An Ex-Governor, Presidency Official Fingered In Misappropriation Of PDP Campaign Funds

March 18, 2015

Former governor of a state in Nigeria has been fingered in the spate of embezzlement that is allegedly going on in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation.
The former governor who has moved around with President Goodluck Jonathan at political rallies and other functions is said to have an interest in a new generation bank where he was chairman at some point.
It was learnt that at a meeting with the President and a few others in January, the President ordered one of the prominent female ministers in his cabinet to release some billions of naira to him to oil the machinery of the campaign team, a source said.
It was fathered that the money was “cornered” from some big government contractors, after resorting to the new strategy in the government circle, known as “decoy,” where money to finance rallies, campaigns and advertisements will come from private individuals and not government officials.
The former governor is said to have some people working with him to disburse the fund but he and a principal officer in the Presidency are alleged to have cornered a substantial part of the fund which runs into billions of naira.
The money was said to have been first lodged in the bank where the former governor has interest, hoping to either enjoy huge interests that would accrue or wait for the end of the elections for him to possess fully.
Our source hinted that part of the money was meant to settle some opinion leaders that are critical of President Jonathan in the six geopolitical zones but that the former governor is still sitting on the money.
It was gathered that President Jonathan had to personally come to the South West to “settle some people” because he does not trust any of his aides brokering negotiations for him as most of such money allegedly ended in private pockets.
The lid on the misappropriation of the fund was blown open by a governorship aspirant in one of the South West states, who was part of the team but felt short-changed.
It was learnt that President Jonathan recently summoned a meeting where he scolded an outspoken Presidency official involved as being part of the scam.
It was learnt that President Jonathan had wanted to sack the outspoken Presidential official, but was advised against it because the elections are just around the corner.
The President was reported to have been angered when the Presidency official began to reel out all sort of names and companies as having benefited from the money.
Full page advert money for newspapers was doubled and tripled just to cover their tracks.
They were said to have told the President that full page advert for Punch, ThisDay, Guardian is now N2 million ‘political special rate.’ centrespread is N6 million and wrap around N70 million because of the election.
The cost of advert for television commercials was also increased.
“It is like all of them know that Jonathan may lose the election. So, they are just trying to take whatever they can take before election day.”
The embezzlement tale has also affected the media team as millions of naira have allegedly been stolen.
The over N150 million said to have been budgeted for online advertisement remains unaccounted for as earlier reported.
The source said that the major problem is that nobody can really discipline the affected officers because the sleaze cuts across all the teams in the campaign organisation – procurement, media, logistics, mobilisation, security, etc.
“They are all helping themselves.”

[myad]

Rivers APC Raises Alarm: Niger Delta Development Move Money To Rig Elections For Jonathan, Wike

Greenbarge Reporters

March 18, 2015

Chairman of River state APC, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya

The Rivers State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted the public on the move being made by President Goodluck Jonathan to use a top official of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to rig the forthcoming general elections in the State.
The party in a statement today in Port Harcourt alleged that NDDC Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr. Henry Ogiri, has been directed by President Jonathan to work closely with Rivers REC, Mrs. Gesila Khan, to ensure that he (Jonathan) wins on March 28 while PDP Governorship candidate, Chief Nyesome Wike, wins on April 11.
“Acting according to the script, Dr. Ogiri has purchased a brand new Prado Jeep for Mrs. Gesila Khan and the Jeep is currently parked at the village of Mrs. Khan in Ogbia, Bayelsa State.
“In addition, Dr. Ogiri has set aside a whopping sum of $100 million to be deposited into the account of Mrs. Khan before the week runs off.”
The statement which was signed by the state APC Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya said: “to perfect the plans of winning Rivers State at all costs, Mrs. Khan, who is from President Jonathan’s village and his very close relation, was deliberately posted to Rivers recently to ensure that PDP wins the State despite having been overwhelmingly rejected by our people. For INEC to post President Jonathan’s kinswoman to supervise the elections in Rivers State, which he has personally confessed neglecting deliberately in his six years in office, simply betrays the Presidency’s desperation to rig the elections as PDP can never win any free and fair polls in Rivers State.”
Ikanya said that the strategy of compromising INEC to pave the way for the use of the allegedly missing 14,000 PVCs and PDP’s cloned cards was coming after PDP failed to wear down Rivers APC through the killing and detaining of several of its members.
“We will like the security organs to investigate this woman and retrieve this car and expose Dr Ogiri for what he is. This is a man who has failed to pay NDDC staff for months and has also failed to pay contractors for services rendered to the commission, while funds are reserved for use in rigging the 2015 elections for PDP.”
Ikanya said appealed to INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, “who means well for this country with all his innovative ideas designed to stop rigging in our electoral system, to closely monitor the activities of the Rivers REC before she rubbishes all that the electoral umpire has perfected to conduct a free and fair election in the country.”
The APC chairman called on President Jonathan and Chief Wike to play the game according to the rules and stop overheating the polity by adopting untoward ploys through their desperation to “capture” Rivers at all cost.
“PDP has pocketed the Police in the State who are ready to do her bidding by arresting the APC leaders indiscriminately. To attempt to buy over the INEC simply demonstrates that Rivers State will be in total mess if Chief Wike succeeds in his bid to capture Rivers instead of allowing the people of Rivers State to elect their Governor and leaders in the March 28th and April 11 gubernatorial election.”

[myad]

No Leave, No Transfer And No Quitting Politics, Atiku Vows

Greenbarge Reporters

March 18, 2015

Former Vice President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has said that for him, politics is not just a vocation, but a life time calling to which he would devote the rest of his life.
He made it clear that he did not have the luxury of going on a vacation from politics because of the demands of the Nigeria.
The former Vice President who was reacting to the claims by an aide to President Jonathan that he (Atiku) was on sabbatical, and will soon return to the ruling PDP, said that the nature of his politics is full time and leaves no room for a vacation.
“You know, it’s funny how some people put politics and vacation in the same sentence. Let me assure you: politics is a serious business, it is hard work, and for me at least, it is more than a full time job. I really don’t know how you can seriously think of taking a vacation, in a country like ours, with the politics we have,” Atiku is quoted to have said in a statement by his media office in Abuja.
“As a patriot and democrat, I’m always seeking what is best for Nigeria. I did that when we built the great assemblage of the finest men and women under the umbrella of the PDP to get rid of the generals; I did that when I left and returned to the PDP, and I did that when I helped to turn the APC into a serious opposition party. When I toured our country, and listened to the hopes, fears, and expectations of Nigerians from all walks of life, I said the APC is the final bus stop, and that it is the end of the line. Because it is, for me.”
Atiku Abubakar, however, acknowledged that on the long walk to democracy, one could come to a point where one has to go where no buses have gone, adding: “some say I’m a PDP man to the core: I’m asking, what does this even mean. What is the PDP?”
Atiku emphasised that what he wanted was a competitive democracy, true federalism, a government that creates conditions for people and business to thrive, and keeps out of business and people’s lives, “and I want a country that is united and proud of its diversity.”

[myad]

Signs That PDP Is About To Implode, By Joe Igbokwe

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

For all intents and purposes, I foresee a serious infighting in the household of PDP that may lead to the collapse of the party in the days ahead if the signs we are seeing today are anything to go by. The fight to retain PDP and President Jonathan at the centre has led to all kinds of people in the camp of President Jonathan’s supporters doing their own fights in their own ways, in their villages, houses, offices, beer parlours and pepper soup joints. There has been no coordination, no control, no screening, no harmonization, no fine tuning and no sub-editing of materials. It is like Fuji House of Commotion. Accusations of betrayals and non committal have been flying around and the alleged resignation of the PDP National Chairman was just hushed up to prevent a major calamity before the elections.

Everybody is dishing out something from his little corner with nobody in control. This has led to suspicion, accusations and counter accusations, infighting and leakages of vital information and confusion. They all claim to be fighting for President Jonathan but end up fighting for the opposition. The target is the money that seems not to be in short supply in the Jonathan campaign and there is a deadly struggle to corner a chunk of it. Other campaigners at the top shortchange the campaigners below, stealing what is meant for them.

The PDP Chairman Muazu and his Deputy are fighting over $200 million campaign funds. Some Igbo in Lagos are fighting over Jonathans dollars, the Churches are fighting over Jonathan’s 7billion naira bribe, Ohaneze Ndigbo is divided into two as a result of Jonathan’s 6 billion naira bribe. OPC is fighting over billions of naira from Jonathan’s 9 billion naira contract. Afenifere Akure is fighting over billions of naira bribe from President Jonathan. Market leaders in Lagos are fighting over Jonathan’s dollars. TAN coordinators are fighting over campaign funds. I can go on and on but this absurdity of sharing the money will soon turn into implosions within the ruling party and the centre may no longer hold.

The way things are going, the supporters of President Jonathan may soon go the way of the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and others who came against King Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah in 2 Chronicles 20: 1- 25. Knowing that his people were too small with small number of horses and chariots Jehoshaphat feared these people, but he quickly set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah. They all gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord. Jehoshaphat prayed to God without ceasing. He challenged God to defend His name. He told his people not to worry about the size and strength for the battle is not theirs but God’s. He told his people: “Tomorrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you”

I am told Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. The Bible tells us that Jehoshaphat appointed singers unto the Lord and that they should praise the beauty of his holiness as they went out before the Army and to say: “Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambush against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them. The enemies fought against themselves and Judah won without a fight. The rest is now history.

I foresee the same implosions in the house of PDP and I can see APC running away withl victory almost effortlessly in this election. I can see a PDP that is a house set upon itself. It was reported that this self consuming ennui is the reason why Jonathan after forcing INEC to grant a six weeks postponement, has practically taken over the presidential campaign of PDP. He practically relocated to Lagos, dishing out millions of dollars and other sundry patronages as a way of arresting the internal implosion that is threatening his re-election bid. How sharing dollars to sundry groups will reverse his bad electoral fortune borne out of non performance and tolerance to corruption, is another kettle of tea. But he wants to take charge, not trusting those who say they are working for him and in the process, abandoning governance to lead his re-election campaign.

The 2015 presidential elections coming up on Saturday28 March 2015 has become one of the fiercest and hotly contested elections in the history of Nigeria since independence in 1960. Never in the history of Nigeria have I witnessed this kind of fierce campaigns and bitter political languages. There have been hate statement, mud slinging, threats, harassment, intimidation, brigandage, violence, killings, etc. A section of the media has pitched tents with the power that be and have put their hands, feet, heads, mouth, eyes and even their souls in the project to return President Jonathan at all cost. A few of our media houses in electronic and print working with some famous platforms in the social media have been helping in no uncertain terms to defend the interests of the common people’s yearning and aspirations. I want to appeal to APC supporters to be calm and recite the prayer above as many times as possible until victory is won against tyranny, oppression, repression and suppression.

The Jonathanians have tried to cover one truth with a million lies but they have not succeeded. They have spent billions in both local and hard currencies to win this election at all costs but defeat stares them on the face. They have used the police, army, DSS, OPC and even MASSOB and yet no dice. They have massively deployed the media to help but all to no avail. They have engaged Nigeria’s fake pastors without success.

In Lagos fake Chiefs, fake Ezes, fake traders, fake leaders etc have been deceiving and milking President Jonathan and his handlers without any tangible solution to PDP’s problems in Nigeria. The truth of the matter is that this election has been won and lost in favour of APC, just because Nigerians want change and can’t just continue doing the same thing and getting worse results for the past sixteen years.

Joe Igbokwe.

Lagos.

[myad]

Jonathan Has Nothing To Do With Phone Conversation With Moroccan King, Wali Swears

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

Nigeria Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali has made it clear that President Goodluck Jonathan has nothing to do with the controversial telephone conversation with Moroccan King Mohammed even as he gave assurance that his ministry is already investigating the circumstances leading to such incidence as directed by the President.

King Mohammed of Morocco has since denied the telephone conversation with President Jonathan and recalled the country’s Ambassador to Nigeria back home. Also, the Presidency had said Jonathan had no conversation with the King of Morocco.

Answering questions from newsmen at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today, Ambassador Aminu Wali said: “I have already taken action on the President’s directive and of course some people are trying to make this whole thing political. And of course, at this level of our diplomacy, a lot of things can happen.

“So we are trying to find out, and I will like to say that the President has nothing to do with it. This is something that has happened and there is a bit of mix-up somewhere a long the line. We are going to unravel it. So the president has nothing to do with it.

“Therefore, people should not, like I hear some senators from the opposition asking the President to apologize to the country. Now this is, if at all there is anybody who is going to apologize, and I being the Minister of Foreign Affairs, will be the one to apologize and not Mr. President.”

Asked if he would accept culpability on the matter, the minister said: “well, I am investigating, if at all there is anybody who should apologize, it is after the investigation. Whatever it is, that is the time we will come out with…..But now there is no reason to apologize because we cannot pre-judge and we believe in due process.

“So the President gave directive and I am looking into it and by the time we get to the bottom of the investigations, then the public will know.”

[myad]

Permanent Card Reader, A Noose Around PDP’s Neck, By Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

Desperation surges within the presidency and PDP camp. Postponing the election to March 28, this group thought they had bought added time to alter the electoral equation in their favour. They were frightened that February 14 would have been their demise. Four weeks out of the six-week delay, they have not found the elixir they craved. The date change has not changed the electoral dynamic in their favour. With the damage they have done to the nation, how could they think a mere six weeks would return to them the precious goodwill they had so meanly squandered? They now discover there likely is no sudden alteration that can repair the mess they have made of things. The extra time has only been a temporary stay of execution of the people’s sovereign will against a desolate government that, through its callous neglect of the economy and national security, has been more hindrance than help to the people it once vowed to serve.

The PDP remains in virtually the same position they occupied in early February. They look behind them to find the people no longer there. They are angry because they think the people have deserted them at the eleventh hour. The greater truth is that they abandoned the people at the very dawn of this administration. They will now reap the dividends of their indifference.

Just as they did a week before the original February election date, all senior PDP figures have run into the street not to contest in the elections but to contest against elections being had at all. They remain afraid of the outcome of a clean and free exercise. They would like it to be loose and murky or not to hold at all.

This is the reason they vehemently hackle about the use of a card reader for the elections. They have belatedly learned the card reader will prevent customary electoral malpractices. The reader will separate them from their cherished weapons of multiple voting and ballot stuffing. The best hope for them to manufacture victory is to manufacture reasons to nix the card readers, thus necessitating a last-minute reversal to the old, discredited process.

The claim that use of the cards will disenfranchise voters is bogus. The world over, voters are required to register to vote and to present at the polling booth on election day a voter registration card. This process is not materially different than what takes place in other nations.

Neither the card nor the reader itself is used to cast votes. The card is a form of identification, an important and effective method of internal control, verification and confirmation, affirming the voter is the eligible to participate in this important civic exercise.

In the old system, the voter still had to present a voter’s registration card that would be verified by the appropriate electoral official. The verification process was porous and inaccurate due in part to innocent human error and to wilful malpractice.

By making the verification process dependent on computer-read biometrics, the elements of human error and mischief have been eliminated from this important process. Fingerprints cannot be altered nor can the machine’s reading of them be distorted. Only those entitled to cast ballots will be allowed to receive a ballot to cast. I cannot understand how anyone with even the pretence of a democratic bone in his body can bemoan this improvement.

They cry that the card-reading machines are imperfect. No one can guarantee that each and every machine will perfectly work. However, the alternative is fraught with even greater imprecision. Each national election conducted in Nigeria since 1999 has been a feat of ample rigging and malpractice. That is the way of the old system. It incentivises gross impropriety. This new way discourages, if not prevents, it. Unless the card readers are being sabotaged by PDP agents, the possibility of a massive failure of the readers is so scant as to be statistically implausible. The rate of innocent human error inherent in the old system far exceeds that of computer error in the new one. When we add the high rate of wilful mischief and wrongdoing, the old system condoned, the new digital path is vastly superior to the reversion the PDP would have us make.

At the end of the day, and every day has its end, the people need to vote and need to have confidence in the entirety of the process. The computerised card reader gives us a high probability of finally conducting a clean and fair election. A return to the old system is a sure return to crimes and wrongs that have made our elections a mockery of the democratic ideal and of the people’s will. If one system gives us but the mere possibility, let alone probability, of a credible undertaking while the other system is doomed by the certainty of the misconduct it produces, it simply makes more sense to opt for the chance of success instead of settling for the certainty of failure.

That the PDP cohort wants the old way means they do not want to advance democracy by insuring a decent electoral process. They want to kidnap democracy by orchestrating the electoral result.

They are afraid of the verdict of the people because they know they have ill-served the nation for so many years.
The energy this administration should have invested in governing the people for six years is now being expended in these last few weeks in the frantic attempt to scuttle or side-wind an election that is tantamount to a referendum on the Jonathan administration. They want to save their skin by choking your democracy. Their efforts come as too much, too clumsily, too late.

Do not be persuaded by their attempts to paint themselves as last-second democrats. Their governance has been haughty and arrogant, an eruption of insecurity, unemployment and deep economic recession depleting the national treasury by the day, if not by the hour and minute. The times have been fertile and fecund for them but barren and bankrupt as to you! Their long track is one of disservice to you on all accounts – employment, power, water, roads, national security, corruption, education, health, housing and social security. Now at the last minute, they want you to believe they have become paragons of democratic virtue, the guardians of your right to vote. This is an insult to our collective wisdom. Your right to vote is seen as a wrong to them. They don’t seek democracy. They seek to strike fear in you that you may recoil from grasping the democracy that is now so closely at hand.

Let us give true democracy a chance. At the end of every contest, the cards must be placed on the table and read. Let all the cards that you as voters hold in your hands be read. Only those afraid of the will of the people fear what the cards shall read.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

[myad]

Negative Political Camping Already Taking A Toll On Nigeria’s Economy, Governor Uduaghan Laments

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has lamented that negative political campaign amongst the politicians and attitude of Nigerians generally in respect of the March/April general elections is already affecting the country’s economic growth.
Governor Uduaghan who spoke today in Warri, at a town hall meeting with professional groups and civil society organizations based in Delta South and Central Senatorial districts of the State, said that the attitude of Nigerians is sending wrong signals to investors.
He added that the negative attitude to campaign is impacting negatively on the economy with investors holding back their funds thereby retarding the country’s economic growth.
He said that the value of the dollar rose far above the Naira because Nigerians are giving the impression that there will be violence after the general elections which had sent the wrong signals to the international community, especially businessmen.
“There is this erroneous impression that we are giving to the international investors that there will be violence after the elections and it has affected the inflow of money from businessmen. We must work very hard to ensure that our elections are violent-free, whoever loses should wait for another election. Whichever way the election goes, we must maintain the peace and ensure that the Naira appreciates.”
The Governor express worry over those that have been inciting Nigerians based on different divides as a result of the forthcoming elections.
According to Dr. Uduaghan, the effects of inciting the people could be disastrous even to those engaging in inciting others.
He stressed the need for President Goodluck Jonathan to be re-election because of the achievements he has recorded for Nigerians within the past four years.
He promised that if elected, President Jonathan would do more for Nigerians and the country in the interest of the peace and unity of the nation, adding: “The naira will get a boost after the elections.”
A former Special Adviser to President Jonathan on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Professor Sylvester Monye delivered a lecture on ‘Governing Under Siege: An Assessment Of The President Goodluck Jonathan Administration 2011-2015’ at the Town hall meeting
Monye decried hate campaigns and campaigns based on falsehood stressing that Mr. President has worked more than his predecessors by delivering on electoral promises rather than engaging in propaganda.
He expressed confidence that based on the facts presented which shows a progressive country, the professionals and members of the civil society groups “are not voting for President Jonathan based on where he is from but, because of his performance so far.”

[myad]

Yoruba Muslim Leaders Run Away From “Presidential Dollars,” Avoid Presidency Like Plague

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

Yoruba Muslim leaders under the aegis of the League of Imams and Alfas have resolved not to have anything to do with the Presidential Dollars that are allegedly flying around the country, especially the religious groups, to influence Presidential election in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan, even as they have also decided to avoid the Presidency which has invited them to series of meetings.
One of the meetings, which was believed to have been arranged was meant to lure them into endorsing the Jonathan/Sambo ticket in the forthcoming presidential election.
The meeting, in which Vice President, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, was to represent President Jonathan, was earlier scheduled for Thursday last week in Akure, Ondo State but had to be rescheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) in the same state for lack of adequate mobilisation.
Information has it that the Muslim leaders who might have been taught a lesson by the experience of their Christian counterparts that were recently enmeshed in a controversial N7 billion scandal that has caused a crack among Nigerian Christians, decided not to be involved in an “embarrassing” meeting that could cause a crack amongst them.
A similar meeting arranged with Yoruba Muslim leaders and fixed for Lagos by the Presidency recently was equally botched for the same reason cited by the League of Imams and Alfas just a day before it was to come up.
Investigation revealed that the leaders of the League contacted one another and resolved not to be part of any meeting at this time to maintain their neutrality with no leaning towards any political party or individuals.
The Akure meeting, said to be coordinated by the Chief Imam of Owo, Sheikh Ahmad Aladesawe, the Secretary-General of the League, who was vigorously mobilising his colleagues in the League might end up in a fiasco, given the reluctant posture of the other leading Imams in the region.
From Ibadan, Lagos, Markaz, Agege, Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode, Osogbo, Ilaro, Ado Ekiti and Auchi as well as other major cities of the region, the common question on the lips of the Imams was: “Why now?”
Following the failure of the Lagos meeting, the Presidency, in a bid to break the ranks of the Yoruba Muslim Ummah, embarked on an alternative meeting with the League of Imams and Alfas and another with the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN).
The President of MSSN, Alhaji Sirajudeen Abdul Aziz, who volunteered to mobilise the leaders of the group for the meeting despite a resolution at a recent leadership meeting in Akure, Ondo State not to attend any such controversial meeting could be acting on his own.
The National Secretary of MSSN, Alhaji Ibrahim Giwa, was said to have warned Abdul Aziz against engaging in an exercise not approved by the executive arm of the body but the latter seems to have decided to go ahead all alone in his own name and not that of the MSSN.
Reflecting on the repercussion of such controversial action, the leadership of MSSN resolved to disown any such meeting at this politically volatile period and warned that nobody should use the name of the group for any selfish political gain.
Meanwhile no particular date has been fixed for the Presidency’s purported meeting with the leadership of MSSN that is supposed to come up at the Presidential Villa in Abuja before the presidential election on March 28.
In the same vein, the Muslim Community of Oyo State has vowed not to attend the meeting scheduled for Akure by President Jonathan to persuade South West Muslims to vote for him on March 28.
In a statement issued in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital today and signed by Alhaji Ishaq Kunle Sanni, its chairman, the Muslim Community said: “Our decision to boycott this meeting is in tandem with the decision of others like Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and MUSWEN.
“The two apex Islamic bodies were totally averred to any meeting with the President until after the elections. It would be a disservice to the unity of the Muslim Ummah in general for any Muslim group in Nigeria to disobey the order of these umbrella organizations.
“The Muslim Community of Oyo State is not oblivious of millions of dollars changing hands to buy people’s conscience. This we are aware has created divisions in some religious organisations.
“Anybody who goes to Akure to meet the President from Oyo State is not representing the Muslim community of Oyo State.
“We urge people of Oyo State and Muslims in the South West to vote according to their conscience and not be deceived by political demagogues masquerading as friends of the people just for the sake of canvassing for their support only to dump them after achieving their aims.
“What these politicians are practising is nairatocracy and not democracy.”
[myad]

I Can’t Carry Food To My Husband In Prison, Dame Patience Expresses Worry About Buhari Winning Presidency

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

“I’m not ready to carry food to my husband inside prison oh!” This is the exact word of the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan who spoke yesterday in Ado Ekiti, during the rally of the women’s wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Making a reference to the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammed Buhari, the First Lady asked: “what did they forget in Aso Rock? If you vote the PDP and Jonathan, it would be better for you. If you vote the APC, you will go to prison. How can you jail somebody for 300 years?”
Dame Patience, who openly admitted that the Office of the First Lady, which she occupies, is illegal however, said there is nothing wrong in a woman supporting her husband in office.
“They said there is no Office of the First Lady. Already, we know that there is no Office of the First Lady but there is wife of the President.
“As wife of the President, if you are good, people will love you. You will have a Non-Governmental Organisation through which you will touch people’s lives. That is why I brought Women for Change Initiative.”
Dame Patience described APC as a poison, saying: “If you drink APC, you will die.”
She noted that APC had changed name several times, adding that since her father was born, they have been around changing from one name to another.
“Very soon they would answer Ebola. The name can’t change you; it is only performance that can change you. If you like change it 100 times.
“Nigerian women, shine your eyes, don’t go for analogue, go for digital. PDP is digital, APC is analogue.”
She called on the women to pay back her husband for appointing several women into positions of authority, adding: “this is the time to say thank you so that he will do more. Those people when they were there, they said we didn’t have brains. Jonathan came and lifted us from where we were lying helplessly.”
She advised the women to collect their Permanent Voter Cards and vote massively for the president.
“PDP is not a party that tells lies. Whatever we promise to do, we do. We are not a propagandist party. Ekiti women, your mother is here and I will not tell you lies, but the truth.
“Nigerian women shine your eyes o! Vote with what you have seen, who you already know and who has performed. If anyone is telling you change, they are deceiving you.
“These were people that when they were there before Goodluck Jonathan, they did not count you women as anything. But today, PDP has wiped away our tears. Jonathan has wiped off our tears. He has fulfilled his promise of giving women 35 per cent participation. He gave 16 seats to women out of 42 slots in his cabinet. He is a performer.”
Just as Dame Patience was delivering her address women who had turned up to listen to her engaged in unruly battle to have their share of the leftover of rice which was distributed by Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose during the last Christmas. The rice was packaged in small bags.
The women were still struggling over the rice packaged in small bags when attention was diverted to another struggle for buckets presented by Senator Gbemi Saraki in commemoration of the October 16 inauguration of Fayose.
In the struggle, which almost resulted in a stampede, many of the women got injured.
Shoes, headgears, wigs and bags littered the floor while a woman was heard complaining to a friend that she lost her bangle.
Security men had a hectic time controlling the surging women who engaged in a brawl.
At the event, Governor Fayose took a swipe at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying that his tacit support for the APC presidential candidate, General Buhari would get him nowhere.
“After Jonathan, the North can have their own eight years. Whether they like it or not, whether that our baba, you know him, whether he tore his card or not, whether he ate the card or not, Buhari is going nowhere.
“Goodluck is our own. He is coming back. I am carrying the mandate of a people who believe in me. If they do elections here 20 times, I will win,” he boasted.

[myad]

Na’aba Has Never Been Of Use To PDP, Says Kano PDP Frontiers

Greenbarge Reporters

March 17, 2015

A group known as Kano State PDP Frontiers has said that the former speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Ghali Umar Na’aba, who recently resigned from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after about 16 years of membership has never been of any use to the party.
The group made it clear that Na’Abba’s resignation was a non-issue and that “he was of no value aside the relics of him serving an office”.
A statement in Kano, signed by the Coordinator of the Group, Ahmed Sani Kabara, said the party and its stalwarts will not miss the former speaker as “his presence is of no impact, so would his absence be.”
It said that Na’abba’s purported resignation from the PDP is nothing short of publicity stunt and an attempt to relaunch himself having lost public reckoning.
“As far as we are concerned, and this is open secret for anyone to verify, Ghali Na’abba has never been of any use to PDP, rather it is the party that has done everything to him; lifting him from a nobody to national fame. It therefore amounts to betrayal and biting the hands that feed him for him to now dump the party.
“The former Speaker is known both in the local chapter of the party and the national level to exhibit traits that are self-centred and invariably unhealthy for a democratic setting. Someone who always wants to lord himself over people should have himself to blame when the table is turned against him.”
According to the group, the former Speaker lacks both “local grip and national gravitas” as to be missed by the party at all levels.
The group recalled that Na’abba “woefully lost his re-election bid to the House of Representatives in 2003 despite occupying the number 4 seat of the House Speaker.
It said that after losing the election, he is not known to have promoted any candidate at any level that eventually succeeded, adding that even when he vied for the Senate ticket in 2011, he could not garner any appreciable votes.
“Reading through Na’abba’s so-called letter of resignation one comes across someone who is gone too deep in the self-destruct path of arrogance and self-indulgence and cannot afford to be a follower despite being a paper-weight politician.”
The group assured President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of the PDP that the decision of the former Speaker to resign would have no effect on the fortune of the party in Kano, saying that big name is not the same thing as big influence.

[myad]

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