Jonathan is the one who told the ministers to go to Saudi.

Talk about playing games- naija, una just begin dey see games oh.

“The only position in the executive council, which by constitutional provision requires a particular profession to head is that of the Office of the Attorney-General, it must be a lawyer.” Ojo Maduekwe.

I think we need to tear that constitution and write new one, it posing alot of problem.

Gbawe:

What does it matter ? We have a grossly imcompetent and decietful Foreign Affairs Minister disgracing all Nigerians and all you care about is his ethnic group? Do you think that Foreign countries will laugh at all Nigerians or one ethnic group in Nigeria when they reflect on how woefully inept our foreign minister is? Ojo Madueke represents Nigeria and not his ethnic group . Full stop .

Thank you

Mbeki:

I don't know why he has not been sacked by Uncle J. that man like an expired automobile has outlived his usefulness and need to be discarded.

where did the man come from sef?

Ojo- Maduekwe, is he Igbo or Yoruba?

Why introduce tribalism into the subject? Are you not able to analyse issues without introducing tribalism into it?

yemmight:

How can he be Yoruba. He's a silly, imbicile yeye, Ibo clawn.

Truly distasteful

presido1:

When Mekuxxx come in you guys will start blaming him while the instigators are left unmentioned.

Can you not speak for yourself? Are you not a man? Why do you need mekusxxx to come and speak for you? Besides, should you attack another tribe for the actions of one man. Just tell the guy that you find his comments inappropriate. Simple

Always taking from the four compass of his month.

shameless recyclied bin, always in every Govt.

God save us from the hand of this evilmen !

^^^^ O boy where u get that picture

With all due respect,mikeansy i stand to challenge your notion that Ojo has said or done nothing wrong. Let me put it this way, first of all it seems Ojo is already aware that he and his other colleagues will not be able / allowed to see Yar'adua and therefore the man is already giving excuses.

That is not a very accurate assessment of what Ojo said. Because he also said this team will not suffer the fate of previous delegations. Previous delegations were not going to see King Abdullah. They were going to see Yar'adua but failed to realise that. So if he is saying they are not going to suffer the same fate then that tells me he is saying they are confident to physically see Yar'adua.

That aside,please how can you say that you want to thank the King of Saudi Arabia as if you placed Yar'Adua in his custody in the first place. Lets call a spade a spade. The 6 ministers know what Nigeria's what and they should stop playing mind games with us.

The excuse so far has been that Yar'adua is in a high security ward reserved for King Abdullah and that Yar'adua family signed a secrecy pact with the hospital to allow nobody. Well when Ojo was pointing out the difference between going as private citizens and going as Government officials on a diplomatic mission, he was simply making the point that as Nigerian authorities they will be accorded the diplomatic respect of a sovereign country visiting another sovereign country. And how best to do that other then going to say hello to the leader of that country. After that the King will send his men to ensure that this team is given all co-operation to see Yar'adua. This is how diplomacy works.

Trust me for National Security reasons and avoidance of diplomatic impasse this team will be supported by Saudi security forces to bypasse any nonsense pact Turai may have signed with King Faisal hospital. So this is not about gra-gra. Yar'adua is in a Foreign land and we must follow some diplomatic routes. I have been calling for this move for weeks even before the FEC came to this decision. And I honestly understand that this move is routed in pragmatism.

Ojo Maduekwe on his own does not and should not be expected to explain the thinking process behind what they are doing. I think we need to chill and watch as events unfold.

We simply want to know if the man is dead or alive,secondly FEC is suppose to ascertain if he is fit or unfit, We all know that he is unfit but we want to hear it from the horse's mouth and not telling me cock and bull stories that you want to go and thank the King as if the king is the one that keeping him alive on life support .

Again what you and I know about Yar'adua being unfit is based on rumours. The team has a duty to keep an open mind until they physically see the President. They have a duty to treat the President fairly and with respect and thats simply what Ojo is doing. You may not agree but this is how diplomacy and due process works. Those who call for Yar'adua to be declared unfit do not love the man Yar'adua any less than those who say he should rule from anywhere. And we all have a duty to demonstrate that we still have respect for the sanctity of life while we protect our country's National security and interest.

And for this simple fact even Jonathan himself has been careful in the way he handles this issue. Just last week Ojo Maduekwe moved a motion for Yar'adua to be declared incapacitated. That motion was responsible for this decision to send a delegation to Saudi. Ojo Maduekwe's choice of actions and what he votes for at the FEC meetings is more important than anything he has to say say in public for what will lead to removal of Yar'adua is not what anyone says in public but what happens in the forthcoming FEC meetings.

So folks keep your eyes on the ball, our priority here is to remove Yar'adua so that Nigeria can move forward. Maligning the Lifeless body of Yar'adua adds no value to the self esteem, macro-economics or greatness of Nigeria.

Ojo is another lunatic to be sent as minister of state for special duties.
Anyway, for his comment i just keep my fingers crossed untill he returns from saudi without  Yaradua's corpse, then we shall send him Ojo to saudi for ever.

Ojo Madueke needs to go! His antics are sheer buffoonery! I mean this is totally stupid. Why spend so much public funds visiting the king of S.Arabia when a simple thank you letter will have done a great job. Is the Nigerian government not footing the bill for Yar'adua medical needs?

Nigerians missions abroad continually cry for adequate funding, the Nigeria consulate in New York for instance owns thousands of dollars in parking tickets- Ojo Madueke should utilize his brain for once and do something tenable.

But alas, this is the same Ojo Madueke of the infamous Abacha million-man march! God help us if strange-bedfellows like him continually call the shots!

Danmasani:

Ojo Madueke needs to go! His antics are sheer buffoonery! I mean this is totally silly. Why spend so much public funds visiting the king of S.Arabia when a simple thank you letter will have done a great job. Is the Nigerian government not footing the bill for Yar'adua medical needs?

Nigerians missions abroad continually cry for adequate funding, the Nigeria consulate in New York for instance owns thousands of dollars in parking tickets- Ojo Madueke should utilize his brain for once and do something tenable.

But alas, this is the same Ojo Madueke of the infamous Abacha million-man march! God help us if strange-bedfellows like him continually call the shots!

Are you saying it is not necessary to go and see if the President is even alive?

Thank the king for what? for paying the presidents healthcare bill? hOW DO these people get into power? who voted them in? This is just outrageous and ridiculous. Back to the main issue, no doctor will dear prevent a delegation from a country from seeing their president, (even if he is on contact isolation, wear mask/gown/gloves).

i dont know how much longer i can take this *****, just annoying!

OFF TOPIC

Danmasani:

,    the Nigeria consulate in New York for instance owns thousands of dollars in parking tickets- Ojo Madueke should utilize his brain for once and do something tenable.

Get the facts right,    the paid parking behind the NY Consulate is not owned by them.

Uncle Ojo pls stop embarrassing us!

mikeansy:

Are you saying it is not necessary to go and see if the President is even alive?

Sir , you are contradicting yourself. You write that Ojo Madueke has said nothing wrong with how he stated (falsely IMO) that "our mission to Saudi is to thank the king" , with the unspoken insinuation that they are not there to see Yar Adua, yet above you are admitting that the EXCOF members are there to "see" if Yar Adua is alive !!!!!

This is why transparency is important . Every Nigerian understand the real "mission" of the EXCOF team.  Madueke is just looking to save face for the disgraceful cowardice and shamelessly self-serving actions of himself and other EXCOF members. They are the same bunch of unpatriotic fools , under an impotent Jonathan, who claimed Yar Adua was fit to carry on 'leading' Nigeria while things were falling apart . Now that Jonathan is boss they want to surreptitiously reverse their treasonable actions and exonerate themselves of wrongdoing with a fact finding excercise they now term a "thanksgiving  mission" to prevent Nigerians accusing them of failure , once again, if they do not see Yar Adua . we are not buying this from Madueke. It will not be the first time him ,and numerous others , have lied disgracefully and illogically in the past three months to Nigerians and the entire World.

Madueke is a disgrace . He knows that they cannot go the direct route of telling the world their real mission because him and all of the Ministers on that team ,only a few weeks ago , shamefully endorsed Yar Adua to continue in office when they had not felt duty bound to verify Yar Adua's fitness or lack of it. Madueke cannot therefore admit that they are carrying out a covert 'reconnoitre' in attempting to right the treasonably wrong actions of him and his shameless colleagues. If Nigeria was sane and Jonathan had the unflinching support of Nigerians legitimacy confers, he should be sacking all these fools who held us to ransom and not sending them to correct their wrongful actions that put our democracy at great risk.

A source in the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NIFIU) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja disclosed that the trip to Saudi Arabia would cost $15 million, with six Ministers and two aides each spending an average $2.5 million per person.

“With a hotel bill of about $1,500 per head in a five star hotel in Riyadh, you would get $27,000 per individual, then multiply that with the number of days they would spend.”

Another source at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), who confirmed that the delegation would travel on a Presidential jet, said it would cost over $1.5 million to fly the aircraft to Saudi Arabia and back.


http://www.independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=9149

Pls dont shout!

Gbawe

I am not contradicting myself. I have always been consistent on how to deal with this issue before the FEC made the decision to go to Saudi.
I have always called for a diplomatic mission to Saudi put together by Jonathan because I do believe that the Saudis will find that too indulging to resist us access to the President. That will also help bypass any obstacle Turai may want to place on the way.

Going to see King Abdullah in whatever fashion is surely part of that diplomatic mission and unfortunately there are not much of other excuses than the issue of Yar'adua.

Someone should suggest what other phrase or caption the FEC team could have given to see King Abdullah on the issue of Yar'adua?

Should they say they want to seek his permission to our President? Folks just need to grow up. I don't know what this debate is about.

Do you have any better way to bypass the obstacles Turai has been manufacturing? Perhaps you want Nigeria to go to King Faisal hospital with helicopter gunships, a platoon of soldiers to a foreign land to evict Turai and her body guards?

If anybody has a better way of bypassing Turai please post it here.

mikeansy:

Are you saying it is not necessary to go and see if the President is even alive?

Mr Mikeansy, stick to one argument!

First you said that Ojo Madueke has not done anything legally wrong,  I tend to agree. But his current undertaking is competently wrong. His judgement, together with other members of the Federal Executive Council to embark on a chest thumping 'Thank you' visit to the Saudi king is uncalled for. Nigeria could use those resources to other means. I bet we're going to end up paying the medical bills anyway!

Secondly, you insinuate that the trip is necessary to see if Yar'adua is alive. Well Ojo Madueke himself answered your question. He is not going there to see  President Yar'adua but to "thank" the Saudi King for 'his hospitality". That's a good gesture, albeit one that would be better served by simply writing a letter.

Nigeria needs to move on. She has a new President. These people should stop all the grandstanding and work for once. Elections are due next year where Nigerians will, in the absence of electoral reform and a competent INEC witness another @rgy of enormous rigging and political charade. Niger-Delta is still boiling, power cuts incessant and instability wreaking havoc in Northern states. More Akunyili's and Less Madueke's will be the way forward!

@ Mikeansy, You seem to be missing the whole point of the argument, what people like Gbawe are saying is that after being lied to for almost 3months we do not need more lies or diplomatic speak; because after the FEC meeting lastweek; the press briefing stated the reason for this journey, for Ojo to know on the day of their departure of the journey to say the above is wrong and simply treating the nigerian public with disdain, however diplomatic he is trying to be, It would have been better to shut up,

Danmasani:


Nigeria needs to move on. She has a new President. These people should stop all the grandstanding and work for once.

I agree but , sadly , we will never "move on" with mercenaries like Madueke who almost destroyed our democracy with how , in the face of incessant protests from Nigerians, they failed to do the right thing. In fact they went out of their ways to wickedly ensure that they worked against what is best for Nigeria. It is therefore insanity to expect these same unpatriotic traitors to be any part of a forward moving Nigeria. For three months Madueke and co acted like a ruthless mafia gang doing everything to truncate our nascent democracy .

It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that these idiots now want to gain redemption by pretending they are now doing what is best for Nigeria only after the downfall of the benefactor (Yar Adua) that allowed their looting and incompetence to go unchecked.  Jonathan should be sacking these fools not allowing them to insult the sensitivities of Nigerians further. This is early proof that Jonathan will be another 'business-as-usual' leaders . The man comes with no fire in his belly and no burning desire to punish , instantly and without delay, those who disgraced our nation ,and him, while selfishly risking the demolition of the unity and democratic survival of Nigeria. I am already looking beyond Jonathan to 2011.

Gbawe:

Sir , you are contradicting yourself. You write that Ojo Madueke has said nothing wrong with how he stated (falsely IMO) that "our mission to Saudi is to thank the king" , with the unspoken insinuation that they are not there to see Yar Adua, yet above you are admitting that the EXCOF members are there to "see" f Yar Adua is alive !!!!!

This is why transparency is important . Every Nigerian understand the real "mission" of the EXCOF team.  Madueke is just looking to save face for the disgraceful cowardice and shamelessly self-serving actions of himself and other EXCOF members. They are the same bunch of unpatriotic fools , under an impotent Jonathan, who claimed Yar Adua was fit to carry on 'leading' Nigeria while things were falling apart . Now that Jonathan is boss they want to surreptitiously reverse their treasonable actions and exonerate themselves of wrongdoing with a fact finding excercise they now term a "thanksgiving  mission" to prevent Nigerians accusing them of failure , once again, if they do not see Yar Adua . we are not buying this from Madueke. It will not be the first time him ,and numerous others , have lied disgracefully and illogically in the past three months to Nigerians and the entire World.

Madueke is a disgrace . He knows that they cannot go the direct route of telling the world their real mission because him and all of the Ministers on that team ,only a few weeks ago , shamefully endorsed Yar Adua to continue in office when they had not felt duty bound to verify Yar Adua's fitness or lack of it. Madueke cannot therefore admit that they are carrying out a covert 'reconnoitre' in attempting to right the treasonably wrong actions of him and his shameless colleagues. If Nigeria was sane and Jonathan had the unflinching support of Nigerians legitimacy confers, he should be sacking all these fools who held us to ransom and not sending them to correct their wrongful actions that put our democracy at great risk.

Trust me it is a lot easier to criticise from the sidelines. Nobody knew the state of Health of Yar'adua. Maybe Jonathan should have taken the bull by the horn and lead efforts to resolve the logjam and find out the truth but because of the chequered history of our country you can also not blame him for playing it like he did.

Moves:

@ Mikeansy, You seem to be missing the whole point of the argument, what people like Gbawe are saying is that after being lied to for almost 3months we do not need more lies or diplomatic speak; because after the FEC meeting lastweek; the press briefing stated the reason for this journey, for Ojo to know on the day of their departure of the journey to say the above is wrong and simply treating the nigerian public with disdain, however diplomatic he is trying to be, It would have been better to shut up,

Thank you my brother !!!! Madueke and co were disgracefully taciturn and decietful in the past three months yet lo and behold, under new leadership , they have suddenly found their voices !!! Madueke should understand that they have come to the end of the road as far as decieving Nigerians is concerned . We all know that they are a thoroughly shameless bunch who lied and sold out their nation for the various 'inducements' they recieved frm the wicked men and women who do not want 150 million people to aspire to better leadership that will secure a brighter future.

Moves:

@ Mikeansy, You seem to be missing the whole point of the argument, what people like Gbawe are saying is that after being lied to for almost 3months we do not need more lies or diplomatic speak; because after the FEC meeting lastweek; the press briefing stated the reason for this journey, for Ojo to know on the day of their departure of the journey to say the above is wrong and simply treating the nigerian public with disdain, however diplomatic he is trying to be, It would have been better to shut up,

Unfortunately I think they are reacting to their emotions.

Its unfortunate that some think I am making two different arguments, I am not. I have been consistent. Unfortunately I have seen that Nigerians like putting too much emotions over issues.

People like Danmasi and Tpia are simply canvassing for a situation where we have an acting President acting on behalf of a possibly dead or incapacitated President. This is against the provision of our constitution and is unacceptable. But for some curious reasons best known to them they dont want anybody to go near to Yar'adua but you will see them disguise their argument into something else they don't believe in.

Then there is another school of thought people like Gbawe, Tundewoods who are saying declare the President unfit and don't want to read between the lines or listen to people carefully if they don't necessarilly say the things they want to hear.

But  what will be unfortunate for this country will be a situation where the second group of people begin to agree with the earlier group in principle out of frustration without questioning each other's intent.

Yar'adua should be treated with respect. There is no need having the foreign minister held on record saying he is going abroad to perform activities that will help him unseat the President. If you say that the Saudis can simply say they don't want to be part of that game.
but it also true that the right thing has to be done. And there is no way of knowing the right thing without seeing Yar'adua. If this 6 man delegation find that Yar'adua is incapacitated they will advice their colleagues as such. But the FEC can not take decisions based on rumours so they have to see the President.

So people need to chill let these guys return and lets see the outcome.

People like Danmasi and Tpia are simply canvassing for a situation where we have an acting President acting on behalf of a possibly dead or incapacitated President. This is against the provision of our constitution and is unacceptable. But for some curious reasons best known to them they dont want anybody to go near to Yar'adua but you will see them disguise their argument into something else they don't believe in.

you're delusional and overcome by emotions

I agree that it would have been better to shut up!!!!

But Ojo Maduekwe did not invent going to thank the Saudi King. It is actually the reason the FEC gave for the diplomatic visit.

I remember Dora Akunyili said the same after last week FEC meeting. So the whole go and thank Saudi King is a collective decision and I personally don't see an alternative way to caption the diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia.

^^ dont wound yourself over the matter.

Gbawe

Jonathan will start by sacking himself first if the position of Government officials over Yar'adua issue is the only standard to judge by.

He Jonathan told the world that he was in constant communication with Yar'adua when it has emerged that Yar'adua has not spoken a word since.

So no need scapegoating people. This is a very tricky situation. I want Ojo Maduekwe replaced as foreign minister but it is important to put issues in context and understand that we have a very tricky and difficult situation in our hands.

@ Mikeansy, He could have said they are going to saudi to visit our president to disperse any rumour of his condition and would also be visiting the king of saudi to thank him for harbouring our president, omitting the part of visiting the president which is part of the orignal intention is ridiculing our collective sensibility and caste the whole exercise in bad light, hence your postulation on the intent of jonathan is negated by that statement, What do you expect to happen if they return that they couldn't see yardua, as Ojo had already given a press conference they he is not going there to visit the yardua,

Moves:

@ Mikeansy, He could have said they are going to saudi to visit our president to disperse any rumour of his condition and would also be visiting the king of saudi to thank him for harbouring our president, omitting the part of visiting the president which is part of the orignal intention is ridiculing our collective sensibility and caste the whole exercise in bad light, hence your postulation on the intent of jonathan is negated by that statement, What do you expect to happen if they return that they couldn't see yardua, as Ojo had already given a press conference they he is not going there to visit the yardua,

Please expand the comment in bold

I have no problem with what Maduekwe or anyone is saying about this trip now. I am interested in the report they will give after the visit.

OAM4J:

I have no problem with what Maduekwe or anyone is saying about this trip now. I am interested in the report they will give after the visit.

Exactly!!!!

What they say to the rest of FEC and what actions FEC takes tomorrow or later is what matters!!! No need to malign those who are potentially willing to be part of the 2/3 majority needed to unseat Yar'adua.

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.

Foolishness!