The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cried out over an allegation that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is seeking to divide its rank and file.
The party attributed reports that members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) are calling for removal of the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, to the handiwork of APC.
In an interactive session with newsmen today, February 17 in Abuja, the spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, said “we have a responsibility to move the party forward so we have no issue with our national chairman. You will agree with me that if there is any kind of issue, the environment will not be the same.
“It is the All Progressives Congress (APC) that is seeking to divide the PDP. But one assurance I will give is that the NWC is united. There is no rancour and we are working on how to deliver the party in the 2023 general elections.”
Former Nigeria Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has warned against paying ransom to kidnappers for the purpose of releasing kidnapped victims, saying that such ransom will continue to encourage them to continue in the criminal act.
Reacting to the kidnapping of students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara in Niger State, in a statement today, February 17, Atiku said: “we have now seen that paying ransoms and allowing criminals to profit from their criminality is not a solution. When you reward crimes, the end result is more crime.”
The former Vice President, who was also a presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, regretted that the reported death of one of the students in the process of escape.
“The spate of insecurity in Nigeria is now beyond alarming. It has gotten to crisis levels, especially when it involves children and other minors.
“Now is not the time for fingers to point in blame. Our nation needs solutions.”
Atiku said that the only long term solution to the insecurity challenge Nigeria is facing is to end the reign of impunity.
He insisted that the Federal Government must enforce the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria against abductions and kidnappings, by apprehending the criminals, trying them and making an example of those convicted, to serve as a deterrent to others.
“Also, we must be proactive. We cannot wait for these abductions to happen and then go into reactive mode.
“I therefore call on the Federal Government to declare all secondary and primary schools in the affected states and zones, as Federal Protected Zones, and post armed military personnel at all schools for 24/7 protection. If it is not feasible to have armed military guards in all schools, then each state in the should as a matter of urgency replicate the Civilian Joint Task Force idea, that has worked so well in Borno, and deploy them to each school, along with men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
“What we must not do is do nothing. History may forgive us for making wrong decisions, but we will never be forgiven if we carry on business as usual.
“As a nation, we must be willing to provide the same level of security that we provide for the schools that the children of the elite attend, for schools that the children of other classes of Nigerians attend.
“I pray that the Kagara staff and students are rescued, and for peace to return to Nigeria.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has despatched special security chiefs to Niger State to rescue unidentified number of students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of the State, kidnapped by suspected bandits.
In a statement today, February 17 by Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesman, Buhari directed the Armed Forces and Police to ensure immediate and safe return of all the captives.
The President also dispatched to Minna, Niger State a team of security chiefs to coordinate the rescue operation and meet with state officials, community leaders, as well as parents and staff of the College.
President Buhari assured of the support of his administration to the Armed Forces in their brave struggle against terrorism and banditry and urged them to do all that can be done to bring an end to this saga, and avoid such cowardly attacks on schools in the future.
“Our prayers are with families of the victims of this attack,” said the President as he condemned as cowardly the attack on innocent school children.”
Two lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Blessing Onuh of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Benue and Yakubu Abdullahi from Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Bauchi, have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
They said that they were pushed out of their parties because of internal crisis in them.
Representative Blessing said, on the floor of the House, that she left APGA due to leadership crisis in the state chapter of the party, even as Representative Yakubu Abdullahi said that he defected from PRP due to division, internal wrangling and infighting resulting in factionalisation.
They said that they consulted widely before taking the decision to leave the parties.
Members of the main opposition party in the House, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not raise objection on the defection.
Members of Borno/Yobe Elders Forum have stormed Aso Rock Presidential villa, Abuja, pleading with President Muhammadu Buhari to continue with oil exploration in the Chad Basin.
They reminded the President, during a courtesy visit on him today, February 16, that he (Buhari) initiated such oil exploration in the area when he was the Minister of Petroleum in the 70s.
They also begged President Buhari to pay attention to the recharging of the Lake Chad which they said the President has been passionate about.
The delegation, which was made up of the Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, former Governor Kashmir Shettima of Borno State, as well as senators, traditional rulers and elders in the two state, expressed appreciation to the President for the tremendous improvement in their states and to intimate him with some of the prevailing socio-economic conditions.
They also appreciated the President’s commitment and sacrifices in bringing a new lease of life to the Northeast, even as they requested for completion of long-standing infrastructure and on-going projects in the states, especially roads.
This was even as President insisted that the stability of the country is of paramount interest to him and that Federal Government will continue to work towards it despite the actions of a few people.
“We need this country. We will continue to work for its stability. I feel that whatever happens, we will continue to make it, and will keep on praying to God so that for those who feel that they don’t need Nigeria, we will succeed over their intentions and actions.”
The President attributed the upheavals in some parts of the country to a few people with resources and influence, assuring that they will be identified and dealt with in due course.
“I am confident that we will eventually convince the small number of people with resource and influence that are a nuisance to this great country. God willing, we will identify them, and deal with them. I am extremely concerned about your constituency like the rest of the country.”
President Buhari noted the request for the upgrade and development of infrastructure in the states and assured that while he would do his best in acceding to the requests, he would however, priorities development in education.
“We are aware of the infrastructure deficit. Our priorities will be education because all our citizens know that children within a certain age must receive it otherwise if they miss it, the future is destroyed.”
He expressed appreciation to the leaders for coming to terms with the positive improvement that has occurred in the states since the inception of the administration.
President Muhammadu Buhari has identified nine priority areas of his government which he asked the new Ambassadors being posted to various countries of the world to promote in their countries of posting. These nine priority areas, he added, guide his government’s policy directions and thrust within the time frame of 2019-2023.
“In our effort to achieve realistic development oriented domestic and foreign policies, the government has identified nine (9) priority areas to guide our policy directions and thrust within the time frame of 2019-2023.”
Speaking virtually from the State House at the Induction /Orientation Exercise For Ambassadors-Designate, Consuls-General and Charge’ D’ Affaires Entitre held at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) auditorium, Abuja, the President told the diplomats to always be mindful of the policy direction of the government, particularly the nine priorities it had listed.
He listed such priority areas as: build a thriving and sustainable economy; enhance social inclusion and reduce poverty; enlarge agricultural output for food security and export; attain energy sufficiency in power and petroleum products; expand transport and other infrastructural development; expand business opportunities, entrepreneurship and industrialization; expand access to quality education, affordable healthcare and productivity of Nigerians.
The President said that other priority areas that are very important to his government include building a system to fight corruption, improve governance and create social cohesion and improve security for all.
Buhari insisted that the envoys should continually showcase priorities of the government and uphold standards that will bring honour to the country, saying: “you must not forget that you have been posted to your respective bilateral and multilateral Missions to represent and project Nigeria as a great and indivisible nation and a very attractive investment destination.
“I ,therefore, urge all of you to be guided by these identified priority goals, as well as your various Station Charters which highlight specific mandates and guidelines on government’s expectation. We expect you to fight hard for Nigeria and for Nigerians abroad.
“You must strive to promote trade, human capacity development, foreign direct investment and other areas of cooperation with countries at national and multilateral levels to support our national growth and development.”
President Buhari said that national and global resources had continued to shrink, a situation compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the government will continue to innovate and cope with a new norm in order to contain the catastrophic consequences of the pandemic.
He said that the world must resolutely commit itself to global concerted actions to fight and defeat the common enemy together.
“Nigeria’s diplomacy must make sufficient contributions to common global challenges on how this health pandemic can be contained and eventually defeated.
“But we must not forget that traditional challenges of terrorism, violent extremism, climate change, poverty, population explosion, hunger and other manifestations of insecurity, including cybercrimes, drug abuse, child trafficking, irregular migration as well as the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, which have negatively impacted Nigeria and Africa remain part of our nation’s critical challenges.
“Finally, as Principal Representatives abroad, you must therefore intensify efforts to leverage on available opportunities, as well as your goodwill to help deliver prosperity to the millions of Nigerian citizens at home and the country you are posted.”
The President advised the envoys to attend to all Nigerian citizens who visit the Missions with utmost dignity, respect and promptness, providing necessary assistance with courtesy, commitment and efficiency.
“As Ambassadors of our country, your comportment, carriage, conduct and ability to multitask must be exemplary. Humility and firmness are attributes that can earn you and your country respect and recognition. These attributes must remain with every one of you in the fulfillment of your duties.”
In his remarks, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the thrust of President Buhari’s foreign policy was clearly defined since 2015 as “neighbourliness, diplomacy and engagement’’, describing it as the ‘Buhari doctrine.’
The Minister told the diplomats that the President’s foreign policy focus was also similar to that adopted by President Joe Biden of the United States, with emphasis on promoting goodwill that attracts friends to the country, enhance security and bolster the economy.
“The result of the ‘Buhari doctrine’ is that Mr. President is in good terms with all countries of the world, and this will make your jobs easier.”
The idea of having a near-perfect country out of a ruptured Nigeria is illusory. The composite parts of the country each contribute to the miasma of confusion that Nigeria is. No single entity is responsible for Nigeria’s problems. All the ethnic nationalities are equal shareholders in the failing of the Nigerian enterprise. There is enough blame to go around.
Splintering the entity has often been exalted as the remedy to Nigeria’s problems. But this is a defective reasoning because in this instance, Nigeria is defined by its geography and not its people. Nigeria is its people. It is the same people that will occupy the emergent states not angels. There is no paradise anywhere. The problem with Nigeria is a people-problem. Recalibrating the map will not change anything – if the minds of the people do not conform to progressive values.
The assumption that there will be “divine concordance” if Nigeria breaks up according to regional lines is obtuse. That a people speak a common language does not put a stamp of camaraderie on group relationship. In the south-east for instance, there is native discrimination among people of the same region. Some are regarded as ‘’impure Igbo breeds’’ while others consider themselves as ‘’true Igbo scions’’. There are areas sons of certain states are advised not to tread in search of love. Also, it is quotidian among the Igbo to describe people from certain areas in Ebonyi with the pejorative of ‘’wah awah’’ – ‘’impure breeds’’. And there is a deep gulf among classes on the social ladder in the region.
So, what will change if, for example, there is a south-east state as some are campaigning for? Will the present social order be inverted? Will the internecine hate and wrangling dissipate? Well, for sure I think the current revulsion that some have for the entity ‘’Nigeria’’ will be reserved for the emergent state. Elite corruption and abuse will still dominate the polity because the new order will be from the same predatory gene-pool. Non-ethnic predation will give way for ethnic predation because at the end of day class struggle is not resolved by the unity of language, religion or culture.
There is a classical example of a country in Africa steeped in economic and civil crisis after breaking away from the motherboard. The case of oil-rich South-Sudan rings a familiar bell. Today, South-Sudan is one of the poorest countries on the surface of the earth despite its oil wealth. All the hoopla and gyrations that followed the country’s severance from Sudan soon gave way for tears, sorrow and blood.
As of 2019, 400,000 citizens have been killed in the South-Sudan crisis. Four million refugees created and 1.8 million people internally displaced. The cause of these tragedies boils down to power struggle among the elite who quickly mobilised themselves behind the emergent state to capture power. A country fabled to be a lodestar in Africa and which was to be a compelling argument for splintering ‘’artificially created’’ states on the continent is now a functional example of why breaking up countries in Africa is not expedient.
An often parroted argument for Nigeria’s dissolution is that the country is an inorganic fabrication of the British. True, but so are many countries on the planet, yet they are thriving and working according to a common purpose. Most countries in the world were created by accidents of history. It is nearly impossible to find a homogenous country. The problem with Nigeria, as we all know, is that we are yet to have a people’s leadership or as Chinua Achebe puts it, a leader “humbled by the trust placed on him by the people’’ and ‘’willing to use the power given to him for the good of the people’’.
We are stronger together. This is not a platitude but a fact. 90 percent of wealth of the Igbo is not warehoused in the south-east. The Igbo are a peripatetic people gifted with extraordinary entrepreneurial abilities. They are among the most financially fortunate Nigerians. Nigeria and beyond are their trading arcade. They are in every nook, cranny and crevices in the country. It is unarguable that a united Nigeria is a more viable emporium for the Igbo than a fragmented Nigeria. It will not be the same for the business-minded Igbo with new states emerging from the wreck of Nigeria – the emergent states will certainly want to put up hedges that will protect their own people against outsiders. Where does that leave Chukwuma who has billions of naira worth of investments doting the north and the south-west?
The same theory applies to the north of which economy thrives on agriculture. Nigeria with its bubbling population is a consumer paradise for the agricultural produce of the north. In addition, there are bountiful benefits for the north from Nigeria’s oil wealth. The south-west as well cannot subsist as an island. It needs the commerce of the Igbo, the endowments of the north, and rich cultural and material resources of other groups to blossom. We need each other.
Our diversity should count for something. It should be our strength. We will be the biggest losers if the Nigerian enterprise is liquidated. We must make Nigeria work.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist. Twitter @FredrickNwabufo
“The challenges of Lagos must therefore be very clearly seen as part of the challenges of Nigeria, and the Federal Government will support Lagos to overcome its challenges and to thrive socially and economically.”
President Muhammadu Buhari made this point today, February 16, in a video goodwill message to the Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit, themed ‘‘For a Greater Lagos: Setting the Tone for the Next Decade.”
He said that his government recognizes Lagos as central to the economic fortunes of Nigeria and has in the last few years demonstrated commitment to supporting it unleash its full socio-economic potential.
”One of the significant ways in which our support has manifested to Lagos State is in the special federal funding that we approved in 2020 in acknowledgment of the State being an epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Buhari, who emphasized that his government will continue to support more massive investments in Lagos State to boost its economic potential as one of the world’s fastest growing megacities, said: “the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) is investing in the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, while the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway is a flagship project of our Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, also known as Executive Order 7 of 2019.
“It was also this administration which granted approval to the Lagos State Government to rebuild the International Airport Road, a major road that links the busiest airport in Sub-Saharan Africa to the continent’s fifth largest economy.
“The Federal Government is today completing the Standard Gauge Railway Line that will link Lagos to Ibadan in the first instance, and from there connect to Abuja and Kano, and bring ease and efficiency to what is Nigeria’s busiest transportation corridor.
“Just last month, this new Rail Line achieved a milestone extension into the Port Complex in Apapa, setting the stage for a long overdue decongestion in that area.”
On the investment plan to revamp the National Theatre, the President told the 8th Economic Summit that his government had granted approval for the temporary transfer of the iconic federal asset on the Lagos landscape, to the Bankers Committee, which will invest in upgrading it and developing it into a world-class creative hub.
President Buhari expressed confidence that enterprising young people in Lagos will be the biggest beneficiaries of the National Theatre, when fully upgraded into a world-class hub.
“Speaking of young people, we are aware of just how central they are to the Lagos economy, and to Nigeria as a whole.
“In the creative arts, culture and technology sectors, we are determined to continue to open up opportunities by which they can achieve their dreams and aspirations; as well as thrive in a safe, secure and increasingly prosperous country..”
The President highlighted various other initiatives of the Federal Government being implemented in Lagos, including the National Social Investment Programme, the Energizing Economies Programme, the Economic Sustainability Plan, among others.
Commending the Lagos State Government for its partnership and collaboration with the Federal Government on the human development programmes, President Buhari stressed the importance of understanding between national and subnational governments.
“Let me also acknowledge and salute the fact that we have a forward-looking administration in Lagos that is focused on infrastructure and improving the ease of doing business and the overall quality of life of Lagosians.
“The theme of this year’s Lagos Economic Summit invites us all to share our aspirations for a Megacity that boldly occupies its place in the global standing of Megacities.
“A Lagos that can keep up with its growing population in terms of housing, education, healthcare, security and jobs. A Lagos that is innovative and productive, and that ensures that its economic prosperity leaves no one behind.
“I enjoin all speakers and participants to go all out in the course of the next few days to think and contribute along these lines, and to come up with a practical masterplan for achieving this Lagos of our dreams.”
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has confessed that Sunday Adeyemi , aka Igboho was operating illegally but that he came as a a child of circumstance.
At n interview on Channels Television, Governor Akeredolu said: “Sunday Igboho is a child of circumstance. We must look at the circumstance that led to each of these interventions. There are things that we do at times that you have to know what led to them. Those circumstances might not be justifiable, might not be legal, but again when you look at it, you’ll know we are a child of circumstance.”
The governor, who was elected for a second term in office in October 2020, however, admitted that he does not support illegality and people taking laws into their hands.
“I for one, I’ve always said that I will not support anyone taking laws into his own hands. That’s why I had to go to Ibadan,” the governor, 64, explained.
“That’s why I will go to every other place in the South-West to preach about illegality and that we are against illegal actions. We are not for it at all.”
Igboho had risen to prominence after he issued a quit notice to criminal herders in Oyo State accused of crimes in the area.
Akeredolu had in the wake of the clash, called for calm, urging residents not to take the laws into their hands.
“We do not support violence and in particular, brigandage, jungle justice and unnecessary self-help,” he said.
“We note with delight, the efforts of our brother Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde of Oyo State who has taken very bold steps to stave off the further escalation of the violence by imposing curfew in the affected areas.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has picked Abdulrasheed Bawa as substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and forwarded his name to the Senate for confirmation.
In a letter to President of the Senate, Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, the President said he was acting in accordance with Paragraph 2(3) of Part1, CAP E1 of EFCC Act 2004.
Bawa, 40, is a trained EFCC investigator with vast experience in the investigation and prosecution of Advance Fee Fraud cases, official corruption, bank fraud, money laundering, and other economic crimes.
He has undergone several specialized trainings in different parts of the world, and was one of the pioneer EFCC Cadet Officers in 2005.
Bawa holds a B.Sc degree in Economics, and Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy.
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The party attributed reports that members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) are calling for removal of the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, to the handiwork of APC.
President Muhammadu Buhari has despatched special security chiefs to Niger State to rescue unidentified number of students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara, Rafi Local Government Area of the State, kidnapped by suspected bandits.
“The challenges of Lagos must therefore be very clearly seen as part of the challenges of Nigeria, and the Federal Government will support Lagos to overcome its challenges and to thrive socially and economically.”
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has confessed that Sunday Adeyemi , aka Igboho was operating illegally but that he came as a a child of circumstance.
Another Country Out Of Nigeria Is Illusory, By Fredrick Nwabufo
Splintering the entity has often been exalted as the remedy to Nigeria’s problems. But this is a defective reasoning because in this instance, Nigeria is defined by its geography and not its people. Nigeria is its people. It is the same people that will occupy the emergent states not angels. There is no paradise anywhere. The problem with Nigeria is a people-problem. Recalibrating the map will not change anything – if the minds of the people do not conform to progressive values.
The assumption that there will be “divine concordance” if Nigeria breaks up according to regional lines is obtuse. That a people speak a common language does not put a stamp of camaraderie on group relationship. In the south-east for instance, there is native discrimination among people of the same region. Some are regarded as ‘’impure Igbo breeds’’ while others consider themselves as ‘’true Igbo scions’’. There are areas sons of certain states are advised not to tread in search of love. Also, it is quotidian among the Igbo to describe people from certain areas in Ebonyi with the pejorative of ‘’wah awah’’ – ‘’impure breeds’’. And there is a deep gulf among classes on the social ladder in the region.
So, what will change if, for example, there is a south-east state as some are campaigning for? Will the present social order be inverted? Will the internecine hate and wrangling dissipate? Well, for sure I think the current revulsion that some have for the entity ‘’Nigeria’’ will be reserved for the emergent state. Elite corruption and abuse will still dominate the polity because the new order will be from the same predatory gene-pool. Non-ethnic predation will give way for ethnic predation because at the end of day class struggle is not resolved by the unity of language, religion or culture.
There is a classical example of a country in Africa steeped in economic and civil crisis after breaking away from the motherboard. The case of oil-rich South-Sudan rings a familiar bell. Today, South-Sudan is one of the poorest countries on the surface of the earth despite its oil wealth. All the hoopla and gyrations that followed the country’s severance from Sudan soon gave way for tears, sorrow and blood.
As of 2019, 400,000 citizens have been killed in the South-Sudan crisis. Four million refugees created and 1.8 million people internally displaced. The cause of these tragedies boils down to power struggle among the elite who quickly mobilised themselves behind the emergent state to capture power. A country fabled to be a lodestar in Africa and which was to be a compelling argument for splintering ‘’artificially created’’ states on the continent is now a functional example of why breaking up countries in Africa is not expedient.
An often parroted argument for Nigeria’s dissolution is that the country is an inorganic fabrication of the British. True, but so are many countries on the planet, yet they are thriving and working according to a common purpose. Most countries in the world were created by accidents of history. It is nearly impossible to find a homogenous country. The problem with Nigeria, as we all know, is that we are yet to have a people’s leadership or as Chinua Achebe puts it, a leader “humbled by the trust placed on him by the people’’ and ‘’willing to use the power given to him for the good of the people’’.
We are stronger together. This is not a platitude but a fact. 90 percent of wealth of the Igbo is not warehoused in the south-east. The Igbo are a peripatetic people gifted with extraordinary entrepreneurial abilities. They are among the most financially fortunate Nigerians. Nigeria and beyond are their trading arcade. They are in every nook, cranny and crevices in the country. It is unarguable that a united Nigeria is a more viable emporium for the Igbo than a fragmented Nigeria. It will not be the same for the business-minded Igbo with new states emerging from the wreck of Nigeria – the emergent states will certainly want to put up hedges that will protect their own people against outsiders. Where does that leave Chukwuma who has billions of naira worth of investments doting the north and the south-west?
The same theory applies to the north of which economy thrives on agriculture. Nigeria with its bubbling population is a consumer paradise for the agricultural produce of the north. In addition, there are bountiful benefits for the north from Nigeria’s oil wealth. The south-west as well cannot subsist as an island. It needs the commerce of the Igbo, the endowments of the north, and rich cultural and material resources of other groups to blossom. We need each other.
Our diversity should count for something. It should be our strength. We will be the biggest losers if the Nigerian enterprise is liquidated. We must make Nigeria work.
Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist. Twitter @FredrickNwabufo