Jonathan supervises a corrupt govt, says Amaechi

 Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has said President Goodluck Jonathan “is supervising a highly corrupt government.”

He also claimed that “there is no democracy yet in Nigeria.”

The governor, who spoke in Abuja on Saturday, insisted that he had no personal quarrel with President Jonathan, adding that if governance could be separated from the President, he (Jonathan) “remains a good man.”

He, however, regretted that the President “is supervising a highly corrupt government.”

He described the form of government being practised in Nigeria today as diarchy.

While reacting to the invasion of the National Assembly by the police on Thursday, Amaechi described the action as uncivilised.

He said the actions of the police in recent times had shown that they had been pocketed by the Presidency and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.

He said, “We don’t have democracy in Nigeria yet. What we have is diarchy. We don’t have a democracy. Diarchy is dictatorship. The Federal Government has appropriated the police as its personal property. The FG has taken over the police. See the way the police took over the National Assembly. By law, the police have no power to invade the National Assembly and they have no power to stop the Speaker from going in or out of the National Assembly complex. But they don’t obey law.”

He insisted that his party, the All Progressives Congress, would not go to court if the PDP decided to rig the 2015 presidential elections.

Instead of going to court, he said the APC would form a parallel government.

He said, “What is the essence of going to court when the Federal Government don’t obey the law. That’s why the APC say we won’t go to the court any longer. If you rig us out, we would rig ourselves in; which means if you think you can rig us out in 2015, we will form our own government. We have met on that and we have agreed on that. We will instal our own government and there would be two governments.

“The only way to avoid a parallel government is to have a free and fair election. You can’t continue to use the police as if it is a private agency or company of the government.”

While saying that the Police in South Africa is currently investigating President Jacob Zuma, he wondered if the police in Nigeria would be allowed to play such a role in the country.

“Are you aware that the President of the South Africa is being probed by the police? Can that happen here? In this country, they slap judges. Seven members of a state (Ekiti) House of Assembly claimed they have sacked a Speaker,” he added.

On Boko Haram, the governor said it would be difficult to convince Nigerians that the Federal Government was not deliberately allowing the crisis to continue in order for it to decimate the votes that would come from the North-East in 2015.

The zone is considered to be a stronghold of the APC.

Amaechi said Nigerians knew the capability of their soldiers, who he said went to Liberia and liberated the country from the hands of the rebels only for them to be having problems dislodging a rag-tag army of insurgents in the country.

He said, “The Federal Government deliberately allowed the Boko Haram to overrun many villages in the North-East. If it is not a political agenda, why would the military not be able to chase away the rag-tag army of Boko Haram?

“They don’t want elections to hold in the zone so that there wouldn’t be election in the zone. If there is no election in the North-East, they believe that the APC would lose.

“If they are not afraid of the APC, let them restore law and order. The zone is in the hands of the APC. Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa and Yobe states are all APC states. The only state where it could be 50:50 is maybe Taraba State. Apart from this, other states in the zone have always voted for Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, one of our presidential hopefuls.”

PDP moves to stop Jonathan’s removal

 National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu'azu

The Peoples Democratic Party may have started offering ‘re-election tickets’ to its members in the National Assembly as a means of dissuading them from supporting the reported   drive by the All Progressives Congress lawmakers to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan.

In the House of Representatives in particular, the bait was said to have “toned down” the anger of some PDP members, who ordinarily would have backed the bid to remove Jonathan.

An influential National Assembly source said on Sunday that “many of these lawmakers have long fallen apart with their state governors.

“They have been told before now that they should forget any ambition to return in 2015.

“Attempts they made to use the Presidency to intervene in their case also did not turn out in their favour.

“But, with the impeachment move against Jonathan, the party is now assuring some of the members to keep supporting the President as the tickets can still be theirs.”

About 113 lawmakers, largely of the APC fold, began collecting signatures   to impeach Jonathan after the police and Department of State Service operatives locked the gates of the National Assembly on Thursday.

Many of them,   including the Speaker,   Aminu Tambuwal, were held out for hours as a result of the security action.

The development led to commotion as angry members resorted to scaling the gates to enter the National Assembly premises.

Amidst a rain of tear-gas, the enraged lawmakers also forcibly took Tambuwal into the chambers to preside over the day’s proceedings.

The security action was said to be connected with the October 28 defection of Tambuwal from the PDP to the APC.

However, the police claimed that they acted on a security report indicating that some persons planned to invade the National Assembly.

Investigations showed on Sunday that the PDP immediately started reaching out to its members after it turned out that the collection of signatures was real.

The party was said to be mobilising the PDP caucus against joining their APC colleagues in any bid to impeach Jonathan.

A senior PDP member, Mr. Bethel Amadi, confirmed to Rev4mation's World that the caucus would be mobilised to stop any impeachment move against Jonathan.

Amadi said, “Jonathan has not committed any offence to the best of our knowledge. There is no reason to drag Mr. President into any crisis happening at the National Assembly.

“In any case, we (PDP) are in the majority, both in the Senate and the House. So, any talk of impeachment can only make one laugh.”

But, Rev4mation's World gathered that the PDP was wooing Senators and House members with the return tickets to keep them in check.

Another source said, “You know that to impeach the President there must be a joint effort of the Senate and the House.

“While one arm can initiate the process, it cannot get far without two-thirds support of both chambers.

“That is why, getting senators and House members to stay out of the APC’s plot is vital.”

Findings also showed that the ‘return tickets bait’ was the reason some PDP legislators were still not showing strong interest in the impeachment move.

It was learnt that by the first week of December when the picture would have become clear on whether they would get   return tickets or not, the PDP lawmakers “will begin to come out in their true colours.”

A third source, who spoke with our correspondent in Abuja said, “After the primaries, you will see surprises. Many PDP members in the House are as angry as their APC colleagues.

“They have only two weeks to decide on many issues.

“By December, those saying that there will be no two-thirds will be surprised.”

When contacted, the APC caucus told our correspondent that its members were not retreating on the issue.

One of the front-liners in the collection of signatures, Mr. Ahmad Ali, claimed that more members had signed up since the first set of 113 began on Thursday.

Ali, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Justice, said,”In the House, the collection of signatures is gaining traction.

“I cannot tell you the exact number now.” House Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, also said that the “impeachment is on course.”

“PDP people have plans, we have plans. We are all planning,” he said.

Jonathan to Obasanjo: I’m Nigeria’s best leader

President Jonathan and Obasanjo

President Goodluck Jonathan has described himself as the best leader to be produced by Nigeria.

The President said no leader since the country gained independence in 1960 had done better than himself for the country.

He, therefore, said the comment made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in which the ex-President described Jonathan’s performance as below average, was untrue.

Jonathan said this in a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, in Abuja on Sunday.

Okupe’s statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to comments made by a former President of this country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, regarding the performance of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Obasanjo had at an event over the weekend declared that he rated the President Goodluck Jonathan administration ‘below average’.

“We aver that Obasanjo’s comments are untrue, misleading and clearly do not tally with the facts on the ground.

“We therefore wish to assert without equivocation that in terms of performance and achievements, no administration since 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from Britain, has done as much as that of President Jonathan.”

He said that every discerning and unbiased Nigerian would definitely attest to this “as the evidence stare all of us in the face.”

Okupe, who had also worked with the former President while in office, added that contrary to Obasanjo’s position, the Federal Government under Jonathan had performed excellently given the prevailing circumstances and resources available to it.

He said while it was true that Nigeria had been faced with incidents of insurgency and terrorism, especially in the last few years, the Jonathan administration had successfully contained the initial widespread activities of the insurgents, which he said were prevalent in 12 states of the North, including the Federal Capital Territory.

He added, “While it is true that the present activities of the terrorists in the three north-eastern states have become more deadly in mindless killings, kidnappings and supposed territorial seizures, government has made giant diplomatic strides with our neighbouring countries in order to checkmate the crisscrossing of the insurgents.

“The military and other security agents, which have engaged the insurgents since inception, have done a great job in spite of recent challenges.

“The truth of the matter which we must know and accept is that we have an internal enemy supported by internal and external resources waging a major warfare against our nation.”