celebrity radar - gossips
Jonathan Finally Releases Details Of His Defeat in 2015 Election
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan has released details of his defeat in 2015 election.
Jonathan had claimed that Adeniyi’s book contained many distortions concerning his defeat in 2015. He then promised to reveal the real situation.
In a new book, ‘Facts Versus Fiction: (The True Story of Jonathan Years, Chibok, 2015 and The Conspiracies) authored by Reno Omokri and to be released in the second week of July 2017, Jonathan accused northern governors under his administration of conniving with the United States to get him out of office.
He specifically mentioned former Governor of Adamawa state, Murtala Nyako, among others as one of the arrowheads of the move. He also detailed the alleged roles Nyako played in the entire saga.
Jonathan released excerpts of the chapter one of the book in which Omokri quoted one Matthew Page as giving details of what happened when the former northern governors visited the White House.
Read the excerpt:
Chapter 1 – THE CONSPIRACY TO REMOVE JONATHAN
The recent revelations from Segun Adeniyi’s book, Against the Run of Play: How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria, have promoted reactions and counter reactions to some of the more astounding accounts detailed in that book.
Former President Jonathan in his interview with Segun Adeniyi, gave some detail of a conspiracy to remove him from office due to patriotic policies and actions he undertook which might have set him at variance with foreign powers.
Amongst other things, Adeniyi quotes Dr Goodluck Jonathan as saying: “I got on very well with Prime Minister David Cameron but at some point, I noticed that the Americans were putting pressure on him and he had to join them against me. But I didn’t know how far President Obama was prepared to go to remove me until France caved into the pressure from America.”
Since these revelations came to light, a former Governor of Niger state, Mr Babangida Aliyu has also been quoted making comments in Segun Adeniyi’s book that corroborate the statements by Dr Jonathan.
According to Mr. Aliyu, the Obama administration had invited twelve governors from Northern Nigeria to sound them out on their commitment to the plot to unseat Dr Jonathan.
Mr. Aliyu is quoted in Segun Adeniyi’s book as saying: “I have no proof of course, but I think the idea was to ascertain what the disposition of the north would be to the idea of another term for President Jonathan. That was my reading of the situation. I believe it was all about the 2015 election for which the Americans had resolved not to support Jonathan. They just wanted to size us up for the level of commitment to regime change.”
Mr. Aliyu was referring to a series of meetings that twelve Northern governors had in the U.S. in March 2014.
Why did the Obama administration organize those meetings? What occurred at those meetings? Who said what, where, when and why? The answer to those questions will help throw light on whether or not there was a conspiracy by the Obama administration (not the United States) to remove then President Jonathan from office.
I tracked down Mr Matthew T Page who until his resignation in 2016 was the US State Department’s top intelligence analyst on Nigeria. Matthew Page also served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Africa with the National Intelligence Council. He sat in on each of the meetings the twelve Northern Nigerian governors attended, beginning from their meetings at the United States Institute for Peace and thereafter their meetings at the State Department.
In 2016, Mr Page left the State Department and moved to Cambridge in the United Kingdom from where he spoke to me. He was adamant that Mr Babangida Aliyu’s version of the events at those meetings where not accurate and was keen to set the records straight.
According to Mr Page, the meetings were attended by twelve Northern governors of whom the most vocal was the then governor of Adamawa state, Admiral Murtala Nyako. Others at the meetings who voiced anti Jonathan sentiments were then Kano governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto and Kashim Shettima of Borno. The then governors of Kwara and Kogi were in attendance but were non-committal.
Mr Page noted that the meetings at the United States Institute for Peace were innocuous but that when the governors proceeded to the closed-door sessions at the US State Department, things changed.
According to Mr Page, present at the State Department meetings were Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield who was then the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs. Also present at the meeting was the then number three man at the State Department, Ambassador Thomas Alfred “Tom” Shannon Jr, acting Deputy Secretary of State of the United States and the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
At that meeting, Admiral Murtala Nyako read out a memo he had written itemizing the case against Jonathan. He was so openly and almost violently against the Jonathan administration in his speech that he had to be openly rebuked at the meeting by the then Nigerian ambassador to the US, Ambassador Adebowale Adefuye of blessed memory.
Admiral Nyako’s belligerence against the Jonathan administration was so venomous that it prompted a rebuttal from the Gombe state governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who showed loyalty to the then Nigerian President. According to Mr. Page, this prompted most of the other Northern governors present to turn on him.
In my interview with him, Mr Page revealed to me that after the anti Jonathan tirades by these governors, they were shepherded to the White House on March 18, 2014 for more meetings. Even though Mr Page attended the reception at the White House for the Northern governors, he did not make me privy to who were at that particular meeting other than stating that the governors met with then National Security Adviser, Susan Rice. Ms. Rice is however a known Nigerian specialist and was the person who on July 7, 1998, allegedly made the tea that the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 Nigerian Presidential election, chief MKO Abiola, drank minutes before passing away after reportedly foaming at the mouth.
After the meeting, the Obama White House released a statement which said, amongst other things: “Rice and the governors discussed the need to bring an end to the violence and insurgency in northern Nigeria; create broad-based economic opportunity in the north and throughout Nigeria; protect and respect human rights; strengthen democratic governance; and ensure that the 2015 election in Nigeria are free and fair.”
What the White House statement did not say, but which I verified from other sources, was that at that meeting, Admiral Nyako accused then President Jonathan of being behind Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group that is behind the insurgency in Nigeria’s Northeast (the same accusation was publicly made by Nasir El-rufai in 2014. El-rufai was one of a handful of All Progressive Congress party officials that related directly with David Axelrod’s firm as AKPD Message and Media prepared the APC for the 2015 elections). One question arises though. When sub national officials from a nation that is friendly to the United States espouse comments that undermine the president of that friendly nation, why would such persons be honored with very high level meetings that stretched from the State Department to the White House? When I asked Mr Page if he thought that the Obama administration was opposed to the re-election of the then Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, he paused and said: “My objective opinion is that it was not as if the administration was against Jonathan. There were a few issues.
The Obama administration was a bit disappointed (I know that sounds paternalistic) but there were some issues they felt let down on, and you have to remember that the Obama administration supported the transfer of power to Jonathan in 2010.
The issues were the human rights situation in the Northeast which has still not changed under Buhari and Diezani Alison-Madueke who they felt should have been removed. Washington also took issue with some clauses in the Same S*x Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013, even though they understood that Nigerian cultural values were more conservative on the issue than American ones.”
Mr Page continuing said: “The US ambassador to Nigeria at the time was actually anti-Buhari, believing he failed to call his followers to order during the post-election violence of 2011.” Although he listed three reasons why the Obama administration felt let down on by Dr Jonathan, my conversation with Mr Page gave me a sense that the first two reasons were just excuses and that the main reason was because of the Same S*x Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013.
That issue was a deal breaker for the Obama administration because of the strong support they had from the LGBT (L*sbian, Gay, Bis*xual or Transgender) community for Mr Obama’s re-election campaign of 2012. Per the New York Times, the gay vote was “crucial” to Obama’s re-election, whereas to CNN, the LGBT community not only made the difference in 2012 by trooping out to vote for Obama, they were also his top donors.
In Tracy Baim’s book, Obama and the Gays: A Political Marriage, she details the influence that the former American President wields with the LGBT community. Very few voting blocs have the get out the vote power that the LGBT community has, being that they are great at organizing for the purpose of advancing their agenda.
NAIJ.com reports that on March 18, 2014, Ms Rice met with the 12 governors in the US where issues of strategic importance to both the United States and Nigeria were discussed.
Part of the issues discussed, according to the White House, included the need to bring an end to the violence and insurgency in northern Nigeria; create broad-based economic opportunity in the north and throughout Nigeria; protect and respect human rights; strengthen democratic governance; and ensure that the 2015 elections in Nigeria are free and fair.
“Ambassador Rice drew special attention to the importance of Nigeria’s 2015 elections; the role that governors can play in countering corruption; and how the United States remains committed to partnering with Nigeria to address shared challenges,” the White House statement had said.
Naij.
celebrity radar - gossips
The Compassionate Pontiff: Pope Francis Dies at 88, Leaving a Mixed Legacy of Hope and Unfinished Reckoning
The Compassionate Pontiff: Pope Francis Dies at 88, Leaving a Mixed Legacy of Hope and Unfinished Reckoning
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
The world stands at a moral crossroads with the passing of Pope Francis at the age of 88, a man widely revered for his humility, humanity, and efforts to reshape the Catholic Church into a vessel of compassion, social justice, and mercy. Yet, even in his death, the shadows of unresolved trauma, rooted in decades of clerical abuse; cling to his papacy, threatening to tarnish a legacy that otherwise radiates light.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, Pope Francis was the first pope from the Americas and the first Jesuit to ascend the papal throne. His election in 2013 was itself a turning point, a signal that the Church was ready for introspection and reform after decades of bureaucratic rigidity and moral decline. But while Pope Francis redefined the global perception of what a pontiff could be, his inability to decisively eradicate the rot of clerical abuse and Vatican secrecy leaves a bitter footnote to an otherwise progressive era.
A Pope of the People
Francis was, above all, a pastor of the people. He lived in a guesthouse rather than the Apostolic Palace, carried his own bag, and rejected the papal limousine for a modest Ford Focus. His simple lifestyle sent a message louder than a thousand encyclicals, that humility was not merely a virtue to be preached, but one to be lived.
He tackled issues that many in the Vatican’s hierarchy feared to touch. From calling for action on climate change in his landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, to opening doors for the divorced and remarried, and asking “Who am I to judge?” in reference to gay Catholics, Francis sought to shift the Church from a rule-bound institution to a more merciful community of believers.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon once said of Francis: “His voice carries moral authority because it is not political. It is prophetic.” Indeed, Francis saw the world through the eyes of the poor, the refugee, the marginalized. He called the global economic system “an economy that kills” and urged nations to remember “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
In his 2020 book Let Us Dream, Francis wrote, “This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities… and to choose what matters.” That dream was not just theological, it was social, economic, environmental, and deeply human.
An Incomplete Reckoning
Yet even prophets stumble. While Pope Francis acknowledged the evils of sexual abuse within the Church, his actions often fell short of his rhetoric. He initially defended Chilean Bishop Juan Barros despite widespread allegations of covering up abuse, only to backtrack after international outrage. Though he later defrocked hundreds of priests and convened global bishops for a summit on abuse in 2019, the fundamental structures of secrecy and institutional protection remained largely intact.
Renowned historian Garry Wills once said, “The Catholic Church is the longest-standing authoritarian institution in the Western world.” Despite Francis’ reformist zeal, that institution remained resistant to full transparency.
“There is no greater tyranny,” wrote Montesquieu, “than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.” This tyranny lived in the silence of countless victims whose testimonies were long ignored, buried under ecclesiastical bureaucracy.
Even Francis’ own commissions on abuse faltered. Several prominent abuse survivors resigned, citing lack of progress and frustration at the Vatican’s unwillingness to hold bishops accountable. It is a tragic irony that a pope so committed to the poor and oppressed struggled to fully deliver justice to the most grievously wounded among his own flock.
Philosophical and Political Legacy
Despite these failings, Pope Francis reasserted the moral relevance of the Church in an era of rising authoritarianism and nihilism. He condemned populist nationalism, warned against “savage capitalism,” and confronted world leaders on their failure to uphold human dignity.
Barack Obama once called him “a living example of Jesus’ teachings,” and indeed, Francis preached with the urgency of a man who saw the world on fire.
He often quoted Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov: “The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” For Francis, that “something” was the dignity of the human person. He reasserted the Church’s opposition to the death penalty, called for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and emphasized that migration is not a crime but a human right.
His encyclical Fratelli Tutti called for a new kind of politics: “A love capable of transcending borders is the basis of what we call social friendship.” In a world fractured by xenophobia and greed, Francis’ voice was often the lone trumpet of compassion echoing across closed borders and barbed wire fences.
Criticism from Within
Not all welcomed this new direction. Traditionalist Catholics saw him as a threat to orthodoxy. Some cardinals openly resisted his reforms, and conservative theologians accused him of creating doctrinal confusion. But Francis seemed unfazed. “Tradition is not the worship of ashes,” he once said, quoting Gustav Mahler, “but the preservation of fire.”
Perhaps it is this fire that will define his legacy. A fire for justice, mercy, and a Church more in tune with the suffering of the world than with the politics of Rome.
The Final Chapter
As news of his death spreads, reactions are flooding in. UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised him as “a tireless advocate for the poor, the vulnerable, and the planet.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described him as “a moral compass in a turbulent world.” In the slums of Manila, the plains of Kenya, and the refugee camps of Lebanon, candles are being lit for a pope who saw them not as burdens, but as brothers.
Yet, for the victims of clerical abuse, the candle burns differently, more like a flicker of hope never fully realized.
Francis once said, “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church’s life.” But mercy without justice, as philosopher Cornel West reminds us, is sentimentality. And justice without truth is cruelty.
The Church now faces a difficult road ahead. Will it choose a successor who deepens the reforms Francis began, or one who retreats to the safety of orthodoxy? Will it finally confront its sins not with apologies alone, but with sweeping structural change?
Pope Francis leaves behind a Church more open, more self-aware, but still grappling with its darkest sins. He was the right man for a world gasping for empathy, but not quite the hammer needed to demolish the structures of secrecy that protected predators for decades.
Still, in an era of cynicism, his belief in the power of mercy, inclusion, and human dignity stands tall.
As the philosopher Immanuel Kant once said, “Two things fill the mind with ever increasing awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” Pope Francis reminded a watching world that amid scandal and sorrow, there remains a moral law—and it must always side with the least of these.
He has departed this world, not with the might of a monarch, but with the footprints of a shepherd. Let the next chapter of the Catholic Church be written not just with prayers, but with courage. For that is what Francis hoped for most, not sainthood, but a Church worthy of its founder.
celebrity radar - gossips
Hear what Bishop Wisdom Irabor said about Dr. Chris Okafor… The Generational Prophet of God
…….IT IS WORLD DR CHRIS OKAFOR’S DAY: EIGHT BIRTHDAY NOTES TO THE GENERATIONAL PROPHET:
PLEASE TRY AND READ TO THE END:
HELP ME SAY A WORD OF PRAYERS TO HIM:
1. Happy Birthday to the man who is completely different from everything his enemies told you about him. My relationship with you made me know that, you can become a bad person relating with the person people think is good for you, you can also become a good person relating with the person people think is not good for you. I found God relating with you.
2. Happy birthday to the man whose financial gift to me, in two separate cheques, cleared the first year school fees of my both daughters in private university. The both school fees is about four point three million naira. You made me not to feel the pain of paying the first year for both of them. Apart from you and Pastor David ibiyeomie, No mentor or Senoir man has ever done anything for me.
3. Happy birthday to the man who taught me how to be a father and a friend with my assistant pastors. I came for training with your pastors, and I saw how you bonded with them as a friend and a brother to them, yet they honour and respect you as a father. Only few men can combine these two aspects with a balance. I saw them respect your authority and still confess their secret battles to you for you to help them overcome. Where I came from, you don’t tell anyone your secret battles as a pastor, you will become a public ridicule.
4. Happy birthday to the man who I followed a few weeks ago to see a mentor who came from Abuja for a program in Lagos, and in my presence you wrote a cheque of twenty million naira as a prophet offering to that mentor. Most people don’t know you even have more access to fathers in our family tree, than most of us that were raised in that family.
5. Happy Birthday to the man who practically lives a life of fasting and prayers daily. I came to do a three day training program, and you made me too, to fast and pray with you and the pastors for all three days. At a point, I said to myself, how I wish people know you personally and privately. You are a Christian to the core. I pray for my friends, May you not first meet the enemies of your helper before meeting your helper.
6. Happy birthday to the most quiet blessed man, I have ever seen. Your cathedral is about twenty five thousand seaters, with a crowd of people gathered inside every week, And many surrendering their lives to Christ every service day, you don’t talk about it, the headquarters has so many buildings, offices and event centres, you don’t talk about it, your lekki branch is over 50 plots of land, you don’t brag about it. You have over 400 branches home and abroad, you don’t brag about it. It was in your house last year, when I came for dinner with you, that I saw a brand new Royce Rolls and a brand new bullets proof Land cruiser jeep, that you have never talked about openly. Let’s not talk about your business investment in several sectors of life. The few that I know of. You are blessed, yet very quiet and humble.
Thank you for always allowing me to stay for free, in your ministry 5 star hotel, any time I visit Lagos. I still stayed there last month for free for five days. You save me so much sir.
7. Happy birthday to a prophet who is a balanced teacher and a good preacher. I remember joining your service after one of the training programs I came for. From the beginning to the end, there was no prophecy. I told you after the service, we know you as a prophet, why will you do service and there is no prophecy? You said to me, To have a balanced church, you must know how to combine the word, prayers and prophecies. So that nothing is lacking. Today is a teaching and prayer service. If I call for prophetic service, you won’t know this is the man that just finished teaching.
8. Happy birthday to the man who bought a massive duplex for his Resident Pastor, few minutes drive to his own house in the same estate he lives. They both live in the same estate in lagos. According to him, this man has left all to follow me, if I don’t do this for him, it means unbelievers who do it in the secular world are better than me. On my last visit to lagos, the private driver attached to me showed me the house on our way to see him at home. To confirm what the pastor himself already told me.
Thank you for being there for me and several others.
I love you sincerely and genuinely.
You are my Brother for life.
Happy birthday sir.
Your Bro.
Bishop Irabor Wisdom Robinson.
From all of us at ANSWERS ASSEMBLY WARRI DELTA STATE NIGERIA.
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