The House of Representatives Committee on Communications has rejected the reduction of the fine slammed on MTN Nigeria Ltd to N300 billion, and again insisted that the full fine of N1.04 trillion must be paid by the telecommunications firm.
It also ordered all parties involved in the matter to stay action pending the outcome of its investigations.
The Committee, led by Hon. Saheed Akinade Fijabi (Oyo APC) summoned the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Umar Danbata, to appear before it next Monday to explain the reduction of the N1.04 trillion fine despite the insistence of the House that the fine must be fully paid.
MTN had been penalised by the NCC for failing to deactivate 200,000 unregistered SIM cards, in line with regulations.
Briefing newsmen on Friday, Fijabi expressed surprise at the news of the reduction, adding that it reneges on an agreement with the Minister, and the NCC and the Attorney General of the Federation, that all negotiations should be suspended until the House concludes its investigations.
“And the question now is, who is doing the negotiation leading to this latest development? The last time the minister was here, he said there was no ongoing negotiation with MTN until the report of the committee was out and the resolution reached by the House. So I am wondering where this is coming from.
“In the NCC Act and ancillary laws that were used to fine them, there is no where it was stated that the fine could be reduced. And as a House we are still maintaining our earlier stand that MTN must pay the N1.04 trillion fine.”
Fijabi recalled the President Buhari had captured the damage caused by the failure of MTN to adhere to regulations, thereby enabling the use of unregistered sim cards by terrorists to perpetrate evil in the Northeast leading to the death of over 10,000 Nigerians.
The lawmaker therefore wondered why the issue of the fine was being handled with such triviality, despite the implication of the office. [myad]
MTN Group has agreed to pay a reduced fine of 330 billion naira ($1.67 billion) in a settlement with the Federal government. The fine which is a far cry from the original fine of $5.2 billion, imposed by the Federal Government last October for failing to deactivate more than five million unregistered SIM cards on its network, will be paid over three years. Shares in MTN surged 18 percent to 146 rand after the announcement in their biggest jump since April 2000. They have shed 22 percent since the fine was announced. MTN, Africa’s largest telecoms company, has already paid 50 billion of the 330 billion naira owed. The rest will be paid in six instalments over three years, the company said in a statement. The settlement also clears the way for MTN to list its local unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange as soon as “commercially and legally possible. “The relationship between MTN, the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communication Commission has been restored and strengthened,” MTN has been negotiating for months with Nigerian officials over the $5.2 billion fine, which was later reduced to $3.9 billion. MTN Executive Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko said. [myad]
Former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida has returned to Nigeria, arriving in Minna, capital of Niger State on Friday evening after undergoing medical treatment in Germany.
A statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sani Bello of Niger, Malam Jibrin Ndace, said: “Babangida arrived in Minna this evening.
“He was accompanied by his son, Aminu, and daughter, Halima and other family friends.”
Governor Bello who decried social media reports that Babangida has died while receiving treatment, cautioned the media to be guided by the ethics of the profession which says: “If you are not sure, don’t share.” [myad]
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has renamed the Kogi State University, Ayangba , after the late first civilian governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu.
Bello announced the change in the name of the 15- year-old university during a statewide broadcast to mark his victory at the state governorship election petition tribunal.
He said that naming the university was the ultimate honour that could be done to the memory of the late colourful politician who ruled the state twice as the civilian governor from 1991 to 1993 and 1999 to 2003.
Audu himself established the university in 2001 and named it Prince Abubakar Audu University, but his successor, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, changed the name to Kogi State University in 2004.
Justifying his decision to restore the university to its original name, Bello said that Audu laid a solid foundation for the growth and development of the state
“Today, and as always, I celebrate the life and times of Prince Abubakar Audu, the first Executive Governor of Kogi State.
“It is our hope that those who want to lay claim to his legacy will at least develop the same heart for the growth and development of Kogi State that he demonstrated through his lifetime,” he said.
According to the governor, an executive bill would soon be forwarded to the house of assembly to formalise the change in the name of the university.
Audu, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the November 21, 2015 governorship election in the state, died suddenly on November 22 before the result of the election was announced.
The leadership of the APC consequently substituted the name of Audu with that of Yahaya Bello as the candidate in the supplementary governorship election held on Dec. 5, 2015.
The governor also used the broadcast to thank the people of the state for their support and understanding since his assumption of office in January.
He said that since the five petitions filed against him had been thrown out for lack of merit, the state was now set to witness a new direction and accelerated development.
According to Bello, a blueprint of the administration which would begin creation of one million jobs for the unemployed youths would be unveiled by next week.
He called on all those who lost at the tribunal, irrespective of their political affiliation, to join hands with him to develop the state, saying “there was no victor, no vanquish.”
Niger Delta Avengers has rolled out issues that have brought them into the open to fight Nigerian government, one of which is the century long marginalization.
The group, in a statement said: “since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 to date, our resources have been used to sustain the political, administrative live wire of Nigeria to the exclusion of the Niger Delta.”
The statement issued by the spokesperson for the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), Brigadier-General Mudoch Agbinibo, said lamented the neglect of the region by successive governments and emphasized that Niger Delta must be given the right to control its own resources and possibly be carved out from Nigeria.
“Since the day crude oil was discovered in commercial quantity and quality at Oloibiri in the present day Bayelsa State, what we have been asking from successive governments in Nigeria is potable drinking water in the midst of plenty of water mass, electricity, roads, employment, quality education/educational facilities, resource control, participation in the oil business and inclusive governance that would engender substantial freedom.”
The statement said that local residents in the region live in what they called: “terror of poverty, inhumanity, and desolate conditions,” comparing it to individuals who live at the oil facilities “operated by the multinational oil corporations, they are living like kings and presidents.
“For over five decades, we have given the multinational oil corporations and their collaborator Nigerians peace, cooperation, and love for the crude oil to flow unhindered from our land. The continuous tranquility is only manifesting in the development of mountains, rock, valleys, deserts, and lagoon, while the Niger Delta territory continually alienated from all types of development and essence of quality human life.
“Meanwhile, all successive governments worship the crude oil taken from the region. Our communities and the people are only good at securing the pipelines, oil and gas facilities.
“What a tragedy! We are calling on the international community, especially Britain, France, United States, Russia, China and European Union (EU) to speak up against this ongoing terror and come to the aid of Niger Delta as witnesses to the grave inhumanity and history of terror perpetuated against the people of Niger Delta on daily basis.”
Excerpts of the statement are below:
“This history of terror, we the Niger Delta Avengers will resist and correct with every means necessary. We have nothing to lose in the battles ahead; justice they say is only found within the structure of a nation state, rather than provide this justice the Nigerian government has decided to mobilise her military might to intimidate, torture, maim, victimise and bombard a section of the nation state and her citizenry to allow the free flow of our oil. Some persons, groups, and commentators may ask, what do the people of Niger Delta want?
“We are not like some of these personalities who run champagne parties or turn Rivers State Government House into a house patrimony of god-sons and prebendalism. They say the progress and success of a nation state is the reflection of her constitution that is not manufactured to favour some section and excludes the yearning and aspirations of others; but the indwelling spiritual and historical development of its people.
“Since the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 to date, our resources have been used to sustain the political, administrative live wire of Nigeria to the exclusion of the Niger Delta. Finally, we are calling on the international community, to come and support the restoration of our right to peaceful self- determination from this tragedy of 1914 that has expired since 2014.
“We want our resources back to restore the essence of human life in our region for generations to come because Nigeria has failed to do that. The world should not wait until we go the Sudan ways. Enough is enough.” [myad]
No fewer than 36 officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have been implicated in the 2015 campaign cash fraud. The fund, totalling N23.29 Billion, which allegedly came from a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, was pumped into the failed bid to get former President Goodluck Jonathan re-elected. Out of the total, part of which was used to bribe INEC officials, over N1 Billion was said to have been recovered from the beneficiaries. They include some former ministers, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders and coordinators of some election observer groups. The over N1 Billion refunds were said to have came from two former ministers, three INEC officials and a coordinator of election observers who paid back N62,750,000 to the EFCC. An EFCC source who preferred to remain anonymous said: “in all the six geopolitical zones, most of those quizzed have admitted benefiting in one way or the other from the cash. “Our investigation revealed that there appears to be a pattern of allocating about N450million to each of the 36 states and FCT. “Some of the beneficiaries have paid back; others made pledges and some are still meeting in groups to refund what was allocated to them. “So far, we have recovered over N1billion in cash and more than N2billion frozen in some accounts nationwide. “We have given them deadline and they seem to be willing to pay back.” The serving INEC officials involved are comprise 16 top directors at the headquarters, a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Gesil Khan and five others from Cross River; 11 in Gombe State, who were grilled at the Gombe State Zonal office of the EFCC; and three detained in Borno. Grilled are Khan for collecting N185, 842,000 out of a N681million bribe deal; Fidelia Omoile( Electoral Officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State)—N112,480,000 ; Uluochi Obi Brown( INEC’s Administrative Secretary in Delta State)—N111,500,000; a former Deputy Director of INEC in Cross River State, Edem Okon Effanga—N241,127,000 and the Head of Voter Education in INEC in Akwa Ibom, Immaculata Asuquo—N214,127,000. A retired INEC official, Sani Isa, was grilled for alleged N406,206,000 bribe allegedly collected on behalf of the deceased Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kano State, Alhaji Mukaila Abdullahi. Those grilled in Gombe are: Godwin Maiyaki Gambo Balanga, Bukar Alone Benisheik, Dukku, Jibril. B. Muhammed,Billiri, Dunguma Musa Dogona, Funakaye, Mohammed. A. Wanka, Kaltungo, Ishaku Yusuf, Kwami, Suleiman Isawa, Nafada, Babagana Malami, Shongom, and Nuhu Samuel, Y/Deba. “So far, we have questioned more than 36 INEC staff but we are still counting. We are expecting more names from our zonal offices in Port Harcourt, Enugu, Gombe, Kano and Lagos. “At the end of our investigation, we will refer the list of those indicted to INEC management for appropriate disciplinary action. “This is without prejudice to the fact that the law will take its course. Some of the INEC officials may face trial.” Available record showed that N359 millon of the campaign fund, was recovered from some INEC staff in Oyo and Ogun states; a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Joel Ikenya Danlami (N2 million); ex-Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Mark Bako Useni (N1 million); ex-Minister of Power, Wakil Muhammad (N6,680,000); ex-Minister of Science and Technology, Abdu Bulama (N5 million); Muhammed Kadai(N1m); the Coordinator of observers in Maiduguri, Jummai Lawan Ibrahim(N19m); and a former INEC official, Bunu Mulina (N6m). Others are INEC officials, including Mohammad Umar ( N17 million); Kabir Bello (N5million); and Musa Buba Amshi (N4 million); Senator Kumo Saidu Umar and ex-PDP Chairman in Gombe State, Paloma Nuhu N4 million( N2 million each) which they claimed to be their personal benefits from the fund. The source said: “In continuation of the ongoing investigation of some INEC officials in Maiduguri and two former ministers, the Advance Fee Fraud/Extractive Industries Unit handling the investigation was able to recover N62,750,000. “Investigation is ongoing in the matter as other people are expected to come for questioning. The serving INEC officials are detained in the EFCC office.”
Minister of Transportation and former Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi has made it clear that the people in the state disappointed him.
He said that he regretted serving the state for eight years only for thwe people he so served diligently not appreciating and recognizing his contribution towards the progress of the state.
Amaechi, who spoke at the Annual Lagos Traffic Radio Lecture Series in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos said that the incumbent Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, is driving away investors from the state due to growing insecurity and crime.
“The problem with Nigerians is that they forget so soon what someone had done for them. And that was one of my greatest regrets as the Governor of River State for eight years. I served my people but they did not recognize my contribution.”
According to Amaechi, there was no way one would be encouraged to do more for his people if they did not appreciate what such person had done in the past.
The former governor said that governor Wike had not been able to tackle rising wave of insecurity in the area, which had led to the fall in the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), from N8 billion to N4 billion.
“Do you know that people are now migrating away from Port Harcourt? When I was the Governor of Rivers State, nothing like that happened. The crime rate in the state has now increased and the IGR dropped. As the governor, the IGR of the state was at N8 billion. And that was why I have often advised Nigerian public office holders not to play with figures.
“I was accused of owing 12 months’ salary but when I left office, I had paid up to 40 percent of the workforce. I believe that all public officers must tell the public the truth always. During my tenure, when my IGR begins to fall, I invite the Commissioner of Police and other security operatives in the state to bring the statistics of crime in the state.
“Due to the crime rate in the state, people have started migrating away from the state and the IGR has dropped to N4 billion. The state governor (Wike) now moves like chairman of a council, asking traders and others if they had paid their taxes. But when I was the governor, I don’t engage in that.
“Migration is either voluntary or involuntary. But in the case of Rivers State, it is involuntary. They are forced to relocate from the state. The man complained that I am corrupt but I have asked him to go to court but until today, he is yet to bring evidence forward to buttress his claims.”
Amaechi also said that the reason Lagos often experience gridlock was due to lack of roads in the state.
He asked: “How many times do you see traffic in Abuja? And the reason was that it had nexus of roads. There is need for the construction of more connecting bridges across the state.”
The minister, in his paper, said as far as mass transportation was concerned, there is evidence to show that inadequacy in transport infrastructure and services had contributed significantly to the prevalence of poverty across various Nigerian communities in both urban and rural areas.
He said that the problems of Nigerian transport system had varied across various sub-sectors including air, water, rail and road transport in particular.
“The challenges confronting transportation in Nigeria are numerous but its greatest failure is attributable to poor governance which several Nigerians have identified, including a former Minister of Transport, Dr . Abiye Sekibo, who noted that “transportation occupies a central position in the socio-economic and political development of any nation” but “successive Nigerian governments have left the transport sector comatose as a result of total neglect.”
He listed excessive government monopoly, grounded rail system with inefficient, obsolete and deficient transport policy, under-developed inland waterways, ports and port services, as well as corruption, as being major problems of the sector,” he said.
“In achieving our mission of establishing a safe, efficient, affordable and seamless intermodal transport system, we will ensure that we achieve internationally acceptable standards and deploy the available resources in the private sector through public private partnership to build a sustainable transportation system. This goal is realizable and the advantage we have is the political will and incorruptible nature of our Team Leader –President Muhamadu Buhari. I therefore urge all Nigerians to give us their support and prayers.” [myad]
“Have you eaten today? If not, let me show you this new restaurant. Good food, the service girls specially attractive, the Madam herself is quite friendly.”
“What are you proposing: the food, the service girls or the Madam? Sorry to disappoint you, I am fasting.”
“When did you become a Muslim?”
“Is it only Muslims that fast? Fasting is good for everyone’s spirit and system.”
“Forget about that. Come and have a good bite. I am the one paying anyway, so what’s your problem?”
“This man, are you living in Mars? You mean you don’t know that this is Ramadan and that some people have made it risky for non-Muslims to go and eat? I don’t want to risk my life. Even when you are not fasting or you are a Christian, the best thing to say during this season is to insist that you are also fasting.”
“This is Nigeria, man. I know many Muslims who are not fasting.”
“This is Nigeria, man. Do you know a Nigerian called Francis Emmanuel?”
“Why should I know him? Does he or she know me?”
“He”
“So?”
“He is in hospital right now as we speak somewhere in Kaduna. He was butchered by some angry Muslim youths in broad daylight for daring to eat at 2.30 pm during Ramadan. He has cuts all over his body and he almost lost one of his eyes.”
“But the man is a Christian. He bears the name of a saint and the name of the Messiah”
“Yes, the man told his assailants he is a Christian, but they wouldn’t listen. The way things are, it is better not to take chances. I am a Muslim for a purpose. . You won’t find me eating or drinking in public. What if they start attacking restaurants and drinking joints?”
“This is a secular country. The Constitution guarantees the freedoms of choice, thought, and association.”
“Clap for yourself”
“But you are not in Kaduna. You are in a cosmopolitan city.”
“Kaduna is also a cosmopolitan city. And if you must know, in France just yesterday, a waitress was slapped by radical Muslims for serving alcohol during Ramadan in a restaurant, and France is supposed to be the country of libertey, equalitey and fraternitey!”
“Nobody will force you to fast here and those boys who beat up Francis Emmanuel, are you sure they are Muslims? They are most likely hiding under the banner of religion to settle some scores. Are you sure there is no aggrieved lover involved or a quarrel over a debt or something?”
“You have started. Even when something is so clear, you’d start shading it. If that was the issue why would the state Governor visit the man in hospital to console him. Stop twisting things. I am not going to any joint to eat or drink during. If I must eat or drink, I will hide inside my room.”
“Stop being funny.”
“I am being funny hen? Have you heard of a woman called Bridget Agbahime?”
“No”
“You obviously don’t pay attention to what is going on in this country.”
“You can’t blame me. I have too many personal issues to sort out. They have not paid our salary and I haven’t paid the children’s school fees, the company is threatening to retrench anybody that talks about salary, my wife is saying I should try and be a man, and stop being a body without engine, when even government is not paying anybody.”
“Hold on. Just hold on. Bridget Agbahime was murdered in Kano about a week ago. Clobbered to death. She was accused of blasphemy by irate Muslim youths.”
“The spirit of Boko Haram at work. But those are not Muslims. Those who kill in the name of religion are criminals and they must be brought to book. But I was already talking about my own issues, if you will just let me finish…”
“Wait. Has anyone been brought to book? Those who should enforce the law simply look the other way. That is the problem today.”
“There must be something else to it, it is something at the root of the disunity in Nigeria. One psychiatrist told me that when a country is in depression and in recession, the people’s brain also go on recession.”
“To the extent that people will start killing?”
“Nigerians have always killed one another. The depression and the recession didn’t start today. It started from the point of independence. It has only grown worse. What baffles me is that people are committing sin whereas no one should commit sin during the month of Ramadan. It is the Holy Month. The Prophet (SAW) tells us “fasting is a shield. Let no one of you during his fasting day – behave in an obscene manner or become angry. If anybody abuses or fights with him, let him say: I am fasting”.
“Go and repeat that in Kano and Kaduna. Go and say that to the people who killed Bridget Aghahime who attacked Francis Emmanuel, and who burnt down churches.”
“The Prophet (SAW) also tells us that “whoever does not refrain from falsehood in sayings and deeds and acts of ignorance, Allah has no need of his abstention from food and drink.” That’s why I am bringing up my own matter. This is the best time to ask for financial help. If the spirit of Ramadan is in you, you will help me.”
“You should go and tell them that in Abuja, where government officials tell lies as a matter of policy, and yet, many of them are Muslims and they will claim they are fasting.”
“Religious corruption is as bad as political kwaraption, I know. But people who are ill, travelling or old don’t even have to fast, according to the doctrine.”
“Then, let’s deal with that.”
“But, I can make a case for government officials.”
“How?”
“Government officials have a duty to give the people hope all the time. They have a duty to prevent unnecessary news that can deepen public despair in the face of mistrust and depression. Too much truth can sometimes ruin public faith.”
“No. This is a democracy. The people have a right to know everything.”
“You must balance that with the people’s need to know. Do they need to know? Who for example has been helped by the information about President Buhari having ear infection and needing the services of offshore ENT specialists? You don’t create bad news unless it is really bad.”
“ I hear it is bad.”
“Every Nigerian has suddenly become an ear specialist, every carpenter has become an emergency doctor; very soon pastors, herbalists and imams will claim they have a cure for the ear, and political opportunists are already talking to the acting President, there is panic about town.”
“I don’t understand. You are saying we don’t have a right to know?”
“I am saying it would have been enough to just tell Nigerians that the President was proceeding on vacation. You don’t load a depressed populace with bad news, unless the news is really bad. A President can become lame duck in the eyes of the public for two reasons: if he is sick and incapacitated, or he is at the end of his term. You can’t project likely incapacitation as a communication strategy. That is stupid. They have just projected this President as lame duck. ”
“But the President himself said he is sick.”
“All political leaders want to be loved by the people. They seek sympathy the same way the body seeks oxygen. But they must be protected from violent headwinds. Getting them to see those headwinds is the problem.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I am already thinking of something else, really. I am thinking of how on earth a Federal Minister will threaten to de-licence banks if they continue to sack their staff. So dumb.”
“I even hear that the Governor of the Central Bank is likely to have a meeting with Bank MDs. Is it the duty of government to run private businesses, to command and control the private sector, to dictate to businesses that have boards with fiduciary responsibilities?”
“It is all part of giving people hope. It is the art of spin.”
“And I am saying deception cannot be a governance strategy. Companies hold the right to hire and fire, to determine what is in the best interest of the business, and take staffing decisions. What is it about a Minister trying to run all Nigerian businesses? It is not only banks that are sacking staff by the way. The entire economy is convulsing. ”
“Change. All Promises Cancelled. My only fear is that one of these days they won’t attack home economics and just decree that government will start withdrawing marriage licences. And God knows, many Nigerian husbands are in trouble, with the way my own wife is now sounding, I just have faith that there is God. I just pray they won’t withdraw the children too, but if they must, they must feed them and pay their school fees.”
“This thing called change.”
“One of my friends in fact, had to declare to the wife that there will no longer be business class travels, dry cleaning services, generator running on expensive diesel for almost 24 hours, and definitely no more financial requests from her family, until further notice. The woman raised a storm.”
“I hope that marriage will be intact by 2019.”
“I hope and pray Nigeria will still be intact. With the madness in the Niger Delta, and those avengers insisting they don’t want any dialogue with the same people who had threatened to deal with them, crush them, level the Niger Delta, I am afraid.”
“But I hear governors of the South South, with the exception of the Governors of Edo and Cross River have owned up. They say once President Buhari stops fighting corruption there will be peace.”
“You are really sure about that? Will any elected Governor say something that dumb? And place it on record?”
“That’s what I heard”
“And you don’t have ear infection? Who said it: At an open or closed meeting? But if true, then, we are really in trouble.”
“I believe they said it because they have not denied it.”
“God, what a country! The national brain is in recession. And recession produces cognitive decline.”
“Please, say something positive. Remember Stephen Keshi”
“May the Almighty grant his free soul, peaceful repose.” [myad]
President Barack Obama has endorsed his former top diplomat, Hillary Clinton in the campaign to succeed him, throwing his full weight into the 2016 White House race with a video message declaring: “I’m with her.”
Obama’s endorsement comes after a hard fought Democratic primary season, in which Clinton struggled against surprisingly tough leftist rival, Bernie Sanders until she finally clinched the nomination just days ago.
“Tens of millions of Americans made their voices heard. Today I just want to add mine,” Obama said in the video.
“I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office. I have seen her judgment. I’ve seen her toughness. I’ve seen her commitment to our values up close.”
The endorsement was long expected but is nonetheless a shot in the arm to the Clinton campaign and could end concerns about party unity after a bitter contest.
The president earlier hosted Sanders in the Oval Office in a bid to heal those wounds.
Obama’s backing will give Clinton a potent surrogate on the campaign trail. After nearly eight years in the White House, Obama is still one of the country’s most popular politicians.
His approval ratings among black, Hispanic, young and liberal voters are stratospheric.
Clinton welcomed the vote of confidence: “Honored to have you with me, @POTUS I’m fired up and ready to go!” she tweeted, echoing one of Obama’s own campaign rallying cries from 2008.
In that election, Obama bested Clinton to become the first black president. They later made peace, as Clinton became Obama’s first secretary of state.
Now, Clinton is trying to make history of her own by becoming the first female president.
Standing in her way is bombastic businessman Donald Trump, who shocked the world by becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Clinton’s campaign announced that a first joint campaign event with Obama would take place in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Wednesday, June 15.
After meeting with Obama Thursday, Sanders avoided bowing out of the race, but said he would meet soon with Clinton to unite the Democratic Party as it takes on Trump.
Obama was looking to play peace broker, coaxing Sanders to recognize Clinton as the party’s presidential nominee.
The meeting itself was a very public show of respect for Sanders’ insurgent campaign.
The two men strode along the West Wing colonnade, both laughing at one point, with the president placing his hand on Sanders’ back as he opened the door to the Oval Office.
“I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas,” Obama said Wednesday. “I thought it made Hillary a better candidate.”
The Lagos State Government has directed the Executive Secretaries of the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas in the state to quit office immediately.
The state government said it took the decision as part of preparation to conduct local government elections in the 57 local councils and ensure that the necessary machinery was put in place for the elections.
The decision was contained in a statement the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello, issued about four hours after the Lagos State House of Assembly at a plenary asked the state governor, MAkinwunmi Ambode, to dissolve the caretaker committees in the 57 local councils.
The statement said that the governor had directed the executive secretaries “to hand over the reins of administration to the Head of Administration in each of the council areas.”
It said that the dissolution of the caretaker committees “is preparatory to the holding of elections into the 57 council areas by the state government and ensuring that the necessary machineries are put in place preparatory to the elections.”
The state house of assembly had on April 22 passed into law a bill recommending a four-year tenure for elected local government helmsmen instead of the three years tenure that hitherto obtained.
At a plenary on Thursday, the assembly urged the state governor to dissolve the caretaker committees and appoint sole administrators for the 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs sequel to a motion moved by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr Wasiu Sanni-Eshinlokun, and seconded by the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Olumuyiwa Jimoh.
The assembly said the appointed sole administrators would serve for three months in the 57 council areas before the conduct of council elections in the state, which might hold on or before October 2016. [myad]
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The House of Representatives Committee on Communications has rejected the reduction of the fine slammed on MTN Nigeria Ltd to N300 billion, and again insisted that the full fine of N1.04 trillion must be paid by the telecommunications firm.
