Patience Jonathan’s Bayelsa Rally Speech Goes Viral

'The train have move, the train have reach...' This phrase is part of the speech by the first lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan which has now gone viral. Popularly called Mama Peace by her fans, the president's wife was at a PDP campaign rally in her husband's home state to build morale and support for him. But snippets from her speech may be having the opposite effect online.

Elections Postponed - Jega Announces New Dates

Prof. Attahiru Jega has just briefed the media on the outcome of all the meetings held earlier today to decide the best dates to hold elections. Jega held briefings with various stakeholders including all the political parties, security agencies, civil society and the media.

The INEC chairman said 26 out of the 28 registered political parties were at the meetings, and with their agreement, the 2015 general elections has officially been postponed by 6 weeks. He said the new date for the presidential elections is March 28th while governorship elections will now hold April 11th. This is after majority of electoral commissioners in their own meeting had voted to have the elections continue according to schedule.

Pastors Call On Amaechi to Reveal Names Of Those Who Took Election Bribes

Rev. Felix Omobude, national president of PFN, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria has challenged Governor Rotimi Amaechi to provide proof to back up his allegation that some pastors had collected the sum of N6 billion from the PDP for the purpose of influencing their members to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in the presidential elections.

Omobude made this call a day after it emerged that Pastor EA Adeboye of RCCG had made a dangerous prayer, read here, against all pastors who may have collected the bribe from PDP. Adeboye had posted that "any Pastor(S) who collected such money... should please return such as quickly as possible before the fire of the almighty consumes" them.

Jega Confused & Under Pressure - INEC Commissioners Reject Election Postponement

The INEC Chairman, Mr Jega is said to be currently under a lot of pressure to postpone the Nigerian presidential, gubernatorial and federal elections slated for Feb 14 and 21. While the nation waits for his final decision to be announced any time soon via a media conference, rumors swirl that a postponement is a done deal, read here.

Journalists have been waiting endlessly at the INEC media centre today for INEC's chair Prof. Jega to confirm if the elections will hold or not. One of them, Fidelis Mba shared the photo above on Twitter. In the meantime, following a meeting by Jega with electoral commissioners, 21 of them are reported to have rejected the postponement of the elections.

GEJ Visits Lord's Chosen Church, RCCG Holy Ghost Service On Campaign

President Goodluck Jonathan last night worshiped at the monthly Holy Ghost Night at the Redemption Camp, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. This morning he also made a stop at the Lord's Chosen Church Charismatic Revival Ministry of Pastor Lazarus Muoka today, also in Lagos.

GEJ was photographed kneeling down for prayers in front of Pastor Adeboye of The Redeemed Christian Church of God during the Holy Ghost service. This time however, the renowned man of God did not lay hands on the president, something that had led to some breach of protocol reports in the past. See photos below...

'Done Deal' - Jega On Why Elections Need To Be Postponed, Buhari, US Govt React

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, is reported to have concluded a briefing with 25 civil society groups in Abuja Saturday informing them that all security agencies in the country have indicated to him, in writing, that they are not available to support the elections planned for February 14 and 28.

Jibrin Ibrahim, a leading African election expert and senior fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, in Abuja, who was at the meeting, said Mr. Jega told the meeting that security operatives from all the agencies told INEC that they were commencing a six weeks special operations against Boko Haram insurgents in the north eastern corridors of the country and would rather not be distracted by the elections.

Ekiti Election Rigging - Nigerian Army Captain Who Leaked Audio Gives Details

Captain Sagir Koli, a Nigerian Army Captain, leaked audio evidence of how the Nigerian Army and other security agencies were used to rig the governorship election in Ekiti and Osun States last year. He has now given further testimony with details of how the rigging was perpetrated by top officials of the Federal Government and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

In a statement entitled: “How Nigerian Army personnel were used to rig Ekiti and Osun States Gubernatorial Elections 2014″, Captain Sagir Koli gave details of all that transpired between himself, his commanding officer, two ministers and some politicians prior to the elections in Ekiti state.

Ekiti Election Rigging Audio - Governor Fayose & Senator Obanikoro Issue Statements

In a recent recording released by Sahara reporters, it has been alleged that "President Goodluck Jonathan had instructed the Chief of Defense Staff, Alex Badeh, to use the army in arresting and intimidating opposition politicians before and during the election" in Ekiti State last year.

The audio recordings depict the meeting as being attended by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, then PDP candidate; Senator Iyiola Omisore; a man identified as Honorable Abdulkareem; the Minister for Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade; and Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, then Minister of State for Defence. Mr. Chris Uba was also there with cash and soldiers.

Supposedly Governor Fayose reveals in the audio that "he had already bribed an official of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) to bring copies of voter ballots with the INEC logo to him that day." Listen to the entire audio and the staments made by Obanikoro and Governor Fayose on the audio below...

The Economist Endorses Buhari - Calls Goodluck Jonathan 'An Utter Failure'

Wole Soyinka slammed incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan earlier today for his failure in leadership, encouraging that no one should vote for him in the forthcoming elections, and now the Economist magazine, one of the foremost publications in the world, has come out to endorse Rtd General Mohammadu Buhari, the president's main opponent in the elections. In the choice facing Nigerians come February 14, the Economist says;

"Nigerians must pick between the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, who has proved an utter failure, and the opposition leader, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator with blood on his hands. The candidates stand as symbols of a broken political system that makes all Nigeria’s problems even more intractable."

Though they emphasize the choice is tough, the Economist's oped published online today goes ahead to endorse Buhari over Goodluck Jonathan. Check out some excerpts below...

Pastor Adeboye Releases Dangerous Prayer Over Alleged N6billion Paid to Pastors by PDP

Pastor E.A Adeboye has sent out a curse over allegations by Governor Rotimi Amaechi yesterday, claiming that some pastors were paid about N6 billion. The money was supposed given to them by PDP to discredit the APC and its presidential candidate, Buhari, and ensure they tell church members to vote Jonathan based on religion. The revered head pastor of RCCG worldwide is not standing for the report, and shared the message below on his verified Facebook account;

I Read in the Newspaper this morning that one of the serving Governors in Nigeria said that some Pastor(S) in Nigeria collected 6 Billion Naira from politicians for the purpose of influencing their members to vote a certain candidate in the coming Elections.
May I humbly request that if there be any Pastor(S) who collected such money they should please return such as quickly as possible before the fire of the almighty consumes you

Mr Ibu Slams Actors Guild of Nigeria, Calls Them Sycophants To Politicians

We have seen both Rita Dominic's video and another of a coalition including Omoni Oboli, Segun Arinze, Ramsey Nouah and Monalisa Chinda, titled Celebrities for GEJ. Now, John Okafor known as Mr Ibu has slammed them all under the Actors Guild of Nigeria,  calling their leaders sycophants who chase after politicians for favours. The comedic Nollywood actor spoke his mind in a new interview with ThisDay Newspapers.

“Nollywood is suffering from so many problems. One of these problems is the sycophancy from the industry’s leaders, the people in power. I mean the people running the industry are just running after politicians.

“Nollywood as a whole don’t have good leaders. All they do is attach themselves to politicians and seek for political office instead of restructuring the industry. We don’t even have a standard office; we are not united and we are not financially structured. You can ask the upcoming stars how they cope; they will tell you the truth of what they pass through to have a role in a movie, especially the ladies. Some of them have abandoned their education to become movie makers. Our leaders are just using and dumping. I mean they are just using the upcoming artistes to act movies and achieve their aims. Sometimes they feature them in their movies without paying them.

Alaafin Of Oyo Prepares To Donate 20 Motorcycles To APC

Remember the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi? The traditional ruler with all-sparkling wives, up to 10 of them? Well, the Alaafin is set to donate 20 motorcycles to APC for effective campaign. Those are part of the motor bikes in the photo above, with two of his wives riding on two others in the photo.

Questions Trail Patience Jonathan's Permanent Voters Card

Mama Peace, the first lady of Nigeria, and wife of President Goodluck Jonathan has showed off her permanent voters card or PVC in new pictures that emerged earlier today. Dame Patience Jonathan can be seen in the photo smiling widely and holding on to the PVC.

Someone asked a question though. "How come her own picture is at the top right? Every other person's own is at bottom left." Maybe it's an old picture? See some other people with their PVCs below...

Toyin Aimakhu In Selfie With President Jonathan - Endorses Him

Toyin Aimakhu, the AGN vice president for the south-west has shared this selfie with incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan saying that she endorses him. She posted the photo on Instagram with the caption;

Selfie with our president....I love him very humble..#mychoice

See another picture below..

Celebrities For GEJ - Monalisa, Ramsey Nouah, Omoni Oboli, Segun Arinze Endorse Jonathan

Segun Arinze, Monalise Chinda, Omoni Oboli, Sani Danji and Ramsey Nouah have endorsed the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, and appear in a couple of new videos where they list what the president has done and why he deserves 4 more years.

AIT Blames APC For Rigging Online Presidential Poll Causing It To Be Cancelled

AIT started an online Presidential Opinion Poll a few days ago, but it was shut down on Wednesday, January 28, 2015. Since then, they have received a lot of backlash by APC party supporters who called them out for being biased and cancelling the poll because Buhari was leading.

This widespread criticism on social media platforms and online news media has now prompted the management of DAAR Communications to release a statement stating the reasons for the poll being shut down. And according to them, supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) massively rigged the polls in favour of their candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari. Read the official statement below:

Okonjo-Iweala Descends To More Name Calling In Response To Soludo

I was among those who were energized by reading Soludo's article on the failing Nigerian economy, here. It may not have been 100% accurate, but it worked with facts and figures, mostly eschewed ad-hominems, and slammed both Buhari and GEJ for their faults in their ongoing campaigns to be president. As the incumbent, GEJ obviously had more of the blame, but that is only as it should be. He is the one with a lot to prove and lose at the same time.

Unfortunately, his defenders have not towed the same line towed by Soludo but have mostly descended to name calling because of Soludo's previous political ambitions. Fami Kayode was the first to dash off a meaningless response that did worse damage on GEJ than Soludo's article.

3-Year-Old Says A Special Prayer For Nigeria - For Safe Parks To Play In

Three year old MissyMissy loves her country, and wants it to become a better place. She also asks for a little, the chance to dream. What are her dreams? Safe parks to play in, and the ability to travel and vacation in Nigeria. In the new video shared on Youtube by Missy's mom, she prays;

Hello ever body, my name is missimissy and I am 3 years old. I have a dream that Nigeria will be a better place. I have a dream that my friends and I will have safe parks to play in. I have a dream that my sister and I will be happy to do holiday in Nigeria. God bless Nigeria. I love Nigeria.

Missy cannot vote yet but she doesn't forget to remind everyone to vote wisely at the coming elections that her dreams may be fulfilled. I say Amen to her prayers. Watch the video below...

Charles Soludo Slams GEJ & Buhari - 'The Real Debate is Still Not Happening'

By Charles Soludo

I need to preface this article with a few clarifications. I have taken a long sabbatical leave from partisan politics, and it is real fun watching the drama from the balcony.  Having had my own share of public service (I do not need a job from government), I now devote my time and energy in pursuit of other passions, especially abroad.

A few days ago, I read an article in Thisday entitled “Where is Charles Soludo?”, and my answer is that I am still there, only that I have been too busy with extensive international travels to participate in or comment on our national politics and economy.

Buhari’s Daughter, Halima Talks About Father - 'Fond Of His Grandchildren, Passionate About Nigeria'

Halima Buhari, the fifth daughter of Muhammadu Buhari, has spoken about her father in a new interview with writer and journalist, Lola Shoneyin in Abeokuta. Halima had a no-holds barred talk about the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, his relationship with his kids and grand kids, his passion for Nigeria and why he is the man to get the job done. The video is posted on Kayode Ogundamisi channel, with excerpts below...