It was Mahatma Gandhi who said he admired Christ not Christians. I guess he said this to remind people that most Christians are definitely not Christ-like. One cannot claim to be a Christian when his attitude is opposite of the principle that we are called to live by. There is no middle ground in this race. It is either you are living like Christ or you are a pretender. People like pretending to be what they are not. It is for this reason that one writer defined hypocrisy as a tribute that vice pays to virtue. There is absolutely nothing Christ-like in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. His policies are harsh towards the common man. He has done absolutely nothing for the poor of the land. Rather, he has done a lot to favour the rich and eminent personalities. Any true Christian knows that God loves the poor and is earnestly seeking to do them good. He is seriously looking for those to use to render service to the poor. It can only take a wicked man to increase the prices of petroleum products on a New Year day thereby causing immense hardship to numerous poverty stricken citizens. Any government that is anti poor is anti God. Jonathan has refused to go after those who are squandering our patrimony. Corruption is rampant and he is pretending that all is well. You cannot be a follower of Christ and allow evil to run rampant around you. How long can we continue this dance of death? How long are we going to allow these men from the forest of thousand demons to continue to desecrate our land? It is about time we chased them away. We need discipline and decorum in governance. And that is what Muhammadu Buhari is about. Buhari is everything that Jonathan is not. He is disciplined, painstaking and has a visceral dislike for corruption. He has promised to confront corruption and he is just about the only politician that has the credential to do that. He has done it before and he will do it again. The man cares passionately for the poor of the land and wants to do his bit to help them. Buhari is not a drunk and he is not in the business of running around with other people’s wives. As a Head of State, 11 out of 19 Ministers appointed by him were Christians. Buhari showed leadership when a dangerous Islamic sect known as Maitatsine threatened our peace. He refused to register Nigeria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries and banned government sponsorship of pilgrimages to Mecca. It is a well- known fact that his personal aides and domestic workers are mostly Christians and under him no one was victimized on the basis of religion. It is on record that Jonathan is the first President to lead Nigerian delegation to the Organization of Islamic Countries in February 2013. He has spent an average of $14 billion on 26, 000 Haji pilgrims annually from 2010. From all ramifications, Buhari has more Christian qualities than Jonathan. Buhari’s government will focus on building a society that would begin to move the powers of a smothering federal government back to states and local government. Government will be closer to the people and better aware of their real needs and wants. APC as party is open and beckoning to a majority of Nigerians not because we are handing out goodies to people but because we have a better proposal for them and their families. As a transformational leader, Buhari is sure of what he wants happen and is extraordinarily strong-willed about it. He has one thing in mind instead of a variety of passing impulses. He wants a society full of opportunities. In short, the key to a successful transformational leader is to keep your eyes focused on your goals. And the people’s general has a knack for ignoring unproductive criticism and feels neither threatened nor moved by it. He is not one of such politicians that display so much pettiness and hostility that is simply not productive. Surely, Nigeria will be better under him.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation has blamed All Progressives Congress (APC) for the sudden fuel scarcity in many parts of the country, saying it is a case of sabotage. In a statement today by the director of media and publicity of the PDP presidential campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode said the APC has infiltrated the ranks of the fuel marketers. He said that the fuel marketers have taken a sub-contract from the opposition to frustrate supplies of petrol to fuel stations as part of a grand plan to create tension in the polity. “We know who the fuel marketers are. We know the relationship that exists between one of the biggest fuel marketers and a national leader of the APC. These unconscionable opposition elements infiltrated the ranks of the fuel marketers, whom they have contracted, in a calculated attempt to frustrate the good efforts of government. “Why have they taken this time when all hands are on deck for the March 28 elections to cause this artificial fuel scarcity? The situation is so bad that they are not importing the product. They are even threatening tank farmers not to release any fuel in their depot in order to sustain the shortage. We are aware that the tank farmers have reported the threat to the Police and other security agencies. “This shows how desperate and wicked the opposition APC can be in their quest for presidential power. Must they make Nigerians suffer simply because they want to rule? They must desist from this act of sabotage. “The opposition should not take delight in celebrating over the pains and sufferings of Nigerians as they have continued to do with the Boko Haram attacks on our people and nation. “The APC’s penchant to diminish the gallantry of our Armed Forces in the battle to defeat insurgency in the northeast zone whilst mocking the government whenever the insurgents bomb and take over villages in the zone, must be condemned by well-meaning Nigerians. “This predilection exposes and portrays the APC and its leaders as forces of retrogression with a devilish mindset to unleash the worst form of anarchy on the nation before, during and after the March 28 presidential election because they know their party and presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari will be dealt a crushing blow by President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls. “The PDPPCO also wishes to use this medium to alert the nation on the lingering plot by the opposition elements who have been sponsoring their agents of destruction in the power sector to vandalise critical infrastructure in order to reduce the megawatts of electricity that is being generated and reverse the gains that government is making in the sector.” [myad]
The All Progressive Congress (APC) has asked the Peoples Democratic Party and its Presidential Campaign’s Director of Media and Publicity Femi Fani-Kayode to produce evidence on their purported claims of oath-taking and resignation of Professor Yemi Osinbajo for national leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the event that General Muhammadu Buhari wins the March 28 presidential election. The party’s Presidential Campaign Organisation in a statement in Abuja today warned the PDP and Fani-Kayode to either show evidence of the oath-taking or retract the libelous claims within 72 hours or be ready to be charged to a court of law. “For the PDP through Fani-Kayode to state publicly that an erudite Professor of law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a reputable Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God swore an oath to vacate his seat as the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, should the party win the forthcoming election is an attack on the hard-won integrity and the reputations of these great Nigerians and APC stalwarts ,” said Mallam Garba Shehu, Director, Media and Publicity of the Campaign. “We view this as both slanderous and libelous and therefore will not leave the matter to chance. To this effect, we hereby give Femi Fani-Kayode and the PDP 72 hours to produce evidence or in the alternative issue public apology to Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and our party the APC or be prepared to be charged to the court of law.” [myad]
National leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has described the director of media and publicity for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential campaign organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode as agent of character assassination and hatchet man of PDP. Tinubu, who obviously reacted to Fani-Kayode latest allegation that he (Tinubu) is planning to become President of Nigeria through APC from the backdoor, in a statement today, also described Fani-Kayode and people in PDP as a bunch of liars. Tinubu said that the mind of Fani-Kayode is an agent of mayhem and a foreigner to facts, adding that the last time he checked, the APC ticket was a Buhari/Osinbajo one. The APC leader made it clear that the ticket would remain the way it is, stressing: “that is what it is and that is what shall stand.” He said that Fani-Kayode is not as smart as he thinks he is, describing his statement as nothing more than lines of hysteria full of extreme sentiment and surging desperation. “His statement indicates that even he now realises that his paymaster has lost to Buhari/Osinbajo. The game is over. The whistle has blown. What the fantasy man seeks to do is change the game. He seeks to run against Tinubu in hopes that the outcome will be better. Fani-Kayode now grasps at straw in the night wind.” Asiwaju Tinubu’s statement reads: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign continues its descent. This is to be expected because the truth stings them harshly. They have become a factory of lies. A few days ago, the agent of character assassination who doubles as the busy hatchet man of the PDP accused Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of plotting to be vice president then President through subterfuge. Clearly, he has exposed the confusion and contradiction within his party and has veered off from the real debate. But he cannot avoid the storm of change already unleashed by the APC. However, the only subterfuge involved in this entire episode, is that eating at Femi Fani-Kayode’s mind. His mind is an agent of mayhem and a foreigner to facts. The last time we checked, the APC ticket was a Buhari/Osinbajo one. That is what it is and that is what shall stand. Fani-Kayode is not as smart as he thinks. If you read between the lines of his hysteria, you will see another extreme sentiment: that of surging desperation. His statement indicates that even he now realises that his paymaster has lost to Buhari/Osinbajo. The game is over. The whistle has blown. What the fantasy man seeks to do is change the game. He seeks to run against Tinubu in hopes that the outcome will be better. Fani-Kayode now grasps at straw in the night wind. Fani-Kayode is on a futile journey to shield the populace from seeing the failures of his paymasters. His statement taken in context indicates that his paymasters will lose the election. They are now worried about what will happen thereafter. The majority of Nigerians have concluded that they have done enough damage to our politics, economy and security; and cannot be tolerated any longer. Rather, they should be voted out by the people. Their journey of lies and deception is at its terminal point. It lied to Nigerians and the international community that elections had to be shifted first because of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) issue and later, it became a security ambush to change the date, thus aborting Nigeria’s date with destiny at the polls. That FFK (Femi Fani-Kayode) is the best a ruling party can do as a spokesman speaks volumes about the PDP. They are bereft of talents and characters. They are filled with lies and chicanery. FFK is simply the worst and most outspoken of a bad lot. However, we welcome his interventions. They are of such low quality and base character. His utterances frighten people but not in the way FFK intended. Instead of scaring the people away from the APC, his work scares people that someone so unfit is so close to the seat of power, someone so unhinged is given free rein to spit bile and call that public discourse. One must wonder who is unbalanced, the misfit or he who hires him. Keep at it FFK. Continue! Most Nigerians are fed up with this government and desire change. They await eagerly that opportunity at the polls. They cannot tolerate four more years of a Fani-Kayode of his paymasters and his utterances. That is your agony Fani-Kayode and of course that of the PDP and its gang of destroyers. You will not be able to deceive majority of Nigerians who are prepared to use their vote for a positive change. And if only to shield the populace from your peculiar brand of abuse of power, both you and your boss must go. The APC is committed to bringing reforms to our institutions, recovery to our economy and relief to millions of our citizens who are suffering. This latest episode showed that Fani-Kayode’s hallucinations are now uncontrollable. Again, unable to make headway against Buhari and Osinbajo, he now wants to run against Tinubu. This plot will not work. Tinubu is not scheming to become president through the back door. He, just like any qualified Nigerian has the right to walk in through the front door if he so desires. But he is not on the ticket. For the job he is hired to do, it is expected that a Fani-Kayode will be blinded to the positive nature of the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket. If he has failed to read and do some research on the character of an Osinbajo, let me help him. Yemi Osinbajo is fiercely independent. A brilliant mind of great character and and a consummate reformer and legal crusader. You will not dare speak of him in this manner. The APC ticket is of people of great resolve. But because among your own crowd, you have people who will willingly destroy, not only our institutions and country, you think so of others. APC is a party with people of impeccable character, courageous and patriotic leaders, who are out to rescue our nation. And you – Fani-Kayode – are on record to have said so in several interviews. If FFK cannot recognise that Tinubu is a talent-seeker, man of vision, one who creates opportunities for the best minds to thrive and serve the public, then he deserves our pity. Tinubu’s hand is writ large in the brand of good governance pervading the Southwest and other parts of Nigeria. He is a hunter for talents as exemplified in Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos, who has redefined governance; talented and hardworking Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State; indefatigable Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State; eclectic Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State; the relentless Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and until recently, Kayode Fayemi, who served Ekiti well. Yemi Osinbajo belongs to this tribe of excellent public servants. The APC still parades other governors who continue to excel across the country. The likes of Governor Rabiu Kwankwos in Kano; the tireless Governor Wamakko of Sokoto State and other governors in Borno, Rivers, Yobe, Kwara – all of them committed to bringing change to their people. Bola Tinubu is helping to build the great platform for change; wholeheartedly working and supporting the APC ticket because he believes it is the last best hope to rescue Nigeria from the disaster FFK and his ilks will want to continue to rule us if allowed to. I pray Nigerians will not allow them to misgovern us a day beyond May 29. If FFK pretends not to know of Tinubu’s efforts to build and support the APC, it comes as no surprise. Fani-Kayode tried before to be part of the party but left when he found out there was no room for his games. Because the APC could not help to free him from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and aviation fraud, he ran away to the party that blocked the EFCC on his behalf. On record are Tinubu’s efforts and his contributions to rebuilding the nation and ensuring its democracy. They are his patriotic obligations. People like FFK will never understand this. Patriotism is not part of their personal constitution. Everything they do has a private beginning and personal end. They do nothing regarding the public purpose except to lie about it. I will not dignify FFK’s outrageous lies with any reply. All I know is that Nigerians know that he is a peddler of falsehood. And millions of Nigerians are with the APC and its leaders. Tinubu, like millions of APC members, is pleased with the performance of the APC ticket on the campaign trail and looks forward to greater accomplishments from the Buhari/Osinbajo team once in office. Let me restate that Tinubu is a committed democrat and he has demonstrated that times over. He is one man that has chosen to serve this country to the best of his ability. By God’s grace and the support of millions of Nigerians, APC will go on to win the March presidential election and Gen Muhammadu Buhari and Prof Osinbajo will go ahead to be sworn in to lead this country to better times. Fani-Kayode cannot just leave Tinubu alone because they see him as their political nemesis. But Tinubu will not be their dart board If they want to see the culprit behind their flagging misfortune, they do not need to glare at Tinubu. They should go home and peer into the nearest mirror. Therein their trouble lies. Now, FFK has revealed why his party, the PDP has consistently persecuted Bola Tinubu through phony Code of Conduct Tribunal, massive unjustified attacks against his character and integrity, intimidation and harassment. They all have failed. In what is a classic case of abuse of power, the government you now work for have accused Tinubu in the past of baseless and unproven allegations, whereas in your party, including yourself, there are wolves feasting on the commonwealth of the people. For a leadership that cannot define corruption and theft, we are left with a gang of plunderers. You have openly and secretly stolen and plundered the wealth of the nation without the slightest concern about morality and the suffering masses. The fiction of a thousand Fani-Kayodes cannot stop an idea whose time has come. The APC is committed to upholding and respecting the tenets of democracy and of bringing a new government that will usher in a new day for a new Nigeria. And that is what Fani-Kayode and his party cannot handle. The nation has had enough of their shamelessness. Please pack up. It is time to go. [myad]
Director of media and publicity for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi-Fani Kayode has gone personal. He told the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) whose Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari he had so insulted that it did not matter what it felt about him now. “Whether the APC wishes me well or not, I shall live long and prosper. What they think about me is neither here nor there and I lose no sleep over it. It is only what God thinks about me that matters and they are not God. They do not like me and I do not like them and that is fine by me. We do not need to like each other and all we need to do is to meet in the field.” Obviouly short of what say to attack General Buhari again, Fani-Kayode made a statement today saying: “I do not need their good wishes and neither do I crave their goodwill. Rather than continuously talking about me and making infantile and primitive statements, they should spend their time praying for the soul of the late and great PDP leader, Chief Funso Williams, who would have been governor of Lagos state, who was mysteriously murdered a few years ago by a group of evil, power-hungry and callous men, and who was a formidable political adversary of Tinubu. We pray every day that God should avenge Funso Williams and bring those that killed him to justice.” The PDP Presidential campaign spokesman suggested to the APC members to purge themselves of their obvious obsession with him but to pray for the fortunes of their candidate, General Buhari because, according to him: “he is in trouble and he is surrounded by snakes and vampires. “They should pray that God will keep General Buhari safe from the enemy within. The problem with the Tinubu wing of the APC is that they are so used to dishing out rubbish about other people that it has affected their minds and their ability to say anything reasonable or rational.” [myad]
All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led-government have now embarked on plugging some financial loopholes after its operators have stolen all they needed to steal from the nation’s treasury. In a statement, the director of media and publicity for the campaign organisation, Garba Shehu said: “these people are clearly plugging the loopholes, obviously having stolen enough. “The idea to plug loopholes is on its own desirable but it should worry any well-meaning Nigerian that it has taken this administration the better part of nearly six years for it to realise that the bane of this government is outright stealing, waste and mismanagement of resources.” Garba Shehu was referring to the recent Federal Government’s commencement of an independent revenue e-collection scheme under the Treasury Single Account initiative which he said is too little too late “and only predicated on the anticipation of an inevitable win by General Muhammadu Buhari in the March 28 presidential elections. “These are obviously last-minute attempts by the President Goodluck Jonathan government to plug loopholes in federal revenue collection by centralizing the process, a clear reaction to their expectation of General Muhammadu Buhari’s coming to power.” Garba Shehu saw the Federal Government’s new directive that all revenue collections of MDAs, which used to be deposited in banks, should now be sent directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the Central Bank of Nigeria through electronic payment channels as suspicious. “They didn’t do this all these years, and now with barely four weeks to go, they suddenly think this is essential. “It is even more suspicious when viewed along with the report of the inauguration of the Automated Aviation Revenue Project by the Ministry of Aviation.” The media and publicity chief of APC campaign organisation recalled that General Buhari’s declaration at a Lagos town hall meeting last month that corruption would drop a significant percentage immediately he is announced winner of the elections, even before he began to take formal measures to stem official graft. “This is a clear manifestation of what the General said. They know they have only four weeks left in government and they have started covering their tracks.” Garba Shehu has also asked President Jonathan to blame himself for the poor quality of aides and advise that he has benefited from since his days as Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, adding that the recent statement credited to the President that most of the advise that he has received from his aides have been worthless 80 percent of the time amounted to self-indictment and a revelation of the quality of person of the President himself. He said that such situation has demonstrated that the President lacks sound judgment bearing in mind that a leader is only as good as those who are around him. Garba Shehu said that the revelation by the President indicated that the people he has been leading have been putting up with mediocre, insincere and poorly thought-out and un-coordinated leadership. He said that is therefore no wonder that leadership by Jonathan at the national level has been in fits and starts, lacking coordination, depth and vision and unable in the past six years to lift the country from where he (Jonathan) met it. “We in the APC consider it an act of God, especially a few weeks to the March 28, 2015 Presidential polls that President Jonathan who insists on his re-election should make this revelation which to a large extent gives a deep insight into his person and character. “The President or the leader of the country selects his aides and the reason behind the selection is to enable him understand the country and govern effectively. In the case, where aides or advisers fail in their duty, the President or leader ought to accept responsibility as the buck stops on his table. The fact that all this while, no one heard of Dr. Jonathan sacking or reprimanding his aides, makes his lamentation curious, self- serving and opportunistic. It shows that the unpleasant situation has served President Jonathan well until this time that he is desperately seeking re-election. “President Jonathan’s revelation once again confirms the fact that the President is habitually making excuses buck passing for his shortcomings. This is the hallmark of poor leadership and the reason why the APC is confidently presenting a credible alternative in the person of General Muhammadu Buhari, who has a track record of performance, discipline and effectiveness.” [myad]
Like joke, like joke, as the Nigerian lingo goes, Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of INEC has become enemy number one to the withering cabal in PDP and all those that invested in the continuation of the malfunctioning Goodluck Jonathan presidency and his endangered party, the PDP. The other day, PDP’s Rottweiler and paid jobber, Chukwuemeka Ezeife was threatening that there would be no election except Jega quits as INEC Chairman. He was simply re-echoing the views of a so called Southern Leaders Forum, a ringside front for supporters of PDP and Jonathan who, on the day the National Security Council met and vetted Jega’s preparedness for election, organized a press conference somewhere in Abuja and were demanding the sack and arrest of Jega. Like commissioned jobbers, these shadowy enablers of Jonathan/PDP did not advance any coherent crimes Jega committed that warranted their extreme demand. At best, what they advanced were mere regurgitations of the disheveled afterthoughts the PDP hastily assembled against Jega and his INEC the moment they saw defeat starring them in the presidential election. Since this commissioned group’s demand, the Jonathan presidency and the PDP have succeeded in forcing INEC to postpone the elections for six weeks on flimsy security concerns. They have proceeded to unfurl a series of moves aimed at either scuttling the election which they are expected to lose as well as other scorched earth moves to prevent, at all costs, the clearly expressed desires of the Nigerian masses to ensure that they democratically end the reign of ghouls and vandals which had exacerbated the problems of Nigerian nationhood, extended the bounds of corruption and impunity and invested ineptitude, cronyism, ethnic and sectarian rancor, bigotry, nepotism and avarice as principles of state policy especially in the last six years. Since the Jonathan presidency and the PDP walked away with a gratuitous six weeks extension, it had embarked on a wild window shopping for measures that will vitiate their dwindling electoral prospects. Chief among these measures are targeted agains the electoral process and in their wild permutations, what they need to hang on to power is the removal of Jega and the removal by fiat of any credible impediment to the kind of ravaging electoral fraud which feeds the soul and body of PDP and its sixteen years dominance of power in Nigeria. See PDP’s roadmark to untrammeled power; remove Jega, stop the use of card readers and discard permanent voters card and possibly use the military and other security agencies to force down a forged result. PDP is not shameless to advance these as the ways to go In an election it is entering as an incumbent, having been in power for sixteen years! What should bother any decent mind is that the PDP does not betray any iota of shame making laughable cases for an electoral process that rests on their compromised whims and caprices Back to Jega. Let us recall the electoral fiasco of 2011 and how Jega rode on the back of that electoral charade to become PDP’s poster boy for ‘free and fair election’. Let us recall that in 2011, Jega’s INEC, without qualms, announced electoral results where Jonathan and his PDP appropriated between 90 and 99 per cent of all registered voters in the entire South East and South South States and advanced a magical manipulation of result sheets in the North to get the required 25 per cent across the northern states where Buhari was immensely popular. Remember that when the then CPC went to the tribunal to challenge this confounding result, this same Jega was to make a stunning entry in his defence at the tribunal that subjecting the results he claimed were actual votes to forensic examination, as CPC sought to do, amounts to endangering national security. The rest became history but suffice it to remind that the judge handling the case was removed midway into the case, retired and a pliant judge imposed to see through the wishes of the PDP at the tribunals. While Jega was approving thus deliberate larceny to favour the PDP, he was the best thing God created for mankind after pure water! So what really has changed? Today, Jega is a marked man, being hounded by the poisonous darts of the PDP, the Jonathan presidency and their well oiled enablers who are commissioned to launch scurrilous attacks on Jega and his INEC as a way of forcing PDP back to power. You and I may ask; what really is Jega’s offence? What mortal sins did he commit so lately in the game that he must be sacrificed at the very injury time of a critical electoral process? Why must he be dragged to the market square, stripped naked and stoned to death so late in the life of the election and so close to his June 30 terminal date? Sadly, the PDP, the Jonathan presidency and their soiled persuaders are not offering any convincing reason for calling for Jega’s head. At best, what we get from these people are a mish mash of fabrications, disoriented fables, stark lies, laughable drivers, infantile cocktails and pointed blackmail which are often grounded on the narrow props of fending off a gathering death verdict on the PDP and the Jonathan presidency. As is typical with the on going PDP campaign, all Nigerians get for the strident clamour by PDP and its apologists for the sack of Jega are hardly agreeing false stories targeting the emotional glans of PDP members and no serious indictment on the commitment of Jega to hold an election that will be worth its credibility before Nigerians and the outside world. When you are not hearing of how Jega has skewed the distribution of PVCs, you hear of how he had been consistently meeting and planning with nameless APC chieftains in Planet Mars on how to rig the election in favour of APC. Prodded to advance these cheap lies and desperate fabrications, mum becomes the word or at best, it becomes such shameful quaffs as that of a cash-and-carry Ezeife and his ilk; ‘Jega Must Go Or No Elections’. Let us pause and ponder: when did PDP and its supporters discover that Jega was planning a fast one on them? Did they just happen on this few days to the election as it discovered it was running stiffly against the wishes and desires of Nigerians to end the debilitating scourge it is running as government? If it had discovered this earlier than now, why did it start its susceptible agitation at the very eleventh hour of the general election? Why did PDP leave the fact of Jega’s alleged compromise till when it had exhausted every means to hoodwink Nigerians to support its continuity with devastating results? How come PDP suddenly discovered the Jega, the good boy of 2011, is now the only anathema between it and the power it so lusciously covets? Let no one be fooled. Jega is neither a saint nor a sinner. Jega is a Nigerian, just like any other Nigerian. He has his faults, his weaknesses and his low points like any other Nigerian. Jega has no love for the APC greater than the one he has for the PDP. I have had cause to doubt Jega especially since the 2011 electoral merchandising that the PDP maximally reaped from. I still do but I know that somehow, he wouldn’t like to leave INEC a villain. This commitment must have made him to put in place a credible process that will ensure that the putrid electoral process is cleansed up and Nigerians get the leaders they actually voted for. This is to favour neither the PDP nor the APC but rather leave the process for the people and not the tricky hands of electoral fraudsters. For this, he had insisted on card readers to ensure those that are accredited to vote are the real registered voters and also the use of IT-compliant PVCs to ensure that the ghost millions of voters that are brought to swing every election in Nigeria are done away with. He believes these will sanitize a shoddy electoral system and return elected leaders actually voted for by the people. These are laudable innovations that will neither favour the APC nor the PDP. For us to know why Jega had turned PDP’s mortal enemy, we have to ponder why PDP is desperately fighting against these innovations in the voting process.We must understand why PDP feels that at this stage, Nigeria should revert back to the same shambolic electoral process PDP had harvested from so as to place its present hatred and fear of Jega. We must wedge through the rejection by the PDP of the use of card readers and permanent voters card and Jega’s insistence that these harmless panacea to horrifying electoral roguery will be used to understand why PDP is fighting tooth and nail to remove Jega before the expiration of his legitimate tenure and possibly procure a pliable agent or member of the party to revert to the odious process that had so far, exclusively benefitted PDP and its notorious power barons. We must understand why PDP in desperation to revert the tumultuous demand for change feels no shame demanding that credible processes for free election be scuttled for it to walk away with another heist. It is Jega’s insistence on a clean electoral process that has exposed him to the venomous attack of a PDP that feels it cannot survive outside electoral rigging and such other criminal violation of the democratic process. It is Jega’s refusal to be used as a tool to scuttle the democratic demands of Nigerians once again that has pitted him against the ravenous PDP share reapers who predicate their contnued existence on short hanging the people through dubious electoral manipulation for their selfish interests. Nigerians must see in the insistent effort of the PDP to remove Jega by all means and pave way for another hair raising electoral fraud the refusal of the PDP and the Jonathan government to accede to the demands of a free electoral process. In their instigated blackmail of Jega must be seen a government desperate to hang in to power by every vile means even when Nigerians have had enough of it. This should form the platform for a firm insistence that this regime must go to avail Nigerians to recover from years of ruinous governance that has taken a heavy toll on all Nigerians.
Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has described the General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye at 73, as an exemplary nation builder. In a congratulatory message on the birthday of the renowned pastor, General Buhari said that Pastor Adeboye has been a peace-loving citizen
“Your role as a nation-builder is being acknowledged by all, and I enjoin you to continue in your service to God and humanity.” The APC Presidential flag bearer wished “the amiable Pastor Enoch Adeboye” long life in the service of God and humanity. [myad]
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta has announced that the Commission has uncovered 50 companies working with the Federal Ministry of Works with forged tax clearance certificates.
The ICPC boss, who appeared before the Senator Victor Lar-led Committee on Drugs, Narcotics, Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption said that 50 out of the 156 major contractors with the Ministry of Works have been discovered to submit forged tax certificates.
He said that the development would have robbed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFUND) of its needed resources if the deal was not uncovered even as he said also that the Commission has so far uncovered 45,000 ghost workers and saved the Federal Government the sum of N100 billion.
Nta also explained that the Commission has been able to track some Nigerians who specialize in cloning official Passports and that 375 International Passports have so far been seized.
“We have seized official passports meant for top civil servants being used by traders. We have done serious work on that. I have seized about 375 international passports which we have published.
“We have gone into direct intervention with Federal Inland Revenue Service, most of the big companies that do business for government have not been paying correct taxes or have been using forged documents. “I can give you clear examples.156 companies that did business with the Federal Ministry of Works, we got involved and over 50 had forged tax certificates and we are prosecuting them, that has now led to a total change in respect of persons who want to get involved in government business.” On the ghost workers, he said that the Commission has collaborated with the Ministry of Finance to uncover the ghost workers. “Of course you know what we have done in the Ministry of Finance, on the issue of ghost workers, where over 45,000 ghost workers were discovered, that has saved over a N100 billion. “We have a robust relationship with the Federal Inland Revenue Service. We have actually jailed some of their staff that are not doing the right thing and of course the Bureau for Public Procurement. We work hand in hand with them now.”
The ICPC boss said that in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) , his commission has installed a tracking device which would make monitoring of agencies and institutions easier.
He said that while the Commission has defended 24 cases successfully, it has also secured 12 convictions out of the 60 cases it prosecuted in 2014.
He said that the Commission had also focused its torchlight on the Universities where it has closed down over 26 illegal degree awarding institutions and rescued a number of students being victimized.
He added that ICPC rescued a female undergraduate of the Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma who had spent 12 years on campus for refusing sexual advances.
“Now there is a student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, who spent eight years without graduation and was been victimized, we moved in , through us he graduated. “We moved into Ambrose Ali University, a girl stayed there for twelve years on the basis of sexual harassment, ICPC moved in, she’s graduated and we are working on prosecuting all the officials involved.” Chairman of the Committee, Senator Victor Lar praised the ICPC for its strides in fighting corruption, adding that the Senate would expedite action on the bid to ensure financial autonomy for the anti-graft agencies. [myad]
On February 7, 2015 seven days to the scheduled February 14 elections, the Nigerian military aborted the voting through a letter from Sambo Dasuki NSA to INEC that they could not guarantee security during the scheduled February 14 elections. Technically, Sambo Dasuki issued a threat and blackmail on behalf of President Jonathan in alliance with the Nigerian military. On a cheeky note, the Nigerian military said they will commence renewed operation against Boko Haram on February 14, same day the election was to commence. The choice of February 14 as the exact date the Nigerian military said it would commence operation against Boko Haram easily gave the conspiracy of service chiefs away as willing partisan collaborators with President Jonathan in the 2015 elections because INEC had scheduled its election long before the February 14 desire for the commencement of the renewed offensive against Boko Haram by the Nigerian military! The Nigerian service chiefs: Air Chief Marshal Badeh, the Chief of Defense Staff, Major General Minimah, the Chief of Army Staff, Air Marshall Amosun, the Chief of Air Staff did not controvert Sambo Dasuki-a political appointee of President Jonathan. If they have not contravened Sambo Dasuki then they agree with him. Hence the Nigerian service chiefs –Badeh, Minimah, Amosun- are part of the cohort that annulled the February vote. Speaking of Sambo Dasuki , together with Mr. Ayo Oritsejafor’s company (Ayo Oritsejafor is the president of CAN) he has his hands and fingers full and well embedded in the cloudy and deliberately made fuzzy now aborted cash for arms South African deal. Nigeria’s money is still with the South Africans. Sambo Dasuki who came out to own the deal in order to save the face of Ayo Oristejafor whose company is questionably involved in the crime has not told us when South Africa will publicly return Nigerian money! The same Sambo Dasuki who used the power of the Nigerian state to cover a clear crime and illegality in the South African Cash for Arms case which implicated the company of Ayo Oritsejafor –CAN’s president- is the spokesperson of the Goodluck Jonathan/Military coup against the Nigerian people and the February 14 poll. Though President Jonathan has tried to absolve himself from the February coup against Nigerian people, by claiming that INEC did not consult him, it is obvious that the postponement is at the behest of PDP and Goodluck Jonathan to allow them to campaign more, see if they can claw back some votes in critical constituencies (especially the Western part of the country) and see if they can still win the election. Certainly the president was economical with the truth since he presided over the Council of State meeting few days previous that discussed this same issue! But, try as President Jonathan may try to dodge, as Commander in Chief, constitutionally President Jonathan sent Sambo Dasuki, his NSA to INEC. Since Sambo Dasuki does not have constitutional responsibility to INEC, it is obvious that Sambo Dasuki only passed the joint decision of the service Chiefs-Badeh, Minimah, Amosun-under the constitutional supervision of President Jonathan to INEC. All these –especially the treason and dishonor involved- explain why President Jonathan will again use Nigerian military and/or any other means to annul the March elections if the PDP, Goodluck Jonathan and the military read that the flow of the election is not in favor of President Jonathan. The reasons for this are desperation, need to protect previous crimes of some select members of the Nigerian political, economic, religious, military class against the Nigerian people, need to protect extremely dangerous vested economic, political and un-ethical interests, fear of past and future. Hence, let us systematically detail those who are implicated in this plot that has the potential of another annulment in March. I am doing this so that those who hold contrary view can challenge this claim with rival data. These are verifiable data in the public domain, which help us shed light on the potential and real plot against March elections. coalition of well funded sectional interests-examples of this are the dangerous clique of Tompolo, Dokubo-asari, boyloaf, the two factions of the OPC (Ganiyu Adams and Frederick Fasehun)looking for oil pipeline security contract, the oil funded Southern Peoples Assembly of Edwin Clark, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Femi Okunronmu. A faction of the Yoruba group Afenifere (of individuals), which is driven by purely personal economic calculations of its loose members. The Secretary General of this loose faction of few individuals is Mr. Seinde Arogbofa who is a brother to President Goodluck Jonathan’s Chief of Staff-Brigadier-General (rtd) Jones Arogbofa. Mr. Mimiko, present governor of Ondo state and Yinka Odumakin work with this group. Contrary to its desperate but failed attempt to be associated with the populist and social democratic and federalist principles of Obafemi Awolowo perhaps through comically wearing the famous Awolowo cap, individuals in this group are solely motivated by private and personal economic and monetary interests that can be gained from the oil and monetary resources provided by President Jonathan. The corrupt ministerial and governmental clique driven and coordinated by Oil minister Diezani Alison Madueke. Prominent members include Governors Mimiko and Godswill Akpabio, Buruji Kashamu, Ayo Fayose, Musiliu Obanikoro. The recent cries by Senator Silas Zwingina, and Bode George that it is better to stop Mr. Buhari because Buhari has zero tolerance for corruption betrays this loose group. For many reasons, some of which are open while some reasons are still hidden and will come into the open soon, members of this clique have shown the greatest desperation. The alliance of the service chiefs and Goodluck Jonathan presidency. Three great moments define this un-holy alliance. First, is the deep involvement of the Nigerian military in the rigging of the last Ekiti elections as documented in the Captain sager Koli’s tape. Second is the blatant use of the high office of the military to blackmail INEC to postpone the February election. Third is the sudden and irrational outburst of the Nigerian military in criticizing Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo. That outburst from the military against Mr. Obasanjo completely betrayed this un-holy alliance because the military outburst was un-ethical, unprofessional and un-called for, yet they made such ridiculous statement against Olusegun Obasanjo! The last moment is the mysterious relationship-which is more of a political relationship than a professional, statesman and nationalistic relationship- between President Jonathan as Commander in Chief and the military with respect to the war against Boko Haram. Part of the mystery is in the number SIX. For SIX years, the Nigerian military was unable to fight Boko Haram. But here is election time, and President is unsure of winning. And Boko Haram and loss of territory to them is an issue. Suddenly, the military woke up and promised to renew the battle against Boko Haram and win in SIX weeks! So what happened? Why did the Nigerian military refuse to engage Boko Haram the way it appears to be doing now for SIX years? Which military is actually doing the fighting against Boko Haram-our military or a foreign military? What is the role of the imported South African mercenaries in this fight against Boko Haram? What are the conditions of engagement of the South African mercenaries in the light of the officially expressed reservation of the South African authorities in Nigerian authority engagement of the South African mercenaries in the war against Boko Haram? What is the implication of engaging the mercenaries on the professional integrity, honor of our military?
Why did we have to engage the South African mercenaries? Will the truth be out? Is the ultimate script which the Nigerian military has been co-opted to advance is that “eh look you do not change a “winning” Commander”! But why did the “Commander”-President Jonathan lose for SIX years? Is the refusal of the “Commander” to fight Boko Haram for SIX years not ultimately political in view of SIX years and SIX weeks? Is this “Commander”-President Jonathan-therefore an honest “Commander?” These are questions arising from the mysterious prosecution of the war against Boko Haram. They border on professionalism, patriotism, nationalism and basic question of honesty and ethics and their lack in the “Commander” and his political service chiefs, which the service chiefs have to answer. And these go into the heart of the alliance between the service chiefs and President Jonathan. A loss of the election by President Jonathan will put the service chiefs in very difficult situation of open accountability to the Nigerian people with respect to these issues and their roles in failing to fight Boko Haram in SIX years and their sudden role in SIX weeks . They may not want this hence they are willing tools in the hand of President Jonathan. These three moments show the un-holy alliance between President Goodluck Jonathan and the military in using the military to rubbish the election the alliance of the Jonathan presidency and the Ayo Oritsejafor led Christian Association of Nigeria –this alliance includes select members of the Nigerian clergy especially and mostly of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. It is so bad some Nigerian Pentecostal “Pastors” are invested in this crime against Nigerian people. A clergy Pastor Kallamu Dikwa, openly alleged that the President Goodluck Jonathan gave 7 billion Naira to Ayo Oritsejafor’s CAN to campaign for him. This was allegedly distributed to state chapters of CAN. In a sane country, the so-called security agencies, which annulled the February election will swing into the field, investigate and arrest any so-called Pastor who has collected blood money. But the security agencies themselves are on the oil payroll of President Jonathan, so they are marooned in the sleaze and corruption. That the upper echelon of the Nigerian military has been compromised, and that such compromise will make them collaborate with the President Jonathan to manipulate the election has a strong foundation in some facts and trend. Some of these facts are as follows. EkitiGate. : This is Most Lethal Reason Why the Military will attempt to subvert the March election. From scientific point of view the audiotape is true. Its truth is devastating against the honor, dignity, integrity and professionalism of the Nigerian military. The only way to rescue itself from this shame is to practically and scientifically disproves the audiotape. But the military cannot. Rather the service chiefs had looked the other way praying that the matter will go away. But the country and the people are greater than any of its institution, so this will not go away until it is openly addressed before the Nigerian people because to use the military to rig an election is one of the most treasonable act. To sweep it under the carpet is equally treasonable. The Sagir Koli Ekitigate audiotape exposed two constituencies– viz military constituency and PDP political constituency. Beside the Ekitigate audiotape, the alliance of forces in i-v above– is too compromised they cannot afford a loss. This explains the desperation of the clique in i-v. For example, Ayo Fayose directly has nothing to do with this election. However, he is a candidate in a vicarious sense because of the Ekitigate. This explains why he is extremely emotional, irrational and desperate bordering sometime on psychological instability. So, a loss for Mr. Jonathan simply means that the Nigerian people will demand a deeper understanding of the Ekitigate. This explains Ayo Fayose’s desperation and his mobilization of physical and evil non-physical forces to see to the death of Mr. Buhari. Ayo Fayose is already a wreck and it has become that bad for him. Hence for this reason, signs and trend of an APC success will lead to the mobilization of the military to abort it. Mr. Ayo Oritsejafor the present president of CAN and some known Pastors are not left out of this. From the 2011 polls to the present poll, the Jonathan presidency compromised some clergy. Nigerians should read Pastor Bakare’s testimony and observations on the 2011 elections. The clergymen are compromised through the informal and un-documented side of the Nigerian economy. This informal side of the economy leaks like a damaged oil pipeline. This is a well-known side, which drives every sleaze. This is the sector that is used to compromise the clergy and the military. The informal side of the economy through which the leakage and compromise of clergymen and women and the military take place is the reason it is disingenuous to ask for physical evidence of the compromise as if that informal sector is physically documented. Finally, in any plot there are immediate and remote factors. The remote factors are contained in the activities of the cliques in i-v. Members of these cliques will do anything to abort the election including the thoughtless, the illegal and the criminal, which includes toying with the idea of suddenly sacking Mr. Attahiru Jega INEC Chair. However, given the dishonor, indignity and shame it has brought to the Nigerian military(where a civilian politician threatened a Nigerian General!), the need to cover up the Ekitigate is one of the biggest immediate factors(out of others) that threatens the March elections. In annulling the election, it is obvious that the the top echelon of the military will not be acting out of any patriotic, professional or ethical reason. This highly compromised top echelon will be acting out of pure instinct of survival. Hence, the Nigerian civil society and the International Community must be on full alert to help the Nigerian people; assist the Nigerian democratic process by joining to resist any of President Jonathan’s attempts to abort the March elections through open, direct or devious means. Adeolu Ademoyo aaa54@cornell.edu Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. [myad]
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When Did Professor Jega Become Enemy Of PDP? By Peter Claver
Like joke, like joke, as the Nigerian lingo goes, Professor Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of INEC has become enemy number one to the withering cabal in PDP and all those that invested in the continuation of the malfunctioning Goodluck Jonathan presidency and his endangered party, the PDP. The other day, PDP’s Rottweiler and paid jobber, Chukwuemeka Ezeife was threatening that there would be no election except Jega quits as INEC Chairman. He was simply re-echoing the views of a so called Southern Leaders Forum, a ringside front for supporters of PDP and Jonathan who, on the day the National Security Council met and vetted Jega’s preparedness for election, organized a press conference somewhere in Abuja and were demanding the sack and arrest of Jega. Like commissioned jobbers, these shadowy enablers of Jonathan/PDP did not advance any coherent crimes Jega committed that warranted their extreme demand. At best, what they advanced were mere regurgitations of the disheveled afterthoughts the PDP hastily assembled against Jega and his INEC the moment they saw defeat starring them in the presidential election.
Since this commissioned group’s demand, the Jonathan presidency and the PDP have succeeded in forcing INEC to postpone the elections for six weeks on flimsy security concerns. They have proceeded to unfurl a series of moves aimed at either scuttling the election which they are expected to lose as well as other scorched earth moves to prevent, at all costs, the clearly expressed desires of the Nigerian masses to ensure that they democratically end the reign of ghouls and vandals which had exacerbated the problems of Nigerian nationhood, extended the bounds of corruption and impunity and invested ineptitude, cronyism, ethnic and sectarian rancor, bigotry, nepotism and avarice as principles of state policy especially in the last six years.
Since the Jonathan presidency and the PDP walked away with a gratuitous six weeks extension, it had embarked on a wild window shopping for measures that will vitiate their dwindling electoral prospects. Chief among these measures are targeted agains the electoral process and in their wild permutations, what they need to hang on to power is the removal of Jega and the removal by fiat of any credible impediment to the kind of ravaging electoral fraud which feeds the soul and body of PDP and its sixteen years dominance of power in Nigeria. See PDP’s roadmark to untrammeled power; remove Jega, stop the use of card readers and discard permanent voters card and possibly use the military and other security agencies to force down a forged result. PDP is not shameless to advance these as the ways to go In an election it is entering as an incumbent, having been in power for sixteen years! What should bother any decent mind is that the PDP does not betray any iota of shame making laughable cases for an electoral process that rests on their compromised whims and caprices
Back to Jega. Let us recall the electoral fiasco of 2011 and how Jega rode on the back of that electoral charade to become PDP’s poster boy for ‘free and fair election’. Let us recall that in 2011, Jega’s INEC, without qualms, announced electoral results where Jonathan and his PDP appropriated between 90 and 99 per cent of all registered voters in the entire South East and South South States and advanced a magical manipulation of result sheets in the North to get the required 25 per cent across the northern states where Buhari was immensely popular. Remember that when the then CPC went to the tribunal to challenge this confounding result, this same Jega was to make a stunning entry in his defence at the tribunal that subjecting the results he claimed were actual votes to forensic examination, as CPC sought to do, amounts to endangering national security. The rest became history but suffice it to remind that the judge handling the case was removed midway into the case, retired and a pliant judge imposed to see through the wishes of the PDP at the tribunals. While Jega was approving thus deliberate larceny to favour the PDP, he was the best thing God created for mankind after pure water!
So what really has changed? Today, Jega is a marked man, being hounded by the poisonous darts of the PDP, the Jonathan presidency and their well oiled enablers who are commissioned to launch scurrilous attacks on Jega and his INEC as a way of forcing PDP back to power. You and I may ask; what really is Jega’s offence? What mortal sins did he commit so lately in the game that he must be sacrificed at the very injury time of a critical electoral process? Why must he be dragged to the market square, stripped naked and stoned to death so late in the life of the election and so close to his June 30 terminal date?
Sadly, the PDP, the Jonathan presidency and their soiled persuaders are not offering any convincing reason for calling for Jega’s head. At best, what we get from these people are a mish mash of fabrications, disoriented fables, stark lies, laughable drivers, infantile cocktails and pointed blackmail which are often grounded on the narrow props of fending off a gathering death verdict on the PDP and the Jonathan presidency. As is typical with the on going PDP campaign, all Nigerians get for the strident clamour by PDP and its apologists for the sack of Jega are hardly agreeing false stories targeting the emotional glans of PDP members and no serious indictment on the commitment of Jega to hold an election that will be worth its credibility before Nigerians and the outside world. When you are not hearing of how Jega has skewed the distribution of PVCs, you hear of how he had been consistently meeting and planning with nameless APC chieftains in Planet Mars on how to rig the election in favour of APC. Prodded to advance these cheap lies and desperate fabrications, mum becomes the word or at best, it becomes such shameful quaffs as that of a cash-and-carry Ezeife and his ilk; ‘Jega Must Go Or No Elections’.
Let us pause and ponder: when did PDP and its supporters discover that Jega was planning a fast one on them? Did they just happen on this few days to the election as it discovered it was running stiffly against the wishes and desires of Nigerians to end the debilitating scourge it is running as government? If it had discovered this earlier than now, why did it start its susceptible agitation at the very eleventh hour of the general election? Why did PDP leave the fact of Jega’s alleged compromise till when it had exhausted every means to hoodwink Nigerians to support its continuity with devastating results? How come PDP suddenly discovered the Jega, the good boy of 2011, is now the only anathema between it and the power it so lusciously covets?
Let no one be fooled. Jega is neither a saint nor a sinner. Jega is a Nigerian, just like any other Nigerian. He has his faults, his weaknesses and his low points like any other Nigerian. Jega has no love for the APC greater than the one he has for the PDP. I have had cause to doubt Jega especially since the 2011 electoral merchandising that the PDP maximally reaped from. I still do but I know that somehow, he wouldn’t like to leave INEC a villain. This commitment must have made him to put in place a credible process that will ensure that the putrid electoral process is cleansed up and Nigerians get the leaders they actually voted for. This is to favour neither the PDP nor the APC but rather leave the process for the people and not the tricky hands of electoral fraudsters. For this, he had insisted on card readers to ensure those that are accredited to vote are the real registered voters and also the use of IT-compliant PVCs to ensure that the ghost millions of voters that are brought to swing every election in Nigeria are done away with. He believes these will sanitize a shoddy electoral system and return elected leaders actually voted for by the people. These are laudable innovations that will neither favour the APC nor the PDP.
For us to know why Jega had turned PDP’s mortal enemy, we have to ponder why PDP is desperately fighting against these innovations in the voting process.We must understand why PDP feels that at this stage, Nigeria should revert back to the same shambolic electoral process PDP had harvested from so as to place its present hatred and fear of Jega. We must wedge through the rejection by the PDP of the use of card readers and permanent voters card and Jega’s insistence that these harmless panacea to horrifying electoral roguery will be used to understand why PDP is fighting tooth and nail to remove Jega before the expiration of his legitimate tenure and possibly procure a pliable agent or member of the party to revert to the odious process that had so far, exclusively benefitted PDP and its notorious power barons. We must understand why PDP in desperation to revert the tumultuous demand for change feels no shame demanding that credible processes for free election be scuttled for it to walk away with another heist. It is Jega’s insistence on a clean electoral process that has exposed him to the venomous attack of a PDP that feels it cannot survive outside electoral rigging and such other criminal violation of the democratic process. It is Jega’s refusal to be used as a tool to scuttle the democratic demands of Nigerians once again that has pitted him against the ravenous PDP share reapers who predicate their contnued existence on short hanging the people through dubious electoral manipulation for their selfish interests. Nigerians must see in the insistent effort of the PDP to remove Jega by all means and pave way for another hair raising electoral fraud the refusal of the PDP and the Jonathan government to accede to the demands of a free electoral process. In their instigated blackmail of Jega must be seen a government desperate to hang in to power by every vile means even when Nigerians have had enough of it. This should form the platform for a firm insistence that this regime must go to avail Nigerians to recover from years of ruinous governance that has taken a heavy toll on all Nigerians.
Peter Claver Oparah Ikeja, Lagos. [myad]