The rumour even surfaced during Conversation for Change, a question and answer session held with the vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo this evening. It had also been splashed on prominent pages of many national dailies recently.
It is the statement credited to the Director of Media of the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode on the All Progressives Congress and its leaders
that Asiwaju Tinubu would become president by asking the Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo to resign after six months in office in the belief that the President Muhammadu Buhari may have terminal health challenges.
Responding, the director, Strategic Communications for the Presidential Campaign Organisation, All Progressives' Congress (APC) Mr. Dele Alake, confirmed in a press release that the emergence of the unfounded statement from "Mr. Femi Fani- Kayode who, just a few days ago, was brought to answer corruption charges, makes the message incredulous," adding, "The whole world knows the other reasons for the incredulity of any message delivered through him."
Furthermore, Alake said in order to prevent the unaware among the general public, said "there is no iota of truth in such allegation. It is the product of infantile, wild imagination of a convoluted, distorted and warped mind.
In the APC, we do not indulge in oath-taking, pact-signing and such other rituals that the PDP establishment is adept at. Such PDP- induced Okija scenarios have no place in the APC."
"Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a thorough- bred, accomplished professor, teacher, pastor, mentor and preacher who is nationally and internationally acknowledged as a man of probity, integrity, transparency and competence who can never be part of such inanities.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his part, is the foremost national leader of the APC who has achieved an enviable, political status, fame and stature. He has gone far beyond using subterfuge to attain any political position.
It is widely known, globally, that he has been pivotal in midwifing the most potent and formidable opposition movement that has become the nightmare of the incompetent behemoth called the PDP, and to the delight of Nigerians, the desired change they are waiting for."
"Having lost substantial ground politically and seeing the inevitability of an APC victory at the polls, it is the PDP that is strenuously engaging in all kinds of subterfuge from hurling personal abuses and attacks on Buhari and Tinubu; to election postponement antics; to evading elections at all costs and even the unfashionable idea of foisting an interim government. It is the PDP that is generating crisis in order to make the elections difficult if not impossible."
"Unknown to its campaign machinery, these gimmicks portray the PDP as deep in conclusive disarray.
Indeed, the fact that the PDP campaign machinery can construct a post- presidential election scenario in which APC would be in power is a significant testimony of their admission that they have lost this election."
" We note this mental and psychological concession of victory to our party's presidential candidate but reject the odious scenario.
Nigerians should please ignore this latest antic because it is untrue,ridiculous, ludicrous, mundane and jejune."
Osinbajo, at today's event, reiterates the claim's spuriousness as it goes against the grain of all what he personifies. Throughout the four-hour session, he displayed an articulate, cerebral and receptive mind as he delivered answers to various questions spanning legal, security, economic, religious, education, health and foreign affairs issues with consummate grace and charm. However, the only time he showed a flash of emotion came when he was answering this particular poser. He was clearly irritated with the allegation. "For one to negotiate anything, there must be something traded off. What would I want to do this for? Money? I am a Senior Advocate of Nigeria!," he said with spirit to wild applause.
Saturday 28 February 2015
"Absurd," that's how APC dismisses PDP's claim that Tinubu took oath with Osinbajo
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the sickening and outlandish claim by the Jonathan campaign Organization that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu plans to become Vice President through the back door was designed to divert attention from the runaway success of the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, at the Chatham House in London last Thursday.
In a statement issued in London on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP and the Jonathan Administration still do not have any answer to what has now become an epochal moment that has separated the wheat from the chaff.
”Our presidential candidate’s globally-acclaimed outing has presented Nigerians, and indeed the global community, with a choice between a bumbling, ineffective, incoherent, clueless, visionless and incompetent President and an assertive, knowledgeable, dignified, purposeful and principled President-in-waiting.
”Having failed to discredit that outing with a rented crowd, some of whom confessed to have been paid to carry placards they do not even understand, the PDP and the Jonathan Administration have now resorted to making nauseating claims that are totally untrue, absolutely incomprehensible and nothing but sheer bunkum,” it said.
APC said the claim is the latest in a series of desperate moves by the PDP and the Jonathan Administration since the emergence of Gen. Buhari as the APC presidential candidate, and the clearest indication yet that they have no answer to the unstoppable momentum of a man of history.
”They have thrown everything imaginable at Gen. Buhari, but he has continued to wax stronger and stronger: They said he was not qualified, that he was too old, then they fabricated a medical report of an illness of their own choice, sponsored death wish adverts against him and instituted a myriad of court cases to stop him.
”After they failed to stop him, they went after the election itself, using the PVCs as a tool to launch a campaign for postponement and, when they realized that would not work, came up with the bogey of insecurity in the North-east to force a postponement of the election, hoping they can buy enough time to revive their electoral misfortune.
”With everything working against them, they engaged in a show of shame at The Chatham House that backfired badly, on the heels of their bare-faced lies that Gen. Buhari was hospitalized in London. The preposterous claim of a secret oath – reminiscent of what they do in their own party – by the apparently ailing spokesman of the Jonathan Campaign Organization, Femi Fani-Kayode, is their latest desperate act,” the party said.
APC said in as much as it has so far refrained from engaging Fani-Kayode in his game of character assassination, abuses and irresponsible name calling, the party is becoming seriously concerned that he may be caving in under pressure and reverting to his undignified past of substance abuse.
The party said it would be a real tragedy if the obviously-disturbed spokesman of a doomed presidential campaign will have to be rushed to a back house in Ghana for therapeutics, hence the need for his handlers to quickly put him on a leash before it is too late.
PM News
In a statement issued in London on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the PDP and the Jonathan Administration still do not have any answer to what has now become an epochal moment that has separated the wheat from the chaff.
”Our presidential candidate’s globally-acclaimed outing has presented Nigerians, and indeed the global community, with a choice between a bumbling, ineffective, incoherent, clueless, visionless and incompetent President and an assertive, knowledgeable, dignified, purposeful and principled President-in-waiting.
”Having failed to discredit that outing with a rented crowd, some of whom confessed to have been paid to carry placards they do not even understand, the PDP and the Jonathan Administration have now resorted to making nauseating claims that are totally untrue, absolutely incomprehensible and nothing but sheer bunkum,” it said.
APC said the claim is the latest in a series of desperate moves by the PDP and the Jonathan Administration since the emergence of Gen. Buhari as the APC presidential candidate, and the clearest indication yet that they have no answer to the unstoppable momentum of a man of history.
”They have thrown everything imaginable at Gen. Buhari, but he has continued to wax stronger and stronger: They said he was not qualified, that he was too old, then they fabricated a medical report of an illness of their own choice, sponsored death wish adverts against him and instituted a myriad of court cases to stop him.
”After they failed to stop him, they went after the election itself, using the PVCs as a tool to launch a campaign for postponement and, when they realized that would not work, came up with the bogey of insecurity in the North-east to force a postponement of the election, hoping they can buy enough time to revive their electoral misfortune.
”With everything working against them, they engaged in a show of shame at The Chatham House that backfired badly, on the heels of their bare-faced lies that Gen. Buhari was hospitalized in London. The preposterous claim of a secret oath – reminiscent of what they do in their own party – by the apparently ailing spokesman of the Jonathan Campaign Organization, Femi Fani-Kayode, is their latest desperate act,” the party said.
APC said in as much as it has so far refrained from engaging Fani-Kayode in his game of character assassination, abuses and irresponsible name calling, the party is becoming seriously concerned that he may be caving in under pressure and reverting to his undignified past of substance abuse.
The party said it would be a real tragedy if the obviously-disturbed spokesman of a doomed presidential campaign will have to be rushed to a back house in Ghana for therapeutics, hence the need for his handlers to quickly put him on a leash before it is too late.
PM News
Jega's fate as electoral agency's chair looks bleaker
The Federal Government on Friday further compounded fears in some quarters that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, could be sacked before the general elections.
In an answer to enquiries on government’s stand on allegation that the INEC boss would soon be asked to proceed on a terminal leave, the Federal Government through the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, gave a rather ambiguous answer.
He said the exit of Jega from the chairmanship of the INEC would take a natural course. Duke, who is also the supervising Mtinister of Information, spoke with journalists at the headquarters of the Ministry of Information in Abuja on Friday.
While answering a question on whether the Federal Government planned to send Jaga on terminal leave before the expiration of his tenure in June, Duke said Jega would not be sacked as President Goodluck Jonathan had pledged, but added that his exit from the electoral body would be a natural sequence.
The minister said, “On the issue of the INEC chairman, I align myself with what the President said that he has no plan to sack the INEC chairman.
“That is not to say that if it is time for the INEC chairman to naturally exit his office, then the natural course of things will not take place.
“It is like saying a civil servant has done 35 years or achieved the age of 60; we now begin to say that he must not retire or he must retire. I think all of that is in the terrain of the Presidency and he has spoken. I have nothing to add to that.”
Duke added, “I will also like to say once on that issue. I recall that for several weeks now; people keep threatening the President on the shift in the date of the poll. You begin to wonder that parties have a couple of extra weeks in order to reinvigorate their campaigns and try to reach as many voters as possible. Rather than do that, you begin to identify imaginary pockets of unlikely developments and then focus your attention on them and then when you lose election, you begin to complain.”
But members of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate and the Northern Elders Forum said that they would resist alleged plot to sack the INEC boss.
The senators had on Thursday alleged that there was a fresh plot by the Federal Government to prevent Jega from superintending over the forthcoming general elections.
The Northern Elders Forum warned against attempts to remove Jega and insisted that the elections must hold within the timeline allowed by the law.
The APC senators, led by George Akume, told a news conference in Abuja that they heard from a reliable source that the Head of Service would direct Jega to proceed on his pre-retirement leave next week.
“We have received information from a very credible source that next week, the INEC Chairman will be given a letter from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service to proceed on a terminal leave,” they said.
The opposition senators alleged that the Federal Government was trying to use a circular from the HoS dated August 11, 2010 to place Jega on compulsory pre-retirement leave.
They threatened to resist any attempt by the presidency to either suspend or remove Jega before the March 28 presidential election.
Some of the senators, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the issue on Friday, said they would employ legal and constitutional means to ensure that Jega conducts the next general elections.
Akume said President Goodluck Jonathan has the right to remove Jega, but could not unilaterally do so without seeking the permission of the National Assembly through a two-third majority.
He, however, said that Jonathan does not have the legal powers to suspend the INEC boss under whatever guise.
He said, “Section 157(1) clearly states that the President can only remove Jega with the vote of 2/3 majority of all senators. Under whatever guise whether suspension, retirement or voluntary leave, he cannot be removed.
Akume said, “ Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the President cannot remove the INEC Chairman from office without getting approval of the Upper Chamber.
“Section 157 (1) of the constitution reads: “…a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office.”
He said, “We will resist any attempt by the presidency to sack jega for any sinister reasons. We will continue to say no to impunity and any attempt to undermine the credibility of the forthcoming general elections. We would never accept.
“We condemn what the Federal Government is trying to do. We will rise up and defend our democracy. This is the Road to Golgotha, the road to Armageddon. These people want to destroy this country completely and we will resist it.
“We are waiting for the president to bring the notice before the National Assembly and we will decide on its legality or otherwise.”
Also Senator Ahmed Lawan, (APC Yobe North), admitted that the President has the constitutional powers to remove Jega if he so wishes but that there is a procedure contained in the constitution.
He said, “The National Assembly must pass a resolution backed by two-third majority of members either giving accent to the request or not. That is the only way that the Chairman of the INEC could be removed. The President cannot do it alone.”
Senator Babafemi Ojudu, (APC Ekiti Central) said, “The President cannot suspend Jega because he has no such powers in the constitution. There is no law which empowers the President to suspend anyone who was legally appointed to occupy a position for a period of time.”
Ojudu said his colleagues were raising the alarm because the information about the plot to sack Jega was made available to them hence they would not ignore it.
He said, “We have met, and we are still going to meet over the issue. We are watching and already considering all lawful and constitutional options even pre-emptive strategies to make sure that this democracy is not truncated through Jega’s sack”
Addressing a press conference, the spokesman for the Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said that sacking Jega now would be a recipe for disaster.
Abdullahi said, “With regards to Jega’s tenure, any attempt at this last minute by this government or its agency to remove the INEC chairman is a clear message that the Presidency is determined to rig the presidential election in which its sees Jega as an impediment simply because he thinks that the commission must follow the rules for a free and fair and credible election.”
While lamenting that the February elections were postponed on “flimsy, clumsy and indefensible” reasons, he said the electoral body had for several months now been consistent and emphatic on its readiness to organise and conduct the 2015 elections in February.
He noted that the insecurity excuse given for the postponement of the elections must “fail because only a small fraction of the security personnel in the country are directly engaged in the fight against insurgency within the North-Eastern enclave of the country.”
Abdullahi said, “Assuming that the soldiers are needed, we need to know that of the about 180,000 soldiers in uniform only about 20,000 are currently in the North-East of the country.”
Meanwhile, most national and resident electoral commissioners have expressed their support for Jega over his readiness to conduct the polls.
They asked him to reject alleged plan by the Presidency to send him on terminal leave.
Saturday PUNCH reliably learnt that the commissioners were disturbed that the removal of Jega would erode the credibility of the polls.
One of the national commissioners, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said there was no way the results of the elections would be fair, if the polls were not conducted by the commission’s current chairman.
He said, “The whole world is watching us. Anyone who’s thinking about sacking Jega is not working for the interest of the country.
“Yes, there are plans and attempts at dividing us, but we need to remain resolute in this task. We should not allow anyone to put the country into shame.”
Asked if there was division among the ranks of the officers, he said it was possible as witnessed during the meetings on the postponement of the elections.
Another national officer, who spoke on the issue said, “We are all the same. There is no seniority among us. We are all national officers.”
It was learnt that not many commissioners were happy with the predicament of the chairman.
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH showed that those in this category included commissioners that supported the postponement of the elections and some who were against the use of card readers and permanent voter cards for the elections.
Jega’s term ends on June 30, 2015 but the All Progressives Congress on Thursday alleged that the Federal Government planned to send him on a three-month terminal leave starting from next week.
The chairman, who spoke to The PUNCH through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kayode Idowu, had on Thursday said he had yet to receive any letter asking him to proceed on terminal leave.
Also, Idowu told one of our correspondents on Friday that the electoral body was not prepared to join any conversation on the chairman’s exit.
He said the commission is absolutely focused on preparation for elections. “It is the last thing on the mind of the chairman now,” he added.
An INEC commissioner, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, identified, “the move to send the chairman on leave as one of the reasons that forced INEC to shift the elections to March 28 and April 11.”
Copyright PUNCH.
All
In an answer to enquiries on government’s stand on allegation that the INEC boss would soon be asked to proceed on a terminal leave, the Federal Government through the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, gave a rather ambiguous answer.
He said the exit of Jega from the chairmanship of the INEC would take a natural course. Duke, who is also the supervising Mtinister of Information, spoke with journalists at the headquarters of the Ministry of Information in Abuja on Friday.
While answering a question on whether the Federal Government planned to send Jaga on terminal leave before the expiration of his tenure in June, Duke said Jega would not be sacked as President Goodluck Jonathan had pledged, but added that his exit from the electoral body would be a natural sequence.
The minister said, “On the issue of the INEC chairman, I align myself with what the President said that he has no plan to sack the INEC chairman.
“That is not to say that if it is time for the INEC chairman to naturally exit his office, then the natural course of things will not take place.
“It is like saying a civil servant has done 35 years or achieved the age of 60; we now begin to say that he must not retire or he must retire. I think all of that is in the terrain of the Presidency and he has spoken. I have nothing to add to that.”
Duke added, “I will also like to say once on that issue. I recall that for several weeks now; people keep threatening the President on the shift in the date of the poll. You begin to wonder that parties have a couple of extra weeks in order to reinvigorate their campaigns and try to reach as many voters as possible. Rather than do that, you begin to identify imaginary pockets of unlikely developments and then focus your attention on them and then when you lose election, you begin to complain.”
But members of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate and the Northern Elders Forum said that they would resist alleged plot to sack the INEC boss.
The senators had on Thursday alleged that there was a fresh plot by the Federal Government to prevent Jega from superintending over the forthcoming general elections.
The Northern Elders Forum warned against attempts to remove Jega and insisted that the elections must hold within the timeline allowed by the law.
The APC senators, led by George Akume, told a news conference in Abuja that they heard from a reliable source that the Head of Service would direct Jega to proceed on his pre-retirement leave next week.
“We have received information from a very credible source that next week, the INEC Chairman will be given a letter from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service to proceed on a terminal leave,” they said.
The opposition senators alleged that the Federal Government was trying to use a circular from the HoS dated August 11, 2010 to place Jega on compulsory pre-retirement leave.
They threatened to resist any attempt by the presidency to either suspend or remove Jega before the March 28 presidential election.
Some of the senators, who spoke with one of our correspondents on the issue on Friday, said they would employ legal and constitutional means to ensure that Jega conducts the next general elections.
Akume said President Goodluck Jonathan has the right to remove Jega, but could not unilaterally do so without seeking the permission of the National Assembly through a two-third majority.
He, however, said that Jonathan does not have the legal powers to suspend the INEC boss under whatever guise.
He said, “Section 157(1) clearly states that the President can only remove Jega with the vote of 2/3 majority of all senators. Under whatever guise whether suspension, retirement or voluntary leave, he cannot be removed.
Akume said, “ Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the President cannot remove the INEC Chairman from office without getting approval of the Upper Chamber.
“Section 157 (1) of the constitution reads: “…a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office.”
He said, “We will resist any attempt by the presidency to sack jega for any sinister reasons. We will continue to say no to impunity and any attempt to undermine the credibility of the forthcoming general elections. We would never accept.
“We condemn what the Federal Government is trying to do. We will rise up and defend our democracy. This is the Road to Golgotha, the road to Armageddon. These people want to destroy this country completely and we will resist it.
“We are waiting for the president to bring the notice before the National Assembly and we will decide on its legality or otherwise.”
Also Senator Ahmed Lawan, (APC Yobe North), admitted that the President has the constitutional powers to remove Jega if he so wishes but that there is a procedure contained in the constitution.
He said, “The National Assembly must pass a resolution backed by two-third majority of members either giving accent to the request or not. That is the only way that the Chairman of the INEC could be removed. The President cannot do it alone.”
Senator Babafemi Ojudu, (APC Ekiti Central) said, “The President cannot suspend Jega because he has no such powers in the constitution. There is no law which empowers the President to suspend anyone who was legally appointed to occupy a position for a period of time.”
Ojudu said his colleagues were raising the alarm because the information about the plot to sack Jega was made available to them hence they would not ignore it.
He said, “We have met, and we are still going to meet over the issue. We are watching and already considering all lawful and constitutional options even pre-emptive strategies to make sure that this democracy is not truncated through Jega’s sack”
Addressing a press conference, the spokesman for the Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said that sacking Jega now would be a recipe for disaster.
Abdullahi said, “With regards to Jega’s tenure, any attempt at this last minute by this government or its agency to remove the INEC chairman is a clear message that the Presidency is determined to rig the presidential election in which its sees Jega as an impediment simply because he thinks that the commission must follow the rules for a free and fair and credible election.”
While lamenting that the February elections were postponed on “flimsy, clumsy and indefensible” reasons, he said the electoral body had for several months now been consistent and emphatic on its readiness to organise and conduct the 2015 elections in February.
He noted that the insecurity excuse given for the postponement of the elections must “fail because only a small fraction of the security personnel in the country are directly engaged in the fight against insurgency within the North-Eastern enclave of the country.”
Abdullahi said, “Assuming that the soldiers are needed, we need to know that of the about 180,000 soldiers in uniform only about 20,000 are currently in the North-East of the country.”
Meanwhile, most national and resident electoral commissioners have expressed their support for Jega over his readiness to conduct the polls.
They asked him to reject alleged plan by the Presidency to send him on terminal leave.
Saturday PUNCH reliably learnt that the commissioners were disturbed that the removal of Jega would erode the credibility of the polls.
One of the national commissioners, who spoke with Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said there was no way the results of the elections would be fair, if the polls were not conducted by the commission’s current chairman.
He said, “The whole world is watching us. Anyone who’s thinking about sacking Jega is not working for the interest of the country.
“Yes, there are plans and attempts at dividing us, but we need to remain resolute in this task. We should not allow anyone to put the country into shame.”
Asked if there was division among the ranks of the officers, he said it was possible as witnessed during the meetings on the postponement of the elections.
Another national officer, who spoke on the issue said, “We are all the same. There is no seniority among us. We are all national officers.”
It was learnt that not many commissioners were happy with the predicament of the chairman.
Investigations by Saturday PUNCH showed that those in this category included commissioners that supported the postponement of the elections and some who were against the use of card readers and permanent voter cards for the elections.
Jega’s term ends on June 30, 2015 but the All Progressives Congress on Thursday alleged that the Federal Government planned to send him on a three-month terminal leave starting from next week.
The chairman, who spoke to The PUNCH through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kayode Idowu, had on Thursday said he had yet to receive any letter asking him to proceed on terminal leave.
Also, Idowu told one of our correspondents on Friday that the electoral body was not prepared to join any conversation on the chairman’s exit.
He said the commission is absolutely focused on preparation for elections. “It is the last thing on the mind of the chairman now,” he added.
An INEC commissioner, who confided in Saturday PUNCH, identified, “the move to send the chairman on leave as one of the reasons that forced INEC to shift the elections to March 28 and April 11.”
Copyright PUNCH.
All
Lost but what? Read update on Lupita's missing Oscars' gown
A gown worn to the Oscars by actor Lupita Nyong’o, and stolen from her hotel, was returned on Friday after the thief discovered the 6,000 pearls on the dress were fake.
The dress had been said to be worth $150,000 (£100,000) at the time of the theft – but that was when the official line was that it had 6,000 real Akoya cultured pearls sewn into it.
The TMZ website said the thief took the Calvin Klein dress from Nyong’o’s room on Wednesday after finding the door ajar.
The Kenyan actor had worn the dress to Sunday’s Academy Awards in one of the most commented looks of the night.
The thief and others removed two pearls from the dress and took them to the garment district in Los Angeles, where they were told they were not real, according to TMZ.
The thief then took the dress back to the London West Hollywood hotel and left it in a garment bag inside a rubbish bag in a bathroom, then tipped off TMZ about its location.
TMZ told the LA county sheriff’s department in West Hollywood, which was investigating the theft. The website has shown grainy footage of an unidentified person opening the bag and finding a white dress.
Sheriff’s department spokeswoman Guillermina Saldana said officers were “in the process of confirming” the story.
Seriously, someone tell me this is not one publicity stunt.
The Guardian UK
BREAKING: Kelly Osbourne Quits Fashion Police
Kelly Osbourne has quit Fashion Police amid controversy involving her co-host
Kelly Osbourne is turning in her badge as one of the Fashion Police. The star, 30, quit E!'s long-running style series on Friday, Feb. 27, amid controversy involving her co-host Giuliana Rancic, E! News confirms.
"Kelly Osbourne is departing E!'s Fashion Police to pursue other opportunities, and we would like to thank her for her many contributions to the series over the past five years, during which time the show became a hit with viewers," the network said in a statement. "Fashion Police will return, as scheduled, on Friday, March 30th at 9:00 p.m. and no decisions have been made on her replacement."
PHOTOS: Celeb feuds
The outspoken Brit actually threatened to walk earlier in the week, after Rancic criticized Osbourne pal Zendaya's dreadlocks at the Oscars, saying it looked like she smelled like "patchouli oil." (She later apologized.)
"I WILL NOT BE DRAGED [sic] INTO THIS!" Osbourne tweeted at the time. "The situation is being rectified like ADULTS by both parties. I hope you can leave it to them & do the same! You guys do realize that @Zendaya is my friend, right?"
PHOTOS: Stars fight back on Twitter
She followed that with two other tweets addressing the incident, including one in which she said she was questioning her future on the show. (Previously hosted by the late Joan Rivers, Fashion Police now stars Osbourne, Rancic, Brad Goreski, and Kathy Griffin.)
PHOTOS: Talk show controversies
"Kelly hasn't been happy at the show for a while," an insider tells Us, "and this whole situation solidified her decision to move on. It was time for her to go. She had five great years there, and the relationship she had with Joan there changed her life."
As a second source told Us Weekly, Osbourne had reservations about the Zendaya jokes even during filming. The insider said she even stopped taping twice to protest. "On the first two takes, Kelly said, 'Guys, we can't say this. Zendaya is a friend of the show,'" the source told Us.
PHOTOS: Kelly Osbourne through the years
Both Rancic and a rep for E! denied that there had been more than one take, and Rancic pal Billy Bush criticized Osbourne for publicly decrying her co-host's words via Twitter. "Kelly Osbourne threw her under the bus, in my opinion," Bush said on Access Hollywood.
Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/kelly-osbourne-quits-fashion-police-amid-giuliana-rancic-controversy-2015272#ixzz3SzdTpEIA
Follow us: @usweekly on Twitter | usweekly on Facebook
Kelly Osbourne is turning in her badge as one of the Fashion Police. The star, 30, quit E!'s long-running style series on Friday, Feb. 27, amid controversy involving her co-host Giuliana Rancic, E! News confirms.
"Kelly Osbourne is departing E!'s Fashion Police to pursue other opportunities, and we would like to thank her for her many contributions to the series over the past five years, during which time the show became a hit with viewers," the network said in a statement. "Fashion Police will return, as scheduled, on Friday, March 30th at 9:00 p.m. and no decisions have been made on her replacement."
PHOTOS: Celeb feuds
The outspoken Brit actually threatened to walk earlier in the week, after Rancic criticized Osbourne pal Zendaya's dreadlocks at the Oscars, saying it looked like she smelled like "patchouli oil." (She later apologized.)
"I WILL NOT BE DRAGED [sic] INTO THIS!" Osbourne tweeted at the time. "The situation is being rectified like ADULTS by both parties. I hope you can leave it to them & do the same! You guys do realize that @Zendaya is my friend, right?"
PHOTOS: Stars fight back on Twitter
She followed that with two other tweets addressing the incident, including one in which she said she was questioning her future on the show. (Previously hosted by the late Joan Rivers, Fashion Police now stars Osbourne, Rancic, Brad Goreski, and Kathy Griffin.)
PHOTOS: Talk show controversies
"Kelly hasn't been happy at the show for a while," an insider tells Us, "and this whole situation solidified her decision to move on. It was time for her to go. She had five great years there, and the relationship she had with Joan there changed her life."
As a second source told Us Weekly, Osbourne had reservations about the Zendaya jokes even during filming. The insider said she even stopped taping twice to protest. "On the first two takes, Kelly said, 'Guys, we can't say this. Zendaya is a friend of the show,'" the source told Us.
PHOTOS: Kelly Osbourne through the years
Both Rancic and a rep for E! denied that there had been more than one take, and Rancic pal Billy Bush criticized Osbourne for publicly decrying her co-host's words via Twitter. "Kelly Osbourne threw her under the bus, in my opinion," Bush said on Access Hollywood.
Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/kelly-osbourne-quits-fashion-police-amid-giuliana-rancic-controversy-2015272#ixzz3SzdTpEIA
Follow us: @usweekly on Twitter | usweekly on Facebook
Friday 27 February 2015
What-the-What? Lupita Nyongo'o Oscar Dress is Missing!
Oh no! Someone has stolen Lupita Nyong’o’s beaded gown which she wore to the 2015 Academy Awards.
The $150,000 custom-made Calvin Klein white frock, which is made of pearls, was reportedly taken from her hotel room.
The Oscar winner apparently told the police about the matter Wednesday (25 Feb), and they are now looking for the suspect.
Moral of the story: Know you're not yet rolling in million dollar to afford keeping an entourage (we saw you carrying your umbrella yourself at the event!) but here's why A-listers get security exclusively to guard their gown and jewels for them during before, during and after these shindigs. Such aides are equally saddled with quickly returning such items to the designer.
Sigh! Hope the gown is insured.
The $150,000 custom-made Calvin Klein white frock, which is made of pearls, was reportedly taken from her hotel room.
The Oscar winner apparently told the police about the matter Wednesday (25 Feb), and they are now looking for the suspect.
Moral of the story: Know you're not yet rolling in million dollar to afford keeping an entourage (we saw you carrying your umbrella yourself at the event!) but here's why A-listers get security exclusively to guard their gown and jewels for them during before, during and after these shindigs. Such aides are equally saddled with quickly returning such items to the designer.
Sigh! Hope the gown is insured.
Impeachment Moves Commence Against a Governor
The Ebonyi State House of Assembly has agreed to serve an impeachment notice on Governor Martin Elechi, after accusing the governor of corruption and gross misconduct.
A motion for the notice to be served on the governor was approved after the acting Majority Leader of the House, Francis Nwifruru, on Friday, read details accusing Mr. Elechi of undermining the integrity of the House and committing fraudulent acts.
The Ebonyi Assembly had last Wednesday, February 18, set up a panel to investigate allegations of financial misappropriation against the governor and some of his aides.
The assembly took the decision following petitions it received from groups in the state, including Ebonyi Integrity Group.
In one of the petitions, the embattled governor, his son, Elechi Elechi, and Edward Nkwegu, among others, were accused of contract inflation and illegal use of state funds for private gains.
Before the probe panel was constituted, the House Leader, Ikechukwu Ogbu, had read the petitions written against the governor on the floor of the assembly.
The petitions were adopted through a motion sponsored by Ogbonnaya Nwifuru, a member representing Izzi West State constituency.
In his contribution, the Minority Leader, Enyi Enyi, described the allegations against Mr. Elechi as shocking, adding that the governor risked impeachment if found guilty.
Other lawmakers who spoke that Wednesday urged the assembly to invoke all its constitutional powers to deal with the issue.
They, however, pointed out that those accused would be given the opportunity to defend themselves before the house takes necessary action.
Shortly after debates on the petitions were concluded, the Speaker, Chukwuma Nwazunku, called for a voice vote and members unanimously agreed that the governor be investigated.
The assembly, thereby, set up a special panel headed by Odefa Odefa, a member representing Onicha South, to further investigate the allegations and report its findings to the assembly.
The speaker noted that the essence of the special committee was to do a thorough investigation on the weighty allegations against the governor.
Apparently aware of the thickening plot to oust him, Mr. Elechi had told members of Ezza Ezzekuna Youth Congress, who paid him a solidarity visit at the government house in Abakiliki, that top politicians were holding meetings to remove him from office.
“I want to bring to your notice that some politicians who have vowed to govern this state at all cost have been holding secret meetings on how to impeach me,” the governor said.
“They said I’m a bad person and that if I continue to remain in power they will not have their way of ruling the state. All I can say is that if they sack me, I will relocate to my home.”
He called on the youth not to allow the state be taken over by desperate politicians who do not have their interest at heart.
Mr. Elechi asked the youth to be vigilant and resist any attempt to use them to stoke crisis which would not bring any good to the state.
The move on Friday, to serve the governor an impeachment notice, came after the House completed its investigation.
A motion for the notice to be served on the governor was approved after the acting Majority Leader of the House, Francis Nwifruru, on Friday, read details accusing Mr. Elechi of undermining the integrity of the House and committing fraudulent acts.
The Ebonyi Assembly had last Wednesday, February 18, set up a panel to investigate allegations of financial misappropriation against the governor and some of his aides.
The assembly took the decision following petitions it received from groups in the state, including Ebonyi Integrity Group.
In one of the petitions, the embattled governor, his son, Elechi Elechi, and Edward Nkwegu, among others, were accused of contract inflation and illegal use of state funds for private gains.
Before the probe panel was constituted, the House Leader, Ikechukwu Ogbu, had read the petitions written against the governor on the floor of the assembly.
The petitions were adopted through a motion sponsored by Ogbonnaya Nwifuru, a member representing Izzi West State constituency.
In his contribution, the Minority Leader, Enyi Enyi, described the allegations against Mr. Elechi as shocking, adding that the governor risked impeachment if found guilty.
Other lawmakers who spoke that Wednesday urged the assembly to invoke all its constitutional powers to deal with the issue.
They, however, pointed out that those accused would be given the opportunity to defend themselves before the house takes necessary action.
Shortly after debates on the petitions were concluded, the Speaker, Chukwuma Nwazunku, called for a voice vote and members unanimously agreed that the governor be investigated.
The assembly, thereby, set up a special panel headed by Odefa Odefa, a member representing Onicha South, to further investigate the allegations and report its findings to the assembly.
The speaker noted that the essence of the special committee was to do a thorough investigation on the weighty allegations against the governor.
Apparently aware of the thickening plot to oust him, Mr. Elechi had told members of Ezza Ezzekuna Youth Congress, who paid him a solidarity visit at the government house in Abakiliki, that top politicians were holding meetings to remove him from office.
“I want to bring to your notice that some politicians who have vowed to govern this state at all cost have been holding secret meetings on how to impeach me,” the governor said.
“They said I’m a bad person and that if I continue to remain in power they will not have their way of ruling the state. All I can say is that if they sack me, I will relocate to my home.”
He called on the youth not to allow the state be taken over by desperate politicians who do not have their interest at heart.
Mr. Elechi asked the youth to be vigilant and resist any attempt to use them to stoke crisis which would not bring any good to the state.
The move on Friday, to serve the governor an impeachment notice, came after the House completed its investigation.
Boko Haram Strikes Where Again?
Sui I cide bombers on Thursday attacked Jos, the Plateau State capital and Biu in Borno State and killed 27 people and injured many people.
In the Biu attack, 15 persons were killed, while 12 people lost their lives in the twin blasts at Jos.
According to an eyewitness, the suicide bomber detonated the bomb in front of one of the Filling Stations in Biu, a town that is about 160 kilometres from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram insurgency.
He said, “The suicide bomber was few metres away from a petrol filling station when the bomb on him detonated, killing him and 14 other persons in the vicinity.”
The Biu resident, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone from Biu, said the suicide bomber rode a tricycle which he parked near the filling station.
“He parked the tricycle some metres away from the petrol station and was working in the direction of the filling station. But the bomb detonated and killed 10 persons and injured many others before he could get to the station. Thank God that the bomb detonated before he could get to the fuel station, the casuality figure could have been higher.
“The corpses have been evacuated to the General Hospital, Biu where the injured have also be taken to for treatment.”
In the Jos attack, no fewer than 12 people were killed and scores of others wounded as two separate blasts that rocked in the city on Thursday.
One of our correspondents learnt that the first bomb went off at a motor park adjacent to the Bauchi Road campus of the University of Jos at about 4.30 pm, while the second one went off almost simultaneously in front of the UNIJOS gate.
It was learnt that the second was targeted at the students who were just trooping out of the school after the day’s examinations.
The students resumed on Monday and started their second semester examination after the school was closed down in November last year following a protest.
Most of the victims were said to be taking cover to avoid a downpour, which started at about 3.45 pm, the first in the city of Jos this year. Another source said that the blast at the Bauchi motor park was carried out by a female suicide bomber, who entered the park wearing a hijab.
The Executive President of Stefanos Foundation, Mr. Mark Lipdo, quoting security source, put the casualty figure at 12, but a student of the school, who simply identified herself as Grace, said that the figure could be higher.
According to her, when the bomb exploded, there was confusion on the campus. There was also traffic jam along the busy Bauch; road as motorists make hurried U-turn to escape from the melee.
She said, “Because it was raining, everybody was trying to take shield and so nobody noticed the bomber.”
A source told one of our correspondents that he saw Hilux vehicles carrying some persons to the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos.
The blasts created tension in the town as security men blocked most of the roads in the city to start a cordon and search operation.
Both the spokesmen for the Special Task Force, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, and the police, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, confirmed the blast.
They said that security men were still assessing the situation as both the dead and the injured were being conveyed to hospital.
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In the Biu attack, 15 persons were killed, while 12 people lost their lives in the twin blasts at Jos.
According to an eyewitness, the suicide bomber detonated the bomb in front of one of the Filling Stations in Biu, a town that is about 160 kilometres from Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram insurgency.
He said, “The suicide bomber was few metres away from a petrol filling station when the bomb on him detonated, killing him and 14 other persons in the vicinity.”
The Biu resident, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone from Biu, said the suicide bomber rode a tricycle which he parked near the filling station.
“He parked the tricycle some metres away from the petrol station and was working in the direction of the filling station. But the bomb detonated and killed 10 persons and injured many others before he could get to the station. Thank God that the bomb detonated before he could get to the fuel station, the casuality figure could have been higher.
“The corpses have been evacuated to the General Hospital, Biu where the injured have also be taken to for treatment.”
In the Jos attack, no fewer than 12 people were killed and scores of others wounded as two separate blasts that rocked in the city on Thursday.
One of our correspondents learnt that the first bomb went off at a motor park adjacent to the Bauchi Road campus of the University of Jos at about 4.30 pm, while the second one went off almost simultaneously in front of the UNIJOS gate.
It was learnt that the second was targeted at the students who were just trooping out of the school after the day’s examinations.
The students resumed on Monday and started their second semester examination after the school was closed down in November last year following a protest.
Most of the victims were said to be taking cover to avoid a downpour, which started at about 3.45 pm, the first in the city of Jos this year. Another source said that the blast at the Bauchi motor park was carried out by a female suicide bomber, who entered the park wearing a hijab.
The Executive President of Stefanos Foundation, Mr. Mark Lipdo, quoting security source, put the casualty figure at 12, but a student of the school, who simply identified herself as Grace, said that the figure could be higher.
According to her, when the bomb exploded, there was confusion on the campus. There was also traffic jam along the busy Bauch; road as motorists make hurried U-turn to escape from the melee.
She said, “Because it was raining, everybody was trying to take shield and so nobody noticed the bomber.”
A source told one of our correspondents that he saw Hilux vehicles carrying some persons to the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos.
The blasts created tension in the town as security men blocked most of the roads in the city to start a cordon and search operation.
Both the spokesmen for the Special Task Force, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, and the police, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, confirmed the blast.
They said that security men were still assessing the situation as both the dead and the injured were being conveyed to hospital.
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PDP, Jonathan Planning on Removing Jega- APC
Members of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate on Thursday alleged that there was a fresh plot by the Federal Government to prevent the Independent National Electoral Commission Chairman, Attahiru Jega, from superintending over the forthcoming general elections.
The APC senators, led by George Akume, told a news conference in Abuja that they heard from a reliable source that the Head of Service would direct Jega to proceed on his pre-retirement leave next week.
“We have received information from a very credible source that next week, the Chairman of INEC will be given a letter from the office of the Head of the Civil Service to proceed on a terminal leave,” they said.
The opposition senators alleged that the Federal Government was trying to use a circular from the HoS dated August 11, 2010 to place Jega on compulsory pre-retirement leave.
They said, “Whether the letter emanates from the HoS office or the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, it does not make sense. Even if we go by the terms of the Civil Service circular of August 11, 2010, (it) is not applicable whatsoever to the INEC chairman.”
The lawmakers explained that the circular, with reference number HCSF/CMO/1772/TI/11, talks about clarifications on pre-retirement leave, which is only applicable to tenured officers who are career civil servants.
They said anyone who has spent 30 years in service or has attained 60 years of age was bound to disengage officially from the service. The senators however said that the case of Jega did not fall into any of these.
The lawmakers claimed that Jega’s offence was his readiness to conduct the elections when the Peoples Democratic Party-controlled Federal Government was not.
The opposition senators insisted that using the issue of card readers to discredit Jega would not work because the National Assembly appropriated money for that purpose.
They said, “We want a credible election but in a situation where we are being informed that because the postponement of the elections attracted no reaction from the people, Jega could be removed for a plan-less person who will do the bidding of the government, doesn’t hold water.
“You cannot start a game which is about to end and suddenly you want to change the goalpost. You don’t want a referee that is fair to all. You want to have someone who will subvert the whole system for sinister, personal purposes.
“We will continue to say no to impunity. We will continue to say no to any attempt to undermine the credibility of the forthcoming elections.
“We therefore want to appeal to Nigerians to be steadfast to keep watch so that their labour will not be in vain. If Ghana and other countries can get it right, Nigeria can also get it right.
“We are opposed to the removal of Jega because it is criminal, illegal and unconstitutional. They want to remove him through the back door.”
Akume maintained that President Goodluck Jonathan reserved the right to remove Jega but that he could not unilaterally do so without seeking the permission of the National Assembly through a two-thirds majority.
The lawmakers added that Jonathan lacked the legal powers to suspend the INEC boss under whatever guise.
They said, “Section 157(1) clearly states that the president can only remove Jega with the vote of 2/3 majority of all senators. Under whatever guise; whether suspension, retirement or voluntary leave he cannot be removed.
“Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the President cannot remove the INEC Chairman from office without getting approval of the Upper Chamber.
“Section 157 (1) of the Constitution reads, “…a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate, praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office.”
The senators also reiterated their opposition to the clearance of Musiliu Obanikoro as minister and the deployment of soldiers for elections.
Giving further clarification on the fate of Obanikoro, their spokesperson, Babafemi Ojudu, said their position was that the ministerial nominees was not qualified to hold public office.
He said, “We are going to oppose that and the three senators from Lagos have written to Mark opposing that.’’
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The APC senators, led by George Akume, told a news conference in Abuja that they heard from a reliable source that the Head of Service would direct Jega to proceed on his pre-retirement leave next week.
“We have received information from a very credible source that next week, the Chairman of INEC will be given a letter from the office of the Head of the Civil Service to proceed on a terminal leave,” they said.
The opposition senators alleged that the Federal Government was trying to use a circular from the HoS dated August 11, 2010 to place Jega on compulsory pre-retirement leave.
They said, “Whether the letter emanates from the HoS office or the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, it does not make sense. Even if we go by the terms of the Civil Service circular of August 11, 2010, (it) is not applicable whatsoever to the INEC chairman.”
The lawmakers explained that the circular, with reference number HCSF/CMO/1772/TI/11, talks about clarifications on pre-retirement leave, which is only applicable to tenured officers who are career civil servants.
They said anyone who has spent 30 years in service or has attained 60 years of age was bound to disengage officially from the service. The senators however said that the case of Jega did not fall into any of these.
The lawmakers claimed that Jega’s offence was his readiness to conduct the elections when the Peoples Democratic Party-controlled Federal Government was not.
The opposition senators insisted that using the issue of card readers to discredit Jega would not work because the National Assembly appropriated money for that purpose.
They said, “We want a credible election but in a situation where we are being informed that because the postponement of the elections attracted no reaction from the people, Jega could be removed for a plan-less person who will do the bidding of the government, doesn’t hold water.
“You cannot start a game which is about to end and suddenly you want to change the goalpost. You don’t want a referee that is fair to all. You want to have someone who will subvert the whole system for sinister, personal purposes.
“We will continue to say no to impunity. We will continue to say no to any attempt to undermine the credibility of the forthcoming elections.
“We therefore want to appeal to Nigerians to be steadfast to keep watch so that their labour will not be in vain. If Ghana and other countries can get it right, Nigeria can also get it right.
“We are opposed to the removal of Jega because it is criminal, illegal and unconstitutional. They want to remove him through the back door.”
Akume maintained that President Goodluck Jonathan reserved the right to remove Jega but that he could not unilaterally do so without seeking the permission of the National Assembly through a two-thirds majority.
The lawmakers added that Jonathan lacked the legal powers to suspend the INEC boss under whatever guise.
They said, “Section 157(1) clearly states that the president can only remove Jega with the vote of 2/3 majority of all senators. Under whatever guise; whether suspension, retirement or voluntary leave he cannot be removed.
“Section 157 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the President cannot remove the INEC Chairman from office without getting approval of the Upper Chamber.
“Section 157 (1) of the Constitution reads, “…a person holding any of the offices to which this section applies may only be removed from that office by the president acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate, praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the functions of the office.”
The senators also reiterated their opposition to the clearance of Musiliu Obanikoro as minister and the deployment of soldiers for elections.
Giving further clarification on the fate of Obanikoro, their spokesperson, Babafemi Ojudu, said their position was that the ministerial nominees was not qualified to hold public office.
He said, “We are going to oppose that and the three senators from Lagos have written to Mark opposing that.’’
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Missed Gen. Muhammadu Buhari's Speech at Chatham House? Catch up here
GEN-BUHARI-CHATHA HOUSE
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition.
Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists. But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I do so only to impress on our friends in the United Kingdom that we are quite aware of our shortcomings and are doing our best to address them.
The 2015 general election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and outside the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a moment that has great implications beyond the democratic project and beyond the borders of my dear country.
So let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended; for this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the rescheduled dates; that they should be free and fair; that their outcomes should be respected by all parties; and that any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and will not be tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, democracy became the dominant and most preferred system of government across the globe. That global transition has been aptly captured as the triumph of democracy and the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a turning point for me. It convinced me that change can be brought about without firing a single shot.
As you all know, I had been a military head of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country. We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has shown that another and a preferable path to change is possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades, democracy has grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the time I was a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, only four African countries held regular multi-party elections. But the number of electoral democracies in Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in 1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006. According to the New York Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa conducted multi-party elections between 1990 and 2002.
The newspaper also reported that between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully handed over power to victorious opposition parties. In addition, the proportion of African countries categorized as not free by Freedom House declined from 59% in 1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt, Africa has been part of the current global wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven. According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the percentage of countries categorised as ‘not free’ assuming for the sake of argument that we accept their definition of “free” increased from 35% in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there have been some reversals at different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Togo. We can choose to look at the glass of democracy in Africa as either half full or half empty.
While you can’t have representative democracy without elections, it is equally important to look at the quality of the elections and to remember that mere elections do not democracy make. It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic consolidation – that state where democracy has become so rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.
With this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many African countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state at this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy cannot be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold a series of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among parties.
It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of the people, is not delivered in the breach.
Now, let me quickly turn to Nigeria. As you all know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its 16th year and this general election will be the fifth in a row. This is a major sign of progress for us, given that our first republic lasted five years and three months, the second republic ended after four years and two months and the third republic was a still-birth. However, longevity is not the only reason why everyone is so interested in this election.
The major difference this time around is that for the very first time since transition to civil rule in 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far from our party the All Progressives Congress (APC). We once had about 50 political parties, but with no real competition. Now Nigeria is transitioning from a dominant party system to a competitive electoral polity, which is a major marker on the road to democratic consolidation. As you know, peaceful alternation of power through competitive elections have happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in recent times. The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.
But there are other reasons why Nigerians and the whole world are intensely focussed on this year’s elections, chief of which is that the elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. On insecurity, there is a genuine cause for worry, both within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the civil war era, at no other time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure.
Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired general and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country.
You all can bear witness to the gallant role of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in several parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours to come to our rescue.
Let me assure you that if I am elected president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester, and I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international efforts to combat terrorism.
On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of 7% for about a decade.
But it is more of paper growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, has not translated to human development or shared prosperity. A development economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?
The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that the current administration has created two economies in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery.
Even by official figures, 33.1% of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million, almost the population of the United Kingdom. There is also the unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest stress, with officially 23.9% of our adult population and almost 60% of our youth unemployed. We also have one of the highest rates of inequalities in the world.
With all these, it is not surprising that our performance on most governance and development indicators (like Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and UNDP’s Human Development Index.) are unflattering. With fall in the prices of oil, which accounts for more than 70% of government revenues, and lack of savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be disproportionately impacted.
In the face of dwindling revenues, a good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria’s economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present administration: waste and corruption. And in doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way, with the force of personal example.
On corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the budgetary process. Revenue producing entities such as NNPC and Customs and Excise will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference.
But I must emphasise that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstrued as settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I’m running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.
In reforming the economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youth and pensions for the elderly.
As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people thus freeing them from the curse of poverty. We will run a private sector-led economy but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve the productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming youths.
In short, we will run a functional economy driven by a worldview that sees growth not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigeria has a decision to make. To vote for the continuity of failure or to elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.
In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting point we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they go ahead, and depriving those who want to scuttle it the benefit of derailing our fledgling democracy. That way, we will all see democracy and democratic consolidation as tools for solving pressing problems in a sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition
Permit me to close this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others. I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch.
I cannot change the past. But I can change the present and the future. So before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the fourth time.
You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a question I ask myself all the time too. And here is my humble answer: because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot, and most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.
I thank you for listening
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition.
Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk about this important topic at this crucial time. When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists. But as we all know, Nigeria is now battling with many challenges, and if I refer to them, I do so only to impress on our friends in the United Kingdom that we are quite aware of our shortcomings and are doing our best to address them.
The 2015 general election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and outside the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a moment that has great implications beyond the democratic project and beyond the borders of my dear country.
So let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended; for this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the rescheduled dates; that they should be free and fair; that their outcomes should be respected by all parties; and that any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and will not be tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, democracy became the dominant and most preferred system of government across the globe. That global transition has been aptly captured as the triumph of democracy and the ‘most pre-eminent political idea of our time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of the USSR was a turning point for me. It convinced me that change can be brought about without firing a single shot.
As you all know, I had been a military head of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country. We wanted to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere, we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has shown that another and a preferable path to change is possible. It is an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades, democracy has grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once so rare, are now so commonplace. As at the time I was a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, only four African countries held regular multi-party elections. But the number of electoral democracies in Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in 1992/1993 then to 18 in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006. According to the New York Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa conducted multi-party elections between 1990 and 2002.
The newspaper also reported that between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African countries (Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully handed over power to victorious opposition parties. In addition, the proportion of African countries categorized as not free by Freedom House declined from 59% in 1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt, Africa has been part of the current global wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on the continent has been uneven. According to Freedom House, the number of electoral democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in 2011/2012; while the percentage of countries categorised as ‘not free’ assuming for the sake of argument that we accept their definition of “free” increased from 35% in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there have been some reversals at different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania and Togo. We can choose to look at the glass of democracy in Africa as either half full or half empty.
While you can’t have representative democracy without elections, it is equally important to look at the quality of the elections and to remember that mere elections do not democracy make. It is globally agreed that democracy is not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey is democratic consolidation – that state where democracy has become so rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.
With this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many African countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state at this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy cannot be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold a series of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among parties.
It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of the people, is not delivered in the breach.
Now, let me quickly turn to Nigeria. As you all know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its 16th year and this general election will be the fifth in a row. This is a major sign of progress for us, given that our first republic lasted five years and three months, the second republic ended after four years and two months and the third republic was a still-birth. However, longevity is not the only reason why everyone is so interested in this election.
The major difference this time around is that for the very first time since transition to civil rule in 1999, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far from our party the All Progressives Congress (APC). We once had about 50 political parties, but with no real competition. Now Nigeria is transitioning from a dominant party system to a competitive electoral polity, which is a major marker on the road to democratic consolidation. As you know, peaceful alternation of power through competitive elections have happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in recent times. The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.
But there are other reasons why Nigerians and the whole world are intensely focussed on this year’s elections, chief of which is that the elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. On insecurity, there is a genuine cause for worry, both within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the civil war era, at no other time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure.
Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired general and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country.
You all can bear witness to the gallant role of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in several parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours to come to our rescue.
Let me assure you that if I am elected president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester, and I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international efforts to combat terrorism.
On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of 7% for about a decade.
But it is more of paper growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy and corruption, has not translated to human development or shared prosperity. A development economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?
The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that the current administration has created two economies in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery.
Even by official figures, 33.1% of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million, almost the population of the United Kingdom. There is also the unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at the slightest stress, with officially 23.9% of our adult population and almost 60% of our youth unemployed. We also have one of the highest rates of inequalities in the world.
With all these, it is not surprising that our performance on most governance and development indicators (like Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and UNDP’s Human Development Index.) are unflattering. With fall in the prices of oil, which accounts for more than 70% of government revenues, and lack of savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be disproportionately impacted.
In the face of dwindling revenues, a good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria’s economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present administration: waste and corruption. And in doing this, I will, if elected, lead the way, with the force of personal example.
On corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the budgetary process. Revenue producing entities such as NNPC and Customs and Excise will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference.
But I must emphasise that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstrued as settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I’m running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.
In reforming the economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youth and pensions for the elderly.
As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people thus freeing them from the curse of poverty. We will run a private sector-led economy but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve the productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming youths.
In short, we will run a functional economy driven by a worldview that sees growth not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigeria has a decision to make. To vote for the continuity of failure or to elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.
In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting point we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they go ahead, and depriving those who want to scuttle it the benefit of derailing our fledgling democracy. That way, we will all see democracy and democratic consolidation as tools for solving pressing problems in a sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.
Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition
Permit me to close this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others. I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch.
I cannot change the past. But I can change the present and the future. So before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the fourth time.
You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a question I ask myself all the time too. And here is my humble answer: because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot, and most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.
I thank you for listening
Wednesday 25 February 2015
2015: How to shake off our lethargy- Modupe Ogunbayo (The Punch)
Why is it impossible for Nigerians to protest – non-violently – against the maladministration and corruption they continually face in the country despite years of bitter suffering? Not long ago, Thais donated pints of their blood to smear across government buildings, normally passive Arabs precipitated the 2012 Arab Spring and even, Burkina Faso, the tiny West African nation, widely demonstrated recently to force a desired result. Yet, my countrymen continue to silently suffer though far worse situations without doing more than raise weary eyebrows.
Why can’t we shake off that lethargy and hold our leaders who have progressively assaulted our sensibilities and well-being to the worst extreme accountable?
For ages, I have mulled over this question without getting answers. I turned to Sigmund Freud in his 1921’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego that “a primary mass is a number of individuals who have put one and the same object in place of their ego ideal and consequently identify with each other.” Nigerians – regardless of its melting pot of over 250 ethnic nationalities – are undeniably linked by the common denominator of suffering with lack of adequate basic infrastructure like power, energy, water, education, housing and health. Yet, its leaders budgeted $1bn in the 2012 annual budget for feeding. Power supply for an entire region stretching 923,768 square kilometres comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory has dropped to less than 4,000 megawatts whereas the CIA lists seven million populated Togo as boasting 671,900 megawatts annually.
Still, Nigerians – per normal – took it in their strides. Thais innovatively demonstrated because of a hike in the price of bread. The only time ever that Nigerians took to the streets to protest any hike was during the 2012 anti-fuel subsidy removal demonstrations.
As people across all societal strata trooped out en masse during the protests, I exulted in the knowledge that as Malcolm Gladwell postulated, Nigeria had reached that tipping point, “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point,” when oppressed people revolt and cause profound change.
The world probably thought so too as it watched with bated breath in anticipation of a climactic end in the mould of a power change seen already with the Arab Spring but yet to spill over to sub-Saharan Africa. But, it ended abruptly due to “security concerns.”
The 2012 rally revealed one truth though: Nigerians are groaning and gasping for breath under the weight of massive economic deprivation and craved an escape but, need a rallying figure for direction to properly express their frustrations and displeasure to cause attitudinal change intrinsic in the Nigerian rulers towards the ruled. Freud called this need “a (largely unconscious) identification with the other individuals…drawn in the same way to the leader, a binding element which…makes him impulsive, powerful and secure in safety of mass numbers where otherwise, he would have felt isolated.”
Nigeria crossed this obstacle with the NGO coalition, the Save Nigeria Group, that banded together to plan the 2012 protests. This group stressed non-violence and orderly conduct in order to prevent its hijack by undesirable elements, like witnessed during the epochal June 12, 1993 presidential election annulment protests.
The coalition was also arguably the protest’s undoing. Later reports circulated that the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress – in talks with the Nigerian government simultaneously as the protest was ongoing – compromised.
Therein lies, again, the urgency for the emergence of democracy-enabling institutions in the form of civil society groups, labour unions, human rights groups to effectively fill this vacuum in Nigeria. Tons of these groups already exist but they – asphyxiated by non-existent funding – have turned coats and are cavorting with the ruling government – that they ought to monitor – in exchange for huge financial enrichment.
This is a painful scenario especially as Nigeria faces a major milestone ahead of the 2015 polls already suspended ostensibly, due to – again – security concerns. Globally, there are fears that the elections were suspended apparently to scuttle the electoral process. The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, told Nigerian authorities from Washington after the poll shift announcement that Boko Haram’s shenanigans should not be a decoy to postpone the elections especially as the five-year old insurgency in the country’s north-east looks uncertain to end in six weeks especially, as the Nigerian constitution approves six months’ postponement in such cases.
Already, the situation is getting more complex. After Kerry’s statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ade Adefaye, told diplomats to stay out of Nigeria’s affairs just as President Jonathan’s campaign office accused the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, of secretly meeting top opposition members in Dubai towards compromising electoral participation with biased distribution of Permanent Voter Cards to the north, the opposition’s stronghold. Though the opposition calls this claim an “irritant,” some observers note the situation as a calculated smear campaign against Jega to force his resignation to facilitate the emergence of a pliant replacement who would superintendent the polls or stall for time to do so since his tenure ends in June. Incontrovertibly, these are serious developments which do not bode well for the 2015 elections.
These situations are why first, Nigerians have to rise now from their perpetual lethargy or of praying to God to physically descend to change Nigeria. It is the time to act until the desired change comes. Secondly, since this action requires firm and unbiased leadership, the US must empower viable Nigerian NGOs with adequate funding to facilitate effective leadership in protesting against any machinations against this crucial election. It is mutually beneficial. As John Campbell sums it in a recent CFR’s Contingency Planning Memorandum Update on the Nigerian elections, “an unstable Nigeria with internally displaced and refugee population…could potentially destabilise neighbouring states and compromise the US interests in Africa.”
•Ms. Ogunbayo wrote in from Lagos
Copyright PUNCH
Why can’t we shake off that lethargy and hold our leaders who have progressively assaulted our sensibilities and well-being to the worst extreme accountable?
For ages, I have mulled over this question without getting answers. I turned to Sigmund Freud in his 1921’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego that “a primary mass is a number of individuals who have put one and the same object in place of their ego ideal and consequently identify with each other.” Nigerians – regardless of its melting pot of over 250 ethnic nationalities – are undeniably linked by the common denominator of suffering with lack of adequate basic infrastructure like power, energy, water, education, housing and health. Yet, its leaders budgeted $1bn in the 2012 annual budget for feeding. Power supply for an entire region stretching 923,768 square kilometres comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory has dropped to less than 4,000 megawatts whereas the CIA lists seven million populated Togo as boasting 671,900 megawatts annually.
Still, Nigerians – per normal – took it in their strides. Thais innovatively demonstrated because of a hike in the price of bread. The only time ever that Nigerians took to the streets to protest any hike was during the 2012 anti-fuel subsidy removal demonstrations.
As people across all societal strata trooped out en masse during the protests, I exulted in the knowledge that as Malcolm Gladwell postulated, Nigeria had reached that tipping point, “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point,” when oppressed people revolt and cause profound change.
The world probably thought so too as it watched with bated breath in anticipation of a climactic end in the mould of a power change seen already with the Arab Spring but yet to spill over to sub-Saharan Africa. But, it ended abruptly due to “security concerns.”
The 2012 rally revealed one truth though: Nigerians are groaning and gasping for breath under the weight of massive economic deprivation and craved an escape but, need a rallying figure for direction to properly express their frustrations and displeasure to cause attitudinal change intrinsic in the Nigerian rulers towards the ruled. Freud called this need “a (largely unconscious) identification with the other individuals…drawn in the same way to the leader, a binding element which…makes him impulsive, powerful and secure in safety of mass numbers where otherwise, he would have felt isolated.”
Nigeria crossed this obstacle with the NGO coalition, the Save Nigeria Group, that banded together to plan the 2012 protests. This group stressed non-violence and orderly conduct in order to prevent its hijack by undesirable elements, like witnessed during the epochal June 12, 1993 presidential election annulment protests.
The coalition was also arguably the protest’s undoing. Later reports circulated that the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress – in talks with the Nigerian government simultaneously as the protest was ongoing – compromised.
Therein lies, again, the urgency for the emergence of democracy-enabling institutions in the form of civil society groups, labour unions, human rights groups to effectively fill this vacuum in Nigeria. Tons of these groups already exist but they – asphyxiated by non-existent funding – have turned coats and are cavorting with the ruling government – that they ought to monitor – in exchange for huge financial enrichment.
This is a painful scenario especially as Nigeria faces a major milestone ahead of the 2015 polls already suspended ostensibly, due to – again – security concerns. Globally, there are fears that the elections were suspended apparently to scuttle the electoral process. The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, told Nigerian authorities from Washington after the poll shift announcement that Boko Haram’s shenanigans should not be a decoy to postpone the elections especially as the five-year old insurgency in the country’s north-east looks uncertain to end in six weeks especially, as the Nigerian constitution approves six months’ postponement in such cases.
Already, the situation is getting more complex. After Kerry’s statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ade Adefaye, told diplomats to stay out of Nigeria’s affairs just as President Jonathan’s campaign office accused the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, of secretly meeting top opposition members in Dubai towards compromising electoral participation with biased distribution of Permanent Voter Cards to the north, the opposition’s stronghold. Though the opposition calls this claim an “irritant,” some observers note the situation as a calculated smear campaign against Jega to force his resignation to facilitate the emergence of a pliant replacement who would superintendent the polls or stall for time to do so since his tenure ends in June. Incontrovertibly, these are serious developments which do not bode well for the 2015 elections.
These situations are why first, Nigerians have to rise now from their perpetual lethargy or of praying to God to physically descend to change Nigeria. It is the time to act until the desired change comes. Secondly, since this action requires firm and unbiased leadership, the US must empower viable Nigerian NGOs with adequate funding to facilitate effective leadership in protesting against any machinations against this crucial election. It is mutually beneficial. As John Campbell sums it in a recent CFR’s Contingency Planning Memorandum Update on the Nigerian elections, “an unstable Nigeria with internally displaced and refugee population…could potentially destabilise neighbouring states and compromise the US interests in Africa.”
•Ms. Ogunbayo wrote in from Lagos
Copyright PUNCH
Soyinka Lends His Voice to Ekiti Rigging Tape Scandal, Read What He Says Here
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, says the audio file which purportedly captured some Peoples Democratic Party leaders giving orders to a general to rig the June 21, 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti State must be investigated by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
Soyinka said this in a statement while reacting to a front page advert in the PUNCH sponsored by Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, in which the governor discredited the authenticity of the tape based on a report by the US that the Ekiti governorship poll was transparent.
The playwright said the issue was too weighty to be dismissed without being investigated.
He said since Fayose had referenced the US report, the Federal Government could also call on the US to assist in investigating the tape.
Soyinka said no one would lose anything by investigating the tape since it was the job of law enforcement agencies to investigate matters of state.
He said, “For those who have nothing to hide, disrobing lies and forgeries and reinforcing truth is regarded as part and parcel of the obligations we owe democracy. The audio could well be one of such forgeries. We are daily inundated with allegations, evasions, distortions, image plundering and image laundering, all under the permissive canopy of electoral proceeding.
“Once in a while, however, we encounter exposure of an exceptional dimension that appears to strike at the very root of democracy, questions the validity of an entire electoral system and even erodes confidence in the integrity of the state. Such an event need not be regarded as a repudiation of the formal mechanics put in place by an electioneering agency such as INEC, but nonetheless extends the scope of its responsibilities, including its projection of looming hazards of future electoral exercises.
“This is why, in the absence of a Constitutional Court or its equivalent, one is left with no other course than to call on INEC to also take formal charge of the recorded incident of this alleged conspiracy to pervert the course of democracy. For those ‘who have nothing to hide,’ it is a call that deserves unstinting support. They should not hesitate to assist in calling on the same US expertise to assist us in exposing a forgery.
“We are speaking here of a development that implicates not only products, beneficiaries or would-be constitutional guardians of the electoral process – that is, an elected governor, a governorship aspirant, but also state agencies – the military, two serving ministers – that is, members of the Executive arm of government, one of them in charge of the nation’s defence portfolio – and others.
“In addition to the logical role of the police, the nation’s electoral commission should undertake an independent investigation and make its findings known to the nation. Is this perhaps something INEC can undertake while the nation waits out its suspended electoral sentence? It only requires repudiation – or validation – of the findings of an already advanced forensic enquiry.”
Copyright PUNCH
PDP Introduces New Twist to OBJ's Torn Membership Card
Two weeks after former President Olusegun Obasanjo tore his Peoples Democratic Party membership card, the party claimed on Tuesday that the card being held by the former President had expired.
It said that the card hitherto owned by Obasanjo was signed by the party’s former Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Kawu Baraje.
Baraje has since left the party and he is now a chieftain of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress.
While declaring his leaving the party, Obasanjo had asked the Chairman of the PDP in his ward at Abeokuta, Mr. Usman Oladunjoye, to tear his membership card.
Commenting on Obasanjo’s action, the National Secretary of the party, Dr. Wale Oladipo, said the card had been changed.
Oladipo spoke during a courtesy call on him by some students, who claimed to be working for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, and himself signed the current cards being used by the party members.
He said, “Baba (Obasanjo) is over 80 years and my mother is around Obasanjo’s age and when you reach that age, you do things that only you can explain.
“Secondly, you will see that Baba did not tear our card. He asked somebody ostensibly to do the tearing and I am assuring you that the card that was torn was not the current PDP card.
“The current PDP card is signed by Mu’azu and Oladipo. So, the card he tore was a Baraje card which we were going to destroy anyway. So, I think Baba started it.”
He added that Obasanjo might have left the party in order for it to have more followers.
Oladipo said, “Lastly, Baba is a very intelligent man. When Baba was helping us, he knows that a lot of people could have complained that they could have voted for the PDP but Baba is there.
“You know when a big tree thrives in a big forest, smaller trees cannot grow. If that big tree leaves, 10 to 20 smaller trees will grow.
“In politics, one big tree has a vote while 20 small trees have 20 votes. If you do the arithmetic, I am a scientist, I know that head or tail, it is a win-win situation for the PDP.”
The party also vowed to shock the APC in the South-West, where it said it would spring surprises.
The Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, stated this while speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said with the support which he said was coming for the party, there was no way the party would not win the presidential election.
Secondus said this was where the confidence was coming from for the party and the President.
He said, “Look at our pedigree. A party that was formed less than one year ago can’t win elections with media vibes.
“Elections are won at polling units and we have the pedigree and statistics that have shown from 1999 till date that we have been consistent.”
Copyright PUNCH.
All
CAN Collected N7b Bribe- Northern Pastor Insists
Borno State-based pastor, Kallamu Musa-Dikwa, who accused the Christians Association of Nigeria of collecting N7bn bribe from President Goodluck Jonathan to campaign against the All Progressives Congress Presidential candidate in the March 28 election, has insisted that the CAN collected the said amount.
Musa-Dikwa on Monday in Kaduna insisted that the Jonathan government gave CAN N7bn to campaign against the APC candidate, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He however said that neither Jonathan nor Buhari was fit to govern the country.
The cleric said CAN collected N7bn from Jonathan and not N6bn as alleged by the Rivers State governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation.
Amaechi had alleged that unnamed leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party paid N6bn to Christian clerics to campaign against the APC. The allegation has caused uproar among the Christian community, with the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Northern State Christian Elders Forum asking Amaechi to name the church leaders who collected the N6bn.
But reacting to the challenge by the Northern States Christian Elders Forum, Dikwa, who is the Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement, had told journalists in Kaduna last Thursday that the said money was channelled through CAN.
He said the Christians body got N7bn on January 26, 2015 and disbursed N3m each to state chairmen of the CAN across the country.
Dikwa, who was an Associate Pastor with the E. Y. N. Church (Enklesiyan Yan’uwan A Nijeriya) Farm Centre, Dikwa Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, under Rev. Emmanuel Kwajihe between 2002-2004, said the CAN had started threatening Christians in Borno that they must re-elect President Jonathan in the rescheduled election.
He said that he fell out with the national body of CAN when sometimes in 2013 some clerics from the United States (Christians Association of Nigeria-Americans) visited Nigeria and donated the sum of $50,000 to the victims of the Boko Haram violence in Borno State.
He explained that rather than disbursing the money to serve the purpose for which it was meant, CAN merely gave the victims a paltry N100,000.
The cleric added that when he asked the leadership of the body about the $50,000 for the victims, they became furious.
“This was the beginning of our disagreement with the national body of CAN,” he said.
On the alleged N7bn bribe money, Musa-Dikwa, who played a recorded audio of someone confirming that CAN had collected the money before members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kaduna Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kaduna on Tuesday, said that when Amaechi first accused the clerics of collecting bribe to campaign against the Buhari candidacy, “I text (message) to the leadership of the CAN to repent or be exposed.”
He said since he opened the can of worms, he had received several threat messages from yet-to-be identified persons, who claimed that “I am against Christians and working for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate.”
Dikwa said it was untrue that he was working for Buhari.
He also added that since the revelation, many of the CAN leaders had called him to confirm that the allegation was true and that they indeed collected the money (N7bn) and disbursed N3m to the state CAN in the 36 states of the Federation.
He said an insider within CAN confirmed to him that the money was collected on January 26, 2015.
He said, “There was no newspaper or news coverage of the disbursement of the N7bn to CAN. A national officer of CAN confirmed to me that CAN received the money and disbursed N3m to each state CAN.
“I sent text messages to the CAN leadership, asking them to repent otherwise I will expose them. Nobody replied me. That is why I decided to open up. Some people say that I am working for Buhari. It is not true. I am not working for anybody. It is not today that I started writing on Boko Haram. I stand for the truth. Boko Haram affects everyone, Christians and Muslims.”
“I am not working for anybody. I am standing for the truth. I am standing for righteousness and for my people, whether Christians or Muslims.
“I have always said that both President Goodluck Jonathan and Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd) are not good for Nigeria. I am praying and I am always telling the people that God will stop them (Jonathan and Buhari).”
Copyright PUNCH
Musa-Dikwa on Monday in Kaduna insisted that the Jonathan government gave CAN N7bn to campaign against the APC candidate, Maj. Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He however said that neither Jonathan nor Buhari was fit to govern the country.
The cleric said CAN collected N7bn from Jonathan and not N6bn as alleged by the Rivers State governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation.
Amaechi had alleged that unnamed leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party paid N6bn to Christian clerics to campaign against the APC. The allegation has caused uproar among the Christian community, with the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Northern State Christian Elders Forum asking Amaechi to name the church leaders who collected the N6bn.
But reacting to the challenge by the Northern States Christian Elders Forum, Dikwa, who is the Executive Director of the Voice of Northern Christian Movement, had told journalists in Kaduna last Thursday that the said money was channelled through CAN.
He said the Christians body got N7bn on January 26, 2015 and disbursed N3m each to state chairmen of the CAN across the country.
Dikwa, who was an Associate Pastor with the E. Y. N. Church (Enklesiyan Yan’uwan A Nijeriya) Farm Centre, Dikwa Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, under Rev. Emmanuel Kwajihe between 2002-2004, said the CAN had started threatening Christians in Borno that they must re-elect President Jonathan in the rescheduled election.
He said that he fell out with the national body of CAN when sometimes in 2013 some clerics from the United States (Christians Association of Nigeria-Americans) visited Nigeria and donated the sum of $50,000 to the victims of the Boko Haram violence in Borno State.
He explained that rather than disbursing the money to serve the purpose for which it was meant, CAN merely gave the victims a paltry N100,000.
The cleric added that when he asked the leadership of the body about the $50,000 for the victims, they became furious.
“This was the beginning of our disagreement with the national body of CAN,” he said.
On the alleged N7bn bribe money, Musa-Dikwa, who played a recorded audio of someone confirming that CAN had collected the money before members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kaduna Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Kaduna on Tuesday, said that when Amaechi first accused the clerics of collecting bribe to campaign against the Buhari candidacy, “I text (message) to the leadership of the CAN to repent or be exposed.”
He said since he opened the can of worms, he had received several threat messages from yet-to-be identified persons, who claimed that “I am against Christians and working for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate.”
Dikwa said it was untrue that he was working for Buhari.
He also added that since the revelation, many of the CAN leaders had called him to confirm that the allegation was true and that they indeed collected the money (N7bn) and disbursed N3m to the state CAN in the 36 states of the Federation.
He said an insider within CAN confirmed to him that the money was collected on January 26, 2015.
He said, “There was no newspaper or news coverage of the disbursement of the N7bn to CAN. A national officer of CAN confirmed to me that CAN received the money and disbursed N3m to each state CAN.
“I sent text messages to the CAN leadership, asking them to repent otherwise I will expose them. Nobody replied me. That is why I decided to open up. Some people say that I am working for Buhari. It is not true. I am not working for anybody. It is not today that I started writing on Boko Haram. I stand for the truth. Boko Haram affects everyone, Christians and Muslims.”
“I am not working for anybody. I am standing for the truth. I am standing for righteousness and for my people, whether Christians or Muslims.
“I have always said that both President Goodluck Jonathan and Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd) are not good for Nigeria. I am praying and I am always telling the people that God will stop them (Jonathan and Buhari).”
Copyright PUNCH
Monday 23 February 2015
Get all the winners of the 87th Oscars here
What a night! The 87th Annual Academy Awards aired live from L.A. on Sunday, Feb. 22. Did Birdman or Boyhood take home Best Picture? Who snagged their first Oscar ever? See which stars celebrated in the Dolby Theatre before the afterparties began!
Read the complete list of winners below:
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in BoyhoodEdward Norton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)Mark Ruffalo in FoxcatcherJ.K. Simmons in Whiplash**J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in BoyhoodEdward Norton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)Mark Ruffalo in FoxcatcherJ.K. Simmons in Whiplash**J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
PHOTOS: Stars who've never won an Oscar
Achievement in costume design
**The Grand Budapest Hotel, Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice, Mark Bridges
Into the Woods, Colleen Atwood
Maleficent, Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner, Jacqueline Durran
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Foxcatcher, Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
**The Grand Budapest Hotel, Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy, Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
Best foreign language film of the year
**Ida, Poland
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Timbuktu, Mauritania
Wild Tales, Argentina
Achievement in costume design
**The Grand Budapest Hotel, Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice, Mark Bridges
Into the Woods, Colleen Atwood
Maleficent, Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner, Jacqueline Durran
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Foxcatcher, Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
**The Grand Budapest Hotel, Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy, Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
Best foreign language film of the year
**Ida, Poland
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Timbuktu, Mauritania
Wild Tales, Argentina
Winner for Best Supporting Actress Patricia Arquette accepts her award on stage at the 87th Oscars.
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Best live action short film
Aya, Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham, Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak), Hu Wei and Julien Feret
Parvaneh, Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
**The Phone Call, Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Aya, Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham, Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak), Hu Wei and Julien Feret
Parvaneh, Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
**The Phone Call, Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Best documentary short subject
**Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna, Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse, Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka), Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth, J. Christian Jensen
J.K. Simmons accepts the Actor in a Supporting Role Award for "Whiplash" onstage during the 87th Annual Academy Awards.
Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Best animated short film
The Bigger Picture, Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
**Feast, Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton, Torill Kove
A Single Life, Joris Oprins
Best animated feature film of the year
**Big Hero 6, Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls, Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
How to Train Your Dragon 2, Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea, Tomm Moore and Paul Young
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Achievement in production design
**The Grand Budapest Hotel, Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game, Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar, Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods, Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner, Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts
Winner for Best Actor Eddie Redmayne accepts his award on stage at the 87th Oscars.
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Achievement in cinematography
**Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert Yeoman
Ida, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner, Dick Pope
Unbroken, Roger Deakins
Achievement in film editing
American Sniper, Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood, Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game, William Goldenberg
**Whiplash, Tom Cross
PHOTOS: Oscars 2015 -- what the stars wore
Best documentary feature
**CitizenFour, Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam, Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth, Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga, Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Everything Is Awesome" from The Lego Movie
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
**"Glory" from Selma
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
"I’m Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
**The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game, Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar, Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner, Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything, Johann Johannsson
PHOTOS: Best Picture Oscar winners from past 25 years
Original screenplay
**Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Written by Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy
Winner for Best Actress Julianne Moore accepts her award on stage at the 87th Oscars.
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Adapted screenplay
American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall
**The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything, screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle
Achievement in directing
**Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Alejandro G. Inarritu
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
**Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall
**The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything, screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle
Achievement in directing
**Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Alejandro G. Inarritu
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
**Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
**Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
**Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
Best Picture
American Sniper
**Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
American Sniper
**Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
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