All are set for the former Nigeria Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to declare his intention to run for the 2015 Presidential election on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC).
A statement his special adviser on media, Garba Shehu today said the former Vice President will do the formal declaration on  Wednesday September 24.
Garba Shehu said that the campaign team of Atiku would be anchored by a veteran of successful presidential contests and a former Minister, Professor Babalola Borisade.
Borisade, he added, is a well-known political strategist who worked for the victory of the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and thereafter, late Chief M. K. O. Abiola on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP.
“Borisade also worked as the strategist for President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003 elections, both of which were won resoundingly.”
Shehu quoted Atiku Abubakar as saying that he is seeking to serve Nigeria not because of himself, saying: “it is about our young people. It is about Nigerians. It is their future, not the past. It is about reforming government, securing the people and reconciling the nation.”
He said that Atiku, also the Turaki of Adamawa, is of the view that 2015 is special and a potential turning point in Nigeria’s history.
According to the former Vice President: “we need to seize the moment, to give every Nigerian a chance to help re-define Nigeria as a place for them and their children to prosper and feel safe. A change is needed now, and I’m ready to lead that change.” [myad]

President Goodluck Jonathan has made it clear that his administration has given the Igbos enough because they are well represented in his government and are being appointed to positions which no previous administrations ever gave them.

The President also said the Igbos have also benefited from many projects completed by his government in the South-East.

He said these when he spoke at this year’s World Igbo Congress Day in Houston, Texas, United States. The event had held on Saturday, but a copy of the President’s speech at the ceremony was only made available to newsmen in Nigeria by the presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, today.

President Jonathan, who said his administration’s appointments were based on competence, equity and fairness, said he would leave it to historians to determine whose administration had done more for the Igbos in terms of federal appointments.

“In the pursuit of productivity and excellence, we have appointed competent and capable men and women to positions of high authority and strategic responsibility in all fields of national endeavour.

“In our dogged determination to develop our country, the Igbos are well represented and in some of these appointments, the Igbos are having them for the first time.

“Some have said that this government has done more in appointments than any other in our history for the Igbos, but that is a matter for the pundits and historians. Let me state that appointments by this administration, across the country, will continue to be based on equity, fairness and competence.

“Even when some utilise politics to undermine our commitment to fairness and justice, we will deploy the principle of Federal Character to progressively correct it. No part of Nigeria under my leadership will be shortchanged.”

He added that in terms of projects and policies, the Igbos had benefited from his administration’s commitment

The President said that his administration had completed many federal roads which were left in bad state by previous administrations.

“Similarly in projects and policies, we have continued to do our best. Throughout the South-East, we inherited federal roads in very poor conditions.

“In spite of the highly competitive demand and constraints on funding, we have taken on most of the major roads, realising the impact that their improvement will have on business and life in our country.

“The Owerri-Onitsha Road, which was under construction at the outset of my administration, has been virtually completed. Three other very important roads, the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, the Enugu–Port Harcourt road and the Nguju-Edda-Nporo-Ohafia road which cuts across Ebonyi and Abia States, are steadily progressing. Our hope is that improved budget and Sure-P funding will see quicker action in the months ahead.

“The Obiziora-Iziagu road and Enugu-Abakaliki road are some of those that have progressed to good standard. Further attention will be focused on the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road which is already being addressed remedially by the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency.

“The Igbos, being a very mobile people, have also benefitted from works in other leading roads nationwide. The Ore-Benin road long known as a deathtrap has been totally transformed and now provides a safer and more reliable ride. The Lagos-Ibadan road is similarly being reconstructed and the Benin-Lokoja-Abuja road is now being dualised as we are doing in other roads in the far North.”

The president also applauded the Igbos for their achievements and contributions to the development of Nigeria.

“All through our history, the Igbos have cut a distinguishing niche in all aspects of our national life in the areas of education, sports, politics, science and technology, literary excellence, enterprise, diplomacy, among others.” [myad]

Nigerian Presidency today, organized a sensitization programme for both management and workers on the anti corruption crusade. The programme was organized with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Addressing the staff at the programme the new Permanent Secretary of the State House, Engr. Nebolisa Emordi asked the participants to be exemplary in terms of prudence, discipline and integrity.

Emordi said that as members of staff of the highest political office in the country they should show exemplary attitude, even as he regretted that the desire for quick self-enrichment had sadly derailed professionalism in some public institutions.

The Permanent Secretary said that civil servants in the State House must be particularly careful in their conduct and also watchful of relationships that could taint their careers, especially as it relates to issues of graft and corruption.

He warned members of staff of the State House that their special positions will not shield them from the search light of the anti-corruption agencies in the country.

In a presentation at the occasion, the Chairman of the ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta said that the fight against corruption in the country goes beyond self-discipline and personal integrity to include a willingness to expose and share information on corrupt public servants.

“Public trust is the greatest trust ever and public servants must live by the tenets of their profession as they work on behalf of unsuspecting people who have entrusted them to look after the country with integrity, humility and selflessness, ’ ’ Mr. Nta told the management and staff of the Presidential Villa who participated in the programme.’’

He was represented by the ICPC Deputy Director (Prosecution), Mr. Akeem Lawal. [myad]

President Goodluck Jonathan has restated his government’s commitment to building an economy that will work for all Nigerians, with focus mainly on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
The President, who inaugurated the National Council on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today, was confident that the growth of MSMEs would be very important towards self-sufficiency. “MSMEs are the innovators, the wealth creators, as well as employment generators. Every MSME today has the potential of growing to the large corporation of tomorrow.”
President Jonathan said that the inauguration of the Council marks a very important turning point in the national economic development drive with regard to the efforts of the government to place micro, small and medium enterprises as core and essential elements of economic transformation.
“The creation of this Council is a testament to the commitment of this administration to all inclusive economic growth. Our commitment is to meet the aspirations of our people and in doing so, ensuring rapid economic development, benefiting all our citizens, North, South, East, or West.”

The President said that Nigeria has over the past few years, demonstrated its determination to the rest of the world that it is focussed in becoming one of the leading world’s economic engines.
“This we have done by achieving a reasonable level of macro economic stability even in the face of global recession.
“We currently rank as the top most investment destination in Africa, the largest economy on the continent and amongst the top 10 fastest growing economies in the world.
“As we build a strong economy and attract unprecedented investments, we must urgently address critical economic issues of inclusion and wealth distribution. I repeat; we must ensure that this economy works for all our people. That we indeed become a land of opportunity for all, and a land where hopes become reality regardless of who you are, where you hail from or what beliefs you hold.
“This our land must be where our youth have jobs and our people can take their economic destinies in their hands. It must be a land where poverty is eradicated, and our people can live in dignity. This is the Nigeria we all must work to make possible and the MSME Council has a great role to play to make this a reality.”
Jonathan described Nigeria as a blessed country and that its people are some of the most enterprising in the world.
He said that Nigeria, with 170 million people has come to be the 9th largest workforce in the world, and that it is also the largest diaspora networks that can be used to drive change and development.
“A 2010 survey carried out by SMEDAN and the National Bureau of Statistics, shows that there were 17.2 million MSMEs in Nigeria, employing over 32 million people. In addition, over 95% of registered businesses in Nigeria are small businesses.
“If each of these businesses employs one more person, we would create over 17 million extra jobs, which would indeed be a revolution in Nigeria’s job markets. This is the unexplored power of small businesses.
“To actualize our dream of a robust MSMEs, I launched the Nigeria Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) early this year, to provide a National template to address critical issues faced by small businesses. NEDEP will henceforth provide a framework to guide all government interventions for Nigerian small businesses, and the creation of this MSME Council is one of the principles on which NEDEP is anchored.
“The N220 billion MSME fund provided by the Central Bank which I launched a few weeks ago for small businesses, will begin to address access to finance for small businesses, and NEDEP will play a role to ensuring that MSMEs in the country are bankable and viable enough to access these funds, as well as other MSME funds available.
“An urgent priority I expect this Council to take up, is the development of a detailed Financing Value Chain Intervention strategy for MSMEs, so as to address the difficulties put in the way of small businesses in their strive to access finance.
“With NEDEP, and with the effective guidance of this MSME Council, we are making MSMEs a central part of national policy and ensuring that everyone in the 774 local governments in Nigeria is covered by this initiative.
“This coordination will extend to the State Level, for which State MSME Councils have already been instituted in 10 states, and it is my hope that MSME structures will become operational in all 36 States and the FCT before long. These councils are chaired by the State Governors and will directly report to the National Council.” [myad]

National Chairman of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has said that the party’s waiting for the truth to come out on who have been behind the sponsorship of the deadly Boko Haram, in spite of efforts to cover up has finally paid off handsomely with the recent revelation that members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were behind it.

Oyegun, who addressed newsmen in Abuja yesterday, made it clear that APC would not allow the matter to be swept under the carpet, after an Australian negotiator for the release of over 200 female students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno from Boko Haram enclave, Dr. Stephen Davies had courageously named the former Borno state Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff and former Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika as the principal actors sponsoring the sect.

He said that before now, despite that APC, like many well-meaning Nigerians, had resolved that the issue of the Boko Haram insurgency should not be politicized as a result of which the party expressed its willingness and readiness to cooperate with the Federal Government in neutralizing the insurgency, the PDP-Federal Government has consistently pointed accusing fingers at APC as the sponsor of Boko Haram.

“They have called us all sorts of derogatory names, but failed to provide any shred of evidence to support their claim. It has been very clear to us that the vehemence and persistence of this accusation, the deliberate distortion of statements made by our leaders to paint us as Boko Haram sponsors and the way the PDP-led Federal Government has gone to hire foreign PR firms, at a huge cost to taxpayers, as well as foreign and local hack writers to push this narrative, they were struggling hard to cover up something. We waited patiently knowing that the truth will one day surface.

“In a rare moment of truth, a top official of the Jonathan Administration, no less a personality than the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, situated the Boko Haram problem within the PDP. Shortly thereafter he was fired, and he later died in controversial circumstances. Still we waited.

“They distorted and misrepresented the statements made by our leader, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to try to convince the world that he was indeed the main sponsor of Boko Haram. They continued to echo the same slander about Gen. Buhari that was started by Presidential Spokesman Reuben Abati in 2011, and for which he and his cohorts eventually begged to settle out of court and to apologize to the General. Still we waited.

“When their attempt to link Gen. Buhari with Boko Haram failed, as his popularity among ordinary Nigerians continued to soar, he was suddenly attacked by suicide bombers. Those who planned the attack believed this as the final solution to what they perceived as the threat he represents to the realization of their ambition. By the grace of God, he survived. We do not claim to know those who attacked him, but we do know those who provided the atmosphere for that attack to take place. Still we waited.

“When the government declared a state of emergency in three worst-hit states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in 2013, thousands of troops were deployed to the three states, but the unusual happened. The number of attacks simply skyrocketed. It is common knowledge that in any territory that has been placed under a state of emergency, the military takes charge of security, erecting checkpoints as part of efforts to keep a tab on security. Such was the situation in Borno in April 2014, when over 200 girls were abducted and driven away in many trucks. Soldiers posted to a nearby checkpoint were said to have withdrawn shortly before the attack. Who ordered their withdrawal? Some of the trucks in which the girls were being carted away broke down, yet no one challenged them. Despite this bizarre occurrence, they refused to accept responsibility and continued to cast aspersion on our Party, the APC, as the sponsor of Boko Haram. Still we waited.

“Boko Haram routinely enriched their arsenal with tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers, guns, trucks and other military equipment which they seized from the Army. From the videos they release from time to time, one could see Boko Haram insurgents driving around unchallenged in convoys of up to 60 vehicles made-up of tanks and other military vehicles they seized from our military, in a territory that is under a state of emergency. What is happening? No one could fathom it. Still we waited.

“A man known to all as the kingpin of Boko Haram; a man who helped to arm them so he could win elections and decimate his opponents was moving around with the best security ever. He is a known ally of the President and he is not known to be under any immunity. Yet he was never arrested or even questioned. Still we waited.

“In line with a Yoruba adage that says when a drum starts sounding too hard, it is about to burst, the PDP and the Presidency ratcheted up their attacks on our party, labelling us as Boko Haram sponsors. They hired a foreign firm, Levick, for US$1.2 million in taxpayers’ money, as well as a number of out-of-luck hack writers and pseudo analysts, one of them from Russia, to help push the narrative. Still we waited.

“Then their drum exploded!

“Dr. Stephen Davis, a man hired by the President Jonathan-led Federal Government to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the Chibok girls decided to speak out, believing the best way to tackle the insurgency is to expose the sponsors. And who are they? On international television last Thursday, and as you have just seen and heard, he named former Borno Governor Ali Modu Sheriff and a former Army Chief, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, as the sponsors of Boko Haram.

“Prodded by Sahara Reporters in a subsequent interview on whether Gen. Buhari and Malam Nasir el-Rufai were sponsors, he said the Boko Haram commanders who gave him the names of their sponsors did not mention their names. The die is cast. The truth is finally out! Boko Haram sponsors have been exposed. They are within the ruling PDP. They are friends of President Jonathan. He cannot pretend not to know who they are and what they have done and are still doing. His myriad of intelligence agencies, including the DSS and the DMI, cannot pretend they do not have any information on these men.

“It is true that Ali Modu Sheriff was, until recently, a member of our Party. But the Party always suspected that he was a mole, planted to hijack or at best weaken the new Party for the PDP. He is not new to that role. He helped to decimate his former party, the ANPP, to an extent that the number of states under its control fell from seven in 2003 to three by the time he left as Governor.

“We know for sure that Ali Modu Sheriff was planted in the APC to help decimate our party. We confronted him openly during the merger negotiation but he denied vigorously. His surrogate for the post of the Chairman of the APC, Chief Tom Ikimi together with whom they planned to hijack the Party for the Presidency was firmly rejected. Realizing they have failed, they fled our party and returned to where they came from, and were duly embraced by their controllers.

“President Jonathan cannot pretend not to know the alleged role that Ali Modu Sheriff has played in the establishment and growth of Boko Haram, yet he never allowed the man to even be questioned by any of the security agencies under his control. All through his time with our Party, every time they accused us of sponsoring Boko Haram, on the basis of his presence, we challenged them if they had evidence to arrest any of our members who is suspected to be a sponsor, they never did. They dared not, because Sheriff was their agent. Even if he had remained in the APC after we democratically encouraged him to go, they would still not have arrested him.

“Recall, gentlemen, that immediately Sheriff went back to the PDP, the Maiduguri Airport that had been closed to even the pilgrims from the state on grounds of security was re-opened specially for him. What more evidence does anyone need that Sheriff was and remains President Jonathan’s Man Friday?

“The truth is finally out. We have been vindicated. We have no hand in the Boko Haram insurgency. The raison d’etre of our party is the well-being and security of Nigerians

“The sponsors of Boko Haram are within the PDP and the Presidency. They are known friends of President Jonathan. He knows them and they know him.

“The man who exposed these Boko Haram sponsors is a Jonathan-appointed Negotiator. He has no axe to grind, neither does he have any motive to shield the APC or portray the PDP/Presidency in bad light. In fact, if he had any sympathy at all, it is for the man who hired him, President Jonathan.

“We have said it all along. Boko Haram was politicized purely for one reason, and one reason only: To be used as a trump card for President Jonathan to win another term. For that strategy to work, the APC, which they see as the only stumbling block to the PDP’s victory in 2015, must be maligned and labeled. Gullible, duplicitous and self-serving politicians like Femi Fani-Kayode swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker, and started parroting the glaring lies. PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh, an obvious pawn on the chess board, followed suit, labelling a party that comprises Nigerians of all ethnic and religious hue a Janjaweed and Islamic party. Now he is stewing in his own juice.

“In the process of this dangerous politics, the Nigerian military which was globally acclaimed for its impressive showings at various peacekeeping missions around the world, simply suffered collateral damage. Apparently, fifth columnists in the military has sold the force out, first by denying it of the necessary fighting tools and then weakening it to such an extent that even the little it had was being taken away daily by insurgents. When the patriotic Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno tried to raise the issue of the poorly-equipped troops and their low morale, he was roundly pilloried. Now the world knows why!

“Now that the cat has been let out of the bag and the real sponsors of Boko Haram have been exposed, we hope President Jonathan will summon the courage to do the right thing: Hand over the identified Boko Haram sponsors to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and prosecution.

“There is no doubt that Boko Haram has committed crimes against humanity in its scorched-earth campaign against unharmed citizens, and the most appropriate body to investigate and try the sect’s sponsors is the ICC.

“According to Article 17 of the Rome Statute that set up the ICC, and to which Nigeria is signatory, the ICC is a court of last resort, expected to exercise its jurisdiction only if states themselves are unwilling or unable genuinely to investigate and prosecute international crimes.

“In view of the fact that the alleged Boko Haram sponsors are either members of the ruling party or friends of the President, it is clear that the PDP-led Federal Government is unwilling and unable to try them, hence our call.

“Nigerians can rest assured that the APC will not allow this issue to be swept under the carpet.

“Now that it is clear that the PDP is behind Boko Haram for the sole purpose of winning next year’s Presidential Election, Nigerians must prevail on the PDP and the Presidency to urgently end this insurgency and the daily killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians!

“The President must remember that he is the Commander-in-Chief! The buck stops on his desk. He must now do all it takes to stop the growing mess in our nation’s North-East.

“Nigerians expect no less!” [myad]