Boko Haram’s Grievances Legitimate, Says Obasanjo
Oh baba! How are you going to go on record to say Boko Haram's grievances are legitimate? The former President said this in an interview with International Business Times UK at a global education conference in Dubai, UAE yesterday March 16th. "They have legitimate grievances,” he said.
He said that the low level of education in the north is largely responsible for the restiveness by the sect members "We don’t need anyone to tell us that it's a problem. A problem of disparity, a problem of marginalization"
He blamed President Jonathan's administration for not showing enough response when, according to him, the sect group started showing their fangs
of marginalization"he said
"The response of the government initially was definitely not enough. When Boko Haram started showing their fangs about four years ago, the reaction should have been firm and unmistakable. If Boko Haram is ready to talk, we should talk. But they will need to be pounded a little bit by the military and then, they would be ready to talk,” he said.
Source: Daily Times
Ever seen a photo of Terry G's mum? See it now!
The singer and his mum share same birthday. They both turned a year older today March 17th. Happy birthday to them.
David Mark defends Obanikoro's ministerial confirmation, says due process was followed
Senate President David Mark has defended last Wednesday's confirmation of Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro as a minister amidst protest from APC lawmakers. According to the Senate president, due process was followed during Obanikoro's confirmation and the reasons put forward by those against his confirmation were mere accusations. Davido Mark gave this explanation in a statement released by his media aide Kola Ologbondiyan, yesterday March 16th. Read that after the cut...
The statement reads in part;
"The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, will not trample on the rules to satisfy the yearnings of any interest, no matter how vociferous and violent. We will like to state without any form of ambiguity that the President of the Senate complied with all the legislative practices and procedures in the confirmation of all the ministerial nominees that appeared before the Senate. It is important to state that the Senate found herself in a situation where two of its traditions were in conflict.
There exists a tradition of permitting nominees that had served as Senators or member of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic to take a bow and go without being questioned. The Senate also has a tradition of stopping any nominee that fails to secure at least two of the three Senators. Where the Senate was faced with this conflict, the option available to the President of the Senate, as the presiding officer was to put the question to the floor and rule applicably.
The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, did just that. He put the question through voice vote, and ayes won resoundingly and he so ruled. On the issue of courts, Rules 53 (5) of the Senate Standing Rules did state; ‘if in the opinion of the President of the Senate, the matter will be subjudice.’ Senator Mark made it clear that he has not been served any court order neither has he received any injunction restraining him from processing the confirmation of the ministerial nominees. Besides, it is a known fact that an accused is presumed innocent until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction. The processes and decisions reached on the screening and confirmation of the ministerial nominees were in line with the rules guiding the activities of the Senate"
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Lekki Robbery: Gov. Fashola defends statement, calls out Reuben Abati
Governor Babatunde Fashola has defended his comments where he blamed the success of the Lekki Robbery incident on March 12th on the visit of President Jonathan in Lagos on that day. Below is a statement he released explaining what he meant. He also called out presidential media aide, Reuben Abati who had earlier described Governor Fashola's reasoning as totally irresponsible.
"From the statement credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. Dr. Reuben Abatti over the comments of His Excellency, Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, on the deployment of police during the visit of the president, it is obvious he is ignorant of the traffic and security menace, his principal constitutes whenever he visits any part of the country. It should also interest the ‘Vuvuzuela’ of President Jonathan that during these visits, which most of the times are for campaign hustles, the entire Police and other security network are put on high alert to pay attention to the presidential visits leaving the citizens vulnerable to the reckless gallivanting of the visitor.
Abati must be sleeping or indulging in his usual pastimes not to understand ‘route lining’ where every available policeman on duty is deployed to man routes where the President would pass through. It is not the statement of the Governor that is unintelligent, the unintelligent thing here is the inability of the President to weigh public interest above personal ambition.
The unintelligent thing here is not to know the importance of the Police as an institution that deserves adequate funding to carry out its function of protecting life and property. The unintelligent thing is the Federal Government dodging its constitutional responsibility of which the Police is one of them. Governor Fashola is a very responsible Governor who put the people first ahead of himself, and this he has demonstrated over the years. He made reference to the dead policemen because he feels responsible to them. At the event, he prayed for the repose of their souls and enjoined the audience to stand with him in a one minute-silence over the fallen heroes whom he concluded died in the cause of serving their country.
Abati could not comprehend why Governor Fashola would be shocked at the death of three policemen; we have not had such an experience in the past two years here in Lagos where policemen are killed by armed robbers. This is a different situation where it took the death of almost 20,000 citizens before someone started to take action. When the ocean surge was going to wipe out a whole community within the Lekki area, Fashola was there.
When the Dana aircraft crashed in Iju, Fashola was not only there, his arrival at the scene was prompt, and for the first time in the history of Nigeria, we saw a systematic and methodological approach to emergency management. Mass DNA was conducted to identify the charred bodies of the victims. Trauma and psychological centres were established to attend to the families of the victims. As recent as few days ago, Fashola was at Papa Ashafa and Agege communities where rainstorm wreaked havoc.
When Abati’s principal was holed up in Aso Rock Villa with his tails between his legs during the outbreak of the Ebola Virus in Nigeria, Fashola’s face was the succour and hope Nigerians saw. He was the only person the victims and survivors saw.
So, this vuvuzuela should be courteous in his choice of words. We are, however, not surprised. Abatti is a serial reckless talker that likes listening to himself, and only thinks after talking. Latter converts like him acts up to become more Catholic than the Pope because of the fear to the past after the allure of office. His recent unguarded statement about General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) is still very fresh.
If the retired General had not been a statesman, only God knows where Abati would be by now. It's time someone close to this garrulous man tells him to start measuring his utterances.
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