Nigeria: President Jonathan Declares State Of Emergency In Parts Of Nigeria The Nigerian presidency has just issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency in certain parts of Nigeria as follows: Fellow Nigerians, it has become necessary to address you on recent events in some parts of the country that have threatened our collective security and shaken the foundations of our corporate existence as a nation. You are all aware of the security challenges which the activities of the Boko Haram sect have foisted on the country. What began as sectarian crises in the North Eastern parts of the country has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequences on our national security. Government in an effort to find a lasting solution to the security threats occasioned by the activities of the Boko Haram sect, constituted a Presidential Committee under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises. While efforts are being made to implement the recommendations of the Committee, the crises have assumed a terrorist dimension with vital institutions of government including the United Nations Building and places of worship becoming targets of terrorist attacks. (continue reading)
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Nigeria: President Jonathan Declares State Of Emergency In Parts Of Nigeria

The Nigerian presidency has just issued a proclamation declaring a state of emergency in certain parts of Nigeria as follows:

Fellow Nigerians, it has become necessary to address you on recent events in some parts of the country that have threatened our collective security and shaken the foundations of our corporate existence as a nation.

  • You are all aware of the security challenges which the activities of the Boko Haram sect have foisted on the country. What began as sectarian crises in the North Eastern parts of the country has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequences on our national security.
  • Government in an effort to find a lasting solution to the security threats occasioned by the activities of the Boko Haram sect, constituted a Presidential Committee under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises. While efforts are being made to implement the recommendations of the Committee, the crises have assumed a terrorist dimension with vital institutions of government including the United Nations Building and places of worship becoming targets of terrorist attacks.

(continue reading)

    Jonathan's Budget Presentation: National Assembly In A Lockdown

    Workers at Nigeria’s National Assembly today got more than what they bargain for as the combined team of  security agencies subjected them to rigorous screening as Jonathan submits 2012 budget.

    A team of heavily armed anti riot mobile policemen and plain cloth operatives were stationed at the main gate. Also a mobile scanning vehicle was stationed at the main gate scanning all vehicles coming in and out of the National Assembly complex.  At the second gate where a dusty car park was located staff were asked to line up in a single file for check.

    Soldiers were also stationed beside the gate brandishing with guns . But the entrance of the white House (main building) was a different ball game as  staff were asked to follow the Senate or House of Rep. wing entrance after a long walk from the main gate.                 

    (continue reading)

    Jonathan Sacks EFCC Chair, Waziri

    President Goodluck  Jonathan has removed the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Mrs. Farida Waziri.

    Her removal was contained in a three-paragraph statement signed by Jonathan’s spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati in Abuja on Wednesday morning.
     
    Jonathan named Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde as the Acting Chairman/Chief Executive of the lame duck commission.
     
    Larmode was among the effective team of the former chairman of the commission, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu.

    (continue reading)

    Is Goodluck Jonathan Plain Stupid? By E. C. Ejiogu When you think you have seen it all—including the most bizarre—in the caricature land, which Nigeria is, something silly and bizarre quickly crops up in or about the place or its conscience-deficient minders.  At the time when Olusegun Obasanjo actively foisted the walking corpse, Musa Yar’Adua as president of the place, some people who have refused to write the Nigeria project off as a lost cause, still let their hopes linger on the belief that the place might be turned around someday.  Even as they hoped, it didn’t take long before it became self evident that Yar’Adua was truly dead, in fact, too dead to function credibly as the president of anywhere except Nigeria.  He remained there all the same—shuttling regularly to Germany for what was called medical attention as his handlers indulged themselves looting and stealing public funds.  It got to the point when the Germans refused to admit him any longer in their hospital.  But the bizarre absurdity continued as the Saudis took over.  Even when the Saudis washed their hands off him, and he was parceled back on life support and left outside the seat of power in Abuja in an ambulance where he decomposed away, he was kept on as president. As all that went on, there was Goodluck Jonathan, rolling over silently in the full view of the world, contented with being the vice president to a president who was as far as anyone knew, dead!  When they eventually knocked something together for him and called it acting presidency, he concurred, literally flashing his signature sheepish grins. One of Jonathan’s first acts after Yar’Adua’s decomposing corpse was finally wheeled out of the seat of power, and way was paved for him to assume de facto control, of state power in the project, was to bother the autocrats in Saudi Arabia to let him come over and thank them for ‘taking care of’ Yar’Adua.  Again, he simply grinned some more after they turned him down. In the last several months, every reasonable person watching as things continued to unfold spiral down in Nigeria has been rankled by the ease with which the Boko Haram Islamist terrorists sustain their blood-letting all the way from Abuja to several parts of the Sokoto Caliphate areas.  They have done that in a manner that fits what obtains in climes that are devoid of governance.  It got to the point where the US intelligence establishment stepped in to furnish what became the only credible security warning over the menace.  Directed at American citizens who were cautioned to stay away from two luxury hotels in Abuja, the alert came handy also for everyone else, including Jonathan and elements of his hapless make-believe government, who free-loaded on the alert that their own outfit is incapable of generating credibly, and deserted the two locations fingered in the alert. (continue reading)
    View Separately

    Is Goodluck Jonathan Plain Stupid? By E. C. Ejiogu

    When you think you have seen it all—including the most bizarre—in the caricature land, which Nigeria is, something silly and bizarre quickly crops up in or about the place or its conscience-deficient minders.  At the time when Olusegun Obasanjo actively foisted the walking corpse, Musa Yar’Adua as president of the place, some people who have refused to write the Nigeria project off as a lost cause, still let their hopes linger on the belief that the place might be turned around someday.  Even as they hoped, it didn’t take long before it became self evident that Yar’Adua was truly dead, in fact, too dead to function credibly as the president of anywhere except Nigeria. 

    He remained there all the same—shuttling regularly to Germany for what was called medical attention as his handlers indulged themselves looting and stealing public funds.  It got to the point when the Germans refused to admit him any longer in their hospital.  But the bizarre absurdity continued as the Saudis took over.  Even when the Saudis washed their hands off him, and he was parceled back on life support and left outside the seat of power in Abuja in an ambulance where he decomposed away, he was kept on as president.

    As all that went on, there was Goodluck Jonathan, rolling over silently in the full view of the world, contented with being the vice president to a president who was as far as anyone knew, dead!  When they eventually knocked something together for him and called it acting presidency, he concurred, literally flashing his signature sheepish grins.

    One of Jonathan’s first acts after Yar’Adua’s decomposing corpse was finally wheeled out of the seat of power, and way was paved for him to assume de facto control, of state power in the project, was to bother the autocrats in Saudi Arabia to let him come over and thank them for ‘taking care of’ Yar’Adua.  Again, he simply grinned some more after they turned him down.

    In the last several months, every reasonable person watching as things continued to unfold spiral down in Nigeria has been rankled by the ease with which the Boko Haram Islamist terrorists sustain their blood-letting all the way from Abuja to several parts of the Sokoto Caliphate areas.  They have done that in a manner that fits what obtains in climes that are devoid of governance.  It got to the point where the US intelligence establishment stepped in to furnish what became the only credible security warning over the menace.  Directed at American citizens who were cautioned to stay away from two luxury hotels in Abuja, the alert came handy also for everyone else, including Jonathan and elements of his hapless make-believe government, who free-loaded on the alert that their own outfit is incapable of generating credibly, and deserted the two locations fingered in the alert.

    (continue reading)

    Proposed Seven-Year Single Tenure “Misunderstood”, President Jonathan Says

    President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has said his proposed seven-year single tenure for Nigeria’s President has been misunderstood by those who think he wants to add that term to his current one.

    President Jonathan was speaking to Mr. Alain Juppe, the French Foreign Minister who visited him in Abuja today as part of his trip to Nigeria.
     
    “My proposal for a single seven-year tenure is anchored on the need for an incumbent President to focus maximum attention on the execution of his development programmes, instead of expending vital energy on re-election issues, though this has been misunderstood to mean I want additional seven years”, he told Mr. Juppe.
     
    President Jonathan noted that democratic political stability has returned to Africa, although in some African countries, the major challenge still remains the attempt by the incumbent to stay in power beyond constitutional mandates, or to insist on anointing their successors. While deploring this, President Jonathan pointed out that much progress is being made across the continent, and that Africa’s success stories should be encouraged.
     
    He expressed appreciation to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his consistent support and friendship to Nigeria and Africa, adding that President Sarkozy’s “robust support and friendship” had enabled Nigeria and ECOWAS to successfully restore peace in Cote d’Ivoire.

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