Last year held so much hope for Nigerians. It was meant to be a walk to economic El Dorado. But the announcement of fuel subsidy removal in January 2012 turned out to be the beginning of many dashed hopes, RASHEED BISIRIYU writes

 The 2012 budget speech by President Goodluck Jonathan will easily pass as a total package to bail out a nation in dire straits.

The President then spoke extensively on a number of programmes, which his administration intended to initiate to transform the economy. But not many of the promises were kept.

 Few jobs were created

Job creation was a dominant feature of the speech. It was mentioned in at least five different places.

The President gave hope to the jobless and promised to promote “job creation and inclusive growth by investing in critical infrastructure, human capital development and security.”

Government had earlier offered to create one million jobs every year, beginning from 2012.

Apart from a number of initiatives listed for execution in 2012 to generate jobs, Jonathan said the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria programme, which he inaugurated in October 2011, would provide 100,000 jobs.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in October 2012 raised the figure to create 320,000 jobs from next year and added that the proposal had already been built into the 2013 Appropriation.

But the figure remains a far cry from one million jobs promised annually by the government.

In October 2012, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Temi Kale, put the number of jobless Nigerians at 20.3 million. This represents 23.9 per cent of the total population.

 

Bad roads                                                                              

Nigerian roads have for long been described as paths to hell. As it has become a tradition, there were a lot of promises to improve the state of the roads and huge sums of money were voted for different road repairs, construction and reconstruction.

For instance, The Federal Government signed an agreement for the construction of Ada-Okere-Ukoni-Amedkhian roads in Edo State at a cost of N2bn; it approved the reconstruction of outstanding sections of Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajebandele-Shagamu Expressway phase 111 at N65.223bn.

Several accidents were being recorded on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as government and Bi-Courtney Highway Services continued to dilly-dally on the reconstruction of the all-important road. It was only last month that the Federal Government new contractors, Julius Berger Plc and RCC Nigeria Limited, to take over the repairs of the road. Nothing much has changed on the road.

Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway was not any different. People spend agonising hours in avoidable traffic everyday as the road is riddled with potholes.

 

Domestic debt rises

The Federal Government made a promise to reduce domestic debt at the beginning of 2012 and inflation to a single digit.

Jonathan had said, in his 2012 budget speech to the National Assembly, “The Government is determined to pursue a programme of far-reaching fiscal consolidation so as to reduce our deficit and domestic borrowing to more manageable levels.”

But rather than a reduction in the debt profile, it rose from N5.623tn in December 2011 to N6.346tn in September 2012.

Latest reports also indicated that the inflation rate had reached 12.3 per cent.

The Debt Management Office said that at the end of June, 2012, the nation’s debt stock stood at the following: External — N941.2bn ( $6.035bn) and domestic — N6.152tn ( $39.456b).

It added that of the $6.035bn foreign debt commitment, the Federal Government’s owed $3.820bn, while the balance of $2.214bn was the portion being held by states, representing 63.30 per cent and 36.70 per cent, respectively.

 

Cost of doing business remains high

One aspect of the 2012 budget speech that gladdened the heart of importers then was the pledge to reduce the cost of doing business at the ports. There was a directive to the concerned regulatory authorities to work around 48 hours period of clearing goods at the ports.

The Nigeria Customs Service and other security personnel were also asked to commence 24 hours for this purpose. The number of security agencies at the ports was reduced from 14 to about eight.

Jonathan had said, “We have also embarked on reforming our ports and customs and we intend to continue vigorously on this path so as to reduce the cost of doing business for our private sector actors. No longer are we going to be contented for clearance of goods in our ports to take 3-4 weeks with attendant demurrage and costs while it takes 48 hours elsewhere.

“In this regard, I have set up a committee chaired by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance with a mandate to remove the bottlenecks at our ports and another committee made up of private sector users of the ports to monitor implementation. We also intend to work hard to improve the infrastructure at the ports.”

But findings by our correspondent on Monday showed that the 24-hour operation was not working.

Many offices connected with the clearing of goods, it was learnt, hardly operated beyond 5pm. And it was difficult for any importer or an agent to clear goods in one week. Some could take months, incurring demurrage.

“The cost of doing business at the ports is alarming; and it is the highest in the world,” President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, said.

Some of the affected firms were said to have surreptitiously made their way back to the ports, operating under different guises. 

 

PIB not passed

The President had also said that his administration was going to ensure the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.

“The Federal Government is conscious of the need to bring the Petroleum Industry Bill debate to conclusion so as to give investors the comfort and policy certainty that they require,” he had said.

The President, who said “my administration is determined to bring this matter to closure,” had sought the cooperation of the National Assembly members. But it was obvious he never got the required cooperation as the PIB has remained a bill as at the end of 2012, leaving the petroleum sector, which it was meant to sanitise and improve, in a big mess.

 

Cassava bread nowhere to be found

One sector, which also was highlighted by the President last year was agriculture. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, was everywhere to talk about the planned transformation of the sector. The President also made a big show of the cassava bread expected to replace wheat import. He had ordered that thenceforth, cassava bread should be served in the Aso Rock Villa.

He said, “It is common wisdom that the best way we can grow our economy and create jobs for our people is for us to patronize Nigerian-made goods; this is why we are introducing enabling policies to drive this process. In this regard, we are introducing fiscal policy measures that will encourage the purchase and utilisation of locally produced commodities.”

He also said that as from July 1, 2012, wheat flour would attract a levy of 65 per cent to bring the duty to 100 per cent, while wheat grain would attract a 15 per cent levy bringing the duty to 20 per cent.

But six months later, the cassava bread could hardly be found in the market. Wheat bread is still being served in most Nigerian homes.

 

90% of food imported

Agriculture was one non-oil sector the government was looking up to as a major revenue earner.

The President had said, “The agricultural sector is being totally transformed to enable us move from traditional farming to modern agriculture as a business both for our small and large-scale farmers. Our objective is to ensure food security whilst also promoting exports in agriculture value chains where we have a comparative advantage. We intend to process and add value to different crops such as rice, cassava, sorghum, oil palm, cocoa, cotton, etc.”

The expectation, according to the President, is to unlock the potential in the agric sector.

He, therefore, announced that the Federal Government would guarantee by 70 per cent the principal of all loans made for the supply of seeds and fertilizer and get the inputs to farmers at subsidised rate.

He said, “We are subsidising the interest rate on these loans to bring it down from 15 per cent to seven per cent per annum.

“We are introducing further fiscal policy measures to support the development of the agricultural sector. In this respect, the duty on machinery and certain specified equipment for the sector will, effective January 31, 2012, attract zero duty.”

But a survey of food prices showed that they were still high. And compared to the rate obtainable last year, traders and consumers said the prices had gone up by between 40 per cent and 100 per cent.

Local rice production was well canvassed at the beginning of last year. This was meant to gradually replace imported rice.

Government had also announced plan to ban importation of rice by 2015, only three years away.

The President had said, “Effective December 31, 2012, all rice millers should move towards domestic production and milling of rice, as the levy of 50 per cent will be further raised to 100 per cent. Let me add here that no waivers or concessions will be entertained for rice and wheat importation.”

But no word on this issue came from government on Monday December 31, 2012.

The essence of the new measures, according to the President, is to ensure food security.

But the latest reports indicated that Nigeria still imports about 90 per cent of its food requirement.

 

Ineffective mortgage system

The government had hoped to energise the construction industry, especially the provision of adequate housing, with effective mortgage system.

The President said that government was working with some development partners to create an effective mortgage finance system to develop value chains in the building materials segment.

“This will give the necessary stimulant to the sector to accelerate its development and also help to reduce the cost of construction,” he said.

But a former President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Mr. Bode Adediji, said the mortgage system in Nigeria worked on paper and added that the ineffective government’s policy had made many to lose hope in the mortgage system.

The housing deficit as at December was 17 million. http://www.punchng.com/feature/jonathans-long-list-of-broken-promises/

Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo, yesterday continued his attack on President Goodluck Jonathan, saying it is unlikely he would return in 2015.

The NDPVF leader in an interview with journalists in Lagos, said his kinsman had lost the sympathy and support of well-meaning Nigerians.

The former President of Ijaw Youth Council, however added that it was not too late for Jonathan to reconcile with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He noted that if the president wanted to regain confidence of Nigerians, he should urgently deliver on his electioneering promises.

He also advised the number one citizen to do away with self seeking and selfish aides around him.

Asari-Dokubo further attacked the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, describing the latter’s reaction to his last interview as “arrant nonsense, rubbish and childish.”

“I don’t want to reply Abati, the famous author of crab theory, who was desperate to defend his boss just because he wants to justify his wages. What does Abati know? Am I struggling to be President in 2015?”

“What is the correlation between why is the East/West Road not being constructed and the poor performance of the Presidency, including the inability of President Jonathan to curb corruption in his administration and the crab theory by Abati?”

“Abati is just childish; his arguments were baseless, just struggling and managing to salvage the dwindling fortunes and sagging image of the Presidency.”

On the rift between the President and OBJ, Asari-Dokubo debunked claims of the Presidency which states the contrary: “Everybody knows that there is a quarrel. Has Obasanjo not been criticising Jonathan openly?

“Has Obasanjo not said that he was not prepared to keep quiet if things are wrong? Do you need to be told that there is a rift when Obasanjo, who took his position as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as between life and death suddenly gave up the job just like that?”

“Was it not reported that Obasanjo has threatened that Jonathan would not be president in 2015 and that he (Obasanjo) vowed to continue to criticise him (Jonathan)?”

Asari-Dokubo added that he was ready to assist Jonathan win again 2015. He however stated that the president was not very focused, and that the North could use the advantage of his inadequacies to defeat him.

“I am ready and willing to help him in 2015 but there is something wrong with him (Jonathan), he has been hijacked by some people and he is not doing anything to remove them. Jonathan is not on course at all. Jonathan is destroying his presidency”.

“For instance, he got to power majorly by the support of the social media that is the vehicle in which he was brought to power but as I am talking to you today, he has lost all his Facebook fans. He (Jonathan) is going down every day.”

“How can he (Jonathan) deliver when everybody around him are sabotaging him? The people around Jonathan are vicious but somebody like me will not keep quiet to allow Jonathan to lead us to avoidable bloodshed.”

Asked if he was ready for a truce with the Presidency, Asari-Dokubo stated, “I am not ready to be called by anybody because I went to him (Jonathan) many times to intimate him that his conduct would bring disgrace to us. I told him that my brother, you are not doing well. My conscience is very important to me, I cannot keep quiet at all, it
makes me sick.

“But I am and will continue to fight for him (Jonathan), for the Ijaw nation, the South/South and the deprived people, who stood by him (Jonathan). What Jonathan represents is greater than him.

“The Presidency does not need to reach out to me. Jonathan is not representing himself, Presidency is not the personal property of Jonathan; it is the property of those who died throughout the country to make him the president of Nigeria in 2011.”

The former militant leader described the former BoT Chairman of PDP, Chief Tony Anenih as “a liability to the Presidency,” saying it was unfortunate that Jonathan continued to associate with Anenih despite his “credibility baggage.”

“For me as a person, I believe in the sayings that ‘show me your friend, I will tell you who you are. For Goodluck Jonathan to continue to associate with Tony Anennih despite a series of allegations against him is unfortunate.”

“But there is a remedy for him (Jonathan) because he has two years more, ending on May 29, 2015, if he can make amends. Let him genuinely reconcile with Obasanjo, his benefactor, listen to and align with Nigerians, who elected him in 2011.”

“Let him severe and cut off the people around him, who never wished Nigeria and Nigerians well and redeem the battered image of his administration by delivering on his electioneering promises to Nigerians.”

“Jonathan should be prepared to fight injustice and corruption in the remaining two years and remove the deadwoods in his government and move the nation forward.

“All hopes are not lost if he can make amends but his chances of re-election in 2015 is slim and narrow if the present trends of inactivity by his administration continue.”

http://dailypost.com.ng/2012/12/28/jonathan-going-everyday-obasanjo-angry-asari-dokubo-2/

From his Facebook Page:

It has been pointed out to me that many Nigerians who have supported the work I have done in politics and community service are unaware of the fact that I’m now a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). I have been a member for more than a year. The reason I took this course of action is because the progressive opposition in Nigeria has been unable to bring itself under one umbrella though many, myself included, have tried to bring this about by encouraging the subsuming of ego for the common progressive good. This has proven very difficult and progressives cannot afford to dissipate their energies in various small armies while the enemies of the progressive struggle are disciplined enough to coalesce under the conservative/retrogressive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I would therefore encourage all opposition parties to join the ACN. As far as I’m concerned, Nigeria should run a PDP-ACN political party structure. PU

https://www.facebook.com/Utomi/posts/10151472611512525

I actually applied for advertised positions through the bank's website

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By Mohammed Salihu

Which kind of ‘friend’ will come to your house in the middle of the night to apologize for writing falsehoods about you in newspapers and explain that he was only doing it to get appointed as Special Assistant to the President on Communications? I will answer this poser shortly.

I read Reno Omokri’s articles ‘Getting better and not bitter’ and ‘Again on El-Rufai and bitterness’ in response to some veritable questions asked the Jonathan administration by former FCT minister Nasir El-Rufai, I found both quite revealing: sycophantic in tone, full of lies and exaggerations, and clearly intended to be seen as the work of a very patriotic Nigerian. Both were quite frankly, utterly idiotic.

“Let me state that I do not believe that his (El-Rufai’s) piece is an accurate account of current realities in Nigeria,” declares Omokri in his first piece. And in the second piece he went on to imply, disingenuously, that El-Rufai was criticizing the government for selfish reasons (for not getting what he wanted) by declaring ”so what happened in the intervening period? You guessed your answer right- bitterness as a result of unfulfilled expectations.”

In both articles, he muddles the issues raised – even irrefutable facts about the state of our economy without providing any logical explanation. Having decided to be mischievous and misleading – just to suppress the truth, he rattled around all the valid points and analysis provided by El-Rufai. He even attributes the problems to previous governments, while suggesting that what was needed to restore the country to normalcy was for El-Rufai to keep quiet and support President Goodluck Jonathan while the mismanagement goes on.

The new crops of political jobbers like Reno Omokri are very much in the mould of Daniel Kanu’s Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha YEAA. Reno lacks the framework to make sense of events and has therefore chosen to ignore reason, honesty, loyalty and even simple friendships. He ‘eats’ by attacking with hysterical exaggeration, any analysis that should serve as a wakeup call for his paymasters and indeed, the rest of Nigerians. Awful, but understandable

The positions most people take depend on their personal interests. And oftentimes, people have less than honorable motives in assuming the positions they assume in public. My short political encounter with Omokri was a big eye opener. When I first met him last year in the United States, he wanted us to come together to be the arrowheads for the political activities of a man he considered more fit than anyone else to manage the affairs of Nigeria – Nasir El- Rufai. I did not know why he felt that way then and why he now considers the same man to be unbecoming of a statesman.
He frantically sent me this email:

Dear Mallam Salihu,
We need to have a long term plan to change the mind of skeptical Nigerians and show them a new way of leadership. Contrary to what a lot of people believe, such a plan should be simple not complicated.

We need to build a grass root movement like the one built by Joe Trippi with the Dean campaign in The U.S and with the Tsvangirai campaign in Zimbabwe. This has to be a long term strategy. Our task is therefore to use web based tools to solidify our base which is the educated youth and middle class who see Mallam El Rufai for what he is and have a favourable opinion of him and we have to follow a template that worked well for MKO Abiola by using philanthropy and humanitarianism to penetrate the psyche of the ordinary grass root Nigerian who is suspicious of politicians in general and views MallamEl Rufai as an elitist.

My plan is simply this, to return to Nigeria sometime in the near future and use Mallam Nasir’s Council for Youth Empowerment to wake up sleeper cells that I have planted over the years in Nigeria and organise them into an army of volunteers who will immediately go to disaster areas such as places which have experienced floods, building collapse, multi car accidents, epidemics (like the Cholera epidemic/Zamfara lead poisoning outbreak) etc and in the name of the Council and it’s founder Mallam Nasir provide some form of community service to the victims. They will also go to Motherless babies homes and orphanages as well as leper colonies.

In the social arena, they will tour both private and public universities and organise the students to clean up their environments and renounce cultism as well as provide them with tokens such as books and condoms to reduce the risk of HIV infections amongst the student population. We will also get inexpensive eye glasses and over the counter medications from bargain stores in the U.S and give these to rural communities. This will be followed immediately by intense media spotlight which I will personally direct. The end result is that subliminally, we will affect the minds of Nigerians such that when they think of the name Mallam Nasir El Rufai, they will immediately think of his volunteers and their good work because EVERYTHING that is done will be acknowledged by my people to be done under the inspiration of Mallam El Rufai.
Regards,
Reno. “

El-Rufai has never told anyone that he has ambitions to be president. In the run up to last April’s elections, there was intense pressure from many quarters for him to contest the presidency, but he maintained that all the other contestants were his friends and would not want to run against the, especially Nuhu Ribadu. Upon hearing this, it became clear that Reno wouldn’t be sailing on the El-Rufai boat, so he quickly jumped ship, and even deleted me from his Facebook account. When I confronted him about it he had this to say:
“Mohammed,
Thank you for your email. You are my brother and I appreciate you. I was forced into the deletion because it was leading to an expose of private details. I will re add you but let us avoid getting too deep
in our disagreements.
Best regards,

Reno.”

I am not surprised that Reno has become the attack dog now that GEJ is captain of the ship. When looters fear that their racket is being imperiled by a powerful figure using inspiring messages, they looters will obviously try to destroy that figure and his reputation using any means at their disposal. Reno is willing to do just about anything to get into the pot.
I urge Reno to learn from history. All men that did his kind of hatchet job got nowhere. For the paymasters, Reno can be sacrificed as collateral damage. He is being used as a pawn in their spinelessly orchestrated effort to perpetuate their sinister acts. He is inconsequential and will be easily discarded when the need arises. And as to why Reno takes particular pleasure in smearing the man he once believed best suited to be president, an email he sent to El-Rufai in October 24, 2010 and copied me will explain:

Dear Mallam Nasir,
I am playing with an idea in my mind. I am thinking of taking time off (a sabbatical so to say) and coming to Nigeria as a free moral agent to try to influence the direction of the 2011 elections. I am convinced that if I am on the ground my influence will be greater. I would want to arrange something on the ground similar to what Trippi did in Zimbabwe and organize private citizen groups and equip them with technology and skills to monitor the elections clandestinely and relay video and oral reports to the world media in real time and force the government and the INEC to be honest and conduct free and fair elections. One thing holding me back is that I will need accommodation in Abuja. I have been exploring options but Abuja is even more expensive than the U.S and landlords are demanding 2 years rent in advance. Respectfully sir, I was wondering if you could help in this regard.
Regards,
Reno.

El-Rufai was unable to pay Reno’s house rent; from that moment on, he became an enemy. Today, from the comfort of his suite at the Transcorp Hilton (paid with taxpayers’ money), Reno can come up with all the falsehoods he dreams of; he has to be seen to be doing something. I wanted to end this piece by saying something about mediocrity, but Omokri and his team aren’t mediocre. What’s going on is something different and worse: we’re seeing the desire for political positions outweighing principles; we’re seeing vague prejudice (that just so happens to serve the interests of demagogues) trumping very honest analysis.

And this answers the poser I raised at the beginning of this piece: All the insults, misrepresentations, exaggerations and outright lies being told by Reno Omokri is geared towards one thing: securing the position of Special Assistant to the President on Communications. He has confessed as much to his ‘friend’, Nasir El-Rufai!

Mohammed Salihu is an Abuja based Project Engineer and Consultant and can be reached on msalihu@gmail.com

Opposition Congress for Progressive Change, CPC  has described Doyin Okupe’s reaction to General  Muhammadu Buhari’s comment as unintelligent.The party said  the nauseous, intemperate and inane  mannerism of Okupe, the senior  special assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan as “a collective disgrace to us as Nigerians.”

“As a Party,” CPC said today, “we have often counseled that the churlish demeanor of Dr Doyin Okupe is deleterious to the Jonathan regime. The nauseous, intemperate and inane mannerism of Dr Doyin Okupe as a Presidential aide is a collective disgrace to us as Nigerians. Whilst it is understandable that there is usually a strong desire to desperately hold on to a rehabilitative Presidential appointment -in a clime bedeviled with festering deprivation and corruption- there is nothing noble in talking when there nothing to be said.

CPC added that, “the penchant for Dr Okupe in attacking whatever GMB says, with concomitant jettisoning of reason, is despicable and stands condemned. The good that the President can do to himself will definitely not be in pandering to the obsequious apologists around him like Dr Okupe but in properly distilling the well-meaning pieces of advice of acknowledged Patriots like GMB.

Read the full text of CPC’s statement below:

OKUPE’s unintelligent response to Buhari’s statement.

At the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), we have noted the cavalier, but utterly fatuous, statement by Dr Doyin Okupe, the Presidential Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, as a reaction
to the assertion of our National leader, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB). It would be recalled that, at an interactive session with Journalists after the CPC Board of Trustees’ meeting on Wednesday,
November 07, 2012, GMB had unambiguously labeled this PDP government of President Goodluck Jonathan as the author of the political variant of Boko-Haram.
At a Channels’ interview session on Thursday, November 08, 2012, Dr Okupe abandoned reason as a tool for dialectical engagement (based on verifiable fact) and sounded like a broken record in mouthing the same over-used propaganda (not based on substantiated fact) that GMB incited his supporters to resort to violence during the 2011 electioneering campaigns. He said inter-alia: “during the election,
during the campaign, General Buhari himself campaigned for violence, so it is too late in the day to try to back track. Those who sow wind should not try and start and begin to look good.”  It was this same capricious but unfounded falsity that Dr Reuben Abati, his colleague in the business of image laundering project for President Good-luck Jonathan, wrote in his Guardian Newspaper column in May 2011; the
subject of a libelous litigation that Abati is desperately making attempts to untangle himself from.




For the sake of preserving the records from the desperate attempts of revisionists in the Nation’s power corridor, let us examine again the facts that stare us in the face about the consanguinity of this
PDP-led Federal Government of President Good-luck Jonathan with the Political Boko-Haram that had, in the last two years, inflicted incalculable damage on the essence of our Nationhood.

Fact one- Since the advent of the fourth republic which effectively started on May 29, 1999, aside the agitation of the Niger-delta militants for resource control, there had not been any structured infrastructure for mass attack on innocents and religious institutions as had been seen in the last twenty-five months. While Dr Good-luck Jonathan was still vying for the Presidential nomination of his Party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), there was a bomb blast near the Eagle Square, Abuja during the Independence anniversary celebration on October 1, 2011. Whilst the dust was still settling on an infamy that claimed innocent lives with many others severely wounded and without any preliminary report from the security agencies on the incident, the President (Dr Goodluck Jonathan) spoke: “It is not MEND.”  A perspicacious check on the President’s statement would suggest that he had prior knowledge of the source of the blast. Of course, in the succeeding days, the Campaign Manager of one of the Political elements (from Northern Nigeria) that was contesting the party nomination with
him was invited for questioning by the Nation’s secret service as a way to deflect public gaze towards him. When he withdrew his candidacy, the president quickly incorporated his campaign manager
into the ‘Good-luck Jonathan campaign’ organization!

Fact two- In May 2011, Dr Reuben Abati, then Chairman, Editorial Board of Guardian Newspapers and Friday columnist of the same tabloid, wrote a piece in which he laid the blame of the post-election violence of April 2011 elections at the doorsteps of GMB. It did not matter to the writer that he had no empirical evidence to support his impudent assertion. Curiously, it was upon this decrepit literary predication that all other spurious attempts (on the Cyber-space and Nation-space) were based. After President Jonathan was sworn in on May 29, 2011, he replaced his former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ima Niboro, with Dr Reuben Abati! The question is: was this appointment a fitting reward to Dr Abati for the hatchet job of assisting to blacken GMB’s pedigree?

Fact Three- On Friday, August 26, 2011, the United Nations’ building in Abuja was bombed by a suicide bomber, leaving trail of several fatalities and many others with serious injuries. Asked if the attack
has adverse effect on the image of Nigeria, the president said, “Of course, wherever you have terrorist attack in any country, Nigeria is not an isolated case. Many countries have suffered from terrorists
attacks, may be it is the turn of Nigeria. But we are on top of the situation”.   On the first year anniversary of the bombed UN building, the government of Dr Good-luck Jonathan provided N3.2Billion to rehabilitate the UN house, made up of N2.6 Billion to start the building and N600Million to provide temporary accommodation, in addition to promised refund of $580,000 for the treatment of victims.
It did not really matter to this profligate PDP government that the United Nations, in its world-wide operations, has comprehensive insurance for its buildings and workers, even against terrorism! Was
the offer by the government of Dr Good-luck Jonathan made because, “it is Nigeria’s turn for terrorism?”

Fact Four- In January 2012, President Good-luck Jonathan told a bewildered nation, still smarting from the spate of murderous bombings in the Northern parts of the country, that his government has been infiltrated by Boko-Haram. The cogent questions are: How did the President know this as a fact? With the elaborate surveillance and espionage infrastructure under his watch, why has the Nation not been informed on the unmasking of these fifth columnists in his government? Since the preponderance of the cabinet members in his government consist of Party folks, has this challenge been finally resolved in
the usual PDP ‘family’ affair?

Fact Five- In February, 2012, Mohammed Ali Ndume, a serving PDP Senator from Borno South, was arrested for links with Boko Haram. In March 2012, the Senator deposed to an affidavit, wherein he stated that all his activities with Boko-Haram are known to the Nation’s Vice-President, Mr Namadi Sambo. There had not been any official rebuttal on the assertion, which realistically connotes acquiescence!

Fact Six- In April 2012, the erstwhile National Security Adviser to the President, General Andrew Azazi stated with a gusto that is devoid of ambiguity that Boko-Haram is PDP. It is a known fact that, as things stand today, President Good-luck Jonathan is the Leader of PDP!

Fact Seven- In April 2012, Henry Okah, the leader of the Niger-delta militancy group (MEND), deposed to an affidavit before a South African court that President Good-luck Jonathan was the sponsor of the October 1, 2011 bomb blast near Eagle square. There had not been any official rebuttal from the Nation’s Presidency!

Fact Eight- In October 2012, Mr James Ineh, an Assistant Director with the State Security Services (SSS), told a Federal High Court  that Senator Ali Mohammed Ndume gave Attorney-General of the Federation
(AGF) and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke’s telephone number to the Boko Haram. The raison d’etre for this reprehensible behavior was to ensure that the AGF influenced the Borno Election Tribunal to favour PDP’s cause!
As a Party, we have often counseled that the churlish demeanor of Dr Doyin Okupe is deleterious to the Jonathan regime. The nauseous, intemperate and inane mannerism of Dr Doyin Okupe as a Presidential aide is a collective disgrace to us as Nigerians. Whilst it is understandable that there is usually a strong desire to desperately hold on to a rehabilitative Presidential appointment -in a clime bedeviled with festering deprivation and corruption- there is nothing noble in talking when there nothing to be said. The penchant for Dr Okupe in attacking whatever GMB says, with concomitant jettisoning of reason, is despicable and stands condemned. The good that the President can do to himself will definitely not be in pandering to the obsequious apologists around him like Dr Okupe but in properly
distilling the well-meaning pieces of advice of acknowledged Patriots like GMB!
God bless Nigeria.

Rotimi Fashakin (Engr.)
National Publicity Secretary, CPC.
(Friday, November 09, 2012).



http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/NIgerianWorldForum/message/259661

Opposition Congress for Progressive Change, CPC  has described Doyin Okupe’s reaction to General  Muhammadu Buhari’s comment as unintelligent.The party said  the nauseous, intemperate and inane  mannerism of Okupe, the senior  special assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan as “a collective disgrace to us as Nigerians.”

“As a Party,” CPC said today, “we have often counseled that the churlish demeanor of Dr Doyin Okupe is deleterious to the Jonathan regime. The nauseous, intemperate and inane mannerism of Dr Doyin Okupe as a Presidential aide is a collective disgrace to us as Nigerians. Whilst it is understandable that there is usually a strong desire to desperately hold on to a rehabilitative Presidential appointment -in a clime bedeviled with festering deprivation and corruption- there is nothing noble in talking when there nothing to be said.

CPC added that, “the penchant for Dr Okupe in attacking whatever GMB says, with concomitant jettisoning of reason, is despicable and stands condemned. The good that the President can do to himself will definitely not be in pandering to the obsequious apologists around him like Dr Okupe but in properly distilling the well-meaning pieces of advice of acknowledged Patriots like GMB.

Read the full text of CPC’s statement below:

OKUPE’s unintelligent response to Buhari’s statement.

At the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), we have noted the cavalier, but utterly fatuous, statement by Dr Doyin Okupe, the Presidential Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, as a reaction
to the assertion of our National leader, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB). It would be recalled that, at an interactive session with Journalists after the CPC Board of Trustees’ meeting on Wednesday,
November 07, 2012, GMB had unambiguously labeled this PDP government of President Goodluck Jonathan as the author of the political variant of Boko-Haram.
At a Channels’ interview session on Thursday, November 08, 2012, Dr Okupe abandoned reason as a tool for dialectical engagement (based on verifiable fact) and sounded like a broken record in mouthing the same over-used propaganda (not based on substantiated fact) that GMB incited his supporters to resort to violence during the 2011 electioneering campaigns. He said inter-alia: “during the election,
during the campaign, General Buhari himself campaigned for violence, so it is too late in the day to try to back track. Those who sow wind should not try and start and begin to look good.”  It was this same capricious but unfounded falsity that Dr Reuben Abati, his colleague in the business of image laundering project for President Good-luck Jonathan, wrote in his Guardian Newspaper column in May 2011; the
subject of a libelous litigation that Abati is desperately making attempts to untangle himself from.




For the sake of preserving the records from the desperate attempts of revisionists in the Nation’s power corridor, let us examine again the facts that stare us in the face about the consanguinity of this
PDP-led Federal Government of President Good-luck Jonathan with the Political Boko-Haram that had, in the last two years, inflicted incalculable damage on the essence of our Nationhood.

Fact one- Since the advent of the fourth republic which effectively started on May 29, 1999, aside the agitation of the Niger-delta militants for resource control, there had not been any structured infrastructure for mass attack on innocents and religious institutions as had been seen in the last twenty-five months. While Dr Good-luck Jonathan was still vying for the Presidential nomination of his Party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), there was a bomb blast near the Eagle Square, Abuja during the Independence anniversary celebration on October 1, 2011. Whilst the dust was still settling on an infamy that claimed innocent lives with many others severely wounded and without any preliminary report from the security agencies on the incident, the President (Dr Goodluck Jonathan) spoke: “It is not MEND.”  A perspicacious check on the President’s statement would suggest that he had prior knowledge of the source of the blast. Of course, in the succeeding days, the Campaign Manager of one of the Political elements (from Northern Nigeria) that was contesting the party nomination with
him was invited for questioning by the Nation’s secret service as a way to deflect public gaze towards him. When he withdrew his candidacy, the president quickly incorporated his campaign manager
into the ‘Good-luck Jonathan campaign’ organization!

Fact two- In May 2011, Dr Reuben Abati, then Chairman, Editorial Board of Guardian Newspapers and Friday columnist of the same tabloid, wrote a piece in which he laid the blame of the post-election violence of April 2011 elections at the doorsteps of GMB. It did not matter to the writer that he had no empirical evidence to support his impudent assertion. Curiously, it was upon this decrepit literary predication that all other spurious attempts (on the Cyber-space and Nation-space) were based. After President Jonathan was sworn in on May 29, 2011, he replaced his former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ima Niboro, with Dr Reuben Abati! The question is: was this appointment a fitting reward to Dr Abati for the hatchet job of assisting to blacken GMB’s pedigree?

Fact Three- On Friday, August 26, 2011, the United Nations’ building in Abuja was bombed by a suicide bomber, leaving trail of several fatalities and many others with serious injuries. Asked if the attack
has adverse effect on the image of Nigeria, the president said, “Of course, wherever you have terrorist attack in any country, Nigeria is not an isolated case. Many countries have suffered from terrorists
attacks, may be it is the turn of Nigeria. But we are on top of the situation”.   On the first year anniversary of the bombed UN building, the government of Dr Good-luck Jonathan provided N3.2Billion to rehabilitate the UN house, made up of N2.6 Billion to start the building and N600Million to provide temporary accommodation, in addition to promised refund of $580,000 for the treatment of victims.
It did not really matter to this profligate PDP government that the United Nations, in its world-wide operations, has comprehensive insurance for its buildings and workers, even against terrorism! Was
the offer by the government of Dr Good-luck Jonathan made because, “it is Nigeria’s turn for terrorism?”

Fact Four- In January 2012, President Good-luck Jonathan told a bewildered nation, still smarting from the spate of murderous bombings in the Northern parts of the country, that his government has been infiltrated by Boko-Haram. The cogent questions are: How did the President know this as a fact? With the elaborate surveillance and espionage infrastructure under his watch, why has the Nation not been informed on the unmasking of these fifth columnists in his government? Since the preponderance of the cabinet members in his government consist of Party folks, has this challenge been finally resolved in
the usual PDP ‘family’ affair?

Fact Five- In February, 2012, Mohammed Ali Ndume, a serving PDP Senator from Borno South, was arrested for links with Boko Haram. In March 2012, the Senator deposed to an affidavit, wherein he stated that all his activities with Boko-Haram are known to the Nation’s Vice-President, Mr Namadi Sambo. There had not been any official rebuttal on the assertion, which realistically connotes acquiescence!

Fact Six- In April 2012, the erstwhile National Security Adviser to the President, General Andrew Azazi stated with a gusto that is devoid of ambiguity that Boko-Haram is PDP. It is a known fact that, as things stand today, President Good-luck Jonathan is the Leader of PDP!

Fact Seven- In April 2012, Henry Okah, the leader of the Niger-delta militancy group (MEND), deposed to an affidavit before a South African court that President Good-luck Jonathan was the sponsor of the October 1, 2011 bomb blast near Eagle square. There had not been any official rebuttal from the Nation’s Presidency!

Fact Eight- In October 2012, Mr James Ineh, an Assistant Director with the State Security Services (SSS), told a Federal High Court  that Senator Ali Mohammed Ndume gave Attorney-General of the Federation
(AGF) and Minister of Justice Mohammed Adoke’s telephone number to the Boko Haram. The raison d’etre for this reprehensible behavior was to ensure that the AGF influenced the Borno Election Tribunal to favour PDP’s cause!
As a Party, we have often counseled that the churlish demeanor of Dr Doyin Okupe is deleterious to the Jonathan regime. The nauseous, intemperate and inane mannerism of Dr Doyin Okupe as a Presidential aide is a collective disgrace to us as Nigerians. Whilst it is understandable that there is usually a strong desire to desperately hold on to a rehabilitative Presidential appointment -in a clime bedeviled with festering deprivation and corruption- there is nothing noble in talking when there nothing to be said. The penchant for Dr Okupe in attacking whatever GMB says, with concomitant jettisoning of reason, is despicable and stands condemned. The good that the President can do to himself will definitely not be in pandering to the obsequious apologists around him like Dr Okupe but in properly
distilling the well-meaning pieces of advice of acknowledged Patriots like GMB!
God bless Nigeria.

Rotimi Fashakin (Engr.)
National Publicity Secretary, CPC.
(Friday, November 09, 2012).

Delusion! Bastard Op!