10 Things You Need To Know This Morning #NewsBits

Good morning! Here are 10 things you need to know this morning:

1. The Plateau State Governor, Mr. Jonah Jang, has appointed his son, Yakubu, as the Commissioner for Lands and Urban Planning in the state. Prior to his new appointment, Yakubu was Jang’s Special Adviser on Special Duties. While addressing newsmen on Sunday, Abubakar, said his new appointment was to allow for continuity in government.

2. A new video released by the Islamist Boko Haram sect showed its armed members slaughtering civilians lying face down in an unidentified dormitory which the sect leader claimed was situated in Bama, Borno state. In the video, the sect vowed to continue to kill and destroy as its religious obligation. The video was released on Saturday.

3. The acclaimed Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Adewale Omirin, has dismissed the alleged order by Governor Ayodele Fayose, that he should be arrest with the other All Progressives Congress lawmakers in the state. In a statement through his Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, Omirin said that the APC lawmakers acted within the context of the constitution having sat in a public building in the state capital last Friday. He boasted that nobody can arrest them for carrying out their constitutional duty.

4. President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday appealed to all aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party aspirants following the outcome of its primaries across the country to remain in the party as the party was doing everything possible to ensure that their grievances were looked into and resolved immediately.

5. A report has showed that the Federal Government within its first six months of this year withdrew a total sum of N310.05bn from the Excess Crude Account. This information was contained in a document obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation. According to the document, the said amount was used to settle various government’s obligations as it has failed to meet its revenue target.

6. Former Foreign Minister and Deputy Chairman, 2014 National Conference, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has call on Nigerians to be wary of the dangers that lie ahead of the February 2015 general elections. He said that some people were planning to pull the country towards disintegration. This warning was contained in a letter he addressed separately to both President Goodluck Jonathan and his political rival, Muhammadu Buhari.

7. The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has expressed optimism that the APC would win the state come 2015. He further declared that no emperor will govern the state as the people will resist any aspirant with such quality.Amaechi, while speaking at the freestyle parade of the Rivers State Cultural Festival known as CARNIRIV in Port Harcourt on Saturday said Rivers people can only vote for individual of great leadership quality.

8. At least, 80 Boko Haram insurgents and two soldiers were killed when Boko Haram insurgents laid ambush for the military along Damboa road in Borno state. Report says gun duel ensued between the militants and the military personnel attached to 7 Division, Nigerian Army while they were on their way to Damboa, the headquarters of Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State. The incident reportedly happened weekend.

9.Ijaw youths have threatened to violently attack supporters of the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), anywhere they are in the southern part of the country. The youths vowed to retaliate on any attack meted on Jonathan’s supporters in the North.

10. The All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has said that Nigeria would not vote President Goodluck Jonathan again, as voting for him would mean that all that is presently wrong with the country would be sustained. This was contained in a statement posted on Buhari’s facebook wall on Sunday night.

Source – Daily Post Ng

Stop Political Rascality & Blackmail -Presidency Warns Amaechi

Governor Rotimi Amaechi took his obnoxious willingness to denigrate the highest office in the land in a reckless bid to advance his selfish political interests to a new level of irresponsible and rascally behaviour yesterday in Port Harcourt with his totally false and baseless vituperations against President Jonathan, the First Lady and the Federal Government.

It appears from the Governor’s completely unfounded and off-the-mark allegations that he had totally lost all sense of propriety, decorum and responsible political behaviour and resorted to unacceptable demagoguery, libel, blackmail and incitement of public disorder.

Unless his unbridled ambition and desire for self- promotion have completely befuddled his mental faculties and caused him to totally lose touch with reality, Governor Amaechi must know that his claims and allegations are untrue.

We can only assume therefore that he is deliberately spewing malicious falsehood in a desperate effort to incite the people of Rivers State and Nigeria against his assumed political foes.

We warn him that there are legal, constitutional and moral limits to political rascality beyond which he will not be allowed to go without repercussions.

The immunity which he currently enjoys notwithstanding, Governor Amaechi should be under no illusions:  A day of reckoning will surely come when he will answer for all his actions and false allegations against President Jonathan, the First Lady and the Federal Government.

He should also know that Nigerians are aware of the truth and will never be fooled or swayed by his arrant opportunism and anti-Jonathan rantings.

Nigerians know that while Mr. Amaechi falsely accuses others of corruption, he cannot show or explain to the people of Rivers State what he has done with the billions of Naira that has accrued to the state under his tenure.

They also know that while Amaechi continues to falsely accuse the Jonathan Administration of having done nothing for Rivers State, he has recklessly squandered huge state resources on dubious, vain-glorious projects or self aggrandizement.

Nigerians will know too that while he falsely alleges that Rivers and other states have not received funds due to them from the Federation account, the only outstanding allocation was for September, which was released to all states well over a week ago.

The Governor should stop trying to make President Jonathan the scapegoat for his woeful performance in Rivers State and look to his own very apparent failings and incompetencies.

He should also stop blackmailing the First Lady who has demanded nothing from him other than good governance, justice, equity, fairness, real development and progress in Rivers State.

Reuben Abati

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

October 26, 2014