Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Mohammadu Buhari has returned to Nigeria from the United Kingdom in the early hours of today, asking Journalists who thronged the airport to see him whether he looked sick.
General Buhari made it clear that he is physically and mentally ready to lead the country if he is elected on March 28, even as he asked further: “are you seeing a sick man?
The APC Presidential flag bearer, whose plane touched down the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at about 5:40 am, aboard British Airways, was accosted by a horde of Journalists who have been keeping vigil at the Airport.
Asked whether he went abroad to seek medical attention, Buhari said he took some time off the campaigns to get some rest, saying: “I just went off for a couple of weeks to rest. That’s all I did.”
Asked if he ever visited any hospital while holidaying in UK, he said “What is wrong for me to go to the hospital? Am I not here now? Aren’t you seeing me? Are you seeing a sick man?
Also, on his appearance at the Chatham House, the APC presidential candidate said: “I went to Chatham House. I read an address and there was a question and answer session. That’s all.”
Buhari who was accompanied back by his deputy campaign director-general, Senator Olurumbe Mamora was as well welcomed by a hundreds of other APC chieftains and supporters at the airport. [myad]
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has prayed to God to give Nigeria the leader who will move quickly to put right so many things that have gone wrong in the past few years saying that there were too many think-tanks in the country. He emphasized that what is needed currently are ‘do-tanks.’
According to Obasanjo, the nation is experiencing a peculiar set of challenges, which required leaders with requisite experience for such challenges, saying: “May God give us leaders that occasion like this deserves.”
Obasanjo who was addressing guests at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokutatoday, during the celebration of his 78th birthday and 2015 annual summit said that with the enormous resources the nation is blessed with, no Nigerian child should lack access to education, food and employment.
He stressed that the mismanagement of the resources had landed the country in its current mess even as he said: “My concern is that we have too many think- tanks; we need more of do-tanks. The point is we can do and we have no reason why we can’t do and we have also seen that one individual can make a difference.
“There is no reason why any Nigerian child, at this point in time, should not have a basic education, food and nutrition. Not only Nigerian child, no Nigerian should go to bed without food.
“We have the resources to achieve all that; that we are not achieving does not mean we don’t have the resources. It is because we haven’t managed our resources well.
“Employment, if all other things are right, there should be no reason for any Nigerian who wants to be employed not to have the opportunity for employment.”
He noted that if the unemployment malaise persisted for the next 15 years, “and if all those things that all these young ones are expecting are not there, in 15 years time, they will be good recruits for Boko Haram or its equivalent.” [myad]
The Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has launched new Biafran currency, number plates for vehicles and drivers’ licence for the people of the South East zone.
The MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, who spoke through the organisation’s Information Coordinator for Onitsha, Mr. Charles Igbokwe, said the new Biafran vehicles, drivers’ licence and new currency were launched yesterday, in a colourful ceremony in Owerri, Imo State capital.
Chief Uwazuruike explained that the idea for Biafrans having their own vehicle plate numbers, drivers’ license and new currency, was aimed at encouraging Ndigbo and indeed, Biafrans, to come together and work together to develop the South East part of the country.
He said it is the right of all transporters and private car owners, who are from the South East to update their vehicle licences, adding that the programme also covers drivers of commercial tricycles and motorcycles.
“Now, it is the right of all Biafrans, all transporters, private motor owners and Okada riders to avail themselves of this opportunity to update their particulars. We also use the period of the registration exercise to call on all the traditional rulers and president generals of town unions to help educate their people on the need to get abreast with the new Biafran currency and other programmes.”
He disclosed that Income Tax was now available for everybody within the areas under the control of the MASSOB.
On the Biafran currency, the MASSOB leader said the money was already in circulation throughout the ‘Biafran states,’adding that from the time of the launch of the new currency, the money would be available in all the banks across the geo-political zone.
Ahead of the March general election, youth leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have made it clear that the rescheduled elections must be held or they will occupy the Presidential Aso Villa. This followed after the youth leaders held a strategy meeting today in Abuja.
They made it clear too that they will resist any act of interference in the electoral process, including an alleged move to sack the Chairman of the .independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega.
Speaking at the meeting attended by the zonal and state APC youth leaders, the Zonal Youth leader for North West, Shehu Marshal said that the country has witnessed a lot of political maneuverings by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in recent times aimed at interfering with the electoral process.
“Our position is that the march 28 and April 11 election dates are sacrosanct otherwise we will occupy Aso Rock and other major cities in Nigeria.”
While addressing the youth leaders, the party’s National Youth Leader, Ibrahim Jalo, said the fact that the party as a law abiding entity had accepted the shifting the election date does not mean that it would tolerate further postponement of the polls.
“We want to tell them that we have accepted it has our leaders have accepted but election will be held on the 28 of March and that 28 remain sacrosanct because we will not tolerate any other shift in election dates.
“As law abiding citizens we have accepted it but if it come to a point that the government and INEC does not want to conduct election we will definitely have to take the necessary steps legally possible,” he said.
Reacting to the reports that INEC chairman, Professor Jega may be removed before the election, the youth leader said though his party does not have any business with who is INEC chairman, but that since Jega is doing a good job, he should be allow to continue his good job.
“If they remove him that will take us back and everything has to start afresh from the beginning, even though they have no reason whatsoever to do that.” [myad]
All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) opposition to the use of Card Readers in this month’s rescheduled elections has confirmed its earlier fear that the ruling party is doing all in its powers to either prevent the election from holding or to rig it.
In a statement issued in Lagos today by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party described as curious the fact that the PDP that rushed to the press to deny the APC’s claims quickly turned around to confirm them.
”At the press conference we addressed on Wednesday, which rattled the PDP and the Jonathan Administration so much, we listed the conditionalities of the PDP/Jonathan Administration for holding the election: No PVCs, No Card Readers, No Jega and the fact that they want the military deployed to harass and intimidate voters.
”We mentioned ‘Card Readers’ at least three times during the press conference, and said they (PDP/Jonathan Administration are doing everything possible to sabotage the machine and prevent its use.
”Both the spokesmen for the PDP and the Jonathan Campaign Organization rushed to the press to deny any such ‘reprehensible’ plan. But a few hours later, the spokesman for the campaign organization told an incredulous country that they would oppose the use of Card Reader, apparently after the spokesmen were overruled by
their party. Obviously, these men are outsiders in their own party and it is now obvious that the opposition knows more about the inner workings of their party than they do,” it said.
The APC said in an apparently-choreographed show, some 15 portfolio political parties called a press conference to also announce that they will oppose the use of the Card Reader, vowing to boycott the elections and use a legal process to prevent the use of the machine.
The party said these syndicated threats are the latest indications of the mortal fear in the corridors of power about the machine that has now become the nemesis of election riggers and manipulators worldwide.
It said contrary to the claim by the PDP, Nigerians are ready for a free, fair and credible elections to be made possible by the use of the Card Reader, and will massively resist any move to dump the machine.
”Nigerians have sacrificed all they can to obtain their PVCs, which is now their most-prized possession. They have also hailed the plan by INEC to use the Card Reader to give Nigeria credible polls. Only
dishonest politicians, those who plan to rig, those who have engaged in a massive purchase of PVCs and those who have something to hide are opposed to the use of the machine.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, our party is ready for any tool, including the Card Reader that will ensure that the votes of Nigerians will count in the forthcoming election. In this regard, we sincerely hope that the nationwide tests of the Card Reader to be carried out this week by INEC will not be sabotaged by those opposed to the machine.
The Card Reader has been demonstrated to work, including at the Senate, and no one must come out to tell Nigerians anything to the contrary.
”The huge investments in providing PVCs for Nigerians will not be worthwhile if the cards would not be authenticated by Card Readers which, by the way, have been used in many other countries, all of them
less endowed than Nigeria, in Africa,” APC said.
The party said it is taking the forthcoming elections very seriously and closely monitoring every move of those who do not want the elections to hold, or if they must hold at all, only on their own terms.
It said, for example, that the party (APC) is aware of an all-night meeting (Wednesday/Thursday) between a South-west Governor and security chiefs on how to rig the forthcoming polls in the geo-political zone, but it remains convinced that no one is powerful enough to stop an idea whose time has come.
The APC thanked Nigerians, both within and outside the government, for their efforts in keeping a close eye on those planning to sabotage the forthcoming polls, imploring them not to relent since eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. [myad]
79-year old President of Uruguay, with record of the poorest President in the world, Jose “Pepe” Mujica has just handed over power to his predecessor and successor — Tabaré Vázquez.
Mujica, who is a socialist, was elected President in 2010 for a five-year term. The Uruguayan constitution forbids an incumbent from seeking re-election, so he had to leave office on March 1, 2015 despite his street popularity. Of course, he made no attempts to change the constitution.
The former President who before he became President spent 13 years in jail, in an interview recalled the years he spent in detention, two of them lying at the bottom of an old horse trough.
“I was imprisoned in solitary [confinement] so the day they put me on a sofa I felt comfortable!” Mujica joked about his status as president.
“I’ve no doubt that had I not lived through that I would not be who I am today. Prison, solitary confinement had a huge influence on me. I had to find an inner strength. I couldn’t even read a book for seven, eight years – imagine that!”
Mujica cannot understand the global fascination with his modest lifestyle, adding: “this world is crazy, crazy! People are amazed by normal things and that obsession worries me!
“All I do is live like the majority of my people, not the minority. I’m living a normal life and Italian, Spanish leaders should also live as their people do. They shouldn’t be aspiring to or copying a rich minority.”
Mujica will also be remembered for stabilising the country’s economy and promoting equity and social justice.
Neither will he be forgotten for legalising abortion and marijuana in a country with Catholic majority.
He said: “Marijuana is another plague, another addiction. Some say it’s good but no, that’s rubbish. Not marijuana, tobacco or alcohol – the only good addiction is love!.
“But 150,000 people smoke [marijuana] here and I couldn’t leave them at the mercy of drugs traffickers. It’s easier to control something if it’s legal and that’s why we’ve done this.”
On his retirement plans, he is not going to be typical.
“I have no intention of being an old pensioner, sitting in a corner writing my memoirs – no way!” he said.
President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed confidence that over 200 female students who were kidnapped by Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok village, Borno state on April 14 last year are still alive. The President, who featured in live interview of the African Independent Television (AIT) today, said that he hope that the girls are still alive stemmed from the fact that if they have been killed, Boko Haram leader, Shekau would have released video footage on it. He said therefore, that there is high hope that the girls would be rescued eventually, but was not specific how.
The schoolgirls have spent more than 300 days in captivity since they were abducted in April 14 last year during their West African Examination Council final papers.
The President’s claim that the girls were still being kept by Boko Haram contradicted Abubakar Shekau’s statement in a video released in October 2014 to the media that he had married off the pupils. In a previous statement, the group’s leader had threatened to sell the girls as slave brides.
Jonathan argued that if the schoolgirls had been killed, the Boko Haram insurgents’ commander, Shekau, would have released a video showing how they the girls were murdered.
According to the President, the Nigerian security forces are also wary of storming the main stronghold of the terrorists because they fear the insurgents may use the girls as shields.
“Because they may use them as shields so we are working with the global best practices. We can’t just move in with artillery and clear the place. The good story is that they’ve not been killed. They are still alive because when terrorists kill they display.”
The President however contradicted his assertion, during his Monday interview with the cable TV news channel, Al Jazeera that the Federal Government did not mishandle the Boko Haram insurgency, claiming that the insecurity problem did not start during his tenure.
Jonathan said: “At the beginning, we did not really estimate the capacity of Boko Haram. But over the years they continued to build their capacity with links with other terrorist groups. I believe we’ve got up to 65 per cent of what is needed to prosecute this war.”
He added that the military force was winning the war against the insurgents, noting that only Madagali still remains under the control of the terrorist group in Adamawa State.
“People will want to go back when they no longer hear stories of Boko Haram invasion. We launched the Victims’ Support Fund to aid in rehabilitating them. The Victims’ Support Fund is not managed directly by government but by the private sector,” the President stated.
Speaking on the alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party and his administration to foist an interim government on the nation, Jonathan pointed out that there was no provision for interim government in the country’s Constitution.
“There’s no provision for interim government in our constitution. The only interim government is military government. Talking about interim government to me is treasonable. There are some Nigerians that are bent on creating crisis in this country. There was no reason to doubt the May 29 handover,” the PDP presidential candidate said.
Although Jonathan expressed confidence that he was going to win the March 28 election under the platform of the PDP, he admitted that his chances were slimmer than they were in 2011.
“Globally, a sitting president wins with fewer votes than during his first attempt. PDP still has better chances of winning a national election. PDP is still the dominant party; there’s no polling unit where you don’t have PDP members.
“If you remove the PDP elements in the opposition, it would just collapse like a pack of cards. PDP still has an edge over every other party; I am not worried about the outcome of the presidential election,” the President said. [myad]
At the end of the novelty match which was to commemorate the 78th birthday of Obasanjo, OOPL team beat the state government team 2-1. The two goals were scored by Obasanjo while the Special Assistant to the governor on Special Duties scored the only goal for the government team. [myad]
Nigeria’s total non-oil export stood at $2.9 million in 2013 which declined to $2.7m in 2014. In 2012 export growth was 7.3% which went up to 13.7% in 2013 and later crashed to 8.6% in 2014. At best, Cocoa only brought in a total in $1.2 billion in the two years. This translated to $758 million in 2013 and $666 million in 2014.” These official figures were obtained by All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation, from the Federal Ministry of Trade and Commerce but which it said Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government falsified in its favour. In a statement, Director of Media and Publicity for the APC Presidential campaign organisation, Garba Shehu described as untenable fallacy and sheer cock-and-bull story the featuring of such falsified report in a paid newspaper advertisement. He wondered why the Jonathan-led PDP would go so low as to tell lie that the government diversified the economy and grew the non-oil export sector and enhanced the national economy by 300 percent. He said that an advertorial placed by the “Forum for Economic Progress” claiming that “non-oil export has increased by 300 percent and that Cocoa had brought revenue of over $2 billion in the last two years,” is a “blatant lies and bandied poor spin-doctoring by a dying PDP regime clawing to undesirable straws.” Garba Shehu said that the misinformation about imaginary growth in the non oil sector “falls within the PDP’s narratives of deceit, mischief and clever-by-half communication mannerisms; same as the tissues of lies being exhibited on fuel scarcity, power sector, security, employment, public health and a host of others. “The Jonathanians blame everyone and anything in sight except themselves for the avoidable precarious condition they have thrown our once prosperous nation.” [myad]
It was a night parked with fun, laughter, pomp and pageantry Wednesday in Asaba as members of the entertainment industry held a “Thank You Concert/Dinner” in honour of the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan to appreciate his support for the industry. The Event, which brought the crème-de – la –crème in the entertainment industry, including veterans like Opa Williams, Oris Wiliki, Ras Kimono, Daddy Showkey, Ali Baba, Sammie Okposio, Emma Ogosi, AY, Gordons. Iyanya, Fred Amata, Zeb Ejiro, Emma Grey, DJ Humility, Mandy, Omoni Oboli, was capped with the presentation of a lifetime Award of Excellence to the governor. Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan disclosed that the human resource development not oil was the greatest resource of the country. He explained that Delta State has keyed into the development of this resource and that is why Deltans can be found in all spheres of human endeavours whether politics, banking, sports, media, or the entertainment industry. “Our biggest resource is not oil but the human being, in every field in Nigeria, Deltans are there, in banking, media, politics, or entertainment industry.” Governor Uduaghan said that one of the gains of his administration’s Delta Beyond Oil Initiative is making the state, especially Asaba an entertainment hub. “Delta State has the talents, the people and the enabling environment to achieve our dream for the entertainment industry, all we have tried to do is to develop the talents, it is not surprising that most of the artistes especially comedians are from Warri or grew up there.” He charged Nigerians to always show appreciation for every support received, saying: “nothing is as gratifying as showing appreciation for the support one has received, this act of appreciation by the members of the entertainment industry is so gladdening, I never expected something so big as this gathering. “I want to let you know that I am also appreciative of the little time we spent together over lunch or breakfast in my house, when I am with you. You make laugh, you entertain me, it helped to reduce the stress of the work.” The governor said that more need to be done for the growth of the industry in the state, adding that the State Government would explore the possibility of holding a carnival and boat regatta in the nearest future. The State Commissioner for culture and Tourism, Barrister Mofe Damijo in his welcome address said that the idea of the concert was mooted by Ogus Baba to honour Dr. Uduaghan who had done a lot to support the industry in the last eight years. “We are here to honour a man that has a vision to transform Delta Beyond oil, this is one of the gains, entertainment now account for over 2.5 percent of the nation GDP.” Ali Baba, Zeb Ejiro, Opa Williams, I Go Save, Ayo Makun among others in their goodwill messages, commended Dr. Uduaghan for his massive support for the entertainment industry which has taken a lot of our youths off the streets and improved their talents. The organiser of the concert, Ogus Baba said that the concert was a private initiative meant to show deep appreciation to Dr. Uduaghan for his massive contributions to the development of the entertainment industry in the country. [myad]
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