Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Digest for usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com - 10 updates in 7 topics
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Segun Badmus
Dec 15, 2015, 6:03:31 AM12/15/15
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Hello folks
My own opinion is simple. All probes can not go on simultaneously. We need to focus on immediate government to recoup as much as we can after which a search light should be extended to the past government. A wholesome probe of all government of the past could be counter productive. As for those trying to draw parallel between who and when to probe APC sponsors, i beseech you to wait for the day of reckoning for all that have surreptitiously partook in the pilfering of our national wealth. Drawing comparison and using that to distract the government from doing what is it constitutionally assigned to do is unpatriotic. The question you should ask is why did the immediate government not probe his predecessors? Why is the demand to probe beyond the immediate government now a singsong in from those who were supposed to have done so?
Please let us all be guided that the task of cleaning the Augean stable has began and it would surely take some years to finish, no need to rush. What needs hastiness is our development needs like water, food, education and good health.
Thank you
Segun Badmus
Best Regards.
0214473840
0620825728
On Tue, Dec 15, 2015 at 1:00 AM, <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
- STAR MEA CULPA: Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes, PDP tells Buhari - 3 Updates
- U-Report: Shiite Leader’s Second In-Command, Spokesman Killed In Zaria - 2 Updates
- Fwd : Be Patient With Buhari, Kashamu Begs Nigerians - 1 Update
- Prominent PDP Chieftain Washes Hand Off Arms Deal Scandal - 1 Update
- News Release: West African Nations Striving To Escape The Commodities Downturn In An Era Of Increasingly Transnational Security Threats & Issues - 1 Update
- Fiction: A Story by Ghanaian-born Author Yaa Gyasi, Whose Debut Novel Sold for 7 Figures this Year - 1 Update
- On the Matter of Letters in the Heat of a Political Campaign {RE: Mrs Iweala 's AIE letter to President Jonathan . - 1 Update
olaka...@aol.com: Dec 14 04:10PM -0500
OA et al:
How can Dasukigate be considered a form of witch hunting
when Dasuki and some of the fellow accused are already "singing"
like parrots and admitting to stealing public funds?
The looters were so sloppy, it does not require an Inspector Clousseau
to trace and find their criminal activities. They kept on transferring public
funds into their own private accounts and their cronies accounts in April 2015
weeks after they had lost the elections on Mar 28, 2015.
Are you guys suggesting that the FGN should let them go and keep on
enjoying their loot until OBJ and those who served under him have also
been tried and convicted?
The criminal justice system does not aim to catch and prosecute
all offenders. Its mission is to prosecute alleged offenders and
punish them if they are found guility.
None of these shenanigans would have surfaced if GEJ and the
PDP had won the March 28 elections.
We should let the judicial process decide whether or not the process
that led to the arrests of the accused is witch hunting. Hopefully, the law
will set them free if they are truly innocent of the charges.
Nigeria is indeed a strange nation full of strange people!
Bye,
Ola
---- Original Message ----
From: Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 14, 2015 3:14 pm
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR MEA CULPA: Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes, PDP tells Buhari
Ike,
YouAy be right. What seems more likely to me is that Abacha will be untouchable as others before and after him have been. It is kind of a class thing. The club of of former dictators, heads of state, and presidents has privileges and benefits. Only living members enjoy them. They are not accountable to any one or authority. Remember the Oputa Commission and the disdain with which they treated the commission? They all including the serving president got away with their snob did they not? Death of a member is at the member and their estates' risk as is evident in the Abacha case it seems.
oa
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 14, 2015, at 3:47 AM, Emmanuel Udogu <udo...@appstate.edu> wrote:
oa
Perhaps Abacha would have bribed the judiciary and gone free. Or, his theft would not have seen the light of day. The judiciary is one of our tripartite power-sharing organs (Executive, Legislative and Judicial)-- an arm of the government that needs cleansing--I mean serious cleansing. On paper, this arrangement that we borrowed from the US was meant to introduce a system of checks and balances. Not so in Nigeria where the judiciary seems to work at the behest of the Executive branch. Folks, our battle to clean up our corrupt system has just begun. Never again will our leaders take us for granted.
To paraphrase one of our former leaders: "I governed you as a military man. You elected me [fraudulently] twice. Now tell me, who is the 'mumu' I or you who elected me?" My answer is we are the "mumus!"
Ike Udogu
On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 10:41 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
Does anyone know who funded the APC presidential campaign? The party's candidate was widely reported to be not rich. He could not have funded his campaign from own funds therefore. Who did then and have they got any payback? My question to those who propose a cut off point in the prosecution of the theft of public funds by government and other officials by the present administration is a simple one. Is there a statute of limitation on the crimes? Abacha has been dead for many years now. Funds he allegedly stole are still being recovered from
different repositories without a successful prosecution of his estate or his administration. Why not the others before or after the Abacha Administration? Is there not a fairness case to be made about the unequal treatment of Abacha? Death it seems has been Abacha's undoing. If he was still with us, the story would have been different.
oa
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 13, 2015, at 9:15 PM, 'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Bolaji,
Oliseh Metuh is spot on; Buhari's anti-Corruption stance is a witch hunt directed at the PDP and his personal enemies. That is why it is having an image problem. This is the prevailing sentiment as articulated by one Okoli Chuemeka on social media:
"The only problem with Dasuki's loot is that it was not used to sponsor Buhari's campaign, else the man would have been a saint like Rotimi Amaechi."
Many of us have always said loudly that what has been going on in the name of democracy since 1999 is massive looting - supervised by the likes of Obasanjo and Tinubu. There is absolutely no difference between the APC and the PDP, they are all thieves. What Dasuki did is exactly what they all do, sink imaginary boreholes with millions of dollars and create personal websites with hundreds of thousands of Nigerians' dollars. No shame. And it appears that virtually ALL our newspapers were/are part of the looting spree. This is who we are. Nonsense.
The APC, that break-away at Bolaji, the other day on Facebook, I said this:
"Those that are most impervious to systemic change in Nigeria are many of the very young for whom this fight is all about. They will fight any attempt to free them from the slavery that feeds them crumbs at the master's table. The APC has thrived on the energy of these young people for whom the end justifies the means. Nigeria is not going to be free soon, many young people like it just like this."
And someone paraphrased me thus by replacing APC with PDP:
"Those that are most impervious to systemic change in Nigeria are many of the very young for whom this fight is all about. They will fight any attempt to free them from the slavery that feeds them crumbs at the master's table. The PDP has thrived on the energy of these young people for whom the end justifies the means. Nigeria is not going to be free soon, many young people like it just like this."
In doing so, he made my point beautifully, that there is absolutely no difference between the thieves of the PDP and the APC; they are both vile vermin united in raping our land.
By the way, the myth of an opposition is just that, a myth. There is really no opposition; our politicians (APC and PDP) are mostly thieves united against the Nigerian people.
What Mr. Buhari proudly calls an anti corruption war is what I see as a fight among thieves. It lacks structure and focus, is unsustainable and will die an ignominious death like the ones before it. It lacks structure and focus, is unsustainable and will die an ignominious death like the ones before it.
We need a systemic, focused approach to combating corruption, plugging avenues for looting using robust systems of accountability, and replacing corruption as a structure of revenue/income sharing and generation with a more wholesome and sustainable one. We need a Marshall Plan to change our culture that is so tied to corruption as the preferred way of life.
Until then, let us enjoy the food fight among kleptomaniacs. Until now, let us enjoy the food fight among kleptomaniacs. I will not get involved, not as long as criminals like Amaechi are the judges. Stand back, by the time this is all over, hopefully not one of them will be standing.
To hell with every one of them.
- Ikhide
On Dec 13, 2015, at 11:48 AM, Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com> wrote:
My People:
In short..."it is not only us that have been doing these revealed things...."
Who advises these people like Olisa Metuh to make these damaging statements?
Inquiring minds want to know....
Bolaji Aluko
Shaking his head
VANGUARD
Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes,PDP tells Buhari
on December 13, 2015 / in News 5:21 pm
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA- NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said Sunday that if the All Progressives Congress, APC led Federal Government must succeed in its fight against Corruption, it must probe all security votes of past Presidents and Heads of State from 1984 to date, just as it called for the establishment of a National Truth Commission.
According to the party, the security votes of past governments of former Presidents Heads of State from incumbent President, President Muhammadu Buhari, then as a Head of State; former Military President ibrahim Babangida; General Abdusalami Abubakar; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; and late Umaru Yar’Adua’s Adua.
The PDP also called on President Buhari to probe the expenditure of all military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against militancy in the Niger Delta, military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda among others.
It also urged the APC led administration to probe the source of funding of the PDP and APC’s 2015 Presidential campaigns; the contributions from APC controlled state governors for their Presidential campaign and the beneficiaries thereof.
In a statement Sunday by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party noted that while it was in support of President Buhari’s fight against Corrupton, it must look into the past for Nigerians and the international community to take the crusade very seriously, even as it called for the probe of award of contracts by the petroleum task force from 1993 to 1999.
Metuh said,”The Leadership of the peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby reiterates its support for an honest, holistic and total war against corruption and we demand the trial and prosecution of all those involved, including those who may have returned ‘loots’ to the government.
“However, we are completely against any one-sided public trial and mob conviction of accused persons without following the age-long and worldwide legal process wherein all accused persons are presumed innocent until the contrary is lawfully proved. We do not believe that mere investigation confers a guilt verdict on those concerned and the government should stop the brutal mob and public conviction of individuals and the transfer of the burden of proof of people being investigated.
“We restate for emphasis that a media and public war against corruption is good, but it should not be limited to only those opposed to the President and the ruling party. In fact, until top officials of the former government open up on the exact source of the funding, it remains premature to be accusing our party members of corrupt practices.
“Nevertheless, if indeed the government’s investigation includes the expenditure of President Jonathan security votes from 2011, then it should be extended to a public inquisition on the following: The security votes of all past Presidents and Heads of state from 1984; The award of contracts by the petroleum task force from 1993 to 1999; expenditure of our military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against militancy in the Niger Delta, military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda among others; the source of funding of the PDP and APC’s 2015 Presidential campaigns; the contributions from APC controlled state governors for their Presidential campaign and the beneficiaries thereof as well as allegations that people were made ministers just to cover up the slush fund that they provided to finance the APC presidential campaign.
“In the light of the way and manner of this government’s selective prosecution of the war against corruption, the PDP challenges the government to set up a National Truth Commission wherein politicians and other Nigerians publicly discuss the true meaning of corrupt practice in our land. This commission would also provide a platform for a proper public inquisition into the mind-boggling wealth of some Nigerians in public office.
“Nigerians are quite eager to learn the business and investment tricks of past and present public officers in the APC fold, especially former governors, former ministers as well as their national leader, who suddenly acquired multi-billions investments and are now reputed to be the richest politicians in the country.
“Nevertheless, if indeed President Muhammadu Buhari in anyway whatsoever desires to probe his opponent in the Presidential election, he should come out straight instead of going round in circles.
“If indeed the government is interested in ending sleazes associated with campaign funds, the National Truth Commission will present an avenue for Nigerians to openly debate the issues therein with facts and figures.
“If truly this government has provided hundreds of millions of naira to columnists, media analysts and commentators as well as social media writers and bloggers to castigate, denigrate and embarrass the PDP and its leaders, then the PDP, being a party that is out of power and especially against the present hostility of the security agencies, will publicly approach the Truth Commission with revelations backed with evidence, facts and figures.
“Finally, we state categorically that the PDP will no longer allow major beneficiaries of its 16 years in power, especially those with a lot of proven baggage to attempt to adorn a sanctimonious apparel by castigating and denigrating a party on which platform they had the opportunity to serve.”
--
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To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
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To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com"Anunoby, Ogugua" <Anun...@lincolnu.edu>: Dec 14 03:58PM -0600
I do not know that chasing after Dasuki is a witch hunt and have not said that it is. I know however that it would be if others like him are treated differently. Dasuki is singing today. What about those who sang before Dasuki?
Nigeria's economic, political, and social space is awash in news and glaring evidence of theft of public funds by privileged government officials. Why some cases and not others are prioritized for investigation and possible prosecution is the question.
It is possible to conduct and prosecute more than a few cases of said theft at the same time is it not? What is stopping the Buhari Administration from resurrecting some of the unresolved buried cases of corruption one may ask? Every administration is a successor to its the one before it is it not? Why the preference for new cases? The above are legitimate questions in my opinion. What is the compelling reason for the urgency? Is it any surprise that there are many who may suspect there is a witch hunt one may ask.
OA
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 14, 2015, at 3:12 PM, olakassimmd via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>> wrote:
OA et al:
How can Dasukigate be considered a form of witch hunting
when Dasuki and some of the fellow accused are already "singing"
like parrots and admitting to stealing public funds?
The looters were so sloppy, it does not require an Inspector Clousseau
to trace and find their criminal activities. They kept on transferring public
funds into their own private accounts and their cronies accounts in April 2015
weeks after they had lost the elections on Mar 28, 2015.
Are you guys suggesting that the FGN should let them go and keep on
enjoying their loot until OBJ and those who served under him have also
been tried and convicted?
The criminal justice system does not aim to catch and prosecute
all offenders. Its mission is to prosecute alleged offenders and
punish them if they are found guility.
None of these shenanigans would have surfaced if GEJ and the
PDP had won the March 28 elections.
We should let the judicial process decide whether or not the process
that led to the arrests of the accused is witch hunting. Hopefully, the law
will set them free if they are truly innocent of the charges.
Nigeria is indeed a strange nation full of strange people!
Bye,
Ola
---- Original Message ----
From: Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu<mailto:Anun...@lincolnu.edu>>
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>>
Sent: Mon, Dec 14, 2015 3:14 pm
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR MEA CULPA: Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes, PDP tells Buhari
Ike,
YouAy be right. What seems more likely to me is that Abacha will be untouchable as others before and after him have been. It is kind of a class thing. The club of of former dictators, heads of state, and presidents has privileges and benefits. Only living members enjoy them. They are not accountable to any one or authority. Remember the Oputa Commission and the disdain with which they treated the commission? They all including the serving president got away with their snob did they not? Death of a member is at the member and their estates' risk as is evident in the Abacha case it seems.
oa
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 14, 2015, at 3:47 AM, Emmanuel Udogu <udo...@appstate.edu<mailto:udo...@appstate.edu>> wrote:
oa
Perhaps Abacha would have bribed the judiciary and gone free. Or, his theft would not have seen the light of day. The judiciary is one of our tripartite power-sharing organs (Executive, Legislative and Judicial)-- an arm of the government that needs cleansing--I mean serious cleansing. On paper, this arrangement that we borrowed from the US was meant to introduce a system of checks and balances. Not so in Nigeria where the judiciary seems to work at the behest of the Executive branch. Folks, our battle to clean up our corrupt system has just begun. Never again will our leaders take us for granted.
To paraphrase one of our former leaders: "I governed you as a military man. You elected me [fraudulently] twice. Now tell me, who is the 'mumu' I or you who elected me?" My answer is we are the "mumus!"
Ike Udogu
On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 10:41 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu<mailto:Anun...@lincolnu.edu>> wrote:
Does anyone know who funded the APC presidential campaign? The party's candidate was widely reported to be not rich. He could not have funded his campaign from own funds therefore. Who did then and have they got any payback? My question to those who propose a cut off point in the prosecution of the theft of public funds by government and other officials by the present administration is a simple one. Is there a statute of limitation on the crimes? Abacha has been dead for many years now. Funds he allegedly stole are still being recovered from
different repositories without a successful prosecution of his estate or his administration. Why not the others before or after the Abacha Administration? Is there not a fairness case to be made about the unequal treatment of Abacha? Death it seems has been Abacha's undoing. If he was still with us, the story would have been different.
oa
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 13, 2015, at 9:15 PM, 'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com>> wrote:
Bolaji,
Oliseh Metuh is spot on; Buhari's anti-Corruption stance is a witch hunt directed at the PDP and his personal enemies. That is why it is having an image problem. This is the prevailing sentiment as articulated by one Okoli Chuemeka on social media:
"The only problem with Dasuki's loot is that it was not used to sponsor Buhari's campaign, else the man would have been a saint like Rotimi Amaechi."
Many of us have always said loudly that what has been going on in the name of democracy since 1999 is massive looting - supervised by the likes of Obasanjo and Tinubu. There is absolutely no difference between the APC and the PDP, they are all thieves. What Dasuki did is exactly what they all do, sink imaginary boreholes with millions of dollars and create personal websites with hundreds of thousands of Nigerians' dollars. No shame. And it appears that virtually ALL our newspapers were/are part of the looting spree. This is who we are. Nonsense.
The APC, that break-away at Bolaji, the other day on Facebook, I said this:
"Those that are most impervious to systemic change in Nigeria are many of the very young for whom this fight is all about. They will fight any attempt to free them from the slavery that feeds them crumbs at the master's table. The APC has thrived on the energy of these young people for whom the end justifies the means. Nigeria is not going to be free soon, many young people like it just like this."
And someone paraphrased me thus by replacing APC with PDP:
"Those that are most impervious to systemic change in Nigeria are many of the very young for whom this fight is all about. They will fight any attempt to free them from the slavery that feeds them crumbs at the master's table. The PDP has thrived on the energy of these young people for whom the end justifies the means. Nigeria is not going to be free soon, many young people like it just like this."
In doing so, he made my point beautifully, that there is absolutely no difference between the thieves of the PDP and the APC; they are both vile vermin united in raping our land.
By the way, the myth of an opposition is just that, a myth. There is really no opposition; our politicians (APC and PDP) are mostly thieves united against the Nigerian people.
What Mr. Buhari proudly calls an anti corruption war is what I see as a fight among thieves. It lacks structure and focus, is unsustainable and will die an ignominious death like the ones before it. It lacks structure and focus, is unsustainable and will die an ignominious death like the ones before it.
We need a systemic, focused approach to combating corruption, plugging avenues for looting using robust systems of accountability, and replacing corruption as a structure of revenue/income sharing and generation with a more wholesome and sustainable one. We need a Marshall Plan to change our culture that is so tied to corruption as the preferred way of life.
Until then, let us enjoy the food fight among kleptomaniacs. Until now, let us enjoy the food fight among kleptomaniacs. I will not get involved, not as long as criminals like Amaechi are the judges. Stand back, by the time this is all over, hopefully not one of them will be standing.
To hell with every one of them.
- Ikhide
On Dec 13, 2015, at 11:48 AM, Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com<mailto:alu...@gmail.com>> wrote:
My People:
In short..."it is not only us that have been doing these revealed things...."
Who advises these people like Olisa Metuh to make these damaging statements?
Inquiring minds want to know....
Bolaji Aluko
Shaking his head
VANGUARD
Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes,PDP tells Buhari
on December 13, 2015 / in News<http://www.vanguardngr.com/category/national-news/> 5:21 pm
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA- NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said Sunday that if the All Progressives Congress, APC led Federal Government must succeed in its fight against Corruption, it must probe all security votes of past Presidents and Heads of State from 1984 to date, just as it called for the establishment of a National Truth Commission.
According to the party, the security votes of past governments of former Presidents Heads of State from incumbent President, President Muhammadu Buhari, then as a Head of State; former Military President ibrahim Babangida; General Abdusalami Abubakar; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; and late Umaru Yar’Adua’s Adua.
The PDP also called on President Buhari to probe the expenditure of all military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against militancy in the Niger Delta, military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda among others.
It also urged the APC led administration to probe the source of funding of the PDP and APC’s 2015 Presidential campaigns; the contributions from APC controlled state governors for their Presidential campaign and the beneficiaries thereof.
In a statement Sunday by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party noted that while it was in support of President Buhari’s fight against Corrupton, it must look into the past for Nigerians and the international community to take the crusade very seriously, even as it called for the probe of award of contracts by the petroleum task force from 1993 to 1999.
Metuh said,”The Leadership of the peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby reiterates its support for an honest, holistic and total war against corruption and we demand the trial and prosecution of all those involved, including those who may have returned ‘loots’ to the government.
“However, we are completely against any one-sided public trial and mob conviction of accused persons without following the age-long and worldwide legal process wherein all accused persons are presumed innocent until the contrary is lawfully proved. We do not believe that mere investigation confers a guilt verdict on those concerned and the government should stop the brutal mob and public conviction of individuals and the transfer of the burden of proof of people being investigated.
“We restate for emphasis that a media and public war against corruption is good, but it should not be limited to only those opposed to the President and the ruling party. In fact, until top officials of the former government open up on the exact source of the funding, it remains premature to be accusing our party members of corrupt practices.
“Nevertheless, if indeed the government’s investigation includes the expenditure of President Jonathan security votes from 2011, then it should be extended to a public inquisition on the following: The security votes of all past Presidents and Heads of state from 1984; The award of contracts by the petroleum task force from 1993 to 1999; expenditure of our military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against militancy in the Niger Delta, military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda among others; the source of funding of the PDP and APC’s 2015 Presidential campaigns; the contributions from APC controlled state governors for their Presidential campaign and the beneficiaries thereof as well as allegations that people were made ministers just to cover up the slush fund that they provided to finance the APC presidential campaign.
“In the light of the way and manner of this government’s selective prosecution of the war against corruption, the PDP challenges the government to set up a National Truth Commission wherein politicians and other Nigerians publicly discuss the true meaning of corrupt practice in our land. This commission would also provide a platform for a proper public inquisition into the mind-boggling wealth of some Nigerians in public office.
“Nigerians are quite eager to learn the business and investment tricks of past and present public officers in the APC fold, especially former governors, former ministers as well as their national leader, who suddenly acquired multi-billions investments and are now reputed to be the richest politicians in the country.
“Nevertheless, if indeed President Muhammadu Buhari in anyway whatsoever desires to probe his opponent in the Presidential election, he should come out straight instead of going round in circles.
“If indeed the government is interested in ending sleazes associated with campaign funds, the National Truth Commission will present an avenue for Nigerians to openly debate the issues therein with facts and figures.
“If truly this government has provided hundreds of millions of naira to columnists, media analysts and commentators as well as social media writers and bloggers to castigate, denigrate and embarrass the PDP and its leaders, then the PDP, being a party that is out of power and especially against the present hostility of the security agencies, will publicly approach the Truth Commission with revelations backed with evidence, facts and figures.
“Finally, we state categorically that the PDP will no longer allow major beneficiaries of its 16 years in power, especially those with a lot of proven baggage to attempt to adorn a sanctimonious apparel by castigating and denigrating a party on which platform they had the opportunity to serve.”
--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com<mailto:USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com>
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
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To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com<mailto:USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>olaka...@aol.com: Dec 14 05:29PM -0500
It is possible to conduct and prosecute more than a few cases of said theft at the same time is it not? What is stopping the Buhari Administration from resurrecting some of the unresolved buried cases of corruption one may ask? Every administration is a successor to its the one before it is it not? Why the preference for new cases? The above are legitimate questions in my opinion. What is the compelling reason for the urgency? Is it any surprise that there are many who may suspect there is a witch hunt one may ask.
OA
OA:
You asked:
It is possible to conduct and prosecute more than a few cases of said theft at the same time is it not?
Answer: Yes it is possible to prioritize 'cold' cases if we borrow the term used by the Homicide squad, but such
prioritization should not be at the expense of new cases--where the evidence is so fresh the police dogs could still
sniff out the trace events.
"What is stopping the Buhari Administration from resurrecting some of the unresolved buried cases of corruption one may ask?
Answer: Nothing except that limited resources must be channeled first and foremost towards fresh cases in which the success
rate of the prosecuting in obtaining guilty verdict and ensuring that the looted funds are returned are much better than pursuing
cold cases of corrupt practices.
Questions: "Every administration is a successor to its the one before it is it not?
Why the preference for new cases? The above are legitimate questions in my opinion.
What is the compelling reason for the urgency?
Answer: Yes. Every administration is a successor to the previous administration.
GEJ chose to let OBJ off the hook. Rather than give the EFCC the resources the organization needed
to prosecute those who looted the treasury during the OBJ years, GEJ allowed his Attorney General
to throw obstacles in the path of the EFCC's attempts to prosecute the alleged thieves.
The answers to the remainder of the rest of the questions can be found in #1 and # 2 above.
The most compelling case to have these alleged crooks prosecuted is that Nigeria is broke.
The treasury is bare.
Instead of using $335 million USD to support and bolster the value of the Naira--some rogues
in high places betrayed the trust of the people. stole the funds distributed them amongst their cronies
and repatriated the remainder to Swiss and other foreign bank accounts.
The negative impact of the financial criminal offences far outweigh the impact of the offences committed by armed robbers, hired killers
and even the BH on Nigerian society. Armed robbers and the BH kill hundreds and thousands of Nigerians
every year while treasury looters kill millions of Nigerian children and adults whom they deprive of the necessities
of life by stealing the funds that are meant for their welfare.
We cannot continue to do things the same way in Nigeria and keep on expecting
different results.
PMB has decided to make a difference in Nigeria. It is no longer business as usual.
You steal public funds; you go to jail or better still if we can amend the criminal
code---You steal' you die by facing a firing squad just as they do in China!
Bye,
Ola
---- Original Message ----
From: Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 14, 2015 5:01 pm
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR MEA CULPA: Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes, PDP tells Buhari
I do not know that chasing after Dasuki is a witch hunt and have not said that it is. I know however that it would be if others like him are treated differently. Dasuki is singing today. What about those who sang before Dasuki?
Nigeria's economic, political, and social space is awash in news and glaring evidence of theft of public funds by privileged government officials. Why some cases and not others are prioritized for investigation and possible prosecution is the question.
It is possible to conduct and prosecute more than a few cases of said theft at the same time is it not? What is stopping the Buhari Administration from resurrecting some of the unresolved buried cases of corruption one may ask? Every administration is a successor to its the one before it is it not? Why the preference for new cases? The above are legitimate questions in my opinion. What is the compelling reason for the urgency? Is it any surprise that there are many who may suspect there is a witch hunt one may ask.
OA
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 14, 2015, at 3:12 PM, olakassimmd via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
OA et al:
How can Dasukigate be considered a form of witch hunting
when Dasuki and some of the fellow accused are already "singing"
like parrots and admitting to stealing public funds?
The looters were so sloppy, it does not require an Inspector Clousseau
to trace and find their criminal activities. They kept on transferring public
funds into their own private accounts and their cronies accounts in April 2015
weeks after they had lost the elections on Mar 28, 2015.
Are you guys suggesting that the FGN should let them go and keep on
enjoying their loot until OBJ and those who served under him have also
been tried and convicted?
The criminal justice system does not aim to catch and prosecute
all offenders. Its mission is to prosecute alleged offenders and
punish them if they are found guility.
None of these shenanigans would have surfaced if GEJ and the
PDP had won the March 28 elections.
We should let the judicial process decide whether or not the process
that led to the arrests of the accused is witch hunting. Hopefully, the law
will set them free if they are truly innocent of the charges.
Nigeria is indeed a strange nation full of strange people!
Bye,
Ola
---- Original Message ----
From: Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu>
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Mon, Dec 14, 2015 3:14 pm
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - STAR MEA CULPA: Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes, PDP tells Buhari
Ike,
YouAy be right. What seems more likely to me is that Abacha will be untouchable as others before and after him have been. It is kind of a class thing. The club of of former dictators, heads of state, and presidents has privileges and benefits. Only living members enjoy them. They are not accountable to any one or authority. Remember the Oputa Commission and the disdain with which they treated the commission? They all including the serving president got away with their snob did they not? Death of a member is at the member and their estates' risk as is evident in the Abacha case it seems.
oa
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 14, 2015, at 3:47 AM, Emmanuel Udogu <udo...@appstate.edu> wrote:
oa
Perhaps Abacha would have bribed the judiciary and gone free. Or, his theft would not have seen the light of day. The judiciary is one of our tripartite power-sharing organs (Executive, Legislative and Judicial)-- an arm of the government that needs cleansing--I mean serious cleansing. On paper, this arrangement that we borrowed from the US was meant to introduce a system of checks and balances. Not so in Nigeria where the judiciary seems to work at the behest of the Executive branch. Folks, our battle to clean up our corrupt system has just begun. Never again will our leaders take us for granted.
To paraphrase one of our former leaders: "I governed you as a military man. You elected me [fraudulently] twice. Now tell me, who is the 'mumu' I or you who elected me?" My answer is we are the "mumus!"
Ike Udogu
On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 10:41 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <Anun...@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
Does anyone know who funded the APC presidential campaign? The party's candidate was widely reported to be not rich. He could not have funded his campaign from own funds therefore. Who did then and have they got any payback? My question to those who propose a cut off point in the prosecution of the theft of public funds by government and other officials by the present administration is a simple one. Is there a statute of limitation on the crimes? Abacha has been dead for many years now. Funds he allegedly stole are still being recovered from
different repositories without a successful prosecution of his estate or his administration. Why not the others before or after the Abacha Administration? Is there not a fairness case to be made about the unequal treatment of Abacha? Death it seems has been Abacha's undoing. If he was still with us, the story would have been different.
oa
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 13, 2015, at 9:15 PM, 'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Bolaji,
Oliseh Metuh is spot on; Buhari's anti-Corruption stance is a witch hunt directed at the PDP and his personal enemies. That is why it is having an image problem. This is the prevailing sentiment as articulated by one Okoli Chuemeka on social media:
"The only problem with Dasuki's loot is that it was not used to sponsor Buhari's campaign, else the man would have been a saint like Rotimi Amaechi."
Many of us have always said loudly that what has been going on in the name of democracy since 1999 is massive looting - supervised by the likes of Obasanjo and Tinubu. There is absolutely no difference between the APC and the PDP, they are all thieves. What Dasuki did is exactly what they all do, sink imaginary boreholes with millions of dollars and create personal websites with hundreds of thousands of Nigerians' dollars. No shame. And it appears that virtually ALL our newspapers were/are part of the looting spree. This is who we are. Nonsense.
The APC, that break-away at Bolaji, the other day on Facebook, I said this:
"Those that are most impervious to systemic change in Nigeria are many of the very young for whom this fight is all about. They will fight any attempt to free them from the slavery that feeds them crumbs at the master's table. The APC has thrived on the energy of these young people for whom the end justifies the means. Nigeria is not going to be free soon, many young people like it just like this."
And someone paraphrased me thus by replacing APC with PDP:
"Those that are most impervious to systemic change in Nigeria are many of the very young for whom this fight is all about. They will fight any attempt to free them from the slavery that feeds them crumbs at the master's table. The PDP has thrived on the energy of these young people for whom the end justifies the means. Nigeria is not going to be free soon, many young people like it just like this."
In doing so, he made my point beautifully, that there is absolutely no difference between the thieves of the PDP and the APC; they are both vile vermin united in raping our land.
By the way, the myth of an opposition is just that, a myth. There is really no opposition; our politicians (APC and PDP) are mostly thieves united against the Nigerian people.
What Mr. Buhari proudly calls an anti corruption war is what I see as a fight among thieves. It lacks structure and focus, is unsustainable and will die an ignominious death like the ones before it. It lacks structure and focus, is unsustainable and will die an ignominious death like the ones before it.
We need a systemic, focused approach to combating corruption, plugging avenues for looting using robust systems of accountability, and replacing corruption as a structure of revenue/income sharing and generation with a more wholesome and sustainable one. We need a Marshall Plan to change our culture that is so tied to corruption as the preferred way of life.
Until then, let us enjoy the food fight among kleptomaniacs. Until now, let us enjoy the food fight among kleptomaniacs. I will not get involved, not as long as criminals like Amaechi are the judges. Stand back, by the time this is all over, hopefully not one of them will be standing.
To hell with every one of them.
- Ikhide
On Dec 13, 2015, at 11:48 AM, Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com> wrote:
My People:
In short..."it is not only us that have been doing these revealed things...."
Who advises these people like Olisa Metuh to make these damaging statements?
Inquiring minds want to know....
Bolaji Aluko
Shaking his head
VANGUARD
Probe Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua’s security votes,PDP tells Buhari
on December 13, 2015 / in News 5:21 pm
By Henry Umoru
ABUJA- NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said Sunday that if the All Progressives Congress, APC led Federal Government must succeed in its fight against Corruption, it must probe all security votes of past Presidents and Heads of State from 1984 to date, just as it called for the establishment of a National Truth Commission.
According to the party, the security votes of past governments of former Presidents Heads of State from incumbent President, President Muhammadu Buhari, then as a Head of State; former Military President ibrahim Babangida; General Abdusalami Abubakar; former President Olusegun Obasanjo; and late Umaru Yar’Adua’s Adua.
The PDP also called on President Buhari to probe the expenditure of all military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against militancy in the Niger Delta, military interventions in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda among others.
It also urged the APC led administration to probe the source of funding of the PDP and APC’s 2015 Presidential campaigns; the contributions from APC controlled state governors for their Presidential campaign and the beneficiaries thereof.
In a statement Sunday by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party noted that while it was in support of President Buhari’s fight against Corrupton, it must look into the past for Nigerians and the international community to take the crusade very seriously, even as it called for the probe of award of contracts by the petroleum task force from 1993 to 1999.
Metuh said,”The Leadership of the peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby reiterates its support for an honest, holistic and total war against corruption and we demand the trial and prosecution of all those involved, including those who may have returned ‘loots’ to the government.
“However, we are completely against any one-sided public trial and mob conviction of accused persons without following the age-long and worldwide legal process wherein all accused persons are presumed innocent until the contrary is lawfully proved. We do not believe that mere investigation confers a guilt verdict on those concerned and the government should stop the brutal mob and public conviction of individuals and the transfer of the burden of proof of people being investigated.
“We restate for emphasis that a media and public war against corruption is good, but it should not be limited to only those opposed to the President and the ruling party. In fact, until top officials of the former government open up on the exact source of the funding, it remains premature to be accusing our party members of corrupt practices.
“Nevertheless, if indeed the government’s investigation includes the expenditure of President Jonathan security votes from 2011, then it should be extended to a public inquisition on the following: The security votes of all past Presidents and Heads of state from 1984; The award of contracts by the petroleum task force from 1993 to 1999; expenditure of our military purchases and expenditure during the Bakassi wars, the fight against
chidi opara reports <chidiopa...@rocketmail.com>: Dec 14 08:30PM
Reported By Stephen Lawan
Sheik Muhammad Turi, the second in command to the leader ofthe Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheik Ibrahim Zakzaky, and the group’sspokesman, Ibrahim Usman, have been killed by soldiers, in a combine operationconducted by the Israel Intelligent Agency (MOSSAD) American Intelligent Agency(CIA) and Nigerian Army...........
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From chidi opara reports
chidi opara reports is published as a social service by PublicInformationProjects
kenneth harrow <har...@msu.edu>: Dec 14 05:11PM
this is not written in a way that inspires confidence that it is a
reputable, credible source.
in fact, the source for the information proffered in the piece is
called..."the source"....
to be more pointed, if you can read 419 emails and dismiss them in 2
seconds, you should be doing the same with this one.
ken
On 12/14/15 8:30 PM, 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue
Series wrote:
--
kenneth w. harrow
professor of english
michigan state university
department of english
619 red cedar road
room C-614 wells hall
east lansing, mi 48824
ph. 517 803 8839
har...@msu.edu
Kola Fabiyi <fab...@live.com>: Dec 14 09:49PM
Prominent PDP Chieftain Washes Hand Off Arms Deal Scandal<https://www.naij.com/666804-prominent-pdp-chieftain-washes-hand-off-arms-deal-scandal.html>
by Akpan Jeremiah
Naij.com<http://www.naij.com/> / 2015-12-14 22:26
Senator Jim Nwobodo, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party that was named by the former minister of state for finance, Bashir Yuguda, to have received N100 millions of fund meant for the purchase of arms has denied to have received money.
[Former nationalChairman]
Mu’azu now implicated in the arms deal
Nwobodo, however, admitted to had received N100 million from the former national chairman of the PDP, Dr. Adamu Mu’azu.
He made this disclosure through his mouthpiece, John Okoreni, claiming that the reports that he collected fund from the former minister were misleading, The Nation reports.
READ ALSO: Ex-PDP Chairman Blasts Jonathan Over High Level Of Impunity<https://www.naij.com/666344-former-pdp-chairman-blasts-jonathan-over-outrageous-level-of-impunity-prays-for-buhari.html>
The PDP chieftain noted further that he was the chairman of the contact committee of the PDP for presidential campaign for southeast, overseeing Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Abia and Enugu states.
Nwobodo disclosed that the fund he received from Mu’azu was meant for logistics, travelling and mobilization of party members in the zone for the 2015 general elections.
The battled chieftain statement reads: “The fund was properly disbursed to the states and dully signed by members of the committee for each state and accounted for to the party. At no time did Senator Nwobodo receive money from any person other than the then National Chairman of the party.
READ ALSO: Why EFCC Afraid Of Questioning Emir Sanusi<https://www.naij.com/666067-arms-deal-probe-efcc-hesitates-questioning-emir-sanusi.html>
“It would be unusual for Senator Nwobodo and other members of his committee to query the source of campaign fund coming from the National Chairman of his party for official functions and purposes.
“This statement is meant to put the record straight and correct the impression making round some media on the alleged distribution of money by Bashir Yuguda as it concerns Senator Nwobodo.”
Meanwhile, some eminent Nigerians involved in arms deal scandal had reportedly been reaching out to the former president Olusegun Obsanjo to intervene on their behalf.<https://www.naij.com/665746-arms-deal-probe-suspects-beg-obasanjo-protect-buhari.html>
One of Obasanjo’s close assistants confirmed the development though those seeking protection with the former president were not named.
chidi opara reports <chidiopa...@rocketmail.com>: Dec 14 08:46PM
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From chidi opara reports
chidi opara reports is published as a social service by PublicInformationProjects
Funmi Tofowomo Okelola <cafeaf...@aol.com>: Dec 13 05:41PM -0800
http://bookslive.co.za/blog/2015/11/27/fiction-friday-a-story-by-ghanaian-born-author-yaa-gyasi-whose-debut-novel-sold-for-7-figures-this-year/
Fiction: A Story by Ghanaian-born Author Yaa Gyasi, Whose Debut Novel
Sold for 7 Figures this Year
Homegoing: A Novel by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi, a Ghanaian-born writer raised in Alabama in the United
States, made headlines earlier this year when it was announced that
her debut novel had been purchased in a seven-figure deal ahead of the
London Book Fair.
The North American rights were acquired at auction by Knopf, who
fought off competition from nine other bidders.
At the time, Knopf’s Jordan Pavlin called Homegoing “as beautiful and
relevant a novel as any I’ve ever read”, adding that Gyasi “writes
about race and history and identity and love with astonishing
authority”.
Translation rights for the novel have been sold for a “major deal” in
Spanish, as well as in Norway, Sweden and Hungary.
Viking have taken on the book in the United Kingdom, with publisher
Mary Mount calling it: “enormously ambitious, incredibly moving and
deeply resonant”.
“This is a rare novel about how history infuses all of our lives,”
Mount told The Guardian. “Yaa Gyasi has an incredible eye for
character and sense of human emotion. It will be a hugely exciting
novel to publish.”
Gyasi, who was 25 at the time of the book’s sale, is a graduate of the
Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Berkeley, California.
Homegoing traces the descendants of two sisters, torn apart in 18th-
century Africa, across three hundred years in Ghana and America:
Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into
different tribal villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is
married off to an Englishman and will live in comfort in the palatial
rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be
sent abroad to be educated before returning to the Gold Coast to serve
as administrators of the empire. Esi, imprisoned beneath Effia in the
Castle’s women’s dungeon and then shipped off on a boat bound for
America, will be sold into slavery. Stretching from the tribal wars of
Ghana to slavery and the Civil War in America, from the coal mines in
the American South to the Great Migration to twentieth-century Harlem,
Yaa Gyasi’s novel moves through histories and geographies and captures–
with outstanding economy and force– the troubled spirit of our own
nation. She has written a modern masterpiece.
The novel is due out from Knopf in June 2016.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, who recently won the National Book Award for Between
the World and Me, said:
Gyasi’s characters are so fully realised, so elegantly carved – very
often I found myself longing to hear more. Craft is essential given
the task Gyasi sets for herself – drawing not just a lineage of two
sisters, but two related peoples. Gyasi is deeply concerned with the
sin of selling humans on Africans, not Europeans. But she does not
scold. She does not excuse. And she does not romanticise. The black
Americans she follows are not overly virtuous victims. Sin comes in
all forms, from selling people to abandoning children. I think I
needed to read a book like this to remember what is possible. I think
I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind
to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Gyasi’s characters are so fully realized, so elegantly carved—very
often I found myself longing to hear more. Craft is essential given
the task Gyasi sets for herself—drawing not just a lineage of two
sisters, but two related peoples. Gyasi is deeply concerned with the
sin of selling humans on Africans, not Europeans. But she does not
scold. She does not excuse. And she does not romanticize. The black
Americans she follows are not overly virtuous victims. Sin comes in
all forms, from selling people to abandoning children. I think I
needed to read a book like this to remember what is possible. I think
I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind
to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration.”
—Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award winning author of Between the
World and Me
"Homegoing is a remarkable feat—a novel at once epic and intimate,
capturing the moral weight of history as it bears down on individual
struggles, hopes, and fears. A tremendous debut.”
—Phil Klay, National Book Award winning author of Redeployment
About the Author
YAA GYASI was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She is
a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and lives in Berkeley,
California.
Funmi Tofowomo Okelola
-In the absence of greatness, mediocrity thrives.
http://www.cafeafricana.com
Mobolaji Aluko <alu...@gmail.com>: Dec 13 12:49AM +0100
My People:
Timing, my People, is everything....so I smile when I read some of the
commentary going on about this Arms-Gate or Dasuki-Gate, turning to
Obaigbena-Gate.....as if we don't know what was happening......or did not
know what was going on....we may have been born at night, but it was not
last night.....
1. Timing is everything: Let us start from the not-so-obvious now: the
PRESIDENTIAL and legislative elections in Nigeria were first scheduled for
February 14, 2015, and then later postponed by six weeks to March 28 -
postponement announced by INEC on February 7 . The main reason for the
postponement were "security concerns", in addition to the other reason of
incomplete voting card distribution.
So, only a child would not know that ANY letters written or actions taken
DURING or AROUND this period would have a tinge of politics - for and
against, blackmail or opportunism, genuine or not - in them. In fact, one
can say that the full-blown political season began on December 12, 2014
when Buhari officially became APC's presidential candidate, because GEJ's
presidential candidacy was a virtual foregone conclusion long before
ratification on December 11, 2014.
2. Front and center of the POSTPONEMENT was the NSA himself, Sambo
Dasuki. In fact, the first hint that the international community - which
includes Nigeria by the way - got about a possible election postponement
was from him in his chatter at Chatham House in far-away England on January
22, 2015. (We now know that CME Okonjo-Iweala's letter was written on
January 20, 2015.)
3. The Obaigbena letters "extorting money" from a government desperate to
win (as someone put it) and so happy to broaden its already blanket media
coverage were written first in July 2012 for the April 2012 bombing (this
was compensated in three tranches more than two years later: in August
2014, November 2014 and February 2015 (not 2014 as in the letter) - smack
in the middle of the campaigns.) Note that Azazi was still NSA when the
bombing occurred in April 2012, but Obaigbena's letter was written in July
2012, a month after Sambo Dasuki became NSA (Azazi: 4 October 2010 - 22
June 2012; he died December 2012; Dasuki was NSA from 22 June 2012 – July
2015). In fact, NSA was so pleading (in March 22, 2015, a week before the
postponed elections) that he asked Obaigbena to please give them a little
more time to pay two more newspapers (who may have been threatening
Obaigbena to blow the lid off the entire plot.) [The plan was to pay each
of the 12 newspapers N9 million each, and to pay NPAN itself N12 million -
taking care of the N120 million for lost circulation due to military
intervention; which was different from the N550 million ThisDay had
received for the bombing.]
But why was the NSA being the one doing these disbursements to newspapers?
Is it not reasonable to presume that if in fact he was in charge of arms
and ammunition purchases, any significant money that he does not spend on
those must have been money illegally taken from that money budget?
4. The Okonjo-Iweala letter was written in a deniability fashion on
January 20, 2015. She must have suspected what the money was REALLY
written for, but professional that she is, she was covering her trade-mark
head-gear with hints of due process and deferment of accountability
elsewhere - and for national security reasons, did not want to ask too many
deep questions. [I believe that her own defence of her actions so far
have been a little too strident and aggressive - but that is merely my
opinion.]
5. Another timing is everything: none of these revelations would have
come out if the PDP had won......the loss was so un-expected, I believe,
that there was NOT enough time between election and handover dates to
cover these tracks up. In fact, ironically, the six-week postponement made
the time BETWEEN March 28 and May 29 so more constricted, making the PDP
panic when we started to hear about possibility of "persecution" (not
prosecution) and witch-hunting, and demand to probe the whole damn Nigeria
beginning from Lord Lugard to GEJ, and to include OBJ, IBB, Sonekan, Abacha
and Buhari himself if selectivity accusation is not to be sustained..
6. Finally, the charge of selectivity is being propounded by some actors
around these forums - yes, selection of those who violated due process, and
took bales of national money, ostensibly for one reason, but apparently for
other reasons. The fact of the matter is that each one of us has who we
secretly or overtly support or oppose: those we support we give most
benefit of doubt to, and accuse those who pick on them of selectivity; and
those we oppose we give almost no benefit of doubt to and think the worst
of them. There are those, for example, for who Buhari can do no good,
while Okonjo-Iweala can do no evil.....or vice-versa....but the truth is in
between.
And there you have it.
Bolaji Aluko
On Sat, Dec 12, 2015 at 6:47 PM, 'Omoluabi' via AfricanWorldForum <
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