The Say News: BUHARI BACK FROM CHINA TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

The Say News: BUHARI BACK FROM CHINA TO FIGHT CORRUPTION: Is President Buhari’s war against corruption real or a political witch-hunt? Flourish Osmor Ray  How can he fight what his masters i...

BUHARI BACK FROM CHINA TO FIGHT CORRUPTION

Is President Buhari’s war against corruption real or a political witch-hunt?

Flourish Osmor Ray How can he fight what his masters in the Military planted, watered and fertilized. How can he fight when he is dining and wining with the authors of corruption? How can he fight when his wife sneaks into the sprawling highbrow haven named Marbella in Spain during the Easter celebrations, 2016 unannounced? How can he fight when no one knows his wife´s mission in Marbella, Spain? The same city where Stella Obasanjo was killed by our commonwealth, where Panama paper leaks guru, General Theophilus Yusuf Danjuma has series of mansions for himself, his wives and children. How can he fight when her daughter flies in first class despite his restriction on top officials not to fly in business class.

How can he fight when his campaign was funded by money stolen from the national and states ‘treasuries? How can he fight when his best friends are looters of yester years. How can he fight Naira is now a tissue paper. How can he when budgets continue to disappear and re-appear well padded. How can he fight when Jonathan has become his national anthem a year after visionless and mission-less willy-nilly engagements? Haba! Sei Baba! Sei Maya! Sei Buhari!!!

THE DAY SPAIN STOOD STILL FOR BIANCA OJUKWU

By Uchendu Precious Onuoha (Special correspondent)

THE DAY SPAIN STOOD STILL FOR BIANCA OJUKWU

The chronicles of Bianca Ojukwu’s sojourn in Spain as Nigeria’s Ambassador will never finish to be told until the kingdom of God comes. Bianca Ojukwu was not just an Ambassador but an Ambassador extra-ordinary. And as Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the cap fitted her very well. Bianca, whom God created on the day He created light and on a beautiful day, is not just a representative of the world tourism organization but an effigy of tourism herself. She is a pride to Nigeria, Africa, women, and to the world in general. It is said that that in the mouth of one or two witnesses the truth is established. It’s just exactly a year today, Spain reaffirmed what the late warlord, Ikemba Ojukwu saw and stated; “Saying that Bianca Ojukwu is beautiful is like one standing in front of the white house saying this house is tall. You have just stated the obvious”.  

Bianca’s presence at the event of International Cultural Festival held in Malaga Spain on the last days of April to first week of May 2015, held the crowd spell bound in admiration of a well deserving United Nation’s World Tourism Ambassador, true African Ambassador and one of the most beautiful woman the African continent and the world at large were blessed to have in this generation. The turnout of people to the festival in Spain could be likened to the scene in the Holy book that says;  “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before”… (Rev. 7:9) But in the midst of that great crowd, Bianca stood out like a gold fish whose presence in the water cannot be hidden. I felt so proud to be a Nigerian and African when Bianca’s presence at the occasion arrested the attention of what looked like an Olympic crowd.

As she entered the arena, the shout of “guapa, guapa”, meaning (beautiful, beautiful) rented the air. The Spaniards are known for not hiding their expressions, feelings and admiration for beautiful women and things. The question in the air was which country? And once they realized she is from Nigeria, the expression continued “que guapa”, Nigeria “que bonito” ( What a beauty, Nigeria so good).From then, all the participating countries were falling head over heels inviting the Nigerian delegation to come over to their pavilion to identify with them.

The most astonishment was when a Ukrainian man panting with breadth after meandering his way through from the crowd just to catch a glimpse and closer view of Bianca, finally came to her and took a deep breath, stating that for the past one hour, they have been trailing behind her and that the wife just want to tell her she is “beautiful” and would not leave without having a picture with her. Bianca who was touched with their exhilaration embraced the couples and took pictures with them. The kind of excitement and joy the couple expressed on granting their request was too much to be imagined.  

The Say News: PRESS STATEMENT FROM HER EXCELLENCY AMBASSADOR BIA...

The Say News: PRESS STATEMENT FROM HER EXCELLENCY AMBASSADOR BIA...: 12  April 2016 PRESS STATEMENT FROM HER EXCELLENCY, AMBASSADOR BIANCA ODUMEGWU-OJUKWU RE.  PULSE TV NEWS INTERVIEW  APRIL 2016 ...

PRESS STATEMENT FROM HER EXCELLENCY AMBASSADOR BIANCA ODUMEGWU-OJUKWU.

12  April 2016

PRESS STATEMENT FROM HER EXCELLENCY, AMBASSADOR BIANCA ODUMEGWU-OJUKWU

RE.  PULSE TV NEWS INTERVIEW  APRIL 2016

The attention of Her Excellency has been drawn to an interview granted by a media character Ms Kemi Olunloyo, a deportee from Canada, and a fugitive from justice in the United States of America, whose sole existence centres around online character assassination. Her victims have ranged from Bishops, General Overseers,Presidents, Ministers, Hardworking Musicians and real media Personalities down to her own family members including her mother, father, stepmother and siblings.

It is rather unfortunate that it has become the practice for anyone seeking publicity to add Her Excellency’s name to their stories, fantasies or delusions, and none more so than this  mentally unstable internet troll whose insane need for attention is well known to Nigerians.

This unhealthy obsession with Her Excellency for some time now, a situation most public figures can identify with, has been glaringly evident in her posts, and is indicative of a more serious underlying condition. It is quite clear that her delusions and fantasies have become her reality, and her lack of gainful employment and hours spent online focusing on other people’s lives have exacerbated her already strained sanity or lack thereof.

It is obvious that Ms Olunloyo needs urgent psychiatric attention

Her Excellency extends  her sincere sympathies to Ms. Olunloyo’s family, and urges those who are able, to ensure that this mentally challenged individual receives the crucial psychiatric help she is so desperately in need of in order to contain her excesses.

                                                                                              

                                                                                      Signed

                                                                                   Uchendu Onuoha

                                                                 Media Liason Officer to Her Excellency

                                                                 Amb. Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

                                                           

                                                              12^th April 2016

ONCE WE GET IT RIGHT, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR NIGERIA; JOHN OYEGUN -APC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN

By Uchendu Precious Onuoha (Special Correspondent)

ONCE WE GET IT RIGHT, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR NIGERIA;  JONHN OYEGUN -APC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN.

The APC national chairman, chief John Odigie Oyegun was in Madrid Spain on March 4, 2016 to meet with the APC supporters Spain chapter. The group led by Steven Adeayo Tella and their spokesperson and media director Prince Kelly Udebhulu  hosted the chairman to a dinner party and press session. The press session was covered by the Daily Independent foreign correspondent, Uchendu Precious Onuoha  and media crew from Zenith magazine. Below are the excerpts of the interview with chief Oyegun with the foreign correspondent in Spain.

Que.  As the chairman of APC the ruling party in Nigeria, what are your achievements and challenges so far?

Ans.  I would say am lucky and privileged to be the first national chairman of course there was one interim chairman before. It was a privilege to be entrusted with that respect. I am running a party that rose up from the ashes of 3 to 4 other major parties, the ACN, NDP, CPC, part of APGA and others. And they turned it into a fighting force, of course with the intense cooperation of a lot of other major stakeholders of the party; we were able to turn it into a fighting force that succeeded in upstaging the government that was in office at that time which a lot of people thought and believed until the last minute it was not doable. For obvious reasons, it has never happened before, because they had access to so much resources and patronage that a lot of people thought it was undoable. But the good thing is that at that time, the Nigerian public was generally fed up with 16 years of PDP government.

The Nigerian public wanted a new direction, the Nigerian public was yearning for integrity, they needed leaders they could trust in governance and leaders they could believe in. On top of the stage so to say was such a personality in the person of Muhammadu Buhari, who is now president of the nation. And it was  so clear, it was so obvious that he was the kind of person the nation needed at this period, a man who is transparent, obviously incorruptible, a man of very strong will and mind. And the only person who had the type of courage that it takes like we are experiencing today to tackle the MONSTER called corruption. I would say, it has been a pleasure, a wonderful experience, tough and difficult. I had to rely majorly on the compassionate cooperation of other stakeholders that together made the victory possible.

Que. Many Nigerians in Spain and diaspora are affected by the economic downturn of their host countries. Many are distressed and want go back home. Is there any plan on ground back home to rehabilitate such people?

Ans. I don’t know about rehabilitating those coming back home. But coming to join the struggle to change Nigeria, yes, and no question about that, they are very welcome. Talking about the economic downturn, it’s obvious that this is a worldwide phenomenon. Most nations of the world are experiencing economic difficulties. The Nigerian hazards originated from mis-government over 16 years ago. The lack of vision, the lack of direction, the lack of that will to build a nation and create something that was not there before. To be precise, the PDP government seems to have been contented within this period sitting on the resources that we have, distributing it, consuming it without creating for the future, without building for the future, without putting the economy on the footing for a sustainable growth. That was the period we have excess crude account. Meaning that we had more money coming in than we have planned from the price of crude our main export. The time crude was sold 130 to $140/barrel. We had that kind of money, but we did not plan, we did not build a single petro-chemical complex, we did not build a single refinery, instead even in the midst of plenty, we were still importing refined crude.

That was how visionless and totally plan less the situation was before APC took over. So to come back directly to your question, we too, apart from that plan less-ness, we also are victims of this major collapse of the price of crude from 140 to 30 dollars a barrel which is over 70% drop. So as fathers, just imagine what happens when you go to work and at the end of the month you come back with an income 70% less than what you have been used to. That has put us today in a situation of lack of infrastructures and total lack of facilities. So if you are coming, you know you are coming to join the major struggle to rebuild the foundations of our nation. Our nation is potentially great, make no mistake about that, we are resource blessed, there’s no question about that. And with the type of leadership we have now, we are going to rebuild that foundation. But what I emphasize is that, like you are experiencing here, these are hard times. So the choice is yours, do you want to come home, come and join the struggle there won’t be any bed of roses, one has to be practical, and there won’t be any soft landing. The foundations have been badly fractured that we have to rebuild. Once we get it right, the sky is the limit for Nigeria. That is the only thing one can offer.

Que. We have an array of Nigerian professionals in diaspora, how can the government harness this opportunity to turn the issue of brain drain in Nigeria into brain gain?

Ans. There is no question at all, those of you professionals abroad, this is really the time your knowledge, skills, experience and expertise  are required because this is not the age of professional politicians per say. We need technocrats to get us out of the mess the economy has been plunged into. So for those of you that have specialized knowledge and skills, this is the time and you must hasten otherwise we are not going to make the kind of progress at the rate we must put in place for our country to recover.

Que. What plans are in process for Nigerians in diaspora to vote in the next dispensation?

Ans. That time will come, it will happen. You have heard the commitment of Buhari’s administration to the slogan we are shouting everyday which is, change. Again we have to fundamentally change the society and our attitude to politics and re-establish respect for right and disdain for what is wrong. We must establish respect basically for due process and rule of law. You can see that the electioneering has just been through, some of the cases are just been concluded in Rivers state, Bayelsa, Abia, Akwa Ibom. Cases which were visited with a lot of violence. Most cases went to Supreme Court for those who lost because of the nature of the electoral process. To be plain, to venture into that it has to be technically fraught to dangers and abuses and not for politicians to reap where they did not sow. The change we are now beginning to put in place is one of the thing that will go paripasu when we start to respect right and condemnation for wrong. There is no question at all given the large diaspora population that we have. What I have noticed here is the kind of passion with which you people have embraced this idea of change. It would be wrong to say NO, we cannot extend the possibility of diaspora voting, but the time must be right and the atmosphere must be right.

Que. Do you think the new trend where election victories are decided by the courts will augur well for the Nigerian democracy?

Ans. Let me say this in general terms then I go back to the APC change, the general Mantra, the challenges that are presently facing the regime. What is important is that the president believes strictly in the rule of law, strictly in enforcing existing laws. I am sure those of you who visit very often must have come across this talk that the APC say they have won  the election but they are not behaving as if they are in power, meaning that people still have this old concept that power is having a sledge hammer and smashing everybody who is in your path. But the president is dedicating himself to due process and respect for rule of law. So he is shunning the big stick so to say and believes strongly that you can change society only when you have changed people’s attitude and it becomes second nature for them to do what is right and shun what is wrong. It’s going to be tough and difficult process, but it’s the only way we can depart from the past where might was right and unfortunately it sticked in the entire society. But the Buhari’s government is going to be very strict in enforcing due process, strict on the rule of law without respecter of persons. If you fail foul of the law, you pay the price whoever you are. There will be no exemptions and nobody is going to be too big to be touched. That is the only way change can become permanent. But it’s a longer route, the road we are travelling.

Que. Before coming to Spain, what was your impression about Nigerians in Spain?

Ans. I knew there is a very active and large Nigerian population here facing the struggles of life and the rest of it. I knew also there was an active APC wing here, one of the most active worldwide that I have experienced and that is why I chose to come here. I know that the economy worldwide is taking a tumble and I know you people are affected like people anywhere else. But the important thing is that in the midst of that, you have held your head very high and still truncating in social positive activities which are contributing in projecting the image of our country particularly at this time. So far I know it’s not yet “Uhuru” but I am impressed by the road that you are travelling.

Que. As APC national chairman and leader what advise do you have for other leaders in implementing youth empowerment policies?

Ans.  The issue of youth is inevitability. It is inevitable because whether we like it or not, the youth at a certain stage are the inheritance of the nation. And everyone must endeavor to create opportunities for them and instill hope into their lives. Nothing like a youthful population that has lost hope. So they must always be engaged, they must always be challenged. The call in part of government is improving and restoring hope to the youths of the nation.

AFTER THE VICTORY OF GOD'S OWN GOVERNOR IN GOD'S OWN STATE

By Uchendu Precious Onuoha (Special Correspondent)

AFTER THE VICTORY OF GOD’S OWN GOVERNOR IN GOD’S OWN STATE

Call him the preaching governor, the singing governor, the dancing governor, Victor, and a governor after God’s own heart, for God’s own state, Okezie Ikpeazu would fit in. In September last year in faraway Connecticut in New York I met a man, and a leader who was clothed with Godly humility. His assertion that without God, he cannot stand touched my heart. I watched him sing a song he captioned his battle and victory song: “Obughi mu ji onwem, ma amara ya jim aka kam hara ida”.  I hold not myself, but His grace holds me so that I cannot fall. And in faraway Spain, I was moved again when I saw him singing and dancing his victory song once again  few days ago after the Supreme Court verdict.

The Supreme Court verdict on February 3, declaring him the rightful occupant of the Abia state government house after a hard fought battle with a well formidable and “never say die” opponent confirmed truly that his victory was an act of God. With the battle that ensued before victory came his way, any feeble mind would have lost vision and focus. But in governor Ikpeazu’s case the challenges on his way propelled him to devote himself more to the service of the people, a rare fit among Nigerian leaders under such circumstances who would have been distracted and lost focus. And like David, a man after God’s own heart would do, Ikpeazu was all songs and took to praising God for his victory after the Supreme Court ruling. And from a distance, I could hear him sing his battle and victory song once again. As his name depicts Victor, you cannot be a Victor without a battle. For Okezie Ikpeazu, the initial battle is won but you have not finished the race. But the real test just started.

For his opponent Alex Otti, “Anu laa taa, echi bun ta”. It was not a Victor and vanquished affair. You did not fail, rather it’s a stepping stone to success.  “The phoenix must burn to emerge”

The election is over and the winner emerged. Irrespective of political and party leanings, let everybody Join hands to make Abia great. It’s not the Abia state of Ikpeazu or PDP, APGA or APC, but the Abia state of Nigeria.

Top of Form

For Ikpeazu now that you have the full mandate, the gloomy and cloudy storms are gone. The coast is clear. Strip yourself of party politics and god fatherism agenda and go for the real work God has chosen you to do in Abia state. You are not a PDP governor, you are not the Ngwa governor, you are not the Umuahia governor, but you are Ikpeazu, the Abia state governor. And may I  remind you  during the interview with you in New York September 5 2015 your answer to the question; Abia state is tagged as God’s own state, and you are the governor of God’s own state… would it be right to tag you as God’s own governor?

Your response was “It would be a privilege, an honor, in fact a virtue, it’s not a title I can own, and it’s a title I will work towards to. I wish I could be God’s own governor. And I pray he will be gracious and merciful to give me the grace to be that one day”.

Governor Ikpeazu, the time has come to work towards that virtue and clinch it. Now that the gloomy and cloudy storms that loomed on your path are gone, go for the crown of glory and work to earn that virtue as God’s own governor through your good works as you have already set out to do. In addition to your battle and victory song, you can sing now a new song in the rendition of Jimmy Cliff; And you can sing and say;

“I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It’s gonna be a bright sunshiny day. Oh, yes I can make it now the pain is gone. All of the bad feelings have disappeared. Here is that rainbow I’ve been praying for”…

Indeed here is the rainbow and the blue skies Abians have been praying and waiting for. And surely it’s going to be a bright sunshiny days and years for the people of God’s own state under God’s own governor.