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First Lady Patience Jonathan Shuts Down Abuja With Rent-A-Crowd Rally To Kickstart President Jonathan's Campaign For 2015 Election

The Nigerian women under the auspices of Nigerian Council of Women Society (NCWS) today organized a mass rally in support of the President Goodluck Jonathan towards the 2015 general election. The rally which was tagged “Celebration of Nigerian Women for Peace and Empowerment” witnessed by various women across most nigerian states was heralded by a motorized mass rally from Old Parade Ground area 10 through designated route started at 7.00am with the campaign posters of the President Goodluck Jonathan on each truck used by the women and some men. The city of Abuja was shut down as business activities were grounded to a halt due the blockage of routes by security agencies. All roads from Berger Junction, Central Business Area, and Secretariat were blocked for the rally, which has led to the traffic snarl in the city. The rally, which is expected end at the Eagle Square later today has continued as at the time of filing this report. We gathered that the rally was funded by the first lady and several ministers as well as some state governors loyal to the president. To cap the activities of the day an elaborate dinner party is slated for the International Conference Centre tonight. The event which will also feature performances by popular musical artistes including Onyeka Onwenu, Yinka Ayefele, Iyanya, Sani Danja and several nigerian comedians.

Obasanjo Says Atiku, Tinubu, Alamieyeseigha, Ibori, Igbinedion, Buhari Bad examples

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday assessed the younger generation of leaders in the country. His verdict: They have failed the citizenry. Obasanjo spoke at the fourth Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan (UI), in collaboration with the African Sustainable Development Network. According to Obasanjo, the performance of the current younger generation of leaders has not been impressive, particularly in terms of integrity. He specifically named his erstwhile deputy, Atiku Abubakar; former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu; ex-Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Salisu Buhari; former Bayelsa State governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and others as examples of younger generation of leaders who failed the country. “During my administration as president, we had some people who were under 50 years in leadership positions. One of them was James Ibori, where is he today? One of them was Alamieyeseigha, where is he today? Lucky Igbinedion, where is he today? The youngest was the Speaker, Buhari, you can still recall what happened to him. You said Bola Tinubu is your master. What Buhari did was not anything worse than what Bola Tinubu did. “We got them impeached. But in this part of the world, some people covered up the other man. The man claimed he went to Government College, Ibadan, but the governor went to Government College and packed all the documents so that they would not know that he did not go there. “I wanted someone who would succeed me so I took Atiku. Within a year, I started seeing the type of man Atiku is. And you want me to get him there? “I once went to Tanzania because Julius Nyerere recognised Biafra. He told me not to mind his aides and others in government. They would say they have one house in town but their five-year-old sons and daughters would have houses all over. “Some of you who are condemning the leadership would get there tomorrow and it will be a different story. Only very few are actually good. “From Abacha, my predecessor, we got $750 million. Through our lawyer in Switzerland, we recovered another $1.25 billion and the lawyer still said there was probably still another $1 billion to be recovered. In 1979, we had 20 new ships specially built for Nigeria. When I came back 20 years after, the national shipping line had liquidated. “The whole thing is not just about leadership. If we talk about good leadership, you should also talk about good followers. If you talk about human rights, you should also talk about human duties and obligations.” He lamented that despite the nation’s 53 years of independence, Nigeria has no leader that the citizens could commend. “By implication, we are jinxed and cursed; we should all go to hell. The problem in Africa is that when one person takes over, he would not see any good thing that his predecessor did. Let us condemn but with caution,” he said. In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, UI, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the situation in the already factionalised Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) where 35 people found it hard to elect a leader called for concern on how the 2015 elections would be. Discussants from the Institute of Sustainability and Peace, the United Nations University, Tokyo, Dr. Obijiofor Aginam and Prof. Mojeed Alabi, both lamented that the task of leadership in Africa had been very challenging. They added that Africans had been so unfortunate in terms of leadership.

Kindergarten Presidency: Go to court – APC tells Jonathan

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to go to court if he felt libelled by the description of his presidency as a kindergarten presidency by the Interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande. In a statement issued in Accra on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said Chief Akande merely told the truth by his characterization of the Jonathan presidency, adding ”Isn’t truth a defence to libel?” It also said there was nothing strange or wrong in criticizing a democratically-elected President, after all he is neither an Imperial President, a Monarchy nor an emperor. APC said nothing confirmed Chief Akande’s assertion that Jonathan is running a kindergarten presidency than the crude manner it (presidency) responded to the frank but constructive criticism by the APC National Chairman. ”In the true character of this presidency, its increasingly irreverent and undignified spokesman failed to respond to the issues raised by Chief Akande, and instead chose to haul abuses at a man who is old enough to be his father. Such irresponsible act does no credit to the spokesman or the president he is serving, and Nigerians will definitely not forget such crudity in a hurry. ”Where is the presidency’s response to Chief Akande’s assertion that he has written two letters to the President over the serious challenges facing the country, without getting a response? Where is the presidency’s response to Chief Akande’s assertion that President Jonathan is witch-hunting political opponents? These are the issues that Nigerians are interested in, not how many hours the President sleeps at night because he is supposedly working tirelessly. ”In any case, if indeed this President is working tirelessly, we need to ask who he is working for, because Nigerians have yet to feel the impact of his administration. They are also not interested in the fact that the President once served as a deputy governor, governor and Vice President, because the experiences he supposedly garnered from doing so have not impacted positively on his duty as President. That’s not a surprise, considering that the President owes his meteoric rise in politics to luck and destiny. Nothing else!” the party said It described the presidency as an under-achieving one, always eager to celebrate tokenism, using questionable statistics. ”As the presidency was composing its empty response to the serious issues raised by our highly-respected Chairman, the African Development Bank was saying in its annual report (African Economic Outlook), quoted by the local media on Sunday, that the proportion of people (Nigerians) living below the national poverty line has worsened from 65.5 per cent in 1996 to 69.0 per cent in 2010, most of those years under the PDP and the last four under President Jonathan. ”What therefore is there to celebrate in a presidency under which power generation has fallen to 2,500MW? What is there to celebrate in a presidency that has only given Nigerians widespread insecurity, unemployment, dilapidated infrastructure, oil theft and unbridled corruption. Of what use is the touted 6% increase in the GDP when over 40% of our youth are unemployed? APC queried The party described as a figment of the presidency’s imagination the claim of a feud between its leaders, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, saying the PDP and the presidency have been peddling lies over a phantom feud because they could not fathom how the leadership of the APC could put national interest above personal considerations. ”Mr. President, don’t let your lick-spittle aides deceive you. There is absolutely no feud between the two leaders. Waiting for such a feud is like ‘Waiting for Godot’.” it said.

Obj, Amaechi meet Over Rivers Crisis

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo today in Abuja met with Rivers State Governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, over the lingering political crisis in the latter’s state. Amaechi’s meeting with Obasanjo came few hours before governors elected on the platform of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) met with President Goodluck Jonathan. Pointblanknews.com gathered that Amaechi’s meeting with the former president was a continuation of a meeting, last month, between Obasanjo and five governors from the north. Governors Rabi’u Musa Kwakwanso (Kano), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Murtala Nyako(Adamawa), and Isa Yuguda (Bauchi) had last month met with Obasanjo in his Abeokuta home. The quintet had followed up the Abeokuta meeting with a secret meeting, two weeks ago, with President Jonathan in Abuja. Sources close to today’s meeting confirmed that Obasanjo had promised the five governors to meet Amaechi and seek ways to bring peace to Rivers State. Ironically, Obasanjo was president in 2007 when PDP denied Amaechi the right to fly its flag as the party’s governorship candidate in Rivers State. Sources also told Pointblanknews.com that the PDP governors will at tonight’s meeting, among other demands, seek the removal of their national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Boko Haram Kills 44 Inside Mosque

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected Islamic militants wearing army fatigues gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, while another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous attack, security agents said Monday. Sunday’s attacks were the latest in a slew of violence blamed on religious extremists in this West African oil producer, where the radical Boko Haram group, which wants to oust the government and impose Islamic law, poses the greatest security threat in years. It was not immediately clear why the Islamic Boko Haram would have killed worshipping Muslims, but the group has in the past attacked mosques whose clerics have spoken out against religious extremism. Boko Haram also has attacked Christians outside churches and teachers and schoolchildren, as well as government and military targets. Since 2010, the militants have been blamed for the killings of more than 1,700 people, according to a count by The Associated Press. The news about Sunday’s violence in Borno state, one of three in the northeast under a military state of emergency, came as journalists received a video featuring Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, who gloats over recent attacks, threatens more, and even says his group is now strong enough to go after the United States. The mosque slayings occurred Sunday morning in Konduga town, 35 kilometers (22 miles) outside Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s Borno state. A state security service agent and Usman Musa, a member of a civilian militia that works with the military, said Monday they counted the bodies at the mosque after the attack. Musa said four members of his group — known as the Civilian Joint Task Force —also were killed when they reached Konduga and encountered “fierce resistance from heavily armed terrorists.” Musa and the security service agent said the attackers wore military camouflage uniforms used by the Nigerian army, which they may have acquired in one of their attacks on military bases. On their way back from Konduga, the security forces came upon the scene of another attack at Ngom village, 5 kilometers (3 miles) outside Maiduguri, where Musa said he counted 12 bodies of civilians. Twenty-six worshippers at the mosque were hospitalized with gunshot wounds, said a security guard at the emergency ward of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. He and the state security agent both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to give information to reporters. Nigeria declared a state of emergency in much of the northeast on May 14 to fight the onslaught after Boko Haram fighters took over several northeastern towns and villages in this nation of more than 160 million people, which is divided almost equally between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south. In the video received by journalists Monday, Shekau brushes off any gains asserted by the security forces. “You soldiers have claimed that you are powerful, that we have been defeated, that we are mad people,” Shekau says, speaking in the local Hausa language. “But how can a mad man successfully coordinate recent attacks in Gamboru, in Malam Fatori, slaughter people in Biu, kill in Gwoza and in Bama, where soldiers fled under our heavy fire power? “We have killed countless soldiers and we are going to kill more.” He further insists the extremists’ “strength and firepower has surpassed that of Nigeria. … We can now comfortably confront the United States of America.” Shekau also said Nigeria’s military is “lying to the world” about its casualties. “They lied that they have killed our members, but we are the ones that have killed the soldiers.” He apparently was referring to Aug. 4 attacks on a military base at Malam Fatori and a police outpost in Bama, both near the border with Cameroon. Joint Task Force spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa told reporters 32 extremists, two soldiers and one police officer were killed. But when the Borno state governor called on the head of the task force to commiserate, Maj. Gen. Jah Ewansiah told him in front of reporters that they lost 12 soldiers and seven policemen. Nigeria’s military regularly lowballs casualty figures of civilians and military. Under orders from the military, cellphone and Internet service has been cut in Borno, making communications difficult. The military says the extremists were using cellphones to coordinate attacks. But some government officials argue that the lack of communication prevents civilians from informing them of suspicious movements and getting help when they are attacked.

US Embassy introduces drop box for visa renewals

The House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has proposed a review of the country's immigration laws as well as its bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom. This came on the heels of the decision by the UK government to impose a £3,000 Visa Bond on Nigerians travelling to that country. However, the United States Embassy in Abuja, has introduced drop boxes for visa renewals for applicants to reduce wait times and eliminate the need to appear in person for renewals. The visa bond is part of measures by the UK to tighten its immigration laws to discourage migrants from certain countries moving into the UK to live and work. The Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, described the policy as discriminatory given the fact that it was targeted at Nigeria and other non-white Commonwealth countries. The other commonwealth countries targeted are India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Available data shows that the citizens of these countries applied for more than half a million visas to Britain in 2012 alone. Elendu-Ukeje observed that apart from being discriminatory, the policy was a political and economic tool which the UK wants to use to safeguard British jobs in the face of the economic recession in Europe. In an interview with journalists at the weekend, Elendu- Ukeje said Nigeria must be proactive in its response to the policy. Nigeria, she said, might have to review its immigration laws to also streamline the influx of foreigners into the country and ensure that it pursued economic policies that did not only create employment but safeguarded the jobs for Nigerians. She also charged the federal government to take a second look at its policy on Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) to ensure that Nigeria was not shortchanged in the various deals. “Our position has been that it is discriminatory and targeted at non-white Commonwealth states. We also feel that with our long term relationship with Britain, we should not have been singled out for such treatment. Now, the UK has decided to go on with the policy. “Our last discussion with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on this matter was to ask the minister to come up with a proactive measures in the event that it was actually activated. This is a call to look critically at our Local Content Act and Indigenisation Act to ensure that they protect Nigerian jobs for Nigerians. “They have said by 2015, they want only 100,000 immigrants in their country and by last year, the British had 160,000 visa applications from Nigeria alone. “In fairness to them, it was touted to be political tool and intended to strengthen their immigration law primarily because Europe has faced economic down turn in the last 10 years. “For them it is a way to protect British jobs, but we should also learn some lessons from this policy. Aside the issue of reciprocity which is a part of international diplomacy, we must start to take a critical look at the agreements we sign with other countries and tighten our immigration laws, so that we can protect Nigerian jobs for Nigerians too,” she said. The British Home Office recently confirmed that it would demand a £3,000 ($4,630) refundable bond for visas for “high-risk” visitors from six former colonies in Africa and Asia as from November. In a statement, the Home Office said that it would go ahead with the pilot scheme despite the outrage, charges of discrimination and warnings of retaliation from Nigeria and other countries. Meanwhile, the US Embassy has also promised to introduce the innovative service at its Consulate in Lagos. The Head, Visa Section of the Embassy in Abuja, Ms. Carol Cox, while speaking at a recent briefing in Abuja, said applicants, however, have to ensure that they submit all the required documents in their application packages. She also clarified that the service could not be used for children as their fingerprints need to be taken with each application. "An officer would be posted to the front of the embassy, and will help check that the applicant has all the required documents and is qualified. He/She will not need to undergo the interview process but would simply pick up his/her visa at the designated center," Cox added. The embassy has been able to significantly reduce visa appointment wait times to less than six months. Before now, an applicant may sometimes have to wait as long as six months to get an appointment. Commenting in an appeal process after visa denial, Cox explained that the US visa application process is very different from that of the United Kingdom. An applicant, after being denied a visa can only reapply and would be asked to provide more information. She cautioned visa applicants against using touts or agents in their application process especially for student visas. Some potential students have been banned from entering the US for visa fraud after they had unknowingly presented fake packages that were given to them by these agents, Cox added.