Presidential Media Chat: GEJ's Responses To Questions On Boko Haram, Brazil Trip And Asset Declaration

                            

Did you miss last night's presidential media chat? Below are the texts of the president's responces to certain questions, I will leave you to judge and make your comments and conclusions about the future of Nigeria.

“The issue of public asset declaration is a matter of personal principle.,” he said. “That is the way I see it, and I don’t give a damn about it, even if you criticise me from heaven. When I was the Vice President , that matter came up, and I told the former President, let’s not start something that would make us play into the hands of people and create an anomalous situation in the country.”


“The law is clear. A public officer should declare his assets, and if there are issues, then the relevant agencies would have a basis to assess whether you have amassed wealth or not. When it is said that people should declare their assets in public, it is not only the President or the vice President, it includes everybody, including Ministers.

“When I was a governor in Bayelsa state for about a year before becoming vice president, I was investigated thoroughly. I have nothing to hide. But, because I was under somebody and it was becoming an issue, because of the media, and because my boss had declared, it was said that the vice President must. I declared, not because I wanted to.

“Initially I said they can talk about it from morning to night, I will not. I said it is a matter of principle. It is not proper. If one amends the law to say that only the President and the Vice should declare assets publicly, fine. But, presently everybody who is holding political office is expected to do, and I say it is not right. Those who made the law knew why they put the law that way. I could be investigated when I leave office.

“You don’t need to declare assets publicly, otherwise you are playing to the gallery.You don’t need to publicly declare assets. That’s a matter of principle. If I have to declare publicly, it means every polictical office holder will have to declare publicly. And it is not the right thing to do. That is my belief.

“It is not the President’s declaration of assets that would change the economy. There are challenges security, power and revolutionising agriculture. These are areas we should be interested in . Whether Mr. Jonathan publicly declares his assets or not is not the issue.”

What you think of his controversial trip to Brazil while citizens were dying in the North from blasts and attacks? He doesn’t give a damn: “I have no regrets travelling to Brazil for the Rio Conference lat week. The issue of Boko Haram is very pathetic. I sympathise with people who have lost relations and property. People feel unsafe, and I feel the pain. As the president, if one person dies, I feel so sad.

“A lot of Nigerians who were worried that I traveled to Brazil did so out of ignorance. “One of the tactics of terrorists is to strangle government . If they hear that the President, Vice President or Ministers could not travel because of their activities, they would celebrate.

“The government of Nigeria must not stop for a second because of terror. Let the relevant security agencies continue to do their work and allow government to continue to function. The day government stops functioning, it communicates very serious negative signals to the international community. If government stops to function, we would have played into the hands of the terrorists.

“Boko Haram and their sponsors cannot and will never stop the governemnt from moving.”
The chat also touched on agriculture, anti-corruption, his relationship with the National Assembly, his curious closeness with businessmen such as Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote (the former he seemed to defend in the light of bribery accusations), the Farouk Lawan bribe scandal, 2015 ambitions, railway, YouWin! (the government’s business plan competition for young people), and electricity for which he had this to say:

“When we were campaigning (and making promises on electricity), we didn’t know that Boko Haram will overtake our priorities as government.”
And then for those of you who have been abusinsing on facebook and twitter, he had this to say: “The kind of abuse they abuse me, if you hear you won’t go to the market,” adding that the anonymity of social media means it is difficult to listen to the criticism it brings.

And lastly, he said this on UNILAG name change to MAULAG “What we did, was the normal procedure,” he insisted.