sponsor

sponsor

PremiumTimesNG

Loading...

Channels Television

Loading...

NewTelegraph

Loading...

News

PremiumTimesNG

Loading...

Opinions

politics

Finance

Education

Agriculture

politics

OPINION BY ADEDAPO ADENIRUJU : WHAT EXACTLY IS FELA DUROTOYE’S CRIME?

By: Bhodemarz on March 01, 2018 / comment : 0 , , ,

Mid-2017, media waves trailed behind Diane Rwigara as her campaign to become the president of Rwanda grabbed national attention as well as criticism. True, the odds were against Rwigara: single, 35, running independently, plus being a she in a typical African society. She was running against regular opposition candidate Frank Habineza, journalist Phillipe Mpayimana and Paul Kagame — who has been the country's president since 2000.
So, when news about Mr. Fela Durotoye's #RunningforANewNigeria began filtering through my timeline, I greeted it with mindless excitement:New blood. Fresh thinking. Visionary leadership. Thoughts about Rwigara filtered in and I saw Fela Durotoye ticking similar boxes as Rwigara, save for slight differences: Fela is 47, male, and running under a political party — Alliance for New Nigeria.
In the last two months, FD's campaign has met with increasing criticism across Social Media platforms, so much that I probed myself: What has FD done to deserve this barrage of invectives? What exactly is his crime?
In over a decade of active following, I've found his passion compelling and his leadership, astute. This is why I think those who are attempting to reduce him to a mere motivational speaker are either untutored or incorrigibly denigrating.
One does not have to be boot-licking to think that Fela Durotoye has demonstrated competent leadership: for building one of Nigeria's leading business consulting and human resource management companies, and for grooming thousands of young leaders through Gemstone and Eden Nigeria; a faith-based organization spread across ten institutions and three cities.
A lot of people say Durotoye should have considered vying for an easily attainable office, while some insist that, for supporting Buhari in 2015, he deserves a greater misfortune than what the Buhari administration has brought on Nigerians.
A criticism I consider absolutely valid and difficult for Fela Durotoye to wish away is his history of political apathy.
As far as I know, FD has not much — if at all — engaged social conversations around public policies. On how many occasions has he pushed idea-based debates on issues related to education, security, electioneering, or health? Yes, I know of vigils and Nigeria-centered online prayer feasts. But I'm yet to learn how to pray away Nigeria's heterogeneity and diversity — in ethnic sentiments, religious affiliation, and political ideologies. How do we pray ideas into execution? Against what backdrops will FD's biases be adjudged if he never made an impression about ASUU Strike, restructuring, subsidy removal, Ebola crisis, national confab or even issues as seemingly trifling as the forgotten Olympic jersey?
The introductory connection drawn between Rwigara and Durotoye comes with steadfast deliberateness: Ms. Rwigara was known to publicly engage the political scene, calling out President Kagame on issues mostly associated with human rights violation, while Durotoye's age-old silence continues to trail after him. This difference becomes more pitiful when one realizes how much Kagame's administration dwarfs the overall economic performances of all Nigeria's president under these 19 years of undemocratic democracy.
So, let's interpolate: Rwigara spoke out relentlessly against one of the most remarkable administrations in recent Africa, while Durotoye remained inexhaustibly mute under some of the most overbearing, injudicious and corruption-laden administrations in the collective history of post-colonial Africa.
Such disservice to nationhood is what most of his critics have adjudged to be caused by a fear of conflict, rather than political correctness. Sadly, these years of accumulated silences surprisingly often catch up with aspirants who wish to surprise the public with their political ambition. It is interpreted as hiding from public scrutiny. If there exists other crimes bearing Durotoye's name, their roots can be traced to his longstanding refusal to overcome political inertia.
I do not dispute that Nigeria's political system needs charismatic men like Durotoye. What I find disturbing is that his entrance clearly indicates that not much has been learnt from the pitfalls of yesteryear's technocrats who pursued political revolutions, ignoring its complementary evolution.
On January 11, FD made a release in which he declared that he wants a party "with a clear ideology" but when you read ANN coordinator's responseto a question on ideology, you doubt if the party is not already sitting on a keg of gunpowder. He said: "Our own ideology is that Nigeria is one of the greatest countries created by God but we have not been blessed by good leaders. So we came about with the ideology can be great again."
Infant ANN doesn't have much time to grow before 2019. Yet, FD's campaign hinges on another fragile link: young and strong. When reactionary fanatics of #NotTooYoungToRun insist that young people must be given a chancelike Emmanuel Macron or Justin Trudeau, I feel choked by the smell of ignorance.
Two reasons:
One. Of the 36 that emerged governors in 1999, 61.1% (22) of them were younger than — or mates with — Fela Durotoye. Nobody gave them a chance. They took it. And as Oo Nwoye noted, there isn't any strong correlation between the youngest governors in '99 and the better governed states.
Two. FD's approach is neither Macronicnor Trudean. Macron got into active politics in 2001. He was 24. Trudeau was in high school when he began engaging public debates about Canadian federalism. In all fairness, the Macrons we should be talking about are the young Nigerians debating policies, participating in parties and engaging advocacy. They are the real barrier breakers.
History is old enough to teach us that when it comes down to winning political seats in Nigeria, our knowledge of leadership is never a worthy substitute for understanding politics. But as long as technocrats stick to this entitlement mentality, Nigeria's current political dynamics continues to prove less penetrable for newcomers running under newcomer-parties formed by newcomers.
When FD said his team will embark on grassroots mobilization within twelve months, I wondered if he meant it. Since the days of John the Baptist — pardon me — the man Atiku Abubakar, the habitual contender for the hot seat, has been caught again and again within grassroots communities; doing some of the smartest and unthinkable things to demonstrate his connection with the locals. But playing to the gallery of elite youths who support hashtags and chicken out when they're most needed, is a recurring error among technocrats attempting to navigate through Nigeria's lumpy, muddy waters.
I imagine that all these protruding deficiencies are redeemable if FD commits to remediation. But will twelve months deliver what twelve years could have done? Yet, I often think about Peter Thiel's four ways humans approach the future: definite optimism, definite pessimism, indefinite optimism and indefinite pessimism.
Here, I struggle to convince myself that, somehow, FD — the Fela Durotoye I know — has a grander plan than surrendering to the noise of cheerers; that he has a consciousness of history and would not build such a sophisticated mission upon indefinite optimism.
No matter which angle we choose to see it from, Fela Durotoye's active participation in politics is a good, courageous, even significant move. It will define a lot of things for youth engagement in the years to come.

Adedapo can be reached on Twitter via @adedapotreasure

Atiku, Atikulation and other stories - Reuben Abati

By: Bhodemarz on November 29, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , ,

“I hear say Atiku don port oh, from APC to God knows where…”
“He used to be a Customs officer.  Going from one port to another should not be an issue or a problem for him. It is in the nature of Customs officials to go from one port to another. When they train Customs officials, they train them to just disappear to nowhere when the storm is tough and rough.  That is the reason why every Customs official is a prostitute… serving or retired. I know some of them. They are always disappearing and appearing. After oil and gas, customs is the other honey pot of Nigeria. My brother, if you taste a little of that honey pot, your tongue will come out. You will always want to taste more.”
“But Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is not a neophyte to the game. He has been Vice President to Ebora Obasanjo for eight years. And since 2007, he has been eyeing that office of President. He attempted to run in 2007, he ran in 2011, he ran again in 2015. There must be something in that Aso Rock that he is looking for.”
“Or something he kept there that he needs to go back and remove.”
“There is nothing wrong with a man seeking to rule his country, though.”
“Yes, that is why Alhaji Abubakar has been projecting himself as a man under pressure running from pillar to post, behaving like the only thing in his life is to become President.”
“To be President no be joke oh. The man don taste the thing small, na him know wetin the thing be?”
“But God has blessed him. He has a University. God has given a mere Customs officer the opportunity to educate Nigerian children. Even Boko Haram survivors are now being educated in his university and the Federal Government is paying him lorry loads of money as scholarship. Must he be President?”
“Yes. If dem give you suya for one hand, carry champagne for another hand, which one you go take?”
“Champagne, my brother.”
“Or when you see useless people, Oga’s domestic servants and imbecilic erukus washing hands with champagne that their first to fifth generations never tasted, what will you do?”
“I swear I will step into the ring and fight.”
“Good. Atiku wants to take over. Him too wan wan taste champagne. The champagne of Nigeria.”
“But he doesn’t’ even know where he is going.”
“He knows. Talks are going on. For him to leave the APC, he must have worked out his next destination.”
“Which is?”
“I hear PDP”
“PDP? PDP is in trouble. I don’t think PDP can remove Buhari from power”.
“I have seen pictures of Atiku’s PDP campaign vehicles. It looks like he is going to get the PDP Presidential ticket”
“How?”
“He has money. PDP right now needs somebody with cool cash who can challenge the APC, and fight them money for money.”
“And Atiku has that war chest?”
“He can mobilize it.”
“The PDP Governors won’t allow him”
“Who are those ones? There is no Governor in PDP today who wants to spend money. Those Araldites? If a roadside beggar gives them money, they will collect.  PDP Governors are so hungry they will be so glad to collect tithes. If Atiku gives them money, they will jump like frogs, and hand over the Presidential ticket to him.”
“But why should Nigerian politicians jump from one party to the other.”
“Hunger and greed. Can’t you see that there is no Nigerian politician who is interested in ideology or ideas? They all just want position and power.”
“I can see that. Atiku for example has jumped from PDP to AC to PDP, to APC and from APC to,  well, we don’t know where next until he says so…”
“It is called Atikulation.”
“It looks like the jump of the frog to me”
“Frog?. This looks like the jump of the elephant. Atiku’s move is a metaphor for Nigerian politics. It is a sign that something terrible has happened to the ruling party.”
“I hear the ruling party says Atiku’s move is predictable and so it is a non-event.”
“Who said so? Garba Shehu?”
“No”
“You mean Garba Shehu has not spoken? He has not responded to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s Atikulation, especially Atiku’s submission that the APC government is a joke and a scam?”
“I checked. Somebody told me that Garba Shehu is treating an ear problem at the moment, and em ..em, that he is part of a team looking at the mysterious movement of the rats in the President’s office to the Council Chambers forcing the President to relocate the Federal Executive Council meeting to the First Lady’s Conference Room.”
“I don’t believe that. The Garba Shehu I know would have issued a statement calling Atiku a fool for criticizing Buhari and dumping the APC”
“You sef. You don forget? Garba Shehu is Atiku’s boy. He used to be Atiku’s chief spokesperson. He used to lead the assault against Obasanjo and Jonathan before he was donated to Buhari. You want him to bite his master?”
“He should do his job. We are talking about loyalty. Let him do his job or make a choice.”
“He too should port?”
“He can do whatever he likes, but at least whenever he condemns the opposition again, he should know that he is attacking the Atiku finger that fed him”
“This is why I don’t ever want to work for government. Too tough. But you are talking about Garba Shehu. What is Mama Taraba still doing in the Buhari government? The moment Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Atikulated his position and wrote off the Buhari government, I expected Mama Taraba to resign immediately, having publicly declared that she is a loyal follower of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”
“Mama Taraba”
“Baba Buhari should sack her and all Atiku loyalists in the government.”
“You don’t know anything. You don’t know politics. Don’t be surprised if Baba keeps Atiku’s followers in his government”
“Enemies in his government”
“You don’t know politics. In fact, President Buhari could decide to make Mama Taraba his Minister of Petroleum Resources. And Garba Shehu the Minister of Information and Atiku will know that he is just making noise.”
“Gi-di-gibe. Power-pass-power. But the Mama Taraba that I know will get angry and resign ”
“You think so?”
“Yes. If she doesn’t resign, I trust Ibe Kachikwu to issue a statement to say that this is the very height of corruption and chicanery”
“It is okay. Chika is an Igbo name.”
“Atiku’s Atikulation is it. And stop saying the man has been moving from one political party to the other. Even the sitting President jumped from one party to the other, election after election before he could become President.”
“What a country! Politics of expediency;  no ideology. No party system. Anything goes”
“If you Atikulate it properly, everything will be fine.”
“I am sorry for you. I hope you are aware that articulated vehicles only bring problems. In Apapa. In Abuja-Lokoja road. Everywhere, they are causing problems.”
“Those are vehicles. Here, we are talking about a mission to save Nigeria.”
“And who will do that?”
“Atiku has stepped forward”
“What of Baba Bubu?”
“He has not told anybody he wants a second term. From what I see, he may opt for the Mandela option”
“Mandela, Mandela. Is Buhari from South Africa?”
“He is from Katsina.”
“And you want him to be like Mandela? Have you started drinking?”
“It is in his interest not to seek a second term”
“If you keep talking like this, when they carry you and lock you up, I swear I will not bother to visit you in detention. This government has no problem with freedom of speech. It is your freedom after speech that cannot be guaranteed.”
“I will say what I like”
“That is not a problem. But just think of the fact that your wife is still very young. The way this thing is going, some people will not see sunshine until after 2019.”
“Because I want a properly Atikulated country?”
“Because you don’t understand Nigerian politics. Have you not heard that even former Vice President Atiku has been asked to go to Abeokuta and beg the boss of bosses, the Ebora himself, Baba of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, if he wants to even get a party ticket not to talk of becoming President. OBJ Nigeria. No OBJ, No Nigeria. Baba Ooosa! Eruku nation. Ebora Tuaale!. Tuaale!”
“What is wrong with you? Who is Obasanjo? We are running a democracy. We should be talking about institutions not individuals.”
“Tu u danu. This is Nigerian democracy. It is the democracy of Godfathers. If some people don’t say yes in this democracy, even God will not say yes.”
“That is sad.”
“What I am telling you is that nobody can be President or displace Buhari without the approval of some entrenched powers and principalities in this country. Nigerian politics is not about democracy. We have not reached that stage. It is about power. Why do you think Senator Musiliu Obanikoro will cross from PDP to APC, and he will publicly say that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the best thing ever created since the invention of toothpaste?”
“I was flabbergasted to hear that”
“I was shocked”
“Don’t be shocked. That is the nature of Nigerian politics. But the truth is that Godfathers have feet of clay. In Anambra, in the last Gubernatorial elections, Willie Obiano demystified his own Godfather, Peter Obi and the man has been very, very quiet since then. He demystified those who went and borrowed Alex Ekwueme’s daughter, I mean the PDP, and the APC that went and borrowed Ojukwu’s son. Any Godfather that wants to survive should know what he is doing. Nobody should play God over Nigerian politics.”
“The way I see it, the man who will be President may not even have shown up. There is a game that is unfolding.”
“A coalition against Buhari?”
“A powerful force preaching change, more like it, brewed in the North, with a pan-Nigerian outlook. A mission to save Nigeria.”
“I don’t get it”
“The next revolution to save Nigeria will come from the North. I can feel it.”
“Can we talk about something else? You know I am not a revolutionary.”
“Everything in life is a revolution. You can be Grace-fied today and be Mugabe-fied tomorrow. The Other room can be joyful today and bring you sorrow tomorrow.”
“Talking about the other room, I hear Baba now uses Mummy’s conference room in the Villa to hold Federal Executive Meetings”
“I don’t talk about mundane meetings. The entire Presidential Villa belongs to the President. He can holding meetings wherever he likes.”
“May be rats took over the Cabinet Chamber. “
“Leave these government people. What is on my mind right now is how some people held a wedding party in Benin, and they gave out cars and I-phones as gifts and I was not there.”
“Gifts to the bride or to people who came to chop jollof rice?”
“Jollof rice people. Two persons carry car go, others collect phone”.
“In this Buhari recession and poverty season?”
“Yes”
“EFCC and SSS dey the wedding?”
“Na jollof rice for everybody.  I hear say the woman sef na second-hand Tokunbo wey don born thro-way for another man and the groom sef don marry tire. Yee-yyyy.”
“Don’t worry. We have to be smart. Anytime we hear anybody wan do society wedding, we go dey ready go there.”
“Without invitation? Even Bobrisky no fit gate-crash. I surprise say dem no invite am.”
“We will apply the Ebuka strategy”
“And what is that?’’
“Simple. You make sure you dress better than the bridegroom. When you get to the gate, nobody will stop you. They will think the owner of the game has arrived. And if you are a woman, you dress better than the bride. It is the Caroline Danjuma butterfly effect. You may not understand this gist because you are too old.”
“Iro nla. I know every gist, including the latest on Toke Makinwa. Nobody go use social media chop life on my behalf. You may not know, that Ebuka style is no longer working. I hear there is now a wedding police in Lagos. If you dress better than the bridegroom and the bride, the security people will not even allow you to enter.  Better to dress like Smartkarts so you can help collect empty bottles later.”
“Agba a ya ni wo man yi. Na children gist you dey follow like this?”
“I go South Africa? For Mrs Etomi wedding where dem spend Nigerian money in South African economy? That one na another gist oh.”
“Mrs Wellington, please”
“Or I go Oritse wedding?”
“Stop. Just Stop….”



Source: The Cable

Court Compels INEC To Register Political Party

By: Bhodemarz on November 29, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register Socialist Party of Nigeria as a new party.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole gave the order in a judgement on Tuesday, following an application by members of the party.
He said the SPN had fulfilled necessary requirements for registration and directed INEC to issue it a certificate of registration within 30 days from the date of his judgement.
Representatives of the SPN had approached the court after INEC terminated its registration process in August 2014 for alleged failure to comply with verification procedures.
The plaintiffs: Segun Sango, Chinedu Bosah, Mikaliu Mohammed, Emmanuel Adikwu, Agbebire Marcellus and Nuhu Zira, asked the court to nullify the termination of their registration, stressing that they had complied with necessary registration procedure including the payment of N1 million, establishment of a headquarter in Abuja and the creation of a National Executive Committee comprising at least 24 representatives from across the country and Abuja.
They asked the court to stop INEC from further collecting a mandatory N1 million from parties seeking to be registered for political activities.
The plaintiffs also demanded a refund of the N1 million they had paid to INEC, as well as N1 million to serve as the cost of instituting the suit.
The judge agreed with some of the requests made by the plaintiff, namely that the registration of SPN as a political party be restored by INEC.
Mr. Kolawole ruled that INEC was bound by sections 78, (2) (3) and (4) to proceed with necessary steps for the registration of a political party within the stipulated time, adding that the electoral umpire had no right to.

Source: Lawyard

OPINION: Goodluck Jonathan, Abdullahi, Oduah and the missing verses

By: Bhodemarz on November 29, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , ,

Even days ahead of its unveiling, a new book by ace journalist and APC spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, is surely stirring the political waters already. Since teasers began to appear in Simon Kolawole’s TheCable last week, many can hardly wait anymore for tomorrow’s presentation in Abuja to grab copy and see what fresh angles “On A Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria” brings to Segun Adeniyi’s earlier blockbuster, “Against The Run of Play”.
Abdullahi is by no means a casual chronicler of the momentous events that shaped the Jonathan presidency; he was an insider having served as minister.
Perhaps the juiciest extract featured thus far by TheCable is the sensational claim by Stella Oduah that she lost her Aviation portfolio in the last dispensation due to the machinations of now embattled Diezani Allison-Madueke (then the powerful oil minister) in what seems to illuminate intensely the psycho-sexual tension within the Jonathan presidency. History reminds us that empires had risen and fallen over nothing more than lust or wounded love, and the remains of many great men were found near discarded skirt and camisole.
According to her, Diezani strongly believed leaks of her incurring a bill of whopping N10b jetting around “privately” emanated from the Aviation ministry. To exact a pound of flesh, Oduah alleges that Diezani funded sustained media spotlight on her own N250m bulletproof BMW cars scandal.
(A presidential panel headed by then NSA Sambo Dasuki had found the Aviation minister culpable in the shady $1.6m auto deal.)
“She thought I was the one who leaked the issue of private jet that put her into trouble with the House of Reps,” she says, adding “For her, it was payback time. Diezani was paying people to keep the story alive. At the same time, she was whispering in (the president’s) ears that he had to take action.”
But the real meat is in her next comment: “I knew all along that Diezani could not deal with having another female around who had the kind of access I had to the president.”
In what suggests more than official relationship with GEJ, Oduah was quoted by the author to be uninhibited enough to then pointedly demand of the president, “Did Diezani ask you to sack me?”, which he flatly denied.
Of course, in power circles then, it didn’t require much political intelligence to know there were actually five powerful women around the President. Aside Oduah and Diezani, the three others included First Lady (Mama Peace herself), the president’s ebony-black mom and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the “Coordinating Minister” and thick-set Amazon of the exchequer.
Romantics are likely to swoon over that and interpret as omen that GEJ was a “ladies’ man”.
This however makes Jonathan the stark opposite of his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari, said to be very, very “shy among women” (apology Information Minister Lai Mohammed). It then perhaps explains why women today enjoy less visibility around PMB’s wooden paternalism.
Responding to a question posed by a foreign journalist in faraway Germany following First Lady Aisha’s philippic against the presidency last year, Buhari hardly betrayed any emotion in dismissing her sense of political judgement outside what he considered her exclusive jurisdiction: “My wife belongs to the kitchen, the living room and the other room.”
Now, the puzzle is the definition of the “access” Oduah alludes to. Of course, everyone agrees that, both in and outside office, GEJ remains a perfect gentleman, with amazingly charming smile and killer athletic build capable of making the opposite sex drool, ordinarily.
So, could Oduah be referring to a “special pin no” from which other top female officials around Jonathan were restricted? The kind that conferred extraordinary privileges like having their proposals or memos approved with dizzying dispatch, without second look, let alone scrutiny.
The only conclusion that could drawn from Oduah’s revelation is that she and Diezani were both shamelessly locked in a cold war over long-suffering Madam Patience’s fine husband. Now, if a scavenger gets swollen-headed over the possession of a treasure found by accident, what’s expected of the original owner? Between the feuding princesses, every waking moment seemed spent agonizing over which plot the other might be hatching to monopolize the king’s attention.
In the circumstance, the puzzle then: what time did they really have left for official duties? We can, therefore, only continue to speculate and imagine the titanic battle poor Jonathan must have waged against falling into the sort of temptation Adam found irresistible in the biblical Garden of Aden.
When similarly charming Bill Clinton found himself in such tight corner as president at the Oval Office in Washington in the 90s, he succumbed to curvaceous Monica Lewinsky. The ghost of that affair with its salacious details would come back to exact a price that almost cost him the presidency. Though he survived narrowly, he would endure the shame for the rest of his life.
One of Clinton’s predecessors, John F Kennedy, was not that lucky. His hyperactive testosterone is believed to have been largely fueled by the side effect of a medication he took for Addison’s disease. Compulsive philanderer, aside the steady stream of paramours smuggled into the White House through the back door, among his other conquests were government secretaries and one Judith Campbell who incidentally happened to be linked to mafia boss Sam Giancana. This shred of evidence formed the basis of the enduring conspiracy theory that JFK’s assassination in 1963 involved the mob.
Elsewhere in Zimbabwe about the same time Clinton was being tempted, Robert Mugabe had also come under the bewitching spell of Grace inside the White House in Harare. Sashay after tantalizing sashay up and down the presidential office, the salivating ex-guerrilla apparently began to see his dashing secretary in a totally different light. Incentives then came to work longer hours in the office. The death of the much-beloved Ghanaian-born First Lady would finally open the door for Grace to be formally unveiled to the nation as the new presidential consort.
Following Mugabe’s ignominious fall from power last week, pundits may still be divided today over the political epitaph to engrave on his political tombstone. But regardless, there is consensus already that Grace’s vain ways contributed in no small measure in stoking public anger against the old comrade.
Well, the good news is that GEJ left office in 2015 through the electoral door, certainly not through any proven peccadilloes. Maybe, the ghost would have been finally laid to rest had the usually blunt Oduah, presently a senator representing Anambra, taken a step further to stave the ambiguity that incriminates. By either confirming or denying the long-standing rumour in some mischievous quarters that that “access” had, in fact, some amatory taste.
Or, since she is known to be single and available, did she ever, at any time, have a crush on the Prince Charming from Otuoke?
With the raft of grave charges still pending at the British court, we wager Diezani would, on her own, wish to be spared this sort of question, at least for now.

#Restructuring: Southern Senators demand implementation of 2014 Confab report

By: Bhodemarz on November 27, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

The Southern Senators’ Forum has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to convene a meeting of the leaderships of the National Assembly, state houses of assembly, and governors.
The forum said the meeting would brainstorm on the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report.
The chairman of the forum, Hope Uzodinma, made the call in a communiqué he read at the end of a retreat of the group in Calabar on Saturday.
The retreat had the theme: “National Unity and Restructuring’’.
According to the chairman, the forum resolved that its members will liaise with their colleagues in the National Assembly to kick-start a legislative process that will ensure the implementation of the report.
He also said the group urged the leadership of the National Assembly to bring up the report for consideration.
“After presentation of papers, contributions and general brainstorming, it was resolved that Nigeria and Nigerians have come a long way.
“As such, it has become imperative and in the interest of all to live together as one united family under one indivisible and indissoluble country with justice, equity and fairness.
“While the unity of Nigeria should not and cannot be compromised under any circumstance, it has become apparent that the foundation upon which Nigeria was built at independence in 1960 has been eroded.
“There is a need to return to the original dream of true federalism which was a product of negotiation, compromise and accommodation,’’ he said.
The retreat witnessed presentation of papers from prominent Nigerians on various subject matters, including “Sustaining National Unity in a restructured Nigeria’’.
Others are: “Provisions for National Unity in the 1999 Constitution (Amended), Between the Dreams of pre-Independence Nationalists and Restructuring: A Critical Look at the Past and Present, Imperatives of Restructuring in Multi-Religious Nigeria. (NAN)

Buhari dividing Nigeria along ethnic, religious line – Atiku

By: Bhodemarz on November 27, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has written the ruling All Progressives Congress APC intimating the party of his decision to quit. 
Though the letter was dated October 18, 2017, the national leadership of the party had last Friday denied receiving any such notice from the former vice president. 
In the letter, Atiku said his decision to quit the ruling party was not about him but about the future of the country as a democratic entity. 
“I am unable to reconcile myself with the dismal performance of the party in government, especially in relation to the continued polarization of our people along ethnic and religious lines, which is threatening our unity more than any other time in the recent past and the unbeatable hardship that our people are currently undergoing”, he stated. 
Addressed to the party’s ward chairman in his Jada 1 Ward, Jada Local Government, Adamawa State, Atiku in the letter said he was disturbed by the dismal performance of the APC, describing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration as a threat to Nigeria’s unity due to its penchant for polarizing Nigerians along ethnic and religious lines. 
In the resignation letter acknowledged by Usman Muazu, a copy of which was obtained by Vanguard, the Wazirin Adamawa said; “I wish to inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the All Progressives Congress APC in this ward with effect from the date of this letter.” 
Atiku said there has to be a country first before politicians can aspire to lead it. 
“I am resigning from a party we formed and worked so hard, with fellow compatriots across the country, to place in government. I had hope that the APC government will make improvements to the lives of our people and the continued existence and development of Nigeria as one indivisible nation. This hope has now been dashed. 
“As I said in 2006, it is the struggle for democracy, constitutionalism and service to my country and my people that are driving my choice. Let me emphasize again that this is not about me. We have to have a country before people can aspire to lead it,” he said. 
He expressed optimism that APC followers in the state would soon join him in the bid to “defeat impunity and restore vision and purpose” to Nigeria’s politics. 
“While wishing you well, let me express the hope that in the near future, a substantial number of you will join forces with us to once again defeat impunity and restore vision and purpose to the politics of our great country. Please accept the assurances of my highest regard.” 
Atiku had on Friday resigned from the APC citing the pervading undemocratic atmosphere in the party among other issues as reasons for his decision.


Atiku Abubakar: Timeline of a serial defector

By: Bhodemarz on November 25, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , ,

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Friday announced his withdrawal from the governing All Progressives Congress, APC.
In Friday’s announcement, Mr. Abubakar said he was still pondering his next political move. But if he ends up returning to the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party as he is widely expected to do, it will be the third time that Mr. Abubakar will be returning to the party after defecting to other parties.
He was a founding member of the PDP in 1998.
1999-2006.
Mr. Abubakar was elected governor of his home state, Adamawa, in 1999 on the PDP ticket.
Before he could be sworn in as governor, he was picked as running mate by Olusegun Obasanjo who secured the PDP presidential ticket. The ticket proceeded to win the presidency, with Mr. Abubakar becoming Vice President from May 29, 1999 and for a second term in 2003.
2006-2009.
Before the end of their second term, however, Mr. Abubakar left the PDP for the first time in 2006 and joined Action Congress, AC, after years of internal battle with Mr. Obasanjo.
The influence of Mr. Atiku in the PDP was systematically eroded through fresh membership registration that saw most of his supporters pushed out of the party, all in a bid by Mr. Obasanjo to ensure that he was not nominated as his successor.
Mr. Abubakar thus defected to pick the AC ticket to run for president in the 2007 election.
He was in AC from 2006 to 2009. Following disagreements with one of the leaders of the AC and former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, the former vice president dumped the AC and returned to the PDP in 2009.
2009-2013
Mr. Abubakar ran for the PDP presidential ticket in the 2011 election and lost to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.
Following the success of the PDP in 2011 and the appointment of Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the PDP, the party was engulfed in a serious crisis.
Mr. Abubakar alongside seven governors eventually staged a walk out of a PDP national convention in August 2013, accusing the leadership of the party and then President Jonathan of impunity.
They eventually formed the ‘new PDP.’
2013-2017
After efforts to reconcile with the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP failed and their push to stop Mr. Jonathan from running for election also failed, Mr. Abubakar and five of the governors and others announced in November 2013 defected to the APC.
Mr. Abubakar and a former Kano State governor who was also in the ‘new PDP’, Rabiu Kwankwaso, ran for APC presidential ticket and lost to Muhammadu Buhari who eventually won the 2015 election.
Mr. Abubakar remained in the APC but has been consistently absent in many of the party’s activities at the national level.
The former vice president had complained that Mr. Buhari and the party had been side-lining him.
November 2017-???
https://ssum-sec.casalemedia.com/usermatchredir?s=183697&cb=https%3a%2f%2fdis.criteo.com%2frex%2fmatch.aspx%3fc%3d25%26uid%3d%25%25USER_ID%25%25
Mr. Abubakar eventually defected from the APC on Thursday, November 24. Reports suggest that he has done so because he has received commitment of the PDP to give him its platform to again run for president in 2019.
The former vice president has, however, not formally declared for the PDP, nor has he declared he would run for the 2019 presidency although he is expected to do both.
Whether he will remain in PDP or his new party for long remains to be seen, given that he had announced on September 2014 that “As for me, as far as I am concerned, APC is my last bus stop.”


Source: Premium Times

#2019Election: Join political parties, effect the change you need, VP Osinbajo urges youths

By: Bhodemarz on November 24, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday urged youths in the country to join political parties ahead of the 2019 elections to enable them be voted into political offices so that they can effect the change they wanted in governance. 
Osinbajo, who was represented by Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, made the call at the Emerging Political Leaders Summit in Abuja. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN He also said that it was not enough for youths to always complain about bad leaders, but that they should break the status quo by taking the chance to be elected and create the transformation they needed for a change. “Youths have a challenge in their hands for the future of our country; so, I advice you not to sit down and fold your hands and be lamenting over bad leadership or politicians. “Get down to business, organise and do something to become elected political youths; after all, Enahoro became a leader in this country at the age of 23 and later moved a motion for the nation’s independence at the age of 27. “The leaders there today will vacate the place tomorrow so if you the youths don’t start preparing today by getting mentored and learning the ropes, there is no way you will perform very well if the mantle of leadership falls on you tomorrow. So, there is need for you to go in there and participate,’’ he said. Also speaking, the former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Kingsley Moghalu, said that youths had the power to change their destiny to a better future by participating in politics from the grassroots. Moghalu said that what the country needed was a democratic revolution at the polling units, adding that for it to happen, the citizens should recognize that they had the power to change and improve governance. “If they don’t exercise that power, if they keep selling their votes for N2, 000 so that they will eat today, their children will have no jobs in the future. “It is high time Nigerians stopped seeking immediate gratification; they always love what they can get now and that is killing us as a nation. “If this continues, then the citizens are just as irresponsible as the leadership they condemn,’’ he said. Moghalu said that the next line of action lay with the citizens, adding that “we have talked enough, the politicians don’t listen, they keep carrying on in their old ways. “We have had enough but if that is true, then we must act like we have had enough and take up the challenge to change the status quo.’’ The convener of the summit, Mr. Wale Ajani, said the event was organsied to brainstorm ahead of the 2019 elections towards problem-solving both economically and politically for country’s development. Ajani said that the summit became imperative at this auspicious moment in the nation’s history because Nigeria had remained a country of enormous potentials for several decades but unable to perform better in human development and economic indices. “Leadership failure is largely at the heart of the current woes bedevilling Nigeria, with little being done to build a new crop of leaders. “The nation seems fixated; the citizens have come to have very low expectations of their leaders. The summit provides a platform for qualitative conversations and discourse about Nigeria.’’ He said that it was time for Nigeria to have a paradigm shift as an alternative to the current system where there already existed a disconnection between citizens’ expectations and service delivery by politicians.

Source: Vanguard

BREAKING: Atiku Dumps APC

By: Bhodemarz on November 24, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , ,

Former Vice-President Atiku has defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Says the Ruling Has Failed The Youth
He announced his decision in a statement he issued on Friday morning.

Read the statement of resignation below:
Statement of resignation of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar (Waziri Adamawa) Vice President of Nigeria, 1999-2007 from the All Progressives Congress
On the 19th of December, 2013, I received members of the All Progressives Congress at my house in Abuja. They had come to appeal to me to join their party after my party, the Peoples Democratic Party, had become factionalized as a result of the special convention of August 31, 2013.
The fractionalization of the Peoples Democratic Party on August 31, 2013 had left me in a situation where I was, with several other loyal party members, in limbo, not knowing which of the parallel executives of the party was the legitimate leadership.
It was under this cloud that members of the APC made the appeal to me to join their party, with the promise that the injustices and failure to abide by its own constitution which had dogged the then PDP, would not be replicated in the APC and with the assurance that the vision other founding fathers and I had for the PDP could be actualized through the All Progressives Congress.
It was on the basis of this invitation and the assurances made to me that I, being party-less at that time, due to the fractionalization of my party, accepted on February 2, 2014, the hand of fellowship given to me by the All Progressives Congress.
On that day, I said “it is the struggle for democracy and constitutionalism and service to my country and my people that are driving my choice and my decision” to accept the invitation to join the All Progressives Congress.
Like you, I said that because I believed that we had finally seen the beginnings of the rebirth of the new Nigeria of our dreams which would work for all of us, old and young.
However, events of the intervening years have shown that like any other human and like many other Nigerians, I was fallible.
While other parties have purged themselves of the arbitrariness and unconstitutionality that led to fractionalization, the All Progressives Congress has adopted those same practices and even gone beyond them to institute a regime of a draconian clampdown on all forms of democracy within the party and the government it produced.
Only last year, a governor produced by the party wrote a secret memorandum to the president which ended up being leaked. In that memo, he admitted that the All Progressives Congress had “not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight ‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance”.
Of the party itself, that same governor said “Mr. President, Sir Your relationship with the national leadership of the party, both the formal (NWC) and informal (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso), and former Governors of ANPP, PDP (that joined us) and ACN, is perceived by most observers to be at best frosty. Many of them are aggrieved due to what they consider total absence of consultations with them on your part and those you have assigned such duties.”
Since that memorandum was written up until today, nothing has been done to reverse the treatment meted out to those of us invited to join the All Progressives Congress on the strength of a promise that has proven to be false. If anything, those behaviours have actually worsened.
But more importantly, the party we put in place has failed and continues to fail our people, especially our young people. How can we have a federal cabinet without even one single youth.
A party that does not take the youth into account is a dying party. The future belongs to young people.
I admit that I and others who accepted the invitation to join the APC were eager to make positive changes for our country that we fell for a mirage. Can you blame us for wanting to put a speedy end to the sufferings of the masses of our people?
Be that as it may be, after due consultation with my God, my family, my supporters and the Nigerian people whom I meet in all walks of life, I, Atiku Abubakar, Waziri Adamawa, hereby tender my resignation from the All Progressives Congress while I take time to ponder my future.
May God bless you and may God bless Nigeria.
Atiku Abubakar
Waziri Adamawa


#2019Election: We have not endorsed any candidate in Nigeria Presidential election -US

By: Bhodemarz on November 23, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

The United States of America has spoken concerning Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election saying the country has not endorsed any candidate.

According to report, this was said by John J. Sullivan who is the US Deputy Secretary of State during the closing ceremony of the US-Nigeria Bi-national Commission in Abuja.

He said the President Donald Trump administration is in support of the Nigerian people and its democracy and would therefore assist in the country getting a free and fair election.

He said: “What we want to do, is to ensure to the extent that we can assist, free and fair elections and we won’t pick those candidates.

“We won’t pick any candidate, we won’t endorse any candidate, we want to support the Nigerian people and democracy in Nigeria.”

Sullivan said the US would support the Nigerian people and not any candidate for 2019 election.

He said: “Any statement by the United States, in the events of the 2019 elections, would be in support of the Nigerian people and democracy in Nigeria and not in support of any particular candidate.

“We want free and fair elections, we are not picking candidates, the Nigerian people should pick their candidates and choose among them and make the final choice for themselves.”
Source: reubenabati.com

How Adamu Mu’azu opposed plan to reject Buhari’s victory - Abdullahi

By: Bhodemarz on November 23, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , , , ,

Ahmed Adamu Mu’azu, chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the historic 2015 presidential poll, furiously reacted to suggestions that he should reject Muhammadu Buhari’s victory after President Goodluck Jonathan had openly conceded.
Jonathan, after congratulating Buhari in an unprecedented telephone call while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was yet to officially announce the winner, told party members that although he had conceded to Buhari in his personal capacity, PDP was free to reject the result.
Before Jonathan conceded, however, Mu’azu had threatened to do so on behalf of the party.
He even stopped picking Jonathan’s calls at some point.
All these are snippets of the intrigues that followed Jonathan’s defeat — as narrated by Bolaji Abdullahi in a new book, ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’, which will go on sale nationwide from November 30, 2017 after launch.
In the advance copy made available to ONLY TheCable, the author said many of Jonathan’s supporters believed he was too hasty in congratulating Buhari and were looking at ways to undo the gesture.
It was then suggested that the PDP could still challenge the election in spite of the concession statement by Jonathan — but they had to move quickly. A meeting was scheduled for 6pm of Tuesday, March 31, three days after the election.

VOLTE-FACE
“By 6:00pm, all the President’s men and party bigwigs began to gather at the banquet hall of the Presidential Villa. Many had rushed back to Abuja for the meeting, anxious to know the next line of action. They had all heard the audio of the phone call, but opinions were sharply divided on whether the president had thrown in the towel too soon,” Abdullahi wrote.
“One South-South governor disclosed that this banquet hall meeting was not the president’s original idea. He said soon after the president made the telephone call to Buhari, some governors had gone to him to express their reservations about it. They felt he had conceded too cheaply. Their argument was that if the president and the party had rejected the outcome of the election, they would have gained a stronger platform to negotiate their exit.
“If the case had gone to court, probably going all the way to the Supreme Court, the Buhari government would have remained tentative until the matter was decided and this would have also bought Jonathan more time, or even more security out of office. They all agreed that all these were now merely academic. It was at this point that they decided to call a meeting and see if anything could still be done to salvage something from what at the time had effectively become a lost cause.
“Present at the meeting were Vice President, Namadi Sambo; Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu; as well as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, who had also just contested and lost the governorship election in Imo State and was challenging the results. Others included: the People’s Democratic Party Board of Trustees Chairman, Tony Anenih; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim; Governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke; Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Godswill Akpabio, and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi. All members of PDP National Working Committee (NWC) were also present, led by the party chairman, Adamu Mu’azu. The meeting was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The back-slapping, generous banter and raucous laughter that usually preceded such meetings were missing on this day. The banquet hall of the Presidential Villa held several memories of more exciting days for most dignitaries. But what was about to happen was anything but a banquet. There would be no feasting. In the last four days, a funereal gloom had descended on the entire Villa, and the few people that could still be sighted went about with faces turned to the ground. The mood this Tuesday afternoon was not any different. Some made courageous attempts at humour, but these fell flat like a joke made at a burial ground.”

ANENIH’S INTERVENTION
Abdullahi narrated what transpired at the meeting, beginning with the opening speech of Jonathan.
“Gentlemen, about an hour ago, I called General Buhari to congratulate him,” President Jonathan began. He explained that he did not make the call because he believed that the PDP lost the election, but rather, following advice from many people, he decided to concede in order to restore calm to the nation and avoid chaos. He added that, based on information at his disposal, he believed the election had been massively rigged and INEC was complicit in the fraud.
“While I have done my bit as a statesman, I believe the party should issue a strong statement to reject the results and say that PDP will challenge it in court,” he said, and suggested that the National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, should issue the statement.
“At first, many did not know what to make of this. How was it possible to concede defeat and not accept the results? Was the president asking the party to overrule or disown him? And if they went along with his suggestion, would the end result not be the same chaos that he said he was trying to avert by making the phone call?
“Anenih had the answers. He said the precedent for this had been set a few months earlier by the opposition party itself. When Ayo Fayose was declared winner of the governorship election in Ekiti State, the incumbent, Kayode Fayemi, promptly accepted defeat and congratulated his opponent. Even though Fayemi believed the election to be flawed, he said he conceded in order to save the state from chaos. However, this did not stop the APC from challenging the results in court. Anenih expressed the view that the National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, should issue the statement.”

‘STOLEN PRESIDENCY’
An agreement was reached on the way forward, Abdullahi narrated, and all seemed set for the change of tune by the party that had been in power for 16 years.
“Conscious that some others in the room also had their own battles to fight and were not primarily interested in Jonathan’s predicament, Anenih further stated that discussions on other elections and candidates should wait until the ‘stolen presidency’ was reclaimed. Anenih’s position was adopted and a team was put together, chaired by Metuh, to draft a statement for the party chairman. Others in the team were the party’s National Secretary, Adewale Oladipo; the National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon; Pius Anyim and Liyel Imoke. They went to work immediately and by the following morning, the statement was ready. However, the unexpected was about to happen,” Abdullahi wrote.
“When the draft statement was presented to Adamu Mu’azu, he declared that he would not release it. He said he had reflected on the idea of issuing a statement and was convinced it was not the way to go. Words soon got the Villa that the party chairman had backed out of the plan. Another round of panic began. The President himself called Mu’azu’s mobile number several times, but the party chairman did not answer the phone.
“Many around the president had suspected all along that Mu’azu was not altogether committed to the Jonathan project. They started grumbling openly that his appointment, as Chairman, was another mistake by Jonathan because Mu’azu himself wanted to be president. When the Chairman failed to show up for some campaign events, the public saw this as evidence that things had finally fallen apart. The party had to move quickly to deny that there was any crack in the PDP ranks.
“Therefore, for those who had questioned Muazu’s loyalty, here finally was the clear evidence. If he had any objections to the decision taken at the previous day’s meeting, why didn’t he say so? they wondered. How could he have turned around to sabotage a plan that he was technically part and parcel of? But this was not the time for retribution. That could wait a few more days. The party chairman was still critical to their plans. An emissary was immediately dispatched to persuade him to have a rethink.
“Godswill Akpabio marshaled all the arguments he could muster, but Mu’azu would not budge. It was also an opportunity for the party chairman to vent some of his grievances. ‘Look, Akpabio,’ he said, ‘I am not a bastard. I have honour to protect. The man who contested the election had conceded defeat. I should now be the one to say that the party would not accept defeat? When the candidate was picking his phone to congratulate the winner, did he consult with the party?’
“And in case anyone was thinking of blaming him for the president’s defeat, such person should think again. After all, didn’t he warn against the use of religion and ethnicity by the President’s wife and some of his other supporters like Ayo Fayose and Fani-Kayode? Didn’t he also warn that the personal attacks on Buhari would backfire, especially in the North? If no one listened to him then and allowed things to go pear-shaped, how could they now turn around and ask him to fall on his sword for sins committed by others?
“He insisted that asking him to issue a statement that would most likely throw the country into turmoil was tantamount to asking him to commit suicide – if not literally, then certainly politically. If Akpabio liked, he could sign the statement himself. After all, he was the Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.  A few days after this encounter, Adamu Mu’azu left the country for Singapore.  Some said on medical grounds. Some said for security reasons. Others said both.”
How Adamu Mu’azu opposed plan to reject Buhari’s victory


Exclusive from The Cable
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Created By SoraTemplates | Distributed By Blogger