The 35 years old suspected mastermind of General Mamam Shuwa death, Mohammed Sani Nafiu has denied the knowledge of the killing, even as the military officers who arrested him described him as a pathological liar.
Nafiu, who was paraded by military in Kano today, Tuesday, told newsmen that he was being framed up by the military and that he knew nothing about the planning and assassination of the civil war hero.
The suspect who spoke in Hausa language said “I don’t know anything about General Shuwa’s death. I was arrested from my home to the detention centre, and they are trying to frame me. I must make myself clear: I have no hand in General Shuwa’s death.”
Nafiu was arrested by the military at Hotoro area of Kano municipal and a GSM and a total sum of N300 was recovered from him.
But, a senior military officer told Journalists shortly after a brief encounter with the suspects to disregard his stand.
The senior army officer, who would not want his name mentioned said: ”the suspect is a pathological liar. What we know of him was different from the picture he tried to paint before the world.
“Immediately after General Shuwa was martyr, this suspect relocated from his country home and his arrest was a product of sustained intelligence operation.” [myad]

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has said it saw hope for greater Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We are willing to collaborate with you and with your administration, in which we see hope for a greater Nigeria.”
The Bishops spoke when they had a meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The bishops pledged continued prayers for Nigeria and the government, even as they expressed their conviction that current hardships are temporary, and Nigeria will soon overcome its present difficulties.
Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, the Archbishop of Jos, who spoke on behalf of the bishops expressed the solidarity of the CBCN with the president.
President Buhari, who held the meeting with the bishops against the backdrop of reports of continued attacks on communities across the country by armed herdsmen, made it clear that his administration is determined to deal decisively and expeditiously with the matter.
Buhari confirmed that heads of national security agencies have been ordered to take all necessary action to apprehend and expose those behind the heinous attacks.
“We are determined to secure all Nigerians and I have told the Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies, in very strong terms, to deal decisively with the attackers.”
President Buhari expressed his condolences to the Catholic Bishop of Enugu, the people of Ukpabi Nimbo and all other communities that have suffered fatalities and other losses from the recent attacks.
The president assured the Bishops that he was acting with deliberation and moving methodically to implement his change agenda for the good of the country.
“We need to rebuild our institutions methodically, we need to change the way we do things. In the last 10 years, crude oil sold for more than $100 per barrel, but Nigeria did not save. That is why we have found ourselves where we are today.”
The president assured the bishops that his administration was working very hard to fulfill all the promises it had made to Nigerians, adding that his greatest motivating factor now is the desire to bring positive change to Nigeria. [myad]

Leadership crisis is believed to be rocking the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) and threatening the survival of the Commission.

Information reaching us indicated that the crisis has lingered for some time and is now worsening as senior management staff of the organization are no longer comfortable with the leadership of Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who they claim has broken every rule in the book since she assumed office as Director-General of the organization.

Findings at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja showed that besides allegations of conflict of interest and sundry abuses, Pencom insiders are particularly miffed at Director-General’s continued use of contacts in high places to run rough shod over everyone and every principle of neutral and effective pension administration as a regulator.

They are baffled that this could be going on under the present administration.

It would be recalled that Mrs. Anohu assumed headship of the organization in very controversial circumstances, having used her contacts in the Presidency to pressure the National Assembly to reduce the statutory 20 years experience for headship of PENCOM to 15 years in order to accommodate her.

Industry watchers and lawmakers were scandalized by the open arm-twisting but were handicapped by the powerful pressure her backers brought to bear on the situation.

Very senior management staff who spoke during the week on condition of anonymity said that the current state of affairs confirmed their initial fears that Anohu`s mode of entry into office was bound to impact negatively on the reputation, performance and credibility of the organization.

Like most major industry stakeholders, they are outraged that she could still be carrying on in her usual style, nearly one year after the inauguration of a government that is avowedly fighting corruption and abuse of office.

They feared that the longer she stays as head of the Commission, the greater the chance of the Federal Government losing everything it has worked for in aid of effective pension administration in the country.

Five directorate staff were particularly concerned that they may all soon lose their jobs, and be termed accomplices in the DG`s acts of arbitrariness, disregard for laid down procedure and penchant for acting solo on sore matters of policy.

They cited many petitions, letters of protest and industry reports that could get all of them into trouble for what are essentially the actions and activities of one person.

According to the directorate staff, one of the latest of such recent petitions, termed “unlawful Activities of the National Pension Commission” to President Buhari detailing some really shocking things under their watch, could get everyone into trouble.

The petition in question was said to have drawn the attention of Mr. President to the commission’s routine disregard for court orders and lack of transparency in the management of a particular pension administrator which it purported to take over but has neither called any annual general meeting nor published any audited accounts, filed any annual returns with the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC), nor paid any dividends to its shareholders.

Also, in defiance of a court order restraining Anohu from removing some directors and appointing an Interim Management, she did just that. This action was in spite of a letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation directingPENCOM to obey the court order.

Indeed, PENCOM staffers, particularly senior management staff, some former board members and industry stakeholders, are afraid that details of several arbitrary and irresponsible actions of the DG, in her bid to push the funds under this particular pension fund administrator into the custody of another PFA owned and managed by her family may soon become public knowledge.

Investigations have shown that the mood at PENCOM today is that the Federal Government should not allow the DG`s personal interests to put everyone else, including hapless pensioners, into trouble; as PENCOM staff are not shareholder in the firm being currently managed by her brother who took over after her mother.

Efforts to see the embattled Director General to state her side of the case were rebuffed by her personal aides, and phone calls were not answered even as text messages were not replied to. [myad]

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has confessed that if he were Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, he would not have contested the 2015 Presidential election, which he said was the only mistake he made.

But speaking on Channels TV programme: Sunday Politics, Fayose said: “In my opinion, the only thing Jonathan did that I keep saying, that I hardly want to say, is that if I were him I wouldn’t have contested.”

The Governor said that those who encouraged Jonathan to contest the election in 2015 did not even allow him to get back home, after the defeat, before saying they had retired from politics.

“The people that went to tell Jonathan, that convinced him to run, making him to understand that at 58, when he would be done, how would a young man be 58 and say I’m done with presidency, they were the first set of people who said we have retired from politics.

“They didn’t even allow him to get home, before they said that. All leaders are coming out today to say they want to rebuild. Rebuild what? What you destroyed? You don’t have capacity to do it.” [myad]

Senior Special Assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on media and communications, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has warned the state governors to either reduce workers on their payroll or face the collapse of the economy.

In a statement he issued in Abuja today, Monday, Dr. Okupe blamed the dwindling financial resources of almost all the 36 states to what he called over-bloated civil service.

“Firstly, virtually all state governments in the country have over bloated civil service. At some point between 2008 and 2009, Ogun state received N2 billion monthly from the federation account and paid out N1.8b as staff salaries, wages and overhead costs!

“The total staff strength was about 50,000 while the population of the state was about 5,000,000.

“An obvious socio economic absurdity and incongruity therefore existed where 10 per cent of the population was consuming 90per cent of the wealth of the state.

“We do not need a soothsayer or an economic guru to foretell that this is unsustainable. In many States the percentage of the resources of the state that is consumed by the civil service ranges between 70 per cent to 80 per cent by not more than 10 per cent of its population.

“A basic economic dictum says ‘if expenditure cannot be controlled, then internal demands must be curtailed’.

“Without doubt, therefore, all state governments must immediately start the process of downsizing their workforce with reasonable cushions for those who will be affected.” [myad]

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has opened up on what he and President Muhammadu Buhari agreed on before they agreed to work together as President and Vice President of Nigeria.

Osinbajo who spoke at a non-denominational talkshop, The Platform organized by the Covenant Christian Centre in Abuja said that the President and himself knew and agreed on what had to happen to bring change to the nation.

“We both believed that our country needed to change. We argued about how and what needed to be done. We reached consensus on many of the major issues.
“Certainly our country need a different set of values; a new way of doing business; an economy that is able to give opportunity to young people to work in their chosen professions and to build strong and profitable businesses.

“We knew that we had to provide social protection for the poorest and the most vulnerable.
“We recognized that innovation and change will be key, and that we must implement and not just talk about diversification of our economy. So we led our party’s campaign on that single, simple, but profound word, CHANGE!”
The Vice President said that  a year after the two of them took over the mantle of leadership, many Nigerians have asked where is the change and that is this the change they voted for?

Even some fifth columnists in our midst have suggested bring back corruption!
“But let me just say here for the records that the government of Muhammadu Buhari is completely and irrevocably committed to change.
“We believe that though it may not be easy, though the early signs may be confusing and sometimes discouraging, there has never been a better opportunity than now to turn the country in the direction of success.
“Today we have the best opportunity in decades for profound change. It is an opportunity in a generation. A revolution whose time has come! Everything around us tells us that the moment is now! Can this change happen, yes indeed, it can!
“What do you have in your hands to make it happen? We have a country that is tired of corruption, tired of leadership without values, tired of an economy that is neither designed to accommodate enterprise, nor to create opportunity and wealth for the majority.
“But we have a leadership and we have a leader that is prepared to challenge the rotten status quo, one who has said that he is prepared to kill corruption rather than let it kill us,” Osinbajo declared. [myad]