September 15, 2013
Use Cabinet Reshuffle to Strengthen PDP in S’west, Ex-Council Chairmen Tell Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan
To enable the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) triumph in the 2015 general elections in South-west, ex-Local Government chairmen in the zone, have advised President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to use the recent cabinet reshuffle to strengthen the party in the region.
The ex-council chairmen in a statement signed by Alhaji Omilabu Gandhi and Kehinde Olaosebikan, asked Jonathan to use the opportunity of his cabinet reshuffle to right the wrongs in the cabinet composition and give Oyo State its exact position in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in consonance with the best democratic principles.
The statement stressed that the President should, as a matter of right, give the additional ministerial slot for the South-west to Oyo State, to recompense for its best performance in the 2011 general elections and improve the fortunes of the party in the state and the region in general.
In the cabinet being reshuffled, the statement disclosed that Ogun State has two ministers; Ondo , a minister; Ekiti , a minister; Osun, virtually a full minister while Oyo with her size and brightest contributions to the success of the party has just a Minister of State.
“At the Presidential polls that brought in the present Federal Government, Oyo State had 484, 758 votes; Ogun, 309,177 votes; Ondo, 387, 376 votes; Ekiti, 135, 009 votes and Osun 188, 409 votes.
“In both the State and National Assemblies, it is only Oyo State that has a good number of representatives. Oyo State is the only state in the region that has a Senator. The state also has five members in the House of Representatives against zero scored by all the other states. It equally has 13 members in the State House of Assembly. Ondo, Ekiti and Osun States have none,” the statement added.
Without any sentiment whatsoever, the statement said: “Oyo State deserves the additional ministerial slot. In terms of size, it is the largest. Both historical and geographical considerations favour it. And most importantly, performance, which is the main consideration in democracy, puts Oyo far ahead of others.”
The stakeholders also said that they were satisfied with the prodigious achievements recorded so far by the President, adding that all he requires to consolidate on his achievements and take the country to the next level was to retool with appropriate acknowledgment of the ingredients and people needed for optimum service delivery for the nation and his party, PDP.
The statement noted that the President had done so well in stabilising the operations of government by allowing all the ministers that took off with him to have stayed for over two years in government, an accomplishment which they said was unprecedented.
My father was diabetic, hypertensive – Agagu’s son
Mr. Feyi Agagu, the first son of the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu, a former governor of Ondo State, on Saturday said his father was hypertensive.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Agagu, who returned from United States on Thursday, slumped in Ikoyi, Lagos, where he was having a meeting with Ondo indigenes on Friday evening.
“He just had a medical examination, which showed that he had a little cholesterol, and was hypertensive.
“There is diabetes in our family, but it’s nothing major; it was just something he had been dealing with for the past 10 to 15 years. So, there was no inkling that something was about to happen,” Agagu said.
According to him, his mum has lost her best friend and husband.
He confirmed that his father passed away in Lagos on his way to St. Nicholas Hospital.
He added that his father had the usual illness that comes with age, “so there was no stand out cause for his passing.”
“He lived a simple but a fulfilled and happy life. He left amazing memories and fantastic legacies behind.
“I will miss the friendship, I will miss the advice; he was pretty much anything any wife, son or daughter could ask for in a father.
“He was a mentor to many, a brother, a benefactor; I’m sure a lot of people will miss him,” he said.
Agagu said the family had just returned for their annual two and a half weeks vacation and during that time, his father showed no sign of illness.
“I guess when it’s time to go, when your maker comes to get you, when he brought you, he did not ask anybody, so he can take you when he sees fit,” he said.
He said arrangements for the burial were yet to be made.
In his response to Agagu’s demise, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a former Governor of Osun State, said he was “grieved”.
“We met in politics and he remained a very nice senior colleague and when he came back two days ago, we talked about a meeting tonight,” Oyinlola said on Saturday.
He said he would miss everything about his late colleague, who was the perfect gentleman and who always cared for others.
“I asked him if he would be coming to Ibadan and he answered no, he then invited me to meet with him on Saturday in Lagos, unfortunately that was not to be,” he said.
Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, described the late Agagu as an unassuming, brilliant and hardworking governor, who served the nation meritoriously.
In the same vein, the former Chief Press Secretary to Agagu, Mr. Yemi Olowolabi, told SUNDAY PUNCH that it has been decided that he would be buried in his home town.
Olowolabi said that as a former governor, Agagu would be given a state burial and the state government had confirmed that Governor Olusegun Mimiko would visit the family Sunday (today).
He said, “The burial date has not been fixed. You know, as former governor of Ondo State, his burial is a state affair. The state government has confirmed that the governor would be here tomorrow and he will be discussing burial plans. The much that has been decided is that he would be buried in his hometown, Iju Odo, in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State.”
Olowolabi added the wife of the deceased had been receiving Agagu’s political associates from all over the country at their Ikoyi, Lagos residence.
I want Nigerians to fight for me –Amaechi
THE Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has called on the people of the state and Nigerians to fight for him and defend the mandate he holds in trust for them.
Amaechi explained that only the people could fight for him in a situation where the police had decided to work against him and threaten the authority given to him by them.
The governor was reacting to the roadblock mounted on Thursday by the police on Forces Avenue in Port Harcourt, a development that denied him access to the Government House for about 30 minutes.
Amaechi, who spoke through the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, on Friday said he was duly elected by the people of the state and wondered why the police would display such impunity against him and the office of the governor.
He said, “We have said with the situation on ground, it is better to go to Nigerians, especially the people of Rivers to fight for us and defend the mandate of the governor.
“We know that the people of Rivers State and Nigerians in general will not disappoint us and that is one of the reasons why we have continued in our development strides in the state.”
Amaechi, who was visibly angry, had, on Thursday, accused the Presidency of being partly responsible for the development; but the Presidency in a swift reaction, on Friday, said President Goodluck Jonathan did not order the police to block the road.
The Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said Jonathan had nothing to do with the incident.
Gulak, however, said the information available to him showed that the police decision was taken in good faith.
He advised the embattled governor to always listen to security advice that was given to him for his own good.
He said if Amaechi decided to stage-manage the incident to embarrass the President, he had failed in his bid because Nigerians were wiser.
The presidential aide said, “Mr. President has nothing to do with that incident. He has nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the police.
“What we were told was that there are two gates leading to the Government House. One of the gates is for the governor and others while the second gate is for the governor only. It is meant to be an escape route for him.”
A reliable security source told one of our correspondents that the policemen that cordoned off Forces Avenue were directed to prevent access to the newly opened secretariat of the New People’s Democratic Party.
The directive, it was learnt, followed intelligence reports that the building was under threat of attack by a rival group.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, noted that there would have been serious bloodbath and loss of lives if security personnel had not acted promptly by blocking Forces Avenue.
He said, “The whole world would have blamed the police if we did nothing to prevent the factional secretariat from being attacked, but we rose up to the occasion and prevented an attack on the office only for the governor to attempt a breach of the security put in place to secure lives and property; Even President Obama won’t dare breach a police cordon.”
When contacted on Friday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba declined speaking, saying the situation involving the governor and policemen had been addressed by the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer.
Jonathan, rebel govs in make-or-mar meeting • President won’t shift ground –Presidency
President Goodluck Jonathan and seven aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governors will today hold a crucial meeting that will determine the future of the factionalised ruling party.
Already, there are strong indications that the peace meeting may end in a stalemate.
The first indication came from the Presidency on Friday, when it said the President would not meet any of the demands of the aggrieved governors and other members of the New PDP.
Also sounding unyielding, the National Chairman of the New PDP, Mr. Kawu Baraje, on Friday, said the aggrieved leaders of the party and the G-7 governors would give Jonathan a deadline at today’s meeting.
Their demands include the sacking of the National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Bamanga Tukur; sticking to one-term tenure by the President by foregoing seeking re-election in 2015, and stopping the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from further investigating the governors.
Others are resolution of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum crisis and the recall of the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, from suspension.
But the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Ahmed Gulak, in an interview with one of our correspondents on Friday, insisted that Jonathan would not meet the governors’ demands.
Gulak said the decision was based on the fact that the demands were unconstitutional and the President would not identify with anything strange to the nation’s extant laws.
The presidential aide added that it was wrong for any individual or group to give the President conditions.
He said, “Please note that no individual or group can give the President conditions.
“Let me say again that all the demands being made by these governors are unconstitutional. The conditions, be it the call for the sacking of Bamanga Tukur; be it the call for the EFCC to stop its work by not investigating them; be it the call on the President to abridge his rights under the law and not contest for second term; all the conditions are strange to the extant laws of this country.
“I have said it before and I don’t want to be repeating myself on this issue because our position has not changed on the matter. The conditions are unconstitutional. The President will not meet them.”
Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary of the Tukur-led faction, Mr. Olisa Metuh, said Baraje had derailed from the path he was following while serving as the acting national chairman of the party.
Metuh, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the telephone, said while in office, Baraje insisted that the activities of the party must not be discussed in the media.
He said Baraje’s new stance was not in consonance with PDP’s constitution.
He said, “It is unfortunate that the former acting chairman has derailed. He was a stickler for the rule of law while here; he insisted that the party’s matter must not be taken to the pages of newspapers and also said the party’s machinery must be used to settle party issues.
“Why did he change? Does he have any sinister motive? But let me add that because we are talking about reconciliation, that is not a licence to give unnecessary conditions.”
Metuh appealed to members of the party to remain calm, assuring that the crisis would soon be resolved.
But one of the aggrieved governors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they would not abandon Amaechi, who they said the President would want them to abandon.
He said they would also insist on all the conditions earlier given for reconciliation.
The governor said, “We won’t abandon any of us, including Amaechi. That is a promise from me and my colleagues. We won’t yield to blackmail on this matter. We don’t want to be dubbed as betrayers on this matter because it is a collective matter.”
Jonathan and four of the aggrieved governors, namely Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers); Babangida Aliyu (Niger); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Muritala Nyako (Adamawa), had on Sunday met with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting was reported to have ended in a deadlock as the President rejected the governors’ demand for the removal of Tukur as the party’s national chairman.
The PDP was factionalised on August 31, 2013, when seven governors and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar walked out of the party’s mini-convention in Abuja to form a faction.
President Jonathan's competency & El-Rufai's sour grapes - by Reno Omokri
Here's Reno Omokri's (President Jonathan's Special Assistant on New Media) response on Mallam El Rufai's interview yesterday where he called Mr president incompetent. Reno's response below...
Having read Malam Nasir Elrufai'sinterview in the Saturday Sun of September 14, 2013, I am compelled to present facts to set the records straight in order that the general public is not misled by the machinations of a man who is in dire need of prayers and perhaps psychological assistance.
Nasir Elrufai said "Nothing can make Jonathan succeed. He is grossly incompetent, he doesn’t listen, he doesn’t even understand the issues. I am sorry! I know the man more than those that are shouting with Jonathan because when he was my friend, none of them even knew him. I knew Jonathan as a deputy governor in 2002. That was when I first met him and we have been relating. So, all these new found Jonathan lovers should just shut up. I know him and I know what he can do and what he cannot do. So, please, they should just leave me alone. Those that want jobs can go and take jobs. I don’t want".
Now, let me start by saying that Nasir Elrufai lied when he said this and there is documentary evidence to prove this. For instance, contrary to what he said in this interview, Nasir Elrufai at a meeting with Ambassador John Campbell in April of 2007 said that the then Vice Presidential nominee of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan "is clean and honest". Going further, Elrufai told the ambassador that "Governor Jonathan was the only candidate that met Obasanjo’s guidelines- honesty and Ijaw”. Unknownto Elrufai, the ambassador kept a record of their conversation which is now a public record in America.
Beyond that, Nasir Elrufai, who had gone into voluntary exile under the presidency of Malam Umaru Musa Yar'adua
When Elrufai returned to Nigeria, in 2010, he visited the President at Aso Rock Presidential Villa on May 11, 2010, and was the first major political figure to call on President Jonathan to contest for the 2011 presidential election. Elrufaialso praised President Jonathan openly.
The Holy Bible says in James 1:8 "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways". I think this biblical verse best describes Nasir Elrufai. Elruf
Buhari saying "I think that where Nigeria is today, only someone like Buhari, with the experience of having run the country before, and having run it along certain principles of discipline, integrity and accountability, that Nigeria needs".
However, this is what the same Elrufai had to say aboutBuhari on October 6 2010 " Mallam El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhariallowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new. Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history. The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day."
Now, how does one man go from warning the nation aboutBuhari as a man unfit to govern Nigeria and one who is perpetually unelectable because of his parochial nature to saying that he is the man that can best lead this nation?
Is it not obvious to all that there is more than one personality in possession of the mind and soul of this man called NasirElrufai? Can any sane person trust the words of a man who is so unstable?
Today, Elrufai, perhaps banking on what he thinks is the short memory of
Nigerians is attempting to rewrite history. But it is such a difficult task to paint over the truth with a lie.
Nasir Elrufai wanted something from the President which was why he visited him at the Presidential Villa to heapunsolicited praise on the president in 2010. When he did not get what he wanted, he became bitter and since the days of yore when the fox that could not get the grapes tagged them 'sour grapes' to mask its frustration, it has always been the habit of persons who cannot compete on the basis of ideas to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. Thus, Elrufai, having run out of ideas, has tagged this administration as 'incompetent'. But as they say in law, Res Ipsa Loquitor, (thefacts speaks for themselves).
In just this past month alone, we have seen a fulfilment of two major Jonathanian promises. The Akanu Ibiam Airport is now officially an International Airport as its facilities have been upgraded to meet ICAO standards and it received its first international commercial flight. Also, the rail services have been revived from Apapa Port to the North.
In these two instances, the Jonathan administration has put money back in the wallets of Nigerian citizens. Every time someone flies internationally from the Akanu Ibiam Airport, he saves sixty thousand Naira that would have been spent paying for connecting flights to Lagos, Port Harcourt or Abuja. And every time you receive a container by rail in Northern Nigeria from Apapa Port, you would have savedperhaps fifty thousand Naira that would have been spent on additional cost from hauling your container by road.
And this is just for last month. Time would not permit me to highlight the 153 Almajiri schools built in every state of the North to serve our children who are engaged in the almajirinciform of Qu'ranic education (a total of 400 are to be delivered), or the ongoing reconstruction (not repair) of the Lagos-Ibadan road for which 167 billion has already been reserved to prevent the project being an abandoned project, or the dredging of the River Niger up to Baro in Niger state to make that port accessible to ships, or the establishment of the Green Belt Zone along Nigeria's Northern borders to end desertification, or the signing of the HYPADEC bill into law to enable the people of the Hydro Electric producing areas benefit from their God given resources, or the current massive multi billion Naira efforts to save the Lake Chad from drying up. This is besides the fact that those states which did not have a federal university prior to President Jonathan's ascendancy now have at least one university, thanks to this administration's establishment of nine new universities.
I have identified these projects on purpose because they were meant to be priority projects of yore but were however left unattended until one man called Jonathan Goodluck entered the scene.
Why has it taken an "incompetent" President Jonathan to grow Nigeria's economy at over 6% per annum since he ascended to the presidency? Why has it taken an "incompetent" administration to get Nigeria to be promoted from a "Low Income Nation" to a "Middle Income Nation" by the World Bank? Again, it took an incompetent administration to ensure Nigeria won its first African Cup of Nations in 19 years. If previous administrations had been this 'incompetent', then Nigeria would have long since overtaken South Africa as Africa's largest economy, but we did not achieve this feat until an 'incompetent' Jonathan was brought to office by the votes of over 22 million Nigerians.
In this latest interview, Elrufai boasts that he is a "self-made man". Even this statement is a sad reflection of the irreligious state of Nasir Elrufai's mind. People who say they are "self made" should read The Book of Daniel and see what God did to Nebuchadnezzar after he made such a boast. Nobody is self made. Does it make mathematical sense to believe that the God who has numbered the hairs on your head has no input into the opportunities that came your way?
In a Wikileaks document, an identified American diplomat revealed that Elrufai was "personally known to him to be homeless" before he got into government. Now Elrufai has never sued the diplomat for libel or slander. But today, this man who was known by a U.S. diplomat to be homeless now boasts that " I was already a self-made man when I came into government". Since when did homelessness amount to being "self-made"?
And Elrufai further showed his disconnect with the realities around him when he boasted in his interview that "there is no one who sat at the table with us when we were making these decisions and advancing these arguments that have come out to say that what I wrote there [his book, The Accidental Public Servant] is not true". This statement is so easy to demolish. As at the last count, the following persons have come out very publicly on the front and back pages of newspapers to say that what Elrufai wrote is a lie; former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, former Economics and Financial Crimes Commission Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, former Central Bank Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, former Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim amongst others. In fact, NuhuRibadu was reported in the Punch of February the 19th 2013 to have said that "There is a huge integrity deficiency" inElrufai's book!
Does Elrufai have such a record for truth that we can say that his word outweighs the words of these gentlemen?
In any case, let me conclude by saying that Malam NasirElrufai has problems that may not be known to the generality of Nigerians and certainly by his current bed fellows in the All Progressive Congress. In his book, The Accidental Public Servant, Elrufai had terrible and nasty things to say about those whose backs he had already climbed on and reserved encomiums for those whose backs he needs to climb on. That alone speaks volumes of his character and should alert his current associates to the proverb that a slave who sees his fellow buried in shallow grave should know that he would receive the same treatment when his time comes.
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