Former Minister of Education and Bring Back Our Girls Convener,
Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has denied saying President Buhari doesn’t deserve
to be President over the way he has handled the plight of 2,000
immigration service recruits who slept at the entrance of Aso Villa from
last Friday till Saturday morning.
She also took a fresh swipe at the
Presidency, attacking presidential spokesman Garba Shehu whom she
labeled as a man wasting his talents on wrong priorities.
According to the initial report by The Nigerian Tribune,
Ezekwesili, while appealing to the protesters to maintain decorum, also
challenged President Buhari to come out and publicly address the
alleged illegal recruitment which has permeated his administration in
the last couple of months, saying “that was not the change Nigerians voted for.”
“You are great Nigerians.
So, you slept here, Oh my God! Inside this cold of Abuja. Somebody holds
you a better explanation, and if President Muhammadu Buhari says he
doesn’t know that you slept here since yesterday, it means he doesn’t
deserve to be there.
“This government should not
punish those who did not deserve to be punished. Nothing should be done
secretly. This is not the change Nigerians voted for. President Buhari
should come out and address the allegation of illegal recruitment going
on in the civil service,” The Nigerian Tribune quoted Ezekwesili.
The report immediately attracted the
anger of the Buhari Presidency with presidential spokesman Garba Shehu
lashing out at Ezekwesili, challenging her to contest for President in
2019 if she felt she was better qualified than Buhari.
Garba Shehu advised Ezekwesili to form a political party to run for presidency if she felt Buhari was not doing well.
He told The Nigerian Tribube in Abuja that if she did so and won the election, Buhari would hand over to her.
Asked to react to Ezekwesili’s claims,
Shehu said: “Did I hear you say that Madam Ezekwesili said President
Muhammadu Buhari is not fit to be in that office?
“That is a political statement. What I
will advise her to do is to come out of the shadow of the grieving
Chibok parents, register a political party and go into the election
against the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari.
“If she thinks she is a better person to
be in that office, let her present herself to the Nigerian people in an
election. She has the right to do so under our constitution.”
“The issue of democracy is that there is
a right to vote and be voted for. If anybody thinks that they can do a
better job than President Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria, let
them go and run for the office to win election and take over.”
Apparently embarrassed by the ensuing drama that followed, Ezekwesili reached out to The Nigerian Tribune denying she ever made the statement attributed to her. According to a statement personally signed by Ezekwesili herself, The Nigerian Tribune has now apologised to her for misquoting her.
Read her statement below…
I woke up yesterday to
read a fictitious report credited to me by Sunday Tribune that I claimed
President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve to be president. And on the
basis of the fiction weaved together by a reporter, he let loose one of
those now-very-common indecorous and rumor- inspired verbal assault
from presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu.
However, today, in one of those uncommon
but
very professional decisions, Tribune newspaper not only recanted on
the story but also apologized to me. While I thank the newspaper for
toeing the path of honour, I hope Mallam Garba Shehu will also be decent
enough to admit his error of judgement and tender an unreserved apology
for his falsehood and unwarranted attacks at me.
Notwithstanding, it is important not to
lose sight of the real issue which is about the fate of 2000 young
Nigerians who were employed into the Nigerian Immigration Service, after
a rigorous and transparent process by the last administration, only for
their services to be cynically dispensed with by the current
administration. These are Nigerians from across the country.
Incidentally, I was drawn to their
plight just because in driving past where they had congregated, I saw
among them a friend and BBOG colleague, Hajia Aisha Yesufu, who, as it
would turn out, had taken up their cause. I spoke with them briefly and I
had pleaded with the president to look into their matter. Fortunately,
in correcting the earlier wrong publication, Tribune has helped to bring
out what I said in its story of today as captured below: FORMER
Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, never said President Muhammadu
Buhari did not deserve to be president. Our sister publication, Sunday
Tribune, had attributed the statement to be part of what she said over
the plight of 2,000 immigration service recruits who slept at the
entrance of Aso Villa from Friday till Saturday morning.
Ezekwesili, while addressing the
recruits, had said “I am, therefore, appealing to the president to
immediately ask the military as well as the Nigerian Immigration Service
to do what is right, give justice to all these young men and women who,
on the basis of merit, were appointed into positions in the NIS.
“I want to say that if justice is not
given to them immediately, I certainly will join them in sitting here
every day until they get their justice. Justice is to be able to come to
table with them.
“Whatever the challenges are, let it be
known, but don’t let anything be done in secrecy, and let nothing be
done with such opaqueness. These young people are the present of
Nigeria, not just the future of Nigeria. If we don’t treat our young
right, we are laying ourselves up for what we already have troubling us
in the country.
“So, I join my voice with them and I
appeal to the President whom they have come to see to immediately do
something about their cause. And I also use this opportunity to speak to
the Federal Government, there have been too many instances of
allegations of illegal recruitment into the public service. “If our
public service is dysfunctional and you are worsening it by recruiting
people through the back doors, people who don’t have the talent, skills,
competence, capacity, character to be able to give us good service in
public service, then, we certainly have no plans to be better than we
are.
“So, we should just from henceforth
desist from doing this. And usually, when these illegal recruitments are
done, we sacrifice the best for the worst among us. Usually, when these
illegal recruitments are done, what ends up happening is that the
children of the poorer segment of our society who struggle to get
through their education are left behind, then, that is the basis of
worsening inequality.
“We cannot afford this and an unequal
society is a society laying itself up for implosion and God forbid that
would be the case with our nation. I want to just applaud all of you for
coming out and standing, standing for your cause. I want to say that I
would actually be speaking to a lawyer who will become your lawyer in
this matter, so that, not just would you be on the streets, but you
would have to get legal redress of your situation, because that’s very
important.
“I also applaud the fact that you have
been civil. Today is Saturday, I don’t know what your plan is, Saturday
is not a work day. Sunday is also not a work day. So people might say
they are not at work, that’s why they are not able to speak to you.
Maybe what we would do is have a discussion among yourselves and perhaps
resume your sit-out by wherever you chose to do that, by the first day
of the week. Then whatever you want to say to the President, I think you
should give the opportunity for all your members to speak to the
President. He’s the one you came to see.”
The Tribune Newspapers hereby tender
unreserved apology to Dr Ezekwesili, Aisha Yesufu and the Presidency for
the misrepresentation.
Let me again state that the injustice
that the #NigeriaImmigration2000 protesters allege needs immediate
Presidential resolution considering that all other levels of authority
have failed them.
If Garba Shehu was not deploying his
time and talent to the wrong priorities, he should have brought the
issue of 2000 disaffected young people to the President’s attention when
they occupied the gate of his office last Friday.
I advise him to do so now.
Obiageli (Oby) Ezekwesili
The Nigerian Police
force have said that successful candidates in the ongoing recruitment
exercise will undergo compulsory polygraph test (lie detector test) as
well as other necessary tests.
This was made available to newsmen in a statement released by the Deputy
Commissioner of Police ( DCP) and Force Public Relations Officer, Don
Anwunah.
According to the statement, the measures were based on the directive of
the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mr. Ibrahim Idris. It quoted the
IGP as saying that no candidate will be admitted for training at the
Police Academy and colleges without undergoing these prescribed tests.
“The lie detector test is aimed at ensuring that candidates are not of
questionable character and their behaviours conform with standard rules
of behaviour expected of an officer to be recruited into the Force.
“The Police Academy and other training colleges across the country will
be equipped to carry out the necessary tests,” the statement said
further.
He said that the polygraph test will be among other tests such as
general background check, biometrics, medical, physical examination,
aptitude, oral and psychological tests.
He also said that the Police will also conduct a thorough verification
of all documents submitted by prospective candidates.
The statement said that the IG has reviewed the recruitment exercise and
expressed satisfaction with the progress made in the effort to hire 10,
000 personnel.
The measures, the statement stressed, are reflective of the
determination of the Nigeria Police Force to ensure that the current
recruitment exercise conforms with acceptable standards
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/police-recruitment-successful-candidates-to-undergo-lie-detector-others-tests/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/police-recruitment-successful-candidates-to-undergo-lie-detector-others-tests/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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