Fawehinmi to Jonathan: Show competence or resign





Mohammed Fawehinmi

LAGOS—Mohammed Fawehinmi Chambers has condemned what it called President Goodluck Jonathan’s poor handling of the Boko Haram menace, challenging him to either show his com petence by terminating Boko Haram within one month and start developing the nation properly, or comply with the Boko Haram request to resign.

In a statement by Mr. Mohammed Fawehinmi, the chambers also asked the President to sack allegedly uncommitted ministers.

The chambers also called on the National Assembly to shun partisan politics and put national interest at heart in the impeachment threat against the President, adding that the purported suggestive increase of five years for every elected or appointed political leader is the most absurd suggestion that ever came alive in the nation’s polity and that this had shown that the ruling party had no plan for the country.

He said: “I read with uncontrollable laughter the insult meted out to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What a shame! The docile nature of the President has allowed such an insignificant group of nuisances popularly known as Boko Haram to insult him, thereby insulting the whole nation, by asking him to resign.

“The President has disgraced this country enough, he must either show his competence and willingness to work by terminating Boko Haram within one month and start developing the nation properly, or comply with the Boko Haram requests.

“Those who are not willing to work and are interested in their previous domains in foreign countries should go, and be replaced immediately with people who are interested in working for Nigeria.  These include Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister of  the Economy; Mr. Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade and Industry; Mrs. Diezani Allison-Maduke, Minister of Petroleum and Resources; and  Prof. Bart Nnaji- Minister of Power.

 

I’m ready to plead guilty – Bakare

Pastor Tunde Bakare

CONVENER of Save Nigeria Group, SNG, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said he was ready to plead guilty on his stance on the manner Nigeria was being governed in the present administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Briefing newsmen in Lagos, Bakare said he will not water down his position on state of the nation, as suggested by Lagos State Director of State Security Services, SSS, during their last encounter. He insisted that he was never arrested by the SSS.

He said he had nothing against President Jonathan, as his position on current events in the country was informed by bad governance, misappropriation and embezzlement of state funds.

He said: “Let me make it clear that SSS operatives did not arrest or interrogate me for eight hours. The State Director of SSS and his men treated me with respect and dignity.  “If I am being asked to tone down my message because of my perceived partisanship, those asking me to do so have only succeeded in precipitating a tone up.

“The State Director himself had earlier visited me here at the Latter Rain Assembly in November 2011, making the same request that I tone down my message where politics is concerned, especially with regard to the person of President Jonathan.”

On the recent arraignment of some petroleum importers over subsidy funds, Bakare said: “Concerning all the window-dressing, the shenanigans and the charade going on in respect of the subsidy thieves, it is my opinion that the efforts of this government cannot deliver justice, neither are they meant to.

“If you think my present stand is against Jonathan’s person, then you goof. It is against bad governance, misappropriation of state funds, embezzlement of public funds and spending money like water without appropriation.

“I am against whoever does any of such things. Let it be known to you that neither I nor SNG marched for Jonathan. We marched for constitutionality; for the constitution to be followed regardless of who that action favours or doesn’t favour”, he stated.

Jonathan reconstitutes NNPC board

President Goodlunck Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday July 16, 2012 approved the constitution of a new Board for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
According to a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the recomposition was in furtherance of Jonathan’s commitment to reform and the improvement of the oil and gas industry for the benefit of Nigerians.
The statement said the new Board would be made up of the Minister of Petroleum Resources as the Chairman; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance as member as well as the Group Managing Director, NNPC as member.
Other members of the re-constituted board, according to the statement, are Alhaji Abdullahi Bukar; a former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Steven Oronsaye; Prof. Olusegun Okunnu; Mr. Daniel Wadzani; Mr. Bernard Otti (Group Executive Director, Finance and Accounts); and Dr. Peter Nmadu (Group Executive Director, Corporate Services).

Tragedy in Rivers: 100 killed in petrol tanker explosion

The scene of  the explosion.

*Pregnant women, children among victims
*Jonathan orders prompt medical help for survivors

RIVERS - OVER 100 persons, including pregnant women, youths and children perished, yesterday, July 12, 2012 on the East-West Road, at Okogbe community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, when a petrol tanker from which they were scooping fuel exploded with the content.

The ill-fated tanker, according to eyewitness accounts, was trying to avoid a head on collision with a commercial vehicle at about 7am. It subsequently lost control and ran into a ditch, falling on its side.

Several other persons sustained various degrees of burns while sympathizers rushed survivors to the hospitals.

No fewer than five buses and scores of motorbikes were destroyed in the inferno, which also affected a section of a filling station, some distance away from the scene of the tragic incident.

The development caused gridlock on the usually busy East-West Road as vehicles from the Port Harcourt and Warri ends were stranded for hours. Most motorists, who could not bear the trauma, were forced to make u- turn.

Commercial vehicles from Yenagoa, heading to Port Harcourt, were also forced to beat a retreat when news of the tragic incident filtered into town.

According to witnesses, when residents rushed to the scene, the fuel in the tanker was gushing out and they swooped on it with jerrycans.

Just as the residents were helping themselves with petrol from the tanker, it exploded in a huge flame and consumed those in the ditch scooping fuel.

The raging inferno spread rapidly to the main road cutting off the route and also engulfed those on motorbike carrying the scooped fuel in jerrycans.

The helpless residents were forced to use their motorbikes in conveying burnt victims to hospitals at Ahoada and Mbiama in Rivers, a border town between Rivers and Bayelsa states.
Men of the Nigeria Police Force and soldiers who arrived the scene helped in controlling traffic and restored sanity on the chaotic route.

A resident who simply gave his name as Francis said though he counted 98 bodies burnt beyond recognition, the number could be more given the number of residents that thronged the scene in their desperate attempt to scoop fuel from the tanker.

He added that there might have been spark during the stampede for the product by residents some of whom were carrying steel containers to scoop the fuel.

Jonathan orders prompt medical help for survivors

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, expressed deep sadness over the loss of many lives as a result of the petrol tanker explosion.

In a statement the Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati said the President has directed federal relief and health agencies to do everything possible to ensure that all those who survived the explosion with burns and injuries receive prompt and effective medical attention.

While conveying his condolences to the families of the victims, and the government and people of Rivers State over the unfortunate incidence, the President expressed distraught that so many Nigerian lives have been lost in an avoidable fuel fire disaster.

Amaechi mourns, rushes back from Abuja

Meanwhile, Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State has expressed sadness over the accident. The governor who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Dave Iyorfor on phone to our source said he was devastated by the development.Ibim Seminitari Rivers state commissioner of information who on phone comfirmed to me that the death toll had risen to 100 was almost in tears as she quickly cut off the phone.

Amaechi who was in Abuja when the incident occurred said he had cut short his trip to rush down to the scene of the accident. “We are on our way from Abuja. The governor was really devastated by the incident. He has cut short his trip to Abuja so as to get to the scene of the accident”, Iyorfor said.

This tanker explosion came barely two months after a similar incident at Igwuruta roundabout in the state that consumed a family of four and burnt about 50 houses.

 

Abubakar confirmed AS IG OF THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE:

MD Abubakar, Police IG

The Police Service Commission, PSC, Thursday July 12, 2012, confirmed Mohammed Abubakar as the Inspector General of the Nigerian Police Force.

It will be recalled that Abubakar was appointed Acting Inspector General of Police on January, 2012 by President Goodluck Jonathan.In a statement issued then by Dr Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity,  the appointment  was the “first step toward  a comprehensive re-organisation and repositioning of the Nigeria Police Force to make it more effective and capable of meeting emerging internal security challenges.”

 

How we‘ll recover subsidy loot, by Okonjo-Iweala

Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said, yesterday, that the Federal Government would recover the excess payments made to petroleum marketers on subsidy, as soon as the Aigboje  Aig-Imoukhuede committee completes its assignment.

She revealed this after the second Prof. Barth Nnaji annual lecture at the Enugu State University of Technology, Enugu.

President Goodluck Jonathan established the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Committee, on Thursday,  to reconcile the findings of the Technical Committee set up by the Federal Ministry of Finance to conduct a detailed review of all subsidy claims and payments made in 2011.

According to the minister, the Presidential Committee, which has been given a tight deadline of one week, would enable marketers, who may doubt the report of the Technical Committee, to come forward and be confronted with the bare facts of the earlier committee’s findings.

Okonjo-Iweala noted that although over 50 per cent of the N888 billion fuel subsidy, budgeted for 2012, has been utilized owing to the heavy 2011 arrears, substantial recovery would be made from the excess payments which would augment the current balance.

Her words, “In terms of the subsidy, it is true that we budgeted N 888 billion for the year.  We have used N451 billion of that.  We still have N370bn left that we are working on.  So it is not like all the money is finished and we will be working on that.

“As you know, there was a recent report to verify 2011 arrears that , with the support of Mr. President, I set up, and chaired by Aig-Imokhuede.  We set it up in the Ministry of Finance and they have worked.  They used over 20 forensic accountants and bank examiners.  As a result, Mr. President two days ago, constituted a Presidential Task Force, also chaired by Mr. Aig-Imokhuede, to try and just complete work on the verification and then begin the recovery.

“The verification is to give a chance to any of those marketers who say, ‘oh, maybe you got it wrong here or there’ to come forward.  And the President has given them a very tight deadline of about a week.  When we finish with that, then the next stage will be for us to try and get our money back.

“We must get some of those resources back.  Let’s wait for the resources to come back.  I am sure Nigerians will like that and then we can take it from there.

“President Jonathan has directed the 15-member committee, headed by Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, to begin work immediately and conclude its assignment by 1700 hours on Friday, July 13, 2012 as a prelude to immediate action on all identified cases of fraud”.

Earlier in her lecture, the minister noted that science and technology holds the key to the much-needed rapid development and, therefore, must be accorded a place of priority by government at all levels, on the one hand and the private sector on the other.

She lamented the abysmal attention science and technology currently suffers in both sectors and, therefore, called for a closer collaboration between the two with a view to creating the efforts that would transform research findings in the laboratories of universities and research institutes to increased industry production, in the country.

The minister also called for concerted efforts towards diversifying the nation’s economy which depends on oil as its major foreign exchange earner.  Sectors that require immediate attention according to her, include agriculture, solid minerals, and services.

 

Why I sacked Azazi – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan

 President Goodluck Jonathan, on June 24, 2012, evening stated the reason for the sack of his erstwhile National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Azazi, saying it was to conform with the changing tactics of the Boko Haram insurgency.

He also vowed that the Islamist sect would not bring his government to its knees as he pledged last night to change the face and structure of the administration to combat what he described as the varying strategies of the insurgent group.

Speaking during a presidential media chat, President Jonathan gave reasons why he removed Gen. Andrew Azazi as the National Security Adviser, NSA; why he traveled to Brazil last Tuesday despite the carnage in Kaduna and Yobe states and the administration’s response to the recent scandal involving the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee on fuel subsidy management.

For the first time President Jonathan also opened the lid on the differences between him and former President Umaru Yar‘adua on the public declaration of assets, noting that no one can blackmail him to now disclose his assets just as he affirmed that he would not dabble into speculations of his ambition concerning the 2015 presidential election. He, nevertheless, revealed that he would not reveal his plans until next year.

The live media chat was anchored by  Ohi Alegbe with  Tribune Editor, Edward Dickson; Ishak Modibo Kawu, Vanguard columnist and Maupe Ogun of Channels as panellists.

Giving reasons for the recent sack of Azazi as NSA and Dr. Haliru Bello as Minister of Defence, he said that the security challenges faced by the administration has overtime evolved through various stages and forms necessitating changes in the administration to combat the growing insurgency.

Jonathan said his decision to change his National Security Adviser is to conform with the changing tactics of the Boko Haram sect.

According to him: “if you study the evolution of Boko Haram, they are changing their tactics every day, so you also have to change your staff and personnel to beat their styles.”

Why I traveled to Brazil — Jonathan

Responding to public criticism on his travel to Brazil despite the troubles in Kaduna and Yobe, he said the government would not allow the threats from the Islamic militant group to cripple the machinery of government.

“It would have sent a negative signal to the international community, and the Boko Haram sect would have been seen to have achieved their aim of strangulating the government.

“The aim of terrorists all over the world is to strangulate government and ensure that government does not function. If they know I did not travel because of their activities, they would rejoice. If I do not travel because of Boko Haram activities, why should foreigners want to travel to Nigeria? My inability to travel would send a negative signal to the international community,” he added.

He thus vowed that the activities of the sect would not stop government functionaries from moving around or from doing their work, adding that it is committed to ensuring that all the arms of government keep faith with their various international commitments.

“Boko Haram can not bring us to our knees, this government must keep faith with our international business allies, notwithstanding the threat of the sect. We must do all in our powers to stop them and we must stop them.”

Boko Haram aiming to destabilize my government

Jonathan further stated that the aim of the Boko Haram sect is to destabilize the government, saying that the various attacks on churches are aimed at instigating religious violence.

He also alleged that if Christians do not retaliate, the sect would adopt a change of strategy by attacking mosques, in a bid to achieve their aim. However, he promised that his government will surely bring the Boko Haram menace to an end.

“Boko Haram aims to destabilize the government. By attacking the churches, they hope that Christians will retaliate against the Muslims.  If the Christians fail to retaliate, the same sect will start attacking mosques, hoping the Muslims will attack the Christians.”

He said that the government is ready to dialogue with the sect, but that the only problem was that the sect is faceless  and the government cannot dialogue with a faceless body or group.

Asset Declaration

For the first time the President responded to critics on his failure to publicly declare his assets as he did when he was Vice-President.  He explained that while he was Vice-President he disagreed with former President Yar‘adua on the principle of public declaration of assets saying that it was an unnecessary step. Describing it as an anomalous action, Jonathan said that he told the late President that they should not start something that they could not control saying that they could not as well compel all other senior officials of government to follow their action.

He, however, confessed that he had to declare his assets publicly then because he was under President Yar‘adua, but affirmed that no one can now compel or intimidate him to do so, saying that would not “improve the economy, would not stop the Boko Haram menace and would not advance governance in any way.”

“When I was Vice President, I declared my assets, because the President then did. In any case, between the time when I was Vice President and President was just a few months, so what would I have acquired within that short time?”

He however, stated that he has nothing to hide and could even decide to declare tomorrow, if he so wishes.

Speaking on the fight against corruption, he defended the government’s decision to sack the former boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, saying: “When I give people work and assignment, I give them time and the latitude to do the job. It is when they are not performing that I take action. Everybody likes the new boss, Lamorde, people like his mode of operation and I do too.”

He, however, noted the procedural difficulties in bringing corrupt persons to book. “To arrange a case file to prosecute corrupt criminals is difficult and it would be wrong to convict an innocent person. It is better for nine criminals to go scot-free than to convict one innocent person.”

He urged the public to allow both Lamorde and the Acting Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC to do their job.

Fuel subsidy probe

On the fuel subsidy probe scandal in the House of Representatives, he said the reference to patrons of the PDP as being  behind the scandal was uncalled for.

“The PDP has a board of trustees and since the fuel subsidy probe report was made known, no PDP member was indicted in that report. So the claims that PDP was indicted are wrong. All the noise that the President is part of the Farouk sting operation is wrong. Yes, I have heard about the Farouk issue and the matter is being investigated by relevant agencies. As a president I don’t have  time for that. Femi Otedola is a business man, why would I be involved in the sting operation?

“The questions on Farouk are questions you have to take up with the SSS. One thing I discovered is that criticising Jonathan and Jonathan’s administration is a serious business among Nigerians. People don’t know that I initiated the subsidy probe before the Senate and the House of Representatives started it.

“Just yesterday I read a story in Punch Newspapers and I have directed the EFCC to start investigating Nigeria’s accounts in the United States following the newspaper report.”

The President also asked Nigerians to give him time to fix the country’s epileptic power situation.

He disclosed that some power transformers to address the issue were already on ground but regretted the absence of some needed infrastructure.

“Some of the basic things needed before the importation of more transformers were not put in place. For example, the pipelines that would bring gas to the turbines have not been put in place. Where the transmission lines would pass are not ready also. However, with time we would get over it.“The gas Nigeria is depending upon belongs to multinational companies and they have invested heavily on it. It takes time to address this issue with the multinational companies, with time it would be addressed. Periodically, the Minister of Power will brief the country on this issue.”

Increase in PHCN Tariff

On the increase in electricity tariff, he said: “Nigerians have been paying tariffs before now. What we did was to adjust the tariff for Nigerians to pay more. Those with low income will pay less than what they were paying before now, while higher income consumers will pay more.

“If we can generate electricity freely and distribute it freely without it affecting our economy we would have done so.”

On the time frame for steady power supply, he said the government is working to improve the power situation in the country, adding however, that the government cannot give a specific time frame.”

The President also spoke on his administration’s efforts to revive the railways saying that his government should be praised for what it has done.

2015 Presidency

Asked on his plans for the 2015 elections, the President said that it was quite early to make a declaration saying that he would not allow himself to be distracted on the issue. Pressed on the issue, the President said he would not make his public intention until two years into the lifespan of his administration.

“When you ask me about 2015, I will say that it is not proper for any president given our circumstances. If I say so, whether left or right, people will misinterpret it.

“We have just spent one year. If I say I am running, the polity will be overheated. Allow us at least the next two years before we start talking about 2015.

“I said so during one of our PDP meetings that we should concentrate now and forget about 2015 debate. If we start campaigning now, we will end up campaigning for the next four years.”

UNILAG

Defending the process in renaming the University of Lagos after the late democracy icon, Moshood Abiola, he said that there is no law compelling him to send a proposal to the National Assembly before declaring the name change. “In establishing a university, the university is set up first, before it is sent to the National Assembly to ratify. In name change, we have to declare the new name before sending it to the National Assembly.

“There is no law that says that we must first of all consult with the National Assembly or the Senate of the University before coming up with the new name.”