Tuesday, August 4, 2015

"BARACK OBAMA CLOCKS 54 TODAY IN HIS HISTORICAL PRESIDENCY IN AMERICA"

President Barack Obama of America

Happy Birthday to my President who has about 18 months left in his historical presidency to go. Barack Hussein Obama made history in America in 2008 when he broke the racial barrier that has existed in America for centuries to become the first black President of the United States of America. Obama was welcomed into the Oval office on the firs day of his presidency in January 2009 with the worst economic crisis in America since the Great Depression and with two most costly foreign wars without any victory in sight. America's economy was losing over 800,000 jobs monthly, the housing market was grounding to its final halt, the America's automobile industries were at the verge of closing down and the Wall Street banks were rapidly collapsing.

President Barack Obama has truly changed the American mation for good under his watch and the account of history will definitely record him as one of the greatest American Presidents since this nation was founded in 1776. Some of his major signature achievements of his presidency are the Wall Street reform, the rescuing of the collapsing America's economy that has now created about 10 million jobs in six years and with the lowest employment rate since 2007. Obama succeeded in his presidency despite the GOP's opposition by providing the health care insurance to millions of Americans. The two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are history now. The war on international terrorism resulted in the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the destruction of the Al-Queda network and the other terrorist cells around the world. Obama also succeeded in restoring the diplomatic relationship with Cuba and signing of the elimination of the nuclear weapon pact with Iran. History, time and posterity will judge this President in my own judgement as one of the best, honest, sincere, objective, dedicated, patriotic and nationalistic leaders that this country has ever had. #ObamanismIsWorkingForAmericaAndTheWorld

Friday, July 24, 2015

"Investigate how the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC and Ebony TV organized the Buhari Town Hall meeting"

The invitation to this program that was titled "A Meet & Greet with President Muhammadu Buhari in Washington, DC" was put online by the Ebony TV, the main organizer of this program for all the interested Nigerians to sign up online to attend. Many Nigerians that are living in America and Canada signed up online and got their confirmed invitation letters to this program by email. These Nigerians then made all the necessary preparations, such as, booking their hotel accommodation, arranging their transportation, taking leave from their work place to attend this program.
At about 6 PM EST on July 21, 2015, the Ebony TV started sending out cancellation emails to those invitees without given them any official explanation for what has suddenly happened. Many Nigerians who got these cancellation emails called the customer service representative of the Ebony TV that was listed on their invitation letters to find out why their invitations were cancelled. The customer service representative of the Ebony TV responded to these Nigerians that the original plan was never to put the invitation for this program online in the first instance and that the number of interested Nigerians that signed up online for this program prevented those "special selected Nigerians" by the Nigerian Embassy from getting their own invitation letters to this program that was planned for only 160 Nigerians. The action of the Ebony TV is fishy, shady, questionable and cloudy in nature. The invitation to this meeting was then replaced with the special invitation letter from the Nigerian Embassy that was made available to those specially selected Nigerians who have special connections or relationship with the Nigerian Embassy officials.
Furthermore, the other Washington based organizations, such as, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the Corporate Council of Africa and the American Chamber of Commerce where President Muhammadu Buhari was invited as the main guest made their own invitations open and public to any interested Nigerians or members of the American public online and on first come and first serve basis and with transparency. 
At the moment, there are estimated one million Nigerians in America today. A survey that was done by Houston Chronicle few years ago identified Nigerians as the most educated group in America. When the Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi visited United States in 2014. A similar program was organized by the Indian Embassy for the visiting Prime Minister to meet the members of the Indian community in America. The venue of the meeting was not in a small hall of the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, The meeting was held at the Madison Square Garden in New York and with over 18,000 Indians in attendance. Indians from all over United States and Canada graced this special occasion.
It is an international embarrassment that Nigeria, the giant of Africa failed Nigerians in America with the organization of this program by Ebony TV and the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC. I am appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari as a Nigerian that lives in America and on behalf of those affected Nigerians in America and Canada to immediately investigate why the Nigerian Embassy distributed the invitation to this program in a shady manner and then prevented many Nigerians from seeing their President that they love, cherish, admire, supported and voted for on March 28, 2015. 
President Muhammadu Buhari and President Barack Obama at the White House


Thursday, July 23, 2015

"BERNIE SANDERS AND DONALD TRUMP :TWO INSURGENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES"

Socialist Bernie Sanders and Billionaire Donald Trump


Donald Trump has sucked out all the oxygen in the room and he is politically suffocating the other GOP presidential candidates from the race. He has taken all the media attention from his rivals. He has enough money to run his election without using the donors' money. Donald Trump is now leading in all the polls. Donald Trump is beyond the control of the GOP's leadership who cannot cage him, tame him or sanction him for his racist, unguarded and divisive comments. He has now launched public and untold verbal attacks on the other presidential candidates writing them off as failed politicians, beggars and political nonentities. Donald Trump has the political option of derailing the GOP's hope of capturing the White House in 2016, and if he does not get the GOP nomination at the end of the day. Donald Trump plans to run as an independent and a third-party candidate that will take away significant votes from the GOP in 2016.
On the other hand, the socialist Bernie Sanders is the center of attraction in the democratic party today and among the party's presidential candidates for the White House in 2016. He has the media attention following him around. He is pulling the largest crowds to all his campaign rallies in this ongoing election circle and in both the blue and red states. Bernie Sanders has also dominated the Facebook and Twitter with his populist message. He is rising in the polls faster than expected. He has the largest donation-base of over 250,000 donors that are more than each candidate from both parties. He has raised enough more that can make him competitive across America.
The populist ideologies (breaking up the Wall Street banks, taxing the billionaires and corporations at the higher tax rates, free tuition in public colleges, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding the social security benefits and social services, advocating for immigration reform, combating the climate change, police brutality and mass incarceration of minorities by the American justice system) that Bernie Sanders promote are selling like the hot cakes across the length and breadth of America in 2015. Bernie's presence in the race is the biggest political headache or stumbling block to the anointed and yet to-be-coronation of Hillary Clinton, the candidate of the Wall Street banks, corporations, mainstream media and democratic establishment politicians.
So far, Bernie Sanders has pulled the largest crowds in both the blue andthe red states in this 2016 presidential campaign circle across both political parties' presidential candidates. Bernie Sanders pulled 5,500 in Burlington, Vermont, 8,000 in Portland, Maine, 5,000 in Denver, Colorado, 10,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, 2,500 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 11,000 in Phoenix, Arizona, 8,000 in Dallas, Texas and 9,000 in Houston, Texas. If Bernie Sanders does not win the democratic nomination, he has the option of running as an independent candidate the way he has run for all his elections to date in his political career that spans over 40 years as an independent and democratic socialist politician. This development has the potential to prevent the democrats from continue in the White House as its official occupant beyond 2016 through Hillary Clinton. ‪#‎FeelTheBern‬

Thursday, June 25, 2015

"Not All Southerners Fly the Confederate Flag" - Charisma News

The Confederate Flag of the Southern States

I am a son of the South. I was born in Louisiana, spent my childhood in Alabama and attended high school in the suburbs of Atlanta. I grew up eating grits, drinking sweet iced tea and attending big family reunions where the old people sat on wide porches and fanned themselves while the kids ran barefoot in the Georgia red clay.
I'm not apologizing for my upbringing, or for my Southern drawl. There are so many things I love about Southern culture: the warm hospitality, the fact that strangers say, "Hey!" to each other on the street, the way little kids politely say, "Yes, Ma'am" and "No, Sir" to their elders, and of course the fried chicken, cornbread, biscuits, gravy, barbecue, slow-cooked collard greens and sweet potato pie—foods that were invented in the South and made famous at big church dinners.
But I want to make something clear to all my friends who might be tempted to stereotype: In all my years I never saw a Confederate flag in my house, never saw a Confederate decal on my dad's car and never once heard anyone in my family defend slavery, segregation or racism. Even though I had a great-great-great-great grandfather who died in the Civil War—in the Battle of Kennesaw—no one in my family ever told me I should honor that legacy.
For me, the Confederate flag is an ugly reminder of the South's biggest mistake. It is nothing to be proud of. The Confederate flag is something that should be put in a museum to warn us that people sometimes collectively practice injustice.
To a black person, the Confederate flag is a threat. It says: "We don't want you here." It has no business flying on any government property. And if you put it on your lawn or on the back of your truck, you are sending a message of hate.
I am sure the reason no one in my family flew a Confederate flag or defended a "Southern heritage" viewpoint was because we were Christians, and we knew that Christianity and racism are polar opposites. Some of my ancestors were Methodist preachers who advocated for the abolishment of slavery long before the Civil War.
I grew up knowing that it was a sin to say the N-word, and I never heard my parents say it, not even once. When schools were desegregated when I was a teenager, I made black friends, discovered black music and tried to learn every dance I saw onSoul Train on Saturday afternoons. I was never afraid of black culture; I embraced it.
And after I was filled with the Holy Spirit at age 18 (on Southern Baptist property, mind you), I began to visit black churches and discovered the richness of the black Pentecostal experience. Today I feel more at home in some black churches than I do in some white ones. Some of my closest friends are black (both Northerners and Southerners) and they helped me celebrate when my oldest daughter adopted a baby from Africa two years ago.
Today, my black grandson (who bears my name) lives in South Carolina—only a few hours from Charleston, where nine brave black Christians were shot and killed on June 17 while they were having a Bible study at Emanuel A.M.E. Church. The gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, is a troubled white kid who apparently got his inspiration from white supremacist teachings.
Roof recently posted a photo of himself on his web site waving a Confederate flag—prompting protesters and South Carolina legislators to call for the removal of the flag from state capitol property. When I heard Gov. Nikki Haley call for the flag to come down this week, I joined a chorus of Southerners who said, in unison, "Why hasn't it already been mothballed?"
Some people may protest, saying, "It's only a flag," or "It only represents our heritage." I disagree. The Confederate flag is an idol. It represents the evil force of racial hatred that has torn this country apart for more than a century and is still wreaking havoc on our cities today. If this symbol has the power to inspire a young man to blow away nine people with a 45-caliber Glock handgun, it may inspire others to commit even worse acts of terror.
Take the flag down. Put it in a museum and remind everyone who sees it that the South lost the Civil War because God is on the side of those who fight for justice.
J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter @leegrady. He is the author of The Truth Sets Women Free and other books. You can learn more about his ministry, The Mordecai Project, at themordecaiproject.org.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

"THE CHANGE THAT NIGERIANS VOTED FOR IS UNDER SERIOUS ASSAULT"

Nigerians from all the walks of life voted for a change of government, a new vision and direction for their beloved country of Nigeria on March 28, 2015. Muhammadu Buhari was elected by the majority of the Nigerian voters because of his track record and for his promise to end Boko Haram insurgency, national insecurity as well as the menace of the official corruption and the state resource mismanagement in the governance of Nigeria that have now resulted in the worst economic crisis that Nigerians last saw in the 1980s under the then President Shehu Shagari.

The opposition party, the APC that won the presidential election was made up of the conventional opposition politicians that have fought the PDP since the beginning of this political dispensation in 1999 and the disgruntled politicians that left the PDP for the APC. These politicians with different political agendas, goals and visions for Nigeria worked together and against the PDP, their common enemy at that time. Now that the common enemy was defeated, there is nothing again that these politicians have in common today except the ongoing internal fight to control the legislative arm of the government between the agents of change and the anti-change agents.

The battle for the control of the leadership of the two chambers of the national assembly will eventually determine the outcome of this change agenda that Nigerians voted for and the legacies of the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. A divided house will not stand. Political change and progress can never happen in the midst of conflict and power tussle within the leadership of the same governing political party. The APC as it stands today is not driven by any political ideologies, but by personalities, politics of ethnicity, geopolitical zone and self-interest.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Alhaji Bola Tinubu
Dr Bukola Saraki (Senate President)
Alhaji Abubakar Atiku

Thursday, April 2, 2015

"PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN IS NOT THE HERO OF THE NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY"

The defeated President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria.


The revisionist historians of Nigeria have attempted since Tuesday of this week to rewrite the true account of the recent history of the Nigerian democracy since General Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential election by calling the outgoing Nigerian  President Goodluck Jonathan, the true hero of the Nigerian democracy.

President Goodluck Jonathan is not, will not, cannot and will never be the real hero of the Nigerian democracy for the following reasons. Firstly, the Ekitigate scandal that was directly engineered and supported with the federal might from the Aso Rock villa was an electoral fraud by this federal government of Nigeria against the constitutional rights of the voters of Ekiti State of Nigeria. This development cannot make Goodluck Jonathan, the hero of our democracy in Nigeria.Secondly, the invasion of the All Progressives Congress (APC) office in Lagos by the federal government through the DSS violated the constitution of Nigeria. Thirdly, the bribing of the Yoruba Obas, Afenifere elders and Gani Adams of the militant OPC with the Nigerian tax payers money and contract by this President cannot be a democratic practice in all reality.

Fourthly, the use of the Nigerian military to intimidate opposition politicians across Nigeria during presidential campaigns and in Imo and Rivers States of Nigeria in violation of the recent court order that banned the use of the Nigerian military to conduct the elections in Nigeria was an anti-democratic act in all ramifications and the violation of the rule of law. The highly divisive utterances that came out of the mouths of Mama Peace, Asari Dokubo and many supporters of this President that were allowed to go on unchecked by this President can never make him the real hero of the Nigerian democracy, Fifthly, the use of the military and security agents to rig the presidential election in the South-South and South-East regions of Nigeria by preventing the APC supporters from voting and by manipulating the votes to reflect 100% voting turnout and pattern for this President will never be make him the true hero of democracy in Nigeria today, tomorrow and in the future.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

"Nigeria's Buhari builds unassailable lead in historic vote" - Reuters

(Reuters) - Muhammadu Buhari, an ex-general who first seized power in Nigeria three decades ago in a military coup, closed in on a historic election win on Tuesday which would mark the first time an incumbent has been ousted via the ballot box in Africa's most populous nation.
According to a Reuters tally from 34 of Nigeria's 36 states, the 72-year-old Buhari had 14.6 million votes, testament to the faith Nigerians have put in him as a born-again democrat intent on cleaning up the country's notoriously corrupt politics.

That support compared to 11.3 million for President Goodluck Jonathan, whose five years at the helm in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer have been plagued by corruption scandals and a Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.
One of Jonathan's redoubts in the oil-producing Niger Delta is yet to report but the gap is so large it is hard to see the leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which has run Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999, closing it.
Buhari took power in a coup in December 1983 but was ousted in another military takeover led by General Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985. He has since run in several elections and declared himself a convert to democracy.
Bar some technical glitches and the killing of more than a dozen voters by Boko Haram militants in the northeast, the election has been the smoothest and most orderly in recent history - a factor that appears to have played in the outcome.

"There are probably lots of reasons why the PDP might have lost, but I think the key one is that the elections just haven't been rigged," said Antony Goldman, a business consultant with high-level contacts in Nigeria.

"THIS IS HOW PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN OF NIGERIA WILL BE REMEMBERED BY HISTORY"

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria


The Nigerian history will remember President Jonathan Goodluck of Nigeria as the President that publicly supported, promoted and defended official corruption, corrupt state officials and resource mismanagement in the governance of Nigeria. The Nigerian history will remember this President as a lawless leader that has no respect for the due process and the rule of law in the governance of Nigeria. This President tried and attempted to destroy the Nigerian democracy through his personal ambition and openly engineered by supporting vote rigging and anti-democracy practices in Nigeria like the Ekitigate scandal.

This President will be remembered as a sectional leader and a religious bigot that used the Nigerian tribal militant groups (Niger-Delta and OPC) and their leaders as well as the Christian groups and the popular Nigerian pastors to do his dirty job for him in the governance of Nigeria under his presidency. This President will be remembered as the President that left Nigeria economically worse in 2015 than the Nigeria that was handed over to him in 2011. The Nigerian Naira under this President is at its worst level today in its decades of existence as the Nigerian national currency.

The President will be remembered as the President who depleted the Nigerian foreign reserves and excess crude oil accounts in the midst of the years of the highest global oil boom in the history of Nigeria and under the direct watch of his administration. This President will be remembered for creating more foreign debt for Nigeria despite the huge oil boom and revenue. This President will be remembered as the leader that refused to protect Nigerians in the North-East region from the daily menace of the Boko Haram terrorist group that led to the death of over 15,000 Nigerians and also displaced another 2 million other Nigerians internally. These are the legacies that this President will be leaving for Nigeria and Nigerians for many decades to come.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

"4 reasons you should care about Nigeria’s election" - Washington Post


ABUJA, Nigeria — On Saturday, Africa’s most populous and oil-rich country will go to the polls. The election looks to be the tightest in the 16 years since military rule ended in Nigeria – and it appears likely that the contest between President Goodluck Jonathan and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari could devolve into violence. 
Here are four reasons why the elections are critically important for the country and the region
.1.The results may affect the terrifying Boko Haram insurgency.
Nigeria is in the middle of an unfinished counterinsurgency campaign against the Islamist extremists, who have become famous for their acts of brutality, including kidnapping schoolgirls and attacking churches, schools and the police and army. Now, the tide appears to be turning. Militants are on the run. Their territorial control in the country’s northeast has dwindled, thanks largely to the cooperation of the armies of Chad and Niger, which have launched offensives after the rebels crossed into their territories. A fleet of private military contractors are also helping to fight Boko Haram. But what will become of the anti-Boko Haram campaign after election day? Many here believe that President Jonathan will lose interest in the effort if he’s elected, leaving the rebels to strengthen as they have in the past. If Buhari wins and redoubles focus on the fight, he will still have to transform a military with systemic flaws including poor training.
The next chapter of the Boko Haram fight will be the hardest. Now that militants have fled their former areas of control, they will have to be rooted out of their hideouts in and around the Sambisa Forest – a formidable task. It’s much easier for Boko Haram to wage guerrilla attacks from the forest than to occupy territory. That fight will go on for some time – and will be a massive charge for whomever is elected.
2. What happens in Nigeria doesn't necessarily stay in Nigeria
What happens in Nigeria will resonate across the region. It is the largest economy on the continent, and an exporter of film and music to its neighbors. As President Obama said this past week, Nigerians “won your independence, emerged from military rule, and strengthened democratic institutions.” If Nigeria’s elections devolve into violence or result in deep political division, the financial engine of West Africa will slow. The continent’s biggest oil-producer will be disrupted. Neighboring countries, whose own economies are linked to Nigeria’s through imports and exports, will suffer. And political uncertainty will no doubt creep across borders.
3.The elections could provoke violence. Lots of it.
There’s a good chance that things will not go well. After Nigeria’s 2011 election, nearly 1,000 people were killed in three days of rioting. Supporters of Buhari, who also ran that year, were accused of carrying out protests which “degenerated into violent riots or sectarian killings,” according to Human Rights Watch. Flaws in the electoral process fueled allegations that the elections were illegitimate. According to International Crisis Group, the polls were “riddled with malpractices, logistical deficiencies and procedural inconsistencies.”
This time, those same challenges exist, but the contest appears to be far closer – what many consider a recipe for postelection violence. Already, Buhari’s party has said that if Jonathan is declared the victor, it will set up a “parallel government.” There will almost definitely be legal challenges, no matter the result. Many Nigerians are already arguing that millions have been disenfranchised by the ongoing fighting, which has left them displaced and without voting credentials.
In Nigeria’s history, an incumbent has never lost a presidential election. The ethno-religious regional divide in Nigeria is already pronounced between the mostly Muslim north (and its Buhari supporters) and the Christian south (and its Jonathan suporters). Disputed elections could worsen that tension, playing on the idea that the next president will marginalize the area outside of his power base.
4. Nigeria badly needs a good leader.
The next president of Nigeria faces a series of enormous challenges, even beyond Boko Haram. Oil production, which accounts for 70 percent of Nigeria’s economy, is no longer as profitable as it once was. The wealth that has been generated here has not been shared – rather it has been concentrated in the oil-rich south, from which Jonathan hails. Nigerians are outspoken about the failings of the country’s corrupt public institutions. Billions in oil revenue, for example, have disappeared. The wealthy fly private jets while the bulk of Nigerians continue to struggle financially. Security forces are theoretically allocated billions, but somehow are poorly outfitted.Now, Nigerians will choose between a former dictator who is remembered for detaining his opponents (Buhari) and the incumbent (Jonathan) who many see as responsible for the country’s most recent failings. It’s a choice that could be bitterly divisive.

"NIGERIANS DECIDE THEIR POLITICAL DESTINY TODAY"

'General Muhammadu Buhari versus President Goodluck Jonathan"


Tens of millions of Nigerians will be voting today in the most important presidential election in the history of that country. Firstly, this is the first time in the presidential politics and election in Nigeria that the reelection of an incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan is directly threatened by a formidable candidate in the person of General Muhammadu Buhari and by a unified and a widespread opposition political party, the APC.

Secondly, this is also the first time in the presidential election in Nigeria that the main opposition presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari will be running for the fourth time in the presidential election in his attempt to become the President of Nigeria, the same way that the former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wada did in Senegal and then won the presidency as the main opposition figure.

Thirdly, Nigerian voters will be deciding today between these two candidates that represent two different visions for that country. The incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan has failed woefully to effectively address the issues of chronic official corruption and mammoth resource mismanagement in the governance of that country as well as the deadly Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East of Nigeria that has now killed over 15,000 Nigerians and internally displaced another one million other Nigerians. These all happened under his watch and presidency.

President Goodluck Jonathan has also failed in the area of economy despite the fact that he enjoyed the highest oil boom in the governance of Nigeria and the biggest inflow of the petro-dollar that lasted for almost four years uninterrupted. The Nigerian foreign reserves and excess crude oil accounts are almost gone today. The Naira is at its lowest value in its history. The nation's foreign debt and borrowing are rapidly rising again. The youth unemployment has reached its highest level in decades, the national infrastructures are still outdated and Nigerians do not enjoy the constant supply of electricity, good and affordable health care, functioning public education as well as efficient social services.

On the other hand,  General Muhammadu Buhari has the history and the reputation of publicly fighting the menace of official corruption, resource mismanagement and religious insurgency in Nigeria. He did all these things as the military ruler of Nigeria for those 20 months that he was in power between 1984 and 1985. General Buhari also campaigned across the length and the breadth of Nigeria promising to end official corruption, Boko Haram insurgency, to create jobs and to build a national economy that will work fairly for all Nigerians without leaving tens of millions of Nigerians behind.

The political stakes in this election are so high that the future of Nigeria as a nation depends on its outcome. The whole world is watching Nigeria today and hoping that her democracy will not fail. Nigeria now has the largest economy and population in Africa. The global expectation is that this presidential election will not be stolen and it will be allowed to be free, fair, transparent, credible, all-inclusive and violent-free.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

"Don’t Steal Nigeria’s Election" - New York Times



LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s government canceled the February presidential election just days before it was to be held, postponing it until March 28. If this weekend’s vote is delayed, disrupted or canceled, it will imperil the democratic future of Africa’s most populous country.

This election is unlike any other in Nigerian history. President Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party is facing the first credible challenge to a ruling party, and he is intent on staying in power, even though popular discontent with the P.D.P. is rife.

If the election had been held as scheduled on Feb. 14, it is likely that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the opposition All Progressives Congress would have won. The six-week delay broke the A.P.C.’s momentum and gave the P.D.P. time to to reverse the tide. Incumbency guarantees access to the treasury and command of the security forces — the first is in play now, and the second could be during the election and its aftermath.

Nigerian politics can be murderous; Mr. Buhari has already survived one attempted assassination, an October bombing in Kaduna. And if there is another postponement, a contrived disruption on election day that leads to an unconstitutional interim arrangement, or if the election results do not appear credible, Nigeria could erupt in violence.

Although Nigerians have often been divided along ethnic, religious and regional lines, there has been a remarkable change. Until quite recently, southern Nigerians overwhelmingly supported Mr. Jonathan, a southern Christian. That view prevailed in 2011, when Mr. Buhari also ran for president. The influential Lagos press portrayed him as a dictatorial, fanatical Muslim seeking to impose Shariah on the whole country despite the fact that Christians were a majority in his cabinet when he ruled the country in the mid-1980s.

But daily life has worsened and corruption has escalated. Last year, Mr. Jonathan removed from office the respected governor of the Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, after Mr. Sanusi announced that in one 15-month period at least $20 billion in government funds went unaccounted for. (The government recently claimed that an audit had found that “only $1.47 billion” was missing).

Meanwhile, the same central government has failed to send money it owes to the states, and teachers and other civil servants have gone unpaid. Currency devaluation and inflation mean that unpaid and laid-off workers in the public and private sectors are now in the same boat as the country’s impoverished and jobless millions. They are unlikely to vote for the status quo.

There have been military humiliations, too. Nigerians are embarrassed that their army needed reinforcements from smaller, poorer neighbors like Chad, Niger and Cameroon to reclaim northern towns from the terrorist group, Boko Haram. In fact, no Nigerian troops were present in some of the liberated towns. Worse, the government is hiring South African mercenaries for $400 a day in a country where soldiers are paid much less, often late, or not at all.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story
Frontline troops have long complained they did not have adequate equipment or sufficient ammunition. But according to the government’s own figures, a quarter of federal budgets since 2010 have been allotted to security. Many Nigerians conclude that the money has gone to enrich the army top brass and their civilian colleagues.

The February election was supposedly postponed so that the military could focus on the offensive it has now launched against Boko Haram. But the government’s priority doesn’t appear to be protecting Nigeria’s people and territory; its goal is to stay in power. The postponement has simply allowed the ruling party more time to spend money the opposition cannot match.

Many Nigerians now see Mr. Buhari as the man who can deliver them from corruption and insecurity. He was Nigeria’s military ruler from 1984-85. He was petroleum minister before that. And in the late 1990s, as a civilian, he chaired the Petroleum Trust Fund. He could have enriched himself, but he did not. In the 1980s, he repelled a Chadian invasion and acted decisively against an earlier extremist Muslim group. As Adeyemi Adefulu, a Yoruba civil servant who was unjustly imprisoned under Mr. Buhari’s regime during sweeping arrests of the allegedly corrupt in the 1980s, wrote recently, “Our jailer has become our hope.” He is now actively campaigning for Mr. Buhari.

With so much at stake, the United States must play a constructive role. Secretary of State John Kerry has stressed that the election must take place on Saturday and that it be “free, transparent and credible.” And Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last week expressed support for the electoral commission and urged electronic authentication of voters.

More is needed. America must publicly insist on retaining the head of the electoral commission, preventing any election-day violence or intimidation by security forces, and announcing results at each polling place. And voters should not be prevented from using mobile phones to photograph local results as a precaution against later rigging.

This election must not be stolen from the people. Mr. Kerry has suggested that visa restrictions could be placed on anyone who interferes with the electoral process. This policy, along with a threat of targeted financial sanctions, should be announced now and it should include members of Nigeria’s security forces.

The global fall in oil prices, Nigeria’s squandered foreign reserves and the draining of an account intended to cushion price shocks mean that Nigerians face hard times ahead. They deserve to choose who will lead them through those times.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

MARCH 28, 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA:TO BE OR NOT TO BE?

The military service chiefs of Nigeria

These are the faces of the four Nigerian military service chiefs that may decide the final fate of the March 28, 2015 presidential election in Nigeria. Their secret plan is to stage a coup if President Goodluck Jonathan loses this election and then force an interim government on Nigerians as an alternative. They may stage a palace coup before the election, during the election or shorthly before the final results are announced to Nigerians using the flimsy excuse of pockets of violence and stage-managed protests by the paid supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan across Nigeria against the outcome of the election they know too well that they will surely lose. Nigerians should never forget that the same military service chiefs were singlehandedly responsible for the postponement of the February 14, 2015 presidential election to March 28, 2015 using the excuse of Boko Haram insurgency in 14 local government areas out of 774 and 3 states out of 36. They are at work again. Nigerians should be steadfast and vigilant. These military generals are afraid of accountability for the roles that they have played using a yearly $5 billion defense budget to mismanage the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East of Nigeria as a result of official corruption in the Nigerian military

Monday, March 23, 2015

CAN ISRAEL SURVIVE A DIPLOMATIC CRISIS WITH AMERICA?


Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel spoke from the two sides of his only one mouth recently to the whole world by vowing before the election in Israel never to support a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and then made a sudden u-turn after he won his controversial election by saying again that he would now support a two-state solution. Prime Minister Netanyahu has continued to step on the toe of President Barack Obama by publicly working against the two most important foreign policy objectives of the Obama administration in the Middle East which are the disarmament of Iran by preventing her from becoming a nuclear state and the two-state solution to the age-long Israeli-Palestinian crisis.
Prime Minister Netanyahu violated the America's protocol for the visiting foreign heads of states by accepting an invitation to address the GOP-led Congress and pushing aside the White House. Prime Minister Netanyahu campaigned against the Arab-Jews during the recent election in Israel. The truth is that Israel cannot survive a diplomatic crisis with America. The America's tax payers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers in the past three years according to the former Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Commander-in-Chief Gabi Ashkenazi. Israel cannot survive as an economically and militarily viable nation without the estimated $3 billion loan-free and huge military arsenals that go to this country yearly from the American tax payers.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

"CREFLO DOLLAR DOES NOT NEED A PRIVATE JET TO PREACH CHRIST"

The gospel of Jesus Christ does not require a hefty budget, a ownership of a private jet and a flamboyant lifestyle to preach it to the lost souls all over the world. Jesus Christ, the sole pioneer of his own gospel did not preach it for those three and the half years and all over the land of Palestine with any known or recorded hefty budget and huge financial requirement. The 12... Apostles of Jesus Christ did not preach the same gospel in the early Church to the whole world in the then Roman empire with any known hefty budget. There is no biblical record anywhere that showed that the entire early Church supported the today's popular notion amongst the prosperity gospel preachers that the gospel of Jesus Christ is very expensive to preach.

The responsibility of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ is given by Jesus Christ to all his followers and believers all over the world. The New Testament Scriptures and Jesus Christ did not command pastors to be the only persons with the sole and primary responsibility of preaching the gospel to the world. The message of the gospel is very simple, direct and self-explanatory to preach. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a good news to the lost world of humanity. This is the message of the eternal salvation that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ as it was explained by Apostle Paul to the Corinthians in his first letter to them:" Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" - I Corinthians 15:1-4.

What makes the gospel of Jesus Christ to be expensive to preach today is the maintenance of the flamboyant lifestyle of its preachers. The preachers want private jets, chauffer-driven limousines, five-star hotel accommodation, hefty preaching honorariums, mansions, fleets of luxurious cars, $2,000 suits, Rolex watches, maids and servants, fat bank accounts and exclusive vacations to preach the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. The cost of buying a private jet, its maintenance and parking fees are never economical. The commercial airlines fly every destination in the world. The airline tickets are cheaper that owing a private jet. Pastor Creflo Dollar can fly to all his preaching engagements cheaply and timely without owing a private jet.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

"APC IS ON THE RIGHT PATH BY CARRYING ITS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TO NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA"

No serious minded presidential candidate in Nigeria with sound vision and genuine foresight will ever take those Nigerians living in Europe and North America for a cheap ride without directly involving them in the presidential campaigns that are going on in Nigeria. The Nigerians in diaspora are so important for the future of that country in all reality. These Nigerians are the second largest source of the foreign currency earning for Nigeria after the oil and are the richest intellectual powerhouse for that country in every area of human endeavor.

According to the World Bank report in 2014:"Next to petrodollars, the second biggest source of foreign exchange earnings for Nigeria is remittance from Nigerians from abroad. Between 2011 to June 2014, Nigerians in the Diaspora had remitted about $63.17 billion (N10.35 trillion) into the country. Analysis of remittances showed that S11billion (N1.8 trillion) was remitted in 2011; $21 billion (N3.44 trillion) in 2012, $20.77 billion (N3.40 trillion) in 2013 and $10.40 billion (N1.7 trillion) in the first half of 2014".

According to the International Organization for Migration, about one-third of African professionals have left the continent, which constitute as over 10 million African mini-Diasporas as of the year 2000. The loss of Africa’s intellectual capital, called the “Brain-Drain”, has been one of the greatest obstacles to the development of the continent. Of the four major countries contributing most to the brain-drain; Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa, this research focuses on Nigeria, my ancestral nation. As the most populated country in Africa, Nigeria represents a large percentage of the African Diaspora, especially in the United States.

One study estimates that there are more than 21,000 Nigerian Medical Doctors practicing in the United States alone in the 21st century. Meanwhile Nigeria domestically falls short of the minimum World Health Organization standard of 20 Physicians per 100,000 people. Put urgently, Nigeria is losing human resources necessary for its socio-economic growth.

Friday, March 6, 2015

"PROF YEMI OSINBAJO WILL TRAVEL TO AMERICA FOR TOWNHALL MEETINGS"

 
Prof Yemi Osinbanjo, the Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progresives Congress (APC) in Nigeria will be in the United States on March 15, 2015 to address Nigerians in America in a town-hall event at Baltimore and Silver Spring in the state of Maryland. Yousr truly will be there live with "THE REVEALER" to grace and cover this event. The organizer of this event told this blogger that the two planned town-hall meetings will attract about 3,000 Nigerians in America. The Silver Spring meeting has a capacity for 2,000 invitees and Baltimore has a capacity for 1,000 invitees. This meeting is strictly by invitation and can  also be watched live through streaming at:http://www.bitly.com/VPTownHall2016.

Monday, March 2, 2015

"GENERAL BUHARI IS HONEST, INTELLIGENT AND STRAIGHTFORWARD" - WALL STREET JOURNAL

As Nigeria’s oil commissioner in the mid-1970s and as head of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., Maj. Gen. Buhari built a reputation as a capable leader. He is an “honest, intelligent, straightforward career army officer . . . pro-Western and fairly conservative,” says a London-based Western diplomat who was once assigned to Lagos.
He’s also consistent. When Maj. Gen. Buhari stepped down as oil commissioner in 1978, he urged the other member nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain their unity, because “this is the only way that we can help each other as members of the developing world.” Yesterday, two days after the coup that unseated the civilian government of Shehu Shagari, Maj. Gen. Buhari and the other ruling generals announced that Nigeria would remain in OPEC.
OPEC sources who knew Maj. Gen. Buhari during his two-year tenure as oil commissioner in Nigeria’s last military government, describe him as a man with a “clean reputation” and as a “thorough administrator.”

These OPEC and other oil industry sources say that based on Maj. Gen. Buhari’s record, he isn’t likely to upset Nigeria’s relations with OPEC or to take any rash action on oil pricing and production.
“He was the only military man in OPEC and he showed a great preference for a low key, responsible approach,” said Hamid Zaheri, who served for eight years, until last June, as OPEC’s chief spokesman. “I remember him as a very pragmatic man who didn’t care for flashy action or big rhetoric,” Mr. Zaheri added.
Oil industry sources note, however, that when Maj. Gen. Buhari was oil commissioner, Nigeria wasn’t facing a drop in demand for its crude oil.
At the time, Nigeria produced 1.8 million barrels a day and hadn’t any difficulty selling it. Today, with the world oil glut, Nigeria has difficulty producing more than 1.3 million barrels a day, and must abide by OPEC production limits and price floors.
Though Maj. Gen. Buhari reportedly knew little about the oil business when he took over as oil commissioner, “he learned diligently and quickly . . . (oil people) have a lot of respect for him. He did his homework, which not all Nigerians do,” the London-based diplomat added.
Source:Wall Street Journal Edition of January 3, 1984

Saturday, February 28, 2015

"DEMOCRATS WORKING BOTH SIDES OF NIGERIA'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION" - POLITICO

 


LAGOS, Nigeria — Africa’s most populous country is headed toward its first close presidential election in decades, pitting a struggling incumbent president against an ex-military strongman, both of them using U.S. Democratic political strategists to help their campaigns.
In on-again off-again roles, two firms that are political allies in America have found themselves working on opposite sides in Nigeria’s presidential election.
One is the strategy group founded by former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod, AKPD Message and Media. The other is former Howard Dean campaign manager Joseph Trippi of The Potomac Square Group.
U.S. consulting firms routinely parachute into foreign countries to advise campaigns, work that can win influence for their other clients. But it can also backfire on the campaigns when politicians attack their opponents’ American consultants to score points.
That has happened in Nigeria ahead of an election originally scheduled for Saturday that is now too close to call and which was postponed last week following violence by the extremist insurgent group known as Boko Haram.


“The consultants have already become an issue,” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa program at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. “This issue won’t by itself sway the minds of many voters so much as perhaps reinforce their inclinations.”
President Goodluck Jonathan, 57, a Christian from Nigeria’s south, has been criticized at home and abroad as an ineffective leader who has allowed corruption to deteriorate the county’s infrastructure and national pride. His political party has been in power since Nigeria resumed free elections in 1999 after decades of military rule.
Jonathan’s opponent, Muhammadu Buhari, 72, a Muslim from the north, took control of Nigeria for about 20 months after a military coup in 1983. He has argued he will fight corruption and terrorists better than Jonathan.
As the race heated up in December – and ahead of a deadly offensive by Boko Haram last month – Jonathan wound down his U.S. consultant’s work, while Buhari’s party ramped theirs back up: Jonathan’s campaign stopped working with Trippi’s firm. That same month, the opposition party temporarily rehired AKPD.
AKPD’s Nigerian work has already drawn media attention in the U.S. and Nigeria, including reports of leaked emails that discussed the firm’s recent work for Buhari’s party.
Jonathan, too, faced backlash over a third U.S. public relations firm, Levick Strategic Communications, which was hired in June 2014 to help him respond to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram.
All of this occurred before Nigeria’s independent election commission last week postponed the election from Feb. 14 to March 28, a decision decried by Buhari’s supporters. It was also criticized by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Lagos last month.
“It is critical that the government not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process,” Kerry said in a Feb. 7 statement. On Friday, a State Department official added: “We stand ready to work with Nigeria and its people no matter which candidate is elected.”
“There is a great deal of anger about the postponement of the election and suspicion among opposition supporters that the delay is a deliberate ploy to subvert the democratic process,” said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a Washington think tank.
It’s unclear if the either Potomac or AKPD will be recalled to action as a result of the extended campaign. Neither Trippi nor AKPD would elaborate about their consulting work. In a statement, Trippi said only that he has worked in Nigeria for 12 years and considers Jonathan a friend.
From September through November, Trippi said he collaborated on “Forward Nigeria” ads for Jonathan’s campaign, but that work stopped in early December.
Jonathan’s ads changed noticeably after Trippi’s work ended. Four months ago, the ads featured students, new building projects, and generally a lot of Nigerians smiling and working. By contrast, an ad from January focused almost entirely on Jonathan himself, working out on an elliptical trainer and playing squash before meeting with advisers.
AKPD said it was rehired for a three-week project in December to help organize announcement events. Buhari’s party initially hired AKPD from December 2013 to March 2014, and its work for the campaign has stopped, said AKPD’s Isaac Baker in a statement.
A Buhari campaign spokesman declined to comment about AKPD’s work. Attempts to reach Jonathan’s campaign were unsuccessful.
Looming large over both candidates is international pressure to beat back the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, which has killed more than 5,500 in attacks in 2014 and hundreds more already this year, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. In April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped about 270 schoolgirls, sparking a Twitter campaign using the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag that drew support from celebrities and politicians including First Lady Michelle Obama.
In addition to terrorist attacks, the threat of partisan violence is high, too. Both Jonathan and Buhari faced off against each other in 2011, when Jonathan beat Buhari with 59 percent of the vote. About 800 people died in unrest following that election.
This time, Buhari’s party has mounted a better campaign in part thanks to an aggressive social media strategy. Cooke of CSIS says social media could be deciding factor: “How effectively the two parties shape and convey [their] two competing narratives in the next six weeks will have a major impact on how people vote in March. And social media will very likely have a big role to play in that.”
In Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, even Jonathan’s supporters have said the president’s campaign messaging pales in comparison to Buhari’s.
“He does not have a good media team. They cannot sell,” said Kunle Jinadu who runs a small business that delivers boxes of fresh produce to offices including U.S. firms McKinsey & Co. and Google.
Jinadu applauded Jonathan for making improvements to Nigeria’s technology infrastructure. But he criticized Jonathan’s public relations team allowing the Boko Haram insurgency to overwhelm the campaign.
“I don’t know where they come from,” he said, “but they cannot sell to the public.”
Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

"THE VIDEO RECORDING OF GENERAL BUHARI'S SPEECH AT CHATHAM HOUSE IN LONDON"

I am very impressed by the excellent speech and the outstanding performance of General Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria at the prestigious Chatham House of London this morning before the whole world. This is very presidential. I am proud to be a Nigerian ‪#‎CHAfrica‬
I want the leadership of the opposition political party of Nigeria, the APC to officially arrange another international speaking engagement event for General Muhammadu Buhari in Washington, DC with one of the three leading America's political think-tank bodies, such as, The Brookings Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Center for Foreign Relations before General Buhari returns to Nigeria to continue his presidential campaign for the election that is now slated for March 28, 2015"‪#‎PoliticalAttackDogForBuhari‬

"GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI'S SPEECH AT CHATHAM HOUSE IN LONDON"

Title:Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition
Venue: Chatham House, London, 
Date:26 February 2015




Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. The 2015 general election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and outside the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a moment that has great implications beyond the democratic project and beyond the borders of my dear country. So let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended, for this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the rescheduled dates, that they should be free and fair, that their outcomes should be respected by all parties, and that any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and would not be tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, democracy became the dominant and most preferred system of government across the globe. That global transition has been aptly captured as the triumph of democracy and the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a turning point for me. If you will, that was my own road to Damascus experience. It convinced me that change can be brought about without firing a single shot. As you all know, I had been a military head of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country. We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has shown that another, and a preferable, path to change is possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades, democracy has grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the time I was a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, only four African countries held regular multi-party elections. But the number of electoral democracies in Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in 1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006. According to the New York Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa conducted multi-party elections between 1990 and 2002. The newspaper also reported that between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully handed over power to victorious opposition parties. In addition, the proportion of African countries categorized as not free by Freedom House declined from 59% in 1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt, Africa has been part of the current global wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven. According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the percentage of countries categorised as ‘not free’ increased from 35% in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there have been some reversals at different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Togo. While we can choose to look at the glass of democracy in Africa as either half full or half empty. While you can’t have representative democracy without elections, it is equally important to look at the quality of the elections and to remember that mere elections do not democracy make. It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic consolidation—that state where democracy has become so rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.
With this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many African countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state at this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy cannot be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold series of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among parties. It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of the people, is not delivered in the breach.
Now, let me quickly turn to Nigeria. As you all know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its 16th year and this general election will be the fifth in a row. This is a major sign of progress for us, given that our first republic lasted five years and three months, the second republic ended after four years and two months and the third republic was a still-birth. However, longevity is not the only reason why everyone is so interested in this election. The major difference this time around is that for the very first time since transition to civil rule in 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far from our party the All Progressives Congress (APC). We once had about 50 political parties, but with no real competition. Now Nigeria is transiting from a dominant party system to a competitive electoral polity, which is a major marker on the road to democratic consolidation. As you know, peaceful alternation of power through competitive elections have happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in recent times. The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.
But there are other reasons why Nigerians and the whole world are intensely focussed on this year’s elections, chief of which is that the elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. On insecurity, there is a genuine cause for worry, both within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the civil war era, at no other time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure. Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired general and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country. You all can bear witness to the gallant role of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in several parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours coming to our rescue. Let me assure you that if I am elected president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently, that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa, and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence gathering to choke Boko Haram's financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester, and I, General Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international efforts to combat terrorism.
On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of 7% for about a decade. But it is more of paper growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, has not translated to human development or shared prosperity. A development economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?
The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that the current administration has created two economies in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery. Even by official figures, 33.1% of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million, almost the population of the United Kingdom. There is also the unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest stress, with officially 23.9% of our adult population and almost 60% of our youth unemployed. We also have one of the highest rates of inequalities in the world. With all these, it is not surprising that our performance on most governance and development indicators (like Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and UNDP’s Human Development Index.) are unflattering. With fall in the prices of oil, which accounts for more than 70% of government revenues, and lack of savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be disproportionately impacted.
In the face of dwindling revenues, a good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria's economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present administration: waste and corruption. And in doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way, with the force of personal example.
On corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the budgetary process. Revenue producing entities such as NNPC and Customs and Excise will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference. But I must emphasise that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstrued as settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I'm running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.
In reforming the economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youth and pensions for the elderly. As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people thus freeing them from the indignities of poverty. We will run a private sector-led economy but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve the productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming youths. In short, we will run a functional economy driven by a worldview that sees growth not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigeria has a decision to make. To vote for the continuity of failure or to elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.
In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting point we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they go ahead and depriving those who want to scuttle it the benefit of derailing our fledgling democracy. That way, we will all see democracy and democratic consolidation as tools for solving pressing problems in a sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.
Permit me to close this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others.
I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch. I cannot change the past. But I can change the present and the future. So before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the fourth time.
You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a question I ask myself all the time too. And here is my humble answer: because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot, and most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.
I thank you for listening.