Ife Bombing, PDP And Boko Haram

arting Boko Haram thaThe PDP has set the stage for its tactics ahead of the elections in 2015 and its simple- bomb parts of Nigeria and indeed Nigerians and place the blame on the door of the opposition APC. Men like Femi Fani-Kayode are being used to attack them in the press and various online media as sponsors of terror. Isn’t it queer that days after Fani-Kayode accused the APC without proof of having a militant terror wing and an evil character in Musiliu Obanikoro accusing Bola Tinubu and his friends as stt suddenly Ile-Ife was bombed?

We are living in desperate times now and it’s becoming clear as the days go by that the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan’s burning ambition to be re-elected would come at all cost even with the blood of Nigerians. The recent bomb explosion in Ife, Osun state has all but exposed the hands of the PDP and shown that Boko Haram is of three types- There is the religious Boko Haram led by Abubakar Shekau which all know, there is the criminal minded ones and there is the political Boko Haram which in the run-up to the 2015 elections everyone would find out is the militant wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In my article some months back on Boko Haram I mentioned the three forms of the terrorist group including the political one. I gave the example of Kano during the 2012 fuel subsidy protest and reminded Nigerians of the church worshippers who were killed according to eyewitness account with semi-automatic rifles, the type issued to government secret service agents, that together with other incidences including the Boko Haram suspects that were arrested in an abandoned Bayelsa state government building in Ijora-Lagos state, plus the bombing in Ife penultimate Tuesday shows for a fact Boko Haram has a political arm used by faces in this present government to terrorise Nigerians (see my article titled Musings on Boko Haram and its Sponsors as published on this medium: http://saharareporters.com/article/musings-boko-haram-and-their-sponsors-its-time-stop-them-or-they-stop-nigeria-ola%E2%80%99-idowu).
The PDP has set the stage for its tactics ahead of the elections in 2015 and its simple- bomb parts of Nigeria and indeed Nigerians and place the blame on the door of the opposition APC. Men like Femi Fani-Kayode are being used to attack them in the press and various online media as sponsors of terror. Isn’t it queer that days after Fani-Kayode accused the APC without proof of having a militant terror wing and an evil character in Musiliu Obanikoro accusing Bola Tinubu and his friends as starting Boko Haram that suddenly Ile-Ife was bombed? Coincidentally, the crown witness in Fani-Kayode’s EFCC corruption case was nowhere to be found when the trial resumed last week, an obvious step towards throwing out the case by the judge for lack of diligent prosecution as scripted by the Presidency and the PDP in exchange for his recruited job of blackmailing the APC and its leaders. The same Fani-Kayode who has no known political constituency and has never won an election as a politician is the one castigating the APC and pontificating for the people of the South-West and indeed Nigerians. He defected to the APC and called the PDP all sorts of names but came back to the same PDP and now the APC is the evil party. A man who called President Barack Obama of the US the Antichrist prior to his re-election in 2012. In a sane and civil society such a man would not be taken seriously and would have been forced to have himself checked to prove his mental sanity but in Nigeria such people bestride our airwaves feeding us with garbage. Obanikoro on his part I wouldn’t blame too much, I lay all the blame on Tinubu’s shoulders. Tinubu it was in 1999 who brought back such dubious anti-democratic element from exile in the US claiming he wanted technocrats and ‘sons of the soil’ in his government.
Tinubu did this against all the advice of Lagosians then who cited how Obanikoro burnt down the ancient landmark City Hall building in Lagos during the Sani Abacha regime when he was the chairman of Lagos Island Local Government and a popular campaigner for Abacha’s life presidency at a time Tinubu was in exile fighting for democracy with NADECO. He didn’t listen and rehabilitated Obanikoro politically, going on to make him a senator in 2003 under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) banner and today his fingers are being burnt with those decisions. Of all the so called technocrats Tinubu brought into government, its ‘non-technocrats’ like Babatunde Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola that are still standing strong by him today. Most of the rest have since bitten the fingers that fed them. I lay the blame on Tinubu for not identifying and even up till now talents amongst the die-hard party supporters who have stood with the party from AD, AC, ACN and now APC and are the foot soldiers who have the grass-root appeal but I believe things are changing now.
An Obanikoro who after leaving the AD for the PDP did not win its governorship primaries in 2007 losing out clearly to Hilda Williams (the widow of the late Funsho Williams) but the ticket was still given to him by Bode George and then PDP chairman Ahmadu Ali. His campaign in 2007 proved to be the most violent in the history of Lagos state perhaps in the entire South-West. Every single campaign he held from Idumota to Ojota to Ikeja, at least five AC supporters and innocent bystanders were killed in hails of bullets. It was the darkest time I ever witnessed in the history of Lagos state not even Abacha’s regime was that terrifying in the state. It was so bad, Lagosians were asking themselves if Obanikoro’s thugs kill everyone, who would be left to vote for him on election day? Not surprisingly he lost the election by a handsome margin. Now, that same terror template is being imported into the West ahead of the elections in Osun state on August 9th and the elections in 2015.
In the lead up to the elections in Osun state, Ile-Ife (where PDP candidate Iyiola Omisore hails from) has been bombed and obviously it would be pinned on APC by the likes of Omisore, Obanikoro and Fani-Kayode. The plan is to get Omisore interacting with the masses eating pop-corn and climbing iron horses (okada) and claiming to the popular with people, then the political Boko Haram, the militant wing of the PDP would be bombing parts of Osun state including Ife and claim its the APC doing it because they are jittery of him winning like Fayose did in Ekiti state and they are trying to stop him campaigning especially in Ife where he hails from.
Its the same template they would use across the whole South-West so as to win sympathy for President Jonathan and claim the APC are the demons who have prevented him from performing and that is where I worry. The real Boko Haram promised to bring their campaign of terror to the South particularly our oil refineries and oil installations in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta state but definitely not Ife. Everyone remembers Akure prisons was attacked by people suspected to be Boko Haram but it was to release their members jailed there, but they have no reason to bomb Ile-Ife. Lagos state naturally is a target for any terror organisation as its the commercial nerve of the country but the state government has done well so far to limit attacks there through prompt intelligence operations and arrest of suspected extremists and aliens including the ones arrested in the Bayelsa state government lodge in Ijora but to bomb Ile-Ife is far-fetched for the real terrorists as it gives them no political mileage. The APC governor in Osun state, Aregbesola, cannot bomb his state as that would be senseless. The bombers were clearly the militant wing of the PDP, the political Boko Haram who would soak the feet of Jonathan in blood so as to get re-elected.
There is clear danger for the Yorubas, Nigerians and indeed the opposition APC as this PDP government of Jonathan is ready to turn their terror machine on everyone. The signs are as clear as daylight, and places where they feel they would struggle for votes like in the South-West would be the epicentre of bombing campaigns. Expect to see their activities increase in Osun state, then they move to Lagos, Ogun and Oyo state with more bombings as all those places are controlled by the APC. On standby would be the likes of Fani-Kayode and Obanikoro to blame it on Tinubu and APC and try to turn the people against him rather than against Jonathan who has shown generally, he does not care about Boko Haram believing they are killing Northerners anyway so its none of his business. But for me these terror war has become personal as I have families in Lagos and Ogun, lots of friends in Oyo and Osun state. Its also time Tinubu, APC governors and stalwarts organise a high-powered emergency security meeting (call it the COBRA meeting like the UK Prime Minister chairs when there is clear danger) and face this new threat from the PDP’s Boko Haram militant wing who are hell bent on bombing Yorubas and indeed Nigerians in the South-West to death.
In part two of this article I would highlight why the life of the Ooni of Ife is in danger and he needs urgent security protection before his cousin allegedly kills him and pins it on Boko Haram, APC and Tinubu who was reported to have generally made some remarks against some Obas in the South-West. I would also explain why the lives of Obas in Yorubaland are at risk (Boko Haram has killed and attempted to kill Emirs in the north ,so its easy to kill an high profile Oba in the west by PDP’s political Boko Haram and blame it on Tinubu), while I would give my recommendations to the APC on what needs to be done urgently before things gets out of hands. Also I would give my one pence advice to President Jonathan and hopes he listens, as he has surrounded himself with immature, power hungry and evil men who would assist him in bringing our country to the end.

---

The Writing On The Wall For Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala By Dotun Oloko

Dear Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
Regular readers of Sahara Reporters may recall that I have provided an initial rebuttal to a 25th March 2014 letter that you wrote to me and my colleagues on matters including OPL 245 and the missing $20 billion. In my response which was published in Sahara Reporters on 27th March 2014, I addressed some of your counterfactual statements and promised to provide further information in due course and I am now taking this opportunity to fulfill my promise.
In your letter you dismissed our request for you to take action to prevent the funds from the OPL 245 acquisition by Shell/Eni being dissipated as, “a cop-out” by my partners and I, who were reluctant or unwilling to take the “necessary action” ourselves.
You should note that our initial letter to you at the outset in May 2013 was part of a multi-pronged strategy. For the recordbefore writing to you we had complained directly to the EFCC whom you referred us to and whom unbeknownst to you we had already contacted independently and met with in March 2013. At that meeting, Lamorde informed us that he would have to refer the matter to the Attorney General, who of course to your knowledge was the main architect of the OPL 245 deal. Needless to say, we have not heard nor expect to hear further from the EFCC on this matter.
However, in recognition of the challenges of pushing the matter in Nigeria with the EFCC beholden to a corrupt Attorney General, we utilised the global dimension of the caseto refer the matter to criminal investigation authorities in multiple jurisdictions including the US, UK and Italy. . We are acutely aware that the relevant authorities in the aforementioned jurisdictions are co-operating fully in this matter.
It is a matter of public record that in response to our complaint the UK authorities opened an investigation into OPL 245. We understand that Adoke has made several unsuccessful trips to the UK in an effort to truncate this investigation. It is also a matter of public record that the Italians also opened an investigation and last week raided Eni’s Milan head office as adirect result of our complaint. The Italian media is now agog with stories about Eni and some of its top executives being under investigation.
So you can see that contrary to your misguided opinion we did not use you as a cop out for not taking the necessary action ourselves. Consequently, you may wish to take some consolation from the fact that it is a matter of when and not if Adoke and his colleague who you are scared of will be held to account for their roles in the OPL 245 saga. It would appear to me that it is Adoke who is now running scared. I can alsoreinforce my comments that we are acting on your advice to trace Diezani’s assets in the UK and elsewhere and any information that you or anyone else can provide in this respect will be greatly appreciated.  We will also be casting a critical eye on the role played by JP Morgan as the banker of choice for the Federal Government of Nigeria.
It is important that you and your colleagues understand that we are living in a global world and we have the resources andthe wherewithal to challenge those who believe that they can continue to loot Nigeria’s resources with impunity be theyNigerians or foreigners. In this regard you should note our record in this respect which includes but is not limited to the examples provided below for your attention.
After a prolonged struggle, I can report that Thomas Gibian, the founding CEO of the US fund manager, Emerging Capital Partners (ECP) and others will soon be made to account for their roles in Ibori’s money laundering, as the UK government’s efforts to recover Ibori’s assets draw to a close. For your information, we informed the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and other investors in the ECP Africa Fund II that ECP was corruptly investing in Nigerian companies reportedly linked to Ibori’s money laundering. Following what it represented to be an extensive investigation, DFID accepted ECP’s counterfactual assurances that its Africa Fund II investee companies in Nigeria were and could not be linked to Ibori.
However, following the conclusion of the asset recovery proceedings, DFID will have to account for its funding of theUK government’s efforts to recover assets that the UK Crown Prosecution Service and Police have alleged Ibori owns in the ECP Africa Fund II investee companies Notore and Oandowhile accepting ECP’s counterfactual assurances that those companies cannot and are not linked to Ibori directly or indirectly. I would expect that the defence lawyers will be keen to understand why DFID was minded to dismiss evidence of the Ibori links that we know the Police provided to them, in favour of the assurances provided by their fund manager, ECP that there were no links.
In the case of OPL 245, as you are aware, our position which is backed by the House of Representatives is that ENI and Shell unlawfully acquired the licence. It is now a matter of public record that Paolo Scaroni, the former ENI CEO, Claudio Descalzi the current ENI CEO, Roberto Casula the Executive Vice President Sub-Saharan Africa and others will soon have their day in court over the corrupt acquisition of OPL 245 along with their counterparts in Shell. I was at a hastily convened side meeting with Casula and other top Eniexecutives at the last Eni AGM and can report that Casulawho is now a focus of the Italian investigation appeared to me and my colleagues to be wilting under the pressure.
The list will continue to grow as we continue our drive to hold to account those who believe they can continue to loot our national resources with impunity.
You should also note that we are now turning our focus to the $20 billion that his Royal Highness, the highly respected Emir of Kano, has alleged is missing and anyone found culpable in this heinous theft will be brought to justice whether inside or outside Nigeria. In this regard you should understand that those who are attempting to represent that the money is not missing will one day have to justify themselves in court.
The writing is on the wall for those who know how to read. Wherever we find evidence of corrupt looting of Nigeria’s public resources we will ensure that those involved are challenged and brought to account.
Yours sincerely,
Dotun Oloko

President Jonathan Is Nigeria's Number One Enemy, Says APC

A scathing attack on the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan is circulating around Abuja-based media outlets, and in other major Nigerian cities. Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the All People’s Congress, issued the statement late Tuesday evening, when SaharaReporters received a copy of it. Below is a copy of that statement.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described President Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria's number one enemy because of his propensity to perpetrate impunity, abuse federal institutions and tolerate corruption, all in a dangerous clamor to win re-election at all costs.
In a statement issued in Osogbo on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said under President Jonathan's watch, Nigeria has been thrown into unprecedented crisis that is manifesting in the opposition strongholds of Rivers, Edo, Adamawa, and Nasarawa States, and elsewhere across the country.
The President has also abused national institutions perhaps more than any other President in Nigeria's history, deploying the police and the army to intimidate and harass ordinary citizens in general and opposition supporters in particular, as he did recently in Ekiti and he is allegedly planning to do in Osun state; shutting airports at will just to punish the opposition and muscling the electoral commission, INEC, to prevent incorruptible RECs from conducting elections, it said.
''As we write, there are contrived crises in Rivers and Edo, where a handful of lawmakers with the backing of higher authorities have been terrorizing the Houses of Assembly in their States and defying court orders at will, with the ultimate prize for the renegades being the states' chief executives; and there is crisis in Adamawa, where an impeachment plot has been undoubtedly instigated and hatched by higher authorities, despite tepid denials, and soldiers have been deployed to cage in very high state officials."
''In Ekiti, several billions of  Naira was allegedly scooped from a massive political war chest to subvert democracy, induce voters and upturn all known political theories to such an extent that all that anyone seeking to be elected now has to do is to dole out stolen public funds to a people already rendered comatose and impoverished by runaway corruption, glaring incompetence and sheer cluelessness that are the hall marks of the Jonathan Administration."
''Under President Jonathan, there is no longer the need to make any electoral promises or carry out people-oriented and quality of life projects. Just distribute bags of rice, expired or not, to a people already famished by a clueless federal government, and tuck in a few naira notes into the pockets of electorates who have been deliberately impoverished. This is a clear subversion of democracy."
''With such huge funds now being allegedly channeled to Osun to thwart the will of the people ahead of the 9 Aug. governorship election, in an attempt to repeat the Ekiti 'experiment' which the PDP-led federal government deemed to have been a 'success', it is now clear the Jonathan Administration will not pull any punches in subverting democracy ahead of the 2015 general elections.
''It is also clear now what happened to the 20-billion-dollar oil money that went missing, as well as the reason behind the massive oil subsidy fraud, the Malabo multi-billion dollar fraud, the pension scam, and finally why the President, whose body language does not abhor corruption, has redefined stealing as anything but corruption,'' APC said.
The party said as far as President Jonathan is concerned, all that matters is his re-election. While he pursues that goal with vigour, the over 200 missing girls in Borno can stay where they are being kept by their abductors for over three months now; and the daily carnage in the North-east as well as Kaduna, Nasarawa and Benue can continue, even though over 12,000 people have been killed and 8,000 maimed. Once the President continues to play his dangerous  politics of re-election, which involves using state resources and national institutions to muscle and muzzle the opposition; the press and ordinary citizens, all is well in the eyes of his purposeless party.
'Unfortunately, in the midst of all the shenanigans, Nigerians are more divided than ever along ethnic and religious lines, no thanks to a President who is so obsessed with power that he will not hesitate to cash in on the nation's fault lines, abuse federal institutions, compromise once-credible public commentators to shamelessly mortgage their integrity on the altar of greed, and disregard even the Electoral Act by kick-starting electioneering campaign before the starting gun is fired.
''In view of this, we are now alerting the good people of Nigeria that President Jonathan's re-election at all costs is a clear and present danger to Nigeria, her people and indeed her democracy.
''Unless Nigerians speak out and unless the instigated harassment of the media by security agencies is halted, so the Fourth Estate of the realm can continue to perform its constitutional duties unhindered, Nigerians should gear up for more dangerous days ahead, which will include the stripping of the citizenry of their constitutionally-guaranteed basic rights, more egregious abuse of national institutions, perpetration of more acts of corruption as well as the muscling and muzzling of the opposition, even as the people will continue to be impoverished.
''On our part, as the country's main opposition party, we pledge to be unrelenting in speaking the truth to power, irrespective of whether or not it makes the federal government uncomfortable, in the overall interest of our nation,'' APC said.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Osogbo, July 9th 2014
Officials inside the presidential offices of Goodluck Jonathan have yet to respond to this scathing attack on his governance. Nigeria’s presidential elections are set to take place in February 2015.