Politics Nigeria: Ten Things We Learnt From Monday’s Presidential Media Chat

Vunderkind

Social Member
goodluck_0.jpg


While a lot was said yesterday during the media chat with President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, a few nuggets caught general interest. We have picked the top ten interesting things said by the president last night for your consumption below:

1. The journalist asked, “Are you contesting in 2015?” to which president Jonathan replied, “You will know at the appropriate time.”

The president noted, additionally, that “if I am not contesting, I would make sure I lead my party to victory.”

2. “I won’t want to use this platform (the media chat, that is) to campaign for PDP but it remains the dominant party in the country.”

3. If you are curious as to what president Jonathan thinks of the current defection from political party to political party, it looks like your curiosity may not be sated anytime soon, as the president has decided to be silent on that note.

4. Interestingly, President Jonathan said that Sanusi remains the CBN governor. He’s only stepped aside, according to GEJ, as he can still come back to do his work.

5. Speaking on the national conference, the President said that the national conference would not hold because the country may divide after that. He added that ‘I cannot preside over the disintegration of Nigeria’ and that only one person submitted a memo in favor of Nigeria’s disintegration over thousands not in favor of it.

6. Sanusi’s suspension has nothing to do with his whistle blowing.

7. There is no such thing as an “inappropriate time” to suspend anybody, the president stated.

8. Sanusi was suspended because of an ‘inconclusive audit report’, and president Jonathan said he isn’t sure which of the different figures Sanusi mentioned as missing was the right amount. He noted that $20 billion is a lot of money, one that can produce a lot of jobs for Nigerians.

9. Sanusi’s suspension wasn’t political, and it took that long for him to get suspended because proper consultation needed to be carried out before he could be suspended. President Jonathan assures us that the presidency has absolute power to suspend the CBN governor and that Sanusi’s suspension wouldn’t affect CBN’s leadership.

10. The president frowns at the ‘write-ups’ on Sanusi’s suspension, deeming them unnecessary distractions. “When you are dealing with the treasury of a country, you must be careful….Sanusi’s issue is that of financial audition and we must allow the Financial Reporting Council to work,” he said.
 
Back
Top