Thursday 4 December 2014
Top News: Jonathan’s leadership style defective -Kolade
Top News: Jonathan’s leadership style defective -Kolade: Former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, on Thursday, condemned President Goodluck Jonathan for not...
Jonathan’s leadership style defective -Kolade
Former Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, on Thursday, condemned President Goodluck Jonathan for not showing the right leadership in the manner he carries on with his responsibilities as the President.
He spoke at the sixth Christopher Kolade Symposium, organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, an organisation he is a pioneer patron.
He made specific reference to Jonathan’s decision to honour a political rally in Kano shortly after a bombing that killed several people early in the year in Abuja, saying the best he could have done was “to postpone the political event.”
For choosing to continue with the programme, he said, the President did not demonstrate that he was sensitive to the pains of the people.
While chiding the campaigns of pro-Jonathan non-governmental organisations, the respected statesman said, “Nigeria was, at every other time, better than now”.
He said those who said the country “had never been this good” were lying, and that at over 80 years, he could tell that the country had a robust history.
He lamented the drift in leadership quality, a situation, he believed, should be a source of worry to all Nigerians.
“If we get to a point when we do not care how the country is led, we have lost hope. The country is where it is today because some people sacrificed. Unfortunately, beyond stealing, our leaders are not ready to sacrifice anything”, he added.
Kolade said he took up a responsibility to lead the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme to demonstrate his love for the country.
Reneging, he said, would have amounted to wishing that the initiative would fail.
He said he rejected allowances offered with the job because he was financially stable.
The former envoy said no Nigerian was happy with the leadership style and the manner public institutions were operated.
Chief Executive Officer of the initiative, Yinka Oyinlola, charged Nigerians to roll out a template of engagement and action rather than complaining.
He said character deficit was the biggest challenge the country would address to position itself for greatness.
Oyinlola lamented the impunity in the Nigeria political system, saying it was a dangerous trend when the executive sought to supplant the legislature and the judiciary.
He spoke at the sixth Christopher Kolade Symposium, organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, an organisation he is a pioneer patron.
He made specific reference to Jonathan’s decision to honour a political rally in Kano shortly after a bombing that killed several people early in the year in Abuja, saying the best he could have done was “to postpone the political event.”
For choosing to continue with the programme, he said, the President did not demonstrate that he was sensitive to the pains of the people.
While chiding the campaigns of pro-Jonathan non-governmental organisations, the respected statesman said, “Nigeria was, at every other time, better than now”.
He said those who said the country “had never been this good” were lying, and that at over 80 years, he could tell that the country had a robust history.
He lamented the drift in leadership quality, a situation, he believed, should be a source of worry to all Nigerians.
“If we get to a point when we do not care how the country is led, we have lost hope. The country is where it is today because some people sacrificed. Unfortunately, beyond stealing, our leaders are not ready to sacrifice anything”, he added.
Kolade said he took up a responsibility to lead the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme to demonstrate his love for the country.
Reneging, he said, would have amounted to wishing that the initiative would fail.
He said he rejected allowances offered with the job because he was financially stable.
The former envoy said no Nigerian was happy with the leadership style and the manner public institutions were operated.
Chief Executive Officer of the initiative, Yinka Oyinlola, charged Nigerians to roll out a template of engagement and action rather than complaining.
He said character deficit was the biggest challenge the country would address to position itself for greatness.
Oyinlola lamented the impunity in the Nigeria political system, saying it was a dangerous trend when the executive sought to supplant the legislature and the judiciary.
Top News: Putin defends foreign policy in state address
Top News: Putin defends foreign policy in state address: Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the Kremlin’s foreign policy, seen by western governments as agressive, saying that its action...
Putin defends foreign policy in state address
Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the Kremlin’s foreign policy, seen by western governments as agressive, saying that its actions are necessary for his country’s survival.
In his annual state-of-the-nation address at the Grand Kremlin palace on Thursday, Putin defended the annexation of Crimea in March and accused the West of using the crisis in Ukraine as a pretext to slap sanctions on Russia.
“The policy of containment wasn’t thought up yesterday, it’s been the plight of our country for many years. Whenever anyone thinks that Russia is getting too strong and independent, then these instruments are applied,” Putin said.
Russia has also been accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with ammunition and manpower in a conflict that has killed more than 4,300 people.
In response, the European Union imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia that targets Russia’s finance, defence and energy sectors.
Putin also pledged that Russia would not scale back its ties with the West despite bitter ongoing confrontation over the Ukraine crisis.
“Under no circumstances are we going to scale back our ties with Europe, US, at the same time we will revive and expand traditional ties with the south of the American continent, will continue cooperation with Africa, with countries in the Middle East,” Putin said.
Meanwhile, Washington said it does not want to see Russia isolate itself “through its own actions,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, calling on Moscow to help halt the raging Ukraine crisis.
“The United States and countries that support Ukraine’s sovereignty and rights do not seek confrontation. It is not our design or desire that we see a Russia isolated through its own actions,” Kerry told a meeting in Switzerland of top diplomats from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) nations.
The Russian leader is currently under pressure to show that his government has an answer for Russia’s worsening economy, with sanctions and the falling price of energy exports sending the ruble into a tailspin,
In his annual state-of-the-nation address at the Grand Kremlin palace on Thursday, Putin defended the annexation of Crimea in March and accused the West of using the crisis in Ukraine as a pretext to slap sanctions on Russia.
“The policy of containment wasn’t thought up yesterday, it’s been the plight of our country for many years. Whenever anyone thinks that Russia is getting too strong and independent, then these instruments are applied,” Putin said.
Russia has also been accused of supplying pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine with ammunition and manpower in a conflict that has killed more than 4,300 people.
In response, the European Union imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia that targets Russia’s finance, defence and energy sectors.
Putin also pledged that Russia would not scale back its ties with the West despite bitter ongoing confrontation over the Ukraine crisis.
“Under no circumstances are we going to scale back our ties with Europe, US, at the same time we will revive and expand traditional ties with the south of the American continent, will continue cooperation with Africa, with countries in the Middle East,” Putin said.
Meanwhile, Washington said it does not want to see Russia isolate itself “through its own actions,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, calling on Moscow to help halt the raging Ukraine crisis.
“The United States and countries that support Ukraine’s sovereignty and rights do not seek confrontation. It is not our design or desire that we see a Russia isolated through its own actions,” Kerry told a meeting in Switzerland of top diplomats from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) nations.
The Russian leader is currently under pressure to show that his government has an answer for Russia’s worsening economy, with sanctions and the falling price of energy exports sending the ruble into a tailspin,
16 dead in Baghdad twin blasts
At least 16 people have been killed in two car bombs that went off in the Sadr district of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, police sources have told Al Jazeera.
The blasts happened at around 6:30 pm (15:30 GMT) on Thursday in two different parts of the district.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said: “One of the car bombs hit in Sadr City hit a small street with small cafes there that were packed with people having dinner. The other one was at a crowded outdoor market.”
Later on, a roadside bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad’s Shia northern neighbourhood of Shaab, killing three people and wounding 12 others, the AP news agency reported.
Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shia neighbourhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.
The blasts happened at around 6:30 pm (15:30 GMT) on Thursday in two different parts of the district.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said: “One of the car bombs hit in Sadr City hit a small street with small cafes there that were packed with people having dinner. The other one was at a crowded outdoor market.”
Later on, a roadside bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad’s Shia northern neighbourhood of Shaab, killing three people and wounding 12 others, the AP news agency reported.
Medical officials confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shia neighbourhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.
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