Stop the Hoopla around Buhari’s Health, Talk of Cabal Running Govt Mere Myth, Says Tinubu

By Ibidapo Balogun

Former Lagos State governor and APC national stalwart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has urged Nigerians to ignore the hoopla about President Muhammadu Buhari’s health and allow the president to do his job as he deems fit.

He said President Buhari has moved the country from the path of failure to “a path where we have a fighting chance to realize a better nation. Had we stuck to the ways of the former administration, our present situation would be worse than untenable.”

Tinubu said the business of government was running and dismissed the notion that a cabal was at work in Abuja as mere myth.

In a strongly-worded statement personally signed by him, Tinubu said:

“Nigeria is a place of numerous challenges and the home of vast human potentials. Our greatest challenge has always been how to best direct our vast potentials so that we overcome the challenges that plague us. This cardinal challenge is why the APC was formed and why the party presented then General Muhammadu Buhari as its standard bearer. The people rightly chose him as their president, believing he was the best person to make Nigeria into a better nation.

His electoral victory was historic. More importantly, like most Nigerians, I believed his presidency represented a historic mission to right many of our nation’s wrongs. I still believe so. The previous administration treated Boko Haram softly, appearing to view the terrorists as part of their political equation rather than a lethal threat to national security. President Buhari has gone after Boko Haram without condition and without fear. He has pushed them back, saving lives and giving northern Nigeria a chance to breathe again the air of peace and normalcy.

“My recent visit to Borno State to inaugurate projects opened my eyes to the progress President Buhari has made in the anti-terror war. An enabling environment has been created for Governor Kashim Shettima who has taken advantage of the peaceful space to initiate laudable projects such as the provision of housing for and rehabilitation of Boko Haram victims.  The previous administration treated corruption as its co-tenant in office. President Buhari has fought it with tenacity, equal to that with which he has confronted Boko Haram.

We currently face stiff economic challenges. This is neither President’s Buhari’s doing nor choosing. The steep decline in oil prices caused the downturn which exposed our nation’s long-time failure to plan ahead by diversifying our economic base. It has fallen on the Buhari government to fix the immediate problem while also diversifying our economy so that we will no longer be as vulnerable to the price of oil again.

“His policies have begun to bear fruit. We are moving out of recession and toward the long-term reshaping of the national economy. Given the complex menu of problems he has faced, President Buhari has done well in a tough situation. While I seek not to diminish the hardship still faced by many of our people, we also must be cognizant of the important progress made these past two years.

President Buhari has moved us from the path of failure to a path where we have a fighting chance to realize a better nation. Had we stuck to the ways of the former administration, our present situation would be worse than untenable. Those who publicly speculate about the issue of the President’s health must keep all of this in mind. Much is at stake. We owe a responsibility to be wise and circumspect in what is spoken into the public ear.

“We voted for President Buhari because we trusted his ability to make decisions regarding complex issues of state. If we can trust him to handle difficult matters of governance, we can also trust him to make correct decisions regarding his personal health. The President Buhari I have come to know is an honest and responsible man and leader.

When he returned to Nigeria on March 10, he disclosed to the nation that he had been sick to the extent that he received blood transfusion and would leave for further treatment at some future date. He said he would follow the counsel of his doctors and there is every reason to believe that he has been true to their counsel. Many people have openly speculated about the President’s health. Some have done so for their own selfish reasons. These people shall be found out in time. There are many who have done so out of sincere concern for the President.

“These people should not be condemned for their heartfelt concern. However, they should be advised not to allow fear to ambush their better judgment and their courage. They should not give themselves to idle speculation. We should not buy into the myth of some cabal at work. Dwelling in empty speculation on the existence of some mythic cabal is not what the country needs at present. From what I can see, the President remains at the helm and his policies are being implemented.

The President is also showing his belief in process and partnership by assigning more responsibilities to the VP, which included presiding over meetings of the Federal Executive Council, thus demonstrating his trust and implicit confidence in him. Unfounded speculation serves no purpose other than to encourage those who would rather derail the President’s progressive agenda and who would divisively pit one aspect of this nation against another. Such chatter may foment division where there was none and this might come to impair the management of the affairs of this country.

“By fomenting animosity among groups that have heretofore been allied, those who hold to the bankrupt politics of yesterday seek to thwart the President’s mission while claiming to support him. Those who truly care about the President and the important work he still must do should not allow themselves to become the unwitting tools of these regressive forces.

We must stand with and beside our President. The unfounded speculation around his health should stop. We must not covet fear and rumor but should engage our creativity and enterprise to help the President accomplish his historic mission.  Our greatest energies should be focused on righting this economy so that it provides a decent livelihood for all people. This critical path towards economic recovery must be followed for the sake of our children.”

ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU

Jagaban Borgu

Nigerian Woman Convicted of Unlawfully Obtaining Citizenship Through Sham Marriage in US

A nigerian woman, Euphemia Chinyeaka Okeke, 41, has admitted she unlawfully obtained citizenship by entering into a sham marriage with a Houston man, Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez announced yesterday.

Okeke, a resident of Louiseville in Kentucky admitted to marrying a Houston resident and U.S. citizen while in Nigeria. She then applied for an immigrant visa and alien registration based on that marriage, claiming her permanent residence would be Houston.

 However, shortly after she arrived in the United States, Okeke conceived a child and lived in Louisville with Kenneth Okeke, a Nigerian citizen with no legal status to reside in the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Okeke have since lived in Louisville and have two children together there.

 In her application for naturalization, however, she testified under oath and penalty of perjury that since arriving in this country, she continuously lived in Houston with her purported husband and no one else, had not lived in any other place in the United States and had no children. She became a naturalized citizen on Sept. 14, 2011.

 Less than a month later, Euphemia Okeke filed for divorce. She married Kenneth Okeke two weeks later and filed a petition for alien relative in an attempt to obtain lawful immigration status for him. In that petition, she stated under oath and penalty of perjury that she was divorced two years before she actually was and that she had lived and worked in Louisville since arriving in the United States.

 U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon accepted the plea and has set sentencing for Aug. 4, 2017. At that time, Euphemia Okeke faces up to 10 years in federal prison and possible revocation of her citizenship.

 Kenneth Okeke is currently in deportation proceedings.

 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Goldman is prosecuting the case.

Via: Sahara Reporters

THEY LEARNT NOTHING, AND FORGOT NOTHING By FEMI ADESINA

President Buhari with the Acting President Prof. Osinbajo

They showed their pernicious hands again last Sunday, and have been on the prowl since then, roaring like a lion, seeking who to devour. Purveyors of death they are, and they have killed President Muhammadu Buhari many times over, cloned the websites of international media houses to announce the hoax, but their wishes did not become horses, so they remain stranded, with nothing to ride.

Between January 19, this year, when the President first proceeded on vacation, and March 10, when he returned, they had announced his demise many times. They even created apocryphal images and footages to back up their inhuman claims, but God showed them He was the ultimate. The Real Deal, the Special One. President Buhari came back alive, and disclosed that he would still return to London at a later date for medical follow-up. He eventually left on the night of Sunday, May 7. 

They saw the Deux ex machina, the Invisible Hands of God, between January and March, but they are so steeped and marooned in unbelief, evil wishes and malediction, that they have started all over again. Last Sunday, they cloned popular websites for the umpteenth time, using them to announce the figment of their diseased imagination. They learnt nothing, and forgot nothing from the immediate past experience. And you begin to ask yourself, just as the Good Book also asked:"Why do the heathens rage, and the people imagine vain things?" Why do they arrogate to themselves the power that belongs only to God? "I can kill, and I can make alive," says God in His word. But these purveyors of hate possibly don't know God. That is why they declare a man dead, when God has not said so. Once has God spoken, and twice have I heard it, that power belongs to God.

Millions upon millions of Nigerians love President Muhammadu Buhari. They love his simplicity, his forthrightness, incorruptibility, love of country, and many other virtues. And they are praying. Bombarding Heaven with petitions. Baba o, Baba o, Baba o. Olorun da Baba si fun wa, Baba o, Baba o, Baba o. Olorun da Baba si fun wa. Oh God, spare our Baba, the father of the country. Spare him for us, O Lord we pray. And Heaven is listening to the supplications. We await the full manifestation.

Millions of us can follow Baba blindfolded into battle. We love him that much, and it is within our rights. But have you seen a man ever loved by everybody? Show me. Even if you feed an entire city daily, some people still won't like your guts. So, those who are not Buharists have a right to their convictions. But must any human being be hateful to the point of wishing another person dead, and indeed broadcasting a death that never happened? Shame. Shame upon evil wishers, purveyors of lies and wickedness. Do they have blood running in their veins at all? Do they realize that wishing another person dead, is sin before God? Yet they go to churches, mosques, and other worship houses. Who are they worshiping? The Unknown God.

Why do some people, a tiny but vocal minority, wish the President dead? Do they know that if God wills, the man they wish dead could outlive them by many years? There was a lady who was very active on social media in 2015, before the presidential election of that year. She was in the league of anti-Buhari elements. Oh, he was too old. Oh, he was sickly. Yes, he would soon die. The lady was rabidly pontifical in her convictions, parading herself as someone with a charmed life, who would live forever. And then, it happened! Sometime last year, she died! When I saw the news online, I just shook my head, and prayed for the repose of her soul. I did not gloat. No need to. Not in her wildest imagination could she have thought that she would pre-decease President Buhari. But who has the final say? Jehovah has the final say. The breath of man is in his nostrils, and God can decide to extinguish his candle at anytime. Jehovah has the final say. It is not by age, not by how healthy you seem, or how sickly you are. It's a lesson some people have not learnt. They learn nothing, and forget nothing.

Back to the earlier question. Why do some people want their own President dead? Why do they want the eclipse of a man who is actuated by nothing other than love for his country? Why have they constituted themselves into enemies of national progress, haters of all that is good? Why do they prefer the dark jungle of infamy to the light of a clear and bright day, signposted by freedom from rapacity and lootocracy? Who then are these enemies?

"Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent, those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as Ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds."

Those were the words of Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, after the country's first military coup in 1966. You may like Nzeogwu, or you may not, depending on how you view his actions and inactions. But you can hardly deny the veracity of what he said. And 51 years later, the words still ring true.

The enemies of Buhari are the political profiteers. To them, political office is not about service, but about making profit. Ordinary people can go to hell, and stay there. Personal profit is the name of the game.

The swindlers, too. Enemies of righteousness and transparency. They swindle man, and even try to swindle God. Of course, they wouldn't want a new sheriff in town. They'd rather shoot him, and sing the reggae song:"I shot the sheriff..."

Those that seek bribe and demand 10 percent. Enemies. Only that they are not satiated by 10 percent again. They take the entire 100 percent, and leave the country prostrate. But when a Daniel comes to judgment, and hurls them before the law, knowing neither friend nor foe, they wish that he dies. Gerrout, so that business as usual continues, they shout.

Those that seek to keep the country divided permanently. Evil souls. They use all the fault lines. Religion. Ethnicity. Language. Everything. We saw it all in the 2015 elections. They cashed in on all things that divide us as a people. But Nigerians were resolute for change, and they got it. But did those people give up? Did Pharaoh desist from pursuing the people of Israel? Hell, no! Till he ended in a watery grave. The stubborn fly follows the corpse into the grave.

For the greater part of this year, President Buhari has been away from home. But whether present or absent, he still looms large. The mere fact that his shadow hovers over the land riles evil workers to no end. But what can anybody do? Jehovah has the final say.

The old order is giving way for a new one in Nigeria. In just two years, the back of insurgency has been broken, corruption is taking a shellacking, and the comatose economy is turning round. Despite it all, some people still wish the President dead. Sad and sorry. But thankfully, they don't have the final say. 

However, if they refuse to repent, we can repent on their behalf, lest judgment comes speedily on them. How dreadful it would be.

Lord, we are sorry,
We've turned around and gone astray,
Your trust for us we have betrayed,
Your power we don't recognize
Your Lordship we have all despised,
We cannot pretend
We all now repent
Forgive us Lord we pray
Bring down your glory...

May God bless Panam Percy Paul, who sang the song. May God accept our repentance on behalf of evil wishers. May God spare our President, and restore him to full health.
Baba o, Baba o, Baba o, Oluwa da Baba si fun wa. 

Lord, please spare our President. Spare him for us, to the glory of your name. Let those who learn nothing, and forget nothing, be purged of all evil. Let them turn new leaf.

Amen somebody!

Adesina is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari