#BloggingRedefined - 92 GREAT STATEMENTS MADE BY THE PRESIDENT DURING YESTERDAY'S PRESIDENTIAL MEDIA CHAT.

I almost missed the chat. I was in my room reading, I jes sey make I enter sitting room make I check wetin dey shele for there. My dad was sooo serious watching the chat....I quickly got myself comfortable.....I asked my dad how far, that one did not even answer me well, he said he cannot be explaining chat for me....that I should sit down and watch the one I met. This discouraged me to join the chat.....so, I didn't flow well with what our President was saying yesterday....I left the sitting room disappointed.

Since morning, I've been working hard to put together some great statements made Brother Jona during the media chat. Na wetin I fit gather be this:

NOTE: I intentionally did not add too much comments to Mr President's statements.....I no wan go jail!

Journalists are:
Gloria Ume-Ezeoke of Channels,
Nosa Igiebor,
Editor-in-Chief Tell Magazine,
Sola Oshikeye General - Editor of the Sun,
Senami Ohiomokhars of AIT and
Shehu Dauda.

1. Are you contesting in 2015? Mr. President responded: You will know at the appropriate time.
2. On 2015: If I am not contesting, I would make sure I lead my party to victory.
3. The political environment in Nigeria is very hot.
4. I won't want to use this platform to campaign for PDP but it remains the dominant party in the country.
5. I prefer to be silent on defection within political parties.
6. Sanusi is still CBN governor, Sanusi has only stepped aside, he can still come back to do his work - GEJ
7. GEJ: President has oversight functions over CBN.
8. Sanusi's Suspension: President has absolute power to suspend CBN governor.
9. I cant preside over the disintegration of Nigeria.
10. Only one person submitted a memo in favour of disintegration out of thousands.
11. We are not holding the conference because the country would break.
12. Number of the representatives from each quota at the conference does not matter.
13. "All kinds of write-ups (on Sanusi's suspension) are unnecessary distractions.
*Jona is only using style to throw words at Dele Momodu*

14. When you are dealing with the treasury of a country you must be careful.
15. Whatever is happening will not affect the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
16. Sanusi’s issue is that of financial auditing & we must allow the Financial Reporting Council to work.
17. It took a long time to suspend Sanusi because proper consultation was required.
18. Inconclusive audit report informed decision to suspend Sanusi.
19. Sanusi's suspension is not political. Sanusi needed to step aside for the board to do their job.
20. There is no time that is inappropriate to suspend anybody.
21. I don't know which to believe of Sanusi's different figures of missing money.
22. $20 billion is a lot of money, that can produce a lot of jobs for Nigerians.
23. Sanusi's whistle blowing is not connected to his suspension.
24. Sanusi had received his first query in April, second in May and he replied in June.

25. Mr President made reference to the killings of the college students in Yobe yesterday morning in response to the question on how hot his seat is.
26. On the low key celebrations for the 53rd anniversary. Mr President says celebrations will happen next year.
27. Security has improved in the country, Maiduguri held the Durbar festival for the first time in four years this year.
28. Mr President - "the standard of living for Nigerians compared to before has improved."
29. Mr President - "Education is critical to development. I came from a poor family and without education, I would not be here today."
30. Mr President - "Within the three years I have been in power I have ensured that every state has one federal university".
31. GEJ - "The standard of living has improved. Before PDP came into power, there were no mobile phones. Now my mother has a phone"
32. Mr President - "there will always be crisis in developing countries. ASUU is very unfortunate."
33. Mr President - "We took an inventory of universities by ourselves, ASUU did not ask us to do that. We want to make things better."
34. Mr President - "The allowances ASUU is asking for should normally be paid from their internally generated revenue."
35. Mr President - "autonomy with responsibility is a recipe for crisis. If the universities want to be autonomous they should totally be so".
36. "ASUU should not capitalize on the infrastructure argument. We were not forced to take inventory, but we did".
37. GEJ - "Even with the floods of December 2012, you will agree with me that the commitment of government is producing results."
38. "ASUU are our brothers and sisters. They should look at the commitment and sincerity of government"
39. GEJ "We cannot close all the other arms of government to direct our earnings to solve ASUU's problems. I plead with them to return to class"
40. GEJ - "we need to start looking at our labour laws. Why will a state university lecturer join federal universities to go on strike?"

Question on the true state of the Nigerian economy.
41. Mr President - "there must be parameters for saying the economy is bankrupt. People are playing politics with these issues."
42. Mr President - "if the FG was unable to pay salaries when it was supposed to; does it means it is broke?"
43. Mr President - "politicians must put their country first, regardless of their political affiliation. The country must come first."

Question on the country still battling to secure her oil from thieves and vandals.
44. GEJ - "it is not only Nigeria, it didn't start today. If the governments then clamped down on it we wouldn't be here now"
45. GEJ- "the network of pipes across the Niger Delta makes it a challenge to protect that's why oil companies are moving their assets offshore"
46. GEJ -"the internal and external influence on oil theft makes it hard to combat but I promise Nigerians we are working on it."
47. GEJ -"not everything is advertised. Arrests have been made on oil theft. It is not done by
small people."
48. GEJ -"this is why we talk to our friends, heads of other governments to check their refineries, not to receive stolen crude"

Panel said that Mr President's silence on the matter (if Mr President is contesting the elections in 2015) leaves room for people to foment trouble.
49. GEJ - "I did not sign any gentleman's agreement saying I will not contest a second term".
50. GEJ -"I am unaware of any billboards saying I am running for President. I asked them to remove them, but I will ask my security"

Question on why Mr President sacked the nine ministers, if it was a political move or not.
51. 36. GEJ - government is like a football team. Sacking the 9 ministers has "nothing to do with
G7 governors"
52. GEJ - "people are shuffled in a football team, my sacking people to bring in new people should not be an issue".
53. GEJ -"From 1999 that Obj came, I worked with Yar'adua, has there been any time we've not changed ministers, why should Jonathan's be issue?"
54. GEJ - "We are building institutions, not individuals. There is no way we can leave a gap with service chiefs in the Ministry of Defence"
55. GEJ - "Those who handle Defence issues are the service chiefs not a civilian who handles administrative duties"
56. GEJ - "People talk out of ignorance. People who handle security are the security chiefs. I can do away with Minister of Defence"
57. GEJ "Nigeria is a very big country but we are trying our best. No country is safe, criminals are working all over."
58. GEJ - "You will observe that within Abuja there has been no cases of bomb blasts again,I'm am not God and I cannot say it will not happen"
59. GEJ - "I have asked the relevant actors to do what they should, I cannot say more than that. Security issues cannot be advertised."

Question on the incident in Gudu district one week and half ago, asking the President to brief the nation on the killings.
60. GEJ -"If I tell you; you will start comparing what I say with what the SSS said. The SSS have told you, people have confessed"
61. GEJ - In every confrontation there will be innocent people who might be caught in the gun fire"
62. GEJ - "there have been a lot of betrayals as far as Boko Haram is concerned"
63. GEJ-"In the North some soldiers have been court martialed for leaking information even some senators are being prosecuted for links with BH"

Question on purported selective privatization of the power sector.
64. GEJ - "changes everywhere in the world are resisted. The privatization happened a while ago, we are just seeing its consummation"

Question on the projections made for wattage promised Nigerians.
65. GEJ - "Megawatts is not the issue. If you generate & you don't have the capacity to transmit. So what?"
66. GEJ - "Our transmission infrastructure is weak, we are focusing on that now. Once that is sorted, we will be fine."

Question on why Nigeria isn't exploring solar or other sources of electricity & Question on the cost of governance and the duplicity of appointments.
67. "We are doing very well in reducing cost of running government" - GEJ
68. GEJ - "The cost of governance in Nigeria is low, I travel with the least number of people."
69. GEJ - "The people I travel with are much less than the Presidents of other countries"
70. GEJ - "Government didn't sponsor businessmen that went to UN with me. Even in Africa Nigeria doesn't have the largest entourage"
71. GEJ - "the aides are not the issue, it is the parastatals that have people doing the same thing. If we try to sack, labour will protest"
72. GEJ - "Social media people always publish lies about the number of people I travel with"

Question on corruption and how other countries see us.
73. GEJ - "Perception is different from reality but perception is important."
74. GEJ - "foreign businessmen were asked issues they have with doing business in Nigeria and corruption was 3rd or 4th on their list".
75. GEJ - "People take common stealing as corruption. Someone who steals is a thief, it is not corruption"
76. GEJ - "what we are trying to do is to reduce the options for people to be corrupt, make sure there is no free money to be stolen"
77. GEJ - "It is better for 10 criminals to go free than for one innocent person to be punished unjustly"
78. GEJ - "Corruption is high but we see corruption in burials, wedding ceremonies, etc. The perception is high, not the incident itself."

Question on the fight against corruption looking like it is skewed against the poor.
79. GEJ - "we must allow the judiciary be independent, there cannot be any presidential influence on them".

Question on Ombatse cult and ethnic rivalry in Plateau, etc.
80. GEJ - "There are issues all over the countries; BH is different because of the terrorist dimension, suicide bombing, etc."
81. GEJ - "I'm from the Niger Delta, when we call the leaders of the crisis they answer. BH, no one shows up. That is the problem."

Question on if the campaigns for elections at this time are illegal, why Asari Dokubo's comments are being ignored
82. GEJ - " I cannot comment on what someone else has said or responded to. I can say that starting campaigns early is wrong"
83. GEJ - "When government is doing well it is suppressed but any negative things are blown up"
84. GEJ - "Media people you should condemn others who start to declare their campaigns early."

Question on Abu Shekau being dead or alive.
85. GEJ - "I, as the President, don't know him and don't know if he is dead or alive; you journalists will know more than us."

86. GEJ - "The Federal Executive Council is contract awarding council."
87. GEJ - "I sympathise with the Minister of Petroleum. Everybody's eyes are on the petroleum sector"
88. GEJ - "things are happening in the oil sector but we say things that are not happening"
89. GEJ-"Once Tai Solarin raised alarm. When asked where he heard it he said from a molue and press carried it. Some of these stories are molue"

Question on the PIB and how Mr President plans to honour our heroes (especially the creator of the national flag).
90. GEJ - "I want to congratulate every Nigerian on the 53rd anniversary. Nigerians are very appreciative".
91. GEJ - "we honoured 50 people when the country turned 50, and we plan to do this again for the centenary celebrations".
92. GEJ - "my Minister of Info is watching and will cater to the flag creator but I also call well meaning Nigerians to assist him"

Hen hen! I hear sey dem don kidnap Jona's cousin. My people, na true?

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