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36<br />
ABUJA REVIEW<br />
THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015<br />
ITH about a month to<br />
the handover date,<br />
President Goodluck WJonathan has started to receive<br />
dignitaries on a thank-you and<br />
farewell visits from beyond the<br />
national borders.<br />
One of the first visitors was<br />
President Alassane Ouattara of<br />
Cote d’Ivoire who was at the Presidential<br />
Villa on Monday last<br />
week to thank him for all the support<br />
he has given him and his<br />
country in the past five years.<br />
Briefing journalists after the<br />
closed-door meeting, Ouattara,<br />
who was recounting Jonathan’s<br />
role that ensured Ouattara took<br />
over from Laurent Gbagbo who<br />
was hanging onto power in 2010<br />
in Cote d’Ivoire, became a bit<br />
emotional as the two leaders<br />
managed to fight back tears during<br />
the session.<br />
He was particularly grateful that<br />
Jonathan, who was Nigeria’s Acting<br />
President five years ago could<br />
mobilise other West African leaders<br />
to oust Laurent Gbagbo, who<br />
had refused to relinquish power<br />
after losing the presidential election.<br />
Besides commending Jonathan<br />
for shunning replay of the<br />
Gbagbo experience in Nigeria, he<br />
was happy that bloodshed was<br />
averted in the country as Jonathan<br />
peacefully conceded defeat to<br />
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.<br />
Gbagbo’s refusal to concede defeat<br />
to him after the presidential<br />
election, he said, resulted in a<br />
four-month civil war in which<br />
over 3, 000 people lost their lives.<br />
He said: “So, I wanted to tell you<br />
our appreciation over the leadership<br />
we have received from you<br />
during these years. You know that<br />
about five years ago, Cote<br />
d’Ivoire had elections and I won<br />
the election and the former president<br />
decided not to leave<br />
office. This brought the civil war<br />
and 3,000 people were killed.”<br />
“We were put in a hotel for protection<br />
by the United Nations for<br />
four and a half months. We were<br />
there without food because the<br />
hotel was guarded by the<br />
president’s men. It was only after<br />
four and a half months of imprisonment<br />
in that hotel that finally<br />
we were able to leave the hotel;<br />
after the former president quit<br />
and finally left office for me.”<br />
“I am saying this to stress that<br />
what happened in Nigeria is a lesson<br />
to all of us. Please, accept my<br />
admiration. I think that avoiding<br />
violence, avoiding civil war when<br />
we have elections in Africa should<br />
be our utmost objective,” he said.<br />
Continuing, he said: “People are<br />
more important than power and<br />
Mr. President, my good friend, I am<br />
not surprised about what you did<br />
and I wanted to congratulate you,<br />
congratulate the Nigerian people<br />
and congratulate the Presidentelect.<br />
“My brother, you have shown<br />
support to me during the difficult<br />
years I went through, you have<br />
shown friendship to me all these<br />
years. So, I want to tell you thank<br />
you.” he added.<br />
The following day, Tuesday, the<br />
Ghanaian President, John Mahama,<br />
who is also the chairman of the Economic<br />
Community of West African<br />
States (ECOWAS) also, visited<br />
President Jonathan to commend<br />
him on behalf of ECOWAS for his<br />
statesmanship in conceding defeat<br />
to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.<br />
He said: “I also took the opportunity<br />
to commend him for the statesmanship<br />
that was displayed after<br />
the election. We all knew that he<br />
congratulated the president-elect,<br />
Igbo seek scrapping<br />
of land-swap policy<br />
INVESTORS in the Federal Capital<br />
Territory (FCT) have called on<br />
the incoming administration of<br />
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari to scrap<br />
the land swap policy which was introduced<br />
by the FCT Minister, Senator<br />
Bala Mohommed, saying that<br />
the policy is against the interest of<br />
the natives and residents of the territory.<br />
The Chairman of Zaudan Pazeri<br />
Property Owners’ Association, Elder<br />
Friday Ugoala, who spoke on<br />
behalf of residents of the FCT at a<br />
news conference in Abuja, said if<br />
the land swap is allowed to continue,<br />
the rate of accommodation<br />
or services that would arise from it<br />
will be beyond the reach of the common<br />
Nigerian who resides in the<br />
capital city.<br />
According to Ugoala, if the land<br />
swap policy is scrapped, the average<br />
Nigerian will have hope to acquire<br />
land and build it at his own<br />
pace. He debunked the notion that<br />
From Gbenga Omokhunu<br />
the FCT is not meant for everybody,<br />
adding that they will have the hope<br />
of having a home to stay in the FCT.<br />
“Also, the land swap policy is<br />
against the natives of the FCT, because,<br />
many of them would be sent<br />
out of their ancestral communities<br />
for strangers to come and occupy,<br />
all in the name of land swap. The<br />
truth is that the greatest humiliation<br />
you can give to a man is to send him<br />
out of his ancestral home, where his<br />
ancestors were buried. This is not<br />
right.<br />
“If the land swap policy is not<br />
scrapped, I do not know how many<br />
of the natives can afford the price<br />
the estate developers would place<br />
their houses when constructed, because<br />
most of them would be out to<br />
make money with their structures,<br />
without considering if the common<br />
man could afford it or not. The<br />
Enter farewell visitors<br />
From<br />
the<br />
Villa<br />
By Augustine Ehikioya<br />
policy is a conduit for corruption,<br />
because it encourages corruption and<br />
injustice.<br />
“There are many cases where individuals<br />
have been awarded plots of<br />
land, just for the fact that their files<br />
are being processed in the FCDA office.<br />
The next thing is that they jump<br />
Gen. Buhari after the election realities<br />
and he conceded. I feel that was<br />
a very great sign of maturity and<br />
has earned the respect of all Nigerians<br />
and the respect of the international<br />
community for all what he<br />
did.<br />
“We expect a smooth transition<br />
and possibly the role that Nigeria<br />
plays in the ECOWAS being the<br />
biggest economy not only in our<br />
sub-region but also in the whole<br />
continent.<br />
“Of course there is a special relationship<br />
that exists between Nigeria<br />
and Ghana too and so, in my<br />
second heart as the President of<br />
Ghana, I wish to congratulate our<br />
brothers and sisters in Nigeria on<br />
what has been a very good election,”<br />
he said.<br />
To ensure continued support<br />
from Nigeria after May 29, these<br />
leaders did not fail to seek audience<br />
with the President-elect, Gen.<br />
Buhari, during their visits.<br />
Jonathan and Buhari, no doubt,<br />
will continue to receive such visits<br />
upon allocation and they hand it over,<br />
saying that it has been swapped.<br />
There is capital vote approved for the<br />
FCT Administration, but the logic<br />
they gave for the land swap is that it<br />
is saving the government the cost of<br />
infrastructure, whereas there is budget<br />
for infrastructure.<br />
as the D-day approaches.<br />
And Jonathan stings<br />
Barely 10 minutes after bidding<br />
the Ghanaian President, John<br />
Mahama, farewell from the Presidential<br />
Villa, Abuja on Tuesday the<br />
defeat of President Goodluck<br />
Jonathan at the March 28 Presidential<br />
elections recorded its first casualty.<br />
The President, through his Special<br />
Adviser on Media and Publicity,<br />
Dr. Reuben Abati, announced<br />
the sack of the Inspector-General of<br />
Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba from<br />
office.<br />
The tone of the statement showed<br />
that the Presidency was really angry<br />
with the IGP as similar statements<br />
normally avoid the use of<br />
the word ‘sack’.<br />
Although no reason was given in<br />
the statement for the sack, his exit<br />
was said not to be unconnected with<br />
the role he was said to have played<br />
during the 2015 general elections.<br />
It is not clear whether the President,<br />
in the coming days, will also<br />
use his sledge hammer on politicians<br />
in his party, the Peoples<br />
Democratic Party (PDP), who were<br />
believed to have played roles that<br />
had adversely affected his re-election<br />
bid.<br />
•From left: Justice Court of<br />
Appeal, Abuja Division,<br />
Justice Abdulkadir Jega,<br />
Justice Court of Appeal,<br />
Enugu Division, Justice<br />
Amiru Sanusi and President<br />
Court of Appeal, Justice<br />
Zainab Adamu<br />
Bulkachuwa during the<br />
Retreat for Chairmen of<br />
the Election Petition Tribunal<br />
2015 at the FCT Ceremonial<br />
Court Room in<br />
Abuja.<br />
PHOTO: AKIN OLADOKUN<br />
“Within this period of land swap,<br />
what new places and special things<br />
have been done with the fund that<br />
is supposed to have been saved as a<br />
result of land swap? We have not<br />
noticed tangible achievement in<br />
terms of saving. So the land swap is<br />
encouraging corruption,” he said.