Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has said that there is no thinking brain  among members of opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even as the PDP asked the governor to focus on the problem in his state and leave its vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, whom he described as tribal bigot, alone.

Governor el-Rufai on his Twitter page said: “No single thinking brain was left in PDP.”

“I never respond to cluelessness, compounded by bad English. There isn’t a single thinking brain left in PDP….sad, only Wendell Simlins and their sort……sigh!

“We will meet first on February 16, 2019 – my birthday by the way then March 2 in sha Allah – Goodbye.”

This was even as the PDP cautioned the Governor to mind his unguarded comment, saying that Peter Obi who he said to be a tribal bigot is well known for his nationalist disposition and cannot in anyway be associated with tribal bigotry.

The PDP advised Governor el-Rufai to face the myriad of problems he has caused in Kaduna state for which the people have resolved to vote him out and stop his attempt to further foul the nation’s political space by making comments capable of stoking religious and ethnic division in our country.

“Governor el-Rufai should not attempt to export the kind of inciting and inflammatory statements that have led to conflagration and bloodletting in his Kaduna state to our national political firmament.

“From el-Rufai’s comment, Nigerians now know those behind the series of smear campaigns and spurious allegations against our Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi.

“Instead of fixating on our party and the soaring popularity of our Presidential candidate, we expect el-Rufai to show remorse that he was part of those who brought in the Buhari administration, which has inflicted so much pain on Nigerians in the last three and half years.

“He must therefore know that the 2019 election will not be about name calling, smear campaign and character assassination but on finding solutions to the issue of governance for which Nigerians are fully rallied on the platform of the PDP.

“El-Rufai should therefore steer clear of our party and our candidates and begin to prepare to give a full account of his tenure as governor of Kaduna state.”

Meanwhile, Governor el-Rufai has insisted that any person that doesn’t recognize the human right of every citizen to move freely, live and work in any part of Nigeria, “but implies that though foreigners can observe elections in his state, other Nigerians may only do so in their states of origin is not fit to be VP of Nigeria.”

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is angry with the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster over his being indicted on N5.8 Billion released for emergency intervention of food security to the North-East in June 2017, when he was Acting President.

In a statement today, Friday by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, Professor Osinbajo described such indictment by the House Committee as baseless and totally false, saying: “such interpretations are flawed and should be utterly ignored.”

The Vice President recalled that  in its report, the Committee alleged that a sum of N5,865,671,939.26 was approved and released in June 2017 vide a Memo raised from the Office of the Acting President, directing the minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation to so act.

He noted that the House Committee also concluded that the payment made was in contravention of approval of the National Assembly, stressing that such conclusion is both false and misleading.
“To start with, it is important to understand the context of the transaction. This was at a time when internally displaced persons and their host communities faced very severe food shortages throughout the North East, as a result of successive poor harvests and abandoned farmlands, minimal cross-border cash crop trade and lost economic opportunities.
“On 15th April 2017, the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP), a major aid organisation and food supplier to the region, had issued a warning that it would be reducing its vital support to about 1.8 million IDPs by as much as 85%, due to corresponding reduction in funding by the donor countries. Around the same time, the United Nations Commission for Refugees in Geneva also warned of the growing risk of mass deaths from starvation among people living in the conflict areas.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) moved urgently to prevent the looming disaster by establishing a strategic food intervention plan for the affected States. A Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Delivery to the North East was convened and the Committee met on the 13th of May, 2017 to kick off the process, with the then Acting President as Chairman. “Other members of the Committee included:
(i)      Minister of Finance;
(ii)      Minister of Budget and National Planning;
(iii)     Minister of State for Budget and National Planning;
(iv)    Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development;
(v)     Governor of Central Bank;
(vi)    Deputy Chief of Staff to the President; and
(vii)    Senior Special Assistant in the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
“Resulting from the deliberations of this and subsequent meetings, the approval referred to in the House Committee’s Report was, in fact, based on a request raised by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as facilitator of the National Food Security Programme, vide a letter dated May 25, 2017.
“As explained in the said letter, there was an immediate need to distribute grains, including rice, maize, soya beans and sorghum, to Internally Displaced Persons through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The only way to obtain the quantity of grains required was to resort to the National Food Security Progamme (NFSP) earlier established by the Federal Government as a means of shoring up its strategic grain reserves.
“It was in consequence of the Federal Government decision to urgently purchase the stored grains for distribution to Internally Displaced Persons that the CBN made the proposal for approval of 30,905.08 Metric Tonnes at N5,229,685,333.26. Of that amount, the then Acting President eventually approved N5,036,644,933.26, after excluding bagging costs. This was pursuant to the recommendation that bagging, transportation and other logistics were best handled by NEMA.
“NEMA also originated a request to the Acting President, dated May 25, 2017, requesting the sum of N829,026,456.00 for general logistics, branding & packaging, tracking, security, personnel, media & publicity and contingency costs of taking the grains from their respective locations in Kano, Kaduna, Funtua, Ibadan and Gombe to Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Jigawa States.
“These presidential approvals were well within the clear constitutional authority of the Acting President, who needed to take emergency steps to forestall acute food shortages in the affected States and there was nothing illegal or unconstitutional about them. The approvals were duly communicated by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor of Central Bank, Director General of NEMA and the Minister of Finance for implementation.
“On account of the emergency nature of the procurement, the House Committee’s assumption that the ordinary rules of procurement would apply was wrong. Section 43 of the Public Procurement Act makes provision for emergency procurement, in which case the procuring entity is allowed to engage in direct contracting for goods and file a report thereafter with the Bureau of Public Procurement.
“It is also wrong to assume that taxes and interests accruable to government from these transactions in food items were deliberately ignored or waived by neglect. Of course, we expect that any loans advanced to any of the companies would be recovered with the agreed interests, and that any profits made by such companies would be liable to tax in the usual manner.
“The suggestion that the grains were never delivered to the target States is also blatant falsehood. In actual fact, in order to ensure effective distribution of the grains, an Emergency Food Intervention Project Team was established, consisting of the Director General of NEMA and representatives of the National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Department of State Security, Nigeria Police and the Presidency. The Committee also worked with respective State Emergency Management Agencies, as well as humanitarian agencies such as World Food Programme, International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Deliveries were publicly made directly to the intended beneficiaries.

“In fact, the then Acting President personally inspected the electronic truck-tracking unit established in Maiduguri for the purpose of monitoring the transportation, and flagged off the food distribution on the 8th of June, 2017. Besides, there was the integration of a robust monitoring and evaluation system into the operation in order to facilitate a transparent and accountable process.
“Therefore, all insinuations on this matter regarding purported indictments and perceived violations of due process or the constitution are baseless and totally false. Such interpretations are flawed and should be utterly ignored.”

The Presidency has revealed the plans being put together by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to boost national broadband network towards harnessing the potential of the internet and digital access for jobs, education, healthcare, identity management and to increase productivity in the public sector.

According to the senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Malam Garba Sheh, already the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, have jointly launched the National Broadband Penetration Programme, a public-private initiative to ensure the deployment of 18,000km of fibre infrastructure to Nigeria’s existing stock of 38,000km of fibre cabling.

Garba Shehu, who spoke at the just-concluded 5th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China, explained that the “goal is to, within four years, provide fibre connectivity to all 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria. Government’s role is to provide the right licensing framework as well as the necessary subsidies to encourage investment.”

He revealed that two additional infrastructure companies have been licensed in 2018, to roll out broadband infrastructure in Nigeria.

“Together with previous licensees, and other private sector players, these companies will help implement the Government’s vision of total national broadband connectivity,” he said.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President told the conference that Nigeria’s Social Investment Programme, including the N-Power Youth Employment Scheme, has provided 500,000 beneficiaries with electronic tablet devices for learning and self-development.

“Another aspect of the N-Power focuses on training young software engineers and coders,” he said.

The presidential aide further told the international gathering that the Buhari administration has begun the development of “Technology & Innovation Hubs” across the country, in partnership with the private sector, adding that a total of eight these hubs are planned across the country, with four already functional.

He also spoke about partnerships between the Nigerian Government and Facebook, Google, and Huawei to roll out high-quality Internet across the country, adding that the recently established Technology Advisory Body chaired by the Vice President will provide support to tech companies and initiatives.

He specifically thanked Chinese Companies like Huawei for being supportive of the Nigerian Government’s efforts at digital inclusion and expanding access.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President lauded Huawei for sponsoring Nigerian students for ICT training in China, recalling that in 2016 the company opened a Technology Hub, the Huawei Innovation and Experience Centre, in Lagos with a pledge to train 12,000 Nigerians, including 2,000 civil servants.

A Judge in the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho has okayed hearing on the suit seeking an order to compel the Federal Government to prosecute some persons accused of assisting the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IBOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to escape from Nigeria.

The suit, is praying the court to issue an order of mandamus to force relevant security agencies, including the Police and the Department of State Service (DSS), to promptly initiate criminal action against those accused of complicity in Kanu’s escape.

Those which the suit is seeking their arrest and prosecution, include Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode and two other persons that stood surety for the IPOB leader, Tochukwu Uchendu, and Emmanuel Shallom Ben.

Justice Tsoho ordered that the suit should be served on the Respondents- the DSS, its Director-General, the police and the Inspector-General of Police.

The Plaintiff, Isiah Ayugu, who secured leave to commence the action today, Friday, in his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1254/18, insisted that the respondents have a case to answer.

Ayugu, through his lawyer, Oghenovo Otemu, prayed the court for an order mandating all the Respondents in the case to investigate and prosecute Abaribe and the others, including Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, for “working together to propagate and spread lies and falsehood that Kanu was abducted, kidnapped, arrested and detained by the Nigerian Military, when indeed they were well aware of Kanu’s whereabouts because they played roles in helping him to disappear from Nigeria.”

The plaintiff said during the period when the blackmail was against the military and the Nigerian government, he suffered emotional and psychological trauma as his freedom of movement and rights were hindered both at home and abroad.

He said so much pressure was asserted on the federal government and it’s agencies by Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, Femi Fani-Kayode and the others. Meanwhile, the court has fixed November 22 to hear the suit.