The presidency is angry with the leaders of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) over the falsification of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Change Agenda Scorecard.
The Presidency specifically advised the Centre to rise above petty partisanship and stop misleading Nigerians “with blatantly false propaganda and misinformation to serve ulterior motives.”
Reacting to an article entitled: “Seven Months After, President’s Change Agenda Scorecard written by Idayat Hassan,” the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said it is very mischievous to attribute to the President, promises he didn’t make during the campaign, and now hold him  accountable for them.
According to Garba Shehu, any honest advocacy for democracy should not include distortion of facts and a misrepresentation of what President Buhari had promised to deal with during the campaigns.
He explained that it is misleading to invent issues to suit one’s political bias and prejudice, and blame the President for not attending to those issues within one’s mischievous and chimerical deadline in order to play down the significant aspects of what the President has accomplished within those seven tough months.
Malam Shehu said the CDD leaders cannot objectively serve the cause of democracy if they are primarily preoccupied with negativity and cynicism, constantly looking for something to condemn rather than appreciating the areas of progress made by the President within those seven months.
According to the Presidential spokesman, anybody or any group that focuses on negativity at the expense of objectivity  would never see any good in the appreciable and significant progress made by the President.
He said that no sincere and fair-minded Nigerians would refuse to recognise the courage of the President to take on corruption in a country where impunity was once celebrated.
According to him, within seven months, President Buhari has successfully blocked the leakages for corruption, saying that as a result of these efforts, the Nigerian Customs Service has quadrupled its revenue base to incredible level within seven months, something they didn’t achieve in years.
“Doesn’t the President deserve credit for this and other efforts to confront the monster of corruption?”, Shehu asked rhetorically.
On the economy, Malam Shehu said that it is wrong to blame President Buhari for the falling oil prices in the world market, a challenge which has made the President lay greater emphasis and priority on economic diversification.
He recalled that President Obama of the United States had inherited an economy in crisis, something he didn’t bargain for, and that  it would be unfair to blame him for not fixing it in seven months.
Malam Shehu explained that President Buhari’s experience is a  double whammy because he inherited an economy in crisis on account of declining oil revenues and an  economy that was also ravaged by incredible and large-scale corruption.
Garba Shehu said that the President is making good strides towards improving governance, by tackling corruption.
“To-date, a good number of persons believed to have collectively stolen billions from the taxpayers have been arrested, and are facing the courts; we are working with our allies across the World – from Britain and America to France and Germany to China and UAE to source, locate and repatriate misappropriated funds. So far, an escrow account has been opened for money that is being returned. This is only the start: the return of stolen funds is important, but it is just as critical to ensure those who seek to steal realise that no longer will there be such impunity in Nigeria. Only by ending belief in such licence we can we fully institute the rule of law.
“A few hours from now, the President will address the European Parliament upon their request, as the Italian Prime Minister said a few days ago at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja. “President Buhari’s war against corruption and terrorism has become a template for Africa and the rest of the world.
“It is amazing to see here at home, some individuals are not prepared to give these successes the recognition they deserve.”
Garba Shehu said that the latest CDD episode is a shocking reminder to their failed attempt to hold the President to “one hundred promises in one hundred days” which disastrously crashed on the head of the proponents.
“The elevation of the act to a new high of 220 promises is a knee-jerk reaction that seeks to play to the galleries and score cheap points against the President. This is a clear case of solution looking for problem.” [myad]

The controversial Catholic Priest and Director of Adoration Ministry, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka has made it clear that he doesn’t take bribe from anybody, saying that God has blessed him.

The Rev. Father who was recently transferred from the Enugu branch of the Ministry narrated how he returned the money in dollar which the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his wife brought to him during the 2015 campaign.

Speaking to newsmen today, Mbaka said: “So the case of Jonathan and the wife, God in heaven knew that apart from the offertory the woman gave at the Altar, (which amount I knew), I took that amount and put in the bag that one of the aides of the former President brought (it was a small bag filled with dollars in appreciation).

“But the Holy Spirit said, send back this money and I returned the whole money plus the one she put as offertory. All of them were returned back. There is no one kobo of Jonathan or Mrs. Jonathan in my hand. The Holy Spirit rejected all of them.

“When the saga was going on, I put my hands on the altar, swore an oath that if I ever touched Jonathan’s one kobo, may he win the election and that if I never and am being accused of it, he will fail the election.

“I demanded the phone number, not for any personal encounter, it was so that if any message comes that we could give to him privately, we will do so. Some prophecies should not be made public, but when the person that should receive it privately inhibits the opportunity of receiving it, God may force you to air it publicly. It burns like fire in your heart. I don’t take bribe from anybody. God blessed me.

“Many people think I live by offertory, but I want to say that throughout my stay in GRA, I was never fed with one kobo of offertory money. I am a musician; I have Music worth multimillion naira. I don’t know how to write sulfa notation, it comes by inspiration and it is a gift from God. But I swore an oath that whatever God gives to me will go for charity, to help the poor and less privilege, the church and ministry.

“The type of church I am talking about is the interdenominational and even inter- religious. When I want to do charity, I don’t look at who is a Muslim or Christian, it is global. So why would I take money from Mrs. Jonathan for what?

“If I need money from them, I know what was offered me but I don’t need that kind of money. At that time, people were saying five million naira, but if I tell you what I was offered, you will drop what you are holding. Two senators were there when I returned the money, one of them, said if he was in my shoes, he will take the money and be prepared to die.

“He said a normal man of God cannot return it and I said then, I am not normal. I left the money there and came back. So when they could not give me their number, they asked Kennedy Opara to give me his number. So I will call Kennedy that we were praying for them to win the election. I did not prophesy the day the woman came. I was praying for them and then on December 31, the prophesy came undiluted, just like the prophesy of 2013 that Nigerian oil boom time will turn to oil doom, that Jonathan should wake up and diversify our economy, that in distance time, our naira will have a problem, our oil will fail in the market.

“The warning was for us to maximize the boom time and wait for the doom period. The analogy given was Joseph quoted from Genesis chapter 49. Nobody listened; many men of God started criticizing me. I never criticized any man of God because of his message.

“I would say that the prophecy was that Jonathan will not win the election and he didn’t win it. What else do we need to do to know it is true? The accomplishments, the fulfillment and realization of prophetic utterance prove the reality.

“If it is God, it must come to pass, if it is not God, it must not come to pass. God cannot fail and if he had authored a prophecy, he will finish it. So the issue of Jonathan and his money, God in heaven knows, none of their one kobo was given to me. Why are people even making noise? Before Jonathan came, the prophecy came that the next president will come from Niger Delta, so why are they making noise?

“The day Abacha died, prophecy came a week before (Wednesday before the Monday he died), that the president will die next week. Instead of his aides coming to ask about the solution (because most of the time, when God gives me a prophecy, he gives the solution). Instead of asking how it could be averted, they pursued me; even my mechanic was almost killed that time. “They continued to witch hunt me. I ran into the bush, from Thursday morning, Friday, Saturday and on Sunday came from the bush to celebrate mass and the message kept coming that Abacha’s death was imminent and the next day, I was in the chapel when the message came that Abacha was no more. So that is it.

“I don’t know how it came. That I am a priest does not mean I am not Ejike Mbaka. So there is nothing fake or political about my prophetic life. I don’t say things to gain anything.

Even President Buhari, when it was prophesied that he was going to be the president, I had never seen or known him then. When eventually I met him (Buhari) when I went for prayers at Aso Rock (not the day people saw me shaking hands with him); what I demanded from him is good governance for Nigeria. I didn’t ask him to give me one kobo. One kobo of Buhari has never entered my hand. So when Abacha eventually died on Monday, people shuddered. I ask people to respect God and respect his words and ways.” [myad]

The immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan has declared that he is ready to work for his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari in any capacity he finds him useful.

Jonathan, who said however, that he would not force himself on the current government if his attention was not needed, said: “I am former president and I cannot throw myself on the new government. It depends on the assignment the current president decides to give me and also depends on if I have the capacity to carry out such assignment.”

The former president who was in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was honoured by an association of international diplomats, the Cercle Diplomatique, based in Geneva, for the roles he played during the smooth transition of power in 2015, however declined comment when asked by journalist to rate the current government.

“He is our president and can decide to send people on assignments based on national interests. When I was in office, I used to give assignments to former presidents and that is how it has always been. I am free to work for my country and indeed for any other African president that considers my service valuable.

On whether the current government is living up to expectation, Jonathan said: “but when you ask me about what is happening to all my legacies and what is happening in the government today, I will tell you that you are being unfair to me. You do not expect a former president to begin to speak of his successor, especially knowing that I have just left office.

“It is not standard practice anywhere because any comment I make now, whether positive or negative, could be misinterpreted. I will tell you that you are not helping me, you are not showing me love, if you continue to insist that I should run commentaries on the activities of my successor.”  [myad]