Home Blog Page 2206

President Buhari, Vice President Osinbajo Declare Assets

The Official Portrait of Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
The Official Portrait of Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have declared their assets, as required by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Code of Conduct Bureau on Friday acknowledged the submission of President Buhari’s and Vice President Osinbajo’s assets declaration form submitted separately on May 28, and signed for by the organisation’s Chairman, Sam Saba. President Buhari’s Declarant ID was given as: ‘President: 000001/2015.’
The Nigerian Constitution states in Chapter VI Section 140, that a person elected to the office of President shall not begin to perform the functions of that office until he has declared his assets and liabilities as prescribed in the Constitution.
By declaring their assets, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo may have not only fulfilled the requirements of the Nigerian Constitution, but also fulfilled the first of their many campaign promises.
While seeking election into the highest office in the land, the President had promised Nigerians that he would publicly declare his assets as soon as he took over government.

[myad]

Youths Who Disrupted El-Rufai’s Inauguration Say Emir of Zazzau Was Target, Accuse Him Of Being PDP Agent

Emir of Zaria

Some angry youths, who disrupted the swearing in of Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai by hauling stones, sachets of water and other objects at the venue yesterday have confessed that their target was the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, whom they accused of being the agent of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

They said that the Emir had shown open hatred for governor Nasiru el-Rufai, citing an example of when the emir refused to grant audience to the governor on three occasions during the campaigns.
“He is a supporter of PDP and we don’t expect to see him here because during the campaigns, El-Rufai visited him three times but he refused to grant him audience. His presence at the swearing in is out of hypocrisy,” one of the youths said.
The youths started throwing stones and shoes at the Emir when he was invited to the podium to present his address shortly after the governor took his oath of office.

The Murtala Square, venue of the event was thrown into confusion as the security agencies struggled to control the situation.
The rioting youths had a running battle with the police as they continued to throw stones and shoes directed at the emir who was seated at the VIP stand among other guests.
The police pursued the hoodlums who were throwing stones from different directions, but when such effort became fruitless, they threw teargas at them.
The emir was immediately taken to one of the guest waiting rooms at the Murtala square by armed police men where he was kept before he was eventually smuggled out of the place.
The programme which started on an exciting mood suddenly came to an abrupt end as people quickly left the venue.
It was learnt that youths took advantage of the relaxed security at the venue of the event. They smuggled in stones in their pockets with a view to attack the former governor of the state, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero and the emir. However, Yero did not turn up for the event. [myad]

I Pledge To Avoid Ostentation And Foolish Bigmanism, El-Rufai Tells Kaduna People

Gov El Rufai

Kaduna state governor, Nasiru el-Rufai has pledged that he and his deputy would avoid ostentation and foolish bigmanism in the governance of the state.

Speaking shortly after he was sworn in yesterday by the Chief Judge of Kaduna State, Justice Tanimu Zailani, the governor acknowledged that fact that leadership by example is the most persuasive way to demand sacrifices from all of us as citizens, adding: “We pledge to avoid ostentation and foolish bigmanism, and to value transparency, modesty and accountability.
“In recognition of the difficult challenges we face, our deputy Governor and I have concluded that the sacrifices that change requires must begin with us. We have decided to take a pay cut and donate 50 per cent of our salaries and allowances, until our fiscal situation improves.
“We will obey the same rules that we demand of all of you. After all, the law is the difference between civilization and anarchy. We submit ourselves to the principle that all are equal before the law.”

Governor el-Rufai disclosed that  Kaduna is the second most indebted state in the country, adding that the state cannot meet its obligations without handouts from the federal government.
He called on the people to make sacrifices for a better tomorrow and for the future of their children, saying: “I say to you today, my fellow citizens of Kaduna State, that the time has come for us to face up to our responsibilities as citizens. We must take many difficult decisions. We have no choice but to postpone immediate gratification and sacrifice the fleeting comforts of today for a better future for our children.
“This is what change means. You have spoken loud and clear that the time is now to stop the madness, and to live up to our fullest potential as human beings in the 21st Century.
The governor said that although the problems are many but that priorities would be focused on the few key things that would allow all people the chance to fulfill their highest aspirations.
“We pledge to you today to focus on jobs, security, education, and healthcare. We made these promises to you during the campaign, and we fully intend to fulfil them.”
The governor decried the security situation in the state, noting that insecurity is an obstacle to progress.
“Too many of our communities have suffered from communal violence, cattle-rustling and armed robbery, assuring that his administration will work with law enforcement officials to drastically reduce violent crime.
“By choosing us to lead all our people— man and woman, adult and child, Christian and Muslim— on the difficult road to our freedom from soul-crushing poverty and human degradation, I pledge to you today to work day and night to make Kaduna great again. Together, we shall make this corner of our country a state worthy of our children.” [myad]

EDITORIAL: President Buhari And Burden Of Leadership

President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari

The inaugural speech of President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29 is a good study in careful choice of words, whose import many people in a haste may find difficult to understand. It is indeed, a speech that showed the President as having long prepared for this job and knew clearly what direction he would take to actualize his dream for a better Nigeria for Nigerians.
Of most germane in the speech is where he said that he is for everybody and he is for no body.
This portion symbolizes the truism in the leadership context that a leader is he who is lonely even if he is surrounded by loved ones, friends and associates. This is because, in the case of President Buhari, it is only him that held the Holy Quran aloft on May 29, and swore with it that he would lead the nation with honesty and fear of God.
“Having just a few minutes ago sworn on the Holy Book,” President Buhari said with emphasis and seriousness, “I intend to keep my oath and serve as President to all Nigerians.”
And when he was doing the oath taking and swearing, no minister, no friend, no political associate, not even his wife assisted him in seeking for God’s help. And therefore, it is only him and no other that God would ask questions hereafter as to how he led his people. It is only him that Nigerians would eventually hold responsible and no other person, if anything goes wrong.
He may have learnt a bitter lesson from his first encounter with power, as military Head of State between 1983 and 1985, when every other thing that happened, even outside Lagos, the then Federal Capital of Nigeria, was attributed to him, ala the incidence of Tunde Thompson and co. He may have, indeed, been taught a lesson of how the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was blamed for every other thing that happened during his government even though he might not know what was happening everywhere.
This lessons may have informed his decision to streamline the government from the federal right to the council levels, as he stressed: “constitutionally, there are limits to powers of each of the three tiers of government but that should not mean the Federal Government should fold its arms and close its eyes to what is going on in the states and local governments. Not least the operations of the Local Government Joint Account. While the Federal Government cannot interfere in the details of its operations, it will ensure that the gross corruption at the local level is checked. As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country. For I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others abuse theirs under my watch.”
He might have added that even if a council member in a local government embezzles the council’s money, the people in the council would still blame it on him as the President. And of course, often, that is what happens.
The President was magnanimous and quick-witted to acknowledge the fears being expressed in many quarters that his government would go after those who were suspected to have been neck-deep in corruption in the recent past, but went on to allay such fears (of probe), describing such fears as groundless. According to him, there would be no paying off old scores and that the past is prologue.
The President acknowledged that, no matter how well organized the governments of the federation are, they cannot succeed without the support, understanding and cooperation of labour unions, organized private sector, the press and civil society organizations.
He appealed to employers and workers alike to unite in raising productivity so that everybody will have the opportunity to share in increased prosperity.
In carrying out the burden of leadership, Buhari also called on the Nigerian media which he described as the most vibrant in Africa, including the social media, to exercise its considerable powers with responsibility and patriotism.
“My appeal for unity is predicated on the seriousness of the legacy we are getting into. With depleted foreign reserves, falling oil prices, leakages and debts, the Nigerian economy is in deep trouble and will require careful management to bring it round and to tackle the immediate challenges confronting us, namely; Boko Haram, the Niger Delta situation, the power shortages and unemployment especially among young people. For the longer term we have to improve the standards of our education. We have to look at the whole field of Medicare. We have to upgrade our dilapidated physical infrastructure.”
President Buhari’s “I am for everybody and I am for nobody” should therefore be understood in the context of the loneliness of true leaders, which may translate into a warning to anybody who will work for him (and not with him), to be strictly in tandem with the path he has charted. That means therefore that he has no friend, no relation, and no enemy in this leadership venture of his. But on the other hand, everybody who is honest and want to work for him to attain his dream, is his own. [myad]

Aisha Whispers To Her Husband, President Buhari At The Inauguration

President Muhammadu Buhari and His Wife, Ayisha Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari and His Wife, Ayisha Buhari

The wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mrs. Aisha Buhari took her husband’s attention momentarily from the bustling Eagle Square, Abuja where he was inaugurated today as the President of Nigeria, with some pep talks. [myad]

Jonathan Returns To Otuoke, Surprised That His People Did Not Boo Him

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan Arriving His Home Town, Otuoke Bayelsa State
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan Arriving His Home Town, Otuoke Bayelsa State

The immediate past President of Nigeria, Dr.Goodluck Jonathan, arrived in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa state on his way to Otuoke, his country home to what he regarded as a rousing welcome when he expected that he would have been booed and cursed by his people for wrong decisions he took while in office.

“After six years in Abuja, I thought Bayelsa people will curse and boo me.”
Jonathan said that he was short of words to express his feeling at the crowd that lined up the streets of Yenagoa to welcome him bac even as he acknowledged that he did not attract development to the state.
Accompanied to the venue by his wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, among other dignitaries, the former president said: “because you are exposed to the decisions of high office and the thought that you may not have satisfied the people, sometimes you think they will curse you or boo you. But, instead, the people have decided to celebrate me.”
The former President acknowledged the role played by some political leaders in the State for his emergence as a politician, adding that if he had stayed in  Bayelsa, he would have done better as a governor, “but I left to allow others grow politically.”
Jonathan announced that he will dedicate his life to peace building across the country.
“Nigerians have given me so much and the only thing I can do with the rest of my life is to dedicate myself to peace building. We need peace and development. Political crises don’t bring development. I believe the new administration will work with everybody.I am happy the new President said he does not belong to any clique.”
Earlier, the State Governor, Seriake Dickson, said that though he was moved by emotion while waiting to receive the former president due to the fact that such duty would be the last to a President from Bayelsa, the people of the state are happy that the Jonathan arrived in the state safely.
“We are grateful to the party and the political class for giving Jonathan opportunity to serve, and such service he did well. He is our celebrated leader and hero of democracy.
“And to those people who Bayelsa and Ijaw nation is down, don’t laugh yet. We may be down and not out,” Dickson said..
The first military governor of old Rivers State and the Amananayabor of Twon Brass,King Alfred Diette-Spiff, in his solidarity message, said that the people of the State should be thankful to God for the emergence of Dr. Jonathan.
“When you look at it, the great sage, late Obafemi Awolowo wished to be a President for one day, but Jonathan was President for more than 3,000 days.
[myad]

A Teacher Who Raped 26 Girls Executed In China

Chinese PM Li Keqiang
Chinese PM Li Keqiang

Chinese authorities have announced the execution of a primary school teacher, Li Jishun, who was found guilty of raping or sexually abusing 26 girls.

Li committed the crimes between 2011 and 2012 while teaching at a village school in Gansu Province. He molested his pupils, aged four to 11, who were “young and timid,” according to a statement by the Supreme People’s Court reported by local media.
The report said there have been more than 7,000 child sex abuse cases in recent years and the trend is on the rise.
Li had raped 21 of his victims and sexually abused five others in classrooms, dormitories and the bush surrounding the village near Wushan town.
The statement said that some of his victims had been raped or abused more than once. However, it was not stated how he was caught.
The Gansu court said Li was “a grave threat to society” and noted that he had committed the crimes within just one year.
“The Supreme People’s Court thus believes that it was appropriate for Li Jishun to be executed,” the statement said.
[myad]

Buhari Lands, By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

President Muhammadu Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari

About twelve years since Muhammadu Buhari has been hankering after a second opportunity to rule this country, Nigeria again, he has finally, trully and openly returned him to power.
The first opportunity was through the barrel of gun. He became Head of State in military uniform. And the second opportunity was through the democratic processes. He campaigned vigorously and sought the vote of Nigerians across the country, in civilian dress. And he subsequently became a popular choice of the majority of Nigerians.
Before the April 28, 2015 presidential election, not many people thought that the election would be held, but it held eventually. When the election was held, not many people thought that anyone other than Goodluck Jonathan would win it, considering all the brouhaha, but Buhari won it. Even when it was obvious, as in the case of late MKO Abiola, that Buhari was comfortably leading, not many people thought that he would be allowed to enjoy the fruit of the victory, but before you could say Buha…, the reigning President, Jonathan conceded defeat via a phone call to Buhari.
And even after that, not many people thought that Jonathan, and or, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would allow today to come, but here we are with Buhari formally being inaugurated and taking over the mantle of leadership.
It was enthralling to here Buhari speak, expressing his immense gratitude to God for preserving his life and the lives of Nigerians to witness this day and the occasion. As he admitted, today marks a triumph for Nigeria and an occasion to celebrate its freedom and cherish its democracy.
Buhari recalled that the journey to today has not been easy but that with the determination of the people and strong support from friends abroad “we have today a truly democratically elected government in place.”
In landing on the rooftop of power, Buhari acknowledged the immediate past President Jonathan for his display of statesmanship in setting a precedent that has now made Nigerians to be proud to be Nigerians wherever they are.
“With the support and cooperation he has given to the transition process, he has made it possible for us to show the world that despite the perceived tension in the land, we can be a united people capable of doing what is right for our nation. Together we co-operated to surprise the world that had come to expect only the worst from Nigeria. I hope this act of graciously accepting defeat by the outgoing President will become the standard of political conduct in the country.”
With his ascension to power today, the worse fear that has permeated the polity in the last three or four months is over. It is now for Buhari to get down to work, having landed.

[myad]

Buhari Moves Boko Haram Command Centre To Maiduguri

buhari sworn inPresident Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that the command centre for the fight against Boko Haram should be moved immediately to Maiduguri which is the epic-centre of the long time battle.
Buhari acknowledged that though  Progress has been made in recent weeks by the security forces but that victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja.
In his imauguration speech at the Eagle Square, Abuja today, the new President acknowledged that the  most immediate security challenge facing the country now is Boko Haram’s insurgency, stressing that the command centre would remain in Maiduguri until the insurgence is completely subdued. Buhari said that his government would not claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents.
“This government will do all it can to rescue them alive. Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires. An eccentric and unorthodox preacher with a tiny following was given posthumous fame and following by his extra judicial murder at the hands of the police. Since then through official bungling, negligence, complacency or collusion, Boko Haram became a terrifying force taking tens of thousands of lives and capturing several towns and villages covering swathes of Nigerian sovereign territory.
“Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group who are as far away from Islam as one can think of. At the end of the hostilities when the group is subdued, the Government intends to commission a sociological study to determine its origins, remote and immediate causes of the movement, its sponsors, the international connexions to ensure that measures are taken to prevent a reccurrence of this evil.
“For now, the Armed Forces will be fully charged with prosecuting the fight against Boko haram. We shall overhaul the rules of engagement to avoid human rights violations in operations. We shall improve operational and legal mechanisms so that disciplinary steps are taken against proven human right violations by the Armed Forces.”

[myad]

Good Bye Jonathan, By Dan Agbese

Former President, Goodluck Jonathan
Former President, Goodluck Jonathan

He was the poster child of good luck. His parents named him Goodluck. Perhaps, a prophetic name; perhaps, a parental wish. No man has had such a run of good luck like Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
From an obscure and unknown university lecturer his unusual luck propelled him all the way up to the top of our nation’s political leadership: deputy governor of Bayelsa State, governor of Bayelsa State, Vice-President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Acting President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Alas, when he needed his good luck most, it failed him. Goodluck Jonathan leaves office as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria today a thoroughly messed up man; messed up by his hubris and messed up by his wife and aides. As you read this, it should be easy for you to picture him walking towards the sunset of loneliness, deserted by friends, mocked by detractors.
He expected a sustained ovation in his last week in office but it turned out to be his worst week in office. The nation was shut down and its economic and social activities paralysed. The week added a new feather to our nation’s cap as a nation of ironies, contradictions and indifferent leadership. An oil-producing nation forever battling with fuel supplies. And so, in the last week of the Jonathan administration, we are stranded in our homes for lack of fuel. Even in a nation inured to embarrassment, this still takes the cake. It must be part of the reason why General T.Y. Danjuma has urged Buhari to probe Jonathan’s “corrupt administration.
Despite the nation wide paralysis, neither Jonathan nor his powerful petroleum resources minister, Mrs. Deziani Madueke, as of this writing, bothered to tell us what is happening. Obviously, they do not give a damn. Here is the problem: Jonathan cannot extricate himself from charges of sabotaging the transition or hand over programme. He has turned something worth celebrating into ashes in our mouths. We deserve better.
Corruption is endemic in the petroleum ministry and the NNPC. Jonathan knew about it but he was more than reluctant to do anything it. Now it has brought him down in a manner that cements his place in our national history as a failed president. Our country is the butt of international jokes. [quote]No one expected Jonathan’s scrappy legacy to be a thoroughly demoralized nation in his last days in office but here we are: the man who lost his re-election bid and led his party into a thorough walloping at the polls goes home in a whimper, soaked in the cold rain of public opprobrium.[/quote]

He has my sympathy.
In the coming days and weeks and even months, the pundits would subject the Jonathan tenure to a rigorous examination, trawling for lessons in human management and political administration. It is no use disputing the fact that despite his offering the nation airy slogans such as fresh breath of air (2011) and transformation agenda (2015), the man enjoyed enormous public good will. So, why did he end up “a failed president” (The Economist) and “a lousy president,” (The New York Times)?
The answer is complex, complicated even. My take is that Jonathan was an indifferent leader. He did not understand power and, therefore, he had problems excising it other than in the primitive sense of who was the boss. Either he was misled or he misled himself into believing that as president, he could do anything, not necessarily because it was right but because he could. The consequences meant nothing to him.
This unhelpful belief fired his adrenalin in the last two or three weeks of his administration. We found him engaged in a flurry of activities that resulted in administrative actions and decisions that were thoroughly unwise. He was motivated by his understanding of his enormous presidential powers. He could exercise them to the last minute. If anybody’s ox was gored in the process, well, poor luck to the ox and its owner. He was trying to court popularity but went about it in a way that suggested his ultimate objective was to commit the new Buhari administration to retaining his unwise and unhelpful decisions at its own peril. An unfriendly act.

Jonathan believes in planting universities in all corners and crannies of the country. His belief has no positive or objective end. His 12 federal universities were not the products of strategic educational thinking. He used them for his popularity contest with himself. He was unable to fund them. He knew it would come to that any way because his administration could not properly fund the existing federal universities. No government makes its burden light by adding more weight to it.

His decision to play politics with our education must go down as one of his failings as a leader. He appointed councils for those universities towards his last days to tell the new administration that their existence was a fait accompli. Thanks for nothing. Administrative decisions are not cast in stone.

Jonathan piled it on. Less than two weeks to the end of his tenure, Jonathan approved the setting up of two specialized universities and upgraded four advanced teachers training colleges to universities. He approved every application for private universities submitted to the executive council of the federation. Does anyone know the actual number of universities, public, private and religious we have in the country today? Has this large number of universities, the highest in Africa, stopped the steady decline in our standard of education? It all boggles the mind. Well, not Jonathan’s mind, obviously.

Buhari faced a similar situation in 1984. The Shagari administration had set up some new universities more for political reasons. The general felt that more universities would not remedy the crisis in our educational system. He down graded those universities and made them campuses of existing universities to cut administrative and other costs and free needed funds to tackle the real problems of our education at the roots.

Encouraged by this and believing that Jonathan’s decisions are a drag on good governance, I give the new president my special gift of a box of red biros. With them, he should walk the red biro through the new universities, the 31 billion Naira contract, the relocation of the N500 million oil and gas treatment project from Lagos to his home state of Bayelsa, the five billion Naira contract for the supply of smokeless cooking stoves for rural women (where?) and all the last minute grandstanding decisions calculated to tie the hands of the Buhari administration.
Let me borrow this from The Economist magazine and say, good bye, Jonathan.

[myad]

Advertisement ADVERTORIAL
WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com