Top 10 Quotable Quotes of Last Week

“Nigeria is not structured for development, it’s structured for sharing resources.”

–          Bolaji Ogunseye, a development expert, speaking on the problem with the Nigerian economy (Source: Channels Television)

“People don’t seem to know the love and emotional attachment we have for the army uniform. I can’t exchange it for any other. If you have never worn an army uniform, you can never understand.”

–          Ayodele Ojo, a retired brigadier-general in the Nigerian army, rallying support for the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Hameed Ali, who has refused to wear the customs uniform before the country’s senate. Mr. Ali retired as a colonel in the army before he was appointed in 2015 to head the customs (Source: Punch)

“No two parties go to court and come out smiling especially for a political party like the PDP that’s in the opposition.”

–          Goodluck Jonathan, former Nigerian president and a chieftain of the PDP, advocating a political solution to the PDP crisis (Source: The Nation)

“It is a bit challenging when you have to be the spokesman of a ruling party when the country is in a recession because nothing you say will be enough to answer the questions Nigerians are asking. What do you say to someone who has not been able to pay his child’s school fees? What do you say to someone who has just lost his job? What do you say to someone who cannot pay medical bills?”

–          Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC (Source: The Cable newspaper)

“ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for the people.”

–          The U.S President Donald Trump tweeted after his failed attempt to repeal the health care law put in place by his predecessor, Barrack Obama (Source: New York Post)

“They (Igbo) don’t understand Nigerian politics. And that is my problem with them. Nigerian politics is not business. After the demise of Yar’Adua, what I expected the Igbo to do was to ask Jonathan to finish the four years of Yar’Adua and allow the North to have their eight years. And by 2015, the President would have come to the South-East. They (Igbo) were cajoled with the belief that no one could defeat the incumbent.”

–          Joe Igbokwe, the Publicity Secretary of the APC, Lagos State (Source: Vanguard newspaper)

“A good athlete does not begin to run with money in his pocket but with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”

–          Udom Emmanuel, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, aiming to motivate young sportsmen and women in his state, while declaring open sports festival in the state (Source: Facebook)

“I am not going to run away from criminals running the Nigerian political space until they are defeated, and their ideologies of greed, bloodiness, and avarice are entirely abandoned and discredited forever.”

–          Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, responding to reports that Senator Dino Melaye threatened to send him to jail for libel. Sahara Reporters has published some reports claiming that the senator faked his university certificates (Source: Sun newspaper)

“To say a policy beneficiary can’t criticise the policy is as moronic as saying a patient can’t criticise a hospital where they get treated!”

–          Jonathan Moyo, a professor and Zimbabwe’s Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, reacting to the accusation that he was attacking a government Agric programme in which he was a beneficiary (Source: Twitter)

“Never in the history of Nigeria has suicide been so widespread. There’s so much despair in the land. We need police presence around Lagoon!”

–          Reno Omokri, a clergy, author and social critic (Source: Twitter)