Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola of Osun State (right), his deputy, Otunba Titilayo Laoye- Tomori (left), and Chairman RLG, Mr Roland Agbamire during the official launching of Adulawo Technology City in Ilesha, Osun State.

Aregbesola commissions technology complex

OSUN State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, took yet another giant step in his effort to revolutionize the economy of the state, on Thursday, when he commissioned the multi-million naira technology complex, tagged RLGAdulawo Technology City, along Akure-Ilesha road, in Ilesha, Osun State. The project, a partnership with telecommunication company, RLG, is expected to offer employment and training to 20,000 graduates of the state government OYES programme. The centre is expected to be one of the most productive assets through technological innovations, production and assemblage of electronics communication devices. While commissioning the complex, Governor Aregbesola, said the project was part of his administration’s efforts to create wealth in the state and improve the living standard of citizens. “Time is running against Africa and all hands must be on deck to ensure that the continent attains its rightful position. As a government, political power is obtained for the service of the people and we shall continue to serve our people with all sense of responsibility. “At the inception of our administration, out of our voluminous programmes, we set two agenda as a priority: to create employment and make our state a hub of Information Communication Technology. ICT is no longer a future phenomenon but current tool for best communication. “Our World has changed. In the last 20 years, NITEL estimated all available phones as 150, 000 and the recent figure puts mobile lines in Nigeria at 117 Millions with 200 million mobile phones and the number will keep growing because we must add RLG product to it.” The governor was supported by his deputy, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, the governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and the Chairman of RLG, Mr. Roland Agambire, to open the facility for business. The technology magnate said Aregbesola has the vision to carry Osun State to an enviable height with the citing of RLG assembly plant in the state. According to him, “we invested this huge facility here to demonstrate that we are here to stay to catch the opportunity of mobile technology. Let one in every 100 million Nigerians has only RLG devices and Osun State will make billionaires that will also be in the world map. “Our product is cheap, quality and durable. The facility will also employ direct 800 people and over 10,000 people across the country, some will be at coupling plants while others will also be at selling points,” he pointed out.

Mallam Shekarau

On Your Own: Kano APC Reps. Refuse To Move With Shekarau To PDP

At a press briefing on Wednesday, January 29, 2014, the Leader of APC Kano Caucus and Deputy Minority Leader of House of Representatives, Hon Suleiman Kawu made it known to journalists that the defunct ANPP and CPC members that collapsed into the APC from Kano state are not willing to defect alongside with their leader, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau to PDP.

“We wish to make it categorically clear today that, we are not leaving the APC for any political party. We have sacrificed a lot and have come a long way in the struggle to emancipate our people from the bondage of PDP misrule.”

The lawmakers maintained that the birth of APC became imperative due to the fact that the PDP led government has held Nigeria and Nigerians to ransom for almost 16 years without any visible development.

They however call on the leadership and all party faithful to ensure transparency, fairness, internal democracy and adherence to rule of law and laid down procedures so as to provide level playing ground for party members to realise their individual ambitions without any hindrance.

In reaffirming their stand the APC Kano Caucus members said, “And at this crucial stage of our journey, we will not look back, or backtrack, we will not look sideways, we will not leave our beloved APC for anything else.”

In further expressing disappointment in the PDP; they said, “Today under PDP, we are witnessing unprecedented level of corruption, insecurity, poverty and political instability in Nigerian more than ever before. We therefore see the coming of APC as an opportunity to right the many wrongs of the PDP and once again put Nigeria back on the pedestal of growth, development, economic prosperity and make it an egalitarian society where rule of law and social justice prevail for the common good.”

Reps Defection, A Violation of Court Order – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday protested the defection of some of its members in the House of Representatives to the All Progressives Congress, saying the development violated an order issued by an Abuja Federal High Court, which directed the lawmakers and the party to maintain status quo.

PDP lawyer, Chief Joe Gadzama (SAN), drew attention to the violation of the order at the continuation of hearing in a suit by Senator Bello Hayatu and 50 others, including the lawmakers who defected to the APC, to stop their seats from being declared vacant.

PDP National Chairman, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commissioners are the 1st to 5th defendants in the suit.

The presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, had on December 17, 2013, ordered all the parties involved in the suit to maintain status quo, pending the determination of the matter.

However, when the matter came up on Wednesday, PDP counsel, Gadzama, informed the court that the order directing all the parties in the suit to maintain status quo had been violated by the defection of the lawmakers.

Power Sector Privatization : Where Is The Light? – Chiechefulam Ikebuiro

Just do a rough estimate as an individual, corporate body, small scale business fellow or artisan, of how much you spent buying fuel or diesel to power your generator for last year alone. After you come up with an estimate, think of what you would have done with that money to improve your lot, if our power sector was working. I think I would have bought a second hand car or even a keke Napep(put same on the road and make some income).

The power situation this past festive period was one of the worst I have ever seen in Nigeria. We have not really had it good when it comes to power (or even anything else), but this will rank up there amongst the worst ever. We are in 2014 and the signs are not good at all.

I was one of the first to commend the government when last year it fulfilled its promise of privatizing the power sector. It was one sector I think we needed to improve on, as the importance of power to the growth of our dear country cannot be over emphasized. Privatizing the power sector, I believed, would bring a new lease of life even if it means paying more. I still believe same, but the early signs are worrying and to think that we still  pay for services that are not rendered at all, amounts to scam.

Recently the minister of Power Prof Chinedu Nebo, blamed the activities of vandals on power stations (which makes for shortage of gas) for the darkness we have found ourselves in. What is happening here? First we were told that it is a new dawn (with the privatization) and the next thing  we are getting are excuses for failure. We have been having the same excuses over the years and one can’t but ask if nothing is being done at all to curb the excesses of the vandals.  What we should be hearing is how this has been curbed to it’s barest minimum or what is being done to stop same.

Are there no security operatives guarding these power stations? These are national assets for crying out loud and should be jealously guarded. The civil defense and its likes responsible for guarding and protecting these stations should be empowered more so they can work effectively. The corrupt ones in power, who tend to connive with generator dealers some of who pay these vandals to destroy our national assets so as to remain in business, should be identified and booted out.

There should be stiffer penalties for anyone ( as well as their sponsors) who gets caught in the act of vandalism. This will act as a deterrent. This should be all out war as it is our country as well as her economy that is at stake. For me, with a functioning power sector we are half way to the Promised Land.

Most of all, I think we need to keep these  vandals busy by creating (more) jobs. Some of these guys are angry at their country. They are idle and frustrated. They are angry that even in abundance there is so much suffering in the land (especially the Niger Delta where a chunk of the contries wealth come from). They take out these frustrations on our facilities, or better still sell their services (in this case violence) to the evil ones amongst us. Creating jobs, I believe will reduce vandalism to a great extent.

It is not just enough to tell us vandals are the reasons we are in darkness and nothing is being done about same. Vandalism is a monster successive government created and we must man up to deal with it.

Now I am not saying the power sector should be working at a 100 percent overnight ,of course it will take a little while (the telecommunications sector did not do it overnight), but for Pete’s sake this is a very terrible way to start. There is no light at all! Nigerians are burning away, what with the heat. Businesses are folding up at an alarming rate, artisans do not even bother any more, and people are losing jobs and choosing crime. Something needs to be done and fast too as the power sector is so critical to the development of our country.

$10.8B Oil Money: Nigerians Want Thorough Breakdown

Recently the CBN governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, accused the NNPC of diverting proceeds from sale of crude oil amounting to 49.8 billion dollars. We were later told it was no longer 49.8 billion dollars that it was now 10.8 billion dollars and that it was not missing. NNPC later gave us an explanation as regards what happened to the 10.8 billion dollars. It did a woeful job, I must confess, because we were not convinced.

I think in their heads they think of us as ignorant bastards, but don’t blame them for thinking such about us, because we have shown them over the years that we somewhat are. In fact by reducing the money from 49.8billion dollars to 10 billion dollars, they must have thought, should have made Nigerians chill, because we always chill.

They said the 10 billion dollars was spent on oil subsidy payments (this same subsidy shaaa), repairs of vandalized oil pipelines (it must be all the pipelines) as well as operational costs (whatever that means), and the balance is yet to be reconciled.

First of all can we reconcile the balance already? Secondly, Nigerians are not buying this explanation. It is so casual. It has nonchalance written all over it! We need, as a matter of urgency, a thorough breakdown of how the money was used, and then we can believe we are ready to tackle corruption which is killing us. The earlier the reconciliation is done as well as a breakdown of how the money was used, the better. Otherwise we have no choice but to believe the money was stolen. 10 billion in dollars is a hell lot of money not to be thoroughly accounted for. 10billion dollars can contribute a lot to making Nigeria a better place!

If proper account is not done and nobody is brought to book for this, then somebody should please tell Jim O’Niel ( who has predicted Nigeria amongst nations to become world’s biggest emerging economies thus coining MINT-Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) to remove the ‘N’ in his MINT as we are not ready yet. Not with corruption.

Chiechefulam Ikebuiro

thalynxis@yahoo.ca

@thalynxis

National Dialogue: Apologies to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu – Wale Adedayo

I was among those at the forefront of castigating Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he voiced opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan’s National Conference. Tinubu did not mince words in describing the proposed gathering as a Greek gift that’ll bear no useful fruit. But, along with others, I argued otherwise. And forcefully too.

We felt it was the first time a sitting president would on his own without any prompting from known agitators agree that Nigeria’s component units sit at a round table to chart a new course for the polity through a workable constitution. More importantly, Jonathan picked a cerebral former General Secretary of Afenifere, Senator Femi Okurounmu, as chairman of the committee to prepare a road map for the conference. That sealed it for us given Afenifere’s long held position that the ethnic nationalities, which make up Nigeria must return to the negotiating table as they did before independence to fashion a new constitution for the country.

Okurounmu was not just another Afenifere scribe. He had a pedigree. Apart from serving as a senator on the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) (1999 – 2003), he carved a niche for himself as a staunch proponent of a Sovereign National Conference. A scholar and a person many of us considered a deep thinker, we had no doubt he’d not disappoint. We said so in so many words in several places using different platforms to confront those who did not believe in the conference. But we now know better.

With developments arising out of Okurounmu’s work thus far, I want to admit that we missed it. Jonathan sold us a dummy. And Okurounmu disappointed us in his old age. And I wonder what these old men are leaving behind as legacies with the decreasing distance between them and their graves. How will Chief Adekunle Ajasin feel? What’ll be the position of Pa Solanke Onasanya? What kind of words would Senator Abraham Adesanya reserve for Okurounmu, who for whatever it is worth has put a final nail in the coffin of whatever little respect the average Yoruba has for Afenifere?

A National Conference is a veritable admission that the foundation of a polity has given way. It is the shortest route to dismantling that polity without the chaos and casualties of a civil war – and putting the humpty dumpty back again before detractors get to know what is happening. And that can only be done as it was in the beginning before Nigeria got her independence from Britain – our different ethnic nationalities MUST sit and discuss the basis of the Nigerian union.

Any National Conference without the ethnic nationalities as primary participants remain a mere talkshop. It cannot work. It will fail. It is also a wrong position to have a National Conference submit what it arrives at to the National Assembly. A genuine gathering to change the current constitution should have the National Assembly and two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly giving a go-ahead to the National Conference that whatever it comes up with is final and binding as articles of faith in running our affairs as a nation. That is what we were expecting to happen in this instance, not a return to the same circle of political actors who brought us to this sorry state – a patient cann ot treat him/herself.

It appears Tinubu, with his many shortcomings, is better at seeing deeper than most of his critics as I am one of them.

There is hardly anything an average Yoruba wants than a restructured polity in today’s Nigeria with its flawed federal structure. Of course, genuine South-South patriots – not militants turn merchants – want the same thing. But this Jonathan CONference has turned out a 419 project to get mainstream Yoruba behind his re-election bid. It is now clear the whole charade is political 419. And Tinubu said this earlier. But we did not listen. Instead, we hurled abuses in his direction. Those of us on this side meant well for ourselves, and our people. But we appear too romantic in our reasoning and arguments. And I don’t think that is bad because we desperately want things to work despite all the visible obstacles. So, any little sign of light proving the end of the tunnel is here, we rush there with joy. But in the case of this Jonathan’s CONference, my sincere apologies to Tinubu. He got it right. We missed it.

- Wale Adedayo

2015: I Have Agreed With Buhari and Tinubu, Atiku Drops Bombshell 

He is a man who has regularly presented himself as a democrat.His love for the democratic process may be as a result of his long years of sowing the seed of bridge-building. He is, therefore, may be expecting to reap from where he has sown.  That should not be anyone’s problem. However, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and nemesis of Olusegun Obasanjo,

MR. Vice President, which party do you belong to?
Which party?  Well, let me tell you a story. Immediately after our nomination after the Jos convention of our party, I arranged a meeting between the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, governors-elect and Olusegun Obasanjo where we solicited their support.  The then governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, spoke on behalf of the ANPP governors and he said they would support him because I was involved and that they had had dealings with me in the past.
Then we arranged another meeting with the Alliance for Democracy, AD, governors’elect and after the meeting they said they would support him because of me. After the two meetings, he called me aside and asked, Mr. Vice President, which party do you really belong to?  We met ANPP governors they said you are with them; we met AD governors they said you are with them; so which party do you belong to?  I hope that answers your question.
But seriously speaking, Nigerians would want to know where you stand now?
My brother, it is not just about political party now.  It is about saving the situation that Nigeria has found herself. It is not about elections or offices to be occupied. It is about the political parties obeying the Constitution of Nigeria and also obeying their own constitution that there must be elections and nothing else.
Consensus or affirmation
I went to court to challenge Obasanjo when he said we could do it by consensus or by affirmation. A Federal High Court pronounced that there must be voting by casting of ballot and not just affirmation.  And I told him that everyone he wanted elected, I had gotten the person elected so why was he afraid of an election. He said he agreed but consensus was another way of doing it.  We got one person each from the zones to support the case but he knew that once we got that judgment, it would mean that all his actions of that executive would be null and void … (he makes a gesticulatory posture of being elbowed out of contention). (Laughter followed)
It is about the parties being guided by their own constitution and not until you can produce the right leadership that would allow that, we would continue from one crisis to another.
How do you see Mu’azu succeeding as PDP chairman?
Before Mu’azu was made chairman, he came to me and we spoke. But I told him that much as he is passionate, he may not be able to do the job he has been given. Almost all the founding fathers of the party have left.
As for Mu’azu, I reminded him that I brought him into the party and I funded his governborship election in 1999 and I do not know what he would come and preach to me about the party. And our brother Bamangar Tukur, I once asked him on the eve of our convention if he was in charge of the party. I asked why the convention planning committee and the sub-committees were prepared for him from the Villa? In our own time, the party handled all that and it was robust.
We could agree that the PDP may not be healthy but the APC itself is having problems. Look at Shekarau running up and down. Now he is in PDP.  Even you, you were in AC, mind you?
APC is a completely new experiment. I say this because in 2009, I initiated the formation of another strong party like the PDP, even while still there. I visited General Buhari, I spoke to my brother here, Asiwaju; I spoke to Bafarawa on the other side, and we came together and set up a committee and we almost came to an agreement.
Registration certificate
The day we were to sign was when Buhari produced the registration certificate of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC. (laughter). The whole thing collapsed. Then in 2011, even within PDP, I said there was a need for a strong opposition so I initiated an alliance between CPC and ACN.  We came to almost signing an agreement – IBB, Adamu Ciroma, Aliyu Gusau, we were the brokers – to exchange letters, Buhari withdrew; that one collapsed.
Believe me if there was that electoral alliance, there would be no PDP today forming government because Buhari would have brought the votes from the North West to add to the votes from the South West.
So, when I visited Buhari last week, I went through all these with him and I asked him if he agreed with me that we would all lose if he didn’t and he said ‘yes, now I agree.’ I said you did it in 2007, you failed; in 2011, you did it again you failed, I failed, everybody failed.
I asked if he agreed that if we all come together it would be better he said he agreed. So, APC is a completely new experiment, just like when PDP was formed, it was thought to be unthinkable because we came from the SDP and some from the NRC – right of left and left of right.
APC has the chance of succeeding if well managed and I concede to you that really, politicians have lost a lot of credibility in the last year or two.
So, really, there is need for politicians to re-invent themselves so that the credibility they have lost, can be regained. Last night I told Asiwaju and we agreed that General Buhari is now becoming a politician unlike before. Now, Asiwaju said he is more democratized and now, you can sit down and he is not rigid like before. There is hope for this country.
Obviously you are interested in the presidency?
Let’s not talk about the presidency. Let us talk about Nigeria and Nigerians. Believe me it is not an issue of presidency. I don’t have to be president to serve the people. If you are passionate about your country you cannot but feel concerned about what is going on and you want to be part of the process.
Okay let me assume that you want to be president?
No. Assume that I don’t want to be president. (laughter) Because this is the starting ground; and both General Buhari and I have said we should forget the presidency.
I say so because of the crisis that may come up during the contest for the ticket
I don’t see that happening because we have all agreed that it would be a fair contest.
Having said all these, what is the way forward?
The best way forward is to give Nigerians the ability to change from one party to the other so that they can compare one party to the other. Our case is not like that of Ghana where they can compare the then ruling party to the opposition that took over. My fear about one strong big ruling party is that we would be moving moré and more towards a dictatorship if we allow that to continue. I don’t want to see in my life a dictator.
INEC time table, how should it have been structured.
We have always said that one-day election is better and at a point in time INEC agreed but I don’t know why INEC back tracked.
The crises in Rivers, the presidency and the President say they are not involved?
I don’t believe the President and the presidency.  Obviously they have a hand in it. How do you explain a situation when a police commissioner is being transferred from one state to Rivers and on his way to his new destination he is called back. Who does that except the Presidency and the President is involved.
But the IG is in charge?
The IG? That is my problem with a situation where the security agencies are being used by a party in power or a government. That is not how it should be.
Your associates are threatening to abandon you if you don’t abandon the PDP and they cite many reasons including non-invitation to some bodies of the party that you are statutorily supposed to be part of?
They are right because in the past four years nobody has been communicating with me. And for a political animal like me, that is not right. I have not been attending all the meetings I am supposed to be attending – NEC, caucus, BoT.  It is true what they’ve said and I am still there. That is why I am going round and consulting with the people who have been with me in the last two decades and they have been consistent. It is a difficult situation.
You talked about Mu’azu and his incapacitation to do the needful in terms of bringing the PDP back on track.  What if the President calls you to say we want to turn a new leaf?
The issue is not about the President running or not running. I have been talking about the internal contradictions within the PDP. It is not about the President at all. There are inherent contradictions within the party. If the younger generation presents a candidate and that candidate wins, what is the big deal
What we are saying is that there should be a democratic process instead of running round to short-circuit the process. In Benin, yesterday, somebody asked why I want to leave; and he gave the instance of Mugabe and he said, “why do you want to leave the PDP; at least you are still young and Mugabe is still in Zimbabwe ruling so don’t go anywhere; after Jonathan you can become President and I said it is not about presidency but about the common people in the country.

ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) GUIDELINES FOR MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION

ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) GUIDELINES FOR MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION

PREAMBLE
The party is to commence a nationwide registration of members at the polling unit level in all the states of the federation and the FCT.

In order to have a transparent and credible registration process, it is proposed that the following committees should be formed to conduct and supervise the exercise:

1. National Registration/ Collation/Data-Process Committee

2. state registration supervisory committee

3. local government area registration supervisors

4. ward registration supervisors

5. polling unit registration officers

NATIONAL REGISTRATION/ COLLATION/DATA-PROCESSING COMMITTEE :

The committee which shall be headed by the National Chairman shall include the National Secretary and or specialist(s) suitable to perform the duties of the committee.

FUNCTIONS:

1. formulation of policy for membership registration;

2. Designing, printing, storing, securing and distribution registration forms;

3. Procuring and supplying other necessary registration materials;

4. assuming full responsibilities for the strict supervisions of the membership registration at all levels and for the appointment of necessary relevant officers for such supervision;

5. Appointing state membership registration chairmen and secretaries and, intervening in the appointment of any state registration officers where the state has difficulties in nominating such officers.

6. Ensuring hitch free collection and verification of data from states.

7. Establishment of National Data Bank and Online Registration Portal.

8. Processing and transmission of verified data to “card” production center

9. Collection of final card from production centres and distributes same to states.

10. Maintaining data bank for reference purpose and ensuring regular update of the data bank for continuous registration exercise.

STATE REGISTRATION SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE (SRSC):

The committee shall be made up of 5 members:

a. The chairman and the secretary shall be appointed and trained by the national registration/ collation/ data processing committee.

b. In a state where we have APC Governor, the state interim committee in full consultation with relevant stake-holders and the coordinating Governor shall nominate a member from each senatorial district in the state to complement the functions of the chairman and secretary.

Note: where however, any state cannot agree to nominate the three members, the matter shall be referred to the National Registration/ Collation/ Data Processing committee which shall intervene by appointing such members from among members Of communities within such senatorial districts in the state.

FUNCTIONS OF STATE REGISTRATION SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE (SRSC):

a. The state Registration Supervisory Committee SRSC, shall responsible for the overall conduct of the membership registration exercise specially the monitoring and supervision of the process and resolution of other problems in the states.

b. The state registration supervisory committee shall have custody of all registration materials and distribute them directly to the various local government registration supervisors.

c. The state registration supervisory committee shall coordinate and consult with the stakeholders of the party in the state on the modalities of conducting the exercise including but not limited to venue, logistics etc
LGA REGISTRATION SUPERVISORS:

Each local Government area shall have three (3) Registration Supervisors, who shall be recruited from the senatorial district community by the national registration/ collation/data center committee in consultation with the SRSC.

FUNCTIONS:
The L.G.A Registration Supervisors will be responsible for supervising the process and ensuring that the exercise is conducted within the LGA at the end of the exercise they will be required to collect all registers and complete forms from the respective ward supervisors in their L.G.A’s and handover same to the state Registration Supervisory Committee.
WARD REGISTRATION SUPERVISORS:

Each Ward shall have three (3) Registration Supervisors, who shall be recruited from the local government community by the National Registration/Collation/Data/Processing Committee in consultation with the SRSC.

FUNCTIONS;

They will be responsible for supervising the process at the Polling Unit level and ensuring that the exercise is effective within the Ward. At the end of the exercise they will be required to collect and sort all completed forms from the respective Polling Unit Registration Officers in their Wards and handover same to the LGA Registration Supervisors. They will also be responsible for recording/ entering the details of all registration members in the register.
POLLING UNIT REGISTRATION OFFICERS :

Each Polling Unit shall have two (2) competent Registration Officers (RO’s) to be recruited from the ward community by the state Registration Supervisory Committee.

The RO’s will be responsible for registering all members.

The Registration Officer, where necessary, shall assist intending members to complete their forms.

At the end of the registration exercise the Registration Officer retains the complete form, while the newly registered member keeps the counter foil.

ELIGIBILITY FOR MEMBERSHIP OF COMMITTEES State Registration Supervisory Committee, SRSC:

To ensure the credibility of the process, it is proposed that those who will be saddled with this important responsibility should/ must be;
A reputable Leader/ Elder from the merging Parties, for example ;

A. Members of the National Assembly and States House of Assembly,

B. Former Member of the National Assembly

C. very educated distinguished Party Members of proven integrity/commitment to the Party.

-Local Government Supervisors Same as members of State Registration Committee.

-Ward Supervisors Minimum of Secondary School Certificate.

Proven integrity Well educated with capacity to handle the assignment

- Polling Units Registration Officers Minimum of Secondary School Certificate and must be competent to handle the assignment.

All details on Registration Forms shall be entered into the Register Book with all the information including the serial numbers on the form. (Forms are not ordinary, they are serially numbered and security coded) All forms to be accompanied with two (2) passport photographs.

WARNING. The leadership at every level must ensure peaceful conduct of membership registration.
Any disruption by violence shall be investigated and appropriate sanctions shall be visited on any person or group of persons found responsible.
The registration for such unites, wards or local government are of state shall be cancelled by the National Registration/ Collation/ Data- Processing Committee and may prevent such affected area from participation in the congress and thee convention.

THANKS AND GOD BLESS US ALL

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FLASHBACK: 2013 Oodua World Childrens' Day

 FLASHBACK: 2013 Oodua World Childrens' Day

Over 80 Monarchs Converge on Osun for Oodua World Childrens Day*As Ooni, Alaafin, Others Laud Aregbesola's Landmark Achievements

More than fifty traditional rulers drawn from various Yoruba-speaking town and cities in Africa on Monday converged in Osogbo, the Osun capital for a unique celebration of the Oodua World Children Day.

The Oodua World Children Day is Osun's initiative at pulling children from all Yoruba Speaking communities together with a view to reviving the cultural values of the Yoruba race in the younger ones.


The Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said at the event that the Yoruba cultural integration can only be meaningful if the children, who would carry on the culture are properly socialised into it, along with the inculcation of its underpinning values.

His address titled "Towards Global Yoruba Integration", was delivered at the Osogbo City stadium, Osogbo where the colourful event held.

In attendance at the occasion to commemorate Children's Day are eminent Yoruba personalities, and children, from the Yoruba indigenous parts of Nigeria comprising Ekiti (100); Ondo (83); Ogun(100); Oyo(100); Lagos(100); Kwara(50); Kogi(50); Edo(25) and Delta States, as well as West African countries of Benin, Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone; South American countries of Brazil, Argentina and Colombia; Cuba; Caribbean; and the United States.

VIDEO: My Re-election Bid Is In The Interest Of The People Of Osun – Aregbesola

The Governor of the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, has stated that his decision to seek re-election into office is in the interest of the people of Osun.

‘View From The Top’ on this edition plays host to the Governor of the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, where he spoke about his re-election bid.
Reeling out what he considers his achievements since becoming the governor of the state, the Governor said that his administration has been “people centred” and it would be difficult for them “to abandon the people mid-stream”.
He noted that the best way to pursue his administration’s objective about governance “is to run the whole span of the mandate permitted by the constitution, as that gives enough time to meet their aspirations. He then added that it is in the interest of the people that he is seeking re-election into office.
Governor Aregbesola has made the news lately for his educational reforms in the state and he took time to shed more light on the details of the government’s innovations, including the introduction of the ‘Opon Imo’.
Among other things, Governor Aregbesola also spoke about his administration’s proposed creation of new Local Government Areas, to be known as Local Council Development Areas.

I’d Rather Leave Than Compromise – Jega

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega says he would rather relinquish his job than allow anyone to make him do what is against his conscience.

Jega spoke at an interactive session in Chatham House, London yesterday, noting that he was not under pressure from any quarters on what INEC should do or not do on the 2015 general elections.
“No one can make me do what is against my conscience. I will walk away the day I feel I can’t do the job according to the dictates of my conscience”, he declared. He added that whatever INEC does are in accordance with provisions of the law, logistics and the exigencies of the issues at hand, explaining that the recently released election timetable was premised on the commission’s capacity and resources.
Jega said due to the enormity of the tasks and challenges involved, INEC is not yet ready to conduct all elections in one day, stressing that the commission would however go a step better in 2015 by staggering the elections over two days instead of the three days as was the case in 2011.
He said it was logical to conduct national elections - presidential and National Assembly elections in one day and local elections - gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections - on another day, but lamented that whatever the sequence INEC chose to conduct the elections, people would still complain as it is difficult to satisfy everyone.
Prof. Jega assured that the 2015 elections would be “much better than 2011”, but expressed concern over the “must-win” and “do-or-die” attitude of some politicians whose mindset is to win at all costs. He also criticized media practitioners in Nigeria for pandering to the propaganda of politicians instead of sticking to the dictates of their profession.
He called on all to support INEC in its onerous task to conduct free and fair elections, stressing that the task of ensuring credible elections in the country is not on the commission alone, but all stakeholders.

Chief Tony Anenih, To Everything There is a Season By Pius Adesanmi

Pius Adesanmi

And a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to spit on June 12 and a time to be an Abacha forever zealot. A time to receive more than two hundred billion naira for road construction and a time not to construct or repair a single road. A time to work for Obasanjo’s third term agenda and a time to insist that Yar’Adua could rule Nigeria forever as a ghost from a Saudi hospital bed. A time to abandon the Turai-Cabal train when it became clear that Yar’Adua would die and a time to work for Jonathan 2015. A time for your iyanga to go and disturb the sleep of trouble and a time for trouble to respond by sending wahala your way in the person of Sam Nda-Isaiah. A time to be reminded by Sam Nda-Isaiah that, at over 80 years-old, it is painful to watch you dance naked at the behest of your latest master in Aso Rock and a time for you to know that it is time to leave us alone and retire to your country home. Indeed, there is a time to every purpose under the heaven.
Perhaps there is also a time of never? A time never to leave us alone? A time never to sever your umbilical cord from Aso Rock and, by extension, the treasury of the Nigerian people? Perhaps you cannot and dare not retire to your country home to drink palm wine surrounded by the love and care of your children and grandchildren in the evening of your life? A time never to ever quit that cycle of rent-collecting and patronage-dependent hangers-on in Aso Rock? Perhaps you operate only on this time of never?
 Most Nigerians who wonder why a man four decades your junior still gets to summon you to Abuja in the dead of night (even if he is President) to attend to all kinds of demeaning domestic party issues; most Nigerians who wonder why it is still possible to summon you to Aso Rock to settle a petty quarrel between the wives of two local government chairmen; most Nigerians who shudder and grind their teeth painfully in disgust whenever they see you in those Aso Rock photo-ops with your children and grandchildren (what is papa still looking for at his age, they query) just don’t understand that you operate on the time of never. You can never quit that circle, no matter how demeaning the errands get. You dare not quit.
You are not alone in the time of never. You are in the gracious company of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who has just accepted an appointment “tougher than the PDP”, to borrow the words of President Jonathan. When I heard that the President had appointed a man in his 80s to run the Nigerian Railway Corporation, I told those who sought my opinion that the appointment makes perfect sense. Those transformation trains doing Lagos to Kano in three to four days in the 21st century are refurbished World War II trains. You need an age mate of the trains to oversee things.
I have written before about an epidemic of old and expired politicians who dare not retire to their country homes in the evening of their lives and the spat between you and Sam Nda-Isaiah provides an opportunity for me to revisit that issue. It’s a generational thing. In fact, it’s a generational curse. In my reflection on the spat between Professor Ango Abdullahi and Mujahid Dokubo Asari back in 2013, I described this curse on the generation of Nigeria’s grandpas in politics as the fate of the door. Permit me to reproduce in some detail what I had to say in that essay:
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“And this is where I must come back to the question of political grandpas who are rolling in the mud and fighting over the spoils of Nigerian statehood with new actors on the stage barely older than their grandchildren. Before Dokubo Asari and Ango Abdullahi, there were Olusegun Obasanjo and Ayo Fayose trying to determine who was a bastard and who fathered the said bastard. In essence, Ango Abdullahi is not the only grandpa in politics. We have them in abundance. We have an epidemic of septuagenarians and octogenarians who will not stop disturbing the peace of the country.
Week in, week out, they are giving orders, spitting fire on the national stage, oozing smoke from the centre of their heads like D.O. Fagunwa’s Anjonu Iberu (the ghomid of fear). For Ango Abdullahi, Olusegun Obasanjo, Edwin Clark, Tony Anenih, Bamanga Tukur, and so many others in that category, it is joro jara joro every week, fighting for the spoils of Nigerian statehood with guys in their forties. So and so must be president, so and so cannot be governor. Every statement they make is an arrow in the heart of genuine democracy. One is even insisting that his son must be the next governor of Adamawa state.
We must ask: who cursed the Nigerian grandpa in politics with the fate of the door? In the developed world, these are people who, by now, would be enjoying a dignified retirement from public life, perhaps in a country cottage or on a ranch somewhere, surrounded by their children and grandchildren, and only granting the occasional interview to guide the country in the right direction. Instead of a peaceful countryside retirement, the Nigerian grandpa in politics is fated, like the door in Yoruba philosophy, never to know or find peace. “Wahala lon pa lekun” (It is wahala that kills the door), goes the Yoruba proverb. Open, close, open, close, a door never finds peace. Such is the terrible fate of the Nigerian grandpa in politics in the evening of his life. In his advanced age, for instance, Tony Anenih is still doing joro jara joro in the dead of night between Benin and Abuja. This is the terrible fate of the door.
The Nigerian grandpa in politics is responsible for his own fate of the door. In the morning and the afternoon of his life, he did not work to create a Nigeria that would grant him a deserved rest in the evening of his life. Where will they find rest and peace of mind in the Nigeria of today that is the product of their fifty years of visionless and corrupt leadership? Even if they built fortresses in their villages and hometowns, they must still generate their own electricity and water and provide their own security. They must fear Boko Haram, armed robbers, and kidnappers who now target the elderly. Some, like Tony Anenih, didn’t even have enough vision to tar the road to his own gate. Therefore, they must continue to patronize Aso Rock, Governors, Ministers, and Senators their children’s age in order to enjoy military helicopters and other resources of the Nigerian state. Given this state of affairs, I’m afraid that there is no guarantee that Ango Abdullahi will not still be rolling in the mud with boys his grandchildren’s age in the next decade of his life.
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This essay was published in May 2013. At the time, a member of your generation, Professor Ango Abdullahi was in the gutter with Dokubo Asari over the fate of President Jonathan. You can see that I mentioned you generously in the essay. You can see how much of your future spat with Sam Nda-Isaiah I foresaw. Sam Nda-Isaiah says that you have hung around government for too long and have grown so used to the wrong way of running government that all the wrong things now appear right and normal to you. He warns you not to write letters defending President Jonathan again.
On that score he is wrong. You will write more letters and invade the public sphere with more solicited and unsolicited actions on behalf of the Jonathan presidency – and the presidency after Jonathan’s if God spares your life that long. As usual, those actions will be beneath you but you will carry them out anyway. I don’t think that Sam Nda-Isaiah understands the predicament of your generation. You cannot quit. You dare not. By spending the better part of the last fifty years ruining Nigeria, you and your generational peers have created a Nigeria in which you cannot find peace, quiet, and rest. You are not serving as an errand boy for Aso Rock in your 80s; Bamanga Tukur is not hopping from appointment to appointment in his 80s because you both need the money. You are both in serious money. What you need now is the protection that closeness and chumminess with the presidency affords you in the evening of your lives. You need presidential aura and power to protect you from the mess and the nightmare that is Nigeria. You need protection from the Nigeria you made, protection from the hell you made of Nigeria. For your generation, it will forever be a time to stay put and a time to never quit. Until that time that you have no control over arrives…

INEC: umpire on pyre

When it comes to doing government’s bidding, you are not surprised that it is often not done well; you are surprised that it can be attempted so brazenly. And apparently people in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, aren’t aware of, nor care for, that decidedly Yankee epigrammatic axiom that says:
“Don’t fix it, if it ain’t broke!” In other words, don’t repair it if it is OK—or you will only land yourself in greater mess.
The 2015 election timetable released by INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega last week has drawn universal condemnation—and it is only proper that it has; because it has violated the basis of its own raison d’être. Under normal circumstances, the basis for the design of an election timetable should be its ability to contribute to the development of a more efficient and more practical election administration system and facilitate and enhance participation by the electorate. If only for this reason, it must be acceptable or at least not too disadvantageous to any of its stakeholders—voters, candidates or political parties.
In the end, the objective of any electoral commission should be to administer the electoral system with impartiality and efficiency, promote understanding of the electoral system, and enhance participation in the entire process, in a way that doesn’t give undue advantage to any side.
While it may be perfectly legitimate for the government to try and maximise every legal advantage within its grasp, including, but without abusing, incumbency; it will be perfectly dishonourable for INEC to re-jig the schedules of the election timetable to give it another undeserved advantage.  And Jega might have to tell the nation whom he consulted or from whence the request or order for this came. Especially in view of what he himself said.
At an INEC-civil society dialogue on November 27, 2012, Professor Jega made promises which his current handling of the election timetable will seem to have broken. “In administrating elections, an EMB [election management body] has responsibility and obligation to be professional, transparent, and non-partisan. Since its establishment n June 2010, the new Commission sought to achieve these objectives by ensuring that the manner by which elections are prepared and held will be more inclusive, participatory, and transparent,” he said, giving assurances of “the Commission’s resolve to professionalize, to create a level playing ground for all political parties and contestants, and to do all it possibly can to have free, fair and credible elections in 2011. It is this same resolve that drives the Commission’s planning towards 2015.”
And suddenly without the promised inclusivity this awkward timetable surfaced without anyone knowing how or why. If in 2011, the presidential election was conducted last, INEC  would certainly need a good reason to bring it first—and this reason must be shared with the nation; because, going by the experience of that earlier election, there are at least two good reasons why the presidential election shouldn’t be put first.
With this coming after the debacle in Anambra, there are those who argue that because of the problem encountered in that gubernatorial election in last year, INEC is incapable of conducting all elections nationwide in one day. If true, the implications can be quite serious: if it really can’t do this, it doesn’t deserve to be the nation’s electoral commission. And if it can, it hasn’t demonstrated that capacity—yet; and its incompetence there shouldn’t be an excuse to allow—and expect—it to have to redo the wrong thing in future elections elsewhere.
One, governors of the ruling party will be forced to use their powers of incumbency to rig the election in favour of the president just to procure astonishing levels of turnout and block-vote in the East and at least the mandatory 25% in the North. If they don’t do this, the president will use his own powers of incumbency to ensure that they lose their own. Two, the bandwagon effect associated with the politics of corruption, will then only go on to help the president because politicians here equate success in democracy with being with the winning party, which is why incumbents are always able to rig themselves back to office.
So, why should Jega singlehandedly decide to change the schedule and force its adoption by INEC, which should really have no reason to prefer one schedule over the other—unless it represents an interest other than that of the commission and the Nigerian public?
If, without input from the electorate, without a demand for it by political parties, apparently without consultation with its own field staff; and, paradoxically, without even the knowledge of its most senior officials, INEC changes the order of the elections, the nation will be entitled to assume that this is done at the behest of the only one who stands to benefit from the move—the president.
It is not unreasonable to assume that there is no direct personal interest involved in the timetabling, because Jega is not likely to become a presidential candidate between now and February 14, 2014. So, why should he place the presidential election first when this has not been openly requested by any stakeholder? What has been canvassed for is to have all the elections on one day, or at least keep the presidential election last. Unless Jega has become a hostage in the new tactic of government-by-blackmail, it is difficult to see why, in a departure from the 2011 schedule, he should root for this one. It defies all logic and just doesn’t make sense.
It couldn’t have been a question of concern for cost; because if that was their motive, they would automatically have gone for the cheapest alternative and accepted to conduct all the elections on the same day even without anybody’s prompting.
It couldn’t have been necessitated by a lack of logistics, because, if indeed that were the case, still the holding of all the elections in one day would have been a solution; but has never been starved of funds. It couldn’t have been for lack of time, because INEC knew in advance the date of, and had four years within which to prepare for, the election. And it couldn’t have been because of any need to avoid crisis; for, this arrangement, more so than the one it replaced, is likely to create an electoral logjam that will lead to an even greater crisis.
The ball is now in the court of the National Assembly and the nation’s precious few non-aligned statesmen of goodwill to intervene and call INEC to alter, and the president to order over, the election timetable.
But in view of the desperation and determination of the ruling party, the president and his coterie of advisers to do anything imaginable to cling to power, it is unlikely that the government will ever willingly let go such a godsend from Jega. Is the nation then irrevocably saddled with the likely consequences of Jega’s big mistake—the Mistake of 2014? It remains to be seen whether men of the legislature will be able to rise up to the occasion; or whether the ephemeral and illegal demands of partisan politics will override the abiding and legitimate demands of our people; whether pecuniary expectations of carpetbaggers will eclipse the prospects and destiny of our nation; or, indeed, whether the National Assembly will look the other way; aid and abet the plan to push the country along the path of self-destruction—all on account of a government noted only for its incompetence.
Obviously, the requirement for integrity and political neutrality in election managers is and must not only remain indispensable, it must be enforced, and queried by the nation if it is not; because, without it, there will never be a proper, free, fair and acceptable election in Nigeria.
That is why members of the electoral commission need to be men and women of unimpeachable integrity, who are totally apolitical and able to inspire confidence that they are will be impartial in the discharge of their duties. And in some places, it is like this even in some nations of our so-called Third World. For instance, in 1996, India Today, the leading newsmagazine in India, conducted a national survey in which India’s Electoral Commission was voted by people as the most trustworthy institution in the country, ahead of all the country’s political parties, the executive arm of government, the judiciary and even its civil service, which used to be the best in the world. Unfortunately, it is not so in Nigeria.
It goes without saying that an election in Nigeria can never be free unless INEC itself is; it will never be fair until the commission is independent; and it will not be credible if the credibility of INEC is called into question, as it has by this unsolicited change to the status quo.
If there was integrity and impartiality in INEC, the manifest partisanship behind the new election timetable is enough to smash them to pieces. The issue of political neutrality in INEC is perhaps no longer a moot question now: some of them may have already started dancing in a tango with the new leadership of the ruling party, as they did with the old. In its deadly and determined march to necropolis today, the electoral umpire has put the nation on an electric pyre; but there is no need for pall-bearers, because there will only be a scattering of ashes.

PHOTONEWS: Governor Aregbesola Commissions the RLG/Adulawo Technology City at Ilesa/Akure Expressway, Ilesa…Yesterday

PHOTONEWS: Governor Aregbesola Commissions the RLG/Adulawo Technology City at Ilesa/Akure Expressway, Ilesa…Yesterday

Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar

Why PDP is in crisis, by Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in crisis because its leadership has been acting contrary to the constitution.

The former Vice President said it was important for any worthy party to follow the constitution and due process to avoid illegality and absurdity.

Abubakar, who is on tour of the six geo-political zones for consultations, is expected to make a statement on his political future and 2015 elections next month.

He addressed reporters yesterday in Lagos on the national drift and the management of the party system.

The Adamawa-born politician noted that there were contradictions in the ruling party, stressing that internal democracy had been jettisoned.

He said the important thing was not whether or not he harboured a presidential ambition, but the resolution of the crises foisted on the country by the government.

Abubakar said: “The parties are in crises. The process of nomination of candidates should be guided by the constitution. That was why I refused to take the presidential ticket of the defunct Action Congress (AC), until the primaries were held.”

The former Vice President acknowledged that only a proper alliance, backed by a strong will and commitment, could change the status quo.

He refrained from making comments on the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he described as “a new experience.”

The politician said the party had the chance of winning next year’s elections, if the people were united.

He said the opposition was important in a democracy, adding that “power must change so that there will be basis for comparison between parties.”

Fashola

Tinubu, Fashola mobilise members for APC registration

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has urged members of the party to register formally.

Addressing members yesterday at a stakeholders meeting held at the Lagos State APC Secretariat in Ikeja, the former governor said only registered members would get the party’s Identity Card and be recognised.

He said: “You cannot claim to be an APC member until you register. I appeal to you all to formalise your membership of our great party. The registration starts on February 5 and will last six days. It starts from 10am to 6pm daily.”

Tinubu said arrangements had been made to ensure a hitch-free registration, saying: “The registration forms are ready. They are pre-numbered and have security codes. Nobody can hijack or hoard the forms because they will serve no purpose.”

He urged members to register at the polling units where they voted last, telling those who have relocated to register in their new locations.

The party leader said: “Your physical experience before the registration officers is compulsory. You cannot send your passport and form. That is where rigging starts and APC will never encourage rigging. You will thumb print and you will be given a counterfoil, which you will present later for the collection of your ID card. Every one of you will have the opportunity to register. Do not postpone till tomorrow what you can do today. “

He warned against using the registration to create division among members, saying: “There is discipline in APC. If you are caught promoting division, you will be suspended pending trial. APC is my party. I do not have a group. We cannot encourage grouping or caucuses in APC. If you want to contest for any office, the procedure is in the party constitution.

“We want to show good example, good leadership and let people know we know what we are doing. We shall build this party to victory. Whether Hausa, Ibo or Yoruba, we will remain one. We will perform wonders.”

Lagos APC Chairman Chief Henry Ajomale hailed Tinubu for making the APC a formidable party within a short time.

Ajomale said it was in recognition of Tinubu’s efforts in building a virile opposition party that he was honoured by ThisDay.

He said Tinubu had changed the country’s politics, adding that he was confident that the former governor would lead the party to victory at the national level in next year’s polls.

Governor Babatunde Fashola urged members to conduct themselves with decorum during the registration, adding: “We should not fight ourselves over registration. Let us be patient, so that we can achieve our goal.”

Also at the meeting were the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire; Prince Tajudeen Olusi; Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora; Senator Tony Adefuye; Admiral Lanre Amosu (rtd.); Prince Abiodun Ogunleye; Mr. Ademorin Kuye; Mr. Rotimi Agunsoye and State Woman Leader Mrs. Adetoun Adediran.

Resign now, ex-governor tells Jega

Former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu has urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Atahiru Jega, to resign, if he cannot guarantee perfect elections next year.

He was reacting to Jega’s comment that Nigerians should not expect perfect elections in 2015.

Speaking with reporters yesterday after the All Progressives Congress’s (APC’s) membership registration sensitisation meeting held at the party’s secretariat in Lagos, Tinubu said: “With such comment, Jega is already admitting failure and laying the foundation for failure. If he cannot do the job, let him quit. What do we pay him for? A perfect election makes a perfect society. We must strive to give the people what they want.

“There have to be perfect elections in 2015. They have to be 99.9 per cent perfect. If he wants to lecture again about perfect and the imperfection of the electoral process, let him go back to the university.”

Lamenting that the country should have learnt enough from past polls, the APC National Leader said: “Jega is presently moving from one country to the other. Is he saying he has not learnt enough from this country to give us a perfect election? He is in America now, gallivanting around the countries. Is it the estacode of his speeches that is enough for us? If he has not learnt from these countries in the last few years, then we can excuse him.”

On the series of defection of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the National Assembly to the APC, Tinubu said the lawmakers have the right to “choose their alliance as it suits the mandate given to them by the people”.

Ambassador Entwistle

I’m not aware Shekau is dead, says U.S. Ambassador

James Entwistle was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to Nigeria on October 28, last year. Ambassador Entwistle spoke with reporters in Lagos yesterday on his impression of Nigeria, the war against terror, the same-sex marriage prohibition law and so on. OLUKOREDE YISHAU was there.

Impression of Nigeria before and now

I have been a student of Africa and African history for a long time. I have always read a lot about Nigeria and in fact, many, many years ago, I was a school teacher in Kenya in the 70s. One of the books I had to teach to Kenyan students was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Put aside the image of some American trying to teach an African novel, I don’t know if my students learnt anything or not, but that introduction to the literature of Nigeria has remained with me ever since. I remember when I was very young, we heard of the tragedy of the Biafran war and I have always stayed with anything Nigerian and so on. I have always been interested by the two religions, Christianity and Islam, how they get along. In other countries that I have served in, there was this issue of if you have massive like Uranium or copper or oil, how do you exploit the resources in a way that is good to the people, which, of course, is a challenge for you. Having heard all that over the years, I was very excited to come and see for myself. In the last three months, my overwhelming impression is Nigerian people are intelligent. Every conversation I have on any subject, (I am just coming from a roundtable discussion on the power sector here), I have really been impressed by the energy and the drive and I get this sense that Nigerian people are saying: ‘yes, we have challenges; things we have to deal with but we can do this. This is our country. We will get this done.’ They appreciate help from outsiders and they just have this very strong sense of pride that ‘this is our country. We are going to get this right.’

Matching Nigeria’s potentials with reality

Let me say that all these issues that you mentioned of course are very big problems and I think we have to always remember history in what happens in a country. Sometimes we tend to focus too much on the past instead of the future and I am impressed by the creative spirit of the Nigerian people as they address all these challenges. Now, the things you touched on are huge. As I was getting ready to testify before the Senate for my confirmation for this job, I was interested to read development statistics, especially health statistics regarding Nigeria being one of the worst in Africa and I thought how can that be in Nigeria? It is clear there are huge challenges; that is the government’s responsibility, the government of Nigeria’s responsibility. That said, development partners, such as the United States, we stand ready to help in any way we can. We are hugely committed here, especially the health sector, especially on the struggle against HIV/AIDS. As I said I was just coming from a discussion on the power sector; all of these are things that must move forward, but I think with the government, private sector and foreign investors, these things can get done. The bottom line, I am a proponent of Nigerian solution to Nigerian problem; yes, with support from friends like us. You guys can do it. I am very confident of that.

Why Nigeria is important to America

Nigeria gets more assistance from us every year than Ghana and South Africa combined. In terms of why Nigeria is important, you have one of the largest markets in Africa; you are huge; in the gulf of Guinea, you are a significant oil and gas producer; you are one of the largest democracies in Africa . All of these are things the United States of America deeply cares about and they are parts of the reasons we have such a rich partnership with you.

The Bi-National Commission

I have been struck in my short time here. Almost every sector that I look at, health, education, security, take your pick, the United States and Nigeria already have strong partnership. We have lots of stuffs going on. So, I see my task as expanding the partnership, building in it. You mentioned the Bi-National Commission, which we see as an excellent device between our two countries, which creates an umbrella to discuss issues. In a couple of weeks, we are hoping to have the next session of the BNC in Abuja to focus on governance and transparency and issues like that. So, it is a very useful mechanism for us our because it brings us together across the table to discuss important issues. Obviously, one of the issues we all pay attention to is your elections, which have been announced. I had a long session with the chairman of INEC, Prof Jega the other day to discuss overall how he sees things and what we can do to help with the elections. We are working out the details of that. We will be very interested in perhaps helping to train Nigerian election monitors to build their capacity and things like that and in terms of the elections, what the United States wants to see in the elections , we want to see the kind of transparency and credible elections the Nigerian people want and deserve.

Designation of Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation

I think what we were trying to do by designating the Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organisations is, first of all, it allows us to pay more attention to financial flows going out of the U.S. I guess that is not a big issue with Boko Haram. Designation is basically symbolic to make it clear that we stand by your country in this challenge. I made it clear to President Goodluck Jonathan when I presented my credentials to him and I have said it in public a number of times is that we want Nigeria to win the war on terror. Now, there are several aspects of that. There is the military aspect; there is the economic system aspect; there is helping the civilian population; there is the aspect about having a policy of transparency in the detention of Boko Haram suspects. All of these things fit together into a successful counter-terrorism campaign and policy. I was very pleased the other week in Abuja when we heard a session where some of our counter-terrorism experts came in and this was done not in the spirit of arrogance but in the spirit of humility: ‘look we have had counter insurgency and terrorism challenges…’ Our experts came and sat with your experts sat and shared ideas and see if they will be helpful here. That is the kind of things we should be doing as partners and exactly the kind of things I will work to continue while the ambassador here.

The bounty on Shekau

The reward for justice is a useful tool we use to fight terror around the world sometimes. I’m not aware Shekau is dead. It is very difficult to track him and figure out where he is, but, to my knowledge, he is still alive. Again, it is very difficult to know. The challenge of fighting terror is that you don’t lose your own soul when it comes to human rights and you must maintain the rule of law…When you apprehend Boko Haram suspects, you should take them into detention and treat them fairly and find out: Were they in fact members of Boko Haram? Or just some guy who happened to walk down the street at the wrong time? Carefully sort them out and even when you have gotten the people you know are the bad guys, there is no need to brutalise them. It is much better to treat them fairly and walk them through the judicial system. Yes, it is hard, but do it that way…Part of the challenge of counter-terrorism is that you are fighting an enemy who mixes with the population and I am a civilian; I am not a military guy, but I have to imagine that is one of the most difficult things for the military guys, to go into a mixed setting like that, figure out who is a terrorist and who are the innocent civilians. Carefully separating them is not easy. These are enormously difficult thing to do and that is why we are trying to help your government do better on this front as a friend, as a partner.

Winning the war on terror

Whether it is fighting terror or the war on drugs or any of these international problems that cut across borders, no one nation can do it by itself. To really get at Boko Haram, your government needs to continue working with Cameroun and Chad because these guys cross the borders. These are guys for whom international borders are largely meaningless. The only way to deal with these guys is to collaborate with your neigbours and relevant international organisations.

I think in my conversation with your government and military, I think there is a growing concern over finding an enemy who mixes with the civilian population. So, that needs to be a focus. I think one needs to look at why did it start in the first place? What drew people to this organisation in the first place? Was it lack of employment opportunity? Was it education system? I am not sure what the reasons might be. Sometimes it is hard to do but we need to ask why is it happening in our country and what can we do better in our country to make sure that this type of thing does not happen again. But we know that it is hard to look at yourself like that, but sometimes in life you have to.

Extremism and poverty

In my experience over the years, there might be not just one cause for a thing. It (extremism) can be driven by poverty, lack of economic opportunities, lack of educational opportunities. Many of these groups all over the world twist religions to promote violence, which none of the great religions of the world like.

Break up of Nigeria

If this country is going to break up in 2015, to me, I don’t see any sign of it. You have challenges in this country, but you are moving forward towards a bright future. There is no issue that the country might break up. Yes, your country had a devastating civil war just like my own country. It almost tore us into two. I think both of our countries have learnt how difficult it is to hold a country together and that has certainly been a big factor in my country. The idea that Nigeria is going to fall apart in the coming months, I am not sure where that idea is coming from.

Oil theft and U.S.

It is difficult to prove that (stolen crude oil find their way to the U.S.) because the international financial market is so amorphous. When you take oil and it goes out of the country, exactly where it ends up is very difficult to determine. But what is clear is that there is the issue of oil theft in this country…Reading about the Niger Delta before I came into this country, I had this idea that oil bunkering was a very clandestine, surreptitious activity…, but flying over the Delta in a helicopter and you can see huge (illegal) bunkering operations. Everyone knows where it is; everyone knows who is in it. It was quite an eye opener for me about how in the open it is. Yesterday (Wednesday), I spent the afternoon with your navy, looking at some trainings we are doing together and one of the observations we had was that your navy is quite capable. They have what they need. We have provided some over the years. They are well-trained. In addition, there are some stations onshore, radar stations and other sort of things that can help tell who is on the water. I think physically in terms of having the tools that you need to prevent physical act, you are in pretty good shape. But of course, the other issue is after a barrel of oil is pumped, where does the money go? That is a much more complicated equation. What we have said to your government is that we see this as a Nigerian problem, but one that has a very clear international element. If your investigation uncovers a money trail that it may head towards the United States, then please share that information with us and we will be delighted to have our law enforcement officers look into that.

Stolen finds stashed abroad

If there is a clear evidence that stolen money finds its way into the United States, we want to know about it. Obviously, I cannot go into specific visa cases, but corruption is a factor and sometimes some Nigerians did not receive U.S. visa or had their U.S. visas revoked because of their involvement in corrupt activities. I cannot go into details. We have very strict privacy laws… Corruption begins to end, especially when the average guy who does the right thing; pay his tax and goes to work every day begin to say: ‘Wait a minute. I want to know what you are doing with the taxes we are paying’. That is what begins to make a difference.

Bringing back stolen fund

First it is up to your law enforcement agencies and when they see it they should point it in our direction so that we can investigate. Second, citizens like you should ask where all the money is going into. That kind of civil society effort. I think it is also about using effective watchdog, like your EFCC. Also, you have to do quite a lot in the public arena.

African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA)

I think AGOA will continue to live on … I think every step of the way we will continue to review it as you have to do with every programme…Here in Nigeria, you know it is mainly oil at benefits. We will like to see other export sector of the Nigerian economy begin to take advantage of AGOA.

Same-sex prohibition law

We have tremendous respect for the sovereignty of other nations. Now, on the same-sex marriage bill, let me be very clear: same-sex marriage is a controversial issue all over the world, including in my country. I think it is now legal in 17 or 18 states; that means it is not legal in two-third of the country. May be someday a federal court will make it the law of the land, but for now it is not. So, we understand that same-sex marriage is a very controversial issue. Quite frankly, the issue of what defines a marriage in Nigeria should be left to the Nigerian people. I think even before this bill was passed the Marriage Act specified that a marriage is between a man and a woman. That is a Nigerian issue, but as a friend of Nigeria, what worries us about this law is that,( I am not a lawyer) but when I read this law it looks to me that it puts restriction on freedom of assembly and the freedom of expression, which, I think, U.S. journalists will be particularly concerned about. I understand the issue of homosexuality is a hot topic here, but if you can no longer talk about it, if you can even meet to talk about it, it means to me it is a slippery slope. What is the next topic you will no longer be able to talk about or meet about? I think in a hard-won democracy like yours, when you start limiting the freedoms, it is a very worrisome thing. Take the bill, take out the word gay, put in the word ‘journalist’, how do you feel about that? The other point I will make, we are very concerned as a huge HIV/AIDS partner. Since the inception of our PEPFAR programme, I think we have spent about three and a half billion dollars in this country on the struggle against HIV/AIDS. We and many partners were concerned that…it might affect people coming for HIV/AIDS treatment and that kind of thing. I was very pleased the other day that NACA, I think the director came out to clarify that nothing in this bill should be misconstrued to mean people should not seek healthcare. So, I was very glad to see that. I was very concerned. Finally, the other thing that concerns me is that sadly there have been incidences around this country where the bill has been used to justify violence against gays, breaking into their homes, things like these and I have to think that all well-meaning Nigerians, regardless of what you think of homosexual conduct, you have to condemn this kind of thing, that kind of violence against any Nigerian.