemi
Even though she is not a candidate in any of the elections holding this year, Senator Gbemisola Saraki is about the most keenly watched politicians in Kwara State at the moment.
By Emmanuel Aziken and Demola Akinyemi
SEnator Bukola Saraki, the new king on the bloc in Kwara State is reported to have done almost everything to appease his immediate younger sister for his action in passing over her to support Abdulfatah Ahmed for the governorship four years ago.
Visits, emissaries, childhood reminisces were said to have been of no effect in assuaging the hurt of Gbemisola who lost the 2011 governorship election to Ahmed upon the support thrown to the later by her brother.
Gbemisola Saraki
Gbemisola Saraki
When the opportunity opened for her to spite her brother a year ago, she wasted no time when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP opened its doors to her after the brother left the party for the newly emerged All Progressives Congress, APC.
However, the elders in the PDP only took her in only to widen the gulf with her brother it apparently dawned on the former senator.
Gbemi and her brother Bukola and their late influential father, Olusola form a unique partnership in the country’s political firmament in being the only family to have produced three senators.
That image is, however, said to be the envy of many political stakeholders in Kwara who allege that they cannot serve father, brother and daughter.
So, when she returned to the party and Abuja sought a heavy weight politician in Kwara to serve as minister to counter the influence of Bukola, Gbemi was a top name that came for consideration, but the anti-Saraki feeling helped to ensure that she was eased out of consideration.
Gbemi it seemed took it in quietly and pushed forward the process of seeking the PDP’s governorship ticket. Again she lost out, but her associates and several other independent observers allege that the process was skewed.
Even more embarrassingly for her was the fact that Senator Simon Ajibola who emerged as the governorship candidate was one her supporters claim answered to Gbemi while they were all in the Senate together. Besides, insiders in the Gbemi camp alleged a systematic attack on her structures within the party. It was as such no surprise that throughout the presidential campaigns that Gbemi stayed away, a development that inevitably worried party chieftains.
Over time it again increasingly emerged that Gbemi was about to make a statement.
A signpost to her exit from the PDP came to the fore in mid February when she visited Ilorin and was received by a mammoth crowd who were conveyed in a long entourage of buses. Conspicuous in the convoy were beautiful posters of the radiant Gbemi noticeable by the absence of the logo of any political party.
It was not surprising that top party chieftains in the state immediately sought to woo her. Initially, she was given the slot of the deputy governor but taking it as an insult she reportedly immediately turned her back on it.
In apparent move to stave off her exit from the party the PDP state chairman, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo and the secretary Barrister Abdurazaq Hassan in separate press statements pleaded with her to consider her efforts and investments in the party and reconsider her alleged plan to dump the party.
Gbemi tactically kept her distance from them and from the speculations about her political trajectory.
That was until the eve of the presidential and National Assembly election when she arrived Ilorin to a mammoth reception organised by her supporters.
From the airport, the convoy moved to the Saraki family home where she symbolically told her supporters to vote for the broom party.
An eye witness account disclosed that Gbemi told her supporters to take into consideration that the presidential election fell on the same day as the Environmental Sanitation Day. She was as such reported to have told them to sweep their environments thoroughly with their brooms.
Defection of women leader
Senator Saraki
Senator Saraki
“All of you know that tomorrow March 28 is the last Saturday of the month and also the day for the presidential elections, I urge you to sweep your environment very well with your brooms,” a source present at the occasion reported her as saying.
She was quoted as having directed her supporters to vote for the APC at all levels.
An indication to her imminent defection from the PDP was given by the defection of the women leader of the PDP in the state, Mrs. Nimota Suleiman penultimate Sunday. Mrs. Suleiman is a well-known associate of Gbemi.
Sources close to the former senator confided that, the national leadership of the APC may storm Ilorin, the state capital anytime soon to receive her into the APC fold.
The return of Gbemi to the fold would only harden the already difficult grounds in Kwara for the PDP. But for the Saraki family compound Gbemi’s return would only soften the grounds with tears of joy.
By Emmanuel Aziken and Demola Akinyemi
SEnator Bukola Saraki, the new king on the bloc in Kwara State is reported to have done almost everything to appease his immediate younger sister for his action in passing over her to support Abdulfatah Ahmed for the governorship four years ago.
Visits, emissaries, childhood reminisces were said to have been of no effect in assuaging the hurt of Gbemisola who lost the 2011 governorship election to Ahmed upon the support thrown to the later by her brother.
Gbemisola Saraki
Gbemisola Saraki
When the opportunity opened for her to spite her brother a year ago, she wasted no time when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP opened its doors to her after the brother left the party for the newly emerged All Progressives Congress, APC.
However, the elders in the PDP only took her in only to widen the gulf with her brother it apparently dawned on the former senator.
Gbemi and her brother Bukola and their late influential father, Olusola form a unique partnership in the country’s political firmament in being the only family to have produced three senators.
That image is, however, said to be the envy of many political stakeholders in Kwara who allege that they cannot serve father, brother and daughter.
So, when she returned to the party and Abuja sought a heavy weight politician in Kwara to serve as minister to counter the influence of Bukola, Gbemi was a top name that came for consideration, but the anti-Saraki feeling helped to ensure that she was eased out of consideration.
Gbemi it seemed took it in quietly and pushed forward the process of seeking the PDP’s governorship ticket. Again she lost out, but her associates and several other independent observers allege that the process was skewed.
Even more embarrassingly for her was the fact that Senator Simon Ajibola who emerged as the governorship candidate was one her supporters claim answered to Gbemi while they were all in the Senate together. Besides, insiders in the Gbemi camp alleged a systematic attack on her structures within the party. It was as such no surprise that throughout the presidential campaigns that Gbemi stayed away, a development that inevitably worried party chieftains.
Over time it again increasingly emerged that Gbemi was about to make a statement.
A signpost to her exit from the PDP came to the fore in mid February when she visited Ilorin and was received by a mammoth crowd who were conveyed in a long entourage of buses. Conspicuous in the convoy were beautiful posters of the radiant Gbemi noticeable by the absence of the logo of any political party.
It was not surprising that top party chieftains in the state immediately sought to woo her. Initially, she was given the slot of the deputy governor but taking it as an insult she reportedly immediately turned her back on it.
In apparent move to stave off her exit from the party the PDP state chairman, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo and the secretary Barrister Abdurazaq Hassan in separate press statements pleaded with her to consider her efforts and investments in the party and reconsider her alleged plan to dump the party.
Gbemi tactically kept her distance from them and from the speculations about her political trajectory.
That was until the eve of the presidential and National Assembly election when she arrived Ilorin to a mammoth reception organised by her supporters.
From the airport, the convoy moved to the Saraki family home where she symbolically told her supporters to vote for the broom party.
An eye witness account disclosed that Gbemi told her supporters to take into consideration that the presidential election fell on the same day as the Environmental Sanitation Day. She was as such reported to have told them to sweep their environments thoroughly with their brooms.
Defection of women leader
Senator Saraki
Senator Saraki
“All of you know that tomorrow March 28 is the last Saturday of the month and also the day for the presidential elections, I urge you to sweep your environment very well with your brooms,” a source present at the occasion reported her as saying.
She was quoted as having directed her supporters to vote for the APC at all levels.
An indication to her imminent defection from the PDP was given by the defection of the women leader of the PDP in the state, Mrs. Nimota Suleiman penultimate Sunday. Mrs. Suleiman is a well-known associate of Gbemi.
Sources close to the former senator confided that, the national leadership of the APC may storm Ilorin, the state capital anytime soon to receive her into the APC fold.
The return of Gbemi to the fold would only harden the already difficult grounds in Kwara for the PDP. But for the Saraki family compound Gbemi’s return would only soften the grounds with tears of joy.
Buhari: "We Feared Jonathan Would Not Accept Defeat".
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
Up to the time Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was announcing the results of the March 28 presidential election on Wednesday, fear of uncertainty engulfed the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari (L) waves in Abuja on April 1, 2015. Nigeria's new president-elect Muhammadu Buhari hailed polls that will lead to the first democratic change of power in Africa's most populous nation as "historic" hours after he secured a decisive victory. AFP PHOTO
Buhari
However, it was not a fear occasioned by any conceivable loss of the election because with the result already trickling in the previous day, the camp knew the APC was coasting home to victory. But it was the uncertainty that President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, would reject the results and invoke a military intervention to stop Buhari from ascending to the presidency.
The otherwise, after all, smacked a big surprise to APC, Buhari and his campaign organization.
And for conceding defeat and subsequently calling to congratulate the president-elect even before the last result was officially announced, Jonathan did not only carve a niche for himself but also launched into the community of patriots and statesmen.
These were thoughts expressed by the Director, Media and Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization, APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shehu, who was central to the election of Buhari by way of information dissemination and management, said that the campaign was the fiercest he had ever witnessed since he debuted into partisan politics.
He said: “I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
“Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced. This is the most life threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it.
“So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief.
“Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government.
“Look, everyone felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him.
“This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They had said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won.
“But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.”
Shehu assured that the president-elect would not avenge the attacks on his person by the allies of Jonathan, saying there was enough work to do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians than pursuing mundane things.
Excerpts from interview:
Your camp alleged hate campaign and messages from the other camp. How were you able to weather it?
The starting point is that the presidential candidate himself laid down the rule from day one. General Buhari said ‘don’t abuse anybody’. ‘Don’t beat or attack anybody because of this campaign’. He set the rule that we must not abuse or insult anyone. So, we were guided by that. But let me tell you this also without meaning to be boastful. Coming from some professional background, you know that the most important thing in a campaign is the message. Insult, abuses and throwing of muds don’t win elections anywhere. If those things win elections, they would have won it for President Jonathan because they threw everything at us. Look, let me tell you, we didn’t do one documentary that was negative on Jonathan. We isolated the issues.
We knew that the country is concerned about security, the economy and the effect of joblessness and corruption. And you know, the presidential candidate led the way. He said at every rally, people were attacking him for saying too little. He has a load of agenda for the country and he isolated them to be these three things. He called them the tripod of evil upon which every wrong doing in Nigeria rested whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping, or anything you can think of. Because, if you have young people gainfully employed, corruption –
free country, economy that is thriving and doing well and people are living in a secure environment; who is that person who is going to create trouble? So, we had a message and the message was successfully taken to the people. If you ask me, was it easy staying on the message, I would say no, it wasn’t easy. Because all of these people; the party supporters, the low level masses don’t understand the game that played out. If they see Fani-Kayode on the television throwing insults at Buhari, your phone will begin to ring. ‘You, what are you doing? What are you doing? You are not answering this man. Why won’t you respond?’
The masses want you to respond in like manner. But we understood what was playing out. They wanted to take us off the message. They didn’t want us to talk about corruption or insecurity. So, we had to fight. As it I said, it was not easy for our supporters. Some of them did not understand us. They felt like we were conspirators inside. That we had come to undermine the campaign because here is somebody who is throwing insults, abuses and why are you not replying him? Mr. Kayode even declared when he took up the job that he would go after the personal life of General Buhari. And we maintained that we would not join issues with him and you can see that all efforts for us to stand side-by-side with him in a TV debate failed. I can’t stand with somebody whose stock in trade is to throw mud, insults and abuses on people. So, that’s how we managed it.
There were speculations that APC campaign also hired its own experts to sharpen its campaign messages. How do you respond?
Where is the US expert? You know this breed. If you have a US expert, where is he hiding? The man should make a contribution from morning to sundown. We didn’t have them. The Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, did not have any foreign specialist. If we had one with us, you would have seen him. But we had wished we had because, you know, some of them can bring value to your campaign. There are those who had had presidential campaigns in 40 countries. You need that kind of experience to help you. But then, we were here and we did all by ourselves.
But are you not surprised that most of the perceived hate speech campaigners turned around to congratulate your presidential candidate immediately he was declared the winner of the election?
No, I wasn’t surprised because if one says one is surprised, then one does not really know Nigerians. There will be bandwagon. People will ride on the bandwagon train. They would like it. And it tells you that the people who were doing all of that didn’t even believe in the kind of things that were going on. They were just led to it. Basically, they had gone there to fight and there was plenty of food and money for them, otherwise why was it that they couldn’t defend the positions? They couldn’t defend anything because they never believed in it. So, for us, we are very happy about it.
The other day, one security man was saying ‘Oga, NTA and AIT people were at the door, we must stop them with your permission’. I said no. If we do that, then we are not graceful. We have won this election, we must show grace. In any case, the president-elect has said that he will be president for all Nigerians. And I can assure you that it is the same way he said that President Jonathan will have nothing to fear. That speech has been closed as far as we are concerned. Those guys have done their own part and we still believe that a good number of them still have things to contribute positively to the new administration because this is their own country. They have no other country than this one.
The campaign was time consuming. Did that have any impact on your family life? How do you also describe your joy having won the election?
Obviously, it had impact because it took you away from them. But that was expected having being a journalist, an editor yourself. I know an editor, after seven years somewhere, he said that if he walked the street of his town, most people will not recognise him because he would have left home when everybody had gone to work. By the time he comes back, everybody would have slept off, even his children. So, most times, no time for socialising. So, having been editor and all of that, you are used to all that with your family. Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced.
This is the most life-threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it. So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief. Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt at every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government. I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And, in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
Your party did say that the President’s action helped to douse any conceivable post-election crisis. Did you share that perspective?
Absolutely. Look, everyone had felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him. This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won. But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.
But people may say that those statements were mere politics, that there was a time to play politics and they did play politics irrespective of what was said. Don’t you see it as that?
Let me tell you that even politics has norms. There is a bottom line. It should be said of somebody that this person cannot go beyond a given point. This is the most horrible campaign anybody could have run. It wasn’t politics. It was enmity. We saw it. It was hatred. And that was why when we took our case to the ICC, they were very quick to understand the import of our petition.
Now that politics is over, would the president-elect embrace everyone or would there be some temptation to…?
No. Don’t even ask this question. There will be no temptation to go after anyone. There is no time for witch-hunt. He has said it. The enormity of the challenges ahead of him is such that he doesn’t need to spend one minute looking back to what has happened. There is enough to do looking forward. He has extended his hand of fellowship to all Nigerians and please take note of this: it includes Fani-Kayode, Governor Fayose, Chief Clark, Asari-Dokubo, all of them. Those outrageous people, he has extended his hands of fellowship. He will embrace them and they should be prepared to play their role in the reinvigoration of this country. That is my understanding of what he has said.
Now, assuming the election went the other way, would you have accepted it the way President Jonathan has done?
With the credibility all across, let me tell you one thing, APC, in accepting all of the results, I believe you will agree with me that we have blind-sided all of the outrageous things that happened. You know that in Imo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers States, no elections took place because two things happened: they sabotaged the card reader technology, insisted on the use of voters register for accreditation and that took the election back to the PDP’s manner of doing things. And that’s how those numbers came. It is incredible that all House of Reps seats, all senatorial seats in Rivers, they have been taken. They will go to court I believe and they will recover their seats. But you know that the card reader worked in the North, South-West and this is why elections were credible in those parts. In some parts of the South East, it did work. But in Imo State, it didn’t. But I am saying that, for us, we have chosen to show grace because by accepting those numbers from Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers, you could see that it only narrowed our margin. It didn’t stop us. So, what else do you want? You have won the elections fair and square. So, what do you want again? You know that kind of thing. Otherwise, there is a real case to be made with all of things that happened there. And it had a substantial effect on our margin. We knew we were going to win the election. It was clear between 65 to 75 percent.
How do you mean, “you knew you were going to win the election”, even before the election?
No, not before the election. Even from the numbers we got. Look, we had polling agents in the 150,000 polling units across the country except in the places where they were chased away. So, before INEC announced their results, we had our numbers upstairs. We had a situation room where we collected all the results and I am telling you that the accuracy with which we recorded our numbers was such that except in Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Imo states, every result that came here seemed to be confirming the results. As Professor Jega was reading the numbers, our people were saying “yes, yes, yes”. So, we didn’t get it wrong.
Some people also complained of a litany of underaged voters especially in the North.
No. If they have evidence, they should produce it. And how do you know if those were not historical pictures? Let me tell, the card reader technology worked in the North and South-West. It didn’t work in the South East and South-South.
But it didn’t dictate age?
Well, people had a responsibility. If anybody was voting with under aged children, everybody was represented by an agent. It is not like in Port Harcourt where some ex-militants came with guns and chased them away. They had representatives there. I don’t want to believe what you saw. I don’t believe it happened.
Unlike in the past contests, the love Nigerians showed to General Buhari this time around was unprecedented. Would you attribute that to the coming together of the legacy parties to form APC?
Yes, that is one of the factors. Of course, another one is also the fact that this country has been mismanaged by the PDP in the last 16 years and the environment was ripe for change. Let’s give it to Nigerians. Number three is the integrity factor of General Buhari. Nigerians, at this time, are looking for someone they could trust. So, it won it for him. Yes, the opposition parties have the majority than the ruling party. They came together with their number and won the election. I think it is an important lesson Nigerians have come to teach the rest of the world and African countries that atomization of the parties is unhelpful. This one gets five percent, that one gets 10 percent. But by the time you bring it together, you will see that you can defeat the ruling party and it has worked this time around.
Transition will soon take place. What do you think both the outgoing and incoming governments should do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians?
No. This should be made very clear. Even our supporters should know that this country must have only one President at a time. And between now and May 29, Dr. Jonathan remains the President of Nigeria and he calls the shots. So, don’t expect General Buhari or his team to interfere in any way, trying to influence this or that. No. One thing has been assured: Full cooperation to Mr. Jonathan by our team and also the fact that he would be given his full regards. We will respect him. So, whatever Buhari has by way of a plan, this must wait until May 29 and beyond.
There is speculation that General has said that as soon as he is sworn in, Boko Haram would be a thing of the past. How do you react?
We have just reported that General Buhari never said that. We have circulated all the speeches, the interviews he did on CNN, BBC, never did he say that. Yes, he did promise quickest end to Boko Haram, saying that we will show them the strength of the will of the people of this country. What is he saying? He is saying that some appreciable progress has been made by the outgoing administration. We will bring it to full completion and eradication as soon as we can. How can he promise two weeks or two months? He hasn’t even sat down with the army commanders. He hasn’t seen the number of troops we have, the weaponry available to the army. What more do they need? There must be calculations based on facts and he needs to get in there, receive the intelligence, the knowledge and information that is needed to make this decision
Up to the time Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was announcing the results of the March 28 presidential election on Wednesday, fear of uncertainty engulfed the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari (L) waves in Abuja on April 1, 2015. Nigeria's new president-elect Muhammadu Buhari hailed polls that will lead to the first democratic change of power in Africa's most populous nation as "historic" hours after he secured a decisive victory. AFP PHOTO
Buhari
However, it was not a fear occasioned by any conceivable loss of the election because with the result already trickling in the previous day, the camp knew the APC was coasting home to victory. But it was the uncertainty that President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, would reject the results and invoke a military intervention to stop Buhari from ascending to the presidency.
The otherwise, after all, smacked a big surprise to APC, Buhari and his campaign organization.
And for conceding defeat and subsequently calling to congratulate the president-elect even before the last result was officially announced, Jonathan did not only carve a niche for himself but also launched into the community of patriots and statesmen.
These were thoughts expressed by the Director, Media and Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization, APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shehu, who was central to the election of Buhari by way of information dissemination and management, said that the campaign was the fiercest he had ever witnessed since he debuted into partisan politics.
He said: “I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
“Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced. This is the most life threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it.
“So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief.
“Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government.
“Look, everyone felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him.
“This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They had said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won.
“But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.”
Shehu assured that the president-elect would not avenge the attacks on his person by the allies of Jonathan, saying there was enough work to do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians than pursuing mundane things.
Excerpts from interview:
Your camp alleged hate campaign and messages from the other camp. How were you able to weather it?
The starting point is that the presidential candidate himself laid down the rule from day one. General Buhari said ‘don’t abuse anybody’. ‘Don’t beat or attack anybody because of this campaign’. He set the rule that we must not abuse or insult anyone. So, we were guided by that. But let me tell you this also without meaning to be boastful. Coming from some professional background, you know that the most important thing in a campaign is the message. Insult, abuses and throwing of muds don’t win elections anywhere. If those things win elections, they would have won it for President Jonathan because they threw everything at us. Look, let me tell you, we didn’t do one documentary that was negative on Jonathan. We isolated the issues.
We knew that the country is concerned about security, the economy and the effect of joblessness and corruption. And you know, the presidential candidate led the way. He said at every rally, people were attacking him for saying too little. He has a load of agenda for the country and he isolated them to be these three things. He called them the tripod of evil upon which every wrong doing in Nigeria rested whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping, or anything you can think of. Because, if you have young people gainfully employed, corruption –
free country, economy that is thriving and doing well and people are living in a secure environment; who is that person who is going to create trouble? So, we had a message and the message was successfully taken to the people. If you ask me, was it easy staying on the message, I would say no, it wasn’t easy. Because all of these people; the party supporters, the low level masses don’t understand the game that played out. If they see Fani-Kayode on the television throwing insults at Buhari, your phone will begin to ring. ‘You, what are you doing? What are you doing? You are not answering this man. Why won’t you respond?’
The masses want you to respond in like manner. But we understood what was playing out. They wanted to take us off the message. They didn’t want us to talk about corruption or insecurity. So, we had to fight. As it I said, it was not easy for our supporters. Some of them did not understand us. They felt like we were conspirators inside. That we had come to undermine the campaign because here is somebody who is throwing insults, abuses and why are you not replying him? Mr. Kayode even declared when he took up the job that he would go after the personal life of General Buhari. And we maintained that we would not join issues with him and you can see that all efforts for us to stand side-by-side with him in a TV debate failed. I can’t stand with somebody whose stock in trade is to throw mud, insults and abuses on people. So, that’s how we managed it.
There were speculations that APC campaign also hired its own experts to sharpen its campaign messages. How do you respond?
Where is the US expert? You know this breed. If you have a US expert, where is he hiding? The man should make a contribution from morning to sundown. We didn’t have them. The Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, did not have any foreign specialist. If we had one with us, you would have seen him. But we had wished we had because, you know, some of them can bring value to your campaign. There are those who had had presidential campaigns in 40 countries. You need that kind of experience to help you. But then, we were here and we did all by ourselves.
But are you not surprised that most of the perceived hate speech campaigners turned around to congratulate your presidential candidate immediately he was declared the winner of the election?
No, I wasn’t surprised because if one says one is surprised, then one does not really know Nigerians. There will be bandwagon. People will ride on the bandwagon train. They would like it. And it tells you that the people who were doing all of that didn’t even believe in the kind of things that were going on. They were just led to it. Basically, they had gone there to fight and there was plenty of food and money for them, otherwise why was it that they couldn’t defend the positions? They couldn’t defend anything because they never believed in it. So, for us, we are very happy about it.
The other day, one security man was saying ‘Oga, NTA and AIT people were at the door, we must stop them with your permission’. I said no. If we do that, then we are not graceful. We have won this election, we must show grace. In any case, the president-elect has said that he will be president for all Nigerians. And I can assure you that it is the same way he said that President Jonathan will have nothing to fear. That speech has been closed as far as we are concerned. Those guys have done their own part and we still believe that a good number of them still have things to contribute positively to the new administration because this is their own country. They have no other country than this one.
The campaign was time consuming. Did that have any impact on your family life? How do you also describe your joy having won the election?
Obviously, it had impact because it took you away from them. But that was expected having being a journalist, an editor yourself. I know an editor, after seven years somewhere, he said that if he walked the street of his town, most people will not recognise him because he would have left home when everybody had gone to work. By the time he comes back, everybody would have slept off, even his children. So, most times, no time for socialising. So, having been editor and all of that, you are used to all that with your family. Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced.
This is the most life-threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it. So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief. Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt at every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government. I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And, in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
Your party did say that the President’s action helped to douse any conceivable post-election crisis. Did you share that perspective?
Absolutely. Look, everyone had felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him. This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won. But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.
But people may say that those statements were mere politics, that there was a time to play politics and they did play politics irrespective of what was said. Don’t you see it as that?
Let me tell you that even politics has norms. There is a bottom line. It should be said of somebody that this person cannot go beyond a given point. This is the most horrible campaign anybody could have run. It wasn’t politics. It was enmity. We saw it. It was hatred. And that was why when we took our case to the ICC, they were very quick to understand the import of our petition.
Now that politics is over, would the president-elect embrace everyone or would there be some temptation to…?
No. Don’t even ask this question. There will be no temptation to go after anyone. There is no time for witch-hunt. He has said it. The enormity of the challenges ahead of him is such that he doesn’t need to spend one minute looking back to what has happened. There is enough to do looking forward. He has extended his hand of fellowship to all Nigerians and please take note of this: it includes Fani-Kayode, Governor Fayose, Chief Clark, Asari-Dokubo, all of them. Those outrageous people, he has extended his hands of fellowship. He will embrace them and they should be prepared to play their role in the reinvigoration of this country. That is my understanding of what he has said.
Now, assuming the election went the other way, would you have accepted it the way President Jonathan has done?
With the credibility all across, let me tell you one thing, APC, in accepting all of the results, I believe you will agree with me that we have blind-sided all of the outrageous things that happened. You know that in Imo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers States, no elections took place because two things happened: they sabotaged the card reader technology, insisted on the use of voters register for accreditation and that took the election back to the PDP’s manner of doing things. And that’s how those numbers came. It is incredible that all House of Reps seats, all senatorial seats in Rivers, they have been taken. They will go to court I believe and they will recover their seats. But you know that the card reader worked in the North, South-West and this is why elections were credible in those parts. In some parts of the South East, it did work. But in Imo State, it didn’t. But I am saying that, for us, we have chosen to show grace because by accepting those numbers from Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers, you could see that it only narrowed our margin. It didn’t stop us. So, what else do you want? You have won the elections fair and square. So, what do you want again? You know that kind of thing. Otherwise, there is a real case to be made with all of things that happened there. And it had a substantial effect on our margin. We knew we were going to win the election. It was clear between 65 to 75 percent.
How do you mean, “you knew you were going to win the election”, even before the election?
No, not before the election. Even from the numbers we got. Look, we had polling agents in the 150,000 polling units across the country except in the places where they were chased away. So, before INEC announced their results, we had our numbers upstairs. We had a situation room where we collected all the results and I am telling you that the accuracy with which we recorded our numbers was such that except in Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Imo states, every result that came here seemed to be confirming the results. As Professor Jega was reading the numbers, our people were saying “yes, yes, yes”. So, we didn’t get it wrong.
Some people also complained of a litany of underaged voters especially in the North.
No. If they have evidence, they should produce it. And how do you know if those were not historical pictures? Let me tell, the card reader technology worked in the North and South-West. It didn’t work in the South East and South-South.
But it didn’t dictate age?
Well, people had a responsibility. If anybody was voting with under aged children, everybody was represented by an agent. It is not like in Port Harcourt where some ex-militants came with guns and chased them away. They had representatives there. I don’t want to believe what you saw. I don’t believe it happened.
Unlike in the past contests, the love Nigerians showed to General Buhari this time around was unprecedented. Would you attribute that to the coming together of the legacy parties to form APC?
Yes, that is one of the factors. Of course, another one is also the fact that this country has been mismanaged by the PDP in the last 16 years and the environment was ripe for change. Let’s give it to Nigerians. Number three is the integrity factor of General Buhari. Nigerians, at this time, are looking for someone they could trust. So, it won it for him. Yes, the opposition parties have the majority than the ruling party. They came together with their number and won the election. I think it is an important lesson Nigerians have come to teach the rest of the world and African countries that atomization of the parties is unhelpful. This one gets five percent, that one gets 10 percent. But by the time you bring it together, you will see that you can defeat the ruling party and it has worked this time around.
Transition will soon take place. What do you think both the outgoing and incoming governments should do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians?
No. This should be made very clear. Even our supporters should know that this country must have only one President at a time. And between now and May 29, Dr. Jonathan remains the President of Nigeria and he calls the shots. So, don’t expect General Buhari or his team to interfere in any way, trying to influence this or that. No. One thing has been assured: Full cooperation to Mr. Jonathan by our team and also the fact that he would be given his full regards. We will respect him. So, whatever Buhari has by way of a plan, this must wait until May 29 and beyond.
There is speculation that General has said that as soon as he is sworn in, Boko Haram would be a thing of the past. How do you react?
We have just reported that General Buhari never said that. We have circulated all the speeches, the interviews he did on CNN, BBC, never did he say that. Yes, he did promise quickest end to Boko Haram, saying that we will show them the strength of the will of the people of this country. What is he saying? He is saying that some appreciable progress has been made by the outgoing administration. We will bring it to full completion and eradication as soon as we can. How can he promise two weeks or two months? He hasn’t even sat down with the army commanders. He hasn’t seen the number of troops we have, the weaponry available to the army. What more do they need? There must be calculations based on facts and he needs to get in there, receive the intelligence, the knowledge and information that is needed to make this decision
Sunday 5 April 2015
How Ministers, Governors Sabotaged Jonathan.
catherine agbo, Chibuzo Ukaibe
President Goodluck Jonathan etched his name in gold in history books when he called president-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd) on March 31, to congratulate him even before the result of the presidential election had been completely collated and the winner declared by the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC).
But while it would appear to all that President Jonathan has already moved on after conceding defeat, LEADERSHIP Sunday can authoritatively report that he is nursing the sting of betrayal by his close allies, which led to his loss at the polls.
According to reliable presidency sources, beyond the pain of losing out, he is disappointed that despite assurances from his cabinet members and other trusted political appointees as well as high ranking officials of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that they had vigorously campaigned and sold his achievements to the people and were sure from feelers they were receiving that he would be re-elected, it turned out that they had in fact, not campaigned for him as they made it seem.
The president, it was gathered is particularly peeved by the action of some governors of Northern and North-Central states where he suffered the worst defeat.
Of the 19 states in the north, the PDP, the president’s party only won the presidential election in Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba.
LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the sum of N500million was given as campaign fund to each state but those who the funds were entrusted to, rather than use the money for the purpose it was meant, held on to it. The money was disbursed through PDP-led state governors and cabinet ministers or political appointees in opposition-led states.
In Ondo State for instance, LEADERSHIP gathered that the money was disbursed through one of the principal presidency officials from the state but as at night fall on the election eve, the official was yet to deliver the money to the state governor for the campaigns. The leadership of the PDP in the state, it was learnt, resorted to calling managers of banks in the state late in the night on the eve of the presidential election to ask for funds but could only get very little, by which time there wasn’t enough time to reach out to a large number of electorate in the state.
A similar scenario reportedly played out in Oyo State where a minister from the state who was entrusted with the campaign funds allegedly held onto the money. In Kogi State where the PDP also lost out in the presidential election, LEADERSHIP sources said money for the election was also diverted to other uses such as payment of debts, hence the abysmal result the party got in the state.
The abysmal performance of the party in Benue, Bauchi and Kano states, where the PDP has two governors, a Senate president, national chairman of the party and three cabinet ministers, Gabriel Suswam, Isa Yuguda, David Mark, Adamu Muazu, Bala Mohammed, Ibrahim Shekarau and Aminu Wali, respectively, but could not garner votes for the president, was also said to have drawn his ire.
Our source said the president despite having received security reports that a high ranking official of the party was allegedly covertly working for the opposition was particularly annoyed that he had trusted the said official and waved the reports.
Sources in Kaduna State where the vice president, Namadi Sambo hails from and where there is a PDP government in charge, also informed LEADERSHIP Sunday that in one of the local governments in Southern Kaduna, only N100,000 was allotted to two polling units in one of the wards with a voting population of over 1,000 people in sharp contrast with the situation in some local governments in Edo State, where eligible voters with Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were given N2000 each to vote for the party, hence the success recorded.
Recall that few days before the election, LEADERSHIP Sunday’s sister publication, LEADERSHIP, had exclusively reported that allegations of embezzlement and diversion of campaign funds were rife in the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO).
According to the report, coordinators of some of President Jonathan’s campaign groups as well as state and zonal coordinators were taking steps to ensure that they did not lose out completely, in the event that he does not win. LEADERSHIP’s investigations in Abuja revealed that the coordinators, rather than use the money for campaigns, had been scouting the Abuja property market with dollars, acquiring choice property. The campaigners, it was gathered, rather than use the money for the purpose it is meant, have resorted to investing the money in property, so that in the event that their candidate does not emerge, they would have something to fall back on.
Real estate agents privy to the development told LEADERSHIP Sunday that since the campaigns began and particularly after the postponement of the elections, there had been an upswing in the number of persons looking to buy property and most of them who usually pay in dollars had been linked to the campaign.
Recall also that about two weeks before the presidential and National Assembly election, there was a free-for-all among some PDP officials in Ogun State, following the failure of those entrusted with the money to release same to campaign coordinators across the state. It was gathered that the campaign coordinators suspected foul play when the money which was to be shared among 708 of them was not, over claims that it was yet to be paid into a certain designated bank account.
Similarly, another report had it that a former governor deeply involved in President Jonathan’s re-election campaign had rather than use money given to him for campaign, deposited it in a bank for it to yield interest and possibly remain there till after the election, after which it will be forgotten and he would convert it to personal use.
Sources within the president’s campaign organisation, said such funds were being used by those they were entrusted with as they pleased and that the situation had compelled the president to personally take charge of his campaign especially in the Northern and South-Western parts of the country.
At the time of the report, a high ranking member of the campaign organisation had confirmed to LEADERSHIP that the headquarters of the campaign organisation was in the know of the development.
“State coordinators are responsible for mobilising and organising campaign rallies in their respective states while zonal coordinators do same for zonal campaigns and when people from the headquarters attend such rallies, they take note of the lapses in planning for further action. The money for such organisation and mobilisation is disbursed by the PDPPCO.
“It has come to the knowledge of the campaign organisation that some coordinators have been telling party members that the money given to them is not sufficient to do what they expect of them but this is not true. They have been given adequate funds. However, the matter cannot be handled now till after the election when the coordinators would be required to retire their spending. The focus right now is on the election,” he said.
It was further gathered that while collation of results was on-going on March 31, after the result of Delta State was presented and it became imminent that Jonathan had lost out, as results from Sokoto, Borno and Yobe were still being expected, some allies of Jonathan met him at the Presidential Villa, where they reportedly prevailed on him to stop further collation and announcement of the results.
While the desperadoes were trying frantically to make Jonathan see reason why he should not accept the outcome of the poll, people on the other divide, led by former head of state, Gen Abdulsalam Abubakar, who were for peace urged Jonathan not to allow the moment of making history slip by.
The president eventually, the source said, rebuffed them saying after failing to convince people to vote for him, they were now suggesting ideas that would set the country on fire.
Following the president’s refusal to play ball, his allies who by now had realised that they would also lose out if he is not re-elected, immediately reached out to the party’s representatives at the collation centre, Dr. Bello Fadile, who is also a director in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, following which Orubebe disrupted collation of results for several minutes, citing INEC’s refusal to attend to a protest by the PDP over results from some Northern states whereas the commission had set up a committee to investigate allegations against the party in Rivers State.
Jonathan, our sources said, called and ordered Orubebe to desist from further disrupting the collation process, failing which he would be whisked out by security operatives, which explains why Orubebe who had earlier rebuffed all entreaties to retreat from the podium, suddenly went back to his seat and remained calm for the rest of the exercise.
The source said that following the development, the president had directed that certain members of the party including governors of some Northern states should not be allowed access to him for now, “and that is why it was only governors of South-East and South-West states that paid him a visit on Monday. The only Northern Governor on the entourage was the Plateau governor. The party won in his state.”
Meanwhile, governors, states chairmen and governorship candidates of the party have been strategising on how to win the governorship and state assembly elections this Saturday. They met at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja, on Friday.
Mu’azu Blames Loss On Voter Apathy
The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday blamed President Jonathan’s loss in last Saturday’s presidential election on voter apathy.
Mu’azu however charged all PDP gubernatorial candidates in the April 11 polls to guard against the bandwagon effect that could arise from the presidential election.
Mu’azu, in a statement signed by his media aide, Tony Amadi, said, expressed hope that the governorship election will certainly provide the PDP a soft-landing after conceding the presidency to the All Progressives Congress in the presidential election and urged the PDP faithful to pick up the pieces and ensure that they return quickly to the party’s old winning ways.
“There should be no room for voter apathy that was a major factor to our losing the presidential election. While our opponents were savouring their famous victory, we should out flank them and corner at least two thirds of the states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is not an impossible target if we return to our elements with immediate effect. We have done it before and we can do it again. Nothing will be sweeter than PDP taking Lagos, our own Rivers State and Imo. Our candidates in these states are first class material who have fully penetrated the political structures of those states and are set to win.
“Our target in this remaining election should be to retain our present states and then sink our teeth into the heart of our political opponents and show that their presidential victory is nothing more than a one-off that won’t be repeated in a long while,” he noted.
Muazu, in the statement, recalled that earlier in the week, he had reminded gubernatorial candidates of the party at Wadata House that one thing that won’t happen in the gubernatorial race is “the so called bandwagon effect. The reason is simple. Our party is used to bouncing back whenever we experience a setback.
“The PDP in the past 16 years of democracy has maintained fair play consistently, this much the APC admitted in their response to President Jonathan’s speech conceding to President-elect General Muhammdu Buhari.”
He emphasised that the key to winning the remaining election was heavy turnout and voting the PDP all the way.
“There should be no tactical voting. Be consistent in your support for the party. What we experienced in the presidential election is merely a hiccup which we must cast out in the gubernatorial polls. All PDP supporters must remember their pedigree, our track record and history of the party and the source of our electoral feats of the last 16 years. We are the reason that democracy has taken root in Nigeria since 1999. This is something every member of our great party should be very proud of.
“We have only lost a battle but the war to bring our country to the highest level of democratic governance is still to be won or lost. Our governorship candidates should go out and finish the good fight and come up trumps in the remaining gubernatorial and houses of assembly election on 11th April. We remain the winning party and by God’s special grace, we shall win again and again.”
THANK YOU, PROFESSOR ATTAHIRU JEGA.
PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
“Most of us give up too early.
Failure is an absolute essential
In life.”
-Bryce Courtenay
“Risk it, go for it. Life always gives you another chance,
another go at. It’s very important to take
enormous risks.”
-Mary Quant
Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to congratulate us all on the success of the March 28 elections in our dear beloved country. But kindly allow me to single out one man, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, for his exceptional performance. My darling wife has asked me to focus special attention on this perfect gentleman for doing such a thankless job almost perfectly. In Attahiru Jega we found the hope of a New Nigeria. Everything we are celebrating today would have evaporated and disappeared into thin air but for the kamikaze daringness of Jega and his glorious team.
Let me spend a little more time on Jega. His achievement is not too surprising to those who knew his antecedents as a world class scholar and social activist. I remember when his name was announced as INEC Chairman by President Goodluck Jonathan on June 8, 2010. It came as a shock to many of us who had followed his trajectory as an upright and incorruptible man, in particular, during his headship of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, under the Babangida military junta. He was a vociferous and irrepressible critic of the Babangida administration. He was seen at the time as a Leftist with very close affinity to the Nigeria Labour Congress.
I had received the news of his appointment in Accra, Ghana, where I was hosting one of Jega’s colleagues and comrades, Dr Abubakar Momoh. We were both elated that Nigeria had reached the stage where credibility was beginning to count. Dr Momoh had assured me that Jega was going to deliver contrary to the tradition of most radicals turning coat on attaining powerful positions. On a personal observation, my main worry was how Jega was going to be able to change the mind-set of those under him who may be tempted by our politicians to capitulate when it matters most. I’ve been watching Jega ever since.
Jega started his job slowly but steadily. He took his time in warming up to the delicate and precarious assignment. The 2011 elections were not perfect but acceptable. He must have learnt some useful lessons from it and reasoned that the only way to deal with and obliterate the artful dodgers from our political landscape was to employ the new vista offered by technology. The resultant effect of that revelation was the birth of Permanent Voters’ Cards and the Card-readers! Those who thought they could rig themselves permanently into power couldn’t imagine what hit them like thunderbolt. By the time they understood the gravity of what was coming at them, they kicked vehemently against the introduction of this efficacious machinery and sought a return to our pre-historic ways of conducting elections. Everything was done to frustrate Jega, including resorting to vengeful attacks but the man remained stoic in his fervent disposition like a Tibetan Monk. But if he thought he had succeeded in achieving his aim, he was in for a crude shock.
On March 28, Jega’s enemies succeeded in frustrating and destabilising his lofty ideals. By whatever magic or esoteric design, the President of Nigeria and his wife presented the world a pitiable spectacle as they approached an electoral officer to cast their votes in the presence of global media. The world came to standstill as the card-reader failed abysmally to accredit the First couple. It was such an embarrassment of tragic proportion. For about 30 agonising minutes, the INEC officials sweated profusely while battling with the fiendish machine. And the rumours began to fly like space-shuttles across the orbit. Many were convinced that someone had used a jammer to block the machines from performing its duty. In fact, I was feverish on behalf of Jega. How can this controversial machine fail so miserably at such a crucial moment?
I wondered what Jega was going to do to salvage this chaotic situation. We saw the President talking by phone and in a conversation with Jega in what lasted lasted a few minutes. In panic or frustration or both, Jega succumbed and caved in to the use of manual registration for President and Mrs Goodluck Jonathan. That was the carte blanche always wanted and now freely given to potential trouble-makers to annihilate what had started as a beautiful exercise with the prompt and blistering accreditation of General and Mrs Muhammadu Buhari. At that stage, the fate of Nigeria was hanging in the balance. The election went ahead anyhow but not as competently scheduled. Allegations flew right, left and centre about manipulations here and there. We all panicked about the possible derailment of our closest range to having a positive change in our strange polity since June 12, 1993. But we managed to pull through somehow.
While on the final laps, we noticed several lapses. The election results were trickling in snail-like as we waited in suspended animation. Nigerians, and indeed the world, were help spellbound as we stayed glued to our televisions and live-streams via internet links. The suspense reached a crescendo when Jega suspended the announcement and postponed it to the next day. Many people became so paranoid. I was scared stiff wondering if we were not going to have a sorrowful repeat of the 1993 elections when Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the then INEC Chairman, was arbitrarily stopped from releasing the full official results. That was my worst imaginable nightmare.
I assumed the worst was over when Jega and his many Professors resumed their tedious work the following morning until Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe came in to pour petrol into the fire in a most childish manner. I’ve never been so on edge in my life as I watched the show of shame live on television. Thank God for the uncanny maturity and remarkable sagacity of Jega, that act of indiscretion could have caused Nigeria a most outlandish conflagration. After the old man calmed down, I knew God was truly in control and expected that the next thing would be how to get President Jonathan and by extension PDP to accept the results and apparent defeat in good faith. I was privy to some high level information about pressure from local and international forces trying to persuade our overwhelmed President to accept his fate with equanimity and convince his acolytes also to do the needful. I shall return to this shortly.
Thus my special tribute goes to Professor Jega who seemed to have been specially sent to this world for the sole purpose of breaking the jinx of useless elections in Nigeria. Born in Jega, Kebbi State, on January 11, 1957, Attahiru attended Sabon Gari Town Primary School, Jega, from 1963 to 1969, before leaving for Government Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi and later enrolled at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria’s Bayero College, Kano in 1974. He bagged a BSc degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Political Science and lectured briefly before winning a Fellowship that teleported him to Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America, from 1981-84, where he awarded a PhD in Political Science. He came back home to continue his teaching appointment at Bayero University.
I can now move on to celebrate other key actors in the whole saga. I must acknowledge the patriotism of President Jonathan in several ways. First, for appointing the right man for the job, Professor Attahiru Jega. Second, for allowing him some free hand in doing his job. Three, for staying calm when it seemed Murphy’s Law was at play as everything that could go wrong started going awry and berserk. Fourth, for conceding defeat when it was most crucially necessary. That was probably the most difficult decision ever taken by the President but, trust me, that’s the wisest and most profitable as well. In endless epistles, I had forewarned the President that he was being scammed by those comparing him to Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew and Jesus Christ. I’m not sure if he ever had the chance to read any of those open letters I wrote most passionately and in good faith. Week after week, I was thoroughly insulted and washed down by the many busy-bodies that appointed themselves as Jonathan defenders on cyberspace.
I will pick my favourite contributors in no particular order. Top on my list is the one and only Baba Iyabo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ostensibly got us into the Jonathan quagmire. According to impeccable sources, General Obasanjo was so traumatised by the Jonathan debacle that he had to beg God to give him the opportunity to exterminate the pestilence he brought upon Nigeria. God obviously answered his prayers as Jonathan fumbled and wobbled from one crisis to another which made reconciliation practically impossible with his erstwhile benefactor. General Obasanjo rallied many of the retired Generals like Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Theophilus Danjuma on the need to exorcise the PDP demons from our political landscape. It was surprising to see how Baba buried his personal differences with old foes like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, in order for APC to germinate and grow into the hydra-headed party that tormented and bullied PDP into submission. It was a classic case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend and it paid off handsomely.
It did not end there. Foreign governments were enjoined to help Nigeria avert the monumental tragedy that was heading dangerously towards us at the speed of light. Special thanks must definitely go to the US government for its total commitment to the enthronement of true democracy in Africa’s most populous nation. Just imagine that the American Secretary of State, John Kerry, flew physically to Nigeria to meet both President Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari. The American Vice President, Joe Biden soon followed up with direct phone calls to the two leading candidates. The climax was the unprecedented broadcast to Nigerians by President Barack Obama which left no one in doubt of America’s special commitment despite its frosty and endangered relationship with Abuja.
One cannot underrate the powerful intervention of the European Union, United Kingdom, The African Union, ECOWAS, Dr Kofi Annan, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, His Eminence The Sultan of Sokoto, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, and so many others who intervened and worked frenetically for peace. The churches prayed and fasted. So many young stars on social media seriously canvassed for peaceful elections. The determination to achieve peace was hugely massive.
The youths of Nigeria demonstrated their seriousness about the Change Project in Nigeria despite being let down by some of their hustling celebrities and role-models who tried everything to kill the dream. I always wondered when some of our friends would use their powerful influence to bring about change in our country. I had learnt so much from the Oprahs and JayZs who went all out to support and actualise the Obama phenomenon in America. I hope our superstars have now gained new insights into how to help a nation desperately in need of rescue. It was not possible for President Jonathan to turn all of them into billionaires anyway. The problem is the unfortunate belief that only governments can make us rich. This has to change.
I doff my hat to the leading opposition party APC for a job well done. Many had expected the party to collapse even in its embryo and when that did not happen the enemies thought it would after the Primaries. It was one of those modern day miracles that the party did not disintegrate as predicted by doomsday prophets. My utmost respect goes to all those who bonded against all odds to prove the cynics wrong. The choice of General Buhari was a masterstroke that sent PDP into unrecoverable state of stupor. General Buhari’s amazing tenacity would be a case study for doctoral students and researchers in the near future. His abiding faith in his ability to bring Nigeria back from the precipice of destruction will inspire many generations to come. Also, his wisdom in picking the erudite scholar, accomplished legal luminary, a man of God and Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s son-in-law, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, sealed the deal.
I must congratulate all the candidates who contested. It is not always about winning, I know that the participation is always the beginning of a long journey in the wilderness of politics. General Buhari had been taunted over the years as a failure but we can all see how God has lifted him up. The pride he has restored to Nigeria through his winning this election is immeasurable. And it serves a didactic purpose to all of us. Our security forces, election monitors and others did their best. The youth corpers really put their lives on the line. May God bless them all.
I have been instructed by my young bosses on social media to tell our President-elect that the new generation is now in charge and their expectations must be met by fire by force. This is an impatient and angry group that won’t listen to excuses. They are not interested in the politics of power but the power of politics to assemble our best materials in order to deliver excellent performance. They are not willing to sit by idly only for the usual enemies of Nigeria to crawl back through the rear door. As such the government is expected to hit the ground running from day one.
There is so much to write but space and time won’t permit me. I will thank myself like the lizard that fell from the iroko tree for putting everything at risk at a time it seemed very foolish to do so. I actually feel like I won the election and not Buhari. Even those who opposed him are now rejoicing with us.
Such is the sweetness of victory.
“Most of us give up too early.
Failure is an absolute essential
In life.”
-Bryce Courtenay
“Risk it, go for it. Life always gives you another chance,
another go at. It’s very important to take
enormous risks.”
-Mary Quant
Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to congratulate us all on the success of the March 28 elections in our dear beloved country. But kindly allow me to single out one man, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, for his exceptional performance. My darling wife has asked me to focus special attention on this perfect gentleman for doing such a thankless job almost perfectly. In Attahiru Jega we found the hope of a New Nigeria. Everything we are celebrating today would have evaporated and disappeared into thin air but for the kamikaze daringness of Jega and his glorious team.
Let me spend a little more time on Jega. His achievement is not too surprising to those who knew his antecedents as a world class scholar and social activist. I remember when his name was announced as INEC Chairman by President Goodluck Jonathan on June 8, 2010. It came as a shock to many of us who had followed his trajectory as an upright and incorruptible man, in particular, during his headship of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, under the Babangida military junta. He was a vociferous and irrepressible critic of the Babangida administration. He was seen at the time as a Leftist with very close affinity to the Nigeria Labour Congress.
I had received the news of his appointment in Accra, Ghana, where I was hosting one of Jega’s colleagues and comrades, Dr Abubakar Momoh. We were both elated that Nigeria had reached the stage where credibility was beginning to count. Dr Momoh had assured me that Jega was going to deliver contrary to the tradition of most radicals turning coat on attaining powerful positions. On a personal observation, my main worry was how Jega was going to be able to change the mind-set of those under him who may be tempted by our politicians to capitulate when it matters most. I’ve been watching Jega ever since.
Jega started his job slowly but steadily. He took his time in warming up to the delicate and precarious assignment. The 2011 elections were not perfect but acceptable. He must have learnt some useful lessons from it and reasoned that the only way to deal with and obliterate the artful dodgers from our political landscape was to employ the new vista offered by technology. The resultant effect of that revelation was the birth of Permanent Voters’ Cards and the Card-readers! Those who thought they could rig themselves permanently into power couldn’t imagine what hit them like thunderbolt. By the time they understood the gravity of what was coming at them, they kicked vehemently against the introduction of this efficacious machinery and sought a return to our pre-historic ways of conducting elections. Everything was done to frustrate Jega, including resorting to vengeful attacks but the man remained stoic in his fervent disposition like a Tibetan Monk. But if he thought he had succeeded in achieving his aim, he was in for a crude shock.
On March 28, Jega’s enemies succeeded in frustrating and destabilising his lofty ideals. By whatever magic or esoteric design, the President of Nigeria and his wife presented the world a pitiable spectacle as they approached an electoral officer to cast their votes in the presence of global media. The world came to standstill as the card-reader failed abysmally to accredit the First couple. It was such an embarrassment of tragic proportion. For about 30 agonising minutes, the INEC officials sweated profusely while battling with the fiendish machine. And the rumours began to fly like space-shuttles across the orbit. Many were convinced that someone had used a jammer to block the machines from performing its duty. In fact, I was feverish on behalf of Jega. How can this controversial machine fail so miserably at such a crucial moment?
I wondered what Jega was going to do to salvage this chaotic situation. We saw the President talking by phone and in a conversation with Jega in what lasted lasted a few minutes. In panic or frustration or both, Jega succumbed and caved in to the use of manual registration for President and Mrs Goodluck Jonathan. That was the carte blanche always wanted and now freely given to potential trouble-makers to annihilate what had started as a beautiful exercise with the prompt and blistering accreditation of General and Mrs Muhammadu Buhari. At that stage, the fate of Nigeria was hanging in the balance. The election went ahead anyhow but not as competently scheduled. Allegations flew right, left and centre about manipulations here and there. We all panicked about the possible derailment of our closest range to having a positive change in our strange polity since June 12, 1993. But we managed to pull through somehow.
While on the final laps, we noticed several lapses. The election results were trickling in snail-like as we waited in suspended animation. Nigerians, and indeed the world, were help spellbound as we stayed glued to our televisions and live-streams via internet links. The suspense reached a crescendo when Jega suspended the announcement and postponed it to the next day. Many people became so paranoid. I was scared stiff wondering if we were not going to have a sorrowful repeat of the 1993 elections when Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the then INEC Chairman, was arbitrarily stopped from releasing the full official results. That was my worst imaginable nightmare.
I assumed the worst was over when Jega and his many Professors resumed their tedious work the following morning until Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe came in to pour petrol into the fire in a most childish manner. I’ve never been so on edge in my life as I watched the show of shame live on television. Thank God for the uncanny maturity and remarkable sagacity of Jega, that act of indiscretion could have caused Nigeria a most outlandish conflagration. After the old man calmed down, I knew God was truly in control and expected that the next thing would be how to get President Jonathan and by extension PDP to accept the results and apparent defeat in good faith. I was privy to some high level information about pressure from local and international forces trying to persuade our overwhelmed President to accept his fate with equanimity and convince his acolytes also to do the needful. I shall return to this shortly.
Thus my special tribute goes to Professor Jega who seemed to have been specially sent to this world for the sole purpose of breaking the jinx of useless elections in Nigeria. Born in Jega, Kebbi State, on January 11, 1957, Attahiru attended Sabon Gari Town Primary School, Jega, from 1963 to 1969, before leaving for Government Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi and later enrolled at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria’s Bayero College, Kano in 1974. He bagged a BSc degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Political Science and lectured briefly before winning a Fellowship that teleported him to Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America, from 1981-84, where he awarded a PhD in Political Science. He came back home to continue his teaching appointment at Bayero University.
I can now move on to celebrate other key actors in the whole saga. I must acknowledge the patriotism of President Jonathan in several ways. First, for appointing the right man for the job, Professor Attahiru Jega. Second, for allowing him some free hand in doing his job. Three, for staying calm when it seemed Murphy’s Law was at play as everything that could go wrong started going awry and berserk. Fourth, for conceding defeat when it was most crucially necessary. That was probably the most difficult decision ever taken by the President but, trust me, that’s the wisest and most profitable as well. In endless epistles, I had forewarned the President that he was being scammed by those comparing him to Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew and Jesus Christ. I’m not sure if he ever had the chance to read any of those open letters I wrote most passionately and in good faith. Week after week, I was thoroughly insulted and washed down by the many busy-bodies that appointed themselves as Jonathan defenders on cyberspace.
I will pick my favourite contributors in no particular order. Top on my list is the one and only Baba Iyabo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ostensibly got us into the Jonathan quagmire. According to impeccable sources, General Obasanjo was so traumatised by the Jonathan debacle that he had to beg God to give him the opportunity to exterminate the pestilence he brought upon Nigeria. God obviously answered his prayers as Jonathan fumbled and wobbled from one crisis to another which made reconciliation practically impossible with his erstwhile benefactor. General Obasanjo rallied many of the retired Generals like Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Theophilus Danjuma on the need to exorcise the PDP demons from our political landscape. It was surprising to see how Baba buried his personal differences with old foes like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, in order for APC to germinate and grow into the hydra-headed party that tormented and bullied PDP into submission. It was a classic case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend and it paid off handsomely.
It did not end there. Foreign governments were enjoined to help Nigeria avert the monumental tragedy that was heading dangerously towards us at the speed of light. Special thanks must definitely go to the US government for its total commitment to the enthronement of true democracy in Africa’s most populous nation. Just imagine that the American Secretary of State, John Kerry, flew physically to Nigeria to meet both President Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari. The American Vice President, Joe Biden soon followed up with direct phone calls to the two leading candidates. The climax was the unprecedented broadcast to Nigerians by President Barack Obama which left no one in doubt of America’s special commitment despite its frosty and endangered relationship with Abuja.
One cannot underrate the powerful intervention of the European Union, United Kingdom, The African Union, ECOWAS, Dr Kofi Annan, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, His Eminence The Sultan of Sokoto, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, and so many others who intervened and worked frenetically for peace. The churches prayed and fasted. So many young stars on social media seriously canvassed for peaceful elections. The determination to achieve peace was hugely massive.
The youths of Nigeria demonstrated their seriousness about the Change Project in Nigeria despite being let down by some of their hustling celebrities and role-models who tried everything to kill the dream. I always wondered when some of our friends would use their powerful influence to bring about change in our country. I had learnt so much from the Oprahs and JayZs who went all out to support and actualise the Obama phenomenon in America. I hope our superstars have now gained new insights into how to help a nation desperately in need of rescue. It was not possible for President Jonathan to turn all of them into billionaires anyway. The problem is the unfortunate belief that only governments can make us rich. This has to change.
I doff my hat to the leading opposition party APC for a job well done. Many had expected the party to collapse even in its embryo and when that did not happen the enemies thought it would after the Primaries. It was one of those modern day miracles that the party did not disintegrate as predicted by doomsday prophets. My utmost respect goes to all those who bonded against all odds to prove the cynics wrong. The choice of General Buhari was a masterstroke that sent PDP into unrecoverable state of stupor. General Buhari’s amazing tenacity would be a case study for doctoral students and researchers in the near future. His abiding faith in his ability to bring Nigeria back from the precipice of destruction will inspire many generations to come. Also, his wisdom in picking the erudite scholar, accomplished legal luminary, a man of God and Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s son-in-law, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, sealed the deal.
I must congratulate all the candidates who contested. It is not always about winning, I know that the participation is always the beginning of a long journey in the wilderness of politics. General Buhari had been taunted over the years as a failure but we can all see how God has lifted him up. The pride he has restored to Nigeria through his winning this election is immeasurable. And it serves a didactic purpose to all of us. Our security forces, election monitors and others did their best. The youth corpers really put their lives on the line. May God bless them all.
I have been instructed by my young bosses on social media to tell our President-elect that the new generation is now in charge and their expectations must be met by fire by force. This is an impatient and angry group that won’t listen to excuses. They are not interested in the politics of power but the power of politics to assemble our best materials in order to deliver excellent performance. They are not willing to sit by idly only for the usual enemies of Nigeria to crawl back through the rear door. As such the government is expected to hit the ground running from day one.
There is so much to write but space and time won’t permit me. I will thank myself like the lizard that fell from the iroko tree for putting everything at risk at a time it seemed very foolish to do so. I actually feel like I won the election and not Buhari. Even those who opposed him are now rejoicing with us.
Such is the sweetness of victory.
How World Powers Plotted Jonathan's Defeat.
President Goodluck Jonathan lost his re-election bid several weeks before the March 28 poll to a web of plots hatched at home and honed abroad, according to the Tribune.
The Tribune said that last-minute contest between forces that wanted him to bow out and those that wanted him to hold out for as long as necessary even when it was evident that the news from the field pointed at a possible defeat.
It was learnt that as of 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday, hawks around the president were still at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, piling pressure on him not to concede defeat.
Those working on him to concede and bow out, reportedly led by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, were also said to have stayed put in the same Presidential Villa, persuading him that it was the most honourable way to go since it was clear that figures from the field were not in his favour.
The drama in the Presidential Villa was also said to be closely monitored by combined international forces that had concluded on post-Jonathan presidency, reportedly led by the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
One of those around the president persuading him to stay put was said to be a General in the army from a not-too-core Northern state, reportedly assuring him that the alleged irregularities in the North, underage voters, among other issues, which were beamed live by a national television station and shown on the Cable News Network (CNN) would be enough ground for him to reject the outcome.
The Tribune reported that the president was also allegedly told that he would be making General Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) heroes by conceding to them, because all the good works he had done which were nearing fruition would blossom during their reign and would count as their achievements.
He reportedly told them that no matter how long he stayed in office, he would still leave one day and since crisis was certain to herald his opposition to the outcome, he would be reneging on his promise that no Nigerian blood would be worth his political ambition.
Convinced that it was the way to go, the president reportedly took “his own” by surprise by making the now-famous phone call to Buhari without telling them, although they were present at the president’s abode.
He was also said to have played a fast one on the hawks by making the call before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Buhari as the winner, following his assessment of the figures available to him, while those pressurising him to hang on reportedly thought the concession would be after the announcement by the electoral body as is usually the practice.
The western world, according to available information, keyed into the Buhari presidency project months before the election and the refusal to sell arms to Nigeria to fight the Boko Haram insurgency by Washington was said to be mainly predicated on the likelihood of Jonathan’s administration using same to quell possible civil disobedience if he manipulated the results to remain in power.
With political forces in the nation led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly concluded on getting him out at all cost, the western world, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, were said to have been persuaded into the project on two main planks; corruption and insecurity.
Settled that Jonathan’s administration had been underwhelming in performance in those two critical areas and convinced that the incumbent was bent on retaining his job, the international coalition allegedly undermined his administration as much as possible, with allies elsewhere, including Africa, also allegedly brought into the Jonathan-must-go project.
A source pointed at two main happenings in the course of the election to show how deeply the international community was involved, while making the outgoing president to be at ease, despite the rug being pulled off his feet.
The US and the UK had been at the forefront of peace pacts across the nation, starting with Jonathan and Buhari in what came to be known as Abuja Peace Accord, with Jonathan’s government having to react angrily at a point at the perceived temerity with which top diplomats from the western world were handling peace pacts and activities regarding the electoral process.
“They almost became a parallel government in Nigeria. That is what you get when a leader is too pacifist,” a source in the government said.
The unprecedented joint statement by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, overtly accusing Jonathan’s camp of moves to tamper with the incoming results of the presidential election was seen as the final move by them to show the side they were on in the contest.
The government source noted that APC was always calling on the international community to wade in when accusing Jonathan’s government of plots to manipulate the elections, because an understanding existed between them after Buhari’s appearance at Chatham House and his famous interview with the CNN.
After the field job was done and figures confirmed Jonathan’s loss, those behind the plot to ease him out and save the country from chaos were said to have moved to the last stage in the presidential contest, which was to persuade him to accept defeat, since his refusal of same could ignite the South-South and South-East and possible bloody attacks on Northerners in such states.
A predictable reprisal in the North was projected as possible fulfilment of the feared break-up. The oil interests of those western nations in the Niger-Delta also reportedly necessitated a negotiated peaceful exit for him by persuading him to accept defeat and assurance obtained from Buhari that Jonathan would face no harassment out of office.
Having fulfilled his own part, Buhari had also fulfilled his with public pronouncement that Jonathan had nothing to fear under his administration, while engaging in peace preachment to his supporters.
Apart from obtaining assurance from Buhari, the western world would also lead in global praise of Jonathan, aimed at attenuating the pains of making the wrong history of being the first defeated incumbent, while leading opposition figures were also said to be under firm instruction not to attack him in any ways until he steps down on May 29.
The US and UK were particularly said to have completely bought into the anti-Jonathan project following his decision to turn to Russia for purchase of arms, with a diplomat in foreign service saying that it would have been better for Jonathan to completely move over to Russia’s side instead of playing in the middle.
According to him, “whoever advised him to purchase arms from Russia when a real war was on with the United States misled the president. You don’t even do that during the Cold War, let alone during this “Hot War.” There was no way US intelligence circle would forgive a big nation like Nigeria making such diplomatic faux pas.
“These security experts have serious leverage over American presidents. Regardless of any friendship that could be between (American president, Barack) Obama and Jonathan, when such security goons say it is time for a leader of a nation to go, American presidents hardly say no and, obviously, Jonathan had no serious pact with (Russian president, Vladimir) Putin, beyond buying arms.”
Since the presidential election result was announced, President Obama had issued about three press statements on the outcome, Jonathan’s concession and the need for the two leaders to keep preaching peace to their supporters as well as asking that finest democratic ideals should be upheld in the conduct of the April 11 governorship election.
A government source explained that Obama’s unusual interest in the governorship election was borne out of fears that Jonathan might take his frustration of loss out on the process and tamper with it in a way to give his party, which would be in opposition from May 29, an edge in governorship spread by winning as many states as possible.
In days ahead, it was gathered that beyond the phone calls, Jonathan may be visiting the United States as a special guest of Obama which, an insider said, is aimed at retaining him as the face of peace offering to the Niger-Delta, which is feared could become the breeding ground for fifth columnists that would make the nation’s economy unmanageable for Buhari.
Senate Presidency: APC Leaders Push For Saraki.
By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on how some top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the geo-political zones of the country have thrown their weight towards the emergence of former governor of Kwara state and senator representing Kwara central senatorial district, Senator Bukola Saraki, as the next senate president come June, this year.
The choice of Senator Saraki, it was gathered, was informed by the enormity of his sacrifices for the party’s success at the presidential and national assembly polls.
The APC leaders pushing for Saraki’s Senate Presidency followed the zoning of the position of the Senate President to North Central zone by the party.
THISDAY checks revealed that Saraki remains the only Senator that is worth compensating in view of his doggedness and commitment towards the successes recorded by the APC across the nation.
It was his efforts together with other former PDP leaders that put up various strategies that finally assisted the APC to “remove” President Goodluck Jonathan from office through the massive votes recorded by the APC during the last general polls in the country.
However, with the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (North-west) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (South-west), some of the top positions left to be allotted are Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. Other positions are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the Chief of Staff.
Prior to the presidential election, the party had considered the option of rewarding the North-central with the Senate Presidency and the South-east with the Speaker. The Secretary to the Federal Government or the Chief of Staff is reserved for the South-South.
However, with the presidential election over, the party leadership may no longer be disposed to the earlier arrangement as one of the National Working Committee members who sought anonymity told journalists in Ilorin yesterday that, “it would amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
The party leader from the North-east who pleaded anonymity argued that: “How can the party reward the zones that worked against the party and our presidential candidate with juicy positions while the zones that delivered the party are allocated mere deputies?
“I am sure the party will reward hard work. APC in South-south returned only one Senator in Edo North while South-east returned two members of the House of Representatives from Imo State. PDP also posted massive victory in North-central where it won states like Plateau and Nasarawa”, the official added.
The APC’s leadership, it was gathered has scheduled a meeting for Abuja after the Easter break to continue with the discussion on power sharing.
Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on how some top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the geo-political zones of the country have thrown their weight towards the emergence of former governor of Kwara state and senator representing Kwara central senatorial district, Senator Bukola Saraki, as the next senate president come June, this year.
The choice of Senator Saraki, it was gathered, was informed by the enormity of his sacrifices for the party’s success at the presidential and national assembly polls.
The APC leaders pushing for Saraki’s Senate Presidency followed the zoning of the position of the Senate President to North Central zone by the party.
THISDAY checks revealed that Saraki remains the only Senator that is worth compensating in view of his doggedness and commitment towards the successes recorded by the APC across the nation.
It was his efforts together with other former PDP leaders that put up various strategies that finally assisted the APC to “remove” President Goodluck Jonathan from office through the massive votes recorded by the APC during the last general polls in the country.
However, with the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (North-west) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (South-west), some of the top positions left to be allotted are Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. Other positions are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the Chief of Staff.
Prior to the presidential election, the party had considered the option of rewarding the North-central with the Senate Presidency and the South-east with the Speaker. The Secretary to the Federal Government or the Chief of Staff is reserved for the South-South.
However, with the presidential election over, the party leadership may no longer be disposed to the earlier arrangement as one of the National Working Committee members who sought anonymity told journalists in Ilorin yesterday that, “it would amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
The party leader from the North-east who pleaded anonymity argued that: “How can the party reward the zones that worked against the party and our presidential candidate with juicy positions while the zones that delivered the party are allocated mere deputies?
“I am sure the party will reward hard work. APC in South-south returned only one Senator in Edo North while South-east returned two members of the House of Representatives from Imo State. PDP also posted massive victory in North-central where it won states like Plateau and Nasarawa”, the official added.
The APC’s leadership, it was gathered has scheduled a meeting for Abuja after the Easter break to continue with the discussion on power sharing.
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