“I’m not allowed to become chief of army staff because I’m Igbo. What sort of stupid country is that? Why would any idiot want me to be in that sort of country?”
These are the words coming from the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, when he granted an interview to Al-Jazeera in his Father’s house in Umuahia, Abia state.
He said “Nothing seems to be working in Nigeria. There is pain and hardship everywhere. What we’re fighting [for] is not self-determination for the sake of it. It’s because Nigeria is not functioning and can never function.”
Kanu decried the perceived marginalization of the Igbos in Nigeria, saying that they have been prevented from aspiring to assume important positions in the country such as President, Inspector General of Police, Chief of Army Staff amongst others
“I’m not allowed to contest for the presidency of Nigeria because I’m Igbo. I’m not allowed to aspire to become the inspector general of police because I’m Igbo.”
Kanu, who was granted bail last month, said that he doesn’t care if he is flouting one of the terms for his bail which prohibits him from granting media interviews.
“I don’t care. I can’t go outside to call for a press conference. I can’t go on Biafra Radio to broadcast. I can’t allow large [groups of] people to basically congregate outside to see me…it’s like asking me not to breathe.” [myad]
Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has described those who kidnapped a member of the House of Representatives, representing Takai/Sumaila Federal Constituency, in Kano state, Hon. Garba Umar Durbunde as wicked and heartless.
Hon. Durbunde was kidnapped earlier today, Wednesday, by unknown men at Jere, along Abuja Road at about 5pm on his way back to Abuja.
Governor Ganduje, who was shocked by the news of the sad and unfortunate event, condemned it in the strongest term as an act of wickedness perpetrated by evil and cold-hearted elements.
He called on the police force and other security agencies to intensify effort to rescue the kidnapped lawmaker, while also advising members of the public to be vigilante and security conscious at all times.
The Kano State Commissioner for Information , Mallam Garba Mohammed in a statement said Governor Ganduje, expressed shocked on the incident which occurred as Muslims are currently observing the Ramadan Fasting.
The Commissioner asked the police and other security agencies to do all they could to rescue the lawmaker.
Alhaji Garba Durbunde, member representing Takai/Sumaila federal constituency in the House of Representatives, was reportedly kidnapped by unknown persons along the Jere-Abuja Road, Kaduna State. [myad]
Debris of houses is seen after a flood affected a village in Matara, Sri Lanka
At least 203 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands are displaced after flooding and mudslides hit large swathes of Sri Lanka.
More than 1,500 homes have been destroyed and 16 hospitals evacuated since heavy rains began to hit southern and western areas of the island.
More than 600,000 people remain temporarily homeless after the landslides and floods, the worst to hit Sri Lanka in 14 years.
With a lack of temporary shelters, many displaced people are at risk of contracting mosquito-borne dengue fever and other diseases, the UN said.
Sri Lankan disaster management minister, Anura Yapa said many of the victims would have survived had their homes not been built on slopes.
The minister who vowed to demolish all illegal structures said: “If we don’t stop this madness, we are going to end up with a bigger disaster very soon.
“About 30-40% of this disaster is due to illegal constructions. The local councils should never have allowed homes to be built on (landslide-prone) mountain slopes.”
Yapa said that residents in the worst-hit Ratnapura and Kalutara districts have ignored repeated warnings to evacuate.
He said: “We have a cultural issue where people don’t accept that they are at risk. We are also considering laws to force people to leave when evacuation warnings are issued by the Disaster Management Centre.”
Divers and navy personnel from India are helping Sri Lanka’s army, navy and air force with relief and rescue efforts.
Government spokesman, Rajitha Senaratne said that medical teams were being deployed to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.
About 24 countries have pledged support and Australia, Japan and Pakistan are among those to have donated supplies, including water purification tablets and tents.
Foreign minister, Ravi Karunanayake said the government had been “moved by the spontaneous response”.
The flooding is the worst since to hit the island since May 2003, when 250 people were killed and 10,000 homes destroyed.
Last year, a landslide killed more than 100 people in central Sri Lanka. [myad]
In a profound historical recollection, 1983 is back in our consciousness. And the tell-tale signals are assailing our sensibilities: first was the tendentious rumour alleging the poisoning of President Muhammadu Buhari; there was the wicked threat in the social media by a police officer of Biu origin, Borno State, to kill 200 Nigerians if Buhari dies; then the ludicrous warning and hubris by two northern leaders, Junaid Mohammed and Ango Abdullahi, that power would remain in the north in 2019; and, wait for the bomb, the devious alarm raised by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, which was suggestive of a proclivity towards a coup plot.
These disingenuous propositions with far-reaching political implications are capable of sinking or submerging the very socio-economic and political foundations of the nation. Although, while it may be speculative that these characters acted some prepared script, historical knowledge is enough to help in deciphering that the tones were aided by a community spirit that advances the need for a section to retain presidential command in 2019 in our recurrent struggle for power.
Buratai’s angle continues to agitate the mind the most. Army chiefs are usually not known to be flippant. Therefore, when on May 16, 2017, Buratai called national and global attention to himself and to the army via the alarm he raised over the discomforting relationship between some officers and politicians, he got many Nigerians to engage in some obligatory reflection of his motivation and essential persona.
Some critical questions consequently arose. Why did the army chief choose to openly advise soldiers not to hobnob with politicians through the media instead of the established chains of command? Secondly, did Buratai inform the acting president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, before making such a weighty statement, which should have been complemented with a strong warning from the presidency? It was not until May 29, 2017 that Osinbajo made a tacit reference to the matter in his Democracy Day address to the nation.
Osinbajo had said, in part, “…What is not normal, or acceptable, is employing these frustrations as justification for indulging in discrimination or hate speech or hateful conduct of any kind, or for seeking to undermine by violent or other illegal means the very existence of the sovereign entity that has brought us all together as brothers and sisters and citizens.”
Buratai’s alarm, contained in a statement signed by Army spokesperson, Brigadier-General Sani Kukasheka Usman, suggested that some army guys and politicians were possibly up to something devious and had warned, point-blank, that any officer or soldier of the Nigerian Army found to be hobnobbing with such elements (politicians) or (found to be) engaged in unprofessional conducts such as politicking would have himself or herself to blame.
Let us now rewind to 1983 for some historical aids. A post in the social media by Abdul Mahmud, a constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, joggled our memories. Read him: “When Uba Ahmed promised the historical landslide and moon slide of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in April, 1983, opposition politicians of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) warned him of the dangers of stealing the peoples’ mandate.
“Then, Gen Mohammed Wushishi, Chief of Army Staff, entered the fray. He warned ‘sojas’ who were mingling with politicians (in order) to do something sinister to the constitution to desist. NPN had its landslide and moon slide. The nation erupted with the old Ondo up in flames; Ikemba Front and Jim Vanguard turned the old Anambra into a war zone.
“There was no governance across the country between October and December 1983. Power was slipping from a section of the country…Then, ‘sojas’ struck. A northerner was named as the military head of state. Power returned to a section of the country…We are back to 1983. General Buratai is playing the same old game… setting our country on the beaten road…. Gird up your loins, folks; soon, we will return to the barricade to defend our country against military hawks and vultures.”
Mahmud’s historical account was salutary. The similitude the account has with the present development is indeed troubling especially within the context of the state of governmental affairs in Nigeria that has created great uncertainties and aggravated genuine concerns over the fate of a sick President Buhari who remains in the UK for medical treatment. There is, indeed, a serious cause for apprehension by Nigerians over Buratai’s alarm. Genuine fears that some elements might really be interested in undermining and dislodging the civilians have gathered more credence.
We are flummoxed that the National Assembly has not shown sensitivity to the matter by issuing a strong response that such developments demand. Buratai’s curious alarm had already created room for devil’s advocacies and conspiracy theories around a rumoured coup plot before the Defence Headquarters came out nine days after to debunk the rumour as unfounded. In a statement, signed by the Director, Defence Information, Major General John Enenche, it urged Nigerians not to panic and assured that the armed forces were totally loyal to the commander-in-chief and were in complete subordination to civil authorities.
There is, however, a measure of relief flowing from the Defence Headquarters’ disclaimer, which implication seems far reaching. Buratai’s perceived calculative, disingenuous and dangerous mind game is not a shared value in the armed forces. It may, therefore, be hasty to surmise that a likely Buratai’s gambit has exploded in his face since no one can, as yet, put a finger on his motivation for raising the alarm.
However, some intelligent guesses could be hazarded in this circumstance. One, Buratai may have sincerely acted to forestall a tendency towards a coup plot in the circumstance of a national politics that has become endangered due to the ill-health of a president of northern extraction; and Buratai himself being a northerner in whom Buhari has invested a huge trust.
The second guess is along the line of a moot point that Buhari’s health condition is on a fatal plunge and that the negative outcome would lead to a new presidential power configuration. Some forces in the north are said to be plotting to forestall a repeat of what happened to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua when he died in office and thus paved the way for vice president Goodluck Jonathan to become president.
The third guess is that Buratai had possibly appraised the different scenarios; and, finding out that the constitution will push political considerations to the background, decided to act politically correctly by trying to worm his way into the heart of the administration by raising a suggestive alarm, which would portray him as patriotic in the administration’s estimation. He would then sit pretty in its good book as a loyal and trusted officer with his eyes sharply focused on the office of the Chief of Defence Staff at the expiry of General Abayomi Olonishakin’s tenure.
But whatever was the real motivation and intention of Buratai’s scaremongering, the one important consensus that has crystallised by way of reactions is the popular opposition to the return of the military into governance. Experience, they say, is the best teacher. Democracy, they say, is better than the most benevolent military dictatorship. Basically, people hold government to account in a democracy. This is not so in a military government.
Kudos must, therefore, be given to the like of the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and other democrats who have warned the military against staging any coup in the country. Tinubu’s assertion that Nigerians would resist any attempt to usurp the current administration of President Buhari was an understatement of what Nigerians could do.
Nigerians would, against the backdrop of the nation’s unsavoury past under military dictatorship, occupy Nigeria in defence of democracy, and not necessarily the APC administration. The Arab spring saga would be a child’s play in the circumstance. Whatever problems that arise in the perfection of our democratic experiment and power distribution, political solutions remain the most veritable option to explore in support of constitutional democracy in the country.
Ojeifo and Ariyo-Atoye contributed this piece from Abuja via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com[myad]
The immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is a very lucky man. By divine arrangement, he became President of one of the most populous countries in the world almost on a platter of gold. Such divine arrangement must have been so strong to have picked him from the category of those who never have shoes to wear in their younger days to lead over 170 million Nigerians – of different characters and characteristics, manners and mannerism (apology to the orator of our time, Sir Yusuf Maitama Sule).
The more than five years he was on that Presidential hot seat, one thinks, should have moulded Jonathan into a mature politician, and of course, a statesman. I refer to the full meaning and implication of statesmanship.
But, the former President has lately been in the market place, exchanging dirty words with whoever dares to ‘attack’ him.
The latest was with the governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai, who dared to accuse him of favouring only the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the distribution of ecological funds during his tenure as President.
El-Rufai, through a committee he heads, and which was set up by the National Economic, Council (NEC), alleged that no money was given to none PDP governors (which was the President Jonathan’s party) throughout his tenure.
Jonathan did not allow the dust raised by El-Rufai’s allegation to settle when he went to town with a denial. In attempting to react, possibly in anger, Jonathan ended up confirming El-Rufai’s allegation. The only new thing he said was that it was not all the PDP governors that benefited from the fund, citing the former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, who is his best friend.
The anger which governor El-Rufai elicited in ex President Jonathan was so palpable that, he (Jonathan) had to, two days later, fire another salvo at the governor, this time around, shooting himself badly in the foot.
Jonathan raised two important issues against his adversary – El-Rufai: that El-Rufai had been attacking him because he refused to grant his request for a ministerial position during his Presidency and that El-Rufai begged him for money to campaign for the governorship of Kaduna state, which he granted by directing the then minister of state for finance, Senator Nenadi Usman to release N200 million to him (El-Rufai) as his (Jonathan’s) contribution.
Now, it appears very clearly that Jonathan has no good advisers around him. If he has, such advisers would have advised him not to make it public that El-Rufai begged him to be made a minister, when the same El-Rufai was already a ranking minister (of the Federal Capital Territory – FCT) in the cabinet of Olusegun Obasanjo, the President long before him.
Co-incidentally, it is on record that Jonathan himself begged Obasanjo to intervene in the controversies that trailed Bayelsa state gubernatorial primaries which sought to edge him out of the contest that time. Obasanjo did not only sympathetically listen to him, but later single-handedly made him running mate to late Umaru Musa Yar’adua who later became the country’s President (with him as Vice President). He subsequently became President at the demise of Yar’adua.
So, if it was proper for him to beg the then President Obasanjo to intervene in the Bayelsa state controversial gubernatorial primaries as a bona-fide citizen of Nigeria, why would it be seen as an abomination or an offence or a crime for another bona-fide Nigerian like El-Rufai to “beg” him for the position of minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Why did he make it look like it was a big deal, especially, when El-rufai had been a ranking minister long before he became President?
His advisers ought to have drew his attention to the implication and meaning of opening up a can of corruption that was embedded in his confessed donation of N200 million to the campaign purse of El-Rufai. First and foremost, Jonathan simply confirmed directly that he was actually the one that had been approving the distribution, via various sources, including his former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki and Nenadi Usman, of our national collective wealth to who he would. Or else, from where did he get the N200 million that he “dashed” El-Rufai and for what purpose?
By this confession, Jonathan might have made the job of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) very easy. All that the Commission needs now is to pick him up and go further to get information from him on who else he donated huge amount of our money to in his desperate attempt to win the 2015 Presidential election.
On political side of the confession is the question of the anti-party activities of the former President, who rode on the back of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power but preferred to be donating huge sums of money to opposition candidates, including El-Rufai to win vital election to the detriment of the PDP candidates.
As a matter of fact, everyone knew that before the 2015 election, Kaduna state was under the PDP leadership. Everyone knew too that El-Rufai contested the governorship of Kaduna state on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), against the PDP incumbent. What sense did it make for the then President Jonathan to donate N200 million to El-Rufai to assist him win the election in a state which his party was already leading?
And on the moral side Jonathan’s confession is the question of whether he understands that lives of millions of Nigerians would have been bettered if the N200 million he dashed just one person was invested in some social infrastructures?
Did he really mean it when he said that it is only those who are caught in Ajegunle market stealing pieces of meat that are corrupt?
We need to honestly appeal to Jonathan to do the saner members of this country a favour by keeping quiet so that, at least, the air would be a little bit clear for them to breath.
Enough of this infantile ranting that exposes his erstwhile incompetence on matters which even kindergarten children would handle better. [myad]
Sports and Youths Minister, Solomon Dalung has advocated laws that will guarantee solid reward system for key actors like Journalists who made great contribution to the nation’s democracy in particular and its development in general.
The minister, who spoke to news men at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after condoling with the journalists for the loss of Channels Television’s Correspondent in the Presidency, Chukwuma Onuekwusi, said: “I am of the opinion that we must look at our laws and entrench a very solid reward system to guarantee contributions of key actors like journalists.”
Dalung regretted that Nigeria as a country, does not take care of journalists.
“Looking at the role journalists play even in entrenching this democracy, I don’t think and believe that they had actually been accommodated within the structure with which they sought to build.
“I believe that the absence of journalists in the present democratic experiment is also one of the major factors with which we have not appreciated them much.
“Anybody who participated in the struggle for democracy in this country would know the role journalists play. Many lost their lives in the struggle but unfortunately, when democracy finally came, what has actually become of journalism is the Wheel-Biro Theory.”
The minister said that the wheel-biro is a very important tool that has no garage, and that it is kept in the sun and under the rain but when there is the need for bags of garri or rice to be conveyed, “you rush, dust it and use it and return it to where you keep it.
“It is unfortunate! We need to begin to appreciate contributions in this country before we will take our bearing properly. Our reward system is fundamentally faulty.”
Dalung said that what is usually left of journalism is that they build a lot of enemies in terms of trying to file reports.
He said that for a journalist to be objective and report events, he would have to build a profile of enemies in a country where people do not appreciate being truthful.
“At the end of the day, when you phased out as Chukwuma has done, we are only now left with story telling. The State House Press Corps here and the Nigeria Union of Journalists will now be left as the final constituency to be responsible for him, his family and his little kids. How long can they go?”
The sports minister described late Chukwuma Onuekwusi a very great man, gentle man, a friend, somebody whom he personally appreciated so much. He said that the news of his death was a devastating blow to him as he had never exhibited signs or symptoms of sickness. “So, I couldn’t comprehend actually what could have been the circumstances that led to his demise. I was even imagining it could have been accident. But, indeed, it wasn’t. It is a great loss not only to the State House Press Corps but to Nigeria in general.
“We have lost a rear gem and I believe that the vacuum his exit created might not be occupied too easily.
“It is my sincere and honest prayers that the Lord God, the custodian of human destiny and source will grant him paradise.” [myad]
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has inaugurated the Nigerian Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council (NIPCAC).
The Council, which was inaugurated today, Tuesday, at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, is headed by the acting President himself, while the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote heads private sector section of the Council.
A statement by Laolu Akande, senior special assistant on media and publicity to Osinbajo gave the details of the names of the membership of the Council as follows:
His Excellency, the Acting President and Chairman of the EMT, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (Chairman)
Hon. Minister, Industry Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah (Vice-Chairman, Public Sector)
Hon. Minister of State, Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Aisha Abubakar (Alternate Vice-Chairman, Public Sector)
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has announced a N100 billion Family Home Fund, which he said, is an initiative of the Federal Government’s social housing project that provides inexpensive mortgages to Nigerians who can afford N30, 000 per month.
Professor Osinbajo, who spoke at the Social Investment Programme’s score card presentation, organized as part of activities to mark the 2017 Democracy Day celebration, said that already, the project has started in 11 States of Nigeria.
“There is an aspect of the SIP that has not been mentioned. This is N100 billion set aside for the Family Home Fund of our Social Housing Project.”
The Acting President said that the N100 billion is a yearly contribution to the federal government’s N1 trillion Social Housing Fund which he said is the largest in the history of the country.
“Both the World Bank and AFDB are contributors to the fund from which developers will borrow 80% of cost of project and counter fund with their own 20%.
“The same fund will enable us to provide inexpensive mortgages for hundreds of thousands across the country especially for Nigerians who can afford N30, 000 per month.
“We expect that this Family Housing Fund will jumpstart and expand construction exponentially across the country.”
Professor Osinbajo said that some of the houses are estimated to cost as low as N2.5 million, which would be paid for through the monthly mortgages.
He had said in his second anniversary broadcast to the nation that the 2017 budget provides for substantial investment to implement the Social Housing Programme.
“The Family Home Fund of our Social Housing Programme will provide inexpensive mortgages for low-income individuals and families across the country.” [myad]
Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, has assured Nigerian youth that the President will bequeath a better future to them. He therefore sought for the support of all Nigerians to make that happen.
Adesina, who spoke today, Tuesday in Abuja, when he was receiving a Golden Leadership Award from the National Youths Advocacy for Good Governance Initiative, said that President Buhari had remained in politics because of his desire to see a new Nigeria emerge for the upcoming generation.
“One of the reasons President Buhari repeatedly contested for the position of the President of Nigeria was to see the country properly take care of young people.
“He strongly believes there should be a better country for the future generation. Tell your colleagues to team up with a government that envisages a better future for this country because Nigerians deserve a better future and that is what the President is aspiring to bequeath.”
In his remarks, the National Coordinator of the Youth Group, Comrade Alabi Abiodun, while presenting the award, commended Adesina for his exemplary role and service to the nation.
He described the President’s spokesman as a lover of truth, mentor and icon for Nigerian youths. [myad]
Justice Mary Abounu has sent her female police orderly, Inspector Jane Agbo, away on allegation that he husband, who is currently the deputy governor of Benue State, Engineer Benson Abounu, is having sexual relations with her.
Report reaching us indicated that already the Nigeria Police Command in the state had redeployed the officer to Otukpo Division.
It was learnt that Justice Abounu had accused Inspector Jane Agbo, who started working with her as an Orderly since when she was a court judge, of sleeping with her husband, the deputy governor.
Report has it that the deputy governor’s wife had severally asked her orderly to confess if the rumour she was receiving that she was sleeping with her husband was true or not.
Inspector Jane Agbo, a single lady, denied the allegation and tried on several occasions to make her madam believe that there was nothing between her and the deputy governor.
t was gathered that, recently, Justice Abounu asked the orderly to wait behind after their schedules for the day and that while she was waiting, Justice Abounu came to her and threatened to assault her openly if she didn’t confess to the lingering rumour that she was sleeping with her husband secretly.
It was during a heated argument between the two that Justice Abounu slapped Inspector Jane Agbo several times, after which, she ordered her out of the deputy governor’s lodge.
It was gathered that Justice Abounu left an instruction that the female Orderly should not be allowed into the lodge again.
As instructed, the security operatives at the deputy governor’s lodge turned the police orderly back when she arrived at the office to resume her duties the following morning.
Inspector Jane Agbo was then forced to return to Benue Command headquarters in Makurdi where she was told of her immediate redeployment to Otukpo Divisional Police Headquarters.
Meanwhile, the embattled Inspector Agbo had confirmed that she had been redeployed as a result of the heated argument and assault she got from the deputy governor’s wife.
She said that it was sad that a woman she had been serving as police orderly since when she was a high Court Judge could be saying all sorts of “rubbish” about her.
Jane wondered why Justice Abounu could be accusing her of dating her husband who she said is not her type of man.
“I wonder why this woman (Justice Abounu) is saying all sorts of rubbish just to tarnish my image. I have never had any sexual relationship with her husband, and again the man is not even my taste if at all I want to date anyone.
“Although I am a single lady but I can take you or anyone to see my boy friend, and when you see him, you will quickly agree with me that the deputy governor is not my taste.”
She said that she had tolerated Justice Abounu’s excesses right from the time she was serving as her orderly at the high Court, adding that her former boss was just telling lies and making false accusations against her over nothing.
“It is a greater sin to maliciously lie against someone than to kill him or her. I have handed madam over to God to do the right judgment. I am glad about my redeployment because, I am tired of working with a devilish and wicked person like her.
“Let her continue her lies against me but I know at the right time, God will vindicate me. To God who made me, I didn’t have any secret affair with her husband, the deputy governor.” [myad]
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Jonathan Pollutes Air Each Time He Speaks, By Yusuf Ozi-Usman
The immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is a very lucky man. By divine arrangement, he became President of one of the most populous countries in the world almost on a platter of gold. Such divine arrangement must have been so strong to have picked him from the category of those who never have shoes to wear in their younger days to lead over 170 million Nigerians – of different characters and characteristics, manners and mannerism (apology to the orator of our time, Sir Yusuf Maitama Sule).
The more than five years he was on that Presidential hot seat, one thinks, should have moulded Jonathan into a mature politician, and of course, a statesman. I refer to the full meaning and implication of statesmanship.
But, the former President has lately been in the market place, exchanging dirty words with whoever dares to ‘attack’ him.
The latest was with the governor of Kaduna state, Malam Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai, who dared to accuse him of favouring only the governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the distribution of ecological funds during his tenure as President.
El-Rufai, through a committee he heads, and which was set up by the National Economic, Council (NEC), alleged that no money was given to none PDP governors (which was the President Jonathan’s party) throughout his tenure.
Jonathan did not allow the dust raised by El-Rufai’s allegation to settle when he went to town with a denial. In attempting to react, possibly in anger, Jonathan ended up confirming El-Rufai’s allegation. The only new thing he said was that it was not all the PDP governors that benefited from the fund, citing the former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, who is his best friend.
The anger which governor El-Rufai elicited in ex President Jonathan was so palpable that, he (Jonathan) had to, two days later, fire another salvo at the governor, this time around, shooting himself badly in the foot.
Jonathan raised two important issues against his adversary – El-Rufai: that El-Rufai had been attacking him because he refused to grant his request for a ministerial position during his Presidency and that El-Rufai begged him for money to campaign for the governorship of Kaduna state, which he granted by directing the then minister of state for finance, Senator Nenadi Usman to release N200 million to him (El-Rufai) as his (Jonathan’s) contribution.
Now, it appears very clearly that Jonathan has no good advisers around him. If he has, such advisers would have advised him not to make it public that El-Rufai begged him to be made a minister, when the same El-Rufai was already a ranking minister (of the Federal Capital Territory – FCT) in the cabinet of Olusegun Obasanjo, the President long before him.
Co-incidentally, it is on record that Jonathan himself begged Obasanjo to intervene in the controversies that trailed Bayelsa state gubernatorial primaries which sought to edge him out of the contest that time. Obasanjo did not only sympathetically listen to him, but later single-handedly made him running mate to late Umaru Musa Yar’adua who later became the country’s President (with him as Vice President). He subsequently became President at the demise of Yar’adua.
So, if it was proper for him to beg the then President Obasanjo to intervene in the Bayelsa state controversial gubernatorial primaries as a bona-fide citizen of Nigeria, why would it be seen as an abomination or an offence or a crime for another bona-fide Nigerian like El-Rufai to “beg” him for the position of minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Why did he make it look like it was a big deal, especially, when El-rufai had been a ranking minister long before he became President?
His advisers ought to have drew his attention to the implication and meaning of opening up a can of corruption that was embedded in his confessed donation of N200 million to the campaign purse of El-Rufai. First and foremost, Jonathan simply confirmed directly that he was actually the one that had been approving the distribution, via various sources, including his former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki and Nenadi Usman, of our national collective wealth to who he would. Or else, from where did he get the N200 million that he “dashed” El-Rufai and for what purpose?
By this confession, Jonathan might have made the job of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) very easy. All that the Commission needs now is to pick him up and go further to get information from him on who else he donated huge amount of our money to in his desperate attempt to win the 2015 Presidential election.
On political side of the confession is the question of the anti-party activities of the former President, who rode on the back of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power but preferred to be donating huge sums of money to opposition candidates, including El-Rufai to win vital election to the detriment of the PDP candidates.
As a matter of fact, everyone knew that before the 2015 election, Kaduna state was under the PDP leadership. Everyone knew too that El-Rufai contested the governorship of Kaduna state on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), against the PDP incumbent. What sense did it make for the then President Jonathan to donate N200 million to El-Rufai to assist him win the election in a state which his party was already leading?
And on the moral side Jonathan’s confession is the question of whether he understands that lives of millions of Nigerians would have been bettered if the N200 million he dashed just one person was invested in some social infrastructures?
Did he really mean it when he said that it is only those who are caught in Ajegunle market stealing pieces of meat that are corrupt?
We need to honestly appeal to Jonathan to do the saner members of this country a favour by keeping quiet so that, at least, the air would be a little bit clear for them to breath.
Enough of this infantile ranting that exposes his erstwhile incompetence on matters which even kindergarten children would handle better. [myad]