Nigeria would’ve disintegrated without Jonathan – Senator Adeyemi
January 22, 2014
– Senator Smart Adeyemi, was a former president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ before his entry into the political arena. Senator Adeyemi who represents Kogi West Senatorial District is also the vice-chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, NSF.
In this interview on the fringes of an empowerment programme for constituents, he talks about his people, his passions and his politics. Excerpts:
- BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO -
Does being a journalist put a burden on you in the political arena?
Of course it is a burden because people will always remind me to say ‘you are the people criticising’ and so I must make the difference. All that I am trying to do is to make the difference in the lives of the people and to justify the fact that I am coming from a background that criticize bad governance, which should be a strength to me.
I am always conscious of what the people will say about my representation on the floor of the National Assembly. I must strive to do beyond the ordinary, so that my colleagues in this profession can be proud of the fact that they have an ambassador at the National Assembly.
What is the content of the empowerment materials that you are giving out?
I came from the US with about seven container loads of medical equipment.
There are twenty-two ambulances that I paid for, not donation. Each of them cost me over 450, 000 thousand Naira to clear it from the port. I never allowed them to be driven here, I hired trucks to carry them and I paid one hundred and eighty thousand Naira to get each of them here, each of them cost me fifteen thousand dollar, excluding the cost of freight.
I have all other kinds of medical equipment that I brought from overseas.
I have spent over seven hundred Dollars on empowerment interventions.
Presently, I am constructing four cottage hospitals in place like Odo Iri where I am doing a thirty bed hospital. In Igbaruku, I demolished the cottage hospital there, which the Sardauna built in 1962.
I got there and I shed tears because that is still the only building that they call their hospital. I just demolish it. I am roofing the new building now as I am speaking to you. That is twenty five-bed hospital, in Igbagu, I am constructing a 15 bed hospital there.
In Ogale, I am doing, a ten bed hospital there.
All these equipment are meant to be shared not only to these hospitals but also to other hospitals in the state. I have about four hundred hospital beds and mattresses. I have stretchers, wheel chairs, surgical equipment. It might interest you to note that I’m donating two of the ambulances to Central and East senatorial districts.
Business interest
I am equally donating to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital because this district used to be part of Old
Kwara State.
As I speak to you, we still have hundreds of thousands indigenes of Kogi West living in Kwara State. More importantly, my wife is from Kwara State, I also have substantial amount of business interests in Kwara State. So, we have to let them know that Kwara is home to us.
Do you have a governorship ambition?
No! All I am doing is to complement their (state government’s) efforts, there are other people who can do that (become governor).
What I am doing now is to let the people see what you mean when you say that you are representing them.
Could this be the reason why some of your people are urging you to go back to the senate for the third time?
You see, as a Christian, I always believe in the saying that what happens tomorrow is in the hands of God.
If human or government power or machinery is what is required to win an election and is capable of stopping somebody, I should not have been a senator today but when I was fighting the former administration people asked if I could return to the senate and I said my second term was in the hands of God.
My take is to tell the people to allow me do this job well so that my conscience will be clear that I have served like Baba Awolowo served, like Ahmadu Belloe served. Those are the people I see as role models.
You have a lot of confidence in the Jonathan administration. Why?
Tell me the government that has ever ruled this country that has had the challenges of administration more than Goodluck. Tell me the government in Nigeria that has faced worse social disorder in any nation than Goodluck Jonathan.
Challenge of terrorism
There is no government in Nigeria that has had the burden and the pains of carrying the challenge of terrorism than Jonathan. The problem of terrorism is enough to collapse the economy. If we didn’t have the government of Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria would have broken up.
Why do you think Nigeria would have disintegrated?
Let me tell you, the humility and simplicity of Jonathan at the time of serious challenge that requires maybe to the thinking of some people that government should use force on Boko Haram, if you use might in a complex and diverse country like Nigeria, the consequences would have been worse. Government is not the way people see it.
The complexity and diversity of our nation with the burden of governance, I know it now more than before. When people talk, I keep quiet, because I am aware they don’t know the obstacles and hurdles, the consequences of comments and actions that could break up this country.
Jonathan came at a time in this country when God wanted him to preside over Nigeria. If you have had a president that people say action government, the situation today would have being worse.
But people say his responses are weak?
Last year (2013), we voted N935Billion for security, as at that time we had archaic, outdated security equipment. But today, the equipment available are far better, and that is why they are able to curtail the challenges emanating from terrorism. When you say the President is weak, you have forgotten that government is not by drastic action. Good governance is not through drastic action but putting in place the requirements that are needed to confront challenges of good governance.
Do you know why many of those who are ganging up today are ganging up?
Everyone of them have personal reason not collective reason.
There are some that believe that Goodluck administration has affected their source of economic power. There are those who are nursing ambition to be president. There are those who feel that some people that are nursing ambition won’t get it, let them hang somewhere maybe they would be considered.
Let me tell you, we politicians know ourselves. I pity Nigerians because they don’t know those who are committed to their wellbeing. Is it those who tell you that we are progressives? Go and investigate them, they are putting the people in slavery. I don’t want to mention names because the time has not come for us to start throwing stones. When the time comes, we will mention names.
What is the reason for this gang-up against Jonathan by some elements in the North?
It is wrong to say gang-up by the North because there are many northerners who are in support of this government. I have said it that my brothers in the North should not concentrate on fighting for power because we have had power for 30 years. What should be the priority is how to liberate the North from poverty and oppression.
Politic
Go and tell the northern governors that if you have political power without economic power, the person that has economic power will ground you and collect it from you.
The Southwest didn’t fight with oil during June 12, they used Lagos port to paralyse Nigeria. Tell me what the North can use to paralyse Nigeria if we have cause to disagree with other parts of the country.
If the south-south people decide that they want to paralyse this country today, thirty minutes is enough. You will have fifty thousand naira in your pocket and won’t be able to buy petrol.
Let me tell you if you will report it like this to the Yoruba people; Awo nwo oju, Ogberi nwo inu awo….Awo mo wipe majele wa ninu awo sugbon Ogberi ko mo. The message from that is that people with different ideologies are pretending to each other but an intelligent man knows what is happening – man that can see beyond his nose.
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Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
2015: There'll be bloodshed, if Jonathan runs
2015: There’ll be bloodshed, if Jonathan runs, warns Junaid Mohammed
Our Reporter December 1, 2013 51 Comments »
…Says Jega’s INEC too lousy to guarantee free, fair and credible poll
From: ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna
Second Republic member of the House of Representatives and Russian trained Medical Doctor, Junaid Mohammed, has declared that blood would flow on the streets of Nigeria, should President Jonathan insist on running for the presidency in 2015.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sunday Sun from his base in Kano, the former lawmaker, who chaired the House Committee on International Economic Relations and Socialist Bloc, argued that it was wrong for anyone to suggest that the clamour for power to return to the North in 2015, was coming from the North alone, insisting that there abound more agitators in the South-west, in this regard, than there are in the North, adding that “I can tell you today that there are more agitators in the South-west, for power shift to the North, than there are in the North. And they are doing this because they believe in justice and fairness. If you have faith in a system, you must ensure the system runs fairly and justly too. Apart from the issue of fairness and justice, the South-west knows that it has a lot to lose, should it allow the country to plunge into any political upheaval. Lagos alone, accounts for 45 percent of our national economy, and my friend, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is aware of that notorious fact. So the South-west cannot fold its hands and watch one irresponsible and incompetent leader lead the country into an avoidable political violence. Common sense tells the South-west that it would not be in their interest for this country to convulse again.”
He also spoke on the recent clampdown by EFCC on some governors and other issues of national interest.
Excerpts:
The closest President Goodluck Jonathan has come to saying whether or not he would run in 2015 was to say recently that he was under pressure to run. Should he run?
First and foremost, I do not believe he should run. He should not run, whether he is under pressure or not. He is his own man, therefore, he should be responsible enough to take that decision, and not to bore us with the irresponsible statement of saying he is under pressure. He should stop playing with the destiny of this country. He is humble enough to know the consequences of his action, should he insist on running. But let me warn that he should not do anything that would plunge the country into avoidable anarchy.
Quote me, if Jonathan insists on running, there will be bloodshed and those who feel short-changed may take the warpath and the country may not be the same again.
His running will amount to taking about 85 million northerners for a ride and that is half of the country’s total population. So, there will be bloodshed. But we don’t pray to get to that level, before his ethnic and tribal advisers pull him back. In case these advisers are unable to pull him back, what are the options available to Nigerians?
The option is to pile up pressure, to ensure that he does not take the country for a ride. Nigerians must be prepared not to allow him force any political upheavals or violence on us, because that will be the consequence, if he fails to listen to the voice of reason. At any rate, on the three criteria globally used to measure preference for a leader, this man has got none of them.
They are competence, integrity and acceptability. On competence, you journalists know this better. President Jonathan is incompetent. He has got no integrity, because he is also corrupt and irresponsible. On acceptability, apart from his few ethnic and tribal advisers, who are urging him to contest, Jonathan today is not acceptable to the generality of Nigerians. So on all these three counts, he is nowhere, so on what basis is he going to run? Answer me, I am asking?
So like I said from the onset, in order to avoid political upheavals and violence that his action would cause this country, it will be in the best interest of Nigeria for him not to run. And history will surely be kind on him, should he decide to take that path of honour. Since you are saying he should not run, is the opposition, as we have today, a viable alternative? I want to be careful, with my choice of words.
What do you mean by viable alternative? Was Jonathan a viable alternative before 2011 election? Or was late Yar’Adua a viable alternative before 2007? It’s after you have tested someone that you know whether the person is a viable alternative or not. It’s you journalists that use those words. I am a politician, and I have been in it for about 40 years now, therefore, I won’t succumb to that choice of words.
Having said that, if there is going to be a free and credible election, I don’t mind if Jonathan runs, because I know he would be roundly rejected by Nigerians. But the last thing you want to guarantee in a country where the police have suddenly become an arm of PDP’s militia is a free and credible election. You don’t win election by using the bullets. So we are in a Catch 22 situation.
With what we have seen so far under Jega, INEC cannot guarantee a free and credible election. INEC is very corrupt. Where do these leave the North which has been clamouring for power to return to it in 2015? It’s wrong to say it’s only the North that has been clamouring for power to return to the region in 2015.
I can tell you today that there are more agitators in the South-west, for power shift to the North, than there are in the North. And they are doing this because they believe in justice and fairness. If you have faith in a system, you must ensure the system runs fairly and justly too. Apart from the issue of fairness and justice, the South-west knows that it has a lot to lose, should it allow the country to be plunge into any political upheaval.
Lagos alone accounts for 45 percent of our national economy, and my friend, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is aware of that notorious fact. So the South-west cannot fold its hands and watch one irresponsible and incompetent leader lead the country into an avoidable political violence. Common sense tells the South-west that it would not be in their interest for this country to convulse again.
Come to think of it, Obasanjo was unfairly and undemocratically imposed on us by a few Generals from the North, using state resources to fund the PDP in 1998. I am not a member of the PDP, but I was in Jos (at the convention that produced Obasanjo, as the presidential candidate), and I knew Obasanjo never won the primary; it was manipulated in his favour. But we thought Ekwueme was decent enough to challenge what transpired. Instead, he was doing ‘paddy paddy’ with Obasanjo, until recently when I read the interview he granted one Hausa newspaper.
Now, because of the way Obasanjo came in, when he was leaving too, he gave Nigerians, a mentally and physically sick Yar’Adua. And after Yar’Adua, we now have this nincompoop as president. I gave this background because there was no justification for having Obasanjo in the first instance. It could have been anybody from the South, thrown up through a credible process, not by a few Army Generals.
So, as I was saying, if Jonathan insists on running, there will be violence in Nigeria if he wins, because he can’t win a free, fair and credible election. I don’t speak for the North, but I believe what the north wants is a competitive process, where the game of number comes to play and the North has the numbers. If there is going to be a credible election, Nigerians will not bother, because for me and for most Nigerians, the process is more important than the result. But these present people cannot guarantee that.
Look at Anambra. Is that the kind of a thing we want to see in 2015? A situation where PDP which is the party at the centre, is giving thumbs up to a process that not only disenfranchised more than half of the registered voters, but also disenfranchised its own candidate and his entire family. Is that fair? This is why I said from the beginning that Jega’s lousy INEC, with highly partisan people in the country, with the police, as PDP militia cannot give us a free, fair and credible election where Jonathan is a candidate.
So, to avoid chaos, Jonathan should just take a bow and leave in the interest of the country. On a final note, what do you make of the recent clampdown by the EFCC on some governors, especially from the North? First and foremost, I have not seen the details. So, I will not comment until I see the details. But there is a pattern emerging, in that only governors from the North, especially those who are opposed to President Jonathan’s 2015 ambition, are the ones being hounded.
Whether there is a credible allegation for hounding them is another thing. Now, the immediate consequence of this for the EFCC is that it will discredit and politicise its affairs. Once you politicise an institution such as the EFCC, you are bastardizing the criminal justice system. Now, the EFCC is headed by a northerner. So the slant being given to it is that these people are being hounded by their fellow northerner.
But I want the chairman of the EFCC to know that one day, he would be removed.
His running will amount to taking about 85 million northerners for a ride and that is half of the country’s total population. So, there will be bloodshed. But we don’t pray to get to that level, before his ethnic and tribal advisers pull him back. In case these advisers are unable to pull him back, what are the options available to Nigerians?
The option is to pile up pressure, to ensure that he does not take the country for a ride. Nigerians must be prepared not to allow him force any political upheavals or violence on us, because that will be the consequence, if he fails to listen to the voice of reason. At any rate, on the three criteria globally used to measure preference for a leader, this man has got none of them.
They are competence, integrity and acceptability. On competence, you journalists know this better. President Jonathan is incompetent. He has got no integrity, because he is also corrupt and irresponsible. On acceptability, apart from his few ethnic and tribal advisers, who are urging him to contest, Jonathan today is not acceptable to the generality of Nigerians. So on all these three counts, he is nowhere, so on what basis is he going to run? Answer me, I am asking?
So like I said from the onset, in order to avoid political upheavals and violence that his action would cause this country, it will be in the best interest of Nigeria for him not to run. And history will surely be kind on him, should he decide to take that path of honour. Since you are saying he should not run, is the opposition, as we have today, a viable alternative? I want to be careful, with my choice of words.
What do you mean by viable alternative? Was Jonathan a viable alternative before 2011 election? Or was late Yar’Adua a viable alternative before 2007? It’s after you have tested someone that you know whether the person is a viable alternative or not. It’s you journalists that use those words. I am a politician, and I have been in it for about 40 years now, therefore, I won’t succumb to that choice of words.
Having said that, if there is going to be a free and credible election, I don’t mind if Jonathan runs, because I know he would be roundly rejected by Nigerians. But the last thing you want to guarantee in a country where the police have suddenly become an arm of PDP’s militia is a free and credible election. You don’t win election by using the bullets. So we are in a Catch 22 situation.
With what we have seen so far under Jega, INEC cannot guarantee a free and credible election. INEC is very corrupt. Where do these leave the North which has been clamouring for power to return to it in 2015? It’s wrong to say it’s only the North that has been clamouring for power to return to the region in 2015.
I can tell you today that there are more agitators in the South-west, for power shift to the North, than there are in the North. And they are doing this because they believe in justice and fairness. If you have faith in a system, you must ensure the system runs fairly and justly too. Apart from the issue of fairness and justice, the South-west knows that it has a lot to lose, should it allow the country to be plunge into any political upheaval.
Lagos alone accounts for 45 percent of our national economy, and my friend, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is aware of that notorious fact. So the South-west cannot fold its hands and watch one irresponsible and incompetent leader lead the country into an avoidable political violence. Common sense tells the South-west that it would not be in their interest for this country to convulse again.
Come to think of it, Obasanjo was unfairly and undemocratically imposed on us by a few Generals from the North, using state resources to fund the PDP in 1998. I am not a member of the PDP, but I was in Jos (at the convention that produced Obasanjo, as the presidential candidate), and I knew Obasanjo never won the primary; it was manipulated in his favour. But we thought Ekwueme was decent enough to challenge what transpired. Instead, he was doing ‘paddy paddy’ with Obasanjo, until recently when I read the interview he granted one Hausa newspaper.
Now, because of the way Obasanjo came in, when he was leaving too, he gave Nigerians, a mentally and physically sick Yar’Adua. And after Yar’Adua, we now have this nincompoop as president. I gave this background because there was no justification for having Obasanjo in the first instance. It could have been anybody from the South, thrown up through a credible process, not by a few Army Generals.
So, as I was saying, if Jonathan insists on running, there will be violence in Nigeria if he wins, because he can’t win a free, fair and credible election. I don’t speak for the North, but I believe what the north wants is a competitive process, where the game of number comes to play and the North has the numbers. If there is going to be a credible election, Nigerians will not bother, because for me and for most Nigerians, the process is more important than the result. But these present people cannot guarantee that.
Look at Anambra. Is that the kind of a thing we want to see in 2015? A situation where PDP which is the party at the centre, is giving thumbs up to a process that not only disenfranchised more than half of the registered voters, but also disenfranchised its own candidate and his entire family. Is that fair? This is why I said from the beginning that Jega’s lousy INEC, with highly partisan people in the country, with the police, as PDP militia cannot give us a free, fair and credible election where Jonathan is a candidate.
So, to avoid chaos, Jonathan should just take a bow and leave in the interest of the country. On a final note, what do you make of the recent clampdown by the EFCC on some governors, especially from the North? First and foremost, I have not seen the details. So, I will not comment until I see the details. But there is a pattern emerging, in that only governors from the North, especially those who are opposed to President Jonathan’s 2015 ambition, are the ones being hounded.
Whether there is a credible allegation for hounding them is another thing. Now, the immediate consequence of this for the EFCC is that it will discredit and politicise its affairs. Once you politicise an institution such as the EFCC, you are bastardizing the criminal justice system. Now, the EFCC is headed by a northerner. So the slant being given to it is that these people are being hounded by their fellow northerner.
But I want the chairman of the EFCC to know that one day, he would be removed.
Nigeria won't break, even if Jonathan loses 2015
Nigeria won’t break, even if Jonathan loses 2015, says Mohammed
on January 21, 2014 / in News 12:55 am / Comments
By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North
ABUJA—
Second Republic federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday dispelled fears that Nigeria would break if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office in 2015. Mohammed pointed out that the country had gone beyond the stage of disintegrating on account of the electoral fortune of one man.
The political commentator made the claim in reaction to the assertion by former Anambra State governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, that Nigeria would break up if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office. President Goodluck Jonathan wave to the crowd shortly after the conferment of se -lo-lia (Star of the Nation) on him during the courtesy visit to the king for the burial of the first Lady’s mother , Madam fynface Oba in Okireka , River state …yesterday.
The former governor had said in an interview with Vanguard that the issue of Nigeria’s continued existence and second term for Jonathan were inseparable and that any attempt by any group under any guise to deny Jonathan of his second term could lead to unintended consequences. One of the consequences, according to Ezeife, is that aggrieved Niger Delta militants would blow up oil facilities and threaten the future existence of the country.
But Mohammed while responding to the issue on the phone from Kano, described Ezeife as the wrong person to issue such a threat at a time when the country was already boiling because of careless actions and utterances of loose politicians in the country. Mohammed, who was apparently irked by the assertion by the former governor, accused him of stoking avoidable fire so as to win the
sympathy of President Jonathan for political patronage, which he had been denied since leaving office many years ago.
The northern political commentator noted that it was out of place for a former governor, who is regarded as an elder to forget where he was coming from and dance naked in the open just for cheap popularity and political patronage. Mohammed said: “It is unfortunate that Ezeife, who witness the Biafran war orchestrated by his kinsmen, which claimed over one million of Igbo people, should be beating the drums of war today.
“It is, therefore, clear to all that the man has lost touch with reality and is merely playing to the gallery for selfish motives. “People like Ezeife are perpetual political opportunists in the Nigerian political arena and should be ignored especially when they fan the embers of ethnicity and war in time of peace such as we have in Nigeria.
My candid advice to Nigerians is that they should ignore him because he does not have a good sense of history and does not speak for anyone in Nigeria.” Mohammed also dismissed the claim that Niger Delta militants would blow up oil facilities and divide the country if Jonathan lost the next election, saying that with a credible administration in place, terrorists would not have a place in the scheme of things.
“Contrary to Ezeife’s postulation, Niger Delta militants or any terrorist group cannot be a threat to a government that emerges through credible, free and fair election in Nigeria,” Mohammed said. Ezeife had warned: “Everybody can make noise but if those who are making noise should think deeply, they would realize that the continued existence of Nigeria as one country is anchored on Jonathan’s continuation in office come 2015.”
On what would happen if President Jonathan contested the election and lost, he said: “We would be faced with the same problem. “The Niger Delta boys would blow up all the oil pipelines and then a part of the country could say they are no longer interested in Nigeria; they could say Nigeria legally expired when the nation marked its centenary and that they are now on their own. “This is not what I want, but I am afraid it could happen if we foolishly think of only our short term interest, instead of thinking of long term implications.
Second Republic federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday dispelled fears that Nigeria would break if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office in 2015. Mohammed pointed out that the country had gone beyond the stage of disintegrating on account of the electoral fortune of one man.
The political commentator made the claim in reaction to the assertion by former Anambra State governor, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, that Nigeria would break up if President Goodluck Jonathan was not allowed a second term in office. President Goodluck Jonathan wave to the crowd shortly after the conferment of se -lo-lia (Star of the Nation) on him during the courtesy visit to the king for the burial of the first Lady’s mother , Madam fynface Oba in Okireka , River state …yesterday.
The former governor had said in an interview with Vanguard that the issue of Nigeria’s continued existence and second term for Jonathan were inseparable and that any attempt by any group under any guise to deny Jonathan of his second term could lead to unintended consequences. One of the consequences, according to Ezeife, is that aggrieved Niger Delta militants would blow up oil facilities and threaten the future existence of the country.
But Mohammed while responding to the issue on the phone from Kano, described Ezeife as the wrong person to issue such a threat at a time when the country was already boiling because of careless actions and utterances of loose politicians in the country. Mohammed, who was apparently irked by the assertion by the former governor, accused him of stoking avoidable fire so as to win the
sympathy of President Jonathan for political patronage, which he had been denied since leaving office many years ago.
The northern political commentator noted that it was out of place for a former governor, who is regarded as an elder to forget where he was coming from and dance naked in the open just for cheap popularity and political patronage. Mohammed said: “It is unfortunate that Ezeife, who witness the Biafran war orchestrated by his kinsmen, which claimed over one million of Igbo people, should be beating the drums of war today.
“It is, therefore, clear to all that the man has lost touch with reality and is merely playing to the gallery for selfish motives. “People like Ezeife are perpetual political opportunists in the Nigerian political arena and should be ignored especially when they fan the embers of ethnicity and war in time of peace such as we have in Nigeria.
My candid advice to Nigerians is that they should ignore him because he does not have a good sense of history and does not speak for anyone in Nigeria.” Mohammed also dismissed the claim that Niger Delta militants would blow up oil facilities and divide the country if Jonathan lost the next election, saying that with a credible administration in place, terrorists would not have a place in the scheme of things.
“Contrary to Ezeife’s postulation, Niger Delta militants or any terrorist group cannot be a threat to a government that emerges through credible, free and fair election in Nigeria,” Mohammed said. Ezeife had warned: “Everybody can make noise but if those who are making noise should think deeply, they would realize that the continued existence of Nigeria as one country is anchored on Jonathan’s continuation in office come 2015.”
On what would happen if President Jonathan contested the election and lost, he said: “We would be faced with the same problem. “The Niger Delta boys would blow up all the oil pipelines and then a part of the country could say they are no longer interested in Nigeria; they could say Nigeria legally expired when the nation marked its centenary and that they are now on their own. “This is not what I want, but I am afraid it could happen if we foolishly think of only our short term interest, instead of thinking of long term implications.
Kukah: Elite's Agitation for Return of Presidency to the North is for Selfish Interest
Kukah: Elite’s Agitation for Return of Presidency to the North for Selfish Interest
20 Jan 2014
Bishop Mathew Hassan Kuka, Monday said the agitation by the elite for return of power to the North and whether President Goodluck Jonathan should contest in 2015 or not, was not about the ordinary masses but politicians seeking for positions and allocation of resources.
He also stressed the need for Nigerians to be wary of selfish politicians who would want to use religion to divide the people for political gains. Speaking during an interactive session with journalists in Sokoto Monday, Kukah maintained that the agitation for the presidency between the elite in the North and South was not about moving the country to greater heights but about politicians struggling to reposition themselves ahead of 2015.
He posited that those clamouring for president Jonathan to continue in 2015 were not doing it in the interest of the nation but repositioning themselves for political gains and patronage. "The truth of the matter is that all the grandstanding whether the president should come from the North or the South or whether President Jonathan should go or whether he should stay is all about personal interest”, he said.
Bishop Mathew Hassan Kuka, Monday said the agitation by the elite for return of power to the North and whether President Goodluck Jonathan should contest in 2015 or not, was not about the ordinary masses but politicians seeking for positions and allocation of resources.
He also stressed the need for Nigerians to be wary of selfish politicians who would want to use religion to divide the people for political gains. Speaking during an interactive session with journalists in Sokoto Monday, Kukah maintained that the agitation for the presidency between the elite in the North and South was not about moving the country to greater heights but about politicians struggling to reposition themselves ahead of 2015.
He posited that those clamouring for president Jonathan to continue in 2015 were not doing it in the interest of the nation but repositioning themselves for political gains and patronage. "The truth of the matter is that all the grandstanding whether the president should come from the North or the South or whether President Jonathan should go or whether he should stay is all about personal interest”, he said.
2015: PDP will lose the election if it fields Jonathan as it's candidate
2015: PDP will lose the election if it fields Jonathan as its candidate – Northern elders by Ameh Comrade Godwin on January 19, 2014@amcomrade
The Northern Elders Forum has hailed Bamanga Tukur for resigning as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The Deputy Chairman of NEF, Paul Unongo, said the resignation of Tukur as National Chairman of PDP was a welcome development that should have come earlier to prevent defection of prominent members of the party.
He said, “I think if the PDP had done this (forced Tukur to resign) a long time ago, it would have perhaps stemmed the avalanche (of crises) that happened. Tukur represented the ugliest face of the PDP. He was insensitive; he was not caring; he was brutal. ”He already decided that Mr. Jonathan must be the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2015 and anybody who didn’t like that should go to hell.
It is wonderful that after a long time, the PDP realised what some of us told them. We had told them that you don’t take Nigerians for granted, thinking you can do whatever you want. “I hope that for the sake of the PDP, now that they have finished with the issue of Tukur, they will deal with the issue of Mr. President by deciding that he should not stand for election, so that the gentleman agreement between the North and the South will prevail.
The one-term has been the main cause of the crisis in the PDP.” Unongo said that unless Jonathan drops his second term ambition, the political tension in the country would persist. Unongo, who is a pioneer member of the PDP, said if the party went ahead to field Jonathan, it would lose the 2015 presidential election.
He noted that the crisis in the PDP, which has heated up the polity, has been a tussle between those who think Jonathan should not contest in 2015, and those encouraging him to contest. “It’s been between the people, who have been insisting on the President respecting the one-term pact and those who have been using him, and are telling him to go ahead and stand for election; that nothing will happen.
You have young governors telling him, ‘nothing will happen; the Middle-Belt is with you’. The only thing that can save PDP now is for Mr. President to state categorically that he will not contest election in 2015, otherwise the defections will continue and the PDP will lose the election if it fields
Jonathan,” he said.
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The Northern Elders Forum has hailed Bamanga Tukur for resigning as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. The Deputy Chairman of NEF, Paul Unongo, said the resignation of Tukur as National Chairman of PDP was a welcome development that should have come earlier to prevent defection of prominent members of the party.
He said, “I think if the PDP had done this (forced Tukur to resign) a long time ago, it would have perhaps stemmed the avalanche (of crises) that happened. Tukur represented the ugliest face of the PDP. He was insensitive; he was not caring; he was brutal. ”He already decided that Mr. Jonathan must be the presidential candidate of the PDP in 2015 and anybody who didn’t like that should go to hell.
It is wonderful that after a long time, the PDP realised what some of us told them. We had told them that you don’t take Nigerians for granted, thinking you can do whatever you want. “I hope that for the sake of the PDP, now that they have finished with the issue of Tukur, they will deal with the issue of Mr. President by deciding that he should not stand for election, so that the gentleman agreement between the North and the South will prevail.
The one-term has been the main cause of the crisis in the PDP.” Unongo said that unless Jonathan drops his second term ambition, the political tension in the country would persist. Unongo, who is a pioneer member of the PDP, said if the party went ahead to field Jonathan, it would lose the 2015 presidential election.
He noted that the crisis in the PDP, which has heated up the polity, has been a tussle between those who think Jonathan should not contest in 2015, and those encouraging him to contest. “It’s been between the people, who have been insisting on the President respecting the one-term pact and those who have been using him, and are telling him to go ahead and stand for election; that nothing will happen.
You have young governors telling him, ‘nothing will happen; the Middle-Belt is with you’. The only thing that can save PDP now is for Mr. President to state categorically that he will not contest election in 2015, otherwise the defections will continue and the PDP will lose the election if it fields
Jonathan,” he said.
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Saturday, January 18, 2014
Legally, politically, Jonathan cannot contest in 2015 - Prof. Yadudu
Legally, politically, Jonathan cannot contest in 2015 — Prof. Yadudu
on january 18, 2014 at 6:57 pm in news
Professor Awwal Yadudu was legal adviser to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard, he forecloses President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 on political and legal grounds. Yadudu believes the proposed National Conference is a ploy by the Federal Government to divert attention from the problems besetting it, saying the plan will fail.
His words, “If you read the 1999 Constitution carefully, it speaks about disqualification. It says a person shall be disqualified to hold office of governor of president if the person is elected twice to that office. A lot of people don’t quite know that that section says you cannot be eligible for the office of the president if you have contested twice.
The same provision applies to the vice president meaning that a candidate is ineligible to contest if he has contested twice. The same qualification applies to the vice president. That means that Jonathan was elected with Yar’ Adua in 2007. The vice president is part of the office of the president. By my understanding of that provision, President Jonathan is disqualified because when he stepped into the shoes of Yar’ Adua upon his death, he was not only completing a term, he was also part of the office of the president.
The second aspect of the argument is the Constitution which says if you have taken oath of office twice. Jonathan has taken oath of office twice. He took it when President Yar’ Adua died as a successor and took it when he was elected as president. There is no argument about the fact that he has taken oath of office twice, he can’t take it thrice. By the way, a lower court has ruled in the president’s favour and it has gone to the Court of Appeal and I can assure you the matter will end up at the Supreme Court and it will not be helpful to his situation”.
In an interview with Sunday Vanguard, he forecloses President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election in 2015 on political and legal grounds. Yadudu believes the proposed National Conference is a ploy by the Federal Government to divert attention from the problems besetting it, saying the plan will fail.
His words, “If you read the 1999 Constitution carefully, it speaks about disqualification. It says a person shall be disqualified to hold office of governor of president if the person is elected twice to that office. A lot of people don’t quite know that that section says you cannot be eligible for the office of the president if you have contested twice.
The same provision applies to the vice president meaning that a candidate is ineligible to contest if he has contested twice. The same qualification applies to the vice president. That means that Jonathan was elected with Yar’ Adua in 2007. The vice president is part of the office of the president. By my understanding of that provision, President Jonathan is disqualified because when he stepped into the shoes of Yar’ Adua upon his death, he was not only completing a term, he was also part of the office of the president.
The second aspect of the argument is the Constitution which says if you have taken oath of office twice. Jonathan has taken oath of office twice. He took it when President Yar’ Adua died as a successor and took it when he was elected as president. There is no argument about the fact that he has taken oath of office twice, he can’t take it thrice. By the way, a lower court has ruled in the president’s favour and it has gone to the Court of Appeal and I can assure you the matter will end up at the Supreme Court and it will not be helpful to his situation”.
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