The Transcript of the Rigged Ekiti state Governorship Election Debacle

The gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, Nigeria, took place on the 21st June, 2014. The
two main contenders were Ayo Fayose and Kayode Fayemi from the PDP and APC respectively.
All those present are upset by the failings of the military to execute their plan of
intimidation and electoral fraud in line with what was agreed/ordered by the President of
Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chief of Army Staff of the Federation. All those present
are expressing their disapproval of the job done to date to the to the Brg General in
charge of the operations.
Below is a transcript of a recording of a secret meeting that took place on the night before the
election.

Those present in the hotel room were:
* Governor Ayo Fayose – Executive Governor of Ekiti
* Senator Iyiola Omisore
* Brig General Aliyu Momoh
* Senator Musiliu Obanikoro – Ex Minister of state for Defence
* Captain Sagir Koli
* Honourable AbdulKareem – Honourable member of the National Assembly
* Caleb Olubolade – Minister of Police Affairs

 And the conversation went forth:

During the conversation strategies/plans to intimidate voters and perform electoral fraud
were discussed in detail. The key points are as follows:
* The use of the Nigerian military by the PDP to assist in electoral manipulation. This
includes:
* The creation of a list of APC members to arrest
* The use of stickers to be used to identify persons not to be harassed and detained by the
army
* Deployment of “Special Team” including a “Strike Force”
* The Minister of state of Defence bribing military personnel with the offer of promotion if
he carries out the “strategy”
* A gubernatorial candidate admitting to electoral fraud by copying voting material
provided by the INEC
* The reprimanding of military personnel for mistakenly detaining PDP members engaged
in electoral fraud
* The Minister explicitly states he was instructed by the President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria to execute this plan.
* The Candidate Fayose explicitly states he was given assurances by the Chief of Army staff
to execute this plan.
Personalities
Musiliu Obanikoro :- One time high commission of Nigeria to Ghana, recently stepped
down as Minister of state for Defence Federal Republic of Nigeria to contest for a political
position. A card carrying member of the PDP.
Key Quotes
“Am not here for tea party, am on a special assignment by the President.”
“Then that Daramola (APC Fayemi Campaign Manager) I want him picked up in the
morning!”
“Look here, you can’t get promotion without me sitting on top of your military council. If I
am a happy man tomorrow night, the sky is your limit”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musiliu_Obanikoro
(profile)http://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2014/06/21/ekitidecides-fayemis-campaigndirector-
arrested-by-soldiers/
(voice)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO2SyPkk52w
Ayo Fayose: – Present executive Governor of Ekiti state under the peoples democracy party
(PDP)
Key Quotes
“We agreed in Abuja on the modalities to work, we agreed on a sticker, that any vehicle
you see that sticker, you allow that sticker. That sticker is on those vehicles his own was
sent to him, mine was sent to me. The one by SSS was given to me to give to them there is
no vehicle that left this place without that sticker. The people you just dis-armed had that
sticker clear and clean.”
“Today they went to “efon” they carry all the ….. Where we are supposing to be collating,
the thing INEC gave to us, soft copies we now printed and everything, because they see
INEC thing on top of it, why is my contact man not with them, i said my contact man
would be sitting in the check point permanently. I convince this man to leave this people,
they were said to sit in the sun. They packed all the computers, it’s took me more than 2
hours to get this man to release this people.”
“Chief of army staff called me he told me, you are in safe hands, he [General Momoh]
would perform and if you have any issues, call me. He told me that i have made it clear to
him that I am Jonathan for this election.”
(Profile) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayo_Fayose
(Voice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOce2g4O9XM
Senator Iyiola Omisore :- He was deputy Governor of Osun state 1999- 2003, a former
senator that reperesented Osun state 2003- 2009.A card carrying member of the peoples
democratic party (PDP) and gubernatorial candidate in recent Osun state election.
Key Quotes
“I would just say that we don’t have to argue this much, we have seen some lapses yes, its
just this evening. there is nothing happening now that we cannot contain before tomorrow
morning, there is nothing.so ba mi so fun general, we can be together on this matter. Your
boys can be overzealous and do things that are not sent.”
(Profile) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyiola_Omisore
(Voice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByzAuXi5k8k
Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh: – Commander of the Nigerian Army’s 32nd Artillery Brigade
Key Quotes
“We have strike force they just entered into the force. We can start arresting in the
afternoon.”
“There are about 6 special team. ( koro cuts in” your own team”) I have one. “strike force” I
have almost forty soldiers after deployment.”
“We have done a lot of arrest.”
“Let’s accept one thing, we want success, you know why i ask, if we have put only
policemen, we would have reach them together.”
http://www.thegazellenews.com/2014/06/19/ekiti-2014-sss-arrested-pdp-membersthumb-
printing-in-fayoses-dgs-hotel/
Honourable Abdul Kareem: – An Honourable of in the National Assembly of the federal
Republic of Nigeria.
“Momoh, you know me now, you are the one from Kogi nah, are you not the one from kogi,
(general cuts in ” am a stake holder is more in my heart than you. Don’t talk to me anyhow
please, don’t talk to me anyhow.”) Am not talking to you anyhow to, don’t talk to me
anyhow too; i won’t take it from you. Whom am are you talking to, am an honourable
member of the national assembly, do you know you are insulting me too? (koro cuts in ” sit
down general, sit down please”)who are you that you say am insulting you, if am in the
military, i would be a brigadier or general today. so what are you saying, am a member of
the national assembly. (koro cuts in: i dont like all this embarrasment,we all left our home
to come here, we are here for the same thing. i don’t like the way the honourable is
talking, i asked him to come here, if you are a member of the national assembly so, i was
once a senator too. show some respect.”)”
Caleb Olubolade: – He is a retired Navy Capt. He is presently the minister of Police Affiars
for the Federal republic of Nigeria
“Another thing, General relax sit down. You are a soldier man, you are working for us. You
have more shock absorber than we bloody civilian. Forget about that there are
something’s that are not clear to us. One – that your boys are dis-arming even the police.
(General “are the police for us? yes now! Yes now!”)”
!
(Profile) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omoniyi_Caleb_Olubolade
(Voice) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9XIaxRwjyA
TRANSCRIPT
TEXT STARTS
General:
Chief never belief me…………… he said OC mopol should handle them, we did. Now we
have nothing less than 500 vehicles, with specific instruction
Caleb Olubolade: Are your men carrying out instructions
Obanikoro: Let me tell you why your men are not carrying out instructions, why am saying
your men are not carrying out instructions. We came in just now and we saw so many
check points none of them stopped us. We had to be stopping and asking why they are not
stopping us, and while we are doing that, a lot of vehicles….. We had military men in our
convoy and police in our convoy, and yet we expected to stop and demand to know who is
inside.
Caleb Olubolade : several arrests
Fayose : Me I don’t want to be in this meeting, I don’t want to be in this meeting…. No
Obanikoro: Mo like i ru nko ba yi ( i don’t like this kind of thing). Take it easy… hmmm…
Obanikoro: why he’s been angry, he said you (you referring to General) have been dodgy.
That he’s (he referring to Fayose) been trying to meet you that you have always been
giving excuses
General: I understand His Excellency problem. ….. it’s not because you are here sir. In
fact if I start crying now….. No no no….wait! Wait! Wait! … Do I know you? We met
yesterday!….. The only person that can tell you the truth is Chief disu, the truth… In fact
I handed over…. 5 hours he was with me in the field, and he’s still in the field up till now.
Do you understand?
Obanikoro: Can you excuse us.
General: The problem we are having is that they should control it…..
Hon AbdulKareem: When you are there, how many people did you take from this things
ObaniKoro : (Clarification) That were arrested?
General: Including the chairman? The governor called me and said……
Caleb Olubolade : But they said that issue of the chairman….. Because they just called
me from (koro cuts in “you know what I want you to do now” )…. am coming…. the issue
of the chairman of “oyen local government”. They just called us now that you have done
very well when the man was arrested in “Faki” but, that you brought him, arrested him
that he was thoroughly beaten, and after sometimes u said u found gun…. (General cuts
in “it’s the police inspector”) but they have withdrawn all the police orderly of all this
local government……..
General: As of this afternoon we still had the Governor. Like this afternoon, we still going
for this something…. there is … like yesterday he still called me. “Chief uba” does not
belief have not compromise even you! Those are his emails’ know his problem, the
pressure is high (Koro cuts in “Absolutely and failure is not an option”).
Caleb Olubolade: We must not even fail in this…. because we have the people (Unidentified
Hausa man cuts in “oga sir!”)
General: No. No wait! You know who is pushing our principal; it’s all this people outside.
Caleb Olubolade: Another thing, General relax sit down. You are a soldier man, you are
working for us. You have more shock absorber than we bloody civilian. Forget about that
there are something’s that are not clear to us. One – that your boys are dis-arming even
the police. (General “are the police for us? Yes now! Yes now!”)
ObaniKoro: He must know that. Let him explain himself please
General: you see the problem, once u are doing this thing you’ll understand. You have
spend a lot of resources I must confess. As at this afternoon, the vehicle that have left this
emmmmm… is up to one hundred and forty (140), in segment. Chief ehn…… please,
came out with two (2)set of people unknown to them. They don’t know themself am not
the one that divide them o. He said ok, you go here, you go there. He now brought the list
they now sat down and said. What of this one we have strike force they just entered into
the force. We can’t start arresting in the afternoon.(koro cuts in “is in the night”) in fact
because of pressure, this chairman when he was beaten, he said they should bring him
here. Unknown to me that he has even called SS director because he had been…… myself
the AIG, the police all of us work together today and we decided today that by 6 o’clock
they block the road. He’s own men he put them under OC mobile who divided them and
we inserted soldiers civil defence army and even NDLEA, and oga told them that is the OC
Mobile that is ……. (koro cuts in “duro nor” wait!)
ObaniKoro : I don’t want to keep you here more than necessary, because we are not alone
in this thing, we have to be seen to be fair, even if we have a direction that tomorrow we
want to achieve. Your excellency, we are here because of you, and it is you I want to
please. Momoh is here before you let us give him an assignment (fayose cut in “let me)
Fayose: This brigadier general I was governor of this state 12 years ago, you would
probably be a captain or a major, but we give God all the glory. When you talk to this man
he would argue from morning to night. What we want to eat does not allow us to know our
right. Number two, my younger brother retired in the army as brigadier general, when you
explain to this man, its argument, argument, argument. Today, we met and agreed on how
to work, myself, Omisore and all the head. We agreed on a strategy to use, and the nine
(9) that would join us and all you expect me to do, I have done. Before this incident
happened even as at Tuesday, our member are being matcheted and treated like nobody,
of late sir, have been calling you for the past three hours, to tell you that “Bimbo
Daramola” is doing rally in his home town, and they are brandishing gun, what does it take
you to make this arrest since sir? number two (2) I was the one who called you to tell you
that they have arrested a par…. arishe gave me that information, because its was in front
of arishe’s place. Fayemi was going on with 27 car convoy; I was the one who called you
that they arrested “Fayemi” council chairman with gun, by and large. “kabiyesi oke mesin”
and “Akin omole” MD of NAS before, calling that our community is flooded. (koro cut in ”
are you taking note, I need you to take note” person 1: yes sir!”).
Honourable AbdulKareem (comes in) :They are the ones, there this thing in “Ikare Ekiti”
there is breakdown of everything “o ti ju bi fun awon omo onike” look this is a very serious
situation (Caleb Olubolade cuts in “awon olopa?) Sitting down with this man would mess
this election up for you. (koro cuts in “no no no”).
Koro: Who dis-arm who? Why were they dis-armed?
Caleb Olubolade: listen koro, I was asking you one question one time. (Senator Omisore
cuts in “they have collected money. The police now that are working, they are dis-arming
them too.”) I asked one question from you, why was our police men dis-armed, you now
answer are they working with us? I want you to continue from that place. Its means you
are the one giving them info
General: Yes! You know why I said so? It’s a very simple question; if… you know when I saw Chief, Chris Uba I was so happy, because he came. The people that are on the field now
are people we briefed, not only soldiers, not only soldiers, SF were there now any vehicle
you see now we have….. a Hilux carry about 8 men its mix together. You don’t know the
directives, you don’t know the situation they found those police men. The vehicle that left
now, under “OC Mopol” from my own with Chris Uba in charge and myself and three of us,
it’s almost 140.
ObaniKoro: You know what, wait! we cannot keep this man here indefinitely, we can’t
keep him here indefinitely. He has said there is a team based on your instruction that is
going round now(fayose cuts in “can’t you let me talk, how can he say that, can you let me
talk am not a small boy!”).
Fayose: we agreed in Abuja on the modalities to work, we agreed on a sticker. That any
vehicle you see that sticker, you allow that sticker. That sticker is on those vehicles his
own was sent to him, mine was sent to me. The one by SSS was given to me to give to
them there is no vehicle that left this place without that sticker. The people you just disharmed
had that sticker clear and clean. Today they went to “efon” they carry all the…..
Where we are supposing to be collating, the thing INEC gave to us, soft copies we now
printed and everything, because they see INEC thing on top of it, why is my contact man
not with them, i said my contact man would be sitting in the check point permanently. i
convince this man to leave this people, they were said to sit in the sun. they packed all
the computers, its took me more than 2 hours to get this man to release this people. we
have been subjected to serious embarrassment, (Caleb Olubolade cuts in ” then what we
have been told is that the army have been compromised”) they have been compromise.
They are now dis-arming police too that want to work, in my local government, my own
local government the same thing. today, they were sharing money in the government
house, i called them, people in the government house who loves us were taking pictures
how they were putting money in envelopes, i called them, did everything, instead its our
own rebel that is arrested co-incidentally, it’s the money i wanted to go and give to him.
(General cuts in “your excellency, have you finished sir?”)This is un-becoming….
General: Governor house yesterday, we were together, (koro cuts in, we have a challenge
on our hands, how do we resolve this challenge? I am here, the governor is here, when we
call you, we want action, it’s should not take 2 hours to get action”)
Koro: we have a challenge on our hands, how do we resolve this challenge? I am here, the
governor is here, when we call you, we want action, it’s should not take 2 hours to get
action, the governor said he called you, somebody was detained for over 2 hours, i want
to know who asked to be dis-harming those people.
General: Test my integrity; was I in your local government yesterday? (Un-identified Hausa
Man: yes sir, general: what did i tell you?)
Un-identified Hausa man: sir, the commander was there, he gave us contact and he
directed that only those contacts we should contact to, any other person, we should not
listen to. (fayose cuts in ” the contact was with you this afternoon? The contact was with
you “owoeye standing by you”)
Fayose : The contact was with you this afternoon owoye, the contact was standing by you,
and you are still questioning me. The contacts owoeye was telling you on the other line,
that that the man is with you, 30 – 40 minutes after, they were still kept there. you now
told me that i expect contact, is it too much? That in 24hrs, that the contact cannot stay
with eehhh.. That the contact cannot stay like that (general cuts in “you are misinterpreting
all this” un-identified Hausa man cuts in “sir! sir, the commander said that we
must deliver by all means, and that’s the directives they gave to us (koro cuts in ” if you
dont work with who you are supposed to work with……. its becomes a credibility to us.”)
Fayose: Excuse sir, I told Chief Uba, that am …… that he should send me some soldiers that should go with me, because of a long stage, this one came i told him that where is
he, he said he cannot come inside. did you not tell me that? oya talk now ? (koro cuts in ”
that he was reluctant to come inside”) i said well, i would not go and meet him outside
ooo. Invariably, he came inside, i said sit down. i now called him, i said what instruction
did you give to your guy? what instruction did you give to your guy? (general talks ” which
instruction did i give to you when you are coming ?” un-identified Hausa man answers “you
said that i should come, when his excellency is going home, i should escort him, and any
other thing he needs tomorrow during the election, we should provide it, that’s all!”) if he
want to spoil it, let him tie his head, because we are going to wage war against him. The
war is eminent. i was in my house, “chief of army staff” call me, and told me he has
briefed him, and gave me his number because i never met him before. He told me, you
are in safe hands; he would perform, and if you have any issues, call me. He told me that i
have made it clear to him that i am Jonathan for this election. Chief of army staff told
me, have never met him before in my life. He only called me with the instruction from the
villa. Each time we explain this this to this man, he porous, everything is porous.
Caleb Olubolade: anyway, i don’t want us to….. where we are now general, we held so
many meetings, that i don’t belief we should be in this situation now. The idea of having
headship, is that everybody should work together. under no circumstances what so ever is
for anyone to be dis-armed number one. number 2 is that, (general cuts in: excuse me sir
this dis-harming of a thing, is it the thing that led to eemmmh…. am a commander (koro
cuts in : wait, the guy just left with the lady, the team that left here as we are being told,
are being dis-armed, that’s why we are worried.
Fayose: we even said this stickers must not be shared until its 4 o’clock.( general cuts in: when did we share the stickers? un- identified Hausa man answered: by 16:00hrs”) the guys
that just left just called that the soldiers have dis-harmed us, that they were as good as
beating us. I asked did they not see the stickers, they said the stickers are there. we
showed them (general cuts in :did i not tell you about stickers yesterday? “)
Un-identified Hausa man : you did sir.
General: what did i tell you?
Un-identified Hausa man : that any vehicle carrying the stickers, that we should be left.
(Caleb Olubolade cuts in: are your boys carrying out your instructions? that was exactly
what i asked you?
General: i have 5 sections, i took my time yesterday (honourable AbdulKareem cuts in:” se
ko se pe awon people yi lo gba owo lo wo awon people yi?”)
Fayose: nko to won lo se ni yen!o ti wan se ni yen o!
Honourable AbdulKareem: you can’t do this. i have a stake in this. We are all stake
holders. (Everyone in the room echoes, we are all stake holders”)
Fayose: We have to call the president and let him know. This people are doing
somethings.they would not even serve police that wants to help us, we can’t continue like
this.(general cuts in ” are you working with a different police?”)
Honourable AbdulKareem: Momoh, you know me now, you are the one from kogi nah, are
you not the one from kogi, (general cuts in ” am a stake holder is more in my heart than
you. Don’t talk to me anyhow please, dont talk to me anyhow.”) Am not talking to you
anyhow to, don’t talk to me anyhow too, i won’t take it from you. whom am are you
talking to, am an honourable member of the national assembly, do you know you are
insulting me too? (koro cuts in ” sit down general, sit down please”)who are you that you
say am insulting you, if am in the military, i would be a brigadier or general today. so what
are you saying, am a member of the national assembly. (koro cuts in: i don’t like all this
embarrasment,we all left our home to come here, we are here for the same thing. i don’t
like the way the honourable is talking, i asked him to come here, if you are a member of
the national assembly so, i was once a senator too. show some respect.”)
Koro: i won’t say a word, i would allow you to talk, but i want to sound a note of warning.
This man, we cannot keep him here indefinitely. let us make progress, give him
instructions on what we want him to do, let him go and do it, let us monitor him, and
make sure those things are done, cause as he’s seated here, other people are monitoring
his movement (person 2 “God bless you sir”) give him instructions. (Person 4 cuts in “let
me just say something”) Let the senator land.
Senator Omisore: i would just say that we don’t have to argue this much, we have seen
some lapses yes, its just this evening. there is nothing happening now that we cannot
contain before tomorrow morning, there is nothing.so ba mi so fun general, we can be
together on this matter. your boys can be overzealous and do things that are not sent,
(koro cuts in “and some can be compromise too.”) yes! What am saying momoh is that, at
this level, any information that you hear from us, we are on ground here, move swiftly to
those information, and act number one. Instead of you defending them even blindly. You
go and find out what is really happening there. We have areas that are faulty areas, look
into it, “ikere”, “ilawe”. Let them confirm what is happening there. My friend major is
looking to “oke-mesin” himself.
Koro: Do you have a special team?
General: there are about 6 special team. ( koro cuts in” your own team”) i have one.
“Strike force” i have almost forty soldiers after deployment.
Koro : the idea of calling you, and not getting reactions we have to stop that now, you
must bring that to an end. When we call you, within the next 5 – 10 minutes, we need to
know what has been done about it, and we want to get the full feedback on what has
been done. all those that has been dis-armed, tell your men they must release them.
(person 4 cuts in “they don’t dis-armed anyone again”) and then put 2 or 3 of your men in
charge of that. That before anybody is dis-armed; they call that person for clearance.
That person would call in, and if they say they should not, nobody is dis-armed. If he say
that they should go ahead, nobody know them, go ahead and dis-armed them. Then that
daramola i want him picked up in the morning, (person 4 cuts in: “no in the night, tonight!
daramola and commissioner for finance”) daramola is in which local govt.
General: sir, we have done a lot of arrest.me and oga chris.(person 4 cuts in : i know”)
Koro: i understand.
General: what am saying is that, it’s the pressure.
Koro: wait! Wait! Your excellency, give him your token so that we can go.
Fayose: o ni number mi. he has my number.
Koro: the people you want them to take control of would arrest before the morning, can
make their list and their local government go and bring it.(general cuts in: that chairman
now, he’s already with SS now.”) let me tell you, they say there is one place that has been
flooded “ecomog” from osun “omisore cuts in: that’s oke-mesin, he spoke to the oba of
oke-mesin” that oba, you must ensure, that those people are flushed out.”
Omisore: oke mesin.
General: Oke-mesin where? (omisore cuts in” he knows the place”) oh, i know oke-mesin
very well.
Koro: who is that one gonna brief, (Un-Identified hausa man in “captain aja, he is already there. i gave him the number ehhhh. i gave him the number of akin.”) oh akin is there.
General: Daramola is which local government?
Koro :Oye local government, don’t go an give very conflicting ki ni o. i don’t want you to stay here for to long
General: yes sir!
Koro: They would be talking to you on the phone (general cuts in” yes sir.”) Nobody is
monitoring you; i don’t want a situation they would say you have come here.
Omisore: i want you to notice that when the governor was going, he went with about
twenty something vehicles.(koro cuts in “the governor told him that already”)
Koro: that should not be happening on the eve of election
Honourable AbdulKareem : awon ti won ba se meeting nko ni tantalizer? (general cuts in :”you are the one nah, its chris”)
General: Lets accept one thing, we want success, you know why i ask, if we have put only
policmen, we would have reach them together. in the presence of chief chris, i said if we
dont deliver. since yesterday we’ve been hammering it. He just left. Now am the one that
pick up the chairman of oyen local govt. if am compromise, the governor doesn’t have my
number. Is the chief that he telling me that he’s been asking for my number from him? As a
general, i can’t pretend like he does not want to give money.
Koro: general sir, it’s not about you, it’s your men in the field,(general cuts in “we
checkmate them”) ehnnn..it’s for you to continue to find out what they are doing.(general
cuts in ” sir, what you need to do now, don’t listen to people texting, Chris is talking to me
and my men, sir you sent me a message that somebody is behind the
negotiating………what i want to do is, we are going to form a group, a one group. Have
told chief yesterday that am not working again, that he should be in touch, he said he’s
coming to my place.”
General: voting has not started, the plan has been briefed, i told this man in uniform
yesterday, i don’t know which state he’s from. i took my time within 2 days when that
thing happened, i went round and my brief to them is deliver or you would be sanctioned,
and i told them if this my is your contact point, if they say follow here follow. Tell me any
soldier man that is staying in any of the opponent hotel. We have asset we are not using
it. the governor, our excellency, i know his problem i never knew until…… when oga chief
came to me, he looked at me if its money he said he would give to me, have given my
soldiers, their morale are high.(koro cuts in:” don’t talk too much, i want you to go and
work and deliver for us. look here, you can’t get promotion without me sitting on top of
your military council. If am a happy man tomorrow night, the sky is your limit, and at the
end of the day if am unhappy….”)
Koro: am not here for tea party, am on a special assignment by the president (Caleb
Olubolade cuts in: “so that when next we have someone 2 send on special assignment, it’s
would be you. There is one thing i want to tell you, we are anticipating tomorrow, because
this people know we have people that want to vote for us tomorrow, this people might
come out with thugs to destabilize our people at the polling unit. we want you to work
with the police too, and arrest whoever wants to cause problem a any polling unit
People speaking for a while…….
Omisore : there is a contact man in wusi. Call that contact person now.
General: They are with the my soldiers,(fayose cuts in: “it’s not correct sir.”) gentlemen
listen both of you, i told pastor this evening how many local government is in our hands, i
called pastor this morning that please tell your men to follow my soldier one by one.
Fayose: If am working for you, if am working for you sir, i cannot be following you around sir. My people cannot be following you about. We don’t follow IG about, we don’t follow
police about. The “OC mopol” of this state is working for us, we don’t follow him about.
When we call him one hand we have this problem he settles it immediately. Last night, we
told him this is happening around the government house, he condone off all the 4
entrance off (general cuts in: ‘ i was the one oh”) you are not the one sir. (General cuts in
again:” i was the one who created road blocks, I was the officer on ground sir.”) When you
were coming this night, were you searched?
TEXT ENDS

How Ekiti Governorship Election was Rigged By Obanikoro, Fayose, Chris Uba, General Momoh

Documents and audio recordings, providing substantial evidence that major Peoples Democratic Party’s leaders planned and successfully rigged the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State, and plotted a similar scenario in Osun in 2014, have emerged, SaharaReporters is reporting.
The audio recordings and affidavit were provided by Sagir Koli, a Captain in the 32nd Artillery Brigade stationed in Ekiti State, who has since fled the country for fear of retaliation.
Capt. Koli recorded the conversation on 20th June 2014 when he was asked to accompany his Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, to the meeting. The venue was held at Spotless Hotel in Ado-Ekiti.

The audio recordings depict the meeting as being attended by the eventual “winner” of the election, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti; Senator Iyiola Omisore; a man identified as Honorable Abdulkareem; the Minister for Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade; and Senator Musiliu Obanikoro who was at the time the Minister of State for Defence. Mr. Chris Uba came to Ekiti with huge stash cash and soldiers from the East to carry out the assignment.

The 37-minute recording details the conversation between these men as they bribed Brigadier General Momoh with a promotion for his assistance in carrying out election fraud in Ekiti. In it, Obanikoro is clearly heard informing the group of men, “[I] am not here for a tea party, am on special assignment by the President.”

Watch This!

Soludo's Outburst: Thoughts that causes confusion in President Jonathan's Camp

I need to preface this article with a few clarifications. I have taken a long sabbatical leave from partisan politics, and it is real fun watching the drama from the balcony. Having had my own share of public service (I do not need a job from government), I now devote my time and energy in pursuit of other passions, especially abroad. A few days ago, I read an article in Thisday entitled “Where is Charles Soludo?”, and my answer is that I am still there, only that I have been too busy with extensive international travels to participate in or comment on our national politics and economy. But I occasionally follow events at home. Since the survival and prosperity of Nigeria are at stake, the least some of us (albeit, non-partisan) must do is to engage in public debate. As the elections approach, I owe a duty to share some of my concerns. In September 2010, I wrote a piece entitled “2011 Elections: Let the Real Debate Begin” and published by Thisday. I understand the Federal Executive Council discussed it, and the Minister of Information rained personal attacks on me during the press briefing. I noted more than six newspaper editorials in support of the issues we raised. Beside other issues we raised, our main thesis was that the macro economy was dangerously adrift, with little self-insurance mechanisms (and a prediction that if oil prices fell below $40, many state governments would not be able to pay salaries). I gave a subtle hint at easy money and exchange rate depreciations because I did not want to panic the market with a strong statement. Sadly, on the eve of the next elections, literally everything we hinted at has happened. Part of my motivation for this article is that five years after, the real debate is still not happening. The presidential election next month will be won by either Buhari or Jonathan. For either, it is likely to be a pyrrhic victory. None of them will be able to deliver on the fantastic promises being made on the economy, and if oil prices remain below $60, I see very difficult months ahead, with possible heady collisions with labour, civil society, and indeed the citizenry. To be sure, the presidential election will not be decided by the quality of ‘issues’ or promises canvassed by the candidates. The debates won’t also change much (except if there is a major gaffe by either candidate like Tofa did in the debate with Abiola). My take is that more than 95% of the likely voters have pretty much made up their minds based largely on other considerations. A few of us remain undecided. During my brief visit to Nigeria, I watched some of the campaign rallies on television. The tragedy of the current electioneering campaigns is that both parties are missing the golden opportunity to sensitize the citizenry about the enormous challenges ahead and hence mobilize them for the inevitable sacrifices they would be called upon to make soon. Each is promising an El-Dorado. Let me admit that the two main parties talk around the major development challenges—corruption, insecurity, economy (unemployment/poverty, power, infrastructure, etc) health, education, etc. However, it is my considered view that none of them has any credible agenda to deal with the issues, especially within the context of the evolving global economy and Nigeria’s broken public finance. The UK Conservative Party’s manifesto for the last election proudly announced that all its programmes were fully costed and were therefore implementable. Neither APC nor PDP can make a similar claim. A plan without the dollar or Naira signs to it is nothing but a wish-list. They are not telling us how much each of their promises will cost and where they will get the money. None talks about the broken or near bankrupt public finance and the strategy to fix it. Goodluck-Jonathan-new In response to the question of where the money will come from, I heard one of the politicians say that the problem of Nigeria was not money but the management of resources. This is half-truth. The problem is both. No matter how efficient a father (with a monthly salary of N50,000) is at managing the family resources, I cannot see how he could deliver on a promise to buy a brand new Peugeot 406 for each of his three children in a year. Even with all the loopholes and waste closed, with increased efficiency per dollar spent, there is still a binding budget constraint. To deliver an efficient national transport infrastructure alone will still cost tens of billions of dollars per annum even by corruption-free, cost-effective means. Did I hear that APC promises a welfare system that will pay between N5,000 and N10,000 per month to the poorest 25 million Nigerians? Just this programme alone will cost between N1.5 and N3 trillion per annum. Add to this the cost of free primary education plus free meal (to be funded by the federal budget or would it force non-APC state governments to implement the same?), plus some millions of public housing, etc. I have tried to cost some of the promises by both the APC and the PDP, given alternative scenarios for public finance and the numbers don’t add up. Nigerians would be glad to know how both parties would fund their programmes. Do they intend to accentuate the huge public debt, or raise taxes on the soon to-be-beleaguered private businesses, or massively devalue the naira to rake in baskets of naira from the dwindling oil revenue, or embark on huge fiscal retrenchment with the sack of labour and abandonment of projects, and which areas of waste do they intend to close and how much do they estimate to rake in from them, etc? I remember that Chief Obafemi Awolowo was asked similar questions in 1978 and 1979 about his promises of free education and free medical services. Even as a teenager, I was impressed by how he reeled out figures about the amounts he would save from various ‘waste’ including the tea/coffee served in government offices. The point is that at least he did his homework and had his numbers and I give credit to his team. Some 36 years later, the quality of political debate and discourse seems to border on the pedestrian. From the quality of its team, I did not expect much from the current government, but I must confess that I expected APC as a party aspiring to take over from PDP to come up with a knock-out punch. Evidently, from what we have read from the various versions of its manifesto as well as the depth of promises being made, it does not seem that it has a better offer. Let me digress a bit to refresh our memory on where we are, and thus provide the context in which to evaluate the promises being made to us. Recall that the key word of the 2015 budget is ‘austerity’. Austerity? This is just within a few months of the fall in oil prices. History repeats itself in a very cruel way, as this was exactly what happened under the Shehu Shagari administration. Under the Shagari government, oil price reached its highest in 1980/81. During the same period, Nigeria ratcheted up its consumption and all tiers of government were in competition as to which would out-borrow the other. Huge public debt was the consequence. When oil prices crashed in early 1982, the National Assembly then passed the Economic Stabilization (Austerity Measures) Act in one day— going through the first, second, and third readings the same day. The austerity measures included the rationing of ‘essential commodities’ and most states owed salary arrears. Corruption was said to be pervasive, and as Sani Abacha said in that famous coup speech, ‘unemployment has reached unacceptable proportions and our hospitals have become mere consulting clinics’. General Muhammadu Buhari/Tunde Idiagbon regime made the fight against corruption and restoration of discipline the cardinal point of their administration which lasted for 20 months. I am not sure they had a credible plan to get the economy out of the doldrums (although it must be admitted that poverty incidence in Nigeria as of 1985 when they left office was a just46%— according to the Federal Office of Statistics). We have come full circle. If the experience under Shagari could be excused as an unexpected shock, what Nigeria is going through now is a consequence of our deliberate wrong choices. We have always known that the unprecedented oil boom (in both price and quantity—despite oil theft) of the last six years is temporary but the government chose to treat it as a permanent shock. The parallels with the Shagari regime are troubling. First, at the time of oil boom, Nigeria again went on a consumption spree such that the budgets of the last five years can best be described as ‘consumption budgets’, with new borrowing by the federal government exceeding the actual expenditure on critical infrastructure. Second, not one penny was added to the stock of foreign reserves at a period Nigeria earned hundreds of billions from oil. For comparisons, President Obasanjo met about $5 billion in foreign reserves, and the average monthly oil price for the 72 months he was in office was $38, and yet he left $43 billion in foreign reserves after paying $12 billion to write-off Nigeria’s external debt. In the last five years, the average monthly oil price has been over $100, and the quantity also higher but our foreign reserves have been declining and exchange rate depreciating. I note that when I assumed office as Governor of CBN, the stock of foreign reserves was $10 billion. The average monthly oil price during my 60 months in office was $59, but foreign reserve reached the all-time peak of $62 billion (and despite paying $12 billion for external debt, and losing over $15 billion during the unprecedented global financial and economic crisis) I left behind $45 billion. Recall also that our exchange rate continuously appreciated during this period and was at N117 to the dollar before the global crisis and we deliberately allowed it to depreciate in order to preserve our reserves. My calculation is that if the economy was better managed, our foreign reserves should have been between $102 –$118 billion and exchange rate around N112 before the fall in oil prices. As of now, the reserves should be around $90 billion and exchange rate no higher than N125 per dollar. Third, the rate of public debt accumulation at a time of unprecedented boom had no parallel in the world. While the Obasanjo administration bought and enlarged the policy space for Nigeria, the current government has sold and constricted it. What debt relief did for Nigeria was to liberate Nigerian policymakers from the intrusive conditionalities of the creditors and thereby truly allowing Nigeria independence in its public policy. How have we used the independence? Through our own choices, we have yet again tied the hands of future policymakers. This time, the debt is not necessarily to foreign creditor institutions/governments which are organized under the Paris club but largely to private agents which is even more volatile. We call it domestic debt. But if one carefully unpacks the bond portfolio, what percentage of it is held by foreign private agents? And I understand the Government had removed the speed bumps we kept to slow the speed of capital flight, and someone is sweating to explain the gyrations in foreign reserves. I am just smiling! In sum, the mismanagement of our economy has brought us once more to the brink. Government officials rely on the artificial construct of debt to GDP ratio to tell us we can borrow as much as we want. That is nonsense, especially for an economy with a mono but highly volatile source of revenue and forex earnings. The chicken will soon come home to roost. Today, the combined domestic and external debt of the Federal Government is in excess of $40 billion. Add to this the fact that abandoned capital projects littered all over the country amount to over $50 billion. No word yet on other huge contingent liabilities. If oil prices continue to fall, I bet that Nigeria will soon have a heavy debt burden even with low debt to GDP ratio. Furthermore, given the current and capital account regime, it is evident that Nigeria does not have enough foreign reserves to adequately cover for imports plus short term liabilities. In essence, we are approaching the classic of what the Shagari government faced, and no wonder the hasty introduction of ‘austerity measures’ again. Fourth, poverty incidence and unemployment are also simultaneously at all-time high levels. According to the NBS, poverty incidence grew to 69% in 2010 and projected to be 71% in 2011, with unemployment at 24%. This is the worst record in Nigeria’s history, and the paradox is that this happened during the unprecedented oil boom. - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/buhari-vs-jonathan-beyond-election-charles-soludo/#sthash.ka8uZmxp.dpuf One theme I picked up listening to the campaign rallies as well as to some of the propagandists is the confusion about measuring government “performance”. Most people seem to confuse ‘inputs’, or ‘processes’ with output. Earlier this month, I had a dinner with a group of friends (14 of us) and we were chit-chatting about Nigeria. One of us, an associate of President Jonathan veered off to repeat a propaganda mantra that Jonathan had outperformed his predecessors. He also reminded us that Jonathan re-based the GDP and that Nigeria is now the biggest economy in Africa; etc. It was fun listening to the response by others. In sum, the group agreed that the President had ‘outperformed’ his predecessors except that it is in reverse order. First, my friend was educated that re-basing the GDP is no achievement: it is a routine statistical exercise, and depending on the base year that you choose, you get a different GDP figure. Re-basing the GDP has nothing to do with government policy. Besides, as naira-dollar exchange rate continues to depreciate, the GDP in current dollars will also shrink considerably soon. We were reminded of Jonathan’s agricultural ‘revolution’. But someone cut in and noted that for all the propaganda, the growth rate of the agricultural sector in the last five years still remains far below the performance under Obasanjo. One of us reminded him that no other president had presided over the slaughter of about 15,000 people by insurgents in a peacetime; no other president earned up to 50% of the amount of resources the current government earned from oil and yet with very little outcomes; no other president had the rate of borrowing; none had significant forex earnings and yet did not add one penny to foreign reserves but losing international reserves at a time of boom; no other president had a depreciating exchange rate at a time of export boom; at no time in Nigeria’s history has poverty reached 71% (even under Abacha, it was 67 -70%); and under no other president did unemployment reach 24%. Surely, these are unprecedented records and he surely ‘outperformed’ his predecessors! What a satire! One of those present took the satire to some level by comparing Jonathan to the ‘performance’ of the former Governor of Anambra, Peter Obi. He noted that while Obi gloated about ‘savings’, there is no signature project to remember his regime except that his regime took the first position among all states in Nigeria in the democratization of poverty—- mass impoverishment of the people of Anambra. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, poverty rose under his watch in Anambra from 20% in 2004 (lowest in Nigeria then) to 68% in 2010 (a 238% deterioration!). Our friend likened it to a father who had no idea of what to do with his resources and was celebrating his fat bank account while his children were dying of kwashiorkor. He pointed out that since it is the likes of Peter Obi who are the advisers to Jonathan on how to manage the economy (thereby confusing micromanagement which you do as a trader with macro governance) it is little wonder that poverty is fast becoming another name for Nigeria. It was a very hilarious evening. My advice to President Jonathan and his handlers is to stop wasting their time trying to campaign on his job record. Those who have decided to vote for him will not do so because he has taken Nigeria to the moon. His record on the economy is a clear ‘F’ grade. As one reviews the laundry list of micro interventions the government calls its achievements, one wonders whether such list is all that the government could deliver with an unprecedented oil boom and an unprecedented public debt accumulation. I can clearly see why reasonable people are worried. Everywhere else in the world, government performance on the economy is measured by some outcome variables such as: income (GDP growth rate), stability of prices (inflation and exchange rate), unemployment rate, poverty rate, etc. On all these scores, this government has performed worse than its immediate predecessor— Obasanjo regime. If we appropriately adjust for oil income and debt, then this government is the worst in our history on the economy. All statistics are from the National Bureau of Statistics. Despite presiding over the biggest oil boom in our history, it has not added one percentage point to the growth rate of GDP compared to the Obasanjo regime especially the 2003- 07 period. Obasanjo met GDP growth rate at 2% but averaged 7% within 2003- 07. The current government has been stuck at 6% despite an unprecedented oil boom. Income (GDP) growth has actually performed worse, and poverty escalated. This is the only government in our history where rapidly increasing government expenditure was associated with increasing poverty. The director general of NBS stated in his written press conference address in 2011 that about 112 million Nigerians were living in poverty. Is this the record to defend? Obama had a tough time in his re-election in 2012 because unemployment reached 8%. Here, unemployment is at a record 24% and poverty at an all-time 71% but people are prancing around, gloating about ‘performance’. As I write, the Naira exchange rate to the dollar is $210 at the parallel market. What a historic performance! Please save your breathe and save us the embarrassment. The President promised Nigeria nothing in the last election and we did not get value for money. He should this time around present us with his plan for the future, and focus on how he would redeem himself in the second term—if he wins! Sadly the government’s economic team is very weak, dominated by self-interested and self-conflicted group of traders and businessmen, and so-called economic team meetings have been nothing but showbiz time. The very people government exists to regulate have seized the levers of government as policymakers and most government institutions have largely been “privatized” to them. Mention any major government department or agency and someone will tell you whom it has been ‘allocated’ to, and the person subsequently nominates his minion to occupy the seat. What do you then expect? The economy seems to be on auto pilot, with confusion as to who is in charge, and government largely as a constraint. There are no big ideas, and it is difficult to see where economic policy is headed to. My thesis is that the Nigerian economy, if properly managed, should have been growing at an annual rate of about 12% given the oil boom, and poverty and unemployment should have fallen dramatically over the last five years. This is topic for another day. So far, the Government’s response to the self-inflicted crisis is, at best, laughable. They blame external shocks as if we did not expect them and say nothing about the terrible policy choices they made. The National Assembly had described the 2015 budget as unrealistic. The fiscal adjustments proposed in the 2015 budget simply play to the gallery and just to pander to our emotions. For a $540 billion economy, the so-called luxury tax amounts to zero per cent of GDP. If the current trend continues, private businesses will come under a heavy crunch soon. Having put economics on its head during the boom time, the Government now proposes to increase taxes during a prospective downturn and impose austerity measures. Unbelievable! Fortuitously, just as he succeeded Shagari when Nigeria faced similar situations, Buhari is once more seeking to lead Nigeria. But times have changed, and Nigeria is largely different. First, this is a democracy and dealing with corruption must happen within the ambit of the rule of law and due process. Getting things done in a democracy requires complicated bargaining, especially where the legislature, labour, the media, and civil society have become strong and entrenched. Second, the size, structure and institutions of the economy have fundamentally altered. The market economy, especially the capital market and foreign exchange market, impose binding constraints and discipline on any regime. Third, dealing with most of the other issues— insecurity, unemployment/poverty, infrastructure, health, education, etc, require increased, smarter, and more efficient spending. Increased spending when the economy is on the reverse gear? If oil prices remain between 40- 60 dollars over the next two years, the current policy regime guarantees that foreign reserves will continue the precipitous depletion with the attendant exchange rate depreciation, as well as a probable unsustainable escalation in debt accumulation, fiscal retrenchment or taxing the private sector with vengeance. The scenario does not look pretty. The poor choices made by the current government have mortgaged the future, and the next government would have little room to manoeuvre and would inevitably undertake drastic but painful structural adjustments. Nigerians loathe the term ‘structural adjustment’. With falling real wages and depreciating currency, I can see any belated attempt by the government to deal with the bloated public sector pitching it against a feisty labour. I worry about regime stability in the coming months, and I do not envy the next team. The seeming crisis is not destiny; it is self-imposed. However, we must see it as an opportunity to be seized to fundamentally restructure Nigeria’s political economy, including its fiscal federalism and mineral rights. The current system guarantees cycles of consumption loop and I cannot see sustainable long term prosperity without major systemic overhaul. The proposals at the national conference merely tinker at the margins. In totality, the outcome of the national conference is to do more of the same, with minor amendments on the system of sharing and consumption rather than a fundamental overhaul of the system for productivity and prosperity. President Jonathan promises to implement the report of the national conference if he wins. I commend him for at least offering ‘something’, albeit, marginal in my view. I have not heard anything from the APC or Buhari regarding the national conference report or what kind of federalism they envisage for Nigeria. In Nigeria’s recent history, two examples under the military and civilian governments demonstrate that where the political will exists, Nigeria has the capacity to overcome severe challenges. The first was under President Babangida. Not many Nigerians appreciate that given the near bankrupt state of Nigeria’s finances and requirements for debt resolution under the Paris Club, the country had little choice but to undertake the painful structural adjustment programme (SAP). I want to state for the record that the foundation for the current market economy we operate in Nigeria was laid by that regime (liberalization of markets including market determined exchange rate, private sector-led economy including licensing of private banks and insurance, de-regulation, privatization of public enterprises under TCPC, etc). Just abolishing the import licensing regime was a fundamental policy revolution. Despite the criticisms, these policy thrusts have remained the pillars of our deepening market economy, and the economy recovered from almost negative growth rate to average 5.5% during the regime and poverty incidence at 42% in 1992. Under our democratic experience, President Obasanjo inherited a bankrupt economy (with the lost decade of the 1990’s GDP growth rate of 2.2% and hence zero per capita income growth for the decade). His regime consolidated and deepened the market economy structures (consolidation of the banking system which is powering the emergence of a new but truly private sector-led economy and simultaneously led to a new awareness and boom in the capital market; telecommunications revolution; new pension regime; debt relief which won for Nigeria policy independence from the World Bank and Paris Club; deepening of de-regulation and privatization including the unbundling of NEPA under PHCN for privatization; agricultural revolution that saw yearly growth rate of over 6% and remains unsurpassed ever since; sound monetary and fiscal policy and growing foreign reserves that gave confidence to investors; establishment of the Africa Finance Corporation which is leading infrastructure finance in Africa; backward integration policy that saw the establishment and growth of Dangote cement and others; established ICPC and EFCC to fight corruption, etc). The economy roared to average yearly growth of 7% between 2003 and 2007 (although average monthly oil price under his regime was $38), and poverty dropped from estimated 70% in1999 to 54% in 2004. Obasanjo was his own coordinating minister of the economy and chairman of the economic management team— which he chaired for 90 minutes every week. I met with him daily. In other words, he did not outsource economic management. We expected that the next government after Obasanjo would take the economy to the next level. So far, we have had two great slogans: the 7-point agenda and currently, the transformation agenda. They remain empty slogans without content or direction. Let me suggest that the fundamental challenge for the next government on the economy can be framed around the goal of creating twelve million jobs over the next four years to have a dent on unemployment and poverty. The challenge is to craft a development agenda to deliver this within the context of broken public finance, and an economy in which painful structural adjustments will be inevitable if current trends in oil prices continue. Most other programmes on corruption, security, power, infrastructure, etc, are expected to be instruments to achieve this objective. So far, neither the APC nor the PDP has a credible programme for employment and poverty reduction. The APC promises to create 20,000 jobs per state in the first year, totalling a mere 720,000 jobs. This sounds like a quota system and for a country where the new entrants into the labour market per annum exceed two million. If it was intended as a joke, APC must please get serious. On the other hand, President Jonathan targets two million jobs per annum but his strategy for doing so is a Job Board— another committee of sort. Sorry, Mr. President, a Job Board is not a strategy. The principal job Nigerians hired you to do for them is to create jobs for them too. You cannot outsource that job, Sir. Creating 3 million jobs per annum under the unfolding crisis would task our creativity and audacity to the limits. I heard one politician argue that once we fix power, private sector would create jobs. Not necessarily! Well, this government claims to have added 1,700MW to the national grid and yet unemployment soars. Ask Greece, Spain, etc with power and infrastructure and yet with high unemployment. Structural dislocations play a key role. For example, currently in Nigeria, it is estimated that more than 60% of graduates of our educational system are unemployable. You can understand why many of us are amused when the government celebrates that it has established twelve more glorified secondary schools as universities. I thought they would have told us how many Nigerian universities made it in the league of the best 200 universities in the world. That would have been an achievement. Surely, creating millions of jobs in this economy would, among other things, require ‘new money’ and extraordinary system of coordination among the three tiers of government plus the private sector. Unfortunately, from what I read, the CBN is largely likely to be asleep at this time the country needs the most revolutionary finance. This is a topic for another day. Only the President can lead this effort. Moreover, we are waiting for the two parties/candidates to spell out HOW they will create jobs, whether it is the 20,000 jobs per state by APC or 2 million per annum by President Jonathan. Let us know how you arrived at the figures. Whichever of the two that is declared winner will have his job cut out for him, and I expect him to declare a national emergency on job creation. Surprisingly, none of the parties/candidates has any grand vision about African economic integration, led by Nigeria. There is no programme on how to make the naira the de facto currency of ECOWAS or the international financial centre that can attract more than $100 billion per annum. Where is the strategy for orchestrating the revolutionary finance to power the economy during this downturn? For President Jonathan, I find it shocking that the most important initiative of his government to secure the future of the economy by Nigeria refusing to sign the ruinous Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union is not even being mentioned. President Obasanjo saved Nigeria from the potential ruin of an ECOWAS single currency while to his credit Jonathan safeguarded our industrial sector/economy by refusing to sign the EPA. Or does the government not understand the import of that? It will be interesting to know the APC’s strategy for exploiting strategic alliances within Africa, China, and the world for Nigeria’s prosperity. If Buhari wins, he will ride on the populist wind for “change”. Most people I have spoken to who have decided to vote for Buhari do not necessarily know the specifics of what he would offer or how Nigeria would be different under him. I asked my driver, Usman, whom he would vote for President. He responded: “If they no rig the election, na Buhari everybody go vote for”. I asked him why, and his next response sums it: “The man dey honest. In short, people just want to see another face for that villa”. But if he wins, the honeymoon will be brief and the pressure will be immense to magically deliver a ‘new Nigeria’ with no corruption, no boko haram or insecurity, jobs for everyone, no poverty, infrastructure and power in abundance, etc. As a first point, Buhari and his team must realize that they do not yet have a coherent, credible agenda that is consistent with the fundamentals of the economy currently. The APC manifesto contains some good principles and wish-lists, but as a blue print for Nigeria’s security and prosperity, it is largely hollow. The numbers do not add up. Thus, his first job is to present a credible development agenda to Nigerians. The second key challenge for Buhari and his team will be to transit and transform from a group of what I largely refer to as aggrieved people’s congregation to build a true political party with a soul from the patchwork of political associations. It is surely easier to oppose than to govern. This should not worry us much. After all, even the PDP which has been in power for 16 years is still an assembly of people held together by what I refer to as dining table politics. I am not sure how many members can tell you what their party stands for or its mission and vision for Nigeria. The third but more difficult agenda is cobbling together a truly ‘progressive team’ that will begin to pick the pieces. The lesson of history is that the best leaders have been the ones who went beyond their narrow provincial enclaves to recruit talents and mobilize capacities for national transformation. In Nigeria’s history, the two presidents who made the most fundamental transformation of the economy, Babangida and Obasanjo, were exceptional in the quality of the teams they put together. I therefore pray that Buhari will be magnanimous in victory – if he wins—to put together a ‘team Nigeria’ for the rescue mission. If Jonathan wins, then God must have been magnanimous to give him a second chance to redeem himself. Most people I know who support Jonathan do so either out of self-interest or fear of the unknown. As a friend summed it: the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. One person assured me that we would see a ‘different Jonathan’ if he wins as he has been rattled by the harsh judgment of history on his presidency so far. I just pray that he is right. In that case, I would just draw the President’s attention to two issues: First, beside the coterie of clowns who literally make a living with the sing-song of transformation agenda, President Jonathan must know that it remains an empty slogan. His greatest challenge is how to save himself from the stranglehold of his largely provincial palace jesters who tell him he has done better than God, and seek out ‘enemies’ and friends who can help him write his name in history. Propaganda won’t do it. Second, Jonathan must claw back his powers as President of Nigeria. He largely outsourced them, and must now roll his sleeves for a new beginning. I take liberty to tell you this brutal truth: if you are not re-elected, there is little to remember your regime after the next few years. On 7th January 2004, I made a special presentation to an expanded economic management team to set agenda for the new year (as chief economic adviser). The focus of my presentation was for us to identify seven iroko trees that would be the flagship markers for the administration as well as how to finance them. I use the same framework to evaluate your administration. What I say to you, Mr. President, is that your record of performance so far is like a farmland filled with grasses. Yes, they are many but there is no tree, let alone any iroko tree, that stands out. Think about this. The beginning of wisdom for every President in his second term is to admit that he is racing against time to cement his legacy. So far, your report card is not looking great. You need a team of big and bold thinkers, as well as with excellent execution capacity. So far, it is not working! Under the executive presidential system, Nigerians elected you to manage their economy. You cannot outsource that job. Our constitution envisages a federal coordination of the economy, and that function is performed by the National Economic Council (NEC) with Vice-President as chairman. Indeed, the constitution and other laws of Nigeria envisage the office of the VP as the coordinator on the economy. All major economic institutions of the federal government are, by law, chaired by the Vice-President including the national planning (see functions of the national planning commission as coordinator of federal government economic and development programmes), debt management office, National Council on Privatization, etc. As chairman of National Planning (with Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, CBN governor, etc as members), the VP oversees the federal planning and coordination. Then the Constitution mandates the VP as representative of the federal government to chair the NEC, with only CBN governor and state governors as members—to coordinate national economy between federal and states. No minister is a member of NEC. Many people do not understand the logic of the design of our constitution and the role of the VP. Of course, the buck stops on the desk of Mr. President. Only the President and VP have our mandate to govern us. Every other person is an adviser/assistant. I bet that you will only appreciate this article AFTER you leave office. Now that you are in power, truth will only hurt! Be assured that those of us who are prepared to die for Nigeria will never spare you or anyone else this bitter truth. Nigeria must survive and prosper beyond Buhari or Jonathan!

Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR, was former CBN Governor.

Soludo to Okonjo-Iweala: N30tr missing under your watch

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo has accused Finance Minister Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala of incapability, He said Okonjo Iweala brings misery to Nigerians with her economic policies.
According to him, under Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s watch as coordinating minister of the economy, over N30 trillion is missing.
He said: “Public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged. ”
He challenged the minister to a debate on the economy.
Soludo threw the gauntlet in a reaction to the minister’s diatribe following his article on the state of the economy. It is tagged, ‘Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Missing Trillions’ Part 1. Soludo said calling for the debate with the minister is because Nigeria’s survival and prosperity is at stake.

BUHARI: 20,000mw Will be Deliver in my Four years of Presidency

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday unfolded its power agenda should it presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, be elected.
The party plans to generate at least 20,000 megawatts (mw) of electricity in four years to surpass Nigeria’s consumption level of around 15, 000mw.
In a statement, the party’s Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) expressed dismay that the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan had only added 1.400mw to the national grid in four years.
The statement by Mallam Garba Shehu, the spokesman of the campaign, quoted Gen. Buhari as saying that while he will not run a witch hunt government, he will not hesitate to deal decisively with cases of impunity and corruption.  No probe of any government official, he added.
The statement also quoted Gen. Buhari as saying he is passionately concerned about the sorry conditions of our armed forces today who, despite huge budgetary allocations, have failed to effectively deal with manifest security threats, including the Boko Haram terrorism.
“What he said at every given opportunity is that he is keenly interested in knowing what has gone wrong, if any, with the army that he knew. When he has access to them as Commander-in-Chief, he will like to hear from his commanders what problems they are dealing with so that they can be solved,” Shehu said.
“In a democracy such as ours, all institutions of government, including the armed forces, are accountable. No country can achieve results in its counter-terrorism efforts when there is no transparency in the management of huge resources for the purpose. He (Gen. Buhari) will reinvigorate the armed forces and restore their rapidly evaporating morale,” he said.
The APC Campaign Organisation accused the PDP of wasting billions of naira on non existent power, managing to add a yearly average of 87 megawatts of electricity, showing a massive failure to substantially raise generation and distribution of electric power despite promises and cash infusion of between $16 billion and $20 billion.
Shehu said “nearly 16 years of PDP administration gave this country a miserly addition of 1,400 Mega Watts against the expenditure of more than $16 billion. That translates to 18.5 MW per annum”.
He noted that “this abysmal power production and distribution, with its attendant socio-economic implications, is the most irresponsible thing a government can do to its people.
It explained that the PDP has shown an “appalling lack of capacity to deal with just any problem confronting this country and the lack of vision and commitment to dealing with electricity supply was just one of the myriads of the others begging for attention.”
“The only conclusion to draw from this is that the PDP is more interested in feathering the nest of importers of generators than in the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens and their businesses.”
The organisation accused President Jonathan of massive corruption in the country’s agricultural sector, saying “President Jonathan has failed woefully in the agricultural sector, and all the self-praise of the administration on agriculture is simply a ruse”.
It maintained that whereas President Jonathan had promised in 2010 to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice and wheat production by 2015, “the grim reality on the ground today is that Nigeria emerged as the world’s highest importer of rice in 2015, and a whopping $11 billion is spent annually by Nigeria to import rice, wheat, sugar and fish.”
The statement added that according to the former Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Sarah Alade, Nigeria as at 2014 spends $4 billion on rice importation – that is about N600 billion annually on the importation of 2.1 million metric tonnes of milled rice.
“This is after the Federal Government had approached the China Exim Bank for a loan of $1.2 billion for the financing of 100 large-scale rice processing plants with a total capacity of 2.1 million metric tonnes.
“The troubling truth today is that Nigeria is nothing close to self-sufficiency in rice production and what we have at hand is a close web of corruption where government cronies stumble over each other to get import licences for rice.”
“According to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s wheat consumption as at year 2000 was about two million metric tonnes. But, by 2010, wheat importation to the country had risen to four million metric tonnes and Nigeria spends N635 billion annually on wheat importation.
“Five years into the Jonathan administration, Nigeria spends even more than we did in 2010 to import wheat; yet the government continues to brandish false achievements in the agricultural sector – a situation that is completely at variance with what President Jonathan promised Nigerians in 2010, saying that his government would make Nigeria save N635 billion annually on rice and wheat importation.”
The statement also faulted the government’s claim that local farmers now have unhindered access to fertiliser through the Growth Enhancement Scheme and described as “excessively labourious and technically difficult for the farmers to work through” are two bags of fertilizer throughout the entire farming season, “and government has not come out in one instance to tell Nigerians how much it receives as grants on fertiliser distribution to farmers from donor agencies.
“The government will want to give us the impression that fertiliser is being given to farmers free of charge. But we know that what subsists is a 50 per cent subsidy per bag of fertiliser. Our farmers are being shortchanged under this so-called e-wallet arrangement because of lack of transparency.
“We may be looking at another subsidy scam over fertilizer unless the Jonathan administration comes out clean to tell us how much it has received as grants over fertiliser and how it comes about the 50 per cent subsidy per bag of fertilizer.”
While dismissing President Jonathan’s claims of achievement in the agricultural sector, the organisation said that “throughout the periods preceding the Jonathan’s administration, the contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was at 7 per cent, while under the so-called transformation agenda of President Jonathan, agriculture’s contribution to the GDP has been consistent at 5 per cent – an all time low.
“In any case, food commodities are items Nigerians buy on a daily basis. If the Jonathan administration was sincere with the statistics it reels out on agriculture, why would the government buy pages of newspaper advertorials and TV commercials to force bitter falsehood of its achievements down the throats of Nigerians? The Jonathan administration has failed woefully in its agricultural policies and the facts are self-evident out there at those food stalls in our markets.
“In 2015, Nigerians know they spend far more to buy food than they did in 2010. That reality, in itself, is President Jonathan’s scorecard in agriculture.”

Amechi visit to Lamido Unsettles Presidency

The Presidency and the PDP were yesterday unsettled following a secret meeting between Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council Director-General Rotimi Amaechi.

The meeting was held in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital,  between Saturday night and yesterday.
Lamido, who is PDP candidate President Goodluck Jonathan’s Northwest campaign coordinator, and the Rivers State governor were on the same side during the disputed Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) election.
It was learnt that Amaechi was in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, on the invitation of his colleague. He arrived at the Jigawa Government House at about 9pm on Saturday.
A source said the two governors held talks late into the night at the Presidential Lodge in the Government House, where Ameachi passed the night. They met again at about 10:05am yesterday for more talks, which ended at about 11:30am.
After the meeting, Lamido, who wore a blue dress and a blue cap to match, drove himself in a Peugeot 206 car. He declined reporters’ question as he returned to his official residence.
Ameachi, who drove himself in a black Toyota Landcruiser with few escorts to the Government House, also declined comment on his mission.
When reporters approached him for his comments, he said: “You can see me driving. I’m busy, I can’t talk now. Good bye.”
Lamido is believed to be lukewarm towards the PDP presidential campaign.
He even gave conditions to join the team, saying the President must rein in the ex-militants and Chief Edwin Clark who have been beating drums of war in the name of support for Dr. Jonathan.
The ex-militants remain unrepentant, vowing to go to war should the President lose the February 14 poll.
The fears of the Presidency and PDP border on likely protest votes in Jigawa State against Dr. Jonathan.
But the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Chief  Olisa Metuh, said the party had a feeling that Amaechi went to Dutse as part of consultations to return to the party.
He said all the governors and others who defected from PDP to APC were not feeling at home in the opposition party.
The Presidency and the PDP were “caught unawares” by Amaechi’s visit to Dutse.
It was learnt that the shock was more profound because Lamido did not hint Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo about what a Presidency source described as a “nocturnal visit” – about 12 days to the election.
A highly-placed source said: “ The Presidency and the PDP were jolted because the meeting between Lamido and Amaechi came barely few hours after the flawed rally in Kaduna State.
“In fact, at the Kaduna rally, Lamido, who is the zonal coordinator of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, was unusually silent and moody. We were all curious but we attributed his mood to campaign fatigue.
“Everyone is running helter-skelter to get in touch with Lamido on what actually transpired between him and Amaechi.
“But going by the fact that the nation is in election mood, we are suspecting that it might be about the presidential poll.”
A source in the party said: “We are suspecting that this are last-minute wooing of Lamido by the APC is for swinging of votes for the opposition during the presidential poll.

DOCUMENTARY: What President Jonathan and his Cronies are Keeping away from Nigerians

Sit Back and WATCH!