By Charity Chima
The
National Chairman, Community Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria
(CNPAN) Chief Monday Wehere JP, Publisher/Editor-In-Chief, Surveillance Group
of Newspapers, Port Harcourt has given reasons why he founded Community
Newspapers For President Jonathan (CNPN).
Chief
Wehere gave this revelation in his article sent to all the State Coordinators
and members of CNPJ recently.
In
his preamble using the Singapore
and Lee Kuan Yew experience, he said:
“Lee Kuan Yew was born in September 1923. He is a Singaporean politician
who in most cases is referred by the initials LKY. He was the longest serving
prime minister in the world, having served in that capacity for 30 years
uninterrupted and on the process transformed Singapore economy. In most cases he
is recognized as the founding father of Singapore”.
“As
the secretary General of People's Action party (PAP), he lead the party to
clinch eight election victories. That was between 1959 and 1990. He presided
over the separation of Singapore
from Malaysia
in 1965. He then embarked on a serious transformation of Singapore
economy from just an underdeveloped British colony with scarce resources to a
great economic force to recon with in the international arena. Singapore is an
Asian Tiger”.
“During
his political life spanning a period of 50 years, he became one of the longest
serving ministers in world history. He served for a total of half a century. He
announced his retirement from the cabinet after the 2011 General Election”.
“Lee
Kuan Yew is, without a doubt, one of the world's most successful
transformational leaders. He is the veritable bulwark for what Singapore is
today. The country is very small, densely populated and constantly uptight
about its vulnerabilities. Lee, elected into government at the age of 35 in
1959, set out on an incredible journey, turning a one-time small, uncivil,
futureless, fractious, communist-ridden and problem-plagued multi-ethnic island
state into now a beaming and prosperous metropolis with a very high standard of
living, sharing company with Switzerland, the United States, and Canada, Wehere
noted”.
Continuing,
Chief Wehere further remarked: “Singapore
has the same population with Katsina and Rivers State; Lee Kuan Yew used 8
consecutive terms spanning 30 years to perform the miracle; The media industry
gave enormous supports to Lee Kuan Yew throughout the period even when some of
his aides, ministers were involved in corrupt deals; the media did not pull Lee
Kuan Yew down. Many of his aides, some
of his ministers were imprisoned or expelled for corruption. One prominent minister, in the 1980s,
committed suicide after an embarrassing corruption ordeal, but the media did
not pull Lee Kuan Yew down, Chief Wehere noted”.
In
addition, looking at Nigeria and President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Wehere
said: “I may not be competent to give the score card of President Goodluck
Jonathan, but because of space, permit me to mention just a few of those areas
common to the average Nigerian where President Jonathan has performed
exceedingly well that motivated me to establish this Group now known as
Community Newspapers for President Jonathan (CNPJ)”.
Chief
Wehere then went further and highlighted some of the areas where President
Jonathan has performed creditably:
On
resuscitating ailing and decayed infrastructures, Wehere said: “This is very
glaring. The efforts of President
Jonathan in resuscitating some of our decaying infrastructures such as electricity,
railway system, education sector, airport facilities, roads, health etc is
commendable”.
On
Power: “The power sector is seriously
undergoing transformation. The process
of transmission, distribution, and power generation is being improved upon. From all indications, before the end of 2014,
Nigerians will begin to enjoy steady and stable power supply nationwide”.
On
Education: “Here, Mr. President has done
so much. As a professional human
developer, I am aware that with the right education, it will be easier to turn Nigeria into a
great country. President Jonathan’s
positive efforts and commitment to quality education in Nigeria is
certainly not in doubt. The education
system which had been in a comatose has been receiving tremendous transformation,
with the hosting of the national summit on education, the establishment of
education Task Force and the creation of additional 11 new universities
nationwide – 9 in the North and 2 in the South”.
On
Schools for Almajiris: “In order to
assist the Almajiris discover their talents and potentials to develop
themselves and build the nation, President Jonathan has built over 100 schools
for the Almajiris in the North. This is
a sound visionary leadership”.
On
rail transportation: “Rail
transportation which was completely abandoned and dead long ago has been given
a face lift. We have train movement now
from Lagos to Kano,
Port Harcourt to Maiduguri from all indications will likely
resume operations this year”.
On
Airports: “Our airports are also
receiving massive transformation, they are now equipped and modernize to
international standard”.
On
Agriculture: “The abundant supplies and
affordable foodstuffs nationwide indicate that there are tremendous
achievements in this sector”.
On
road construction and rehabilitation: “The massive road constructions and
rehabilitations of federal roads, highways, nationwide by President Jonathan
deserve our commendation”.
On
Petroleum products: “This is one key
area, Nigerians need to appreciate and commend President Jonathan for the
steady and regular supply of petroleum products to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. Since President Jonathan assumed office as
Executive President of this great country, the senseless hoarding of Petroleum
products and long queues at Petrol Stations have disappeared”.
On
women: “Inline with 35% affirmative
action, President Jonathan has empowered and appointed many women into various
sensitive positions in the country more than previous administration. It is on record that the first female Chief
Judge of Nigeria was appointed by President Jonathan thus had given our women a
sense of belonging by ensuring gender balance”.
On
sports: “Under President Jonathan, Nigeria has won
so many sporting laurels. Nigeria won the
FIFA U17 World Cup and the African Cup of Nation (AFCON CUP) after they had
eluded us for years”.
On
security: “President Jonathan has been strategically involved in training and
retraining of security personnel on counter insurgency and anti-terrorism in
line with acceptable global practices and had acquired and installed
sophisticated and modern security gadgets in our airports, public buildings and
other important institutions to checkmate Boko Haram insurgency created by
those who vowed to make Nigeria under his leadership ungovernable”.
Thus
according to Chief Monday Wehere President Jonathan has made tremendous
achievements that will remain the benchmark for any other administration.
On
the need for Community Newspapers For President Jonathan, Chief Monday Wehere
noted: “We are all Nigerians! We know our weaknesses and our strength. One of the greatest weaknesses we have is
that we don’t believe in continuity of projects embarked upon by another
government. Therefore, if President
Jonathan is not back to work beyond 2015, it then means that all his efforts,
and the billions so far spent in fixing the country will go down the drains”.
“You
will recall, it took Lee Kuan Yew 30 years of
8 consecutive tenures to turn Singapore which shares the same population
with Katsina and Rivers States from third world to first world nation”.
“Lee
Kuan Yew succeeded in Singapore
because the media industry was behind him.
As the watchdog of the society, we have the responsibility to expose bad
government as we did to the past military juntas and also the responsibility to
promote and support good government.
President Jonathan’s government to my own assessment is a good one”!
“Therefore,
in order to enable President Jonathan continue with his transformational
agenda, on February 2013, I decided to establish Community Newspapers for
President Jonathan to assist him sustain and continue with his transformational
agenda beyond 2015”.
“As
the National Chairman, Community Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria,
I went round the country, appealed to our members to do what the Singapore
Media: both the print and electronic industry the kind of supports they gave to
Lee Kuan Yew which made him to succeed.
Out of the 385 registered members of CNPAN, 210 members nationwide so
far agreed to use their functional community newspapers to support President
Jonathan come 2015 general elections hence COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS FOR PRESIDENT
JONATHAN”.
Chief
Wehere used the opportunity to list the members of the National Executive
Council of CNPJ: “The National Executive Council made up of 13 National
Officers, 6 Zonal Coordinators, 2 National Advisers, and 36 State Coordinators
together with Abuja FCT has been constituted as follows:
Chief
Monday Wehere JP, NATIONAL COORDINATOR, Surveillance Newspaper, Port
Harcourt (Rivers
State); Sani Mohammed Sani, NATIONAL DEPUTY COORDINATOR,
Executive Magazine
Bauchi
(Bauchi State), Abba Bishir, NATIONAL SECRETARY, Katsina
Gazzette, Katsina (Katsina State),
Easterday Aiyebaitari, NATIONAL ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
National Investigator, Yenagoa (Beyalsa State), Olayinka Agboola, NATIONAL
PUBLICITY SECRETARY, Parrot Extra Magazine
Ibadan (Oyo State),
Timothy Hembaor, NATIONAL FINANCIAL SECRETARY, Digest Newspaper
Makurdi
(Benue State), Abubakar Alimi, NATIONAL
ORGANIZING SECRETARY, Kogi Express Magazine, Lokoja (Kogi State), Shirley A. Munoye, NATIONAL TREASURER,
Frontline Express Newspaper, Owerri (Imo State), Constance Meju, NATIONAL
WELFARE SECRETARY
National
Point, P-H(Rivers State), Osinachi N. Adese Esq, Reality Newspaper, NATIONAL
LEGAL ADVISER, G. Ofodile Okafor & Co, Jos (Plateau State), Sani
Ahmad Sagagi, NATIONAL AUDITOR
Salka
Hausa Magazine, Kano (Kano State), Olaseeni Oyesusi, NATIONAL PROVOST I, The
Chronicle
Akure
(Ondo State), Haslon Freedom, NATIONAL PROVOST II, Newsnow Magazine, Yola (Adamawa State)
Speaking
on Zonal
CO-ORDINATORS, Chief Wehere noted: Ben A. Daji, Global View Newspaper,
Jalingo,
Taraba State (North East), Chief Moses Agbe, Star Rays Newspaper, Abuja (North
Centra), Kabir Mohammed Assada, Murya Arewa, Sokoto State (North
West), Jideofor Ugwuanyi,Signal
Magazine, Abia State (South East), Charles Eniang, The Glimmer Newspaper,, Cross
Rivers State
South-South, Femi Davies, Metronews Newspaper, Lagos State
(South
West)”.
Chief
Wehere also gave the list of the State Coordinators as follows: (1) ABIA: Newsmaker Magazine,
Obinna
Samuel Ibe, (2) ABUJA FCT:The Bridge Magazine,
Omoniyi Gbadamosi (3) ADAMAWA:
Newsnow
Magazine, Haslon Freedom (4) AKWA
IBOM: Weekly Update, Emmanuel Effiong (5) ANAMBRA: National Link Newspaper, Hon. Michael T. Chinyelude
(6)BAUCHI: Executive
Magazine,
Sani
Mohammed Sani, (7) BAYELSA:
National Investigator, Easterday Ayebaitari (8) BENUE:
The
Umpire Newspaper, Bemgba Iortyom (9) BORNO:
National Limelight Magazine, Ibrahim Gwamna Mshellizza (10) CROSS RIVERS:
The Glimmer Newspaper, Charles Eniang (11) DELTA:
Anioma Trust Newspaper, Nweike Patrick Ochei (12) EBONYI: The Clarion Newspaper, Chooks Oko(13) EDO: Anthony Osawaru, The Advocate
Newspaper. (14) EKITI:
Society Stars Newspaper, Ojo James Olufemi (15) ENUGU: Emmanuel Ozodinma Ugwueze,
National Express Newspaper. (16) GOMBE:
Titus Usman Jewel Treasure Magazine (17) IMO: Sir Kelechi Mejuobi (KSJ),
Imo Trumpeter. (18) JIGAWA: Aliyu
M. Yusuf, Mahanga Arewa Newspaper (19) KADUNA:
Sani Mohammed Garba, Sardawa Newspaper (20) KANO: Sani Ahmad Sagagi, Salka Hausa
Magazine. (21) KATSINA: Abba
Bishir Katsina Gazette, (22) KEBBI:
Umar Rabakaya, Kebbi Times (23) KOGI:
Ade Bada, The Public magazine. (24) KWARA: Moses Ahiaba, The Hammer
Newspaper (25) LAGOS: Femi Davies, Metronews Newspaper (26) NASSARAWA: Matthew Kuju, Eggon
Community Newspaper (27) NIGER: Yahaya
Mohammed Usman, Nigerwatch Newspaper, (28) OGUN:
Adeniyi Adeloye, Metronews Newspaper (29) ONDO: Olaseeni Oyesusi, The
Chronicle Newspaper (30) OSUN:
Seun Adeoye,West Mail Newspaper (31) OYO:
Kayode Muritala , Oodua Newspaper, (32) PLATEAU: Prince Valentine Adese,
Reality Newspaper (33) RIVERS: Iheanyi
Ezinwo, Notable Outcome Newspaper (34) SOKOTO
Sirajo Dalhatu, Democratic Trend. (35) TARABA:
Ben A. Daji, Global View (36) YOBE: Yusuf
Mohd, Sky News (37) ZAMFARA:
Idris Iliyasu, Legacy Weekly.
According
to Chief Wehere, CNPJ also has two National Advisers: (1) Matthew Odion Ali
Edo State,
Merit Newspaper and (2) Chief Imo Eze, Ebonyi
State, Ebonyi Voice
Newspaper
On
Community Newspapers and 2015 General Elections, Chief Wehere noted: “President
Jonathan believes in the rule of law much as he has been saying that votes must
count in 2015. This is an indication
that Community Newspapers will play a pivotal role in grassroots mobilization,
a situation to which we are fully ready”.
On
the acceptability of Community Newspapers For President Jonathan nationwide:
“Considering the wider acceptability of
CNPJ project across the East, West, North and
South of Nigeria, it is a clear signal of the acceptance of President
Jonathan; consequently, we therefore wish to use this opportunity to call on
President Jonathan to formally declare his interest to run for 2015 election, a
commitment to which we are solidly behind him and also to appeal to Nigerians
to appreciate his good works and give him massive support now and in 2015 to
enable him continue and to conclude his good works.
In
his conclusion, Chief Wehere called on those who love President Jonathan “to
reach out to us with relevant news for grassroots mobilization, and thanked his
colleagues for accepting to join him in this laudable project of assisting
President Jonathan to turn Nigerian into a great nation.(Chief Monday Wehere JP, Founder/National President, Community
Newspapers for President Jonathan
Publisher/Editor-In-Chief, Surveillance
Newspaper, Midweek Surveillance & Weekend Surveillance,
Port Harcourt, Rivers
State. PEIC, Surveillance
Newspaper, P-H – Founded February 1999
08033419961)
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