"When the President ran for political office in 2003, who was his running mate? Dr Chuba Okadigbo. And in 2007? Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. If he hated Igbos would he run with them? That shows you the respect and the regard he has for Igbos, it was political reality that compelled him to come south-west in 2011 and in 2015. Let me tell you a story.Let me tell you a story. There is a prominent Igbo family in this country, if I mention their names you would know them, they are very prominent in the society. They told me a story that in the 70s, President Buhari was Minister of Petroleum, the family wanted to join the petroleum industry and then they made a bid. By then, there were not too many Nigerians playing in that industry, and there was a lot of scepticism from those around the then Lt Colonel Buhari, who was Oil Minister. They all said they don’t believe that the company as represented by that family had the capacity to play in the industry. This family told me that eventually, they got to Lt Colonel Buhari, he listened to them, and asked them; ‘Are you sure you have the capacity to do this?’ And they told him, ‘we can do it’. Then he removed his military cap, banged it on the table and told them, ‘it is done.' And he instructed that they give them that opportunity they wanted in the oil industry and today that family is so big and they never forget that the then Colonel Buhari as oil minister gave them the break they needed. They told me that story about three weeks ago. The next day, when I saw the president, I told him the story. He laughed and then went on to tell me that when people say he is against the Igbos, it baffles him, that really he never knew that family, he just trusted the assurance they gave him that they could play in the oil industry, and today they are very big. He went further to say that even under PTF, so many Nigerians, including Igbos, benefitted a lot. So there is no way you can say the man hates Igbos. The second Niger bridge is on the budget in 2016. Let's recall that the last President sometime in 2011 said that he would complete that second Niger bridge before 2015. He didn’t even go beyond the architectural drawing, but in 2016 budget, that project is there"he ssaid
Read more excepts from the interview after the cut
Q: What do you have to say about the Chibok schoolgirls? Any negotiation in progress with Boko Haram?
ANS:
We need to know a little bit of what happened behind the scenes,
between the last government and some people masquerading as the
leadership of Boko Haram who wanted to get the Chibok girls released.
They actually turned it into a franchise, it became a commercial thing
and they got money, possibly in millions of dollars, only for government
to discover it had been swindled. They kept saying they could get the
girls released , they could interface with Boko Haram and they went
smiling to the bank with all that money, and nothing happened. So you
should understand why this government is being careful and the President
has said the genuineness of the leadership of Boko Haram must be
determined before any negotiation takes place.
Q:
The commendation actually goes to you and your media team, for the
media chat of President Buhari a few days ago. Arising from that chat,
it is reported that the president said that he would not grant bail to
former NSA, Sambo Dasuki, and Nnamdi Kanu of Biafra. What was in the
mind of the President.
ANS:
Our president is a straight shooter, whatever is in his mind is what he
tells you. He doesn’t believe in manipulating or any form of rigmarole.
What he said, was that those people had grievous charges against them,
but then, he does not preclude bail, if there are no pending charges
against them. The situation now is when bail is granted, before that
bail is perfected, those who are prosecuting them would have come with
fresh charges, which warrant their being held further. So, that is the
position, if there are no fresh charges, and there is bail, there is no
reason to hold them. But the truth is that there are fresh charges
leveled against them.
Q: One of the APC men has been arrested by EFCC, and that is Col Jafar Isa. What does that mean to you?
ANS:
It means that in this corruption fight, no friend, no foe. One of the
quickest ways for President Buhari to lose confidence in anybody is for
that person to be tarred with the brush of corruption, and if proven to
be true, you are on your own. All those who have said he is selective,
it is because they do not know him. We know how much he detests
corruption, and if any case is proven against anybody, no matter how
close the person is, no matter how high ranking, that person will answer
for it.
Q:
On Forex policy of CBN, and Miss Christine Lagarde of IMF talking down
on Nigeria, despite corruption allegation against her back home
ANS:
If Miss Christine Lagarde has any corruption allegation, it is not
Nigeria that has brought it against her. Nigeria has absolutely no role
in that, we know what happened to her predecessor in office, when he had
issues over sexual assault and all that. He was removed and he answered
for it in court . We leave that to them for them to handle. But in
terms of talking down, there was no talking down at all. I was at the
meeting that she held with the President, there was absolutely no
talking down, she spoke nicely and decently, I don’t agree that she
spoke down on anybody. In fact she ended up commending the President,
commending Nigeria, and she said she wouldn’t expect to hear a knock on
her door any day from Nigerians asking for support because she has seen
that Nigeria has all it takes to pull through this rough patch that she
is passing through. I wouldn’t agree with you that she talked down on
anybody, she had the right as MD of IMF to make prescription, Nigeria
has the right either to accept or reject.
Q: When would the disability bill be signed into law?
ANS:
This is the second time this is coming up on this show, because I
remember this question came up the last time I was here and now that the
Ministers are about two months in office this is also something that I
would bring up.
Q:
Please lead us into the privacy of the President.How does the President
carry the enormous problem of this nation? How true is the statement
that the only thing he is doing now is fighting corruption, neglecting
issue of economy, infrastructure and welfare of citizenry?
ANS:
I would like to begin by saying that corruption is central to every
other thing in this country. If we want to talk about the economy,
education, health care, if all the funds we would need to address these
are squirreled away, how then do we address them? Fighting corruption is
central to Nigeria's development, therefore the President has taken it
as one of the key things that his administration would do. But then,
that doesn’t mean that corruption is the only thing he is fighting, you
need to see the man's schedule. He gets to the office in the morning
about 9 a.m,
the first thing he has required us to do is get the highlights of
newspapers ready for him, and so before he comes in, we have reviewed
the newspapers, we have done all the highlights and that is the first
thing he looks at. Then he begins to attend to all the other things
lined out for him. Across all the sectors, ministers and directors of
agencies are meeting with him. He is a hard worker and at 73, I wonder
how he does it. He does that till early evening, when he then retires
home to have a late lunch and a rest, and then in the early evening he
takes on people that have been scheduled to meet him, if there are. One
thing that about this President is that as much as possible, you don’t
get to his house and see a market. I was told that in the last
dispensation the place would still be a beehive of activities as late as
2 a.m.
But this man is methodical, he plans his days and in the process he is
able to attend to much more. All the sectors are receiving attention, I
can assure you.
Q:
Funding the real sector is going to be very important in getting
diversification, in getting the economy back on track. What about our
developmental banks?
ANS:
Talking of the real sector I know of BOI because, I engage with them,
the MD, the corporate affairs people, we spoke two days ago and they
have this programme on television which I follow. I think BOI is doing
well and they have to be further empowered to do more. Talking of
Treasury Single Account (TSA) it is work in progress, the rough edges
are being smoothened. You heard the President on National Media Chat
saying that about N1. 5 trillion has been harnessed into TSA. If you
don’t harness this money, how do you use it? Now that that money is
there, that is when we can talk of using it for the real sector.
Q: What is the plan of the government on state police?
ANS:
I know that the APC had some promises in that respect, don’t forget
that APC promised to look at our federation, and re-tune it, rework it,
and part of the promises was to look into state police.
Q:
The Nigerian Labour Congress is threatening to call out Nigerians to
embark on strike, the reason is based on subsidy removal, which was
alleged would bring untold hardship to common Nigerians. Could you shed
light on this issue?
ANS:
What hardship can be greater than what Nigerians passed through in the
past four- six weeks, queueing endlessly to buy petrol and at the end of
the day buying it at N200, N250, N300 per litre; what hardship can be
greater than that? On the flip-side, what we are entering into now is
something that would make life a lot easier for Nigerians, getting
petrol, making sure that the supply is sustained because with crude oil
prices down, why should Nigerians pay so high for refined petrol? That
is what government is doing. Now that crude prices are down, this is the
opportunity to arrive at appropriate prices for refined petrol, that is
why we now have N86 from NNPC, N86.5 from other marketers, and it has
also been said that this would be subject to review every quarter. That
means if oil prices inch up again, it would affect how much we buy
petrol. Labour, I am sure will look at the matter again, and know that
it would be better that Nigerians get petrol at clearly affordable
prices, reacting to prices of crude oil, rather than a subsidy regime
that is fraught with so much corruption.
Q: What are the foreign policy plans of this administration?
ANS:
We just had a minister of foreign affairs, who is settling down. The
Ministers would just be two months in office soon. Economic diplomacy is
very important for us. We know that we have engaged with the West, we
have also gone East; China for instance is doing a lot of with us.
Economic diplomacy is very important for Nigerians at this time, because
like the President says, no country in the world can afford to stand
alone again. Even President Obama said it at the UN General Assembly
last September, no country in the world can afford to stand alone again
because the things that unite the world now are economy and security. No
country can afford to do it alone, so Nigeria's foreign policy would
also be conditioned by that.
Q: Restructuring our federalism, what is the President approach to it?
ANS:
As I said earlier, restructuring the federation is part of the promises
the APC made when it campaigned, but you would also agree that it is
not a one man show; it is not the President that would say, this is the
way to do it. No, It has to be a deliberate policy, starting from the
party, to the national assembly and then it becomes law and all that. It
is not the President that would direct it.
Q:
We want to bring five members of this parliament to Aso Rock, I mean
people who call in on this radio, and present our needs to the
president.
ANS: I assure you that it can be done. I will raise it with the President
Q: Most business people are having problems funding their transactions. What is being done in terms of bridging this?
ANS:
It is not targeted at anybody. It is a policy from the Central Bank.
During the Presidential Media Chat, the President promised that he would
get the CBN governor to look at the matter again. He said it openly and
publicly. But one thing about economic downturn and revival is that it
is not at the snap of a finger, economies don’t collapse in a flash, it
is a gradual thing. So you can’t expect that it’s going to be by the
snap of the finger, and the economy is revived again. It has to be
rebuilt, the foundation has to be relaid, that is what this government
is doing, and with a government that is serious and focussed like this
one, we would get there. All of us have to be patient to get there.
84 comments:
Observed, ok as you say, am in love with Linda Ikeji for real and would wish to meet her in person as my 2016 resolution.
WE KNOW, TELL US SOMETHING ELSE OR NEW; THATS NO PROGRESS BUT PUBLICITY GIMMICKS
Just like one of the sponsored post...I won't and will never believe that..
Long reading, so fake. Get a life jor
Lol.... Make I hear.
Wild flowers!
He does and we know it's, only the ones who have refused to move out of their present darkness and accept him as their true leader. #IRepLIB
We are just tire of say!say!say!let him strt doing nah....do something Mr president and stop saying,campaign is over.
Let him prove it
Igbos have no business if buhari love dem or not!!! He should just do the right thing that is all
Tosisochukwu! Marry me
!brightosman aka fake phyno .#gerarahere
U spoke very well like a fool. Running with someone does it show love. Mumu. He only wanted vote from us. Engr Emy
Hmmmm! Ok Great!
Cock n bull story. Flips hair,dey talk mk I go eat,mtcheeeeew
LIB ADDICT#just passing#
Have you clowns see the reason i said that buharis tenure will be full of idiot,animals and bamboos they are now talking.
So with all this lies his ranting shows how buhari the terrorist sponsor love ibo well time will tell.
#sad indeed
Okay ...
Oh please, this guy is just saying what is expected of him, being who he is to the president. In Nigeria politics, nobody loves anyone. We only have people pretending to love others and then teaming up with someone who'd probably betray his own for a pat on the back and together, they eat
Akuko ifo......tales by moonlight
PMB loves the Igbo but they are not fit for positions in this administration. We don't need more pot bellied men who thinks only of themselves. Btw am half Igbo, half hausa
Okay...why is Femi Adesina's Panadol coming this way..the truth is the President has this same mindset of grouping people into one category...so because you ran with a man From the Igbo tribe does that mean you've ran with "igbo People"..People should understand that One man is one man... @the presidential Chat he said "what does the Igbos want" Ha! Is it the entire Igbo race that is protesting in the east?.. My own is this Interview is Just a Panadol.. everyone at last lives in his own reality. We are Nigerians... Lets remember that when we are tempted to use "they" and "we" it questions what we are doing as a people.
Ka mmadu nu ihe biko! Whether he likes igbos or not, I choputas not. What I knw is he shld do what will benefit every Nigerian... That's all
#iT wiLL oNLy gET beTTer
#iT mUsT eNd iN praisE
Buhari does not love Igbos, Igbos do not love Buhari! Its very clear so its 1-1... Igbos hate hausas and vice versa, let's tell ourselves the truth!
Sure! We will get there
Igbo.stupid tribe...They are united.they deceived stupid and clueless Jonathan and he failed woefully.omooba
Shut your lying mouth
Akuko if I hear...
We are one Nation, whether Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba. We are one
It's good to know all of this.
Idiot Femi go decieve your fore fathers.
Rapuluchukwuifenineadigommakings@yahoo.com
Reporting from Delsu.
May Thunder fire that ur useless mouth that u are using to spit Dust, everything last administration, useless set of people, and yes, he will not grant bail to Nnamdi cause he's an igbo man, if not, where in the whole wide world does a president be president, oil mister, Dss, Efcc, Jury at the same time??? Only in Nigeria, he may be anything, but he's not God and will never be, God will Surprise him and his Cohorts.
Ndi chukwu bulu onu.
More reasons here: http://payforyouth.com/index.php?ref=17075
I can only say that you are speaking from your anus.
Okbye.
I won't bother reading Femi adeshina long epistle in defense of his boss he just ignore any statements dat sai baba hates d igbo nigeria as a nation is occupied with various tribes and all can not be pleased some will scream marginalized let them be.femi goofed by throwing in a response there is no neeed people will talk so let dem
Mr Adesina i think u know nothing about Nigeria. Gerrahia. Buhari indeed loves Igbos.
Alright oooo
Odiegwu...
I Don hear
This one that's smiling sheepishly like he's been hypnotised can say anything meaningful?
Lol.the guy is doing his work.
Keep washing....
ok! heard
My advice for my fellow Igbo's is that the earlier we unite together and join this present government the better chance we have in having one of our son or daughter taking over from him on the same political party, we can't de franchise ourselves from the good things coming our way just because some supported a candidate that lost and has refused to accept their fate. The same government that that couldn't fathom a proper solution to the second Niger bridge. RepLIB
This man is doing PR so that he will not be sacked. A begee jor!!! Tell us if you collected 150million Naira from Dasukigate or not? Adesina should tender his resignation without the next 48 hours so that an Igbo journalist can take over if Buhari really loves Igbo people. A beg make we hear word!!!
Story story
Story story
but his utterances has shown the opposite. Please tell us in clear terms what he meant by ..."that one you called Kanu" ...is that a democratic statement from our president?
there was a country
Enter your comment...hfd
Eleyi ti ya werey sha!
Story for the gods
We don hear you, Mr writer.......
Let's go Linda
Linda, stop putting illiterates like this on the spotlight!
It's alright#sisi linda#
Say no more. In the end, everybody has a right to what dey choose to believe. Linda take note!
That one concerns him.... Everyone still have their thoughts towards him
Please Visit My Blog
Whatever this guy is saying is as a result of the cut he's getting from this administration...this life na setup!
Femi Adesina God punish that your dirty mouth u use said that...Ofe manu
Story for the GOD'S....Next please
O yea
Nnem don't mind dem, Evil people..
This text is too long....
Nwanne m ijiro okwu... inugo?
Mumu na sickness on his own and many people are carrier of this sickness.
Story for the gods indeed
I saw this writeup on facebook and I think all young Ibo persons should read this.
''Enugu State. My state. My home. Igboland. My fatherland. It was Peter Obi who buried APC in Igboland when he claimed that Fashola deported Igbos. He went on air, sensationalized it. Good job. Igbo youths lapped on it. Jonathan and PDP were all smiles and Obi was hailed for a job well done. He quickly joined the party on leaving office as was planned out. APGA, the alleged Igbo party was dumped and left to crumble. Ojukwu had died. The new Igbo party was PDP. The plan was going well. Jonathan would win election and our brothers would continue chopping on our behalf. The Grand plan was for 2017. Oil blocks allocations would expire in 2017 and there would be fresh allocations. Boys were positioning themselves for the greatest cake. Dasuki released 500M to Jim for igbo elders. They did a perfect job. In churches Buhari was branded antichrist and antichristians whose ambitions were to islamize the east and persecute Christians. Prayer points were raised and brethren fasted against his emergence . Jonathan was sent by God and only his emergence would save the church. Brethren spoke in tongue and prophesied. Anyone who ever prophesied anything contrary to Jonathan winning was branded antichrist and anti Igbo. Jonathan was igbo, our brother. Ndi Hausa hate us so much. Buhari wrote Ohaneze severally to pay them a visit. No one as much as acknowledged his letter not to talk of inviting him. What's the point? Our son is running and he's gonna win anyways. APC was outcast and taboo in the land. At the election the elders dutifully allocated 500,000 votes to Jonathan, maybe at 1000naira per vote. And 15,000 votes to Buhari. This was igbo project remember. By 2017 igbo sons would own oil blocks on our behalf. All seemed to be going well. Except that men without ears didn't think that God had the final say. Suddenly, like the great titanic, everything went wrong! Our brother didn't win after all! Wow. What next? They started shouting persecution. Ana emegbu ndi igbo. Can't y'all see his appointment? I told you! We need Biafra! We never really wanted Nigeria. We only managed to take part in the election. We want Biafra! Our brothers in the niger delter will join us and we will get Biafra. Let's just own all the oil blocks at once. Again things didn't go as expected. Wike first threw the first stone. He warned against any Biafra rubbish. One after the other, our so called brothers, denied us again. They ain't part of any Biafra business. Wow. I thought we fought for this people? We gave Jonathan our all. We actually threw away igbo ambitions for these people? Wow. This is happening again. They did it in old Biafra. Now again. Na wao. What next? And buhari is arresting people up and down. Nwobodo has been named. Who next? Uche Ekwunife has been sacked at the court. Na wao. Wahala de o. Uche, with the endorsement of Peter Obi, that same Peter has finally joined that same APC, the anti Igbo Islamic party. She has to go back to Senate.
Tony Nwoye is set to join. But that's not the main gist. Our father, Senator Jim Nwobo, first executive governor of old Anambra state, the godfather of enugu state, founding member and the biggest chieftain of PDP, a member of the yam eating Dasuki committee of eminent Nigerians, yesterday, in company of another former enugu Senator, walked into stakeholders meeting of the APC in Enugu and declared loyalty. He has joined the "Islamic" party. Finally. Who's the fool here? Igbo youths! Y'all put your businesses on the line. You were ready to go to war in lagos. You risked your families and livelihood for these men. They lied to you and you believed them. They now use you the way northern elders use their youths. They call you out at will and endanger your lives. They tell you it's because of the igbo. Did they do our roads? Nope. Did they provide infrastructure? Did they create more jobs to employ our teeming qualified graduates? Did they improve our schools? They did nothing. They don't have our interests at heart. It's always all about their pockets. As old as elder Jim is, he still decamps up and down. Men without ears, men without shame. Yet we defend them. We protect them with our lives. Why brothers, why. See the western youths calling out almighty Olu Falae. See the northern youths calling out the princely Dasuki. But we? No way! These men are eating on our behalf, we must attack anyone who calls their name. In fact, we shall adopt any other accused person as ours and defend him no matter how he insulted the igbo in the past. FFK is now our son. Who done this to us? Are we cursed or are we the cause? I repeat, the real enemies of Igboland are our political leaders at present. Let us sack the enemies at home. We igbos are blessed with intellectuals, why do we let charlatans lead us? 2019 is around the corner. Now is the time to start. My name is Mcginger ibeneme
What's this one saying abeg... Lovers club.. Abeggi!!
Where did they train you people? Did you grow up in those face I face you 'yards' that you have no single sense of decency? Na wa oh!
But is he really not, that one you call Kanu?
too long
FAKE AND LIE, LIE STORY. THIS MAN CANNOT CONVINCE EVEN A CAT. PLEASE MR FEMI BUY A GOOD AND WORKING WASHING MACHINE TO LAUNDER THE IMAGE OF YOUR MASTER. YOU FAILED WOEFULLY ON THIS ONE. NDIGBO KNOW THOSE WHO LOVE THEM AND THOSE WHO HATE THEM IN NIGERIA. SORRY, FEMI YOU SCORED ZERO.
I am with you...nuel
Blah blah blah blah
First time am saying the story is too long for me to read, reason being that it smells of bullsh*t
Na wa oooo, what's all the heat about?? Buhari loves or hate Igbo's, how have that ever affected us,please what remarkable thing did the past administration do specifically for the Igbo's????
We should focus more on our governors, our own igbo leaders. What are they doing, how are they helping us with the state allocation? Bad roads, unpaid salaries, no industries or common factories in most states, and we have governors ooo,e have senators and house of reps, our very own people..!
Whether buhari likes Igbo's or not,isn't the issh here.
# just making common sense
Igbo people should go and die .bitter bunch
This doesn't move me at all! Just do your job. Ofe mmanu!
You are in Love with her house fucker!
Eyes closed and walks away. Nonsense!
ALL WE NEED IS LIGHT, WATER AND ROADS FIRST, FORGET ALL THESE JARGONS FOR NOW... still on the change page tho
Free NNAMDI KANU then we will know he loves the ibos.
i dey hear...angelmakiz@yahoo.com
Among over 350 tribes in Nigeria, Why are the Igbos always on the news?
Jeez, just when you think you've seen it all, now this? In love with linda ikeji kwa?
Wild flowers!
It takes one to know one. Peace!
Hmmmmmnn! If only they would read the writeup. But they wouldn't because anything more than two short lines is an epistle to them, they would rather curse and insult anyone that holds a contrary opinion to theirs. It is well. Peace!
Gbam!
DOES THIS MAN REALLY THINK WE GOT TYM TO READ THIS EPISTLE?
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