Ebonyi House of Assembly members serve Governor impeachment letter

Members of the Ebonyi state house of Assembly this morning served an impeachment notice on the state Governor, Martin Elechi over allegations of gross misconduct, financial impropriety as well as undermining the integrity of the House members. At their plenary session this morning, the acting leader of the House, Hon. Francis Nwifruru read the impeachment notification to his colleagues. More details later.

Pres. Jonathan in Asaba on a two-day visit to Delta State

President Jonathan visiting the Asagba of Asaba in his palace. The Asagba of Asaba presented gifts to Jonathan and endorsed him for second term.

Military recaptures more territories

The Nigeria military has recaptured the towns of Bama in Yobe state, Madagali & Gulag in Adamawa state from Boko Haram. Defence Headquarters took to twitter to announce these new victories.

Jonathan meets soldiers who dislodged Boko Haram

President Goodluck Jonathan made a brief visit to Adamawa State on Thursday to see for himself some of the recaptured towns from Boko Harm in the state. Jonathan was accompanied on the visit by the Service Chiefs including the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Air Staff, the Inspector of General of Police and the National Security Adviser among other military top brass. On arrival at the Yola Airport, Jonathan was flown to Mubi for inspection of the town which was reclaimed from the Boko Haram insurgents after being occupied for almost two months. While in the area, the President and his entourage visited the Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isah Ahmadu, where they held private talks and sympathized with the people.

Jonathan later visited Michika and Vimtim, the home town of the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief Air Marshall Badeh. Vimtim, Badeh’s home town and Michika the home town of the former Military Governor of Lagos State, Mohammed Buba Marwa and the former governor of Adamawa State, Boni Haruna were also the strongholds of the Boko Haram before there were retaken by the Military. The President had earlier paid similar visit to parts of Borno State which were recently recaptured from the Boko Haram insurgents

Presidency Plans to Send Jega on Terminal Leave Next Week

The secret moves to remove Professor Attahiru Jega from INEC at all cost is not over after all. The leading opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the Senate has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the presidency to send the chairman of INEC on terminal leave next week. According to the leader of the caucus, Senator George Akume, the plan is aimed at ensuring that Jega will be removed to pave way for a more pliant person to take over so that the Presidency can use him to achieve its agenda. “We received information from very, very informed sources, very credible sources, that next week, the chairman of INEC will be served a letter by the office of the Head of Service directing him to proceed on terminal leave. "Whether the letter is from the Head of Service or the presidency, it doesn’t make sense”. Speaking to Senate correspondents in Abuja, Akume, who led other APC senators to a briefing, said that as a political appointee, Jega does not operate under civil service rules. “After bringing the issue of card readers, they are now trying to hang Jega. It won’t work”, the caucus stated, while adding that they will resist any attempt to undermine the credibility of the elections.” The senators said the preparations for elections have gone too far for anyone to want to slow the process down with any unnecessary change

FG passes information on how Children of the rich & affluent in Nigeria are being recruited into ISIS

The Federal government yesterday raised an alarm over the continued radicalization and recruitment of Nigerian youths, especially children of the rich studying abroad, into international terrorist group, ISIS. Speaking at a joint media briefing at the National Information Center in Abuja, the DG of the Center, Mike Omeri said intelligence report indicates that children of the rich and affluent studying abroad are being recruited into ISIS via social media and other other sources.

"At this point, we wish to alert the nation that intelligence report indicates the continued radicalization of our youths through the social media and a variety of other sources. The reports also indicate these youths who are mostly children of the rich and affluent are being recruited into ISIS. We therefore call on parents and guidance especially those whose wards are schooling abroad to closely monitor the activities of these students who may be substitutable to the antics of the promoters of this strange catastrophic ideology" he said

Fire in Aguda surulere, see aftermath

Fire gutted a 2-storey building at Hassan Idowu street in Aguda, Surulere this morning. Eyewitnesses said the fire started from one of the flats and spread. See the aftermath after the cut...

Life is gradually returning to Mubi, Adamawa state

Life is gradually returning to Mubi, Adamawa state after Nigerian troops recaptured the town from Boko Haram. Economic and social activities are beginning to pick up. See more pics after the cut...

Photo credit: Charles Afolabi

Russian TV actor wakes up to find his testicles stolen by organ traffickers

Police in Russia have launched a full scale search for a gang of organ traffickers including a sexy lady and doctor who drugged 30 year old TV Soap actor Dmitry Nikolaev and removed his testicles. According to reports, Dmitry, a married man, met a random young blonde woman who approached him at a bar after he finished a performance at a small Moscow theatre. They both had drinks and afterwards she invited him to a sauna which he agreed to. And there, he lost his testicles..lol. Continue...

At the sauna, the two kissed and had some beer and that was the last he remembered. He said he woke up the next morning at a bus stop, feeling acute pain, with blood on his trousers. His testicles had been cut off. The police believe the lady and her gang intend to sell his testicle at the human organ black market. The actor, now working as a children's animator, was too embarrassed at first to explain what had happened to his wife, but later did. They are now looking for his testicles...

The Audio Tape On Ekiti Election Is Plan A. Plans B, C, & D Are In The Pipeline By Dr. Wumi Akintide

President Jonathan has, up until recently, touted the appointment of Professor Atahiru Jega, as Chairman of INEC as one of his success stories. Most Nigerians, me included, agree that Jega was a good pick, and we all congratulated the President. The President is singing a different tune today and accusing Professor Jega of disloyalty and incompetence. When Jega got his Commission to address the issue of how to end or minimize election rigging by the party in power at the Federal or state levels, Jonathan and the PDP became nervous and they started losing confidence in Jega. Jega and his colleagues at INEC listed no less than 87 gimmicks that the Party at the Center had used in the past to rig elections and he was effectively developing strategies to block the loopholes. That was a no go area for Jonathan and his PDP who began to lose confidence in Jega for doing his job the right way. They feel so threatened by his move that they no longer want to renew his contract. They have found another former Vice Chancellor, a brother of the current Governor of Ondo State to be the man to replace Professor Jega. President Jonathan and the PDP now view Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the MVP or the king pin to help the PDP recapture all of the Southwest since the man has the support of the relic of the Afenifere Group whose current leader, Chief Fasoranti comes from Ondo State. They view Governor Mimiko as a magician who can help them turn water into wine and feed thousands of people with just a loaf of bread in Nigerian politics. They have given Mimiko enough money to woo the Afenifere group back into the PDP but they forget that the Afenifere group is no longer the power brokers it used to be in Yoruba politics in Awolowo era. A faction of the Afenifere led by Ahmed Tinubu and Bisi Akande now control much of the Southwest and the old Afenifere led by Chief Fasoranti are very unhappy about the reality on the ground, and are therefore willing and ready to follow Governor Mimiko into the PDP if the price is right. President Jonathan actually came to Ondo State to sign a memorandum of understanding with Chief Fasoranti with Governor Mimiko as the enabler. Chief Fasoranti immediately endorsed Jonathan but what he probably did not tell Jonathan is that his group is only a negligible faction of the old Afenifere. The bulk of the Yorubas are supporting Buhari and they intend to give Buhari the edge in much of the Southwest. The next election is a do-or-die proposition for Jonathan and the PDP because they have never faced a wave election like the one they currently face in Nigeria. They can tell they are going to lose this election if it is free and fair. They are therefore doing everything to compromise the election even before the first vote is cast. They have plans A, B, C, and D. The plan A was abandoned or modified following the release of the audiotape by Captain Sagir Koli to Sahara Reporters of New York. The audio tape recording clearly revealed how the Ekiti gubernatorial election was rigged in favor of Ayo Fayose, one of the most dangerous politicians of Nigeria today who constantly urge President Jonathan to damn the consequence and to use the powers conferred on him as Commander-in-Chief to rig the election. Ayo Fayose has actually advised Jonathan to order the arrest of Obasanjo, Buhari and individuals like Ahmed Tinubu and other prominent opposition leaders in Nigeria. The same Ayo Fayose and his gang comprising Olusegun Mimiko, Omisore and Musiliu Obanikoro in collusion with the top brass of the Military and the Police are actively assuring Jonathan that nothing will happen because Nigerians are cowards who will not lift a finger once the streets of Nigeria are flooded with soldiers. They would all run for cover. The Director of Military Intelligence, General Tsaro Wiwa and Mr. Dasuki are all working together with Jonathan to thwart the verdict of the people because they have the power to use the security forces as they wish. What they all forget is that God is not with them. That is why their plans begin to leak out in ways they themselves cannot explain. These individuals forget that as they move from their plan A to plan B and to plan C and to plan D that the people are watching them. They forget the proverbial admonition of “Osiun Ado” when he was once advised to stop dangling a dagger in the market place because he might hurt someone in the process. As crazy as “Osiun Ado” was, his only response to the person advising him would surprise all of you. “Not all predictions or premonitions come through” replied “Osiun Ado” He continued his journey thru the Erekesan market at Ado –Ekiti. By the time “Osiun Ado” emerged from the market, not a single soul in the market was injured. “Won le so pe o ma ri be, ko ma ri be” The election riggers are hoping they could get away with their crimes against humanity, but they may not, if what happened on August 16, 1983 following the Omoboriowo rigging of the Ondo State election is anything to go by. President Jonathan and his collaborators think and believe that they have a foolproof strategy to win this election by all means. That is why President Jonathan and his collaborators in the Military and the SSS are trying everything including the “Gbagbo” strategy in Ivory Coast as revealed by Olusegun Obasanjo, a master strategist himself who knows everything about how to rig elections in Nigeria without getting caught. The miracle in Nigeria today is the fact that Olusegun Obasanjo is not in the Jonathan camp. Obasanjo is a one man Battalion in Nigerian politics that God has been using to frustrate the rigging plans of President Jonathan and his collaborators. For once in Nigerian history, Obasanjo is siding with the people of Nigeria to expose a ruthless President and his first lady who are bent on retaining power in Nigeria for another 4 years even if Nigeria breaks up in the process. One can predict that the coming election has the potential to be the bloodiest in Nigerian history if President Jonathan tries to pull a fast one on the people of Nigeria. That is why President Jonathan has dismissed with the wave of the hand the rigging that took place in broad day light at Ado Ekiti. Musiliu Obanikoro confessed in the audio tape he was the emissary of President Jonathan and that he came to Ado Ekiti not to attend a tea party but to carry out the orders of President Jonathan. He arrogantly told Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh to remember that his next promotion depended on his failure or success in that operation. The rigging took place in August 2014 and the revelation came out in January 2015. Captain Koli has had to run out of the country for his own safety. Brigadier Momoh is still keeping his job in the Military. Ayo Fayose is still keeping his job as Ekiti State Governor. Iyiola Omisore still remains one of the PDP leaders in Nigeria and Musiliu Obanikoro’s nomination as minister is awaiting confirmation by the Nigerian Senate as we speak. President Jonathan acts with impunity and he believes he can get away with murder as Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic. Man proposes but god disposes. These individuals think they are God. Sooner or later they would realize that “Khaki no be leather” They have murdered sleep and they shall sleep no more because they are fighting a war they cannot win. Nobody fights God and survives to tell the story. Plan B is to have election postponed for 6 weeks as a first step to cancelling the whole election altogether because there is no way that the Nigerian Military is going to be able to defeat Boko Haram in 6 weeks. Even if they capture or kill Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, that is not going to signify the end of Boko Haram. Osama Bin Laden died more than 3 years ago, but Al Qaeda and their affiliates are spreading all over the world like bush fire in the Harmattan as we speak. It’s all baloney for the Nigerian Military to now believe they can accomplish in 6 weeks what they have not been able to do in 6 years. The Plan B is to try and capture Shekau alive. Force him to say that his main sponsors are Buhari and Obasanjo and some of the leaders of the opposition APC. With that false confession, Jonathan would use the confession as an excuse to arrest and charge Obasanjo, Buhari and many leaders of the opposition for treason. He would try them in a kangaroo court and put them away so that he and the PDP can have their way in the election. All these plans are easier said than done. Some of the plans will develop K leg along the way and before the perpetrators know what they are doing, they would be surprised they could be the first victims of their own evil designs for Nigeria. What they forget is that God is not sleeping. He sees all they are doing and will counter and diffuse them in his own way at his own time and space. The opposition too is not burying its head in the sand. They too have informers and individuals like Captain Koli in the rank and file of the PDP who will blow the whistle on them because the time ordained by God for change in Nigeria has come. God is using individuals like Femi Falana, Keyamo and Omoyele Sowore of Sahara Reporters of New York and many more Nigerians all over the world to do his work. The internet and You Tube, Twitters and Facebook have all come in handy to spread the news around the world in a split second at the press of a button. The whole world has become one global village thru Satellite technology. All these technologies are being used to the advantage of the opposition in Nigeria in a way that renders ineffective the billions of Dollars that President Jonathan is using to suppress and victimize the opposition in Nigeria. The more Jonathan tries to undermine Buhari the more popular the General becomes because his time has come. Individuals like Femi Fani Kayode and Rev Father Ejike Mbaka of the Enugu Parish of the Catholic Church are all being raised up by God to be the mouth organ of Buhari in a way that only God can explain. That President Jonathan would appoint Fani Kayode as the Director of his Campaign tells me loud and clear that God is truly awesome. President Jonathan is fighting a battle he cannot win. There is a big desire and movement for change in Nigeria that nobody can stop now. Jonathan is just in total denial and his collaborators would not let him see the truth for what it is. President Jonathan has been running round bribing all of our men of God and Chief Imams and all traditional rulers across the country including his nemesis the new Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi. He recently held a closed door meeting with the Alaafin of Oyo and has met with the Ooni of Ife. He has met with the Sultan of Sokoto. He should soon be meeting with the Obi of Onitsha, the Obong of Calabar, the Jaja of Opobo and the Amayanabo of Buguma, the Tor Tiv and most of the powerful traditional rulers across the country. He goes to them to donate money to all of them for their endorsement but Jonathan is going to fail because each of these individuals only has one vote and most of them will not vote for him when they get to that polling booth. Most of them cannot sway any of their subjects to vote for Jonathan. At the end, Jonathan and the PDP are going to lose this election because God has forsaken them. They are just too blind to read the hand writing on the wall. Jonathan is doing this so he can justify his victory after he wins by subterfuge but things are not going to work out exactly as he has planned them. So I totally agree with Obasanjo when he says that Jonathan would be disgraced out of office and would live the rest of his life in total regret because he is fighting God by hiding behind the so-called men of God who say they are with him because they need his money. I have a very good idea about their plans C and D but I am keeping it close to my chest right now but I want President Jonathan and the PDP to know that the opposition already know what they are up to and would block them every step of the way. Nothing is hidden under the Sun. The sooner the PDP and Jonathan and their collaborators know that, the better for them. The Igbos and the Yorubas among his supporters have said that Buhari had gone to London for medical check-up because they do not wish him well, but what matters is God’s plan for Buhari. Human beings can say all they want. God has the final say and his conclusion is that Buhari’s time has come and no Jupiter can stop him now. The debate currently going on in Nigeria as to whether or not the Military should be involved in supervising the election is a wrong-headed debate. The real debate should be on whether or not the Nigerian Military, the Police and the Department of State Security, as at present constituted, can be trusted to be neutral umpires for this election because Jonathan has politicized all of them. Their loyalty should be to the State and the People of Nigeria and not to a transient individual who is President today but can be removed tomorrow by the people with their votes in a free and fair election like is done in more civilized countries of the world. A one party dictatorship, however benevolent cannot be good for Democracy. The PDP has had their chances and they have blown them. Now it is time for Nigeria to try the opposition for a change. If for any reason the opposition fails to deliver, Nigerians should reserve the right to send them parking in 4 years. That is the stand of most Nigerians in the north and the south of the country. That is why Jonathan is going to lose and Buhari is going to win this election. Buhari has as much support today in the South like he has in the North. That is why Jonathan is scared to death about a Buhari presidency because Buhari is going to open up the skeletons in his cupboard under the rule of law. It is the right thing to do, and that is why Nigerians, me included are rooting for Buhari I rest my case.

The Upcoming General Elections And Nigeria’s Date With History By Jaye Gaskia

As the forced dates for the rescheduled 2015 general elections rapidly approach, the ominous clouds that have been gathering over our national existence continue to thicken, and darken, potentially threatening a deluge of biblical proportions. The gladiators in the ensuing contestation have continued to dig deeper into their trenches, while more or less blindly undertaking ill-thought, ill-conceived, irrationally strategic and illogically tactical actions. What is disturbing is the emergent lack of a sense of responsibility on the part of those saddled with the duty of ensuring that the Nigerian state fulfills its constitutionally mandated role of ensuring the security and wellbeing of the citizenry. Throughout history irresponsible opposition parties have taken actions that have not only undermined ruling parties, but have also gone ahead to critically undermine the state and the stability of the entire polity and nation. Alas, however in the unfolding process in Nigeria, in this rapidly evolving situation that can be likened to the phenomenon of ‘Dancing naked on the edge of a precipice’; it is the ruling party, the incumbent government, that is misbehaving like a deranged opposition, undermining one after the other, every conceivable institution of the state, and threatening not only the body polity, but also the very corporate existence of the state and nation. For the first time in the history of our country, and in living memory, an incumbent government and a ruling party is engaged in strident, vigorous orchestrated organization and mobilization of public opinion, accusing the electoral institution not only of being irreversibly unprepared, but also of colluding with the opposition to rig the elections in favour of the opposition! Really? The same electoral body forced almost at gunpoint to postpone the elections in accordance with the demands of the ruling party and its presidential campaign organization? And in furtherance of its orchestrated campaign to discredit the outcome of the elections, it has launched a sustained onslaught of personal and institutional abuses on the electoral body; questioning the use of PVCs, casting aspersions on the use of card readers; all of which are measures that potentially have the capacity of reducing the ability to rig elections. So every day, a ruling party and a campaign organization of the incumbent president inundates the populace with a million falsehoods about why PVCs and card readers should not be used, and about the permanent character of the lack of preparedness of INEC. And this is not factoring in the dangerous mobilization of religious sentiments, and the open appeal to adherents of rival religions not to vote for candidates who express religious faith other than theirs. In a manner worthy only of a deranged opposition, the ruling party has promoted advertisements calling on Christians not to vote for the opposition because of the alleged plan of the opposition to Islamize Nigeria, while also cheekily at rallies and behind closed doors urging Muslims to vote only for the ruling party because it is the party of Muslims! Let me be clear about this under the current unfolding situation, the ruling party and the incumbent president along with his campaign organization are emerging as the greatest threats to the survival of the 4th Republic, the greatest obstacle to democratic consolidation, and the greatest danger to the stability, unity and corporate existence of our country. A friend and longtime colleague, with whom together we were one of the major actors in the revival and advancement of the Resource Control struggles of the peoples of the Niger Delta between the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, once authored, or co-authored a radical protest compilation titled ‘The Naked Emperor’; a protest literature directed against the rapacious almost fascist dictatorship of Abacha. How apt that title is now to describe the unfolding scenario in our country. Alas, my friend, who launched with the greatest fanfare possible in those dark days, is now one of the most strategic and senior aides to the incumbent emergent emperor, who is not only increasingly becoming nude, but has begun to dance precipitously close to the brink of a gaping abyss! Let me however be clear on the sense of historical urgency of the moment, let me clearly restate my concerns as well as my convictions about this moment in our history; I agree that in the current situation, there is no revolutionary or left leadership in contention; what is worse is that such an alternative is not even in contention much less being a viable alternative or option to the two leprous fingers of the ruling class in contention, that is the PDP and the APC. It is one thing for an option to actively exist, and another for it to be a viable option. The first is the beginning; the second is a qualitative leap forward. I also agree that the absence of such a radical option and alternative, much less a viable one in the political contest is a most manifest indication of the collective failure of left and revolutionary forces, or whatever remains of them, in the country. However, having said this, I refuse to be forced into the unpalatable and thoughtless corner where the choice and options before us are presented in an exclusively bipolar nature: GEJ or GMB; PDP or APC! I refuse to endorse the perception that GMB and APC are somehow the manifest embodiment and representation of the genuine popular change that we require. Nevertheless despite of the above recognition, I refuse to endorse the gross incompetence, grave ineptitude, glaring and fatal mis-governance, powered by untrammeled corruption and treasury looting, of the GEJ presidency as well as 16 years of PDP ruler-ship. I remain convinced that the people have a right to be able to chose; that they have a right to reject failure and incompetence; and that in doing so they well chose the appearance of change where the essence of change is absent. But far more fundamentally, I refuse to endorse, because of the fear of being accused of supporting an opposition I have always disclaimed, the creeping coup, and the vigorously vagrant, orchestrated and manipulative processes aimed at unconstitutionally elongating the tenure of an incumbent against the will of the people; through the truncation of the current democratic order, by a faction of the ruling class cohering around the presidency and the ruling PDP. I understand clearly and regret the absence of a viable revolutionary option; Nevertheless, I also equally clearly understand the revolutionary potential of the current unfolding crisis, underpinned by the unraveling of the ruling class consensus that has hitherto held the present civilian democratic order together since 1999. As a dialectician and revolutionary, I understand that this election given the deepening context, has the potential to trigger a revolutionary crisis regardless of the party that eventually wins. Furthermore, I understand that a fraudulently won victory by the incumbent and ruling party, although will trigger a crisis; nevertheless it has the potential to preserve the illusion in the ‘cheated’ opposition as the bearer and beacon of real change. On the other hand, a victory, acclaimed by a majority of citizens as credible by the opposition can very rapidly engender a crisis of unmet and unrealized expectations, and as a consequence trigger a revolutionary crisis, with the essential and significant difference this time, that the popular illusions in any of the major factions of the ruling class would have been exploded, while unraveling the spurious claim of the opposition as the agent of genuine, radical change. In such a situation and context, a revolutionary option can very rapidly become viable, making a revolutionary outcome more plausible. JAYE GASKIA is National Coordinator of Protest To Power Movement. Follow me on Twitter: @jayegaskia & Interact with me on FaceBook: JAYE GASKIA & TAKE BACK NIGERIA

buhari’s-speech-chatham-house-–-nigeria’s-transition

Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists. But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I do so only to impress on our friends in the United Kingdom that we are quite aware of our shortcomings and are doing our best to address them. 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 will 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. 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-Saharan 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’ assuming for the sake of argument that we accept their definition of “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. 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 a 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 transitioning 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 to come 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 and border controls 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, 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 curse 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. Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition 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 By Saharareporters!

Photo of the day: When Aminu Tambuwal met President Jonathan

These politicians can like to abuse each other on paper but when they see each other, they are very cordial. The Speaker of the House of Reps Aminu Tambuwal pictured greeting president Jonathan respectfully with a huge smile on his face at the birthday party of Shehu Shagari in Sokoto yesterday.

Diamond Bank introduces fingerprint recognition feature on its mobile app

Leading retail bank, Diamond Bank Plc, has announced that they are the 1st in Africa to launch of a finger print recognition feature on its Diamond Mobile App. The service, an iOS Touch ID, is a fingerprint reader that allow users of the Mobile App an easy and seamless login to their accounts by simply recognizing and identifying their individual fingerprints. Speaking on the new feature, Ayona Trimnell, Divisional Head, Corporate Communications of the Bank stated that the introduction of the unique feature will remove the burden of forgetting or having to remember the user ID and Password for account holders to login for their respective business transactions. “We are pleased to announce the launch of the Touch ID feature on the Diamond Mobile App. This means that Diamond Mobile App users that have iOS devices can now login to their accounts with just their finger prints as an alternative to entering a User ID and Password.” Speaking further, she stated that with the “introduction of this innovative solution to the Nigerian banking space, Diamond Bank once again demonstrates its commitment to be at the forefront in offering technological solutions that make banking an exciting, convenient and secure experience for our customers.” The introduction of the Touch ID Feature on Diamond Mobile App marks the entrance of the service to the Nigerian banking scene. It also consolidates Diamond Bank’s position as an innovative Bank that is progressively changing the face of banking in Nigeria with best-in-class customer-focused solutions. The Touch ID feature on Diamond Mobile App is available on iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6plus, iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3. Other features on the Diamond Mobile App include funds transfer, bills payment, events ticket purchase, movie tickets purchase, online shopping wallet top-up as well as search, book and payment for both local and international flights. The service is currently available on Apple store and will soon be available on all other app stores.

Anti-Buhari protesters in London

Anti-Buhari protesters have arrived Chattam House to protest against the APC presidential candidate. We were warned to expect it...:-). More photos after the cut...

Deputy Comptroller & Inspector of Prison jailed 3 years for oil theft

Find the EFCC press statement below... Justice C. O Ogisi of Delta State High Court, Sapele, on Wednesday February 25, 2015 convicted and sentenced a former Deputy Comptroller in charge of Ogwashi-Uku Prison in Delta State, DCP Diete Wure Wisdom and a Senior Inspector of Prison, Ayamede Peter to three years imprisonment for stealing 27, 200 litres of automotive gas oil stored in exhibit trucks, left in the custody of the prison. They were prosecuted on a 4-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on the strength of evidence that the duo conspired to sell products in three exhibits trucks: Mack tanker with registration number XD 605 JJT and Man Diesel Lorries with registration numbers, XD 789 ENU and XD 620 FGG, filled with AGO. The petitioner had alleged said that after the sale of the products, the drums and the tankers were refilled with water on the directives of DCP Diete. Upon their arraignment on November 1, 2013, the convicts had pleaded not guilty to all the charges. One of the counts read, “That you Wisdom Wure Diete and Peter Ayamede while being a Deputy Comptroller of Prisons in charge of Ogwashi-Uku prison and a Senior Inspector of Prison respectively on or about April 2012 at Ogwashi-Uku Judicial Division did steal 27,200 litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) being the content of the 134 (One Hundred and Thirty Four) drums of 200 litres each loaded in a truck with registration number: XN 789 ENU, valued at about N4, 02,000.00 property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria kept for safe keeping with the Nigerian Prison Service Ogwashi-Uku which you were in charge and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 390 and punishable under Section 390 (5)(8)(b) & (9) of the Criminal Code Law CAP C21 Laws of Delta State of Nigeria 2006”.

Will doctors really transplant a head onto a body in 2 years time?

Could doctors really transplant a head onto a body in 2 years time? Italian surgeon says he can How is this even possible? Italian surgeon, Sergio Canavero (pictured above), believes that head transplants are possible. That is taking a patient's head and grafting it onto a healthy body. This will be for paralysed patients and those with incurable illness. Dr. Canavero said both heads would be removed at the same time and then he would glue the patient's head onto the donor's body. Sounds to me like a crazy doctor. If you remove someone's head, is that not automatic death? Biko read the report after the cut and tell me maybe I'm the one who's not understanding it...before I yawere trying to understand...

Culled from Mail Online It sounds like the plot of a bad horror film, but doctors are gearing up to do the world’s first head transplant. Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero wants to take the head from someone with an incurable illness and graft it on to a healthy body. He claims the first operation could be done in just two years’ time. The £7.5million body swap would initially be used to give a new lease of life to paralysed people – including those with spinal cord injuries similar to those sustained by the late actor Christopher Reeve. People with muscle-wasting diseases and those whose organs are riddled with cancer could also have their head put on a new body. Those with motor neurone disease, the condition suffered by Stephen Hawking and portrayed by Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne in the film The Theory of Everything, might also benefit. Eventually, the technique could be used to extend the life of healthy people in the ‘ultimate cosmetic surgery’. Critics have described the plans as ‘pure fantasy’, but Dr Canavero claims all the necessary techniques exist and that he just needs to put them together. It is already more than 40 years since the first monkey head transplant and a basic operation on a mouse has just been done in China. Dr Canavero already has a long list of potential patients, and will announce his plans at a top medical conference this summer in a bid to get the backing needed to do the first transplant in 2017. The location has yet to be decided, but the surgeon, from the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, says he would love to do it in London. The new body would come from a normal transplant donor who is brain dead. Both the donor and the patient would have their head severed from their spinal cord at the same time, using an ultra-sharp blade to give a clean cut. The patient’s head would then be moved on to the donor’s body and attached using a ‘glue’ called polyethylene glycol to fuse the two ends of the spinal cord together. The muscles and blood supply would be stitched up, before the patient is put in a coma for four weeks to stop them moving while the head and body heal together. If that doesn’t sound bizarre enough, they would then be given small electric shocks to stimulate their spinal cord and strengthen the connections between their head and new body. When the patient is brought out of their medically-induced coma, they should be able to move, feel their face and even speak with the same voice, this week’s New Scientist reports. Powerful immunosuppressant drugs should stop the new body from being rejected and intensive psychological support would also be provided. Dr Canavero says he believes it would be ethically sound to carry out the procedure when people have no other hope of a cure. However, the ethical arguments extend past the transplant itself. For instance, if the patient went on to have children, they would biologically belong to the donor because the sperm or eggs would have come from the new body. Initially, a shortage of donors means that the surgery would be limited to those with severe illness. But eventually, it could be used to allow healthy people to live longer. Dr Canavero said that if science reaches the stage when human cloning is easy, a 60-year-old could make a copy of themselves. They could then put their old head on a new, healthy body made from their own DNA – meaning they would keep their memories and personality. William Matthews, chairman of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons, said: ‘I embrace the concept of spinal fusion and I think there are a lot of areas that a head transplant could be used but I disagree with Canavero on the timing. ‘He thinks it’s ready, I think it’s far into the future.’ But Harry Goldsmith, a California doctor who has carried out one of the few operations that has allowed someone with a spinal cord injury to walk again, said: ‘I don’t believe it will ever happen.’

Microsoft to Offer N3.5m to Young Nigerian Entrepreneurs

As part of its commitment to supporting the development of entrepreneurship in Nigeria, Microsoft Mobile Devices and Services would be awarding N3.5m to 5 Nigerians with brilliant business ideas in its Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM activation, tagged from "Passion to Empire", which would run from February 16, 2015 to March 31, 2015. According to General Manager, Microsoft Mobile Devices and Services, West Africa, Joseph Umunakwe, “Passion to Empire” would help young entrepreneurs push their boundaries and test the strength of their ideas. “Running a start-up is challenging in any environment, so Microsoft wants to empower entrepreneurs in Nigeria who have great business ideas. “Passion to Empire” would not be about a cash grant only. The winners will also be mentored by highly successful celebrity entrepreneurs, House of Tara’s Tara FelaDurotoye, Chocolate City’s AuduMaikori and Jobberman’s OpeyemiAwoyemi.” Umunakwe said. To participate in “Passion to Empire”, interested entrepreneurs need to buy the Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM or any other Lumia smartphone or tablet, make a video detailing how you plan to grow your business,label the video with your name and IMEI number and upload to www.microsoft.com/mobile.

BBA winner Kevin Chuwang Pam and wife celebrate 4th wedding anniversary

BBA winner, Kevin Chuwang Pam and his Tanzanian wife Elizabeth who he met in the BBA House in 2009 are celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary today. The couple got married in Feb 2011 and have two kids, a girl and a boy. Congrats to them.

Apostle Suleman’s 2015 prophecies

Apostle Suleman’s 2015 prophecies: General election is another June 12, Buhari’s health needs attention Apostle Suleman's Acclaimed man of God, Apostle Johnson Suleiman has released what he believed would happen in this New Year. One of his prophecies was that 2015 election would be a replica of June 12. He said Jonathan should be prayerful as there are plans to kill him. Suleiman who head the Auchi-based Omega Fire Ministries also said the queen of England and Shehu Shagari may die. The prophecies as obtained exclusively by DAILY POST read below: 1.There shall be harvest of testimonies for women looking for fruit of the womb. 2. President Obama needs serious prayers for his health. 3. I see a woman becoming the president of America, but her health needs attention. 4. Britain needs prayers because of her Queen. 5. I entered the house of former president Shehu Shagari in the spirit and I saw RIP; he needs prayers. 6. There shall be agricultural boom this year. 7. I saw Catholic Reverend Fathers getting married. I saw a group rising, called “Old Catholic Church”, they were on fire for God and caused a revolution. 8. Boko Haram is sponsored by two people; one is a traditional ruler and the other is a retired General. 9. Nollywood should stop nudity and immoral content been shown because God is not happy. 10. Bola Tinubu, Bode George and king of Onitsha need prayers. 11. A great Pentecostal man of God been called to glory. I wept. 12. I see president Goodluck Jonathan coming back but troubles. 13. I saw people crying in the Oba of Benin’s house. 14. Libyan election to be cancelled. 15. El Rufai should go and sit down. For abusing Jesus, he will not win Kaduna election. 16. Brigade Commander Aso rock should be changed. 17. Buhari’s health needs attention. 18. Aminu Tambuwal, I saw him leading Sokoto State. 19. Dangote will not have it smooth this year; he will drop from Africa’s richest. 20. Patience Jonathan needs serious prayers. 21. Egypt will have elections. 22. 2015 presidential election will be rigged, marred in violence and end up in court case. 23. Thank you Jesus! Finally a Christian is now the governor of Lagos state. 24. A popular Abuja pastor needs serious prayers. I saw mourning. 25. I saw the Naira falling greatly. It became N200 (two hundred naira) to 1$ (a dollar). 26. I saw Cameroonian soldiers killing Boko Haram soldiers. 27. Prophets who deceive people, collects their properties, charge money, will face great judgment this year. 28. Rochas Okorocha; I saw him moving to PDP. 29. Contrary to most prophecies, Nigeria will not break up. 30. Nigerian Government will start fighting the Gospel and men of God. 31. Military leaders will be changed. 32. There will be plan to kill Goodluck Jonathan but it will be exposed. 33. I saw governor Amosun return. 34. APC Rivers State needs to do grass root campaign because I saw the election been rigged for PDP. Prayers are needed because of so much bloodshed. 35. Three popular musicians will die; one of them is a young boy. 36. Former President Obasanjo should go and make peace with God, Nigeria is not his problem. 37. The retired Army General one of the sponsors of Bokoharam, God warned him recently with his health. The next, God will take his life. 38. I saw a man win Governorship but not allowed to govern. 39. I saw attention in Delta state moved to Agbor. 40. President Gooluck Jonathan should arrest corrupt leaders. His calmness is what is empowering them to steal. 41. I saw people who resigned as ministers to contest election return back as Federal ministers. 42. I see so much food in Nigeria in 2015. 43. I saw major death in China (I saw group of kids killed) 44. A great man of God whose first name begins with 3rd letter and Surname with 15th letter needs serious prayers. I saw serious crisis and crying. Please let’s pray for him. 45. Let’s pray against military intervention and interim government. 46. President election inconclusive, yet Jonathan declared winner. APC Pray! 47. I don’t see Buhari with credentials to vie for president. 48. Ghana economy to have terrible and serious crisis. 49. With the level of bloodshed I saw, it was better Goodluck goes now to his village quietly. 50. 2015 election is another June 12. The man who truly won will not govern or rule. 51. Arik Airline to pray against disaster. 52. I saw people crying in Alex Ekwueme’s house. Why are they crying? 53. I saw upsurge around bar beach taking people’s lives, water overrunning and bringing down buildings. 54. Pray against three major Air disasters between February and October. 55. I saw a king in Zulu (South Africa) taking a bow. 56. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu needs serious prayer against mourning and death. 57. I saw Niger Delta militants become so powerful and influential in government. 58. God is not happy with Nigerian government for handling power problem. 59. Lawyers will make so much money in 2015. 60. Chief E.K, Clark should pray, not a good year for him. I won’t concede defeat to Jonathan, because I won’t lose – Buhari 61. Great men of god to rise in Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria and Europe 2015@dailypostngr

90% of Bayelsa women are the bread winners - Gov Dickson

According to the governor of Bayelsa state, Dickson Seriaki, 90% of women in Bayelsa state are the breadwinners in their homes. Governor Dickson said this in a statement read on his behalf by his media aide, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, at the launch of the Women Development Centre and the reconstitution of the board for the Youth Development Center in Bayelsa state yesterday Feb. 1st. "Our government thumbs up for the hardworking women of the state. About 90 per cent of them are breadwinners of their families. We will support them in their role in nurturing the society.” he said.

Plane carrying campaign team of a political party is about to crash - Dr Chris Okafor

Plane carrying campaign team of a political party is about to crash - Dr Chris Okafor

God forbid o. Below is a press release sent out to media houses... The senior pastor of popular Nigerian church Liberation City, Dr Chris Okafor has warn against untimely air accident looming while a political party members are going for a political campaign as the general election draw nearer. Speaking at the glorious Sunday services on the 1st of February 2015,the Oracle of God as he is fondly called said he sees a plane crash with a political campaign team inside it. He said there is also a heavy cloud that is about to rain blood before the election. He also warned that a popular governorship candidate might not be alive to witness the governorship election he is supposed to take part in it. The man of God also said there will be war on the outcome of the general election because someone will win and the other person will be rigged in and declared as the winner, he said this will generate lot of bloodshed for months. But if proper prayer is done it can be averted the man of God also revealed that God show him that the terrorist group are coming up in a new dimensions. He said those group will dress in a regalia like a religion leader to operate. He also remarks that he saw a long queue in filling station around the country signaling another round of fuel scarcity. He said with prayer the looming crisis which is targeted to take place before February -2015 general elections can be averted. The oracle also warns the security agencies must be very vigilant in countering this plan of the terrorist. The church has however prayed to avert all the latest prophecy. It will be recalled that nearly 12 days after Dr Chris okafor gave a prophecy on fire outbreaks , it came to pass among many other one he predicted

Former CBN Governor Charles Soludo has replied Minister of Finance

Former CBN Governor Charles Soludo has replied Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's response to his viral article. Interesting read. Find below.... I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further. Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation. Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual. The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later. Here, I will focus on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response (as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy—CME and hence on behalf of the Federal Government). Since I have known her, out of deep respect, I have never called her by her name: I call her Madam. I must state that I have great pains seeing myself on the opposite side of the table with Madam, in this way. I respect you, Madam, and will always do. If you read my article of September 2010 (before you became Minister), the tone and elucidation were as strong as the current one. It is my honest effort to ensure that our choice of leaders is based on rigorous scrutiny of what is on offer. Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again. Regrettably, you have taken it very personal. I am not bothered about the personal abuses: I actually expected worse. What name has the government not called President Obasanjo or any person who has dared to disagree with it of late? Anyone who disagrees with the government must either be ‘insane’ or have a ‘character’ deficiency or must be ‘looking for a job’ or ‘without honour’, or a ‘charlatan’. Yesterday, Sanusi alleged that $20 billion was missing and he was accused of gross financial mismanagement, recklessness and poor governance to the point of being the first governor of central bank to be suspended from office. Today, he is the good one; and for daring to award an “F” grade for our economic performance, Soludo has become the ‘worst’ and ‘without character’ or perhaps ‘looking for position’ (Lol!). Some days ago, a former president was called ‘a motor park tout’ and ‘un-statesmanly’ just for disagreeing. This “how dare you criticise us” mind-set of the government is dangerous for our democracy. In this Part One of my planned three part series, I will restrict it to the main issues you raised. I will not bother about the malicious attacks on my person. For me, it is nothing personal. In early 2011, I had a similar heated exchange with then Finance Minister Segun Aganga. But when the Nigerian economy was at stake and he invited me to a stakeholders meeting in his office (as Minister of Trade and Investment) to discuss Nigeria’s response to the ruinous EU- Economic Partnership for Africa (EPA), I flew into Nigeria for that (at my expense)— the first and only time I have been to any government office to discuss policy since I left office. It is about Nigeria. I will, as expected, remind people like you of the salient aspects of my record of public service in response to your charge; challenge your claim to debt relief, and your reason for not saving; highlight your forgery of economic statistics and the lies in your response; but most importantly re-focus our attention to the historic mismanagement of our economy which you carefully avoided. I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged— under your watch! We can’t go on like this, and I am convinced that an alternative future is possible. Can we have a public debate on this alternative future? The issues at stake are too grave to be trivialized through name calling. As I write, the naira exchange rate to the dollar is at N215 (from N158 a few months ago) and unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning. For the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore! Let me start with Madam’s rather comical, wild judgment on my tenure of office which I believe to be totally false and baseless. I apologise upfront that in the process of making a ‘personal defence’, it is difficult to avoid a rather uncomfortable emphasis on “I”. I did not want that but since Madam has dragged us this low, I have little choice but to do so in the next few paragraphs—just to keep the record straight! In my view, there are three criteria for evaluating a public officer’s stewardship: the evaluation by his employer; the satisfaction of the public he served; and the hard facts of performance. As I will show on these three counts, I am convinced that I left a world record of public service, and a thousand Okonjo-Iwealas cannot re-write that history. I served Nigeria under two presidents (Obasanjo and Yar’Adua) and as my immediate bosses, below are their written testimonials of my record. Said President Obasanjo (December 2004): “Charles Soludo is a true Nigerian. He is the sort of Nigerian that we all know we can rely on. Among his numerous virtues is COURAGE. I have found in him a man who can take tough and realistic decisions, stand his ground, educate others on the salience of his decision, and work very hard to ensure that the decision is efficiently and effectively implemented. His dedication to duty is first rate. His leadership qualities are admirable and his willingness to listen and learn is simply infectious. Professor Soludo has within a short time emerged as one of the leading lights of our nation. Not because he has a godfather but by sheer hard work, loyalty, dedication to duty, commitment to the nation, creativity, and undiluted association with the reform agenda….” President Yar’Adua (May 2009) had the following to say about the Central Bank of Nigeria under my leadership: “… the CBN has performed creditably well in delivering on its core mandates. This is especially even more so in the last five years. Most people would agree that without the successful banking consolidation and effective management of our foreign reserves, the current global crisis would have shaken the financial system and our national economy to their foundations with calamitous consequences”. In the President’s special letter of commendation after the completion of my tenure of office, President Yar’Adua (June 2009) had the following to say to me: “As your tenure as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria comes to a glorious end, I write on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria to place on record our debt of gratitude to you for your dedicated service and uncommon sense of duty over the past five years. I am confident that your worthy antecedents in the CBN and in prior appointments in the service of our nation remain sources of inspiration to an entire generation. As I wish you even more astounding successes in the years ahead, it is my fervent hope that you will readily avail us of your distinguished service when the need arises in the future”. To the best of my knowledge, President Obasanjo has not changed those views even after ten years. The views of my two bosses, not the emotional outburst of an angry person desperate to get even, are what count. How did Nigerians evaluate my public service? Unfortunately, we do not have scientific opinion polls on job approval ratings for individual public officers. But if the public opinions of individuals and organized groups (labour, employers, depositors, borrowers, stakeholders of the financial institutions, newspaper editorials, investors, etc) as expressed in thousands of newspaper/magazine clips during and after my tenure are anything to go by, then 82% of the public largely agree with the sentiments expressed by my two bosses. Your views belong to the other 18% which is okay, after all, no one is perfect. Five Nigerian newspapers and magazines simultaneously named us “man of the year” in one year— unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. I do not talk about hundreds of awards and recognitions by various segments of our society (during and even after service) for “excellent public service”. I was particularly touched by the historic award by the staff union of the Central Bank and the tears in the eyes of many as thousands of the staff gave me a standing ovation as I walked the aisle after my brief farewell speech. Certainly, the international community (investors, bankers, scholars, donors, media, etc) took serious notice of the revolution in Nigeria’s monetary and financial system. I am recipient of five international awards as global and African central bank governor of the year, not to mention dozens of other recognitions (even after leaving office). The London Financial Times described us as “a great reformer”. Even as the global economic and financial crisis raged in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly appointed me to serve on the Commission of Experts to reform the international monetary and financial system. You don’t appoint someone who has ‘mismanaged’ his national financial system to reform the global system. For 8 years until 2012, I served on the chief economist advisory council (CEAC) of the World Bank, and together with two Nobel Prize winners in economics and other experts we met periodically and advised two presidents and two chief economists of the World Bank, and in 2011, I served on the External Advisory Group of the IMF. Again, these are not positions for ‘mis-managers’. Since I left office, I have been advising countries and central banks; and there is hardly any two months I don’t consult/advise on banking/financial and monetary policy. I have given these illustrations to make the point that for every one Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to rewrite history, there are thousands who disagree. Now, to some skeletal facts of our stewardship! I will be brief as I have a whole book to tell my story. As chief economic adviser, I had advised that our banking system could not support the private sector-led economy envisioned under NEEDS. When I assumed office at CBN, I inherited 89 rickety, mostly family banks (all of which put together were not up to the size of number four bank in South Africa). Many were insolvent, with depositors’ money trapped, and 20 more about to collapse. To get a credit of $300 million probably required all the banks to syndicate it. For me, there was a national emergency. I drafted a 13-point reform agenda, discussed and agreed all the specifics with the President, and his VP; as well as my management team at the CBN, and we swung into action. President Obasanjo promised 100% support and actually delivered 1000%— which was decisive. I apologize to you Madam because I did not brief or inform you about it. We just wanted to keep it confidential given the sensitivity of the announcement. It is on record that you never supported it. It was both a revolution and a war and most people thought it was “impossible”, but thank God we succeeded. For the first time in Nigeria’s history a policy of that magnitude was announced and deadline kept with precision. We were courageous to revoke the licenses of 14 banks, including those of my friends, in one day. The FT-Banker concluded that the scale, precision, and cost of the transformation were unprecedented in the world. Before then, Malaysia had the least cost of banking consolidation at 5% of Malaysian GDP. It did not cost Nigerian taxpayers one penny. Twenty-five new, stronger banks emerged but the powerful idea behind consolidation ignited something even more powerful—‘the race to the top’. Banks raised more capital, and even banks like First Bank, Zenith, GTB, etc that did not merge with others went on capital raising several times. The consequence was higher levels of capitalization and within two years, 14 Nigerian banks were in the top 1000 banks in the world and two in the top 300 (no Nigerian bank was in the top 1000 before I came). Even after I left office, still 9 banks were in the top 1000. Our vision was to have a Nigerian bank in the top 100 banks within 10 years. As I see the new Access bank; Zenith, GTB, Fidelity, Diamond, UBA, FBN, FCMB, Skye, Stanbic IBTC, Union, Ecobank, etc, I cannot but feel that we have taken giant steps forward. Deposits and credit soared (from barely N1.2 trillion to over N7 trillion); new technologies (ATM and e-banking) boomed, and banks had 57,000 new jobs; mega businesses emerged (ask any major operator in the Nigerian economy their experience with banking and credit before and after Soludo —the Dangotes, Arik, MM2, oil and gas operators; etc); capital market boomed and dominated by the banking sector. It was a new dawn for Nigerian private sector. I have heard Dangote twice say that he would not be near as big as he is today without the banking consolidation. Many other stakeholders still say it today. FDI and portfolio inflows flooded into Nigeria. The world celebrated, and one single transformative idea has changed the face of the private sector and economy forever. Banks became Nigeria’s first transnational corporations with about 37 branches outside of Nigeria. Nigeria survived the global crisis because of this, and it is the banking sector that has largely been powering the economic growth you claim (compare banks trillions of naira credit for investments in the productive sector with your government’s miserable expenditure on critical infrastructure and investment; much of your borrowing – bonds – is from the banks). Your privatization of power sector, several PPP projects on infrastructure, etc, are now possible because of the mega banks. Today, Nigerian banks syndicate multi-billion dollar loans— unthinkable before. Madam, if the consolidation was ‘mismanaged’, there would not have been any bank to start with in the aftermath of the global crisis— as President Yar’adua correctly pointed out. Even you, during a recent presentation at the Banquet Hall in Abuja advertised consolidation as a historic achievement. How can you recognize a ‘mis-managed’ project as an outstanding achievement? As we say in Igbo, you can’t cover the moon with your palms. Let me be clear: the quantum size of the new banks following consolidation presented challenges of risk management and supervision. We deployed all we had and overworked the CBN staff. The carry-over of bad loans from the consolidated banks was quickly cleaned up. To the best of my knowledge, we instituted stringent regulatory and supervisory regime (consistent with best practices at the time). We even had resident examiners in the banks and required bank MDs to personally sign their reports to CBN. I recall that the former MD of GTB complained of “regulatory intrusiveness”. To our credit, non-performing loans (NPL) came down from 22% in 2003 and 2004 to 6% as at 2008. Anywhere in the world, a central bank that brought NPL from 22% to 6% over a four year period does not look like one with a loose supervisory regime. Name other developing countries that performed better, Madam. So, on point of fact, Madam lied. Yours was a reckless assertion without basis by a Finance Minister. The banks in Nigeria were supervised by the CBN and NDIC, but other institutions— international firms which audited them, international rating agencies which also examined their books, capital market operators since most were listed companies — all had oversight. I put on record that there was never any information/report of infractions by any bank which was brought to my attention and which we did not act upon decisively during my tenure. I heard the comment that some of the bank MDs were my friends. Well, my response is that perhaps as CME you should kill all your friends operating in the economy or become their enemies. For the record, my successor audited all the banks and none of my so-called friends was indicted. It speaks volumes. Indeed, it is also a fact that the alleged personal criminal infractions (including lapses in corporate governance Madam alluded to) by some bank CEOs were found out, only AFTER they had been removed from office. My successor told me that the comprehensive audit of the banks did not reveal such infractions. Of course, you must be God or have a special tip-off from inside to get to such information while the MDs are in office. Unfortunately, all over the world, no financial system has succeeded in routing out all criminal behaviours by the operators. So, Madam, I challenge you to provide one shred of evidence that ‘there was no separation between regulators and regulated’ or be honourable enough to retract your reckless statement. What happened? The unanticipated and unprecedented crisis of 2008/09 hit the world. More than 40 US and European banks either collapsed or were shaken badly (remember the Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Wachovia, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, even UBS, etc) and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent to bail them out. The contagion effects spread like a wild fire, destroying national stock markets and banks. The nascent (big) banks in Nigeria faced sudden multiple shocks— liquidity, exchange rate, oil price, capital market, etc. As oil prices collapsed, loans to oil and gas became non-performing overnight; loans to the capital market became non-performing overnight; etc. Our first priority was to save the entire banking system and the economy from systemic collapse. I assured Nigerians that no bank would be allowed to fail, and not many people know what it took to achieve it. Once we had navigated through the unexpected /unprecedented turbulence, we laid out a comprehensive plan to clean up the debris which we presented to stakeholders in Lagos (March 2009). I had pleaded with the Senate to pass the AMCON bill which we sent to them in 2004. But I had a comprehensive plan to finish the clean-up with or without AMCON by the end of 2009, including second round consolidation and a N500 billion fund (my book will detail all these). I left behind an 11-volume document of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) which has remained the policy roadmap for the CBN/financial sector since I left office. I have two analogies for our experience. Ours was really like an airplane that was cruising and suddenly meets an unexpected and unprecedented turbulence. After the pilots and the crew succeed in navigating through the potential crash and probably land the airplane, people look in and start blaming the crew for the broken tea cups, chairs, and drinks that fell during the turbulence as evidence that the crew never kept the airplane clean or serviced it. My second analogy is that of a sudden earthquake in a region it was never expected and some houses collapsed. All of a sudden, the housing authority is to blame for not requiring earthquake-proof foundations for the houses. Well, my legal experts call it force majeure, an act of nature To be fair, after every crisis, there are lessons (and my book will detail what, with benefit of that experience, we should have done differently). Risk management— which has always been there— now took a new centre stage all over the world following the crisis. But for anyone to suggest that CBN under me, for one minute, took its eyes off the ball is, to say the least, ludicrous. The US financial system literally crippled the world costing America hundreds of billions of dollars but no one has suggested that Alan Greenspan is no longer the great maestro! AMCON is a big topic (which I will address at a later date) but her claims show either ignorance or mischief. She claims that N5.7 trillion of AMCON funds was used to rescue banks and the ‘bond issued’ as ‘cost to taxpayers’. Really? I will deal with the AMCON I envisaged and the AMCON under you later but let me state that even if 100% of the banks’ NPL was offloaded on AMCON, it would not be up to N5.7 trillion. Enough said for now. The fact is that the Federal Government has not put a penny in the AMCON fund: the banking system is financing itself, and together with the sinking fund by banks, AMCON surely can’t default (thanks to consolidation that the banks are now big enough to cough out such funds to solve the system’s problem). Did you intend to deceive the readers by refusing to tell them that much of the AMCON fund is ‘investment’ and not ‘expense’. Am sure you heard the IMF’s alarm about moral hazard? If you want, we can have a focused debate on AMCON. Next, let me briefly respond to a few outlandish claims. She brags about ‘single-digit’ inflation rate ‘now’ and alleges that when I left office, inflation was above 13%. I just laughed at this one. In Nigeria’s history, no governor of the Central Bank has delivered 24 consecutive months of single digit inflation as I did until the advent of the unprecedented global crisis in 2008. It was not for nothing that the world cheered us as monetary policy czar, Madam! Perhaps you are also not aware that we broke a world record by having a depreciated real effective exchange rate during a time of export boom and this was at the heart of our reserve accumulation and the portfolio/FDI inflows. I resisted the IMF advice to deplete reserves for liquidity management, and Nigeria had enough self-insurance to survive the global crisis. The opposite has happened under you Madam, and the Nigerian economy is in trouble. Naira exchange rate appreciated under me from N133 to N117 before the global crisis; and reserves grew to all time high of $62 billion. For the first time since 1986, the official, interbank and parallel market exchange rates converged under me. You can’t match these records! I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop! Next, Madam, I was really embarrassed for you to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’. Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? Come on, Madam! Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another N12.6 trillion. Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over N4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?). How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years? As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel, has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process? Be honest: do you really know (as coordinator and minister of finance) how many trillions of Naira, self- financing government agencies earn and spend? I have a long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security. My estimate, Madam, is that probably more than N30 trillion has either been stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes in the past four years. Since you claim to be in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to account. Think about what this amount could mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians or for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay this or that tax, while some faceless “thieves” were pocketing over $40 million per day from oil alone. You alluded to debt relief in your response and tried to take credit. Well, your CV is honest enough to admit that your two achievements in office as Finance minister under Obasanjo were that “you led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club” and that you “introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation in the newspapers”. You are right about the two achievements. Let me put on record that Nigeria would have secured debt relief under anyone as Minister of Finance. President Obasanjo secured debt relief for Nigeria. Much of his first term was used to get Nigeria back into the international community and to campaign for debt relief. Before you were sworn in as Minister of Finance, President Bush visited Nigeria and both of us accompanied President Obasanjo during the meeting. There, Mr. Bush promised to support Nigeria with debt relief and asked our president to ensure that he met the conditions of the Paris Club. Obasanjo mobilized the global political support and coordinated all of us to ensure that the government met the check-list of ‘conditionalities’ as required. I spent five weeks in the hotel with my team (as coordinator/chairman for drafting the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS). Some of the reform targets in NEEDS became the ‘conditionalities’ Nigeria was required to fulfil to merit debt relief. You and I signed the various MoU with the IMF on behalf of Nigeria (the policy support instrument). We had a great team at work and each member of the economic team had specific aspects of the conditionalities to deliver: Bode Agusto was in-charge of the budget; Oby Ezekwesili held sway at Bureau of Public Procurement and later Minister of Solid Mineral, and Education (but specifically tasked with delivering on EITI and procurement reforms); Nuhu Ribadu was at the EFCC fighting corruption; I was at the Central Bank delivering on monetary policy and banking reforms; Steve Oronsaye worked hard to delist Nigeria from the FATF; Nenadi Usman was in-charge of the parastatals; El-Rufai held forth at FCT and in charge of public sector reforms; privatization programme went on, etc. Did you know that the IMF wrote President Obasanjo threatening that there would be no debt relief if the CBN did not meet some monetary targets, and do you know the magic we performed to meet them? Can you tell Nigerians which of the ‘conditionalities’ that you personally implemented? With the groundswell of political support and Nigeria meeting all the ‘conditionalities’, debt relief was assured. Your major role as stated in your CV was to lead the team to negotiate the specific terms of the relief, having fulfilled the conditions. I still believe that Nigeria should have gotten far better terms than you negotiated. Of course, with your eyes on returning to the World Bank after office, I did not expect you to boldly stand up to the donor community in defence of Nigeria. Was there a conflict of interest on your part? By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team—- barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important? Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked. You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty. There are firebrand Nigerians all over the world to draft to service. It is certainly embarrassing to Nigeria for you to be bothering World Bank economists to help you with most basic economic analysis. Your response on the poverty issue is deeply troubling. You accuse me of using “2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures? What worries me is that this government is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys. I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘review methodology’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the published figures. No government in our history has tried it: even Sani Abacha allowed a poverty survey that put poverty at 67% under his regime. At this rate, who will believe statistics coming from the Nigerian government again? Is it now the World Bank that sits in Washington and allocates poverty numbers to Nigeria? Something smells here! Madam alleges that the NBS—as a parastatal under the National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published in 2005/2006— more than a year after I had gone to the Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was a clever way to divert attention from your manipulation of published economic statistics. The NBS published its poverty data in 2006 when you were Minister of Finance, and you did not question the ‘methodology’ because the figures looked good. In 2011, the poverty numbers (using the same methodology as in 2005/2006) indicted the government and suddenly, the ‘methodology’ is wrong. Interesting times! Now that you decide which economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones to ‘change the methodology’ to give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated figures to your international media circus for the vain glorious awards to sustain an empty hype, while Nigerians groan under hardship. We can actually ask Nigerians whether they are getting better off now contrary to your bogus figures. Many of Madam’s responses were comical, but this one is classic. According to her, the chief economic adviser and NBS “worked hard to determine how many jobs we need to create in a year”, and went on to ask, “why didn’t Soludo do this when he was CEA?” (Lol!). Madam, any good economist needs less than 10 minutes to compute this figure, not the (months? of) ‘hard work’ by your team. My calculation is that the number of jobs Nigeria needs to create each year to significantly reduce unemployment rate to sustainable levels in the next few years is at least 3 million, and not the 1.8 million by your team. We are talking about the Nigerian economy, please. Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers—for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank— financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc? People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank. I will offer you free consultancy on how to set up a development bank without a World Bank loan but we don’t need another one now. I actually gave President Yar’adua a two page note for a N3 trillion development fund then, and if we plug your leaking pipes, it could actually be a N10 trillion Fund. I envisioned and set up the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)—Africa’s premier infrastructure bank! Frankly, I don’t understand why you seem highly troubled that the Soludo you thought had “disappeared from the political space” seems to be still around. Well, let me assure you that I will only ‘disappear’ in God’s own time. I gave credit to two past presidents who laid the foundation of the market economy we operate today. You did not contest or contradict any of my points. Rather, what you see is that Soludo must be ‘looking for a position’. Pity! If I am looking for a position, I would be running around one of the candidates now just as you are busy dancing Atilogwu dance at TAN and PDP rallies, struggling to keep your job. How Yar’adua drafted me to contest for governor in Anambra and APGA leadership as well and how I was “stopped” on both occasions are in the public domain. But I am not deterred for one minute. Chinua Achebe said that on leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. I am proud and happy to have offered to serve my people, and for the service of Nigeria, I will do it again and again. How many times did Abraham Lincoln, Obama, Reagan, etc contest before they got there? I actually encourage everyone who believes he/she has something to offer to get involved or stop complaining. I am happy seeing the increasing critical mass of professionals (like you) now getting involved. It is good for Nigeria! What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria. Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the ECONOMY. We must offer Nigerians clarity on the choices before them. Can I propose a three-way debate with you (representing PDP/Federal Government), nominee of APC (Utomi or Fayemi? or any other), and myself (as independent citizen— I don’t belong to any of the two). Let us have two bouts of debate between now and 12thFebruary, 2015 focusing on: CBN/AMCON and the financial system (if you want); our economy and its outlook, and agenda/alternative paths to sustainable prosperity post elections. Choose the dates and times, and for the sake of Nigeria, I will fly in. You can invite any of your international media friends as moderators. I feel the pain of the 180 million Nigerians whose tomorrow you have carelessly rendered bleak, and when I think of what the missing trillions could do for them, it becomes extremely urgent that we all must deepen the debate. Eagerly waiting for your response, please!