Abuja Time
Mr. Afolabi Tajudeen Adeola, former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, former chairman of the National Pension Commission (Pencom), and former member on the (Tony) Blair Commission on Africa, has been named the running mate of ACN presidential candidate, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Brazil legend Ronaldo retires from football
2002 - Brazil win fifth title (available to UK users only)
Brazilian legend Ronaldo has confirmed his retirement from football.
The 34-year-old had a glittering career, helping Brazil win two World Cups and being named Fifa World Player of the Year in 1996, 1997 and 2002. He had been expected to quit at the end of the season but the early elimination of his club, Corinthians, from the Copa Libertadores brought forward the date.
"I wanted to continue, but I can't. I think of an action, but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time," he said.
Ronaldo's career took him to some of Europe's top clubs, including Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Italian neighbours AC Milan and Inter Milan.
But it was on the world stage where he made the biggest impact, scoring a record total of 15 goals at three World Cups.
He also went to the 1994 tournament in the United States as a member of the Brazilian squad that went on to win the trophy, but the 17-year-old did not get on the pitch.
However, four years later he scored four goals to help Brazil reach the final against hosts France.
Mystery surrounded the match as Ronaldo's name was left off the teamsheet when it was issued 72 minutes before kick-off, only for an amended version to appear in time for the start of the game amid rumours of panic attacks and a dispute within the Brazilian camp.
 | RONALDO'S GAMES AND GOALS Cruzeiro 1993-94 - 45 games, 41 goals PSV Eindhoven 1994-96 - 58 games, 54 goals Barcelona 1996-97 - 49 games, 47 goals Inter Milan 1997-2002 - 99 games, 59 goals Real Madrid 2002-07 - 164 games, 98 goals AC Milan 2007-08 - 20 games, nine goals Corinthians 2009-11 - 31 games, 18 goals Totals - 466 games, 326 goals |
The Frenchman scored twice as France won 3-0.
At the 2002 World Cup Ronaldo was at his imperious best, scoring in every game in Japan and South Korea, bar the 2-1 quarter-final victory over England.
He grabbed both of Brazil's goals in the 2-0 win over Germany in the final to take his tally for the tournament to eight.
In 2006 he scored twice in a 4-1 victory over Japan to draw level with Germany's Gerd Muller as the top scorer in World Cup finals history on 14, before breaking that record with a goal against Ghana.
He ended his international career having scored 62 goals in 97 appearances.
On the domestic front, Ronaldo first moved to Europe in the 1994-95 season, joining Dutch side PSV Eindhoven from Cruzeiro, scoring 30 league goals in his first season and 12 in 13 games during an injury-hit second campaign.
Ronaldo's strike rate alerted former England manager Sir Bobby Robson, who signed the Brazilian when he took over as Barcelona coach in 1996 and the striker continued his impressive record at the Nou Camp, scoring 47 times in 49 appearances.
In 1996, at the age of 20, he became the youngest player to win Fifa's World Player of the Year title and picked up the award again 12 months later.
By that time he had moved clubs once more, this time joining Inter for a then world-record fee of £19m. He hit 59 goals in 99 appearances during an injury-troubled four years with the Italian side.
He damaged his knee in 1999 and then again during his comeback in February 2000, which kept him out of the game for another two years.
His next move took him back to Spain, where he joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2002 for £20m. Injury stopped him making his debut until October, but he scored twice on his first appearance to endear himself to the fans and netted 21 more times that season to help win the La Liga title.
He also scored a hat-trick against Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
He also helped the Spanish side win another league title in 2006/07 but further injuries and a lack of fitness led to him being deemed surplus to requirements and he returned to Italy in 2007, joining AC Milan.
Another knee injury cut short his playing career at the San Siro in May 2008 and he returned to Brazil in 2009 to sign for Corinthians.
Mko Abiola's Son Kicked Out Of Acn
A son of the winner of the June 12 1993 presidential Election, Chief Moshood Abiola, Lekan, who is the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change for Abeokuta North/Obafemi Owode/Odeda Federal Constituency, in this interview with NIYI ODEBODE and FIDELIS SORIWEI, bares his mind on the state of the nation and democracy in the country.
Between 1999 and 2010, you did not come out to contest. Why are you contesting now? How would you assess our democracy?
We’ve gone through dictatorship and my parents and a lot of other people were in the forefront in the fight against dictatorship. We didn’t want the military anymore and thank God that at the end of the day, we were successful. We now have a democracy. We have had two elections so far and each of these elections has been below par. Even the manner in which the candidates were selected in many cases was also not very good. So, we have never had the chance of having our best people rule us. Although we now have a democracy, we do not have the best people in charge of our affairs, if we did, things would not be this bad. You can hear the sound of a generator in the background. Look at how big this house is. Do you know how much it costs to run this house with a generator every day? After 12 years of democracy, we cannot fix the power situation. So, any Nigerian that has good ideas about how he can contribute something to this country should come out and try.
Your parents paid the supreme price for democracy. The expectation was that in 1999, some of your siblings would come out to vie for strategic positions, but you stayed away. What is responsible for this change of mind?
I don’t think that going for a political position is like a birthright. If your father is a good football player, it does not mean that automatically you too must be a football player. Look at Michael Jordan, none of his sons is playing basketball today. So, just because my father was a democrat, who won election, does not mean that all his children must follow that line. Everybody has his destiny. When I decided to come out as an individual, I was looking at the situation. I am not happy with the state in which Nigeria is, right now. I am upset about it and I am sure many people are upset about it. We have a lot of people who don’t have jobs. Salaries of those who have jobs are not even enough. Right now, crude oil is $101. This should be oil boom. When we had the oil boom in the 1970s, the oil was about $40 and we were only producing less than a million barrels a day. Today, we are doing like 2.2 million barrels a day and oil is $101 per barrel. It is disgraceful that we are having economic doom right now, when in Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and other countries, where crude oil is their main source of income, you see them building tallest buildings in the world and new railway systems. It is very sad. Unemployment is high. The interest rate is 24 per cent.
Do you have faith in democracy now?
You know that the good thing about democracy is that every four years or so, people have the time to chose and change their leaders. Now Nigeria is having that in April. April is a decision time again for Nigerians to come out and say, “We are tired of these people. We are tired of the PDP in the Presidency. We are tired of them in Senate. We are tired of them in the House of Representatives.” The only thing we know about the Senate and the House of Representatives is jumbo pay. We don’t know them for any other thing. These are the people that are meant to be doing oversight, making sure that the budget is implemented, making sure that roads they said they voted billions voted for, have been built. All you hear is that they are collecting jumbo pay. By the grace of God, Nigerians will make the right choice. They have already come out to register in large numbers. I hope that on that day, they will choose the right people to represent them. Americans have already said that in 2015, Nigeria is going to disintegrate. If we fail this time around, it might be like that.
Your father, mother and many other Nigerians made sacrifices for the country to enjoy democracy. Do the kind of people in power now merit being there?
We have had Obasanjo (former president). We had him for eight years. Everybody acknowledged that the country did not move forward at all. He basically did not move the country at all. He basically imposed Yar’Adua on us. Yar’Adua would never have won free and fair primaries but he was imposed on us. The election was not free and fair. Everybody knows that. You know Yar’Adua was very ill and for two and a half years, we did not see anything from him. So, whether he was a good president or not, the fact is that he didn’t have the health to do the job. We all know how that ended. Now Goodluck (President Jonathan), who was not prepared, who would not have been anyone’s choice, for the President, has now become the President. He was picked because the South-South people were making a lot of noise. To sort of appease the South- South, he was made the vice-president. If such a man becomes President, what can you say about him? What I can see about Goodluck is that December 31st, it (government) took out a $1bn and they shared it among themselves. The excess crude account before Yar’Adua died, the foreign reserve was like $13bn, now it has only $3m left, not $3bn; from the $13bn that Yar’Adua left. Goodluck Jonathan distributed a billion dollars, a day before the New Year. While everybody was going to the churches and the mosque for the New Year, they sat down, and divided $1bn. Where has the money gone? We don’t see it on the roads. We don’t see it in power. We don’t see it in security. We don’t see it anywhere.
Do you believe that INEC can conduct free and fair elections in Nigeria in April?
I think that Prof. Attahiru Jega (the Independent National Electoral Commission chairman) will try. I think he too has a lot at stake. We are going to have a better election this time around than we had in 2007. Jonathan is going around saying that he wants free and fair elections. The President is saying he wants free and fair elections, and the other day, Jega too said that he swore by the Koran. For any Moslem, you cannot swear by the Koran and play.
How would you assess the support you have got from your father’s political associates? Do you feel abandoned by them?
I am disappointed. You know, but then I am not particularly surprised. I would have been surprised if they were actually being supportive. In the Action Congress of Nigeria (the leadership), they claim they are democrats and progressives. I wanted to come through the ACN because it is the strongest party for the opposition in the South-West. I am from the South –West. They have so many supporters in Lagos, Osun, and other states. Most of the people in the ACN are the people that I have always known. People like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Governors Olusegun Osoba and Niyi Adebayo, Governor Rauf Aregbesola. I went to them and a lot of the members, the bonafide members embraced me. They were very happy and I had a lot of support, I went to different wards, I went to meet different leaders and everybody was happy that I was coming out. Then I heard that what I wanted to get, a son of one of the leaders, Chief Osoba, was interested in it and that I should go and meet Osoba to discuss this issue with him. They (some party members) said, “This particular seat that you are looking for, Osoba’s son is interested in it. We have left it for him, so you should go and see Osoba.” So I called him (Chief Osoba) and he gave me an appointment and I went to his house. I said, “I came out for this position and they (some members) are telling me that your son is interested in the seat” He said it was true his son was interested. I asked, “What are we going to do now?” He said, “Well you can go for a seat in the House of Assembly or you can wait for an appointment.” I said to myself, “Why can’t you tell your son to go to the Assembly? And why can’t you tell your son to wait for an appointment? The fact is that I am older than your son.” That was what I was saying in my heart because I could not be arguing with Akinrogun (Osoba). He is older than me and I have to respect him.In my heart, I said, “I have more experience in politics than your son. I have been part of Buhari’s campaign team in the past. Apart from that, I have been married for over a decade or so. Your son is not even married. So, why should I step down for him. The Electoral Act states that there should be primaries.” I told him, “Sir, I will go and think about it.” I went back home in Abeokuta and I called my uncles, aunties, and other family members. In fact, Hafsat (his sister) was even there. Hafsat was even more upset than me. She said, “How could he tell you that you should step down for his son? For what? Who is his son?” She got really angry. I said according to the party’s constitution, we are going to do primaries. So I now started going around trying to get ready for primaries until, they (the party leaders) called a meeting at Akinrogun’s house, where he said that there would not be any primaries and that they would handpick candidates and that whoever was not picked should not worry. He said people not picked would be given appointments. They could go the House to Assembly. I was the only the aspirant who raised his hand. Others were angry but kept quiet. He said I should speak. I said, “ Sir, consensus by definition means everybody is in agreement. So if in a particular case, you pick somebody, and people are not in agreement, what do they do?” He said they could appeal to the appeal panel of the party. I asked who would be in the Appeal Panel? He said the leaders of the party. I asked him if it was the same leaders who made the initial decision that we would appeal to. He said yes. I said thank you very much. At that point in time, I just had to leave; I knew that was the end of the road for me in the ACN.
You said you had an edge over his son; when Osoba asked you to step down for his son, what was in your mind? Did you miss your father’s support then?
I would have stepped down. But I did not because the man was telling me about how he too was about to be killed by Abacha; about how he suffered because of June 12. And when I got home, and I was thinking about it, I said “You said Abacha wanted to kill you, but he didn’t (laughs). You are still alive (heavy laughter). Both my parents are dead. So what are you talking about? Where is my dad today? Mummy oh, I am sorry, she is in the grave. You are telling me to step down for your son? That you suffered for June 12? If you suffered for June 12, and you are still alive and your wife is still alive, then, what can we say has happened to us, the June 12 that fell on our heads? That was what happened to me. I went to join Buhari’s party. The General supported me. He called the leaders of the Congress for Progressive Change in Ogun State and told them to give me all the necessary support and they did that. I met other leaders and they all said no problem.
You are also close to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other leaders in the ACN. Did you tell Tinubu about this issue and did he intervene?
I am not into politics to cause trouble; I am in politics by the grace of God to get into the House of Representatives to represent the people of Abeokuta North/ Obafemi Owode /Odeda. That is what I am going there for. I want to keep my eyes on the ball. It is not for me to be going from one person to the other trying to cause trouble between Asiwaju and Akinrogun. There is no way that Asiwaju will call Akinrogun to tell him that his son should step down. I don’t want anyone to step down for anybody. What I thought would have happened was that there would have been primaries. That would have been proper. When they said that they were going to handpick candidates, I realised that it was the same handpicking that they were doing in different parts of the South-West basically. It was the same handpicking that they did in Oyo State and in a large part of Lagos and Ekiti states and in other places. So I didn’t want to go and meet Asiwaju for that even though I knew that Asiwaju would not be happy with the situation. He wouldn’t be happy but what could he have done? Their policy is to handpick and their chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, said they know best who they trust to fly the ACN flag. It is just that unfortunately for them, the trust ends with their wives and their children. So if my own father is not alive, I guess no one can trust me to fly the party’s flag.
Why are you supporting the CPC?
Someone like Buhari, whom I am still supporting has picked Pastor Bakare. It is a wonderful masterstroke because a lot of people used to think that he is a religious fanatic and that he would Islamise Nigeria and things like that. So by picking someone like Pastor Bakare, everybody now knows that it is not possible. Even though in a democratic set up like Nigeria, it is impossible for you to Islamise Nigeria because, to pass any law, you have to go to the Senate and the House of Representatives, but still they use that against him. He has picked Pastor Bakare, who is very intelligent; apart from being a preacher, he is also a lawyer. He is somebody who is also into social activism. I think that it a wonderful choice by the grace of God and I pray that they will finally succeed this time around to tackle the problem of corruption. Corruption is one of the major problems that we have in this country today. If you have very good leaders like General Buhari and Pastor Bakare, then you have less of corruption.
What is you view about our lawmakers?
When people who should not be there end up going there, then they do what they should not be doing. The main thing is to bring the dividends of democracy back to their constituencies. It is not to start going to stuff your pockets. But I have met some of them; I asked them, bawo le se ma gba iru owo yi (How can you be collecting such money?). Many of them showed me text messages from their constituents – “My wife wants to give birth. Someone wants to get married.” One of them said, “Look I am sending N30,000, N20,000, N15,000 to party members. At the end of every month, N4m or N5m goes to all these people.” They said that if they did not collect the money, they would not have money to give to their people. When the lawmakers don’t give their people money, the people say they are useless. So I guess you cannot blame them 100 per cent too. This is because the financial burden on a representative or a senator is huge. But, if we can have a good government that can somehow turn this economy around, the burden will reduce. We have to sit down and decide what we are going to do about the Naira. We have to call a national summit. We should call the CBN governor and the minister of finance and ask, “How can we get the Naira to 40 to one dollar? How can we get it to 20 to one, what can we do to strengthen the Naira because the more the Naira loses value, the poorer we become as a people.” We have to do something urgently about the naira. From one Dollar to one Naira in the 1970s, it is one to 155 today. The South African Rand is seven to one Dollar. And they don’t have more reserves than we do. We have more reserves than them, they only have enough reserves for five months for import.
There is this belief that Chief (Moshood Abiola) was more pro-IBB than Buhari. Specifically, there is this rumour that chief was one of the people that caused the down fall of Buhari,
Yes, I have heard the rumour. I think it is just a rumour. Definitely, my father did not really like some of what Gen. Buhari did. But, looking back now, you see Gen. Babangida was a very close friend of my father; they were very close at some point, and then he annulled the election, a big mistake on his part. I think he has apologised, maybe not openly but he feels sorry about it. That singular move has cost him heavily.
Has he apologised to the family?
Yes, he has sent some messages to our family. In fact, when he thought he would be running, he gave some indications that he wanted to visit the family house. He had come before. He wanted to come and visit the family and talk to us. So he has made some efforts to reach out to the family.
Has he personally apologised to the family?
He hasn’t said sorry, but he said what happened was unfortunate (laughs), which I guess is close to saying it. You know I don’t want to be accusing him anymore. I know that he is not going to be coming back to power anymore so we can just forgive but not forget. We should forgive him as a nation for the annulment of the June 12 1993 election, because the Bible teaches us to “Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Also, we should focus on reviving our railways and pipelines by possibly privatising them so as to reduce the burden on our highways. We can look beyond that, you know, the man did some good things in power. He built the bridge and some other things. I think people are abusing him too much. He is not coming back to Aso Rock, except as a guest. So we can afford to be nice to him; I think he is a nice man and we just look at that mistake, which I am sure he himself regrets more than anybody else because that mistake alone has stopped him from coming back. As for my father being a part of the coup, I don’t think that military people really talk to a lot of civilians before they overthrow somebody, but even if my father was involved in that coup, I apologise on behalf of my father to Gen. Buhari.
Between 1999 and 2010, you did not come out to contest. Why are you contesting now? How would you assess our democracy?
We’ve gone through dictatorship and my parents and a lot of other people were in the forefront in the fight against dictatorship. We didn’t want the military anymore and thank God that at the end of the day, we were successful. We now have a democracy. We have had two elections so far and each of these elections has been below par. Even the manner in which the candidates were selected in many cases was also not very good. So, we have never had the chance of having our best people rule us. Although we now have a democracy, we do not have the best people in charge of our affairs, if we did, things would not be this bad. You can hear the sound of a generator in the background. Look at how big this house is. Do you know how much it costs to run this house with a generator every day? After 12 years of democracy, we cannot fix the power situation. So, any Nigerian that has good ideas about how he can contribute something to this country should come out and try.
Your parents paid the supreme price for democracy. The expectation was that in 1999, some of your siblings would come out to vie for strategic positions, but you stayed away. What is responsible for this change of mind?
I don’t think that going for a political position is like a birthright. If your father is a good football player, it does not mean that automatically you too must be a football player. Look at Michael Jordan, none of his sons is playing basketball today. So, just because my father was a democrat, who won election, does not mean that all his children must follow that line. Everybody has his destiny. When I decided to come out as an individual, I was looking at the situation. I am not happy with the state in which Nigeria is, right now. I am upset about it and I am sure many people are upset about it. We have a lot of people who don’t have jobs. Salaries of those who have jobs are not even enough. Right now, crude oil is $101. This should be oil boom. When we had the oil boom in the 1970s, the oil was about $40 and we were only producing less than a million barrels a day. Today, we are doing like 2.2 million barrels a day and oil is $101 per barrel. It is disgraceful that we are having economic doom right now, when in Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and other countries, where crude oil is their main source of income, you see them building tallest buildings in the world and new railway systems. It is very sad. Unemployment is high. The interest rate is 24 per cent.
Do you have faith in democracy now?
You know that the good thing about democracy is that every four years or so, people have the time to chose and change their leaders. Now Nigeria is having that in April. April is a decision time again for Nigerians to come out and say, “We are tired of these people. We are tired of the PDP in the Presidency. We are tired of them in Senate. We are tired of them in the House of Representatives.” The only thing we know about the Senate and the House of Representatives is jumbo pay. We don’t know them for any other thing. These are the people that are meant to be doing oversight, making sure that the budget is implemented, making sure that roads they said they voted billions voted for, have been built. All you hear is that they are collecting jumbo pay. By the grace of God, Nigerians will make the right choice. They have already come out to register in large numbers. I hope that on that day, they will choose the right people to represent them. Americans have already said that in 2015, Nigeria is going to disintegrate. If we fail this time around, it might be like that.
Your father, mother and many other Nigerians made sacrifices for the country to enjoy democracy. Do the kind of people in power now merit being there?
We have had Obasanjo (former president). We had him for eight years. Everybody acknowledged that the country did not move forward at all. He basically did not move the country at all. He basically imposed Yar’Adua on us. Yar’Adua would never have won free and fair primaries but he was imposed on us. The election was not free and fair. Everybody knows that. You know Yar’Adua was very ill and for two and a half years, we did not see anything from him. So, whether he was a good president or not, the fact is that he didn’t have the health to do the job. We all know how that ended. Now Goodluck (President Jonathan), who was not prepared, who would not have been anyone’s choice, for the President, has now become the President. He was picked because the South-South people were making a lot of noise. To sort of appease the South- South, he was made the vice-president. If such a man becomes President, what can you say about him? What I can see about Goodluck is that December 31st, it (government) took out a $1bn and they shared it among themselves. The excess crude account before Yar’Adua died, the foreign reserve was like $13bn, now it has only $3m left, not $3bn; from the $13bn that Yar’Adua left. Goodluck Jonathan distributed a billion dollars, a day before the New Year. While everybody was going to the churches and the mosque for the New Year, they sat down, and divided $1bn. Where has the money gone? We don’t see it on the roads. We don’t see it in power. We don’t see it in security. We don’t see it anywhere.
Do you believe that INEC can conduct free and fair elections in Nigeria in April?
I think that Prof. Attahiru Jega (the Independent National Electoral Commission chairman) will try. I think he too has a lot at stake. We are going to have a better election this time around than we had in 2007. Jonathan is going around saying that he wants free and fair elections. The President is saying he wants free and fair elections, and the other day, Jega too said that he swore by the Koran. For any Moslem, you cannot swear by the Koran and play.
How would you assess the support you have got from your father’s political associates? Do you feel abandoned by them?
I am disappointed. You know, but then I am not particularly surprised. I would have been surprised if they were actually being supportive. In the Action Congress of Nigeria (the leadership), they claim they are democrats and progressives. I wanted to come through the ACN because it is the strongest party for the opposition in the South-West. I am from the South –West. They have so many supporters in Lagos, Osun, and other states. Most of the people in the ACN are the people that I have always known. People like Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Governors Olusegun Osoba and Niyi Adebayo, Governor Rauf Aregbesola. I went to them and a lot of the members, the bonafide members embraced me. They were very happy and I had a lot of support, I went to different wards, I went to meet different leaders and everybody was happy that I was coming out. Then I heard that what I wanted to get, a son of one of the leaders, Chief Osoba, was interested in it and that I should go and meet Osoba to discuss this issue with him. They (some party members) said, “This particular seat that you are looking for, Osoba’s son is interested in it. We have left it for him, so you should go and see Osoba.” So I called him (Chief Osoba) and he gave me an appointment and I went to his house. I said, “I came out for this position and they (some members) are telling me that your son is interested in the seat” He said it was true his son was interested. I asked, “What are we going to do now?” He said, “Well you can go for a seat in the House of Assembly or you can wait for an appointment.” I said to myself, “Why can’t you tell your son to go to the Assembly? And why can’t you tell your son to wait for an appointment? The fact is that I am older than your son.” That was what I was saying in my heart because I could not be arguing with Akinrogun (Osoba). He is older than me and I have to respect him.In my heart, I said, “I have more experience in politics than your son. I have been part of Buhari’s campaign team in the past. Apart from that, I have been married for over a decade or so. Your son is not even married. So, why should I step down for him. The Electoral Act states that there should be primaries.” I told him, “Sir, I will go and think about it.” I went back home in Abeokuta and I called my uncles, aunties, and other family members. In fact, Hafsat (his sister) was even there. Hafsat was even more upset than me. She said, “How could he tell you that you should step down for his son? For what? Who is his son?” She got really angry. I said according to the party’s constitution, we are going to do primaries. So I now started going around trying to get ready for primaries until, they (the party leaders) called a meeting at Akinrogun’s house, where he said that there would not be any primaries and that they would handpick candidates and that whoever was not picked should not worry. He said people not picked would be given appointments. They could go the House to Assembly. I was the only the aspirant who raised his hand. Others were angry but kept quiet. He said I should speak. I said, “ Sir, consensus by definition means everybody is in agreement. So if in a particular case, you pick somebody, and people are not in agreement, what do they do?” He said they could appeal to the appeal panel of the party. I asked who would be in the Appeal Panel? He said the leaders of the party. I asked him if it was the same leaders who made the initial decision that we would appeal to. He said yes. I said thank you very much. At that point in time, I just had to leave; I knew that was the end of the road for me in the ACN.
You said you had an edge over his son; when Osoba asked you to step down for his son, what was in your mind? Did you miss your father’s support then?
I would have stepped down. But I did not because the man was telling me about how he too was about to be killed by Abacha; about how he suffered because of June 12. And when I got home, and I was thinking about it, I said “You said Abacha wanted to kill you, but he didn’t (laughs). You are still alive (heavy laughter). Both my parents are dead. So what are you talking about? Where is my dad today? Mummy oh, I am sorry, she is in the grave. You are telling me to step down for your son? That you suffered for June 12? If you suffered for June 12, and you are still alive and your wife is still alive, then, what can we say has happened to us, the June 12 that fell on our heads? That was what happened to me. I went to join Buhari’s party. The General supported me. He called the leaders of the Congress for Progressive Change in Ogun State and told them to give me all the necessary support and they did that. I met other leaders and they all said no problem.
You are also close to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and other leaders in the ACN. Did you tell Tinubu about this issue and did he intervene?
I am not into politics to cause trouble; I am in politics by the grace of God to get into the House of Representatives to represent the people of Abeokuta North/ Obafemi Owode /Odeda. That is what I am going there for. I want to keep my eyes on the ball. It is not for me to be going from one person to the other trying to cause trouble between Asiwaju and Akinrogun. There is no way that Asiwaju will call Akinrogun to tell him that his son should step down. I don’t want anyone to step down for anybody. What I thought would have happened was that there would have been primaries. That would have been proper. When they said that they were going to handpick candidates, I realised that it was the same handpicking that they were doing in different parts of the South-West basically. It was the same handpicking that they did in Oyo State and in a large part of Lagos and Ekiti states and in other places. So I didn’t want to go and meet Asiwaju for that even though I knew that Asiwaju would not be happy with the situation. He wouldn’t be happy but what could he have done? Their policy is to handpick and their chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, said they know best who they trust to fly the ACN flag. It is just that unfortunately for them, the trust ends with their wives and their children. So if my own father is not alive, I guess no one can trust me to fly the party’s flag.
Why are you supporting the CPC?
Someone like Buhari, whom I am still supporting has picked Pastor Bakare. It is a wonderful masterstroke because a lot of people used to think that he is a religious fanatic and that he would Islamise Nigeria and things like that. So by picking someone like Pastor Bakare, everybody now knows that it is not possible. Even though in a democratic set up like Nigeria, it is impossible for you to Islamise Nigeria because, to pass any law, you have to go to the Senate and the House of Representatives, but still they use that against him. He has picked Pastor Bakare, who is very intelligent; apart from being a preacher, he is also a lawyer. He is somebody who is also into social activism. I think that it a wonderful choice by the grace of God and I pray that they will finally succeed this time around to tackle the problem of corruption. Corruption is one of the major problems that we have in this country today. If you have very good leaders like General Buhari and Pastor Bakare, then you have less of corruption.
What is you view about our lawmakers?
When people who should not be there end up going there, then they do what they should not be doing. The main thing is to bring the dividends of democracy back to their constituencies. It is not to start going to stuff your pockets. But I have met some of them; I asked them, bawo le se ma gba iru owo yi (How can you be collecting such money?). Many of them showed me text messages from their constituents – “My wife wants to give birth. Someone wants to get married.” One of them said, “Look I am sending N30,000, N20,000, N15,000 to party members. At the end of every month, N4m or N5m goes to all these people.” They said that if they did not collect the money, they would not have money to give to their people. When the lawmakers don’t give their people money, the people say they are useless. So I guess you cannot blame them 100 per cent too. This is because the financial burden on a representative or a senator is huge. But, if we can have a good government that can somehow turn this economy around, the burden will reduce. We have to sit down and decide what we are going to do about the Naira. We have to call a national summit. We should call the CBN governor and the minister of finance and ask, “How can we get the Naira to 40 to one dollar? How can we get it to 20 to one, what can we do to strengthen the Naira because the more the Naira loses value, the poorer we become as a people.” We have to do something urgently about the naira. From one Dollar to one Naira in the 1970s, it is one to 155 today. The South African Rand is seven to one Dollar. And they don’t have more reserves than we do. We have more reserves than them, they only have enough reserves for five months for import.
There is this belief that Chief (Moshood Abiola) was more pro-IBB than Buhari. Specifically, there is this rumour that chief was one of the people that caused the down fall of Buhari,
Yes, I have heard the rumour. I think it is just a rumour. Definitely, my father did not really like some of what Gen. Buhari did. But, looking back now, you see Gen. Babangida was a very close friend of my father; they were very close at some point, and then he annulled the election, a big mistake on his part. I think he has apologised, maybe not openly but he feels sorry about it. That singular move has cost him heavily.
Has he apologised to the family?
Yes, he has sent some messages to our family. In fact, when he thought he would be running, he gave some indications that he wanted to visit the family house. He had come before. He wanted to come and visit the family and talk to us. So he has made some efforts to reach out to the family.
Has he personally apologised to the family?
He hasn’t said sorry, but he said what happened was unfortunate (laughs), which I guess is close to saying it. You know I don’t want to be accusing him anymore. I know that he is not going to be coming back to power anymore so we can just forgive but not forget. We should forgive him as a nation for the annulment of the June 12 1993 election, because the Bible teaches us to “Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Also, we should focus on reviving our railways and pipelines by possibly privatising them so as to reduce the burden on our highways. We can look beyond that, you know, the man did some good things in power. He built the bridge and some other things. I think people are abusing him too much. He is not coming back to Aso Rock, except as a guest. So we can afford to be nice to him; I think he is a nice man and we just look at that mistake, which I am sure he himself regrets more than anybody else because that mistake alone has stopped him from coming back. As for my father being a part of the coup, I don’t think that military people really talk to a lot of civilians before they overthrow somebody, but even if my father was involved in that coup, I apologise on behalf of my father to Gen. Buhari.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Wikileaks Cables: Nigeria Pressured Uk To Drop Charges Against Politician(ibori)
The Nigerian government refused to discuss a prisoner transfer agreement with Britain unless the Crown Prosecution Service dropped corruption charges against a favoured member of the ruling party, leaked documents disclose.
James Ibori, a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party, is accused of stealing more than £196m of state funds and channelling 'dirty money' to Britain Photo: GETTY
By Heidi Blake 2:26PM GMT 04 Feb 2011
Britain is keen to secure an agreement allowing the transfer of more than 400 prisoners back to Nigeria. There are currently more than 1,000 Nigerian inmates in British jails – costing the taxpayer around £40m a year.
But talks over the agreement stalled after Britain refused to drop charges aganst James Ibori, a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party, who is accused of stealing more than £196m of state funds and channelling "dirty money" to Britain.
A diplomatic cable from the US embassy in London claims that Nigeria's attorney general attempted to blackmail British officials into abandoning the corruption case against Mr Ibori, the former governor of the oil-rich Delta state. The cable sent to Washington in May 2009 states: "Nigerian Attorney General (AG) Michael Aondoakaa has directly told the UK the [Government of Nigeria] will not begin negotiations on the PTA unless the UK drops its case against former Delta State Governor James Ibori and his associates".
Two months later, Lin Homer, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, disclosed to the Home Affairs select committee that Britain had offered to build a state-of-the-art new prison in Nigeria in return for the transfer of at least 400 Nigerian inmates. The offer was rejected.
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Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought 170 corruption charges against Mr Ibori in December 2007, but a court in Asaba cleared him in 2009, saying there was no clear evidence on which to convict.
Southwark Crown Court froze UK assets of £17m allegedly belonging to Mr Ibori after the EFCC passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr Ibori, who denies all charges against him, was arrested in Dubai last May after the intervention of the global police agency Interpol.
Dubai's highest court has ruled in December he could be extradited to Britain to face corruption charges.
Mr Ibori's sister, Christine, and his alleged mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, were convicted of money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison at Southwark Crown Court last June.
Britain and Nigeria currently have a voluntary prisoner transfer agreement in place, allowing for the transfer of prisoners on case-by-case basis, only if both governments and the individual inmate all give their consent to the move.
Negotiations over a more comprehensive compulsory agreement are ongoing.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice refused to comment on whether the Nigerian government had pressured Britain to drop the case against Mr Ibori.
He said: "The United Kingdom and Nigeria have a prisoner transfer agreement in place. The scheme allows for the transfer of prisoners between Nigeria and the UK where the consent of both states and the prisoner is obtained. A separate compulsory transfer agreement is currently being negotiated.
"We believe that prisoners should normally serve their sentences in their own country – freeing up prison spaces and saving the taxpayer money on enforced removals."
James Ibori, a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party, is accused of stealing more than £196m of state funds and channelling 'dirty money' to Britain Photo: GETTY
By Heidi Blake 2:26PM GMT 04 Feb 2011
Britain is keen to secure an agreement allowing the transfer of more than 400 prisoners back to Nigeria. There are currently more than 1,000 Nigerian inmates in British jails – costing the taxpayer around £40m a year.
But talks over the agreement stalled after Britain refused to drop charges aganst James Ibori, a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party, who is accused of stealing more than £196m of state funds and channelling "dirty money" to Britain.
A diplomatic cable from the US embassy in London claims that Nigeria's attorney general attempted to blackmail British officials into abandoning the corruption case against Mr Ibori, the former governor of the oil-rich Delta state. The cable sent to Washington in May 2009 states: "Nigerian Attorney General (AG) Michael Aondoakaa has directly told the UK the [Government of Nigeria] will not begin negotiations on the PTA unless the UK drops its case against former Delta State Governor James Ibori and his associates".
Two months later, Lin Homer, chief executive of the UK Border Agency, disclosed to the Home Affairs select committee that Britain had offered to build a state-of-the-art new prison in Nigeria in return for the transfer of at least 400 Nigerian inmates. The offer was rejected.
Related Articles
WikiLeaks: search the US embassy files 03 Feb 2011
Britain refused to shut down charity US claims is funding Hamas 04 Feb 2011
WikiLeaks: UN aid cash went to Islamist insurgents 04 Feb 2011
Ex-SAS officers hired as 'human bait' by foreign shipping firms 04 Feb 2011
Britain pledged millions to Somali pirate region 04 Feb 2011
WikiLeaks cables: US's anti-extremist campaign to reverse UK radicalisation 04 Feb 2011
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought 170 corruption charges against Mr Ibori in December 2007, but a court in Asaba cleared him in 2009, saying there was no clear evidence on which to convict.
Southwark Crown Court froze UK assets of £17m allegedly belonging to Mr Ibori after the EFCC passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr Ibori, who denies all charges against him, was arrested in Dubai last May after the intervention of the global police agency Interpol.
Dubai's highest court has ruled in December he could be extradited to Britain to face corruption charges.
Mr Ibori's sister, Christine, and his alleged mistress, Udoamaka Okoronkwo, were convicted of money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison at Southwark Crown Court last June.
Britain and Nigeria currently have a voluntary prisoner transfer agreement in place, allowing for the transfer of prisoners on case-by-case basis, only if both governments and the individual inmate all give their consent to the move.
Negotiations over a more comprehensive compulsory agreement are ongoing.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice refused to comment on whether the Nigerian government had pressured Britain to drop the case against Mr Ibori.
He said: "The United Kingdom and Nigeria have a prisoner transfer agreement in place. The scheme allows for the transfer of prisoners between Nigeria and the UK where the consent of both states and the prisoner is obtained. A separate compulsory transfer agreement is currently being negotiated.
"We believe that prisoners should normally serve their sentences in their own country – freeing up prison spaces and saving the taxpayer money on enforced removals."
Friday, February 4, 2011
Gov Suswam's Certificate Scandal resurfaces
Second Term threatened by formidable opposition
…Whistleblower says: "I also forged a certificate for his wife"
…Whistleblower says: "I also forged a certificate for his wife"
 |
Gov. Gabriel Suswam |
Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam is currently fighting the political battle of his life, as he struggles with baggage like the senior school certificate scandal, and a formidable opposition from Prof. Steve Ugbah, and Senator George Akume of the Action Congress of Nigeria.
There is also controversy trailing his Master’s degree in law , LLM, he obtained from the University of Jos, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Abuja .Also he recently defended his dissertation for a Doctorate in Law at the same University. Critics and opposition wonder how a sitting Governor, with so much on his plate including the Goodluck Jonathan project, could obtain two graduate degrees and a doctorate under five years. The development brings to mind former top shot in the Economic and Financial Crime Commission(EFCC), Tunde Ogunshakin, who was indicted for using proxies to write examinations and continued assessments while a student at the University of Abuja law faculty .
His spokesman, Cletus Akwaya, told Pointblanknews.com in a text message” Suswam graduated from UNILAG in 1989, went to law school and was called to the Bar a year later. In 2005 he was undergoing MPA at UNIABUJA which he has since completed. He later took an LLM at UNIJOS and only on Tuesday (January 25, 2011), successfully defended his PhD in Law at the same UNIJOS…”
Pointblanknews.com learnt that one of his problems is his concentration on the Goodluck Jonathan’s project at the detriment of some home grown problems in Benue. However, despite getting huge cash backing from the Jonathan’s camp, and also spending from the lean purse of the state, but failed to deliver Benue as promised. Jonathan got 72, while Abubakar Atiku got a surprise 15 votes, unlike Edo, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River, where Atiku didn’t get a single vote. Even Adamawa’s result was more impressive than Benue.
Suswam’s alleged forgery of his high school certificate has just refused to go away. The whistleblower, one Chigozie Ukpabi, added a new dimension recently when he alleged that he also forged some documents for Suswam’s wife . A Governorship aspirant, Terver Kakih, who ran against Suswam in the Governorship primaries, went to a Federal high Court Makurdi to order the EFCC and ICPC to investigate Suswam. But curiously Karkih has withdrawn the suit. Few days ago an Abuja based anti –corruption crusader and Attorney, Osuagwu Ugochukwu, wrote to the Principal Assistant Registrar, C. A. O Uduh, at the office of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), in Lagos, to verify the authenticity of Suswam’s school certificate result.
Ukpabi, who is being represented by Ahmed Yusuf of the Festus Keyamo chambers, alleged that he fell out with Suswam when a magazine published details of the deal he had with the Governor, brokered by his cousin, Orseer. He said Suswam and his men felt he made it public because he (Governor) did not live up to his promises of linking with top shots for contracts. He said when the story came out , Akwaya sent him a text saying his boss has approved some cash for his services. He said “Cletus Akwaya Suswan’s media adviser sent a text to me saying his oga has approved some money for me . I have the text right here with me…I sent them my account details, on September 6, I went to the bank to withdraw some money but was told by the manager my account was frozen. They called the security and I was arrested…How they (Power Steering Magazine) got the details of the deal I don’t know. But due to what we had, Suswam concluded that I was in cohorts with them. That was the whole genesis of the problem. The editor of the magazine is one of the accused persons in my case “ He alleged further “ I was fired because I removed from documents from the(WAEC) office to protect Suswan. I thought Orseer was a friend. They promised me so much. They even said my Toyota was old that I should send the cost of a new car that they would fit the bill. They even promised me contracts . I went to the Ministry of Water Resources with all sorts of quotations. Before the arrest at the bank I was first arrested at the airport when Suswan’s cousin said we should meet. When I got there I was arrested and taken to ikoyi where the then Director, barrister Njoku who ordered my release after telling Gaizama I was innocent. “
Ukpabi who spoke with Abuja based National life, alleged further “they handcuffed me around 6am and took me from the bank to the airport…during my second arrest. They put me on a an IRS flight and flew me to Abuja. At the police headquarters they took me to the police commissioner, in charge of SIU, Ali Ahmodu. They told him I had no case to answer based on what they have heard, but said it was Onovo (then IGP) who insisted I should be brought to Abuja. Incidentally that was the day Onovo was removed as the IG At Onovo’s desk, I saw Hon. Ndidi Elumelu of the power probe fame and Suswam who pointed at me and said ‘this is the criminal’ I replied that ‘ I wasn’t a criminal’ The police later took me to Area10.and for the next 24 days without a lawyer of friend’
On Suswan’s wife he alleged “ In 2007 she said she lost her certificate . I don’t want to bring her into the matter because this is a man to man thing. Relevant security agents should check with INEC for the result Suswam submitted there and the verify my claims “
Ukpabi who was fired from WAEC because of the Suswam deal, and was detained for 31 days on the orders of Suswam, has been facing strings of charges from the Suswam flank. They range from kidnapping, threat to life, to defamation of character
At home, Suswam is facing a formidable opposition led by former Adviser to California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Prof. Steve Ugbah. In his camp are gladiators like Ex Governor, George Akume, Lawrence Onoja, former Katsina State Military Administrator, Lawrence Akaagerger.
The AC N’s three Senatorial candidates for the 2011 polls are Senator Joseph Akaagerger, who is the Benue North East candidate; Senator George Akume for Benue North West and Gen. Lawrence Onoja for Benue South. For the House of Representatives seats, incumbent member representing Logo/Katsina Ala/Ukum Federal Constituency, Mzenda Iho, would fly the flag of the party; Orker Jev, a current member representing Buruku Federal Constituency is the candidate of the ACN.
Other candidates for the remaining nine federal constituencies of the state are mainly defectors from the ruling PDP in Benue State. One prominent candidate is the immediate past Security Adviser to Governor Suswam, Col. Benjamin Abohol, who is the ACN candidate for Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency.
For the state Assembly constituencies, out of the 29 candidates, two are serving members of the Benue State House of Assembly who defected from the PDP after the primaries.
Pointblanknews.com learnt that due to the hold Suswam has on the Benue PDP, several frontline politicians left for the Action Congress leaving him with President of the the very inept and corrupt senate, David Mark, whose rating has dipped in recent times, and former Justice Minister, Mike Aondoakaa who has defended Suswam vehemently. The former Attorney General who is been trailed by strings of allegations of corruption and recently stripped of his Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) tag said recently “ if Suswam won election as a federal lawmaker in 199 and 2003, and then Governor in 2007, of what use will it be to forge 2005 WAEC certificate result when it is clear he passed out from government college in 1982”
But the opposition is not buying it . They argue that his 1982 result had neither mathematics nor English. He had P7 in English. They also contend that he had his result altered at the time he submitted his credential to INEC in the run up to the Governorship election, mindful of the fact that the opposition could point out his subject deficiencies.
In 2005 he claimed his result was missing , and the curiously a fresh one was issued , and this time with English and mathematics. How he got into the University of Lagos is still a mystery. As for his call to Bar, there is also some grey areas. The Nigeria Law Directory has two entries. One is for Suswam, Gabriel T with call to Bar date as December 5, 1990, and the other for Suswam, Torwua Gabriel as June 8, 1991.
It was learnt that Suswam’s camp is having sleepless nights over the emergence of Ugbah. An aide of the Suswam who spoke with Pointblanknews.com in Abuja but prefers to be anonymous said the rising profile of Ugbah is a worry. According to him, “ we want to know if he was really an adviser to the California Governor. If we can prove he was not then we will checkmate him. We will want you to help us find out if his claim is true” But checks reveal he was an adviser to Schwarzenegger.
Interestingly, analysts say the major factor likely to threaten the return of Suswam is his frosty relationship with his predecessor, Senator George Akume, who is believed to have labored to install him in 2007 against all odds, and who is still commanding good followership.
The duo were said to have parted ways after Suswam assumed office as governor and Akume moved to the senate. But they had managed the feud until recently when both personalities began to nurse ambitions for second term.
Though no one is certain about the cause of the rift, two schools of thought emerged. First, they say Suswam considers some of Akume’s actions in the state as overbearing while Akume on the other hand, perceives some of Suswam’s actions as destroying some of his political structures in the state.
Daniel Saror who was a minority leader in the senate and now the leader of the opposition in the state, gave Suswam a big fight in 2007. He claimed to be the rightful winner of the governorship election but was allegedly rigged out.
Hon Clement Uhondo, an ANPP chieftain corroborated Saror, insisting that his party was ready to take over the state next year, adding that the party was solidly on ground in the state.
Claiming that his party was more on ground than the PDPD, he said in 2003 his party’s flag bearer, Paul Unongo defeated Akume in the governorship election while in 2007, his party candidate, Daniel Saror beat Suswam but was rigged out.He said Suswam has not done well to deserve re-election, adding that for Benue to move forward, the PDP government in the state must give way.
On his part, Dr Sam Abah, another governorship aspirant said that his posters were printed without party logo because the PDP has endorsed Suswam as its candidate for 2011’ hence some of them with ambition have to look for other platforms.
Abah who ran in 2007 on the PDP platform told Sunday Trust that he has begun consultations on which party to run since PDP has shut its doors against other aspirants.
He said the greatest cry of the people of Benue was for positive change. “We want to reduce poverty, we want to reduce unemployment. Suswam should take a leave to enable us take the state to the next level.”
Abah admitted that Suswam started very well but lost focus along the line, adding that he was among the people who endorsed him for second term during the early stage of his administration but sooner than later he ‘slept off’. According to him, the problem of the state was demonic; hence it needed God for change to occur, adding that he has the backing of the people and the support of God to prosecute his ambition.
On his LLM, MPA and Phd a source said “ Going by what we have on the senior school certificate, we are not sure he obtained these certificates legitimately. They claim he got an MPA, LLM and PhD in five years. Even the most serious candidate would sweat to achieve that. The Governor had been all over the place between 2006 and today. We doubt if he attends classes , take exams, and does his continuous assessments “ But Akwaya has dismissed the opposition describing Ugbah as Akume’s stooge who has no idea “ how the game is played “ He said “” Rt. Hon. Suswam is a bona fide lawyer having been called to bar in 1991. He has since then discharged several professional duties and therefore, his professional standing as a lawyer is not in doubt. We want the public to totally disregard the report being published as it is a work of blackmail and mischief aimed at smearing the Governor’s hard_earned reputation”
On Ukpabi’s allegation of ‘settlement’ promised by Suswam Akwaya said “ The guy claims Suswam refused to settle him. The matter is that as a member of the House and Governor, Suswam could afford to ‘settle’ but he cannot do such a thing with a criminal who is out to blackmail a public official for monetary benefit. Don’t forget he has publicly admitted he is a forger of WAEC results for many people, this means he is a pure criminal. As for Suswam’s performance, you are not in touch because of many years staying abroad. He is one of Nigeria’s best performing Governors. The challenge of the people you mentioned will be proven at the polls in April, after the polls I will call you by the grace of God to confirm to you that Suswam has defeated them all.
Former INEC Chairman, Abel Guobadia, Is Dead
Dr. Abel Goubadia
between 2000 to 2005, Abel Goubadia has died. The former public servant died this morning at the age of 79 in Benin City, Nigeria.
An entry on Wikipedia stated that Sir Abel Guobadia, was Officer of the Federal Republic(OFR) who was born on June 28, 1932 in Benin City, Nigeria.
Goubadia according to the entry is an educationist, administrator, diplomat and retired public servant.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Torres Vows To Score Against Liverpool
Chelsea's new £50m signing Fernando Torres has said it would be "destiny" to score against former club Liverpool when the teams meet on Sunday.
By coincidence, the Spaniard could make his debut for the Blues against the side he left on Monday. The 26-year-old striker has not asked to be left out of the Premier League clash and stated: "It is like destiny."
He admitted: "It is not perfect but if I have the chance to play, I will do my best and hopefully I can score."
Torres' departure from Anfield, where he spent the best part of four years, was greeted with anger by many fans, some of whom burnt replica shirts bearing their former hero's name.
But the player stressed: "I only have good words about Liverpool. They made me a top player and gave me the chance to play at the top level.
"I will never say anything bad about Liverpool. I have been very happy there but now the history is different and I am playing for Chelsea."
Torres, who scored 81 goals during his spell on Merseyside, risked further annoying fans of his former club when he told Chelsea TV: "I am joining a team that is at the top level. There is not another level after Chelsea.
"I am joining with big names like [John] Terry, [Frank] Lampard, [Didier] Drogba and [Nicolas] Anelka and I can be part of this great team."
Torres admitted he had not yet met up with the Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti but said: "I wanted to join because Chelsea always have shown a big respect for me.
"They really want me and it is important when you have the support of the people in the club, and the support of the fans who always showed respect to me when I came to Stamford Bridge and at Anfield.
"Now I am very happy to be a Chelsea player."
Fans of the Stamford Bridge outfit will be relieved not to have Torres lining up against them for once, after he proved to be a thorn in their side with seven goals against them while playing for Liverpool.
The striker added: "I have good memories and bad memories of games against Chelsea. All the goals are good memories because all of them are special.
"If they are happy as well because I am not going to score any more against them then it is good."
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