FOR THE RECORDS: Presidential Media Chat Highlights

President Jonathan with a media panelist at Wednesday Presidential media chat.

Some of President Jonathan responses to questions during Wednesday Presidential Media Chat:

May 29 handover sacrosanct

I assure Nigerians that the elections will hold and a government will be inaugurated on May 29. Better for INEC to conduct an election that Nigerians will see to be credible.

The shift is regretted, especially for we politicians because it means more tension, more meetings and more campaigning. But in the end ensuring a good process is very important.

Campaign financing

Amount of money being spent is being regulated by INEC but pressure on politicians is intense. Right from councillor to presidential elections it is very high. I’ve been in politics since 1999 and I know how intense it is.

Perception is a problem

If I’m returned to office one of the things I will tackle is perception because perception can negate so many things. They say he (Jonathan) means well for the country, but if the perception is bad there is nothing I can do that people will appreciate. So if I come back this is one of the things I will tackle.

Abortive Boko Haram ceasefire/peace pact

I’ve repeatedly said Boko Haram is faceless. Unlike the Niger Delta militants who were known. The then President, Obasanjo used to invite them to Abuja and they will come. I used to attend because I was deputy governor of Bayelsa State. So they (Niger Delta militants) were known but Boko Haram is faceless.

What happened is that we had a window, through the help of Chad, yes some people did show up unfortunately they were splintered and did not get the backing of others.

So we (government) was not swindled money was not paid out to anybody.

I will hand over if I Lose

President assures that he will hand over should he lose the election. “I want to be the first African president to hand over if I lose. I have repeatedly said that what I want is free and fair elections.”

US$9.3m South African arms zcandal

What caused the issue was the manner in which the company we contracted to procure weapons took the money to South Africa. The weapons have been bought. But we shouldn’t forget matter is in court and I’m sure we shall get the money back.

Allegation of “Stealing not corruption” claim

Jonathan I never said stealing is good. I made that statement that ‘corruption is not stealing’ because I quoted a statement made by Justice Mustapha (then Chief Justice of the Federation). He said most of the files I checked I noticed that more than 80% of the cases were stealing and not corruption.

The president then cited an instance where by if someone is accused of corruption it will not sink in as much as if you call a person a thief! People just turned my words around. But an ole is an ole.

We should also note that the ICPC is specifically set up to deal with corruption while EFCC is for economic crimes – they are two different things.

Release of Chibok girls

President Goodluck Jonathan says the issue of Chibok girls will be resolved soon. Especially since Chad and Cameroon have joined forces to help root out the Boko Haram menace.

By GRAPHITTI NEWS with reports from Media/New Telegraph