Tag Archives: abdulsalam

What I Discussed With Buhari – Ex-Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar Visits Aso Rock

Posted on by
8

Speaking in an interview with State House correspondents at the end of a closed-door meeting, former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, on Thursday, said he discussed issues of national interest and international affairs with President Muhammadu Buhari during a short chat they had at the Presidential Villa, Abuja which was held inside the President’s office.

 “I came to discuss issues of national interest and international affairs with the President. Both of them are interwoven. I have discussed with the person I came to see and I don’t think I need to discuss it in the news media,” Abubakar said.

While reacting to a claim that he had been silent on national issues lately, the former Head of State said he had been busy talking to those that needed to be talked to, adding that the National Peace Committee for the 2015 General Elections which he chairs was still working behind the scene. The former military ruler urged all Nigerians to support the present administration in its efforts aimed at resolving the crisis facing the nation. “We (the committee members) are still working, although quietly, to make sure that there is peace in the country,” he said.
“I hope all Nigerians will give the present administration the necessary support to make sure that we overcome all these crisis that are unnecessary and uncalled for,” he added.

Ogundana Michael Rotimi: Open Letter To President Buhari. Sir, You May Have To Dissolve The Peace Council

Posted on by
1

Your Excellency Sir,

This is the first open letter I will be writing to you since your inauguration as the President and Commander In Chief of The Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I will go straight to the point and won`t bug you with the facts and figure that you already know. Right now, you have become facts and figures yourself and there is no information that you are not preview to.

Sir, those that voted you and believe in you hold you in high esteem because of your level of integrity, discipline and courage in handling issues. Since you became the president, you have painstakingly taken your time to take every decision you have made. You have deliberately not appointed your ministers and other members of your cabinet because you want the best hands and less partisan Nigerians to work with you.

As you will recall Sir, the reasons why Nigerians voted en-masse for you are for you to wage war against corruption, recover stolen funds from corrupt person or group of persons that have plundered the nation and for you to reposition the nation on the path of excellence. These are the things they believe you can do which informed their decisions to vote for you. This is the more reason I believe you have been careful of the caliber of people you place in sensitive positions and in committees.

However, you are human, and the very fact that you are mortal makes you inevitable to mistakes. But it is one thing to make a mistake; it is another thing to keep making it.

On the transition of the National Peace Committee for the 2015 General Elections to the Peace Council and retaining its members, Sir, sorry to say this, you shouldn`t have. You should have dissolved the committee. My reasons are not farfetched; going by your stance to have credible and non-partisan Nigerians in positions and committees, the National Peace Committee should have been dissolved. Because some of the men that make up the Committee are not honorable men.

Honorable men do not protect the interest of a few corrupt persons at the peril of the innocent impoverished majority. Honorable men do not shield the wicked from the wrath of the law. Honorable men do the right thing with power and don`t abuse it.

Some members of this committee have proven times without number that they cannot speak truth to power and cannot be trusted with leadership. This should have informed your decision to dissolve the peace committee.

There is nothing peaceful about the Peace Committee if all they do is to seek peace for some corrupt golden few than for the vast majority of Nigerians that have suffered heavily from the burden of corruption.

For any group as highly placed as the National Peace Committee to resort to seeking soft landing for corrupt person(s) is another obvious reason why the committee should be dissolved.

Again, Sir, some members of the Peace Council do not believe in probing a democratically elected government like that of your predecessor. It shows that you do not share the same ideology with them. Hence, you cannot work with them. You believe in probing so long it`s done legitimately without trampling on individual`s rights. It is the more reason why you should dissolve the committee Sir!

Furthermore, the National Peace Committee has done its duties by ensuring peaceful elections. They can now stand down and let you do the job Nigerians elected you for. This is to salvage the country.

Moreover, Sir, some members of the peace council are stunt loyalist to your predecessor. They will do anything within their power to protect him from the jury. Besides, you cannot expect such committee that is loyal to your predecessor to perform transparently without external interference from him. This is why it is paramount on you that you dissolve the peace council.

According to Bishop Kukah’s he said: “Our commitment is not to intimidate or fight anybody, the former President’s commitment and what he did still remain spectacular and I think that President Buhari himself appreciates that. So our effort really is to make sure that the right thing is done.” The questions are: what did Dr. Goodluck Jonathan do that remains spectacular that warranted such statement? He lost an election and conceded defeat, what is spectacular about that? Or what is spectacular in running a corrupt driven government with so much impunity? You see Sir, the Peace committee are not working for you and are not working for Nigerians. They are not for you and they are not for Nigerians. They are for their Hero, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan!

Aside from the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III and the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Revd. Nicholas Okoh. Sir, people like Bishop Kukah, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and Gen. Abubakar Abdusalami (rtd.) are the more reason why you should dissolve the Peace Council! These men are not honorable men their antecedents speak for them.

Of course Sir, I would have gone on and on, on why you should consider dissolving the Peace Council but I wouldn`t want to consume much of your time on this, so that you can also attend to other pressing issues.

It is with these reasons that I call on you to dissolve the peace council and constitute yours yourself if you need one.

 

God Bless Nigeria.

Ogundana Michael Rotimi is a Nigerian Biochemist, Socio-economic & Political Commentator, and Public Speaker. He tweets @MickeySunny.

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

“There Would Be No Mercy For Looters” – Buhari Tells Abdulsalami Committee

Posted on by
Reply
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the prosecution of those who have stolen national resources will begin in a matter of weeks.
Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina quoted Buhari as saying this yesterday during a meeting with members of the National Peace Committee headed by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd).
Buhari told the committee that his government was “irrevocably” committed to doing all within its powers to break the vicious cycle of corruption, unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria.
“Nigeria has to break this vicious cycle before we can make progress”, President Buhari told Abdulsalami’s committee.
The president also disclosed that his government was diligently getting facts and figures pertaining to the nation’s stolen funds, before proceeding to the prosecution of identified culprits.
Buhari also told the committee that under his leadership, the Federal Government would ask for the return of stolen funds stashed in foreign banks and ensure that those who stole the funds are put on trial in Nigeria.
He also disclosed that his administration was reorganising the country’s revenue generating institutions as part of its actions to address the national problems it inherited.
He that a single treasury account had been established for all Federal revenue to ensure greater probity, transparency and accountability in the collection, disbursement and utilisation of national funds.
“We have really degenerated as a country. Our national institutions, including the military, which did wonderfully on foreign missions in the past, have been compromised. But we are doing something about it. The military is now retraining and morale has been resuscitated.
“As Petroleum Minister under Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo  in the 1970s, I could not travel abroad until I had taken a memo to the Federal Executive Council asking for estacode. Now, everybody does what he wants.
“That is why security-wise and economically, we’re in trouble,” President Buhari told his guests, adding that those who have stolen the national wealth “will be in court in a matter of weeks and Nigerians will know those who have short-changed them”, Buhari said.
The presidential spokesman said Buhari granted the National Peace Committee, formed before the 2015 general elections, the permission to transform to National Peace Council.
He also quoted Abdulsalami and members of his committee as urging the Federal Government to be guided by the rule of law in its fight against corruption.
Members of the National Peace Committee who accompanied Gen Abubakar on the visit were Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the Christian Association of  Nigeria (CAN) and  Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Others were Justice Rose Ukeje (rtd), Prof Ameze Guobadia, Vanguard Newspaper Publisher, Sam Amuka, Dame Priscilla Kuye, Senator Ben Obi, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, and Dr Arthur-Martin Aginam.
Source – Dailytrust.com.ng

Buhari Will Not Probe Obasanjo, IBB, Abacha’s Govt, Only GEJ’s – Presidency

Posted on by
2

The presidency says President Buhari will only be probing the immediate past administration and will not probe past administrations of Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha and others. Speaking to newsmen, the special adviser to the president on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina says that President Buhari had stated during his campaign that his probe will only be limited to the immediate past administration.

“If you recall, that was already settled before he got inaugurated as president. He has said he will not waste time digging into the far past. The far past will includes Obasanjo and others. But the president has said he will not waste time to go that far.”he said

Former President Jonathan had stated before leaving office that any probe focused on his administration will only amount to witch-hunting.