President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday described the blame game embarked upon by past leaders of the country about its under-development as a cheap escape route, saying the truth of the matter is that his generation has failed the country.
Jonathan who spoke at the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential campaign flag-off held at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, challenged the ex- rulers of the country to explain what they did with the defence budgets when they were power.
The president, whose address dwelt mainly on reactions to allegations against his government, said he was only concerned about younger Nigerians who, he said, were being fed with lies peddled by the ex-leaders he did not mention their names.
He said the ex-leaders lacked the moral rectitude to accuse his government of corruption when, during their tenures, they frittered away money meant for procurement of arms for the armed forces without buying a single gun.
Flanked by the chairman of the party Aliyu Mua’zu, Vice President Sambo Namadi, Senate President David Mark, deputy speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Emeka Ihedioha, serving PDP governors, and aspirants that got their party flags for the forthcoming elections, amongst other prominent chieftains of the party, said Nigeria’s leadership is no longer for old and senile people lacking in vibrant ideas.
“I want to address people who are voting for the first time this year, those of you who attained 18 this year. I don’t want to address old people like me because we are spent. I am going to address political gatherings in 37 places and I am going to dwell on three major things; whatever I say, when you get back home, call your parents, aunties, uncles that are at least 60 years old and confirm what you heard.
“2015 elections is about the young people; either you vote for the young Nigerians to be relevant in Nigeria political history or you vote for you to be irrelevant. I want to dwell on three things because those who say they want to take over power from the PDP have been telling a lot of lies; they have hired people from all over the world to tell all sorts of lies on the social media, painting all kinds of colour and giving me all kinds of bait they cannot defend.
“I will address insecurity, corruption and insinuations of weak government. On voter cards, I have directed INEC that all Nigerians – not 99.9 per cent – must vote. Before 2011, no Nigerian complained that he had no voter card, but we came and insisted that every Nigerian must express themselves at the polls; since then voter cards became relevant.
The president fired an apparent salvo at the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) which was two days ago accused by the DSS of trying to fake the voter cards.
Jonathan continued: “Already, some people are cloning cards so that your voter cards will not be relevant; is that the kind of people you want to take over government? They want to take us back to the old days where nobody sees voter cards but results were announced. They want to take us back to the old days where ballot papers will be in South Africa and results will be announced in Nigeria.”
On insecurity, the president accused past leaders, including his direct opponent Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), of weakening the country’s armed forces by starving them of the necessary arms despite funds provided for that.
“They talked about insecurity – that they will fight insecurity; are our armed forces weak? If we have a problem, what is the cause? It’s equipment. They don’t have the platform. Somebody will wake up and tell young people of 23-year-old that he wants to fight insecurity; ask him, when he was the head of government, did he buy one rifle for the Nigerian soldier?
“They refused to equip the military; they didn’t buy anything, no helicopter, nothing. Ask them what they did with their defence budget the whole time that they were in office; they didn’t equip. No country equips armed forces overnight because their equipment is quite expensive. Armed forces are built over the years; the capacity is built over a period of time. They refused to build the capacity. They instigated crisis and now they are coming to tell us they will solve the problem. Ask them and they will answer.”
On the charge that his government was soft on corruption, Jonathan said that more people have been quizzed over the offence of corruption than he is given credit.
He said: “I addressed the anti-corruption agencies yesterday (Wednesday) and I told them that people are deceiving young Nigerians, but they must tell Nigerians what the government is doing.
“We have arrested more people within this period. We have done more convictions within this period, but every day they tell us lies. If they had succeeded in fighting corruption, it won’t be with us today. There is no corruption in the fertilizer industry again because of the electronic wallet technique that we developed.”
“If anyone says the best way to fight corruption is to come and arrest your uncle and father and present them on television, you don’t stop corruption that way; you even encourage it that way. We must set up institutions, strengthen them to prevent people from even touching the money. You don’t test people with money, don’t even allow them to touch it. That is what we are working on, and we are succeeding.
“They said the military is corrupt, but when this insecurity came up, we had nothing (no arms). So, to get these things quickly, we used vendors to get these procurements, but now what we are doing is government-to-government. Any new procurement for the Navy, Army, Air Force, is government-to-government.”
Okah was hired to kill me -President
Jonathan also used the occasion to disclose that the leader of Movement For Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) Henry Okah was hired by certain individuals to kill him.
He said, “ I read in one newspaper headline that MEND dumped Jonathan? Did you read it ? I am from the Niger Delta, the leader of MEND is one Okah . Okah is in South African prison. Why is Okah in South African prison because it is not in Nigeria if it was in Nigeria they will say the president manipulated it.
“Okah is in South African prison because 1st October , 2010 during the celebration of Nigeria 50th year independent. Okah was procured by someone in Nigeria to assassinate me and Okah bombed Abuja. The South African intelligent system and Nigeria intelligent system roped him in that plan to assassinate me and he is now in jail in South Africa.
“And they are saying MEND dumped Jonathan. Okah that planned to kill Jonathan will he support Jonathan and am told Okah is supporting some people.”
Welcoming Jonathan and PDP members to Lagos, South West
Ondo State governor Olusegun Mimiko yesterday said Nigeria was too dynamic to be ruled by a candidate with less than a university degree.
He made this assertion while welcoming PDP faithful to Lagos and the South West yesterday during the party’s flag-off of presidential campaign.
The governor said, “We welcome you to the historic city of Lagos, a city that has produced icons in different fields of human endeavour – first generation medical doctors, lawyers, politicians, engineers and entrepreneurs.
“This is a city that truly prides itself as one of Africa’s foremost educationally advanced centres, a veritable city of culture and learning. Mr President, leaders of our great party, distinguished Nigerians, I stand on firm ground to state categorically that hardly is there any home in Lagos, and indeed the South West, that cannot boast of tenth generation school certificate holders. This is why, among others, we will not settle for a president with less than a university degree.”
He noted that President Jonathan is a Ph.D. holder, and a democrat in words and indeed.
Mimiko described the president and the party’s flag bearer as “a believer in the rule of law, a leader who is genuinely humble, kind, accommodating, forthright, competent, transparent and tolerant; a leader who in spite of challenges has remained cool, calm and level-headed.
“To you Mr President, discipline is about compliance with high democratic ethos rather than the promulgation of retroactive laws to intimidate the citizenry through state murder. You definitely are a true democrat, not a born-again democrat” – an allusion to his main opponent Gen Buhari (rtd) who came to power over 30 years ago in a military coup.
The governor noted that the president recorder achievements in agriculture, power, aviation and other strategic sectors of the economy, in addition to building Almajiri schools and expanding access to tertiary education.
Te governor took a swipe at the APC flag bearer, Buhari who he accused of scuttling a rail project in Lagos when he was head of state over three decades ago.
Mimiko said: “After all, we can remember the anti-human decision to terminate the Lagos metroline project by some other government. That project into which the Lateef Jakande-led administration had committed a whopping sum of N70 million (about $75 million at that time) was meant to put an end to the traffic nightmare in Lagos metropolis through the installation of a circuit of rail lines that would have stretched from Agege to Marina, Ikorodu, in the north and Badagry in the east, ferrying nearly a million people a day 31 years ago.”
Show Us Cost Of Your Economic Blueprint, Mu’azu Tell APC
PDP national chairman, Dr Adamu Mu’azu, yesterday challenges the APC to reveal the cost of its economic programmes and explain how it intends to fund it.
Mu’azu, in a statement by his chief press secretary, Tony Amadi, also said the claim by the APC leadership that the party will wipe out the Boko Haram insurgency as soon as it gets into power should be viewed with suspicion.
Challenging the opposition on their economic blueprint, he said President Goodluck Jonathan can point to his numerous achievements in the last six years, but his opponent, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has been going round the country spreading promises to all the corners.
“The APC must cost their economic programme and explain to Nigerians how they will fund it. It is only right that they prove to Nigerians that they have added up the sums in their various costing to show that they are ready for governance. Nobody has been given any indication that they have estimated the cost of their array of promises and have figured out where the money to fund their millions of jobs before December 2015 will come from. Nigerian politics have gone beyond making empty promises you know cannot be fulfilled,” adding that Nigerians are now wiser after 15 years of democratic practice.
He also challenged the APC over its claim that it will wipe out Boko Haram as soon as it assumes power, noting that even countries like the United States, UK and EU countries – with all their sophistication – have not won the war against terror after several years.
Buhari To Jonathan: Stop Keeping Soldiers For Election, Let Them Fight Insurgency
The APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari has called on President Jonathan to deploy soldiers and other security operatives to fight the insurgency in the country rather than hoard them for use in the 2015 general elections.
He also vowed to implement the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the polluted Ogoni environment if elected president in the forthcoming general election.
Buhari spoke yesterday while speaking during a meeting with stakeholders of Ogoni ethnic nationality, led by the president of the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers (SCOTR), King Godwin Giniwa, at Saakpenwa, headquarters of Tai local government area of Rivers State.
He said, “I have made this comment before and the federal government refused to react to it; the number of soldiers, policemen and officers of the State Security Service they deploy during elections, if they had deployed them to Borno and Yobe states to fight Boko Haram, by now Boko Haram would have been history.
“Boko Haram is not a religious group; Boko Haram is not an ethnic group; Boko Haram is a terrorist group: they (terrorists) attack people in schools; they attack people in churches; they attack people in mosques; they attack people in markets, and they shout ‘Allahu Akbah! (God is great!). No religion rejoices over the blood of innocent people.”
The APC presidential candidate, who was accompanied by the APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, and Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, as well as former governors Segun Oni and Niyi Adebayo, amongst others, promised to fight terrorism, corruption and other crimes if elected.
In an address read on behalf of the people of Ogoni, the senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, noted that several cases of injustice had been committed against the Ogonis in the past 50 years.
Abe said, “Our position as a people concerning resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni is that there should be adequate consultation with, and participation of, the Ogonis in the process leading to their eventual operation.”
Ogonis declare support for Buhari
The four local government areas of Ogoni ethnic nationality in Rivers State, comprising Eleme, Tai, Gokana and Khana, have unanimously pledged their support to Gen Buhari in the forthcoming presidential election.
The Ogonis made their resolution yesterday at a brief ceremony to welcome him and other top ranking party officials to Sakpenwa, headquarters of Tai local government area of the state.
Speaking at the ocassion, Chairman, Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, His Majesty King G. N. Gininwa, thanked Buhari for accepting to visit Ogoni land.
He said, “Ogonis have cried a lot, we want a redeemer and we believe you are the one.”
Also, in an address read by the senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District, Magnus Abe, on behalf of the Ogoni people, the people expressed the support for Buhari.
He said: Your Excellency, like Abraham Lincoln, your own era to serve and change this nation in line with the aspirations of our founding fathers has come, and we have decided to be part of history.
“Finally, because you consider Ogoniland as a priority in the kick-off in your national campaign tour, Ogonis shall reciprocate this golden gesture and massively pool our votes to ensure you are the president and commander-in-chief in May 2015”.
On his part, Rivers State governor and chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who also doubles as the director-general of Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, called on the Ogonis not to be intimidated by the use of military by the ruling PDP during the elections.
Amaechi also urged the people to vote for the APC at all levels during the general elections.
In his response, Buhari assured the Ogonis of his determination to fight corruption to a standstill if he wins the presidential election.
APC’ll Diversify Economy To Ease Unemployment – Buhari
In Calabar, the capital of Cross River State where his presidential campaign train took him and his team yesterday, Gen. Buhari said if elected the next president, his administration will diversify Nigeria’s economy in order to create more jobs and ensure sustainable development.
On his part, Buhari’s campaign’s director-general, Governor Rotimi Amaechi urged the electorate to vote Nigeria’s next based on merit, and not sentiment.
Referring to President Jonathan who is from Bayelsa State, he said: “What I am trying to prove is the fact that he is from South South does not mean that he is good for us.
“The first term of Mr President was that he is our brother; this second term is merit. It is about achievement and he has not achieved. If he has achieved he should have fixed the roads from Calabar to Uyo and from Calabar to Ogoja.”
Flanked by the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Senator Olorunimbe Mamora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and APC governorship candidate in Cross River, Mr Odey Ochicha, Buhari said agriculture will be given the priority it deserves if voted into power.
According to him, “the situation in Nigeria is of great concern to us. Two fundamental problems that the government of APC will attack head on are security and the economy.”
“PDP is car with knocked engine”
The APC national chairman, Chief Oyegun, led the party presidential candidate, Buhari and his entourage into Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, with a call that the ruling PDP has failed and must be replaced during the February 14 election.
Oyegun, who likened the administration of the PDP to a vehicle, said the vehicle known as PDP has “knocked engine” and must be replaced by a new and sound vehicle with which the APC is conveying change and other welfare packages for the Nigerian people.
Speaking at the event, Buhari identified corruption, insecurity and incompetent leadership as bane of the nation march to greatness even as he promised to tackle environmental pollution ravaging the Niger Delta region.
On his part, Sylva asked the state to cast their votes without tribal sentiment, saying “a bad brother is not as good as good friend.”
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