Arsenal coach, Arsene Wenger has said he will accept his Football Association misconduct charge. Recall that the frenchman had an altercation with a match official and got punished for it .
The 67 year-old was charged with verbally abusing and pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor after being sent off in the closing stages of the game involving his side and Burnley few days ago.
“Yes, I answered that in the press conference, I have little more to add. I am big enough to stand up for what I do. When I don’t behave like I think I should behave, I am big enough to say I am not right. I’m a passionate guy and I believe that I am completely committed in my job and want to win the football games.” He said
Burna Boy, Davido, to join 2face in nationwide protest against the Nigerian Government.
Nigerian music acts, Davido and Burnaboy have indicated their interest in protesting against the Federal Government come February, 2017. The call was made by their colleague, Innocent ‘2face’ Idibia few days ago who took to his Instagram page to announce his intention to remonstrate against the bad leadership and mismanagement of funds and recovered monies. His post below:
‘FIRST MASSIVE NATIONWIDE PROTESTS ON THE 5TH OF FEBRUARY, 2017.
A call for good governance.
A call for urgent explanation into the reckless economic downturn nationwide.
A call for nationwide protests as we say No to the Executive, No to legislatures, No to judiciary… You have all failed us.
We the people are tired. We can no longer continue with all of you. All your excuses and mistakes are not funny. We do not wish to continue with a system and government that is not working but afflicting the people. We the people of this country not living under the privileges of government allowances and remuneration have now accepted to take the bull by the horn to come out and protest this obnoxious and baseless policies and excuses of the government of the day.
Where are the recovered looted funds?
Why do we still have the executive arms and legislatures still enjoying their salaries and allowances while we hear there’s no money to pay workers?
Why do we still see ceaseless power failures with no explanation and hope of getting out of it unlike before?
Why do we keep seeing peace talks in Niger Delta, fulani heardsmen and ipob without any solutions being reached, while the strategies keeps aggravating the people involved as political leaders stage forums to extort funds in the name of addressing their subjects?
Why did we have petrol price rise to 145 for the sake of global oil price crash and removal of subsidy but such price is still being maintained despite significant re-awakening of the oil price from $30/barrel to $56/barrel?
Who is to be held accountable for the sudden and continuous hike in price of commodities in the market, where for the first time in history, Nigeria is suddenly selling kerosene at 400 naira per litre as against 50 naira per litre, diesel at 300 naira per litre as against 100 naira per litre and petrol from 87 naira to 145 naira? Yet maintaining the same systems, environment and maybe a lesser money spending government.
There’s need for Nigerians to rise against what is happening in this country having waited patiently for the legislatures that were elected to represent the people all to no avail.’
Adducing reasons for his decision, 2baba as fondly called said, “I am blessed to have a platform that allows me to reach a lot of people at a time. I believe this voice also comes with a responsibility to use it to speak up for my people. So, when I received the broadcasts that had been going round for some days calling for protests against the state of the country I posted it in a show of support.
“My intention was never to take credit for the movement but rather amplify the voices of the organization credited with the widely circulated message.
“To my colleagues that have joined their voices to this call, thank you for showing the Nigerian people they are not alone. I remain committed to contributing to the well being of my people in any little way I can. One love! #WeWillProtest”
Opinion: Buhari’s UK trip, a total blunder| By: Niran Adedokun
It now seems obvious that those who sold the idea of change to President Muhammadu Buhari did not reach what lawyers call ad idem with him from the outset.
Ad idem refers to a meeting of minds of parties involved in a contract on the very essence of that agreement. It is a critical ingredient whose absence is able to vitiate any contract subjected to the test of law.
Over the past 20 months, it has become increasingly discernable that those who hawked Buhari to Nigerians as the agent of transformation only successfully communicated half of the elements of Buhari’s agency to him.
This half, from what one perceives, ends with the urgent need for a change in leadership. That critical part wherein the desire to reform a country is followed through by a series of policies and actions was either not conveyed at all or got lost at some point during the conversation.
This is why it is impossible to reconcile the President’s avowed commitment to revolutionize the way Nigerians think and conduct themselves with some of his actions. All of this makes you wonder whether Nigerians and members of the All Progressives Congress had the same understanding of change as they worked towards the definitive 2015 elections.
And please, no one should raise that already overstretched argument about change being a tedious, long process which an impatient nature makes Nigerians misunderstands.
That suggestion by itself, is a reprehensible slight on the resilient determination of millions of Nigerians who defied all odds to vote in Buhari about 21 months ago. What those who market this idea should realize is that even the long process of instilling effective transformation should be signposted by incontrovertible evidences of a deep, research-based understanding of the problem, a theoretical and practicable framework for the reversal of the problem, a palpable determination of the leader to solve the problem without fear and favour as well as an undisguised ability of custodians of the people’s mandate to lead by example!
Subjected to any objective evaluation, it is doubtful that the Buhari administration will exceed the very base of assessments on most of these fronts. The administration has, to say the least, wallowed in uninspiring ineptitude that should currently worry every Nigerian conversant with the urgency with which this country should get of the gallows of underdevelopment.
For example, Buhari and his party men have regaled us with tales of how we found ourselves in the current economic deep pit because past leaders of Nigeria allowed the importation of everything and anything to the detriment of production at home. They have gone further to promise to redress the situation and set Nigeria on the path of irreversible development.
Part of their design to achieve this is weaning the nation off its dependence on oil through relentless diversification and the encouragement of local manufacturing. A clear way to go, everyone would agree.
Towards the achievement of the latter in particular, this government has almost since inception imposed capital controls which have seen to the restriction of the importation of a number of items and the ability of many hardworking Nigerians to transact legitimate business, attend to their health care needs or send their children to school regardless of the import of the latter to the country’s future.
The President coverts the collaboration and sacrifice of all Nigerians on these but he and some of his close aides are not exactly inclined to subjecting themselves to the very demands they make of their compatriots.
He would show total disregard for the sensibilities of Nigerians when he made that comment about being able to send his daughter to school abroad because he could afford it while insisting that those who could no longer afford it, even if through no fault of theirs, would get no help from government. A veiled suggestion that they should withdraw their children from schools abroad. Yet, he indulges in this venture that costs Nigerians a whopping N1.5tn annually. What about bringing your children back home as a sign of your commitment to improving standards at home?
It is this same rationale that would make the President jump on a plane to seek medical attention in the United Kingdom, a second time in his less than two years in office.
And here one must acknowledge the clarification by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, to the effect that his principal’s primary mission to the UK is a vacation and that the medical checkup is a mere adjunct. He went on in his usual manner to denigrate Nigerians for trying to reverse the President’s scale of priority.
But the joke here is on Adesina and the government he serves. The bitter truth is that there could never be any acceptable reason for Buhari to embark on any of these missions out of the country at this time. I will explain.
Why should a President who desires to bestow a variegated economy on his country think of a holiday abroad? In his administration research into ways in which Nigerians “waste” billions of dollars on unproductive ventures annually, did it not encounter foreign travels for holidays? Doesn’t this administration understand how much could accrue as well as how much it could save from a thriving tourism industry? What better way exists for a President to encourage his people to holiday in-country than for him to lead by that example? After all, the late Umaru Yar’Adua once did that in 2009!
And for the subsidiary purpose admitted by Adesina, this administration is gradually becoming a most pathetic failure at living to the reality of the expectations that it raised.
In two years and in spite of humongous budgetary allocations to the Aso Rock Clinic, Buhari’s government has been unable to build a world-class hospital that could treat the President and his staff and save us occasions of rushed transfers in air ambulances as was recently reported concerning his Chief of Staff, Mr. Abba Kyari!
A country in dire economic straits and bogged down by an epochal scarcity of foreign exchange should think of nothing but a conservation of its resources. It should work assiduously towards being able to treat its people and developing the capacity for medical tourism.
Rather than go out of the country to consult with medical doctors who emigrated out of the frustrations of a comatose system, the President should lead the mobilisation for the return of close to 10, 000 Nigerian medical experts in western and Middle East countries. Even if we do not have the vision to become a medical tourism hub, we could at least conserve monies in the excess of $1bn spent on this cause by our compatriots in 2013.
It is not clear whether the President’s decision to seek medical attention abroad came out of distrust of the Nigerian medical system, or the age-long honest error of seeing everything foreign as better, but it is certainly not a project that the leader of a country of Nigeria’s current travails, size and resources should invest resources, even if they were personal, in.
I do not think Buhari has left anyone in doubt about his desire to lead a turnaround in the fortunes of the country, but then this is not one of those things that you wish into reality.
The President must realise that transformational leadership isn’t just about the title; it is more about the judicious use of the opportunity and scarce resources to show positive action and examples.
Before Buhari can hope to fix Nigeria, he must first fix himself and then show the way to go. He must continually improve himself in areas that he plans to improve the country before hoping to achieve success.
Anything less will place him on the same row with every other past leader that he always gleefully disparages. It is a prospect that the President should avoid like a plague
Ad idem refers to a meeting of minds of parties involved in a contract on the very essence of that agreement. It is a critical ingredient whose absence is able to vitiate any contract subjected to the test of law.
Over the past 20 months, it has become increasingly discernable that those who hawked Buhari to Nigerians as the agent of transformation only successfully communicated half of the elements of Buhari’s agency to him.
This half, from what one perceives, ends with the urgent need for a change in leadership. That critical part wherein the desire to reform a country is followed through by a series of policies and actions was either not conveyed at all or got lost at some point during the conversation.
This is why it is impossible to reconcile the President’s avowed commitment to revolutionize the way Nigerians think and conduct themselves with some of his actions. All of this makes you wonder whether Nigerians and members of the All Progressives Congress had the same understanding of change as they worked towards the definitive 2015 elections.
And please, no one should raise that already overstretched argument about change being a tedious, long process which an impatient nature makes Nigerians misunderstands.
That suggestion by itself, is a reprehensible slight on the resilient determination of millions of Nigerians who defied all odds to vote in Buhari about 21 months ago. What those who market this idea should realize is that even the long process of instilling effective transformation should be signposted by incontrovertible evidences of a deep, research-based understanding of the problem, a theoretical and practicable framework for the reversal of the problem, a palpable determination of the leader to solve the problem without fear and favour as well as an undisguised ability of custodians of the people’s mandate to lead by example!
Subjected to any objective evaluation, it is doubtful that the Buhari administration will exceed the very base of assessments on most of these fronts. The administration has, to say the least, wallowed in uninspiring ineptitude that should currently worry every Nigerian conversant with the urgency with which this country should get of the gallows of underdevelopment.
For example, Buhari and his party men have regaled us with tales of how we found ourselves in the current economic deep pit because past leaders of Nigeria allowed the importation of everything and anything to the detriment of production at home. They have gone further to promise to redress the situation and set Nigeria on the path of irreversible development.
Part of their design to achieve this is weaning the nation off its dependence on oil through relentless diversification and the encouragement of local manufacturing. A clear way to go, everyone would agree.
Towards the achievement of the latter in particular, this government has almost since inception imposed capital controls which have seen to the restriction of the importation of a number of items and the ability of many hardworking Nigerians to transact legitimate business, attend to their health care needs or send their children to school regardless of the import of the latter to the country’s future.
The President coverts the collaboration and sacrifice of all Nigerians on these but he and some of his close aides are not exactly inclined to subjecting themselves to the very demands they make of their compatriots.
He would show total disregard for the sensibilities of Nigerians when he made that comment about being able to send his daughter to school abroad because he could afford it while insisting that those who could no longer afford it, even if through no fault of theirs, would get no help from government. A veiled suggestion that they should withdraw their children from schools abroad. Yet, he indulges in this venture that costs Nigerians a whopping N1.5tn annually. What about bringing your children back home as a sign of your commitment to improving standards at home?
It is this same rationale that would make the President jump on a plane to seek medical attention in the United Kingdom, a second time in his less than two years in office.
And here one must acknowledge the clarification by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, to the effect that his principal’s primary mission to the UK is a vacation and that the medical checkup is a mere adjunct. He went on in his usual manner to denigrate Nigerians for trying to reverse the President’s scale of priority.
But the joke here is on Adesina and the government he serves. The bitter truth is that there could never be any acceptable reason for Buhari to embark on any of these missions out of the country at this time. I will explain.
Why should a President who desires to bestow a variegated economy on his country think of a holiday abroad? In his administration research into ways in which Nigerians “waste” billions of dollars on unproductive ventures annually, did it not encounter foreign travels for holidays? Doesn’t this administration understand how much could accrue as well as how much it could save from a thriving tourism industry? What better way exists for a President to encourage his people to holiday in-country than for him to lead by that example? After all, the late Umaru Yar’Adua once did that in 2009!
And for the subsidiary purpose admitted by Adesina, this administration is gradually becoming a most pathetic failure at living to the reality of the expectations that it raised.
In two years and in spite of humongous budgetary allocations to the Aso Rock Clinic, Buhari’s government has been unable to build a world-class hospital that could treat the President and his staff and save us occasions of rushed transfers in air ambulances as was recently reported concerning his Chief of Staff, Mr. Abba Kyari!
A country in dire economic straits and bogged down by an epochal scarcity of foreign exchange should think of nothing but a conservation of its resources. It should work assiduously towards being able to treat its people and developing the capacity for medical tourism.
Rather than go out of the country to consult with medical doctors who emigrated out of the frustrations of a comatose system, the President should lead the mobilisation for the return of close to 10, 000 Nigerian medical experts in western and Middle East countries. Even if we do not have the vision to become a medical tourism hub, we could at least conserve monies in the excess of $1bn spent on this cause by our compatriots in 2013.
It is not clear whether the President’s decision to seek medical attention abroad came out of distrust of the Nigerian medical system, or the age-long honest error of seeing everything foreign as better, but it is certainly not a project that the leader of a country of Nigeria’s current travails, size and resources should invest resources, even if they were personal, in.
I do not think Buhari has left anyone in doubt about his desire to lead a turnaround in the fortunes of the country, but then this is not one of those things that you wish into reality.
The President must realise that transformational leadership isn’t just about the title; it is more about the judicious use of the opportunity and scarce resources to show positive action and examples.
Before Buhari can hope to fix Nigeria, he must first fix himself and then show the way to go. He must continually improve himself in areas that he plans to improve the country before hoping to achieve success.
Anything less will place him on the same row with every other past leader that he always gleefully disparages. It is a prospect that the President should avoid like a plague
Adeniran Tweets at @niranadedokun
Source: PUNCH Newspapers
I don't like Messi comparison – Ronaldo
Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo has for the umpteenth time rejected comparisons between him and his fierce rival, Lionel Messi. The Portuguese made the disclosure after he picked up the 2016 MVP honour bestowed on him by Chinese publication Dongqiudi following a very amazing 2016. The 31 year-old maintained that it is unfair to compare him with the Barcelona forward adding that they are both professionals striving to be the best for their clubs.
He told reporters, “Cristiano is Cristiano and Messi is Messi. We are both great players with individual and team titles that speak for themselves. The comparison? I don’t like to compare, that word doesn’t exist for me. We are different, two people just doing their jobs, that is all.
“He tries to be the best player for his team and I try to do the same for mine. We are rivals because we play for different clubs, but when we are together we show each other mutual respect. We have a normal relationship.
“People compare us all that time, that is normal. People even compared our sons when they were born and talk about who is the fastest and smartest at school. This is all part of the business. But I think that you can’t compare these things.”
The former Man United striker picked the Ballon d’Or and the inaugural The Best FIFA Men’s Player award after winning the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup with Real Madrid, as well as Euro 2016 with Portugal.
Popular novelist, Buchi Emechata dies
Popular Novelist, Buchi Emecheta OBE has died. The veteran author of ‘The Joys of Motherhood’, ‘Second-Class Citizen’, ‘The Bride Price’, ‘The Slave Girl’ and many others reportedly died in her home in London on Wednesday January 25, 2017 at the age of 72.
Confirming her passing, Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, President, Denja Abdullahi said “We have lost a rare gem in this field. Her works would forever live to speak for her. It is a sad loss to our circle and we pray that God would give the family the fortitude to bear the loss. She was known for championing the female gender and we would forever miss her.”
May her soul find repose. Amen!
Cristiano Ronaldo taken home in ambulance
Real Madrid forward, Cristiano Ronaldo and his girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez were driving towards the Navacerrada ski resort near Madrid on Sunday night when he suffered wrist pain, when he couldn’t drive further, he stopped by the side of the road and called for help
Spanish entertainment website Informalia said the world best footballer then called for an ambulance to take him and his girlfriend back home, while a tow truck was ordered to take his new £260,000 Lamborghini back to the city.
Skiers had a field day posing and taking pictures of themselves beside the Portugese’s posh ride at the resort.
Spanish entertainment website Informalia said the world best footballer then called for an ambulance to take him and his girlfriend back home, while a tow truck was ordered to take his new £260,000 Lamborghini back to the city.
Skiers had a field day posing and taking pictures of themselves beside the Portugese’s posh ride at the resort.
Usain Bolt stripped of Olympic gold medal
Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt has been stripped of his 2008 Olympic gold medal due to due to a doping offence by his team-mate, Nesta Caster tests positive to drugs.
BBC reports that “Carter was one of 454 selected doping samples retested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year, and has been found to contain the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine.”
30 year-old Bolt, completed a ‘triple triple’ in Rio last summer, sweeping to 100 metres, 200 metres and 4×100 metres golds. He had won 3 golds each in previous two editions; Beijing 2008 and London 2012 of the Games in same events.
Carter was also part of the squad that won the event in London five years ago and helped Jamaica win at the World Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015. The team won in a then world record of 37.10 seconds, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago and Japan, who will now have their medals upgraded. Brazil will receive bronze.
Carter was tested on the evening of the Beijing final in 2008 but that was found at the time to contain no “adverse analytical finding”.
More than 4,500 tests were carried out at those Games, but just nine athletes were caught cheating.
An anomaly was discovered in Carter’s submission following the IOC’s decision to retest 454 samples from Beijing using the latest scientific analysis methods.
Source: BBC
The Shock Rise in Paedophilia in Nigeria | By: Tony Ogunlowo
Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t a news report about a minor being sexually abused by a much older person. And the shocking thing is that for every case reported dozens are not because the young victims are either too scared of their attackers or embarrassed to talk to anyone. And it’s so bad now that it’s rising to epidemic levels and soon Nigeria will be overtaking Cambodia and the Far East as the paedophile hotspot of the world!
Currently the law stipulates life imprisonment for rape of a minor under the new Sexual Offences Bill but the law doesn’t deal with those who marry under-age girls to circumvent the law. Whilst it is a horrendous crime to rape anyone it’s even worse when the victim is a child and the perpetrator can get away with it by either marrying their victim or shutting them up. Most paedophiles get away with their crimes because they are much older and can intimidate or brainwash their victims. And most of the time the perpetrators of these crimes are people known to the victims as fathers, brothers, neighbours, uncles, in-laws etc.
Disturbingly, families are prepared to put up a wall of silence and pretend as if nothing is going wrong if there is a case of incest or paedophilia going on in their household. They all keep quiet, hoping it blow over, in an attempt to preserve their dignity often threatening the victim to remain quiet and not dealing with the perpertrator.
Some tribes even encourage paedophilia by marrying off their under-age daughters to men old enough to be their grandfathers. And over the years no government policy or law has been put in place to outlaw this practice until recently and it’s still not enforced. Our society needs to shape up; it’s not okay for a 50-year old to be seen walking down the road with his new under-age wife. It doesn’t matter if he’s the richest man in Nigeria, an Oba or Emir. It’s morally wrong and the person belongs in jail! And for those who disagree or hide behind the flimsy excuse of ‘it’s our tradition’, how would you feel if your under-age son or daughter was being sexually abused by a 50-year old? Some men even think it’s ‘cool’ to sleep with an under-age child. It’s not and anybody who sleeps with an under-aged child, whether it’s consensual or not, is a paedophile. On a sadder note thirty-five Nigerian Senators actually voted, recently, for the legalization of child marriage! And the Senators in question all happen to be from the North and Muslims! Somebody ought to tell them we live in the 21st century now and such barbaric acts are not tolerable despite what the Koran says about marriage.
There are those who would like to argue that paedophilia is a disease. It’s not! It’s just a lame excuse given by depraved men to explain away their sick sexual cravings. How else would a certain Northern Senator explain spending $10,000 to ‘buy’ a 13-year old ‘bride’ from Egypt?
Our first duty should be to the children at risk. Everybody knows who these children at risk are and who they’re at risk from. Instead of minding our own business and turning a blind eye, ignoring the plight of the victim we should stand up to these people and report them to the authorities.
There should be more awareness so people can know what signs to look for if they believe a child is being groomed or abused, for example that ‘nice’ uncle who is always ‘touching’ his young niece and buying her presents is a potential suspect. Parents should learn how to be closer to their children; if you’re too distant to your child there will be things they won’t tell you, like most kids hold things back, and it’s your duty as a parent to sense when things are amiss. Children, just like anybody else, need a shoulder to cry upon and somebody they can talk about anything with. Be that parent they can come to.
Any rape victim, child or adult, doesn’t just carry the physical scars of their attack, which can include contacting a venereal disease or HIV, but emotional scars which are even harder to heal. They can suffer from post-traumatic stress for the rest of their lives. Overwhelmed by it can lead to depression and many have been driven to take their own lives.
We all know the Nigerian Police Force is not equipped to deal with child-rape cases (- or any case really!) and will probably tell the victim’s parents to sort it out themselves, calling it a family or personal matter. This is not good enough but the good news is that we live in the internet age and there are lots of avenues – social media – to shame them into taking action.
There are some organisations out there such as The Eight Foundation, Mirabel Centre and Women against Child Defilement who are not just helping victims of paedophiles but also offer advice and support. Unfortunately they are under-funded (- or not funded at all!) and there’s not enough of them.
Everybody needs to be vigilant. Child rape or paedophilia is not acceptable not just in this country but anywhere in the world.
Tony blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
Viola Davis becomes the first black actress to get 3 Oscar Nominations
There is no stopping this woman!
51 year-old actress, Viola Davis has become the first black actress in history to score 3 Oscar nominations.
Davis was previously nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress, in the film “Doubt” and also “The Help” which were shot in 2009 and 2012 respectively. However, her impeccable performance in “Fences” continues to earn her global acclaim, recall she won the Best Supporting Actress in the same film at the last Golden Globe.
As Lai Mohammed manifests the lie in his name |By: Reno Omokri
Lai Mohammed, in true manifestation of his name, told a lie, when he scolded the advocacy group Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) by saying that their use of ‘impudent’ language should “should have been reserved for those who did nothing in the first 500 days of the girls’ abduction”.
Of course Nigerians know that Lai Mohammed is synonymous with lying and it is no wonder that the Oby Ezekwesili led BBOG are firing at him, but to say that the Jonathan administration ‘did nothing’ to rescue the Chibok girls is a lie that will not go unchallenged. I will now give a timeline of events to prove unequivocally that Lai Mohammed is a liar and his words should henceforth be taken with a pinch of salt by Nigerians and the international community.
Timelines:
March 12, 2014: The then minister of state for education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, wrote the Governors of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa and advised them not to hold SSCE examinations in areas susceptible to the Boko Haram insurgency. This letter, with reference number HMSE/FME/147/VOL.1/150 and titled: ‘Security challenges and the conduct of the 2014 WASSCE and SSCE in Borno, Yobe and parts of Adamawa States’, is still available today should Lai Mohammed wish to read it.
April 14, 2014: Contrary to the advise given by the PDP led Federal Government of President Goodluck Jonathan, the APC led Government of Governor Kashim Shettima, for reasons best known to it, chose to ignore that advise and held the SSCE examinations in Chibok, a mainly Christian town that was susceptible to attacks from the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram. On the day in question, the girls of Government Girls Secondary School Chibok were kidnapped by Boko Haram while preparing to write their final physics examinations.
Flash forward to April 2, 2016: Governor Kashim Shettima confesses in an interview with Premium Times that he, the chief security officer of the state, DID NOT inform then President Jonathan when the girls were kidnapped for reasons best known to him.
April 17, 2014: Exactly three days after the kidnap, President Jonathan who had been unaware of the issue because of the deliberate refusal of the APC led government of Borno state to brief him called for an emergency meeting at the Presidential villa.
May 4, 2014: After consistent confused and contradictory information from the Borno state Government and various other authority figures, the Presidency invited the principal actors in the Chibok saga to the Presidential villa to ascertain the truth. The Presidency was shocked at the non appearance by officials of the Borno state government. The governor’s wife who was invited shunned the event and when the then First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan saw the scanty representation from Borno she famously exclaimed ‘na only you waka come’?
May 6, 2014: The then National Publicity Secretary of the APC and now the current minister of information, Lai Mohammed, released a statement calling the Presidency’s intervention a ‘distraction’.
May 26, 2014: The Nigerian military revealed through Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, that it knew the location of the girls but could not attack because of fear of loss of lives of the girls after a similar operation in Sokoto to save an Italian and a Briton led to loss of lives of the hostages taken by an affiliate of Boko Haram.
Unspecified Date in May 2014: The Jonathan administration began secret negotiations to secure the release of the Chibok girls.
October 6, 2014: Then President Jonathan visits Niamey as part of efforts to secure the release of the Chibok girls with the help of the Nigerien government.
October 17, 2014: A truce was announced with Boko Haram after negotiations which was to allow for the release of the Chibok girls. The truce was broken by Boko Haram who reneged on their promise to release their captives.
There are other actions taken by the Jonathan admin which I have not listed here but the point I am making is that for Alhaji Lai Mohammed to say that that government did nothing is not just a lie, but a shameless attempt to rewrite history by a man who has scant regard for the truth. It is my prayer that the Chibok girls will be released but for that to happen, there must be complete transparency and truthfulness from government.
Finally let me say that a man like, Lai Mohammed, with an over bloated opinion of himself and the poverty inducing government in which he serves cannot argue with a man with an accurate command of the facts.