Former minister of information and supervising minister of defence, Mr Labaran Maku, has exonerated President Goodluck Jonathan from the Boko Haram insurgency, rather placing the blame on the governors in the Northern regions.
Maku, who is the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Nasarawa State, stated this in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
He said that as chief security officers of their respective states who are “unaccountable to the Presidency, the governors are autonomous and closer to the people and as such, should know better than the Presidency what goes wrong in their domains”.
According to Maku, Jonathan should not be held responsible for the insecurity in the country; rather the governors should be in charge as chief executives of their various states and take responsibility of any problem there while urging those behind the political violence in the country to desist from it.
Maku also condemned the recent attacks on Jonathan in Bauchi and Katsina states when the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and his team went to the areas to campaign for votes, describing the attacks as “unruly and unfortunate’’.
“The president was not supposed to be attacked in any part of the country because he has demonstrated quality leadership which every geo-political zone would attest to, therefore, no right thinking person would have carried out any form of attack on him.”
“His humility and liberal mindedness has come to bear by his condoning the attack with calmness,” he said.
He called on the community leaders, traditional rulers, civil societies groups and youths in the country to rally round Jonathan in his bid for re-election as his administration has touched transformable every sector of the economy.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Former CBN Governor Charles Soludo has replied Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response to his viral article. Interesting read. Find below….
I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further. Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation. Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual.
The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later.
Here, I will focus on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response (as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy—CME and hence on behalf of the Federal Government). Since I have known her, out of deep respect, I have never called her by her name: I call her Madam. I must state that I have great pains seeing myself on the opposite side of the table with Madam, in this way. I respect you, Madam, and will always do. If you read my article of September 2010 (before you became Minister), the tone and elucidation were as strong as the current one. It is my honest effort to ensure that our choice of leaders is based on rigorous scrutiny of what is on offer. Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again. Regrettably, you have taken it very personal.
I am not bothered about the personal abuses: I actually expected worse. What name has the government not called President Obasanjo or any person who has dared to disagree with it of late? Anyone who disagrees with the government must either be ‘insane’ or have a ‘character’ deficiency or must be ‘looking for a job’ or ‘without honour’, or a ‘charlatan’. Yesterday, Sanusi alleged that $20 billion was missing and he was accused of gross financial mismanagement, recklessness and poor governance to the point of being the first governor of central bank to be suspended from office. Today, he is the good one; and for daring to award an “F” grade for our economic performance, Soludo has become the ‘worst’ and ‘without character’ or perhaps ‘looking for position’ (Lol!). Some days ago, a former president was called ‘a motor park tout’ and ‘un-statesmanly’ just for disagreeing. This “how dare you criticise us” mind-set of the government is dangerous for our democracy.
In this Part One of my planned three part series, I will restrict it to the main issues you raised. I will not bother about the malicious attacks on my person. For me, it is nothing personal. In early 2011, I had a similar heated exchange with then Finance Minister Segun Aganga. But when the Nigerian economy was at stake and he invited me to a stakeholders meeting in his office (as Minister of Trade and Investment) to discuss Nigeria’s response to the ruinous EU- Economic Partnership for Africa (EPA), I flew into Nigeria for that (at my expense)— the first and only time I have been to any government office to discuss policy since I left office. It is about Nigeria. I will, as expected, remind people like you of the salient aspects of my record of public service in response to your charge; challenge your claim to debt relief, and your reason for not saving; highlight your forgery of economic statistics and the lies in your response; but most importantly re-focus our attention to the historic mismanagement of our economy which you carefully avoided. I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged— under your watch! We can’t go on like this, and I am convinced that an alternative future is possible. Can we have a public debate on this alternative future? The issues at stake are too grave to be trivialized through name calling. As I write, the naira exchange rate to the dollar is at N215 (from N158 a few months ago) and unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning. For the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore!
Let me start with Madam’s rather comical, wild judgment on my tenure of office which I believe to be totally false and baseless. I apologise upfront that in the process of making a ‘personal defence’, it is difficult to avoid a rather uncomfortable emphasis on “I”. I did not want that but since Madam has dragged us this low, I have little choice but to do so in the next few paragraphs—just to keep the record straight!
In my view, there are three criteria for evaluating a public officer’s stewardship: the evaluation by his employer; the satisfaction of the public he served; and the hard facts of performance. As I will show on these three counts, I am convinced that I left a world record of public service, and a thousand Okonjo-Iwealas cannot re-write that history. I served Nigeria under two presidents (Obasanjo and Yar’Adua) and as my immediate bosses, below are their written testimonials of my record.
Said President Obasanjo (December 2004):
“Charles Soludo is a true Nigerian. He is the sort of Nigerian that we all know we can rely on. Among his numerous virtues is COURAGE. I have found in him a man who can take tough and realistic decisions, stand his ground, educate others on the salience of his decision, and work very hard to ensure that the decision is efficiently and effectively implemented. His dedication to duty is first rate. His leadership qualities are admirable and his willingness to listen and learn is simply infectious. Professor Soludo has within a short time emerged as one of the leading lights of our nation. Not because he has a godfather but by sheer hard work, loyalty, dedication to duty, commitment to the nation, creativity, and undiluted association with the reform agenda….”
President Yar’Adua (May 2009) had the following to say about the Central Bank of Nigeria under my leadership:
“… the CBN has performed creditably well in delivering on its core mandates. This is especially even more so in the last five years. Most people would agree that without the successful banking consolidation and effective management of our foreign reserves, the current global crisis would have shaken the financial system and our national economy to their foundations with calamitous consequences”.
In the President’s special letter of commendation after the completion of my tenure of office, President Yar’Adua (June 2009) had the following to say to me:
“As your tenure as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria comes to a glorious end, I write on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria to place on record our debt of gratitude to you for your dedicated service and uncommon sense of duty over the past five years. I am confident that your worthy antecedents in the CBN and in prior appointments in the service of our nation remain sources of inspiration to an entire generation. As I wish you even more astounding successes in the years ahead, it is my fervent hope that you will readily avail us of your distinguished service when the need arises in the future”.
To the best of my knowledge, President Obasanjo has not changed those views even after ten years. The views of my two bosses, not the emotional outburst of an angry person desperate to get even, are what count.
How did Nigerians evaluate my public service? Unfortunately, we do not have scientific opinion polls on job approval ratings for individual public officers. But if the public opinions of individuals and organized groups (labour, employers, depositors, borrowers, stakeholders of the financial institutions, newspaper editorials, investors, etc) as expressed in thousands of newspaper/magazine clips during and after my tenure are anything to go by, then 82% of the public largely agree with the sentiments expressed by my two bosses. Your views belong to the other 18% which is okay, after all, no one is perfect. Five Nigerian newspapers and magazines simultaneously named us “man of the year” in one year— unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. I do not talk about hundreds of awards and recognitions by various segments of our society (during and even after service) for “excellent public service”. I was particularly touched by the historic award by the staff union of the Central Bank and the tears in the eyes of many as thousands of the staff gave me a standing ovation as I walked the aisle after my brief farewell speech.
Certainly, the international community (investors, bankers, scholars, donors, media, etc) took serious notice of the revolution in Nigeria’s monetary and financial system. I am recipient of five international awards as global and African central bank governor of the year, not to mention dozens of other recognitions (even after leaving office). The London Financial Times described us as “a great reformer”. Even as the global economic and financial crisis raged in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly appointed me to serve on the Commission of Experts to reform the international monetary and financial system. You don’t appoint someone who has ‘mismanaged’ his national financial system to reform the global system. For 8 years until 2012, I served on the chief economist advisory council (CEAC) of the World Bank, and together with two Nobel Prize winners in economics and other experts we met periodically and advised two presidents and two chief economists of the World Bank, and in 2011, I served on the External Advisory Group of the IMF. Again, these are not positions for ‘mis-managers’. Since I left office, I have been advising countries and central banks; and there is hardly any two months I don’t consult/advise on banking/financial and monetary policy. I have given these illustrations to make the point that for every one Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to rewrite history, there are thousands who disagree.
Now, to some skeletal facts of our stewardship! I will be brief as I have a whole book to tell my story. As chief economic adviser, I had advised that our banking system could not support the private sector-led economy envisioned under NEEDS. When I assumed office at CBN, I inherited 89 rickety, mostly family banks (all of which put together were not up to the size of number four bank in South Africa). Many were insolvent, with depositors’ money trapped, and 20 more about to collapse. To get a credit of $300 million probably required all the banks to syndicate it. For me, there was a national emergency. I drafted a 13-point reform agenda, discussed and agreed all the specifics with the President, and his VP; as well as my management team at the CBN, and we swung into action. President Obasanjo promised 100% support and actually delivered 1000%— which was decisive. I apologize to you Madam because I did not brief or inform you about it. We just wanted to keep it confidential given the sensitivity of the announcement. It is on record that you never supported it.
It was both a revolution and a war and most people thought it was “impossible”, but thank God we succeeded. For the first time in Nigeria’s history a policy of that magnitude was announced and deadline kept with precision. We were courageous to revoke the licenses of 14 banks, including those of my friends, in one day. The FT-Banker concluded that the scale, precision, and cost of the transformation were unprecedented in the world. Before then, Malaysia had the least cost of banking consolidation at 5% of Malaysian GDP. It did not cost Nigerian taxpayers one penny. Twenty-five new, stronger banks emerged but the powerful idea behind consolidation ignited something even more powerful—‘the race to the top’. Banks raised more capital, and even banks like First Bank, Zenith, GTB, etc that did not merge with others went on capital raising several times. The consequence was higher levels of capitalization and within two years, 14 Nigerian banks were in the top 1000 banks in the world and two in the top 300 (no Nigerian bank was in the top 1000 before I came). Even after I left office, still 9 banks were in the top 1000. Our vision was to have a Nigerian bank in the top 100 banks within 10 years. As I see the new Access bank; Zenith, GTB, Fidelity, Diamond, UBA, FBN, FCMB, Skye, Stanbic IBTC, Union, Ecobank, etc, I cannot but feel that we have taken giant steps forward.
Deposits and credit soared (from barely N1.2 trillion to over N7 trillion); new technologies (ATM and e-banking) boomed, and banks had 57,000 new jobs; mega businesses emerged (ask any major operator in the Nigerian economy their experience with banking and credit before and after Soludo —the Dangotes, Arik, MM2, oil and gas operators; etc); capital market boomed and dominated by the banking sector. It was a new dawn for Nigerian private sector. I have heard Dangote twice say that he would not be near as big as he is today without the banking consolidation. Many other stakeholders still say it today. FDI and portfolio inflows flooded into Nigeria. The world celebrated, and one single transformative idea has changed the face of the private sector and economy forever. Banks became Nigeria’s first transnational corporations with about 37 branches outside of Nigeria.
Nigeria survived the global crisis because of this, and it is the banking sector that has largely been powering the economic growth you claim (compare banks trillions of naira credit for investments in the productive sector with your government’s miserable expenditure on critical infrastructure and investment; much of your borrowing – bonds – is from the banks). Your privatization of power sector, several PPP projects on infrastructure, etc, are now possible because of the mega banks. Today, Nigerian banks syndicate multi-billion dollar loans— unthinkable before. Madam, if the consolidation was ‘mismanaged’, there would not have been any bank to start with in the aftermath of the global crisis— as President Yar’adua correctly pointed out. Even you, during a recent presentation at the Banquet Hall in Abuja advertised consolidation as a historic achievement. How can you recognize a ‘mis-managed’ project as an outstanding achievement? As we say in Igbo, you can’t cover the moon with your palms.
Let me be clear: the quantum size of the new banks following consolidation presented challenges of risk management and supervision. We deployed all we had and overworked the CBN staff. The carry-over of bad loans from the consolidated banks was quickly cleaned up. To the best of my knowledge, we instituted stringent regulatory and supervisory regime (consistent with best practices at the time). We even had resident examiners in the banks and required bank MDs to personally sign their reports to CBN. I recall that the former MD of GTB complained of “regulatory intrusiveness”. To our credit, non-performing loans (NPL) came down from 22% in 2003 and 2004 to 6% as at 2008. Anywhere in the world, a central bank that brought NPL from 22% to 6% over a four year period does not look like one with a loose supervisory regime. Name other developing countries that performed better, Madam. So, on point of fact, Madam lied. Yours was a reckless assertion without basis by a Finance Minister.
The banks in Nigeria were supervised by the CBN and NDIC, but other institutions— international firms which audited them, international rating agencies which also examined their books, capital market operators since most were listed companies — all had oversight. I put on record that there was never any information/report of infractions by any bank which was brought to my attention and which we did not act upon decisively during my tenure. I heard the comment that some of the bank MDs were my friends. Well, my response is that perhaps as CME you should kill all your friends operating in the economy or become their enemies. For the record, my successor audited all the banks and none of my so-called friends was indicted. It speaks volumes. Indeed, it is also a fact that the alleged personal criminal infractions (including lapses in corporate governance Madam alluded to) by some bank CEOs were found out, only AFTER they had been removed from office. My successor told me that the comprehensive audit of the banks did not reveal such infractions. Of course, you must be God or have a special tip-off from inside to get to such information while the MDs are in office. Unfortunately, all over the world, no financial system has succeeded in routing out all criminal behaviours by the operators. So, Madam, I challenge you to provide one shred of evidence that ‘there was no separation between regulators and regulated’ or be honourable enough to retract your reckless statement.
What happened? The unanticipated and unprecedented crisis of 2008/09 hit the world. More than 40 US and European banks either collapsed or were shaken badly (remember the Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Wachovia, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, even UBS, etc) and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent to bail them out. The contagion effects spread like a wild fire, destroying national stock markets and banks. The nascent (big) banks in Nigeria faced sudden multiple shocks— liquidity, exchange rate, oil price, capital market, etc. As oil prices collapsed, loans to oil and gas became non-performing overnight; loans to the capital market became non-performing overnight; etc. Our first priority was to save the entire banking system and the economy from systemic collapse. I assured Nigerians that no bank would be allowed to fail, and not many people know what it took to achieve it. Once we had navigated through the unexpected /unprecedented turbulence, we laid out a comprehensive plan to clean up the debris which we presented to stakeholders in Lagos (March 2009). I had pleaded with the Senate to pass the AMCON bill which we sent to them in 2004. But I had a comprehensive plan to finish the clean-up with or without AMCON by the end of 2009, including second round consolidation and a N500 billion fund (my book will detail all these). I left behind an 11-volume document of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) which has remained the policy roadmap for the CBN/financial sector since I left office.
I have two analogies for our experience. Ours was really like an airplane that was cruising and suddenly meets an unexpected and unprecedented turbulence. After the pilots and the crew succeed in navigating through the potential crash and probably land the airplane, people look in and start blaming the crew for the broken tea cups, chairs, and drinks that fell during the turbulence as evidence that the crew never kept the airplane clean or serviced it. My second analogy is that of a sudden earthquake in a region it was never expected and some houses collapsed. All of a sudden, the housing authority is to blame for not requiring earthquake-proof foundations for the houses. Well, my legal experts call it force majeure, an act of nature
To be fair, after every crisis, there are lessons (and my book will detail what, with benefit of that experience, we should have done differently). Risk management— which has always been there— now took a new centre stage all over the world following the crisis. But for anyone to suggest that CBN under me, for one minute, took its eyes off the ball is, to say the least, ludicrous. The US financial system literally crippled the world costing America hundreds of billions of dollars but no one has suggested that Alan Greenspan is no longer the great maestro!
AMCON is a big topic (which I will address at a later date) but her claims show either ignorance or mischief. She claims that N5.7 trillion of AMCON funds was used to rescue banks and the ‘bond issued’ as ‘cost to taxpayers’. Really? I will deal with the AMCON I envisaged and the AMCON under you later but let me state that even if 100% of the banks’ NPL was offloaded on AMCON, it would not be up to N5.7 trillion. Enough said for now. The fact is that the Federal Government has not put a penny in the AMCON fund: the banking system is financing itself, and together with the sinking fund by banks, AMCON surely can’t default (thanks to consolidation that the banks are now big enough to cough out such funds to solve the system’s problem). Did you intend to deceive the readers by refusing to tell them that much of the AMCON fund is ‘investment’ and not ‘expense’. Am sure you heard the IMF’s alarm about moral hazard? If you want, we can have a focused debate on AMCON.
Next, let me briefly respond to a few outlandish claims. She brags about ‘single-digit’ inflation rate ‘now’ and alleges that when I left office, inflation was above 13%. I just laughed at this one. In Nigeria’s history, no governor of the Central Bank has delivered 24 consecutive months of single digit inflation as I did until the advent of the unprecedented global crisis in 2008. It was not for nothing that the world cheered us as monetary policy czar, Madam! Perhaps you are also not aware that we broke a world record by having a depreciated real effective exchange rate during a time of export boom and this was at the heart of our reserve accumulation and the portfolio/FDI inflows. I resisted the IMF advice to deplete reserves for liquidity management, and Nigeria had enough self-insurance to survive the global crisis. The opposite has happened under you Madam, and the Nigerian economy is in trouble. Naira exchange rate appreciated under me from N133 to N117 before the global crisis; and reserves grew to all time high of $62 billion. For the first time since 1986, the official, interbank and parallel market exchange rates converged under me. You can’t match these records!
I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!
Next, Madam, I was really embarrassed for you to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’. Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? Come on, Madam!
Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another N12.6 trillion.
Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over N4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?). How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years? As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel, has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process? Be honest: do you really know (as coordinator and minister of finance) how many trillions of Naira, self- financing government agencies earn and spend? I have a long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security. My estimate, Madam, is that probably more than N30 trillion has either been stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes in the past four years. Since you claim to be in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to account. Think about what this amount could mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians or for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay this or that tax, while some faceless “thieves” were pocketing over $40 million per day from oil alone.
You alluded to debt relief in your response and tried to take credit. Well, your CV is honest enough to admit that your two achievements in office as Finance minister under Obasanjo were that “you led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club” and that you “introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation in the newspapers”. You are right about the two achievements. Let me put on record that Nigeria would have secured debt relief under anyone as Minister of Finance. President Obasanjo secured debt relief for Nigeria. Much of his first term was used to get Nigeria back into the international community and to campaign for debt relief. Before you were sworn in as Minister of Finance, President Bush visited Nigeria and both of us accompanied President Obasanjo during the meeting. There, Mr. Bush promised to support Nigeria with debt relief and asked our president to ensure that he met the conditions of the Paris Club. Obasanjo mobilized the global political support and coordinated all of us to ensure that the government met the check-list of ‘conditionalities’ as required. I spent five weeks in the hotel with my team (as coordinator/chairman for drafting the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS).
Some of the reform targets in NEEDS became the ‘conditionalities’ Nigeria was required to fulfil to merit debt relief. You and I signed the various MoU with the IMF on behalf of Nigeria (the policy support instrument). We had a great team at work and each member of the economic team had specific aspects of the conditionalities to deliver: Bode Agusto was in-charge of the budget; Oby Ezekwesili held sway at Bureau of Public Procurement and later Minister of Solid Mineral, and Education (but specifically tasked with delivering on EITI and procurement reforms); Nuhu Ribadu was at the EFCC fighting corruption; I was at the Central Bank delivering on monetary policy and banking reforms; Steve Oronsaye worked hard to delist Nigeria from the FATF; Nenadi Usman was in-charge of the parastatals; El-Rufai held forth at FCT and in charge of public sector reforms; privatization programme went on, etc. Did you know that the IMF wrote President Obasanjo threatening that there would be no debt relief if the CBN did not meet some monetary targets, and do you know the magic we performed to meet them? Can you tell Nigerians which of the ‘conditionalities’ that you personally implemented? With the groundswell of political support and Nigeria meeting all the ‘conditionalities’, debt relief was assured.
Your major role as stated in your CV was to lead the team to negotiate the specific terms of the relief, having fulfilled the conditions. I still believe that Nigeria should have gotten far better terms than you negotiated. Of course, with your eyes on returning to the World Bank after office, I did not expect you to boldly stand up to the donor community in defence of Nigeria. Was there a conflict of interest on your part?
By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team—- barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important? Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked.
You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty. There are firebrand Nigerians all over the world to draft to service. It is certainly embarrassing to Nigeria for you to be bothering World Bank economists to help you with most basic economic analysis.
Your response on the poverty issue is deeply troubling. You accuse me of using “2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures?
What worries me is that this government is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys. I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘review methodology’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the published figures. No government in our history has tried it: even Sani Abacha allowed a poverty survey that put poverty at 67% under his regime. At this rate, who will believe statistics coming from the Nigerian government again? Is it now the World Bank that sits in Washington and allocates poverty numbers to Nigeria? Something smells here!
Madam alleges that the NBS—as a parastatal under the National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published in 2005/2006— more than a year after I had gone to the Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was a clever way to divert attention from your manipulation of published economic statistics. The NBS published its poverty data in 2006 when you were Minister of Finance, and you did not question the ‘methodology’ because the figures looked good. In 2011, the poverty numbers (using the same methodology as in 2005/2006) indicted the government and suddenly, the ‘methodology’ is wrong. Interesting times!
Now that you decide which economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones to ‘change the methodology’ to give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated figures to your international media circus for the vain glorious awards to sustain an empty hype, while Nigerians groan under hardship. We can actually ask Nigerians whether they are getting better off now contrary to your bogus figures.
Many of Madam’s responses were comical, but this one is classic. According to her, the chief economic adviser and NBS “worked hard to determine how many jobs we need to create in a year”, and went on to ask, “why didn’t Soludo do this when he was CEA?” (Lol!). Madam, any good economist needs less than 10 minutes to compute this figure, not the (months? of) ‘hard work’ by your team. My calculation is that the number of jobs Nigeria needs to create each year to significantly reduce unemployment rate to sustainable levels in the next few years is at least 3 million, and not the 1.8 million by your team. We are talking about the Nigerian economy, please.
Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers—for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank— financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc? People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank. I will offer you free consultancy on how to set up a development bank without a World Bank loan but we don’t need another one now. I actually gave President Yar’adua a two page note for a N3 trillion development fund then, and if we plug your leaking pipes, it could actually be a N10 trillion Fund. I envisioned and set up the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)—Africa’s premier infrastructure bank!
Frankly, I don’t understand why you seem highly troubled that the Soludo you thought had “disappeared from the political space” seems to be still around. Well, let me assure you that I will only ‘disappear’ in God’s own time. I gave credit to two past presidents who laid the foundation of the market economy we operate today. You did not contest or contradict any of my points. Rather, what you see is that Soludo must be ‘looking for a position’. Pity! If I am looking for a position, I would be running around one of the candidates now just as you are busy dancing Atilogwu dance at TAN and PDP rallies, struggling to keep your job. How Yar’adua drafted me to contest for governor in Anambra and APGA leadership as well and how I was “stopped” on both occasions are in the public domain. But I am not deterred for one minute. Chinua Achebe said that on leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. I am proud and happy to have offered to serve my people, and for the service of Nigeria, I will do it again and again. How many times did Abraham Lincoln, Obama, Reagan, etc contest before they got there? I actually encourage everyone who believes he/she has something to offer to get involved or stop complaining. I am happy seeing the increasing critical mass of professionals (like you) now getting involved. It is good for Nigeria!
What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria. Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the ECONOMY. We must offer Nigerians clarity on the choices before them. Can I propose a three-way debate with you (representing PDP/Federal Government), nominee of APC (Utomi or Fayemi? or any other), and myself (as independent citizen— I don’t belong to any of the two). Let us have two bouts of debate between now and 12thFebruary, 2015 focusing on: CBN/AMCON and the financial system (if you want); our economy and its outlook, and agenda/alternative paths to sustainable prosperity post elections. Choose the dates and times, and for the sake of Nigeria, I will fly in. You can invite any of your international media friends as moderators. I feel the pain of the 180 million Nigerians whose tomorrow you have carelessly rendered bleak, and when I think of what the missing trillions could do for them, it becomes extremely urgent that we all must deepen the debate. Eagerly waiting for your response, please!
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
As days go by and the campaign intensifies new suicidal fallacies keep springing up. Old ideologies are forgotten, new ones keep emerging and the core issues completely neglected, denied or simply forgotten. In my little world I have come to believe that it would be wrong for me or you to make this election a GEJ or Buhari issue. For me it goes beyond that.
This election is not just about Jonathan. It is about 16 years of PDP in power. It is about what have we benefited from the government of PDP? It is not about road repairs and reconstructions. It is about core issues. Issues that we have been hopeful democratic government will address. I am in the dark as to why my people would be head long into supporting a party that has turned blind eyes to our agitations.
In the North there are 41 developmental projects going there all initiatives of GEJ government. How many developmental projects of PDP going on in the south east? Is there any remarkable federal presence in the east that could be attributed to PDP? It is worrisome to me reading some of my people giving chronicle of road repairs, as evidence of good governance. How about security and fair distribution of federal projects?
There is too much talk about the antecedents of Buhari. The funny aspect is that those who propagate this have refused to see the fear factor in this but will go to any length to tag any response to their ideas as being informed by fear. If you ask me the issue is more than being afraid of anything but about being real. How can we continue to use the same excuse to defend and support those who never for once defended us?
Too much have been said about the massacre of 2011. It pains me to read how my people did not see it as a moral weakness on the part of the president not to have given us justice as a closure to that unfortunate incident. It behooves the commander in chief to defend his people. If the president is judged to be good because of road constructions, how about security?
In security the president has demonstrated that he is incapable of defending this country and its citizens. On the south eastern part, that the president and the party we gave our block votes failed to investigate the Ezu River bodies is a security failure. That the president has not been able to apprehend any suspect sponsors of Boko Haram in the North is a failure. That the same president turns a blind eye to the allegations that Niger delta men imported 7 state of the art warships into Nigeria is a security breach. that the same president sends his soldiers to the south east to kill on sight MASSOB members who does not carry arm is a betrayal of the people that trusted in him. If as an Igbo citizen you see these things and still want to convince me to vote for GEJ, you are being insensitive to my security. Is MASSOB a security threat to Nigeria? Of course not. How many of them languishing in jail in Nigeria today? Over 200 held without trial. This convinces me the more that we are not represented in the government of PDP. For me this is not just about GEJ, it is about the continuation of injustices against us by the federal government.
Today we are politically endangered species in Nigeria. Ndigbo is today a minority group in Nigeria. Oh yes I know you would blame it on the military. What has PDP done in 16 years to address the injustice? In national assembly we are minority. In the senate we are minority. In the state council we are minority. In the national security council we are absent. Yet we are stumbling on one another to vote PDP because Jonathan is Azikiwe?
Good roads, water, electricity supply are all a given that should be provided by any government in power. How come they have been translated into a favour from the PDP government? The epileptic electric supply has been brushed aside just to make GEJ look good.
Ndigbo I am asking you what happened to our demands? Why is no one bringing it up during this campaign? I really want to know. Who is benefiting from the collective injustices we suffer in Nigeria? Does it worth it hitting our heads together because of GEJ or PDP. I do not think it is wrong to try a new option when the old one has become obsolete. The worth hates us but which tribe in Nigeria loves ndigbo? Which tribe trusts us? It is high time we learn what others are doing to get to the top than playing the role of a subordinate subject. My understanding is that people use their cause to negotiate where their votes should be. Today what happened to our negotiations and promises from GEJ?
If up till now we are not aware that GEJ and PDP has destroyed our political structure and class then you are looking at the wrong direction. Where are our leaders of thought? They have all gone to limbo because they have been compromised. Not for once have I read any update itemizing our demands from PDP. Why is this? Primarily because we are out to get our own pound of flesh from this old religious bigot called Buhari. I laugh whenever I read things like this. Old age was used against Zik in 1983 by our men. Today we are using the same thing we condemned as a political weapon. is it not funny?
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The desperation of the People’s Democratic Party candidates Mr. Segun Adewale to clinch the senatorial seat of Lagos West took a dangerous dimension as he personally led policemen and thugs to attacked the Campaign office of Hon. Solomon Adeola, the APC senatorial candidate for Lagos West at No. 32 Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja at about 7.15pm.
Personally wielding a pump action rifle, APC party supporters who took to their heels heard Mr. Adewale shouting for Hon Adeola to come out as he released a volley of shots into the office. The gate was damaged as well as the rear windshield of Hon. Adeola Toyota Land cruiser Jeep parked inside the office premises. Equally bullet pellets damaged the exterior of the office room of Hon Adeola’s office.
The DPO of Ikeja has been informed and as I write is on his way to the office.
It will be recalled that Mr. Adewale has been going about with Police men and thugs shooting sporadically into air and generally intimidating innocent citizens.
The attack today is a brazen assassination attempts as both the vehicle and personal office of Hon Adeola was hit by bullets fired by PDP aspirant who came in his branded campaign vehicle to carry out the attack.
As at the time of the attack hon. Adeola was in his office attending to party supporters after a visit to Awori Obas earlier in the day.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
A political earthquake shook Rivers State on Saturday, prompting the ruling party in the State, the All Progressives Congress (APC), to declare the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dead in the State
With relative ease, the campaign train of APC governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside, and his running mate, Hon. Honourable Asita O. Asita, stormed the strongholds of the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Chief Nyesome Wike, and the PDP State Chairman, Hon. Felix Obuah.
At both Obio/Akpor and Omoku, it was more like a liberation campaign as unprecedented crowds turned out to enthusiastically receive Dr. Peterside and his team with dancing and rejoicing that the liberator has finally arrived the scene. Traditional rulers in both local government areas received the candidate with titles, reaffirming the endorsement of their ticket for the February 28 election.
The destruction, the previous night at Omoku, of APC campaign materials by alleged PDP hoodlums in their usual character in no way affected the success of the event. Praise and worship to the Almighty God were among the highlights of the two events as it has become the custom of Dakuku Peterside campaign to hand over his campaign to God at each stop. Various interest groups, including the non-indigenes, civil society, traditional and political stakeholders, were all united in their support for APC.
At Obio/Akpor, the local government area of Chief Nyesome Wike, two prominent traditional rulers, HRM Aniele Oriebe (Nyewe-Ali-Akpor) and HRM Eze Gift Johnson (Paramount Ruler of Apara Kingdom) received and blessed Dakuku Peterside in his aspiration for the emancipation of the State. Obio/Akpor was used to demonstrate to Wike that the adoption of Peterside by Ikwerre kings enjoys the support and approval of all the sons and daughters of the area. To demonstrate this, the people developed a song: “There will be no more Wike, no more, no more. No more, for many thousand years”. They danced, rejoiced and celebrated the total decimation of Wike’s political structure in the area.
Dr Lawrence Chukwu, the CTC Chairman of the local government area, spoke the minds of his people when he thanked Governor Chibuike Amaechi for his love and concern for the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area by establishing various capital-intensive projects in the area. Dr. Chukwu named these to include schools, hospitals and road infrastructure. He also thanked Amaechi “for giving us two important offices in the State – recommending our son, Chief Nyesome Wike, as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not minding that he is an ingrate that bites the finger that fed him; and appointing Chief Tony Okocha, an amiable son of the area, as the Chief of Staff to the Governor.” The LG boss apologised for the behavour of Chief Wike and assured the Governor that all the candidates of APC would be voted overwhelmingly in Obio/Akpor, the local government area that has the highest voting strength in the country.
An enthusiastic Chief Tony Okocha, the political leader of the area and APC candidate for the House of Representatives, summed up the event thus: “Obio/ Akpor is a conquered area for APC; even the enemies know as much. Today, we have proven to Chief Wike and few of his diehards that he is no longer relevant in the political equation of the area as we are today liberated from a man who only wants himself to be the sole leader of the area.”
Commenting on the rally, the APC State Chairman, Dr. Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Hon. Chinwo, one-time member of the Federal House of Representatives, and Chief Victor Giadom, the Director General of the APC Campaign Organisation in the State, all declared that PDP is now formally buried in Rivers State, never to resurrect again.
Speaking during the rallies, Dr. Peterside promised that his administration would free Rivers State from every form of insecurity, thuggery, nepotism and embark upon infrastructural revolution in the State. He showcased his blueprint for the emancipation and development of Rivers State titled ‘Road Map to Prosperity’. Dr. Peterside reassured all Rivers people including the non-indigenes, of the commitment of his administration once elected to continue the legacies of Governor Amaechi, “including empowering all Rivers State people, of which the non-indigenes are an integral part, through my Four-Point Agenda titled ‘Road Map to Prosperity’ for the people of Rivers State.”
The APC flag-bearer explained that the Four-Point Agenda aimed at taking Rivers State to the next level include Public Sector Accountability and Security of Lives and Properties; Employment Generation and Wealth Creation; Social and Human Capital Development and Empowerment; as well as Institutional and Physical infrastructure Development and Food Security
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The deputy chairman, Finance Committee of the Presidential Campaign Organization, Dr. Ngozi Olejeme on Sunday described the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as an epitome of sincerity
She also said that the only way the future of Nigerian youths could be guaranteed was for them to support President Jonathan and the ruling party.
Olejeme who spoke at a gathering of Yoruba and Hausa youths and students from across the country in Abuja, expressed satisfaction with Dr. Jonathan’s administration and said Nigerians want him to continue his good works.
“President Jonathan’s strategic development moves in office show that if given another term, he would transform the country beyond imagination”.
Emphasizing that President Jonathan is going to the February 14 Presidential Election with enough confidence that his achievements will pave way for his return to Aso Rock for a second term of four years, Olejeme said Nigerians would show appreciation for the way he administered the country in the last four years by voting massively for him.
She praised the president for his leadership style.
“President Jonathan has been tested. He has rich antecedents. He has political pedigree. He has shown admirable doggedness and commitment against all odds. He has introduced new vista in the history of governance in Nigeria” she said.
On the expectations of Nigerians at home and abroad, Olejeme said President Jonathan would ensure rapid economic growth and development.
“He will continue to create jobs, alleviate poverty, fight corruption and uphold the virtues of human rights. He will ensure self-reliance in food production. He will continue to expand our export potential to diversify our sources of foreign exchange. He will improve manpower development and our health care delivery system. He will guarantee equal opportunities and rekindle in the citizenry a faith in their fatherland. He will continue to promote national unity. He will continue to pursue appropriate policies.
“He will give housing boost; devote attention to the welfare of senior citizens, expand female horizon by complying with the Beijing Manifesto. He will give consideration to the national spread of development projects” she said.
She also urged all members of the PDP to join hands with the president and ensure his victory at the general polls slated for February 14, 2015.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
It has become disturbingly clear in the last couple of weeks that there are Ghanaians back home who would not hesitate to offer themselves, and even their very families and relatives, as slaves to Nigerians if they deemed the price to be right. One such reprobate Ghanaian is Dr. Kobby Mensah, the lecturer at the University of Ghana's Business School.
In the wake of the all-too-righteous pulling down of garish hoardings, or billboards, promoting some specific presidential candidates in the upcoming Nigerian general election, Dr. Mensah was reported to have advised the leaders of the Advertisers Association of Ghana (AAG) to take the Mayor of Accra and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to court (See "Nigerian Billboards: Advertisers Should Sue AMA – Lecturer" Public Agenda 2/1/15).
Maybe someone ought to inform the likes of Dr. Mensah that the territorial integrity of Ghana precludes our country from being used as a theatrical adjunct or an electioneering campaign outpost of Nigeria. Indeed, it comes as a great shock for me to learn that otherwise highly educated Ghanaians like Dr. Mensah should be making such inexcusably lame argument as there not existing any law in Ghana prohibiting resident Nigerian nationals from mounting billboards that seek to promote partisan Nigerian politics in Ghana.
Needless to say, were these billboards mounted exclusively in predominantly Nigerian-resident communities, a legitimate case could be made for their public display. On the other hand, if these billboards were mounted in neutral public and non-residential spaces such that they assaulted the sensibilities of disinterested Ghanaians, as well as the sensibilities of other law-abiding resident non-Ghanaians with absolutely no interest in partisan Nigerian politics, whatsoever, then, clearly, these billboards were in gross violation of our nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
If there are Nigerian residents in Ghana who own private radio and television stations, as well as Internet media websites specifically targeted towards the patronage of these communities then, unquestionably, these were the most appropriate forums/fora for such niche political advertising. In other words, the arguments bordering on such foreign political advertising ought not to have centered around the question of whether the Boko Haram terrorist organization was not being unwisely invited to cause mayhem in Ghana, for I am quite certain that these militant Islamist radicals know far better than to make any lunatic attempt to open a wider front than they could handle in Ghana, in both the short and long term.
Then also, the ROPAL argument does not hold water here; and it is not clear why Dr. Mensah chose to rope it into this argument on our sovereignty and territorial integrity. The fact of the matter is that Ghanaians resident here in the United States, who singularly spearheaded the passage of the Representation of the People's Amendment Law, did not go about indiscriminately mounting billboards even at New York City's Tracey Towers, for instance, merely because we wanted our presence and peculiar political proclivities and aspirations felt by our non-Ghanaian American neighbors.
Of course, the Nigerian High Commission to Ghana could have allowed its landed and other real-estate properties to be used in promoting that country's upcoming elections, if that country's High Commissioner /Ambassador felt so strongly about the imperative need to promote partisan Nigerian politics among his fellow nationals resident in Ghana. Likewise, any Nigerian resident in Ghana who felt strongly about the exercise of his/her franchise in the break-neck contest between President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and former junta dictator Gen. Mahamadu Buhari, could have hopped onto the next KIA flight to Abuja or Lagos to fulfill such inalienable wish.
To say the least, it is insufferably nauseating to hear any Nigerian diplomat or High Commissioner presume to lecture Ghanaians on what our laws permit or do not permit vis-a-vis foreign political advertising in the country.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
In a move that is certain to raise eyebrows all over the world, the African Union elected the 90- year-old Mugabe to occupy the rotating chairmanship of the African Union on Friday.
Zimbabwe’s relationship with several Western nations is troubled, with the country coming under severe sanctions as a result of Mugabe’s controversial and divisive leadership. It will be interesting to see how the African Union navigates its relationship with the West under Mugabe’s bold leadership style.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980 assumed the largely ceremonial chairmanship at the ongoing AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
In a bid to be sure of what becomes the fate of his party and President Goodluck Jonathan as the nation looks forward to the general elections, Dr. Leonard Olalekan Shogunle, decided to embark on spiritual journey to Pakistan, Indian and China to consult the oracle.
Having had words with the oracle in the foreign land, Shogunle, a retired Captain in the Nigerian Army and a chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos shared his experience with Saturday Independent in an exclusive interview, saying that the oracle pronounced victory for President Goodluck Jonathan in 28 of the 36 states in the country.
Asked what informed his decision to embark on the journey, when there are countless oracles in the country, he said: “Don’t assume I was kidding with my submission. I am a real Lagosian born in the Mainland during the Lagos Colony. I am 69 years old. My great grandfathers, though, migrated from Abeokuta in Ogun State to settle in Lagos, we own Abule Onigbagbo in Maryland.
“I am from Lagos Mainland so I am a real Lagosian. If I asked a spiritualist to do that for me in the country, some people would have doubts and rubbish the fellow.
“This year’s general election is no joke. Nigerians must be guided in the right direction.
“Last month, I went to Pakistan, Indian and up to the extreme end of China in Yung where I consulted celestial board of oracles from the orbit. I wanted revelation concerning the political situation in Nigeria. I was told nothing would stop the victory of Jonathan in 28 states including Lagos State.
“I was told that although there would be some uproar in some states after Jonathan is announced as winner, that would eventually die down with time. The oracle said General Mohammadu Buhari of All Progressives Congress (APC) was no match for him.
“As a person, I believe in the prophecy because even in the Bible, oracle was consulted when Jonah was swallowed by a shark. I was told that apart from winning the 28 states, the President would record over 70 per cent of the total votes cast in 11 other states.
He said : “Yes, the chief priests in those countries spoke to me. They were not black people like us. Their languages were interpreted to me. There were signs they gave me that the victory of Jonathan was certain. I did the same thing before the 1999 election and the oracle predicted that somebody from the prison would win the presidential election and I gave my support to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The recent rape of a 21 year-old man in Diepsloot, South Africa is shining a light on just how common the problem of male rape is becoming
Police in Diepsloot, South Africa are on the hunt for a group of three women who allegedly raped a 21 year-old man on Sunday night.
According to Diepsloot police spokesman, the suspects lured the victim by pretending to ask for directions after which he was raped at gunpoint.
Cases of male rape in the country are becoming more common than most people would think.
“People don’t see a man being raped as a serious problem, even though it causes immense damage,” said Martin Pelders who is the founder and spokesperson of male survivor group, Matrix Men.
“Due to social pressures and the myths which surround sexually abused men, men are reluctant and embarrassed to seek help,” added Pelders.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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