APC Petitions Police Boss Over Fayose, PDP Death Wish On General Buhari

January 22, 2015

The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba over what it called “the PDP morbid advertisement” sponsored by Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and published on the cover pages of two national dailies of 19th January, 2015.
In the petition signed by the Governor of Rivers State and Director General of the Campaign, Rotimi Amaechi, the APC Presidential Campaign condemned PDP and Fayose for portraying its candidate, General Buhari as a dead man walking to scare Nigerians from voting for him in the February 14 election.
According to the petition, the portrayal of Buhari as a likely to die in office just like past northern leaders such as Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, General Sani Abacha and General Murtala Mohammed was “morbid and reckless” and that such irresponsible political advert is not only “in bad taste, but also capable of undermining law and order in the country.”
The strongly-worded petition said that insinuating death for a man who is still alive based on unscientific logic or prediction is capable of causing a breach of the peace across the country.
The APC Campaign petition also drew the attention of the IGP to the fact that Fayose’s advert violated the spirit and letter of the Ambassador Kofi Annan initiative which, which had Nigerian political parties and their presidential candidates sign a peace accord.
It therefore urged the IGP to investigate the origin of Fayose’s “sinister and inhuman” advert and call him to order with a view to preventing a repeat of such provocative publication in the interest of peace.
The APC Campaign said that copies of the petition have been sent to the Department of State Security (DSS), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and The Sun and The Punch newspapers.
Meanwhile, APC has said that it prefers not to respond to the provocations of Fani-Kayode, but rather engage him on issues that have the potential to bring the greatest good for the greatest number of Nigerians.
Meanwhile the Director of Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mallam Garba Shehu has described as laughable, the PDP’s hold-on to the educational qualifications of the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, even when the matter has been exhaustively laid to rest.
Reacting to his counterpart in PDP, Femi Fani-Kayode’s statement asking General Buhari to report himself to Police for perjury, Garba Shehu said: “It is not our desire in the APC presidential campaign organisation to join an individual who has a record of talking to please the moment on any petty issue. At some point in the recent past, it was convenient for Fani-Kayode to say this of the APC and its leaders: ‘What Nigerians need now is to join hands with the APC leaders, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to move the nation forward.’ Today, a Fani-Kayode sees no desecration in recanting that same position, just to satisfy his convenience.
“The APC and its candidate are in this presidential campaign to discuss issues that will improve the standard of living of Nigerians and ensure that the people of this country are properly secured. Whenever the PDP and its presidential campaign spokesman feel ready to join us on this noble path, we will not be willing to join them on petty issues.”
He noted that these distractions are being promoted in order to provide a blanket cover over the shortcomings of the Jonathan administration in the areas of security, employment, war against corruption and infrastructure.
“Nigerians need no telling that all these distractions and provocations by Jonathan, the PDP and their cohorts are aimed at ensuring that they escape scrutiny over their score card marked by insecurity, unemployment and rampant corruption.”

[myad]

Jonathan’s Igbo Internet Warriors Are A Disgrace To Humanity, By C. Don Adinuba

Greenbarge Reporters

January 22, 2015

The Igbo Internet thugs who campaign for Goodluck Jonathan are an utter disgrace to humankind. They are, indeed, a strange species of homo sapiens. Maybe, they are a hybrid of homo erectus and home sapiens! Their actions are hardly compatible with those of people who have what the French call l’amour propre, self esteem or self worth.

A little over a year ago, Femi Fani-Kayode wrote a series of horrible articles well circulated in the media against the Igbo. Falling short of calling for Igbo extermination, Femi confessed his great admiration for Adolf Hitler’s Mien kempf, probably the most racist book in world history. All manner of people who called themselves Igbo Internet warriors were calling for his head. You would naturally expect them to kick against Jonathan’s recent appointment of Femi Fani-Kayode as the director of media and publicity of his reelection campaign, thus becoming the face and voice of the president, an Ijaw who has strangely been portrayed as an Igbo. But far from taking exception to this sacrilege, the self-styled Internet warriors, whom Oby Ezekwesili memorably calls Internet thugs, are rather now in cahoots with Femi! They quote him approvingly every minute. Why? Femi has a huge propaganda budget! Most of these Internet warriors are on his payroll, and their principal duty is to besmirch the integrity of Muhammadu Buhari, apart from raising cudgels, knives, daggers and guns against thoughtful Igbo people who raise questions about the propriety of their action. The Great Zik of Africa was fond of describing such irresponsible characters as knaves.

The knaves enthusiastically circulated a forged hospital document alleging that Buhari has prostate cancer. Just before this forgery, they reported online that Buhari had fainted at a campaign rally and was rushed to a hospital even when the same characters were commenting on Buhari’s ongoing campaign stumps in different parts of the country!

As Jonathan was about to visit Onitsha last week, they circulated a picture of a bridge under construction somewhere but mischievously claimed that it is the so-called Second Niger Bridge which becomes relevant to the president only during electioneering campaigns. The essence of circulating the false picture was to deceive their own Igbo people into believing that work on the mythical bridge had taken off in earnest. How some Igbo Internet fraudsters could have the courage to “419” or swindle their own people in broad daylight in order to please an Ijaw president and turn round to claim that they are the champions of Igbo interests remains one of the greatest mysteries of our time. It is revealing of the kind of ethics of the government in Abuja and their supporters all over Nigeria. It is also revealing of why some people in Nigeria and elsewhere think that the Igbo have too many Judas Iscariots, too many people eager to kill even their own family members for a mess of porridge.

On a personal note, I am deeply worried about the enthusiasm of a couple of professionals and Pentecostal pastors in this forum to indulge in this fraud in the name of politics. They need be reminded in public that certain actions of theirs do cause tremendous and eternal violence to their personal and professional reputations, to say nothing about their supposed religious callings. They are advised to read up the idea of the scandal of perception in Catholic theology. Put succinctly, their utterances and actions as ordained ministers of God or equivalent could cause some believers to lose faith in God.

C. Don Adinuba
cdonadin@yahoo.com

[myad]

We’ll Not Allow Retrogressive Force To Dislodge PDP, Jonathan Vows

Greenbarge Reporters

January 22, 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan has vowed not to allow any retrogressive force to dislodge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from government and that he will continue to do his best for the people of Bauchi state and Nigeria in general.
The President who spoke at the Ibrahim Babangida Square in Bauchi today as part of his campaign for re-election, said that with the continued support of Bauchi people and Nigerians in general, no ‘retrogressive force’ will be able to dislodge the ruling party.
The President told party faithful who gathered for the rally that no amount of opposition will also be allowed to halt the good work his administration is doing for Bauchi people.
He urged the people to vote PDP candidates at all levels, saying that his administration will continue to empower youths with education, skill acquisition programmes and job creation so that politicians will stop using them to perpetrate violence.
The President acknowledged that the state is very rich in agricultural potentials, adding that his administration had therefore built a lot of dams for the state.
He also told the gathering to ask those who are instigating the youths to violence, to ask them what they have done for the people.
President Jonathan said that the great Nigerians produced by the state among whom was foremost nationalist, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, never instigated Nigerians against each other.
“The great man never instigated us against each other. He preached peace, unity and oneness. No retrogressive force can push PDP behind. We must continue to empower our youths through job creation, training and formal education so that the politicians will not continue to use us for negative activities.
This state has strong agricultural potentials. We have been building dams across the states to boost the sector.
“The people who are instigating us cannot tell us what they they have done for us. Keep supporting the PDP, we will work with you for more democratic dividends.”
Speaking earlier, Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio reminded the people that insurgency wasn’t created by Jonathan, adding that even the late Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf was not killed under Jonathan. He urged the people to support PDP at all levels.

[myad]

Fani-Kayode Asks General Buhari To Submit Himself To Police For Perjury

Greenbarge Reporters

January 22, 2015

Director of Media and Publicity of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode has asked the Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari to submit himself to the police to answer the cjarge of perjury.
“We reiterate our call on Gen Buhari to submit himself to the police to answer charges of perjury, having lied on oath about his academic qualifications. This is what a man who claims to represent integrity and due process ought to do in this situation.”
Fani-Kayode, at a press conference today in Abuja, also called on the authors and masterminds of result of General Buhari, which he said, were forged to come forward and be identified.
“If they fail to come forward voluntarily, we hereby call on the Police and other security Agencies to seek them out, find them, arrest them, interrogate them and prosecute them in accordance with the laws of the land.”
The PDP Presidential campaign spokesman said that it is unfortunate that the more General Buhari tries to extricate himself from the certificate crisis, the more he stumbles into a new phase in the unfolding narrative of his obvious complicity in a matter that borders on perjury and which has called his avowed integrity to question.
He said that a few hours after General Buhari’s Press conference in Kano, some documents appeared on various Media platforms purporting to be the APC candidate’s results released by his old school.
“Having carefully studied the statement of Result signed by the “school principal” and an “examination officer” of the Government College, Katsina, as well as the attached document titled UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE WEST AFRICA SCHOOL CERTIFICATE 1961, we wish to make the following observations and comments:
“The results sheet which was attributed to the Cambridge examination body is clearly a super imposition of one document on another as you will shortly see in the enlarged image of the result sheet as published. The column lines on the part where names are printed do not align with the blank columns while there is an introduction of extraneous lines on some other columns. ( PLEASE SEE IMAGE ON SCREEN)
“The document contains an obvious alteration on the Mathematics column of the candidate, Mohamed Buhari, who was assumed to have scored an “F” in the subject. This raises a very fundamental issue of validity in view of the fact that the accompanying result sheet states that “any alteration or erasure renders this statement of Results invalid.” This is the standard practice in all interpretation of documents especially academic records. The question we put to Gen Buhari and his party is whether this alteration was done by the University of Cambridge.
“One of the footnotes on the document purportedly issued by the University of Cambridge says “the results of this candidate in all subjects except English Language have been carried forward from the 1960 examination.” The question arising from this is: When exactly did Buhari sit for all the other subjects claimed to have been passed in the Secondary School Examination?
“Our conclusion from all these is that the documents purportedly released by Government College (Pilot) Katsina, upon which the APC Presidential candidates hopes to bury the doubt about his eligibility for next month’s election are forged, manipulated and fraudulently procured. They are therefore untenable in fact and in law.”

[myad]

Dokubo Says Abuja Peace Accord Is Useless, Says He’ll Retaliate Attack On Jonathan In Katsina

Greenbarge Reporters

January 21, 2015

The national president, Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Asari Dokubo, has vowed to retaliate the alleged stoning of President Goodluck Jonathan’s convoy when he visited Kastina state on Tuesday, describing the recent Peace Accord which all the stakeholders signed in Abuja as useless.

Dokubo, who openly expressed his bitterness, also criticized President Jonathan for signing non-violence pact with General Muhammadu Buhari, in the first place.

”For every action, there would be an opposite and equal reaction. I knew that the signing of the accord was useless and the President subjected himself to sign such an accord, for me was out of place. The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Army forces of a country, but the president is an humble person, he does things that even surprise some of us and make us sometimes to be very angry.

Addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja, Asari Dokubo, who was reacting to the reports of stoning of President Jonathan when he visited Kastina on Tuesday, made it cleared that his group in Niger Delta would response proportionately.

“There is an establishment pattern of pre and post election violence in the North. In 50th when Awolowo was campaigning in the North he went with helicopter and he was mobbed. People said he was flying over their houses and peeping on their wives. That has continued and everywhere in the country, people would say leave them alone, we don’t want any trouble but the rule of the game has changed.

“To be very frank, on that day they were signing the accord I was very angry, signing with who? The president has sworn to protect the lives of every Nigerian, so why would he after taken a constitutional oath, subjected himself to another oath that would be stronger than the oath he took when he took office after been elected voluntarily by the people of Nigeria”

He said Buhari’s statements concerning peace accord was meant to deceive Nigerians, saying Nigerians should not believe him.

Speaking on what he think can bring about peace before and after the election, Dokubo said nothing will happen if the Northerners do not engineer violence, adding that anything contrary, he and his people will not fold their arms.

“The question is not for me, it for Buhari, Shakau and others who can not stop their people from stoning Jonathan when he visited Kastina”

On the called for the postponement of election, Dokubo said there is obvious fraudulent going on at INEC which said beyond ordinary man, suggesting that everyman should be allowed to vote without the Permanent Voters Card, because according to him, “INEC is not ready for this election.”

“We know there are going to do what they know how to do best after election, but my message to all the Igbo in the North is that they should all leave now, including all the corpers serving there, let them come back home because they will do it again after Jonatban must have been declared winner.”

He said a vote for Buhari at the coming election is a vote for retrogretion.

He said he had been working and getting good response from Nigerians that they will vote Jonathan, expressing confidence that President Jonathan will win with a landslide.

On corruption, Dokubo said people should not forget that Nigeria runs a federation system, asking how many people opposition political party have tried of corruption in their states even as they blame federal government always of corruption. [myad]

General Buhari Angry, Laments The Tragedy Of PDP

Greenbarge Reporters

January 21, 2015

Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has expressed disgust over what he called the tragedy of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said: “it is a tragedy to see the ruling party focus on pettiness and lies; rumours of cancer, foreign treatment, and certificates they know exist.”
Addressing newsmen in Kano today on the controversies surrounding his school certificate, General Buhari said: “I have become seriously disturbed by the volume of falsehood and desperation from the opposition campaign of the PDP. I clearly underrated the panic and lack of integrity that leads people to tell barefaced lies, and must confess, it continues to confound me.
“I have run for office before, but I have consistently done so without desperation or anger, because elections are not war. Why should candidates tell so many frantic lies in order to win elections, if truly their purpose is to ‘transform’ the lives of our people?
“It is a tragedy to see the ruling party focus on pettiness and lies; rumours of cancer, foreign treatment, and certificates they know exist.”
General Buhari said that thousands of Nigerians died in Baga town, Borno state some days ago while the unemployment numbers are rising even as the businesses of the nation’s enterprising youth are being killed by lack of access to finance and poor economic policies, adding that the ongoing campaign should be about those issues.
“It should be about today and the future; about securing Nigerian lives and Nigerian land. The desperation is beyond my understanding.
“What is this obsession with lies? What is this obsession with pettiness? What is this obsession with threats and attacks?
“All of us, citizens and voters need to ask ourselves – why is our President so desperate? How can the President of this country be talking about remembering phone numbers and coup speeches?
“How can his campaign be talking about dead ex-leaders, jogging around the stadium and outright lies about my health?
“How can a President who has led this country for six years be unable to run on his own record and his achievements? Where is his fabled calm, where is his reserve, where is his composure? Why is he so ruffled? Why is he so frustrated and afraid?”
The APC asked Nigerians to be deeply worried that a President who called for calm during governorship elections has now lost his cool in his own elections.
He remined President Jonathan and his allies that he is not only a candidate for office but President of Nigeria.
General Buhari said that APC Presidential campaing doesn’t have a disinformation or propaganda wing and that the team has no need to waste time in driving petty attacks.
“We have not spoken about the President’s family, his health, his religion, his ethnic group, or his phone number. We are concerned only about his record – has he secured Nigeria? Has he fought corruption? Has he truly grown the economy so it can work?
“Do our children find it easy to get jobs? Do our sisters and brothers find it easy to set up and sustain their businesses? Can our president keep us safe when we travel to any part of this country? Is your life better today than it was six years ago?
“We have only presented our record – how we fought insurgencies, how we stabilized the Naira, how we tackled corruption. We have presented our vision and plans – through our manifesto (available on http://www.thisisbuhari.com) and our town hall meetings.
“We are lucky to have in this election two people who have led this country. I am proud to present our record of solutions and effectiveness. Imagine the accelerated growth we can now achieve in a democracy –which the world has seen to be the most effective way of governing nations.
“Let us focus on those issues, please. Elections are not war. February 14 is not about politicians. It is about our country.
“I am appealing to you: the damage to this country is great. The level of unemployment and insecurity is intolerable, worsened by corruption.
“Therefore, I shall refuse to indulge the smear campaign. I refuse to allow them take away the focus from the issues that concern you. We insist on a campaign of hope, change and the future. This election is about big, important issues. We refuse to play it small.” [myad]

I See General Buhari As The Next Nigerian President, Obasanjo Predicts

Greenbarge Reporters

January 21, 2015

Former Nigeria President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has predicted that the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari will be the next Nigerian President which is why those who are afraid of him are creating so many obstacles on his way, Saying “a general is always a general.

Obasanjo, who was reacting to the controversies generated over the school certificate of General Buhar said: “I see Buhari as the next President and Jonathan is aware of that, and that is the reason they are hitting him everywhere to put confusion in his camp. But a General is always a General… “

The former President said the truth of the matter is that Jonathan is aware that Buhari is qualified to contest for President election but that “some hawks with Jonathan do not want him to contest because they believed that he will win and come for them.

“The issue (of Buhari’s certificate) came up in 2007, and we investigated and found out that his WASEC is with the military and that was why he was allowed to contest in 2007. Buhari cannot listen to anyone about his certificates because as a General of Nigeria Army, he will speak when he chooses, not by Femi Fani Kayode and Okupe asking him. Fayose and other corrupt people including Kashamu do not want Buhari because of his anti-corruption slogan.
“Even Jonathan did not finish his PhD course but when it was presented we stated that, it does not matter but many people do not know because it was PDP thing.” [myad]

Implications Of The Big Question-Marks On Buhari’s Qualifications, By Rotimi Coker

Greenbarge Reporters

January 21, 2015

I have been following the drama and suspense Nigerians have been subjected to by General Muhammadu Buhari, a man who wants to be the president of this country with all its seemingly intractable challenges, and I must state that for a man who has “change” as his campaign mantra, Nigerians truly deserve a lot more from him.
It was William Shakespeare that wrote in one of his very famous books, Julius Ceasar: “When beggars die, there are no comets seen. The heavens themselves blaze forth the birth of princes.” As I reflect on this famous quote by one of the greatest writers that ever lived, it just appears to me as if he had Buhari in his mind that many years ago.
I say this because if it were one ordinary politician that is stammering about whether or not he sat for and earned a School Certificate or whatever is his equivalent, I would not be worried. But for man who wants to leave a country of over 170 million people out of political, economic, security and legions of other challenges, Buhari does not seem to present a great example.
Living off the resources of the country, Buhari was able to rise through the officer cadre of the Nigerian army to become a General. During this period, he received salaries and allowances, was sponsored to several training programmes at home and abroad and at a stage in his career, was appointed Minister for Communications. By the new year of 1983, he would become the Head of State of Nigeria.
Having travelled this far and long, General Buhari should have picked up some vital lessons in management and administration. Critical among these lessons, I assume he should know, is that there are minimum qualifications for anyone who is aspiring for any political office in Nigeria as in anywhere else.
Also important is transparency and honesty. General Buhari should have learnt that for someone aspiring to public office, there are certain things that should not be kept in the closet if you must win the trust of the people.
Perhaps his military background may have beclouded his memory and made it almost impossible to appreciate that the values of honest leadership begins with disclosing what qualifies you to even lead in the first place.
As a Nigerian from the north where, expectedly, he is under the rulership of an Emir, Buhari should know that there are fundamental qualifications for anyone who wants to be the Emir of Daura Emirate here he incidentally comes from. Even Buhari knows he cannot be an emir because he is nowhere in line to that very highly respected traditional stool.
Buhari denied Nigerians the opportunity to enter the New Year 2015 in peace following the revelation that he may never have had the requisite qualifications to even join the Nigerian armed forces, on which platform he rose to rule this country (and with iron fists!) as a military head of state.
When media reports began to suggest that he did not tender copies of his academic qualifications to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), most people thought it was one cloud that would clear in a matter of days. But days became weeks and weeks are fast speeding past and forward to election day with Buhari still unable to show Nigerians that he is qualified to be their president – a president that will make change happen, whatever that means.
My concern over this is in two folds. The first is as it relates to a potential dishonest general who may have been trained by Nigeria even when he was not qualified for that. Number two, and which worried me a lot more is how someone who is speaking of change has been taking the entire country for granted.
I will discuss these briefly below. You see, if, as the Nigerian army has stated, Buhari entered the army merely by a letter written by his school principal stating that he had obtained his school certificate, then we have so many issues t resolve.
In the first place, it is not a school that awards certificates. There are examinations bodies vested with that power and authority. As it affects Buhari, the West Africa Examinations Council or whichever body was responsible for the issuance of School Certificates at the time Buhari finished his post primary education should have been the ones we should be talking to. Anyone can write a “TO WHOM IT MAT CONCERN” letter and state whatever he or she liked. But an examinations body is the one that has the mandate to certify that someone sat for their examinations and passed same.
The festering scandal over General Buhari’s qualifications may have opened a a new and ugly file on what may have been happening in the Nigerian military over the years. Is it possible that there may have be many other Buharis who joined the officer cadre of the military merely by a letter written by a school principal? Are there people like that whose academic qualifications were not vetted and certified authentic before our ranks, pips and national honours were conferred on them? How could the army not have checked to confirm that the letter written by this mysterious principal presented a true picture of who the retired General was before he was decorated as an officer of the Nigerian army?
As a young student that was just admitted into the university, I was made to tender my academic qualifications, including my First School leaving Certificate and West African School Certificate as part of the admission procedures. I was not given this admission on the strength of a letter written by my principal.
And the university did not stop there. It went the needful extra mile to check with the records at WAEC to certify that my claims of having obtained at least five credits in WASC, including English Language and at least one science subject was true. It was only then that they considered me fit and proper to go ahead with my course of study and eventually awarded me a degree.
This did not stop there. When I began to look for jobs and eventually got one in one of Nigeria’s banks, I was put on probation for six months and had my appointment confirmed only after the bank certified that I actually sat for and obtained my WASC and Bachelor of Arts degree.
If Buhari has not been able to meet these standards, then something is wrong and he should consider himself unfit to aspire for public office. In fact, Nigerians should be demanding for refunds of all salaries, allowances, cost of training and other perks he got as a soldier and Head of State of the country if he cannot prove he has not been lying to us all these years.
Secondly, why is Buhari playing with the emotions of a people he wants to be their leader. I have seen the passion and fervor many Nigerians, especially those in the All Progressives Congress, have invested in the Buhari campaigns.
But these people are worried that they may just be working for a man who is not qualified, a man whose academic records are not straight. Does it not occur to Buhari that he owes these people and other Nigerians a proper explanation?
If Buhari has his certificates as he claims, there is only one thing to be done – show them to us. If he does not have them, as suggested in the effidavit he deposed to and submitted to INEC, it would not cost him so much to apply for the Certified True Copy of the certificate which I am sure WAEC or whichever examinations body supervised his examinations, would be too glad to send to the electoral body and them to Nigerians.
If he fails here, then he has ultimately failed the true test of the leader we need at this point in our journey to nationhood. The CHANGE we need from him now is a change from taking us for a ride; a change transparency; a change to the truth about the past.
When we finish dealing with this, we can then begin to look at the other CHANGE he is talking about. That is if we really need such from a man who has demonstrated he cannot change.
Rotimi Coker, a political commentator, lives in Lagos. [myad]

What Makes Nigerians Corrupt – ICPC Boss

Greenbarge Reporters

January 21, 2015

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Ekpo Nta has said that poverty, inadequate government infrastructure and other related issues often lead many Nigerians to steal from government coffers.
According to him, in countries where corruption is less, things such as electricity, smooth educational system, adequate security and others are in place.
The anti-corruption boss, who hosted a delegation of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers who paid his a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja on Tuesday, said that his commission attacks corruption from the roots and doesn’t make much noise about it.
He therefore sought not only the understanding of Journalists and media owners but a partnership to strengthen the anti-corruption campaign in the country.
Ekpo Nta said that the partnership would entail the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Guild of Corporate Online Publisher, to for the training of its members to enhance effective investigative reports on corruption.
“A look at some publications on corruption clearly shows that reporters of such news lack basic understanding of corruption and the mandate of different agencies in the fight against corruption.
“We will work out modalities to have an MoU with your association, to establish a working relationship that will entail discussions on ways to fight corruption in the country in 2015.”
Nta noted that the role of online media in information dissemination was enormous, stressing that the coming together of the publishers would address frivolous publications online.
Nta urged the publishers to ensure adequate training for journalists reporting on corruption issues.
Earlier, Salami Semiu, the leader of the delegation, said the Guild was established a year ago to regulate the activities of online media publishers.
Semiu said the visit was to formally introduce the Guild to the commission as well to canvass partnership in business to sustain the organizations. [myad]

I’ll Create Young “Dangotes” For Kano, Jonathan Assures, As He Seeks Emir Sanusi’s Blessing For February Election

Greenbarge Reporters

January 21, 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan has assured the people of Kano state that he will create young “Dangotes” in the Nigeria’s economy if he is voted back to power in the February election, even as he sought the blessing of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II.
“When you talk of Kano, you talk of the Aliko Dangotes. We will work with the incoming government in Kano to produce young Aliko Dangotes, enhance commerce and create jobs.”
President Jonathan told the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor that he was in his palace to formally introduce himself, Vice President Namadi Sambo and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates in the election.
“I am here to seek your royal blessing and to reassure the people of Kano that PDP is totally committed to developing the country.”
Jonathan, who was in the state in continuation of his nationwide campaign, also assured the emir that his government is committed to improving the welfare of Kano people and Nigerians in general.
He expressed condolences on the passing on of the former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero and congratulated the new emir for his installation as the royal father.
The President said that his government had virtually eliminated polio and should soon be officially declared polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO).
He added that his administration’s success in wiping out Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), even as he also spoke of the place of Kano in commerce and industry.
According to him, his administration would work with the people of the state to enhance agriculture value chain to give more priority to processing and export.
In his remark, Alhaji Sanusi expressed appreciation to the President for the visit and hoped that his campaign would go on smoothly even as he called on politicians to conduct their business in peace and avoid bloodshed as he noted that democracy was all about choice.
“Democracy is all about giving people the chance to make their choice and so, there is no need for violence,” he said.
Sanusi urged the people to accept the verdict after the election and rally around whoever emerges the winner.
He expressed delight that government is doing the necessary things to provide Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) so that all eligible Nigerians could exercise their franchise.
He however urged government to redouble its efforts at ensuring security before, during and after the election as he prayed for peace.
He prayed for the emergence of leaders that would move the country forward and provide for tranquility, assuring that he would continue to pray for peace to reign in the country.
The royal father said that he would make himself available to give advice to government at any levels.
At the rally which attracted large crowd, in Polo Ground, President Jonarthan said that he would continue his effort to create young millionaires out of Kano through innovative measures being implemented by his administration and commended Northern Youths for donating the sum of N2million to his campaign.
Vice President Namadi Sambo told the supporters to ignore the religious campaign against Jonathan and the PDP, saying that as the vice president to Jonathan, nobody could claim to be bigger Muslim than himself who observed all injunctions of Islam.
He said that contract has been awarded to extend various railway lines in the North to enhance the business and commerce in the area and beyond.
The Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, who is the North West zonal coordinator of the PDP presidential campaign told the gathering that the All Progressive Congress (APC) government of Kano State is a government of deceit.
He recalled the achievements of former Kano governor and Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, advising Kano people not give in to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso’s false pretenses but to vote for all PDP candidates.
The National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Adamu Muazu, highlighted the achievements of the Jonathan’s administration and stressed the need for Kano people to vote for him.
He said the mammoth crowd at the rally was an indication that the negative propaganda of the opposition had failed.
The Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization and former National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, said that Governor Kwankwaso stole the mandate of the PDP and had since been lying to the people of the state.
The wife of the Vice President, Hajia Amina Sambo, in her address, observed that the Jonathan administration had given priority to women and youth through appointments and empowerment and therefore urged the people to vote for the President and other PDP candidates in the election. [myad]

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