…declares an endowment fund for five kids of 157 battalion By Dirisu Yakubu

..Denies saying ‘stealing isn’t corruption’ …says his statement twisted out of context by critics for political reasons

Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor Former President Goodluck Jonathan as formally responded to the infamous claim that he tended to downplay raging corruption in his administration by boldly claiming that ‘stealing is not corruption’. Jonathan But in dispelling the claim, Jonathan claimed that corruption was more prevalent under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration than under him and dismissed the current anti-corruption fight as mere media show. The former president boasted: “It is important to note that despite the many sensational stories, dramatic arrests, seizures and accusations, many of them false, since I left office, the fact remains that Nigeria has not made any improvement on TI Corruption Perception Index since 2014. “In fact, the 2017 CPI released in 2018 by TI places Nigeria as number 148, a retrogression in which the nation went 12 place backward. In other words, Nigeria is more corrupt in 2017 than it was when I handed over to Buhari administration in 2015. “Some people may be misled with smoke and mirrors but the TI Corruption Perception Index relies on unsentimental facts and figures,” he submitted in this book, which seeks to set the records of his administration straight and debunk false narratives by commentators against his tenure. Scores his administration high on corruption fight and thump up by TI The former president paid glowing tributes to the policies and measures his administration conceived and implemented to check corruption and financial leakages and raised government revenue during his time. He pointed to the introduction of the Electronic Wallet Initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, which effectively checkmated fertiliser scam and save the country up to $192 million in the first year of its application in 2012. He also praised his administration for the development and implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, which enabled the government to flush out 50,000 ghost federal workers and saved the country N15 billion monthly. Jonathan claimed that it was through the effective implementation of the anti-corruption measures by his administration that in 2014 that brought positive results to Nigeria and made it to receive the best ever ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, which ranked Nigeria 136th out of the 144 countries ranked. “This was an improvement from the nation’s previous position of 144th in 2013, 139th in 2012 and 143rd in 2011,” Jonathan noted. Jonathan clarified that he never said that stealing is not corruption, adding that what he actually said and meant was twisted out of context by his enemies just to score political mileage and bring down his administration. Jonathan said, “They claim that I once said that ‘stealing is not corruption’. This is not true. Following the constant stigmatisation of Nigeria as corrupt, I invited the leadership of the legislature and the judiciary to a meeting. “In attendance were the Senate President and his deputy, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and his deputy, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President of the Court of Appeal, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, and six states’ Chief Judges from the six geopolitical zones. Also invited were heads of the two anti-corruption agencies, viz the chairman of the EFCC and the ICPC and I presided over the meeting. “My thinking was that the head of the executive arm of government alone could not effectively eradicate the scourge of corruption, hence the need for that meeting. I personally appealed to them and argued that an all-inclusive approach could bring about tangible successes in the anti-corruption fight. “The judiciary, the legislature and the executive arms of government needed to join forces if we were to end the theft of public resources and stop corruption,” the former president explained. Jonathan said it was on the strength of his presentation that the former CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdaphar, acknowledged that he was of the same opinion. According to Jonathan, the CJN told him that he had also discovered after going through case files in the Supreme Court nearly all cases, which should have been properly labelled as ‘crimes of stealing’ and the individuals involved charged as such, were simply tagged by the prosecutors as ‘corruption’. Jonathan said, “It was on the strength of the CJN’s submission that I expounded to say that we should stop calling a spade an agricultural implement. Corruption does not fully capture the act of stealing. A person can indeed be corrupt without stealing a dime. “Those who are incapable of comprehending this elevated thought and the mischievous crowd, go about till date, that I said ‘stealing is not corruption’. They never bothered to even check the context in which I spoke. If you ask many of those clinging to that falsehood and mouthing the malicious misrepresentation, to quote where I said it, they will tell you ‘they only heard’. “Let me say categorically that I have never said that stealing is good and that people should steal; neither did the CJN. Stealing is stealing ad instead of calling it corruption, let us call the thief by his proper name and not use a blanket word like corruption. He argues: “Corruption encompasses many things.” Quoting Transparency International, Jonathan said: “Corruption is defined as the ‘abuse of entrusted power for private gain. “We must not lump everything together and say stealing is corruption. We must isolate stealing and make it as plain as day because Nigerians hate thieves. I abhor jungle justice, but we have witnessed Nigerians show their hatred for suspected thieves by burning them alive. 

The United States Embassy in Nigeria has announced that its offices in Abuja and Lagos would be closed on Thursday, November 22, 2018. The US Embassy stated that the closure would be in observance of Thanksgiving.

The embassy announced the closure in a post through its official Twitter handle, @USEmbassyAbuja

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, said if elected, 70 per cent of his appointments would go to youths and women.

Abubakar said 40 percent of appointments would go to youths, while 30 percent would go to women.

“The remaining 30 percent will be managed by the elderly,” he said.

While pleading with the youths to vote for PDP for better life, the former vice president noted that their votes were vital for his victory as they constituted 70 per cent of the nation’s voting population.

“This election is for you; youths and women as you made up 70 per cent of Nigerian population of voting age.

“On Election Day, go and vote, protect your votes and ensure your votes count,” he said.

The three-pronged focus of the current administration resonated through the conversation, as President Muhammadu Buhari held a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister, Theresa May, on Monday at 10, Downing Street, London.

“We campaigned on three major issues, to secure the country, revive the economy and fight corruption,” said the president. “We have elections next year, politicians are already preoccupied with the polls, but I am bothered more about security and the economy.”

Recalling that Nigeria and Britain have a long history of cooperation on several fronts, President Buhari stated: “People ought to know how they arrived where they are, if they would move forward. It was a mistake for us to have stopped the teaching of history as a subject in schools, but we are returning it to the curriculum now.”

He commended British companies like Unilever, Cadbury, and many others, “who have stood with Nigeria through thick and thin. Even when we fought a Civil War, they never left.”

“But like Oliver Twist, we ask for more investments. We are encouraging more British companies to come to Nigeria. We appreciate the support you have given in training and equipping our military, particularly in the war against insurgency, but we want to also continue to work with you on trade and investment.”

President Buhari briefed Prime Minister May on the strides in agriculture, which he said has put Nigeria firmly on the road to food self-sufficiency.

“I am very pleased with the successes in agriculture,” he said, adding: “We have cut rice importation by about 90%, made lots of savings of foreign exchange, and generated employment. People had rushed to the cities to get oil money, at the expense of farming. But luckily, they are now going back to the farms. Even professionals are going back to the land. We are making steady progress on the road to food security.”

On education, President Buhari said more investment was being made, because “people can look after themselves if well educated. In this age of technology, education is very important. We need well-staffed and well-equipped institutions to move into the next generation.”

Climate change and environmental issues also came up for discussion, and President Buhari brought up the necessity of inter-basin water transfer from Congo Basin to Lake Chad.

According to him: “The Lake Chad is now about 10% of its original size, and it is perhaps one of the reasons our youths dare both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean, to get to Europe. But if there is inter-basin water transfer, about 40 million people in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, and other countries stand to benefit. I made the case during the Climate Change Summit in France. If Lake Chad is recharged, it will reduce the number of youths coming to Europe to increase social problems. We brought back about 4,000 people from Libya recently. Almost all of them were below 30, and Libya was not their final destination. They were headed to Europe.”

Prime Minister May, in her remarks, said Britain would continue to work with Nigeria in the areas of training and equipping the military.

She was particular about abduction of young schoolgirls by Boko Haram, noting that Britain would continue to give Nigeria needed assistance.

She said the Buhari administration has “been making good progress on the economy,” and urged it to maintain the focus, despite approaching elections, and increase in political activities.

On education and climate change, she declared: “Good grounding in education is good. It is important to equip young people for today’s world. It is also a good bastion and defence against modern slavery. The issue of the environment and climate change is very important, because of its impact on many countries in the Commonwealth. Stability at home is important, to curb illegal migration.”

Ms May, who commended Mr Buhari for the much he has been doing on improving trade and business for Nigeria, noted that it was also time to boost intra-Commonwealth trade.

Credit: Premium Times.

The FCT Police Command said 115 members of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) were taken into custody following Monday’s protests in Abuja.

The Shiites took to the streets in Abuja on Monday morning to demand release of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, whom the Nigerian government has kept in custody for over two years, without trial and despite court orders for his release.

A social media footage showed protesters hurling stones at police water cannon vehicles near Unity Park and Transcorp Hilton Hotel. The police had on Friday banned any demonstration at the park, an order that has been condemned by rights activists as autocratic and illegal.

Leaders of IMN said over 200 of their members were arrested during the protest, but the police gave a lesser figure in their account of the incident.

“One hundred and fifteen (115) members of the sect were arrested at the scene by police operatives,” Abuja police spokesperson, Anjuguri Manzah, said in a Monday night statement to PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Manzah, a deputy superintendent of police, said 22 officers were injured. He also debunked reports that some protesters were killed.

The police also said they recovered catapults, iron bars, stones, ball bearings and pink head bands from suspects.

“Contrary to speculations from some sections of the media, no life was lost in the violent protest,” Mr Manzah said, adding that the police have commenced investigation.

“Joint team of detectives from the command” and “operatives from the IGP Monitoring Unit have commenced investigation into the incident,” he said. “The arrested suspects will be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigation.”

Source: Premium Times.