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Thursday, 8 March 2018
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
The Ignoramus Rotimi Amaechi with Facts to Prove it – Reno Omokri
It is quite possible that Rotimi
Amaechi is losing his marbles otherwise why else would he be asking former
President Jonathan to account for the $65 billion that former Olusegun Obasanjo
left in the Excess Crude Account when there was never any such amount?
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and
the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria who served under his tenure,
Professor Charles Soludo are both alive and journalists can take advantage of
the Freedom of Information Act signed into Law by former Jonathan to verify
from them if there was ever any $65 billion in the Excess Crude Account.
Rotimi Amaechi is a notorious ignoramus
who speaks without thinking and it is suspected that either he is speaking
under the influence of drugs or he is going senile.
The reason I say so is because Rotimi
Amaechi as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum is precisely the reason why
the Excess Crude Account had to be phased out and below are the facts:
The Jonathan administration met $6.5
billion in the Excess Crude Account upon inception in 2010 and not $65 Billion
as wrongly asserted by Rotimi Amaechi. In fact, the Jonathan Government ought
to be praised for increasing the amount in the ECA to almost $9 billion by
2012.
However, the Nigerian Governors
Forum led by no other person than Rotimi Amaechi, using their influence at the
House of Representatives, had gotten that August body to declare the Excess
Crude Account illegal in 2012.
So excruciating was the pressure from
the Nigerian Governors Forum and most notably from the then Rivers state
Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, (now the minister of transport) for the Jonathan
administration to end the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund
regimes and instead share the funds in those accounts amongst the three tiers
of government that they approached the Supreme Court, to challenge the legality
of the Excess Crude Account and then President Jonathan’s decision to transfer
$1 billion from that account to the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
In fact after hosting a meeting of the
forum on September 21, 2012, at the Rivers state Governor's lodge, Rotimi
Amaechi said inter alia:
“On the Excess Crude Account, Forum
unanimously decided to head back to Court to enforce the Federal Government’s
adherence to the constitution."
To those who do not know what the
Constitution says, let me give you an insight by quoting from Section 162.
Section 162, provides that
“(1) The Federation shall maintain a
special account to be called ‘the Federation Account’ into which shall be paid
all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation, except the proceeds
from the personal income tax of the personnel of the Armed Forces of the
Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry or department of government
charged with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and the residents of the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“(2) The President, upon the receipt of
advice from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, shall
table before the National Assembly proposals for revenue allocation from the
Federation Account, and in determining the formula, the National Assembly shall
take into account, the allocation principles especially those of population,
equality of States, internal revenue generation, land mass, terrain as well as
population density;
“(3) Any amount standing to the credit
of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State
Governments and the Local Government Councils in each State on such terms and
in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.”
From the above it was clear what the
Amaechi led Governor's forum wanted.
Mr. Amaechi led the governors in taking
the Federal Government to court. The Jonathan administration offered an out of
court settlement with the governors in a deal that would have seen the federal
government sharing some of the money and saving up the rest for Nigeria’s
future but the governors rejected the offer.
In fact, the Jonathan Administration
had argued at the Supreme Court that sharing the money in the ECA would affect
"the day to day running of the nation’s economy".
Working in tandem with Mr. Amaechi and
his supporters in the Nigerian Governors Forum, the then minority APC members
of the House of Representatives approached a Federal High Court on the 7th of
February, 2014, for a perpetual injunction restraining the Jonathan administration
from operating the ECA and to pay all the proceeds of that account into the
Federation Account for sharing amongst the three tiers of government.
As a result of these actions, the
Jonathan administration paid the 36 states of the federation a total of N2.92
trillion from the Excess Crude Account between 2011 and 2014. Using the value
of the Naira at that time that amount was just above $20 billion dollars.
So it is quite clear that anyone who
accuses the Jonathan administration squandering $65 Billion ECA funds is
speaking in ignorance.
What I would advise Rotimi Amaechi to
do is to take his own advise from last week when he said “I agree with those
who said we should stop criticising the last government and that we should do
our own”
It is very wrong for Rotimi Amaechi to
keep blaming the Jonathan administration while at the same time enjoying the
fruits of its labour like the Abuja-Kaduna railway and the national railway
that was revived by the Jonathan government after years of being moribund. If
they are drinking from Jonathan’s well, let them appreciate the man who dug the
well.
Monday, 18 September 2017
Saturday, 9 September 2017
Femi Adesina: What has happened to us as a people?
Hearing some Nigerians speak (whether based at home or in
the Diaspora) you discern that they are "in the gall of bitterness and in
the bondage of iniquity." They spew out things that give them away as
"whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men's bones."
What happened to grace? Where did decency disappear to? Are words not to be seasoned with salt again? What has happened to us as a people? The more rotten, the better, it seems. The fouler and odoriferous the cesspit, the more attractive, followed by applause. That seems to be the philosophy of some people today, and it doesn't matter who they are. High or low. But we cannot continue that way, if we want to be acceptable to God, and to our fellow human beings. National development does not come by a sudden flight. You work at it.
The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.
In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.
However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don't think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition.
On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that we had exited from economic recession. It was cheery news for majority of Nigerians, save for those in the gall of bitterness. They spat in the sky, and collected the spittle with their faces. Who gave Nigeria the permission to exit recession? Who gave her the audacity of hope? How can the economy attempt to rebound, when it should sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay? They were in the doldrums, unhappy because good news came for the country. In their befuddled minds, Nigeria must never see a silver lining in the sky. The ravening clouds must ever remain victorious, must forever possess the sky, simply because of primordial reasons. The party in power is not my own, so why should Nigeria make progress under it? The President in office was not the one I voted for, so why should he succeed? He does not speak my language, he is not of my religion or ethnic stock, so why must Nigeria prosper under him? They, therefore, throw all sorts of tantrums, like a child whose lollipop is taken away, and attempt to rubbish the news on exit from recession. And those same people would canvass for a restructuring of the polity. Big mistake. Wrong priority. They need to have their minds restructured first, so that they have goodwill towards their own country, and towards all men. Left to them, they wish that when NBS releases results for the next quarter, Nigeria should have gone back into recession. Filthy dreamers! Awful imaginations! They need a restructuring of their minds, and quickly, too.
Some people spend their lifetime expecting thunderstorms and hurricanes, so they never enjoy showers of blessing. Their addled minds expect negative news, so they never enjoy good tidings. They are the type that swallow poison, and then begin to hope that it will kill the person next door. Restructuring, restructuring, that is what such minds need.
Chase after him. If you catch up with him, kill him. If he outruns you, poison his footsteps. That is the chant in most parts of the country today. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hate has become their natural language. When they speak hateful words, they speak their native language, their mother tongue. Don't mind the elevated offices they occupy now, or which they have occupied in the past. They are in the throes, in the paroxysms of bitterness. Only a restructuring of the mind can save them. My dear senior friend, Ikemba Obosima, from Imo State, has good counsel for them, in a text message he sent to one of them recently, which he copied me:"Pain will follow him who speaks or acts with evil thoughts, as does the wheel of the foot of him who draws the cart. He is greater man who conquers self than he who kills a thousand men in war...Love will purify the heart of him who is beloved as truly as it purifies the heart of he who loves." But will they listen? If they have not danced too far, and have not become like the dog fated to get lost, which refuses to hear the whistle of the hunter. Let them return home, to sanity.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced our descent into recession. They embraced the news, almost with sickening glee. Now, the same agency has announced exit, and they begin to question its impartiality. What kind of people are they? They want to hear only bad news? May their minds be restructured, lest bad news dog their footsteps. Malediction? Am I cursing anybody? Not at all. Just a warning, and a call to new attitude, new thoughts, new conduct. The things we expect have a way of coming upon us. Ask the biblical Job. "What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me."(Job 3:25).
One of the characteristics of a hateful mind is that it conjures a lot of mischief, and purveys same as truth. And the gullible laps it up. During the health challenge of our dear President, a thing common to any mortal, big or small, of high or low estate, they filled the land with evil tidings. Oh, he is on life support machine. No, he is dead and long buried. He will never return to that office, I swear. And then, God did what He knows how to do best. He showed the Deus ex machina, His Invisible Hands. Now, the reputation of those people is hanging on life support. If only men would restructure their minds!
President Buhari says exit from recession is cheery news, but until the life of the average Nigerian is positively touched by the economy, he doesn't consider the job done. Very good. Even the NBS, which brought the good news, says the economy is still fragile, and the good work must continue, so that we don't slide back. That is exactly what this government would do. That is the motive behind the ERGP (Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan). So, let nobody be filled with diabolic thoughts. Government does not feel it is there yet. Action stations! All hands on deck.
A final word for haters, wailers, purveyors of fake news, or whatever you choose to call them. Evil minds wax worse and worse. A hater would envy others unnecessarily. He would conjure evil thoughts that would poison his system. He would manifest all sorts of negative tendencies that turn him into a proper child of the Devil. And at the end of it all, his master welcomes him home with open arms. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." (Dante's Inferno). And there will be plenty weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
What happened to grace? Where did decency disappear to? Are words not to be seasoned with salt again? What has happened to us as a people? The more rotten, the better, it seems. The fouler and odoriferous the cesspit, the more attractive, followed by applause. That seems to be the philosophy of some people today, and it doesn't matter who they are. High or low. But we cannot continue that way, if we want to be acceptable to God, and to our fellow human beings. National development does not come by a sudden flight. You work at it.
The sing-song in the country today is restructuring of the polity. We want more states. We want a return to regional structure. We want a revision of the revenue allocation formula. We want six vice presidents, one from each geo-political zone. We want those zones to be the federating units, rather than the states. And so on, and so forth.
In fact, so loud is the cacophony of voices over restructuring that if you ask 100 people what they mean, they give you 100 different explanations. But as a country, I believe we will get there someday. And soon.
However, is political restructuring the most urgent thing Nigeria needs now? I don't think so. For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God. But what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition.
On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that we had exited from economic recession. It was cheery news for majority of Nigerians, save for those in the gall of bitterness. They spat in the sky, and collected the spittle with their faces. Who gave Nigeria the permission to exit recession? Who gave her the audacity of hope? How can the economy attempt to rebound, when it should sink deeper and deeper into the miry clay? They were in the doldrums, unhappy because good news came for the country. In their befuddled minds, Nigeria must never see a silver lining in the sky. The ravening clouds must ever remain victorious, must forever possess the sky, simply because of primordial reasons. The party in power is not my own, so why should Nigeria make progress under it? The President in office was not the one I voted for, so why should he succeed? He does not speak my language, he is not of my religion or ethnic stock, so why must Nigeria prosper under him? They, therefore, throw all sorts of tantrums, like a child whose lollipop is taken away, and attempt to rubbish the news on exit from recession. And those same people would canvass for a restructuring of the polity. Big mistake. Wrong priority. They need to have their minds restructured first, so that they have goodwill towards their own country, and towards all men. Left to them, they wish that when NBS releases results for the next quarter, Nigeria should have gone back into recession. Filthy dreamers! Awful imaginations! They need a restructuring of their minds, and quickly, too.
Some people spend their lifetime expecting thunderstorms and hurricanes, so they never enjoy showers of blessing. Their addled minds expect negative news, so they never enjoy good tidings. They are the type that swallow poison, and then begin to hope that it will kill the person next door. Restructuring, restructuring, that is what such minds need.
Chase after him. If you catch up with him, kill him. If he outruns you, poison his footsteps. That is the chant in most parts of the country today. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hate has become their natural language. When they speak hateful words, they speak their native language, their mother tongue. Don't mind the elevated offices they occupy now, or which they have occupied in the past. They are in the throes, in the paroxysms of bitterness. Only a restructuring of the mind can save them. My dear senior friend, Ikemba Obosima, from Imo State, has good counsel for them, in a text message he sent to one of them recently, which he copied me:"Pain will follow him who speaks or acts with evil thoughts, as does the wheel of the foot of him who draws the cart. He is greater man who conquers self than he who kills a thousand men in war...Love will purify the heart of him who is beloved as truly as it purifies the heart of he who loves." But will they listen? If they have not danced too far, and have not become like the dog fated to get lost, which refuses to hear the whistle of the hunter. Let them return home, to sanity.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced our descent into recession. They embraced the news, almost with sickening glee. Now, the same agency has announced exit, and they begin to question its impartiality. What kind of people are they? They want to hear only bad news? May their minds be restructured, lest bad news dog their footsteps. Malediction? Am I cursing anybody? Not at all. Just a warning, and a call to new attitude, new thoughts, new conduct. The things we expect have a way of coming upon us. Ask the biblical Job. "What I feared has come upon me. What I dreaded has happened to me."(Job 3:25).
One of the characteristics of a hateful mind is that it conjures a lot of mischief, and purveys same as truth. And the gullible laps it up. During the health challenge of our dear President, a thing common to any mortal, big or small, of high or low estate, they filled the land with evil tidings. Oh, he is on life support machine. No, he is dead and long buried. He will never return to that office, I swear. And then, God did what He knows how to do best. He showed the Deus ex machina, His Invisible Hands. Now, the reputation of those people is hanging on life support. If only men would restructure their minds!
President Buhari says exit from recession is cheery news, but until the life of the average Nigerian is positively touched by the economy, he doesn't consider the job done. Very good. Even the NBS, which brought the good news, says the economy is still fragile, and the good work must continue, so that we don't slide back. That is exactly what this government would do. That is the motive behind the ERGP (Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan). So, let nobody be filled with diabolic thoughts. Government does not feel it is there yet. Action stations! All hands on deck.
A final word for haters, wailers, purveyors of fake news, or whatever you choose to call them. Evil minds wax worse and worse. A hater would envy others unnecessarily. He would conjure evil thoughts that would poison his system. He would manifest all sorts of negative tendencies that turn him into a proper child of the Devil. And at the end of it all, his master welcomes him home with open arms. "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." (Dante's Inferno). And there will be plenty weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
Femi Adesina
is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
Saturday, 2 September 2017
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