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