Crisis in PDP Deepens As Police Block Staff From Entering Party National Secretariat

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in regards to a disagreement between the national leadership and staff over plans to reduce the staff strength, their salaries and allowances by 50%, took a new turn as men of the Nigeria Police blocked the gate of the National Secretariat.

In the wee hours of yesterday, following directives from the leadership of the party, a truck load of Policemen blocked the gate and prevented staff from entering the secretariat.
However, this action was met with a stiff resistance from the angry PDP staff.
The policemen, who were deployed at strategic ends of the PDP secretariat, refused to speak with the aggrieved staff that came to work as early as 7.30 am.

As part of moves to end the crisis, management of PDP who are directors, deputy directors and assistant directors, had on Monday held a closed door marathon meeting with the warring staff where the National Director of Administration, Alhaji Gurama Bawa, presided and had pleaded with the aggrieved staff members to remain calm so that the management could figure out how to reach a favourable compromise.
Members of staff agreed to this suggestion which was why they went to work, but they were prevented from going in.

It took the intervention of PDP Acting Chairman, Board of Trustees, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, who made a call to the leadership of the party that the staff be allowed into the premises, the Police immediately left the gate.

Source: Vanguard

Borno Elders Demand Apology From Jonathan Over Killing Of State Residents By Boko Haram

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Borno Elders Forum have demanded an apology from former President Jonathan over the death of Borno state residents during the various Boko Haram attacks under his administration.

The Elders in a statement signed by their chairman Amb. Usman Gaji Galtimari released today August 4th, said the recent remarks by immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh showed that the Nigerian military were not adequately equipped by the Jonathan Administration in the fight against Boko Haram.

The elders say they were baffled that their state governor, Kashim Shettima was rebuked by the former president when he also reported that the Nigerian troops sent to Borno state were not adequately equipped

“What particularly baffles the Borno Elders’ Forum was that at some point in 2014, the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, had said it publicly after assessing the true situation as the man on ground that troops deployed in the fight against insurgents seriously lacked and required better military equipment and that those at battle fronts were poorly motivated. Several voices were raised in support of the Governor’s position. The Governor’s comments were completely rebuffed by the then President of Nigeria who went as far as threatening to withdraw soldiers from Borno as he spoke on live television interview relayed by the Nigerian Television Authority, at a Presidential Media Chat. Not only did the President rebuke the Governor and by extension, the people of Borno State, his aides followed suite and roundly condemned the Governor,” the statement said.

The elders made the following demands:

– A National Judicial Commission of Enquiry under an incorruptible judge from preferably the Southern Nigeria be set up to ask the immediate past President questions on why his administration refused to provide the military with the required functional and superior equipment whereas our sons and daughters were exposed to mass murder, severe injuries and grave destructions of our communities
– If the former government is found wanting it should be charged for genocide against the people of Borno State or at least criminal negligence at the International Criminal Court of Justice.
– The retired CDS retired should also be asked why he kept silent when the military under his command was not provided with the right equipment. He had the option of speaking or resigning as he ought to have done in order to draw attention of the world and by that he would have saved lives of Borno people.
– A list of citizens of Borno State killed from the time the issue of military capacity became in question, is compiled and relations of those killed are fully compensated for the death of their loved ones as a result of criminal negligence.
– A list of soldiers sent on missions without being properly equipped and exposed to death at different battle fronts in Borno State, is also compiled and that they are specifically celebrated with their survivors fully compensated since their bread winners died not just in combat but out of negligence of those in authority.
– An unreserved apology is tendered by the immediate past President and his service chiefs to the people of Borno State, especially those lost relations and also to Governor Kashim Shettima for all the humiliation he was made to suffer for telling the truth about capacity of the military at that time.

PDP’s Olisa Metuh Explains How Cold It Is Being In The Opposition

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, has explained how cold it is to be in the opposition. Speaking in an interview with Sahara Tv yesterday, Olisa said;

“It is cold out here. It is cold because people that have been with you for the past 10 years now decided to change because we are no longer in power. It is cold out here because people allowed themselves to be used against the party. It is cold out here because you are subject to the machination and conspiracy of the ruling party. But in terms of service, being in the opposition renews your commitment.

“The week that we lost the presidential election, some members changed. They are no longer committed and even the staff of the party are no more disciplined because there is no benefit to get. This has, however, separated those who came to reap from the PDP and those who want to really serve. Politics is about service. Those who want to serve will remain.”

Contractor Sues FG Over Jonathan’s N9.2bn Stoves

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

A contractor handling the N9.2billion worth of clean cook stoves and wonder bags awarded by the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan has sued the Federal Government.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Fatima Mede, revealed this to State House correspondents on Tuesday shortly after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari of the ministry’s activities inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mede said the contractor approached the court to order the government not to terminate the contract following the emergence of a new administration.

The Jonathan-led Federal Executive Council had on November 26, 2014 approved N9.2billion inclusive of Value Added Tax for the procurement of 750,000 units of clean cook stoves and 18,000 wonder bags.

The contract was awarded to Messrs Integra Renewable Energy Services Limited and there have been several calls on the present administration to terminate the contract.

Confirming the legal action, Mede said the ministry had briefed the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation on the development.

She said the government would appear before the court to argue its case, however, she did not say if there were plans to terminate the contract.

She said

“The matter is in court right now, so there is a limit to how I can talk about the issue of cooking stoves.

“The contractor took government to court asking the court to grant an injunction for government not to terminate the contract.

“We will go there and argue our case, the government will go, we have briefed the Attorney General’s office.

“We will present our case on the issue that led to the contractor taking us to court, it will be explained and the court will decide.”

Mede said during her team’s meeting with Buhari, the President raised concerns over environmental degradation in the country.

She said the President was aware that the sustainability of the country would depend on how well the environment was managed and that the rate of desertification and afforestation in the country was alarming. Stating that over 43 per cent of Nigerians were affected by the effect of desertification.

The Permanent Secretary also pointed to the conflict between the herdsmen and farmers because of forced migration.

She said the President had directed that to reduce the rate at which wood was being cut down for cooking, the ministry should consider promoting the use of LPG especially in the cities.

Source: Punch

Anybody Close To Me Knows That I Don’t Like Money – Rotimi Amaechi

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has accused his successor, Nyesom Wike, of leading people of the state to blackmail him.

Amaechi noted that since Wike and members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are jittery that his appointment will be the main determinant of the state politics, they have moved to tarnish his image in the eyes of President Muhammadu Buhari, who detests corruption.

The ex-governor spoke at a reception organized in his honour in Abuja Sunday night.

He said, “Let me tell you what is currently going on in Rivers State. The governor and PDP are afraid of me getting an appointment to the national executive council because that will determine what the
politics of Rivers State will be.

“And they know that the current President abhors corruption and the only way they can stop me from getting the appointment is to paint me with corruption. And the people that know me in Rivers State know that I don’t like money. But I am not angry with them. My anger is that in Rivers they know I don’t like money. And I expect them to defend me that I don’t like money.”

The same Wike, according to Amaechi, who used to advise him that merely executing project without wasting money on people would not earn him a second term in office, has sponsored newspapers’ adverts to rubbish his reputation.

Amaechi added: “Governor Nyesome Wike has again sponsored one advert in a bid to rubbish me. He will go and publish in the paper on Monday as advert. Only God knows that if there is one thing I don’t like, I don’t like money. Anybody close to me knows that I don’t like money. Even Nyesom Wike told me you will not win second term if you don’t use money. So all this wasted projects will not deliver us. And I said let us do it once and for all.”

“Okonjo Iweala Became A Different Person When She Worked For Goodluck Jonathan” – Obasanjo

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed that immediate past coordinating minister of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, changed under the regime of former president Goodluck Jonathan.

Mrs Okonjo- Iweala who served under president Obasanjo as minister of fiance was accused of encouraging corruption under the regime of Mr Jonathan. She was also accused of approving funds not budgeted for, and rather than strengthen the Nigerian economy, she worked against the growth of the economy.

“But take Ngozi (Okonjo-Iweala), who worked for me. And who worked competently for me. Because I know Ngozi’s weaknesses, but I know her strong points. Her strong point is technical competence. But Ngozi needs to be led and to be supervised. Now will you comment on Ngozi who worked for me as the same Ngozi who worked for Jonathan? Will you? But it’s the same person” he said when asked by Premium Times that it is believed that he destroyed everything that he put in place with the successors you enthroned.

The former President also discussed the popular Halliburton case and denied interfering with investigation and prosecution of some of his aides indicted in the case.

“Look, anybody can make any allegation. Go and read the EFCC report on me. I’m the only leader who has left office who has had, I said they should carry out clinical… did you see that in the book? And if you haven’t seen that in the book then you haven’t read the book. So what else do you want? (Ndudi) Elumelu carried out a report. Did you see the report of the House and the action of the House? What more do you want? So it doesn’t matter the allegation you make, that’s entirely up to you. Halliburton, Bodunde (one of his aides) has been taken to court twice and the court has dismissed the case. What more do you want? The latest was the one Jonathan did. Just before he left, he took Bodunde back to court. He was discharged and the case dismissed the first time. The second time Jonathan took him to court and he was discharged again. So what do you want?” he told Premium Times.

Mr Obasanjo also spoke about his book, “My Watch” in the course of the interview.

Read the full interview here via : Premium timesng

Dickson, Alamieyeseigha Ordered Out Of PDP BoT Meeting Held In Otuoke With Jonathan

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) o Sunday held an emergency meeting at the country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Bayelsa State, it wades into the crisis rocking the state chapter of the party.

At the meeting, both the state governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, and former governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, were ordered out of the venue by the party leadership.

At the meeting which looked into the recommendations of the National Peace Committee for the state, the acting Chairman of the party’s BoT, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, called on all feuding members and stakeholders of the party in the state to close ranks, while also upturning the decision of the state chapter of the party to expel some prominent members from the party.

President Jonathan was said to been scandalised by the action of the party at the state level, adding that the party cannot afford a major crisis less than five months to the governorship election.

At the meeting which was held at the Jonathan country home amid tight security, some uninvited prominent persons, including those who had already defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), were walked out of the venue. Reports gathered that attendance was based strictly on membership of the board and on invitation.

Those in attendance at the meeting included the BoT acting Chairman, Bello; the Secetary of the BoT, Senator Walid Jibril; the former Governor of Ebonyi State, Senator Sam Egwu; Dr. Cairo Ojuogboh and Senator Stella Omu.
While some loyalists of the expelled party leaders, including the embattled Chairman of the PDP in the state, Col. Sam Inokoba, claimed that the Chairman of the state reconciliation committee and first governor of the state, Alameiyeiseigha and other party members were barred from attending the meeting due to non-membership of the party BoT.

However, Inokoba and Senator Emmanuel Paulker were allowed into the meeting.

Read More: thisdaylive

$9.3b Not $6b Was Stolen By Jonathan’s Minister – Duke Abiola

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Just as the dust raised by the statement credited to Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole over the $6 billion dollars allegedly stolen by a former minister in the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, Another prominent Nigerian, Queen Zainab Duke-Abiola, the Akasoba of Kalabari land in the Niger Delta, has said she had evidence from the White House that a former Petroleum Minister stole $9.3 billion.

Duke Abiola, one of the wives of the late Chief MKO Abiola, in an exclusive interview with The Nation, said: “According to the information available to us, the minister stole more than $9 billion; not Australian dollars, but US dollars.”

“And what I am saying is that the money should be used to develop the Niger Delta. Use this to help the impoverished Niger Deltans,” she added.

On her ability to prove the allegation, she said she was in Washington DC during President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit, and that she met with White House officials who revealed the information to her.

“My relationship with White House is over 30 years. Americans are very eager to make sure that the money gets back. They want Nigeria to use that money for education,” she said.

The former presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party also insisted that Buhari’s delegation to Washington DC was aware of the exact amount stolen by the former minister.

“Oshiomhole said it’s about $6 billion. Information available to me states that the minister and her associates siphoned away $9.3 billion. I’m watching the game that they’re playing. If they don’t publish the evidence, I have document to support this,” she said.

According to her, members of the presidential delegation were focusing on the $6 billion allegedly stolen by a minister in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, leaving out “the remaining $3.3 billion” because some people from a section of the country are involved.

“If Buhari is not sure of his fact and figures, he should go back to Washington DC. If I read in the papers that they say $9 billion, I would keep quiet. But why are they saying only $6 billion?”

“All I want is that this money should be used to help the less privileged, especially in the Niger Delta. Give these people fishing nets. Build some bridges for them. Clean up their rivers so they can fish once more, so they can have food on their tables once more. Build cottage industries for them. Put up little clinics as much as you can. In fact, we’re talking about $9.3 billion, so build a John Hopkins hospital. Build a UCH replica in the Niger Delta. If there’s some extra money use it to help other regions,” she said.

The Akasoba said she was shocked when she received the evidence from the White House.

“Some people said that much money couldn’t have been stolen, I was one of those who didn’t believe. When they gave me the document, I was shocked. I have sent it to the appropriate Niger Delta elders. So, we know that nobody is accusing anybody wrongly,” she said.

It will be recalled that Governor Adams Oshiomhole, on Monday, alleged that a minister, who served under the former President stole $6 billion, quoting US officials to support his claim but did not name the particular minister.

“The man said even by Washington standard, that is earth-quaking.

“So, PDP is a party that presided over the liquidation of our nation; destroyed all our institutions; converted the Armed Forces commanders to use them as if they were political thugs; converted NTA to a party megaphone; destroyed the SSS; went after opposition as if we were rabbits to be pursued into our holes; compromised even student unions and destroyed everything that you can think of; and elevated religion to a state affair.

“Under the party, Israel became a place you visit every week; they placed pastors against mallams, placed North against South, East against West – just to retain power; elevated Obas and Obis with dollars,” Oshiomhole said.

Goodluck Jonathan Did Not Usually Pick My Calls, He Gave Power To Boko Haram – Biya Tells President Buhari

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The official visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Cameroun to discuss joint efforts to curb Boko Haram in the region has thrown up an indictment of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

A very credible Presidency source told Daily Sun that in the anti-terror war, Jonathan did not do much in forming a synergy with leaders of Nigeria’s neighbouring countries.

The source said during Buhari’s interaction with his Camerounian counterpart, Paul Biya, he disclosed that Jonathan isolated himself from the leaders of Cameroun, Chad and Niger. “The major complaint, according to Biya, is that Jonathan never or seldom, at best, picked his calls. He said most times he called, Jonathan neither picked nor returned his calls. And as a result, the integration of efforts that should have stopped Boko Haram’s foray and unchallenged run was lacking.”

Biya, according to our source, said he was sure that leaders of other neighbouring countries had the same experience, and therefore, questioned how Nigeria alone would have contained Boko Haram, knowing it is an international terror group with roots and connections in some other countries from where they get into Nigeria and carry out attacks.

“This solo handling of the problem did not enable the neighbours put in much to solve the problem until it got this bad,” he said.

The source also indicated that the Jonathan administration was lax and reluctant to bring under control people very close to that government who are flagrantly involved in crude oil theft and diversion.

According to the source, while Jonathan was in power, he was aware that certain persons close to him and coming under the guise of the protection of his government were involved in high scale oil theft.

Another source from the security outfit currently interrogating some key personalities of the past administration disclosed that one of them that was detained and later released told security agencies the Jonathan administration was quite privy to crude oil theft using some government agencies and individuals as fronts.

Daily Sun was told that the administration acted in compromise while the theft lasted and never did much in checking the agencies, individuals and security fronts used in the theft.

“There is no individual that would have access to the crude oil loading terminals, bring in a vessel and load the product and set sail to the high seas without being caught. We have several agencies of government from the petroleum corporation to the conventional security bodies like the Navy and other government bodies that patrol the territorial waters, even private security outfits.

“So it is practically impossible that someone would beat all these hurdles unaided and sail out with loads of crude oil. The government was aware of the people involved and when or where the crude oil was taken. The neighbouring countries we share common sea boundaries with also knew that the Nigerian government under Jonathan merely compromised in the theft,” our source said.

Source -daily sun

I Headed A Military That Lacked Equipments & Motivation To Fight – Badeh

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh has confessed that when he assumed office as the CDS, he headed a armed forces that lacked the relevant equipment and motivation to fight an enemy (Boko Haram terrorists) that was invisible and embedded with the local populace.

Badeh made the confession just as he pointed out that the decision of certain countries, to deny Nigeria weapons to prosecute the war against Boko Haram, added to the challenges the military faced.

But how come Nigerian military can’t produce weapons like those other countries military?

Delivering his valedictory speech at his pulling out ceremony in Abuja on Thursday, Badeh said: “Notwithstanding the modest successes we recorded in the fight against terror, I must say that the task or coordinating the military and other security agencies in the fight against the insurgents, is perhaps the most complex and challenging assignment I have had in my 38 years in service”.

Other challenges he said he faced included “the exploitation of a serious national security issue by a section of the media and the political class to gain political mileage.

“Furthermore, the activities of fifth columnists in the military and other security agencies who leaked operational plans and other sensitive military information to the terrorists, combined to make the fight against the insurgents particularly difficult”.

He added, “The activities of these unpatriotic members of the military not only blunted the effectiveness of the fight, but also led to the needless deaths of numerous officers and men who unwittingly fell into ambushes prepared by terrorists who had advanced warning of the approach of such troops”.

“Permit me to also add here, that nation’s militaries are equipped and trained in peace time, for the conflicts they expect to confront in the future. Unfortunately, that has not been our experience as a nation. Over the years, the military was neglected and under-equipped to ensure the survival of certain regimes, while other regimes, based on advice from some foreign nations deliberately reduced the size of the military and underfunded it.

“Unfortunately, our past leaders accepted such recommendations without appreciating our peculiarities as a third world military which does not have the technological advantage that could serve as force multipliers and compensate for reduced strength.

“Accordingly, when faced with the crises in the North East and other parts of the country, the military was overstretched and had to embark on emergency recruitment and training, which were not adequate to prepare troops for the kind of situation we found ourselves in.

“It is important therefore for the government to decide on the kind of military force it needs by carrying out a comprehensive review of the nation’s military force structure to determine the size, capability and equipment holding required to effectively defend the nation and provide needed security.”

DPR Collected N30 Billion Illegally – Gov. Oshiomole

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Edo state governor, Adams Oshiomole who has been in the news in recent times over his allegations on the misappropriation of funds in the last administration, says he will not be silent when people are abusing power and stealing government funds.

Oshiomole, who was a guest at a seminar organized by the Post-Mortem sub-committee of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) yesterday July 29th , alleged that the Department of Petroleum Resources collected N30 billion illegally during the last administration…

“Chairman, you must compel the DPR to refund the money. Edo state will pursue its own share of that money because we have not authorized the DPR to take it. And we have the right to go to court if it is not done because for me I want to die for something and not for nothing because I know I will die. DPR’s budget as I understand is about N4 billion annually and in one month illegally they have deducted 4 per cent from certain accruals from royalties among others amounting to over N2 billion. If your annual budget is about N4 billion and you collect over N2 billion in one month which means in a year you are going to collect close to between N24 and N30 billion where your total expenditure is not more than N4 billion. This is not only illegal, it is unjust and not acceptable in a decent society. We cannot all keep quiet even in the face of everyone abusing power. We drive round the country we see a lot of our able young men. In today’s post mortem we want to know how much NIMASA has earned over the years under president Goodluck Jonathan that was never transferred to the federation account and where is the money and how much is it? We also want to know how much NPA transferred to the federation account and if they did not how much do they earn and where is the money?” he said

Source: PM News

Publish Jonathan’s Handover Notes, PDP Reps Charge PMB

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The House of Representatives has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to publish the handover notes of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the official gazette of the federation.

The resolution,Tuesday, at resumption of plenary after a recess, followed a motion by Uzom Nkem-Abonta who observed that only officials of the presidency have access to the document at the moment.

Mr. Abonta however noted that “some extant laws may place restrictions on the publication of the document” even though it is a public document.

He stated, “Handover note would expectedly have captured the activities, projects, programmes achievements and constriants of thr last administration, including counsel to the new administration on the way forward.”

Mr. Abonta said the publication would help the legislators, especially new members, and members of the public have authentic information about the state of the nation and monitor the activities of the government.

Read More: premiumtimesng

APC Supports Buhari’s Probe Of Jonathan’s Administration

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has expressed strong support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to probe the immediate past federal government, saying the revelations of mind-boggling corruption that are just beginning to emerge have made such a probe imperative.

”Some people have insinuated that the Buhari Administration should ignore the massive looting of our patrimony and move on. We say no responsible government can afford to do that, because it will amount to endorsing corruption and impunity,” the party said in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.

It said in the oil sector alone, billions of dollars have been skimmed off by pathologically-corrupt public officials, wondering how the government of the day can meet its obligations to the citizens if it refuses to recover the huge funds taken away by thieving officials

”It is an irony that those who are suggesting that the Buhari Administration should turn a blind eye to the incomprehensible looting are the same ones accusing the government of not doing anything. It is even a cruel irony that the same party that presided over what is fast emerging as the worst governance in the history of our country is the same one that is daily bad-mouthing an Administration that is cleaning up its mess,” APC said.

The party said even if all the acts of corruption that were perpetrated during the tenure of the last Administration are limited to what is now in the public domain, it is still absolutely exigent for the Buhari Administration to do all it can to bring the perpetrators to book and recover the looted funds.

”Where does one start from? Is it the fact that the NNPC failed to remit 3.8 trillion Naira to the Federation Account or the mind-blowing stealing of 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day? Is it the fact that the NNPC itself does not know how many bank accounts it had or into which ones the payments for Nigerian crude are made? Could anyone have imagined that a government minister would steal the unprecedentedly-huge amount of 6 billion US dollars of public funds as being alleged?

”How does any sane person rationalize the fact that 1 billion dollars was unilaterally and illegally withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account just because, as the immediate past Minister of Finance has disclosed, the President ordered the withdrawal? What about the billions of Naira waivers recklessly approved to dubious importers by the Jonathan administration?

”Is it not clear now that the stealing and the profligacy – more than anything else, including the fall in oil price – helped to drastically reduce the monthly allocation from the Federation Account from about 800 billion Naira to about 400 billion Naira, thus pauperizing the states and the local governments, and by extension the citizenry?

”Against the background of the stunning revelations, what message will any government be sending to its citizens and indeed the global community by looking the other way, when it could still recover some of the looted funds for the benefit of the people? This is why we are supporting the Buhari Administration’s probe decision, and calling on all Nigerians to support ongoing efforts to get to the root of the matter,” it said.

Read More: premiumtimesng

President Buhari’s Trip To The US Was Fruitless – Olisa Metuh

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Staff Reporter

PDP is still very much at it with APC and shamefully we must say we love the ‘fight’. Lol. Please read what the party has to say about the president’s visit to the US. Culled from Punch;

Precisely 59 days after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday listed many ‘sins’ the Federal Government under the President had committed and said Buhari’s government lacked direction.

Among the sins of the Buhari’s government, the PDP said, included alleged failure by the President to achieve anything meaningful during his just-concluded US trip and alleged maltreatment of Patience, wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

At a media briefing in Abuja on Sunday, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said events after Buhari’s visit to the US indicated that neither the President nor his party, the All Progressives Congress, had learnt anything from the trip.

Metuh said, “Now that the visit has come and gone, our fear is that nothing whatsoever has been learnt or gained.

“What we continue to receive as a nation have been embarrassing disagreements, accusations and counter-accusations, blames and denials on very important issues due to lack of tact and skill in the management of state matters by the APC-led administration.

“It is disheartening that rather than secure any sort of tangible gain for the fight against terrorism, which has lost steam under the APC watch, with insurgents, who were pushed to the verge of surrender by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country, we get nothing but exchanges and disagreements between the Presidency and their American hosts.

“This is not only embarrassing but also a worrisome indication of crass ineptitude in the handling of international affairs on the part of the present administration.”

He urged the government to settle down and face the business of governance and the fight against insurgency with every sense of seriousness, especially given Buhari’s promise in his April 2, 2015 CNN interview to end the scourge two months after his inauguration.

Reacting, the All Progressives Congress, said that the PDP would be unable to provide any worthwhile opposition to the Federal Government if its spokesman continued to issue empty statements.

‘’Today’s statement is the most tortuous yet by the PDP and, honestly, sounds more like a compendium of beer parlour gossips and side talks than a serious criticism of a sitting government,’’ the APC said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

‘‘To be in opposition does not mean you have to constitute yourself to a nuisance by rushing to the press with all sorts of hot air statements. It is the quality, rather than the frequency, of your interventions that makes you relevant as an opposition in a democracy,’’ the party said

Metuh meanwhile also criticised the statement made by the President while in the USA, in which he was quoted as saying that he would administer the country on the basis of the voting pattern in the last general elections.

He also said that the business community in Nigeria and across the world noted what he described as the disgraceful treatment allegedly meted out to some Nigerian bankers and captains of industries by Buhari during his US visit.

While agreeing that the President has the right to decide those to be on his entourage on such an important official visit, he nevertheless said that the way Buhari allegedly shamed and walked out Nigerian businessmen had sent a wrong signal to international investors and posed great threats to inflow of direct foreign investments into the country.

“These Nigerian businessmen were rejected by their President only for them to be valued by other Presidents of African nations who led them into a meeting with President Barrack Obama in their own countries on account of their investments in those nations,” he added.

Metuh also said that his party noted the alleged embarrassment caused by the absence of an economic team for healthy and informed discussion at the meeting with officials of the US government.

He said that whereas President Obama came to the meeting with a formidable team of experts and key federal officials, President Buhari had in his entourage some APC governors, who, he said, owe salaries and billions of naira in debts.

This action, he said, robbed the nation the benefits and gains of the discussions.

Metuh said that since the President had insisted on running his government as a sole administrator, making important decisions on national affairs without recourse to relevant statutory arms and organs of government, the PDP was being compelled to demand that the administration publish its expenses since assumption of office in May, in keeping with its much harped stance on transparency.

“We make this demand because since the APC took office, the nation’s financial system in the absence of statutory functionaries has been enmeshed in confusion, controversy and fertile atmosphere for financial sleazes,” he added.

News also reaching US says Metuh also alleged that his party was in possession of information that the Presidency acting alone, has gone into discussions with the World Bank for a loan of $2.1 bn for purposes unknown to Nigerians.

He asked, “What is the loan for? What are the terms and who are those working the papers? Who are the people to decide on how the money will be spent? Is it true that the $2.1bn loan is meant to pay back huge contributions for the APC Presidential campaign expenses?

“If truly this government is transparent, it should come out clear on this loan as well as publicise details of its expenditure in the last two months.”

The opposition party’s spokesperson also condemned what he called the recent humiliation of Patience Jonathan at the Port Harcourt airport, where he said the ex-President’s wife was refused access to the protocol lounge based on “an order from Abuja”.

He said this was not the case when Jonathan was in power, during which he said all former Presidents and their spouses had unhindered access to the protocol lounge.

Metuh refused to take questions after the briefing.

Why I Am Keeping Quiet — Goodluck Jonathan

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has opted to remain silent despite the barrage of questions requiring answers from him by not just newsmen, but Nigerians in general on his handling of the nation’s affairs.

Jonathan said he will, for now, rather remain silent.

According to his spokesperson while in office, Dr Reuben Abati, the former president has asked him to tell those seeking to speak with him, especially newsmen that he is resting.

In an article entitled: “The phones no longer ring,” Abati, the Special Adviser on Media to Jonathan, said he has had to deal with barrage of requests for interview with his former boss.

He, however, said Jonathan had told him to inform those making the requests that he is resting.

In the article in which Abati appeared to be at pains as to the stoppage of the numerous phone calls that he got while in office, but most of which he did not attend to, he explained: “Today, the phones remain loudly silent, with the exception of calls from those friends who are not gloating, who have been offering words of commendation and support.

“They include childhood friends, former colleagues, elderly associates, fans, and family members.

“And those who want interviews with President Jonathan, both local and international – they want his reaction on every development, so many of them from every part of the planet.

“But he is resting and he has asked me to say he is not ready yet to say anything.

“It is truly, a different moment, and indeed, ‘no condition is permanent.’

“The ones who won’t give up with the stream of phone calls and text messages are those who keep pestering me with requests for financial assistance.

“I am made to understand that there is something called “special handshake” and that everyone who goes into government supposed to exit with carton loads of cash.

“I am in no position to assist such people, because no explanation will make sense to them.

“Here I am, at the crossroads; I am glad to be here.”

In the opening paragraphs of the article, which was earlier published by this news website, Abati said: “As spokesman to President Goodluck Jonathan, my phones rang endlessly and became more than personal navigators within the social space.

“They defined my entire life; dusk to dawn, all year-round.

“The phones buzzed non-stop, my email was permanently active; my twitter account received tons of messages per second.

“The worst moments were those days when there was a Boko Haram attack virtually every Sunday.”

PDP Statements Sounds Like A Compendium Of Beer Parlor Gossips And Side Talks – APC

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Staff Reporter

In response to the press release of the PDP on Sunday, APC has hit back at the opposition.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the PDP as a party cannot provide any worthwhile opposition to the APC-led Federal Government if its spokesman continues to issue convoluted and fustian statements just so that he can be in the news.

Today’s statement is the most tortuous yet by the PDP and, honestly, sounds more like a compendium of beer parlour gossips and side talks than a serious criticism of a sitting government,” the APC said in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

”To be in opposition does not mean you have to constitute yourself to a nuisance by rushing to the press with all sorts of hot air statements. It is the quality, rather than the frequency, of your interventions that makes you relevant as an opposition in a democracy,” the party said

It said that in the light of the above, the APC will not dignify the latest in a series of confused statements by the PDP with any response. ”We can only say that we have been justified, and indeed prescient, in our earlier offer to organize a crash course for Olisa Metuh so that he can more effectively perform his role as the spokesman of the main opposition party.

Those who thought we were joking with that offer can now see that indeed, Mr. Metuh is seriously in need of some form of coaching on his new role,” APC said. The party said for the record, no government in Nigeria’s recent history has been as focused and systematic as the one headed by President Muhammadu Buhari in restoring good governance, especially coming after the worst stretch of governance, lasting all of 16 years, by the immoral and reckless PDP.

It is worth noting that even the leader of the world’s foremost democracy, President Barack Obama, said that much during the recent visit to the US of President Buhari, when he described him (President Buhari) as a man of integrity with a clear agenda. ”President Buhari is working hard every day in the priority areas of tackling security and corruption, rebooting the economy to provide jobs for our teeming youths and generally to restore good governance.

We are sorry for those who are too blind with hatred to see this. ”We know that the PDP is terrified by the expose of how the Federal Government it led has looted the treasury and created an environment for impunity to thrive, as well as the fate that will befall those who were part of the show of shame and disgust.

But we assure Nigerians that this government will not interfere with the work of the security and anti-corruption agencies, and also that under the Buhari Administration, only the guilty needs to be afraid. ”In the meantime, no amount of mumbo jumbo from the PDP will stop the Buhari Administration from its tough but inevitable task of restoring Nigeria’s lost glory,” APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary APC

Basketmouth Accuses Jonathan’s Govt Of Stealing

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Popular stand-up comedian, Basketmouth (real name Bright Okpocha), is in the news again. This time, it is because he has taken a swipe at the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Midway into his show, tagged BM Uncensored, which held in Houston, Texas in the United States, a few days ago, the comedian accused the Jonathan administration of doing nothing else other than “stealing” money during its six-year tenure.

A copy of the video posted on Youtube shows Basketmouth, who was dressed in a sleeveless top and dark trousers, speaking his mind about the high level of corruption that prevailed in the country under Jonathan’s watch.

In the video, the comedian said, “The funny thing is that Buhari is now in power and everyone is hating the guy under two months. I am normally into politics, but when I see some s..t I say it. Goodluck was there for six years and all they did was steal money.”

The statement has since gone viral on social media, with many users openly chiding Basketmouth for opening his mouth ‘a little too loud’ and others rising in his defence.

On the same day, the comedian also threw playful barbs at Davido, who emerged winner of the 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards in the Best Male Act category in South Africa last weekend.

Basketmouth had said,“Davido won above Wizkid? It’s quite strange, but it’s allowed… it’s allowed.”

Ever since the video appeared online, the comedian’s actions have been the subject of a debate among critics who are worried that he is becoming quite vocal about issues not related with comedy.

Those Who Ruined Nigeria Must Be Dealt With, E,K Clark Urges President Buhari

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

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Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South leader, Chief Edwin Clark yesterday raised alarm over the level of corruption in the country and the economic crunch which have all combined to stagnate the progress of Nigeria over the years. He warned that if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to deal severely with those who ruined Nigeria over the years, Nigeria as a country would sink.

In a six-page letter to President Buhari which was read to journalists yesterday at his Asokoro residence, Abuja, Chief Clark urged him to as a matter of urgency appoint a new Chairman for the Amnesty Programme as a replacement for the immediate past Chairman of the programme, Chief Kingsley Kuku, adding that he would be a sad man if the Amnesty programme fails.

According to the Elder statesman, the President should know what it means to Nigeria as a country to have peace in the Niger Delta, just as he stressed that quick appointment of a new Chairman even in acting capacity would help stop the imminent disintegration of the programme that has kept the peace in the Niger Delta.

The Ijaw leader said that the vacuum already created following the absence of Kuku’s successor was creating tension and if not managed immediately, it would lead to that era when the activities of the militants in the creeks, contributed to crude oil fall to about 7,000 barrel per day, compared to the present situation of 2.5 million barrel per day, adding that the problem with the programme at the moment, was lack of an authority to operate the account of the programme.

According to him, “the economy of the country and the eradication of corruption which has become systematic and endemic that has stagnated the progress of this country over the years and the culprit if not severely dealt with will sink the country. We, therefore, pray the Almighty God that these discussions will materialise and achieve the desired result.

“Secondly, I now respectfully wish to bring to the attention of Mr. President the imminent danger facing the Amnesty programme. It would be recalled, that the former chairman of Amnesty programme and Adviser to Mr. President on Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Kingsley Kuku has since vacated his office as a result of change of government, but unfortunately, he has not been replaced by an appointee even in acting capacity by Mr. President, and as a result, the whole programme for now, is without leadership, and no one has the authority to operate the account of the Amnesty programme.”

– Source – www.vanguardngr.com

Oil Theft: What We Found Shocked Us, Says APC

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The All Progressives Congress has said it was shocked at the magnitude of cases of corruption it has so far unearthed while going through the records of the previous administration.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja, on Thursday.

He was reacting to the announcement by President Muhammadu Buhari that some officials of the immediate past administration were involved in stealing one million barrel of crude oil daily.

Mohammed said, “We are not just shocked but taken aback by what we have found. We have always known that there was monumental corruption under the previous regime but we did not know it was this huge.

“Anybody who calls the questions we are asking a witch-hunt is a person who condones corruption,

and again, when we were raising the alarm over this level of corruption they were engaged in, they said we were crying wolf where there was none.

“They said it never happened. They even went as far as manufacturing figures to cover up. We must ask questions so that whoever is coming into government will know that it cannot be business as usual and that he/she must be prepared to answer questions after they leave office.”

On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party said the allegations of impropriety levelled against the officials of the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration must be proved in court.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said to the best of his knowledge, the PDP-led administration conducted its affairs transparently, as such, the party was not afraid of any probe.

He said, “Like I told you before, the PDP provided a transparent leadership for this country for the 16 years we were in power.

“It was the PDP that established the anti-corruption agencies we are celebrating today, like the EFCC and the ICPC. All we ask is that any probe of the last administration should not be used as an avenue to villify people who served this country diligently.”

Source: The Punch

Why Buhari Will Probe Only Jonathan’s Government – Presidency

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Presidency, yesterday, said President Muhammadu Buhari will limit his probe to the immediate past government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. President Buhari had vowed, Wednesday, to arrest and prosecute former ministers and government officials who looted funds and stole Nigeria’s crude oil.

Buhari, who said the suspected officials stashed the funds in foreign bank accounts, spoke during his three-day visit to the United States.

News reaching journalist says The Presidency which said yesterday that there were trails of monumental fraud everywhere that would be too difficult to ignore, however, explained that it will be a distraction to exceed Jonathan’s regime.

Before leaving office, former president Jonathan had said any probe by the new government would be
seen as a “witch-hunt” if it fails to go beyond his administration. The Presidency, however, argued that it was not a witch-hunt.

Speaking in an exclusive telephone chat, yesterday, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said the probe was the proper thing to do.

His words: “It is a simple thing. Before he was inaugurated, the President said that it will be a distraction for him to start digging deep into past governments. He said so. I don’t see anything new. But it will be irresponsible of any government to leave things of the immediate past that are glaring and evident and not do anything about it.

“It is not a witch-hunt. You have evidence and they are glaring. A responsible government should do something about it. It is not about the former president. It is about how they acquitted themselves in the responsibility they were given. When you are given a public responsibility, you are responsible to the people.

“You must account. When you bury a corpse and the legs are sticking out, have you buried the corpse? No. Once there are trails of money, in dollars everywhere, a responsible government should investigate. It is not as if they are witch-hunting anybody”, he said.
We are not against it— PDP
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said it was not against President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to single out the past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for probe.

National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, who stated this yesterday in Lokoja during the conduct of the state’s delegates congress of the party, said the probe is in line with the party (PDP)’s stand against corruption.

Metuh said: “Corruption is not only a crime against President Muhammed Buhari, nor is it a crime against the All Progressive Congress. Corruption is against the interest of mankind and it’s against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“If President Buhari singled out the past administration and PDP members for probe, so be it. We are not against it. If one is not guilty he has nothing to be afraid of if he or she is singled out; at the end, it will amount to vindication for such persons. Only the guilty will be afraid.

“We (PDP) are not against the selective probe of our members because we, as a party, are against corruption, and this will show that we abhor it. We only urge that the probing is done with ‘clean’ mind and not out to villify the past administration”.

Metuh had during the week accused the Federal Government of treating the PDP as ‘prisoners of war’ in view of the way the party members were being treated.

Buhari will lose credibility if he fails — Gbagi
Also, ex-Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi, said: “Buhari will lose credibility if he does not bring to book any former minister and any one found to have embezzled the wealth of this nation. It is very important because he has the credibility and the world is watching him. He has to do that because the amount of money that these people stole is so much and can be used to perpetuate criminal activities. Buhari’s searchlight should not be limited to ministers who were involved in oil deals only.

“Anyone found to have robbed this country of its resources should be brought to book according to the law. I must also state that Buhari has no powers under the law to shield anyone from prosecution. He must ensure that there are no sacred cows in the fight against corruption because if he excludes anyone, some of us who have been in the campaign for accountable governance will be forced to seek asylum outside the country, because we will not be safe in a country where corrupt people are institutionally shielded from prosecution. He has the support of Nigerians to embark on the probe because so much was stolen in this country. I also want the President to make sure that our international friends are committed to this task. That should be done by making them repatriate our stolen wealth in their respective countries. We need their support to achieve the desired result.”

We should commend Buhari for his courage – Mohammed
In his response, Second Republic lawmaker, Dr Junaid Mohammed said Nigerians must admit that President Buhari’s decision to probe oil theft is a good example of leadership courage.
He said:

“We must commend him for that decision because what he is talking about, other former presidents like Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan knew about it but did nothing to stop it. What Buhari has said is not only common to the political class or ministers, it is also known to common people in the Niger Delta and other areas where oil is found and oil is stolen.

“Oil theft has been happening for so long and to even control it is a big task because some people in the Niger Delta can tell you who and who among the elite are stealing this crude; military and politicians who are into this oil bunkering and are directly involved. Buhari has only assented to it as a matter of courage and I am glad he said he will investigate, probe and prosecute the people behind oil theft.”

Mohammed added: “I must also say that people complaining that too many probes are taking place should be very careful. Nigerians need to know, you cannot eat your cake and have it. Nigerians need to give time so that things can be properly investigated because oil theft has taken place for so long. So it is now left for Nigerians whether they want the truthfulness and straightforwardness of Buhari or not because there are no two ways about it. If you have to know how our money was packed in billions out of this country, then some of these probes must take place.”

I’m not interested in probes — Babatope
In his reaction, a former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope said: “I don’t have interest in the probes. I am an Awolowo son and we have different approach to such issues.”

Source: Vanguard

“All Corrupt Politicians Need To Be Probed”, Olisa Metuh Reminds FG

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Mr Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, on Thursday, urged the Federal Government to probe every corrupt politician and not to be selective in the exercise.

“We expect the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government not to embark on selective probing of public office holders found wanting before or during his government,” he said.

Metu made the call during the State Congress of PDP in Lokoja. He urged the PDP members in the state to ensure that they were free of corruption in their dealings.

“If your hands are clean, you will not be afraid of any probe,” he said.

The publicity scribe described corruption as a crime against the common will of Nigerians.

“Corruption is a crime against the people, the nation and our Constitution,” he said.

He said every legitimate means should be deployed to fight public corruption and that the approach to eradicating corruption in Nigeria must be just.

The PDP spokesman urged the would-be-delegates in the state’s congress to elect those that would pilot the affairs of the party for the next four years.

Idris Wada of Kogi, said the congress provided members the opportunity to change the history of the party in the state for the better.

“I urge delegates to choose wisely,” the governor said.

Wada urged members to support the candidates that would make up the state’s executive council from the congress.

“Support any candidate that wins at the end of the congress. What we are doing here today will change the history of the PDP in our state,” he said.

We Will Continue With Jonathan’s Privatisation Programme – President Buhari

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari has assured international investors of the readiness of his administration to continue with major privatisation programme started by previous governments but with “improved moral architecture.”

The President gave the assurance on Tuesday at a business forum organised by the United States Chamber of Commerce and The Corporate Council on Africa, in continuation of his four-day official visit to the US.

He called on US investors to take advantage of the nation’s liberal trade and investment climate by investing in the various profitable businesses available in Nigeria.

According to him, his government’s intention was to continue to create enabling environment for
future investments to thrive in the country.

He said: “It is my intention to create the necessary environment for future investment in Nigeria.

“We are the most populous nation with largest market in Africa with vast human and natural resources and blessed with abundant young skilled workforce.

“We are therefore a proud candidate to become the destination of choice for United States investments in Africa. I will work assiduously to welcome new investors to our country.

“I will like to remind you all that we are continuing in major privatisation programmes with sectors ranging from telecommunication, energy, gas, solid minerals, aviation, health and infrastructural development, but with improved moral architecture. We will also simplify visa procedures based on principle of reciprocity.

“May I, therefore, seize this opportunity to formally invite the American business community to take advantage of our liberal trade and investment climate to do profitable business in Nigeria”

The President further urged the American business community to take advantage of the excellent political relationship between the two nations to expand trade and investment activities, including joint venture projects in priority sectors of the Nigerian economy, adding that the private sector must assume increasing role as part of the engine of growth.

According to Buhari, his government would specifically welcome genuine investors who were willing to embark on solid mineral exploration in Nigeria.

He also pledged that his administration would fulfill its key campaign promises which included creation of employment opportunities for millions of Nigerian youths.

He added: “Employment generation was one of my key campaign promises. I will do my best to keep this promise.

“There is no other way to expand economic opportunities and create employment opportunities for millions of our youths than boosting domestic manufacturing, undertaking infrastructural development and industrialisation.

“Let me repeat, Nigeria will partner with genuine investors who are willing to join us to achieve our economic objective and at the same time realise handsome returns to recoup their investments.

“There is more to Nigeria than oil. This is why I will continue to stress the need for increased United States investments in our non-oil sector.

“In this respect, the present administration will be attentive to the needs of the business community and pursue policies that will strengthen the sectors that drive the growth.’’

GEJ’s Former CSO, Gordon Obua, Reportedly Released By DSS

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Sahara Reporters reported that the former Chief Security Officer to former President Jonathan, Gordon Obua, has been released by the DSS. They say he was released around 10.30pm LAST night. We would release official statements when he narrates his ordeal with DSS Operatives.

Start The Corruption Probe From The 1999 Government Till Date, PDP Chieftain Challenges Buhari

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and an aspirant in the 2016 governorship election in Edo State, Mr. Matthew Iduoiriyekemwen has insisted that if President Muhammadu Buhari must embark on probing the activities of past regimes in the country, he must not probe former President Goodluck Jonathan alone but extend it to 1999.

Iduoiriyekemwen, who spoke with Vanguard on Tuesday, in an interview in Benin said that while he welcomed the decision of the Buhari administration to probe Jonathan, it should not be a way to discredit the former President’s government.

“There is nothing wrong in probing. What is wrong in probe is when it becomes witch-hunt. Yes, we are in a democratic regime, if President Muhammadu Buhari wants to probe the activities of past regimes, he should look at what has been happening in this country from 1999.

“There has been a lot of maladministration and corruption, there has been a lot of stealing and wasting of government resources and if he wants to probe, he must extend it to 1999 till date,” he said.

Jonathan Approved N1.45b Legal Fee, BPE Tells EFCC

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Detectives probing the alleged N1.45 billion legal and consultancy fees scandal at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) have got some key documents which will help them get to the root of the matter, The Nation learnt yesterday.

The BPE is insisting that the legal contract was valid because ex-President Goodluck Jonathan approved it, based on a memo from ex-Vice President Namadi Sambo, who was the chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).

It also said Sections II (J) and 55 of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act Cap. P.38, LFN 2004 exempt the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) from complying with the
processes of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

In a June 27 letter to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the BPP requested the anti-graft agency to investigate the payment scandal.

One of the lawyers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was paid N950 million for the liquidation of the Power Holding Company when the company had ceased to exist and N500 million was paid as consultancy fees to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The fees were paid contrary to the advice of the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) and the BPP.

Based on the BPP alarm, the EFCC has since started probing the payment.

But, in a fresh twist, the BPE insisted that the contract was legal and approved by ex-President Jonathan.

Armed with a heap of documents sent to EFCC, the agency said its supervising organ (the National Council on Privatisation) does not need any approval of its disposal procurement from BPP.

One of the documents, exclusively obtained by our correspondent, reads in part: “The Bureau of Public Procurement reviewed the procurement process and issued Certificates of ‘No Objection’ dated February 26, 2013 (attached as Annex U4) to the BPE to appoint Messrs J.K. Gadzama & Partners as the Consultant, Legal Advisory Services for the winding up of PHCN in the sum of N929, 613,188.94 inclusive of 5 per cent VAT. A letter of award /engagement was issued to J.K. Gadzama &Partners on 6th March, 2013.

“The National Council on Privatisation at its 3rd meeting for 2013 held on Thursday, May 9, 2013 approved the engagement of Messrs. J.K. Gadzama & Partners as the Consultant, Legal Advisory Services for the winding up of PHCN in the sum of N929,613,188.94. Excerpts of NCP minutes attached.

“Thereafter, copies of the draft contract agreements were forwarded to the Vice President and Chairman, NCP (for approval), who subsequently directed that the draft contract agreements be forwarded to the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) for review before execution.

“By a memo referenced SH/VP/BPE/C2/XVII, dated August 30, 2013, a copy of a memo from the AGF to the Vice President and Chairman of NCP dated August 27, 2013 was forwarded to the BPE by the Office of the Vice President and Chairman of NCP for necessary action.

“In the said memo, the AGF raised objection to the appointment of J.K. Gadzama as Liquidator of PHCN Plc, stating that such is within the purview of PHCN Board of Directors only.

“Following the intervention of the Chairman of the Board of NELMCO, the AGF in his letter to the DG of BPP dated 11th, September 2014 (which was copied to the DG BPE) withdrew his earlier query on the ‘No Objection’ earlier granted by BPP to procure J.K. Gadzama and Partners for legal advisory services for the winding up of PHCN Plc.

“BPE, in reliance on the letter above referred requested BPP to revalidate its earlier “No Objection” granted. The BPP declined to withdraw its “No Objection” without adducing any reason for doing so.”

The BPE said it reported the stalemate to the National Council of Privatisation (NCP) at its meeting on April 16, 2015.

It added: “The NCP noted that since the AGF had withdrawn his query on the procurement and there was no other tenable reason to withhold it, approved that BPE should immediately proceed to execute the contract with Messrs. J.K. Gadzama & Partners as the consultant, legal advisory services for the winding up of PHCN in the sum of N929,613,188.94 based on the ‘No Objection’ earlier granted by BPP.”

The BPE also gave the details of how ex-President Jonathan approved the contract during the transition period.

The agency said: “In a briefing memo to His Excellency, the former President on the decisions of NCP, the former Vice President and Chairman of NCP, among other things, highlighted its approval directing BPE to immediately execute contract with J.K. Gadzama for the winding up of PHCN Plc in the sum of N929,613,188.94 based on the ‘No Objection’ earlier granted by BPP since all contested issues had been resolved.

“The former President noted the said decision without any objection(memo attached as Annex U9). It is based on the two approvals of the NCP and Mr. President that BPE executed the contract with J.K.Gadzama & Partners who have since commenced execution of the contract.”

The BPE said it does not need any approval from the BPP to execute any procurement dealing with disposal of public property once it is carrying out NCP directive.

It said the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act Cap. P.38, LFN 2004 empowers NCP to appoint and determine advisers and their remuneration.

Section II (J) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act Cap. P.38, LFN 2004 empowers the NCP to approve the appointment of Advisers and their remuneration. The BPP had earlier claimed that the AGF did not at any time withdraw his ‘No Objection’.

The Director-General, Mr. Emeka M. Ezeh, said in a letter that no instruction was received from the AGF nullifying the earlier directive.

The letter said: “The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), having examined the request wishes to draw the attention of the BPE to Paragraph 14 of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (HAGF)’s letter to the BPP referenced that; “item 1,3,5,6 and 8 of the scope of work for the Legal Advisor unnecessary for the liquidation of the PHCN.

“Similarly, any of the remaining items 2,4,7 and 9, which is not contemplated by the procedure described in Sections 457 -468 (and there is hardly any contemplated) would equally be unnecessary to accomplish the liquidation”.

“ It can be deduced from the above citation that the HAGF’s position on this procurement clearly indicates that Legal Advisory Service is not needed as all constituent items (1-9) under unnecessary as listed by the HAGF constitute all items under the Legal Advisory Service, as such; no item is left for BPP’s consideration for a further review

Source: The Nation

Charge Jonathan’s CSO To Court Or Release Him – Lawyer

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Andrew Itsekiri, the lawyer of Gordon Obuah, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s chief security officer, has asked the Director General of the SSS, Lawan Daura, to either charge Mr. Obuah to court or release him without further delay.

Mr. Obuah is being detained by the State Security Service although the service has yet to officially speak about the arrest.

In a statement, Mr. Itsekiri said Mr. Obuah is held without a charge and his continued detention by the SSS is placing life-threatening strain on his health. He said Mr. Obuah, who is diabetic and has a serious case of high blood pressure is being “sadistically” denied water, food and life sustaining medications. Continue…

Mr. Itsekiri also said family members and friends of Mr. Obuah have been prevented from seeing him.

Mr. Itsekiri explained that Mr. Obuah’s ordeal began a week before he was detained by the SSS. He said Mr. Daura told his client to report daily to the SSS headquarters for questioning over an allegation, the nature of which was never disclosed to him.

He said he was eventually detained last Thursday after he showed up at the SSS office for the daily questioning. Mr. Itsekiri explained that before Mr. Obuah was finally detained, Mr. Daura had asked him if Mr. Obuah wanted him to personally investigate him or delegate a junior officer to do so.

Since the news of the arrest and detention of Mr. Obuah broke last week, the SSS has yet to issue a statement on why he is being held.

Premium Times

EFCC Set To Probe Jonathan’s Ministers, Aides

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Staff Reporter

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has concluded plans to commence the probe of the former President Goodluck Jonathan with investigations into the financial transactions of his ministers and aides.

The Punch learnt that the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, had already directed that all petitions against former public officers at the federal level should be forwarded to him to be acted upon.

Findings showed that former ministers, special advisers, heads of parastatals and those of other Federal Government agencies would be invited for interrogation by the EFCC in few weeks from now.

Our correspondents learnt that the anti-graft agency would focus on those whose establishments attracted huge allocations from the Federal Government when Jonathan was in power.

Such ministries and agencies, it was learnt, included defence, petroleum resources and power.

Three top sources in the anti-graft agency confided in one of our correspondents that Lamorde was “determined to expose any corrupt act during the administration of the former President.”

One of the sources, who confided in one of our correspondents, explained that anti-graft operatives had yet to arrest any of the former ministers, special advisers and heads of agencies who served under the former President.

The source said, “I am not aware of anybody who has been summoned or interrogated by the commission. Those to be interrogated would be determined by the gravity of the allegations against them as contained in the petitions.

“What happened last week was that a directive was issued to move all petitions against public office holders under the former President to the office of the Chairman.

“The files will be studied and assigned to units to handle the investigations. It is based on the petitions that people will be summoned.

“Most likely next week, action would be taken on those petitions…”

But the Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwajaren, denied knowledge of such a directive when one of our correspondents contacted him on the telephone on Monday.

“I am not aware of the directive you are talking about. It is not to my knowledge,” the agency’s spokesman said.

Reacting to the development, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said the party was not afraid of a probe.

According to him, the party and former President Goodluck Jonathan have nothing to hide, saying all the party is asking for is that any probe must be within the ambit of the law.

Jalo said the PDP as a political party discharged its duty of providing leadership for Nigeria for 16 years and that it did so transparently.

He said, “I am sure Nigerians still remember that it was because of PDP’s desire to deal with the scourge of corruption that our government under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo established the EFCC and the ICPC. The records are there.

“All we are asking for is that there must be fairness and justice, whatever probe they want to carry out must have respect for the rule of law, good conscience and the fear of God.

“Such a probe must not be carried out based on vendetta or simply because somebody does not like the name or the face of somebody.”

Jalo also advised the All Progressives Congress-led administration to pay more attention to providing leadership to Nigeria, “rather than dissipating energy in the pursuit of trivialities.”

The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, had in an interview last week, said President Muhammadu Buhari would probe Jonathan’s government.

He had said that the present administration would recover billions of dollars, adding that “the world is too small a place for anybody to hide if you are running from justice.”

“It doesn’t mean that anybody that has ill-gotten wealth will not regurgitate it. They will. Remember when he (Buhari) went to Germany for the G7 summit, he met with President Obama and Obama told him to just give us information on where the loot is hidden and we will help you recover it and the government has been working on that. So, that shows that looters will never go free,” he had said.

Operatives of the Department of State Services had invaded the houses of Jonathan’s National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) on Friday forcing the former NSA to a house arrest for 24 hours.

The security agency in a statement the following day accused Dasuki of felony, misuse of power and possession of destructive weapons.

It said it recovered from Dasuki’s home seven high calibre rifles (high assault weapons), several magazines, military related gear and 12 new vehicles, including five bulletproof cars.

A top officer of the DSS had confided in one of our correspondents that Dasuki would face further interrogations this week.

Also, the ex-President’s Chief Security Officer, Gordon Obua, was being detained as part of investigations into the security spending at the Presidential Villa during his time.

A lawyer to Obua has raised the alarm about the detention of his client.

The lawyer, Onochie Onwuegbuna, said in a statement that Obua had been in detention since July 16 without being told what offence he committed.

Source – punchng.com

“You Can Get Someone A Job But Can’t Help Them Do It” – Obasanjo

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Staff Reporter

While delivering a speech at the convocation ceremony of the Benson Idahosa University, Benin city today, former President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke on GEJ’s presidency.

“You can help someone get a job but you can’t help them do it” he said

He also said that anyone who voted for Jonathan is as guilty he is “If you voted for Jonathan, you’re just as guilty as he is for what has happened” he said

Obasanjo pictured above at the convocation with Laurie Idahosa, left and Bishop Margaret Idahosa.

Pres. Buhari Appoints Abdullahi Gana as New NSCDC Commandant

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Buhari has appointed Abdullahi Gana as the new commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC. Special Adviser to Pres. Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, announced the appointment in a statement released.

Until his appointment, Mr Gana was an Assistant Commandant-General of the NSCDC. He takes over from Dr. Ade Abolurin, who has retired. Gana is an indigine of Muye in Lapai LGA of Niger State and graduated from the University of Sokoto.

2015 General Election Was Massively Rigged – Prof. Azinge

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Staff Reporter

FORMER Director General of the of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Member of Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal, Prof.
Epiphany Azinge, SAN, has declared that the 2015 general elections in Nigeria was massively rigged by politicians.

Azinge made the declaration in his keynote address delivered at the opening ceremony of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA Warri Law Week held in Warri, Delta State yesterday.

In his words, “Let the truth be told, the last election was rigged as any other we have witnessed. The difference was that political parties rigged massively in their comfort zones.”

While noting that the immediate past President of Nigeria was globally applauded and commended for conceding defeat, he noted that, “politicians and political parties spent outlandishly to win elections. The law was honored more in the breach than observance with high cost of election, comes all sorts of electoral offences, bribery, undue influence, thuggery, violence and disorderly behaviour. We have now graduated to kidnapping, abduction and political assassination during election.”

Azinge who spoke on “Nigeria Enduring Democracy: The Challenge of Effective Electioneering and Independence of the Judiciary” noted that the 2015 electioneering campaigns was characterized by the desperation on the sides of the political parties who indulged in hate campaigns to succeed.

He blamed the Nigerian Media for playing ignoble role in promotion of hate campaign, indicating that all is fair in warfare, pointing out that derogatory statements were freely used during the electioneering campaigns.

Azinge posited that the police and the civil defence be used in election monitoring while the military be discarded.

According to him, “if need be, then we should train and equip our police to handle such delicate issue.”

He blamed the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC for failing to ensure compliance with constitutional limits for campaign expenditure.

He suggested better welfare conditions for Judges and
Judicial Staff in the country by evaluating the salary structure of judges and how safeguard they are and
examination of the process of appointment, discipline and removal of judges and to know if the other arms of government are capable of compromising the judiciary because of financial control or lack of autonomy.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA Warri Branch led by the Chairman, Mr. John Aikpokpo-Martins (Esq.) has demanded a probe of the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan for allegedly mortgaging the state into a debt profile of N637.22 billion.

Aikpokpo-Martins said, “It will not be acceptable to pretend that our common patrimony had not been rapaciously devoured by the past gatekeepers; doing things differently will not be enough. We
demand a probe because Deltans deserve to know.”

He also called on the Okowa led government to cancel the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT at Warri/Sapele road which was embarked upon by Uduaghan and restore same to its former state, noting that it poses great hazard to the lives, property and vehicular movement as well
as cause loss of man hours among others.

He also appealed to the governor to prevail on the
contractor handling the Warri High Court Complex Project to return to site and resume work with a view to completing the project.

Delta State Governor, Sen. Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa who was represented by the Commissioner for Housing, Arch. Joseph Ajiri Ogeh promised to tackle the menace the BRT is causing Deltans.

Culled from www.vanguardngr.com

“Oshiomhole Is Suffering From Numerical Diarrhea” – Okonjo-Iweala

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Finance Minister, has stated that Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state is suffering numerical diarrhea after he alleged that she took $1billion to fund the re-election bid of former president Goodluck Jonathan.

In statement issued by Paul C Nwabuikwu, media adviser Okonjo-Iweala, he described Oshiomhole’s accusations as “another false, baseless allegation against Okonjo-Iweala by Oshiomhole.

“The allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that former Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account to fund the re-election bid of former President Jonathan is the kind of ludicrously false statement that has unfortunately become a trademark of the Governor in his public campaign of falsehood against Dr Okonjo-Iweala,” the statement said.

“The statement is just another example of the numerical diarrhea that seems to have afflicted His Excellency in recent times in his effort to damage the reputation of the former Minister.

“He has, within the last few months, asked Dr Okonjo-Iweala to explain all kinds of totally wild and unsubstantiated figures, ranging from $30 billion, $20 billion, $2.1 billion, N720 billion and now $1 billion.”

Okonjo-Iweala then stated that Oshiomhole’s accusations totally lack any credibility. ” Governor Oshiomhole’s published comments also contain other falsehoods. For instance, he quoted Dr Okonjo-Iweala as saying that she and the Finance Commissioners of the 36 states approved the spending of $2.1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account, adding that the Commissioners had disowned the statement. This is also a complete distortion.

“Dr Okonjo-Iweala never said the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved spending out of the ECA. Rather as the Commissioners themselves stated, the former Minister of State Finance informed them that former President Jonathan approved the expenditure to end the debilitating fuel queues across the country.

“As Nigerians know, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala regularly published details of revenue allocations from the ECA in national media. So Oshiomhole’s tortured “calculations” based on his “four figure tables” are mere political numbers conjured to achieve a political purpose. Nigerians can see through the elaborate antics.

“Governor Oshiomhole’s latest statement, like earlier ones, labours to give the impression that the entire FAAC process which involves the Federal Government and the 36 states of the Federation is a personal monopoly of Dr Okonjo-Iweala.

“This is, of course not true. FAAC is a long standing national platform for allocating revenues chaired by the Minister of State Finance. The governor’s insistence on pushing this clearly fictional narrative underscores his desperation.

“It is instructive that Governor Oshiomhole is a key member of the committee set up by the National Economic Council to investigate the ECA spending. His continuing attacks against Dr Okonjo-Iweala seem to suggest that he has lost confidence in this platform which he deployed to make some of his initial false and baseless allegations. The Governor does not seem to appreciate that he is undermining the very credibility of the committee.

“Once again, we ask: why are Oshiomhole and his cohorts so ready to sacrifice truth, precedent and decency in this political witch hunt against Dr Okonjo-Iweala? We are confident that they will fail because truth will triumph,” the statement read.

Source: PM News

Okonjo-Iweala Responds To Oshiomhole’s Accusation That She Spent N1bn Of Govt Money On GEJ’s Re-Election

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Oshiomhole accused the former minister of spending $1billion of government money for Jonathan’s re-election. She has responded.Read the press statement below…

Another false, baseless allegation against Okonjo-Iweala by governor Oshiomhole

The allegation by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that former Minister of Finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account to fund the re-election bid of former President Jonathan is the kind of ludicrously false statement that has unfortunately become a trademark of the Governor in his public campaign of falsehood against Dr Okonjo-Iweala.

The statement is just another example of the numerical diarrhea that seems to have afflicted His Excellency in recent times in his effort to damage the reputation of the former Minister.

He has, within the last few months, asked Dr Okonjo-Iweala to explain all kinds of totally wild and unsubstantiated figures, ranging from $30 billion, $20 billion, $2.1 billion, N720 billion and now $1 billion.

To say the obvious, the accusations are totally lacking in credibility.

Governor Oshiomhole’s published comments also contain other falsehoods. For instance, he quoted Dr Okonjo-Iweala as saying that she and the Finance Commissioners of the 36 states approved the spending of $2.1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account, adding that the Commissioners had disowned the statement. This is also a complete distortion.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala never said the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved spending out of the ECA. Rather as the Commissioners themselves stated, the former Minister of State Finance informed them that former President Jonathan approved the expenditure to end the debilitating fuel queues across the country.

As Nigerians know, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala regularly published details of revenue allocations from the ECA in national media. So Oshiomhole’s tortured “calculations” based on his “four figure tables” are mere political numbers conjured to achieve a political purpose. Nigerians can see through the elaborate antics.

Governor Oshiomhole’s latest statement, like earlier ones, labours to give the impression that the entire FAAC process which involves the Federal Government and the 36 states of the Federation is a personal monopoly of Dr Okonjo-Iweala.

This is, of course not true. FAAC is a long standing national platform for allocating revenues chaired by the Minister of State Finance. The governor’s insistence on pushing this clearly fictional narrative underscores his desperation.

It is instructive that Governor Oshiomhole is a key member of the committee set up by the National Economic Council to investigate the ECA spending. His continuing attacks against Dr Okonjo-Iweala seem to suggest that he has lost confidence in this platform which he deployed to make some of his initial false and baseless allegations. The Governor does not seem to appreciate that he is undermining the very credibility of the committee.

Once again, we ask: why are Oshiomhole and his cohorts so ready to sacrifice truth, precedent and decency in this political witch hunt against Dr Okonjo-Iweala?

We are confident that they will fail because truth will triumph.

Paul C Nwabuikwu

Media Adviser to Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

List Of Nigerian Ambassadors Sacked By President Buhari

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday recalled top ranking members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who were appointed ambassadors by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

They were recalled after three years of service abroad. Among them are:

Former Foreign Affairs Minister , Chief Ojo Maduekwe (Canada);
Chairman of the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation in the 2011 election, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida (UK);
Professor Ade Adefuye (USA);
widow of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Bianca (Spain);

Former deputy governor of Oyo State, Mr. Taofeek Arapaja (Jordan).
Former aviation minister, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze (Switzerland);
Ex-General Manager, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Ibadan, Mr. Yemi Farounbi (Philippines);
A one-time governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Mr. Olatokunbo Kamson (Jamaica);
PDP front liner in Ondo State, Mr. Cornelius Oluwateru (UAE);
Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Bunu (Saudi Arabia);
Former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General in Benue State, Mr. Chive Kaave (Argentina);
former financial secretary of the PDP, Alhaji Tukur Mani (Iran);
former permanent secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA Biodun Nathaniel Olorunfemi (Namibia).
Chief Asam Asam (SAN), (Russia);
Mr. Okwudili Nwosu (Burundi);
Mr. Okeke Chukwuemeka (Vatican);
Mr. Eric Aworahbi (Italy);
Dauda Danladi (Pakistan);
Mrs. Katherine Okon (Czeck Republic);
Mr. Nwofe Alexander,;
Princess Victoria Bosede Onipede (Republic of Congo);
Senator Haruna Garba (Kuwait);
Mrs. Nonye Rajis-Okpara (Singapore);
Chief Eddy Onuoha (Hungary);
Mr. Adamu Babangida Ibrahim (Syria);
Dr. Sam Jimba (Poland)

They were among the 93 envoys posted out in June 2012.

APC Urges FG To Probe Past NLNG Payments, Condemns Grandstanding Opposition

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Press statement from APC:

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on the Federal Government to urgently unravel what happened to the past Company Income Tax/Education tax as well as dividends paid to the Nigerian government by the NLNG, against the background of published reports that the funds were never paid into the Federation Account as they should have been.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party also described as a glaring example of grandstanding opposition the attempt by the PDP to distort the facts about the source of the $2.1 billion that was approved for sharing by the three tiers of government by President Muhammadu Buhari.

”Whereas the Presidency corrected the initial erroneous report that the shared money was sourced from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), the skittish opposition continued to insist it was from the ECA and that it was part of the ‘savings’ by the Jonathan Administration.

”Well, we can tell Nigerians that the $2.1 billion was sourced from the $1.6 billion Company Income Tax/Education Tax paid to the FG on June 17th 2015, over two weeks after the Jonathan Administration left office, as well as the $500 million tax paid by Shell. We can tell Nigerians that this is the first time the payment of the Income Tax/Education Tax by the NLNG was being disclosed by any government, in addition to paying it into the Federation Account for sharing, hence those who call it their ‘legitimate’ earnings should be asked why they did not demand the sharing of such ‘legitimate’ earnings in the past.

”We can tell Nigerians that apart from the said $1.6 billion NLNG payment for 2015, NLNG also paid $1.4 billion as Income Tax/Education Tax in May 2014, paid $0.3 billion as Education tax to the FG in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and $1.2 billion in VAT and With-holding Tax to the FG since 2009. These payments are just those made in the past six years alone, hence there were other payments before then.

”In addition, dividend payments totalling $4,728,136,946 was paid to the FG between 2004 and 2009, out of which only $127,851,348.19 was credited to the FG’s Independent Account with JP Morgan, leaving a balance of over $4 billion. The questions to ask therefore are why all the past taxes and dividends were neither fully paid into the Federation Account nor shared by the three tiers of government and what happened to the funds,” it said.

APC said now that President Muhammadu Buhari has started to ensure that all funds due to the Federation Account are paid in there as well as plugging all financial leakages, in an effort to restore transparency to the system, it is important to let Nigerians know why all due funds were not paid into the Federation Account in the past and what happened to such funds.

The party also said that as part of the investigation, the PDP must be asked where it kept the $5.5 billion which it said was the dividend paid to the FG by the NLNG before the 29 May handover.

”Since, according to the PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan asked that the money be ‘left for the incoming administration to manage’. it is important for the party, therefore, to tell Nigerians in which account the money was ‘saved’ because it is definitely not in the Federation Account,” it said
APC insisted that for any opposition to be credible, it must not only be factual and truthful, it must eschew pandering.
”Had the PDP embraced these cardinal principles, it would not have, in the rush to belittle the package that was approved for the states by President Buhari and to discredit his administration, engaged in outright lies and selective perception. While the PDP became fixated on the source of the money shared by the states, it forgot that there were were other measures in the package that included a special intervention fund of between N250b and N300b from the CBN as a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries.

”The PDP also forgot the debt relief programme designed to assist the states to restructure their commercial loans of N660b, with a view to extending the life span of such loans and reducing the states’ debt-servicing expenditures. That way, the states are freed from their perennial inability to pay workers’ salaries, and more funds are available to the various governments to use for the benefit of the people. They have forgotten that the only time in the country’s history that this kind of rescue package was made was also during the tenure of Muhammadu Buhari as military Head of State,” the party said.

It advised those who are showboating and distorting facts to tarry a while, as what they are seeing is just the first step in a long journey to clear the rot left behind by years of purposeless governance, plug all financial leakages, ensure that all funds due to the Federation Account are paid in there for the benefit of all Nigerians and bring to justice all those who have mismanaged or looted the commonwealth.

”The revelations concerning the deep rot in the system that will come in the weeks and months ahead will shock even the most ardent critics of the Buhari Administration’s salvaging efforts,” APC said.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Lagos, 2015

Maku Instigated Jonathan Against North – Al-Makura

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Nasarawa State governor, Tanko Al-Makura has said the former minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, is responsible for pitching President Goodluck Jonathan against the North while in office, saying his divisive tendencies along ethnic and religious lines, helped fuel the recurrent crisis in Nasarawa State.

Maku, had at a press briefing in Abuja at the weekend, alleged among other things that innocent citizens had continued to be killed by gunmen as a result of what he described as the “insensitivity” in handling the security situation in the state by the state government which he claimed would have been addressed if he was sworn in as governor of the state in May, this year.

But in a swift reaction on yesterday, the Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Ahmed Tukur, said it was rather unfortunate that Maku who had ignored invitations extended to him and other stakeholders on several occasions to brainstorm towards finding lasting solution to the communal crisis in recent past could make unguarded utterances when the state government has succeeded in overcoming the situation.

He alleged that the insecurity in the state in recent past became worse as there was an increase in the proliferation of arms and ammunition when Maku held sway as the supervising minister of Defence, insisting that the former minister should rather commend his boss for the relative peace being enjoyed in the state.

“Jonathan’s Centenary City Project Was A Conduit Pipe For Corruption” – PDP

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the centenary city built during President Goodluck Jonathan administration is a blueprint for corruption and dismissed the claim that the centenary city was a public private partnership arrangement.

Speaking with newsmen weekend in Abuja, PDP national vice chairman South South, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh said a huge chunk of land was given to one man who went to incorporate the centenary city as a free zone, describing it as “crime personified.”

Dr. Ojougboh said he had personally wrote a letter to President Jonathan on several occasions concerning the centenary city telling him it is wrong to create a free zone in the city centre, stressing that the issue of centenary city has made some Nigerians to believe that the PDP is a corrupt party.

“Find out. The centenary city is owned by one man and when he come he will start calling names; Abdulsalam Abubakar, this and that. If you go to the Corporate Affairs Commission, you will see the owner of the centenary city. There are two companies owned by one man who was in charge of the office of the SGF. And of course, personally, I severally wrote a letter to Mr. President telling him that this thing is wrong, that you cannot create a free zone in the centre of the city.

“That if you live in a free zone, you need visa to go in and out, that if you make the centenary city a free zone, you are going to deprive Nigerian industries of income and employment. In Dubai where you have free zones, the land belongs to the government. Today, the certificate of occupancy of the so-called free zone is in bank fold that is what they used to be getting money to be building the free zones. It is such things that people begin to tag PDP as a corrupt party.

“Somebody within that office called the SGF had impunity to tell Nigerians lies that the centenary city is a public private partnership arrangement; I mean it is a lie. In fact, huge chunk of land was given to only one man and it didn’t stop there. He now went to incorporate the entity as a free zone. Where have you ever seen it in this world? It is crime personified.

“But we are going to re-build the party and if we don’t tell ourselves the truth, we won’t be able to rebuild the party. I have told you why the PDP lost the election. But as a PDP member, I am telling you that PDP is not corrupt. But what I know is the issue of the centenary city which I know that, that place is a blueprint for corruption and that entity is corrupt. That is what I am saying,” he said.

Dr. Ojougboh also questioned the release of over N700 million bailout package for states by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying: “the issue with it is the method of disbursement, did the National Assembly approve it? You see, this is where democracy comes in. Was it appropriated, that bail out? Does it have legal backing? The PDP is a party and is watching.”

Buhari Faults Jonathan’s Approach To Chibok Girls’ Abduction

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday maintained that that the handling of the Chibok girls issue by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was not impressive. He spoke when he received the #Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He declared that it was a matter of right for the government to take care of the welfare of the escaped girls and parents of the over 200 secondary school girls abducted from Chibok, Borno State on April 14 last year. He said: “I think the government should provide the welfare as a matter of right.”

Buhari promised to do all it takes to rescue the Chibok girls. He wondered how the capacity of Nigerian armed forces had lowered over the years. Promising to strengthen institutions, he said, that everything will be done to bring the armed forces back to its lost glory.

The #Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group visited the Presidential Villa to make formal demands for the girls’ rescue, among others. The group was led by the Coordinators, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili and Mariam Uwais.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo along with the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and some service chiefs were also among top government officials that received the group in the briefing room attached to the Council Chamber.

Previous attempts by the group to access the seat of power and have audience with former President Jonathan were thwarted by the last administration.

The demands made by Ezekwesili and Chibok Area Development Association, represented by Mr. Dauda Iliya, Wednesday, included increasing effort by the government to immediately rescue the abducted girls, for the Federal Government to start taking care of the welfare of parents of the abducted and escaped girls.

Read More: thenationonlineng

Hilarious! GEJ Returns From Vacation And Nigerians Start #GejWhileYouWereAway Hashtag On Twitter

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan returned from his vacation to the UK yesterday night and Nigerians hilariously started twitter hashtag #GejWhileYouWereAway, basically stating some of the things that happened in the country while he was away from Nigeria. But as Nigerians that we are they dropped some really hilariuos things that even GEJ would laugh really hard reading them. See the tweets below…

Source – Kevindjkpor.com

Fani-Kayode Denies Saying ‘For Rejecting Jonathan, Nigerians Deserve Boko Haram’

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Press statement from Femi Fani-Kayode. Read below…

It has been brought to our attention that Premium Times, a popular Nigerian online magazine, has alleged that Chief Femi Fani-Kayode wrote the following words on his Facebook page- ”For rejecting Jonathan, Nigerians deserve Boko Haram”. This is false and, needless to say, Chief Fani-Kayode has never and would never say such a thing or harbor such a horrendous and heartless view.

For the last few years Chief Fani-Kayode has been one of the loudest and most strident voices against Boko Haram in Nigeria and he has continously and courageously condemned them. He has also continuously expressed his grave concerns about the barbarity and sheer evil that they have unleashed on the Nigerian people and he has constantly expressed his condolences to and support for the families whose loved ones have been murdered by them over the years.
For Premium Times or anyone else to allege that Chief Fani-Kayode wrote that the Nigerian people ”deserve Boko Haram” under any circumstances is not just mischievous but it is also irresponsible and malicious. It is a wicked lie which is designed to endanger the life and reputation of Chief Fani-Kayode and to subject him to public odium, ridicule, outrage and opprobium. We challenge anyone that doubts the veracity of our contention to go and read Chief Fani-Kayode’s write-up on his Facebook wall because it is still there.
They should point out where President Jonathan’s name was mentioned and they should also point out where he wrote that ”Nigerians deserve Boko Haram”. We urge our friends in the media to please check their sources properly before going to press and to quote people accurately.
They should also treat such matters in a thoroughly honest and professional manner and with the greatest sensitivity. Since yesterday night we have been inundated with calls from concerned Nigerians about this fake headline and we have had to go to great lengths to set the record straight. We appreciate the fact that the overwhelming majority of Nigerian media practitioners always adhere to the highest standards of ethics and practice but when things go wrong, for the sake of posterity, it is important to set the record straight.
Thank you”- Jude Ndukwe (Special Assistant to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode)

My original text on Boko Haram published on my facebook page

Anyone that honestly believed that a man who secretly shares the same vision and core principles of Boko Haram and who spent many years defending them can do anything but give them a free hand when he comes to power is living in cuckoo land.

I am not surprised by all the recent bombings and killings. I am not surprised by the resurgence of BH and their new found barbarity, courage and zeal. Military checkpoints have been removed from our roads so what do you expect?

Boko Haram suspects are now being kept in prisons in the eastern part of the country in order to ”spread the word” and no less than 182 Boko Haram suspects were released on the Presidents orders just a few days ago. Is all this just a coincidence or is something that is dark and sinister now afoot in our country?

Whatever each of us may or may not believe, one thing is clear- that Boko Haram now have powerful friends and secret allies right at the epicenter of power and those friends and allies are running the affairs of the country.

There is a much wider picture unfolding here which the Nigerian people have yet to see and which they find difficult to accept, understand or comprehend. There is a hideous and frightful hidden agenda which is slowly manifesting before our very eyes. Though we warned them, the Nigerian people wanted “change” so they must live with the consequences of their choice.

One of those consequences is the new-found audacity, courage, growing power and rising strength of Boko Haram. Another is the resurgence of a clearly ethnic agenda which is designed to leave no-one in doubt about who really owns Nigeria and who the slaves are.

Another is the destruction and demystification of Bola Tinubu and his yoruba loyalists by his erstwhile northern allies in the APC. Only a fool did not see that one coming and I am rather surprised that Tinubu’s followers are now crying foul and alleging that there is a northern conspiracy. Didnt they know that before? Were they not warned over and over again?

There are many other grave consequences which the Nigerian people will witness, in a most harrowing and frightful manner, in the next few months and years. May God deliver our people and our nation and may we learn to make the right choices.

President Buhari Approves N400 Billion For Workers’ Salaries

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Staff Reporter

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President Buhari has approved a comprehensive relief package valued at over N400bn to put an end to the lingering crisis of unpaid workers’ salaries in the country. Vanguard gathered that a three-pronged relief package that will end the workers plight include:

The sharing of about $2.1b (N413.7bn) in fresh allocation between the states and the federal government. The money is sourced from recent LNG proceeds to the federation account, and its release okayed by the president;

A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from between N250bn to N300bn. This would be a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries;

And a debt relief program proposed by the Debt Management Office, DMO, which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660bn, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.

Vanguard

‘Negotiate With FG And Stop The Killing’ – Saraki Tells Boko Haram

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Senate president,Bukola Saraki has called on Boko Haram to accept president Buhari’s offer of negotiation.This comes as it was revealed the FG is ready to negotiate with the insurgents to bring an end to insurgency ..In a statement released by his media office, Saraki condemned the killing of 6 at the Redeemed church in Yobe today…His statement reads

My heart is with individuals and families who were directly or indirectly affected by this ungodly, sadistic and evil act,Sending Nigerians to their untimely grave can never be the solution to any religious, political or economic grievances.Besides, the Federal Government has demonstrated enough political will to engage any group in dialogue
aimed at bringing these vicious and sad attacks to a final stop.
The recent position of the Federal Government that it would not oppose negotiation with the insurgents ‘if the Boko Haram terrorist group opt for it’ ought to be seen as an olive branch extended to the sect by the present administration. And I urge them to take advantage of that opportunity to drop their weapons.
“I urge Nigerians not to give in to fear or be discouraged as a result of these renewed attacks as the Senate and the National Assembly under my leadership will maximally support President Muhammadu Buhari in his determination to retool and motivate the Armed Forces to decisively prosecute the war against terrorism”, the Senate President said.

Ministerial Appointments: Delay Aimed At Assembling Best Hands – Al-Makura

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Nasarawa State governor Tanko Al-Makura has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s seeming delay in the appointment of ministers and other key government officials has nothing to do with the leadership crisis rocking the party.

He added that it also has nothing to do with insinuations that the president is finding it difficult to take action because he is torn between patronising those who contributed to his victory and those who can really deliver the goods.

Al-Makura, who stated this in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP in Lafia yesterday, said the president is taking his time to appoint people he can trust and work with.

He said, “The issue of wanting to please people who have facilitated campaigns or worked hard to ensure the victory is not the question now; it has gone beyond that”.

“The issue of appointing helmsmen goes beyond just giving jobs to the boys because we are in a very critical situation handed over to us that is close to that of a failed state, so the issue of such appointments has to do with people he can trust. You don’t just start appointing people because you want to impress the public”.

He noted that for Buhari to adequately address the myriad of problems confronting the nation, he needs time and patience from Nigerians.

He observed that while the high expectations of Nigerians for change is understandable given the traumatic experiences they endured under past administrations, it would be counter-productive for the president to engage in quick-fixes for the sake of public applause.

Nigeria Can’t Be Fixed Overnight – David Umaru

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Senator David Umaru representing Niger East Senatorial District in the National Assembly has said that the 16 years of destruction of Nigeria by the former ruling party cannot be fixed in a short period.

The senator who spoke over the weekend at a Thanksgiving service organised by the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Shiroro District Church Council (DCC) at Gwada area of the state, called for patience from Nigerians.

David Umaru assured that the present administration will soon find lasting solutions to the problems of underdevelopment and economic deprivation caused by several years’ negligence.

He, however, stated that the people must be patient and show understanding with the Senate and the federal government as they settle down to provide the real dividends of democracy that are sustainable to the country.

He stated, “My advice to Nigerians is that we should show understanding. It is said that Rome was not built in one day. It should be noted that we have had 16 years of initial neglect and destruction of our economy and that we have just come on board trying to find solutions to these problems”.

“This cannot be done overnight. So, I will advise that people should be patient with us and give us time to get ourselves organised both in the National Assembly and the federal government”.

He expressed appreciation to his constituents especially the leaders of ECWA Church for finding it appropriate to thank God for his victory at the 2015 Senatorial election.

The senator said he dedicated the victory to the people of Niger East, saying “in fact, they are the people that actually voted. For them to organise the Thanksgiving in appreciation of what God has done for us is heartwarming”.

“We are now charting a course whereby we have constant interactions for me to listen to their problems and for me to within the limit of what will be available try to address some of these problems. I am really grateful to God that they found it worthwhile to thank God for my success at the polls. I am really humbled by the expression of support by my people”, he said.

Earlier in a sermon entitled “Reflections after Victory”, Rev. Luka Turaki Zazzaga of the ECWA Church, said the defeat of the former Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by Barrister David Umaru was akin to that of the biblical David and Goliath.

Another Accusing Finger Points At Okonjo-Iweala For Mismanaging ECA Funds

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Raymond Omachi, the acting chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has stated that the past administration led by Goodluck Jonathan and its Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala mismanaged funds in the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

Although Omachi did not mention names, he frowned at the practice of the federal government to pay subsidy from the ECA or to share to states from the ECA when available funds are not adequate to meet revenue projections.

He said that the ECA was established in 2004 to protect planned budget against shortfalls due to volatile crude oil prices, but that was not how the funds from the account were spent today.

“If the ECA had been properly managed, in accordance with the FRC act, the country will not have been embroiled in the liquidity crisis being presently experienced,” he said on Sunday in Abuja during an interactive session with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Omachi said that the FRC Act stated that savings from the ECA should not be accessed until oil price falls below the predetermined level for a period of three consecutive months.

He said that the sum accessed should be limited to the amount that would bring the revenue of government to the level contained in its budget estimates.

Read More: saharareporters

Suspected PDP Thugs Batters APC Witnesses In Court

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Thugs suspected to be loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State on Tuesday beat up witnesses who testified for the All Progressives Congress before the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal.

The tribunal is hearing a petition filed by the APC senatorial candidate for Ekiti Central, Gbenga Olofin, against the return of Senator Fatimat Rasaki of the PDP.

Olofin on Tuesday closed his case at the tribunal after calling eight witnesses while his opponent, Rasaki, opened her defence by being the first witness to testify in support of her election.

Punch reports that, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice A. N. Erabor, admitted the voter register in evidence after listening to a counter-argument between the petitioner’s counsel, Yemi George; and respondent’s lawyer, Jude Ogodi.

But the hoodlums, who had waited outside the courtroom during proceedings, unleashed terror on the petitioner’s witnesses and supporters as they came out of the courtroom.

The thugs also laid ambush at the gate of the court complex for the APC members and supporters, most of whom fled in different directions immediately they spotted the hoodlums.

The riot policemen attached to the tribunal had to smuggle the witnesses out of the premises in a Golf car to an unknown location.

Such lawlessness.

EFCC To Challenge Fani-Kayode’s Acquittal

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Staff Reporter

As Fani Kayode celebrates his court victory today, the EFCC has said it will challenge his acquittal by a federal high court..The former aviation minister was discharged and acquitted of laundering almost N100 million while he was the minister of aviation in 2006.The EFCC had filed the suit against him in 2013..Discharging Kayode,Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia said

”It is apparent that the prosecution’s case is feeble and has failed to establish that the accused person paid or accepted cash deposits exceeding the authorised limit and did not do so through a financial institution,” the judge said.
“The prosecution has therefore failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an offence had been committed under Section 15(1) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act (2004).

“I am of the considered view that the accused person, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, ?in the absence of copious evidence connecting him to the offence charged ought to be discharged and acquitted of the two surviving counts of the amended charge and I so hold.?”

The Buhari Shocker By Tony Ademiluyi

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Staff Reporter

It is now no news that twenty-two governors owe outstanding salary arrears. Ever since Buhari upset the apple cart by winning the Presidential elections on March 28, they have all hoped that he would bail them out of their respective mess when he got sworn in.
In his speech on the inauguration of the National Economic Council, he categorically told the beggar governors to source for funds to offset their gargantuan debts through the growth of their internally generated revenues. This was a big blow to their Big Brother bid as they have been told in loud and clear terms to act more responsibly by being more creative and resourceful and not putting the blame of their ineptitude on the door step of the Federal Government’s dwindling revenues.
There must always be a scape goat and in this case Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has become the poster boy of the country among the states owing salary arrears for reasons unknown to many political discerners. Ironically, he learnt at the feet of the great Jagaban as he served him as Commissioner for Works for eight years before ‘hearkening to the call of his people to serve them in the State of the Living Spring.’ Tinubu faced a similar problem at the height of his confrontation with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo over the decision of the former to create an additional thirty-seven local council development areas. For this reason huge amount of allocation due to the state was withheld. Did the Heavens fall? Certainly Not! The Asiwaju got extremely creative and with the aid of the Present Governor Akinwunmi Ambode who was the then state accountant-general devised self-sustaining means to keep the state afloat without making the civil servants bear the brunt through non-payment of salaries.
The excuse of dwindling federal allocation that the former Speaker of the Ibadan Polytechnic Student’s Union Parliament has been giving for his inability to pay salaries is lame and shows lack of foresight and the uncanny ability to think out of the box. The signs of a possible reduction in the revenue from the centre were there as far back as 2013 when there was a slump in the prices of crude oil in the international market which led the National Assembly to adjust the benchmark to meet the new realities on ground. Did that stop Ogbeni from embarking on projects that caught his fancy without taking into critical consideration the paucity of funds and the need for the state to diversify its economic base? How self-sustaining were his so called economic empowerment projects? Did they meet the needs of the state?
The Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) was more like an extension of the National Youth Service Corps as the participants – mostly graduates were engaged by the state to carry out blue collar tasks for a year with the stipend of ten thousand naira being paid to them at the end of the month. It gulped billions of naira. Do you solve poverty by merely throwing money or giving the sufferers fish? Wouldn’t have made more sense to not only teach them how to fish but to create the enabling environment to make them independent for life? The Opon Imo (Knowledge Tablet) which was filled with past questions and answers as launched in Lagos. One why as Osun is not a vassal state of the ‘Centre of Excellence’. The scheme gulped about 9 billion naira which was equivalent to three months allocation. It was originally slated for all students from SS1 to SS 3 but at the end of the day, only the SS2 students got it in a few selected schools. The state is a largely civil service state. How will these students make use of this device when the grueling pang of hunger is now their companion no thanks to the non-payment of the salaries of their parents? Where then is the sustainable development? The Social Democratic Party alleged that the cost of building the new schools was between 750 million and 1 billion naira when it should not have cost more than 250 million naira. These grave allegations are worth thoroughly investigating. The ‘Marxist governor’ promised the people of an agricultural revolution when he assumed office in November 2010. He decried the ugly trend of food commodities from Asia, Burkina Faso and Niger flooding the Nigerian market and promised to not make the state capable of feeding itself but having excess to sell to others. He acknowledged the fact that the food market in Lagos alone was put at 3.6 billion naira on a daily basis at the time. One wonders what happened to this great promise by the governor to make the state an agricultural exportation hub that would have broken the monopoly of oil dependence! If a visionary agricultural policy was vigorously pursued, the civil servants wouldn’t have been turned to mendicants who ironically till the land. One is miffed because the governor has lived in Lagos state long enough and even served in the state executive council and was expected to bring to bear his knowledge and experience to turning the state into another food basket. Alas it was all empty rhetoric and cheap prattle! He acquired a large expanse of land in Atakumosa West Local Government Area to build a 200,000 seater place of worship for Christians. Was it necessary? How will that have aided economic development? Aren’t there more than enough churches in the state?
Many of the governors in the crisis ridden states toed the same path of embarking on projects that didn’t make overall economic sense or just lacked the foresight to diversify their economic base as they thought the goodies will keep on coming from Abuja without the recourse to what the meaning of true federalism stands for.
If they expect bail outs, they should be ready to hand over the reins of governance as they should not be entrusted to manage the funds of the emergency as that will worse than eating their cake and having it.
TONY ADEMILUYI

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

President Buhari And The Cost of Running This Government By Kofoworola Ayodeji

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The highly industrious Baba Yemi wakes up every morning thinking how he will struggle to feed his wife and children to fulfill their usual 0-1-0 pattern of feeding (no breakfast, there might be lunch, no dinner). Meanwhile, the story is not different for the brilliant Chioma who is begging to have a better higher education so that her dreams of a great future could come true, but there are no funds and ‘connection’.
What about the very resourceful Adamu who graduated from the university many years ago with excellent grades but yet to be gainfully employed? (Even though he has fantastic business ideas, there is no capital or leverage to take off and build his desired business outfit). You will agree with me that these depict some of the hardships being faced by tens of millions of Nigerians every day. Poverty at its peak!
It could have been understandable if the people we (including Baba Yemi, Chioma and Adamu) voted into power to manage our resources on our behalf do so judiciously and live a modest lifestyle. But that’s not the case! The total amount spent on the emolument of public officials in Nigeria is enough to bring millions of Nigerians out of abject poverty. According to media reports, Nigerian Air Force aircraft is the third largest in the country after Aero Contractors with 14 and Arik Air which is the largest commercial airline in Nigeria with a fleet of 23 aircraft. You know it is actually very shocking to grab the fact that the Presidential Air Fleet has over e-l-e-v-e-n aircraft. If I may ask just like every other Nigerian, “Can the president, his Vice, Senate President or Speaker of the House board more than one plane at a time. Obviously, that’s not possible! Then why spend over #12 billion every year to maintain such a huge ‘burden’?
It’s on record that the British prime minister of United Kingdom has no presidential aircraft. Instead, members of the British government charter the British Airways or Virgin Atlantic most times. It’s the same for the president, prime minister and government officials of Singapore and Chief Executive of Honk Kong who mostly travel on regular scheduled commercial airlines. The presidential fleets of countries like India, South Korea have four aircraft while that of Canada and South Africa operate five. The government of Tunisia has two aircraft in the presidential fleet and it’s interesting to note that they are reportedly trying to sell both. We are eagerly waiting to see Nigeria follow the path of Tunisia and have the Presidential Air Fleet reduced reasonably.
Having talked about that, let’s take a look at the cost of maintaining the overwhelming political and public officials in the country. Federal Lawmakers (Senators and House of Representatives Members), Ministers and Presidential Aides receive huge amount of emoluments. It’s also strange that they collect several allowances that are six times more than their basic salaries. We learnt from Elementary Mathematics that 100% is absolute i.e. no percentage is higher than 100. But to my utmost surprise, Nigerian public officials collect some allowances that are as high as 200% to 300% of their basic salaries. Isn’t that a clear abracadabra?!
According to www.punchng.com/news/ministers-aides-allowances-surpass-basic-pay-six-times “each minister and presidential aide is entitled to 15 types of allowances. The annual allowances of each minister that monetized are #12,678,764 as against an annual salary of #2,026,400 while monetized allowances of each presidential aide is #12,142,968.75 as against an annual salary of #1,942,875.”
To further add salt to this deep wound, Nigeria has an unnecessarily large number of ministers and ministries. Previous governments, starting from 1999, appointed 42 ministers- picking one from each of the six geo-political zones in addition to one from each of the 36 states of the federation. As it stands, 28 ministries and 542 agencies are being sustained by the Federal Government.
A staggering revelation was made by the report of Ahmed Joda-led transition committee of the All Progressives Party (APC). As made available by www.thecable.ng/exclusive-joda-committee-asks-buhari-appoint-19-senior-ministers, the report posited: “There is no direct relationship between the number of ministries and efficacy of service delivery. The US with a population of 316 million and with GDP of $17,328 trillion (30 times Nigeria’s GDP) has 15 ministries. India has 24 ministries, while the UK has 17.” Just imagine that!
It is very funny and pathetic that a country like Nigeria which is still struggling to stabilize her democracy is spending such a huge amount of money on public officials even more than the United States and United Kingdom. Na wa oooo!
Like many other well meaning Nigerians, I expect President Buhari to reduce the number of aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet; reduce the allowances of ministers and presidential aides; review and implement the committee reports of Ahmed Joda (which suggested that federal ministries should be reduced to 19) and Stephen Oronsaye (which gave recommendations on civil service reforms) as soon as possible.
To our amiable president, we are eagerly waiting for all these reforms so that Nigeria can once again begin to rise. Once this is done, we would believe that the #Change we voted for is indeed on the way. No more, no less. God bless Nigeria abundantly!

Kofoworola Ayodeji is a Writer and Transformational Speaker that’s passionately involved in nation building of the Nigerian state.
Kennydamola@yahoo.com
Get Enlightened and Inspired, visit my page everyday www.facebook.com/Kofoworolaak
@Generalkopho

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

President Muhammadu Buhari One Month Later: “Sai Change” Or “Sai Patience” By Omonile Olasunkanmi

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari’s days in office so far has been everything short of the fanfare, glitz and glamour with which Nigerians welcomed his emergence as the new commander- in-chief. Buhari’s journey to Aso Rock broke many records which are not unknown to majority of the Nigerian populace. Worth mentioning amongst them are; first opposition candidate to gain more popularity and acceptance than the incumbent, he was the man that led an opposition party from a simple minority, confined to a geo-political zone to a nationally acclaimed majority, he was also the first to be on the receiving end of a conceding phone call in a presidential race in this country! The “change” mantra of his party resonated amongst Nigerians so much so that all you needed to win was to place a picture of Buhari alongside yours on your campaign poster. In Niger state for example, the now minority People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was so knocked out an incumbent senator was said to have fainted on learning not just that she won’t be returning to the red chamber of the national assembly but the ridiculous margin with which she was defeated. The governor who was vying for a senate seat and his anointed gubernatorial candidate were also dished the same meal, cold!
Nigerians hoped president Buhari would carry his record breaking charade to the seat of power and for the first time be a president that will do the job he was elected for – serve the people- but his attitude and “body language” in the last 30 days are pouring cold water on whatever hope there might be that our dear nation will thrive under his watch. The faith in Buhari before May 29 could move mountains but what’s left of it these days is struggling to move morsel s of amala even for the hardest of workers especially in states such as Osun, Imo, Kogi etc
One month is of course too early to completely write off a man who is expected to last 48 but the early signs are nothing close to encouraging. Baba’s biggest achievements so far have been moving the military command centre to Maiduguri which is looking like the biggest motivation Shekau and his blood suckers ever got considering the bombing spree the news was greeted with, getting loads of promises from “President Mitchell of West Germany (whoever that is), dissolving a nonexistent NNPC board and constituting a 4-man committee made of governors to investigate an allegation of financial misappropriation when we have relevant agencies like the EFCC, ICPC, police etc. sounds military style to me.
The constant whining about how much, when and where Goodluck Jonathan’s administration looted is becoming boring and an unnecessary distraction that Baba has no plan whatsoever on which direction the nation should go. Even Steve Wonder can see the country is in a bad shape and Jonathan contributed largely to that.
President Buhari should as a matter of urgency determine whether or not he wants to probe previous administrations and empower the relevant agencies to take care of that. He must tackle boko haram within the next month as promised, help fix the power sector while looking for other sustainable means of revenue generation to the government’s purse. Enough of petty excuses and cheap propaganda of whether or not he ordered the sale of jets or called for his in-laws arrest. Those won’t get us anywhere.
GOD bless Nigeria!

Omonile Olasunkanmi 
(@sunkytemmy)

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Lai Mohammed Defends Buhari’s Govt

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Pres. Buhari: Tackling insecurity, corruption and restoring Nigeria’s respect
Being the text of a media parley hosted by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos on Tuesday, June 30th, 2015

Good afternoon gentlemen.

I have arranged this interaction to rub minds with you, as always, on the situation of things in our country, top of which are the efforts being made by President Muhammadu Buhari to chart a new path for our dear country, Nigeria.

It’s been about one month now since President Buhari assumed office, and I can tell you that there has been motion, and there has been movement, contrary to what is being peddled in some quarters.

Let me say straight away that my party, the APC, understands and appreciates the concerns of Nigerians as far as the perceived pace of the administration is concerned. We understand that they repose so much confidence in the party and the government to act quickly to stamp out insecurity, tackle corruption, revive the moribund economy, provide jobs and generally restore hope.

Justifiably, the expectations are high and urgent, and the Buhari administration has started addressing them, despite the enormous challenges that it faces, including an empty treasury and an economy that has virtually collapsed.

While Nigerians are right to demand quick and sustained action in addressing these challenges – and honestly we make no excuses – it is important for us to put things in perspective for a better understanding.

The Buhari administration got the handover notes from the former government just four days before the inauguration, hampering its efforts to have a clear understanding of the situation on the ground before taking the necessary measures to address it. If any disease is not appropriately diagnosed, it cannot be effectively treated. Any government that is truly desirous of bringing about real change will not act hastily and without the necessary understanding of what is on ground. Coupled with the delay in getting the much-needed information, that takes time.

Recall that when we raised the alarm over the delay in getting the handover notes, the former government even accused us of seeking to form a parallel government!

Secondly, Nigeria has never before witnessed this kind of transition. What the country has been accustomed to is transition from one government to another under the same ruling party, not from the ruling party to the opposition as we have now. The implication is that this is a new learning curve, with its attendant hiccups.

Thirdly, never before has the ship of Nigerian state been steered aground as we have it now. Never before have Nigerians been this expectant from any leader or any government. These are all the more reasons to get things right, once and for all, so we won’t need to continue with the vicious cycle of hopes raised and dashed!

Even with these challenges, gentlemen, the Buhari Administration has availed itself creditably within one month of assuming office.

Tackling insecurity and fight against terrorism
This is one area in which the Buhari Administration has hit the ground running. The President had hardly been sworn into office than he embarked on a shuttle diplomacy to rally Nigeria’s neighbours to act as a common front against the terror group Boko Haram. The President travelled to Chad and Niger, and then hosted a summit of the Lake Chad Basin Commission that comprised Cameroon, Chad and Niger, with Benin also invited.

The result is the decision to deploy the Multi National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), with headquarters in N’Djamena, Chad, on July 30th to pep up the fight against Boko Haram! This is the same force that the past administration could not get off the ground in six years! That’s what we meant when we said what the Jonathan Administration could not do in six years, the Buhari Administration has done in three weeks, not minding that some mischievous elements decided to quote us out of context.

President Buhari has also rallied the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to work with Nigeria in battling the Boko Haram insurgency. A joint summit of leaders of both economic blocs is to be held shortly to concretise these efforts that will complement the one by Nigeria and its neighbours.

Outside our sub-region, the President travelled to Germany to meet with G7 leaders to present to them a wish list that included getting their support for the battle against Boko Haram. The leaders of the countries affected by the Boko Haram insurgency have compiled their requirements which are being forwarded to the G7 for appropriate action.

While waiting for that, the US has announced a 5-million-dollar assistance for the fight against the terrorists who have been ravaging our country and our sub-region. Added to the relocation by the Nigerian military of the command centre to Maiduguri, these are no mean achievements.

Only a few weeks back, Nigeria could not enlist the support of any Western nation in the fight against Boko Haram, could not get the military hardware needed to pep up the fight and had to resort to using mercenaries to confront the bandits, even though the country boasts of a military that has been globally acknowledged for helping to restore peace to many countries around the world.

The fight against corruption
The fight against corruption ranks very high on the list of the Buhari Administration’s priorities, and justifiably so. The refrain, ‘If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria,’ is now commonplace, and it is a truism. Nothing, not even the fight against terror, can succeed without putting an end to the kind of prodigious and sickening corruption being witnessed in these climes.

That is why the President also included it on the wish list he took to Germany during the last G7 summit. Thankfully, some Western nations have now assured the Buhari Administration of all possible assistance in its efforts to recover the billions of Naira that was spirited away from the public till by public officers who abused their office during the immediate past administration.

Only yesterday, it was revealed that the President has ordered revenue-generating agencies, including the NNPC, FIRS, Customs and NPA, to close all Illegal Revenue Accounts and to also remit all funds generated to the Federation Account. This is a momentous step considering that those illegal accounts are being used to siphon public funds.

Thanks to the painstaking efforts of President Buhari, Nigerians now know that out of 8.1 trillion Naira generated by the NNPC in three years, 3.8 trillion Naira was not remitted to the Federation Account. Nigerians now know that the cash in the Excess Crude Account has been depleted by 2 billion dollars without explanation. A panel of four governors has been set up to investigate what happened to the money that was not remitted to the Federation Account. The rot met by the Buhari Administration is sickening, and the President is working hard to plug all loopholes for siphoning public funds, in addition to recovering looted public funds.

This is just the beginning of the fight against corruption. Nigerians should grab a front row seat so they can watch clearly as events unfold in the ring of anti-corruption fight in the days ahead. It will no longer be business as usual as the Buhari Administration seeks to make sure that every kobo of national funds is spent for the benefit of Nigerians, not to fill the deep pockets of a few fat cats.

Bringing Nigeria back to the comity of respected nations
Since President Buhari’s election on March 28th, 2015, Nigeria has been moving fast to regain its deserved place in the comity of respected nations. Leaders who once shunned Nigeria have been inviting, in droves, President Buhari to visit their countries. The latest is US President Barack Obama, who will play host to our President at the White House on July 20th.

There is no better indication of how much Nigeria is regaining its lost glory than the recent election of former Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina as the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Recall that Nigeria has never before led the continental bank, despite its front-line role there. In backing and campaigning for Dr. Adesina, President Buhari put his acclaimed sterling qualities to a global test, and he passed in flying colours. Adesina’s election is a testimony to the perception of Nigeria under President Buhari’s leadership.

The Buhari effect
Gentlemen, the mere fact that President Buhari, a man of impeccable pedigree, an incorruptible personality, has taken over the mantle of leadership has spurred Nigerians to dream again, put public servants on their toes, forced many looters to start disgorging some of their loots even without prompting, and fired the zeal of many public enterprises to deliver better services.

Conclusion
Despite the laudable achievements of the Buhari Administration within the past few weeks of its coming into being, Nigerians are right to demand even a faster pace. Nigerians are right to ask that a government be quickly put in place. Nigerians are right to demand that looters be exposed and brought to justice. Nigeria is long suffering, and our compatriots can’t wait for a paradigm shift in the way we do things.

Nigerians are right and justified in their expectations. All we ask for is a little more patience, a little more understanding and continuous support for the Buhari Administration.

We in the APC hereby assure our compatriots, who have expressed their concerns in recent times, that there is no cause for alarm. The Buhari Administration is willing, determined and able to effect the change that Nigerians voted for, despite the initial challenges. No one, not even the reactionary forces that are rampaging now, can sabotage our party’s change mantra. Welcome to a new Nigeria!

El Rufai, Three Others To Probe How NNPC Blew N3.8tr

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

How did theNigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) spend N3.8 trillion in three years?

This is the puzzle a four-man committee has been asked to resolve.

The four “wise men” are: Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna).

Oshiomhole yesterday broke the news to State House correspondents after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He was accompanied by the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari, Kaduna State El-Rufai and Emmanuel.

According to him, from the reports presented to NEC by NNPC and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation on Monday, N8.1 trillion generated from oil sales during the period ought to have been remitted to the Federation account.

Only N4.3 trillion was remitted to the Federation Account by NNPC, Oshiomhole said.

He also disclosed that former Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $2.1 billion from the Excess Crude Account without approval between November last year and May 2015.

His words: “This is the first time we had a National Economic Council meeting in which under the instructions of the President, NNPC and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation were compelled to provide information in black and white on issues as they relate to the total sales of Nigeria crude from 2012 to May 2015. This has never happened before and for us this is profound.

“What we saw from those numbers, which I believe Nigerians are entitled to know, is that whereas the NNPC claimed to have earned about N8.1 trillion, what NNPC paid into the Federation Account between 2012 and May 2015 was N4.3 trillion and NNPC withheld and spent N3.8 trillion.

“We are talking about transparency, we are talking about change. And what we saw from those numbers – I believe that Nigerians are entitled to know – is that whereas the NNPC claimed to have earned N8.1 trillion, what NNPC paid into the federation acount from 2012 to May 2015 was N4.3 trillion.”

“What it means is that NNPC withheld and spent N3.8 trillion. The major revelation here is that the entire federation — the federal government, the states and all the 774 local governments— the amount the NNPC paid into the federation account for distribution to these three tiers of government came to N4.3 trillion and NNPC alone took and spent N3.8 trillion.”

He added: “Which means the cost of running NNPC is much more than the cost of running the Federal Government. That tells you how much is missing, what is mismanaged, what is stolen; these are huge figures.

“We need to earn and spend; it is basic law of accounting that even if you run a cigarette shop where you sell Three-Rings, you don’t sell and spend. You sell, take to your bank account, and you budget for your procurement including cost of running your business.

“There is no enterprise manager who goes to the market and sells and just begins to spend, otherwise nobody needs to budget. And because you are running a democracy and you are running three tiers of government, and the resources involved belong to these three tiers of government, the only lawful way decreed by the constitution, this is not an administrative regulation; it is not a policy derivable from a circular; this is from the express letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution as amended that for example if NNPC needs to spend money, it is obliged to prepare its budget’ like every other business enterprise, that budget will be scrutinised by the executive and forwarded to the National Assembly and the National Assembly will accordingly appropriate it.”

He faulted the NNPC for spending without appropriation.

He said: “If the Federal Government cannot spend without appropriation, why should any agency spend without appropriation? NIMASA, for example, whatever they earned they are supposed to pay into the federation account and also present the budget of their requirement.

“This is what the constitution provides for. And this is what President Buhari has promised to do that henceforth all monies must go to the Federation Account. What you need, you budget for. Nigeria cannot continue with you-earn-the-money-and-spend it. Where is transparency? Where is the role of the National Assembly?”

“So, if you were doing that you won’t have a situation where the NNPC alone will spend N3.8 trillion and remit to the federal, states and local governments N4.3 trillion which means NNPC is taking about 47 per cent and that explains all the leakages you are talking about.”

Oshiomhole went on: “Let us also be clear; nobody says that parastatals should not spend money but they must return to budgetting. There is no major player, there is no major registered private company that will spend money without a budget. Even a private company you will have your board of directors looking at your revenue, total sales, your turnover, your personnel cost, running cost, visible and invisible and you have the budget for the year that is how every sensible business runs.

“That is the way it was when President Buhari was Minister of Petroleum, so we are not reinventing the wheel; that is the way it used to be and that is the way the constitution says it should be.”

On the money spent by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala from the Excess Crude Account, Oshiomhole said that the Accountant General’s Office reported to NEC that the balance in the account as at the end of May was $2.1 billion instead of $4.1 billion left in the account in November, 2014.

He said: “We looked at the numbers for the Excess Crude Account, the last time the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy reported to the Council and it is in the minutes, she reported by November 2014, that we had $4.1 billion but today the Accountant General Office reported we have $2.0 billion, which means the Honourable Minister spent $2.1billion without authority of the NEC.

“And that money was not distributed to states it was not paid to the three tiers of government. This is why the NEC has set up a panel to look at what accrued, what it was spent on, when and by whom, so that Nigerians will have the full picture of all the transactions as regards the much talked about excess crude.”

Yari said NEC constituted a four-man panel to examine the accounts.

He said: “The 58th NEC? received the briefing from the director of funds where the state of the economy has been discussed thoroughly. We have gotten the report from the excess crude; what is there and what is not there. And also the Council got the briefing on the unremitted funds by NNPC.

On that line, a four-man committee – Edo, Gombe, Kaduna Akwa Ibom – was constituted to go through the books of NNPC and Excess Crude as well as the Federation Account.”

“The four-man committee will check the books of NNPC, most especially the issue of excess crude and what is not remitted into the Federation Account.”

“The Federal Government, in conjunction with the CBN, will look inwards to see how to support, how much they will give to states especially in the issue of outstanding salaries owed by the states and even the Federal Government.” he said

El-Rufai disclosed that the Excess Crude Account was started by former President Olusegun Obasanjo around 2004-2005 as an administrative arrangement to save for the rainy day.

He said: “And it was meant to have very clear accountability, such that every state and local government, in a particular state, knows their balance in the Excess Crude Account, though you can’t spend it but you know how much of it is yours. That was the arrangement.

“And in those days, before we spend any money from the Excess Crude Account, the federal and states governments will meet and agree. That is how we agreed to build the seven power stations which is NIPP today; it was from Excess Crude Account. And also met and agreed to build the Lagos – Kano Standard Guage Rail Line from the Excess Crude Account.

“But what we have seen, in the last few months or years is that the Excess Crude Account was operated unilaterally by the federal government; drawings were made unilaterally without consulting those that actually own the money because the Excess Crude Account is 52 percent owned by the Federal Government and 48 by the states and Local Governments.

“So the decision of the NEC is to set up this committee of four to look at the operations of the Excess Crude Account and make recommendation to council on its future.

“The other thing the committee will do is to look at the operations of the Federation Account, particularly the shortfall and again come back to council with very clear recommendations as to what to do.”

“We have not been given a time-frame but as you can imagine state governments are under pressure. Many of our state governments are unable to pay salaries on time without recourse to borrowing, so this is very important to us. This is an all-governors committee, we wear the shoes we know where it pinches. So, we are are going to do this as quickly as possible.

“The next meeting of the council is on July 23rd, we hope to complete our work and be in position to report to council on that day. So, within the next one month we will be done by God’s grace,” El-Rufai said.

Source – thenationonlineng.net

Buhari Orders All State Governors To Settle Unpaid Salaries Of Workers In Their States

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

While inaugurating the National Economic Council in the Abuja earlier today, President Buhari charged all the state governors present at the meeting to endeavour to settle the unpaid salaries of civil servants in their states. He asked the state governors to look inwards and find more ways to increase their Internally Generated Revenue…

Cleaning PDP’s Mess Requires Painstaking Planning – Presidency

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Presidency has reacted to PDP’s statement that the last 30 days under President Muhammadu Buhari for Nigeria has been a period of all motion and no movement.

In a new statement made available to journalists today, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said cleaning the mess left behind by the Peoples Democratic Party, especially the immediate past administration, requires scrupulous and painstaking planning.

That across all sectors, national life was devalued under the PDP and it would take meticulousness

and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. Adesina said:

“The Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was absolutely no
rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in the immediate past dispensation. That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning.

Across all sectors, our national life was devalued, and it takes meticulousness and sure-footedness to repair all the breaches. This, the Buhari administration will deliver.”

He also described the PDP’s 30 days appraisal of the Buhari administration as amusing.

Adesina said while the party wanted Nigerians to join hands in prayers for the government so that things would begin to move, it did not know that Nigerians had long formed such coalition.

He said Nigerians were hand in hand, and that was what gave victory to Buhari in the March 28, 2015 poll.

He said they had teamed up to uproot an administration that had brought the country to her knees, and was about to tip her off the precipice, adding that they also resolved that never would they allow any government to divide them along regional, religious and ethnic fault lines again.

The presidential spokesman also described as “déjà vu,” a situation where Metuh claimed that people around the President were conniving with bureaucrats to syphon money from the treasury.

He said such situation was the pastime of the immediate past administration.

He added that the enormity of the sleaze will be evident when stolen money, to the tune of billions of dollars, is recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon.

“In the process of time, after all that is being planned by the current administration has matured, and bearing fruits, Nigerians will be able to determine who is serving them acceptably, and who has taken them for a ride. It is just a matter of time.

Meanwhile, Metuh and his masters can only rue the missed opportunities to make salutary impact on the lives of Nigerians. They have a long road of regrets to travel,” Adesina concluded.

Buhari Vows To Expose Jonathan

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday vowed to expose the gross fraud perpetrated under former President Goodluck Jonathan administration to the whole world to see.

Buhari, who was responding to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appraisal of his administration, said Jonathan and his aides will be exposed when the loots they stole are recovered, and returned to the national treasury soon.

The President made this known in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina. Buhari noted that a month after he assumed office, he was still clearing the rots created by the PDP, especially during Jonathan’s government.

He lambasted the PDP and Jonathan for running the country the way they did.

Read More: DailyTrust

Sack Jonathan’s Last Minutes Appointees, Review Contracts Of Last 18 Months, Joda Committee Tells Buhari

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

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The Ahmed Joda transition committee has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately terminate all dubious appointments made by former President Goodluck Jonathan in the last nine months, and review all contracts awarded by the administration in the last 18 months.

The committee said this is to help the new government sidestep ineptitude and waste, and scale up its revenue base.

The recommendations are part of a portfolio of swift steps Mr. Buhari must take within three months of assumption of power if he must save cost and “enhance liquidity”, the committee said in its 800-page report to the president.

A news agency obtained volumes of the report, which contain extensive analyses of Nigeria’s key challenges, with suggested responses for the economy and finance, governance and social welfare.

The report details a list of prompt, medium and long term decisions Mr. Buhari must take, or authorize, within 30, 45, 60 and 90 days of taking office, to create immediate impact, reduce government liability, increase revenue and stabilize the polity.

Read More: premiumtimesng

Rivers APC Backs Buhari To Recover Stolen Funds, Calls For Wike’s Probe

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has thrown its weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari in his bid to investigate and recover the billions of naira looted by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

“We received with great joy news of the resolution by President Buhari to go after those who stole Nigeria blind and virtually grounded the country’s economy. For six years we shouted ourselves hoarse that Jonathan’s administration was the most corrupt in the history of this nation and sadly nobody believed us but the recent revelations have proved us right. If not by the grace of God and the resolve of Nigerians to vote out that visionless government, the ship of our nation would have been grounded by now,” Rivers APC Chairman, Dr. Davis Ibiamu Ikanya, said.

Ikanya in a statement issued on Sunday in Port Harcourt described the impending recovery of stolen funds and stoppage of systemic leakages as the beginning of the journey towards building the ideal Nigerian nation.

Rivers APC appealed to President Buhari to pay particular attention to “one of the major pipes of corruption of the past administration, namely, Ministry of Education under the watch of Nyesom Wike as the Supervising Minister.”

It called for the Wike years at the Education Ministry to be thoroughly investigated in the following areas:

The N20 billion voted for the purchase of books for Federal Government institutions which was not duly executed as no book was purchased or distributed.

The Almajiri school scheme, the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

The N87 billion approved for the Ministry but not utilised.

The whereabouts of the 15 UBEC Toyota Hilux buses that Chief Wike commandeered for his gubernatorial election campaign, which he has refused to return to the Federal Ministry of Education thereby hampering official activities in the Commission.

The over N180 Billion UBEC funds allegedly looted by Chief Wike and Dame Patience Jonathan through fraudulent contracts for the supply of textbooks to higher institutions. (The textbooks were never supplied.)

The recent fire that razed down only the Basic Education Section of the Ministry of Education building in Abuja containing relevant indicting documents about Wike’s activities while he held sway as the Supervising Minister of Education.

“We should unravel why the fire incident took place and why only this section should be burnt. Was it for the sole purpose of covering up the illegal transactions of the immediate past Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike? The burnt documents included the ones for the contracts Wike awarded to himself and his cronies as a conduit to siphon public funds. We want the Buhari Administration to, as a matter of urgency, look into this now that he wants to recover looted funds,” Rivers APC said.

The party declared that there should be no hiding place for people like Wike who as a minister hired private jets and wasted whopping sums running into billions of naira, living an opulent lifestyle far higher than his legitimate income, all at the expense of tax-paying Nigerians.

“Mr. President should investigate if the looted funds were part of the billions of naira used in purchasing arms given to Rivers State youths with which to kill innocent people in his desperation to capture the Rivers State Government House during the March 28 and April 11 general elections.

APC further said”In any case, we have heard that both the Education and Sports Ministries under the former President Jonathan have already submitted their audited reports to the appropriate authorities and the reports are indicting particularly the Tertiary Fund 2013 Tax which was siphoned through the Central Bank to the tune of N246bn,” Rivers APC said.

According to the party, Wike is the true face of corruption in Nigeria and if his issue is not addressed now he will surely run aground the economy of Rivers State as he has ordered cartons of his breakfast favourite drink (Louis XIII) of which a bottle costs N1.5m.
According to APC “Although Wike has been unjustly declared Governor by Rivers INEC, his immunity does not prevent him from being investigated.

The party passionately appeals to President Muhammadu Buhari to take necessary action to bring this man to book so as to serve as a deterrent to his type in government if he loses at election tribunal.

The party commended the governments of USA and Britain for supporting the APC Government in its efforts to recover Nigeria’s looted funds stashed in foreign banks by agents of wickedness. It pleaded with Nigerians to see reason and support the administration of President Buhari in his efforts to clean the rot.

APC’s Collapse Imminent, Akande Warns Buhari, Governors

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, yesterday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and governors elected on the platform of the APC to settle the differences in the party and save it from imminent collapse.

“What began as political patronages to be shared into APC membership, spreads among ethnic zones, religious faiths and political rankings and experiences have now become so complicated that the sharing has to be done by and among PDP leadership together with cohorts of former new-PDP affiliations in the APC, by and among gangs of past anti-Buhari’s presidency, and certain APC legislators and party members who dance round the crisis arena to pick some crumbs,” Akandee told Vanguard.

The one time governor of Osun State described the crisis within the APC as a conspiracy, stressing; “now that the whole conspiracy has blown open, it is doubtful if the present institutions of party leadership can muster the required capacity to arrest the drift.

“It is my opinion that President Buhari, and the APC governors should now see APC as a wrecking platform that may not be strong enough again to carry them to political victory in 2019 and they should quickly begin a joint damage control effort to reconstruct the party in its claim to bring about the promised change before the party’s shortcomings begin to aggravate the challenges of governance in their hands,” Akande stated.

This Is How Nigerians Can Fix Nigeria By Kofoworola Ayodeji

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Staff Reporter

SHOCKING: “IN 1976, 133 US DOLLAR EXCHANGED FOR 100 NAIRA. TODAY, $133 US IS EQUIVALENT TO #26,467”. CAN NIGERIA RISE AGAIN?
Na we dey do our sef! Could all of our problems simply go away if we decide to embrace love? Kofoworola Ayodeji goes to the past to find the map to the future.

About a year ago, I was talking with a few of my friends who, like me, were members of the Nigerian youth corps rounding off their one year service (NYSC). Our discussion centered exclusively on life after NYSC: labour market and the agony of unemployed youths; the ‘killing’ of potentials in young Nigerians as well as the total loss of National Pride among citizens. “My dad once told me that he enjoyed life to the fullest, with loads of scholarships, as an undergraduate and as a graduate. Getting a place to work was not an issue; the major concern was the best place to work because there were many employment opportunities at that time”, Danbaba, a plump dark-skinned Hausa man who sat across me, said. Because of his story, I decided to research what life might have been like for the Nigerian youth back in the 70s.
Here’s what I found: In the 1970s and early 80s, a student who scored excellent grades in examinations such as The West African Senior School Certificate Examination gained immediate admission into any of the best schools regardless of socioeconomic status; and students travelled overseas only for courses that were not readily available in Nigeria. Nigeria’s Educational institutions were ranked among the best in the world. During the same period, 0.6702 Nigerian Naira was equivalent to 1 US Dollar; the value of Nigeria’s currency was almost twice that of the United States. Nigeria was indeed the predominant African leader, the true Giant of Africa!
Today, things have gone terribly bad: Giving and taking of bribe, Examination malpractice, Corruption. Nigerians are no longer trusted overseas and little wonder we are made to undergo dehumanizing scrutiny before access to certain facilities/entry into many countries. An average Nigerian graduate is not deemed competent in many instances, both within and outside the country. As an advocate of change, I can only say so much about Nigeria’s failing systems but we must answer this: Between the years 1970 and 2000, what happened, what went wrong and how do we get back on track?
This is what I think went wrong. Our society deviated from LOVE allowing Selfishness and Indiscipline to take centre stage. In fact, any problem you see in Nigeria today is an offshoot of these two; Selfishness and Indiscipline. The “ME and MY FAMILY” Syndrome which affects every part of Nigeria today, developed because our parents and leaders were selfish; they had no plan for the future. Now we have a VALUE-less, VIRTUEless mainstream Society with the good people being minority.
The only way out is to reverse the status quo. How? We must replace all forms of Selfishness with Selflessness, Indiscipline with discipline and Hatred with Love and Passion. We must work to change Nigeria’s belief system, one person at a time, and one day at a time. According to the highly sought-after Nigerian Motivational Speaker,Fela Durotoye, “What you believe determines who you become and who you become determines how you behave”. Also,in the words of the legendary Nelson Mandela, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be thought to LOVE, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”
It’s our collective responsibility to rebuild Nigeria. You must first of all teach yourself how to love and how to be selfless, and then you teach your family and finally your community. Once this is done, we will begin to have leaders in every profession and sector. Then, we can elect Nigerians to various public offices based on good antecedents, competence and vision. Nothing moves until you move it so be the change you want to see in Nigeria!
In essence, all of our problems could simply go away if we decide to embrace love and take our destiny into our own hands. God bless our dear nation Nigeria!
Kofoworola Ayodeji is a Writer and Transformational Speaker who is passionately involved in nation building of the Nigerian state.

Get Enlightened and Inspired, visit www.facebook.com/Kofoworolaak everyday.
Follow me @Generalkopho
Kennydamola@yahoo.com

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Oby Ezekwesili Discredits Ex Minister’s Claim That GEJ Left $30bn In Treasury

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The former Minister disagrees with the immediate past Minister/Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission (NPC), Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman who claims former President Jonathan left $30 billion in the national treasury. More of Oby Ezekwesili’s tweets below…

Former Minister Says Buhari Lied About Empty Treasury, Claims Jonathan Left Behind $30billion

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Staff Reporter

A former Deputy Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr. Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari lied for claiming that he inherited an ‘empty treasury’ from the immediate past administration.

Suleiman, who was a federal minister disclosed that the former administration under the leadership of Goodluck Jonathan left behind the sum of US$30billion. The ex-minister strongly warned the Buhari government against accusing Jonathan of milking the nation’s treasury dry.

Suleiman was reacting to a statement credited to President during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, where he was quoted as saying that his government met “virtually an empty treasury.”

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, Sulieman described the claim as “unscientific and unfair”, noting that the immediate past administration “left behind close to US$30billion.”

He said, “Government can’t tell us that there is no Excess Crude Account (ECA), Sovereign Wealth Fund(SWF) or are we saying the Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIR) and related agencies had not in the last one month been generating revenue?

“Until they are able to prove they had no receipts from these government agencies in the last one month before Nigerians can now buy into Mr. President’s claims of an empty treasury.”

Read More: dailypost

Contractor Sues PDP Over Jonathan’s Campaign Debt

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Staff Reporter

An Abuja High Court is set to begin hearing of a case against the Peoples Democratic Party for allegedly refusing to pay debt incurred during the election campaign of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court on Monday assigned the suit to a court in the Kuje area of Abuja.

Listed as defendants in the case are PDP, Director-General of Presidential Campaign Organization, Ahmadu Ali, and the Director of Finance of the Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organization, Nenadi Usman.

The campaign was sued over its alleged refusal to pay for services rendered by a company it engaged to broadcast a campaign message for Mr. Jonathan before the election.

The company, Silon Concepts Limited, alleged that PDP, Messrs Ali and Usman refused to pay an outstanding N70 million balance for a campaign contract awarded it by the PDP campaign.

The company claimed it was engaged to provide voice SMS campaign broadcast of Mr. Jonathan’s campaign message which it sent to eligible voters before the March 28 of the presidential poll.

The company said through its counsel, Festus Keyamo, that the defendants were unwilling to pay the N70m balance of the N100m contract sum, which they committed in writing to pay.

Read More: premiumtimesng

Jonathan Left N7Trillion Liability For Nigeria- Joda Committee

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The transition committee inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan left behind a N7 trillion liability.

The chairman of the committee Ahmed Joda, who made the disclosure, said that figure contradicts claims by officials of the administration that the country’s debt profile stood at N1.3 trillion.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had earlier revealed before the inauguration day that the new government of Muhammadu Buahri would be inheriting a debt of $63 billion.

However, the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, promptly debunked the claims, saying of the $63 billion debt, the administration only incurred $21.8 billion.

Read More: PremiumTimes

“I Will Accept Any Government Appointment From Buhari” – Prof. Attahiru Jega

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Outgoing Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega has expressed his willingness to take up any appointment handed to him in the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to reports, Jega made the revelation on Saturday, June 20, 2015 while fielding questions from a cross section of select young leaders of thought at an event tagged “Afternoon Tea with Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega” held at Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The event, which was anchored by Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, was put together by EbonyLife TV, owned by media mogul, Mo’ Abudu.

When quizzed on his plans after his time at INEC expires, Jega said he would love to return to
lecturing but would take on any job assigned to him as he is willing to “serve the country until he stops breathing.”

When called upon to make an address, Jega said: “I am so thankful to the organisers of this event for this platform. I am very privileged to be called to serve the nation and I did that under strict circumstances. The challenges to keep doing good and living up to the expectations of Nigerians gave me sleepless nights.

“I believed that INEC should contribute to the reform process that has started. We have to do our best for the country. I am urging the young to be very optimistic to survive. They should try to engage themselves in positive development. I am also advising them to do the best they can no matter the circumstances.”
On the last election, Jega said:

“I will also like to commend INEC staff; they worked as a team; during the period of the election everybody was very accountable for hisher responsibility. We had a a lot of meeting during that election period and that actually helped us.”

“But I do not think that the staff were appreciated enough for what they did during the election period. Many people have complained about Zero pulling units. They were those units who because of one technical fault or the other their details were wiped off from the system and as result, they were asked to re-register, we do not intend to disqualify them.”

“We had serious challenge in the production of the PVCs because we do not have companies who can produce that. So we had to partner with some foreign companies. Electricity was also one of the major challenges we had during the election. Adequate time was not also for the registration and educating the staff.””
He also took time to dispel reports that he received death threats and then President Goodluck Jonathan had withdrawn his security aides when the election results’ collation was taking place. He also addressed the rumour peddled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) that he was asked to go on compulsory leave by Jonathan.

He said:

“All those stories were mere rumour, non of my security aides was withdrawn and nobody asked me to go on leave. It is inconsiderable for anybody to think of going on leave at that point in time when there was a lot of work to do. We were very prepared for everything during the election.””
He also availed that the result for about 90% of the polling units around the country were available and online at the INEC official website, adding that the report of the 2015 election would be ready by next week.

His words:

“We have done a lot to reform and strengthen INEC. Coming to the Local Government elections, I think adequate funds should be given to them to enable them run their affairs even in conducting their elections. Their autonomy should be strengthened.”

“I also want to use this opportunity to tell Nigerians that the report for the 2015 elections is in the making and should be out by next week. We have the draft already just to validate that.”

‘Sell Off 11 Presidential Jets’ – Ben Bruce Tells President Buhari

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Senator Ben Bruce says president Buhari should sell off the 11 presidential jets..He says he should take a cue from President Joyce Banda of Malawi who sold off her presidential jet. More tweets below..

Buhari Has Surpassed Jonathan’s Achievements Within Three Weeks- APC

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has responded to a recent statement credited to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, where the opposition party accused it of making mockery of governance with premature celebration of imaginary achievements. The governing party insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari has already surpassed President Goodluck Jonathan’s achievements in the area of fighting insecurity.

National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who made this known in a statement issued yesterday, maintained that President Buhari had done in three weeks what Jonathan could not do in six years.

While noting that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government could not get world powers to help Nigeria in fighting terrorism, he assured that the Buhari administration would wipe out terrorism within a short time.

Read More: dailypost

Old Age will Limit My Performance – President Buhari

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari has admitted that his age would limit his performance as the President of Nigeria.
Come December 17, 2015, Buhari, who was a military governor at 33 and Head of State at the age of 40, will turn 73. He now says he would have loved being a President when he was at a younger age.

Speaking with Nigerians resident in South Africa on Monday after taking part in the 25th assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Johannesburg, Mr. President said:

“I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.”

Despite his advancement in age however, Buhari gave assurance that his administration would make a difference. That what brought him to his current position was his love for the country. The President promised that his administration would “kill” corruption before it wrecks the nation.

“Our government is determined to secure the country, manage the economy, create employment and fight corruption. Some articulate writers have said if we do not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria. This APC administration intends to kill corruption in Nigeria. We will do our best, I assure you,” Buhari stated.

Why Jonathan Deserves Nobel Peace Prize- GEJ’s Former Special Assistant

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Mr. Jude Imagwe, a former Special Assistant to President Jonathan Goodluck Jonathan on Youths, said yesterday that his former boss deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for accepting defeat in the last presidential elections.

According to Imagwe, “If not for his calm attitude and his not being crazy for power, Nigeria would have been burning today. The people must not forget the sacrifice made by this man to save Nigeria.”

He lampooned the forrmer Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, who recently said that conceding defeat by the former President should not be seen as an achievement, therefore, suggested that the former President should not be given a hero’s status.

Imagwe, who spoke to newsmen in Benin City, shortly after a thanksgiving service for a successful tenure, at the Saint John Vianney Catholic Church, stressed that Jonathan’s singular act disappointed doomsday prophets, who had predicted that the country would be plunged into bloodshed after the 2015 general elections.

Credit: vanguardngr

Like Jonathan, Buhari Has No Political Backbone- Odia Ofemium

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Renowned poet, novelist and social critic, Odia Ofeimun expresses his worries about the new administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari, and suggests ways to move the country forward. Ofeimun also worked as private secretary to the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo before his death. Excerpts:

Expectations?

President Muhammadu Buhari wishes to fight corruption, uphold national security and run an efficient government.

Let me be straight out with it: How successful he can get depends on how willing he is to move away from the Greek gifts he is being promised by our so called foreign friends who know but won’t tell that we have all these problems of corruption insecurity and inefficiency in government because Nigeria has not restructured in favour of a common morality for all Nigerians.

Only a restructured Nigeria can stand up to foreign wheelers and dealers. Restructuring is not only about North and South struggles. Although it is part of it. It is about national strategy and grand policy making. Let Muhammadu Buhari join Goodluck Jonathan in rejecting the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA, and continue to reject foreign soldiers stamping on West African soil, and refuse the wayo Western solution to malaria scourge that Goodluck sidestepped to the annoyance of so called Western friends.

And then insist, as no Nigerian government has dared since SAP, on building proper factories to stop the influx of goods, essential commodities that glut our spaces. See who will offer to attend his next anniversary. And that will tell who Nigeria’s friends are.

Worries about Buhari’s administration

I want to hope that President Buhari wont buy the hash which says that in an emergency, such as we are in, you must leave all control to market forces that are usually blind but controlled by identifiable levers.So, to make a clean breast of it, I have worries about, not expectations from, President Muhammadu Buhari. My worries stem from knowing what he must confront as other Nigerian Presidents before him and as he himself did in his first coming. Near certainty is that, one of these days, he will go to Davos as Mandela did and they will give him scientific reasons why he must stop being so passionate about a Freedom Charter or call it a development charter for his country. Davos wanted a Free South Africa without spine. Apartheid had given white children a special deal. But when Mandela had his time to do it for all South African children black and white, they showed him the beauty of market forces which can only now be justified by the trade imperialism over far and distant neighbours while fuelling xenophobia in those left behind.

The domestic component of such disavowal is to be gleaned from the body language of domestic allies who do not want to have anything to do with political restructuring or who are buying into a crude regionalism that is really another name for co-federalism.

The first thing to note, and quite a pity, is that like Goodluck Jonathan, Buhari has no serious political party. Just a rabble with ill – digested political slogans. So if he is determined he will have to learn to work truly outside the box.

Read More: vanguardngr

Last Minute Cashing Out: BPP Awarded N190 Billion Contract On May 28, 2015

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Few days to handover…BPP approved N190bn contracts

The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) gave clearance to ministries to award contracts worth N190 billion in the dying days of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, Daily Trust investigations reveal.

Some of the certificates were issued on May 28, less than 24 hours before the President’s tenure expired, according to official documents seen by Daily Trust.
The contract clearing house gave the no objection certificates for the award of multiple contracts in last minute deals covering power (N19bn), aviation (N1.7bn), Federal Capital Territory Authority [FCTA, (N61bn)], works (N2.9bn) and water resources (N106bn) ministries.
The BPP issued a certificate of no objection to the Ministry of Water Resources for a N106 billion contract for the construction of a dam in Taraba state. The ministry was further asked to seek final approvals from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) which is chaired by president.
The FCTA got approval for N61bn job for the provision of infrastructure in Jahi district and also sewage disposal services for the six area councils in Abuja (N1bn).
Spokesman Mr. Thomas Odemwingie said the bureau did not deviate from its mandate as it only reviewed to determine if the conditions for the award of the no objection certificate had been met.
In a telephone interview, he said the “BPP conducted its activities in accordance with its mandate. The period under review, the staff members were earning their salaries and whatever was done was within its mandate.”
According to the BPP approval threshold published in its website, contracts for Consultancy Services and Non-Consultancy Services worth over N100 million must get the final clearance of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by the president.
For projects worth N1billion and above they must pass through FEC. However, the bureau gave a no objection certificate of a contract worth N2.2 billion to Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) in favour of Messrs Steag Encotec Ltd without asking them to get FEC for approval.
The clearance which was given on May 28, about 24 hours to the expiration of the Jonathan administration is for the extension of project consultancy services for Calabar, Egbama, Gbarain and Omoku power plants. The last FEC held by the Jonathan’s government took place on May 27.
Director General of BPP, Engr. Emeka Eze and one Engr. Babatunde Kuye signed all the approval saying; “Having examined your request and all the documents forwarded confirm that the project has satisfied all due process requirements for issuance of a certificate of “No objection” for the award of the contract.
Engr. Ezeh has been the Director General of the bureau since July 27, 2007 when he was appointed by late president Musa Yar’adua and later confirmed on January 27, 2009.
On May 28, the BPP gave the NDPHC a similar certificate to award contract for “project consultancy services for high voltage transmission lines and substations PC LOT 17, to Messrs Elens Konsult/TAP. The project is expected to cost £2.2 million (N669 million) plus N199 million in local currency.
On the same day, the bureau gave the approval to NDPHC to award contract of £1.6 million (N486 million) plus N294 million to the same company, Messrs Elens Konsult/TAP.
The project was for consultancy services for high voltage transmission lines and sub-stations PC: 15 and 22.
And on May 27, about 72 hours to the end of the Jonathan administration, the BPP also approved €2.2 million (N484 million) plus N153 million to Messrs GOPA International Energy Consultants GmbH. The contract was for project consultancy services for High Voltage Transmission Lines and Sub-stations PC: Lot 5 (T).
Still on the 27th, the NDPHC got approval for the award of $2.5 million (N490 million) plus N655 million. The company was given the approval to award the contract to Joint Venture of Messrs Oska-Jo & Partners Ltd and URS, for consultancy services for High Voltage Transmission Lines and Sub-stations PC: Lot 21-1 & 21-2.
Another contract was also approved for the same company on the same day. The contract which is worth $2.6 million (N600million) plus N713 million is for consultancy services for high voltage transmission Lines and sub-stations PC: LOT 19.
Similarly, another contract for $22 million (N4.3 billion) plus N2 billion was approved for award on the same day.
Daily Trust investigation showed that the contract was to be awarded to Messrs News Engineering Nigeria Ltd, for the completion of Lot 7 132/ 33 KV substation (Awka, 132/33 KV sub-station extension Alausa, 132 Kv Dc transmission Line Alausa-Oke and 132 Quadruple and double circuit from Oke Aro 330/132/33KV substation to Towers No 68 and 43 of the Existing Ikeja West-Oworonshoki 132 TX lines.
Documents available also showed that on May 26, approval was given to the Ministry of Aviation for the award of N1.2 billion contract.
The contract was in favour of Messrs Dari Investment Limited for the upgrade and rehabilitation of Kaduna International Airport. Still on May 26, the bureau gave the same ministry approval to award a contract worth N3 billion to Messrs Interbau Construction Limited, for the upgrade and rehabilitation of Terminal Building at the Port-Harcourt Airport.
On May 19, the BPP cleared request by the Federal Capital Territory Administration for a contract worth N1 billion but asked it to seek FEC approval. The contract was for provision of solid waste collection and management services in six area councils.
Still on May 19, the FCT was cleared to seek approval for a contract worth N60 billion. The contract was to be awarded to Messrs Gilmor Engineering Nig. Ltd, for provision of engineering infrastructure in Jahi District. And on May 21, the bureau gave the ministry of Water Resources clearance to seek FEC approval for a N106 billion contract for the construction of a dam in Taraba State.
On May 7, the ministry of Aviation was asked to proceed to seek FEC approval for a contract of N467 million. The sum was for upgrade and remodelling of infrastructure in four international airports of Enugu, Kano, Abuja and Port-Harcourt. Investigations further showed that on May 15, the ministry of works was cleared for a N2.9 billion. The contract was for the rehabilitation of Osogbo-Ilesha road.

Source – ww.dailytrust.com.ng

Last Minute Cashing Out: BPP Awarded N190 Billion Contract On May 28, 2015

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Few days to handover…BPP approved N190bn contracts

Some of the certificates were issued on May 28, less than 24 hours before the President’s tenure expired, according to official documents seen by Daily Trust.

Power-N19bn,

Buhari To African Leaders: My Efforts To Stop Boko Haram

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, briefed African leaders on his efforts towards combating the Boko Haram insurgency in the country’s North-East even as he challenged them to collectively stop the sordid stories of migrants dying across the Mediterranean Sea.

In an address presented at the opening ceremony of the 25th ordinary session of the African Union, AU, Buhari also paid respect to former President Goodluck Jonathan for helping to avert a crisis in the country by facilitating a smooth transition in power.

Noting the challenge against his administration from Boko Haram and his efforts towards overcoming the threats by the group, he said: “Our continent is currently bedevilled by the twin evils of terrorism and insecurity, poverty, youth unemployment, and underdevelopment.

“The destructive effects of the inhuman and criminal campaigns of the Boko Haram insurgency in
Nigeria and neighbouring countries; the Al-Shabab attacks in East Africa, and the activities of the Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, all bear testimony to a continent under siege.

“I was convinced on my assumption of office that the best approach would be to work within the framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, LCBC, to mmobilizecollective support to fight against Boko Haram. I have in this regard, directed the relocation of Nigeria’s Command Centre to place it closer to the theatre of action.
“At this juncture, let me assure you of the unflinching commitment of Nigeria to the ideals and aspirations of the African Union as explained in the Agenda 2063, which is geared towards ensuring a peaceful, prosperous and integrated Africa in the next 50 years. It is for this reason that Nigeria is fully and irrevocably committed to the ECOWAS vision.

Lauds Jonathan on transition Acknowledging Nigeria’s historic transition and the role played by his predecessor, he said: “The election was also held against the backdrop of the fears and concerns expressed both in Nigeria and among our international friends abroad and partners that the outcome of the election could spell doom for Nigeria. I am glad that even though those fears and concerns were not without basis, the outcome was totally different, to the relief of all of us.

“I cannot fail to acknowledge the very positive role played by my predecessor, H.E. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in averting the feared crisis, and in facilitating the peaceful transition of power between the two parties.

“I also wish to express my deep appreciation to all who honoured us with their presence at my inauguration, and even those, who for unavoidable reasons were unable to attend”.

Again, Buhari Hails Jonathan For Nigeria’s Peaceful Transition

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President Muhammadu Buhari has again acknowledged the role played by former President Goodluck Jonathan in midwifing a peaceful and successful transition programme in the country.

He said this on Sunday in his address to the AU Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“I cannot fail to acknowledge the very positive role played by my predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan, in averting the feared crisis, and in facilitating the peaceful transition of power between the two parties,” he said.

President Buhari said his election had been described as historic.

“I agree that it is indeed historic because for the first time in the practice of democracy in my country, an opposition party has defeated the ruling party in a keenly contested election.

“The election was also held against the backdrop of the fears and concerns expressed both in Nigeria and among our international friends abroad and partners that the outcome of the election could spell doom for Nigeria.

“I am glad that even though those fears and concerns were not without basis, the outcome was totally different, to the relief of all of us,’’ he said.

Mr. Buhari reiterated that the process, which was adjudged as the fairest and most credible in the history of elections in Nigeria, was midwifed by the dogged and sustained determination of the Nigerian people, and their desire to deepen democracy.

He said the people’s quest was amply supported, and even encouraged by the goodwill of friends and partners in the international community.

“I therefore wish to seize this opportunity to convey my very deep appreciation to all those who contributed to the success of that election.

Credit: NAN

The Revealing Things Aisha Buhari Said At The Appreciation Dinner In Aso Villa

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, on Saturday implored politicians who may be picked to work with President Muhammadu Buhari and all his political associates to be careful the way they carry themselves.

She said such people should be wary of the fact that it took her husband 12 years before getting to the position he currently occupies and hence, they should tread with caution.

Mrs. Buhari said this during an “Appreciation Dinner” she hosted in honour of the All Progressives Congress’ women and youths at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

She said, “There was nothing that people did not say about the past administration. It is not former
President Goodluck Jonathan that is not good but the people around him.

“So, the people that are going to be around President Buhari have to be very careful because this election ended peacefully.

“We are praying and hoping that people around him should know that it took him 12 years to get to that position and they must know that they are coming to serve the masses, not General Buhari.

“It is the people that are around him that will determine the political health of our state.”

The President’s wife also promised that the current administration would run an open government.

She said government under her husband would be run differently from what was obtainable under Jonathan when people were allegedly asked to be paying huge amount of money in foreign currency before they could see the President or his wife.

“I will like to inform you that in the past regime, whether it is true or false, only God knows, some people were going round and parading themselves as personal assistants.

“If you wanted to see the President’s wife, you will pay $30,000 or $50,000 and if you are seeing the President, you will pay all that you have saved in your lifetime.

“This will not happen in our regime. Whoever asks you to give a single penny in the name of coming to see the President or his wife is not our (member of) staff. He is not an APC member, it is a lie. Don’t be deceived,” she said.

Taking a look at her husband’s 12-year journey towards returning as President, Mrs. Buhari said her active participation in the last electioneering made the difference.

She said she did not take part in the campaigns of her husband’s first three shots at the Presidency because that was how those who surrounded him at that time wanted it.

This time, she said it was a national leader of the APC and a former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who encouraged her to play an active role.

She also faulted claims that made the rounds ahead of the elections on the alleged gender-insensitivity of her husband, saying they were mere fabrications.

Describing Buhari as the pillar of her success despite the generation gap between the two of them, she said it was the President who encouraged her to go to school.

Mrs. Buhari said, “Many people did not know why I was not appearing for the last three campaigns. I appeared only this time and I think it made a lot of difference. A lot of people said my husband earned four million votes as a result of my campaign.

“We were not sure but with the popularity of my husband, we thought then that he needed female support to cancel all sorts of gender bias people have been attaching to him like that he kept me under a purdah.”

“He had never kept me under a purdah even for a moment since I got married to him…

“My husband is a gender-sensitive human being, having so many girls as his own biological children and then having me as a wife, then you can see the generation gap. He allowed me to go to school. To cut the story short, he is the pillar of my success.”

She thanked Nigerian women and youths for the roles they played towards the success of the last election, saying she was aware of their steadfastness during the electioneering up until the elections proper.

These efforts, she said, contributed significantly to her husband’s success story.

Mrs. Buhari regretted that the number of women that made it to the National Assembly during the current dispensation declined drastically from the number obtainable during the last regime.

She said the current figure was not fair to women and they felt they are not represented.

Mrs. Buhari said something drastic had to be done to address the high rate of divorce in the North, the harrowing experience of widows in the South and the harassment of female students in the nation’s higher institutions.

Earlier, a former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, who was the chairman of the event, had thanked Mrs. Buhari and other women for making his job as the Director-General of the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation easier.

DAAR Communications, The Height Of Slavery : Read The Inside Story From a Heartbroken Staff

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Staff Reporter

So it is no longer News to many Nigerians, that Daar Communications, A Reputable leader in the Media Industry In Africa, That is owned By Former President Goodluck Jonathan Loyalist and Chief Hate Campaign Speech Chairman Raymond Dokpesi hasn’t paid staff and workers for a wholesome 17 months and the stations function daily without hiccups and groanings, because the workers have passion for what they do. But like every human, talent doesn’t pay the bills only bosses pay salaries that pay bills. They have had series of protest in different locations by workers and staff but still no head way from Oga as he is fondly called. Days have become weeks still Raymond Dokpesi has said nothing to the workers of his organization and believe me when i say patience would definitely run out for Staff of AIT and her sister Stations.

Incase You Missed it : DAAR Communications Workers Protest Again Over Unpaid Salaries

Read the account of a Staff of Daar Communications who decided to reach out to www.omojuwa.com with the whole story so the public can know the inhumane treatment that staff and workers of the station that many Nigerians are loyal to go through.

There is groaning, anguish and pain among us. These are results of the insensitivity of DAAR COMM’s management. Many of us are being owed up to 17 months salary, but management seem not to care. Instead, they would rather call for workers to “right-off” arrears.
It is more worrisome, that, Dokpesi, the one now called emeritus chairman is seen donating millions of dollars to some other radio stations that was attacked recently, hosting Jonathan to multi million naira dinner and buying exotic cars for his girlfriends, while his workers languish for lack of payment of salary, their due entitlement after every month.

It is sad that this company never pays his workers at the right time. Everyone is being owed, apart from those in management level who eat fat at the detriment of committed staff, the least three months. This gross insensitivity was the reason AIT’s operational attempt in the USA some years ago failed. They owed the staff they hired in America and the authorities there shut the station down.
This can only happen in Nigeria, where there no serious regulation and monitoring.

WE NEED HELP! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
We are suffering in silence!

We are subjected to rigorous work without the right or adequate resources, it is expected of us to make “sacrifices”, it shouldn’t be like this.
This is slavery. Underpaid, yet the peanut is not released in due time, and compelled to work under excruciating conditions disguised as “sacrifices”.

Another issue is the scam called DAAR COMMS PlC public offer. Many bought shares about 6 years ago. Up till today, no single person, out of the thousands that parted with money has received dividends nor do we hear of annual AGMs.

We can not say all, for they are too many.

We members of staff of DAAR Communications under the aegis of “Enough is Enough Group” wishes to call on relevant authorities, especially President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union to please look into this company that treats its workers as slaves.

Kindly help copy and post this on Facebook, BBM platforms, whatsapp platform until it reaches those who can help us.
God bless Nigerian workers!

“Enough is Enough Group” of DAAR Communications!!!

Rivers State Assembly Approves Wike’s N10bn Loan After Amaechi Allegedly Left Empty Treasury

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Rivers State House of Assembly on Thursday approved a loan of N10 billion requested by the State Governor, Nyesom Wike. The state governor had sent a letter to the House of Assembly asking that he should be granted approval to secure the loan that would be used to fund some major projects in the state.

28 lawmakers voted in favour of the approval.

Speaker of the House, Mr. Ikuinyi Ibani, in his remark, explained that it would be difficult for any government to survive without funds to operate.

Ibani, who pointed that the House would not be involved in frivolous approvals, added that the state legislature would endorse transparent and sincere requests that would benefit the people of the state.

Explaining that the immediate past administration left an empty treasury, the Speaker disclosed that the loan would be taken from Zenith Bank and repaid through Valued Added Tax.

Punch

‘Saraki Wouldn’t Be Senate President Without PDP’s Support’ – Fani Kayode

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former Aviation minister and chairman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Femi Fani Kayode has reacted to senator Bukola Saraki emerging as the 8th Senate president ..He says he wouldn’t have achieved that without PDP’s support..He also says PDP is now on the rise as they hold key positions in the National Assembly.

Man Accuses AIG Joseph Mbu Of Torture, Threat To Life

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Alhaji Suleiman Yerima, a Lagos-based foreign exchange dealer has accused the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Lagos, Joseph Mbu, of directing policemen to torture him over a forex deal that went wrong.

The businessman said Mbu directed policemen from Zone 2 to torture him and one of the ways they tortured him was to dip his face into a bucket of water, a form of torture known as ‘water-boarding’, used to extract confessions from terrorists.

The man who has petitioned president Buhari said he was detained for 80 days by the police after he and a friend were picked up by the EFCC. He said his friend, a man named Uwem Antia was equally tortured and beaten. He claimed in his petition that Antia is lying critically ill in a Lagos hospital following several beatings and torture by the police which included ‘hanging him on a pole like a roasted chicken from 11pm till the early hours of the morning.’

He said, “Over 250 people are in EFCC detention cells; some have stayed for four months, some six months. EFCC did water boarding to me and Antia and it was because a friend reached former IG Suleiman Abba that I was not beaten but my life is in danger, the policemen and EFCC officials are out to kill me.”

Punch reports…

Yerima said that his ordeal began on March 3, 2015, when EFCC operatives phoned him that he was needed at their office in respect of a petition written against him and Antia by one Denis Ale and Mrs. Gladys Aginwa, both of Standard Chartered Bank, Lagos.

The FOREX dealer stated that he visited the EFCC office with Antia in company with his lawyers and was shown the petition, in which Ale alleged that he gave him N120m to source for dollars and that he had not fulfilled the bargain.

Yerima said, “I told the operatives that it was not N120m but N627m which they sent to Uwem Antia’s account with Zenith Bank. Antia, who is the Managing Director of Kafisto Oil and Gas Ltd., was the one that brought the customers to me and my duty was to source for dollars.

“When Mr. Antia confirmed the alert of N627m in his account, I gave them $1m in cash. The next day, Antia gave them the balance of $2.250m and both transactions were properly documented. During our interrogation, Antia supported our statements with documentary proof of evidence and clearly stated in his written and oral statements that I had given him the balance of $2.250m, which he delivered to Denis Ale.”

In spite of Antia’s statement and evidence exonerating him from any wrongful act in the transaction, the businessman said one Mr. Adeola, Head of BFF at the EFCC, still ordered that he and Antia should be detained.

Yerima stated that they were denied bail and access to their families and lawyers by the EFCC Director of Operations, IIiyasu Kwarbai, and that when they challenged the treatment, they were rushed to a magistrate court on March 12, where the commission obtained a detention order for 30 days.

He said, “On the evening of March 13 around 8pm, policemen from Zone 2, led by one DSP Dantoro, came to the EFCC detention facility. Antia was released to the officers on the instruction of Kwarbai and he was handcuffed by the officers and his legs chained.

“The officers started beating him mercilessly in the presence of EFCC officials, the policemen later took him away to their torture chamber at Zone 2 and continued the torture under the directive of Mr. Joseph Mbu and supervised by Dantoro.”

But the EFCC denied detaining Yerima and Antia for extended period of time. The commission’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, who said he was not aware of Yerima’s case, noted that the anti-graft agency did not keep suspects in its custody unnecessarily.

When contacted by Punch, Joseph Mbu could not be reached for comment.

Source: Punch

Reuben Abati Enrols At Oxford University Business School

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former spokesman to immediate past president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Dr. Reuben Abati is currently participating in the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme of the Oxford University’s Said Business School. Abati started the course three days ago, the 7^th of June, 2015 and it will last for 3 weeks. While confirming the news, Abati said;

” I’ve been participating in the Advanced Management and Leadership Programme of the Oxford University’s Said Business School since the 7th of June. I had a great time discussing Nigerian Politics with my boss and former President Jonathan in London over the weekend. Thanks for your encouraging messages and concern. God bless you and Nigeria.”

Governor Wike Recovers Stolen Vehicles From Immediate Past Government Officials In Rivers State

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Newly sworn-in Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike through the State Police has recovered 10 vehicles allegedly stolen by some officials of the immediate past administration. Vehicles recovered are one Coaster bus, two Nissan Urvan buses, two Higer vehicles, one Land Cruiser, one Toyota Hilux Pick-up, one Peugeot 607 Saloon car and two Peugeot 406 cars.

The Governor, who had earlier taken leading Rivers stakeholders around the Government house to see the points where facilities in Government House were either looted or vandalised, said recovering of State properties will be a continuous exercise.

The police also said they acted on information that some suspected vehicles belonging to the Rivers State Government were seen parked in unauthorised yards.

Jonathan’s Men Have Started Returning Stolen Money Secretly – Governor El-Rufai

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Staff Reporter

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The new government of Muhammadu Buhari has started receiving money stolen by the cabinet members of former President Goodluck Jonathan. This was disclosed by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in an interview with the journalists on Monday according to Premium Times.

He said it was true that they have recovered some money from many people who agreed to do so in the interest of Nigeria.

Mr. El-Rufai, who refused to disclose the identity of those returning the money and how much was so far returned, said the action was a welcome development.

He said it was not good for the government that has good intention to expose those who wish to be Good Samaritans and patriotic through their actions.

Btw, he has also reduced Commissioners from 24 to 13 in Kaduna State, stating that it is part of efforts to reduce the cost of governance.

CAN Begs Osun State Churches To Donate Food, Money To Workers Due To Unpaid Salaries

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Christian Association of Nigeria has appealed to church leaders in Osun State to rally food aid and money to assist Osun State civil servants who are going through hardship because of the delay in the payment of their salaries for the past seven months.

The Chairman of CAN in Osun State, Rev. Elisha Ogundiya, said this in an interview with journalists in Osogbo on Tuesday, after the meeting of the executives of CAN in the state.

Ogundiya said that churches should go beyond feeding their congregations with spiritual food, especially at this time but should also rally round to offer them succour.

He said, “I talk about Christians and Muslims and others who are passing through hardship in Osun State because of the non-payment of their salaries for months.

“Workers are passing through hardship and some who have retired have died because of lack of money to take care of themselves. We Christians have to emulate the action of the Good Samaritan in the Bible, who assisted somebody he should not assist ordinarily. So, we should assist our brothers and sisters.

“I urge church leaders and local government chairmen in attendance to go back home, contribute food and other items to assist all these people who are in need.

“To the government, we are appealing to the government to look for whatever means to make life beautiful for these people. We know that the problem is not peculiar to Osun State alone, but this is lingering too much. The state government should do something urgently to put smile on the faces of the workers.”

Source: Punch

Rivers Assembly Declares Local Govt Poll, Conducted By Former Governor Amaechi, Illegal

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Rivers state House of Assembly has paved the way for the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, to dissolve the local government councils reconstituted by the former Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, six days to the end of his tenure.

The assembly, in its sitting on Monday, declared the May 23 council elections in the state illegal and passed a resolution directing the state governor to dissolve the state Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC).

The assembly also directed the governor to sack the state Judicial Service Commission (RSJSC) for its role in the protracted crisis in the state judiciary.

The resolutions came after principal officers of the RSIEC and RSJSC appeared before the
lawmakers following their summons.

Twenty-nine out of the 32 members of the 8th Assembly took the resolution after grilling the officers for hours, about their activities in the commissions.

Speaker of the House, Ikuinyi Ibani, who stated that the assembly would remain “thorough, fair and clear in its proceedings”, divided the House after the submissions of the Leader, Martins Amaewhule, and his deputy, Lolo Denabari, that the officers violated their oaths of office.

Ibani cautioned: “There are certain things you don’t have to let to occur while you hold a position of trust. It is my belief that any decision we take on the floor of this chamber is true and in the best interest of the state. It is not witch-hunting. The documents we have showed a different thing. We must deepen democratic values as lawmakers.

“Going by the resolution of this House, we do resolve that the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, is hereby given the power to remove the members of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission (RSJSC) from office.”

Hundreds Of Corpses Of Boko Haram Victims Reportedly Seen At Gwoza Mountain In Borno State

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Hundreds of bodies of some of the victims of Boko Haram attacks who fled from Gwoza community in Borno state are reportedly decomposing at the mountains that surround Gwoza community. A source who spoke with Sahara Reporters say most of the victims died due to hunger as they could not get food while they took refuge on the mountains during the period Boko Haram took their community hostage.

“Many atrocities were committed by Boko haram insurgents during Boko Haram reign at Gwoza, most of the mountain unburied bodies lying down. Hundreds of corpses are still there. If you go to the these mountains around Gwoza axis you wouldn’t be able to eat meats, sand has eaten some the bodies as many bones dry up due to heat” the source said.

PDP Suspends Two Members For Diverting Jonathan’s Campaign Fund

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The chairman and the secretary of People Democratic Party (PDP) in Shiroro local government area of Niger State, Alhaji Iro Kurebe and Ibrahim Isah respectively, have been suspended by the ward chairmen for allegedly diverting campaign funds for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid.

The 14 PDP ward chairmen of the area accused the two officials of the party of diverting N3 million meant for the presidential campaign in the area for the last general election.

This was contained in a two-page resolution copied to the zonal and state chapters of the party and made available to journalists on Sunday.

Read More: dailypost

See Pastor Kumuyi’s Prophesy On Pres. Buhari And His New Government

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi has assured Nigerians that President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi OsiNbajo will bring about the change they promised Nigerians during their campaigns.

Kumuyi, who spoke with journalists at Kaduna Airport weekend after presiding over a revival crusade, said he hinged his optimism on the two men’s past achievements.

He said: “With the past records of the President as well as the Vice President, I believe they meant what they said during the campaigns and I want to say they will really focus on the drive to bring the change they actually spoke about and I believe we will see change.

”The emergence of Buhari as President was ordained by God and l urge the President to rule with the fear of God.”

Photo: Fashola, Gov Shettima Pictured At The G7 Summit

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The former Nigeria governor Fashola and current governor of Borno state are part of President Buhari’s entourage to the G7 summit in Germany.

Pres. Buhari Is A Leader, Not A Politician – Atiku

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

For almost an hour penultimate Thursday, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar spoke to LEADERSHIP’s KUNLE SOMORIN and AUWAL SA’ID MU’AZU. In a very frank manner, he bared his mind on topical national issues, including calls for probe of the government he served, his participation in the APC presidential primaries, his political struggles and the PDP challenge, among other sundry issues

We just had an election which has been widely regarded as the real transition, because an opposition party has taken over from the ruling party. How do you see it?

Well, I will disagree with you because the real transition to democracy was when the military got out of power and we had a democratically elected government. The fact that in about 16 years or so we now have an opposition party taking over from a ruling party should not be seen as the real transition to democracy. For sure, it is healthy for our democratic process but certainly I will disagree with you.

Do you see the new PDP which you led as being critically instrumental to this change that we now have?

Of course, many groups were instrumental to this change because it required the coming together of political parties to form this viable opposition and alternative to the PDP. So, everybody played a role.

There are names that have been mentioned as those who played a great role to bring about this change. What role do you think the Yar’Adua group played in bringing about this change?

The Yar’Adua political group is almost in every political party in this country; even Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was part of the Yar’Adua political group. So, whichever way you look at it, coming from the PDP, I was part of the Yar’Adua political group. Asiwaju from AD, AC and then ACN, I mean we scattered kind of but it is not surprising that we are all regrouping into one big political family.

People still see the hand of Yar’Adua in the president’s emergence because he was a classmate of the president elect. Was that a consideration in your support for him even after the primaries?

No, the consideration was the fact that I really wanted to see a change of government. I wanted to see a viable opposition and my struggle for a viable opposition started even when I was in the PDP because this is what I wanted to see.

You know since the time I joined politics, I have always been an advocate for a two-party system and this is really what I will want to see for the country.

Are we running a two-Party system?

De facto two party system, tell me which party again apart from PDP and APC.

But we have APGA with a sitting governor…

APGA, I believe, is part of the PDP and sooner than later, they will join PDP. They worked with the PDP in the last election. So I think what is likely to emerge is that after this transition, since the PDP is reorganising itself, it’s most likely that APGA and Labour Party will join PDP to make it a stronger.

Looking at the mass defection from the PDP to APC after the elections there is the fear that the PDP might fizzle out…

No, no, no.

What kind of opposition do you think PDP will present?

I will like to see a very viable opposition, so that Nigerians can have a choice. If you don’t like the performance of APC, you vote PDP and vice versa.

So it is a word of caution for even your party?

Oh yes. It’s very exciting for me. But we should not take the electorate for granted.

You have always reinvented yourself. No matter how tight the system is, you manouvre and bounce back. What is your staying power?

It’s just because I enjoy what I am doing.

The public will really like to know because people always wonder, what keeps you going?

Why should they wonder, I am still active and I am still in politics. And you never write off a politician except he decides to write himself off. Any politician who does not reinvent himself has, maybe, decided to go on retirement and I have not yet decided to go on retirement.

You have no doubt carved a niche for yourself in Nigerian politics and in the build up to the 2015 polls, you came across as one of the most prepared presidential aspirants. It wasn’t your first outing. What has been the driving force?

It’s because whatever I set my mind to do, I like doing it very well and I like preparing to do it well. This is the difference between me and others.

What was your immediate reaction to the primaries after the announcement of the results?

To be honest, my immediate reaction was that I recalled Jos in 1993. Some people didn’t want me to emerge and I did not emerge. But they did not stop me from my destination. In 1998, six years later, I became what they did not want me to become. And when the results were announced I said to myself that it was just a repeat of what happened in Jos and I clapped.

Was the outcome surprising or shocking to you?

Absolutely not.

That brings back the memories of 1993 to me. Between this election and that of 1993 can you draw a parallel?

Well, I will compare them in the sense that the political chess game that took place in Jos and what happened now is almost the same. And that is why I said, if you are destined to be something, nobody will stop you. You will still get there no matter how people try to stop you from getting there.

You seem to be a strong believer in fate, does that mean that no matter how one prepares, preparation alone cannot take one to his goals?

No, not even in business. I have been in business for over three decades now so I can tell you that. There are some businesses that if I touch, I will lose money and there are some businesses that will yield profit.

How do you know the ones that will bring money and those that will not?

Don’t worry (laughs), it’s some trade secret.

When the result of the March 28 presidential election was finally announced on April 1, many people especially former President Goodluck Jonathan’s supporters felt it was a conspiracy between the North and the South West that played out and not that people didn’t want Jonathan? Was there any conspiracy?

No. There was no conspiracy as such. If you look at the votes, you will find out that 82 per cent of President Buhari’s votes came from the North and about 18 per cent from the rest of the country. So I don’t think it is a conspiracy.

Do you think it was politically correct for the South East and South South to choose to ignore the wind of change that was blowing across the country?

No. Again you are wrong. It’s a question of choice. You don’t expect Buhari to win in the South-South because President Jonathan comes from there. And by reason of neighbourliness, the South East is also close to the South South. So, I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Why do you think they were wrong? Don’t they have a right to their political positions? Why should we all move towards the same direction? Then, it will not be healthy for this country or our democracy.

There is the fear that now that the South-South and South-East are in the opposition, they may be marginalised in the leadership scheme in the 8th National Assembly. With this gap created in the political equation, what sort of National legislature are we likely to see?

But they have their representatives in the PDP. They have chosen to be in the opposition, so they will be in the opposition. At some point, we were in the opposition too. There is nothing unusual or strange there in a democracy.

When the 2015 election results were trickling in, there was some kind of tension in the land. As a stakeholder, what was your feeling at that time and were you expecting the results to come the way they did?

Well, I expected the results to come out the way they came t. Yes, I agree that before the elections, there was a lot of tension, there were concerns because before the election, the campaigns were very unhealthy, there was too much uncertainty in the air and that led to a lot of apprehension, fear and anxiety but that did not change my expectation about the results that came out. I knew APC was going to swing the elections.

Now that there are tales of empty treasuries, how will your party tackle the problem of accumulated debts, vis-à-vis the delivery of the campaign promises it made?

If you look at our current position, especially, the price of crude, we were worse off in 1999 than today. In 1999 when we came in, the price of crude was just about 20 dollars. So, all that is required of President Buhari is prudent management of our resources.

Of course, I will caution Nigerians that they should not expect miracles overnight but for sure, the government will try to make sure that the resources are very well managed and that the dividends of democracy trickle down to the lowest person.

We have pledged to fight corruption which is one of the most fundamental problems we have. It breeds waste of resources and anti-development. I believe that in a few months’ time, people will begin to see the difference. People are already adjusting themselves because they know what is going to come.

The issue of corruption has become endemic and you are one of those who have been accused severally by Nigerians, who are already calling for the probe of the outgoing administration. What do you make of President Jonathan’s statement that “if you want to probe me, it’s fine but probe others too?”

It was an unnecessary statement.

Do you think he (Jonathan) is afraid of probe or better still, are you afraid of probe?

Even the government I served probed me. So, the issue of me being scared of being probed is not there.

Many have described President Buhari as the Abraham Lincoln of our time; do you see any similarities in their political sojourn?

Well, I don’t understand the similarities they are trying to draw because Abraham Lincoln contested about 12 times and Buhari contested for three times and won on the fourth. Is it the age?

Maybe the perseverance…

Yes, he may have persevered, but he is still short of Abraham Lincoln. However, I commend his perseverance and courage to continue.

What is your relationship and personal knowledge of the president?

I have known him for a very long time now. When he was head of state during the military administration, I was still in the Federal Civil Service and I implemented some of his policies at that time as a civil servant. Since then, I have known him as an astute leader and a tough one for that matter and I think we should brace up for that kind of tough leadership.

Tough leadership, but politicians may not find that funny?

Well the point is that he is a leader, he may not be a politician but certainly he is a good leader and he can lead well. And that is all that you are looking for in politics.

You are a politician, any difference between you and him?

Quite a lot!

What are these differences?

As a politician, I may see things in different perspectives from him and vice versa.

Is there anything that can sway you from playing politics, and what are those things?

Maybe when I am old and not able to run around, then I will retire from politics.

Away from politics, how do you relax?

I go on vacations a lot; I love travelling, reading and swimming.

Talking sports, football has become a game for both the high and low, do you watch football?

Yes, I enjoy football quite a lot.

Do you have a team you support?

Yes, I have been a fan of Arsenal Football Club for more than 20 years now.

Were you impressed with the performance of Arsenal in the just concluded season?

Well, in the last couple of seasons, the team has not been at its peak but that is how sports are. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t and you drop to certain positions, the most important thing is for one to remain consistent and not try to move from one winning team to another just because they are wining, that is if you are a real fan.

You have had both high and low points in your career, which do upou consider the highest and lowest?

The high point of my career was when I was the Vice President; I was in charge of the economy. I enjoyed how I liberalised and opened up the economy to the private sector. My lowest point was when I saw the PDP disintegrating. I was really sorry for myself.

Why were you sorry?

It’s because when we formed the PDP, we formed it with good intentions to transform this country but overtime, most of the founding fathers were relegated to the background, some moved out of the party and instead of them to allow orderly generational shift of leadership from one generation to the other as it happens in matured democracies, they couldn’t wait.

Do you see the party bouncing back?

Yes, it’s quite possible. I want it to bounce back because I am scared of a one-party system. I want two parties that are almost at par with each other, so that they can give Nigerians a choice every time elections are held. If one party does not fulfill the promises it made to be voted into office, then Nigerians should be able to look towards the other party for hope. That is the kind political arrangement I hope to see in this country; that is the best.

Are you likely to be seen mounting the soapbox again?

I am a politician and as long as I am a politician, I will mount the soapbox and talk. Either I will be talking for somebody or for myself. Am I not talking for myself now?

What do you consider as the best legacy that you have bequeathed this country in your almost 40 years of service?

The best legacy is what I have been able to do for my immediate community in the area of education and job creation; I want to believe that is my best legacy so far.

Are you fulfilled?

Not quite, I am still moving on

At what point will you be fulfilled?

At the point when I will see that there is relative prosperity. You see the kind of poverty that I see when I go to the village worries me a lot.

What is your take on the crisis of Boko Haram which is ravaging your region, the North East?

You know I have always spoken strongly about the inability of government to contain this insurgency. It is unbelievable that a country as powerful as Nigeria that is rich in all manner of resources will allow such insurgency to fester for five years.

What is your charge to Nigerians as the APC-led government takes over?

I will appeal with Nigerians to give APC a chance and like I said before, they should not expect miracles overnight because it’s going to be a very daunting task since the APC government is taking over with such huge challenges all over the country. I will appeal to Nigerians to give APC a chance.

‘Goodluck Jonathan Treated Entertainers Like School-Children’ – Saheed Balogun

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Yoruba actor and film producer, Saheed Balogun has said the former president,Goodluck Jonathan treated entertainers like school children…According to Vanguard, in a recent chat with the actor, he decired piracy,saying he lost over 15 million naira on a recent movie..

We’re still looking to find who leaked it, but we don’t know yet. I lost over N15 million on that project. I’m still motivated to do more because it’s my dream. Soon, change will come to this country. Goodluck Jonathan treated entertainers like school-children. The last government was hosting us (Nollywood) as if they were hosting birthday parties for
kids.He said..

For one day, they never thought it fit to beg senators and members of the House of Representatives to pass appropriate laws on piracy “ I am seizing this opportunity to beg the new senators and House members who are in the committee in charge of culture to please pass relevant bills on entertainment. That is what they are elected to do, not to be shouting and jumping fence like they did the last time.”

Jonathan To Get Severance Pay In 2016

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Investigations have revealed that former President Goodluck Jonathan; his deputy, Namadi Sambo; immediate past ministers and presidential aides as well as non-returning federal lawmakers will be paid their severance allowances in 2016.

The Ministry of Finance in Abuja said that the allowances amounting to N3.24 billion of the political office holders, who left office last Friday, were not captured in this year’s budget.

An official of the ministry while explaining the reason why the severance pay was not captured in this year’s budget, said as of last year when the 2015 budget was being prepared, the outcome of the April 2015 elections could not be ascertained.

He said since the outcome of the elections could not be predicted, there was no way the Budget Office could have determined the number of political office holders that would not be re-elected.

Read More: Punch

“I’ll Quit If Jonathan Emerges PDP BOT Chairman” – Isah Kantigi

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Niger State deputy gubernatorial candidate under the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Isah Kantigi, has threatened to leave the party alongside his supporters, if former President Goodluck Jonathan is made chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees.

Kantigi argued that if members of the party could call for the resignation of national leadership for poor performance in the last election, the president should also share in the blame because he was leader of the party.
Speaking with Daily Trust in Minna, he said if Jonathan could not lead the party to victory as sitting president and leader of the party, then “he has nothing to offer the party now. Rather than honour the former president with BOT chairman, he should take the blame for the failure. Jonathan caused the failure of the party at all levels. He killed the party and as such should not be allowed to take over the BOT chairmanship of the party.” He said for the party to take over power in 2019, there is need for fresh set of people with new ideas to be at the helm of affairs.

Read Words Edwin Clark Has About President Buhari

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Staff Reporter

A former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has once again canvassed support for President Muhamadu Buhari. He described the President as being capable of leading the country; therefore, he should be supported by all Nigerians.

Clark, a resolute supporter of former President Goodluck Jonathan, spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at his residence when he received a group, known as Probity Ambassadors Organisation of Nigeria.

He said though he was among those who campaigned against the emergence of the President during the election, Clark said since Nigerians voted for him (Buhari), the President must be supported in order to enable him succeed in the task ahead.

The foremost Ijaw leader added that the way former President Jonathan conceded defeat had also made the task of running the country easier for the President.

He said: “I have congratulated President Buhari and today, he is our President. He’s not the President of a section of the country. Buhari is fit for the job and he’s capable of leading us. We will support him. Campaigns are over and a winner has emerged. We must come together after the election and give our support to the President. The loser of the election, who had all the powers to do and undo, came out to congratulate the President”.

Clark added that he is an elder statesman, he has to support anyone whoever wins the election. Commending Jonathan’s action, he said: “That action of the former President is the best thing that has happened in this country. You can only be the President of the country when it is intact. All of us must join hands together to support President Buhari”.

He further said the former President Jonathan took that action of congratulating President Buhari because of his love for the country.

Amendment Of 1999 Constitution Dead With Jonathan’s Exit – Akume

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Minority Leader Senate, George Akume, yesterday, has decried the impossible actualization of the National Assembly overriding former President Goodluck Jonathan’s veto on the 1999 Constitution Amendment Bill, passed by the National Assembly. Akume said the inability of Jonathan to assent to the bill before the end of his tenure has rendered the bill dead, saying there was nothing the legislature can do to get the amendment becomes law.

Speaking with newsmen in Abuja, Akume, who represents Benue North West in the Senate under the All Progressives Congress, APC, said even as the Supreme Court asked both the Federal Government and the National Assembly to settle the issue out of court, the court did not ask that the government made modifications nor ask the legislature to override the president’s veto.

“The issue here is very clear, if it was not assented to, I do not know what you want us to do. It is very clear that this particular bill will now struggle to find a place in the new Senate, which is the 8th Senate. Jonathan has left and the bill is still a bill until it is assented to. The Supreme Court has made its own pronouncement, the Supreme Court didn’t say go and override or the president should go and make concession. One way or the other, this issue has not been resolved, so that is the responsibility of the 8th Senate if they feel it is a major priority for the Senate,” he said.

Responding to question on why he jettisoned his ambition to become the Senate President in the 8th Senate and instead, seeking to become deputy, Senator Akume said: “That is the dynamism of politics, politics is like that and what we have sought to do and we have been trying to do is to as much as possible, have an internal realignment, consolidate and move forward. Basically, that is what has been done.”

Moreover, Akume, defended the President’s decsion to move the military command headquarters to Maiduguri, saying it was the only way out if the nation was prepared to win the war against insurgency in the North East.

“The movement of the military command headquarters to the epicenter of the insurgency is a step in the right direction. There is no way you will be fighting terror in, for instance, Makurdi and then your headquarters is in Abuja or it’s in Jos. It is always good to be there to make direct assessment and to confront the challenges headlong. I think apart from saying he was moving it, he was also dedicated to the training of the Armed Forces. I think these are very important,” he insisted.

He said the APC- led government was aware of the expectations of Nigerians from it, saying the party, through its leader and president, Muhammadu Buhari, was up to the task. “The president himself is a tested person as I had said and he is going to live by example. And so, we have no doubt that these problems are going to be tackled but he himself said these problems can never be over within a fortnight. He had said it before, that solutions to complex problems cannot be as instant as coffee and I employ Nigerians not to look back, we are very determined and by the grace of God, we are going to meet the expectations of the people,” he added.

Breaking: Nigerian Senate Passes 46 Bills In Less Than 10 Mins

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Senate Wednesday passed 46 bills into law in less than ten minutes. The passage was done immediatly the bills were presented by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Ita Enang.

But the passage of the bills caused an uproar in the upper chamber, even after the voice vote by the presiding officer and Senate President, David Mark, who announced, ” the Ayes have it.”

Senator Mark, told those who were not satisfied with the passage of the bills to come tomorrow, being the next legislative day with their names and signatures for consideration.

Before the bills were passed, the Senate had suspended Order 79 (1) of the Senate Standing Orders and deemed all the Bills as having passed first, second and third readings on the floor of the Senate.

Details soon

Source – Vanguard Ngr

‘Call Your Wife to Order’ – Group Warns Ex-President Jonathan

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

A group, Concerned Bayelsa Elders, has warned former President Goodluck Jonathan to call his wife, Patience, to order or risk political crisis in Bayelsa State.

The leader of the group, Ebeletimi Wilson, said this while addressing journalists in Lagos, according to a statement on Tuesday. Wilson said Jonathan’s wife was still scheming to ensure that the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, does not emerge governor next year.

He said now that Jonathan has relocated to Bayelsa State, his wife is attempting to use her supporters in the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria to frustrate the governor.

He said if Jonathan did not handle the situation well, he could lose Dickson’s loyalty just as former governors Rotimi Amaechi and Timipre Sylva abandoned him.

Wilson said, “What exactly does Dame Patience Jonathan want? Dickson has proved to be a performing governor as he has within three years transformed the state in the areas of infrastructural development and security. This initiative has changed the fortunes of the state.

“Jonathan should be able to call his people to order because we know that his inability to call his people to order resulted in the eventual face off with Timipre Sylva and Rotimi Amaechi.

“Our appeal is that, as the leader of the state, Jonathan should encourage Dickson for succeeding in keeping the Peoples Democratic Party united in the state.”

Wilson said if Jonathan did not speak up then it would be assumed that he and his wife are plotting to ensure that a former commissioner, Waipamo-Owei Dudafa, emerges the next governor of the state.

He alleged that Patience’s clique and preferred candidate were the ones frustrating Dickson’s administration.

He said, “Why should ex-President Jonathan keep mum while his wife fuels crisis in the state just because she is not getting her way? It is very disappointing. Her aim is to turn Bayelsa into a crisis-ridden state like what she encouraged in Rivers State, but thank God Dickson has been tactful.

“It is ironical that she has in the last three years been the main opposition in Bayelsa State, intimidating the people and even security operatives.”

Roads Leading Into Ekiti Blocked By Thugs As Crisis Between Fayose And APC Lawmakers Continue #Photos

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Major roads leading into Ado-Ekiti, the state capital have been blocked since yesterday with heavy duties vehicles by some residents of the state as the crisis between the state Governor, Ayo Fayose and 19 APC Lawmakers continue.

The roads, according to reports, were blocked to ensure that the 19 APC lawmakers who are currently at loggerheads with the Governor and are lodged at the Sonap Hotel in Osogbo in Osun state, do not gain entrance into the state to carry out their planned impeachment process against Governor Fayose.

Governor Fayose and the Lawmakers are now fighting over their unpaid entitlement since November 2014 when they were “impeached” from the state House of Assembly by PDP lawmakers.

According to Governor Fayose who spoke on Channels TV, he said he had a meeting with the aggrieved Lawmakers last week where they told him that the issues will be resolved after he pays them their salaries which backdates to November 2014.

Governor Fayose said because he craved to have peace in his state and avoid breakdown of law and order, he consented to their wish and immediately released Cheque for their salaries to be paid. Cheques of N2 million and some fraction was given to the lawmakers each but they refused to accept the Cheque, saying their salaries cannot be only N2 million when calculated from November 2014.

Here are copies of the cheques with which Ekiti APC lawmakers were paid.

Rivers State Governor Wike Begins Probe Of Former Governor Amaechi

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Looks like new Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike is officially ready for former Gov. Rotimi Amaechi. He’s asked all Permanent Secretaries in the state to produce full account details of their Ministries’ expenditure in the last 18 months. Read the press statement below…

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has directed Permanent Secretaries in the state to produce full account details of their Ministries ‘ expenditure over the last 18 months.

This is even as the governor advised the permanent secretaries to shun partisan politics as career civil servants, saying the roles some of them played in the closing days of the immediate past administration were politically motivated.

Addressing permanent secretaries during a meeting at Government House, Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Wike regretted that some of the permanent secretaries helped the immediate past administration to illegally withdraw funds from the State Government coffers even up to the 28th of May, 2015.

He said : “I want full details and print out of every ministry’s account in the last 18 months. I will not accept any handover note without an accompanying account details.

“The government was coming to a close and some of you were busy signing cheques on 26,27 and 28 of May. On 28 of May, the Transition Committee called most of you and you refused to cooperate because they told you I will not be sworn-in. “

The governor noted that he will not witch hunt any civil servant irrespective of his/her role in the electioneering period . He, however, said that no civil servant would be allowed to sabotage the efforts of his administration.

He urged the permanent secretaries to work with his administration to revive the state and put back smile on the faces of the people.

“Those of you who want to work with us to develop Rivers State will get the necessary support. You are career civil servants and not politicians. As civil servants, don’t play the role of politicians “, he said.

The Rivers State Governor pointed out that the back-dated employments and indiscriminate issuance of certificates of occupancy by the immediate past administration would be re-visited.

He specifically directed the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Survey to produce the relevant land documents for examination.

The permanent secretaries were led to the meeting by the Head of Service, Barrister Samuel LongJohn.

Others who attended the meeting were the former Minister of Sports, Dr Tammy Danagogo, Former Deputy governor, Tele Ikuru and Secretary of the Transition Committee, Barrister Frank Owhor.

Not All That Ask Are Enemies By Akin Rotimi #Opinion

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Our President has faced a barrage of criticisms and accusations in his first few days in office. Ranging from the outrageous to the mundane, he has been accused of discourteously leaving his guests to attend Friday Jumaat prayers on inauguration day; influencing the court to drop corruption charges against his political associate; failing to publicly declare his assets as he promised during campaigns; encouraging wastage of resources by duplicating functions for his first set of appointees; etc. Even our first lady has not been spared as she has been accused of wearing an expensive wristwatch to his inauguration – allegedly a sign of opulence considered inconsistent with his austere reputation. It would even seem that PMB is receiving more “bashing” from some of his most ardent supporters.

What I find interesting is not the accusations but the reactions of some of “my people” in a bid to defend our beloved president. From my humble standpoint, I have seen more emotional and irrational outbursts than helpful engagements of the issues by followers attempting to put up a defense. Some cannot just stomach the fact that our highly revered president is being denigrated by commoners on social media. While I agree that some of these issues are needless distractions coming from familiar quarters, they can’t be ignored else they become bigger distractions further into the administration’s lifespan. I have come to learn that rumours cannot be wished away, they have to be decisively addressed – on time! For example, there is a claim out there that a suicide bomber chanted “Sai Buhari”!, before detonating a bomb in the Northeast on Tuesday, killing several Nigerians. It has been several hours since this was reported on some online news platforms, and subsequently bandied around by some antagonists on social media, yet we have no refutation from “us”. It doesn’t have to be reported in traditional media before we reiterate PMB’s condemnation of the reprehensible actions of the extremists.

My token advice to the president’s media team as they settle down in office is that they have no time to settle down. As someone said on Facebook, the Buhari team has auditioned for this job for twelve years and issued the notice of employment for two clear months before resumption, we have no reason not to perform. They have to proactively make available accurate information and allow no vacuum for rumours and half-truths to fester. They should consider every accusation raised against their principal as an opportunity to present facts, clarifications and superior arguments that will reinforce his goodwill with the majority. PMB is not infallible and should not be projected so. When mistakes are made by him or those under his watch, they should speedily admit the errors, decisively separate the principal from the mess and ensure the erring parties are resolutely dealt with in keeping with the law. Making this point reminds me that amongst many of former president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s public engagement gaffes was patting former Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro on the back inspite of the NIS recruitment scandal that occasioned the death of many young people. Indeed many of the former president’s appointees caused more deficits to his public image than good.

Those of us that believe in and determinedly support our president to succeed need the right ammunition to fight the battle for the hearts and minds of Nigerians. We need to be armed with facts and contexts within which we can help frame the narrative about every single action this president and his administration is going to take – many of which may be unpopular, or cause short term inconvenience in order to achieve long term benefits. It is too early to be responding by abusing people. I just read an outburst on the page of a dedicated supporter of PMB in which she was more or less warning a blogger that his misleading post about the president could lead to his being arrested for falsehood. Haba! The prison cells we will need to keep all Nigerians who abused former president Jonathan would take up half of Nigeria’s landmass. That is not the way to go.

I reiterate, let us provide timely and accurate updates on the activities of government, and when rumours are spun to distract his focus, let us similarly respond on time, with facts and clarifications, and in a tone that reminds that we are in charge. Let us make use of the most valuable communication resource PMB and his administration has – the love and goodwill of the majority who are willing (at no cost) to disseminate communication messages within their circles of influence. Not everyone that asks questions or challenges actions taken by PMB are his enemies, some simply want to be re-assured that in the corridors and chambers of power, where sycophants abound and truthful counsel is rare, the bearer of their mandate is staying true to the ideals that made them vote for him.???

Akin Rotimi, a strategic communications, diplomacy and public policy professional writes from Lagos.

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Nigerians, Enough Of The ‘Buhari Won – Jonathan Lost’ Dance By Ayorinsola Obisanya

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Staff Reporter

One can understand the many reasons for we not rising from the bed of true Democracy Day celebration and being keener to see Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, his cabinet that enjoyed the existence of people of high temerity, and People Democratic Party vacate the State House after sixteen years of clinging to the national seat where the fate of the nation is decided. Of course, he never knew that when a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful. Yet, it is high time we allowed the new government celebration euphoric dust to settle. If not yet settled, we should allow it to be done quickly without much ado. Enough of the ‘Buhari won – Jonathan lost’ unending brouhaha that rented the air – especially the social media – and cease not to fade away any time from now. You should plan of recovering from your long-time insomnia due to ‘you can’t wait to see May 29’.

We have been magnanimous enough in making Buhari/Osinbajo win and All Progressive Congress (whether you support it or not). From nationwide political campaigns to the presidential election – been dogged despite postponement from February 14 to March 28 – and formally ushering him into Aso Rock on May 29, 2015. We were the horse that took him to the battle field and did the election fighting for him.

The birth of a baby calls for a massive celebration in the neighbourhood. Right from the conception day to the naming feast, it is the act of congratulating the parents all through, not minding their affluence or financial deprivation. In cases of primogeniture, it is presumed that the party is marked in a flamboyant style. Once the naming ceremony is over, the next time a guest sees the happy mother would not be a congratulatory conversation, but, an inquisitive conversation rallying around the growth and development. Hence, it is expected of the baby to directly and indirectly convince the crowd that graced his naming party that s/he has come to stay and fulfill the reasons for his or her existence. This illustration can be annexed to that of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, GCON. The contrast is that neither were they the first President and Vice-President of Nigeria but the foremost that is believed to bring our dear country from the messy state. Of course, we did wrapped both generously even before winning. Especially Muhammadu Buhari.

Still lingering in the state of joy would be seen as the excessive intake of the #Change euphoriant. From now till next year, you can decide to cover your eyes with the ‘Buhari won –Jonathan lost’ veil and fail to realize that we really need to move beyond it. Sincerely, no more time for the famous political hashtags #FeBuhari, #March4Buhari. However, we can allow #MayBuhariPerform or #MayBuhariSucced for the rest of May. Trust Nigerians, our prowess in forming hash-tags with the months cannot be underrated. We are brilliant at it. But, can we stop the hashtags till 2019. At least, that is when we shall decide again who rules again. Leave #BuhariOsinbajo2019. The performance will tell us if we are to do it.

If truly you know that the country is stomach-filled of Buhari/Osinbajo excitement and hungry of developments then, you should know that our work is to make them work diligently and not effortlessly. And stop the praises to run without limits. Thus, #ChangeWorkBegins should be the next on social media for hashtag lovers. If we don’t let these people realize that the ‘WE THE PEOPLE’ has clearly stated in the 1999 Constitution have the power and they are accountable to us, then we are at the brink of going further in underdevelopment. Hence, the right to say #FailGetKicked without fear.

There is no need in highlighting the problems of the country. There is no gainsaying that Jonathan underperformed. At least millions of Nigerians can’t be wrong. Even kids understood the trend.

Nigerians, don’t be overwhelmed with the shouts of Jonathan lost till the end of the year, it is of no essence. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is now far away from the seat of power even if he decides to stay in Abuja or few miles away from State House. We can’t deny that his administration gifted the new one serious national headache. Rumour or no rumour, it is apparent. Yet, it would be credulous of us to help in blaming the mistakes of the present to the past. Don’t let us be deluded with the fact that this is the first time APC is holding on to national power. Buhari is the President not APC. Afterall, Buhari was once the Head of State. Not minding that it was undemocratic, he knew what governing a country is. And that Osinbajo was a head Pastor in the Reedemed Christian Church of God, is okay enough. At least, he was a leader to a congregation of humans. Leading a nation is a daunting task, his experience would help.

Also, in ending the ‘Buhari won – Jonathan lost’ dance, embrace political opponents and help in achieving a better Nigeria – it is necessary and not optional. If Obanikoro of PDP could hug Amaechi of APC on May 28, 2015, then you have to show the spirit of peace and unity. Forgive them by pick their calls, unblocking them on Twitter and Whatsapp, invite them on BBM and re-adding them on Facebook since you removed them for not supporting your opinions. Don’t be chilly. Let everywhere be peaceful because the ruin of a nation begins from the home of its people. Unity is strength, division is weakness.

However, no matter how you make a sound critique of the present government, it will be nonsensical if you are the problem of yourself, cahoots in an organisation and a scourge in the society at large.

Nigerians, just as the man is the central pole of the house, we need not overemphasize that Muhammadu Buhari is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Seriously, enough of ‘Buhari won – Jonathan lost’ dance.

Ayorinsola Obisanya.

Twitter @fabobisanya

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Duty & Responsibility: As We Usher in Change By Mustapha M. O

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Staff Reporter

“Be with a leader when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but, leave him when he is wrong.”- Abraham Lincoln
Fellow Nigerians, congratulations are in order as we are part of the history making accompaniments in the life of our dear Nation, as we wait anxiously to wrap up the events with the impending inauguration of the People’s General cum His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR on this 29th Day of May 2015, we should not be carried away with the Mesmerizing nature of the ceremony but rather focus on the humongous task ahead. I don’t know about you, but I and other millions of Nigerians have had enough of mediocrity celebration, enough of status quo maintenance (it is not sustainable), enough of impunity and nepotism etc. From all indications, Buhari and his administration are aware of the daunting challenges ahead of them, they are aware of their responsibilities except they want to deny it and moreover several articles have been published to reiterate the immediate and long terms responsibilities Buhari has over Nigerians. It is on this note that I call on myself, you and others to wake up to our own responsibility and do our bits in rebuilding Nigeria to a great Nation she ought to have been a long time ago.

“Duty is what one expects from others.”- Oscar Wilde
Duty is a fundamental requirement to our existence, it is what bond us together, it is what defines us as living things and as much as everything we interact with owe us some level of duty, we owe them the same. Look around you today, we can safely conclude that we are in this mess because we’ve all failed in discharging our duties to each other. It is rather unfair and unjustifiable to be expecting what you can’t give, how do you expect GOD to answer your prayer when you’ve failed in performing your own duty to HIM? Former Vice chancellor of University of Ilorin (Prof. Oloyede) once said “If I clean my corner and you clean yours, there will be no dirty place in the World”. We cannot claim to want a country that works while we wallow in denial and dereliction duty, as Nigerians some of our duties to this country include but not limited to:
Obeying the Laws of the Land all the Time
Performing your civic responsibilities as at when due (Paying Taxes, Voting etc.)
Knowing and participating in government’s programmes
Being your brother’s keeper at all time

“A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.”- Winston S. Churchill
Given the present condition of our Nation, there is no gain saying in an assertion that our country is currently in a state of comatose and needs all hands on deck to revive her. All hardships we face today as a Nation are symptoms of bad decisions that have been taken in the past and we cannot for obvious reasons continue on this path; this is the fundamental reason we voted for change. It is understandable that Nigerians had made and still making a lot of sacrifices for their Nation, all these have been abused by the successive governments, but you will also agree with me that the 2015 general elections marks the first time when citizens can boldly claim that they participated in the process of choosing a President for the country. Therefore, the new administration deserves to a reasonable extent our sacrifices, supports and understanding. We must be aware of the fact that some decisions will be taken which might be serendipity in nature, though appeared not to be at first. After all, to truly grow, you have to be willing at any moment to sacrifice what you are for what you can be.

“Let’s have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”- Abraham Lincoln
Our usual believe at an initiation of any government policy can be likened to that of someone knowingly accepting a Trojan horse gift, we believe everything government does is a means to an end of looting the nation and we have grown cynical to the government, ourselves, our institutions and everything around us. We didn’t turn to this overnight, we were made so; from fuel subsidy scam to the purported SURE-P that isn’t pure etc. but for us to complete our duty to the incoming administration, we must shun any form of cynicism towards the government policies without compromising proper scrutiny of same, we must believe and have faith in our institutions and we must embrace due processes.

“Openness, transparency – these are among the few weapons the citizenry has to protect itself from the powerful and the corrupt… “-Michael Moore

Elections have come and gone, but Nigeria remains, we must not just leave everything in the hands of government, we must be available to appeal to their conscience every time they transgress. We must at all times be aware of government’s activities, we must ask questions and hold them accountable. In our recovery package, we must put new standards of accountability and transparency, which we hope will now apply.

“Freedom isn’t free. It shouldn’t be a bragging point that “Oh, I don’t get involved in politics,” as if that makes you somehow cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn’t insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.”- Bill Maher
As clearly stated in the statement above, we need to reiterate that it is high time you shunned this “Politics is dirty, I can’t be involved” antics. This is for your own good. What will become of us that we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, and background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.

Mustapha M. O
A Technopolitical Enthusiast
ff @almustaphamo

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates

Tension In Ekiti Over Impeachment Move Against Fayose

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Staff Reporter

There was tension in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday, following the rumour that the 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers were allegedly planning to storm the state to begin an impeachment process against Governor Ayodele Fayose.

All roads leading to the state House of Assembly complex were cordoned off by armed policemen to prevent those not on official duties at the State Secretariat located within the same axis from gaining entry.

Patrol vans, Armoured Personnel Carrier as well as combat ready anti-riot policemen were on guard at the assembly complex to forestall a breakdown of law and order.

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), supporters of the governor as well as commercial motorcyclists were seen in groups along Secretariat and NTA roads, while human and vehicular movements were prevented by the mounted barricades.

Such barricades were also reportedly mounted on roads connecting Ekiti to other neighbouring states.

Addressing newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on the matter, Fayose insisted that all the entitlements of the APC lawmakers have been paid as part of the agreement reached in the meeting held in Akure penultimate week, contrary to Speaker Adewale Omirin’s claim that they were yet to be paid.

The governor who flaunted copies of the Skye Bank cheques dated May 26, 2015, issued to the lawmakers to corroborate his claim, said he brought the issue to the knowledge of Ekiti people to avert a major crisis in the state.

One of the cheques, which bore the name of Boluwade Bolie Kehinde, was received on behalf of the lawmakers and had a sum of N2, 149, 052 .37 on it.

The governor said any impeachment proceeding against him by the APC lawmakers would be tantamount to illegality in view of the ruling delivered by Justice E. S. Chukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which ordered that status quo as at April 23 be maintained pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The PDP factunal speaker, Hon Dele Olugbemi and six other lawmakers had in a suit number FHC/ABJ CS/361/2015 filed at the Federal High Court sought an interlocutory injunction among other reliefs restraining the APC lawmakers from commencing impeachment process against Fayose.

“They have been dropping the name of President Muhammadu Buhari as giving them the backing to impeach me. How can an Assembly, whose tenure will wind up on Thursday be planning this? I wonder why the issue of the past should be allowed to come to play now.

“As at the date the court gave the order, I mean April 23, Hon Adewale Omirin was not the speaker. It will be wrong for the Court order not to be respected. This is illegality and I want to raise this for the public to know.

“Omirin has gone to court to challenge his impeachment and later withdrew such, which means he accepted he had been impeached and a cost of N100, 000 was awarded against him.

“So, he is not the speaker. I am calling on well-meaning Nigerians, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mohammed Mahmoud and President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in this matter,” Fayose said.

On how, when and where the payment of the salaries and other benefits to the lawmakers was made, Fayose said: “They came to collect the cheques in Ado Ekiti in company of the commissioner for finance, Mr Toyin Ojo.

“The issue would have been discussed publicly during the peace parley, but they insisted that it should not be discussed openly because they didn’t want the leaders of their party to know,” Fayose said.

PDP Warns Outgoing Ekiti APC Lawmakers

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned outgoing Ekiti State All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers against causing confusion and mayhem in the state in their bid to secure political control of the state.

The party in a statement issued by the national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh yesterday, said it is aware that the outgoing lawmakers are desperate to wreak havoc in the state before the end of their tenure on Thursday.

PDP warned that its members will be fully mobilised to stiffly resist the scheme and the mission to unseat Fayose.

The party warned the lawmakers to watch their steps and not to take its civility for granted, saying it would not hesitate to defend the governor with all means allowed by the law.

“We wish to state in very clear terms that we would not condone any more move by the rejected APC lawmakers to subvert the will of the people of Ekiti State as expressed in the mandate freely given to Governor Ayo Fayose.

“These outgoing APC lawmakers whose mandates have already been withdrawn by the people should watch their steps and not in any way take our civility and Governor Fayose’s deportment for peace, unity and harmony for granted.

“We issue this as a final warning. Our members and supporters in Ekiti State are able, willing and ready to defend our mandate using all available instruments granted by the law , We have the capacity and will have no other option unless the APC lawmakers retrace their steps and embrace peace. Enough is enough,” the PDP said.

The party noted that the position of the Federal High Court on the status of the lawmakers and proceedings of the house regarding the odious plot to impeach Governor Fayose is clear, adding that it would not in any way “condone or tolerate any move by the APC lawmakers to subvert the course of justice.”

Lauding the people of Ekiti State for their courage in standing by Governor Fayose, the PDP urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the lawmakers to order, especially given the olive branch already extended to them by the governor in the interest of peace and development of the state.

The party charged security agencies to be on high alert and ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order in the state.

President Muhammadu Buhari Reacts To Boko Haram Attack On Maiduguri Mosque

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has strongly condemned the Saturday’s attacks on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital where no fewer than 11 persons were killed.

Buhari in a statement signed by Garba Shehu, the presidency media officer, extended his condolences to the families of the victims.

He affirmed that his administration “will not tolerate wanton and wilful destruction of life by criminal elements that are bent on anarchy.” Buhari further promised to use all available resources to curb terrorism on the Nigerian soil.

President Buhari described the terrorists as “cowardly murderers that target innocent people” and
called local communities to continue their vigilante activities.

He also vowed to motivate the Nigerian soldiers by effectively funding them and attending to their welfares.

Rivers’ Youths Applaud Jonathan & State’s New Administration

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Youths aligned to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Rivers State have paid tribute to former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and hailed the inauguration of local Governor, Nyesom Wike. They hailed Jonathan for conceding defeat to new head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, and Jonathan’s presence at the latter’s swearing-in ceremony on Friday.

Party youths trekked from Rivers’ to Jonathan’s homeland of the Bayelsa State to Abuja for Buhari’s inauguration while others gave the former an astounding welcome.

The Rivers State youths said that they embarked on the exercise in honor of Jonathan conceding defeat for the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria. The grouping also hailed the successful swearing-in of Wike. The youth organisation described Wike as “our long awaited deliverer who shall put an end to our long suffering with his new vision for Rivers State.”

Credit: CAJ News

“Panicky Diezani Reaches Out To EFCC Boss Lamorde” – Report

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Immediate past petroleum minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke during whose tenure several allegations of corrupt practices in the industry have been flying around is literally running from pillar to post, apparently in search of reprieve.

The highly influential minister in former president Goodluck Jonathan’s government is said to have stepped up efforts, playing out to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), buzzing the phones line of the agency’s Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde.

Saturday Sun learnt that the calls have neither been taken nor acknowledged.

Exasperated, the Bayelsa born former senior executive of Shell Petroleum Development Company
Limited reported Lamorde to the former National Security Adviser (NSA), General Aliyu Gusau (retd), complaining that the EFCC helmsman had been ignoring her calls.

It was further gathered that Gusau’s intervention earned little relief for her as Lamorde explained to the ex-NSA that Diezani had for over two and half years snubbed him.

The anti-corruption czar, according to Sunday Sun’s source told the General he would not understand her spirited efforts to reach out to him now that she was no longer in power, adding for good effect that she poured more cold water on him with a usual shrill banter. “my brother, my brother” anytime they meet at public events.

It was further learnt that the embattled lady is not giving up without a good fight as she is said be prevailing on Gusau to convene a meeting between the two of them for fence mending.

It is not yet clear whether the General has obliged her request.

Diezani has been buffeted in the last three years with unsavoury reports of sleight.

So much was the uproar that student calls were made by human rights activists and anti corruption crusaders for her sack or resignation.

Former Ceneral Bank governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi first blew that whistle over the missing $20billion oil money from the vault.

In the face of flat denials by the government and the refusal to budge to the demands of the activities for sack, a forensic audit of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was ordered and given to the PriceWater-CooperHouse, a reputable international firm of auditors.

The firm returned a report of a lower figure of $18billion, and urged that a minimum of $6billion be returned. The NNPC, which initially disagreed with the figure later grudgingly accepted to make gradual refunds, but is yet to keep faith with that. Coupled with that is the undying issue of petroleum subsidy which is said to be mirred in high profile corruption.

The vexed and unresolved issue of petroleum subsidy often pitched marketers against the government and has led to incessant strikes.

Attempts by both chambers of the National Assembly to wade into the issue and other oil related ones met with a brick wall as she consistently refused to honour their calls.

At the height of the investigations into the $20billion missing oil money, she ran to the court and obtained an interlocutory injunction, restraining members of the House of Representatives from summoning her.

While these events unfolded, the Presidency watched unperturbed, offering no helpful insight to the demanding public. Till date, the former petroleum minster rode the waves’-declining all calls for explanations. The attitude of the Presidency in the face of the scandal effectively put her on the “A’ list of the class of “untouchables” in Jonathan’s government.

On Friday May 24, she was reported to have run after President Muhammadu Buhari at the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport. Both were on their way on a British Airways flight to London, Buhari was first to arrive the airport and completed his boarding formalities. Diezani arrived shortly after, and on getting wind of the presence of Buhari, who was yet to be sworn-in as president then, she abandoned her aides and ran after him. It was further reported that attempts made by her to snuggle up to him and speak to him on the flight drew blank. The report is yet to be denied. Diezani is the first woman to become the president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. As part of her controversial tenure, she flew around the world in private jets. The petroleum minister is generally acclaimed as a dark spot in Jonathan’s regime which president Buhari promised a comprehensive clean-up during the presidential campaign.

Source: SunNewsOnline

Boko Haram Militants Fire Grenades Into Maiduguri, Kill 7

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Hours after the new Nigerian president ordered that the country’s defence seat be moved to Maiduguri, Borno State capital, until Boko Haram is subdued, the insurgents on Friday night staged yet another deadly attack in the city.

Boko Haram terrorists fired dozens of rocket propelled grenades into the city in the night, killing at least seven people and injuring nearly 20 others.

A senior security operative confirmed that the insurgents, who could not pass through the barricades of sand walls and trenches dug around Maiduguri city, decided to fire from outside.

“Most of the RPGs they pumped into the town landed on civilian residential areas”, said the security source, who did not want to be named as he was not cleared to speak to press. “We recorded about seven deaths and 17 other persons were also injured. Many houses were affected, but two were seriously destroyed.”

Sources around Dala-Alamdari and Ngomari area, where most of the RPGs landed, said the shootings started at about 12:50am when the whole city was asleep.

Residents including members of the Civilian-JTF had to remain awake till day break even though the whole shooting subsided at about 3am.

Yahaya Garba, a mechanic who lives around Ngomari area of Maiduguri told PREMIUM TIMES, “We thought the town has finally fallen to the Boko Haram terrorists due to the intensity of the thunderous shooting that went on and on. We all had to come out armed with sticks, cutlasses and other weapons to protect ourselves while the soldiers battled with them outside the trenches.”

The military has yet to issue a statement on the incident.

However, the top security source who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES earlier said, “Everything has been brought under control.”

Residents were going about their normal businesses, as the military did not impose any restriction on movements despite the development.

Source – Premium Times

I Remain Grateful To Bayelsa People, Nigerians – Jonathan

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday in Yenagoa said he remained grateful to Bayelsa people for the support he enjoyed during his political career from 1999 to date.

Jonathan, who expressed his gratitude at the civic reception organised in his honour by Bayelsa government, said that he was honoured to have been found worthy of public service.

He expressed appreciation to the state government for organising the civic reception, adding that he would dedicate the remaining part of his life to peace building across the country.

“Having befitted so much from the rare privilege of serving, I shall dedicate the remaining part of my life to peace building in all parts of Nigeria.

“I will urge all to support the new administration to develop Nigeria and work with the state government to develop our own state,” Jonathan said.

Speaking earlier, Gov. Seriake Dickson said that the administration organised the reception to express appreciation to Nigerians for giving Jonathan the opportunity to lead the country for the past six years.

He said that the state was receiving the former president with mixed feelings of gloom and gratitude.

He said that the period was a trying time for the Niger Delta people but said that there was hope in the horizon.

“We are down but not out and for those who are happy at our situation that we shall rise again,” Dickson said.

Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers, Chief Alfred Diette-Spiff , Chairman of Bayelsa Council of Traditional Rulers, said that serving the country as president was a rare privilege.

“The great sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo wished to be president of the coun try for only one day, but our own son was president for about 3, 000 days.” Diette-Spiff said.

Meanwhile, different organisations and social groups stormed Otuoke to receive the former President after handover.

Among in attendance are Akiplayi community social groups and their elders, Ogbia Youth Vanguard (OYV) were in attendance to welcome the former President.

Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) were among those that welcomed the former president in his home town.

Ohane-eze You Congress (OYC) were also in attendance to welcome the former president.

The reception was also attended by the Peoples Democratic Party Women Forum (PDPWF). (NAN)

Buhari’s Inaugural Speech, Powerful Agenda For Nigeria – John Kerry

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, on Friday, described President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural speech as laying out “a powerful agenda.”

Kerry, who gave assurance that the United States would support the new administration to tackle insurgency and the economic challenges bedevilling the country, was accosted by journalists within the venue of the inauguration immediately after the event.

He said, “The inauguration is historic and very promising. The President made a very important speech, laid out a very powerful agenda and the United States is prepared to work very closely to help to do and everything we can on the economy, Boko Haram and other issues. The President did a very great job today.”

Others who also spoke with our correspondent at the venue of the event on Friday were former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, an All Progressives Congress chieftain and former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Audu Ogbeh; former Anambra State governor,

Chimwoke Mbadunuju; and a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele.

They hailed the agenda set out by Buhari in his inaugural speech.

Atiku, who described the inauguration as historic, said the President’s inaugural speech was a reflection of the APC manifesto.

He said, “It is a very historic day for our democratic process and for Africa. His promises are based on the party’s manifesto and I believe we will all work towards achieving the objectives.”

Bamidele said the speech reflected seriousness, focus and “demonstrated the resolve of a man who is determined to really make a difference.”

He added, “And going by the antecedent of the Vice-President, I have no doubt that the administration will hit the ground running. I also have no doubt that this should mark the true beginning in the kind of the transformation that we need in the area of building our economy, strengthening our democracy and ensuring good governance in this country.”

Mbadunuju also expressed confidence that Buhari would deliver on his promises.

Boko Haram Violence Cause Cameroon Food Stocks To Dwindle

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Food shortages threaten some 200,000 people in northern Cameroon after cross-border raids by Islamist sect Boko Haram forced people to flee their homes and fields, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.

Food production in one of Cameroon’s poorest regions is likely to be further hit by insecurity just as food reserves run low with the approach of the lean season, said WFP.

“Sometimes we’ve got nothing to eat. Sometimes just enough for the children,” Gombo, a mother of five who left her village near the Nigeria border six months ago and is living in an informal settlement near Maroua, told WFP.

“I try to make a living by cutting and selling firewood. People from the nearby village also help with food, but this is less now. I am farmer. I miss my village and working in the field.”

Boko Haram fighters seized control of a swathe of northeast Nigeria last year, killing thousands in an unprecedented land grab while increasing incursions into neighbouring countries, including Cameroon.

The number of people in northern Cameroon who have fled their homes due to cross-border violence has tripled since January to 106,000, according to U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

WFP has struggled to secure funds for its operations in Cameroon and in the past six months was only able to provide food assistance to 68,000 displaced people in April in May, and only for two weeks.

“When we went back to these people I asked them if they had any food left and the answer was no,” Adel Sarkozi, WFP spokeswoman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview from Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital.

She said that some 35 percent of children in border areas were malnourished.

Unless funding is secured, WFP will only be able to provide life-saving assistance to 20 percent of the 225,000 people it aims to support, said Sarkozi.

Though a military campaign by Nigeria backed by its neighbours Chad, Niger and Cameroon has driven Boko Haram out of many positions it previously held, the UN still expects refugee numbers to rise.

Only 6 Female Senators In 8th National Assembly

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Only six out of the 109 senators who will serve in the 8th National Assembly are women, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

NAN also reports that four of the female senators were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while two are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP senators-elect are Stella Oduah (Anambra North), Uche Ekwunife (Anambra Central), Rose Oko (Cross River North) and Fatimat Raji-Rasaki (Ekiti Central).

Those elected of APC platform are Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos Central) and Binta Garba (Adamawa North).

An examination of the list of the female senators-elect showed that all of them, except Sen. Tinubu, are new members of the Red Chamber.

The number of female senators who will serve in the 8th assembly is 25 per cent less from the eight that are in the outgoing 7th assembly.

Statistics on the number of senators-elect for the 8th assembly revealed that 79 senators or 72 per cent are new while 30 senators or 28 per cent are old members returning for different terms in the upper chamber.

According to the statistics, APC with 61 senators or 56 per cent of the total number of senators will enjoy simple majority control in the chamber as against 44 per cent or 48 senators it has in the outgoing 7th Assembly.

The reverse is the case for PDP, which lost its majority status in the Upper Chamber with 48 senators-elect as against 61 senators in the outgoing 7th assembly. (NAN)

I’m Not Afraid Of Buhari —Madam Okonjo-Iweala Boasts

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Minister of Finance, Ngozi Onkojo-Iweala, has boasted that she is not scared of President Muhammadu Buhari if he decides to probe her activities in the government of Goodluck Jonathan.

She said: “There is no substance in the wild allegations that any money is missing from the account or that finances of the country under Okonjo-Iweala’s watch have not been well managed.”

The minister added that she “has no reason to fear Buhari.

Those who cannot adequately explain what they did with the resources of their states and are begging for bailout are those who should to be scared.”

She stated this in a statement while responding to revelations made by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

She denied claims by Oshiomhole that she has been speaking out lately because of the ‘fear of Buhari’.

According to her, “if there is any minister whose voice has been strong on the right issues over the past four years, it is Okonjo-Iweala.”

She however forgot to say that she has been claiming that our economy was very ok, when in fact it’s not.

All Universities Established By Jonathan Are Illegal – ASUU

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has described as illegal all the 16 universities and other higher institutions established by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, saying they lack the necessary legal backing and so may be living on borrowed time.

This remark was made by the union’s National President, Dr. Issa Fagge Nasir, while commenting on the recent conversion of four colleges of education to universities by the Federal Executive Council, FEC. Nasir, in an exclusive interview with New Telegraph, described the conversion as an assault on the Acts establishing the colleges, adding that universities are not only established via executive fiats but through thorough consultations with stakeholders and deep understudy of the pros and cons of
such decisions.

He said, “Our quarrel with the government is that universities are not just established by executive fiats like this administration is doing. So the Federal Government is only compounding the problems already bedeviling the education sector and I wonder if the incoming administration will allow this to stand.

“Strictly speaking, the Federal Government is not respecting its own laws, and I wonder how you just transmute an institution without looking at its laws. What happens to its staff, facilities and infrastructure?” The ASUU president also queried the release of N500 million each to the four new universities as take-off grant, saying the money alone cannot be enough for staff training not to talk of infrastructural upgrade.

He said academic institutions like universities are the bedrock for national development and so are not run without defined mandate and vision, and that using them to achieve political gains will only further compound the nation’s problems.

He, therefore, called on the incoming administration to critically assess these decisions and make impartial judgment that will benefit the mass of the people and return the country’s education sector’s lost glory.

Change Is Here : Here Are The Promises Nigerians Got From The Incoming President Gen. Buhari

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

On May 29, Muhammadu Buhari will take office as President of Nigeria. Expectations are high as most Nigerians expect the coming government to wave a magic wand and make all their problems disappear. The Buhari campaign which ran on a ‘CHANGE’ mantra made numerous promises to Nigerians during the campaign.

Below are Buhari’s many campaign promises to Nigerians:
On Politics and Governance:
I, Muhammadu Buhari, believe that our politics is broken. Our nation urgently needs fundamental political reform and improvement in governance more transparency and accountable. If you nominate me in December, 2014 and elect me in February 2015, my administration will:

1. Initiate action to amend the Nigerian Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit;
2. Strengthen INEC to reduce, if possible, eliminate electoral malpractices in Nigerian’s political life;
3. Attract the best and brightest of our sons and daughters into our politics and public service by aggressive recruitment of private sector people, academics, and professionals within

Nigeria and in the Diaspora through internships, fellowships, executive appointments, and special nomination to contest elective offices;
4. Prevent the abuse and misuse of Executive, Legislative and Public offices, through greater accountability, transparency, strict, and implementable anti-corruption laws, through strengthening and sanitising the EFCC and ICPC as independent entities;
5. Amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases;

6. Restructure governance for a leaner, more efficient, and adequately compensated public service sector, while promoting effective participation of the private sector for more robust job creation programmes to employ the teaming youth.;

7. Require full disclosure in media outlets, of all government contracts over N100m prior to award and during implementation at regular intervals;

8. Reform and Strengthen the Justice System for efficient administration and dispensation of justice with the creation of special courts for accelerated hearing of corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism and similar cases of national importance;

9. Fully enforce the Freedom of Information Act l so that government held data sets can be requested and used by the public and then such data sets be publish on regular basis;
10. Amend the Constitution to require Local governments to publish their meeting minutes, service performance data, and items of spending over N10M.
Security and Conflict Resolution

On National Security and Defence:
I will urgently secure the territorial integrity of the nation. I will never leave the defence of the nation in the hands of Hunters, Children, and Civilian JTF through the following:
1. Urgently address capacity building mechanisms of law enforcement agents in terms of quantity and quality as this is critical in safeguarding the sanctity of lives and property;
2. Establish a well trained, adequately equipped and goals driven Serious Crime Squad to combat insurgencies, kidnapping, armed robbery, ethno-religious and communal clashes, nationwide;

3. Consult and amend the Constitution to enable States and Local Governments to create city, Local government and State Policing systems, base on the resources available at each levels, to address the peculiar needs of each community. I will therefore work with the National Assembly to set and revised, when needed, boundaries of operations, for Federal, State, and Local government policing units, through new Criminal Justice legislation to replace the Criminal Code, the Penal Code and the Police Act.

4. I will push for more robust support in the Security and Economic stability of the West-African sub-region and African Continent as a whole. I will seek and maintain close and frank relationship with ALL of West Africa; Special relationship with South Africa and its Sub-region; UK, USA, Canada, EU, Asia, and the Middle East .

On Conflict Resolution, National Unity, And Social Harmony:
I will;
1. Establish a Conflict Resolution Commission to help prevent, mitigate, and resolve civil conflicts within the polity;
2. Bring permanent peace and solution to the insurgency issues in the North-East; the Niger Delta; and other conflict prone states and areas such as Plateau, Benue, Bauchi, Borno, Abia, Taraba, Yobe, and Kaduna in order to engender national unity and social harmony;

3. Initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country by removing state of origin, tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations from documentation requirements in our identification of citizens and replace these with State of Residence and fashion out the appropriate minimal qualification for obtaining such a state of residency, nation-wide.

On Foreign Policy:
I will;
1. Make regional integration a priority within ECOWAS including free trade with a view to ensuring that common tariff currency are in use by the end of my term in office, under Nigeria’s guidance and leadership, base on the size of its market force;

2. Maintain a strong, close and frank relationship within the Gulf of Guinea, the Commonwealth, South Africa and the rest of the world.
3. Establish a special relationship with the leading emerging markets like Brazil; Russia, India and China (BRIC) and other strategic partners around the world.

The Economy & Infrastructure Base On the Economy:
I will;
1. Maintain sound Micro and macro-economic policy environment, and run an efficient government and preserve the independence of the Central Bank;
2. Restore financial confidence in the citizens and the world, by putting in place a more robust monitoring, supervising, and regulating of the financial institutions;

3. Make our economy one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world with a real GDP growth averaging at least 10-12% annually
4. As at 1999, Nigerian rate of unemployment stood at about 8%, today it is estimated from official statistics to be close to 30%. I will embark on vocational training, entrepreneurial and skills acquisition scheme for graduates along with the creation of Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme to create at least 5 million new jobs by 2019. A Small and Medium Enterprises Development Commission will be created for this purpose. I will also encourage State Governments to focus on employment creation, by matching everyone job created in the same state.

5. Integrate the informal economy into the mainstream and prioritize the full implementation of the National Identification Scheme to generate the relevant data;
6. Expand domestic demand and will undertake associated public works programmes to achieve this goal;
7. Embark on export and production diversification including investment in infrastructure; promote manufacturing, through Agro Based industries; and expand and promote sub-regional trade through ECOWAS and AU;

8. Make Information Technology, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Entertainment key drivers of our economy, by reviewing the present reward system, which is based on certification, to that based on skills, competencies, and performances;
9. Balance the Nigerian economy across regions by the creation of 6 Regional Economic Development Agencies (REDAs) to act as sub-regional hubs in order to promote healthy regional competitiveness;

Put in place a N300bn Regional Growth Fund with an average of N50bn in each geo-political region; to be managed by the REDAs, to encourage private sector enterprise and to support places currently reliant on only on the public sector, to migrate to a private sector reality;

Amend the Constitution and the:
10. Land Use Act to create freehold/leasehold interests in land along with matching grants for states to create a nationwide electronic land title register on a state by state basis;
11. Create an additional middle-class of at least 4 million new home owners by 2019 by enacting a national mortgage single digit interest rates for purchase of owner occupier houses as well as review the collateral qualification to make funding for home ownership easier, with a 15 to 30 year mortgage terms. This will equally help our banking system migrate from short to long term perspective of their role in sustaining the economy.

12. Create a Social Welfare Program of at least Five Thousand Naira (N5000) that will cater for the 25 million poorest and most vulnerable citizens upon the demonstration of children’s enrolment in school and evidence of immunisation to help promote family stability.
13. Provide allowances to the discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for Twelve (12) months while in the skills and entrepreneurial development programmes.

14. Make the Naira appreciate more to the Dollar

On Agriculture:
I will;
1. Modernize the sector and change Nigeria from being a country of self-subsistence farmers to that of a medium/large scale farming nation/producer;
2. Create a nationwide food inspectorate division with a view to improving nutrition and eliminating food-borne hazards
3. Inject sufficient funds to the Agricultural sector to create more agro-allied jobs by way of loans at nominal interest rates for capital investment on medium and commercial scale cash crops;

4. Guarantee a minimum price for all cash crops and facilitate storage of agricultural products to overcome seasonal shortages of selected food crops.
5. Move the nation to an all year round small, medium, and commercial farming through a coordinated integrative irrigation of our existing dams as well as creation of more dam to collect the over flooding waters, nationwide.

6. Revive our Agricultural Research Institutes that are in a state of comatose;
7. Review and strengthened Veterinary practices nationwide.
On Infrastructure:

I will;
1. Review the Public Private Partnership (PPP) enabling environment with a view to addressing the legal, regulatory and operational bottlenecks, challenging the effective administration of the system, by introducing enabling legislation. In addition, I will create a National Infrastructural Development Bank to provide loans at nominal interest rates, exclusively for this sector;

2. Generate, transmit and distribute electricity on a 24/7 basis whilst simultaneously ensuring the development of sustainable/renewable energy, by 2019.
3. Embark on a National Infrastructural Development Programme as a Public Private Partnership that will
(a) ensure 5,000km of Superhighway including service trunks and
(b) building of up to 6,800km of modern railway completed by 2019;

4. Enact new legal and regulatory frameworks to establish independent regulation and incentives to accelerate public and private sector investment in seaports, railways, and inland waterways;
5. Embark on PPP schemes that will ensure every one of the 36 states has one functional airport, with all 21st Century safety tools for effective commercial air travel.
On the Oil and Gas Industry:

I will:
1. Revive and reactivate our minimally performing Refineries to optimum capacity;
2. Make the industry and Nigeria one of the world leading/cutting edge centres for clean oil and gas technology; also producing leading world Oil and Gas technologist, scientists, and owing mega structure installations, drilling, processing, and production facilities and engineers. These facilities and scientists will be supported with the best services and research facilities.

3. Fully develop the sector’s capacity to absorb more of the nation’s new graduate in the labour market. The sector will be funded to produce more home-grown, but world class engineers, scientists, technologist, etc.;
4. Modernise the NNPC and make it the national energy champion. I will consider breaking it up into more efficient, commercially driven units; and may strip it of its regulatory powers, so as to enable it tap into international capital market;

5. Enforce the government master plan for oil companies to end flaring that pollutes the air and damages the communities and people’s health and ensure that they sell at least half of their gas produced within Nigeria;
6. Speedily pass the much-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and ensure that local content issues are fully addressed

7. Make Nigeria the world’s leading exporter of LNG through the creation of strategic partnerships.
8. Stabilise oil price

The Society & Human Capital Development On Education:
I will;
1. Fully review provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act with emphasis on gender equity in primary, secondary school enrolment whilst improving the quality and substance of our schools, through outcome based education, that address the individual, family, and societal roles in education; and the associative skills and competencies that go with these responsibilities;

2. Targeting up to 20% of our annual budget for this critical sector whilst making substantial investments in training quality teachers at all levels of the educational system;

3. Implement a performance based education, predicated on outcomes, skills, and competences as against the current certificate based qualification. I will adjust the reward system accordingly too. This way, exams malpractice and certificate forgery will be resolved once and for all. Young men and women interested in real liberal arts education, based on a true understanding of scientific, the humanistic, and the social sciences will fill our classrooms to be prepared for future leadership of the nation;

4. Enhance teacher training and improve the competence of teachers in the light of the 21st Century and beyond understanding of the learner types, intelligence types, as the multiple assessment types, in order to open up learning for all our children types. The era of one student type will give way to an all learner type for our children and young people as well as adults who want to return to the classroom to sharpen their skills, competencies, and sensibilities. This re-engineering of our education will be followed with a clearly thought out and vigorous national inspection programmes;

5. Make learning experiences more meaningful for children as the nation’s education will no longer be a preparation for life, but life itself. Our children will be democratised for education, rather than be educated for democracy. This view of education will make educating our children more cost-effective in the long run;

6. Provide One Meal a day for all elementary/primary/Almajiri schools That will create jobs in Agriculture, Catering, and Delivery Services

7. Develop and promote effective use of innovative teaching methods/materials in our schools;

8. Ensure a greater proportion of expenditure on university education is devoted to helping our youth to understand the juxtaposition of Science, Technology, the Humanities and the Social Sciences.

9. Establish at least six new universities of Science and Technology with satellite campuses in various states. These six universities should be fully equipped with ICT technologies in order to attract and encourage small and medium scale ICT enterprises after their university education;

10. Establish technical colleges and vocational centres in each state of the federation;

11. Provide more conducive environment for private sector participation in all levels of education. Re-authorised the NUC, TETFUN, JAMB, etc, Acts to enable Private institutions of Higher learning to benefit from research funds and programmes that will serve the national good;

12. Establish six centres of excellence to address the needs of special education;

On Healthcare:
I will;
1. Prioritise the reduction of the infant mortality rate substantially; reduce maternal mortality rates to the levels acceptable by the World Health Organisation; reduce HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases drastically and improve life expectancy by an additional 10 years on average through our National Healthy Living program;

2. Increase the number of physicians from 19 per 1000 population to 50 per 1000 through deliberate medication education as epitomize by nations such as Ghana. I will increase national health expenditure per person per annum to about N50,000 (from the less than N10,000 currently);

3. Increase the quality of all federal government owned hospitals to world class standard by 2019;

4. Invest in cutting edge technology such as tele-medicine in all major health centers in the country through partnership programmes with communities and the private sector;

5. Provide free ante-natal care for pregnant women; free health care for babies and children up to school going age and for the aged; and free treatment for those afflicted with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS;

6. Boost the local manufacture of pharmaceuticals and make non adulterated drugs readily available.
Set an effective prosecution and punishment systems, for those importing or adulterating drugs in the country.

7. The enhancement of the Epidemiological Units / Centres for Diseas Control to meet up with Global standards in containment of disease outbreaks, proper vaccine storage and research;

8. Create an Insurance Policy for our Journalists as the nation faces hard times and our Journalists face more dangers in the discharge of their investigative work, to educate Nigerians in their rights and responsibilities.

9. Ban medical tourism by our politicians from May 29, 2015.

On Youth, Sports and Culture:
I will;
1. Provide the opportunities such as setting up functional recreational facilities, Library with e-services, Community Centers, in collaboration with States, Local Government Authorities, Local Development Areas, etc for youth to realize, harness, and develop their potentials to the fullest, in order to facilitate the emergence of the new generation of citizens, who will be committed to the sustenance of good governance and service to the people and the country;

2. Establish Zonal world-class sports academies and training institutes and ensure that Nigeria occupies a place of pride in global sports and athletics;

3. Revive and restructure the Nigerian Football League and put incentives in place to make it as competitive as other national leagues

4. Put in place measures to identify talents early and ensure their participation in local and international games to enable them to be true professionals;

5. Help as well as mandate schools and communities to create neighborhood playgrounds/sports centre. I will create matching support funds for communities to acquire the needed equipment to develop skills and competencies;

6. Assist Nollywood to fully develop into world class movie industry that can compete effectively with Hollywood and Bollywood in due course. I will support the creative and performing arts with the necessary environment where by our great entertainers do not end their lives in abject poverty as is currently the case.

As presented by Vanguard

Photo: Presidential G-Wagon ready For The Inauguration

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

This is the Presidential G-Wagon Buhari and Jonathan will ride in after the inauguration and formal handover.

Jonathan’s Failures, Achievements In 5 Years- Report

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

After sweeping to power with a vast majority of the votes during the 2011 presidential election, it didn’t take long before the Goodluck Jonathan presidency began to unravel.

Mr. Jonathan, who had endeared himself to majority of ordinary Nigerians with his “I had no shoes” speech, promised a break from the old ways of doing things. His campaign slogan which was tagged “A Breath of Fresh Air” promised a break from the old and mostly retrogressive way the country had been governed in the past.

Like all the country’s past leaders before him, Mr. Jonathan kicked of his presidency with a string of promises.

But this was not just another member of the country’s navel-gazing elite promising to be the messiah of the long-suffering common man, this was a person they saw as one of them; someone who had experienced their pains and hardship promising to alleviate those pains. Nothing could be more reassuring.

In his inaugural speech, he promised a transformative government. He promised to grow the economy, create jobs and to provide overall happiness to Nigerians.

“The urgent task of my administration is to provide a suitable environment, for productive activities to flourish,” the president said.

He promised to improve electricity and medical care for all, provide efficient and affordable public transportation and first class education for every Nigerian.

But it soon became clear that these were merely soundbites as the Jonathan administration couldn’t deliver of most of its promises.

Power

On power generation, Mr. Jonathan said four years was enough to solve the endemic power generation in the country. On 31 January, 2011, speaking to diplomats of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, and the African Union, AU, in Addis-Ababa Mr Jonathan said:

“If I’m voted into power, within the next four years, the issue of power will become a thing of the past. Four years is enough for anyone in power to make a significant improvement and if I can’t improve on power within this period, it then means I cannot do anything.”

After several interventions including the privatisation of the power sector and several billion naira spent on power reform, power generation has dropped to less than 2,000 megawatts. One of the country’s biggest distribution companies, Ikeja Electricity Distribution PLC, announced last week that it was allocated zero megawatt.

Only five megawatts is available to the country’s capital, Abuja, and just five out the country’s 23 power plants were functional as of Monday. In January 2011 when Mr Jonathan promised to “make a significant improvement” in power supply, the country was generating over 3,000 megawatts. That is more than 1,000 megawatt lesser power.

Fuel, Subsidy and Refineries

Nigeria was literally brought to a standstill this week after oil importers and tanker drivers embarked on a strike over disagreement with the Federal Government over subsidy payment. Schools, hospitals, major airline, banks were shut down due to the unavailability of fuel. PMS was selling as high as N500 per litre from the N87 official pump price. Fuel subsidy has constituted a black hole in the country’s finances.

An attempt by the government to remove fuel subsidy – its first most controversial policy, a decision Mr. Jonathan said will eradicate fraud – left Nigerians paying more for fuel. The government increased fuel pump price, and petrol for instances, climbed from N65 to N97 per litre.

Between 2010 and 2014, the government spent more than N6.354 trillion on subsidising imported fuel. On May 13, 2010, soon after he was sworn in as substantive president after the death of Mr Yar’Adua, Mr. Jonathan awarded the contract for the construction of three Greenfield refineries at the cost of $23 billion.

The main contractors China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) is meant to pick up 80 per cent of bill while the Nigerian National petroleum Corporation finance 20 per cent of the project. The refineries were to be established in Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogu State and were expected to have a combined refining capacity of over 400,000 barrels per day by 2016 to meet the shortfall in domestic demand. If the project had been successfully executed, it would have saved the country more than $10 billion spent annually on subsidy payment.

Last October a member of the House of Representative, Abass Tajudeen, observed that one year to its estimated completion date, no tangible work has been done on the project so far.

“We are amazed that despite a favourable recommendation by the task force for the Lagos refinery, there is no evidence of plan to construct a refinery at the Lekki site by year 2015,” he said.

Second Niger Bridge

During the 2011 presidential campaign, Mr Jonathan at a town hall meeting in Onitsha promised to build the Second Niger Bridge to ease economic activities in the South East.

“When the first bridge was built, it was during the presidency of Nnamdi Azikiwe; the second Niger Bridge will be built under the presidency of Azikiwe Jonathan.

“I will go on exile on the completion of my term in office if I didn’t build the bridge by 2015,” he said.

Though skeletal work has commenced on the site of the bridge, the project is still a mirage. In January this year while campaigning in the Anambra State, Mr Jonathan extended the completion date of the bridge by 14 months.

However, Nigerians were quick to observe that all they saw during the president’s visit to the site, were sand dunes and a prototype picture of the bridge.

Unemployment and Corruption

Under President Jonathan, Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased as the government did little to provide jobs despite claiming huge numbers.

In 2010 when he assumed office, unemployment rate was at 23.9 per cent, but by 2014 the figure steadied at 24 per cent, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics. The agency recently announced a new protocol of calculating unemployment, with claims the figure stands at less than 7 per cent.

No doubt, one of Jonathan’s administration was its approach to corruption. The president started out by granting pardon to his former benefactor and ex-Bayelsa State Governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who was convicted for money laundering and theft of state funds. If the Jonathan administration had any pretence of fighting corruption it quickly went out of the window after that. Mr Jonathan also failed to rein in aides and minsters accused of corruption.

For several months, he kept his Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, in his cabinet despite public outcry over her scandalous spending of over N255 million to purchase two BMW bulletproof cars. When the minister finally left office, the government made the point of insisting the decision was voluntary to allow Mrs. Oduah pursue other political interests.

Yet, the same government acted differently and swiftly when the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, in 2013 claimed that $20 billion of oil money was unaccounted for by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. Mr Jonathan promptly fired the CBN governor after accusing him of financial recklessness.

Boko Haram

If anything tore the Jonathan government apart, none did as the Boko Haram insurgency. The government struggled for years for a response while the bloodthirsty group ran amok, killing, maiming and displacing Nigerians in mostly northern states in its bid to form an Islamic caliphate within Nigeria.

Critics say the president didn’t act decisively until eleventh hour when it became clear that his failure to put down the group was going to affect his chances at the polls. Despite international outcry and calls, especially by the Bring Back Our Girls campaigners, for the over 200 school girls kidnapped by the extremist group from Chibok, to be rescued, his government failed in rescuing the girls.

Achievements

Though his administration fell largely short of expectations, Mr. Jonathan performed impressively in some areas. Though still far from being at par with services around the world, President Jonathan resuscitated the comatose railway sector.

Previously abandoned routes especially between the Southern Nigeria and the North were revived and made pliable though at a less than desirable speed and comfort. His administration also started to build new railways lines like the one linking Kaduna to Abuja.

Road construction and rehabilitation should rank among the top five of his achievements in office. During his administration more than 50 road project were either completed or at various stages of completion.

The government rebuilt the notoriously defective Benin-Ore road, and worked a significant part of the Abuja-Lokoja road, amongst many other roads.

Electoral reform was perhaps the best of President Jonathan’s delivered promises. Though elections in the country remains far from ideal, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not enjoy the kind of independence it enjoyed under the Jonathan administration in the entire 16 years of democratic rule of the Fourth Republic.
The independence enjoyed by INEC allowed it to introduce innovative electoral fraud busting technology such as the card reader and bio-metric identification of voters.

The president also approved notable legislations his predecessors failed to sign.

With the signing of his Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) early in his administration, Mr. Jonathan indicated he was ready to run a transparent government. However, he did not do enough to make government agencies and parastatal buy into the spirit of the FOIA as they repeatedly turned down FOIA requests except in few cases.

President Jonathan provided vital support to sections of the business and the entertainment community, including his grant for the Nollywood. Access to such facilities remained problematic though.

Credit: premiumtimesng

Otuoke Gets Ready To Receive Jonathan (PHOTOS)

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Staff Reporter

It was the clatter of raindrops on gleaming zinc roofs that punctuated the extended silence in Otuoke on Thursday afternoon.

Before the rains, the Bayelsa community had seemed oblivious of the impending return of one of its illustrious sons – save for the half-hearted renovation works at the Dame Patience Jonathan Square.

The heavy downpour halted, for over an hour, the renovation at the Square, where Goodluck Jonathan, the outgoing president, will be hosted on arrival at his hometown.

On Friday, Mr. Jonathan would begin his journey back home from the seat of power in Abuja.

At the Government House Helipad in Yenagoa, Mr. Jonathan would be received by Seriake Dickson, the Bayelsa State governor, and other top government officials, according to Dan Kikile, the state’s Commissioner for Information.

The former president, as he would then be known, would be hosted to a civic reception at the Gabriel Okara Cultural Centre, before proceeding to his hometown in Otuoke where he would be received by chiefs and his kinsmen.

“The state government wants to use the occasion to showcase the affection of Bayelsa people to Jonathan and thank God for successfully completing his tenure in office,” Mr. Kikile said.

At the Dame Patience Jonathan Square in Otuoke, a gathering centre for the community, rows of plastic seats arranged in a U-shape overlooks an open field that measures 35 by 25 feet.

A handful of young men, in paint-smeared overalls, add fresh coats of paint on rails and beams while the women sweep the dusty floors.

Outside the square, some youth unload giant loudspeakers and other musical equipment from a delivery truck.

“My people are very happy, we want to receive our son, our father, our brother,” Bestman Azibola, a member of the Ebele Compound in Otuoke, said as he relaxed in one of the dusty chairs in the Square.

“My people are happy because there are some people they died on the seat, they didn’t go back to their people alive.

“And we want to thank God for one more thing again, because he is somebody that is very patient, very humble, at a time we were even thinking that there will be a problem in the country.”

But Mr. Azibola’s happiness is not infectious.

At least, not to Belief Egbu, who sells beverages near Mr. Jonathan’s home.

The road that leads into Otuoke from Emeyal community is as narrow as it is littered with craters and worn out metallic bridges across streams.

As the path snakes into Otuoke, a small signpost of Mr. Jonathan and his wife, Patience, says: ‘Welcome to Otuoke. Home of Goodluck.’

“The man story tire people,” Mr. Egbu, an indigene of Abua/Odua local government in Rivers State said, as he cupped his palm to wipe off sweat from his brow.

“As you are sweating now, e suppose as u enter here, fan go blow you well. But no light,” Mr. Egbu said as this reporter sat sweating in his shop.

“For two weeks now, no light. They say they are doing the wiring since that time.

“At least double express lane, well sound road supposed to lead here. Nothing.”

Otuoke is not only in darkness, it also lacks potable water. A three year old water scheme by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources is still under construction.

“Why the people go dey happy for am? No be say make him do everything,” Mr. Egbu said.

“Him don dey there for six years, no water o. We buy jerry can N20. How people go dey happy for am? He get wisdom to lead people but him no get wisdom to develop.”

Mr. Egbu captures the indifferent mood of many people in Otuoke as Mr. Jonathan prepares to reunite with his kinsmen.

Even Mr. Azibola admitted that his kinsman may not receive a heroic welcome from his people.

“A lot of people are angry that the man did not do anything,” said Mr. Egba, who is yet to secure a job four years after graduating from the university.

“But to me, the man is a nationalist. He believes in developing Nigeria, he did not centre his power to Otuoke. You yourself that has come from outside you can see the bad road you passed through, you can see the bad environment.

“If you are asked to stay her for one week, you wouldn’t want to stay. But we are celebrating for the good act that he is coming back and everyone of us in the country we’ve been our brother’s keeper, accepted him to serve us, and we are thanking God for that.”

At Mr. Jonathan’s residence in Otuoke, labourers are putting finishing touches to the five buildings in the premises.

Two roadblocks, mounted by the operatives of Battalion 5 of the Joint Task Force Operation Pulo Shield, are situated on either side of the spacious compound.

On Thursday afternoon, the soldiers arrested a journalist with The Punch Newspapers for taking photographs of the compound.

Although the people in Otuoke differed on the expected level of infrastructural development in the community, they were unanimous in one factor – the peace in the community.

Mr. Azibola said that Otuoke had always been a peaceful home for everybody.

“If you watch, two-thirds of the community are strangers. Otuoke is a peace-loving community. We have never recorded a case of fight or war.”

However, in the run up to the last general elections, residents of northern extraction in the community, who are mostly commercial motorcyclists, did not want to bank on the peace.

A few days to the presidential election, they fled.

Auwal Ibrahim, a commercial motorcyclist, said he travelled to be his wife and three children in Kano.

“Everyone was travelling and I didn’t want to be only one left here,” he said.

There have been talks all week in Yenagoa that Mr. Jonathan might receive a frosty welcome on his arrival in the state, with some suggesting that pure water sachets could be hurled at him.

But Mr. Egbu said that despite his perceived shortcomings, Mr. Jonathan’s people would always stand by him.

“They may stone him at Yenagoa but not here in Otuoke. No matter what happens, he is one of us.”

Credit: premiumtimesng

I Have No Regret Losing Presidency To Buhari – Jonathan

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Despite the painful loss of the presidential election to Buhari , Jonathan has said that he has no regret over his defeat.

Jonathan spoke on Wednesday night at a grand House Reception organised in his honour by the Chairman Emeritus of DAAR Communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, owners of AIT and Raypower.

He said, ‘By this time people are supposed to be running away from someone who has lost an election but I am being celebrated by Daar Communications Plc.

“For me, whatever happened in the election I have accepted it in good faith. Even though, some have argued that those I entrusted with my campaign disappointed me, I have no regrets for losing because in any political processes, there are all kinds of stories and conspiracies.

“We are a very religious society; whether Christians or Muslims or some other religions, I believe it is the will of God that the election went the way it did. I have always maintained that for the ordinary Nigerian, what is important is the style of governance, not who is even the president.”

Osinbajo Inspects Office, Aguda House, Thanks Sambo For His Cooperation

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The Vice-President elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, was on Thursday conducted round his new office and residential quarters at the Aguda House, Presidential Villa, Abuja, by Vice President Namadi Sambo.

Speaking shortly after the inspection, Sambo prayed for the success of the incoming administration, and pledged to support and cooperate with the vice president-elect.

“Let me seize this opportunity to specially welcome you to the Presidency and to your new office.

“I pray that almighty God will guide you, protect you and give you good health to enable you continue from where we are stopping, for successful tenure.

“I want to assure you I’m always available to give you my support and our support to see that you succeed in this new endeavour.’’

In his remarks, Osinbajo thanked Sambo for his cooperation and understanding, adding that the incoming administration would continue to seek for his useful advice when necessary.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sambo and Osinbajo were accompanied by their aides and some principal staff of the Presidential Villa at the event. (NAN)

More Photos: President Jonathan Takes Buhari On Tour Of Aso Villa

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

President-elect Buhari pictured touring the place he will call home from tomorrow May 29th. See more photos below…

‘You Have Earned Yourself A Place In Nigeria’s History’ – Buhari To Jonathan

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

While receiving the handover notes from President Jonathan this morning, President-elect, Buhari said for stabilizing Nigeria’s democracy, President Jonathan had earned a place in Nigeria’s history

“You have earned yourself a place in Nigeria’s history for stabilizing our democracy. If you wanted to make things difficult, you could have but you didn’t and for that, you have won the respect of world leaders” he said.

Jonathan To Sign Constitution Amendment, As NASS Removes Controversial Clauses

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

The National Assembly has agreed to remove the controversial clauses in the amendments to the constitution under the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015, which it passed this year.

President Goodluck Jonathan had withheld his assent to the amendments to the 1999 Constitution, and the Attorney General instituted a suit against the lawmakers to annul the amendments.

The lawmakers agreed to amend the Act in an out-of-court settlement between the executive and legislative arms of government in Abuja on May 26.

Parties agreed that the views of the president be considered and effected by deleting some alterations in the Alteration Act, 2015, for which the president had withheld his assent.

The six-point of settlement in the suit between the Attorney-General of the Federation and the National Assembly, was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday.

According to the terms, NASS agreed to delete alterations made to Section 8 of the Principal Act on referendum in respect of state creation.

It also agreed to delete alterations made to Section 9 of the Principal Act dispensing with the assent of the president in the process of constitution amendment.

NASS also agreed to delete alterations made in Sections 45a-45b of the Act relating to Free Basic Education and Maternal Healthcare Services.

It also deleted alterations made to Sections 150, 174, 195 and 211 of the Principal Act relating to the separation of the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. This also applies to State Attorney-General and Commissioner For Justice.

Accordingly, the suit of the Attorney-General in Suit No: SC/214/ 2015 before the Supreme Court was withdrawn following a motion for discontinuance. The court accordingly struck out the case. It was also agreed that the President Goodluck Jonathan shall assent to the Fourth Alteration Act, 2015.

Credit: NAN

Jonathan, PDP Owe Decoration Firm N360m

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Staff Reporter

Less than 48 hours to the inauguration of a new administration, the company which handled the contract for the decoration of Peoples Democratic Party presidential campaigns in all the states of the federation on Wednesday threatened to drag President Goodluck Jonathan and the party to court over unpaid debts estimated at N360m.

The decoration firm has, however, scheduled a protest for today (Thursday) at the PDP Headquarters in Wadata House, Abuja to possibly prevail on the party to release its funds.

The Managing Director of Twinkles World Ltd., Mr. Tunde Agarawu, and the Project Coordinator, Mr. Awonaiya Olayemi, at a press briefing in Abuja, said their lawyer had already issued a seven-day ultimatum on the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation within which to offset the debt or face a legal action.

Agarawu said since Jonathan lost the presidential election to Muhammadu Buhari, he and the PDP hierarchy had failed to pay most debts incurred for the campaigns.

He alleged that Prof. Jerry Gana and other members of the PDPPCO deliberately withheld their money, even though a directive had been given by the immediate-past chairman of the party, Adamu Mu’azu, that the debts be cleared.

While several efforts by journalists to get Jerry Gana for response were not successful, calls and text messages to his Personal Assistant, Mr. James Agbo, over the same matter were not replied.

Agarawu, who said no mobilisation fund was given to them before the commencement of the project, added that banks and corporate bodies where they sourced loans to execute the project were already demanding for payment of their funds.

Credit: punchng