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Team Ribadu
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Akinjide is living in the past, Ribadu
The attention of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation has been drawn to remarks by Chief Richard Akinjide, that the Presidential candidate of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is not fit to be President. Of course, Mr. Akinjide is entitled to his opinion and choice of candidate, but he should not distort facts to deceive Nigerians.
We would have ignored the ranting of Mr. Akinjide who has continuously shown that he has disdain for good governance and progressive politics, but for the deceit contained in his statement. His role in the infamous second republic, and as one of the architects of the 12 2/3 controversy that threw Nigeria into the abyss of military rule, remains till this day.
Mr. Akinjide was quoted in a telephone interview in a national newspaper that “Mallam Ribadu should have gone to the House of Representatives or the Senate. He is not a material for a Vice-President. I won’t even make him a governor.”
For Mr. Akinjide to say he won't make governor a holder of Masters of Law degree, a public prosecutor of many years experience, a man who has attended some of the most prestigious institutions in the world, tells a lot about the Ibadan politician. He must however be made to know that while he still lives in the past where himself and people of his ilk make people governors or presidents, Nigerians have decided to be the architect of their own destiny by choosing and electing their own leaders in a free and fair election.
Of course Chief Akinjide is insensitive to the plight of millions of Nigerians who are tired of the rot the PDP federal government has visited on them for 12years. He does not feel the pains of the great citizens of this country who have seen a continuous decline in their standard of living, in the availability of basic amenities like electricity, good roads, etc. He does not suffer from the continuous insecurity that the PDP led government has thrown the whole country; from east to west, north to south, and even in his home town of Ibadan.
One wonders what the octogenarian politician was thinking when he spoke about acceptance by the international community. Without being immodest, no presidential candidate has the acceptance that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has in the international community. Mr. Ribadu has parleyed with several world leaders and has been invited to appear in parliaments around the world, including the US congress; he has contributed significantly to the global fight against graft and corruption, a role that continues to earn him tremendous respect internationally. This is someone who has just been chosen as one of only three international members to monitor and help in the fight against corruption in Afghanistan. But this election is not about the international community and international experience or acceptance. It is about the need for Nigeria as a nation to make a clean break from the past which Mr. Akinjide and the PDP represent.
There is no better way to unite Nigerians than to vociferously challenge the major problems confronting the people. If this is the case, then Chief Akinjide needs to know that while he and the PDP have failed in this aspect, Nuhu Ribadu succeeded when he was given the chance. He fought gallantly against the monster that has hindered our growth as a nation, a monster that has made democracy un-enjoyable to Nigerians; a, monster that Chief Akinjide and the PDP pamper and allow to grow. In that fight against corruption, Ribadu did much more than what Mr. Akinjide and the PDP have to offer.
Voters’ Registration
One thing we must bear in mind is this: elections are easier to rig when people do not turn up to vote. 2011 is a pivotal year for our country. Those of us who are within the age range must vote. Before you can vote, you must register. After you register, you must select who you wish to vote for. On election day, you must vote. Afterwards, please stay and make sure that your vote counts.
The registration process is on for the next two weeks. During the registration process you do not need to take your identification card. INEC is capturing biometric data for this purpose, and they will issue you a temporary voter's card which would be valid on election day.
If you do not know where the nearest registration centre to you is, please consult the map which can be accessed from the link below:
http://bit.ly/eXoGWM
Simply click on the map, zoom to your city of residence (you do not have to travel to be registered), then find the nearest poll registration centre to your house. There won't be more than 500 people per polling booth, and there are people who are committed to ensuring that the elections are properly monitored. However, their work will come to waste if you do not do your bit. Their work will come to waste if you show apathy. Evil wins when good people do nothing.
Please, between today and the end of January, please make out just two hours of your time, go to the registration centre nearest to your home, register, and on election day, make sure you go back there and vote.
The registration process is on for the next two weeks. During the registration process you do not need to take your identification card. INEC is capturing biometric data for this purpose, and they will issue you a temporary voter's card which would be valid on election day.
If you do not know where the nearest registration centre to you is, please consult the map which can be accessed from the link below:
http://bit.ly/eXoGWM
Simply click on the map, zoom to your city of residence (you do not have to travel to be registered), then find the nearest poll registration centre to your house. There won't be more than 500 people per polling booth, and there are people who are committed to ensuring that the elections are properly monitored. However, their work will come to waste if you do not do your bit. Their work will come to waste if you show apathy. Evil wins when good people do nothing.
Please, between today and the end of January, please make out just two hours of your time, go to the registration centre nearest to your home, register, and on election day, make sure you go back there and vote.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Jonathan, Buhari, Ribadu and 2011
By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
The emergence of presidential candidates in the next Nigerian elections will be completed in the next few days. From the look of things, the President Goodluck Jonathan is most likely to emerge as the flag bearer of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Little has changed in the politics of incumbency that has characterised that party if we examine the gubernatorial and other primaries which the party has conducted so far in many states. The presidential primaries will hardly be any different.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is most likely to nominate AIG Nuhu Ribadu (rtd). Party members across the country are clearly more favourably disposed to him than to his contender, Bafarawa. Also, Ribadu enjoys one of the largest national spread among presidential hopefuls of various parties.
Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has already been confirmed as the presidential candidate of another opposition party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Though Nigeria has about 57 parties, the majority of them will not nominate any candidate for the presidential polls. Most of them lack the resources and the national spread required to make any impact. Rather, they are most likely to align themselves to one of the above three.
What is likely to dominate the discourse over Nigerian politics for a month after the primaries is the formation of alliances. In the past, many paper parties have endorsed the incumbent candidate of the PDP. That move is often irrelevant because such parties themselves are moles of PDP that are registered to scuttle any effort to form a joint opposition against it.
The alliance that will unsettle the PDP will be of two kinds. One will be from the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the opponents of President Jonathan within his party. The other will be the alliance between the viable opposition parties like APGA, ACN, CPC and Labour Party.
Members of the NEF have many times made it clear that they will remain committed to a northern candidate even if the President is nominated by the PDP. The promise of the President that they he will serve for only a term has not convinced them enough to abandon their zoning principle. In that case, the Northern elders and the candidates that oppose Jonathan will have no choice than to put their weight behind either Buhari or Ribadu. Our speculation would therefore now shift to examining the possibility of the merger and to who is likely to emerge as the preferred candidate of the opposition.
The opposition has for long nursed the idea of merging into one party or at least aligning itself behind one candidate. This has proved difficult so far. In 2007, about five parties, including Labour party and PRP adopted Buhari as their presidential candidate. AC fielded Atiku while DPP’s flag was carried by its founder, Attahiru Bafarawa. Despite the failure of the merger talks after the 2007 elections that would have produced the so-called mega-party, AC and DPP merged to form ACN. Buhari’s party, the CPC, then was not registered. After its registration a year ago, all efforts to get it merged with ACN failed after many attempts.
Not tired of attempting, ACN then set two conditions for Buhari if he wants to win its support. He should, it said, join it and, in addition, contest with other aspirants for the party’s ticket. Buhari ignored the demands and went ahead to clinch the ticket of his party, the CPC, last week. ACN will also hold its primaries shortly. It will come up with a candidate who will represent it at the polls should future attempts at the alliance with CPC fail finally.
So we have two outcomes here. The alliance talks may succeed or they may not. If they succeed, we will have a single candidate – Buhari or Ribadu – challenging Jonathan at the polls. If they continue to fail, each of them will have the daunting task of fighting the other and at the same time fighting the incumbent President at the polls.
Jonathan would then have had no problem defeating both, were it not for the lack of support from his internal opposition. If the alliance between ACN and CPC fails and the opposition within PDP puts its weight behind Buhari, Jonathan would have better prospects of scaling through because of the southern and northern minority’s factor.
If, on the other hand, his opponents in the PDP decide to support Ribadu, Jonathan will have a tough time winning the elections especially if they are free and fair. Many northerners who support Buhari would then be more likely to vote for Ribadu in order not to divide the regional vote. This, with the support of southern votes especially in the southwest, Jonathan will have a number of sleepless nights.
The credentials of both Buhari and Ribadu are the same in terms of their fight against corruption. In addition, both are Muslims, northerners and from the same tribal extraction. I do not also believe that the 20 years difference in age between the two would count much in the estimation of Jonathan’s opponents. Many of the elders are older than Buhari. Therefore, the decision of where the opposition to Jonathan within the PDP would rest its support is most likely to be influenced by two factors, both of them not favourable to Buhari.
One, almost all members of that group are opposed to Buhari’s presidential ambition since its inception in 2002. They still see him as a military dictator of the 1980s who is best used to military ways of handling issues.
Two, as they did in their choice for a common northern candidate the northern elders are likely to emphasize spread of support that each of the candidates enjoy across the country. While Buhari has in the past got majority votes in many core northern states and very little in the south, Ribadu has considerable support in the south where his party has four states already and is favourably aligned to APGA and Labour. Ribadu, in addition does not seem to have problems with anyone - northern elders, northern aspirants, and southerners.
One area that Buhari clearly has advantage over Ribadu is the better support he gathered over the past decade among northern masses, being once a head of state and having come when there was no other meritorious candidate was around to face Obasanjo. Ribadu too is well known since he served in his capacity of the nation’s anti-corruption Caesar. Yet, he will need to conquer the northern pedestrian turf as quick as possible.
Fortunately for Ribadu, he is coming at a time when the CPC of Buhari has disappointed many northerners by not proving to be different from other parties. The manner it conducted its primaries in states where it is expected to make a good outing during the next elections has seriously dented its images. The greed with which its national leadership has scrambled to support mostly corrupt candidates in those states left many questioning its ideological credentials. Many supporters are still leaving the party in those states and decamping to the ACN which is seen as more organized and able to give a better progressive leadership.
So, though the primaries will soon be over, Nigerians have still few guesses to make about their presidential candidates. We need a month to have a better idea of whom among the three – Jonathan, Buhari or Ribadu – would make it to the polls in April. It could be all the three or just two of them.
The emergence of presidential candidates in the next Nigerian elections will be completed in the next few days. From the look of things, the President Goodluck Jonathan is most likely to emerge as the flag bearer of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Little has changed in the politics of incumbency that has characterised that party if we examine the gubernatorial and other primaries which the party has conducted so far in many states. The presidential primaries will hardly be any different.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is most likely to nominate AIG Nuhu Ribadu (rtd). Party members across the country are clearly more favourably disposed to him than to his contender, Bafarawa. Also, Ribadu enjoys one of the largest national spread among presidential hopefuls of various parties.
Maj. General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has already been confirmed as the presidential candidate of another opposition party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Though Nigeria has about 57 parties, the majority of them will not nominate any candidate for the presidential polls. Most of them lack the resources and the national spread required to make any impact. Rather, they are most likely to align themselves to one of the above three.
What is likely to dominate the discourse over Nigerian politics for a month after the primaries is the formation of alliances. In the past, many paper parties have endorsed the incumbent candidate of the PDP. That move is often irrelevant because such parties themselves are moles of PDP that are registered to scuttle any effort to form a joint opposition against it.
The alliance that will unsettle the PDP will be of two kinds. One will be from the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the opponents of President Jonathan within his party. The other will be the alliance between the viable opposition parties like APGA, ACN, CPC and Labour Party.
Members of the NEF have many times made it clear that they will remain committed to a northern candidate even if the President is nominated by the PDP. The promise of the President that they he will serve for only a term has not convinced them enough to abandon their zoning principle. In that case, the Northern elders and the candidates that oppose Jonathan will have no choice than to put their weight behind either Buhari or Ribadu. Our speculation would therefore now shift to examining the possibility of the merger and to who is likely to emerge as the preferred candidate of the opposition.
The opposition has for long nursed the idea of merging into one party or at least aligning itself behind one candidate. This has proved difficult so far. In 2007, about five parties, including Labour party and PRP adopted Buhari as their presidential candidate. AC fielded Atiku while DPP’s flag was carried by its founder, Attahiru Bafarawa. Despite the failure of the merger talks after the 2007 elections that would have produced the so-called mega-party, AC and DPP merged to form ACN. Buhari’s party, the CPC, then was not registered. After its registration a year ago, all efforts to get it merged with ACN failed after many attempts.
Not tired of attempting, ACN then set two conditions for Buhari if he wants to win its support. He should, it said, join it and, in addition, contest with other aspirants for the party’s ticket. Buhari ignored the demands and went ahead to clinch the ticket of his party, the CPC, last week. ACN will also hold its primaries shortly. It will come up with a candidate who will represent it at the polls should future attempts at the alliance with CPC fail finally.
So we have two outcomes here. The alliance talks may succeed or they may not. If they succeed, we will have a single candidate – Buhari or Ribadu – challenging Jonathan at the polls. If they continue to fail, each of them will have the daunting task of fighting the other and at the same time fighting the incumbent President at the polls.
Jonathan would then have had no problem defeating both, were it not for the lack of support from his internal opposition. If the alliance between ACN and CPC fails and the opposition within PDP puts its weight behind Buhari, Jonathan would have better prospects of scaling through because of the southern and northern minority’s factor.
If, on the other hand, his opponents in the PDP decide to support Ribadu, Jonathan will have a tough time winning the elections especially if they are free and fair. Many northerners who support Buhari would then be more likely to vote for Ribadu in order not to divide the regional vote. This, with the support of southern votes especially in the southwest, Jonathan will have a number of sleepless nights.
The credentials of both Buhari and Ribadu are the same in terms of their fight against corruption. In addition, both are Muslims, northerners and from the same tribal extraction. I do not also believe that the 20 years difference in age between the two would count much in the estimation of Jonathan’s opponents. Many of the elders are older than Buhari. Therefore, the decision of where the opposition to Jonathan within the PDP would rest its support is most likely to be influenced by two factors, both of them not favourable to Buhari.
One, almost all members of that group are opposed to Buhari’s presidential ambition since its inception in 2002. They still see him as a military dictator of the 1980s who is best used to military ways of handling issues.
Two, as they did in their choice for a common northern candidate the northern elders are likely to emphasize spread of support that each of the candidates enjoy across the country. While Buhari has in the past got majority votes in many core northern states and very little in the south, Ribadu has considerable support in the south where his party has four states already and is favourably aligned to APGA and Labour. Ribadu, in addition does not seem to have problems with anyone - northern elders, northern aspirants, and southerners.
One area that Buhari clearly has advantage over Ribadu is the better support he gathered over the past decade among northern masses, being once a head of state and having come when there was no other meritorious candidate was around to face Obasanjo. Ribadu too is well known since he served in his capacity of the nation’s anti-corruption Caesar. Yet, he will need to conquer the northern pedestrian turf as quick as possible.
Fortunately for Ribadu, he is coming at a time when the CPC of Buhari has disappointed many northerners by not proving to be different from other parties. The manner it conducted its primaries in states where it is expected to make a good outing during the next elections has seriously dented its images. The greed with which its national leadership has scrambled to support mostly corrupt candidates in those states left many questioning its ideological credentials. Many supporters are still leaving the party in those states and decamping to the ACN which is seen as more organized and able to give a better progressive leadership.
So, though the primaries will soon be over, Nigerians have still few guesses to make about their presidential candidates. We need a month to have a better idea of whom among the three – Jonathan, Buhari or Ribadu – would make it to the polls in April. It could be all the three or just two of them.
Monday, January 10, 2011
RIBADU THREATENS COURT ACTION AGAINST GOODLUCK/ SAMBO OVER COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
The Ribadu Campaign Organisation has threatened to take legal actions against the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organisation to stop what it terms gross violation of the intellectual property rights of its campaign and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a presidential aspirant under the banner of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The issue in question is the slogan A NEW NIGERIA IS POSSIBLE, a creation of the Ribadu Campaign Organisation that has been used in in various platforms, correspondences, media and publicity materials by the campaign since its inauguration six months ago.
In the last one month, the Jonathan/Sambo campaign organization has persistently used the slogan in its TV campaigns featuring President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-president Namadi Sambo.
In a letter sent to the Director General of the Goodluck/Sambo campaign organisation signed by Chido Onumah, head of media and communication, the Ribadu Campaign Organisation noted that “the unauthorised use of the political slogan constitutes a copyright infringement, which represents a serious breach on Mr. Nuhu Ribadu’s exclusive rights to reproduce or to make derivative works of this slogan”.
“Nigerian law provides stern criminal and civil liabilities for this type of transgression and I urge you to move expeditiously to correct this infraction which, in an election year, is obviously targeted to depress the stock of our principal, and the viability of his campaign,” Onumah added.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Nigerian Presidential Candidate Ribadu Vows to End Corruption If Elected
Nigeria’s former anti-corruption chief said he will end graft and improve government transparency if elected president in a vote scheduled for April.
“Solving the problem of corruption will solve other issues, whether it is infrastructure challenges, insecurity or lack of jobs,” Nuhu Ribadu said in an interview on Dec. 30. The 50-year- old ex-chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission declared his candidacy on Dec. 15.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, is set to hold presidential elections on April 9. Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan has said he intends to extend his rule of the continent’s most populous nation, which ranks 134th on a list of the world’s 178 most corrupt nations compiled by Berlin-based anti-graft monitor, Transparency International.
Ribadu lived in the U.S. and the U.K. after he was removed by President Umaru Yar’Adua from his post at the EFCC and dismissed from the Nigeria Police in 2008 after he rejected a new posting and demotion. He returned to Nigeria in June after Jonathan was sworn in as president following the death of Yar’Adua. He is seeking the nomination of the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria.
As the first head of the anti-graft agency, Ribadu brought corruption charges against politicians in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, and government officials including serving governors and ministers.
“I stood for the Nigerian people all the time, including addressing the issue of corruption,” he said. “I will lead a clean, open and transparent government.”
Corruption Cost
Nigeria lost about $380 billion to corruption between independence in 1960 and the end of military rule in 1999, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, in October 2007.
Nigeria is the fifth-biggest source of U.S. crude imports. All of the West African country’s oil is located in the Niger River delta, where armed groups are battling the federal government for control of the region’s resources. The area is also plagued by poverty and environmental degradation caused by decades of oil exploration and production and neglect by successive governments, Ribadu said.
“The Niger delta problem is partly failure of leadership and mismanagement,” he said. “The resources that come out from that place must be used to address the problem of the people there.”
Attacks in the delta by armed groups including the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, cut more than 28 percent of the country’s oil output between 2006 and 2009. MEND wants the region to have exclusive control of its resources, while paying tax to the central government.
Rivals
Ribadu, a muslim from the northeastern Adamawa state, will compete against Jonathan and former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change if they are nominated as presidential candidates of their respective parities.
Buhari was Yar’Adua’s closest challenger in the 2007 elections that were marred by rigging and fraud, including ballot snatching and violent intimidation of opponents.
Political parties have until Jan. 15 to nominate their candidates for various political offices, according to the election schedule released by the Independent National Electoral Commissionon Nov. 23.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja atebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dulue Mbachu at dmbachu@bloomberg.net.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
RIBADU REFUTES MEDIA REPORTS ON BUHARI
Says still in race for presidency
Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the presidential aspirant of the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) said yesterday that recent media reports suggesting that his party has adopted General Muhammadu Buhari as its flag-bearer under a joint ACN and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) arrangement does not accurately reflect reality.
“The truth is that we are in dialogue as indeed we are with a host of other parties but nothing in our current talks suggests in the least that we already have a closure regarding a presidential flag bearer” said Ribadu who, teasing journalists, said “Haba, you people want to graft a monarchical spirit on a democratic institution.”
Mr. Ribadu who was addressing a group of journalists in Abuja stated that he was amazed to read in some national dailies that Buhari will fly the flag of ACN in the 2011 elections. “It is in the nature of clique politics especially at the last quarter period of an electoral match that such disinformation and underhand strategies are deployed to cushion the fortunes of preferred candidates” explained Ribadu who insisted that the democratic principles in the ACN make it impossible to resolve the critical matter of the choice of a flag bearer out the process of primaries and other statutory consideration.
“That is not our way, certainly not in ACN perhaps in the other parties. It is so sad the way some media houses seem to take a position on this issue of merger or alliance and say that somebody has been picked, nothing can be further from the truth,” he said.
Speaking further, Ribadu said the alliance has never been about an individual, but about what is good for Nigeria, adding that the ACN has never come out to say that a particular candidate has been selected. “ You know that my party, the ACN has never mentioned anybody’s name as a likely candidate, all that we are interested in is to form a strong alliance that will defeat the PDP, when the time comes for the selection of candidate to fly the flag, Nigerians will be informed” he also said.
The former Chairman of the EFCC also said the alliance vision will be expanded vigorously until more parties swell the rank because, as he said, “only when the progressive forces are united can we deal a final blow to the over a decade of misrule and decay that the PDP represents for our country and our people.”
Presidential aspirants battle for Internet users
January 2, 2011
Less than four months to the 2011 general elections, leading presidential aspirants on the platform of various political parties have taken their campaigns to the internet. Using their campaign websites and other gateways such as facebook and twitter, aspirants continue to use the internet to communicate with potential voters and supporters worldwide on their plans for the country if elected.
According to Internet world statistics, Nigeria with a population of over 150million has over 43million internet users; up from 200 thousand ten years ago. With a significant figure of over 25% of the population having access to the internet, aspirants have continued to develop strategies to engage this group of Nigerians. Use of the internet for political campaigns is however not limited to presidential aspirants, as governorship aspirants, aspiring legislators (at both federal and state levels) are also maximising the use of the internet.
Commenting on what he would like to know on the internet concerning presidential campaigns, Kunle Adebola, a banker and regular web surfer says “what I want to see when I visit campaign websites is specific programmes that the candidate wants to carry out in office; and captivating pictures of the candidate’s campaign or charity functions.” The campaign websites of various aspirants however offer different scenarios.
President Goodluck Jonathan
On his website www.goodluckjonathanfor2011.com, the President welcomes visitors with his vivid pictures including one with President Barack Obama. Aside from news items from various Nigerian print media which bolster his candidacy, Mr Jonathan provides visitors with the opportunity to know more about himself and to join his support group.
Under the sub-topic the issues, the President also provides viewers the opportunity to see his solution to six issues he believes are the problems facing Nigerians; which include: Economy, electric power,
security, health, education, and war against corruption. Commenting on the bad state of the economy, the President said “the past governments had an opportunity to provide the real relief to the Nigerian people in a time of great economic uncertainty. But once again, parochial, partisan, and special interests have taken precedence over the interests of the Nigerian people.” Mr Jonathan also promised a solution. He told Nigerians he “offers a good-faith alternative plan, which will receive the support of all Nigerians.” The President is also active on facebook where he has over 350,000 admirers, one of the largest among world leaders.
Nuhu Ribadu
Arguably the best designed and most interactive of the campaign websites, visitors to Mr Ribadu’s website (www.ribadu2011.com ) are welcomed with a video of the aspirant making festive greetings. There are also pictorial and verbal endorsements of his person from prominent Nigerians and foreigners alike including Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka; prominent writer, Chinua Achebe; Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako; and Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Apart from ways of joining or supporting his campaigns, Mr Ribadu’s manifesto titled ‘Pathway to a New Nigeria’ is also available for visitors in an abridged 16 page format on the website and downloadable in pdf. In it, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says he will focus on a 9 policy agenda which include: Health, Education, Social Security, power and allied infrastructure, transport, agriculture and food security, and the economy.
Commenting on the challenges facing the economy, the former anti-corruption boss stated that “the Nigerian economy is performing below potential and is not creating enough jobs for our burgeoning youth,” while proffering solutions which include the fact that he would manage the economy “with fiscal prudence so that we are not spending much more than we take in as revenues.” Mr Ribadu also utilises facebook where he has more than 100 thousand admirers.
Atiku Abubakar
The former vice president on www.atiku.org welcomes visitors with a YouTube video asking for peoples support. Mr Abubakar’s flamboyant website also allows visitors to join his campaign team or ask him questions. Apart from containing news items about the former vice president’s campaign and statements, the website also contains Mr Abubakar’s manifesto tagged ‘making good things happen.’ The former number two citizen further outlines a five-point agenda upon which his administration will focus. These are: employment generation and wealth creation; power generation; security and war against corruption; education and health; and the Niger Delta.
The People’s Democratic Party aspirant identified a “mono-product economy” as one of the challenges of the Nigerian economy and stated that “It is, therefore, important that the current reform efforts are given added impetus, and that the benefits are better targeted.” Mr Abubakar is also present on facebook where he has less than 10 thousand admirers.
Muhammadu Buhari
The aspirant of the Congress for Progressive Change is yet to update his campaign website, http://www.buhari.org; what is available is still the one he used in 2007 when he was the candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Should Mr Buhari decide to upgrade the site instead of designing a new one, he may have a lot to do; as the site is undoubtedly the dullest, least attractive and least interactive of the presidential campaign websites available.
Dele Momodu
The Publisher of the ovation magazine engages internet users on his website www.delemomodu2011.com.
Visitors to Mr Momodu’s website are welcomed with a picture of himself and the national chairman of his new party, the National Conscience Party (NCP), Femi Falana. Under the sub-topic spotlight on the issues, Mr Momodu explains why viewers cannot view his entire program for Nigerians saying “details of our manifesto are being worked out at the moment. It cannot be released to the public until we obtain our party ticket. We must harmonise our programmes with that of the political party that offers us the platform to contest.” Mr Momodu however summarises some of his programmes, including that for the economy, where he said “we must begin to respect industrious people in our nation. We must treat them as kings.” Pat Utomi
Even before he formally declared his intention to run for President under the platform of the Social Democratic Mega party (SDMP), Pat Utomi has always professed solutions for the problems of the country. Using his campaign website www.utomifornigeria.com, Mr Utomi welcomes visitors with several graphical portraits of himself and speeches he has delivered across the country, including one where he commends Mr Ribadu saying “Nuhu Ribadu is in my view a true Nigerian hero, and it is an embarrassment to Nigeria that our Attorney General irresponsibly accuses him of otherwise.” Under the sub-topic ‘issues,’ Mr Utomi highlights what he intends to bring to governance if elected to office.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Abuja Bomb Blast
Presidential aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Nuhu Ribadu has condoled with the victims of today’s twin bomb blasts in Abuja, and called on President Goodluck Jonathan to step out promptly and strongly to guarantee the security of Nigerians from random acts of terror that is fast enveloping community life in the country.
Mr. Ribadu described the perpetrators of the bomb blasts as “cowards and cruel people who deserve no place in a civilised community" adding that the basic minimum expectation from the government now "is to ensure that the perpetrators of this crazy attack on the fraternal values that unite our communitiies are promptly and sternly brought to justice."
Mr. Ribadu also asked for soberity in response from the populace asking the political parties to urgently engage with their members to promote tolerance and policies that empower those in their ranks that are champions of peace and social unity."
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About Me
- Team Ribadu
- Team Ribadu is a youth driven, flagship volunteer movement for the Nuhu Ribadu 2011 presidential bid. It is “a political movement, founded in recognition of the legitimate thirst of Nigerian youth for a new kind of leadership marked by integrity and competence. It seeks to harness and support the tidal wave of young people, who are eager to get involved in the electoral process, in order to create political and social change”.