One of the support group for the Presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, known as Atiku State of Mind Support Group, has pulled out.
The group who was part of the support groups for Atiku’s presidential bid in 2019, through their president, Pharm Hassan Ankunma, in a statement today, April 15 said that the decision to dump the former president came from the place of new information and realizations as they made a mistake in the past looking to support candidates from the two major parties as though they alone exist in a vacuum.
In a statement by the national coordinator, Hassan, said that the reason the group is transitioning from Atiku state of Mind to Moghalu state of mind is because they want a state of mind that is healthy for Nigerians, one that can guarantee the electoral promises that will be made.
The statement reads in part, “We don’t want a leader who ceded his authority to ruthless CABALS and family members who have absolute disregard for the rights of citizens. We will not accept a leader who treats women like commodities, marrying from different regions, not because of love but for political mileage. Prof Kingsley Moghalu is a sincere man and we trust him.”
Former military administrator of Kaduna State, retired Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar has cautioned the government of President Muhammadu Buhari against holding a national census in 2023.
In a statement today, April 14, Dangiwa said: “a country that is facing existential challenges, such as unprecedented level of insecurity, collapsing economy cannot have as one of its priorities, the conduct of a National census.”
The former Administrator, who is now the
Chairman of the Movement for Unity and Progress, said that the announcement that National Council of State had approved the conduct of National census in April 2023, came as a great shock to most well meaning Nigerians.
Dangiwa called on the Buhari administration to suspend what will amount to misadventure and waste of scarce national resources.
He asked the Administration to rather focus all its attention on securing the nation and conducting the 2023elections.
“A National census at this point is certainly not a priority, assuming that its conduct is possible.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba has approved the promotion of 21,039 junior police officers who were last promoted on or before 2017.
The spokesman of the Force Headquarters, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said today, April 14 in a statement, that those promoted are made up of 20,572 Sergeants to the next rank of Inspector, 324 Corporals to Sergeants, and 143 Constables to the rank of Corporal.
According to the statement, the promotion is part of the ongoing efforts aimed at improving welfare, conditions of service, boosting the morale of personnel, with a view to repositioning the Force for greater efficiency.
It stressed that it is also part of the manpower development drive to ensure that deserving personnel are promoted accordingly, to encourage hard work and further embed the culture of merit, excellence, and dedication to duties.
The police boss was quoted as assuring senior police officers that the Force high command is liaising with the Police Service Commission on the release of their promotion, which is expected to be approved and released as soon as possible.
The IGP commended the newly promoted officers for their resilience and invaluable commitment to duties and charged them to see their promotion as a call for renewed zeal, vigour, patriotism to duty, and further re-dedication to professional policing standards.
The IGP restated the commitment of his administration to entrenching longstanding reforms in the Nigeria Police Force.
Cholera outbreak has claimed the lives of 55 out of 1,959 reported cases in Adamawa State. The State Commissioner of Health, Isa Abdullahi, who addressed journalists in Yola, the state capital today, April 14, said that since the beginning of the Cholera outbreak in the state, a total of 1,959 suspected cases with 55 deaths were recorded. “Since the beginning of the outbreak, a total of 1,959 suspected cases with 55 deaths translating to case fatality ratio 2.8% were recorded.” However, some stakeholders have raised questions over the haste in making claims of declaring the state as cholera free, arguing that the commencement of rainy seasons had always been characterised with cholera outbreaks. “Cholera outbreak usually occurs at the end of the rainy season, because of water scarcity. However it is also common to experience cholera outbreaks at the beginning of rainy season, just like now,” said Dr. Amos Ujulu of the Adamawa State Health Insurance Scheme.
The Director General of National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Isa-Kwarra has said that the Commission plans to hold national census in April 2023.
Speaking to newsmen at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today, April 14, Isa-Kwarra said that the national census would be conducted after the general elections, adding that the commission would also conduct a pilot census in June this year after political parties have finished primary elections.
He said that the commission would deploy high technology in the conduct of the 2023 national census.
“It is very crucial because I have highlighted that the Census is a very important exercise for the nation. Because through census we generate the data that we use for policy making, for planning, for development, by the three tiers of government, and the private sector, they all need this.
“If you are a private sector, you’re producing something, certainly, you need to know the population of an area if you want to create a market there.
“So, census data is very crucial, very important. Because, the data we’ve been using are just projections, estimation and are sort of obsolete, we need the actual census data to use for our planning.”
The management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has made it compulsory for intending railway passengers to possess National Identity Number (NIN) as part of the requirement for the rail journey, beginning May.
The Managing Director of the Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, said today, April 14 in Abuja that the NIN would be needed to enhance the profiling of passengers, adding that it would enhance the safety and security of rail users.
“The process of linking passengers to their NIN for improved profiling is on-going. This layer of passenger screening will commence by May. The Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS), will resume as soon as possible with additional security measures put in place.”
Okhiria said the security agencies are working tirelessly to ensure the rescue and release of all abducted passengers, saying that 362 passengers and 20 crew members were on board the train when it was attacked.
“While we continue to sympathise with families of those who lost or have not seen their loved ones, we encourage anyone still looking for a loved one to please call us. The numbers to call are: 08033546208, 08060044600 and 07066700150.
“The corporation will continue to update the general public of the latest developments.”
Okhiria said that the NRC had re-railed the last rolling stock affected in the attack.
“This means that all the 14 de-railed rolling stock (11 coaches, two rescue coaches and one Locomotive engine on the Rescue Train) have all been re-railed from the incident site to our stations at Idu, Abuja and Rigasa, Kaduna.
“Intensive track repair work continues at site. An advanced level of track repairs has been achieved and hopefully it will be rounded off in 10 days.
“The NRC expresses its profound gratitude to security agencies for the continued support, especially for the security cover provided to our officials and staff at the incident site”, he said.
The NRC suspended the Abuja-Kaduna route recently following a March 28 attack by terrorist, resulting in the death of some, injury to others and kidnapping of some.
The House of Representatives has approved four trillion naira for subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol.
Approving the review today, April 14 before proceeding on break for the Easter, the House also okayed the reduction in daily crude oil production quota from 1.8 million barrel per day to 1.6 million barrel per day, and crude oil benchmark of $73 per barrel.
The House also approved a cut in the provision for upstream projects being implemented by the federal government by about N200 billion from the initial N352.80 billion.
President Muhammadu Buhari, had in a letter to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, sought a review of the 2022 fiscal framework in order to accommodate the subsidy payment.
In forwarding the request for the revision of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), the president requested the lawmakers to approve an additional N3.557 trillion in addition to the N442.72 billion provided in the 2022 budget for subsidy.
The House is expected back in session on April 26, 2022.
A joker in poker is a wild card. It can be flipped; it can substitute and be substituted. And it can just be that jester. Nigeria’s political caravan is saturated with jokers. While some jokers are well aware of their status as factotums of other interests in the political circus, some are just aboriginal jesters taken up in their own vanity and delusion of importance. There are presidential hopefuls and there are presidential jokers.
Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state and member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is a presidential joker. I believe Obi knows that he cannot succeed in his presidential expedition under the current political arrangement. The entrenched system which abominates merit is not of his making, but it is an obvious encumbrance to him emerging as the presidential candidate of the PDP. Peter Obi is no match for any of the APC presidential hopefuls — Bola Tinubu, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, and Rotimi Amaechi. This is an uncomfortable but evident fact.
As I wrote in a previous column, if it were a sectional contest where only Igbo votes will decide the winner, perhaps, the former Anambra governor will have a chance. But this is a national election where every Nigerian – north, south, east, west – will decide the outcome. Obi does not have the requisite community network and he remains suspended on the fringes of political relevance. He does not matter to those who really matter in elections – the hoi-polloi. But I give it to him, he is a favourite of some Nigerians from the south on Twitter. But there are no polling stations on Twitter.
It has been speculated that Obi is using the presidential quest as a gambit to negotiate for a vice-presidential position in the PDP – because he may not get another chance like in 2019 when he was the running mate of Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, in the election. According to whispers from party insiders, a running mate from the south-south or south-west may be selected, if the presidential ticket goes to a northern candidate. This is on the assumption that a popular running mate from the south-west can bite into the bloc vote of the APC in the region.
Ayodele Fayose, former governor of Ekiti state, is another presidential joker. The good thing is, the ‘’Amala and Ponmo’’ exponent, admits he is a joker. Fayose does not try to be suave or rational about his status as a hoaxer; he is honest about his ‘’presidential’’ pursuit. He is a political scullion. Fayose knows he is not popular and that he lacks the needed network for presidential nomination and election. He knows it will even take him an effort to win a senatorial election in Ekiti.
But who is the former governor fronting for? It is alleged that Fayose may be jesting at the behest of the ‘’grand patron’’ of the PDP – a certain governor from the south-south. Real contenders in internal party contests often flash jokers to boost their negotiating and electoral chances. The jokers act in the interest of the pied piper while maintaining a façade.
However, Dino Melaye, former senator and the liveried footman of Atiku and Bukola Saraki, accused Fayose of acting in the interest of another godfather in the APC. So, the former governor may not only be a joker but also a spoiler.
“It is clear from the verbal missiles deployed by Fayose that he was simply de-marketing frontline aspirants in PDP as a counterintuitive strategy to shore up the chances of his political godfather in APC,’’ Melaye said in response to Fayose’s ‘’demarketing’’ of Atiku and Saraki.
Dele Momodu is a presidential joker. Cerebral, cosmopolitan, expansive, yes, he is. In 2011, the CEO of Ovation group ran for presidential office on the ticket of the National Conscience Party (NCP). But he only secured 26,376 votes, coming a distant 11th on the election log. Momodu is vacant of grassroots appeal and appears sequestered from everyday Nigerians. He has a mélange of friends in the elite phylum, but not enough political network to swing the presidential pendulum his way. It has been speculated that he is fronting for Saraki.
Tunde Bakare is another presidential joker. He said God told him to run for president. Well, I believe the fiery preacher knows the celestials will not be voting in the elections – only Nigerians. Perhaps, he wants to take the baton from Chris Okotie, the debonair pastor known for running for president every election cycle without getting as much as 50,000 votes.
There are other persons in the band of presidential jokers. They include but not limited to Cosmo Ndukwe of the PDP, Anyim Pius Anyim of the PDP, Orji Kalu of the APC, Bala Mohammed of the PDP and David Umahi of the APC.
There are presidential hopefuls and there are presidential jokers. The jokers bring nothing but comic relief, and perhaps, excitement to the contest. And who does not fancy a good laugh?
The Oba of Benin, Ewuare II has described Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State, who visited him to seek for his blessings as he goes into the contest for the Presidency of Nigeria as “our son.”
He said: “Wike is our son. We love him and if I say so, I believe I am speaking on behalf of our ancestors.”
The Oba of Benin, who received Governor Wike in his Palace today, April 14, added: “we will keep praying for him so that he does not come across anybody that will mislead him, that will mis-inform him and may he and his family not come across harm.
The monarch acknowledged the competence and capacity of Governor Wike based on what he has done as governor of Rivers State and advised political leaders to promote and ensure sustenance of the African culture and traditions which he said, the colonial masters tried to erase after discovering that Benin Kingdom and others had a superior administration and civilization than them.
“We must continue to hold on to our traditions and customs because of its superiority over others”
Governor Wike promised that if elected as president, he would focus on checking insecurity with massive investment in intelligence gathering, stressing that it is only in a secured environment that economic activities, agriculture and investment in infrastructure can thrive.
“I was here one and a half years ago as the DG (Director General) of the campaign for the re-election of Governor Obaseki but I am here today not on behalf of anybody but of myself and my team to seek your prayers.
“I have come to Benin to talk to the delegates of our party that will be part of our national convention by May 28th and 29th. The way our country has fared, Nigeria needs somebody that will see white and say it is white and will see black and say that it is black. If the PDP gives me the ticket, I have enough experience to tackle Nigeria’s miriads of problems having been a local government chairman, Minister of State overseeing Education and now governor.
“The major issue confronting Nigeria today is insecurity and without security no other activity can function and what we need to tackle insecurity is intelligence gathering which is lacking, we are not going to sit down and give excuses but we will take action and spend resources to gather intelligence.”
Max Air passengers went wild today, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, destroying airport facilities over complains of flight delay. According to the protesting passengers, they were not informed about the delay until they began to register their grievances. Information has it that the passengers destroyed the airlines’ counters and other facilities of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika had directed airline operators in the country to refund the full cost of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay. “On domestic flights, delay beyond one hour, a carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-mail. They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am delaying for one hour. “Delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets. For delays between 10pm and 4am, the carrier shall provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email, and transport to-and-fro airport.” Data released by NACA show that in the first quarter of this year, out of the 14,662 domestic flights operated in the country, 7,554 were delayed. Also, 562 flights were delayed out of the 1,871 international flights operated out of the country. Nine international and 149 domestic flights were cancelled. There are nine domestic airlines now operating scheduled flights in the country, while 19 airlines operate international flights in and out of Nigeria, according to the NCAA data.
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