White House ‘to look into’ blunder after publicizing name of CIA’s chief in Afghanistan!

The White House has ordered an investigation into the blunder which saw the CIA’s Afghanistan station chief accidentally identified, an official said Tuesday.

The agent’s name was revealed in a pool report sent out by a Washington Post reporter to journalists based on a list of officials provided by the White House who were taking part in a security briefing for President Barack Obama during his surprise weekend visit to Bagram Air Base.

The pool report is an eyewitness account of the president’s activities written by a pool reporter on behalf of his colleagues, sent out by the White House to thousands of journalists.

It was gathered that when the reporter realized what had happened, he notified senior White House officials and they provided a new list of officials for the pool report that was missing the name of the man revealed as “chief of station” in the earlier report.

Maya Angelou passed on at 86!

Acclaimed poet , author and civil rights icon who wrote lyrically of her childhood in the Jim Crow south, Maya Angelou is dead.

According to reports, Maya died Wednesday morning  at age 86, her death was confirmed by a family representative and by officials at the Winston-Salem mayor’s office in North Carolina, where she had been living.

Angelou was honored with more than 50 awards, including the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her collected works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, most notably her groundbreaking memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made history as one of the first nonfiction best-sellers by an African-American woman.

“Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension,” a family representative posted on her Facebook page. “She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is extremely appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love.”

Angelou’s career spanned the globe, including stints as an editor in Egypt a and a music and drama school teacher in Ghana. Her career also extended beyond the page to the film set, the stage and the lectern. As a civil rights activist, she became friends with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Adieu Maya

‘He was very, very lucky’: Oregon climber survives fall into Mt. Hood volcanic gas crater!

A climber who slipped from near the top of Oregon’s Mt. Hood, sliding 800 feet before plunging into a gaping hole that emits toxic volcanic gases, managed to survive the plunge and was in fair condition on Tuesday, officials said. 

Information says that after sliding down the active volcano’s slope, 59-year-old James Michael Adams landed at the bottom of a fumarole, where hot lava rocks emit toxic gases such as sulfur dioxide, Portland Mountain Rescue spokesman Mark Morford said.

Though badly injured with multiple fractures and internal injuries, Adams was conscious and able to call out to nearby climbers at the surface, said Scott Norton, one of the rescue leaders. Since he was able to speak, rescue workers determined it was safe enough to enter the hole to haul him out.

“I’d say this guy, he was very, very lucky,” Norton said, adding that the rescue crew, already on the mountain, was able to get to Adams in less than two hours. “We had to borrow ropes and pickets and all kinds of equipment from other people nearby.”

A helicopter was able to land nearby because of the way the snow melted this year and Adams, of Tualatin, in Oregon, was taken to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.  

Mt. Hood, about 60 miles east of Portland, is a popular climbing spot, with 8,000 to 10,000 climbs per year. New Jersey Catholic Priest Robert Cormier, 57, died this month in a fall from the top of the mountain. 

Norton said the rescue team was working on ways to teach climbers how to safely maneuver the fumarole. 

“Our concern is that the feature is going to be more of a hazard this year,” he said.

The Kano “Ikebe” Dance That Surrendered Our Sovereignty!

This photograph of President Jonathan on stage is “historic” to all Nigerians depending on one’s school of thought. Both friends and enemies of GEJ, APC and PDP all have different view about the message of the picture. No matter your school of thought, I’m very optimistic that this picture is not one of the good pictures President Jonathan will love to see in his album.

If it were in the analogue age, the photographer of any news media that snapped the picture must be a guest of our security agencies. The picture went viral on April 15th 2014 after PDP rally in Kano to welcome Mr Shakarau that was displaced in APC by Governor Kwankwaso.

Terrorism can be scary or terrifying. It is not the wish of any President or Governor to encounter it no matter how equipped or fortified your security/defense is.  Let us recall that President George Bush was flown into Air force base in Louisiana from Sarasota Florida when the World Trade Centre was struck due to concern that he would be targeted by terrorists. Take note also that George Bush first National security meeting was through electronic means at Strategic Air command in Nabraska before returning to the white house. This example is a typical demonstration of how every leader trembles at the mention of terrorism. What vindicates or vilify leaders are your actions and reactions after terror attack.  George bush statements after 9/11 restored Americans confidence on him. It was on record that Bush had 24(twenty four) national security meeting between September 11 to October 11.  That is leadership redefined!

The kidnap of over 200 school girls  of Chibok in Borno state on the 15th of April while Mr President was attending the PDP rally in Kano was not the first of its kind nor the worst done by book-haram insurgents. School children were once massacred in their dormitories; over 20 pupils were kidnapped in the wake of missing Sanusi 20 billion dollars. Plus other heinous massacre that took place in Yobe, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau and Adamawa states respectively.

What subjected President Jonathan to world vilification was cumulative anger triggered by the “unspoken word of I don’t care” depicted by the above photograph. Seeing Mr. president dancing and raising his hands in Kano while the likes of British high commissioner in Nigeria was in National hospital in sober mood donating blood to rescue Nyanya bomb blast victims portrays President GEJ as uncompassionate man desperate for power and a leader who places less value to the lives of his citizens. Unfortunately the Chibok girls were kidnapped same day Mr. President was displaying his olingo masterpiece. This dance now resurrects the cumulative anger and unholy silences in the land leading to the popular believe that Mr President is clueless. That does not mean that government has done well in terms of handling security challenges ab initio

All the reasons cited by Labaran Maku to defend the Kano dance was more of fueling the burning bush. Maku said,” the Terrorist aim is to stop governance and the dance/rally in Kano was to prove them wrong”. Some thinkers like Maku bought into that disgusting statement but I’m sure that no national election is fast approaching and therefore, the rally can be postponed for another day. Moreover, when does rally become part of governance? Rally is weapon of political parties not weapon of governance. Any action labeled governance must be for the interest and benefit of the nation not political party. Furthermore, how does GEJ glorifies and celebrate frustrated enemy in the event of national calamity? Is he joining GEJ because he likes him or is he joining out of frustration? What brought Shakarau to Jonathan? If not for APC leadership tussle between him and Kwankwaso, will he not be one of the leaders of the opposition in Nigeria today? No matter your political affiliation, Shakarau is never a plus to GEJ and people of Kano can has proved it in the just concluded LGA election. Some shallow readers will argue that LGA election is not a measure of one’s political strength but I will refer them to Edo and Anambra State LGA election where (LP) Ifeanyi Uba and (PDP) Tony Aninih proved their political worth in their local governments. I expected Shakarau to do the same in Kano but he couldn’t. Therefore, GEJ and his advisers failed woefully on that Kano rally.

Some has also underrated the consequence of incompetent advisers and lack of political intelligent unit. But success of George Bush can be attributed to his team of professional staff and his humility to listen to every one of them. I do not expect every leader to be an orator nor has exceptional vision like Obama or Clinton. But I will not also spare these GEJ advisers who are the worst I have ever seen in my life. I’m sure not even Satan can tolerate their advice.

Rather than summoning for national security meeting after the Nyanya blast, the advisers confused GEJ and converted it to PDP meeting signaling politicization of national security. Blame game rather than united front was the outcome of the meeting. Reno Omokri(PA new media to GEJ) added more fuel to the fire by telling public lie that APC governors boycotted a security meeting which they conspired to convert to party meeting. This is a very shameful act in the light of sorrow and grief in the land.

What broke the camel’s back was the misinformation, lies and attempt to blackmail or sabotage, the struggle to rescue the abducted Chibok girls by the presidential advisers. The misrepresentation of the #BringBackOurGirls clamor as people opposing the government was the first evil plot of this group of advisers. We all laughed at the “open assassination of grammar” by the first lady but the bitter truth we must accept was that she strongly believe that there was no kidnapping and there was grand conspiracy against her husband (this might not be totally wrong assumption though) but condemning the apolitical citizens that felt sympathy for the victims of this kidnap is condemnable. The gap between the time the advisers were deceiving GEJ that the kidnap was the handwork of the opposition, and the time it took them to thread blames and the time it took them to resolve to take action due to mounting international pressure was what forced GEJ to surrender our sovereignty. Let us also have another deeper look of what would have happened if not for this evil advisers. Patience Jonathan as mama peace should have matched to Presidency leading other first ladies, senators and all women to demand #BringBackOurGirls. Her pressure with other elite will exonerate her and citizens will understand her limitation. But this evil advisers converted this woman into another Co-President torturing ”the pricipa on national television because na only she waka come”. She did not stop there, she directed the protesters to proceed to Bornu state. The police in their usual manner rather than securing innocent citizens went to disperse them at unity fountain. This again raises more concern globally that GEJ is hunting for citizens rather than terrorists.

The incoherent statement and blames/self defense/excuses emanating from the presidency was very disturbing.
“the Borno state Govt is inconsistent with the figures”, “the Borno Govt should be blamed for opening the school against FG letter to WAEC” “our military have rescued all the girl” “sorry we are misinformed by the school principal”, the war is Gorilla war”” its unconventional war”, ‘our military are well motivated”, we have all the modern equipment to fight terror”, blame terrorist not govt.” we need international support”

All this statement/blames/excuses and lies falls short of a responsible government that couldn’t safe guard her citizens. This statement diminishes the world perception of GEJ both home and abroad. The advisers did not stop there; they have not seen the need for him to visit Chibok. Why not deploy all the military men both police to guide GEJ to visit chibok? The excuses cited by GEJ on why he has not visited Chibok is not convincing. It was shameful to behold GEJ before the world press in France citing moral boast as the only advantage of visiting Chibok yet he never deem it fit to give this moral boast to those families. We should recall that Gov Shettima defied military advice not to visit Chibok and went unhurt. GEJ should be courageous to show leadership as CinC. Obama sneaked out of white house unannounced and visited American troops in Afghanistan recently.
 

Chibok visit will enable GEJ to have one on one conversation with the military boys in war front. One of them might reveal to him what the senior MILADS might be hiding away from him. The visit will unravel to GEJ the rumor of hunger, lack of welfare and equipment being speculated. He will be a morale booster for the families and the military but the advisers will never let it happen. This was how they deceived him in Yobe until the Progressive Governors visited and walk the street of Yobe. GEJ aftermath visit was much reactionary and no citizen bought into it. Any visit by GEJ to Chibok today is meaningless because the opportunity is gone for good.

Not up to 12 hours after twin bomb blast in Jos, one of the presidential aides rushed to BBC to say that “there was no evidence that the Jos blast was detonated by Boko Haram”…. I ask when he started investigation or gathering of evidence. Why sudden conclusion? Who then bombed Jos if not Boko Haram?

Citizens are free to speculate based on their personal perception and political inclination but any comment emanating from the presidency MUST be swift, accurate, factual, well evidenced and undisputable. The statement must be of objective and devoid of any sentiments.

By Godwin Okeke

Help, This Nigerian State Is Failing!

“One commonly hears that carping critics complain about what is wrong, but do not present solutions. There is an accurate translation for that charge: ‘They present solutions, but I don’t like them.” ― Noam Chomsky, Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy Nigeria is a conundrum. A country beset before and behind; besieged on every side by corruption, war of attrition, with several militia groups masquerading all over the place, full blown terrorism with an almost unchecked deadly and regular dose of bombings, mass killings, illegal abductions etc. Nigeria is a failing state. But how did we get here?

In 1999, Nigeria enthroned a new government and we started practicing a form of democracy almost unknown elsewhere. We had people who claimed to have been voted into power but who were completely above the law, not subject to the people neither were they accountable by any stretch of the imagination. What we had were men and women with absolute power, totally disconnected from reality, corrupt, undisciplined characters who didn’t understand what democracy means. Critics were roundly condemned, abused or even in some instances physically harassed. As at today, no living Nigerian can conveniently say he/she knows how much Nigeria earns in reality and how much is spent. Corruption is gleefully given a pride of place and the corrupt are highly celebrated and feted even by the people themselves.

Meanwhile nobody in government thought to improve healthcare delivery. Why do they need to do that when the privilegentsia can easily fly business class (or lately fly private jets) to Germany, Israel, UK, US or even to India for medical treatment? The Education sector was left to decay but why bother when the children of the ruling elites and those of their acolytes can all migrate to the best schools and enjoy the best education the west can provide in Canada, US, UK etc? Nigeria today is the only OPEC country that still wholly imports domestic fuel for its local consumption. But why maintain or build new refineries when we can easily give out fuel importation licenses to friends and acolytes of those in government? Standard of living has been daily deteriorating but no need to worry; we can share Okada, pepper grinding machines, sewing machines etc to the poorest as dividends of democracy. Our ruling elites had always been living in a bubble, creating an army of discontented and angry youths denied of opportunities and simple privileges that their nationality ought to confer on them.

Fast forward to the Nigeria of today. In my over four decades on earth, I never imagined I was going to witness such carnage and human suffering in a “peaceful” nation such as I have witnessed in Nigeria in the past few years. Statistics show that over 70% percent of Nigerians are under the age of 35years and of that number over 60% are under 20years old. Add that to the fact that between 50-60% of the youths are either unemployed or underemployed with cost of living rising daily and exponentially. Remember rulers like Gen. Gowon was Head of State at 32yrs. Today, most 35y-year-olds are still either living with their parents or just squatting with friends. Not many are living; the vast majority are merely surviving.

Radical and angry preachers are mushrooming; religious houses are multiplying daily without any form of control. They sell hope to the hopeless and in a land where hope is a scarce commodity like ours; the hope sellers will definitely attract an army of hopeless people in droves. People who can’t afford basic healthcare wouldl rather go to a shamanic prayer contractor who can promise them healing at little or no cost. Throw in an army of jobless and potentially unemployable youths with either little or no formal training and you have a keg of gunpowder waiting to be lit.

In one of my essays, I warned certain governors who would rather spend millions on feeding people during religious fasts than spend such sums to train citizens in formal education. But as usual our politicians will rather play to the gallery than govern those they are supposed to govern.
Our military was also affected by the unbridled corruption. While trillions were budgeted for security, until Boko Haram came, we didn’t realise how obsolete our military had become in training, equipment and hardware.

We even took our national lunacy a notch higher when, rather than equip and continuously train our navy, the federal government led by Jonathan decided to outsource the job of our naval force to his friends, ex militants and warlords. See excerpts from one of my past essay:

” In August, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) broke some disturbing news about Nigeria. It was reported that some ex-militants in the Niger Delta had been paid about N6.32billion within the past one year by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Yes, for the ‘noble’ service of providing security against vandals for the Corporation’s oil pipeline network. Imagine! The breakdown, as outlined by WSJ, is this:

Chief Government Ekpumopolo (alias Tompolo), Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, ‘General’ Ebikabowei Victor Ben (Boyloaf) and ‘General’ Ateke Tom were respectively paid N5.1 billion, N1.44 billion, N608 million and N608 million yearly by the state-owned NNPC, as ‘protection money’ to guard the pipelines they once attacked.

As if that was not enough an insult on the collective intelligence of Nigerians, earlier in the year the Federal Government awarded a contract worth $103.4million (over N15billion) to the Global West Vessel Specialist Limited (GWVSL) – a firm widely believed to be owned by Tompolo to supply 20 vessels for the use of the nation’s military authorities to secure the waterways. Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, had last year sent a memo titled, “Award of Contract for the Strategic Concessioning Partnership with NIMASA to Provide Platforms for Tracking Ships and Cargoes, Enforce Regulatory Compliance and Surveillance Of The Entire Nigerian Maritime Domain,” to President Goodluck Jonathan.

In considering the memo, President Goodluck Jonathan and Akpobolokemi chose GWVSL as the preferred company for the 10-year concession agreement, renewable for two terms of five years each. Jonathan, in a memo dated 9th November, 2011, with reference number PRES/99/MT/61, approved Akpobolokemi’s memo, which the Federal Executive Council rubber-stamped on 5th January, 2012. According to Akpobolokemi, GWVSL “will provide platforms for effective policing of Nigeria’s maritime domain and ensure compliance with international maritime conventions on vessels and ships voyaging the country’s waters”. NIMASA maintains that the concessionaire would help the Federal Government to enforce the sabotage law and collect levies on its behalf. This, in a country that still maintains a statutory Naval force, and without a track record for GWVSL?

From the above, the current occupant of the presidential villa showed where his loyalty lies…rather than train the military, he equipped criminals and vandals who had taken up arms against the state. No wonder so much arms and ammunition have found their way into Nigeria and our country has now become one gigantic human abattoir where someone is killed on an average of an hour, daily. Between January to May 2014 it has been estimated that over 1,500 people have been mindlessly cut down by terrorists and blood thirsty killers.

Our security agencies have been emasculated and politicized, used to harass perceived political opponents, soft targets etc. For instance, a gentleman, Onimisi, was abducted by the DSS for 11 days simply for tweeting photos. They will do anything but their jobs of securing the populace.
In all the calamities that have recently befallen our nations, one can see a pattern. The president either condemns and moves on, or pretends to be ignorant of happenings; while relying on our supreme and collective Short Attention Span (SAS) to quickly forget. That was the situation when about 300 girls were kidnapped in Chibok on April 14, 2014. The president feigned ignorance while his foot soldiers went to town denying that the abductions ever happened. They may have been successful as usual, just like they did when 59 boys were slaughtered at the FGC Bunin Yadi, on February 25 of the same year and over 29 girls were abducted. Till date, not a word has been spoken or heard about such bloody and shameful occurrences. But for the persistence of the Nigerian youths on social media who deployed the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, those Chibok girls would have become another sad footnote in our beleaguered and checkered recent history.

I just finished watching the news and I discovered that 3 Chinese warships had berthed in Nigeria to help our military. This made me reflect, and I am certain the money spent on Tompolo, Dokubo etc would have been better channeled to train our military to combat terror and external aggression much earlier, instead of the sudden appeal to anybody or country who wishes, to come and help save Nigeria. It is a shame that after trillions of naira had been pumped into security over the years, we need foreigners to come and help us do what we ought to have done much earlier, if we had sincerity of purpose from the leadership.

A country that cannot provide jobs, healthcare, education, basic amenities, infrastructure and basic security for its citizens is not worthy of such appellation. Our biggest problem remains poor leadership, insincerity of purpose and unbridled corruption in high places. Boko Haram is a challenge that would have been defeated much earlier if the leadership had stood up to be counted instead of playing blame games until it had become such a huge and festering sore. While foreign help is now welcome because we have now been proven to be clearly incapable of defeating them, the truth remains that this problem is OUR problem and we are the only ones who can solve our problems by ourselves.

It is high time the government arose from its lethargy and begins to offer true leadership. The old cliche of “some people want to destabilize my government” is now quite well worn, old and bare-bone. Provide the necessary leadership or quit. If the kitchen is too hot for you and you can no longer cope, then GET OUT!!! That is what real leaders do…after-all the Korean president who tendered his resignation wasn’t the pilot of the capsized ferry….

By Ayobami Oyalowo

IBB Started Religious Crises In Nigeria – Confab Delegate!

DR Maryam Abdullahi, a delegate representing Civil Society Organisation, CSO, at the on-going National Conference, Tuesday, accused former military President, Ibrahim Babangida of starting religious crises in Nigeria.

Dr Abdullahi said the former military ruler pushed Nigeria into membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, OIC, without the consent of the people he was ruling, a development, she said started religious crises in the country.

She insisted that the relationship between Christians and Muslims deteriorated when Nigeria was admitted as a full member of Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Abdullahi, specifically said Babangida, who pushed for Nigeria’s full membership of OIC, did that to manipulate religion in order to perpetuate himself in the office, insisting that this was the beginning of mistrust between adherents of the two faith because of mutual suspicion of possible Islamization of Nigeria.

Abdullahi spoke while making her contribution to the debate on the report of the conference Committee on Religion, during plenary.

The delegate who spoke to the applause of her colleagues, said: “The relationship between Christians and Muslims deteriorated when Nigeria was admitted as full member of Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

“This made Christians to start resisting any move that would portray Nigeria as an Islamic state.

“Consequent to this, there is the prevailing mistrust and disharmony between the adherents of the two religions in the country.

“Mr. Chairman, the then Head of State, that pushed for the admission of Nigeria into OIC did not do that in consultation with the Muslims. He did that in order to manipulate religion as a political tool to perpetuate himself in office and now Nigeria is the worst for it,” she said.

She, however, cautioned against viewing every political policy from religious perspective, explaining that OIC an economic forum not only for Islamic states but also for countries that have Muslims minority.

Dr Abdullahi appealed to the conference to allay the fears of Nigerians that nobody would Islamize or Christianize Nigeria and urged political class to stop manipulating religion and ethnicity in order to achieve a political goal.

She called for strengthening of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in order to promote inter-religious peace and stability, while also calling for inter-religious dialogue in Nigeria.

But the recommendations by the Committee on Religion that governments at all levels shall not utilize public funds to sponsor any religious pilgrimages for any category of citizens and government functionaries generated heated arguments among delegates.

Similarly, the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission to be jointly chaired by a Muslim and a Christian, generated heated debate among the delegates.

While some delegates applauded the report, others condemned the two recommendations, describing them as unnecessary.

The immediate past Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, in her contribution, commended the work of the committee and supported the recommendation that government should stop sponsorship of delegations on any pilgrimages.

But she disapproved the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission, arguing that Nigeria already had too many commissions and that there were bodies on ground, especially the National Human Rights Commission to deal with such issues as stipulated in the committee’s recommendation.

Also contributing, another delegate, Mr. Atedo Peterside, said he endorsed over 90 percent of the report in view of the excellent work done by the committee but disagreed on the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission.

He argued that establishing the commission was like what he described as “using a single evidence to arrive at different results.”

Mr Peterside drew the attention of the delegates to the situation in France where he said religious organisations came together to address some of the problems they faced instead of bringing the government into it.

“I have strong reservations in this. We should not allow government to get into religion under any guise. Countries that don’t take religion so seriously make far progress than those, who embrace religion.

“As beautiful as this report is, we should be careful. This is the kind of item for which it is very clear that fundamental rights are the issues. Those rights should be handled by religious NGOs and we should not elevate religion above fundamental human rights,” he added.

Boko Haram will not stop 2015 elections – Jonathan!

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the insecurity currently plaguing the country would not stop the conduct of elections next year.

The president is said to have stated this at the 2014 Democracy Day Inter-denominational Church Service in Abuja.

He also added that the terrorism unleashed on the nation by Boko Haram was meant to bring down his government.

He said the nation would continue to move forward, notwithstanding the setbacks occasioned by the terrorists’ activities.

“I can assure you that the next Democracy Day will witness a new government. I remember when I was in my village this morning to collect my permanent voter’s card, a journalist asked me whether there will be elections in Nigeria, and I told him there would be elections in this country.”

This country will continue to move forward in spite of some of the setbacks we are witnessing,’’ the President said.

Jonathan said Nigeria would overcome every dark forces facing it, in spite of forces of development as well as forces of retrogression operating in the country.He thanked all the religious faiths for their prayers for the administration and the country at large, saying this had kept the nation together.

“Without your prayers, it would have been worse. With your prayers, our girls will be seen by our security men. All these distractions were planned to bring this government down. Since they failed, terror will also fail. Forces of darkness will never prevail over light. I call on all Nigerians to continue to pray and, with God on our side, we shall overcome,’’ Jonathan said.

He said his administration’s Transformation Agenda was not a mere campaign promise, but had yielded visible dividends and positive developments in every sector in the past three years.

Congregational prayers were offered for security, peace and development, as well as for the victims and families of recent bomb blasts. Prayers were also said for the successful search for and rescue of the Chibok schoolgirls, as well as for President Jonathan and his family and the three arms of government.The service was attended by the First Lady, Patience Jonathan, the President’s mother, Madam Eunice, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha.

Others in attendance were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. Anyim Pius Anyim, cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps, service chiefs and presidential aides.