I rejected Jonathan’s VP offer – Tinubu

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu
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A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says the recent attacks on his person were because he rejected the offer by President Goodluck Jonathan to serve as the Vice President in an Interim National Government.

Tinubu said in a statement by his media office on Thursday that having refused the offer, Jonathan was looking for ways to take him out either by killing him or getting him arrested based on trumped up charges.

The former governor of Lagos State said the Peoples Democratic Party had never been this rattled in its 16 years in power.

He said Jonathan blamed him for the successful merger of the APC and the momentum the APC presidential candidate, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) was gaining.

Tinubu said with the North-West and the South-West- the two most populous geo-political zones – in the hands, of the APC, it was certain that the PDP would lose.

“From what can be gathered through informed sources, the PDP and Jonathan Presidency had recently tried to fracture the APC by offering Tinubu the position of vice President in an interim government if he would agree to part company with the popular Buhari. Once Tinubu rebuffed the offer to participate in the interim scheme, the presidency decided to change tactics. It would no longer try to entice Tinubu with sugar but would now move to silence and if necessary neutralise him.

“The APC National leader has caused President Jonathan’s team countless headaches this campaign season, his declining the interim government offer is just the latest.”

The former governor said the recent hate documentaries televised were part of the desperate attempt by Jonathan to discredit him.

But the Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has described all these allegations as baseless and false.

Fani-Kayode in a statement said, “These allegations are baseless and false. These people have become prisoners of their own delusions and they have become victims of their horrific and terrifying hallucinations.”

Awujale to Jonathan: Obas don’t tell people who to vote for

The Awujale and Paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, yesterday, rejected an overture to endorse President Goodluck Jonathan for second term.

Oba Adetona who hosted the President at his palace in Ijebu-Ode urged the President to present his programme to the people of Ijebuland for them to form their opinion on whether to vote him or not.

Jonathan’s arrival

President Jonathan had arrived the Awujale’s palace at 11:15 am in company of the national Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Diskson, Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Segun Mimiko, and former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

Others at the meeting include, the minister-designate, Musiliu Obanikoro, Chairman, Mobilisation and Organisation Committee of the PDP in the South West, Prince Buruji Kashamu, the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Gboyega Isiaka, PDP leaders as well as some members of All Progressives Congress, APC, and Social Democratic Party, SDP.

According to Awujale,”In Ijebu, it is not possible for any Oba, not only in Ijebu, but Yorubaland, to go out and say vote for this or vote for that. Whoever does that is looking for trouble. But give the candidate the opportunity to present his programme so that people can make up their minds on what to do. I think this is a very sound democratic principle and that is what I have decided to do, to give you the opportunity of meeting with the people.

“One, they see you as a person, how beautiful you are, whether to engage with you or not, to listen to you and see if there are areas where we can meet, as a result, everybody congregating here, they belong to different groups, they are PDP members, APC members, APGA, they belong to various interests, and when they come, they get to the gate, they shed their togas.

“PDP will remove their PDP, APC will remove their own, APGA will remove their own, they are going to the palace, to meet their ruler, their paramount ruler, to receive that important august visitor who is coming to their land and give him all honour that he is entitled to.

“I am sure over the years, there has been improvement but this election is full of tension, I don’t know how it is so, elections have never been like this. In about 55 years, I have never seen any election that is full of tension and the one we are having now, my prayer is, God should guide us and make sure that there’s peace, harmony and tranquility in the country,” he said.

In his speech, the President pledged to partner with Ijebu sons and daughters in the area of appointment, describing Ijebuland as a great land.

Jonathan on Ijebu State

President Jonathan while reacting to the demands of the people of Ijebu who requested that the president should facilitate the creation of Ijebu State among others said: “ Your Royal Majesty, we will partner with your sons and daughters, on the issue of appointment. Ijebuland is a great land and there’s no government that will neglect the people of Ijebuland, I have to take that very very seriously.

“We promise as a party and as a government that we will make sure that we don’t play with the unity of this country, we will do all we can to bring Nigeria together, all what we can to make sure that we pioneer economic activities as the Ijebus are well known in the area of commerce and industry, even as a child, I was shown how harworking the Ijebu are before I travelled to any part of Ijebuland. We will also partner with people across the nation, men and women, for the purpose of moving this country forward.

“Your Royal Majesty, let me re-assure you that we will do our best, we have come here to seek for your blessing and I led the team in 2007 when I was running as the Vice President to see you and 2011, we met again, not in the palace and today we are led by the National Chairman and I believe that our interaction with the people will help us prepare. That is why we have a number of Government functionaries with me so that after the elections, we will put this on the table, and look at the demands of people from all parts of the country, and see how we can co-opt some especially those that can encourage commerce and industry, education and in terms of health service delivery and in terms of infrastructure, it is basic because for us, to progress as a nation, infrastructure must be in place.

Earlier, speaking on behalf of the Ijebu traditional council, the Dagburewe of Idowa, Oba Yinusa Adekoya had observed that the Jonathan administration had sidelined their kinsmen in the appointment.

Moribond Iwopin Paper Mills, others

Oba Adekoya who read the welcome address, lamented the moribund Iwopin paper mills, Olokola deep sea port among others urging the president to intervene.

Meanwhile, the President who ended the meeting with Awujale and members of the traditional council at 12:50 pm held another closed door meeting with the deputy governor of the state, Prince Segun Adesegun and the governorship candidate of the PDP, Gboyega Isiaka in the presence of the Awujale.

I’ll kill corruption in Nigeria – Buhari

THE presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Mohammadu Buhari (retd.) declared on Thursday that he would kill corruption if he is elected the President of the country.

Buhari stated that he was taking the fight against corrupt as a priority in order to prevent corruption from killing Nigerians, insisting that Nigerians must free their country from the grip of the corrupt men and women.

The APC presidential candidate, who spoke during a South-South presidential rally at the Liberation Stadium in Port Harcourt, observed that monumental corruption had adversely affected the economic development of the country within the past 16 years the Peoples Democratic Party had been at the helm of affairs.

Explaining that corruption had permeated all spheres of the country, Buhari pointed out that the fight against corruption was not about him, but Nigerians, adding that the issue of graft should not be personalized.

“The issue before us is very clear indeed. Please sit in your home, or in small groups, and ask yourselves these questions: How much has accrued to Nigeria in the past 16 years that the PDP has controlled the federal government? How much of these funds have trickled down to you as a Nigerian? Whatever answers you arrive at should determine what party and candidate that you will vote for on April 11.

“We should not personalize this issue. It is not about Buhari; it is about us; it is about you and me; it is about our children and the future of our children. My fear is that if we don’t kill corruption in Nigeria, corruption will kill us. So, the choice before us is to resolve to kill corruption and free our country from the firm grip of corrupt men and women.

“If those in the PDP, who have been in control of our resources at the centre and in most states of the country have been responsive and responsible, there would not be so much insecurity and poverty in the country today.

“If whatever reason, you make a mistake and vote for the PDP at the centre or even in any state, I assure you, you are going to regret it,” the APC presidential candidate added.

Buhari, however, explained that Nigerians would only be doing themselves a favour if they chose to vote for the APC, adding that the naira had gone down in value with manufacturers having challenges to get raw materials and machines.

He maintained that the return of the PDP would only sustain unemployment, poverty and insecurity in the country, saying corruption has taken Nigeria backward.

According to him, “We will use the monies realized by preventing corruption to encourage the industrialization of the country, thereby, creating jobs and wealth. Corruption that has severely affected the oil industry; it has also crept into the energy sector.

“In 16 years, the PDP-controlled federal government has spent over $60 billion on the energy sector, yet we still can’t generate up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity in the country. If you reflect pensively, you will agree that corruption has taken Nigeria backward.

“Make sure you vote and that your votes are counted. If you make the mistake of voting for the PDP, Nigeria will be physically, materially and morally worst for it. God forbid! Let us join hands to kill corruption in Nigeria before corruption kills us. It is a duty that we owe ourselves and our country.”

Also, the Director General of Buhari Campaign Organisation and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, expressed surprise that the PDP was against the use of card readers aimed at minimizing incidents of rigging in the forthcoming elections.

Amaechi likened the card reader to a purge to the PDP, adding that votes don’t count in the South South and South East because election results were always written.

“The card reader is like purge to the PDP. Even PDP leaders, including their governors don’t want INEC to use the card readers on the day of election. Money was budgeted for the card readers and now that Nigeria has paid for them, then it is only appropriate that INEC use the card readers to conduct the March 28 and April 11 elections.

“In the South South and the South East, we don’t vote during elections, we write election results. But this time, we must vote. In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan got 1.8 million votes from Rivers State. Let him come and take it in 2015. You know I was formally in the PDP, but this is the first time I have seen fear in the eyes of PDP leaders,” Amaechi said.

The state governor dismissed claims by the PDP that the card readers would disenfranchise eligible voters, arguing that there has never been any election where all eligible voters voted.

He said, “There was no time that all eligible Nigerians have voted in any election. So, if INEC says that it has distributed about 75 per cent of the PVCs, then that is fair enough for us to go into the general election.

Amaechi promised that Buhari would continue with the amnesty programme for former militants in the NigerDelta, but noted that there would be some modification.

“We will add what is not there for now. We will take away the arms with which some prominent politicians have rearmed some of the militants and give them something to do. We will create jobs for them. The amnesty programme will be transformed into a welfare programme,” Amaechi added.

Governor Fayose Faces Backlash Within PDP For Rabid Rhetoric

Sahara Reporters has learned that several governors and top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are beginning to distance themselves from what one of them characterized as rabid vituperation from Governor Ayo Fayose, who has become notorious for predicting the imminent death of Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Several PDP sources told our correspondent that Mr. Fayose’s intemperate statements were now generating negative reactions even among the fold of the party’s governors.

PDP Governor's Forum in Lagos...Evidence of other governors’ disquiet emerged on Tuesday at the end of a forum convened by the PDP governors in Lagos. Some of Mr. Fayose’s colleagues, including Governors Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, reflected on the outcome of their meeting, but unavoidably commented on Mr. Fayose’s venomous comments and incessant castigation of Mr. Buhari during he (Fayose’s) turn to speak at the event which took place at Eko Hotel in Lagos. Some of the PDP governors remarked that, rather than marketing President Goodluck Jonathan, who is their party’s candidate, Mr. Fayose’s statement at the forum merely attacked Mr. Buhari’s person, eliciting repulsion from their audience. 

Originally, the PDP governors’ forum was convened to woo civil society groups into backing Mr. Jonathan for a second term. But the agenda seemed a tough sell to many groups that participated. 

A source familiar with the organization of the forum told SaharaReporters that the governors aimed to “sell Jonathan” to the civil society while also using the live televised coverage of the event to market the incumbent president to a larger audience. However, some of Mr. Fayose’s colleagues admitted in private and publicly that his incendiary and uncouth remarks became a total gaffe. One governor told our correspondent that the Ekiti governor’s comments unfortunately defined the event and became the highest turn-off factor for their audience.

In his speech, Mr. Fayose disclosed that his own mother uses sanitary diapers due to old age, and said he wished to extend diapers to Mr. Buhari, adding that the APC candidate’s age demanded that he be on diapers as the governor’s own mother. The commentmisfired, with members of the chuckling uncomfortably at Mr. Fayose’s disclosure of what should be a private matter concerning his mother.

Although the forum was designed as an opportunity to “interact” with civil society, and later adjusted to include the media, some participants grumbled that there was little or interaction allowed.

“It came out as their own [PDP governors’] talk show where they just asked us to give President Jonathan the benefit of the doubt for a second term,” one social activist who took part said. He added, “They just spoke and spoke, abused Buhari and Tinubu, took about three questions and said we should go for lunch.” Another participant pointed to Mr. Fayose’s statements. “Governor Fayose shocked many of us with his intemperate and childish remarks. He even insulted his own mother without realizing it,” she said.

A former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Ikeja, Monday Ubani, was among a few outside participants allowed to make brief comments before lunch and the closure of the forum. Mr. Ubani praised the initiative to convene a meeting with the civil society to get feedbacks on government programs, but regretted that the meeting seemed to have been narrowly shaped by the forthcoming elections. 

He advocated that the forum be required to happen on a regular basis to keep citizens informed and to generate grassroots responses to government policies.