Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has described the persons behind the rumoured death of President Muhammadu Buhari as “wicked and callous.”
A statement by his media aide, Mr. Kehinde Akinyemi, today, Friday in Abeokuta, quoted the former president as saying: “no normal human being will wish an elderly person dead, irrespective of their differences. President Buhari needs our prayers rather than bad wishes.
“For anyone wishing him dead, such person or groups of persons are callous, wicked and treacherous. I was also rumoured to have died almost 12 times.
“I don’t know what they derive from doing so, but, they should seek for forgiveness.
He said that prayers from well meaning persons, particularly, Nigerians would help Buhari to get well quickly and ginger his morale to return to the country stronger and better.
Obasanjo called on Nigerians to desist from politicizing the president’s health, adding: “if you don’t like him, wait for another election and stop spreading rumour that he is dead.
“No matter what his health situation maybe, we should pray for him to recover quick and come back stronger and better.
“Even if we know that the President is sick, he is in a better position to know what to say or what to do and not wishing him dead. We should just stop politicizing everything, especially with the elderly in the country.”
Senior special assistant to the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on media and publicity, Laolu Akande has made it clear that the Presidency has no intention of interfering with the proposed protest by Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2Face.
Akande, who spoke on the Channels TV programme today, Friday, said that the government of Muhammadu Buhari had no plan to crackdown on any anti-government protester.
According to him, Buhari administration is not in the business of countering protests as it is always ready to protect the right of the people to engage in peaceful protest.
This was even as the Lagos Police commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, threatened to arrest the singer if he dares hold the protest.
“Information reaching us revealed that some hoodlums are planning to hijack the peaceful protest and at such, we won’t allow it to hold in Lagos. We know that Tuface does not have the capacity to contain such a crowd and we will not fold our hands and watch while things go out of hand,” Owoseni said. [myad]
The newly appointed Minister of Information in Zambia, Kampamba Mulenga, has confessed that she used to be a sex worker but that she has changed.
“I am a change person who deserve to be welcomed and accepted in the society”, she told some PF senior members in Livingstone
Kampamba Mulenga asked Zambians to forget her past records of promiscuity and judge her on her present and future life as she is now a changed person.
According to The Zambian Observer, before her appointment as a Minister in the country, Mulenga was rumoured to be a popular prostitute or runs girl.
The new minister admitted her past promiscuous life but said that she was deeply saddened by some Zambians who still refer to her past, as sex worker, when describing her, stressing that she is now a changed person as she has left her past behind.
Before she joined politics, it is alleged that Ms Kampamba Mulenga was infamous for being a prominent sex worker on the Copperbelt. [myad]
The Task Force on Food Security constituted by the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 had its inaugural meeting this morning. At the meeting presided over by the Ag. President, the Task Force focused on gaining a full understanding of all factors that contribute to unduly high food prices, especially at urban markets throughout the country. It also considered the ways and means of urgently ameliorating the situation, particularly by addressing issues of affordability and availability. In particular, it identified some key staple foods and the factors that were most likely driving high food prices in some parts of the country, despite bumper harvests at many farms. Some of the factors identified in this regard include: the poor state of rural infrastructure like roads; multiple revenue collecting points on the highways; and inadequacy of distribution networks-all of which contribute, among other things to high transportation costs. Against this background, the Task Force felt that government could most usefully intervene by resolving such bottlenecks. It also felt it important to clarify that the assignment of the Task Force is not about government intervening directly in the market for staple foods either though purchases or price fixing. The Task Force will be coordinating various MDAs and working closely with the private sector to explore ways and means of overcoming some of the supply bottlenecks in the short term, while also reinforcing on-going medium and long-term solutions including improving supplies and providing better storage. A more technical sub-group of the Task Force is now drawing up a draft plan of action for further consideration. [myad]
Chairman of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Agunola Omomowo, died today, Friday, after attending a political meeting with Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
The deceased, who was popularly known as ‘Adoration,’ was said to have slumped in his hotel room shortly after the meeting and was confirmed dead on arrival at a local hospital in the area. Late Omomowo was elected as the Ilaje Local Government Chairman on March 24, 2016 under the platform of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP). [myad]
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has branded new social media as a purveyor of falsehood and fake news. He said that, but his greatest worry is that the traditional media has fallen flat for such news items carried by the social media. Lai Mohammed who spoke today, Friday when he paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Daar Communications warned that if the trend is not checked, the credibility of the media would be damaged while endangering the peace and security of the country. “The country today is under the siege of disinformation and fake news. Unfortunately, this dangerous trend, if not checked by the media, especially the traditional media, is capable of tearing the fabric of the society and bringing the country to its knees.”
The minister noted that even a section of the traditional media are in the habit of amplifying the disinformation and the fake news being spread on social media, appealing to the traditional media to remain the most credible platform and refuse to join forces “with the purveyors of falsehood. “My greatest problem is with the traditional media, because most people will probably say social media is what it is. But when the traditional media also latches on the same fake news and the same disinformation, then I begin to get worried for many reasons. Number one, it affects the credibility of the media itself and once the media is no longer believed, once the media loses its credibility, then it has serious consequences for the media and the society as a whole.” The minister expressed concern that in the past few weeks, the media was saturated with false news on the health of President Muhammadu Buhari, and that despite official denial, some people did not believe the government because of the lies they have read in social media. This was even as the Executive Chairman of Daar Communications, Raymond Paul Dokpesi, said that the emergence of fake news is a global phenomenon, adding however that the media group has been absolutely committed to upholding the highest standard of journalism. [myad]
Vice-Chancellor of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Professor Saburi Adesanya has acknowledged that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has been playing great roles, especially in the provision of state-of-the-art infrastructure to the university and other tertiary institutions in the country. Professor Adesanya confirms that the Olabisi Onabanjo University has witnessed unparalleled development in terms of provision of befitting physical infrastructure, facilities and equipment in all its campuses. A statement issued in Abuja today, Friday, by TETFund’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations Department, Benn Ebikwo, said that the Vice Chancellor spoke in Ago-Iwoye, during the combined 25th and 26th Convocation Ceremonies of the university which had the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, represented by the Director Academic Staff Training and Development of the Fund, Dr. Jacob Alada delivering the Convocation Lecture. The Vice Chancellor was quoted as expressing special thanks to the Management of TETFund from the tenure of Professor Mahmood Yakubu (who is currently the INEC Chairman) to the present Executive Secretary of the Fund, Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa for their interest in the university. “Management has left no stone unturned towards rebuilding the University. The University has witnessed an unparalleled development in terms of befitting physical infrastructure, facilities and equipment in all campuses of the University. “To achieve the above, Management judiciously utilized the allocations from TETFund, FGN-NEEDS and IGR to build befitting structures that now adorn the various campuses of the University. Presently, we have about 29 new building projects most of which had been completed and occupied while others are nearing completion. In fact, some of these buildings were commissioned as part of highlights of events for this Convocation Ceremony in the University, by the donors.” While appreciatin the efforts of the various donors whose contributions had assisted the University in the past four and half years, the Vice -Chancellor said: ”I wish to specially thank the Management of TETFund led by Prof. Mahmud, through to Dr. Baffa here present for their special interest in this University. They made us proud. They are my friends and Insha Allah; we shall continue to be so.” Professor Adesanya said that the building projects embarked upon by the university have succeeded in assisting the University to meet its accreditation needs as well as transforming the landscape and aesthetic value of the institution. The Vice-Chancellor said that the buildings have provided the much needed space for staff and students of the University for the smooth running of its academic activities and students and researchers are now able to conduct their researches in their various laboratories with less stress. Delivering the Convocation Lecture titled: “Research, Funding Higher Education and the Role of Universities,” the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa who was represented by the Director, Academic Staff Training and Development of the Fund, Dr. Jacob Alada, described research as the singular tool available to the scholar in the development and dissemination of new knowledge. The convocation lecturer advised managers of tertiary educational institutions in the country to encourage more cutting edge researches in their institutions, even as he called on government to make sustainable improvements in policy frameworks and adopt new management systems in order to overcome the various challenges inhibiting the carrying out of meaningful research work in Nigerian higher educational institutions. “The adoption of new concepts and proven models from other progressive countries will go a long way in halting the decline in research activities in Nigerian higher educational institutions.” He highlighted some models of funding that have been developed and adopted in the administration of higher educational institutions the world over, pointing out that in view of the fact that there are more public owned higher institutions than privately owned ones in Nigeria, funding has been majorly carried out by government through such intervention funds as the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and others but that UBEC may be excused since it caters for lower level of education.. A total number of 5,450 graduands were awarded different degrees at the ceremony which attracted several dignitaries, including Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Executive Secretary of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Director of Finance and Investment of TETFund, Alhaji Idris Saidu, Ag. Director, Education Support Services of TETFund, Dr. Salihu Girei, Vice Chancellors from sister universities and others. [myad]
The police in Kaduna State have announced the arrest of no fewer than 19 suspects believed to be behind the lingering crisis and killings of innocent people in the Southern part of the state.
Speaking to news men on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh O. Moshood said that the arrests were made in Kafanchan and its environs, adding that those who were arrested were found to be inciting public disturbance, disturbing public peace, causing mischief by fire, culpable homicide, theft and unlawful possession of prohibited fire arms.
Names of those who were arrested are as follows:
Nelson Paul ‘M’ 36years native of Kaninkon Jamma’a LGA Kaduna state
Bulus Jatau ‘M’ age 32yrs from Jamma’a LGA of Kaduna state.
Magaji Shaibu ‘M’ age 30years from chinkun LGA of Kaduna state
Danlami Yakubu ‘M’ age 28years from chinkun LGA of kaduna state
Idris bello ‘M’ chinkun LGA of kaduna state
Danjuma Barde ‘M’ 39 age from chikun LGA of kaduna state
Danjuma barde chikun ‘M’ age 39years from LGA of kaduna state
Goma Adamu ‘M’ age 28years from chukwum LGA of Kaduna state
Samuel Joshua ‘M’ age 29years from chinkun LGA of kaduna state
Abudulkareem Abdul ‘M’ age 20years from Rigasa LGA of kaduna state
Haruna Iliyasu ‘M’ age 20years Kiru LGA of kaduna state
Hassan Idris ‘M’ age 25years from Tsafe of kaduna state
Adamu Haruna ‘M’ 28years from chikwun of kaduna stste
Adamu Umar ‘M’ age 27years chikwun LGA of kaduna state
Sulieman Saleh ‘M’ age 30 from chinkun LGA of kaduna state
Abubakar Mohammadu ‘M’ age 20years from chikwun LGA of kaduna state.
Muhammadu Jori ‘M’ age 33years from Igabi LGA of kaduna state
Part of the text of Jimoh Moshood news briefing goes thus:
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to today’s event. Concerned by the recent unfortunate sectarian crisis in Kafanchan and neighboring communities in Kaduna state where so many innocent lives were lost and properties worth millions of naira destroyed, as a result of this and the need to put a final stop to the crisis the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris NPM, mni, constituted a Joint Tactical Operation Squad (Operation Harmony), comprising the Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Intelligence Response Team, SIB, EOD, the IGP Monitoring Unit, Police K9 (Sniffer Dog Section), Police Air wing and Police Medical Team with Headquarters in Kafanchan.
The operation recorded remarkable achievements in tackling the crisis and preventing further disturbance of public peace across southern Kaduna. Seventeen (17) suspects listed below who were arrested in the act and catches of fire arms and ammunition were recovered from them
SUSPECTS:
EXHIBITS:
Total number of twenty nine (29) assorted firearms and ammunition were recovered from their possession.
All the suspects will be charged to court on completion of investigation for inciting public disturbance, disturbance of public peace, causing mischief by fire, culpable homicide, theft and unlawful possession of prohibited fire arms
In conclusion, the Inspector General of Police wishes to assure the good people and communities of Southern Kaduna of adequate security and protection of their lives and properties and hereby enjoin them to be law abiding and give peace a chance to prevail and cooperate with the Police personnel deployed in their localities.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has warned those who have consistently failed to develop plots of land allocated to them over the years that they stand the risk of losing them soon.
“The FCT Administration will review allocations of plots meant for organizations’ staff houses for eventual re-allocation to more serious and capable organizations.”
The minister spoke today, Thursday, when he received in audience, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Bayo Onanuga and some officials of his organization.
Muhammad Bello said that the review of the plot allocation has become necessary as some of the beneficiary organizations have been unable to develop them.
He said that he is working on a blueprint to come up with informal markets to take care of street hawkers that are being taken off the streets.
He said that the activities of street hawkers are adequately contained and alternative provided, adding that the measure would go a long way in reducing traffic congestion in the city.
Earlier, Bayo Onanuga commended the Administration for its ability to tackle security challenges and the completion of abandoned road projects. [myad]
An ex Daily Trust newspaper reporter in Abuja, who happened to be a professor now, teaching in an American University, Farouk Kperogi, appears to have gone crazy about what he strongly believes is the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari to measure up to the standards he and his likes expected.
He has been so critical about the President, from far away America, and mostly relying heavily on the stories on social media that he recently ranted against those he said had been begging him to take it easy on Buhari.
Read his obviously angry diatribe:
“Over the last several hours, I have been inundated with a steady stream of impassioned pleas from many well-placed and not so well-placed Nigerians, including the emir of my hometown, requesting me to “please take it easy on Buhari.” I thought it is Buhari that should be pleaded with to take it easy on Nigerians so that I won’t have a reason to call him out on his incompetence and insensitivity. Believe you me, it’s no fun being openly critical of a person whose candidature I staked my reputation to promote, and in whom I invested enormous confidence and hope.
If Buhari actually had a clue and was governing well and wasn’t wasteful, protective of corrupt associates while pretending to be fighting corruption, insensitive to the plight of the poor, clannish, clueless, incompetent, etc., I would have been one of the proudest people today. I would have been glad to gloat and say, “You see, I told you this man can do it! He is the change we needed!” But he has made Nigeria way worse than he met it—and that says a heck of a whole lot given where we thought we were before now.
Nigeria is at its most perilous state right now. Everything is falling apart. Suffering has reached dizzyingly crushing heights. The poor cannot feed, and relentless hyperinflationary conflagration is eating up the middle class and dragging it to the ranks of the desperately poor. Nothing is working. It was customary to say that the country was on autopilot during Jonathan’s days. Now it has come to a standstill. And people want us to be quiet? What sort of conscience do people have? I would rather be dead than be quiet. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” That’s what I told my emir. And that’s what I am telling everyone who is asking me to “take it easy on Buhari.” No, it is Buhari who should take it easy on Nigerians.
I DID NOT want, DO NOT want, and WON’T EVER want, a job, ANY job, from this government. I made this crystal clear in my April 4, 2015 column titled “After the Euphoria, What President-elect Buhari Needs to Know.” No government job in Nigeria can give me the comfort and fulfillment I have here. All I want is for the government to actually GOVERN and make life bearable.”
After reading all such angry outburst, the question that arose, is who asked Farouk Kperogi to take it easy on Buhari? Why would Kperogi make himself so important as if his criticism of Buhari has any serious impact on the direction the President wants to take Nigeria?
To start with, Kperogi may have conveniently forgotten that Buhari is more passionate than him or any other Nigerian, about how Nigeria can get out of the socio-economic and confusing political quagmire into which it had been led over the years by the subsequent governments. He had forgotten that what it took the previous governments to destroy in more than a decade cannot be put right within 24 months or that it takes more time to respire than to destroy.
I have always been saying that if the only thing Buhari can be said to have achieved in less than one and half years is the taming of Boko Haram antics and dangerous territorial expansion, then for God’s sake, Nigerians, inside and outside the country, should thumb up for him and pray that he goes on to tackle other challenges facing the country.
Of course, I don’t blame Farouk Kperogi because he has not been in Nigeria all these while, for him to have felt the enormity of the danger posed by Boko Haram insurgents to the corporate existence of the country called Nigeria. Indeed, security insiders confirmed that if Goodluck Jonathan had won the 2015 election and continued as President, Nigerians would not have been in such a comfortable atmosphere now to even be talking about the economy, about the cost of things in the markets, about hunger and about all such things. We must be honest enough to admit that security comes first before other things: that given a choice, a normal human being and even animal would prefer to enjoy a secured environment than having plenty of food.
I remember, I took a tour of some parts of Adamawa state last year where Boko Haram insurgents had already occupied, including Mubi, which is bigger than Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state or Dutse, capital of Jigawa state and is the size of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi state. I travelled as far as Madagali, Nigeria’s border town with the Republic of Cameroun. As at the middle of last year when I undertook that journey into the danger zone, courtesy of the American University of Nigeria, there were already over 27 local government areas and several towns and villages taken over and fully occupied by the insurgents. Some of the major towns occupied by the insurgents were Askira, Michika, Gulak, Bama, Gwoza, Shuwa, Uba, Biang, Dilchim, Kudzum, Bazza, Kuwmi, Muvu, Vimtum (home town of the former Nigeria Chief of Army Staff, General Alex Bade), Lira-Vimtum, Girei, and others.
As at last year too, Boko Haram insurgents were already advancing to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. They were so daring and confident that entering Abuja, the nation’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and even the Aso Rock Presidential Villa was just a matter of course for them.
If Buhari has not done anything at all on any other sector of the nation, it is because he had to spend almost one and half years recovering the large territory the insurgents had confidently taken over, with the help of those who were entrusted with huge sums of Dollars and Naira to procure for the fighting soldiers, adequate and state-of-the-art war arsenal to face the insurgents.
So, why would anyone ask or beg Farouk Kperogi to stop abusing Buhari and raising his voice or his pen against him because, from his ivory tower in America, (he sees that) life is not yet good for Nigerians?
Why would anyone beg Kperogi to stop shouting himself hoarse about the reality on the ground which is twisted from his point of, or his world view, in far away America?
If he enjoys doing the open insult on president Buhari who loves Nigeria and Nigerians more than he does, please, ride on.
Kperogi, ride on from your comfortable American abode. After all, talking is cheap… very cheap.
However, when the chips are down, you may be counted amongst those in the enrollment of corruption-fighting-back army. Just thinking! [myad]
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The Task Force on Food Security constituted by the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday, February 1, 2017 had its inaugural meeting this morning.
Vice-Chancellor of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Professor Saburi Adesanya has acknowledged that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has been playing great roles, especially in the provision of state-of-the-art infrastructure to the university and other tertiary institutions in the country.
