The Nigeria Army has advised the leader of the Boko Hara Islamic Sect, Abubakar Shekau, and his top commanders to surrender to the Nigerian security forces before it is too late for them.
The Acting Director, Defence Information, Colonel Rabe Abubakar, in a statement today said that the time had come for Shekau or his impersonators to give up the fight as there was no longer any hiding place for them.
He advised Shekau and his commanders to emulate Boko Haram members said to be surrendering to the troops in large numbers by giving themselves up.
He warned those claiming to be leaders of the deadly sect that the era of chief propaganda was over as Nigerians, and indeed the world, would soon know the current reality about the insurgency.
The Acting Defence Spokesman stressed that the military had decimated the capacity of the terrorists in the North-East and had liberated communities which were under the control of the insurgents.
Abubakar said the successes recorded by the ground troops and the fighter pilots of the Nigerian Air Force against the insurgents could be verified by any interested person.
“The Armed Forces wish to reiterate that it is a well-known fact that the terrorists have been seriously decimated and the tremendous achievements recorded in recent time by combined forces of the Nigerian Army and the Air Force are commendable.
“The Armed Forces did not lie about the successes recorded so far in its counter-insurgency operations. For avoidance of doubt, the liberated communities in the North-East, which were hitherto under Boko Haram terrorists, are free for interested person or body to explore.
“The military does restate that in recent time, a number of Boko Haram members have been surrendering and denouncing radicalisation. Our candid advice to Shekau or his ghost, cohorts or impersonators is to toll the line of their fellow comrades and surrender now as there is no more hiding place for him or his criminal gang to operate freely.
Abubakar said the military would not allow Shekau or any other person to interfere with the ongoing military operation designed to flush out the insurgents from the North-East.
He described as irrelevant and fruitless, the efforts behind a recent audio clip said to have been released by Shekau.
He urged Nigerians to be calm, stressing that the message contained in the audio clip was nothing more than “the usual antics of a drowning person struggling to hold onto anything to remain afloat.” [myad]
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Engineer Gabriel C. Amuchi, has complained that the government of President Goodluck Jonathan starved the agency of funds to properly carry out its mandate.
This came against the background of billion of naira and dollar which that government voted, at Federal Executive Council (FEC) level at its weekly meetings, for various road projects across the country.
Engineer Amuchi who spoke as he retired from service, lamented that during his tenure, the Agency witnessed a drastic reduction in budgetary provision for road works even as he called for an alternative and improved funding for the Agency to enable it meet up with the expectations of Nigerians.
A statement by the Agency’s Assistant General Manager, Communications and Public Relations, Maryam M. Sanusi quoted the retiring Managing Director as saying that he was proud of his team as the percentage of road failure decreased significantly with good number of Nigerian roads being motorable. Amuchi handed over to a transitional executive management committee with Engr. Peter Odeh Ibu, as the Acting Managing Director/CEO, The outgoing CEO was appointed by the former President Goodluck Jonathan on the 6th of September, 2011 with six executive directors.
While responding, the Ag. MD/CEO, Engr. Peter Odeh Ibu, commended the outgoing MD/CEO and his team for working satisfactorily despite daunting challenges. He assured Nigerians that the attention of his team would focus more on fixing critical inter-state roads nationwide. [myad]
The Niger state Governor Abubakar Sani has made it clear that his recent trip to London to watch Saturday’s Premier League game between Chelsea and Arsenal was part of his government effort to attract investors to the state.
The governor, who was reacting to the critics of his visit, especially the Niger state residents who saw such trip as frivolous explained on his Twitter page that he was at Stamford Bridge to watch the match at the instance of Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi, who plans to set up a football academy in the state.
“I was at Stamford Bridge to watch the derby between Chelsea and Arsenal at the invitation of John Obi Mikel,” he wrote.
According to him, Mikel approached the state government to partner with the state in developing its sports, stressing that it will be wrong to turn down an investor who is willing to invest in the state.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ibraheem Dooba, said that the governor was in Europe and his visit to Stamford Bridge was part of his itinerary, since he was to meet other international development partners, adding that he was invited by Mikel.
But a trader, Moses Akwu said: “Things are hard for us in Niger while our governor is travelling to watch matches. I heard they said he was invited but is it not government resources that he used to go on the trip?
“We did not vote him in to watch football, we voted him because we want him to work and bring back the lost glory of the state. Watching matches is not governance, it is absolute recklessness.”
Another resident, Gambo Mohammed, said the governor needed to focus on governance, saying: “sports development is not what Niger State needs now. We need jobs for our unemployed youths, boost for our economy and agriculture, and good roads.” [myad]
Former Jigawa state governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, his two sons: Aminu and Mustapha, as well as Aminu Wada Abubakar and one Bartholomew Darlington Agoha have returned to the Federal High Court in Abuja on an amended 27-count charge bordering on corruption and money laundering. They are being charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC).
The other companies arraigned along with them were companies through which they allegedly perpetrated the fraud, including Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, Bamaina Aluminium Limited and Speeds International Limited. Lamido and his co-accused had been arraigned before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Kano State, on July 9 2015 for allegedly misappropriating funds belonging to Jigawa State. Their case was later transferred to the Federal High Court, Abuja, where Justice Gabriel Kolawole, a vacation judge, granted the accused persons bail, and adjourned the matter to September 22, 2015. At the resumed hearing today, presided over by Justice Ademola, counsel to the EFCC, Chile Okoroma, presented the court with the amended charge, dated September 15, 2015, which added Agoha, manager of Speeds International Limited, as one of the accused persons. The hearing which commenced at about 9.11am was, however, adjourned briefly to allow the registry to assign a new charge number to the amended charge sheet, since the case was originally heard in Kano. On resumption, the charges were read to the accused persons. One of the charges read: “That you Alhaji Sule Lamido (while being Governor of Jigawa State, Nigeria), Aminu Sule Lamido, Mustapha Sule Lamido, Bamaina Holdings Limited, Bamaina Company Nigeria Limited, and Speeds International Limited between 15th October and 18th December, 2008 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did convert an aggregate sum of N124,649,915 paid by Dantata and Sawoe Construction Company Nigeria Limited into the account of Speeds International Limited. [myad]
The Director-General of the National Emergency Agency, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi, has warned that ‘frontline’ states in the North should expect more flooding before the end of the year.
The frontline states, according to the NEMA boss, include Kaduna, Kebbi, Adamawa, Niger, Kogi and Jigawa states as well as other states mentioned in the Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s prediction.
The NEMA boss said so far 63 Local Government Areas in the North had been ravaged by flood.
“NIMET seasonal prediction indicated that about 10 local government areas were affected by this flood in Kaduna State, about 16 local governments in Jigawa, about 17 local governments in Kebbi, almost 20 local governments in Adamawa State and other states that were mentioned in NIMET prediction.”
He said that with the release of water from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon, flooding was imminent in the northern parts of the country.
He noted that the only solution to avert future occurrence was for Nigerians to avoid building houses in flood-prone areas.
“You recall in 2012, we had a similar incident, even more devastating than what we are witnessing now, that was when Cameroon released water from Lagdo Dam.
“It is a routine maintenance that they carry out when their dams are about to over flow, so they release water annually.
“We keep saying that early warning must be matched with early actions, but that has never been done. So, we should expect more flood. More states, especially the frontline states, will be flooded. The lasting solution is that people must desist from building their houses in flood-prone areas.
“They should not build near natural waterways and green zones.” [myad]
Senegalese President and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Macky Sally, has called for elections for democratic government in the troubled Burkina Faso latest, November this year.
This was even as he asked the military junta which had taken over government to quickly hand over power to the interim administration as the country awaited the conduct of the general elections.
The Senegalese strongman spoke today at an Extra-Ordinary Session of ECOWAS in Abuja, just as the host President, Muhammadu Buharu of Nigeria commended the West African Leaders for their commitment to the pursuit of peace and stability in the sub region.
He said the recent development in Burkina Faso ran contrary to the expectations of ECOWAS and commended the efforts so far deployed towards the restoration of constitutional order and democracy by the ECOWAS, AU, UN and international development partners.
President Buhari praised ECOWAS chairman, Macky Sally and his Benin Republic counterpart for their visit to Ouagadougou on September 17 to commence the process of engagement with the military junta and the understanding reached towards the resolution of the crisis.
Present at today’s meeting were the Presidents of Cote D’voire, Togo, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, Niger, Benin and Senegal and their host, President Buhari. [myad]
Whatever happens in Nigeria, my first thoughts are usually with the ordinary Nigerian who had suffered untold hardship, injustice and humiliation in a nation where they were relegated to the background by those they trusted with leadership. The people, the real owners of Nigeria have had the budgetary allocation made for their upkeep, stolen and squandered by those they elected to protect their interests.
The people continue to wish for an independent Judiciary that would usher in equality in our nation. But the executive was bent on comprising and owning the legal system in Nigeria. The voice of the people was muffled as they were too poor to purchase justice. Consequently, only the rich and the powerful could speak. They spoke with their stolen loot. They acted with impunity. Everyone of them was above the law. Their cronies too, laughed in the face of the law. They defied court orders. The judiciary was at their mercy. Judges were at their beck and call. At their disposal was the people’s common wealth with which they bought or pervert the course of justice.
Now we know for sure, with the recent development that Dr. Bukola Saraki is still living in the past, with a hangover from our days of impunity when the executive openly meddled. The days when he was wanted by the Police in Abuja and he reported at Lagos instead, sending a lorry load of misinformed hungry Women from his native Ilorin to the Police Station in Abuja to protest his summons to answer some questions from the police. And then, the headlines tumbled out, “BUKOLA SARAKI CLEARED BY THE COURT….” How? We may never know how much changed hands. But that was the pattern. Under President Jonathan it was easier to shop for a corrupt judge than to shop for Johnson Baby Gel!
Dr. Bukola Saraki’s alleged sins have been unearthed by one of the institutions set up to fight corruption in our nation, the Code of Conduct Bureau CCB. So where have they been all along? The answer is clear. The CCB has been buried under the rubbles of impunity and high-handedness of subsequent PDP administrations, particularly under ex President Jonathan. With their new found liberty, the CCB, EFCC and the ICPC have sprung into action. They have correctly read the body language of President Buhari that he will not interfere with their constitutional duties to rid Nigeria of corruption. President Buhari has no reason to interfere in the work of these bodies, after all, he is leading Nigerians in a total war against corruption. Nigerians are applauding him for this. Africa is emulating his exemplary leadership. The international community is courting us because of the rightly perceived purposeful leadership of President Buhari.
There’s is so much one man can take without cracking up. But the insinuation by the embattled Dr. Bukola Saraki that his recent travails leading up to his trial for alleged false declaration of assets, was a witch hunt and an attempt to use state institutions to fight political opponents, is very unfortunate. Nigerians were not aware that Senator Saraki was a political opponent of President Buhari as both of them belong to the same political divide. Watchers will therefore be right if they assume that he was not referring to President Buhari. It would be clearer to Nigerians if Dr. Saraki would name those who are witch hunting him. It’s also instructive for him to note that if there was nothing to hunt, there will be no witch hunting. A man who brings home ant infested firewood must get used to the sight of lizards in his compound.
Dr. Saraki alone knows whether the allegations of false declaration of Assets levied against him are spurious or not. The appropriate response to the allegations against him should have been either to apologise to the nation and resign if they were true, or address the nation, assuring us that he was innocent and would submit himself to the tribunal to clear his name. Either way, he needs to put our nation first by stepping aside so as to not hinder the work of the Senate. But he prefers to play the blame game. Fortunately, Nigerians are maturing from the days of PDP when they took sides with those who blatantly disregard the laws of our land. They are calling on him to respect our constitutional institutions by humbly submitting himself to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT and answer to the allegations against him. Nigerians now think that he has too much on his plate to function properly as a Senate President in the new Nigeria we are forging ahead with. With his wife facing criminal charges and his Business partner on the run from the law, he should do the honourable thing, as Salisu Buhari did, many years ago.
Nigerians are nor going to see him heed this free counsel for one reason. Although Nigerians are united in their call for him to submit himself to the law, he has found an ally in the National Association of Nigerian Students. This is not surprising at all as the leadership of the student body, over the last few years, has been known to use their position for selfish gains. Let it be known that ordinary Nigerian Students support the Nigerian war on corruption. They were part of the mobilisation force that swept ex President Jonathan out of office and ushered in President Buhari, a leader they believe would serve them better. They have high hopes for their future now and will not go to war for lawlessness.
Again, but not too surprising, the embattled Senator has the support of the PDP. The PDP openly making spurious allegations against the person of President Buhari in a case that has no connection to the Presidency, is a clear evidence that the gang of the elitist PDP in APC, are still very much in touch with home, PDP, and can never represent the interest of the ordinary people of Nigeria. The progressively annoying lonely speaker of the PDP, Mr. Oliseh Metuh, of course has accused President Buhari of meddlesomeness in a case where a Nigerian was investigated by a lawful agency and charged appropriately.
But Mr. Metuh is used to working under a government that has “Meddlesomeness” as its middle name. Under the government of former President Jonathan, there was no line of demarcation between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The executive arm of the government of the federal republic of Nigeria, essentially swallowed and controlled the legislature and the Judiciary.
Again Nigerians are not surprised that PDP would jump into such conclusions with no evidence for backup! After all, the PDP government under Jonathan was run under assumptions, gossips, innuendos and outright lies. Any wonder policy statements were made based on these? Today, it has emerged that former President Jonathan had no idea what really went on under his watch. He was conned, fed with lies continually and misled to act on assumptions and gossips. So he presided over the worse institutional decay Nigeria has ever witnessed. Corruption became the norm. The middle class was wiped out. Poverty became a common denominator in Africa’s “largest economy”. The nation became sharply divided between the highest spenders at Heathrow’s duty free shops and some of the poorest in the world. The problem was corruption.
When it comes to corruption and the war against it, no one can point a soiled finger at President Buhari. From traditional rulers to Mornarchs, from Labour Party to PDP, from clergymen to Imams, from the market traders to university dons, everyone agrees that the fight President Buhari is waging against corruption, is long overdue. Everyone but those who thrived in, nurtured and benefited from corruption, support the war against the singular evil that has perpetually kept the ordinary Nigerian below the poverty line.
For whatever it’s worth, President Buhari is doing the very best he can to bring corruption to a manageable level. Roping him in, in a case that has nothing to do with him, is the old PDP style of not calling a spade by its name. Nigerians are pleased that they now have a leader who is incorruptible and is also, willing and have the capacity to fight corruption. Dr. Saraki and PDP must leave the President alone to concentrate on the grave task of rebuilding the dilapidated nation he inherited from PDP. President Buhari does not need this distraction and thankfully, he cannot be distracted.
The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Johnson Olawumi, has made it clear that the scheme would no longer entertain requests from people, seeking concessional posting for their wards, relatives and friends for the NYSC mandatory one year service.
Olawumi, who spoke during the opening ceremony of the training organized by the NYSC and the Housing Developers Cooperative Society for Corps Members at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Kubwa, Abuja, said that the scheme has introduced a self-deployment mechanism to enable the prospective corps members choose a state where they wish to serve.
The DG called on members of the public to stop disturbing staff of the scheme with their requests for concession, stressing that their online platform was designed in a way that corps members that have genuine reasons for concession would not be denied.
“The NYSC is barring concessional posting; we have to take that decision, because in the past, we allowed concessional posting for prospective corps members, who had medical challenge, or married women or pregnant women, but as it stands now, our online registration platform has been designed in such a way to address the problem of those prospective corps members who have health challenges or married women.
“So, all they need to do is that, in the process of doing their registration, there are information these categories of people need to supply and upload the documents, our portal has been designed in such a way that it will automatically post them to where they filled.
“I want to say that in the past few weeks we have been receiving requests from various quarters; ministries, departments, agencies, private institutions and individuals seeking for concessional posting. I want to say that they are just wasting their time.”
Olawumi explained that the training for the corps members, organized by the scheme and the Housing Developers’ Cooperative Society was aimed at training and graduating skilled manpower in housing sector.
“The inauguration of 200 youth corps members for training in special areas of labour need in the housing development sector reaffirms our pledge to give useful skills to every willing graduate partaking in the national service.” [myad]
A massive flood has reportedly displaced no fewer than 30,000 people, submerged about 2,000 house and killed one person in Kaduna State.
The Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency ( SEMA), Mr. Ezekiel Baba-Karik, described the disaster as the worst in the history of the state.
About 10 local government areas of the state were said to have been affected by the heavy down pour which started on Sunday and spread to the early hours of Monday.
Areas affected by the flood within Kaduna metropolis include Barnawa, Tudun-wada, Kigo Road, Karatudu, Kabala Constain, Anguwan Rimi, Kudendan, Rafin Guza, Badiko, Hayin Mallam Mani and Gonin Gora, among several others. Most of places affected are settlements around the river bank.
Several roads were also submerged by the flood, making it difficult for emergency workers to access the affected areas. A part of the road connecting to the residence of former Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo at Ungwan-Rimi GRA was submerged. Although the residence of the former vice president was not affected, his neighbours whose houses are close to the Kaduna river bank were not spared as their homes were submerged.
A light bridge along Aliyu Makama road, Barnawa which links the area to the city centre was completely submerged by the flood, forcing motorists and tricycle riders to search for alternative route.
Spokesman of SEMA, Mallam Abubakar Zakari Adamu, said the disaster was monumental, saying however that he was not in a position to give a detailed assessment of the destruction.
He said that rescue agencies, including the Red Cross, and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were working round the clock to come to the victims.
He, however, confirmed the death of one person. “You know so many settlements, mostly around the river bank were affected and we have to share ourselves into groups in order to assist those affected.
“At the moment, I am not in a position to tell you all the details concerning the destructions until we compare notes with the various rescue groups,” Adamu said. He lamented that despite repeated public enlightenment campaign urging people to avoid building houses by river banks, such warnings were ignored.
The state Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, had already visited some of the affected areas. [myad]
Military heads in Burkina Faso have said that the West African nation’s armed forces were converging on the capital Ouagadougou to disarm the elite presidential guard “without bloodshed.”
The 1,200-member unit staged a coup on Wednesday, taking hostage the interim president and members of the government just weeks before October 11 polls meant to restore democracy following last year’s overthrow of longtime leader Blaise Compaore.
“We ask them to immediately lay down their arms and go to Camp Sangoule Lamizana,” read the statement signed by several military chiefs, referring to a barracks in Ouagadougou.
“They and their families will be protected,” it added.
Mediators from regional bloc ECOWAS announced a draft agreement aimed at ending the crisis late on Sunday. However the proposal, which included an amnesty for the coup leaders, was swiftly rejected by civil society and opposition politicians.
Demonstrators protesting against coup leader General Gilbert Diendere and the ECOWAS deal erected barricades and burned tyres in several neighbourhoods across the capital on Monday.
Large protests were also organised in several other towns.
“There’s a potential civil conflict there now. If (Diendere) stays, the people will fight him,” said Rinaldo Depagne, West Africa project director for the International Crisis Group. [myad]
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President Buhari Is Busy, No Distraction Please! By Lauretta Onochie
Whatever happens in Nigeria, my first thoughts are usually with the ordinary Nigerian who had suffered untold hardship, injustice and humiliation in a nation where they were relegated to the background by those they trusted with leadership. The people, the real owners of Nigeria have had the budgetary allocation made for their upkeep, stolen and squandered by those they elected to protect their interests.
The people continue to wish for an independent Judiciary that would usher in equality in our nation. But the executive was bent on comprising and owning the legal system in Nigeria. The voice of the people was muffled as they were too poor to purchase justice. Consequently, only the rich and the powerful could speak. They spoke with their stolen loot. They acted with impunity. Everyone of them was above the law. Their cronies too, laughed in the face of the law. They defied court orders. The judiciary was at their mercy. Judges were at their beck and call. At their disposal was the people’s common wealth with which they bought or pervert the course of justice.
Now we know for sure, with the recent development that Dr. Bukola Saraki is still living in the past, with a hangover from our days of impunity when the executive openly meddled. The days when he was wanted by the Police in Abuja and he reported at Lagos instead, sending a lorry load of misinformed hungry Women from his native Ilorin to the Police Station in Abuja to protest his summons to answer some questions from the police. And then, the headlines tumbled out, “BUKOLA SARAKI CLEARED BY THE COURT….” How? We may never know how much changed hands. But that was the pattern. Under President Jonathan it was easier to shop for a corrupt judge than to shop for Johnson Baby Gel!
Dr. Bukola Saraki’s alleged sins have been unearthed by one of the institutions set up to fight corruption in our nation, the Code of Conduct Bureau CCB. So where have they been all along? The answer is clear. The CCB has been buried under the rubbles of impunity and high-handedness of subsequent PDP administrations, particularly under ex President Jonathan. With their new found liberty, the CCB, EFCC and the ICPC have sprung into action. They have correctly read the body language of President Buhari that he will not interfere with their constitutional duties to rid Nigeria of corruption. President Buhari has no reason to interfere in the work of these bodies, after all, he is leading Nigerians in a total war against corruption. Nigerians are applauding him for this. Africa is emulating his exemplary leadership. The international community is courting us because of the rightly perceived purposeful leadership of President Buhari.
There’s is so much one man can take without cracking up. But the insinuation by the embattled Dr. Bukola Saraki that his recent travails leading up to his trial for alleged false declaration of assets, was a witch hunt and an attempt to use state institutions to fight political opponents, is very unfortunate. Nigerians were not aware that Senator Saraki was a political opponent of President Buhari as both of them belong to the same political divide. Watchers will therefore be right if they assume that he was not referring to President Buhari. It would be clearer to Nigerians if Dr. Saraki would name those who are witch hunting him. It’s also instructive for him to note that if there was nothing to hunt, there will be no witch hunting. A man who brings home ant infested firewood must get used to the sight of lizards in his compound.
Dr. Saraki alone knows whether the allegations of false declaration of Assets levied against him are spurious or not. The appropriate response to the allegations against him should have been either to apologise to the nation and resign if they were true, or address the nation, assuring us that he was innocent and would submit himself to the tribunal to clear his name. Either way, he needs to put our nation first by stepping aside so as to not hinder the work of the Senate. But he prefers to play the blame game. Fortunately, Nigerians are maturing from the days of PDP when they took sides with those who blatantly disregard the laws of our land. They are calling on him to respect our constitutional institutions by humbly submitting himself to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT and answer to the allegations against him. Nigerians now think that he has too much on his plate to function properly as a Senate President in the new Nigeria we are forging ahead with. With his wife facing criminal charges and his Business partner on the run from the law, he should do the honourable thing, as Salisu Buhari did, many years ago.
Nigerians are nor going to see him heed this free counsel for one reason. Although Nigerians are united in their call for him to submit himself to the law, he has found an ally in the National Association of Nigerian Students. This is not surprising at all as the leadership of the student body, over the last few years, has been known to use their position for selfish gains. Let it be known that ordinary Nigerian Students support the Nigerian war on corruption. They were part of the mobilisation force that swept ex President Jonathan out of office and ushered in President Buhari, a leader they believe would serve them better. They have high hopes for their future now and will not go to war for lawlessness.
Again, but not too surprising, the embattled Senator has the support of the PDP. The PDP openly making spurious allegations against the person of President Buhari in a case that has no connection to the Presidency, is a clear evidence that the gang of the elitist PDP in APC, are still very much in touch with home, PDP, and can never represent the interest of the ordinary people of Nigeria. The progressively annoying lonely speaker of the PDP, Mr. Oliseh Metuh, of course has accused President Buhari of meddlesomeness in a case where a Nigerian was investigated by a lawful agency and charged appropriately.
But Mr. Metuh is used to working under a government that has “Meddlesomeness” as its middle name. Under the government of former President Jonathan, there was no line of demarcation between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The executive arm of the government of the federal republic of Nigeria, essentially swallowed and controlled the legislature and the Judiciary.
Again Nigerians are not surprised that PDP would jump into such conclusions with no evidence for backup! After all, the PDP government under Jonathan was run under assumptions, gossips, innuendos and outright lies. Any wonder policy statements were made based on these? Today, it has emerged that former President Jonathan had no idea what really went on under his watch. He was conned, fed with lies continually and misled to act on assumptions and gossips. So he presided over the worse institutional decay Nigeria has ever witnessed. Corruption became the norm. The middle class was wiped out. Poverty became a common denominator in Africa’s “largest economy”. The nation became sharply divided between the highest spenders at Heathrow’s duty free shops and some of the poorest in the world. The problem was corruption.
When it comes to corruption and the war against it, no one can point a soiled finger at President Buhari. From traditional rulers to Mornarchs, from Labour Party to PDP, from clergymen to Imams, from the market traders to university dons, everyone agrees that the fight President Buhari is waging against corruption, is long overdue. Everyone but those who thrived in, nurtured and benefited from corruption, support the war against the singular evil that has perpetually kept the ordinary Nigerian below the poverty line.
For whatever it’s worth, President Buhari is doing the very best he can to bring corruption to a manageable level. Roping him in, in a case that has nothing to do with him, is the old PDP style of not calling a spade by its name. Nigerians are pleased that they now have a leader who is incorruptible and is also, willing and have the capacity to fight corruption. Dr. Saraki and PDP must leave the President alone to concentrate on the grave task of rebuilding the dilapidated nation he inherited from PDP. President Buhari does not need this distraction and thankfully, he cannot be distracted.
On Twitter? Follow @Laurestar. [myad]