Prof. ABC Nwosu, last week spoke to some reporters in Enugu where he explained why the Igbo are pushing for a northern presidency in 2011. Chris Oji was there. Excerpts:

Why are all the campaign organistions of northern presidential aspirants here in Enugu today?

The campaign organisations of the four northern aspirants on the platform of the PDP, namely IBB, Atiku, Gusau and Saraki have been meeting in Abuja to harmonise their strategies and action towards the agreement with the Northern Leaders Forum to support a candidate from the North to complete the zoning arrangement which will end in 2015 for the North and thereafter revert to the South East. The facilitator of the meeting is the Igbo Political Forum, which signed the agreement with the northern leaders. That was why the meeting today was chaired by Professor Charles Soludo, former CBN Governor. Key members of the four organisations were present, including state coordinators and zonal coordinators, and we have agreed to fine-tune our message and activities; to address our Igbo brethren on the imperative of Ahamefula, which is what Igbo presidency in 2015 is all about.

All of us who attended this meeting are strong believers in the zoning arrangement for the office of the president and other related positions without which there will not be order in the manner in which power is acquired by any group in Nigeria.

What really is the Igbo presidency all about?

The Igbo presidency, to some of us, has gone beyond political belief almost to religious belief. It hurts persons like us very much each time meetings of Council of State in Nigeria are held and we see pictures of former presidents and no Igbo man is there. For me, it is excruciatingly painful. What we are saying is that after 2015, no Igbo man will stand in that excruciating club.

Secondly, for our population and independent growth, starting from the Great Zik; it is grossly unfair that other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria do not understand why, for Ndigbo, the attainment of the presidency is a major issue of pride and self respect.

Thirdly, considering the roles which we have continued to play as the most dispersed group in Nigeria, helping to bring about development everywhere we go, that we are still asking for accommodation in the presidency is appalling.

Finally, zoning was canvassed at the Constitutional Conference of elected delegates in 1995 by Ndigbo. Its application saw a Yoruba man becoming president in 1999 and 2003. The Yoruba did not find that application of zoning to be unprogressive. In 2007, the South-South reached an agreement with the North, on the basis of which President Yar’Adua and then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan emerged. For them, zoning was okay at that time. Now that zoning will come to play for Ndigbo, zoning has become a very unprogressive and retrogressive idea. It is troubling to many of us that this conspiracy against Ndigbo has continued. During the campaigns, we shall operate in such a manner that this hidden conspiracy against Ndigbo and the attainment of the presidency in Nigeria, because the others say we lost a war, must come out into the open. We thank the northern leaders for saying that only an Igbo presidency will bring the civil war to an end, and we will challenge the others to reveal their true feelings about Ndigbo and the presidency of Nigeria.

During the weekend, the Ohanaeze Imeobi held their meeting, and as a prominent member you were not there. Why?

I had reasons to believe that the Imeobi was not meant to discuss anything but to ratify the endorsement of the president even before his party adopts him. Ohanaeze is adopting him even before his party. I thought that was ridiculous. Secondly, the Imeobi had been primed to give the present executive tenure extension. I thought it was also ridiculous that all those who criticised the third term agenda with the argument that the incumbent president at the time should not seek for tenure extension which would favour him; we are now part of tenure extension to favour an incumbent Ohanaeze President. For these two reasons, I stayed away. And looking at the communiqué and the list of attendance I got, I am glad I stayed away from the Imeobi meeting. I will always wish Ohanaeze well, because that is what we have.

After the meeting. they endorsed President Jonathan as the Igbo consensus candidate for 2011. How do you see that?

That is tragic to me, and my view is well known on this. By that endorsement, we are saying that our neighbour is such a friendly and kind person that we can entrust our destiny into his hands. I will never agree to this. The destiny of Ndigbo lies in Igbo’s hands, no more no less. I will not be like Ripvanwilkle in a folklore, who leaves his farm to go and tend other peoples’ farms only to come back and find that his farm has been taken over by weeds completely. The South East Movement is all about ‘no friend, no enemy; only Igbo interest in Nigeria.’ Our office in Enugu still bears that motto. I will be faithful to that. If President Jonathan offers me Igbo presidency in 2011, I will consider it in the context of zoning. If he offers it in 2015, we shall examine which is the better way of getting it, considering the offer we already have. But so far, nobody is offering and that is a very troubling matter for anybody with self respect.

Don’t you think that President Jonathan is keeping quiet on who will succeed him in 2015 in order not to offend the northerners?

That is exactly my point and my fear. Why is he afraid to offend the northerners if there is no secret agenda? Why are the northerners not playing safe but coming out openly with Ndigbo? I would rather go with somebody who wants to be seen in the open than somebody who will not want to be seen associating with me in the open but will sneak in to see me in the dead of the night. The presidency that we are seeking in 2015 is of right and not secret. This brings me to my second fear that the Ohanaeze executive met with the Ijaw National Congress (INC) twice on the admission of the President General in Enugu and in Yenogoa, hosted by the Bayelsa State Governor. These meetings took place about four months ago. The delegations that met with INC are not known to Ndigbo. The agreements that were with INC are not known to Ndigbo. I am begging them to make their agreement with the INC public like we published our own agreement and attendance list with Northern elders. Let there be transparency and honesty in dealing with your people.

What is the point of disagreement between the IPF version of Igbo presidency and that of Ohanaeze, which apparently is of the view that after Jonathan, power comes to Ndigbo?

There are five points of disagreement. The first is that the meeting between the IPF and Northern Elders was a public meeting and the agreements have been widely publicised with the list of those in attendance. The Ohanaeze fangled argument on rotation to the South-East does not exist anywhere except in their imagination. If they reached an agreement with the INC, let them make it public. The second difference is that the Igbo presidency 2015 proposed by the IPF is predicated on a four-year completion tenure by the north of the presidency to terminate in 2015. The northern presidential candidates have gone public on this and IBB at his declaration said he would do only four years, “so help me God.” President Jonathan, who declared three days later, kept silent on the matter of tenure and has remained silent on it ever since, and his campaign handlers have remained silent on this. People like me would want the president-general of Ohanaeze to say something on tenure before he says anything on Igbo presidency in 2015, because the two are closely linked. The third difference is that the South- South reached an agreement with the North. It was on that basisthat the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan emerged. If agreement with northern leaders was an exercise in futility, why did the South-South still reached an agreement with them, and even after the IPF had reached an agreement with them, still sought audience with the North? Therefore, even the South- South knows that the agreement we reached with the Northern elders is a strong one, not to be compared with the wishful thinking of the Ohanaeze President General, who said that after the South-South ,it would come to the South-East without saying how. The forth difference is that we have reached agreements in the past, in 1959 and in 1979, with the North, championed by the legend the Great Zik, and these agreements worked for the benefit of Ndigbo in the setting up of the Federal Government at independence, with the Great Zik as the Governor General and the NPN/NPP accord. The fifth and final difference is that the leadership of Ohanaeze is afraid to even talk of Igbo presidency in 2015. They talk more on endorsement of president Jonathan even before the party has endorsed him, and yet they don’t belong to any party. If they want me to take them seriously, let them start talking as IPF is doing, that Igbo presidency 2015 is not negotiable, and let them come out boldly how this can be attained.

How come you believe that Babangida will serve only four years and work for Igbo presidency?

This is a very good question, because many people ask it of me. My answer is simple. Why should I buy land from somebody who gives me a C of O because I am afraid that he would renege on the C of O in 20 years time and I go and buy land from somebody who is not prepared to give me a piece of paper that I bought showing that land from him, let alone a C of O? We reached an agreement with northern leaders led by Mallam Adamu Ciroma, with IBB, Atiku, Ango Abdullahi, Gambo Jimeta, Yahaya Kwande, Iorcha Ayu, Tanko Yakassai and others as members. The list of attendees has been widely publicised. Acting on this agreement, IBB said he would serve for four years and hand over to an Igbo person. He went further to say that it is when an Igbo becomes the Commander-in-Chief that the civil war will be brought to an end. You are asking me how do I trust him? And I am asking you whether you want me to trust a president who does not say when his tenure will end, who does not say who he will hand over to, who has chosen a northerner as vice president, and who has said that presidency is not zoned.

How do you intend to sell your candidate?

The question of selling IBB will arise when a consensus candidate has emerged. But for me, it is an easy sell. I will not forget that once we were only Imo and Anambra, two states out of 19 states. When IBB created Abia and Enugu, we the South-East became four states in one day. And since that day, only one more has been added and we have been shouting for a sixth state and we don’t even get a hearing from the government. I have a copy of his chieftaincy photograph and chieftaincy certificate as consoler of Ndigbo, and I keep looking at the photograph of an Igbo saint and legend, Late Dr. Akanu Ibiam, who was in charge of that ceremony. These and many more will be put in pamphlet and widely circulated in Igbo land. I ask you to tell me the bad thing that IBB has done to show that he is not a friend of the Igbo,and I will not join in endorsing other region’s view about IBB who have axe to grind with him. There are so many positive records of IBB towards the Ndigbo for me to go by.

http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/politics/18069.html

There is a popular parable that “what an elderly man can see sitting down, a young man cannot see standing up”. This parable is instructive to the short-sightedness, lack of tact and crass opportunism being exhibited by the South in the ongoing debate on zoning.

With the accidental emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan following Yar’Adua’s death, there has been a sudden and sustained campaign against the zoning arrangement by Southerners who see it as an opportunity to have President Goodluck Jonathan continue in office beyond 2011.

The problem however is not President Goodluck Jonathan continuing beyond 2011 as I personally have no problem with that, the real problem is that in their haste to cling to the opportunism of Jonathan’s presidency, many characters from the South who should know better, now argue that zoning as a concept of nation building and national cohesion should be dumped altogether. Except there is a collective amnesia in the South, the characters now arguing that zoning should be dumped could not have forgotten that it was the South who as a result of Nigeria’s peculiar history and pattern of Northern domination stridently advocated the principle of zoning.

In 1994, due to the deafening complains of Northern domination and strident calls for a sovereign national conference and power rotation by Southerners, the then General Sanni Abacha convoked a national constitutional conference which produced a draft constitution that recommended the creation of the six geo-political zones and the rotation of power amongst the six zones as a nation building strategy. Gen Abacha’s draft constitution thus became the first official seal of the concept of zoning in Nigeria’s political history through the efforts of the same Southerners who now argue out of opportunism and short-sightedness that zoning should be dumped.

Many of the later day anti-zoning Southern proponents have never bothered to ask themselves the fundamental questions; what happens after Jonathan completes his tenure and power returns to the North? What happens if President Goodluck Jonathan being mortal falls down dead tomorrow and power returns to the North? What happens if President Goodluck Jonathan becomes incapacitated out of illness or an accident and power returns to the North? And indeed what happens if he loses the PDP primaries or the elections and power returns to the North? These are fundamental questions that the present day Southern anti-zoning opportunists have never bothered to ask nor answer.

If the latter day anti-zoning opportunists dare to ask or answer the fundamental questions above, they would realise that the new strategy of campaigning against zoning by the South portends grave danger for the future when and if the North returns to power. Power in Nigeria has always been subject to manipulation and in the absence of zoning as many Southerners now argue, the danger lies in the North manipulating the process to prevent Southerners from coming to power as they have done successfully in the past. The fact of Northern manipulation and domination of power to the exclusion of the South is a historical reality that the South has lived with which led to the strident advocacy for rotational presidency. It will be foolhardy for those who now out of opportunism argue that zoning should be thrown away to assume that the North cannot and will not continue their well oiled scheme of manipulation and domination if they return to power in the absence of zoning.

Like the Aburi accord negotiated in Ghana in 1967, which was a constitutional masterpiece that settled all the issues of resource control and regional autonomy, but was scuttled by the greed, opportunism and short-sightedness of the so called Southern permanent secretaries and other notable Southern leaders, the arguments by some Southerners to dump zoning might yet come back to haunt the South as the Aburi accord that was truncated by Southerners continues to haunt us all.

Decades after the truncation of Aburi accord, the same Southerners who truncated it, are now in an ideological trench campaigning for a sovereign national conference and resource control. In other words, they are campaigning for a constitutional arrangement they wilfully threw away decades earlier out of sheer opportunism. If the Southern anti-zoning opportunists do not take time, they will end up returning to the trench to campaign for the zoning they are now out of opportunism wilfully dumping decades later, but by which time it might too late.

As I have previously written, Nigeria’s peculiar post-independence history of long years of Northern domination requires a rotational system based on the subsisting six zones that would serve as a strategy for nation building. For those who argue that zoning will deprive Nigeria of the emergence of the best candidates, empirical evidence in our chequered history provides evidence that the best candidates have never emerged when elections were conducted without zoning. Instead, it heightened ethnic tensions and produced winners or alleged winners through a manipulated process or through tribal and religious allegiance.

In the 1st and 2nd republics, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo contested against Alhaji Tafawa Balewa and Alhaji Shehu Shagari. While it could easily be concluded that Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo were better candidates than the other two, none of them won. This clearly provides evidence that ethnic and religious considerations has in most cases always trumped the choice for a better candidate in Nigeria’s elections, and in a nation which has increasingly become an ethnic jungle, this trend is not about to change soon.

Thus a rotational system which would be a peculiar though not exclusive Nigerian solution and strategy for nation building would most likely guarantee the emergence of better candidates as the removal of the ethnic tensions and ethno-religious considerations that go with an election involving candidates from different tribes would give way to Nigerians making their electoral choices only on merit. Since every zone has more population than Ghana and indeed most African countries, there will be no shortage of good candidates and most importantly every group including minorities will have the opportunity of ruling Nigeria. The rotational system itself is not a new concept as many diverse nations and institutions around the world already practice variants derived from it.

In Switzerland, the presidency rotates among the various ethnic groups and in the European Union; the presidency rotates among the member states. The rotational system is quite remarkable in Switzerland where the German ethnic group with 65% of the population constitute an absolute majority capable of perpetual political dominance, but yet subscribed to the rotational system in order to accommodate the minority ethnic groups.

Switzerland is consequently one of the world’s most stable, democratic, harmonious and prosperous nations just as the European Union is one of the most functional and prosperous institutions in the world. Together, Switzerland and the European Union are notable examples in the successful application of the principle of rotation along ethnic and national lines, all designed to suit the peculiarities of their geo-political realities.

For those anti-zoning advocates in the South who may be suffering from bouts of amnesia, a quick look and reminder of Nigeria’s history would reveal that minorities and Southerners with the exception of Olusegun Obasanjo’s 2nd coming have only ruled Nigeria by accident. General Aguiyi Ironsi from the East became the first to emerge through such a system after the assassination of the then prime minister Tafawa Balewa in the Jan 1966 coup. General Yakubu Gowon a Northern minority from the middle belt became the 2nd beneficiary after the assassination of General Aguiyi Ironsi in the July 1966 counter-coup. General Olusegun Obasanjo from the West also became a military head of state after the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed in 1976 and lastly President Goodluck Jonathan who ascended the throne in 2010 after Yar’adua’s death.

Indeed, it is also noteworthy that Moshood Abiola who as an exception won in 1993 was nonetheless denied his victory on an ethnic premise, and Olusegun Obasanjo’s 2nd coming in 1999 as a civilian president which was another exception was nonetheless facilitated by the accident of General Sanni Abacha’s sudden death and the zoning arrangement. Nigeria’s chequered history thus lends credence to the fact that political power has overwhelmingly concentrated in the Muslim North and only moved to minorities or non-Northerners by accident. A heterogeneous nation with such a peculiar history rightly deserves to have a specially designated and structured rotational system that would be a strategy for nation building and inter-ethnic cohesion.

The overwhelming evidence of historical injustice and domination in no way supports the arguments of the anti-zoning advocates who because of President Jonathan’s accidental emergence now indulge in the opportunism of advocating the dumping of zoning without reflecting on the long term consequences of their logic. In reality, zoning in no way affects president Jonathan’s bid for the presidency as he is the beneficiary of a joint mandate with a late president, and there is no constitutional provision that forbids him from contesting.

However, while we acknowledge the flaws, breaches and imperfections so far in the zoning arrangement which is not president Jonathan’s fault and which should not prevent him from running for the presidency, he can now use the period of his presidency to consolidate the zoning arrangement as proposed below, by fine tuning and enshrining it in the constitution to prevent a relapse into the domination of the past and the kind of acrimony and power struggle that has trailed his bid for the presidency as a result of the absence of a well spelt out constitutional process for power rotation.

Constitutional Review Options Of Power Rotation And Succession
(1) The present structure of six zones with three each in the North and South presents a perfect match for the purposes of rotation. In a practical and common sense way, the presidency could be rotated in alternation between the North/South and among the zones in alphabetical order preferably for a 6 year single term or alternatively for an 8 year double term as the case maybe. In the case of an 8 year double term, all political parties will also be obliged to field candidates only from the designated zone for the subsequent election of the remaining 4 year tenure.

In the event of another political party and candidate winning the subsequent election, he or she can only serve the remaining 4 year tenure for the designated zone. The introduction of rotation in alphabetical order will remove every confusion, make it possible for all existing political parties to field candidates from the same zone and prevent acrimonious power struggles between different zones.

In case of death and succession, there is the option of a constitutional review to introduce the office of a deputy president in addition to the already existing office of the vice president. The vice president should continue to be from other zones as is presently the case, but the new office of the deputy president should be occupied by someone from the same zone as the president for the sole purpose of completing the presidents tenure in case of incapacitation, impeachment, resignation or death.

(2) Another option is to have a constitutional provision that stipulates the organization of another election within three months in case of incapacitation, resignation, impeachment or death to elect someone from the same zone as the president to complete the constitutional tenure of the exited president.

Conclusions:
Instead of throwing away zoning as we threw away the Aburi accord, we should move to consolidate it because of its potential for nation building and national cohesion. A well structured and successful rotational system in Nigeria could in time be a model for other heterogeneous nations in Africa and around the globe struggling with the challenges of nationhood. As has been the case in Switzerland and elsewhere, rotational presidency amongst a cocktail of other measures will prevent protracted and acrimonious power struggles in future and potentially usher in a more harmonious, stable, democratic and prosperous nation. Achieving this feat would surely be President Jonathan’s greatest legacy.

Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
Email: lawrencenwobu@yahoo.com


http://www.saharareporters.com/article/zoning-and-southern-opportunism-dangers-ahead

The pictures of these two men, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Igwe Okwudili Onyejekwe bear a striking resemblance. Igwe Onyejekwe is the former Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Okwudili Onyejekwe a police officer, who lived in Abeokuta around 1930s. He died in 1970.

Former presient Obasanjo has procurred a writer from Ghana to do a 50-page book on him and at the launching of the book bragged that he was "100%" from Owu-Egbaland in Ogun State. The question if not where Obasanjo think he comes from but his real paternity.

http://www.saharareporters.com/photo/who-olusegun-obasanjos-father

JEGridlock= 666

The Malam Adamu Ciroma-led Northern Political Leaders Forum currently working to pick a northern consensus candidate for the 2011 presidential elections is to meet the former Chief of Army Staff, General Theophillus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), among other top retired military top brass of northern extraction. Danjuma is the Chairman of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC). Ciroma, who is the chairman of the Northern Leaders Political Forum, is heading a 12-man committee of “wise men” strategising to produce a consensus candidate from among former military president General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former National Security Adviser General Muhammed Aliyu Gusau and Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State.



Sunday Trust learnt that some elements among the retired military officers were not comfortable with the manner the Ciroma committee was going about its activities which apparently didn’t put the military top shots into reckoning compared to other stakeholders in the region.

“This may not be unconnected with the northern leaders’ resolve to consult with the retired military officers just like it’s consulting with the traditional institutions, religious leaders and socio-cultural and political organizations in the region,” a source close to the committee said.

It was learnt also that the “delay in the announcement of the consensus candidate is borne out of the desire to broaden the consultation work by the committee so that whoever emerges would have the support of all interest groups in the region.”

A member of the Northern elders’ forum, Major General Muhammadu Magoro (rtd) told Sunday Trust last night that the moves may not unconnected with the committee’s desire of having a broad-based decision. He explained that he was not aware of any complaint since the consultation must not necessarily be professionally-based.

“The committee has its terms of reference. If the committee feels that certain individuals need to be consulted it will certainly do that whether there was complaint or not. The consultation must not be professionally-based also,” Magoro said.

Ciroma had last week dispelled rumours that the committee had got stuck somewhere along the line in its consideration of the four aspirants and is sourcing for an alternative candidate from outside the above mentioned four. He explained that in view of the amount of work involved in the pursuit of presidential nomination and the resources to be applied, it is reasonable “to only deal with people who are convinced by themselves, that they want to do it and that they can afford to do it, and that they are likely to succeed.”

It would be recalled that General Danjuma was last week reported to have endorsed the candidature of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presidential aspirant and former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu. The report was disputed by the General through his wife, Senator Daisy Danjuma less than 24 hours later.




http://www.sunday.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5100:consensus-ciroma-to-meet-danjuma-retired-military-top-shots&catid=57:cover&Itemid=126

After the Senate rejected his proposal to make his aides delegates, President Goodluck Jonathan’s political strategists are desperately looking for options that will deliver success to him in the forthcoming party primaries. It is evident that President Goodluck Jonathan is making frantic moves to cushion the effect of the rude shock he suffered from the Senate’s refusal to endorse his proposed Electoral Act Amendment bill, by re-presenting the same bill as a private member bill to the Senate for reconsideration. The proposed bill, which was a forthnight ago thrown away by the Senate, aimed among other things, to confer the president’s hordes of aides delegates status during the primaries.



The presidential bill, Sunday Trust learnt, is expected to be represented to the Senate by the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, as a private member bill, but the media aide to the deputy senate president, Mr Paul Udenyi, refused to deny or confirm the story when our reporter spoke to him on telephone. Udenyi said that “the deputy senate president is not ready to talk about that issue now. He would only talk next week (this week).”

But a member of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendment who spoke to Sunday Trust in confidence confirmed that there was that move by the presidency even though “it won’t sail through even if it is represented.” The president and his political strategists are disturbed by the unfolding events in the political space, particularly as the political pendulum in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seems to be swinging to the side of the president’s political opponents.

Though the Senate threw away the controversial bill, the bill has already passed a second reading in the House of Representatives and is awaiting the third reading and likely passage, which, “if adequately and articulately utilised, can provide a respite and springboard to the presidential foot soldiers. That explains the presidency’s frantic efforts to lobby the lawmakers,” a presidency’s source, said.

As feasible as the president’s strategists feel their efforts may bear fruit, the situation may not be that easy if not near impossible. This may not be unconnected with the mood in the two chambers of the National Assembly as well as the bad blood the proposal has generated among Nigerians. According to a member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi), the presidential bill was not democratic and is also now history.

He told Sunday Trust that “In legislative procedures, once a bill is thrown out in a chamber, a member may propose another amendment to it at any point in time but the original one sent by the president is dead and buried. Members are at liberty to propose amendments. However, if it is killed in the two chambers, it can only be brought back after six months. However, I am telling you that I, Honourable Ningi, will not support it. What is the essence of what we did in the past? Section 87 ( of the Electoral Act was part of the recommendations of the Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais Electoral Reform Committee and the public hearing we did on the electoral reform bills. What the president proposed is undemocratic.”

Also, Rule 90 of the Senate Standing Orders and Order 12 and Rule 14 of the House Standing Rules declare that “when the second reading of a bill has been agreed to or negated, the question shall not be proposed for a second reading of another bill of the same subject matter during the same session. On the order of the day relating to such bill being read the Senate President shall direct that the bill be withdrawn.”

Despite this provision, the president’s men, it was gathered, are lobbying the Senate to rescind its decision on the bill by suspending Rule 90 of the Standing Rules to enable the bill be re-introduced on the floor of the Senate for a second reading again just as the lawmakers in the other chamber are monitoring the situation.
A desperate president

The action of the Senate in rejecting the president’s bill has caused a lot of damage to Jonathan’s ambition to clinch the party’s presidential ticket as well as expose his “incapacity” to exact influence on the legislature dominated by his party. It was in the light of this that the Vice President, Muhammad Namadi Sambo, was mandated by the president to “dialogue” with the leadership of the National Assembly to, among other things, make them see reason and endorse the president’s proposed amendment.

The vice president did meet with the National Assembly leadership at the Presidential Villa where he reportedly tabled the presidency’s demands. The meeting was attended by Senate President, David Mark, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Bayero Nafada, with Speaker Dimeji Bankole conspicuously absent.

The vice president also pleaded with the lawmakers to grant the request by the President to take another jumbo foreign loan of about $5 billion US dollars which they earlier resisted and expressed stiff opposition to. A source told Sunday Trust that the meeting which commenced at about 9:30 pm, lasted up to 12 midnight.

“But we told him that it won’t work. The Senate would not renege on its decision on the Electoral Act which many Nigerians have also opposed. On the issue of the foreign loan, we also told him that majority of members are opposed to it,” a source privy to the meeting said.

The lawmaker however said that “you should not underrate them. They are capable of doing that. That is why Nigerians should stand with the members of the National Assembly on these issues even though it is clearly stated in our rules that once a bill is rejected, it cannot be brought back until after six months.”

President Jonathan had requested that section 87 ( of the 2010 Electoral Act be deleted to allow political parties decide who constitute their delegates in the primary election which is seen in political circles as a move aimed at enhancing his chances of clinching the ticket of the PDP in the forthcoming presidential primaries.

But the presidency denied that the vice president met with the National Assembly principal officers with a view to lobby them into endorsing the president’s wishes, saying that the meeting was the usual “fraternal assembly” between the leadership of the legislature and the executive arm. Sambo was disturbed that if the Electoral Act, 2010, is retained without accepting the president’s amendments, it could affect their electoral fortunes during the presidential primaries.

The Senior Special Assistant, Media, to the vice president, Malam Umar Sani, said that “it should be appreciated that the presidency enjoys a good working relationship with the legislature and should there be a need for consultations, it will not hesitate to do so.” The presidential aide dismissed the report as “an attempt to bring to disrepute, the legislature and the executive and to portray the executive in bad light with regards to electoral matters.”

The presidency didn’t find it easy when the House of Representatives also rejected the Federal Government outstanding 2010 external borrowing plan forwarded to them by President Jonathan last week, describing presidency’s move as “unpatriotic.”

Vice President Sambo reportedly told the principal officers that “the contents of the amendments to the Electoral Act would have helped to deepen democracy in the country.” Some of the presidency’s demands to the lawmakers include the ones which asks that ministers and political appointees should be made automatic delegates at the PDP presidential primaries; presidential primaries to be centrally held in Abuja instead of at the state level as presently in the Electoral Act; caucuses of political parties to determine the nature of their primaries; reintroduction of the rejected bill as a private member bill, among others.

Not only that, more facts emerged that the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) had during its last meeting in Sokoto, refused to be dragged into politics shortly after President Jonathan delivered his opening address at the event.

The president’s strategists move to make a behind-the-scene maneuver, purportedly seeking the support of the traditional and religious leaders for his 2011 presidential ambition. “The members of the group politely and constructively rejected to be dragged into partisan politics even though they accorded him a warm welcome,” a source close to the meeting said.

Insider sources said that members of the council resisted subtle pressures to back the ambition of any presidential aspirant because doing so might undermine their collective integrity and independence.

The sources also disclosed that President Jonathan’s foot soldiers were not leaving anything to chances and, therefore, any available forum to secure advantage for their man needed to be exploited. The council members were scared of being involved with the ambitions of politicians so as not to compromise their reputation as an interfaith and neutral body, it was learnt.


Jonathan’s new strategy

With the on-going battle before the National Assembly, the president’s team, Sunday Trust gathered, are also planning another option of resolving the issue of zoning, which has been a cog in the wheel of Jonathan’s presidential ambition. The president’s strategists have already filed a suit at the Federal High Court; Abuja, seeking a judgement that will pronounce zoning unconstitutional.

The suit, which is allegedly being coordinated from the presidency, was filed by an Abuja–based lawyer who is a confidant of one of the close associates of Jonathan. The suit, with file number FHC/ABJ/CS/424 2010, has joined the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP and the 56 other political parties as defendants.

The president’s strategists are seeking the judicial determination of the following questions: “Whether in the light of Sections. 12(2), 14(2) (c) and 224 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999 and Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 1990, anyone of the 1st to 57th Defendants as political parties in Nigeria can validly abridge the right of the people to freely participate in the government of their country and abrogate such right through a zoning policy.

“Whether in the light of Section 12(2) of the CFRN and Article 25 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 1990, the Nigerian State is obligated to ensure free participation in government by the people of Nigeria without permitting this freedom to be circumvented or abrogate by the policies of anyone of the 1st to the 57th Defendants as political parties in Nigeria.

“Whether in the light of Sections 86 (3)-(5) of the Electoral Act, 2006 and on the strength of Sections 12(2), 14(2) (c) and 224 of the CFRN, 1999 and Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, 1990, the 58th Defendant as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can be compelled to ensure that anyone of the 1st to the 57th Defendants as political parties in Nigeria does not zone elective offices in the government of Nigeria and thereby abrogate the right of Nigerian citizens to freely participate in the government of Nigeria.
“Whether anyone of the 1st to the 57th Defendants as political parties in Nigeria can qualify, modify, abrogate or alter the provisions of Section 131 of the CFRN 1999, to such an extent that the right of the people to participate freely in the government of their country is limited to a few people against the generality of Nigerian people.

“Whether arrogation of elective office by the 1st to 57th Defendants in favour of a few people in lieu of the generality of the Nigerian citizenry constitute a threat to national solidarity, and which solidarity the plaintiffs, under Article 29 (4) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act 1990, the Plaintiffs are obligated to preserve”.

A source told this newspaper last night that “should the court determine the questions in favour of the plaintiffs, then their prayers that zoning should be declared unconstitutional, null and void, and that INEC should ensure that all the defendants comply with the court decision will also be granted.”

Already, a memorandum of conditional appearance has been filed by the presidency. Also, an ex-parte motion for substituted service on some of the defendants that have been evading service has been moved last week.

But the Public Affairs Analyst of Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr Yakubu Datti, told Sunday Trust that the whole thing is pure mischief. “It is not true that President Jonathan is manipulating the Electoral Act. Those accusing him are the products of these manipulations they are accusing him of doing,” he said.


The mixed reactions

The issue has been generating mixed reactions from across the political divides. Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim (ANPP, Yobe East) told Sunday Trust that the attempt will suffer the same fate as it did during the previous one. “I don’t think that will be possible. If it is so, why did we throw out the bill in the first place? It won’t work and even if they send it again, it won’t get a positive consideration.”

The former Yobe State governor declared that the presidency’s proposals are undemocratic and capable of destroying democratic tenets and etiquettes. “The Senate is totally against making un-elected people delegates of political parties. That is the crux of the matter. The position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is so important to be given into the hands of unelected people to choose the presidential candidate. Let the people elect their presidential candidate. They should be allowed to decide who should be their president. It is undemocratic,” Senator Abba said.

This position was echoed by Representative Bala Ibn Na’Allah (PDP, Kebbi), saying that passage of the president’s proposed bill amounts to killing of internal democracy within political parties. He said that “altering section 87 ( of the Electoral Act is the most dangerous thing I have ever been called to do as a member of parliament. We voluntarily agreed that power must return to the Nigerian people. If we destroy internal democracy based on simple requests then I say bye to democracy.”

Also, Senator Kaka Malam Yale (ANPP, Borno Central) rhetorically asked why the Senate rejected the bill in the first place. “Why did the Senate reject the bill in the first place? The circumstance has not changed. The Senate has to be convinced on why we should re-consider it again,” he said.

The Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross River Central), also believes that the bill won’t sail through if it finally resurfaces as a private member bill. “It will not be tenable to bring back the bill again. I don’t know what argument has changed from then to now,” he said.

On the other hand, the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) believes that the bill is still alive in the lower chamber of the federal legislature. “The bill is pending on the floor of the House. The committee will report to the House. That it failed in the Senate does not mean it will fail in the House. We will consider it and pass it according to our rules. We will send it to the Senate for concurrence. For now, only one chamber has rejected it. It is very much alive in the House. The committee will soon report to the House,” he said.

Representative Enang’s submissions are some of the grey areas the presidency is trying to explore in the impending battle of supremacy between the president and his opponents in the PDP. It is being considered by the president’s strategists as a ray of hope for the Jonathan presidential mission.

The civil society and other opposition figures are also not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that the president’s wishes, which they consider very capricious, don’t see the light of day. A rights activist and President of the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), Malam Shehu Sani, told Sunday Trust that the president is rabidly ambitious. “The move by President Goodluck Jonathan to repackage and re-present to the Senate, the thrown out bill is a condemnable act. It’s nothing but a desperate attempt by Goodluck to gain additional advantages using the incumbency factor. Jonathan’s act is immoral, unethical and rabidly ambitious. The Senate should throw out his bill again,” he said.

The rights campaigner described the president’s commitment to free, fair and transparent elections as a ruse. “It’s ridiculous and hypocritical for a man who sings the song of free and fair elections on one side and on the other, he is desperately packaging bills to the Senate that will unfavourably thrust him up above others. Jonathan is just acting out of fear of defeat at the primaries,” Sani said.

A leading PDP presidential aspirant and former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said that the same bill the presidency is trying to sneak in through the back door will be shot down again. Abubakar who spoke through his director of media, Malam Garba Shehu, assured that the bill is doomed to fail again.

“We don’t have the details of the new bill but if it is the same thing all over again, it will be shot down. We are convinced that in rejecting the earlier amendment, the National Assembly voted with conviction. It is as if the government wants to use the back door, having failed to get entry through the front door,” he said.

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), has described the development as unfortunate. The party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Aghanya Dennis, declared that, “it is wrong for the president to have thought of inserting that clause in the first instance because it is undemocratic. Since it was defeated at the first presentation, it would have been more honourable for him to accept it that way than engaging in an exercise that is capable of reversing the gains of our nation’s democracy. He is trying to arm-twist his political opponents thereby putting a question mark on his promise to conduct a free and fair election.”

He added that, “for the Senate to have thrown out the bill at the first instance without blinking an eye, it showed that he is also not in control, capable and an amateur to seek the position of the country’s presidency. The PDP does not have any programme for the country other than mismanagement. Our president is deceitful.”

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) declared that the PDP-led government has never been sincere in its commitment towards electoral reforms in the country. This, according to the group who spoke through its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, believe that since it’s the same party that rejected the Uwais report, it is no surprise that the presidency wants to manipulate its way to victory.

“The same PDP-led government has rejected Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais report on electoral reforms at the detriment of Nigerians. The party is made up of self-serving people. It is no news that the president is manipulating the National Assembly to endorse his whimsicalities at the detriment of millions of Nigerian citizens.”

It is not clear whether the president’s men will have their way in the National Assembly this time around. But it is no secret that the battle line has been drawn between the president’s men and their army of opponents.











http://www.sunday.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5089:intrigues-as-jonathan-desperately-searches-for-plan-b&catid=57:cover&Itemid=126

Posted: October 29, 2010 - 04:45
Posted by siteadmin
caption: Goodluck Jonathan
By Kennedy Emetulu

Personally, I am weary of the attempt to turn the allegations in the report by World Tribune into some anti-Gusau propaganda. Granted, I do find the report more than a little skewed in its analysis of expected voting patterns and its not-so-well disguised attempt to be anti-Jonathan and pro-Gusau, yet it must worry any thinking Nigerian that rather than debunking the story and asking for specific evidence to support the claims, the response of the President and his people has been more of diverting attention from the allegations by blaming someone or others they think has or have relationship with the authors simply because that guy or these others are now opponents within the President’s party!

Indeed, reading through the supposed presidential refutation as released by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Ima Niboro, one comes to the scandalous conclusion that its strongest point is that “if it is about calumnious material, then there are others who have more to fear, including rattling skeletons in dusty cupboards, than President Jonathan would ever have”. What the bloody hell is that? Doesn’t that look, walk and quack like blackmail? Is it a rebuttal to say there are more bribe givers or more people with things to hide? Is that the same as telling us that no, such a thing never happened and is not happening? Isn’t it implied clearly in that statement that Jonathan has something to hide, but thinks it is great defence to say that some other person or persons behind this report have more to hide? Or does he think his position as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the most important individual and institutional totem of the nation, is the same with those he’s pointing at?

And frankly, what is all that crappy talk about Jonathan’s “widely anticipated victory at the PDP primaries”? Anticipated by who and who and on what basis? Don’t they know that such a statement actually supports the report? Are they not invariably telling us that they are working towards an already prepared answer? Was a credible poll conducted nationwide or within the PDP to reveal that expectation? I mean, if on one hand you are claiming that delegates are yet to be identified, how did you arrive at the expectation of victory? Is such a declaration certified by ghosts? Yet, the truth is that the party congresses have even been concluded in most states and in fact, the PDP is now telling INEC it wouldn’t be able to repeat the exercise in some states that they have adjudged as not properly conducted. Indeed, most of the delegates who are delegates by virtue of their positions within the party and government from local government to federal levels are already known, so this whole idea being put out by government that they are yet to be identified is less than quarter truth! Fact is only a number of others would be added to the institutionally ascertained delegates by election or selection later. That of course raises another important question. Why are some or all of these known delegates not coming out to say he or she did not collect Jonathan’s bribe? The only reasonable conclusion one can reach from their resounding silence is that they are scared of being exposed, as they may not know what the authors of the report have on them! No one wants to put his head above the parapet!

The key issue here is that there is a specific allegation against Jonathan, not disguised, point-blank! Is it true that he has been distributing money to delegates as alleged? If not, say so and show evidence to the contrary! If you need the accusers to support this claim with more specific facts or supposed facts, call them out on this and let’s roll! But to base their “rebuttal” on an attack on Gusau or others and woollily accuse people of calumny is akin to someone accused of stealing responding to the effect that the friends of the accusers are enemies!

In the main, I’m just weary of those advising Jonathan and what they come up with most of the time he’s under the cosh! Whether we want to accept it or not, this report, no matter how prejudicial, has deep effect on the image of our nation and the electoral process, considering all the promises made by Jonathan. Of course, some of us have already written off any semblance of a free and fair election taking place, because we have decoded the Jonathan agenda already from his various actions; but at this level, he should be seen to be robustly debunking this type of stuff, if for nothing else, to protect the image of the country. This is a burden he needs to discharge and he needs to do so now.


Kennedy Emetulu,

London


http://www.saharareporters.com/article/bribery-claims-and-jonathan%E2%80%99s-burden

President Goodluck Jonathan has stoked controversy again with a United States-based group, made up of retired US military strategists, called Global Information System (GIS), alleging that he has budgeted huge sums of money to buy over PDP delegates to support him at the party’s forthcoming primaries.





The group’s report, which alleged that the “corruption of the Nigerian political process, was now in full swing.” Was widely published by some online news sites yesterday.

The president was, however, quick to warn those peddling such allegations against him to desist from doing so because he has the capacity to hit back.

According to GIS, a privately run think-tank of retired U.S. military strategists, “the incumbent President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is bribing PDP delegates out of Federal Government funds, making most of the party delegates wealthy enough to buy a new home with the bribery funds.”

The report broke down the number of delegates for the 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and their cash presents.

“There are some three delegates for each local government council, and some of the 36 states (plus the Federal Territory of Abuja) have, for example, up to 40 or more local government bodies. The incumbent President’s own state, Bayelsa, has only a few, but with each delegate being offered multiple cash payments of up to N2 million (about $13,300) for his vote, the total bill runs into billions of naira.”

According to the group, a top Jonathan aide, who did not want to be named, dismissed the report as the handiwork of General Aliyu Gusau who, he said, hired GIS to launder his image and create an appearance of lack of support for Jonathan in the north.

“Essentially, General Gusau has worked with these defence contractors all over Israel and the US and they feel compelled to help sell his candidacy so that he can open Nigeria to US defence contractors if he wins and becomes president.”

When contacted yesterday, Gusau’s media aide, Mr. Adebisi Adekunle, described any insinuations linking his principal to the report as baseless, adding that “there is no iota of truth in the report.”

However, in a statement signed by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Ima Niboro yesterday in Abuja, Jonathan remarked: “The story itself explains its source, in a desperate campaign of calumny to portray the president in bad light and pre-judge the outcome of the forthcoming PDP presidential primaries, in which he is evidently the man to beat.

“We advise purveyors of these repugnant stuff to desist forthwith, for it is indeed a game two (men) can play! We only desist in the interest of peace and our avowed commitment to fair play.”

The President made it clear that “if it is about calumnious material, then there are others who have more to fear, “including rattling skeletons in dusty cupboards than President Jonathan would ever have.”

Jonathan media aide noted that it was unfair to say that the President is out to bribe yet-to-be identified PDP delegates with cash from Federal Government funds to influence his widely anticipated victory at the PDP primaries.

Niboro stressed that “there is hardly any need for the President to ruffle feathers since he would need all the other contestants when, by the grace of God, he wins the primaries in a fair and square contest.”

“Others must fully emulate the candour and uprightness of the president and step back from the path of willful malice and character assassination,” he added.

He said President Jonathan is confident in the power of discernment of those who will emerge as PDP delegates, and as such does not require to pay any one, least of all from the public till, for his or her vote.

“Nigerians know the masters of governance by settlement and it is not Jonathan,” Niboro said.






http://www.peoplesdaily-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18370:jonathan-in-n2m-for-each-delegate-controversy-&catid=16:national-news&Itemid=33

By Emmanuel Ogala and Ini Ekott

October 24, 2010 02:09AM
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Following the defeat of an attempt to alter the 2010 Electoral Act in a manner that will allow political appointees regain their eligibility as voting delegates at the conventions of political parties, presidency aides appear set to launch a new tactics to woo lawmakers into re-introducing the “dead” bill.

Sources say the senate’s decision to kill that aspect of the electoral law was received as a rude shock by the president and his campaign team.

However, president Jonathan’s campaign organisation has decided to start a fresh attempt to lobby the lawmakers to re-introduce the bill.

Even though the standing rules of both chambers of the national assembly prohibit the re-introduction of a bill that has been rejected, Sully Abu, head of publicity for the Goodluck Campaign Organization told NEXT they will stand their ground.

“We haven’t given up. We will go back and negotiate and ask questions,” Mr. Abu said. “There is not absolute victory or defeat. There is no monopoly of wisdom either in the presidency or the national assembly. We hope that we will have a meeting of the mind with the senate to see sense on the matter.” Analysts, however,

believe that judging from the unity predicated on common interest displayed by the senate in arriving at their decision on Wednesday; the Jonathan campaign team might find it extremely difficult to re introduce the bill.

Last Wednesday, the senate acted in a largely unified manner to shut down Mr Jonathan’s attempt to reshape the 2010 Electoral Act. Their action was devoid of the usual political or ethnic sentiments that usually colour similar debates.

“It was obvious their actions were premeditated,” Fred Idowu, an independent political analyst said.

“They were determined to “kill the bill” and perhaps send a message to the presidency. The senators were convinced the bill is toxic to the current electoral act and self serving - to the president - judging from the changes the bill proposed to bring.” The bill proposed three major amendments to the current 2010 electoral act. It sought to give the leadership of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to determine the sequence in which elections are held; it also wanted political parties to adopt the system of indirect primaries - the type of primaries usually adopted by PDP - for the choice of its candidates.

What the amendment meant to do is to allow political parties to change at will the rules governing procedures for primaries by issuing new guidelines, rather than relying on the provisions of the current 2010 Electoral Act.

The bill proposed that Section 87( of the Electoral Act 2010 should be deleted. That section provides that no political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of nomination of candidates for any elections.

Section 87( is viewed as revolutionary because it prevents the president and governors from flooding political party congresses with ministers, special advisers, commissioners and other political appointees who would vote to choose their boss or the candidate of their boss’ choice.

While the civil society and the opposition - both within and outside the PDP - described the action of the senate as patriotic, Mr. Abu said the setback at the senate has sharpened their resolve to move on stronger.

Loyal appointees

The President’s campaign team greatly rely on the votes of the various political appointees serving in this administration to push their principal through in the primaries of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Before President Jonathan made up his mind to run for the presidency in the forthcoming elections,

there were 1027 splinter campaign organizations sponsored by political appointees within the government.

During the presidential declaration which took place mid September, an official at the presidential villa said that the level of sponsorship the president received from his appointees was up to 95 per cent.

Attendees at the declaration were also seen clad in uniformed dresses bearing their support for the president and which political appointee was sponsoring them.

NEXT also gathered that the lawmakers, in the closed meetings, had considered this impassioned support from his staff before arriving at the decision not to allow voting by personal aides; bearing in mind it will give the president an unfair edge over the other contestants.

Goodluck Campaign Organization, however, disagrees with that all appointees are rooting for the president.

“The fact that they are appointees does not make it compulsory that they will vote for the president. After all, you will not have a gun to their heads that they must vote for him,” Mr. Abu argued. “These are people that were carefully chosen across various areas of the country, so they represent the different sections of the country so they have legitimate political interest and representation.”



http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5633602-146/jonathans_aides_woo_lawmakers_on_dead.csp

Saturday, 23 October 2010 04:45 Sule Lazarus

The National Association of Northern Nigerian Students at the weekend, declared that the student body will only support and work with a presidential aspirant who emerge from the consensus arrangement being worked out by the group of northern wise men.
The group who are reacting to the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan as the zone’s presidential candidate by some eminent politicians, including governors from the North central zone, insisted that the group only recognizes aspirants from the region in line with the zoning principle.
The students in a statement issued by its National President, Ibrahim Alih, also commended the Senate for throwing out the bill intended to amend the 2010 Electoral Act in favour of political appointees as delegates to the party conventions.


http://www.weekly.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4408:jonathans-endorsement-northern-students-disagree-with-govs&catid=41:news&Itemid=30

From Muazu Elazeh, Katsina

General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd)Former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida yesterday took up the gauntlet thrown down by President Goodluck Jonathan on the problems in the power sector, saying that electricity supply was more stable in the eight years he was in power than now.
President Jonathan had during the week accused the administration of Babangida and that of his successor, late General Sanni Abacha starting off the power outages the country is experiencing.
However, Babangida, on an electioneering campaign to Katsina, told waiting journalists that his administration paid considerable attention to power supply and the power outages today are worse than they were in his time in office.
“We never experienced power outages as we currently do, as power supply was good during my regime and that of late General Sanni Abacha”, Babangida noted, saying that the records are there for anybody to see.
Backing the former president was the Director of IBB Campaign Organisation, Raymond Dokpesi, who described as a campaign of calumny, allegations that his principal paid lip service to the power sector.
He said such statements were suggestive of the immaturity of the country’s leadership, asking rhetorically “who initiated and indeed, executed Shiroro?” He said the time was ripe for Nigerians to vote into office credible and tested leaders.
Babangida, who was in Katsina to rally the support of the government and people of Katsina state for his presidential bid, described social vices ravaging Nigeria as the problems of developing countries but he assured that if he was elected president “we will find a solution to them.”
He told a gathering of PDP stakeholders in the state that “we want your support and we are optimistic that you will give us all the necessary support”, noting that his vision of “a prosperous Nigeria where everyone would be free to develop their potentials” informed his decision to run for the presidency.





http://www.peoplesdaily-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17850:you-lied-over-power-outages-ibb-replies-jonathan&catid=109:cover&Itemid=181

October 22, 2010 03:47PM
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday at the FCT High Court filed fresh charges against Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the FCT.


It will be recalled that El-Rufai was on Wednesday in Abuja discharged by a Federal High Court on the eight-count charge for lack of jurisdiction to try the case.


Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court had said that the charges were brought under the Independent and Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, which had been repealed.


Confirming the filing of the suit by EFCC lawyer, Head, Media and Publicity of the commission, Mr Femi Babafemi, said that EFCC, through Mr Adebayo Adelodun (SAN) filed an eight count charge against El-Rufai.


The EFCC, he said filed charges on May 5 against El-Ruafai over alleged criminal conspiracy and abuse of office.


The charges, he said included irregular revocation and re-allocation of a parcel of land originally belonging to PHCN Plc.


``As you well remember, the Federal High Court through the Honourable Justice Bello said that the court lacked the jurisdiction to try the accused.


``He also said that the charges ought to have been filed under the amended Act of 2003 at the FCT High Courts.


``The EFCC had earlier investigated a petition chronicling allegations of abuse of office against Malam El-Rufai.


``On how he allocated government land to his friends, wives and family members, in flagrant breach of the Abuja master plan.


``The former minister, between 2003-2007, allocated 10 plots of land in choice areas of Abuja and in various sizes to his family members.


``Those, who got the land include his wife, Hadiza Isma El-Rufai, who got two plots, one in the Asokoro District and the other in the Kubwa district.


``Other family members who were allegedly allocated plots are Bashir A El-Rufai, Asia Ahmad El-Rufai, Ibrahim El-Rufai, and Binta Ahmed El-Rufai.


Also included are Tijani Rufai, Rufai Hamza, and Ali Rufai,'' Babafemi said.







http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5633536-146/efcc_files_fresh_charges_against_el-rufai.csp

FROM: KINGSLEY OMONOBI
There were indications at the weekend that federal government has concluded plans to acquire 4 new aircraft for the Presidential fleet at a cost of about $200million to replace aging aircraft in the fleet whose maintenance cost as a result of old age, with some of them having spent 22years, is gulping huge foreign exchange annually.

The aircraft include 2 Falcon 7X, one G550 and one Hawker 4000XP executive jets. They are to take the places of the existing HS 125-800B (20 years old), the Gulfstream IV (20 years old), and the 2 Falcons currently in the fleet (Falcons 900B both 20 & 22 years old).

Confirming the decision of government to replace the aging aircraft, Commander, Presidential Air Fleet (PAF), Air Commodore Adesola Amosu disclosed that it was very timely as prices of new aircraft is on the increase while the prices of aging aircraft is on the decrease.

“For example, we bought the BBJ aircraft in 2004 for about $43million and the same aircraft costs about $65million today. Also, the Tanzanian government bought the G550 in 2004 for about $40million, while the Ugandan government purchased the same aircraft in 2007 for about $48. 2million. The purchase price for this aircraft today, is in excess of $53million from the manufacturers” he said,

Commodore Amosu who was briefing the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar when he visited PAF headquarters in Abuja, noted that “for the older aircraft, the value of a 20 year old Gulfstream IV two years ago was between $13million-$16million. You can easily get this same aircraft for less than $9million today”.

While noting that the aircraft acquisition process of 3 out of the 4 aircraft to be acquired, which are the 2x Falcon 7X and the G550 have been concluded, he said the process of acquiring the Hawker 4000P would be concluded by early next year pointing out that with the new platforms, the fleet has fully entered into the regime of long range operations.

Explaining the shortcomings of the aging aircraft to the CAS, Amosun said, “In 2007, the Falcon 900 (5N-FGO) spent 8 months on maintenance, while the Falcon 900 (5N-FGE) spent 12 months on maintenance in 2008. The two Falcon 900Bs have had multiple engine failures within the last one year. Additionally, the Gulfstream IV spent about 6 months on maintenance in 2008 and 4 months in 2009”.

“Also, the cost of maintaining the aging aircraft in the fleet was increasing more significantly on an annual basis due to the need for more in-depth maintenance required to keep them airworthy” he said pointing out that “the maintenance due on the Gulfstream IV for instance, is expected to cost between $3million – $5million”.

“Additionally, we spent over $4. 8million on one of the Falcon 900B aircraft in 2008, while the second aircraft gulped another $4. 8million the following year. Coupled with difficulty in obtaining spare parts and issues with airworthiness and certification, getting the new aircraft, is the best thing government has done” the PAF Commander to the CAS.

Meanwhile, Air Marshal Mohammed Umar has announced the purchase of an Augusta 109E helicopter for the PAF in support of the President’s movement while promising to support the unit due to its importance to the nation.



http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/10/fg-acquires-4-new-jets-at-200million/

By Emmanuel Ogala

October 20, 2010 03:10PM
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The senate, this morning threw out an executive bill seeking to amend the 2010 electoral act. The move is expected to come as a setback to President Goodluck Jonathan's campaign in particular.

The bill which was sent to the lawmakers by the president some weeks ago is seeking, amongst other things, to amend the 2010 electoral act in a way that will enable political office holders and their aides to participate as delegates at political party primaries. This would have enabled members of President Jonathan's cabinet to vote as delegates in the upcoming primaries.

The bill also seeks to transfer the power to determine the sequence of elections from the law to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and accommodate the anticipated time line changes to the constitution.


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5632742-146/senate_throws_out_electoral_act_amendment.csp

President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to take an additional foreign loan of $5 billion will return this country back to the horrific days of the international debt trap, members of the House of Representatives declared yesterday. They also voted unanimously to reject the request for permission to take the loan.


Debating a motion on a request for approval of the outstanding 2010 external borrowing plan of the Federal Government forwarded to them by the President, the lawmakers unanimously condemned the move, describing it as “unpatriotic”.



The motion seeking approval for the $4.427 million loan was dropped by Speaker Dimeji Bankole when it became clear that the MPs would unanimously vote against it. Many MPs who spoke said it will drag the nation back into the dark days of high debt profile. They also questioned some of the projects and programs for which some of the funds were meant for.

Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Rep John Enoh (PDP, Rivers) had informed the House that the nation’s local debt profile stood at 16 billion dollars, and the foreign component was about $4 billion USD billion. He said, “In the last two years our foreign loans have increased by 40 percent while external reserves have dropped by 50 percent.”

For his part, Rep Emmanuel Jimeh (PDP, Benue) said, “It is not the taking of the loan that is bad but the most important thing is the utilisation of the monies collected.” Minority Leader Mohammed Ali Ndume (ANPP, Borno) on his part said, “Nigerians are generally against borrowing. Let us look at the details of the entire request, its merits and demerits before we approve.”

Chairman of the House of Committee on Rules and Business, Rep Ita Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) who questioned the planned application of $20 million to development projects for National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS said, “At this age, how can we borrow money for AIDS control?”

After a long heated debate, Speaker Bankole put the question for a voice vote as to whether the request be committed to relevant committees of the House for scrutiny, but majority voted against the motion.

Bankole tactically tried to save the request because instead of ruling based on the votes taken, to the surprise of his colleagues, he said, “It is obvious that we need to do more work on this motion,” and stood it down till further notice.

The President had last week written to the House requesting approval for the sum as balance of the 2010 external borrowing plan for the country as part of the $915 million the lawmakers approved for him in April this year.


http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4970:mps-say-no-to-jumbo-loan&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

Since the President knows the MEND so much
I think he should also tell us who Jomo Gbomo is.

He needs to be arrested by the SSS ASAP
mennnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!
Someone should please tell me what is this we have for a President?

What else would one expect from a state secret service full of dunces .
The commander in chief of Dunces,(Gridlock Jonadunce) should bury his Head in shame for trying to take Nigeria back to Egypt

By Soji Bamidele

October 20, 2010 08:34AM
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The State Security Service (SSS) yesterday cleared Raymond Dokpesi, chairman of DAAR Communications and director-general of former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida’s campaign organisation, of any involvement in the October 1 bomb blast in Abuja.

At a news conference in Abuja yesterday, the service, which detained and questioned Mr Dokpesi for 13 hours shortly after the bomb blast, said that his arrest was not in connection with the explosion.

Mr. Dokpesi was arrested on October 4, less than 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan announced that the nation’s security forces were closing-in on the sponsors of the twin bombings. His arrest was connected to the two text messages allegedly received by suspects in police custody asking, “if Dokpesi has paid the balance” and “inviting another suspect to a meeting at IBB Campaign office”.

In clearing him yesterday, Marilyn Ogar, assistant director, public relations, made a tacit statement that, “The SSS is a public service and people come here and go out at will.” The service however disclosed that it has been able to establish the identity of the persons who drove and coordinated the vehicles that were brought into Abuja for the October 1 bombing. It said there were five suspects, including Charles Tombra Okah, A MEND leader and Henry Okah’s younger brother.

Mrs Ogar said the vehicles were wired for detonation at Charles Okah’s house in Port Harcourt and driven to Abuja. She also said the service identified Charles Okah as ‘Jomo Gbomo,’ the sender of the emails that warned of the blasts five days earlier.

The Service stressed that its investigations were not yet complete, but that the suspects will soon be charged to court.

The twin bomb blasts that rocked Abuja during the golden jubilee celebrations on October 1 killed 16 people and injured 67 others.

Another alert

However, another email was sent to reporters yesterday by ‘Jomo Gbomo’ repeating an earlier warning that MEND was planning another attack on Abuja.

The sender used the same Zoom Mobile modem that was used last week to send the previous alert. The previous alert, according to a NEXT investigation originates from a moving vehicle in Lagos.

Yesterday’s mail also originated from Lagos. Our investigation revealed that it was sent from Massey Street on Lagos Island.

In the mail, Mr Gbomo said, “Out of security concerns, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, until further notice, will no longer entertain any enquires. Henceforth, we will release to the media only warnings and statements of claim.”

No connection with Okah

In an earlier statement, Mr. Babangida had described any suggestion linking him or Mr. Dokpesi to the bombers as ‘idiotic’. In distancing himself from the act Mr. Dokpesi had said , ‘‘I was never present at the bomb blast site; I never attended to any group of persons that are involved in the bomb blasts and I have never associated with Mr. Henry Okah. I have never corresponded with him either directly or through a third party, nor has my principal, Ibrahim Babangida, in any way associated or collaborated with anybody.” He added, “When I came in, I was shown a hand-set where somebody was asking whether he had collected the N4 million from Dokpesi and was asked whether I knew anything about the text message. I replied that “to start with, I am not the owner of the hand-set and the message was not sent to me. I did not even know who the party was and who and who that exchanged the text message.” He had said, “I have never met Mr. Henry Okah. I have never dealt with him. I have never communicated with him and I will not recognize him if I see him”, adding that he was only being victimised because he was supporting Mr. Babangida.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5632517-146/dokpesi_not_guilty___.csp

The massive oil bunkering currently going on in the Niger Delta region is perpetrated not by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta [MEND] or other militant groups but by “criminals” who are not in any way related to the militants’ struggle in the region, President Goodluck Jonathan said in Abuja yesterday. It was the second time this month that he was exonerating the militants in his native Niger Delta region of blame for major crimes.


Speaking at the opening of the 16th edition of the Nigeria Economic Summit, Jonathan said the current wave of kidnappings and car bombings in the country is not linked to the Niger-Delta agitation but is an organised crime perpetrated by dissidents. The summit is jointly organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the National Planning Commission (NPC) and was broadcast live by CNBC Africa television network.



The president said, “Government is strengthening the security agencies to meet up with the security challenges and I can assure you that in the next 12 months, we will be in a position to curtail the excesses.’’ He also said the militants are defending the interest of the region because they felt that they are not having enough share of the resources taken from their communities, while the bunkerers are criminals who are after money.

“What is happening now is excessive bunkering and has nothing to do with the Niger Delta. They are criminals and they are not protecting any community”, Jonathan said.

He said selfish individuals hijacked the struggle of the militants for criminal activities. “What is happening now is commercial and because it involves money those involved in it would not stop,” he said.

According to the President, the recent car bombing in Abuja that killed over 10 persons had nothing to do with the Niger Delta. He said that while the amnesty programme initiated last year by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua for the militants to curb their excesses is on still on course, it faces some challenges that the government is trying to tackle. “We have some challenges on amnesty, we are working on that. The amnesty is not perfect but we would reach where we want to go.”

The umbrella body of the militants’ group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has said it was behind the Abuja car bombings that happened during Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary celebration on October 1. President Jonathan said MEND did not do it, but that some terrorists outside the country did it.

Leader of MEND Henry Okah has been linked to the bombing and he is currently in a South African jail. His young brother has also been arrested.

President Jonathan said that overall, security is a challenge and that government is setting up a special fund to fund the police to fight crime. “In the next 12 months we will be in a position to curtail that,” he said. He also said Nigeria needs a revolutionary leader to move the nation forward, where everyone would do what is right.

He said while it is the responsibility of the President to select competent individuals to head various institutions in the country, their jobs are not directly executed by the President. “Mr. President is not the police officer but Mr. President should be able to monitor the police and if he is not doing well, he should ask him to go,” he said. He said the notion of Nigeria being the most corrupt country in the world would wither away in the next five years.

http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4971:jonathan-exonerates-mend-again&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

[size=28pt]VOTE IBB
VOTE IBB[/size]

Several senators yesterday expressed displeasure over measures adopted by security agencies around President Goodluck Jonathan since the anniversary day bombings that killed about 14 persons and injured dozens others.


Speaking off record yesterday the senators that faced tough time in getting into the National Assembly to attend a public hearing on Constitution amendment condemned the manner of security where major roads in the city are cut off to secure the Eagle Square which subjects motorists to harrowing experiences.



One of the senators berated the security arrangement saying, “This is not proper way of ensuring security because it is causing unnecessary hold up in the city and creating fear in the minds of the people that the country is unsafe.”

Another senator told his colleagues that he spent over two hours trying to gain access to the National Assembly. “This is unfair, I think we have to raise this matter on the floor of the Senate.”

All major roads linking the Eagle Square, where President Jonathan performed a function, the Federal Secretariat and the National Assembly were yesterday blocked by policemen and other security agents subjecting motorists and workers to difficulties in accessing their offices.

An observer told Daily Trust that motorists also faced similar difficulties, when wife of the President, Patience Jonathan performed a function at the Eagle Square last Friday.


http://www.dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4878:senators-angry-with-jonathans-security-measures&catid=1:news&Itemid=2

seanet02:

Typical ferari, its been in his blood to engage in dubious programs, always a major Ibb supporter here on nairaland, may you have an unending crisis ridden future like the one IBB gave Nigerians since 93.
its been a long time since you use your tiny brain here on nairaland, only God knows when you will be Sensible.

pray for your father you fool.
since when has it become a crime to support one of the most intelligent homo-sapiens in Africa.
Only a homo erectus like you will spew such nonsense as you just did

according to some Homo habilis, this man ,I BB destroyed Nigeria in 8 years some years back
17 year latter nobody has been able to move Nigeria more forward that he did. I wonder what they are still ranting about.

I am tired of hearing people talk about June 12,Dele Giwa and Okigbo report.
please!!! please!! !! Please!!!!! ,I want to hear something else

IBB haters surfer from 3 ailments

1)Inherited Prejudice
2)Second hand wisdom
3)Greed