DON'T LET BUHARI AND APC DECEIVE YOU by Amadasu Evans.

1999 is not history for people like me. President Obasanjo did not inherit a great legacy from chains of visionless military governments. There was no oil boom when Obasanjo took over. But once he took over, he looked up and not down. He looked forward and not backward. Not even the mind-blowing looting of Abacha's government, a government President Buhari served could dissuade Obasanjo from looking up to a brighter future. Did we need to recover and repatriate the Abacha loot? Yes, But Obasanjo was more interested in using the budget at the time to meet our challenges. He did not go about branding Nigeria and Nigerians as a rogue nation or thieves. Obasanjo assembled the right people. Charles Soludo made the Banking smooth. Ernest Ndukwe engineered the GSM Resolution. El Rufai fired from BPE. Oby Ezekwesili and Okonjo Iweala were drafted to teach him what he didn't know about international financial and economic community. Nuhu Ribadu and EFCC and ICPC were brought to buy confidence in the world to do business with Nigeria. Debt relief was fought and gains came.

Institutions were built and before you know it there was political and economic stability. Foreign Direct Investments began to rain in. Obasanjo did not meet a super economy. Virtually all the infrastructure we enjoy today came from 1999. The military looted, ruined and destroyed everything including our psyche.

Did Obasanjo dwell in the past? No. Did he continue complaining IBB did this, Abacha did that, Abdusalami did that? No. Even Buhari's Boss's (Abacha) loot are still being repatriated till date. Thus if Obasanjo hinged development on that loot we wouldn't have attained the milestone we achieved so far.

Now listen up. Oil price is not lower than Obasanjo met in 1999 or Yaradua in 2007. It's simply the fault of Buhari and APC. They simply failed to hit the ground running. Out of their malice, they missed million dollar goodwill from people like Okonjo Iwela and Akinwumi Adeshina. Buhari by his rhetoric de-marketed Nigeria. 

He created massive shock in the economy that turned away international monetary agencies and financial institutions. He did not know his rhetoric made foreign investors fear. He created uncertainty rather than assuring all that all investments are safe and that there won't be a radical change of policies. His interference with CBN monetary policies finished the business for would be investors.

If President Buhari had proper guidance from key figures like Pat Utomi or Charles Soludo, yes economy would have slowed down, but the slide wouldn't have been sharp and unpredictable as it is today. Some things would have been salvaged.

Buhari and APC talk as if they campaigned to take over from PDP prosperity, abundant power supply etc. They forget these were the reasons they asked for a chance to rule. Obama took over an economy in recession. Massive job losses. Major financial companies going bankrupt. Deficit Budget. Etc. When he won, he did not go wailing about Bush Bush Bush who spent all the wealth in Defence And Military Budget. He simply brought his head down and work. He Bailedout financial institutions like Morgans Stanley and Leman Bros. He Bailed out Ohio Auto Industries. He nearly lost 2nd term for the slow economy, but he pleaded with American people saying the jobs were coming. And Alas! The jobs came. Even though not optimum level, but he doesn't remind anyone that it was GOP and Bush that created it. 

Buhari and APC stop complaining. Stop passing the buck. You longed for this for nearly 10 years. Leave Goodluck Jonathan and PDP and show us what you got.

N. Korea has 'more gift packages' for US.

North Korea remains defiant in the face of an international uproar over its latest nuclear missile test.

Amid an international uproar over North Korea's latest and biggest nuclear weapons test, one of its top diplomats says it's ready to send "more gift packages to the United States.

Han Tae Song, ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the UN in Geneva, on Tuesday addressed the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament two days after his country detonated its sixth nuclear test explosion.

"I am proud of saying that just two days ago on the 3rd of September, DPRK successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test for intercontinental ballistic rocket under its plan for building a strategic nuclear force," Han told the Geneva forum.

"The recent self-defense measures by my country, DPRK, are a 'gift package' addressed to none other than the US," Han said.

"The US will receive more 'gift packages' from my country as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK," he added without elaborating.

Military measures being taken by North Korea were "an exercise of restraint and justified self-defense right" to counter "the ever-growing and decade-long US nuclear threat and hostile policy aimed at isolating my country".

US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said North Korea had defied the international community once again with its test.

"It can no longer be business as usual with this regime."

The White House said on Monday President Donald Trump had agreed "in principle" to scrap a warhead weight limit on South Korea's missiles in the wake of the North's latest test.

The United States accused North Korea's trading partners of aiding its nuclear ambitions and said Pyongyang was "begging for war".

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Tuesday that the US aim for the United Nations Security Council to vote on Monday on new sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test is "a little premature".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister spoke by telephone on Tuesday and agreed that sanctions against Pyongyang should be stepped up.

"She agreed with Prime Minister Abe that North Korea's latest nuclear test threatened the security of the entire world and that this massive violation of the UN Security Council's resolution must result in a resolute reaction from the international community as well as tougher sanctions," spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

Source: News.com.au