Presidential sources have informed Omojuwa.Com that Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is currently meeting with Ghana’s President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Akufo-Addo arrived the premises at about 2pm.
Stay with us as we bring you more details and outcome of the meeting later…
The Aso Villa Chapel on Sunday organised its annual end of the year thanksgiving with former Heads of State, Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ernest Shonekan in attendance.
The service which took place in the chapel was also attended by former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, former Chiefs of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe and Oladipo Diya, and host Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Vice President Osinbajo said the service was an exciting time to thank God for all he had done for the country during the year.
“Today is a special thanksgiving for the end of the year and as you have seen, all the former Presidents and Vice Presidents are here for the special thanksgiving service.
“They have been specially invited to come, we also expected President Jonathan, but unfortunately, he had to cancel at the last moment.
“So we are all extremely excited that we have been able to bring everyone together to thank God for our nation and to give Him thanks for the great future ahead of us,’’ he said.
Mr. Gowon said he was delighted to be at the service with other former colleagues and thanked Mr. Osinbajo for facilitating his attendance.
Mr. Gowon said he was more excited with the children who came also to do their thanksgiving and prayed to God to bless the children in a special way.
He enjoined the children to keep the faith with other Christians “to always make sure that we keep this country one and together.’’
He urged Christians to love every Nigerian in spite of their faith following the injunction of Jesus Christ to love your neighbour.
“Our neighbours are Christian, Muslim, traditional religions, among others. Whatever we do, we make sure that we live up to the expectation of what Christ expects of us,” he said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, thanked the Vice President and organisers of the service for bringing the past and present leaders to the service.
He said the nation was expecting good lead from the leadership in the coming year, noting that the event was specifically to thank God for helping the country to steer the economy of the country.
The Chaplain of the Aso Villa Chapel, Seyi Malomo, in his message said thanksgiving was an injunction from God, adding that everyone in spite of status must thank God in all circumstances.
According to him, thanksgiving is an acknowledgement that God is alive, adding that each time the faithful gave thanks they demonstrate their faith in God.
“As we thank God, He will restore the good days to the nation,” he said, and predicted that time shall come when people will queue in embassies to visit Nigeria.
In fulfillment of its commitment to boost technology and encourage innovative ideas, the Presidency, through the platform of “Aso Villa Demo Day”, has selected top 30 Nigerians among hundreds that pitched at three different events in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt in June.
(The events were held in Lagos – June 23rd, Abuja – June 25th and Port-Harcourt – June 29th.)
The 30 selected Nigerians will be hosted at the Presidency, Aso Rock, on a date to be announced soon to pitch their winning ideas.
During the pitch events, participating Nigerians presented ideas and solutions for Technology, Agriculture, Communications, Power, Fashion and Entertainment which revealed talents, skills and critical thinking.
In the selection process, each applicant was assessed by a minimum of four judges and some of the criteria used in assessing were:
Can this idea make money?
Has a revenue model been defined and is it realistic?
What is the value proposition to customers?
Is there a functional product?
Does it deliver a compelling and captivating user experience?
How resource- intensive is the idea? Is this idea scalable?
BELOW IS THE COMPLETE LIST OF THE 30 FINALISTS SELECTED FOR THE ASO VILLA DEMO DAY:
1. Chika Uwaze – Talent Base
2. Obidipe Oluwaseun – Mocapro
3. Tele Ogundipe – Egusi Soupe
4. Amaka Osita – Fuel Voucher.com.ng
5. Tolu Adeyanju – Red Bank
6. Ifedayo Oladapo – Grit Systems
7. Nkem Okocha – Mama Moni Limited
8. Ebuka Nwora – Etyres
9. Dami Olokesusi – Shuttlers NG
10. Amarachi Nwanamodo – Amagzy Global Ventures
11. Oladimeji Sofowora, Wole Ralph, Laolu Ojeniyi – One Medical
12. Mogbeyiteran Tosan – Blackswan
13. Angela Adelaja – Fresh Direct
14. Ahmed Sodiq – Micro Scale embedded
15. Dimgba Kalu – Projaro
16. Abubakar Garba & Abdul Samad Gorbin
17. Emmanuel Okena – Tracology
18. Lois Auta – Cedar’s seed
19. Kamaludeen Sabiu – Seamless system’
20. Peter Agada – Tiller Cyrus
21. Desmond Okoye – Doctor’s office
22. Uzuq Tim – Tembe.com.ng
23. Alifa Nicholas – Ajaoku.com
24. Roland Reagan & Edmond Adoku – Meditech
25. Akinola Solomon – Africa on the rise tech community
26. Alison Ukonu – Recycle points
27. Uche Ariolu – Foodstantly
28. Benson Godwin – Tuteria
29. Mina Ogbanga – Ascent GP
30. Odior Yole – GO CV
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant-Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
August 4, 2016
Credit: PremiumTimes
The leadership of the Aso Villa Chapel has denied speculations that the chapel has been closed down by the Presidency, describing the rumour as handiwork of mischief makers. The Presidency shared photos from the church service to back up its claim.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the church service on Sunday, acting chaplain, Pastor Joseph Sheyi Malomo, admitted that though there were some procedural issues last Sunday that needed to be sorted out, the Presidency at no time ordered the closure of the chapel. The cleric appealed to Nigerians to ignore the rumour and focus rather on issues that will unit the country.
Read More: sunnewsonline
President Muhammadu Buhari resumed office at the Presidential Villa today. Here are photos of him and his VP, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, with few aides at the villa.
Since being declared winner of the 2015 Presidential election, Buhari has been operating from the Defence House in Maitama and has been conducting official business of government from there, having taken over the mantle of leadership on May 29, 2015 from former President Goodluck Jonathan.
It was leant that the President was ready to move from Defence House to the Villa possibly early next week following completion of renovation of the President’s residence.
“It is true that the construction company has completed the President’s wing and he is set to move in any moment from now. As at today, it is only the Vice President’s residence that is yet to be fully completed.
“We expect that the two men will move into the villa by next week since the work in the Vice President’s apartment is not a serious one,” an official in the Presidency explained.
The source explained that Buhari was set to begin naming some key officials of his government as soon as he moves into the Villa to prepare the grounds for the take off of serious work for Nigerians who have been expecting action from the administration.
As a prelude to setting up his administration, Buhari has reportedly handed over the 800-page Transition Committee Report to a trusted team of his associates, headed by former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola; former Ekiti governor, Kayode Fayemi and others to reduce into a sizable and workable document.
Fashola is being tipped to emerge as Chief of Staff to the President because of his pedigree as a former Chief of Staff, governor and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
An impeccable source said that it was Buhari who instructed that after all others had completed working on transition report, they should hand over the voluminous document to Fashola to reduce into an implementable format for him to read and take necessary actions.
The source said:
“Hopefully, from next week, some appointments would be announced. Buhari is a fast reader and he will be able to take immediate actions based on the transition report.”
A member of the Buhari Transition Committee, who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, confirmed that the final report presented to the president last week was a comprehensive document meant to guide him in taking decisions as to the shape and nature of his administration to bring about the needed change in the country.
The member said that what they presented to the President was more of a blueprint and how best to go about it in order to bring the country out of the woods. The member said: “The final report is very rich and we believe it will help Mr. President in putting a solid structure of his government and give him policy direction as well.”
Vanguard
Ahead of the relocation of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Presidential Villa, arrangements have been concluded for the Nigerian military to take over the activities of the Strike Force, The PUNCH has learnt.
The Strike Force, which is a special security outfit saddled with the responsibility of protecting the President and the seat of power, is currently comprising only officials of the Department of State Services.
A top Presidency official, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent on Tuesday that soldiers
might take over their responsibility very soon.
The source said a Lieutenant who will be leading 21 other military personnel had already been transferred to the Strike Force with an instruction to take over from the DSS officials.
He said, “DSS officials are the ones that have been serving in the Strike Force. “With this development military personnel will take over from them henceforth.
“We are aware that the situation is causing a palpable tension as there is a possibility of a showdown. But we are working hard to ensure that the situation did not degenerate.”
Operatives attached to the Strike Force are always trained abroad on counter-assault and other techniques aimed at making their jobs easier.
In explaining their duties, the source said its operatives were the ones former President Olusegun Obasanjo erroneously referred to as snippers in his widely-publicised open letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Another official, who is aware of the arrangement, also said that machinery had also been put in place to change the new Presidential Villa’s Administrative Officer, who was deployed by the DSS about two weeks ago and replaced with a military officer.
He said all DSS officials currently serving inside the Presidential Villa were not sure of their fate yet.
“The truth is that we are not sure of anything yet. Whichever way, we will only act based on signals from our headquarters whether to leave or remain inside the Villa,” he said.
Meanwhile, a major disagreement broke out on Friday between DSS officials drafted from the Presidential Villa, Abuja to the National Mosque, Abuja and some officials of a private security firm.
The PUNCH had reported last week that DSS officials were having a running battle with officials of the security outfit who were reported to have been securing Buhari before he was inaugurated as the President on May 29.
Their two earlier encounters in the same mosque were settled amicably with officials of the firm asked to leave the premises for DSS officials.
Our correspondent, however, learnt that trouble started again last Friday when DSS officials also sighted the officials of the private firm in the mosque.
A source claimed that trouble started when one of the officials of the firm was asked to identify himself.
“The DSS officials had asked the private guard to identify himself. One thing led to the other and the private guard was said to have held the necktie of one of the operatives. That led to a fisticuffs. It took the timely intervention of senior officers for the situation to be brought under control,” the source said.
“The so-called spiritual cleansing of the Aso Rock Villa by Senegalese marabouts before President Buhari moves into the villa is the figment of the imagination of rumour mongers.” He said
Shehu said renovation works at the villa was mostly the reason pres. Buhari hasn’t moved to the Villa.
A cold war is currently brewing among sister security agencies ahead of the relocation of President Muhammadu Buhari to the Presidential Villa, Abuja,THE PUNCH has learnt.
Since their inauguration on May 29, Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have yet to relocate to the State House, because renovation works going on in their official residences had not been completed.
While the President currently operates from Defence House, the official residence of the President-elect, Osinbajo is said to be residing in a private residence.
Ahead of their relocation, however, our correspondent learnt that there is currently an ongoing inter-agency row on who will be in charge of the President’s security. More prominent, it was learnt, is the cold war between the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services.
A Presidency source who pleaded anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue told our correspondent that one of the close aides of the President who is a retired military officer had written to the Nigerian Army, the DSS and the Nigeria Police to send a particular number of their men to be saddled with the responsibility of securing the State House.
He said the head of one of the security agencies had refused to take action on the directive because the author of the letter had not been given any formal responsibility by the President.
Read More: punchng
Muhammadu Buhari, president-elect may be naming some of his aides before Friday.
THE GUARDIAN reports that well-placed sources close to the president elect’s men explained that the expediency of getting some vital information pieces from the outgoing president’s men may compel him to name a few personal aides ahead of inauguration.
Buhari is reportedly concerned with the paucity of information about certain issues that need to be physically inspected before taking over, although the handing over notes were submitted on Monday to the Ahmed Joda’s transition committee by the outgoing vice president, Namadi Sambo.
President Goodluck Jonathan has proposed a tour of the presidential villa for President-elect Muhammadu Buhari. The two leaders met Friday behind closed-doors. It was their second meeting since March 28 elections, won by Mr. Buhari. Mr. Jonathan will hand over power to Mr. Buhari on May 29.
Speaking after the meeting, President Jonathan told journalists who sought to know what they discussed that a date would be scheduled to take Mr. Buhari on a familiarisation tour of the Aso Rock presidential villa. “We will take a date when the president will come and I will show him round the state house but today is not for that. Today is to continue with our conversation. We don’t need to worry the President,” he said.
Asked how fruitful their conversion was, the president said “You can see that we are smiling, it was a fruitful one”. He said the discussions were “in the interest of the country”. Asked to comment on the meeting, Mr. Buhari said “The president had said it all”.
The meeting is in continuation of ongoing arrangements between the outgoing government and the incoming government for a smooth transition as well as the inauguration. Mr. Buhari arrived the villa at about 3p.m. Friday. Two transition committees set up by both the president and Mr. Buhari had also met twice as part of arrangements for a smooth handover of power on May 28.
Credit: premiumtimesng
