Vice President Jonathan: Why Nigeria Must be De-listed from Terror List

Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has expressed Nigeria’s opposition to the inclusion of the country in the terror watch list by the United States of America. Jonathan who implored America to take steps to delist Nigeria from the list noted that this was imperative because the country has never supported terrorism in any form and in deed has been in the forefront of war against terrorism.

Speaking while receiving the United States Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security, Ms. Jane Holl Lute at the State House Abuja yesterday Jonathan noted that it was unfortunate for America to take such actions against Nigeria knowing very well that Nigeria is not a nation that supports terrorism.

He urged the United States government to de-list Nigeria as a “country of interest”, in the global war on terror.
A statement from the Vice President’s spokesman Ima Niboro said Jonathan told his visitor that Nigeria’s position on the global war on terror was clear, and that the country has stood shoulder to shoulder with the US in the effort to combat the scourge.

Jonathan, the statement said, explained that of the about 16 international anti terrorism legislations, Nigeria has ratified nine, adding that even before the December 25 incident, Nigeria had proposed an anti-terrorism bill, which is awaiting the assent of the National Assembly.

According to the Vice President, in direct reaction to the terror incident, Nigeria has created special anti terrorism squads, and has approved the deployment of special air marshals on US bound flights. Additionally, the country has placed an order for ten 3-D body scanners, noting however that two of such equipment earlier purchased by the Central Bank have been put at the disposal of the Ministry of Aviation, for use at the Lagos and Abuja international airports.

It said Jonathan told the American delegation that though the December 25 terror suspect, Farouk Umaru AlMutallab, is of Nigerian descent, he left the country at an early age, and essentially received socialisation and indoctrination far from the shores of Nigeria.

He stated that because Nigerians were some of the most widely travelled in the world, the country always experiences moments of anxiety upon news of aviation mishaps anywhere around the globe.

While emphasising the need for Nigeria to be de-listed as a terrorism “country of interest”, he urged the United States to give assistance to Nigerian authorities in order that any areas of perceived technical weaknesses can be strengthened without delay. In her remarks, Ms. Lute extolled relations between Nigeria and the US, saying that the US is Nigeria’s oldest and best friend.

She promised to convey the Vice President’s views to the US government, while noting that the  purpose of her visit was to examine the way forward for aviation safety, so that travellers between Nigeria and the United States can feel safe in the skies.

The Deputy Secretary remarked that the December 25 incident was not a matter of concern to just the US, Nigeria and The Netherlands, but to all responsible government the world over.

She praised Nigeria’s efforts at peace keeping around the world, pointing out that as a veteran of peace keeping missions, she has worked extensively with Nigerian troops, and therefore understands the sacrifice the country has had to make in the pursuit of peace around the globe.

Senate Shuns Mass Rally led by Prof Wole Soyinka, Bankole Heckled

Senate President David Mark yesterday shunned the Prof. Wole Soyinka-led Save Nigeria Group (SNG), reportedly insisting that the Senate would not address the issue of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s health as the matter is already before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Dimeji Bankole, who eventually turned up towards the end of the rally could not address the crowd because of the deafening chants of “No! No!! No!!!” by the crowd when asked by Soyinka if they were ready to listen to Bankole.
The group is asking, among other things, that Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan should assume the position of acting President following the prolonged absence of the President from the country, as well as a probe of the President’s health by the federal lawmakers.

When the group arrived at the National Assembly at about 12.05 pm, emissaries were sent to the Principal Officers of both chambers to address the protesters.
The Senate, it was gathered, sent back words that it would not discuss the issue of Yar’Adua’s health as the matter was subjudice.

However, Bankole, who eventually came out to address the rally, was not allowed to address the protesting crowd.
As he came out, the Pastor of the Family Worship Centre, Pastor Sarah Omakwu, was addressing the crowd.

As Bankole wanted to collect the microphone from her, the crowd shouted the speaker down. Soyinka intervened and asked the crowd: “Do you want to listen to somebody?” and the crowd roared back with a deafening no. He asked the question thrice and the response was negative.

Soyinka then said: “This is democracy. Since this is your wish that you do not want to listen to anybody, I bring this meeting to a close.”
The protesting crowd dispersed and urged Bankole to go in to the chambers and do what is right.
Soyinka said that he hoped that the President had recovered and prayed that if he had, he should use his “miraculous recovery” and “new found energy” to turn the country around for the remaining part of his tenure.

Addressing the crowd earlier, Falana said the Senate had refused to discuss the health of the President as the matter is in court. According to him, “they did not go to court, but are using our case as example to abdicate their duties on how to ensure constitutionalism.”
Before then several speakers had addressed the rally on why Vice-President Jonathan should assume office as the acting President, stating that Nigeria does not want an “off-shore President”.

Falana said: “Enough is enough of absentee president. We are not a colonial or a conquered people. This rally is a wake-up call that Nigerians are free people who fought for this rickety democracy. We were told that the President has spoken to the BBC, we question that interview, and we want him to speak to the Nigerian people. We need a live broadcast. The country is sick, there is collapse of social infrastructure.

“The Chief Law Officer of the Federation and Minister of Justice said that the President can rule from any where, but when the Oyo State House of Assembly impeached former Governor Rasheed Ladoja from a House room, the Supreme Court faulted the impeachment that the lawmakers cannot operate from a hotel room, but here is the President signing the budget from Saudi Arabia”.

According to Falana, “if the ECOWAS would be searching for a replacement of the chairman of ECOWAS, because they don’t want an absentee president, why not Nigeria.”
He announced that protest rallies would take place simultaneously on Friday in the United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and other major cities of the world.

The spokesman of the Buhari Organisation, Mr. Buba Galadima, cautioned against seeing the protest rally as against the North.
According to him, “We are all one Nigeria and the problem demands a Nigerian solution, which means that the Vice-President should be empowered to act constitutionally as the President, pending when the President is back and fit to rule Nigeria.”

The Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, also addressed the rally. According to him, “issues at hand are more than viewing it from the prospective of Christian and Muslim. What is happening is to bring sense to the senseless cabal illegally ruling this country against the principles of the rule of law.

It is not that we are campaigning for the Vice-President, but let him assume office as stated in the constitution that governs this country. We want the constitution to take place. Enough is enough, leadership vacuum is dangerous.”
Chief Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, and Prof. Pat. Utomi billed to address the rally were absent.

Oil workers Condemn US Action on Nigeria

Oil workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff (PENGASSAN), have expressed concern on the far-reaching implications of the decision of the United States (US) to blacklist Nigeria as a terrorist country.

The workers explained that the current situation will jeopardise the relationship that existed between the two countries, especially as Nigeria is strategic to the US in all fronts - politically, economically, socially and culturally.

As a major stakeholder in the oil and gas industry, the workers said that they are mindful of the signals that the US is sending as well as its consequencies.
President of the Association, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, in a statement made available to THISDAY said: “We are, therefore, within the context of the multi diversity of our trans- and multi-national environment making a very strong appeal that the US should earnestly review this wrong stigmatisation of serious prejudice on other Nigerians.

He said that should the US fail to reappraise the stigma, it may slow down a lot of prospective, planned and sealed considerations of mutual benefits, appreciation, respects, preference, including other major issues of common interest, among others.

“PENGASSAN as a major stakeholder and partner to the US government, businesses and labour institutions cannot afford the backlash of any stand taken by both the US and Nigeria on this juvenile delinquency case.
“It is our hope that this singular case will be treated in isolation, considering the admission by US President Barrack Obama on the inaction and nonchalant attitude of the US security agencies to the alerts and signals even from the father of erring lad.

The General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Comrade Bayo Olowosile, called on multinational private sector companies, who have business operations in Nigeria to prevail on the US government to remove Nigeria from the terror list.

He said, “We are pleading with our US friends and associates to bring deeper sense of reasons and judgment to bear on the smear from this failed parenting lad to our collective wider vision.

“PENGASSAN is a responsible and disciplinary trade union in the vanguard of labour and civil rights whose leaders have persistently exhibited traits of great icon and ambassador of Nigeria during her various visits to and exchanges with the US that is indeed reflecting  positively wider mutual benefits in the last six years.

The two union leaders said that the US should continue to pride itself in the grace of being the mentor of Nigeria’s democracy and should not be weary of her well doing in mentoring Nigeria out of its present political, economic, and socio cultural tutelage at this vulnerable stage of the nation.

Oil workers Condemn US Action on Nigeria

Oil workers, under the aegis of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff (PENGASSAN), have expressed concern on the far-reaching implications of the decision of the United States (US) to blacklist Nigeria as a terrorist country.

The workers explained that the current situation will jeopardise the relationship that existed between the two countries, especially as Nigeria is strategic to the US in all fronts - politically, economically, socially and culturally.

As a major stakeholder in the oil and gas industry, the workers said that they are mindful of the signals that the US is sending as well as its consequencies.
President of the Association, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, in a statement made available to THISDAY said: “We are, therefore, within the context of the multi diversity of our trans- and multi-national environment making a very strong appeal that the US should earnestly review this wrong stigmatisation of serious prejudice on other Nigerians.

He said that should the US fail to reappraise the stigma, it may slow down a lot of prospective, planned and sealed considerations of mutual benefits, appreciation, respects, preference, including other major issues of common interest, among others.

“PENGASSAN as a major stakeholder and partner to the US government, businesses and labour institutions cannot afford the backlash of any stand taken by both the US and Nigeria on this juvenile delinquency case.
“It is our hope that this singular case will be treated in isolation, considering the admission by US President Barrack Obama on the inaction and nonchalant attitude of the US security agencies to the alerts and signals even from the father of erring lad.

The General Secretary of PENGASSAN, Comrade Bayo Olowosile, called on multinational private sector companies, who have business operations in Nigeria to prevail on the US government to remove Nigeria from the terror list.

He said, “We are pleading with our US friends and associates to bring deeper sense of reasons and judgment to bear on the smear from this failed parenting lad to our collective wider vision.

“PENGASSAN is a responsible and disciplinary trade union in the vanguard of labour and civil rights whose leaders have persistently exhibited traits of great icon and ambassador of Nigeria during her various visits to and exchanges with the US that is indeed reflecting  positively wider mutual benefits in the last six years.

The two union leaders said that the US should continue to pride itself in the grace of being the mentor of Nigeria’s democracy and should not be weary of her well doing in mentoring Nigeria out of its present political, economic, and socio cultural tutelage at this vulnerable stage of the nation.

AbdulMutallab: Russia Opposed to US Approach, Says Envoy

As Nigerians continue to decry United States inclusion of the nation on the list of its terror ‘countries of interest’, the Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Nigeria, Mr Alexander Polyakov,  has said that his country does not favour the general approach of the US as a response to the attempted Christmas day bombing.

The Russian envoy also expressed his wishes for the speedy recovery of Nigeria’s President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who is currently hospitalised in Saudi Arabia.

According to Polyakov, his country would rather deal with an AbdulMutallab-like issue on an individual basis since it was an issue of security, adding that Nigeria is not a country that generates insecurity.  He also alluded to the actions taken by the US towards Nigeria as discriminatory.

Speaking to newsmen at the Russian Embassy in Abuja yesterday, the Russian envoy however expressed optimism that both the Nigerian and American governments would find a way to diffuse the tension that has been created by the incident.

Polyakov, who emphatically stated that he had no business commenting on the situation of US-Nigeria relations, commended the Nigerian government for having taken necessary steps to boost security at the airports, adding that he, even though a diplomat,  had already experienced it while returning to Nigeria last week.

“It is not my business to comment on the situation of Nigerian-American relations, it is up to the Nigerian and American officials to tackle the problem and find a solution. I am convinced that despite all the tensions around it, sooner or later, the Nigerian and American diplomats and state service men would find solutions which are acceptable both to Nigeria and America,” he posited.

Speaking  on the bilateral ties between the Russian Federation and Nigeria, Polyakov expressed disappointment that the joint venture signed between the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) and Russian company, GAZPROM, saying the deal has suffered a delay due to bureaucratic bottlenecks from both the Nigerian and Russian governments.

He expressed optimism that the various bilateral agreements signed by the two nations in the middle of last year would be implemented, especially that which borders on the use of nuclear energy.

Yar’Adua’s Absence: Ministers Commit Economic Crime, Says Soyinka

The Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has alleged ministers of taking advantage of the absence of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, to commit economic crimes.

Soyinka said this yesterday during his visit to Lagos State Agricultural Training Institute in Epe, saying most ministers in the cabinet now work without instruction,  apparently because of Yar'Adua's absence.

According to him, ministers are enjoying the absence of  Yar'Adua, because everyone is now going on his/her own direction without presidential order. In this light, economic crime is being committed in this country, and this is an index of bad governance.
He said there were many unfinished issues that were supposed to be handled by the president,  which his absence had stagnated.

He said, "for instance, the issue of Amnesty in Niger Delta is still pending. I discussed with the president before he traveled out with the hope that he will complete it when he arrives, but till now, nothing has been done on it."
Soyinka, who was at the Institute to motivate the students, called on Nigerians to protest the absence of the president now.
According to him, your president is away for more than 40 days and some of you are here planting cassava.

 The ministers are enjoying themselves with the absence of Mr. President, adding that the situation in the country might not change unless the citizens could mobilise to speak against the unjust and unacceptable way the leadership of the country was being handled.

Leadership vacuum, graft killing Nigeria – Prof. Wole Soyinka

Notable Nigerians, including the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Fanala, and Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, on Tuesday in Abuja led a mass protest against the prolonged absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua from the country and growing societal ills.
With several other activists, they decried an alleged pilfering of billions of naira from the nation’s coffers and the alleged forging of the President’s signature on the supplementary budget, while describing the current situation in Nigeria as “internal colonialism.”
They also denounced the Monday night interview granted the English and Hausa services of the British Broadcasting Corporation by Yar’Adua, saying it was a charade and “computerised voice of the President.”
The protesters called on Yar’Adua to transmit a letter to the National assembly to enable the latter to confirm Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan as acting president.
Speaking at the rally, Soyinka said the protest was more than Yar’Adua’s absence, but had to do more with the constitutional breaches and the perpetuation of corruption in the country.
He said if Yar’Adua miraculously recovered from his illness and returned to the country, he would still be confronted with the issues being raised by Nigerians.
He said, “I was informed that President Yar’Adua had spoken to the BBC, but my response is this, that the issues are not simply about Yar’Adua’s absence from the country. The issues are numerous to state here.”
He said the issues bordered on the alleged forging of the President’s signature appended on the supplementary budget; the ongoing pilfering of billions of naira and the reinstatement of Zakari Biu, a former police officer accused of torture under the Abacha administration.
He said, “The nation has been taken to ransom; the nation has been despised and treated with contempt. We’ve been treated as colonials, colonised all over, this time, by what we call internal colonialism.
“We are all dignified beings who deserve to know the truth at all times about our method of governance. We are also qualified to say … when we believe that those who are “elected leaders” of this nation, are dragging their feet deliberately over critically issues that concern us, then of course the people will stop and take to the streets. This is normal in any democracy.”
According to the Nobel laureate, the country can no longer tolerate the misrule and the present state of things, adding that it was time to march.
He said, “And if by miracle, and believe me, I do really wish this might happen, if by miracle the missing President will appear among us, hale and hearty, he will be confronted by the same charges that we are levelling against the government today.
“And he will be told to use the miraculous recovery and his new found energy to turn this nation around for the remainder of his tenure. There is so much misleading, there is so much mis-governance, we find double, triple, quadruple and multiple standards in relation to those who are supposed to be citizens of this country. We are sick and tired of extra-judicial killings, these things are too numerous to state here. This is just the first in a series of demonstrations.”
Falana, while addressing the rally, said the President’s speech on the BBC was “a hoax.”
He said the voice was a computerised and synchronised voice of the President and was far from the voice he was familiar with.
He said, “Enough of poverty in the midst of plenty, enough of poverty, enough of the tag of terrorism; enough of absentee Presidency, enough of election malpractices, enough of the collapse of infrastructure.
“Today, we are sounding a wake-up call to our people. We want to show them that we have not been conquered. We are a free people.
“Those who say that the President of Nigeria can govern from anywhere are talking rubbish. When Governor Rashidi Ladoja was impeached by the Lamidi Adedibu gang of thugs in a hotel in Ibadan, the Supreme Court of Nigeria held that it was illegal to convene and hold the sitting of a House of Assembly in any other place other than the House of Assembly.
“Therefore, to purport or claim that the President of Nigeria signed a law in an unknown hospital is illegal under our law.
“This morning, they claimed that the President spoke on the BBC in a very wobbling voice, but I am saying here that the voice of the President I am very familiar with is not the voice on the BBC. What happened this morning was a charade, computerised voice of our President.
“We are, therefore, challenging him and his spin doctors to address us on the television. We want a live telecast.
“We pray that he does not die, but we are saying that he has become incapacitated to govern Nigeria. The constitution does not provide for a President ruling us from a sick bed, in an undisclosed hospital; please enough of the insult.”
Also addressing the rally, Bakare called on Yar’Adua to quit.
He said, “All Nigerians must rise to drive sense into the senseless cabal and their human agents holding Nigeria to ransom.
“Some days ago, the Vice- President of Nigeria, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck, said nobody was in charge of Nigeria, he said God was in charge of Nigeria. But God does not sponsor a flop. He said so in order that we will not have anyone to hold accountable. That is the mess we are in.
“We are marching to that institution that is supposed to make good laws for the governance of our nation and we are going with one voice from the East, West, North and South of our nation that enough is enough.
“Even if this institution does not function, let us respect the constitution and let us have an acting president until Umaru is declared dead or otherwise. We don’t know his state right now, whether he is alive or dead.”
Bakare noted that the Presidency was not a birthright of Yar’Adua nor a hereditary title, but a constitutional institution.
He said the rally was not for Jonathan, but for the good governance of Nigeria, adding that the demand was for Section 145 of the constitution to be obeyed.
Former Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Mr. Farouk Aliyu, called on Nigerians to reject the conspiracy of a few privileged people around the corridors of power.
He said the rally was not connected to any religious, political or tribal sentiments, but committed to the prosperity of Nigeria.
Other speakers such as Mrs. Ayo Obe, Hajia Najatu Mohammed, Dr. Joe Okei- Odumakin, Babafemi Ojudu, Osita Okechukwu and Pastor Sara Omakwu, also called on the National Assembly and the Federal Executive Council to respect Section 145 of the constitution.
According to Falana, the date for another rally would be announced.