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Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Pics: New R&B singer has more hips than Kim K and erm, he's man!
Chinedu Ikedieze shows off bundle of foreign currencies in new pic
Pics: Prof. Osinbajo, his wife and Mrs Buhari in Ogun state today
Photos: Buhari visits Obasanjo
APC Presidential candidate Gen Buhari and other party leaders visited former President Obasanjo at his home in Ota, Ogun state today a day after president Jonathan visited the former president. Obasanjo reportedly told the group;
"I am a card carrying member of another party but what is paramount in Nigeria so I wish you the best". More pics after the cut...
Pics: Oby Ezekwesili leads BBOG group to visit OBJ, Wole Soyinka
Between Emma Nyra and Noble Igwe...:-)
Photos: Check out the ring Usher gave to fiancee, Grace Miguel
Usher, 36, is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, manager and business partner Grace Miguel. The 46 year old mother of one showed off her huge engagement ring as the couple took a stroll in Miami beach recently. There are reports the couple are planning to marry this year. So what happens to Tameka and the Raymond she's still bearing? There can't be two Mrs Raymonds na...abi?
EFCC wans politicians: Don't use us for your political propaganda
Find the statement below It is another season of politics. With the general elections fast approaching, politicians of all hue are traversing the country in desperate bid to woo the electorates for their votes. Such is the beauty of democracy which is founded on healthy contest with the electorate as the ultimate decider. Unfortunately, not all the actors in our nation’s political arena understand the rudiments of a free electoral contest.
For some category of politicians, elections are nothing short of open warfare where any weapon that can swing the tide in their favour is fair. It does not matter whether such weapons deviate from the acceptable norm. In recent weeks the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been alarmed by reports in a section of the media, accusing it of failure to act on certain petitions supposedly sent to it through the pages of the newspapers.
According to the petitioners, the Commission’s failure to act had reduced their chances of success in the political arena. While it is puzzling how the Commission’s action or inaction could confer political advantage on any aspirant, it is important to educate petition writers that the EFCC have standard operating procedures, which clearly state the irreducible minimum standards which officers must uphold in evaluating petitions for investigation. Where petitions fall short of such standards, the EFCC is not obliged to proceed.
The Commission wishes to sound a note of warning to politicians not to attempt to use it as a tool for political warfare, In recent weeks, the EFCC has received many frivolous petitions alleging high crimes against leading political figures. Some of them came from the opponents of such individuals. While it is important for citizens to be whistle blowers, it amounts to self help to attempt to instigate the EFCC against a political opponent. Citizens do not have to wait until election time to report alleged financial malfeasance.
It is equally important that members of the public realize that it is an offence under the EFCC Establishment Act to write false petitions or supply misleading information to the Commission. Also, the trend where persons engage in acts of criminality and attempt to blackmail the EFCC from going after them by imputing political motives to the Commission’s enforcement activities is most unfortunate. Nobody is above the law.
The fact that a politician is the standard bearer of any political party for any political office does not amount to immunity from investigation or prosecution for any acts of criminality. The core mandate of the EFCC is fighting all forms of economic and financial crimes. Crimes of this nature have no political or religious colorations.
It is therefore important that Nigerians, indeed all stakeholders, appreciate that the Commission has a responsibility to take on all perpetrators of economic and financial crimes irrespective of their political, ethnic and religious affiliations.
The point which all stakeholders need to take to heart is that the Commission is a professional organization which will resist any attempts to, overtly or surreptitiously, drag it into the political arena ahead of, during or after the forthcoming general elections.
We appreciate the sentiments which all the political leaders have expressed about strengthening the anti corruption institutions. That is the way to go. If anything, it shows there is a common ground in the understanding that fighting corruption in Nigeria is a national emergency and distracting agencies saddled with such responsibility is hardly an incentive for addressing the emergency.
Management
13th January, 2015
Seun Kuti denies saying people shouldn't vote for Buhari, calls out reporter
From Sunday Tribune January 11th, Seun Kuti was quoted as saying...
“I will only urge Nigerians, especially her youths, to come out enmasse to elect the ruler of their choice so that Nigeria’s democracy will continue to grow. As for me though, I will never vote for Buhari because of what he did to my father. It is a personal grouse. Buhari denied me the chance of seeing my father in the early stage of my life. He arrested and detained Fela in Kirikiri for the same number of years I was growing up without a father, and even did not allow his family members to see him on a daily basis. He eventually jailed my father and I will always remember that. He jailed my innocent father on currency trafficking, but he is claiming to be a saint now. Truth is that I have no reason to give my vote to any of the two contestants, but more especially Buhari because of the eternal emotional damage he caused the Kuti family, especially me"
Solange Knowles and Nicki Minaj speak up for Nigeria...
The singer and rapper both took to their twitter handles to tweet about the loss of lives in Nigeria...
Photo: Are kids really being searched for bombs in some schools?
Fire wreaks havoc in Lagos
•Balogun Market, 4 buildings razed
Scene of the fire incident at Balogun Market in Lagos
yesterday. Photo: OLUFEMI KAYODE
Fire razes 4 houses as 23 nursing, midwifery students faint
By DEJI AROLOYE
No fewer than four houses were razed, while 23 students of
Lagos State School of Nursing and Midwifery in Igando fainted
yesterday due to a fire outbreak at a dumpsite close to the
Alimosho General Hospital housing the two schools.
It was gathered that the students, who were alleged to be
asthmatic, had arrived early for lectures, but inhaled fumes
emanating from the burning dumpsite, which had already
enveloped the entire hospital premises.
Thousands of residents were thrown in disarray in the area
due to the fire outbreak.
The fire, which started on Sunday, has not been put off as at
yesterday morning.
Daily Sun learnt that many residents had gone to worship at
their various religious centres when the fire began to spread.
At the General Hospital, Igando, patients were discharged to
avoid disaster as the premises was covered with smoke.
Almost all members of staff of the hospital were wearing nose
mask.
A staff member of the hospital who refused to mention her
name said: “Public servants are not allowed to speak to the
press, but the patients have been asked to leave the hospital
because of their safety.”
At the gate, a security woman was turning back pregnant
women who had come to the hospital for their routine pre-
natal care.
“Please go home, smoke is everywhere. We want to avoid
another crisis here,” she said.
Daily Sun saw seven of the students being moved from the
hospital supported with oxygen to another facility.
A middle-aged personnel at the school later told Daily Sun
that “23 students have been affected and we have moved to
Ikeja General Hospital. Though we have not recorded any
death, two of the students are in critical condition.”
An eyewitness told Daily Sun that he noticed the fire on
Sunday afternoon as smoke took over the sky of the environs.
He said: “I was sleeping in the room when someone came to
tell me that the dumpsite had caught fire. I made effort to call
the emergency line and what they told me was that they were
coming.”
Another eyewitness said the fire fighters from Alimosho
arrived late to the scene and complained of shortage of water.
According to him, “the firefighters came but there was not
enough water. They had to go back to their office to bring
more water. The fire is from the LAWMA site and we had been
telling them before the incident, but all our pleas turned on
deaf ear.”
Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) uses the
site as dump for its refuse and condemned tyres. There has
been a row between LAWMA and the residents in the past, but
the practice continued unabated according to the residents.
2015: Jonathan, Obasanjo in crucial meeting
From SEGUN OLATUNJI, Abeokuta
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday held a meeting with
former president Olusegun Obasanjo.
The meeting which lasted over three hours and ended at
about 10 pm held inside Obasanjo’s Hilltop Presidential
Mansion in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Jonathan who had earlier addressed party supporters at a
rally at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta was said to
have arrived in a convoy of about nine cars at Obasanjo’s
residence.
The president was also said to have left Obasanjo’s residence
through the exit gate said to be used by only Obasanjo
himself.
Details of the meeting remained sketchy as at press time.
Our correspondent however gathered from sources that the
nocturnal meeting between Jonathan and Obasanjo was not
unconnected with the forthcoming 2015 presidential and
general elections.
I’ll give my all to Jonathan’s victory –Kalu
• Seeks ex-leaders role in peaceful polls
From IKENNA EMEWU, Abuja
Former governor of Abia State and chairman of the Slok
Group, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has promised not to spare any role
or resource available to him to ensure that President Goodluck
Jonathan emerges winner of the presidential election next
month.
Kalu gave the assurance for his total support for the party,
PDP, and President Jonathan in Minna late last week when he
paid a visit to the former military president, General Ibrahim
Babangida.
In an interaction with the media after his parley with Gen.
Babangida, he noted that he was in Minna to discuss issues
about the nation at this very important moment when the
elections are about to commence. During the session with the
media, he informed that he was sure that Abia, his native
state would vote overwhelmingly for Jonathan. “I have no
doubt that my state will vote Jonathan and nobody else. He is
our candidate and the state can never abandon him. We have
always voted him, and we will do more this time. That is the
reason, as a grassroots politician and one close to his people,
the best assurance I can give is that President Jonathan owns
the votes of all Abia voters at the presidential polls.
“But as an individual, I am ready to give all within my reach
to drive that project of making sure Jonathan returns. Very
soon I will personally move down to my state to be with the
people and work out Jonathan’s victory in concrete terms. He
has the qualities that would win the voters to his side, and we
have a duty now, all of us rooting for him, to showcase his
achievements to convince the people that he has done much
to return and remain in power.”
During his parley with Gen. Babangida, Kalu had solicited his
intervention and those of other former leaders of the nation for
peaceful elections next month.
He said: “We need peace in the country, we need to work for
the peace, but the way things are developing create fears in
some of us that we need the intervention of people like you to
ensure that the elections would hold without rancour. That is
one of the reasons I am here to see you. People like you are
needed to intervene and call to order some foul utterances and
actions by notable Nigerians that may create bad blood. And
with your influence and those of other former leaders, the
nation would have some peace as you reach out to the people
who really listen to you.
“Please, use your influence and reach other past leaders and
take a stand to call on the people not to be used to cause
confusion. Also, the leaders contesting the elections should be
called to order not to inflame the system through desperate
politicking or utterances. The best Nigeria needs at a time like
this is peace, and people like you are vital to achieving the
desired peace.”
Gen. Babangida, in response, also assured Kalu that Nigeria
would have peace while thanking him for his concern and
visit. He advised voters, especially not to allow themselves to
be used and called on politicians to play by the rules and
ensure that no action of theirs would lead the nation into
crisis.
Also that same day, Kalu, in Abuja had hosted the leadership
of a forum of former members of the National Assembly,
which he is a member.
During the visit led by former Senate President, Dr. Joseph
Wayas and former Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Chief Agunwa Anaekwe, he challenged them to work for
peaceful polls in the nation and did not hesitate to inform the
body of his total support for President Jonathan.
He assured the team of his support for the forum with a
funding of N1m, every month for six months. He demonstrated
the seriousness of his pledge with N1m cheque for the current
month that he presented to the body.
At last, Anambra buries war victims
•Calls for forgiveness as Ekwueme, Arthur Eze, Achuzia,
others grace occasion
…Obiano campaigns for Jonathan, APGA
FROM GEOFFREY ANYANWU, AWKA, DOM EKPUNOBI AND
ALOYSIUS ATTAH, Onitsha
Governor Willie Obiano, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme,
oil magnate, Prince Arthur Eze and National Chairman, All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh,
yesterday led Ndigbo mainly from Anambra State, to give
victims of the civil war and other pogroms and violent killings
in Nigeria a formal burial.
The Ekwueme Square venue of the ceremony was filled to the
brim with Igbo across the country and war veterans including
Col. Joe Achuzia (rtd) and Gen. Ben Gbulie (rtd). Also at the
ceremony which kicked off with an interdenominational
commendation service were civil war veterans, market unions,
the clergy, town union leaders, women and youth
organizations and representatives from Abia, Imo, Enugu and
Ebonyi states.
The event had all the trappings of the typical Igbo funeral as
various masquerades and cultural displays added colour to the
occasion just as the traditional 21 gun salute was observed.
Addressing the people who put on mourning dresses, Governor
Obiano whose government funded and organized the
ceremony, said the event was the beginning of the symbolic
effort of casting a long look backwards beyond the immediate
horizon of the national experience to honour the memories of
Ndigbo that lost their lives to various dark chapters of the
national history. He said the Igbo ancestors believe that a
people without memory have no future, adding that to
underscore the significance of the memory, they handed the
concept of Ncheta ka (recalling is supreme).
He likened the event of the day to the Jewish efforts to honour
the memory of the Holocousts as well as the recent efforts to
commemorate the Rwandan Genocide in Kigali, adding, “sadly,
although we share a similar experience with the Rwandese,
our attitude to the memory of that sad experience has lacked
boldness and organized response.”
According to him, “Umu nnem, it is a thing of pride to be onye
Anambra. We are indeed a remarkable people. However,
throughout history, there has always been a prize to pay for
greatness. Our natural disposition to seek wealth-creating
opportunities in known and unknown places worldwide and
support the local economy with our famed energy has made
us imminent targets of conflicts that we had no hand in
fomenting.
“Ndi Anambra, happily, our brave spirit has helped us navigate
the mine fields of this experience. We have become one of the
most successful black people in the world. We have set high
standards in literature, business, the academia, science,
Information Technology, entertainment and nearly every field
of human endeavour.
“Umu-nnem, we are the owners of a proud history; paved with
pain and anguish and watered by the blood of the innocent.
Hardly is there a family in this gathering without a story; a
story of profound loss. But beside every story of loss sits a
story of success; of glory and of abundance. Ndi Anambra, to
the glory of God, we are not a people with a SINGLE STORY…
we are a proud, intensely driven, hardworking, innovative,
adventurous and forward-looking people with more gifts than
the world can take!
“…Umu nnem, in my inaugural address, I informed Ndigbo that
the time had come for us to climb over the recriminations of
the past and build new bridges of understanding across
Nigeria. I argued that if our ancestors sacrificed so much to
create Nigeria, we must not sacrifice any less to rebuild this
country. I also re-emphasized my belief that our future as a
people is better guaranteed in a united, indivisible Nigeria.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is why we must all vote for Dr
Goodluck Azikiwe Ebele Jonathan in the presidential election
that will hold next month. Among the candidates running for
the Presidency, Dr. Jonathan offers Nigeria the best chance at
national integration and unity. So, we must vote for him.
“We must also vote for all the candidates standing election on
the platform of APGA here in Anambra and other states. We
must sweep every available position in Anambra State and win
the gubernatorial election in Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Zamfara
states. Ladies and gentlemen, this is APGA’s year of self-
actualization and we must grab it with both hands.”
Earlier in a homily titled, “The duty to remember,” the Catholic
Bishop of Awka, The Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, advised
Igbo to always trust in God in spite of the circumstances of
their lives. He admonished the people to always let God be at
the centre of their lives, noting that Nigerian history would not
be complete without mentioning the Nigeria civil war.
He encouraged parents to tell their children the story of the
civil war so as to prevent them from thinking of or planning to
engage in wars, stressing that forgiveness should be
uppermost in the minds of the people so as to foster love and
unity.
Speaking to newsmen, Chief Umeh commended Governor
Obiano for accepting to organize the event which he said the
late leader of APGA, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu
wanted and asked for it before his demise.
Umeh said having given the fallen heroes the honour they
deserve, “the Igbo race can now behold the future with great
promise, with great hope, and with great bride knowing that
the journey of a people will be marked with pit and falls but
what is important is the number of times they get up when
they fall. The Igbo have gotten up from this war and will never
go down again.”
Support Jonathan, PDP begs Obasanjo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday appealed to
former President Olusegun Obasanjo to back the re-election
bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in next month’s general
elections.
The PDP said Obasanjo’s support was imperative because it
was crucial for the president’s victory in the February 14 poll.
Obasanjo, who had engaged in war of words with the
President in recent times, has since last year formally
withdrawn active participation in the affairs of the ruling PDP.
The former president was, however, absent from the MKO
Abiola Stadium venue of yesterday’s President Jonathan’s
campaign in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. The former
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, did
not also attend the rally.
Earlier, journalists who had besieged Obasanjo’s Hilltop
Presidential Mansion in Abeokuta to await the planned visit by
Jonathan to the former president’s residence were
disappointed when the event did not hold.
Reporters who had kept vigil outside Obasanjo’s palatial
mansion left in a hurry when it dawned on them that the
meeting would not hold after all, and the news of Jonathan’s
arrival at the venue of the campaign got to them.
Shortly before then, at about 2:59pm, a black jeep escorted by
a security vehicle sneaked out of a gate said to be used by
only the former president and headed to an unknown
destination.
Within minutes, the operatives of the Department of State
Security (DSS) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps (NSCDC) deployed around Obasanjo’s mansion in
anticipation of President Jonathan’s speculated visit were
withdrawn.
But while addressing party supporters during the rally at the
MKO Abiola Stadium, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji
Adamu Mu’azu, urged Obasanjo to throw his weight behind
Jonathan in the February 14 election.
At the rally attended by leaders of the party at the national
level, the South-West coordinator of the Goodluck-Sambo
Campaign Organisation and Governor of Ondo State, Dr.
Olusegun Mimiko; former governor of Ogun State, Chief
Gbenga Daniel; the Chairman, Mobilization and Organisation
Committee of the PDP in the South-West, Prince Buruji
Kashamu; the National Auditor of the party, Alhaji Adewole
Adeyanju, Mu’azu said as the first president produced by the
PDP, Obasanjo who had laid the “solid foundation” upon which
his successors had been building on, should at this crucial
period, support the re-election of Jonathan for a second term.
“I know baba has laid a solid foundation on which his
successors, one by one are building on and this foundation is
solid. We appreciate his leadership, we appreciate his
commitment, we thank him for his support and we call on him
for his continuous support and prayers, especially at this point
in time to support our president, President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan in his bid, in our bid for the forthcoming election.
One good thing the people of Ogun State deserve. One good
turn deserves another.”
Mu’azu also appealed to the people of the state to cast their
votes massively for President Jonathan and the PDP
governorship candidate, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, in the
forthcoming elections.
“I believe that all of you with no prejudice will commit
yourselves, will dedicate yourselves to the re-election of
President Goodluck Jonathan for his second and final term as
the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Is that not
so? I beg you to come out en masse to vote for our very
humble, committed, dedicated, hardworking and result-
oriented president, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan come
14th of February, 2015. I want to thank you for your
commitment and dedication,” he said.
Isiaka, in his speech, commended the leadership of the party
for confirming him as its standard bearer in the state. He
assured that with people like him holding the reins of
governance, the youths were set to properly play their role in
the development of the state and Nigeria.
While addressing supporters at the rally, President Jonathan
assured that if re-elected, his administration would create
about two million jobs annually.
Jonathan said this had become imperative in order to absorb
about 1.8 million graduates produced annually for the
country’s labour market.
The President also said that his administration had through
the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme (SURE-P) generated
employment for the unemployed.
“Our target is to create two million jobs every year and with
this development, we are going to have zero unemployment in
the next years,” he added.
He also promised to address the challenges confronting the
Nigerian youth so as to prepare them for leadership roles,
pledging to also empower the women for national
development.
Jonathan promises 10m jobs if re-elected
President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, promised to create
10 million jobs within the next five years, to reduce
unemployment rate in the country if re-elected in the February
14, 2015, presidential election.
He made the pledge at the famous Mapo Hill in Ibadan, the
capital of Oyo State, during a rally organised for him by the
Oyo State Presidential Campaign Committee of the PDP,
headed by the Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Jumoke
Akinjide. The National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu
Mu’azu, on the occasion, presented the party’s flag to the
governorship candidate of PDP in the state, Senator Teslim
Folarin.
Jonathan stated that he would ensure that his office and the
PDP create at least two million jobs every year through the
Presidential Job Creation Board, headed by the Vice President,
Namadi Sambo, and made up of government officials and
private sectors, adding that statistics at his disposal showed
that about two million Nigerians enter the labour market every
year.
He also said he had not disappointed Nigerians in the
fulfillment of his electoral promises since he was elected
president of Nigeria in 2011, adding that he was at the same
Mapo Hill and other parts of the country in 2011 to ask for the
votes of Nigerians and they voted for him.
Jonathan, who earlier paid courtesy visit to the Olubadan of
Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade, also promised that
the Federal Government would look into upgrading the Ibadan
Airport to an international status.
The monarch, who spoke through one of his high chiefs, Lekan
Balogun, had asked Jonathan to re-open the abandoned dry
port at Erunmu, upgrade the airport at Alakia to an
international status, look into creation of Ibadan State and
give Ibadan a substantive minister instead of the current
minister of state.
“I was here in 2011 to campaign in this great Mapo Hill. You
worked with us, you voted for me and I became the President
of this country. Today, I am here again asking you for your
support. I am sure that talking to you in this great Mapo Hall
today, you will surely support us and we will be victorious.
Then, you voted for us and we have not disappointed you. We
have done a number of projects in Oyo State.”
He recalled that the Federal Government in the past four years
had executed several projects under the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), spent over N10billion in
intervening in tertiary institutions in Oyo State through
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for institutions
owned by the federal and state governments.
While saying that the Lagos-Ibadan-Kano rail line has been
completed, he said the government has commenced work on
the Lagos-Ibadan light rail project. He also mentioned the on-
going reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway.
Jonathan described his administration as one that has really
committed a lot of efforts, to the transformation of agriculture
after the days of the former premier of the Western Region,
the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
On the insecurity and corruption in the country, Jonathan said:
“We are working very hard and surely we will win the war
against terror. Let me reassure all Nigerians that my
commitment and method of solving the problem of corruption
or fighting corruption is not a number of people I tried and
jailed. We have tried more Nigerians and more Nigerians have
been jailed within this period after passing through due
process.
“If I tried 10million Nigerians and jailed five million Nigerians
for corruption that does not solve the corruption problem. So,
for you to solve the corruption problem, you must use modern
technology to prevent people from stealing. This is what we
are working on. “I promise you, if you vote me and I come
back to serve this country for the next four years, the day I
would leave there, the next person that would come as
president of this country would not have to talk about
corruption. We are working on technology and we will use
technology to block all the areas that people are corruptly
enriching themselves. We are no longer in the analogue
generation. So, we must deploy Information Technology (I.T)
to solve our human problems. I will solve the problem of
corruption in this country.”
Jonathan, however, described the people of the South-West in
the opposition as hypocrites, saying: “Those parading
themselves as opposition leaders in the region are hypocrites,
otherwise, how can they be doing things contrary to the
established norms and beliefs of the people?
“The South-West believes in human rights, equity and social
justice. Those parading themselves as leaders, who once
claimed to be part of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO)
are following somebody that just clamped people into jail for
as long as 300 years without following due process.”
The rally was attended by the chairman, Board of Trustees of
the party, Chief Tony Anenih; Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who
is the South-West Coordinator, PDP National Campaign
Council; former governor Peter Obi of Anambra State; Director
of Media and Publicity of the campaign committee, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode and a host of others.
Jonathan promises /mac
Jonathan promises 10m jobs in 5 years
…Says: ‘I have not disappointed Nigerians’
FROM YINKA FABOWALE and OLUSEYE OJO, IBADAN
President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, promised to create
10 million jobs within the next five years, to reduce
unemployment rate in the country if re-elected in the February
14, 2015, presidential election.
He made the pledge at the famous Mapo Hill in Ibadan, the
capital of Oyo State, during a rally organised for him by the
Oyo State Presidential Campaign Committee of the PDP,
headed by the Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Jumoke
Akinjide. The National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu
Mu’azu, on the occasion, presented the party’s flag to the
governorship candidate of PDP in the state, Senator Teslim
Folarin.
Jonathan stated that he would ensure that his office and the
PDP create at least two million jobs every year through the
Presidential Job Creation Board, headed by the Vice President,
Namadi Sambo, and made up of government officials and
private sectors, adding that statistics at his disposal showed
that about two million Nigerians enter the labour market every
year.
He also said he had not disappointed Nigerians in the
fulfillment of his electoral promises since he was elected
president of Nigeria in 2011, adding that he was at the same
Mapo Hill and other parts of the country in 2011 to ask for the
votes of Nigerians and they voted for him.
Jonathan, who earlier paid courtesy visit to the Olubadan of
Ibadanland, Oba Samuel Odulana Odugade, also promised that
the Federal Government would look into upgrading the Ibadan
Airport to an international status.
The monarch, who spoke through one of his high chiefs, Lekan
Balogun, had asked Jonathan to re-open the abandoned dry
port at Erunmu, upgrade the airport at Alakia to an
international status, look into creation of Ibadan State and
give Ibadan a substantive minister instead of the current
minister of state.
“I was here in 2011 to campaign in this great Mapo Hill. You
worked with us, you voted for me and I became the President
of this country. Today, I am here again asking you for your
support. I am sure that talking to you in this great Mapo Hall
today, you will surely support us and we will be victorious.
Then, you voted for us and we have not disappointed you. We
have done a number of projects in Oyo State.”
He recalled that the Federal Government in the past four years
had executed several projects under the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), spent over N10billion in
intervening in tertiary institutions in Oyo State through
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for institutions
owned by the federal and state governments.
While saying that the Lagos-Ibadan-Kano rail line has been
completed, he said the government has commenced work on
the Lagos-Ibadan light rail project. He also mentioned the on-
going reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway.
Jonathan described his administration as one that has really
committed a lot of efforts, to the transformation of agriculture
after the days of the former premier of the Western Region,
the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
On the insecurity and corruption in the country, Jonathan said:
“We are working very hard and surely we will win the war
against terror. Let me reassure all Nigerians that my
commitment and method of solving the problem of corruption
or fighting corruption is not a number of people I tried and
jailed. We have tried more Nigerians and more Nigerians have
been jailed within this period after passing through due
process.
“If I tried 10million Nigerians and jailed five million Nigerians
for corruption that does not solve the corruption problem. So,
for you to solve the corruption problem, you must use modern
technology to prevent people from stealing. This is what we
are working on. “I promise you, if you vote me and I come
back to serve this country for the next four years, the day I
would leave there, the next person that would come as
president of this country would not have to talk about
corruption. We are working on technology and we will use
technology to block all the areas that people are corruptly
enriching themselves. We are no longer in the analogue
generation. So, we must deploy Information Technology (I.T)
to solve our human problems. I will solve the problem of
corruption in this country.”
Jonathan, however, described the people of the South-West in
the opposition as hypocrites, saying: “Those parading
themselves as opposition leaders in the region are hypocrites,
otherwise, how can they be doing things contrary to the
established norms and beliefs of the people?
“The South-West believes in human rights, equity and social
justice. Those parading themselves as leaders, who once
claimed to be part of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO)
are following somebody that just clamped people into jail for
as long as 300 years without following due process.”
The rally was attended by the chairman, Board of Trustees of
the party, Chief Tony Anenih; Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who
is the South-West Coordinator, PDP National Campaign
Council; former governor Peter Obi of Anambra State; Director
of Media and Publicity of the campaign committee, Chief Femi
Fani-Kayode and a host of others.
EABN appoints Courteville’s Akindele to its board
The Managing Director, Courteville Business Solutions, Mr.
Bola Akindele, has been appointed to join the board of
advisors of the East Africa Business Network (EABN).
EABN was established in 2010 in United Kingdom to
encourage investment, entrepreneurship and to advise multi-
nationals on new and established markets in East Africa.
This is coming on the heels of his appointment as one of the
international advisory board of Enterprises and Parliamentary
Dialogue International (EPDI).
EPDI, which was conceived by a group of Chief Executive
Officers (CEO’s) of leading international companies nearly forty
years ago and principally focused on the establishment of
transparent bridges of understanding between
parliamentarians and business people through the creation of
dialogue centers in developing democracies and thereby
effectively playing a role in strengthening democracy, national
economy and risk management.
EABN Director, Ms. Aurelia Anyika, said it was an honour that
Mr. Akindele can join the Advisory board. She described him
as one of the growing Pan Africa business leaders shaping the
continent.
She said, “The last decade has seen a new wave of Nigeria’s
Investment in Africa and East Africa’s and this is certainly
very attractive to Nigeria’s wealth. For example, Aliko
Dangote signed a deal to build $400 million dollar cement
plant in Kenya in 2013, thereby creating thousands of jobs.
Nigerians are no longer attracted to property portfolios in New
York, Paris or London, they are seeing higher returns in their
investment right in their doorstep”.
Mr. Akindele has extensive banking and audit experience
spanning over 20 years across various banking institutions
with strong leadership, strategic thinking and networking
skills.
He has led Courteville Business Solutions, an E-Business
Solutions development firm since its inception in 2005. The
company is focused on process re-engineering in both the
private and public sector by providing cutting edge solutions
to complex operational challenges, through the development
and delivery of unique business solution models, revenue
stream improvement and cost management processes.
Through his leadership, Courteville opened its East Africa
headquarters in Nairobi last year and looks forward to
providing solutions in the region’s education and logistics
sector.
Courtevilles’s AutoReg franchise is currently in use in over 22
states in the country and would hopefully expand its reach.
FG sets aside N3bn to enhance women’s lives
The Federal Government has set aside N3 billion for Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with good programmes for
girls and women development in Nigeria.
The additional fund, according to the Coordinating Minister for
the Economy and Minister for Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala, would be an incentive for the MDAs to design helpful
programmes for women.
Speaking during the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Procter and Gamble, Nigeria, on the
Growing Girls and Women In Nigeria (G-WIN), the Minister
said it was at the instance of President Goodluck Jonathan
that the project was captured in the budget.
“It was him with whom we discussed the idea that the budget
could be used as a more powerful instrument to do more for
girls and women because when you empower a girl, you
empower a nation. Investing in women is smart economics.
Investing in girls is smarter economics because you catch
them early. So, it was a very result-oriented thing.
If in your ministry, you have a programme for girls and women,
if you are willing to go even further for more results for them,
you will get some incentive through additional budgetary
resources. And the president in the 2014 and 2013 budget,
supported us to make provisions for about N3 billion to
experiment with this approach. We have never tried it before
and we did not know that other countries have ever tried it.
“It looks like this was one of the first attempts. So, that is
how G-WIN started and we had the Ministry of Women Affairs
was very delighted to work with this and be a part of it and
so were other MDAs that volunteered, which include the
Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Communication
Technology, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Works, the
Ministry of Water Resources.
They all came forward and said, we want to achieve more and
better results for Nigerian women. We will want to be part of
this programme and benefit from these resources. We got the
Ministry of Women Affairs and Finance to sign an MoU with
all these agencies to kick off the programme, with women
affairs helping us monitor the implementation.
“I must commend also my senior adviser who really pushed
for this programme to be implemented and all the Ministry of
Finance staff who worked on it. So, it is just a life of its own.
I just want to mention some of the results, which the
president was absolutely delighted that we set concrete goals
and we achieved concrete results,” she said.
Already, she said the ministries had carried out a number of
projects to enhance the employability of the women in various
areas such as in agriculture, health and communications.
“Let me mention a few. In agriculture, for instance, 1,120
women have been equipped with agriculture skills. This is in
addition to whatever the Ministry of Agriculture was already
planning for women and more women have been registered to
participate in the agricultural Growth Enhancement Scheme
(GES) for e-wallet. So, they can now get their inputs, vouchers
for their fertilizers, their seeds and so on directly and we
challenge them and 2.5 million women are now on the
programme. And this is something to be proud of.
“The Ministry of Communications Technology has been
instrumental because with their platforms we have been able
to achieve some of these things in agriculture and health. But
in addition, they themselves have been trying to train 2,285
young women and empowered them with the relevant skills in
communications technology to enhance their employability.
And so this is something very tangible.
“The Ministry of Health has done something, which is
absolutely so touchy. We have a problem with VVF in this
country and with their additional resources they were able to
get additional 2,362 women whose dignity has been restored
through repairs and who have been able to resume their lives.
We know it is not perfect. The numbers are still large but
again we have been able to deliver more results than we
would have through this programme,” she said.
The Managing Director of Procter and Gamble (P&G) Nigeria,
George Nassar, expressed his company’s desire to leverage
G-WIN to propagate their global strategy of touching and
improving lives in general and empowering women and girls to
live their lives to the fullest.
FG reiterates commitment to growing made-in-Nigeria market
The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to
growing the made-in-Nigeria market in line with its
determination to create more jobs and generate wealth for
Nigerians.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun
Aganga, who disclosed this last week, during the inspection of
the Secure ID production plant for smart cards in Lagos, said
government’s policy on made-in-Nigeria products, which gave
priority to the patronage of locally-made products will, among
many other benefits, help curb the waste of foreign reserve on
what could be manufactured in the country.
Aganga said already, the launch of the Nigeria Industrial
Revolution Plan (NIRP) by President Goodluck Jonathan had
kick-started the diversification of the economy and revenue
source of the country since 2012.
According to the minister, for the first time in the history of
the nation, Nigeria has a robust and comprehensive plan,
which the current administration started implementing in
2012.
This, he noted, was to diversify the economy in the areas
where Nigeria had competitive and comparative advantage.
“The Federal Government is ahead of the present fall of oil
price today by focusing on agro-industrial processing such as
sugarcane to sugar under the Sugar Master Plan Policy that
has attracted $3 billion investment commitment; the
development of local content and job creation under the auto
policy and backward integration in cement and rice production,
among others,” he said.
“Our approach has always been value addition, using local
content, which had resulted to $14 billion investment into the
oil and petrochemical industry. We have created a gas
industrial park in Delta State mainly to provide a source of raw
materials in the petrochemical sector.”
He stated that the beauty of NIRP was that it looks into the
areas of competitive and comparative advantage and focuses
on how to reduce the cost of production and make products
produced in the country more competitive and easier for
Nigerians to afford.
The Minister also pointed out that to boost industrial
development, tariff adjustments were only being done on
sectorial basis, stressing that tariffs to individual companies
had been stopped since 2011.
“Our job as government is to provide the enabling environment
for you. We are not doing you a favour, it is our job. That is
our responsibility and I am delighted that my team is working
with your team at Secure ID to address issues raised,” he
observed.
The Chairman, Secure ID, Adedotun Sulaiman, noted that the
company had received significant support from the Ministry
and its parastatals with regard to its investment in the
modern plant, which, he said, had the capacity to manufacture
200 million smart cards in a year.
He urged government to review upward the tariff on
importation of finished sheet, smart cards and magnetic stripe
to enable them compete better with imported finished
products, while calling for a downward review of import duty
on raw materials to five per cent.
Ronaldo retains FIFA Ballon d’Or
Portugese striker, Ronaldo has for the second year running
emerged the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2014 Award held in Kongressur,
Zurich making it his third win, one short of Barcelona striker,
Lionel Messi.
The Portugal superstar beat fellow finalists Lionel Messi and
Manuel Neuer to the award after a season which saw him
lead Real Madrid to its historic ‘La Decima’ Champions
League crown.
Ronaldo had finished runner-up behind Messi in 2011 and
2012 before pipping the Argentinian in 2013 – and said at the
glittering ceremony in Zurich that he hoped there would be
more to come.
The winner said: “It has been an unforgettable year and win a
trophy of this kind is something unique.
“I want to continue working as I have so far to go on to win
more titles as an individual and in a team.
“Of course this is something that is always with me. I want to
become one of the greatest players of all time and this
requires a lot of effort but I hope to get there.”
Ronaldo ran out clear winner having accumulated 37 per cent
of the poll, which was done by the captains and coaches of
international sides, while Messi narrowly pipped Bayern
Munich goalkeeper Neuer to second place, the pair earning
15.76 per cent and 15.72 per cent respectively.
Champions League winner Ralf Kellerman has been named
Coach of the Year 2014 for women’s football. The 46-year-old
manager of Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg came out on top of
Germany U20s coach Maren Meinert and Japan national team
manager Norio Sasaki in the vote for the FIFA award.
Last year, Germany Women’s coach Silvia Neid was awarded
the prestigious accolade.
Kellermann was visibly moved when collecting his award: “I’m
a little nervous, more so than during matches. It’s an
incredible moment. I may have been granted to chance to
receive this award, but it is a team achievement.”
Amokachi: Eagles need to keep improving
Super Eagles stand-in coach, Daniel Amokachi, said the team
must keep improving following its decent showing in the 0-1
loss to the Elephants of Cote D’ Ivoire in an international
friendly in the United Arab Emirates.
The second string Super Eagles team, largely dominated by
home-based players, held its more illustrious and revered
Ivoirian counterpart until the 84th minute, when former
Chelsea forward, Salomon Kalou, came off the bench to score
what proved to be the winner.
And Amokachi, who took charge of the team in the absence of
Stephen Keshi, said the players had learnt a thing or two from
the loss, and must keep improving.
“The players gave their best but like I have been saying, we
must also remember that these are players that have been off
season for over two months and they are just only trying to
get some fitness.
“We have to keep improving after this game and focus on the
next. The good thing is that we have some days before the
next game and we must use those days to make sure we get
better.
“These are young players and they are willing to learn and
that is the good thing, so we must work with them to help
them get better. If they get better, it is not to my glory but to
the glory of Nigeria,” he stressed.
Why Jonathan should be re-elected – Ahmadu Ali
Text of address by Dr. Amadu A. Ali, Director-General,
Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation, on the
occasion of the inauguration of the Presidential Campaign
Organisation (PCO) headquarters, in Abuja, last week.
Mr. President, we wish to thank you sincerely for finding us
worthy of being at the helm of your campaign team. It is an
honour every member of this team holds dear and we assure
you that we will do everything within our power to achieve the
set target of returning our candidate to Aso Rock Villa via a
free, fair and transparent election.
Mr. President and distinguished ladies and gentlemen, most of
us on this team have been in politics for a long period of time
and have seen it all. We can’t be intimidated by all the noise
and fear-mongering of the opposition. I have heard and read a
lot about how 2015 presidential election is going to be
different from past elections. There is talk of a more
formidable opposition this time around. It is good there is
such a claim, although personally, I think it is a creation of the
social media. On the ground there is nothing formidable about
the opposition. Even then, we at the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) welcome a more vigorous challenge from the
opposition, which is not only good for democracy but will
equally make our victory at the polls even sweeter. But I can
assure you that on February 14, 2015, our candidate, President
Jonathan, will be re-elected by the Nigerian people who freely
gave him their mandate in 2011.
Let the word go out to all and sundry that our conduct during
this presidential campaign will be exemplary because we have
the fear of the Almighty God. Let me restate the fact that our
party, the PDP, is in power. We are the defending champion,
with the belt tightly around our waists. Therefore, we will not
behave like a desperate opposition. In the course of this
campaign, we promise Nigerians who we are coming to meet
in their communities that our language will remain civil and
presidential. We are going to stick to issues and dwell on
facts. Let those who have mastered the art of blackmail, lies
and deceit continue in their trade. From our own experience,
they only lead to defeat at the polls, which they will suffer yet
again in our hands on February 14, 2015, a day Nigerians will
once again rekindle their love affair with our President and our
party, the PDP.
We are proud of the product that we are marketing. Our
product is young, dynamic, vibrant and ready to move Nigeria
forward. In this 21st century, where great nations of the world
are fielding young men and women in their 40s and 50s as
presidents and prime-ministers, it is ironic that Nigeria’s APC
is fielding a septuagenarian with fossilised ideas of how to run
a government and social engineering. Nigeria deserves a better
leadership than their candidate who has no certificates to
tender as requirement for entering an election. We should be
proud of our party with umbrella as logo. The umbrella
signifies integrity, rulership, authority and dignity. Never in the
history of the world has a sweeper in a king’s palace ever
become a king. APC with the broom as their symbol is out to
deceive Nigerian children to be hewers of wood and sweepers
of our streets. God forbid! Tufia kwa! Allah ya sawaka!! Olorun
oni gba!!!
By the grace of God, Nigeria will transit from Goodluck to
Goodluck. Let the opposition hold on to their bad luck. The
PDP has ensured that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria.
The nation has transited from civilian regime to civilian regime
four times in our fifteen years democratic experience.
We are going to this election with renewed confidence. All
available statistics point to the fact that the PDP is still the
preferred party by most Nigerians. We are confident that our
candidate, President Jonathan, stands out as the preferred
candidate and the most trust-worthy, without a tainted
democratic past. President Jonathan, without any shade of
doubt, is the most prepared and equipped candidate. A fact,
which our opponents and traducers, have glossed over or
have refused to accept, is that perhaps, except for Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe, Jonathan is the best prepared Nigerian for democratic
leadership at the top, boasting of incredible years of hands-on
experience. It is also a fact, that with a doctorate degree,
President Jonathan is the most educated President Nigeria
has had. In this knowledge-based world why would Nigerians
choose a leader with doubtful academic records?
Apart from qualifications, we are going to run our party’s
campaign and seek the votes from Nigerians not by making
empty promises. We are going to ask our people to continue
to vote for our candidate based on concrete achievements
recorded in President Jonathan’s first term. We are not going
to pretend that we are already there. But certainly the
foundation for the rebuilding and the long-term development
of our country has started in earnest with the president’s
transformation agenda.
Nigerians are now travelling across this great country by rail
again; Our economy is being diversified with the on-going
revolution in the agriculture sector, with farming now as a
thriving business engendering food security and farmer
prosperity; The most difficult aspect of the power sector
problem has been satisfactorily dealt with the transparent
liberalisation of the sector and what is now left is to avoid
any rear-guard action or policy reversal that can only block
the benefits of improved electricity supply to our people; More
kilometres of roads have been constructed or rehabilitated
now than at any other time in our history; We have broken all
world records with the successful fight against the dreaded
Ebola Virus Disease; Today, Nigeria is proud of President
Goodluck Jonathan for signing the health care bill into law
just last week. Nigeria is the first country in Africa to achieve
this feat. Today, the United States of America has the
Obamacare and Nigeria has the Jonathancare. This is an
impressive performance by any world leader! The Peoples
Democratic Party has done the Nigerian nation proud. We
thank the National Assembly for this Jonathancare Bill.
Women participation in government has been taken to an
unprecedented level with one-third of the federal cabinet
reserved for them in this government; Women have never had
it so good. Education is on the rise with improved access and
quality (each state now has a federal university). We can go
on and on. And more importantly, no other government in the
history of our nation has upheld democratic freedom and
personal liberties the way President Jonathan has done. For
those who do not know, these values, which include free
speech and free choice at the polls, are the major yardsticks
for measuring any democracy in the world today.
Under President Jonathan electoral integrity has been greatly
enhanced, thus making votes to count and be counted. Our
people now hold their opinions freely without being herded into
prisons as some people now seeking the votes of Nigerians
did in the past. It is indeed, the irony of life and the beauty of
democracy that those now enjoying the rights of criticising the
government, seeking to be voted for in an election are the very
people that truncated an elected government, suspended the
constitution, jailed politicians without due trial and shackled
the press! Our president and candidate is a democrat through
and through and does not come with any of such baggage. I
make this point for younger Nigerians who were not born
before 1983 and who are now being served today by the
opposition with a distorted history of the truncating of
Nigeria’s Second Republic.
What President Jonathan’s candidature offers Nigerians is
stability and the wonderful opportunity to consolidate our
democracy.
Again, President Jonathan’s candidature offers us as a people
an opportunity to push the on-going transformation in virtually
all sectors of our national life to the point of irreversibility. For
us at the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation, we
share Mr. President’s position that his ambition is not worth
the blood of any of our countrymen, women and children. And
so for us, the election down the line is not a do-or-die thing
and so, the ‘dog and baboon need not soak in blood.’ But we
will never be intimidated nor will we succumb to the many
blackmails of a desperate opposition throwing everything in
view, including the kitchen sink. As we have done since 1999,
we will cover every inch in the length and breadth of this vast
country of ours meeting with the real owners of power, the
people, and asking them to vote for us again as they have
always done.
Mr. President, let me assure you on behalf of this team of very
distinguished Nigerians, of our readiness to work hard for your
deserved re-election on February 14. With God on our side
victory is just about five weeks away.
We are ready; the Nigerian people are waiting; let’s hit the
road; let’s do it again!
Thank you and God bless you all.
Monday, 12 January 2015
Fire rages at Balogun Market
Property worth millions of naira have been consumed by fire
at the Balogun market on Lagos Island.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said the
fire started at about 4.36am from an unknown source and has
been raging despite efforts by the Fire service to put it under
control.
NEMA spokesman Ibrahim Fariloye said in a text message
that efforts to put the fire under control is still on-going. He
was silent on casualties.
Details soon
2 female bombers kill 8 in Potiskum
Twin explosions carried out by two female Boko Haram
bombers yesterday killed at least eight people while 46 were
injured in Potiskum, Yobe State. Hospital sources said five
bodies were deposited and 46 injured persons admitted after
the terrorists who rode in a tricycle, detonated explosive
devices in a GSM market.
Witnesses said the two ladies rode into the GSM market at
about 3.30pm yesterday with nobody suspecting anything.
“Some of us saw them, but never thought they were
bombers”, one of the eyewitnesses, who did not want her
name in print, told Daily Sun on phone.
She said one of the ladies alighted from the tricycle and went
into the market while her accomplice remained in the tricycle.
“I was in the market with my sister to repair my phone. It was
not more than five minutes later that we heard the explosions.
Before we could leave, another sound from the second lady in
the tricycle came,” she said.
Apart from the two suicide bombers and the tricycle rider that
died, the blasts also killed five others, a security source said.
The attack came barely a day after another blast killed two
policemen. The police in Potiskum were said to have
impounded a car laden with bomb on Saturday afternoon and
took the car to their station with the suspect.
However, the situation went awry as the car exploded hours
later, killing two policemen in the station while some were
injured. A source who declined to be mentioned, said the
suspect who drove the explosive-laden car eventually escaped
in the ensuing confusion after the blast.
It’s true MEND wanted Jonathan dead – Asari-Dokubo
Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force(NDPVF),
Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, formerly known as Melford
Dokubo Goodhead Jr., has earned a reputation as a man who
has, arguably, made some controversial pronouncements over
the 2015 general elections.
In this interview, he spoke on the claim by President Goodluck
Jonathan that Mr. Henry Okah attempted to kill him, his al
leged threat to overrun Yoruba and other issues.Excerpts:
W hat is your reaction to the recent endorsement of Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari by MEND?
Our people say that birds of the same feather flock together.
It is not strange that this phantom organisation is endorsing
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I have always maintained that there
is nothing like MEND. Anybody who has been reading my
write-ups and interviews know my position on this. Let me
make some explanation, regarding the coming into being of
MEND.
When I was in the prison, NDPVF, the the political arm of
organisation I belong to, went to Okerenkuku on the invitation
of Tompolo. The IYC also went. Tompolo’s organisation was
there too. Other organisations were equally there. They went
to Okerenkuku for a meeting on how to come together for our
struggle. They decided that they did not want any more arrest.
They resolved to use a faceless organisation. Denis Otuaro
came with Kingston Poto and later Henry Okah came to me at
Kuje prison.
They came to get my opinion on the need to get a name that
would be used. Although members of the NDPVF resisted the
new alignment, I coerced them into joining them. Okah and
others wanted us to be faceless. They decided that fighters
would bear phantom names. So, they came up with names,
like Gen. Godswill, Tamino, Gbomo Jomo, Alaibe, etc. These
were phantom names. They were not real. That was how the
organisation, MEND, was formed. Before I came out of prison,
there was a break when Henry Okah became more domi
neering. He was extorting money from oil companies. Almost
all the governors in the Niger Delta were paying him millions.
A former of Rivers State governor was paying him N100
million monthly.
Some groups started breaking out when they could no longer
bear what was happening. There was a group that came out.
The name was Nabina. It was the authentic MEND that
started issuing statement. Anytime there was an attack,
authentic MEND would come out with the nature of the attack,
where it took place. It would do that before the other MEND
would react. They started attacking each other. Nabina was
linked to me. It was formed by members of the NDPVF, who
felt that they were doing the job but another group was taking
the glory. They were the people who went to Brass, Cutting
Channel, etc. So, why would another group be taking the
glory? That issue dragged until I came out from the prison.
At what point did President Jonathan come into the picture?
When I met with the then Vice President, now President
Goodluck Jonathan, he asked me all that was happening. I
decided that NDPVF should stop all forms of arms struggle.
That was how we disbanded arms struggle. That does not
mean that we never had clashes with these groups. The Henry
Okah group started to mop up people. Kidnapping became a
vehicle for making money.
Ijaw struggle is a spiritual one. A lot of people do not know
this. The struggle was based on Egbesu.
When you are an adherent of Egbesu, you do not steal. If you
pick a toothpick that is not yours, you will die; if you rape a
woman, you will die; If you shoot a person who is not armed,
someone who is not fighting, you will die. Also, if you cut
down economic tree or destroy a fishpond you will die and if
you burn down a house, you will die. These are laws of
Egbesu. Those who believe in Egbesu don’t do these things I
mentioned. All the songs we sang then were Egbesu songs.
Only a few of us – Labikeremana and I – who were a born
again Christian and a Muslim that were a bit different. Even at
that, we could not say that we were totally immune from
Egbesu’s influence .
When Henry Okah first came to the Niger Delta, he didn’t
know anything about Ijaw because he is a Yoruba Ijaw. He
was misbehaving when he came. I have always called him a
Yoruba man. He came through me to be known to everybody
in Ijaw and Niger Delta generally. How his disagreement with
Goodluck Jonathan started was that he wanted Jonathan to
pay him money. I wrote a piece on this titled: ‘When silence is
not golden’ in 2007, I revealed a lot in the piece, which I
tagged part one.Ijaw elders begged me not to reveal more in
my proposed part two of the write up. The part two was ready
but I didn’t publish it because Clarke and others begged me
not to. They said that I was revealing the secret of Ijaw. I told
them that what they were doing would backfire. Everybody
was on my head. I became their enemy.
If Henry Okah asked for money and you didn’t give him, they
would come after you. When Jonathan was governor of
Bayelsa, the Okah group asked him to share the budget of the
state and give five per cent. They wanted five per cent of the
state’s earning every month to service the ‘boys.’ But
Jonathan said no. Because Jonathan refused, the Okah group
invaded Government House. Some of the people who are now
claiming to support Jonathan were part of the people that
invaded Government House, Bayelsa. They destroyed some
important things. My people ran away with Jonathan as
governor. They went to Otueke, thinking he was there and
burnt down his country home. The governor ran. Some of
them are today the people around Jonathan.
You seem to habour personal grudges against Okah? I am the
only person who has been talking against Henry Okah. He is
nobody. He does not have the power they think he has. If he
challenges me, we will meet. We will throw Ijaw into an orgy
of violence. Back to the issue, the Henry Okah group continued
with his strategy when Yar’Adua came to power. He continued
arm-twisting him. He demanded for an oil bloc and Yar’Adua
agreed to give him and his boys the oil bloc. But that could
not be done until he died . Henry was still in prison while the
discussion was going on. When Goodluck Jonathan took over,
he reneged on that agreement. But Jonathan released him
from prison on account of the amnesty programme. I had told
the world that Henry was involved in a coup plot in Equatorial
Guinea but it was denied. Later it was discovered to be true
and he was arrested, detained and tried. But President
Yar’Adua caused him to be released because some Ijaw
people who today have ruined President Goodluck Jonathan’s
government, impressed on the late president to help release
him. Some Ijaw people, I must tell you, have ruined
Jonathan’s government. They see danger but they tell him to
go to the danger.
Back to the issue, Okah, after he was released, struck a deal
with Yar’Adua to take amnesty. All the militants, except me
took amnesty. Because I did not take the amnesty, Yar’Adua
chased me out of the country and I went into exile. Between
2009 and 2010, I was in exile. When Goodluck became
president, I was called and asked why I was still outside the
country. I told them that I had no business coming back. But
everybody came to Benin Republic to plead with me to return.
In Benin, I was visiting Libya, Niger and Holland frequently.
When I returned to Nigeria, one of my assistants, who is my
cousin, one day called me and said, when one Chima was
coming back, give him some money for me. I called Chima and
he said he was coming to meet me the next day.
I am saying all these because people are asking why didn’t
Goodluck say it. Some Ijaw people want him to make
mistakes. When the call came, I decided to call back. I quickly
remembered that when I was in prison, Chima used to work
with Henry Okah. I told myself that something was wrong
somewhere. One Orji, Chima’s friend, who was also close to
me, called me and said they were in Abuja. He said that
Chima would call me later. Anytime they called, after the
conversation they would switch off their phones. I would call
them, but their phones would be dead.
Immediately, I alerted the office of NSA that something was
going to happen. That was two days to October 1. I told them
that there were people in town and something was going to
happen. One of our commanders told me that Chima called
him and showed him some weapons, night vision goggles,
explosives, etc. and that they wanted to renew the attack in
the Niger Delta. He took the picture of the weapons. I went
home, collected the picture and took it to the JTF
commander. He printed the picture. He later sent the picture
to Abuja. On Thursday, they went to search the home of Henry
Okah in South Africa. One of the closest persons to Goodluck
came to my hotel room in Bolingo and asked when I would
end the hatred against Henry Okah. He asked if it was
because he was more popular than I. I told him that we were
not in popularity contest. This was happening on Thursday.
On Friday, the bomb went off. Instead of helping to arrest
Henry Okah, when he was here, they were calling him on
phone to advise him that MEND should not claim
responsibility for the bomb blast. Some of the things I am
telling you were on my Facebook wall. I was the first person,
after the October 1, 2010 blast, to come out to say that Henry
Okah was responsible for the bomb explosion. Many people
attacked me. The former president of IYC came out and
abused me. They were all thinking that Ijaw must be united. It
has dawned on all of them now that Henry Okah was the
greatest danger to our struggle.
The reason I cannot be charged by the Nigerian state is that
there is no evidence that I did oil bunkering, kidnapping or
other evils. All my charges are political. As far as our struggle
was concerned, we saw it as a moral one. We believe that
morality must come first before any other thing. We are
finished if we lose the support of God. It is the support of God
that emboldened us to fight. It is what gives us the impetus,
the drive to say that if you shoot us, we will not die. For me,
what the president said is belated. He had known since 2007
that the Henry Okah group wanted to kill him. For not saying
it out since, it is the fault of Ijaw leaders, including Clarke,
who had been saying they should hide those thing and sweep
it under the carpet. They forgot that one day, the debris under
the carpet would become too much that the carpet would be
undulated. The stench is coming out now and the president
can no longer hold back; he has now come out to say that
Henry Okah wanted to assassinate him. What he said was
true. Henry Okah wanted him dead.
Were Ijaw leaders the people that asked the President to
exonerate MEND when the blast took place? The argument
that the president gave was in order. When you talk about
MEND, Tompolo, Boy Loaf, Africa, Ogunbos and Varadagogo
were all MEND leaders. They were field commanders but they
were not among those that carried out the bomb blast. It is
like IRA, a branch of the organisation goes to carry out a
bomb blast and the mainstream IRA says no, we are not part
of it . Ninety nine per cent of the so-called conglomerate of
MEND was not there. They had taken amnesty and they were
with Mr. President. So, the president was right in saying that
MEND was not involved. If Mr. President had exonerated all
the MEND elements, Henry Okah would not have been
arrested. The president was making a distinction between
Henry Okah and the mainstream MEND, which was led by
Tompolo and which is still with Mr. President.
He was not wrong. Let me give you another analogy. It is like
some APC members attacking somebody. They didn’t have the
authority and backing of the authorities of APC before carrying
out the attack. The party will not take responsibility. The party
would be right to say that the attack was not carried out by
it; that those people who did the attack are members of APC
does equate to APC being responsible for the attack .
Is it safe to say that security agents at a point deceived the
president by going after Chief Raymond Dokpesi? That is not
true. A lot of things happened that Nigerians do not know. If
we go into it, we will spill a lot of beans. Ebiwari, who is in
prison now, was working with Dokpesi. My driver, who is late,
was also working with Dokpesi and co. Henry Okah was with
them. When they were caught, they saw messages in their
handsets sent to Dokpesi, Henry Okah and other people. For
everybody that was investigated, there were telephone calls
that linked them together. The security tried to arrest every
body that was connected in the calls and text messages, etc.
When I was in the prison, kidnapping was going on. Dokpesi
came to me when the first set of kidnapping was done. The
police brought phone to me at Area 10. Dokpesi spoke to me
through my sister, Hilda Dokubo. He asked me how I could
facilitate and talk to these boys to release the people
kidnapped. He said that it was giving a bad image to the
government.
The Henry Okah people were anti-Goodluck. They didn’t want
Goodluck to win the 2011 election; the same thing they are
doing now endorsing Buhari. They issued the same statement
in 2011 that nobody should vote for Goodluck.
You said that some Niger Delta leaders are deceiving
Jonathan. Is Clarke among the people?
No, I didn’t say that Clarke was among those deceiving the
president . What Clarke and few Ijaw leaders wanted was
genuine. They wanted unity among Ijaw fighters, among Niger
Delta people. They did not want disunity. They saw me as
somebody who was not ready to abide by this. They felt that I
was not ready to hide a few people who were doing some
wrongs. They wanted me to keep quite, even when some
things were not right but I cannot do that. By the way I was
brought up I cannot keep quiet in the face of evil. Most of the
people I am working with are from poor background. I have
never known poverty. I have always had whatever I wanted.
People want to be rich but wealth means nothing to me, it
does not entice me. I was chauffeur-driven to school, except
when I was in the village with my grandmother. My other
siblings never experienced village life; that is why I am
different from them. I went to live in the village because my
father wanted me to learn the culture and language of my
people. Most of siblings cannot speak our dialect very well.
Clarke and others saw me as being arrogant.
You are considered as one of the few Nigerians making
inflammatory utterances ahead of the February election. How
do you feel being associated with this toga?
I have never made a statement without reacting to somebody.
I am not a mad man. I see somebody with a gun on televi
sion, standing and saying: ‘We are going to kill you, Niger
Delta; Niger Delta, we are coming’ and you expect me to fold
my hands and watch him? No, I can’t do that. That is how
the people in Gwoza waited: where are they today? The
people in Mubi waited; where are they today? The people in
Baga waited; where are they today? I will not wait. Let Ango
Abdullahi and Buhari call their boys to order. If they shoot us,
we will shoot them back. There are no two ways about it. You
cannot tell me that I should fold my hands and get killed.
You see a man with armoured vehicle, anti aircraft and you
tell me to fold my hands. I will not do so. I will also buy mine.
I will also prepare. Before the man would shoot at me, I will
shoot him. It is my right to life. Who is Ango Abdullahi? If not
that he is from the North, would he have been a professor in
the first place? What is his academic contribution? He makes
careless and provocative statements and expects us to keep
quiet. I will not do that. There is this thing that everybody has
been doing – leave them, please, you are not like them, don’t
go and compare your life with them, they will kill you, etc.
That is nonsense. Don’t they have fleas and blood? If I shoot
them, will they not die? Why should I leave them? They will
look at me and say they are born to rule. I will punch anybody
that says that.
You were quoted as having threatened to overrun Yorubaland
if the people fail to vote for Jonathan next month. How true
is the claim?
I never made such statement; it is a lie. Everybody knows that
whenever I make a statement, I own up to it. There is no such
thing. Many times, a lot of things are ascribed to me. For
instance, they claimed I said ‘this Fulani man.’ I don’t use the
world Fulani. What I use is Gambari for Fulani people. They
claimed I said ‘this Fulani man, Buhari’ will do better for Niger
Delta people than President Jonathan. How can I say such
thing? When he was head of state, let him show what he did
for the Niger Delta. He was in the PTF, let him show what he
did for the Niger Delta. What they do is that, because they feel
that I am very vocal for the election, they ascribe all manner
of things to me. They know that they have lost Yorubaland;
how can they win in Yoruba? There is nothing they can do to
win in Yorubaland. They lost the election in Ekiti. In Osun,
where they have the power, they scored 52/48. They know
they have lost election in Yorubaland. They want to inflame
tempers; they came up with the claim that Jonathan’s brother
said he would overrun Yorubaland. They have failed; they
have access to the press and I have too. I never said such
thing.
