President Buhari and some Islamic Scholars in Nigeria
President Muhammadu Buhari has explained why he has decided not to be observing Friday Jum’at prayer in the National Mosque but at the Presidential Villa.
The President, who was responding to a request by a delegation of Imams and Senior Islamic Scholarsfrom all States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory led by Professor Shehu Ahmad Galadanci, the Murshid, National Mosque, said that the idea was aimed at preventing the constraints and inconveniences which the presidential movements could cause to other worshipers.
“Regarding your request for me to be attending Juma’at prayers in the National Mosque, I implore you to note that I personally started observing Juma’at prayers in the State House in order to reduce hardships which people may pass through.
“As you all know, Presidential movements require roadblocks and other attendant restrictions which could subject worshippers and other people to a lot of difficulties.”
The President advised the Islamic scholars who were at State House to congratulate him on his overwhelming victory at the February 23 presidential election, thanked them for their prayers and support for his administration, assuring that the administration will leave no stone unturned in addressing the security challenges facing the country.
Congratulating the President on his re-election, Professor Galadanci said that the victory demonstrates the desire of the majority of Nigerians to ensure the continuity of the administration to the Next Level.
He prayed to Almighty Allah to grant the President the ability to continue with the excellent work he is doing for the country.
Highlighting noteworthy achievements of the Buhari administration in the area of security, agriculture and the fight against corruption, the leader of the group urged the President to remain focused while praying to Allah to continue to give him the power to annihilate and wipe off pockets of terrorists in the country.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello, flanked, from left by the Executive Secretary FCDA , Engr. Umar Gambo; FCT Permanent Secretary, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa and FCT Director of Treasury, Isyaku Ismaila, presenting the 2019 FCT budget to the House of Representatives Committee on FCT at the National Assembly complex Abuja.
Christians in Nigeria under the umbrella of Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), have visited President Muhammadu Buhari to congratulate him on his re-election in the February 23 election across the country for a second term.
The leadership of CAN, led by Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle, used the occasion of the visit to download the group’s requests on the President, one of which is the a passionate request for deliberate and relentless efforts by the Buhari’s government for the immediate release of Leah Sharibu, other Chibok girls and Nigerians in captivity of insurgents.
The full text of the speech, read by Dr. Samson Ayokule is reproduced here:
Congratulatory Message from Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on your Re-Election to Office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on his victory at the just concluded 2019 presidential election during their courtesy visit to Aso Rock Villa on 29th March 2019.
This delegation has come on behalf of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (the largest Christian Association in Africa) to congratulate you for victory and for being declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the just concluded 2019 Presidential Election in our nation.
Our prayer for you is that God shall grant you everything it takes to perform hundred times better than your first term. We pray that your administration would lead Nigeria to become the glory and pride of the nations in Africa and a country many people would desire to be, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Please count on this organization as one that has the success of your administration at heart. In that respect, we would not cease in praying for you and speaking out about what is expected to be done from time to time in keeping with the Bible, the word of God.
Your Excellency, our advice to you is to take your leadership beyond party politics. We were so happy listening to your Speech after your re-election that you were going to run an all inclusive government. Having been re-elected President, you have become the President of all. In view of this, we urge you to see yourself as father to all by embracing all. We solicit for inclusiveness and fairness as you constitute your cabinet and appoint worthy Nigerians to the headship and membership of critical agencies, boards and parastatals.
Your Excellency, there is no ethnic or religious group in Nigeria where you cannot find highly qualified men and women that you can engage to add value to your administration and help in moving the nation forward. This is the true and objective way in which you can give all in the country, a sense of belonging.
We, from the Christian Association of Nigeria, recognize the importance of the National Assembly to the stability and growth of our polity. It is in this regard that we call for ethnic and religious balance with depth in picking the leadership of that great institution of democracy.
Sir, to ensure that this happens is to remove any apprehension and suspicion harbored towards the leadership of this country. We equally solicit that the principle of separation of power as it is enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would be allowed to thrive as an intrinsic aspect of modern day democracy.
We commend you specially for the revival of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) and the sincere efforts of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in ensuring that your passion to build peace through NIREC becomes a reality. We assure you of our determination to build peace, harmony and unity in our nation as we constantly dialogue with other religious groups in our nation.
More importantly Sir, we solicit passionately for deliberate and relentless effort to free Leah Sharibu and other Chibok girls from captivity. Each passing day inflicts anguish in the hearts of the parents of this young girl, the rest of us who are parents, all Nigerians and others all over the world who love freedom and regret that Leah’s life is being wasted in captivity for no sin of hers other than for her religion. Doing all within you to free Leah Sharibu and according it top priority, shall confer greater credibility on your government and on you as a person.
Please and please, Mr. President, let Leah Sharibu and those in captivity of insurgents be freed to enjoy their lives.
Additionally sir, while we are thanking you for all your efforts at putting an end to bloodshed in the nation, we urge you to task the security agents to be more alive to their responsibilities by putting an end to insurgency, ethnic violence, kidnapping and herdsmen’s atrocities prevalent in our nation. Today, the Northwest of Nigeria which used to be peaceful is also witnessing violent activities. The unnecessary killings in Kaduna and the detention of some leaders of Ajara Chiefdom in Kaduna State since January should be addressed without delay to douse all tensions. All efforts today by all of us should be geared towards forgiving one another and reconciling with one another.
We wish you once again greater strides in your governance of this nation and pray that there would be peace and prosperity in our land in Jesus’ name.
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has said that he is proud that Adamawa State people voted massively for the candidate of his PDP, Ahmadu Fintiri as governor of the State.
Atiku, who is the former Vice President of Nigeria said that he is particularly delighted that the PDP came victorious in the governorship election in his home state, and that the decision of the vast majority of Nigerians to vote for the PDP signified that the party is truly a party of the people.
“My home state of Adamawa has chosen the Peoples Democratic Party to lead them. I am truly proud of this and let me assure you that you have chosen a leader with the zeal and determination to put Adamawa on the best path.
“You have chosen a leader who appreciates Adamawa’s diversity and who will run an inclusive government for the betterment of all.”
Atiku congratulated Governor-Elect, Ahmadu Fintiri for his resounding success at the polls in spite of the various antics of the ruling party to frustrate the wishes of the people in the state.
“Our people have stood with Governor-Elect Fintiri in the course of this election with an abiding commitment never to allow the power that be to rob them of their votes. I congratulate you on your election, while I also hail our people for making the right decision to choose you as leader at this point in time. I am confident that the hope reposed in you is well placed and that your tenure will launch our state to greater heights.”
After nicking the historic presidential election victory in 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was caught in the intriguing, embarrassing webs woven by its members in the National Assembly. That was at the point it showed bad faith in the zoning of key positions in government. Political parties and groups that had coalesced into a mega party to upend Peoples Democratic Party’s 16-year rule had justifiably expected to be rewarded through strategic accommodation in the power-sharing arrangements. But that was only going to happen on an inequitable basis.
Whereas, sharing and ceding positions to the six geo-political zones had never spawned rebellion, what happened with the APC in 2015 and now, contrast sharply with PDP’s years in power at the centre. Considering the historical and political circumstances that produced the APC and the mismanagement of victory by the party leadership under Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, APC’s power-sharing debacle could be clarified even if the episode suffers from selective understanding based on political interests.
APC’s formation was propelled by a single-minded objective to wrest power from President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP. The decision by the new PDP (nPDP) to factionalise the party, triggered by Jonathan’s decision to seek re-election against widespread expectations by the political North, was the last straw that broke the back of the behemoth.
Five governors – Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Magatakarda Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano) – as well as other leaders of the party, including then Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, Bukola Saraki, Adamu Abdullahi and a host of others, had exited the party to join the opposition elements in the formation of the APC.
The APC demonstrated a lack of sagacity to manage its electoral victory. That leaders of the legacy party did not tidy up power-zoning arrangements before going into the general election was glaring. They had possibly decided to cross the bridge when they got there. But on nicking victory and reaching the bridge of zoning, crossing it became more convoluted and herculean than they had envisaged.
The party leadership had coupled some zoning arrangements to muddle through that intersection. Northwest zone with only the president was not in contention for any other position. Some influential party leaders who saw through the chicanery and the shenanigans in the zoning of other positions had acted proactively by taking their destiny in their hands. That was how Bukola Saraki led the rebellion that had Hon. Yakubu Dogara and others as foot-soldiers to disrupt ceding the positions of senate president to the Northeast zone and speaker to the Southwest zone.
Saraki’s group demanding what was in the new government for the nPDP was valid. Other groups that merged to form the APC such as the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) had produced President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo respectively. But for Saraki’s disruptive politics, the party had actually zoned the senate president to Northeast and had micro-zoned it to Ahmed Lawan from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) political tendency while the speaker had been zoned to the Southwest and micro-zoned to Femi Gbajabiamila, another member of the ACN.
Saraki, justifiably, decided to provide leadership to the nPDP. He simply navigated his way back to the PDP caucus for support to jointly produce the leadership of the senate. He was able to get the numbers to emerge as senate president. A similar scenario played out in the House of Representatives where Dogara from the Northeast bested Gbajabiamila in a close race to emerge speaker. That was how the positions of President, Senate President and Speaker ended up in the North.
A carefully-crafted zoning formula or some power-sharing arrangements ahead of the election that accommodated all the interests based on their contributions to the success of the APC would have forestalled that resultant debacle. For the APC, there was a lesson to learn. From what’s unfolding on zoning after another general election victory, the party appears to have learnt very little lesson.
APC is surprisingly digging its feet into the 2015 scenario that fractured its internal harmony. Wisdom should have counseled the imperative of strategic change. This is more so now that there are three ranking senators from the Northeast whose interests in the position are unbridled. If the party wants to retain the position in the North, it should have prudently looked towards the North central where it is not likely to have a clash of interests as it is being witnessed in the Northeast.
Besides, if it was true that senators-elect and other interested stakeholders were not consulted before the party announced Northeast zone and Ahmed Lawan as the potential beneficiaries of the position of senate president, then it was a political misstep. Had there been consultations, former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, who claimed to have briefed and received promised support of Buhari to contest for the position before he formally wrote a letter to the party to intimate it of his interest would not have negatively reacted to the supposed endorsement of Lawan.
Danjuma Goje, the third ranking senator from the zone, believed to enjoy the support of PDP’s Senate caucus, is covertly plotting. Indeed, what is sacrosanct about senate president going to the Northeast and speaker going to the Southwest that already has the position of vice president? What is sacrosanct about the candidatures of Lawan and Gbajabiamila for the same positions that they unsuccessfully aspired for on the basis of the 2015 original arrangements?
Do these echo 2023 presidential succession politics? If the leadership had wanted the 2015 zoning arrangements to prevail, it could have seamlessly achieved it by carrying along all the interested stakeholders in the party and in the government. This is because the zoning arrangements are very fundamental such that a tweak as has been announced by the party to the existing arrangements foisted on it by the rebellion of Saraki and Dogara would affect other strategic positions and their occupants in the different zones.
Is the party ready for such possible tailspin? If senate president goes to the Northeast that already has so many strategic positions, would the individuals holding those positions be comfortable to be sacrificed for someone’s elevation? And, if the party decides not to remove them, then the North central which got the position in 2015, through Saraki’s rebellion can justifiably ask what is in the new administration for it since speakership has been or is being ceded to the Southwest?
For the reasons supra, the APC leadership must come clean about the zoning arrangements. The leadership should have met at the levels of the national caucus, National Working Committee and National Executive Committee to take the zoning issue through the mill and eventually announce the power-sharing formula at once, instead of the piecemeal approach it has adopted.
And this should have been done ahead of the general election subject to review after the election once the zonal performances are appraised. In other words, zoning arrangements should be worked for and positions justifiably earned in terms of number of votes earned in the presidential election, number of National Assembly seats won in pari materia with the outcomes of governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
Where no fewer than thirteen members-elect from across the six geo-political zones had already declared interest in the speakership before the party’s announcement via the media and not at any meeting with members-elect, does not augur well for confidence building and mutual rapprochement between the party caucuses in the National Assembly and the party leadership.
The situation that has now gone awry needs salvaging in the interest of harmony. The party should wisely commit to present a united front on the floors of both chambers when the 9th National Assembly is inaugurated and election of leadership is conducted. In 2023, steps should be proactively taken to settle the zoning arrangements possibly before the general election.
National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has listed the dangers in Nigeria blindly following the economic path of other nations just so that it would be regarded as civilised.
“Our pursuit of the Next Level cannot be achieved by blindly following the economic path of other nations. That would be tantamount to racing to live in a building just as its long-term occupants were frantically rushing out, screaming that the edifice was mean and crumbling. If we are smart, we dare not enter.”
Asiwaju Tinubu, in a lecture delivered as he celebrates his 67th birthday today in Abuja, insisted that Nigeria must construct its Next Level on a progressive ideology and vision that will take the citizens out of penury, diversify the economy more aggressively, and empower and retrain the youth.
He made it clear that to be the great nation, Nigeria must reform and retool its economy according to its definition of what is best for the people, saying: “we cannot assign that duty to anyone else.
Speaking on a colloquium titled: “Work for the people,” Asiwaju Tinubu insisted that the leadership must do more than simply work for the people.”
He said that government must work for the people in a way that enables them to better work for themselves.
“We must amend our basic ideas about the economy. We must divorce ourselves from our fixation with GDP rates and similar statistics. These things were initially intended to be indicators, suggestive measurements. However, we have misinterpreted these road maps by treating them as if they were the destination itself.
“This has caused us to distort the organic relationship between the people and the economy.
“This dominant train of thought has made the people servants to the dictates of abstract economic theories. In a more effective system, the economy would be fashioned to serve the concrete needs and legitimate aspirations of the people.
“Our economy must be redefined to be an efficient yet moral social construct with the primary goal of optimizing the long-term welfare of the people through the sustained, productive and full employment of labour, land, capital and natural resources.
“In the current global context, the best translation of laissez faire economics is “let’s stay poor” economics.
“To believe that we are at our best when everyone focuses solely on maximizing their own position is to believe that one hundred hands can clutch at the same naira note but no one will get scratched.”
Part of the speech is reproduced here:
You see, Next Level is not just a trendy campaign phrase to be quickly discarded once victory has been achieved.
It has a much deeper and more profound meaning, perhaps even more than its authors contemplated. This is because we are a nation still in the process of defining itself politically and economically.
In this process, it is tempting and easy to borrow indiscriminately from those nations that seem to have mastered the art of democratic governance and to have achieved economic prosperity.
However, to achieve durable progress, we can’t afford to work hard but in mindless devotion to the ways of other nations.
This truth is particularly acute when these very nations now face fundamental political and economic questions that cast doubt on the social utility and viability of the economic model under which they have travelled for the past 50 years.
The global economy faces stiff headwinds. Factors not of our making now cast the world economy towards low growth.
Consumer spending is slipping. Aggregate private debt has attained historic levels. America and China are in a trade tug-of-war. Brexit looms imminent. Whatever form Brexit takes, economic dislocation will emerge from the political confusion now underway.
Even without Brexit, the EU itself has entered a rough patch. The Eurozone may already be in recession. Stock markets experience wild swings that speak to an underlying weakness and pessimism about the immediate future.
Forecasters are predicting a global recession within the next 12-18 months.
I render these observations not to frighten anyone but because they ring true. Wisdom requires that we accept reality instead of obscuring it under the cloak of wishful thinking. We must build policies that interact with the world as it is, and not with the world as it should be.
We must recognize these harsh economic tidings as advance warnings to the wise. Hence we must think deeper and work harder for our people in Nigeria.
I would be a most wicked friend if I knew a storm was approaching yet convinced you to ready your family for an outdoor picnic under the tallest tree. The truth is always a more valuable guardian than fantasy.
Mr. President, you have warned several times that the storm that approaches is not inevitable. It is born of a human folly and reckless greed. This means that it can be rectified by human wisdom and prudential action.
At this point we must recognize a fundamental truth of our time. The economic model upon which the world is built is unraveling. The coming downturn is just a symptom of this great upheaval.
The global economy faces either genuine reform or gathering ruin.
Because of this, the economic cohesion of Western nations is weakening. Income inequality has reached levels unseen in a century. The middle class in most countries is shrinking.
Wages stagnate while prices are on a ceaseless march upward.
In America, progressives champion a Green New Deal — a massive government program to modernize that nation’s aging energy infrastructure and to create job programs to keep the middle class from becoming an endangered economic species.
In France, the yellow vests protest the austere policies of the Macron government. The vests have the sympathy of the people.
Brexit, no matter how misguided, was in large part a primal scream by people who feared the EU was responsible for their diminished economic conditions. The frustrated British would have been more accurate had they pointed the finger at a culprit closer to home – the austerity policies of two consecutive Tory governments.
People the world over are questioning the centre-right conservative model that has, with few exceptions, governed the world for the last half century. In one form or another, people are protesting the way things are, and progressive politicians are trying to help the people change things for the better.
The Next Level must be seen as part of this global and historic dynamic.
Our pursuit of the Next Level cannot be achieved by blindly following the economic path of other nations. That would be tantamount to racing to live in a building just as its long-term occupants were frantically rushing out, screaming that the edifice was mean and crumbling. If we are smart, we dare not enter.
Instead, we must construct our Next Level on a progressive ideology and vision that will take our people out of penury, diversify our economy more aggressively, and empower and retrain our youth.
To be the great nation we purport to be, we must reform and retool our economy according to our definition of what is best for our own people. We cannot assign that duty to anyone else.
Here, I must ask for a little liberty to amend the fine title of this colloquium: “Work for the people.” We must do more than simply work for the people.
Government must “work for the people in a way that enables them to better work for themselves.”
We must amend our basic ideas about the economy. We must divorce ourselves from our fixation with GDP rates and similar statistics. These things were initially intended to be indicators, suggestive measurements. However, we have misinterpreted these road maps by treating them as if they were the destination itself.
This has caused us to distort the organic relationship between the people and the economy.
This dominant train of thought has made the people servants to the dictates of abstract economic theories. In a more effective system, the economy would be fashioned to serve the concrete needs and legitimate aspirations of the people.
Our economy must be redefined to be an efficient yet moral social construct with the primary goal of optimizing the long-term welfare of the people through the sustained, productive and full employment of labour, land, capital and natural resources.
In the current global context, the best translation of laissez faire economics is “let’s stay poor” economics.
To believe that we are at our best when everyone focuses solely on maximizing their own position is to believe that one hundred hands can clutch at the same naira note but no one will get scratched.
To pull the nation from poverty, government must play a decisive role. It must at times direct and even develop markets and opportunities. This is nothing novel. I am only restating what the established economies did when they were young and assumed their trajectories toward growth.
Yet, how do we organize ourselves to meet this task?
Like no Nigerian government before, I believe the second administration of President Buhari shall dedicate itself to changing the very structure of our economy for the better.
The single most important sector for the government’s focus is infrastructure. The most important of our infrastructural demands is power. This has been the greatest discovery of humanity in the last thousand years.
1. POWER:
Affordable and reliable power will drive the industrialization that shall provide jobs in our cities and produce needed goods for all our people. In a more poetic rendering, it will take our people out of the dark ages and bring the nation into the light of a better day.
I believe the second Buhari administration will work to increase electricity generation, transmission and distribution by more than 50 percent within the next 4 years.
We require serious and bold reforms to achieve this. What is happening to our gas pipelines? Whatever we have to invest now for our future is a task that must be done boldly. The PDP administration shared out generation, distribution and transmission to their friends and cronies without very deep and thoughtful research and evaluation. It has now become pork chops. This privatisation must be revisited. Put experts together for a more constructive reform to improve generation, transmission and distribution by any means necessary. We cannot afford to be too legalistic about this.
Also, we should push to end the practice of billing people for electricity they never received. This practice is a vestige of the past that should not accompany us into the future. A person should be charged accurately and only for the power that they use.
2. Infrastructure:
Government should continue to aggressively implement its national infrastructure plan. We must commit ourselves to a national highway system linking our major cities and towns, our centres of commerce, with each other. This will save lives, spur commerce, cut costs and bring Nigerians closer together.
Water catchment and retention systems in strategic locations should also be introduced to end the destructive cycles of flood and drought affecting many areas.
In working to transform the face of our economy, government must also enact policies that encourage industrialization and modern agricultural practices. We must applaud President Buhari for the historic innovations made in the agricultural sector. We must further encourage him to do even more. Government funded social security for the aged and government backed affordable housing and mortgage facilities are things we must continue to explore in an aggressive manner.
In the end, our future is uncertain until we enter it and make of it what we will. We can either let the future happen to us or summon the courage to make the future belong to us as other nations have done.
I don’t think we really have a choice in the matter. We must take the people to the next level. It is a promise made and thus a promise that must be kept.
Our goal is nothing less than enabling people to enjoy lives free of penury and lack. We seek to constitute a nation where all have basic sustenance and sufficient food on their tables, a sturdy and sheltering roof over their heads and the fair chance and means to sustain and further enrich their lives as they see fit. Let it be that all may live in social contentment and tranquillity with his neighbour as well as with himself. This is what we mean by the Next Level.
Thank you for this wonderful birthday present you have given me. I have been enriched and energized by the intellectual exchange. I hope that you have too. Now, let’s move on to the Next Level.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has narrated the many positive sides of the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, one of which his appointment of people from different Nigerian ethnic groups into his cabinet at the time he was the governor of Lagos State.
He said: “Ashiwaju demonstrated in the years when he was governor, that political appointments, especially cabinet appointments, should be based on merit. He looked for those that he considered the best possible material at the time regardless of where they were from. “For the first time in the history of Lagos State, we had cabinet members from other parts of the country, beginning with other parts of the Southwest. Rauf Aregbesola from Osun State, I from Ogun State, Arthur Worrey from Delta, Lai Mohammed from Kwara State, Dele Alake from Ekiti State, Ben Akabueze from Anambra State. “We also had the appointments of Judges from all over the country; JusticeOnyeabo, and Justice Sybil Nwaka were appointed Judges of Lagos State. There is no other State elsewhere in the country except in some places in the North, where we have seen the appointment of individuals from other States. Picking people for positions no matter what part of the country they are from is an important part of our story as a country. Every once in a while, I think that history gives us one or two persons who are gifted transformative leaders. I believe that our country has been gifted with this transformative leader, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I believe very strongly that this man’s political trajectory has only just begun. He is a man who has tremendous gifting and God has great plans ahead for him.”
Professor Osinbajo, who spoke today, Thursday at the 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium, to mark his 67th Birthday, said that the celebrant has spent the last thirty years of his life in creative and catalytic public service.
“He has from his days as Governor of Lagos State, provided clarity of thought and pioneering vision in all aspects of governance. “He is not a lawyer, but there are few Nigerians who have provoked so many legal controversies and constitutional challenges, resulting in several landmark judicial rulings, especially in the area of federalism, and what today is loosely described today as restructuring. “Many of us know, of course, that he is not an engineer, but a lot of his vision is what is responsible for what we see today in Lagos. The BRT, the Lekki Industrial Zone, even the Eko Atlantic Project, a private project which he initiated as governor of Lagos state and of course, the reform in the tax system in Lagos. “Today, Lagos earns more in Internally Generated Revenue than 31 States of Nigeria put together. That reform began in 2001with the very innovative way in which he reformed the tax system and created an independent system – the Lagos Inland Revenue Service. Several African countries and States of Nigeria have engaged the LIRS as consultants for their own reform efforts. “How about electoral reform? In 2007, when our party, then the ACN, was rigged out of the elections in Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and in Edo state, Asiwaju invited me to his residence at Bourdillion. He said to me that the only way by proving that there were multiple voting is by going through the courts, i.e. proving that a few people simply thumb printed the ballot papers, dumped them in ballot boxes and they were counted in favour of the opposition. “He then said to me that the only way we can do it is by somehow proving by forensic evidence that this is exactly what happened. I said to him that nobody has ever proved an electoral petition by forensic evidence; there is just no history of it. And I said what is, even more, is that there are over a million ballot papers, about 1.3 million ballot papers in all the States. So, how can you prove multiple voting? He said to me “Yemi, you have heard my view about this issue, just go and find a way of sorting this out. “So I went to the UK and met with possibly the most experienced finger print expert in the entire United Kingdom, a gentleman called Adrian Forty, introduced to me by some of the Queen’s Counsels. When I told him the enormity of the problem, he laughed and almost fell off his chair. He said in almost 50 years of his experience as a fingerprint expert, he hasn’t done up to 4000 fingerprints, and now we asked him to do 1.3million fingerprints. “We parted that day which was a Thursday, and then he got in touch again on a Monday and said we should discuss further. Somehow, we designed a way and used a bit of technology. Most importantly, we got the number of fingerprint experts that have never been assembled before, and we hired 63 of fingerprint experts. 50 of them were from the UK Police. What was more interesting about that is getting the UK Police to support us was for Asiwaju to come all the way from Nigeria to the UK to talk to friends and people who he knew, to persuade persuading the UK authorities to allowususe UK Police. “In the end, they allowed us to use the Policemen in their spare time. We got 63 policemen working flat out for almost 6 months. We were able to put together, for the first time in the history of elections tribunal in the history of the world, we put together a solid forensic case that showed all of the places we were defeated was on account of multiple thumb printing. We also showed that for instance, you cast 20,000 votes, when we calculated the time to cast one vote, it is usually about 5 minutes but we discovered that our friends in the other political party were able to cast that number of votes in 5 seconds. All they were doing was simply thumb-printing booklets, as many as possible. “We demonstrated this in court, and one by one, we were able to get back the States that had been taken away from us. The only way that could have ever been achieved is surely not just by the vision, but by the determination of our leader at that time, the leader of the ACN. He showed the kind of leadership that was very rare and not only defining what he thought was thewayforward, but also supporting it in every way and backing it to the very end. “The last State that we finally won was Osun State, after almost 3 years of battling. One of the things that we would agree about our celebrant today is his dogged attitude and his refusal to accept no for an answer. “Ashiwaju also pioneered merit in cabinet appointments in particular. I want to emphasize this because a major drawback we have, as a nation, is the way we are blindsided into thinking that we can avoid merit and expect to achieve great things. We simply cannot avoid merit. “I pray for you, Ashiwaju, that as your days so shall your strength, wisdom and favour be in Jesus Mighty name, amen!”
The acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN) Justice Ibrahim Mohammed has threatened to bar lawyers who he said are in the habit of “despicable dressing” from entering courts in the country.
According to a statement by the Director of Press and Information in the Supreme Court, Akande Festus, the CJN made threat when he received in audience members of the Abuja Branch of the Nigeria Bar Association, (NBA).
Justice Ibrahim Mohammed was quoted as stressing that lawyers who do not adhere strictly to the time-honoured dress code of legal practitioners would not be allowed to appear in court, adding that such dressing do not in any way reflect the honour and dignity of the legal profession.
The acting CJN advised the Abuja NBA executives to always endeavour to give the young lawyers the right training and tutelage so that they could be constantly kept abreast of the rudiments of the profession.
He also enjoined all lawyers to imbibe the cardinal principles of the legal practice which he said include hard work, dedication and trustworthiness.
He urged lawyers to always advice their clients correctly and never try to mislead them into believing what was not true.
The acting CJN expressed appreciation for the courtesy visit, congratulated the Abuja NBA on the giant strides they had so far accomplished.
He complained that most practicing lawyers are unwilling to be appointed to the bench, as they always believed that judges are poor people.
“If everybody runs away from being appointed as judge, who will now be the judge?
“Taking up judicial appointment is a great sacrifice that we all should be able to make for our fatherland, so I appeal to you to always be willing to serve as judges whenever such opportunity comes.
“This is because judges are not poor people but a special breed of people with self-contentment and passion to serve.”
Earlier, chairman of Abuja branch of NBA, Folarin Aluko said the branch had, over the years, initiated different programmes and projects aimed at improving the lot of its members in Abuja and other states in Nigeria.
He name some of the innovative programmes to include lawyers’ health insurance scheme, establishment of digital library and provision of scholarship scheme for lawyers aspiring to further their studies in specialised areas.
The celebration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 67th Birthday drew the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to the International Conference, Abuja, the nation’s federal capital today, Thursday. Others from left are: Ona of Abaji and Chairman FCT Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II; Tinubu himself; his wife, Oluremi Tinubu; the Ewi of Ado, Oba Rufus Adeyemo, Adejugbe, Owa of Obokun, Oba Adebisi Aromolaran.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, has revoked the bail granted the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and that he should be rearrested immediately.
A report by Channels Television said that Justice Binta Nyako gave the order in a ruling today, Thursday.
“She explained that the court gave the order because Mr Kanu had failed to appear in court after his bail was granted in April 2017,” the report said.
Nnamdi Kanu has since returned to his base in the United Kingdom after initial stay in Israel following his escape from Nigeria amidst military crackdown at his family home in Afaraukwu, Umuahia, Abia State.
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Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has said that he is proud that Adamawa State people voted massively for the candidate of his PDP, Ahmadu Fintiri as governor of the State.
After nicking the historic presidential election victory in 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC) was caught in the intriguing, embarrassing webs woven by its members in the National Assembly. That was at the point it showed bad faith in the zoning of key positions in government. Political parties and groups that had coalesced into a mega party to upend Peoples Democratic Party’s 16-year rule had justifiably expected to be rewarded through strategic accommodation in the power-sharing arrangements. But that was only going to happen on an inequitable basis.
The acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, (CJN) Justice Ibrahim Mohammed has threatened to bar lawyers who he said are in the habit of “despicable dressing” from entering courts in the country.
The celebration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 67th Birthday drew the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo to the International Conference, Abuja, the nation’s federal capital today, Thursday. Others from left are: Ona of Abaji and Chairman FCT Council of Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Adamu Baba Yunusa, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II; Tinubu himself; his wife, Oluremi Tinubu; the Ewi of Ado, Oba Rufus Adeyemo, Adejugbe, Owa of Obokun, Oba Adebisi Aromolaran.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, has revoked the bail granted the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and that he should be rearrested immediately.
