President Muhammadu Buhari has said that he respects the Lagos based human rights activist and erudite lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) for his steadfastness in the pursuit of good governance in Nigeria.
The President, in a message by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, at the 60th birthday of Falana, said acknowledged Femi Falana’s sense of patriotism over the years, and his advisory roles to leaders, institutions and governments, especially on the value of good governance.
President Buhari who described the lawyer, celebrating the milestone, as a man of forthrightness, said that he has been in the forefront advocating good life for poor and underprivileged Nigerians.
The President prayed to God tol grant the human rights lawyer longer life, good health and more wisdom to keep serving the country.
The Belgian side, Chelsea Football Club has lifted this year, 2018 FA cup by beating Manchester United Football Club one goal to nothing via penalty.
Eden Hazard’s first-half penalty proved enough for Chelsea to beat Man-U in the final, played at Wembley Stadium before a record crowd of 87,647. The Belgian converted in the 22nd minute having been brought down by Phil Jones in the area.
The result saw the Blues condemn former manager, Jose Mourinho to a season without a trophy – although the result was unlikely to end speculation surrounding the future of current Chelsea boss Antonio Conte.
The former caretaker committee chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi has warned former President, Olusegun Obasanjo not to jeopardise plans of the opposition in Nigeria to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election.Makarfi, who spoke to news men in Kaduna further warned Obasanjo not to oppose PDP and other opposition parties in the country, as it may only pave way for President Buhari to easily win the 2019 election.
He emphasized that unless the former president joined political forces with other opposition elements in Nigeria to form a formidable platform against Buhari in 2019, “what we fear most about the APC perpetuating itself in power will only be facilitated by his (Obasanjo) actions.
“So, I want everybody to think twice and assess individual’s actions towards opposition parties. If APC hadn’t come together as a coalition of interests in 2015 APC, it won’t have pushed PDP out of power. And if we don’t do the same, what he may be fearing, with others like him they will just facilitate it.”
Former Nigeria Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that majority of Nigerians are honest and hardworking people but are being held hostage by tiny powerful cabals, especially those in the oil sector of the economy. Okonjo-Iweala, who spoke to a correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) against the background of her new book, titled: “Fighting Corruption Is Dangerous,” said: “one thing you need to know is that majority of Nigerians are honest and hardworking people. But Nigeria is held hostage by small minority of people.” He narrated how her mother was kidnapped and held for five days by four men that advised her mother to tell her (Okonjo-Iweala) to pay oil marketers their accumulated debts as condition for releasing her (her mother). The former minister said that the kidnappers held her mother for five days and: “I got a call from them. They did not ask for money, contrary to what many people thought. They said I should go to the television and radio (houses) and publicly announce my resignation and go back to the US where I was working and from where I came. But the key thing was that when my mother asked the four men why they took her, they said because your daughter did not pay the oil marketers their money. And that’s where we found out it had to do with oil marketers.” Okonjo Iweala, who was once Managing Director of the World Bank, insisted that the fight against corruption must be sustained, adding that it is dangerous to back out. She said that there is no need for the leadership to give up the fight against corruption, asking: “why should we give up? That is what they (corrupt people) want; they want everybody to give up. “When you try to fight corruption, they attack you viciously and then get away with it. Like what I said in my book, we mustn’t give up.” [myad]
The Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, has described as a total lie allegation by the former chief of Army Staff, retired General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, that the Nigerian Army colluded with bandits to kill people in Taraba State and that they refused to protect the people.
The Army Chief, who spoke to news men at a briefing today, Friday, based on the findings of a 10-member panel which the Army constituted to probe the allegations, stressed that there was no single truth in General T. Y Danjuma’s allegations.
General Buratai, who was represented by the Chief of Military/Civil Affairs, Nuhu Angbazo, said: “With respect to the statement by Lt.-Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, it is clear that the allegations were not true. There is a need to urge for caution on the part of the elder statesman in view of the security implication of such comments.”
He insisted that there was no collusion between the army and bandits in Taraba as alleged by Danjuma, blaming it on what he called “sustained media campaign” to belittle Nigerian army and other security agencies’ operation in the state.
He said that the panel found that Taraba governor made several attempts to remove the Commanding Officer of 9 Battalion, I.B. Gambari, a Lt. Col., for “his refusal to be dragged into the state politics.”
General Buratai also alleged that the chairman of Takum Local Government Area attempted to undermine the authority of the commanding officer even as he commended the officer and troops on operation in the state for their conduct.
According to the army chief, most of the crises over the years in Taraba were particularly in Takum, Wukari, Ussa, Donga and Sardauna Local Government Areas.
“There was absence of Nigerian army deployments in some crisis-prone areas in the hinterland in Taraba state” he said, even as he blamed it partly on the porous Nigeria-Cameroon borders and arms proliferation in the state.
“There was a massive proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Taraba, some of which have been recovered from warring parties, criminals and unauthorised persons.”
The Army Chief blamed the unending clashes in the state on its “highly heterogeneous and division along ethno-religious lines.
“It is apparent that the clashes in Taraba are as a result of clan and communal crisis that predates this present government.
“Most of the crises in the state are politically-motivated and some persons are deliberately escalating the situation for selfish gains.
“The army is also of the view that the situation in Taraba has steadily deteriorated largely due to distrust, intolerance, lack of inclusion and accommodation of different ethnic groups in the state.”
According to him, this has made it difficult for the army to carry out its constitutional role in the state without being tainted.
He commended the panel for doing a thorough job.
The panel, which comprised serving and retired army personnel, representatives of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), was set up on April 10. It submitted its report on April 25.
Retired General T. Y Danjuma, had on March 24 at the convocation of Taraba State University in Jalingo, said that some troops on internal operation in Taraba colluded with killers and herdsmen who attacked communities in the state.
He said that the troops failed to protect the residents against the attacks and advised the people in the state to “rise to protect yourselves from these people; if you depend on the armed forces to protect you, you will all die. I ask all of you to be on the alert and defend your country, defend your state,” he admonished.
The former defence chief said that the unnecessary killings, which were akin to an act of ethnic cleansing being perpetuated against the people of Taraba, specifically and Nigeria at large, must stop even as he accused the military of being part of the killings.
Embattled Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi State West Senatorial area has alleged that the Nigeria police is still indebted to him to the tune of N10 million which was awarded him by court about four years ago.
Dino Melaye, who had just come out of detention following bail granted him by Kogi State High Court, took to his Instagram page, saying that his being arrested and detained by the police started about four years ago.
“The Police illegal arrest and harassment did not start now. This was four years ago. Where Court awarded 10 million Naira damage to me that police is yet to pay.
“Fear not him that can destroy or damage the body, fear only Him that can destroy both the body and the Spirit. My Spirit and resolve is unshakeable.”
The Kogi State Chief Judge, Justice Nasiru Ajana had granted Senator Dino Melaye bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety. The bail was granted on health grounds.
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCO) has taken over Sea Petroleum Oil & Gas Ltd and other assets belonging to Senator Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi over a debt of about N20 billion.
AMCON said the takeover followed an injunction granted by Justice M.S. Hassan of the Federal High Court, Lagos, against the Sea Petroleum Oil & Gas Ltd.
In a statement by its Head, Corporate Communications, Jude Nwauzor, today, Friday AMCO said that Senator Oduah-Ogiemwonyi had been having a running battle with AMCON over her “inability to settle her huge debt of nearly N20bn.”
The statement said that AMCON purchased the Eligible Bank Assets of Sea Petroleum & Gas from Union Bank Plc sometime in 2012 and that in spite of overtures and genuine efforts made by AMCON to reach an amicable settlement, the senator and her co-promoters had been uncooperative.
“Having exhausted all avenues of peaceful resolution of the humongous debt, AMCON had no other choice than to refer the matter to court,” the statement said.
It said that the order also affected the senator’s other business interests, for which AMCON had since appointed Moyosore Jubril Onigbanjo (SAN) as receiver over the assets of Oduah-Ogiemwonyi; Sea Petroleum Oil & Gas; Sea Petroleum and Gas FZE as well as Star Tourism and Hotels Ltd.
The statement said that the court also ordered the freezing of the funds of Sea Petroleum & Gas and its affiliated companies and principal promoters, held anywhere by any entity or persons in Nigeria.
It also authorized AMCON and its receiver, Onigbanjo, to take over all assets pledged as collateral for the facility by Sea Petroleum Oil & Gas Ltd.
“In compliance with the order of the court, AMCON through its receiver, Moyosore Jubril Onigbanjo, SAN, today (May 18), simultaneously took possession of the assets of Sea Petroleum & Gas Ltd. and its affiliated companies.
“Justice Hassan specifically, ordered Sea Petroleum Oil & Gas Ltd. and its affiliated companies to hand over the company’s business, which sits on over 9000 square kilometres of land in the fastest developing area of Lagos State along the Lekki-Epe Expressway,” it said.
Other affected assets, according to AMCON, are two tank farms of 500 metric tonnes capacity; a property at Maiyegun Tourism Zone, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 11, Lagos Island and a filling station complex at kilometre 14, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ikota, Lagos.
The court order also listed a host of other assets across the country, including Plot 2, Block 12C, Babafemi Osapa Crescent Lekki; Block 5, House 4A Mobolaji Johnson Estate, Lekki, and office/filling station at Jakande in Lekki, Lagos, among others.
The Umuahia Diocese, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion has made it clear that its members would have nothing to do with the second term bid of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election.
The church, in a communiqué issued at the end of the ninth synod of the Umuahia Diocese held at St. Luke’s Church Amakama Olokoro in Umuahia South Local Government of Abia State, expressed dissatisfaction with the way the President has been handling herdsmen attacks on communities across the country.
The church asked the federal government explain to the world what happened to the traditional ruler of Isiama Afaraukwu, Eze Israel Kanu, his wife Ugoeze Sally, and their son, Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) after soldiers stormed the palace on September 14, 2017.
“The decision of the president to run for a second tenure should be reconsidered, and the synod called on him to resign honourably.”
The communiqué was drafted by a 10-member committee headed by Venerable Alex Ihemekwala and Rev. Nathaniel Ezemandu as secretary.
The synod condemned the “disturbing activities of the rampaging Fulani herdsmen and the inability of the government to rein the militants, adding that “this has led to pillage and destruction of villages and communities as well as dastardly massacre of innocent residents by the marauding Fulani herdsmen.”
It regretted that the federal government has continued to foot drag in taking decisive action against the rampaging herdsmen despite “national outcry against the Fulani herdsmen and calls for the federal government to declare them as terrorists.”
The synod however appreciated the efforts made by the government to negotiate the release of some of the Chibok and Dapchi school girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists but frowned on the intermittent resurgence of Boko Haram attacks and abduction of school girls and other residents, after the present administration had told Nigerians that the sect had been technically defeated.
On the general performance of elected political office holders, the synod noted that they have failed to adequately inform the electorate on the position and situation of things in the country at federal, state and local government.
At the local level, the synod commended the Abia State government for the free school meal programme being implemented at the primary schools thereby increasing nutritional intake and combating malnutrition and poor academic performance.
NonethelesS, the synod condemned the non-payment of backlog of salaries owed primary and secondary teachers in the state, and “advised that these backlogs of salaries be paid without further delay.
On Wednesday, May 9, 2018, some ex-leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who joined the coalition that gave birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC), issued a seven-day ultimatum to the leadership of the APC to convene a meeting to address alleged marginalization and unfair treatment of their group in the appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB).
The ultimatum bore a great weight in the context of the group’s referential antecedent that strengthened the basis of the ultimatum. It was a significant punch. To be sure, the defunct new PDP (nPDP), under the superintendence of former national secretary and one-time acting national chair of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, that issued the ultimatum, has a remarkable history behind it.
The group broke away from the PDP in 2014 due to some irreconcilable differences. Five governors on the party platform-Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara), Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako (Sokoto), and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano)- pulled out with their followers. Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, also left the party. The then incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, followed suit.
The list, which comprised some serving senators-Bukola Saraki, Abdullahi Adamu, Adamu Aliero, Danjuma Goje, et al and some members of the House of Representatives, including Yakubu Dogara, Abdulmumin Jibril, Dakuku Peterside, among others, was quite exhaustive. There was consensus among them. Their single-mindedness and unanimity of purpose gave impetus to their agenda.
The outcome of their voyage and its far-reaching implications for the Nigerian nation-state have become part of the novel historical narrative of the electoral defeat of an incumbent president and the dislodgement of a ruling party that had bestridden the nation’s political landscape for all of 16 years. The defunct nPDP played a major role in the untangling of the once-dreaded behemoth of self-appointed and vaunted demigods, oracles, godfathers, fixers and enforcers.
Allowing the group to egress was PDP’s greatest strategic political blunder that irredeemably damaged its electoral fortune in the presidential election. The defunct nPDP with such human and political capacity should rationally not have been taken for granted. In pursuit of an agenda, it has now been somewhat resurrected and has created a palpable tension in the APC consequent upon the submission of its protest letter to the leadership at the National Secretariat. Baraje, who is curiously a core loyalist of Saraki, led the delegation and addressed the press on the essence of their visit and the theme of their letter.
Significantly, it would appear that the timing of the letter and the ultimatum were choreographed to aggravate the anxiety and rancour in the party arising from the current party congresses. Baraje and his cohorts had, perhaps, calculated that the APC leadership might not have the luxury of time right now to address their grievances and that would provide a good alibi to abandon the party. They did not also consult with the large spectrum of members of the defunct nPDP in the APC to get their buy-in, a move that portrayed their action as being in bad faith.
It was, therefore, not difficult for some of the members who occupy strategic positions in the APC government to see through the chicanery of Baraje and his clique. To deflate the ego of the Baraje group and take the winds of its sail, a counter attack from the circle of members of the defunct nPDP was inevitable. Former governor of Nasarawa state and one-time Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, Abdullahi Adamu (representing Nasarawa West in the Senate) stood up to Baraje’s offensive, all gloves off, yes, in bare-knuckle punches. The exertion was to vehemently defend Buhari and the APC.
In company with Chief Theodore Georgewill and Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, Adamu stormed the APC national secretariat on the eve of the expiration of the ultimatum by the Baraje-led group to submit a letter absolving the president and the party of culpability of any sort in the alleged marginalization in the appointments of party members into government offices. Adamu, who is currently chairman of the Committee on Agriculture in the Senate, is the North Central Coordinator of Buhari’s presidential campaign. He enjoys a cornucopia of respect in the zone as well as massive goodwill in the entire north.
One of the respected voices in the north, Adamu has, with good grace, thrown his hat in the ring in defence of Buhari’s re-election enterprise. An acclaimed political wizard in Nasarawa state, he is not bothered at all about his re-election to the Senate as he has strategically locked in the Nasarawa West senatorial seat. Very popular and loved by his people, the second term senator continues to deploy his legerdemain for electoral support. Having secured the home base, he is clear-headed about the bigger picture of the unfolding presidential clash.
His first strategic battle was against the reordered sequence of 2019 general elections. Acting in pari materiawith national and APC’s interests, he and some colleagues to whom he provides a sharply-focused leadership were able to dilate the Senate plan to override the president’s veto of the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment Bill 2018) in furtherance of their sympathetic support for the president’s electoral cause. The issue of overriding Buhari’s veto of the Bill is dead.
Indeed, the group’s arguments verge on the president’s achievements and not on primordial sentiments. It holds the view that Buhari has done well enough to deserve a consolidating second term in office. For instance, the group is enamoured by the national and international awareness and support that the president has attracted to the anti-corruption crusade, the degrading of the Boko Haram insurgents and the positive outlook that the economy is gaining with the shoring up of the nation’s foreign reserve from about $21 billion under the immediate past administration to about $47.8 billion presently.
There is also the argument by the Adamu group that the president has the constitutional right to seek a second term. With the full force of approbation of the Buhari effects in government in the last three years, Adamu has committed to enthusiastically take on real and perceived oppositions to Buhari’s re-election enterprise. Having assumed the leadership of the pro-Buhari group in the Senate, he has also stepped in the ring to engage Baraje and his band of external aggressors in the defunct nPDP.
Declaring the group as defunct and, therefore, non-existent, Adamu had cautioned that should the APC leadership call the Baraje-led group for a meeting, the leadership should also invite his group to the meeting as critical stakeholders. Interestingly, in the articulation of his group’s counter positions, Adamu admitted that members of the defunct nPDP to which he and his colleagues on the counter protest belonged, had been taken care of by Buhari and the APC in appointments.
To validate the claim, he had listed the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, five governors, about six senators occupying the chairmanship of juicy committees and a minister (Rotimi Amaechi) as some of the strategic positions held by members of the defunct nPDP. Adamu’s audacious leadership of the counter offensive has substantially defused tension and knocked the bottom off the presumption that Baraje’s threat enjoyed the kind of unanimity that propelled the group’s breakaway from the PDP in 2014.
Having successfully led a counter action to puncture yet another conspiracy against Buhari and the APC, Adamu and his followers are, no doubt, riding on the crest of approbation in the familiar and sympathetic conclaves of Buhari’s support groups in the legislature, the executive and the APC, whose diktats, as a governing party, will eventually be the lot of the opposition elements within if they do not jump ship.
Senate President Bikola Saraki and Kwara State Governor, Ahmaed Abdulfatai
The suspected killers paraded by the Kwara State Police Command in Ilorin last week have said that they were being funded by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Kwara State governor, Abdulfattah Ahmed saying that the two of the men ordered them to kill many Kwara State indigenes in Nigeria and abroad.
The suspects, who have been transferred to Abuja for further investigation were said to have made the confessions in their statements to the Police in which they said that they have been on the payroll of the Kwara State Government and Mandate Office of Senator Saraki.
The leader of the killer squad who is said to be the son of Salihu Woru the self-appointed spokesman of Magajis in Ilorin Emirate, admitted that he and other suspects were being paid from the Office of the Senate President, saying that Senate Saraki gave them Toyota Corolla cars a few months ago as a way of securing the loyalty ahead of the 2019 elections.
On the list of people marked for execution before the election, they said, are two men, both named Mustapha; Kayode Oyin, Yinka Aluko, Baba Rex, and one Ogunlowo.
It was gathered that bank statements retrieved from the suspects indicated that they received money on a monthly basis from Senator Saraki and the Kwara State government, and that most of them have healthy bank balances running into millions of naira.
Following their confession, the Senate President and Kwara state governor attempted to pressure the Kwara State Police Commissioner, Mr. Aminu Pai Saleh, using Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Jimoh Mumini, who is said to be very corrupt.
Aminu Pai Saleh was said to have been offered money, which he rejected. Mr. Mumini has been critical of the transfer of the suspects to Abuja, saying that the state government has successfully prosecuted cultists and killers at the State High Court under the penal code.
The Senate President and Kwara state governor may soon be invited by the Police. Both men have accused the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, of planning to frame them for murder.
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On Wednesday, May 9, 2018, some ex-leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who joined the coalition that gave birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC), issued a seven-day ultimatum to the leadership of the APC to convene a meeting to address alleged marginalization and unfair treatment of their group in the appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB).
