Osun PDP manufactures lies from the pit of hell, says Aregbesola aide

Re- Recounting Exercise at INEC: Osun PDP unending Falsehood.

My attention is drawn to another wicked lie being circulated by the PDP cyber rodents which unfortunately is gaining ground particularly in the social media,claiming that a recounting exercise at the tribunal had given the PDP a win with over 100,000 votes contrary to the figures declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the August 9th, Gubernatorial Election in the State of Osun.

This latest falsehood by those who are nothing but a serial liars is calculated at hoodwinking unsuspecting member of the public into believing that they have any iota of hope in the worhless petition they filed at the Election Petition Tribunal.

It is fundamental to point out at this juncture that beyond filing of petition at the registry of the Election Petition Tribunal, no proceedings has started till this moment of writing this piece. What we have had so far was an application for examination of all polling document used in the conduct of the August 9 Governorship Election in the state to enable the petitioner maintain its petition. This application was granted to both APC and PDP and joint inspection is taking place at the INEC Office which involves only scanning of documents.

The Petitioner is challenging the result in the 17 Local Government in the state which are: Aiyedaade; Atakunmosa East; Boripe; Ede North; Ede South; Ejigbo; Ifelodun; Ilesha East; Ilesha West; Irepodun; Irewole; Iwo; Obokun; Ola Oluwa; Olorunda; Oriade and Osogbo Local Government. Out of the Seventeen (17 )Local Governments where Election result were sought to be inspected, only Six (6) Local Government have been inspected as at the close of work today, 27th November, 2014 . The six(6) Local Government inspected so far are: Obokun; Osogbo; Olorunda; Atakunmosa East; Irepodun and Irewole Local Government.

The Tribunal has not granted an order for recounting of ballot papers because at no time did the petitioner seek for any recounting. The stage we are at the tribunal is a preliminary stage where responses are still being filed. No hearing of any sort has commenced. The inspection being done by the paties is entirely their business untill the report of such inspection is filed at the court registry ,heard under the fire of cross examination of those that did the report and the testimony of the witnesses is believed by the Tribunal.

It is therefore preposterous on the part of any party to a petition to seek to arrogate to itself figures that has not been credited to it either at the Election itself or at the election petition tribunal.

It is also pertinent to educate the gullible mind within Osun PDP that an order for recounting will be granted to a petitioner having satisfied the court on the preponderance of evidence brought forward by witnesses called upon by the Petitioner during the hearing of the petition. It is only granted when the Tribunal is convinced that on the totality of the testimony of the witnesses, there is need for recounting of ballot papers. The recounting will be done at the Court Premises Not at INEC Office as being bandied around by the ignoramus.

It is crystal clear that as at today, there has not been any sitting of the Election Petition Tribunal, No application for recount of ballot papers at the tribunal registry and there is no order for recounting any ballot papers. Whatever lie being cooked up by these elements resides only in their imagination and it is nothing but fantasy.

We hereby enjoin all lovers of peace and progress within and beyond our state to disregard this latest falsehood as a ranting of a drowning man who had nothing to hold on to but straw.

I thank you.

Ibrahim Lawal Esq

SSA (Legal and Judicial Sector Reform) to the Governor, State of Osun.

Sent from my HTC

Abubakar Shekau appears in new video, rubbishes military death claims

Last week, the Nigerian Army claimed the Boko Haram leader’s impersonator was killed. Cameroon even claimed they were the ones who killed him,a claim subsequently debunked by the Nigerian Military.Photos and even a video was even released to buttress that fact .

However, in yet another video made available to AFP today, Shekau was shown making a speech debunking reports of his death.According to AFP, he said ..

“Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” He also added that, that his group was “running our… Islamic caliphate” and administering sharia punishments.”

“Nothing will kill me until my days are over… I’m still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah,“It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I’m an Islamic student.”

IMPORTANT: Before President Jonathan Borrows The 1 Billion Dollars to ‘Fight Boko Haram’

“I would like to bring to your attention, the urgent need to upgrade the equipment, training and logistics of our Armed Forces and Security services to enable them more forcefully confront this serious threat. For this reason, I seek the concurrence o the National Assembly for external borrowing of not more than $1 billion dollars…” – President Jonathan of Nigeria to David Mark on July 15, 2014

The president of Nigeria wishes to borrow a billion dollars from abroad to ‘fight Boko Haram.’

Where is our money? Senate President, David Mark who this letter was addressed to, says that the $20 billion for an only 18 month period examined was not missing but was ‘unaccounted for.’

We will like to advise that the Nigerian government please take one billion from that account and use it for the security upgrade. If the entire 5 years of the Jonathan presidency are audited, the total amount missing/unaccounted for is estimated at up to $127 billion. Why will these wicked people not give Nigeria 5 billion from that missing/unaccounted for billions that they use to buy senators for impeachment processes with sums of $300-1 million; but rather they wish to disgrace the nation and put us in binding and crippling foreign debt with this additional loan?

Why does the senate not immediately truncate Diezani Allison-Madueke’s fraudulent kerosene subsidy scam that plunders $4million daily from the poor families from Chibok to Otuoke, a total of $1.5 billion dollars per year and utilize this money she uses to wear costly jewelry, and diverts through renting private jets, and uses to keep her stooges tripping with Naomi Campbell in exorbitant Yachts in land-of-flowers Switzerland, and ‘borrow’ Nigeria these billions for our security upgrades? While, of course not forgetting to lock her up for the robbery in broad-day-light.

The need for finances and upgrades to combat terror can well be legitimized; however the simple format of organized life demands that before new funds are processed for any operation, there must be an audit and thorough review of prior utility and investment of funds. What is and has the Nigerian government done in the past 5 years and with now up to 25% of the annual budget towards fighting Boko Haram – who are described as having the upper hand today – and overall upgrading of the Nigerian army? Can we have external or open internal (known youth activist) auditors review the current accounts and expenditures of the Nigerian security departments?

Before we borrow this one billion dollars from the white master, can Nigerian have a detailed presentation of the current administration’s strategies against terror, the plan to improve the army currently experiencing as many and over one hundred deserters/week and the long term over all security update target? Can we see the quality control system that is in place and will be in place to oversee the utility of the billions being spent on security from our 25% budgetary allocation to security and this additional one billion dollars?

How does the Jonathan presidency, minister of defense, Spy Aliyu Gusau account for the cobra tanks, APC’s and weapons being transferred to Boko Haram currently, which are being used to decimate unarmed civilian farming populations in the north?

What guarantee do we have that new equipment will not also be transferred to the Boko Haram terrorists and new air defense systems will not continue to be used to rather provide cover for Boko Haram in their activities as obtains today? Without such guarantee the people rather request the full pull-out of the army from the north east as the army constitutes a greater danger by transferring sophisticated equipment to the terrorists while maintaining the de-arming of the sitting duck civilian populace.

What maintenance guarantee do we have for this new expenditure? We purchased drones during the Obasanjo era, as part of the last 15 years of uninterrupted PDP administration of Nigeria and the billions invested into that acquisition are now known to have been nothing more than charity to Israel. It is 2014; we are tired of living as idiots and dying as fools.

Without the arrest of sponsors of terror, funds are simply being poured into a basket. We demand that before any further extra-budgetary finances are secured for ‘combating terror,’ that the sponsors of terror who ‘dine with the president,’ must be brought to book. We demand that Bamanga Tukur a Boko Haram sympathizer at the very least is brought to book for his position in support of the terrorists. We demand that the Borno state government officials implicated in the Abba Moro White report of 2012 on Jonathan and NSA Dasuki’s desk are immediately brought to book.

Combating terror is a multi-pronged approach, simply siphoning billions of dollars alone to a defunct and de-moralized army; funds for technology, training and equipment that does not even actually get to the soldiers involved and dying in combat, simply does not work. Nigeria must go after the sponsors of terror now and lock them up and kill them, before any other methods that have failed for the past 5 years of this administration and that have allowed the pogrom deaths of over 80,000 northern poor farmers and the displacement of over 3 million, to continue. It is time for maturity and responsibility.

We patriotic civilians of Nigeria are ready to step in. We have requested executive approval from President Jonathan and our men, the thousands of civilian-JTF, the hunters in Borno and committed Nigerians across the nation including signed up ex-soldiers are on stand-by for Jonathan’s responsible approval for a civilian army to sack Borno’s forests of the terrorists. Our method will cost next to nothing as compared to the present hopeless and hopelessly expensive approach, and is tested and trusted as we all are witnessing the impressive impact of civilian volunteers in Iraq’s resistance to the ISIS Takfiri terror campaign.

Proliferation and sustenance of terror cannot continue to pay top government officials who see it as a means to swallow billions of dollars committed to the provision of security. Nigerians have had enough of Boko Haram; it is high time these officials who benefit from maintaining the terror and protecting Boko Haram, look elsewhere for funds to embezzle.

Dr. Peregrino Brimah; http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something] Email: drbrimah@ends.ng Twitter: 

DIASPORA AND THE FLYING GEESE - Pat Utomi

Will Nigeria rise up again? Can the country of promise reclaim the Dream of its founding fathers? And will the Nigerian Diaspora be able to play a pivotal role in the country’s renaissance or are nationals abroad just a group of internet warriors shooting with loaded guns on tweeter and facebook yet unable to make any real sacrifice or contribution to redeeming Nigeria? These and many other questions have come my way these last few weeks as I have met with several Nigerian groups in the United States and in Europe.

The place and role of the Dispora in the rise of many countries, from Japan to India and China is fairly well documented. But much has been said about possibilities of the Diaspora as catalysts for progress in Africa even though documentation of contribution seems largely limited to financial remittances.

In speaking at several gala dinners organized in the United States by United Kingdom based Nigerians on the platform of Nigeria Dialogue, with the ambition of mobilizing Nigerians living abroad into Nigeria’s literal 37th state that could be an exemplar to the others, and help to move Nigeria to a place of pride in the world, I had to pointedly reflect on the string of effort to make Nigerians abroad a positive influence for development and progress.

That effort to organize Nigerians abroad has not always been salutary. Fractured and sometimes divisive as the engagements have been, the potential benefits, if we manage to get it right, clearly justify the effort. A starting point in gauging that value is the experience of other counties.

Much credit for Japan’s ascendance, following the Meiji Restoration, has been given to Japanese returning from Germany and elsewhere in the West but it is in the resurgence of India and China that the full benefits of a Diaspora community provides models we could learn a few things from.

When in 1991 India’s current accounts situation was terrifying and the foreign reserves were barely able to sustain a month’s trading, change became imperative and the appointment of Manahan Singh as Finance Ministe,r triggered reforms. These reforms excited the Indian Dispora into such a level of engagement that it was soon ranked second only to the United States, in the listing of sources of the surge of new investments into India. The category of non – resident Indians (NRI) would not only account for new investment funds but also for the engagement of ideas such as outsourcing and globalization in their countries of domicile which would eventually serve India’s purpose. Economists like Jagdish Bhagwati at Columbia wrote a book aptly titled In Defense of Globalization just as several leading business School Deans, such as Deepak Jain at the Kellogg School who served on the board of Relliance Industries helped bring their knowledge and network to enhancing the disposition of global players towards high growth Indian companies.

Attempts, led by government, to engineer similar outcomes for Nigeria have been far less successful. The creation of NIDO, as the umbrella for Nigerians in the Diaspora (Organization), produced, in many cases, unhealthy scrambling for position. Position – coveting, a Nigerian malaise associated with the view that positions are fungible assets that could be converted to personal gain, rocked NIDO in a way that suggested the host cultures had not robbed off on those Nigerians so inclined.

The Federal government even tried to institutionalize Diaspora affairs, giving Joe Keshi, who as Consul – General in Atlanta, had provided guidance for organizing the Diaspora movement, charge over the subject at the Presidency.

Then there also emerged conduct that suggested competition and disputations between the Diaspora and home based bureaucrats and citizens. Some professionals at home, instead of looking forward to what they could learn from colleagues abroad saw them as threats to their livelihood. The reason for the ineffectiveness in harnessing the Diaspora dividend has, in my opinion, been the wrong expectations and government involvement. This is partly why I find the Nigeria Dialogue, a movement by a group of young Nigerian Nigerian professionals to weave the body of foreign resident Nigerians into a tapestry of passionately committed change agents that can be seen as Nigeria’s 37th state, as very laudable.

When they recently put up a road show of Gala Dinners across the United States and invited me to speak at some of them I found the initiative striking. While many battling in NIDO for supremacy were asking what government could do for them to enable them give something back to Nigeria, the Nigeria Dialogue team working with the Future Awards people, and others, were putting out their resources for Dinners in 5star Hotels, before Town Hall meetings which tend to attract more of the Twitter, Facebook internet warrior types, who ask why the problems of Nigeria have not been fixed, rather than what they can do to fix it. I spoke at the Galas at the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta, and the Houstonian in Houston. It seemed like a good strategy to meet those who like to Dress up and go out at such Gala, then afterward get ready for the people who want to tweet their frustrations, both rightfully and in unhelpful exasperation, and hope eventually to find enough common ground to have collective aspirations on Nigeria that can alter the cause of history. Of course all find social media valuable and many. The variety of dispositions not withstanding there is good news. As chairman of the board I was favored to cut the tape to open the Victoria. I stand offices of a global software Business enterprise created by Diaspora Nigerian which has been doing business with Fortune 500 companies in the US. 

As I told those at the Dinners the net effect could be to get Nigeria to getting it right enough that its neighbors seek a similar path resulting in a region of affluence that would raise the dignity of the person of negroid descent anywhere in the world. So it was of direct personal benefit to them whether they planned to ever live in Nigeria again or not. I am indeed persuaded that a re-oriented Nigeria that leads a pack of flying Geese from Africa towards prosperity and away from media report of the type of the abduction of the Chibok girls and Ebola and Famine and Civil War will be one whose triumph will be appropriated by many far from the continent of Africa.

This is the way of hope but it will be manifest at least cost if all the stakeholders understand how much of a win-win scenario it can be. Not seeing the possibilities clearly, sometimes results in outcomes of competition from people who should be collaborating. A good example can be seen in a tweet I put out on this recently. In indicating that I believed the children of the generation that left town will renew the land I touched off comments among which were those who thought those who left town have no interest in where they left from, and those who thought their children would never come back, as well as those who said they would take meat from the mouths of those who stayed behind. But the majority saw the Diaspora as asset.

The truth as I see it is that working well together all should be able to gain more than any can lose in the collaboration of stakeholders from home and abroad.

Pat Utomi.