EXCLUSIVE: PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TARGETS TINUBU, APC

There are strong indications that the Presidency is dead set to frustrate the merger of opposition parties under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A presidential directive (PD95), dated March 26, 2013, and obtained exclusively by LEADERSHIP, showed that the Presidency had given the marching orders for “everything to be done to frustrate the merged opposition parties.”

According to Presidential Villa insiders, a presidential directive is similar to an executive order. It is instigated, prepared and executed with the full knowledge and approval of the president.

“I can tell you that this order bears the full imprint of President Goodluck Jonathan. It’s now gloves off in the battle for 2015,” our source said.

The seven-point presidential directive specifically named the business interests of former Lagos State governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as targets, adding that it might also be necessary to plant ‘moles’ among the opposition.

Remarkably, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not spared in the hit list, but there were no details about how the Presidency planned to carry out the attacks.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the APC had recently accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of stoking attempts by at least two other phony groups to use the acronym chosen by the opposition and, possibly, stall its registration.

Sources told LEADERSHIP last night that, for the first time, President Jonathan and his handlers were nervous that the seeming futile reconciliation efforts in the PDP could lead to the unraveling of the ruling party, blighting the president’s re-election bid.

The presidential directive also showed that in spite of repeated denials by top government officials, the Jonathan administration plans to increase petrol prices from the present N97 per litre to between N130 and N140. It did not say exactly when this would happen.

According to the directive, “Petrol prices to be up (sic) to N130 or N140 per litre; public opinion must be tested first.”

In response to the government’s hide-and-seek over petrol prices, labour unions have vowed to resist any increase, arguing that the main problems were official corruption and the president’s inability, or unwillingness, to tackle highly placed persons indicted for stealing trillions of naira in subsidy scams.

The presidential directive also confirmed earlier exclusive reports by LEADERSHIP that the Presidency had placed some ‘disagreeable’ or ‘ambitious’ governors under surveillance. The five governors - all members of the ruling party – are Sule Lamido, Jigawa; Rotimi Amaechi, Rivers; Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta; Rabiu Kwankwaso, Kano, and Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, Niger.

The directive ordered a “24-hour surveillance on governors of Jigawa, Rivers, Delta, Kano and Niger,” adding that there was the need to “concentrate particularly on Niger, Rivers and Jigawa.”

In what appears to be bare-knuckle fallback position, the directive said that “if the current efforts by the BoT chairman (Tony Anenih) failed to convince them (the governors) to soft-pedal, everything must be done to embarrass them.”

On the security front, it appears the president will retain the defence portfolio until July or August, 2013. The directive also said there would be no changes in the military high command until 2014 when the current leadership will retire.

The directive also indicated that the president may have finally succumbed to the wishes of the National Assembly and could drop embattled director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Arunma Oteh.

Because of the face-off between the executive and legislative arms of government over Oteh, the lawmakers had refused to approve a budget for the securities commission and had, last week, warned against extra-budgetary funding for the commission.

Source: Leadership