Nigerian Refugees In Chad, Niger IDPs To Vote In 2019 Polls – INEC

December 13, 2018

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), in the neighbouring countries of Niger and Chad, who fled their homes due to insurgency in the North East, will cast their votes in the 2019 Nigerian general elections.

The Chairman of the electoral body, Professor Mahmud Yakubu‎, who spoke at a stakeholders validation conference on the framework for IDPs‎ voting, put together by the International Foundation for Electoral‎ Support (IFES),, said that the commission has made special provisions for the IDPs to vote in the forthcoming general elections.

He assured of INEC’s commitment to ensuring a hitch free poll in the next 64 days, while calling for support from all stakeholders to ensure the success of the polls.

UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR had said that the Lake Chad Basin region, grappling with a complex humanitarian emergency, has about 2.4 million people that have been uprooted, including over 1.9 million internally displaced (IDPs) in north-eastern Nigeria, over 471,000 IDPs in Cameroon, Chad and Niger and over 228,000 refugees.

A member of the federal House of Representatives, Hon. AdamuKamale, representing Michika/Madagali Federal Constituency of Adamawastate, had deferred with the INEC chairman, stating that 97 percent of IDPs in the state have since returned‎ to their homes.

“I can confirm to you that 97 percent of IDPs in Adamawa have since returned home. The only challenge they have is that of security.Their security needs to be guaranteed in order to enable them vote in the elections.‎”

Buhari Promises To Reward Those Working For His Success, Apologises For Past Lapses

Editorial staff

December 13, 2018

President Buhari in a group photo with some Nollywood Actors and Celebrities as he attends the Together Nigeria Event organised by the Buhari Support Organisation in Abuja on 12th Dec 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to reward all those who have been working hard to ensure that he and his All Progressives Congress (APC) succeed in election since 2015, even as he apologized that he had not been forthcoming all these while.

“Some of you, individuals and organizations, may be feeling disappointed because we have not been able to please everyone. I would like to assure you that this time, hard work and loyalty will be rewarded adequately.”

The President, who spoke last night, Wednesday, at the launching of his complain promotional group, known as Together Nigeria, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, acknowledged the overwhelming support he enjoyed from individuals and organizations across the country over the years.

I say thank you to all those who contributed to our successes in one way or the other. I feel happy to see people from different backgrounds coming together for a common cause such as this. I am particularly happy to be here face to face with some of our celebrities whom I only see on television.”

“Tonight’s event once again reminds me of our political struggles over the years and the support I enjoyed from many support structures such as The Buhari Organization (TBO) and Buhari Support Organization (BSO).

“I am happy that today we are not only celebrating our election victory but our numerous land mark achievements.”

He expressed gratitude to the group for educating the world about the good work and achievements of his government.

“I will like to also thank our celebrities for projecting the image of Nigeria globally and for your contributions to the development of our entertainment industries.

“To our teeming supporters across the country and beyond I say thank you for your continuing and unrelenting support.”

US Congress Asks Google CEO: Why Trump Images Appear While Searching For Idiot?

Editorial staff

December 13, 2018

The United States Congress has subjected the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google, Sundar Pichai, why the photos of President Donald Trump do appear anytime someone searches for the word “Idiot.”

Defending the position before the House Judiciary Committee, Sundar Pichai explained that the company doesn’t “manually intervene” in search results, and instead search results are based on crawling the content of web pages.

“We provide search today for any time you type in a keyword. We, as Google, have gone out and crawled and stored copies of billions of their pages in our index, and we take the keyword and match it against the pages and rank them based on over 200 signals,” Pichai said.

“Things like relevance, freshness, popularity, how other people are using it. And based on that, you know, at any given time, we try to find the best results for that query,” he added.

The House committee held the hearing to discuss whether Google’s search results are politically slanted. Shortly before Pichai’s explanation, which was prompted by a question from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) had claimed to have “irrefutable” evidence that Google was suppressing conservative search results.

For the record, that “idiot” search result page was due to third-parties’ “Google bombing” the president. Something similar was done to President George W. Bush. In the mid-2000s, Bush’s photo showed up whenever you searched for “miserable failure,”

Buhari’s Minister Quits, Takes Up Position Of Emir

Editorial staff

December 12, 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari’s Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin, has resigned to take up the position of Emir of Keffi in Nasarawa State.

His resignation was announced today, Wednesday during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which was presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ibrahim Jibrin had recently emerged as the 13th Emir of Nasarawa.

He had been minister of State for Environment since the beginning of the Buhari government and had remained so even after the substantive minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed relinquished the post and took up a job with the Nation Nations.

2019: Appeal Court Knocks Off APC Governorship, Other Candidates In Rivers

Greenbarge Reporters

December 12, 2018

The Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division has disqualified the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates, including that of the governorship election from contesting the 2019 elections in Rivers State.

The Court, which, today, Wednesday, dismissed the appeal filed by the factional Rivers State APC Governorship candidate, Tonye Cole, confirmed the judgment of Justice Chinwendu Nwogu that Rivers State has no ward executives, local government executives and State Executives as it dismissed the appeal filed by the sacked Rivers State APC State Chairman, Ojukaye Flag Amachree.

The Court’s Special Panel, Chaired by Justice Abubakar Yahaya dismissed the two appeals for lack of merit. He also dismissed the third appeal, which centred on the judgment by Justice Chinwendu Nwogu because it was filed out of time and therefore statute barred.

Justice Abubakar Yahaya, said that the appeal against the Justice Chinwendu Nwogu High Court judgement on the party congress crisis lacks merit, adding that the application for joinder failed to observe the 14 days rules of Appeal.

On the substantive appeal number CA/PH/198 that bothered on Justice Nwogu’s judgment, the panel ruled that the Ojukaye faction failed to seek leave of court before appealing against the judgement.

Justice Yahaya ruled that the judgment delivered at the lower court was a consent judgment, adding that Ojukaye faction should have done the needful legally before approaching the court.

Counsel to Ibrahim Umar and 22 others, Patrick Luke said that the rulings of the Court of Appeal confirm that the judgment by Justice Chinwendu Nwogu remains valid and is still subsisting.

Counsel to Ojukaye Flag Amachree, Emenike Ebete noted that the court heard the three matters and in her wisdom arrived at the rulings confirming the judgment of Justice Chinwendu Nwogu.

“Arguments were taken but the Court in its infinite wisdom held that in appeal 461, that is the substantive appeal, that the consent judgement of the High Court of Rivers state and by provision of the constitution, we ought to have sought leave of court to appeal against that consent judgement. That is their own decision and they struck it out.

“The one for the candidates and the party state excos, we were dismissed on the ground that it was a pre-election matter, that we did not bring the application within 14 days after decision was delivered on October 10. What that means is that, we will approach the Supreme Court to contest the judgment.“

I Doubt If 2019 Elections Will Be Free And Fair – Atiku

Greenbarge Reporters

December 12, 2018

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar has expressed doubt that next year’s general elections in the country will be free, fair and credible without President Muhammadu Buhari signing the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

Atiku, who spoke today after signing the Peace Accord ahead of the 2019 polls in Abuja today, Wednesday, said: “I am delighted that the President has agreed to sign this peace accord, but we want to appeal to him to also sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

“Mr. President needs to understand that as long as he refuses to sign this Bill, we will have doubt that this government is truly committed to a true, fair and credible election.”

The PDP presidential candidate had earlier said that he could not make it to the signing of the document by the presidential candidates of other political parties yesterday, Tuesday because he did not get an invitation for the event.

Atiku said that he is not one of the converted democrats, but a real democrat from the beginning, who alongside other leaders, fought the military to return this country to democracy.

He said that the best way to guarantee peace in any election or human interaction is to ensure manifest justice to all concerned.

Earlier, the former Head of State and Chairman, National Peace Committee, Alhaji Abdusalami Abubakar, had apologized for not having the PDP presidential candidate at the signing of the peace accord held on Tuesday.

He said that the news that the PDP boycotted the signing of the accord was completely wrong, saying: “I must apologies for the omission or commission, that the PDP was not able to attend that ceremony.

“The news that PDP boycotted the signing of the accord yesterday is completely wrong. I spoke to the presidential candidate and the party officials.

“It was not only the PDP that was not there yesterday, one or two parties were also not there.”

He made it clear that everybody involved in the project cared for peace and wants a peaceful election in 2019.

The political parties and their presidential candidates, especially, are to commit to issue-based campaigns and to avoid hate speech.

According to the peace accord, they are also to publicly speak against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence.

They are also expected to support all government institutions including INEC and the security agencies to act and be seen to act with impartiality.

Source: NAN.

Senator Abdullahi Accuses Obasanjo Of Grandstanding To Cover Up His Misdemeanors

Editorial staff

December 12, 2018

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of grandstanding in order to cover up his past shortcomings and misdemeanors.

The Senator made it clear that “Nigerians cannot be fooled by Obasanjo’s grandstanding in an effort to cover up his misdemeanors.”

Senator Abdullahi Adamu, who represents Nasarawa West Senatorial District, advised the former President not to push his luck over his constant attack on President Muhammadu Buhari, which he described as “indecorous and undignified.”

He agreed that Obasanjo is entitled to criticize and also campaign against the reelection bid of President Buhari, but that he should not be “pedestrian in doing that.”

Senator Abdullahi Adamu who reacted to the recent comments credited to Obasanjo, said that there is no doubt that “Chief Obasanjo is pushing his luck too far by using indecorous language in criticizing the President (Buhari).

“After all, what was his (Obasanjo’s) record in Office when he ran this country first from February 1976 to October 1979, and subsequently from May 1999 to May 2007?

“Would there have been the desperate and notoriously corrupt bid for a third term in office that was witnessed by Nigerians, if he had a good record by then?”

According to Adamu, under Obasanjo’s watch, most of Nigeria’s strategic investments were sold without much to show as returns to the nation.

“What happened to all our steel rolling mills and other strategic investments that were sold by (former Vice President) Atiku (Abubakar) under Obasanjo’s supervision?

“What about the $16 billion spent under his watch supposedly for electricity? Where is the electricity today? He also acquired stupendous wealth during his second coming as president. How did he acquire that? Could that have come from his salaries as president from 1999 to 2007?”

The Senator, who is former Nasarawa State Governor, insisted that no Nigerian of repute who knows Obasanjo’s antecedents will be surprised at his current criticism of President Buhari.

“He had done it to Alhaji Shehu Shagari shortly after he handed over to him. Obasanjo criticized Babangida when he was in power; he did same to Abacha. And so, nothing is surprising.

“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have bothered about Obasanjo’s criticisms given what is already out in the public space about the morally questionable happenings within his household.

“But he is going off the tangent of fair comment in this circumstance, and I believe eminent citizens of this country need to call him to order before some of the young people he thinks he can fool start casting slur on him.”

Senator Abdullahi Adamu said that basanjo needed to learn some lessons in decorum from past leaders like General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, as well as Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar.

For the lawmaker, it is an abuse of rights for someone who is regarded as a statesman to be indecorous in his language.

“Like I said, he is entitled to criticise Buhari and even campaign against him.

“Nobody can deny him that right. But must he descend to this ridiculously undignified level for him to be heard?”

“It is unacceptable for someone whom the youths of this country should look up to for inspiration to stoop so low in his language.”

He stressed that the unprintable words that the former president had used to tar former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the book “My Watch” are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.

“He (Obasanjo) should go back and make peace with his Creator before turning round to dish out some homilies to citizens of this great country.”

Pope Sacks 2 Cardinals Over Sex Scandal

Editorial staff

December 12, 2018

Pope Francis has sacked two cardinals that were implicated in sexual abuse cases from a powerful council of advisers to guide him on matters critical to the future of the Catholic Church.

One of the cardinals is 77 year old George Pell of Australia, who has been facing charges of sexual abuse of minors in legal proceedings that are subject to a gag order in that country, suppressing news coverage until after they have concluded. For years, Cardinal Pell was considered the Vatican’s de facto finance chief, and his allies in Rome attribute the charges against him to church infighting.

But he also has been accused in hearings before Australia’s Royal Commission Into Instituttional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse of mishandling misconduct cases against clergy members while he served as the leader of the Archdioceses of Melbourne and Sydney.

More accusations subsequently surfaced that he had sexually abused minors beginning early in his priesthood.

He has repeatedly denied the accusations, including during an extraordinary news conference in the Vatican last year, when he said, “I’d just like to restate my innocence.”

The proceedings against him in Australia have been extremely secretive because of the Australian gag order, which is designed to prevent the swaying of juries.

The other is 85 year old Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz of Chile, who has been accused of covering up abuse.

The pope also dismissed a third Cardinal, 79 year old Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, who was archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

In June, Pope Francis granted a leave of absence to Cardinal Pell, the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate to be formally charged with sexual offenses, so that he could defend himself in Australia. He has been facing charges on child sexual offenses in the County court of Victoria.

Cardinal Errázuriz, the retired archbishop of Santiago, is well over the usual retirement age and had, along with the rest of the Chilean bishop’s conference, tendered his resignation to Francis in May.

Months earlier, during a trip to Chile and Peru, the pope had defended Chilean bishops against accusations of covering up abuse. That remark, and other missteps, led to an outcry among victims of sex abuse and their supporters, who considered the pope tone-deaf on an issue that has jeopardized his legacy.

Members of the nine-member council of advisers, known as the C9, who met in Rome this week, had asked the pope to reflect on the “work, structure and composition of the council, taking into account the advanced age of some members.” According to a statement on Wednesday by a Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, the pope had done just that.

Mr. Burke’s statement said the pope had written in October to both Cardinal Pell and Cardinal Errázuriz, and had concluded by “thanking them for their service” over the last five years.

Presidency Laughs Off Obasanjo’s Inconsistencies

Editorial staff

December 12, 2018

The Presidency has laughed off what it called the inconsistencies of the former president Olusegun Obasanjo which it said is a sign of confusion not worthy of attention.

Speaking to newsmen today, Wednesday, in Abuja, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said that Obasanjo had publicly changed his mind on many issues many times over the past few months alone.

“Former president Obasanjo denounces one person today and supports that same person the next day.

“When it pleases him, he brings God into the matter and uses that as his excuse for whatever position he has chosen.”

Garbage Shehu said that he is not surprised that newspapers reported Obasanjo expressing neutrality at a weekend forum, only for the former president to express a completely different stance after a day or two.

“We have learnt not to take his utterances seriously anymore.

“We know that the slightest wind can make him change his mind again. After all, this is the same man who publicly tore his party registration card barely four years ago, and he now claims to be backing the same party.”

Member Of House of Reps From Katsina Dumps APC For PDP

Editorial staff

December 11, 2018

Member representing Munsawa/Matazu Federal Constituency of Katsina State in the House of Representatives, Ibrahim Muritala, has dumped the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Ibrahim Muritala’s notice of defection was contained in a letter read by Speaker Yakubu Dogara at the floor of the House at the beginning of the plenary today, Tuesday.

In the letter, Ibrahim Muritala acknowledged that he was now happy to leave the “crisis ridden” APC for the PDP family.

The PDP members in the House went wild with joy immediately the announcement was made by chanting the party PDP’s slogan.

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