Saturday, 12 December 2015
Dasuki's arms deal, GEJ failed Nigeria. What is your opinion on this?
Had it been that Goodluck Jonathan worn the past presidential elections Dasuki's Gate could have not been out. He would have been walking free by now.
GEJ fail Nigeria. What is your opinion on this?
Arms Deal: Ex-Vice President, Sambo Received Monthly Stipends of N20m from Dasuki
Ibrahim Idris Wambai, the former Accounts Officer II, has revealed that that the Office of Nigeria’s former Vice President Namadi Sambo was on a monthly stipend of N20million from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) led by former NSA, Sambo Dasuki.
He pointed out that some presidential aides also benefitted from slush funds from the ONSA, singling out five firms which were used as platforms by some people to receive funds from the office.
Many prominent Nigerians and leaders similarly drew huge funds from the office.
Records of all cash payments to such individuals and organisations are still intact, he said in a Statement of Witness/Accused Person which was filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory and obtained by The Nations newspaper.
The certified statement on oath is part of the Proof of Evidence for the trial of nine suspects next week.
He said: “In December 2014, I took cash of N4million to Col. Madaki(rtd) in his residence in Wuse II Abuja. I had made many cash payments to Doyin Okupe, Ahmad Idris (PA to ex-NSA), ADC to former First Lady Patience Jonathan as payments for monthly operation allowances.
$2.2bn arms deal: Why Dasuki paid former VP, Sambo N20m monthly – Ex-NSA account officer
Further details on the misappropriation of money meant for procurement of arms by the former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki have continued to surface.
The latest coming from the former Accounts Officer II in the Office of the former National Security Adviser, ONSA, Ibrahim Idris Wambai who says the Office of the former Vice President, Namadi Sambo received a monthly stipend of N20m from the ONSA.
Wambai stated that several presidential aides, who benefited from the slush funds used five firms as a platforms to receive their share from ONSA, the Nation reports.
He disclosed that many prominent Nigerians and leaders also got huge sums from ONSA during the leadership of Dsauki.
In a Statement of Witness/Accused Person which was filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Wambai said the records of all cash payments to such individuals and organizations are still intact.
The certified statement on oath is part of the Proof of Evidence for the trial of nine suspects next week.
He said: “In December 2014, I took cash of N4million to Col. Madaki(rtd) in his residence in Wuse II Abuja. I had made many cash payments to Doyin Okupe, Ahmad Idris (PA to ex-NSA), ADC to former First Lady Patience Jonathan as payments for monthly operation allowances.
“The documents showing evidence of the payments are in the office of Yazidu Ibrahim in cash payment files. The exact amounts paid and date of payments I cannot remember but are available in the files.
“The venue for the collection of the money was my office and the money was given to me from the cash in the strong room.
“So many cash payments were made on a monthly basis to the following beneficiaries: Office of the former Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo (N20,000,000). The money was being collected by former Deputy Chief of Staff; ADC to former President, amount not known but in cash payment files; Chief Personal physician to former President Goodluck Jonathan; former coordinator on anti-terrorism, Gen. Sarkin Yaki; former Director PC4, Gen. Terba Waya, rtd, Personal Assistant, Domestic Affairs to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
“The amounts and frequency of payments to the beneficiaries as well as the list of other beneficiaries are in the cash payment files
“I also witnessed several payments in cash to various people. Prominent was about payment of N300million to former Chairman on Security and Intelligence, Dr. Bello Matawalle from the cash in the strong room.
“To get details of cash payments in Naira and individuals and organizations summary and vouchers from January 2011 to July 2015, the documents are kept in Yazidu Ibrahim’s former office. These should be collected from the Director of Finance and Administration, Col. Jafaru Mohammed. I and Yazidu Ibrahim can supply the files and the summary.”
Wambai further listed the names of the five firms allegedly used for transfer of funds from the ONSA.
According to Wambai,“The amounts for the five companies are ACACIA Holdings Limited(N600,000,000) via account no. 1017330319 with UBA and N650million via account no. 0122012650 with ECOBANK Nigeria Limited; Reliance Referral Hospital Limited(N750m) via account no.2022394057 with First Bank Nigeria Plc; Jabbama Global Nigeria Limited(N400m) via account no. 1013898095 with Zenith Bank; Continental Development etc.”
Army vows to tackle Biafra agitation, militancy, oil theft
Written by: Adamu Amadu - Dutse
THE Nigerian Army has expressed concern over the rising insecurity and resolved to strengthen its ways to tackle militancy, Biafra agitation, Niger Delta militancy and oil theft in the country.
A communique issued at the end of the 2015 Chief of Army Staff Annual Conference held in Dutse, Jigawa State and signed by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, said the Nigerian Army had resolved to continue its offensive against the insurgents and restore state authority in the north-east region.
According to the statement, “in this regard, the Nigerian Army has resolved to strengthen its resolve to tackle the activities of these groups in order to create the conducive enviroment for peace and economic development in Nigeria”.
The Chief of Army Staff maintained that “the Nigerian Army identified the need for collaborative effort among security agencies in tackling the present myriad of security challenges across Nigeria. In this regard the Army requires joint training contingency plan with other services of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, the Nigerian Police, Department of the State Services and National Security and Civil Defence Corps in tackling these threats”.
He added that “the Nigerian Army identified the language gap between Nigeria and its Franchophone neighbours and resolved to institutionalise French as an alternative language”.
“The Nigerian Army noted the need to articulate measure to constantly engage relevant stakeholders on all issues of human rights and civil military relationship”, Buratai disclosed.
He appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued support for the Nigerian Army in its efforts to tackle the myriad of security challenges across Nigeria and make the welfare of troops a cardinal point of his support to Nigerian Army.
Solid Minerals, Nigeria’s Next Cash Cow
By Agbo-Paul Augustine, KOLA EKE-OGIUGO and DONATUS NADI
Experts say that with trillions of naira lying fallow from untapped mineral resources in Nigeria the nation has no business with poverty and deprivation. AGBO-PAUL AUGUSTINE (Abuja), KOLA EKE-OGIUGO (Asaba) and DONATUS NADI, (Lafia) report on the travails of Nigeria’s minerals sector, and its imminent position as the next money spinner.
When Senator Duro Faseyi, representing Ekiti North Senatorial District stood in the hallow chamber of the Nigerian Senate recently, to sound the alarm over the mind-boggling amount of money the nation is robbed off annually from mining, he never minced words in rousing his colleagues to the reality before them.
The loss of N4 trillion yearly was enough to choke, the seated Senators needed to come alive to spurring national reawakening to the massive loss of the badly desired revenue from the solid minerals sector.
In the motion, sponsored by Senator Faseyi, he said it was ‘’worrisome and unlawful plundering’’ of the nation’s solid minerals sector by local and foreign illegal miners.
He claimed that unapproved mining has cost Nigeria over N8 trillion in every two years. He centred his argument on the inability to muster a strong legislation for the solid minerals sector and poor implementation of the existing weak laws.
As to where the Ekiti state senator got his fact remained unclear to LEADERSHIP Weekend but Senator Faseyi maintained that Nigeria’s underground wealth is being stolen barefacedly.
If oil had maintained a flying price in the international market, Nigerians like the Ekiti Senator will have no memory of the existence of the mining sector.
Nigeria over the last 12 months has witnessed a sharp decline of oil prices which has impacted much on the economy. With 45 dollars a barrel, Nigerians do not need a prophet to know the hard truth.
The situation has created a never foreseen circumstance where the government is failing to meet .....
Chibok Community Decries Persistent Abduction, Neglect By FG
By CHIKA MEFOR AND EJIKE EJIKE
The Chibok Community in Abuja has decried the persistent abduction and attack by the Boko Haram insurgents and the alleged neglect by the federal government to speak on the issue.
Speaking at the #BringBackOurGirls group sit-out yesterday, the Vice chairman of the Chibok community in Abuja, Nkeki Mutah lamented the reported abduction of six girls recently by the Boko Haram insurgents and wondered why the federal government would not say anything about it.
He noted that it is becoming obvious that the matters of the rich are being treated urgently while the poor are left to their fate in the face of insurgence, abduction and kidnapping and recalled how attentions are given to kidnapping of Olu Falea recently while the six girls are just ignored.
While calling for federal government prompt actions on issues like this and implication of keeping silence at times like this, Mutah recalled that this was exactly what happened when the Chibok girls were abducted and that is why they are still missing for over six years now.
It would be recalled that there were reports that Boko Haram insurgents abducted several girls on November 28 after killing many in the village during the attack.
Also, a panel set up by the Borno state governor, Kashim Shettima to investigate claims of new abductions of women in Bam-Buratai, confirmed that a family of six was missing.
Gov. Shettima set up a seven-man fact-finding panel following reports of the purported abduction, particularly as the news came more than a year after over 400 school girls were abducted in their hostel in Chibok by Boko Haram. The Chibok girls are still missing.
The committee, in its report submitted to Shettima on Wednesday in Maiduguri, said it was not sure whether the missing family members were abducted or not, given the fact that there were infants amongst them.
The committee said it found out that the insurgents invaded the community at about 10 p.m on November 28, shooting sporadically following which they killed some residents and set the village on fire.
The committee, led by the member representing Biu State Constituency in Borno State House of Assembly, Aliyu Kachalla, said it ascertained that family members of one of the villagers, named Pidigum Pin dar, had been missing.
“They include Mrs. Gambo Pidigum and Mrs. Hamsatu Pidigum, the first and second wives respectively,” the committee said in the report. Those discovered to have been abducted, according to the committee, were children of the Pidigum fam ily, and they are: Hauwa’u Pi digum, an 8-years-old Primary 3 schoolgirl; Abdul lahi Pidigum, 2-years-6 months- old boy; Ummi Pidigum, a year and 6-months-old girl and Rabi Pidigum, a 6-month-old girl.
We’ll publish names of looters soon – Buhari
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
President Moham- madu Buhari said yesterday that his government will soon publish names of those who have returned portions of their loot from public coffers. This was as one of his spokesmen, Garba Shehu, said in Kaduna that the Presidency would step on toes in their anti-corruption fight. Shehu said that the Presidency would do so for the interest of Nigeria.
Buhari
President Buhari, according to The Cable News, said that the Central Bank of Nigeria will soon publicly name those who looted Nigeria and who have returned part of they wrongly appropriated.
He said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was holding on from publishing the list in order to avoid jeopardising investigations and further recoveries.
He was speaking at the 15th session of the Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation lecture at the International Conference Centre, in Abuja yesterday. In his lecture, Buhari said during electioneering, the issue that gained “higher currency” in the psyche of the people was that Nigerians needed leadership that could be relied upon to tackle the orgy of corruption in the country.
“We have taken steps towards recovering a reasonable amount of the money that was looted or misappropriated from public coffers. Investigations are ongoing on public officers who served, or are still serving, and those whose conduct are questionable will be compelled to accept the path of honour and surrender their loot,” he said. “As I stated recently, a good number of people who abused their positions are voluntarily returning the illicit funds.
I have heard it said that we should disclose the names of the people, and the amount returned. Yes, in due course, the Central Bank of Nigeria will make information available to the public on the surrendered funds, but I must remark that it is yet early days, and any disclosure now may jeopardize the possibility of bigger recoveries. “But we owe Nigerians adequate information, and it shall come in due course.
It is part of the collective effort to change our land from the bastion of corruption it currently is, to a place of probity and transparency. “Quite frankly, the anti-corruption war is not strictly about me as a person, it is about building a country where our children, and the forthcoming generations, can live in peace and prosperity. When you see dilapidated infrastructure round the country, it is often the consequence of corruption.
“Poor heal-thcare, collapsed educa-tion, lack of public utilities, decayed social services, are all products of corruption, as those entrusted with public resources put them in their private pockets. That must stop, if we want a new Nigeria. And that was why I said at another forum that people need not fear me, but they must fear the consequences of their actions.
“Corrupt acts will always be punished, and there will be no friend, no foe. We will strive to do what is fair and just at all times, but people who refuse to embrace probity should have every cause to fear.”
In Kaduna, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, reiterated the Presidency’s commitment to anti-corruption war, speaking in a manner that indicated that the government may still go after top Nigerians who have breached public trust. “The President may step on big toes,” he said of groups and individuals who have swindled the country in the recent years.
This was as the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai stated that the success of president Buhari’s administration depended on the media input. Shehu made the disclosure in his welcome remarks at a three day retreat of the State House Correspondents in Kaduna on Saturday.
Shehu who was the Chief Convener of the event themed “Journalism and Change Mantra: State House in Focus”, stated that the government needed the media support to succeed in the fight against corruption. He recalled that the present government was a product of media’s determination to entrench a corruption-free society, stating that president Buhari would not fail Nigerians.
According to him, the president would not halt the ongoing investigations and would not come to the rescue of anyone who is found culpable in the anti-corruption war. He said: “President Buhari has embarked on an anti-corruption campaign that is bound to offend many. Big toes will be stepped on, personal interests will be cast aside. As the popular saying goes, when you fight corruption, corruption fights back.
“Yes, anti-corruption is a war. And the press can help President Mohammadu Buhari to win that war. You are of the government most lethal weapons in this battle against the forces that aim to pull down Nigeria. “The power of the media lies in their ability to expose wrong-doings. This power of exposure is a far more effective deterrent in many countries including our own, than the court systems that deliver judgement and not necessarily justice.
“If they know that they will be exposed, many crimes will not happen and herein lies the challenge of the media under Buhari administration. Use your power to expose wrong-doings, the days of impunity are gone. This is the best way to help the change that the government is advocating especially now that we have a government with the will and capacity to right all wrongs.”
Expressing appreciation to the media, Shehu also appealed to the media to key into the change agenda of the present government.
“As always, the government of President Mohammadu Buhari is grateful to the Nigerian media for the role you played in igniting the change agenda which has swept into Nigeria in March 2015. The press contributed immensely to the success of APC to the historic election of President Buhari. That was only the beginning of the change agenda. The change is still ongoing.
“This government still requires the assistance of the media to continue that process of change. President Buhari has embarked on the building of a new Nigeria and we need you, the Press, to keep the public informed of its many activities and policies that are geared towards improving the lives of Nigerian people according to the change agenda.
“The government needs the press to remain impartial and eschew spurious incentives when reporting and carrying our your responsibilities, the government needs you to avoid partnerships with enemies of progress who are bent on bringing down the government not minding if the entire country collapses while they are at it”, he said.
Also making his remarks, Governor el-Rufai who was the chief host of the retreat squarely put the success of the government on the media. “The responsibility that has been thrust in the hands of the new government is immense. The APC inherited a country at the tip of failure. As is becoming clearer by the day, some of the things that went on under the previous government are stranger than fiction.
“The consequences of the incompetence, the thievery and the divisive ethos that reigned are only becoming clear. Nigerians are only beginning to realise that the Jonathan government, despite years of $100 oil, was borrowing to pay salaries. The PDP simply ran this economy aground. Our party and our president will do their level best to pick up the pieces, restore economic vitality and make life better for Nigerians.
Arms deal probe: I acted in Nigeria’s interest – Okonjo-Iweala
By Michael Eboh and Emmanuel Elebeke
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
The immediate past Minister of Finance , Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday, reiterated her innocence in the ongoing probe on the multi-billion dollar arms deal, stating that in all her dealings, she strived to protect the interest of the country.
Okonjo-Iweala, in a statement by her spokesperson, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, also alleged that unscrupulous and comprised individuals have distorted the contents of her memo to former president Goodluck Jonathan, seeking the transfer of $300 million and £5.5 million to the Office of the National Security Adviser, to portray her in bad light.
The statement reads: “ For the past week, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole and other compromised persons and media have embarked on a campaign of falsehood against Dr Okonjo-Iweala. They have distorted the contents of the January 20 memo in which she responded to a request by the former National Security Adviser and quoted selectively from the document to make their false allegations of ‘illegal diversion’ of funds.
“For your information and a fuller understanding of the issues, please see the attached January 20 memo by Dr Okonjo-Iweala as published by some online sites. It confirms that Dr Okonjo-Iweala is a transparent person of integrity and patriotic professional who worked hard to protect the interest of the country and that her accusers are purveyors of falsehood on a political mission to tarnish an innocent patriot.”
PDP chieftain faults Buhari’s allocation of N39.4b for oil exploration in the North
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Chief Sunny Onuesoke has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s allocation of N39.4 billion for oil exploration in the Northern part of Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari
Reacting to the pronouncement of the allocation as enshrined in the 2016 budget, Onuesoke, while speaking to newsmen in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State said it was amazing that when the West and other parts of the world were embarking on renewable energy exploration, Nigeria was allocating funds for oil exploration in arid Northern part of the country.
“I wonder if Nigeria is thinking ahead or backward. I am saying this because when countries like America are selling their reserve and diversifying into other sources of energy generation, it is now Nigeria is exploring for more oil in the North. It should be noted that Nigeria cannot be an advocate of climate change and at the same time invest on oil exploration instead of renewable drive for sustainable energy like solar,” he argued.
Boko Haram: We’ll not criticize Buhari if he fails to meet deadline – PDP
By Henry Umoru
NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said yesterday that it would support President Muham-madu Buhari if he fails to achieve the set deadline to end insurgency in the North East which has remained a major security challenge confronting the country, rather than criticize the All Progressives Congress, APC led government.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja when he received a youth group under the aegis of Northern Youth Network at the party national secretariat, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said: “APC had promised that they were going to end insurgency in two weeks, they later said it will be over in two months and after that they now gave December 31 deadline to end Boko Haram.
“Now, in spite of the language it is couched in shifting the goal posts, and despite all the infractions and all kinds of destructive criticisms APC rained on us when they were in opposition, the PDP as a national party will refrain from making comments on issues on the inadequacies pertaining to the war against insurgency in the country.
“For us in the PDP, we remain completely in support of the federal government in the war to eradicate insurgency in our land and we enjoin all Nigerians to support President Muhammadu Buhari in the war against terror. The war by the terror group is not against the President, it is not against the APC neither is it against the PDP. It is rather a war being waged against Nigerians and the countrymen should stand as a united force with our President to fight and defeat the insurgents.
“If we do this we will be fighting for a common good. We would sent a message to those that seek to divide us that we are indivisible and that Nigeria is truly one country and that we want to remain so. We have decided not to discuss things pertaining to the war against insurgency and we will stand by the President as the leader of country.
“But in doing so we will not hesitate or shy away from making our views known on other areas we feel that the government is not doing well. We will not be intimidated nor harassed into abandoning our role as the leading opposition party. We will remain a viable and vocal voice of the opposition and we will remain focused in our constructive criticism against the government of the day.”
Earlier, while explaining their mission, the leader of the Northern Youth Network, Mike Suswan, said they have come to show appreciation for the efforts being made by the PDP to give the opposition a strong voice under the present dispensation.
According to the group, as members, they were pained about the lingering fuel scarcity, which the federal government was still struggling to deal with, just as it condemned the composition of the federal cabinet, which has excluded the youths.
We’re not ready for 2016 census – NPC Chairman
The Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC), Eze Duruiheoma, has said that holding the planned 2016 National Census in the country would not be realistic, due to inadequate logistics and other sundry challenges.
The chairman, who made this known Thursday at a media luncheon, organised by the Commission in Abuja, however, disclosed that the census would rather hold in 2017, all things being equal.
Represented by the Federal Commissioner for Enugu State, Dr. Festus A. Uzor, the commission boss also hinted that the proposed 2017 National Census would necessarily require the use of bio-metric data of each countable individual citizen in the country.
“I am not going to say anything novel; I stand here representing the chairman. I am not speaking in my personal capacity, and what I am going to tell you is what he has said in our meetings. He has said it over and over again. We set out planning for 2016 census, going by the United Nations guidelines, which is supposed to hold in 2016, but we need no less than two years to plan well for the exercise, even if we have all the money asked for.
“If all the money required for it is available, we will not be ready in 2016 to do a good job, and it is our position that we rather not do a job than do it and do it badly; that is a waste of national resources. You will be part of those that will condemn us if we don’t do a good job. So, the chairman has said in our meetings and made it clear that 2016 is not realistic, not that we don’t want to hold it, but the earliest time it can hold is 2017.”
Commenting on the fact that the actual current census figure had remained uncertain and in doubt in some quarters, Duruiheoma stated: “If we don’t know how many we are and who we are change will be difficult to achieve…….The only figure known as Nigerian population figure is the figure for the last census. It‘s somewhere around 170 million. When we have another census, we can now have another basis to say that is not correct or this is where we are.
“We have challenges conducting the census. We had census in the past where people were counted twice or more. Now we use bio-metric data. Now, what will this bio-metric data do for us when we begin the count? If you count one person, a hundred times, the system will cancel it and pick one. There will be no double count.
“If you want to count the ghosts, the people that do not exist, there will be no data to back it up. In the course of enumeration. Those not originally in the list or members of a household who are not really part of the household would be ascertained.”
According to him: “The problem with previous census exercises has been credibility.”
He added that when data was credible and reliable, the result of the exercise would be impressive and applauded.
Canada PM welcomes first Syrian refugees
REUTERS
The first military plane carrying Syrian refugees to be resettled in Canada has arrived in the country.
Welcoming the 163 refugees, new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country was “showing the world how to open our hearts”.
The newly elected Liberal government has pledged to take in 25,000 refugees by the end of February.
Canada’s stance on the issue differs sharply to that of the US, which has been reluctant to take in migrants.
Another plane is due in Montreal on Saturday.
Immigration Minister John McCallum said all 10 provinces in Canada are in favour of accepting the refugees, reports the BBC.
“This is a great moment for Canada,” he said. “This shows the way we really are. It truly is a non-partisan, national project.”
Since early November, hundreds of Syrians have already arrived in Canada via commercial aircraft.
A total of about 300 Syrians will arrive this week.
The Toronto Star, the country’s largest-circulation daily newspaper, ran a cover story on Thursday welcoming the refugees.
The US administration has said it will take in 10,000 refugees over the next year. Some Republican governors have unsuccessfully tried to keep them from coming to their states after deadly terrorist attacks in France and California.
Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said after the California attacks that all Muslims should be blocked from coming to the US, drawing condemnation across the globe.
About 800 refugees are going through screening tests in Lebanon and Jordan daily, McCallum said.
Trudeau, who swept the October 19 Canadian elections, has a different stance on refugees from that of his predecessor, the conservative Stephen Harper, who did not wish to resettle more people.
Unaccompanied men will be excluded from the resettlement programme but officials said this had nothing to do with national security concerns.
“We want them to have a roof over their head, and the right support,” said McCallum.
“It takes a bit of time to put that all in place. We’re happy to take a little more time than originally planned to bring our new friends into the country.”
Those who will be considered refugees include families, women deemed to be at risk, and gay men and women.
Trump lead among Republicans undiminished in first poll after Muslim comments
Donald Trump held onto his commanding lead in the Republican race for the White House after his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States was condemned worldwide, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, the first national survey conducted entirely after the billionaire’s remarks.
Trump led the pack of candidates seeking the Republican Party’s nomination in the 2016 election with 35 percent of support from Republican voters, the opinion poll released on Friday found, the same lead he held before Monday, when he said Muslim immigrants, students and other travelers should be barred from entering the country.
Most Republican voters said they were not bothered by his remarks, though many said the comments could still hurt Trump’s chances of becoming president. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans, who will pick the party’s nominee for the November 2016 election, said they found Trump’s remarks offensive against 64 percent who did not.
“He’s really saying what everybody else is feeling,” said Donna Fee, 57, a personal caregiver from Missouri. Fee, a Republican, said she supports Trump and agreed with his proposal to bar Muslims. But she said his bluntness could hurt him with other voters.
“I really think he needs somebody to calm him down, you know. I really think he needs to learn to use a filter.”
Still, in a sign of how Trump’s rhetoric has polarized the electorate, 72 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of voters overall said they were offended by Trump’s comments, reports Reuters.
Forty-one percent of Republicans polled said Trump’s remarks could hurt his chances of becoming president; that figure was higher among all respondents.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson came in second among Republicans with 12 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush tied with 10 percent.
Trump’s statement was by far the most dramatic response of a U.S. presidential candidate to last week’s shooting spree in California by a married couple whom the FBI later said had become Islamist militants some time ago.
Leaders in Britain, France, Israel and Canada denounced him, and the fallout hurt the real estate mogul’s global brand. A Dubai firm building a $6 billion golf complex stripped Trump’s name from the property.
But Trump’s standing in opinion polls of Republican voters was unchanged in the data released on Friday, which covered responses from Dec. 8-11. He had more than double the support of his nearest rivals in the online poll of 481 Republicans. The poll had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 5 percentage points.
Jonathan succeeds Clinton at 2016 HGF conference
By Our Correspondent
Immediate-Past President Goodluck Jonathan has been chosen to present the keynote address at the 2016 Hope Global Forums (HGF) conference.
The programme is scheduled to hold in the second week of January in Atlanta, United States.
President Bill Clinton performed a role similar to that of Jonathan at the 2015 event which gathered over 3,000 leaders from 40 countries.
The letter of invitation was jointly signed by Andrew Young, Operation Hope global spokesman, Kasim Reed, mayor of Atlanta and John Hope Bryant, Operation Hope chief executive. They urged the former president to lend his support to an entrepreneurship mentoring programme, by sharing his experience in office with a wider global audience.
“As someone recognised for his leadership and vision in Nigeria and abroad, we are personally requesting your attendance. It is important for us that your influential voice and perspective be included as we drive a global conversation,” the letter read.
“We invite you to join Fortune 500 CEO’s, private investors, financial leaders and government officials to connect and collaborate on this vision.
“With the theme ‘Reimagining the Global Economy: Inclusive Economics’, the annual meeting is set against the backdrop of the Martin Luther King Holiday weekend and gathers leaders from government, community and the private sector to outline a vision for the modern global; economy.
“A vision where the undeserved, working poor and struggling middle class are viewed as untapped assets for economic growth, entrepreneurship and job creation.
“The powerful history of Atlanta as the ‘Cradle of the Civil Rights Movement’ serves as a catalyst for our gathering, highlighting the unfinished work of economic self-reliance launched by Dr. King prior to his death. We will honour that legacy with a series of activities for our guests, including ‘white glove’ viewing of Dr. King’s papers.”
Among the guests expected to attend the programme are: Tim Cook, Apple chief executive; Jack Lew, US treasury secretary; Robert Rubin, former treasury secretary, and Clinton Foundation vice-chair Chelsea Clinton.
The Hope Global Forum is an annual event that convenes thousands of thought leaders, business professionals and public policy officials from many countries to brainstorm on ways of advancing the social and economic well-being of all people around the world.
According to the organisers, the 2016 meeting focuses on broadening inclusiveness for global economies.
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