President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that he would be the minister of Petroleum Resources in the federal cabinet he is about to form. He said that what he would do is to appoint a minister of state (junior minister) to would assist him to run the ministry properly and cleanse it of the Augean stables. President Buhari made thise known yesterday when he spoke to some select reporters in New York, USA, after addressing a global leaders’ summit on ‘Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism.’ “I will remain minister of petroleum. I will appoint a minister of state for petroleum.” According to him, this step is part of efforts to sanitise Nigeria’s oil industry which is plagued by corruption, massive fraud and crude oil theft. Buhari restated his determination to sanitise Nigeria’s oil industry and free it from corruption and shady deals. He said that the first step in this direction had already been taken with the appointment of a new management for the NNPC and its subsequent reorganisation. The president also said that the prosecution of those who misappropriated NNPC’s revenue under past administrations would soon commence. [myad]
Now it is clearer that even our ‘Honourables,’ many of whom were from the recycle bin of yesterday, have their suits, caps and their characters intact. Evidently, we have a legislature and an executive that are light years apart. President Muhammadu Buhari and his team are epitomes of hope. They symbolize the dreams of many Nigerians who believe this auspicious Democratic turnaround brings with it a lofty promise of a motherland capable of achieving anything. Many believe this is a team that is poised to expunge the cancer of corruption and replace it with accountable leadership. These were the baritone that gave PMB an edge over the powers that be, at a time when many have given up on Nigeria. Not everyone that contested and won elections share this lofty ideal. Many have come to Abuja with the hope of getting their own cut of the yam, as that has been the norm that occupied the political space for decades. This mindset was clearly illustrated in the unholy event of yesterday in the Senate. This is a man accused of one of the appalling cases of corruption given applause and a vote of confidence. If the likes of Daniel Kanu were on the floor, then one would understand. Albeit, we have Stella Oduah, Akpabio and many others that can fill those shoes. Change, to them, is no more than a change in date or term. Looking at it from the flip side, it appears more like a cynical rebellion against the expected largesse that appear no to be trickling. In this episode of celebrating corruption, Saraki is certainly not alone. He has a formidable team of like minds that are not ashamed to celebrate the festival of inglorious yam eating. They are becoming more of political prostitutes whose only ambition is personal gain that service and humility. But like Karl Kraus once said, corruption is even worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, but the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire nation. This was the plight of Nigeria until we began seeing promising improvement in vital sectors of energy, security and transparency that is now evident in the system. This is an achievement that we hope would get even better. Ironically, we are now faced with a parallel team led by ‘honourable scoopers,’ most of whom bring with them years and tones of yam eating antecedents. Even before we begin the journey in earnest, they have shown the very stuff they are made of. We are even graced at the red chambers with the disgrace of Oduah gate. Would this team of old guards from the ‘yam eating era’ ever relinquish their cynical past to embrace a glorious tomorrow? This brings me to what Frank Serpico once said: “The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.” Abubakar Bukar Kagu is a Research Scholar at the Law School, University of Sussex. United Kingdom. Email: abbakagu@gmail. com Twitter @abbakagu. [myad]
There is nothing here to hide or be apologetic about. The emirs of Adamawa have shown love to my parents and grandparents and it is a sign of my appreciation of their love that I marry their daughter. This is the highest statement of friendship and loyalty on both sides. Again if you understand this, fine. If you do not buy yourself a brain, A la Pius. This is the response of His Royal Highness, MUHAMMADU SANUSI II, Emir of Kano to his critics over his marriage to an 18-year old Princess from Adamawa state. Please read on: ” I am sure NC members all have their views and have kept quiet out of (appropriate) deference to our right to make our individual choice. Obviously, I do not need to explain anything to anyone in a purely personal matter but a few points are worthy of note: 1. The lady in question is 18 and therefore legally of age to marry under all laws and certainly under Muslim law. 2. She is proceeding for her undergraduate education in the UK in January. She had an A in computer science in her O levels and plans to get a degree in computer science. 3. each and everyone of my wives is a university graduate and some have worked and then stopped and in each case the choice was purely theirs. 4. It is a tradition in Kano that emirs and princes in choosing wives consider issues beyond the individual. The family is in every sense a social unit. My predecessor was married to princesses from Ilorin, Katsina and Somoto. 5. The relationship between the late Lamido of Adamawa Aliyu Musdafa the father of the current Lamido is well known. Lamido Aliyu was the first Emir turbaned after Emir Sanusi I and they remained close until Sanusi’s death. 6. My own relationship with the current Lamido dates back to 1981 when he was Ciroma and commissioner for works. By the way the Lamido and I are not illiterates we know what we are doing and he does have a PhD in Engineering. 7. My own mother was married in Adamawa and lived there for more than two decades and I have eight younger brothers and sisters from there. 8. it is therefore natural that if I choose to marry from another kingdom Adamawa would be the first choice for me and I am extremely happy to strengthen these long historical bonds. 9. The young lady in question gave her free consent and even after the contract the wedding will not happen for a few years. By then she may be 21. If she freely consents to this I do not know on what moral grounds anyone has a grouse. She is an adult, she gave her consent, her education is not being in anyway interrupted. 10. The real issue is that people do not accept cultural difference. And you can see it in the approach to these issues. I am supposed to be urbane and western educated. Yes but i am not European. I am a northern Nigerian Fulani Muslim brought up in a setting exactly like the one my children are being brought up in. If you read this and it improves your understanding of this issue that is fine. If it does not just remember it isnot your life, it is not your daughter and you are not my wife therefore it is not your business. I obviously cannot stoop to the level of responding publicly to these kinds of articles. I have always been an advocate of girls marrying after maturing. I personally like the minimum age of 18 even though i understand those who say 16 is fine and indeed this is the law in most so called @advanced@ countries. Is this something that I expect a European or western trained or feminist mind to appreciate or endorse? Not at all. But has any american been bothered about my views on men marrying men or women marrying women which frankly I find primitive and bestial? No and my views do not matter. These are cultural issues. Even in Nigeria I have heard all this stuff as in Pius article about “north” and northerners. Again it is a failure to respect difference. There are parts if this country where parents expect their daughters to live with their boyfriends for years and actually get pregnant before they marry. It has become culture. We do not have that in the north and if your daughter gets pregnant before marriage she brings nothing but shame to the name. But we do not issue condemnations. We agree that this is how they choose to live. And i can give many other examples. When people use the term libido they do themselves injustice. First of all it shows how they view women and marriage. Women are nothing but the object of sexual desire. Marriage is nothing but sexual gratification. Well I am sorry but in my tradition it is not. Beauty and attraction rank third after religion and lineage in the choice of a wife. They see an 18 year old young lady. I see a princess of noble birth whose mother is also a princess, and who has been brought up in a good Muslim home. This is the kind of woman that is prepared for hiving birth to princes and bringing them up for the role expected of them in society. Marriage is both social and political. Expanding the links of Kano which have already been established by my predecessors through intermarriage with Katsina, sokoto, Ilorin, Katagum, Ningi, Bauchi etc to Adamawa is an important and significant step and this is obvious to anyone with a sense of how royal families work and Ibn Khaldun’s sociological concept of Asabiyyah. When the emir of Kano marries it has to be something beyond what he personally desires to what is appropriate for that position and the expectations of the people he represents. You don’t just pick up any girl on the street. And by the way for those who shout libido sex is cheap and available everywhere in all shapes and sizes and all colours if that is what they want. And all ages too. Marriage is a very different proposition. The mother of your children has to be something other than, or at least much more than a mere object of sexual fantasy. But if you do not know that you need to buy yourself a brain. I have daughters. And they know they can only marry from certain backgrounds. I always prefer family. When my daughter wanted to marry Mouftah baba Ahmed’s son and she asked me, knowing my views on family, i told her Mouftah is family. And this is not about me and Mouftah or me an Hakeem or Nafiu. No. It goes back to Baba Ahmed and Emirs Sanusi and Bayero. And the same rule applies to my sons. And it applied to me as well. It is I am sure very strange that I should even bother to comment on this. But it would be hypocritical for me to just keep quiet so long as these things are being posted and commented upon explicitly or in a snide manner. There was no secrecy in the marriage Fatiha. The date was fixed and it was to be done in the central mosque after Friday prayers. The day before we had a tragedy in Saudi Arabia and decided the Fatiha must be very low key as a mark of respect for the dead. All traditional rulers in Adamawa were there, as were governors and commissioners, members of my own emirate council and Adamawa people. There is nothing here to hide or be apologetic about. The emirs of Adamawa have shown love to my parents and grandparents and it is a sign of my appreciation of their love that i marry their daughter. This is the highest statement of friendship and loyalty on both sides. Again if you understand this, fine. If you do not buy yourself a brain, A la Pius. In any event this is my one and final and only comment on this. And I am matured man. [myad]
“Violent extremist groups – including Da’esh and Boko Haram – pose a direct threat to international security, mercilessly target women and girls, and undermine universal values of peace, justice and human dignity.”
This fear was expressed today by the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon at a high-level event in the ongoing UN General Assembly’s 70th anniversary, held in New York.
He made it clear that addressing the growing threat posed by violent extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as Da’esh, goes to the heart of the mission of the United Nations and requires a unified response.
“That threat is growing,” he added, noting that recent data shows a 70 per cent increase in foreign terrorist fighters from over 100 countries to regions in conflict.
The Leaders’ Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, hosted by United States President Barack Obama on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, brought together representatives from more than 100 nations, more than 20 multilateral institutions, some 120 civil society groups from around the world, and partners from the private sector.
The Secretary-General announced his intention to present a comprehensive Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism early next year to the General Assembly.
“Our objective must be to go beyond countering violent extremism to preventing it in the first place,” he added.
He outlined five key priorities: the need to engage all of society; the need to make a special effort to reach young people; to build truly accountable institutions; respect for international law and human rights; and the importance of not being ruled by fear – or provoked by those who strive to exploit it.
“We have a major challenge before us – one that will not disappear overnight – but one that we can address concretely by forging societies of inclusion, ensuring lives of dignity, and pursuing this essential endeavour inspired at all times by the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Opening the meeting, President Obama said that it is not going to be enough to defeat ISIL in the battlefield.
“We have to prevent it from radicalizing, recruiting and inspiring others to violence in the first place. And this means defeating their ideology. Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they’re defeated by better ideas – a more attractive and compelling vision.”
Highlighting some of the measures taken by the US, Obama noted that it is stepping up its efforts to discredit ISIL’s propaganda, especially online, and working to lift up the voices of Muslim scholars, clerics and others – including ISIL defectors – “who courageously stand up to ISIL and its warped interpretations of Islam.”
The US has also recognized the need to confront the economic and political grievances that exist in some of the areas that ISIL seeks to exploit. “The real path to lasting stability and progress is not less democracy; I believe it is more democracy in terms of free speech, and freedom of religion, rule of law, strong civil societies. All that has to play a part in countering violent extremism.”
And in all countries, it is vital to continue to build true partnerships with Muslim communities, based on trust and cooperation, so that they can help protect their loved ones from becoming radicalized, Mr. Obama continued.
“This cannot just be the work of government. It is up to all of us. We have to commit ourselves to build diverse, tolerant, inclusive societies that reject anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry that creates the divisions, the fear and the resentments upon which extremists can prey.”
Today’s meeting follows the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, held in February in Washington, DC, as well as a high-level meeting of the Security Council held in September 2014 that focused on foreign terrorist fighters. [myad]
The Nigerian police have described the story by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Olu Falae about how money was paid as ransom to his kidnappers before he was released as tissue of lies, saying that they actually worked hard for his release.
Police spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole maintained that the elder statesman was rescued from the kidnappers’ den by the men of Nigeria Police led by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase.
Falae’s family had on Monday admitted that his abductors were paid undisclosed amount of money before he was released and picked up by the police in Owo, Ondo state.
Kolawole, however, insisted that no ransom was paid.
“As a law enforcement agency guided by rule of law and personal ethics, we do not under any circumstance encourage the payment of ransom to kidnappers or other criminals as it is tantamount to rewarding crime and motivating other criminals to follow that path.”
“Our intelligence and operational teams comprising intelligence response team, a special anti-kidnapping unit, conventional and mobile policemen were deployed for rescue operation.
“In the process, we were able to identify the major actors and currently, high level Police activities are ongoing to apprehend and bring them to justice.”
Kolawole disclosed that the Nigeria Police under the leadership of the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase deployed unique intelligence and operational capabilities, including police helicopters for aerial surveillance for Falae’s rescue.
“If the payment was perfected through bank transaction, the Police have the capacity to track such transactions and will be liaising with the bank to enable us trace the cash and apprehend the perpetrators.
“This could be an added lead that could strengthen ongoing post-kidnapping efforts of the Police.” [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari addressing the UN General Assembly at the 70th UN general Assembly Submit on 25th Sept 2015
“We intend to tackle inequalities arising from massive unemployment and previous government policies favouring a few people to the detriment of the many. We intend to emphasize quality technological education for development and lay foundation for comprehensive care of the aged, the disadvantaged and the infirm. But for now terrorism is the immediate problem.
Read President Muhammadu Buhari full address:
President of the General Assembly, Secretary–General Your Excellencies Heads of State and Governments Distinguished Delegates Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like, Mr. President, on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria, to congratulate you and your country on your election to preside over the 70th session of the U.N. General Assembly.
May I also express appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa and the Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon both of whom worked tirelessly to ensure proper articulation of the post-2015 Development Agenda and to maintain the focus and commitment to the ideals of the United Nations. I thank Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his recent visit to Nigeria when we held very useful discussions. Mr. President,
Fifty-five (55) years ago almost to the day, my great predecessor, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa stood on this forum to declare Nigeria’s desire to develop and maintain friendly relations with all countries. He also assured the world of our country’s commitment to uphold the principles upon which the United Nations was founded.
Mr. President, my country, Nigeria, has lived by this conviction, even when judgement went against us in territorial disputes with our neighbours. We respected those judgements and abided by them as a mark of respect for the rule of law and the charter of this organization. Nigeria’s record in the U.N. peacekeeping is second to none. I myself as a young officer in the Nigerian Army did tours of duty in Congo and the Lebanon.
Nigeria has contributed to U.N. peacekeeping efforts in Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Darfur. Furthermore, we are proud of our contributions to other activities of the U.N. including the Peace Building Commission, the Human Rights Council and security sector reform. Mr. President,
We are gratified to note that most countries have pledged commitment to the post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their means of implementation. The successor frameworks of the MDGs have come, Mr. President, with lofty aspirations and if I may say so, heroic assumptions! Nonetheless, they target development cooperation by the international community up to the year 2020. And they deserve universal support.
This is because the SDGs mirror the hopes and aspirations of much of the world.
I should stress that for the newly adopted SDGs to be truly global, they must be practical. In this regard, the SDGs’ core objectives of poverty eradication and reducing inequalities must be met within the framework of a revitalized global partnership support by concrete policies and actions as outlined in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
Luckily, these two core objectives of the SDGs are precisely at the centre of Nigeria’s new Administration’s agenda. It must be emphasized, Mr. President, that Foreign Direct Investment supplemented where suitable by Official Development Assistance as outlined in the Addis Ababa Agenda are necessary, though not sufficient, conditions for accelerated development in countries that are trying to catch up.
In this connexion, I would like to appeal to industrialized countries to redeem their pledge of earmarking 0.7% (nought point seven percent) of their GDP to development assistance. With the sole exception of the UK, all concerned countries have, I am told to meet the UN requirement. But, Mr. President, with SDGs we have the opportunity to improve the lives of people not just in the developing world but in all nations.
The Secretary General himself has grouped the SDGs into what he calls six “essential elements” namely:
Dignity
Prosperity
Justice
Partnership
Planet
People
As a prerequisite to these and as we look at history and remember the terrible events that gave rise to the birth of the United Nations in 1945, I would like to propose a seventh:
PEACE
Peace, Mr. President, is close to the hearts of Nigerians, as we are in the front line in the war on terror. Boko Haram’s war against the people of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon may not attract as much worldwide attention as the wars in the Middle East but the suffering is just as great and the human cost is equally high.
This is a war about values between progress and chaos; between democracy and the rule of law. Boko Haram celebrates violence against the weak and the innocent and deplorably, they hide behind their perverted interpretation of Islam. Boko Haram is as far away from Islam as any one can think of.
Many of my colleagues attending this forum would want to know how our new government intends to tackle the huge problems the government has inherited. Friends of Nigeria and foreign investor partners will be encouraged to know that the new Government is attacking the problems we inherited head-on.
We intend to tackle inequalities arising from massive unemployment and previous government policies favouring a few people to the detriment of the many. We intend to emphasize quality technological education for development and lay foundation for comprehensive care of the aged, the disadvantaged and the infirm. But for now terrorism is the immediate problem.
Accordingly, Mr. President, Members of the General Assembly, the new Nigerian Government which I have the honour to head, moved with dispatch to put in a bold and robust strategy to defeat Boko Haram. Nigeria and her neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger plus Benin are working together to face this common threat within the regional framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission. We have established a multinational joint task force to confront, degrade and defeat Boko Haram.
We have driven them away from many of their strongholds, killed or captured many of their operatives or commanders and freed several hundreds of hostages.
Mr. President, one of our major aims is to rescue the Chibok girls alive and unharmed. We are working round the clock to ensure their safety and eventual reunion with their families. Chibok girls are constantly on our minds and in our plans.
Mr. President, terrorism is by no means the major or the only evil threatening and undermining the wellbeing of societies around the world.
Corruption
Cross border financial crimes
Cyber crimes
Human trafficking
Spread of communicable diseases
Climate change
Proliferation of weapons
are all major challenges of the 21st century which the international community must tackle collectively. Let me reaffirm Nigerian government’s unwavering commitment to fight corruption and illicit financial flows. By any consideration, corruption and cross border financial crimes are impediments to development, economic growth, and the realization of the wellbeing of citizens across the globe.
Nigeria is ready and willing to partner with international agencies and individual countries on a bilateral basis to confront crimes and corruption. In particular, I call upon the global community to urgently redouble efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption and ensuring the return of stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.
Mr. President, the world is now facing a big new challenge: human trafficking. This is an old evil taking an altogether new and dangerous dimension threatening to upset international relationships. We in Africa are grieved to see on international networks how hundreds of thousands of our able bodied men and women fleeing to Europe and in the process thousands dying in the desert or drowning in the Mediterranean.
We condemn in the strongest terms these people traffickers and will support any measures to apprehend and bring them to justice. At the same time, we are very appreciative of European governments notably Italy and Germany, for their understanding and humane treatment of these refugees.
Last year, our continent faced the dreadful occurrence of Ebola. We sincerely thank the international community for the collective efforts to contain this deadly disease. We are not out of the woods yet but we would like to record our appreciation to the United States, United Kingdom, France and China for their outstanding assistance in arresting the spread of Ebola and care of those infected in collaboration with host countries.
Mr. President,
Nigeria fully subscribes to and fully endorses Goals 13, 14 and 15 of the SDGs regarding Climate Change. In Nigeria, desertification and land erosion and degradation leading to biodiversity loss are real threats to our environment and we shall propose under the auspices of the Lake Chad Basin Commission a regional approach to combat these environmental challenges. 25. We look forward to the UN Summit on climate change in Paris in December 2015. This summit should provide optimism to humanity on addressing the looming threat faced by many communities around the world.
Mr. President,
We are witnessing a dreadful increase in conflicts fuelled by availability of small arms and light weapons. I call upon all member countries to demonstrate the political will needed to uphold the UN charter. For a start, a robust implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty will guarantee that small arms and light weapons are only legally transferred. Arms traffickers and human traffickers are two evil species which the world community should eradicate.
Mr. President,
As we engage in these annual debates, we need remind ourselves of the principles that led to the founding of the United Nations. Among those are peaceful coexistence and self-determination of peoples. In this context, Mr. President, the unresolved question of self-determination for the Palestinian people and those of Western Sahara, both nations having been adjusted by the United Nations as qualifying for this inalienable right must now be assured and fulfilled without any further delay or obstacle. 28. The international community has come to pin its hopes on resolving the Palestinian issue through the two – states solution which recognises the legitimate right of each state to exist in peace and security. The world has no more excuses or reasons to delay the implementation of the long list of Security Council resolutions on this question. Neither do we have the moral right to deny any people their freedom or condemn them indefinitely to occupation and blockade
Mr. President, delegates of member countries, 29. UN is 70 years old. It can count many more than 70 major achievements as the world’s forum and family reunion. It is my hope that in the next 70 years, it will achieve control of climate, help to eliminate communicable diseases, eliminate major and local conflicts and therefore eliminate the problem of refugees, take major steps towards reducing harmful inequalities between nations and within nations and above all, eliminate nuclear weapons. 30. Mr. President, as this is my first address in this Assembly, I thank you and the delegates for listening so patiently. [myad]
Nigeria soldiers have gunned down a man described as a notorious Boko Haram commander who had been wrecking havoc among the communities around Kwatarha and Torikwaptir general area of Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.
Information available to Greenbarge Reporters showed that four other terrorists escaped escaped with gun shot wounds during the confrontation with the soldiers even as an AK-47 rifle was recovered from them.
This was even as soldiers announced the arrest of a suspected Boko Haram kingpin, Alhaji Tijjani Usman Damagum. He was tracked down and arrested at Damagum town, Yobe State yesterday.
Damaguum was said to have led Boko Haram members on various attacks, especially in Yobe State. [myad]
Pan sociopolitical organization, Afenifere, has called on the Federal Government to abolish nomadic system of cattle rearing in Yorubaland in order to stop the criminality allegedly being perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen in the rural communities of Yorubaland.
This was contained in a communiqué today at the end of the monthly meeting of the organization at the residence of its leader, Pa Rueben Fasonranti, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
In the communique read by the Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere decried the state of insecurity in the country, particularly, the recent kidnapping of a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae, last week.
Describing the kidnap of Falae as shameful, insensitive and disrespect to the Yoruba race, the group warned that if the Federal Government failed to stop the herdsmen from attacking the Yoruba people, the people of the South-West might have to defend themselves.
“Our people are everywhere in the country and they don’t destroy the business of their hosts. Why should the Fulani people be destroying our own business? Our demand is that the Federal Government should arrest the perpetrators and prosecute them. Youruba people will not tolerate this any longer.
“So, while we await the arrest of the criminals, cattle rearing should be stopped in Yorubaland. I read Chief Olu Falae told the Commissioner of Police that government should do something urgently to stop this thing because if such a thing is not done, it will be encouraging self-help; people will defend themselves. And we agree totally with him.”
Afenifere asked the President to implement the recommendations of the report of the 2014 National Conference which it said contained the abolition of nomadic system of cattle rearing. It described cattle rearing as primitive, and asked the government should rather adopt ranching cattle rearing system.
“The meeting noted that in 2014 National Conference, to which Chief Olu Falae led the Yoruba delegation, extensively discussed this matter of nomadic cattle rearing and the Conference resolved that it should be stopped and instead have ranches for cattle business.” [myad]
Disgraced former FIFA Vice-President, Jack Warner has been banned for life by FIFA’s ethics committee, describing him as a “key player” in the illegal payments.
Warner, who is fighting extradition from Trinidad to the USA on corruption charges, resigned from FIFA in 2011 following a bribery scandal and has not been involved since then.
FIFA’s ethics committee opened an investigation into Warner earlier this year and has now banned him for life from football-related activities.
A statement from the ethics committee said: “Mr. Warner was found to have committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF.
“In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, as well as other money-making schemes.” [myad]
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed that 64 Nigerians were among those who died on Thursday in a stampede at Jamrat, in Saudi Arabia. It said that 10 more corpses of deceased Nigerian pilgrims have been identified and were added to the previous 54 that whose death were ealier announced.
Giving newsmen update on the incident in Mecca, Alhaji Uba Mana,
The Director of Public Affairs of the commission, Alhaji Uma Mana who spoke to news men in Mecca today said that 71 pilgrims were injured while 244 pilgrims are still missing.
He said that of the 64 deceased pilgrims, 46 were airlifted to Saudi Arabia by state pilgrims’ welfare agencies and 18 by private tour operators, adding that 12 of the 71 injured pilgrims were airlifted to the Holy land by tour operators and 59 by state pilgrims’ welfare agencies.
Uba Mana said that the deceased were from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Jigawa, FCT, Cross River, Gombe, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe, Taraba, and Zamfara States. [myad]
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Saraki And His Team Of Likeminds, By Abubakar Bukar Kagu
Now it is clearer that even our ‘Honourables,’ many of whom were from the recycle bin of yesterday, have their suits, caps and their characters intact. Evidently, we have a legislature and an executive that are light years apart. President Muhammadu Buhari and his team are epitomes of hope. They symbolize the dreams of many Nigerians who believe this auspicious Democratic turnaround brings with it a lofty promise of a motherland capable of achieving anything. Many believe this is a team that is poised to expunge the cancer of corruption and replace it with accountable leadership.
These were the baritone that gave PMB an edge over the powers that be, at a time when many have given up on Nigeria.
Not everyone that contested and won elections share this lofty ideal. Many have come to Abuja with the hope of getting their own cut of the yam, as that has been the norm that occupied the political space for decades.
This mindset was clearly illustrated in the unholy event of yesterday in the Senate. This is a man accused of one of the appalling cases of corruption given applause and a vote of confidence. If the likes of Daniel Kanu were on the floor, then one would understand. Albeit, we have Stella Oduah, Akpabio and many others that can fill those shoes. Change, to them, is no more than a change in date or term. Looking at it from the flip side, it appears more like a cynical rebellion against the expected largesse that appear no to be trickling. In this episode of celebrating corruption, Saraki is certainly not alone. He has a formidable team of like minds that are not ashamed to celebrate the festival of inglorious yam eating.
They are becoming more of political prostitutes whose only ambition is personal gain that service and humility. But like Karl Kraus once said, corruption is even worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, but the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire nation. This was the plight of Nigeria until we began seeing promising improvement in vital sectors of energy, security and transparency that is now evident in the system.
This is an achievement that we hope would get even better. Ironically, we are now faced with a parallel team led by ‘honourable scoopers,’ most of whom bring with them years and tones of yam eating antecedents.
Even before we begin the journey in earnest, they have shown the very stuff they are made of. We are even graced at the red chambers with the disgrace of Oduah gate. Would this team of old guards from the ‘yam eating era’ ever relinquish their cynical past to embrace a glorious tomorrow?
This brings me to what Frank Serpico once said: “The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.”
Abubakar Bukar Kagu is a Research Scholar at the Law School, University
of Sussex. United Kingdom.
Email: abbakagu@gmail. com
Twitter @abbakagu. [myad]