Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, fresh from his visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in London, has given hope that the President will return to resume his official duties sooner than anyone would think.

“He is recuperating very fast and we expect him very shortly more sooner perhaps than you expect.”

Osinbajo, who dashed to London yeterday, Tuesday to see Buhari and returned late the same day, told news men today, Wednesday, went to see the President to check up on him and find out how he was doing. . He said that although he had been speaking to him on phone but thought it woul be a good thing for him to go and see him and also brief him on developments back at home.

“So we had a very good time , we had a good conversation on wide ranging issues. He is in a very good spirit; he is recuperating very quickly and he is doing very well.

Professor Osinbajo, who has been acting President since May 7 when Buhari went on medical vacation in London said that President Buhari is expected back in the country “very very soon. I think we should expect him back very shortly because he is recuperating very fast and very very well.”

The acting President hinted that he and Buhari discussed wide ranging issues which he said: “I can’t go into specifics.” [myad]

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has made it clear that the misunderstanding between him and National Assembly is not a bitter one but a sign of healthy democracy in action.

The minister, who fielded questions from reporters at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that there is no problem between him as an individual and the National Assembly.

“And let me make that very clear: many of the senators and honourable members are my personal friends, and so you don’t fight your friends.

“But, we have a disagreement. And the context of that disagreement: you will remember when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the economic recovery and growth plan, he had enormous support from the leadership of the National Assembly. So it means that we all agree there is a problem. There is also disagreement which I don’t think should make us disagreeable about the best way to implement that plan and I think that is all there is to it.

“It is perhaps possible that in the heat of the moment while trying to canvass different positions we are misconstrued as fighting but I am not fighting anybody. We have a disagreement it shouldn’t make us disagreeable.

“So, my responsibility is to continue to engage. Also even if I wasn’t a minister, I am a citizen also so the parliamentarians are also representing me. So these are the issues and if I have been misunderstood, my intention was not to quarrel with anybody but to see a better Nigerian which I believe they also want to see.”

Fashola, who described the disagreement as being very healthy, said that such disagreement is not on who should head what, but on who should take what share of the National came, but that they are disagreeing only on how to develop Nigeria.

“And for me that is a very healthy development of our democracy.

“I’m sure with the leadership of the National Assembly- Senate President, speaker of the House of Representatives, the principal officers and the Acting President, we will resolve this in the ultimate interest of the Nigerian people.”

On how much will the private sector deliver given the myriad of challenges, the minister said that the private sector has always been in any economy with a capital disposition, the driver of growth, adding that the driver of development and ultimately government must interface with the private sector.

He said that the present presidential quarterly business forum has been established to hear from the private sector where the shoes pinches most and where the government can make it easier and better.

“And it is only by understanding problems that we can then offer quality solutions which will include executive actions, sometimes legislative actions, sometimes judicial interventions as I have announced today  as a mixture of government’s policy options to help private sector do its best. Our focus has been on ease of doing business.” [myad]

The decision of the National Convention of the party held on May 21, 2016 in Port Harcourt was right to have removed Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the Chairman of the party being the highest decision-making organ of the party.

This was the verdict of the Supreme Court today in Abuja that sacked fighting Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and confirmed Senator Ahmed Makarfi as national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Delivering the judgment today, Wednesday, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour on behalf of the five-man panel of judges, set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt that affirmed Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the Chairman of the party.
The court ruled that Senator Sheriff was wrong to have called for the suspension of the convention having submitted himself as an aspirant to contest for the National Chairman of the party.
The court held further that Sheriff decision to suspend the National Convention was predicated on his disqualification by the screening committee set up to screen all the aspirants seeking the chairmanship of the party.
The judgment has put to rest the protracted leadership tussle rocking the party since the former chairman  Adamu Muazu left the party in an abrupt manner when pressure was mounted on him by the stakeholders of the party after losing the 2015 Presidential election.
Meanwhile, there was wild jubilation at the court by PDP leaders and supporters of the Makarfi led faction who were present in court.
PDP faithful present in court includes governors Nyesome Wike of Rivers and Ayo Fayose of Ekiti as well as former governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau.
Other PDP bigwigs include Ahmed Markafi, Senator Ben Obi, Bode George, Dayo Adeyeye, Jerry Gana, and a  former deputy speaker House of Representatives.
Sheriff was absent during the judgment. [myad]

The House of Representatives has asked Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to, within seven days from today, Tuesday, swear-in the two ministerial nominees who have been confirmed by the Senate since May.

The ministers are Stephen Ocheni, from Kogi State and Suleiman Hassan, from Gombe State. While Ocheni is to replace the late James Ocholi, Hassan, is to replace Amina Mohammed, who joined the United Nations last year. They were screened by the Senate in May.

The motion asking Osinbajo to swear-in the ministers was moved by a member from Kogi State, Karimi Sunday, who complained that Kogi had been without a minister for nearly two years now.

“These two states are not represented at the Federal Executive Council. This is a breach of the 1999 Constitution.

“The prayer of this motion is that the Acting President should swear in them in and allocate portfolios to them within one week.”

The resolution was endorsed in a unanimous voice vote. [myad]

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was in London earlier today, Thursday, to meet ailing President Muhammadu Buhari.

Osinbajo’s sudden trip to London was announced by his spokesman, Laolu Akande in a Twitter with no reason given.

He wrote: “AgP Osinbajo meeting with President Buhari in London today, and returning to Abuja immediately afterwards.”

The Acting President jetted out of Abuja soon after presiding over the Quarterly Presidential Business Forum today, Tuesday, morning at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Akande said that Osinbajo would return to Abuja the same day and expected to preside over the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting tomorrow, Wednesday. [myad]

The National Peace Committee headed by former Military Head of State, retired General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Bishop Matthew Kukah, have blamed the current agitation by various groups across the country for new nation on bad governance.

The two, who are co-chairmen of Peace Committee, made it clear too, in a statement which was jointly signed by the co-chairmwn, that politicians who failed to deliver dividends of democracy to their people are behind the clamour for secession, which they condemned.

The two leaders stressed that the manifestation of rising discontent among the populace was an indication that there was bad governance in Nigeria.

“In this regard, the National Peace Committee acknowledges that the drums of rising division also reflect the perceptions by our citizens that there is poor governance in Nigeria today.

“Politicians who have failed in delivering on the mandate of the electorate for better livelihoods and neighbourhoods have, instead, found common cause with advocates of division and hate.

“In many parts of the country, young people who have been left without means of livelihood or hope in their future have become converts to radicalisation preached by demagogues in various guises including ethnicity and religion.” [myad]