Ayo Fayose reacts to Buhari's impending victory.

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose has described the outcome of the presidential election as the will of God and urged Nigerians to embrace it and move on. Coming from a man who had always taunted General Muhammadu Buhari, we all know this is pretty strange.

The election result is the will of God and Nigerians , and all lovers of peace, progress and development of Nigeria must accept it‎. To me, Nigerians and democracy won. I salute Nigerians, especially the great people of Ekiti state. I salute President Jonathan for laying the most solid foundation for democracy in Nigeria. And I salute Major General Buhari for being a resilience and dogged fighter.
“I urge Nigerians, irrespective of their ethnic, religious and political affiliation to respect the outcome of the election in the interest of peace, progress and development of the country. Nigeria as a country is greater than any individual or group and it is my plea that no one should do anything to rock the boat of peace in the country.”‎ He said in a statement ‎

#NigeriaDecides: General Buhari still in lead.

‎The collation of the presidential election results is still very on. General Muhammadu Buhari is still leading the polls. During the course of the event, an aggrieved PDP official, Mr Godswill Orubebe interrupted the exercise and accused the INEC Chairman. Professor Attahiru Jega of being tribalistic and bias.
He held once to the microphone, sat on the stage alleging that Jega ‎didn’t acknowledge a letter sent by his party asking him to investigate elections conducted in Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Jigawa. ‎”‎Mr Chairman, we don’t believe in you anymore. Nigerians will not allow this.” He said.
A calm and matured Jega in his response advised the man to watch his public conduct adding that ‎he channelled his grievances through a wrong channel.  “As we are here, right now, I am yet to receive petition that I’m being accused of ignoring. I did not release results.” He said.
Collation Updates:‎
EBONYI
APC:19,518
PDP : 323 653
NIGER:
APC : 657, 678
PDP: 149, 222
LAGOS 
APC : 792, 460
PDP : 632, 327
BAYELSA:
APC: 5,194
PDP: 361,209
GOMBE
APC: 361,245
PDP: 96 873
CROSS RIVER:
APC: 28,368‎
PDP: 414, 863‎23.
RIVERS:‎
APC: 69, 238
PDP: 1, 487, 075.‎
‎Results after 23 states + FCT
APC: 10,384,899
PDP: 9,953,432
Margin: 431,467

#NigeriaDecides:General Buhari in early lead

‎The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC today summoned electoral officers to announce the results of last Saturday/Sunday Presidential elections in their states.
Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party won in 8 states; namely Anambra, Abia,Ekiti, Enugu, Nassarawa, Plateau, Imo and FCT.
His rival, Rtd General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress party is leading the poll so far. He won in 10 states; Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kogi, Kwara, Jigawa and Ondo.
Below is a breakdown of the two popular parties’ votes.  (From17 states +FCT‎)
APC – 8,530,969.
PDP – 6,448,210.‎

#NigeriaDecides: Google search words on GMB and GEJ

This is the outcome of the searches Nigerians conducted on the presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party and All Progressives People’s party; President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari
Buhari had more searches than GEJ. His certificate saga topped the list, folllowed by ‘Who is Buhari’, his Running Mate and his Campaign. On GEJ’s side, News appeared first on the list, followed by ex President Olusegun Obasanjo, his wife, Patience Jonathhan and lastly his campaign.

Court adjourns Buhari's disqualification suit

Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress party, General Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters can now heave a sigh of relief.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the eligibility suit challenging the eligibility of the one-time President in the March 28 presidential election.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja this morning postponed the suit to April 22, 2015. The suit filed on January 26, 2015 by a lawyer, Chukwunweike Okafor, asked the court to declare Buhari ineligible to contest the presidential election slated for Saturday over his alleged failure to submit his school certificates along with his Form CF001 to INEC.

I will never forgive Buhari – Afenifere leader.

Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has vowed not to forgive the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, General Muhammadu Buhari for his past misdeeds against Yoruba leaders while he was head of state.
Speaking yesterday at the post-National Conference in Lagos themed, ‘Into tomorrow and beyond’, the 87-year-old elder stateman said, “Back then, Awolowo warned Shagari that his government would soon hit the rock if he did not put things in order. Shortly after, in December 1983, Buhari overthrew the government but the man that was speaking against Shagari was harrassed by Buhari.
He added that, “Buhari picked up 
all the Yoruba governors: Adekunle Ajasin (Ondo State); Olabisi Onabanjo (Ogun) and others, who were true progressives and locked them up.

“Somebody said I am a Christian and I should forgive Buhari but I said I cannot forgive such. Ajasin’s children say they have forgiven Buhari but I am not in their party, I can’t forgive him.”

"Seek forgiveness not votes". Fayose tells Buhari

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has for the umpteenth time aired (or in this case penned) his grievances against the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement released by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Fayose urged the one-time President to seek forgiveness from Yorubas as well as Edo and Delta States and not their votes.
“Buhari’s coup of 1983 destroyed the South-West and the old Bendel State (now Edo and Delta) as it put an end to the  developmental programmes of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria in the region including Lagos, Oyo, Ogun , Ondo, as well as Bendel States.”
“Buhari meted inhuman treatment on Yoruba leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Chief Bola Ige, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and the immediate past APC National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, all of whom, he said, championed development and good governance in the South-West States.”


“If Buhari had not cancelled the Metroline project out of vendetta, transportation problems in Lagos would have been solved permanently.
“The Metroline project would have made life easier and changed the face of transport in Lagos. But Buhari cancelled it and even went ahead to pay compensation to the French company that handled it.  Buhari’s action cost Lagosians over $78 million then.”

“In Yorubaland, we were enjoying free education and free health before Buhari came. Then, all that was needed to go to primary and secondary schools was school uniform. Drugs were free.”

“Apart from free education and free health, the South-West witnessed rapid development. Lagos State University, Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University), Ondo State University (now Ekiti State University), Ondo State Polytechnic (now Rufus Giwa Polytechnic), and several other institutions were established.



“As of 1979, Lagos State had no secretariat. Jakande’s government  built the Alausa Secretariat within four years. Ajasin’s government built Alagbaka Secretariat in Akure within four years. Even the Lekki-Epe road on which they are now collecting tolls was constructed by Jakande.



“For all that they did for us in Yorubaland, what did Buhari do to Jakande, Ajasin, Bola Ige and Bisi Onabanjo? He jailed them and Bisi Onabanjo came out of prison with health issues that eventually claimed his life.”


“What did Buhari do to reward Awolowo whose party gave us free education and free health?  Awolowo’s international passport was seized and he was prevented from travelling abroad for medical treatment.  Awolowo died two years after!

“In 1984 that Buhari introduced school fees, thousands of our youths then dropped out of school.
“Therefore, Buhari who truncated the future of many of our people and jailed our leaders who served our land selflessly should be seeking forgiveness from Yoruba people, not votes.” He concluded.

Jonathan Vs Buhari : When a public mistake requires an old fashioned apology | By Magnus Onyibe

The title of this article is adapted from a piece by Ron Ashkenas, managing partner of Schaffer Consulting and co-author of The GE Work-Out and The Boundaryless Organisation which was published in Harvard Business Report (HBR) that l received 8/1/20l5. 

Some salient points in the article struck a chord in me as l was ruminating over the imminent February 14th presidential election in Nigeria which is now a two-horse race between the incumbent, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) and former military head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB).
As an active subscriber and an avid reader of HBR publications, Cambridge University, London School of Economics, LSE and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (my alma mate) bulletin as well as other intellectual journals, my commentary on issues and events in Nigeria is usually not drawn only from local dynamics but equally considered from the prism of global experiences which l try to bring to bear in my analysis.
It is based on the foregoing that the HBR article ‘When A Public Mistake Requires An Old Fashioned Apology’ is very poignant and relevant to our current situation in Nigeria as it discusses public mistakes by leaders and how they can control the damage to regain respect.
Incidentally, both Jonathan and Buhari have had the rare opportunity of ruling Nigeria at different times — Buhari as military head of state some 30 years ago and Jonathan as the siting democratic president. In the course of leading Nigeria, both men must have made mistakes, which are obviously hunting them especially in this period of campaign for election as president.
Without equivocation, the issues being thrown up by both campaign teams are a sort of referendum on both the incumbent and challenger’s time in the exalted office of the president and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Do Nigerians require apologies from the two contenders for their past mistakes in governance before they can seek for and probably receive our mandate to lead us? Before going into the dialectics, I would like to first of all crave your indulgence to consider the interesting perspective from the business world in the HBR article by Ron Ashkenas as reproduced below:
“Everyone makes mistakes. We make bad decisions and insensitive statements, we speak before we think, and we let our emotions get the best of us.  But since we hold very senior executives to a higher standard, when they mess up, it often becomes a public spectacle.”
Consider the case of AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. On August 9, 2013 — a time of disappointing quarterly results — he held an all-hands conference call with 1,000 Patch (AOL’s hyper-local news division) employees. During the meeting, which was called to announce layoffs and site closings, Armstrong publicly fired Patch’s creative director for apparently recording the meeting.
This ‘brutal’ firing created a firestorm of negative publicity both for AOL and for Armstrong. Several days later, Armstrong issued an apology to all AOL employees, in which he admitted that he has “acted too quickly…(and) learned a tremendous lesson…”
Six months later, Armstrong was forced to apologise for another incident. In announcing his plans to delay retirement contributions, he mentioned the high cost of health care benefits and cited two individual cases, which the company paid $1 million to care for “distressed babies”.
Not only were his remarks callous, they also violated the privacy of the employees involved. After another round of disastrous publicity, Armstrong again issued a statement saying “l made a mistake and l apologise for my comments.” He also reversed his decision to delay retirement contributions (notice the similarities to President Jonathan’s reversal of his initial removal of petroleum pump price after a public outcry).
Of course Armstrong is not the first, last, or only senior executive who has made troublesome public remarks. Tony Hayward, the former CEO of British Petroleum, famously complained that he “wanted his life back” in the midst of the 2010 oil spill.  (He later apologised to the families of the workers who had died in the tragedy, as well as the thousands of people whose lives were totally disrupted.) 
Former Harvard President and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers had to apologise in 2005 for his contention that “innate differences” between men and some accounted for the under-representation of women in the sciences. Senior advertising executive Justine Sacco was fired for posting an insensitive and racist tweet about AIDS in Africa.
And more recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella apologised for suggesting that women should not speak up about pay inequities. The question then becomes how to recover from one of these moments. A written and public apology is a good first step, particularly if you’ve offended thousands of people.
The next step is to proactively seek out the few people who have been most affected and talk to them privately. Public apologies are impersonal. People who have been hurt need something more human. They want a genuine, direct apology…
The third step in the recovery process is to find out whether the poor behaviour was a one time slip, or part of a recurring pattern. Occasional mistakes can be forgiven, but if the same behaviour occurs a number of times, an apology will ring hollow.  (Buhari’s retroactive decree no 20 that resulted in the judicial murder of three alleged drug dealers and decree no 4 which led to the jailing of journalists for writing the truth plus kidnapping, drugging and putting into crate of Umaru Dikko for illegal deportation to Nigeria qualifies as reoccurrence of same behaviour).
The real key to moving forward is to accept that you’re not perfect, and that future mistakes are probably inevitable. Without this mindset, executives can easily convince themselves that they were actually “misunderstood” or there was poor communication — that it wasn’t really their fault.
But without taking true accountability, executives won’t learn from their mistakes, and the next public gaffe isn’t far away. When executives do admit their flaws, they are better able to fix their mistakes and reclaim respect.
As the author posited, human beings crave apologies, which is a humbling way of earning the sympathy of people. Accountability is also a critical factor for apologies to be effective.
Most public mistakes are not confined to the business world, which the author focused on but even required more in the political space. Take for instance the case of Senator Hilary Clinton, the wife of former USA President Bill Clinton who stood stoically by her husband during the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that rocked Clinton’s presidency with the potential of having similar catastrophic consequences as the June 17, 1972 breaking in at the DNC headquarters at Watergate, Washington DC famously referred to as the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the 1970s.
Mrs. Clinton’s apparent detachment from the indignation expressed by American women towards her husband’s apparent philandering, made her look inhuman and haunted her when she was contesting against President Barack Obama for the ‘primaries’ for  the Democratic Party ticket.

Realising that the American female voters were not queuing up behind her as they should, she broke down and cried during one of her campaign activities and that emotional vulnerability turned the tide. Women switched their support to her but it was too late as the ‘Obama for president’ train, as it were had already left the station.

Coming back home to Africa, it may be recalled that the late Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa (1994-1999), instituted the Truth and Reconciliation Committee which enabled ex presidents and apartheid apostles, Iain Smith, Fredrick De Clerk, and a host of other ethnic supremacists to apologise to their black victims thereby bringing to a closure the evil ordeal for people like Bishop Desmond Tutu, who wept during one of such occasions. 
In Nigeria, how can we not remember clearly how the tears of late Sam Mbakwe, the then governor of Imo State (1979-1983), who was nicknamed the weeping governor, generated goodwill for him and his people. Also, Ernest Attah, the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State (1999-2007), who broke down in tears during the agitation for resource control and Supreme Court judgment on the onshore offshore oil dichotomy is a more recent reminder.
While not advocating that Jonathan or Buhari should break down in tears during campaigns, in my view, they owe Nigerians a huge debt of apology for the following mistakes:

GEJ for attempting to remove fuel subsidy and thus increase fuel pump price by 100% with the potential for exacerbating poverty in the country and for waiting till the visit of child rights advocate, Malala Yusufzai, before inviting parents of the kidnapped Chibok girls to Abuja to commiserate with them amongst others.

GMB on his part has to apologise for the judicial murder of the three Nigerian youths accused of drug trafficking who were sentenced to death with decree no  20, a law that was enacted after the alleged offence was committed which is retroactive justice.

The jailing of The Guardian newspaper journalists, Tunde Thompson and Nduka lrabor, for reporting the truth with decree no 4 which is a retroactive law similar to decree 20 in his bid to muzzle the press and the barbaric kidnaping, drugging and putting in a crate in the UK of ex transport  minister, Umaru Dikko, in 1984, in an attempt to forcibly and illegally bring Dikko back to Nigeria to answer corruption charges.

For sure, my list of public mistakes requiring apologies from the two contenders for Nigeria’s presidency in 2015 may not be exhaustive but it remains to be seen if any of the two presidential hopefuls think Nigerians deserve such nicety.
Nevertheless, whether Jonathan or Buhari chose the path of honour to apologise to long suffering Nigerians for their mistakes that have hurt them or not, the fact remains that with the murk so far raked up in the ongoing campaign, leaders will, going forward, think twice before formulating policies or making decisions that would hurt rather than help their fellow compatriots. That would be a positive and beneficial lesson to be gained from election 2015.
Source: 247nigerianewsupdate

"Buhari was a gallant soldier but no one can cheat nature". Joseph Yobo writes

Ex Nigerian footballer turned partisan-politician, Joseph Yobo has questioned the health fitness of General Buhari for not showing up at the recently-held one million march organized by the APC in Lagos . His article is titled, “Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is The Fittest Of Them All?” Read below.
“For the sake of clarity, I must first point out that while all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, it is all work and no exercise that makes him an unfit one. 
From all indications earlier in the week, Friday 7th March, 2015 was meant to be a busy day for members and supporters of both the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives’ Congress.

In Abuja, there was a scheduled fitness march to keep the blood of Nigerian sports people along with party hierarchy and President Goodluck Jonathan, buzzing. An equivalent march in Lagos, billed initially to be a million-man march of opposition members was to hold in Lagos from Maryland to Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere.
As early as 8am, I and several other supporters of the President walked with him from Aso Rock to Eagle Square where we also jogged around. Some of the pictures from the walk have been swarming social media; one in particular stood out. It was that of President Jonathan doing the hop in an aerobics session.
Pictures of him working out in the gym have surfaced from time to time and this further proved that the man is mentally and physically fit to rule Nigeria. Immediately after the rally ended at 11am, he went back to the State House, freshened up and flew to pay courtesy visits to the Ooni of Ife and Owa Obokun of Ijesaland and attend rallies in their domain.
Enter General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). After he and his party played hide-and-seek with Nigerians over his whereabouts, the man returned to the country and was conspicuously missing from a march that was the perfect opportunity for him and the top party brass to reassure their supporters that he was fit as a fiddle.
The job of president of a country with over 170 million people is a a tasking one and surely it would have been convenient for a man who insists he was on a two-week rest to have at least walked with the people who will vote him for say one-thirds of the march?
The party chieftains including Bola Tinubu and even its vice-presidential candidate, Prof. Yomi Osinbajo were present at the final stop, so why was the arrowhead of the campaign missing in action?
Why is the opposition shoving in our youthful faces, a grandfather who needs rest, an elder statesman who ought to be chilling in his country home in times like this? 
Assuming their candidate wins the presidential elections, will he disappear periodically too?
Nigerians must take a stand and decide to do what is right. Seeing is believing; we cannot saddle ourselves with a President whose health challenges will affect his output in office. General Buhari was once a gallant soldier but no one can cheat nature.
I, who by the grace of God and the support of sports loving President Jonathan led the Super Eagles to historic victory in the Africa Cup of Nations after a trophy less 19 years and having played football at the highest levels can boldly affirm that the secret to the game is in endurance, and the events of recent times point us to the fact that Nigeria needs just the man who stood and can last. The Game is on.

"They brought in Buhari like a thief in the night."- Fayose

Buhari is sick! Buhari isn’t fit to rule the nation. Buhari is in the UK for treatment. Buhari isn’t back in the country. Buhari has returned.. sigh!
Governor Fayose of Ekiti’s interest in the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari’s case isn’t waning anytime soon.

He insisted that the APC is deceiving Nigerians by concealing Buhari’s true health status and also added that the latter’s return to the country after 10 days in the UK was like a thief in the night.

Below is a statement from his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka 

“A man who campaigned for four weeks, speaking for less than one hour in all the rallies put together and needed to rest for 15 days should just stay at home and be playing with his grandchildren rather than struggling to take up a job that he does not have the required mental and physical strength to do. 

“They brought in Buhari like a thief in the night and now they want to put Lagosians into more hardships by blocking major roads all in the name of a phoney one-million-man match. 
“Why not hold their rally in a designated place instead of embarking on a match that will cause chaos and hardships in the state?” 
“APC said Buhari went on working visit to UK while Buhari himself said he went to UK to rest. When asked by press men whether or not he ever visited any hospital in UK, Buhari said: ‘What is wrong for me to go the hospital?’
 “By this statement from Buhari himself, it is clear that APC and its lying leaders tried to fool Nigerians, lying so brazenly and using fake pictures to authenticate their lies. 
“Even though there is nothing wrong in Buhari going for medicare abroad, afterall he should be seeing his doctors more often at his age, it is shameful that APC lied so brazenly trying to cover up the obvious reasons Buhari travelled for 15 days. 
“What is wrong is the lies told to defend Buhar’s trip to the UK to rest and seek medicare. The fake pictures of Buhari walking the streets of London, the fake Tony Blair picture and the use of pictures taken in Transcop Hilton, Abuja and claming that the pictures were taken in London is the main issue. 
“Most importantly, presenting Buhari to us as a superhuman, who can never fall sick is what is wrong and Nigerians are expecting Buhari to apologise for all the lies told in an attempt to cover up the real reasons he (Buhari) travelled secretly to UK.” 

Credit: Thetrentonline.com‎
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