--The claims are impressive but what he has been accused of is that these good deeds benefited his part of Nigeria more than the rest. That charge cannot be dismissed until he breaks down for instance where his schools and heath centers were built. Amiel Fagbulu
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: idowu <idowubobo@yahoo.com>
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com; naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com; talknigeria@yahoogroups.com; naijaObserver@yahoogroups.com; igboevents@yahoogroups.com; igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com; umuigbo@yahoogroups.com; NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, January 24, 2011 5:17:03 AM
Subject: Re: ||NaijaObserver|| MY VIEW ON : BUHARI'S PTF STEWARDSHIP + More Questions for Buhari's Supporters
Pronto!!!
Idowu
"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." --Thomas Jefferson
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." -- Elie Wiesel
http://www.bezalelskills.com
--- On Sun, 1/23/11, Ikenna Anokute <ianokute@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Ikenna Anokute <ianokute@yahoo.com>
Subject: ||NaijaObserver|| MY VIEW ON : BUHARI'S PTF STEWARDSHIP + More Questions for Buhari's Supporters
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com, naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com, talknigeria@yahoogroups.com, naijaObserver@yahoogroups.com, igboevents@yahoogroups.com, igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com, umuigbo@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 7:01 PM
From: TONY MOMOH <nonoh39@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Elomba whinning... Nebu Adiele + More Questions for Buhari's Supporters
To: NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, January 23, 2011, 4:19 PM
Gentlemen,
I do not claim to know the major issues raised here about what Buhari did or did not do when he was chairman of PTF. But I was unsettled by the claim that 80-90 per cent of the funds went into projects in the North West zone of the country where he comes form. I therefore provide here a report Buhari gave of his stewardship in PTF. I provide the information as a citizen interested in sharing information, not in my capacity as the national chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) whose flag Gen Muhammadu Buhari will fly in the April 2011 elections.
TONY MOMOH
MY STEWARDSHIP AT THE PTF
BY
MAJOR GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI (RTD.), GCFR
![---]()
INTRODUCTION
It is today widely acknowledged by the vast majority of rational and objective assessments of events in our country that the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF), which operated between 1995 and 1999, and in which I had the honour and privilege to serve as the Executive Chairman, represented one of the most positively creative development initiatives in the History of Nigeria.
During the four years of its operation, the resources available to the PTF represented less than 10% of the nation’s budget. Using these resources the Fund set out to achieve, with determination and good intention, the rehabilitation of the nation’s socio-economic infrastructure within its broad areas of mandate consisting principally of roads, road transportation and waterways, water supply, food supply, health and education. The record of these achievements, which are still there across the nation for everyone to see, represents a classic illustration of prudent management of the nation’s resources to achieve development.
Unfortunately these same achievements, when compared with the present situation in the country, become a clear evidence of the dismal performance of the current administration in the past eight years, in the area of development of social infrastructure. It is evidently for this reason that the administration has been in the habit of commissioning regular campaigns of distortions, aimed at denying or rubbishing the achievements of the defunct PTF. Through these media wars of calumny and misinformation, outright lies have been peddled, and insinuations made against my person, as well as organizations and individuals that contributed prominently in the PTF’s programmes.
This presentation about the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund is therefore intended to achieve the purposes of (1) clearing the records concerning several matters of issue regarding that organization and its operations during its time, and (2) illustrating a practical instance of a functional economic growth policy that will mark the economic management model that I will, God willing, seek to adopt upon my assumption of the Presidency of our great country.
THE PTF
The creation of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund PTF arose from the commitment by the then Federal administration to invest in socio-economic infrastructure in the country, the gains that would accrue from a new pricing regime for petroleum products introduced in 1994. The Fund itself, established by Decree No. 25 of 1994 as amended by Decree No. 1 of 1995, was to utilize only a part of the accruals resulting from the increase. The Fund was to be managed by a Board of Trustees, made up of Nigerians of impeccable integrity, over which I had the honour and privilege to preside as Executive Chairman, and whose other members included:
Mallam Yahaya Gusau - Member
Alhaji Ahmed Talib (now deceased) - Member
Chief Rufus F. Giwa - Member
Prof. J. P. Clark - Member
Prof. Chimere Ikoku (now deceased) - Member
Chief D. B. Zang - Member, and
Chief Tayo Akpata - Member/Secretary
From its inception in May 1995, and more particularly from January 1996 when it received its first disbursement, the PTF worked diligently in the execution of its mandate through its programmes, rooted on the twin objectives of resuscitating the nation’s collapsing social services and deteriorating infrastructure, and in the long term laying the foundation for revamping the economy for growth, capacity building and increased productivity.
As its modus operandi, the PTF actively engaged the participation of the organized private sector comprising various professionals as well as manufacturers, construction firms and suppliers with personal and corporate integrity, to provide expertise in the management and delivery of the Fund’s programmes. This approach effectively availed the Fund of sound professional support at all times, and also re-energized numerous local industries and local professionals of various callings. In the process thousands of job opportunities were created for not only skilled and unskilled persons in the labour market, but also professionals of different disciplines. The Fund thereby helped develop a cream of highly skilled, motivated and more positively oriented local professionals and skilled personnel.
Of course it is now public knowledge that shortly after its assumption of governance, the present administration took the precipitate decision to scrap the Fund in a most disorganized manner, obviously without giving much thought to the fate of the thousands of projects, worth several billions of Naira of public funds, that would as a result face the danger of massive abandonment. It is worth noting however that before then, specifically as at 28th May 1999, the day that I officially handed my resignation to the previous administration as the Executive Chairman of the Fund, the defunct PTF had embarked on hundreds of projects and programmes, in various sectors of the economy, all of them at various stages of execution.
Most of these projects, sadly, have been abruptly abandoned with all the attendant consequences of loss of investment, loss of their utility by the Nigerian public had they been completed, massive losses of employment, tremendous agony and frustration of the various professionals, firms, other private sector organizations and agencies that had been involved in their implementation, many of whom have had substantial part of their legitimately deserved earnings unjustly withheld till today. Summarized below is a rundown of some of these projects and programmes in the respective sectors.
ROADS, ROAD TRANSPORTATION & WATERWAYS SECTOR
The rehabilitation of a total of 12,500km of mostly Federal roads across the country was being completed, with preparations on for the take‑off of a second phase of the roads programme, designed to address a further 20,000 km. of national and state roads.
A mass transit programme, comprising the rehabilitation of 126 buses, procurement of 57,772 bicycles, and 4,798 motorcycles, was being executed. The beneficiaries for this programme included the public, civil servants in Federal Ministries and parastatals (bicycles, motorcycles), and students of tertiary educational institutions (buses). The programme also included the rehabilitation of 16 ferries for the National Inland Waterways Authority.
Provision of counterpart funding, or co-financing, in the sum of N1.560 billion, for the Multi-State Roads and Federal Highway Sector Loan programmes, both being programmes initiated with World Bank financing.
Project preparation for the dredging of 570 km of the Lower River Niger and construction of four inland ports had been completed. Contractors for the dredging works were set to mobilize, awaiting conclusion of an environmental impact study and the approval of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA).
EDUCATION SECTOR
The following numbers of educational institutions, spread in every LGA of every state of the Federation, were being rehabilitated.
276 Primary Schools
55 Secondary Schools / Federal Government Colleges
45 Vocational/Technical Institutions
22 Federal/State Colleges of Education
14 Federal Polytechnics
24 Federal Universities
The procurement and supply of educational materials comprising textbooks, journals, stationeries, maps, charts and consumables, costing N7.7 billion, for distribution nationwide. The manufacture of these items had been completed and delivery had already commenced.
HEALTH SECTOR
The following numbers of health institutions, spread in every LGA of every state of the Federation, were being rehabilitated.
76 comprehensive / primary health centres
33 General Hospitals
29 Teaching / Specialist hospitals
The procurement of drugs worth N2 billion under the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) scheme, and sale to the public at 568 designated selling outlets nationwide.
A further procurement of drugs / consumables worth over N3.9 billion to Local Government Areas nationwide, under a specially packaged, community engaging programme of local healthcare delivery, originally conceptualized by the World Bank, known as the Bamako Initiative. It is relevant to point out that during the PTF, the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria received an unprecedented boost in capacity utilization, as almost all procurement of drugs and other consumables was ordered through the indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturing industries.
Provision of counterpart funding, or co-financing, in the sum of N1.55 billion for health projects in Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, Ogun, Ondo and the Gombe Referral Hospital. All of these were ailing projects, initiated by the respective states with assistance from the African Development Bank, which had been facing imminent failure from insufficient funding.
Rehabilitation of facilities of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research & Development, NIPRD, at Abuja.
Completion and commissioning of UMTH Kidney Centre, at Maiduguri.
Establishment of 2no accident and emergency rescue centres for Federal Road Safety Corps located at Birnin Yero (Kaduna) and Shagamu (Ogun).
WATER SUPPLY SECTOR
Rehabilitation of Urban and Semi-Urban Water Supply schemes located nationwide had been all but completed at 13 locations. Studies and engineering designs were being concluded for six new locations. The locations of these projects were: Kano, Gombe-Dadin Kowa, Kazaure in Jigawa State, Lagos (World Bank assisted project) and Lagos (Ikoyi and VI), Enugu, Bauchi, Port Harcourt, Ukpilla in Edo State, Maiduguri in Borno State, Nasarawa, Warri-Effurun in Delta State, Ibadan in Oyo State, Kano, Abiriba in Abia State, Gusau in Zamfara State, Makurdi in Benue State, Jimeta and Yola in Adamawa State, Oke-Agbe in Ondo State, Issele-Uku and Oke-Aleji in Ogun State, Usen in Edo State, Jalingo in Taraba State, Potiskum in Yobe State, Okene in Kogi State, Saki, Oyo State.
The PTF’s National Rural Water Supply programme was in full gear, comprising, for each LGA in the country, the construction of five new boreholes, rehabilitation of five existing boreholes and provision of ten open wells, at rural locations selected across the country. Every host rural community participated in the selection of each of these sites.
Provision of counterpart funding, or co-financing, in the sum of N492 million for the National Water Rehabilitation Project. This programme, which was being executed nationwide through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources with assistance from the World Bank, had been facing difficulties from insufficient funding.
A similar provision of counterpart funding, or co-financing, in the sum of 1,923,238,836.40 Naira, for the Multi-State Water Supply Project, a World Bank financed programme that was being executed in Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Cross River and Katsina States.
FOOD SUPPLY SECTOR
Rehabilitation of farm power machinery comprising 1,375 tractors and 3,626 implements, under Phases I & II of the programme, executed in every state of the Federation.
Procurement of agricultural inputs and implements, worth N3.289 billion, for nationwide distribution and re-sale to farmers. Delivery had commenced at various designated depots nationwide.
A Pastoralists’ Livestock Development programme, which included development and gazetting of grazing reserve and stock routes, a nationwide mass vaccination programme for livestock, and the rehabilitation of facilities of the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) at Vom in Plateau State, the nation’s premier institution for the development of livestock drugs and vaccines and control of livestock epidemics.
A Master plan Study for the development of fisheries in Nigeria had been completed; fourteen projects, located nationwide, had been selected for implementation.
A first phase of the programme for the control of migratory pests was completed in March 1999. The second phase of the programme was to commence in July 1999. Along with this, preparation had completed for the rehabilitation of the Agro Aviation Unit of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, located at Kaduna.
Preliminary surveys and assessments had been carried out on 5 silos projects a key component of the nation’s now comatose strategic grain reserve programme. Two of these silos were slated for rehabilitation. Implementation was to commence shortly.
Implementation of Irrigation Projects had commenced at Sabke (Katsina State), Gari, Hadejia (Jigawa State) and Chouchi (Adamawa State). Preparations were ongoing for execution of a similar project at Oyan dam (Osun State).
SOME OTHER PROJECTS
The completion and enhancement of the International Trade Fare Centre at Kaduna for the hosting of the 1998 OAU/AEC Trade Fair.
Completion of the Centre for Energy Research and Training, Zaria.
The Pilot Scheme for the National Rural Telecommunication Programme in eighteen selected LGA’s nationwide had been completed and was being commissioned. Manufacture of the equipment for the main programme was completed, and actual delivery had commenced. The main project was designed to provide telecommunication services to rural locations in 200 LGA’s nationwide, as a first phase. To date, 568 out of the 774 LGA headquarters in the country remain unconnected with telecom services.
Preparation had been completed for the take-off of the National Bulk Power Supply Expansion Programme, a programme designed to expand and strengthen the Nation’s electric power grid towards facilitating the extension of power supply to the nation’s rural areas, and ensuring steady and reliable power supply nationwide.
FUNDING OF THE PTF
The PTF over which I presided was funded from part of the accruals resulting from the increase in the prices of Petroleum products from 1994. Specifically the increase in prices of Petroleum products was shared as follows:
The PTF - 33.65%
Federation Account - 33.41%
NNPC - 23.73%
Armed Forces, Police PTF - 8.40%
FCT - 0.64%
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The entire operations of the PTF were marked by the adherence to strict rules of transparency and accountability. The measures instituted included continuous monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of projects and programmes at all stages, and the retention of the services of two highly reputable firms - Muhtari Dangana & Co; KPMG Consulting - as Project Auditors and External Auditors respectively. The Fund’s accounts were regularly audited, in compliance with established international best practice, for the years 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998. Each year, I personally made a presentation of the PTF audited accounts at publicly convened forums, complete with question and answer sessions, in presence of Nigerian and international press, representatives of the public service, the organized private sector, international organizations and the diplomatic community. There is no indication that any public statutory agency of the same kind as the PTF had, within three years of its existence, its accounts so duly audited.
For the period up to 29th May 1999, the PTF unfailingly rendered Quarterly Operational Reports to the Presidency. Finally we presented, on the 28th May 1999, a comprehensive handing over report, comprising several volumes of information and up-to-date data, giving a detailed account of our service under the PTF, for use by the incoming civilian administration.
One can clearly contrast this record of accountability with what has obtained in the so-called Interim Management Committee that was appointed by this administration, sometime in mid 1999 to wind up the PTF. Within 8 months of their appointment President Obasanjo himself fired this discredited committee after having been caught red-handed helping themselves to the public till. It is now on record that stolen public funds amounting to over 350 million Naira have been actually recovered from members of this committee. Yet these characters were not arraigned before the anti-corruption tribunal. Instead this government resorted to brandishing a purported report, containing a catalogue of accusations and innuendos, supposedly written by this same gang of crooks, to assault the integrity of perceived political adversaries regarding their involvement in the PTF.
PTF’S ECONOMIC BENEFITS
The above stated achievements of the PTF were no phantom achievements. They were real achievements, the evidence for which is there until today for everyone to see. These achievements by the PTF, glaringly evident in comparison with the dismal performance by the current administration in the area of development of social infrastructure, are a clear testimony to the difference that can be made by a sound, purposeful and transparent management of resources.
Indeed, because of the scope of PTF’s intervention in the real sectors of the economy and the systematic methodology of its programmes, the operations of the Fund generated considerable multiplier effects on the economy. There is no doubt that the Fund’s interventions enhanced the capacity utilization of our industries, especially the manufacturing and construction sectors. There was improved national productivity. Social service sectors, such as healthcare and education, the essential components of our human capital, received a special boost. The PTF operated a policy of awarding contracts and consultancies, evenly distributed to a balanced mix of individuals as well as small, medium and large enterprises, all in their respective areas of operation across the country. This helped to serve as a catalyst for equitable income distribution and as empowerment to a vibrant and motivated middle class. Service sector players, such as the consultancy, banking and insurance industry benefited immensely from the opportunity for participation in the Fund’s own financial and programme management procedures.
Employments created by the operations of the PTF are clearly demonstrated by the business opportunities realized across different areas of skills and specialties. Before the time that it was scrapped, the PTF was estimated to have under the direct employment of its programmes and projects,
Consulting Firms - - 622 No.
Contractors, Manufacturers, Suppliers - 4,169 No.
Other Professionals - 15,145 No.
Others -Non-Professionals - - 416,435No.
Without doubt, the PTF in its time served as role model in the public service as well as the private sector, and helped to enhance credibility of public agencies. Even today several other organizations have imbibed aspects of the PTF’s methodology in an effort to adopt the culture of performance and due process.
Indeed, during its existence, the PTF received numerous commendations from various organizations and institutions, regarding the benefits of its programmes, its approach, the record of its achievement within its own time frame, and the value for money achieved on its projects and programmes. Such acclamations came both from international bodies – such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Global 2000 (and ex-US President Jimmy Carter), World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF – and local organizations, including local Chambers of Commerce, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE).
After almost eight years of President Obasanjo in office, it is appropriate to inquire how much the act of his government in scrapping the PTF and abandoning its projects has contributed or otherwise in the resuscitation of the country’s infrastructure.
ON DISTRIBUTION OF PTF PROJECTS
Countless comments of differing varieties have been made regarding the distribution of PTF projects and programmes in the different zones of the country. My remark in general on this issue is to point out that because of its acclaimed effectiveness in the execution of its mandate; the PTF was faced with extremely high expectations from across the country. Virtually every section of the country clamoured for PTF’s involvement in its pressing areas of need, and naturally became disappointed if these were unrealized. The fact remains however that contrary to all the hype then about the PTF being a “parallel government”, the Fund was essentially a complementary intervention agency, with a tough mandate, but relatively limited resources. A few comments here will be relevant in respect of how the PTF allocated its resources for the execution of its projects:
1. A working formula was adopted by the Fund that recognized three categories of projects and allocated its available funds to them as follows: Federal projects – 48.5%, state projects – 50% and FCT direct allocation – 1.5%. The state project funds in turn were allocated to respective states / zones using a set of criteria that gave consideration to equity, population, land / water mass, terrain difficulties and needs assessment. The location and coverage of the PTF programmes and projects were designed to carefully fulfill these criteria. They were not designed to marginalize any part of the country in favour of another.
2. In reality once the projects took off, commitments and actual disbursements to projects were dependant on actual contractual obligations and the respective progresses of the individual projects. In terms of commitments made, as at May 1999, out of an estimated total of 187 billion Naira committed to all projects and programmes, over 56.5% was committed on projects in Zones 1 (South West), 2 (South East) and 6 (South South), i.e. the zones in the south of the country. In comparison Zones 3 (North West), 4 (North East) and 5 (North Central) had a combined commitment of slightly less than 43.5%. The highest zonal commitment was on projects in Zone 6 (South South) with 26.2%, due obviously to difficulties in its natural terrains, especially as regards the capital-intensive projects such as in roads construction. The accompanying table and Chart marked as Appendix 14 show clearly the figures that I refer to. In terms of actual disbursements to projects as of May 1999, records are there to show that 52% of all disbursement was made in respect of projects in the south zones of the country.
But of course the most crucial issue of direct concern to all well meaning Nigerians and myself, has been the fate of the PTF projects themselves after it was abruptly scrapped. Even if there were perceived so-called imbalances in the execution of these projects, surely these could best have been addressed by building on the existing accomplishments rather than abandoning the entire enterprise. It is highly regrettable that no serious attention has to date been directed to the most costly effect of the scrapping of PTF, i.e. the widespread abandonment of meaningful socio-economic projects and the consequent loss of benefits of these projects by the populace. The country’s landscape is today littered with thousands of abandoned rehabilitation works on schools, university hostels, hospitals and clinics, roads and bridges, etc., all initiated by the defunct PTF. School teaching aids, textbooks and other educational materials worth billions of Naira are today being clandestinely sold in the black market, or worse lying waste in warehouses across the country. Our government is unwilling to distribute these materials, purchased from the public purse, simply because they bear the PTF logo. A huge national initiative brought to fruition through the sweat and hard labour of all sections of the society has been laid to waste because of political prejudice.
Therefore If there were such a thing as distortion in the distribution or completion of projects, I should think that the blame should go to the authorities that stopped in its tracks, the very agency that was executing these projects, right in the midstream of its programme, without a care in the world about the fate of its projects located in the various zones of the country and at various stages of completion.
--- On Sun, 23/1/11, peter opara <ogbuonyeiro@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: peter opara <ogbuonyeiro@yahoo.com>
Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Elomba whinning... Nebu Adiele + More Questions for Buhari's Supporters
To: naijaintellects@googlegroups.com, TalkNigeria@yahoogroups.com, nigeria360@yahoogroups.com, nigerianid@yahoogroups.com, abujanig@yahoogroups.com, igboevents@yahoogroups.com, igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com, naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com, nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com, umuigbo@yahoogroups.com, naijaObserver@yahoogroups.com, "Emmanuel U. Obi" <bizon586@yahoo.com>
Cc: nebukadineze@aol.com
Date: Sunday, 23 January, 2011, 22:59
Even in the US, the bastion of press freedom, there are journalist, people, not just candidates, never want to talk to for reasons best known to them. But if I were a candidate, and I established that a journalist engages in the twin evil of dishonesty and duplicity, I would not allow him or her a time of day to inquire a thing of me. For what?!
--- On Sat, 1/22/11, Emmanuel U. Obi <bizon586@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Emmanuel U. Obi <bizon586@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Naijaintellects] Nebu Adiele + More Questions for Buhari's Supporters
To: naijaintellects@googlegroups.com, TalkNigeria@yahoogroups.com, nigeria360@yahoogroups.com, nigerianid@yahoogroups.com, abujanig@yahoogroups.com, igboevents@yahoogroups.com, igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com, naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com, nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com, umuigbo@yahoogroups.com, naijaObserver@yahoogroups.com
Cc: ogbuonyeiro@yahoo.com, nebukadineze@aol.com
Date: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 10:38 PM
<Elombah has always let us in into news we ordinarily wouldn't have come accros ..Are you sure about this Daniel? I am shaking my head in disbelief.Many on this forum know more than we read on the papers but prefer to remain silent.Besides, many of the forumites are subscribed to other news websites that promptly email current news as they break.Not every big news appears on the web or in papers but people discuss them via private emails off regular email groups:)One thing that is common with Buhari supporters is that none of us is benefitting from the status quo and none of us wants anything from our leaders. Personally,and we have discussed this before,I prefer a revolution .Mazi Uzo Obi KOFC
Eziokwu bu Ndu
"whatsoever thou resolvest to do,do it now. Defer not till the evening what the morning can accomplish"(Unto thee I grant the economy of life,1978).
--- On Sat, 1/22/11, elombah daniel <elsdaniel@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: elombah daniel <elsdaniel@yahoo.com>
Subject: [Naijaintellects] Nebu Adiele + More Questions for Buhari's Supporters
To: naijaintellects@googlegroups.com, TalkNigeria@yahoogroups.com, nigeria360@yahoogroups.com, nigerianid@yahoogroups.com, abujanig@yahoogroups.com, igboevents@yahoogroups.com, igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com, naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com, nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com, umuigbo@yahoogroups.com, naijaObserver@yahoogroups.com
Cc: ogbuonyeiro@yahoo.com, nebukadineze@aol.com
Date: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 4:30 PM
Brother Adiele:The day I stop asking questions is the day I will stop breathing; and may my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth the day I stop speaking truth to power!If you must know, I am doing Buhari a service. It says a lot for Buhari's presidential campaign that I don't have access to him or his spokesmen. Whereas I have access to all other presidential aspirants or their spokesman except Buhari and Shekarau. One of the present presidential aspirants even took the pains to call me on phone to answer my questions. I have also questioned another presidential aspirant face to face in London.Thousands of Nigerians will want to know my favourite in the April elections, I would like to give an informed opinion, and woe betide anyone that tells me I should not take sides; the stakes are too high this time!A lot of people that like Buhari still want some issues clarified, here is the second poser that need an answer:As PTF Chairman, Buhari was an ethnic champion with the way projects under his supervision were executed... between 80 – 90% of PTF’s activities were concentrated in the North-West sub-region, which is his home area. And in the South-East, the deplorable state of the federal roads there is more than enough proof that the PTF under his watch was more interested in other places. He did nothing there.Is this assertion true? If it is not, let him refute it, and if it is true, let him explain it.Moreover, some of your assertions below need specific examples, they are statements too sweeping for my liking. You said:"he cleansed NET and P&T of palpable corruption, ...he cleansed the Nigeria Ports Authority and all its affiliates (including the Nigeria Airways) of corruption and levity to the call of duty; indolent and fraudulent civil servants, university dons, doctors that worked in government owned hospitals, etc. had their tastes of the Buhari regime's onslaught on corruption".Please give us names of NITEL and NIPOST and NPA staff that was jailed for corruption in his days. or any political appointee or civil servant that was prosecuetd for corruption by Buhari (I am not talking of civilian governors).If by your admission he could jail journalists for writing false stories within the 18 months he held sway, surely that would be enough time to prosecute some of his appointees that committed such infractions.Finally, don't worry about me selling out, everyone that puts himself forward to rule over me and my family is fair game; today it is Buhari next week might be another presido wanabe. my website and facebook is a TOWN HALL of sorts; some people praise me today and abuse me tomorrow. But what has kept me going are messages like this I got on Wednesday last week from James Bature:I laugh like OBJ would say. See how every one is attacking Elombah for one statement on GEJ, but when he makes such statement on Atiku and or IBB everyone contributes and laugh. Elombah has always let us in into news we ordinarily wouldn't have come accros and we are all here busy crucifying him. Bros carry go jareDaniel Elombah
Publisher: www.elombah.com(A Nigerian Perspective on world affairs)+44-7958588018
“Why does a country that relies for 90 per cent of its income on oil, which has seen a big rise in price, need to run down its foreign exchange reserves? For these reasons we are not buying the bond.”...But they eventually bought them, only on very harsh terms for Nigeria.
From: "Nebukadineze@aol.com" <Nebukadineze@aol.com>
To: TalkNigeria@yahoogroups.com; naijaintellects@googlegroups.com; nigeria360@yahoogroups.com; nigerianid@yahoogroups.com; abujanig@yahoogroups.com; igboevents@yahoogroups.com; igboworldforum@yahoogroups.com; naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com; nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com; umuigbo@yahoogroups.com; naijaObserver@yahoogroups.com
Cc: ogbuonyeiro@yahoo.com
Sent: Sat, January 22, 2011 5:53:42 PM
Subject: [Naijaintellects] To Elombah & Anokute on + Question for Buhari's Supporters
Ikenna Anokwute,Were you not a known nonentity (yes, you read it correctly, that's not a tautology), I would have taken sometime to refute your avalanche of senseless and stupid lies. You are a stupid liar and a possible thief for repeating lies hatched by paid character assassins. You have always been worthless in thought, depraved in articulation, and palpably immature in socialization since you barged onto these forums -- including from the days you aligned with Osita Olisa while masquerading as Odi Maduneke.I challenge you, Ikenna Anokwute (the idiot who doesn't even know how to spell his last name), to cite me President Reagan's description of Buhari as you inserted in quotes, failure of which all decent people on these forums must henceforth accept you as nothing but a despicable thief. To fabricate a sentence, put it in quotes, and then attribute its authorship to someone else is an act of thievery and on account of that, you may be legitimately called a thief. Prove to the forums that Reagan said what you attributed to him or begin to wear your thievery uniform from now onwards, Ikenna.Assuming that Reagan said what you attributed to him, so what? Would you be attaching any degree of probity for democracy to him if you were intelligent enough to know that he (Reagan) did the followings: invaded Grenada and in the process killed innocent women and children because the outcome of an election did not favor the candidate of his choice; cavorted with Pinochet of Chile, Samuel Doe of Liberia, Mobute of Zaire (all murderous, kleptomaniac, and anti-democratic thugs who came to power via the barrels of the gun under CIA's directive and supervision); supported Jonas Savimbi in his murderous rebellion against his peoples and his nation of Angola; funneled funds into rebel hands with which the nation and people of Nicaragua were constantly terrorized and mutilated for years; flooded the inner cities of America with crack cocaine and guns which wrecked African American and Latino families; in attempting to assassinate Ghadafi of Libya, he murdered children and women who were asleep in their beds, in the middle of the night. There are more horrendous, cruel, and anti democratic actions of Reagan's that could be listed but I leave them off, having made my point by pointing out the few above.You lied in stating that there was no freedom of the press under Buhari's regime. Fabricating stories with which to malign public functionaries (just as you and others are doing here), accepting brown envelopes (bribe taking by journalists), and the covering up corruption (of any kind) were outlawed under Buhari's regime. Journalists who carried out their professional callings in adherence to the regime's call for discipline were never molested or even questioned. In reality, 99.99% of all journalists in Nigeria adhered to that call; two journalist pushed the button by publishing classified materials. They were convicted by a court of law and sentenced to less than four years in prison. Were Muhammadu Buhari the monster that most of you lawless Nigerians have dubbed him, those journalists (Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson) would have been tried under a law that existed before Buhari came into office. That law would have made their offenses treasonable, punishable by death, and leading to the proscription of the media houses for which they worked.A disciplined person never steals from or lies against anyone. A disciplined person answers a call to duty with utmost dedication and in the best interest of his peoples. All of those factors apply to Buhari; none applies to IBB, Abacha, or Obasanjo. If you were thoughtful, you would not have included Buhari in any categorization of the trio. But you are Ikenna Anokwute, a pretentious journalist who relishes in portraying that profession as the dumping ground for intellectually/educationally challenged loafers.I am baffled by the question posed by Daniel Elombah, for he had always shown the objectivity that any person who practices journalism, no matter how minuscule the degree of such practicing, is expected to show. But his line of question suggests to me that the Nigerian in him is about to overtake the journalist we have been reading from. A journalist is supposed to explore leads and answer questions by being investigative. Buhari's attempt at eradicating or minimizing corruption within his short time in office is public knowledge. Those convicted of corruption of all types (armed robbery, oil bunkering, financial crimes, drug trafficking, bribery and embezzlement) are documented. If someone (possibly someone born after Buhari was in office) asked Elombah a question relating to this aspect of his leadership, the one was probably led into asking that question because the one trusted that a journalist is not afraid or lazy enough to do some research. Regrettably, Elombah's response is vintage modern day Nigerians' posture -- lie, repeat others' lies, or pull intellectual laziness by claiming that the information is non-existent.The truth is that General Buhari cleansed Nigeria of corruption better than any Nigerian leader has ever done. His downfall (from office) was mainly on account of him not sparing sacred cows. Buhari purged the judiciary of corrupt judges; he cleansed the NYSC of entrenched corruption, which had cost the nation billions of dollars annually, all pilfered by corrupt government functionaries and unscrupulous contractors; he cleansed the petroleum industry of all sorts of corruption and lack of accountability; corrupt traditional rulers (like the Emir of Muri, Abba Tukur) got thrown out of office; he read the Riot's Act to banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions and they got the message and straightened themselves out before he could do it for them; he cleansed NET and P&T of palpable corruption, then merged a segment of P&T with NET (NITEL) after forming NIPOST from the other segment of P&T (but for his being overthrown from office, which returned the status quo of corruption and inefficiency to those parastatals, NITEL and NIPOST would have become exceptional success stories); he cleansed the Nigeria Ports Authority and all its affiliates (including the Nigeria Airways) of corruption and levity to the call of duty; indolent and fraudulent civil servants, university dons, doctors that worked in government owned hospitals, etc. had their tastes of the Buhari regime's onslaught on corruption. I can go on and on, but I lack the time to do so. All these things I enumerated above, and more, are public knowledge and are verifiable. Unless he has morphed into something else, I expect that journalist Elombah will follow up on them with a type of investigative work expected of a credible journalist of his ilk.The good things that Buhari did for Nigeria are not mentioned because he stepped on so many toes and all those toes, most of them powerful in a corrupt sense and with international connections, lined up against him then and have continued do so up till now. It is not in their interest that Buhari comes back to office, so they hire quack journalists to repeat stupid lies for the sole purpose of fooling Nigerians into sticking with corrupt and incompetent leadership. It is instructive to add that not all of the people repeating lies against Buhari have been bought over by corrupt behemoths in our society. Some are lying against the man out of sheer ignorance of the Buhari regime's accomplishments and others are doing so in pursuit of ethnic/religious bigotry or purity. The most virulent and unrelenting of the liars are dumb asses like Ikenna Anokwute, who repeat lies that they heard from those who got paid to fabricate those lies.Should Nigerians yield to the wishes of liars and character assassins, leading to the retention of power by a corrupt and incompetent political leadership in April, Muhammed Buhari and his supporters will not be the losers for it; Nigerians in general will be the losers and they will deserve to remain in misery in perpetuity, for that is the reward for intellectual indolence.I hate what the Nigerian has become and I now do see why Ozodiobi Osuji despises him/her.Tufiakwa!Nebukadineze Adiele
Organized religion sired irrationality.
--In a message dated 1/22/2011 8:50:10 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, ianokute@yahoo.com writes:
From: Ibukunolu Alao Babajide <ibk@usa.net>
Subject: [TalkNigeria] Elombah on + Question for Buhari's Supporters
To: "naijaintellects@googlegroups.com" <naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>, "Bring your baseball bat" <NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>, "TalkNaija" <talknigeria@yahoogroups.com>, "NmenmeNdiigbo" <igboevents@yahoogroups.com>, "AmaNdiigbo" <igbo_forum@yahoogroups.com>, "onye si na oburo yaoburu ya omee gini ?" <wic_open_forum@yahoogroups.com>, "agbara aka na azo ani" <worldigbocongress@yahoogroups.com>, "Jua onye isiState" <askanambragovernor@yahoogroups.com>, "Oderaigbo" <odera.igbo@yahoo.ca>
Date: Saturday, January 22, 2011, 12:12 AM
Ode Ara-Igbo,
You claim to be a Christian and you lie - now remove all the lies in what you wrote down here or I call on God to punish you right now!
IBK
------ Original Message ------
Received:
From: Oderaigbo <odera.igbo@yahoo.ca>
To: "naijaintellects@googlegroups.com" <naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>, Bring your baseball bat <NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>, TalkNaija <talknigeria@yahoogroups.com>, NmenmeNdiigbo <igboevents@yahoogroups.com>, AmaNdiigbo <igbo_forum@yahoogroups.com>, onye si na oburo yaoburu ya omee gini ? <wic_open_forum@yahoogroups.com>, agbara aka na azo ani <worldigbocongress@yahoogroups.com>, Jua onye isiState <askanambragovernor@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Spam] ||NaijaObserver|| Elombah on + Question for Buhari's Supporters
Even at that ,the said former Governors he imprisoned were mostly from None Muslim communities or a muslim that disagreed with him.
That was why he sent to prison the vice president and send the President to a his home .
Same way he sent a Presidential Car and his personal ADC to go and haul back from MURTALA MUHAMMED 53 Suitcases stuffed with DRUGS and escorted by Emir of Gwado,that was what caused his friction with Atiku Abubarkar who was the comptroller of customs at MM then,because Atiku wanted to take a peep into the HAUL.
Let us not forget that the reason Buhari killed Drugs pedllers was for the fact that he never wanted a COMPETITION on his trade and turf.
Imagine a Coup plotter who aborted a Democratic Government or like his stupid followers will say ,that he was,nt involve in the Coup but after the coup he was invited to take over ,WHICH MAKES HIM A HARD CORE MORON ,who has no common sense at all.
I did not bring into discuss the fact that he was the person that introduced EMBEZZLEMENT into our Government ,when he served as Petroleum Minister under OBJ in 1977 ,when he stole 2.6 billion Naira ,a feat he repeated again when he was made the PTF Chairman 20 years later.
I make bold to say that GENERAL BUHARI is corruption ENYCLOPEDIA.Mazi OderaTruth is our standard,accept it in good faith orwe shove it down your throat.The Choice is yours
From: elombah daniel <elsdaniel@yahoo.com>
To: naijaintellects@googlegroups.com
Cc:
Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2011 7:52:50 AM
Subject: [Naijaintellects] Question for Buhari's Supporters
Sincerely: A friend asked me this question that got me stumped:
Apart from jailing civillian governors, how many corruption cases did General Muhamadu Buhari actually prosecute in his days as Head of State and Commander in Chief of Nigeria Armed Forces?Could anyone help here please?Daniel Elombah
Publisher: www.elombah.com(A Nigerian Perspective on world affairs)+44-7958588018“Why does a country that relies for 90 per cent of its income on oil, which has seen a big rise in price, need to run down its foreign exchange reserves? For these reasons we are not buying the bond.”...But they eventually bought them, only on very harsh terms for Nigeria.
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