China today demonstrated how it deals with corruption by sentencing a 70-year-old former senior legislator, identified as Bai Enpei, to death for taking ‘a huge amount of bribes’ and holding excessive assets with unidentified sources.
Enpei was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Investigation of Enpei for graft began in August 2014. By January 2015, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
The CCDI investigation found that Bai took advantage of his post to seek profits for others and accepted “a huge amount in bribes.” Thousands of officials at different levels have been punished in the three year long anti-corruption campaign initiated by President Xi. The former senior legislator becomes the latest official to be punished for graft under a campaign launched by President Xi Jingping.
Enpei was a former senior lawmaker with China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC). He had also served as the head of the provincial committees of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in Qinghai and Yunnan province, respectively.
As part of his punishment, he has been deprived of political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated.
This came against the background of the current debate amongst Nigerians over the crackdown on corrupt judges by the Department of State Service (DSS) over similar charge. [myad]
Nigeria’s Super Eagles, today, Sunday, threw their Zambian counterpart off-balanced with a 2-1 win in the opening World Cup qualifier in Ndola. The wonder boys for Nigeria are the England-based duo of Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho who connected with brilliant goals. It was Nigeria’s first-ever win in Zambia and the Chipolopolo’s first loss at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola. The Super Eagles took their chances in the first half with two goals, but after the interval, Zambia fought back to pull a goal back, but it was too little, too late for the home side. Arsenal youngster, Iwobi, put Nigeria on the lead front from inside the box after poor defending by the home team. Manchester City youngster, Iheanacho then doubled the Eagles advantage in the 42nd minute when he was released by Captain John Mikel Obi. He rounded up goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene, before slotting home by the post. Zambia pulled a goal back in the 70th minute through star striker, Collins Mbesuma, when he capitalized on a blunder inside the box by Kenneth Omeruo. Between Nigeria’s goals in the first half, Zambia skipper Rainford Kalaba, was denied an equalizer by the brilliant goalkeeper Carl Ikeme, who kept out a powerful, goal-bound header from the top of the six-yard box. Both sides had chances earlier in the second half to score. As early as third minute, Ikeme barely put out a dangerous Zambia cross for corner. The lively Fwayo Tembo tested Ikeme with a powerful shot from outside the box in the 23rd minute. Moses Simon then cashed in on a defensive slip in the 26th minute only to blast his effort into the stands from inside the vital area. Goalkeeper Ikeme denied Zambia at least twice after the interval as the home team fought back. [myad]
Over 200 pupils of MD School in Lagos, today, Saturday, rose up to clean the Oja-Oba market in Abule Egba, as part of the environmental sanitation.
The exercise, which was part of the activities lined up for the school’s 30 years anniversary celebrations, began at 8am with parents and teachers guiding the students.
A statement by the management of the school said that the Executive Director of the school, Omolara Adedugbe, described the cleanup exercise as part of the school’s corporate social responsibility to the community where the school is situated.
She was quoted as saying: “we chose to be here because the market is a filthy place and this goes to show that we are conscious about our environment and its people. As you can see, the traders are very happy about the exercise. We were well received and have promised not make it a one-off thing.
“We hereby enjoin other corporate organizations in the state and the country at large to adopt the exercise. We want people to come out and should not feel too big to identify with these people.”
Meanwhile, the Secretary of Oja Oba Market, Alhaji Adeshina Akanni Jimoh, on behalf of the market executives and the traders, thanked the school’s management, students and parents for carrying out the exercise.
“Though, we carry out the exercise weekly in collaboration with LAWMA, but today’s exercise is commendable and we are saying a very big thank you to the school’s management for this strategic move.
“For me, this is first of its kind and I must confess that it beats our imagination.”
The exercise was supported by Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and the Highway Managers. [myad]
Head of the Indonesian Hajj Affairs, Ahmad Dumyathi, presenting a gift to the chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar (in face-cap), when he led Nigerian team on a courtesy visit in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, today, Sunday. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari’s strategists, if they are at work at all, are chasing ants and ignoring the elephant in the room. They do him great disservice. Their oversight is hubristically determined either by incapacity or a vendetta-induced distraction. It is time they changed the game and the narrative; time they woke up. It’s been more than 15 months since the incumbent assumed office as President, but his handlers have been projecting him as if he is a Umaru Musa Yar’Adua or a Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, first time Presidents who could afford the luxury of a learning period before settling down to the job, and who in addition must prove themselves to earn necessary plaudits. In making this mistake, President Buhari’s handlers created a sad situation whereby they have progressively undermined his image.
The truth is that Muhammadu Buhari is neither a Yar’Adua nor a Jonathan. He may have sought the office of President in three previous elections, before succeeding at his fourth attempt in 2015, but he came into office on a different template. He had been Head of State of Nigeria (1983-85) and had before then served his country at very high levels as military administrator, member of the Supreme Military Council, head of key government institutions and subsequently from 1985 -2015, as a member of the country’s Council of State, the highest advisory body known to the Nigerian Constitution.
In real terms, therefore, General Muhammadu Buhari did not need the job of President. If he had again lost the election in 2015, his stature would not have been diminished in any way. His place in Nigerian history was already assured. That is precisely why it was possible to package him successfully as a man on a messianic mission to rescue Nigeria from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and whatever is ascribed to that in the emotion-laden field of Nigerian politics.
He might have acquired many IOUs when he assumed office in 2015, as all politicians do, but he was not under any pressure to pay back and he was so well positioned in the people’s reckoning and historically that he could call anyone’s bluff and get away with it. That much is of course obvious. Many of the persons and groups who could claim that they helped him to get to power a second time are today not in a position to dictate to him. Long before such persons left their mother’s homes for boarding school, he had made his mark as a Nigerian leader. He could look them straight in the eye and cleverly put them in their place. Corrupt patronage is a strong element of Nigerian politics and so far, President Buhari has shown a determination to limit the scope of such politics. Whether that is right or wrong is a matter of political calculations, and if current intimations are anything to go by, that may even prove costly in the long run.
Nonetheless, when a leader assumes office with his kind of helicopter advantages, it should not be expected that he would hit the ground like a tyro in the corridors of power. Not too many persons in his shoes get a second chance to return to power after a gap of 30 years. As it happened in his case, he would be expected to run the country as a statesman, not as a party man, as a bridge-builder, not as a sectional leader and as father of all. The writer of his inaugural speech alluded to this last point in that borrowed statement about belonging to everyone and to nobody. Charles de Gaulle of France originally made that statement in 1958 when he returned to power as President and founder of the Fifth Republic. Charles de Gaulle had been an army General and one of the key figures in the drama of World War II. In his second coming, De Gaulle built an unforgettable legacy.
President Buhari’s handlers may have had an idea of going in such direction but so far, they have taken their eyes off the legacy project. The best way to remember a President of the incumbent’s status is with regard to the legacy he leaves behind. We do not need to travel to 20th century France to borrow an elaborate example. We have the home-made example of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Like Buhari, Obasanjo had been Head of State. Like him also, he returned to be civilian President. Obasanjo did not try to impress Nigerians with the daily grind of governance or obsession with the past. He played a legacy game from the first day. The military had been excused out of power. Nigerians by 1999 were so angry with military rule, they just wanted change.
Obasanjo capitalized on that and helped to prepare the foundations for the consolidation of the democratic process. Nigeria had been a pariah nation within the international community and a weakling within the continent. With a combination of charisma, street wisdom and the reactivation of old networks, Obasanjo regained for the country, the respect it deserves. He met a country in debt. He paid off the debts by 2005, and made the country financially stable again. He surrounded himself with bright and talented technocrats, including foreign consultants and within government circles if not outside, he actively encouraged the free flow of ideas. In doing this, he cultivated the image of a strong, charismatic leader. He also refused to be trapped by ethnic or religious considerations. He had his own faults and there was a lot to complain about as I did at the time, but looking at the big picture, Obasanjo was a good manager of complex relationships, and he had a good sense of humour. Out of office, it is possible indeed to speak of the Obasanjo legacy in Nigerian history in rich and detailed terms.
There are parallels between the circumstances that brought General Obasanjo and General Buhari back to power, and if you wish, you could tease out the connections. But while the former immediately began to build a legacy out of the opportunity, the latter is yet to embark on a defined legacy mission. No political leader ever built a legacy out of complaints and excuses. An obsession with the past does not produce a legacy; it defeats it. Nor is the restriction of human freedom a legacy-building gesture. General Sani Abacha violated the dignity of virtually every institution in the country but he is remembered more for stabilizing the economy and for creating additional states, particularly Bayelsa, where he is considered a hero. Obasanjo often deployed power as if it was a whiplash, making his politics ambiguous, but that is not the substance of his legacy. A leader’s legacy lies in those steps he takes to transform society for good and for the people’s benefit.
President Buhari’s handlers should begin to think of what legacy he intends to leave behind. A legacy is something big and memorable, not routine exertions or bland ceremonies, the type civil servants are perpetually bringing before a sitting President to keep him in motion, in the absence of movement. I do not intend to construct a possible legacy project for the Buhari administration: a legacy is meant to be the product of careful deliberation, vision and resolve, not something to be thrown up casually in a limited newspaper copy. But there are grand moves to be made, and that should be done, because a legacy cannot possibly arise from the mere fact of being President of a country twice between the 20th and 21st centuries.
If I must make a few suggestions, however, it seems to me that there is a legacy-building opportunity in the same National Political Conference Report that the government of the day seems determined to ignore. Even if that 2014 Report is ignored: the issues relating to the restructuring of Nigeria have been on the table since independence and more coherently since the 2005 Political Conference which was aborted due to a controversial attempt to hand over a Third Term to the Obasanjo administration through the back door.
President Buhari has both the pedigree and the courage to take some bold steps about how Nigeria is presently constituted and ensure not limited reform but far-reaching transformation: create new states, merge some states, if possible, review the revenue allocation formula, embark on legacy infrastructure projects, introduce some alterations in key areas of national life, merge parastatals to reduce cost and duplication, take up some neglected ideas about public finance and give effect to them, revisit the oil and gas sector and further reform it, crush Boko Haram. Nigeria’s politics is complex and can be frustrating for those who choose to swim in its murky waters, but ultimately every leader will be judged on his record. How would President Buhari like to be judged? It is not too early to pose this question.
Legacy is not a destination; it is built one step at a time. It is not an accident; it is a process and the summation of concrete steps to make a difference. The Buhari administration should begin to develop a legacy mindset; this will include measuring the feedback from the people carefully in terms of how their expectations are being met or denied. If this will require a change of team or emphasis, now is the time to take that decision. [myad]
As soon as I cleared out the dinner table, I went into the bedroom, not bothering to say goodnight to Kenny in the living room. I knew he was going to be coming to bed soon enough. I needed him to think I was fast asleep by the time he came to bed. I quickly got into the bathroom and had a quick shower before climbing into bed. I made sure I put on my long pyjamas so there was no way he could have easy access to my body. About an hour later when I heard him climb into bed and turn the other way, I finally let out the breath I was holding. I managed to escape the sex tonight.
By the time I woke up the next morning, I knew we were going to have another round of noise and fight and I quickly said a silent prayer to God for strength. I could feel his hand roaming round my body relentlessly and there was no doubt in my mind what the expected the end result to be. I opened my eyes and took a glimpse at the clock on the wall. It was just 6.am. I turned and removed his hands from my body and tried to get up only to be pulled back. By the third time of going through the same motion, he finally spoke up. ”Babe, what is the excuse today? It has been 2 weeks for Christ sake. How am I supposed to be happy if you wont even have sex with me?” he said with obvious frustration in his voice. ”So your happiness is now tied to sex? You still don’t get it do you? I am doing this for us. For our home and our future. I told you before I started this was going to happen and you agreed and now you want to make me feel guilty. Seriously I am confused.” ”Omololami, you know I am not opposed to prayer and fasting. I love God too and I go to church but you cannot honestly expect me not to have sex for the next 100 days just because you want to fast” I was so angry at that statement and I flared up, ”Seriously Kenny, are you kidding me right now? What happened to self control? This just shows have far you have fallen from the faith. Is this not the same you that used to fast with me all the time before we got married? So all that spirituality was a lie? Did we not court for two years without sex? So you must have been cheating on me.” ”What? How can you say that? Are you crazy? How can you even compare both scenarios? I was single then now I am married. Why did I get married if I can’t have sex?” ”Oh so now I am a sex machine? You married me for the sex?” I asked ”You know what, I wont waste my time having this fruitless conversation with you. I am warning you for the last time. I wont take this your fasting bullshit and you will learn to respect me in this house. If this is the rubbish they are teaching you in church, I will ban you from going there” ”You wont dare Kehinde Ayorinde. You will not dare. If I ever have to choose between you and my God, trust me you will loose. It is God first and you second. That devil that is trying to use you, will not find a place”. ”Try me, Lola, just try me” he said as he walked into the bathroom and slammed the door. I walked out of the room and went into the kitchen heartbroken. As I went about making Kenny’s lunch that he usually takes to work I was so sad. I didn’t understand Kenny’s bitterness towards my relationship with God. I didn’t expect to have these kind of issues just 6 months after marriage. He knew how much I loved God and how much that relationship means to me and he was proving so difficult. We even talked about this while we were courting and he used to tell me how much he loved my passion for God. We have tried getting pregnant for the past 5 months and nothing has happened and I knew I needed to tackle it in prayer before 5 months turned to 15 years and I told him I decided to join the 100 days fast in church. Initially, he had agreed to join me but 3 days after he stopped. I didn’t get offended. I decided to do the prayers myself, I just did not expect him to be so bitter about it. As I finished packing his lunch about 30 minutes later, Kenny came out fully dressed and just walked past me without picking up his food as usual. I quickly ran after him and caught up with him just as he was getting into his car. ”You didn’t take your food” I said. ”Take that rubbish food and get out of my sight. I don’t want your food, now or ever until you learn to respect me and until you decide what is more important to you” he said and slammed the door, driving away while I stood there mouth agape. We had a lot of disagreements over sex in the last two weeks but I had never seen Kenny so bitter before. I knew there then I needed to pray for my home. Casting out every demon that suddenly possessed my husband. ……… As soon as Kehinde left for work, I decided to take his matter to God in prayer. I went on my knees and was lost in prayer for the next four hours. ”Father, defend me in my marriage, cast out every demon that has possessed my husband’s heart”. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the lord, he turns it whichever way. Oh God turn my husband’s heart away from sex and all things of the flesh during these 100 days of fasting, in the name of Jesus. Towards the end of my prayer, I suddenly got an inspiration from the Holy Spirit on what to do next. There was no point trying to tell Kenny he could not have sex with me, I only had to use wisdom to avoid it by doing things that will not even get him interested. So I decided not to have my bath the whole of that day. I knew how much Kenny liked me bathing and all clean. By the time he got home around 7pm that day, I made sure dinner was ready. I could not have been more wrong because another argument ensued as soon as he came in through the door. ”Madam, have you sorted out your issues yet?” he said. ”What issues Kenny? Please come and have your dinner”. ”Did you think I was joking? Did you think not taking your bath will work on me? Or you did you think I will not know you enough to know that not taking your bath is a tactic to avoid sex?” I was quite shocked and kind of speechless that he immediately realized what my plan was. ”Kenny, please be understanding. I need to consecrate myself to God”. I resorted to begging instead. ”Lola, get it straight, I am not asking you not to fast. What is wrong with having sex between 6pm that you break your fast and midnight that the next day starts? That is all I am asking” he tried to negotiate. ”I am sorry Kenny; I don’t believe that is good enough. I am supposed to be consecrated for 100 days. Having sex during that time just makes me feel unclean”. I explained. ”What is unclean about sex between husband and wife babe? It is totally biblical” ”See Kenny, you just need to be patient. I have just 85 days left and then we can go back to doing the dirty”. ”Let me tell you something Lola, this is the last time I will have this discussion with you. If you cannot find a way to balance your marriage and fasting, then you just might not have a marriage to come back to after your 100 days”. ”What do you mean by that Kenny? God forbid such confession?” I said immediately. Kenny left me standing there and went into the room. My surprise was complete later that night when he moved most of his things to the guest room. I was going to beg him but I just later decided it was for the best if he stayed in the guest room for the next 85 days. This was probably God’s way of creating a solution for me. I went on my knees that night and sang in gratitude to God for making a way for me where I thought there was none. By day 60 of my fasting and prayer, I was officially frustrated. The joy and excitement I got from fasting and prayer had gone. Kenny and I had become total strangers in the house. He had not eaten my food in over 6 weeks and I was officially worried. He had started coming home quite late and we did not even talk anymore. Every time I tried to talk to him, he just shut me out. We both went to work and came back and went into separate rooms. I did not even know where to start from. I knew for a fact I had not done anything wrong and was just doing the best for our marriage and I wondered constantly why Kenny was so blinded by unreasonable rage. I wondered where all the promises of not going to bed in anger went. I finally reached the end of my rope that week when I got a text from him around 8pm saying, ”Don’t wait up for me. I won’t be coming home tonight”. I could not believe my eyes and I immediately sent him a text saying, ” Where are you? Why won’t you come home?” His reply made me burst into tears. ”Please ask the holy spirit to reveal it to you in prayer” My marriage is in trouble.
The embattled, suspended member of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin has asked the Federal Government to mete out what he called the harshest punishment on him if his allegation of corruption and budget padding against the speaker, Yakubu Dogara and other leaders of the house is found to be false.
“Finally, I wish to call on the Federal Government to make me face the harshest punishment prescribed by our laws if my allegations are found to be false.”
In a statement, Jibrin accused his colleagues of orchestrating monumental corruption and fraud in the House and that they had raked in millions in illegal allowances.
This was even as he asked them to stop milking Nigerians dry. He has forwarded about 50 Members of the House involved in running cost allowances fraud to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He wrote: “After about 10 weeks since I commenced exposing corruption in the House of Representatives, Speaker Dogara and other accused persons are yet to respond to dozens of allegations bordering on budget fraud, abuse of office and public trust and corruption. This is in addition to my revelation that there exists chronic, deep-rooted, monumental and systemic corruption in the House.
“In the light of the foregoing, I wish to make the following statements and demands:
I am also demanding the Minister of Finance, Accountant General of the Federation, Attorney General of the Federation and Clerk of National Assembly in exercising my right as a citizen of Nigeria to stop with immediate effect further payments of running cost allowances to Members of the House of Representatives because as an insider, I know that most of such money have been and are diverted into private pockets. There is no law in our country that is intended to protect corruption. So the continuous payment of such money negates the spirit and genuine intention of establishing such laws in the first place.
I am also calling on Nigerians, companies, ministries, departments and agencies to shun invitations from the House of Representatives until the House allows for a transparent investigation of individual and systemic corruption allegations in collaboration with ongoing external investigations by the police and anti-graft agencies and commence a wide ranging reforms to restore the battered image of the House and strengthen it to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate. As a Nigerian, you have enough reason to shun them. I assure you that they can do nothing.
Why did you think the House could not do anything to the former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke towards the end of the 7th Assembly when she shunned and dared the House? Think? I will come to that latter and narrate to you the story of how she met a senior member of the body of Principal Officers of the 7th Assembly in the Aso drive residence of a Lebanese business man, the deal that was struck and what followed after in devastating consequences to the House and its image. A complete shame!
As I promised and gave a 72-hours ultimatum to the Principal Officers and one week to other members, I have forwarded to the Anti-graft agencies the first batch of names of 50 members of the House that are involved in running cost allowances fraud in their entire stay in the House. I have broken the list into batches to make the work easier for the anti-graft agencies. I will be sending the names in batches of 50 until the list is exhausted.
The first batch includes:
Speaker Yakubu Dogara
Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun
Whip Alhassan Doguwa
Minority Leader Leo Ogor
Others are Hon Herma Hembe, Hon Jagaba Adams, Hon Timothy Golu, Hon Yunusa Ahmad Abubakar, Hon Mukaila Olayiwola Kazzim, Hon Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu, Hon Abdulrazak Namdas, Hon Osai Nicolas Osai, etc.
“I deliberately included the name of Hon Osai, Chairman Ethics Committee who wrote the report that suspended me from the House on the grounds that I lied over my allegations that there exists monumental systemic corruption in the House. After the anti graft agencies investigate his running cost, the world will know whether I lied or told the truth.
Nigerians must be very vigilant because as an insider, I know how the House usually responds during period like this. As you have started noticing, many investigative hearings and ad hoc committees are springing up like mushrooms. The investigative hearings are intended to blackmail the executive arm and coax them not to act on the allegations and the ad hoc committees are used to settle aggrieved members as it provides avenues to collect bribes.
You will also notice irrational grandstanding over approval of MTEF/FSP and the budget or correspondence from the President. All these are legislative antics employed by the House to use the institution of the House to shield corrupt members. This is exactly what Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his corrupt cabal are executing presently in the House. The EFCC and the Police has severally been victims of this kind of evil tactics by the House in the past.
I am therefore urging Nigerians and the Executive Arm of government to stand up against any blackmail from the Speaker Yakubu Dogara-led House of Representatives as they are all antics to evade investigation and prosecution. I have said repeatedly that the Senate and executive arm of government can rely on doctrine of necessity to bypass the House in the face of such allegations of monumental corruption, which has been described as the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the parliaments around the world.
Finally, I wish to call on the Federal Government to make me face the harshest punishment prescribed by our laws if my allegations are found to be false.” [myad]
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has, has accused the federal executive of moves to intimidate the judiciary with the arrest of the two Justices of the Supreme Court, whose homes were raided by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS).
The NBA President, Abubakar Mamoud (SAN), who spoke to news men in Lagos today, Saturday called on to immediately and unconditionally release of the arrested judges, even as the Association declared a State of Emergency on the judiciary.
Abubakar who made it clear that there will be consequences if the demand for the release of the judges is not met immediately said: “DSS has been carrying out raids in the houses of Justices of the Supreme Court and that of judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Gomber and Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
“Some family members of the judges were manhandled. We gathered that the raids were carried out at 2a.m. We condemn the raids in the strongest possible terms. We are in a democratic society and we cannot accept a situation where armed masked DSS operatives invade the homes of the Justices the Supreme Court and judges of our high courts. This is a ploy by the executive to intimidate the judiciary and we will not accept it.”
The NBA President who spoke alongside three past Presidents of the association, namely Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), said that the Association would not accept anything less than the release of the judges.
“I want to emphasize again that we’re not under military rule and we cannot accept this Gestapo style of operations. First, the NBA demands the immediate and unconditional release of the Justices the Supreme Court still being held by the DSS without further delay.
“The DSS should limit itself to its constitutional duties and responsibilities. We demand that President Muhammadu Buhari should call his security agencies to order as this kind of practice is not acceptable under a democratic rule.
“If there are issues affecting judicial officers, there are established processes and procedures for handling them and we demand that these constitutional processes must be obeyed.
“I have declared a state of emergency on the legal profession over the matter and I have invited past Presidents and Secretary Generals of the association.” [myad]
From Left to Right: Secretary-General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Mohammed Barkindo; The Deputy Governor, CBN in charge of Economic Policy, Dr. Sarah Alade and Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, coming out of the G-24 Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors meeting in Washington D.C today, Saturday. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the graduating military officers from the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna to prepare to fight the divisive elements to keep Nigeria one
In his address at the passing out parade of the cadets of the 63 regular course today, Saturday, President Buhari said: “as you step out of this noble institution, your character will determine how far you can go. Endeavour to be patriotic and exhibit the highest level of discipline and loyalty to one Nigeria. You are indeed moving into a path of honour, sacrifice and responsibility.
“Above all, you must strive to keep to the tenets of the profession by remaining apolitical. You are also required to exhibit the highest sense of integrity, patriotism and exemplary service to the nation and its people.
The President recalled several efforts made by the soldiers to curtail the Boko Haram insurgents, but regretted that Nigeria has also seen the negative impacts of kidnapping, cattle rustling and renewed militancy in the Niger Delta on our economy.
He said that the repeated attacks in the Niger Delta have been impacting negatively on oil revenues, and that even the scourge of illegal Small Arms and Light Weapons, and the drugs war among others remain issues which are being seriously tackled.
“As we tackle the challenges of nation building and sustainable development, I urge the military to continue to operate within the rules of engagement. The military needs to constantly abide by the laws which guide armed conflicts as you carry out your constitutional roles. Without this, you will be doing a lot of damage to the institution and the Constitution as a whole. It is the extent to which you respect the laws of armed conflicts that success in the real context of global best practices will be measured.
“I would like to reiterate my call on all Nigerians to give peace a chance and jettison negative tendencies on our land and join government efforts at addressing the numerous challenges in the path of building a better Nigeria.”
The President reiterated that for the Niger Delta militants, there options are that are still open, including decisive military action, “if necessary, to deal with the criminal elements disguised in ethnic regalia to sabotage the country largely for their selfish and parochial interests. However, our priority still remains constructive engagement of the stakeholders for peace.
Buhari congratulated the parents, guardians and instructors of the passing out cadets whose commitment helped to achieve the important milestone in their lives, noting that the officers have entered a new chapter in their lives even as he assured them that it is going to be adventurous, turbulent but interesting.
“Your survival as an officer in the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be dependent on the extent to which you are able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during your academic and military training in this Academy.
“Your parents, guardians and the nation in general have invested in you and it is payback time now. You are expected to serve this country selflessly with loyalty and integrity and set new records of gallantry in the defence of our dear nation as former cadets from this Academy have done and are still doing in various military campaigns within and outside our dear country.
“Our nation puts its trust in you and looks up to you with a lot of expectations which you must never betray. You no longer belong to your parents or your family alone. You no longer belong to your village, town or state. You now belong to the Nigerian nation and you will serve it selflessly and be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice if the need arises.” [myad]
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Head of the Indonesian Hajj Affairs, Ahmad Dumyathi, presenting a gift to the chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Barrister Abdullahi Mukhtar (in face-cap), when he led Nigerian team on a courtesy visit in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, today, Sunday. [myad]
As soon as I cleared out the dinner table, I went into the bedroom, not bothering to say goodnight to Kenny in the living room. I knew he was going to be coming to bed soon enough. I needed him to think I was fast asleep by the time he came to bed. I quickly got into the bathroom and had a quick shower before climbing into bed. I made sure I put on my long pyjamas so there was no way he could have easy access to my body. About an hour later when I heard him climb into bed and turn the other way, I finally let out the breath I was holding. I managed to escape the sex tonight.
